...but is he credible? From NYdailynews.com:
"A surprise last-minute mystery witness threw a Queens grand jury investigating the police shooting of Sean Bell into tumult, just hours after it began deliberating yesterday.
The Spanish-speaking man walked into the 115th Precinct stationhouse in Queens yesterday and said he saw the much-rumored "fourth man" - a man with a gun running away from the scene.
"He came forward on his own," said Detectives' Endowment Association President Michael Palladino. "He said he heard the clash of the car. He looks up and sees a male black fire one shot, maybe two, and run from the scene, possibly running into a building."
Suspicious? Absolutely. With the NYPDs reputation for racism and police brutality, this 'mystery witness' sounds very fishy. But my co-worker brings up an interesting point. Let's say for the moment that there was a 'fourth man' who was shooting at the cops--where's the shell casings? Did he shoot at the cops, and in the middle of returning fire pick them up and run away?
Thursday, March 15, 2007
This Pretty Much Sums up My POV...
...from Sully:
"Well, I asked it, via Tom Mallon:
"Are American writers, artists, and thinkers truly prepared to admit that Islamofascism is a real, and even imminent, threat to everything they are accustomed to thinking, saying, and creating?"
And here's an answer:
How big is the threat? For me, it just isn't that big. Islamic terrorists, if they are lucky, will manage a couple of medium profile bombings of tourist sites each year, and maybe something larger (New York, London, Madrid) every few years. This sucks, and our security services should relentlessly hunt down these people and take them out of the game. But is it really that much of a threat to the world?
Our societies, cultures and economies are just too strong to be even mildly shaken by this lame bullshit. Just because some gaggle of religious lunatics manages to kill a bunch of westerners once every 6 months, does anyone really believe that "everything we are accustomed to thinking, saying and creating" is under threat? I call bullshit.
We are SO going to beat these freaks."
"Well, I asked it, via Tom Mallon:
"Are American writers, artists, and thinkers truly prepared to admit that Islamofascism is a real, and even imminent, threat to everything they are accustomed to thinking, saying, and creating?"
And here's an answer:
How big is the threat? For me, it just isn't that big. Islamic terrorists, if they are lucky, will manage a couple of medium profile bombings of tourist sites each year, and maybe something larger (New York, London, Madrid) every few years. This sucks, and our security services should relentlessly hunt down these people and take them out of the game. But is it really that much of a threat to the world?
Our societies, cultures and economies are just too strong to be even mildly shaken by this lame bullshit. Just because some gaggle of religious lunatics manages to kill a bunch of westerners once every 6 months, does anyone really believe that "everything we are accustomed to thinking, saying and creating" is under threat? I call bullshit.
We are SO going to beat these freaks."
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Did Pace Break the Rules?
One of Sully's readers thinks so, and Sully scoops more here. This could be a policy error on the General's part, but honestly, who's going to punish him? And furthermore, he could have been mandated to wear his uniform in that instance. Better to get at the obvious criminal.
Sorry I'm Not Worrying About the Rights of Pigs...
...people are higher up on my things to save list.
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Sorry Obama...
Connect the Dots...
...and see if you can trace this right-wing conspiracy. I've seen Family Circus cartoons with less twists and turns, but, you see, that's what makes them so efficient!
General Pace May Have to Apologize...
...but it shouldn't be for expressing his opinion:
"WASHINGTON - Senior aides to the chairman of the military Joint Chiefs of Staff said Tuesday that Marine Gen. Peter Pace won’t apologize for calling homosexuality immoral — an opinion that gay advocacy groups deplored.
In a newspaper interview Monday, Pace had likened homosexual acts to adultery and said the military should not condone it by allowing gays to serve openly in the armed forces."
Personally, I see nothing wrong with homosexuality. I said it before and I'll say it again, what two consenting adults do in the privacy of their own room is their business, and while I might think its sorta gross, there's plenty of heterosexual sex I also think is pretty gross. Take anything by this dude for example. Fact is, while I hold many opinions about many things I don't feel it's my place to pass judgement on someone else's sexual lifestyle, and further more, as a believer in the freedom of speech, I respect the right for someone to express their point of view even when it differs from mine. Gen Pace expressed his, and he shouldn't need to apologize for exercising his rights as an American citizen. If gays have a problem with anything it should be the policy of the United States armed forces that bans open homosexuals from serving their country. This bluntly discriminatory policy is what needs to be challenged and not one man's opinion. If anything this should only be a footnote to gay advocates' issues, something to be highlighted as yet another callous yet human trait.
Note: Yes, Pace's opinion was disrespectful to the homosexuals who choose to stay in the closet so they can serve their country with honor. But they're disrespected alot more by the policy that forces them in that closet.
Don't Call it a Comeback...
Morton Downey Jr. is having a comeback--Right-wing conspiracies never left. From MSNBC.com:
"WASHINGTON - The "vast, right-wing conspiracy" is back, presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton is warning, using a phrase she once coined to describe partisan plotting.
Once derided for her use of the phrase, Clinton is now trying to turn the imagery to her advantage.
Speaking Tuesday to Democratic municipal officials, the New York senator used the term to hammer Republicans on election irregularities.
Conspiracy alive and well
Clinton was first lady when she famously charged allegations of an affair between her then-president husband Bill Clinton and White House intern Monica Lewinsky were the result of a conservative conspiracy.
As evidence of the affair eventually came to light, the comment was ridiculed.But many Democrats have since insisted that Clinton was correct, pointing to the well-documented efforts by conservative financier Richard Mellon Scaife to fund a network of anti-Clinton investigations.
On Tuesday, she asserted the conspiracy is alive and well, and cited as proof the Election Day 2002 case of phone jamming in New Hampshire, a case in which two Republican operatives pleaded guilty to criminal charges, and a third was convicted."
Conspiracy is a charged word, but accurate. There is a portion of the right-wing that is incredibly devious and organized and they implement plans with an insidiousness that is diabolical. Think not? What the hell do you think FOX News is? What was the Iraq war but a right-wing conspiracy?
By the way, that doesn't mean that the left-wing doesn't conspire. We're just not any good at it.
"WASHINGTON - The "vast, right-wing conspiracy" is back, presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton is warning, using a phrase she once coined to describe partisan plotting.
Once derided for her use of the phrase, Clinton is now trying to turn the imagery to her advantage.
Speaking Tuesday to Democratic municipal officials, the New York senator used the term to hammer Republicans on election irregularities.
Conspiracy alive and well
Clinton was first lady when she famously charged allegations of an affair between her then-president husband Bill Clinton and White House intern Monica Lewinsky were the result of a conservative conspiracy.
As evidence of the affair eventually came to light, the comment was ridiculed.But many Democrats have since insisted that Clinton was correct, pointing to the well-documented efforts by conservative financier Richard Mellon Scaife to fund a network of anti-Clinton investigations.
On Tuesday, she asserted the conspiracy is alive and well, and cited as proof the Election Day 2002 case of phone jamming in New Hampshire, a case in which two Republican operatives pleaded guilty to criminal charges, and a third was convicted."
Conspiracy is a charged word, but accurate. There is a portion of the right-wing that is incredibly devious and organized and they implement plans with an insidiousness that is diabolical. Think not? What the hell do you think FOX News is? What was the Iraq war but a right-wing conspiracy?
By the way, that doesn't mean that the left-wing doesn't conspire. We're just not any good at it.
Surgeon General Resigns...
From NYdailynews.com:
"WASHINGTON - The Army's top doctor became the latest casualty in the flap over shoddy treatment of wounded troops at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
Lt. Gen. Kevin Kiley, the Army's surgeon general who had been accused of callous indifference by troops and their families, resigned Sunday, but military sources said he was told to put in his papers."
Some one's head had to roll and I suppose Lt. Gen Kiley was the first (or is it the second?). Still the buck stops at the top and with this, Scooter, and now the problems with Alberto Gonzelez how far can we go before we get to Cheney and Bush? This whole tree is rotten.
"WASHINGTON - The Army's top doctor became the latest casualty in the flap over shoddy treatment of wounded troops at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
Lt. Gen. Kevin Kiley, the Army's surgeon general who had been accused of callous indifference by troops and their families, resigned Sunday, but military sources said he was told to put in his papers."
Some one's head had to roll and I suppose Lt. Gen Kiley was the first (or is it the second?). Still the buck stops at the top and with this, Scooter, and now the problems with Alberto Gonzelez how far can we go before we get to Cheney and Bush? This whole tree is rotten.
And We Thought Mel Was the Crazy One...
...but Danny's turning out to be the loose cannon, as he unloads some Riggs on a Daily News reporter:
"Actor Danny Glover - best known for playing the less combustible cop in the "Lethal Weapon" movies - suddenly punched a Daily News photographer yesterday, shocking onlookers with his burst of violence.
As Glover, 60, emerged from Brooklyn Federal Court, he flipped out and threw a roundhouse punch at News photographer Gary He, connecting with a glancing blow to his jaw.
"What gives you the right to come out here and photograph me and have your camera up in my face?" Glover growled, according to He."
As Glover, 60, emerged from Brooklyn Federal Court, he flipped out and threw a roundhouse punch at News photographer Gary He, connecting with a glancing blow to his jaw.
"What gives you the right to come out here and photograph me and have your camera up in my face?" Glover growled, according to He."
Sean Penn quickly called Glover to welcome him to the club.
Monday, March 12, 2007
Hagel for President?
He's leaving himself open to it. Why would he be viable? Well he said the words 'president' and 'impeachment' in the same sentence and he's anti-war. He also seems like a traditional Republican which means he's liberal. If he was black he might be Obama.
One Way to Solve the Walter Reed Problem...
...send injured soldiers back to the front:
""This is not right," said Master Sgt. Ronald Jenkins, who has been ordered to Iraq even though he has a spine problem that doctors say would be damaged further by heavy Army protective gear. "This whole thing is about taking care of soldiers," he said angrily. "If you are fit to fight you are fit to fight. If you are not fit to fight, then you are not fit to fight.""
Well what did you expect? This is the administration that told us that cutting down trees would reduce the number of forest fires.
""This is not right," said Master Sgt. Ronald Jenkins, who has been ordered to Iraq even though he has a spine problem that doctors say would be damaged further by heavy Army protective gear. "This whole thing is about taking care of soldiers," he said angrily. "If you are fit to fight you are fit to fight. If you are not fit to fight, then you are not fit to fight.""
Well what did you expect? This is the administration that told us that cutting down trees would reduce the number of forest fires.
What's the Big Deal?
They're just going home:
"MANAMA/HOUSTON - U.S. oil services firm Halliburton Co. is moving its headquarters and chief executive to Dubai in a move that immediately sparked criticism from some U.S. politicians."
Chop the US off of the first part of that story and you have what Halliburton is--an oil services firm, and their bottom line is MONEY. What? When GM, Ford, and about every other "US" company (see that as companies that hire Americans) left our shores was that a surprise? Guess what? That's how business is run--and considering how much business Halliburton does with the Middle East it makes more sense just to move there I suppose. But as far as allegiances go, Halliburton owes more to Dick Cheney than it does to America--even if it gets its tax breaks from US.
"MANAMA/HOUSTON - U.S. oil services firm Halliburton Co. is moving its headquarters and chief executive to Dubai in a move that immediately sparked criticism from some U.S. politicians."
Chop the US off of the first part of that story and you have what Halliburton is--an oil services firm, and their bottom line is MONEY. What? When GM, Ford, and about every other "US" company (see that as companies that hire Americans) left our shores was that a surprise? Guess what? That's how business is run--and considering how much business Halliburton does with the Middle East it makes more sense just to move there I suppose. But as far as allegiances go, Halliburton owes more to Dick Cheney than it does to America--even if it gets its tax breaks from US.
The Things You Find When You Look Deeper...
The admistration knew they'd have problems with Veteran's care. Washington Post June '05:
"The Bush administration disclosed yesterday that it had vastly underestimated the number of service personnel returning from Iraq and Afghanistan seeking medical treatment from the Department of Veterans Affairs, and warned that the health care programs will be short at least $2.6 billion next year unless Congress approves additional funds.
Veterans Affairs budget documents projected that 23,553 veterans would return this year from Iraq and Afghanistan and seek medical treatment. However, Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson told a Senate committee that the number has been revised upward to 103,000 for the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30. He said the original estimates were based on outdated assumptions from 2002."
From there to here. So much money and so little intellegence.
Hat Tip: Sully.
"The Bush administration disclosed yesterday that it had vastly underestimated the number of service personnel returning from Iraq and Afghanistan seeking medical treatment from the Department of Veterans Affairs, and warned that the health care programs will be short at least $2.6 billion next year unless Congress approves additional funds.
Veterans Affairs budget documents projected that 23,553 veterans would return this year from Iraq and Afghanistan and seek medical treatment. However, Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson told a Senate committee that the number has been revised upward to 103,000 for the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30. He said the original estimates were based on outdated assumptions from 2002."
From there to here. So much money and so little intellegence.
Hat Tip: Sully.
Is Rommey Paying Off Journalists?
It's time...
...for Alberto Gonzalez to go. The NY Times gets on the bandwagon here, but everyone else from all sides seemed to have known this a while ago. If you ask me, when the Attorney General has the audacity to claim that:
"The Constitution doesn’t say every individual in the United States or citizen is hereby granted or assured the right of habeas corpus. It doesn’t say that. It simply says the right shall not be suspended” except in cases of rebellion or invasion."
Then he's not qualified to hold his position, either as Attorney General or a lawyer.
President Bush makes Brief Stop at Colombia
From NYDailynews.com:
"BOGOTA, Colombia - President Bush visited Colombia yesterday to show support for the country's battle against narcoterrorists, but security jitters had him staying only about six hours in the violence-plagued nation.
Bush's brief visit here - which took his motorcade not far from rioting protesters - was meant as a show of confidence in President Alvaro Uribe."
Here's a new motto for Colombia. Colombia--the other Iraq. By the way, we give 700 million a year to Colombia in aid? Talk about money wasted. I know Colombians who have to sneak into the country for fear that they're going to get kidnapped.
"BOGOTA, Colombia - President Bush visited Colombia yesterday to show support for the country's battle against narcoterrorists, but security jitters had him staying only about six hours in the violence-plagued nation.
Bush's brief visit here - which took his motorcade not far from rioting protesters - was meant as a show of confidence in President Alvaro Uribe."
Here's a new motto for Colombia. Colombia--the other Iraq. By the way, we give 700 million a year to Colombia in aid? Talk about money wasted. I know Colombians who have to sneak into the country for fear that they're going to get kidnapped.
300 Breaks Box Office Records...
Who would have thunk it? Although it's not too surprising when you consider the market and this weekend's competition. Ghost Rider has made over 100 million and it totally sucked, and people were dying for something besides Wild Hogs to watch.
Maybe this will be the excuse for them finally to bring Batman: The Dark Knight Returns to the big screen. That would be awesome!
Maybe this will be the excuse for them finally to bring Batman: The Dark Knight Returns to the big screen. That would be awesome!
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Saturday, March 10, 2007
A New Hope...
...not for the Republic but for the United States and Iraq. This should have done a LONG time ago.
Yglesias on how the Iranians, er, the Persians might be US...
Right here...
By the way: I think 300 holds up better than Sin City, but doesn't have Jessica Alba which is always a big minus.
By the way: I think 300 holds up better than Sin City, but doesn't have Jessica Alba which is always a big minus.
Editor's note...
Upon looking over the Wikipedia entry for Swift Vets and POWs for Truth I noticed that there was a mistake in the previous Word posting. The group going after McCain are comprised of a different membership. However we still contend that they are nutbags. We apologize for the mistake.
Liberals Against Swift Boating...
I'm starting the group, and I'm adding Kerry, Leland, and McCain as honorary members. I wasn't even going to mention this story, regarding a new set of attack ads against McCain brought to you by the same nut bags who attacked Kerry so long ago, but the story popped up here and here. For the best analysis of the controversy check out Moment of Triumph.
My thoughts--I don't like John McCain's politics one bit, but the man served his country with distinction and survived though experiences that would give me nightmares. I may still never visit Vietnam. Some people you just have to respect, and McCain is one of them.
My thoughts--I don't like John McCain's politics one bit, but the man served his country with distinction and survived though experiences that would give me nightmares. I may still never visit Vietnam. Some people you just have to respect, and McCain is one of them.
Giuliani Busted!
Or more precisely his campaign is busted for creating a fake group ("Firefighters for Rudy") that's headed by Giuliani aide Tim Brown.
On a different note I'd like to mention my new group, "Superheros For Word of the People". It's headed by Bruce Wayne. Send all correspondence to Bruce@sucker.com. Feedback will be fictional.
On a different note I'd like to mention my new group, "Superheros For Word of the People". It's headed by Bruce Wayne. Send all correspondence to Bruce@sucker.com. Feedback will be fictional.
Sara Silverman humping a Black God...
...Like I care. I think Jesus' General has the right idea as to why all of these Right-wingnuts are outraged. Personally, if I was God I wouldn't be sleeping with Sara Silverman--no disrespect--I'd be sleeping with Ice-T's wife.
Then again maybe Ice-T really is God, because only God could host porn movies, be a pimp, co-star on an popular prime time show and still be allowed to teach upper class white children how be rappers. Now that's skillz.
Then again maybe Ice-T really is God, because only God could host porn movies, be a pimp, co-star on an popular prime time show and still be allowed to teach upper class white children how be rappers. Now that's skillz.
300: The Review
Think of Braveheart...on crack. Excellent movie, with fantastic visuals and heart stopping action sequences. Frank Miller took some huge liberties in developing the plot--including an entire side story following King Leonidas' wife to fill the extra time but for the most part it worked and managed to hit some interesting feminist's points (when was the last time you saw a woman stab some dude to death and the audience cheered?)
Note to liberals: Check your politics at the door. My right-wing friend at the end of the movie said, "hey, how did you like your first pro-Bush movie?" And he was right since the language used by the Spartans so closely parallels the Right when they describe the war on terrorism and the Iraq conflict, though I can't be sure whether or not that was Miller's intention. Regardless of that rhetoric this movie will have you on the edge of your seat ready to throw down with your Spartan brothers. Warning: Watching this and Braveheart back-to-back could lead you to start a revolution against your local tyrant.
Friday, March 09, 2007
The Reasons Behind Bipartisanship...
...the money stupid. Well, at least Yglesias thinks so.
And for the record--for 7 million I'll work with Reynolds, Drudge and Malkin and love it.
A Response to Harry Reid
Over at Huffpo, Senate Maj Leader Harry Reid has this post regarding the Democrats' resolution to 'Bring home the troops:'
"Democrats believe, as does an overwhelming majority of the American people, that President Bush needs to change course in Iraq. We can't stay in Iraq forever. The question becomes whether we'll continue to follow the president's failed strategy or whether we work to change course.
Will the Senate sit silent, or will we bring stability to Iraq and bring our troops home from a protracted civil war?
Democrats have always been unified on these principles.
The mission in Iraq has changed and, therefore, so must U.S. policy change. Troops should not be policing a civil war. The current conflict in Iraq requires a political solution.
Listen to what General Petraeus said today from Iraq: "The war cannot be won militarily. It can only be won politically."
We further believe that Iraq must take responsibility for its own future, and our troops should begin to come home.
That's why, yesterday, I'm introducing a joint resolution calling for the president to change course and bring stability to Iraq by beginning a phased redeployment of U.S. forces from Iraq in 120 days, with the goal of redeploying combat forces from Iraq by the end of March of next year.
A limited number of troops would remain for the purposes of force protection, training and equipping the Iraqi troops, and counterterrorism activities.
Truly changing course in Iraq will require Republican cooperation and support. So far, Republicans have chosen to greenlight the escalation.
Hopefully, Senate Republicans will join the American people in opposing the president's flawed policies in Iraq. They must put doing the right thing above protecting the president."
This has about the same substance and is about as sincere as one of Bush's State of the Union addresses. Now I hate criticizing Democrat leadership. It's like scolding my Mother, and just about as futile, but it needs to be said. In this memo Reid is, at the least, disingenuous and, at most, deceitful. As I talked about here the Democrat resolution isn't a call strictly to pull troops from Iraq--as the American people want. The resolution includes several methods to keep our troops there leaving their presence in the region ultimately in the president's hands.
Is it just me or did I hear the word "blank check" echoing in the distance?
As a way to tame the Iraq conflict the resolution might work--if the goal is to tame and not end Bush's war. You tell us its the latter, but the facts point to the former. You can't have it both ways.
You're doing your party and your constituents a disservice when you try to play both sides of the aisle like this. Since Clinton people have accused the Democrats of not standing for anything, and yet even when a huge majority of Americans LOUDLY oppose our presence in Iraq you continue to talk vague and empty rhetoric. The girl at the end of the bar just tossed her panties in your face, but you're still nursing your drink. Either stand as the opposition party or the Democrats will lose whatever gains they made in the 2006 elections. And you don't need to be Karl Rove to figure that out.
"Democrats believe, as does an overwhelming majority of the American people, that President Bush needs to change course in Iraq. We can't stay in Iraq forever. The question becomes whether we'll continue to follow the president's failed strategy or whether we work to change course.
Will the Senate sit silent, or will we bring stability to Iraq and bring our troops home from a protracted civil war?
Democrats have always been unified on these principles.
The mission in Iraq has changed and, therefore, so must U.S. policy change. Troops should not be policing a civil war. The current conflict in Iraq requires a political solution.
Listen to what General Petraeus said today from Iraq: "The war cannot be won militarily. It can only be won politically."
We further believe that Iraq must take responsibility for its own future, and our troops should begin to come home.
That's why, yesterday, I'm introducing a joint resolution calling for the president to change course and bring stability to Iraq by beginning a phased redeployment of U.S. forces from Iraq in 120 days, with the goal of redeploying combat forces from Iraq by the end of March of next year.
A limited number of troops would remain for the purposes of force protection, training and equipping the Iraqi troops, and counterterrorism activities.
Truly changing course in Iraq will require Republican cooperation and support. So far, Republicans have chosen to greenlight the escalation.
Hopefully, Senate Republicans will join the American people in opposing the president's flawed policies in Iraq. They must put doing the right thing above protecting the president."
This has about the same substance and is about as sincere as one of Bush's State of the Union addresses. Now I hate criticizing Democrat leadership. It's like scolding my Mother, and just about as futile, but it needs to be said. In this memo Reid is, at the least, disingenuous and, at most, deceitful. As I talked about here the Democrat resolution isn't a call strictly to pull troops from Iraq--as the American people want. The resolution includes several methods to keep our troops there leaving their presence in the region ultimately in the president's hands.
Is it just me or did I hear the word "blank check" echoing in the distance?
As a way to tame the Iraq conflict the resolution might work--if the goal is to tame and not end Bush's war. You tell us its the latter, but the facts point to the former. You can't have it both ways.
You're doing your party and your constituents a disservice when you try to play both sides of the aisle like this. Since Clinton people have accused the Democrats of not standing for anything, and yet even when a huge majority of Americans LOUDLY oppose our presence in Iraq you continue to talk vague and empty rhetoric. The girl at the end of the bar just tossed her panties in your face, but you're still nursing your drink. Either stand as the opposition party or the Democrats will lose whatever gains they made in the 2006 elections. And you don't need to be Karl Rove to figure that out.
All the Reasons Why Blacks Should Support Obama...
Right here. My favorite part:
"Rather than using his credentials and connections to build his personal wealth, Obama chose to pursue careers like providing job training for residents of poor neighborhoods, directing voter registration drives and fighting for civil rights. Unlike other candidates in the race, Obama has been consistent in speaking against sending our black babies to murder, and to be murdered by, brown people in the Mesopotamia for the sake of multinational corporate interests. He has successfully forged coalitions with people across racial and political lines to introduce a host of legislation that would, among other things, get guns off our streets, reduce greenhouse emissions, and limit the influence of special interest lobbyist on Capital Hill."
But he paid his parking tickets late!
PS: I wanna mention that as I was looking for that last link I thought I'd find a bunch of junk right-wing posts about those tickets, but it turns out most news services either didn't report it or gave it less than an inch of space. Now if we can only bring Anna Nicole and that NASA nut down to that amount of coverage we'd be getting somewhere.
"Rather than using his credentials and connections to build his personal wealth, Obama chose to pursue careers like providing job training for residents of poor neighborhoods, directing voter registration drives and fighting for civil rights. Unlike other candidates in the race, Obama has been consistent in speaking against sending our black babies to murder, and to be murdered by, brown people in the Mesopotamia for the sake of multinational corporate interests. He has successfully forged coalitions with people across racial and political lines to introduce a host of legislation that would, among other things, get guns off our streets, reduce greenhouse emissions, and limit the influence of special interest lobbyist on Capital Hill."
But he paid his parking tickets late!
PS: I wanna mention that as I was looking for that last link I thought I'd find a bunch of junk right-wing posts about those tickets, but it turns out most news services either didn't report it or gave it less than an inch of space. Now if we can only bring Anna Nicole and that NASA nut down to that amount of coverage we'd be getting somewhere.
The Wall of Shame...
...gets a new member. Move over Rush Limbaugh and Bill Bennett, Newt Gingrich steps to the head of the class as the man who led the impeachment of Bill Clinton admits that he had an affair at the same time:"WASHINGTON - Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich was having an extramarital affair even as he led the charge against President Clinton over the Monica Lewinsky affair, he acknowledged in an interview with a conservative Christian group.
"The honest answer is yes," Gingrich, a potential 2008 Republican presidential candidate, said in an interview with Focus on the Family founder James Dobson to be aired Friday, according to a transcript provided to The Associated Press. "There are times that I have fallen short of my own standards. There's certainly times when I've fallen short of God's standards.""
God's, Man's, the standards of decency...you hit them all. Then again how much can you expect from a guy named Newt:
"Newts can take several years to reach sexual maturity. Their main breeding season is between February and June. They hatch as tadpoles from eggs laid in ponds or slow-moving streams. In the case of triturus even brackish water is used, but most species are more picky. (see image on the right) Then they undergo metamorphosis, during which they commonly leave the water, only to return to the water to live out their adult lives. "
Metamorphosis--the new word for hypocrisy.
More swings than Benny Goodman...
...the economy stupid--and according to this unemployment is down:
"WASHINGTON - The nation’s unemployment rate dipped to 4.5 percent in February even as big losses of construction and factory jobs restrained overall payroll growth. Wages grew briskly."
But...
"Employers, meanwhile, added 97,000 new jobs to their payrolls in February, the fewest in two years, as bad winter weather forced construction companies to slash 62,000 jobs, the most since 1991. Factories, feeling the strain of the troubled housing and auto industries, also continued to cut jobs. They eliminated 14,000 positions last month."
The big picture? If you work in construction, auto, or housing, and you're not Donald Trump, you're not happy. But if you're one of the other 25,000 + you're feeling fine. Either way the news doesn't really help assuage investors' (or consumers' for that matter) fears.
"WASHINGTON - The nation’s unemployment rate dipped to 4.5 percent in February even as big losses of construction and factory jobs restrained overall payroll growth. Wages grew briskly."
But...
"Employers, meanwhile, added 97,000 new jobs to their payrolls in February, the fewest in two years, as bad winter weather forced construction companies to slash 62,000 jobs, the most since 1991. Factories, feeling the strain of the troubled housing and auto industries, also continued to cut jobs. They eliminated 14,000 positions last month."
The big picture? If you work in construction, auto, or housing, and you're not Donald Trump, you're not happy. But if you're one of the other 25,000 + you're feeling fine. Either way the news doesn't really help assuage investors' (or consumers' for that matter) fears.
More on the New and Improved Daylight Savings
The one they just snuck in. Could it lead to a new Y2K scare? From MSNBC.com:
""The average person, John and Jane computer user, is unlikely to see much of a problem, if anything," said David Keller, founder of Compu-Doctor, a computer-help provider in Florida. But in many complex networks with a range of newer and older equipment, on-the-fly tweaks sometimes have been unavailable. That has forced systems engineers to study how various computing applications deal with time, and make manual fixes if necessary.
The process reminded some people of the planning for the widely feared Year 2000 bug, even if the effects of this glitch — computer time is an hour off — appear way less threatening.
"We're going back to our Y2K lists to refresh our memories, to see what we did where and whether any of those areas are applicable to this, and sometimes the answer is yes," Ronner said."
""The average person, John and Jane computer user, is unlikely to see much of a problem, if anything," said David Keller, founder of Compu-Doctor, a computer-help provider in Florida. But in many complex networks with a range of newer and older equipment, on-the-fly tweaks sometimes have been unavailable. That has forced systems engineers to study how various computing applications deal with time, and make manual fixes if necessary.
The process reminded some people of the planning for the widely feared Year 2000 bug, even if the effects of this glitch — computer time is an hour off — appear way less threatening.
"We're going back to our Y2K lists to refresh our memories, to see what we did where and whether any of those areas are applicable to this, and sometimes the answer is yes," Ronner said."
My thoughts? Just like Y2K this thing will most likely pass us by, and since the change will be on Sunday rather than Saturday you'll sleep right through it.
PS: You might wonder why I keep posting up pictures of the Clock King from Batman. Simple--I think he's a righteous dude.
Taking a Step Back: A Special Report
HARLEM--Friday morning, around 10 am, and I just arrive to work. The temperature is below freezing but very sunny, hardly a cloud in the sky, and if you stand right in the light it's warm enough to strip out of your heavy coat and stand without shivering. The birds are chirping, squirels are out doing...squirrel stuff, and the streets are pretty much empty, our residents peacefully going to work. That's the key word here: peaceful. The morning is just about as idyllic as one could imagine outside of a Robert Frost poem. Even the air tastes fresh.
But from reading the front page of the New York Times this morning one would think that the world is going to hell in a hand basket. There's a US report from the Justice department regarding an abuse of power by the FBI, more on the Walter Reed scandal, a story on a Bronx fire that took the lives of eight children and one adult, and crime in cities is on the rise. Yet looking at the paper in my hands and looking at the world in my face under the bright, nearly divine light, the two seem to contradict each other. In order for one to exist the other must be a work of fiction. And in a novel that would be the case.
But this isn't a work of fiction, this is the real world. And the real world is complex. The real world is full of contradictions and paradoxes. Regardless of what some pundits will tell you there is moral relativism, and all people are filled with some amount of good and evil regardless of race, creed, and religion. To love something, or someone, one must be accepting of the whole thing, not just a part of it--that section that shines.
The media and other elements will sometimes twist the truth for their own purposes, while others innocently twist it to create a narrative that makes sense, and while I can't say with certainty which one the Times falls under I will say this: Holding on to your sanity is an exercise where a person must accept two diametrically opposed truths at one time. You must be both a liberal and a conservative, a Republican and a Democrat, a heterosexual and a homosexual, and everything else in between to some extent because the truth is that one cannot exist without the other. That is not to say you can't pick a side, or decide on a particular position and fight for it--that is the calling of mankind--but to live, to exist without losing your head, you have to understand that regardless of anything you do the two sides will survive with or without you. Today is beautiful even if the front page of the NY Times (and I'm sure every blog I'll look at today) tells me the world is going to shit. Our challenge is to reconcile the two. And I know we can, if we take a step back.
And now we continue with our regularly scheduled programming...already in progress.
But from reading the front page of the New York Times this morning one would think that the world is going to hell in a hand basket. There's a US report from the Justice department regarding an abuse of power by the FBI, more on the Walter Reed scandal, a story on a Bronx fire that took the lives of eight children and one adult, and crime in cities is on the rise. Yet looking at the paper in my hands and looking at the world in my face under the bright, nearly divine light, the two seem to contradict each other. In order for one to exist the other must be a work of fiction. And in a novel that would be the case.
But this isn't a work of fiction, this is the real world. And the real world is complex. The real world is full of contradictions and paradoxes. Regardless of what some pundits will tell you there is moral relativism, and all people are filled with some amount of good and evil regardless of race, creed, and religion. To love something, or someone, one must be accepting of the whole thing, not just a part of it--that section that shines.
The media and other elements will sometimes twist the truth for their own purposes, while others innocently twist it to create a narrative that makes sense, and while I can't say with certainty which one the Times falls under I will say this: Holding on to your sanity is an exercise where a person must accept two diametrically opposed truths at one time. You must be both a liberal and a conservative, a Republican and a Democrat, a heterosexual and a homosexual, and everything else in between to some extent because the truth is that one cannot exist without the other. That is not to say you can't pick a side, or decide on a particular position and fight for it--that is the calling of mankind--but to live, to exist without losing your head, you have to understand that regardless of anything you do the two sides will survive with or without you. Today is beautiful even if the front page of the NY Times (and I'm sure every blog I'll look at today) tells me the world is going to shit. Our challenge is to reconcile the two. And I know we can, if we take a step back.
And now we continue with our regularly scheduled programming...already in progress.
Thursday, March 08, 2007
What time is it?
If you're like me, you had no idea until recently that Daylight Savings Time had been changed and its start was pushed back from April 1st to March 11th. Turns out the change was caused by a portion of the Energy Policy Act of 2005. My question--how the hell didn't I know about this? I mean its TIME for the love of Pete! Shouldn't that get at least as much discussion as Anna Nicole Smith? Or whatever the equivalent 2005 celebrity news story was?Next thing you know they'll be changing the line up for Must See TV. THEY DID!?!?!?! WHERE THE HELL IS ER? NOOOOO!!!!!!
Angelina Jolie Nude!
Not really, but she has been nominated to sit on the Illuminati, er, I mean Council of Foreign Relations. In any event it gives me a reason to post up a really hot pic. Does this ruin my blogging integrity?
What about posting up the Youtube clip of Tyra Banks groping Katherine McPhee?
It's sweeps week. Sue me.
So...did we win?
Yglesias says we did win the Iraq war but then explains why I still feel sick:
"The problem in Iraq is that, we won a hollow victory. Defeating Saddam and replacing him with a new regime based around exiled Shiite political parties has a negative impact on America's strategic position in the world. Even were Iraq to grow substantially less chaotic over the next 2-5 years this would continue to be the case. The win-lose frame, while factually wrong, is also politically counterproductive. As Weisberg indicates, voters are reluctant to declare defeat for understandable psychological reasons. But there's no need to do that here. It's the fact of American victory that makes further involvement so untenable -- this is what winning looks like and, frankly, it looks like shit; there's no earthly reason to keep doing this; becoming "more successful" at backing the Maliki government wouldn't accomplish anything."
Wisdom means asking the right questions and fighting the right battles--this is the result of this administration's lack of wisdom.
"The problem in Iraq is that, we won a hollow victory. Defeating Saddam and replacing him with a new regime based around exiled Shiite political parties has a negative impact on America's strategic position in the world. Even were Iraq to grow substantially less chaotic over the next 2-5 years this would continue to be the case. The win-lose frame, while factually wrong, is also politically counterproductive. As Weisberg indicates, voters are reluctant to declare defeat for understandable psychological reasons. But there's no need to do that here. It's the fact of American victory that makes further involvement so untenable -- this is what winning looks like and, frankly, it looks like shit; there's no earthly reason to keep doing this; becoming "more successful" at backing the Maliki government wouldn't accomplish anything."
Wisdom means asking the right questions and fighting the right battles--this is the result of this administration's lack of wisdom.
When they ask you about the "questions" regarding Obama's finances...
...tell them this. Money quote:
"This is a classic example of the weaknesses of "objective" news reporting on ethical issues. The Times reporters don't make an explicit argument or concede the limitations of their claim. Instead, they string together a series of facts around a loose hypothesis (that Obama's actions "raise questions") and leave it to the reader to infer what they cannot prove. It's dirty pool."
"This is a classic example of the weaknesses of "objective" news reporting on ethical issues. The Times reporters don't make an explicit argument or concede the limitations of their claim. Instead, they string together a series of facts around a loose hypothesis (that Obama's actions "raise questions") and leave it to the reader to infer what they cannot prove. It's dirty pool."
Pardon me?
Rude Pundit gives a convincing argument for pardoning Scooter. Money quote:
"Brent Budowsky, a former aide to Lloyd Bentsen, agrees with Harry Reid, and then says things like the "integrity of the judicial process" and "integrity" in intelligence information and its use. But using the word "integrity" in relation to the Bush administration is like using the word "witty" in relation to Ann Coulter. We don't expect integrity from the Bush White House. We only expect craven self-interest, ideology above reality, and unending crazy threats, to individuals, to groups, to nations. And with an unpardoned Libby perhaps ready to make a deal than facing even a couple of years in the federal pen, well, shit, any feints at "integrity" or "honor" would have to be shredded like so many documents before a Congressional subpoena.
"So, c'mon, Bush administration, just get it over with. Pardon Libby. Would it really make you look any worse?"
"Brent Budowsky, a former aide to Lloyd Bentsen, agrees with Harry Reid, and then says things like the "integrity of the judicial process" and "integrity" in intelligence information and its use. But using the word "integrity" in relation to the Bush administration is like using the word "witty" in relation to Ann Coulter. We don't expect integrity from the Bush White House. We only expect craven self-interest, ideology above reality, and unending crazy threats, to individuals, to groups, to nations. And with an unpardoned Libby perhaps ready to make a deal than facing even a couple of years in the federal pen, well, shit, any feints at "integrity" or "honor" would have to be shredded like so many documents before a Congressional subpoena.
"So, c'mon, Bush administration, just get it over with. Pardon Libby. Would it really make you look any worse?"
Economy watch
Just don't say the word 'recession':
"Since the middle of last year, a downturn in the U.S. housing market has taken its toll on a wide group of people and companies, clobbering homebuilders, condo flippers, borrowers with weak credit, lenders who oversold loans, and just about anyone with a home for sale.
"Now the housing slump is hitting yet another target: housing-related jobs, a list that includes everyone from the people who build and sell houses to makers of appliances and furnishings."
"Since the middle of last year, a downturn in the U.S. housing market has taken its toll on a wide group of people and companies, clobbering homebuilders, condo flippers, borrowers with weak credit, lenders who oversold loans, and just about anyone with a home for sale.
"Now the housing slump is hitting yet another target: housing-related jobs, a list that includes everyone from the people who build and sell houses to makers of appliances and furnishings."
Dems to introduce Iraq withdrawal...
After testing the waters with their anti-surge resolution, the Dems are taking the next step in calling for a full withdrawal of US troops by 2008 should the Iraqi government not meet certain benchmarks:
"The conditions, described as tentative until presented to the Democratic rank and file, would be added to legislation providing nearly $100 billion the Bush administration has requested for fighting in Iraq and AfgSpeaker Nancy Pelosi’s office announced plans for a Thursday morning news conference to unveil the measure, without providing any of the details. It said she would be joined by Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., and other key lawmakers. Murtha is chairman of the subcommittee with jurisdiction over the Pentagon’s budget and is among the House’s most outspoken opponents of the war.
"But Democrats familiar with the emerging legislation said the bill would require President Bush to certify that the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was making progress toward providing for his country’s security, allocating its oil revenues and creating a fair system for amending its constitution.
"They said if Bush certified the Iraqis were meeting these so-called benchmarks, U.S. combat troops could remain until September of next year. Otherwise, the deadline would move up to the end of 2007."
Sounds pretty decisive yes? Then comes the politics:
"At the same time, it permits Bush to issue waivers of these standards. Democrats described the waiver provision as an attempt to embarrass the president, but their effect would be to permit the administration to proceed with plans to deploy five additional combat brigades to the Baghdad area over the next few months."
Let me check to see if I have this right--you have a troop withdrawal bill that allows a President, who may or surely lied to take us into this war of convenience, to add more troops and 'waive' the established benchmarks to keep them there because, when it blows up in his face he'll be 'embarrassed.' Who the hell thinks of this stuff? And then the Democrats wonder why the public thinks that they flip-flop. This President is beyond embarrassment. You have enough embarrassing material on Bush to make a series of DVDs hosted by Bob Saget, but at the end of the day he's programmed to 'stay the course,' even when his notes tell him that he never said 'stay the course.' I will say one thing about the Prez--he's never wavered from his position no matter how the polls have swayed or what his daddy or the rest of the world has said. He has a pathological inertia that keeps his internal compass aimed downward. If you give him the ability to keep troops in Iraq how can you not believe he won't keep them there? That's like telling a crackhead, "Look we're hiding your crack, but if you really want it we put it in that bag labeled 'Crack'."
Jokes aside, this game is being played with human lives. Either you want the troops out or you don't, but you can't have it both ways. As the opposition party the Democrats are not supposed to want it both ways. While this is a nice metaphorical step, its vague language will only insure more deaths in a situation whose outcome is determined. We've already lost our military struggle, now you're just drawing straws to see which one of our GIs will be the last to die.
"The conditions, described as tentative until presented to the Democratic rank and file, would be added to legislation providing nearly $100 billion the Bush administration has requested for fighting in Iraq and AfgSpeaker Nancy Pelosi’s office announced plans for a Thursday morning news conference to unveil the measure, without providing any of the details. It said she would be joined by Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., and other key lawmakers. Murtha is chairman of the subcommittee with jurisdiction over the Pentagon’s budget and is among the House’s most outspoken opponents of the war.
"But Democrats familiar with the emerging legislation said the bill would require President Bush to certify that the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was making progress toward providing for his country’s security, allocating its oil revenues and creating a fair system for amending its constitution.
"They said if Bush certified the Iraqis were meeting these so-called benchmarks, U.S. combat troops could remain until September of next year. Otherwise, the deadline would move up to the end of 2007."
Sounds pretty decisive yes? Then comes the politics:
"At the same time, it permits Bush to issue waivers of these standards. Democrats described the waiver provision as an attempt to embarrass the president, but their effect would be to permit the administration to proceed with plans to deploy five additional combat brigades to the Baghdad area over the next few months."
Let me check to see if I have this right--you have a troop withdrawal bill that allows a President, who may or surely lied to take us into this war of convenience, to add more troops and 'waive' the established benchmarks to keep them there because, when it blows up in his face he'll be 'embarrassed.' Who the hell thinks of this stuff? And then the Democrats wonder why the public thinks that they flip-flop. This President is beyond embarrassment. You have enough embarrassing material on Bush to make a series of DVDs hosted by Bob Saget, but at the end of the day he's programmed to 'stay the course,' even when his notes tell him that he never said 'stay the course.' I will say one thing about the Prez--he's never wavered from his position no matter how the polls have swayed or what his daddy or the rest of the world has said. He has a pathological inertia that keeps his internal compass aimed downward. If you give him the ability to keep troops in Iraq how can you not believe he won't keep them there? That's like telling a crackhead, "Look we're hiding your crack, but if you really want it we put it in that bag labeled 'Crack'."
Jokes aside, this game is being played with human lives. Either you want the troops out or you don't, but you can't have it both ways. As the opposition party the Democrats are not supposed to want it both ways. While this is a nice metaphorical step, its vague language will only insure more deaths in a situation whose outcome is determined. We've already lost our military struggle, now you're just drawing straws to see which one of our GIs will be the last to die.
Something we can do now for our children...
The debate continues regarding new NY Gov Eliot Spitzer's heath care budget. Many people argue that his budget will cut over 244 million to city hospitals but Spitzer contends that he's siphoning the money away from traditional care and moving towards community outpatient facilities.
Yet there is an important drug already supposed to be offered free of charge to NYC's poor youth that's not reaching them:
"The new cervical cancer vaccine isn't available at many city clinics - and girls who are eligible to get it for free or at low cost are often told they have to pay, Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum said yesterday.
"None of the 11 city clinics designated to treat sexually transmitted diseases offers the three-shot Gardasil series, Gotbaum said.
"Federal guidelines recommend that 11- and 12-year-old girls get vaccinated routinely against the human papilloma virus, which causes 70% of cervical cancers."
Sometimes when our politicians focus on the big picture in terms of health care they forget that its small thing like vaccination that can make the large difference.
Yet there is an important drug already supposed to be offered free of charge to NYC's poor youth that's not reaching them:
"The new cervical cancer vaccine isn't available at many city clinics - and girls who are eligible to get it for free or at low cost are often told they have to pay, Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum said yesterday.
"None of the 11 city clinics designated to treat sexually transmitted diseases offers the three-shot Gardasil series, Gotbaum said.
"Federal guidelines recommend that 11- and 12-year-old girls get vaccinated routinely against the human papilloma virus, which causes 70% of cervical cancers."
Sometimes when our politicians focus on the big picture in terms of health care they forget that its small thing like vaccination that can make the large difference.
It took them this long?
NASA fires Lisa Nowak:
"NASA dismissed Nowak on Wednesday, a month after she was charged with trying to kidnap a woman she regarded as her romantic rival for the affections of a space shuttle pilot.
Nowak's dismissal did not reflect the space agency's belief in her guilt or innocence, NASA officials said. The agency said it lacked an administrative system to handle the allegations because Nowak is a naval officer on assignment to NASA, rather than a NASA civil servant."
Bloomberg once fired a dude on the spot because he was playing Solitaire on company time--but yet it took NASA a month to fire Lisa after charges of kidnapping? In this situation it's not about guilt or innocence it's about image, and frankly when a story like this breaks the first thing the suspect should think is "damm, guess I won't be going back to work on Monday." Especially when they're a friggin ASTRONAUT.
Then again you'd think after they found Libby guilty the President might want to distance himself from the Veep. Just shows you what I know.
"NASA dismissed Nowak on Wednesday, a month after she was charged with trying to kidnap a woman she regarded as her romantic rival for the affections of a space shuttle pilot.
Nowak's dismissal did not reflect the space agency's belief in her guilt or innocence, NASA officials said. The agency said it lacked an administrative system to handle the allegations because Nowak is a naval officer on assignment to NASA, rather than a NASA civil servant."
Bloomberg once fired a dude on the spot because he was playing Solitaire on company time--but yet it took NASA a month to fire Lisa after charges of kidnapping? In this situation it's not about guilt or innocence it's about image, and frankly when a story like this breaks the first thing the suspect should think is "damm, guess I won't be going back to work on Monday." Especially when they're a friggin ASTRONAUT.
Then again you'd think after they found Libby guilty the President might want to distance himself from the Veep. Just shows you what I know.
Homeless figures rise in NYC
From the NYDailynews:
"The average number of homeless families last month totaled 9,287, marking an all-time record high since the city began tracking this data about 25 years ago.
According to the report, during the past year, the number of homeless New Yorkers in shelters increased by 11.1%, the number of homeless families in shelters increased by 17.6%, and the number of homeless children increased by 18.1%."
But yet the economy is doing fine. I wonder what are the figures on low income housing build vs. luxury condos.
"The average number of homeless families last month totaled 9,287, marking an all-time record high since the city began tracking this data about 25 years ago.
According to the report, during the past year, the number of homeless New Yorkers in shelters increased by 11.1%, the number of homeless families in shelters increased by 17.6%, and the number of homeless children increased by 18.1%."
But yet the economy is doing fine. I wonder what are the figures on low income housing build vs. luxury condos.
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
More news you won't hear from CNN
From Stories in America:
"According to the United Nations Children's Agency (UNICEF), about one in 10 children under five in Iraq are underweight and one in five are short for their age. This means that some 4.5 million children in the country are under-nourished."
Why does this matter? Well beyond the morality of the situation, remember that we're supposed to be winning their "hearts and minds?" Well letting children starve isn't a winning tactic. Then again it's not like we're doing that much better here.
Then again maybe suffering is a good thing? This theocon thinks so, and takes Obama to task for trying to alleviate pain.
Is it just me, or does it feel that sometimes that we have just lost all sense of decency?
"According to the United Nations Children's Agency (UNICEF), about one in 10 children under five in Iraq are underweight and one in five are short for their age. This means that some 4.5 million children in the country are under-nourished."
Why does this matter? Well beyond the morality of the situation, remember that we're supposed to be winning their "hearts and minds?" Well letting children starve isn't a winning tactic. Then again it's not like we're doing that much better here.
Then again maybe suffering is a good thing? This theocon thinks so, and takes Obama to task for trying to alleviate pain.
Is it just me, or does it feel that sometimes that we have just lost all sense of decency?
Libby makes strange bedfellows...
What does a Greek liberal, a conservative man, and a gay pundit have in common? They all think Libby should be further investigated by Congress. From Sully:
"It's come to this? I'm watching Scarborough and see both Buchanan and Huffington agreeing that the Congress needs to take the Libby verdict from here on. Both opposed the war. I didn't. But at this point, I agree with them. Why are those of us who favored the war not as eager to investigate whether we were deliberately misled? Weren't we potentially conned as well?"
Better do it now, before Libby gets pardoned.
"It's come to this? I'm watching Scarborough and see both Buchanan and Huffington agreeing that the Congress needs to take the Libby verdict from here on. Both opposed the war. I didn't. But at this point, I agree with them. Why are those of us who favored the war not as eager to investigate whether we were deliberately misled? Weren't we potentially conned as well?"
Better do it now, before Libby gets pardoned.
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
The last word on Coulter...
...is best left to Sully here. Not only does fantastically deconstruct what Coulter said, but his post is also very telling about hateful language that we all may say without thinking it's "hurtful." Money quote:
"Coulter's defense of the slur is that it was directed at an obviously straight man and so could not be a real slur. The premise of this argument is that the word faggot is only used to describe gay men and is only effective and derogatory when used against a gay man. But it isn't. In fact, in the schoolyard she cites, the primary targets of the f-word are straight boys or teens or men. The word "faggot" is used for two reasons: to identify and demonize a gay man; and to threaten a straight man with being reduced to the level of a gay man. Coulter chose the latter use of the slur, its most potent and common form. She knew why Edwards qualified. He's pretty, he has flowing locks, he's young-looking. He is exactly the kind of straight guy who is targeted as a "faggot" by his straight peers. This, Ms Coulter, is real social policing by speech. And that's what she was doing: trying to delegitimize and feminize a man by calling him a faggot. It happens every day. It's how insecure or bigoted straight men police their world to keep the homos out.
And for the slur to work, it must logically accept the premise that gay men are weak, effeminate, wusses, sissies, and the rest. A sane gay man has two responses to this, I think. The first is that there is nothing wrong with effeminacy or effeminate gay men - and certainly nothing weak about many of them. In the plague years, I saw countless nelly sissies face HIV and AIDS with as much courage and steel as any warrior on earth. You want to meet someone with balls? Find a drag queen. The courage of many gay men every day in facing down hatred and scorn and derision to live lives of dignity and integrity is not a sign of being a wuss or somehow weak. We have as much and maybe more courage than many - because we have had to acquire it to survive. And that is especially true of gay men whose effeminacy may not make them able to pass as straight - the very people Coulter seeks to demonize. The conflation of effeminacy with weakness, and of gayness with weakness, is what Coulter calculatedly asserted. This was not a joke. It was an attack.
Secondly, gay men are not all effeminate. In the last couple of weeks, we have seen a leading NBA player and a soldier come out to tell their stories. I'd like to hear Coulter tell Amaechi and Alva that they are sissies and wusses. A man in uniform who just lost a leg for his country is a sissy? What Coulter did, in her callow, empty way, was to accuse John Edwards of not being a real man. To do so, she asserted that gay men are not really men either. The emasculation of men in minority groups is an ancient trope of the vilest bigotry. Why was it wrong, after all, for white men to call African-American men "boys"? Because it robbed them of the dignity of their masculinity. And that's what Coulter did last Friday to gays. She said - and conservatives applauded - that I and so many others are not men. We are men, Ann.
As members of other minorities have been forced to say in the past: I am not a faggot. I am a man."
"Coulter's defense of the slur is that it was directed at an obviously straight man and so could not be a real slur. The premise of this argument is that the word faggot is only used to describe gay men and is only effective and derogatory when used against a gay man. But it isn't. In fact, in the schoolyard she cites, the primary targets of the f-word are straight boys or teens or men. The word "faggot" is used for two reasons: to identify and demonize a gay man; and to threaten a straight man with being reduced to the level of a gay man. Coulter chose the latter use of the slur, its most potent and common form. She knew why Edwards qualified. He's pretty, he has flowing locks, he's young-looking. He is exactly the kind of straight guy who is targeted as a "faggot" by his straight peers. This, Ms Coulter, is real social policing by speech. And that's what she was doing: trying to delegitimize and feminize a man by calling him a faggot. It happens every day. It's how insecure or bigoted straight men police their world to keep the homos out.
And for the slur to work, it must logically accept the premise that gay men are weak, effeminate, wusses, sissies, and the rest. A sane gay man has two responses to this, I think. The first is that there is nothing wrong with effeminacy or effeminate gay men - and certainly nothing weak about many of them. In the plague years, I saw countless nelly sissies face HIV and AIDS with as much courage and steel as any warrior on earth. You want to meet someone with balls? Find a drag queen. The courage of many gay men every day in facing down hatred and scorn and derision to live lives of dignity and integrity is not a sign of being a wuss or somehow weak. We have as much and maybe more courage than many - because we have had to acquire it to survive. And that is especially true of gay men whose effeminacy may not make them able to pass as straight - the very people Coulter seeks to demonize. The conflation of effeminacy with weakness, and of gayness with weakness, is what Coulter calculatedly asserted. This was not a joke. It was an attack.
Secondly, gay men are not all effeminate. In the last couple of weeks, we have seen a leading NBA player and a soldier come out to tell their stories. I'd like to hear Coulter tell Amaechi and Alva that they are sissies and wusses. A man in uniform who just lost a leg for his country is a sissy? What Coulter did, in her callow, empty way, was to accuse John Edwards of not being a real man. To do so, she asserted that gay men are not really men either. The emasculation of men in minority groups is an ancient trope of the vilest bigotry. Why was it wrong, after all, for white men to call African-American men "boys"? Because it robbed them of the dignity of their masculinity. And that's what Coulter did last Friday to gays. She said - and conservatives applauded - that I and so many others are not men. We are men, Ann.
As members of other minorities have been forced to say in the past: I am not a faggot. I am a man."
Nice to be wrong (for a change)
Scooter found guilty on four of five counts. From MSNBC.com:
"WASHINGTON - Former White House aide I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby was convicted Tuesday of obstruction, perjury and lying to the FBI in an investigation into the leak of a CIA operative’s identity.
Libby, the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, was accused of lying and obstructing the investigation into the 2003 leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame’s identity to reporters.
He was acquitted of one count of lying to the FBI. "
I wish I could get the above picture as a poster. Let the spinning begin!
Greenspan revises comments...
...says now that there's a one-third possiblity of recession:
"SINGAPORE - Former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan was quoted as seeing a “one-third probability” of recession in the United States this year, according to an interview with Bloomberg."
That's right calm them down. Problem is the tumor's still there. Still, if you're like Mort Zuckerman you might want to put your money in government bonds in the next couple of months. From the March 4 Mclaughlin Group:
"MR. ZUCKERMAN: My pillow is stuffed with U.S. government bonds. That's the way I sleep, John.
MR. MCLAUGHLIN: Did you move into government -- did you see this coming?
MR. ZUCKERMAN: No, of course not.
MR. MCLAUGHLIN: Did anyone have the sense to move into government bonds before it hit?
MR. ZUCKERMAN: I'm sure some people did, but I don't think they did it in anticipation of the Shanghai market going down by 9 percent.
MR. MCLAUGHLIN: How can you seem so elated, almost, here today?
MR. BUCHANAN: John --
MR. ZUCKERMAN: I'm elated because I'm on this show, John. You know, it's such a thrill.
MR. BUCHANAN: Right. (Laughs.)"
"SINGAPORE - Former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan was quoted as seeing a “one-third probability” of recession in the United States this year, according to an interview with Bloomberg."
That's right calm them down. Problem is the tumor's still there. Still, if you're like Mort Zuckerman you might want to put your money in government bonds in the next couple of months. From the March 4 Mclaughlin Group:
"MR. ZUCKERMAN: My pillow is stuffed with U.S. government bonds. That's the way I sleep, John.
MR. MCLAUGHLIN: Did you move into government -- did you see this coming?
MR. ZUCKERMAN: No, of course not.
MR. MCLAUGHLIN: Did anyone have the sense to move into government bonds before it hit?
MR. ZUCKERMAN: I'm sure some people did, but I don't think they did it in anticipation of the Shanghai market going down by 9 percent.
MR. MCLAUGHLIN: How can you seem so elated, almost, here today?
MR. BUCHANAN: John --
MR. ZUCKERMAN: I'm elated because I'm on this show, John. You know, it's such a thrill.
MR. BUCHANAN: Right. (Laughs.)"
Horrible...
Dozens of Shiite pilgrims killed. From MSNBC.com:
"BAGHDAD, Iraq - Two suicide bombers killed at least 90 Shiites making a pilgrimage south of Baghdad ahead of a weekend holiday, police said Tuesday.
The pilgrims came under attack as they streamed south, mostly on foot, toward a shrine in Karbala. Two bombers exploded themselves in a crowd of pilgrims in Hillah, about 60 miles south of the capital."
And just in case you thought the US got away scot free:
"Separately, U.S. officials said nine American soldiers died in explosions north of Baghdad on Monday the deadliest single day for U.S. troops in Iraq in nearly a month."
"BAGHDAD, Iraq - Two suicide bombers killed at least 90 Shiites making a pilgrimage south of Baghdad ahead of a weekend holiday, police said Tuesday.
The pilgrims came under attack as they streamed south, mostly on foot, toward a shrine in Karbala. Two bombers exploded themselves in a crowd of pilgrims in Hillah, about 60 miles south of the capital."
And just in case you thought the US got away scot free:
"Separately, U.S. officials said nine American soldiers died in explosions north of Baghdad on Monday the deadliest single day for U.S. troops in Iraq in nearly a month."
Blogs are political tools...
...as the Guardian discovers:
"Westerners assume Middle Eastern bloggers are liberal. But the Muslim Brotherhood has just started blogging in force."
Is this a surprise? Are we to be shocked because the East has their Ann Coulters?
"Westerners assume Middle Eastern bloggers are liberal. But the Muslim Brotherhood has just started blogging in force."
Is this a surprise? Are we to be shocked because the East has their Ann Coulters?
Monday, March 05, 2007
Al-Qaeda at Thermopylae
So a couple of days ago I bought and finished 300: March to Glory, the video game that accompanies 300 the movie, coming out on March 9th. The game was overall a pretty fun button masher, with decent graphics and story board. However, and quite a large however, I was a bit confused and puzzled by the game's use of suicide bombers.
For those of you unfamiliar with 300, it's a movie based on the graphic novel by Frank Miller. The story depicts the tale of the 300 Spartans who stood up to the million strong Persian army at Thermopylae at around 480 BC. Stylistic, Miller does take some liberties in developing the story, however I don't remember any suicide bombers in the novel. Enter the video game which features "Persian Slaves," picture Gandhi in a diaper carrying some flaming device. He runs up to a Spartan and boom! It's like downtown Baghdad.
Now I'm not one for political correctness, but why would the makers of the game add such an odd fiction to their game? I wish I could answer that point. I wish I didn't have a feeling that there is a deep down political purpose to the bomber which further enhances the already apparent neo-conservative ideas of the story (west vs. east, freedom and democracy vs. slavery and theocracy), all I do know is that on one hand the "bomber" totally took me out of the game, and in some way was offensive not only to the modern day descendants on Persians (hey Iranians have enough bad press to deal with) but to me having to deal with such an overt political ploy in the middle of my video game which I play to escape reality. If I need to watch someone on a screen twist reality I'll turn on Fox News. What's next, a video game based on the Spanish-American war where Pancho Villa rides up in a low rider? Or how about a video game based on Shaka Zulu? Instead of throwing spears the Zulu's will do drive bys while selling crack to the British. What's wrong with a little racism? It's all just a game.
For those of you unfamiliar with 300, it's a movie based on the graphic novel by Frank Miller. The story depicts the tale of the 300 Spartans who stood up to the million strong Persian army at Thermopylae at around 480 BC. Stylistic, Miller does take some liberties in developing the story, however I don't remember any suicide bombers in the novel. Enter the video game which features "Persian Slaves," picture Gandhi in a diaper carrying some flaming device. He runs up to a Spartan and boom! It's like downtown Baghdad.
Now I'm not one for political correctness, but why would the makers of the game add such an odd fiction to their game? I wish I could answer that point. I wish I didn't have a feeling that there is a deep down political purpose to the bomber which further enhances the already apparent neo-conservative ideas of the story (west vs. east, freedom and democracy vs. slavery and theocracy), all I do know is that on one hand the "bomber" totally took me out of the game, and in some way was offensive not only to the modern day descendants on Persians (hey Iranians have enough bad press to deal with) but to me having to deal with such an overt political ploy in the middle of my video game which I play to escape reality. If I need to watch someone on a screen twist reality I'll turn on Fox News. What's next, a video game based on the Spanish-American war where Pancho Villa rides up in a low rider? Or how about a video game based on Shaka Zulu? Instead of throwing spears the Zulu's will do drive bys while selling crack to the British. What's wrong with a little racism? It's all just a game.
Saturday, March 03, 2007
A sane conservative voice
Ed Morrissey makes sense regarding the Coulter at the CPAC. Money quote:
"First, criticizing Coulter's use of the word "faggot" is not a suppression of free speech; it is an exercise of free speech. We're not advocating her arrest for using the word. We're just saying it was stupid, unnecessary, and hateful. This is no different than Melissa McEwan calling Christians "Christofascist Godbags" and Amanda Marcotte's incendiary hate speech about Catholics. We howled about that when John Edwards hired them; why do we defend Coulter's appearance at CPAC?"
Bingo.
"First, criticizing Coulter's use of the word "faggot" is not a suppression of free speech; it is an exercise of free speech. We're not advocating her arrest for using the word. We're just saying it was stupid, unnecessary, and hateful. This is no different than Melissa McEwan calling Christians "Christofascist Godbags" and Amanda Marcotte's incendiary hate speech about Catholics. We howled about that when John Edwards hired them; why do we defend Coulter's appearance at CPAC?"
Bingo.
I'm probably a left-wing extremist...
...at least according to Joe Klein. Here's a list of what he believes are attributes of a LWE:
"A left-wing extremist exhibits many, but not necessarily all, of the following attributes:
"A left-wing extremist exhibits many, but not necessarily all, of the following attributes:
--believes the United States is a fundamentally negative force in the world.
--believes that American imperialism is the primary cause of Islamic radicalism.
--believes that the decision to go to war in Iraq was not an individual case of monumental stupidity, but a consequence of America’s fundamental imperialistic nature.
--tends to blame America for the failures of others—i.e. the failure of our NATO allies to fulfill their responsibilities in Afghanistan.
--doesn’t believe that capitalism, carefully regulated and progressively taxed, is the best liberal idea in human history.
--believes American society is fundamentally unfair (as opposed to having unfair aspects that need improvement).
--believes that eternal problems like crime and poverty are the primarily the fault of society.
--believes that America isn’t really a democracy.
--believes that corporations are fundamentally evil.
--believes in a corporate conspiracy that controls the world.
--is intolerant of good ideas when they come from conservative sources.
--dismissively mocks people of faith, especially those who are opposed to abortion and gay marriage.
--regularly uses harsh, vulgar, intolerant language to attack moderates or conservatives."
I'll let you decide on which, if not all, of those attributes I share.Friday, March 02, 2007
Classic Coulter...
Extremism at its finest:
"I was going to talk about John Edwards but these days, you have to go into rehab if you say the word 'faggot,'" - Ann Coulter, cheered to the rafters at CPAC [Conservative Political Action Conference] today."
People cheered--not much of a surprise. It's worth stating that this radical partisan bigoted rhetoric is epidemic on both sides of the rafters. Half of the bloggers ready to point a finger will find three pointing back at them.
But she really is a class act. Like Archie Bunker, but not funny.
Hat Tip: Sully
"I was going to talk about John Edwards but these days, you have to go into rehab if you say the word 'faggot,'" - Ann Coulter, cheered to the rafters at CPAC [Conservative Political Action Conference] today."
People cheered--not much of a surprise. It's worth stating that this radical partisan bigoted rhetoric is epidemic on both sides of the rafters. Half of the bloggers ready to point a finger will find three pointing back at them.
But she really is a class act. Like Archie Bunker, but not funny.
Hat Tip: Sully
For those of you concerned about our injured troops...
...don't worry, they'll be kept warm with a hot blanket of sarcasm. Thanks for the in depth coverage Glenn Bond Bourne.
For any of you who want some real info check here.
PS: Thanks to Sully for spelling out my post.
For any of you who want some real info check here.
PS: Thanks to Sully for spelling out my post.
The appeal of Obama...
It's ok Sully, you can say it:
"I'm not sure Barack Obama has sounded an off-key note in his campaign thus far. Am I swooning? No. I've learned my lesson. But read this NPR interview, where Obama has to walk through a racial and cultural minefield. He strides straight ahead, unflappable and sane. I think his appeal is precisely this. He is moving our narrative forward. He is able to speak of race and faith and politics without the usual ideological cant, and without the conventional cliche-ridden positioning...
Why do I keep feeling that he's actually being honest?"
Now that would be insane wouldn't it?
Thursday, March 01, 2007
More good news for Obama...
First Zogby has him beating all the major GOP candidates, and now he's gaining on Hil.
Call him Neo, cause he could be the one.
PS: Think about this for a moment: do candidates win because some one tells the people that they can win? Is Zogby really creating the election right here and now? What do you think?
Call him Neo, cause he could be the one.
PS: Think about this for a moment: do candidates win because some one tells the people that they can win? Is Zogby really creating the election right here and now? What do you think?
I don't know what you're talking about?
Isn't dodging the draft a prerequisite to become a presidential candidate?
"WASHINGTON - If this presidential campaign is anything like the last, John McCain’s Vietnam service will inevitably be contrasted with GOP rival Rudy Giuliani’s avoidance of a war that he opposed...
“Any suggestion that he was dodging the draft is totally, factually inaccurate,” said a senior Giuliani campaign adviser who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic. “He opposed the war on tactical and strategic grounds.”"
He even has a crappy reason to boot. He's in like Flynn.
PS: This, by the way, is the exact reason why Hilary won't win.
"WASHINGTON - If this presidential campaign is anything like the last, John McCain’s Vietnam service will inevitably be contrasted with GOP rival Rudy Giuliani’s avoidance of a war that he opposed...
“Any suggestion that he was dodging the draft is totally, factually inaccurate,” said a senior Giuliani campaign adviser who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic. “He opposed the war on tactical and strategic grounds.”"
He even has a crappy reason to boot. He's in like Flynn.
PS: This, by the way, is the exact reason why Hilary won't win.
I have an idea
Instead of passing laws to allow civil detainment of sex offenders after their prison sentences have expired, pass their names off to Chris Hansen.
Instead of spending tax money to track these guys down NBC will handle it, and provide us with great entertainment like this:
Capitalism at work.
Instead of spending tax money to track these guys down NBC will handle it, and provide us with great entertainment like this:
Capitalism at work.
Is Giuliani still mayor?
Because this is right up his alley:
"Should New Yorkers be arrested for picking up an unattended bag and not turning it in? The New York Police Department has a sting operation to do just that, but one couple caught up in it says they were doing nothing wrong. NY1’s Criminal Justice reporter Solana Pyne filed the following report.
For Aquarius Cheers and Kia Graves, it started as a routine trip to Target Thursday night to buy their daughter diapers. They were waiting for a train at 59th Street. “I look around and I end up seeing this bag,” recalled Cheers. “It was a Verizon bag. I took it, and look inside of it. I saw there was some electronics. Next thing I know the train is coming.” They grabbed the bag and rushed for the train. "I was like ‘just bring the bag,’ not thinking twice about it,” said Graves. “I was thinking ‘oh we could find a receipt in there,’ and possibly go back to the phone company Verizon." Then a team of undercover officers grabbed Cheers and charged him with petty larceny.
The NYPD calls the sting Operation Lucky Bag, where officers plant a bag and arrest those who take it and do not turn it into a uniformed officer posted nearby."
I'm not even going to get into the fact that this is obviously entrapment, but the entire exercise seems to me to be a waste of time. New York City, and the NYPD feels the need to catch people who, what? Find a bag and then don't immediately return it? As a New Yorker here's the rule; you leave something in the street, subway or train platform, it's gone--you snooze, you lose, and if you do happen to get it back then lucky you. Just be glad you lost it and it wasn't taken from you by some dude who'll get away because I'm getting arrested after picking up a sack full of cigarettes and porn that Officer Putz left for me to find. This is a complete mismanagement of resources, the equivalent of having a teacher assigning you an hours worth of long division to do in class during fourth period of fifth grade. Crap like this is only needed to keep up the already inflated police population in the city. Furthermore the arrests probably are illegal since:
"A Brooklyn judge threw out one Lucky Bag arrest, pointing out that the city's personal property law gives people ten-days to turn in found property worth more than $20."
Pretty soon they'll be giving out free chewing tobacco and arresting people for spitting on the street. Operation Waste of Time.
"Should New Yorkers be arrested for picking up an unattended bag and not turning it in? The New York Police Department has a sting operation to do just that, but one couple caught up in it says they were doing nothing wrong. NY1’s Criminal Justice reporter Solana Pyne filed the following report.
For Aquarius Cheers and Kia Graves, it started as a routine trip to Target Thursday night to buy their daughter diapers. They were waiting for a train at 59th Street. “I look around and I end up seeing this bag,” recalled Cheers. “It was a Verizon bag. I took it, and look inside of it. I saw there was some electronics. Next thing I know the train is coming.” They grabbed the bag and rushed for the train. "I was like ‘just bring the bag,’ not thinking twice about it,” said Graves. “I was thinking ‘oh we could find a receipt in there,’ and possibly go back to the phone company Verizon." Then a team of undercover officers grabbed Cheers and charged him with petty larceny.
The NYPD calls the sting Operation Lucky Bag, where officers plant a bag and arrest those who take it and do not turn it into a uniformed officer posted nearby."
I'm not even going to get into the fact that this is obviously entrapment, but the entire exercise seems to me to be a waste of time. New York City, and the NYPD feels the need to catch people who, what? Find a bag and then don't immediately return it? As a New Yorker here's the rule; you leave something in the street, subway or train platform, it's gone--you snooze, you lose, and if you do happen to get it back then lucky you. Just be glad you lost it and it wasn't taken from you by some dude who'll get away because I'm getting arrested after picking up a sack full of cigarettes and porn that Officer Putz left for me to find. This is a complete mismanagement of resources, the equivalent of having a teacher assigning you an hours worth of long division to do in class during fourth period of fifth grade. Crap like this is only needed to keep up the already inflated police population in the city. Furthermore the arrests probably are illegal since:
"A Brooklyn judge threw out one Lucky Bag arrest, pointing out that the city's personal property law gives people ten-days to turn in found property worth more than $20."
Pretty soon they'll be giving out free chewing tobacco and arresting people for spitting on the street. Operation Waste of Time.
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Not for nothing...
...but the Rude Pundit's made his rudest post yet. Seriously, I thought the Secret Service was going to pull me out of my job and finish me Mortal Combat style. Check it out at your own risk here.
Finally...
The US to speak to Syria and Iran about Iraq. From the NYTimes:
"WASHINGTON, Feb. 27 — American officials said today they had agreed to hold the highest-level contact with Iranian authorities in more than two years as part of an international meeting on Iraq.
The meetings, scheduled for the next two months, are expected to include Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her Iranian and Syrian counterparts.
The announcement was first made in Baghdad and confirmed by Ms. Rice that the United States would take part in two sets of meetings between Iraq and its neighbors, including Syria and Iran. It represents a shift in President Bush’s avoidance of high-level contacts with the governments in Damascus and, especially, Tehran."
A sea change? Not when the the ice burg is straight ahead. Still it's a good sign, and hopefully it will start some sort of meaningful dialogue when Obama comes into office.
PS: This is not to say that Obama will be president--only that I WANT him to be president. See I retained my objectivity, just like FOX News.
"WASHINGTON, Feb. 27 — American officials said today they had agreed to hold the highest-level contact with Iranian authorities in more than two years as part of an international meeting on Iraq.
The meetings, scheduled for the next two months, are expected to include Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her Iranian and Syrian counterparts.
The announcement was first made in Baghdad and confirmed by Ms. Rice that the United States would take part in two sets of meetings between Iraq and its neighbors, including Syria and Iran. It represents a shift in President Bush’s avoidance of high-level contacts with the governments in Damascus and, especially, Tehran."
A sea change? Not when the the ice burg is straight ahead. Still it's a good sign, and hopefully it will start some sort of meaningful dialogue when Obama comes into office.
PS: This is not to say that Obama will be president--only that I WANT him to be president. See I retained my objectivity, just like FOX News.
Coming full circle...
I once had a great discussion on a job interview about the format of writing. I was of the opinion that it was linear while my interviewer thought it was circular. Well if our military situation was a book, I'd be wrong:
"If you checked out yesterday's Worldwide Threat briefing, you could be forgiven for checking your calendar to see if it was still September 10, 2001. Discussing al-Qaeda, John McConnell, the new director of national intelligence, described a metastasizing threat coming from... the lawless Afghanistan-Pakistan border.
This year will be "pivotal" for Afghanistan, McConnell said. From the NYT:
""Mr. McConnell’s assessment was grim: “Long-term prospects for eliminating the Taliban threat appear dim, so long as the sanctuary remains in Pakistan, and there are no encouraging signs that Pakistan is eliminating it. ‘’"
Thanks in large part to Pakistan's toleration of al-Qaeda's growing presence in North Waziristan, it's questionable whether the western troops will be able to even arrest what McConnell called the "resurgence" of Taliban and allied (read: al-Qaeda) forces. Last month, the outgoing U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Lt. General Karl Eikenberry, said that cross-border Taliban raids for December were up a staggering 200 percent. And a new report from the Jamestown Foundation finds that, although their effectiveness is questionable, there were nearly as many suicide-bombing attacks in the first seven weeks of 2007 as in all of 2005."
The wheels on the bus go round and round.
"If you checked out yesterday's Worldwide Threat briefing, you could be forgiven for checking your calendar to see if it was still September 10, 2001. Discussing al-Qaeda, John McConnell, the new director of national intelligence, described a metastasizing threat coming from... the lawless Afghanistan-Pakistan border.
This year will be "pivotal" for Afghanistan, McConnell said. From the NYT:
""Mr. McConnell’s assessment was grim: “Long-term prospects for eliminating the Taliban threat appear dim, so long as the sanctuary remains in Pakistan, and there are no encouraging signs that Pakistan is eliminating it. ‘’"
Thanks in large part to Pakistan's toleration of al-Qaeda's growing presence in North Waziristan, it's questionable whether the western troops will be able to even arrest what McConnell called the "resurgence" of Taliban and allied (read: al-Qaeda) forces. Last month, the outgoing U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Lt. General Karl Eikenberry, said that cross-border Taliban raids for December were up a staggering 200 percent. And a new report from the Jamestown Foundation finds that, although their effectiveness is questionable, there were nearly as many suicide-bombing attacks in the first seven weeks of 2007 as in all of 2005."
The wheels on the bus go round and round.
You can't call out sick...
Sorry folks, the entity that held back unions for decades just can't call out sick:
"WASHINGTON - When Senate Democrats move next month to narrow President Bush's authority to wage war in Iraq, at least one of their own won't be there to help. The same goes for trying to pass a spending bill for the war or a budget for the government.
Such is life for a razor-thin majority two months after Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., suffered a brain hemorrhage that has left him physically weakened, relearning how to speak and unable to report to work - even when big votes hang in the balance."
Even that dude on the pilot episode of Star Trek knew enough to vote down party lines. Johnson can do the same.
PS: Insert your own joke about how brain dead congress is here________________.
Told you to listen to Greenspan...
"NEW YORK - U.S. stocks were wavering in morning trading Wednesday, having opened the session higher after a massive worldwide stock sell-off one day earlier that rattled investor confidence but left fertile ground for bargain hunters.
The Dow Jones industrial average was lately up 20.67 points, or 0.17 percent, having fallen more than 400 points Tuesday in the biggest stock market sell-off since Sept. 11, 2001. The broader Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index was lately up 4.09 points, or 0.29 percent, while the Nasdaq
Composite index slipped 1.87 points, or 0.08 percent.
Investors were digesting new economic data, released after the opening bell, including a 16.6 percent decline in new home sales in January after a 9.1 percent rise in December."
Investors were digesting new economic data, released after the opening bell, including a 16.6 percent decline in new home sales in January after a 9.1 percent rise in December."
It goes up, it goes down. Good news for regular folks, we're still so far down that the skies the limit.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Color me suprised...
Maureen Dowd molded her Giffen interview to instigate Clinton-Obama rumble. From Media Matters:
"...Evan Thomas reported that Dowd told the magazine, in Thomas' words, that during her interview with Geffen, "Geffen did not seem out to get the Clintons," adding: "Dowd says Geffen was initially reluctant to be interviewed for her column. ... Dowd says she was the one who brought up questions about Bill Clinton's past as a campaign issue.""
Wait...so you're telling me a reporter, twisted an interviewee's word's to--gasp!--sell papers! NO!
Ann Coulter would be so ashamed.
"...Evan Thomas reported that Dowd told the magazine, in Thomas' words, that during her interview with Geffen, "Geffen did not seem out to get the Clintons," adding: "Dowd says Geffen was initially reluctant to be interviewed for her column. ... Dowd says she was the one who brought up questions about Bill Clinton's past as a campaign issue.""
Wait...so you're telling me a reporter, twisted an interviewee's word's to--gasp!--sell papers! NO!
Ann Coulter would be so ashamed.
And while we're on the topic of wealth...
Mention this when someone tells you how well the "tickle down theory" works:
"The richest bankers are the most lavish spenders -- deploying a larger proportion of their take toward homes, cars and luxury goods. Roughly half of the survey's respondents took home bonuses of more than $5 million last year; this group spent 16% on watches and jewelry and socked away about 9%. By comparison, the other half of respondents -- those who received $2 million to $5 million -- spent only about 7% on baubles and put 23% into savings.And despite the notion that the really rich give more to charity, the rule didn't seem to apply to the bankers in this survey. Respondents gave about 4% to charity. Those receiving bonuses of $5 million or more gave the same proportion as their poorer peers. Says Mr. Prince: "This is not an especially generous group.""
"The richest bankers are the most lavish spenders -- deploying a larger proportion of their take toward homes, cars and luxury goods. Roughly half of the survey's respondents took home bonuses of more than $5 million last year; this group spent 16% on watches and jewelry and socked away about 9%. By comparison, the other half of respondents -- those who received $2 million to $5 million -- spent only about 7% on baubles and put 23% into savings.And despite the notion that the really rich give more to charity, the rule didn't seem to apply to the bankers in this survey. Respondents gave about 4% to charity. Those receiving bonuses of $5 million or more gave the same proportion as their poorer peers. Says Mr. Prince: "This is not an especially generous group.""
Important Story...
From Stories in America:
"The percentage of poor Americans who are living in severe poverty has reached a 32-year high, millions of working Americans are falling closer to the poverty line and the gulf between the nation's "haves" and "have-nots" continues to widen.A McClatchy Newspapers analysis of 2005 census figures, the latest available, found that nearly 16 million Americans are living in deep or severe poverty. A family of four with two children and an annual income of less than $9,903 - half the federal poverty line - was considered severely poor in 2005. So were individuals who made less than $5,080 a year.The McClatchy analysis found that the number of severely poor Americans grew by 26 percent from 2000 to 2005. That's 56 percent faster than the overall poverty population grew in the same period. McClatchy's review also found statistically significant increases in the percentage of the population in severe poverty in 65 of 215 large U.S. counties, and similar increases in 28 states. The review also suggested that the rise in severely poor residents isn't confined to large urban counties but extends to suburban and rural areas."
Only in America can we fight to "make the world safe for democracy" while our people stare. The sad fact--we can't do much better over there either.
"The percentage of poor Americans who are living in severe poverty has reached a 32-year high, millions of working Americans are falling closer to the poverty line and the gulf between the nation's "haves" and "have-nots" continues to widen.A McClatchy Newspapers analysis of 2005 census figures, the latest available, found that nearly 16 million Americans are living in deep or severe poverty. A family of four with two children and an annual income of less than $9,903 - half the federal poverty line - was considered severely poor in 2005. So were individuals who made less than $5,080 a year.The McClatchy analysis found that the number of severely poor Americans grew by 26 percent from 2000 to 2005. That's 56 percent faster than the overall poverty population grew in the same period. McClatchy's review also found statistically significant increases in the percentage of the population in severe poverty in 65 of 215 large U.S. counties, and similar increases in 28 states. The review also suggested that the rise in severely poor residents isn't confined to large urban counties but extends to suburban and rural areas."
Only in America can we fight to "make the world safe for democracy" while our people stare. The sad fact--we can't do much better over there either.
More on the US-Pakistan-Taliban love triangle
From Sully:
"From their point of view, surely a coup de grace: showing their firepower and fanaticism within earshot of the vice-president. All that was needed was for the veep to be trapped by a snowstorm for one night for the enemy to act. It certainly helps justify the extraordinary secrecy the secret service deployed for the trips to Pakistan and Afghanistan; but it also helps justify mounting concern that we are losing traction in the war against the Talbian in the region. Pakistan is particularly the threat, after the peace-deal with the terrorists by Musharraf. But here again, diplomacy does not seem to be Cheney's strong suit. "Pakistan does not accept dictation from any side or any source" was Musharraf's original response to Cheney's strong-arm tactics. Kharzai seems more supportive - just alarmed that he may be abandoned in the near or distant future. Both Democrats and Republicans need to make sure that Kharzai knows that U.S. support for his fledlging democracy is solid and bipartisan and open-ended. And that the debacle in Iraq - and whatever redeployments may be needed to grapple with it - will not affect that."
I agree with everything up to the last point. Not that I disagree with that point, only that Sully's comment is a bit murky, because US support for Kharzai's regime isn't "solid" or "open-ended" and in fact much of our support ended with Pat Tilman and our invasion of Iraq. We didn't finish the job there, and in fact Bush did a Pontius Pilate and washed his hands of the Taliban years ago. This is the aftermath. Not only that but or lack of that very same support in conjunction with the arrogance of Bush's rhetoric ("We will hunt down terrorists where ever they are, and we will consider countries that harbor terrorists terrorists themselves") is what makes our dealings with Musharraf impotent and woefully ironic. Here we have an 'ally' who has made an agreement with the Taliban and no mater what Good Cop/ Bad Cop Law and Order type dealings Cheney wants to have with Pakistan they know that, under this administration, we need them more than they need us. This is like playing poker with my fiance--she's going to call all my bluffs because, in the end, she's got my pin number.
"From their point of view, surely a coup de grace: showing their firepower and fanaticism within earshot of the vice-president. All that was needed was for the veep to be trapped by a snowstorm for one night for the enemy to act. It certainly helps justify the extraordinary secrecy the secret service deployed for the trips to Pakistan and Afghanistan; but it also helps justify mounting concern that we are losing traction in the war against the Talbian in the region. Pakistan is particularly the threat, after the peace-deal with the terrorists by Musharraf. But here again, diplomacy does not seem to be Cheney's strong suit. "Pakistan does not accept dictation from any side or any source" was Musharraf's original response to Cheney's strong-arm tactics. Kharzai seems more supportive - just alarmed that he may be abandoned in the near or distant future. Both Democrats and Republicans need to make sure that Kharzai knows that U.S. support for his fledlging democracy is solid and bipartisan and open-ended. And that the debacle in Iraq - and whatever redeployments may be needed to grapple with it - will not affect that."
I agree with everything up to the last point. Not that I disagree with that point, only that Sully's comment is a bit murky, because US support for Kharzai's regime isn't "solid" or "open-ended" and in fact much of our support ended with Pat Tilman and our invasion of Iraq. We didn't finish the job there, and in fact Bush did a Pontius Pilate and washed his hands of the Taliban years ago. This is the aftermath. Not only that but or lack of that very same support in conjunction with the arrogance of Bush's rhetoric ("We will hunt down terrorists where ever they are, and we will consider countries that harbor terrorists terrorists themselves") is what makes our dealings with Musharraf impotent and woefully ironic. Here we have an 'ally' who has made an agreement with the Taliban and no mater what Good Cop/ Bad Cop Law and Order type dealings Cheney wants to have with Pakistan they know that, under this administration, we need them more than they need us. This is like playing poker with my fiance--she's going to call all my bluffs because, in the end, she's got my pin number.
Cheney's near miss...
Cheney escapes Taliban assassination attempt. From MSNBC.com:
"BAGRAM, Afghanistan - A suicide bomber attacked the entrance to the main U.S. military base in Afghanistan on Tuesday during a visit by Vice President Dick Cheney, killing up to 23 people and wounding 20. The Taliban claimed responsibility and said Cheney, who was unharmed, was the target.
The office of Afghan President Hamid Karzai reported that 23 people had been killed, but the U.S. military put the toll at nine. The discrepancy could not be reconciled immediately. At least one U.S. soldier, an American contractor and a South Korean soldier were among the dead, NATO said."
The office of Afghan President Hamid Karzai reported that 23 people had been killed, but the U.S. military put the toll at nine. The discrepancy could not be reconciled immediately. At least one U.S. soldier, an American contractor and a South Korean soldier were among the dead, NATO said."
I'll try not to say anything bitter--and though I joke about Cheney's death I'd prefer Cheney gets impeached rather than fragged (seriously, I really do prefer it), but I will say that this, if anything, this should be a wake up call to the administration that the Taliban are not only alive and kicking, but planning on a grander scale that Al-qada or any of the other insurgent groups that have vouched for sheer mindless bloodshed in Iraq. Likewise one must question what type of intelligence leak is occurring over in Pakistan (the Taliban's best bud). This administration's interest in going on the offensive in Iran right now seems comparable with the Captain on the Titanic planning its holiday party after the iceburg hit. Who ever gets in office in 2008 is going to have a bucketload of problems to repair.
More insanity...
Car bomb kills 18 kids in Baghdad. From MSNBC.com:
"BAGHDAD - A car bomb exploded near a park west of Baghdad on Tuesday, killing up to 18 boys on a soccer field, police said. Police said the blast occurred in Ramadi, a hotbed of the Sunni insurgency, and that 19 people, most of them children ages 10 to 15, were killed or wounded. State television Iraqiya said 18 children had been killed.The bomb-rigged car blew apart at about 4:15 p.m. local time while the boys were playing.
It was not immediately known if the children were the intended targets, but young people are often caught in Iraq's daily bloodshed."
This is hell.
"BAGHDAD - A car bomb exploded near a park west of Baghdad on Tuesday, killing up to 18 boys on a soccer field, police said. Police said the blast occurred in Ramadi, a hotbed of the Sunni insurgency, and that 19 people, most of them children ages 10 to 15, were killed or wounded. State television Iraqiya said 18 children had been killed.The bomb-rigged car blew apart at about 4:15 p.m. local time while the boys were playing.
It was not immediately known if the children were the intended targets, but young people are often caught in Iraq's daily bloodshed."
This is hell.
Monday, February 26, 2007
A Quickie...
A couple of quick things I wanted to post. I recommend checking out Baghdad Burning, a blog written by Iraqi women. I read over this posting about Sabrine Al-Janabi, the woman allegedly raped by Sunni Iraqi security forces and it was heart breaking. Money quote:
"As I write this, Oprah is on Channel 4 (one of the MBC channels we get on Nilesat), showing Americans how to get out of debt. Her guest speaker is telling a studio full of American women who seem to have over-shopped that they could probably do with fewer designer products. As they talk about increasing incomes and fortunes, Sabrine Al-Janabi, a young Iraqi woman, is on Al Jazeera telling how Iraqi security forces abducted her from her home and raped her. You can only see her eyes, her voice is hoarse and it keeps breaking as she speaks. In the end she tells the reporter that she can’t talk about it anymore and she covers her eyes with shame.She might just be the bravest Iraqi woman ever. Everyone knows American forces and Iraqi security forces are raping women (and men), but this is possibly the first woman who publicly comes out and tells about it using her actual name. Hearing her tell her story physically makes my heart ache. Some people will call her a liar. Others (including pro-war Iraqis) will call her a prostitute- shame on you in advance.I wonder what excuse they used when they took her. It’s most likely she’s one of the thousands of people they round up under the general headline of ‘terrorist suspect’. She might have been one of those subtitles you read on CNN or BBC or Arabiya, “13 insurgents captured by Iraqi security forces.” The men who raped her are those same security forces Bush and Condi are so proud of- you know- the ones the Americans trained. It’s a chapter right out of the book that documents American occupation in Iraq: the chapter that will tell the story of 14-year-old Abeer who was raped, killed and burned with her little sister and parents."
All I know is--regardless of the veracity of these allegations--if this is the Iraqi perception of the US and US led forces, and our battle for their hearts and minds is already lost.
Of course it would help if at least it LOOKED like America gave a damm.
"As I write this, Oprah is on Channel 4 (one of the MBC channels we get on Nilesat), showing Americans how to get out of debt. Her guest speaker is telling a studio full of American women who seem to have over-shopped that they could probably do with fewer designer products. As they talk about increasing incomes and fortunes, Sabrine Al-Janabi, a young Iraqi woman, is on Al Jazeera telling how Iraqi security forces abducted her from her home and raped her. You can only see her eyes, her voice is hoarse and it keeps breaking as she speaks. In the end she tells the reporter that she can’t talk about it anymore and she covers her eyes with shame.She might just be the bravest Iraqi woman ever. Everyone knows American forces and Iraqi security forces are raping women (and men), but this is possibly the first woman who publicly comes out and tells about it using her actual name. Hearing her tell her story physically makes my heart ache. Some people will call her a liar. Others (including pro-war Iraqis) will call her a prostitute- shame on you in advance.I wonder what excuse they used when they took her. It’s most likely she’s one of the thousands of people they round up under the general headline of ‘terrorist suspect’. She might have been one of those subtitles you read on CNN or BBC or Arabiya, “13 insurgents captured by Iraqi security forces.” The men who raped her are those same security forces Bush and Condi are so proud of- you know- the ones the Americans trained. It’s a chapter right out of the book that documents American occupation in Iraq: the chapter that will tell the story of 14-year-old Abeer who was raped, killed and burned with her little sister and parents."
All I know is--regardless of the veracity of these allegations--if this is the Iraqi perception of the US and US led forces, and our battle for their hearts and minds is already lost.
Of course it would help if at least it LOOKED like America gave a damm.
File this one under D--for Duh
Turns out that restaurants in Chinatown charge less for people who can order in Chinese:
"The price you pay for your beef with string beans depends entirely on whether or not you are Chinese - at least according to the menus at one restaurant in Chinatown, city officials say.
The city Human Rights Commission has filed a discrimination complaint against the Canal Seafood Restaurant for allegedly giving a different menu with lower prices to customers who are Chinese."
By the way, its not really about ordering in Chinese, its about being Asian. I go to Wo-Hop with my Asian frat brothers (one is Korean, the other Filipino) and we always get deals. Sometimes I get nearly half off with them. Once I went there with them and then came back myself the next day and ordered the same thing. When they handed me the bill I was like, "Um dude, you know I was here yesterday and you charged me half?" But still, whatever. Like paying the extra loot is going to stop be from ordering the salt and pepper pork (which is SLAMMING). For more on the obviousness of this story check out Yglesias.
PS: You know at first I thought it said "City Hunan Rights Commission" leading me to wonder why the city would have an agency dedicated to protecting the rights of a Chinese cuisine. Then I realized that it was the Human Rights Commission and I wanted to stab myself in the eye with a rusty screwdriver. A human rights violation...I tell you--try to con a white guy and there's no telling who they'll send after you.
"The price you pay for your beef with string beans depends entirely on whether or not you are Chinese - at least according to the menus at one restaurant in Chinatown, city officials say.
The city Human Rights Commission has filed a discrimination complaint against the Canal Seafood Restaurant for allegedly giving a different menu with lower prices to customers who are Chinese."
By the way, its not really about ordering in Chinese, its about being Asian. I go to Wo-Hop with my Asian frat brothers (one is Korean, the other Filipino) and we always get deals. Sometimes I get nearly half off with them. Once I went there with them and then came back myself the next day and ordered the same thing. When they handed me the bill I was like, "Um dude, you know I was here yesterday and you charged me half?" But still, whatever. Like paying the extra loot is going to stop be from ordering the salt and pepper pork (which is SLAMMING). For more on the obviousness of this story check out Yglesias.
PS: You know at first I thought it said "City Hunan Rights Commission" leading me to wonder why the city would have an agency dedicated to protecting the rights of a Chinese cuisine. Then I realized that it was the Human Rights Commission and I wanted to stab myself in the eye with a rusty screwdriver. A human rights violation...I tell you--try to con a white guy and there's no telling who they'll send after you.
Congress to investigate Walter Reed scandal
Guess they're finally getting serious about our helping our troops:
"Starting next week, the Senate wades into the muck at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The Senate Armed Services Committee announced today that next Tuesday, March 6, a host of responsible Defense officials will parade to the Dirksen building to try to explain how conditions at the Army's elite hospital complex deteriorated to the horrific conditions depicted in last week's depressing Washington Post series."
The officals need to be fired immediately, and hopefully this will be the kick in the ass to get more funding for veteran care.
"Starting next week, the Senate wades into the muck at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The Senate Armed Services Committee announced today that next Tuesday, March 6, a host of responsible Defense officials will parade to the Dirksen building to try to explain how conditions at the Army's elite hospital complex deteriorated to the horrific conditions depicted in last week's depressing Washington Post series."
The officals need to be fired immediately, and hopefully this will be the kick in the ass to get more funding for veteran care.
The forgotten...
I would like to state for the record that the academy did make one mistake this year. Rinko Kikuchi's performance in Babel was nothing short of astounding. For someone to convey that depth of emotion without uttering a word was extraordinary and it made the overrated Babel worth watching. Rent it just for her.
Iran War or Dick Cheney Impeachment watch--you judge
Think only kooks like me think that the Bush Adm is gearing up for war with Iraq? Then check out this article from the Sunday Times:
"SOME of America’s most senior military commanders are prepared to resign if the White House orders a military strike against Iran, according to highly placed defence and intelligence sources.
Tension in the Gulf region has raised fears that an attack on Iran is becoming increasingly likely before President George Bush leaves office. The Sunday Times has learnt that up to five generals and admirals are willing to resign rather than approve what they consider would be a reckless attack.
The threat of a wave of resignations coincided with a warning by Vice-President Dick Cheney that all options, including military action, remained on the table. He was responding to a comment by Tony Blair that it would not “be right to take military action against Iran”. "
When Cheney loses the confidence of the people its just another day at the office, but when he loses the respect of the Pentagon this country gets further weakened. Isn't he due for another heart attack? For someone with a bad ticker he sure handles stress well.
"SOME of America’s most senior military commanders are prepared to resign if the White House orders a military strike against Iran, according to highly placed defence and intelligence sources.
Tension in the Gulf region has raised fears that an attack on Iran is becoming increasingly likely before President George Bush leaves office. The Sunday Times has learnt that up to five generals and admirals are willing to resign rather than approve what they consider would be a reckless attack.
The threat of a wave of resignations coincided with a warning by Vice-President Dick Cheney that all options, including military action, remained on the table. He was responding to a comment by Tony Blair that it would not “be right to take military action against Iran”. "
When Cheney loses the confidence of the people its just another day at the office, but when he loses the respect of the Pentagon this country gets further weakened. Isn't he due for another heart attack? For someone with a bad ticker he sure handles stress well.
A Star is Born...
Sully's take on the Obama--Giffen connection. Money quote:
"It’s ridiculously early for such measurements, but a tracking poll showed Clinton with a 14-point lead over Obama among Democrats at the end of January. Her lead last week was down to four points. And what does she have to get back on track? A ruthless political machine that only emphasises the freshness of her opponent. Even her “first woman president” schtick has been neutralised. Why not the first black president instead? If you’re a Hollywood liberal, it’s a wash."
2007 is looking to be the year for black people in Hollywood. When they didn't need to prove their NAACP credentials they gave Oscars to Forrest Whitaker and Jennifer Hudson, nominating Eddie Murphy to boot. Why is this important? Because if Obama can scoop up that Hollywood money he will be a candidate to be reckoned with.
"It’s ridiculously early for such measurements, but a tracking poll showed Clinton with a 14-point lead over Obama among Democrats at the end of January. Her lead last week was down to four points. And what does she have to get back on track? A ruthless political machine that only emphasises the freshness of her opponent. Even her “first woman president” schtick has been neutralised. Why not the first black president instead? If you’re a Hollywood liberal, it’s a wash."
2007 is looking to be the year for black people in Hollywood. When they didn't need to prove their NAACP credentials they gave Oscars to Forrest Whitaker and Jennifer Hudson, nominating Eddie Murphy to boot. Why is this important? Because if Obama can scoop up that Hollywood money he will be a candidate to be reckoned with.
Serbia found not guilty
From MSNBC.com:
"THE HAGUE, Netherlands - The United Nations’ highest court on Monday exonerated Serbia of direct responsibility for the mass slaughter of Bosnian Muslims at Srebrenica during the 1992-95 Bosnia war, but ruled that it failed to prevent genocide."
Sounds alright so far, I mean how much culpability can you give an entire nation for the acts of their leaders, especially since, pragmatically, the people rarely, if ever, actually have a say in their government's policies. But then:
"The International Court of Justice said Serbia also failed to comply with its obligations to punish those who carried out the genocide in July 1995, and ordered the government to hand over suspects for trial by a separate U.N. court."
And:
"However, it rejected Bosnia’s claim for monetary reparations."
My problem, who is culpable? Don't these people deserve some type of justice? Or, like the Native American, or Australian natives, do they get nada. Only time will tell.
"THE HAGUE, Netherlands - The United Nations’ highest court on Monday exonerated Serbia of direct responsibility for the mass slaughter of Bosnian Muslims at Srebrenica during the 1992-95 Bosnia war, but ruled that it failed to prevent genocide."
Sounds alright so far, I mean how much culpability can you give an entire nation for the acts of their leaders, especially since, pragmatically, the people rarely, if ever, actually have a say in their government's policies. But then:
"The International Court of Justice said Serbia also failed to comply with its obligations to punish those who carried out the genocide in July 1995, and ordered the government to hand over suspects for trial by a separate U.N. court."
And:
"However, it rejected Bosnia’s claim for monetary reparations."
My problem, who is culpable? Don't these people deserve some type of justice? Or, like the Native American, or Australian natives, do they get nada. Only time will tell.
When Greenspan talks...
...I usually listen.
"HONG KONG - Former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan warned Monday that the American economy might slip into recession by year's end.
He said the U.S. economy has been expanding since 2001 and that there are signs the current economic cycle is coming to an end.
"When you get this far away from a recession invariably forces build up for the next recession, and indeed we are beginning to see that sign," Greenspan said via satellite link to a business conference in Hong Kong. "For example in the U.S., profit margins ... have begun to stabilize, which is an early sign we are in the later stages of a cycle.""
"HONG KONG - Former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan warned Monday that the American economy might slip into recession by year's end.
He said the U.S. economy has been expanding since 2001 and that there are signs the current economic cycle is coming to an end.
"When you get this far away from a recession invariably forces build up for the next recession, and indeed we are beginning to see that sign," Greenspan said via satellite link to a business conference in Hong Kong. "For example in the U.S., profit margins ... have begun to stabilize, which is an early sign we are in the later stages of a cycle.""
Oscar wrap-up...
Not going to spend too much time on this. I thought Ellen did a good job. Her performance was subdued, and not too over the top (thank you for omitting the dance routine--Billy Crystal killed that for another 75 years). Will Farrell and Jack Black killed (and Will has a surprisingly good singing voice), and congrats to Al Gore (someone else was nominated for best Doc?), Forrest Whitaker, Jennifer Hudson, and of course Martin (or as Eastwood calls him, Marty) Scorsese for best director, an award he was way overdue for, made even better by having his contemporaries present him with the Oscar.
All in all, it was a pretty good show.
All in all, it was a pretty good show.
Friday, February 23, 2007
Quote of the day...
From over at Moment of Triumph, this gem in regards to a new game played by college Republicans at NYU. The game? Hunting down illegal immigrants (or at least those played by other Republicans):
"Look, if someone is humping your leg, they probably want to fuck you. If someone is acting out a hunt, they probably want to kill you. I'm not saying that bloodshed is inevitable, I'm saying that bloodshed is what they desire."
PS: Because of illness I haven't been posting at my regular clip. Hopefully next week I'll be back to my regular verbose self.
"Look, if someone is humping your leg, they probably want to fuck you. If someone is acting out a hunt, they probably want to kill you. I'm not saying that bloodshed is inevitable, I'm saying that bloodshed is what they desire."
PS: Because of illness I haven't been posting at my regular clip. Hopefully next week I'll be back to my regular verbose self.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
