December 20th, 2003
Linking embargo is over. Link as you please, just don't drop any hints.
For everyone who doesn't understand what this means, I envy you.
Posted by fad at 2:47pm
Ok, political blogs with comments have been around for a long time now. So, why the hell do some people still continually sign their name at the bottom their comments even though they have to well know at this point that their name will appear at the bottom of their comment automatically?
Posted by fad at 2:32pm
Repetitive man, repeats himself.
Osama bin Laden attacked the U.S. war on Iraq as part of a new crusade against Islam in an audiotape purported to be by the al Qaeda leader aired on Arabic TV station Al Arabiya on Saturday.Oh geez. Seriously, what hasn't been a "part of a new crusade against Islam" to these guys? Wiping my ass with my right hand this morning is part of it. The fact that I used the word "geez" before, which is considered a milder form of using the name "Jesus" as a curse is part of it. Really, this isn't news.
Islam is the religion of God and the legislative assemblies are the religion of the 'age of ignorance'," he added. "Age of ignorance" is an Islamic term used to refer to the pre-Islamic era.Legislative assemblies do predate Islam by about a 1000 years. Calling all of Western tradition "ignorance" is where these extremists so easily join with Progressive in hating progress.
At this point is usually where someone who can't stand judgement about a culture or a splinter of a culture will say, "But the Islamic world preserved ancient culture whilst the West lingered in the Dark Ages!" Yeah, and Al Bundy once scored 4 touchdowns in one game for Polk High. Neither does much good in the here in now. That the tradition they choose to pervert preserved early Western Culture does not give them any right to blow it up. Nor any reason for us to pause in stopping them.
Posted by fad at 2:26pm
December 19th, 2003
Posted by fad at 3:56pm
Holy crap!
tcs are playing at the south by southwest (sxsw) music festival in austin, texas from march 17-21. the band is playing a showcase gi and possibly an in-store or radio appearance. details/dates/times/locations still to be determined.Looks like I'll be in Los Angeles in March. I might just buy a ticket to the show right now.
tcs are also playing a show in los angeles on monday, march 15 at the troubadour. advance tickets should be available now, please visit the troubadour website for details.
Barmaids beware.
Sweet stout style
And whiskey drunk flair.
Posted by fad at 2:11pm
Well, you don't expect to find this in your average baggage check.
Inspectors at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson airport, suspicious of a smoky odor wafting from the suitcase of a passenger arriving from Cameroon in central Africa, peered into her bag.Man, I'm hungry. Grandpa Simpson was on to something.
They were shocked by what they saw -- an entire smoked monkey. The meat, the woman said, was intended for a traditional wedding reception of some African immigrants.
Posted by fad at 2:07pm
Well, this would be a fine holiday cheer.
A California company is recalling about 40,000 bottles of its Hansen's Classic Sparkling Cider, because the glass bottles may shatter.Nothing like spraying glass to make your dinner special.
Some of the cider may be contaminated with yeast that causes pressure to build up inside the bottles, or they may be defects to the glass itself, said Hansen Beverage Co. Yeast itself won't pose a health risk, but bottles containing it would likely smell rancid, Hansen said.
Posted by fad at 2:02pm
Oooooooo...spooky, and I ain't referring to one of these bitches.
A ghostly image has been caught on camera at Hampton Court Palace near London, a home of King Henry VIII, long reported to be haunted.After serious journalist Bryant Gumbel finishes his UFO investigations for the SciFi channel, I expect him to get right on this.
[...]
On several occasions security guards were alerted to an open fire door in an exhibition area of the palace.
[...]
On the first occasion the footage showed the doors flying wide open, but no evidence of why they had.
On the second, the guards were stunned when a ghostly figure in period dress suddenly appeared on the screen and closed the doors.
The same thing happened on a third day, but again no figure appeared.
Stranger still was that a visitor had noted in the palace's visitor book that she thought she had seen a ghost in that area.
Posted by fad at 12:45pm
This is scary. Los Alamos is getting serious about security. Well, at least serious to reacting to security failures.
Several Los Alamos National Laboratory employees, including some managers, have been placed on leave for the loss of computer disks reported missing earlier this month.Well, at least accountability might be starting to creep in.
[...]
The lab announced Dec. 9 that a recent inventory was unable to account for a large-capacity storage disk and nine floppy disks that are believed to contain some classified information.
Posted by fad at 12:14pm
Someday soon science may allow you to take it up to 11 without consequences.
Noise causes harm either by tearing the eardrum -- so-called "mechanical" damage -- or by overstressing some of the cells of the inner ear. This "metabolic exhaustion" starts a toxic chain reaction, killing off or severely weakening the cells.However some PETAphile will be reduced to an outraged, weeping mass of action! by this bit:
In a series of animal studies, antioxidant drugs have been able to counteract the exhaustion in animals, easing metabolic woes.
At the University of Michigan, for example, guinea pigs were blasted for five hours with 115 decibels of sound -- about the equivalent of a chainsaw. The racket devastated the pigs' hearing, with the animals losing as much as 50 db in certain frequencies.Such vicious animal testing. What next? Punching puppies in the face?
Posted by fad at 10:18am
Free speech for media organizations, tiny American flags that can only be displayed between 1pm and 2:30pm on the 4th Wednesday of June for others.
New partisan groups collecting the big donations that the national party committees can no longer accept may be in for a surprise as they gear up for next year's elections.That's the goal. No one will be allowed raise or spend money beyond what the government says you can to advocate their views on an issue or candidate. No one. Except media organizations. For now. Media organizations will howl, as they should, if the government uses this precedent to go after them, but I for one will not forget their shameful cheerleading in the efforts to silence me.
The Federal Election Commission's incoming chairman, Republican Bradley Smith, said a Supreme Court ruling upholding the nation's new campaign finance law may limit the activities of such groups far more than they now think. He said the law may also require them to disclose their finances and spending to the FEC.
Posted by fad at 9:46am
Posting will likely be very light today as I am having trouble finding the motivation to do anything other than stare and count the hours right now.
Posted by fad at 9:02am
One of the great advantages to never being a fan of any of the Beatles is that I get to be amused instead of outraged at Yoko's antics.
Ono's weirdest piece of video trickery comes on the recently released DVD "Lennon Legend: The Very Best of John Lennon." On one film, for the classic song "#9 Dream," Ono has edited herself into the original video. There you will find her mouthing the backup vocals that were sung on the original hit recording by Lennon's girlfriend at that time, May Pang.She would have made a fine Soviet, or anti-war protester in June 2001.
Posted by fad at 7:36am
Mmmm....space exploration.
European space controllers sent the Beagle 2 probe on its final approach to Mars on Friday, a critical step in Europe's first mission to explore the Red Planet for signs of life.Since that data will be shared with the world, I don't care who does it. This is just cool.
The British-built unmanned probe, which was launched June 2 from the former Soviet space port in Kazakhstan, is scheduled to land on Mars' surface on Christmas morning.
Posted by fad at 6:50am
December 18th, 2003
The Mariners on Thursday agreed to terms on a four-year contract with right-fielder Ichiro Suzuki.Yeah, it was pretty much going to happen, but still nice to have it done.
Posted by fad at 1:17pm
Oh, geez.
An inquest into the car crash that killed Princess Diana will be held Jan. 6, the royal family's coroner said Thursday, the first official public hearing in Britain into a death that after six years still raises questions among many here.Chum for the conspiratoids who will likely disbelieve any results as just more disinformation and cover up.
Back when this happened, I had just started listening to the Roe and Garry show. At the time, they had a little fun over the insane reactions and, more so, coverage of her death. Because of this they had men and women calling the station in tears, rage in their voices, condemning them to hell, demanding they remove themselves from the air and all sorts of hysterics. The insanity brought out by that woman makes me almost want to smash my Di 'n' Mother Theresa in heaven commemorative plates.
Posted by fad at 12:09pm
Here's some interesting poll info. I usually don't put too much trust in polls, but they do give an idea of the current mood.
Two-thirds in the poll said they were confident the United States would capture or kill Osama bin Laden, who is believed to have orchestrated the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. That's up from about half who felt that way in a poll in September.First, "is believed to have orchestrated"? Come on. Second, though, what this says and means for Wesley 'I Will Not Blink Until America Is Safe' Clark's idea that catching Osama should be priority one or that claiming that will catch the public's attention. The public believes it will happen, but more importantly they understand that the capture of this one man does not end the threat from al-Qaida or the myriad other terror groups the media won't mention because they aren't al-Qaida.
"I'm confident we'll capture Osama bin Laden," said Jill Chiccino, a surgical technician from Wilmington, Del. "I still don't feel that will solve terrorism, but it may help."
More than six in 10 registered voters, 63 percent, said they approved of Bush's handling of foreign policy and terrorism - up from 54 percent who felt that way in early December in an AP-Ipsos poll.I expect that will drop a bit after the new year. Feels like a post-capture bump.
People were evenly divided on whether Saddam would get a fairer trial from an international tribunal or from Iraqi courts.That one is very interesting. I'd be curious to see if people thought that really mattered.
Six in 10 thought the United States' government was likely to be embarrassed by some of the information disclosed by Saddam in a trial. That was higher than the percentage of people who felt Saddam's disclosures would embarrass the governments of France, Russia, Britain or Germany.This makes sense because US ties are all that are ever mentioned. You never see the charts that Russia and France by huge numbers provided far more military aid to Saddam, nor do you hear anything about France's lucrative, sanction dodging energy contracts with Saddam. Yes, information about US activity will be unpleasant, but not the most by a long shot.
Seven in 10 said they believed the Iraq war was an important part of the campaign against terrorism rather than a distraction. And by more than a 2-1 margin, people said the war was the right decision and not a mistake, according to the AP-Ipsos poll.That's very interesting. Especially the first part. That more see the tie with Iraq and terrorism as a whole than actually supported the war.
People are divided on whether the war in Iraq has made terrorist attacks in this country more likely, 40 percent, or less likely, 49 percent.A 9 point difference is quite a bit different from "divided".
Almost two-thirds said they expected a terrorist attack on a major U.S. city, building or national landmark in the next year. But only 15 percent said they thought such an attack was very likely. In a different poll in May, almost half said a terrorist attack was very likely in the near future.I had to conclude with that. When you're facing an enemy "so nutty", you can't talk them out of it.
"I'm not expecting anything as bad as 9-11," said Indiana college student Deanna Moon. But she expected this country would be attacked by people loyal to Saddam and bin Laden: "There's going to be something here and there because their followers are so nutty."
One note on this "who will be more embarrassed" thing. One of the least persuasive, and in fact most stupid, arguments against removing Saddam was the "The US was his buddy!" or "The US armed him!". I just heard today a letter read on CNN making that tired point. Leaving aside more nuanced senses on that and the facts that, as I mentioned, the French and Russian governments armed him far more, that's just foolishness. Past sins are no excuse for inaction at a later date. In these people's minds, the US was just supposed to wallow in guilt and probably throw cash around. Being wrong in the first place makes being right later even more imperative. By the logic they use, since the Democratic Party was the premier proponent of slavery in the 19th Century, it has no right today to work for racial equity. Not only that, it shouldn't say anything about it nor even vote on the issue. If there is a wrong that can be righted, it should be despite, and perhaps especially because of, past behavior.
Posted by fad at 12:07pm
Wow...if these accusations are true, and there's a good chance they are, I hope they nail every last bastard.
The Justice Department filed a civil rights lawsuit Thursday against the state of Mississippi, alleging abuse of juvenile offenders at two state-run facilities.Sick.
[...]
Oakley houses about 325 boys and Columbia houses about 200 boys and girls. Most are non-violent offenders.
Among the abuses uncovered: suicidal girls were stripped and placed in solitary confinement in a dark cell with only a drain for a toilet, boys were forced to run with mattresses strapped to their backs, girls who threw up while running in the heat were forced to eat their vomit, and youths were tied to poles or hog-tied.
Posted by fad at 12:03pm
While it took a long time, I pretty much agree with this.
The president of the United States does not have the power to detain an American citizen seized on U.S. soil as an enemy combatant, a federal appeals court ruled on Thursday, in a serious setback to the bush[sic] administration's war on terror.Can't be bothered to capitalize the President's name? A most unfortunate typo. Anyway, I'm sure there will be a quick push to have Congress actually grant this authority to the President, but I seriously doubt it will pass.
The U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 ruling, said only the U.S. Congress can authorize such detentions and it ordered the government to release Jose Padilla from military custody within 30 days.
The court said that the government can transfer Padilla, a U.S. citizen who has been held incommunicado in a Navy prison, to a civilian authority that can bring criminal charges against him.Which I'm sure will happen quickly since the decision sites there is good reason to suspect he was involved in terrorist activities. He will also get the services of an attention seeking, anti-Bush attorney who won't give a whit about whether or not Mr. Padilla (who actually went by Abdullah al-Muhajir, but we're supposed to forget that) conspired to aid a dirty-bombing, but rather how bad Bush can be made to look. Remember, Bush is the real terrorist to be fought. Those other ones can wait.
Posted by fad at 11:49am
Americans are getting more pissy. Well, at least the highways.
From March 4 to Nov. 27, 2002, one Adams County highway cleanup crew picked up 2,666 jugs of urine and 67 bags with human excrement in them.Must....avoid..."shitload"...joke....didn't...succeed....
Karen Cagle, who supervises highway cleanup crews in Eastern Washington, had never heard of urine jugs when she started her job in 1989.I'm more worried about how people manage to continue driving during the process.
Now the numbers grow each year.
"Several years ago, we started finding them and didn't know what to do with them and left them. But you can't leave it there or the freeways would be (flooded)," she said. "It's incredible what's out there. Where is it going to stop?"
Posted by fad at 10:44am
Critics to the administration: "Your deficits are HUUUUUGGEEEE!!!!!!"
Administration: "The next budget will include funky calculating to halve the deficit by 2009, conveniently a year after we're out of office."
Many critics: "NOOOOO!!!!! We'd rather it stay HUUUUGGGEEE rather than let you do any of that!"
One critic, seeing stretched out all caps words got confused and yelled, "OOOOOOOIIIIILLLLLLLL!!!!", but we consider that an outlier.
One fun quote from the article.
"Is it achievable? Yes," said Robert Reischauer, former head of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office who is now president of the Urban Institute. "Is it likely to occur? No. Is it sustainable? Probably not, because the world turns worse" at the end of this decade.So they'll label the partisianship of the group he no longer belongs to, but they won't label the group he speaks for now. Whatever could be the motivation for that?
Posted by fad at 9:49am
Wesley "I'm Wesley Clark...That's All I Got" Clark speaks.
"If I'd been president, I would have had Osama bin Laden by this time," Clark saidClark didn't stop there. He had smack for all sorts of presidents.
(I might add to this as the day goes on)
Briefly serious, focusing soley on catching bin Laden would truly be a distraction from fighting terrorism. Yes, proving he is dead or catching him is very important, but it is not most important. While he is a terrorist, he is not all terrorists. While al-quaida is a terrorist group, it is just one of many. Al-Qaida is not a man; it is a network. It is a mistake to focus solely on the man.
Posted by fad at 8:11am
Robert Samuelson of the Washington Post was easily the best columnist on the new campaign finance regulations back when they were being debated. Today he delivers a fine post mortem of their consequences on the first amendment.
Posted by fad at 7:59am
The title of a Seattle P-i editorial:
"Jobless deserve extended benefits"
The definition of "deserve" as given by Dictionary.com:
To be worthy of; merit. See Synonyms at earn
So now tell me. What exactly have the jobless done to be "worthy of", "merit" or "earn" an extension beyond the previous extension?
This is not to argue that the extension should not happen, nor will I argue that it should. The point here is the message that being eligible for a handout is the same as earning or deserving it. Once that idea is impressed in minds, then working and earning and true merit are devalued as well as the appreciation one has for the gift. It's like when someone gets so used to your sympathetic ear, they begin to expect only that from you, seeing you no longer as a person but as a pet. These extensions are a gift, not an earned treasure. Compassion is a wonderful thing, but far different from deserved.
Posted by fad at 7:24am
December 17th, 2003
But, then, I probably shouldn't type anything. I need to be put on suicide watch everytime football season ends. I gues I hope all the first dayers have fun.
Posted by fad at 4:12pm
Old stuff found.
Small figurines carved from mammoth ivory more than 30,000 years ago have been discovered in a cave in Germany.Since we are supposed to judge all previous generations by the standards of today, I find it shameful that ancient humans were trafficking in the ivory trade. Think of the destruction of nature and animals just to fill a consumerist need for baubles. Yet more evidence that European/Western culture has been nothing but a destroyer from day one.
[...]
The figurines depict a water bird, what appears to be a horse's head, and a lion-man.
[...]
The two-inch bird is extremely lifelike, with a well-formed head and eyes and the neck stretching out as if in flight. Conard said the figurine appears to be the oldest known representation of a bird, although an owl depicted in a French cave may be as old.
Posted by fad at 2:09pm
Robert 'Starvation Is Fun If You Let It Be' Mugabe takes another step.
Zimbabwe has introduced rules which allow it to seize equipment from white farmers thrown off their land.How long before he declares that white farmers must stay and work the farms taken from them? You know, some system in which a family is tied to the land and must work it for the owner. He could name it after those little blue things that French guy made up.
Posted by fad at 11:27am
Progressives hate progress. They really wish it would stop. Just yesterday George Monbiot lamented the airplane (or aeroplane if I were to be an annoying anglophile). Back in February when the Columbia exploded on re-entry, many progressive commentators went all Icarus on us. One claimed it was a sign that we should admit that there are limits to human endeavor and just quit the whole thing.
[More of my long winded boringness]
Posted by fad at 10:50am
Well bah humbug!
The rule is that you may access changes.xml three times an hour. After that you'll get a 503 Service Unavailable response, until the top of the hour when you get another three requests.Well, that makes my update checker pretty much useless. At least for one so crack adled as me.
Though I wonder if it matches request by IP or name. I got a shitload of domains I could rotate with.
UPDATE: Damn. IP. As was to be expected.
Posted by fad at 9:41am
I don't trust nature. I'm convinced it's out to get us. Ok, I'm convinced everything is out to get me, but you cannot ignore this evidence.
The video shows the deer walking around the mezzanine at the Addison Road-Seat Pleasant station in Maryland, running down an escalator, then darting down the platform past a waiting train. The animal then jumped onto the tracks, avoiding the electrified third rail, and headed off into the woods surrounding the aboveground station, Farbstein said.This was no accident or coincidence. They're up to something. Something bad, I tell you.
Posted by fad at 9:36am
Hastily called staff meetings and mandatory all employee meetings may have me a bit on edge today, but waking up and seeing it was amongst the top news on CNN.com that Madonna had endorsed Clark for President took away some of the tension. It worried me that she hadn't said anything yet, though this doesn't finalize my decision. I still need to hear who Gwyneth Paltrow's kid will endorce as well as which candidate will be endorsed by being invited to Ben and Jennifer's inevitable wedding.
Of course the whole world is still meaningless since Billy Bob and Angelina are still apart.
Posted by fad at 8:19am
December 16th, 2003
Posted by fad at 11:36pm
Hey, look! American money done built a road.
Afghanistan on Tuesday inaugurated the refurbished Kabul-Kandahar highway, a vital artery plagued by killings and kidnappings that has emerged as a symbol of the country's reconstruction efforts.Now just build a couple schools and hospitals and, at least according to Sen. Patty Murray (D - Where There Ain't No Debatin'), America will be almost as good as Osama bin Laden.
[...]
The $270 million project, funded mostly by the American government, was vital to Afghanistan's recovery after 23 years of war, Karzai said. "I'm sure it will have its effect and its impact on the economy."
Posted by fad at 2:49pm
Ha! Finally the truth comes out. The timing of Saddam's capture wasn't to distract from Bush's falling numbers (which were actually rising of late) or Haliburton like some would claim. Here's the real reason:
When Sandra Diaz-Twine awoke around 5 a.m. Sunday from her million-dollar dreams, she was greeted by the image to which most of us opened our eyes: a scraggly bearded Saddam Hussein, freshly pulled from his "spider hole" and being subjected to an oral examination and head lice inspection.Truly Bush's America can get no darker than this.
[...]
"I was like, 'Oh no, he's going to overshadow my victory! Can't they wait to capture him, like tomorrow or another day?' "
Posted by fad at 11:56am
One of my theories of life (no, not that one. That's not for typing out in public) is that regulations are little more than government contracts to certain companies. What you'll find when a new regulation, especially in environmental terms, is put in, the regulation happens to match very closely with a product that some company produces or is close to producing. Even more amazing, you'll find that this company was part of the lobbying for these specific regulations or helped fund the lobbying. Hence this reaction.
Environmentalists and an Ohio company that makes pollution control equipment for power plants are disappointed in a Bush administration proposal to give energy companies up to 15 years to install new technology aimed at reducing mercury emissions.They hedge their bets on companies being forced by the state to use their products. Strange tenses in this next paragraph.
[...]
The Twinsburg, Ohio-based company is one of about a dozen such firms across the country that stand to gain - or lose - business based on how strict the Environmental Protection Agency tightens Clean Air regulations regarding mercury.
The Clinton administration has listed mercury as a "hazardous air pollutant" and would have required each plant to install the best mercury controls by 2008.Emphasis mine at least until the Supreme Court declares that bold tags are not free speech. Weird to say the Clinton administration "has listed". Shouldn't that be "had listed" or just "listed"? The way they have it makes it sound like the Clinton administration still exists.
Then there is "would have required". Note that it did not require, but it "would have". Those rules it proposed, it never put into effect. But because it proposed them, though did nothing about them, they got to define the standard even though there currently is none.
Posted by fad at 11:37am
Damn. Looks like the price of that Alaskan cruise I hoped to take someday just went up.
Posted by fad at 10:54am
Hmmm...could there be trouble for the Club Of Overly Self-Satisfied Intelligent Who Need Everyone To Know This?
The other week I learned something new and rather exciting about myself: I am a genius. At the invitation of Mensa, I spent 45 minutes completing their Home Test, the first step you need to take to join the high IQ society, sent it off in the post to be marked, and waited for the result.And being very clever indeed is the point of Mensa, at least judging from the smug few members I have met.
A letter came back a few days later saying I had an IQ of 155. To put this in a bit of context: the average IQ is 100; to qualify for Mensa, which takes only the top 2 per cent of the population, you need an IQ of 148 or above. A score of 155 puts me in the top 1 per cent. In short, I am very clever indeed.
But while this happy letter from Mensa confirmed what I had always quietly suspected, it presented a problem. I had also got four colleagues to complete the Home Test and was now terrified that they had fared worse than me. I would have to tell them my brilliant score, they would have to face the fact that they were not as bright as me, and, frankly, it would be awkward. Nobody likes a show-off.Well, nobody except members of Mensa with their wonderful faux embarrassment that you happened to discover their membership from a carefully dropped reference or accidently displayed membership card.
My heart skipped a beat as they opened their respective envelopes. FT columnist Lucy Kellaway was first. It was a relief to see the slight smirk: she had got 155 too. management editor Mike Skapinker was next. Again, that giveaway smug grin. 155 too. Then it was Paul Solman, the deputy features editor. A self-satisfied smile. 155. Ditto for employment correspondent David Turner.Wow! Amazing coincidences! Of course, I'd get really worried if they happen to pull out an e-meter during the official test.
The gist is that Mensa appears to be turning into those "Who's Who" books where everybody is a winner. I admit, such a group serves a purpose. There has to be someplace you can go where the crowd will be impressed with your ability to calculate the difference of the factorials of your math and verbal SAT scores in your head.
Ok, this can probably be pegged as some petty jealousy. I freely admit that I'm not the brightest guy around. But this is mostly because the few Mensa members I've met were all arrogant condescending jerks to everyone they met using their intellectual superiority to excuse their behavior. It's kind of fun to see their club devalued a little.
Posted by fad at 10:34am
It's always good to know some people continue to enjoy this stuff.
Posted by fad at 9:54am
Shatter, oh ye Earth, at the pronouncements within!
U.S. special envoy James Baker and French President Jacques Chirac agreed at talks Tuesday that their countries must cooperate over efforts to rebuild Iraq, Chirac's office said.They "must cooperate", not that they will. Nor has any actual cooperation begun. But the words sure sound pretty. Let's look at more pretty words from the announcement.
It also said the two countries -- who have been at odds over the U.S. war in Iraq and over lucrative contracts to rebuild the country -- agreed that a deal to ease Iraq's huge debts should be reached in the Paris Club of creditor states in 2004.It "should be reached", not that it will or that there is anything close to a deal yet.
"(Baker and Chirac) agree on finding the means to reduce Iraq's debt in 2004 in the Paris Club, in accordance with the appropriate conditions," Chirac's office said after a meeting between the two in Paris.And those "appropriate conditions", mixed with all the meaningless weasel words, are what make this whole pronouncement worthless. I can imagine that some of those conditions might include waiting until after the 2004 election to see if a possible President Dean or Clark is willing to turn US foreign policy over to the French as the French and the New York Times, amongst others, have been insisting all along.
Posted by fad at 9:05am
These stories seem to be appearing more and more the last few years.
A woman's 400-pound Bengal tiger fatally mauled her 10-year-old nephew after pulling him under a fence and into its cage, authorities said.Not to distract too much from the death of this kid, but who the hell just happens to own a Bengal tiger?
Posted by fad at 7:30am
When you're a Congressman for life like Jim McDermott (D - Not Reality), you get to say whatever you'd like without fear of a voter backlash.
In an interview Monday with a Seattle radio station, McDermott said the U.S. military could have found the former Iraqi dictator "a long time ago if they wanted."Since McDermott was so chummy with Saddam before the invasion, maybe he was one of those the military was in contact with who knew where he was. McDermott also wins the award for the most backhanded, forced compliment.
Asked if he thought the weekend capture was timed to help Bush, McDermott chuckled and said, "Yeah. Oh, yeah."
McDermott went on to say, "There's too much by happenstance for it to be just a coincidental thing."
When interviewer Dave Ross asked again if he meant to imply the Bush administration timed the capture for political reasons, McDermott said: "I don't know that it was definitely planned on this weekend, but I know they've been in contact with people all along who knew basically where he was. It was just a matter of time till they'd find him.
"It's funny," McDermott added, "when they're having all this trouble, suddenly they have to roll out something."
McDermott, in a telephone interview with The Associated Press, called the timing of Saddam's capture suspicious but said he was not alleging it had been intentionally delayed.Your sincerity towards the troops is touching. Well, touching in that drunken-bum-on-the-swimsuit-area kind of way.
"Everything was going wrong, and they got a real Christmas gift, if you will, in that the troops did a magnificent job and found" Saddam, he said.
Posted by fad at 6:43am
December 15th, 2003
Brief Update: Just to clarify, I don't have any trouble with later analysis or most of the gloating. Hell, that's the whole purpose of these sites. And one effect of the capture is indeed that it increases Bush's chances of re-election as things are now. This is specific to posts that were the very first mention or announcement of the capture. It was as if the most important feature of the capture was that it meant bad news for Dean and Kerry rather than as important towards the larger war as it is being executed. Even this great moment couldn't, even briefly, escape such analysis at least for a moment.
And while I'm typing, this story, should it be true, about MoveOn.org soliciting foreign cash so it can campaign against George Bush cracks me up. I've said that the Supreme Court decision just made special interest groups such as MoveOn more powerful. And now that power will be backed with the lucre of foreign folk. I love it when unintended consequences break so quickly when Congress just finishes fixing something.
Posted by fad at 7:18pm
John Edwards has ideas. Ideas almost good enough for a semi-regular newsletter.
Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards says he would prevent a repeat of this year's flu crisis by improving government tracking of the disease and speeding production of vaccines.It's almost as if he wants some sort of, oh, what would you call it...Center! for controlling diseases. Too bad we don't have one of those now.
[...]
Looking ahead, he proposes a "real-time" unified national system to track the outbreak of diseases and the availability of vaccines. Public health officials would have easy access to the system to learn how a disease is moving and who has the vaccine needed to respond.
He also said he would cut down on the months it takes to produce flu vaccine by increasing funding for the National Institutes of Health (news- web sites) and would require the government to establish a national plan to produce sufficient vaccine.Because planning and knowing exactly how much vaccine will be needed every year is very easy to do. I wish government did more planning!
Posted by fad at 1:43pm
Nothing like a harsh reminder that one of the main reasons we get through our day safely is because everyone we meet during the day has chosen not to do us violence.
Two dozen people suffered burns to their faces, hands and arms in a suspected acid attack at a pub in Bristol, southwestern England, police said Monday.Such things are easy to do and plan. Someone merely has to decide to do it. Thankfully most do not.
UPDATE: A friend wrote to remind me of a little "acting up" I did in a store a few months ago. The woman at the check out was trying to convince me to buy a service contract "just in case something happens." I said, "Oh, you mean like during my acid fights?"
"What?"
"You know, " then I waved my hand as if splashing something out of a container and yelled, "ACID FIGHT! ACID FIGHT!"
She didn't think it was funny. In fact, I think she was a bit scared and wanted to get me away very fast. In other words, the typical reaction most women have when I'm around.
Posted by fad at 1:41pm
Many of you have likely seen the MoveOn.org commercial criticizing the $87 billion recently approved for the Iraqi mission. It details all the wonders that money could purchase instead. Something like 2,000,000 teachers, health care for everyone, fluffy pillows for poor kids replaced fortnightly by a squad of multi-ethnic delivery people paid a living wage, etc.
Now I'm not going to argue the rightness or wrongness of the $87 billion. I'm more interested in the stealthy falsicity (you sound smarter if you end random words with "icity") of arguments like the one above. You see it a lot, and it's very good at distracting from a very large point. The $87 billion in this case is a one time pay out. The things they suggest that money would be better spent on are ongoing things. Sure, we hire all those teachers and pillow delivery crews now, but if we stuck to just the $87 billion we'd have to fire them next year.
Therefore, their argument is completely false. You could not, in fact, hire all those teachers and other things with the $87 billion. You could only do so if you continued to spend $87 billion every year costing far more over time.
I don't know why I bothered to write this up, but I did. Consider your time wasted!
Posted by fad at 1:28pm
That wacky Chavez. How does he do it?
President Hugo Chavez released a recorded telephone conversation between a prominent political opponent and his son, claiming Sunday that it proved there was fraud during a petition drive for a recall vote on his rule.Wow! A recording of exactly what he wants to hear just showing up!
Chavez did not say how he obtained what he said was a recorded conversation between former Attorney General Ramon Escovar Salom and his son, Ramon Escovar Leon. The president aired the conversation during his weekly television show, "Hello President."Hmmm...seems that recordings of opposition figures are all the rage down there.
Chavez allies have released several recorded telephone conversations between political opponents, claiming they receive the tapes from anonymous sources.Silly opponents. When you're working for The People™ there is no such thing as "illegal".
Opponents accuse the government of illegally bugging telephones.
Posted by fad at 12:18pm
One feature of the growing economy has been soaring productivity. Looks like that bled over into crime as well.
The nation's murder rate rose slightly in the first half of the year despite a 3.1 percent drop in overall violent crime, the FBI reported Monday.Nice to know our violent criminals are more focused these days.
There were 1.1 percent more murders during the first six months of 2003 compared with the same period a year earlier - the only category of violent crime to show an increase from January to June.
Posted by fad at 12:13pm
More Drug War happiness.
The Supreme Court made it easier Monday for police to arrest all occupants of a car when hidden drugs are found during a traffic stop.So Randy Moss might have to worry next time one of his friends accidently happens to leave their pot in his car when he tries to run over a traffic cop.
Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, writing for the unanimous court, said that in a small space like a car, "it was reasonable for the officer to infer a common enterprise" among a driver and passengers during a 1999 stop in Maryland.
Posted by fad at 12:10pm
Among the many groups who want to exploit the threat of terrorism as proof that their plans must be implemented are environmentalists. They tell us, along with control freaks like Arianna Huffington, that we must implement Kyoto or similar plans to defund terrorism by breaking our dependence on oil. Of course many of these groups, or groups that travel along with them, also claim that poverty is the "root cause" of all terrorism. If we were to stop buying oil, the major source of income for those nations from which most terrorist movements spring, wouldn't that increase poverty and therefore terrorism?
But anyway, it's more or less moot. OPEC is going to work to include payouts as oil sales drop.
A dispute over aid to OPEC states clouded the last day of a U.N. conference on global warming on FridayHow much you wanna bet they get them? "Europe", as defined as France and Germany, is only good at standing up to the US (because, until recently, they did not fear any consequences for tweaking or working against the US) and other, smaller countries on the continent.
[...]
Delegates said that Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, wanted promises of aid if Kyoto spurs a shift to renewable energies like tidal, solar or wind energy at the expense of fossil fuels.
Posted by fad at 10:56am
Woo! More crap you can inject in your face to cover years of smoking and tanning so that he won't leave your relationship built on money, status and fear of loneliness for the gold digging secretary!
Posted by fad at 10:04am
Sign you are an unserious person #426:
For months you've been saying, "Oh yeah? Well then where is Saddam Hussein? You haven't even caught him!"
Then when he is caught, you immediately say, "Oh yeah? Well, doesn't matter."
Posted by fad at 8:48am
December 14th, 2003
Posted by fad at 1:48pm
I just got Saddam capture themed spam...
Posted by fad at 9:52am
"We got him."
U.S. forces have captured Saddam Hussein in a late night raid near his hometown of Tikrit, according to the head of the Coalition Provisional Authority.Of course, in the obsession with balance, the article has to end with the information that 16 Iraqis were killed in a completely unrelated attack. Nice to end an article of such importance with bad news. Idiots. Yeah, we need to know that stuff too, but put it in a different article.
"Ladies and gentleman, we got him," L. Paul Bremer announced Sunday. The announcement was greeted with cheers from the audience.
[...]
Several Iraqi journalists stood up and shouted "Death to Saddam" after the video was shown.
But for today, I will let that pass and celebrate the capture of the "longtime Iraqi leader", as this CNN dispatch insists on calling him. I won't worry about how the French and the Germans will be pissed that they won't be allowed to bid on his fate or that human rights groups will show more concern for his condition than they have for any in the mass graves or how Christianne Amanpour will tut-tut that bin Laden is still at large as if that negates everything or that the second headline on the New York Times' site is "U.S. Sees More Attacks Despite Hussein's Capture". The fucker has been caught, and no amount of media hissy can dilute that today.
Posted by fad at 7:51am