The Leftover

Sweatin' Scotty

2005-07-11T19:07:00.000-07:00

Tough day today for Scotty in the White House Press Conference!

I almost felt sorry for him. Nah, I shouldn't lie. I loved it.

London Bombing

2005-07-07T14:24:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking about the bombing this morning in London in amongst my work and have read some other bloggers comments about it. I think what Billmon expresses in his post comes the closest to how I feel:

The cold blooded murder of Londoners is no more horrifying than the murder or New Yorkers or Madrilenos -- or Baghdadis. But today's target still has a special hold over my emotions. If your mother tongue is English, and you loved stories as much as I did as a child, then London is the city of your imagination, of Mary Poppins and David Copperfield, of London-bridge-is-falling-down and the prince and the pauper. And if you've been there, and visited the places you dreamed about as a boy, and ridden the tube to Picadilly Circus, and climbed the stairs of the Tower of London, and strolled through Hyde Park in the morning fog, then what happened today hurts more than maybe it should, logically.

We are all New Yorkers, we are all Madrilenos, we are all Baghdadis. But I was a Londoner from the time I learned how to read. I know it shouldn't make any difference, but it does.

It really struck me this morning watching TV, look at Yahoo's home page, looking at what other bloggers have said, that what happened in London this morning has been happening in Baghdad now for over two years. Why don't we have the same outrage and the same empathy and the same reaction when it happens in Iraq? I think it is because most of us do not have the same emotional connection to Iraq or its people that we do to Great Britain.

I think Billmon says it in a the positive sense of why he feels a personal connection to London. But the ugly side of that is an inherent inability among humans to NOT feel a connection to other humans we perceive to be different from us. So, for far too many of us Iraqis are just too "other" for us to really feel their pain as they are bombed, day after day, by the same deadly destructive forces that just hit London this morning. Most of us Americans know very little about Iraq, its history, its people or its majority religion. And, besides, they're so brown.

Whenever I hear President Bush talk about how we are fighting the war on terrorism in Iraq so we don't have to fight it at home, I cringe. Doesn't anyone else in this country feel disgusted by that statement that it's okay if Iraqis are dying as long it keeps that ugly mess "over there"? I heard Senator McCain repeat that same disgusting statement this morning on CNN.

This is a ridiculous and morally bankrupt position to hold. It is not right to make Iraqis pay for our problems with Al Qaeda. It is also ridiculous to think that our attacking Iraq has helped keep the terrorism over there as if terrorism is containable and as if Iraq was the problem. We're making innocent people pay for our problem.

The second thing I've been thinking about today is how much the Bush Administration wants us to think that things are really going just swimmingly over in Iraq and how its just the nasty SCLM that is the problem. A group of conservative-leaning broadcasters are even going over there to take a look for themselves so they can tell us the "truth." What strikes me today is the horror we feel about what happened in London. So much so that I've already seen stories speculating that international travel may dip as a result. Who would say things are just great there today? What if this keeps happening, say, once a week in London? Would you actually say things are really pretty great in Wales today and so why are you focusing just on the bad news?

Can you not see that what London has just experienced in ONE DAY is what people in Baghdad have been experiencing since we invaded their county--OVER TWO YEARS? Even worse, they don't even have the everyday comforts that we take for granted and that are still present in London--clean water, sewage, electricity on demand, food to purchase, available gasoline.

And the Iraqis had NOTHING to do with 9/11 any more than any of the people on the buses and trains in London this morning.

May God bless the souls of all who are dying in this horrible cycle of violence.

Judy's goin' to Jail

2005-07-06T12:36:00.000-07:00

From WaPo:

A federal judge on Wednesday jailed New York Times reporter Judith Miller for refusing to divulge her source to a grand jury investigating the Bush administration's leak of an undercover CIA operative's name.

"There is still a realistic possibility that confinement might cause her to testify," U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan said.

Miller stood up, hugged her lawyer and was escorted from the courtroom.

More on Marriage

2005-07-05T11:58:00.000-07:00

Being the knee-jerk liberal that I am, it wouldn't occur to me that more than a handful of nutcases would actually want women to return to their status held in previous times in our history. And, certainly not elected federal officeholders. But then I be so sadly wrong.

From Rick Santorum's new book, by way of Capitol Buzz, that's exactly what Mr. Santorum seems to be calling for in this laments:

"Many women have told me, and surveys have shown, that they find it easier, more “professionally” gratifying, and certainly more socially affirming, to work outside the home than to give up their careers to take care of their children. Think about that for a moment…Here, we can thank the influence of radical feminism, one of the core philosophies of the village elders." (It Takes a Family, 95)

Women, what are you doing thinking that you can have gratifying careers outside the home? That's for your hubby, not you, fer heaven's sake. It's selfish if you want it. It's God's will when your husband wants it. Get with the program.

Capitol Buzz has more quotes if you can stomach it.

The So-Called Traditional Marriage

2005-07-05T11:45:00.000-07:00

In the debate about allowing same-sex marriage, I'm always annoyed by the arguments that include references to "traditional marriage" or say that same-sex marriage will undermine a 5,000 year old tradition, as if heterosexual marriage has been static throughout that entire period.

What strikes me about that type of argument is the focus on the form, rather than the function. If all you can see is the man and the woman, then, yes, marriage has been very static over the centuries. But if you look at the function and the rules surrounding marriage, then you must conclude that marriage has been an ever-evolving insitution.

There's a great op-ed piece in today's NY Times written by Stephanie Coontz. Coontz is the author of the recently published book "Marriage, a History: From Obedience to Intimacy, or How Love Conquered Marriage." I heard her interviewed on Terry Gross and recommend listening to that interview in you are interested in this topic. Here's most of today's piece:

The first step down the road to gay and lesbian marriage took place 200 years ago, when Enlightenment thinkers raised the radical idea that parents and the state should not dictate who married whom, and when the American Revolution encouraged people to engage in "the pursuit of happiness," including marrying for love. Almost immediately, some thinkers, including Jeremy Bentham and the Marquis de Condorcet, began to argue that same-sex love should not be a crime.

Same-sex marriage, however, remained unimaginable because marriage had two traditional functions that were inapplicable to gays and lesbians. First, marriage allowed families to increase their household labor force by having children. Throughout much of history, upper-class men divorced their wives if their marriage did not produce children, while peasants often wouldn't marry until a premarital pregnancy confirmed the woman's fertility. But the advent of birth control in the 19th century permitted married couples to decide not to have children, while assisted reproduction in the 20th century allowed infertile couples to have them. This eroded the traditional argument that marriage must be between a man and a woman who were able to procreate.

In addition, traditional marriage imposed a strict division of labor by gender and mandated unequal power relations between men and women. "Husband and wife are one," said the law in both England and America, from early medieval days until the late 19th century, "and that one is the husband."

This law of "coverture" was supposed to reflect the command of God and the essential nature of humans. It stipulated that a wife could not enter into legal contracts or own property on her own. In 1863, a New York court warned that giving wives independent property rights would "sow the seeds of perpetual discord," potentially dooming marriage.

Even after coverture had lost its legal force, courts, legislators and the public still cleaved to the belief that marriage required husbands and wives to play totally different domestic roles. In 1958, the New York Court of Appeals rejected a challenge to the traditional legal view that wives (unlike husbands) couldn't sue for loss of the personal services, including housekeeping and the sexual attentions, of their spouses. The judges reasoned that only wives were expected to provide such personal services anyway.

As late as the 1970's, many American states retained "head and master" laws, giving the husband final say over where the family lived and other household decisions. According to the legal definition of marriage, the man was required to support the family, while the woman was obligated to keep house, nurture children, and provide sex. Not until the 1980's did most states criminalize marital rape. Prevailing opinion held that when a bride said, "I do," she was legally committed to say, "I will" for the rest of her married life.

I am old enough to remember the howls of protest with which some defenders of traditional marriage greeted the gradual dismantling of these traditions. At the time, I thought that the far-right opponents of marital equality were wrong to predict that this would lead to the unraveling of marriage. As it turned out, they had a point.

Giving married women an independent legal existence did not destroy heterosexual marriage. And allowing husbands and wives to construct their marriages around reciprocal duties and negotiated roles - where a wife can choose to be the main breadwinner and a husband can stay home with the children- was an immense boon to many couples. But these changes in the definition and practice of marriage opened the door for gay and lesbian couples to argue that they were now equally qualified to participate in it.

Marriage has been in a constant state of evolution since the dawn of the Stone Age. In the process it has become more flexible, but also more optional. Many people may not like the direction these changes have taken in recent years. But it is simply magical thinking to believe that by banning gay and lesbian marriage, we will turn back the clock.

Plame in a Nutshell

2005-07-04T22:00:00.000-07:00

Digby has the Plame story down to its essence:

In Hollywood, screewriters and readers are asked to distill the plot into a single sentence called a logline. Here's the logline for the Plame Scandal:
Karl Rove and others in the White House exposed an undercover CIA agent in order to cover up their lies about Iraq.

Rust, baby dolphins and baby whales never sleep

2005-06-30T10:54:00.000-07:00

I'm having insomnia and not enough sleep of late and this makes me tired just reading it:

Sleep-deprived mothers of newborn babies should spare a thought for bottlenose dolphins and killer whales.

A study has shown the young of those two species do not sleep at all during the first month of life. They are active 24 hours a day -- and their mothers have learned to cope.

"Somehow these seafaring mammals have found a way to cope with sleep deprivation, facilitating rather than hindering a crucial phase of development for their offspring," Dr Jerome Siegel, a neuroscientist at the University of California - Los Angeles (UCLA), said in a statement.

Siegel and his colleagues said the developmental pattern they discovered in the dolphins and whales is different from all other mammals.

As the calves of both species grow, their sleep gradually increases to adult levels.

"Their bodies have found a way to cope, offering evidence that sleep isn't necessary for development and raising the question of whether humans and other mammals have untapped physiological potential for coping without sleep," Siegel said.

The scientists, who reported the findings in the journal Nature, believe the newborns' lack of sleep has several advantages. Their constant movement reduces the danger from predators and helps maintain their body temperature until they develop greater mass and blubber.

It also enables them to swim to the surface frequently to breathe and helps their body and brain to develop.

The scientists observed two adult killer whales and their calves at SeaWorld in San Diego, California and four dolphins and their offspring at the Utrish Marine Mammal Research Station in the Black Sea region of Russia for five months after birth.

ABC Reality Show Pulled

2005-06-30T09:09:00.000-07:00

Saw this on Yahoo. The last line was what got me.

"Welcome to the Neighborhood," an ABC reality series that pushes hot buttons of racism and anti-homosexuality, was pulled by the network before its debut. The program had drawn criticism from groups claiming it risked fostering prejudice.

In a statement Wednesday, ABC acknowledged the delicate nature of the series in which families asked to pick a new neighbor are made to expose and overcome their biases.

"Welcome to the Neighborhood" demonstrates what happens when people are forced to "confront preconceived notions of what makes a good neighbor," the network said.

"However, the fact that true change only happens over time made the episodic nature of this series challenging, and given the sensitivity of the subject matter in early episodes we have decided not to air the series at this time."

The six-episode show, which was to debut July 10, follows three families in Austin, Texas, who are given the chance to choose a new neighbor for a house on their street.

Each family initially wants someone similar to them — white and conservative.

Instead, they must choose from families that are black, Hispanic and Asian; two gay white men who've adopted a black child; a couple covered in tattoos and piercings; a couple who met at the woman's initiation as a witch; and a poor white family.

In the early episodes, one man makes a crack about the number of children piling out of the Hispanic family's car and displays of affection between the gay men provoke disgust.

The series' producers had said it was intended to promote a healthy and open debate about prejudice and people's fear of differences.

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, after viewing the series, expressed strong concerns.

While it ultimately carries a valuable message about diversity and acceptance, those watching the first episodes could be left thinking discrimination is "not that big a deal," GLAAD spokesman Damon Romine said Wednesday.

"Regardless of how things turn out at the end of the last show, it's dangerous to let intolerance and bigotry go unchallenged for weeks at a time," he said, adding that GLAAD hopes a revised version might air.

Before ABC announced its decision, the Family Research Council said it was worried evangelicals would be made to appear judgmental and foolish.
(emphasis added)

Gosh, that would be a shock wouldn't it? Evangelicals appearing judgmental and foolish. See the Terry Schiavo circus. See this related item on Crooks and Liars.

Bush's Actual Speech vs. Scottie's Prediction

2005-06-28T21:20:00.000-07:00

I was in the car this afternoon and heard Dave Ross do a commentary on CBS Radio on Scott McClellan's gaggle yesterday. He played clips of Scottie saying repeatedly that Bush's speech tonight at Ft. Bragg would be very specific and new.

So I went to the White House website to see the transcript of the press conference and here's a portion of it:

...Tomorrow, the President will also talk about the strategy for success. He will talk in a very specific way about the way forward. There is a clear path to victory. It is a two-track strategy: there is the military and political track. On the military front, it's important to continue training and equipping the Iraqi security forces so that they're able to defend themselves, and then our troops can return home with the honor that they deserve. And then there is the political track. The Iraqi people are showing that they're determined to build a free and democratic and peaceful future, and we must continue to do all we can to support them as they build a lasting democracy.

So the President looks forward to speaking to the American people tomorrow night. You will hear from him in much greater detail, but I wanted to give you a little bit of a preview to begin with. And with that, I'll be glad to go to your questions.

Q Scott, are there new details in the strategy for success? Is there a new direction, or is the President basically summing up what he has said before?

MR. McCLELLAN: As I said, this is a new speech. And the President will be talking in a very specific way about the strategy for succeeding in Iraq. And he will talk about the two-track strategy that we have in place. He touched on it a little bit last week; he's touched on it in -- many times over recent weeks. But this is going to be the President talking about it in a very specific way, about where we are for succeeding and where we are in implementing that strategy.

Q Well, I guess what I'm asking is, are people going to hear things they haven't heard the President say before? Are there new details?

MR. McCLELLAN: I think many Americans have not heard much of what the President has to say tomorrow night. And the American people are rightly concerned about where we are in Iraq. That's a top priority for this country; it's a top priority for the President of the United States. The American people want to see our troops return home, but I think they understand the importance of succeeding in Iraq. And the President will talk about that in his remarks. I think we all want to see the troops come home sooner than later, and the way to get our troops home is to complete the mission.

Our troops, as General Abizaid was talking about over the weekend, understand the importance of the mission that they are working to complete. This is critical to winning the war on terrorism. A free Iraq will deal a major blow to the terrorists and their ideology of hatred and oppression.

Q The question is, is there a new direction, though, or not?

MR. McCLELLAN: You're going to hear from the President tomorrow night. I think we have a clear strategy for success. He's going to be talking in a very specific way about what that strategy is. It's an opportunity for the American people to hear about the strategy. We've all seen on the TV screens the images of bloodshed and violence. They are disturbing. The President is disturbed by those images. The terrorists have inflicted great suffering. There have been tremendous sacrifices. But the cause for which we are in Iraq is an important one, and there is great progress being made on the ground.
(emphasis added)

So what new stuff was in the speech? Here's what commentators have to say about the speech:

Dana Milbank in the Washington Post:

The speech offered little new in the way of policy or strategy but instead reframed an argument that Bush and his advisers believe has not been presented adequately to most Americans.

The Washington Post's editorial reaction:

Mr. Bush's account of his strategy for Iraq, which has remained virtually unchanged in the past year, doesn't answer the worrying questions raised by these facts. How will the insurgency be contained during the considerable time it will take to prepare Iraqi troops? How will the Army and Marines manage years more of heavy deployments while addressing their recruitment problems? And how will continued heavy spending on the war affect the federal budget and domestic priorities? The president's evasion of the hardest facts about Iraq is coupled with a reluctance to candidly describe the likely price of success -- though Mr. Bush did make an appeal last night for military service.

The New York Times editorial response:

We did not expect Mr. Bush would apologize for the misinformation that helped lead us into this war, or for the catastrophic mistakes his team made in running the military operation. But we had hoped he would resist the temptation to raise the bloody flag of 9/11 over and over again to justify a war in a country that had nothing whatsoever to do with the terrorist attacks. We had hoped that he would seize the moment to tell the nation how he will define victory, and to give Americans a specific sense of how he intends to reach that goal - beyond repeating the same wishful scenario that he has been describing since the invasion.

Sadly, Mr. Bush wasted his opportunity last night, giving a speech that only answered questions no one was asking. He told the nation, again and again, that a stable and democratic Iraq would be worth American sacrifices, while the nation was wondering whether American sacrifices could actually produce a stable and democratic Iraq.

I personally find it very difficult to listen to George Bush for very long. I find the dissonance between his facial and body language and his words to be distracting. I find his cadence to be irritating. When he gives his smirk, I cringe. But tonight's speech was just plain boring to me. Too much of the same blah blah blah September 11 blah blah freedom.

I rarely go there, but I did get curious and looked to see what Powerline had to say. Not surprisingly, they liked it, but even they said nothing new:

Excellent Speech

Clear, confident, substantive. There was nothing in it that we and our readers didn't already know, but the message is one that many rarely hear. And the networks all carried it after all. That's good; President Bush nearly always does well when people see him, instead of seeing Democrats talking about him, as they will on the evening news.

The only thing I thought was odd was the unnatural quiet in the hall. It was like the audience at a Presidential debate, which has been cautioned not to express approval or disapproval. Only at the end, apparently, were the soldiers permitted to applaud.

The touch of emotion at the end was genuine and powerful. His appeal to Americans' pride and determination resonated, no doubt, with many who haven't spent much time understanding the strategic underpinnings of the conflict.

Porter Goss

2005-06-24T16:37:00.000-07:00

Great oped in the Mpls Star Tribune today on Porter Goss's comments in Time that he has an excellent idea where Osama Bin Laden is.

So CIA Director Porter Goss has "an excellent idea" where Osama bin Laden is, does he? He said that very thing to Time magazine. Well, great! Glad to hear that after more than three years, billions of dollars, thousands of American lives, countless sleepless nights and the turning of our country upside down, the head of the CIA knows where the perpetrator of 9/11 is. We can now all breathe a sigh of relief.

According to Goss, only the U.S. respect for the sovereignty of other nations prevents us from having Bin Laden in a cell. That's right. Because we respect other nations so much, we won't conduct operations in them without permission.

And yet, multiple countries, including Italy, Sweden and others, have claimed that the United States has kidnapped people from within their own borders and taken them who knows where. And yet, out of respect, we won't go get Bin Laden?

Is it just me, or is something wrong with this picture?

Unfortunately, we've been told before that the government knew where Bin Laden was. We had him in our sights at Tora Bora. We'd have him in a matter of days if not hours. We'd get him any time now. What was true then is true now: Talk is cheap.

It's easy to claim all sorts of things. I have the numbers to the next lottery, but I'm just not in the mood to buy a ticket. I also have the secret formula for turning lead into gold but I don't like the color. Anybody else?

Yeah, Porter, I'm sure you have an excellent idea where Osama is. But I would be much happier if you would spend less time telling the media and more time going to that place where he supposedly is and blowing him to kingdom come. Just to break up the monotony.

Maybe if the CIA had done so two years ago, President Bush would have stayed focused on Al-Qaida, rather than diverting our resources into the Iraqi quagmire. Now we have 1,700 dead, and counting, and more than 13,000 maimed for our troubles.

Just in case you're not buying this guy's story on how the U.S. has gone into other countries to kidnap people. This is from today's WaPo:

Italian authorities on Thursday issued arrest warrants on kidnapping charges against 13 U.S. agents who allegedly grabbed a radical Muslim preacher off a street here two years ago and covertly flew him back to his native Egypt, where he later claimed he was tortured.

The warrants, approved by an Italian judge , are the culmination of a two-year investigation by prosecutors and police in Milan into the Feb. 17, 2003 disappearance of Osama Mustafa Hassan Nasr, an Egyptian cleric who has been a longtime surveillance target of Italian counter-terrorism police.

Avian Flu

2005-06-24T16:20:00.000-07:00

The pandemic flu stories give me the willies and fascinate me simultaneously. My grandmother, at age 17, lost her entire immediate family in a tragic fire and then the flu pandemic in 1918 and so I've always had an awareness and awe of that pandemic. It seems so strange how it could come so suddenly and end so suddenly as well.

So here's today's scary story:

Half a million Americans could die and more than 2 million could end up in the hospital with serious complications if an even moderately severe strain of a pandemic flu hits, a report predicted on Friday.

But the United States only has 965,256 staffed hospital beds, said the report from the Trust for America's Health.

The non-profit group's state-by-state analysis adds to a growing clamor of voices contending that the United States is not prepared for a large outbreak of disease, whether natural or brought on by war or terrorism.

"This is not a drill. This is not a planning exercise. This is for real," said the Trust's executive director, Shelley Hearne, in a statement.

In today's amazing world of blogging, there's a blog that's solely devoted to avian flu. Read it for more information and links to other sources. Some of the sources linked to on that blog suggest that the human-to-human transmission of the avian flu has already begun in Vietnam and perhaps China.

Birds aren't birdbrains

2005-06-24T16:00:00.000-07:00

I put a few bird feeders in my back yard this year and I've been having fun watching to see who comes. It's a great break from the hectic world. One of the things that's been really interesting to me is to learn more about bird behavior. Until fairly recently, I've considered birds to be, well, kinda stupid. You know, birdbrains.

Here are a couple of stories that show that perhaps being a birdbrain is actually a desirable trait.

First, a news item about how complex bird signals are:

Those cheery-sounding chirps coming from the tree in the back yard are carrying more than a joyful message -- they are conveying surprisingly complex information about lurking predators, biologists reported on Thursday.

Tiny chickadees, known for their scolding calls, communicate details about nearby predators, biology PhD student Chris Templeton of the University of Washington found.

For instance, the final, or "D" note in a call can be repeated for emphasis, Templeton said.

"If you ever go out and are hearing a chickadee making a really long string of "D" notes on a call -- six or eight or even 10 -- you know there is a really dangerous predator around, maybe the next-door neighbor's cat or an owl or a fox," Templeton said in a telephone interview.

"It is very strongly correlated with predator body size."

Second, this story is a few months old, but I thought it was fascinating:

Parrots can chat with humans, pigeons can tell a Picasso painting from a Monet and, in the Galapagos islands, Darwin's finches can spear insects with tools they make from cactus spines -- but, contrary to what scientists have long believed, none of them is acting merely on blind instinct or unconscious responses to training.

What those birds are doing, instead, is being smart -- displaying "complex cognitive behavior" as modern brain researchers call it. The new understanding comes from a recent series of experiments and comparative studies of the brain structures of birds, humans and other mammals.

"Evolution has created more than one way to generate complex behavior -- the mammal way and the bird way, and they're comparable to one another," said Erich Jarvis, a Duke University neurobiologist. "In fact, some birds have evolved cognitive abilities that are far more complex than many mammals."

Now, however, modern brain researchers have discovered that bird brains have large clusters of nerve cells occupying space in the brain called the pallium, and that these cell clusters are equally responsible for reasoning, learning and concentrating.

The links between the brain evolution of birds and mammals have resulted from sophisticated new studies in brain imaging, genetic analysis and laboratory experiments tracing the pathways of the central nervous systems in the two widely separated animal groups, according to the findings of the international consortium.

"We have to get rid of the idea that mammals -- and humans in particular -- are the pinnacle of evolution. We also have to understand that evolution is not linear, but an intricate branching process," Jarvis says. "We can't automatically expect to track a structure in the human brain back to other current vertebrate species."

These researchers are not quarreling with Charles Darwin's original concepts of evolution, nor are they breaking with evolution's basic tenets -- that species evolve under the pressures of natural selection.

But they do propose to modify the concept, so that the emergence of intelligent thinking birds and their brains at least take their rightful place alongside the world's mammals and are not relegated to the role of dumb creatures, all instinct and no intelligence.

China beats the US in popularity

2005-06-24T15:53:00.000-07:00

Yikes. China is viewed more favorably than the U.S.:

The United States' image is so tattered overseas two years after the Iraq invasion that communist China is viewed more favorably than the U.S. in many long-time Western European allies, an international poll has found.

"It's amazing when you see the European public rating the United States so poorly, especially in comparison with China," said Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, which surveyed public opinion in 16 countries, including the United States.

People in most countries were more inclined to say the war in Iraq has made the world a more dangerous place. Non-U.S. residents who had unfavorable views of the United States were most likely to cite Bush as the reason rather than a general problem with America.

Tom Cruise, expert on psychiatry

2005-06-24T15:44:00.000-07:00

Tom Cruise, happily engaged Scientologist, told Matt Lauer this on the Today Show:

When Lauer mentioned Cruise's earlier criticism of Brooke Shields for taking anti-depressants, Cruise told the "Today" show co-host he didn't know what he was talking about.

"You don't know the history of psychiatry. I do," Cruise said.

The interview became more heated when Lauer, who said he knew people who had been helped by the attention-deficit disorder drug Ritalin, asked Cruise about the effects of the drug.

"Matt, Matt, you don't even -- you're glib," Cruise responded. "You don't even know what Ritalin is. If you start talking about chemical imbalance, you have to evaluate and read the research papers on how they came up with these theories, Matt, OK. That's what I've done."

Here at The Leftover, we've had experience with the use of psychotropic drugs in humans and, as a consequence, we are definitely pro-drug, anti-Scientology. I wonder how much direct experience Tom has in his circle of family and friends.

Pit Bulls are a menace

2005-06-24T15:24:00.000-07:00

Recently here in the SF Bay Area, there have been 3 serious pit bull attacks on people. In one case, a 12 year old boy was killed by his two family dogs. A 66 year old woman was attacked by her own dog. And just this Thursday, an 8 year old girl and her mother were attacked when a neighbor let the pit bull she was supposed to be watching get loose.

I don't understand why anyone would have a pit bull around at all, much less around children. After every one of these attacks there's a chorus of people who have pit bulls saying "Oh, my dog is so sweet, she would never do anything like that." Yer nuts, people!

I'm a dog lover. I have a very sweet Australian shepherd. She's the first pure breed dog I've ever had and the experience has taught me a lot about genetics. The herding instinct in Aussies is incredible. But what's also incredible in her behavior are the things she doesn't do. She has no interest in chasing birds. Compare that to a bird dog. I've seen setters chase birds all day long at the beach. She has no interest in our many, many gophers. Compare that to a terrier. She also doesn't chomp onto things and lock her jaws. She nips. She nipped us like crazy as a puppy. Why? Because that's what she's been bred to do. Herding dogs that bite or kill the herd aren't going to last long. So Aussies nip and they nip hard but they aren't biters that go for the throat. That's what has really amazed me about pure bred dogs--the breeding process has been incredibly successful.

And so it is just as true for pit bulls. I read recently that pit bulls were originally bred for fighting bulls and they could literally take a bull down by the bull's nose. Then that was stopped and people moved on to training them to fight each other. These dogs are bred on purpose to be fierce fighters, so, why are we surprised that they live up to their breeding?

Personally, I think the training we do with our dogs is a finishing veneer and not much more. You can only do so much to overcome the tendencies that have been so successfully bred into dogs. I can't turn my Aussie into a bird dog, and you can't turn off the aggression that's bred in a pit bull. It's just not possible.

Look over there--it's Dick Durbin!

2005-06-24T15:03:00.000-07:00

Seems to me that this week's news shows a big difference between the Republican vs. Democrat sound machines.

Dick Durbin reads an FBI report and says it's hard to believe that what's being read isn't something from Hitler, Stalin or Pol Pot regimes. What he reads describes Americans forcing prisoners at Gitmo to endure temperature extremes, held in position until they piss and shit all over themselves. No one disputes the factual truth of what he read. And then he has to apologize for not supporting our troops. Democrats don't stand up from him as a group.

Meanwhile, Karl Rove can say that liberals, which some 20+% of Americans self-identify as, are traitorous but he doesn't have to apologize and all his Republican buddies stand up for him.

And President Bush says Iranian elections are a sham, which is broadcast all over Iran and appears to have led to a higher voter turnout. No one calls for an apology from Bush for helping the current regime of 1/3 of the axis of evil.

But Bush and Rove are the good Americans in the eyes of their followers and Durbin is evil incarnate? Weird, huh?

Don't be mad, be happy

2005-06-24T14:51:00.000-07:00

I think I'll skip the Happy Meal today:

Tests have confirmed mad cow disease in what appears to be the first case in a U.S. born animal, the Agriculture Department said Friday.

[snip]

Human health is not at risk in the new case, Johanns said. The animal was a "downer," meaning it was unable to walk. Such animals are banned from the food supply.

"I am encouraged that our interlocking safeguards are working exactly as intended," Johanns said at a news conference. "This animal was blocked from entering the food supply because of the firewalls we have in place. Americans have every reason to continue to be confident in the safety of our beef."

Okay, is it just me to be a bit skeptical that this is the ONLY cow that would have mad cow disease? Is it just me to think that if this one was fed ground up dead animal parts for food, that maybe the other cows that were standing right next to this one probably ate the same crap and probably also have mad cow disease? Sure would be nice to know where this one's siblings and childhood friends are today.

Grass-fed beef or tofu, my friends. Beats holes in your brains any day.

Congrats to the Spurs

2005-06-23T21:25:00.000-07:00

Congrats to Spurs for winning the NBA championship tonight! I'm a Spurs fan because I think Gregg Popovich is a great guy. I met him back in 1980 when being an NBA coach was nowhere on the horizon. Larry Brown was how he got into the NBA and so playing against him must have been bittersweet. I thought it was just like the Popovich I remember to state his gratitude toward Larry as the first thing he said when he spoke on TV after winning. There are still some class acts around!

Military deaths as of June 22

2005-06-22T17:53:00.000-07:00

Per the DoD, as of June 22, 2005:

The number of Americans killed in Operation Iraqi Freedom is 1722.

The number of Americans killed in Operation Enduring Freedom is 193.

Who ya gonna believe?

2005-06-22T17:24:00.000-07:00

Saw this from The American Enterprise via Atrios:

The War is Over, and We Won
By Karl Zinsmeister
Your editor returned to Iraq in April and May of 2005 for another embedded period of reporting. I could immediately see improvements compared to my earlier extended tours during 2003 and 2004. The Iraqi security forces, for example, are vastly more competent, and in some cases quite inspiring.

Baghdad is now choked with traffic. Cell phones have spread like wildfire. And satellite TV dishes sprout from even the most humble mud hovels in the countryside.

What the establishment media covering Iraq have utterly failed to make clear today is this central reality: With the exception of periodic flare-ups in isolated corners, our struggle in Iraq over. Egregious acts of terror will continue—in Iraq as in many other parts of the world. But there is now no chance whatever of the losing this critical guerilla war.

Contrary to the impression given by most newspaper headlines, the United States has won the day in Iraq. In 2004, our military fought fierce battles in Najaf, Fallujah, and Sadr. Many thousands of terrorists were killed, with comparatively little collateral damage. As examples of the very hardest sorts of urban combat, these will go down in history as smashing victories.

Cell phones and satellite dishes. Obviously, the mark of successful transition to ~~consumerism~~ democracy. Couldn't be the sign that there's no infrastructure to support regular phone service, cable tv or electricity. It's all good. Clap harder, kids.

I'll tell you what's outrageous

2005-06-22T13:01:00.000-07:00

I'm very disappointed that Senator Durbin apologized for his comments regarding Gitmo. He read an FBI report and then said, in essence, hard to believe this is something that came from us and not the Nazis, Stalin or Pol Pot, isn't it? Well, yes, it is hard for me to believe we are doing the things described in that FBI report.

So, no, I don't think the hyperbole came from Sen. Durbin, but I do think the right is doing a fine job of going over the top. For example, O'Reilly's comments that speaking out is a traitorous act.

The Democrats, left wingers, progressives, etc. really need to get their act together and stop shooting and sniping at each other, e.g., Biden's shots at Dean, and point their barbs at the real enemies of our freedom--people like O'Reilly who want their opponents to be considered traitors.

NYC flooded by a Popsicle!

2005-06-22T12:22:00.000-07:00

He he he. Happy Summer to you. It's no joke, but it is funny:

An attempt to erect the world's largest Popsicle in a city square ended with a scene straight out of a disaster film — but much stickier.

The 25-foot-tall, 17 1/2-ton treat of frozen Snapple juice melted faster than expected Tuesday, flooding Union Square in downtown Manhattan with kiwi-strawberry-flavored fluid that sent pedestrians scurrying for higher ground.

Firefighters closed off several streets and used hoses to wash away the sugary goo.

Snapple had been trying to promote a new line of frozen treats by setting a record for the world's largest Popsicle, but called off the stunt before it was pulled fully upright by a construction crane. Authorities said they were worried the thing would collapse in the 80-degree, first-day-of-summer heat.

The CEO President

2005-06-21T14:23:00.000-07:00

Supposedly our Dear Leader was qualified to be our president because he had experience in the business world and so he was going to be our CEO President.

Here's a press release from LeadershipIQ.com, an online training company, that did a study on why CEOs get fired. Here's the reasons they found:

The following are the top five responses with the percentage of respondents who gave this response (percentages exceed 100% because some respondents gave more than one answer).

* Mismanaging change (31%): Virtually every organization we interviewed indicated they were undergoing, or had recently undergone, a change initiative. However, half of board members said that their change initiative did not go well. Most pointed to a failure on the CEO's part to properly motivate employees and managers, and more specifically, to adequately sell the need to change course. Another group identified the CEO's inability to follow-through and solidify the gains as the cause of failure.

* Ignoring customers (28%): Even with Sarbanes-Oxley, many board members have close ties with, or are themselves, customers of the organization. And they overwhelmingly said that if a CEO ignores or alienates customers, it not only undermines the business and revenue, but it significantly undermines board support. Board members said their test for whether the CEO was sufficiently engaged in the business was the extent to which they evidenced intimate knowledge of customers, customer needs and developing trends.

* Tolerating low performers (27%): Board members shared that when CEOs allowed an obvious low performer to linger (without any improvement or discipline), it destroyed the CEO's credibility and made it politically difficult for them to hold others accountable. Board members also complained of CEOs becoming too emotionally attached to a low performer(s) whether from loyalty, fear of being seen as too harsh, or unrealistic optimism. Significantly, Board members also suspected that, in numerous cases, CEOs covered for poor performers out of fear that they might divulge embarrassing or indicting information.

* Denying reality (23%): Board members overwhelming said they could handle bad news and significant course corrections. What they couldn't handle was a CEO who was in denial and wouldn't recognize the bad news. Many board members felt that they were closer to the market and customers than the ousted CEO, and a significant percentage said the CEO was far too insulated from frontline realities. Board members also said they would rather have bad news and a plan to fix it, than they would no news or sugarcoated news.

* Too much talk, not enough action (22%): We heard many comments about CEOs talking the talk, but being unable to walk the walk. Numerous board members complained that CEOs could talk endlessly about grand visions and new strategies, but would both neglect a tactical plan for the "who, what, when and where," as well as evidence of its implementation. One board member commented that their former CEO "gives good meetings," but little else.

So let's use these and see how President Bush rates:
Mismanaging change. Hmm, seems to me the mismanagement of Mission Accomplishment will rate as one of America's worst. Even if you thought going to war with Iraq was a good idea, which I didn't, seems to me that the lack of planning for the post-war occupation was exceptionally poor or perhaps downright non-existent, so I'll give the Mr. Bush a 10 on a scale of 10, where high = major fuckup.

Ignoring customers. Well, let's see. He doesn't read papers. Doesn't listen to anyone who disagrees with him. His campaigning and "public" forums are open only to party loyalists. The public polls show that a majority do not support his policies such as SS reform or the war in Iraq. Seems to me he's ignoring his customers really well. Another 10.

Tolerating low performers. Awards given to Tenant. Rumsfeld keeps his job. Sanchez is going to get promoted. Yup. George wins in this one too.

Denying reality. Hehehe. He's off the chart here.

Too much talk, not enough action. I don't think this one defines him as much as the previous points. Though you can look at his recent remarks on global warming. The Daily Show spoofed it. He wants to keep studying it so we know all the facts. Or we could point to his Social Security reform. No real plan. Lots of talk. Not much done. But I think the war in Iraq was too much action without any thinking, so I'm only going to give Mr. Bush a 5 here.

So, in summary, President Bush wins hands down in multiple categories and should be fired.

So, what the heck were you thinking last November, America?!

Last Throes

2005-06-21T13:32:00.000-07:00

Dick Cheney made an ass of himself over the past weekend when he said that the Iraqi insurgency was in its last throes. Now Scott McClellan is forced to respond to questions about Cheney's statement.

Here's the latest from today's White House Press Conference. (You can see it on cspan.org.):

Q Scott, can we get a clear "yes" or "no" answer on whether the President agrees on the Vice President's assessment that the insurgency is in "its last throes?" Is it a "yes" or "no"?

MR. McCLELLAN: I think I already answered this question the last couple of days.

Q Is it "yes" or is it "no"?

MR. McCLELLAN: And I've talked about it the last couple of days. If you look -- if you look at the terrorists and the regime elements that are seeking to derail the transition to democracy, they are in a desperate mode, and here's why. Let me walk you through this. First of all, I think, to begin with, you ought to go back and look back at the full context of the Vice President's remarks, where he talked about the progress we're making to go after and capture al Qaeda elements that are inside Iraq -- like Zarqawi lieutenants. Just last week, we captured one of his top lieutenants, a very dangerous man who is responsible for the killing of a lot of innocent civilians inside Iraq. This was the person who oversaw Zarqawi's Mosul operations. And that was a significant development. So I think you have to look at the facts on the ground. And the facts on the ground show that the Iraqi people are making important progress on the political front to build a free and democratic future. The vision of the terrorists is one of chaos and destruction. They really have no vision. Their only alternative is chaos and destruction and the killing of innocent civilians. And that's what I talked about yesterday. They, every step of the way, have not been able to stop the progress that the Iraqi people are making on the political front. And they are being defeated and they will be defeated.

Q So that's a "yes"?

MR. McCLELLAN: Yes, I said that. I said that the other day.

Rice on Women's Rights in Saudi Arabia

2005-06-21T12:56:00.000-07:00

Secretary Rice is visiting in Saudi Arabia and had this to say about women's rights there, according to WaPo:

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Tuesday she had no interest in promoting the high-profile cause of giving women in Saudi Arabia the right to drive, saying the administration's push for Middle East democracy needed to respect cultural traditions.

"It's just a line that I have not wanted to cross," Rice told reporters traveling with her as she flew from Riyadh, the Saudi capital, to attend an international conference on Iraq here in the Belgian capital on Wednesday. "I think it is important that we do have some boundaries about what it is we are trying to achieve."

In a major speech in Cairo Monday, Rice strongly criticized Egypt and Saudi Arabia for democratic failings and urged both long-time U.S. allies to make significant changes in their political systems to allow opposition parties and nongovernmental groups to have a greater voice. After the speech, she flew to Riyadh to raise some of those issues directly with the Saudi government.

Rice told reporters it was more important to focus on giving political rights to women, because then they would have a means to challenge and possibly change the political and cultural calculus of their nation. Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy which only recently held municipal elections. Women do not have the right to vote, but the Saudi government has made vague statements about hoping to eventually grant women voting rights.

It's always amazing to me that a country that keeps roughly half its population virtually locked away and without the ability to express themselves politically can be our ally and we call it respecting cultural traditions. If it were, say, all of the Christians in Saudi Arabia that couldn't drive by law nor vote in the municipal elections, do you think that would be okay too if it was a tradition?

I do like that she said something about women's rights, but I thought we were going to have a "no tolerance" policy, per President Bush's Inaugral speech. I wish women counted as much as men. Wonder when/if that will happen on this planet?

Frist <> Leader

2005-06-21T12:40:00.000-07:00

Frist means follower, not leader:

Reversing field after a meeting with President Bush, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said he will continue pushing for a floor vote on John R. Bolton for U.N. ambassador. Frist switched his position after initially saying Tuesday that negotiations with Democrats to get a vote on Bolton had been exhausted.

Talking to reporters in the White House driveway after he joined other GOP lawmakers for a luncheon with Bush, Frist said: "The president made it very clear that he expects an up or down vote."

Just about two hours hour earlier, Frist said he wouldn't schedule another vote on Bolton's nomination and said that Bush must decide the next move. Frist, R-Tenn., had said there was nothing further he could do to break a Democratic stalemate with the Bush White House over Bolton, an outspoken conservative who, opponents argue, would undermine U.S. interests at the world body.

But he changed his tune after talking to Bush.

Frist's abrupt public turnabout underscored the political pressures that the long-running battle over Bolton have heaped upon himself and Bush.

Star-Tribune gets it right on Durbin

2005-06-20T17:44:00.000-07:00

Sen. Durbin is being pounded by the right for his comments last week, but here's how the Minneapolis Star-Tribune sees it:

Durbin was spot on in his assessment of Guantanamo. That's why he was so roundly attacked. He told the truth. And his message is of vital importance; the United States is better than this.

And I agree.

Autopsy of Terri Schiavo

2005-06-15T11:57:00.000-07:00

Seems like such a long time ago that the Terri Schiavo story was the media circus that it was. Since then the Runaway Bride, Michael Jackson, the missing girl in Aruba. But coming back to the Schiavo story, the autopsy results seem to completely support Michael Schiavo. But, of course, they used science to perform the autopsy, so those who rely on faith only will, no doubt, discard the results that showed Mrs. Schiavo's brain had shrunk to 1/2 of its expected size and that she was blind to be just another lie from the SCLM and activist judges.

All snarkiness aside, I do hope her parents can finally let go of their daughter. May she rest in peace at long last.

Why don't lawbreakers go to jail?

2005-06-13T14:21:00.000-07:00

Yesterday's WaPo had an editorial about Gitmo and I've selected some portions from it and marked some lines that make me incredulous:

THE BUSH administration's policies and practices for detaining and interrogating foreign prisoners remain desperately in need of reform. The hundreds of suspected enemy combatants who have been held incommunicado or subjected to abuse and torture, and the scores who may have been unlawfully killed, represent the single greatest failing of the United States in the war on terrorism. Yet there has been shockingly little corrective action. Though the Army has announced some administrative reforms, there has been no truly independent investigation of the abuses. No senior officers or officials have been held accountable. Most seriously, many of the policies that have led the CIA and military to systematically violate international laws and human rights standards remain unaltered....

The first step must be to impose legality and outside control on the most shameful part of the detention system -- which is not Guantanamo Bay but the secret network of detention facilities maintained by the CIA. The dozens (at least) of prisoners in this network, including the most important terrorist leaders, are being held without any legal process, outside review, family notification or monitoring by the International Red Cross. Moreover, the administration has declared that such prisoners may be subjected to "cruel, inhuman and degrading" treatment, such as mock executions and simulated drowning, even though the United States has ratified an international treaty prohibiting such practices. It also insists on the right to transport these prisoners to countries where torture is practiced, again in contravention of international law.

Did you notice how it's simply stated as fact that laws are being broken? Why is this acceptable to our country's citizens that lawbreakers aren't prosecuted? Why is President Bush not being held accountable for these illegal acts?

Blogging on the job

2005-06-13T14:01:00.000-07:00

I'm showing my age, I guess. I would never condone employees blogging on company time, but that's what some companies are doing, according to this article in the SF Chronicle:

After joining Plaxo Inc. three months ago, Jen even helped draft the
Mountain View firm's blogging guidelines.

Given what he went through, the Plaxo rules are striking: They make it
OK to blog on company time and to criticize the corporate bosses.

First!

2005-06-13T13:57:00.000-07:00

Doesn't it seem shocking that Sen. Mel Martinez would be the first Republican Senator to call for the closing of Guantanamo Bay? I mean this is a Bushite guy. And he's the first? Seems odd to me that he would be the first. I would think if anyone in the Senate would be following the Bush administration's lead, it would be Martinez. Hmmm.

Michael Jackson Verdict is moments away

2005-06-13T13:53:00.000-07:00

Okay, I'm working from home today so, yes, I'm watching TV to hear the verdict read.

Update: Not guilty on all counts. I'd think it was more a situation of the prosecution failing to prove their case, rather than a belief in his overall innocence. Would you leave your kid with him? Not me.

Quote of the Day

2005-06-13T13:51:00.000-07:00

From Tim Goodman, the SF Chronicle's TV reviewer:

Fully realized ideas in television are like natural breasts in Los Angeles--rare, elusive and wonderful.

Today's Deep Throats

2005-06-03T11:54:00.000-07:00

This is great post from This Modern World on how many Deep Throats there really are today:

This list is hardly comprehensive; these are just the ones that leapt out in the first few minutes of thinking about it last night, and I had to stop at 12 because of software limitations. But here at least are a few folks whose first-hand knowledge ought to have already led to at least a few resignations, perp walks, and orange jumpsuits, if America wasn't so goddam broken already:
National Security Advisor Richard Clarke
FBI translator Sibel Edmonds
USAF Lt. Col. Karen Kwiatkowski
Army Spc. Joseph Darby
Mining engineer Jack Spedaro
FBI Special Agent Coleen Rowley
Medicare actuary Richard Foster
CIA Bin Laden expert Michael Scheuer
Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill
Ambassador Joe Wilson
U.S. Army General Eric Shinseki
Secretary of the Army Thomas White

These folks aren't lurking in garages and manipulating potted plants in order to drop hints of darker realms to reporters who have to do all the legwork themselves. These people are well-known experts, high-level officials, or people with first-hand experience at ground level, practically screaming from the rooftops. I could also have included former CIA analyst Larry Johnson; former State Dept. Deputy Coordinator for Counterterrorism Tom Maertens; stem-cell researcher and former Council on Bioethics member Elizabeth Blackburn; and easily a dozen more.

Seriously... what abuse of power would it take for the media to notice that it's raining Deep Throats all around us, and has been for years?

That's an amazing list list, isn't it?

I was listening to Judith Miller of the NY Times being interviewed not that long ago and I remember her version her reporting on Iraq, the short version being: Hey, not my fault, man. I'm just a reporter and no one spoke up about any objections.

It's so mind-fuckingly weird to hear someone say that out loud and have it accepted and not laughed at. I so clearly remember listening to Colin Powell's speech to the UN and knowing AT THAT TIME that there was plenty of "chatter" as they like to say about the weakness of his information, which of course was dead on. So if I, Jane Q. Public, was aware of the weakness, why the hell wasn't Judith Miller on it? Why did Colin Powell do it? Why did so friggin' many of us re-elect Bush? I just don't understand.

Update:
Billmon's post is great too.

More on Deep Throat

2005-06-03T10:56:00.000-07:00

In the previous post, I linked to a Letter to the Editor from the SF Chronicle. The next letter published, to give balance to the letters, was one that was critical of Mark Felt. The writer says:

In 1973, W. Mark Felt was passed up for promotion at the FBI, so he decided to show Richard Nixon a thing or two in retaliation for the slight. The shameful -- not to mention illegal -- act of leaking confidential information to the press was nothing more than a personal vendetta against a great president.

I am not ready to say that Felt is a hero. I don't know what motivated him to do what he did. If it was his personal pique at getting passed over, then I agree, he's no hero. But I can imagine things being murkier than that. From the little reading I've done this week about Felt, it does sound like he was very much against the politicization of the FBI, which was epitomized by putting Patrick Gray in charge of it. So I could see Felt not getting the No. 1 job himself being a motivating factor but in a positive sense. But I have no way of knowing, so I'm not ready to give him a hero's status. I'm just glad he did what he did.

I think a better example of heroism is Daniel Ellsberg, who disclosed the Pentagon Papers.

And no, I don't consider Linda Tripp a hero. I'm sorry but I still don't think Bill Clinton's sex life, as despicable as I find it, warranted what occurred and I don't think Tripp disclosed out of a sense of national duty. I don't think you talk to publishing agents if national duty is the motiviation.

Deep Throat Outed Too!

2005-06-03T10:41:00.000-07:00

So many outings, so little time.

I haven't had time to post anything this week about Deep Throat's self-disclosure to the world. I read somewhere on someone's blog a comment from a reader that, in essence, said "Who cares? Ancient history." Well, I'm old enough to remember those days though I was young. But certainly the dramatized version of Woodward & Bernstein made a big impression of me. It formed my vision of what journalists should be like--digging deep and finding the Truth. I think with corporate-owned media, that's getting tougher and tougher to do. And, furthermore, the sad fact is that the general public doesn't seem to give a rat's behind about it anyway.

It's tempting to say that things are getting worse, but I don't know that that's true or not. Here's what one writer wrote to the SF Chronicle's editors:

Editor -- Regarding your editorial, "Deep Throat's legacy" (June 1): Let us consider the real legacy of "Deep Throat" (an anonymous source for Watergate articles by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein). President Nixon was responsible for continuing a ruinous and violent war that killed millions of innocent people, and yet the crime that led to his being expelled from office was a simple burglary.

The lesson is that Americans do not hold their leaders accountable for enormous, villainous crimes against humanity. A lesser reason must be found for impeachment.

The same is true today. There is ample evidence -- the Downing Street memo being the latest example -- that President Bush deceived the public so that he could initiate a bloody war that has cost tens of thousands of innocent people their lives. Shouldn't this swindle be grounds for impeachment? No, you can't get impeached for killing people. That, unfortunately, is the legacy.

So, yes, it seems like things have changed much since Watergate, though perhaps it is worse since it doesn't look like President Bush is leaving office any time soon.

At the same time, I don't think it's completely an issue about Americans failing to hold their leaders accountable. I think there's also an issue of ability to provide conclusive proof. It's the Al Capone syndrome--they couldn't get him into prison on his racketeering, so he finally went to jail on tax evasion. Not too sexy, but was provable in a court of law.

I think there's an element of that in our current situation with the Bush Administration. The upper eschelon of the Defense Dept. right up to and including Rumsfeld are able to deny any culpability because there's no photo of them grinning next to the prisoner pryamid with Lynndie. Combine that with our societal inability to hold leaders accountable that the letter writer points out and you have a winning combination for successful denial of reality.

Fruit Flies Outed

2005-06-03T10:28:00.000-07:00

Fascinating study as reported by the International Times Tribune:

In a series of experiments, the researchers found that females given the male variant of the gene acted exactly like males in courtship, madly pursuing other females. Males that were artificially given the female version of the gene became more passive and turned their attention to their own sex.

"We have shown that a single gene in the fruit fly is sufficient to determine all aspects of the flies' sexual orientation and behavior - it's very surprising," said Barry Dickson, senior scientist at the Institute of Molecular Biology at the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna and the paper's lead author...

"Hopefully this will take the discussion about sexual preferences out of the realm of morality and put it in the realm of science," Weiss said. "I never chose to be heterosexual, it just happened, but humans are complicated."

Unfortunately, the discussion about sexual orientation will be in the realm of science only for those of who actually believe in science.

The Desperate Insurgency

2005-06-01T15:32:00.000-07:00

This is great.

Nader uses the word Impeachment

2005-05-31T20:10:00.000-07:00

Ralph brings up impeachment in the Boston Globe today:

THE IMPEACHMENT of President Bush and Vice President Cheney, under Article II, Section 4 of the Constitution, should be part of mainstream political discourse.

Minutes from a summer 2002 meeting involving British Prime Minister Tony Blair reveal that the Bush administration was ''fixing" the intelligence to justify invading Iraq. US intelligence used to justify the war demonstrates repeatedly the truth of the meeting minutes -- evidence was thin and needed fixing.

President Clinton was impeached for perjury about his sexual relationships. Comparing Clinton's misbehavior to a destructive and costly war occupation launched in March 2003 under false pretenses in violation of domestic and international law certainly merits introduction of an impeachment resolution.

I agree.

Memorial Day, 2005

2005-05-30T17:52:00.000-07:00

Today I honor the sacrifices made by American military personnel, especially those who gave their lives. The number of U.S. military personnel who have lost their lives in Iraq is now at 1,657.

Avian Flu in China?

2005-05-27T20:39:00.000-07:00

It's getting a bit scary out there. Read about it here.

MN State Senator loses son to the war in Iraq

2005-05-27T19:47:00.000-07:00

From the Mpls Star & Tribune:

Helicopter pilot Matthew Lourey, son of state Sen. Becky Lourey, has been killed in Iraq, a Senate spokesman said.

Chief Warrant Officer Matthew Lourey, 41, was assigned to fly Kiowa Warrior helicopters with the Army's 82nd Airborne Division. He died Thursday during his second tour in Iraq, said Senate Majority Leader Dean Johnson.

Lourey, DFL-Kerrick, was a candidate for governor in 2002 and is often mentioned as a possible candidate for that office in the futre. She had 12 children; two had died before the soldier's death. Eight of her children had been adopted.

Lourey was the 22nd Minnesotan to die in the Middle East since the war began.

Green Acres

2005-05-27T19:42:00.000-07:00

Eddie Albert passed away at age 99. Wow, I didn't know he was that old.

From WaPo:

He was a tireless conservationist, crusading for endangered species, healthful food, cleanup of Santa Monica Bay pollution and other causes. He had remained healthy even in old age.

"Three days ago he was playing basketball in his wheelchair with his granddaughter," Guttman said. "He stayed very vital."

Our "Golden Moment"?

2005-05-27T19:34:00.000-07:00

Oy. This is from Faux News by way of Raw Story. Preznit Bush spoke at the Naval Academy commencement:

The U.S. military is on the offensive in the War on Terror to prevent terrorists from reaching America's shores, President Bush said Friday, adding that 20 years from now, historians will look back on the Iraq war as "America's golden moment."

Here's more if you can handle it.

Oh oh, guys

2005-05-27T19:30:00.000-07:00

From Reuters:

U.S. regulators said on Friday they have received more than 40 reports of a type of blindness in men taking impotence drugs, most involving Pfizer Inc.'s Viagra, but have not determined if the medicines were responsible.

Please Sign It!

2005-05-27T19:16:00.000-07:00

I'm not a big fan of the "please sign my petition" kind of web sites, but I think the one by Rep. John Conyers could be an important one. He wants to get 100,000 signatures to his letter re: the Downing Street memo. I hope he gets a million. Here's the link.

American Gulag

2005-05-25T12:25:00.000-07:00

From AP:

Amnesty International castigated the U.S. prison camp in Guantanamo Bay as a failure Wednesday, calling it "the gulag of our time" in the human rights group's harshest rebuke yet of American detention policies.

In the beginning of North America...

2005-05-25T12:21:00.000-07:00

A study finds that North America's human population started from a group of just seventy people.

Back on the Left Coast

2005-05-25T11:42:00.000-07:00

I haven't had time to post much in the last week. I had a big work deadline for last Friday and then left Sunday morning to travel to the East Coast. I spent some time at a company I work with a lot and some interactions with people that have been thought provoking.

I had one conversation with a guy about how much I think the world is going to hell in a handbasket due to our fearless leader. He thought I was nuts. So I've been thinking about that for a couple of days now, wondering if I've gone off the deep end or not. I don't think many people can self-diagnose themselves if they have gone off the deep end, so it's perhaps a pointless exercise to try, but then I do agree with Socrates that the unexamined life is one not worth living, so what the heck.

Part of my discussion with him, and I think another reason why I've not posted, was last week's NYT story about the leaked government report re: the deaths of two prisoners at the Bagram prison in Afghanistan so upsetting. Not that I hadn't already heard about those cases. But I think reading the details of the case, in particular to the fact that the people doing the beatings had already decided that Mr. Dilawar, the taxicab driver, was most likely innocent is so horrific to me that it's mind-numbing and I just couldn't write about it for a few days.

Here's part of the article:

Those interrogators and others from Bagram were later sent to Iraq and were assigned to Abu Ghraib prison. A high-level military inquiry last year found that the captain who led interrogation operations at Bagram, Capt. Carolyn A. Wood, applied many of the same harsh methods in Iraq that she had overseen in Afghanistan.

Citing "investigative shortfalls," senior Army investigators took the Bagram inquiry away from agents in Afghanistan in August 2003, assigning it to a task force based at the agency's headquarters in Virginia. In October 2004, the task force found probable cause to charge 27 of the military police guards and military intelligence interrogators with crimes ranging from involuntary manslaughter to lying to investigators. Those 27 included the 7 who have actually been charged.

After reading this article, all I could feel is utter despair. How can we as a society just ignore this? How does this story horrify me and it apparently fails to even register on the consciousness of most Americans? Doesn't 27 people at just this prison for just these two cases sound like more than a few bad apples? And doesn't it seem frightening that a number of people like Capt. Wood and the guy who was transferred from Guantonomo to Iraq were sent there deliberately to bring their same methods to Iraq? It was not a few bad apples, it was a conscious choice.

So the guy I was talking to on the East Coast thinks I'm crazy that I think our President is destroying all that is good about the US. He has two young kids who are adorable. I keep thinking about people like him and wondering what are they going to tell their kids in about 15 to 20 years when their kids are becoming adults and they ask Dad, "Dad, what did you do to stop what was going on? Weren't you horrified?" And Dad has to answer, "Well, I was pretty busy at work that year and I was really hooked on Survivor so I didn't really have time to do anything." Or even worse, "Gee, I don't really remember even hearing about it at the time."

Another person I talked to is able to just ignore Abu Ghraib because he sees it as anomoly that happened "over there." But when I said there is no way it started there, that it started from the top and the proof is in the memos written by Alberto Gonzalez saying that the requirements of the Geneva Convention are quaint, he had nothing to say. He just dropped it. It's not bothering him.

And we didn't even discuss the renditions to countries that are even more comfortable with torture than we now are.

But I'm the one who's nuts?

CPB & Moyers

2005-05-18T18:39:00.000-07:00

Bill Moyers gave a great speech to the National Conference for Media Reform in St. Louis. You can view it on C-Span.

More Heroes

2005-05-18T18:34:00.001-07:00

I was thinking about my heroes posting and slapped my forehead wondering how I could have forgotten these two:

SF Mayor Gavin Newsome
Bill Moyers

The Non-Hero

2005-05-18T18:34:00.000-07:00

John Kerry.

Do I need to explain?

If you do not believe me...

2005-05-15T15:26:00.000-07:00

If you didn't believe my previous posting that Americans are dumb as a box of rocks, then look at the list of the 100 Greatest Americans that is on the Discover Channel here. I heard about this list first on Kevin Drum's site and couldn't believe it was real. This list was voted on by our fellow Americans. I am hoping the average age of the respondents was 12 because of this was adults voting, we are truly doomed.

Is the World Flat?

2005-05-15T15:03:00.000-07:00

I've not yet read The World is Flat by the NY Times columnist Thomas Friedman, but I heard Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) mention it during the SFRC hearings on the Bolton nomination this past Thursday. Sen. Hagel said something like he thought it was a great book that we should all read.

I've been thinking that Hagel was one of the Republicans I can respect, but the Friedman book sounds like stupid based on the reviews I've read from Kevin Drum and this one from today's SF Chronicle by Roberto Gonzalez. Here's a sampling from Gonzalez's review:

Friedman seems vexed by what he calls the "backwardness" of Arab and Muslim cultures. He writes, "For complicated cultural and historical reasons, many of them do not glocalize [absorb foreign ideas] well.'' Approvingly, he refers to economist David Landes, who argues that in the Arab Muslim world, "cultural attitudes have in many ways become a barrier to development." This reveals a shocking ignorance of history. For seven centuries, Islam was the global civilization par excellence, and it enabled the development of many scientific, intellectual and artistic breakthroughs during that period.

Nowhere is the European (and American) colonization and occupation of the Arab and Muslim worlds over the last 200 years mentioned as a possible explanation for anger and resentment directed against the United States and Europe. Nowhere is U.S. government support of brutal dictatorships in the Middle East (from the shah to the Saudi royal family) offered as a possible reason for opposition to Western hegemony posing as "globalization" or a "flat world." In this book, history is bunk.
[...]

Ultimately, Friedman's work is little more than advertising. The goal is not to sell the high-tech gadgetry described in page after page of the book, but to sell a way of life -- a world view glorifying corporate capitalism and mass consumption as the only paths to progress. It is a view intolerant of lives lived outside the global marketplace. It betrays a disregard for democracy and a profound lack of imagination.

This book's lighthearted style might be amusing were it not for the fact that his subject -- the global economy -- is a matter of life and death for millions. Friedman's words and opinions, ill informed as they are, shape the policies of leaders around the world. Many consider him to be a sophisticated thinker and analyst -- not a propagandist. It is a sobering reminder of the intellectual paralysis gripping our society today.

[Emphasis added.]

I think one of the scariest aspects of American society is our appalling ignorance of history, whether it is the history of our own country or the world. It's scary to me because we are, despite our follies in Iraq, the closest thing to military ruler of the planet. Yet, collectively we are dumb as a box of rocks. So Friedman will make a pile of money with his dimwitted platitudes and quick quotes from CEOs of the Fortune 500 companies and Sen. Hagel thinks it's right on stuff. We are in a heap o' trouble, kids.

The Cost of the War in Iraq as of 13 May 2005

2005-05-13T20:48:00.000-07:00

Per Antiwar.com, the current count in American military lives lost is 1,617. Per the Iraqi Body Count, the current count of Iraqi civilian lives lost in Iraq are at least 21,543.

The News from the Cornhusker State

2005-05-12T20:57:00.000-07:00

This from the Omaha World Journal:

A judge's decision to throw out Nebraska's ban on gay marriage was barely an hour old before the cry went up for a national prohibition on same-sex marriage.

The decision Thursday to overturn Nebraska's same-sex marriage ban - adopted overwhelmingly by voters in 2000 - was a first in the nation by a federal judge.

U.S. District Judge Joseph Bataillon of Omaha said the ban went far beyond gay marriage and deprived gays and lesbians of basic rights, including the right to participate in the political process. He also said the ban known as Initiative 416 was motivated, in part, by an "irrational fear" of and "animus" toward homosexuals.

Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning promised to appeal the ruling, noting that 70 percent of Nebraska voters favored of the ban.

My Hero List

2005-05-12T20:38:00.000-07:00

As I said in the previous post, I was watching the Senate hearings on the Bolton nomination today on CSPAN. I find current events in so many areas so demoralizing (continued carnage in Iraq, for example), that I decided to have a positive post just for a change of pace. So after watching for awhile, I was thinking about how few people in the political world I really admire. But I do have a few and they are inspiring to me.

Here's my list:

Elliot Spitzer, New York's Attorney General and candidate for Governor.
Sen. Barbara Boxer. I haven't always felt so positive about her but, of late, she's definitely on my hero list for speaking up. Loved her during the Condi Rice nomination hearings. Someone tell her to ditch all the visual aids tho.
Sen. Barack Obama. Cool, smart, great speaker.
U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee.

I remember when I was in junior high and our congressman, Bill Frenzel, came to talk to us. I remember looking at his shoes and they were so practical, so non-flashy. He dressed like an IBM technican--blue suite, white shirt, conservative tie and these black shoes with thick soles. I assume he had a military background--I don't remember anymore. He was a really low key, wonkish kind of guy, especially compared to today's typical Republican representative. I'm, in case you couldn't guess, a pretty left liberal, but people who are like Frenzel are the kind of Republicans I can vote for. They are the old-style Republicans that are a vanishing breed--fiscal conservatives but social moderates.

Who's not on my hero list:

People like Sen. Joe Biden who at times has his moments but I think he's way overly fond of hearing himself speak. And being bought and paid for by MBNA kind of bugs me.
Wimps like Sen. Lincoln Chaffee.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein. Mrs. Republican Lite. Hello, why don't you just make it official?

I won't even go into the people that make me really mad. This is supposed to be an upbeat posting.

What's on C-Span?

2005-05-12T20:31:00.000-07:00

I think I've really reached a new level of wonkishness when CSPAN has become my most-watched station. I don't watch TV much; haven't for years. The shows I like are on HBO and it's too expensive to get for the few shows I watch.

My faves in descending order: The Wire, Sopranos, Six Feet Under.

I rent them from Netflix and I think it's better than having to wait for a week to go by before seeing another episode. I can't stop once I pop the DVD in, especially for The Wire. What a well-written show. It's pretty tough, or downright impossible, to watch the ABC-CBS-NBC-FOX-UPN crappola after watching The Wire. Did I mention I like The Wire?

Today I was watching the Senate Foreign Relations Committee off and on while doing some work and realized I hadn't even turned on my TV in about a week and a half. Didn't miss much, did I? But back to the SFRC hearings on Bolton: Norm Coleman is an idiot, just in case you were wondering.

Religious Hypocrites

2005-05-12T20:26:00.000-07:00

You know it's a cliche to speculate that those who are so opposed to same-sex marriage and other GLBT rights are those who are most uncomfortable about their own sexuality. It's a cliche, but it just keeps proving itself to be true, doesn't it?

Spokane's mayor comes to mind as a good example from the recent news. Here's a guy who has to do anonymous sex over the internet and cannot come to grips with who he is, but he has no problem condemning those who are happy with who they are. And, of course, he wraps his arguments in religious mumbo jumbo.

Coming to you soon: a National ID Card

2005-05-09T19:28:00.000-07:00

I'm having outrage fatigue today after reading about the proposed Real ID law via Eschaton.

It's effin' unbelievable.

I sent an email to one of my U.S. Senators, Barabara Boxer. Should I bother with DiFi?

New Social Security Ad from MoveOn.org

2005-05-09T09:12:00.000-07:00

MoveOn.org just announced the winner of their contest for an ad on the Social Security "plan" from Bush. You can view it here.

Bolton vote coming this week?

2005-05-08T21:59:00.000-07:00

Will John Bolton's nomination to be the next Ambassador to the U.N. get voted on this week in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee?

Best coverage of the issues and the scoop behind the news is at Steve Clemon's The Washington Note. See this post about how the State Dept. continues to defy the SFRC in releasing the content of the NSA intelligence reports that Bolton apparently intercepted:

Dick Cheney's Incredible, Imperial, Infallible Vice Presidency: White House Defies Biden and Lugar on Bolton Intercepts

The word is out.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will not get the much-wanted National Security Agency intercepts in which John Bolton expressed so much interest during his tenure as Under Secretary of State for International Security and Arms Control.
Under Secretaries with questionable intentions can get the transcripts -- but Senators with Constitutional oversight responsibilities seemingly cannot. Dick Cheney and John Bolton's protectors are ever more committed to an imperial presidency -- unchallenged by other institutions of the U.S. government.

Not a Surprise: The Fix was in

2005-05-08T21:45:00.000-07:00

Not that it is a surprise, but what does it take to get through to my fellow citizens? Does anyone care? It's so clear Bush lied and yet it was Clinton's blow job from an intern that was the lie worth impeachment?

From Greg Palast:

The top-level government memo marked "SECRET AND STRICTLY PERSONAL," dated eight months before Bush sent us into Iraq, following a closed meeting with the President, reads, "Military action was now seen as inevitable. Bush wanted to remove Saddam through military action justified by the conjunction of terrorism
and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy."

From the memo itself:

The Foreign Secretary said he would discuss this with Colin Powell this week. It seemed clear that Bush had made up his mind to take military action, even if the timing was not yet decided. But the case was thin. Saddam was not threatening his neighbours, and his WMD capability was less than that of Libya, North Korea or Iran. We should work up a plan for an ultimatum to Saddam to allow back in the UN weapons inspectors. This would also help with the legal justification for the use of force.

I can't stand reading this stuff while knowing that George W. Bush is not only is walking around a free man, instead of being in jail, but that people think he's a great president. He's a liar. He's a crook. The guy is a friggin' war criminal.

Star Trek fades away

2005-05-08T16:05:00.000-07:00

This week, ``Star Trek'' will boldly go where it hasn't gone in 36 years: cancellation.

The original series, with William Shatner as Capt. James T. Kirk and Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock, was axed by NBC in 1969 after three seasons. But, a cult favorite, ``Star Trek'' was revived as a film in 1979 with the original cast, and a new television series -- ``Star Trek: The Next Generation'' -- made its debut in the fall of 1987.

Since then, 18 years in all, there has been a ``Star Trek'' series -- and sometimes two -- on television every season.

We in California are Nuts

2005-05-08T15:58:00.000-07:00

In a press release put out this week from the California Association of Realtors:

California households, with a median household income of $53,540, are $60,380 short of the $113,920 qualifying income needed to purchase a median-priced home at $488,600 in California.

But I don't want to live anywhere else and, unfortunately, there are about 35 million others who feel the same way.

Happy Mother's Day

2005-05-08T15:11:00.000-07:00

It may be a scam perpetrated by Hallmark, but I still wish all the moms out there a very Happy Mother's Day.

Being mothered is a wonderful thing that can't be underestimated in its importance.

Microsoft Reverses their Reverse on Gay Support

2005-05-06T14:43:00.000-07:00

Great news to the end the week:

In a turnaround Friday, Microsoft Corp. chief executive Steve Ballmer said the company will support gay rights legislation.

Ballmer made the announcement in an e-mail to employees two weeks after gay rights activists accused the company of withdrawing its support for an anti-discrimination bill in its home state after an evangelical pastor threatened to launch a national boycott.

The bill died by a single vote in the state Senate in late April.

"After looking at the question from all sides, I've concluded that diversity in the workplace is such an important issue for our business that it should be included in our legislative agenda," Ballmer wrote.

I think a lot of credit for the reverse of the reverse has to go to John Aravosis at AMERICAblog.com for publicizing Microsoft's use of Ralph Reed as a lobbyist, and for The Stranger for breaking the story in the first place. Thank you!

Party Down, Time Travelers

2005-05-06T11:56:00.000-07:00

Calling all Time Travelers! From the AP via Yahoo:

Amal Dorai hopes you enjoyed the party he's throwing this weekend. Dorai, a student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is hosting a Time Traveler Convention on campus this Saturday. Make plans now, because it's the last such party...

"You only need one," he said. "The chance that anybody shows up is small, but if it happens it will be one of the biggest events in human history."

There's no dress code. No need to R.S.V.P. Refreshments (chips and dip) will be provided. Dorai only asks his guests to show proof they come from the future: Bringing the cure for cancer, a solution for global poverty or a cold fusion reactor would suffice.
In case MIT is long gone by the time a time machine is invented, Dorai's invitation includes geographic coordinates for the East Campus Courtyard (42:21:36.025 degrees north, 71:05:16.332 degrees west).

To spread the word, Dorai asked friends to scribble invitations on pieces of acid-free paper and slip them into obscure library books. He is also giving media interviews and posting his thoughts on a Web site. "The World Wide Web is unlikely to remain in its present form permanently," he wrote. "We need volunteers to publish the details of the convention in enduring forms, so that the time travelers of future millennia will be aware of the convention."

I love time travel stories. My most recent enjoyment of this category was to read The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. A beautiful story. Perhaps Henry will show up at Amal's party this weekend.

The FDA don't need no stinkin' science

2005-05-06T10:06:00.000-07:00

The FDA just says no to the facts:

Food and Drug Administration guidelines barring gay men from donating their sperm anonymously have raised the ire of gay rights groups who say that the recommendations are without scientific merit...

"They're asking all the wrong questions," said Assemblyman Mark Leno, D- San Francisco, who has protested similar rules that prohibit gay men from donating blood. "It's not with whom you are having sex, it's what kind of sex you are having. Heterosexual men engaging in risky heterosexual behavior are not denied the opportunity to donate sperm. ... This is not about protecting the public."

Nevermind that HIV infection rate is rising fastest amongst African-American heterosexuals. Do you think anyone would seriously propose that all African-American men are similarly banned? Of course not. That would be stupid and racist.

The SF Chronicle had some articles (here, here and here) recently about the men "on the down low." Some black men do not identify themselves as gay or bisexual even though they have sex with other men. Since no one really knows how prevalent this behavior is, no one knows the risk that is out there in the African-American community for spreading HIV/AIDS.

New versus old

2005-05-05T16:54:00.000-07:00

The old:

Standard & Poor's cut its debt ratings for the General Motors Corporation and the Ford Motor Company to junk bond status today, saying the automakers continued to face sluggish sales and declining market share in the face of growing competition.

The new:

With the demand for a gas-electric Prius far outstripping supply, some buyers are plunking down a premium for cars that are thousands of miles old. The trade-off: They don't have to wait for months on dealers' waiting lists.

Kansas takes on Darwin

2005-05-05T16:45:00.000-07:00

Oy.

Blair on his way to mediocre victory

2005-05-05T16:34:00.000-07:00

From the NYT:

Despite deep unpopularity over the war in Iraq, Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain was returned to power for a record-setting third consecutive term but with a vastly reduced majority in elections today, according to exit polls released minutes after voting ended. The polls have yet to be confirmed by official results...

...The margin for Mr. Blair's Labor Party was crucial because of its significance for one of the abiding riddles of British politics: when will Mr. Blair hand over the leadership to Gordon Brown, the chancellor of the exchequer, his longstanding friend, rival and competitor?

British parliamentary terms can run for up to five years. A wide margin of victory might have emboldened Mr. Blair to postpone handing over power to Mr. Brown. But many longtime Labor supporters said it was only Mr. Brown's last-minute support in the election campaign that shielded Mr. Blair from a huge backlash against his handling of the Iraq war.

I wonder if Blair will call it a mandate like GWB did?

The Fall Girls

2005-05-05T16:04:00.000-07:00

= Lynndie England and now Col. (formerly Gen.) Janis Karpinski.

The article linked above goes on to say:

Without providing their names, the Army also said Thursday that one colonel and two lieutenant colonels linked to detainee abuses in Iraq and Afghanistan were given unspecified administrative punishment. Also, two other lieutenant colonels were given letters of reprimand. More than a dozen other lower-ranking officers, whose names were not released, also received various punishments.
_ Three majors were given letters of reprimand and one of the three also was given an unspecified administrative punishment.
_ Three captains are to be court-martialed, one captain is to be given an other-than-honorable discharge from the Army, five captains received letters of reprimand, and one was given an unspecified administrative punishment.
_ Two first lieutenants will be court-martialed, another got a letter of reprimand and one was given administrative punishment.
_ One second lieutenant was given an other-than-honorable discharge and another was given a letter of reprimand.
_ Two chief warrant officers are to be court-martialed.
The Army said other cases involving officers linked to detainee abuse are still open, but it did not say how many.

The now Pvt. Graner who testified yesterday and got Lynndie's guilty plea thrown out keeps being described in the SCLM as "the ringleader". The ringleader? The guy was a sergeant, fer gawd's sake. How'd he get all those other low level officers to follow him? How'd he know that our new Attorney General had determined that the Geneva Conventions are now just "quaint" artifacts of a bygone era?

But Bremer, Franks and Tenet deserve Medals of Freedom. The lack of responsibility in the Bush Administration is simply appalling.

The Bush Family, Part 1

2005-05-04T23:13:00.000-07:00

I have been reading The Family: The Real Story of the Bush Dynasty over the last week or so. Yeah, I know, it's old news and I'm only half done at this point. Oh, boy, does Kitty dislike the Bushes! I haven't read her previous biographies and I guess they haven't been flattering of their subjects either, but she is slinging insults and giving gossipy dish throughout.

It seemed particularly timely, though, to be in the midst of reading this book when Laura Bush spoke this past weekend and the Press Correspondents Dinner in DC. It was as if Kitty wrote Laura's material! I especially cringed and laughed simultaneously at the Barbara Bush = Don Corleone joke. Ow! Somehow I can't believe the Silver Fox is going to laugh much on that one. You can see Laura's speech on C-Span's website.

Some things that stand out so far about the book:

How George 41 and Barbara dealt with the illness and death of their daughter Robin. The day after she died, they went golfing. And they didn't attend her burial. You might think reading that that they are unfeeling. I don't think that's it at all. I believe that it's actually a statement at how good they are at stuffing feelings away. It's quite scary.
The extent to which they don't like their dirty linen aired out publicly and what they'll do to avoid that. The secret-keeping tendencies are there at every level and so I don't think it's a surprise what GWB is doing now as president.
How unremarkable George 41 and George 43 are in so many ways and yet they have truly remarkable and first-class chutzpah to not let lack of talent or experience get in their way of their dreams.

These items are well-known and well-discussed and yet reading about them in this book caused me to see these traits as being even more astounding and unbelievable when examined with so much detail and so many repeats of the these themes.

Follow the Money

2005-05-04T19:12:00.000-07:00

One story from today's news is that a lot of cash that was under the control of the U.S. has disappeared in Iraq. I'm shocked, shocked, shocked!

Nearly $100 million in Iraqi reconstruction cash - which was supposed to be handed out by U.S. workers in shrink-wrapped bricks of new hundred-dollar bills can't be accounted for, federal auditors reported Wednesday.
The money came from Iraqi oil sales and other local revenues, not from U.S. taxpayers, and it was supposed to be distributed by the main financial office of the U.S. rebuilding effort in Iraq.
Read the whole story here.

I guess we're not supposed to be worried about this since it wasn't taxpayer money. Yeah, right, so whose money is going to be used to replace this stolen money? And whose money had to be spent to figure out there was a problem in the first place? I'm guessing it will be, um, American taxpayers.