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Friday, June 21, 2002
Back in a While
Okay, looks like I'll be away from the blog for a while. The reason is here.
A light chuckle
Weekly round-up from Joe Bob Briggs
Thieves have hit six different Starbucks on Chicago's North Side, stealing espresso machines. They're described as jittery and saucer-eyed.
Jim Albright, a bodyguard and one of Madonna's former lovers, is trying to sell her underwear, nude Polaroids and hot-chat letters she sent him ten years ago. "This is the reality about her horny past," Albright told London's News of the World. "I'm not concerned about what she thinks or feels." Fans were shocked to find out that she WEARS underwear.
Robert McDonough, a Staten Island bouncer, arrived home at 5 a.m. to find a suitcase on the curb with a dead body stuffed inside. Yes, it was the kind with wheels.
Erik Aude, a 21-year-old actor who appeared in "Dude, Where's My Car?," was arrested at Islamabad Airport with 3,600 grams of opium. A Pakistan court can give him anywhere from 10 years in prison to the death penalty, causing him to wonder, "Dude, where's my ass?"
UCSD Humiliation
This seems to have been a minor story running from Best of the Web, to InstaPundit, and then to Joe Katzman. Well, UPI has the outcome -- humiliation for UCSD:
The University of California at San Diego administration colluded with a Mexican-American student militant who threatened violence against a campus magazine's staffers in a failed bid to punish the disfavored publication, a series of e-mail messages revealed.
Nicholas S. Aguilar, director of student policy and judicial affairs at UCSD, encouraged Ernesto Martinez, chairman of the Student Affirmative Action Committee, to contact his office "for assistance in the filing of complaint per the UCSD Conduct Code" against staffers of the Koala, a student humor magazine.
Of course Aguilar claims it was because of the Koala's "disruptive behavior." but...
But Koala Editor in Chief George Liddle said he believes the university doesn't like the magazine because of its satirical content and was looking for a behavioral pretext to expose its staffers -- and the Koala organization -- to potential punishment. The exchange of e-mails, which began with a "Hello everyone" salutation from Martinez on Nov. 20, supports Liddle's version of events.
The editor was asked how the Koala got access to the exchange.
"We got it legally," he answered. "Apparently, somebody involved in this conversation doesn't understand what the 'Reply All' button does. This sent the whole series of e-mails to everyone who received Martinez's initial complaint."
Yet another example of idiots with e-mail in action.
Aguilar told UPI that the Koala was brought before the campus Judicial Board because the magazine had allegedly interfered with the meeting of another student organization. Liddle said that the Koala had asked that the board's proceedings be open to the public, and the board chair eventually ruled in the magazine's favor. Aguilar said he overruled the chair's decision, ensuring that the hearings were held behind closed doors, because the chair had exceeded her authority.
"Campus regulations require that formal hearings on student disciplinary matters be held in closed session unless all participants -- including witnesses -- agree to it. That was not the case in the Koala hearing," Aguilar said. He would not elaborate on the facts of the case, citing the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.
...
Liddle disagrees with Aguilar's interpretation of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. "We suspect the fact that we had this exchange of e-mails is one of the reasons why the university was so adamant that the media not be allowed to attend the hearing. It's pretty embarrassing. It casts a very serious shadow on the idea that the university is just trying to administer justice and maintain order. It starts to look a whole bunch more like a witch-hunt, especially when (Aguilar) claims to be speaking on behalf of the chancellor and the vice chancellor," the student editor said.
...
The campus Judicial Board apparently agreed. This week the board "ruled that, in fact, there was not enough evidence to substantiate that student complaint that representatives of the Koala had disrupted the meeting," UCSD Communications Director Winifred Cox told UPI. "And so the charge was dropped."
The poor aggrieved MEChA member who suffered for having his picture taken at a public meeting, threatened violence on the writers for the Koala. How did the university address this threat?
On Nov. 21, Aguilar responded with a "Hello Ernesto" e-mail that indicated the university's concern was not for the safety of the threatened Koala staffers, but rather for Martinez's. "SOHR (Student Office for Human Relations) Director (Elizabeth) Urtecho ... indicated that she spoke with you today and offered to help you in bringing this matter to the attention of the UCSD Police Department," Aguilar wrote.
...
Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Joseph W. Watson, Aguilar's boss, disputes this. "We have tried always to protect the right of student publications, even those with which we have disagreements," he told UPI. "This was a case where there was a matter of allegations about behavior, and we have addressed that independent of the content of the Koala or what we think of that content." Last year Watson said: "We condemn the Koala's abuse of the constitutional guarantees of free expression and disfavor their unconscionable behavior."
Pressed on the subject of Martinez's threats, the vice chancellor said he believes that Aguilar and Urtecho had spoken to Martinez and had come to the conclusion that "there was no immediate threat here."
On Nov. 25 Aguilar wrote to Martinez "on behalf of Chancellor (Robert C.) Dynes, Vice Chancellor Watson, and myself." Aguilar reminded Martinez that "although we could not support request to initiate disciplinary action against the Koala because they published an offensive article (in the fall issue) protected under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution ... I ... encouraged you to contact Student Legal Services for assistance in assessing legal recourse that may be available to you and others who were targets of the Koala publication. In addition I assured that my office would process any complaints of alleged misconduct not based on the content of the publication."
Regarding Martinez's perceived "harassment," Aguilar wrote, "I again encourage you to contact my office to discuss options that may be pursued in response to the conduct you describe."
On Nov. 28 Aguilar informed Martinez "that SOHR Director Elizabeth Urtecho was developing a plan to counter/mitigate the negative consequences of the Koala publication on UCSD campus environment."
Way to go Aztecs. You side with a racist, supremacist, anti-semitic organization against a satire magazine.So far nothing on the UCSD site under UCSD in the News.
Detailed Thoughts
Steven Den Beste has a couple thorough andhighly reasonable posts on the Israeli-Palestinian problems. Long and very interesting, they are well worth reading.
Double Bonus
The usual Bleat from Lileks plus a Screed.
Raising Children to Be Fodder
The NYTimes interview with Arien Ahmed, the suicide bomber who changed her mind also has an interview with a Hamas leader and a "live martyr":
Dr. Rayan, who studied martyrdom as a graduate student, brought his Toshiba laptop to a recent interview in Gaza City, so that he could call up relevant Islamic scripture.
He questioned what he described as American hypocrisy on the use of suicide as a weapon, saying Palestinians were at war with Israelis and had no other choice. "If we had weapons like the Israelis, we would kill them in a way that is acceptable to Americans," he said wryly.
In Gaza's Jabaliya refugee camp, Salah Othman is known as the "live martyr." In the service of Hamas, Mr. Othman joined in a suicidal attack on a Jerusalem bus almost nine years ago, during the first intifada, or uprising. He was shot in the head and back. Israel returned his nearly dead body to Gaza, where he recovered, married and now works in a Hamas rehabilitation center.
Mr. Othman said he required a great deal of psychological preparation. He prayed and fasted, he said, and tried to "look at this life the way God looks at it."
"This life — whatever we see now — for God, it's not worth the wing of a mosquito," he explained, sitting with his wife in their comfortable home. "You cannot compare this life with the afterlife. It's like a drop in the ocean. Why should I waste the ocean for this drop?"
Like Dr. Rayan, he said he hoped his children would martyr themselves. "The new generation, they will be more fond of martyr attacks than the previous one," he said with satisfaction.
They can dress it up anyway they want, but that philosophy is evil, inhuman and deserves to be put down swiftly and permanently.
Pulling an Abdullah
In honor of "Prince" Abdullah's of Saudi Arabia "peace plan" disclosed first to Thomas Friedman of the NYTimes. That is what I've decided to call it when an Arab "leader" talks of a "peace plan" to the press before actually offering it. Now Arafat is giving it a go by claiming to Ha'Aretz that he is now willing to "accept" the Clinton proposal from December 2000. Pardon my skepticism, but until I see him on camera make this proposal to his parliament or in a speech to the Palestinian people, this is a complete bullshit attempt to swing International (especially EU) public opinion away from Israel to try and forestall further IDF incursions. Much like in March when he suddenly was willing to "fully and without reservations" implement the Tenet Plan.
If you want to believe Arafat, because you desperately want to believe there will be Middle East Peace, go read this piece on Arafat by the lead negotiator for Bush I and Clinton.
Thursday, June 20, 2002
Does Not Even Reach Rambling
This amazingly incoherent column from The Guardian (of course) is supposed to be about immigration reform in the UK and the EU. Though, I don't think she has a clue about, well anything, other than there is a problem. The problem for her, is she is clueless
Democracy can only function among people mutually tied by an agreed geography and identity that binds them together with their own laws and taxes.
So is she arguing that immigration is bad, because the people won't have the same identity with the people already there? Does this put democracy at risk? Got to love that she somehow links democracies with taxes separate from the laws. Babe, listen, let me clue you in: the taxes are based on the laws.
Then given her audience, it's time to go after the USA:
Look at America, the greatest no-such-thing-as-society on earth. The American idea springs from its early ideal of open migration. (No longer a reality.) The dominant cultural myth sees the Statue of Liberty beckoning in the huddled masses, then urging newcomers on as pioneers out in the great wild west. The myth is that anyone can come in and anyone can make it with hard work in a free and ruggedly independent country. What goes with this open-door idea is that there is no common bond that binds those who have made it, to those (supposedly) on the way up. There is no closed American community with an ideal of sharing resources, and that is why the US is a third-world country in infant mortality and grinding poverty of a kind utterly unknown in Europe.
Okay according the the data (you'll need a spread sheet program like Excel or Quattro) from here, the infant mortality rate in the US was 6.9 per 1000 (between the ages of 0 - 1); the UK, 5.2; Switzerland, 8.1; Italy 5.8; Canada, 5.5; France, 5.3; Greece, 6.2; Hungary, 8.5; Russian Federation (1995) 15.3. Meanwhile, this Mortality Rate chart, for children 0-5 places the US 8th. Tied for 7th includes the UK, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, Belgium. I'm not saying the US should be happy where those numbers are, but they are not "third world."
"Grinding poverty of a kind utterly unknown in Europe"? Maybe where she lives.
UPDATE: This column from Peggy Noonan on re-naming "Homeland Defense" also happens to skewer the columnist's ideas of geography being key to a democracy:
When you say you love America, you're not saying our mud is better than the other guy's mud.
This was echoed by KausFiles -- no permalinks, just look for the post dated June 21, 2:36 am
Israel Now Offering Fox
AOL/Time Warner can thank Ted Turner for new competition in Israel. Fox News will now be carried by Israel's largest cable company. There is even some talk of taking CNN off the air. That, however, would be a mistake. Ted Turner no longer has anything to do with CNN, he's further upstairs. If anything, this matter should make CNN be more careful in its activities. I can hope, can't I?
Go Brazil!
Hate to root against England, but...
Duran Duran have pledged to re-record their hit Rio as a tribute to England's heroic defender if the team beat Brazil.
Simon Le Bon says the band will head into the recording studio with new lyrics devoted to Rio Ferdinand, who was credited with the first goal in the win against Denmark.
Slow Day
The Network has been down for most of the day.
Cool
Suman Palit, The Kolata Libertarian has a great Top 20 list of things to love about Israel.
Wednesday, June 19, 2002
Good for Martha
I'm rather agnostic on Martha Stewart. I just don't care. The wife hates her. So does Sara Rimensnyder, but she makes a good point.
But frankly, in reading over the news, I’m forced to admit that if she had done the “noble” thing -- taken the hit, lost a lot of dough, and possibly turned her friend in -- I might dislike her even more. What’s worse than someone who’s perfectly coifed and perfectly principled, at the same time?
Get Real
The American Medical Association is concerned about bullying amongst kids:
Doctors must be alert for signs and symptoms of bullying among children because the impact can have long-term mental health consequences, a report unanimously adopted Wednesday by the American Medical Association's House of Delegates recommended.
The report on bullying, prepared by the AMA's Council on Scientific Affairs, said 7 percent to 15 percent of school-age populations are bullies, and 10 percent are victims of bullies.
"Can have long-term mental health consequences"? So does watching your dog run out into a street and getting killed. Guess what? Childhood, in general, has long-term mental health consequences. So do teenage years, adulthood, and so on.
Do you get the feeling, the AMA has a lot of members who are still a little upset about losing some lunch money?
Dr. Joseph Riggs, a gynecologist in Haddonfield, N.J., and a member of the AMA Board of Trustees, related his first-hand experience with bullying. "When I was in fifth grade, my older brother was being bullied by an eighth grader and I didn't like that so I went after him -- even though he was a foot taller," Riggs related at the annual meeting of the AMA's House of Delegates, the policy-making body of the organization.
The encounter did not go well at first, Riggs said, remembering the older child was pummeling him when he landed a lucky punch, bloodying the bully's nose and effectively ending the fight.
"That happened 50 years ago," Riggs said, "but I remember it like it was yesterday. It shows that these bullying attacks affect you for a long time."
Yep. Guess so.
Dr. Ronald Davis, a preventive medicine specialist from Detroit and another trustee of the AMA, said the goal of the bullying report and the recommendations that go with it attempt to change attitudes towards bullying -- such as the idea "that it is just part of growing up."
Davis said bullying has been tied to tragedies such as the Columbine High School shootings in Colorado.
"We are urging doctors to be vigilant in looking for signs of bullying among their (pediatric) patients so that proper psychiatric counseling for the victims and their families can be initiated if necessary," he said.
...
"We also have to be careful about verbal bullying or relational aggression," Davis said, "often practiced by young girls who try to wreck other girls' relationships. That can be harmful as well."
Everyone has to be a victim. If this is what the AMA is concerned about, they have too much time on their hands.
Too much to excerpt
This piece written by Daniel Ross, director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and the lead negotiator on the Middle East peace process in the first Bush and both Clinton administrations. It is all about Arafat -- how he negotiated, the way he operates in general, and the danger of trying to impose a solution on Israel and the Palestinians. Just read it.
Preemptive Public Service Announcement
This is not a post on site hits, I find that discussion in the blogosphere to be silly at best, though I admit to checking them a couple times a day out of curiosity and ego gratification. [Quick comment, judging from the large number of hits from Google searches on "caribou coffee" "first Islam" and/or "muslim" there seems to be a real curiosity for more information. Sorry I don't have anything more than the post referencing the work done by James Lileks, other than this story. And for those of you still looking for "jolene blalock topless" -- I've got nothing.]
Anyways, I'm taking my time to make a point (and burying the lede), I am gratified to see the number of hits increasing each week. I do this for myself, but also for the sake of my marriage. This way the wife doesn't have to hear me spout off all the time. I can get it out of my system by blogging. Still, the increasing hits (and lack so far, of hate e-mail) tells me some people, are at least curious to read this.
Well, I may not be blogging for a couple days very soon. As the side box near the top indicates, the wife is expecting. The due date is two weeks away, but all of the sudden it is looking like she might be early. If so, now you know why I'm occupied elsewhere; and that I will return.
Of course the EU Caved
I know this will shock many, but the EU has voted to resume propping up the Palestinian Authority, link via Charles Johnson
Patten conceded, however, that corruption in Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority and other problems made it impossible to know where every euro finally ended up.
"It's an impossible question to ask in the real world," he said. "We are doing everything we can do and will follow any other constructive advice."
The measure passed by the committee calls for Patten to make additional efforts to provide what chairman Elmar Brok called "full transparency and full information" about where EU money is spent.
...
Patten argued that by preventing the "financial collapse" of Arafat's "legitimate" administration, which was established under the Oslo accords, the EU "has prevented even greater chaos and anarchy" by helping to ensure the continued delivery of health, education and other services.
"If there is to be a Palestinian state, there has to be a Palestinian Authority," he said, describing the EU as being in the vanguard of efforts to promote reforms toward a "free society and free market."
I liked that the AP chose to put "legitimate" and "free society and free market" in quotes in terms of Arafat and the Palestinian Authority.
The only committee member to vote against it was Olivier Dupuis, MEP for north-west Italy. Olivier is a member of the Transnational Radical Party. The TRP actually is supportive of Israel, and their site has a petition to have Israel join the EU (insert snarky anti-EU crack here).
Something a Little Lighter, and Happier
He's back!
Just not deserving of pity
What sympathy is there for parents who glory in the suicide of their children? Who appear in their farewell videos like this
These people simply are not human. They give up any claim to be treated such when they are so callous of their offspring under any circumstance.
I asked her if it mattered whether her son killed women and children.
"The women and children are also Jews," she said, "They're all the same for me.
"And I want to tell Jewish mothers - take your children and run from here because you will never be safe. We believe our sons go to heaven when they are martyred. When your sons die they go to hell."
Naima is surrounded by well-wishers, no one asking why she gave her son a licence to kill.
She has nine more children, whom, she says, all have a duty to fight the Israeli occupation.
That isn't fanaticism. That isn't insanity. That is plain evil.
Target: Jerusalem
Apparently the Palestinian terrorists have decided to focus on Jerusalem. Another suicide bombing killing at least six.
In Wednesday's blast, the bomber emerged from a red Audi, dashed past two policemen and set off the explosive at the bus stop near a busy intersection, police said.
...
The car sped away, disappearing into Palestinian neighborhoods in east Jerusalem, police said.
The question becomes, will the Israeli police and the IDF have to start sweeping through these areas. It seems likely that terrorists are operating out of these neighborhoods (once again, hiding amongst civilians). This time, though, they are within clear Israeli sovereignty.
The Al-Aqsa Matyrs (part of Arafat's Fatah terror group) claimed this noble Palestinian victory:
The explosion in the French Hill neighborhood blew out the back and the sides of the bus stop shelter, leaving just a concrete bench and the roof. An arm and a leg were among the body parts scattered on the street, which was covered with blood and shards of glass. A baby carriage was overturned, and rescue workers covered it with a black plastic bag.
How these monsters can even claim the trappings of humanity anymore, I don't know.
VHS starts suffering from Betamax
I don't know how rentals of VHS is going, but sales are dropping as DVDs continue to be the choice for purchasers. Now Circuit City announced it won't even bother selling VHS in its stores anymore. This is probably the first of many retail outlets to go with this trend.
Come on Ted,
You can do better than this:
My comments were part of a long and extensive interview that I gave two months ago when I was condemning the loss of human life," said Turner, vice chairman of CNN's parent company, AOL Time Warner.
"The violence in the Middle East has reached an intolerable level, and in that interview I condemned that violence on whatever side it may come.
"But, I want to make it absolutely clear that my view was -- and is -- that there is a fundamental distinction between the acts of the Israeli government and the Palestinians," Turner said.
"I believe the Israeli government has used excessive force to defend itself, but that is not the same as intentionally targeting and killing civilians with suicide bombers."
Now, what was it the Ted said in the interview that somehow got misinterpreted?
"Aren't the Israelis and the Palestinians both terrorising each other?" says Turner, who is vice-chairman of AOL Time Warner, which owns CNN, in an exclusive interview with the Guardian.
"The Palestinians are fighting with human suicide bombers, that's all they have. The Israelis ... they've got one of the most powerful military machines in the world. The Palestinians have nothing. So who are the terrorists? I would make a case that both sides are involved in terrorism."
Now, how again did you point out the differences?
Of course AOL-Time Warner, is not pleased to see the Guardian drag CNN down with the Ted:
CNN issued a statement saying Turner "has no operational or editorial oversight of CNN" and was speaking for himself in the comments he made April 16 that were pubished (sp, published) Tuesday by The Guardian newspaper in London.
"Ted Turner's views are his own and they definitely do not reflect the views of CNN in any way," CNN's statement said.
Making sense of state alcohol laws
I've lived in Pennsylvania and now Ohio -- two states with very f**ked up liquor laws. One of these days, I'm going to have to do a serious comparison to see which state is more messed up on the matter. In the mean time, I can can cheer the fact that the Ohio Senate passed legislation that allows the sale of beer in the state with an alcohol content higher than 6% (most mass produced/marketed beers and "malt" beverages [Zima, Smirnoff Ice, Bacardi Coolers, wine coolers] are between 3.5% and 6%). The new law allows for brews with alcohol content upto 12%. This bill had already passed in the House. The law is supported by some 40 microbreweries, including many from Northeast Ohio ( Willoughby Brewing, Great Lakes, etc.). Microbreweries were big supporters because it allows them to brew and offer more beers that have a higher alcohol content -- more variety is a good thing. I look forward to this law going into effect.
Tuesday, June 18, 2002
The good and the bad
I know that Jonah Goldberg's piece on the Osbournes came out last Friday, but I only noticed it today. I really don't care about the Osbournes, and Jonah jumps on the same message made by Clarence Page back in April: Ozzy is a living example of the downside of doing a lot of drugs (Jonah doesn't mention any role too much alcohol may have played, but we are allowed some hypocrisies). I like Jonah,mainly for his sense of fun in mixing in pop culture. This effort, though, displays a remarkable tin ear on something:
Similarly, laughing at, and hence ridiculing, drug use is far more useful than one more Eliot Ness lecture about, say, the connection of pot to the war on terrorism.
The same lesson was on view in last summer's surprise hit song, "Because I Got High," by a fellow named Afroman. The whole song was a hilarious send-up of pot-heads: "I was gonna go to court before I got high, I was gonna pay my child support but then I got high, they took my whole paycheck and I know why — 'cause I got high, 'cause I got high, 'cause I got high. . . . I messed up my entire life because I got high, I lost my kids and wife because I got high, now I'm sleeping on the sidewalk and I know why — 'cause I got high, 'cause I got high."
Unfortunately, some folks who think drugs are never a laughing matter didn't think the song was so funny. When MTV initially refused to show the song's video, because it depicted people smoking marijuana, The Weekly Standard — a zealous supporter of John Walters — noted in an earnest finger-wag: "It's a pity that the most humorous pop song in recent years is about getting high, but [we are] pleased to find MTV for once on the right side of the culture war."
Actually, it was great news that the most humorous pop song in recent memory was about how stupid it is to get high, or at least too high. Similarly, it's even better news that the most popular show in MTV history makes fun of drug use and, finally, puts MTV on the right side of the culture war.
Oh, man is that a swing and a miss. I really like that song and so does High Times. The main goal of that song was to mock the drug war and the attempts to demonize marijuana by playing up the myths of marijuana. By the way, here's a rather amusing review of Afroman's album.
More of the Usual
From Guardian columnist Jonathan Freedland about how the latest suicide atrocity from Hamas was designed to derail the soon to be released Bush plan for provisional Palestinian statehood. Even Freedland has his doubts and admits Oslo was a complete and utter failure. It's the usual crap, that has been dissected before. One thing I want to skip down to, when he talks of trying to make this plan work:
They will have to tell the parties that if no agreement is in place after a year, they will move to impose one. That will require diplomatic steel, a willingness to press the Israelis to dismantle Jewish settlements and Palestinians to swallow a painful compromise on the return of refugees.
So lets see Israel's sovereignty should be threatened; the settlements removed; and the Palestinians get a "painful compromise" on right of return. Gee, where is the ambiguity? Freedland can't do it. He can't bring himself to come out and openly say that right of return has to be given up by the Palestinians. The overwhelming majority of Israelis would march into the West Bank and Gaza tomorrow and dismantle the settlements themselves if the Palestinians committed to writing that they give up "right of return." What the hell does Freedland think was the sticking point in 2000?
This is for the Wife
Who has some rather strong feelings on the subject
Martha Stewart is getting on Congress' nerves
Blame the Accountants
The article from a German weekly about the EU funding Palestinian Terror and propaganda, hasn't faded away for EUApologist, Chris Patten. He is facing a grilling from EU members (link via InstaPundit) over the payments.
"Why do you give 10% of the budget without control" asks Conservative MEP, Armin Laschet, referring to the fact that there is no regulatory body to oversee how the money is being spent. "Somebody from the EU must have control of the money, whether it be the Court of Auditors or OLAF [the European Anti-Fraud Office]", suggested Mr Laschet to the EUobserver. Currently, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) checks the payments each month and sends a report to the Commission. However, as Laschet says "they say they do not have control over the money." He also called for a policy change so that money is generally given for specific projects rather than just handed over with few conditions.
If Commissioner Patten is unable on Wednesday to convince MEPs of steps being taken to control exactly where EU money ends up, then it is likely that the suspension of payment will continue until "these many things are checked."
I wonder if Arafat had them make out the monthly checks to "cash?" The suspension is due to expire on June 19.
Just a Thought
Maybe it's just me, but the longer this goes on, and the more confused the information becomes, the more I begin to blend Elizabeth Smart with Jon-Benet Ramsey.
Dead in the Water?
I posted last week on the denial of a permit for the Dead reunion show. Well, it appears the remaining members of the Dead haven't given up on finding a venue for their reunion show. They are leaving many possibilities open:
That being said, we are currently looking at all the alternatives available to us to insure a safe and successful event. To that end, we are attempting to resolve the issues that were brought up at the hearing, as well as looking at other venues in the general region.
...
We intend to play together in public this summer. We thank you for your patience and understanding -- we will work this out. As soon as the proper solution reveals itself, we will make our plans public. Honest, you'll be the first to know.
Sincerely,
Mickey, Billy, Phil, and Bobby
They seem to be leaving plenty of room to file a lawsuit or find some other venue to step up.
The press release expresses doubts as to the 200,000 estimated people thrown out at the Walworth County Highway Committee meeting. It is probably too high, but I would not doubt that at least 100,000 would show up, just to hang out.
FEC rules for Campaign Finance Reform
Oh, joy, oh impending migraine. I'm actually going to have to read, comprehend and write up (for work) this s**t. The FEC has released its final "FINAL RULES AND EXPLANATION AND JUSTIFICATION ON SOFT MONEY." This contains the new Code of Federal Regulations on the BCRA. The scanned document is 320 pages. The copy in Word, is slightly smaller at about 310 pages. (The BCRA is less than 40 pages in length.) I will eventually produce a highlight list for the blog.
The FEC has also released new forms for the reporting requirements.
Form 3x - filed by unauthorized committees, including PACs and party committees
(actually it is just new Schedule E (with instructions), to disclose itemized independent expenditures.
Form 5 - individuals or groups making independent expenditures (with new instructions).
No Appeasement
Completely fucking disgusting:
A Palestinian man detonated nail-studded explosives on a Jerusalem bus crowded with high school students and office workers Tuesday, killing himself and 19 passengers in the city's deadliest suicide attack in six years. Forty people were wounded.
...
Many of the passengers were students at a nearby high school. Education Minister Limor Livnat said seven students were among the dead and wounded.
Ted Turner can go fuck himself over poverty and desperation being root causes. If he really believes this shit is the moral equivalent to Israeli military actions, then he is beyond rational thought.
Monday, June 17, 2002
Not that Bush is Looking that Good
Oh, and once again, GW "delays" his campaign promise by deferring on moving the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem for another six months.
Get Mideast Priorities Straight
One more reason for GW to go after Saddam first, then worry about Mideast peace plans: Bill Clinton thinks it should be the other way around:
Bill Clinton on Monday urged him to change priorities by focusing first on building a "legitimate" peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
I Hope to Never Understand
I never understood the "Right's" virulent, reflexive hatred of Bill Clinton, just as I don't get the same from the "Left" of George W. Bush. In both cases they ascribe the most insidious, evil, conniving motives to the object of their hatred. The Guardian's David Hirst (in Beirut) seems to have the same reaction to Ariel Sharon.
Obviously, change that strengthens his adversary's ability to confront him is not what Israel's prime minister wants. Ideally, he would destroy Mr Arafat and his Palestinian Authority altogether, on the ostensible ground that Israel cannot deal with a "corrupt terror regime". But, in reality, Mr Sharon has always abhorred any legitimate representative institution embodying Palestinian national identity and eventual statehood.
He has not managed to destroy the Palestinian leader and his government, and the reforms he has in mind would not empower the Palestinian people through a democratically installed regime; they would subject them to one that, of necessity, would be more tyrannical than before. Far from advancing the peace process, he would take it back to where it was at least a generation ago, when neither Israel nor the US even contemplated the idea of a Palestine state.
Mr Sharon's notion of a peace plan repudiates all the progress made via the 1991 Madrid conference, Oslo, and subsequent accords and negotiations. It would consecrate all existing "Zionist facts on the ground" under yet another "interim" agreement of indefinite duration, during which Israel would be free to create ever more new ones. His notion of a Palestinian leadership is one that acquiesces in these conditions; if neither Mr Arafat nor anyone else comes forward to do so, Israel will promote a leadership of its own choice, as it did in the 1970s.
One of these days, the Guardian and all those who wish Israel's Labor party was in power will admit that Israel in the 70s had the Labor Party in power and initiating settlements. This moron actually believes Israel will miss Arafat when he's gone.
You Can't Blame Jane Fonda for This
Ted Turner decided he hasn't stuck his foot in his mouth, down his throat, and out his anus in a long enough time. So, it was time for a Guardian interview, to rectum-fy that.
"Aren't the Israelis and the Palestinians both terrorising each other?" says Turner, who is vice-chairman of AOL Time Warner, which owns CNN, in an exclusive interview with the Guardian.
"The Palestinians are fighting with human suicide bombers, that's all they have. The Israelis ... they've got one of the most powerful military machines in the world. The Palestinians have nothing. So who are the terrorists? I would make a case that both sides are involved in terrorism."
And I would make the case that the Ted needs to lay off the Cutty Sark, and stop taking his talking points from Amnesty International.
In his first British interview since the September 11 attacks, Mr Turner - who broke philanthropic records in 1997 when he donated $1bn to the UN - argues that poverty and desperation are the root cause of Palestinian suicide bombings.
Gotta love the Guardian, in the middle of a sentence and without real relevance, they needed to shoehorn in his donation to the UN. I guess they feel it shows his concern for the world. As for the "root causes," maybe the Ted needs to read the Guardian a little. He might also want to pay MEMRI a visit.
The Ted also comments on his observations of the "bravery" of the 9/11 terrorists and his intelligence. Let's put it this way, he is the last person to ever make a crack about GW's intelligence or speaking abilities.
I can't make this stuff up
I can't compete with reality.
Britney Spears and NASCAR could be coming to a theater near you.
...
NASCAR will help to market the film, which will contain race footage and drivers appearing as themselves. Spears will reportedly play a daughter of a race team owner who coaxes a former NASCAR driver to return to the sport."
...
"Britney herself has a lot of the values that represent NASCAR and her dad is a big NASCAR fan," said NASCAR vice president of broadcasting Paul Brooks. "She is close with her family, she's from Louisiana and represents true Americana."
Britney's folks are going through a nasty divorce and Britney rumors of alcohol abuse are climbing. She sounds perfect for a NeckCAR movie. Maybe they can just call it Days of Thunder 2
More Blurring
Director, Kevin Smith ( Dogma, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Clerks, Chasing Amy) enjoys blurring the line between what he directs/writes and what he does in reality. The latest is his launch of MoviePoopShoot.com. This was the fictional movie gossip site in Jay and Silent Bob. Now it will be a reality, but will be about pop-culture news, not necessarily insider movie news. Good fun from a guy who worked hard to live his dream
How Can Anyone Believe There is Bias?
Bummer. Seems this Insider trading/ImClone thing may have tarnished Martha Stewart. A fundraiser she was to host was postponed.
What was the fundraiser? Why for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, sponsored by the political action committees of AOL Time Warner and the Magazine Publishers of America. This $1000/plate event was to raise about $200,000. Featured guests were to includes Senators Clinton and Daschle.
Not Using the Points
Mark Steyn blasts Bush domestic bumbling, especially on the farm bill. While noting that all of Bush's domestic moves (abandon free trade, farm bill subsidies) are about winning the Senate back to finally get the Senate Judiciary out of Leahy's control, he asserts Bush blew his opening last fall.
But isn't this kind of a roundabout way of doing things? Why didn't he jump on Leahy last fall when, post-9/11, Bush had 90 percent approval ratings? Why didn't he do to Leahy what Clinton would have done to Gingrich? Back then, even Leahy's hometown paper, Vermont's Burlington Free Press, no friend of Republicans, was critical of his unyielding obstructionism. But Bush sits on his political capital like a squirrel facing an eight-month winter. And so, at a time when he had the highest approval ratings of any president ever, he allowed himself to get kicked around by an obnoxious bruiser from a politically irrelevant state.
So here he is six months later jettisoning principles like a stripper in a hurry. I object to the farm bill, and the steel tariffs, and the softwood lumber duties, all of which impose costs on American consumers. And the more Republican sophists explain the logic behind them, the less sense they make. The steel tariffs, a wily GOP insider told me, aren't just about boosting Bush's chances in Pennsylvania and the like, but rather about getting union support for oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Er, OK, if you say so. But why complicate matters? Instead of abandoning core principles, wouldn't it be easier to, say, go on the offensive against the other crowd? If you can't sell the country on the need to drill for oil on a small patch of the ugly godforsaken breeding ground of the world's largest mosquito herd when you're at war with a bunch of wackos from the Middle East, when the hell can you?
He's dead on about Bush just sitting on his political capital. Unfortunately, Bush doesn't seem to realize that political capital does not accrue interest. It just fades away. It has an expiration date, and he is getting close to the end of the 9/11 expiration.
Hates being lectured
Where to begin with this article. Arafat is in a snit over Condoleezza Rice saying that a Palestinian state should not be based on Arafat's Palestinian Authority, which is "corrupt and cavorts with terror."
Arafat said Monday that "she does not have the right to put or impose orders on us about what to do or not to do."
"We are doing what we see as good for our people and we do not accept any orders from anyone,"...
Which pretty much explains why suicide bombers and terrorist activities continue, and no one believes his claims for wanting peace.
Arafat also opposes the fence that Israel is building along the West Bank.
"This is a fascist, apartheid measure being done, and we do not accept it," Arafat said of the fence. "We will continue rejecting it by all means."
I'm not at all sure what he means if he really supports a two-state solution (yes, I know the answer to that), since that would require a fence and border. Of course he could be upset because it makes it harder for his suicide bombers to sneak into Israel. And of course the dreaded checkpoints since the only work for Palestinians has always been in Israel.
Sunday, June 16, 2002
De-Harmonizing Nature
Ah, yes, the chance to leave it all behind. The opportunity to live a simple ecologically harmonious life, with like minded members of a small community. Simple pleasures. Destroying the ecology of great and beutiful natural parks in Hawaii.
Dead Left French
An interesting analysis of what appears to be the fall of the far left in the French election. Of course the center right in France would be the left in the US, so it is still perspective.
Now, If Only the Guardian Will Read This
An excellent piece by Joshua Kleinfeld on what is needed to actually work out a peace agreement for Israel and Palestine. The short answer, some real threats to the Palestinian terrorists.
Conventional wisdom treats the peace process as a natural thing. The policy means the conflict's solution will be political, not military, and will be found through ongoing negotiations leading to agreements both sides can accept.
Set aside that mutually acceptable outcomes might not exist. What counts here is that process policy commits U.S. and Israeli leaders to addressing the interests of Palestinians -- since successful negotiations require Palestinian agreement -- and to retaliating minimally if at all against suicide bombings so as not to derail negotiations.
Those commitments undermine deterrence, which requires plausible threats that inspire enough fear to dissuade action. Could anything scare the terrorists that much? Yes. Suicide bombing reflects hope, not hopelessness: those who kill themselves and those who help believe that by doing so they will further their cause. And it is revealing that most suicide bombers are young and unattached; most others love something in this world too much to die or risk death.
Where there is hope and love there is usually the capacity for threats that work. What threats could scare the terrorists out of acting? Primarily a future without realistic hope for anything but a strong, aggressive Israel and suffering, stateless Palestinians; secondarily, the destruction of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the agents, in the terrorists' view, of a brighter future.
So long as U.S. and Israeli leaders commit themselves to political solutions, Palestinian-approved negotiations and minimal retaliation, terrorists have nothing to fear; neither threat can be realized. Perhaps that's kind-hearted. Realizing the first threat might well be immoral. But effective deterrence, which is necessary for peace when hostile forces can't find a settlement, commonly requires cruel threats to have real possibility -- as a glance at Cold War nuclear deterrence shows. And the second threat is just. Peace process policy protects Palestinian terrorists against the worst consequences of their actions.
He also sums up the problem of having to deal with Arafat nicely
This puts all our eggs in one very unpromising basket. Since the cause of grievance for the highly militant is Israel's existence, peace process policy depends on apparently moderate Palestinian decision-makers negotiating a settlement while restraining militants -- depends, in short, on Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat. Letting the fates of three nations, the United States in the Middle East, Israel and the Palestinians, all hinge on the hidden intentions and capabilities of one mysterious man with a dubious past is unwise.
Peace process policy also undermines negotiations. As long as the United States and Israel are dedicated to finding a deal he will accept, Arafat has no reason to compromise. Offers will keep coming; he can afford to wait. He has no inventive [sp?, incentive] to restrain militants. Quite the opposite: when it won't provoke retaliation, terrorism is an effective negotiating tool for compelling better and better deals.
Someone forward this piece to Colin Powell.
I have no punchline
A Britney Spears show in Lubbock, Texas ended prematurely after she sang "Oops...I Did It Again" and "(You Drive Me) Crazy." It seems the pyrotechnics knocked out some of the power. While Arena power and lighting worked, there was insufficient juice for the full Britney experience.
"I'm just so sorry," Spears told the crowd at a Texas Tech arena, before being met with boos. "Please don't boo," she said, then walked off the stage.
Inspiring
Dave Barry provides words to the class of 2002, and about how I (and others) feel/felt about sitting through commencement (spectator and participant).
We also think it would be nice if commencement programs had interesting articles for the audience to read, or even short works of fiction with appropriate educational themes. (``As Vorbanna walked across the stage, her tassel swaying seductively, Konrad watched her, his sweating hands caressing the smooth hardness of his embossed leatherette diploma cover, and he thought about that unforgettable night when the two of them, for the first time, matriculated.'')
Sometimes better than morning coffee
George Will has a rather fawning profile of Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown. Yes, you read that correctly. It seems the Mayor is a big fan of charter schools and is not afraid that gentrification will affect the downtown neighborhoods' diversity:
"There is no diversity there now. You have a concentrated, homogenous population -- the elderly, parolees, people in drug rehab, from mental hospitals, transients. This is not the vibrant civic culture some might have in mind."
The renowned lefty, has sought and received exemptions from California environmental regulations for downtown construction. While I have no doubt he is still firmly liberal on most social issues, he has not been afraid to go against liberal orthodoxy to improve the quality of Oakland and the people there. Seems, Jerry is best suited for more direct, responsive politics; than big issue conceptualizing on the national stage.
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