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Friday, April 30, 2004
Google Search Results
Just thought I'd look up exactly what the Scouts call that promise to be trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, etc., so i looked up the term "Boy Scout Pledge. I knew it wasn't the pledge--iirc that has to do with doing one's "duty to god and country, to obey the Scout Law," etc.
The first result was a page at hatecrime.org about the vicious hatecrimes perpetrated by the Boy Scouts against gay boys and men.
BTW, the trustworthy, loyal... bit comes from the Scout Law.
Thursday, April 29, 2004
Survivor Comments
The Mogo Mogo tribe finally disappears. Every week somebody (usually Amber) says something like "This is all-stars! This is so much different than regular Survivor."
To a certain degree it's true. But it's mainly true because they seem to have intentionally picked the dumbest, worst-playing contestants from the first seven series. The Mogo Mogo tribe forgot one thing; You can't be weaker than the other guys going into the merger. They committed boneheaded maneuvers three weeks in a row, voting off Colby, probably the best person ever at the immunity challenges, then Ethan, a former winner, and then most oddly, Jerri, one of their own team members instead of Amber. Dumb.
Consider who's left:
Long Tom. I rest my case.
Amber. Though she's cute and reasonably athletic and intelligent, she was a terrible player in the Australian Outback, allying herself with Jerri throughout the game and failing to catch on to Colby's alliance with Tina. She could have used her obvious charms to entice some of the other people to form an alliance with her, but she didn't. She seems to have done one very smart thing in allying herself with Rob so far. He's a good partner as he's shown his ability to win immunity challenges.
Boston Rob. I wonder about him. At times he seems like the master manipulator and at times he seems like a buffoon. I was surprised last week when everybody voted him the most trustworthy.
Jenna. Pissing everybody else off. Somebody may see that as the way to make it to the finals. Didn't work for Johnny Fairplay and it ain't working for her either. Next person voted off unless she wins immunity.
Ruppert. Our hero is in trouble. Logic says next week it's Jenna or Ruppert who goes; it looks like Long Tom has made his decision as to with which group he wants to be allied. Was it the sloppy kiss that did him in? He needs Jenna to lose next week and then hope to win the last two immunity challenges, which is going to be tough.
Why Tillman Resonates
I was thinking about this on the way into the office today. Initially I was surprised that the response to the death of Pat Tillman had so much resonance around the country. I had more or less assumed that it would get some attention nationally, but that it would be mostly a local story. Obviously that has not been the case, and I've figured out why.
America needs real heroes again.
For most of our country's history, heroes have been idolized and lionized. In books and films they were trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent--the Boy Scout grown up. Think of the Golden Age Batman--the lantern jaw, the ready quip, the unquestionable honesty.
But in the late 1960s, the anti-hero arose. Suddenly it was acceptable if the hero was not always courteous or kind or reverent, as long as he was fighting on the right side. Of course, the definition of the right side became a little fuzzy as well. Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper were on the right side in Easy Rider--the side that smoked pot, dropped acid and smuggled cocaine or heroin into the country (in the film's opening sequence). Anti-war protestor Jon Voight was on the right side in Coming Home.
Conversely, the old heroes became the villains. Suddenly John Wayne was unhip, and unhip meant you were one of the bad guys. These changes started in books and film, but they eventually filtered throughout pop culture. By the 1980s, Frank Miller's Return of the Dark Knight presented Batman as a brooding and bitter alcoholic. Indeed, of the Boy Scout qualities named above, about the only one that remained was "brave".
The trend continued throughout the 1990s. Two of my favorite shows of that decade were The Simpsons and Married With Children. Both presented extremely disfunctional families with unloving fathers and bratty kids as the "heroes".
All that changed on 9-11, at least for some of us. I found myself almost overwhelmed with grief and sadness in the first few days afterwards, especially during the services on the Saturday after, and began to get concerned for my own mental health. So on Sunday, I decided to shift my focus from the victims of 9-11 to the heroes. I spent that day learning everything I could about the passengers of Flight 93, the heroes who fought back and prevented the fourth plane from crashing into yet another building on the ground. And almost immediately, reading about Glick and Burnett and Nacke and Bingham and Beamer my depression started to lift.
It is similar with the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts and Tillman. Day after day we are bombarded with negative news--10 Iraqi civilians killed in a car bombing, four American contractors killed and desecrated in Fallujah. Seven marines slain by a mine on the road. Captain Ed had a great post on his blog the other day, which linked to an article by Captain Roger Lee Crossland containing this observation:
In earlier times, the American public could recite names such as Boatswain's Mate Reuben James, Lieutenant William Cushing, Colonel Joshua Chamberlain, Sergeant Alvin York, Mess Attendant Dorie Miller, and Sergeant Audie Murphy as easily as they could their own home addresses. The individual heroes of the armed forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, however, generally are unknown. Deluged by lengthy, detailed stories of the extreme efforts taken by terrorists, we have heard little of the extreme efforts taken by members of the U.S. armed forces.
Exactly! During the early days of the war, when the reporters were embedded with the troops, we did get a little of this type of reporting (anybody remember the classic "Where do they get these guys," comment?). But lately, it's all negative, all the time. Chamberlain's emphasis is on the soldier as victim rather than hero, and in that sense, Tillman still fits the pattern. But there is a difference between the reporting on Tillman and the reporting on, say, Jessica Lynch. In Tillman's case the focus is on what happened before his death; in Lynch's it was on her capture and rescue.
And reading the articles about Tillman, it is not hard to hear the Boy Scout virtues creeping back into the reporting. Loyal? He turned down more money from the Rams to stick with the team that gave him a chance. Friendly and courteous? I've already read two stories that talk about him writing thank you notes to reporters who covered him. Thrifty? The anecdote about him showing up for training camp on a bicycle covers that. Brave? No question.
Poll Results Skewed
The media are reporting a "Big drop in support for war in Iraq, poll finds", based on a NY Times, CBS News poll. However, Real Clear Politics has the scoop:
THE NUMBERS YOU NEED TO KNOW: Even after oversampling Democrats (35%) and Independents (36%) and undersampling Republicans (29%), CBS/NYT got the following result: Bush up 2 points on Kerry (43-41) in the three-way race among registered voters. I'm pretty sure that's not what they expected.
Get it? The Times disproportionately polled those likely to be against the war, and then reports it as a change in public opinion.
Tuesday, April 27, 2004
SI Cover
Monday, April 26, 2004
Some Fellow Arizona Bloggers on Tillman
Hardworking Americans comments on Tillman from a non-football fan's perspective.
Most of us don’t answer that call to a higher purpose. We shield ourselves from it in our own little cocoon because we lack the sheer guts and integrity to do so. We are amazed when we see someone who does and we see ourselves for what we really are. We need role models like Pat Tillman. We need to get out of bed everyday with a goal that doesn’t just benefit ourselves. We need to hang tough in the face of adversity. We need to quit bitching about trivialities and minor inconveniences that consume us on a daily basis and find a purpose in this world. We need to answer that higher calling. Now.
John Moore comments on his visit to the impromptu Pat Tillman memorial.
Infinite Monkeys has some thoughts by Brad here.
Zonitics suggests naming the new football stadium in honor of Tillman. He also has lots of links to other Arizona bloggers and their thoughts.
Vox has some nice thoughts.
Sunday, April 25, 2004
More Tillman Coverage
Doug MacEachern has a good piece in the Arizona Republic.
Perhaps the most endearing aspect of Tillman's decision among reporters - you could see it oozing from their clips - was that he went into the service quietly, with no "farewell" statement at all. No bravado and no apparent wish to be seen as the hero he inevitably became. The modesty alone is breathtaking. Where do they, indeed, find people such as this?
Reid Collins in a flashback to when Tillman joined the Rangers.
He is 25. Born in San Jose, California, a graduate of Arizona State where he played football so well he was the Pac-10 conference defensive player of the year in 1997, who graduated in three-and-a-half years with a 3.84 grade-point average and was drafted by the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals. Tillman turned down an offer of $9 million over five years to play for St. Louis because he was loyal to the Cardinals, who were offering him $3.6 million over the next three years. Tillman had it all. He married his high school sweetheart, Marie, honeymooned in Bora Bora in May, and returned to tell his agent and his coach of his decision. Tillman was joining the army. He wants to be a Ranger.
Paul Beston in another article from the Am Spec late last year:
Pat Tillman knows where the real war is, which is why he left the fake one behind. If he decides to return to football when his three-year tour of duty is up, he would have the impact of a human disinfectant on the NFL. And his fellow players would owe him their gratitude -- even Simeon Rice, assuming he can reach that high.
Spartacus has a nice post comparing Tillman with Kerry.
Friday, April 23, 2004
General George Patton: "It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived."
Others On Tillman
Former Lt., now Citizen Smash has some thoughts.
Peggy Noonan did a great article a few years back on Tillman for the WSJ.
A good, older story on Tillman at NFL.com.
The current story from NFL.com.
Remembering Pat Tillman.
Baldilocks weighs in.
Captain Ed has some nice words.
Hugh Hewitt
A video of the spontaneous memorial being built at ASU is here, including footage of Tillman discussing his reaction to the 9-11 attacks.
MSNBC calls Tillman an American Hero.
The Cardinals have a tribute at their home page.
Even the twits over at the Democratic Underground recognize a hero.
Arizona State University has a tribute to Tillman.
Tribute to Pat Tillman
 
 
Those of you living outside of Arizona cannot imagine what a larger than life person Pat Tillman was before he walked away from the money and the glamour of the NFL to join the Rangers. He played his college ball here at ASU, where he was considered too small. When his coach suggested that he redshirt his freshman year so that he could grow a little, he responded with something like, "Do what you want, but you've only got me for four years. I've got a life to get on with."
By his senior season he was the defensive player of the year in the PAC-10. He played gung-ho, balls to the wall on every play. But he was not a dumb jock. He graduated in 3-1/2 years with a 3.84 GPA with a degree in marketing. Considered too slow for the NFL, he appeared to get a sympathy pick from the Cardinals with their last choice in the draft. Five months later he was a starter on opening day. I was a little cynical about the decision at first, assuming the Cards were trying a little marketing of their own, but he made a believer of everybody.
He had an opportunity to join a much better team after a superb 2000 season, in which he set a team record for tackles. The Rams offered more money, but he signed with the Cardinals out of loyalty. It was that same spirit that led him to walk away from the money to serve his country.
Thanks, Pat. We will long remember your sacrifice.
Thursday, April 22, 2004
Kerrying Arizona?
Both Bush and Kerry are targeting Arizona as a potential battleground state. Personally, I don't buy it, but George Will does. It's not often that I get a chance to fisk someone I respect so much, but here goes:
In 2000 George W. Bush carried Arizona, which then had a Republican governor, with just 51 percent of the vote.
True enough. But Gore got only about 45% of the vote, so Bush's margin here was a little over 6%, making Arizona the state with the 23rd highest margin for Bush.
Indeed, Democrats have won half of the past eight gubernatorial elections.
Again, true, but not as meaningful as it sounds. Republicans had won four straight gubernatorial elections prior to 2002. So turned the other way, Republicans have won 4 of the past five gubernatorial elections.
Yet if liberalism and urbanism still increase in tandem, a salient fact may be that Arizona is heavily and increasingly urban: Almost 80 percent of Arizonans live in or around Phoenix and Tucson. Mesa is a "suburb" contiguous to Phoenix, but its population is larger than that of St. Louis.
And Mesa is probably the most conservative town in the state. The fact that 80% of all Arizonans live in or around Phoenix or Tucson is again not surprising; I'd suspect that ratio has remained constant for about 40 years.
And another fact encouraging to John Kerry is that the state has, Napolitano says, 600,000 veterans, many of whom are Hispanic and Native American voters.
My guess is that's a gross overestimate. That would indicate one in nine Arizonans is a veteran, which seems awfully high. And even if it is true, from whence comes the belief that they will disproportionately vote for Kerry?
Is Arizona less conservative than it was? Yeah. But six of its eight representatives are Republican, as are both of its senators. The fact that AZ went for Clinton in 1996 was a fluke, caused by Steve Forbes' carpet bombing of Bob Dole before the Republican primary that year. The fact that Janet Napolitano, a Democrat, is governor happens to be another fluke. But if John Kerry wins in Arizona this year, that would not be a fluke. It would be an upset of historic proportions.
Ain't gonna happen.
Don't get me wrong. I can understand why Janet Napolitano, the governor who apparently was the source for much of the story, would want to convince George Will that this state is in play. It gets more attention for the state, and is so far bringing in LOTS of ad dollars. And maybe Will is just playing along to get Kerry to waste his attention here.
Wednesday, April 21, 2004
For the Funny Headline File:
Prominent Dutch euthanasia advocate dies at 87; natural causes suspected.
Non-Survivor Part III
Filibuster Cartoons is a great website!
Tuesday, April 20, 2004
Just One Minute has some comments about Paul Krugman's latest offering in the New York Times.
Is it unfair to ask whether the Earnest Prof now foresees a full recovery? Does he think that investors generally foresee such a recovery? Does he have any guidance for us on whether, or if, normal conditions of supply and demand might return to the bond market?
As usual with Professor Krugman's economic columns, they make me yearn for his comparatively sensible ravings on politics, and vice-versa. Here's what Krugman said:
So you can't claim that interest rates will be far below historical levels because inflation is gone. And on the other side, we need to think about the impact of budget deficits.
That last sentence will send the deficit apologists to battle stations (sorry, I can't avoid politics completely). For many years, advocates of tax cuts have insisted that the normal laws of supply and demand don't apply to the bond market, and that government borrowing--unlike borrowing by families or businesses--doesn't affect interest rates. But there's no argument among serious, nonideological economists. For example, a textbook by Gregory Mankiw, now the president's chief economist, declares--in italics--that "when the government reduces national saving by running a budget deficit, the interest rate rises."
Of course, classical supply and demand theory would indicate that Krugman is right. But we've had a lot of real world experience with interest rates and budget deficits and the theory needs a little revising.
To demonstrate, let's look at the budget deficit when Clinton took office. For the year 1993, the on-budget deficit was about $300 billion. In 2000, seven years later, the on-budget surplus was $86 billion. The amounts for both years come from here.
Now let's take a look at the interest rates for those years. Krugman focuses on the 10-year treasury, which is a good interest rate to use, since it is the basis for many other rates (especially home mortgages). Since the fiscal year runs from 10/1 of one year to 9/30 of the next, I will look at the interest rate halfway through that year--i.e., March 1st (or the nearest date after if March 1st falls on a weekend.
The 10-year treasury as of 3/1/93 was at 5.98%. The 10-year treasury as of 3/1/00 was at 6.26% Both interest rates were obtained from here. So we can see that despite a dramatic change in the budget status--from a $300 billion deficit to an $86 billion surplus, interest rates did not decline, in fact they went up, the exact opposite of what Krugman and Mankiw would predict.
Okay, so going back to the same sites, I checked the deficits and interest rates for every year from 1993-2001. Then I correlated the two using Excel.
Correlation is a measure of how much two different variables appear to be related. For example, suppose we were to take everybody's in a office's height and weight, and correlate the two. We would expect there to be some correlation; that the tall people would weigh more (on average) than the short people. The correlation would not be perfect (there are, after all, short fat people and tall skinny people) but in general tall people do weigh more than short people. This would result in a positive correlation--that on average the taller you were, the more you weighed and the shorter you were, the less you weighed.
We could also look for negative correlations. Let's say we asked 100 people chosen at random how many years of school they attended and how many hours a week they spend working at manual labor. We would expect that the more years of schooling one had, the fewer hours a week they would spend on manual labor, and the fewer years of schooling they had the more hours a week they spend on manual labor. Again, the correlation is not perfect because there are folks with masters' degrees working as auto mechanics and high school dropouts running software companies, but in general the more years of schooling, the fewer hours a week spent doing heavy lifting.
Correlations can run from -1.00 (perfect negative correlation) to +1.00 (perfect positive correlation). A correlation of 0.0 simply means that the two variables have nothing to do with each other. For example, we might expect that correlating years of schooling with weight would result in a correlation close to 0.0 nowadays. Back when most college graduates were men that might have been different, since men weigh more than women.
Okay, so now that we have correlation defined, what is the relationship between budget deficits and interest rates? It's (-.48). That is, there is some correlation between budget deficits and interest rates, but it is not strong and in general it's negative--that higher budget deficits are frequently associated with lower interest rates, and vice-versa.
Now, it is important not to confuse correlation with causation. The classic example of this is if you correlate the number of churches in a town with the number of crimes in a town, you will come up with a fairly strong, and positive correlation. This does not mean that building more churches will result in more crime. Rather, both variables are being influenced by a third variable, in this case, almost certainly, the population of the town. More people mean more churches and more crime.
What is the third variable in our budget deficit and interest rate scenario? As Bill Clinton once said, it's the economy, stupid! A strong economy leads to lower budget deficits, but also to higher interest rates. A weak economy leads to higher budget deficits and lower interest rates.
No Puns for This One
This is not getting a lot of attention in the US as yet, but police in England have apparently foiled a plot by ten suicide bombers to blow themselves up at a soccer match between Manchester United (the New York Yankees of English football) and Liverpool.
The Islamic fanatics planned to sit all around the ground to cause maximum carnage.
They had already bought the tickets for various positions in the stadium, cops revealed last night.
But armed cops foiled the horrific plot - which could have killed thousands watching Manchester United’s home game against Liverpool on Saturday - in a series of dawn raids yesterday.
Ten people were arrested after a massive surveillance operation involving British anti-terror units and American authorities.
A police source said: “The plot involved several individual bombers in separate parts of the stadium.
“If successful, any such attack would have caused absolute carnage. Thousands of people could have been killed.”
The planned attack would have had an instant global impact as the game is being televised worldwide.
Allah has a little photoshopped joke on it. Note the soccer ball.
Sunday, April 18, 2004
Next Contestant for NonSurvivor?
In order to up the drama of the new reality show, NonSurvivor, producer Mark Brunette and Hamas announced that the next contestant would not be named. However, they apparently forgot to tell this to Israeli Army Radio, which reported that Mahmoud Zahar had been selected.
Zahar has already survived one attempt at being voted off the planet by the Israeli Defense Forces.
Saturday, April 17, 2004
New Reality Show Underway!
 
Yassin Voted off the Planet. Rantisi You're Fired!
Famed TV Producer Mark Brunette announced today that the first two parts of a new reality-based TV show have already been shot, and casting is underway for the third episode. Unlike past reality shows, this one will have quite a twist. Instead of a million dollars, or a job of a lifetime with Donald Trump, contestants will be given the leadership of the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas for a period of one month. At the end of that month, they will be judged on their success or failure to curb the terrorist group's murderous suicide bombings. Instead of being voted off the island by their fellow members, or fired by The Donald, judgment will be carried out by Israeli Defense Force helicopters.
"This increases the stakes for the contestants," said Brunette. "As we say on the show, find the peace spot, or become a greasespot." Brunette noted that the first two contestants, Sheik Yassin and Abdel Aziz Rantisi, had already discovered the finality of the words, "The Tribe has spoken."
Thursday, April 15, 2004
The Apprentice Finale Thoughts
As usual with Mark Burnett, brilliant production. After watching the two guys handle their challenges I had to think that Bill had it in the bag. Then his team, which had been so supportive, didn't back him up enthusiastically in the boardroom, and I thought Kwame might pull it out after all. I was right about one thing--he really should have fired Omarosa. I still wonder if she was not a plant intended to test Kwame.
Racism at Dead Air America?
Apparently they are still not on the air in Chicago and LA after the bounced check fiasco. So they put up their own "humorous" takeoff on the Drudge Report which they call the Sludge Report. Gee, that's sooooo original!
Anyway, the piece is rather predictable, except when they get into talking about the owner of Multicultural Radio, the broadcasting company they are battling:
But Arthur Liu --- not funny. He lied to us, he ripped us off and now we’re chasing him down with a pipe wrench. It’s a metaphor.
(Brainster note: Apparently they are not aware of the meaning of "metaphor")
Here’s what really happened:
This Liu-ser was ripping off our boss Evan Cohen big time (he can’t do that, that’s our job). Evan found out about it and he stopped payment on a check to keep Liu-cifer from ripping him off even more. You can touch Evan for the occasional meal or drinks but a million bucks is crossing the line. And if we ever get low on cash, we can always call Barbra Streisand. Or any of the Baldwins. Except Stephen.
So we got screwed, Liu’d, and tattooed. How Liu can you get? In Liu of payment. Liu’d and lascivious behavior. These write themselves. What we’re getting at is that we hate him.
Now, isn't that cute? They're making puns on his Asian name.
So now everyone’s saying we’re going down the dumper in Chicago and Los Angeles, but what they don’t tell you is that we’re still on in Portland. And we OWN Portland. And let’s not forget Riverside and Plattsburgh. And New York. And streaming on the internet. And XM. And Sirius. Actually we’re fine.
Heh, who cares about LA and Chi-town, they've got Plattsburgh!
A Reason to Like April 15th!
Today is Jackie Robinson Day, the 57th anniversary of the breaking of the color barrier in Major League Baseball.
Although it is commonly forgotten today, in the immediate aftermath of WWII, there was a sudden and sharp movement in this country towards eliminating prejudice. I am proud that two of my favorite pastimes, baseball and comic books were part of this effort. The death camps in Nazi Germany shocked America and forced us to recognize that there was a cost to society for treating any of our citizens as less worthy than other citizens.
Robinson was a great ballplayer, easily worthy of enshrinement in the Hall of Fame for his playing ability. When you consider the enormous obstacles he faced both off and on the field, it is obvious that he deserves the honor and recognition that has come his way. As an added bonus, Robinson was a Republican, although he did not always vote that way. He supported Humphrey over Kennedy in the Democratic Primaries of 1960, and voted for Nixon when Humphrey did not get the nomination. He did support Humphrey over Nixon in 1968. Although obviously supportive of the civil rights movement, he criticized MLK for his opposition to the Vietnam War.
Jackie Robinson's breaking of the color barrier in baseball was part of that movement, but it was hardly alone. In the Superman radio show there were literally hundreds of episodes dealing with Superman's battle against hatred and intolerance. In one series of episodes, Superman battled the "Clan of the Fiery Cross".
In fact, everybody knows what Superman fights a never-ending battle for, right? Truth, justice and the American Way! Unfortunately, few know that the last part was not added until after WWII. Michael Chabon, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Kavalier and Clay, a thinly disguised account of the creators of Superman, made an odd gaffe in a TV appearance a year ago. He implied that "The American Way" had been added during the Cold War as a kind of chest-thumping nationalism. One would think that the fact that famed liberal Norman Lear's organization is known as "People for the American Way" would have alerted him to the fact that he was wrong.
In fact, "The American Way" was explained by Superman in a special message at the end of a 1946 Thanksgiving radio broadcast as meaning that we are all of us, white, black, yellow and brown, Americans and that we've got to pull together to solve our problems and not be divided by hatred.
Here's to you, Mr Robinson!
Wednesday, April 14, 2004
Dead Air America
Okay, after the pleasure of listening to the Northern Alliance guys on the radio, I tuned into the Majority Report on Dead Air America. They are explaining that supposedly they bought time in LA prior to when they actually needed it. Since they didn't need the time, the station owner (Multicultural) sold the time elsewhere. When Air America threatened to stop payment on the checks, the station owner took them off in LA and in Chicago.
Waaaaaahhhhh!
Northern Alliance Radio
Heh, Hugh's intro was pretty funny. Scott Johnson, Lileks and the Elder joining Mitch Berg in the studio.
They lead with a clip from Hardball about how the August 6th PDB had no new information, at least, no new information that was correct.
Next Kristen Breitweiser's appearance also on Matthews's show. Good point by the Elder than the 9-11 widows are not qualified to talk about security procedures.
Steven Hayward on "The Real Jimmy Carter". Carter is the transition figure between the old Democrats and the modern Democrats. Rates Carter as the worst foreign policy president and perhaps the worst president overall. Comments that Carter is much worse as an ex-president than people think. Okay on Habitat for Humanity, but awful as a foreign policy envoy. Lileks asks about Iran. Could the shah have been saved--no. Could a better regime have been put in place--perhaps. Hayward says that the Ayatollah was considered as possibly another Gandhi. Andrew Young said he might be considered a saint. Carter tried to undermine the first Persian Gulf War. Got his Nobel Peace Prize as a slap against George W. Bush (it was even described that way at the time).
The Gorelick memo gets prominent mention in the next segment (missed the beginning due to a phone call). They point out that it's getting buried, except for the New York Times. Lileks mentions the movie Three Days of the Condor, in which the murder of a bunch of people was all a plot by the CIA. This shows how pervasive the anti-CIA attitude was in the late 1970s.
Claudia Rosette appearance. Oil for food program discussed (hope Roger Simon is listening). The UN is very secretive, and thus this story is not getting out. Should we turn over Iraq to the UN? Also is the UN structure correct? One country one vote sounds democratic, but the regimes with a vote are not themselves democratic. China/Syria/Libya. Northern Iraq is doing better than the South because Saddam didn't have the power in the North he did elsewhere. Lileks: Where did the money go? Claudia: Not known, we should try to find out.
Callers: Pearl Harbor/9-11 parallel. Believes in conspiracy. Talks about the John Toland book. Fred in Gardenia on Gorelick. Should we ask her to apologize because her memo was responsible. Did Clinton apologize for OKC?
Dead Air America?
Drudge is reporting that Air America is already off the airwaves in LA and Chicago for bouncing a $1 million check to the stations' owner. I have to admit, I'm baffled by this one. I can't imagine anybody taking a check for $1 million these days; I'd insist on a wire transfer.
While we're on the subject of radio, I'm going to blog the first hour of the Northern Alliance's subbing for Hugh Hewitt, coming up in about 20 minutes.
Tuesday, April 13, 2004
Welcome Kitty Litter Readers!
Muchos gracias to Kitty Myers for the link! I'm another L-Dotter, posting under the username Brain Death over there. Be sure to check out my Kerry Haters blog, where I've been wasting most of my time lately.
You Don't Need a Pen to Connect These Dots
The Financial Times is reporting that Scott Ritter got money to produce his film, Shifting Sands, from Shakir al-Khafaji, who received:
"allocations" for millions of barrels of oil under the UN oil-for-food programme between 1995 and 2002. These allocations were then sold on to international traders for profit.
Mr Ritter insists he never received any money from the Iraqi government.
"I would never take any money from anyone that was derived from any business relationship with the Iraqi government, whether a legal business relationship or an illegal business relationship," he added.
There is no evidence Mr Ritter did receive any money from oil allocations. Mr Khafaji told the FT/Il Sole that he never mentioned the allocations to Mr Ritter. But, by his own admission, Mr Khafaji or his family did profit from the sale of oil allocations awarded at the same time that he was financing Mr Ritter's film. Without Mr Khafaji's money Mr Ritter's film would never have been made.
But they were different dollars! The serial numbers are not the same!
Monday, April 12, 2004
Pop Culture Update
I have been watching The Apprentice since the first show. Overall, it's been pretty entertaining, if silly, but I don't see how they're going to pull off the second show. Surely Donald is running out of things with his name on them to showcase for the rewards?
Anyway, last week's show was quite fast-paced and entertaining, although I couldn't help being disappointed at the way they winnowed down the final four to the terrific twosome. After all the entertaining challenges, we get job interviews by four of Trump's people? And there was absolutely no drama involved in the elimination of Nick and Amy; after the interviewers gave their reactions it was obvious that they were headed to the street.
I am going to be very disappointed if in the end Kwame gets the job. After a whole season of challenges, the winner ends up being the guy anybody would have predicted in the beginning--the Harvard MBA? And yet, based on the last episode if he loses, it will probably be the fault of that evil Omarosa.
Friday, April 09, 2004
Break Up the Tigers III!
The Tigers are now 4-0, and are the only remaining unbeaten team in the majors. Still, it's not quite time to break out the champagne. The last team to start 4-0 the season after having the worst record in the majors was the 1952 St. Louis Browns; they finished the year 60-94.
Be of Good Cheer; These Polls are Temporary Phenomena
Perhaps a little anecdote will illustrate things. As I may have mentioned before, I grew up in a leftist household. Not quite as leftist as David Horowitz, perhaps, but still pretty leftist. My grandfather on my mother's side ran for Alderman in Syracuse on the socialist ticket during one of the years Eugene Debs was running. My parents subscribed to Commonweal and were active in the anti-Vietnam War movement, and were county coordinators for Eugene McCarthy in 1968. I worked as a (very-low level) volunteer for both McCarthy and McGovern, mostly stuffing envelopes and delivering flyers from door-to-door. I also worked as part of the "bucket brigade" at two McGovern speeches, wandering among the crowd with a KFC-style bucket, soliciting contributions. I went conservative in the 1980s, but the rest of my family has stayed fairly liberal. My dad did vote for Bush in 2000, but all my siblings remained Democrats.
At Christmas this year, my younger brother surprised me. One of our uncles (who is still a liberal) said something nasty about Bush. Mark said with amazement something along the lines of, "Well, isn't everybody glad that Bush was president on 9-11? I sure was!" My older sister (actually she's the older of the two; I'm the eldest) looked daggers at him, as well as two of the uncles, but I managed to steer the conversation away from the subject. Christmas is a time for family harmony, not for acrimony.
Both of my sisters are in town for Easter and last night we went out for dinner. Typically I'm the one who brings up politics, but this time, my younger sister brought up the subject, asking my older sister whom she was planning on voting for. Not surprisingly, the answer was Kerry. So my younger sister went onto this tirade about how could you vote for Kerry, he's going to undermine the war on terror, I'm voting for Bush because he's the one whose going to keep my kids safe. I managed to cool things down a bit by pointing out that my older sister's state (Kansas) is solid Bush, and that if he needs her vote to win the state, he'd be losing so badly that it wouldn't matter. But my younger sister wouldn't let it die there. She begged my older sister, that if there is another terrorist attack just prior to the election (as happened in Spain) that she would consider voting for Bush to send the terrorists a message that they can't intimidate us.
I was so proud of her! Oh, and she voted for Gore in 2000!
We're going to win this thing. (Crossposted to Kerry Haters)
About The Name
I realize it may be off-putting to some, so an explanation is in order. On Usenet, I originally posted under my own name. The problem with that, I found, was the amount of spam I received. So I started posting using the somewhat self-deprecating sounding nickname of Brain Death. I was given that name years earlier in a BBS chatroom for reasons that I won't go into here; believe it or not it was a compliment.
Anyway, the years go by and I begin to participate in a couple of IRC chatrooms. But often in those chatrooms, you will be disconnected, but the chatroom won't know it yet, so you name will still be on the screen. When you try to re-enter, the program will see that you are using a previously assigned name and kick you out. So Mirc, the program I use, asks you for a backup name. I chose Brainster as in the old Saturday Night Live gig where the guy next to the copy machine called everybody "The Mikester, Mikearoonius", etc.
Comes time to set up a blog and braindeath was already taken. GRRRR! So I just chose Brainster without thinking about it too much.
Thursday, April 08, 2004
Bicycle Comment
I'm a big fan of bicycling. It's a great way to get exercise, it can be a lot of fun, and it's perfect for Phoenix, the city where I reside, because it's mostly flat and doesn't have a lot of wind.
That said, I've got to wonder about this comment from a reader on Andrew Sullivan's blog:
The bicycle is, I'm all with you here, the ultimate form of transportation for us freedom lovers: complete reliance on oneself for getting the thing going, exercise while you go (instead of sitting in a car for hours and then paying to go to a gym to work off your laziness), no need for government registration and infinitely greater freedom in terms of where and when you can go.
I agree with most of what he says, but the last part is just bizarre. I don't have infinitely greater freedom in terms of where or when I can go on my bicycle as compared to my car. I can't ride in the rain, I can't decide to take a trip up to Sedona for the afternoon, and I'm not all that comfortable about riding after dark, even with reflectors and a twinkler clipped to my belt. Cars offer much more freedom, which is why this is an automobile society.
Dead Air America Part Deux
Like everybody else, I gave this a listen the first day and haven't tuned in since. I realized today that perhaps this was not a good idea, since Franken & Company probably expected it. So I thought I'd give them another chance.
If anything, it's worse than I remembered. They seem to have gotten comfortable with the fact that they suck. Franken talks like he's on Quaaludes--very slow, with lots of uhs and you knows to spice things up. He even uhs on the station breaks: "And, uh, we'll be back, uh, with more of, uh...." You sure this is drug-free radio?
Apparently Henry Kissinger is getting the Ann Coulter treatment today as the "humorous" "guest". Sounds like Franken's trying to imitate him, by talking while breathing in. Of course, this renders him almost unintelligible, which may be a blessing. About the only thing I could understand was that Kissinger & Associates works with Al Qaeda on the PR side. The sidekick, Lampher, helps out by laughing like Ed McMahon on nitrous oxide. Of course, her laughter is like the sound of a nightingale compared to Franken's haaannnhaaannnhaannn.
They're claiming it's a lie that Bush inherited a recession. This is tedious as hell, and they immediately turn it around and claim what he actually inherited was "record" surpluses. Only 11 minutes left until Rush comes on, and I'm about to slit my wrists.
Wednesday, April 07, 2004
Can Anybody Stop These Tigers?
Apparently not the Blue Jays--the Tigers are 3-0. I suspect it was mid-May last year before they won their third game.
Something to Help You Sleep
On ebay now.
Break Up the Tigers II
2-0, baby! The win was costly though, as the Tigers lost Dmitri Young for six weeks with a broken leg. Young was clearly Detroit's best player last year, in fact, probably their only good player. Young hit .297 in 2003 with 34 doubles, 7 triples and 29 homers.
Monday, April 05, 2004
Break Up the Tigers!
They start the season where they left off last year, winning 7-0. They have now won six of their last seven games. Could this be the greatest single-season turnaround in baseball history? Just for kicks, I thought I'd figure out what team holds that current title. It's the 1999 Arizona Diamondbacks, who improved a full 35 games from 65-97 in their inaugural season to 100-62 the following year. The 1903 New York Giants, under John McGraw, won 36 more games than they had the prior year, but only lost 33 fewer, making their improvement 34.5 games in total. The Tigers would have to go 79-83 to top the Diamondbacks' turnaround; difficult but not inconceivable.
Kos' New Advertiser
Jeff Seeman is running in Ohio's District 16 against Ralph Regula. It seems like quite an uphill battle; in 2002, Regula won handily, getting 69% of the vote. Seeman probably figures he's doomed anyway, but this will buy him a little publicity, perhaps even some contributions from Kos' fans. He has this to say about the controversy:
"Our campaign has decided that because of the recent events we will step in and advertise on www.dailykos.com. We have made this decision for two reasons:
1) We firmly believe in the First Amendment and everyone's right to say whatever he or she chooses on their own website.
2) We refuse to allow our campaign to be bullied by the right wing like they bullied Kos' previous advertisers."
Of course, nobody says Kos did not have the right to say what he chooses on his website; just that there are consequences when one says things that are offensive.
Friday, April 02, 2004
On the Other Side
The Daily Kos is supposed to be one of the responsible sites on the left end of the blogosphere. Here's his comment on the deaths in Fallujah:
Every death should be on the front page (2.55 / 20)
Let the people see what war is like. This isn't an Xbox game. There are real repercussions to Bush's folly.
That said, I feel nothing over the death of merceneries. They aren't in Iraq because of orders, or because they are there trying to help the people make Iraq a better place. They are there to wage war for profit. Screw them.
by kos on Thu Apr 1st, 2004 at 15:08:56 GMT
Disgusting.
UPDATE: Michael Friedman is organizing an e-mail campaign targeted at Kos' advertisers. I know a lot of people don't like these types of campaigns. I'm not one of them. I looked at the prices for advertising Kos' site; $2,000 for the top spot and $1,800 for the second spot. Not enough for him to get rich on, but not bad for an anti-capitalist America-hater.
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