Musings Archive September 2003
Tuesday, September 30, 2003 GOOD NEWS KEEPS COMING: Arianna Huffington announced this evening that she's withdrawing from the California recall race. Why? Well to defeat the recall -- which is new motivation for her considering she hoped to benefit by it -- and to help defeat Arnold Schwarzenegger.
"I was against the recall in principle. I've always believed this is not the way to run a democracy. But I also saw the opportunity provided to elect with a simple plurality an independent progressive governor."
Of course you were against it. I often participate in processes that I'm opposed to in principle. Me thinks Huffington's decision was really based on the fact that she drew about 4 per cent support.
Read on.
Posted by steve @ 11:08 PM EST [Link]
~ YAGBTA: To save time I've created a new acronym: Yet Another Guantanamo Bay Translator Arrested (YAGBTA).
The FBI has arrested another translator who worked at the U.S. base in Cuba. Ahmed Mehalba was arrested at Boston's Logan Airport with what are alleged to be classified materials related to the al-Qaida prisoners being held there. Interestingly, he was arrested on a flight from Egypt.
Mehalba is a civilian translator working for the Titan Corp., CNN has confirmed. Titan, based in San Diego, California, describes itself as "a leading provider of comprehensive information and communications products, solutions, and services for national security."
I'll bet.
Read on.
Posted by steve @ 04:18 PM EST [Link]
~ BY THE PEOPLE, FOR THE PEOPLE: Like pretty well everyone else I haven't seen Afghanistan's proposed constitution but the good news is that it doesn't impose the Islamic Shariah law. What I especially like about it was the extensive level of public input.
The commission sent 460,000 questionnaires out to the public this year and held meetings in villages across the country seeking public input.
"So many people replied, including women who said they wanted more rights and good education," [Constitutional Review Commission spokesman Abdul Ghafoor] Lewal said. "The illiterate sent cassette tapes and we got tens of thousands of letters."
A total of 150 000 people submitted suggestions. Let's just hope it's a balanced document that everyone can live with. Yeah, I know the chances of that happening are...
Read on.
Posted by steve @ 04:08 PM EST [Link]
~ HOW TO FAKE YOUR WAY PAST THE DIVERSITY POLICE: I was lucky. When I entered university (1991) I didn't have to run through the gauntlet of diversity police because Laurentian University was out of the mainstream enough to not have instituted the policies yet and its PC Police wasn't all that powerful. Things have changed baby. By my third year I heard of the horror stories of what the frosh was forced to do such as sitting around in circles and pretending to be gay or learning how to put a condom on a banana. Frankly, I never understood that last one...I've never had to put a condom on a banana.
Peter W. Wood offers an easy way for freshman students to fake a diversity essay and it's funny as well as true.
But the "diversity essay" isn't merely a smokescreen. It is also a device to ensure that candidates commit themselves, at least rhetorically, to the campus ideology of diversity. I suspect most high-school students are plenty capable of figuring out what kind of essay they need to submit to earn the "diversity bonus" that will vault them ahead of academically better qualified candidates. But The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that leaders of some campus groups expressed fear that "young applicants might have difficulty writing essays that adequately reflected the impact of their race or ethnicity on their lives." A UM senior, Ricardo Valle, declared that, prior to coming to college, "I did not know what diversity was or how to interpret my experiences as a Latino youth."
Mr. Valle had to go to college to learn how to give up his individuality and conform to the categories of Leftist identity politics, but help is on the way. Students who need assistance concocting testimonials to the prejudices they have endured and the hardships they have overcome already have a choice of websites and consultants who will help. But in a spirit of public service, I am willing to lend a hand too. Herewith some advice for the high-school student aspiring to attend a college that requires a diversity essay.
Read on.
Posted by steve @ 11:21 AM EST [Link]
~ THAT MUST HAVE BEEN QUITE THE PARTY: The Chinese government is steamed after it learned that about 900 people -- 400 Japanese and 500 Chinese prostitutes -- participated in a mass orgy at a hotel in the southern city of Zhuhai.
Read on.
In unrelated news, a Japanese court has awarded $1.7 million to the families of a group of Chinese victims of World War II chemical weapons abandoned by the Japanese army.
Read on.
I think I'd rather play host to an orgy then chemical weapons though neither is on my top ten list.
Posted by steve @ 03:51 AM EST [Link]
~ BE CAREFUL WHO YOU GET ANGRY: "Conservative CNN commentator Tucker Carlson's snide humor backfired on him -- and his wife.
While defending telemarketers during a segment on 'Crossfire' last week, the bow-tied co-host was asked for his home phone number. Carlson gave out a number, but it was for the Washington bureau of Fox News, CNN's bitter rival."
How did Fox respond? By posting Carlson's private unlisted phone number on their web site.
Readon.
Posted by steve @ 03:31 AM EST [Link]
~ CONGRATS TO P.E.I. TORIES: The Progressive Conservative Party in Prince Edward Island won its third straight mandate Monday night. The last time the party managed the feat was in the 1880s.
Voters had to battle Hurricane Juan to get to the polls and Premier Pat Binns watched the results in his home on a television powered by a generator.
Read on.
Posted by steve @ 01:02 AM EST [Link]
~ HOW TO FIX IRAQ: The secret? Don't kill our enemies, get them to buy our ideals. Sounds good to me. Read it here.
Posted by steve @ 12:26 AM EST [Link]
~ MONDAY NIGHT QUARTERBACK: The football gods continue to take their revenge on me for presuming that I would do exceptionally well this year in my football pool. With 2 minutes left in tonight's game the Packers lead by 22 points, easily beating the 10 points I gave them. In retrospect I should have gave them 15 points but they covered so no biggie.
Cleveland losing to Cincinnati? The Vikings exposing the 49ers for what they are? Philadelphia showing they were a good team playing badly until this week? I should have known better than to pick the Steelers over the Titans. I don't think I can be faulted for picking Jacksonville over Houston (great finish to the game!) I made some mistakes this weekend but managed to get 10 of 15, same as last week.
Week 1: 9 of 15 (Thursday night game not counted)
Week 2: 13 of 15
Week 3: 10 of 15
Week 4: 10 of 15Season %: 70 (- 1.1%)
Posted by steve @ 12:13 AM EST [Link]
Monday, September 29, 2003 SIX FINALISTS have been announced for the Bastiat prize which will be presented next month.
Read the who's who here.
Posted by izzy @ 11:49 PM EST [Link]
~ NOW THIS IS A MOVIE I'M INTERESTED IN: Out of the thousands of Troy movies being made right now -- okay, there are only two of them -- it's Wolfgang Peterson's Troy starring Brad Pitt.
There's a good picture of Pitt as Achilles over at the Gothamist. View here.
Posted by steve @ 03:42 PM EST [Link]
~ ALAMEDA COUNTY TO STICK WITH E-VOTE: Despite a report that their e-voting system is flawed Alameda County says it's going to stick with it for the October 7 recall election.
The report (PDF), commissioned by the governor of Maryland after researchers at Johns Hopkins and Rice University found that the Diebold software was badly written and full of serious security flaws, confirmed that Diebold's AccuVote-TS system "as implemented in policy, procedure and technology, is at high risk of compromise."
Let's hope no votes for Bush or Gore are recorded....
Read on.
Posted by steve @ 03:29 PM EST [Link]
~ WHAT'S BEING OVERLOOKED: John over at Right Wing News has a marvelous post about a wee little important tidbit in the new furor over who leaked the name of CIA employee Valerie Plame to the press.
However, there is a big flaw in much of what's being written about this story. That flaw is that it is being treated as a given that this story was leaked by a member of the Bush administration. While that may turn out to be the case, there is little at this point beyond a leak from an anonymous source to indicate that is what happened.
Read on.
Posted by steve @ 03:13 PM EST [Link]
~ SO IS AL-QAIDA GOING TO TARGET RUSSIA NOW?: Russian President Vladimir Putin today refused to throw his support behind the Kyoto Protocol, arguing that his government needed more time to study the deal.
"The government is closely studying and examining this question," Putin told the opening of a five-day World Climate Change Conference in Moscow. "This is part of a complex of difficult and unclear problems. A decision will be taken when this work is finished."
"Russia actively stands for the quickest possible ratification of the Kyoto Protocol," Putin added, but offered no timetable for the process.
Many of the books I've read recently which purport to explain why the world just gosh darned it doesn't like the U.S. say that the Kyoto Protocol partly fuels that anger. I now fully expect airplanes to begin smashing into Red Square and anti-Russian protests in streets across the world.
Read on.
Posted by steve @ 03:00 PM EST [Link]
~ WHERE IS HIS HEAD AT?: Arnold Steinberg is asking a lot of the same questions everyone else is asking. One of those questions is: What the heck is Tom McClintock still doing in the race to be the next governor of California?
Read on.
Posted by steve @ 02:42 PM EST [Link]
~ REBUILDING IRAQ: (Via Instapundit) Although the mainstream media isn't too interested in reporting about the reconstruction of Iraq, the engineering press is probably having the time of its life. Here's a collection of articles over at the Engineering News-Record.
Posted by steve @ 02:24 PM EST [Link]
~ SENATOR MILLER?: (via Dispatches) California Republicans seem to be drinking a lot these days because a couple of them have a bright idea: Draft Dennis Miller to run for statewide office.
The comedian Dennis Miller is being talked about, apparently seriously, as a Republican candidate for a statewide post. Three Republican strategists interviewed in the past week have said they want to draft Miller into politics. One, a prominent Republican operative and Schwarzenegger aide who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that once the recall election is over, he plans to recruit Miller to challenge Barbara Boxer for her U.S. Senate seat next year.
The Schwarzenegger campaign even provided Miller a political audition of sorts this week. The comedian, famous for his raunchy and irreverent rants and his stint on "Saturday Night Live" more than a decade ago, provided the campaign's official post-debate spin in Sacramento Wednesday night. Later the same evening, Miller spoke at a Schwarzenegger rally.
Miller, who is registered to vote as a Republican in Santa Barbara, betrayed no political ambitions in either appearance. He was filming a guest appearance on the Fox show "Boston Public" this week and declined to be interviewed for this story. But that has not kept Republicans from considering the possibility.
I liked Miller even when he was a liberal in the 80s and 90s and I think he's smarter than 95 per cent of the population but I find it difficult to believe that he would win high office. Too many people wouldn't understand his speeches and nobody likes looking stupid. I'd vote for him in a second. Couldn't you just imagine the speeches he'd give as senator?
Read on.
Posted by steve @ 02:19 AM EST [Link]
Sunday, September 28, 2003 CROWNING COLBY COSH PRINCE OF PUNDITS?: Question: If, according to Steve Sailer, Mark Steyn is the "prince of pundits" and Colby Cosh is his natural successor, what title of nobility does that confer upon Cosh? Maybe this is what Paul Weyrich had in mind when he said that conservatives are monarchists at heart.
Posted by antle @ 11:41 PM EST [Link]
~ KAZAN DEAD AT 94: What a difficult week for the artistic world. Director Elia Kazan died today at the age of 94. Though well known for naming names Kazan should be best remembered for being one of the greatest directors of the 20th century. On The Waterfront is still one of the best movies ever made.
Read on.
Posted by steve @ 11:30 PM EST [Link]
~ STEYN ON SAID: Mark Steyn quotes a few of his old columns to pen an obituary of the recently deceased Edward Said.
Read on.
Christopher Hitchens, who was a good friend of Said, offers his own thoughts at Slate. You can find it here.
Posted by steve @ 06:11 PM EST [Link]
~ VOTE SPLITTING? WHAT VOTE SPLITTING?: A new CNN/USA Today poll shows that support for Arnold Schwarznegger has grown while racist group member Cruz Bustamante is suffering an erosion.
In a separate vote to choose a replacement for Davis, Schwarzenegger was the choice of 40 percent of respondents.
Democratic Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante was the choice for 25 percent of voters polled, Republican state Sen. Tom McClintock received 18 percent.
The poll showed Green Party candidate Peter Camejo with 5 percent and syndicated columnist and independent candidate Arianna Huffington with 2 percent of the respondents' support.
I still support Brooke Adams.
Read on.
Posted by steve @ 06:03 PM EST [Link]
~ ABOUT THOSE NEOCONS: I think there are plenty of valid criticisms of neoconservatives and more than a few items in this piece, originally published in Commentary, that I would criticize myself. But nevertheless, I think Joshua Muravchik does a good job in this article of debunking some of the more hysterical anti-neocon conspiracy theories.
Read the full piece here.
Posted by antle @ 04:01 PM EST [Link]
~ O'CONNOR DEAD AT 78: Not a good week for entertainers. Actor/singer/dancer Donald O'Connor died yesterday at the age of 78. Read on.
Posted by steve @ 02:54 PM EST [Link]
Saturday, September 27, 2003 WHY WORK FOR ACADEMIC WAGES ANYWAY?: David Brooks writes in today's New York Times about the problems conservatives face if they want to join the world of academia. Apparently the university world believes it's alright to have a token on the faculty that they can drag out when they need "diversity" of opinion.
"Honestly, I'm not a bigot, I have a conservative friend!"
Read it here. (Free registration needed)
Posted by steve @ 06:43 PM EST [Link]
~ MEANWHILE IN BERLIN: They protested across Europe as well -- small crowds all of them -- and as expected the usual suspects turned up. There is a truly sickening picture from the Berlin protest up at Little Green Footballs.
See it here.
Posted by steve @ 06:38 PM EST [Link]
~ WHAT IF YOU HAD A PROTEST AND NO ONE SHOWED UP: Well, that wasn't quite the case but a meagre 10 000 people showed up in London to protest continuing British military involvement in Iraq.
In the first major protest in Britain since the war ended in April, demonstrators -- some 10,000, by police estimates -- vented their anger at the invasion and the reasons given for it.
The turnout was a small fraction of the estimated million people in Britain who marched in February to protest moves to war.
The Stop The War Coalition, which was organizing the British event with the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and the Muslim Association of Britain, had said it expected at least 100,000 people to take part.
Nothing like success to disarm your opponents.
Read on.
Posted by steve @ 06:29 PM EST [Link]
~ SELF-PROMO ALERT: I have a piece on Howard Dean's misguided belief that raising taxes - under the guise of deficit reduction - is fiscally responsible running today in Capitalism Magazine.
Regular readers are probably familiar with my thoughts on this subject: Governments that run budget deficits are spending too much, not taxing too little. Higher marginal tax rates harm rather than improve prospects for job creation and economic growth. Out of ten Democrats running for president, it would be nice to find one who understood this basic concept.
Posted by antle @ 06:13 PM EST [Link]
~ THE GENERAL HAS NO CLOTHES: Wesley Clark's entry into the Democratic presidential race certainly had an impact on the field. He has already shot up to the top tier and established himself as a force to be reckoned with. As a decorarated career military officer and retired four-star general, he is in a position to neutralize the Republicans' advantage of being more credible on national-security issues. He is a strong candidate for the Democratic establishment to turn to to stop Howard Dean. He could garner the media appeal of Colin Powell and John McCain. He's everything John Kerry was supposed to be and more.
The only trouble is that this particular emperor has no clothes. His command of the issues is thin - the Democrats might make George W. Bush out to be an empty suit, but compared to Clark so far, he is practically a policy wonk. There is growing evidence that he only recently adopted his supposedly strongly held liberal beliefs. He once praised the Bush foreign policy team he rails against today and was talking up the president, helping Republicans raise money and supporting the Bush tax cuts - all positions he has since entirely reversed - within the last couple of years. He voted Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, and while he now claims to have voted for Al Gore in 2000 (and given his close ties to some people in Bill Clinton's administration, he may have) he has not so very long ago sounded like someone who voted for Bush. His position on whether he would have voted for the Iraq war resolution makes Kerry's justification of his vote sound crystal-clear. He is a hawk turned dove.
Since the Clintons have their fingers all over Clark's candidacy, there is already speculation that he is only running as a placeholder for Hillary. Or perhaps he has just decided to recast himself as a liberal Democrat because he sees a window of opportunity to claim the presidency for himself. But the signs of a manufactured candidacy are there. The question remains whether this is something the Democratic base will accept, or whether news stories like these will give them pause.
Posted by antle @ 03:20 PM EST [Link]
~ YES, BUT EVERY DICTATOR DEFENDS THEIR ACTIONS: Zimbabwe's president, Robert Mugabe, today defended seizing land from white land owners saying that it was the solution to the country's economic crisis. Apparently Mr. Mugabe didn't notice that the crisis didn't start until he started seizing land.
Read on.
Posted by steve @ 03:19 AM EST [Link]
Friday, September 26, 2003 PLIMPTON AND PALMER DEAD: Writer George Plimpton died last night at the age of 76. Amongst his greatest achievements was serving as a mentor for Jack Kerouac and founding The Paris Review. He will be missed. Read on.
Fans of the 1980s will be saddened to learn that Robert Palmer died today of a heart attack at the age of 54. Always well dressed and his Addicted to Love video will go down in history. Read on.
Posted by steve @ 04:15 PM EST [Link]
~ BODY COUNT OBSSESSION
It seems that every article I read about a soldier being killed in Iraq has to have the body count total. An AP story this morning had the requisite total -- "The 86th servicememer to be killed in Iraq since May 1, the day President Bush declared the end of hostilities". This obssession with body count is reminiscent of Viet Nam, when every nightly news program reported the number of enemy killed each day, accompanied with the number of Americans killed. Back then, the Pentagon put out the numbers to show how well we were doing.
To put some perspective on the numbers (without trivializing the loss of our servicemembers), I looked up the homicide numbers published on the Department of Justice website. Here's what I found:
2001, Washington DC, 232 murders -- an average of 98 in a 5 month period
2000, Los Angeles, CA, 550 murders -- an average of 229 in a 5 month period
2000, Chicago, IL, 631 murders -- an average of 262 in a 5 month period
2000, New YorK City, 673 murders -- an average of 280 in a 5 month period.
Assuming the same homicide rate over the last 5 months, more people have been murdered in each of these cities than soldiers have been killed in Iraq since the President declared an "end to hostilities" in Iraq .Military people understand the potential for death when they serve in hostile environments. It goes with the job. Murder victims are, for the most part, innocent victims who have no expectation of death.
I don't hear the same level of outrage or concern for murder victims coming from the press or the critics of the President's Iraq policy. Could it be because a significant number of high murder rate cities have Democrat or liberal Mayors? Or maybe it's just that the President's opponents are just playing political games.
cb
Posted by clbloomer @ 02:10 PM EST [Link]
~ ASK THE QUESTIONS!: (via Instapundit) I and a occasional reader of this blog have fought a little running gun battle over two topics, including the role the media is playing in Iraq. We both agree that the media is not doing a particularly good job. Paul over at Along the Tracks agrees and has a series of questions he is demanding the media asks.
Read them all here.
Blog God Reynolds also has a posting about criticism the media is receiving from all quarters, not just those evil partisans. Lisa will be pleased.
Posted by steve @ 01:27 PM EST [Link]
~ MOVIE NIGHT AT FORT SINATRA: I have two books to review and another to finish before reviewing it but I just couldn't get the brain working today so I decided to treat myself to two movies my brother-in-law kindly loaned me on Sunday.
The first was The Others (2001) starring the ever gorgeous Nicole Kidman. A lot of people were down on this movie because they said it moved too slowly and was too long but I have to say in honesty I didn't notice the time. Not as creepy as I thought it would be but I was spooked in a couple of parts.
SPOILER ALERT!!!
I can see why people compared this to The Sixth Sense except I don't think The Others was executed as well. Both had their requisite surprise endings but after you watched TSS you could slap yourself on the forehead and say, "Darn it, all those clues that Bruce Willis was a ghost!". With TO, the best you could say was, "Hey, that bit with her husband seemed a little odd." Still, the surprise ending was a surprise to me. Could be that I'm a damned idiot.
SPOILER ALERT OVER
That said, that scene with the old woman that says, "Are you mad? I am your daughter" was creepy as all heck.
The second movie was Ocean's 11 (2001). People fall into one of three camps with this movie:
1) How dare they remake a classic Rat Pack movie.
2) The original sucked and needed to be remade.
3) It's a movie, lighten up.I was a member of the first camp until I watched it and am now in the third camp. I thought it was a fun movie and Brad Pitt's clothes were absolutely stunning (how metrosexual of me). Good script, great cast (though Don Cheadle was criminally under used), great acting (Pitt and Elliot Gould were quite good) and it all looked good. (Editor - that's a lot of goods and greats, what were you watching? Lawrence of Arabia?) As the DVD commentary put it, the movie made Las Vegas looked like what we dream it to be, not what it really is.
Saul: I have a question, say we get into the cage, and through the security doors there and down the elevator we can't move, and passed the guards with the guns, and into the vault we can't open...
Rusty: Without being seen by the cameras
Danny: Oh Yeah, sorry, I forgot to mention that
Saul: ...Yeah well say we do all that.. uh.. we're just supposed to walk out of there with $150,000,000 in cash on us, without getting stopped?
Danny: Yeah
Saul: Oh, ok.
I still love the original but I have to give the new one its due. It was light fun and I liked it. Huge fans of the movie will be happy to note that Ocean's 12 will begin filming in February 2004. Oddly enough Andy Garcia is in the sequel....
Posted by steve @ 03:01 AM EST [Link]
~ ESR'S CONNECTION TO THE SMU & UT-AUSTIN BAKE SALES: Turns out we were two degrees of separation away from the "minority" bake sales held this week at two schools. Brendan Steinhauser, Executive Director of the Young Conservatives of Texas UT-Austin Chapter, was involved in one of the sales and had a piece of his published in ESR last year on Noam Chomsky.
At any rate, Brendan has sent this email urging conservatives across the U.S. to engage in their own bake sales.
By now I am sure you read in the Washington Times or watched CNN or ABC about the affirmative action bake sales my student group was involved in at SMU and UT-Austin. I am writing to ask for your support in our expose of liberal hypocrisy. We would like to encourage all colleges across the US to hold similar bake sales this week. Any help you could provide us in getting the word out would be fantastic. Thanks for your consideration in this matter. I hope to hear back from you soon.
Sincerely,
Brendan Steinhauser
Young Conservatives of Texas UT-Austin Chapter
Executive Director
Put the walk in your talk conservative students of America.
Posted by steve @ 12:26 AM EST [Link]
Thursday, September 25, 2003 PITY THEY DIDN'T SOLVE PROBLEMS THIS QUICKLY ALL THE TIME: The House of Representatives voted this morning to give the FTC the power to operate a Do Not Call List and the Senate is expected to follow with its own approval right away. George W. Bush could be signing a bill today.
I guess 50 million potential votes does carry some juice.
Read on.
Posted by steve @ 02:14 PM EST [Link]
~ SAID DEAD AT 67: I didn't much like him but I didn't much hate him either. Columbia University professor Edward Said died last night at the age of 67 due to leukemia.
Said, of course, was a noted promoter of the Palestinian cause. While I didn't much care for his politics, I will openly state that he was a very intelligent man, one who it would have been quite entertaining to get into a debate with over dinner on any topic. My condolences to his family.
Read on.
Posted by steve @ 01:57 PM EST [Link]
~ THE RETURN OF THE SOVIET UNION?: I was completely unaware of this web site until today! Our friends at the National Center for Public Policy Research launched recently "Center for the Future of Russia", particularly pertinent before a summit that starts tomorrow.
Is Russia turning back into an "evil empire"? There are some uncomfortable signs that it may be...
Read on.
Posted by steve @ 01:36 PM EST [Link]
~ SELF-PROMO ALERT: I have a piece in today's Kitchener-Waterloo Record about the effects the three party's economic plans will have on the province's deficit and debt. Short answer: Everyone is likely going to increase the deficit. It's not available online unless you pay so click on "More" to read it. If you live in Kitchener, please buy the paper! [more]
Posted by steve @ 01:30 PM EST [Link]
~ McCLINTOCK FOR GOV. Ok, so I don't live in Californiaaaa, as Arnie S. pronounces it.
But I watched about 50 minutes of yesterday's debate, and the pandering to illegal aliens, among other issues, was a disgrace. Four out of the five thought it was just peachy to require law-abiding, tax-paying, middle-class Californians to pay for the health care of the illegals' children. They all thought that "undocumented workers" should have a license to drive. Mi casa, su casa, was the mantra.
Only Tom forcefully reminded this sorry group (And Ms. Huffington, you are, my dear, the Queen of the Cheap Shots) that they are rewarding lawbreakers with perks.
I say, give the real adult a chance! Support McClintock.
Posted by izzy @ 01:10 PM EST [Link]
~ BAKE SALE A HOSTILE ENVIRONMENT
When race is used as a qualifier for college admissions, it's affirmative action. When race is used as a qualifier for the price one pays for cookies, it's a hostile environment. At least, that's the way Tim Moore, director of the SMU student center, sees it.
"Conservatives' Bake Sale Too Hot for Some Students to Handle
(CNSNews.com) - A demonstration against affirmative action hit a raw nerve at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, on Wednesday. The protest took the form of a bake sale. Young Conservatives of Texas sold cookies at different prices, based on the buyer's race and gender. Whereas white males had to pay a dollar for a cookie, white women paid 75 cents, Hispanics paid 50 cents, and blacks paid 25 cents for the same type of cookie. Offended minority students complained; shouting matches erupted; and the college stopped the bake sale less than an hour after it started because of the disturbance it was causing. "This was not an issue about free speech," Tim Moore, director of the SMU student center, told The Dallas Morning News. "It was really an issue where we had a hostile environment being created." The newspaper quoted David Rushing, chairman of SMU's Young Conservatives chapter, as saying that his group was simply copying what's been done at college campuses around the country. He said the bake sale represented all that's wrong with affirmative action."
"Offended minorities complained"?? What were they offended about?
cb
Posted by clbloomer @ 10:35 AM EST [Link]
Wednesday, September 24, 2003 READING AHNULD'S LIPS ON TAXES: Ramesh Ponnuru has a great piece on Arnold Schwarzenegger and the no-tax-increase pledge in NRO. It is an oversimplification to say that the division between conservatives over Schwarzenegger versus McClintock is purely about social issues like abortion, although this is undoubtedly a component. But a major source of conservatives' trepidation is whether Arnold is a solid fiscal conservative. His refusal to unequivocally rule out tax increases is an example of why this is being questioned.
Does a symoblic pledge matter? It does when you consider that even Republicans with anti-tax records who have refused to sign it have a history of raising taxes.
Posted by antle @ 10:54 PM EST [Link]
~ HERE'S ONE GENERAL WHO IS NOT FOR WESLEY CLARK: Former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Hugh Shelton was asked what he thought of Wesley Clark's candidacy at a forum. He replied, "I've known Wes for a long time. I will tell you the reason he came out of Europe early had to do with integrity and character issues, things that are very near and dear to my heart. I'm not going to say whether I'm a Republican or a Democrat. I'll just say Wes won't get my vote."
These are strong words and ought to provide a cautionary tale to those who believe Clark is some kind of political messiah.
Read the full story about Shelton's public appearance here.
Posted by antle @ 10:24 PM EST [Link]
~ I AM THE LORD OF DREAMS: I used to be quite a comic book geek when I was a young man. One of the masterpieces that proved comic books could be literature -- outside of Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns -- was Neil Gaiman's Sandman series.
Good news! The Sandman is back after a seven year hiatus. A new volume was published last week and the early buzz is that it's pretty good.
If you are unfamiliar with the series, it lasted 75 issues and told the stories of a group of entities called The Endless -- made up of Morpheus (aka The Sandman aka Dream), Death, Destiny, Destruction, Desire, Despair and Delirium. Morpheus was often the lead character but in later years Gaiman made increased use of the others -- especially Death who was portrayed as a teenaged girl (also used in a fantastic three issue stand alone series during the late 1990s).
My favourite story arc was when Satan decided to cause problems for Heaven (which was being run by the Heavenly Host after God disappeared years before) by renouncing his rulership of Hell and opening its gates to release all the condemned souls. He had his wings cut off and disappeared somewhere on Earth. Heaven, in response, sends two angels to run Hell and fitting with the 90s they promptly decide on a new mission for Hell: instead of punishment, they decide to try and rehabilitate the evil. Of course, the decision was essentially made for them because once they entered Hell they could no longer ever again be in the presence of God or Heaven because they had been tainted. Revolving around all of this was the machinations of The Endless -- called that because they were eternals -- and all the other deities of Earth.
Read on.
Posted by steve @ 08:14 PM EST [Link]
~ BECAUSE A PHILLY CHEESESTEAK SANDWICH TASTES BETTER THAN A FISHSTICK SANDWICH: Researchers believe that Stone Age cats in coastal Britain transitioned quickly from a seafood diet to a plant and animal diet very quickly.
Scientists had not known how fast domesticated plants and animals caught on with the ancient Britons, with some suggesting it took centuries. The new work indicates the switchover from seafood happened very fast, in less than 100 years and maybe within a generation or two, said lead study author Michael P. Richards.
"I must admit I was very surprised," said Richards, of the University of Bradford in England. The work echoes similar findings of smaller studies from Denmark, northern France and Portugal, suggesting the rapid switchover took place all over the European coastline at the time, Richards said.
The new study, which involved chemical analysis of ancient human bones, appears in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature. Richards said it's not clear why coastal people turned away so abruptly from successful fishing and gathering of shellfish, turning instead to crops like wheat and barley and domestic animals like cattle, pigs and sheep.
It's hard to play cricket and rugby on a fish diet for one thing...I wonder if ancient Britons boiled their fish like they boil steak today.
Read on.
Posted by steve @ 08:02 PM EST [Link]
~ EVEN THE HARDEST CORE LIBERTARIAN PROBABLY LIKED THE IDEA: A federal court today put the "Do Not Call" list on hold, ruling that the FTC did not have the authority to set up and operate the list.
Judge Lee West ruled that the Federal Trade Commission cannot enforce the do-not-call registry. The FTC has signed up some 50 million phone numbers for the list, which was due to become effective Oct. 1.
In a statement Wednesday, the DMA acknowledged that millions of American do not want to receive telephone marketing calls. The group said it supports the idea of a list for consumers to express their preference not to be solicited by telephone, and pointed out that for years it has offered its own no-call system for consumers.
It's a half truth but I suppose just true enough. At any rate, this is why I own a cell phone and do not use a landline any more. In the two and a half years I've only used a mobile phone, I've received two phone calls from people I didn't know and both were wrong numbers.
I have to admit that I rather like the ruling in the sense that it confirms corporations do have rights. Unfortunately they seem to be narrowly defined. Telephone marketing calls are corporate speech, but courts have ruled that corporate speech isn't as protected as "regular" speech...and telemarketing calls are alright but cigarette ads aren't. What about telemarketers pitching cigarettes?
That said, I'm still curious about the logic: No one forces me to view cigarette ads, I can turn my head. Telemarketers, however, rely on my spending money to acquire a telephone and pay for service so that they can pitch me their exciting vinyl siding deals. My apologies but your right to free speech ends at the beginning of my driveway.
Read on.
Posted by steve @ 03:38 PM EST [Link]
~ BACKPACKING IRAQ: (Via reader Cody E) Don't feel like backpacking Europe but still want to go on the road? A 24-year old student says he decided on Iraq and he has the pictures to prove it. See it all here.
Posted by steve @ 02:37 PM EST [Link]
Tuesday, September 23, 2003 IRAQIS WHO HATE AL JAZEERA: I saw this earlier in the day and forgot to blog it. Iraq's governing council has temporarily suspended al-Jazeera and al-Arabiya after they were accused of inciting violence against coalition troops and sectarian violence.
"They are being suspended for inciting sectarian violence and attacks on governing council officials," the spokesman said. "They have also shown videos of terrorists promising attacks on coalition forces."
I wonder if the ACLU will get involved...
Read on.
Posted by steve @ 09:57 PM EST [Link]
~ DUBYA'S SPEECH: Only just now got to watch George W. Bush's speech to the UN that he delivered this morning -- I was busy working on other projects today -- and I have to say, despite what all the whiners at the UN and their fellow travellers in the punditocracy say, he did a great job at laying out his case.
Our international coalition in Iraq is meeting it responsibilities. We are conducting precision raids against terrorists and holdouts of the former regime. These killers are at war with the Iraqi people. They have made Iraq the central front in the war on terror, and they will be defeated. Our coalition has made sure that Iraq's former dictator will never again use weapons of mass destruction. We are interviewing Iraqi citizens and analyzing records of the old regime to reveal the full extent of its weapons programs and its long campaign of deception. We're training Iraqi police and border guards and a new army, so the Iraqi people can assume full responsibility for their own security.
And at the same time, our coalition is helping to improve the daily lives of the Iraqi people. The old regime built palaces while letting schools decay, so we are rebuilding more than a thousand schools. The old regime starved hospitals of resources, so we have helped to supply and reopen hospitals across Iraq. The old regime built up armies and weapons, while allowing the nation's infrastructure to crumble, so we are rehabilitating power plants, water and sanitation facilities, bridges and airports. I proposed to Congress that the United States provide additional funding for our work in Iraq, the greatest financial commitment of its kind since the Marshall Plan. Having helped to liberate Iraq, we will honor our pledges to Iraq, and by helping the Iraqi people build a stable and peaceful country, we will make our own countries more secure.
The primary goal of our coalition in Iraq is self-government for the people of Iraq, reached by orderly and democratic process. This process must unfold according to the needs of Iraqis, neither hurried, nor delayed by the wishes of other parties. And the United Nations can contribute greatly to the cause of Iraq self-government. America is working with friends and allies on a new Security Council resolution, which will expand the U.N.'s role in Iraq. As in the aftermath of other conflicts, the United Nations should assist in developing a constitution, in training civil servants, and conducting free and fair elections.
Iraq now has a Governing Council, the first truly representative institution in that country. Iraq's new leaders are showing the openness and tolerance that democracy requires, and they're also showing courage. Yet every young democracy needs the help of friends. Now the nation of Iraq needs and deserves our aid, and all nations of goodwill should step forward and provide that support.
The success of a free Iraq will be watched and noted throughout the region. Millions will see that freedom, equality, and material progress are possible at the heart of the Middle East. Leaders in the region will face the clearest evidence that free institutions and open societies are the only path to long-term national success and dignity. And a transformed Middle East would benefit the entire world, by undermining the ideologies that export violence to other lands.
Iraq as a dictatorship had great power to destabilize the Middle East; Iraq as a democracy will have great power to inspire the Middle East. The advance of democratic institutions in Iraq is setting an example that others, including the Palestinian people, would be wise to follow. The Palestinian cause is betrayed by leaders who cling to power by feeding old hatreds and destroying the good work of others. The Palestinian people deserve their own state, and they will gain that state by embracing new leaders committed to reform, to fighting terror, and to building peace. All parties in the Middle East must meet their responsibilities and carry out the commitments they made at Aqaba. Israel must work to create the conditions that will allow a peaceful Palestinian state to emerge. And Arab nations must cut off funding and other support for terrorist organizations. America will work with every nation in the region that acts boldly for the sake of peace.
I don't care much for his trying to bring the UN into Iraq but you do what you have to in politics I guess. What really impressed me was later in the speech when he discussed slavery, something that the UN has pretty well ignored in favor of passing resolutions attacking Israel.
Read (or watch) it here.
Posted by steve @ 09:44 PM EST [Link]
~ ANOTHER SPY AT GUANTANAMO: Pentagon officials announced today that an Air Force enlisted man who served as a translator at Guantanamo Bay has been charged with espionage and aiding the enemy.
Officials said Senior Airman Ahmad al Halabi was arrested July 23 because he allegedly had classified information about suspected al Qaeda detainees and facilities at the Guantanamo Bay base on his laptop computer.
He is being held at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
Al Halabi was charged with 11 counts of failing to obey a lawful general order or regulation, three counts of aiding the enemy, four counts of espionage, nine counts of making a false statement and five counts that include violations of the Federal Espionage Act.
He is also being charged with a single count of bank fraud.
Read on.
Posted by steve @ 07:21 PM EST [Link]
~ WHAT GREG EASTERBROOK LEARNED THIS WEEKEND: Don't run the ball after throwing an incompletion on first down. That and other insights -- including a good Denver Broncos cheerleader picture -- in this week's Tuesday Morning Quarterback.
Posted by steve @ 02:49 PM EST [Link]
~ WELL, I NEVER CONSIDERED WHAT THEY DID MUSIC ANYWAY...: According to the Talon News, the Dixie Chicks no longer want to be considered a country music band after the backlash they received over critical remarks about George W. Bush.
I have one bone to pick with the story, which describes them as "once-popular country music superstars." The band did have one of the more successful tours this year despite not winning anything at the Country Music Awards. That and the fact that they sold several million copies of their album still makes them popular.
Read on.
Posted by steve @ 02:29 PM EST [Link]
~ I SUPPOSE THIS IS GOOD NEWS: A federal panel ruled today that California's recall election can go ahead on October 7, dealing a blow to the ACLU which is really only concerned about voters rights and not maintaining a Democrat in power. Really.
The ACLU has the option to file an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court. Any emergency appeal filed with the U.S. Supreme Court would go first to Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the justice who has jurisdiction over appeals from the 9th Circuit.
O'Connor could decide to issue a stay to either postpone the election, or allow it to proceed, depending on what the lower court rules or refer the matter to the full Court. Then all nine justices could either respond to the emergency appeal, or decide to do nothing. That would mean the appeals court ruling would stand.
Read on.
Posted by steve @ 12:26 PM EST [Link]
~ THE ROLE THE MEDIA PLAYS: (Via reader Carole Graham) U.S. Rep. Jim Marshall (D-Ga.) penned an interesting piece in the Atlanta Journal Constitution about the role the media is playing with its reporting about Iraq.
Read on.
Posted by steve @ 12:08 AM EST [Link]
~ MONDAY NIGHT QUARTERBACK: Monday night's game between Denver and Oakland was entirely meaningless to me because of a poor Sunday afternoon though my father, supplied with some picks I made, was in the running until Denver moved past the 5 point spread I wrote him down for. Monday night games have been my Achilles Heels this season. Last year I generally picked blowouts with double digit spreads and did quite well. This year my conservative spread picking is turning out to be a poor strategy.
Once again who screwed me this weekend? The New York Giants by winning over Washington. How I hate the Giants....I'd also like to thank Green Bay and San Francisco for not doing their jobs. Inside tidbit of knowledge: the last five teams to have records set against them went on to win the next week. I should have remembered that with Cleveland who became the sixth team to join that list after beating the 49ers.
Week 1: 9 of 15 (Thursday night game not counted)
Week 2: 13 of 15
Week 3: 10 of 15Season %: 71.1
Posted by steve @ 12:02 AM EST [Link]
Monday, September 22, 2003 YOU EVER TRY DOWNLOADING AN ENTIRE BOX SET?: A friend of mine tried once. The New York Times has an interesting story about the aftermath of the 261 lawsuits filed against people who were downloading music. Short version: people are still downloading to their heart's content.
If you are a regular at Slashdot, as I am, you'll often read the words, "If I like what I download, I'll buy it." Reading Slashdot you'd think the music industry is selling more CDs than ever because there's a hell of a lot of downloading going on.
A 13-year old plays the same game in the news story:
Soli Shin of Manhattan is not waiting for lawmakers to act. She gave some thought to the ethics of file sharing after hearing of the lawsuits and took her own library of 1,094 songs offline, because she knew they were aimed at people who "share" their music files with others. But she saw no reason to stop getting new music for herself.
"It's really a great convenience," Ms. Shin, 13, said. "If I like what I download maybe I'll buy it."
Of course you will, but for some reason I don't think you own albums that contain all the songs you downloaded which means you have violated the law. I hate when people try and rationalize their behavior with outright lies. People download files because they don't want to pay for an album. I don't care what the reason is for not wanting to pay for it, the fact remains is that they don't want to pay for it. Of course, that lie is better than the idiot rantings of a good number of people on Slashdot who believe that artists make too much money. To each according to their need, from each according to their ability, eh Slashdotters?
That said, the music industry is mind-numbingly stupid. It's clear that a significant portion of music listeners want to download music -- Apple's online store clearly proves that -- and most of them would rather pay to download a high quality track or album rather than spend the time filtering out bogus files, poor rips and incomplete tracks on networks like Kazaa. The record companies are in essence attempting to maintain an analog system in a digital world and they are failing badly.
If that wasn't bad enough, they are willfully mistreating their customers. As Wired pointed out this month, CDs were introduced in the early 1980s with a sale price of about $13 (adjusted for today's dollars). At the time they told customers that CDs were priced higher than vinyl records because the pressing plants needed to be paid for. As soon as they were, the industry promised, CD prices would be competively priced with other formats. Since then, however, CD prices have jumped 16 per cent, making them far more expensive then vinyl or audio tapes despite the fact that CDs cost much less to create.
At the same time, the number of new releases every year has dropped meaning that there is less choice. Why is the record industry surprised that CD sales are falling dramatically? You've geared your entire industry towards meeting the needs of 16 year old girls and effectively told everyone over the age of 25 to go to hell -- this despite the fact that some of the biggest selling and touring acts last year were David Bowie, Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young. Here's a news flash for the record industry: No matter how much a teenager spends of his parents' money on music, I can spend much much more. I spend more in a month then most teenagers earn in a year. You don't want my money? Fine, I know the shareholders over at Hugo Boss AG and The Armani Group appreciate the business I send their way. And another thing, as they rightly state on Slashdot, no industry that sues its customers has ever succeeded in the long run.
Read the NYT story here. (Free registration required)
Posted by steve @ 02:07 PM EST [Link]
~ PRETTY FUNNY: Andrew Sullivan points out that Wesley Clark has taken a bold stand.
Posted by antle @ 01:58 PM EST [Link]
~ I'LL GO ON THE RECORD WITH THIS ONE: I FIND HER MORE ATTRACTIVE THEN ANNE COULTER: But I wouldn't turn down a dinner date with either of them. David Frum interviews Laura Ingraham, author of Shut Up and Sing: How Elites From Hollywood, Politics, and the UN Are Subverting America.
By coincidence, a copy of the book arrived in my mailbox this morning.
Read on.
Posted by steve @ 01:29 PM EST [Link]
~ AND I MIGHT HAVE BEEN UNCIVIL ABOUT KENNEDY'S PAST AS WELL: But I'm not apologizing. George W. Bush yesterday described Ted Kennedy's bizarre rantings about Iraq as "uncivil".
In an exclusive Oval Office interview with Fox News' Brit Hume, Bush said that while he respected Kennedy, the senator "should not have said we were trying to bribe foreign nations."
"I don't mind people trying to pick apart my policies, and that's fine and that's fair game," Bush said in the interview that will air Monday night. "But, you know, I don't think we're serving our nation well by allowing the discourse to become so uncivil that people say -- use words that they shouldn't be using."
I have to give credit to Dubya for being classy about it. If I were president I'd be like Teddy Roosevelt (without the progressive politics of course). Kennedy today would be nursing a black eye.
Read on.
Posted by steve @ 01:22 PM EST [Link]
~ HOW CAN A NATION WITH MEN LIKE THIS EVER FAIL?: I missed this story when it appeared on Friday but James Lileks bringing it up tonight made me seek it out. Seems the soldiers guarding the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery were given permission to abandon their posts as Hurricane Isabel slammed into them. Their response?
"They told us that. But that's not what's going to happen."
Read on.
Posted by steve @ 02:15 AM EST [Link]
~ BLOODY HELL...ESR DIDN'T MAKE THE LIST: John Hawkins reveals a poll he conducted this week of the favourite political web sites of right-of-center bloggers. Yours truly participated and you can see the results here.
Posted by steve @ 12:36 AM EST [Link]
Sunday, September 21, 2003 SELF-PROMO ALERT: I almost forgot! The Philadelphia Inquirer ran a piece today by me arguing that former NYSE chairman and CEO Richard Grasso deserved as $139 million compensation package. You can find the article here.
Posted by steve @ 08:49 PM EST [Link]
~ NEW YORK FASHION WEEK MAKES STEVE HAPPY: From Daily Fashion Report comes this news:
In a nutshell, this is my quick impression of the spring/summer 2004 collections shown during New York Fashion Week: Beige has replaced black….the pleated skirt has replaced the pencil…the 60’s mod influence that practically defined fall has gone back in time about 40 years and it’s now very much a 20’s thing…Coco Chanel lives and breathes in New York (and everywhere else for that matter)…the mini has been thankfully replaced by the at the knee length…aggressive, hard edged chic is gone and in it’s place there is an elegant, and pretty aesthetic….7th avenue can be dubbed ‘Easy Street’ for spring and summer because of all the relaxed, easy clothing….fashion may or not be ‘cool’ but looking kind of preppy and classic certainly is. And if you want to instantly get a new wardrobe, go to your local notion shop and invest in a variety of ribbons to tie in a bow at the waist or higher (or anywhere at all for that matter).
I'm firmly addicted to black but I am totally happy to know that things like A-line skirts are coming back for women. I've always loved 1920s inspired clothing and I've had absolutely enough of the "aggressive, hard edged chic" that has defined women's clothing for the past couple of years. Women tend to think they look sexier with mini-skirts...I happen to think they look totally hot with a knee length skirt. A preppy girl can't be beat.
Now if I can only convince women not to wear jeans when they go out on a weekend night. To the pretty blond at 100 Georges last night: The black sweater was totally gear but the jeans made you look like you were a second year psychology major. Think how amazing you would have been in a pleated A-line skirt that night...
Posted by steve @ 08:27 PM EST [Link]
~ THAT WASN'T IN THE KORAN: "A Muslim chaplain in the U.S. Army has been arrested and is being investigated on suspicion of espionage and possibly treason, officials familiar with the case told CNN.
"Army Capt. James Yee was taken into custody by U.S. military authorities September 10 at the naval air station in Jacksonville, Florida, while in possession of classified documents 'that a chaplain shouldn't have,' an official told CNN, speaking on the condition of anonymity."
Read on.
Posted by steve @ 04:56 AM EST [Link]
Saturday, September 20, 2003 YOU OF ALL PEOPLE WANT A "STRAIGHT ANSWER": "Under fire from Republicans on Friday, Sen. Edward Kennedy defended his harsh criticism of President Bush's policy on Iraq, in which he charged that the threat from Saddam Hussein was exaggerated by the administration for political purposes."
Yeah, when we know what happened with Mary Joe Kopechne we'll let you know about Iraq Ted.
Read on.
Posted by steve @ 03:19 AM EST [Link]
Friday, September 19, 2003 SALAM PAX SPEAKS: (Via Peeve Farm) You may not know who he is but you can hear Salam Pax's voice. NPR did an interview with him yesterday and it's now online.
To listen to Ian Kurtz (who tracked Salam down) of The Guardian and Salam, just go here. Streaming audio in Real Player and Windows Media 9 formats.
Posted by steve @ 03:30 PM EST [Link]
~ NEW VIRUS: Ah the joy of having your email address on several thousand web pages. There's a new virus, of which I was emailed plenty of copies in case anyone needs one, making the rounds. It's called W32.Swen.A@mm or Worm Swen.A.
Read more about it, including how to remove it, here.
Posted by steve @ 02:28 PM EST [Link]
~ I WASN'T IN FAVOUR OF GIULIANI'S SMOKING RESTRICTIONS BUT...: They were a damned sight better than what Mommy in Chief Michael Bloomberg ordered. Rudy Giuliani, a long time cigar smoker, agrees.
Read on.
Posted by steve @ 01:43 AM EST [Link]
~ PICTURE OF THE WEEK: An amazing picture of Hurricane Isabel taken from ship.
Find it here.
Posted by steve @ 01:22 AM EST [Link]
Thursday, September 18, 2003 WASN'T THAT OBVIOUS?: George W. Bush today stated that Yasser Arafat has failed as a leader.
"Hopefully, at some point in time, a leadership of the Palestinian leadership will emerge which will then commit itself 100 per cent to fighting off terror," said Dubya.
Read on.
Posted by steve @ 04:17 PM EST [Link]
~ MAYBE BUSH ISN'T THAT VULNERABLE: I missed this yesterday so I post it today. A new poll shows that George W. Bush leads every single Democratic candidate and even some Democrats who aren't even in the race.
Bush was favored 52-41 percent over Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, 51-39 percent over Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri and 53-38 percent over former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean and Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts.
The president also easily bested two Democrats not in the race -- former Vice President Al Gore, Bush's opponent in 2000, and New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. Bush was favored 53-41 percent over Gore, and 52-42 percent over the former first lady.
The story goes on to say that the news wasn't all positive for Dubya because a majority of Americans believe the U.S. economy is a bigger issue for them then the war in Iraq. That's actually a positive development since no one is predicting that the economy is going to remain slow into next year. If the Democrats want to run on the economy, they may get slaughtered regardless.
Read on.
Posted by steve @ 03:30 PM EST [Link]
~ THEY LIED: James Lileks takes on an editorial in the Minneapolis Star Tribune that essentially states Saddam Hussein should have been left in power. I won't ruin it by quoting any of the delicious parts so go read it for yourself.
Posted by steve @ 03:03 PM EST [Link]
~ MARK STEYN AND THE NATIONAL POST: Mark Steyn has finally publicly addressed his split with the National Post on his web site. Not surprisingly, his leaving was partly ideological, part quality control.
And, underneath the big issues, the ongoing Paul Martinization of the paper proceeds apace, to the point where cringe-making attempts to ingratiate pop up all over the place. A couple of weeks back, the editorial on mandatory retirement included this aside on Mr Martin: “While we would have preferred he run a livelier leadership campaign, his failure to do so has nothing to do with his age.”
So the Post has set its course. I don’t mind being the token right-wing madman at The Irish Times, anymore than I would at The Guardian or The Toronto Star. But, by staying with the Post as it relocates to the great wobbling blancmange of Canadian conventional wisdom, all I’d be doing is providing a bit of cover for the abandonment of its identity. Helping to make a Martinized Post profitable would outdo any good I'd accomplish in the column. My friend and editor Natasha Hassan still runs a better comment page than the Globe, but the news pages before it and the leader page opposite it are wimpier by the week. I don’t want to lend my name to the conversion of the Black/Whyte Post into a paper that thinks we need the UN running Iraq and aspires to the military might of Norway.
I think he might have used "Paul Martinization" first in the pages of ESR...
Read on.
Posted by steve @ 02:45 PM EST [Link]
~ MORE PRAISE FOR "THE PASSION": A Vatican cardinal today stepped up to the plate and offered praise for Mel Gibson's "The Passion."
"I would gladly trade some of the homilies that I have given about the passion of Christ for even a few of the scenes of his film," said Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, head of the Vatican department in charge of priests.
Castrillon Hoyos, who saw an unfinished version of the film, told Catholic news agency Aciprensa that he would "like all our Catholic priests throughout the world to see it."
I think everyone outside of me has seen an "unfinished version" of the film. Mel, get John Travolta to fly you up to Sudbury and show me the movie.
Read on.
You can also visit this page which has trailers.
Posted by steve @ 02:14 PM EST [Link]
~ BET ON CLARK: Peter Augustine Lawler argues today that the smart money is on Wesley Clark to capture the Democratic nomination.
Some facts that are probably facts: All the Democratic candidates except Dean and Clark are stillborn. They will be wiped off the map by crushing defeats in Iowa and New Hampshire. Dean is the candidate of the most-articulate faction in the party — the upper middle-class, bourgeois-bohemian (bobo) crowd. He appeals to West Wing fantasies and Vietnam antiwar nostalgia, and especially to those on the Left who believe that Clinton demoralized the real (as opposed to the new) Democratic party. He presents himself effectively as an "outsider"; he has the image that perennially suckers primary voters. And he really is an outsider; he would radically reform the Clinton-dominated party establishment. It's hard to see how he wouldn't do very well among the disproportionally bobo (and very white) primary electorates of Iowa and New Hampshire.
That doesn't mean that Dean can get nominated, much less elected. Bobo candidates (such as McGovern or even Dukakis) don't fare well in general elections. They exaggerate the nation's cultural divisions, and so they rally regular guys with no strong partisan affiliations to the Republicans. George W. Bush, one of the most-regular (including religious) guys ever to the president, would have a strong personal advantage over the smug and snotty Dean. More than that, African-American voters don't like bobos; Clinton — who speaks with the cadence of a populist black preacher — won because he understood that so well. Ethnic Catholic northern, and white Protestant southern voters — still a large part of the party's electorate — also are repulsed by the intellectual elitism — including the lack of patriotism — of what was until recently called "yuppie scum."
Read on.
Posted by steve @ 02:04 PM EST [Link]
~ THE GAY CHARTER OF RIGHTS: I was going to discuss Canada's Parliament passing a bill yesterday that extended hate-crimes protection to gays and lesbians but frankly I've just stopped caring anymore. If American conservatives are tired of a "living" constitution then they should come up here...ours doesn't mean a thing at all.
That's the point I've made repeatedly over the past number of years, that the Charter of Rights and Freedoms means nothing except what someone wants it to mean, kind of like Humpty Dumpty in The Looking Glass, except in this case the quote would be "The Charter means what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less."
Colby Cosh makes that point in his blog entry on Bill C-250.
I just find it funny, you know--the Liberals are constantly beating us over the head with their precious Charter of Rights and Freedoms, yet they seem perpetually unclear as to what's actually in the document. In the donkey-baseball debate, they had the temerity to cite Charter values on behalf of gay equality rights, which aren't mentioned in the Charter: they were left out on purpose, and that choice was explicitly defended by the justice minister of the time (a certain Mr. J.J.J. Chretien of Shawinigan).
Ah Colby, people like us are a vestige of the past...for us contracts between a government and its people is an ironclad statement. For others it's simply a starting point to do anything they want.
Read on.
Posted by steve @ 02:15 AM EST [Link]
Wednesday, September 17, 2003 HE'S TALKING TO THE PEOPLE OF IRAQ MORE NOW THAN WHEN HE WAS LEADER: Yet another audiotape of Saddam Hussein has surfaced, this time telling the U.S. to get out of Iraq before bad stuff happens.
"We call on you to withdraw your troops as quickly as possible and without any conditions, because there is no reason for more losses that will be catastrophic for America if American officials, primarily you, persisted in the continuation of their aggression and aggressiveness," the statement said.
This reminds me of this times when someone gets beaten up very badly and then once the victor has left warns of his retribution. Or as a friend of mine used to say, "Blah blah whatever."
Read on.
Posted by steve @ 08:01 PM EST [Link]
~ ERRORS? A LIKELY STORY: Andrew Gilligan admitted today that he "made errors" in his reporting over allegations that the British government "sexed up" its intelligence report on Iraq's weapons program.
But he stood by his argument that there had been misgivings among intelligence officials about a dossier on Iraq's weapons, published by Tony Blair's government in September 2002.
Read on.
Posted by steve @ 03:17 PM EST [Link]
~ WHY DO THEY HAVE TO SCREW THINGS UP ALL THE TIME?: Kelly Jane Torrance reports that someone will be remaking Brideshead Revisited and will remove Charles Ryder's conversion to Catholicism from the story, focusing instead on his romance with Julia Flyte.
I'm a huge fan of the novel and the 1981 miniseries so these changes are well and truly going to bother me if they come to pass. Jude Law would make a good Sebastian -- though I think Anthony Andrews was just fine in the role -- but that's not enough to placate me if they go ahead and makes changes. Evelyn Waugh had a clear message in his novel and it included religion. The romance with Julia is one the final straws that breaks the athiest Charles' back which ultimately prompts his conversion, it is not the ends, merely one of the means.
Embarassing admission: I first saw the miniseries during my second year in university and like a lot of people when it first ran, I went upperclass British for a while. I even once wore a pair of British tan pants, white polo shirt, ivory tennis sweater and blue blazer. It's a good look if the name Earl in your world means your station in life, not when you're a slightly preppy sophomore at a small university in northern Ontario. Then again the girls did say I looked school boy cute....
Posted by steve @ 03:06 PM EST [Link]
~ YET ANOTHER BLOG LAUNCHED: But this is a good one. The UK's Adam Smith Institute has launched its own blog promoting the free market. Welcome to the blogosphere!
Visit it here.
Posted by steve @ 02:47 PM EST [Link]
~ THE ARROGANCE IT TAKES TO BE PRESIDENT: Wesley Clark told CNN this morning that he believes he is the best person to keep American secure.
"This is what my expertise, my leadership experience, my whole career has pointed and prepared me for," Clark said in an interview with CNN's "American Morning" on Wednesday.
"I've had a lot of diplomatic experience. I've done a lot of work with security policy. I think I'm the best person to look at the future of this country and keep us safe."
Clark may have an advantage over Bush if he becomes the Democratic nominee...he's been a politician far longer than Bush has. As David Hackworth pointed out in May 1999, Clark served over three decades in the American military but only commanded combat units for about seven years. The rest of the time saw Clark as an "aide, an executive, a student and teacher and a staff weenie."
I know it's fun to slam Hackworth as a self-promoter -- an unfair charge I believe -- but ask yourself this: who would you want beside you when everything went to hell, Hackworth -- a man who is one of the most decorated combat soldiers in U.S. history, or Clark, who was a combat leader in Vietnam for a couple of months? When I hear a general talk about his diplomatic experience I automatically know he wasn't a grunt at any time in his life.
Sure, you could point out that Dwight Eisenhower had never led troops into combat before the Second World War and you'd be right. But Ike, when given the reigns of the military machine in Africa and Europe, did get the job done. Clark's greatest achievement? A muddled air war over Serbia.
I'm not dissing Clark's combat experience in Vietnam...it's a couple of months more than I ever saw of combat, and I honour any veteran regardless of whether it's Clark or Gray Davis, but I'm tired of hearing about his fitness to lead based on his military career.
Posted by steve @ 11:20 AM EST [Link]
~ EVEN LIBERALS DON'T LIKE TAX HIKES!
Seattle has become well-known as a haven for whacko liberal politics over the past few years. So one would not be remiss in expecting the ten-cent tax on expresso coffee drinks to pass, especially when it was "for the children". But no, the selfish Seattle residents have spurned "the children" and "education" in order to save a measly dime on a $2.00 cup of coffee. How heartless!
Here's the story:
"Seattle Voters Say Leave My Latte Alone
(CNSNews.com) - By a 2-to-1 margin, Seattle voters on Tuesday said no to a ten-cent "espresso" tax that was intended to raise money for preschool and daycare programs. Coffee shop owners celebrated the overwhelming vote against the tax. They said they were being unfairly singled out to fund programs the state cut out of its budget. Some consumers saw the ten-cent tax on every cup of coffee containing espresso as the beginning of something bigger. They wondered what commodity would be taxed next. But supporters of the failed tax plan expressed disappointment. They said an extra dime on a $2-dollar-plus cup of espresso or latte would end up doing children a lot of good."
cb
Posted by clbloomer @ 10:30 AM EST [Link]
~ FAVORITE EDITORIAL COLUMNISTS IN THE CONSERVATIVE BLOGOSPHERE: John over at Right Wing News conducts a poll to find out who right-of-center bloggers consider to be the best editorial columnist.
Find out here.
I am shocked, shocked!, that no ESR bloggers were consulted.
Posted by steve @ 03:15 AM EST [Link]
~ REBUILDING IRAQ: Andrew Sullivan has a good post about what it will take to establish peace and a stable society in Iraq.
The best source I've found so far is a Rand comparison between the first two post-war years in Germany and the first post-war year in Iraq. Since the Marshall Plan only kicked in in 1948, this isn't a direct comparison. But from 1946 - 1947, the U.S. spent $266 per capita per year in West Germany (in 2001 dollars). If you assume we will spend the full $20 billion in the next year in Iraq and that Iraq's population is around 24 million, then our current commitment is something over $800 per capita. That strikes me as a real and extraordinary commitment.
Make sure to click the link in Sullivan's blog entry through to the Rand essay.
Read on.
Posted by steve @ 01:53 AM EST [Link]
~ REMEMBERING 9/11 IN IRAQ: A little late but this just came into my mail box courtesy of ESR contributor Linda Prussen-Razzano. It's a picture from Iraq commemorating September 11. From the original email by the soldier that sent it to the U.S.
How are you all doing? The proud warriors of Baker Company wanted to do something to pay tribute to our fallen comrades. So since we are part of the only Infantry Battalion left in Iraq the one way that we could think of doing that is by taking a picture of Baker Company saying the way we feel. It would be awesome if you could find a way to share this with our fellow countrymen. I was wondering if there was any way to get this into your papers to let the world know that "WE HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN" and are proud to serve our country.
Semper Fi
1stSgt Dave Jobe 'Baker 8"
Click here (42Kb, pop-up)
Posted by steve @ 01:20 AM EST [Link]
Tuesday, September 16, 2003 UMA THURMAN AND SHE'S ARMED WITH A SWORD...DOES IT GET BETTER?: As some of you may know, I'm a big fan of cheesy martial arts movies. Not that "Kill Bill" is going to be one of them but I can tell, especially given Quentin Tarantino's previous work, that it's going to have its share of cool lines and great action. That and Uma Thurman -- playing The Bride -- is in it. You can have your Cameron Diazes and the like but I'll cast her in a movie any day.
O-Ren Ishi: You didn't think it was gonna be that easy, did you?
The Bride: You know, for a second there, yeah, I kinda did.
Watch the theatrical trailer for the part one of the two part movie here.
[Update - 2:14am, Sept. 17] - Quentin Tarantino explains his movie universes in an interview with Sight and Sound magazine. Interesting quote:
I've always considered when it comes to my universes, that there's two. The Quentin universe, the normal Quentin universe, which to me has all the fun of a movie-movie, but in actual fact is more real than real life. You take all the fun of a genre movie and then you throw real-life smack against the conventions of the genre and have fun out of that. Which I can't say I made up. In his own way, that was Elmore Leonard's process, which I used to read in his books, and I turned it into a movie thing. So that universe has all the fun of a movie-movie, but in some ways is more realistic than you normally get in movies.
That's the world that Reservoir Dogs takes place in, that's the world Pulp Fiction takes place in, that's the world my script for True Romance takes place in. Then I have another universe, that's the movie-movie universe. Kill Bill is the first movie I've directed inside that universe, but my script for Natural Born Killers exists in that world, my script for From Dusk Till Dawn exists in that world. And the best way to most accurately describe the differences between the two universes is when the characters in True Romance and Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, when they go to the movies, these are the movies they see.
Posted by steve @ 05:37 PM EST [Link]
~ CLARK TO RUN: If Al Gore is advising you, I have to wonder how good the advice is. Fox News is reporting that Wesley Clark will indeed announce tomorrow that he will throw his hat into the ring and seek the Democratic nomination.
Sorry Wesley, but you won't be the next Dwight Eisenhower. For one thing, Ike won a war.
Read on.
Posted by steve @ 03:18 PM EST [Link]
~ IT'S ALWAYS THE GIANTS: A few choice expletives popped out of my mouth last night during the New York Giants-Dallas Cowboys game. I had the Giants by over 10 points in two pools and of course the Giants dropped the ball -- in Jeremy Shockey's case literally -- and not only didn't cover the spread but they lost. Did Shockey's "homo" remark about Bill Parcells really motivate a horrible Cowboy's team to victory?
Every week the Giants somehow screw me. They win when I pick them to lose, They lose when I pick them to win. They fail to cover the spread. They are playing the role for me that the Chicago Bears did a couple of years ago. I despise the Giants...even my respect for Kerry Collins isn't enough to mitigate what is now outright hatred.
Needless to say, I won no money this week...
At any rate, Gregg Easterbook's latest Tuesday Morning Quarterback is up and he tells us about NFL running backs, the NFL's anti-teenager rule and Miss Slovenia. Read it here.
Posted by steve @ 02:33 PM EST [Link]
~ I'M NOT SURE I BUY THIS: A new study out of England says that the way you sleep reflects your personality.
Professor Chris Idzikowski, director of the Sleep Assessment and Advisory Service and a visiting professor at the University of Surrey in southern England, has identified six common sleep positions and what they mean.
"We are all aware of our body language when we are awake but this is the first time we have been able to see what our subconscious says about us," he said.
Crouched in the fetal position is the most popular sleep pattern and favored by 51 percent of women, according to the results of the study he conducted for a large hotel group.
Fetal sleepers tend to be shy and sensitive while people who assume the soldier position, flat on their back with arms at their sides, are quiet and reserved.
I think this is silly. The only way I don't sleep is on my stomach. I fall asleep in the "soldier position" (sounds kinda kinky!) or on my side with one arm stretched out under a pillow. Does that mean I'm quiet and have a social personality?
Read on.
Posted by steve @ 02:23 PM EST [Link]
~ WHY PEOPLE HATE THE MEDIA: A barbershop has been offering complimentary beverages to its patrons, so reporter decides to go there, ask for a beer and then rat them out for serving alcohol without a liquor license. He thinks this is a good thing. The owner is right - he should install an identification check "for snot-nosed reporters looking to make a mark."
Via Hit & Run. Full story here.
Posted by antle @ 09:15 AM EST [Link]
~ HE'S NO BROOKE ADAMS: But he is serious about illegal immigration. Bill Kahiler interviews Joe Guzzardi over at Ether Zone.
Posted by antle @ 09:03 AM EST [Link]
~ SEE, THE GOVERNMENT CAN'T EVEN GROW GOOD GRASS: Not that I've ever smoked marijuana myself, mind you, but people who have tell me that you feel pretty good on it. What then is the explanation for marijuana grown by the Canadian government that is so bad that its smokers are demanding refunds?
The marijuana, which is being grown under tightly controlled conditions, was originally meant for medical researchers but was released to patients after an Ontario court order said that people who needed it to combat illness should receive it. The problem? The marijuana grown by the government is supposed to contain 10.2 per cent THC but is only about a third of that.
"It's totally unsuitable for human consumption," said Jim Wakeford, 58, an AIDS patient in Gibsons, B.C. "It gave me a slight buzziness for about three to five minutes, and that was it. I got no other effect from it." Barrie Dalley, a 52-year-old Toronto man who uses marijuana to combat the nausea associated with AIDS, said the Health Canada dope actually made him sick to his stomach.
"I threw up," Dalley said Monday. "It made me nauseous because I had to use so much of it. It was so weak in potency that I really threw up."
Both men are returning their 30-gram bags, and Dalley is demanding his money back - $150 plus taxes. Wakeford is returning his unpaid bill for two of the bags with a letter of complaint.
The government should have given the contract to people in Sudbury...I know a number of people in the industry and they seem to sa
