Today's TPRS Site of the Day: Up Yours- And Other Helpful Tips. Bruce Springsteen's new album is on stores shelves today, and Jack is a VERY happy boy
This is why I'm not a landlord.... The reptiles, all in cages, were hungry and thirsty after being abandoned for at least two months. Worse, two venomous snakes might be missing.
The landlord, Don Scott, called the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. It seized the lizards and reptiles Tuesday and is investigating the reptiles' owners for abandonment and cruelty.
"I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us
with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.
" - Galileo Galilei
Wednesday 7.31.02
Dawn Olsen is the Blog Goddess that launched a thousand ships. Dawn no doubt added to her already formidable following during last weekend's Blogathon, when, in a shameless attempt to increase her fundraising, she posted tasteful yet revealing pictures of herself. Apart from being adored by untold millions, Dawn also is a witty, intelligent, and talented writer (yes, I DO only read it for the articles...). She's not afraid to write what is on her mind, and she's funny to boot. This is fun....
Nominations
When your tenants skip out on their rent, that's bad enough. When they leave their pets behind...well, things can get pretty strange....
[A] landlord in southwest Houston found three large monitor lizards, three Burmese pythons and two yellow anacondas in a house he owns.
I wonder if anyone found the alligators??
Comments
Astros 16, Mets 3
When Jeff D'Amico woke up yesterday morning, I wonder if he had any idea how bad his day at the office would really be? Geoff Blum, the Astros' uber-journeyman third baseman, was only a double short of hitting for the cycle. For once, most of the damage was done by the bottom of the Astros batting order- Blum, Brad Ausmus, and Orlando Merced. All of a sudden, Astros fans are talking playoffs. Yes, that thump you just heard was all of those fans (my wife included) jumping back ON to the Astros' bandwagon. Let's hope they don't disappoint....Meanwhile, the FIRST-PLACE Minnesota Twins are cruising along with a 13-game lead over the Chicago White Sox in the AL Central. Comments
And, after the barn door is shut, Shrub decides it's time to protect the horsies....
Coed naked sports now enforced by law!!
What a waste of a good throwing arm.....
You're immensely talented, fabulously wealthy, and the envy of those who have not even a fraction of what you possess. And yet you have the maturity and sense of entitlement befitting a 12-year-old. Because of said immaturity, you are now unemployed and virtually unemployable, because no one will give you a fifth chance.Who are you? If you said Ryan Leaf, you may go to the head of the class. What a #*&^!)+ idiot.... Comments
Say goodbye, Jim....
In spite of the expecte last-minute theatrics, Ohio Congressman Jim Traficant has been sentenced to eight years in prison. Traficant, never being one to pass up a moment in the spotlight, couldn't resist the temptation to turn his sentencing into a circus.U.S. District Judge Lesley Wells refused the former congressman's request for bond pending appeal, saying he had threatened federal investigators and had violated his bond by making a brief trip to Pennsylvania.Nice try, Jimbo. Now it's time to devote the next few years to being someone's girlfriend. It's about time that you were on the receiving end.... CommentsAfter a raucous trial lasting about 2 1/2 months, Traficant was convicted April 11 of 10 counts of bribery, tax evasion and racketeering. He was found guilty of requiring staff members to do personal chores for him and kick back a portion of their paychecks and of accepting cash bribes and various favors from businessmen who were seeking his help in Washington.
Wells gave Traficant a longer sentence than the minimum 7 1/4 years prosecutors had requested, saying he had no respect for the government and that he used lies to distract attention from the charges against him....
Traficant accused the judge of aiding the prosecution and complained that he wasn't allowed to argue during the trial that the government has a vendetta against him.
"Why did you tie my hands behind my back?" he asked Wells as she sentenced him. Wells then ordered him to sit down.
Earlier Monday, Wells rejected Traficant's argument that he should not be sanctioned because he has already been punished by expulsion from the House. Traficant had argued that a prison sentence would amount to double jeopardy or being punished twice for the same crime.
Wells agreed with prosecutors, who had argued in a motion that Traficant's expulsion "was not criminal punishment." They argued that if such a motion were upheld, no expelled member of Congress could ever be tried.
Today's TPRS Site of the Day: Yourish.com.
Read it and you will understand why. Meryl Yourish- a Jewish blogger who loves cats and also has some very interesting things to say. 'Nuff said. Nominations
Using Shrub for target practice Man, this is WAY too easy....
Guv watch....
Governor Goodhair is coming out with a campaign ad that links challenger Tony Sanchez to drug lords. Heaven forbid that they could actually address some actual honest-to-God issues. No, the voters of Texas would much rather hear innuendo and spiteful personal attacks....The commercial focuses on $25 million in Mexican drug cartel money that flowed through Sanchez's now-defunct Tesoro Savings and Loan in 1983 and 1984. Sanchez and Tesoro officials have maintained they did not know the money was illegal.Well, it's not as if Perry actually has anything resembling a record to run on. Quickly, now...can anyone tell me anything that Rick Perry has done as Governor? No? I didn't think so.But Perry's ad claims that as federal agents closed in on the money laundering ring, Tesoro transferred $9 million to a Panamanian bank.
"When given a choice of turning over drug-related funds to federal authorities, Mr. Sanchez and Tesoro instead allowed the drug money launderers to spirit the suspect funds to Panama, then a hotbed of international drug activity," said Perry spokesman Ray Sullivan.
Perry has raised the money laundering as a campaign issue before, but the harsh ad was surprising coming more than three months before the election. Perry's aides said the commercial was necessary because Sanchez has run weeks of commercials questioning Perry's integrity. Those ads suggest that some of the governor's vetoes and appointments were tied to campaign contributions.
Sanchez responded personally to the new Perry ad in a rare question-and-answer session with reporters. He also responded with his own television commercial, accusing Perry of being a "career politician" who engages in "untrue attacks."
As far as Sanchez goes, he has no record, but since he's not a professional politician, it's not a liability. His record as a businessman speaks for itself, I suppose. Of course, since he has no record he IS something of a question mark. Still, his record is a detailed as Governor Goodhair's- they're both blank slates. Perry, however, has been in office for two years. If the best he can come up with are attack ads, it's time for him to go. Comments
Natural selection works!!!
An argument over who was going to Heaven and who was going to Hell ended in an experiment to see who was right.Stoopid is as stoopid duz.... CommentsGODLEY, Texas (Reuters) -- An argument over who was going to heaven and who was going to hell ended with one Texas man shooting another to death with a shotgun, police said Monday.The man charged in the slaying is a corrections officer.
Johnny Joslin, 20, was allegedly shot by Clayton Frank Stoker, 21, on Sunday. The two had spent Saturday night bar hopping with two other men in Fort Worth, about 40 miles (65 kilometers) northeast of Godley.
Johnson County Sheriff Bob Alford said a witness who was the designated driver for the group told police the four men were sitting at a table outside a trailer park after their night on the town and began arguing about religion.
The talk became heated when the subject turned to who would go to heaven and who would go to hell.
Stoker said he would settle the argument and went into a house and returned with a shotgun, which he loaded and placed in his mouth, Alford said the witness reported.
"The victim Joslin then took the gun out of Stoker's mouth, saying, 'If you have to shoot somebody, shoot me,"' Alford said, citing the witness report.
The shotgun went off, hitting Joslin in the chest and killing him.
Stoker, a Johnson County corrections officer, has been arrested and charged with first-degree murder, Alford said.
You're not safe in this town unless you're wrapped in several tons of metal.....
Downtown Houston's streets are unsafe, and the drivers are assholes. Surprisingly, though, the place in Houston where a pedestrian is most likely to be used for target practice is the Galleria. Must be all those frustrated West University soccer moms in the SUVs.... Comments
Playing the feud....
What do Clara Harris, a lesbian affair, illegal recordings of phone conversations, and two vengeful ex-husbands have in common? They're all wrapped up in the murder of a dentist in a Clear Lake hotel parking lot. This story just keeps getting wierder, doesn't it??The truly sad thing about this is that there are children whose fate and future are wrapped in the hands of adults who obviously cannot take care of business. They are the ones who are going to have to bear the pain and suffering. The adults? They all should be sent to their rooms without dinner.... CommentsThe case of Clara Harris took another bizarre turn Monday when allegations arose that the woman Harris suspected of having an affair with her husband was also involved in a long-term lesbian affair.Harris faces a murder charge in Houston after allegedly running down her husband in front of a Nassau Bay hotel Wednesday night. Witnesses said Harris confronted her husband and his alleged mistress, Belinda Gail Bridges, inside the hotel. Harris then reportedly used her Mercedes-Benz to repeatedly run over her husband in front of the hotel, leaving the car parked on top of his body....
Galveston County court records suggest that Gail Bridges might have been romantically involved with Julie Knight, a woman who in 1999 was accused of soliciting Bridges to murder Knight’s husband. The solicitation accusation was never substantiated, and both women were involved in heated divorce cases at the time.
Charles Knight and Steven Bridges, the women’s former husbands, were indicted in 2001 by a Galveston County Grand Jury on allegations they were illegally recording telephone conversations in an attempt to prove the women were involved in adulterous affairs....
Julie Knight claimed in a lawsuit filed this year that her ex-husband, in concert with Steven Bridges and two others, spliced and edited the tapes, “in a deceptive manner and then falsely accusing plaintiff Julie Knight of engaging in an extramarital lesbian affair.”
(Steven) tells (the children) that I don’t love them anymore, that Julie Knight broke up our family, Gail Bridges said.
Gail Bridges refused to answer questions about the nature of her relationship with Julie Knight during the divorce proceedings.
Steven Bridges asked Gail Bridges through his attorney if she had ever had sexual contact with Julie Knight. Knight objected to the question claiming it was overly broad and vague.
Answering another question about extramarital affairs, Gail Bridges said she had not had intercourse outside the marriage, but would not say if she had engaged in sexual contact with someone other than her spouse.
Today's TPRS Site of the Day: Ordinary Morning.
I'm not usually a big fan of "slice-of-life" weblogs, but this one intrigues me. Perhaps it's because Melly comes across as someone who's just trying to be herself. That, and it's a fun read as well. Nominations
Out of the belly of the Beast....
After a weekend spent in Dallas, I came back with a greater appreciation for our neighbor to the north. I could see myself enjoying life there- for one thing, it's much drier than the steam bath that Houston can often be. It's like anyplace else, though, in the sense that there are good things and bad. It just depends on what you want to focus on.I did take a few observations away from my weekend in the Metroplex. For one, what is it with Dallas drivers? I bitch and moan about Houston drivers- as rude, inconsiderate, and stupid as they can be at times. Dallas drivers, though, have them beat hands down. The average Houston driver thinks turn signals are a nice (but totally unnecessary) concept, and will cut you off at a moment's notice. The average Dallas driver, however, will the same thing, AND, for no extra charge, quite happily cut out your heart and leave you bleeding to death bv the side of the road. Of course, given what traffic is probably like during the week, I can sort of understand the kill-or-be-killed mentality. Still, it's not pleasant to have it played out on you.
I also have to wonder about a place that built a beautiful baseball stadium, but didn't have the foresight to air-condition it and put a roof over it. I went to a Texas Rangers game Saturday night, and while I enjoyed the experience (except for the moron in the parking lot as we were trying to leave), it was tough to be comfortable. It was 90-some degrees at game time, and by the time we left, my shirt was soaked through.
My reaction to the experience was much the same as it was when I was at Jacobs Field in Cleveland two weeks ago- beautiful stadium, crummy baseball team. We were subjected to a typical 3:55 American League slogathon. The only saving grace was the two home runs Alex Rodriguez hit on his birthday, the second a grand slam in the bottom of the 10th that won the game for the Rangers 10-6.
All in all, though, I enjoyed my time in Dallas. I think part of the reason I enjoy it so much is because it's NOT Houston. I like being someplace different every now and then, and Dallas really is a different world. Not being a native Texan, I find it enjoyable discovering the foibles of different places in my adopted home state. The Texas Department of Tourism's slogan is "Texas: A whole other country" (or at least it's something close to that). Truer words have seldom been spoken.... Comments
Today's morbidity and mortality report....
Two Mexican immigrants found dead in stifling truckClashes with West Bank settlers leave 14-year-old Palestinian girl dead
A fire engine plunges 800 feet in Oregon, killing three firefighters
One man kills another in a dispute over heaven and hell
Six-run ninth gives Cardinals win over Cubs
14 die in Moscow airport crash
83 die in Ukrainian air show accident
Wasn't it a little bit late for this??
Oops; sorry honey. My bad....Clara Harris, the Friendswood woman who ran over her husband repeatedly in the parking lot of the Nassau Bay Hilton, apparently realized what she had done just a little too late.
After repeatedly running over her husband in a hotel parking lot, Clara Harris apologized, said she loved him and pleaded for him to breathe as he lay beneath her car, an eyewitness said Saturday.Of course, I'm not intimately familiar with all of the details of this case, but from what I do know, it seems clear that Mrs. Harris knew exactly what she was doing. She had hired a private investigator to tail her husband, and had given them the name of the other woman. She had also gone to the Hilton earlier that day and asked about entrances and places where guests could check in. Clearly, Mrs. Harris was loaded for bear. It's just too bad that her 16-year-old stepdaughter had to be in the passenger seat of her car when she decided to use her Mercedes as a murder weapon. CommentsThe dying man's teenage daughter, who had been in the car, got out and punched Harris in the face before both collapsed in tears, said Angela Reyes.
Reyes said she watched the incident Wednesday night as she sat in her car at the Hilton Hotel at 3000 NASA Road 1 on Clear Lake.
David Lynn Harris, a 44-year-old orthodontist with a practice in Clear Lake City, died later that night at a nearby hospital....
Harris opened the passenger door for Bridges and was walking around to the driver's side, Reyes said, when she heard tires squealing and saw Clara Harris' silver Mercedes-Benz sedan.
"I don't even know how she made it around the corner, she was going so fast," Reyes said. "It was a sharp turn. That's when she hit him. He flew up and over to the next parking lot.
"She jumped the curb and went over there and was just doing doughnuts," Reyes said, referring to the car going in circles.
The man was propelled about 25 feet by the impact, said Harris County prosecutor Mia Magness.
During Harris' arraignment hearing Friday, Magness said the woman drove over two grassy medians and ran over her husband three more times before putting the car in reverse and leaving it parked on him.
Reyes said that, when Clara Harris initially hit her husband, her Mercedes scraped the Navigator "but she kept on going. She gassed it and jumped the curb."
I will be in Dallas this weekend, but in the meantime I'll leave you with these brief thoughts. Have a good weekend; I'll see you on Monday. Cheers, y'all!!!
Today's TPRS Site of the Day: The Compleat Iconoclast.
I knew that I was in trouble when I ran across this: "Devoid of both creative thinking and charismatic leaders, (Gore? Gephardt? Lieberman? gimme a break) Liberalism, at least as manifested by the Democratic party, is on the ropes." Clearly, I thought, this is NOT a person who shares my decidedly left-of-center views. But, being the charitable and open-minded person that I am (we Liberals are like that), I decided to plod on, and I was pleasantly intrigued. I may not agree with Marcus' political viewpoint, but the writing is excellent, and his arguments are well-constructed. Too bad he's not a Liberal; he has such potential.... ;0) Nominations
Time for remedial parking lessons??
Well, let's see now...you just discovered that your husband is having an affair. Not only that, you've caught him with the Other Woman. What do you do? What ever you do, I would suggest that you NOT follow the example of Clara Harris.Prosecutor Mia Magness told Davies that Clara Harris went to the hotel and confronted her husband and Bridges in the lobby. An altercation ensued and the three were escorted outside by hotel employees.The ironic thing about this is that the Nassau Bay Hilton is where Susan and I spent our wedding night. I drive past the hotel twice a day on my way to and from work. I'm very familiar with the parking lot there, and I cannot imagine how Mrs. Harris could have accomplished what she did. Still, if you manage to park your car ON your husband, you've got some issues to work out. Anger management might be a good place to start.... CommentsIn the parking lot David Harris walked the woman to her vehicle as Clara Harris got into her silver Mercedes-Benz then plowed the car into David Harris, propelling his body 25 feet, Magness said.
Magness said Clara Harris then crossed over two grassy medians and ran over her husband three more times before putting the car into reverse and backing over his body and leaving the car parked on him.
Magness said David Harris' teen-age daughter was in the car with Clara Harris.
Defense attorney George Parnham said he was not prepared to concede any of the facts in the charge.
500 monkeys sitting at 500 typewriters....
Well, they might not be able to produce a Shakespearean sonnet, but they could certainly write this crap. MSNBC's Ron Borges opines that Lance Armstrong's winning the Tour de France is a great accomplishment, but it doesn't qualify as an athletic feat.ESPN SportsCenter updates us daily on Armstrong’s whereabouts because that is what they do. They also had a special last week on a dog competition that involved running through tiny gates and jumping over small fences. Draw your own conclusions.Well, Ron, sitting in front of keyboard and stringing sentences together does not make one a journalist, either. I'd like to see you strap your sorry ass onto a racing bike and spend six hours in the French Alps climbing a total of 15,000 feet. Then come back and tell us whether that is an athletic endeavor.That a man can race around France on a bicycle and live to tell about it is a noble feat, although I’d think more of it if he actually was using his feet. It would be more of a feat if he was forced to dine on French cuisine each night too and then lug those heavy sauces around with him the next morning. After a week of that it would be the Bus Tour de France because everyone’s bicycle seats would be broken.
Armstrong’s task is most certainly a difficult one, but so is the world lumberjack contest, and no one goes on National Public Radio and argues the winner is the best athlete in the world. He’s just a guy who operates an axe better than the rest of us....
For my money, being the greatest athlete in the world involves strength, speed, agility, hand-eye coordination, mental toughness and the ability to make your body do things that defy description. Chief among them is not pumping your legs up and down while your feet are strapped to bicycle pedals.
If you don't like or aren't interested in the accomplishments of others, just say so. There is no reason to disrespect Lance Armstrong, who should be held up as a model of dedication and perserverance. I can't believe MSNBC pays you to write petty crap like this.... Comments
Today's TPRS Site of the Day: Curmudgeonry
Though the politics of the folks who put together Curmudgeonry are far to the right of my own, I've got to admire anyone who can describe themselves as "Granola Conservatives". I can say with absolute certainty that I have never heard that descriptor before. Not only that, I love the spare, clean design of the site (I'd steal it myself if I didn't have a conscience...). On top of everything, they also have some interesting things to say. Nominations
When you throw your vehicle into reverse, it's no longer an accident....
This was the talk of my office for most of the day. As crimes of passion go, it's right up there.A Friendswood wife says it was an accident, but police say it was murder. That wife is now behind bars, held on charges of killing her own husband.Now, I don't want to be the one to jump the gun here, but I'd sure like to know how repeatedly running over your husband would qualify as an "accident". Ooops...my bad; sorry, honey.... CommentsFriends and coworkers of Dr. Clara Harris say that she is a very respected dentist who owns a profitable practice in the Lake Jackson area. But it is that same woman that is being held on murder charges.
When asked if she had any thing to say about the charges, Ms. Harris answered, "It was an accident."
Police say Ms. Harris came to the Nassau Bay Hilton Hotel after hiring a private detective to follow her husband. She arrived at the hotel to confront her husband in between 8:30 and 9:00 Wednesday night. Ms. Harris found Dr. David Harris with another woman. An argument erupted inside the hotel and it spilled out into the parking lot. That is where investigators and witnesses say Mrs. Harris ran over Mr. Harris several times with her Mercedes-Benz.
The couple's 16-year-old daughter was in the car at the time of the incident.
"She said she was just distraught over the marital problems they were evidently having. She showed some remorse. But it's so early in the investigation, I really can't tell you why she did it or what was going through her mind at the time," said Nassau Bay Police Department's Lt. Joe Cashiola.
How often do you see this happen? A minor league pitcher in the Phillies' system throws a no-hitter...AND LOSES.
A trip down Memory Lane: the Montreal Expos - Enjoy them while you still can....
The Italians: Three centuries of Italian Art.
Ethnic prejudice? In Russia?? Whodathunkit?? (NYT Login: FRITOPIE; Password: FRITOPIE)
I'm not sure I really want to know how the donkey was involved....
Thanks to Larry Simon for hipping me to this one....In Morocco, a boy's penis was reattached to his body after it was bitten off by a donkey.
Surgeons have managed to stitch back a Moroccan boy's penis after it was bitten off by a donkey, the official MAP news agency has reported.Of course, the question left unasked by the squeamish stringer who filed this story was what a donkey's head was doing in close proximity to the boy's Johnson to begin with. I know it gets lonely in the desert, but....Professor Mouaad Mounir, chief urologist at Ibnou Toufail hospital in the southern city of Marrakesh, was quoted as saying the operation on the seven-year-old boy was carried out last week.
He said the operation had taken 45 minutes and was successful.
MAP did not say how the donkey managed to bite off the boy's penis.
You just can't make this sort of stuff up now, can you?? Comments
Against strenuous objections from his advisors, President Bush began a hunger strike Monday to protest human-rights abuses in Nepal, vowing to subsist solely on water and vitamin supplements until "the twin clouds of violence and oppression are lifted from the land.""I can no longer stand idly by while the gentle, peace-loving Nepalese people are made to suffer," said Bush, a longtime admirer of Nepalese culture. "This hunger strike will send a strong message to the government of Nepal and the insurgent Maoist rebels that their suppression of freedom and subjugation of the innocent is not going unnoticed."
And the crowd goes wild....
After my post yesterday on the miserable state of airport security, I received this from a member of the TPRS Frequent Reader Club:From: "Brian"Indeed. My stepson tells a story of trying to board a flight at LAX shortly after 9.11. He said that a security guard refused to allow a man to carry ballpoint pen refills on board the plane. However, having the same refills inside a pen cartridge was no problem. (?????) Someone wanna 'splain that one? Now, don't get me wrong. I'm all for increased security. What I'm upset about and opposed to is inconsistent interpretations of "threats" and increased violation of personal privacy in the name of "increased security".
To: "Jack Cluth"
Subject: Airport security
Date: Thu, 25 Jul 2002 10:01:41 -0400Not only is it a joke, it's a total waste of time and money. Airport security wasn't the problem on September 11 -- those guys got on airplanes with almost nothing. They didn't need weapons to hijack the planes. The problem was the massive intelligence failure that allowed 20-odd terrorists to coordinate their plan and execute it right under the "watchful" eyes of the FBI and CIA.
As I predicted way back last fall, travelers, especially business travelers who have to deal with this nonsense every day, are losing patience with the "give us your nailclippers" security measures, and the airlines will push back at the government to give up on a lot of this crap. But I think there's probably another year's worth of it to go -- the panic that there could be another terrorist attack any moment is almost gone, and once it finally subsides things will be a bit more "normal". Luckily, this will probably coincide with the 2004 election cycle and we can get down to the serious business of kicking Dubya's ass out of Washington.
--BK
You see, the ugly reality here that no one wants to admit to is that the government has to at least LOOK as if they're doing something about security. Realistically, they don't have a clue as to how to construct and administer a coherent, effective, and consistent security screening system. That would require, among other things, equipment and training- and that means more money. It also means a system run by an administrator with a coherent vision of how to construct and operate a nationwide airport security system. This is a task that the Shrub Administration has proven itself to be singularly incapable of. Comments
Mommy's little dictator....
At 25,he was the not-so-benevolent dictator of war-torn Sierra Leone. Now at 35, he is living with his mother.Losing your job, quitting school, going broke and moving back home with your mother after living abroad for years would be tough on anyone.I suppose Strasser is lucky to simply be alive, much less with Mommy. In five years, he'll be eligible to run for President. He thinks he just might take a shot at it. He might want to get a place of his own first.... CommentsIt's even tougher when you're a former military dictator who once had the power to execute opponents at will.
Valentine Strasser became the world's youngest head of state when he seized power in 1992 at the age of 25. But the limelight didn't last - four years later, he was ousted in another coup.
"I'm basically living off my mother now. She's been very supportive," the 35-year-old said at a neighborhood bar on the outskirts of Freetown, Sierra Leone's capital.
"It's been tough. I'm unemployed, but I'm coping."
It was well before noon and the former president was doing what he often does on weekdays: Joking around with friends, playing checkers and sipping diligently on a plastic cup of palm wine - a cheap and highly potent alcoholic brew.
In contrast to the days when he commanded an army and courted the favor of foreign presidents, Strasser today seems to have reverted simply to being just another neighborhood kid.
Gone are the crisp military fatigues, new suits and wraparound sunglasses. In their place: A baseball hat worn backward, a Bob Marley T-shirt, dark green shorts and a pair of 'Air' Nike sneakers.
Today's TPRS Site of the Day: Oliver Willis.
I know, like Oliver NEEDS any promotion, right?? Still, anyone who advertises himself as an anti-Shrub Democrat is keeper in my book. I can (almost) overlook the fact that he's a Washington Redskins fan. Besides, he does a great comparison of the Dow Jones Industrial Average during Clinton's two years vis-a-vis Shrub's first two years. Yeah, I'd say it's been a rousing success, right? THIS is why we elect Republicans.... Nominations
This is why you don't want to be a jerk.
Ariel Sharon is Bud Selig....
Or they use the same PR firm....Early yesterday, the IDF dropped a one-ton bomb onto a three-story building in a residential neighborhood in an attempt to kill ONE Hamas leader. However honorable their intentions, and I don't necessarily have a quarrel with them, any reasonable person has to wonder about the wisdom of the method employed. The IDF used the moral equivalent of a bazooka to kill a mosquito. Sure, they got their man, but the "collateral damage" was substantial- and excessive.
The White House yesterday denounced Israel's missile strike in a densely populated area in the Gaza Strip as "heavy-handed" and described it as "a deliberate attack against a building in which civilians were known to be located."Rarely will you EVER see me agreeing with the Shrub Administration on ANYTHING. If Ari Fleischer says the Moon is made of bleu cheese, I'll argue that it's a political ploy, since any good Liberal KNOWS that it is made of Camembert. Nonetheless, in this case, they are dead on. "Heavy-handed" seems a charitable description of what was a miserably poor decision by the Israeli chain of command. Was the IDF so hot to kill Shehada that they were willing to accept the risks of substantial civilian casualties? That would seem to be the case, but the end result puts the IDF in the same league as the Palestinian terrorists they so correctly revile.Rejecting Israel's contention that it did not intend to kill innocents with a strike that was directed against a leader of the Hamas militant group, spokesman Ari Fleischer said: "These were apartment buildings that were targeted." In addition to Salah Shehada, the intended target, the missile fired from an Israeli F-16 warplane killed 14 other people, most of them under the age of 11, and injured about 150.
Unfortunately, whoever ultimately authorized the hit (most likely Sharon himself) has the PR instincts of Bud Selig. I find it hard to believe that anyone in the IDF chain of command (or the Israeli political hierarchy) would authorize the use of a one-ton bomb in a heavily-populated area of Gaza City. What were they thinking??
White House public comment was left to Fleischer, and Bush made no statement yesterday on the attack. "The president views this as a heavy-handed action that is not consistent with dedication to peace in the Middle East," Fleischer said.I am a strong supporter of Israel's right to exist. Always have been, always will be. Nonetheless, even with my strong opposition to the tactics generally employed by Palestinian radicals, I cannot reconcile the institutionally-sanctioned murder of children and civilians. The truly sad thing about the Israeli attack is that the peace process was slowly beginning to thaw. There was no "light at the end of the tunnel", but things were at least beginning to inch forward. This incident simply reflects what would seem to be a mutual lack of desire for peace. The bloody status quo seems to serve the purposes of so many involved parties.Asked why Israel's action in Gaza was different from U.S. attacks against al Qaeda fighters in Afghanistan that resulted in the loss of innocent civilian lives -- a comparison Israel has made -- Fleischer replied: "It isn't accurate to compare the two. . . . There are going to be losses of innocents in times of war, and I think that's recognized around the world.
"What's important is, in pursuit of the military objectives, as the United States does in Afghanistan, to always exercise every restraint to minimize those losses of life," Fleischer said. "But in this case, what happened in Gaza was a knowing attack against a building in which innocents were found."
One step forward, three steps back. Not exactly a recipe for peace that inspires confidence.... Comments
Of course, here's the flip side....
MSNBC.com's Eric Alterman makes the point that Hamas asked for it.Everyone seems to forget that the history of warfare in the past century is the history of the slaughter of innocent civilians. Look at Dresden, Tokyo, the Russians in Afghanistan, the Syrians in Lebanon, Iraq vs. Iran, the Christmas bombing of Cambodia.In a sense, Hamas IS getting a taste of it's own medicine. It long ago lost the moral high ground; the victims of Hamas suicide bombings have primarily been civilians.If you ask for war, you are asking to have your civilians slaughtered, unless you can keep the war on the other side’s turf. Well, Hamas asked. I have always believed that if Israel were to do the right thing — for itself as well as for the Palestinians — and uproot the settlements and turn the entire West Bank and Gaza (with minor modifications) to a demilitarized Palestinian state, it would probably require a Palestinian civil war to enforce the peace.
Hamas is an irredentist force that will not settle for half a loaf, one of many on both sides, unfortunately. They must be defeated militarily in, in order to do this, it is necessary to kill a great many innocent civilians. It’s an unpleasant fact of life to admit, but there it is....
They prefer suicide bombings and the harsh, murderous retaliation they inspire to negotiations and a compromise peace.
If Theodor Herzl were alive today, I wonder if he'd think his Zionist dream has been worth the the blood, the tears, and the suffering? I suppose it doesn't help matter that both the Israeli and Hamas leadership are locked into a blind, mutually self destructive policy. As much as I'd like to take credit for the following tidbit of wisdom, I have to admit that Mahatma Gandhi beat me to it: "An eye for an eye only makes the whole world blind." Israel is fast becoming an ophthamalogist's nightmare.... Comments
Shocking, ain't it? Not really....
Well, now...this comes as a COMPLETE shock, he said, tongue permanently implanted in cheek:Whodathunkit?? You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours, right? I suppose this goes to prove one thing: though Shrub drones on about ethics, his administration is just as corrupt and venal as the ones that preceded it. No shock there, I suppose.John Bolton, undersecretary of state for arms control, caused a stir in May by accusing the Cuban government of transferring bioweapons technology to rogue nations. Nineteen months ago, he caused a different stir -- bursting into a Tallahassee library on behalf of the Bush-Cheney campaign to stop a recount of Miami-Dade County ballots.Matt Schlapp, a former congressional aide, is currently White House special assistant to the president and deputy director of political affairs. In November 2000, he was part of the supposedly spontaneous window-pounding protest at Miami-Dade County Hall that brought to an end the first recount of Miami-Dade ballots.
Sue Cobb, a Coral Gables developer, today is the U.S. ambassador to Jamaica. Twenty months ago, the generous Republican donor volunteered her legal skills to the Bush-Cheney campaign -- working as part of the legal team that contested recounts in Miami-Dade.
Although they now serve President George W. Bush in sharply different roles, the three share a common experience. They are among more than 50 political appointees found by The Herald to have served as troops in the frantic Florida recount battle that followed the Nov. 7, 2000 election.
Power corrupts. Absolute power is, well, kinda fun, really.... Comments
The 10 most shocking moments in baseball history- no, Satan becoming Commissioner is not one of them.
The 10 most overpaid players in baseball. Number one isn't exactly a surprise....
The 10 most painful losses in baseball history.
The 10 biggest cheaters in baseball history.
Don't try this at home, kids; we're professionals....
I wouldn't try to drive a car after drinking several beers, but two America West pilots felt capable of flying an airplane after drinking THREE GALLONS of beer. No joke.Throw in one martini - and a lone Western hamburger - and that's what was on the bar tab for Christopher Hughes and Thomas Cloyd, according to prosecutors' filing.Both pilots have been charge with operating an aircraft under the influence. If convicted, they could each serve five years in prison. Based on the degree of irresponsibility involved here, five years sounds like a bargain.The credit-card tab for the popular bar Mr. Moe's was opened by Hughes at 10:45 p.m. and closed nearly six hours later at 4:22 a.m.
Their pair's bill came to $122 and they left a $20 tip.
They checked into their rooms at 5:30 a.m., according to their electronic room keys, records for which were released yesterday.
Only five hours later, at around 10:30 a.m., they were in the cockpit of a Phoenix-bound plane carrying 124 passengers.
The purportedly plastered pilots were ordered to return from the runway to the gate just before takeoff after a screener reported smelling alcohol on their breath.
Hughes initially told cops it was "merely mouthwash," according to police reports.
Three gallons of beer? Man, they must have had to spend about a week standing in front of a urinal.... Comments
This is not something you'd think about in south Texas this time of year....
The high yesterday was 96 degrees, and the heat index was in excess of 100. While I was trying to think of how much clothing I could remove without violating social norms (or getting arrested), it was a much different story in South Africa.Some areas in eastern South Africa were declared disaster zones Monday after heavy rains and snowfall caused power failures, destroyed homes and trapped commuters, killing at least 22 people, officials said....Things could always be worse, I suppose. I don't think we'll be seeing three feet of snow anytime soon.... CommentsOn Monday, emergency workers discovered the body of a man who died of exposure after his shack collapsed in Cala, about 1000 kilometers (620 miles) southeast of Johannesburg.
More bodies were likely trapped beneath the snow, which rose as high as a meter (3.3 feet) in some areas, Fobian said.
Workers were deployed to issue blankets, food and candles and establish medical centers in northern areas of the Eastern Cape. Damage to hundreds of schools, farms and business in the Eastern Cape is estimated at 20 million rand (dlrs two million) but that number could climb, officials said.
While conditions improved Monday, rescue workers were braced for another cold front expected to hit the region Thursday, Fobian said.
The weather also caught hikers and tourists off guard in the Drakensberg mountain range southeast of Johannesburg.
On Monday, 32 tourists trapped in a resort there were airlifted to a nearby town by the army.
"If we hadn't evacuated them they would have been stranded for another five days, and they were running out of food and more importantly sources of heat," said Steve Cooke, a civilian who helped with rescue efforts.
Happy Birthday....
To Nomar Garciaparra of the Boston Red Sox, who celebrated his 29th birthday by hitting three home runs and driving in eight runs in a 22-4 rout of Tampa Bay (Tampa Bay actually led 4-0 before collapsing) in the opener of a double header. That's a good career for some of the Devil Rays players.... Comments
Today's TPRS Site of the Day: asparagirl.
OK, so the neon blue background can be a bit hard on the eyes. Still, there a pretty wide range of topics covered here, and some thought-provoking opinions to go with it. If you enjoy variety and intelligent opinionating, this is a pretty good place to be. Nominations
1943 Guide to Hiring Women: Eleven Tips on Getting More Efficiency Out of Women Employees. (Thanks to Cybertoad!!)
100 things you probably DON'T want to say to someone who's depressed....
Stoopid kriminal trix: Proof that a college education and common sense can be mutually exclusive.
And then when I get out (of prison)
I will grab a sword like Maximus
Meridius Demidius and as a Gladiator
I will stab people in the crotch!- Rep. James Traficant (D-OH...at least for now)
Men, pecans, and lizards are a lot alike, or "What, if anything, do men think??"
Operation TIPS: What's next- struggle sessions? This sounds like something straight out of the Great Leap Forward. This IS still a free country, isn't it??
Baseball's most painful moments....
I know; there are so many moments to choose from. Baseball is a sport that has made an art form out of disappointing and just generally pissing off it's fan base. If not for the historical and mythical significance of the game to so many Americans, baseball would be a quaint memory of yesteryear. Of course, the way Bud (Satan) Selig is running the day to day affairs of the game, it may still end up as a quaint memory.Four tickets for your family to the 2002 All-Star Game: $700Required additional tickets to the Home Run Derby, Futures Game, Celebrity Game and FanFest that must be purchased in order to buy All-Star Game tickets: $520
Annual credit card interest on those amounts at 19.8 percent: $241
A midsummer classic that ends in a 7-7 tie: Worthless
There are some things money can't buy. But baseball is working on that
ESPN.com's Jim Caple takes a shot at winnowing baseball's myriad embarrassing moments down to a digestable list. It had to be a time-consuming job.... Comments
Japanese ice cream- Is that fish I smell??
Will the last one to leave Seattle please turn out the lights??
Boeing, which owns Seattle in the way that Nike owns Portland and Northwest Airlines owns Minneapolis, is laying off 30,000 workers. The question now is, will any of those jobs come back?Anticipating complaints that Boeing is acting callously, Mulally said the company's motivation is to secure the livelihood of the 70,000 workers that remain.Frankly, it sounds as if the union is over a barrel. They know that the company is in a position to dictate who stays and who goes, and as long as the current market exists, that is not going to change. Boeing, like any other part of the commercial airline industry, has always been a tremendously cyclical business. Labor is merely recognizing the reality that it cannot afford to ignore."When I'm with employees, we celebrate this," [CEO Alan] Mulally said. "It means we get to keep the jobs we have. And it's OK for Boeing to be more productive."
He acknowledged that the issue of jobs is a "lightning rod," particularly because Boeing will soon enter contract negotiations with its two largest unions, the International Association of Machinists (IAM) and the Society for Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA).
But he expressed optimism that union leaders share Boeing's goals and strategy.
"I have never seen such thoughtful conversations about the importance of improving the quality and productivity at Boeing as an absolute, fundamental key strategy for our competitiveness and us staying in business. And the union is absolutely aligned and in tune with the same thing," he said.
When Boeing sneezes, Seattle thinks it's catching a cold. In this case, they may just be correct in that assessment. Comments
Well, I've known Seahawks fans who might have wanted to do this, but....
For a franchise with a history as ignominious as the Seattle Seahawks, their new stadium's open house could not have gotten off to a worse start. A mentally-ill man jumped to his death from an upper deck. All of this before the Seahawks have even had a change to lose a game in their new digs.Witnesses saw the man, thought to be in his mid-30s, climb a 3-foot railing and jump from a ramp on the northwest side of the stadium shortly before 1 p.m. He fell about 40 feet and landed on a concrete plaza.As sad as this is, one can only hope it's not a harbinger of things to come for the Seahawks. Here in Houston, we may end up with a horrible football team, but at least the Texans don't (yet) have an extended history of mediocrity and futility. Perhaps that's why no one has jumped from the upper deck at Reliant Stadium yet. CommentsEmergency crews responded immediately and began resuscitation efforts but the man died at Harborview Medical Center less than an hour later.
"He did not fall, he jumped," said Seattle police spokeswoman Deanna Nolette. "All indications are it was an intentional act done by a man with a history of mental problems."
The man's identity was not released but his family told stadium staff that he had suffered from mental illness, Nolette said....
The upper levels of the stadium are outfitted with 3-foot-high metal rails. Witnesses said the man fell from the second or third level.
Fans had been invited to tour the $430 million, 67,000-seat stadium built on the site of the old Kingdome.
Dragged kicking and screaming back into the 15th century....
My God, first they'll talk to one another, and then...then they'll have SEX!!!
Kuwait University was once one of the shining examples of sexual equality and integration in the Arab world.
No longer. These days, on the six campuses of Kuwait's only university, hundreds of young women are covered in black head-to-toe cloaks. Even those who wear Western dress tend to avoid speaking to men unless necessary.It may be difficult to turn back the clock, but Kuwaiti fundamentalists are sparing no effort to do exactly that. How long will it be before women can no long drive or go out in public unaccompanied? Before Taliban-style religious zealots patrol the streets beating people who don't comply with their narrow interpratation of the Koran? Of course, if history is any indication, the West will stand by while women are once again reduced to property. Shame on us.... CommentsIn most faculties of the 18,000-student university, men and women still attend the same classes, but that too is about to change.
Six years ago, Muslim fundamentalist legislators pushed through a law banning the mixing of the sexes in classes, libraries, cafeterias, labs and extracurricular activities at Kuwait University. Compliance was lax until lawmakers grilled Education Minister Misaed al-Haroun about it in April, and he committed to full segregation by the end of the next school year.
Today's TPRS Site of the Day: Liberal Arts Mafia.
"Advocates for Humanism". Indeed.... LAM is, to this Liberal at least, the perfect combination of timely & pertinent links, economical design, and witty & incisive graphics. Contrary to what many of y'all may think, it IS possible to be a Liberal without seeming out of touch. I enjoy LAM simply because I can leave the site with something to think about, without feeling as if I've been bludgeoned. Some Conservatives could learn a thing or two here. Nominations
So why aren't there more sports-oriented weblogs??
I'd rather be driving a Titlest....
With the growing number of golf course in this country, the competition to attract players is becoming tighter with each passing day.Ben McIntyre drives from Saginaw to Grapevine every weekday morning, and while he sits in traffic on Loop 820, he stares at Iron Horse Golf Course's billboard and agrees.I know that every time I drive by a golf course, I can feel it tugging at me. Golf courses are becoming increasingly more aware of the need to attract the attention of potential players. I'm going to be interested to see where the marketing gods lead courses as the market tightens up, as it inevitably will.... CommentsThe sign, which has a digital picture of the 18th fairway, reads, "Wouldn't you rather be driving here than sitting in traffic there?"
McIntyre has never played the North Richland Hills course, but the sign and the view from 820 of its well-manicured, 523-yard 11th hole always makes him want to stop.
"Every time I drive past the course, I tell myself that I'll stop and play sometime," he said. "The idea of playing golf instead of sitting in traffic is so enticing."
Golf courses know the power of their roadside holes. Local golf course employees said strategically placed scenic holes and signs along roads are a common way to entice golfers.
Let the fun begin....
I love a good pissing match, especially when it's two small town mayors just over the Seabrook-Kemah Bridge. What we've got here is failure to communicate. That, and...a raging border war between the tucked-away hamlet of Clear Lake Shores and the newly glamorous tourist destination of Kemah. The two bayside towns have been feuding for years, for reasons lost to the mists of time, but now -- with big-bucks developments like Home Depots and Super Targets on the line -- the battle has been taken to new heights.There's nothing quite like a small-town personality clash, especially when millions of potential tax dollars are on the line. What was once a quiet area where Parrotheads and those who wanted to get away from Houston and close to the Gulf of Mexico congregated has turned into a bedroom community, and, in the case of Kemah, a major tourist destination. There's money to be made, folks....The two mayors don't speak to each other, but they've got plenty to say about each other.
Clear Lake Shores Mayor Ted Guthrie, a 73-year-old retired surveyor who's been a power in the small town's politics for decades, says his Kemah counterpart is utterly untrustworthy. There are issues the two governments need to resolve, he says, "but you don't go into a partnership with someone who's trying to screw you."
Kemah Mayor Bill King -- a 50-year-old attorney for one of the state's most politically connected law firms, born and raised in the city he heads -- has sent letters to all of Guthrie's 1,200 residents comparing their mayor to Fidel Castro. He calls Guthrie a "liar," and his actions "chickenshit." Not to mention he's filed a slander suit against Guthrie that's pending in state district court.
The two northern Galveston County towns are good examples of the quirky burgs that dot the Texas Gulf Coast, places that have slumbered contentedly for decades before waking up to find an invasion of shopping centers and million-dollar bayside homes in their midst.Of course, in this battle, I'm not sure that it's alligators I'd be most worried about. This is a story about how money and the power that comes with it has begun to fundamentally alter what was once a quiet little out-of-the-way piece of what many see as Paradise. Really, it reminds me of an old Joni Mitchell song: "Pave Paradise, make it a parking lot...." Sad, but nonetheless probably inevitable. CommentsClear Lake Shores -- not to be confused with the more well-known Houston suburb of Clear Lake -- is artfully hidden away less than a mile from the Kemah Boardwalk, west of State Highway 146, just off the beaten path of FM 2094. Turn north off 2094 onto Clear Lake Street, and a block later you cross a small humpbacked bridge and enter a town of narrow streets winding aimlessly between old fish-camp shacks and new McMansions. The street signs warn of duck crossings and let you know you're in a designated bird sanctuary. They also make sure you're on the lookout for alligators.
Sure, the man's an idiot, but....
During my time in Ohio these past couple of weeks, I became fascinated by the saga of Rep. James Traficant. Here is a man, whom CNN's Jack Cafferty described as someone "who wanders around the floor of the House wearing a dead weasel on his head", who is as corrupt, crude, and venal as the day is long, and yet he has repeatedly been re-elected. First elected in 1984, he has, at one time or another, offended, insulted, and belittled almost everyone. Everyone, that is, except his constituents.U.S. Rep. James Traficant -- a former sheriff, embattled lawmaker and convicted felon -- is many things. Boring is not one of them.People in Cleveland told me repeatedly that Youngstown, the area represented by Traficant, is another world. Given the moron they've repeatedly re-elected, it seems difficult to argue that point. Or perhaps Youngstown has just repeatedly assured itself of getting exactly the quality of representation it deserves. CommentsWith a penchant for colorful, sometimes crude language, Traficant, 61, made a name for himself in Congress long before his conviction on federal corruption charges, a courtroom defeat that may lead to his expulsion from Congress because of ethics violations tied to it.
"There are no ethics in politics," the nine-term Ohio Democrat declared at his ethics hearing. "And there should be no ethics committee. It is dog eat dog. Castrate your opponent."
Such comments have made him a favorite of reporters in Washington, where he is likely to spout off on just about any topic. He is perhaps best known for his flamboyant and animated House speeches, which often end with his trademark, "Beam me up!"
Basking in the reflected glory....
David Halberstam recalls one splendid day spent with the "Splendid Splinter", Ted Williams. Comments
Be patient with me; I'm a work in progress. - Alan Jackson
Today's TPRS Site of the Day: TwinsGeek.
"He's a Twins fan. He's a geek. It's kinda sad, really." Actually, it's really not sad at all. For years, Twins fans have suffered as Carl Pohlad took a once-proud franchise and turned it into the Major League equivalent of the AA Altoona Curve (Tom Kelly deserved better). Now we can hold our heads up again, and being a Twins fan doesn't bring chuckles of disbelief (Oh, you poor, misguided dumbass. How could that happen??). This weblog should be held in reverence by all Twins fans, of which, I must confess, I am one. I have 13 of the 14 games from the 1987 & 1991 World Series on videotape. Perhaps if the baseball gods smile on us, I'll be able to add the 2002 World Series to my archive.Just as an FYI...I've added a bunch of baseball weblogs to my links bar. Yes, even the [gack...] evil, blood-sucking Atlanta Braves. It wasn't easy, trust me.... Nominations
Who says we can't get along?
Ok, so it was half a world away, but India and Pakistan were competing- at a cricket tournament in the Reliant Astrodome.The national teams from the Asian neighbors have not played each other since April 1999. Syed "Bobby" Refaie, the secretary of the United States of America Cricket Association, said it's about time to start mending fences.Hey, at least they're in the same venue, and it's safer than lobbing nukes at one another, no?? CommentsSo Refaie arranged a meeting at the Reliant Astrodome between squads that included prominent players from India and Pakistan.
Two players from each nation competed in the International Double Wicket Cricket Tournament while sharing the same nine fielders, who had been picked from Houston-area players. The 10-team event ends Sunday.
"We wanted to bring these two rivals together on the cricket field," said Refaie, who is the technical adviser of the tournament. "The U.S. Cricket Association is trying our best to also have an India and Pakistan Friendship Cup. The president of the Indian Cricket Board and the president of the Pakistan Cricket Board need to come forward and play this friendly cricket match and defuse the unnecessary political situation."
Let the fun begin....
The Houston Texans began their first training camp yesterday. Only 49 days until kickoff, y'all.... Comments
Ann Coulter as self-parody....
The sad thing about Ann Coulter is not her factual errors, her scorched-earth polemics, or her right-wing demagoguery. No, as Spinsanity's Bryan Keefer opines, the sad thing is she makes money off her inflammatory rhetoric. She has to; it's not as if she has any new or original ideas to add to the general public political discourse. No, she is more than willing to throw verbal bombs and then sell the debris at a profit.[D]espite the limits of her one-sided argument, she actually offers a troubling lament for the state of our political discourse -- even as she contributes to its decline....I have nothing against Ms. Coulter personally, and I would certainly not deny her her right to spread whatever ideas she can make a profit off of. Perhaps that is part of the problem, though, the notions that ideas are more marketable if packaged with invective and personal attacks. Just because "Liberals" think differently does not make us inherently evil, as Ms. Coulter would have you believe. You don't have to look far to see some of the damage wrought by Conservatism and it's "I-got-mine-now-you-get-yours-and-leave-me-alone" proponents: Harken Energy, Halliburton, etc. Hell, Shrub traded Sammy Sosa when he owned the Texas Rangers. That doesn't make Compassionate Conservative an unworkable concept (Shrub does that all by himself)- unless you follow Ms. Coulter's logic.Coulter is self-consciously inflammatory. As she told the Sunday Times of London recently, "I am a polemicist. I am perfectly frank about that. I like to stir up the pot. I don't pretend to be impartial or balanced, as broadcasters do." It is exactly that kind of invective which has earned her so much publicity.
Coulter also pummels nonsensical straw-man caricatures of political opponents throughout the book. Most obvious and striking is her treatment of "liberals." Without ever bothering to define exactly who she intends the term to include (at various points it includes Andrew Sullivan and Republican-turned-Independent Sen. Jim Jeffords, R-Vt.), she makes sweeping judgments:
"Even Islamic terrorists don't hate America like liberals do."
"[T]he left is itching to silence conservatives once and for all."
"[I]f Americans knew what they [liberals] really believed, the public would boil them in oil."
""Principle is nothing to liberals. Winning is everything."Of course, in Coulter's asymmetrical political world, conservatives are universally good:
"[A]lmost all serious debate takes place exclusively among conservatives."
"[C]onservatives in America are the most tolerant (and long-suffering) people in America."
"[W]hen right-wingers rant, there's at least a point: There are substantive arguments contained in conservative name-calling."Coulter's style of argument is often based on jargon and invective rather than substance. Consider this dismissal of claims of conservative bias in the media:
"A 'study' analyzing the New York Times's coverage of the 2000 presidential race conclusively proved that 'this "liberal bastion" published 50 percent more anti-Gore articles than anti-Bush, and nearly twice as many pro-Bush article as pro-Gore.' Claims of 'conservative bias' in the media at large are amusing oddities. But a claim that the New York Times has a conservative bias can be explained only by the sheer joy liberals take in telling lies. This is how liberals flaunt their massive control over news in America. The fact that everyone knows they are lying is part of the fun. They take insolent pleasure in saying absurd things, like college radicals giving revolutionary speeches at their parents' dinner table: We will raid their wine cellars and have their women!"
Nowhere does Coulter engage the actual substance of the study. Instead, she places key words in quotation marks ("study," "conservative bias") to make them appear to be untrue, and makes reference to broad stereotypes of liberals. Finally, she rams home the suggestion that liberals lie by repeating it twice, then coining a jargon phrase ("We will raid their wine cellars ...") which she repeats later in the book. None of this has anything to do with whether or not the New York Times ran more stories that were critical of Bush or critical of Gore; it has everything to do with appealing to preconceived notions about the media -- notions Coulter herself has helped to construct.
In the final analysis, Ann Coulter should crawl back under whatever rock she emerged. The politics of personal attack and divisiveness can only harm us in the long run. Perhaps Abraham Lincoln put it best: "United we stand, divided we fall". America is big enough for all of us- Liberal and Conservative. Ms. Coulter may not believe as I do, but she's too busy making money to care. Comments
When does marketing cross the line into pornography?
Well, if you're Abercrombie & Fitch, I'm not sure the line dividing the two even exists. Normally, I try to keep an open mind about sex and how it is portrayed in our culture. The problem with this A&F catalog, though, is that they market heavily to teenagers, who are already bombarded with mixed sexual signals as it is. Enough is enough.... Comments
Today's Essay: It ain't easy being me, babe....
Today's TPRS Site of the Day: Digital Urbanite.
Julie Martin lives in Montreal, and has an interesting perspective on both English and French-Canadian culture. I've always found her weblog to be not only interesting, but one of the most creatively designed sites out there. For someone like myself whose site is the technological equivalent of an '86 Yugo, Julie's is very impressive and visually appealing. Someday I've got to learn how to do some of those tricks!! Nominations
Be it ever so humble....
There really is no place like home....Driving through beautiful downtown Seabrook this morning, I noticed the digital thermometer next to the Mexican restaurant on Hwy. 146 read 115 degrees. Now, I'm going to assume the thermometer was off just a bit, but after being up north, it feels like 115 to me, never mind the humidity. I feel like someone threw a wet blanket over me.
After two weeks in Cleveland, I'm finally back home, and it feels great. I don't even mind the wet-blanket humidity. It was just nice to be able to spend a night in my own bed and not be alone. Cleveland's not a bad place, but I couldn't wait to get the hell out of town. I suppose that I probably shouldn't get too comfortable, though. In about three weeks, I have to leave again to spend two more weeks in Phoenix. Hopefully it will be more interesting than Cleveland, but I'll still be away from home....
Losing a bit of history....
Lorraine Isaacs Hofeller, one of the last remaining survivors of the 1900 Galveston Hurricane, died this past Wednesday in a Houston nursing home. She was 106 years old.Four years old when the storm struck, Hofeller sat in the security of her mother's lap in their home during the night of Sept. 8, 1900, as the hurricane's floodwaters closed over Galveston Island.I'll bet she had some stories to tell.... CommentsThe exact death toll was never determined, but estimates range from 6,000 to 8,000.
After that, she always was afraid of hurricanes," said Hofeller's granddaughter, Laurie Bricker, Houston school board president. "It's appropriate that she died during hurricane season."
The Hofellers were luckier than most. The family survived. The house, though damaged, also withstood the storm. Built with its first floor 10 feet above ground, the home at 2012 Broadway also stood on one of Galveston Island's high points, about 8 feet above sea level.
When the storm passed, Hofeller, her mother and brother rode in a wagon to Dickinson, but they returned to witness the monumental task of rebuilding the city.
Freehold, Iowa - Pastor Deacon Fred stands in front of a scale model of Landover Baptist Development Corp.'s newly announced Saved City July 1, 2002 in Freehold, Iowa.Saved City is a 221,135-acre retirement community designed around the 76-story "Crucifix Tower" Christian office building. Construction has already begun on Saved City's own Christian outlet mall, 3 18-hole PGA-certified golf courses, 4 new chapels with stadium seating and luxury skyboxes, the first Christian NASCAR racetrack, private jet airport, 4 luxury hotels, 2 hospitals (one for residents and another for their help), Town Hall, two Christian movie theaters, a creation science museum, and possibly a small secular library operated out of a kiosk near the new Olympic-size baptism pool.
The retirement condos, which run from $780,000 to $7.2 million will feature private access to the 520-foot marble "Stairway to Heaven," which will allow property owners to begin their ascent to Glory once they pass retinal scanners to assure that they are saved home-owners.
Let the fun begin....
It may still feel like summer, but the Houston Texans open their first training camp today. My God, I'd have to want to play football pretty badly to put myself through two-a-days in south Texas. Let's just hope they can handle the heat and the humidity. Comments
China unplugged....
One of the challenges for a repressive, autocratic government has always been controlling the flow in information to it's subjects. The People's Republic of China (a wholly-owned subsidiary of The People's Republic of Seabrook) has always feared the influence of the outside world. The Internet is now proving to be a major headache for the Communist government. Given that the free flow of information is antithetical to the raison d'etre of a police state, how then to control access to cyberspace?? Now the Chinese government has gone on the offensive, and it remains to be seen whether oppression can survive the glare of world-wide attention.Last week, authorities kicked off a nationwide crackdown against China's estimated 150,000 unlicensed Internet cafés, comparing them to opium dens where young men slowly destroyed themselves a century ago. In mid-June, 25 people were killed when a pair of teens torched a Beijing cybercafé that had refused them entry. It was the capital's deadliest fire in decades. The central government used the blaze as an excuse to order the closure of thousands of illegal Internet outlets over the next two months, threatening the owners with prosecution.And fun, apparently, is a threat to the Chinese government. What the government doesn't seem to understand is they simply don't have enough fingers to plug in this dike. They may well win this battle, but the victory will be short-lived, and ultimately they will be overwhelmed by a technology whose role and purpose they seem predisposed to misunderstand.The government has for several years staged periodic cybercafé raids, usually on the grounds that online pornography and violent, addictive computer games are a moral hazard to the nation's youth. But psychological and safety considerations are only a small part of the campaign to shut down what is, for many Chinese, the main artery to the Internet. Control-crazy officials are struggling to monitor an information-packed online world that by its very name, the Web, is a tangle of unmanageable links to "cultural pollution." Since 2000, the number of Internet users in China has quadrupled to 38.5 million. "The Internet is a double-edged sword for China," says Ted Dean, managing director of BDA China, a telecom-analysis firm in Beijing. "The government needs to figure out the right balance between supporting a lucrative digital economy and controlling all that free and dangerous information."
In truth, most of the mainland kids crowding around computers aren't there to upload dissident manifestos or pages from, say, TIME, whose website is blocked in China. They're logging on to find fun.
In a sense, young Chinese are staging a non-violent revolution, though they likely don't see it that way. Just as Gandhi slowly wore down the British Empire in the Indian subcontinent, Chinese web surfers will do the same to the Chinese government. I wish them well.... Comments
Get a roll of stamps and mail it in....
Just last year, the Cleveland Indians won the American League Central Division. This year, 13 1/2 games behind the FIRST PLACE Minnesota Twins, they have given up the ship. First, they traded their ace flamethrower, Bartolo Colon, to the Montreal Expos for a AA pitching prospect and Lee Stevens, a mediocre first baseman if ever there was one. Yesterday, they traded another starting pitcher, this time veteran left-hander Chuck Finley. The Tribe sent Finley to the St. Louis Cardinals for a minor outfielder and a bucket of warm spit.The sad thing about the trade is what it will do to the fans in Cleveland. It's been clear for some time that the team has given up on this year, and the fans have stayed away in droves. Cleveland's attendance is down about 20% this year, and the team has done nothing to give fans a reason to come out. On Wednesday night, I sat in Jacobs Field, watching my beloved Twins dismantle the Indians 8-5. I spent a lot of time watching the Indians fans who, being that I was in Cleveland, vastly outnumbered me. What I saw were fans who desperately want to have something to be excited about, but have resigned themselves to the mediocrity the Indians seem to be settling for.
Not all that long ago, the Indians were a formidable team, with a strong offense, above-average defense, and solid pitching. Now they have young, unproven talent that is demonstrating just what young and unproven really means. The future may be bright, but the present is a dark and dingy place to be.
Well, at least they have a beautiful ball park to play in. I just hope the fans will be patient while team management finishes whatever the hell it is they're doing to the team. Comments
OK, it's official; I'm homesick. I miss you, Susan! I'll be home this afternoon!!!
Say goodbye, Jim. It's time to go to jail....
Welcome to The Real World
The past two weeks have been an interesting study in interpersonal relations (and, sometimes, the lack thereof). I've been part of a training class of 50+ people from around the country, and it really has been almost like something out of The Real World. In the interest of self-disclosure, I should mention that, since I've been a part of this group, I'm hardly a disinterested party. Still, I think I can be reasonably objective.I should also mention that I can be as quirky as anyone else. No shock there for anyone who knows me. Nonetheless, I've been amazed by the self-centered, inconsiderate, immature behavior demonstrated by some of our classmates. Just as in The Real World, people for the most part spent the first couple of days being polite and considerate. Round about the end of the first week, though, people stopped being polite and started acting like themselves. The results were not always pretty.
I could waste space detailing specific issues and incidents, but why bother? It has been interesting, and a bit disturbing, to observe the group dynamics. As a whole, our class runs the gamut from kids right out of college to oldsters like myself. Strangely enough, some of the most immature behavior has been demonstrated by some of the older people in the class.
The bottom line, at least for me, was that this has been a BUSINESS trip. That means I'm getting paid for this, which would seem to require a modicum of responsibility and decorum. There have been those who seem to have viewed these two weeks as the adult equivalent of Spring Break.
Ah, well, I'm going home today, and I am beyond ready. It's been an interesting trip, but I'm ready to get back home and catch up on the things that really matter to me. Comments
That's the FIRST PLACE Minnesota Twins, y'all....
It's not boasting if you can back it up....The Twins defeated Cleveland 8-6 this afternoon, showing once again why they have more come-from-behind wins (28) than any team in baseball. After years of serious suckage, it's nice to see this young, hungry team finding success. They now lead the AL Central by 11 games- the largest lead in the history of the franchise, which dates all the way back to the Washington Senators of the 1920s. Comments
Making west Texas safe again....
The Air Force has suspended a pilot who accidentally dropped a dummy bomb on a house in the small west Texas town of Monahans. Geez, the next thing you know, SecWar Donald Rumsfeld and Chairman John Ashcroft will be railing against the pervasive and insidious al-Qaeda presence in west Texas.... Comments
OK, it's official; I'm homesick. I miss you, Susan! I'll be home tomorrow....
How sweet it is....
After years of major suckage, I'm enjoying watching my beloved Minnesota Twins (that's the FIRST PLACE Minnesota Twins, y'all...) enjoying some long-overdue success. Last night, I was at Jacobs Field to see the Twins beat Cleveland 8-5. I was a vocal Twins fan, and though I was surrounded by Indians fans, everyone was surprisingly indulgent. I suppose when your team is 11 1/2 games out of first you can afford to be indulgent.It all made for a very enjoyable evening. I've got to hand it to the people of Cleveland; they may have a horrible baseball team, but their Indians have a beautiful stadium to play in. Comments
Bill Selby may not be God, but Indians fans looking for something to hand their hats on are grasping at straws....
Let the punishment fit the crime....
How to deal effectively with repeat DUI offenders? Should those who habitually drink and drive be barred from driving altogether, or is there a more creative and perhaps effective solution available? One Ohio judge is beginning to use a unique method of punishment that seems to be showing surprising results. Judge Craig Albert of Chardon Municipal Court is sentencing repeat DUI offenders to the Hester Prynne treatment.Albert is employing a previously little-used Ohio law to require require repeat offenders to affix orange license plates to their vehicles. As part of their sentence, offenders agree not to drink and not to drive any vehicle that does not have an orange tag.
NewsChannel5 Investigator Jodi Brooks reported that his method causes embarrassment, but it has some DUI offenders saying thanks.Failure to adhere to the terms of the sentence will land an offender in jail for six months. Albert has been issuing the tickets for seven years, and now hands out about five a week. In those seven years, Albert says he has had only 14 violators.Judge Craig Albert of Chardon Municipal Court issues orange Ohio license plates that let people know the driver has been "tagged" with a DUI.
"Every time I get in my truck, I (have) to look at them," said Paul Miller, a DUI offender. "Every time I get out of my truck, I (have) to look at them. Every day I go by, (people) look at them."
What was once private is now a public display of Miller's admitted drinking problem.
"It is embarrassing," said Kathleen Miller, Paul Miller's wife. "When I'm on the road, I want to put, 'This is not my van,' but it doesn't matter."
She said ultimately, she doesn't mind, because the plates help keep her husband sober.
"We've tried inter-lock devices, we've tried jail, we've tried home arrest, a number of other things (like) counseling -- this works," Albert said.
If you're tagged orange, it means you've signed an agreement that you won't drink, you can be stopped any time and you can drive only an orange-plated car.
Public shaming may not be politically correct, but, in this case at least, it does seem to work. Comments
C-L-U-E-L-E-S-S....
You're facing millions of dollars in fines and a lengthy jail sentence. To make things worse, your colleagues in the House of Representatives are deciding whether or not to remove you from your seat? So, what do you do? Well, if you're Jim Traficant, you show up an hour late for your expulsion hearing.It's amazing that this moron has been consistently re-elected by the people in Youngstown. Of course, it can also be said that they are getting exactly the quality of representation that they deserve. Comments
OK, there's no denying it; I'm homesick. I miss you, Susan! I'll be home in two more days....
Throw me a frickin' bone here....
Help!! I've fallen and I can't reach my email!!!OK, kids, I need a hand here. I can connect to the Internet through my company-owned laptop, but their server blocks email services, as well as proxies. Can anyone tell me how I might defeat this? All I want to do is check my Yahoo! account to see if my wife has sent me a message. If anyone can be of assistance, I would be forever in your debt!! Comments
Bill Selby may not be God, but Indians fans looking for something to hand their hats on are grasping at straws....
Just put him away already....
Ohio Congressman Jim Traficant is still kicking and screaming, but it finally looks as if he will get what he has deserved for years: a chance to be someone's girlfriend at a federal penintentiary.Proving that a defendant who acts as his own attorney has a fool for a client, Traficant's defense seems to be the same as it has always been: playing the victim.
Rep. James Traficant on Tuesday loudly and defiantly told a House panel considering whether to recommend his expulsion that the federal government railroaded him into a bribery, fraud and tax evasion conviction.I've been fascinated by the fact that someone like Traficant can consistently get re-elected while at the same time being monumentally venal and corrupt. I asked a native Ohioan today if Traficant is from some sort of alternate universe. He laughed at me and said, "Sure, he's from Youngstown." They may love him in Youngstown, but it's time for him to go- to jail. Comments"I have enough sense to realize what's going on," Traficant shouted from behind a table where he sat alone in his defense, fighting the possibility of becoming only the second House member since the Civil War to be kicked out.
"They railroaded the hell out of me and they're doing it to millions of people around the country and the country's fed up with it."
Traficant, D-Ohio, was convicted in April of taking kickbacks from employees and soliciting bribes and other gifts from businessmen. During a nine-week trial in Cleveland, Traficant also defended himself without a lawyer.
Prosecutors have recommended he serve at least 7 years in prison on the convictions of taking kickbacks from staffers and bribes from businessmen. Sentencing is scheduled for July 30.
Maybe they should check to see if Jim Traficant's been there?
Almost half of the tiny Pacific island of Pitcairn is being investigated on allegations of sex abuse.British and New Zealand police have completed an investigation into allegations of widespread sex abuse on the tiny Pacific island of Pitcairn and are preparing to file charges, authorities said Wednesday.So whaddya do when half the population are pedophiles and has to register as sex offenders?? I suppose that incest really IS the game the whole family can play. CommentsA New Zealand radio station reported that as many as 20 men from the remote British territory halfway between New Zealand and Peru may be charged.
The island, first settled more than 200 years ago by a group of English sailors who staged the famous mutiny on the British warship Bounty, has a population of just 44.
Operation Enduring Goosedown....
Thanks to Brian Kane for this one!!Authorities are rounding up Canada geese in an effort to keep Bill Gates from being inundated in goose shit. Some wags might hold forth on the poetic justice of it all, but I'll leave to people who are more skilled at that than I (like Larry Simon, f'rinstance...).
Incontinent geese are overrunning Bill Gates' high-tech mansion on the shores of Lake Washington.Perhaps there really IS a God.... CommentsThe grounds of the Microsoft chief's luxury lakeside pad are overrun with the geese which can excrete up to three pounds of waste a day.
According to a report in The Times, lakeside residents have reported the problem to the city's parks department, which is now considering taking extreme action against the pests.
The chief park ranger has received permission to exterminate 4,200 geese in the area.
OK, it's official; I'm homesick. I miss you, Susan! I'll be home in three days....
I need help....
Help!! I've fallen and I can't reach my email!!!OK, kids, I need a hand here. I can connect to the Internet through my company-owned laptop, but their server blocks email services, as well as proxies. Can anyone tell me how I might defeat this? All I want to do is check my Yahoo! account to see if my wife has sent me a message. If anyone can be of assistance, I would be forever in your debt!! Comments
Crash and burn....
Ohio Congressman Jim Traficant has never been one to suffer an indignity lightly, whether real or perceived. Now he faces the (let's hope very real) possiblity of losing his seat in Congress and spending several years in prison, and he hasn't changed a bit.Shouting invectives, convicted Rep. James Traficant proclaimed himself the victim of a government vendetta Monday, declaring he is innocent of bribery, fraud and tax evasion charges but conceding he expects to be kicked out of Congress and sent to prison.The sad reality is that Jim Traficant represents the reason people don't respect politicians. Corrupted by power, convinced of his own infallibility, and blinded his over-inflated sense of his own brilliance, Traficant deserves to be put away for a long time. He's deserved it for many years, and his constituents deserve better representation.The Ohio Democrat pleaded with an eight-member panel of the House ethics committee to listen to witnesses and tape recordings excluded from his criminal trial, saying they would prove the Justice Department forced witnesses to lie on the stand.
"Every single witness was in jeopardy and harm and got a 'get out of jail free' card for implicating Traficant in some crime," he said of the nine-week federal criminal court trial in Cleveland.
Just like then, Traficant, though not a lawyer, represented himself Monday. The ethics panel will decide if the convictions represent a "continuing pattern and practice of official misconduct" and, if so, whether they warrant the House expelling the nine-term maverick lawmaker.
Committee lawyer Kenneth Kellner told House members there is more than enough evidence for panel members to recommend throwing Traficant out of office. Traficant "violated the public trust and traded his office for personal gain," Kellner said.Actually, I don't think I'd treat a dog the way Traficant deserves to be treated. CommentsProsecutors have recommended he serve at least 7 years in prison on the convictions of taking kickbacks from staffers and bribes from businessmen. Sentencing is scheduled for July 30.
Traficant, 61, maintains that all he did was help thousands of business in his district by bringing home federal projects.
"I am a member too," Traficant said. "I may not be the most liked, and I may have unorthodox measures and I may have raided this House for some appropriations money, but I'm a member, too, and I'll be damned if I'm going to be treated like a dog."
Brother Larry Simon debunks those who whine and moan about the disorganized nature of and the poor writing that prevails within the blogosphere. Here's where I introduce Chairman Cluth's Law: IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT, DON'T READ IT. There. Any questions???
Let's go to the replay, Jim....
Oh, wait...in AA baseball there IS no replay....I decided to spend my afternoon at a baseball game, and I had two choices. I could pay scalpers prices to see the Yankees and Indians, or I could make the short drive to Akron to watch a minor league game for nine bucks and free parking. It took me about 15 seconds to decide. I love minor league baseball, which is unfortunately something I rarely get to see living in Houston [insert Astros joke here].
The Akron Aeros are the AA affiliate of the Cleveland Indians. During the first half of the season they had the best record in all of professional baseball. Today, I watched them lose 7-4 to the Altoona Curve, the AA affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates. As baseball games go, it was OK, but what I enjoyed more than anything was the atmosphere, and the fact that for $9 I was sitting six rows behind the first base dugout.
Canal Park is a quaint, cozy ballpark situated in the middle of downtown Akron. It was designed by the same firm that designed Jacobs Field in Cleveland and Oriole Part at Camden Yards in Baltimore, and it shows. There is a restaurant in right field and the stadium is designed to be comfortable while still providing excellent sight lines. It seats 9,100, and there isn't a bad seat in the house. It's a great place to experience a baseball game.
In a minor league stadium such as Canal Park, the game is much more accessible than in a Major League park. As an added bonus, you know the players aren't going to strike. It's also a comparatively economical way to enjoy a baseball game. I got a ticket, two lemonades, and a T-shirt for a total of $34.50. Not bad for a very enjoyable afternoon at the ballpark.
I think that if I ever win the lottery, I'm going to buy a AA team and put it in Seabrook. I wonder if the Twins are looking for a new home for their AA team?? Comments
The scary thing is that people believe this propaganda....
In order to demonstrate the relativistic nature of Truth, I humbly offer karadzic.org. Put together by a group calling itself "The International Committe for the Truth about Radovan Karadzic", it is a monument to Serb national paranoia- the unshakeable conviction that the entire world stands for, and is aligned with those who work towards, the eradication of the Serb nation. In short, it's a piece of nationalistic crap, designed to cloud the picture and elevate a common murderer to the status of mythical national hero.A poet of no particular note and a mediocre politician, Karadzic's genius is that he is able to manipulate far-reaching Serb fear and paranoia to create a unified front against the outside world. In the final analysis, Karadzic is essentially a butcher in the mold of Hitler and Milosevic, but he has convinced his constituents that there is a genuine threat to the Serb nationality. He has used that fear to justify the actions of Bosnian Serb soldiers and to shore up his own political position. In Serb Bosnia, he is a supreme hero. To the rest of the world, he is a blustering butcher with little regard for human life. Depending on who you ask, both versions are true.
You can get a good indication of what is to come when you look at the "History" page, and the selection listed is "Crimes against Serbs". It's a litany of "crimes" committed against the Serb nation- by the Austro-Hungarian Empire, by the Ustashe (WWII Croatian Fascists), and the Communists. Nary a word about the atrocities committed by Serb paramilitaries and soldiers in Vukovar, Srebrenica, and Kosovo (there are numerous other examples- those are simply the most egregious) will you find on any of these pages.
It will be difficult for SFOR to apprehend Karadzic in Bosnia, where he is revered, protected, and well-hidden. Combine that with the fact that the governments whose armies comprise SFOR are loath to incur casualties in arresting Karadzic, who is undoubtedly surrounded by a well-armed security presence of his own. If the governments of SFOR are truly serious about arresting Karadzic, they are going to need to demonstrate the moral courage to go after him in a deliberate manner.
In the end, the international community is going to have to reconcile itself with the price required to apprehend Karadzic. He certainly is not about to go quietly, and he knows that SFOR is handcuffed in the methods they are able to employ in their search for him. Having lived and worked in the Balkans, I can tell you that it will not be difficult for Karadzic and his henchmen to stay one step ahead of SFOR. The byzantine, insular nature of the Serb enclave in Bosnia will likely continue to frustrate SFOR indefinitely. Until and unless SFOR commits itself to serioulsy pursuing Kardzic, they will continue chasing their collective tail. And Serbs will continue to laugh at them. Comments
There's just no avoiding the facts: the Cleveland Indians are a horrible baseball team....
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy....
Yesterday I got to have some fun, and it was a beautiful day to do it. I made the 3 1/2 drive from Cleveland to Niagara Falls. It was the first time I'd ever been there, and it was everything I'd hoped it would be.Whether from the American or the Canadian side, it was difficult not to be awestruck by the sheer physical beauty of the place (never mind the sheer commercial exploitation). We only really had time to spend about six hours there, but we did walk across the Rainbow Bridge to the Canadian side, where I did a little souvenir shopping. (If you're reading this, sweetheart, you're just going to have to wait until I'm home to find out what I got you!)
It was nice to be able to relax after what had really been a pretty stressful week for me. Monday seems a very long ways away. Yesterday I was able to enjoy driving across Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York, as well as seeing a place I never thought I'd have the opportunity to go to. A good time was had by all.
Well, not quite everyone, unfortunately. One member of our group, Mohamed, was refused re-entry into the US because his paperwork was apparently not in order. Never mind the fact that he is married to an American, and has lived in the US since 1996. The INS sent him back over the bridge to Canada with only the clothes on his back. Were I to be in his shoes, I'd be terrified. All of us are hoping this mess will be straightened out tomorrow, so we can get him back to Cleveland, but we simply don't know at this point what we can expect. I wish I could be more helpful, but all of us are just hoping for the best. Comments
Being good to his word....
When the US Conference of Catholic Bishops came out with their "Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People", no one really expected much. Here in Cleveland, though, Bishop Anthony Pilla has wasted no time in putting the new policy into place. To date, Pilla has suspended 24 active and inactive priests who have been accused of sexually abusing children.Last week, he made the painful - and proper - decision to suspend three more priests accused of sexually abusing minors. He also reported them to the county prosecutor.It's sad that the Diocese of Cleveland is worthy of recognition for doing only what it should be doing in the first place. Still, given the fact that the Church has historically sheltered it's abusers, this is progress, and for that Bishop Pilla deserves a pat on the back. Let's hope that our Bishops will follow his example. CommentsThe Rev. James Viall, pastor of St. Rose of Lima Church, the Rev. John Mueller, pastor of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception and retired priest Daniel McBride were told to leave their church residences and are currently forbidden from celebrating Mass publicly, baptizing babies, presiding over weddings and other acts of ministry. While not much is known about the nature of the accusations against them, the diocese has in the past been slow to expose its priests to such public humiliation unless it has a strong case.
Still, these men are only suspects. For now, they await law-enforcement investigations.
Of course, Cleveland is not the only diocese that will have to make these tough decisions. The charter demands that all bishops bar suspected abusers from the pulpit and cooperate with the legal authorities.
Texas has Tom DeLay, and Ohio has James Traficant. One is a confirmed liar, the other is now a convicted liar. Now it looks as if Traficant is facing the possibility- perhaps the probability- that he will lose his seat in Congress. The House of Representatives will begin a hearing on Monday that could result in Traficant's expulsion. It sounds as if it will be a well- and long-deserved expulsion.
It wouldn't hurt if it weren't true....
Well, I've managed to get through my first week here in Cleveland, and leave it to my lovely wife to point out how much pressure I've been putting on myself. I've been so stressed out, trying to do what I need to do as best I can, and although I know there is only so much I can do, I've been pushing myself to do more. The end result is that I probably haven't been much fun to be around.Fortunately, tomorrow Jack gets to have some fun. I'm going to drive to Niagara Falls. This may be the only opportunity I have to do it, and the weather is supposed to be great, so why not? On Sunday, I'm hoping to go to the Indians-Yankees game and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. I'll worry about Monday when it gets here. Comments
Chasing our tails....
Back in Houston, people have apparently been worried about a vague, undefined terrorist threat agains the refineries in Pasadena. Were I to be the insensitive, insouciant type that some suspect me of being, I'd suggest that blowing up refineries- hell, blowing up Pasadena- might not be such a bad idea. But, I'm not, so I won't stoop to saying that.Personally, I'm all for preparedness and taking proper precautions, but how long can the government cry "wolf" before the public becomes inured to any threat- whether real or imagined? It's simple human nature. There has got to be a better way to address or meet threats. If every plot that is cooked up in the fevered imagination of some crackpot is aired on CNN, before long the announcements of threats will have no credibility, and that could lead to real tragedy. And haven't we had enough of that?? Comments
No longer "Everyday Eddie"....
On Wednesday, a good baseball team comes to Cleveland. That would be the FIRST-PLACE Minnesota Twins, y'all. And Eddie Guardado has relinquished his "everyday" role to become one of the AL's premier closer. He was also selected to this year's AL All-Star team. Watch closely, Indians fans. You might just learn something. Comments
Can we please get over the mindless romanticism of baseball??
Now THAT'S information!!
Thanks to my friend Jessica for sending me this to ponder:(Can I be a pig in my next life???)
- If you yelled for 8 years, 7 months and 6 days you would have produced enough sound energy to heat one cup of coffee.
- The human heart creates enough pressure when it pumps out to the body to squirt blood 30 feet.
- A pig's orgasm lasts 30 minutes.
A cockroach will live nine days without its head before it starves to death. Banging your head against a wall uses 15 calories an hour. The male praying mantis cannot copulate while its head is attached to its body. The female initiates sex by ripping the male's head off. (I'd think long and hard before going to a singles bar....) Some lions mate over 50 times a day. (Lion or pig? Quantity or quality? Hmmm....) The strongest muscle in the body is the tongue. Elephants are the only animal that cannot jump. (Well, except for me, of course....) A cat's urine glows under a black light. An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain. (I've worked with people like that) Starfish have no brains. (Ditto....) Humans and dolphins are the only species that have sex for pleasure. (What about that pig??)
Texas has Tom DeLay, and Ohio has James Traficant. One is a confirmed liar, the other is now a convicted liar. And then they wonder why people hold politicians in such low esteem....
It ain't all it's cracked up to be....
It would be easy to be homesick now, and I'm finding myself giving in to the temptation. It doesn't help that I'm stuck sharing a hotel suite with someone who drives me absolutely nuts. A lot of my irritation with this person can be laid to my own impatience (nad intolerance, perhaps), I suppose, but after spending the work day around him, I can barely wait to get away from him. The really sad part is that back in Houston, his desk is right next to mine. Aaargghh.... He's dull, obnoxious, and not nearly as clever and witty as he thinks he is. Left to his own devices, he would watch professional wrestling 24/7. Unfortunately, I'm stuck with him until a week from tomorrow. A month from now, we'll be in Phoenix, and I am NOT rooming with him again.On a more pleasant note, I received a very nice email from Brian Kane, commiserating with me on the "joys" of business travel. The pillows are always too hard, the A/C is always too cold, and (worst of all from my point of view) the coffee is always horrible. It's a business trip, and it's a hotel, and there just isn't enough lipstick to make that pig pretty. It's just one of those things that one can only patiently endure until you can leave. Of course, if I were someplace interesting, things would look a bit brighter. This hasn't been a bad experience by any means, but it's certainly not where I would be if matters were left up to me.
At least I'll have my weekend free to have some fun. The Yankees are in town to play the Indians, and I'm hoping to go to the Rock & Roll Museum and Niagra Falls. That's right; all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.... Comments
Charlie deserved better....
The Cleveland Indians, their season already in the toilet, fired Manager Charlie Manuel today. Team management says it's part of their "change of direction", but I'm not sure anyone really knows what that "direction" is. Comments
Today was a glorious February day in South Texas...well, it would have been, except for the fact that it's July and I'm in Cleveland. You just don't see days like this in Houston in July, so while I'm not where I want to be, I'm going to enjoy the glorious weather.
It took all of three days for someone to find TPRS by doing a Google search for "Ann Coulter naked". This came right after someone did a search for "Ann Coulter idiot". How apropos....
The NHL has released it's 2002-03 schedule. October 9 (Opening Day) marks the official end of summer....
How can we keep coffin-making from becoming Africa's new growth industry??
How baseball got the embarrassing All-Star fiasco it's been asking for....
Fan indifference is the biggest threat....
Here in Cleveland, as in the homes of the 29 other Major League teams, there is a groundswell, albeit a small one, of fan discontent. Fans, like myself, remember the 1994 strike. Coming back from that took five years, and full recovery was evident only after Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa's epic chase of Roger Maris' single-season home run record. This time around, if it comes down to a strike, baseball would be ill-advised to count on another miracle to pull them out of the mud. Good will, once lost, is not easily rekindled. Comments
A son with a heart of cold....
John Henry Williams, the son of the late "Splendid Splinter", has, for reasons we can only begin to speculate about, frozen his father's body. It's a ghoulish, nightmarish scenario that has if nothing else tarnished the sterling reputation of his late father. Frankly, Ted Williams deserved better.Stop and think about that for a moment. Ted Williams. Frozen stiff. By his son. The whole thing is so bizarre, so ghoulish and so twisted that I wouldn't be surprised if Joe DiMaggio's old sleazebag lawyer, Morris Engelberg, is somehow involved.Why did John Henry freeze Ted's b
