The UAE Port Deal

Along the lines of my earlier post, I'm simply bumfuzzled by the President's stubborn insistence about letting this port deal to go through. A 45 day delay has been instituted, but that will only make things worse for the President.

A Rasmussen poll issued today shows that only 17% people believe the sale should take place. A whopping 64% of people disagree. There is simply no political cover for Republicans on this. It's an election year and they need to look strong on security (actually being strong on security is someone else's problem). And people are watching them on this because 72% of people say they have been following the story somewhat or very closely.

If Bush doesn't drop this right now, he's going to be faced with hundreds of Republicans who have to get reelected saying mean and nasty things about him and even that will still just hurt Republicans. All that and no political upside. It's almost enough to make somebody think that Bush's crack political team really doesn't have a fucking clue what they're doing.

By the by, the same poll showed that the people trust Congressional Democrats more than President Bush when it comes to national security (43% - 41%). It truly is Morning in America. I can tell because everybody's waking up.

Feb. 28

Huzzah for the anniversary of Marbury v. Madison and the centuries of lunacy that followed.

Just for fun...

... a little copyright infringement. Just kidding, this must be fair use.

Anyone can be a law professor these days, II.

I think in my previous post I made a dreadful mistake, which I should now clarify. I was too easy on our dear Professor Freamon. Let me at least begin to do him justice in this post.

You may recall the paragraph from his essay that I quoted before, about how people who want to scrub our public places with secular soap either didn't understand or didn't accept that Islam would condemn vilification. I was so flummoxed by that paragraph that I missed another important point: Does he know what this whole damned issue is about? The publishing of these cartoons has nothing to do whatsoever with keeping religion out of public space. The cartoons do not make the point that you shouldn't put up a Christmas tree in a courthouse. The point of the cartoons is that you should be able to openly talk about religion. Professor Freamon's problem is presumably not with the secularization of public space, but with saying things about religion that he doesn't like. Those are two extremely different issues. I'm not sure whether I'd rather think our good professor is so dishonest that he wilfully hides the distinction, or so simple that he doesn't understand it.

Wait, wait, it gets better!

Muslims are therefore very right to vigorously condemn the publication of the cartoons and to seek to punish the editors through the criminal law process. There is no room in the public square, it seems to me, for the race-baiter or religion-baiter who acts with the intention to injure or harm others. If these cartoons are in fact a Trojan Horse for such behavior the editors must be exposed and punished. We should remember that the Rwanda genocide was preceded by radio broadcasts that described Tutsis as “cockroaches” and supposedly innocently listed the names and addresses of people who were later murdered by Hutu mobs, simply because of their ethnic origin or association with the Tutsis. The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda rightfully rejected the free expression defense offered by the radio broadcasters at their trial for genocide and crimes against humanity.

Ok, I don't know how our good professor did on the LSAT, but I'll hazard a guess: pretty piss poorly.

If his argument was that all speech that vilifies religion leads to bad consequences including death, he'd at least have a point; something we should take into account in writing speech laws. But that's not his point. If his argument was that all/most/many deaths are preceded by speech vilifying religion, he'd be on to something, but it'd be pretty weak. After all, all murders are also preceded by eating breakfast as well. There's plenty of speech mocking or vilifying religion all over the world, but so far the writers of Family Guy haven't had to go into hiding. But that's not even his argument. His argument is this: "I can name one instance where a radio program called a racial group 'cockroaches,' and published the names and addresses of people who were later amongst hundreds of thousands killed in wholesale genocide. QED."

What? This is at best an argument about why newspapers shouldn't publish cartoons that are maps to the houses of people the public hates, along with unflattering drawings of those people. At best. This says nothing about speech criticizing or vilifying religion. Remember, this is the best our friendly professor could do. This is his best argument. He gave an entire paragraph of his short op-ed to this point.

I only hope I've done our good professor justice.

Anyone can be a law professor these days.

Law professor Bernard Freamon of Seton Hall has called for criminal prosecution of the editors who published the internationally infamous cartoons. Prior to this month I didn't know cartoons could be internationally infamous. Anyway, check out this little jewel, and remember that this guy is a law professor:

Islam teaches that vilification of any religion, not just the Islamic religion, is reprehensible and must be condemned in the strongest terms. Those who want to scrub our public places clean with some sort of secular soap don’t seem to understand this or they don’t want to accept it.

No, I didn't take that out of context. I've heard a lot of stupid shit in the last month or so, mostly involving cartoons. But this is from a purported law professor. Here goes: I'll assume, since I don't know the Koran very well, that his first sentence is factually accurate. Seems logical. If you believe a religion is correct, it may (not must) follow that you think vilification is wrong and "must be condemned in the strongest terms." (Of course, some people who are more secure in their religion may instead think something along the lines of "Fair enough, you can make fun of my religion, but you're the one missing out.") What does he mean by condemn? Does he mean speak out against? If so, then why even write, there is already plenty of speaking out against the paper and cartoonists. So he must mean more than that. Condemn like send to prison? Well, we know he means at least that. He comes right out and says it. He wants to take away someone's very physical liberty because other people are offended by words and drawings. So he at least means criminalization when he says condemnation. But if you're going to condemn someone, why not just go all the way? Now I'm not going to put words in the mouth of the good professor Freamon, but how far away is this professor of Islamic Jurisprudence from the Islamic legal scholar in that story? It's only a matter of degree, isn't it.

But let's move on to that second sentence, which is what really confuses and troubles me. Those who want to secularize public places don't understand this. No, if you say this is what "Islam" (if our good professor gets to anthropomorphize his religion, I get to as well) wants, we believe you. Great. I understand it. I think after this past month everybody in the whole damned world understands that "Islam" condemns vilification of at least one religion.

But the dear professor leaves another option: "they don't want to accept it." What does that mean? That we don't want to accept that "Islam" teaches it? That seems silly. Maybe it means that we don't want to accept that "Islam" should get what it wants because it wants it. What the hell? I'd like to call this a non sequitur, but I don't think it is even that. It almost sounds like a veiled threat.

Well, if I have to choose, you can mark me down in the "don't want to accept it" column. Better yet, let me add a third column for myself: "Will not accept it."

Parkour.

I'm very disappointed by BDK's Parkour post for failing to mention the seminal moment when Parkour stopped being "street" and entered the mainstream.

Kevin Bacon was Parkouring 20 years before it was cool.

Parkour?

This is something I had never heard of, until I saw a great video. Basically, Parkour is

said to be l'art du déplacement, or the art of moving (from A to B), consisting of uninterrupted forward motion over, under, around and through obstacles (both man-made and natural) in one's environment. Such movement may come in the form of running, jumping, climbing and other more complicated techniques. The goal of the practice of parkour is to be able to adapt one's movement to any given situation so that any obstacle can be overcome with the human body's abilities

From Wiki.

Check out this video:

UAE Ownership of American Ports

It's been pretty widely covered that the President is firmly committed to permitting a company in the United Arab Emirates to take over operations of 6 American ports, including certain security operations. The President has gone so far as to threaten to veto any legislation preventing the sale -- if he does, it would be the first veto of his presidency.

I can't find a decent argument against the sale that doesn't include at least some blatant xenophobia. This is especially true when you consider that the ports were already owned by foreign companies - just not Arab ones. US Customs would still be in charge of the major security of the ports and American citizens would be working as security as well. The UAE's terrorist connections are nearly non-existent, at least relatively speaking for the region. It just kind of sounds bad for an Arab company to own American ports.

Frankly, I could care less whether the sale goes through or not. It's the political backlash that interests me. This is simply a lose/lose issue for Bush. His base is comprised of the very xenophobes who are screaming against this sale taking place. Both House and Senate Republican leadership has already said they will seek legislation to prevent the sale. Democrats will take a stand against it because it's an election year, its good for them politically and costs them nothing.

If Bush doesn't have the support of his base, Republicans, or Democrats....well, that's pretty much everybody. He'll be left alone standing on a stage carrying a big Publisher's Clearinghouse-style check and have nothing to show for it. I really don't understand why he's taken such an adamant stance on this issue. He gets nothing out of it and it will cost him, and through him Republicans, alot.

This year hasn't been great for him (just like last year). He got no State of the Union bump and his poll numbers remain flaccid. Now that the Cheney Shoots Old People story has died down, the talk has shifted back to domestic wiretapping, which, despite Republican thinking, is not a good issue for them in November.

Bush has lived and died with the War on Terror for four years and this will be a major story about how Bush is willing to outsource security, which turns attention to the economy, which also isn't a great issue for Bush. So, I'm just baffled by this. I'd love to hear any thoughts as to potential political benefits to Bush because I just don't see any.

I found your receipt

What is this? Your receipt. I'm pretty sure he's not the only one distributing your money either. That line, 16 BT 140? BT stands for "boat."

There's obviously no easy solution to this kind of thing. Even hard core libertarians generally think that defense is a legitimate function of government. So at the very least we're going to have to buy stuff like guns. We could try to come up with some complicated system of procurement, and maybe that is a solution. I tend to think that would just get gamed.

My tentative recommendation: Strong investigation and enforcement. I'm generally not a serious law-and-order type, ie, deferring to police, favoring investigation. But these are not private individuals. They've put themselves up into positions of power, and have a duty to us. Maybe they should have to keep open accounts, or allow regular audits. Something along these lines. And of course, I would be remiss if I did not point out that the more government does, the more opportunity it presents, and the more incentive there is for people tempted by this sort of thing to run for office.

Ideally, I'd like to have the confidence required to trust these people, but I think that's foolish naivete. You may be able to trust some individuals, but you'll never be able to trust everybody.

Thoughts?

TaB: A Living History

For those who may be somewhat unfamiliar with TaB. Let me recap its sketchy and mysterious history:

It was created in 1963 and was the first diet soft drink produced by Coca-Cola and only the second ever made (the first was Diet Rite). It used an artificial sweetner known as cyclamate. That is, until the FDA banned cyclamate because it gave rats bladder cancer. Coke switched to using a sugar-saccharin combination and then settled on a saccharin-aspartame combo.

Contrary to popular belief, TaB does not stand for Totally Artifical Beverage. Instead, the name was developed using an IBM computer that generated a list of over 250,000 4-letter, one syllable words, one-vowel words. From a final list of 20 names, TABB was chosen and shortened to TaB.

Please join us next week where we reveal the shady history of Fanta. Did you know Coca-Cola developed Fanta in order to sell soda to Nazis? You can't make this shit up.

Review: Tab energy drink

All drinks will be rated on taste, ability to keep one awake under law school conditions, quantity provided, and cost.

Taste: 2. I don't have any memories of what the original Tab tasted like, but I hope it wasn't anything resembling this. Tab energy tastes like there's a dead fairy at the bottom. Cloyingly sweet and overwhelmingly smacking of Generic Berry Flavor #5, Tab energy tastes like the bottom of Candyland Molasses Bog.

AKOAULSC: 3.5. Although one can of Tab energy is sufficient to keep a law student operating on five hours of sleep marginally awake during an hour and a half of Conflicts of Laws, there were at least three notable incidents of the droopy-eye. Diminished concentration and dozing is a distinct possibility. Definitely not better than the old coffee standard.

Quaff quantity: 2. Insufficient. At 10.5 fluid ounces to the can, Tab energy will run out on you like the Iraqi police on roller-blades. Fifteen minutes into class, I was shaking the can nervously. An hour in, I was desperately sucking on the can, head thrown back like a shipwreck survivor.

Cost: 1. Re-god-damn-diculous. Given all the negatives, Tab energy should sell for approximately 75 cents a can. Its $2.15 price point places it far back in the running behind more palatable, reliable, quaffs such as Red Bull, DoubleShot, and Rockstar.

Final judgment: Under no circumstances buy or drink Tab energy. If you forced me to choose between buying a can of Tab energy and simply throwing the money away, it would run about 70-30 in favor of hucking the money in the trash. Plus I've heard it can give you cancer. I really don't know what I was thinking on this one.

Prairie Home Companion host or noted horror author?

Pictures of a typical Prairie Home Companion Host

GMO hype

It occurs to me that one day the French will eat a significant percentage of genetically modified food in their diet and not even know it.

Seven habits of highly successful people

Josh, it's from McSweeney's.

If you give a mouse a cookie...

As Alex Tabarrok puts it, why am I not surprised?

For Americans troubled by the prospect of federal agents eavesdropping on their phone conversations or combing through their Internet records, there is good news: A little-known board exists in the White House whose purpose is to ensure that privacy and civil liberties are protected in the fight against terrorism.

Someday, it might actually meet.

Initially proposed by the bipartisan commission that investigated the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board was created by the intelligence overhaul that President Bush signed into law in December 2004.

More than a year later, it exists only on paper.

Source. If you give the executive carte blanche, what will they take next? Hopefully we won't find out.

What bothers me about Chris Hitchens

In a nutshell, the level of vitriol in his writing remains the same whether discussing Garrison Keillor or Osama bin Laden.

Something about that strikes me as slightly troublesome, as if I were to encounter Mr. Hitchens out in the woods during deer season with a howitzer. "Get the blighter this time," he'd growl, and I would nod sagely and edge away into the woods, avoiding eye contact.

Wedding registries

Much ambivalence. Registering forces one to ask the big relationship questions, such as

1. How many plates will one need for the rest of one's life?
   
2. What do you mean you like the fat handles better?
3. Does anyone use the bowls that are smaller than the soup bowls, but bigger than the dipping bowls?
4. Will anyone buy us a Roomba?
5. Does my impatience with this process reflect negatively on my ability to withstand interrogation?

And I recognize that I'm only having to undergo approximately 1/100th of the stress of this event. Like the drone or the male lion, I shall look bold, menacing, and slowly submit to having my opinions on flatware cudgelled out of me by a band of Amazons.

Should registration reflect a consistent theme? It's hard for me to tell. I have the sneaking feeling that in the car on the way to the airport the day after the wedding, I shall turn to my blushing bride, smack my forehead, and declaim:

"D--n! We forgot to register for a long-handled citrus reamer!"

Then, gloomily, I will brood over the lost reamer like a vulture for three weeks atop the crags of Scotland. Mournfully, I will lope back to Crate & Barrel to buy said reamer. I will place it atop the counter and gaze at its placid wood surface, marveling at the injustice of its $6.95 price point. Months later, after having taken to drink in the poorhouse, I will ream out my own kidneys and die raving.

Satan's Laundromat

To go with Overheard, I'd like to point out Satan's Laundromat. It's a bunch of great, mostly urban, photos. The vast majority of the author's work is from New York, but he travels as well. It's interesting, captures the spirit of the location, but mostly, it's often funny, and always cool.

Check out this photo essay on fried chicken restaurants in NYC. And the follow-up.

You just don't get it

Substance matters too.

Also, I'll be in LA and Palo Alto for the next week. Catch you when I return.

Overheard in New York

I was listening to NPR this morning (yes, I'm that kind of liberal) and they had a feature about this website called Overheard in New York.

You can probably use basic logic to figure what the site's about, but I'll say it anyway. The site is a compilation of snippets of conversation that have been, well, overheard. And not just anywhere, but things that were overheard..............in New York.

If you're looking for a way to both distract yourself for a few minutes a day and bring a smile to your face, this is it.

UPDATE: Nevermind, this is my new favorite, for obvious reason:

Hobo: Yo, yo, you think you got problems? I'm homeless! I ain't got no money, I ain't got no food, I'm hungry! I ain't got nothin'. You think you got problems? Yo, what's your problem?
Guy: I'm in law school, I have finals.
Hobo: Sorry, that's rough.

--Bond Street between Schermerhorn & Livingston, Brooklyn

Converts

There are certain products, services, experiences, etc, that convert people. Once you try it, you become an outspoken booster of that product. Obviously, Apple is the prime example. But for me, Volvos have become a large part of my life since I bought my 1986 240 wagon, in beige. Today Josh pointed out that I've become a V8 zealot as well.

So my question: What other products can you think of that create converts?

It is you, sir, who is, in fact, an idiot!

Supreme Court Justice Antonin ("I love orgies") Scalia gave a speech yesterday to a Federalist Society Convention. Ironically, it was in Puerto Rico.

The AP quoted Scalia as saying "you would have to be an idiot" to believe that the Constitution is a living document, meant to change with society.

As a response to the classic counter-argument, that socieities change and interpretation of the law should change with them, Scalia states that non-originalists "are not looking for legal flexibility; they are looking for rigidity. Whether it's the right to abortion or the right to homosexual activity, they want that right to be embedded from coast to coast and to be unchangeable.

That argument does nothing, not one thing, to rebut the idea that the values of Americans who lived 220 years ago are different from the values of those who live today. To believe that we can find answers to modern problems that simply could not possibly have been conceived of by the Framers is worse than looking for a needle in a haystack. It is looking in a haystack which holds no needle, pretending one is there, and ridiculing those who can't see it. That is but one definition of ignorance.

Sorkin's Next

This isn't an entertainment blog, but I'll post this nonetheless. I'm a huge Aaron Sorkin fan. For my money, he's the best American screenwriter this side of David Mamet or Tom Stoppard. He left the West Wing several years ago and the show immediately went downhill; only last year did the quality begin returning and now the show's been cancelled.

Sorkin's next television project is called Studio 60 On the Sunset Strip and it follows the goings-on at a Saturday Night Live-type sketch comedy show. That link is to the script for the pilot. Bottom line? It's good. Really good. If you want something immensely entertaining to read, check it out.

Mormons Make Good Fatties

According to a Brigham Young study, Mormons weigh an average of 4.6 pounds more than other people in Utah and are 14% more likely to obese than non-Mormons.

The professor who led the study believed that it was because Mormons may be eating more to make up for the fact that they are prohibited from indulging in other things like smoking and drinking.

Personally, I think it's because their magical special underwear is coated in lead.

Germans make good laagers

For God's sake stop me before I kill again

Germans make good lagers

Ha, ha. I apologize. Are we done?

Germans make good lugers

No, really. They do. Har har!

Germans make good lugers

For my money, no winter sport compares to the two-man luge. Individual luge seems too lonely; the enforced segregation must separate the individual luger from his other winter sport compatriots. The individual luger must live a solitary life at the Olympic Village; his only companion the clean hiss of steel against ice in his febrile imagination. Other athletes, perhaps from the fly-by-night ski team, knock at his door. "Torsten!" they yell. "Come out to the party!" Unmoved, Torsten waits until their drunken merriment dies away down the hall, a solitary figure squatting on his bed in the pool of light cast by the Olympic desk lamp, poring over the pages of Luge Monthly. Black spandex creaks as he reads.

The Germans have been historically dominant at this sport, winning nine of the twelve gold medals awarded in the history of Olympic luge competition, and amassing by BDK's points system a whopping 38 of 67 points. This year, the Germans will again present a stiff opponent for lugers seeking to break into the tight lock the Germans have maintained on the sport. However, German dominance has not led to complacency--no doubt the German two-man lugers will keep one eye peeled over their shoulder for fresh teams coming up from behind, or in their rear as the lugers say. Nontheless, the Germans should remain a hard, balls-to-the-wall team in 2006.

Where do the Germans derive their advantage from? First, no other country uses Spandex as much as the Germans; familiarity and comfort with the material is likely to prove a significant advantage. If my Netflix queue is any indication, Germans also have more experience being strapped to metal frames with significantly lessened control over their speed and direction. Thus, despite additional competition, Germans will probably continue to bend the other luging countries to their iron will, taking their place atop the other competitors at the medals platform.

Crypto Cat™ and Decipher Dog™!

A hot new website!

Hi Kids!

Welcome to the NSA/CSS Kids’ page.

We’re the CryptoKids and we love cryptology.

What’s cryptology? Cryptology is making and breaking codes. It’s so cool. We make codes so we can send secret messages to our friends. And we try to figure out what other people are writing about by breaking their codes. It’s a lot of fun.

On this site, you can learn all about codes and ciphers, play lots of games and activities, and get to know each of us - Crypto Cat™, Decipher Dog™, Rosetta Stone, Slate, Joules, T.Top, and, of course, our leader CSS Sam.

You can also learn about the National Security Agency/Central Security Service - they’re America’s real codemakers and codebreakers. Our Nation’s leaders and warfighters count on the technology and information they get from NSA/CSS to get their jobs done. Without NSA/CSS, they wouldn’t be able to talk to one another without the bad guys listening and they wouldn’t be able to figure out what the bad guys were planning.

We hope you have lots of fun learning about cryptology and NSA/CSS. You might be part of the next generation of America’s codemakers and codebreakers.

I'm not making this up. Interesting that they trademarked Decipher Dog, but not CSS Sam, their leader.

The one saving grace in this whole domestic spying story is that we all know our government is too incompetent to make any mass trouble with its spying. That doesn't mean we should let it get away with it, or that it can't ruin plenty of individual lives, or that a government can't get real good at building gulags much quicker than it can get good at building schools. For all these reasons, we really can't let them get away with ignoring the one branch of government I'm cool with, the judiciary.

That said, unlike many of my acquaintances, I'm not particularly worried about being put on a list for writing this or listening to Arab pop music on internet radio.

OFOTD - Figure Skating - East v. West

The United States is dominant in singles figure skating. Russia (and its predecessors) is dominant in pairs and ice dancing.

Instead of counting medals given, I will, for my remaining OFOTDs use a system of points to represent past performance. From a website I found collecting statistics, I'm adopting a system of awarding a country 3 points for a gold medal, 2 for silver, and 1 point for bronze. Under this system, the US has 28 points in Men's Singles. The Russia and USSR score 11; behind Sweden and Austria, and tied with Canada. In Women's Singles, the US is even more dominant, with 39 points. Russian and the Soviet Union score 1 point, behind, well, just about everybody, including the UK, Norway, the Netherlands, the Ukraine, Japan, and China.

On the other hand, in Pairs Russia and the Soviet Union score 40 points, the US only 9. In Ice Dancing, Russia and the Soviet Union score 27, the US 1.

So what's the deal? Are we Amerikan Kapitalists so individualistic we can't work together? I don't know, we do well in plenty of other team sports. Are we as a nation subconsiously homophobic and afraid of doing well in sports like ice dancing? I don't know, I'd be surprised if we consider Ice Dancing less macho than Men's Singles, where we do quite well.

Of course, what matters is really the differences at the margins. Maybe either of those explanations is not convincing if you think it needs to explain why the US is not good at Ice Dancing. But we don't need to explain that. I'm sure the US Ice Dancing team is quite good, objectively. We only have to explain why they are slightly less good than the Russian and Soviet teams.

But I think the explanation is probably something entirely less exciting to theorists and academics looking to fit the world into their pre-existing grand unified theory. I bet particular, individual, choices of persons involved in the Soviet Olympic development organization are sufficient to explain Second-World dominance. I have no information to back it up, but I bet that one person or a few persons involved in the program in the Sixties decided that they liked pairs better than singles (there was no Ice Dancing in the Olympics until the Seventies) and decided to focus on that competition. But then, maybe some of those other factors played a part in that individual's decision? Maybe I'm fitting the facts to fit my own world-view?

Also, the Russians are dominant in the sport of Mixed Species Pairs, with their traditionally strong Person/Bear pairing.

Man: The Most Dangerous Prey

So Dick Cheney shot a 78 year-old man in the face and chest with a shotgun. Strangely, this is not without historical precedent. I'm sure everyone remembers Aaron Burr blowing away Alexander Hamilton in the famous "interview" at Weehawken, NJ. So Dick Cheney is the second Vice President to shoot a man so this story is hardly news-worthy.

Okay, maybe a little news-worthy. You see, here's CNN's account of what transpired. As is evident, most of the information was given by a woman named Katharine Armstrong, who spoke with the Associated Press. The Armstrong family owns the ranch where Cheney and his victim were hunting. But that's not the end of the story. Please allow me to lay out the facts that clearly show a conspiracy I've entitled "Cheney shot a guy in the face-Gate"

****** Gus pauses to put on a hat made of tin foil ********

1) Dick Cheney's office waited more than 24 hours to release the story. This all happened yesterday.
2) Katharine Armstrong is the daughter of the man who hired Cheney to be the CEO of Halliburton.
3) Armstrong placed blame for the incident on Mr. Cheney's vicitm, a Texas Lawyer named Harry Whittington, saying that Whittington "came up from behind the vice president and the other hunter and didn't signal them or indicate to them or announce himself."
4) Tobin Armstrong, the owner of the ranch, has gotten more than $11,000 in farm subsidies for the ranch between 1995 and 2002.
5) The hospital will only report Mr. Whittington's condition as "stable," but as far I know, he has not been seen since the incident.

These facts lead me to one of two potential conclusions. 1) Harry Whittington caught Dick Cheney drinking the blood of one of the quail's he killed on the hunting excursion so Cheney killed and ate Harry Whittington so as not to leave any witnesses to our Vice President's true vampiric nature.

Or 2) Harry Whittington was an unfortunate pawn in which Dick Cheney and his other rich friends pick someone's name out of a bubbling cauldron, send that person into the woods with nothing but a potato peeler and a loincloth. The Republicans then hunt that person and feast on his remains. For more information, see the 1994 film Surviving The Game starring Ice-T (Leprechaun in the Hood), Gary Busey (Predator II), and Rutger Hauer (Blind Fury).

Both of these theories demonstrate conclusively that Dick Cheney is a cannabilistic madman who must be stopped at all costs, preferably by Ice-T.

OFOTD - Past Events

The IOC adds and removes sports from the Olympics now and then. Perhaps you knew that rugby was for a time an Olympic sport, as was golf. Maybe you didn't know that water-skiing and "power boating" were Olympic sports. I can almost guarantee you didn't know that medals were given for victory in tug-of-war. For twenty years, even.

Tug-of-war was on the Olympic programme in 1900, 1904, 1906 (Intercalated Games), 1908, 1912 and 1920. Tug-of-war was always contested as a part of the track and field athletics programme, although it is now considered a separate sport. The Olympic champions were as follows: 1900: a combined Swedish/Danish team; 1904: an American club team representing the Milwaukee Athletic Club; 1906: Germany/Switzerland; 1908: a British team from the City of London Police Club; 1912: Sweden; and 1920: Great Britain.

Olympic Cinema Recommendation

Do you want to celebrate the 2006 Winter Games, but you hate watching them and are pissed at the Olympic committee for preempting West Wing until March? In that case, might I recommend a film for your viewing enjoyment that will help you both celebrate the Olympics and seem like a film snob?

Heaven is a film from director Tom Tykwer and stars Giovani Ribisi and Ocscar winner Cate Blanchett. It's about a woman (Blanchett) who takes the law into her own hands after police ignore her pleas to arrest the man responsible for her husband's death and finds herself not only under arrest, but falling in love with a police officer (Ribisi). It's a haunting film about the metaphysical search for love and redemption.

So what's the connection to the Winter Olympics, you ask? Well, the film takes place in Turin, Italy.

The Impending Invasion (or Will Suck You for Sudoku)

Once again, Star Trek: The Next Generation has acurately forecast the future of our planet. In Episode #506, "The Game," Will Riker, vacationing on Risa, is given a game that becomes highly addictive. Upon his return to the Enterprise, he shares the game with his colleagues who also become addicted to the point of neglecting their duties. The game seems to give the Enterprise crew an orgasmic reward upon succesful completion. Alas, the game is merely a Kitarian plot to dominate the Enterprise crew and, eventually, the Federation.

How does this relate to our present, non-fictional world, you ask? One word: Sudoku. It's a Japanese game that is so addictive that since the last time I posted, I have dropped out of law school and now sleep in a bus station locker begging for spare change to purchase additional Sudoku puzzles. The money I garnered from selling my daughter only supplied me with 8 days worth of puzzles and I fear I will soon have to resort to common man-whoring to get my fix. Soon the puzzle will spread and the Kitarians will arrive to dominate our planet. (Note: They can't possibly be worse than Bush.)

Here's a link to a free web-site for Sudoku junkies. Josh, being of Asian ancestry, you're probably complicit in the Kitarian plot and will receive special privileges upon their arrival. Please think kindly of me when you are named Overlord of the Western Province of Virginia.

Olympic Fact of the Day - Curling (Part II)

Gus has inquired about the history of curling. I knew a little bit about it, but did a bit more research.

Curling is basically a Scottish sport. However, the origins may not be Scottish. Obviously, the idea of throwing rocks on ice is not rocket science, and probably was done by groups of people long before writing was developed. In 1565, Dutch painter Peter Breugel painted "Hunters in the Snow," which includes scenes resembling curling. And, most importantly, it appears to be organized play.

However, it was in Scotland that curling was formalized. Apparently, by 1636, curling was one of the big three in Scotland, with archery and golf. And thereafter, the Royal Caledonian Curling Club (RCCC) was formed, which still runs the curling show worldwide.

Curling was spread by emigrating Scots, which probably explains why it became popular in the northern midwest. Well, that and that it requires ice. So I guess it's no surprise it's not so big in Virginia, despite having a large Scot contingent down in here.

Curling in Scotland has had a tough time, however. The 16th and 17th centuries were part of the Little Ice Age. Not only did the Thames freeze every year, but so did all the lochs in Scotland. By the 18th and 19th century, fewer and fewer lochs were freezing, and freezing less often.

Of course, in Canada, everything freezes; except for the warm, Canadian hospitality. So they never had a problem finding ice.


1998 was the first year that curling was an Olympic sport, although it had been played as an exhibition before. I think curling has a bright future outside of Scotland, Austria, and Canada.

Olympic Fact of the Day - Curling

I love the Olympics. A lot of people love only the summer Olympics. Not me, I love the winter Olympics. Maybe one reason is that I don't feel guilty sitting around watching them. When the summer Olympics are on, I feel like I should be out playing basketball, or baseball, or running, or swimming, or something. But the winter Olympics are pure spectacle. Realistically, I can't go out and bobsled. I don't think there's an ice rink within a hundred miles, and Virginia doesn't have such great skiing. So that leaves me, a tv, and a case of cold beer. I love the Olympics.

So to build spirit and enthusiasm, I'm offering daily or semi-daily Olympic Facts. Today, I begin with curling.

Fact: Curling is not easy.
Fact: Curling is super awesome.

You need to watch curling. If you start watching curling, you won't be able to stop. I first got into it in 2002, when I was a senior in college. My friend and I had nothing else to do, so we started watching curling. At first we thought it was just funny. Then we realized it was funny and super awesome.

The game is played by two teams of four. Each team has four positions: skip, lead, second, and third. Each player takes a turn throwing forty pound granit stones, each team alternating. The players try to leave the stones in the house, which is the big circle at the other end. Each round is called an end. At the finish of an end, the team with the stone closest to the center of the house, called the button, gets a point for that stone. It also gets a point for each stone it has that is closer than the opponents closest stone. So if the order of stones radiating from the button goes: Team 1, Team 1, Team 2, Team 1, Team 2, then Team 1 scores 2 points.

It is an advantage to have the final throw, obviously, because you can slam other stones out of the way, or capture victory. The team that lost the prior end, or if there was no score, the team that had the hammer in the prior end, has it in the next end. So sometimes, if you have the hammer and only have a shot for one point, you may want to try to score zero so you can have the hammer again in the hopes of score more, say two or three.

The ice is not like normal ice rink ice. It has little bumps on it. I guess they spray the ice down with water to give it that texture. The texture is necessary to get the stones to slide evenly and to be able to curl. Also the texture is used by the brooms. Two of the players sweep in front of the stone to affect its trajectory. The sweeping makes the ice more slippery for a short period, which allows the brooms to control how far the stone slides, and in which direction it moves.

There is actually a good deal of strategy involved, in terms of where you want to leave your rock, both so as to score and to block. I guess when you have the hammer, you're kind of on offense, but you really are playing offense and defense all the time. The whole game is the perfect blend of strategy, skill, and luck, to make it addictive.

After my friend and I, and later some of our other friends, got into curling, we found out that there was a local curling club in Philly, and that they were doing their annual open house that very day. We rolled out into Paoli and partook. It is not easy. Even the seemingly simplest parts, like crouching and throwing the rock, are very difficult. None of us ever really got it down.


Curlers, by the way, are awesome. Curling clubs are like all the cool and fun aspects of a country club without the pretention. At least from our experience. All the members, who knew we were college students and not prospective members, gave us advice, beer, food, beer, told curling jokes, and gave us more beer. It was awesome.

The Legend of Satan's Hollow

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand and Six, a Most Strange Occurrence perturb'd the inhabitants of a small hamlet in the Commonwealth of Virginia: an Occurrence that would be spoken of with Trembling for years Yet to Come.

Our Story begins with a young Scholar of the Law, attending the local Temple of Learning.


He was a kind, but Lazy Individual, and requir'd a Honda Civic to Gad about his Business in the town.


In turn, the Honda Civic requir'd an Oil Change every 19,000 Miles.


This time was hard upon the law student, but Lo! Even as we have said, he was lazy; and Much Dislik'd to go to the 15-Minute Oil Change Manufactory, for even for Fifteen minutes there was nothing to do in the Strip Mall Complex unless one needed Tractor Parts, Instant No-Credit Loans, or... Antiques.


The law student did not care overmuch for the Antique Store, for the interior seemed to him much like the set of a Twilight Zone Episode, where mere mortals disappear amongst the baubles in the back to contend with Forces Unknowable and later Return As Crude Mannikins Eerily Resembling Their Former Selves, or Jack-In-The-Boxes, or other things he wot not of. Against this, there lay the fact that the tractor supply store , besides being boring, was Guarded by Wolves.



So, having left his Honda Civic in the hands of the Ex-Convicts at the Quick-Oil Changery, with Trepidation the Law Student passed through the dread portals of the Antique Store to kill fifteen minutes... Fifteen Minutes that would Last A Lifetime.



For inside, what did he Encounter but a Dusty Old Arcade Game?



A Simple, Dusty, Old Arcade Game?



BUT THIS WAS NO GAME



The law student was never seen again.

That's Mr. Provocateur to you

Solidarity? Wimping out? You make the call.

Confirmed: Cheney's a Dick

Cheney 'Authorized' Libby to Leak Classified Information

Whu--?

1) 11:30 PM. Josh slowly drifts off to sleep in the bowels of the law school.

2) 11:35-12:00. Asleep, Josh misses the entrance and exit of the local security guard. The local security guard likewise fails to notice Josh slumped in a chair by the computer desks, and turns the light off in the apparently empty clinic.

3) 12:10. Josh bolts awake in the windowless pitch dark of the basement clinic.

4) 12:10.00-12:10.10. Nameless panic.

5) 12:10.11-12:11. Light is restored; calm descends.

Great Riots Through Time

In troublesome international times like these, I think it best that we gain some historical perspective on other great riots of history, and the noble causes that have caused suffering humanity to take to the streets against oppression and racism.

Our first stop, of course, is the Sydney Riot of 1879, where a controversial call by a professional umpire at a cricket match led to a brief crowd scene and a nasty exchange of letters.

Apathy

If you watched the Senate Judiciary Committee's recent hearings on government surveillance limitations (or lack thereof), you might have found yourself more than a little distressed by Alberto Gonzalez's lack of interest in anything resembling an actual defense of the legality of the government's actions. To me, the attorney general resembled nothing so much as an apathetic middle-schooler forced to play soccer in third-period gym. There sat the attorney general, content to squat on the turf and watch his classmates kick goal after goal into the net behind him, content in the knowledge that sooner or later his mother would retrieve him for PBJs and cartoons, and the lopsided score would be nowhere recorded in the annals of history.

Quite apart from any actual defense of the Bush Administration's actions, it's this serene apathy and what it might take to disturb the calm that is the most recent cause of my concern. So I thought I'd ask you the following questions, because I can't figure them out:

1) Do you share my assessment of the Attorney General's performance, and, more generally, the Bush Administration?

2) If yes, is there anything one can do about it other than put your head between your knees and hope someone, anyone, shows a flicker of life in 2006? I'm specifically looking for concrete contributions. More volunteerism? More advocacy? More monetary contributions to opposition parties? I know I'm drawing a blank.

In re: The cartoons

I've said it before (and what happened to the link here to the old version?) and I'll say it again: The time has come--really is long past due--for the fourth prophet of the great monothestic religions of the book.

Old news and good news

Old news: Some Democrats Are Sensing Missed Opportunities. Succinctly: No shit.

Good news: Republican Who Oversees N.S.A. Calls for Wiretap Inquiry. Two observations: 1) The Times deserves major credit for breaking and pressing this story and 2) Republican veterans in Congress seem to hold the administration, when it's not a presidential election year, to a higher standard than other Republicans do: McCain, Graham, and, helpfully pointed out by the Times, Wilson. Am I missing any other examples or counterexamples?

St. Ann's '99 noted?

Reader #1? Could it be? Does it matter? Incidentally, the editor/founding editor is an (older) St. Ann's grad.

Apologies to BDK, Tracy, and Gus--this has to do with the url title, not the blog title. It's like one of those weird artifacts, like Western Union still sending telegrams...oh.

Markets...

My first post is quick and unimportant.

Abu Dayya ordered 100 hard-to-find Danish and Norwegian flags for his Gaza City shop and has been doing a swift trade. . .

While normally hard to come by in isolated Gaza, Danish and Norwegian flags are now popping up at daily protests, increasingly replacing Israel's Star of David.

Here's more, including info about Abu Dayya's price gouging. Doesn't seem fair to take advantage of this emergency to make unfair profits.

Bat

There is a bat in the clinic with me. I had it trapped under a Hammermill paper box, but it escaped. The CDC claims you often can't feel bat bites. If I die of rabies in a month, blame the bat.

Who Watches the Watchmen?

Congressional hearings begin today concerning the illegal program of spying on American citizens (Sorry, George. I'm still not calling it the Terrorist Surveillance Program. Why? Cuz fuck you, that's why.)

While I think it's terrific that Congress is looking into the matter, I think we all know that the likely result from these hearings is....well, nothing. Nothing will happen. No articles of impeachment, no law will be passed clearly outlawing this behavior. This is a purely political exercise for a group of Senators. I find that deeply disturbing. A democratic government that cannot summon the will act to correct itself is impotent and will only slip deeper into decay.

But, hopefully I'm wrong and this will lead to some actual steps being taken to restore civil liberties. Maybe at the least, the words "George Bush" and "spying on Americans" will be used enough times in the mainstream media to galvanize the population against this disgusting, McCarthyistic, un-American program.

The Future of Bankruptcy....

...seems like the future of sentencing. Awful laws that bind a judge's hand and take away all discretion which lead to judicial opinions railing against those laws but applying, nonetheless, them because they have no choice.

Here's an opinion by a Texas United States Bankruptcy Judge named Frank Monroe. In it, he rails against the "Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer 'Protection' Act" (please notice the extra set of quotations marks around 'protection' -- oops, i did it again.)

My favorite part of the opinion is where Judge Monroe finally takes formal note of what is painfully obvious from the shape of the legislation -- it was purchased by credit card companies. Or as the judge says, "Apparently, it is not the individual consumers of this country that make the donations to the members of Congress that allow them to be elected and re-elected and re-elected and re-elected."

You win

Okay, maybe med students do have better stories than law students.

Quos custodiet ipsos custodies?

Item the one billionth in my theory that people make decisions about civil liberties based on the idea that it'll never happen to them.

SOTWho?

"Breakthroughs on [renewable fuels] will help us reach another great goal: to replace more than 75 percent of our oil imports from the Middle East by 2025. (Applause.) By applying the talent and technology of America, this country can dramatically improve our environment, move beyond a petroleum-based economy, and make our dependence on Middle Eastern oil a thing of the past. (Applause.)" -George W. Bush, Jan. 31, 2006

"This was purely an example." -Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman, Feb. 2, 2006.

That has to be some kind of Washington record. So the President was speaking figuratively at the State of the Union Address? You know, the big one where he talks to Congress, the judiciary, and the American people? It's not like I'm even angry about the Bush Administration anymore. It's like being Mr. Wilson and living next to Dennis the Menace: inevitably, your window will be broken by a baseball and the President will play fast and loose with the truth.

And, in other corners of Washington, the scurrying begins. But, comrades, let us not be downhearted! I confidently predict that President Bush's energy initiative will be every bit as successful as his African AIDS relief program, No Child Left Behind, and the manned flight to Mars.

State of the Union

By the way, the only reason I haven't commented on Tuesday's State of the Union address is because I'm still trying to look up the word "rostrum." He used it in the first sentence and left me bumfuzzled for the remainder of the speech. An interesting tactic.



Update: Here we go, from Merriam Webster

Rostrum:

a) the often spinelike anterior median prolongation of the carapace of a crustacean
b) a bodily part or process suggesting a bird's bill: as a : the beak, snout, or proboscis of any of various insects or arachnids
c) the curved end of a ship's prow; especially : the beak of a war galley
d) an ancient Roman platform for public orators
e) a stage for public speaking
7) a raised platform on a stage

Fuck, man. Couldn't you have said stage.

Biden 3008!

Here's an interesting Newsweek article about why Sen. Joe Biden would make an excellent presidential candidate. My favorite reasons from the list include:

1) He's not a bad-looking guy
2) He's been in Washington for longer than any other potential Dem
and
3) He was never linked with actresses, models, or late-night carousing.

Well, I'm sold. Why didn't we find this guy sooner in the 34 years he's been in office? Where was this hidden gem, this diamond in the rough? Oh yeah, he ran for president before and had to withdraw in shame for plagiarizing a British speech.


P.S. Jack Kennedy was all for actresses, models, and late-night carousing. That makes those things worthy pursuits in my book.

Two good things about Virginia

I also grow wroth with the DC Department of Public Works

1 tank of gas for drive to Washington, DC from Lexington, Virginia and back again: $44.39.

1 Suit and tie for interview: 5,000 Hong Kong Dollars

Getting towed from a parking space at 4:15 PM while stuck in a federal assessment interview that ran from 8:00 to 4:30 when you had been told that it would end around 2:00, the actual interview time consuming approximately 1 hour 33 minutes: $100 even.

Attempting to pay the parking ticket online within the alloted thirty days, only to be told that policemen only enter their tickets into the online system when their ticket book is full, often after 30 days, and discovering that ordering checks, which you are out of, will take 7-10 business days:

PRICELESS

The latest event which has caused me to refer to the man currently occupying the Presidency of the United States as evil

The arguments and ideas the President supports consistently undermine the fabric of the American republic. Everything he has done is in the service of aggrandizing more power to the executive branch in general, and himself in particular. Taken as a whole, this administration has consistently lied about desiring an open debate on the merits of the conduct of their government. Their pernicious policies are at every step restrictive of American liberties. When was the first time Americans complained about the type of behavior the Bush Administration has engaged in?

For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

And now, who can tell me how it should be obvious from the title that the "President's Statement on Signing of H.R. 2863, the 'Department of Defense, Emergency Supplemental Appropriations to Address Hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico, and Pandemic Influenza Act, 2006'" contains a similar aggrandization of power and arrogant unilateral abrogation of law? Read it carefully, then if you can't figure it out, the answer is here.

A snarky jab at the President

"And tonight I also offer this pledge of the American people: Throughout the area hit by the hurricane, we will do what it takes. We will stay as long as it takes to help citizens rebuild their communities and their lives. And all who question the future of the Crescent City need to know: There is no way to imagine America without New Orleans, and this great city will rise again."
--President George W. Bush, September 15th, 2005

Five months later: what a surprise.

Snarky jabs at Malkin

Pettiness feels so good.

Piling on

I approve of all of this, except for Oprah and her self-righteous flip-flopping (which remains consistent in its alarming tendancy toward psychobabble and self-righteousness).

Poking large sleeping animals with sharp sticks

Both the MTA and I can't leave well enough alone.

After the transit strike, the TWU had to vote on the proposed contract. The union refused to accept it--11,334 against versus 11,327 for (and no calls for a recount). So, the MTA comes back with possibly the nastiest offer ever:

• Keeps provision that workers start contributing 1.5% of their salaries to health care (part of the voted-down contract);
  
• Takes away a pension contribution refund (was part of the voted-down contract);
  
• Reinstates the provision that new workers contribute 6% of their salaries toward their pensions, as opposed to 2% for current workers (was not part of the voted-down contact; was a major justification of union president Toussaint for the strike);
• Reinstates the MTA's demands for a merging of job categories (union hates this);
• Reinstates an expansion of one person train operation (union hates this);
• Keeps the same wage increases, but spreads them over 39 months rather than 37.

Whether this is just an MTA gambit to try to get the best possible terms in binding arbitration or to threaten the union into signing a contract, the TWU's fucked. Talk about internal divisions....7 votes! Toussaint's screwed, too, as he's getting it from all sides--newspapers and the government are mad because he struck and then was unable to deliver union sign-on, while the union's mad at him for not being radical enough and unable to deliver union sign-on. Oh yeah, and if you thought labor relations were bad before....oh my.

As for me, it's back to race! The New Yorker reviewed a book, called At Canaan's Edge, "the third and final volume of Taylor Branch’s monumental chronicle, America in the King Years, cover[ing] the period from 1965 to 1968.” Without further comment, I present:

King believed that, just as marching in Alabama had caused Johnson to embrace an accelerated voting-rights timetable, so marches exposing slums, unemployment, and inferior public schools in particular Northern cities would force the Administration and Congress to pass remedial legislation. However, he seriously underestimated the difference between targeting parochial Southern hierarchies and espousing a truly redistributive program that called into question the way of life of most middle-class white Americans.

Those "parochial Southern hierarchies" are less now, though not gone, but the Northern problems are unabated and, yes, extremely difficult to deal with.

Ok, after this spree of posts, I'm going to have to slow down to work on the FFAFSA (Fucking FAFSA) and research where I actually want to go to school (more choices now--Harvard, NYU, Penn, UVA, Northwestern, and Georgetown--with four left to hear from).

We're doing what now where?

Chasing jihadis in the Sahel, with, at the least, American support (like supplies flown in from Germany to aid a hot pursuit)?!

The Voice does some fine reporting.

Breaking point

Two reports say the U.S. army's "dangerously overstretched." One was commissioned by Congressional Democrats, the other, by the Pentagon. Rumsfeld still thinks he can create his own reality--he says the reports are wrong.

Review: Loan exit counselling

Grade: F. Loan counselling officers must be among the most boring people on the face of the planet, and this one had a nasty sense of humor about loan defaulting. Avoid if at all possible.

Im-peachy!

The Washington Times magazine is reporting that the Bush Administration is preparing (perhaps even anticipating) impeachment after next month's hearing into the domestic surveillance program. (Sorry George, I won't call it the "Terrorist Surveillance Program" because I, unlike you, don't consider innocent Americans to be terrorists.)

I don't think impeachment is likely, but they may not be a bad thing. First, removing Bush means we get Cheney (that's decidedly bad). Second, keeping Bush in office means that we get an unpopular president (most recent numbers show 36% approval) and his incredibly unpopular policies in office going into the mid-terms and beyond.

Public defense

This story hits pretty much every worry I had in law school. If you're going or if you're there, it's worth a read. Although things worked out for me, in your classes or in your practice, we should all remember Charley Demosthenous.

No such thing as bad publicity?

Bin Laden cites your book and suggests Americans read it--its sales rise. This is the sort of thing that makes the left look bad, as his points, valid or not, don't lend themselves to clear soundbites, but do lend themselves to clear oppositional soundbites.

Guns leave New Haven

Who knew that New Haven still had a gun factory? Not me!

The parrot was too smart

It talked itself out of a house! This is bizarre and somehow very British.

Bush Hearts Abramoff

Me like picture, me post on blog....

A Tale of Two Candidates

Two names being by thrown around as potential presidential candidates for their respective parties are Gov. Mark Warner (D) and Sen. George Allen (R). Both are from Virginia. and both are expected to come out swinging for their parties' nomination and capture alot of hearts and minds in the process.

However, one wrinkle in the Republican candidates plan is how poorly he's polling in his home state. A UVA poll shows that, among Virginians, Mark Warner is wildly more popular than George Allen. The poll shows that Warner beating Allen 49 - 32. While there's a lot of undecided wiggle room there, its not exactly a rousing start for Allen and it demonstrates the shifting dynamics for the 2008 election. A reliably red state going beautiful blue.

For the record, I'm nota huge Warner fan because he's appeared a little too conservative for my tastes. However, that may be out of the necessity of running in a fairly conservative state. My guess is he'll show more liberal street cred in a national campaign but have a proven record that he can point out to moderates and conservative Dems can support.

American Mullahs and the Middle Class

Here's the Columbus Dispatch quoting Ohio Senate candidate Paul Hackett (D):

"The Republican Party has been hijacked by the religious fanatics that, in my opinion, aren’t a whole lot different than Osama bin Laden and a lot of the other religious nuts around the world."

Paul Hackett has refused to apologize for this remark, and he's right not to. This is more than partisan rhetoric. It is a valid point that isn't discussed enough in this country. If Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, and their ilk had their way, America would be indistinguishable from Saudi Arabia. And not just in terms of the stranglehold the Saudi religious right-wing has on the vast number of poor Saudis. Our economy would also be structured very much like Saudi Arabia's. Specifically, there would be an incredibly wealthy elite class that consists of a small fraction of the population. The middle class would disappear and literally everyone else would be poor.

To some degree, this is already taking place albeit on a smaller scale. The single most destructive problem this country faces is the decline of the Middle Class. This problem, more than any other, is the one that, if not curbed, will lead to this country's downfall. Study after study is showing that prices are rising and wages are falling. Corporations, having been given hands-off approach from the Bush Administration they've always wanted, are doing what they will always do -- seek profit. Anyone who has ever taken an Intro to Economics class will tell you that the easiest and most profitable cut a company can make is to its labor force (both wages and number of employees).

The downfall of the American Middle Class will have catastrophic repurcusions. What's left of American manufacturing will disappear since the only goods we'd be able to purchase would be Chinese or Korean. There will be no investor class outside of the elites reaping the windfall profits that come from laying off thousands of workers or slashing wages and benefits. Healthcare in this country will become virtually non-existent since almost no one will be able to afford it and government subsidies are disintegrating. The consequences are endless, devastating, and untenable.

The solution: 1) Taxes - The highest tax bracket in this country must be raised to at least Clinton-era levels, if not higher. The shortfalls in government revenue are devastating New Deal era social programs that have done a world of good for millions of Americans. 2) Unions - companies of every size must be pressured to return the wages and health benefits they've been stealing from the American worker. Employers need to be reminded about the fact that they simply would not exist if it weren't for the people doing the actual working. 3) An increase in the minimum wage - it's been too long since we've had one and, while inflation hasn't been rabid, wages simply aren't keeping pace.

These three things alone would contribute a great deal towards bolstering the lower and middle classes on which this country relies. But more can be done and more must be done. If it's not we face a future where American kids are strapping bombs to themselves in Shanghai or flying planes into Beijing's office towers because Jesus says its okay to kill our oppressors.

More of the Same

So Republicans are unveiling their lobbyist reform package. Democrats dropped the ball by not rolling theirs out first but they may have another political opportunity. You see, Denny Hastert's bill, allegedly used to ban expensive meals and luxurious trips, doesn't actually do that. There's a loophole big enough to drive the proverbial truck through.

From the Washington Post: "The only requirement would be that whenever a lobbyist pays the bill, he or she must also hand the lawmaker a campaign contribution. Then the transaction would be perfectly okay."

If Democrats have the balls to call the Republicans on this bullshit, it can score big political gains and hurt an already weak enemy.

For the record, I understand members of Congress having meals with lobbyists to discuss legislation. Taking a $50,000 vacation to Scotland aboard a private plane so you can play golf is corruption and bribery.

No false congratulations

The North, especially New York (State and City), shouldn't be patting itself on the back and patronizing the South over race relations and segregation (bear in mind that the comments shouldn't apply to NYC, but to NYS). I think it's a pretty common thing. We're pretty bad. Sure, we were on the right side in the Civil War and didn't have the Jim Crow laws (if we did, I've not heard it) or the nationally remembered civil rights struggles (which is not to say that we didn't have any--one of my LSAT passages dealt with protests over jobs at SUNY Downstate). Those things weren't necessary.

We've had a system more pernicious in its lack of overtness. Housing patterns seem just to have developed that way.... We tout our inclusiveness, our liberal openmindedness, yet.... We went to St. Ann's, not a neighborhood or even a magnet public school, for a reason. (To be fair, several reasons.) My point is not that we're all horrible racists who fled our neighborhood schools. My points are that, (1), All too often, we fail to recognize the subtle racisms and hypocrisies we practice and that, (2), The unwritten, unnoticed, unfocused nature of the discrimination makes it impossible to blame any one or two people or things, much less other people, making it that much more difficult to fight against.

I do think that we've got the right rhetoric and ideals, and that's a good start. The concrete manifestation of that, though, is lacking.

Thus ends my unscheduled moralistic assessment of the state of the nation's race relations. It just happened to fall when it did (because of when other people's assessments did).

It goes to show you

Everyone has a job application process. I wonder if they asked him what his greatest personality weakness was.

They Smoke Crack

Since one of my favorite aspects of law is federal sentencing policy, I figured I'd post a link to this report from the Sentencing Project which finds that, since the federal sentencing guidelines have been rendered advisory, federal judges have been using their discretion to go below the guideline range for crack cocaine cases.

For those who don't know, federal crack cocaine charges carry incredibly stiff sentences. The average crack sentence is 11 years in prison. But the real disgusting aspect is how crack cocaine is treated when compared to powder cocaine. Crack cocaine, which is almost chemically identical to powder, is sentenced 100 times more harshly. For instance, if I have 5 grams of crack and you have 500 grams of powder, we're both sentenced in the same guideline range.

While I personally support a mandatory system of sentencing guidelines, I'm glad that judges are employing their discretion in this way.

Memoirs of a Geisha

Donald Rumseld, ladies & gentlemen. This man is now in charge of the lives and deaths of hundreds of thousands of American soldiers. When do the grown-ups get to be in charge again?

Random St. Ann's Sighting

I finally spoke to Stephanie Jameson, a mere 6.5 years after graduating from high school. Jeremy, Christine, and I were riding the 4 to Brooklyn Saturday night, and she was standing about 5 feet away. She had no idea who we were, just that we went to St. Ann's. A brief catching-up conversation followed. It was weird.

Sorry for the nature of the post, but it had to be said.

Honest Leadership

This is what I'm talking about. Democrats can't expect to make gains simply by saying, "Those guys are corrupt, vote for me" and then doing nothing about corruption. On January 18, Democratic House and Senate leaders will unveil the Honest Leadership Act which aims to clean up government and put a stop to influence peddling. We'll discuss details as they become available.

Every single Democrat needs to get behind this Act. This is how you organize a national mid-term election and get voters to vote for a party, not just a candidate.

(As a side note, the title "Honest Leadership Act" takes a play from the Bush playbook, using a catchy title that sticks in the minds of voters. However, unlike Bush's "Clean Skies" or "Healthy Forests" bills, hopefully this one won't just be bullshit.)

Disgraceful

... and disgusting. The New York Times is reporting on a Pentagon study saying that up to 80% of the American soldiers killed by upper body wounds in Iraq would probably have lived if they had body armor.

You know, I would mind spending $300 billion on this war a whole lot less if we could PROTECT OUR OWN DAMN SOLDIERS! We throw billions and billions on Halliburton contracts to feed the soldiers. That money is pretty much wasted if the soldiers we're feeding no longer have a digestive system.

Hey George, Jesus hates you.

The Dutch feel left out

The frivolity continues as we cover a report that the Dutch are only the latest army to fall for the whole "alchohol forbidden in Muslim countries" gag.

Dutch troops helping earthquake survivors in Pakistan have complained that while they are subject to an alcohol ban, Spanish and British soldiers laugh at their austerity and turn up drunk at their campfire.

"We were told before we arrived that alcohol was banned in this country or else very difficult to get hold of and we accepted this," one soldier told the Dutch daily De Telegraaf.

I'm not sure who this story says more about: the Dutch, Pakistanis, or Spanish and British squaddies. After much deliberation, I have decided on the following response:

Suckers! Now you'll think twice before helping earthquake victims.

Hot tip

If you should ever have a Vietnamese-Chinese mother-in-law, and she offers you her fried rice, be wary! For at the bottom lurks a vicious chili pepper grown from a bush with its roots in hell, which will spread its napalm-like capiscin over your tongue until you cry out for mercy. But the pepper knows no such emotion.

Holy moly

The governator proposes $222 billion in infrastructure projects for California for a decade. Wow. It may be fiscally imprudent or impossible, but at least he's thinking about the state's future. Not so much here, as Pataki's thinking (exclusively) about his political future. I hate that man.

I hate Pataki redux

Last night he gave his state of the state speech. I didn't watch. Why bother?

The Post ran probably the best editorial about it that I've seen. In fact, it's the best I've ever seen in the Post.

And this man thinks he can be president.

Executive Intent

Before George Bush signed a torture ban into law a couple weeks ago, he apparently issued a "signing statement" that offered up the executive branch equivalent of congressional intent. This document included the statement:

The executive branch shall construe [the law] in a manner consistent with the constitutional authority of the President ... as Commander in Chief," which "will assist in achieving the shared objective of the Congress and the President ... of protecting the American people from further terrorist attacks.

In other words, George Bush can do whatever the hell George Bush wants and if he breaks the law he only needs to utter the magicly scary words "national security" and his hands are wiped clean by magical fairies.

Query: Josh, do you think that such statements of the chief executive's interpretation of a law written and passed by Congress does or should carry any weight when it comes to judicial interpretation of actions taken under that law?

By the way, in the 1980's Judge Samuel Alito made the case that such executive intent should be binding law. In 2005, Alito is nominated to the Supreme Court. Coincidence? Methinks, not.

Recess Appointments

Here's a list of federal government personnel that George Bush absolutely could not wait a couple weeks for Congress to return before he put he installed them.

For Immediate ReleaseOffice of the Press SecretaryJanuary 4, 2006

Personnel Announcement

President George W. Bush today recess appointed the followingindividuals:

Floyd Hall, of New Jersey, to be a Member of the AMTRAK Reform Board.

Enrique J. Sosa, of Florida, to be a Member of the AMTRAK Reform Board.

Nadine Hogan, of Florida, to be a Member of the Board of Directors ofthe Inter-American Foundation (Private Representative).

Roger W. Wallace, of Texas, to be a Member of the Board of Directors ofthe Inter-American Foundation (Private Representative).

Gordon England, of Texas, to be Deputy Secretary of Defense.

Benjamin A. Powell, of Florida, to be General Counsel of the Office ofthe Director of National Intelligence.

Ronald E. Meisburg, of Virginia, to be General Counsel of the NationalLabor Relations Board.

Julie L. Myers, of Kansas, to be Assistant Secretary of HomelandSecurity (Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement).

Tracy A. Henke, of Missouri, to be Executive Director of the Office ofState and Local Government Coordination and Preparedness at theDepartment of Homeland Security.

Arthur F. Rosenfeld, of Virginia, to be Federal Mediation andConciliation Director at the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service.

Ellen R. Sauerbrey, of Maryland, to be Assistant Secretary of State(Population, Refugees, and Migration).

Dorrance Smith, of Virginia, to be Assistant Secretary of Defense(Public Affairs).

Robert D. Lenhard, of Maryland, to be a Member of the Federal ElectionCommission.

Steven T. Walther, of Nevada, to be a Member of the Federal ElectionCommission.

Hans Von Spakovsky, of Georgia, to be a Member of the Federal ElectionCommission.

Peter N. Kirsanow, of Ohio, to be a Member of the National LaborRelations Board.

Stephen Goldsmith, of Indiana, to be a Member of the Board of Directorsof the Corporation for National and Community Service

That's 3 Federal Election Commission officials appointed without a single hearing. Julie Myers, soon to be Asst. Secretary of Homeland Security, is the neice of Joint Chief of Staff Chairman Richard Myers and so is unqualified for the job that even Michelle Malkin hates her. That's pretty bad.

Nuclear Bomb Hits Washington

Jack Abramoff pled guilty to conspiracy, fraud and tax evasion charges. He's going to cooperate with Justice in a corruption investigation that could lead to indictments for up to 20 Congressmen, most of them Republicans, as well as Bush Administration officials.

This is going to be very, very bad for GOP lawmakers seeking reelection next November, even supposedly invulnerable ones. If Democrats are smart (an accusation that has yet to be proven true), they'll capitalize with a national anti-corrpution theme going into the midterms. A Contract With America-style message about election reform, campaign finance, and anti-lobbying laws could paint the Dems as the Party of Integrity and could lead to huge midterm gains.

No matter what happens, the names that start pouring out of Abramoff's mouth are going to make the next few months very interesting. These people are very loyal, but only to money and power, not to each other.

Two more quick ones

With minimal comment.

A cat, apparently, saves the day.

Non-conventional weaponry. Very unconventional. (I realize this is now about a year old "news.")

Great Moments in Republicanism: Real Jobs for Real Americans

That was the slogan for the Hoover administration's 1931 job-creation plan. Unfortunately, this was accomplished by deporting nearly 2 million Mexicans back to Mexico and freeing up there jobs for American citizens. Of course, 60% of the "Mexicans" he deported were actually Mexican-American citizens, born and raised in the good ole' U.S. of A. who had no ties to Mexico and didn't speak Spanish.

I bring it up because California is looking at how to best correct the injustice - apology or reparations. Or perhaps a nice fruit basket.

Guess what I learned today about Bangkok

It isn't really called Bangkok. Well, not by the Thais, anyway, who refer to it as:

Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Ayuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit

or Krung Thep for short. This translates as:

The city of angels, the great city, the residence of the Emerald Buddha, the impregnable city (of Ayutthaya) of God Indra, the grand capital of the world endowed with nine precious gems, the happy city, abounding in an enormous Royal Palace that resembles the heavenly abode where reigns the reincarnated god, a city given by Indra and built by Vishnukarn.

The more you know!