Joe Fluffborough

Yesterday, Israel and Hamas sat on the brink of war. The Supreme Court handed down an important and controversial decision concerning Gitmo. Floods wracked the Northeast of the US. I sat down last night and flipping through the channels, decided to watch Scarborough Country on MSNBC for the first time in weeks.

The lead show segment: A pregnant Britney Spears posing quasi-nude on a magazine cover.

The second show segment: The cat-fight over at The View.

As you can imagine, I found something else to watch, but came back now and again bemused by the spectacle. Didn't this guy used to talk national news or politics or something? The breaking news of a new Bin Laden tape saved viewers from a third segment that was going to focus on married couples cool with swinging.

The fourth show segment: A secret camera investigation on shady mechanics.

I have no problem with occasional fluff. Watching the news shouldn't always be about eating your broccoli. But good gosh, seriously, how pathetic. Not only was this bad television news, this was bad infotainment. And that's bad.

A Hunka-Hunka Japan Love

This CNN.com article on the Japanese Prime Minister and President Bush visiting Graceland is priceless. A snippet:

On Friday, things got campy right off.

The public address system on Air Force One played "Love Me Tender" and "Don't Be Cruel" and other Elvis songs as the leaders boarded the plane in Washington. DVDs of Elvis movies were available for viewing. And stewards brought out that Elvis culinary favorite -- grilled peanut butter and banana sandwiches, each with 36 grams of fat. The two leaders passed on the sandwiches. Bush drank coffee and Koizumi drank green tea.

It only gets better. Read the whole thing.

Liberal John Birches to Go 'Ukrainian'

Some college professor named Mark Miller over at HuffPo says that if Republicans win in 2006, (after having of course stolen election 2000... and election 2002... and election 2004) then it is time to go Ukrainian. As in Orange Revolution. What an insult to the Ukrainians. Why I am even bothering commenting on this PhD'd nutjob is not because I think that he bears repudiation by me, but because of another post I read today that accurately describes him.

The article by Josh Trevino, titled "The Enemy Within," details the rise and fall of the John Birch Society in the nascent years of the conservative movement in the late 50s early 60s. What is famous in conservative lore is the take down of the JBS by William F. Buckley and National Review. The final straw that caused many at National Review to no longer tolerate their supposed allies at JBS was when their leader, Robert Welch, said with all sincerety that President Eisenhower was a communist agent for the USSR.

Trevino then compares the angry, paranoid, conspiracy-driven members of the John Birch Society, believers that they were the true keepers of the American spirit, with the angry, paranoid, conspiracy-driven members of some on the blogging left, believers that they were the true keepers of the American spirit. At first I thought the author may have had a point, but had stretched his premise too far, generalized a bit too much, but then I read the above post calling for the American citizenry to rise up and get Ukranian if Republicans win 2006, and I realized Trevino was spot on.

Seriously, read the Trevino piece, then read the post at HuffPo, and tell me if Trevino does not hit the bullseye describing Professor Miller. And my problem is not that there are nutjobs spewing forth such nonsense. Always has been, always will be, on all politcal sides. My problem is that this guy's platform is not just some anonymous personal blog (like mine) but instead a large blog bearing the name of a nationally known pundit, who today has a column in the LA Times, frequented by US Senators, sons of Presidents, etc. Just as Buckley and NR repudiated the John Birch Society, Miller needs repudiating. But it won't happen before election 2006.

HT: Ace

Poll Numbers on Leakers

A recent FoxNews poll asked this question:

"Do you think that government employees who leak classified national security secrets should face criminal charges?"

87% of respondents said yes. 87 percent. Think about that. 87% is a rare, large number in any sort of national poll. If you break it down further, 93% of Republicans, 82% of Democrats, and 83% of independents replied yes to the above question. This is bad news for those who leaked the secret financial tracking program to the NY Times if the White House and Congress go after them.

If this requires subpoenas and the testimony of Times reporters, going to such lengths may not be a bad move politically, since 66% of respondents (including 55% of Dems) answered yes to this question:

Do you think that news organizations that report and publish information about national security secrets that may make it easier for terrorists to operate should face criminal charges?"

Those in the media who use 'freedom of the press' as their defense against such an investigation may be able to draw some of those numbers down, since the media has, well, the media at its beck and call. But it would be an uphill fight.

There is irony here. If Scooter Libby was indeed the leaker of Valerie Plame's identity, (he's charged remember, not convicted) then his leak inadvertantly hurt his political allies, and helped his politcal foes. If the NY Times and anti-Bush individuals in the intelligence community leaked this story to hurt Bush, they have instead hurt themsleves, and helped Bush and his allies.

PS: Let me state here that all poll numbers should be taken with a grain of salt, and I acknowledge that different wordings, etc., can influence numbers. That is why I included the entire questions. But I think even if 10 points were to be cut off from those figures, they would still be significant.

Supreme Court Sides Against Bush on Gitmo Trials

With the Supreme Court ruling 5-3 that military courts are out for Gitmo detainees, it looks like President Bush has gotten his very own Steel Seizure case.

There will be gloating by some on the left, and gnashing of teeth by some on the right, and Bush will comply with this decision he disagrees with, and that will be that.

Update: Kadnine, if you've read the comments, is a bit more passionate on the issue.

Hubris and Condescension

"Forgive me, I know this is pretty elementary stuff; but it's the kind of elementary context that sometimes gets lost in the heat of strong disagreements." ~ Bill Keller, publisher, NY Times, defending the paper's decision to publish a secret government program tracking terrorist funds.

I've had some pretty intense back-and-forths with people doing this blog thing, both on this site and on others. Some I stand by, others I wish I could take back. I do try my best to respect people, even when telling them how horribly wrong they are (wink). But I do not think I have ever written anything approaching the blindingly arrogant condescension of what Mr. Keller wrote in a open letter directed towards his own readers -- the very people who essentially pay his salary.

Such hubris would make a Sophoclean protagonist blush.

*****

My opinion, in a truncated form: Don't press charges, because that allows The Times to play the free speech martyr. Do have hearings. If Keller has a strong argument to make, he has nothing to fear from answering questions before the Senate. If he has a weak argument, that too will be visible.

ATV Nannies

I wrote a while back that I did not have a problem with a state law that required ATV riders under 16 to wear helmets. My basic argument was that there is a difference between regulating what minors can do, and regulating what adults can do, especially when you are dealing with local or state level governance. But now the title of this editorial calls this law, "Just a start."

"But as safety experts and consumer advocates have told Congress, nationwide regulations are what are really needed to improve ATV safety here and across the country. Currently, drivers don't need a license to operate an ATV, and safety regulations vary state by state. Meanwhile, manufacturers are free to ignore voluntary performance and safety standards.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is calling on Congress to set top speeds for young riders and require that manufacturers install devices allowing parents to limit their kids' speeds.

Other safety experts go even further, suggesting that children under 16 shouldn't be allowed to operate ATVs, period."

A virgin market for bureaucrats to regulate. But how do you federally enforce a speed for minors, but not adults? Will cops be setting up radar positions on farms to see if Junior is zipping across the pasture faster than Congress allows?

The editorial uses the scare stat that 40 people died in West Virginia in ATV accidents last year. Let's say WV's scare stat is multipled by the 50 states, giving us 2000 ATV deaths per year. That would still be less than the roughly 2100 drowning deaths caused by swimming pools each year.

Congress must regulate all swimming pools!

Update: Did a little more researching, and the total number of ATV deaths in the US for 2004 was 470. Get those congressionally trained lifeguards out to those backyard pools now!

128?

The NCAA basketball tournament is one of the most perfect events in sports. A whole month of college b-ball yumminess. Yet some folks want to not just tinker with it, but to dramatically change it by, among other things, expanding the field to 128.

Don't. Leave it be. The tourney is near perfect as it is. Do not try to fix that which is not broken.

Belly Whacker

My younger brother Eric, who works for Michael Moore exploring for oil, flew in from Grand Junction, CO for the week, and this weekend has been spent doing brotherly things together, like physically assaulting each other.

We went to Micah house to have the party so Eric could meet up again with all his friends. We played cornhole in the back, ate food, and tapped a keg. Towards the end of the night, Micah and Eric started throwing darts, not at a dartboard, but at each other. Micah got Eric in the thigh, Eric got Micah on the small of the back. The keg had been tapped for a while.

So you're probably saying to yourself, "That Lee guy over at Digital Nicotine seems more intelligent than that. He wouldn't engage in such activities." To which I reply, "The keg had been tapped for a while."

I did not throw any darts, but I did play a game invented at the moment that I guess can be called Smack My Belly. This involved the guys raising up their shirts exposing a vulnerable belly, so another guy could smack it. Eric kinda smacked Micah's belly, and as I exposed my belly, Micah wound up....

As I sit here typing this, there is a hand shaped bruise on my stomach. You can clearly discern all five fingers and the palm. It is pink now, soon to be purple, with ugly yellow I'm sure not too far away. It hurt. Bad. There was only one round of Smack My Belly.

The keg had been tapped for a while.

Attacking Funerals, But Not in The Middle East

From the Courier-Journal:

"A fire bomb was thrown through the window of a funeral home where a homicide victim’s visitation was scheduled Thursday." [...]

"Because of the incident, the visitation for Kerry Williams, 26, was cancelled Thursday evening. Police provided an escort for the body to the cemetery so Williams could be buried, said Officer Dwight Mitchell, a police spokesman."

This follows this wonderful little news story from May 22 of this year:*

"One person was killed and four others were injured last night when multiple shots were fired into a group of people who had gathered outside A.D. Porter & Sons Funeral Home for a wake.. It was Louisville's fourth homicide in less than a week."

The drug wars have gotten so vicious in parts of the West End of Louisville that shootings and bombing are now taking place at funeral homes. Disgusting.

* The second C-J article required a $2.99 access fee. That is $2.99 beyond DN's budget.

Worth Reading

Tom at Functional Ambivalent, who is hardly a Bush fan, makes some good points about the current war in Iraq. A snippet:

"No matter how much America dislikes the war, there's something we dislike even more: Reliving the fall of Saigon. I was just a kid, but I remember watching on TV as Americans loaded into helicopters and left our friends behind to die. We got out of southeast Asia all right. We came home and went on with our lives and two things that happened because of that were the slaughter of the Hmong and the rise of the Khmer Rouge."

Go read.

Update: Since I'm linking to those on the left who understand what is at stake in Iraq, might as well give some love to The Bull Moose, like he needs it. His snippet:

And let's be clear, "redeployment" is another nice euphemism for retreat.To leave now would hand the butchers who mutilated our troops a triumph that they cannot win on the battlefield. And it would embolden terrorists the world over just as our retreat from Mogadishu did a decade ago.

Worth reading as well.

A Lost Commission

Sales have been down a bit at work, so I was happy with one I worked hard on securing yesterday. When that same customer called in today before the installation to cancel, I was somewhat disappointed. I went to my sales manager to ask her on how to cancel a sale in the computer system, and she replied that she would handle it.

I thanked her and commented that it was a shame that this particular sale was being cancelled because it was an outside technician sale. In other words, an installer had given us a lead on a potential customer, and I had been able to close on it. Techs get a $75 commission added to their paycheck for all such completed sales, and can be a great source of sales for the company, but many do not even bother to try, so when one does go out of his way to sell, we in the sales department try our hardest to give him that $75.

In this particular case, the tech while doing an installation talked to a neighbor about our service, gave him our number, and the neighbor called a few weeks later to sign up. That's when I picked up the phone yesterday and closed (temporarily at least) the deal. But the customer forgot the tech's name, so by using the physical description the customer gave of the tech, and cross referencing the address and installation date into the database, I and another co-worker were able after ten minutes of searching to determine which tech should get the sale. He was going to get his commission, dammit.

Back to today. I mention to my boss that it is a shame that tech was going to lose his commission, and she looks at the sales sheet to see which one I am talking about when her jaw drops.

"You know this tech died last night," she says.

"What?"

"Something to do with a railroad crossing. In St. Matthews, I think."

I'm speechless.

Here is the story about the death in the paper. His body was found run over by a train just past midnight last night at a place in town near a cluster of bars. Speculation within the office leans towards either a horrible drunken accident, or suicide. The lost commission is now not only irrelevant, but stupendously insignificant.

Chemical Weapons in Iraq?

Not all the details are in, but declassified documents are showing that chemical weapons were found in Iraq. About 500 shells, that we know of. I'm going to link you to Instapundit, where Glenn is acting like a clearinghouse on this.

Not all the facts are in on this, but I think that everybody knows the potential of this story if this pans out. And I'm saying if, because who knows what the final facts will turn out to be. But still... this may be a blockbuster.

Update: Having a night to sleep on this post, I'm going to urge caution on this one. This may be nothing. This may be something. I'll refrain from jumping to conclusions untill more facts come in.

Reading Between the Lines on a E. J. Dionne Column

E. J. Dionne, the proudly liberal columnist at the Washington Post, is one of the liberal pundits I try to read now and then. I disagree with the guy, but I like his writing style. And he sure is crafty, as with his current column concerning a speech by Chief Justice John Roberts on judicial philosophy.

"Roberts' speech defended the virtues of judicial humility: Justices should try to make the narrowest possible rulings and strive for unanimity, or something close to it."

I am currently reading The Supreme Court, authored by Robert's predecessor and mentor, Chief Justice William Rehnquist. It is a surprisingly fair and interesting history of the High Court designed for the layman. One of the themes permeating Rehnquist's history is his critique of justices over reaching in their decision making. The fact that Roberts, who actually clerked for Rehnquist, would embrace this philosophy is not surprising.

Dionne in his column contraposes Robert's judicial "humility" not with the liberal members of the court, but instead with Scalia's originalism, setting up in his column a clash among the conservative titans.

In his 1996 book "Legal Reasoning and Political Conflict,'' Cass Sunstein, a law professor at the University of Chicago, described Scalia's approach (and that of the late liberal Justice Hugo Black) as placing "a high premium on the creation and application of general rules.'' Judges, in this view, should "give guidance to lower courts, future legislators, and ordinary citizens through clear, abstract rules laid down in advance of actual applications.''

The problem with this, Sunstein argues, is that "rules may misfire, precisely because they are too rigid and ... can go badly wrong when applied to concrete cases not anticipated when the rule was set down.'' Broad rulings, Sunstein writes, "tend to overreach.''

In the past, judicial overreach was associated with liberals. [emphasis added] But with conservatives now enjoying a majority on the Supreme Court -- it's likely to get more conservative if President Bush gets another appointment -- the danger of overreach comes from the right."

Now that the court is majority conservative, Dionne seems to say that was then, this is now. Thus he writes this column celebrating judicial restraint, highlighting these words from Roberts:

"If it is not necessary to decide more to dispose of a case, in my view it is necessary not to decide more.... The broader the agreement among the justices, the more likely it is that the decision is on the narrowest possible ground.... The rule of law is strengthened when there is greater coherence and agreement about what the law is."

I agree with Roberts here, and so does Dionne, but I think for different reasons. Often it was through judicial overreach that liberals were able to achieve many of their goals that should have been in the realm of the other branches of government. Dionne admits as much with his words I italicized above. But now he sees that his guys are out, the other guys are in, and "judicial humility" and "judicial unison" are the liberal buzzwords of the day.

And hopefully Roberts will lead the court in a conservative manner, both in its decisions and in their scope, and keep a conservative form of judicial activism to a minimum. We should be better than that.

We'll Take the A-, Even if it's Meaningless

Kentucky got the highest ranking among the 50 states from The Center for Science in the Public Interest, (aka: The Nazis Who Hide Behind the Skirt of Science) concerning school food choices with an A-. Kentucky got the highest score from The Nazis Who Hide Behind the Skirt of Science on school food choice by, of course, limiting choice.

Kentucky allows only milk, juice and low sugar drinks in vending machines, along with banning potato chips, candy bars, and other such sugary goodies.

Kentucky school officials are of course trumpeting the Bluegrass being #1 in anything positive that doesn't involve bourbon or fried chicken, but they might not want to ask the The Nazis Who Hide Behind the Skirt of Science their position on said fried chicken.

While I am all for kids eating healthy and being physically active, I am guessing that whether a school offers Mountain Dew and Ho-Ho's, or limits choices to milk and granola bars, the real determining factors of childhood obesity are outside of the school's realm.

Those genetically predisposed to be big will be big, and those genetically predisposed to be thin will be thin. Athletes will be healthier than the sedentary, and those whose parents make them eat their veggies will eat healthier on their own than those who have been purely raised on fast food.

So Kentucky will take the A- and use it for bragging purposes for a while, but don't expect actual quantifiable results because of it.

Religious Geopolitical Neutrality

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A) is tackling the subject of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The Committee on Peacemaking and International Issues voted 53-6 over the weekend to replace a policy approved at the 2004 assembly calling for a “phased, selective divestment” from companies seen as aiding Israel’s occupation of Palestinian lands.

Well, let's pull a WWJD. What would Jesus do? In the Gospel, Jesus was asked by the Pharisees if Jews should pay taxes to Rome. This was a trap designed to pidgeon hole Jesus into either being a supporter of Roman occupation if He said yes, or a political revolutionary if He said no. Instead Jesus famously replied after showing a coin featuring Caesar's profile, "Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's, and unto God what is God's." In other words, Jesus would not take sides on the question of who should control Israel/Palestine.

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) should follow His example.

Superhero For a Day

A dying girl got to be a superhero for a day, costume and all. This is one of the coolest things I have ever read.

HT: Ace

To Kill a Lacrosse Player

Let's do a compare and contrast between To Kill a Mockingbird and the Duke lacrosse rape scandal. First of all, if there is anybody who still believes the lacrosse players did it, read this article in Newsweek, and try to defend your position.

Mockingbird: A poor white trash woman falsely accuses a black man of raping her.
Duke: A poor black trash woman falsely accuses three white men of raping her.

Mockingbird: The woman's story fits into the commonly shared white community's fear of black men raping white women.
Duke: The woman's story fits into the commonly shared black community's fear of white men taking advantage of black women as sexual playthings to be disregarded as people.

Mockingbird: An attempt to lynch the accused black man.
Duke: Feminists post pictures of the entire lacrosse team on campus labelling them rapists. The suspects receive physical threats from The Black Panther Party, among others.

Mockingbird: The accuser is of suspect moral character.
Duke: The accuser is of suspect moral character.

Mockingbird: The only solid evidence is the testimony of the accuser.
Duke: The only solid evidence is the testimony of the accuser.

Mockingbird: The accused comes from the underclass.
Duke: The accused come from the elite.

Mockingbird: The accused is convicted and sent to prison.
Duke: The lacrosse team has their season cancelled, in which they were favored to play for a national title, has their pictures plastered on Newsweek and Time as rapists, one of the accused has a good job offer pulled, they face expensive legal bills, and bare the scarlett R of rapist on their breasts as they walked campus for months.

Mockingbird: The innocent man goes crazy in jail, and is killed in a suicidal escape attempt.
Duke: The innocent men will probably not be convicted, which is a good thing. But the trial may not happen until next spring.

Many people love To Kill a Mockingbird, of all political stripes. But the novel was always understood as a lesson, a morality tale, directed towards conservatives. The irony is that liberals were the ones who should have paid attention to its lessons, who let their preconceived notions on race and class cloud their judgement, who marched and protested and decried this supposed horrible crime.

I wonder how many proud liberals who protested in front of the lacrosse house will now protest in front of the false accuser's house. For she has truly harmed legitimate rape victims much more than any Duke lacrosse player has.

America: 25

Aunt B said in a somewhat recent post:

Off the top of my head, here's the things I think you should have to have some working knowledge of if you want to claim to be an American.

She then went on to list them. I do not know if this was intentional, but her list numbered 25. So will mine. I have taken a different tack. Every item in my list is a concrete nouns (people, place or thing) yet stirs up something emotional, abstract, and unique about America.

Just as no man is perfect, no country is perfect, and some darker items are listed. In fact there are some potential contradictions present upon the list if you study them deeply. Yet despite this, while compiling this list, it did turn into a sort of celebration.

1~ The Alamo: Mythical in the self-sacrifice it conjures, a collection of free men volunteering to die to hold out against the dictator Santa Ana. Frontiersmen/rough neck Davy Crockett among the dead.

2~ The Blues: Jazz comes from blues, and is too snooty nowadays anyway. Both country and rock have its foundations in it.

3~ Brown v. Board: The crux where Jim Crow begins to end, and the civil rights movement starts to begin. Epitomizes both the stuggle of blacks and the questions of the role of the courts in society.

4~ The Constitution: No greater political document has ever been written. No political document has ever been debated with such fervency two centuries after its creation.

5~ The Dust Bowl: Nothing conjures the bleakness of The Depression such as the wasteland that the plains states became in the 1930s. Such scenes that survive in photographs are the best visual reminders of that great decade-long funk.

6~ Ellis Island: In the land of immigrants, this was the gate that most passed through. The Statue of Liberty is merely the abstract monument symbolizing this concrete reality.

7~ Gettysburg: Tens of thousands died in the most important battle of America's most divisive war.

8~ Hollywood: America loves Hollywood. America hates Hollywood. But it is purely American nonetheless.

9~ The Interstate System: One of the great engineering feats of the world. Conjures both freedom of movement, the American love of the automobile, and the veins pumping blood throughout the great US economy.

10~ Thomas Jefferson: The author of The Declaration of Independence, and one of the early poets of what America could be. Also a symbol of the contradictions of America the ideal and America as the reality, fighting against slavery as he owns them himself.

11~ Martin Luther King: A preacher man considered by an entire race to be a sort of black Moses, shot down for his cause.

12~ Lexington & Concord: Common citizens, calling themselves Minutemen, daring to fight British troops with hunting weapons, starting what would end in Yorktown, one of the most audacious military victories in world history.

13~ Abraham Lincoln: The Gettysburg Address, With malice towards none..., The Emancipation Proclamation, and on it goes.

14~ Manhattan: The cultural and economic epicenter of this nation, if not the world. Wall Street, Broadway, Times Square, and the Empire State Building among other landmarks.

15~ Jospeh McCarthy: The man who would take the good fight of defeating Communism, and twist it into a bid for politcal power. A personification of the corruptness capable within the American political system.

16~ Normandy: The storming of those beaches is easily the greatest moment in our country's existence. Easily.

17~ Nine/Eleven: Falling towers, and common citizens fighting to the death on a plane. In many ways a loss of innocence. The repurcussions of that day will not subside for generations.

18~ The Oregon Trail: Nothing conjures up the searching for something better, of striking up on your own, of pioneers, than covered wagons traveling six months over empty plain and formidable mountain for the promised land that was the Oregon Territory.

19~ Saigon: Maybe America's greatest defeat was the fall of this city after a decade of fighting and over 40,000 American lives lost.

20~ The Stars and Bars: The flag of a bitterly lost cause. A symbol of regional pride. A symbol of defiance. A brand of hatred and intolerance. To many people, it means many different things.

21~ The Super Bowl: Nothing exemplifies the American love for sport, for celebration, for capitalistic excess, than this, maybe America's favorite secular holiday.

22~ Thanksgiving: This uniquely American holiday is also its first: a thanking of God. Nothing sums up the religious spirit of this nation better than this day.

23~ The Trail of Tears: Maybe the most tragic chapter in American history.

24~ Mark Twain: The most American of our great writers, author of maybe its greatest novel, both a celebrator and loving critic of his fellow citizens.

25~ George Washington: The man who could have been king, but instead voluntarily stepped aside after two terms. The liberator, father and first leader of this nation. The man who set the template of how the most powerful man in the nation, now quite possibly the world, is supposed to behave. Truly made all that followed after possible. Truly a great one.

Update: Looks like I inadvertantly started a squabble between The B and Mr. Moore. In a way it is comforting people take something like this so serious.

Fast Food Fascists

Kentucky Fried Chicken is being sued because they fry their fried chicken in a fat that The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a group who will be referred to here as The Nazis Hiding Behind the Skirt of Science.

How dare Kentucky Fried Chicken fry chicken! Doesn't Kentucky Fried Chicken know that eating fried food is bad. I am so glad that The Nazis Hiding Behind the Skirt of Science are here to force companies through lawsuits to prevent me from eating foods that are bad for me. I am merely a helpless member of the unwashed masses who cannot make nutrition decision on my own without The Nazis Hiding Behind the Skirt of Science to protect me.

After they go after the frying fat, they can go over steakhouses that sell fatty cuts of meat. Then they can go after red meat in general. And then ice cream makers who don't use skim milk. And then... we will live in food utopia. Glorious, glorious day that will be when The Nazis Hiding Behind the Skirt of Science protect us from eating tasty unhealthy food.

******

And now for a serious rebuttal, devastating in it's brevity, from a lawyer describing the case: "[The plaintiff] has not claimed injury. He has not claimed he is sick because of eating KFC. This food was fit to be consumed. I don't know what the damages are here."

Lynching Survivor Dies

A 92-year old black man who survived a lynching when he was a teen died of natural causes the other day. Reading of such things in the paper can remind you that the bad old days really were only a generation or two ago. Also it recalls what Chris Rock said, namely that the most racist people you will meet are old black men, because they actually had to live under Jim Crow. Kinda hard to blame them.

The recently deceased, James Cameron, who later founded a museum focusing on lynchings and other issues, was accused along with two of his buddies of killing a white man in a robbery and then raping his companion. A last minute alibi as Cameron hung from his neck saved him, but not his two friends. Such an ugly story.

It is truly good that such things are now safely in the past. That the rushing to judgement in racially charged rapes and killings no longer mars American society.

Stupid, Stupid, Stupid

If you have to tell your 16-year old daughter that it is not a good idea to meet the 25-year old guy she talks to via MySpace by flying -- by herself -- to Amman, freakin' Jordan, then there really is no point of telling her anyway.

For she apparently has the common sense of a janitor's mop.

Good News Gets Better

You would think having two 500 pound bombs dropped on your head would kill someone instantly. Al-Zarqawi wasn't that lucky. When US and Polish forces arrived, they found him alive, and put him on a stretcher where he writhed and moaned for a while before dying.

So not only did Al-Zarqawi have to suffer the dual realizations that he in captivity, and dying, but it is fair to assume that his death was neither painless nor quick. Seems fair for someone who liked to televise himself beheading hostages.

Additionally, US forces went on nearly forty raids throughout the Badhdad area using the intelligence they found in the bombed out 'safehouse.'

Do Canadian Jihadists Play Hockey?

Reading about this big terror bust in Canada is in a way kind of encouraging. Law enforcement appears to be doing its job. But also, what is encouraging is that Canada is just as hated by Islamist jihadists as the United States. The US was told by many liberals (to be fair, mostly European ones) that we had kind of asked for it.

We gave military support to Israel. We were the lead sponsors of sanctions against Iraq. We had the military base in Saudi Arabia. And we went ahead with the current war to topple Saddam Hussein.

Canada played no lead role in Israel, sanctions, or Saudi Arabia, and actively opposed the current war. The crime that made its own Muslim citizens (who grew up not in poverty and ignorance but relative prosperity with education it must be noted) was involvement in Afghanistan. So to avoid ticking off such people, we must maintain a stance of pacifism towards any and all Muslim countries, even if such a country openly harbors someone who ordered planes to be flown into skyscrapers.

That clears things right up. Now maybe some more of the wishy-washy sort will stop apologizing for wearing too short a skirt.

Digital Booze

Kadnine is talking alcohol, and dangit if that doesn't get me in the mood to talk about it myself. Yes, it's a vice I enjoy. I know some of my readers may frown upon the consumption of alcoholic beverages, and to them I say, "Don't be a weenie, all the cool kids are doing it. Drink! Peer pressure!" But seriously, what I say is that I believe that it is not the drinking of alcohol that is wrong, only the abuse of it. So with no further ado...

Liquor: I love the taste of bourbon -- something about the smoothness, the almost menthol-like vapor that fills your mouth and sinus in the aftertaste. Not too sweet, but flavorful. I prefer it on the rocks, of a brand just a notch or two above Jim Beam, like a Maker's Mark or Buffalo Trace.

I also like to indulge in the occasional Gin and Tonic, introduced to me by my Sweedish fraternity brothers, and the occasional White Russian, introduced to me before the Big Lebowski popularized it. Don't care for rum, and tequila makes me wretch, unless either is mixed into a girly drink, which I am confident enough to drink without shame.

Wine: Not an expert, but I like either dry reds, or whites that do not have too much tartness to them. Chianti is a favorite. Not only is it a refreshing dry red wine, but the wicker bottle that it comes in is cool, and it goes great with liver and fava beans. Thip-thip-thip-thip-thip

Beer: I am a beer snob. Not obnoxious about it, not above having a Bud Light with the guys, but I do like my good stuff.

Favorites include:
~ Guinness.
~ Old Speckled Hen, which has the same consistency of Guiness but a lighter color and taste.
~ Young's Double Chocolate Stout, which has an amazing aftertaste.
~ Hoegaarten, the Belgian white beer that is bastardized in America as Blue Moon.
~ Sam Adams.
~ Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, (their porter is also excellent).
~ Fraoch Heather Ale, a beer that tastes almost like it was brewed from flower petals. Not for all beer drinkers, but worth checking out. I like the stuff.
~ Duvel, another Belgian ale.
~ Miller Genuine Draft, you always remember your first.

Dislikes include:
~ Heineken.
~ Anchor Steam.
~ Pete's Wicked Strawberry, or any beer spiced with fruity flavors.
~ Gimmick hoppy beer, like Hopzilla.

And Zima, Mike's Hard Lemonade and similar monstrosities should be saved for the teenagers whose parents are out of town. Their youth excuses them. On that I'll be an unapologetic snob.

That Middle Finger You See is Merely a Symptom of a Disease

That person who is tailgating you with their high beams on? They're not rude. That driver who flipped you off? Not his fault. They are actually victims suffering from intermittent explosive disorder, according to a new study. And 16 million Americans are suffering from this disease.

"People think it's bad behavior and that you just need an attitude adjustment, but what they don't know ... Is that there's a biology and cognitive science to this." said a doctor in the article.

Is there biology behind anger? Yes. Just like any emotion. But the false excuse of another disorder is the last thing needed in this culture. "It's not my fault, I'm suffering from intermittent explosive disorder," does not cut it for getting aggressive with somebody who accidently cut you off.

It's called being a jerk. It's called making people accept responsibilities for their own actions.

PS: I'm not saying you are not allowed to cuss a little when grandma is driving 40 in a 55. But we all know instinctively what crosses the line.

Devastating

My friend Christie is about my age. When she lost her mom to cancer 9 months ago, she was of course very upset, but she got to say her goodbyes and get used to the concept. Last Friday when her dad had a massive heart attack and died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital...

I cannot imagine. Don't want to.

I know there are only one or two readers of this site who even know who Christie is, but keep her in your thoughts and prayers. When the girlfriend called me to tell me the news, since it is through the girlfriend that I know her, she told me that she was repeating over and over, "A year ago I had both my parents." Be thankful folks, be thankful.

The Great American Novel

The guys over at Powerline recently had a poll of the greatest American novel. Here is Powerline's top ten.

1: Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain
2: To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
3: Moby Dick, Herman Mellville
4: The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
5: Catch-22, Jospeh Heller
6: Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
7: My Antonia, Willa Cather
8: All the King's Men, Robert Penn Warren
9: A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemmingway
10: The Sound and the Fury, William Faulkner

I can quibble with the list, since I've read 9 of the 10 (I'll hit Bradbury soon) but it seems fairly sound to me. I think My Antonia is a bit too high, and I would probably replace it with The Scarlet Letter, but that's it.

A Rational Rebuttal

Dolphin comments on my earlier post, Post Modern?:

There is no (zero, zilch, zippo) rational reason to oppose mariage equality. All arguments against it are based on bigotry and hatred which is clear even to those making such arguments which is why the urgency is there for them.

I would disagree. There is one thing that patriarchal polygamists, polyamorists, and homosexuals all know: A victory for one concernng legal marriage is a victory for all.

A long but worthwhile read over at the Weekly Standard makes the assertion that polygamy and democracy are not compatable. It is thorough, discussing the polygamy of fundalmentalist Islam and hisorical Mormonism, and comparing it to modern day polyamorists, and how the law of the land and culture influence them, and are influenced by them. Some snippets from the article.

~ The new wave of [HBO's] Big Love-inspired talk about polygamy is directly attributable to the campaign for same-sex marriage. Big Love was created by a pair of gay-marriage advocates, who use the show to highlight the analogy between same-sex unions and polygamy.

~ Of course, liberal law professors aren't defending polygamy out of affection for [Mormon/Islamic style] patriarchy. Their goal is to establish the principle that individuals have the right to create and define their families as they see fit. Ultimately, that would put same-sex marriage, polyamory, nonsexual group partnerships, and even singlehood on a par with traditional marriage, resulting in the effective abolition of marriage itself as a legal status.

And this is essentially the crux of the piece, found surprising late within it:

~ Democratic culture depends on monogamous marriage. The alternatives are either too authoritarian [patriarchial polygamy] to be adapted to our society or so hyper-individualist [polyamory] that they cannot perform the work of families. And recognition of either alternative would undermine the monogamy on which the stability of American marriage depends.

But it's all 'back of the bus' bigotry, right?

The True Ethanol Test

Wal-Mart may be getting into ethanol.

The world's largest retailer brought together a group of industry, government and academic experts on alternative fuels in Washington last week to discuss how Wal-Mart could develop a network for supplying gas stations at its stores and Sam's Clubs with E-85 fuel.

E-85 is a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline.

"We are considering E-85, absolutely," Wal-Mart spokesman Kevin Gardner said.

Wal-Mart hasn't committed to ethanol, but is seriously looking into the nuts and bolts of it. And here is ethanol's big test. If any company can make ethanol profitable, it would be the world's largest retailer. But the flip side is if the world's largest retailer, after doing some major planning and number crunching, discovers that an investment into E-15 just can't turn a profit, then ethanol proponent might as well be talking about teleportion devices.

Here's hoping it works -- if for no other reason than the glee of watching Green Party Wal-Mart-hater types go nuts while filling up at 'Evil Inc.'