November 2003 Archives

Senator McCain nails it:

"The numbers are astonishing," McCain said on "Fox News Sunday."

"Congress is now spending money like a drunken sailor," said McCain, a former Navy officer, "and I've never known a sailor, drunk or sober, with the imagination that this Congress has."

He said growth of spending had been capped at 4 percent, but it was at least 8 percent higher. He said he will continue urging Bush to veto profligate spending bills. The president has not veto a single bill since he took office.
. . .
An example, he said, is a massive energy bill, which also has been put aside until Congress reconvenes.

"The administration originally supported an energy bill that would cost about $8 billion. This one is up to $24 billion, and the administration is still saying it's one of its highest priorities," McCain said. "I don't know how you rationalize that."

One frustrating aspect of watching Sunday-morning-type talk shows is watching politicians dance around direct questions and not get called out on it. It make you wonder what the point of the program is if politicians are allowed to trot out their standard talking points without being challenged.

Demagogue (via Eschaton) has a good example of a politician trying to perform a typical dance. Only this time she was forced to face several follow up questions. The result wasn't pretty.

First, some background. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R-Colo.) is one of the co-sponsors behind the proposed Federal Marriage Amendment (H.J.Res. 56), which reads:

Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman. Neither this constitution or the constitution of any state, nor state or federal law, shall be construed to require that marital status or the legal incidents thereof be conferred upon unmarried couples or groups.

As Demagogue chronicles, Rep. Musgrave was taken to task for this confusion on ABC News' "This Week." The entire exchange is worth reading, but here's an example of typical politico-dodging:

STEPHANOPOULOS: [Asking Musgrave] "What about the language on legal incidence?"

REP. MUSGRAVE: "The intent of the Federal marriage amendment is to have a Federal definition of marriage and to prevent states from exporting gay marriage."

Finally, it comes to this:

REP. [BARNEY] FRANKS: "It's not in here about states' rights, Marilyn ... Nothing in here allows Massachusetts to make its own decisions or Vermont on civil unions. You say it reserves these to states' rights. It doesn't say that anywhere in here."

REP. MUSGRAVE: "We'll discuss this through the process."

It seems to me that either: (1) Rep. Musgrave doesn't understand her own proposal (it is after all only a constitutional amendment); or (2) Rep. Musgrave is lying about what this amendment effort is attempting to achieve.

I wasn't going to comment on Bush's Thanksgiving Day escapade, but people are making such a fuss over it that I will.

On one side people are using the trip to lob their usual charges of politicalization and whatever else opponents say about the guy in charge. On the other side people using this episode as an opportunity to heap lavish praise upon their guy.

How should one view the trip?

Here's a thought: how about viewing it for what it was--a two-and-a-half-hour visit to show appreciation to some troops. Bush wasn't on the front line leading the troops through enemy fire, nor was he broadcasting live to the Republican National Convention. He simply flew in, met some people, and flew back out.

Not only have the motives for this visit been over-analyzed and over-hyped, but so has the fallout. I actually heard one "military analyst" state that in one fell swoop Bush had changed the entire political situation in Iraq. Really? Simply by sharing turkey with the troops? If the problems in Iraq were that easily fixed, Bush should have been there a long time ago.

I can understand bloggers and political types dwelling on this story, because that's the kind of thing they talk about. But why have the news networks been falling all over themselves on this? Granted the holiday weekend is a slow news period and all, but is this and Jacko the only thing left to talk about?

My guess is that the Washington press corps, which likes to perpetuate the illusion that they are on top of everything, is in disbelief that they got snookered by the White House. Imagine that--the most powerful man in the world being able to pull something off without the approval of his media entourage. I guess there's still some sense of order on Pennsylvania Avenue.

Yesterday N.Z. Bear floated the idea of breaking up his Ecosystem into smaller communities:

Here's the vision: I'd like to see other Ecosystems created, each focusing on their own particular community within the weblog world. Perhaps there could be an Ecosystem for U.S. military bloggers; an Ecosystem for political conservatives (or liberals); an Ecosystem for bloggers writing in Portuguese. Wherever a community of interest exits in the Blogosphere, there might be an Ecosystem for it.

Some might argue that this would contribute to a fragmenting effect in the Blogosphere; isolating communities so that they only communicate internally among themselves. But I think the effect would be the opposite. By providing a focus and nexus for blog communities, I think such Ecosystems would make it easier for outsiders to understand them and sample the work of their bloggers. I know that I'd personally be more likely to genuinely spend time browsing through the blogs of the kinds of communities I note above if there was an easier way to find the most well-regarded bloggers working within them.
. . .
So, I am considering turning the Ecosystem code base into an open source effort, and inviting other bloggers to take up the mantle of running their own, individual versions of the Ecosystem, tailored to focus on the needs of their own communities. Each Ecosystem would be completely self-contained and independent, but they would all rely upon the same open-source code base, to which I will continue contributing --- and others would be encouraged to enhance and modify as well. And each Ecosystem could also use the peripheral features I've implemented over time, such as the New Weblog Showcase, to further highlight the work within their own communities. Looking into the longer term, perhaps methods could be developed to share data between Ecosystems --- the most obvious application of which might be to create a mega-Ecosystem that rolls up data from all of them.

We also have a number of prominent blogs. According to my quick glance through the Blogosphere Ecosystem (undoubtedly I missed some), the RTB has:

1 Higher Being
3 Playful Primates
8 Large Mammals
4 Marauding Marsupials
7 Adorable Rodents
6 Flappy Birds
8 Slithering Reptiles
4 Crawly Amphibians
1 Flippery Fish

The Resonance weather observatory has just detected a rare November snowfall outside its Knoxville, Tennessee headquarters; the first of the season.

How long is it until spring, anyway?

UPDATE: The snow didn't last long. We got just enough for it to be visible on the grass.

'Tis the season:

Thousands of people have been sickened across the country with what health officials say is a severe strain of influenza in a season that started earlier than expected.

From NASCAR Winston Cup News:

BMS Will Assist With GED Programs

The adult education programs in Southwest Virginia and in Sullivan County, Tennessee have teamed up with NASCAR and the Bristol Motor Speedway to spread the word about GED programs. The Speedway will hand out incentive packages for adults who go back to school. They will include tickets to three events at BMS, totaling 150 dollars. According to Ben Trout, a spokesman for the track, he's anticipating more than 300 thousand dollars worth of tickets to be given away. Bristol Motor Speedway will soon be a testing site for adults working toward their GED's. (Bristol Herald Courier) (11-26-03).

That's pretty pathetic.

Here's someone who could have enjoyed fomer UT President John Shumaker's proposed "Rocky Top Cafe" in China.

There's plenty of people on the roads this weekend. Fittingly, the New York Times has an interesting information on U.S. road safety:

The United States, long the safest place in the world to drive and still much better than average among industrialized nations, is being surpassed by other countries.

Even though the nation has steadily lowered its traffic death rates, its ranking has fallen from first to ninth over the last 30 years, according to a review of global fatality rates adjusted for distances traveled.
. . .
Many safety experts cite several reasons the United States has fallen in the rankings, despite having vehicles equipped with safety technology that is at least as advanced as, if not more than, any other nation. They include lower seat-belt use than other nations; a rise in speeding and drunken driving; a big increase in deaths among motorcyclists, many of whom do not wear helmets; and the proliferation of large sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks, which are more dangerous to occupants of other vehicles in accidents and roll over more frequently.
. . .
Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta has laid out an ambitious target of reducing the nation's traffic death rate to 1 death per 100 million miles traveled from 1.5 deaths by 2008. That would translate into roughly 12,000 fewer deaths per year, given projections for increased road use. Last year in the United States, 42,815 people died in traffic accidents, the most since 1990.
. . .
Getting to his target would require a radically faster pace of improvement. As of last year, the death rate in the United States had fallen to 1.51 deaths per 100 million miles traveled from 1.58 in 1998.

Since 1970, the United States traffic death rate has fallen from nearly 4.8 deaths per 100 million miles traveled. By 2000, the rate in Britain had fallen to 1.2 deaths per 100 million miles from 6.1 in 1970. The new figure is the lowest traffic death rate compiled by the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, which collects a variety of statistics from industrialized countries.

Australia's death rate has fallen from 7.13 in 1971 � the country did not estimate distances traveled the previous year � to 1.45 in 2001. Canada's death rate is slightly less.
. . .
Other nations have much higher rates. Turkey's was close to 11.74 deaths per 100 million miles in 2001 and the Czech Republic was 5.21. The economic organization's median figure in 2001 was about 2.1 deaths.

Here's an assignment I never had in parochial school:

Author J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, is an American classic that has been required high school reading for decades.

The book is has been known as a "coming of age book," but it's also remembered for its use of the "F" word.

"My teacher decided that it would be best to have the students go home and say in private the phrase 'F-U,' 10,000 times in different dialogues and different ways and tones and stuff, so that we'd become desensitized to it and wouldn't have to worry about it," said Chantilly High School student Jeff Daybell.

Most of the students in English teacher Rich Tucker's class weren't bothered, but Daybell -- a Mormon -- said he was offended.

Via Cam Edwards.

I think I finally fixed a few bugs which were plaguing this site:

• I deleted an extra line break in the template which was causing the main window to mirror the pop-up window when you hit the trackback link.


• With a tip from the girlie matters, I added a href target to the Movable Type GlobalSanitizeSpec setting so the URL in the comment pop-up box will now open in a new window


• With help from Garry and this page, I got rid of the peekaboo-like bug which was hiding the name/e-mail/URL fields in the comment box when viewing with Internet Explorer 6.

Where principles reign:

During 14 years in the Michigan Legislature and 11 years in Congress, Rep. Nick Smith had never experienced anything like it. House Speaker Dennis Hastert and HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson, in the wee hours last Saturday morning, pressed him to vote for the Medicare bill. But Smith refused. Then things got personal.

Smith, self term-limited, is leaving Congress. His lawyer son Brad is one of five Republicans seeking to replace him from a GOP district in Michigan's southern tier. On the House floor, Nick Smith was told business interests would give his son $100,000 in return for his father's vote. When he still declined, fellow Republican House members told him they would make sure Brad Smith never came to Congress. After Nick Smith voted no and the bill passed, Duke Cunningham of California and other Republicans taunted him that his son was dead meat.
. . .
Republicans voting against the bill were told they were endangering their political futures. Major contributors warned Rep. Jim DeMint they would cut off funding for his Senate race in South Carolina. A Missouri state legislator called Rep. Todd Akin to threaten a primary challenge against him.

Intense pressure, including a call from the president, was put on freshman Rep. Tom Feeney. As speaker of the Florida House, he was a stalwart for Bush in his state's 2000 vote recount. He is the Class of 2002's contact with the House leadership, marking him as a future party leader. But now, in those early morning hours, Feeney was told a "no" vote would delay his ascent into leadership by three years -- maybe more.

Feeney held firm against the bill. So did DeMint and Akin. And so did Nick Smith. A steadfast party regular, he has pioneered private Social Security accounts. But he could not swallow the unfunded liabilities in this Medicare bill. The 69-year-old former dairy farmer this week was still reeling from the threat to his son. "It was absolutely too personal," he told me.

Victory at any cost.

Wandering Hillbilly has a Thanksgiving edition of the Volunteer Tailgate Party.

Earlier I mentioned the political-correctness-driven situation in Los Angeles County, where vendors where asked not to use the designation "Master/Slave" for computer components.

According to this story (via Calpundit), things have gotten even worse. County employees were ordered to relabel more than 1,000 pieces of equipment, and now county officials have publicly gone on offense:

Dennis A. Tafoya, director of the affirmative action office, said an African-American employee who filed the complaint felt it was employment discrimination because the employee was working on video equipment with the label written on it. The office investigated and determined that the complaint did not involve employment discrimination, but the official recognized that the term could be perceived as offensive.

"The issue was the employee had to operate this equipment and look at the term 'slave and master,' and given their background as an African-American person, I imagine they had different feelings about it," Tafoya said.

"We found the terms were antiquated and offensive to individuals and that a more reasonable term could be used. I think that's what we should do. If it means culture change, then we have to begin someplace.

"This has got some people's hair up on the back of their neck. They believe it's a question of being politically correct. It's not that at all. It's an issue of valuing diversity, respect and dignity for the individual who comes to work here every day. The issue that resonates in different people's minds is a very negative connotation."

We've got far more important problems in America than this kind of stuff. A cause, such as racial equality, only has so much political capital to spend, so it's important to pick the battles it fights wisely. This is a horrible choice.

Here's an interesting site (via Daily Kos) which analyzes donations made to the presidential candidates. One section ranks the candidates according to donations along several criteria. The other section plots donations on a national map and allows you to sort by zip code, county, and state.

Based on my unscientific browsing, it appears that amongst the Democratic candidates, Tennessee is darkest for Senator Edwards--i.e., relatively speaking Tennessee is one of the stronger areas of financial support for Edwards. This shouldn't be too surprising, given that he's from neighboring North Carolina.

Take a look at the map. It's cool to play with, and in some areas the results are surprising.

I've added the newest Rocky Top Brigade members.

Welcome, all.

Not everyone in the world is taking off for a long holiday weekend. Today was the State Opening for British Parliament. I caught a few minutes of the BBC replay on C-SPAN and the event is rife with ceremony and tradition--most of which I probably didn't grasp.

A part of Queen Elizabeth II's speech which appears to have garnered a fair amount of discussion regards education:

A Bill will be introduced to enable more young people to benefit from higher education.

Upfront tuition fees will be abolished for all full-time students and a new Office for Fair Access will assist those from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Universities will be placed on a sound financial footing.

It seems as if Britain is facing some of the same problems as we face across the pond in America. Apparently a lottery system isn't always a cure-all.

Thanksgiving is still a day away, but already we're in the midst of a holiday mainstay: dramatic news coverage of people traveling. Unsatisfied by last year's effort, news networks are re-doubling their efforts and are at again with footage of people lined up at airport counters and slow-moving traffic on the interstate. With more live reports and better camera angles, this year could be big journalism's finest hour. Stay tuned.

I do have one suggestion on how they can bring us even closer to the action. A few months ago when that hurricane hit the Carolina coast, I saw a fascinating report from a correspondent who was literal strapped to the back of a moving truck. Rather than standing at the side of the highway, I think some embeded reporter should do the same thing and give us a live update from the back of a pickup plodding 25 m.p.h. down I-95. That would help bring the story home.

In and of itself, this story about the RNC editing Bush's State of the Union speech for its recently-released commercial isn't a big deal; this "controversy" represents your run-of-the-mill political sniping. After all, is there anyone who really thinks that campaign commercials aren't edited?

Viewed in the larger context, however, this incident illustrates the fictional qualities of the Bush presidency. A Hollywood movie director could scarcely whip up a better production. From Operation Photo-Op to Healthy Forests, Bush is attempting to pull the wool over the eyes of conservatives and moderates alike.

Take a look at this gem from yesterday's script:

I want to thank and congratulate the members of Congress for their hard work. You see, we have a responsibility in Washington, D.C. to solve problems, not to pass them on.

Don't be fooled simple-sounding speeches and elaborate stagecraft; when it comes to government policy, the devil is always in the details. When you examine the fine print, you'll find that the administration is usually up to something quite different than it claims.

I was glancing through President Bush's remarks on the Medicare bill, and came across this nugget:

Free countries don't develop weapons of mass destruction. Free countries don't attack their neighbors. Free countries listen to the hopes and aspirations of the people who live in those countries. America also believes that freedom is not America's gift to the world, freedom is the Almighty's gift to every person who lives in this world.

Oh, and somehow our army also found itself camped in Iraq.

New technology, new dangers:

There was a bizarre hit and run that took place in San Francisco on Tuesday between a 3-year-old girl and a Segway. It may be the first accident of it's kind locally involving the motorized scooter which happens to be banned on city sidewalks. ABC7's Jim Weider reports supervisors aren't happy to hear the suspect got away.

Three-year-old Ruby Bleskacek sustained cuts, bruises and a nasty bump on her head.

Police say this could be the Bay Area's first injury accident by a Segway, known as a high-tech people mover. In 2002, Willie Brown and company helped usher them into San Francisco.

The child was walking outside her father's Potrero Hill store on Tuesday when a Segway ran her down. Witnesses say it was traveling about 10 miles per hour.

Joel Bleskacek, father: "I was quite angry and I confronted him. I asked him why he was driving so fast during the crowded lunch hour on the sidewalk. He claimed my daughter jumped in front of him."

The man fled the scene on his Segway. Police think he lives in the neighborhood.

Beware of those high-speed Segways.

As a free service to Resonance readers, I've conducted extensive research and amassed the following program schedule for the major news networks:

Prime-time news programming (7:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m.)

CNN: Jacko arrest
MSNBC: Jacko arrest
FNC: Jacko arrest
E!*: Jacko arrest

*Not traditionally considered a news network, but by today's standards it might as well be.

Stephen Roach (via Brad DeLong) thinks the surge in global trade, generally viewed as a driver of recent prosperity, is at risk of being derailed:

Indeed, there can be no mistaking the increasingly important role global trade has played in driving world economic growth in recent years. By our estimates global trade in goods and services now amounts to 25% of world GDP, up dramatically from the 19% share just ten years ago and an 11% portion in 1970. Over the past 17 years, 1987 to 2003, surging global trade has accounted for fully 33% of the cumulative increase in world GDP. By contrast, over the 1974-86 period, trade accounted for about 17% of the cumulative increase in world GDP. In other words, since the late 1980s there has been a virtual doubling of the role that trade has played in driving the global GDP growth dynamic. There can be no greater testament to the power of globalization.

Yet there are worrisome signs that the trade dynamic is now going the other way. After surging by a record 13% in 2000, global trade has entered one of its worst slumps in modern experience -- average gains of just 2% over the 2001-03 period. That's the weakest performance since the early 1980s and only a third of what we estimate to be a 6.5% long-term trend in global trade growth. Coming in the context of one of the mildest global recessions in recent history, this shortfall is all the more disconcerting. It suggests that there may be new forces coming into play that transcend the normal pressures of the business cycle.

1. The breakdown in WTO ministerial negotiations in Cancun, Mexico.


2. The continuing fallout from the Bush administration's tariffs on steel imports.


3. The Bush administration's quotas on Chinese textiles and other anti-China rumblings in Congress.


4. U.S./European tensions on agricultural subsidies and disputes on other services.


5. Ongoing difficulties in reaching a consensus on bilateral and regional trade agreements.

It didn't take a genius to see this coming:

"Life Worsens for Donkeys Under Suspicion"

Since guerrillas used donkeys to outwit the high-tech defenses of the U.S. military in Iraq, the life of the beast of burden has never been so miserable.

Attackers used donkey carts to launch Katyusha rockets at the Oil Ministry and two fortified Baghdad hotels Friday. Two other donkey carts were stopped -- one carrying more rockets, the other a donkey-bomb wired up with explosives.

Every donkey in Baghdad is suddenly under suspicion as President Bush wages a global war on terror.

In a crackdown on an animal that already suffers multiple daily whippings, U.S. soldiers with automatic rifles regularly stop and search donkey carts for weapons.

Donkeys are not alone. Horses also face new checks.

"The Americans always check our horse carriages. Every time we ride around they stop us and check our wooden boxes for weapons," said Ali Hassan, in the muddy streets of the Sadr City slum, as horse owners bought kerosene among piles of rotten garbage swarming with flies.

A couple strange instances of local governments responding to the contemporary backlash against slavery.

First, Los Angeles County recently requested that vendors not use the term "Master/Slave" (apparently common in computing parlance) in their dealing with the county (via Slashdot). A memo issued by the county reportedly included the following:

The County of Los Angeles actively promotes and is committed to ensure a work environment that is free from any discriminatory influence be it actual or perceived. As such, it is the County's expectation that our manufacturers, suppliers and contractors make a concentrated effort to ensure that any equipment, supplies or services that are provided to County departments do not possess or portray an image that may be construed as offensive or defamatory in nature.

One such recent example included the manufacturer's labeling of equipment where the words "Master/Slave" appeared to identify the primary and secondary sources. Based on the cultural diversity and sensitivity of Los Angeles County, this is not an acceptable identification label.

We would request that each manufacturer, supplier and contractor review, identify and remove/change any identification or labeling of equipment or components thereof that could be interpreted as discriminatory or offensive in nature before such equipment is sold or otherwise provided to any County department.

Second, I read (via TalkLeft) that Lehman Brothers recently became the first company to file an affirmative acknowledgment under Chicago's slavery disclosure ordinance. In case you missed the story on this, as I did, the Chicago City Council passed an ordinance last year which requires companies doing business with the city to disclose if it (or any of its predecessors) profited from slave labor.

According to ordinance initiator Alderman Dorothy Tillman, the law was intended to help consumers: "I believe people would like to know if a corporation they're contemplating doing business with has its roots in trading in human cargo."

Mayor Richard Daley clarified that the law would "not prevent companies from doing business with the city," but that it would "shed a light on slavery."

I fail to see what useful function this added paperwork accomplishes. If the city really wants to know more about slavery, they'd be better off sponsoring a historian. And how much do consumers gain in assessing 150-year-old corporate management practices?

Don't get me wrong; I'm don't believe slavery and racism are bygone American relics which can now be swept under the rug. But these kinds of superficial measures don't really don't get us anywhere, do they?

UPDATE: More on the Lehman Brothers situation (via Say Uncle). The issue has taken an even sillier turn as Ald. Dorothy Tillman is now going after current management. Furthermore, it doesn't appear companies have been taking the disclosure requirement very seriously:

More than 2,000 slavery disclosure affidavits have been filed by city contractors since Feb. 4, when the landmark disclosure ordinance took effect. Lehman Brothers is the first company to admit that it found anything incriminating in its past.

"I don't think it means that we're the only firm that has that part in our history. It just means that we took it very seriously and we're quick to disclose what we know," Brown told the Sun-Times last week.

Citizens Against Government Waste has awarded the Boeing Corporation its first annual "Corporate Turkey of the Year Award":

"Boeing won more than $22 billion in government contracts despite an amazing display of corporate misconduct, ethical improprieties and irresponsibility," Schatz continued. "After improperly obtaining proprietary information from numerous competitors and even the Pentagon, Boeing continued to win sweetheart deals from the government and rip off taxpayers."

UPDATE: Fittingly, Boeing fired its CFO today. Why? For unethical conduct in the hiring one of the Air Force's senior procurement officers.

The revolving door between government and industry continues to churn, with taxpayer money greasing the skids.

John Dvorak writes that the supposed blogging revolution has gone bust. For instance, he notes the high blog abandonment rate:

The most obvious reason for abandonment is simple boredom. Writing is tiresome. Why anyone would do it voluntarily on a blog mystifies a lot of professional writers. This is compounded by a lack of feedback, positive or otherwise. Perseus thinks that most blogs have an audience of about 12 readers. Leaflets posted on the corkboard at Albertsons attract a larger readership than many blogs. Some people must feel the futility.

The problem is further compounded by professional writers who promote blogging, with the thought that they are increasing their own readership. It's no coincidence that the most-read blogs are created by professional writers. They have essentially suckered thousands of newbies, mavens, and just plain folk into blogging, solely to get return links in the form of the blogrolls and citations. This is, in fact, a remarkably slick grassroots marketing scheme that is in many ways awesome, albeit insincere.

Unfortunately, at some point, people will realize they've been used.

Steve Taylor challenges Dvorak's column, emphasizing the emergence of academic blogs. Of course many of us non-academics also continue to blog, albeit on a much lower stage.

. . . in more than one way. Talk about being caught in the act:

A man caught driving naked from the waist down while watching kiddie porn on his laptop has become the first man in Toronto charged for allegedly stealing an internet connection. Toronto police laid a theft of communications charge after busting a man driving in the residential High Park area, the wrong way down a one-way street, downloading child porn using stolen wireless internet signals.

The slow-moving car was pulled over around 5 a.m. on Wednesday by an 11 Division police officer who allegedly found the driver -- with no pants on -- watching a movie on his laptop of a 10-year-old girl performing fellatio on an adult.

Police allege the man downloaded the movie using an Internet connection he intercepted from a nearby house.

This doesn't sound good:

Kazakhstan, a former Soviet Republic in Central Asia and the world's ninth-largest country, is oil-rich and pro-American, has an increasingly repressive government awash in corruption and a 47 percent Moslem population. Those are many of the conditions that have allowed radical Islam to take root in the Middle East.

The Bush administration, by appeasing Kazakhstan for its oil and accommodation of U.S. troops, risks contributing to the creation of a new Iraq or Afghanistan on a giant scale.

This is just the beginning of a plausible Central Asian nightmare scenario. Numerous other former Soviet republics, including Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrkyzstan, are similarly ripe for Islamic radicalization in a region that stretches from Europe to China.

Should Islamic guerrilla warfare come to the area, American forces intent on fighting a "war on terror" could be drawn into battle in close proximity to Russia and China, in a resource-rich region where the world's three largest nuclear powers are already jockeying for control.
. . .
By supporting such leaders or turning a blind eye to their misdeeds for the short-term use they can be to the United States, the Bush administration is encouraging another blowback.

The administration should demonstrate its commitment to democracy by becoming a vocal critic of autocracy and corruption in Central Asia. It should think twice before counting former Communist Party and KGB hands as its allies. Instead, it should support thousands of reformists throughout the region who, like Sergei Duvanov, are languishing in prisons unjustly or have been silenced through intimidation and fear.

C.J. fingers the most deadly weapon of mass destruction threatening Americans; one "hidden" in our midst.

Progress continues:

Three U.S. soldiers were killed Sunday in separate attacks on their military convoys in Iraq, according to the U.S. military.

Two soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division were killed Sunday when their convoy came under attack by small-arms fire in the northern town of Mosul, according to a U.S. Army spokesman.

Witnesses told CNN the soldiers were shot and wounded while riding in a civilian vehicle. Men then cut the soldiers' throats while they were still in the vehicle and a crowd of Iraqis, including children, stripped their bodies of personal effects and weapons, the witnesses said.

In these troubled times, we're fortunate enough to have leaders with keen foresight:

VICE PRES. CHENEY: Well, I don't think it's likely to unfold that way, Tim, because I really do believe that we will be greeted as liberators. I've talked with a lot of Iraqis in the last several months myself, had them to the White House. The president and I have met with them, various groups and individuals, people who have devoted their lives from the outside to trying to change things inside Iraq. And like Kanan Makiya who's a professor at Brandeis, but an Iraqi, he's written great books about the subject, knows the country intimately, and is a part of the democratic opposition and resistance. The read we get on the people of Iraq is there is no question but what they want to the get rid of Saddam Hussein and they will welcome as liberators the United States when we come to do that.

Buyer beware:

What CBS 2 found that some of the most famous stores in our area are doing is not only disgusting, it's dangerous. Selling used lingerie. Shame On You went undercover and what we found is shocking.
. . .
[W]e bought thong underwear at two Victoria's Secret stores, and at Macy's, Saks Fifth Avenue and Bloomingdale's. We took them home, cut off the sales tags to suggest they'd been worn then marked each pair with two tiny black dots on the labels.

Every store took back our thongs without the tags, never asking if they'd been worn. Next our hidden camera caught the sales clerk at a Victoria's Secret attaching a new price tag on our returned thong, hanging it up and then putting it back on the floor for sale. We know it's the same thong because our two dots were on the label. Unbelievably, it�s not illegal in the tri-state area to sell used underwear, but "It could get someone sick."

Microbiologist Dr. Lori Daane says dangerous bacteria like yeast and ecoli can survive for weeks on lingerie and can be easily transferred. "Given the fact that you can get these organisms on this clothing, especially thong underwear, it's pretty likely you�re going to get some fecal contamination."
. . .
We also found our returned thongs back on the sales floor at another Victoria's Secret, at Saks Fifth Avenue and at Macy's.
. . .
Interestingly, in New York it's illegal to sell hats that have been returned but not thong underwear.

Some stores do refuse to take back underwear, a policy that should be posted. But the best protection for consumers is to wash, wash, wash your underwear before putting it on.

Via King of Fools.

Recently, CNN's " Anderson Cooper 360�" had a segment on bizarre sleep behavior which some of you may have seen. Here's more of the same from a WJLA report (via Wrong Side of Happiness):

FRANTIC, UNCONTROLLED EATING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT, WHILE YOUR STILL SLEEPING.

IT'S CALLED SLEEP EATING ...

Susan Smith: "Then I'd get up and see all the food in the kitchen that was gone. You know that I'd eaten."

IT'S A BIZARRE SLEEP DISORDER THAT BOTH SUSAN SMITH AND NANCY JORDAN HAVE SUFFERED WITH FOR DECADES.

Nancy Jordan: "This is chicken breast. I had them whole, frozen."

MILLIONS OF AMERICANS SLEEP EAT. A PERSON CAN HAVE SEVERAL EPISODES IN ONE NIGHT AND NOT REMEMBER A THING.

Susan: "Ice cream, bread cake ... you know you don't get up and eat apples."

DOCTORS SAY "SLEEP EATING" USUALLY AFFECTS WOMEN AND IT USUALLY DEVELOPS IN THEIR TEENS. AND SOME PEOPLE DON'T JUST EAT FOOD - BUT WILL ACTUALLY EAT THINGS LIKE CIGARETTES OR PRESCRIPTION DRUGS.
. . .
Lea Montgomery, nurse: "I'm not talking about making a plate, sitting at a table, having a nice meal in your sleep. I'm talking about frenzied, chaotic, disorganized and primitive eating."

The human brain can do some funny things.

I see that Resonance recently evolved from a Slithering Reptile to a Flappy Bird in the Truth Laid Bear Ecosystem (Current Rank: #983).

I'm not exactly sure how this index is calculated. Looking back at the historical statistics, I see there are abrupt swings up and down in the number of inbound links.

After observing that C.S. Lewis died the same day as President Kennedy (a fact I similarly was unaware of), James Joyner notes how the amount of media coverage an event garners is contingent on whether or not other events overshadow it:

What's particularly fascinating to me is how much this illustrates the power of the news cycle. Comparatively minor events a congressman's affair with an employee, the murder of a child beauty queen) can become huge news stories if they take place during slow news periods. Conversely, rather major stories can get buried if they coincide with a hot story.

One wonders, for example, what happened on September 11, 2001 and the week or so thereafter that virtually no one knows about. Newspapers come out every day, regardless of whether there is anything exciting to put in them. Ditto nightly newscasts and the 24 hour news channels. The airtime gets filled with something every day.

Long-time CBS news producer Don Hewitt describes the famous Kennedy/Nixon debate as the worst night in American political history.

Why? Because it was then politicians realized that they couldn't win elective office without being on T.V. Since it takes lots of money to get on T.V., this has made politicians beholden to lobbyists and forces them to spend a huge amount of time fund raising.

Unfortunately, this is more true now than ever. Just take a look at who would be the greatest corporate beneficiaries under the proposed Energy and Medicare bills. Any coincidence that those companies are free-spending campaign contributors with an entrenched lobbyist network?

I think not.

There's some degree of irony in me using the above heading as I blog on Saturday night. But there's something really imbalanced about this:

In Paris, about 60 fans gathered on the Champs Elysees and marched through crowds of shoppers to the Arc de Triomphe. They held candles and banners with slogans of support and sang "We Are the World," the 1985 African famine relief anthem written by Jackson and Lionel Richie.

"It's really hard for us," said Pascale Hatot, a 37-year-old fan from the suburbs of Paris. "I haven't been able to sleep or eat for three days."

Supporters in Rome gathered at the foot of the Spanish Steps just after darkness fell. They held candles and a sign in Italian that read: "Michael: Accused but not guilty!"

With lagging sales due to current dieting fads, bread bakers have slipped down into the bunker to regroup:

The US bread industry is to hold a crisis "bread summit" on Friday to discuss falling sales amid the growing craze for protein- rich, low-carbohydrate regimes such as the Atkins diet.

Some 40 per cent of US consumers are eating less bread than a year ago, according to the National Bread Leadership Council, which is organising the meeting. The summit will focus on ways to dispel what the industry believes is misinformation encouraging consumers to switch from bread to meat.

The council's Patrick Davis said it was not clear whether the fall was a fad or a longer term change in eating habits. "Is it a real shift in how Americans like to eat? That's what we're going to discuss." Mr Davis added that, while the average American ate 54 pounds of bread a year, Italians and French ate almost three times as much but did not seem to suffer from obesity.

I'm not a nutritionist, but I can play one in the blogosphere (Hey, I did take a nutrition class in college). This Adkins-style diet fad seems totally misguided to me. Anyone who opts for meat and fatty foods over a diet of grains and vegetables is asking for long-term health problems:

Many doctors and the American Heart Association have warned that the diet could be dangerous. The Heart Association advocates a diet based on whole grains, fruits and vegetables.

It warned that over time the Atkins diet and similar approaches could raise cholesterol. Other experts have said the diet might also increase the risk of kidney disease and the PCRM [Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine] adds osteoporosis and colon cancer to the list of risks.

The PCRM, which advocates a strict vegetarian diet, has set up an online registry at www.atkinsdietalert.org for people to offer complaints about the diet.

. . . who already has had enough of the Jacko coverage.

You'd think from a ratings standpoint, one of the three cable news channels would try to tap into this sentiment and position themselves as the anti-hysteria alternative by limiting their coverage to a mere 10 hours a day, rather than 20. But I guess the pack mentality is hard to break.

. . . in voting against the "God resolution":

Before the last vote on the resolution, as written by the Greene County Commission, Commissioner Jeff McCall read a statement.

He paused, then explained why he was about to vote no, at times stopping to choke back tears.

Yes, he believed that God was the foundation of America's heritage.

``God is our creator,'' he said. ``God is and always will be.

``There is nothing I can do, or that we collectively can do, that will elevate God to any higher stature than he already has.''

Thus, McCall didn't think the resolution was necessary. By considering it, the commission was attempting to address a problem in America with governmental action, he said, a problem more appropriately a matter of individual responsibility.

He continued, ``If there is a danger of our nation forgetting and our children never knowing that God is our foundation, it will be because we fail as children of God to share his love with our community as we should, and because we fail as parents to teach our children about God and introduce them to his son, Jesus.

``I can say with little hesitation that my children will never read the minutes of this county commission to see what resolutions did or did not pass. But they will read, day in and day out, how their father acts, who he puts his faith in, and whether or not he loves his neighbor.''

Great. Now we're going to have to start bombing the donkeys:

More than a dozen rockets fired from donkey carts slammed into Iraq's Oil Ministry and two downtown hotels on Friday morning � brazen coordinated strikes at some of Baghdad's most heavily protected civilian sites that defied a U.S. crackdown.

Two other rocket launchers mounted on donkey carts were found within hours � one 30 yards from the Italian Embassy and another near the Academy of Fine Arts, both in the Waziriya neighborhood north of downtown. Iraqi police and U.S. troops were seen securing those weapons, which apparently had not been fired.

Yesterday, when asked about the thousands of people demonstrating against him, President Bush was in his typical memorized-response-regardless-of-the-question mode:

Q: Mr. President, if I could ask you, with thousands on the street -- with thousands marching on the streets today here in London, a free nation, what is your conclusion as to why apparently so many free citizens fear you and even hate you?

PRESIDENT BUSH: I'd say freedom is beautiful. It's a fantastic thing to come to a country where people are able to express their views.

Q: Why do they hate you, Mr. President? Why do they hate you in such numbers?

PRESIDENT BUSH: I don't know that they do. All I know is that it's -- that people in Baghdad, for example, weren't allowed to do this up until recent history. They're not spending a lot of time in North Korea protesting the current leadership. Freedom is a wonderful thing, and I respect that. I fully understand people don't agree with war. But I hope they agree with peace and freedom and liberty. I hope they care deeply about the fact that when we find suffering and torture and mass graves, we weep for the citizens that are being brutalized by tyrants.

Although Bush was trying to dodge the issue of his cool reception, his media allies back across the pond were doing their best to downplay the demonstrations by discrediting the messengers. This tactic had two main themes: the protestors are (1) far-left communist/anarchist radicals (if not terrorists themselves), who are (2) anti-American.

Anytime there�s a large, public demonstration, it�s likely to attract the people who are most disgruntled with society. There�s no question that some people involved in this rally are out on the political fringe. But I�ve haven�t seen any reporting indicating that such elements were anything more than a small minority of those demonstrating. As far as I could tell, the rally included plenty of rank-and-file Britons.

The second point is even more dishonest. Note to right-wing broadcasters: Being anti-Bush does not equal being anti-American. A majority of Europeans, even those in �Old Europe,� have a favorable opinion of America, and more importantly, American ideals. The thing that has turned them off is Bush�s reckless unilateral approach to policy, where diplomacy has become an afterthought.

The right-wing talking heads want to obscure this distinction; they want to deflect frustration toward the symptoms of the problem, away from the problem itself. Don�t be fooled. We haven�t yet burned all the bridges with our long-standing allies. There�s still an opportunity for reconciliation�back to the point where foreign masses welcome an American president. But we can�t continue down the path we�re on. It leads to even greater international disdain.

"Jackson Booked in Child Molestation Case."

I'm already starting to tune away from the news networks.

College dorm life today:

Steve Leslie's dorm room at Miami University has 20 plugs sprouting from the walls. They power a color TV, stereo, compact disc and DVD players, video game player, desktop computer and laptop, printer, scanner, refrigerator, microwave and two fans. Then there are rechargers for a cell phone, hand-held computer, camera, electric razor and toothbrush
. . . .
Today's collegians are part of a generation raised on electronics, and colleges are having no choice but to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to upgrade electrical systems. Often, the upgrade costs are getting passed on to parents and students in the form of higher fees.
. . .
The average freshman at Miami University takes 18 appliances to campus, according to a March survey by the school.

Maryville College in Maryville, Tenn., decided to tear down one residence hall last year and build a new dorm at a cost of $7 million.

"If too many women turned on their hair dryers in the morning, the circuit breakers would blow. That was happening daily," said Bill Seymour, vice president and dean of students.

Here's my electronics inventory when I lived in the dorm ten years ago:

1. Clock


2. Refrigerator


3. Microwave


4. Hairdryer


5. Typewriter/computer (Yes, I had a typewriter. Fortunately, my senior year roommate let me use his computer for those longer papers.)


6. Iron (rarely used).


7. Radio/CD player.

Suffice it to say, I lived on fewer watts than youngsters do today.

I'm out celebrating National Ammo Week. Ha!

There probably won't be any fresh posts until this evening. Enjoy the links to the right.

I took this survey (link via Ernie the Attorney) and apparently I'm not on the cutting edge; I scored a 47, which is in the bottom 15%. That may help explain why it seemingly took me two days to install this Movable Type web page.

Uggabugga reproduces a chart which tracks the deaths of American soldiers in Iraq. It highlights three milestones along the way: "Mission Accomplished," "Bring 'em on!," and "Deaths show Progress."

Not withstanding the best efforts of senators during last week's 36-hour marathon Fox News Channel photo op, yet another Bush judicial nominee is languishing on the Senate docket:

The Senate is blocking another of President Bush�s judicial nominees � but this time it�s Republicans and not Democrats playing the role of obstructionists.

Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) last week sought unanimous consent to take up the nomination of Leon Holmes to a seat on the U.S. District Court in Arkansas.
. . .
But at least four centrist Republicans expressed doubts about Holmes, based on statements culled from some of his writings. The four are Arlen Specter (Pa.), Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins (Maine), and Kay Bailey Hutchison (Texas).

Whatever the case, it isn't these senators who are holding up the vote:

Hutchison, noting that Senate Republicans just finished a futile marathon anti-filibuster effort to overcome Democratic opposition to six Bush nominees to federal appellate courts, said, "I will not ever stop a vote from coming to the floor. That�s what we talked about for 36 hours last week."

Pryor, who once practiced law with Holmes, a Republican, in Little Rock, noted that he has been �languishing� on the Senate�s calendar for more than six months. Pryor said he is "perplexed" as to why Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) hasn't scheduled a floor vote on the nomination.

Via Daily Kos.

First "The Reagans" gets yanked, now the prime-time Jacko special gets axed.

CBS sure is having a hard time with the lineup, isn't it?

This makes sense:

The United States on Wednesday insisted it remains committed to free trade despite new quotas on some clothing from China, a move that angered Beijing and apparently led to the suspension of large U.S. farm commodity purchases by China.

Growing tensions between the two trading partners were evident a day after the United States unveiled the quotas, with a delegation of Chinese wheat buyers postponing a trip to the United States planned for late November or early December.
. . .
"The administration is committed to free trade," U.S. National Security Council spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters traveling with Bush in London.

However, McCormack also said the United States was intent on "fully enforcing our trade laws," an apparent reference to a U.S.-China trade arrangement that allows Washington to set "safeguards" against import surges of specific goods.

Seriously, there's got to be a number of administration officials who have about had it with bizarre marriage between electoral politics and economic theory in current U.S. trade policy.

This is funny:

Ku Klux Klan members were apparently busy distributing a newsletter and fliers as some local residents found them attached to their mailboxes on Monday, Local 4 reported.

The newsletter called "The Flame," along with a flier, was attached by rubber bands to mailboxes in Ypsilanti and Pittsfield Township.

The materials reportedly called for the boycott of McDonalds, NASCAR and Coca-Cola for what the KKK says are the companies' tendency for discriminating against whites by hiring blacks and Hispanics.

Via Lean Left.

Kieran at Crooked Timber comments on President Bush's unavailability (cowardice?) in declining to address the British Parliament. Instead, Bush spoke to a selected audience.

I would pay to watch Bush confront an aggressive, parliamentary-styled interrogation Tony Blair routinely handles during Prime Minister's Questions.

Len notes some recent problems with electronic voting.

I've heard a lot of noise about problems with these machines, but I've not heard much about the problems being fixed. Maintaining a back-up paper trail isn't a bad idea.

In a post below, I asked if the Rocky Top Brigade is bound by a mutual defense pact similar to what I had seen mentioned at Calblog covering the Bear Flag League. In the course of the accompanying comments, Xrlq floated the idea of a peace agreement between the BFL and the RTB, to which South Knox Bubba replied:

Xrlq, as founder and maintainer of the RTB blogroll, I accept your proposal for a nonagression and mutual defense pact. We salute your fine outfit and proclaim it a great day for the Blogosphere. May no blog dare ever tread on the BFL or the RTB lest he or she as the case may be suffer the right mighty wrath and furious vengeance of both.

SKB is a great blogger and RTB administrator, but shouldn't we similarly ratify this pact? The last time a powerful leader secretly negotiated a non-aggression pact, Germany ended up invading Poland. I don't suspect I'll ever have a problem with any Bear Flag League member, but you do need to check who you are getting into bed with. According to my limited research, the Bear Flag League harbors not only conservatives, but also at least one Gator fan. That stretches tolerance close to the breaking point. [UPDATE: Breaker is a University of Florida alumnus, not a Gator fan; an important distinction.]

I'm as much a "big tent" kind of person as the next guy, but Angry Clam offers sage counsel: "Beware of the entangling alliances."

. . . is up at Peaktalk.

Two small nations, both with non-legitimately elected leaders who oppress their citizens and violate human rights. In one case the Bush administration is stepping up economic sanctions, in the other the administration is stepping up diplomatic relations.

What's a key difference between the two? (See comments for answer).

More developments in the unending church/state debate. On the local front there was good news yesterday as Knox County commissioners voted to affirm First Amendment principles by rejecting the so-called God resolution, which "called on all citizens to recognize God as the foundation of American heritage and government."

The story is different on the national level. Predictably, political missionaries, roused to action by Justice Moore's dismissal for judicial misconduct, are stampeding to the federal government to rescue them from their perceived persecution. Yesterday, Vision America, in conjunction with several other political/religious groups, held a press conference to announce a petition drive campaign called "Save the Ten Commandments--God's Contract with America."

Vision America says its campaign

"seeks to restore our Judeo-Christian heritage, check the secularist onslaught, defend public display of the Ten Commandments and other religious symbols, oppose judicial tyranny, and support the confirmation of federal judges committed to...judicial restraint."

Let's clear something up--despite the "secularist onslaught," there are plenty of places to display the Ten Commandments. You can post as many replicas in your home or church as you like. Depending on where you live, you can probably display them in your front yard. Heck, you might even be able to post them at your private sector job if your employer is accomodating. The only thing the judicial tyrants have done is attempted to do is maintain publicly-owned buildings as a religiously-neutral, evangelism-free zone.

The ironic part of this all is that many of the proponents of this type of campaign are the ones who typically rail against the power of government. Yet now they act as if the very existence of their faith hinges on their ability to get the same ineffectual government to give God its stamp of approval.

One quote to illustrate the confused mindset of this effort. Here's what Vision America President Rick Scarborough offered in the press conference:

"God often does his best work right after a crucifixion. What we saw with justice Roy Moore was a crucifixion. God will vindicate this man."

I rest my case.

Another great stroke by our "free trade" administration:

The Bush administration has decided to set new quotas on imports of Chinese clothing to stop a surge of shipments, U.S. Commerce Undersecretary Grant Aldonas announced on Tuesday.

Aldonas said that under trade rules with China, the United States can cap China's exports of brassieres, knit fabrics and dressing gowns at 7.5 percent above shipments over the past year or so. During that time, China's exports of the textile products have surged.

The long, hard slog continues:

U.S. fighter jets pounded suspected insurgent positions Tuesday in the largest bombardment of guerrillas in central Iraq since President Bush declared the end of major combat in May, the U.S. military said. And in Baghdad, dozens of loud explosions were heard after sundown Tuesday in what appeared to be a U.S. operation against Iraqi insurgents.

I: Now one thing you must be sick of by now, but I gotta play the game too is ehh bringing up statements that you made in the past. You're not a pope-politician at heart. Therefore you've made some more mistakes than other people have, so people throw them back at you. One of them was just yesterday. Maybe it wasn't a mistake but it caught our attention. On the "Meet the Press" you said something about Iraq. You said "President Bush has said (the war in Iraq) is the centerpiece for the war on terror. It isn't. It's a sideshow. It's simply their easiest means of access to attack American soldiers. That's all it is." You really think that Iraq is only a sideshow?

C: For the war on terror it's a terrible distraction and we should have gone directly after Osama Bin Laden. Let's be clear about what happened. This administration decided to go to war against Saddam Hussein, or at least to set all the plans in motion, while we were still bombing Afghanistan and when Tommy Franks should have been challenged to come up with the plans to finish the job against Osama Bin Laden. He was apparently preparing plans to preparing plans to brief the president and secretary of defense on Iraq. We let Osama bin Laden get away. He's there in the mountains of Western Pakistan. Newsweek magazine can find him. I don't know why we can't. And I propose we have a joint US-Saudi force to go after Osama bin Laden. Let's finish this job on terrorism.

I: Well let me just ask you, Do you... Do you know that Newsweek knows where Osama bin Laden is and isn't telling the world?

C: Well I've seen the articles in Newsweek. I'm sure you have. And so I think we should start by talking to Newsweek. I think our US Government should start. And I think we should be putting a full court effort on Osama Bin Laden. As for Iraq: We're in a mess. It was a war we didn't have to fight. We're there. Now we've got to have a success strategy. This administration hasn't had one. It called Jerry Bremer back from Baghdad in an effort to cobble one together. It still doesn't go far enough. We need a success strategy for our foreign policy. We need a success strategy in Iraq. But don't ever make the mistake of believing that what we did in Iraq was related to the war on terrorism. It was related only tangentially and it distracted us from what we needed to be doing . . .

I: [interrupting] But to call it while our . . .

C: [continuing] Unfortunately now we have to finish it.

I: [interrupting] But General, while our men . . .

C: [continuing] Now just wait a minute.

I: [interrupting] while our men . . . yeah . . .

C: [continuing] You just wait a minute.

I: [interrupting] Scuse me just one minute. . . I just want to add onto that. While our men and women are dying in Iraq is it proper to call it a sideshow?

C: Our men and women in Iraq are doing a fabulous job. They're doing a great job. I love them. I respect them and I honor them and. My problem is with the President of the United States. He's the one responsible for this. As he told us. He was going to make the decision when to go to war. He did. Our men and women are doing everything their country has asked them to do. But for the war on terror it's not the right thing that we should ask them to do. Don't you dare twist words into disrespect for the men and women in uniform. I love those men and women. I gave 34 years of my life to them. You better take my words the right way. . .

I: [interrupting] General I'm just repeating your own words to you.

C: [continuing]. . . This is about the President of the United States and [unintelligible] leadership.

I: [interrupting] Didn't you say that Iraq was a sideshow?

C: No sir, you are not. You are playing politics.

I: [interrupting] [unintelligible]

C: [continuing] No, sir. No, sir. You are plaing politics with the men and women in uniform. You are sir.

I: [interrupting] I just read back your own statement. General...

C: [continuing] Take it straight. You take it straight.

I: [interrupting] Didn't you say it was a sideshow?

C: [continuing] Straight...

I: [interrupting] General, I just read back your own statements... your own words.

C: [continuing] No sir, you are playing politics with the men and women

I: One thing our military advisors have assured us is that there is nothing but respect that one should have for your military career and for your respect for those who are now in the military. As a father of a marine, we both share that respect for men and women in the military. So don't get me wrong on that. I just wanted to make clear what you mean by that statement which you made. I just quoted your own statement.

C: I think you're trying to distort my meaning. I want to make it very clear, and I think you've said I made it clear. The sideshow is not the men and women in uniform. It is the leadership of the President of the United States who would get us into this. And I think we need to be very straight in covering this. I'm not afraid to say what's right and wrong in this country. And I'm speaking out, David. And I'm telling you this. That war in Iraq is a war that did not have to be fought.

Here's a thought: instead of repeating RNC talking points, maybe Fox News should be asking why our troops are dying, and what they're dying for.

When it comes to supporting the troops, I think Kos summed things up quite succinctly:

There is no better way to support our soldiers than to wish them alive. Not dead. And the best way to keep them alive is to keep them out of war.

On its face, it would appear so:

Massachusetts' highest court ruled 4-3 Tuesday that the state's ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional and gave lawmakers 180 days to fix the problem.

I think gay rights activists might be better off seeking incremental civil union protections rather than trying to attain legally-recognized "marriage" in one fell swoop.

I have a hard time believing this story, but the link is floating around. So here's the report for future reference:

"US Firms Told 'Take UK Jobs home'"

George Bush's administration has called on US companies in Britain to relocate jobs to America in an astonishing move that could trigger a major trade war.

US-based multinationals have been told they will receive compensation from American trade authorities if they cancel contracts in Britain and take jobs home, according to CBI director-general Digby Jones.
. . .
Speaking at the CBI's annual conference in Birmingham, Jones said: 'Three chief executives of American companies investing in Britain have told me to my face that they have been told to close down, bring their stuff home and make it in the US.'

He said the companies were major employers in defence or manufacturing.
. . .
'We are America's biggest trading partner, but if this escalates into an international trade war it hits us worst because we are such a big player in the world market.'

Delegates at the annual conference of the CBI, the employers' body, have been fiercely critical of what they claim are growing signs of US protectionism.

Digby Jones, CBI director-general, said a number of UK companies, including two defence contractors and an engineering group, had told him they had been frozen out of US government procurement schemes under "buy America" policies taking hold in many states.

Via Brad Delong.

Under the heading "It Looked Like a Wal-Mart Job Fair," Bill Hobbs links to a story on Mexican nationals applying for ID cards in Nashville and asks why the INS wasn't there to round them up.

Why not? Precisely because it looked like a Wal-Mart job fair. Or that of a thousand other businesses. That's why there's no political will to change things. Business owners, who grease the political system with money, don't want this cheap supply of labor to dry up. And when you boil away the rhetoric, it's apparent that majority of politicans don't either.

It's probably impossible to put a complete halt on illegal immigration. But the government could make a dramatic reduction in the flow if it merely went in earnest after employers hiring illegals, removing work opportunities for them. Until that happens, though, the policy and rhetoric against illegal aliens remains a joke.

Is the blogosphere alive and well? According to David Sifry's Technorati statistics it is:

One year ago, when I started Technorati on a single server in my basement, we were adding between 2,000-3,000 new weblogs each day, not counting the people who were updating sites we were already tracking. In March of this year, when we switched over to a 5 server cluster, we were keeping up with about 4,000-5,000 new weblogs each day. Right now, we're adding 8,000-9,000 new weblogs every day, not counting the 1.2 Million weblogs we already are tracking. That means that on average, a brand new weblog is created every 11 seconds. We're also seeing about 100,000 weblogs update every day as well, which means that on average, a weblog is updated every 0.86 seconds.

Funny stuff:

Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly said he may take a look at running for president, according to a story in Newsday.

He told the newspaper: "Certainly the option is open if I want it," but "the country's not interested in an independent candidacy. Maybe in 10 years they will be, but right now, you have 50 percent of Americans who don't know anything -- they're totally disengaged from the process, the 'Mall People.' ...The other 50 percent -- and there was a recent poll on this -- are a third crazy left and third crazy right and third in the middle. So the pie you're going for is a very narrow pie."

To top it all, there's this:

"I'm not a vanity player, I'm not gonna go out like Al Sharpton, to get on 'Saturday Night Live' to run for president, so unless I'm convinced I could pull it off, I wouldn't do it," he said.

Some marketing outfit recently threatened to sue Justene at Calblog for comments made at this post. As a result, fellow Bear Flag League bloggers have come to her defense under the theory that "when one is attacked, all are attacked."

This prompts my question: Does the Rocky Top Brigade have a similar NATO-style common defense strategy? As South Knox Bubba has noted, we have a number of lawyers in our ranks. And heaven knows, with all these blogs we can sure generate a lot of noise, if prompted.

Unfortunately, with the recent spate of blog-related legal threats, this issue isn't as hypothetical as it once seemed. Moreover, those of us un-American types who tend to question what's going on in the world these days also have Big Brother to worry about.

On Friday, in discussing the allegedly BBC-generated anti-Bush "hysteria" in England, Andrew Sullivan expressed confidence in British levelheadedness:

But my native country isn't renowned for its common sense for nothing. I have faith that the majority will eventually see through the propaganda to the truth.

The full extent of the low regard Britons have for George Bush was tonight revealed in a poll.

The US President was branded a threat to world peace by a clear majority, 60%, of those questioned by YouGov.

More than one in three, 37%, said Mr Bush was "stupid" while 33% called him "incoherent".

Only a minority saw positive characteristics in Mr Bush, with just 7% regarding him as a good world leader, 6% as articulate and 10% as intelligent.
. . .
There was little faith in the President's ability to handle the continuing problems in Iraq.

Fewer than a quarter, 24%, had confidence in Mr Bush on Iraq, while 74% did not.

One caveat on this poll: I'm not familiar with YouGov's methodology. This was apparently an online survey, but it's supposedly drawn from "a representative sample of 1,934 adults." So consider that while assessing the findings.

I was beginning to wonder when we would see this again:

Democrat Kathleen Babineaux Blanco made history Saturday night as the first woman ever elected governor in Louisiana.

The Onion: "Congress Raises Executive Minimum Wage To $565.15/Hr."

Do you want to spite an ex-girlfriend? Are you tired of the parental "are you seeing anyone yet?" Are you gay and want people to think otherwise? Then an eBay imaginary girlfriend may be the answer for you.

For the right price, you secure the right for a female to send you her picture and a series of weekly romantic letters, typically for one month. At the end of the alloted time, you "break up" with your "girlfriend" and go your separate ways.

When bidding for an imaginary girlfriend, the old adage caveat emptor applies, so read the auction descriptions carefully. You might be bidding on the "original imaginary girlfriend" or on one of many cheap knockoffs (though some look pretty good). You might even end up with a guy. Heaven knows, you certainly don't want to end up with a low-grade fake girlfriend.

Happy bidding.

Andrew Sullivan links to this table as evidence that states voting for George Bush are generous people.

As long as he was doing his statistical analysis, though, he could have also pointed out that a majority of those Bush states are in the bottom half of per capita income. Or, if he was really feeling frisky, he could have noted that on a per capita basis those so-called red states receive far more money in federal government expenditures than they pay in taxes (see the Tax Foundation report here). Does that mean they are welfare-loving people?

I guess those pesky kinds of statistics don't fit in on message so well.

Big Stupid Tommy, who just celebrated his one year blogiversary, notes that the world's oldest people keep dying.

That's something, isn't it?

With all the issues in America's educational system today, it's refreshing to see school administrators are finally getting serious about our real problems:

Two high school girls were suspended for sharing a 12-second-long protest kiss, which they say was part of their English class assignment.

Stephanie Haaser, a junior at River Hill High School, says she jumped on a table during lunch and yelled "end homophobia now" before engaging in the kiss with a female friend.

Haaser said her very public display of protest in the form of a kiss was part of an English class assignment that required students to perform a "non-conformist" act.
. . .
River Hill administrators suspended Haaser and her protest partner from school for two days after the Nov. 5 stunt. School officials said the girls were suspended because they disrupted the "orderly operation" of the school.

Great to see that schools are finally cracking down on the real troublemakers.

Britney Spears finally fires back:

A month after Maryland's first lady apologized for saying she would shoot Britney Spears if she had the chance, a frosty response from the pop icon appears in a magazine to be distributed Friday.

"She probably needs to get laid," Entertainment Weekly quotes Spears saying of Kendel Ehrlich, the wife of Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.

In case anyone remains in the dark, she [Spears] reveals in the upcoming issue of People that the song ["Touch of My Hand"] is an ode to, er, masturbation.

"I think if you say you don't do it, you're lying," she says. "I think it's a positive thing to indulge in yourself in a sexual way sometimes. I don't do it all the time. It's life. Guys can talk about it. Why can't girls? It's a positive thing."

Waxing philosophical (or waxing something), Spears goes on:

"I think it's positive for girls not to depend on guys. Being alone - I'm one to say! - you really start to figure out what makes you happy. And then you're able to give more to other people ... When you turn yourself on, that really is what turns the guy on. So just make yourself happy and let them just kind of follow up after you."

It wasn't such a great day for the government missionaries--i.e., those who would use government in to promote their religion.

First, Justice Moore got axed for refusing to obey a federal court and remove his graven image.

Then, this evening I saw Greene County, TN Mayor Roger Jones appearing on "O'Reilly Factor." Anyone familiar with the views of Mr. "Looking Out for Us" knows he fully supports government promoting its "Judeo-Christian" heritage. But even he wasn't far enough out there to go along with Jones' call for a government proclamations on how our nation believes in the Christian God.

As if Jones didn't do enough damage during the course of a five-minute interview, he closed with this blast:

"We don't want God taken away from us."

Just to put my remarks in context, I'm a Christian who goes to church every week. It rubs me the wrong way when:

(1) I hear someone complaining about some imagined persecution of American Christians; or

(2) A politician uses religion to pander to voters.

Anyone who needs the government to promote their religion doesn't have a belief system worth promoting.

. . . up at Inn of the Last Home.

Who knows how accurate this estimate is, but if it's anywhere close this is bad news:

The White House yesterday drew up emergency plans to accelerate the transfer of power in Iraq after being shown a devastating CIA report warning that the guerrilla war was in danger of escalating out of US control.
. . .
One military intelligence assessment now estimates the insurgents' strength at 50,000. Analysts cautioned that such a figure was speculative, but it does indicate a deep-rooted revolt on a far greater scale than the Pentagon had led the administration to believe.

An intelligence source in Washington familiar with the CIA report described it as a "bleak assessment that the resistance is broad, strong and getting stronger".

"It says we are going to lose the situation unless there is a rapid and dramatic change of course," the source said.

The flypaper idea won't be such a good plan if the flies overrun the paper. Things are going to get ugly if we don't get the Iraqi people to behave as though they have a personal stake establishing a stable government. And the Coalition Provisional Authority hasn't made acceptable progress in that direction.

Hopefully the administration's latest plan will make more headway.

Now this is pretty ridiculous.

And I thought the car was bad.

General Wesley Clark announced a bad policy choice yesterday:

Breaking with most of his Democratic rivals, retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark said Tuesday he favors amending the Constitution to ban flag burning.
. . .
Speaking at an American Legion hall on Veterans Day, Clark said he agrees with the amendment, although he cautioned that true patriotism involves more than respecting symbols.

"There ought to be limits to freedom." George W. Bush

South Knox Bubba has a good post on how the crowded Democratic presidential field is producing too much noise for any individual candidate to be heard. This problem has been particularly acute at the debates, where because of time limitations the candidates don't have sufficient time to talk about anything. A typical debate highlight goes as follows:

Moderator: Candidate B, what would you do to address the loss of American jobs overseas?

Candidate B: Well, the first thing I'd do would be to [Ding] examine our trade agreements with other nations.

Moderator: Thank you Candidate B and I'd like to remind all the candidates to limit their remarks to the allowed time.

What can be done about this? Unfortunately, I don't see a very practical method of following SKB's "get serious" advice and pushing people off the stage. I think we're stuck waiting for attrition to run its natural course. But one feasible alternative is to break the field into two parts for the upcoming debates. Have a lottery to separate the candidates into two pools. One group will debate one night, the other the next.

I know this isn't an ideal situation and it will limit some of the on-on-one scuffles. But it will be better than what we have now; the candidates will at least get to express complete thoughts rather than fragments.

. . . now showing at Wizbang.

Up at South Knox Bubba and One Hand Clapping.

An interesting factoid on veterans: according to this story there are fewer than 200 surviving World War I veterans.

Kicking Ass recently held a Bush haiku contest (link via Mark Kleiman). A couple top ten enteries:

No child left behind,
Clean skies, healthy forests and
Iraq. Pants on fire!

YOU ARE EITHER WITH
deficit rich guy tax breaks
US, OR AGAINST US.

CBS Marketwatch's Chris Pummer ranks the 10 most overpaid jobs in the U.S.:

10) Wedding photographers

9) Pilots for major airlines

8) West Coast longshoremen

7) Airport skycaps

6) Real estate agents selling high-end homes

5) Motivational speakers and ex-politicians on the lecture circuit

4) Orthodontists

3) CEOs of poorly performing companies

2) Washed-up pro athletes in long-term contracts

1) Mutual-fund managers

Presidential candidate General Wesley Clark is establishing an Internet community network. Reportedly, the website is similar to Slashdot in concept:

At the heart of the Clark Community Network is a system of personal and group blogs. Upon signing up with the network, users get a personal blog with a forclark.com URL. They can also enroll in several online communities, each with a blog of its own. Someone might, for example, choose to participate in the Alaskan blog, the veterans blog and the physicians blog.

Users can submit their personal posts to the community blogs. Other users then rate the submissions on a one-to-five scale, and highly rated submissions can float up to the official Clark blog. Volunteer administrators tend the community blogs, deleting "problem" posts. Community editors can post content directly to the community blogs.

This is a good move for Clark. Because of his late entry into the race, his campaign organization is clearly behind the curve. He needs to quickly bring together supporters, literally or electronically. I think this is a good tool for that objective.

I guess this is Howard Dean day, with back-to-back Dean posts. I noticed that over at the campaign blog that Dean supporters have adopted a highway stretch for cleanup, entitling them to have a roadside sign reading "People for Howard Dean."

A pretty cleaver idea, assuming they can keep the road clean. But how long are they going to keep picking up trash if Dean doesn't win?

This weekend Howard Dean declared "independence from special interests." What does that mean? It means that by not taking public financing Dean, will be able to spend as much as he wants campaigning.

I'm not necessarily criticizing this decision; it's probably a smart campaign move. But it is another amusing example of the way campaigns spin things. Somehow a decision to spend as much money as it takes is "independence from special interests."

Speaking of campaign funding, Atrios reproduces a chart breaking down the money given to each candidate by donor amount. All of the candidates have received at least 75% of their funding from $1,000+ donors except Braun, Clark, Dean, and Kucinich.

Today I went to Great Smoky Mountains National Park and made the hike up to Alum Cave Bluffs (follow the link for a tiny picture). The air was cool but the skies were bright and sunny, affording great views of the surrounding mountains.

An interesting factoid regarding the bluff's history from Hiking Trails of the Smokies:

During the Civil War, Confederate Colonel William Thomas, leading a group of soldiers composed mostly of Cherokees, built a road to Alum Cave Bluffs. Believing the minerals in the bluff, which include sulfides and salt-peter (substances essential to the manufacture of gunpowder), to be a vital strategic resource, he built a small stockade called Fort Harry near the Chimney Tops to protect his crude mine.

Anyway, the hike up to Alum Cave Bluffs is a worthwhile one, earning a Resonance thumbs-up.

There are times when you feel you're at a crossroads in life. This might be one of them:

"Lynch, Smart Duke It Out in Dueling TV Movies"

Couch potatoes with a yen for the inspiring tale of a pretty, young blond whose ordeal of abduction and rescue riveted America will face an impossible choice -- two TV movies about two such heroines airing at the same time.

In what is arguably the biggest prime-time matchup of the November ratings "sweep," CBS and NBC will go head to head Sunday night at 9 p.m. EST with rival docudramas about teenage kidnap victim Elizabeth Smart and Iraqi-captured U.S. Army private Jessica Lynch.

Maybe I'll watch neither.

Several days ago I learned there was a Internet Explorer/css quirk which was causing a display problem in IE. Per this recommendation, I may have fixed that--at least it looks better in my IE test drive.

But now I notice that when I look at the comments using IE, the "Name," "Email Address," and "URL" fields under "Post a comment" don't show up. (It looks fine in Mozilla).

Anyone got a tip on what's causing this problem? I'd appreciate it if you would post it . . . if you can.

I usually enjoy Calpundit's Friday cat blogging. But today Kevin linked to one of the sadder posts I've read recently. Consider leaving Internet Ronin a note of condolence.

South Knox Bubba:

"Conservatives and hate do indeed go together like beans and flatulence."

Not being close to the Jackson household in Collingswood, N.J., I'm not sure exactly how blame should be divvied up for the starved condition of the four adopted children (none of the boys, aged 9 to 19, weighed more than 50 pounds). But I know it shouldn't be allocated the way Rev. Harry L. Thomas Jr., is doing it. Thomas, testifying before the House Committee on Ways and Means on behalf of the parents, attempted to blame the kids for their condition:

Thomas testified that some of the children had medical conditions which made it very difficult to get the nourishment they needed. He said Bruce [the oldest child] has had an unusual psychological eating disorder for years.

"(Bruce) voluntarily brings up food back from his stomach to his mouth very much like a cow chewing its cud," Thomas explained. "At Central school he was caught stealing lunches, eating them and throwing up in the kid's lunch bag. At Carson School there was more eating and throwing up. The final straw was when he stole food and threw up on the teacher. This is the reason they started home schooling," Thomas said.

I don't care what kind of problems these boys may have. To hold them up as the reason that they all weigh 45 pounds is ridiculous. Adults neglected these kids, and someone has to be held accountable.

Last night on CNBC 's "Capital Report," retired General Norman Schwarzkopf was asked what should be done with General Jerry Boykin. Schwarzkopf said he would remove Boykin from his position "in a heartbeat" for breaking several military rules.

To date no disciplinary action has been taken against Boykin.

. . . for NPR:

WASHINGTON - NPR has been honored with a bequest of more than $200 million from the estate of philanthropist Joan B. Kroc, believed to be the largest monetary gift ever received by an American cultural institution, NPR President Kevin Klose announced today.
. . .
Most of the gift to NPR will become part of the NPR Endowment Fund for Excellence. The fund was created in 1993 to provide a sustaining source of support for NPR activities that is independent of other revenue sources, which are affected by the economy and other factors beyond NPR's control.
. . .
Joan Kroc, who was nationally recognized for her philanthropy, died of cancer Oct. 12 at age 75. She was the widow of Ray A. Kroc, the founder of McDonald's Corp. In recent years, Mrs. Kroc had made many substantial gifts to organizations promoting world peace, including peace centers at the University of Notre Dame and the University of San Diego.

I'll say.

Today the U.S. Mint unveiled a new design for the back of the nickel. The coins are going to celebrate the 201st anniversary of the Louisiana Purchase. A subsequent coin will commemorate the Lewis and Clark expedition. In 2006, the nickels revert back to a Monticello theme.

With all this change in progress, my question is: Why haven't they redesigned the $1 bill to match the other currency?

I took the test at The Political Compass. For what it's worth, the results are:

Economic Left/Right: -4.75
Libertarian/Authoritarian: -1.79

I took the test a few months ago and as I recall the results at that time were slightly more to the right on the economic axis. Some of the questions are so ambiguous that my answer depends on my current mood. Furthermore, there's no option for "sometimes agree." In several instances my choice would depend upon the circumstances.

Anyway, Tim Lambert has a table where bloggers are posting their PC scores. (Via Appalachia Alumni Association.)

Over at Atrios readers are compiling a "Wingnut Debate Dictionary." See if you can find your favorite rhetorical trick.

UPDATE: More entries here.

When blogging, I don't deliberately set out to harp on Iraq all the time. But some of the stuff I read these days is almost surreal.

Remember how in the build-up to war President Bush played the part of the reluctant warrior? As he described it, war was being thrust upon us by Saddam. Combat was the "last option."

Well, maybe not. A new report claims that representatives from Iraq made a last-minute offer to resolve the standoff peacefully. But a high administration official ordered Defense Policy Advisory Board Chair Richard Perle not to negotiate a deal:

"Although I was not enthusiastic about the offer, I was willing to meet with the Iraqis," Perle told ABCNEWS. "The United States government told me not to." Perle would not disclose which official or arm of the government rejected the talks.
. . .
[Lebanese-American businessman Imad Hage] said the United States missed a chance to avert war. "It seemed to me there was a genuine offer that was on the table and somebody should have talked, at least talked."

"The American people can take comfort in knowing that their country has done everything humanly possible to avoid war and to secure Iraq's peaceful disarmament."

Meanwhile, via Billmon comes this bizarre nugget. Marine Corps General Peter Pace, vice-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, contends the administration delayed planning for post-war Iraq because it was concerned such planning would lead to conflict:

'We did not want to have planning for the post war make the war inevitable. We did not want to do anything that would prejudge or somehow preordain that there was definitely going to be a war,'' he said.

For a serious treatment of the situation in Iraq, as opposed to the administration's happy talk, see Senator John McCain's speech at the Council on Foreign Relations yesterday.

There's been a notable amount of hubbub in the blogosphere and in last night's debate regarding Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean's recent references to the Confederate flag:

"I still want to be the candidate for guys with Confederate flags in their pickup trucks."

"White folks in the South who drive pickup trucks with Confederate flag decals on the back ought to be voting with us, and not [Republicans], because their kids don't have health insurance either, and their kids need better schools too."

"Many people in the African-American community have supported what I said in the past few days because they understand what this is about," the former Vermont governor said. "But some have not, and to those I deeply regret the pain that I may have caused."

Speaking at New York's Cooper Union, Dean stopped short of apologizing and vowed not to shirk from "difficult and painful" discussions about race relations. "Feelings will be hurt," Dean said.

Later, he called the AP to clarify the comments in his speech.

"That was an apology. You heard it from me," Dean said. "It was a remark that inflicted a lot of pain on people for whom the flag of the Confederacy is a painful symbol of racism and slavery."

Dean would have avoided himself this grief if he had simply said he was after voters with gun racks in their pickup trucks. Though, as Senator Edwards noted, this still would have been somewhat stereotypical. But the real reason this statement has generated such a buzz is because it's provided opponents an opportunity to take a shot at Dean. Months ago he made a similar statement and nothing was made of it. But now that he's one of the Democratic front runners, everyone is aiming the buckshot at his rear end.

Daniel Drezner compares and contrasts the difference in treatment between German General Reinhard Guenzel, who was fired for his support of someone who made anti-Semitic remarks, and U.S. General Jerry Boykin, who's received no discipline for his anti-Islamic remarks. I don't know much about the former case, and I'm sure the parallels aren't exact. But suffice it to say that the latter case illustrates that Bush isn't going to hold anyone accountable who:

1. tows the administration line; and/or


2. preaches the gospel of the religious right.

As Atrios points out, Bush's signing of the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003 produced a classic photo op (Yahoo! backup): nine males encircle the signing table--not one female in sight.

Senator Edwards comments on the loss of high-tech jobs at Lawrence Lessig's blog. His suggestions: increased emphasis on science education; extending broadband access; increased investment in research and development; fair trade deals; and revamping the tax code to encourage corporations to keep jobs here.

I guess that's about all the government can do. But with the huge wage differential between domestic and foreign labor, I'm not sure if that will be enough. America needs to remain on the forefront of technological innovation to maintain a robust high-tech sector. And I wish the candidates would talk a little more about that.

BREAKING NEWS: Politicians ponder embarrassing opponent party.

Developing. . . .

Tune in tomorrow for another shocking exclusive: "Water Found to Flow Downhill."

Wizbang hosts Carnival of the Vanities and Bonfire of the Vanities in back-to-back days. That's a lot of linkage.

FOXNews:

An Al Qaeda Web site is running a warning issued to Muslims to leave Washington D.C., New York City and Los Angeles because of implied imminent terrorist attacks, according to the Middle East Media Research Institute.

Titled "A Warning to Muslims in America," the directive was issued by the previously unknown "Islamic Bayan Movement" and first ran on the Global Islamic Media Web site on Monday, according to MEMRI, which translated the communiqu�.

The alert links to this Yahoo! Group. A Yahoo! Group? Is that the secret pipeline for terrorist communication? Anyway, everything is in Arabic, but according to the MEMRI translation the communiqu�, published November 3, 2003, reads:

"Our Muslim brothers in America, we ask you to immediately leave the following cities: Washington, DC, New York, and Los Angeles. We are serious in our warning. The next few days will prove to you the truth of this warning� To the oppressive rulers of America we say: expect our terms following the first strike of Allah�s believing soldiers" [Koran, Chapter 59, Verse 2-3]

The Village Voice's James Ridgeway summarizes the Democratic candidates' positions on capital punishment. A rough ranking of the candidates by stated opposition to the death penalty is as follows:

1. Dennis Kucinich; Carol Moseley Braun; Al Sharpton: oppose it in all circumstances.


2. Wesley Clark: uneasy about capital punishment, has misgivings about how it's used.


3. John Kerry: in favor of capital punishment only in limited cases, such as terrorism; would honor state preferences.


4. Howard Dean: favors capital punishment only for extreme crimes; would seek a federal Innocence Protection Act.


5. John Edwards: generally supports the death penalty; favors tightening protections to eliminate wrongful convictions.


6. Dick Gephardt: has voted against making it easier for death row prisoners to file appeals.


7. Joe Lieberman: has voted to restrict death row appeals; has voted to enlarge the class of criminals eligible to receive the death penalty.

Whew. Maybe we won't need that Republican National Committee censorship review after all:

Drawing Republican fire over the accuracy of its upcoming mini-series "The Reagans," CBS appears ready to present a kinder, gentler portrait of the ailing former President Ronald Reagan than originally produced -- if the network airs it at all.

Sources close to the production said on Monday CBS is considering canceling the docudrama, slated to air Nov. 16 and 18, under mounting criticism from political conservatives that the two-part series unfairly depicts Reagan and his wife.

Our country recently launched an unprovoked invasion of another nation costing thousands of lives and billions of dollars. And many Americans have raised nary a question about it, even though we've found no evidence supporting the alleged justification for the war.

But when a T.V. network proposes to broadcast a partially-fictitious movie on a former president, you'd think from the volume of howling that the entire nation was teetering on the verge of collapse.

A revealing insight into some people's priorities.

This almost makes one feel for Alabama Justice Roy Moore, doesn't it?

The Supreme Court steered clear of a contentious religious dispute on Monday, ending the legal fight of a judge who wanted to put a 2 1/2-ton granite Ten Commandments monument back on display in an Alabama courthouse.

The defeat for suspended Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore was expected.

Unfortunately, this isn't the last battle in this fight; even now there's similar disputes raging elsewhere.

I see that The Truth Laid Bear has added this site's updated URL to its rankings. The "new" Resonance debuts as a Slithering Reptile at No. 1124.

If only the founding fathers could have drawn from One Hand Clapping's comment section:

My proposal: One dollar, one vote!

Eliminate all taxes. On election day, it costs you a dollar to vote. You get to vote as many times as you want, as long as you pay a dollar each time.

Interesting:

The book also shows that in the lead-up to announcing his candidacy for the presidency, Bush told a Texan evangelist that he had had a premonition of some form of national disaster happening.

Bush said to James Robinson: 'I feel like God wants me to run for President. I can't explain it, but I sense my country is going to need me. Something is going to happen. . . . I know it won't be easy on me or my family, but God wants me to do it.'

Sunday's "Booknotes" on C-SPAN featured James Bovard, author of Terrorism and Tyranny: Trampling Freedom, Justice, and Peace to Rid the World of Evil. Mr. Bovard and I see differently on many domestic issues. But I thought he made a number of interesting points in the interview, including:

• "Since 9/11, Bush often seems blinded by the glare of his own halo.  The moral self-adulation at the heart of the war on terrorism is a danger both to America and to the world." (p. 349)


• President Bush (and other politicians') constant reference to the "goodness" of America inspires a sense of blind righteousness--a feeling that we can do no wrong. This mindset can lead a nation down a dangerous policy road.


• An effective technique employed by politicians is to flatter those whom they wish to control. Note how often those in power talk about Americans being the greatest people on earth.
  


• In his address to the nation the evening of 9/11, Bush claimed that the reason we had been attacked was because America is a symbol of freedom.  This assertion of motive was curious, because at that point the FBI wasn't even sure who the attackers were.


• In July, 2001, the CIA issued a warning that Osama Bin Laden would launch a "significant" and "spectacular" terrorist attack in the coming weeks against the U.S. or Israeli interests designed to inflict mass casualties.  The Bush administration's insistence following the attack that they had no prior warning contributed to a greater level of faith in the government, which allowed the administration to push through the PATRIOT Act.  Had America known at that time how many warning signals were out there, we would have been a a lot less flag waving and a lot more tough questioning.


• In October, 2001, many members of Congress voted in favor of the PATRIOT Act even though they didn't have time to read it.


• Since 1948, the U.S. has spent $240 billion (figures in 2001 dollars) on foreign aid to Israel. Since 1978 we have sent $117 billion to Egypt and $22 billion in Syria. We are supporting nations such as Pakistan, even though they terrorize their own people.


• Although Bush said no FBI or CIA agents were to blame for 9/11, he did blame U.S. drug users for funding terrorism. This despite the fact that a vast majority of drug users smoke marijuana, which has no financial link to terrorism. Since the U.S has invaded Afghanistan, opium production has increased 2,000%.


• In the buildup to the invasion war, Bush kept using the phrase "if war is thrust upon us." He then proceeded to launch an unprovoked attack against a country which posed no threat to America.

I see that over at Talking Points Memo Josh Marshall has posted his advertising policy, so I thought I'd follow suit:

Resonance is a writer-supported website with no paid advertising. If you're not sure who to vote for or where to spend your money, let me know and I'll try to help you out.

Something to prompt another media meltdown:

The main item in the Sunday Express is a claim that the French authorities want the body of Princess Diana to be exhumed, for post mortem tests.

The paper says French officials have, in effect, accused the Royal Family and the British Government of ordering a cover up.

The Express says that unpleasant though the prospect is, new tests could help end what it calls a "conspiracy industry" that has damaged the monarchy.

" 15 GIs Killed As Chopper Attacked in Iraq":

Insurgents shot down a U.S. Chinook helicopter in central Iraq on Sunday as it carried troops headed for R&R, killing 15 soldiers and wounding 21 in the deadliest single strike against American troops since the start of war.

Other attacks, in Fallujah and Baghdad, killed another U.S soldier and two American civilians. The only day that saw more U.S. casualties came March 23, during the first week of the invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein.

The most applicable definition of desperate at Merriam Webster is "involving or employing extreme measures in an attempt to escape defeat or frustration." Most people will agree that the periodic Iraqi suicide bombings qualify as "extreme measures," because the bombers are intentionally forfeiting their lives.

But what about the day-to-day attacks on exposed U.S. targets? I don't consider that to be an extreme tactic; I see that as a time-tested low-cost, low-risk trick from the guerrilla playbook. And these days it's working much more effectively than the administration is acknowledging.

Sugar coating a messy situation isn't going to stem the flow of American blood.

The Poor Man steals my thoughts.

Via Centerfield.

I didn't see Tennessee's inspiring 23-6 victory over Duke yesterday. But if I had, it merely would have been further confirmation to me of what should be obvious to everyone: UT's offense is horrible. This isn't a problem that can be fixed with a hammer and a few nails; this one warrants a wrecking ball. I don't know if the replacement of three or more offensive coaches will cure things or not, but it's a start.

One entertaining way to cope with a disappointing game is to listen to post game sports call-in show, and last night's didn't disappoint. I was especially amused by two recurring themes:

1. The typical, Kool Aid-drinking, everything is peachy caller.  "Come on guys, we just beat Duke.  Go Vols."  Apparently the import of a 30-game A.C.C. losing streak isn't fully understood by these people.


2. The SEC athletic director vote controversy.  Yes, it's possible that the SEC East race could boil down to a decision by the conference athletic directors.  But that's several games down the road.  Already a number of fans and pundits talk as if the possible vote is the most significant issue facing the UT football. It's not. The fact that it took UT took almost 50 minutes to score a touchdown against Duke is the isue that needs to be tackled.

You decide:

British explorer Ranulph Fiennes completed his sixth marathon at dawn in Egypt, leaving him with only one more to run to achieve his goal of seven marathons on as many continents in the space of a week.

Sir Ranulph, 59, who suffered a near fatal heart attack only four months ago, ran the 26-mile (41.5 kilometre) distance between the pyramids at Giza, south of Cairo, and Cairo airport in five hours and 14 minutes.
. . . .
Following Thursday's Singapore run, Fiennes said the challenge had been a mistake, admitting he was "pretty stupid" to take up such a dare so soon after undergoing a double heart bypass operation.

Apart from the marathons, Fiennes is expected to clock around 45,000 miles (72,000 kilometres) in air travel.

"Pregnancy, Birth and Abortion Rates Drop":

Pregnancies fell 7 percent, from 6.78 million in 1990 to 6.28 million in 1999. The birth rate declined 9 percent in that time, from 70.9 to 64.4 births per 1,000 women ages 15 to 44. And the abortion rate went down 22 percent, from 27.4 to 21.4 abortions per 1,000 women.
. . .
Teen pregnancy rates reached historic lows, dropping 25 percent during the 10-year period. The teen birth rate dropped 19 percent, and the teen abortion rate was down 39 percent.

I suspect economic prosperity, a greater female focus on career advancement, and an emphasis on safe sex/abstinence have all contributed to declining pregnancy rates.

Via Lean Left.

It's come to my attention that readers viewing this website using Internet Explorer may be encountering some display issues. Since I use Mozilla rather than IE, I wasn't aware of this until now. [The IE test drive I conducted when I built the page obviously wasn't a very thorough one.]

Anyway, I apologize for this glitch and will try to fix it shortly.

If you notice anything else that doesn't appear right, please let me know. The Resonance staff is underpaid and occasionally misses things.

Thanks to Michael Williams for point this out.

Remember how, after Saddam Hussein's sons were killed in July, we heard all this chatter from the military leadership (and worse yet the network "military experts") on how we were about to capture Saddam? Like this:

"Is the noose tightening around him? Absolutely," said Col. James Hickey, the commander in Tikrit, Hussein's hometown.

It must have been a really big noose.