Falling Upward

The Washington Post has hired a 24-year-old, home-schooled, white male Republican blogger to write a blog for its site called "RedAmerica". Straight out of the Bush Crony School, as Ben Domenech had a summer job as a White House speechwriter in 2002. (At the age of 20, I'm sure he had a lot to offer President English Mangler. I bet he contributed "heh, heh", at the very least.)

Here's what he called people like me on his very first day on the WaPo: "the shrieking denizens" of the Democrats’ "increasingly extreme base [] the unhinged elements of their base, motivated by partisan rage."

Oh, yeah, I'm feeling the balance there.

He had a high opinion of the Washington Post while he was in the White House:

8.16.2002

Live and Almost Legal at the EEOB
Today is my last day working in the speechwriting office. It's been a great summer, and I've done a good amount of work. It's been an interesting experience to work in this office, to see the reality of what goes on here as opposed to the Post's version. Believe me, truth is far more interesting than fiction.

Blogtopia has a little something to say about this.

Eschaton:

Wankers of the Day

Memories of Domenech

Meet Ben Domenech

Meet Young Ben Domenech

Life Among the Domenech

Looking in the Mirror

Clan Domenech

Commie!


The News Blog: Post to hire home schooled wingnut for blog

If you ever wonder about the power of the GOP training machine, this little freak, who should be humping a guard post in Iraq, gets a blog on the WaPo. In a city mostly minority, you think a young black person or Latino or a woman would get the opportunity to expound on politics. Yeah, right.

But when you suggest such a thing, the blogzombies of the right scream about racial spoils and the like. But not when their little undead can get what they want.

What the hell has this little freak done to merit being hired by the WaPo to expound on politics?

Be a white male Republican with friends.

[]

This is what the WaPo's newest columnist said about the funeral of Coretta Scott King

Remember this from racist Red State

By: Augustine

The President visits the funeral of a Communist. And phones in a message to the March for Life. I think we can get a little pissed about this.
This story shall the good man teach his son

Yep, I'm sure the Washington Post's large black audience will wonder why it's newest columnist is a racist who thinks the Kings were communists for wanting blacks to have equal rights.

Late Nite FDL: Aw Shucks, Brady, You Shouldn’t Have

Just as the time of reckoning approaches and the Washington Post will, like it or no, have to take responsibility for all the flagrant, credulous warmongering it did in a fit of BushCo. access rapture, you guys hire the most thick-witted, mouth breathing home schooled freak you could lay your hands on. The respectable journalists who have managed to survive the Patrick Ruffini sycophancy of John WATB Harris, the jejune truthiness of Deborah Howell and the simple fact that one of the biggest stories of last year was how the paper’s own superstar fucked you over and then wouldn’t talk to you about it are no doubt cringing in the bathroom stalls.

Talking Points Memo

So, to 'balance' Froomkin, who may be a commentator with liberal tendencies, the Post goes out and gets a high octane Republican political activist who hits the ground running with a tirade of Red State America revanchism and even journalism itself.

That's balance. That's the Post's balance.

Managing perceptions is the death of good journalism, especially manufactured perceptions, and even more those manufactured for the easily cowed.

I'm embarrassed for the Post. Embarrassed by the Post.

Their explanation doesn't cut it. If they want to make a blogger Crossfire with a firebreather on the left and on the right, they should do it. It might even be interesting. But here they've just been played by bullies and played for fools.

Jump! How high?

I can think of more than a few actual journalists at the Post who must feel a bit embarrassed too.

Another Reason To Support Chimpeachment

ThinkProgress:

Bush: U.S. Troops Will Remain In Iraq Through The End Of My Presidency

REPORTER: Will there come a day, and I’m not asking you when — I’m not asking for a timetable — will there come a day when there will be no more American forces in Iraq?

BUSH: That, of course, is an objective, and that will be decided by future presidents and future governments of Iraq.

Pretty Soon We'll All Be 'Just Standing Around in our Shorts, Stunned and Amazed'

Not one member of the White House press corps asked President Dumbass a question about global warming yesterday. While the Iraq war is a pressing problem, the potential loss of life from global warming is exponentially greater. Why isn't anyone talking about it? And, finally, the Washington Post writes an article about global warming and calls it global warming. Way to get a clue, there, boys.

WaPo: Inuit See Signs In Arctic Thaw
String of Warm Winters Alarms 'Sentries for the Rest of the World'

The global warming felt by wildlife and increasingly documented by scientists is hitting first and hardest here, in the Arctic where the Inuit people make their home. The hardy Inuit -- described by one of their leaders as "sentries for the rest of the world" -- say this winter was the worst in a series of warm winters, replete with alarms of the quickening transformation that many scientists expect will spread from the north to the rest of the globe.

The Inuit -- with homelands in Alaska, Canada, Greenland and northern Russia -- saw the signs of change everywhere. Metuq hauled his fishing shack onto the ice of Cumberland Sound last month, as he has every winter, confident it would stay there for three months. Three days later, he was astonished to see the ice break up, sweeping away his shack and $6,000 of turbot fishing gear.

In Nain, Labrador, hunter Simon Kohlmeister, 48, drove his snowmobile onto ocean ice where he had hunted safely for 20 years. The ice flexed. The machine started sinking. He said he was "lucky to get off" and grab his rifle as the expensive machine was lost. "Someday we won't have any snow," he said. "We won't be Eskimos."

In Resolute Bay, Inuit people insisted that the dark arctic night was lighter. Wayne Davidson, a longtime weather station operator, finally figured out that a warmer layer of air was reflecting light from the sun over the horizon. "It's getting very strange up here," he said. "There's more warm air, more massive and more uniform."

Villagers say the shrinking ice floes mean they see hungry polar bears more frequently. In the Hudson Bay village of Ivujivik, Lydia Angyiou, a slight woman of 41, was walking in front of her 7-year-old boy last month when she turned to see a polar bear stalking the child. To save him, she charged with her fists into the 700-pound bear, which slapped her twice to the ground before a hunter shot it, according to the Nunatsiaq News.

In the Russian northernmost territory of Chukotka, the Inuit have drilled wells for water because there is so little snow to melt. Reykjavik, Iceland, had its warmest February in 41 years. In Alaska, water normally sealed by ice is now open, brewing winter storms that lash coastal and river villages. Federal officials say two dozen native villages are threatened. In Pangnirtung, residents were startled by thunder, rain showers and a temperature of 48 degrees in February, a time when their world normally is locked and silent at minus-20 degrees.

"We were just standing around in our shorts, stunned and amazed, trying to make sense of it," said one resident, Donald Mearns.

Hot Seat

In the rest of the world, soccer is a passion. Can you imagine national angst over a national team coach in the USA, in any sport?

BBC: Klinsmann under pressure

Less than three months remain until the start of the World Cup in Germany - and the host nation is worried.

[]

Paul Chapman, a journalist who has covered German football for 30 years, told the BBC: "If it goes wrong against the USA, the whole country will be up in arms.

"People are still ready to give him a chance, up to and including this match against the USA.

"He has still has got credit. He was a very popular player, he always played with a smile on his face, he was good for an interview and I think he's still got some credit left over.

"But time is running out."

NYTimes: German Coach and American Ways Are a Tough Match

Those unhappy with Klinsmann were surely unmoved by the latest rankings from FIFA, soccer's world governing body, which put the United States fifth, the highest it has ever been, and Germany 22nd, the lowest it has been.

[]

Criticism grew so intense by last week that Angela Merkel, Germany's chancellor, felt it necessary to deflate mounting pressure on Klinsmann. She declared that he was "on the right track" and urged him to ignore his critics.

[]

Stefan Effenberg, a former teammate of Klinsmann's, urged that he be fired immediately, saying, "The rest of the world is laughing at us."

Some politicians even wanted Klinsmann censured before a sports subcommittee of the Bundestag, Germany's parliament, according to Markovits, the Michigan professor. "That's like Larry Brown being cited before Congress for only bringing home a bronze from the Athens Olympics," Markovits said, referring to the Knicks' coach. "Absurd."

[]

Germany's recent exhibition loss to Italy unleashed an angry response. "Disaster," proclaimed the soccer magazine Kicker. The Bild tabloid, Germany's largest daily and one that has been highly critical of Klinsmann, wrote, "Mama Mia We Are Bad." The tabloid showed a picture of a grinning Klinsmann ("Grinsi Klinsi") and added, "With you, one can only cry about our national team."

Die Tageszeitung wrote that Klinsmann threatened the expected $9.5 billion economic windfall from the World Cup and sapped Germany of its anticipation and general optimism. "Euphoria has been replaced by depression," the paper said, adding, "At most, the gastronomy branch can hope that, out of desperation, the masses grab for the bottle."

[]

If Germany wins the World Cup on July 9, Klinsmann will again be a national icon. If things go badly, Markovits said a German journalist recently suggested to him that Klinsmann would become persona non grata in his home country.

"Maybe he could visit his parents, but he would be completely vilified," Markovits said. "I would seriously worry about his safety if the Germans lose in the quarterfinals."

I only got to see Klinsmann play live once, at a charity exhibition at RFK Stadium in DC. Klinsmann was retired, and was subbed in during the second half. He was electric. Every time he touched the ball, the game slowed down, and you just waited to see what he would do next. Unfortunately, I was at the game with my sister, who doesn't really care that much about soccer, and she insisted on leaving before the game was over to watch the Yankees in the baseball playoffs. Aargh.

That said, I look forward to Germany going down in a heap in the World Cup, after they stole a game from us during the 2002 World Cup on a Thorsten Frings handball in the penalty area (not called by the moronic Scottish referee Hugh Dallas).

Vacationing Bush Administration Ignored FBI Agent's Attempts to Prevent 9/11

While President Smirky McAWOL spent the month of August 2001 on vacation, FBI agents in Minnesota spent a fruitless month trying to get the FBI in Washington to take their information seriously. Testimony in Moussaoui's trial yesterday established that Agent Harry Samit made more the 70 separate attempts to get the Bush Administration to realize that Moussaoui was a serious threat, and that he was plotting to hijack an airplane. Samit contacted his superiors at the FBI, as well as FBI's London, Paris and Oklahoma City offices, FBI headquarters files, the CIA's counterterrorism center, the Secret Service, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the Federal Aviation Administration, possibly the National Security Agency (he couldn't say the name in court), and the FBI's Iran, Osama bin Laden, radical fundamentalist, and national security law units at headquarters. Yet no one took him seriously.

When incompetent, idiotic liars run the government, disasters happen.


WaPo:
FBI Was Warned About Moussaoui
Agent Tells Court Of Repeated Efforts Before 9/11 Attacks

An FBI agent who interrogated Zacarias Moussaoui before Sept. 11, 2001, warned his supervisors more than 70 times that Moussaoui was a terrorist and spelled out his suspicions that the al-Qaeda operative was plotting to hijack an airplane, according to federal court testimony yesterday.

Agent Harry Samit told jurors at Moussaoui's death penalty trial that his efforts to secure a warrant to search Moussaoui's belongings were frustrated at every turn by FBI officials he accused of "criminal negligence." Samit said he had sought help from a colleague, writing that he was "so desperate to get into Moussaoui's computer I'll take anything."

That was on Sept. 10, 2001.

[]

MacMahon zeroed in on increasingly urgent warnings Samit issued to his FBI supervisors after he interviewed Moussaoui at a Minnesota jail in mid-August 2001. Moussaoui had raised Samit's suspicions because he was training on a 747 simulator with limited flying experience and could not explain his foreign sources of income.

By Aug. 18, 2001, Samit was telling FBI headquarters that he believed Moussaoui intended to hijack a plane "for the purpose of seizing control of the aircraft." A few days later, he learned from FBI agents in France that Moussaoui had been a recruiter for a Muslim group in Chechnya linked to Osama bin Laden.

AP: FBI Agent Slams Bosses at Moussaoui Trial

MacMahon walked Samit through e-mails and letters the agent sent seeking help from the FBI's London, Paris and Oklahoma City offices, FBI headquarters files, the CIA's counterterrorism center, the Secret Service, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the Federal Aviation Administration, an intelligence agency not identified publicly by name in court (possibly the National Security Agency), and the FBI's Iran, Osama bin Laden, radical fundamentalist, and national security law units at headquarters.

[]

MacMahon introduced an Aug. 31 letter Samit drafted "to advise the FAA of a potential threat to security of commercial aircraft" from whomever Moussaoui was conspiring with.

But [FBI headquarters agent Mike] Maltbie barred him from sending it to FAA headquarters, saying he would handle that, Samit testified. The agent added that he did tell FAA officials in Minneapolis of his suspicions.

Incompetent Idiot Liar

Even presstitute Jim VandeHei is questioning Der Leader. However, because he is Jim VandeHei, he manages to do so without using the words incompetent, idiot or liar. ("Incompetent" from the Pew Research poll becomes "skeptical [of] administrative competency"). Of course, he does manage to throw in the old RNC talking point that Bush is a strong and trustworthy leader. Even when describing Bush's lies, he does so gently, using the passive voice. The stuff in brackets is all mine:

WaPo: Old Forecasts Come Back to Haunt Bush
Erosion in Confidence Will Be Hard To Reverse, Say Pollsters, Strategists

Three years of upbeat White House assessments about Iraq that turned out to be premature, incomplete or plain wrong.... [INCOMPETENT IDIOT LIAR]

....House optimism that skeptics contend is at odds with the facts on the ground in Iraq..... [LIAR]

.......the administration's sunny-side-up appraisals,... [LIAR, IDIOT]

.......Rep. Heather A. Wilson (R-N.M.) said in an interview that Cheney was wrong about the insurgency being in its last throes......."I am always cautious about always seeing things in the best light because war is not like that" and the public knows it........ [LIAR, IDIOT]

...Michael Dimock, associate director of the nonpartisan Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, said a recent survey by his group showed the public skeptical toward Bush, about both his administrative competency and his personal credibility. Only 40 percent of respondents said Bush was trustworthy, a 22-point drop from September of 2003, six months after the invasion of Iraq.....[INCOMPETENT, IDIOT, LIAR]

.....Bush is waging the wrong argument.....[LIAR, IDIOT]

......The erosion in the public's support for Bush at a personal level is a striking reversal for a president who for most of his first term was described by the public as a strong and trustworthy leader, especially on national security measures.....[LIAR, IDIOT, INCOMPETENT]

....In recent months, Bush has moved to talk more candidly about the problems in Iraq and yesterday said repeatedly that he understood the public's concerns.....[LIAR]

....There were the famous claims by Cheney and others that U.S. troops would be greeted as liberators after the invasion.....[LIAR, IDIOT, INCOMPETENT]

Other statements were proved wrong. The weapons of mass destruction the administration said Saddam Hussein possessed before the war have never been found -- and many experts believe never existed. White House officials hammered then-chief economic adviser Lawrence B. Lindsey for claiming the war could cost as little as $100 billion, saying the estimate was too high. The actual tally is fast approaching four times that amount, according to the Congressional Research Service, which estimates a $360 billion price tag to date.[LIAR, IDIOT, INCOMPETENT]

Perhaps the most famous rosy statement came nearly three years ago when Bush proclaimed: "We have seen the turning of the tide" under a banner that read "Mission Accomplished." Since then, more than 2,300 Americans have died in Iraq. [LIAR, IDIOT, INCOMPETENT, WORST PRESIDENT EVER]

We Love Lists

Index of the 100 science fiction books you just have to read

I haven't gone on a sci-fi reading binge in over a decade, but I've still read 15 or so of these. As usual, it's a male writer-heavy list. I'd add:

Woman on the Edge of Time, by Marge Piercy
He, She and It, by Marge Piercy
The Mists of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley
The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood

I saw this on Trish Wilson's blog, The Countess

If You're Not Part of the Solution, You're Part of the Problem

The New York Times letting its op-ed pages be hijacked by the right is a problem. I saw this on Atrios, who appropriately entitled his piece "Your So-Called Liberal Media".

American Prospect (online): Man Alive
Is The New York Times still pro-choice? You wouldn’t know it from reading the op-ed page.

A Prospect examination of the authors published between late February 2004 and late February 2006 found that 90 percent of writers -- including staff columnists -- who discussed abortion on the Times op-ed page over the past two years were male. These men wrote 83 percent of the op-eds that mentioned abortion.

James Hansen of NASA: Not Afraid to Say, 'Global Warming'

His boss sure doesn't want James Hansen to say anything, though. The White House now 'reviews' all climate related press releases.

CBS News: Rewriting The Science

(CBS) As a government scientist, James Hansen is taking a risk. He says there are things the White House doesn't want you to hear but he's going to say them anyway.

Hansen is arguably the world's leading researcher on global warming. He's the head of NASA's top institute studying the climate. But this imminent scientist tells correspondent Scott Pelley that the Bush administration is restricting who he can talk to and editing what he can say. Politicians, he says, are rewriting the science.

But he didn't hold back speaking to Pelley, telling 60 Minutes what he knows.

Asked if he believes the administration is censoring what he can say to the public, Hansen says: "Or they're censoring whether or not I can say it. I mean, I say what I believe if I'm allowed to say it."

What James Hansen believes is that global warming is accelerating. He points to the melting arctic and to Antarctica, where new data show massive losses of ice to the sea.

Is it fair to say at this point that humans control the climate? Is that possible?

"There's no doubt about that, says Hansen. "The natural changes, the speed of the natural changes is now dwarfed by the changes that humans are making to the atmosphere and to the surface."

Those human changes, he says, are driven by burning fossil fuels that pump out greenhouse gases like CO2, carbon dioxide. Hansen says his research shows that man has just 10 years to reduce greenhouse gases before global warming reaches what he calls a tipping point and becomes unstoppable. He says the White House is blocking that message.

"In my more than three decades in the government I've never witnessed such restrictions on the ability of scientists to communicate with the public," says Hansen.

Restrictions like this e-mail Hansen's institute received from NASA in 2004. "… there is a new review process … ," the e-mail read. "The White House (is) now reviewing all climate related press releases," it continued.

Why the scrutiny of Hansen's work? Well, his Goddard Institute for Space Studies is the source of respected but sobering research on warming. It recently announced 2005 was the warmest year on record. Hansen started at NASA more than 30 years ago, spending nearly all that time studying the earth. How important is his work? 60 Minutes asked someone at the top, Ralph Cicerone, president of the nation’s leading institute of science, the National Academy of Sciences.

"I can't think of anybody who I would say is better than Hansen. You might argue that there's two or three others as good, but nobody better," says Cicerone.

And Cicerone, who’s an atmospheric chemist, said the same thing every leading scientist told 60 Minutes.

"Climate change is really happening," says Cicerone.

Asked what is causing the changes, Cicernone says it's greenhouse gases: "Carbon dioxide and methane, and chlorofluorocarbons and a couple of others, which are all — the increases in their concentrations in the air are due to human activities. It's that simple."

But if it is that simple, why do some climate science reports look like they have been heavily edited at the White House? With science labeled "not sufficiently reliable." It’s a tone of scientific uncertainty the president set in his first months in office after he pulled out of a global treaty to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

"We do not know how much our climate could, or will change in the future," President Bush said in 2001, speaking in the Rose Garden of the White House. "We do not know how fast change will occur, or even how some of our actions could impact it."

Annoyed by the ambiguity, Hansen went public a year and a half ago, saying this about the Bush administration in a talk at the University of Iowa: "I find a willingness to listen only to those portions of scientific results that fit predetermined inflexible positions. This, I believe, is a recipe for environmental disaster."

Since then, NASA has been keeping an eye on Hansen. NASA let Pelley sit down with him but only with a NASA representative taping the interview. Other interviews have been denied.

"I object to the fact that I’m not able to freely communicate via the media," says Hansen. "National Public Radio wanted to interview me and they were told they would need to interview someone at NASA headquarters and the comment was made that they didn’t want Jim Hansen going on the most liberal media in America. So I don’t think that kind of decision should be made on that kind of basis. I think we should be able to communicate the science."

Conservatives: Whiny Babies From Cradle to Grave

I saw this article on Suburban Guerilla

Toronto Star: How to spot a baby conservative
KID POLITICS | Whiny children, claims a new study, tend to grow up rigid and traditional. Future liberals, on the other hand ...

Remember the whiny, insecure kid in nursery school, the one who always thought everyone was out to get him, and was always running to the teacher with complaints? Chances are he grew up to be a conservative.

At least, he did if he was one of 95 kids from the Berkeley area that social scientists have been tracking for the last 20 years. The confident, resilient, self-reliant kids mostly grew up to be liberals.

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But the new results are worth a look. In the 1960s Jack Block and his wife and fellow professor Jeanne Block (now deceased) began tracking more than 100 nursery school kids as part of a general study of personality. The kids’ personalities were rated at the time by teachers and assistants who had known them for months. There’s no reason to think political bias skewed the ratings — the investigators were not looking at political orientation back then. Even if they had been, it’s unlikely that 3- and 4-year-olds would have had much idea about their political leanings.

A few decades later, Block followed up with more surveys, looking again at personality, and this time at politics, too. The whiny kids tended to grow up conservative, and turned into rigid young adults who hewed closely to traditional gender roles and were uncomfortable with ambiguity.

The confident kids turned out liberal and were still hanging loose, turning into bright, non-conforming adults with wide interests. The girls were still outgoing, but the young men tended to turn a little introspective.

Block admits in his paper that liberal Berkeley is not representative of the whole country. But within his sample, he says, the results hold. He reasons that insecure kids look for the reassurance provided by tradition and authority, and find it in conservative politics. The more confident kids are eager to explore alternatives to the way things are, and find liberal politics more congenial.

Repeat After Me: Global Warming Is The Problem

The Washington Post runs yet another all-this-weird-weather article without using the crucial phrase "global warming". The closest they come is the graphic caption, "River Warming"; a quote from a scientist: "These changes are linked to warmer temperatures in late winter and early spring."; and the concluding sentence: "If the trend continues, say scientists, the wood lilies and ladies'-tresses may soon be gone in the warming winds." But they never come flat out and say, this is caused by global warming.

Say it after me: Everything in this article is caused by GLOBAL WARMING.

Global warming
Global warming
Global warming

WaPo: Early Spring Disturbing Life on Northern Rivers

"Northeastern rivers have 20 fewer days of ice cover each winter now than they did in 1936," said Hodgkins, who said the total now averages 92 days. "A lot of that decrease has occurred since the 1960s."

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"Lack of ice on rivers severely affects fish, especially anadromous* fish like endangered Atlantic salmon," said Trial, a biologist at the Maine Atlantic Salmon Commission in Bangor. "Ice cover insulates rivers and streams, protecting young salmon from cold. Without that cover, the salmon are also more susceptible to predators." Bald eagles, for example, are able to snare their piscine prey only from open water.

[]

The most difficult winter situation for salmon and other fish, biologists say, is on-again, off-again ice cover: rivers that freeze over one week and then are open the next.

"Fish expend critical energy responding to these unstable conditions," Trial said. Ice that doesn't stay frozen may also contribute to the deaths of aquatic animals such as northern leopard frogs, which overwinter far beneath a chilled-to-freezing blanket.

"The reduction in river ice between January and April has important ecological effects," Hodgkins said, "including more frequent formation of 'anchor ice.' " Anchor ice, a spongy, smothering type of ice, covers the bottom of a river instead of "floating" on top, but it can't form when the surface is already frozen, he said. "Anchor ice slows down or eliminates water flow near the riverbed, which leaves fish embryos starved for oxygen."

When river ice finally breaks up in spring, the process results in what's known as ice-jam flooding: water spilling over the banks behind piled-up ice. Ice-jam flooding, say Prowse and Culp, is the main way water levels are sustained in ponds and wetlands alongside rivers. Without this flooding, habitat for migrating waterfowl and aquatic mammals such as beavers and mink often disappears. If there is not enough ice during winter, wetlands can quickly become dry lands when spring arrives.

*Anadromous fishes are those that spend all or part of their adult life in salt water and return to freshwater streams and rivers to spawn.

Three Years of War In Iraq

An appropriate front page, from the Independent (UK):

Was It Only a Pileated Woodpecker?

NewScientist.com: Doubts cast on superstar woodpecker's return

The story concerning the rediscovery of the ivory-billed woodpecker (see below) took another turn on Thursday with the publication of two new papers in Science. Michael Patten, at the University of Oklahoma, US, and David Sibley, author of a field guide to North American birds, and colleagues challenged the Cornell University team's interpretations of a video of the supposedly extinct bird.

They conclude the video actually shows a pattern of black and white markings typical of a pileated woodpecker. In particular, some frames appear to show a black stripe behind the white wing markings, which does not occur on the ivory billed woodpecker.

[]

The problem is that the video – still the best evidence of the woodpecker's existence – contains no more than a blurry, four-and-a-half-second glimpse of a distant bird as it takes off from a tree and flies away into the forest. See the video here (.mov format).

Fitzpatrick's team has painstakingly examined the footage frame by frame, and they remain convinced it shows enough detail to prove that the bird is an ivory-billed woodpecker and not a pileated woodpecker, the only other woodpecker of similar size and appearance.

President Out-of-Touch Moron Meets the Seniors

The Smirking Chimp: President Out-Of-Touch: When choosing a Medicare plan, it helps to kick the tires

This is so good I'm taking the liberty of reproducing it in its entirety. President Dumbass at his worst:

Sometimes you can't even win with hand-picked supporters. Here is President Out-Of-Touch Moron explaining Medicare pricing to senior citizens in Maryland on March 15:

This guy has got a great question because really what he's talking about is transparency in pricing. When you go buy a car, you know exactly what they're going to charge you.

Uh oh. The audience responds with spontaneous, derisive laughter.

Well, sometimes you don't know.

More laughter.

Well, you negotiate with them.

Nice going, Monkey Boy. Dig yourself in deeper. More laughter from the audience.

Well, they put something on the window that says price.

Another volley of laughter.

Boy, you can smell the smoke all the way over here as POTUS-brain synapses strain to find one another. Think hard, man -- what did it say on Karl's flash-cards?

His point is, is that the more you know about price, the better you can make better decisions, and I appreciate that.

It's here that Bush's finely-honed fight-or-flight instincts kick in:

Listen, you're paying me a lot of money to work, and so I think I'm going to have to head back home. But I'm honored. Got any more questions, I'll be glad to answer them.

Run away! Run away!

Because We Don't Look Like Them

New York Times: Why Do So Few Women Reach the Top of Big Law Firms?

Duh. Big law firms are partnerships, and those partnerships are almost all male. They hire people they feel comfortable with: people like themselves. And men aren't out there looking for self-knowledge. If you don't hit them over the head with their passive discriminatory ways, they don't see it.

I was the only woman lawyer in my 10-lawyer law firm for five long years. I got along with all my fellow attorneys, and half or more of them would say they were my friends. But they excluded me in many ways, large and small. From their jovial calls to start attorney meetings 'OK, boys, what's on the agenda today'; to not inviting me out to lunch, or to golf, or for drinks; to paying me less and telling me my pay was the same. I was different, and alone, and I was always aware of that, even if they weren't.

I had my revenge. I took a pro bono sex discrimination case, settled it, and got local and national press. Before my afternoon of press conferences and photographers and interviews, I went in to my managing partner's office, ostensibly to go over my talking points for the day. [Democrats take note: The message is the message.] But I had a personal agenda.

After going through my press points, I said, I have just one question I don't know how to answer. When a journalist asks me, 'If you're a discrimination lawyer, why are you the only female lawyer in your law firm?', what do I say?

There was a very long silence. His face reddened, alarmingly. He sputtered, and came back at my very angrily. They didn't discriminate. There was no intent. That was ridiculous.

I didn't go into my litany of complaints. I just said, I don't think a really good journalist will be satisfied with that answer. And I left, because the Boston Globe was in the reception area, and I had a busy afternoon ahead of me.

The next day the managing partner came in, said he thought about it the night before, accepted my complaint, and asked me how things should change.

Things changed, and I did eventually make partner.

I was lucky, and unusual. Established law firms are not hospitable environments for women lawyers.

Incompetent Idiot Liar

Want to know why the Pew Research poll found "liar" the #4 word Americans associate with George W. Bush? Here's one reason:

"One thing is for certain: There won't be any more mass graves and torture rooms and rape rooms."
George W. Bush, Jan. 12, 2004

New York Times, March 20, 2006, the three-year anniversary of Bush's disastrous War in Iraq:

Task Force 6-26
Before and After Abu Ghraib, a U.S. Unit Abused Detainees
By ERIC SCHMITT and CAROLYN MARSHALL

As the Iraqi insurgency intensified in early 2004, an elite Special Operations forces unit converted one of Saddam Hussein's former military bases near Baghdad into a top-secret detention center. There, American soldiers made one of the former Iraqi government's torture chambers into their own interrogation cell. They named it the Black Room.

In the windowless, jet-black garage-size room, some soldiers beat prisoners with rifle butts, yelled and spit in their faces and, in a nearby area, used detainees for target practice in a game of jailer paintball. Their intention was to extract information to help hunt down Iraq's most-wanted terrorist, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, according to Defense Department personnel who served with the unit or were briefed on its operations.

The Black Room was part of a temporary detention site at Camp Nama, the secret headquarters of a shadowy military unit known as Task Force 6-26. Located at Baghdad International Airport, the camp was the first stop for many insurgents on their way to the Abu Ghraib prison a few miles away.

Placards posted by soldiers at the detention area advised, "NO BLOOD, NO FOUL." The slogan, as one Defense Department official explained, reflected an adage adopted by Task Force 6-26: "If you don't make them bleed, they can't prosecute for it." According to Pentagon specialists who worked with the unit, prisoners at Camp Nama often disappeared into a detention black hole, barred from access to lawyers or relatives, and confined for weeks without charges. "The reality is, there were no rules there," another Pentagon official said.

Democrats: It's Time To Start Playing Offense

I talked to a friend who is active in New York politics a few weeks back, and she said, wonderingly, 'those people at headquarters think we can just wait for the Republicans to mess up, that we don't have to fight.' We both know that is just political suicide. So does Pachacutec at firedoglake:

FDL Late Nite: The Silent Majority

Today’s Silent Majority wants to see action from leaders in Washington, not just timid posturing. In that vein, I have some advice for Harry Reid (Minority Leader) and Chuck Schumer (head of the DSCC) in the Senate: take a look at those polls again. It’s time to play some offense. Get in front of the parade by getting behind Feingold’s censure motion.

If you do, I’ll bet many of the remaining 26% of democrats who currently oppose censure will flip to support it, moving overall population support for censure from 48% to well over 50% (hat tip to eRiposte). Some independents will follow along, too, if you stand together and make your case to a public starving for alternative leadership. (Note: censure polling varies by the wording of the question.) That will boost democratic turnout for the midterms, and also happens to be a political stance for the right fucking principle: the president does not get to break or ignore the law at his whim.

[]

All this friendly advice comes with a warning: the Silent Majority will not be denied. The tectonic plates of American politics are fundamentally shifting. To those who would get in the way of the new majority politics, consider: like that guy in the picture [Muhammad Ali], we in the Silent Majority know how to handle those who stand in our way.

War Pimps Remembered

From Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, some of the dumb things the media told us about what a great idea the Iraq war was, and how well it was going:

"The Final Word Is Hooray!"
Remembering the Iraq War's Pollyanna pundits

These are the grossest, tributes to Smirky McFlightsuit:

Mission Accomplished?

"The war winds down, politics heats up.... Picture perfect. Part Spider-Man, part Tom Cruise, part Ronald Reagan. The president seizes the moment on an aircraft carrier in the Pacific."
(PBS's Gwen Ifill, 5/2/03, on George W. Bush's "Mission Accomplished" speech)

"We're proud of our president. Americans love having a guy as president, a guy who has a little swagger, who's physical, who's not a complicated guy like Clinton or even like Dukakis or Mondale, all those guys, McGovern. They want a guy who's president. Women like a guy who's president. Check it out. The women like this war. I think we like having a hero as our president. It's simple. We're not like the Brits."
(MSNBC's Chris Matthews, 5/1/03)

"He looked like an alternatively commander in chief, rock star, movie star, and one of the guys."
(CNN's Lou Dobbs, on Bush's 'Mission Accomplished' speech, 5/1/03)

ANWR Drilling Passes Supine Senate

Republicans in the Senate aren't too worried about supporting President 33%, because they just snuck ANWR drilling legislation into a budget bill. Sneaky and environmentally insane, all in one fell swoop:

WaPo: Senate panel to OK ANWR drilling bill by mid-May

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will approve legislation by mid-May to open Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling, according to the panel's chairman.

The U.S. Senate late on Thursday approved in a close 51-49 vote a $2.8 trillion budget bill that calls for the government to raise $6 billion over 10 years in leasing fees from allowing oil companies to drill in ANWR. The revenue would be split between the federal government and the state of Alaska.

[]

Republican leaders, with White House support, used budget legislation to give oil companies access to the refuge, because budget bills can't be filibustered under Senate rules.

Small ray of hope, the House hasn't voted on this yet, and some Republican House members may oppose. They're all a little more worried about supporting President 33%, because they're all up for re-election in November:

The House of Representatives has yet to vote on its budget legislation. But two dozen Republican House lawmakers have said they oppose putting ANWR drilling language in the budget bill.

Corporate Media Catching on to Operation Photo Ops

Who'da thunk it? The latest, widely reported offensive was just a photo op. And the corporate media may have figured it out after the fact, but it's a start:

Time.com: On Scene: How Operation Swarmer Fizzled
Not a shot was fired, or a leader nabbed, in a major offensive that failed to live up to its advance billing

Four Black Hawk helicopters landed in a wheat field and dropped off a television crew, three photographers, three print reporters and three Iraqi government officials right into the middle of Operation Swarmer. Iraqi soldiers in newly painted humvees, green and red Iraqi flags stenciled on the tailgates, had just finished searching the farm populated by a half-dozen skinny cows and a woman kneading freshly risen dough and slapping it to the walls of a mud oven.

The press, flown in from Baghdad to this agricultural gridiron northeast of Samarra, huddled around the Iraqi officials and U.S. Army commanders who explained that the "largest air assault since 2003" in Iraq using over 50 helicopters to put 1500 Iraqi and U.S. troops on the ground had netted 48 suspected insurgents, 17 of which had already been cleared and released. The area, explained the officials, has long been suspected of being used as a base for insurgents operating in and around Samarra, the city north of Baghdad where the bombing of a sacred shrine recently sparked a wave of sectarian violence.

But contrary to what many many television networks erroneously reported, the operation was by no means the largest use of airpower since the start of the war. ("Air Assault" is a military term that refers specifically to transporting troops into an area.) In fact, there were no airstrikes and no leading insurgents were nabbed in an operation that some skeptical military analysts described as little more than a photo op. What’s more, there were no shots fired at all and the units had met no resistance, said the U.S. and Iraqi commanders.

St. Patrick's Day Joke Round-Up, Blogtopia Edition

booman tribune

skippy

dependable renegade

Random Sports Thoughts

Who stole Rick Barry's voice, and implanted it in Jim Spanarkel?

When did Giants running back Tiki Barber become a right wing F-word Faux News anchor? Ewwww.
Why doesn't ESPN realize that to build the audience for a sport, they have to cover it? ESPN has exclusive rights to the US national soccer teams, men's and women's, yet they failed to cover the US women in the Algarve Cup. We lost to Germany on penalties, 4-3. ESPN didn't even put the scores on the ticker. Idiots.

And why doesn't ESPN ever have soccer on ESPN classic? Where's Liverpool defeats AC Milan, last year's Champions League final? The 2002 World Cup games? Boy would I love to watch US-Germany again, or US-Portugal. Don't they want to build an audience for this summer's World Cup?

WaPo Presstitute VandeHei Rewrites History

Did you know that it was Congressional Republicans who killed Bush's crazy privatize social security plan?

That's what Presstitute Jim VandeHei says in today's Washington Post:


GOP Irritation At Bush Was Long Brewing

So when Bush sprang the Social Security plan on them, many Republicans balked. Eventually, congressional Republicans revolted and killed what Bush had trumpeted as the top domestic priority of his second term. Another common complaint about the White House is that it asked lawmakers to take politically risky votes and did not bother to provide cover when Democrats started attacking.

Here in the reality-based community, we know that it was the Democrats, and unrelenting pressure from liberals, and the liberal blogs, Joshua Micah Marshall of TalkingPointsMemo leading the charge, that killed Social Security privatization. But it makes a good phony point in the Congressional Rethugs feeble attempts to distance themselves from their incompetent idiot liar leader before the midterm elections in November. They killed his Social Security plan! He hasn't been leading them around by their petards since 2000. See, they all have functioning vertebrae!

In this world of sin and sorrow there is always something to be thankful for; as for me, I rejoice that I am not a Republican.
H. L. Mencken

'Why Does Bush Act So Macho?'

I saw this on Blue Gal:

The Incompetence, The Corruption, The Cronyism: March 17, 2006 edition

Wonder why the number one word Americans associate with George W. Bush is 'incompetent'? Here's why:

The Incompetence:

Security? Bushco don't give no stinkin' security.

TSA is a joke. Airport security is a joke. Have you been to an airport lately? You have to take your shoes off still (so stupid), but watch the screeners chatting with each other, barely paying attention to the passengers passing through.

Airline screeners fail government bomb tests
21 airports nationwide don’t detect bomb-making materials

WASHINGTON - Imagine an explosion strong enough to blow a car's trunk apart, caused by a bomb inside a passenger plane. Government sources tell NBC News that federal investigators recently were able to carry materials needed to make a similar homemade bomb through security screening at 21 airports.

In all 21 airports tested, no machine, no swab, no screener anywhere stopped the bomb materials from getting through. Even when investigators deliberately triggered extra screening of bags, no one discovered the materials.

NBC News briefed former New Jersey Gov. Tom Kean, chairman of the 9/11 commission, on the results.

"I'm appalled," he said. "I'm dismayed and, yes, to a degree, it does surprise me. Because I thought the Department of Homeland Security was making some progress on this, and evidently they're not."

[]

NBC News asked a bomb technician to gather the same materials and assemble an explosive device to determine its power. The materials for the bomb that exploded a car's trunk fit in the palm of one hand. NBC News showed the results to Leo West, a former FBI bomb expert.

"Potentially, an explosion of that type could lead to the destruction of the aircraft," said West.

Port security? Not on the Republican agenda:

ThinkProgress: Right-Wing Blocks Funding For Port Security, Disaster Preparedness

Moments ago, the House of Representatives narrowly defeated an amendment proposed by Rep. Martin Sabo (D-MN) that would have provided $1.25 billion in desperately needed funding for port security and disaster preparedness. The Sabo amendment included:

– $300 million to enable U.S. customs agents to inspect high-risk containers at all 140 overseas ports that ship directly to the United States. Current funding only allows U.S. customs agents to operate at 43 of these ports.

– $400 million to place radiation monitors at all U.S. ports of entry. Currently, less than half of U.S. ports have radiation monitors.

– $300 million to provide backup emergency communications equipment for the Gulf Coast.

Meanwhile, the Bush budget – which most of the members who voted against this bill will likely support – contains an increase of $1.7 billion for missile defense, a program that doesn’t even work.

The Corruption:

Idaho Senator Mike Crapo (very appropriate name) raised twice as much money from the U.S. Virgin Islands as he did from residents of Idaho last year. Can you say, "Vote for Sale"?

Crapo donations questioned

Lobbyists for the islands are trying to reduce the number of days a person must remain on the islands to be considered a resident, an issue that could have tax benefits.

Currently, under a 2004 act of Congress, individuals must spend at least half the year in the Virgin Islands to be considered a resident for tax purposes. Lobbyists would like to see that reduced to an average of 122 days per year over a three-year period.

Crapo, a member of the Senate Finance Committee, is looking into the issue.

"He's very much involved in the philosophy states should be able to determine states' business," Crapo spokeswoman Susan Wheeler told the Idaho State Journal. "And in the same vein, territories should be able to determine the tax benefits that bolster business and the economy."

And then there's recently retired General Richard Myers, who has sold his corrupt soul to Northrup Grumman:

ThinkProgress: As The Revolving Door Turns: Former Top U.S. General Cashes In With Defense Contractor

Less than 6 months ago Gen. Richard B. Myers retired as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the highest ranking military officer in the country. He’s quickly found alternative employment. From the Chicago Tribune’s The Swamp:

Northrop Grumman, one of the nation’s largest and best-known defense firms, announced Wednesday that Myers, an Air Force veteran and former fighter pilot, has joined its board of directors.

As one of 11 “non-employee” directors, Myers will earn $200,000 a year, according to a company spokesman. Half of that sum is paid to the company’s 12 directors in stock.

In exchange for his 200K, Myers will have to attend “eight scheduled board meetings this year, two of which are conducted by phone.

Billions of taxpayer dollars are wasted each year on unnecessary weapons systems. Meanwhile, the defense industry rewards top military brass for looking the other way.

The Cronyism:

Bush nominates fellow mountain biker, Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne, to replace Gale Norton as Interior Secretary. He shares her anti-environmental views:

Kempthorne Picked for Interior
Idaho Governor Hailed by Bush, Assailed by Environmentalists

Kempthorne has been a favorite in the Bush White House for years and was considered three years ago as the likely choice for administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. He may have cemented his relationship with the president last summer when he and Bush went biking through Idaho trails together. Bush recalled that day fondly yesterday and noted that Kempthorne and his wife, Patricia, were married during a sunrise ceremony atop Idaho's Moscow Mountain.

Slate magazine, August 5, 2003 (via Suburban Guerilla):

During six years in the Senate in the 1990s, Kempthorne scored a "0" on the League of Conservation Voters' legislative scorecards every year except 1993, when Kempthorne scored 6 percent on the basis of one little-remembered vote against funding a rocket booster for the space program that environmentalists judged harmful to the environment. Knight Ridder's Seth Borenstein reported June 23 that in the two years after Kempthorne became governor of Idaho, the state increased toxic emissions by 2 percent—this during a period when the national average declined by 9 percent. The chief of staff for Idaho's Department of Environmental Quality told Borenstein that environmental inspections were at "a bare-bones minimum" aimed only at staying in compliance with a state court order.

And then there's the 28-year-old travel arranger (Travel arranger? Does that mean he was a driver?), appointed executive director of the Homeland Security Advisory Committees.

ThinkProgress: Inexperienced 28-Year-Old Bush Staffer Appointed to Critical Homeland Security Post

Hoelscher has no management experience, a review of his professional credentials shows. He came to government in 2001 as a low-level White House staffer, arranging presidential travel, according to news reports. He earned $30,000 a year, salary documents show.

In this world of sin and sorrow there is always something to be thankful for; as for me, I rejoice that I am not a Republican.
H. L. Mencken

Color US Blue

Via skippy, from delaware dem's dkos diary:

Clint Dempsey Fighting For (or Against?) World Cup Spot

Dempsey left off U.S. roster following fight, suspension

I was sad to see this story. I hope Dempsey gets his shit together & gets back in Bruce Arena's good graces. He's young (23) and a little wild. Not necessarily a bad thing in a soccer player (see Rooney, Wayne) and I thought he was the US's best player on the field in their last two friendlies.

According to the Herald, he got into a fight with Revolution team captain Joe Franchino after Franchino fouled him. SI.com says that after Franchino body checked Dempsey, Dempsey punched him in the face. The Globe says they "grappled" on the ground, both throwing several punches, then were separated and removed from the field, then fought again after they returned. Both were bloodied, and Franchino's eye swelled shut, although X-rays were negative.

Franchino was not disciplined, which seems weird to me. It takes two to tango, and Franchino has his own reputation as a hothead. And he's the captain, for crying out loud. And Clint? Punch out the captain? Not the best move. Better not try that on Kasey Keller. He'd take you out for sure.

Hope Clint is making all the right moves, apologizing, etc., and will be on the roster (which will be named by May 15th) for Germany. Old teams don't win the World Cup. We need our youth!

Boston Globe: Revolution suspend Dempsey

Boston Herald: Revs KO Dempsey for fightin’

SI.com: Revs suspend Dempsey for fighting

U.S. roster for next Wednesday's game against Germany with players' teams in parentheses:

Goalkeepers (2): Marcus Hahnemann (Reading FC, England), Kasey Keller (Borussia Moenchengladbach, Germany).

Defenders (7): Gregg Berhalter (Energie Cottbus, Germany), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96, Germany), Jimmy Conrad (Kansas City Wizards, Major League Soccer), Cory Gibbs (ADO Den Haag, Netherlands), Frankie Hejduk (Columbus Crew, MLS), Heath Pearce (FC Nordsjælland, Denmark), Eddie Pope (Real Salt Lake, MLS).

Midfielders (6): Bobby Convey (Reading FC, England), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy, MLS), Chris Klein (Real Salt Lake, MLS), Pablo Mastroeni (Colorado Rapids, MLS), Ben Olsen (D.C. United, MLS), Kerry Zavagnin (Kansas City, MLS).

Forwards (4): Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo, MLS), Eddie Johnson (Kansas City, MLS), Taylor Twellman (New England Revolution, MLS), Josh Wolff (Kansas City, MLS).

Although Landon Donovan was named to the squad, he will miss the game with a calf strain.

Canary in the Republican Mine

George W. Bush and the Republican party's reluctance to recognize global warming will be breached first by the people who will have to pay for it: The insurance industry.

From Inter Press Service, via Commondreams: States Calculate Global Warming Pricetag

WASHINGTON - The decision, taken by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, came during the same week that the world's biggest insurance broker, Marsh & McLennan, briefed its corporate clients, which include roughly 75 percent of the "Fortune 500" biggest companies, on the potential impact of global warming on their businesses.

[]

These latest studies, as well another one by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) that found that CO2 levels in the atmosphere have reached levels that have not been seen on Earth for more than a million years, have lent credence to the notion that the Earth's climate is, as NASA's director of the Goddard Institute of Space Studies, James Hansen, said last December, "nearing... a tipping point beyond which it will be impossible to avoid climate change with far-reaching undesirable consequences."

Some of those consequences are of particular concern to the insurance industry, which has been forced to pay out billions of dollars in recent years as a result of damages caused by the growing intensity in recent decades of hurricanes that are fueled by the warming waters of the Caribbean and elsewhere.

Indeed, last week's action by the state insurance commissioners came in the wake of devastating back-to-back hurricane seasons that caused a record 30 billion dollars in U.S. insured losses in 2004 and as much as 60 billion dollars in insured losses from Hurricane Katrina alone in 2005, which was also by far the costliest year in weather-related natural disasters on record, according to a recent study by the Munich Re Foundation.

Indeed, according to a December 2005 Ceres study, U.S. insurers have seen a 15-fold increase in insured losses from catastrophic weather events in the past three decades, increases that have far outstripped the growth in premiums, population and inflation over the same time period.

"It's becoming clearer that we are experiencing more frequent and more powerful weather events that pose huge challenges for the insurance industry," according to Tim Wager, director of Nebraska's Department of Insurance and co-chairman of the new task force set up by NAIC, which originally scheduled the initiative for approval at a meeting in New Orleans that was then cancelled due to Hurricane Katrina.

"The impacts are being felt on our coasts and in the interior U.S.," he added. "We're seeing all kinds of extreme weather in the Great Plains states, including drought, tornadoes, brushfires and severe hailstorms."

The cheerful weatherbots on the news won't say global warming, but it's why all this unusual weather is happening.

Survey Says, I Live In the Smartest State in the Nation

We're No. 50, which means we're No. 1:

SurveyUSA: JOB APPROVAL / PRESIDENT GEORGE W BUSH (Released 3/15/06)

#50 Massachusetts

26% approve, 71% disapprove

We beat New Jersey by 1 percentage point, because our disapproval number is higher.

'Don't Shoot, I'm Human'

If I lived near Las Vegas, this is how I'd be celebrating St. Patrick's Day:

Press Release: Dick Cheney Hunting Vest Night Scheduled for March 17th

Bright orange hunting vests with the slogan “DON’T SHOOT, I’M HUMAN” will be given to the first 1,000 fans that attend the Las Vegas Wranglers game on Friday, March 17. The vest will also feature a Wranglers’ logo.

The Las Vegas Wranglers, a professional hockey team that has already secured an ECHL playoff spot, will play host to the Alaska Aces at the Orleans Arena at 7:05 with doors opening at 6:00 pm.

“We thought it might be fun to announce the event for Friday night’s game, but not actually hand them out until the next day,” said Wranglers vice president and COO Billy Johnson. “But that’s a subtlety in punch line that might not sit well with paying customers for Friday’s game.”

What Are the Ides of March, Anyway?

Last night my friend's son asked us what the Ides of March were, and I was stumped. "It's something to do with Shakespeare" was the best I could come up with, along with "It's what you say every year on March 15th!" So this is for Scott.

From about.com's Astrology section:

Julius Caesar was assassinated on March 15, 44 B.C.E. []

The warning itself was made famous in Shakespeare's play on Julius Caesar, when an unidentified soothsayer tells Caesar, who is on his way to the Senate (and his death), "Beware the ides of March." Caesar replies, "He is a dreamer; let us leave him. Pass."

Caesar ignored the warning, went to the Roman Senate, and was killed.

What's an ide?

The term Ides comes from the earliest Roman calendar, which is said to have been devised by Romulus, the mythical founder of Rome. Whether it was Romulus or not, the inventor of this calendar had a penchant for complexity. The Roman calendar organized its months around three days, each of which served as a reference point for counting the other days:

* Kalends (1st day of the month)
* Nones (the 7th day in March, May, July, and October; the 5th in the other months)
* Ides (the 15th day in March, May, July, and October; the 13th in the other months)

The remaining, unnamed days of the month were identified by counting backwards from the Kalends, Nones, or the Ides. For example, March 3 would be V Nones—5 days before the Nones (the Roman method of counting days was inclusive; in other words, the Nones would be counted as one of the 5 days).

And from wikipedia, this compendium of alternate uses of the phrase "Ides of March":

Ides of March is also a novel by Thornton Wilder, describing, in a series of documents, the events leading up to the death of Julius Caesar.

"The Ides of March" is also an instrumental song by Iron Maiden from their 1981 album, Killers.

The Ides of March is also a band who performed the 1970 hit, "Vehicle."

"Ides of March" is the name of the season 4 finale of the television series Xena: Warrior Princess. The events of the episode roughly correlate with the key elements in the Shakespeare play, with Xena warning Brutus to beware the Ides of March, implying Caesar had become uncontrollably megalomaniacal.

And March 15th is also home to these holidays and observances (also from wikipedia):

# Turkey buzzards return to Hinckley, Ohio.
# International Day Against Police Brutality
# For corporations in the United States that use the calendar year as their fiscal year, the date on which the corporation must file its corporate income tax return
# National holiday in Hungary celebrating the 1848 Revolution.
# World Consumer Rights Day

Happy birthday to Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Jimmy Swaggart (there's a match made in astrological heaven), Sly Stone, Ry Cooder, and Harold Baines.

Attack of the Pacifists

Noted Pacifist Mahatma Ghandi
Your federal government, using their new anti-terrorism powers to spy on....pacifists.

Maybe the grammatically challenged President thought pacifists were a threat to the Pacific Ocean?

WaPo: FBI Took Photos of Antiwar Activists in 2002

An FBI agent in Pittsburgh photographed members of an antiwar activist group in 2002, according to documents released yesterday by the American Civil Liberties Union, which said the disclosure marks the latest incident in which the FBI has monitored left-leaning groups.

An FBI report from November 2002 indicates that an agent photographed members of the Thomas Merton Center as they handed out leaflets opposing the impending war in Iraq. The report called the group a "left-wing organization advocating, among many political causes, pacifism."

Previous posts:

The Vegans Are Coming, The Vegans Are Coming (December 12, 2005)

Attack of the Vegans (January 27, 2006)

What's Cooking

Today I decided to make a Banoffee Pie. When my brother, Mom & I were in England last fall, we saw banoffee pie on the menu and couldn't figure out what it was. Our waiter patiently explained that it is a pie made out of bananas and toffee. Duh.

The toffee part of the pie is made, bizarrely enough, by boiling a can of sweetened condensed milk in water for a few hours. I never would have guessed that. And, the recipes say you store the cans after boiling indefinitely in a cupboard, so you always have the toffee ready if you want to throw one of these together at the last minute.

I'm making the reputed 'original' recipe, from the Hungry Monk restaurant in East Sussex, England: The Original Hungry Monk Banoffi Pie

Test Your Survival Skills

Via dailykos's Science Round-Up, I found Living the Scientific Life, where I took this quiz:

Extreme Survival Skills

I'll leave my results in comments.

Oscar Weiner

I cannot let the week go by without noting the most amusing moment of my vacation. While our hotel did not have televisions, the manager had an Oscar party & brought in a TV so we could all watch the Oscars. I entered the pool and finished second, although there were five tied for first, so technically I tied for 6th.

The funniest moment of the Oscars (and there were many, unintentionally funny moments) was Selma Hayak. She introduced the Oscar-nominated songs. At one point, she introduced "Oscar winner Bill Conte", who was leading the show's orchestra. Except, with her sad command of her second language, English, what she actually said was "Oscar Weiner Bill Conte".

Our host picked up on this and I was lost in hysterical giggling when he said, Oscar Mayer Weiner, Bill Conte.

Selma didn't help when she later referred to Brokeback Mountain as "Brockbock Mountain." Then there was the award winner who said, Movie making is incredibly hard work. (From a man who never did a lick of physical labor in his life.) Or the recipient who began her acceptance speech, "Art is a duty." Better yet, two awards later, the award winner who said "Art is a hammer."

A duty, a hammer, Oscar Mayer Weiner. You had to laugh.

Stock Up On....Tuna?

That's your federal government's recommendation for surviving bird flu. Rummy (Donald Rumsfeld makes $5m killing on bird flu drug) would recommend getting the Tamiflu shot, but that's just science. Powdered milk and canned tuna are the official way to go. Perhaps the mercury in the tuna is a cure?

Stockpile tuna for bird flu crisis, says HHS secretary

March 13, 2006 - In a remarkable speech over the weekend, Secretary of Health and Human Services Michael Leavitt recommended that Americans start storing canned tuna and powdered milk under their beds as the prospect of a deadly bird flu outbreak approaches the United States.

[]

ABC News has obtained a mathematical projection prepared by federal scientists based on an initial outbreak on an East Coast chicken farm. Within three months, with no vaccine, almost half of the country would have the flu.

As Brilliant at Breakfast puts it:

So just as Tom Ridge advised Americans to stock up on duct tape and plastic sheeting as a means of keeping them terrified so they wouldn't notice how Osama Bin Laden was still on the loose and the war in Iraq was going badly, so is Mike Leavitt now telling people that only a can of Chicken of the Sea stands between them and certain death.

[Insert your own mercury contamination joke here.]

A loaf of bread....a jug of wine....a can of tuna....and bird flu

Shopping for an Alibi

Did you hear the one about Claude Allen? George W. Bush's 'domestic policy advisor', caught shoplifting at Target?

Montgomery County, Maryland police press release and mug shot

This afternoon as I drove home (a few days late, car trouble) I heard a piece on NPR's All Things Considered on the Allen story. They interviewed a reporter for the Washington Post, Michael Fletcher, who floated the latest excuse for Allen. He has an identical twin. The twin has always been in trouble. I doubt if it was just the twin with the light fingers, that Claude Allen would have known to call the White House the night he was arrested.

I googled Claude Allen and twin and got no hits. So I don't think this excuse has gotten any traction yet. I wonder where the twin lives? Allen's bios all say he is a Virginia native, so his brother could live nearby. The Target where Allen was caught is 8 miles from his home in Gaithersburg.

Bro couldn't have lived that close by, unless he also could afford a $958,300 home (that's what Allen & his wife paid for their home in Gaithersburg, Maryland in October). In the old days before housing prices became so insane, conventional wisdom was that you could buy a house worth three times your annual salary. For Allen's $161,000 federal salary, that would be $483,000. I wonder if his wife works? How would that be possible, as the Washington Times reports that Allen and his wife home-school their children?

He looks a little overextended financially to me. And if they caught him 25 times, you know that's probably the tip of the iceberg. I mean, I've gotten one speeding ticket. Doesn't mean that's the only time...well, never mind.

Here's the link to the NPR story, although as of this posting there is no audio available: Former Bush Advisor's Arrest Makes Headlines

Hiatus

Back March 10th. Try not to shoot anyone in the face while I'm gone.

Alan Smith Update

Amazingly, after surgery to repair his broken leg and ankle, the doctors are now predicting that Alan Smith may be able to return in six months:

FERGIE: SMITH WILL BE BACK IN 6 MONTHS

Without Smith, Manchester United won the Carling Cup today, pasting Wigan 4-0:

United dedicate win to Smith

and the Mancs wore shirts during the post-game celebrations which said "For You Smudge".



Smith is nicknamed Smudger, a nickname originally held by the Alan Smith who played for Arsenal from 1987 to 1995. Apparently all soccer-playing Alan Smiths are nicknamed Smudger.

Previous posts:

He Knew He Was In Trouble When

Comeback Trail

Get Well Alan Smith

Bush Go Boom

The Scotsman: US leader crashed by trying to 'pedal, wave and speak at same time'

HE MAY be the most powerful man in the world, but proof has emerged that President George Bush cannot ride a bike, wave and speak at the same time.

Scotland on Sunday has obtained remarkable details of one of the most memorably bizarre episodes of the Bush presidency: the day he crashed into a Scottish police constable while cycling in the grounds of Gleneagles Hotel.

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The official police incident report states: "[The unit] was requested to cover the road junction on the Auchterarder to Braco Road as the President of the USA, George Bush, was cycling through." The report goes on: "[At] about 1800 hours the President approached the junction at speed on the bicycle. The road was damp at the time. As the President passed the junction at speed he raised his left arm from the handlebars to wave to the police officers present while shouting 'thanks, you guys, for coming'.

"As he did this he lost control of the cycle, falling to the ground, causing both himself and his bicycle to strike [the officer] on the lower legs. [The officer] fell to the ground, striking his head. The President continued along the ground for approximately five metres, causing himself a number of abrasions. The officers... then assisted both injured parties."

The injured constable missed 14 weeks of work.

Must-See Video

Jason McElwain is the student manager of the Greece Athena (Rochester, NY) High School basketball team. He is autistic, couldn't speak until he was five years old, but has been the team manager for two years, never missing a practice or a game. So the coach put him into the game, the last game of the season, with four minutes remaining.

He missed his first two shots, then amazingly, went on to hit 7 shots in a row, 6 of them three-pointers. 20 points in 4 minutes for an autistic kid who never played before. You have to see it to believe it. I get choked up every time they re-run the tape on TV.

ESPN: Autistic teen's 20-point night touches all

CBS video: Boy With Autism Scores 20

Incurious George

More proof that incurious George Bush does not read newspapers. He was probably out riding his mountain bike. Who's in charge here? Not Incurious George.

Bush's Response To the Ports Deal Faulted as Tardy
By the Time President's Political Team Took Notice, Controversy Was an Uproar

It was not until Feb. 16 that Bush was informed by aides of the controversy -- and that his own administration had approved the port deal a month earlier.

The controversy was covered on February 12, 2006 in the Washington Post in a story on Page 17 of the A section. I know this because I read it & linked to it on February 13th:

Privatization Gone Wild - Bushco Puts Terrorist Funders in Charge (Feb. 13, 2006)

Ding Dong, The Witch Got Caught

Katherine Harris Plays Dumb

Defense contractor Mitchell J. Wade pled guilty yesterday to election law fraud, among other charges for making illegal campaign contributions, including $32,000 in illegal contribution to Rep. Katherine Harris (R-FL).

Katherine Harris claims she had no idea there was anything amiss when she received the contributions. In a statement she said the incident “demonstrates the perils of a process in which candidates are sometimes asked to determine the intent of a contributor.”

Her story isn’t very credible, for three reasons –

1. The illegal donations arrived on the same day. []

2. MZM was Harris’ largest campaign contributor by far. []



3. Wade told Harris his intentions. He took Harris out to lunch and told her MZM wanted an earmark for a defense project. According to the Washington Post, Harris asked for it but wasn’t able to get it. []