Saturday, June 30, 2007
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Something there is that does love a wall
Ace looks at the highly effective wall the Israelis put up and asks: "Are the Amnestias against the wall because it won't be effective -- or against it because it will be effective?"
Both.
Opponents of the wall genuinely think that sealing the border is impossible--at least those in the mainstream do. Furthermore, if they refuse to even entertain the notion that sealing the border is possible a) they will never be proven wrong; and b) their adversaries will never be proven right. And it doesn't hurt that their stance will make them the favored choice at the polls for the very vocal hardcore believers who think that any attempt to close the borders is a betrayal of their ideals.
The argument that X is an intractable problem so we shouldn't even try to fix it is kind of an odd argument for the left to be making, considering their faith in social engineering. Yet it's become their fallback position in recent years.
In the 1970s and 80s, before Rudy Giuliani took office, it was an article of faith that NYC was ungovernable; crime would continue to skyrocket and the homeless--who virtually took over in areas like Times Square and Tompkins Square Park--were there to stay. This belief in the intractability of the problem was genuine, but it didn't hurt that not rocking the boat was the favored position of the liberal establishment's core constituents. No, the homeless and the squeegee men and the muggers didn't vote. But homeless advocates, the ACLU and professional racebaiters did. And they were very vocal.
Anyone who attempted to address the chronic problems of the city was punished. A case in point: Ed Koch and Joyce Brown. Koch tried to get Brown, a diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic, off the streets but was thwarted by the ACLU. Then Dinkins took office and the status quo became intolerable.
Yes, it's funny that the same people who believe they can legislate away obesity and poverty consider it unrealistic to tackle other problems. But they do.
Consider education. Vouchers could not be condoned because they were unfair and they wouldn't work anyway. That the teachers' unions opposed them didn't hurt either. The No Child Left Behind Act isn't exactly a conservative darling, but for years the powers that be railed at the idea of imposing any standards or benchmarks on schools. The argument went that teachers would just "teach to the test," leaving students with a big gap in other, important "life skills." Rejecting benchmarks on those grounds meant that legislators didn't have to hold teachers and school administrators accountable for failing schools, which helped them hold their grip on power. But over time, as conditions in certain inner cities schools continued to worsen, the stance of the unions became unsupportable and now they're pulling back and starting to embrace things like merit pay.
The Iraq war is another case in point: It's a quagmire and we can't win so let's just pull out our troops and go home. The daily casualty reports bolster this point of view. And the antiwar--any war--faction is loud and growing louder each day. Since it looks as though we'll be out of there in a few months, they can never be proven wrong on this point.
So what of the wall? It may be another measure that will die on the drawing board. Unless and until someone who walks across the border commits a major act of terror. Let's hope it doesn't get that far.
Posted by
Rachel
at
10:40 AM
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Labels: Illegal aliens
Shameless self-promotion time
Posted by
Rachel
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7:17 AM
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Labels: office life
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Unethical ethicist
Douglas Kern has some fun with the news that New York Times ethicist Randy Cohen was dropped from a Washington state newspaper for violating its ethics policy.
My highest law-school grade was in Legal Ethics. I achieved a stellar grade because I devised an infallible mechanism for solving any legal ethical dilemma. My mechanism was this: Remember that legal ethics is a system of rules:
1) designed by sociopaths;
2) for sociopaths;
3) to prevent public acknowledgment of their sociopathy;
4) while still allowing said sociopaths to fleece said public.
Once you realize that contemporary ethics is not morality but the clever simulation of morality, you’re halfway to qualifying for an ethics-consulting job.
Kern's point is that the rule Cohen violated--he contributed to MoveOn.org in violation of the paper's rule that its staff not contribute to political organizations--serves as a fig leaf for journalists to maintain the illusion of objectivity.
True, though regular readers of Cohen will not be surprised at his support of Move On. Cohen's philosophy, such as it is, seems to be that any action one takes is ethical as long as you're sticking it to "The Man." See this article by Jacob T Levy who takes Cohen to task for, among other things, telling a reader that it would be unethical to report shoddy work by a temp because it's immoral to "force" someone to have such a lousy job.
In response to the question about how to handle a poorly performing temp, Cohen declared, "if anyone's acting unethically here, it's your boss; it is ignoble to force people into soul-deadening, pointless, poorly paid jobs.... Organizing work into tedious, repetitive tasks, while profitable for the few, makes life miserable for the many; some political economists have called it a crime against humanity." In other words, as long as we have a division of labor, ethics is inapplicable to decisions we face about who does what job. In the face of"a crime against humanity," how could there be anything wrong with submitting fraudulent resumes, evaluations, or timecards?
Posted by
Rachel
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9:54 AM
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Labels: media
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
CIA family jewels more like the keystone kops
Particularly this bit, where they try to enlist the mafia to help them get rid of Fidel Castro.
In documents that often read like a cheap detective novel, the story is outlined: The pitch was made to [reputed mobster Johnny] Roselli at the Hilton Plaza Hotel in New York and Roselli was initially cool to the idea. But the contact led the agency to two top mobsters, Momo Salvatore Giancana and Santos Trafficant, who were both on a U.S. list of most-wanted men.
Giancana, who was known as Sam Gold, suggested firearms might be a problem and said using a potent pill that could be slipped into Castro's food or drink might work.
Eventually, six pills of "high lethal content" were provided to Juan Orta, identified as a Cuban official who had been receiving kickback payments from gambling interests, who still had access to Castro and was in a financial bind.
"After several weeks of reported attempts, Orta apparently got cold feet and asked out of the assignment. He suggested another candidate who made several attempts without success," the document said.
Posted by
Rachel
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3:58 PM
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Labels: CIA, Fidel Castro
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Guest blogging by Rachel
of Tinkertytonk fame.
Rachel will be posting her witty and insightful remarks on my blog while I am comporting in the surf.
Posted by
Rachel
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10:10 PM
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Friday, June 22, 2007
The ruling classes have decided...
what we in the proletariat should like.
In this case it's amnesty. However:
1) This bill is incredibly unpopular with the general public....
2) This bill is even more unpopular with conservatives than with the general public.
Why the rush to do something about the 12 million illegals--excuse me, undocumented Americans--now here? Are they going someplace? Or are they like ticking bombs, who will self-destruct if we don't do something?
Why not just continue the practice we have been engaged in since the last amnesty, and just ignore them, while shoring up our borders? When the borders are closed we can decide what to do with those who are still here.
By the way, I see the Palestinians are leaving the Gaza strip in record numbers. May I make a suggestion, that they not come here? We have enough cab drivers who won't pick up blind people. Also enough home-grown terrorists.
All we need is a bunch of disaffected, untrained and rebellious young men to make mischief here. How about Saudi Arabia as a destination? I hear the weather is lovely there at this time of year.
Posted by
miriam sawyer
at
9:21 AM
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Thursday, June 21, 2007
Going to Hawaii
I understand this is the Hawaii state flower. Is it hibiscus? I don't know, and I'm too lazy to research it. Anyway, this is by way of saying I'm going to Hawaii. On Sunday. I plan to do nothing but swim and sit on the beach, although I would like to see the Arizona.
Posted by
miriam sawyer
at
9:55 PM
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A friend redux
A reprise from a year ago.
Call her Edna. We used to go out to eat. The waiter shows us to a table.
E: Oh, not that one, it's too cold (hot, near the window, near the door). Shows us to another table.
E: Could you turn the music down? It's too loud.
Astonishingly, the music gets turned down. Waiter comes to take our order.
E: Is the pasta made with eggs? I don't eat eggs. I have high cholesterol.
Waiter, who speaks little or no English, disappears into the kitchen. Comes back. The answer is no.
E: I'll have cranberry juice, very cold, but no ice. Waiter brings cranberry juice.
E: This has ice in it. Waiter takes it away. Brings another, sans ice.
E. It's not very cold.
E orders an appetizer, main course, and tira misu.
Me: I thought you were watching the fats--cholesterol, you know?
E: Oh, I always do that.
I have a cup of cappucino. Nothing else. The bill comes.
E: It's $45--Should we just split it?
Posted by
miriam sawyer
at
3:13 PM
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Blog nekkid day
It's coming. Tomorrow.
Matt says so. Anyway, I'm leaving my clothes off. How about you? It's hot out there.
Posted by
miriam sawyer
at
10:04 AM
5
comments
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Should little kids play outdoors?
The general agreement seems to be that they should not, although we did.
When I was a little kid, I played outdoors whenever I wasn't at school or asleep. I used to play in the snow until my fingers and toes turned to ice and my clothing was drenched, then come indoors, stand over the hot air register and cook myself--and then out again.
Every season had its games. There was hopscotch, jump ropes, jacks (for us girls). Both boys and girls played marbles. There were paper airplanes. Some of the more sophisticated boys made airplanes out of kits and flew them. Or we played tag, or hide and seek. Hide and seek was most fun when it was growing dark and the mothers started calling everyone in. Some of the older boys played touch football or baseball in the street. The games broke for cars.
When I had no one to play with, I would take long walks to see if other, unknown neighborhoods were more interesting than ours. They were, because I had never been to them before.
My mother used to give me money to go to the drugstore at the end of our block and have an ice cream. Sometimes she sent me on errands to the drugstore.
Downtown was exciting because forbidden. But we had a way around this. I told my parents the other kid's parents were driving us, and she did the same, and we rode the bus. I loved the bus.
When I learned to ride my bike, I rode, with friends or alone, as far as I could go.
When I became nine or ten, I became a bookworm and preferred to stay indoors and read. My grandmother had no patience with this. She thought reading during daylight hours was sinful, somehow. You should be outdoors, or go clean your room.
I am so glad I experienced this freedom. Kids nowadays are hothouse plants. I feel sorry for them.
Posted by
miriam sawyer
at
10:46 PM
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My Comcast days
Glenn Reynolds had his problems with Comcast. So did I.
The first tech who came to install our television and internet connection brought equipment different from what we had requested. We wanted to be able to record programs. He brought the plain vanilla equipment. He started to install it anyway with a brooding look on his face. "I've had a bad day," said he.
Then he discovered he would have to go out in the back yard to do something or other, which did not improve his mood.
The TV worked, sort of. The Internet, not so much. Of course we were unable to record anything, but let that pass....
When the bill came, they were charging us for premium service. The first of many phone calls ensued, which I would characterize as Comcast 1/ Miriam 0. In short, we never did get the billing straightened out. Putting that aside for a moment...
Our Internet did not work. I begged, pleaded and threatened until I coerced them into sending another tech. When I told someone at their office about the horrible tech who had come to the house, the person sighed. "Oh, that guy! Well, he doesn't work for Comcast, he's an independent contractor. We've had lots of complaints about him."
Says I, "So why don't you stop using him?"
"Oh, he's not that bad."
Another tech came to the house and told me the first tech had attached everything to the wrong cables. He had to rewire. It still didn't work very well. Meanwhile...
We started paying them only for the services received, and they started phoning us. To settle this impasse, we canceled our service and got Dish TV and DSL Internet and the hell with it. However...
The last chapter had not ended. Comcast wanted us to deliver their equipment to their office.
I refused. They called for a while then stopped calling. End of story.
Remind me to tell you about my adventures with Verizon some time.
Posted by
miriam sawyer
at
10:09 PM
1 comments
Land of Hope and Glory - Last Night of the Proms 06
Watch this if you're an Anglophile.
Posted by
miriam sawyer
at
1:52 PM
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Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Me at 16
My high school graduation picture. I'm having so much fun scanning these old photos into the computer!
Looking through these pictures, I'm beginning to get annoyed, retroactively. You see, I was the pretty one in my family (it was a small family) but I was always the fat one. Fat in this case meaning 5'3" and 120 lbs. But my girl cousins were all so skinny you could see their belly buttons from the back, and to me skinny was the gold standard.
Of course, I didn't let the pretty part stop me for a minute, but the fat part really got under my skin. I had the feeling all through high school that the world was a tuxedo and I was a pair of brown shoes. I always felt fat and was always dieting. Possibly because my mother always felt fat and hadn't put on a bathing suit in 20 years, even though she loved swimming.
Now I'm mad! I wasn't fat! However, now I am fat. Just ask the cardiologist. But I just bought two bathing suits and I am going to Hawaii and I'm going to wear them! I'm going to swim!
I also bought two cover-ups.
Posted by
miriam sawyer
at
11:06 PM
3
comments
Guns don't kill people...
but us pissed off grannies might:
[A] true story which took place in New Jersey several years ago.
A little old lady, a widow, was playing cards with a group of friends when an intruder tried to break into her house. She warned him to get lost, and went back to her game.
Later in the evening, he tried to break in again, and the stout codgerette shot him. Whether he was killed, I don't know--I think not. But he was effectually stopped.
The old lady was arrested. Seems it is illegal to have a gun in Paterson, NJ. After a public outcry, the charges were dropped.
Mess with us old ladies at your peril.
Posted by
miriam sawyer
at
3:53 PM
1 comments
Who's pickier?
Men or women?
It all reminds me of poor Ron, who worked at our library for a while. Mostly he was known as Poor Ron, as in:
"Ron called in sick today."
"Oh, poor Ron."
or:
"Phone call for Ron."
"I think he went to lunch. Poor Ron."
Ron lived with his mother. I suspect she picked out his clothes. He gave all his money to Dr Atkins of diet fame. Atkins felt Ron's problem was carbs, and that he needed weekly vitamin shots. He was as thin as a rail and for lunch brought, not a sandwich or salad or slice of pizza like everyone else, but some Godawful mess prescribed by Atkins.
Poor Ron used to talk to me about his romantic problem, his problem being that he didn't have any romance whatever. I don't think he ever went out with a girl in his life. He wanted to place a personal ad in the local paper to see if he could meet someone.
I tried to help him formulate an ad, until I realized that Ron had exacting requirements. He wanted a woman between the ages of 25-28 (he was 42), 5'6" and 120 lbs. She had to be educated and successful, a good dancer...but you get the idea. Ron, the dork, wanted a woman who probably could snag Brad Pitt.
I don't know how his ad campaign turned out, but when he left us he was still alone, dressed by his mother, and getting weekly vitamin shots. I guess no lucky girl jumped at the chance to take on Ron.
Posted by
miriam sawyer
at
3:45 PM
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Labels: men women dating
Monday, June 18, 2007
I don't know what Uncle Moe got for Father's day
as I wasn't present at their celebration. My own father got, on two separate occasions, handkerchiefs from Woolworth's and a deck of the finest playing cards the drugstore could offer. These gifts had the merit of at least being useful. My father did blow his nose and play cards.
Uncle Moe got ties for his birthday, which was celebrated on Thanksgiving. Why Thanksgiving? Well, your birthday was celebrated on the Jewish holiday closest to the actual date. I think this might have been derived from the Russian custom of celebrating your birthday on your saint's day. We didn't have saints, so we improvised. My cousin Esther's was Yom Kippur. I'm not sure how that worked out in terms of gifts. Did she get them before the fast began, or after it ended? Mine was Purim.
My mother and my uncle Moe had been born some time in November, when there was no convenient Jewish holiday to hook it onto. So we celebrated them both on Thanksgiving. I bought my mother the feminine equivalent of whatever I had bought my father--in her case, the hankies had flowers embroidered on them, but the playing cards were unisex.
Mother was always grateful for these gifts, especially after seeing what Uncle Moe had gotten. Uncle Moe had three children, and his gifts escalated in awfulness. They were presented with all the brio of a magician producing a rabbit out of a hat. A solid gold toothpick was produced on one occasion, I remember. The tableau always included one tie--I wish I had a picture of it, but they don't make them like that any more. Here is a feeble substitute:
Uncle Moe's ties were much, much worse. For one thing, the flamingo was hand-painted, in luminous colors. It glowed in the dark. It even glowed in broad daylight.
My Uncle Moe was a quiet, subdued sort of man, the sort you would want for your family doctor, which was what he was. I never actually saw him wear one of these objects. But he must have had a drawer full of them.
Posted by
miriam sawyer
at
9:25 AM
1 comments
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Hamas vs Fatah
I once made some remarks about the difference between Hamas and Fatah, and I still keep getting hits from same, although I am far from being an expert. So I thought I would expand on the topic.
The Difference between Hamas and Fatah:
1. Hamas wants to drive Israel into the sea. Fatah just wants to kill Jews. Drowning, while is would be nice, is optional.
2. Fatah followers go to the mosque to get fired up to kill and maim Jews and their political enemies. Hamas guys skip the mosque part.
3. Hamas guys wear masks when they go around killing people; Fatah guys wear beards and masks.
4. Hamas persuade others by means of Kalashnikovs; Fatah prefer AK-47.
5. Hamas followers revere Yassir Arafat; Fatah members loot his house and steal his peace prize.
6. Hamas guys like to blow up buses. Fatah folks prefer pizzarias.
7.--My God, aren't six reasons enough? Figure it out for yourselves. I can't do all the work around here.
Posted by
miriam sawyer
at
2:57 PM
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