Nitpicker
| Marriage is love. | |||||
Friday, March 26, 2004
Template Change
I've been sittin' in here at Nitpicker since November and have made little changes. First, because although Terry told me to feel free and make it my home, I haven't felt either the need or the sense of ownership to make changes. Second, I am no HTML guru, and worry that any changes I make to the template will result in total Nitpicker annihilation. Okay, so at this juncture maybe it's more the second point. At any rate, you will note the added rainbow bar above to illustrate support for gay marriage here at Nitpicker. The code can be found by following the link and I discovered it through Musing's musings. So, go forth and spread support for equal rights.
Thursday, March 25, 2004
Too Tired
Had one of those meetings tonight. You know, the one that should have lasted one hour tops but went on for nearly three. Of course then my friend and I had to retire to a local establishment for much needed anesthesia. I'm almost competely recovered from the disasterous meeting but have zero energy for blogging tonight. So visit the blogroll but make sure you don't miss:
TBogg
Suburban Guerrilla
Musing's musings [although I don't know about the new colors]
Crooked Timber
Opinions You Should Have
Hullabaloo
Not in any particular order, just some 'consistent quality' personal favorites. 'night.
Wednesday, March 24, 2004
The Luxury of Protest
...Yet, as I was driving around Baghdad on March 20, the eerie quiet felt like a sign of something else: that symbolic anniversaries are an unaffordable luxury when the war they are supposed to be marking is still being waged. Several demonstrations were planned for the 20th in Baghdad but were cancelled at the last minute, a response to three days of rapid-fire attacks on Iraqi and foreign civilians.
On March 19, an anti-occupation march designed as a show of unity between Sunni and Shia Muslims was much smaller than organizers had hoped, and no wonder: Less than three weeks ago, 70 people were killed in a horrific attack on the same Shia mosque where demonstrators were meant to gather. To underscore the threat, U.S. occupation chief Paul Bremer chose the day of the planned protests to predict that more such major attacks were likely 'when you have masses of Shia together.' Those who dared to show up despite the warnings glanced around nervously, while men armed with Kalashnikovs lined the streets and rooftops, looking for signs of trouble.
It's worth remembering that just two months ago, the mood here was distinctly less tentative. In January, more than 100,000 Iraqis took to the streets of Baghdad and Basra to reject the U.S. plan to appoint an interim government through a complicated system of regional caucuses, and to demand direct elections instead. Under intense pressure, Mr. Bremer was forced to scrap the caucus plan entirely. For a brief moment, it looked as if U.S. President George W. Bush's empty talk of bringing democracy to Iraq might just become a reality, not because the occupiers were serious about giving Iraqis self-determination, but because Iraqis seemed determined to seize that power despite their occupiers' best efforts.
Now, after a month of terror and steady assertions from 'experts' that Iraq is on the verge of civil war, much of that boldness has retreated. Which is precisely why they call it terrorism: It sends people from the streets into their homes, replacing courage with fear, self-reliance with dependency.
There are rare exceptions, such as the recent Spanish elections, when populations seem to collectively decide to try something else— to respond to horror with defiance. But more often than not, terrorism simply terrorizes.
But if terrorism sows fear, an obvious point, the obvious question is: Who benefits most from the spreading fear in Iraq? According to President Bush, the winners are faceless evildoers bent on undermining Iraq's future democracy. "They understand that a free Iraq will be a devastating setback to their ambitions of tyranny over the Middle East," he explained on the anniversary. According to Mr. Bremer, that means that the attacks will likely continue as the June 30 handover approaches.
It's a nice theory, but it's not the one gaining currency on the streets of Baghdad. Just 20 minutes after the devastating bombing of the Mount Lebanon hotel last Wednesday, the rumours began to fly: It was the Americans, the Pentagon, the CIA, the British. If these conspiracy theories have traction, maybe it's because the occupying forces have so brazenly taken advantage of the attacks to do precisely what they accuse foreign terrorists of doing: interfering with the prospect of genuine democracy in Iraq.
Why Must The Show
WASHINGTON - Democrats on Capitol Hill continued to press the White House Tuesday to allow Condoleezza Rice to testify before an independent commission looking into how the Bush and Clinton administrations handled the growing threat of al-Qaida before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.What's the point? When lying's like breathing, what difference does their appearance make? When the head of the commission goes in thinking that the Administration has nothing to hide ...
70's Lasagna
MIAMI (AP) -- A 5-year-old boy took a bag of marijuana to school and was sprinkling it over a friend's lasagna like oregano when a monitor intervened, police said.Wow, and I thought we started young.
The lasagna was confiscated before the other boy had a chance to eat it Monday in the cafeteria at Gratigny Elementary School.
Police said it was unclear whether the kindergartner even knew what he was carrying, although he tried to hide the bag when the monitor approached.
Going Up?
In an elegant bit of nanoscale engineering, chemists at the University of California at Los Angeles have designed and built what must be the world's tiniest elevator, a molecular platform on three legs that can be raised or lowered on command.
The device, created by J.Fraser Stoddart, a professor of organic chemistry, and colleagues, is about two and a half nanometers high, and the platform moves less than a nanometer up and down. A nanometer is one-billionth of a meter, or about a 25-millionth of an inch.
Although the elevator is more complex and organized than other so-called molecular machines, Stoddart said the work, which is described in the current issue of the journal Science, was only an 'extremely incremental' step toward developing useful molecular-scale devices that might, for example, function as drug-delivery systems. The elevator or something like it, he said, might someday serve as a valve, opening and closing a tiny cavity to allow a few drug molecules to reach a cell.
Showing Respect
MADRID, Spain World leaders dressed in black joined Spanish royalty and families of the 190 victims of Madrid's train bombings at a state funeral Wednesday for those killed in the nation's worst terrorist attack.Although showing a sign of respect for the Spanish people is not something that Bush, the morally-challenged, fascist born-again mentally-deficient imp could comprehend, his absence from the state funeral was a great symbol of honor and respect -no matter if it was unintended.
Extra! Extra!
NEW YORK (AFP) - A US business group that monitors federal spending took out a full-page advert in The New York Times, likening President George W. Bush to a corrupt chief executive officer who has forfeited public trust.These guys are or were CEOs, so they speak with some authority.
Timed to coincide with the weekend anniversary of the US-led war against Iraq, the advertisement -- paid for by Business Leaders for Sensible Priorities -- said Bush's case for invasion 'was built entirely out of falsehoods.'
Highlighting the cost of the war in terms of hundreds of US casualties and tens of billions of dollars, the ad said the 'state-sponsored deception' underpinning the conflict dwarfed the damage caused by the series of corporate scandals that recently rocked Wall Street.
'It's past time for finger pointing,' it said.
'It's time for someone in this government to step forward and take personal responsibility for the deadly deceptions used to mislead this great nation into war.
'And that someone must be George W. Bush.'[Nitpicker emphasis]
Not While You're in the Neighborhood
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - The new Hamas leader in Gaza said Wednesday the militant group had no plans to attack U.S. targets, while another top official in the organization said it has targeted Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for death.I'm mean that would be 'suicide' - we'd never do that.
Tuesday, March 23, 2004
If you had any doubts, Fred Kaplan over at Slate tells us precisely why Clarke's accusations are more than merely credible.
Truth Be Damned: Do You See a Pattern Here?
Krugman weighs in.
It's important, when you read the inevitable attempts to impugn the character of the latest whistle-blower, to realize just how risky it is to reveal awkward truths about the Bush administration. When Gen. Eric Shinseki told Congress that postwar Iraq would require a large occupation force, that was the end of his military career. When Ambassador Joseph Wilson IV revealed that the 2003 State of the Union speech contained information known to be false, someone in the White House destroyed his wife's career by revealing that she was a C.I.A. operative. And we now know that Richard Foster, the Medicare system's chief actuary, was threatened with dismissal if he revealed to Congress the likely cost of the administration's prescription drug plan.It's amazing how many disgruntled, 'out of the loop' former members of this single-term administration are out there.
The latest insider to come forth, of course, is Richard Clarke, George Bush's former counterterrorism czar and the author of the just-published 'Against All Enemies.'
...
Of course, Bush officials have to attack Mr. Clarke's character because there is plenty of independent evidence confirming the thrust of his charges.
...
Still, the administration would like you to think that Mr. Clarke had base motives in writing his book. But given the hawks' dominance of the best-seller lists until last fall, it's unlikely that he wrote it for the money. Given the assumption by most political pundits, until very recently, that Mr. Bush was guaranteed re-election, it's unlikely that he wrote it in the hopes of getting a political job. And given the Bush administration's penchant for punishing its critics, he must have known that he was taking a huge personal risk.
So why did he write it? How about this: Maybe he just wanted the public to know the truth.
Dreamin'
Where has this guy been?
There comes a time when the truth must trump party loyalty. And surely, when it comes to President Bush's initially disengaged and then dramatically misguided response to international terrorism, that time has now come for Republican members of Congress.I don't know about you, but I'm not holding my breath.
Trust Me
Let me admit: My view is that Scalia should stay out of any case involving the political interests of this administration. Here, after all, is the man who played such a central role in putting Bush and Cheney into office through that abominable Bush v. Gore decision. How can the kingmaker be expected to offer a fair judgment on the king and his handpicked deputy?
...
This is a scandal. Because of ideological connivance across the branches of our political system, we are abandoning the checks and balances that make our government work. Scalia put aside his own long-standing convictions on issues involving states' rights and equal protection to find a way to put Bush and Cheney in office. Now he says we shouldn't worry that he is friendly with the guy whose case he is deciding in the middle of another election campaign.
Citing past rulings, Scalia wrote in his apologia that his "recusal would be required if, by reason of the actions described above, my 'impartiality might reasonably be questioned.' " True, Scalia's impartiality can't be questioned. It can't even be imagined. The justice's memo makes clear that he's in the wrong line of work.[Nitpicker emphasis]
The Preznit's Criminal Defense
Bush and his cohorts attack Clarke and claim innocence without offering any 'proof', much like a criminal defendant. To be sure, just like criminal a defendant, he (they) needn't offer proof of innocence nor does he (they) have to testify before the 9/11 commission. It remains to be seen, however, whether like most defendants who offer no proof and refuse to testify he'll they'll) be found 'guilty' in the court of public opinion and the electorate.
Jimmy Carter, the former US president, has strongly criticised George Bush and Tony Blair for waging an unnecessary war to oust Saddam Hussein based on 'lies or misinterpretations'. The 2002 Nobel peace prize winner said Mr Blair had allowed his better judgement to be swayed by Mr Bush's desire to finish a war that his father had started.
More criticism from another partisan hack I suppose.
Monday, March 22, 2004
Lack of Imagination
December 1994 -Air France Flight 8969...During the intense standoff, authorities learned that the aircraft was laden with more than twenty sticks of dynamite and the GIA planned to fly the plane into the Eiffel Tower in Paris, blowing it up.Just a thought ... would it be too much to ask that our terrorism experts think outside the box? If I'm in the CIA or FBI or another agency and am in any way involved in assessing/preventing terrorist threat(s) I might spend some time trying to conceive of every possible way in which a terrorist act could be affected. Run risk and probability assessments, etc. Why is it that the terrorists apparently have more imagination? Can't be ETA or al Queda if it's not consistent with their M.O. Planes had been used as weapons; trains have been targets. Geesh, they can't even imagine modes that have already been used. Hey, but we're at 'Burt' level - feelin' safer yet?
September 2001-Planes as Weapons? inconceivable...This was followed by Condoleeza Rice, who repeated the spin: 'I don't think that anyone could have predicted that these people would take an airplane and slam it into the World Trade Center.'
March 22, 2004 -Train security in this country is being increased. On Monday, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge announced plans aimed to prevent the kind of attack that occurred in Spain.
FDA: Antidepressants May Be Hazardous to Your Health
Warning: consumption may result in suicide.
Hey, I'm not makin' this up.
WSJ: News to Them
WASHINGTON --Shortly after a passenger jet crashed into the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, Air Force Gen. Richard Myers raced back to the military headquarters from a meeting on Capitol Hill. The four-star general, acting head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff that day, went directly to the Pentagon's command center. With smoke spreading into the cavernous room, he ordered the officer in charge, Maj. Gen. W. Montague Winfield, to raise the military's alert status to Defcon III, the highest state of readiness since the 1973 Arab-Israeli war.On top of things as usual.
That account is based on interviews with Gen. Winfield and a former White House official. In the months after Sept. 11, President Bush had a different public explanation about who put the military on high alert. The president said publicly at least twice that he gave the order. During a town-hall meeting in Orlando on Dec. 4, 2001, Mr. Bush said that after the attacks, 'one of the first acts I did was to put our military on alert.'
As that suggests, despite intense attention paid to Sept. 11, public understanding of that day -- how government officials responded, what went smoothly and what didn't -- remains shrouded in confusion and misunderstanding. The independent commission appointed to study the terror strikes has said it considers piecing together a minute-by-minute picture of that day's events crucial to its task of deciding whether the country needs to take further steps to prepare for potential future crises.
Spain Soft on Terror?
MADRID (Reuters) - Spanish investigators questioned Arab suspects about Madrid train bombings in court on Monday and police arrested four others in trying to break open a plot that killed 202 people and may be linked to al Qaeda.I wish they'd stop appeasing terrorists.
Fourteen men are now being held in the simultaneous bombing of four commuter trains in the Spanish capital on March 11. Most of the suspects are Moroccans allegedly linked to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network.
Shorter Condi Rice on Today
If I talk very quickly and forcefully, not allowing Matt Lauer to interrupt me, I can convince Americans that Clinton and his administration, including Richard Clark are to blame, without actually denying our fixation on Iraq. On the other hand, it's quite telling that when asked if Sharon had called Bush in advance of the assassination of Ahmed Yassin, her answer was simply "No" - a first to the best of my recollection. The form of denial is telling.
Tumblin'
Sunday, March 21, 2004
Temper, Temper Temperance
MANAMA (Reuters) - Some 100 Bahraini Islamists shouting 'God is Greatest' stormed a French restaurant serving alcohol in the pro-Western Gulf Arab state and threatened diners with knives, witnesses said on Thursday.It's a good thing the bar didn't have a ban on smoking - you wouldn't want to piss these guys off.
One diner managed to wrest a knife away from the Islamists and stabbed one with it, causing him severe injuries, a witness said.
They said the assailants, opposed to the consumption of alcohol banned by Islam, also threw gasoline bombs at customers' cars parked outside the restaurant near the capital Manama late on Wednesday, damaging nine vehicles.
'Abound 100 young men, shouting Allahu Akbar (God is greatest), came to the restaurant carrying knives and shouted at the customers: Why do you drink?,' Jahanshah Bakhtiar, owner of La Terrasse Restaurant, told Reuters.
'They were acting as if they had the right ideas and people should obey them,' he said, adding that there were about 40 customers in the restaurant.
Double Whammy
HOUSTON, Texas (AP) -- A 60-year-old man was struck by a slow-moving train as he walked home from work, and then a car slammed into the ambulance that was to take him to the hospital. The man escaped both accidents with minor injuries.I don't think you want to be on a golf course with this guy if a storm is within a 1000 mile radius.
It would appear Stephen Hadley (see March Madness post below) isn't the only one having difficulty defending Bush's Iraq Policy
Settlin' Old S
Not content with digging up Billy the Kid's mother to settle a debate over the outlaw's fate, now local sheriffs want to exhume the remains under the Kid's gravestone. And since New Mexico's governor appointed a lawyer to represent the Old West outlaw, one of the petitioners seeking the exhumation of Billy the Kid is ... Billy the Kid.One would think that Bill Richardson might have more pressing issues.
The petition, filed in New Mexico's 10th District Court last Thursday, opens the latest chapter in a 123-year-old mystery: Who's buried in Billy the Kid's grave?"
...
The sheriffs started the legal action last November by petitioning a judge for the exhumation of Catherine Antrim, the mother. The judge put that case on hold until August ? but signaled that it didn't make much sense to take a sample of the mother's DNA unless other remains were sampled as well.
That's why De Baca County Sheriff Gary Graves, Lincoln County Sheriff Tom Sullivan and his assistant, Steve Sederwall, filed last week's petition for the Kid's exhumation. The three officials were joined by Bill Robins III and David Sandoval, attorneys appointed by New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson to represent the Kid's interests.
March Madness and 'The Day That Changed Everything'
Midway through the first half, as Xavier fell behind, 23-13 , Matta took Chalmers aside during a timeout and told him to relax. 'They were keying on him early, and I talked to him about being patient, that his shots would come,' Matta said.What, you might ask does the Xavier v. Mississippi State ball game have to do with 9/11? Well, Dedrick Finn was unable to make his recruitment trip to Missisippi State in September of 2001 because of the grounding of all flights in the aftermath of 9/11 (guess he didn't have any Saudi or Bush connections) -he signed with Xavier and, the rest, as they say, is history. On a related note I have to say that I thoroughly enjoy the commercials that aired during the games since Thursday. Particularly those that were divided between Army recruitment and the 60 minutes 'teaser'. You know, the teaser that asks, "Who says that Bush dropped the ball in the war on terror? Why, one of his own former advisors." Almost subliminal -repeated over and over and over again throughout the games to an audience not paying direct attention and many of whom would not likely watch 60 minutes. The best unpaid advertising the Kerry campaign could have received, except, of course, for the 60 minutes broadcast itself, where Clarke was brilliant. It's always difficult to tell from a teaser, how hardhitting an entire piece may be (e.g., the stong lead-in for former Treasury Secretary O'Nell's interview relative to his wishy-washy performance). Clark was not only believable, articulate and strong in the interview but his view was totally consistent with Bush's own words (as shown) about not being able to separate al Queda from Iraq and Saddam. Furthermore, Stephen Hadley (National Security council) was incredible in his effort to defend Bush. Per usual for this Administration, as they cannot denie the charges (because of course, as usual, they're true), Hadley states "We cannot find evidence that this conversation between Mr. Clarke and the pResident ever took place". He is somewhat taken aback when Ms. Stahl informs him that they did some investigating and have not just one but two corroborating sources, one of whom was a witness to the conversation. Can you say ...tumblin'?
Chalmers responded by scoring 12 of the Musketeers' last 20 points of the half and guiding them to a 34-33 halftime lead. Finn created a surge of momentum by heaving in a halfcourt shot at the horn.
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Chalmers again epitomized the fall and rise of Xavier this season, scoring a career-high 31 points and rallying the Musketeers from a 10-point first-half deficit. Chalmers sank 11 of 13 shots, Dedrick Finn scored 22 points and the freshman Justin Doellman added 12 as Xavier, seeded seventh, defeated Mississippi State by hitting 68 percent of its 3-point attempts (13 of 19).
"I don't know if anybody in the country could have beaten Xavier today," Mississippi State Coach Rick Stansbury said. "When you come out and have your starters shoot the way they did, you have no chance." [Nitpicker emphasis]
Thursday, March 18, 2004
Duck, Duck, Judicial Quack
Fat Tony the Scumbag Scalia says I sat on Bush v. Gore, I see no reason to recuse my fat ass from the Cheney Case
Bush Wants Kerry to Identify Supporters So He Can Invade Them
Excerpt from Mad Guerilla Brigade Via Uggabugga
WASHINGTON, DC (MGB) - President Bush challenged Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry on Tuesday to identify who he is talking about when he claims that some foreign leaders privately support him over Bush.Go enjoy the whole thang.
'You don't just walk around letting your mouth write checks your ass can't cash,' Bush said from the Oval Office this morning. 'I'd like to know what foreign leaders think Kerry would do a better job than me, I'll be on them like a west Texas dust storm. I got about a 50 gallon drum of whoop ass left over from Iraq, that I've been dying to dump all over somebody. I'm a mushroom cloud layin' motherfucker, motherfucker...literally.'
Insiders say the invasion of Iraq came shortly after the Bush Administration learned of Saddam's personal blog and his intention to back Kerry in the primaries. The blog, www.saddamloveskerry.com, never came to fruition thanks to the quick work of the Bush team but insiders say the world impact would have been enormous.
Krugman tells us who is weak on terror, while Jimmy Breslin says Bush may see the whites of those Irish Eyes this June but they'll likely not be smilin'.
What They Don't Talk About
Mental-health survey briefing canceledAND:
A briefing on the results of a mental health survey of troops in Iraq was abruptly canceled Monday because military officials said they did not want bad news to come out on the eve of the anniversary of Operation Iraqi Freedom, congressional sources said.[Nitpicker emphasis]
Via Army Times
WASHINGTON - National park superintendents are being told to cut back on services— possibly even closing smaller, historic sites a couple days a week or shutter visitor centers on federal holidays — without letting on they are making cuts.Transparent democracy; don't ya' just love it.
...
"He suggested that if you feel you must inform the public ... not to directly indicate that 'this is a cut' in comparison to last year's operation," she continued. "We all agreed to use the terminology of 'service level adjustment' due to fiscal constraints as a means of describing what actions we are taking."[Nitpicker emphasis]
We still sort of, maybe have Osama's sidekick, or some 'high-level target', surrounded on the Afghanistan/Pakistan border.
