January 2003 Archives

Michael Kinsley says: W got into Yale based on a sort of affirmative action as well

If our President had the slightest sense of irony, he might have paused to ask himself, "Wait a minute. How did I get into Yale?" It wasn't because of any academic achievement: his high school record was ordinary. It wasn't because of his life experience - prosperous family, fancy prep school - which was all too familiar at Yale. It wasn't his SAT scores: 566 verbal and 640 math.

George W. Bush, in fact, may be the most spectacular affirmative-action success story of all time. Until 1994, when he was 48 years old and got elected Governor of Texas, his life was almost empty of accomplishments. Yet bloodlines and connections had put him into Andover, Yale and Harvard Business School, and even finally provided him with a fortune after years of business disappointments. Intelligence, hard work and the other qualities associated with the concept of merit had almost nothing to do with Bush's life and success up to that point. And yet seven years later he was President of the U.S.

X-Ray Pix of Calculators. Via Dee X Boy.

INS destroyed thousands of documents to "eliminate" backlog

Tens of thousands of pieces of mail come into the huge Immigration and Naturalization Service data processing center in Laguna Niguel, Calif., every day, and as at so many government agencies, it tends to pile up. One manager there had a system to get rid of the vexing backlog, federal officials say. This week the manager was charged with illegally shredding as many as 90,000 documents.

Of course, many of those in LA, from Arabic countries, who were out of status due to the INS backlog have been detained. Let's see, you play by the rules, the INS destroys all of your papers, and you get arrested, given no food, not allowed to take your medicine, hosed down with a fire hose, and made to sleep on a concrete floor with no blankets. Due Process anyone?

And what about everyone else who lost *all* of their documents and are now out of process ? How can you get back into the system once they've destroyed your birth certificate?

Down below, an offhand comment from Colin led to a spirited debate about SUVs that led me to do a little research on the much debated "safety" of SUVs. Before I could publish my opus, those rat-bastards at the New York Times trumped me by coming out with a fairly good article on the subject this morning.

No one really debates the environmental issues with SUVs: They guzzle way too much gas, pollute like a son-of-gun, and are generally the worst thing to happen to roads since the Patrick Swayze film "Roadhouse". They are so bad on the environment, even the conservatives are starting to turn on them - check out Ariana Huffington's Detroit Project, which accuses Americans who drive SUVs of increasing our dependance on Middle East oil and (taking a page from the Drug Wars) indirectly supporting terrorists. Nice to see the right coming up with an answer to the fuel consumption problem that doesn't only involve Alaska.

But the rationale has always been that the increased pollution and decreased fuel efficiency is worth it because SUVs are so much "safer" than normal cars (or, god forbid, small cars) - and who wouldn't pay a few more cents at the pump to keep Billy from dying a horrible death in the backseat of a Mini-Cooper? True enough - kind of. You see, SUVs create a nice little prisoner's dilemma: the reason they are "safer" is because they cause more deaths to all smaller cars, making their fatality statistics go up, and making SUV fatality statistics look good in comparison. It would be kind of like if the New York City police dealt with a high murder rate by going over to Brooklyn and shooting a lot of people to raise the neighboring murder rate. Still, the fact is, on an individual level, you should buy an SUV, because they are safer - assuming you don't roll it over, or hit something equally large or larger. Well, really you should buy a huge pickup truck - those are even "safer" than SUVs (using the same comparative logic), but Soccer Mom won't stand for that - at least not until Porsche makes one. The problem is, on a collective level, if we all followed that logic, the 'safety' factor would evaporate, simply because we would run out of smaller cars to crush - once everyone is driving an SUV, the Hummers become the "safe" cars. Then, you can move on to the Godzilla SUV. Eventually, we can all drive Bradley tanks - which is probably a better idea than deploying them in the battlefield where good soldiers might be put at risk by these too-slow dogs.

In my mind, this is a perfect area for legislation: The market will have a hard time correcting this race for the "biggest, heaviest," because individually, driving an SUV is a smart choice, but collectively, it gets disasterous. Ban SUV's? Well, that's not going to happen, so let's get real: How about tougher fuel standards? Weight-based auto taxes? Tougher emission standards? One random SUV owner every year sacrificed on national televison in a 'reality television - lottery' hybrid? A death penalty for SUV drivers? I'm open to reasonable suggestions . . .

If you want to know more about SUV safety, you Salon fans have an article to read, and you public television fans can turn to Frontline's examination of the issue.

If you want more Anti-SUV info, try this link to a site with an agenda, but also some good information culled from the NHSTA, among others. If you are one of those dopes who thinks vandalism is a great way to serve the public, you can become an SUV "Tagger" and affix things like bumper stickers and fake parking tickets to SUVs. But if you get shot, I'm not going to feel real bad for you.

If you want to hear the other side? Well, not a lot out there - people don't feel a need to talk about them, they just buy 'em and drive 'em. But you could start with SUV One or suv.com to start your quest.

For those who would like to do something affirmative to make a stand against the war we are all being told is inevitable, there is to be a dual rally on February 15 in New York and San Francisco. If you're ambivalent about the war, come. If you’re not sure you agree with all the groups likely to be there, come. The pro-war people are sure to conceal their disagreements to make war; those of us against it should try to put aside ours.

A Journal for Human Research Subjects. I'm unemployed, but hopefully it won't come to this.

M_____ writes:

On the heels of MLK Day, an L.A. Times series examines the phenomenal rate of black-on-black murder in that city. Per 100K of the population, 177 blacks are murdered annually, compared to 40 Latinos, and 10 whites. In each of the last 5 years, 40% of victims are black, while blacks are just 11% of the city's population - and shrinking.

The series notes:

Authorities say most [virtually all] black homicide victims die at the hands of other blacks. Witnesses often are afraid to step forward. Few killers are caught. They live alongside law-abiding neighbors, bragging, bullying, daring justice. Or they have been killed themselves.

The homicide problem is baffling to many African Americans, a demoralizing coda to the black struggle against oppression. 'We are committing suicide,' said Carlton Mitchell, an Inglewood carpenter whose brother, Paul, was gunned down outside a South-Central hamburger stand. 'We don't have to worry about other races doing it to us. We are self-destructing.'

And this as Latinos have surpassed blacks as the nation's largest "minority" - a decade-old milestone in California. The silence from black leaders is deafening. What's up?

That's like putting Ted Kaczynski in charge of the US Postal Service!

Heard on NPR, sometime this past weekend....

Following our whole Trent Lott as Janeane Garofalo debate earlier, it's interesting to read an interview with her on CNN. I thought it was pretty great. Here's an exerpt:

Now, another thing I'd like to bring up, if I may, that is a glaring hypocrisy. George W. Bush is vehemently pro-life, seeks to overturn Roe v. Wade -- well, not -- seeks to ban scientific research as pertains to stem cell research, cloning, because of the sanctity of human life.

Yet at the same time he is asking us to drop bombs on Iraqi civilians. According to the United Nations, up to 1 million people will be killed and/or wounded in this war.

So, apparently, if you are pre-sentient mass of cells, this country will protect you and your rights to the n-th degree. If you have made the mistake of becoming an Iraqi citizen, apparently we can just drop bombs on you with impunity.

After trying not to take her points seriously, CNN ends with this solemn lead in to the next story.

When we come back, a controversial sex sting involving a former U.N. weapons inspector who now argues against war with Iraq. Are the media ignoring the story? That's next.

But watch out for the telomeres.

A pdf of Watson and Crick's 1953 publication available here.

Driving at night toward Pennsylvania, I heard an interview with the head of Language Removal Services, which provides a "completely non-invasive procedure" to remove one's language (don't worry, it's reversible) and create a "profound portrait of the person involved." You can listen to some of the celebrities who have had this procedure performed, including Marilyn Monroe and Thelonius Monk. The interview included a call-in contest to identify celebrities based on their language-less audio clips; I completely failed to recognize any of them. Call to get your language removed today!

According to today's NYT article on Internet Dating:

"In all these campaigns, do not expect the online services to reveal any of their flaws, however. One major drawback, according to Marketdata Enterprises, is that about 30 percent of the people using the services are married. "

Maybe they liked it so much they just coming back for more !

Kids in Cars, from the Washington Post. Hrm -- this wouldn't have anything to do with our obesity epidemic, eh ? Residential areas designed so that a car is essential, kids and parents both stop walking, watch more TV, and eat higher calorie food (OK -- the last one isn't a direct result of suburbia, but it is something I remember from my trips there). Does this have anything to do with zoning perhaps ? Nah.

"A third of Australia's world-leading astronomy program was wiped out at the weekend when the Canberra bushfires gutted the Mount Stromlo Observatory. The flames destroyed five telescopes, the workshop, eight staff homes and the main dome, causing more than $20 million in damage."

This is just one of many tragedies in this terrible disaster, which was, arguably, caused in part by global warming. There's no shortage of suffering going on down there, of course, but, for some reason, the photos of the observatory are unexpectedly compelling. Something about the failure of human knowledge to protect itself. Anyway, here are a few links from our friends the Viridians:
___

"Astronomy projects in ruins as observatory obliterated"
"Historic Australian observatory gutted"
Dome photo
Canberra Fires gallery
"What a small tactical nuke might look like"
___

And, at the risk of descending into the totally absurd (not my original intent with this post), it appears that continued temperature increases will put us at risk of being taken over by giant squid. Now really, who wants that? Shut off that SUV, you.

Powell Says U.S. Ready for Solo War on Iraq
Powell: U.S. Has No Intention of Attacking N.Korea

Gary Hart's excellent speech to the Council on Foreign Relations on foreign policy is printed in its entirety here, on Salon. A really, really thoughtful piece of writing on the foreign policy challenges facing us now. It's sad that his extramarital escapades have turned him into a joke. If you're a Republican, it's OK to be arrested 3 times (including 1 DUI) and have fake-ID-using daughters if you want to run for President, but if you're a Democrat, you can't have a troublesome marriage. Anyway, read the article. It's everything that's missing from not only the White House but the media in general.

So the line's busy when I call this number. But it seems like a good idea. If you get through, can you leave a message in the comments field?

The Bush White House has an "opinion" line for you to call. Please give your opinion about the potential war in Iraq. The line only accepts calls from 9-5 EST., Monday through Friday. Just call the White House at 202-456-1111.

A machine will detain you for only a moment and then a pleasant live operator will thank you for saying "I oppose" or "I approve." It will only take minutes. Note that the weekends are closed for calls. The president has said that he wants to know what the American people are thinking. Let him know. Time is running out. Tell them what you think: 1 PHONE CALL EQUALS 10-20 PEOPLE WHO DIDN'T CALL, PLEASE PASS ON TO FRIENDS

Unreal Tournament 2003 | True Christian Maps Now Available! Local Christian computer whiz kid and self-proclaimed, Jesus Geek,Timothy Huxton, spent the last four months tweaking his UPaint Software and UT2003 editor to create what he calls, the first True Christian(r) mod of its kind on the internet. "Timothy stayed up way past his curfew to get this done," remarked Pastor Deacon Fred. "And this is the first good thing that ever came out of a child who stayed up past midnight." Nevertheless, Timothy's mother will have to pay a $200.00 fine for accumulating curfew violations and because her son skipped Sunday School last week to FTP the final version of his 200 MEG Spattered in the Blood of Christ Map to the church LAN.

You will all be pleased to know that "The Cheeky Girls" have climbed to #2 on the British charts with their hit single "Touch My Bum." They have been on the charts for weeks - #1 is in sight!

Here are some sample lyrics: "I never ever ask where do you go. I never ever ask what do you do. I never ever ask what's in your mind. I never ever ask if you'll be mine. Come and smile, don't be shy. Touch my bum, this is life. Oooooh. We are the cheeky girls, we are the cheeky girls. You are the cheeky boys, you are the cheeky boys."

They are, of course, from Cluj, Transylvania. But aren't all the good music acts?

They studied at Romania's exclusive College for Choreography and Dramatic Art, but are hoping to go to law school soon. I sure wish they had gone to mine!

I encourage you all to embrace them, and their life philosophy: Touch my bum, this is life.

All you Ishbadiddle junkies will be happy to know that the 1,000th comment was posted sometime this week. Rock on!

*_*

In December, the World Question Center sent out a query to a group which they call the "third culture" and which I, for simplicity's sake, will call "public intellectuals." The email asked them to think of themselves as the nation's next presidential science advisor, and to answer the following question from George W. Bush:

"What are the pressing scientific issues for the nation and the world, and what is your advice on how I can begin to deal with them?"

About 100 people responded. I liked this response from Marvin Minsky at MIT.

Mr. President:

My idea is that the whole "Homeland Defense" thing is too cost-ineffective to be plausible. The lifetime cost of, for example, preventing each airplane-crash fatality will be the order of $100,000,000-and we could save a thousand times as many lives at the same cost by various simple public-health measures.

Conclusion: what we really need is a "Homeland Arithmetic" reorganization.

Yours truly,

Marvin Minsky

This is the sixth annual question posed by the World Question Center. I hadn't heard of them before, and it's an interesting site to explore.

Remember how things were going to change once we bombed the crap out of Afghanistan? Well, now that we've swept Osama bin Laden under the rug--oh yeah, that guy--seems we can get on with the war against Saddam Hussein. I mean terrorism. So a bunch of civilians died and more mines were laid and a government was installed, but now nobody cares. So here are a few updates. From the IHT

In the city of Herat in western Afghanistan, the government of the warlord Ismail Khan recently applied new rules rolling back educational opportunities for women and girls. Men may no longer teach women or girls in private classes. Girls and boys are no longer allowed to be in school buildings at the same time. The effect of the ban will be to block many women and girls from attending private courses. There is a shortage of women teachers; almost all the teachers in private courses are men.

The Kansas City Star writes

There have been no major military battles in Afghanistan since March, but rival warlords continue to fight, and al-Qaida and Taliban sympathizers remain in the areas bordering Pakistan in the southeast.

And CSM reports on the long-term prospects for Karzai.

But while casting aside Badsha Khan was relatively easy - the US simply stopped paying him for joint operations - the same move will be difficult in other parts of the country where warlords and powerbrokers are more deeply entrenched and where the central government has little manpower to assert its will. The problem with Karzai's plan, Mr. Rashid notes, is that the president has little power of his own to assert. The new Afghan National Army now has only seven battalions, each composed of about 500 freshly trained but poorly paid men, scattered across the country. This makes him reliant on US forces, which have largely stayed out of domestic political squabbles unless they pertain directly to eliminating Taliban or Al Qaeda holdouts.

In case you're wondering, Khan fought alongside the US. As the story also writes

Afghan officials privately fret that the one-time foe of Al Qaeda could switch sides and fight against both the Afghan government and US forces.

Something to think about as we get more and more entangled. I actually don't have a problem with nation building. I do have a problem with starting something and not finishing it. We didn't get bin Laden and Afghanis aren't any better off. I'd ask if we shouldn't learn from this, but, of course, we didn't during the first Bush Gulf War. Sigh.

They Rule aims to make some of the relationships of the elite of the US ruling class visible. It allows users to browse through the interlocking directories of some of the most powerful American companies and easily run searches on them. If a user finds an interesting website about a company or director they can add it to a list of URLs relevant to that company or director. A user can save a map of connections complete with their annotations for others to view. Future users can then show approval for URLs and maps by submitting a vote. They Rule is a starting point for research about these powerful individuals and corporations.

The people who made this site (Future Farmers), also made Co-mix Co-lab, which is interesting.

I know "oxymoron" means a phrase that contains apparently contradictory words, but is there a word for phrases that have come to mean the exact opposite of their literal meaning? If so, I'd like to suggest that "Reality Television" has made that leap, for we now understand that "Reality Television" no longer even tries to capture anything resembling reality.

Among my favorite "reality" shows is The Surreal Life, which answers the age-old question, what would have happened if M.C. Hammer, Corey Feldman, Emmanuel Lewis, and some other "less-prominent" stars (is that possible?) had lived together as roommates. And you have to be living under a rock to not know that the breakout reality hit this season is “Joe Millionaire”, a fine little show about a guy who makes $19,000 a year, claiming to be a multi-millionare (with a little help from Fox Network) to try to woo one of twenty eligible lasses (much to the chagrin of various well-intentioned though humorless groups).

But my new favorite phenomenon is tracking Stupid Reality Lawsuits. For example, Drew Cummings, a 50-year old college professor, is suing American Idol for age discrimination, claiming that he should have been given a chance to be the next Madonna. I'm sure he looks great in a g-string. Liza Minelli is suing because, apparently, her life is too boring to be considered "real," and she feels VH1's failure to make her the next Sharon Osborne is worth a cool $23 million. But my personal favorite? Bob Craft, a fellow who legally changed his name to "Jack Ass" in 1997, and is now suing the MTV show "Jackass" for $10 million for defaming his good name. You can defame a man named himself Jack Ass?

I'm thinking of suing American Idol too, for "talent discrimination." I know I could make it big, if only they would give me a chance!

Ah, the fine points of the law.

In honor of MLK's birthday (I know, I'm a day late), and because that ESPN subway ad campaign bothers me.

We've taken to calling Ben's diaper checks "weapons inspections."

Rumsfeld is going all deconstructionist on us again. Here he is asserting that no evidence, is, in fact, evidence.

"The fact that the inspectors have not yet come up with new evidence of Iraq's WMD [weapons of mass destruction] program could be evidence, in and of itself, of Iraq's noncooperation," Rumsfeld said.

Given Bush's opposition to affirmative action, perhaps it's not surprising that he renominated Pickering. But one of his other candidates, Jeffrey Sutton, is a complete wack job. Peep this article on Sutton.

Mr. Sutton has argued that the Constitution forbids Congress to authorize victims of discrimination to enforce their rights against states, whether in federal or state court. For example, in Board of Trustees v. Garrett, Mr. Sutton successfully argued before the U.S. Supreme Court that state employees with disabilities may not sue for employment discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Placing the rights of states over those of individuals, Mr. Sutton based his position on an unprecedented rejection of Congress' power to protect civil rights as well as a cavalier disregard of the extensive history Congress documented of the discrimination people with disabilities have suffered at the hands of the states, a history that five Supreme Court justices once described as "grotesque." Mr. Sutton made similar arguments that nullified individual enforcement against states in age- and religious discrimination cases.

Before you kill yourself, however, read this hilarious article from the Onion: Bush on North Korea: 'We Must Invade Iraq'. (Thanks to atrios for rockin', as usual.)

For some insight on how we got into this mess--well, not really, given that Bush didn't win the popular election--check out The Triumph of Hope Over Self-Interest by David Brooks, the Bobos guy.

The most telling polling result from the 2000 election was from a Time magazine survey that asked people if they are in the top 1 percent of earners. Nineteen percent of Americans say they are in the richest 1 percent and a further 20 percent expect to be someday. So right away you have 39 percent of Americans who thought that when Mr. Gore savaged a plan that favored the top 1 percent, he was taking a direct shot at them.

The Senate Republicans are hopping mad that Bush has cut them out of the decision making on Iraq, a history of which is here. Meanwhile the DoD is using spam as a psyops tool against Iraq; hopefully they'll be more successful than the awful leaflets we dropped on Afghanistan.

What? No more Graffiti?

I know you've all been eagerly awaiting my take on the dividend tax cut -- it's coming, as soon as I solve the North Korean situation and the city's fiscal crisis -- but right now I'm more interested in those $3,000 re-employment accounts. Many questions surround the proposal, but the main question I've got is: when do I get mine? That's right, friends, after 3 years my employment here at Project Renewal has come to an end. A somewhat abrupt end. I was informed on Friday that because of budget cuts (see, I knew I should have solved the city's fiscal crisis) the agency could no longer afford my services. It's a surprise but not a shock. The cuts are bad and will get worse, and I'm not running anything mission-critical here. I'm an easy way to reduce overhead. They're being rather nice about it -- a decent severance, use of my office, and (perhaps) some freelance grantwriting.

Most of you know that I haven't been happy here for a while. So it's a bit of a relief, in a way, to be free of a job that's made me unhappy. But the timing is a bit awkward. Since we won't know for several months whether we're staying in New York or not, based on Debbie's job situation, I can't actually look for a full-time permanent gig. (Plus, I'm planning to take June off, for the Arrival of the Deuce, so that also puts a crimp in my new employment plans.) Since this has all just happened I haven't figured out what's next in the short-term -- temping? freelance? consulting? ImprovEdge? Fortunately, we've got enough socked away to keep Ben in onesies for some time.

In the good news department, it looks like we're not going to be evicted from our apartment after all. I think all the time she's spending in Florida has mellowed our landlady, and it looks like we'll get an extension of our lease. So at least that's one thing that's not uncertain in the coming months.

Job offers may be left in the comments field.

Check out the horrific California quarter designs and vote for one of 'em. "Not in this area?" How about "Not in my pocket?"

...how we're going to pay for a war against Iraq and still cut taxes? That's easy! Let the Iraqis pay for it! And you're probably also wondering how Bush knows the economy is growing stronger every day? Simple! There are no more reports of mass layoffs! (Sure, it's because the feds don't compile the report any more....)

(Stories via cardhouse and randomWalks, respectively.)

This article--Fixed Opinions, or The Hinge of History--reminds me why Joan Didion's writings speak to me so much. I won't say any more, but would welcome a discussion of her points in the comments section.

Don't like what President Bush has to say? Have him say something different. Or, in this case, have him emit a "long squeaky fart."

Not for the mature.

Natalie (my mom) sent this in:

I finally found this really nice parable that you might want to post on Ish. (been looking for it for over six months)

There is a childhood parable I remember about a weary traveler who comes to a crossroads and encounters a wise old man. The traveler is looking for a place to rest and inquires of a large town sighted off in the distance: "What kind of people live there?" The old man answers his question with the question, "What kind from whence you came?" When the traveler confides that the last town he visited was full of filthy streets and vicious people, knaves and thieves, the old man tells him, "Avoid that town; it's exactly the same. You will find no peace there." The weary man thanks him profusely for saving him a needless journey and trudges off in the opposite direction.

The next day another dusty and tired traveler comes to that same crossroads, meets the same old man, and asks the same question: "What kind of people live there?" But this traveler tells the old man that the town from whence he came was a place of flower-strewn streets, good and giving people who always greeted each other with a smile. And the wise old man says, "The town waiting over the horizon is exactly the same. Go down there and rest in peace."

(Sing the above as if you're James Brown.)

Greg's got a new blog, Bad Culture, and it looks like it'll be a doozy. In his own words:

Taking names. Keeping track. A refusal to ignore claptrap, doublespeak, meanspirited jackassery, flat out lies, sins of omission, pigheadedness, goosestepping, intolerance, etcetera.

Check it out!

Farah and I went to a protest of the INS's detention policy on Friday. It was poignant to see Japanese-Americans out in force (many of whom were either internees or the children and grandchildren of internees) and scary/sad to see the new "part for the whole" scapegoats were walking past them to register, knowing they might not come out. I was really moved by the number of people and their diversity in coming together to support equal rights. Seems to me like this is what America is all about--the promise of justice for all, hope in the face of hopelessness.

I did have one problem with the rally, and I guess now is as good a time as any to mention it. Socialism is a critique of capitalism, right, and can be at least seen as critical of a culture in which everything eventually becomes commoditized. So why in the hell do people come out to protests just to sell their freakin' newspapers? Seriously. I came to protest the INS, not buy Socialist Vanguard or whatever, and yes, I know "there are some really good articles in it", but... Seems to defeat the purpose of solidarity, especially since the friendly conversations end immediately after you say you're not interested.

Anyway, in the spirit of solidarity, I should point out that Shaq deserves to be upbraided for his racist comments, especially since he just got an award from the NAACP. You can call and complain at (212) 965-2202.


While you're on the phone, you might want to call your reps about Frist's support of Pickering or about the Pentagon's seeking "relief from environmental regulations". IUnfortunately, I can't include Scalia's comments that separation of church and state have gone too far on that list because, hey, he's not elected. One more reason to encourage scrutiny of judicial appointments...

This article discusses the benefits of the Bush tax plan. According to the administration

The Bush Treasury Department, using a broader definition of income... calculated that those earning more than $100,000 would get 66 percent of the benefit of the Bush tax cut, while those earning $50,000 or less would get 10.5 percent.

The Urban Institute/Brookings Institution Tax Policy Center (sorry, can't find it online, only hard copy) analyzed the differences between Bush's plan and the Democratic counter-proposal. The Dems' plan gives the wealthy a tax break worth 2.2 times the amount the poor pay. Bush's plan? 17,774 times.

Second, It's sad to think of how newsworthy this is, but someone actually talked about the numbers of casualties for Iraq. Not US ones, mind you, but Iraqi civilian non-combatants. The fact that this happened in the clubby atmosphere of a White House briefing is simply breathtaking. Read this for the complete transcript, but here's Helen Thomas:

Q At the earlier briefing, Ari, you said that the President deplored the taking of innocent lives. Does that apply to all innocent lives in the world? And I have a follow-up.

MR. FLEISCHER: I refer specifically to a horrible terrorist attack on Tel Aviv that killed scores and wounded hundreds. And the President, as he said in his statement yesterday, deplores in the strongest terms the taking of those lives and the wounding of those people, innocents in Israel.

Q My follow-up is, why does he want to drop bombs on innocent Iraqis?

My point is not to diminish the tragedies of anyone killed. My point is that it's always a tragedy, and we're really eliding the fact that people killed in Afghanistan, Israel, Palestine, Iraq, the United States, or anywhere all suffer equally, all grieve equally when their friends anad family are killed. When you look at ethnic/religious/etc. violence, the root cause is, I think, dehumanization, and any time we fail to see that, it makes violence easier. As a sign I saw at an antiwar rally once said, "We are not worth more, they are not worth less." We need to take the actions of our government seriously, and we need to stop pretending that human lives have exchange rates. In case it's not abundantly clear, I don't think this consideration is a zero-sum game, and I'm certainly not suggesting that the solution is to stop caring about terror in Israel or anywhere. But read the rest of the transcript for more.

Finally--Jim, I'm throwing you a bone here--has anyone else gotten into Launch? I think it's pretty cool. Check out "my" radio station and suggest other tunes, as appropriate. Sorry if I'm insanely behind the curve here, but the West Coast is 3 hours behind, after all.

The Greatest Pictures Ever. Not of the Life Magazine variety, more of the emailed-around-the-office variety.

Census data from 1990, but the maps are still pretty cool.

Trip may be unnerved by the racial overtones of the LOTR movies (and hey, how about that Orc suicide bomber?) but I'm guessing he won't like this attempt to diversify The Return of the King.

The First Evil's LiveJournal. Must. Stop. Laughing.

that Josh Marshall has been writing: Strategic ridiculousness on the North Korea situation; and Vice Grip on the fallability of Dick Cheney.

I'm pleased to announce the opening of the Ishbadiddle Shop where you can buy T-Shirts with the "Ish" logo in 15 different funky font styles! (It's the same fonts I use for the masthead.) Just T-Shirts now but maybe I'll add other fun stuff like coffee cups and lunchboxes soon. Be the first on your block to sport the newest coolest hippest brand sensation!

The Indpendent Judiciary review of his record is especially illuminating:

Judicial Temperament. Lawyers who argued cases before Judge Pickering and were quoted in the Almanac of the Federal Judiciary made unusually blunt statements: "Sometimes his personal views get in the way of the law," "He can be a little hard to deal with," "He shows some impatience," "He is the judge who concerns me the most. He is a fine person, but he's almost so pious that it interferes with his assignment as a judge. If he doesn't like a law, he has some trouble in cases that involve that law." A review of his published cases bears out these concerns. In over 10% of the 99 opinions he published (he decided not to publish approximately 1,100 of the 1,200 he wrote), Judge Pickering devotes paragraphs and even pages explaining why the existing law is wrong or why some judges are abusing their powers as federal judges, a rare action for a judge. The Judiciary Committee has requested his unpublished opinions for review.

Constitutional Rights. In published opinions, Judge Pickering has disparaged Miranda and other procedural doctrines created to ensure that constitutional rights are respected. In making these arguments, Judge Pickering has cited the Bible, made references to natural law, and even mischaracterized a Supreme Court decision dealing with Miranda rights.

Voting Rights Cases. Judge Pickering has made disparaging comments about two of the key protections of equal voting rights for all Americans - the one person-one vote Constitutional doctrine and the Voting Rights Act. In one case, Judge Pickering said that federal courts had been overly zealous in their enforcement of the one person-one vote doctrine and suggested that people were more interesting in "sav[ing] tax dollars" than in protecting their equal right to vote. He refused, despite his admission that the voting districts at issue violated the doctrine, to order the state to remedy the situation.

Interracial Marriage Article. As a law student, Pickering wrote a law review article suggesting ways the state could amend its miscegenation statute to ensure it would be found constitutional and enforceable. He noted that one state had already held its miscegenation law unconstitutional and that the Supreme Court was likely to do the same. When asked in 1990 about the article, he stated that he had no opinion at the time about whether interracial marriage should be illegal. He now says he does not think it should be, but he has never disavowed the content of the article.

Also: Schumer vows anti-Pickering filibuster, and several Washington Post articles on Pickering.

You may have seen these... a little distraction from the monsters out there? I particularly like the Marvell take-off:

Had we but world enough, and time,
This coyness, F train, were no crime.
I would sit and wait for you
Till my fingertips turned icy blue,
And thou wouldst remain
Behind a stalled work train
Somewhere near Ditmas Ave.,
So late the conductor fain would laugh.
But at my back I always hear
The office punch-clock's whirring gears;
And yonder all before me lie
So many stations, so many cries
Of, "Where's the train? We're very tired.
If it comes not soon we'll all be fired!"
(The unemployment office is a warmer wait,
But none I think desire that fate.)
Now therefore, while a youthful hue
Is upon my face like the frozen dew,
Please roll my way with newfound haste
Before another morn goes all to waste.
Though I dare not dream you fast
Won't you come, oh F train, come at last?

Read more underground poetry here.

The music industry owes you! Go sign up here to get yours. Via boing boing.

Funny you should mention Trent Lott. It could be interesting to debate what was accomplished by his resignation from his leadership position (and before I get yelled at, I'm not saying nothing was accomplished - I'm just saying it would be interesting to analyze exactly what, especially since he's still in the Senate, and popular as ever back home). But we've debate poor ol' Trent so much here, I'd rather test the alleged political power of the blog in a different way: George Bush has re-nominated evil Maestro Charles Pickering to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, along with 30 other extremely-recent rejects to the judiciary.

Pickering is a pretty bad guy in my book, and I'll let you dig up things like his (admittedly ancient, but still) law review article on how to help make anti-miscegenation laws pass constitutional muster, and his legally questionable positions on abortion, civil rights, and the Voting Rights Act. But more to the point, he is Trent Lott in robes. He is a Mississippi native, a good friend of Trent Lott, a former chairman of the Mississippi Republican Party, a former Mississippi state senator and a former president of the Mississippi Baptist Convention. He is as much a part of the Mississippi Republican attitude as Lott. My god, his son ("Chip") is Lott's former legislative aide! If there is any true outrage over Lott, his attitudes, and the alleged racial insensitivity of the Republican party, this guy should not sit on such a high court.

So how about it, peeps? Can I get some blogrolling power against Mr. Pickering? Can you mobilize the troops against him? Keep in mind - this is some high-stakes stuff here: a position for life on one of the most influential circuits in the country. Also keep in mind that this is an obvious testing of the waters for the Supreme Court. Don't think Rehnquist isn't watching this very closely - because if George can push through Pickering and the Dirty Thirty after they just got rejected, he's gonna know that he could nominate Ollie North the the Supreme Court. Spread the word and start digging the dirt - trust me: You'll feel Pickering's hand on the law long after you've forgetten about why you were so mad about the Dixiecrats . . . .

[Mike adds: blogrolling wise, folks are linking to this article on Reuters, Pickering's bio, and this local channel coverage, so maybe links here will help push the story. Atrios has picked it up, so perhaps others will. Also I've seen some links to Sen. Leahy's press release on Pickering. And Jim, you may want to check out this law blog.]

Looks like Trent Lott may have just been taking a cue from our good friends in Turkey. Christopher Albritton’s Back to Iraq cites the Turkish president as saying in 1995 (concerning some Turkish land claims in Iraq), “Had that place been a part of Turkey, none of the problems we are confronted with at the present time would have existed.”

The S.O. just rolled her eyes when I laffed out loud upon finding out about Ook, possibly the world’s first programming language designed to be comprehensible to orangutans. (Thx, Eric Meyer)

I’ve been getting a good deal of enjoyment reading some of the geekier web-focused blogs lately, among them Simon Willison. Though it’s not about the web per se, a mention of the web version of Samuel Pepys’s famous ur-blog was of particular note. I’ve never read the diary, but as a rank amateur historian in college was always fascinated by it. It’s almost like a complete T. Rex skeleton, I would think.

Anyway, the diary site is great, with (mostly) thoughtful and reasoned annotations both official and un, footnotes, and lists of people and places mentioned (each with their own sets of annotations). And they follow the blog concept pretty well, allowing you the reader to post comments, though you won’t get any discussion from the author about them.

From the Rocky Mountain News:

[Casillas was working at Dominos illegally. She has no connection to terrorism in any way, nor has any been alleged. Still, this is post 9/11 crack down on illegal immigration, and what it is supposed to do to enhance our safety]

addition to the cult of air sickness bags previously mentioned, we can now gaze fondly upon the only site (at this date) dedicated to airline food. For me, it’s more of a nostalgia thing, since I can’t recall the last time I got a meal on an airline. Must have been in 1998, flying to France. I can’t speak for airlines in Asia, Africa, or, well, anywhere except the U.S. and France, but those French folks, they’ve got some good airline food. The S.O. reports favorably on Alitalia as well. What’s the best airline meal you’ve had?

Over on the most recent American Cynic: rules for winter driving.

The busker at my subway stop this morning was surrounded. He was playing "All of Me" on the trumpet, and around him were five or six MTA workers in their orange vests. One was pretending to play the drums -- using brushes, obviously. Another had a mop, and was pretending to play the bass. Then some other guy in a suit started singing. We applauded when the song was over, and the MTA workers broke up laughing. "Music under New York! See you tomorrow!" shouted the trumpeter. The suit started talking to him. Turns out the busker's Russian, and the singer teaches English to Russians. So they start talking in Russian.

Ain't this town great?

Via Ennis:

Non-U.S. students jailed over class load

DENVER, Colorado (AP) -- At least six Middle Eastern students studying in Colorado have been jailed in the past 10 days for failing to take enough college classes as required by their student visas.

The students ran into trouble when they showed up to register with U.S. immigration officials, as required by new rules to track foreign students.

When they reported, they were jailed and required to post $5,000 bonds for enrolling in less than 12 hours of college credit.

The Immigration and Naturalization Service says the students are being detained because under-enrollment is a violation of their student visas. The students are not suspected of any other offense.

"We're concerned about the heavy-handed nature of the enforcement and their lack of understanding of their own regulations," said Chris Johnson, director of international education at the University of Colorado at Denver. "Students are being detained unfairly and callously."

One University of Colorado at Denver student was jailed last week because he was one hour shy of a full load after receiving college permission to drop a course, Johnson said.

"I don't believe this is helping us with the war on terrorism," said Mark Hallett, director of international student services at Colorado State University. "We're alienating people who could be our best friends and ambassadors once they return to their countries."

Coming soon: students with library fines designated "enemy combatants"?

Seems Eliot Spitzer and others agree with me on the suspicious timing of controversial Bush administration press releases:
_____________

Is the EPA Gutting Clean Air?

The Environmental Protection Agency formally issued major changes to clean air rules for utilities, refineries and manufacturers Tuesday, prompting a court challenge hours later from a coalition of New England and mid-Atlantic states.

"The Bush administration has taken an action that will bring more acid rain, more smog, more asthma and more respiratory disease to millions of Americans," said Eliot Spitzer, New York's attorney general.

EPA's easing of certain requirements of the Clean Air Act's "New Source Review" program was published in the government's Federal Register, making them official. The program affects whether expensive new anti-pollution equipment must be installed when industrial facilities are modernized.

... Spitzer said issuing the final regulations on New Year's Eve, when much of the public's attention was diverted, was further evidence the administration "continues to try to hide its domestic agenda under the cloak of darkness."

"I find it incredible that we would have to resort to a lawsuit to prevent the Bush administration from gutting the Clean Air Act," said G. Steven Rowe, Maine's attorney general....
_____________

At least there's more time in between holidays for a while. I can't imagine what he'll silent-spring on us on President's Eve!