Kinda hard to write a headline that really covers the case.
Suffice it to say that a blogger, Radley Balko, seems to have prevented the State of Mississippi from executing a convict who was found guilty of murdering a cop.
But that's hardly all there is to the story.
Seems that this cop was the first man in on one of those "wrong address" drug raids; he was not wearing anything resembling a uniform; and when Maye found out that the rest of the group was the cops, he surrendered.
There are a couple of good points here that someone ought to ponder.
Sunday, December 31, 2006
Gerald Ford
Well, President Ford was a moderate, all right. And he pardoned Tricky Dick.
But does that really make Ford eligible for sainthood? And, by the way, what's all this kvetching he did for posthumous publication?
In hindsight, what stands out most from our talk was Ford's frustration that the Republican Party had lurched so far to the right. "If I'd been elected in '76," he told me flatly, "the party wouldn't be as far right as it is at the present time … I sure hope it comes back to the center."
Ford went on to complain about the 1992 GOP convention in Houston, where Pat Buchanan—who had challenged President George H.W. Bush for that year's party nomination—demanded that conservatives "take back our culture."
"Right," Jerry? Compared to Ike, yes. Compared to Lincoln? Nope.
Ford lamented that George H.W. Bush had not reversed their party's rightward movement: "I was disappointed that George didn't fight a little harder against the hard right."
GHWBush lost an election because he 'fought ....against the right.' Maybe President Ford forgot that little fact.
Ford reminded me that he and Betty were "pro-choice." He criticized Bush Senior's public avowal that he had come to oppose abortion rights. "I know damn well that he and Barbara are pro-choice," Ford told me. "Why didn't they get up and say it? That really disappointed me more than anything." Ford's comment, Bush says, was off the mark. "That's wrong," he says of Ford's suggestion that Bush was secretly pro-choice.
A very interesting graf. Beschloss, the author, signals to us that Ford was thumping his chest about his "pro-choice-ness" in the opening three words of this graf. Ford seems to want company in that situation, so he claims Bush 41 is part of the group--which X41 denies.
He complained that Ronald Reagan had cost him the 1976 election by challenging his nomination. Ford told me that in the spring of 1976, "we thought we would have a tough time [winning] anyhow, and then to get diverted for six months or more in a very rigorous [primary] campaign—it made it difficult to be president and campaign simultaneously."
Did Jerry Ford think that he had a Divine Right to the office of President? Look--his most celebrated act was pardoning a crook. After that, it pretty much went downhill; Kissinger was another Metternich, Ford caved in on social spending (see NYC), and he was a Proud Moderate--not to mention his utterly disgraceful treatment of Solzhenitsyn. It's clear that Reagan offered a much better alternative (see the results of 1980 and 1984, e.g.)
Ford knew the best-known act of his own presidency would be Nixon's pardon. He insisted to me he had no second thoughts: "I felt so strongly that I had to get this damn thing off my desk." He admitted that "sure, I would have appreciated it" if, in return, Nixon had made a stronger statement confessing guilt for Watergate offenses, which would have helped shield Ford from the firestorm the pardon created.
Maybe.
Ford set a precedent with the pardon of Nixon, and the message is this: 'one can be a crook in office, and if the office is high enough, one will not be prosecuted.'
This 'comity' seems to be playing a role even today (think StuffedPantsBerger.) Are we really better off by ignoring these things?
Really?
But does that really make Ford eligible for sainthood? And, by the way, what's all this kvetching he did for posthumous publication?
In hindsight, what stands out most from our talk was Ford's frustration that the Republican Party had lurched so far to the right. "If I'd been elected in '76," he told me flatly, "the party wouldn't be as far right as it is at the present time … I sure hope it comes back to the center."
Ford went on to complain about the 1992 GOP convention in Houston, where Pat Buchanan—who had challenged President George H.W. Bush for that year's party nomination—demanded that conservatives "take back our culture."
"Right," Jerry? Compared to Ike, yes. Compared to Lincoln? Nope.
Ford lamented that George H.W. Bush had not reversed their party's rightward movement: "I was disappointed that George didn't fight a little harder against the hard right."
GHWBush lost an election because he 'fought ....against the right.' Maybe President Ford forgot that little fact.
Ford reminded me that he and Betty were "pro-choice." He criticized Bush Senior's public avowal that he had come to oppose abortion rights. "I know damn well that he and Barbara are pro-choice," Ford told me. "Why didn't they get up and say it? That really disappointed me more than anything." Ford's comment, Bush says, was off the mark. "That's wrong," he says of Ford's suggestion that Bush was secretly pro-choice.
A very interesting graf. Beschloss, the author, signals to us that Ford was thumping his chest about his "pro-choice-ness" in the opening three words of this graf. Ford seems to want company in that situation, so he claims Bush 41 is part of the group--which X41 denies.
He complained that Ronald Reagan had cost him the 1976 election by challenging his nomination. Ford told me that in the spring of 1976, "we thought we would have a tough time [winning] anyhow, and then to get diverted for six months or more in a very rigorous [primary] campaign—it made it difficult to be president and campaign simultaneously."
Did Jerry Ford think that he had a Divine Right to the office of President? Look--his most celebrated act was pardoning a crook. After that, it pretty much went downhill; Kissinger was another Metternich, Ford caved in on social spending (see NYC), and he was a Proud Moderate--not to mention his utterly disgraceful treatment of Solzhenitsyn. It's clear that Reagan offered a much better alternative (see the results of 1980 and 1984, e.g.)
Ford knew the best-known act of his own presidency would be Nixon's pardon. He insisted to me he had no second thoughts: "I felt so strongly that I had to get this damn thing off my desk." He admitted that "sure, I would have appreciated it" if, in return, Nixon had made a stronger statement confessing guilt for Watergate offenses, which would have helped shield Ford from the firestorm the pardon created.
Maybe.
Ford set a precedent with the pardon of Nixon, and the message is this: 'one can be a crook in office, and if the office is high enough, one will not be prosecuted.'
This 'comity' seems to be playing a role even today (think StuffedPantsBerger.) Are we really better off by ignoring these things?
Really?
Saturday, December 30, 2006
About Those "Ministers" of Communion
An old friend from FR now runs an interesting 'net site, and provides the following item. Now almost 10 years old and STILL observed only in the breach by most Milwaukee-area parishes.
No surprise.
Extraordinary ministers may distribute Holy Communion at eucharistic celebrations only when there are no ordained ministers present or when those ordained ministers present at a liturgical celebration are truly unable to distribute Holy Communion. (99)
They may also exercise this function at eucharistic celebrations where there are particularly large numbers of the faithful and which would be excessively prolonged because of an insufficient number of ordained ministers to distribute Holy Communion. (100)
This function is supplementary and extraordinary (101) and must be exercised in accordance with the norm of law. It is thus useful for the diocesan bishop to issue particular norms concerning extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion which, in complete harmony with the universal law of the Church, should regulate the exercise of this function in his diocese. Such norms should provide, amongst other things, for matters such as the instruction in eucharistic doctrine of those chosen to be extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion, the meaning of the service they provide, the rubrics to be observed, the reverence to be shown for such an august Sacrament and instruction concerning the discipline on admission to Holy Communion.
To avoid creating confusion, certain practices are to be avoided and eliminated where such have emerged in particular Churches:
— extraordinary ministers receiving Holy Communion apart from the other faithful as though concelebrants;
— association with the renewal of promises made by priests at the Chrism Mass on Holy Thursday, as well as other categories of faithful who renew religious vows or receive a mandate as extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion;
— the habitual use of extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion at Mass thus arbitrarily extending the concept of "a great number of the faithful"
In brief, every use of EEM's at Mass in Milwaukee is in direct contradiction to the norms above.
Every one.
No surprise.
Extraordinary ministers may distribute Holy Communion at eucharistic celebrations only when there are no ordained ministers present or when those ordained ministers present at a liturgical celebration are truly unable to distribute Holy Communion. (99)
They may also exercise this function at eucharistic celebrations where there are particularly large numbers of the faithful and which would be excessively prolonged because of an insufficient number of ordained ministers to distribute Holy Communion. (100)
This function is supplementary and extraordinary (101) and must be exercised in accordance with the norm of law. It is thus useful for the diocesan bishop to issue particular norms concerning extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion which, in complete harmony with the universal law of the Church, should regulate the exercise of this function in his diocese. Such norms should provide, amongst other things, for matters such as the instruction in eucharistic doctrine of those chosen to be extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion, the meaning of the service they provide, the rubrics to be observed, the reverence to be shown for such an august Sacrament and instruction concerning the discipline on admission to Holy Communion.
To avoid creating confusion, certain practices are to be avoided and eliminated where such have emerged in particular Churches:
— extraordinary ministers receiving Holy Communion apart from the other faithful as though concelebrants;
— association with the renewal of promises made by priests at the Chrism Mass on Holy Thursday, as well as other categories of faithful who renew religious vows or receive a mandate as extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion;
— the habitual use of extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion at Mass thus arbitrarily extending the concept of "a great number of the faithful"
In brief, every use of EEM's at Mass in Milwaukee is in direct contradiction to the norms above.
Every one.
The Culture of "Me"
As usual, Dreher has insights, here from Philip Rieff:
...If culture is that systems of symbols and values that serve to bind human action and channel savage passions and impulses into socially constructive ends, then a culture that prizes the fulfillment of desires -- and not merely socially approved desires, but individual desires -- is destructive of the idea of culture in principle.
It is helpful to recall that the term "culture" is based on "cult." In other words, what one worships determines one's 'culture.' Thus, basing 'culture' on fulfillment of individual desires is essentially self-worship.
Moreover, in a culture (anti-culture) that locates human identity and dignity in an individual's desires, to disapprove of those desires is in some deeply felt way to negate the dignity of that individual. People in such a culture will tend to take it personally if their desires are criticized. Rieff predicted decades ago that the culture of the future -- the one we're living in now, as a matter of fact -- would be marked by non-judgmentalism, emotionalism, and a cultural imperative to help people live as they wish to live (versus how they "ought," which is a meaningless concept in such a culture) without feeling bad about it. The therapeutic culture.
The foundation of genuine culture must be transcendent. That's the other half of B-16's Regensburg lecture--the half which warned the materialistic (self-worshipping) West that its detachment from God was leading to trouble.
...If culture is that systems of symbols and values that serve to bind human action and channel savage passions and impulses into socially constructive ends, then a culture that prizes the fulfillment of desires -- and not merely socially approved desires, but individual desires -- is destructive of the idea of culture in principle.
It is helpful to recall that the term "culture" is based on "cult." In other words, what one worships determines one's 'culture.' Thus, basing 'culture' on fulfillment of individual desires is essentially self-worship.
Moreover, in a culture (anti-culture) that locates human identity and dignity in an individual's desires, to disapprove of those desires is in some deeply felt way to negate the dignity of that individual. People in such a culture will tend to take it personally if their desires are criticized. Rieff predicted decades ago that the culture of the future -- the one we're living in now, as a matter of fact -- would be marked by non-judgmentalism, emotionalism, and a cultural imperative to help people live as they wish to live (versus how they "ought," which is a meaningless concept in such a culture) without feeling bad about it. The therapeutic culture.
The foundation of genuine culture must be transcendent. That's the other half of B-16's Regensburg lecture--the half which warned the materialistic (self-worshipping) West that its detachment from God was leading to trouble.
China Is Our Friend!! Part 55693
Oh what the Hell!! They're only Catholics...
AsiaNews, a missionary news service close to the Vatican, reported Friday that nine priests from the underground Catholic church in north China’s Hebei province were arrested by police Wednesday as they gathered to pray near the city of Baoding.
The report called the alleged arrests part of a campaign by the government-backed Catholic Patriotic Association to subdue the underground church in Hebei, a traditional stronghold of Catholic sentiment in northern China.
AsiaNews said the province has some 1.5 million Catholics, most belonging to the unofficial church.
Liu Bainian, vice chairman of the association, said he had heard of no such arrests and denied there was a campaign under way to crush the church, which is loyal to the Pope.
“It would be impossible for our association to crack down on illegal or underground churches,” Liu said. “China has always provided education and assistance for underground priests.”
...and that "education and assistance" has been delivered in what we call "concentration camps" or "prisons."
How very ...considerate...of the PRChinese slavemasters.
This should not interfere with MFN/PNTR status or WallyWorld/Wal-Mart purchasing decisions.
Not at all.
AsiaNews, a missionary news service close to the Vatican, reported Friday that nine priests from the underground Catholic church in north China’s Hebei province were arrested by police Wednesday as they gathered to pray near the city of Baoding.
The report called the alleged arrests part of a campaign by the government-backed Catholic Patriotic Association to subdue the underground church in Hebei, a traditional stronghold of Catholic sentiment in northern China.
AsiaNews said the province has some 1.5 million Catholics, most belonging to the unofficial church.
Liu Bainian, vice chairman of the association, said he had heard of no such arrests and denied there was a campaign under way to crush the church, which is loyal to the Pope.
“It would be impossible for our association to crack down on illegal or underground churches,” Liu said. “China has always provided education and assistance for underground priests.”
...and that "education and assistance" has been delivered in what we call "concentration camps" or "prisons."
How very ...considerate...of the PRChinese slavemasters.
This should not interfere with MFN/PNTR status or WallyWorld/Wal-Mart purchasing decisions.
Not at all.
Radioactive Kate?
DarthDoyle did NOT select Kate Falk for the open Dept of Health and Family Services slot.
Newly re-elected Gov. Jim Doyle shocked most of his cabinet Friday with an announcement that was as significant for the people it did not include as for those it did.
The Democratic governor reached inside his administration to fill two of the three openings at agencies handling health, tax and insurance issues, putting to rest speculation he might name Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk to head the Department of Health and Family Services.
By the way, is the first graf really a "reporting" or is it an "editorial"?
Newly re-elected Gov. Jim Doyle shocked most of his cabinet Friday with an announcement that was as significant for the people it did not include as for those it did.
The Democratic governor reached inside his administration to fill two of the three openings at agencies handling health, tax and insurance issues, putting to rest speculation he might name Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk to head the Department of Health and Family Services.
By the way, is the first graf really a "reporting" or is it an "editorial"?
Why Elect HRC President?
Dennis Miller offers the reason:
Let's see, maybe it's time for a Democratic president. Stay with me. Because the next step in the inevitable escalation in this war with radical Islam is going to involve us being appreciably more brutal and ruthless than we have been to date. And I think the left's cronyism with the mainstream media will provide cover for someone on that side of things to up the ante.
Miller's not the only person who knows that the Left is congenitally more brutal and ruthless than the Right--but he's the only one who stumps for a Dimowit President based on a 'need for brutality' in the WOT.
HT: NewsBusters
Let's see, maybe it's time for a Democratic president. Stay with me. Because the next step in the inevitable escalation in this war with radical Islam is going to involve us being appreciably more brutal and ruthless than we have been to date. And I think the left's cronyism with the mainstream media will provide cover for someone on that side of things to up the ante.
Miller's not the only person who knows that the Left is congenitally more brutal and ruthless than the Right--but he's the only one who stumps for a Dimowit President based on a 'need for brutality' in the WOT.
HT: NewsBusters
How to Prevent Bank Robbery
Another example of how DarthDoyle's mindless and stubborn position is not helpful. This from a Virginia man via Grim: (Virginia allows open- AND concealed-carry.)
On Tuesday the 26th of December I went down to the Sun Trust bank in Hopewell to complete some financial transactions. I got there just as they were opening and entered with a woman who had been waiting outside. There were three tellers in position to the left, one customer service associate at a desk to the right, and the manager was seated in his office to the rear right, so there were seven of us in the bank.
I have been banking there for years and know the tellers fairly well, who are quite used to me walking in with my holstered 1911 government model .45 and two reserve magazines. As I was transacting business with my teller, a man came in through the front door on this warm December morning wearing a full ski mask, with only his eyes showing. He was wringing his hands and glanced furtively toward the office and then swept his eyes across the room, finally towards me and the tellers. At that, he turned and BOLTED back out the door!
The teller next to my position was the first to recognize the implications of what had just happened, and yelled for the manager who came rushing out from his office. He glanced toward me before sticking his head out the front door, looking both ways down the sidewalk, and pronouncing that the suspicious character had apparently left the area.
The same teller then expressed her relief that I had been there, and mentioned that the next SunTrust down on Route 10 (Iron Bridge Road) had just been robbed the week before.
This incident was not reported to the police; thus it will not be among the statistics which demonstrate that the mere presence of defensive weapons carried by law-abiding citizens DOES have a positive impact.
On Tuesday the 26th of December I went down to the Sun Trust bank in Hopewell to complete some financial transactions. I got there just as they were opening and entered with a woman who had been waiting outside. There were three tellers in position to the left, one customer service associate at a desk to the right, and the manager was seated in his office to the rear right, so there were seven of us in the bank.
I have been banking there for years and know the tellers fairly well, who are quite used to me walking in with my holstered 1911 government model .45 and two reserve magazines. As I was transacting business with my teller, a man came in through the front door on this warm December morning wearing a full ski mask, with only his eyes showing. He was wringing his hands and glanced furtively toward the office and then swept his eyes across the room, finally towards me and the tellers. At that, he turned and BOLTED back out the door!
The teller next to my position was the first to recognize the implications of what had just happened, and yelled for the manager who came rushing out from his office. He glanced toward me before sticking his head out the front door, looking both ways down the sidewalk, and pronouncing that the suspicious character had apparently left the area.
The same teller then expressed her relief that I had been there, and mentioned that the next SunTrust down on Route 10 (Iron Bridge Road) had just been robbed the week before.
This incident was not reported to the police; thus it will not be among the statistics which demonstrate that the mere presence of defensive weapons carried by law-abiding citizens DOES have a positive impact.
Friday, December 29, 2006
Embryonic StemCells--Not Ready for Prime Time
A useful reminder from a neurobiologist/anatomy Associate Prof, from First Things thru Amy:
The assertion that embryonic stem cells in the laboratory can be induced to form all the cells comprising the mature human body has been repeated so often that it seems incontrovertibly true. What is missing from this assertion remains the simple fact that there is essentially no scientific evidence supporting it.
...But the test of whether an embryonic stem cell–derived brain cell, for example, is indeed a normal adult brain cell is to put it into the brain of an adult animal and determine whether it survives and contributes to normal brain function. In addition, if laboratory-generated cells are to be therapeutically useful for the treatment of human disease and injury, they must be shown to have therapeutic value in adult animals: It is not sufficient that embryonic stem cell–derived cells merely survive in adults; they must also be able to repair the underlying disease or injury. It is precisely this kind of test that embryonic stem cell–derived tissues have proved unable to pass.
So...DarthDoyle...how many babies must be killed in order to "find" the cure?
The assertion that embryonic stem cells in the laboratory can be induced to form all the cells comprising the mature human body has been repeated so often that it seems incontrovertibly true. What is missing from this assertion remains the simple fact that there is essentially no scientific evidence supporting it.
...But the test of whether an embryonic stem cell–derived brain cell, for example, is indeed a normal adult brain cell is to put it into the brain of an adult animal and determine whether it survives and contributes to normal brain function. In addition, if laboratory-generated cells are to be therapeutically useful for the treatment of human disease and injury, they must be shown to have therapeutic value in adult animals: It is not sufficient that embryonic stem cell–derived cells merely survive in adults; they must also be able to repair the underlying disease or injury. It is precisely this kind of test that embryonic stem cell–derived tissues have proved unable to pass.
So...DarthDoyle...how many babies must be killed in order to "find" the cure?
How Tough is YOUR Mother-in-Law?
Grim relates a story about his mother-in-law.
While in Indiana, I had occasion on Christmas Day for a long talk with my mother-in-law. She was raised in Alaska. A wise piece of advice for any man who wants to marry: look long at the mother of your considered bride.
So here's a story about my wife's mother. See if you can spot the family resemblance.
Some years ago, she lost a kidney. It was a hard time for her, as she was terribly ill for months due to the poisons coming from the dying tissue. She refused to go to a doctor for a long time, however, so she didn't know what was wrong.
When she finally did go in, the doctor determined that one of her kidneys was dying. "I wonder what has caused this," he said. "Have you suffered any sharp blows to the area lately?"
"No," she said.
"Hm," the doctor said. "Well, any serious injury to the area ever?"
"Not that I can recall," she said.
"You never had a hard blow to the region?" he tried one more time.
She fixed her mouth in thought, and finally said, "Well, there was the time the grizzly bear threw me into the tree. I forgot about that."
"Slipped your mind?" he asked.
"Yes," she answered. "I was cleaning a deer, and he just wanted the carcass. So, he slapped me into a tree. I was so mad, I went back for my rifle, but my mother made me go to the doctor. I didn't want to go to the doctor, I wanted to go get that bear."
"Was the injury serious?" the doctor patiently continued."I didn't think so until now," she said.
"But my mother insisted. The claws tore through the parka, and the shirt I was wearing, and my undershirt, and the underwear... but they didn't touch me! I figured I was fine."
Apparently not, she discovered decades later... well, such things happen.
Just a minor argument with a grizzly over table scraps...
While in Indiana, I had occasion on Christmas Day for a long talk with my mother-in-law. She was raised in Alaska. A wise piece of advice for any man who wants to marry: look long at the mother of your considered bride.
So here's a story about my wife's mother. See if you can spot the family resemblance.
Some years ago, she lost a kidney. It was a hard time for her, as she was terribly ill for months due to the poisons coming from the dying tissue. She refused to go to a doctor for a long time, however, so she didn't know what was wrong.
When she finally did go in, the doctor determined that one of her kidneys was dying. "I wonder what has caused this," he said. "Have you suffered any sharp blows to the area lately?"
"No," she said.
"Hm," the doctor said. "Well, any serious injury to the area ever?"
"Not that I can recall," she said.
"You never had a hard blow to the region?" he tried one more time.
She fixed her mouth in thought, and finally said, "Well, there was the time the grizzly bear threw me into the tree. I forgot about that."
"Slipped your mind?" he asked.
"Yes," she answered. "I was cleaning a deer, and he just wanted the carcass. So, he slapped me into a tree. I was so mad, I went back for my rifle, but my mother made me go to the doctor. I didn't want to go to the doctor, I wanted to go get that bear."
"Was the injury serious?" the doctor patiently continued."I didn't think so until now," she said.
"But my mother insisted. The claws tore through the parka, and the shirt I was wearing, and my undershirt, and the underwear... but they didn't touch me! I figured I was fine."
Apparently not, she discovered decades later... well, such things happen.
Just a minor argument with a grizzly over table scraps...
Wow! Just Wow!
HT to The Triumvirate for this pic of a golden eagle making lunch preparations out of a fox who was making lunch preparations (see escaping bird, right). I didn't know that the eagle was that big. Wow.
Sykes Goes Wild
Charlie displays an ironic, urbane, and sometimes twisted sense of humor which does NOT appear regularly on his show, and which belies that 'innocent boy' picture he runs on his blog. Here he reviews 2006:
As a rising tide of violence ravaged Milwaukee, Wisconsin lawmakers rose to the occasion, passing laws mandating the use of booster seats for kids aged 4 to 8 and proposing bans on that nemesis of childhood, the water ball. Next year: the hat and mitten mandate.
A poll taken in June found that only 5% of Wisconsinites think ethics in state government have gotten better over the last decade. Jim Doyle responded to this crisis of confidence by shaking down travel agencies, Indian casinos, trial lawyers, utilities, road builders and public employee unions for campaign cash.
There's a lot more at the link. Enjoy!
As a rising tide of violence ravaged Milwaukee, Wisconsin lawmakers rose to the occasion, passing laws mandating the use of booster seats for kids aged 4 to 8 and proposing bans on that nemesis of childhood, the water ball. Next year: the hat and mitten mandate.
A poll taken in June found that only 5% of Wisconsinites think ethics in state government have gotten better over the last decade. Jim Doyle responded to this crisis of confidence by shaking down travel agencies, Indian casinos, trial lawyers, utilities, road builders and public employee unions for campaign cash.
There's a lot more at the link. Enjoy!
DarthDoyle Pays Fine for Ethics Violation
Darth went to a Packers/Bears game--he purchased the tickets from a utility which had business before the State and who employed a lobbyist. That makes the purchase illegal.
Frankly, I'm sympathetic to Doyle here. He paid for the tix with his own money. I'll grant you that 'luxury box' accomodations are not easy to come by, and obviously the utility wanted to be in Darth's good graces.
But that's another argument for another day. Here's the part of the article which is MOST interesting:
In its report, the Ethics Board notes that it could only put together a “bare outline” of the incident, because those involved said they have little or no memory of the event. No one interviewed could remember whether WPS or Antonneau offered the tickets to Doyle, or whether Doyle had requested them.
IOW, all the players knew what they did was a no-no, and they chose to forget.
HT: Owen.
Frankly, I'm sympathetic to Doyle here. He paid for the tix with his own money. I'll grant you that 'luxury box' accomodations are not easy to come by, and obviously the utility wanted to be in Darth's good graces.
But that's another argument for another day. Here's the part of the article which is MOST interesting:
In its report, the Ethics Board notes that it could only put together a “bare outline” of the incident, because those involved said they have little or no memory of the event. No one interviewed could remember whether WPS or Antonneau offered the tickets to Doyle, or whether Doyle had requested them.
IOW, all the players knew what they did was a no-no, and they chose to forget.
HT: Owen.
Pelosi and Kerry: CINOs
That's "Catholic in Name Only" , folks.
Incoming Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi wants you to know she is a Catholic. She’s going to receive Communion in a very public display of her Catholicism on January 3rd during her swearing in week. It is inappropriate that she do so. And it is inappropriate under Canon 915 that it be given to her.
John Kerry pulled the same crap. The Canon Law question revolves around Pelosi's unqualified support for abortion. Abortion is a "non-negotiable" no-no in the eyes of the Church.
Canon 915 reads:
"Those upon whom the penalty of excommuication or interdict has been imposed or declared, and others who obstinately persist in manifest grave sin, are not to be admitted to Holy Communion."
The "...manifest grave sin" here is the votes for abortion funding, etc.
Incoming Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi wants you to know she is a Catholic. She’s going to receive Communion in a very public display of her Catholicism on January 3rd during her swearing in week. It is inappropriate that she do so. And it is inappropriate under Canon 915 that it be given to her.
John Kerry pulled the same crap. The Canon Law question revolves around Pelosi's unqualified support for abortion. Abortion is a "non-negotiable" no-no in the eyes of the Church.
Canon 915 reads:
"Those upon whom the penalty of excommuication or interdict has been imposed or declared, and others who obstinately persist in manifest grave sin, are not to be admitted to Holy Communion."
The "...manifest grave sin" here is the votes for abortion funding, etc.
Free Speech? Not if You Race in NASCAR
Must be First Amendment Day (see below post.) Now you can't even put a campaign sticker on your NASCAR racer:
In a decision announced Tuesday, the FEC sent an “admonishment letter” to Kirk Shelmerdine Racing. Kirk Shelmerdine, a former pit boss for the late Dale Earnhardt, has been an unsuccessful, underfunded and undersponsored driver. He has never finished higher than 26th.
So back in 2004, in a move perhaps designed to draw some attention to his car, he placed a “Bush-Cheney ’04” decal on his rear quarter panel, which was otherwise unencumbered by advertising. Democratic activist Sydnor Thompson complained to the FEC, and the agency found that Shelmerdine “may have made an unreported independent expenditure or a prohibited corporate expenditure.”
Who the Hell are they kidding?
HT: American Spectator Blog
In a decision announced Tuesday, the FEC sent an “admonishment letter” to Kirk Shelmerdine Racing. Kirk Shelmerdine, a former pit boss for the late Dale Earnhardt, has been an unsuccessful, underfunded and undersponsored driver. He has never finished higher than 26th.
So back in 2004, in a move perhaps designed to draw some attention to his car, he placed a “Bush-Cheney ’04” decal on his rear quarter panel, which was otherwise unencumbered by advertising. Democratic activist Sydnor Thompson complained to the FEC, and the agency found that Shelmerdine “may have made an unreported independent expenditure or a prohibited corporate expenditure.”
Who the Hell are they kidding?
HT: American Spectator Blog
Have 500 Friends? Now You Report to Pelosi
File this under "Free Speech? WHAT Free Speech? All Your Speech Belong to Us!!"
House Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi (D.-Calif.) has pledged to take up a lobbying reform proposal that would impose new regulations on speech by grassroots organizations, while providing a loophole in the rules for large corporations and labor unions.
The legislation would make changes to the legal definition of “grassroots lobbying” and require any organization that encourages 500 or more members of the general public to contact their elected representatives to file a report with detailed information about their organization to the government on a quarterly basis.
The report would include identifying the organization’s expenditures, the issues focused on and the members of Congress and other federal officials who are the subject of the advocacy efforts. A separate report would be required for each policy issue the group is active on.
Pelosi is obviously a McCainiac under all those facelifts. Or maybe a Feinie-ac.
“This bill would apply to those who have no Washington-based lobbyists, who provide no money or gifts to members of Congress, and who merely seek to speak, associate and petition the government,” it said. “Regulating the speech, publishing, association and petitioning rights of citizens is not targeted at corruption in Washington, ...Instead, it is targeted directly at the 1st-Amendment rights of citizens and their voluntary associations.”
The above statement from a coalition of grassroots organizers, including David Keene of the American Conservative Union, Larry Pratt of Gun Owners of America and Terrence Scanlon of the Capitol Research Center.
It ain't "lobbying reform," that's for sure. It's encumbrance of political speech--which is to say, it's another manifestation of Party-In-Government (PIG) tendencies.
House Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi (D.-Calif.) has pledged to take up a lobbying reform proposal that would impose new regulations on speech by grassroots organizations, while providing a loophole in the rules for large corporations and labor unions.
The legislation would make changes to the legal definition of “grassroots lobbying” and require any organization that encourages 500 or more members of the general public to contact their elected representatives to file a report with detailed information about their organization to the government on a quarterly basis.
The report would include identifying the organization’s expenditures, the issues focused on and the members of Congress and other federal officials who are the subject of the advocacy efforts. A separate report would be required for each policy issue the group is active on.
Pelosi is obviously a McCainiac under all those facelifts. Or maybe a Feinie-ac.
“This bill would apply to those who have no Washington-based lobbyists, who provide no money or gifts to members of Congress, and who merely seek to speak, associate and petition the government,” it said. “Regulating the speech, publishing, association and petitioning rights of citizens is not targeted at corruption in Washington, ...Instead, it is targeted directly at the 1st-Amendment rights of citizens and their voluntary associations.”
The above statement from a coalition of grassroots organizers, including David Keene of the American Conservative Union, Larry Pratt of Gun Owners of America and Terrence Scanlon of the Capitol Research Center.
It ain't "lobbying reform," that's for sure. It's encumbrance of political speech--which is to say, it's another manifestation of Party-In-Government (PIG) tendencies.
Pony Up, Doyle!
Somehow this item was not run in the online version of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. Probably an oversight.
Wisconsin's Democratic governor should reimburse victims of recent armed robberies in the state because its citizens are not permitted to carry concealed weapons and protect themselves when confronted by criminals, a gun rights group said.
It's "time for politicians to pay the price for their decisions," said Joe Waldron, executive director of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA), pointing to Gov. Jim Doyle's opposition to concealed carry laws.
Both Doyle and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett (D), who supports the governor's stance, should "open their wallets," Waldron told Cybercast News Service.
"If they personally feel so strongly that citizens should not be allowed to defend themselves, then they should bear the costs of that disarming of the citizens."
It's an interesting theory, but SCOWI, under the management of Screechin'Shirley, has embarked on a Balkan-map scheme of interpreting the amendment which allows possession "for any lawful purpose."
Here's Screech's scheme: "Maybe. You have to ask Mommy (that's me!) first. Or maybe later. We'll decide, right here in Madistan, in our courtroom, whether you have a right to self-defense. But then again, maybe we won't. You'll never know until you've spent a lot of money, maybe."
But if you think that SCOWI's position is mysterious, here's one that's downright enigmatic:
"There are laws on the books that restrain people from carrying concealed firearms because the public policy benefits outweigh the possible costs of the extremely rare times when having a concealed weapon prevents somebody from being injured," [said the Brady Campaign spokes-critter, Peter Hamm].
Well, Peter, under SCOWI's scheme, there are some 'public policy benefits' which outweigh....etc., etc. Maybe. Sometimes. Did you ask? Say "Mommy, May I?" Peter.
Hamm did not cite any of the "benefits." Maybe that's because Shirley didn't give him an updated list.
Wisconsin's Democratic governor should reimburse victims of recent armed robberies in the state because its citizens are not permitted to carry concealed weapons and protect themselves when confronted by criminals, a gun rights group said.
It's "time for politicians to pay the price for their decisions," said Joe Waldron, executive director of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA), pointing to Gov. Jim Doyle's opposition to concealed carry laws.
Both Doyle and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett (D), who supports the governor's stance, should "open their wallets," Waldron told Cybercast News Service.
"If they personally feel so strongly that citizens should not be allowed to defend themselves, then they should bear the costs of that disarming of the citizens."
It's an interesting theory, but SCOWI, under the management of Screechin'Shirley, has embarked on a Balkan-map scheme of interpreting the amendment which allows possession "for any lawful purpose."
Here's Screech's scheme: "Maybe. You have to ask Mommy (that's me!) first. Or maybe later. We'll decide, right here in Madistan, in our courtroom, whether you have a right to self-defense. But then again, maybe we won't. You'll never know until you've spent a lot of money, maybe."
But if you think that SCOWI's position is mysterious, here's one that's downright enigmatic:
"There are laws on the books that restrain people from carrying concealed firearms because the public policy benefits outweigh the possible costs of the extremely rare times when having a concealed weapon prevents somebody from being injured," [said the Brady Campaign spokes-critter, Peter Hamm].
Well, Peter, under SCOWI's scheme, there are some 'public policy benefits' which outweigh....etc., etc. Maybe. Sometimes. Did you ask? Say "Mommy, May I?" Peter.
Hamm did not cite any of the "benefits." Maybe that's because Shirley didn't give him an updated list.
Thursday, December 28, 2006
China Is Our Friend!! Part 50265
The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) released its 2006 report in November. (Didn't see that in the MSM, did you?)
HT to USBIC for the precis!
The USCC is a bipartisan group of outside experts from business, labor, think tanks and universities established by Congress in 2000 to investigate, analyze, and provide recommendations regarding the impact of China’s rapid economic rise on the national security of the United States. The Commission “takes a broad view of ‘national security’ in making its assessment and has attempted to evaluate how the U.S. relationship with China affects the economic health of the United States and its industrial base, the military and weapons proliferation dangers China poses to the United States, and the United States’ political standing and influence in Asia.”
...The USCC asked whether China is “a state that not only observes international norms but works to strengthen those norm” and found the answer to be in the negative.
...[China] conducts diplomacy solely to promote its own national interests, including in its conduct of trade and investment. And rather than consider balance of power politics to be a distant practice of past centuries, the USCC finds that “China’s regional activities in Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East and around East Asia are beginning to assume the character of a counterbalancing strategy vis-a-vis the United States. That is, China’s support for rogue regimes and anti-American governments and groups in vital regions serves an international purpose: to balance American power, create an alternative model of governance, and frustrate the ability of the international community to uphold its norms.”
(All paid for by the US consumer, by the way, and the slave labor utilized in PRChina.)
China’s economic policies cannot be in any way construed as “free trade.” The USCC finds, “China has a centralized industrial policy that employs a wide variety of tools to promote favored industries. In particular, China has used a range of subsidies to encourage the manufacture of goods meant for export over the manufacture of goods meant for domestic consumption, and to secure foreign investment in the manufacturing sector.”
In military terms (why not?) this is called "hitting high-value targets."
...“Chinese regulations currently require automakers to exceed a 40 percent domestic content requirement or face higher tariffs on the imported auto parts. These discriminatory tariffs pressure China-based auto assembly companies to use parts manufactured in China rather than U.S.-manufactured parts.” Meanwhile, “auto parts are being counterfeited, intentionally misrepresented, and sold as genuine—all in direct violation of both China’s trademark laws, which clearly are not being enforced, and China’s World Trade Organization (WTO) obligations. American citizens are being put at risk as inferior Chinese counterfeit auto parts find their way under the hoods of vehicles driven on our streets, while U.S. companies lose significant market share and brand reputation to such counterfeit goods.”
Maybe Delco/Delphi's problems are not all "lazy union members," eh?
...The U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates that the global intellectual property industry loses $650 billion annually in sales due to counterfeit goods. And testimony given before USCC hearings indicate that China is responsible for as much as 70 percent of this counterfeit goods market. The World Health Organization reports that counterfeit pharmaceuticals of Chinese origin cost legitimate drug producers $32 billion a year.
And just maybe those 'pharmaceuticals' aren't made to FDA standards?
Finally, and most ominous:
In regard to Beijing’s rapid military buildup, the USCC concludes, “The pace of PLA [Chinese Armed Forces] modernization continues to exceed U.S. estimates. The Commission believes that the military balance in East Asia is increasingly favorable to China and increasingly challenging to U.S. interests and allies. The Chinese military’s ability to deny access and freedom of operation to U.S. forces, and its further ambitions to project its own military power, are accelerating.” The USCC also believes, “The PLA [People’s Liberation Army] understands itself to be in an extended military competition with the United States.”
'Splain to me again, Mr. President, how's that "free trade" working out for us?
HT to USBIC for the precis!
The USCC is a bipartisan group of outside experts from business, labor, think tanks and universities established by Congress in 2000 to investigate, analyze, and provide recommendations regarding the impact of China’s rapid economic rise on the national security of the United States. The Commission “takes a broad view of ‘national security’ in making its assessment and has attempted to evaluate how the U.S. relationship with China affects the economic health of the United States and its industrial base, the military and weapons proliferation dangers China poses to the United States, and the United States’ political standing and influence in Asia.”
...The USCC asked whether China is “a state that not only observes international norms but works to strengthen those norm” and found the answer to be in the negative.
...[China] conducts diplomacy solely to promote its own national interests, including in its conduct of trade and investment. And rather than consider balance of power politics to be a distant practice of past centuries, the USCC finds that “China’s regional activities in Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East and around East Asia are beginning to assume the character of a counterbalancing strategy vis-a-vis the United States. That is, China’s support for rogue regimes and anti-American governments and groups in vital regions serves an international purpose: to balance American power, create an alternative model of governance, and frustrate the ability of the international community to uphold its norms.”
(All paid for by the US consumer, by the way, and the slave labor utilized in PRChina.)
China’s economic policies cannot be in any way construed as “free trade.” The USCC finds, “China has a centralized industrial policy that employs a wide variety of tools to promote favored industries. In particular, China has used a range of subsidies to encourage the manufacture of goods meant for export over the manufacture of goods meant for domestic consumption, and to secure foreign investment in the manufacturing sector.”
In military terms (why not?) this is called "hitting high-value targets."
...“Chinese regulations currently require automakers to exceed a 40 percent domestic content requirement or face higher tariffs on the imported auto parts. These discriminatory tariffs pressure China-based auto assembly companies to use parts manufactured in China rather than U.S.-manufactured parts.” Meanwhile, “auto parts are being counterfeited, intentionally misrepresented, and sold as genuine—all in direct violation of both China’s trademark laws, which clearly are not being enforced, and China’s World Trade Organization (WTO) obligations. American citizens are being put at risk as inferior Chinese counterfeit auto parts find their way under the hoods of vehicles driven on our streets, while U.S. companies lose significant market share and brand reputation to such counterfeit goods.”
Maybe Delco/Delphi's problems are not all "lazy union members," eh?
...The U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates that the global intellectual property industry loses $650 billion annually in sales due to counterfeit goods. And testimony given before USCC hearings indicate that China is responsible for as much as 70 percent of this counterfeit goods market. The World Health Organization reports that counterfeit pharmaceuticals of Chinese origin cost legitimate drug producers $32 billion a year.
And just maybe those 'pharmaceuticals' aren't made to FDA standards?
Finally, and most ominous:
In regard to Beijing’s rapid military buildup, the USCC concludes, “The pace of PLA [Chinese Armed Forces] modernization continues to exceed U.S. estimates. The Commission believes that the military balance in East Asia is increasingly favorable to China and increasingly challenging to U.S. interests and allies. The Chinese military’s ability to deny access and freedom of operation to U.S. forces, and its further ambitions to project its own military power, are accelerating.” The USCC also believes, “The PLA [People’s Liberation Army] understands itself to be in an extended military competition with the United States.”
'Splain to me again, Mr. President, how's that "free trade" working out for us?
Does NOT Count as a Prediction
...unless "predictions" include such things as 'sun will rise in the East' and 'many people will die.'
15. Taxes will go up.
This stunning "prediction" from Wiggy.
As a comparo, let me offer the following:
1) Pope Benedict XVI will remain Catholic.
Regardless, go to the Wiggy site and note his other predictons. He's not an optimist about the near future in Wisconsin. Damn glad he made few national-issue prognostications.
15. Taxes will go up.
This stunning "prediction" from Wiggy.
As a comparo, let me offer the following:
1) Pope Benedict XVI will remain Catholic.
Regardless, go to the Wiggy site and note his other predictons. He's not an optimist about the near future in Wisconsin. Damn glad he made few national-issue prognostications.
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
Christmas Sales Flat
The accurate numbers are finally coming in.
While these numbers may be revised further, the initial tally is now in: Holiday sales increased 3%, dead center of our range. Not only is this a decrease from 2005, but note that it is reported in nominal (pre-inflation) terms. With inflation about 3%, this means that Real sales (after-inflation) were flat year over year.
Maybe there's nothing left to buy!
HT: The Big Picture
While these numbers may be revised further, the initial tally is now in: Holiday sales increased 3%, dead center of our range. Not only is this a decrease from 2005, but note that it is reported in nominal (pre-inflation) terms. With inflation about 3%, this means that Real sales (after-inflation) were flat year over year.
Maybe there's nothing left to buy!
HT: The Big Picture
P-Mac Dissents
Patrick McIlheran thinks that Swift & Co.'s management didn't know a thing.
George Gillett auditions for Casablanca...
The company’s catching it from all sides: Conservative commentators at Free Republic talk of a boycott of Swift because “I’ve had ENOUGH of companies playing the ‘We didn’t know’ BS.” Left-wing commentators at TPMmuckracker write, “the real problem is that the company ... was allowed to stay in business. So long as we are just arresting and deporting the workers, but winking at the businesses that pay cut-rate wages to maximize profits, the problem will continue.”
And former Swift employees are suing, saying the company knew it was hiring illegal immigrants as a means of keeping down wages.
We were dissed by oversight.
Swift may well have joined the Feds' screening program. We are not impressed. What P-Mac wants us to believe is simply unbelievable--that nobody in management noticed the change in composition of their workforce.
Many interesting details may emerge in the future. One which has not yet been addressed in connection with Swift is the existence of an IRS "taxpayer-number-matching program." This program matches SSAN numbers for validity, and IRS sends notification of "bad" numbers to the employer(s) in question.
Key facts of this scandal were revealed in an October report from the Inspector General of the Social Security Administration (SSA). The report examines the records of the 100 companies that filed the most W-2 reports from 1997-2001 on which the names and/or Social Security Numbers did not match SSA records and that SSA--even after some investigation--could not credit to a known taxpayer.
SSA consigns these orphaned W-2s to what it calls the Earnings Suspense File (ESF). The "Top 100" worst filers of W-2s that ended up in the ESF, the inspector general discovered, collectively filed more than 2.7 million of these bad W-2s over the five years studied, reporting about $9.6 billion in wages that could not be matched to a worker.
It's interesting that a Colorado-headquartered company is listed as #77 on the SSA's list. That company filed 15,000+ "bad" Social Security numbers...
It may be that this program was the reason for the ICE raid.
In any case, if a business gets thousands of IRS "bad number" notifications, would NO corporate official notice?
Puhhhhleeeez.
George Gillett auditions for Casablanca...
The company’s catching it from all sides: Conservative commentators at Free Republic talk of a boycott of Swift because “I’ve had ENOUGH of companies playing the ‘We didn’t know’ BS.” Left-wing commentators at TPMmuckracker write, “the real problem is that the company ... was allowed to stay in business. So long as we are just arresting and deporting the workers, but winking at the businesses that pay cut-rate wages to maximize profits, the problem will continue.”
And former Swift employees are suing, saying the company knew it was hiring illegal immigrants as a means of keeping down wages.
We were dissed by oversight.
Swift may well have joined the Feds' screening program. We are not impressed. What P-Mac wants us to believe is simply unbelievable--that nobody in management noticed the change in composition of their workforce.
Many interesting details may emerge in the future. One which has not yet been addressed in connection with Swift is the existence of an IRS "taxpayer-number-matching program." This program matches SSAN numbers for validity, and IRS sends notification of "bad" numbers to the employer(s) in question.
Key facts of this scandal were revealed in an October report from the Inspector General of the Social Security Administration (SSA). The report examines the records of the 100 companies that filed the most W-2 reports from 1997-2001 on which the names and/or Social Security Numbers did not match SSA records and that SSA--even after some investigation--could not credit to a known taxpayer.
SSA consigns these orphaned W-2s to what it calls the Earnings Suspense File (ESF). The "Top 100" worst filers of W-2s that ended up in the ESF, the inspector general discovered, collectively filed more than 2.7 million of these bad W-2s over the five years studied, reporting about $9.6 billion in wages that could not be matched to a worker.
It's interesting that a Colorado-headquartered company is listed as #77 on the SSA's list. That company filed 15,000+ "bad" Social Security numbers...
It may be that this program was the reason for the ICE raid.
In any case, if a business gets thousands of IRS "bad number" notifications, would NO corporate official notice?
Puhhhhleeeez.
York Mourns the Loss of Childhood
Dennis York, who will wear men's underwear next year, on Bicycle Equipment for Kiddies:
I'll never understand the constant over-protection of kids that society demands. If she just wants to go out and ride her bike on the sidewalk, I have to dress her like she's going in to root out Baathist insurgents. Is there really a problem with 4 year old girls smashing into things and injuring their heads? My friends and I used to build ramps at the bottom of our street and go flying off of them, pad-less. It's called being a kid.
I guess the Red Ryder BB gun is out of the question for the poor li'l gal too.
In the distant past when I was a kid, there WERE no helmets made for bike-riders, much less kneepads or padded gloves. We'd race the bike down the hill at top speed and negotiate the corner with the objective of getting around it faster than the other kids (!!)
The fact that the corner had a pile of loose pea-gravel made it all the more....exciting, because if you didn't avoid the gravel, you'd be picking it out of your legs for a few weeks.
By the way, what hazard does the helmet guard against? Are today's children stupid enough to drive their bikes directly into large trees? Cars? Buildings? And if they're that stupid, why do we care that they hit their noggin?
After all, if Darwin is right, it's just a matter of time, right? Why prolong the inevitable?
I'll never understand the constant over-protection of kids that society demands. If she just wants to go out and ride her bike on the sidewalk, I have to dress her like she's going in to root out Baathist insurgents. Is there really a problem with 4 year old girls smashing into things and injuring their heads? My friends and I used to build ramps at the bottom of our street and go flying off of them, pad-less. It's called being a kid.
I guess the Red Ryder BB gun is out of the question for the poor li'l gal too.
In the distant past when I was a kid, there WERE no helmets made for bike-riders, much less kneepads or padded gloves. We'd race the bike down the hill at top speed and negotiate the corner with the objective of getting around it faster than the other kids (!!)
The fact that the corner had a pile of loose pea-gravel made it all the more....exciting, because if you didn't avoid the gravel, you'd be picking it out of your legs for a few weeks.
By the way, what hazard does the helmet guard against? Are today's children stupid enough to drive their bikes directly into large trees? Cars? Buildings? And if they're that stupid, why do we care that they hit their noggin?
After all, if Darwin is right, it's just a matter of time, right? Why prolong the inevitable?
BOHICA: McCain's Amnesty Returns
One wonders if John McCain is running for President of Norde Americana. Yah, I know, Swimmer Kennedy's in this too, but he just wants the tequila distilleries and the hot babes.
The lawmakers are also considering denying financing for 700 miles of fencing along the border with Mexico, a law championed by Republicans that passed with significant Democratic support.
The plan under consideration would allow 10 million or 11 million illegal immigrants to become eligible to apply for citizenship without returning home, up from 7 million in the original Senate bill. To be granted citizenship, they would have to remain employed, pass background checks, pay fines and back taxes, and enroll in English classes.
The MOST obnoxious provisions are highlighted in red. Since the whole damn thing is in the RedZone for Obnoxity, it was hard to choose.
HT: AnkleBitingPundits
The lawmakers are also considering denying financing for 700 miles of fencing along the border with Mexico, a law championed by Republicans that passed with significant Democratic support.
The plan under consideration would allow 10 million or 11 million illegal immigrants to become eligible to apply for citizenship without returning home, up from 7 million in the original Senate bill. To be granted citizenship, they would have to remain employed, pass background checks, pay fines and back taxes, and enroll in English classes.
The MOST obnoxious provisions are highlighted in red. Since the whole damn thing is in the RedZone for Obnoxity, it was hard to choose.
HT: AnkleBitingPundits
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
CTA Thinks Highly of Itself (!)
Somehow, I think this campaign will fail:
Nicole Sotelo, codirector of national Call to Action, said her organization intends to mount a letter-writing campaign to Lincoln, Neb., Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz, with copies to Bishop William Skylstad, bishop of Spokane, Wash., and president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
The letters will protest Bruskewitz's refusal to comply with the bishops' conference policies on child abuse by clergy, she said. Asked about the timing of the campaign, just after an announcement that the Vatican has upheld the excommunication of the Lincoln chapter of Call to Action, she said it would counter Bruskewitz’s "attempts to silence" the organization. "Justice cannot be silenced," she said.
My, my. Some uppity woman seeks to govern the Diocese of Lincoln with a postcard campaign.
OK. After CTA's actual membership (all 78 of them, nationwide) writes their letters, then what?
Nicole Sotelo, codirector of national Call to Action, said her organization intends to mount a letter-writing campaign to Lincoln, Neb., Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz, with copies to Bishop William Skylstad, bishop of Spokane, Wash., and president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
The letters will protest Bruskewitz's refusal to comply with the bishops' conference policies on child abuse by clergy, she said. Asked about the timing of the campaign, just after an announcement that the Vatican has upheld the excommunication of the Lincoln chapter of Call to Action, she said it would counter Bruskewitz’s "attempts to silence" the organization. "Justice cannot be silenced," she said.
My, my. Some uppity woman seeks to govern the Diocese of Lincoln with a postcard campaign.
OK. After CTA's actual membership (all 78 of them, nationwide) writes their letters, then what?
Rush Is Right!
You have to hand it to him. He's nailed the Left's modus operandi, exemplified by the following quote from the LA Times, captured in the American Spectator blog.
Ezra Klein has an op-ed in today's LA Times banging the drum for universal health care. I absolutely adore this line regarding a particular "serious, albeit extraordinarily complicated, plan" for universal care in California:
The details of the plan are unimportant; it's the constructiveness of the proposal that matters.
Limbaugh's postulate that "It's not whether someone is innocent or guilty; it's the serious-ness of the charges that counts!!" is directly reflected in this asinine Call to Act!! from the Times.
Ezra Klein has an op-ed in today's LA Times banging the drum for universal health care. I absolutely adore this line regarding a particular "serious, albeit extraordinarily complicated, plan" for universal care in California:
The details of the plan are unimportant; it's the constructiveness of the proposal that matters.
Limbaugh's postulate that "It's not whether someone is innocent or guilty; it's the serious-ness of the charges that counts!!" is directly reflected in this asinine Call to Act!! from the Times.
BIG Holes in Visa Program; Bush Blows It Again
Some days one can only wonder whether these people are as useless as they seem:
...on Dec. 14, the Government Accountability Office lowered the boom on the Bush administration by releasing a report stating that the government has given up on plans to implement a system to track the entry and exit of foreign visitors.
Congress ordered the creation of an entry-exit system called US-VISIT (excluding Canadians and Mexicans) back in 1996, and the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, made this system imperative.
Some of the Sept. 11 hijackers entered the United States legally on visas but never departed when their visas expired. It's now 2006, and we are told that an entry-exit system doesn't exist and the government has abandoned plans to create it.
The government had $1.7 billion to develop this program, but now tells us that is not nearly enough money, so all plans are being scrapped. There's no such thing as border security without an entry-exit system because at least 30 percent of illegal immigrants in the United States entered the country as legal visitors and then disappeared into our population.
Student visas, many of which are given to Third World applicants, are a major source of fraud. We know that Sept. 11 Pentagon pilot Hani Hanjour came in on a student visa. About 1 million foreign students are in the U.S. at any given time.
Gee. I never heard about this from the usual gang of BushBots!
Tracking people who come into the United States and requiring them to leave when their visas expire is an essential component of national security. Failure to implement such a system means our government doesn't care about protecting our borders.
No kidding.
President Bush, get your ass in gear here. We can smell the game-playing, and it doesn't smell very good at all.
...on Dec. 14, the Government Accountability Office lowered the boom on the Bush administration by releasing a report stating that the government has given up on plans to implement a system to track the entry and exit of foreign visitors.
Congress ordered the creation of an entry-exit system called US-VISIT (excluding Canadians and Mexicans) back in 1996, and the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, made this system imperative.
Some of the Sept. 11 hijackers entered the United States legally on visas but never departed when their visas expired. It's now 2006, and we are told that an entry-exit system doesn't exist and the government has abandoned plans to create it.
The government had $1.7 billion to develop this program, but now tells us that is not nearly enough money, so all plans are being scrapped. There's no such thing as border security without an entry-exit system because at least 30 percent of illegal immigrants in the United States entered the country as legal visitors and then disappeared into our population.
Student visas, many of which are given to Third World applicants, are a major source of fraud. We know that Sept. 11 Pentagon pilot Hani Hanjour came in on a student visa. About 1 million foreign students are in the U.S. at any given time.
Gee. I never heard about this from the usual gang of BushBots!
Tracking people who come into the United States and requiring them to leave when their visas expire is an essential component of national security. Failure to implement such a system means our government doesn't care about protecting our borders.
No kidding.
President Bush, get your ass in gear here. We can smell the game-playing, and it doesn't smell very good at all.
Monday, December 25, 2006
Journalism Project
Here's a local newspaper which has poked at the Muslim wasps' nest and got some very interesting responses:
The other day I blogged about a meeting the editorial board of the Dallas Morning News had with leaders in the local Muslim community. I described the Muslims as defensive and evasive. Mohamed Elmougy, who led the group, wrote a subsequent e-mail to my supervisors and to me describing me as dishonest, saying that I've singlehandedly burned the bridges the Muslim community and the DMN have built, and that I should be fired.
I've spent a good part of today transcribing the recording of the meeting. I have the entire transcript posted here on the DMN editorial board blog. It's over 7,000 words, but I strongly recommend that you go read it, to get a flavor of the questions we asked, and the answers they gave. We're going to try to convert the soundfile to a postable format, so you can listen to the meeting at some point. But I wanted to get this transcript up today.
Note especially the obfuscation, the evasion (e.g., avoiding a direct answer to the repeated question of whether the US should live under sharia law), the defense of sharia punishments like hand-chopping and stoning, and the attempt to answer legitimate questions by challenging the motives of the journalist for asking it. Note the unwillingness to say that there's anything wrong with Islamic youth reading Sayyid Qutb, that the real wrong is thinking that it's wrong. And so forth.
Might even be something George Stanley wants to bandy about with his troops for the Milwaukee area, no?
The other day I blogged about a meeting the editorial board of the Dallas Morning News had with leaders in the local Muslim community. I described the Muslims as defensive and evasive. Mohamed Elmougy, who led the group, wrote a subsequent e-mail to my supervisors and to me describing me as dishonest, saying that I've singlehandedly burned the bridges the Muslim community and the DMN have built, and that I should be fired.
I've spent a good part of today transcribing the recording of the meeting. I have the entire transcript posted here on the DMN editorial board blog. It's over 7,000 words, but I strongly recommend that you go read it, to get a flavor of the questions we asked, and the answers they gave. We're going to try to convert the soundfile to a postable format, so you can listen to the meeting at some point. But I wanted to get this transcript up today.
Note especially the obfuscation, the evasion (e.g., avoiding a direct answer to the repeated question of whether the US should live under sharia law), the defense of sharia punishments like hand-chopping and stoning, and the attempt to answer legitimate questions by challenging the motives of the journalist for asking it. Note the unwillingness to say that there's anything wrong with Islamic youth reading Sayyid Qutb, that the real wrong is thinking that it's wrong. And so forth.
Might even be something George Stanley wants to bandy about with his troops for the Milwaukee area, no?
Sunday, December 24, 2006
Merry Christmas to All!
This image struck me. It's not the usual thought; it's a reminder of what is to come.
More like a Mel Gibson Christmas card, no?
Merry Christmas!
More like a Mel Gibson Christmas card, no?
Saturday, December 23, 2006
Ex-Wisconsin Exec In the News
The illegal-alien problem which surfaced at Swift & Co. will have repercussions. This was not a "Plant-HR-Manager" problem...
With that in mind, guess who is Chairman of the Swift Board of Directors?
George Gillett Jr.
George N. Gillett Jr. became Chairman of the Board and a director of Swift Operating in September 2002. He is Chairman of the Board and President of Booth Creek Management Corp., a company with investments in a wide variety of businesses, since founding the Company in 1996. He also is Chairman of Booth Creek Ski Holdings, Inc. since its formation in October 1996 and Chief Executive Officer since February 1997. From August 1994 to July 2001, he served as Chairman of Packerland Packing Company, Inc., a meat packing company. From January 1997 to February 2000, he served as Chairman of Corporate Brand Foods America, Inc., a processor and marketer of meat and poultry products, which was acquired by IBP, Inc.
I imagine that George will be working through the holidays...
Some editorial content from RealClearPolitics on the illegal immigrant problem:
Who doesn't suffer from illegal immigration? For starters, the people who write about it. I speak of the journalism profession, which has the habit of covering the issue by anecdotes. Reporters thrive on sympathetic stories about illegal immigrants who work hard and go to church.
But, were a busload of illegals from Australia to turn up at their newspaper and offer reportage at 10 percent below the going rate, the writers would call the authorities so fast that your head would spin.
...The U.S. Chamber of Commerce likes to wail about the "labor shortage." It says there aren't enough chambermaids, dishwashers, etc. to work for its members at lousy wages. Odd, but when there's a shortage of labor -- or anything else -- doesn't the price of it go up? The price of unskilled labor in the United States hasn't gone up. It's gone down. Because of immigration, American-born high-school dropouts experienced a 5-percent loss in wages during the '80s and '90s, according to a study by Harvard economist George Borjas.
There's plenty of work for ICE to do, just in the Milwaukee area. Ask around...
With that in mind, guess who is Chairman of the Swift Board of Directors?
George Gillett Jr.
George N. Gillett Jr. became Chairman of the Board and a director of Swift Operating in September 2002. He is Chairman of the Board and President of Booth Creek Management Corp., a company with investments in a wide variety of businesses, since founding the Company in 1996. He also is Chairman of Booth Creek Ski Holdings, Inc. since its formation in October 1996 and Chief Executive Officer since February 1997. From August 1994 to July 2001, he served as Chairman of Packerland Packing Company, Inc., a meat packing company. From January 1997 to February 2000, he served as Chairman of Corporate Brand Foods America, Inc., a processor and marketer of meat and poultry products, which was acquired by IBP, Inc.
I imagine that George will be working through the holidays...
Some editorial content from RealClearPolitics on the illegal immigrant problem:
Who doesn't suffer from illegal immigration? For starters, the people who write about it. I speak of the journalism profession, which has the habit of covering the issue by anecdotes. Reporters thrive on sympathetic stories about illegal immigrants who work hard and go to church.
But, were a busload of illegals from Australia to turn up at their newspaper and offer reportage at 10 percent below the going rate, the writers would call the authorities so fast that your head would spin.
...The U.S. Chamber of Commerce likes to wail about the "labor shortage." It says there aren't enough chambermaids, dishwashers, etc. to work for its members at lousy wages. Odd, but when there's a shortage of labor -- or anything else -- doesn't the price of it go up? The price of unskilled labor in the United States hasn't gone up. It's gone down. Because of immigration, American-born high-school dropouts experienced a 5-percent loss in wages during the '80s and '90s, according to a study by Harvard economist George Borjas.
There's plenty of work for ICE to do, just in the Milwaukee area. Ask around...
Multiple Choice?
HT to Vox--this is too good to pass up:
U.S. Hispanic groups and activists on Thursday called for a moratorium on workplace raids to round up illegal immigrants, saying they were reminiscent of Nazi crackdowns on Jews in the 1930s....
"This unfortunately reminds me of when Hitler began rounding up the Jews for no reason and locking them up," Democratic Party activist Carla Vela said. "Now they're coming for the Latinos, who will they come for next?"
If Ms. Vela is asking for nominees, I'm sure that we can come up with a list. Let's start with the ACLU's headquarters staff and Rosie O'Donnell.
It is even more curious that the Democrat Party is now (apparently) attempting to trivialize the Holocaust with this asinine comparo. Do they think they OWN the Jewish vote?
U.S. Hispanic groups and activists on Thursday called for a moratorium on workplace raids to round up illegal immigrants, saying they were reminiscent of Nazi crackdowns on Jews in the 1930s....
"This unfortunately reminds me of when Hitler began rounding up the Jews for no reason and locking them up," Democratic Party activist Carla Vela said. "Now they're coming for the Latinos, who will they come for next?"
If Ms. Vela is asking for nominees, I'm sure that we can come up with a list. Let's start with the ACLU's headquarters staff and Rosie O'Donnell.
It is even more curious that the Democrat Party is now (apparently) attempting to trivialize the Holocaust with this asinine comparo. Do they think they OWN the Jewish vote?
Online Retailers--Horror Stories
Kinda like brick-and-mortar shopping--or telephone-shopping--you can find "bargains" which turn out to really bad deals.
Or worse.
Here's a post about online camera retailers; but read ALL the way to the end for the really nasty stuff.
Or worse.
Here's a post about online camera retailers; but read ALL the way to the end for the really nasty stuff.
"Everybody Did It" Study Was Paid for by Planned Parenthood
Remember that "study" which the purports to 'scientifically' prove that damn near everybody had premarital sex??? The one which was breathlessly (heh) trumpeted in every MSM venue last week?
Well, somehow, the news-folks forgot to mention who PAID for the "study'--none other than Planned Parenthood's Guttmacher Institute.
Since Planned Parenthood makes a lot of money from sexual activities of youth, it is in the interests of Planned Parenthood to make such activity a perfectly "normal" practice. That's precisely the word used by the local news-yappers (Channel 6.)
Planned Parenthood does not like the Federal Gummint spending money on abstinence programs because Planned Parenthood does not like the results of abstinence programs--less money in PP's bank accounts.
All together now, lets' clap for Planned Parenthood. No--I mean, let's GET the Clap for PP--or something like that, right...?
The "study" produced results which are inconsistent with other studies:
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released data in 2003 showing that the percentage of teens who reported that they have had sex decreased from 54 percent in the early 1990s, to 46 percent...
A study that same year in Adolescent & Family Health concluded that abstinence was the catalyst for a drop in the teen birth rate from 1991-95 (the latest data available). Researchers found ...the number of unmarried teen girls who were abstinent -- defined as never having had sex or not having had sex in the past year -- increased from 53 percent to 56 percent.
Memo to MSM "news" folks: follow the money. Check against other known facts. You know--journalism...
Well, somehow, the news-folks forgot to mention who PAID for the "study'--none other than Planned Parenthood's Guttmacher Institute.
Since Planned Parenthood makes a lot of money from sexual activities of youth, it is in the interests of Planned Parenthood to make such activity a perfectly "normal" practice. That's precisely the word used by the local news-yappers (Channel 6.)
Planned Parenthood does not like the Federal Gummint spending money on abstinence programs because Planned Parenthood does not like the results of abstinence programs--less money in PP's bank accounts.
All together now, lets' clap for Planned Parenthood. No--I mean, let's GET the Clap for PP--or something like that, right...?
The "study" produced results which are inconsistent with other studies:
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released data in 2003 showing that the percentage of teens who reported that they have had sex decreased from 54 percent in the early 1990s, to 46 percent...
A study that same year in Adolescent & Family Health concluded that abstinence was the catalyst for a drop in the teen birth rate from 1991-95 (the latest data available). Researchers found ...the number of unmarried teen girls who were abstinent -- defined as never having had sex or not having had sex in the past year -- increased from 53 percent to 56 percent.
Memo to MSM "news" folks: follow the money. Check against other known facts. You know--journalism...
Friday, December 22, 2006
Music for Catholic Mass
Some excerpts from Wm. Mahrt's intervention at the Bishops' committee meeting re: music for Catholic Mass in the USA. His remarks specifically refer to Music in Catholic Worship, written by the Bishops' Committee on the Liturgy, at the time chaired by none other than Rembert Weakland, OSB.
The purposes of music should be stated clearly; I would say that there are two overriding purposes: to make the liturgy more beautiful and to emphasize its sacred character. ...Only music that is truly beautiful should have a place in the liturgy.
Music can establish unambiguously the sacred character of the action. Here the statements about style need a radical revision. All styles are not equal. The tradition of Roman documents establishes a clear hierarchy. Gregorian chant has pride of place; classical polyphony has a privileged role. It is because styles carry with them associations and even evoke a place—the style of a Broadway show tune evokes the theater; the style of cocktail music evokes the cocktail bar, yet we hear these styles in church. The priority of sacred styles needs re-emphasis.
[Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! The "all styles are equal" promulgated by 'Bugsy' Bugnini and his coterie of termites has been "factoid without foundation" for far too long...]
The analysis of the purposes of the parts of the Mass needs reformulation. The distinction between proper and ordinary is a very useful one—propers accompany other actions, ordinary are the liturgical actions themselves.
The theology of music in the document is only anthropocentric; but it should also be theocentric. The document speaks only of the action of the congregation; but this has no meaning unless it is in the service of the action of Christ in the Mass. To say that music has the purpose of the glorification of God (theocentric) does not contradict that it cultivates the faith of the people (anthropocentric); these two purposes reinforce each other.
[This anthropocentrism is perfectly consistent with the versus populum theologoumenon, another extraordinarily poor symbol promulgated by the Usual Suspects--at great spiritual and financial cost, we should add...]
...Music does not have connotations, rather its meanings accrue by association. Take two examples: We have had classes in the dancing of Baroque dances, for example, the minuet, which gets its name from the tiny steps used in dancing it: one dances in a small pattern and does not get anywhere. We had a classical guitarist engaged to play during one of the Masses, and at the communion time, he played a Bach minuet. I thought to myself, how am I ever going to get to communion with these tiny steps? I once heard a Beethoven piano sonata played during Mass. I was astonished to realize just how vividly it recalled a place, and the place was the home. The music is domestic—house music. I would not have anticipated how incongruous it seemed to hear it in church.
Others of the meanings of music derive from intrinsic qualities of the music. Cocktail music has a quality of relaxed familiarity that reinforces the inhibition-releasing qualities of the cocktail itself and encourages social interaction. This is probably not very suitable for a sacred action. In fact, the very notion of “sacred,” being set apart for special usage, suggests that music that is free from such associations is better suited to sacred purposes. The inherent qualities of Gregorian chant are particularly in its rhythm. The more strongly metric music is, the more closely it is tied to the passage of time. The non-metric qualities of Gregorian chant leave it free from being tied down to the temporal and allow it to evoke the eternal. This evocation of the eternal accounts for the fact that Gregorian chant is rarely used for anything else; it is not even very successfully employed in concerts, despite its high artistic status. Rather, whenever it is heard, its character is unmistakable—it is sacred music, set aside for a most high purpose.
[But some 'character' is also associated with metrical music--e.g., the strong 1 & 3 of the 4-beat march is unmistakable, as is the 'lullaby' quality of 6-beat, or waltz of 3-beat/4-measures...]
I propose several areas where clear statements could improve Music in Catholic Worship (MCW).
1. Reconciliation with Vatican documents. Perhaps the most important issue is the relation of MCW to Sacrosanctum concilium (SSC) and the Second Instruction for its implementation, Musicam Sacram (MS). These documents reflect the fact that in general the regulation of the liturgy belongs to the Apostolic See.
2. The place of Gregorian chant, polyphony, and the organ. I take Bob Hurd’s point that there is a place for diversity, and that polarization should be avoided; still, I would suggest a third way of viewing the choices he proposes: within a rather wide range of traditions, styles, and instruments, the document should present some priorities. Gregorian chant should have “pride of place,” and classical polyphony should receive special cultivation; this does not rule out the use of chorale melodies or popular religious songs, but it does present a priority.
3. The theology of music. The description of the purposes of music in MCW focuses almost entirely upon the subjective aspect of the congregation and not at all on the intrinsic significance of the rites or their overall meaning theologically, particularly the action of Christ in the liturgy. These are not mutually contradictory: the traditional purposes—the glory of God and the sanctification of the faithful— are not in conflict with the expression of faith on the part of the congregation
4. The sacredness of music. There is a further qualification about diversity. “Not all forms of music can be considered suitable for liturgical celebrations” (Pope John Paul II, Chirograph for the Centenary of the Motu Proprio, 2003, Par. 4). Within the diversity of available musical styles, judgments should be made about which styles are suitable for incorporation into the sacred liturgy. In order for them to be truly sacred, there must be something which distinguishes them from the merely secular
5. The beauty and sacredness of the liturgy. Over and above the aforementioned purposes of music, I think that there are even more general purposes, and if they were taken seriously, they could transform the music of our liturgies. They are obvious to some, but somehow forgotten by others: music should make the liturgy more beautiful, and music should emphasize the sacredness of the liturgy. If music were really selected to fulfill these purposes, our liturgies would amply fulfill all the other purposes mentioned above
6. The quality of the music. The statement about making the aesthetic judgment in MCW is crucial. Its priority should not be compromised in the revision. In fact, it should be emphasized: too much music published today is simply mediocre...The criterion should be whether the music is truly beautiful, nothing less.
[I am always taken aback by those who say that 'the parishioners don't "get" beauty.' Yes they do--perhaps they can't articulate it in the terms of musicology, or perhaps they don't think they should tell the musician--but they "get" it very well.]
7. The ordinary and the proper. MCW seems to downplay the distinction between ordinary and proper and to deemphasize the ordinary, often dismissing it as “secondary.” But there are important distinctions between the ordinary and the proper. The proper parts of the Mass accompany other actions, mainly processions; even in the case of the gradual and alleluia, their function is to complement and respond to the lessons. On the other hand, the ordinary parts are in and of themselves liturgical actions; this is the ground for attributing them normally to the singing of the whole congregation.
"Proper" was simply tossed into a memory hole. There is no other explanation. One of the best church musicians in our Archdiocese doesn't even acknowledge the existence of the Proper of the Mass. It's not because he's a rebel--it's because he has been educated by rebels and iconoclasts, since 1970.
8. The ordering of the sung parts. MCW denies the significance of the distinction between sung and recited Masses, asserting that “almost unlimited combinations of sung and recited parts may be chosen.” (Par. 51) This is in direct contradiction with MS, which retains the distinction between the low and the high Mass, and yet proposes various degrees of incorporation of singing into the Mass
Another of the Americanist Abominations. The idea was (of course) to 'democratize' the Mass, as though "democracy" is some sort of objective good in worship. Think that's a bit over the edge? Then why are the perpetrators of this "democratization" ALSO proponents of Wimmin's Ordination?
9. The singing of the celebrant. A key feature of the scheme of incorporation of singing in MS is the priority of the singing of the celebrant. The revision of MCW should exhort, as strongly as possible, celebrants to learn to sing their parts in the Mass; seminaries should instruct their students in the singing of the priest’s parts. The reason is that when the celebrant sings his part, the rite itself is clearly sung, and this unifies it; the other musical parts then play a natural role in the scheme of music.
It may cause a bit of consternation, but it's doable--and Mahrt's rationale is absolutely correct.
The balance of Mahrt's intervention/essay are available at the link above. Let us pray, fervently, that Cdl. George & Co. pay close attention to his recommendations over against those from music publishers.
The purposes of music should be stated clearly; I would say that there are two overriding purposes: to make the liturgy more beautiful and to emphasize its sacred character. ...Only music that is truly beautiful should have a place in the liturgy.
Music can establish unambiguously the sacred character of the action. Here the statements about style need a radical revision. All styles are not equal. The tradition of Roman documents establishes a clear hierarchy. Gregorian chant has pride of place; classical polyphony has a privileged role. It is because styles carry with them associations and even evoke a place—the style of a Broadway show tune evokes the theater; the style of cocktail music evokes the cocktail bar, yet we hear these styles in church. The priority of sacred styles needs re-emphasis.
[Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! The "all styles are equal" promulgated by 'Bugsy' Bugnini and his coterie of termites has been "factoid without foundation" for far too long...]
The analysis of the purposes of the parts of the Mass needs reformulation. The distinction between proper and ordinary is a very useful one—propers accompany other actions, ordinary are the liturgical actions themselves.
The theology of music in the document is only anthropocentric; but it should also be theocentric. The document speaks only of the action of the congregation; but this has no meaning unless it is in the service of the action of Christ in the Mass. To say that music has the purpose of the glorification of God (theocentric) does not contradict that it cultivates the faith of the people (anthropocentric); these two purposes reinforce each other.
[This anthropocentrism is perfectly consistent with the versus populum theologoumenon, another extraordinarily poor symbol promulgated by the Usual Suspects--at great spiritual and financial cost, we should add...]
...Music does not have connotations, rather its meanings accrue by association. Take two examples: We have had classes in the dancing of Baroque dances, for example, the minuet, which gets its name from the tiny steps used in dancing it: one dances in a small pattern and does not get anywhere. We had a classical guitarist engaged to play during one of the Masses, and at the communion time, he played a Bach minuet. I thought to myself, how am I ever going to get to communion with these tiny steps? I once heard a Beethoven piano sonata played during Mass. I was astonished to realize just how vividly it recalled a place, and the place was the home. The music is domestic—house music. I would not have anticipated how incongruous it seemed to hear it in church.
Others of the meanings of music derive from intrinsic qualities of the music. Cocktail music has a quality of relaxed familiarity that reinforces the inhibition-releasing qualities of the cocktail itself and encourages social interaction. This is probably not very suitable for a sacred action. In fact, the very notion of “sacred,” being set apart for special usage, suggests that music that is free from such associations is better suited to sacred purposes. The inherent qualities of Gregorian chant are particularly in its rhythm. The more strongly metric music is, the more closely it is tied to the passage of time. The non-metric qualities of Gregorian chant leave it free from being tied down to the temporal and allow it to evoke the eternal. This evocation of the eternal accounts for the fact that Gregorian chant is rarely used for anything else; it is not even very successfully employed in concerts, despite its high artistic status. Rather, whenever it is heard, its character is unmistakable—it is sacred music, set aside for a most high purpose.
[But some 'character' is also associated with metrical music--e.g., the strong 1 & 3 of the 4-beat march is unmistakable, as is the 'lullaby' quality of 6-beat, or waltz of 3-beat/4-measures...]
I propose several areas where clear statements could improve Music in Catholic Worship (MCW).
1. Reconciliation with Vatican documents. Perhaps the most important issue is the relation of MCW to Sacrosanctum concilium (SSC) and the Second Instruction for its implementation, Musicam Sacram (MS). These documents reflect the fact that in general the regulation of the liturgy belongs to the Apostolic See.
2. The place of Gregorian chant, polyphony, and the organ. I take Bob Hurd’s point that there is a place for diversity, and that polarization should be avoided; still, I would suggest a third way of viewing the choices he proposes: within a rather wide range of traditions, styles, and instruments, the document should present some priorities. Gregorian chant should have “pride of place,” and classical polyphony should receive special cultivation; this does not rule out the use of chorale melodies or popular religious songs, but it does present a priority.
3. The theology of music. The description of the purposes of music in MCW focuses almost entirely upon the subjective aspect of the congregation and not at all on the intrinsic significance of the rites or their overall meaning theologically, particularly the action of Christ in the liturgy. These are not mutually contradictory: the traditional purposes—the glory of God and the sanctification of the faithful— are not in conflict with the expression of faith on the part of the congregation
4. The sacredness of music. There is a further qualification about diversity. “Not all forms of music can be considered suitable for liturgical celebrations” (Pope John Paul II, Chirograph for the Centenary of the Motu Proprio, 2003, Par. 4). Within the diversity of available musical styles, judgments should be made about which styles are suitable for incorporation into the sacred liturgy. In order for them to be truly sacred, there must be something which distinguishes them from the merely secular
5. The beauty and sacredness of the liturgy. Over and above the aforementioned purposes of music, I think that there are even more general purposes, and if they were taken seriously, they could transform the music of our liturgies. They are obvious to some, but somehow forgotten by others: music should make the liturgy more beautiful, and music should emphasize the sacredness of the liturgy. If music were really selected to fulfill these purposes, our liturgies would amply fulfill all the other purposes mentioned above
6. The quality of the music. The statement about making the aesthetic judgment in MCW is crucial. Its priority should not be compromised in the revision. In fact, it should be emphasized: too much music published today is simply mediocre...The criterion should be whether the music is truly beautiful, nothing less.
[I am always taken aback by those who say that 'the parishioners don't "get" beauty.' Yes they do--perhaps they can't articulate it in the terms of musicology, or perhaps they don't think they should tell the musician--but they "get" it very well.]
7. The ordinary and the proper. MCW seems to downplay the distinction between ordinary and proper and to deemphasize the ordinary, often dismissing it as “secondary.” But there are important distinctions between the ordinary and the proper. The proper parts of the Mass accompany other actions, mainly processions; even in the case of the gradual and alleluia, their function is to complement and respond to the lessons. On the other hand, the ordinary parts are in and of themselves liturgical actions; this is the ground for attributing them normally to the singing of the whole congregation.
"Proper" was simply tossed into a memory hole. There is no other explanation. One of the best church musicians in our Archdiocese doesn't even acknowledge the existence of the Proper of the Mass. It's not because he's a rebel--it's because he has been educated by rebels and iconoclasts, since 1970.
8. The ordering of the sung parts. MCW denies the significance of the distinction between sung and recited Masses, asserting that “almost unlimited combinations of sung and recited parts may be chosen.” (Par. 51) This is in direct contradiction with MS, which retains the distinction between the low and the high Mass, and yet proposes various degrees of incorporation of singing into the Mass
Another of the Americanist Abominations. The idea was (of course) to 'democratize' the Mass, as though "democracy" is some sort of objective good in worship. Think that's a bit over the edge? Then why are the perpetrators of this "democratization" ALSO proponents of Wimmin's Ordination?
9. The singing of the celebrant. A key feature of the scheme of incorporation of singing in MS is the priority of the singing of the celebrant. The revision of MCW should exhort, as strongly as possible, celebrants to learn to sing their parts in the Mass; seminaries should instruct their students in the singing of the priest’s parts. The reason is that when the celebrant sings his part, the rite itself is clearly sung, and this unifies it; the other musical parts then play a natural role in the scheme of music.
It may cause a bit of consternation, but it's doable--and Mahrt's rationale is absolutely correct.
The balance of Mahrt's intervention/essay are available at the link above. Let us pray, fervently, that Cdl. George & Co. pay close attention to his recommendations over against those from music publishers.
Dreher on Apocalypto
Just a little bit of the review:
Well, I finally got to see "Apocalypto" yesterday, and let me start by saying that I was wrong about the movie in my earlier comments here. It is a stunning film, and I heartily recommend it to those who can stand some gore. I did look away a couple of times, to be sure, but for most of the film, the violence is profoundly contextualized; I was not prepared for Gibson to show in the faces and reactions of his characters the pain of violence and cruelty.
...In fact, I can't think of a film that is at once so violent and such a protest against violence.
...(I should say too that as an exercise in pure filmmaking, "Apocalypto" is a phenomenal piece of work. I realized at the end that I had just watched a two-hour film about tribal derring-do, filmed in an ancient Indian tongue, and I had been entirely engrossed, as if hardly any time had passed at all. Any filmmaker who can do that is a master. If somebody other than Mel Gibson had made this film, he'd be the toast of Hollywood.)
These are just my random musings a few hours after having seen "Apocalypto." I wanted to make sure to get them down, even if they're disordered, because I'd made such a big deal about how I wasn't going to see the film, and I wanted to say how mistaken I was.
Looks like it will be on my list, soon.
Well, I finally got to see "Apocalypto" yesterday, and let me start by saying that I was wrong about the movie in my earlier comments here. It is a stunning film, and I heartily recommend it to those who can stand some gore. I did look away a couple of times, to be sure, but for most of the film, the violence is profoundly contextualized; I was not prepared for Gibson to show in the faces and reactions of his characters the pain of violence and cruelty.
...In fact, I can't think of a film that is at once so violent and such a protest against violence.
...(I should say too that as an exercise in pure filmmaking, "Apocalypto" is a phenomenal piece of work. I realized at the end that I had just watched a two-hour film about tribal derring-do, filmed in an ancient Indian tongue, and I had been entirely engrossed, as if hardly any time had passed at all. Any filmmaker who can do that is a master. If somebody other than Mel Gibson had made this film, he'd be the toast of Hollywood.)
These are just my random musings a few hours after having seen "Apocalypto." I wanted to make sure to get them down, even if they're disordered, because I'd made such a big deal about how I wasn't going to see the film, and I wanted to say how mistaken I was.
Looks like it will be on my list, soon.
Harbinger Copper
The brief comment at TheBigPicture:
Dr. Copper, the metal with the PHD in economics, is now at 6 month lows
Since I happen to agree with BP's aphorism about copper (the Old Farts' economic predictor) I thought I'd look it up.
Read what you'd like into the chart--but there's no question that copper has dumped a few in the last couple of months.
Farm Subsidies Kill Farmers
You like the Farmer in the Dell?
Too bad. He's being killed off by the Federal Government and corporate farming (that means CPA's, lawyers, and Big Money players.)
The very policies touted by Congress as a way to save small family farms are instead helping to accelerate their demise, economists, analysts and farmers say. That's because owners of large farms receive the largest share of government subsidies. They often use the money to acquire more land, pushing aside small and medium-size farms as well as young farmers starting out.
"Historically, when you think of family farms, you think of Mom and Dad and three generations working a small or mid-sized farm. It gives you a warm and fuzzy feeling," said Alex White, a professor of agricultural economics at Virginia Tech. "In the real world, it might be a mid-sized farm. But it also might be a huge farm. It might be a corporation.
"Large family farms, defined as those with revenue of more than $250,000, account for nearly 60 percent of all agricultural production but just 7 percent of all farms. They receive more than 54 percent of government subsidies. And their share of federal payments is growing -- more than doubling over the past decade for the biggest farms.
Not to mention the amount of "farm aid" sent to people who buy acreage specifically for the Gummint's generosity and/or tax credits/writeoffs.
HT Betsy's Page
Too bad. He's being killed off by the Federal Government and corporate farming (that means CPA's, lawyers, and Big Money players.)
The very policies touted by Congress as a way to save small family farms are instead helping to accelerate their demise, economists, analysts and farmers say. That's because owners of large farms receive the largest share of government subsidies. They often use the money to acquire more land, pushing aside small and medium-size farms as well as young farmers starting out.
"Historically, when you think of family farms, you think of Mom and Dad and three generations working a small or mid-sized farm. It gives you a warm and fuzzy feeling," said Alex White, a professor of agricultural economics at Virginia Tech. "In the real world, it might be a mid-sized farm. But it also might be a huge farm. It might be a corporation.
"Large family farms, defined as those with revenue of more than $250,000, account for nearly 60 percent of all agricultural production but just 7 percent of all farms. They receive more than 54 percent of government subsidies. And their share of federal payments is growing -- more than doubling over the past decade for the biggest farms.
Not to mention the amount of "farm aid" sent to people who buy acreage specifically for the Gummint's generosity and/or tax credits/writeoffs.
HT Betsy's Page
Thursday, December 21, 2006
Party Of Government?
Occasionally we've mentioned the existence of the Party Of Government (and have taken a slight liberty, re-naming it the Party IN Government with the acronym P.I.G.)
It certainly works for Sandy Berger (D) National Security Adviser to X42, whose criminal activities at the National Archives were ignored by GWBush' Attorney-General's office.
Former national security adviser Sandy Berger removed classified documents from the National Archives in 2003 and hid them under a construction trailer, the Archives inspector general reported Wednesday.
The report was issued more than a year after Berger pleaded guilty and received a criminal sentence for removal of the documents.
The "sentence"? A $50K fine and 100 days' "community service."
Contrast to ...oh...stiffing the IRS...which usually means jail AND loss of every material possession one has...
Inspector General Paul Brachfeld reported that when Berger was confronted by Archives officials about the missing documents, he said it was possible he threw them in his office trash.
"In total, during this visit, he removed four documents ...
And we will NEVER know the contents of those documents.
The term "Clintoncide" comes to mind...
It certainly works for Sandy Berger (D) National Security Adviser to X42, whose criminal activities at the National Archives were ignored by GWBush' Attorney-General's office.
Former national security adviser Sandy Berger removed classified documents from the National Archives in 2003 and hid them under a construction trailer, the Archives inspector general reported Wednesday.
The report was issued more than a year after Berger pleaded guilty and received a criminal sentence for removal of the documents.
The "sentence"? A $50K fine and 100 days' "community service."
Contrast to ...oh...stiffing the IRS...which usually means jail AND loss of every material possession one has...
Inspector General Paul Brachfeld reported that when Berger was confronted by Archives officials about the missing documents, he said it was possible he threw them in his office trash.
"In total, during this visit, he removed four documents ...
And we will NEVER know the contents of those documents.
The term "Clintoncide" comes to mind...
Morgan Stanley Is in Deep Soup
This is a no-no:
The National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) said Morgan Stanley had routinely failed to provide e-mails requested by investors with complaints against its retail brokerage unit, falsely claiming they were lost in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
The securities industry's self-regulatory arm said in a disciplinary complaint that Morgan Stanley claimed that millions of e-mails had been lost in the terrorist attacks that destroyed New York's World Trade Center.
Although its Dean Witter unit's main e-mail servers and archives were destroyed in the attacks, Morgan Stanley had most of those e-mails saved on backup tapes or on users' individual computers, the NASD said.
...The NASD said Morgan Stanley's actions meant hundreds of retail investors may have been denied their right to obtain e-mail evidence during arbitration procedures against Dean Witter, the retail brokerage's former name
The stink is serious.
The National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) said Morgan Stanley had routinely failed to provide e-mails requested by investors with complaints against its retail brokerage unit, falsely claiming they were lost in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
The securities industry's self-regulatory arm said in a disciplinary complaint that Morgan Stanley claimed that millions of e-mails had been lost in the terrorist attacks that destroyed New York's World Trade Center.
Although its Dean Witter unit's main e-mail servers and archives were destroyed in the attacks, Morgan Stanley had most of those e-mails saved on backup tapes or on users' individual computers, the NASD said.
...The NASD said Morgan Stanley's actions meant hundreds of retail investors may have been denied their right to obtain e-mail evidence during arbitration procedures against Dean Witter, the retail brokerage's former name
The stink is serious.
The Donkey Whose Tail is Taxes
Whether or not you like additional taxes, or whether or not you like "commuter rail," the REAL evil genius out there is (ta-da!!)
State Rep. Jeff Stone (R-Greendale), who sponsored the legislation creating the transit authority
This "authority" seeks to impose TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION.
Someone should start a recall movement...
State Rep. Jeff Stone (R-Greendale), who sponsored the legislation creating the transit authority
This "authority" seeks to impose TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION.
Someone should start a recall movement...
Give Me The MONEY!! Says Milwaukee
Knock me over with a feather!
The City of Milwaukee filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday against AT&T that aims to require the company to negotiate a cable franchise agreement for its soon-to-be-offered Internet protocol video service.
Such an agreement would force the phone company to make an annual payment to the city, something that Time Warner Cable already does under its longstanding franchise agreement with the city
Seems to me that TimeWarner should be footing the bills for this lawsuit--but never mind...
Here's all you ever need to know:
Next year, Time Warner is to pay the city about $3.8 million.
You thought that Elm Grove was a bastion of conservatism, eh? You LOSE, sucker:
[Elm Grove] Village Manager Dave De Angelis said, "It's not that I think any of the communities want to leave AT&T out of the market or limit competition. In fact, we welcome competition. It's just that the playing field should be the same."
What he means is: "AT&T has to give us a bunch of money before we let them [kiss] us."
"Cable companies were given a huge financial incentive to build out communities - monopoly rights with freedom from competition,"
....after they paid bribes to the local Gummints. That's what it's all about, no?
The City of Milwaukee filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday against AT&T that aims to require the company to negotiate a cable franchise agreement for its soon-to-be-offered Internet protocol video service.
Such an agreement would force the phone company to make an annual payment to the city, something that Time Warner Cable already does under its longstanding franchise agreement with the city
Seems to me that TimeWarner should be footing the bills for this lawsuit--but never mind...
Here's all you ever need to know:
Next year, Time Warner is to pay the city about $3.8 million.
You thought that Elm Grove was a bastion of conservatism, eh? You LOSE, sucker:
[Elm Grove] Village Manager Dave De Angelis said, "It's not that I think any of the communities want to leave AT&T out of the market or limit competition. In fact, we welcome competition. It's just that the playing field should be the same."
What he means is: "AT&T has to give us a bunch of money before we let them [kiss] us."
"Cable companies were given a huge financial incentive to build out communities - monopoly rights with freedom from competition,"
....after they paid bribes to the local Gummints. That's what it's all about, no?
Busalacchi: Pinocchio-Puppet Show
Hey! Frankie!! You want more money for drivers' licenses?
No sweat, pal.
Go to your thieving boss, Darth Doyle--the one who tells you what to say and do every minute of every day.
Tell him to give back the $400 million he stole from DOT.
Yah, Frankie, I know. What would you do for a JOB if you get uppity with Doyle? Sheesh.
Frankie--boy--don't you have any pride? Where does Doyle have your balls, Frankie? In his desk-drawer?
No sweat, pal.
Go to your thieving boss, Darth Doyle--the one who tells you what to say and do every minute of every day.
Tell him to give back the $400 million he stole from DOT.
Yah, Frankie, I know. What would you do for a JOB if you get uppity with Doyle? Sheesh.
Frankie--boy--don't you have any pride? Where does Doyle have your balls, Frankie? In his desk-drawer?
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Episcopal-Lutheran Easter, Catholic Seminary Prof Witness!
HT our friend Terrence Berres.
It seems that on Easter Sunday, a Lutheran pastor guest-officiated at an Episcopalian church.
It was a lovely occasion, according to the intrepid reporter, who is of some interest to us Roman Catholics.
Seems that the reporter (who evidently was on-site for the occasion) is also a Professor at St. Francis Major Seminary of Milwaukee.
Rev. Dr. Steven Kuhl is assistant professor of historical theology at Saint Francis Seminary, St. Francis, WI, and is a member of WCC’s Unity and Relationships Committee
(See P.4 of the linked PDF)
Quite the occasion, no?
It seems that on Easter Sunday, a Lutheran pastor guest-officiated at an Episcopalian church.
It was a lovely occasion, according to the intrepid reporter, who is of some interest to us Roman Catholics.
Seems that the reporter (who evidently was on-site for the occasion) is also a Professor at St. Francis Major Seminary of Milwaukee.
Rev. Dr. Steven Kuhl is assistant professor of historical theology at Saint Francis Seminary, St. Francis, WI, and is a member of WCC’s Unity and Relationships Committee
(See P.4 of the linked PDF)
Quite the occasion, no?
Nietzsche--PC's Founding Philosopher
Fr. Jim Schall, SJ, is a marvelous writer and intellect. He wrote a short essay in which he quoted some of the remarks of Benedict XVI (who often quotes Nietzsche, not as a guide, but as a marker) and draws some conclusions.
Nietzsche, who in some sense brought modernity to a close by exposing its own inner incoherence, is always interesting to read. Pope Ratzinger, good German scholar that he is, will cite him rather often. A sense of poignancy hovers over the reading of Nietzsche. We sense the disappointment that he felt over Christians themselves who, in his strict view, do not, as he thought, really believe what the faith holds to be true. This practical disbelief in the truth of Christianity, however, is increasingly prevalent in Western societies over a century after Nietzsche's death.
The only alternative open to him, in Nietzsche's own mind, was the famous "will to power." This much-pondered principle was in fact a license to construct our own world, to declare our freedom precisely by rejecting all previous explications, particularly those stemming from Plato and Christianity, from natural law or faith....
...Nonetheless, Nietzsche's agenda or inspiration, in many forms, can be found at the roots of much of modern culture, particularly academic culture. We live with a dogmatic relativism that empowers us, so it is claimed, to depend on neither nature nor grace, on nothing but our own willed social and personal constructs, whatever they are
[In November], Benedict XVI spoke about marriage [:] "Today, the order of marriage, as established in creation and of which the Bible tells us expressly in the narration of creation (Genesis, 2:24), is gradually being obscured, ..."To the extent that man seeks in new ways to build for himself the world as a whole, thereby ever more perceptibly endangering its foundations, he also loses his vision of the order of creation with regard to his own life. He considers he can define himself as he pleases by virtue of an inane freedom."
In the red-higlighted section of the above graf, we have the very definition of PC and all that surrounds it. It is an artificial re-construction of Nature, which endangers the foundations of the world so constructed.
Fr. Schall's conclusions have more to do with the balance of B-16's lecture(s) to the German bishops, which concerned both marriage (above) AND the sacred nature of life:
One aspect of it is the commitment to life from conception to death, that is, its defense against abortion, against euthanasia, against manipulation and man's self-authorization in order to dispose of life. People often seek to justify these interventions with the seemingly great purpose of thereby serving the future generations, and it even appears moral to take human life into one's own hands and manipulate it. However . . . the knowledge also exists that human life is a gift that demands our respect and love from the very first to its very last moments, also for the suffering, the disabled and the weak
So Schall writes:
Recently, I saw an article of some theological professor who argued that if we are ever to get along with the Muslims, we need to downplay the two central doctrines of Christianity, the Trinity and the Incarnation, so that we can better get along. No doubt, if we cease to be Christian, if we cease to affirm the truth, including especially the truth that guides us from revelation, everyone will find us easier to get along with. We will have gained tolerance at the price of what we are to hold.
It is "PC" to get along. It also endangers the foundations of dialogue and understanding--it minimizes the value of truth in the present to gain some vague (and unknown) benefit in the future.
Maybe, kinda, sorta, some...vague...benefit.
Nietzsche, who in some sense brought modernity to a close by exposing its own inner incoherence, is always interesting to read. Pope Ratzinger, good German scholar that he is, will cite him rather often. A sense of poignancy hovers over the reading of Nietzsche. We sense the disappointment that he felt over Christians themselves who, in his strict view, do not, as he thought, really believe what the faith holds to be true. This practical disbelief in the truth of Christianity, however, is increasingly prevalent in Western societies over a century after Nietzsche's death.
The only alternative open to him, in Nietzsche's own mind, was the famous "will to power." This much-pondered principle was in fact a license to construct our own world, to declare our freedom precisely by rejecting all previous explications, particularly those stemming from Plato and Christianity, from natural law or faith....
...Nonetheless, Nietzsche's agenda or inspiration, in many forms, can be found at the roots of much of modern culture, particularly academic culture. We live with a dogmatic relativism that empowers us, so it is claimed, to depend on neither nature nor grace, on nothing but our own willed social and personal constructs, whatever they are
[In November], Benedict XVI spoke about marriage [:] "Today, the order of marriage, as established in creation and of which the Bible tells us expressly in the narration of creation (Genesis, 2:24), is gradually being obscured, ..."To the extent that man seeks in new ways to build for himself the world as a whole, thereby ever more perceptibly endangering its foundations, he also loses his vision of the order of creation with regard to his own life. He considers he can define himself as he pleases by virtue of an inane freedom."
In the red-higlighted section of the above graf, we have the very definition of PC and all that surrounds it. It is an artificial re-construction of Nature, which endangers the foundations of the world so constructed.
Fr. Schall's conclusions have more to do with the balance of B-16's lecture(s) to the German bishops, which concerned both marriage (above) AND the sacred nature of life:
One aspect of it is the commitment to life from conception to death, that is, its defense against abortion, against euthanasia, against manipulation and man's self-authorization in order to dispose of life. People often seek to justify these interventions with the seemingly great purpose of thereby serving the future generations, and it even appears moral to take human life into one's own hands and manipulate it. However . . . the knowledge also exists that human life is a gift that demands our respect and love from the very first to its very last moments, also for the suffering, the disabled and the weak
So Schall writes:
Recently, I saw an article of some theological professor who argued that if we are ever to get along with the Muslims, we need to downplay the two central doctrines of Christianity, the Trinity and the Incarnation, so that we can better get along. No doubt, if we cease to be Christian, if we cease to affirm the truth, including especially the truth that guides us from revelation, everyone will find us easier to get along with. We will have gained tolerance at the price of what we are to hold.
It is "PC" to get along. It also endangers the foundations of dialogue and understanding--it minimizes the value of truth in the present to gain some vague (and unknown) benefit in the future.
Maybe, kinda, sorta, some...vague...benefit.
Another $1.2MM Down the State's Drain
Hey--you didn't really NEED all that money you sent to Madison, right?
The state will recover about $950,000 of the $2.1 million spent on consultants and software licenses for the Oracle project in credits for software and maintenance work from Oracle,
We recall that DarthDoyle received some campaign donations from Oracle's people.
Too bad that the system just didn't work, eh?
HT: WisPolitics.com
The state will recover about $950,000 of the $2.1 million spent on consultants and software licenses for the Oracle project in credits for software and maintenance work from Oracle,
We recall that DarthDoyle received some campaign donations from Oracle's people.
Too bad that the system just didn't work, eh?
HT: WisPolitics.com
Guns Cause Crime, Right?
Sorry, I can't copy the chart and paste it here--but here's the interesting part.
SOUTH DAKOTA has the highest percentage of population with a Concealed Carry permit at 7.4%. It also has a very low crime rate--175.7/100K population--and murder rate--2.3/100K.
WISCONSIN does not allow Concealed Carry.
Violent crime rate in Wisconsin? 241.5/100K. Murder rate? 3.5/100K.
(scritch, scratch, scritch...)
So the heavily-armed South Dakota violent crime rate is 27% LESS than Wisconsin's. And the South Dakota murder rate is 35% LESS than Wisconsin's.
No crisis, there.
By the way, New York, Mass., and California rates are also higher than SD's. NYState has a very limited Concealed-Carry privilege (it helps to be rich and famous.) Massachusetts, of course, has Ted Kennedy.
SOUTH DAKOTA has the highest percentage of population with a Concealed Carry permit at 7.4%. It also has a very low crime rate--175.7/100K population--and murder rate--2.3/100K.
WISCONSIN does not allow Concealed Carry.
Violent crime rate in Wisconsin? 241.5/100K. Murder rate? 3.5/100K.
(scritch, scratch, scritch...)
So the heavily-armed South Dakota violent crime rate is 27% LESS than Wisconsin's. And the South Dakota murder rate is 35% LESS than Wisconsin's.
No crisis, there.
By the way, New York, Mass., and California rates are also higher than SD's. NYState has a very limited Concealed-Carry privilege (it helps to be rich and famous.) Massachusetts, of course, has Ted Kennedy.
Bloggers--the WSJ Doesn't Like You
Courtesy of JunkYardBlog:
Every conceivable belief is on the scene, but the collective prose, by and large, is homogeneous: A tone of careless informality prevails; posts oscillate between the uselessly brief and the uselessly logorrheic; complexity and complication are eschewed; the humor is cringe-making, with irony present only in its conspicuous absence; arguments are solipsistic; writers traffic more in pronouncement than persuasion
...in describing blogs, found in the WSJ.
So, Charlie, what'd you DO to this guy? Shoot his doggie?
Every conceivable belief is on the scene, but the collective prose, by and large, is homogeneous: A tone of careless informality prevails; posts oscillate between the uselessly brief and the uselessly logorrheic; complexity and complication are eschewed; the humor is cringe-making, with irony present only in its conspicuous absence; arguments are solipsistic; writers traffic more in pronouncement than persuasion
...in describing blogs, found in the WSJ.
So, Charlie, what'd you DO to this guy? Shoot his doggie?
DarthDoyle Plays with Fire, Cautiously
Since DarthDoyle (notorious proponent of killing babies) now has a more compliant Legislature, he's beginning to drool, although he's managed to contain his exuberance for the record.
It's possible that he realizes his re-election was not a "mandate;" Gay "Marriage" is emphatically "out," and the Death Penalty is emphatically "in." The Democrat Party gained control of only one part of the Legislature.
Not exactly a Left-o paradise.
But he's taking all the tent-space he can get his nose into without being obvious about it, using stalking-horses or reliable stooges.
It's possible that he realizes his re-election was not a "mandate;" Gay "Marriage" is emphatically "out," and the Death Penalty is emphatically "in." The Democrat Party gained control of only one part of the Legislature.
Not exactly a Left-o paradise.
But he's taking all the tent-space he can get his nose into without being obvious about it, using stalking-horses or reliable stooges.
- DOT wants a lot more money and proposes confiscatory new "fees." Doyle splits the baby in half (that's second nature to him, anyway.)
- A "health commission" decides that "health" is a $200MM increase in tax revenues; Darth demurs, sorta, kinda, maybe, but not really.
- A Statist who thinks the Politburo's modus operandi is fine and dandy proposes a State takeover of the public schools under the guise of "sales tax increase." Darth doesn't have a position.
- Darth himself gets cornered and toys with "civil unions," knowing full well that those arrangements are not going to be Constitutional.
You don't have to be particularly cynical (or even particularly sentient) to understand that Darth's playing both ends to the middle. It will be interesting to see how these ideas play out in the real world.
A Certain Blogger Has an Undying Dislike for the AG-Elect
Here's the line from the blog (not linked.) See if you can figure out which blogger wrote it.
Incidentally, Mr. Van Hollen, the ball is about to be in your court. You promised to completely eliminate the backlog, [of DNA samples] something no other AG has managed to do in Wisconsin since the advent of DNA. It will be fascinating to see what you do.
If you can't puzzle this out, you should check to determine if your body temperature is actually above room-temperature. In the alternative, check to see if you're still able to add 1+1 successfully.
Incidentally, Mr. Van Hollen, the ball is about to be in your court. You promised to completely eliminate the backlog, [of DNA samples] something no other AG has managed to do in Wisconsin since the advent of DNA. It will be fascinating to see what you do.
If you can't puzzle this out, you should check to determine if your body temperature is actually above room-temperature. In the alternative, check to see if you're still able to add 1+1 successfully.
Iraq-ization of the War
Bill Roggio embeds with an Iraqi Army unit and reports.
The "bad news" portion is typical and almost endemic to Third World countries.
Logistics. The IA logistical system is broken at the battalion, brigade, division and Ministry of Defense levels. Requests for equipment such as batteries, air conditioners, heaters, vests, helmets, building materials are mostly ignored. Soldiers in some units share helmets or vests to go out on patrol.
The Ministry of Defense. The MoD is a highly centralized decision making organization, which controls the purse strings of the Iraqi Army. Requests for equipment that should be fulfilled at the battalion or brigade level must go up to MoD, and are ignored.
Pay. Some soldiers and officers haven't been paid in over a year.
Administration. The Iraqi Army and Ministry of Defense does not have centralized system for keeping soldier's on the books, notes Captain Spells, who deals directly with administrative and pay issues for the Iraqi Army
Combat Support. There is a lack of engineers, Explosive Ordnance Disposal and maintenance units at the battalion and brigade level.
On the other hand, the "good news" part is good, indeed.
Tactical Independence. The soldiers are gathering their own intelligence, are planning and executing operations independently. They are able to adjust planning on the fly.
Tactically proficient. The Iraqi Army is executing patrols, ambushes, raids, snap entry control points, manning the Entry Control Points. The soldiers are excellent at identifying IED indicators - the signs IEDs have been planted nearby.
Cultural Awareness. The Iraqi soldier's ability to speak the language, understand the culture and identify foreigners and other suspicious activities far outweighs any tactical shortcomings when compared to Marines or U.S. soldiers. This advantage cannot be overstated.
Brave. The Iraqi soldiers risk their lives to serve their country, and are taking casualties at rate of about four times that of U.S. military.
Resourceful. Like U.S. Marines, the Iraqi Army is making up for lack of resources with ingenuity. They make modifications to their vehicles and personal gear
Unity. The officers of the 3-2-1 MTT speak highly of the Iraqi Army units they are training. They report the soldiers work well together, and sectarian differences are not a factor. “There is no evidence of infighting between the sects; they view themselves as Muslims and Iraqis first,”
Although this is only one IA unit, others are reportedly coming onstream regularly. US military leadership expects the entire IA to be ready for independence by yearend 2007. Maybe that's optimistic, but it's not Pollyanna.
The "bad news" portion is typical and almost endemic to Third World countries.
Logistics. The IA logistical system is broken at the battalion, brigade, division and Ministry of Defense levels. Requests for equipment such as batteries, air conditioners, heaters, vests, helmets, building materials are mostly ignored. Soldiers in some units share helmets or vests to go out on patrol.
The Ministry of Defense. The MoD is a highly centralized decision making organization, which controls the purse strings of the Iraqi Army. Requests for equipment that should be fulfilled at the battalion or brigade level must go up to MoD, and are ignored.
Pay. Some soldiers and officers haven't been paid in over a year.
Administration. The Iraqi Army and Ministry of Defense does not have centralized system for keeping soldier's on the books, notes Captain Spells, who deals directly with administrative and pay issues for the Iraqi Army
Combat Support. There is a lack of engineers, Explosive Ordnance Disposal and maintenance units at the battalion and brigade level.
On the other hand, the "good news" part is good, indeed.
Tactical Independence. The soldiers are gathering their own intelligence, are planning and executing operations independently. They are able to adjust planning on the fly.
Tactically proficient. The Iraqi Army is executing patrols, ambushes, raids, snap entry control points, manning the Entry Control Points. The soldiers are excellent at identifying IED indicators - the signs IEDs have been planted nearby.
Cultural Awareness. The Iraqi soldier's ability to speak the language, understand the culture and identify foreigners and other suspicious activities far outweighs any tactical shortcomings when compared to Marines or U.S. soldiers. This advantage cannot be overstated.
Brave. The Iraqi soldiers risk their lives to serve their country, and are taking casualties at rate of about four times that of U.S. military.
Resourceful. Like U.S. Marines, the Iraqi Army is making up for lack of resources with ingenuity. They make modifications to their vehicles and personal gear
Unity. The officers of the 3-2-1 MTT speak highly of the Iraqi Army units they are training. They report the soldiers work well together, and sectarian differences are not a factor. “There is no evidence of infighting between the sects; they view themselves as Muslims and Iraqis first,”
Although this is only one IA unit, others are reportedly coming onstream regularly. US military leadership expects the entire IA to be ready for independence by yearend 2007. Maybe that's optimistic, but it's not Pollyanna.
Solution for Elm Grove Man's Quandary
Here's our Public Service Ad of the week, designed for the Elm Grove resident who has problems with critter-controls.
Velasquez drew laughter and applause when he jokingly suggested sharpshooters also be hired to reduce the squirrels who chewed his Christmas lights, the chipmunks who caused him to sink to his ankles in a hole and the woodpeckers who are making holes in his cedar siding
This fine weapon (thorougly tested by Dad29 for effectiveness) WILL solve your problems, Mr. Velasquez! Now available for only $219.00. (I suggest you get 100 rounds of target ammo for an additional $5.00 or so...)
Noiseless and extremely accurate (five rounds in <1" at 10 yards with iron sights, even better with the scope as shown), the rifle will make short work of chipmunks, squirrels, and woodpeckers, not to mention skunks.
You're welcome.
Velasquez drew laughter and applause when he jokingly suggested sharpshooters also be hired to reduce the squirrels who chewed his Christmas lights, the chipmunks who caused him to sink to his ankles in a hole and the woodpeckers who are making holes in his cedar siding
This fine weapon (thorougly tested by Dad29 for effectiveness) WILL solve your problems, Mr. Velasquez! Now available for only $219.00. (I suggest you get 100 rounds of target ammo for an additional $5.00 or so...)
Noiseless and extremely accurate (five rounds in <1" at 10 yards with iron sights, even better with the scope as shown), the rifle will make short work of chipmunks, squirrels, and woodpeckers, not to mention skunks.
You're welcome.
(Repeat): Elmbrook School Referendum Will Be At Least $100MM
We said it before, and we'll say it again. The Elmbrook School District will ask for at least $100 MILLION dollars for rebuilding/renovating/redecorating their high school facilities.
The updated cost estimate provided Tuesday night was $99.8 million, although board members urged architects and construction managers to find more savings.
In other words, the Board would love an advertised price smaller than $100MM.
However, several board members expressed interest in adding a second referendum question that would seek approval to build multiuse field houses at the two schools at an additional cost of about $9.5 million. That would almost double the size called for in the $99.8 million plan.
...but I'll hedge that prediction just a tiny bit. With residential and commercial construction declining, it's entirely possible that materials will cost a little less when they start these projects.
On the other hand, one member of the School Board had to be educated:
But he dropped [a request for smaller classroom sizes] after others disagreed and an administrator said larger rooms might be needed in the future if class sizes increase amid budget pressures
"Budget pressures?" Why would THAT occur?
The updated cost estimate provided Tuesday night was $99.8 million, although board members urged architects and construction managers to find more savings.
In other words, the Board would love an advertised price smaller than $100MM.
However, several board members expressed interest in adding a second referendum question that would seek approval to build multiuse field houses at the two schools at an additional cost of about $9.5 million. That would almost double the size called for in the $99.8 million plan.
...but I'll hedge that prediction just a tiny bit. With residential and commercial construction declining, it's entirely possible that materials will cost a little less when they start these projects.
On the other hand, one member of the School Board had to be educated:
But he dropped [a request for smaller classroom sizes] after others disagreed and an administrator said larger rooms might be needed in the future if class sizes increase amid budget pressures
"Budget pressures?" Why would THAT occur?
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
The Modern Bible
Just in time for Christmas HOLIDAY gifting, we present...
Some of the entries include:
The Organic Garden of Eden
Pharaoh Has Two Mummies
What Happens in Sodom and Gomorrah Stays in Sodom and Gomorrah
Noah Builds Ark to Survive Global Warming
Jonah Saves the Whale
David Appeases Goliath
The Bilingual Writing on the Wall
The Tower of Babel & The Controlled Demolition Theory
Uncle Samson & The NY Times Reporter Delilah
Judas The ACLU Lawyer
Joseph & Mary Celebrate Holiday Season By Donating Fetus To Federal Embryonic Stem Cell Bank
Government Program Feeds The Multitudes with Five "Whole Grain" Loaves And Two Non-Endangered Fishes
Even MORE can be found at PeoplesCube
HT: SacramentumVitae
Some of the entries include:
The Organic Garden of Eden
Pharaoh Has Two Mummies
What Happens in Sodom and Gomorrah Stays in Sodom and Gomorrah
Noah Builds Ark to Survive Global Warming
Jonah Saves the Whale
David Appeases Goliath
The Bilingual Writing on the Wall
The Tower of Babel & The Controlled Demolition Theory
Uncle Samson & The NY Times Reporter Delilah
Judas The ACLU Lawyer
Joseph & Mary Celebrate Holiday Season By Donating Fetus To Federal Embryonic Stem Cell Bank
Government Program Feeds The Multitudes with Five "Whole Grain" Loaves And Two Non-Endangered Fishes
Even MORE can be found at PeoplesCube
HT: SacramentumVitae
AsianBadger Gets It Right
...again.
I've mentioned "irradiation" to friends and relatives--it's as though I told them I visited Mars last week. The vacant stares, the "whassat??" jaw-drops...
The technology is known as food “irradiation,” a process that propels gamma rays into meat, poultry and produce in order to kill most insects and bacteria. It is similar to milk pasteurization, and it’s a shame some food marketer didn’t call it that from the beginning because its safety and health benefits are well established. The American Medical Association, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the Food and Drug Administration and the World Health Organization have all certified that a big reduction in disease could result from irradiating foods.”[…]
Actually also helps to maintain freshness, with NO CHANGE IN TASTE...
But the Weenies--the anti-nukers--have control.
I've mentioned "irradiation" to friends and relatives--it's as though I told them I visited Mars last week. The vacant stares, the "whassat??" jaw-drops...
The technology is known as food “irradiation,” a process that propels gamma rays into meat, poultry and produce in order to kill most insects and bacteria. It is similar to milk pasteurization, and it’s a shame some food marketer didn’t call it that from the beginning because its safety and health benefits are well established. The American Medical Association, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the Food and Drug Administration and the World Health Organization have all certified that a big reduction in disease could result from irradiating foods.”[…]
Actually also helps to maintain freshness, with NO CHANGE IN TASTE...
But the Weenies--the anti-nukers--have control.
The Solution in Iraq? Barnes and the 101st...
With all due respect to the BlogFather (Sykes), I've always taken whatever Fred Barnes says with a grain of salt.
So when Freddy, a reliable Big Government 'conservative' booms a plan to make Iraq less dangerous than Milwaukee's north side, one reads it...
...the plan (which can be read at aei.org/publication25292) is well thought-out and detailed, but fundamentally quite simple. It is based on the idea--all but indisputable at this point--that no political solution is possible in Iraq until security is established, starting in Baghdad. The reverse--a bid to forge reconciliation between majority Shia and minority Sunni--is a nonstarter in a political environment drenched in the blood of sectarian killings.
So far, so good.
Why would the Keane-Kagan plan succeed where earlier efforts failed? It envisions a temporary addition of 50,000 troops on the ground in Iraq. The initial mission would be to secure and hold the mixed Baghdad neighborhoods of Shia and Sunni residents where most of the violence occurs. Earlier efforts had cleared many of those sections of the city without holding them. After which, the mass killings resumed. Once neighborhoods are cleared, American and Iraqi troops in this plan would remain behind, living day-to-day among the population.
Remain behind? Hmmmmm.....
Safe from retaliation by terrorists, residents would begin to cooperate with the Iraqi government. The securing of Baghdad would be followed by a full-scale drive to pacify the Sunni-majority Anbar province.
"Pacify"?
So the plan is to squash the Sunnis in Baghdad, and squash the.....who????....in Anbar?
...Baghdad that has become the "center of gravity" for the insurgency, according to Keane. And it could be brought under control by the end of 2007.
Maybe by the end of 2007.
The Keane-Kagan plan is not revolutionary. Rather, it is an application of a counterinsurgency approach that has proved to be effective elsewhere, notably in Vietnam. There, Gen. Creighton Abrams cleared out the Viet Cong so successfully that the South Vietnamese government took control of the country. Only when Congress cut off funds to South Vietnam in 1974 were the North Vietnamese able to win.
Well, there's little question that we screwed the South Vietnamese. Of course, we screwed them earlier, by arranging for the death of Diem. But hey...
However, Barnes backtracks:
...Alone among proposals for Iraq, the new Keane-Kagan strategy has a chance to succeed.
By now it should be clear that the US' interest is in eliminating AlQuaeda terrorists. If Barnes is telling us that "pacifying" Anbar and Baghdad will achieve that objective, I sure didn't see it in his article.
Here's an informed opinion from a member of the 101st who served in Iraq:
The battle really is only in the Baghdad-Anbar axis. Kurdistan remains pacified and booming economically. In the four years since the occupation began, the Coalition has lost less than 180 troops in the Shia-dominated provinces. The US certainly has the troops available, with 34 combat brigades just in the National Guard, but only active duty troops or those Guardsmen already mobilized can be sent in the short-term. The skeptical generals are right, in my opinion, to think that more troops will not help if the reinforcements postpone the required political settlement among the Iraqi parties. The US main concern has to be fighting the al-Qaeda affiliates and their allies, most of whom have settled in Anbar. The sectarian strife, on the other hand, must be settled by the elected government. Remember, sectarian attacks until mid-2006 had been almost entirely large Sunni bombs used to attack Shia crowds. After the bombing of the Samarra mosque, though, the Shia militias began counterattacking Sunnis in the mixed neighborhoods, using assassination. We have not yet seen large Shia car bombs or suicide bomb used to attack Sunni gatherings. As for the Sunni insurgency, the US fights this defensively, since the insurgents are clearly not strong enough to re-impose Baathist rule even in their home provinces.
The red-highlight area means that Freddy Barnes' solution is half-right/half-wrong...and it doesn't get better for Freddy:
More troops will increase the US casualty rate, as 20% of all of our deaths are related to accidents. More troops means more accidents, and more targets for the enemy. More troops, though, will buy the Baghdad government some time, and will weaken al-Qaeda and the insurgents as we wipe out cells. This will only matter if al-Maliki takes the supremely difficult decision to turn his new Army against the Shia militias, and deal with the inevitable Sadrist response. Whether we cut-and-run, or stand-and-fight, more bloodshed is inevitable.
We understand that death happens in wars. That's not nice, and we don't dismiss it lightly. But again, note that this soldier's opinion is that getting rid of AlQuaeda is the primary task--THAT is in the interests of the US.
We don't do religious wars real well.
So when Freddy, a reliable Big Government 'conservative' booms a plan to make Iraq less dangerous than Milwaukee's north side, one reads it...
...the plan (which can be read at aei.org/publication25292) is well thought-out and detailed, but fundamentally quite simple. It is based on the idea--all but indisputable at this point--that no political solution is possible in Iraq until security is established, starting in Baghdad. The reverse--a bid to forge reconciliation between majority Shia and minority Sunni--is a nonstarter in a political environment drenched in the blood of sectarian killings.
So far, so good.
Why would the Keane-Kagan plan succeed where earlier efforts failed? It envisions a temporary addition of 50,000 troops on the ground in Iraq. The initial mission would be to secure and hold the mixed Baghdad neighborhoods of Shia and Sunni residents where most of the violence occurs. Earlier efforts had cleared many of those sections of the city without holding them. After which, the mass killings resumed. Once neighborhoods are cleared, American and Iraqi troops in this plan would remain behind, living day-to-day among the population.
Remain behind? Hmmmmm.....
Safe from retaliation by terrorists, residents would begin to cooperate with the Iraqi government. The securing of Baghdad would be followed by a full-scale drive to pacify the Sunni-majority Anbar province.
"Pacify"?
So the plan is to squash the Sunnis in Baghdad, and squash the.....who????....in Anbar?
...Baghdad that has become the "center of gravity" for the insurgency, according to Keane. And it could be brought under control by the end of 2007.
Maybe by the end of 2007.
The Keane-Kagan plan is not revolutionary. Rather, it is an application of a counterinsurgency approach that has proved to be effective elsewhere, notably in Vietnam. There, Gen. Creighton Abrams cleared out the Viet Cong so successfully that the South Vietnamese government took control of the country. Only when Congress cut off funds to South Vietnam in 1974 were the North Vietnamese able to win.
Well, there's little question that we screwed the South Vietnamese. Of course, we screwed them earlier, by arranging for the death of Diem. But hey...
However, Barnes backtracks:
...Alone among proposals for Iraq, the new Keane-Kagan strategy has a chance to succeed.
By now it should be clear that the US' interest is in eliminating AlQuaeda terrorists. If Barnes is telling us that "pacifying" Anbar and Baghdad will achieve that objective, I sure didn't see it in his article.
Here's an informed opinion from a member of the 101st who served in Iraq:
The battle really is only in the Baghdad-Anbar axis. Kurdistan remains pacified and booming economically. In the four years since the occupation began, the Coalition has lost less than 180 troops in the Shia-dominated provinces. The US certainly has the troops available, with 34 combat brigades just in the National Guard, but only active duty troops or those Guardsmen already mobilized can be sent in the short-term. The skeptical generals are right, in my opinion, to think that more troops will not help if the reinforcements postpone the required political settlement among the Iraqi parties. The US main concern has to be fighting the al-Qaeda affiliates and their allies, most of whom have settled in Anbar. The sectarian strife, on the other hand, must be settled by the elected government. Remember, sectarian attacks until mid-2006 had been almost entirely large Sunni bombs used to attack Shia crowds. After the bombing of the Samarra mosque, though, the Shia militias began counterattacking Sunnis in the mixed neighborhoods, using assassination. We have not yet seen large Shia car bombs or suicide bomb used to attack Sunni gatherings. As for the Sunni insurgency, the US fights this defensively, since the insurgents are clearly not strong enough to re-impose Baathist rule even in their home provinces.
The red-highlight area means that Freddy Barnes' solution is half-right/half-wrong...and it doesn't get better for Freddy:
More troops will increase the US casualty rate, as 20% of all of our deaths are related to accidents. More troops means more accidents, and more targets for the enemy. More troops, though, will buy the Baghdad government some time, and will weaken al-Qaeda and the insurgents as we wipe out cells. This will only matter if al-Maliki takes the supremely difficult decision to turn his new Army against the Shia militias, and deal with the inevitable Sadrist response. Whether we cut-and-run, or stand-and-fight, more bloodshed is inevitable.
We understand that death happens in wars. That's not nice, and we don't dismiss it lightly. But again, note that this soldier's opinion is that getting rid of AlQuaeda is the primary task--THAT is in the interests of the US.
We don't do religious wars real well.
Is Rumsfield a "Cut-and-Run" Guy?
There have been a lot of loud voices decrying the ISG report while concurrently elevating Don Rumsfield to sainthood.
So happens that both Rummy and the ISG report endorse similar potential courses of action.
Gee!! I wonder why I haven't heard that?
A funny thing happened on the way to last week’s release-date for the report of the Iraq Study Group, co-chaired by former Secretary of State James Baker and former House Foreign Affairs Chairman Lee Hamilton. Out-going Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld wrote a memo to President Bush—which was leaked to the New York Times—recommending “a major adjustment” in the administration’s war policy.
...Rumsfeld included: retaining special operations forces in Iraq to target al Qaeda “while drawing down all other Coalition forces,” “withdrawing U.S. forces from vulnerable positions—cities, patrolling, etc.” and moving them elsewhere in Iraq or Kuwait as a quick reaction force “to be available when Iraqi security forces need assistance,” and deploying U.S. forces along Iraq’s Syrian and Iranian borders to prevent infiltration and limit Iranian influence in the country.
...The actual changes Rumsfeld and the ISG have suggested are not aimed at providing political cover for cutting and running from Iraq (an act whose dire consequences the ISG spells out in vivid terms). They are aimed at achieving what President Bush has stated as our goal in Iraq: a country that can “govern itself, sustain itself and defend itself.”
We cheer the ISG’s fact-laden, easily read exposition of the situation in Iraq. This exposition makes plain that the principal conflict there is a power struggle between indigenous Shiites and Sunnis.
Clearly, the ISG's thought patterns reflect not only Rumsfield's ideas, but common sense. The interests of the US lie in destroying AlQuaeda, not policing politics inside Iraq. We're interested in protecting the US, not providing a "Super-Cop-Shop" for the Middle East.
Let's hope that Our President gets the message.
So happens that both Rummy and the ISG report endorse similar potential courses of action.
Gee!! I wonder why I haven't heard that?
A funny thing happened on the way to last week’s release-date for the report of the Iraq Study Group, co-chaired by former Secretary of State James Baker and former House Foreign Affairs Chairman Lee Hamilton. Out-going Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld wrote a memo to President Bush—which was leaked to the New York Times—recommending “a major adjustment” in the administration’s war policy.
...Rumsfeld included: retaining special operations forces in Iraq to target al Qaeda “while drawing down all other Coalition forces,” “withdrawing U.S. forces from vulnerable positions—cities, patrolling, etc.” and moving them elsewhere in Iraq or Kuwait as a quick reaction force “to be available when Iraqi security forces need assistance,” and deploying U.S. forces along Iraq’s Syrian and Iranian borders to prevent infiltration and limit Iranian influence in the country.
...The actual changes Rumsfeld and the ISG have suggested are not aimed at providing political cover for cutting and running from Iraq (an act whose dire consequences the ISG spells out in vivid terms). They are aimed at achieving what President Bush has stated as our goal in Iraq: a country that can “govern itself, sustain itself and defend itself.”
We cheer the ISG’s fact-laden, easily read exposition of the situation in Iraq. This exposition makes plain that the principal conflict there is a power struggle between indigenous Shiites and Sunnis.
Clearly, the ISG's thought patterns reflect not only Rumsfield's ideas, but common sense. The interests of the US lie in destroying AlQuaeda, not policing politics inside Iraq. We're interested in protecting the US, not providing a "Super-Cop-Shop" for the Middle East.
Let's hope that Our President gets the message.
Bush Boyzzz Continue Name-Calling
Working on the "legacy" already...
Michael Gerson, former speechwriter and policy advisor to President Bush, offers an all out assault on limited government conservatism in Newsweek, calling those of us who believe in smaller government "fundamentalists" and concluding that "any political movement that elevates abstract antigovernment ideology above human needs is hardly conservative, and unlikely to win."
"Fundamentalists."
On the Fair Trade question (GWB prefers "Free Trade",) it's "Protectionists."
On the Illegal Immigrant question (GWB likes it) it's "Nativists" and "Xenophobes."
Sure would be nice if the Bush Boyzzz could figure out how to deliver an argument rather than mindless name-calling.
Of course, it's possible that 'mindless' epithets are all they're capable of delivering...
Michael Gerson, former speechwriter and policy advisor to President Bush, offers an all out assault on limited government conservatism in Newsweek, calling those of us who believe in smaller government "fundamentalists" and concluding that "any political movement that elevates abstract antigovernment ideology above human needs is hardly conservative, and unlikely to win."
"Fundamentalists."
On the Fair Trade question (GWB prefers "Free Trade",) it's "Protectionists."
On the Illegal Immigrant question (GWB likes it) it's "Nativists" and "Xenophobes."
Sure would be nice if the Bush Boyzzz could figure out how to deliver an argument rather than mindless name-calling.
Of course, it's possible that 'mindless' epithets are all they're capable of delivering...
Run, Rudolph, Run!!
Some folks in Elm Grove prefer surgical sterility:
The village should reverse its decision to allow sharpshooting of deer and become the first Wisconsin community to attempt surgical or chemical deer sterilization, a group of residents is proposing.
Just grab Bambi, put him in the ambulance, and take him over to Froedtert, eh? That way, Bambi's shooting blanks instead of having sharpshooters shoot lead!
Neil Palmer is not impressed.
"Personally, as someone who is a Wisconsin native and hunted deer and lived with deer in both rural and urban environments, I couldn't see myself as a Village Board member supporting paying for the surgical sterilization of virtually any animal that has become a pest issue," Palmer said. "That being said, if someone else wants to pay for it, that's fine. I don't think village residents would want to."
It's really all Brookfield's fault.
A deer count last winter found 30 deer in Elm Grove, up from 17 in 2005. Three hundred eighty-six deer were found in Brookfield.
They should put up a fence across North Avenue, instead.
The village should reverse its decision to allow sharpshooting of deer and become the first Wisconsin community to attempt surgical or chemical deer sterilization, a group of residents is proposing.
Just grab Bambi, put him in the ambulance, and take him over to Froedtert, eh? That way, Bambi's shooting blanks instead of having sharpshooters shoot lead!
Neil Palmer is not impressed.
"Personally, as someone who is a Wisconsin native and hunted deer and lived with deer in both rural and urban environments, I couldn't see myself as a Village Board member supporting paying for the surgical sterilization of virtually any animal that has become a pest issue," Palmer said. "That being said, if someone else wants to pay for it, that's fine. I don't think village residents would want to."
It's really all Brookfield's fault.
A deer count last winter found 30 deer in Elm Grove, up from 17 in 2005. Three hundred eighty-six deer were found in Brookfield.
They should put up a fence across North Avenue, instead.
Still Dealin' After All These Years....
Inadequate retirement plan, eh?
An 84-year-old man who owned a north side tailor shop used the business as a front to peddle crack cocaine, Milwaukee police say.
An 84-year-old man who owned a north side tailor shop used the business as a front to peddle crack cocaine, Milwaukee police say.
Dan Trawicki: Where's The Document?
A couple of weeks ago, we noted that Waukesha County's Sheriff, Dan Trawicki, was unhappy with the budget allocation he got.
Ken Herro, an Oconomowoc supervisor, noted that Trawicki had not bothered to write a report showing exactly why the County Jail 'would be understaffed' with the budget allocation.
Now Dan states that he's letting the prisoners out the door:
Sometime after Jan. 1, the gates of Waukesha County's work-release jail likely will swing open and dozens of inmates will be released at a time when they would otherwise be incarcerated
Several weeks after warning about the effect of budget constraints, the sheriff is moving ahead with plans to shut down part of the work-release program and release 50 to 60 offenders.
Work-release employees must be shifted to the main jail, Trawicki said, because the Sheriff's Department was denied $400,000 in the county's 2007 budget to hire eight additional jail workers.
Pardon me, Dan-O--but let's see your thoughts on this matter in WRITING. One hates to think that you're featherbedding the deputies out here...
Ken Herro, an Oconomowoc supervisor, noted that Trawicki had not bothered to write a report showing exactly why the County Jail 'would be understaffed' with the budget allocation.
Now Dan states that he's letting the prisoners out the door:
Sometime after Jan. 1, the gates of Waukesha County's work-release jail likely will swing open and dozens of inmates will be released at a time when they would otherwise be incarcerated
Several weeks after warning about the effect of budget constraints, the sheriff is moving ahead with plans to shut down part of the work-release program and release 50 to 60 offenders.
Work-release employees must be shifted to the main jail, Trawicki said, because the Sheriff's Department was denied $400,000 in the county's 2007 budget to hire eight additional jail workers.
Pardon me, Dan-O--but let's see your thoughts on this matter in WRITING. One hates to think that you're featherbedding the deputies out here...
WallyWorld Goes Commie??
Reported from PRChina:
Wal-Mart, king of the capitalist retailers, [has] set up a Communist Party branch in its corporate headquarters in Shenzhen.
Dubbed "another breakthrough" for Wal-Mart by Wang Suiming, a Communist official in the city, the new organization was established last month, according to Shenzhen Special Zone Daily
So....my question: will WallyWorld put Methodist chapels in its US stores?
Wal-Mart, king of the capitalist retailers, [has] set up a Communist Party branch in its corporate headquarters in Shenzhen.
Dubbed "another breakthrough" for Wal-Mart by Wang Suiming, a Communist official in the city, the new organization was established last month, according to Shenzhen Special Zone Daily
So....my question: will WallyWorld put Methodist chapels in its US stores?
Monday, December 18, 2006
"Most Wanted--Wisconsin" an Odd Case in Wiggy's World
Over the weekend, Channel 6 ran a profile of another of "Wisconsin's Most Wanted," a fellow who the US Marshal wants for attempted murder.
The story provokes some mixed feelings.
The shooter's daughter married a man who enjoyed beating his wife, and apparently threatened to burn down their house (with her in it) as well. The shooter happens to see this piece-of-crap-son-in-law driving down the street one night, flags him down, and pops several rounds through the passenger-side window.
The wife-beating son-in-law survived, more or less.
Can't say that there are any heroes in this tale, but somehow I'm not...enthusiastically awaiting the capture of the PO'd daddy here.
Oh, yeah--it's a Wiggy-World deal. The shooting occurred on Arcadian Avenue.
The story provokes some mixed feelings.
The shooter's daughter married a man who enjoyed beating his wife, and apparently threatened to burn down their house (with her in it) as well. The shooter happens to see this piece-of-crap-son-in-law driving down the street one night, flags him down, and pops several rounds through the passenger-side window.
The wife-beating son-in-law survived, more or less.
Can't say that there are any heroes in this tale, but somehow I'm not...enthusiastically awaiting the capture of the PO'd daddy here.
Oh, yeah--it's a Wiggy-World deal. The shooting occurred on Arcadian Avenue.
WEAC Turns Up the Heat
As expected, WEAC wants more (and more and more and more and......) from its servants in the Governor's Mansion and Assembly:
Backed by unionized teachers like Vedra, Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle seems poised for another try at rolling back the so- called "qualified economic offer" law, which limits teachers' ability to bargain for more money.
...The QEO law exempts school districts in labor negotiations from going into arbitration - which can force schools to accept unwanted contract provisions - as long as they offer wage and benefit increases that total 3.8 percent or more.
Here's the reality check:
...Salaries for Wisconsin teachers in the 2003-04 school year averaged $42,882 and were 8.3 percent below the national average, according to a Taxpayers Alliance analysis. But the estimated value or cost of their benefits was 39.2 percent higher than the national average, ranking as the fifth-highest in the country.
Of course, one needs to compare that $42,900 salary with something. How about Median Household Income for Wisconsin (2003)? According to the Census Bureau,
Household income is the sum of money income received in the calendar year by all household members 15 years old and over, including household members not related to the householder, people living alone, and other nonfamily household members
Wisconsin's?
$46,538
So in fact, a Wisconsin teacher's average salary is just under a Wisconsin household's median income. ONE-HALF OF WISCONSIN HOUSEHOLDS have LESS INCOME than the average teacher in this State.
Wanna bet that that the WEAC bennies are a lot better?
Prefer "average" wage? No problem-o, pal. According to the US Department of Labor, the average Wisconsin wage (All Occupations, May, 2005) was:
$35,660
HT: Owen
Backed by unionized teachers like Vedra, Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle seems poised for another try at rolling back the so- called "qualified economic offer" law, which limits teachers' ability to bargain for more money.
...The QEO law exempts school districts in labor negotiations from going into arbitration - which can force schools to accept unwanted contract provisions - as long as they offer wage and benefit increases that total 3.8 percent or more.
Here's the reality check:
...Salaries for Wisconsin teachers in the 2003-04 school year averaged $42,882 and were 8.3 percent below the national average, according to a Taxpayers Alliance analysis. But the estimated value or cost of their benefits was 39.2 percent higher than the national average, ranking as the fifth-highest in the country.
Of course, one needs to compare that $42,900 salary with something. How about Median Household Income for Wisconsin (2003)? According to the Census Bureau,
Household income is the sum of money income received in the calendar year by all household members 15 years old and over, including household members not related to the householder, people living alone, and other nonfamily household members
Wisconsin's?
$46,538
So in fact, a Wisconsin teacher's average salary is just under a Wisconsin household's median income. ONE-HALF OF WISCONSIN HOUSEHOLDS have LESS INCOME than the average teacher in this State.
Wanna bet that that the WEAC bennies are a lot better?
Prefer "average" wage? No problem-o, pal. According to the US Department of Labor, the average Wisconsin wage (All Occupations, May, 2005) was:
$35,660
That would be 76% of the average teacher's wage. And again, there IS the bennie differential.
We may agree that a teacher's wage should be above average--they have a degree, and have an important job, after all. But how much above? And at what cost in benefits?HT: Owen
Spending Reform in Congress?
Seems the Democrat majority in Congress wants to make a few repairs:
Incoming House and Senate Appropriations Committee Chairmen David Obey, D-Wis., and Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., promised to pass a continuing resolution (CR) for the rest of fiscal 2007 (which ends next September) to keep spending levels where they are now. What this means is that the incoming 110th Congress, if Obey and Byrd succeed in their pledge, will not pass the remaining appropriations bills but will keep non-defense departments and agencies on a CR spending hold through the entire fiscal year.
("The remaining appropriations bills" were the pork-stuffed Pubbie slobberings...)
HT: Betsy's Page
Incoming House and Senate Appropriations Committee Chairmen David Obey, D-Wis., and Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., promised to pass a continuing resolution (CR) for the rest of fiscal 2007 (which ends next September) to keep spending levels where they are now. What this means is that the incoming 110th Congress, if Obey and Byrd succeed in their pledge, will not pass the remaining appropriations bills but will keep non-defense departments and agencies on a CR spending hold through the entire fiscal year.
("The remaining appropriations bills" were the pork-stuffed Pubbie slobberings...)
HT: Betsy's Page
Sunday, December 17, 2006
Mgr Bartolucci: This is Nuts!
A few of you know that Mgr. Bartolucci used to be the Vatican's choir director--he was "allowed" to retire during the reign of JPII, but was loudly lamented by some traditionalist-types who thought that he'd been dumped.
Maybe he WAS dumped. The fellow has some....interesting....opinions. This is one:
And furthermore, Gregorian chant has been distorted by the rhythmic and aesthetic theories of the Benedictines of Solesmes. Gregorian chant was born in violent times, and it should be manly and strong, and not like the sweet and comforting adaptations of our own day.
Chant, unlike any other music, is thoroughly un-'sexed'. There are marches, which are masculine, and certain hymns (e.g., Mother, Dear, O Pray for Me) which are decidedly feminine.
But, generally speaking, really good Church music is predominantly neither of the above--it is transcendent. Think about that for a few seconds--there is a reason...
On the other hand, some of his opinions are very useful:
Today the fashion in the churches is for pop-inspired songs and the strumming of guitars, but the fault lies above all with the pseudo-intellectuals who have engineered this degeneration of the liturgy, and thus of music, overthrowing and despising the heritage of the past with the idea of obtaining who knows what advantage for the people. If the art of music does not return to its greatness, rather than representing an accommodation or a byproduct, there is no sense in asking about its function in the Church. I am against guitars, but I am also against the superficiality of the Cecilian movement in music – it’s more or less the same thing. Our motto must be: let us return to Gregorian chant and to polyphony in the tradition of Palestrina
Let us recall that the "hootenanny Mass" was proposed by a certain local ex-Archbishop...
And then there's this one:
Q: Bruckner was also very inspired...
A: He has the defect of being longwinded. His Mass for wind instruments, the one in E minor, is rather tedious.
The good Mgr. evidently doesn't have time to appreciate the art of anyone born north of the Alps...
HT: ManWiththeBlackHat
Maybe he WAS dumped. The fellow has some....interesting....opinions. This is one:
And furthermore, Gregorian chant has been distorted by the rhythmic and aesthetic theories of the Benedictines of Solesmes. Gregorian chant was born in violent times, and it should be manly and strong, and not like the sweet and comforting adaptations of our own day.
Chant, unlike any other music, is thoroughly un-'sexed'. There are marches, which are masculine, and certain hymns (e.g., Mother, Dear, O Pray for Me) which are decidedly feminine.
But, generally speaking, really good Church music is predominantly neither of the above--it is transcendent. Think about that for a few seconds--there is a reason...
On the other hand, some of his opinions are very useful:
Today the fashion in the churches is for pop-inspired songs and the strumming of guitars, but the fault lies above all with the pseudo-intellectuals who have engineered this degeneration of the liturgy, and thus of music, overthrowing and despising the heritage of the past with the idea of obtaining who knows what advantage for the people. If the art of music does not return to its greatness, rather than representing an accommodation or a byproduct, there is no sense in asking about its function in the Church. I am against guitars, but I am also against the superficiality of the Cecilian movement in music – it’s more or less the same thing. Our motto must be: let us return to Gregorian chant and to polyphony in the tradition of Palestrina
Let us recall that the "hootenanny Mass" was proposed by a certain local ex-Archbishop...
And then there's this one:
Q: Bruckner was also very inspired...
A: He has the defect of being longwinded. His Mass for wind instruments, the one in E minor, is rather tedious.
The good Mgr. evidently doesn't have time to appreciate the art of anyone born north of the Alps...
HT: ManWiththeBlackHat
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Dohnal's Solid Analysis
Love him or hate him, Bob Dohnal has the understanding that John Gard lacks--totally.
Here Dohnal discusses the results of putting the social Amendments on the November ballot. His analysis parallels that of Sensenbrenner; Sykes toyed with it, as did Belling.
The deciding factor in this equation was our old friends the "Reagan Democrats." I have consistently warned the GOP that they are losing this group, but even I did not see this coming. The Reagan Democrats are almost the exact opposite of the cultural elite that runs our political parties in this country. They are social conservatives, attend church regularly, drive pickup trucks and SUVs, fish and hunt, many of their kids join the service, they like country and western music and economically the belong to the middle and lower middle class.
Historically these people do not trust the GOP 'cause they look at them as the bankers, lawyers, real-estate brokers, industrialists, etc. — all people who they believe are not particularly interested in them except at election time. They live on the south side of Milwaukee County and move into Waukesha County as they succeed. They also live in the rural areas and small towns in Wisconsin. They are fiscal moderates, liking programs like Social Security and Medicare and disliking programs like welfare. They are strong on national defense, having hated the "commies." They do not like tax increases as they cut into their budget quite a bit. Clem Zablocki was their hero. Their GOP heroes have been Ronald Reagan and Tommy Thompson, both able to communicate with them extremely well. Sen. Jeff Plale is an outstanding current example of a "Reagan Democrat."
This group is part of the non-straight ticket punchers that can shift regularly and decide elections. For some reason Green did not connect with them in this election, even though he obviously got their votes in his 8th Congressional District races. [I'll offer an explanation: Green's campaign concentrated a good deal of fire on the 'corporate tax burden' in Wisconsin, which frankly is of little immediate interest to Reagan Democrats. As a comparison, note how Green's ratings jumped up when he hit the UW admissions policies, e.g. THAT was personally compelling; the rest was not.] What is surprising is that so many voted for Democrat Jim Doyle, a supreme example of the cultural elite. But Doyle has not raised taxes, claimed that he balanced the budget and did not succumb to the demands of the liberals who wanted all of their socialistic programs. Even the sportsmen did not view him as a major threat when Doyle changed course on gun control.
So another election is in the bag, the GOP having a straight downhill record for the last 10 years. They have lost the Supreme Court, the U.S. Senate races, the gubernatorial races, the state Senate, a congressional seat, the superintendent of schools, seven seats in the Assembly and are really sitting out in the cold on a big ice cube. The only bright spots have been Scott Walker in Milwaukee County and JB Van Hollen winning the attorney general's race.
Van Hollen's victory fits perfectly into the picture painted by Dohnal. He ran as a "law-and-order" guy--perfect for the AG race--and was running against the very picture of "cultural elite." Most people simply want "law and order"--not wacked-out warmed-over Green Party enforcement--and certainly not 'get out of jail free' cards for offenders.
It is true that the Republicans have become, to a greater or lesser degree, apologists for and defenders of "Big Corporate". This despite the spectacular ethical lapses at Enron, Global Crossing, (etc.) and the continuing collapse of US manufacturing employment, directly aided by a seeming lack of understanding of "the national interest" at the highest levels in Washington. To top it off, what about the stone-headed policy of ignoring illegal immigration (although that seems to be changing). Sure, Democrats like the illegals--but Bush & Co.'s seemingly elitist "ignore the law and lawbreakers" crap just doesn't play well on Main Street.
Here Dohnal discusses the results of putting the social Amendments on the November ballot. His analysis parallels that of Sensenbrenner; Sykes toyed with it, as did Belling.
The deciding factor in this equation was our old friends the "Reagan Democrats." I have consistently warned the GOP that they are losing this group, but even I did not see this coming. The Reagan Democrats are almost the exact opposite of the cultural elite that runs our political parties in this country. They are social conservatives, attend church regularly, drive pickup trucks and SUVs, fish and hunt, many of their kids join the service, they like country and western music and economically the belong to the middle and lower middle class.
Historically these people do not trust the GOP 'cause they look at them as the bankers, lawyers, real-estate brokers, industrialists, etc. — all people who they believe are not particularly interested in them except at election time. They live on the south side of Milwaukee County and move into Waukesha County as they succeed. They also live in the rural areas and small towns in Wisconsin. They are fiscal moderates, liking programs like Social Security and Medicare and disliking programs like welfare. They are strong on national defense, having hated the "commies." They do not like tax increases as they cut into their budget quite a bit. Clem Zablocki was their hero. Their GOP heroes have been Ronald Reagan and Tommy Thompson, both able to communicate with them extremely well. Sen. Jeff Plale is an outstanding current example of a "Reagan Democrat."
This group is part of the non-straight ticket punchers that can shift regularly and decide elections. For some reason Green did not connect with them in this election, even though he obviously got their votes in his 8th Congressional District races. [I'll offer an explanation: Green's campaign concentrated a good deal of fire on the 'corporate tax burden' in Wisconsin, which frankly is of little immediate interest to Reagan Democrats. As a comparison, note how Green's ratings jumped up when he hit the UW admissions policies, e.g. THAT was personally compelling; the rest was not.] What is surprising is that so many voted for Democrat Jim Doyle, a supreme example of the cultural elite. But Doyle has not raised taxes, claimed that he balanced the budget and did not succumb to the demands of the liberals who wanted all of their socialistic programs. Even the sportsmen did not view him as a major threat when Doyle changed course on gun control.
So another election is in the bag, the GOP having a straight downhill record for the last 10 years. They have lost the Supreme Court, the U.S. Senate races, the gubernatorial races, the state Senate, a congressional seat, the superintendent of schools, seven seats in the Assembly and are really sitting out in the cold on a big ice cube. The only bright spots have been Scott Walker in Milwaukee County and JB Van Hollen winning the attorney general's race.
Van Hollen's victory fits perfectly into the picture painted by Dohnal. He ran as a "law-and-order" guy--perfect for the AG race--and was running against the very picture of "cultural elite." Most people simply want "law and order"--not wacked-out warmed-over Green Party enforcement--and certainly not 'get out of jail free' cards for offenders.
It is true that the Republicans have become, to a greater or lesser degree, apologists for and defenders of "Big Corporate". This despite the spectacular ethical lapses at Enron, Global Crossing, (etc.) and the continuing collapse of US manufacturing employment, directly aided by a seeming lack of understanding of "the national interest" at the highest levels in Washington. To top it off, what about the stone-headed policy of ignoring illegal immigration (although that seems to be changing). Sure, Democrats like the illegals--but Bush & Co.'s seemingly elitist "ignore the law and lawbreakers" crap just doesn't play well on Main Street.
A Prediction from Vox re: Hillary's Debating Style
If it happens, it should be interesting.
Referring to Hillary, he says: I think they'll be much more interested when she pulls a "V" and devours a live kitten during her 2008 debate with George Pataki or whoever the Republican fall guy turns out to be.
I'll confess that I don't understand the term "V." But I DO understand "fall-guy."
Will she use salt/pepper on the kitten?
Referring to Hillary, he says: I think they'll be much more interested when she pulls a "V" and devours a live kitten during her 2008 debate with George Pataki or whoever the Republican fall guy turns out to be.
I'll confess that I don't understand the term "V." But I DO understand "fall-guy."
Will she use salt/pepper on the kitten?
Send DA Nifong to Jail
This pretty well should sum up the case for prosecutorial misconduct against Nifong:
The head of a private DNA laboratory said under oath today that he and District Attorney Mike Nifong agreed not to report DNA results favorable to Duke lacrosse players charged with rape.
Brian Meehan, director of DNA Security of Burlington, said his lab found DNA from unidentified men in the underwear, pubic hair and rectum of the woman who said she was gang-raped at a lacrosse party in March. Nurses at Duke Hospital collected the samples a few hours after the alleged assault. Meehan said the DNA did not come from Reade Seligmann, David Evans, or Collin Finnerty, who have been charged with rape and sexual assault in the case.
Meehan struggled to say why he didn’t include the favorable evidence in a report dated May 12, almost a month after Seligmann and Finnerty had been indicted. He cited concerns about the privacy of the lacrosse players, his discussions at several meetings with Nifong, and the fact that he didn’t know whose DNA it was.
Under questioning by Jim Cooney, a defense attorney for Seligmann, Meehan admitted that his report violated his laboratory’s standards by not reporting results of all tests.
This slimeball Nifong (and the slimeball who persecuted DeLay) should be removed from office immediately, and before going to Club Fed for a long, long time, they should each be subjected to some good physical reminders of their vulnerabilities.
The head of a private DNA laboratory said under oath today that he and District Attorney Mike Nifong agreed not to report DNA results favorable to Duke lacrosse players charged with rape.
Brian Meehan, director of DNA Security of Burlington, said his lab found DNA from unidentified men in the underwear, pubic hair and rectum of the woman who said she was gang-raped at a lacrosse party in March. Nurses at Duke Hospital collected the samples a few hours after the alleged assault. Meehan said the DNA did not come from Reade Seligmann, David Evans, or Collin Finnerty, who have been charged with rape and sexual assault in the case.
Meehan struggled to say why he didn’t include the favorable evidence in a report dated May 12, almost a month after Seligmann and Finnerty had been indicted. He cited concerns about the privacy of the lacrosse players, his discussions at several meetings with Nifong, and the fact that he didn’t know whose DNA it was.
Under questioning by Jim Cooney, a defense attorney for Seligmann, Meehan admitted that his report violated his laboratory’s standards by not reporting results of all tests.
This slimeball Nifong (and the slimeball who persecuted DeLay) should be removed from office immediately, and before going to Club Fed for a long, long time, they should each be subjected to some good physical reminders of their vulnerabilities.
Friday, December 15, 2006
Northern Lights and Haydn
...what, you're surprised that Haydn wrote about the "wonders of the Firmament" before WE actually saw the Northern Lights?
See: The Creation/Heavens Are Telling
Special thanks to P-Mac for editing assistance!
See: The Creation/Heavens Are Telling
Special thanks to P-Mac for editing assistance!
Gov't Educational "Study" Wrong, Wrong, Wrong
In July the Federal Dep't of Education issued a "study" telling us that public school students are better, academically, than private-school students.
Of course, the orgasms from WEAC's reliable, ah, supporters were virtually unlimited.
And, of course, the "study" was seriously flawed.
Read it all here.
HT: McIlheran
Of course, the orgasms from WEAC's reliable, ah, supporters were virtually unlimited.
And, of course, the "study" was seriously flawed.
Read it all here.
HT: McIlheran
Wild, Wacky: Wiggy's Waukesha
One of our "must read" bloggers moved to Waukesha to avoid, unhhh...problems. So today he awakens to find the following:
In a case authorities say demonstrates the growing ties between urban and suburban drug traffickers, a federal grand jury indicted 33 people Thursday on charges linking large-scale cocaine suppliers in Milwaukee to a tightly controlled network of dealers in Waukesha.
One listed residence was on Arcadian Avenue.
So much for avoiding criminal gangs....
But it gets more interesting when you check out the Waukesha School Board!
School Board member Frank Finman has recommended the district increase the minimum grade-point average it requires of student athletes. Currently, students need to have at least a 1.5 grade-point average for the quarter to remain eligible.
Controversial, yes. But get THIS:
The requirement would apply only to athletics and not other extracurricular activities. Finman said he removed students involved in other activities from his original proposal because he was concerned about the effect on academic decathlon teams.
So the "academic" decathlon team includes young whizzes with GPA's of <1.5?
It's not over, folks:
The idea was criticized by other board members. "That makes no sense at all," board member Patricia Madden said.
"Besides, I think there are athletes that stay in school only because of athletics because they are good at it, and it does motivate them," Madden said
So the football team is now the reason to go to high school, eh, Patty?
It gets better.
The district's 2006-'07 budget also contained a $645,000 error that the district anticipates it will be able to solve without affecting programming during the current school year.
$650K. That's a pretty big number, no? So which financial guru GETS A PROMOTION???
The board tapped comptroller Erik Kass to become the district's next executive director of business services
Makes sense to me.
In a case authorities say demonstrates the growing ties between urban and suburban drug traffickers, a federal grand jury indicted 33 people Thursday on charges linking large-scale cocaine suppliers in Milwaukee to a tightly controlled network of dealers in Waukesha.
One listed residence was on Arcadian Avenue.
So much for avoiding criminal gangs....
But it gets more interesting when you check out the Waukesha School Board!
School Board member Frank Finman has recommended the district increase the minimum grade-point average it requires of student athletes. Currently, students need to have at least a 1.5 grade-point average for the quarter to remain eligible.
Controversial, yes. But get THIS:
The requirement would apply only to athletics and not other extracurricular activities. Finman said he removed students involved in other activities from his original proposal because he was concerned about the effect on academic decathlon teams.
So the "academic" decathlon team includes young whizzes with GPA's of <1.5?
It's not over, folks:
The idea was criticized by other board members. "That makes no sense at all," board member Patricia Madden said.
"Besides, I think there are athletes that stay in school only because of athletics because they are good at it, and it does motivate them," Madden said
So the football team is now the reason to go to high school, eh, Patty?
It gets better.
The district's 2006-'07 budget also contained a $645,000 error that the district anticipates it will be able to solve without affecting programming during the current school year.
$650K. That's a pretty big number, no? So which financial guru GETS A PROMOTION???
The board tapped comptroller Erik Kass to become the district's next executive director of business services
Makes sense to me.
Thursday, December 14, 2006
China Is Our Friend!!! Part 43565
Some perspective on trade with PRChina, notorious human-rights violator:
The U.S. trade deficit with China was $24.4 billion in October, and has increased $18.9 billion since December 2001. The bilateral deficit keeps rising, because China undervalues the yuan, and this makes Chinese exports artificially inexpensive and U.S. products too expensive in China.
...In July 2005, China revalued the yuan from 8.28 per dollar to 8.11 and announced it would adjust the currency to a basket of currencies. However, the yuan continues to track the dollar closely and currently is trading at about 7.84, a 3.3 percent appreciation over 17 months.
Modernization and productivity growth raise the implicit value of the yuan about 5 percent a year; therefore, at the current rate of appreciation, the gap between the value enforced by Beijing and the true market value of the yuan grows each month. The yuan remains undervalued against the dollar by at least 40 percent.
...Many U.S. multinationals, like GE, Caterpillar and GM, have earned huge profits investing in protected Chinese and other Asian markets, and have lobbied the Congress and Administration not to take action against Chinese mercantilism. Together they have persistently characterized as protectionist critics of China’s policy that advocate affirmative U.S. steps that would either offset Chinese export subsidies or move China to change its policies. This is puzzling as the United States regularly takes steps to offset subsidized imports from the EU or Japan that harm U.S. industries.
Why the Bush Administration insists on affording China special status is a mystery
[Not really. GWB believes that a capitalist PRChina will become a "good global citizen." The only question is whether his belief has a foundation--and WHEN PRChina will actually live up to the terms of PNTR/MFN treaties--which is evidently not a major issue to GWB.]
Well, there you have it. Still wondering why US manufacturing jobs continue to disappear?
The U.S. trade deficit with China was $24.4 billion in October, and has increased $18.9 billion since December 2001. The bilateral deficit keeps rising, because China undervalues the yuan, and this makes Chinese exports artificially inexpensive and U.S. products too expensive in China.
...In July 2005, China revalued the yuan from 8.28 per dollar to 8.11 and announced it would adjust the currency to a basket of currencies. However, the yuan continues to track the dollar closely and currently is trading at about 7.84, a 3.3 percent appreciation over 17 months.
Modernization and productivity growth raise the implicit value of the yuan about 5 percent a year; therefore, at the current rate of appreciation, the gap between the value enforced by Beijing and the true market value of the yuan grows each month. The yuan remains undervalued against the dollar by at least 40 percent.
...Many U.S. multinationals, like GE, Caterpillar and GM, have earned huge profits investing in protected Chinese and other Asian markets, and have lobbied the Congress and Administration not to take action against Chinese mercantilism. Together they have persistently characterized as protectionist critics of China’s policy that advocate affirmative U.S. steps that would either offset Chinese export subsidies or move China to change its policies. This is puzzling as the United States regularly takes steps to offset subsidized imports from the EU or Japan that harm U.S. industries.
Why the Bush Administration insists on affording China special status is a mystery
[Not really. GWB believes that a capitalist PRChina will become a "good global citizen." The only question is whether his belief has a foundation--and WHEN PRChina will actually live up to the terms of PNTR/MFN treaties--which is evidently not a major issue to GWB.]
Well, there you have it. Still wondering why US manufacturing jobs continue to disappear?
Ford Motor: Our Designs Are Asinine!!
When (not if) the heater core on your FoMoCo product finally pops a hole, fogging the windows and making you think your head is inside a bottle of glycol, get ready for the really bad news:
It will take approximately eight full hours of (billable) labor to replace the heater core. That's because FoMoCo engineers, geniuses that they are, have designed the HVAC system so that it's all one piece, and to get to it, you must remove damn near everything within 2 feet of the firewall.
30 years ago, it was about 1 hour's work because we all KNOW that heater cores blow--so they were designed to be easily replaceable.
Thanks!
It will take approximately eight full hours of (billable) labor to replace the heater core. That's because FoMoCo engineers, geniuses that they are, have designed the HVAC system so that it's all one piece, and to get to it, you must remove damn near everything within 2 feet of the firewall.
30 years ago, it was about 1 hour's work because we all KNOW that heater cores blow--so they were designed to be easily replaceable.
Thanks!
"Real Income" Tricks of the Trade and McIlheran
I'll take exception to P-Mac's calm acceptance of a certain report on economic progress in the USA.
Yah, we've all heard the numbers--roughly translated, that the "middle class" has not been doing well since Bushitler became President, (hint: all the money is going to Halliburton and its ex-officers...) etc., etc.
That's based on Department of Labor numbers which address average wage numbers. In fact, average wage numbers HAVE been stagnant for quite some time (although that has very little to do with Bush and much more to do with X42's love affair with PRChina.)
In fairness, it should be noted that while wages may have been stagnant, benefit costs like health insurance have risen significantly, mostly absorbed by employers. So it's not a simple proposition. Neither "Employers Good/Labor Bad" nor "Labor Bad/Employers Good" is the answer.
But here's my quibble with P-Mac's source:
“These changes are happening because, over the past 25 years, more families have moved to upper-income brackets. In 2004, the latest year for which we have comparable information, 34% of families made over $75,000. But in 1979, only 21% did so, after adjusting for inflation. And we now have fewer families in lower-income brackets. Only 46% of families made less than $50,000 in 2004, compared with 54% of families in 1979. The stagnant real median family income that is supposedly the reason for last month's Democratic victory is not so sluggish after all. Real median family income was $54,000 in 2004. After inflation, that's 11% higher than in 1994, 18% higher than in 1984, 25% higher than in 1974, and 59% higher than in 1964.
Close observers will note the term "family" has been highlighted.
The point? "Family" income in 1964 was earned (in the vast majority of the cases) by ONE worker, usually Dad. "Family" income in 2004 was earned by TWO workers (in the vast majority of the cases.)
Not all that hard to figure out why the number's almost double in the comparison, is it?
I hold no brief for spending on lawn-services, nor for $15K wedding-costs. But I also dislike manipulation of the numbers for the sake of making political points. Of course, that's not likely to cease soon, is it?
Yah, we've all heard the numbers--roughly translated, that the "middle class" has not been doing well since Bushitler became President, (hint: all the money is going to Halliburton and its ex-officers...) etc., etc.
That's based on Department of Labor numbers which address average wage numbers. In fact, average wage numbers HAVE been stagnant for quite some time (although that has very little to do with Bush and much more to do with X42's love affair with PRChina.)
In fairness, it should be noted that while wages may have been stagnant, benefit costs like health insurance have risen significantly, mostly absorbed by employers. So it's not a simple proposition. Neither "Employers Good/Labor Bad" nor "Labor Bad/Employers Good" is the answer.
But here's my quibble with P-Mac's source:
“These changes are happening because, over the past 25 years, more families have moved to upper-income brackets. In 2004, the latest year for which we have comparable information, 34% of families made over $75,000. But in 1979, only 21% did so, after adjusting for inflation. And we now have fewer families in lower-income brackets. Only 46% of families made less than $50,000 in 2004, compared with 54% of families in 1979. The stagnant real median family income that is supposedly the reason for last month's Democratic victory is not so sluggish after all. Real median family income was $54,000 in 2004. After inflation, that's 11% higher than in 1994, 18% higher than in 1984, 25% higher than in 1974, and 59% higher than in 1964.
Close observers will note the term "family" has been highlighted.
The point? "Family" income in 1964 was earned (in the vast majority of the cases) by ONE worker, usually Dad. "Family" income in 2004 was earned by TWO workers (in the vast majority of the cases.)
Not all that hard to figure out why the number's almost double in the comparison, is it?
I hold no brief for spending on lawn-services, nor for $15K wedding-costs. But I also dislike manipulation of the numbers for the sake of making political points. Of course, that's not likely to cease soon, is it?
The Cost of Your Car
We've all heard that "union agreements" add $X,000.00 to the cost of a US-made car.
But you may NOT have heard that "Lawyer Costs" add a great deal, too:
"In researching this paper, I persistently asked manufacturers what the cost and consequences of the rise in liability have been. In simple financial terms the answers have varied by a factor of ten, ranging from $50 to $500 per car sold." The variance may suggest that the $500 figure is on the high side; but Mackay indicates that the costs seem to be much higher for domestic manufacturers than for importers, which may be why Chrysler sticks to the higher number. Steve Hantler, DaimlerChrysler's assistant general counsel, tells me that the $500 estimate, being 15 years out of date, is itself probably low; he suggests that today's liability cost is closer to $1000 per car.
Think Habush, Habush, Habush...will be advertising about that with their cheesy computer-generated "music" in the background?
HT: OverLawyered
But you may NOT have heard that "Lawyer Costs" add a great deal, too:
"In researching this paper, I persistently asked manufacturers what the cost and consequences of the rise in liability have been. In simple financial terms the answers have varied by a factor of ten, ranging from $50 to $500 per car sold." The variance may suggest that the $500 figure is on the high side; but Mackay indicates that the costs seem to be much higher for domestic manufacturers than for importers, which may be why Chrysler sticks to the higher number. Steve Hantler, DaimlerChrysler's assistant general counsel, tells me that the $500 estimate, being 15 years out of date, is itself probably low; he suggests that today's liability cost is closer to $1000 per car.
Think Habush, Habush, Habush...will be advertising about that with their cheesy computer-generated "music" in the background?
HT: OverLawyered
HSA's Are Improved!! Congrats to Cong Ryan and Shame on DarthDoyle
The legislation passed and was signed by the President!!
You can read this post to get the details on the improvements and the uses for HSAs and HRAs. Suffice it to say that the HSA option (AND the HRA option) are both looking better now, thanks to Cong. Ryan.
Of course, in Wisconsin we have the obstructionist ante-Deluvian, DarthDoyle, who will do everything in his power to reduce the benefits available to Wisconsin citizen/taxpayers.
Tax treatment of HSA's in Wisconsin will remain punitive. That's DarthDoyle's "solution" to health-care costs.
You can read this post to get the details on the improvements and the uses for HSAs and HRAs. Suffice it to say that the HSA option (AND the HRA option) are both looking better now, thanks to Cong. Ryan.
Of course, in Wisconsin we have the obstructionist ante-Deluvian, DarthDoyle, who will do everything in his power to reduce the benefits available to Wisconsin citizen/taxpayers.
Tax treatment of HSA's in Wisconsin will remain punitive. That's DarthDoyle's "solution" to health-care costs.
Words MEAN Something, Says Abp. Chaput
The Archbishop of Denver remarked on the abuse of words in the current American lexicon. A few choice excerpts:
...However the word that Christians had to clearly understand was secularism, which the Archbishop called "actively destructive" undermining both human identity and community by rejecting "the sacred while posturing itself as neutral to the sacred."
"The American Experiment … is the product of religiously shaped concepts and tradition. It can't survive for long without respecting the source of that tradition. A fully secularized public life would mean policy by the powerful for the powerful because no permanent principles can exist in a morally neutral vacuum."
So much for the Anti-Christian-Lies-Union's principal operating philosophy.
Personally, I was happy to see this one:
The common good: "The common good does not mean the sum of what most people want right now. The common good is that which constitutes the best source of justice and happiness for a community and its members in the light of truth. The common good is never served by killing the weakest members of a community. It's also not served when the appetites and behaviors of individual members get a license to undermine the life of the wider community...
It's a forlorn hope that some of our political "leaders" might take that to heart, I suppose.
Pluralism: "These days pluralism usually serves as a codeword for getting Christians to shut up in the public square out of some misguided sense of courtesy. But pluralism is just a demographic fact. It's not an ideology. And it's never a valid excuse for being quiet about our key moral convictions."
So, Ibrahim Cooper of CAIR: jam your rhetoric right where the sun doesn't shine...
Tolerance and Consensus: "Words like 'tolerance' and 'consensus' are important democratic working principles. But they aren't Christian virtues, and they should never take priority over other words like charity, justice, faith and truth, either in our personal lives or in our public choices."
You get the idea.
...However the word that Christians had to clearly understand was secularism, which the Archbishop called "actively destructive" undermining both human identity and community by rejecting "the sacred while posturing itself as neutral to the sacred."
"The American Experiment … is the product of religiously shaped concepts and tradition. It can't survive for long without respecting the source of that tradition. A fully secularized public life would mean policy by the powerful for the powerful because no permanent principles can exist in a morally neutral vacuum."
So much for the Anti-Christian-Lies-Union's principal operating philosophy.
Personally, I was happy to see this one:
The common good: "The common good does not mean the sum of what most people want right now. The common good is that which constitutes the best source of justice and happiness for a community and its members in the light of truth. The common good is never served by killing the weakest members of a community. It's also not served when the appetites and behaviors of individual members get a license to undermine the life of the wider community...
It's a forlorn hope that some of our political "leaders" might take that to heart, I suppose.
Pluralism: "These days pluralism usually serves as a codeword for getting Christians to shut up in the public square out of some misguided sense of courtesy. But pluralism is just a demographic fact. It's not an ideology. And it's never a valid excuse for being quiet about our key moral convictions."
So, Ibrahim Cooper of CAIR: jam your rhetoric right where the sun doesn't shine...
Tolerance and Consensus: "Words like 'tolerance' and 'consensus' are important democratic working principles. But they aren't Christian virtues, and they should never take priority over other words like charity, justice, faith and truth, either in our personal lives or in our public choices."
You get the idea.
Carter-Appointed Judge Blesses Catholic-Bashing
The Roman Catholic church teaches and preaches that homosexual "marriage" is a fiction and that homosexual "adoptions" are bad for the adopted children.
Not exactly news, right?
You'd sorta expect that the San Fran crowd would not like the Church's teaching, and they don't.
The governing body of the city of San Francisco - the Board of Supervisors - voted unanimously to approve a resolution blasting the Catholic Church for its opposition to homosexual adoption. That resolution has been deemed "constitutional" by Federal Judge Marily Hall Patel
[A ruling which will be appealed.]
Not exactly news, right? Wacko 9th-circuit unter-judge makes stupid ruling. Big deal.
HERE'S the news:
In her decision upholding the resolution against the Law Center's constitutional challenge, the federal judge defended the City by essentially claiming that the Church invited the attack by publicly expressing its teaching on moral issues. In her written opinion, the judge stated, "The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith provoked this debate, indeed may have invited entanglement, by its [doctrinal] statement. This court does not find that our case law requires political bodies to remain silent in the face of this provocation."
Hitler and Goebbels would have been proud of this judge-ette.
Not exactly news, right?
You'd sorta expect that the San Fran crowd would not like the Church's teaching, and they don't.
The governing body of the city of San Francisco - the Board of Supervisors - voted unanimously to approve a resolution blasting the Catholic Church for its opposition to homosexual adoption. That resolution has been deemed "constitutional" by Federal Judge Marily Hall Patel
[A ruling which will be appealed.]
Not exactly news, right? Wacko 9th-circuit unter-judge makes stupid ruling. Big deal.
HERE'S the news:
In her decision upholding the resolution against the Law Center's constitutional challenge, the federal judge defended the City by essentially claiming that the Church invited the attack by publicly expressing its teaching on moral issues. In her written opinion, the judge stated, "The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith provoked this debate, indeed may have invited entanglement, by its [doctrinal] statement. This court does not find that our case law requires political bodies to remain silent in the face of this provocation."
Hitler and Goebbels would have been proud of this judge-ette.
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
More on the Upcoming Tridentine Indult/Motu Proprio
From Rorate Coeli:
Benedict XVI intends to extend the indult of his predecessor, in fact withdrawing from the bishops discretionary power on the matter: the Missal of Saint Pius V is no longer abolished, and even if the ordinary Roman Rite is that originated from the post-conciliar liturgical reform, the old one -- used by centuries in the Church -- can subsist as an "extraordinary rite".
The bishops, therefore, will not be able to deny the ancient mass anymore, but only regulate its eventual celebration, together with the parish priests, harmonising it with the need of the community. The corrections included would have reduced from 50 to 30 the minimal number of faithful who ask for the celebration according to the old rite. As for the readmission of the Lefebvrists, once the rite of Saint Pius V is liberalized, the deal should be easier.
The SSPX/LeFebvre part of this has always been in the background; it's Romanita stuff. Obviously, the distress of the "New Liturgists" in the school of Bugsy Bugnini and his local acolyte will be severe, with the "no Bishop's permission" line.
Heh.
Benedict XVI intends to extend the indult of his predecessor, in fact withdrawing from the bishops discretionary power on the matter: the Missal of Saint Pius V is no longer abolished, and even if the ordinary Roman Rite is that originated from the post-conciliar liturgical reform, the old one -- used by centuries in the Church -- can subsist as an "extraordinary rite".
The bishops, therefore, will not be able to deny the ancient mass anymore, but only regulate its eventual celebration, together with the parish priests, harmonising it with the need of the community. The corrections included would have reduced from 50 to 30 the minimal number of faithful who ask for the celebration according to the old rite. As for the readmission of the Lefebvrists, once the rite of Saint Pius V is liberalized, the deal should be easier.
The SSPX/LeFebvre part of this has always been in the background; it's Romanita stuff. Obviously, the distress of the "New Liturgists" in the school of Bugsy Bugnini and his local acolyte will be severe, with the "no Bishop's permission" line.
Heh.
What You SHOULD Know About Hanukkah and the St Louis Jesuits
Michael Medved provides the (real) history--which is very interesting, indeed.
Actually, far from celebrating “diversity” or “tolerance” or “respect for every faith,” Hanukah (the name means “dedication” in Hebrew) marks a singular display of intolerance-- when religious zealots, exalting the values of “that old time religion,” came into the Temple in Jerusalem and drove out all alternate, “creative” forms of worship. In the “For the Miracles” (Al HaNissim) prayer recited at least three times a day by religious Jews during the eight days of the festival, we salute this uncompromising assertion of absolute truth: “Your children came to the Holy of Holies of Your House, cleansed Your Temple, purified the site of your Holiness and kindled lights in the Courtyards of Your Sanctuary.” No, the fervently faithful rebels did not assign a special area for other religious impulses as part of some ancient commitment to multiculturalism.
...the great-great grandson of Alexander’s general Seleucus was a megalomaniac named Antiochus IV, who had himself proclaimed “Antiochus Epiphanes” – the Illustrious, or Magnificent. He felt so intoxicated with the glories of humanistic Greek culture (which had come to dominate most of the civilized world) that he determined to crack down on his retrograde Jewish subjects with their old-fashioned, monotheistic faith and stubbornly anachronistic folkways. Like today’s secularists, the followers of Antiochus took special aim at the rite of circumcision ...
Eventually, a hillbilly priest (Mattathias) from the backwoods town of Modin led his five war-like sons in a bloody revolt against the compromises and betrayals and degeneracy of the local Jewish establishment. The bad guys of the Hanukah story weren’t so much foreign occupiers as they were indigenous traitors who junked the demanding faith of their forefathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, for the trendy, hedonistic, easy-going relativism of Aristotle, Alexander and Antiochus. By placing Greek gods in the Temple in Jerusalem, the Hellenist Jewish leadership didn’t try to exclude or prevent the old worship – they meant to open up the Holy of Holies to worshipers of every nation and of every deity in a grand celebration of diversity.
[That red-highlighted part...do I hear a clarion call for the bloody revolt against Haugen/Haas, the Jebbies of StLouie, and "Winter Solstice" commemorations???]
The Maccabees insisted on re-affirming ultimate right and wrong, and saw their battle as part of a timeless struggle of good and evil. They demanded a return to the old ways, to the authentic, uncompromising laws of God and the Torah, and they felt only contempt for the Hellenizing modernists who fought against them. The rebels represented the common people – the poor and the humble artisans and the struggling farmers who remained loyal to the ancient faith – while their enemies represented the pampered urban elites, over-educated in the cosmopolitan ways of Judea’s Greek overlords.
At an odd moment of history when many leaders of the Jewish people are again displaying the ancient, Hellenistic fascination with homosexuality, humanism, relativism and diversity, it’s not surprising that many left-leaning sects and organizations want to hide the genuine themes of Hanukah.
Oh, Michael--were it JUST 'the leaders of the Jewish people...'
HT: Relapsed Catholic
Actually, far from celebrating “diversity” or “tolerance” or “respect for every faith,” Hanukah (the name means “dedication” in Hebrew) marks a singular display of intolerance-- when religious zealots, exalting the values of “that old time religion,” came into the Temple in Jerusalem and drove out all alternate, “creative” forms of worship. In the “For the Miracles” (Al HaNissim) prayer recited at least three times a day by religious Jews during the eight days of the festival, we salute this uncompromising assertion of absolute truth: “Your children came to the Holy of Holies of Your House, cleansed Your Temple, purified the site of your Holiness and kindled lights in the Courtyards of Your Sanctuary.” No, the fervently faithful rebels did not assign a special area for other religious impulses as part of some ancient commitment to multiculturalism.
...the great-great grandson of Alexander’s general Seleucus was a megalomaniac named Antiochus IV, who had himself proclaimed “Antiochus Epiphanes” – the Illustrious, or Magnificent. He felt so intoxicated with the glories of humanistic Greek culture (which had come to dominate most of the civilized world) that he determined to crack down on his retrograde Jewish subjects with their old-fashioned, monotheistic faith and stubbornly anachronistic folkways. Like today’s secularists, the followers of Antiochus took special aim at the rite of circumcision ...
Eventually, a hillbilly priest (Mattathias) from the backwoods town of Modin led his five war-like sons in a bloody revolt against the compromises and betrayals and degeneracy of the local Jewish establishment. The bad guys of the Hanukah story weren’t so much foreign occupiers as they were indigenous traitors who junked the demanding faith of their forefathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, for the trendy, hedonistic, easy-going relativism of Aristotle, Alexander and Antiochus. By placing Greek gods in the Temple in Jerusalem, the Hellenist Jewish leadership didn’t try to exclude or prevent the old worship – they meant to open up the Holy of Holies to worshipers of every nation and of every deity in a grand celebration of diversity.
[That red-highlighted part...do I hear a clarion call for the bloody revolt against Haugen/Haas, the Jebbies of StLouie, and "Winter Solstice" commemorations???]
The Maccabees insisted on re-affirming ultimate right and wrong, and saw their battle as part of a timeless struggle of good and evil. They demanded a return to the old ways, to the authentic, uncompromising laws of God and the Torah, and they felt only contempt for the Hellenizing modernists who fought against them. The rebels represented the common people – the poor and the humble artisans and the struggling farmers who remained loyal to the ancient faith – while their enemies represented the pampered urban elites, over-educated in the cosmopolitan ways of Judea’s Greek overlords.
At an odd moment of history when many leaders of the Jewish people are again displaying the ancient, Hellenistic fascination with homosexuality, humanism, relativism and diversity, it’s not surprising that many left-leaning sects and organizations want to hide the genuine themes of Hanukah.
Oh, Michael--were it JUST 'the leaders of the Jewish people...'
HT: Relapsed Catholic
Merry Christmas!!--Legally
From First Things:
William Devlin, the founder of the Urban Family Council in Philadelphia, has come up with a notice that might be posted in public places in order to preempt the contentious and litigious:
“Legal Disclaimer: ‘Merry Christmas’ (hereafter ‘The Greeting’)
. . . this announcement is not intended to offend, alienate, foster hate, or be a precursor for any egregious acts (legal or illegal), thoughts, words, or deeds. ‘The Greeting’ is made only in the context in which it may be legally received, if in fact, it is received at all. It is not intended to be nor should it be, in any way, connected to any other type of greeting, real or imagined, past, present or future. No references to any persons, things, or substances, animate or inanimate, real, fictional, or otherwise, should be assumed by the reader or receiver of the greeting (hereafter, ‘the greetee’). The greeting is not being made to (nor will tenders be accepted from or on behalf of) nonbelievers in ‘The Greeting’ in any jurisdiction in which making and/or accepting the greeting would violate that jurisdiction’s laws or feelings (also refer to local statutes and ordinances related to ‘The Greeting’). In any jurisdiction in which perceived ‘greeting’ is not welcomed nor agreed upon by all ‘greetees,’ then the ‘greetor’ of ‘The Greeting’ will be held harmless in this life and the next, including all issuing posterity both now and forever. ‘The Greeting’ may be made by a licensed ‘greetor’ and any liability assumed or created by the ‘greetee’ shall be the sole responsibility of said ‘greetor.’ If you have been aggrieved, offended, waylaid, parlayed, filleted, or delayed in any way, either real, imagined, or perceived by said ‘Greeting’ and/or by ‘greetor’ as the result of receiving said ‘greeting’ you can call toll free 1-800-CHRISTMAS to speak with legal counsel.” (December 2004)
The date at the end tells us when FT first published this piece. Even more useful today, eh?
William Devlin, the founder of the Urban Family Council in Philadelphia, has come up with a notice that might be posted in public places in order to preempt the contentious and litigious:
“Legal Disclaimer: ‘Merry Christmas’ (hereafter ‘The Greeting’)
. . . this announcement is not intended to offend, alienate, foster hate, or be a precursor for any egregious acts (legal or illegal), thoughts, words, or deeds. ‘The Greeting’ is made only in the context in which it may be legally received, if in fact, it is received at all. It is not intended to be nor should it be, in any way, connected to any other type of greeting, real or imagined, past, present or future. No references to any persons, things, or substances, animate or inanimate, real, fictional, or otherwise, should be assumed by the reader or receiver of the greeting (hereafter, ‘the greetee’). The greeting is not being made to (nor will tenders be accepted from or on behalf of) nonbelievers in ‘The Greeting’ in any jurisdiction in which making and/or accepting the greeting would violate that jurisdiction’s laws or feelings (also refer to local statutes and ordinances related to ‘The Greeting’). In any jurisdiction in which perceived ‘greeting’ is not welcomed nor agreed upon by all ‘greetees,’ then the ‘greetor’ of ‘The Greeting’ will be held harmless in this life and the next, including all issuing posterity both now and forever. ‘The Greeting’ may be made by a licensed ‘greetor’ and any liability assumed or created by the ‘greetee’ shall be the sole responsibility of said ‘greetor.’ If you have been aggrieved, offended, waylaid, parlayed, filleted, or delayed in any way, either real, imagined, or perceived by said ‘Greeting’ and/or by ‘greetor’ as the result of receiving said ‘greeting’ you can call toll free 1-800-CHRISTMAS to speak with legal counsel.” (December 2004)
The date at the end tells us when FT first published this piece. Even more useful today, eh?
In-School Cellphones: This Is NOT Hard
I'm at a loss to describe the pantywaist MPS Administration's response to the "cellphone problem" in Milwaukee high schools (and maybe middle schools...)
Last night their spokeswoman was yapping about buying CIA/Mil-Intel-grade electronic blocking systems to shut down cellphones in schools.
Who the Hell is she trying to kid?
Here's the program. Guaran-friggin-teed to work:
1) Letter home and news release: MPS will not allow students to have cellphones in schools AND will not allow students to have them ON SCHOOL PROPERTY, period. No exceptions.
2) When the darlings arrive for classes, pat them down. If they have a cellphone, it goes to a locked closet. It will NOT be returned to the student, period. Only a parent may retrieve it.
3) Repeat above--second offense, the phone cannot be picked up for at least a week. Third offense, at least a month. Fourth offense, it doesn't get returned until the school year ends.
No problem!
Last night their spokeswoman was yapping about buying CIA/Mil-Intel-grade electronic blocking systems to shut down cellphones in schools.
Who the Hell is she trying to kid?
Here's the program. Guaran-friggin-teed to work:
1) Letter home and news release: MPS will not allow students to have cellphones in schools AND will not allow students to have them ON SCHOOL PROPERTY, period. No exceptions.
2) When the darlings arrive for classes, pat them down. If they have a cellphone, it goes to a locked closet. It will NOT be returned to the student, period. Only a parent may retrieve it.
3) Repeat above--second offense, the phone cannot be picked up for at least a week. Third offense, at least a month. Fourth offense, it doesn't get returned until the school year ends.
No problem!
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
New December Holyday?
Frankly, I thought Terry Berres was kidding..but he's not.
Bishop Richard Sklba will join the Congregation of Great Spirit Parish in Milwaukee for their Winter Solstice
One wonders which Propers are used for that celebration.
Bishop Richard Sklba will join the Congregation of Great Spirit Parish in Milwaukee for their Winter Solstice
One wonders which Propers are used for that celebration.
Watching the Local Priests Will Be Worth $20 Ticket
Within a few weeks (maybe only a few days) Pope Benedict XVI will issue a motu proprio regarding the celebration of the Tridentine Rite Mass (the Old Rite--all Latin, all the time.)
It is rumored that this document will significantly "liberalize" the celebration of the Mass, in no uncertain terms, and that (perhaps) a priest will not have to seek permission from the Bishop to say the Mass.
We'll see.
In Milwaukee, about 75% of the active priests will recoil in horror and run around their condos, screeching, wailing, and snorting in utter disgust. They'll be so....revulsed... by this....divisive... document that, that....well....that they'll all have to run down to Marshall Field's and SHOP! to assuage the pain...
Mincing will temporarily be discontinued as hissyfits take over.
It would be fun to watch.
It is rumored that this document will significantly "liberalize" the celebration of the Mass, in no uncertain terms, and that (perhaps) a priest will not have to seek permission from the Bishop to say the Mass.
We'll see.
In Milwaukee, about 75% of the active priests will recoil in horror and run around their condos, screeching, wailing, and snorting in utter disgust. They'll be so....revulsed... by this....divisive... document that, that....well....that they'll all have to run down to Marshall Field's and SHOP! to assuage the pain...
Mincing will temporarily be discontinued as hissyfits take over.
It would be fun to watch.
Four Principles of the Church's Social Doctrine
Found (of all places) in the John Allen blogsite of NCR (Not-Catholic, Really):
At the dawn of the 21st century, Weigel argued, there were three proposals for the future with enough clout to have a worldwide impact: the “pragmatic utilitarianism” of Europe and North America, a resurgent Islam, and the social doctrine of the Catholic Church.
“One does not risk a charge of special pleading by suggesting that the course of the twenty-first century and beyond will be determined in no small part by the answer to the question, how will each of these proposals shape the emerging global culture?” Weigel said.
Weigel, who is sometimes identified as a “neo-conservative,” laid out the core elements of Catholic social theory as it has evolved since the 19th century in terms of four principles:
• Personalism – Reflection on the just society begins with the human rights of persons, not with the collective.
• Common Good – Each person should exercise his or her freedom in ways that benefit the general welfare of society, not just self-aggrandizement.
• Subsidiarity – Decision-making in society should be left at the lowest possible level.
• Solidarity – Society must be more than contractual, but an expression of mutual participation in a common enterprise. Weigel argues that this principle was the contribution of Pope John Paul II.
This will help you understand the recalcitrance of Catholics (also Conservatives in the Russell Kirk mode) to embrace Libertarian-flavored capitalism. In a phrase, that 'capitalism' is just not right...
At the dawn of the 21st century, Weigel argued, there were three proposals for the future with enough clout to have a worldwide impact: the “pragmatic utilitarianism” of Europe and North America, a resurgent Islam, and the social doctrine of the Catholic Church.
“One does not risk a charge of special pleading by suggesting that the course of the twenty-first century and beyond will be determined in no small part by the answer to the question, how will each of these proposals shape the emerging global culture?” Weigel said.
Weigel, who is sometimes identified as a “neo-conservative,” laid out the core elements of Catholic social theory as it has evolved since the 19th century in terms of four principles:
• Personalism – Reflection on the just society begins with the human rights of persons, not with the collective.
• Common Good – Each person should exercise his or her freedom in ways that benefit the general welfare of society, not just self-aggrandizement.
• Subsidiarity – Decision-making in society should be left at the lowest possible level.
• Solidarity – Society must be more than contractual, but an expression of mutual participation in a common enterprise. Weigel argues that this principle was the contribution of Pope John Paul II.
This will help you understand the recalcitrance of Catholics (also Conservatives in the Russell Kirk mode) to embrace Libertarian-flavored capitalism. In a phrase, that 'capitalism' is just not right...
Sick Leave Makes Taxpayers Sick
Murphy has an interesting angle on the Legislator-Fraud/Professor Fraud problem:
In the meantime, the real scandal of sick pay isn’t being examined. Here’s how the law works: Workers pile up unused sick time over decades, going back to their earliest years, when their pay was comparatively low. But they cash in credits upon retirement based on their highest hourly rate of pay, rather than the pay earned when most unused sick days were actually amassed. This inflation affects not just profs or politicians but every state employee. Taxpayers pay more than they should because of an inflated way of accounting that could be easily corrected: Each employee’s unused sick days should be converted to credits at the end of each year at the hourly pay actually earned.
...As for legislators, the law only allows them 65 percent of the sick leave credit that other state employees get. Even if all 132 legislators faithfully reported the days they were sick, the annual savings for taxpayers would be peanuts.
By contrast, there’s a total of about 66,000 state government and UW employees. If all were given sick leave credits at the hourly pay they actually earned at the time, the savings for taxpayers would be massive. The system would also be much fairer, giving employees credit for the actual value of unused sick days. That’s the real scandal of sick leave, and a simple legal change could easily fix it.
Wanna bet your State income taxes for the next 10 years that this idea sinks into oblivion?
In the meantime, the real scandal of sick pay isn’t being examined. Here’s how the law works: Workers pile up unused sick time over decades, going back to their earliest years, when their pay was comparatively low. But they cash in credits upon retirement based on their highest hourly rate of pay, rather than the pay earned when most unused sick days were actually amassed. This inflation affects not just profs or politicians but every state employee. Taxpayers pay more than they should because of an inflated way of accounting that could be easily corrected: Each employee’s unused sick days should be converted to credits at the end of each year at the hourly pay actually earned.
...As for legislators, the law only allows them 65 percent of the sick leave credit that other state employees get. Even if all 132 legislators faithfully reported the days they were sick, the annual savings for taxpayers would be peanuts.
By contrast, there’s a total of about 66,000 state government and UW employees. If all were given sick leave credits at the hourly pay they actually earned at the time, the savings for taxpayers would be massive. The system would also be much fairer, giving employees credit for the actual value of unused sick days. That’s the real scandal of sick leave, and a simple legal change could easily fix it.
Wanna bet your State income taxes for the next 10 years that this idea sinks into oblivion?
Monday, December 11, 2006
"O" Antiphons
Last year I posted the O Antiphons, Gregorian and all.
Now here's something interesting about them which JSBach would have caught in a second:
One of the most interesting features involves a kind of encoded message via these antiphons. The initials of each of these titles in Latin (Sapientia, Adonai, Radix Jesse, Clavis David, Oriens, Rex Gentium, and Emmanuel) combine to form the word "SARCORE". When this is arranged backwards, it spells the phrase "ERO CRAS", which means "Tomorrow, I will be." This coincidence was very suggestive to people in the Middle Ages because the beginning of the celebration of the mystery of the Incarnation on Christmas Eve (December 24th) falls on the day after the singing of the antiphons.
You don't have to be a Middle-Ager to appreciate this...
HT: Shouts in the Piazza
Now here's something interesting about them which JSBach would have caught in a second:
One of the most interesting features involves a kind of encoded message via these antiphons. The initials of each of these titles in Latin (Sapientia, Adonai, Radix Jesse, Clavis David, Oriens, Rex Gentium, and Emmanuel) combine to form the word "SARCORE". When this is arranged backwards, it spells the phrase "ERO CRAS", which means "Tomorrow, I will be." This coincidence was very suggestive to people in the Middle Ages because the beginning of the celebration of the mystery of the Incarnation on Christmas Eve (December 24th) falls on the day after the singing of the antiphons.
You don't have to be a Middle-Ager to appreciate this...
HT: Shouts in the Piazza
Your Tuition for Your Body
Easily one of the dumbest ideas I've seen this calendar year:
Would you agree to live and work in Wisconsin for 10 years after college if the state offered to pay your tuition costs for all four years?
The commission is considering recommending free tuition for all students who agree to remain in the Dairy State after getting their degrees, reversing an exodus of college graduates and potentially transforming the state's economy.
"I have yet to find a group that does not see the benefit," said O'Connell, who is executive director of the Wisconsin Counties Association.
O'Connell literally makes a living because there's too much government, and it shows.
As the theory goes, a captive work force of college graduates would attract new industry to Wisconsin, along with higher-paying jobs. Those workers, in turn, would pay more income taxes and sales taxes, providing the state with the millions of dollars needed to offer free tuition.
When one has indentured servants, one does NOT "increase the pay level." That's proven by the following:
John Torinus, always in favor of minimizing his expenses, signs on. It's about time that the "business community" send this guy a "You're Crazy!!" card.
John Torinus, a West Bend business owner who is co-chairman of the commission, said he believes the 16-member panel has tentatively reached a consensus to back the idea. Torinus is also a business columnist for the Journal Sentinel.
Just for fun, imagine that Procter & Gamble hires Susie WhitewaterGraduate in sales. It so happens that Susie must leave Wisconsin after 4 years of stellar performance, in order to take a promotion. Unless she leaves the State, she doesn't get the new position. (And it so happens that that is P&G's policy--they never promote someone to Unit Manager from within the unit.)
Susie's career is stopped.
Just for fun, imagine that 70% of UW-System grads take degrees in English. These folks are useful as....what? Welders? Carpenters? Nuclear Engineers? RN's? Computer Software Engineers?
An auditor's report discloses that the Commission's expense-report included several thousand dollars spent on marijuana.
Would you agree to live and work in Wisconsin for 10 years after college if the state offered to pay your tuition costs for all four years?
The commission is considering recommending free tuition for all students who agree to remain in the Dairy State after getting their degrees, reversing an exodus of college graduates and potentially transforming the state's economy.
"I have yet to find a group that does not see the benefit," said O'Connell, who is executive director of the Wisconsin Counties Association.
O'Connell literally makes a living because there's too much government, and it shows.
As the theory goes, a captive work force of college graduates would attract new industry to Wisconsin, along with higher-paying jobs. Those workers, in turn, would pay more income taxes and sales taxes, providing the state with the millions of dollars needed to offer free tuition.
When one has indentured servants, one does NOT "increase the pay level." That's proven by the following:
John Torinus, always in favor of minimizing his expenses, signs on. It's about time that the "business community" send this guy a "You're Crazy!!" card.
John Torinus, a West Bend business owner who is co-chairman of the commission, said he believes the 16-member panel has tentatively reached a consensus to back the idea. Torinus is also a business columnist for the Journal Sentinel.
Just for fun, imagine that Procter & Gamble hires Susie WhitewaterGraduate in sales. It so happens that Susie must leave Wisconsin after 4 years of stellar performance, in order to take a promotion. Unless she leaves the State, she doesn't get the new position. (And it so happens that that is P&G's policy--they never promote someone to Unit Manager from within the unit.)
Susie's career is stopped.
Just for fun, imagine that 70% of UW-System grads take degrees in English. These folks are useful as....what? Welders? Carpenters? Nuclear Engineers? RN's? Computer Software Engineers?
An auditor's report discloses that the Commission's expense-report included several thousand dollars spent on marijuana.
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Anatomy of a Photo
This photo is from Time Magazine. PowerLine provides commentary from a former NYTimes photographer.
The photo of Hillary Clinton in Time isn't just "unflattering," it's a classic case of artful manipulation.
...Note that the primary focus is a bit "deep" with the clearest areas around the ears and neck. The nose is slightly out of focus as is the band of hair directly in front of her forehead. But it still seems "sharp" all over with an especial emphasis on the skin. That comes from "sharpening" in Photoshop that increases the "edge contrast" to exaggerate the apparent detail in the photo. Normally sharpening for a portrait, which has large areas that are similar in tone and gradual transitions, is different from what Photoshop expert Joe Reifer would call a "high frequency area" (many abrupt transitions in tone) like a cityscape. By emphasizing the inappropriate sharpening one can call unwelcome attention to skin, that would not perceptible be to the naked eye. The effect, of course, is to make her haggard and drawn looking.
Secondly, the gold jewelry and glasses are all the same heightened tone which is achieved by the "saturation" tool that ramps up the apparent color. In this case it also brings the brooch into play in the image. But it does even more to make an unflattering image by emphasizing the "gold" glasses and jewelry of a stereotypical "older" lady. Hollywood uses the technique all the time to "age" an actress. Interestingly, they used the "blur" tool to take out the folds under her eyes. Also, they didn't make the lipstick more garish with "saturation" as happened in the case of Katherine Harris, though Hillary's hair has been softly streaked with the same gold as in the brooch.
But the most interesting problem is how the editors managed to sharpen the book in the foreground. It is held at a typical reading range of between 18 and 24 inches. With the telephoto lens that made the picture, it should be largely out of focus. Note that her fingers that grasp the book are completely out of focus developing typical "rings" in the highlight areas. Yet the type on the book is very clear. Ah yes. The type was rebuilt in Photoshop as well.
So we now have a dour, tired, pained, haggard Hillary with dead eyes staring towards who knows what.
The most interesting question, of course, is "why". Why would Time skewer Hildebeeste like this? Powerline suggests that Hildebeeste is out and Obama is in...
The photo of Hillary Clinton in Time isn't just "unflattering," it's a classic case of artful manipulation.
...Note that the primary focus is a bit "deep" with the clearest areas around the ears and neck. The nose is slightly out of focus as is the band of hair directly in front of her forehead. But it still seems "sharp" all over with an especial emphasis on the skin. That comes from "sharpening" in Photoshop that increases the "edge contrast" to exaggerate the apparent detail in the photo. Normally sharpening for a portrait, which has large areas that are similar in tone and gradual transitions, is different from what Photoshop expert Joe Reifer would call a "high frequency area" (many abrupt transitions in tone) like a cityscape. By emphasizing the inappropriate sharpening one can call unwelcome attention to skin, that would not perceptible be to the naked eye. The effect, of course, is to make her haggard and drawn looking.
Secondly, the gold jewelry and glasses are all the same heightened tone which is achieved by the "saturation" tool that ramps up the apparent color. In this case it also brings the brooch into play in the image. But it does even more to make an unflattering image by emphasizing the "gold" glasses and jewelry of a stereotypical "older" lady. Hollywood uses the technique all the time to "age" an actress. Interestingly, they used the "blur" tool to take out the folds under her eyes. Also, they didn't make the lipstick more garish with "saturation" as happened in the case of Katherine Harris, though Hillary's hair has been softly streaked with the same gold as in the brooch.
But the most interesting problem is how the editors managed to sharpen the book in the foreground. It is held at a typical reading range of between 18 and 24 inches. With the telephoto lens that made the picture, it should be largely out of focus. Note that her fingers that grasp the book are completely out of focus developing typical "rings" in the highlight areas. Yet the type on the book is very clear. Ah yes. The type was rebuilt in Photoshop as well.
So we now have a dour, tired, pained, haggard Hillary with dead eyes staring towards who knows what.
The most interesting question, of course, is "why". Why would Time skewer Hildebeeste like this? Powerline suggests that Hildebeeste is out and Obama is in...
Athletes, Not Targets
You'd think that (with their physiques) these guys wouldn't really need 'em. Nitschke didn't. Butkus didn't. Ditka didn't. Starr, Taylor, Hornung....didn't. But these days, it's different.
Roger Renrick is familiar with the prevalence of guns among professional athletes. A former Boston police officer, Renrick is now a bodyguard who has worked for Paul Pierce, Antoine Walker and Jalen Rose. Renrick describes gun ownership among NBA players as "very common."
"I would probably say close to 60 percent," he said.
New England Patriots wide receiver Jabar Gaffney, a gun owner himself, said he thinks 90 percent of NFL players have firearms.
"Lots of guys I know have weapons either in their house or, in places where you can carry it, they have a permit to carry it," Gaffney said.
Some athletes own guns for hunting, but most athletes who carry guns do so for self-protection.
..."Athletes are not carrying a gun just to carry a gun and to say, 'Yeah, I carry a gun,'" Williams said. "They are carrying guns to protect and defend themselves."
Williams maintains that the dangers faced by professional athletes are real.
"A lot of criminals, they will look at you like, 'Shoot, let's follow him home. Let's see where he lives. Let's see if we can get him for his jewelry, his watch, his car.' You never know what is out there," Williams said.
As high-profile figures in society, many athletes claim they are targets, citing their wealth and prominence as reasons to be wary.
Of course, some of them are complete idiots with the terminology:
Houston Astros outfielder Luke Scott slammed an ammo clip into his .45-caliber Glock handgun, assumed the ready position and fired off 10 successive shots in 2.5 seconds, causing shell casings to fly in every direction.
"That's a clip," Scott said matter-of-factly as he looked up, emptied the cartridge from his handgun and slid the weapon into his front pocket.
'S OK. So is the reporter.
Roger Renrick is familiar with the prevalence of guns among professional athletes. A former Boston police officer, Renrick is now a bodyguard who has worked for Paul Pierce, Antoine Walker and Jalen Rose. Renrick describes gun ownership among NBA players as "very common."
"I would probably say close to 60 percent," he said.
New England Patriots wide receiver Jabar Gaffney, a gun owner himself, said he thinks 90 percent of NFL players have firearms.
"Lots of guys I know have weapons either in their house or, in places where you can carry it, they have a permit to carry it," Gaffney said.
Some athletes own guns for hunting, but most athletes who carry guns do so for self-protection.
..."Athletes are not carrying a gun just to carry a gun and to say, 'Yeah, I carry a gun,'" Williams said. "They are carrying guns to protect and defend themselves."
Williams maintains that the dangers faced by professional athletes are real.
"A lot of criminals, they will look at you like, 'Shoot, let's follow him home. Let's see where he lives. Let's see if we can get him for his jewelry, his watch, his car.' You never know what is out there," Williams said.
As high-profile figures in society, many athletes claim they are targets, citing their wealth and prominence as reasons to be wary.
Of course, some of them are complete idiots with the terminology:
Houston Astros outfielder Luke Scott slammed an ammo clip into his .45-caliber Glock handgun, assumed the ready position and fired off 10 successive shots in 2.5 seconds, causing shell casings to fly in every direction.
"That's a clip," Scott said matter-of-factly as he looked up, emptied the cartridge from his handgun and slid the weapon into his front pocket.
'S OK. So is the reporter.
Cuckoo's Nest Christmas
Compiled by Nurse Rached, stolen from Modern Commentaries:
1) Schizophrenia: Do You Hear What I Hear, the Voices, the Voices?
2) Amnesia: I Don't Remember If I'll Be Home for Christmas
3) Narcissistic: Hark the Herald Angels Sing About Me
4) Manic: Deck The Halls and Walls and House and Lawn and Streets and Stores and Office and Town and Cars and Buses and Trucks and Trees and Fire Hydrants and...........
5) Multiple Personality Disorder: We Three Queens Disoriented Are
6) Paranoid: Santa Claus Is Coming to Get Us
7) Borderline Personality Disorder: You Better Watch Out, You Better Not Shout, I'm Gonna Cry, and I'll Not Tell You Why
8) Full Personality Disorder: Thoughts of Roasting You On an Open Fire
9) Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells
10) Agoraphobia: I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day But Wouldn't Leave My House
11) Senile Dementia: Walking In a Winter Wonderland Miles from My House in My Slippers and Robe
12) Oppositional Defiant Disorder: I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus So I Burned Down the House
13) Social Anxiety Disorder: Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas While I Sit Here and Hyperventilate
4) Attention Deficit Disorder: We Wish You......Hey Look!! It's Snowing!!!
1) Schizophrenia: Do You Hear What I Hear, the Voices, the Voices?
2) Amnesia: I Don't Remember If I'll Be Home for Christmas
3) Narcissistic: Hark the Herald Angels Sing About Me
4) Manic: Deck The Halls and Walls and House and Lawn and Streets and Stores and Office and Town and Cars and Buses and Trucks and Trees and Fire Hydrants and...........
5) Multiple Personality Disorder: We Three Queens Disoriented Are
6) Paranoid: Santa Claus Is Coming to Get Us
7) Borderline Personality Disorder: You Better Watch Out, You Better Not Shout, I'm Gonna Cry, and I'll Not Tell You Why
8) Full Personality Disorder: Thoughts of Roasting You On an Open Fire
9) Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells
10) Agoraphobia: I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day But Wouldn't Leave My House
11) Senile Dementia: Walking In a Winter Wonderland Miles from My House in My Slippers and Robe
12) Oppositional Defiant Disorder: I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus So I Burned Down the House
13) Social Anxiety Disorder: Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas While I Sit Here and Hyperventilate
4) Attention Deficit Disorder: We Wish You......Hey Look!! It's Snowing!!!
Next Year's GDP: So-So, but Positive
Courtesy of Calculated Risk, the Northern Trust's forecast:
Currently Northern Trust is forecasting 1.6% real annualized GDP growth in Q4, ['06] and 1.8%, 2.0%, 2.4% and 3.0% for each successive quarter in 2007. This is a forecast for sluggish growth in 2007, without a recession, and is similar to the Anderson forecast.
The rest of the entry focuses on housing values. CR is not an optimist; 2008 could have even less growth than '07.
Currently Northern Trust is forecasting 1.6% real annualized GDP growth in Q4, ['06] and 1.8%, 2.0%, 2.4% and 3.0% for each successive quarter in 2007. This is a forecast for sluggish growth in 2007, without a recession, and is similar to the Anderson forecast.
The rest of the entry focuses on housing values. CR is not an optimist; 2008 could have even less growth than '07.
...and Absolute Power Corrupts...(Ethanol, Anyone?)
Think you're paying a lot for milk?
You probably are.
The WaPost ran a story (HT Betsy's Page) which shows you that the Big Ag boys, in this case Dean Foods, are perfectly happy to screw you out of whatever they can get.
Moreover, it shows you why giving legislators power eventually results in...corruption.
In the summer of 2003, shoppers in Southern California began getting a break on the price of milk.
A maverick dairyman named Hein Hettinga started bottling his own milk and selling it for as much as 20 cents a gallon less than the competition, exercising his right to work outside the rigid system that has controlled U.S. milk production for almost 70 years. Soon the effects were rippling through the state, helping to hold down retail prices at supermarkets and warehouse stores.
That was when a coalition of giant milk companies and dairies, along with their congressional allies, decided to crush Hettinga's initiative. For three years, the milk lobby spent millions of dollars on lobbying and campaign contributions and made deals with lawmakers, including incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.).
...Business groups, fiscal conservatives and some dairy organizations have called for Congress to overhaul the complex system of protections and subsidies, which they say is costly to taxpayers and consumers. A recent USDA study acknowledged that "dairy programs raise the retail price" of milk. The watchdog group Citizens Against Government Waste estimates that the programs cost U.S. consumers at least $1.5 billion a year.
Bet you never knew that Harry Reid tried to exempt Nevada from milk-cost-regulations, eh?
...Kyl agreed to back removing all of Nevada from federal milk regulation, and Reid agreed to support legislation cracking down on Hettinga and protecting Arizona dairies from competition from low-priced Nevada milk.
That legislation didn't make it. But there's a lot more to the story:
But the big milk producers and dairy trade groups were already at work in Washington. Through its employees and political action committee, Dean Foods, with nearly 100 plants around the country, spent more than $600,000 on political contributions in 2005 and 2006, including $5,000 to Kyl and $3,000 to Nunes. Reid got $5,000 in 2004.
Eight groups with an interest in the legislation reported overall lobbying spending of more than $5 million in 2005 and the first half of 2006. Dean Foods reported spending almost $2.5 million, including $500,000 for outside lobbyists.
You recall Herbie (the Dairy Queen) Kohl BRAGGING about getting this bill passsed?
Reid made his move on Dec. 16, with the Senate chamber nearly empty. He brought up the milk bill, which passed a few minutes later by "unanimous consent," a procedure that requires no debate or roll call vote if both political parties agree. Reid and Kyl said in recent statements that their goal was to level the playing field for milk producers.
In late March, Boehner placed the bill on a special docket usually reserved for uncontroversial measures such as naming post offices.
It passed...
Hettinga vowed to keep supplying his customers in Arizona and California even though the new law required him to pay the Arizona pool what he said was a "crippling" sum of up to $400,000 a month.
Watch Big Ag Corn-A-Hol you in the Wisconsin Legislature during 2007--at least you'll know how they do it. And, by the way, Jim Sensenbrenner has greased the skids to Corn-A-Hol the entire country.
Ain't it wonderful to have Big Government helping you?
You probably are.
The WaPost ran a story (HT Betsy's Page) which shows you that the Big Ag boys, in this case Dean Foods, are perfectly happy to screw you out of whatever they can get.
Moreover, it shows you why giving legislators power eventually results in...corruption.
In the summer of 2003, shoppers in Southern California began getting a break on the price of milk.
A maverick dairyman named Hein Hettinga started bottling his own milk and selling it for as much as 20 cents a gallon less than the competition, exercising his right to work outside the rigid system that has controlled U.S. milk production for almost 70 years. Soon the effects were rippling through the state, helping to hold down retail prices at supermarkets and warehouse stores.
That was when a coalition of giant milk companies and dairies, along with their congressional allies, decided to crush Hettinga's initiative. For three years, the milk lobby spent millions of dollars on lobbying and campaign contributions and made deals with lawmakers, including incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.).
...Business groups, fiscal conservatives and some dairy organizations have called for Congress to overhaul the complex system of protections and subsidies, which they say is costly to taxpayers and consumers. A recent USDA study acknowledged that "dairy programs raise the retail price" of milk. The watchdog group Citizens Against Government Waste estimates that the programs cost U.S. consumers at least $1.5 billion a year.
Bet you never knew that Harry Reid tried to exempt Nevada from milk-cost-regulations, eh?
...Kyl agreed to back removing all of Nevada from federal milk regulation, and Reid agreed to support legislation cracking down on Hettinga and protecting Arizona dairies from competition from low-priced Nevada milk.
That legislation didn't make it. But there's a lot more to the story:
But the big milk producers and dairy trade groups were already at work in Washington. Through its employees and political action committee, Dean Foods, with nearly 100 plants around the country, spent more than $600,000 on political contributions in 2005 and 2006, including $5,000 to Kyl and $3,000 to Nunes. Reid got $5,000 in 2004.
Eight groups with an interest in the legislation reported overall lobbying spending of more than $5 million in 2005 and the first half of 2006. Dean Foods reported spending almost $2.5 million, including $500,000 for outside lobbyists.
You recall Herbie (the Dairy Queen) Kohl BRAGGING about getting this bill passsed?
Reid made his move on Dec. 16, with the Senate chamber nearly empty. He brought up the milk bill, which passed a few minutes later by "unanimous consent," a procedure that requires no debate or roll call vote if both political parties agree. Reid and Kyl said in recent statements that their goal was to level the playing field for milk producers.
In late March, Boehner placed the bill on a special docket usually reserved for uncontroversial measures such as naming post offices.
It passed...
Hettinga vowed to keep supplying his customers in Arizona and California even though the new law required him to pay the Arizona pool what he said was a "crippling" sum of up to $400,000 a month.
Watch Big Ag Corn-A-Hol you in the Wisconsin Legislature during 2007--at least you'll know how they do it. And, by the way, Jim Sensenbrenner has greased the skids to Corn-A-Hol the entire country.
Ain't it wonderful to have Big Government helping you?
Saturday, December 09, 2006
M E W vs. Consumer Spending
"M E W" is the acronym for Mortgage Equity Withdrawal--the money spent on stuff OTHER than the house, improvements to the house, and associated costs of obtaining the mortgage (points, real-estate fees, etc.)
Got it?
Good.
Well, maybe not-so-good--as MEW has been trending down, sharply, in the past couple of quarters.
The creator of the above graph admits that it is not necessarily precise--the calculations are based on 'pretty-close-to-reality' numbers, but some of the key component numbers are almost impossible to determine. However, the graph seems to comport with what we already know--it passes the 'smell test.'
It ain't good news, however.
HT: Calculated Risk
UPDATED Some Good News on Healthcare Savings!!!
Cong. Paul Ryan (R, WI) keeps whacking away at solutions to health-care costs.
Another of his proposals has passed the House (and now waits for Senate approval, which must happen before the end of this calendar year to take effect.)
Write/call/email Kohl and Feingold!!!
Here's an interesting portion of the bill's contents:
Allows employees to fund HSAs with Flexible Spending Account (FSA) and Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA) funds.
Today, unused FSA benefits expire two and a half months after the end of a year. [The infamous "use it or lose it" provision which forces FlexSpending users to underestimate actual expense needs...] [and] HRAs are employer arrangements which allow employees to draw against employer resources.
Under current law, neither account may be used to fund an HSA, nor do FSAs and HRAs belong to the employee as HSAs do. As a result, employees may lose FSA and HRA benefits.
Under this bill, employees would have the ability to start an HSA by making a one-time tax-free transfer of FSA and HRA amounts in their accounts as of September 21, 2006 to an HSA which would belong to the employee. The transfer must be made before January 1, 2012.
So if you over-estimated your health expense requirements and have (say) $500.00 or $1,000.00 left over at the end of the year, you no longer have to give it up; you can simply open an HSA account with the leftover cash.
The money in the HSA would be yours to use for any health-related expenses not covered by insurance, and you can keep it through retirement. Same goes for HRA contributions made by your employer--they could be converted to an HSA in your own name.
Folks, this could be big money over a few years. Typical HRA contributions (which are made by your employer) are $1,000.+/year. If you and your family are reasonably healthy during 15 years of employment, you could have a nice $10K++ (or even more) fund 'on the side' for otherwise un-covered health expenses.
Repeat: call/write/email Sens. Kohl & Feingold.
UPDATE: Hard to tell what's happened here. HR 6408, the bill in question, was referred to the Senate. A large lump of legislation was passed by the Senate, but we don't know if 6408 was part of it:
In its last hours of GOP control, Congress passed a raft of bills big and small, most significantly a sweeping bill reviving expired tax breaks, extending trade benefits for developing countries and protecting doctors from a big cut in Medicare payments.
The legislation was then bundled and sent to the Senate for a single vote, where its popularity easily vanquished a handful of GOP opponents...
Maybe Thomas will have the results on Monday.
Another of his proposals has passed the House (and now waits for Senate approval, which must happen before the end of this calendar year to take effect.)
Write/call/email Kohl and Feingold!!!
Here's an interesting portion of the bill's contents:
Allows employees to fund HSAs with Flexible Spending Account (FSA) and Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA) funds.
Today, unused FSA benefits expire two and a half months after the end of a year. [The infamous "use it or lose it" provision which forces FlexSpending users to underestimate actual expense needs...] [and] HRAs are employer arrangements which allow employees to draw against employer resources.
Under current law, neither account may be used to fund an HSA, nor do FSAs and HRAs belong to the employee as HSAs do. As a result, employees may lose FSA and HRA benefits.
Under this bill, employees would have the ability to start an HSA by making a one-time tax-free transfer of FSA and HRA amounts in their accounts as of September 21, 2006 to an HSA which would belong to the employee. The transfer must be made before January 1, 2012.
So if you over-estimated your health expense requirements and have (say) $500.00 or $1,000.00 left over at the end of the year, you no longer have to give it up; you can simply open an HSA account with the leftover cash.
The money in the HSA would be yours to use for any health-related expenses not covered by insurance, and you can keep it through retirement. Same goes for HRA contributions made by your employer--they could be converted to an HSA in your own name.
Folks, this could be big money over a few years. Typical HRA contributions (which are made by your employer) are $1,000.+/year. If you and your family are reasonably healthy during 15 years of employment, you could have a nice $10K++ (or even more) fund 'on the side' for otherwise un-covered health expenses.
Repeat: call/write/email Sens. Kohl & Feingold.
UPDATE: Hard to tell what's happened here. HR 6408, the bill in question, was referred to the Senate. A large lump of legislation was passed by the Senate, but we don't know if 6408 was part of it:
In its last hours of GOP control, Congress passed a raft of bills big and small, most significantly a sweeping bill reviving expired tax breaks, extending trade benefits for developing countries and protecting doctors from a big cut in Medicare payments.
The legislation was then bundled and sent to the Senate for a single vote, where its popularity easily vanquished a handful of GOP opponents...
Maybe Thomas will have the results on Monday.
Jobs Numbers--Behind the Noise
Yah, well, "jobs are up."
Unless you're in manufacturing or construction.
Retail added 20,000 jobs; "education and health services" added 41,000; "leisure and hospitality" added 31,000; "government" added 18,000. "Professional services" added 43,000. (Think H&R Block.)
Construction was negative 29,000 (the housing slump--and it will get worse) and manufacturing was negative 15,000.
From Q2 to Q3, Manufacturing and Construction lost 500,000 jobs. Education/Health, Leisure/Hospitality, and Government categories added 260,000 in the same period.
Unless you're in manufacturing or construction.
Retail added 20,000 jobs; "education and health services" added 41,000; "leisure and hospitality" added 31,000; "government" added 18,000. "Professional services" added 43,000. (Think H&R Block.)
Construction was negative 29,000 (the housing slump--and it will get worse) and manufacturing was negative 15,000.
From Q2 to Q3, Manufacturing and Construction lost 500,000 jobs. Education/Health, Leisure/Hospitality, and Government categories added 260,000 in the same period.
Friday, December 08, 2006
Ha'aretz v. Pius XII
As the linked article at First Things points out, bashing Pius XII's supposed 'inactivity' regarding the Holocaust during WWII is almost like 'whack-a-mole.' One distortion appears and gets corrected, only for another one to appear, etc., etc.
So the latest one appeared, published in Ha'aretz. The author claims that Cdl. Roncalli (later Pope John XXIII), as Vatican emissary, privately complained about Pius XII's lack of actions.
Maybe. More likely not:
Much of this new attack on Pius depends on the timing of the Auschwitz Protocols. Barlas and Roncalli were not alone in receiving the report: It was widely distributed among diplomats and political leaders—and one portion was actually conveyed to the O.S.S. in 1943, meaning the Allies had a sense of it a full year before any Vatican official knew about it.
A key part of Porat’s use of Barlas involves the claim that the Vatican received the Auschwitz Protocols in May 1944, rather than in October, as scholars had believed till now. But, as the Czech historian Miroslav Kárný notes, not Roncalli but Giuseppe Burzio, a Vatican official in Bratislava, sent the Auschwitz Protocols on May 22, but the report did not arrive at the Vatican until the second half of October, as the official Vatican edition of the document shows.
...The only document from Roncalli at the time recorded in Actes et Document is dated June 29, 1944, and was sent to Bernardini in Berne, who then forwarded it to Maglione: a request for the Holy See to do something in favor of the Hungarian Jews. But already, five days before this plea, on June 25, 1944, Pius XII had sent his open telegram to Admiral Horthy: “We are being beseeched in various quarters to do everything in our power in order that, in this noble and chivalrous nation, the sufferings, already so heavy, endured by a large number of unfortunate people,...
Even before that, on June 2, 1944, in an address to the College of Cardinals, Pius XII declared: “To one sole goal our thoughts are turned, night and day: How may it be possible to abolish such acute suffering, coming to the relief of all without distinction of nationality and race, and how we may help toward restoring peace at last to tortured humanity.” The allocution was published on the front-page of L’Osservatore Romano the following day—almost a month before the alleged Barlas-Roncalli activity. As William Doino asks in his analysis of the Haaretz article: “This is indifference? This is silence?”
Pius XII did not have tanks or troops--but he had (and used) Church offices, convents, rectories, and even falsified Baptismal records, all over Europe, to assist persecuted Jews in escaping from the Nazis.
It's likely that Roncalli's quoted comments were 'politically made,' assuaging some parties--while at the same time Roncalli knew that Pius XII was doing as much as possible.
It would be nice if people would simply get off Pius' case.
So the latest one appeared, published in Ha'aretz. The author claims that Cdl. Roncalli (later Pope John XXIII), as Vatican emissary, privately complained about Pius XII's lack of actions.
Maybe. More likely not:
Much of this new attack on Pius depends on the timing of the Auschwitz Protocols. Barlas and Roncalli were not alone in receiving the report: It was widely distributed among diplomats and political leaders—and one portion was actually conveyed to the O.S.S. in 1943, meaning the Allies had a sense of it a full year before any Vatican official knew about it.
A key part of Porat’s use of Barlas involves the claim that the Vatican received the Auschwitz Protocols in May 1944, rather than in October, as scholars had believed till now. But, as the Czech historian Miroslav Kárný notes, not Roncalli but Giuseppe Burzio, a Vatican official in Bratislava, sent the Auschwitz Protocols on May 22, but the report did not arrive at the Vatican until the second half of October, as the official Vatican edition of the document shows.
...The only document from Roncalli at the time recorded in Actes et Document is dated June 29, 1944, and was sent to Bernardini in Berne, who then forwarded it to Maglione: a request for the Holy See to do something in favor of the Hungarian Jews. But already, five days before this plea, on June 25, 1944, Pius XII had sent his open telegram to Admiral Horthy: “We are being beseeched in various quarters to do everything in our power in order that, in this noble and chivalrous nation, the sufferings, already so heavy, endured by a large number of unfortunate people,...
Even before that, on June 2, 1944, in an address to the College of Cardinals, Pius XII declared: “To one sole goal our thoughts are turned, night and day: How may it be possible to abolish such acute suffering, coming to the relief of all without distinction of nationality and race, and how we may help toward restoring peace at last to tortured humanity.” The allocution was published on the front-page of L’Osservatore Romano the following day—almost a month before the alleged Barlas-Roncalli activity. As William Doino asks in his analysis of the Haaretz article: “This is indifference? This is silence?”
Pius XII did not have tanks or troops--but he had (and used) Church offices, convents, rectories, and even falsified Baptismal records, all over Europe, to assist persecuted Jews in escaping from the Nazis.
It's likely that Roncalli's quoted comments were 'politically made,' assuaging some parties--while at the same time Roncalli knew that Pius XII was doing as much as possible.
It would be nice if people would simply get off Pius' case.
Madistan Pols: May Become History
While The Conservative Revolution isn't going to happen soon in Madistan, there's a chance:
For the first time in recent history, the 2007 spring elections will fall in the middle of the University of Wisconsin's spring break.
Spring recess at UW begins March 31 and ends April 8 next semester, while the spring elections always occur on the first Tuesday in April.
And City Council President Austin King said this is the first time in recent memory that UW‚'s spring break has lasted through the first week of April, and the only time since his time in Madison that students will not be present for Election Day.
"That's like scheduling Election Day on a student holiday," King said. "This is going to disenfranchise thousands and thousands of voters."
"Disenfranchise"? Puuuhhhhhllllleeeeeeeeeeeze.
As Jenna points out, this might actually EN-franchise genuine Madistan residents...
HT: RightOfftheShore
For the first time in recent history, the 2007 spring elections will fall in the middle of the University of Wisconsin's spring break.
Spring recess at UW begins March 31 and ends April 8 next semester, while the spring elections always occur on the first Tuesday in April.
And City Council President Austin King said this is the first time in recent memory that UW‚'s spring break has lasted through the first week of April, and the only time since his time in Madison that students will not be present for Election Day.
"That's like scheduling Election Day on a student holiday," King said. "This is going to disenfranchise thousands and thousands of voters."
"Disenfranchise"? Puuuhhhhhllllleeeeeeeeeeeze.
As Jenna points out, this might actually EN-franchise genuine Madistan residents...
HT: RightOfftheShore
The REST of the Story
You may have heard that a Muslim woman has sued Fitness USA because 'the woman was "disturbed" while at prayer by another Fitness USA patroness.'
Umnhhhh...there's a bit more to the story (surprise!!)
According to Jodi Berry, executive director of Fitness USA, Wardeh Sultan was praying in front of another member’s locker when the member wanted access to her belongings inside the locker. The inconvenienced patron tried to interrupt Ms. Sultan, but she remained prostrate in front of the locker and an altercation ensued.
OH...you mean that the other woman didn't exactly "randomly" start a fight?
Umnhhhh...there's a bit more to the story (surprise!!)
According to Jodi Berry, executive director of Fitness USA, Wardeh Sultan was praying in front of another member’s locker when the member wanted access to her belongings inside the locker. The inconvenienced patron tried to interrupt Ms. Sultan, but she remained prostrate in front of the locker and an altercation ensued.
OH...you mean that the other woman didn't exactly "randomly" start a fight?
Airline "Incidents": How Many ARE There?
JunkYard raises an interesting question--just how many Minneapolis-like "incidents" are there around the US?
Naturally, airlines aren't telling, and Homeland Security isn't telling.
Naturally, airlines aren't telling, and Homeland Security isn't telling.
Stop Drinking the Water!
Our ineffably condescending Federal Gummint (along with WI DNR) has determined that you are in danger of death or serious illness if you drink water in the following Wisconsin communities:
Allenton, Allouez, April Aire Mobile Home Park in Menasha, Arbors Water System Trust in Delafield, Belleview, Brookfield, DePere, Eagle, Ethan Allen School in the Town of Delafield, Fond du Lac, Forest Junction, Germantown, Hartford, Howard, Johnson Creek, Lake Meadows Water Trust in Waukesha, Ledgeview in Brown County, Mary Hill Park Sanitary District in Fond du Lac, New Berlin, Peshtigo, the City of Pewaukee, Village of Pewaukee, Princeton, Southern Wisconsin Center in Union Grove, Sussex, Tomah, Union Grove, Waterford and Waukesha.
Although this may come as a complete surprise to the hundreds of thousands of people who lived and worked in those areas and who successfully lived full and productive lives, Your Gummint has determined that all that is just....history. Meaningless. Tripe.
Please erase "history" from your files and begin anew.
Stop drinking water immediately. Go to the nearest "safe" water source for your drinking-water needs. Bring your toothbrush along.
That is all.
Allenton, Allouez, April Aire Mobile Home Park in Menasha, Arbors Water System Trust in Delafield, Belleview, Brookfield, DePere, Eagle, Ethan Allen School in the Town of Delafield, Fond du Lac, Forest Junction, Germantown, Hartford, Howard, Johnson Creek, Lake Meadows Water Trust in Waukesha, Ledgeview in Brown County, Mary Hill Park Sanitary District in Fond du Lac, New Berlin, Peshtigo, the City of Pewaukee, Village of Pewaukee, Princeton, Southern Wisconsin Center in Union Grove, Sussex, Tomah, Union Grove, Waterford and Waukesha.
Although this may come as a complete surprise to the hundreds of thousands of people who lived and worked in those areas and who successfully lived full and productive lives, Your Gummint has determined that all that is just....history. Meaningless. Tripe.
Please erase "history" from your files and begin anew.
Stop drinking water immediately. Go to the nearest "safe" water source for your drinking-water needs. Bring your toothbrush along.
That is all.
Ryan: The Pubbies May Actually Get It!
Paul Ryan will be the ranking member (the #1 Pubbie) of the House Budget Committee, placed there by Pubbie leadership despite a seniority gap.
Ryan said Thursday that his campaign pitch to the panel was that "we've wandered (as Republicans) off the path of fiscal responsibility and we've got to get serious about getting back on it."
There were doubts about Boehner's understanding of the spending situation among conservatives. This should put some of them to rest.
An indirect affirmation was Petri's loss.
Petri lost his bid to be ranking member on Transportation to John Mica of Florida. Petri lost a race for chairmanship of the Education and the Workforce Committee six years ago.
Petri said party decision-makers told him his style was too accommodating to Democrats.
Yah--you could say that. Just look at the amount of pavement in Petri's district...
"Maybe I'm missing something," Petri said. "Sometimes I think you can be more effective by working with people."
The Congressman deliberately missed the point. We are not surprised.
Ryan said Thursday that his campaign pitch to the panel was that "we've wandered (as Republicans) off the path of fiscal responsibility and we've got to get serious about getting back on it."
There were doubts about Boehner's understanding of the spending situation among conservatives. This should put some of them to rest.
An indirect affirmation was Petri's loss.
Petri lost his bid to be ranking member on Transportation to John Mica of Florida. Petri lost a race for chairmanship of the Education and the Workforce Committee six years ago.
Petri said party decision-makers told him his style was too accommodating to Democrats.
Yah--you could say that. Just look at the amount of pavement in Petri's district...
"Maybe I'm missing something," Petri said. "Sometimes I think you can be more effective by working with people."
The Congressman deliberately missed the point. We are not surprised.
Thursday, December 07, 2006
Bp. Bruskewitz: Right On, Again
With one of the better pieces of punditry I've seen in a while, CWN's Diogenes brings us the word from Rome, Re-affirming (heh, heh) Bp B's actions of 1996:
Nino Ganganelli's cousin Sam (who does photocopier repair in Topeka) reads us some quotes from the November 24, 2006 letter of Cardinal Giovanni Battista "Sugar" Re, the Prefect of the Congregation of Bishops, to Lincoln Nebraska's Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz. By way of background, it's helpful to know that, in March of 1996, Bishop Bruskewitz excommunicated those Catholics in his diocese who were members of Call to Action, Catholics for a Free Choice, Planned Parenthood, the Hemlock Society, the Freemasons, and the Society of St. Pius X. The Call to Action crowd complained to Headquarters. Here Cardinal Re reaffirms Bruskewitz's declaration:
I read in particular the letter dated February 19, 2006, by which Mr. John McShane, on behalf of "Call to Action Nebraska", is asking for authoritative judgement of the Holy See about Your Excellency's sentence on the same association.
You can explain to Mr. McShane that the Holy See considers that Your Excellency's ruling in the case of "Call to Action Nebraska" was properly taken within your competence as Pastor of that diocese. The judgement of the Holy See is that the activities of "Call to Action" in the course of these years are in contrast with the Catholic Faith due to views and positions held which are unacceptable from a doctrinal and disciplinary standpoint. Thus to be a member of this Association or to support it, is irreconcilable with a coherent living of the Catholic Faith.
I am confident that Mr. McShane and all the members of "Call to Action" will understand that their line of action is causing damage to the Church of Christ.
By the way, the excommunication does not apply to members of the same groups in Milwaukee....drat it...
After all, there's good fellowship available from the KofC's around here. Why get into unpleasantries?
Nino Ganganelli's cousin Sam (who does photocopier repair in Topeka) reads us some quotes from the November 24, 2006 letter of Cardinal Giovanni Battista "Sugar" Re, the Prefect of the Congregation of Bishops, to Lincoln Nebraska's Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz. By way of background, it's helpful to know that, in March of 1996, Bishop Bruskewitz excommunicated those Catholics in his diocese who were members of Call to Action, Catholics for a Free Choice, Planned Parenthood, the Hemlock Society, the Freemasons, and the Society of St. Pius X. The Call to Action crowd complained to Headquarters. Here Cardinal Re reaffirms Bruskewitz's declaration:
I read in particular the letter dated February 19, 2006, by which Mr. John McShane, on behalf of "Call to Action Nebraska", is asking for authoritative judgement of the Holy See about Your Excellency's sentence on the same association.
You can explain to Mr. McShane that the Holy See considers that Your Excellency's ruling in the case of "Call to Action Nebraska" was properly taken within your competence as Pastor of that diocese. The judgement of the Holy See is that the activities of "Call to Action" in the course of these years are in contrast with the Catholic Faith due to views and positions held which are unacceptable from a doctrinal and disciplinary standpoint. Thus to be a member of this Association or to support it, is irreconcilable with a coherent living of the Catholic Faith.
I am confident that Mr. McShane and all the members of "Call to Action" will understand that their line of action is causing damage to the Church of Christ.
By the way, the excommunication does not apply to members of the same groups in Milwaukee....drat it...
After all, there's good fellowship available from the KofC's around here. Why get into unpleasantries?
P-Mac's Excellent Questions
Well, OK, P-Mac didn't actually ask the questions.
But he DID do the research (poached here, happily) that indirectly POSES (some of) the questions which should be asked about the Iraq mess.
From N. Kazimi, an exiled Iraqi now blogging:
“There are tens of good ideas out there for winning this war that have not been implemented and have not been debated beyond wonky military journals. It's not the number of American or Iraqi boots on the ground that matters in winning this war but rather the number of microchips used to map out and combat the insurgency. Running patrols and shooting straight is only part of what is necessary in such a modern war. Americans and Iraqis must adapt their strategies to fit the battle before they can win the battle. This hasn't been done in earnest yet, and we need to ask ‘why?’ rather than scream ‘flee, flee, the sky is falling’ in panic.”
One excellent example: why doesn't the Iraqi Gummint (or any subsidiary thereof) have a license-plate registry? They don't know who belongs to the car(s) that serve as delivery vehicles for the bombs, for cryin' out loud...
Don't all those geniuses at Halliburton have this figured out?
But he DID do the research (poached here, happily) that indirectly POSES (some of) the questions which should be asked about the Iraq mess.
From N. Kazimi, an exiled Iraqi now blogging:
“There are tens of good ideas out there for winning this war that have not been implemented and have not been debated beyond wonky military journals. It's not the number of American or Iraqi boots on the ground that matters in winning this war but rather the number of microchips used to map out and combat the insurgency. Running patrols and shooting straight is only part of what is necessary in such a modern war. Americans and Iraqis must adapt their strategies to fit the battle before they can win the battle. This hasn't been done in earnest yet, and we need to ask ‘why?’ rather than scream ‘flee, flee, the sky is falling’ in panic.”
One excellent example: why doesn't the Iraqi Gummint (or any subsidiary thereof) have a license-plate registry? They don't know who belongs to the car(s) that serve as delivery vehicles for the bombs, for cryin' out loud...
Don't all those geniuses at Halliburton have this figured out?
Reagan's Richard Allen on Iraq (et al)
Richard Allen served as Ron Reagan's National Security Adviser. He has credentials. Here are a few excerpts from an article published in Human Events which bear on the current situation.
...The most chilling series of threats is also the most opaque and most difficult to understand: Islamic terrorism, which manifests itself in so many diverse ways. It is commonplace to refer to the Middle East as a “powder keg,” and America stands almost alone in its support of a strategic ally, Israel, thought by the rest of the world to be so intransigent and dangerous as it seeks to protect its people and its territory.
I believe that he [Reagan] would not have allowed the first Gulf War of 1991 to remain unfinished. President George H. W. Bush, James Baker, Brent Scowcroft and Colin Powell all argue forcefully that to have proceeded from the success of driving Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait to invading Iraq and dealing with Hussein would have “exceeded the mandate of the United Nations.” Reagan would not have wanted to leave the job unfinished, but even had Reagan settled for leaving Baghdad intact at that time, he would not have permitted his own military commanders to allow Saddam’s troops to move freely about the Northern half of the nation, dealing with Saddam’s declared enemies in the most brutal and murderous way.
Nor do I believe that Reagan would have permitted the sham of what became a vast international conspiracy to avoid sanctions imposed upon Saddam’s regime. Had Reagan allowed Saddam to survive, even as a figurehead, he would have put Saddam in a box and put Saddam’s neighbors and our own allies on notice that if they helped him, they would face consequences from the United States. There would not have been a scandalous Oil-For-Food Program run by the United Nations.
Nor would Reagan have treated the growing phenomenon of terrorism in the 1990s as a mere law enforcement problem in the manner of Bill Clinton. Ever the realist, Reagan would have read and taken seriously the growing threat to America and its allies and would have responded with strategies and tactics to deal effectively with any prospective menace.
Interesting. He, like many other Conservatives, saw no good reason whatsoever to worry about "UN Mandates" in the first Saddam war. He would have taken SH out, right then and there. Also, the Clintonoid idiocy of ignoring terrorism or assigning the Attorney General to 'go start a criminal procedure' would have been laughed at...
So GWB inherited a few things which are causing him some trouble.
Perhaps the most interesting question can be posed in these terms: Given the facts of 9/11, would Reagan have behaved precisely like Bush or would he have done things differently?
...yes, Reagan would have struck at the Taliban in Afghanistan with all the might and force mustered by Bush in that successful venture.
[But in 2003], I was not so certain that Reagan would have chosen to invade Iraq, even based on the intelligence at hand. It is my conclusion that Reagan would have begun an unmerciful and determined squeeze on Saddam, mustered allied support in that effort, and continued to squeeze until internal events in Iraq were arranged in such a fashion as to rid the country of his evil presence.
Here, however, is the critical difference, even if all other things were equal:
Perhaps most important, Reagan began his approach to any major policy initiatives or decision by testing it against his own central beliefs. While not willing to budge from a core belief, he had the capacity to assess and incorporate the views of others, and then reformulate his thinking and even alter its course.
...What people often overlook is that Reagan was the last President to employ a genuine bipartisan approach to major foreign policy and national security problems
Unlike Reagan, who could absorb daytime insults and taunts from such a severe partisan as Tip O’Neill and then sip an Irish whiskey with his critic after hours, George Bush seems genuinely ill at ease and unable to reach across the table. Given that Bush does not possess the public qualities of “Great Communicator” Ronald Reagan, his only choice will be to seek assistance where he can find it, and that, by and large, will be dependent upon his ability to care less about a legacy and more about policy success.
It's been fairly clear that GWB's "foxhole" mentality has been very harmful. While there's no question that there IS an enemy and that GWB is actively fighting the enemy, he has not been able to articulate a "sale" to the public--nor has he been very good at co-opting the Democrats, with a few exceptions.
Perhaps his inability to "sell" the conflict has to do with his inability to clearly state the goal. Yah, dumping SH was one--and no one argued with that. It was a great victory and necessary. But beyond SH, who are "the enemies" in Iraq? And what can we do to take them out?
Most important, what's the "end game"? And WHEN is the "end game" upon us?
...The most chilling series of threats is also the most opaque and most difficult to understand: Islamic terrorism, which manifests itself in so many diverse ways. It is commonplace to refer to the Middle East as a “powder keg,” and America stands almost alone in its support of a strategic ally, Israel, thought by the rest of the world to be so intransigent and dangerous as it seeks to protect its people and its territory.
I believe that he [Reagan] would not have allowed the first Gulf War of 1991 to remain unfinished. President George H. W. Bush, James Baker, Brent Scowcroft and Colin Powell all argue forcefully that to have proceeded from the success of driving Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait to invading Iraq and dealing with Hussein would have “exceeded the mandate of the United Nations.” Reagan would not have wanted to leave the job unfinished, but even had Reagan settled for leaving Baghdad intact at that time, he would not have permitted his own military commanders to allow Saddam’s troops to move freely about the Northern half of the nation, dealing with Saddam’s declared enemies in the most brutal and murderous way.
Nor do I believe that Reagan would have permitted the sham of what became a vast international conspiracy to avoid sanctions imposed upon Saddam’s regime. Had Reagan allowed Saddam to survive, even as a figurehead, he would have put Saddam in a box and put Saddam’s neighbors and our own allies on notice that if they helped him, they would face consequences from the United States. There would not have been a scandalous Oil-For-Food Program run by the United Nations.
Nor would Reagan have treated the growing phenomenon of terrorism in the 1990s as a mere law enforcement problem in the manner of Bill Clinton. Ever the realist, Reagan would have read and taken seriously the growing threat to America and its allies and would have responded with strategies and tactics to deal effectively with any prospective menace.
Interesting. He, like many other Conservatives, saw no good reason whatsoever to worry about "UN Mandates" in the first Saddam war. He would have taken SH out, right then and there. Also, the Clintonoid idiocy of ignoring terrorism or assigning the Attorney General to 'go start a criminal procedure' would have been laughed at...
So GWB inherited a few things which are causing him some trouble.
Perhaps the most interesting question can be posed in these terms: Given the facts of 9/11, would Reagan have behaved precisely like Bush or would he have done things differently?
...yes, Reagan would have struck at the Taliban in Afghanistan with all the might and force mustered by Bush in that successful venture.
[But in 2003], I was not so certain that Reagan would have chosen to invade Iraq, even based on the intelligence at hand. It is my conclusion that Reagan would have begun an unmerciful and determined squeeze on Saddam, mustered allied support in that effort, and continued to squeeze until internal events in Iraq were arranged in such a fashion as to rid the country of his evil presence.
Here, however, is the critical difference, even if all other things were equal:
Perhaps most important, Reagan began his approach to any major policy initiatives or decision by testing it against his own central beliefs. While not willing to budge from a core belief, he had the capacity to assess and incorporate the views of others, and then reformulate his thinking and even alter its course.
...What people often overlook is that Reagan was the last President to employ a genuine bipartisan approach to major foreign policy and national security problems
Unlike Reagan, who could absorb daytime insults and taunts from such a severe partisan as Tip O’Neill and then sip an Irish whiskey with his critic after hours, George Bush seems genuinely ill at ease and unable to reach across the table. Given that Bush does not possess the public qualities of “Great Communicator” Ronald Reagan, his only choice will be to seek assistance where he can find it, and that, by and large, will be dependent upon his ability to care less about a legacy and more about policy success.
It's been fairly clear that GWB's "foxhole" mentality has been very harmful. While there's no question that there IS an enemy and that GWB is actively fighting the enemy, he has not been able to articulate a "sale" to the public--nor has he been very good at co-opting the Democrats, with a few exceptions.
Perhaps his inability to "sell" the conflict has to do with his inability to clearly state the goal. Yah, dumping SH was one--and no one argued with that. It was a great victory and necessary. But beyond SH, who are "the enemies" in Iraq? And what can we do to take them out?
Most important, what's the "end game"? And WHEN is the "end game" upon us?
Sykes' Humor--Embellished
Charlie did a public service with humor, 'splainin' the differences between 1973 and today. One item:
Scenario: Jack pulls into school parking lot with rifle in gun rack.
1973 -Vice Principal comes over, takes a look at Jack's rifle, goes to his car and gets his to show Jack.
2006 - School goes into lockdown, FBI called, Jack hauled off to jail and never sees his truck or gun again. Counselors called in for traumatized students and teachers.
But he didn't show you the 1950 reaction:
Vice-Principal comes over, takes a look at Jack's rifle, goes to his car and gets his. Vice-Principal and Jack have informal bet on target-shooting abilities, using chipmunks in schoolyard as targets. Vice-Principal wins contest. Jack pays him the 3-cigarette bet proceeds.
Scenario: Jack pulls into school parking lot with rifle in gun rack.
1973 -Vice Principal comes over, takes a look at Jack's rifle, goes to his car and gets his to show Jack.
2006 - School goes into lockdown, FBI called, Jack hauled off to jail and never sees his truck or gun again. Counselors called in for traumatized students and teachers.
But he didn't show you the 1950 reaction:
Vice-Principal comes over, takes a look at Jack's rifle, goes to his car and gets his. Vice-Principal and Jack have informal bet on target-shooting abilities, using chipmunks in schoolyard as targets. Vice-Principal wins contest. Jack pays him the 3-cigarette bet proceeds.
"Zero Tolerance": Zero Results
This is not a surprise to anyone with common sense, least of all Charlie Sykes.
A review of the school discipline research shows that zero tolerance policies developed in the 1980s to stop drug use and curtail unruly and violent behavior in schools are not as successful as thought in creating safer environments to learn. These policies, which mandate that schools severely punish disruptive students regardless of the infraction or its rationale, can actually increase bad behavior and also lead to higher drop out rates, according to the American Psychological Association’s (APA) report. Based on these results, the APA today adopted a resolution recommending ways to target discipline more effectively in order to keep schools safe while also eliminating the need for a one-size-fits-all punishment for misbehavior.
...schools are not any safer or more effective in disciplining children than before these zero tolerance policies were implemented in the mid 1980s.
...Furthermore, the evidence suggests that zero tolerance policies do not increase the consistency of discipline in schools.
...The zero tolerance policies also do not consider children’s lapses in judgment or developmental immaturity as a normal aspect of development,
OK. So what to do?
Three levels of intervention are offered as alternatives to the current zero tolerance policies. Primary prevention strategies could target all children. Secondary strategies could target those students who may be at-risk for violence or disruption and tertiary strategies could target those students who have already been involved in disruptive or violent behavior. Initial reports of these strategies show reduced office referrals, school suspensions and expulsions and improved ratings on measures of school climate
Uh...Duh...You mean watch the "at-risks" more closely and clobber the on-record offenders?
No shit, Sherlock.
HT: John Lott
A review of the school discipline research shows that zero tolerance policies developed in the 1980s to stop drug use and curtail unruly and violent behavior in schools are not as successful as thought in creating safer environments to learn. These policies, which mandate that schools severely punish disruptive students regardless of the infraction or its rationale, can actually increase bad behavior and also lead to higher drop out rates, according to the American Psychological Association’s (APA) report. Based on these results, the APA today adopted a resolution recommending ways to target discipline more effectively in order to keep schools safe while also eliminating the need for a one-size-fits-all punishment for misbehavior.
...schools are not any safer or more effective in disciplining children than before these zero tolerance policies were implemented in the mid 1980s.
...Furthermore, the evidence suggests that zero tolerance policies do not increase the consistency of discipline in schools.
...The zero tolerance policies also do not consider children’s lapses in judgment or developmental immaturity as a normal aspect of development,
OK. So what to do?
Three levels of intervention are offered as alternatives to the current zero tolerance policies. Primary prevention strategies could target all children. Secondary strategies could target those students who may be at-risk for violence or disruption and tertiary strategies could target those students who have already been involved in disruptive or violent behavior. Initial reports of these strategies show reduced office referrals, school suspensions and expulsions and improved ratings on measures of school climate
Uh...Duh...You mean watch the "at-risks" more closely and clobber the on-record offenders?
No shit, Sherlock.
HT: John Lott
Great Job, Brownie!!
FEMA sucks.
The government is squandering tens of millions of dollars in Hurricane Katrina disaster aid, in some cases doling out housing payments to people living rent-free, investigators said Wednesday.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has recouped less than 1 percent of the $1 billion that investigators contend it squandered on fraudulent assistance, according to the Government Accountability Office. Its report shows the disaster relief agency's struggles, one year after the deadly storm, to rush aid to those in need while also preventing abuse.
-FEMA could not find dozens of laptops, printers and other items that employees purchased with government-issued credit cards for Katrina disaster work. In one case, FEMA purchased 20 flat-bottom boats, but could not find two of them and lacked the legal titles to any of them.
...but we've talked about Big Government before, no?
The government is squandering tens of millions of dollars in Hurricane Katrina disaster aid, in some cases doling out housing payments to people living rent-free, investigators said Wednesday.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has recouped less than 1 percent of the $1 billion that investigators contend it squandered on fraudulent assistance, according to the Government Accountability Office. Its report shows the disaster relief agency's struggles, one year after the deadly storm, to rush aid to those in need while also preventing abuse.
-FEMA could not find dozens of laptops, printers and other items that employees purchased with government-issued credit cards for Katrina disaster work. In one case, FEMA purchased 20 flat-bottom boats, but could not find two of them and lacked the legal titles to any of them.
...but we've talked about Big Government before, no?
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
The Problem With Tommy's Regime
One of the most senior Republican conservatives around is Tom Roeser. He's unknown here in Wisconsin because he spent his time in Minnesota and Illinois. But he was a player in both States, and knows whereof he speaks.
He reminisces about a conversation he had with William Stratton (Billy the Kid), an ex-Governor of Illinois, when Roeser was VP Gov Relations for Quaker Oats and Stratton had a similar position for Associated Bank... (at the link, scroll down to "Flashback:...")
["]The pragmatists want to build a machine, want you to act like the Nazis-follow orders and leave the thinking to the Front Office. Thinking short-range, very short-range. Not any of them interested in government or government programs. Wanting a machine comes close to wanting to make money out of politics with both parties which is a key to real corruption. ["]
["]...That’s not my view of this business, build a machine. My view is: he who travels fastest travels alone and the name of this business is to travel fast: up and out and on to something else. I wanted to hire good and loyal people and move on-not build an institution. You see, I’ve never been like Daley, ["]
["]...I’d be dead if I had started a machine and he’d be a principal player in it. He’s in jail now and I’d be dead meat. That’s why I don’t cotton to a machine. The first thing you get is ambitious guys tying their kite to yours, sort of weighing you down; then you get the hangers-on, the lobbyists cutting deals in your name ["]
You get the general idea.
And that was The Problem With Tommy. Eventually the bloodsuckers attached themselves to his Administration--and predictably, some of the deals blew up in Tommy's face.
We've phrased it differently in this blog, referring to 'The Party of Government,' or to the seeming aversion to The Good of the State (in looking at machine-generated legislation designed to put off bi-partisan support in favor of making political points.)
Hurtgen, anyone?
Think of who Tommy's Boyzzz were, and where they are now, and you will know why Machine Politics is bad for all living things...but especially for the citizens of the Machine-run State.
He reminisces about a conversation he had with William Stratton (Billy the Kid), an ex-Governor of Illinois, when Roeser was VP Gov Relations for Quaker Oats and Stratton had a similar position for Associated Bank... (at the link, scroll down to "Flashback:...")
["]The pragmatists want to build a machine, want you to act like the Nazis-follow orders and leave the thinking to the Front Office. Thinking short-range, very short-range. Not any of them interested in government or government programs. Wanting a machine comes close to wanting to make money out of politics with both parties which is a key to real corruption. ["]
["]...That’s not my view of this business, build a machine. My view is: he who travels fastest travels alone and the name of this business is to travel fast: up and out and on to something else. I wanted to hire good and loyal people and move on-not build an institution. You see, I’ve never been like Daley, ["]
["]...I’d be dead if I had started a machine and he’d be a principal player in it. He’s in jail now and I’d be dead meat. That’s why I don’t cotton to a machine. The first thing you get is ambitious guys tying their kite to yours, sort of weighing you down; then you get the hangers-on, the lobbyists cutting deals in your name ["]
You get the general idea.
And that was The Problem With Tommy. Eventually the bloodsuckers attached themselves to his Administration--and predictably, some of the deals blew up in Tommy's face.
We've phrased it differently in this blog, referring to 'The Party of Government,' or to the seeming aversion to The Good of the State (in looking at machine-generated legislation designed to put off bi-partisan support in favor of making political points.)
Hurtgen, anyone?
Think of who Tommy's Boyzzz were, and where they are now, and you will know why Machine Politics is bad for all living things...but especially for the citizens of the Machine-run State.
Dumbass Crooks
Another genius crook finds out that winter has its perils:
A man entered the Mobil gas station, 401 E. North St., at 10:18 p.m., showed a knife to the clerk and demanded cash. He fled north on foot with cash and checks, Babe said.
Police were assisted by residents. The gas station employee was able to tell police which direction the man fled so officers could follow the footprints. A thermal imaging device detects heat so officers were able to tell the tracks were fresh, said Lt. William H. Graham. Police followed his footprints to the man's apartment building.
Next time maybe he'll stay on the shoveled sidewalks, eh?
A man entered the Mobil gas station, 401 E. North St., at 10:18 p.m., showed a knife to the clerk and demanded cash. He fled north on foot with cash and checks, Babe said.
Police were assisted by residents. The gas station employee was able to tell police which direction the man fled so officers could follow the footprints. A thermal imaging device detects heat so officers were able to tell the tracks were fresh, said Lt. William H. Graham. Police followed his footprints to the man's apartment building.
Next time maybe he'll stay on the shoveled sidewalks, eh?
Ethics Reform Proposal Incomplete--(Surprise!!!)
I suppose that some of these items will be helpful.
Assembly Speaker-elect Mike Huebsch (R-West Salem) said he expects a merger of the state Elections and Ethics boards to pass the full Legislature in 2007.
Even Our Governor, DarthDoyle, will get into the act.
Doyle has promised to negotiate with Huebsch and Senate Majority Leader-elect Judy Robson (D-Beloit) on a new package to merge the Elections and Ethics boards, name a non-partisan board to run the new agency and give it independent authority to investigate wrongdoing by elected officials.
• A one-year cooling-off period before former ex-legislators can become lobbyists. Now, Miller said, allowing a legislator to register as a lobbyist the day after his or her term ends "is a little too close."
• Ending the decades-old practice of allowing state Senate committees to vote by circulating paper ballots after meetings. Senators should vote in public, no matter how controversial an issue is, Miller said.
• Giving more public notice of exactly what Senate committees will be voting on, and making advance copies available. That will end the practice of senators getting only a 24-hour notice of a committee meeting, and not knowing exactly what will be brought up, Miller said.
But the money, honey? Not so fast:
Groups such as Common Cause want the state to offer larger public grants to candidates who agree to limit their campaign spending.
Common Cause wants to use tax revenues to support candidates, and implicitly stomp on the First Amendment's protection of free speech, just like Senator Feingold did with his partner-in-crime, Sen. McPain.
We'll say it again:
When ALL campaign donations are immediately posted on-line, and
When ALL "groups" making donations to politicians and their campaigns must identify their officers, directors, and funding sources by name, on-line, immediately--
THEN "reform" will be on the way.
Of course, the best "reform" is Small Government--if there's no incentive to purchase legislation, then there's likely to be less buying-and-selling going on. But for at least a few years, "Small Government" is not going to happen.
All the rest is "baby steps."
Assembly Speaker-elect Mike Huebsch (R-West Salem) said he expects a merger of the state Elections and Ethics boards to pass the full Legislature in 2007.
Even Our Governor, DarthDoyle, will get into the act.
Doyle has promised to negotiate with Huebsch and Senate Majority Leader-elect Judy Robson (D-Beloit) on a new package to merge the Elections and Ethics boards, name a non-partisan board to run the new agency and give it independent authority to investigate wrongdoing by elected officials.
• A one-year cooling-off period before former ex-legislators can become lobbyists. Now, Miller said, allowing a legislator to register as a lobbyist the day after his or her term ends "is a little too close."
• Ending the decades-old practice of allowing state Senate committees to vote by circulating paper ballots after meetings. Senators should vote in public, no matter how controversial an issue is, Miller said.
• Giving more public notice of exactly what Senate committees will be voting on, and making advance copies available. That will end the practice of senators getting only a 24-hour notice of a committee meeting, and not knowing exactly what will be brought up, Miller said.
But the money, honey? Not so fast:
Groups such as Common Cause want the state to offer larger public grants to candidates who agree to limit their campaign spending.
Common Cause wants to use tax revenues to support candidates, and implicitly stomp on the First Amendment's protection of free speech, just like Senator Feingold did with his partner-in-crime, Sen. McPain.
We'll say it again:
When ALL campaign donations are immediately posted on-line, and
When ALL "groups" making donations to politicians and their campaigns must identify their officers, directors, and funding sources by name, on-line, immediately--
THEN "reform" will be on the way.
Of course, the best "reform" is Small Government--if there's no incentive to purchase legislation, then there's likely to be less buying-and-selling going on. But for at least a few years, "Small Government" is not going to happen.
All the rest is "baby steps."
Delfs to Depart--It's a Loss
It's inevitable, but it's still not good news.
Andreas Delfs will leave his post as music director of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra after the 2008-'09 season, the orchestra's 50th.
If all goes well, Hanson said, the MSO will spend 2008-'09 celebrating the orchestra's 50th and wishing Delfs a fond farewell, and 2009-'10 celebrating the arrival of a new music director.
Delfs will conduct eight subscription programs next season and seven in his final year, down from his current 10.
In all, Delfs, 47, will have served 11 years as music director, one as music director designate and three as laureate. The widely quoted average tenure with an American major orchestra is seven years.
He wants less "Music Director" and more conducting--and he's going to let his wife, Amy, take their children through a most interesting time:
Dorian (the oldest of four children) is 14. When I was music director in Milwaukee and St. Paul, the children were small and I didn't want to be gone so much. It was the right thing at the time. I neglected the international career, but now it's time to get back in the game. I'm spending more and more time in Europe, and I need a home base there."
I have some insight into Delfs' capabilities as a musician and conductor, and he's damn good at it. His Brahms is top of the game, and his taste in "new music" does not include wierd stuff (albeit some is a little edgy.)
Best part--the guy has a sense of humor. He's a "real people."
Andreas Delfs will leave his post as music director of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra after the 2008-'09 season, the orchestra's 50th.
If all goes well, Hanson said, the MSO will spend 2008-'09 celebrating the orchestra's 50th and wishing Delfs a fond farewell, and 2009-'10 celebrating the arrival of a new music director.
Delfs will conduct eight subscription programs next season and seven in his final year, down from his current 10.
In all, Delfs, 47, will have served 11 years as music director, one as music director designate and three as laureate. The widely quoted average tenure with an American major orchestra is seven years.
He wants less "Music Director" and more conducting--and he's going to let his wife, Amy, take their children through a most interesting time:
Dorian (the oldest of four children) is 14. When I was music director in Milwaukee and St. Paul, the children were small and I didn't want to be gone so much. It was the right thing at the time. I neglected the international career, but now it's time to get back in the game. I'm spending more and more time in Europe, and I need a home base there."
I have some insight into Delfs' capabilities as a musician and conductor, and he's damn good at it. His Brahms is top of the game, and his taste in "new music" does not include wierd stuff (albeit some is a little edgy.)
Best part--the guy has a sense of humor. He's a "real people."
They're Listening, Even When the Phone is "Off"
Somehow or other, all your children know what Santa's getting them for Christmas. You don't understand...who's leaking all your most-precious secrets? Actually, you are!
Here's the explanation:
The FBI appears to have begun using a novel form of electronic surveillance in criminal investigations: remotely activating a mobile phone's microphone and using it to eavesdrop on nearby conversations.
The technique is called a "roving bug," and was approved by top U.S. Department of Justice officials for use against members of a New York organized crime family who were wary of conventional surveillance techniques such as tailing a suspect or wiretapping him.
You like that cute little Red Razr? Too bad.
Nextel and Samsung handsets and the Motorola Razr are especially vulnerable to software downloads that activate their microphones, said James Atkinson, a counter-surveillance consultant who has worked closely with government agencies. "They can be remotely accessed and made to transmit room audio all the time," he said. "You can do that without having physical access to the phone."
Yes, you CAN prevent it.
"If a phone has in fact been modified to act as a bug, the only way to counteract that is to either have a bugsweeper follow you around 24-7, which is not practical, or to peel the battery off the phone," Atkinson said. Security-conscious corporate executives routinely remove the batteries from their cell phones, he added.
Here's the explanation:
The FBI appears to have begun using a novel form of electronic surveillance in criminal investigations: remotely activating a mobile phone's microphone and using it to eavesdrop on nearby conversations.
The technique is called a "roving bug," and was approved by top U.S. Department of Justice officials for use against members of a New York organized crime family who were wary of conventional surveillance techniques such as tailing a suspect or wiretapping him.
You like that cute little Red Razr? Too bad.
Nextel and Samsung handsets and the Motorola Razr are especially vulnerable to software downloads that activate their microphones, said James Atkinson, a counter-surveillance consultant who has worked closely with government agencies. "They can be remotely accessed and made to transmit room audio all the time," he said. "You can do that without having physical access to the phone."
Yes, you CAN prevent it.
"If a phone has in fact been modified to act as a bug, the only way to counteract that is to either have a bugsweeper follow you around 24-7, which is not practical, or to peel the battery off the phone," Atkinson said. Security-conscious corporate executives routinely remove the batteries from their cell phones, he added.
Porn: The Vice With Libertarian Consent
The Catholic Bishops of the US are beginning to speak out about pornography, which is a sort-of "approved" vice to the Libertarians and the Left. I say "sort-of" because (of course) those who 'approve' porn don't exactly scream their approval from the housetops--it's more a "silent consent" sort of thing.
Of course, such 'silent consent' has consequences.
This from Bp. Loverde of Arlington, VA.
“The industry preys on the most vulnerable: the poor, the abused and marginalized, and even children. ...Those who produce and distribute pornography leave a wide path of broken and devalued men and women in their wake.”
“More and more of these victims are younger, even children. When these, the most vulnerable and innocent of our society, become victims of the dehumanizing demands of an industry willing to destroy innocence for profit, it is an unspeakable act of violence.
“There cannot be a “temperate” use of pornography, just as there cannot be a “temperate” use of hatred or racism.
It's an area in which presidential hopeful Sen. Sam Brownback also has an interest.
Senator Sam Brownback (R-Kan) organized the [2004] meeting, which revealed that internet pornography is destroying families and harming children.
University of Pennsylvania sexual trauma program co-director Mary Anne Layden said pornography addiction has similar effects on the brain as heroin or crack cocaine addiction.
At the time, SCOTUS was facilitating Internet delivery of porn to children.
Obviously, it's a Free Speech issue, right?
Of course, such 'silent consent' has consequences.
This from Bp. Loverde of Arlington, VA.
“The industry preys on the most vulnerable: the poor, the abused and marginalized, and even children. ...Those who produce and distribute pornography leave a wide path of broken and devalued men and women in their wake.”
“More and more of these victims are younger, even children. When these, the most vulnerable and innocent of our society, become victims of the dehumanizing demands of an industry willing to destroy innocence for profit, it is an unspeakable act of violence.
“There cannot be a “temperate” use of pornography, just as there cannot be a “temperate” use of hatred or racism.
It's an area in which presidential hopeful Sen. Sam Brownback also has an interest.
Senator Sam Brownback (R-Kan) organized the [2004] meeting, which revealed that internet pornography is destroying families and harming children.
University of Pennsylvania sexual trauma program co-director Mary Anne Layden said pornography addiction has similar effects on the brain as heroin or crack cocaine addiction.
At the time, SCOTUS was facilitating Internet delivery of porn to children.
Obviously, it's a Free Speech issue, right?
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Pre-Natal Genetics Testing May Be Misleading
We've all heard about the wonders of pre-natal genetic testing/screening, right? The docs can tell you if the baby's "normal," and advise you that maybe, just maybe, you shouldn't carry the baby to term because of "problems."
Not really.
Using new technology to study the genomes of 270 volunteers from four corners of the world, researchers have found that while people do indeed inherit one chromosome from each parent, they do not necessarily inherit one gene from mom and another from dad.
One parent can pass down to a child three or more copies of a single gene. In some cases, people can inherit as many as eight or 10 copies. In rare instances a person might be missing a gene.
Yet despite these anomalies, they still appear to be healthy—countering the notion of what doctors have deemed “normal” in genetics.
Ooops. So sorry.
What? You aborted based on the word of the "experts"?
Oh.....
HT: DomBet
Not really.
Using new technology to study the genomes of 270 volunteers from four corners of the world, researchers have found that while people do indeed inherit one chromosome from each parent, they do not necessarily inherit one gene from mom and another from dad.
One parent can pass down to a child three or more copies of a single gene. In some cases, people can inherit as many as eight or 10 copies. In rare instances a person might be missing a gene.
Yet despite these anomalies, they still appear to be healthy—countering the notion of what doctors have deemed “normal” in genetics.
Ooops. So sorry.
What? You aborted based on the word of the "experts"?
Oh.....
HT: DomBet
The Morons at Treasury
HT The Asian Badger, from Forbes:
Our Treasury department wins the booby prize for the way it has managed in recent years the servicing of our national debt, the publicly held portion of which now comes to $4.9 trillion. When interest rates were plunging in 2000–03, these geniuses decided to shorten the average maturity instead of locking in long-term low yields. In 2001 they even eliminated the issuance of 30-year bonds and only recently have revived this instrument. In the private sector such foolishness would have led to quick termination, perhaps even criminal indictment, for deliberately wasting shareholders’ money.
...Right now 2-year Treasurys yield more than 10-year or 30-year bonds. Yet the portion of the national debt with a maturity of more than 20 years has dropped from 12% in 2000 to 5% currently. Debt with a maturity range of one to 10 years has zoomed from 42% in 2001 to more than 53% last year.
All this would be similar to a homeowner forsaking a 4.5% fixed-rate 30-year mortgage for a variable-rate mortgage of nearly 5%.
If, say, $1 trillion of 2-year debt had been financed with 30-year bonds, the savings over 30 years–assuming no change in interest rates–would be almost $150 billion.
Of course, it all depends on your point of view. The cost of money is irrelevant to those who have the guns and can extort whatever-the-Hell they want from the suckers downhill.
How DOES GWB manage to find these folks?
Our Treasury department wins the booby prize for the way it has managed in recent years the servicing of our national debt, the publicly held portion of which now comes to $4.9 trillion. When interest rates were plunging in 2000–03, these geniuses decided to shorten the average maturity instead of locking in long-term low yields. In 2001 they even eliminated the issuance of 30-year bonds and only recently have revived this instrument. In the private sector such foolishness would have led to quick termination, perhaps even criminal indictment, for deliberately wasting shareholders’ money.
...Right now 2-year Treasurys yield more than 10-year or 30-year bonds. Yet the portion of the national debt with a maturity of more than 20 years has dropped from 12% in 2000 to 5% currently. Debt with a maturity range of one to 10 years has zoomed from 42% in 2001 to more than 53% last year.
All this would be similar to a homeowner forsaking a 4.5% fixed-rate 30-year mortgage for a variable-rate mortgage of nearly 5%.
If, say, $1 trillion of 2-year debt had been financed with 30-year bonds, the savings over 30 years–assuming no change in interest rates–would be almost $150 billion.
Of course, it all depends on your point of view. The cost of money is irrelevant to those who have the guns and can extort whatever-the-Hell they want from the suckers downhill.
How DOES GWB manage to find these folks?
Why "Naturalize Now" Is Bush's Desire
It's clear that Our President (and Senator McPain) will get their way on the immigration question.
Don't wonder why. The answer is here:
...the immigration system has no integrity! As you read the article (about the processing of up to 30,000 citizenship applications in 2005 without reviewing critical background files), you will notice that a link has been provided to a GAO report that documents the ineptitude and incompetence of USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services) in carrying out what is arguably its most serious mission, the adjudication of applications for United States citizenship.
...The point is that USCIS is running an obviously fatally flawed program to naturalize aliens, where the emphasis is on the elimination of the backlog and not on making an effort to perform a cursory review of the relevant immigration files of as many as 30,000 cases this year alone!
In other words, what's the difference? Legal, illegal--if you're a terrorist, a child-rapist, or a murderer, no problem. Just sign up here.
The cynical might ask why GWB and McPain don't simply make IRS compliance voluntary, too...except we know that it's all about the money.
HT: CounterterrorismBlog
Don't wonder why. The answer is here:
...the immigration system has no integrity! As you read the article (about the processing of up to 30,000 citizenship applications in 2005 without reviewing critical background files), you will notice that a link has been provided to a GAO report that documents the ineptitude and incompetence of USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services) in carrying out what is arguably its most serious mission, the adjudication of applications for United States citizenship.
...The point is that USCIS is running an obviously fatally flawed program to naturalize aliens, where the emphasis is on the elimination of the backlog and not on making an effort to perform a cursory review of the relevant immigration files of as many as 30,000 cases this year alone!
In other words, what's the difference? Legal, illegal--if you're a terrorist, a child-rapist, or a murderer, no problem. Just sign up here.
The cynical might ask why GWB and McPain don't simply make IRS compliance voluntary, too...except we know that it's all about the money.
HT: CounterterrorismBlog
The Progressives
Clay Cramer does provocative stuff, but he's well-informed.
Regarding 'The Progressives,' he's not saying anything radically new to Catholics (or anyone else who believes the story of the Fall):
I've read that part of why Progressives back then took that name is that they believed that the traditional laissez-faire approach to government that we generally associate with "conservatives" was based on a false perception that governments couldn't be trusted with power. Progressives believed that an evolving society required a more activist government, and that human being had progressed enough that the dangers of governmental abuse really weren't present anymore--or at least, not enough to justify being stuck in an Englightenment-era straitjacket. Certainly, the policies that they promoted back then fit this delusion. Progressives today are suffering that same set of delusions.
Ummnnnhh...yeah. Something Noonan implied about GWB's weltanschuung, too.
In effect, the Progressives simply switched one set of human beings for another set, with the faith and confidence that their set was blameless and incapable of evil. In due time, their Revolution will be quashed.
The only question is "how."
Regarding 'The Progressives,' he's not saying anything radically new to Catholics (or anyone else who believes the story of the Fall):
I've read that part of why Progressives back then took that name is that they believed that the traditional laissez-faire approach to government that we generally associate with "conservatives" was based on a false perception that governments couldn't be trusted with power. Progressives believed that an evolving society required a more activist government, and that human being had progressed enough that the dangers of governmental abuse really weren't present anymore--or at least, not enough to justify being stuck in an Englightenment-era straitjacket. Certainly, the policies that they promoted back then fit this delusion. Progressives today are suffering that same set of delusions.
Ummnnnhh...yeah. Something Noonan implied about GWB's weltanschuung, too.
In effect, the Progressives simply switched one set of human beings for another set, with the faith and confidence that their set was blameless and incapable of evil. In due time, their Revolution will be quashed.
The only question is "how."
Will Freddy Barnes, Attack-ChouChou, Attack Zinni?
Fred Barnes has always been an intellectual lightweight, but a loyal Party-Line Neocon. That way he stays on the air and gets paid for vapid columns.
Last time Gen. Zinni had the temerity to ask questions, implicitly questioning the NeoCon line on Iraq, he was attacked as a neurotic Jimmy-Carter-Wannabee wacko Democrat stooge. Rush Limbaugh led the charge, and Freddy ChouChou happily participated.
Here's Zinni today:
He said the U.S. has been unable to cope with "non-state actors" who are not constrained by the obligations that nation-states must adhere to. Such free-wheelers include Hamas, Hezbollah, al Qaeda, international drug cartels, and warlord groups.
"They don't have a capital or an organized military force," Zinni said. "These non-state actors have been our biggest problems," and the trouble caused by instability in the countries where they operate have "washed up on our shores."
Zinni did not speak much to specifics about what President Bush should do in Iraq, but more to the fact that whatever he decides to do, he needs the competent structure and plan in place to carry it out. Having the Department of Defense run the economic reconstruction, and shutting down factories just because they were state-owned under Saddam Hussein's regime, were examples of poorly thought out decisions, Zinni said.
He also said the nature of the enemy in Iraq cannot be identified as a single, monolithic force. "I defy anybody here to tell me who the enemy is," Zinni said, adding that each opposition group requires a different approach. To carry out a successful Iraq reconstruction, he estimated it would require from 5 to 7 more years and in the short term, more troops.
In fact, part of the original miscalculation was the insufficient number of troops used to try and stabilize Iraq, Zinni said. He said shortly after the end of the Cold War the military became enamored with technology, reducing the overall military personnel. "A few of us objected to this," he said. He said a study group he was a part of recommended up to 400,000 troops for Iraq, because the problem wasn't taking out Saddam, but in stabilizing the region. "These situations are manpower intensive," he said.
But the president's key mistake, according to Zinni, was in failing to tell the American people honestly why an invasion of Iraq was necessary. He said the information he saw showed that Saddam Hussein had no active program in 2002 and 2003 for weapons of mass destruction. Saddam had the ability to reconstitute such a program, but U.N. sanctions were successfully containing him. Zinni called the justification "an exaggeration that was going to burn (the Bush administration) in the end." Besides the insufficient troops and prosecuting the war on the cheap, Zinni said the administration "doomed themselves by the rationale for the war," likening it to the Gulf of Tonkin resolution which granted President Lyndon Johnson permission to escalate involvement in Vietnam.
Nothing has been as dispiriting as GWB's "floating rationales" for the war, and its continuation. Let's hope that "peace on Earth, goodwill to men" is soon erased from the Administration's repertoire of reasons for remaining.
And let's also hope that Freddy ChouChou just shuts up and stays in his kennel.
HT: American Spectator Blog
Last time Gen. Zinni had the temerity to ask questions, implicitly questioning the NeoCon line on Iraq, he was attacked as a neurotic Jimmy-Carter-Wannabee wacko Democrat stooge. Rush Limbaugh led the charge, and Freddy ChouChou happily participated.
Here's Zinni today:
He said the U.S. has been unable to cope with "non-state actors" who are not constrained by the obligations that nation-states must adhere to. Such free-wheelers include Hamas, Hezbollah, al Qaeda, international drug cartels, and warlord groups.
"They don't have a capital or an organized military force," Zinni said. "These non-state actors have been our biggest problems," and the trouble caused by instability in the countries where they operate have "washed up on our shores."
Zinni did not speak much to specifics about what President Bush should do in Iraq, but more to the fact that whatever he decides to do, he needs the competent structure and plan in place to carry it out. Having the Department of Defense run the economic reconstruction, and shutting down factories just because they were state-owned under Saddam Hussein's regime, were examples of poorly thought out decisions, Zinni said.
He also said the nature of the enemy in Iraq cannot be identified as a single, monolithic force. "I defy anybody here to tell me who the enemy is," Zinni said, adding that each opposition group requires a different approach. To carry out a successful Iraq reconstruction, he estimated it would require from 5 to 7 more years and in the short term, more troops.
In fact, part of the original miscalculation was the insufficient number of troops used to try and stabilize Iraq, Zinni said. He said shortly after the end of the Cold War the military became enamored with technology, reducing the overall military personnel. "A few of us objected to this," he said. He said a study group he was a part of recommended up to 400,000 troops for Iraq, because the problem wasn't taking out Saddam, but in stabilizing the region. "These situations are manpower intensive," he said.
But the president's key mistake, according to Zinni, was in failing to tell the American people honestly why an invasion of Iraq was necessary. He said the information he saw showed that Saddam Hussein had no active program in 2002 and 2003 for weapons of mass destruction. Saddam had the ability to reconstitute such a program, but U.N. sanctions were successfully containing him. Zinni called the justification "an exaggeration that was going to burn (the Bush administration) in the end." Besides the insufficient troops and prosecuting the war on the cheap, Zinni said the administration "doomed themselves by the rationale for the war," likening it to the Gulf of Tonkin resolution which granted President Lyndon Johnson permission to escalate involvement in Vietnam.
Nothing has been as dispiriting as GWB's "floating rationales" for the war, and its continuation. Let's hope that "peace on Earth, goodwill to men" is soon erased from the Administration's repertoire of reasons for remaining.
And let's also hope that Freddy ChouChou just shuts up and stays in his kennel.
HT: American Spectator Blog
No Crisis Here, # 10574
Actually, if Milk Carton were asked, he'd tell us that "the GUN did it."
Milwaukee police were investigating the shooting death of a 39-year-old man killed in his driveway Monday morning.
The man was found shot in a car in the 8100 block of W. Mill Road just after 10 a.m.
Police have not made any arrests and were not identifying the victim.
It is the 98th homicide this year compared with 115 at the same time last year.
See, it was a "shooting." That means that Evil Guns were out prowling, and found this guy...
Milwaukee police were investigating the shooting death of a 39-year-old man killed in his driveway Monday morning.
The man was found shot in a car in the 8100 block of W. Mill Road just after 10 a.m.
Police have not made any arrests and were not identifying the victim.
It is the 98th homicide this year compared with 115 at the same time last year.
See, it was a "shooting." That means that Evil Guns were out prowling, and found this guy...
Gary Sherman: A P-I-G Guy
Gary Sherman, who double-crossed law-abiding Wisconsin citizens on the Concealed Carry issue a few years back, establishes that he is a Full Member in the Party-In-Government.
The Party-In-Government (PIG) is the group which takes from taxpayers and gives to themselves. (D) and (R) labels are irrelevant here. You'll see why:
Sherman said it was a "ridiculous idea" to suggest that lawmakers or other elected officials shouldn't earn the [health-care-fraud] benefit. But those such as Darling could choose not to use it if they don't need it, he said.
"This is an important benefit for people, for working-class people who aren't wealthy and go into government service to serve," Sherman said. "Most people in the Legislature are perfectly honest people and don't deserve to be treated as criminals."
Leaving aside the question of 'criminal treatment,' (which should be discussed)--let's get this straight: Sherman is posing as a 'working-class' person, who deserves better benefits than other 'working-class' people.
Such as the taxpayers whose health-insurance ends when they stop working (or paying for it.)
By the way, Gary, which other "working-class" people show up for work about 1/2 the days of a year, get extra cash just for showing up, and are treated to free-of-charge trips to various resort-cities around the US at no charge?
And which other ones can lie about their "health" to collect the Pot of Gold at the End of the Rainbow?
Not the working-class that I know.
The Party-In-Government (PIG) is the group which takes from taxpayers and gives to themselves. (D) and (R) labels are irrelevant here. You'll see why:
Sherman said it was a "ridiculous idea" to suggest that lawmakers or other elected officials shouldn't earn the [health-care-fraud] benefit. But those such as Darling could choose not to use it if they don't need it, he said.
"This is an important benefit for people, for working-class people who aren't wealthy and go into government service to serve," Sherman said. "Most people in the Legislature are perfectly honest people and don't deserve to be treated as criminals."
Leaving aside the question of 'criminal treatment,' (which should be discussed)--let's get this straight: Sherman is posing as a 'working-class' person, who deserves better benefits than other 'working-class' people.
Such as the taxpayers whose health-insurance ends when they stop working (or paying for it.)
By the way, Gary, which other "working-class" people show up for work about 1/2 the days of a year, get extra cash just for showing up, and are treated to free-of-charge trips to various resort-cities around the US at no charge?
And which other ones can lie about their "health" to collect the Pot of Gold at the End of the Rainbow?
Not the working-class that I know.
Trawicki Owes Taxpayers a Document
The Sheriff of Waukesha County owes the taxpayers a little more analysis.
Seems that the County Board didn't give Sheriff Dan Trawicki all the money he wanted for staffing in the last budget. We're perfectly willing to grant that the County Board is playing politics--its Chairman is a lefty of the first water--but asking for an analysis supporting the Sheriff's request is not unreasonable. For that matter, the County's judges, who are raising a stink about Trawicki's plan (below), are not immune to political posturing either...
In the meantime, Trawicki proposes "to scale back the county's work-release program and free up to 100 inmates because of a budget shortfall"
County Board members, who approved Vrakas' budget last month, have shown interest in the sheriff's idea as a way of cutting costs.
Supervisor Kenneth Herro of Oconomowoc, chairman of the County Board Public Works Committee, said there has been no analysis presented to support the argument that the county jail is understaffed.
At this time, the Sheriff has 120 staffers in the Jail and work-release programs. Seems to me that if he wants 5% more employees, he should be able to show us exactly why.
Seems that the County Board didn't give Sheriff Dan Trawicki all the money he wanted for staffing in the last budget. We're perfectly willing to grant that the County Board is playing politics--its Chairman is a lefty of the first water--but asking for an analysis supporting the Sheriff's request is not unreasonable. For that matter, the County's judges, who are raising a stink about Trawicki's plan (below), are not immune to political posturing either...
In the meantime, Trawicki proposes "to scale back the county's work-release program and free up to 100 inmates because of a budget shortfall"
County Board members, who approved Vrakas' budget last month, have shown interest in the sheriff's idea as a way of cutting costs.
Supervisor Kenneth Herro of Oconomowoc, chairman of the County Board Public Works Committee, said there has been no analysis presented to support the argument that the county jail is understaffed.
At this time, the Sheriff has 120 staffers in the Jail and work-release programs. Seems to me that if he wants 5% more employees, he should be able to show us exactly why.
Tom Ament: Milwaukee's Enemy
The guy should actually be in jail--or better, in a set of stocks placed on the courthouse plaza.
The 2001 labor agreement pushed by then-County Executive F. Thomas Ament combined a package of pay and benefit enhancements that even union leaders acknowledged was the sweetheart deal of a lifetime. Key new benefits that gave the biggest boost to longtime, higher-paid workers were not even sought by the union.
In addition to richer pensions, and eligibility for pension vesting rights after five years instead of 10, caps were removed on cashing out unused sick leave, which gave retiring workers five- and six-figure payouts on top of their pensions. The deal also granted a sixth week of vacation after 20 years and a fifth week for 15-year employees. The day after Thanksgiving was made a holiday for all employees. Across-the-board pay raises lifted base salaries 12% over four years.
(Recall that a fairly serious recession began in early 2000. Many Milwaukee and Wisconsin private-sector companies were cutting back, reducing benefits, and/or laying off employees.)
Monthly health insurance premiums, however, did double to $80 and $100 for single and family coverage, respectively - a change that helped persuade more than 40% of AFSCME members to vote against the whole deal in 2001.
The changes made in 2001-'04, as they applied to union and non-union workers, were advertised to cost $22 million, but were actually closer to $100 million, county auditors found in 2002.
But what's $75-80 million between friends?
The 2001 labor agreement pushed by then-County Executive F. Thomas Ament combined a package of pay and benefit enhancements that even union leaders acknowledged was the sweetheart deal of a lifetime. Key new benefits that gave the biggest boost to longtime, higher-paid workers were not even sought by the union.
In addition to richer pensions, and eligibility for pension vesting rights after five years instead of 10, caps were removed on cashing out unused sick leave, which gave retiring workers five- and six-figure payouts on top of their pensions. The deal also granted a sixth week of vacation after 20 years and a fifth week for 15-year employees. The day after Thanksgiving was made a holiday for all employees. Across-the-board pay raises lifted base salaries 12% over four years.
(Recall that a fairly serious recession began in early 2000. Many Milwaukee and Wisconsin private-sector companies were cutting back, reducing benefits, and/or laying off employees.)
Monthly health insurance premiums, however, did double to $80 and $100 for single and family coverage, respectively - a change that helped persuade more than 40% of AFSCME members to vote against the whole deal in 2001.
The changes made in 2001-'04, as they applied to union and non-union workers, were advertised to cost $22 million, but were actually closer to $100 million, county auditors found in 2002.
But what's $75-80 million between friends?
Monday, December 04, 2006
Mike McCarthy: Still Have 2 Big Brass Ones?
There are more than a few who think that the Packers screwed up royally with the choice of McCarthy as The Man.
Said it before, say it again: he inherited a pretty lousy mess of pottage, beginning with a Zillion-Dollar Punter...you know the list.
He has the best QB in the league for training the kiddie corps on the OL, and one of the 5 best rushing-backs for same purposes. He has a weak D Backfield and his best player out there hasn't quite played at 100%--I think it's his frustration.
He has the best "potential" linebacker corps since Nitschke & Co., (or Mike Ditka & Co., if you prefer.) Next year, nobody will fake these guys out. Nobody.
And McCarthy has grit. He's not flopping on the floor, crying. Some men would at this stage. I think he knows what he has to do, but he also knows what simply cannot be done--this year. You know--when it just cannot be done, you just don't try to do it. No point.
Check back at the end of the '08 season...
Said it before, say it again: he inherited a pretty lousy mess of pottage, beginning with a Zillion-Dollar Punter...you know the list.
He has the best QB in the league for training the kiddie corps on the OL, and one of the 5 best rushing-backs for same purposes. He has a weak D Backfield and his best player out there hasn't quite played at 100%--I think it's his frustration.
He has the best "potential" linebacker corps since Nitschke & Co., (or Mike Ditka & Co., if you prefer.) Next year, nobody will fake these guys out. Nobody.
And McCarthy has grit. He's not flopping on the floor, crying. Some men would at this stage. I think he knows what he has to do, but he also knows what simply cannot be done--this year. You know--when it just cannot be done, you just don't try to do it. No point.
Check back at the end of the '08 season...
The AP: Lying Liars (Surprise!!!!)
Once again, the Blogosphere/FreeRepublic "smell testers" find an element of the MSM to be...lying like a friggin' rug:
The Associated Press is embroiled in a scandal. Conservative bloggers, the new media watchdogs, lifted a rock at the AP.
It has to do with the AP’s Iraqi stringers and an oft-quoted Iraqi police captain named Jamil Hussein. Problem is, the Iraqi police say Capt. Hussein does not exist. The Iraqi police and U.S. military say an incident described in an AP report - Iraqi soldiers standing by as people were burned alive in a mosque - didn’t happen. Another AP-reported incident, U.S. soldiers shooting 11 civilians, also never happened, the military says.
When the AP was forced to acknowledge this situation, it did so in a story about a new Interior Ministry policy regarding false reports. The AP buried the fact that its own false report prompted this new policy.
This non-existent "police official" Hussein was also quoted in a radio (WISN/1130) news report last week (which I presume was from an AP dispatch.) The story sounded almost (not quite) ridiculous on its face, and I felt like calling the 1130 newsguy to tell him there's a problem with "Hussein."
The Associated Press is embroiled in a scandal. Conservative bloggers, the new media watchdogs, lifted a rock at the AP.
It has to do with the AP’s Iraqi stringers and an oft-quoted Iraqi police captain named Jamil Hussein. Problem is, the Iraqi police say Capt. Hussein does not exist. The Iraqi police and U.S. military say an incident described in an AP report - Iraqi soldiers standing by as people were burned alive in a mosque - didn’t happen. Another AP-reported incident, U.S. soldiers shooting 11 civilians, also never happened, the military says.
When the AP was forced to acknowledge this situation, it did so in a story about a new Interior Ministry policy regarding false reports. The AP buried the fact that its own false report prompted this new policy.
This non-existent "police official" Hussein was also quoted in a radio (WISN/1130) news report last week (which I presume was from an AP dispatch.) The story sounded almost (not quite) ridiculous on its face, and I felt like calling the 1130 newsguy to tell him there's a problem with "Hussein."
Plant Tours Begin at 10:00, Sir
This is a good one:
A 35-year-old Oak Creek man was cited on suspicion of trespassing after he was found walking around a welding shop carrying a box of pizza and a 40-ounce beer at Delphi, 7929 S. Howell Ave., on Nov. 25.
The offbeat tourist told employees he just wanted to see what the shop looked like before it was torn down.
The Delphi plant IS an extraordinarily interesting facility, since it was involved in the manufacture of guidance systems for NASA and as a result has all kinds of neat acoutrements not usually found in (say) a machine- or tool-and-die shop.
But just walking in to see what condition the shop is in...nah.
A 35-year-old Oak Creek man was cited on suspicion of trespassing after he was found walking around a welding shop carrying a box of pizza and a 40-ounce beer at Delphi, 7929 S. Howell Ave., on Nov. 25.
The offbeat tourist told employees he just wanted to see what the shop looked like before it was torn down.
The Delphi plant IS an extraordinarily interesting facility, since it was involved in the manufacture of guidance systems for NASA and as a result has all kinds of neat acoutrements not usually found in (say) a machine- or tool-and-die shop.
But just walking in to see what condition the shop is in...nah.
Sunday, December 03, 2006
Tax Increases Have Begun
Yah, already...
The cable bill went up by 6%.
SIX FRIGGIN' PERCENT!!
All in taxes and "local" fees. Every penny of the increase went to Gummints.
And DarthDoyle, notorious proponent of killing babies, hasn't even implemented either of his Sales Tax increases.
Not the "we'll tax everything but food and drugs" sales tax increase, nor the "we just have to be fair to our retailers" sales tax increase. (Note to idiots: DarthDoyle says he doesn't like the former. He thinks you'll believe that disavowal.)
This was the Local Yokel Tax Increase--before the Local Yokel PROPERTY Tax Increase, which certainly doesn't count the Local Yokel "Now-We-Have-A-Fee-For-That" tax increase.
The cable bill went up by 6%.
SIX FRIGGIN' PERCENT!!
All in taxes and "local" fees. Every penny of the increase went to Gummints.
And DarthDoyle, notorious proponent of killing babies, hasn't even implemented either of his Sales Tax increases.
Not the "we'll tax everything but food and drugs" sales tax increase, nor the "we just have to be fair to our retailers" sales tax increase. (Note to idiots: DarthDoyle says he doesn't like the former. He thinks you'll believe that disavowal.)
This was the Local Yokel Tax Increase--before the Local Yokel PROPERTY Tax Increase, which certainly doesn't count the Local Yokel "Now-We-Have-A-Fee-For-That" tax increase.
Saturday, December 02, 2006
Peg Noonan Gets Off GWB's Bus
Aside from being a very gifted writer, Peggy Noonan also happens to be a thinker--along the lines of CSLewis, or Chesterton. "Big Picture," not inanity. That's why the last line of the speech she wrote for Ron Reagan (on the Challenger) was haunting....
"and touched the face of God."
Three feet, perfect rallentando. And of course, Ron could speak the line, well.
Noonan is still thinking big.
We were all concussed by 9/11 — we reeled — and came down where we came down. For the administration, extreme events prompted radical thinking. American exceptionalism was yesterday. They would be universalists, their operating style at once dreamy and aggressive: All men want the same thing, and we’re giving it to them whether they want it or not. Now the dreamers hope to be saved by men — James Baker, Vernon Jordan — they once dismissed as cynics. And the two truest statements on Iraq are, still, Colin Powell’s “You break it, you own it” and Pat Buchanan’s “A constitution doesn’t make a country, a country makes a constitution.” Iraq has a constitution but not a country. [Emphasis in the original.]
GetReligion blog makes a connection which has eluded the "stay there and fight until it's all better" crowd (which has yet, by the way, to define "better.")
This from Noonan's comments on GWB's second inaugural speech:
The president’s speech seemed rather
"and touched the face of God."
Three feet, perfect rallentando. And of course, Ron could speak the line, well.
Noonan is still thinking big.
We were all concussed by 9/11 — we reeled — and came down where we came down. For the administration, extreme events prompted radical thinking. American exceptionalism was yesterday. They would be universalists, their operating style at once dreamy and aggressive: All men want the same thing, and we’re giving it to them whether they want it or not. Now the dreamers hope to be saved by men — James Baker, Vernon Jordan — they once dismissed as cynics. And the two truest statements on Iraq are, still, Colin Powell’s “You break it, you own it” and Pat Buchanan’s “A constitution doesn’t make a country, a country makes a constitution.” Iraq has a constitution but not a country. [Emphasis in the original.]
GetReligion blog makes a connection which has eluded the "stay there and fight until it's all better" crowd (which has yet, by the way, to define "better.")
This from Noonan's comments on GWB's second inaugural speech:
The president’s speech seemed rather