“You should not be blogging if you are a good Christian child. Because blogging promotes thinking!” (Just click through to see what Coturnix has found.)
I’m Sorry, So Sorry…
Mel Gibson, clean and sober, and totally sorry that other people feel they can’t work with an anti-Semite: “I feel sad because they've obviously been hurt and frightened and offended enough to feel that they have to do that. Um, and it's their choice. There's nothing I can do about that."
He then passed them a peace pipe which was soon discovered to be filled with crack.
Plane Crash Update
“A single-engine plane crashed into an Upper East Side high-rise Wednesday, killing four people, raining debris on the sidewalks below and rattling New Yorkers' nerves exactly one month after the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack. Meanwhile, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press that a member of the New York Yankees organization was aboard the plane that crashed into a Manhattan highrise. And FAA records show the plane was registered to pitcher Cory Lidle.”
And here’s something rather unsettling: “Steve Coleman, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs New York area airports said he had ‘no idea where [the plane] came from.’" Also: “The Federal Aviation Administration described the plane as a ‘general aviation’ fixed-wing aircraft flying under visual flight rules, meaning a pilot was flying by visual landmarks.”
Perhaps someone who knows something about aviation can clear this up for me, but what does that mean in terms of having to submit (or not submit) flight plans, and particularly whether any authorities would thusly be aware of this plane going off-course or falling below altitude? Basically, I’d like to know if there is still some giant loophole in our aviation system that would have allowed this to happen if it had been deliberate?
There Are More Important Things To Worry About!
That’s a line that probably every political blogger has heard, especially bloggers who give any time and attention to issues like sexism, homophobia, and racism. What’s the point, so the thinking goes, of worrying about a sexist t-shirt when there are people starving in the world, or worrying about the employ of an Asian stereotype when we’re at war, or worrying about a phrase like “that’s so gay” when our very Constitution is being destroyed?
Here’s the point.
That’s Keith Olbermann, unquestionably a reliable champion of civil liberties and a nearly lone voice in the mainstream media in aggressively challenging the Bush administration and right-wing shill machine, reporting that Paris Hilton has "had worse things happen to her face" than being punched above a banner reading "A Slut and Battery."
As you can imagine, making a thinly-veiled reference to a woman having her face ejaculated on, and overtly suggesting that’s somehow worse than getting punched, along with calling that women a slut, does not sit well with a lot of women. Look, I’m about as far away as you can get from a Paris Hilton fan, but that’s beyond the pale. And I’m not only pissed off at Keith for doing it just because it’s flatly wrong, but for potentially alienating women (and men) by airing such swill, when he’s got so much other stuff that everyone needs to hear. A good message can be undermined very quickly by a rotten messenger.
That’s why it’s important to multi-task, to care about the “secondary” issues along with all the rest—because if we can’t communicate necessary messages about equality and civil rights without including expressions of sexism, homophobic and racist epithets, fat jokes, “retard,” and all the rest, the messages we send is “rights for me, but not for thee.” And no one listens to a hypocrite.
Giving Keith a pass on sexist garbage because he mostly says stuff worth hearing is thusly not a great solution. But, because he does say stuff worth hearing, I don’t think throwing the baby out with the bathwater is a great solution, either. So how about we politely email Keith and kindly request that he refrain from airing offensive and possibly alienating segments during a show we value precisely because it generally aspires to more.
(More at Feministing and Feministe.)
Plane Hits NY High-Rise
A small plane, or maybe a helicopter, hit a high-rise apartment building in NYC about an hour ago. There’s no word on casualties yet. NORAD has ordered aircraft patrol in NY, Boston, and possibly other cities as precautionary measure, although “FBI spokeswoman Christine Monaco said there was no indication the crash was a terrorist attack.”
Because I’m only half a totally calloused jackass, my first concern was whether anyone was hurt. But because I’m half a totally calloused jackass, my second thought was whether we’ll find out the truth about this attack. If it were a terrorist attack, that could undermine the administration’s oft-asserted claims that the war on terror is working, since we haven’t been hit since 9/11. And if it weren’t a terrorist attack, that wouldn’t be very useful in trying to scare people. So many reasons to lie, either way.
"A strong sense of unease"
As a television viewer who stopped watching the CBS Evening News the moment Bob Schieffer made way for Katie Couric, I take considerable pleasure in learning that stomachs are queasy at the Tiffany Network:
The falloff of Katie Couric's audience since her CBS Evening News debut "has provoked a strong sense of unease internally, according to newsroom employees. Many are alarmed that the program isn't faring better, especially after a massive marketing push this summer that included radio spots and bus ads," Matea Gold reports.
I hear that Kaopectate helps with that whole unease thing. Best to invest in Pfizer now, as CBS News execs will likely start ordering the stuff by the gross. Here's an interesting note: Couric's ratings now trail that of her predecessor, Schieffer, in his last week as anchor.
I'm guessing that Couric will probably do better as time goes on - but not by a lot, and not enough to escape third place. Too bad.
(Cross-posted.)
Two More Thoughts
Re: here and here.
1) Bush also said, when asked whether he stood by the 30,000 figure he cited last December, "I stand by the figure a lot of innocent people have lost their life. Six hundred thousand—whatever they guessed at—is just not credible." Whatever they guessed at. There’s that old contempt for science rearing its ugly head again, just in time to give a loving blowjob to catapulting the propaganda. Information-gathering using rigorous methodology isn’t “guessing.” Attempting to discredit it by deeming it so is, however, “unabashed fuckery.”
2) During the same Rose Garden press conference, Bush also said: “I do know that a lot of innocent people have died and it troubles me and grieves me. And I applaud the Iraqis for their courage in the face of violence. I am, you know, amazed that this is a society which so wants to be free that they’re willing to—you know, that there’s a level of violence that they tolerate.” I guess no one has bothered to point out to the president how completely asinine saying Iraqis are “tolerating” violence is, considering a significant majority of them want us the fuck out of their country, which would seem to signify an increasing intolerance of war-associated violence.
I Believe that Big Whopping Bags of Cash are the Future
You know, it's very heartwarming and inspiring to me that, no matter what problems and tragedies might occur in this country, no matter what hardships we may endure as a nation, we can all go to bed secure in the knowledge that the Bushes are always taken care of.
No Bush Left Behind: The President's Brother Neil is Making Hay from School Reform
Across the country, some teachers complain that President George W. Bush's makeover of public education promotes "teaching to the test." The President's younger brother Neil takes a different tack: He's selling to the test. The No Child Left Behind Act compels schools to prove students' mastery of certain facts by means of standardized exams. Pressure to perform has energized the $1.9 billion-a-year instructional software industry.Yes, the Bush name "may have helped with some sales," otherwise, it had absolutley nothing to do with it. All self-made men, those Bushes. And I find their choice of "horror flick" material to be very interesting, namely, a tariff that hurt the cotton-producing South. I wonder if the slaves that actually picked the cotton are mentioned in this little "lively horror flick?"
Now, after five years of development and backing by investors like Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal and onetime junk-bond king Michael R. Milken, Neil Bush aims to roll his high-tech teacher's helpers into classrooms nationwide. He calls them "curriculum on wheels," or COWs. The $3,800 purple plug-and-play computer/projectors display lively videos and cartoons: the XYZ Affair of the late 1790s as operetta, the 1828 Tariff of Abominations as horror flick. The device plays songs that are supposed to aid the memorization of the 22 rivers of Texas or other facts that might crop up in state tests of "essential knowledge."
Bush's Ignite! Inc. has sold 1,700 COWs since 2005, mainly in Texas, where Bush lives and his brother was once governor. In August, Houston's school board authorized expenditures of up to $200,000 for COWs. The company expects 2006 revenue of $5 million. Says Bush about the impact of his name: "I'm not saying it hasn't opened any doors. It may have helped with some sales." (In September, the U.S. Education Dept.'s inspector general accused the agency of improperly favoring at least five publishers, including The McGraw-Hill Companies, which owns BusinessWeek. A company spokesman says: "Our reading programs have been successful in advancing student achievement for decades; that's why educators hold them in such high regard.")
Anyway.
While hardly the first brother to embarrass a President - remember Billy Carter's Billy Beer or Roger Clinton's cocaine? - Neil could be the first to seek profit from a hallmark Presidential crusade. And also that of a governor: Jeb makes school standards a centerpiece in Florida, too.It's all just so down-home and innocent, isn't it? And nepotism has nothing to do with it. (I like the little jab at the Clenis with that Lincoln Bedroom comment, too.)
Neil says he never talks shop with his brothers. He attributes his interest in education to his struggles with dyslexia. His son, Pierce, also had difficulties in school, he says. "Not one of our investors has ever asked for any kind of special access - a visa, a trip to the Lincoln Bedroom, an autographed picture, or anything."
I suppose the nice thing about being the Zeppo of the Bush brothers is that no one really seems to pay the slightest attention to what you're doing.
Apparently, even with all of their "crusades for education," the one phrase that has never made it into the Bush vocabulary is Conflict of Interest.
(Tip o the Energy Dome to Crooks & Liars. You can't keep a good cross-post down.)
Edit: I can't believe I missed the obvious "cash COW" joke. I'm slipping.
The Decider Makes a Deciding
In comments, Ken pointed to this article (re: the new study that estimates Iraqi war casualties—those who have died both directly and indirectly because of the war—at more than 600,000) in which Bush offers his pronouncement:
President Bush slammed the report Wednesday during a news conference in the White House Rose Garden. "I don't consider it a credible report. Neither does Gen. (George) Casey," he said, referring to the top ranking U.S. military official in Iraq, "and neither do Iraqi officials."Quixote responded, also in comments, “Oh yes. Bubble Boy knows statistical methodology like the back of his hand. Fo' shizzle.” Which, while highly amusing, is also spot-on. Bush doesn’t know what the fuck he’s talking about. Daniel Davies offers up a response to general critiques of cluster sampling and specific objections to the previous study here (hat tip to Christopher M, also in comments), which contradicts Bush’s claim that the methodology “is pretty well discredited.”
"The methodology is pretty well discredited," he added.
As regards his attempts to dismiss the study by asserting that neither he, nor General Casey, nor Iraqi officials “consider it a credible report,” their regard for its credibility doesn’t actually matter in terms of its actual credibility. That might seem a rather obvious point to make, but too often has this administration’s opinion of something been substituted for a reality, in spite of any and all evidence to the contrary. We’re turning a corner in Iraq, freedom is on the march, the economy is awesome, gay unions undermine the sanctity of marriage, torture yields good intelligence, Terri Schiavo isn’t braindead—unwavering conviction is not the same as incontrovertible veracity. Opinion isn’t fact. And what Bush thinks doesn’t change the truth.
Go See Blue Gal
For a little bit of something that will make you shake your head, and a little bit of something that will make you laugh your ass off.
It's Been Said
So I began reading this news story, because the title made me snort:
President Says Foley Conduct Disgusting
Glass houses, Bush. Glass houses.
WASHINGTON - President Bush on Wednesday called ex-Rep. Mark Foley's approaches to House male pages "disgusting" and backed SpeakerBlah-dee-blah. It's all the usual Bush bullshit. Anything to help out good 'ol Denny (who's Bush Nickname is "Speak," by the way, whatever the fuck that means) and try to divert blame away from the GOP.
Dennis Hastert's efforts to learn how officials handled the problem.
Bush's remarks at a White House news conference came Peggy Sampson, the supervisor of the page program, was questioned for less than two hours before the House ethics committee. The panel is not only investigating Foley's inappropriate and sometimes salacious electronic messages to former pages, but whether House officials covered up Foley's come-ons.
And then, at the end of the article, amidst all the other Bush blather... I saw.... IT!!!
He defended Hastert, who said he first learned of the approaches in late September.The DOOM PHRASE! Hastert got his own "heckuva job!"
"I think the speaker's strong statements have made it clear to not only the party ... but to the country that he wants to find out the facts," Bush said. "Denny is very credible as far as I'm concerned. He's done a fine job as speaker."
If there's any justice in this world, the second those words burbled from Bush's lips, Hastert began emptying his desk.
(Thank you Mario, but our cross-post is in another castle!)
Happy National Coming Out Day
Today is National Coming Out Day. Nineteen years ago today, half a million people marched on Washington for LGBT equality and Coming Out Day was born.
In her excellent post recognizing Coming Out Day, Pam poses a few questions for straight people: Are you “out” as an ally? Are you able to talk about gay friends or relatives with others? Are you comfortable shooting down homophobes when they spout off during a conversation? Happily, I can answer a resounding yes to all three.
Sometimes people ask me why I’m so passionate about fighting for LGBT equality when I’m not gay. Here’s why:
1) I believe with every ounce of my being in equal rights. I was taught in school from a very early age, as were we all, that America was a place where all people were seen as equal under the law. When I realized this was not true for certain people, simply because of their sexuality, which has no basis for legal discrimination and the prejudice against whom is rooted in a particular and limited religious interpretation that should not have legal standing, it made me fucking mad. And I’ve stayed mad. For my country to fulfill its promise of recognizing its every citizen as equal, it must extend the same rights to the LGBT community that it extends to me. I fight as a patriot.
2) I am motivated in many things by this quote from the Rev Martin Niemöller, a Lutheran minister who lived in Germany during WWII: First they came first for the Communists and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me—and by that time no one was left to speak up for me. What I take away from this sentiment is not the fear, as might be assumed, but obligation. I am obliged to speak up for others who find themselves at the mercy of bigotry and oppression, because we are all in this thing together—and we’re stronger when we fight for each other. As a woman who is keenly interested in protecting my reproductive rights, I am as much a target of those who would seek to limit my rights based on their version of morality as are members of the LGBT community. I fight as an ally.
3) There are people who I love very much, my family by design, who are gay. Until they are no longer treated as second-class citizens, I will not rest. I fight as a friend.
Sometimes being a straight ally has meant calling out bosses, coworkers, friends, family who use homophobic epithets. Sometimes it has meant writing to my elected representatives. Sometimes it has meant challenging people’s beliefs, patiently and logically, finding an argument to which they can relate. Sometimes it has meant getting confrontational and angry. It always means being uncompromising, unapologetic, and unafraid—which is the very least I can do on behalf of a community who has shown me such a fine example of all three.
You Got No Skillz
FBI Agents Still Lacking Arabic Skills:
Five years after Arab terrorists attacked the United States, only 33 FBI agents have even a limited proficiency in Arabic, and none of them work in the sections of the bureau that coordinate investigations of international terrorism, according to new FBI statistics.Can you already predict what I’m going to say? Maybe the FBI could use the services of the fifty-five Arabic linguists dismissed by the Army for being gay. Or are they not asking and not telling these days, too?
Counting agents who know only a handful of Arabic words -- including those who scored zero on a standard proficiency test -- just 1 percent of the FBI's 12,000 agents have any familiarity with the language, the statistics show.
The thing that really got me about this article, though, was the FBI’s defense of its dearth of Arabic-proficient agents:
FBI officials said it is not crucial for agents working in the [International Terrorism Operations Sections] to know Arabic or other foreign languages, because they rely primarily on documents or interviews already translated by FBI linguists. As for agents in the field in the United States or overseas, FBI officials say translators are readily available when needed by investigators, usually within 24 hours.So they can get translators within 24 hours, hmm? Correct me if I’m wrong, but the oft-repeated reason that investigators need to be able to torture people is because the ability to extract information from them immediately saves lives. If there’s a bomb about to go off in a subway station, we don’t have time to namby-pamby around with straight interrogations. We need to stick those bitchez on waterboards and make ’em talk now. But if there are no agents on-site who can translate, how, pray tell, do we know what they’re saying?
Some traitorous liberal who hates America might suggest that sort of undermines the argument of immediacy. But not me. No sir. I’m a great American patriot, so I shall ignore all information that might undermine my unfaltering support of Dear Leader.
Why does habeas corpus hate America?
If you missed Keith Olbermann last night, go immediately to Crooks and Liars. It was spectacular.
Why does habeas corpus hate America…and how is it so bad for us?
Mr. Bush says it gets in the way of him doing his job.
[video clip]Bush: "…we cannot be able to tell the American people we're doing our full job unless we have the tools necessary to do so. And this legislation passed in the House yesterday is a part of making sure that we do have the capacity to protect you. Our most solemn job is the security of this country."
It may be solemn…
[video clip] Bush: "I do solemnly swear…"
But is that really his job? In this rarely seen footage, Mr. Bush is clearly heard describing a different job.
[video clip]…to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.
Countdown has obtained a copy of this "Constitution of the United States."
Over 600,000
That’s how many people are estimated to have died in Iraq due to the war since the March 2003 invasion.
A team of American and Iraqi epidemiologists produced the estimate by “interviewing residents during a random sampling of households throughout the country. …The interviewers asked for death certificates 87 percent of the time; when they did, more than 90 percent of households produced certificates.”
The number is startling, and of course Bush supporters are already declaring it categorically wrong.
At issue is the methodology—“cluster sampling,” which is also used to estimate mortality during famines and after natural disasters. The methodology was assailed after the 2004 estimate of 100,000 casualties, objections which, Drum rightly notes, “mostly didn't hold water. (For example, they were accused of inflating the figures by including a cluster from Fallujah, which had just gone through a horrific battle. In fact, they specifically excluded the Fallujah cluster for exactly that reason.) This time around, the figures from their new study buttress the previous one, and also match up with other data, which suggests their methodology is on target.”
The researchers are also defending their work again, by noting that “The recent survey got the same estimate for immediate post-invasion deaths as the early survey, which gives the researchers confidence in the methods. The great majority of deaths were also substantiated by death certificates.”
The thing about cluster sampling is that it is largely dependent on the reporting of people who may have something to gain by over-reporting deaths. One can imagine that in areas devastated by famine, the desire to exaggerate a death count would appeal to someone who hopes to elicit sympathy and draw attention to their plight. But researchers take such things into account—which is no doubt why they requested death certificates, and why their margin of error ranges from 426,369 to 793,663 deaths. The possibility of over-reporting is simply not a concern worthy of dismissing the findings outright.
(Bear in mind, even if the researchers were off by double, and the death toll was only 300,000, that’s still ten times the estimate of 30,000 civilian deaths cited by President Bush last December.)
In reality, the biggest problem with this number is not the methodology, but that no one wants it to be true. We don’t want to believe it, and so we look for reasons not to.
Question of the Day
If you could have any talent in the world, what would it be?
(For the record, superpowers, like invisibility, are not talents, lol.)
ARGH
Bush says Democrats would raise taxes. First of all, who knows what those nimrods will do if and when they ever take back Congress. They don’t even seem to have a fricking clue, so I seriously doubt that The Great Clueless Dictator can predict with any accuracy what the future would look like under a Democratic majority. Secondly—and more importantly—so what if they raise taxes? I’m so bloody tired of tax cuts being spoken about as if their value is inherent. It isn’t. Federal tax cuts don’t matter if they starve the federal government of revenue that we need for things like maintaining the national infrastructure. Federal tax cuts don’t matter if your property taxes double or you lose your job and hence your health insurance.
This American regard for taxation as somehow separate from anything concrete, an argument boiled down to “how much do I get versus how much the government gets,” drives me absolutely around the wanking bend. Increased taxation can be a good thing if you’re getting a lot for your money, but try telling an American that if we raise their taxes to give them universal healthcare, they’ll actually save money over the course of a year, because the tax increase would be less than their monthly premiums. You can’t get past “raise your taxes” before they’re calling you a traitor.
Pennywise and pound foolish.
