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I'm switching over to Moveable Type with an RSS feed, so I'll have permalinks. Here are my blog entries from July and before -- soon to be replaced in their old home on the side of the page.
July 1-15, 2003
June 16-30, 2003
June 1-15, 2003
May 11-31, 2003
The Holy Roller-In-Chief
Blogger and crime writer Roger Simon chokes on Bushís sinner-speak:
Bush: "I am mindful that we're all sinners and I caution those who may try to take a speck out of the neighbor's eye when they got a log in their own," the president said. "I think it is important for our society to respect each individual, to welcome those with good hearts."Roger Simon: "Sinners?... Whoa! I thought we had separation of church and state in this country. What about those of us who don't believe in 'original sin?' Hey, George, I'm not a perfect man, but I don't think of myself as a 'sinner.' More to the point, I don't think of homosexuals as 'sinners' either, just people with a different sexual orientation from me. This kind of belief reminds me of the very thing I thought we were fighting -- primitive fundamentalism. It comes from the same retrograde value system that wants to restrict stem cell research."
Iím with Roger. Iím also with gays and lesbians who shouldnít be denied the rights available to heterosexuals who can marry. (If they are, they should at least get a huge tax break for not having access to full-service citizenship.) Iím also for a registered partnership system in this country -- like the PACs in France -- which grants rights to both gay and straight people in committed partnerships if they simply ask for those rights by signing a PACs declaration.
Yes, the issue actually goes beyond gay marriage. In addition to gays and lesbians who can't get married thanks to legions of religious fanatics who think like our Fundamentalist-In-Chief, there are vast numbers of committed partners in this country, gay and straight, who are denied the numerous rights married taxpayers get simply because they donít wish to partake of the religiously based fantasy forever of marriage. ("Fantasy forever" because, for so many people who marry, the reality of "forever" frequently doesnít outlast a cheap pair of shoes.) How about some rights for us rational realists, Mr. Bush? Separation of church and state, anyone?
(via Instapundit)
Todayís Icky Press Release
Wrap your husband around your little finger -- dead or alive!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
A Forever Memorial
Memorial Diamonds are Natural Diamonds infused with the cremated remains of the loved ones. This is an Enternal Remembrance to be passed through the generations. To create this precious Heirloom, 5 grams of cremated remains are incorporated for eternity within the diamond. This everlasting memorial can be ordered at selected funeral homes in the USA and Canada. You are kindly invited to visit our website and please feel free to contact us for further information, we remain at your complete disposal.
Sincerely,
Memorial Gems Laboratories
No...please tell me they didnít just say "we remain at your complete disposal."
Eat Farmed Salmon, Get PCBs Free!
Thatís cancer-causing PCBs, and theyíre in a whole lot of farmed salmon, according to this report from the non-profit Environmental Working Group.
Farmed salmon are often fed contaminated fish food, plus theyíre fattened up, which means they retain more PCBs than those wild-swimming waif salmon. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports that some stores are taking this Salmon plus PCBs deal seriously:
Wild Oats, a 100-store natural and organic supermarket chain, based in Boulder, Colo., is not waiting for the FDA. Starting next week, it will sell farmed organic salmon from the west coast of Ireland, which it says tests as low for PCBs as wild salmon because the company uses feed made of fish taken from clean waters within a 30-mile radius of its farm.Whole Foods Market, a 145-store natural and organic foods supermarket with stores in the Seattle area, is also looking for farmed salmon with lower levels of PCBs.
(via Plastic.com)
Fucked Family Values
"It would be far fetched to argue that the Fuck family has not made its way into mainstream society," argues Colorado public defender Eric Vanatta on behalf of a boy who swore at the principal after getting caught smoking in the boys bathroom. Vanatta defends the boy with an exhaustive study of the "F-word" in these court papers posted on The Smoking Gun.
Donít miss Vanatta's chart comparing 'net hits on Fuck (24,900,000), Fucking (24,700,000), Fucker (735,000), and Mom (9,040,000). Then thereís the bottom line: "...not whether Fuck is a desirable or attractive word, or whether a juvenile should be calling his principle a fucker or a fucking fag..." but whether "the use of the words fucker and fucking...amount to criminal conduct in this particular context."
Our hardworking public defender wisely points to Cohen v. California, 1971, which allows speech (even "vulgar" speech) so long as itís not likely to lead to violence on the part of the person itís directed at. Vanatta highlights the relevant passage from the Cohen v. Cali Supreme Court decision: "...one manís vulgarity is anotherís lyric. Indeed, we think it is largely because governmental officials cannot make principled distinctions in this area that the Constitution leaves matters of taste and style so largely to the individual." (Sometimes you just gotta love those Supremes.)
Epilogue: "Sadly," The Smoking Gun reports, "Vanatta never got the chance to argue his motion before a judge. Because ten days ago he cut a plea deal that deferred prosecution of his client for four months--if the kid stays out of trouble during that period, the charge gets dismissed."
Feeling Left Out Of All The Lesbian Chic?
Come out of the closet as heterosexual! And, speaking of closets, hereís just the thing to wear for your first ìstraight prideî march. And don't forget the ugly bumper stickers to go with all your ugly new clothes. (The only thing the "movement" seems to be missing is a talented gay designer to create attractive attire.)
(via Metafilter)
Love On The Run
Inspired by the Malaysian Islamic court decision allowing a husband to divorce his wife by cell phone text message, Simon Jefferey jotted down a few of the ruder lover-leavings in an article in The Guardian:
Billy Bob Thornton
Ended his co-habiting relationship with fellow actor Laura Dern by marrying Angelina Jolie. "I left our home to work on a movie and, while I was away, my boyfriend got married and I've never heard from him again," (Dern) explained.James Brown
A "mutual decision was made by both parties", according to a full page advertisement in the entertainment magazine Variety that announced Brown's divorce from Tomi Rea. It was illustrated with a photograph of his family with Goofy at Disneyworld.John Donne
Seventeenth century poet and clergyman who was separated from his 17-year-old beloved after her uncle had him imprisoned for marrying a minor. From jail he wrote the lines: "John Donne, Anne Donne, undone."Matt Damon
The US actor dumped Minnie Driver - whom he had met filming Good Will Hunting - live to the American nation on the Oprah Winfrey chat show.
How Average Is Your Penis?
(via Lena Cuisina)
Is It BuyMusic Or StealMusic?
Musician Jody Whitesides says BuyMusic.com, the new music site thatís aping the iTunes model, is ripping him and other musicians off:
Here's what I've deduced... BuyMusic.com (which I will refer to as BM) got their "vast" music library of 300,000 plus songs from a company called the Orchard. The Orchard is a distribution company that has consistently shafted artists by not paying them for CD's sold nor returning unsold CD's or cancelling contracts. So, without the express consent of what is likely lots of the Orchards catalog, BM has put it up for sale at the bargain price of $.79 a song.So now, they can tout they're selling tracks at $.79 and they can say they have a library of music of over 300,000 songs. But what they don't tell you is that it comes from musicians/bands that were not asked for permission, and who will likely not see a penny of any sale made through BM. By their very own site policy they are committing copyright infringement. They have done this to lure PC/windows users to their site in hopes to sell the few major label aquired songs they do have, at a price that is much higher than Apple's $.99.
Note: BuyMusic.com isn't viewable on a Mac without a browser hack to turn off Javascript. (Ha! Like Mac users aren't going to zip past their lousy site right on over to iTunes.)
Tough Times For Scam Artists
You almost want to phone CollegeCamChc275 and give her all your credit card numbers. Poor dear canít even afford separate screen names for separate scams. Yes, sheís forced to use the same screen name to trick elderly grandmothers out of their credit card numbers that she uses to lure horny mouthbreathers into watching her ìstudyî nude. Here's the un-spell-checked (see ìbeliveî) Instant Message for gullible grannies I got from her come-hither horny boys screenname:
CollegeCamChc275: Hello AdviceAmy, this is Whitney Forrester from America Online's Community Actions Team (C.A.T). We have reason to belive that a hacker has gained access to your account. We need to speak with the main account holder. Please call our toll free hotline at (503) 267-3743. Thank you- Whitney Forrester Employee ID: 67170113
On a positive note, CollegeCam is clever enough to incorporate the acronym, ìC.A.T.î and the "Employee ID" number -- amping the believability of her message for anyone whoís both retarded and suffering from a recent concussion. The same goes for that ìtoll-freeî number with the 503 area code. You want to scam me, donít also insult me by treating me like a total bleeding idiot.
Whole Foods Employee Instructs Half-Witted Shoppers
My favorites from this Best Of Craigís List posting from a Whole Foodster:
*Food is for SALE at Whole Foods. On the days when there aren't samples out exactly when you get out of yoga for you to feed yourself and your toddlers and your au pair for free, you can still purchase some of what you sampled yesterday. Judging by what you drive, you can afford it.*Having ongoing, localized headaches? Oh sure, the 23 year old with the lip ring is the first person I'd go to.
*You goad: How can you work here? Doesn't Whole Foods bust unions? So don't shop here. Go bug Safeway for organic caperberries.
You Can't Read Her In The Los Angeles Times
Luckily, The New York Times doesn't seem to have any seventh-grade grudge-type compunction about publishing crack political columnist Jill Stewart's views about the Gray Davis recall on their op-ed page. (All who want Jill herself to mud-wrestle Arianna Huffington for the governor's job, say "aye.")
Flight Of The Underparented Child
Note to traveling parents: If you are at the airport in a crowded flight lounge, and I am there, too, in that same crowded flight lounge, please feel free to hurl yourselves to the conclusion that I have zero desire to hear your childís musical toy repeating the same song four hundred times while Iím waiting to get on the plane. Yes, please just take it on faith.
Gray And Grayer
Disputing the intelligence of the (California Gov.) Gray Davis recall effort, Bill Maher, on his HBO show, Real Time, says when you elect a guy you should be "stuck with him":
"Heís the governor, not some dude you married in Las Vegas."
New York, New York
Where I've been the past four days, and why blogging has been rather "lite." Here are three thousand words about my trip:
How Do You Take Your Pot -- Smoked Or In A Suppository?
Health Canada puts out directions for medical marijuana use -- from doobies (ìnot recommendedî) to doing it up the butt (one of their handy-dandy suggestions). Their pot users manual also suggests baking it into cookies as a healthier way of getting baked. (Having the Canadian national health service put out this info -- well, it's kind of like having your mother instruct you in the right way to fasten your rubber hood.)
(spotted on Reason.com)
Kentucky Fried Car
A small but increasing number of people -- including some in the U.S. military -- are filling their cars with old grease from fast food joints. According to this Wired story, theyíre "running their diesel engines off either straight vegetable oil, known as SVO, or vegetable oil that has been converted to diesel fuel, or biodiesel." (They donít mention what effect a diet high in saturated fat might have on your transmission.)
How Much Will You Charge To Get Interrupted During Dinner?
Tyler Cowen suggests on Eugene Volokh's blog that telemarketers pay to irritate the shit out of us. Good idea, I think. The cost of waking me from my afternoon nap is now $3,012.50, not including tax. Any takers?
The Kobe Wars
There's a very interesting discussion about the Kobe Bryant rape case and related issues on Kevin Roderick's LAObserved, one of my favorite blogs. Here's an excerpt from my post from this discussion:
"One of my problems with feminists (and I'm not a feminist, but a humanist) is their infantilization of women. Ted's remark calls to mind my thoughts when the William Kennedy Smith rape trial was in progress: that nobody should be raped, certainly not -- but that a woman has a responsibility to act intelligently as far as her safety goes. If you go to the Kennedy compound late at night with one of the boys, what do you think is on the agenda, checkers in the library? Come on. Again, I'm not saying anybody should be raped, or that it's not horrible when someone is. Just that women need to fight the infantilization by the feminists and expect to look after their own safety by being reasonable and sensible about where they go and with whom."
Sports Stars Need More Than Condoms For Protection
They'll probably nickname it "The Kobe Release." That would be the handy, wallet-sized legal document I'm predicting all the big sports stars will whip out for chippies to sign before they have sex with them. The document will affirm, among other things, that the sex is consensual, the girl is of age, and the only compensation sheís going to get for her troubles is a big, bad bounce on the mattress (or wherever else theyíre doing it).
Note: It's only a threesome if the notary stays in the room after the fun starts.
Film Critics As Nannies
In this Salon review of "How To Deal," Charles Taylor complains about fuddy duddy critics like Joel Siegel, who went on Good Morning America to warn parents to keep their daughters out of the new Mandy Moore movie. Why? As Taylor quotes from A.O. Scottís New York Times review: "How to Deal' is rated PG-13. Teenagers have sex. Old ladies smoke pot. Deal with it." Taylor takes it from there:
"America is willfully naive and hopelessly hypocritical about teen sexuality. We bemoan teen pregnancy rates and pretend to be worried about the threat of AIDS and then do everything we can to keep teenagers from getting sexual information or access to contraception and abortion. Trashing the already tenuous separation between church and state, we allow the religious right and other social conservatives to promote abstinence programs in schools. The abstinence advocates ignore the fact that teenagers will have sex, in hopes of instituting some Christian summer camp utopia where, instead, teens will hold hands at the malt shoppe.The result is predictable. When you tell kids that condoms are no guarantee against AIDS -- instead of telling them that condoms are their best defense against AIDS if they are sexually active -- you are tacitly telling teenagers that there's no point in using condoms. We don't tell kids who take driver's education that the only guarantee of not being killed in a car accident is to never get into a car; we give them information that will increase their chances of being safe."
Welfare For Rich Kids
You, too, can (and will) send a rich kid to college -- after his or her rich parents hire a sleazy financial planner to help them hide all their assets. The parents sock the dough into their house or an annuity, and the public kicks in for their little slackerís tuition at Brown. Sweet, huh?
By the way, I donít think those who donít have kids should ever have to pay the tuition (including that from K-12) of those who do -- unless the kids' parents are genuinely scraping the poverty-line. You choose to have kids? You pay for them -- socks, juvenile hall incidentals, school tuition, and all.
Should The "Bambi" Hunts Be Banned?
Two words: consenting adults.
Terrible Tenants Can Be Great Passive-Aggressive Fun!
In this Slate pre-vacation classic, Jodie T. Allen has a few things to say to her former renters, like:
"I don't want to be intrusive, but if your guests do get into another knife fight or whatever, it's really easy to get the blood splatters out of the white frilled curtains if you wash them in cold water right away. (You can just throw them in the washing machine, if the kids' sandy clothes haven't stripped the gears yet.)..."
Not Another Dull Request For Love Advice
It came in just after the e-mail from the panties sniffer, who was thrilled to announce:
"I recently discovered a conventional term [Barosmia] for the fetish I have and that is arousal by the natural odor of an adult woman."Oh, goody. Thanks for sharing.
At least he didnít ask me to be the Barosmia PR lady:
"Hi Amy, I am writing a novel. I am not a writer but I do have someone to assist me with the revising and some researching. I believe my novel is something you have been waiting for. I live in the city of Santa Monica and I am a low income parent with two boy. I would like to submit my synopsis to you hoping that you may be able to help me bring it to life and possibly promote my book. I guarantee you won't regret it. This book will blow your hair way back!"ME: Was there any trash you wanted me to take out or laundry you wanted me to do?
Cathy Seipp writes wittily, as always, about this sort of thing:
"...When people, especially men, learn I am a freelance writer, I seem to be wearing a T-shirt that reads: 'Let Me Be the Handmaiden to Your Genius.'"
Internet Personals For Married Cheaters
Philanderers.com
Ford Counts Backward
Ford gets worse miles than ever in its new SUVs -- contrary to its pledge to raise the fuel economy of its SUVs by 25 percent between 2000 and 2005. This doesn't stop William Clay Ford from paying lip service, in a New York Times article, to the environment and the friends and families of soldiers: "But I do reaffirm our commitment to continue to work toward improving the fuel economy of our S.U.V.'s and, indeed, to cutting greenhouse gas emissions across our entire range of vehicles." Yeah, yeah, yeah...
But, Bill...you've already raised fuel efficiency...and safety -- time and time again -- as have the other car companies. Yes, you've done it every time you've produced a new mini-van. Mini-vans are highly fuel-efficient, highly safe vehicles with a low center of gravity and a wide wheel base, making them very tough to roll over. See...you car company boys can build them safer and less polluting -- if and when you want to.
To anybody considering investing in a road-hogging, gas-guzzling, gigundo new Ford SUV: If you can afford a brand new SUV, you can afford an Insight or a Prius, or one of an increasing number of hybrid cars on the market. Just remember what to ask yourself if you do buy an enormo SUV: What's the MPG? As in -- how many dead Marines Per Gallon to fill the tank on that thing?
(NYT reg. required)
Is PETA Feathering Its Nest With Contributor Dollars?
Numbers cruncher and database detective Trent Stamp tells Allison Overholt, in Fast Company, that PETA gets "an unflattering two-star rating" for the amount of money that actually goes to the cause. Other organizations are worse. According to Stampís nonprofit organization, Charity Navigator, the Multiple Sclerosis Association of America spends "more on fund-raising than they do battling MS." An MSAA spokewoman claims theyíre "working hard to ërein in costs.'" (Iím sure theyíre verrrry motivated, too!) Hereís more from Overholtís piece on PETA's divvying of dollars:
"Compared with other animal-rights groups, Stamp reports, a smaller percentage of PETA's dollars goes to protecting animals. PETA general counsel Jeff Kerr counters: '[Charity Navigator's] board is made up of marketing people from the pharmaceutical industry -- of course they hate us.' Stamp doesn't shy away from the criticism. In the end, he wants donors to take a closer look at the finances of their favorite cause. And if that scrutiny breeds greater efficiency -- even if it drives some charities out of business -- well, that's fine with him."
(via Instapundit)
Boohoo For Telemarketers
Farhad Manjoo makes big, phoney libertarian sniffles on Salon that the government has regulated the telemarketers out of business. Take it from this libertarian: Heís wrong. Thereís been no government prohibition against telemarketing. What the government has given the public is merely voluntary access to a giant no-trespassing sign -- same as door-to-door solicitors see at my house.
Telemarketing is paid for by us -- the people receiving unwanted calls. Just as Monica Harrington points out in an angry letter to Salon, I pay for Caller ID mainly so I might have a chance of avoiding telemarketing calls. When telemarketers cleverly manipulate their number so it doesnít appear on my Caller ID, I pay with my time and aggravation. And, I pay in missed calls that I do want -- when an automated telemarketer leaves such a long recording on my machine that it runs out my tape. (I canít have voicemail, because Iím often in Paris, and itís impossible to get American voicemail messages with a Parisian phone card -- the # sign deactivates the call.) And why should I have to get voicemail -- just because the salespigs with the autodialer at Bid2000 think repeatedly irritating the crap out of me will get me to an auto auction, when it just gets me to make yet another complaint about them to the California attorney general?
Harrington makes another good point:
"Perhaps we should all be able to 'refer' our calls to the people, like Farhad, who want them. I'm happy to send my calls, my 87-year-old mother's calls, and my airline pilot neighbor's calls (he likes to nap in the daytime so he's ready for late-night departures) to Farhad. I'm sure with a little time, I could come up with hundreds of other referrals, and those wonderful telemarketing jobs can be saved."
Another Salon letter writer knocked the Manjoo's notion that telemarketers are no different than the people who solicit for money at the airport. Wrong again, Manjoo. The Hari Krishnas arenít chasing you through the airport, calling your name, forcing you to have a conversation with them, and making you late for your plane. If you donít want to buy a flower, you just breeze past.
Too bad the bill exempts those making political calls and others -- another fine example of sleazy government self-interest. Of course, thereís still redress on the part of consumers. For example: anybody who calls me asking for my vote probably guarantees that they will not get it.
(required: watch an annoying commercial to read Manjooís Salon Premium story. Access to letters to the editor is free.)
Reading Is Fundamental(ly Suspicious)
A tipster reports a dangerous character to the FBI. This dangerous character turns out to be an ìunderemployedî book shop clerk, Mark Schultz. His dangerous character-type activity? Reading a printout in a coffee shop of an alt weekly article, "Weapons Of Mass Stupidity," critical of Fox TV. The FBI pays Schultz a visit.
(via Romenesko)
DWN (Driving While Ninety)
Don Barrett writes on the LA Times op ed page about taking the car keys away from his 86-year-old father after the DMV let him cheat his way to a passing grade on his driving test. (LAT reg. required -- try laexaminer for both sign-in and log-in.)
(via LAObserved)
Reporter Comes Out Of The Closet As...Canadian!
...After The White House leaks news of his citizenship -- and the news that he's gay to the Drudge Report. In Lloyd Grove's Washington Post column, the reporter, Jeffrey Kofman, calls his life "an open book." "A network insider was less sanguine about the White House tactic: 'Playing hardball is one thing. But appealing to homophobia and jingoism is simply ugly.'"
(via Romanesko)
Hairy Palms, Healthy Prostate
Masturbating frequently may protect men from prostate cancer, according a team of Australian researchers. (Especially if men are the ones doing the masturbating.)
Family Feuds Died Down?
Find long-lost relatives to fight with by searching ellisisland.org.
(via Metafilter)
Pay Thousands Of Dollars To Learn Everything You Donít Need To Know To Have A Successful Career In The Film Industry
David Weddle, Sam Peckinpah biographer and episodic television writer/producer, sends his daughter, Alexis, to UCSB film school for $73,000-plus -- and it turns out to be his own very expensive lesson in what's become of film theory. (Roger Ebert, whom he interviews, calls (neo) film theory "a cruel hoax for students, essentially the academic equivalent of a New Age cult...") Hereís what Weddle says about a little sample of his daughterís coursework:
"The prose was denser than a Kevlar flak jacket, full of such words as 'diegetic,' 'heterogeneity,' 'narratology,' 'narrativity,' 'symptomology,' 'scopophilia,' 'signifier,' 'syntagmatic,' 'synecdoche,' 'temporality.' I picked out two of themó'fabula' and 'syuzhet'óand asked Alexis if she knew what they meant. 'They're the Russian Formalist terms for 'story' and 'plot,' she replied.'Well then, why don't they use 'story' and 'plot?'
'We're not allowed to. If we do, they take points off our paper. We have to use 'fabula' and 'syuzhet.'' Forget for a moment that if Alexis were to use these terms on a Hollywood set, she'd be laughed off the lot. Alexis wants a career in film." more>>
(LAT reg. required - try laexaminer as login, password)
Canadian Schools Are Stoopid, Too
Sounds like this renegade Canadian teacher will soon be forced to sit in the corner, then write 300 times on the blackboard, "I will not help my students after school, I will not help my students after school..."
Chris Lackner reports in the National Post that English and history teacher Jack Nahrgang, this year's winner of the Stewart Award for excellence in teaching, "will be investigated for breaching union protocol." Nahrgang's offense? Breaking a union rule "only allowing teachers to provide extra assistance to students during a 15-minute window before or after class."
(via Cathy Seipp bud Joanne Jacobs)
My Uncle Is Not A Monkey
I had to check three times for signs this anti-evolutionary Web site wasn't a parody, because itís just too hilarious to be real. It celebrates winners of the Fellowship Baptist Creation ìScienceî Fair.
In the elementary school division, "Cassidy Turnbull (grade 5) presented her uncle, Steve. She also showed photographs of monkeys and invited fairgoers to note the differences between her uncle and the monkeys. She tried to feed her uncle bananas, but he declined to eat them. Cassidy has conclusively shown that her uncle is no monkey."
In the high school division, Jonathan Goode scored second place for his project, "Women Were Designed For Homemaking." Clever Jonathan "applied findings from many fields of science to support his conclusion that God designed women for homemaking: physics shows that women have a lower center of gravity than men, making them more suited to carrying groceries and laundry baskets."
(via Cruel Site Of The Day)
Eugene Volokh Has His Way With The "Gay Sex Is Unnatural" Argument
Our favorite constitutional law prof explains a thing or two (or eight) to anybody who tries to trot out the argument that gays shouldn't be married because "gay sex is unnatural":
"...Arguments that try to enlist seemingly neutral concepts such as "nature" or abstract logic as a support for opposition to homosexuality or homosexual marriage do not strike me as plausible. On closer examination, they generally turn out to be ways of hiding one's religious, moral, and practical judgments, rather than as a genuine supplement to or foundation for those judgments."
Why Can't Gay People Be Miserable, Too?
ìWhy should only straight people suffer through the family fights, expense, pettiness, grudges, and stress of planning a wedding?î asks self-proclaimed "conservative" columnist Rondi Adamson, in the Christian Science Monitor.
"Donít Hate Yourself Because Youíre Beautiful"
Heather Havrilesky on self-esteem for gorgeous people: "Maybe you have the kind of ass that causes five-car pile-ups. That doesn't mean you have to get all down on yourself about it."
ìImagine A Corporation Run By The Meanest Kids From High School...î
At Enron, "the ones who were able to claw, cheat, or charm their way to the top of the class, as long as it was a relatively average class," were the people in power. Marianne Lavelle reviews Enron whistleblower Sherron Watkinsí tale of "a company too obsessed with maintaining its cool style to actually get around to running a business of substance." Hereís more:
"For all its talk of 'Enron smart,' the company never attracted the cream of the crop from the Ivy Leagues; its business was too obscure, and located in Houston, of all places. Instead, it drew its talent from a peculiar pool of Midwestern overachievers. It was important, in this bunch, to run with the right clique (the traders, not the asset managers). Competition was brutal, not only over deals, but over 'deal toys,' obscenely expensive crystal knickknacks purchased from Neiman Marcus to commemorate such triumphs. Grown executives would hyperventilate over the pressure to stage the best skit at a company dinner. In his heyday, Skilling once ruminated over a new motto for Enron, 'the world's coolest company.'"
The British War On Drugs Isnít Working Either
"It is self-defeating to make criminals out of addicts," says this London Observer editorial.
From another Observer piece:
A retired British surgeon, 70, calls "for ecstasy and other recreational drugs to be legalised in a bid to stamp out violent crime fueled by the drugs trade." Dr. Connie Fozzard "believes it is time for a public debate over 'nanny state' attitudes," and says the government should be "treating people as adults and not treating adults as children in their own homes."
(An election or two of representatives who vote on issues according to common and scientific sense, instead of by sticking their fingers up to figure out which way the political wind is blowing, wouldnít hurt either.)
"Prohibition should be banned," writes Arnold Kemp in an Observer opinion piece. "In the Twenties, US Prohibition stimulated the production and consumption of booze and gave gangsterism a massive financial injection. Less malignantly it spawned the jazz age. In our own times, we have seen the massive failure of drug interdiction. It has corrupted police forces across the world and given violent gangs a route to wealth. It has spawned demented policies like Plan Colombia. Drugs, or the addict's need for them, more often than not lie behind crimes like robbery and assault."
But, really...does the war on drugs make any difference?
"In the words of a senior Customs officer, its present position is evidence of staggering, long-term defeat: 'We've been working our socks off for years, seizing more and more hard drugs; bringing more and more people to court. But we have to face the reality that all this effort has had absolutely no effect on drug availability. We've got to be honest about the fact that we've been failing for the last 25 years.'"
And hereís an interesting (yet unsupported) idea from another Observer piece:
"There are other arguments for maintaining the status quo" (continuing the war on drugs). "Some investment professionals hypothesise that there are so many 'narcodollars' pumped into the US stock market that legalisation would lead to their withdrawal and the collapse of the US and world economy.
Regardless of legal status, the drugs industry remains near the peaks of high finance. The extent to which these funds prop up world stock markets will always be unknown..."
How About A War On Stupid Drug Laws?
Linda Obst, who produced Sleepless In Seattle, The Fisher King, How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days, and is now in production on The Hot Zone, was arrested in Texas on Sunday for carrying ìa small amount of pot.î Obviously, itís slippery slope, pot smoking -- leading to a hugely successful career as a prolific and respected movie producer.
Nice Evangelical Christian Guy Seeks A Third Wife
(While still being married to the first two.) And a woman claims polygamy is "The Ultimate Feminist Lifestyle": "It's a rare day when all eight of my husband's wives are tired and stressed at the same time."
(via Metafilter)
No More Nanny State
ìThe plan is to legalize almost everything and let adults be adults,î writes Ed Cone. ìLetís commit ourselves to becoming a nation of grown-ups, with an eye for accounting, a respect for complexity, and a well-developed sense of humor. Itís time for the emerging libertarian majority to make itself known. Thatís libertarian with a small ìlî ñ an ideal of personal freedom, not a political party. Parties serve their own ends, thatís one reason for the rebellion.î More from Coneís piece:
"Liberty is going to have to mean letting other people do things you don't approve of. If you want to smoke dope and your neighbor wants to smoke cigarettes and the guy across the street wants to give a gun to his boyfriend as an engagement present before their lavish church wedding, nobody can be telling the others what they can and canít do.Respect everyoneís privacy and maybe youíll end up treating everyone with respect. A lot of energy is spent arguing about issues of personal choice, stuff the government really doesnít need to be regulating. It benefits politicians and the media to keep re-fighting the culture wars, but it distracts them from more important things ñ which is one reason those fires are continually stoked. Without the covering enfilade from ideologues on all sides, it should be harder for our public servants to lie to us."
(via Instapundit)
Granny Gimme
Rich old people donít need our help at the pharmacy cash register, writes Kerry Howley in Reason. ìWhy not means test?î asks Jay Caruso. Wealthy old people arenít the only ones who shouldnít be getting a free or subsidized ride. For all the handouts to people in need of all ages, how come there are no handbacks when handout recipients strike it rich? Take Alisa Valdez-Rodriguez (previously best known for her embarrassing crash-and-burn 3,400-word LA Times resignation letter), who got Medicaid while writing her strike-it-rich first novel. Quoting from The Weekly Alibi, ìAlisa, her husband and baby were living with her father. Medicaid paid maternity expenses.î Okay, Alisa, so we helped you in your time of need. Now youíre riding on a $500,000 book advance. Whereís the money we fronted you? We want our money back!
Recall Mayor Hahn
And the entire LA City Council if they vote for Hahn's idiotic LAX traveler inconveniencing plan. Nick Madigan reports in The New York Times that Hahn seeks to ban cars from the airport "and force airline passengers to check in for their flights and board trains to their planes at a new facility a mile east of the terminals." It's an effort by Hahn to "thwart terrorists," or rather, look like he's thwarting terrorists. According to a RAND Corporation study at which Hahn turned up his nose, "concentrating all passengers in the new check-in location, to be called the Ground Transportation Center, would actually increase the number of casualties in a terrorist attack." Doesn't the City Council have better things to do than make travel out of LAX slower and more inconvenient -- say, keeping willing lap-dancers from servicing their willing customers? Just one more reason to believe that the LA city government's secret LA motto is "Visit Las Vegas!"
Liars Left And Right
Ann Coulter is ìa kind of inverse (Michael) Moore: where's he's ugly and ill-kempt, she's glamorous and impeccably turned out,î writes Andrew Sullivan. He contends ìAmerican politics has been badly damaged by the scruple-free tacticsî of ìthese shameless hucksters of ideological hate.î
"The Lies Spoiling Organic Food"
ìLeery of ingesting tasteless, rock-hard supermarket fruit and hormone-laden chickens raised in a space the size of a Palm Pilotî? as Thane Peterson writes in Business Week. Me, too. Thatís why, with very few exceptions, I only buy food labeled "organic" -- organic produce, poultry raised without hormones, and grass-fed, hormone-free beef from New Zealand.
I used to think paying more for food labeled organic meant buying into a scam -- until I spent a month in France, where the food is free of pesticides, giganticizing chemicals, and hormones. Beyond the fact that a strawberry that isn't injected with crap to make it the size of a grapefruit tastes amazing, I noticed a real difference in my health after a month eating food free of Frankensteinian meddling: a clearer head and great skin and improved overall health.
Too bad sleazebag legislators and food producers are trying to ìjigger the rules so that foods can carry this designation that otherwise wouldn't qualify.î For example,ìGeorgia chicken producers convinced Representative Nathan Deal (R-Ga.) to add a rider to the 2003 Omnibus Appropriations bill allowing chicken farmers to use regular feed if organic feed got too expensive. Never mind that the resulting chickens wouldn't be "organic" by any reasonable definition.î Representative Nathan Deal? Indeed. Who's his chief of staff, Sally Sell-Out?
Then thereís a ìnew federal law allowing wild fish to be labeled organic -- a measure that was quietly slipped into the bill passed to fund the Iraq war, at the behest of Alaska Senators Lisa Murkowsky and Ted Stevens.î Sweet. Sure all wild fish are, of course, organic -- if you consider mercury and carcinogenic PCBs organic fish feed. Murkowskyís aide, Bill Woolf, ìsays this could be easily dealt with by testing the fish before they're marketed, but the law doesn't contain any provision for testing.î
How Young Is Too Young For Nipple Piercing?
Ask the four-year-old getting her butt tattooed. Please donít send me ìFrankly, Iím aghast!î mail. This site canít be real. But then again...it probably could. Which is the scariest thing for me. Some entertaining comments about it on Metafilter:
ìI mean, I hate children as much as the next guy, but torturing and permanently scarring the little buggers seems a bit out of line, don't you think?îìAnyone forced to get a Strawberry Shortcake or Garfield tattoo won't be happy about it in later life, I guarantee you that.î
ìHistory Has Been Hard On Wacky Chicksî
notes Cathy Seipp, in her column about Simon Doonanís new book, Wacky Chicks. While Wacky Chicks might seem quite nutty they are actually ìthe opposite of nuts: they have simply found a way to make the world bend to their rules rather than vice versa.î
Historically speaking, being a Wacky Chick tended to increase oneís chances of persecution:
"'Burnt at the stake, or eaten by wolves while doing interpretive dancing in the woods,' Doonan writes, 'The Wacky Chicks of yore were often victimized horribly for their kooky ways.'"