Faint Expectations

Nobody Saw Me Do It

2006-11-07T22:19:00.000-05:00

…I thought about it a few times earlier this year, especially after reviewing the names on the ballot. Today, I actually went through with it and didn’t vote.

…Yes, such an abstention was perpetrated by me: a person who is certified to teach political science; a person who watches C-Span as often as others watch Good Morning America; a person who has probably politicized things that have little or no political meaning whatsoever; a person who yearns for deliberated political discourse. Wait—perhaps that last one has something to do with my frustration.

…I’ve been registered to vote since 1996 and have voted in every election since that time (being neither Democrat nor Republican has meant that I have no say in the primaries). This time around I gave it considerable thought, but came to the conclusion that I’ve been spinning my wheels for an entire decade.

…More recently, I’ve found myself disgusted for two reasons: (1) the magical e-voting machines, and (2) my realization that over the last 10 years, only about five percent of the candidates for whom I’ve voted have actually won an election—and those have been for my town council. In short, I might be accomplishing more by voicing my opinions on the Internet than by voting for a third party candidate.

…I’ve been opposed to the electronic voting machines for quite some time, considering the negative aspects that range from minor things like initial cost and repair fees (the old-fashioned lever machines rarely broke and if they did, it was usually for a $5 cable that closes the curtain) to major negative aspects like their ease of hacking, their flaws (casting votes for other candidates), and their inability to allow for recounts. Earlier this year I did some research on the Diebold matter for an entire post on the topic, and learned that Rush Holt (D-NJ) pushed for paper trails via his bill HR 550, but the bill was halted in the House Committee on House Administration in February 2005. I then discovered that the chairman of that committee was none other than Bob Ney (R-OH), who recently pleaded guilty after it was discovered that he had been bribed by infamous lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Coincidence?

…My second reason for not having the urge to stop by the polling station today is a bit darker and probably rooted in the fact that I’m getting older, learning from things that I witness in the world around me, and I’m slowly casting aside my idealism that has given me an element of hope for the last few years. Sometimes moths are drawn to a flame and never learn no matter many times they’re burned; in my case, I think that I’ve not only learned to not get burned anymore, but I’ve possibly become burned-out.

…I’ve learned that my views are in the minority of the minority because I’ve refused to adopt the talking points of both the far-right and the far-left. I don’t lay the blame for the 9/11 attacks on Saddam Hussein, but I don’t lay the blame on a giant conspiracy by Bush, Rove, and Cheney, either. I don’t deny the increase of Earth’s temperatures but I don’t subscribe to the idea that the only causes of global warming are manmade, namely the Industrial Revolution, the burning of fossil fuels, and the evils of capitalism.

…I don’t think that the oil companies are innocent from price gouging, but I don’t think that the Republicans have been in charge of setting the price of gasoline for the last 80 years. I don’t think that we should invade foreign countries to “spread” democracy, but I sure as hell don’t think that you should question the intelligence of the troops who are being forced to help spread that democracy when they’re obviously more intelligent than you. I don’t think that you should comment on intelligence whatsoever if you don’t have the ability to tell jokes properly—if it really was a “botched joke.”

…I don’t understand why two gay people can’t call themselves “married” if they’re monogamous and loving, but two straight people can if they’re abusive and adulterous. I don’t understand how the burning of flags can be viewed differently simply because one might be Old Glory and the other has the colors of the rainbow. I don’t see anything patriotic about the Patriot Act. I don’t think that the tobacco companies have been honest over the years, but I don’t think that smokers were innocent victims who were duped by slick advertising (cigarettes have been called “cancer sticks” since the 1930s, for Christ’s sake). I don’t understand how the same ideology that claims to support free speech is the same one that pushed for censorship of music in the 1980s and the Fairness Doctrine for half of the twentieth century. I don’t understand how the same ideology that routinely calls for smaller, less intrusive government is the same one that pushes for bridges to nowhere and laws on kinky sex.

…I do understand that I’ve become an outcast when it comes to wanting to debate or discuss political and social issues. Wanting to refrain from personal attacks during a conversation on politics is passé, and abstaining from using terms like “commie” or “fascist” has unintentionally pushed me to the fringe. Suggesting that the military should only be used for the defense of the nation has probably called into question my patriotism; suggesting that books with falsified information not be shelved in a library’s nonfiction section has probably called into question ties to fascism.

…I do understand that we’re a polarized country with respect to ideology. I do understand that it seems as if the bulk of voters identify with those extremes. I do understand that double-standards are commonplace in our culture. I do understand that this Election Day I was feeling left-out and burned-out. I do understand that I’m along for the ride at this point and have to make the best of it. I do understand that things could be worse because at least I have the freedom to discuss this on the Internet (for now).

…I do understand that life is about learning, and I’ve learned a lot over the last few years.

When the Pigs Become Their Masters

2006-10-20T18:11:00.000-04:00

...At the conclusion of George Orwell’s Animal Farm, the swine in the story—which become the “leaders” of the barnyard as the plot progresses—turn into the oppressive humans who were at first their sworn enemy when the story began. Before arriving at their final incarnation, the pigs incrementally illustrate various forms of hypocrisy and stealthily cover their tracks by altering the list of their sacred commandments to fit their needs.

●●●

...In an idealistic sense, librarians are keepers of information whose knowledge management skills should be free of bias and absent of subjectivity with regard to the dissemination of that information. While it’s important to hold beliefs, it is even more important for librarians to set aside those beliefs in an effort to deliver whatever the patron wants or needs, provided that the information is accurate if it is marketed as objective, and does not promote anything that is blatantly questionable (e.g., pornography, promotion of illegal acts, etc.).

...The aforementioned idealistic view is nothing more than idealism, considering my recent discovery that there might be more pigs in transition in the real world than previously thought.

...A few days ago, while conversing with two acquaintances who both work in libraries, I heard a story that not only gave me chills, but also made me realize that the free flow of ideas and the dissemination of diverse viewpoints is something that might be of little importance to some who are in the same field as me.

...The first person, who shall be referred to as “A,” asked the second person, “B,” if and how B handles patrons who come to the library in search of books by politically conservative authors, most notably Ann Coulter.

...Person B responded that her library makes it a point to avoid purchasing books by conservative authors. If patrons happen to stop by the library in search of such books, Person B explained, with a sly smirk, that patrons are informed that the library has a limited budget and they simply were not able to buy any more books that year. Hence, that particular book—Coulter or anyone else who might be part of her ilk—would not be added to the collection.

...Since the implementation of the Patriot Act, librarians all across the country have feared possible repercussions for offering books or material that might dissent from the ideas espoused by the current administration. A common rallying cry among those of us in the library science field has become that of free thought, free speech, open dialogue, and viewing anything that might stifle diverse opinion as being a threat to not only us as librarians, but to the American citizenry as a whole. On multiple occasions, Hillary Clinton has been lauded for reminding us of Thomas Jefferson’s notion that dissent is the highest form of patriotism.

...Must we fear some left-leaning librarians as much as right-leaning politicians? Have we entered an era of library McCarthyism where librarians will pick titles simply because they affirm the librarian’s personal beliefs, regardless of whether or not the author facilitates discussion on pertinent topics? Will we see it become commonplace to have librarians decide upon works—from monographs to periodicals and everything in between—not because of their popularity or intellectual value, but because of their ideological leanings?

...If so, what does that say for us as librarians? Moreover, what does that say for the potential of censorship, simply by way of the librarian who might be handling the book purchasing?

...I personally find quite a few political pundits from both the far-left (e.g., Al Franken, Michael Moore, Bill Moyers) and far-right (e.g., Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh) to be full of hot air and intellectually questionable—if not intellectually devoid. Does this give me the right, as a librarian who will be ordering the books, to pick only those with whom I agree? Supposing that the majority of my views are libertarian in nature, should I purchase only those books that support what I believe and cast aside anything exclusively conservative or exclusively liberal?

...Is it censorship if those of us in taxpayer-funded libraries single-handedly determine what our patrons read simply on the grounds of personal political viewpoints? Or have I been too idealistic for too many years, and now I am suddenly realizing the amount of power that I might hold in the coming years? Perhaps this is also the first time that I have realized just how much power other librarians have been holding for a long time.

...No matter the answers to those questions, those of us who are working as librarians have no right to talk about the virtues of dissent, diverse viewpoints, or tolerance of differences if we, ourselves, are not willing to lend actions to those words.

●●●

...Limited viewpoints are one thing, however, while another issue—which no doubt would be “censorship” to some—is that of not offering books that are sold under the guise of being informative but have elements of inanity and even outright inaccuracy.

...As an example, I would offer A Necessary Evil by Garry Wills (New York: Touchstone, 1999), which was written to describe the history of distrust of government by segments of the American populace. It not only makes foolish connecting of dots, but promotes the notion that the United States Constitution was a carefully-crafted document written with precise language with the exception of one part: the Second Amendment. For Wills, the idea of the Second Amendment being supportive of private gun ownership has had its historical origins “spread and distorted in a wondrous way” (252).

...Wills offers a section on vigilantes—who are traditionally skeptical of government—and begins by explaining that vigilance groups rely upon the use of the Second Amendment to defend their right to private gun ownership in order to commit their acts (223). The list of pro-Second Amendment organizations listed by Wills illustrates an odd evolution. The first “vigilante” group that he uses as an example is the South Carolina “Regulators” of the 1760s (225). By the end of the chapter, however, we find the Ku Klux Klan (230), fascist supporters of Senator Joe McCarthy (236), backwoods Montana militias (240), and madmen who bomb abortion clinics (237). What?! Supporting the right to bear arms is the first step to becoming a racist authoritarian with a penchant for bombing abortion clinics?

...At other times, Wills seems to suggest that people who want small, efficient government actually want no government whatsoever. Law professor Richard A. Epstein, reviewing the book in Reason, called Wills’ logic “a cute verbal reductio ad absurdum” (56). I would argue that such an assessment is too kind.

...Epstein also pointed out that Wills throws around the name of philosopher John Locke, but unfortunately does not know anything about Lockean theory, as evidenced when the philosopher’s name is attached to situations that do not have any Lockean themes (56).

...Perhaps the most telling sign of Wills’ work, however, is his use of data on eighteenth century probate records from pseudo-historian and author Michael Bellesiles (Wills 29). In 2002—three years after the publication of A Necessary Evil, in Wills’ defense—Bellesiles was forced to resign from his professorship at Emory University and was stripped of the prestigious Bancroft Prize by Columbia University when it was discovered that he falsified the aforementioned probate data on gun ownership in his book Arming America (“Shot Down” 3). In The New York Times Book Review, Wills wrote that Arming America “has dispersed the darkness that covered the gun’s early history in America” (“Fire at Will” 29). That might have been true if Bellesiles’ data had been true.

...Nonetheless, Bellesiles’ falsification of data did not bother those who shared his political views. A five-page essay by Jon Wiener in The Nation showed that Wiener was more offended by those who discovered the fraud than by Bellesiles’ academic dishonesty. Wiener’s estimation was that Bellesiles’ overall message was more important than whether or not the message was even true. He ultimately concluded that since “no proof of invented documents” was found, Bellesiles must be innocent (32).

...Wiener is accurate in suggesting that no proof of invented documents was found, but Bellesiles was not suspected of inventing documents; he was accused of falsifying data—inventing some numbers and consciously omitting others. A committee composed of scholars from the University of Chicago, Harvard University, and Princeton University released a 40-page report explaining that Bellesiles’ work contained “exaggeration of data” (Katz, Gray, and Ulrich 17), “egregious misrepresentation” (18), and “evidence of falsification” (19). In fact, a search of the 40-page investigatory document failed to turn up the term “invented document” anywhere. According to the report, Bellesiles admitted to excluding data on gun ownership because the probate data in question “showed a disproportionately high number of guns” (18). The author did not want to see such high numbers, and in response simply ignored them. Regarding Bellesiles’ research, the committee stated: “Every aspect of his work in the probate records is deeply flawed” (18-19).

...Wiener’s Nation piece included a quote from Michael Kammen, past president of the Organization of American Historians and supporter of Bellesiles, which might have inadvertently illustrated the situation better than anything else. He stated that Arming America had “inescapable policy implications” (32). Indeed, the book does have inescapable policy implications, but would those who want certain policies changed be willing to live with knowing that the end result stemmed from fraudulent means?

...Obviously that question has been answered by both Michael Bellesiles and Jon Wiener.

...In 2005, Wiener continued defending Bellesiles’ dishonesty in his book Historians in Trouble, which highlighted Wiener’s firm belief that a vast right-wing conspiracy was really what brought Bellesiles down. In January 2005, George Mason University’s History News Network Website published a description of Wiener’s book, written by him, in which he said that the Bellesiles incident “demonstrated the power of an organized political group on the right to target a historian they identified as an enemy and raises the question of the appropriate sanction for error.” Perhaps Wiener is forgetting that the investigating committee was comprised of scholars from prominent universities—not members of the gun lobby or Republican National Committee.

...It appears that some people are simply unwilling to accept what actually occurred: Conservatives may have discovered Bellesiles’ academic and intellectual deception, but they certainly did not force him to perpetrate it; he did so under his own volition. In addition, such vehement defense by Wiener should raise the ire of his fellow liberals; it sounds as if he is asserting that falsifying data is an acceptable practice among left-leaning historians and that the real travesty is when right-wingers discover the fraud. Is this really the image that Wiener wants to project?

●●●

...In the end, we must stay diligent with respect to the books that we, as librarians, purchase and remember that our role as information managers cannot and should not give way to our more primitive urges of affirmation. Refusing to purchase a book for illogical conclusions and factual errors is one thing; refusing to purchase a book for ideological differences is something else. If we allow such an event to occur, we are no different than Michael Bellesiles, Jon Wiener, or George Orwell’s pigs in Animal Farm.

Works Cited
• Epstein, Richard A. “Assault with Blunt History.” Reason 32.1 (2000): 55-60.
--
• Katz, Stanley N., Hanna H. Gray, and Laurel Thatcher Ulrich. Report of the Investigative Committee in the Matter of Professor Michael Bellesiles. 2002. Emory University 15 Oct. 2006 http://www.news.emory.edu/Releases/Final_Report.pdf.
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• “Shot Down.” The Weekly Standard 23 Dec. 2002: 3.
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• Wiener, Jon. “Fire at Will.” The Nation 4 Nov. 2002: 28-32.
--
• ——. “Historians in Trouble: Why Some Get Nailed.” History News Network. 3 Jan. 2005. George Mason University. 16 Oct. 2006 http://hnn.us/articles/9229.html.
--
• Wills, Garry. A Necessary Evil. New York: Touchstone, 1999.

Superstar!

2006-08-29T11:39:00.000-04:00

Cartoon by Mike Luckovich

...By now, most people have read or heard that DNA evidence has shown that John Mark Karr lied in his confession about killing JonBenet Ramsey. Since the media is more than happy to turn anyone and everyone into celebrities simply to hype worthless stories, I have a confession to make.

...I was the one who killed the famous Bocksten Man, who was found in Bocksten bog outside Varberg in 1936. Seven hundred years ago I inflicted three fatal blows on the poor chap’s head when he wouldn’t hand over his bowl of gruel. He also made reference to having dragged my wench back to his hut the previous weekend after a night of drinking.

...Anyway, I’ll be available for interviews, flights across the globe with caviar and champagne, photo shoots, signature series spears, etc. Just call my agents at Dewey, Cheatum & Howe. I’m going to be famous and the American media will be my trampoline.

Place Your Bets

2006-08-25T00:29:00.000-04:00

...Annie Donnelly recently admitted that she stole more than $2.3 million from her employer to buy lottery tickets, ranging from lotto to scratch-off games. It should now be interesting to see how many politicians call for a ban on state-sponsored gambling games, considering that we saw an outcry from the House when the issue of online gaming was voted on several weeks ago.

...Representative Jim Leach (R-IA) appeared on C-Span’s Washington Journal when the issue was in the news and blamed online gambling for ex-Lehigh University student Greg Hogan’s bank robbery incident, since he reasoned that Hogan was robbing the bank to pay off online gambling debts. Aside from that being akin to saying that women who dress in a sexy manner can be blamed if they’re raped, I wonder if the anti-gambling politicians will be jumping at the chance to demand that state government-run games across the nation come to an end to prevent another Annie Donnelly incident from occurring.

...I think that we all know the answer to that one.

Sources: CNN, KYW CBS3

Beerfest

2006-08-23T16:19:00.000-04:00

For some Pennsylvanians, this is breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

...Whenever I attempt to bring a little dignity back to the population of eastern Pennsylvania, I ultimately have my efforts thwarted by losers like Josh Beury. When I read the story on the Morning Call Website this morning, I thought, “Oh, well. Another alcoholic from Nesquehoning—this isn’t really shocking. Hell, considering how many drunks there are in that area, this isn’t even news.” Then I quickly discovered that Beury’s accomplishments went national: the Washington Post, ABC News, Fox News radio, a link on the Drudge Report to the Morning Call article. In all, roughly 150 other news outlets ran the article. Yay for Beury putting the commonwealth on the map for stupidity.

...For anyone who hasn’t heard about it yet, Beury appeared before a judge on Monday to be sentenced for a drunk driving case in which he crashed into another driver and was found to have a blood-alcohol level of 0.17 (0.08 is legally drunk in Pennsylvania). Unfortunately, Beury showed up drunk for his sentencing, too, and was discovered to have a BAC of 0.20.

...At first Beury tried to convince the judge that he had had only two beers Sunday night, but then confessed that he usually downs at least half a case of beer daily.

...Beury is also said to be bipolar and mentally ill. Perhaps those are more acceptable terms than calling him what he really is.

Source: Washington Post

Share the Wealth

2006-08-22T15:51:00.000-04:00

...Consider this the first foray into what will most likely become a new tradition. It’s not designed to be a weekly thing, bi-weekly thing, or monthly thing. Instead, I’ll simply hand one out whenever it seems as if it would come in handy.

...I introduce to you the first Faint Expectations Share the Wealth Award.

...I call it that because of the story which inspired the idea of much-needed surplus penises: A 24-year-old Indian businessman who is suffering from a rare condition called “penile duplication” or “diphallus.” The man—who might be unaware of the money that he could make in the porn industry—is about to have one of his two fully-functional penises removed because he wants to get married (obviously his future wife isn’t considering the potential here).

...Anyway, since this gentleman is willing to rid himself of an extra phallus, it would only be fair to identify men who are in dire need of this soon-to-be-discarded extra member.

...For this, the first awarding of the Share the Wealth Award, I’m going to name two specimens: Alfred Rava and Tim LaBouf.

...I’ve mentioned Rava in my previous post about his history of lawsuits against things like Mother’s Day tote-bag giveaways at baseball games and nightclubs offering Ladies’ Night discounts on drinks, but NBC 4 reports that Rava’s frivolous lawsuit count is actually as high at 30. Surely Rava is in dire need of some manliness to deal with things that those of us normal men consider acceptable.

...The second recipient for this initial offering is Tim LaBouf, pastor of the First Baptist Church in Watertown, New York. He and his cronies at the church fired 81-year-old Mary Lambert, who has been a congregation member for 60 years and a Sunday School teacher for 54 years, because she’s a woman.

...The letter that Lambert received from LaBouf and his henchmen pertaining to her dismissal cited the first epistle to Timothy: “I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she is to keep silent.”

...LaBouf has a few male-female power issues which should be dealt with before taking the podium in a house of God. Might it be worth citing Psalm 7:14-16?

14 Behold, the wicked man conceives evil, and is pregnant with mischief, and brings forth lies.

15 He makes a pit, digging it out, and falls into the hole which he has made.

16 His mischief returns upon his own head, and on his own pate his violence descends.

Sources: IOL, NBC 4, ABC News

Blown Save

2006-08-19T00:22:00.000-04:00

.
...Earlier this year—around Mother’s Day to be precise—we had to read about the pathetic story of Los Angeles psychologist Michael Cohn, who filed a lawsuit against the Anaheim/Los Angeles Angels after he became offended when he didn’t receive a Mother’s Day tote bag at an Angels game. He wanted one, too, but the club didn’t give him one because they were reserved for women who were 18 years of age and older. Cohn didn’t understand the concept of Mother’s Day equating to women, and as such filed a lawsuit against the baseball team and the college that sponsored the tote promotion.

...After reading about it, I had figured that the suit would have been thrown out due to its sheer stupidity. I failed to keep a few things in mind, however: (1) This is America, and things don’t make much sense when it comes to the judicial system anymore (read this post for evidence of that); and (2) the lawsuit was filed in California, where laws seem to be invented by judges as opposed to the legislature.

...So, with that in mind, I wasn’t too shocked to read the following on ESPN’s site today:

SANTA ANA, Calif. – A judge refused Thursday to dismiss a lawsuit claiming the Angels discriminated against men by giving tote bags to women during a Mother’s Day baseball game.
[…]
The lawsuit, filed by Los Angeles psychologist Michael Cohn, claims thousands of men and fans under age 18 are each entitled to $4,000 in damages because they were treated unfairly during last May’s promotion. Women over 18 received the gifts.

...The only forms of compensation that should be given out in this case are pacifiers and clean diapers for both Michael Cohn and Orange County Superior Court Judge Jonathan Cannon.

...I’ll let you know if Cohn names me in a lawsuit in the upcoming weeks. I’ll just counter-sue for discrimination if he does, but doesn’t name the rest of the world’s population in the suit.

UPDATE: It turns out that shady lawsuits are nothing new for attorney Alfred Rava, who is representing Michael Cohn in this suit against the Angels.

...In 2003, Rava was part of a discrimination lawsuit aimed at San Diego-area nightclubs because the clubs offered “Ladies’ Night” discounts on drinks and didn’t offer the same for Rava and his friend (I’m guessing that Rava and his friend were going on Ladies’ Night to meet women but still got shot down—thus, they sued the clubs for their inability to garner attention from women).

...Rava’s discrimination suit squeezed $125,000 out of seven clubs ($20,000 each from six nightclubs, but a seventh could only shell out $5,000 because they ended up going out of business) and forced bars all across the San Diego region to end Ladies’ Night, which to that point had proved to be beneficial for business.

...I take back my previous comment about giving the judge and Michael Cohn pacifiers and clean diapers. It would probably be more worthwhile to give both Cohn and Rava something which both are in dire need of: a penis.

Source: ESPN

Antisocial Networking

2006-08-18T19:22:00.000-04:00

...
...This afternoon I came to a conclusion. Our so-called representatives in Washington might be just as dangerous as predators that can be found on social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace and Xanga. That’s not necessarily because they want to cause harm, but more because their clueless nature and naïveté can lead to harm.

...C-Span recently re-aired hearings that were originally held in late-June concerning protecting children from online predators, and it gave viewers a wonderful opportunity to see just how clueless our politicians really are when it comes to computer-savvy teens and technology in general.

...Congressman Bart Stupak had some of the most comical ideas: Create a special site that would be exclusively used for 14- and 15-year-olds. Yes, that’ll obviously work; teens always want to go places where adults tell them that they must go. Come on, Congressman. Teens go to sites that they perceive as being “cool”; a site “exclusively” for 14- and 15-year-olds will probably be have few teen users and be flooded with pedophiles more than anyone else.

...Since Stupak’s brilliant idea hinges upon the idea of users being honest about their age, that segues into another brilliant idea that was mentioned: Each of the representatives on the panel wanted some kind of perfect way for accurate identification verification. None of them had an idea of how to do it, but all were quick to demand it. A few of the Congressmen liked the idea of credit card numbers and charging users, but few seemed to understand that when you begin to charge people for something that might otherwise be free and off-set by advertisements, the number of users will drop dramatically. I’m guessing that most politicians don’t understand this concept because when it comes to finances, they’re accustomed to spending money that they didn’t earn.

...Not to single-out Stupak, but I was also amused by his “pornography expert” idea when it comes to who might decide what photographs are acceptable on social networking sites. A representative from Facebook explained that the Website has a group of people who determine what is allowed on their site and what isn’t. Stupak’s response was that the panel members are probably computer experts—not pornography experts. No offense, Mr. Stupak, but what the hell is a “pornography expert” and how does a person become one?

...The politicians also liked the idea of a national paid staff who can answer distress calls from instant messenger users 24 hours a day, seven days a week. A police officer who was testifying to the committee tried to explain that such a staff would have to be massive, considering how many people use the Internet at any given time, but again, he was saying this to a group of people who spend other peoples’ money, so fiscal reality meant little.

...The last idea that I thought was most impressive (for any politicians who might be reading this, I’m being sarcastic here) was to have the federal government establish standards for social networking sites. Yes, these standards would be established by men and women who have little, if any, understanding of anything that happens outside the beltway.

...Not to sound condescending, but here are a few tips for those of you who are “representing” (I use that term loosely, because I can’t name one person in Congress who represents me) us in Washington:

If you want to accurately identify any computer user, show up on their doorstep, interview them face-to-face, and demand a birth certificate. You can argue for using drivers’ license numbers, but keep in mind that companies will have to pay state governments since they’ll be using databases that are handled by departments of motor vehicles and/or state police agencies. They don’t work for free.

If you mandate the use of credit card numbers as identification, you’ll have to charge users for the sites. If you do, those sites will lose millions of users, and most of those users will probably be younger ones. Any pedophile users will more than likely be willing to shell out money to stay, so what you’ll then have is a social network with an unusually high percentage of nothing but pedophiles.

If you think that ordering 14- and 15-year-olds to use sites that are designed for only 14- and 15-years-old, you must be completely ignorant to how teenagers act. They don’t want to act their age; they want to be perceived as “adults”—even when they don’t act mature.

Similar to the first point, pedophiles can lie about their age, too. Even if you want to create a “special” site which is for 14- and 15-year-olds exclusively, keep in mind that pedophiles can very easily create fake profiles saying that they, too, are 14 or 15. What’s most dangerous here is that it’s easier to lie and make yourself younger than it is to lie and make yourself older.

...Unfortunately, I have a feeling that we’re on the cusp of seeing a “war on terror” approach to the Internet and pedophiles. By that I mean that we’re going to hear more politicians cry “safety” and label anyone who isn’t supportive of massive federal Internet regulation as being “against protecting our children” or “against safety.” This can be likened to those who currently say that dissenters of the “war on terror” and all aspects of “fighting” the war (such as the Patriot Act, for instance) as not being patriotic or even being in favor of the terrorists.

...After all, if we regulate all aspects of the Internet to the point where no one wants to use it anymore, we won’t have to worry about any of the dangers that come with it, will we?

...Internet safety has to come from educating parents and children on the dangers of predators and how to avoid them. It won’t do any good to sit around and wait for solutions from Washington. For one thing, we should be more hands-on with our personal security; for another thing, we probably won’t see any realistic solutions coming from Congress.

Thug Life

2006-08-17T10:56:00.000-04:00

...
...Note: I’m out of town at present and must use an iBook G4 for all my online work. Any complaints regarding formatting abnormalities in this post should be directed at the folks at Apple. (Any complaints regarding viewpoints should continue to be directed at me.)

...I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m going to become a criminal. Most of my income would be tax-free, I’ll be popular with a lot of Americans who idolize criminals, and even if a law enforcement agency attempts to stop me, I’ll just have them arrested—and probably convicted—for doing their job. You don’t think that it’ll work? Tell that to Ignacio Ramos and José Compean.

...Ramos and Compean are Border Patrol agents who were found guilty in March of causing serious bodily injury, assault with a deadly weapon, discharge of a firearm in relation to a crime of violence, and violating a person’s civil rights. What did they do? They stopped Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila from bringing over 800 pounds of pot into the United States from Mexico, and shot him in the buttocks when he pulled a gun on them. Ramos and Compean are due to be sentenced on Tuesday and could get up to 20 years behind bars. Aldrete-Davila, on the other hand, is suing the federal government for $5 million for the “civil rights violation.”

...I’m not sure which part of this story scares me more: knowing that criminals can have law enforcement officials arrested and convicted for stopping them, or knowing that part of the reason for the conviction might have been due to alleged corruption. You see, two of the jurors in this case have come forward and said that prosecutors pressured them into finding the agents guilty. (That’s aside from an investigator from the Office of Inspector General tracking down Aldrete-Davila in Mexico to offer him immunity for testifying after the drug trafficker declared that he was forming a posse to shoot Border Patrol agents in retaliation for Ramos and Compean stopping him from delivering his illicit cargo.)

...Oh, did I mention that some of the jurors were said to have come to a quick decision because they didn’t want the trial to run too long? Apparently they had plans for spring break and didn’t want a silly trial to interfere with partying.

...I can only hope that I’m never in a situation like Ramos and Compean.

Source: Washington Times

Strike Two

2006-08-14T12:47:00.000-04:00

Bud Selig, Major League Baseball Commissioner (USA Today Photo)

...There are a few things that puzzle me. Why did kamikaze pilots wear helmets? Why do criminals on death row have their arms swabbed with an alcohol pad before having their lethal injection administered? How has Major League Baseball stayed afloat considering how much they despise their fans?

...Earlier this year a fantasy sports company found themselves in court, squaring-off with Major League Baseball over the right to use MLB player names and statistics in their fantasy leagues. CBC Distribution and Marketing argued that names and statistics can’t be “owned” by an organization, even though Major League Baseball brass determined that anything and everything related to the top-level of professional baseball should be considered Major League Baseball’s intellectual property and that unlicensed use of any statistic will “commercially exploit the identities and statistical profiles” of its players.

...Last week, United States Magistrate Mary Ann Medler showed that there is still a semblance of common sense in the judicial system and ruled in favor of CBC saying that athletes are public figures, and that statistics cannot be copyrighted as they are nothing more than historical facts.

...That didn’t sit well with the Bud Selig Army, though, and Major League Baseball wasted no time in filing an appeal.

...I’m not really sure what is more disturbing in this: (1) the sheer stupidity of Major League Baseball and the players’ association by risking the loss of millions of fans, considering that it’s estimated that a minimum of 15 million people play fantasy baseball (Yahoo! has reported that they have 6.7 million registered players alone, so I suspect that the 15 million number is underestimating the popularity); or (2) the sheer arrogance of Major League Baseball and the players’ association in thinking that historical occurrences can somehow be “owned,” simply because the occurrences are related to their business.

...I ranted about this when the initial lawsuit story was reported in mid-January, but I feel the need to reiterate (I’m plagiarizing myself here.)

...Statistics are a numerical record of historical incidents. In this case, they show how many times a player came to the plate, how many hits that he had, how many RBI he drove in, etc. Similarly for pitchers, they act as a record of how many innings that he pitched, how many hits given up, how many runs that he allowed, etc. These numbers are not logos, they’re not photographs of the games, and they’re not audio/visual accounts of the games such as video that might find their way onto television or the Internet for viewing. Logos, photographs, and video segments fall into a different category, as ownership of those is more concrete than “ownership” of numbers, and subsequent profits made from their use is more readily apparent.

...While statistics are, indeed, a recorded account of what transpired in a game that is sanctioned by particular organizations—in this case Major League Baseball and the players’ association—a push to “own” such numbers might make us wonder how far Major League Baseball and the union will go in the future to control anything and everything related to it.

...Will it become so controlled that even the use of team names on blogs will be subject to licensure? Will bloggers who wish to discuss their favorite teams or players be required to pay royalties to the league and MLBPA? It might happen if those same blogs happen to have advertisements on them, as many do. It could be argued that they were “commercially exploiting” the statistics and players’ names, and even the team names.

...I’m not a public relations specialist, but you don’t have to be one to see that it’s becoming more and more difficult to be a baseball fan. I don’t mean that it’s difficult to be a fan of the sport, per se; I mean that it’s becoming more difficult to follow and enjoy the sport due to limitations that are being imposed by the very league that is supposed to promote it and encourage its popularity.

...Some things in life might be more attractive the more that they’re inaccessible, but baseball isn’t one of those forbidden fruits. Those of us who are fans enjoy it because we have access to it.

...People often wondered if sky-rocketing salaries and player strikes would be professional baseball’s undoing. Who would have thought that it might be due to Major League Baseball and the players’ association biting the hand that feeds them?

Sources: Comcast SportsNet, Contra Costa Times, ESPN

Maybe the Lock Box is Green

2006-08-10T23:25:00.000-04:00

...A few months ago I apparently outed myself as a kook when it comes to the issue of global warming. While I’m in full agreement with the idea that pollution needs to be reduced (I don’t like breathing that shit, either) and that oil companies’ hold on the country is frightening, I stand by the possibility that the study by Harvard scientists in 2003 was correct and much of our warming trend might be natural.

...Perhaps it doesn’t really matter, though, because I can simply call myself an Al Gore-type of environmentalist. By that I mean one who talks a good talk, but when we get down to the substance of the issue, it’s apparently okay to do little more than talk.

...While scanning the USA Today Website, I found an interesting column by Peter Schweizer that offered a few telling points. For the record, yes, I’m quite aware that a column is an opinion piece, but since I had to defend myself once before for using opinion pieces as sources, I’ll make it known that segments of this column are based on fact (similar to my other blog post, too). The opinions are written by the author around those facts.

...It turns out that Mr. Gore preaches the virtues of saving the planet by adopting the “reduce, reuse, recycle” approach, but—according to public records—he and Tipper own three houses—one of which is 10,000-square-feet with 20 rooms and eight bathrooms. Oddly enough, it turns out that Mr. Gore has yet to sign up for green energy at any of his homes, even though wind power is available. Hell, even Bushie has a few of the federal buildings on green energy.

...Even more troubling is that Howard Dean and the DNC have apparently been taking notes from both Gore and the RNC and also have yet to sign up to go green. Maybe those extra two cents per kilowatt hour are too much. Either way, Dr. Dean still says that global warming “threatens our very existence.” Umm…yeah. It looks to be as threatening to the “environmentally aware” politicians as it does to those who have a reputation for not caring too much about it.

...This isn’t anything new, I suppose. All the way back in 2000 it was known—as reported by Bill Mesler at CorpWatch (and yes, that’s the same Bill Mesler who has written for such liberal publications as The Nation, Mother Jones, and The Progressive)—that Gore not only makes money off Occidental Petroleum, but helped design the sale of drilling rights in the Elk Hills of central California—even though drilling there threatened a rare species of fox, lizard, and the kangaroo rat as well as tribal land of the Kitanemuk natives.

...In that case, the sale of the Elk Hills was approved after one of the most quickly prepared environmental assessments ever seen by Peter Eisner of the Center for Public Integrity. The drilling destroyed native Kitanemuk sites and burial grounds and when asked about the people involved in the issue, tribal member Dee Dominguez called Occidental executives “cold” and “insensitive.”

...With regard to Al Gore and cohort Bill Clinton, Dominguez said, “They sold us down the river.”

...I can’t help but think that there’s something a bit more threatened in this country than the fox, lizard, and kangaroo rat: integrity.

Sources: USA Today, CorpWatch, Democracy Now!
Additional Resource: The Center for Public Integrity

Satan Saves

2006-08-10T00:54:00.000-04:00

...It’s usually said that Jesus saves. Apparently when it comes to murder, you’re better off with Lucifer. Consider these cases:

...On July 26, Andrea Yates was found not guilty by reason of insanity. She murdered her five children, she said, because Satan was inside her and killing the tots was the only way to save them from the fiery depths of hell.

...Yesterday Magdalena Lopez of Indiana was sentenced to 110 years in prison after killing her two little boys with a 10-pound weight because she wanted them to “be safe in heaven.” Lopez tried the mental illness route, too, but it didn’t work.

...Remember, those of you who are planning on murdering your children: Don’t mention Jesus or heaven if you want therapy over prison sentences—mention Satan and hell.

Sources: CBS News, Court TV

Brain Freezes Before Road

2006-08-05T13:24:00.000-04:00

(WJAC Photo)

...A few days ago my friend John (not his real name, but I’m protecting his reputation which might be sullied if anyone ever discovered that he associates with someone like me) and I were discussing what might have happened to several of the “slow” classmates that we had in high school following graduation.

...When I use the term “slow,” I’m not referring to mentally handicapped, mind you; I’m referring to those who were considered “mainstream” kids but had absolutely no common sense and were—for a lack of a better term—clueless.

...Yesterday morning, while doing my routine perusing of news headlines, I suddenly discovered where all our slow classmates went. They moved to Ohio en masse and were hired by the Bureau of Motor Vehicles.

...An excerpt from a WJAC report:

A Central Ohio woman said she has had the same license plate on her car for more than a decade, but now the state is calling her personalized plate obscene.

Pat Niple turned 74 years old on Tuesday. She normally ordered her license plates and renewal stickers by mail. But this year, the Bureau of Motor Vehicles returned her check, accompanied by a letter.

[…]

Niple’s personalized plates are NWTF, an abbreviation of Northwood Tree Farm—a business she owned with her late husband. It also means something else, officials said.

“Apparently, the young people use it on the computer,” she said.

Niple went to a BMV office to get some answers. A clerk had to whisper what the acronym means to some people.

[…]

BMV officials said they have a set of standards that includes no profanity or obscene language. So, Niple has to use a temporary tag until her new, acceptable plates arrive.

...Rumor has it that the Ohio BMV is now mounting a campaign to force Ms. Niple to change her surname because it’s too close to the word “nipple.”

Source: WJAC

Academic Freedom, Part II

2006-08-04T14:39:00.000-04:00

...

...My previous post highlighted the case of conspiracy theorist and folklore professor Kevin Barrett, who has drawn criticism for airing his views on government-planted explosives in the Twin Towers and detonating them on September 11, 2001. I’m not sure how that plays a role in folklore curriculum, but that’s not necessarily the point of this particular column.

...For this post, the primary focus is the idea of how far the term “academic freedom” can be taken, especially when the information being presented goes beyond the realm of being thought-provoking and enters the realm of factual inaccuracy.

...This was one of Ward Churchill’s downfalls, whereby he cried “academic freedom” to defend anything and everything that came out of his mouth (or pen), including his fictional account of the United States Army distributing smallpox-infected blankets to Mandan Indians during the 1800s in his book Indians Are Us?. Oddly enough, he cited Russell Thornton’s American Indian Holocaust and Survival: A Population History Since 1492, which offered a completely different scenario, in which the smallpox were actually spread by traders on the steamboat St. Peter’s.

...Similarly, the term “academic freedom” is being utilized once again in an effort to defend factually-questionable remarks regarding the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center. Thus, the question arises: What constitutes academic freedom? More specifically, where do we draw the line when and if an educator—on any level, from elementary school to university professor—crosses the line that separates reality from fantasy? Better yet, can we do anything, since First Amendment rights are routinely invoked in defense of the occurrences?

...Perhaps it would be more appropriate to suggest that the lines between free speech, propagandizing, and job descriptions have become blurred. A national backlash at school boards in both Kansas and Pennsylvania showed us that creationist theories would not be tolerated if they’re presented in a factual manner within a science classroom setting, but if a science teacher cried “academic freedom,” should they be allowed to espouse any viewpoint for the sake of provoking critical thinking? Similarly, if a teacher taught a conspiracy theory as fact, would he/she be allowed to defend the material under the guise of academic freedom?

...There’s no doubt that professors and public school teachers have different levels of what they’re allowed to present in terms of curriculum, but each has—or should have—the ability to present fact as fact and opinion as opinion. Moreover, the opinion should be backed by facts in an effort to defend the viewpoint.

...An educator, no matter the level, should foster critical thinking. Critical thinking, however, happens when multiple viewpoints are presented and the student has the opportunity to come to a conclusion of their own (the “Taking Sides” approach, if you will). This was one of my biggest complaints with respect to the Jay Bennish incident a few months ago—it wasn’t really a pro-and-con approach so much as it was a soapbox approach.

...We shouldn’t be referred to as “teachers” or “educators” if our primary reason for entering the field of education is to offer a heaping serving of propaganda to students. It would be more appropriate to call us indoctrinators. If propaganda is, indeed, the primary focus of someone, they should sooner become an author or columnist in their pursuit of advancing a particular agenda.

...Education will continue to come under fire if it’s used as an outlet for propaganda, no matter if it’s from the right or from the left, and the term “academic freedom” will become not only clichéd but also cheapened if it continues to find its place as a defense for presenting viewpoints that might otherwise be brushed aside were it not for captive audiences.

Sources: Churchill book excerpt, Thornton book excerpt

Academic Freedom, Part I

2006-08-02T13:59:00.000-04:00

...

...It’s not identical to the Ward Churchill case (Churchill was the Colorado professor who gained notoriety by verbally abusing 9/11 victims and former Secretary of State Madeline Albright, but was ultimately brought down by two cases of plagiarism, falsifying historical incidents, lying about having Native American heritage in order to receive preferential hiring treatment, and two cases of copyright infringement), but it is shaping into another battle in the world of academia as the term “academic freedom” is once again being bandied about.

...Kevin Barrett, a folklore and Islamic studies professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has come under fire recently for his views on—similar to Churchill—the 9/11 attacks. Barrett, however, is receiving criticism for saying that “[t]he 9/11 lie was designed to sow hatred between the faiths” and that if 9/11 discussions don’t cover the “compelling evidence” that the attacks were “an inside job,” there isn’t much else to discuss.

...Barrett insists that the Twin Towers collapsed due to controlled demolition blasts under the watch of the U.S. government in an effort to generate popular support for increased growth of the military industrial complex. He also claims that Osama bin Laden is dead and has been replaced by a look-alike, but his group, The 9/11 Truth Movement, isn’t fooled.

...Similar to the Churchill incident, critics are calling for Barrett’s dismissal, while supporters are saying that this is another case of a college professor coming under fire for personal beliefs who nonetheless has a right to academic freedom. Barrett has said that his views on the September 11 attacks are discussed in his classes.

...In an effort to cut to the chase, I’ll say that it’s my firm belief that this is a situation which must be officially determined by the administration of the University of Wisconsin and no one else. They hired Barrett; they have to decide if he stays or if he goes.

...With that said, do those of us outside the school have a say on the issue in general? Of course we do. We have the right to free expression the same as Barrett. That’s what allows us to question a few of the things that he and his group are saying.

...The first question pertains to Professor Barrett’s basis and background for the idea that strategically-placed explosives were used to bring down the Twin Towers. Milwaukee news channel TMJ4 interviewed Barrett and he claimed that the buildings collapsing is the proof that crashing planes didn’t bring the World Trade Center down. Barrett’s group insists that there was molten steel at Ground Zero, and since jet fuel and office paper would never generate enough heat to melt steel, it must have been a government-sponsored explosion. This, fellow 9/11 Truth Movement member Tom Spellman says, is evidence that “probably six or eight people—with backpacks on their backs—carrying the material in 40-pound packs and maybe making 10 to 12 trips” helped to destroy the landmarks.

...There are two problems with this theory. First, news footage from Ground Zero doesn’t show any molten metal. Second, in March 2005, Popular Mechanics published a special series entitled “9/11: Debunking the Myths,” in which they point out that while it’s true that jet fuel, which burns at 800° to 1500° Fahrenheit, isn’t hot enough to melt steel, the steel frames of the Twin Towers wouldn’t have been required to melt for the towers to collapse—they would have simply needed to lose their structural integrity.

...In the report, Farid Alfawak-hiri, senior engineer of the American Institute of Steel Construction, stated that “[s]teel loses about 50 percent of its strength at 1100° Fahrenheit.” That temperature falls within the 800° to 1500° range, and doesn’t even take into consideration that the towers contained burning rugs, curtains, and furniture in addition to the jet fuel and paper.

...Popular Mechanics also reported that Vincent Dunn, a retired New York deputy fire chief and author of The Collapse of Burning Buildings: A Guide to Fireground Safety, has never seen melted steel in a building fire—only twisted, warped, bent, and sagging steel.

...No offense to Professor Barrett, but his background is in folklore and Islamic studies. I think that I’m going to trust Popular Mechanics, a retired FDNY deputy chief, and a steel engineer on this one.

...A second concern in this issue is Barrett’s interpretations of incidents (which goes hand-in-hand with his conspiracy theories). Like him or hate him, Fox News blowhard Bill O’Reilly was accused by Barrett of having called for the professor’s murder on O’Reilly’s television program. In a letter to Rupert Murdoch, Barrett said that O’Reilly “stated on national television that he would like to see [Barrett] murdered and thrown into Boston Harbor.”

...Aaron Nathans of The Capital Times obtained a transcript of the O’Reilly Factor episode in which the host was said to have made the threat, but the quote doesn’t seem to back up Barrett’s claim. According to the transcript, O’Reilly stated:

“But here’s the problem that I see at Wisconsin. There’s no leadership there. There’s no leadership in the Board of Regents at the university. This guy would have been gone at Boston University, my alma mater, in a heartbeat. The chancellor there, John Silber, this guy would be in the Charles River floating down, you know, toward the harbor. It wouldn’t happen. But here at the University of Wisconsin, there are no standards. This guy can go in and say anything, not back it up, and get paid by the taxpayers. And I’m just stunned.”

...I’m not a regular Bill O’Reilly viewer, but that doesn’t sound as if he’s calling for Barrett’s murder. If anything, it’s making John Silber sound like a tyrant.

...In the end, the big-wigs at the University of Wisconsin will have to determine whether or not Barrett’s ideas are what they want taught in a classroom on their campus. This will no doubt come down to a debate over the concept of “academic freedom,” but how far does academic freedom go?

To be continued.

Sources: Rocky Mountain News, Rocky Mountain News, Political Gateway, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Chicago Tribune, Popular Mechanics, TMJ4 Milwaukee, The Capital Times

Gross Domestic Product

2006-08-01T00:52:00.000-04:00

...America exports various things: motor vehicles; aircraft; food; iron and steel products; electronic equipment; industrial machinery; and chemicals. We’ve also delved into exporting democracy to a few countries, but that’s a column for another time. Earlier this year, Toronto’s mayor, David Miller, claimed that we were exporting guns and a culture of violence to our northern neighbors, thus aiding in the murders of Toronto residents. (That must have made them feel better, considering that their strict gun control laws were made to look as useless as they really are.)

...Now we’re exporting ignorance and our ability to be easily offended.

...American diplomats in Belgrade have forced a café, located across the street from the U.S. embassy, to change its name. It had been known as “Osama,” which means “secluded” in Serbo-Croat, but the café’s owner insists that he named it after a local homeless shelter. He explained, “I had no intention of offending Americans. It is just a word in Serbian.”

...This is reminiscent of the sad story of Stephanie Bell, a teacher at Williams Elementary School in Wilmington, North Carolina. She used the word “niggardly” during a discussion on literary characters a few years ago, but a student became offended, and subsequently the child’s mother was offended, too. Even though “niggardly” is a synonym for “stingy,” the school’s principal, Susan Hahn, reprimanded Bell for using “poor judgment” for her choice of vocabulary. Would that be similar to the poor judgment by that school board in the hiring of Hahn? One wonders.

...In the end, Bell had a black mark on her permanent record and had to attend sensitivity training, simply because she was more intelligent than the principal and a parent. That’s not to mention the Belgrade café owner, who now realizes that the United States’ chief export is our ability to be offended by everything.

Sources: The Columbia Encyclopedia, CTV, Ananova, Associated Press

Fun with Screenshots

2006-07-31T19:48:00.000-04:00

...

...If anyone notices odd links to news stories on this site, I’m going to be experimenting with an idea that Legally Insane gave me. Instead of linking directly to the Websites, I’m linking to screenshots of the sites which I’ve uploaded to another Blogger account (each account is limited to 300MB, and the screenshots can be around 180KB, so a second account should prove useful). The URL can be seen in each screenshot, so you can go to the URL if you want to read the full story if it happens to be cut off on the screenshot.

...The main reason that I’m doing it is because news links have a tendency to disappear after a certain amount of time. The secondary reason is that perhaps these screenshots will be able to bypass any search engine filters that might be used in other countries.

...Perhaps.

Intermittent Responsibility Disorder

2006-07-28T21:59:00.000-04:00

Robert Lee Vincent, Sr.

...I’m not planning on making it a habit to turn Faint Expectations into a clearinghouse of wanted posters, considering how many wanted criminals there are in this country, but when I came across this story I quickly realized that the perpetrator in question might have a solid defense.

...Law enforcement officials in Gaston, North Carolina, have issued a murder warrant for Robert Lee Vincent, Sr., of Garysburg. Vincent is wanted for allegedly murdering a 12-year-boy after the boy’s father and Vincent had engaged in a verbal altercation along the side of a North Carolina highway. While the men were arguing, the little boy and his mother stepped out of the family’s vehicle hoping that it might calm the situation. Instead, Vincent allegedly grabbed a shotgun from his pick-up and shot the 12-year-old in the head.

...It might be argued that Vincent was the real victim in this incident, since it was announced in early June that people who might otherwise be said to have “road rage” and need to take responsibility for their actions are actually victims themselves, suffering from “intermittent explosive disorder,” which affects 16 million Americans, according a study funded by the National Institute of Mental Health.

...In early June, Dr. Emil Coccaro, the chairman of psychiatry at the University of Chicago’s medical school, said, “People think it’s bad behavior and that you just need an attitude adjustment, but what they don’t know…is that there’s a biology and cognitive science to this.”

...Ronald Kessler, a health care policy professor at Harvard Medical School, added, “It is news to a lot of people even who are specialists in mental health services that such a large proportion of the population has these clinically significant anger attacks.”

...What’s the condition called when a person becomes frustrated by seeing a new disorder diagnosed whenever someone perpetrates an irresponsible or criminal act? Moreover, is there a name for the condition of thinking that intermittent explosive disorder is a convenient way for the pharmaceutical companies to market a new drug and have psychiatrists prescribe it?

Sources: WRAL, MSNBC

Goolags?

2006-07-27T15:57:00.000-04:00

...Microsoft helps to block anti-government blogs in China; Google censors its search engine there; Yahoo! turns over user information to Chinese authorities—including two journalists who were eventually prosecuted.

...These stories have been in the news for several months, and more recently Amnesty International has released a report entitled Undermining Freedom of Expression in China: The Role of Yahoo!, Microsoft and Google, which offers 32 pages with a scope from freedom of expression in general to the role of Yahoo!, Microsoft, and Google.

...Over the last few weeks I’ve internally debated my role in the censorship issue, as my blog host is Blogger: a Google affiliate. I’m a huge supporter of free speech, but has my use of Blogger facilitated the growth of Google, helping them to gain a foothold in China, and ultimately helped to imprison two journalists who were guilty of one thing: harboring dissent and talking about it?

...To ask bluntly, have those of us who use Blogger, MSN Spaces, and Yahoo! 360° essentially helped to put these people behind bars for engaging in an act which those of us in the United States take for granted?

...Or is this just our ability to take advantage of our situation, whereas those in China aren’t as fortunate? We live in a country where we can criticize our local, state, and federal governments; we live in a country where we can criticize asinine laws and illegal pay raises; we live in a country where we can debate issues in an effort to come to some kind of solution. Even if a solution is never attained, we have the right to vent our dissent and not have to worry about facing the possibility of winding up behind bars.

...Are these nothing more than examples of why we should consider ourselves some of the luckiest people on the face of the Earth? Are they examples which lend themselves to suggest that we should criticize the Chinese government instead of Google, Yahoo!, and Microsoft? After all, it could be argued, these companies aren’t the ones making the laws—they’re only obeying them.

...With that said, it could also be argued that users of Google, Yahoo!, and Microsoft have helped to aid and abet in the silencing of voices which have raised crucial questions and offered pertinent criticism. Have we indirectly helped to put them where they are now? After all, no one forced these companies to take advantage of the growing Chinese economy.

...I don’t have an answer, which is why I referred to this as my dilemma in the comments section of the previous post. I’m usually unwavering in my beliefs, but this one has me torn. Is it because I don’t want to feel guilt knowing that I use at least one service from each of these companies, or is it because I realize that I’m extremely lucky to be a citizen of a country which has better free speech guidelines and other countries have censorship levels that might never change—no matter which company sets up shop there?

Sources: CBC, Amnesty International, Google Web Search Help Center

War for Peace

2006-07-26T00:41:00.000-04:00

...In late January, former CNN NewsNight anchor Aaron Brown discussed the state of television news and feedback from viewers. As an example, he mentioned an e-mail which was sent to him by a peace protester who disliked the “inadequate” coverage by Brown and NewsNight of an anti-war march that had been held in Washington. The e-mailer explained, “I hope the violence visited on the people of Iraq will someday be visited on your children.”

...Yesterday in Australia, Nobel Peace Prize winner Betty Williams, giving a speech to schoolchildren, proclaimed, “Right now, I would love to kill George Bush.” The children cheered.

...Apparently this “war for peace” idea is catching on. Even the peace movement likes it.

Sources: Faint Expectations, The Australian

Crooked Grind

2006-07-24T23:18:00.000-04:00

(Photo by Cara Grae Meling)

...In a recent “This I Believe” segment on NPR’s All Things Considered, professional skateboarder Tony Hawk discusses being proud of his career and also describes how skateboarding is viewed by many people who aren’t members of the skateboarding community: “It was a kids’ fad, a waste of time, a dangerous pursuit, a crime.”

...While Mr. Hawk probably didn’t break any laws throughout his skateboarding career, it’s necessary to say that many people view skateboarding as a crime only when it’s perpetrated in a criminal manner. And yes, those of us who choose to live in the real world are fully aware that skateboarders have committed crimes—namely vandalism and trespassing, but sometimes worse.

...A few months ago a new Subway was erected in my hometown. As soon as the cement was dry on the steps and ramp leading to the front door, several local skateboarders made sure that they had christened it by riding their skateboards over it, grinding their wheels into the steps and leaving chunks behind for the owner to pick up the bill. The local police had to patrol more than usual just to make sure that the kids weren’t destroying more of the private property.

...In June, a town a few miles away was the scene of a similar situation, where a new woodworking shop was built, complete with a brand new set of steps and lengthy ramp—almost identical to the local Subway. Before you knew it, that town’s skateboarders decided to lay claim to those steps, leaving chunks of concrete in their wake, too.

...Finally, as I had mentioned earlier, sometimes skateboarders do things that are worse than vandalism, and unfortunately this time it hit closer to home than I could have imagined. Three years ago, a family member’s high school friend had been experiencing routine problems from three skateboarders in his neighborhood. His house had a large brick wall in front of the sidewalk with steps to one side leading to the home, and the three skateboarders had decided to call the brick wall their own, using it for tricks and destroying it a little more each time that they used it. He and his wife had been growing frustrated with threatening to call the cops, and even when they did call, the kids would make sure that they were out of the area by the time that the cruiser rolled by.

...Then one day things took a turn that he hadn’t expected. It was another afternoon when the three kids were using his brick wall as a ramp, loosening a few bricks and knocking out a few more. This time he decided to let them know, face-to-face, that their parents would be getting a bill for the repairs to the wall, and that he had called the police yet again. What happened next, no one would have predicted.

...One of the kids picked up his skateboard and used it to sucker-punch the homeowner, leaving him unconscious on the ground with a fractured skull and broken jaw. No one was sure if he would recover, but over time he has.

...None of the kids were prosecuted because the homeowner’s memory had been affected by both the blow to the head from the skateboard and the fall to the ground. The only witness didn’t see the actual attack—only the kids running away from the scene (and it wasn’t even enough to make a positive identification).

...It should not be assumed that I’m suggesting that all skateboarders break the law. Instead, I’m suggesting that an unusually high percentage of skateboarders are willing to break the law—mostly by trespassing and vandalism, some much worse—and thus give the rest an extremely bad image.

...With all due respect to Mr. Hawk, those of us who view certain acts of skateboarding as crimes don’t do so simply because we don’t like the act of skateboarding; we do it because too many skateboarders are actually committing crimes.

Source: NPR

Dressed to Oppress

2006-07-24T14:12:00.000-04:00

...After all the discussion (what little there was), after all the name-calling, and after all the mud-slinging, it turns out that the entire issue of Hazleton’s immigration ordinance is probably a moot point.

...Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the federal agency that is in charge of deporting illegal immigrants, almost always orders state and local law enforcement to ignore illegal immigrants unless they’re charged with a violent crime or subject of a federal detainer.

...Now I feel as if I’ve wasted valuable blog space on my analysis of semantics from three days ago. I could have been spending more time settling on the right loin cloth pattern for any future super-feminist revolution. Any suggestions?

Source: The Morning Call

Unhallowed Ground

2006-07-23T15:49:00.000-04:00

(Photo by A.J. Nelson)

...When the story of the Westboro Baptist Church began to gain momentum a few weeks ago, I was nearing the end of my first summer semester of graduate work and couldn’t make time to say anything about it. I’m still busy, but this morning I came across a headline in the Washington Post that has me wondering if the ACLU is now equating harassment with free speech.

...To preface this, the Westboro Baptist Church is the group whose claim to fame is chanting anti-homosexual slogans and holding signs reading “God Hates You,” “God Hates America,” and “God Hates Fags” at funeral services of slain military personnel from the Iraqi War. The fundamentalist group was eventually banned from protesting “in front of or about” any location where a funeral is held, from an hour before the service to an hour after the service ends. Offenders will be hit with fines and jail time.

...To conclude this preface, it’s also no secret that I’m skeptical of the ACLU as a whole, simply because of their continued support for violent sexual predators and child molesters. Yes, they’ve made a few good calls on issues like protecting medical records and even a few gun control laws, but it seems as if more and more they take one step forward and two steps back.

...This morning while perusing the Washington Post I found this headline: “ACLU Sues for Anti-Gay Group That Pickets at Troops’ Burials.” At first I was a little shocked, but that feeling wore off after about a nanosecond. The organization is saying that the Westboro Baptist Church’s First Amendment rights are being violated as the Missouri ban is being imposed on the basis of the messages’ content.

...Tara from Soul Blessings made an excellent point regarding the ethical side of the protests by saying:

The soldier did not start this war we are in. In fact, due to the current economy, many have even joined the military prior to this war as a means of financially surviving. Either way, soldiers serve a purpose, a deeper means. They put their lives on the line to keep us safe. Maybe we are wrong for being over in Iraq, but how is it justifiable for anyone to stand outside of a soldier’s funeral and criticize them for dying for our freedom? Furthermore, how can someone justify their own protest when they are arguing someone who is not even capable of defending themselves? Seems like a bit of a cop out to me. The energy could be directed in a much more positive and productive manner than picking at the deceased.

...I’m going to go one step further and argue that this isn’t even a free speech issue—it’s an issue of harassment. Allow me to explain.

...The Westboro Baptist Church members aren’t organizing protests in their local public parks or on their public streets as a general protest. They’re targeting specific individuals—fallen soldiers—and their families at funerals, which aren’t intended (since intent is important to the ACLU) to be “public” ceremonies. Let’s put it another way: If a member of the Westboro Baptist Church or ACLU were walking down the street and found themselves approached by groups of people with protest signs and screams, following them wherever they go, it’s not free speech; it’s a targeted form of harassment and stalking which would fall under already-established laws pertaining to such actions.

...This would also be true if anti-ACLU or anti-Westboro Baptist Church folks decided to protest at the funerals of members from either organization who might have passed away. Staging general protests of either group is one thing; only showing up at graveside services of deceased ACLU or Westboro members would be something else.

...With that out of the way, I thought that it should be noted that I came across an interesting piece of information via Common Dreams while researching this topic. It turns out that speaking freely isn’t something that the ACLU wants its own members to enjoy. From a May 24, 2006, New York Times story by Stephanie Strom:

The American Civil Liberties Union is weighing new standards that would discourage its board members from publicly criticizing the organization’s policies and internal administration.

“Where an individual director disagrees with a board position on matters of civil liberties policy, the director should refrain from publicly highlighting the fact of such disagreement,” the committee that compiled the standards wrote in its proposals.

“Directors should remember that there is always a material prospect that public airing of the disagreement will affect the A.C.L.U. adversely in terms of public support and fund-raising,” the proposals state.

...Protesting at fallen soldiers’ funeral services—where family members aren’t even necessarily supportive of the cause for which their loved one died—is nothing more than harassment. The Westboro Baptist Church has gone beyond protesting issues or causes by singling out specific people in situations where family members have little choice but to endure the taunts. As Tara pointed out, the primary target can’t even offer a defense because they’re dead. As such, they’ve crossed the First Amendment line and may have very well entered the realm of harassment.

...As for the ACLU, their primary objective is becoming more and more blurred. They’ve always been greeted with criticism from conservatives, but—especially considering their own in-house directives to keep quiet when board members harbor dissent—it should be difficult for liberals, libertarians, and anyone else supportive of the Constitution to withhold unfavorable reviews, too.

Sources: Common Dreams, Soul Blessings, Washington Post

Thy Will Be Done

2006-07-23T03:26:00.000-04:00

...This is a sign from above. It must be.

In No Uncertain Terms

2006-07-21T23:05:00.000-04:00

...I wasn’t sure how—or if—to expand upon the issue of the illegal immigration ordinance in Hazleton, Pennsylvania. I don’t object to anyone, from any country, moving here, there, or anywhere in a pursuit of a better life, as long as it’s done so legally. While I recognize ethnicity, I don’t use it as a determining factor of judging a person’s character or work ethic. Considering the number of white Americans that I’ve lambasted over the last two years, I could probably be called anti-white or anti-American more than anything.

...With that aside, over the last week a few more topics pertaining to the Hazleton story have arisen: six neighboring towns are considering similar ordinances to deter Hazleton’s illegal immigrants from settling there after leaving Hazleton; Governor Ed Rendell, no doubt risking the loss of many union votes in the upcoming election, has made it known that he’s opposed to Mayor Lou Barletta’s new law, calling the crackdown “mean-spirited”; and a local newspaper has called for all enforcement of immigration legislation to come from Washington—not from state or local governments.

...As such, I figured that instead of taking the now-common approach to this debate—where one side says that illegal immigrants need to leave and the other side cries racism—I decided that I would rather focus upon something that might be hindering the entire discussion: We’re disagreeing over the definition of “illegal.”

...Not to become a slave to strict definitions, but it should be noted that the online FindLaw Legal Dictionary offers a rather terse entry for “illegal”: “contrary to or in violation of a law: ‘illicit’ and ‘unlawful.’”

...When we apply such an adjective to the term “immigrant,” we can—or rather, should—see a distinct difference between immigrants—who are legal residents and workers—and illegal immigrants, who are in America without any official documentation or, for lack of a better description, without anyone knowing that they’re here. Analogies to such definition differences include gun possession, whereby illegal possession of a firearm is vastly different from legal possession, and driving a vehicle, whereby people driving with valid drivers’ licenses are vastly different from those who drive with expired or suspended licenses.

...Somewhere along the way some of us have turned “legal” and “illegal” into synonyms. Thus, a heated debate has ensued.

...The editorial staff of the Pennsylvania newspaper The Morning Call has said that “Hazleton’s image has become downright ugly, and the ordinance—not crime—is to blame.” They also took aim at Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli, who is pushing for state legislation to require that Pennsylvania businesses implement an already-existing voluntary federal system which verifies Social Security numbers of prospective employees.

...In their editorial, the paper’s staff provides a reasonable example of what I mean when I submit the possibility of interchangeable definitions. Morganelli was quoted as saying, “The fact of the matter is that their illegal entry automatically leads them to additional illegal and criminal acts, such as the utilization of fraudulent identities and cards,” to which the editorial staff responded with, “Mr. Morganelli's statement reflects an assumption that all illegal immigrants in Northampton County commit crimes.”

...It appears that they’re failing to see that being an illegal immigrant is a crime, simply due to the status of “illegal.” Morganelli evidently is referring to such a status, otherwise he wouldn’t have used the word “additional” in his statement. Furthermore, due to the illegal immigrants’ status as “illegal,” their identification and cards have to be illegal by definition. After all, one cannot be here illegally but have their identification or cards be legal. It’s possible to be here legally with illegal documentation, but to have it the other way around would be contradictory.

...The July 21 editorial concluded:

Far-reaching immigration reform in Washington is preferable to a patchwork of state or local laws, including the one proposed by Mr. Morganelli. It’s better to wait until the federal stalemate is resolved than to rush in with ineffective and polarizing local and state measures.

...That’s nice in theory, but if federal legislation were so efficient, we wouldn’t have reached the point of the Hazleton ordinance in the first place. Besides, patchworks of state and local laws are sometimes necessary; let’s not forget about last year’s Supreme Court ruling in Kelo v. New London, which made the use of eminent domain easier than ever.

...The Kelo ruling inspired many states to toughen their laws pertaining to eminent domain, as property owners across the nation quickly saw increased potential of land confiscation from not only their local school districts, but also from Wal-Mart and developers eager to build an infinite number of strip-malls and townhouses. The Morning Call editorial staff might be opposed to those state laws, too.

...Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell is sticking with the ethnicity card in this fray. He voiced his opposition to Barletta’s new law, calling it “mean-spirited” and said:

“The only ones I want to hear speaking up and complaining about immigration are the Native Americans who we screwed. A lot of this is being pushed by politicians who absolutely want to keep your eyes away from real stuff. They feed off hate and divisiveness.”

...I’ll completely agree that Native Americans were victims of reprehensible acts. I’d go even further and say that two of the biggest black marks on United States history are the treatment of Native Americans and the institution of slavery.

...With that said, does past treatment of Native Americans somehow disqualify us from debating present-day handling of illegal immigrants? I’d argue no, because if we do, we can continually use the Native American argument whenever any immigration issue arises.

...I’d sooner assert that this is Rendell’s spin to cast a negative light on the concept of local control—on anything. It’s no secret that Rendell looks unfavorably upon communities having a say on what they do. In 2004 he said that he’s “not for letting anything be decided by referendum” when asked about the possibility of municipalities having a say over potentially-hazardous sludge being dumped in their backyards.

...Is Rendell correct in suggesting that some of those in support of Barletta’s ordinance are full of hate, divisiveness, and mean-spiritedness? It’s quite possible. Pennsylvania has its fair share of residents whose attitudes might mirror those of the south during the civil rights era. James Carville once said, “Pennsylvania is Philadelphia and Pittsburgh with Alabama in between.” Having lived in Pennsylvania for most of my life, I’d find it difficult to disagree.

...Does this automatically mean that everyone supportive of recognizing the word “illegal” in “illegal immigrant” is mean-spirited or full of hate? I’d adamantly say no. The text of Hazleton’s Illegal Immigration Relief Act Ordinance doesn’t contain anything pertaining to race, ethnicity, Mexico, Hispanics, or the like. Yes, most of the illegal immigrants in Hazleton are from Mexico or Central America, but if the ordinance has the potential of punishing illegal immigrants from Canada, Vietnam, Korea, Russia, et al., it’s difficult to deem the act “racist,” “bigoted,” or anything similar. The definition wouldn’t apply.

...Rendell is not the only one to view the ordinance as having racist intent, however. Ethnic organizations stand by the charges of racism, since the majority of illegal immigrants are Hispanic. The Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund has joined with the Pennsylvania chapter of the ACLU to sue the city on the grounds that “the ordinance erodes the federal government’s power to regulate immigration.”

...Either way, the rhetoric is escalating and becoming coarser. One example, an entry entitled “The First Nazi City in America” by Juan Santos of the Guerrilla News Network, states:

Everyone will have to register their nationality with the government. No one will be exempt. People of certain nationalities will be targeted for removal. Those who look like they might be from those nations will be marked as suspects, constantly subject to harassment, official and unofficial.

[…]

There’s only one thing the “immigration debate” is about: It’s about white nationalism.

[…]

Official Amerika will never admit that the matter of “national origin” and “immigration status” is little more than a thin excuse for ethnic suppression and ethnic cleansing.

...We’ve come a long way from debate class.

Sources: Army for a Clean Environment, Cornell Law School, FindLaw Law Dictionary, Guerrilla News Network, Hazleton City Government, The Morning Call, The Morning Call, The Morning Call, PBS, Reuters, WNEP

Hot Under the Collar

2006-07-20T22:12:00.000-04:00

(File photo by CoastView)

...Parts of North America are currently experiencing high temperatures, and that usually lends itself to public service announcements about making sure that you don’t leave your pets in your car if you go shopping. The heat can reach well over 100 degrees and subsequently kill the animal.

...Recent news stories show us that times are changing, however, so I figured that I should offer this public service announcement and say, “With the onset of summer’s oppressive temperatures, please do not keep your pet or family members in your car for extended periods of time, as the interior temperature can reach in excess of 100 degrees and lead to death.”

...Thank you.

Sources: The Morning Call, The Toronto Star, The Grand Forks Herald

Circus Maximus

2006-07-20T00:23:00.000-04:00

…Conservatives have long referred to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals as the “Ninth Circus Court of Appeals.” Sometimes it’s just because the court rules against a conservative idea; other times—like recently—it’s a term that fits.

…Attorney Lawrence Siskind recently detailed a disconcerting free speech case, Harper v. Poway Unified School District, in which high school student Tyler Harper had the Ninth Circuit Court rule against him, 2-1. Unfortunately, the court’s reasoning on the ruling was more troubling than the actual case. Mr. Siskind explains:

Harper v. Poway Unified School District grew out of a decision by a San Diego area high school to hold a “Day of Silence” to “teach tolerance of others, particularly those of a different sexual orientation” (in the words of its Assistant Principal).

[...]

Not all students supported the Day of Silence. Tyler Harper arrived wearing a T-shirt reading “I WILL NOT ACCEPT WHAT GOD HAS CONDEMNED” on one side, and “HOMOSEXUALITY IS SHAMEFUL ‘Romans 1:27’” on the other. The next day, his T-shirt read: “BE ASHAMED, OUR SCHOOL EMBRACED WHAT GOD HAS CONDEMNED.” School authorities considered the T-shirt “inflammatory” and refused to allow Harper to wear it on campus. When he would not remove it, they confined him to a school conference room. He spent part of the day doing homework, and part discussing the Bible and the T-shirt with school officials and a deputy sheriff. After the last period, Harper was instructed to proceed directly off campus.

Harper sued the school district on First Amendment and other grounds. He sought a preliminary injunction barring the district from “continuing its violation of [his] constitutional rights.” After the district court denied the motion, Harper appealed.

…As previously stated, Harper lost the appeal. Mr. Siskind, in his piece, points out that the Ninth Circuit Court could have said that its ruling was derived from some judicial basis. Instead, the court opinion shows us that the appeal was turned down not for any legal basis, but for reparations. From Mr. Siskind:

Focusing on the specific anti-gay content of Harper’s T-shirt, [Judge Stephen Reinhardt] ruled that schools may restrict “derogatory and injurious remarks directed at students’ minority status such as race, religion, and sexual orientation.” In a footnote, he wrote that the court would “leave...to another time” the question of limiting derogatory remarks aimed at gender. But Judge Reinhardt proceeded to establish a new constitutional calculus, under which the protectability of speech would depend on the minority status of the listener.

Judge Reinhardt wrote that a different standard should apply to derogatory remarks aimed at “majority groups such as Christians or whites” because “there is, of course, a difference between a historically oppressed minority group that has been the victim of serious prejudice and discrimination and a group that has always enjoyed a preferred social, economic and political status.”

…Who needs a silly little thing like a constitutional amendment getting in the way of a ruling when you can just as easily cite revenge?

Source: TCS Daily

Permit Issued

2006-07-19T15:16:00.000-04:00

…Faint Expectations hasn’t been hijacked (knock on wood). I’ve decided to alter my template, but only by a little bit. The basic two-column Minima format was becoming overused, so I’ve decided to go with a three-column template from Pam Blackstone that was simply tweaked from Douglas Bowman’s original design.

Hostile Takeover

2006-07-15T17:02:00.000-04:00

...While taking a break from school work I came across a few things that might be of interest to anyone whose computer skills are as rudimentary as mine and whose blog is important to them.

...Last night, just before I was about to log into Blogger, I noticed a recently updated blog scrolling by called The Real Blogger Status. The odd name piqued my interest, so I decided to check it out. It’s a blog about blogs, run by an IT consultant named Chuck. The information on Chuck’s site made me a bit more aware of a few things going on in the world of Blogger that will no doubt affect those of us who use it on a regular basis. Among the important things:

Over the last few months, the number of Blogger-deleted and hijacked blogs has increased. Some blogs have fallen prey to a new Blogger anti-spam program, whereby the blogs are mistaken for spam and sent to the Internet graveyard. Other blogs have been stolen from their owners by hackers, and in some cases—such as this poor guy—the thieves taunt the victims.
Some of the hijackings have been carried out by individuals with a grudge, others by spammers who see an opportunity to have yet another site to sell their crap.

...Either way, there are quite a few interesting things which are on The Real Blogger Status that might be worth doing if you have a lot of time invested in your Blogger blog:

Never delete an address. Even if you want to delete the posts, hold onto the address because your address might be ranked on a search engine, and that creates a prime situation for spammers who can easily grab the address if you give it up.
Make some kind of back-up for your blog if possible: save the template code, save the post text, etc. This doesn’t take much space if you copy and paste the information to a Notepad file, but remember: Don’t copy and paste to a Word document because it might “fix” things that shouldn’t be “fixed,” such as perceived spelling errors.
Make your password disgustingly random. Don’t use anything that might be found in a dictionary because software to decipher passwords has become so sophisticated that it can detect words spelled forward, backward, and in patterns. Make it a sick soup of letters and numbers that have no significant meaning whatsoever. P-Synch offers more information on this topic if you’re interested.
Posting on a regular basis can be a good thing. Two folks (Person 1; Person 2) have reported their blogs being deleted after having not posted anything in several weeks.

...If anyone happens to see anything odd occurring with this blog in the future, it should be known that it’s not my doing; I have no intention of deleting or changing anything on Faint Expectations. The only thing that has been tweaked in the last few weeks is the font, from Georgia to Verdana for easier reading.

...If anything negative should happen to occur, I’m not sure if I’d return to Blogger. I’d cross that bridge if I came to it.

Time Out

2006-07-10T23:46:00.000-04:00

Portrait of a Scholar (Attributed to Domenico Feti)

…This might be my last post for the next three or four weeks, as my next summer semester for graduate school is about to begin. For roughly the next month I’ll be evaluating literature for the social sciences and not much else.

…Auf wiedersehen.

War of Words

2006-07-09T16:57:00.000-04:00

...Given our current political climate, I felt that it was necessary to offer what might be best known as “applied definitions” for four words that have become bastardized over the last few years.
...Using my trusty fourth edition of The American Heritage Dictionary, I found the following definitions:

communist – n. One who subscribes to an economic system characterized by collective ownership of property and by the organization of labor for common advantage.
fascist – n. One who advocates totalitarianism marked by right-wing dictatorship and bellicose nationalism.
open-minded – adj. Receptive to new ideas or to reason.
tolerance – n. The capacity for respecting the beliefs or practices of others.

...Now we’ll rework the definitions so that they’re more applicable to 2006 usage.

communist – n. One who subscribes to any liberal idea.
fascist – n. One who subscribes to any conservative idea.
open-minded – adj. Receptive to those who agree with you on all levels and no one else.
tolerance – n. The capacity to accept those who agree with you on all levels and tell those who disagree with you on any level that they’re either a communist or a fascist.

When Humans Deserve Choke-Chains

2006-07-08T01:12:00.000-04:00

...By now it’s well known that I like animals more than people. It’s also well known that I have no tolerance for animal abusers, nor the gutter trash that defends them. While blogging about such people might not do much other than allow me to vent, it’s still worth it if it brings attention to a few more examples of what’s wrong with the human race.

...Sadly, we can add two more names to the ever-growing list of those whose mothers should have opted for abortions when they had the chance: Eric J. Henry and his attorney, Eugene J. Maurer.

...Henry was recently sentenced to five years in prison after bludgeoning a puppy to death during a burglary last summer. While robbing a home with two accomplices last July, Henry used a baseball bat to beat to death the family’s seven-month-old Lab mix named Voodoo. The puppy was found in a pool of blood atop the stairs with his head bashed in and his leg shattered. Blood was splattered across the walls and a trail of the puppy’s blood was throughout the house.

...After police found the puppy’s blood on Henry’s sneakers, his response was typical of most modern criminals: He said that it wasn’t his fault. Henry claimed that he was on PCP at the time, and that the PCP was to blame—not him. As if such an excuse weren’t pathetic enough, it turned out that it was a lie; there was no evidence of Henry having PCP in his blood at the time.

...The puppy’s owners were understandably traumatized and husband/father Nick Dumas explained, “This just really changed my life—not in a positive way.” The judge in the case said that she was “sickened by the photographs” of the dead puppy, and told Henry that the act “was a cruel and senseless act.”

...Here’s the part of the story where we add insult to injury.

...Henry’s attorney, Eugene J. Maurer, thought that the sentence was rather harsh for burglary and the pummeling death of a seven-month-old puppy with a baseball bat. Maurer said:

“If there were different victims in this case for whom the impact of the crime was not quite so great, and if they could handle it better, then the sentence wouldn’t have been so harsh. With all due respect to them, I would hope that they would be able to handle such a trauma a little bit better than that. To have your whole life ruined by this just seems a little excessive.”

...Filth like Maurer and Henry make me both sick and embarrassed to know that we’re somehow part of the same species. Since he mentions “different victims” in his completely disgusting remarks, it’s quite apparent that the “different victims” in this story should have been both Maurer and Henry.

...With all due respect to them, I would hope that they would be able to handle knowing that it wouldn’t be a loss whatsoever if they were to meet the same fate as the puppy in this story.

Sources: The News Journal, Eugene J. Maurer contact information

French Whine

2006-06-30T11:40:00.000-04:00

AFP File Photo

...Over the last few years France has become a country that seems to be either vehemently loved or vehemently hated by certain demographics of Americans for various reasons. A new French law seems to be evidence that perhaps criticism of their government is merited on a few more levels.

...French legislators just approved what has become known as the “iTunes Law,” which will force Apple to make their iPod and iTunes music compatible with their competitors’ music players and online music services.

...Market analysts think that this might cause Apple to pull out of the French online music business altogether, and quite frankly, who could blame them? Apple officials have called the bill “state-sponsored piracy” since the final “compromise” insisted that all companies share their technical data with anyone who wants to compete against them. One reason that it became a “compromise” is because a loophole was left in the bill that might allow companies to bypass the rules on sharing data if they happen to partner with musicians and record labels.

...One of the biggest ways for companies—big or small—to not only survive but also prosper is for them to offer unique products. If those products are desirable, they’ll become popular and ensure that the employees of that business will get a steady paycheck. It also means that other companies will have to compete against that company if they want to survive and prosper in that same field. It’s quite sad to see that the French government is so opposed to competition that they’re willing to pass laws dictating how something as recreational as music buying is done.

...This story reminds me a bit of Yamaha’s instrument division from the mid-1990s. If I can remember correctly, Yamaha Drums designed their kick drum hoops to be compatible with only Yamaha kick drum pedals. If you wanted to use a kick drum pedal from competitors like Tama or Drum Workshop, you were out of luck unless you were willing to carve out a notch on the Yamaha kick drum hoop.

...At the time, some drummers suggested that such a move by Yamaha was “unfair.” If we look at the situation without using emotion we can see that there wasn’t anything either “fair” or “unfair” about it. The consumer was given three simple choices: (1) Use a Yamaha pedal if you want to use a Yamaha kick drum, (2) sand the wood down until it was compatible with your Tama or Drum Workshop pedal, or (3) don’t buy anything from Yamaha whatsoever. The choice was up to the drummer.

...Sadly the French government doesn’t view things that way. They’re more interested in applying anti-competition legislation to a field of technology that might only get better due to competition. In an effort to apply fairness, they’re risking not only technological stagnation, but also the possibility of Apple pulling out of a country with millions of music fans.

...That is, of course, if France doesn’t pass a law making it illegal for Apple to leave.

Source: Yahoo! News

Discern, Baby, Discern

2006-06-28T17:01:00.000-04:00

...Yesterday’s Senate vote on the proposed flag burning amendment was 66-34, which was one vote short of the needed 67 votes (two-thirds of the Senate) that would have sent the bill to the states for ratification.

...Being a big fan of free speech, I’m quite happy knowing that this form of speech is still protected. Even though many of us think that the Supreme Court ended the debate in the 1989 case Texas v. Johnson, in which the justices held that convictions for flag desecration are inconsistent with the First Amendment, the argument will no doubt continue. This most recent bill is evidence of that.

...With that said, I’m also one of the first people to suggest that those who resort to burning a flag to show their disgust with the government usually do so because they don’t have the intellectual capacity to form a cohesive, informed, and intelligent debate via words—be they oral or in the written word. The flag is, after all, a symbol; if your protesting abilities can’t extend beyond fire, why should those of us who can form cohesive thoughts take you seriously?

...The limited intellectual faculties of flag burners aren’t necessarily my primary concerns for this post, however, as we’ve come to see that this most recent round of First Amendment debate has helped to illustrate our society’s contradictory ideas of what “free speech” might be.

...Before I continue, it should be noted that I’m not going to suggest that yelling, “Fire!” in a crowded theater should be protected; dozens of people might end up injured—if not killed—in such a case.

...What I am suggesting is that we have a few matters that show how some segments of the populace view certain things as “speech,” while other segments don’t agree whatsoever. It’s essentially more evidence that Americans—as a whole—are willing to view similar things in a different light so long as their own interests are at stake.

...Considering how many of us hold particular ideologies, we can see a few things develop in this argument that should make us think about our contradictions:

Many of those who are in favor of banning flag burning are the first to say that campaign-finance reform is a bad idea, since money is “speech.” Many who support the McCain-Feingold legislation are the first to call flag burning “speech.” Perhaps I’m wacky, because I see both fire and money as speech.
Many of those who support banning Confederate flags from sight—no matter if they’re flown, on T-shirts, bumper stickers, notebooks, etc.—are opposed to banning the burning of the American flag, since the argument is twofold: (1) It’s free speech, and (2) a flag is just a symbol. I’m of the firm belief that (1) it’s free speech if you choose to burn your American flag or fly your Confederate flag, and (2) a flag is, indeed, a symbol.
Similarly, differing ideologies view the burnings of American flags and rainbow flags (viewed by some as a hate crime) differently. Correct me if I’m wrong, but burning either flag is done so out of hatred for what that particular flag symbolizes. Therefore, we should either say that both are hate crimes or both are free speech. True, I’m an open critic of how the laws regarding “hate crimes” have been applied (only recently, a white NYU student was chased by a group of black assailants who, according to witnesses, were yelling, “Get the white boy!”; the NYU student ran into traffic, was struck by a car, died in the hospital, but police said that the incident wasn’t a hate crime), but that becomes a separate debate altogether.

...It should be known that while I’m willing to support a person’s right to burn a flag—any flag—it should be noted that I’m completely and unequivocally opposed to the acts of trespassing, theft, and vandalism that have often accompanied the burnings. Even in Texas v. Johnson, Gregory Johnson burned a stolen American flag—he didn’t even have the balls to buy his own. Likewise, in many of the reported cases of rainbow flag burnings, we see a recurring pattern: The flags don’t belong to those doing the burning.

...Idealistically I would love to see a world where we all got along and no one would have a reason to burn any flags. That’s not reality, however, and so we need to attempt to view things a bit more pragmatically and maturely. Does that mean that we can’t have a few ideals? Absolutely not, because a few ideals give us goals for which we can strive.

...In this case, the ideal would be that we, as a whole country, come to realize that we’re taking similar instances and calling them different things simply because it fits our agenda. No matter the issue at hand—be it burning flags, campaign contributions, or hate crimes—we’re seeing the same thing but viewing it differently.

Sources: Bloomberg, Cornell University Law School, New York Sun, Library of Congress, The Advocate

MyResponsibility

2006-06-20T16:28:00.000-04:00

...A few weeks ago I was discussing the concept of responsibility with a colleague and we ended up in a conversation over how it’s interesting to see how certain segments of our populace will on one hand berate fast food chains and tobacco companies for offering unhealthy substances to consumers, ultimately blaming the corporation in question and removing responsibility from the consumer, but will simultaneously look to that same corporation for guidance in making healthy choices.

...McDonald’s offers unhealthy burgers and fries, but instead of saying, “Educate yourselves,” they cry, “What’s McDonald’s going to do to look out for me?” Instead of saying, “Put out that cancer stick,” they ask, “What is the tobacco company going to do about my smoking habit?” Why on earth would they look for solutions from the companies that they hate most?

...We concluded that it’s simply a continuation of the ongoing growth of what might best be called “passing the responsibility.” Now we can add MySpace to that list.

...The popular Internet networking site for teens and twenty-somethings is now the target of a $30 million lawsuit by a family whose 14-year-old daughter was allegedly sexually assaulted after going on a date with a 19-year-old man. The 14-year-old posted information about herself on MySpace, the 19-year-old allegedly took notice of her, began an e-mail and phone relationship with her, then picked her up at school one day, took in a movie and dinner, and later sexually assaulted her.

...Whose fault was it? Well, obviously it must have been MySpace. After all, corporations are supposed to watch out for us.

...The suit against MySpace says that the site doesn’t do enough to prevent things like this from happening, calling their security measures for children “utterly ineffective.” It’s easy for children—as well as everyone else—to lie about their age on the Internet, and MySpace isn’t any different. Their chief security officer said that they take “aggressive measures” to protect members and concluded in a written statement, “We encourage everyone on the Internet to engage in smart web practices and have open family dialogue about how to apply offline lessons in the online world.” That no doubt pissed off a few more anti-responsibility folks.

...I’ll be honest and say that it’s my opinion that 90 percent of MySpace users are the perfect example of what’s wrong in America. Is that the fault of MySpace? No. These people would have been obsessed with acting stupid, promoting their favorite cheap beer, dressing like whores and rap stars, and driving pimped-out Mitsubishis regardless of whether or not MySpace ever existed. MySpace simply provided the outlet to promote the stupidity on a larger scale; the people would have existed anyway.

...As for “protecting” their children, I cringe just knowing that there are parents who would sooner have a bunch of Website administrators look out for their kids as opposed to them. What exactly do they consider as being in the job description of parents?

...In this case, if the 14-year-old girl was willing to lie to get an account, was willing to go out for the evening with a guy five years older than her, and that the mom had absolutely no idea that her daughter was e-mailing and calling a 19-year-old, then there are things in this family that need to be dealt with more than a lawsuit against a Website.

...After reading the initial story, I scrolled down the page because this particular site allows for comments on the stories. It’s always fun to see what the public at large thinks. Most of them seemed to be echoing my sentiments, but a few stuck out like sore thumbs.

...One gentleman explained, “No parent can monitor their kids’ Internet usage and MySpace takes advantage of this.” One mother remarked that this suit “is a message to MySpace and other similar sites to buckle down on things.” She concluded by saying, “Sometimes the only way to change things is to hit someone’s pocketbook.” A second mom quipped, “Perhaps legal action like this suit will convince them that they must accept responsibility for how their business is used.” A third mom was angry because MySpace administrators wouldn’t delete her 12-year-old daughter’s account—even though she could have easily done it herself.

...Maybe we can sue parents who haven’t yet accepted the responsibility that comes with having kids.

Source: Austin American-Statesman

Muchos Hipocresia

2006-06-03T19:29:00.000-04:00

...Keeping with the topic of fattening food from my last post, I came across a brief story that mixes in the issue of immigration and speaking English while ordering a heaping serving of dead cow.

...The editorial staff at the Philadelphia Inquirer is offended at the management of Geno’s Steaks—the other cheese-steak joint in Philly, aside from Pat’s—because Geno’s is taking food orders in English only. It looks as if the Inquirer staff wants the fine folks at Geno’s to learn Spanish in order to become a more diverse cheese-steak establishment.

...In their editorial on the matter, they attempt to make Joe Vento, Geno’s owner, look like a hypocrite because his grandparents were from Italy and spoke limited English. Unfortunately, in an apparent effort to look chic among the politically correct cliques, the Inquirer seems to brush aside Vento’s grandparents’ lack of whining about their language barrier—instead the folks from the old country took the initiative to learn the language of their new home.

...The paper concludes by calling Vento’s policy “boneheaded” and suggests that it might put Geno’s out of business. For some reason I seriously doubt that Geno’s is going to go belly-up because they don’t take a few orders in a language that their employees might not even understand.

...What’s most interesting is to see that for a newspaper which is so supportive of others catering to non-English speaking people, I can’t seem to find a Spanish edition of the Inquirer. What’s this? They don’t accommodate Spanish-speaking customers?

...I’m not sure which is more applicable here: “Do as I say and not as I do”; or “When in Rome, make sure that the Romans change their ways to make you happy.”

Source: Philadelphia Inquirer

No Soup for You

2006-06-02T20:50:00.000-04:00

...My blog posts are going to be few and far between over the next four weeks as I’m taking two rather time-consuming graduate classes. My last two days have been spent completing four assignments and I’ll be spending Saturday doing research at the university library.

...Even so, during my lunch break I came across a story detailing the Food and Drug Administration’s continuing effort to ensure that Americans don’t have to be responsible for their own actions, nor do they have to really even think for themselves.

...Such a philosophy has been standard for so-called consumer advocates for years. They routinely blame restaurants for obesity by somehow coming to the conclusion that people are brain-dead zombies that shovel fat- and cholesterol-laden food into their mouths because restaurant advertisements tell them to.

...Keeping with that notion, the FDA has issued a report that encourages restaurants to move the emphasis of their advertising to lower-calorie dishes. They also want restaurants to bundle fruits and vegetables with meals, whether the customer wants it or not, and they’re calling for restaurants to serve smaller portion sizes. (Am I the only one to realize that customers can just order two or three small servings to compensate for one big serving?)

...Taking a rather arrogant view of the situation, Margo Wootan of the Center for Science in the Public Interest explained that restaurant patrons are clueless and need to have others look out for us. “If companies don’t tell them, people have no way of knowing how many calories they are being served at restaurants. And chances are they are being served a lot more than they realize,” she said.

...No offense, Ms. Wootan, but not all of us who dine out are as ignorant as you seem to think. We’re well aware of what we’re putting in our mouths and how big the portions are. We don’t need condescending people like you to explain it to us.

...Restaurant patrons who are so empty-headed that they know absolutely nothing about what they’re eating would have to have been born and raised in the wilderness, cut off from all civilization and basic discussion on healthy eating. For the rest of us who frequent these eateries, we know what we’re eating and how much of it.

...If people choose to eat crap, it should be their choice. If they want to eat a deep-fried bacon quadruple-cheeseburger covered in gravy and served up with biscuits and French fries, they have every right to do so. If, however, they want to have a chef salad with raspberry vinaigrette and a glass of spring water, they have a right to do that, too. Shouldn’t the term “freedom of choice” be applicable to more things than just abortion?

...If we’re not going to allow people to make their own decisions when it comes to what they eat, we might as well go all the way and ensure that everyone eats properly, no matter what. Each restaurant should be assigned a bureaucrat from the FDA to monitor the food orders from each and every patron, making sure that we’re eating what we should be eating. The government official will choose our entrée, our beverage, and whether or not we’re allowed to have dessert.

...Welcome to America. May I take your order?

Source: MSNBC

May Book Review

2006-05-30T15:11:00.000-04:00

...Doing book reviews was something that I figured might be a nice filler for Faint Expectations, possibly as a way of giving an occasional positive to an otherwise weekly dose of negatives. My last review was in February, but I knew that reviews wouldn’t be a regular monthly thing.

...A few days ago I finished Buzz Bissinger’s 3 Nights in August, which follows a three-game series between the St. Louis Cardinals and their historic rivals the Chicago Cubs. The series took place during the 2003 season, and Bissinger takes the reader down several paths, from game action to behind-the-scenes occurrences to analysis of individual players.

...Bissinger’s name might be known among football fans, having been the author of Friday Night Lights which eventually found its way onto the big screen. Whether 3 Nights in August becomes a feature film or not doesn’t matter; the book version is good enough to stand alone.

...For those of us who are baseball geeks (when I use that term I’m referring to those of us who go beyond watching the occasional televised game or checking the game box scores; we do daily checks of transactions and can name almost every player on our favorite team’s triple-A roster and even a few names on the double-A and single-A rosters), Bissinger gives us insight into things that were visible to him after having gained an all-access pass to the Cardinals’ clubhouse and more notably, manager Tony La Russa’s office.

...From former St. Louis farmhand Bo Hart’s struggles with hitting curveballs and outfielder Kerry Robinson’s unwillingness to follow managerial instruction to then-pitcher Rick Ankiel’s mechanical breakdown and Darryl Kile’s death, Bissinger describes in detail the goings-on of a Major League Baseball team experiencing the ups and downs of both three games against a heated rival and the 162-game season in which the series lies.

...It should be mentioned that there are a few pages every so often that seem to have been added in an effort to stretch the book by a few pages. Paragraphs that describe single pitches in too much detail could have removed and the book would have still retained its addictive essence—and in all honesty it might have helped the overall flow.

...Regardless of such a minor complaint, 3 Nights in August is worth reading if you’re a baseball fan in general. If you’re a Chicago Cubs fan it’s worth adding to your book collection; if you haven’t purchased it yet, add it to your “to buy” list. If you’re a St. Louis Cardinals fan, it’s a must-have.

...As a bit of a warning, if you’re a devout follower of the concepts found in the controversial book Moneyball, which over-emphasizes the importance of statistics, statistics, and more statistics—basically removing all aspects of nuance and humanity from the game of baseball—this book probably won’t interest you. If you find yourself fascinated more with crunching numbers and studying on-base percentage, home-runs numbers, and WHIP statistics as opposed to how the game breathes, don’t bother buying 3 Nights. Bissinger is more interested in the human qualities that can be found in the game, whether those qualities are good or bad. The premise is that it is those qualities which make baseball what it is—the numbers just come along for the ride.

...After all, similar to La Russa’s philosophy, you can’t quantify desire.

The Short Arm of the Law

2006-05-26T19:38:00.000-04:00

Richard W. Thompson

...If you’re ever convicted of raping children, you might want to get Cheyenne County District Judge Kristine Cecava in Lincoln, Nebraska, to rule on your case. There’s a good chance that you’ll be home in time for dinner.

...Cecava sentenced Richard W. Thompson to 10 years of probation instead of 10 years in prison for molesting a 12-year-old girl because Thompson’s height is only 5’1”. Cecava said that life would be too difficult in prison for a short person, and as such she wouldn’t want to subject him to anything that harsh.

...Marla Sohl of the Nebraska Domestic Violence Sexual Assault Coalition expressed concern for the kind of message that this ruling is sending to sexual predators and how more concern is being shown for the criminal than the safety of the victim.

...Joe Mangano, former secretary of the National Organization of Short Statured Adults, said, “I’m assuming a short inmate would have a much more difficult time than a large inmate. It’s good to see somebody looking out for someone who is a short person.”

...For the record, I found NOSSA’s Website and the latest post on their blog offers an apology for Mangano’s asinine and disgusting comments. It firmly states that NOSSA disagrees “100%” with the remarks and that Mangano has been removed from his position as secretary.

...It’s quite sickening to know that Mangano made the kind of comments that he made, but it’s even sicker to know that someone like Cecava is on the bench. Not only do we have to worry about criminals but also judges who are hell-bent on making sure that they’re back on the street.

Sources: CNN, NOSSA, Nebraska Domestic Violence Sexual Assault Coalition

Read All About It

2006-05-24T21:01:00.000-04:00

...The writing might be on the wall, but unfortunately it might be less likely to be on the pages of a book.

...Even though net revenue for book sales increased by 5.9 percent to just below $34.6 billion last year, the Institute for Publishing Research is predicting sluggish demand for books over the next four years because statistics show that younger generations have little, if any, interest in reading books. The group suggests that older demographics are heavy readers, but a decline in overall sales will be evident as younger people are spending more time and money on things like iPods, digital cameras, and cell phones that have more bells and whistles than a top-of-the-line Jaguar.

...This potential problem for publishers was a hot topic at the recent BookExpo America, but reports said that attendees could basically be lumped into three categories: those who desire change, those who simply accept the change, and those who don’t want the change whatsoever.

...Even though it’s good to have hard numbers and statistics, we probably can simply look around us and realize that reading books is a foreign hobby for many people 40 years-of-age and younger. Peruse MySpace profiles (only if you have to and if you don’t mind having your I.Q. drop by a few points due to exposure), and you’ll notice how many of them have comments in the “BOOKS” category such as “Books suck!” and “Who reads?” Not surprisingly the words are usually misspelled and incorrect punctuation is used (I wish that I had a nickel for every question that was concluded with an exclamation mark). Could this be because they don’t read?

...Getting back to the topic at hand, a situation like this is reminiscent of a scene in the original version of the movie The Time Machine. Rod Taylor’s character travels to the distant future and discovers that books have absolutely no value to civilization. There was no reason to read because they could sooner swim and eat fruit; there was no reason to learn because they could sooner relax and sunbathe. The books that the civilization did have were hundreds of years old and disintegrated at the slightest touch. It was accepted, though, because the civilization was more interested in relaxing on a daily basis. Carpe diem, indeed.

...Obviously it was just a movie, but we’re nonetheless experiencing a massive change in terms of communication, learning, and intellectual growth. Consider how long writing and reading have been a part of civilizations; consider how important reading and writing have been in the growth of these civilizations. Now, when it comes to younger generations, opening a book is nothing more than a task that has to be carried out in a classroom—that is, if it’s carried out.

...Obviously this developing scenario is nightmarish for book publishers because they’ve based their livelihoods on the sales of the written word. This change in the market isn’t only a philosophical problem for them, but a financial one. Since a few of the BookExpo attendees have willingly accepted the fact that change is occurring with respect to book demand, let’s take a look at the two possibilities which exist in relation to the actual concepts of reading, writing, and learning.

...On one hand it can be argued that this lack of book buying isn’t necessarily a direct sign that society is going to hell. Reading might have simply shifted from paper to computer screens, creating a market for information that was traditionally offered in books, only to now be found in the form of pixels. Instead of hardcover and paperbacks, we’ll have e-books. Instead of encyclopedias and dictionaries, we’ll simply have Websites that offer the same services. The databases are just online as opposed to on a bookshelf.

...If we consider how much the Internet has provided us with reading material—some good and some bad, similar to what books have offered us—we can see that the act of reading and the desire for information dissemination hasn’t really changed—only the mediums have.

...The biggest change becomes the decline of paper-based writing; the biggest challenge ends up being selling your goods in a market that isn’t too interested in what you have to offer. This brings about forced change, but that isn’t anything new. Humans moved from stone tablets to papyrus, papyrus to parchment, parchment to paper. The Internet revolution might be the next step in this process, allowing us to say “paper to computer screen.”

...This new medium has opened the door for more authors—from information to entertainment to opinion—and more information. It can also be said that more writers—again, some good and some bad—will emerge because the paperless world allows for less red tape in the publishing process. Consider blogs, for instance: We can opine without being accepted by a publisher; more over, we have little to no expense to open our big mouths.

...On the other hand, it can indeed be said that the decline in book sales is simply due to what many have already said: Younger people don’t want to read anything anymore. They want immediate gratification and as much entertainment as possible—books don’t offer that for them. Thus, the iPod and cell phone take the place of the novel; reading to learn something is now relegated to homework for school.

...This argument is quite possible considering how many people have short attention spans, and the fact that books don’t lend themselves to people who need new stimuli every three or four minutes—technological toys, however, are perfect for it.

...Last year Norman Mailer opined on the matter and suggested that people with short attention spans have actually been conditioned by television and namely commercial breaks. People 40 and under have grown up with the ubiquitous television set and have come to recognize a change of stimulus every few minutes as being “normal,” since television programs of all sorts rely upon the standard format of off-and-on segments of program and commercial. Books don’t rely upon such a format; they force the user to start, stay interested, and end at the conclusion.

...Are the concepts of reading and learning becoming a thing of the past? My pessimistic nature wants to say yes. Looking around at many of my peers supports such a notion. Looking at the twenty-something populace as a whole when they put themselves on display on sites such as MySpace adds a bit of data to what might be otherwise nothing more than an assumption. To summarize it, yes, it appears that not only book buying but reading in general is losing ground with my generation.

...Is this going to change? I’d argue that it will if people have a desire to feed their minds. If that doesn’t happen, our intellect as a society will go the way of the decomposing books in The Time Machine.

Sources: The Washington Times, Breitbart, Look Smart's Find Articles

The Bad and the Ugly

2006-05-21T15:11:00.000-04:00

Florida Couple Kidnap Cat and Leave Him in Everglades to Die

...Chris Cortes and his wife Iris were sentenced to community service after kidnapping their neighbor’s cat, taking him into the Everglades, and leaving him to die. The only problem was that the cat, named Mr. Kibbles, made his way back home and Cortes’ shady moves were discovered. Cortes and his wife didn’t think that they should have to do community service because Mr. Kibbles used Cortes’ pick-up truck as a litter box.

...There’s a good chance that the world would be a better place had Cortes and his wife been the ones abandoned in the Everglades instead of Mr. Kibbles.

Wife Rips Off Hubby’s Testicles with Bare Hands

...Just reading the headline made my groin ache.

...Howard’s wife, who is allegedly bi-polar and thought that Howard was cheating on her, dug her fingernails into his scrotum while he was asleep and yanked off his testicles. She left him bleeding profusely and in critical condition at Einstein Medical Center. Surgeons there successfully reattached Howard’s testicles and he’s recovering as best as possible.

...Lorena Bobbitt has nothing on this woman.

Now This Is Organization

2006-05-18T19:10:00.000-04:00

...The FBI is currently playing in the dirt at a Michigan horse farm after being told that Jimmy Hoffa’s body was buried there. Apparently he’s not buried under an endzone at the Meadowlands or in a Pennsylvania coal mine, dumped in one of the Great Lakes, in a junkyard somewhere, or boiled into oblivion in a vat of animal fat or destroyed in a tub of acid.

...Since the FBI searches wherever they hear of a possible Jimmy Hoffa burial spot, I’m going to have some fun with the G-men.

...Jimmy Hoffa is buried on Mars. Really—he is. Now go look for him. Last one to the red planet is a rotten egg.

Source: ABC News

Dude, you don't want a Dell.

2006-05-15T21:25:00.000-04:00

...I’ve owned Dell computers since 2002 and never had any technical problems with them. Both PCs have run smoothly, got the job done, and never really caused any complaints for me. Recently I came to discover—or rather my brother did—that Dell’s problems lie with their people and not their machinery.

...A few months ago my brother purchased a new Dell PC that had as part of its promotion an interest-free payback option. Such a buy was perfect for him, since he’s spending quite a bit on repairs to his home, which needs some work as it’s over 100 years old.

...He also knew that I, too, recently purchased a new Dell PC—opting for a similar interest-free payback program—and called me last night, frantically ordering me to check my recent bill.

...“Are they charging you interest?” he inquired.

...“No. Why would they? Both of us took the interest-free promotion. Remember?” I responded.

...“That’s what I thought,” he explained, “but they’re charging me 23 percent interest.”

...At this point I thought that there had been some kind of mistake and asked him if he had made any calls to find out where the mix-up was. Unfortunately there hadn’t been any mix-up; the people at Dell simply decided that he didn't qualify for the deal after they originally told him that he did. He explained to the Dell representative that the interest-free payback promotion was the main reason that he made that particular purchase and that he was told that the promotion was a done deal. Nonetheless she said that the payments were now his problem—not theirs.

...My brother doesn’t have the time or money to fight a shady bait-and-switch deal by one of the country’s biggest computer companies, so he instead opted to dip a little deeper into his checking account and pay the bill off in one shot. We both agreed, however, that we’d openly discuss his Dell hell and encourage anyone and everyone to purchase another brand if you’re looking into buying a new computer.

...Try to find one that doesn’t include the bait-and-switch in their business dealings.

An Act for Disabilities or An Act to Disable?

2006-05-12T21:14:00.000-04:00

--
...I’ve been sitting on this post for a few days, wondering if I should actually publish it for fear of some kind of backlash from people who misinterpret it and think that I’m cold-hearted and mean-spirited toward people with disabilities.

...I then considered the fact that my audience might be only around ten people and that hopefully by now most know that I’m not one to take a viewpoint simply to be controversial or play the devil’s advocate. I don’t intend to offend; I just offend with my intent.

...It wasn’t until I commented on Amy’s post about a silly lawsuit involving a frivolous lawsuit involving a baseball team promotion for Mother’s Day that I figured I might as well follow through with my opinion on something that has become widely viewed as fair, equitable, important, and morally pertinent: the Americans with Disabilities Act and how it relates to the rights of private businesses.

...In my comment on Amy’s site I expressed my view that private sector businesses should be allowed to make decisions and actions that might be deemed “discriminatory.” In the case that Amy touched upon, a man was discriminated against by the Anaheim Angels because they wouldn’t give him a Mother’s Day promotional bag, and in turn he’s decided to sue.

...Here in my home state of Pennsylvania, a small town in the eastern half of the commonwealth has found itself embroiled in a controversy involving disabled people and businesses that don’t meet specifications that are outlined in the Americans with Disabilities Act. Out of 83 downtown businesses in the town of Tamaqua, none were in total compliance with the ADA. The biggest violations that were discovered by a disability advocacy group which inspected the stores were those of heavy entrance doors, bathrooms that weren’t wheelchair accessible, and a lack of ramps leading into many of the storefronts.

...The disability advocacy group informed the businesses that if they don’t respond to the critiques within 30 days they will become subject to court-ordered mediation and possible lawsuits.

...Logistically-speaking there might be problems with the ramp idea because a second newspaper touched upon the difficulties of actually building ramps on town blocks that were built in the 1800s. The design of the structures had been built during an era when storefront ramps weren’t even thought of. Extra space will be needed between some of the buildings and in some cases entire sections of the blocks will be required to somehow “rearrange.” As if that isn’t bad enough, many of the small businesses there are mom-and-pop types and can’t afford to build bathrooms that might cost half of what their stores are already worth.

...Now, for a moment, let’s consider an intellectual argument that will no doubt be controversial and disagreed with by many: Allowing these businesses—and others across the country—to build high-priced ramps and big-ticket lavatories only if they want to. If they don’t, the recourse could be calls for boycotts by the advocacy groups and citizens who support the idea of disabled-accessible stores. In essence, the concept would be that privately-owned stores would have the right to cater to whichever customers they choose. If they choose not to cater to certain demographics, they wouldn’t be forced to just because other people have decided that it’s “fair.”

...Let it be known that I’m fully aware that the ADA is law, and violations of the guidelines found within the act are illegal. If they weren’t, the Tamaqua incidents wouldn’t be much of a story. I’m simply proposing a debate over whether or not we’re basing laws—such as the ADA—on intellectual arguments or just emotions. I can’t help but think that if it were the former we would have never gone through with the ADA in the first place; we would have taken the radical (radical as of now) route and allowed for private sector businesses to decide who shops in their stores. In turn, we would also allow for the offended people—no matter what group it might be—to protest and call for boycotts, but not go so far as to pass laws.

...Our society has opted to take the route of regulating the wishes of private businesses in order to be “fair” to those who want it to be fair, but is this a good thing? That will no doubt become the $64,000 question. Here’s why:

...I will argue that whenever we make a move with legislation it opens another door for more legislation in other areas. If regulating private business in multiple ways is “good” or “fair” for a reason, how many forms of regulation can be justified if we implement them under the guise of fairness? It’s almost like the potential for increased assaults on our privacy under the guise of fighting terrorism: If you disagree with wiretapping without warrants or random surveillance on law-abiding citizens it is said that you must not want to stop terrorism. In turn we open the door for more regulation under the guise of fighting terrorism. Similarly, the argument can be made, if you don’t like regulations on multiple aspects of the private sector you must not like specific groups of society. It’s ultimately said that you don’t like fairness or equality.

...How fair is that?

Source: The Morning Call

[Allegedly] Human

2006-05-12T15:50:00.000-04:00

Daisy

...When I first began opining online my blog was called The Department of Injustice. To a degree it served its purpose, but along the way I found myself focusing on things that weren’t necessarily injustices so much as they were stories about people who can be found in the shallow end of the gene pool—the ones whose parents’ hindsight hopefully includes wishing that they had sought an abortion. It ultimately made me realize that a more appropriate blog title would be Faint Expectations (my apologies to Charles Dickens).

...Sadly we have a few more people to add to the heap of examples.

...Ryan Dawson, 21, and Ronald Arnold, 17, allegedly (I use this term only to protect myself legally; I support the idea of innocent until proven guilty, but considering that this isn’t a common accusation I’ll reiterate that I only use the term “allegedly” for legal reasons) dunked Daisy, the Labrador puppy seen above, in a bowl of vodka and forced it to drink until the dog became unresponsive. The dog’s owner—who himself was accused of giving beer to the puppy on other occasions—took the dog to the home of an off-duty police officer who called for medical services.

...The dog survived after receiving fluids intravenously and adoption offers—hopefully from people who aren’t as subhuman as the puppy’s owner or his friends—have begun to come in. The two guys who [allegedly] almost killed the puppy can get a maximum of three years in prison if found guilty.

...That’s nice, but I’d sooner force them to drink Liquid-Plumr.

Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Vote Aqui in 2006

2006-05-11T18:39:00.000-04:00

...It shocked part of me when I found myself thinking it, but another part of me thought that it was only a matter of time. This is the first time in the last ten years that I’ve given serious consideration to abstaining from voting.

...“What?!” you ask in disbelief. Yes, here I am, a civic-minded individual with a reasonable political science background and an addiction to C-Span, saying that I’m pondering the possibility of taking an election off from voting for the candidate who is the best of the worst.

...Casting a vote for U.S. Senate might be worthwhile but the others are looking bleak. My state representative joined his colleagues and voted himself an illegal pay raise, but is nonetheless loved by many constituents. My state senator is corrupt but is a shoe-in due to name recognition. My choice for governor is…um…well, that’s the topic of this post.

...On one hand I can choose Lynn Swann: former wide receiver of the Pittsburgh Steelers, motivational speaker, former wide receiver of the Pittsburgh Steelers, board member of the H.J. Heinz Company and Hershey Entertainment and Resorts, former wide receiver of the Pittsburgh Steelers, spokesman for Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America, former wide receiver of the Pittsburgh Steelers, broadcaster for ABC Sports, and former wide receiver of the Pittsburgh Steelers. I haven’t really heard how he would do it, but he says that he wants to create economic opportunities, prepare our children to compete in the working world with better education, and instill the traditional values of hard work, determination, and the will to succeed in all Pennsylvanians.

...On the other hand I can choose incumbent Ed Rendell: the former Philadelphia mayor who was notoriously involved in the Kvaerner ASA ship yard scheme in the late-1990s with cohort Tom Ridge. The two managed to funnel $430 million of taxpayer funds to convert the old Philadelphia Naval Yard into a commercial shipbuilding operation for Kvaerner, a Norwegian-based company, and both Republicans and Democrats on the local and state levels saw it as a chance to garner a few more votes. After all, they could tout the creation of thousands of jobs and tempt blue-collar workers all over the commonwealth with the possibility of increased steel production and new hires at many of the mills in the Keystone State.

...The Kvaerner deal began to take on the appearance of the taxpayer debacle that it was (a debacle to some people but not all; many former yard workers were angry when Ridge didn’t pay a German ship builder $167 million to do a similar deal in 1995) when the company opted to use both imported steel and Portuguese-made gantry cranes for their operation. In addition, tax monies would be used to fund not only a technologically-advanced yard but would also be used in worker training and payroll. All that Kvaerner had to do was show up and look good for the cameras. Eventually the news broke that along the way the big-wigs of Kvaerner were spending much of the tax subsidies on items like BMWs, grand pianos, and renovations to private residences.

...In 1999, Kvaerner announced that they were pulling up stakes in Philly due to limited ship orders, but, as is popular in politics, someone somehow pulled the right strings and managed to keep Kvaerner at the yards. In 2005 they signed a $1 billion contract for the production of ten double-hulled tankers and the black mark on Rendell’s résumé became old news.

...In recent years he found himself under fire from a group of constituents that is usually supportive of Democrats: environmentalists. Rendell is opposed to banning dumping harbor sludge in the commonwealth—some of which has been shown to be toxic—and came under fire when he openly said that he opposed a bill, House Bill 2275, that would allow people to vote on whether or not their community would allow the potentially-hazardous sludge to be dumped in their backyard. In 2004 he firmly stated, “Well, I’m not for letting anything be decided by referendum and that would be what this bill would try to do, Dante,” in his response to a caller on a public affairs show.

...Maybe I shouldn’t worry about this, though, because the possibility exists that a winner has already been picked. Only a few days ago it was announced that Diebold, which has a history of security problems with their electronic voting machines (click here to read some scary information that I discovered a few months ago), has sold machines with yet another security flaw to several Pennsylvania counties—including mine.

...Noted computer science professor Avi Rubin of Johns Hopkins University has called the new security flaw “the most serious thing” that he’s heard to date. Carnegie Mellon University computer science professor Michael Shamos called it “the most serious security breach that’s ever been discovered in a voting system.”

...So who will it be, Diebold? Swann or Rendell?

Sources: Lynn Swann, Lynn Swann, constitutional.net, Aker American Shipping, KeepMedia, Army for a Clean Environment, Oakland Tribune

Anatomy & Physiology

2006-05-04T18:33:00.000-04:00

...While it’s popular to make Texas the butt of most jokes nowadays (no doubt for being the homeland of the first president of vocabularyness), it seems as if Kentucky might be a close second.

...Last year a Kentucky police department arrested a teenager after he wrote a story about his high school being overtaken by zombies. In that case, police detective Steven Caudill said that having zombies overtake your school is a felony. There was no word on what it would be called if common sense had overtaken Detective Caudill’s mind.

...It’s a year later, however, and schools in Kentucky have a new threat: Down and out women.

...Tericka Dye, a Kentucky high school science teacher and volleyball coach, learned this the hard way—no pun intended—when it was discovered that she starred in a porn flick 11 years ago. Told that her “presence in the classroom would cause a disruption to the educational process,” Dye was suspended from her job and informed that she would not be brought back next year.

...Dye was honest about doing the film when the news surfaced but explained that she regrets it “100 percent” and had no money at the time. She eventually got her act together, joined the Army, became a military police officer, and later entered college to become a teacher.

...The McCracken County School District wasn’t interested in hearing Dye’s explanation, and Superintendent Tim Heller said, “I fear there would be less than a serious approach to schooling by students who viewed the video or know about it.” Um…okay, Tim. How many students in your district are watching an obscure porno from 1995?

...That question might sound funny on the surface, but let’s think about this. Who found this video? The story from WAVE doesn’t mention who discovered this movie, but if Ms. Dye is such an evil person for having done it when she was in dire need of money 11 years ago, shouldn’t we expose the evil person who was watching the porno in question to notice her on the tape? They should be punished, too, shouldn’t they, Tim? If having sex on film is bad, wouldn’t McCracken County administrators think that watching it is even worse?

...If we don’t consider the viewer a criminal, in keeping with the train of thought of the administration in McCracken County, we should then consider him/her a hero at the very least. They exposed this horrible woman and should be given a medal of honor. So let us celebrate him/her; name please.

...In the end, Ms. Dye’s real crime is that she apparently forgot that this is America, where teachers aren’t allowed to have pasts where they’ve had sex with other adults on tape. Had she simply waited until after she became a teacher and then had sex with a 13-year-old student she would no doubt have been given more leniency.

...Just ask Debra Lafave.

Sources: WAVE, Zero Intelligence, CNN

All the News That’s Fit to Stink

2006-04-28T23:36:00.000-04:00

--
...I’ve been somewhat busy over the last week and a half, and haven’t found as much time to write as much as I would like to. I still found myself devouring the news like Augustus sucking down chocolate in the Wonka factory, and felt the need to be the opinionated jerk that I am. In turn, I figured that I’d try spouting off on a few things.

50 Cent Has Beef with Oprah for Catering to White Women

...Former crack dealer 50 Cent is upset that Oprah doesn’t have more rappers on her show and “caters to older white women.” Apparently it’s not enough that rap is getting only 24-hour coverage on MTV Jams, 12-hour coverage on MTV2, and that all the anchors on SportsCenter talk more ebonics than sports. 50 Cent—along with fellow rapper Ludacis—isn’t happy that he’s not getting similar coverage from Ms. Winfrey.

...It’s just so unfair that Oprah hasn’t come around and sacrificed all those silly middle class gals with purchasing power in favor of teenagers (who often get their purchasing power from their middle class moms giving them spending money), crack addicts, and gang members. Damn her.

Publisher Spurns Harvard Sophomore Apology

...Apparently a graduate of the James Frey School of Creative Writing, Harvard teen Kaavya Viswanathan had her plagiarism discovered in her book How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, only to explain that she had “internalized” the words of novelist Megan McCafferty, of whom Viswanathan was a fan.

...This reminds me of the time that Vanilla Ice defended his theft of Queen’s classic song Under Pressure for his own hit Ice, Ice Baby by suggesting that adding an extra note somehow made it his own.

...It seems more like Viswanathan is yet one more person who wants to be famous and is willing to resort to any means necessary.

Ask Heidi

...When Men’s Health offers information on topics related to sex, they interview doctors, psychologists, and sex therapists. When Maxim offers information on sex, they go to former Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss.

...Charlie Sheen couldn’t be reached for comment because he was too busy studying photos of commercial jetliners.

Congress, States Look to Tax Oil Firms’ Profits

...Hoping to win the votes of those who get most of their political information from bumper stickers, T-shirts, and Sean Penn interviews, politicians all over the country are jumping on board the windfall profit tax bandwagon to “punish” Big Oil for the increased cost of petroleum products as well as the increased profits of oil corporations like Exxon-Mobil, which recorded a mind-blowing $8.4 billion in first-quarter net income.

...Sure, the windfall profit tax brought in less revenue than had been expected when it was implemented in the 1980s, and sure, it lowered domestic production by as much as 4.8 percent, but hey, it sounds good on those bumper stickers.

...Oh, and who exactly is punished by a windfall profit tax? Why, it seems to be the consumer—not the oil companies. Let’s consider this: Oil corporations are taxed—or fined, if you prefer—several million dollars; the money goes to the government; in order to recoup the money that was confiscated by the government, the oil companies charge more for their products to their distributors; the distributors charge the gas stations (or other retail outlets) more; the gas stations and other retail outlets charge more at the pump; the consumer pays more.

...So, the government gets rich, the oil companies just charge more to get their money back, and I still get fucked at the pump.

...Put that on a bumper sticker.

Bosom Buddies

2006-04-21T19:39:00.000-04:00

You mean that he’s not really doing free door-to-door breast exams? No way!

...I’m not going to even bother paraphrasing this story because you have to read it verbatim to realize how completely stupid some people can be. Be sure to watch the accompanying video with Keith Olbermann, who added a few more interesting bits of information that weren’t covered in the text, such as the fact that the one victim thought that free door-to-door breast exams were normal, but a red flag didn’t go up until the dirty old man didn’t bother to don latex gloves to do the free breast exam as she was lying naked in her bed.

...As if it really needs to be said, the women in this story who thought that a little old man offering free door-to-door breast examinations might be legitimate, I have but two things to offer: 1.) You may very well be the dumbest people that America has to offer, and 2.) You have nothing to complain about; the dirty old man offered to give you a free breast exam, and you said yes. He gave you what you wanted.

...Now go smoke a cigarette and bask in the afterglow.

What Would Jesus View?

2006-04-16T23:03:00.000-04:00

--
...This story isn’t so much controversial or thought-provoking as much as it is confusing.

...Television station WNEP in northeastern Pennsylvania has a tradition of airing the home-opener of the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons, the AAA affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies. This year’s home-opener, however, fell on Good Friday. That caused the station to rethink televising the baseball game and offer programming that was more appropriate for a day as holy as that which signifies the day when Jesus Christ was crucified.

...When asked about the potential for televising the game, station president and general manager C. Lou Kirchen said, “Good Friday is not an appropriate day for us to do that.”

...Instead of airing a blasphemous baseball game, WNEP opted to air more pious programming such as the tabloid show Inside Edition, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, and Primetime featuring an interview with noted Scientologist Tom Cruise.

...There’s no word yet on the station’s Christmas line-up.

Source: Fox Sports

Hot Air or Hot Air?

2006-04-12T18:36:00.000-04:00

...I’ll be honest: I’ve been viewing the global warming push with much skepticism for a few years now. It has nothing to do with politics—it has to do with science.

...In 1998, the BBC covered a meeting of climatologists and astronomers speaking at the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Philadelphia in which the scientists explained that the cause of global warming was the sun and not necessarily the release of pollution.

...In 2003, the Harvard Gazette published a report about temperature change as far back as 1,000 years and how some interesting data were published in the April 2003 issue of the Journal of Energy and Environment. Tree-ring data, the study said, showed that temperatures were warmer from the years 950 to 1100 A.D. than they are now. From 800 to 1300 A.D., several sections of the planet were substantially higher in temperature than they are now.

...Reports like this one no doubt cause concern for those who have something to gain by advancing the global warming argument, especially in the way of scientific funding or political winnings. More over, of that group we can find yet another group proposing that the sole cause of global warming is pollution, requiring even more funding and more political appointments to help combat such an environmental scourge.

...The pollution push must be losing momentum, however, because we now have a new cause of global warming: Clean air.

...I thought that it was a joke when I was told about it, but lo and behold I found the BBC story detailing the evils of clean air, and how human beings have yet again helped to destroy Mother Earth. According to European scientists, too much clean air is allowing more solar energy through to reach the Earth’s surface. In turn, more water vapor is entering the atmosphere, further increasing the chances for a warmer climate.

...Add to that a decline of Soviet industry and clean air laws in western countries (yes, those of us in the west are to blame again), and you have a decrease in aerosols and tiny particulates in the atmosphere—aerosols and particulates which block solar radiation.

...So, let’s see if I’m following this new story correctly. Pollution is bad because it causes global warming; global warming is bad; humans create pollution; humans are bad. Clean air is bad because it causes global warming; global warming is bad; humans create clean air; humans are bad.

...Oh. The best part of this story is the final sentence of the first section: “But they say there is an urgent need for further research, particularly at sea.” Yes, there’s the funding that we knew would enter the picture somewhere.

...It’s looking more and more as if global warming has gone from a fight being waged by people who care about the Earth to a fight being waged by people who care about lining their wallets. For those scientists—and even us non-scientists—who question some of these outlandish claims by the funding-hungry climate theorists, it is said that they’ve been intimidated by their alarmist colleagues.

...Case in point: paleoclimatologist Michael Mann. Richard Lindzen of MIT recently wrote a column for the Wall Street Journal detailing the interesting case of Mann, who, along with co-authors, was asked to release the data behind his suggesting that the 1990s were the warmest decade on record with 1998 being the warmest year in the previous millennium. Representative Joe Barton of Texas asked Mann to elaborate on the data because the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said that Mann’s work was some of the best on the subject. Mann refused to release the research data (which was paid for by tax dollars), but still had fellow scientists defend the data—if it even existed in the first place.

...Mann’s shadiness was met with support from the American Meteorological Society, the American Geophysical Union, and the president of the National Academy of Sciences, all of whom said that Congressman Barton was simply trying to intimidate the author. Asking for data is intimidation?

...If it is intimidation, Professor Lindzen mentions that it should have also been deemed intimidation by Al Gore in 1992 when Gore “urged” Lindzen and his colleagues to adopt the alarmist mentality via Congressional hearings, not to mention Gore’s plea to then-Nightline host Ted Koppel to engage in a witch-hunt to discredit the scientists who wouldn’t join the alarmist bandwagon. Koppel refused Gore’s request.

...Lindzen offers other examples, also, but these are more than enough.

...I like science and I like data. Unfortunately, because of the combination of stories of intimidation and the instances where everything and anything is named as a cause of global warming—and each “cause” requires more funding for research—I’m thinking that the data are suggesting that global warming has turned into more a cash cow than a crisis.

Sources: BBC, Harvard Gazette, BBC, Wall Street Journal

The People vs. Hollywood

2006-04-04T14:14:00.000-04:00

...Last week the issue of celebrities and politics arose after Charlie Sheen offered his analysis of jetliner models and 9/11 conspiracies. Being that his area of expertise is reading scripts, a few of us wondered about Mr. Sheen’s knowledge of aviation and whether or not he was in a position to be an authority on the subject.

...Criticism for actors who offer their insight on current events and politics isn’t limited to just a few lowly bloggers, however, and this has producer Oliver Stone’s blood boiling. In an interview with Contact Music, Stone referred to media criticism of celebrities as “slander” and said that whenever actors speak about current events they’re told, “You’re an actor, a show-business director.” He called references to celebrities as “Hollywood whackos” an “easy and facile dismissal.”

...Aside from the humorous possibility that Stone is suggesting that calling someone an actor or director is slanderous—or is it?!—Mr. Stone seems to be validating one of the reasons that so many of us are critical of celebrity viewpoints in the first place: They assume that because they are the ones to say it that everyone must agree with them. If others don’t agree, those people are somehow preventing them from speaking or, in this case, engaging in slander.

...To be sure, many people give credence to everything and anything that celebrities say. Just a few days after the Charlie Sheen situation, a caller to C-Span’s Washington Journal used Sheen’s comments as some kind of “proof” that a conspiracy existed. The caller explained that since Charlie Sheen and other celebrities have expressed conspiracy theories, there must be something to it.

...Keeping this in mind, should we really be more skeptical of the people who worship the celebrities instead of the celebrities themselves? It’s a rather strange notion to suggest that because a person is a television or movie star that they’re experts in everything and have insight into things ranging from science to public policy. This “popularity-equals-enlightenment” idea doesn’t make any sense to those of us who lend credibility to extensive work in a given field. Questioning a celebrity’s credibility in a specific field—a field in which they might not have any expertise—seems to be far from slanderous, doesn’t it?

...The best way to put this situation into perspective would be to use the Charlie Sheen example—not to belabor the issue, but simply because it’s current. Those who view actors and actresses as superior in everything have routinely used the star’s celebrity status to justify the importance of that actor’s views. For example, the C-Span caller insisted that because Sheen was a star, he must know something that the rest of us don’t. On the other hand, when we look at people who view actors as nothing more than actors—not supreme gurus of everything—we find that they defend their views using information from people who are specialists of that particular field. Case in point: With respect to the 9/11 conspiracies, a magazine like Popular Mechanics, which specializes in science and more particularly physics, took each conspiracy and debunked it using data.

...Perhaps this is what Oliver Stone is failing to understand. Those of us who question the validity of things that celebrities say are not committing slander, and we’re certainly not preventing them from saying what they want to say. We’re asking how they came to their conclusions given their background as opposed to worshipping them for simply being famous.

Source: Contact Music

Politics in Action

2006-04-03T14:38:00.000-04:00

--
...Local and state politics boil down to a basic concept: acquire as many tax dollars for your constituents as humanly possible. Some politicians hustle and kiss butt to secure the monies for various projects—often pork—but others hand it out even if it doesn’t exist.

...State Representative Keith McCall of Pennsylvania, who has previously come under fire for partaking in the legislature’s illegal pay raise scam, claimed to have delivered $1 million to a small town in Carbon County, not surprisingly only a few months before an election in which he’s running. The money was said to be for a new municipal building and fire station. Many of the townspeople were elated, but a local reporter smelled something strange (and no, it wasn’t the natural odor of the town).

...Newspaperman Bill White looked into the matter and discovered that the $1 million didn’t actually exist. The governor’s office told White that the money wasn’t appropriated by the state House Democratic Caucus (members of the caucus refuse to comment on it). The second possibility was that the money came from what is known as “walking around money.” Walking around monies (WAMs) are handed out by politicians to their constituents before the funds are actually agreed upon by anyone, usually a few hundred to a few thousand dollars at a time for public relations. Obviously a sum of $1 million isn’t something with which one walks around and hands out at will.

...McCall refuses to talk about the matter (similar to his refusal to discuss the illegal pay raise); the House Democratic Caucus refuses to talk about the matter; the constituents…well, wait a minute. Where do the constituents stand on this matter? This is where my concern grows.

...Let’s consider the case of Tom Delay in Texas. Delay, whose ties to the corrupt lobbyist Jack Abramoff were well-known, was indicted and forced to step aside as majority leader. He still managed to win the primary for his district early last month.

...In the case of Keith McCall, my gut instinct tells me that a similar situation will occur. He’ll be competing against a challenger whose campaign strategy has essentially been that of asking the voters if they really want McCall after all that he has done. Some of the locals would be more than happy to answer in the affirmative.

...A few months ago, a local paper—basically a rag that is one step above a high school publication, but a wonderful way to gauge the sentiments of my neighbors—published a letter-to-the-editor which explained the author’s adamant belief that Representative McCall was a good man, and that his voting record should not be used against him.

...A politician’s voting record shouldn’t be used against him? That’s kind of like saying that a baseball player’s low batting average and limited defensive ability shouldn’t be used against him when determining whether or not to keep him on the roster, isn’t it?

...Is this what a representative republic is? Is it nothing more than a high school student council for adults where actions mean nothing and just liking the politician in question makes him/her a worthy candidate? Are we a country of voters who enjoy liars, cheaters, and thieves, but enjoy even more the suavity with which they do the lying, cheating, and stealing?

...I’m willing to bet that each of us knows a Tom Delay or Keith McCall, no matter the level of government about which we’re talking. Heck, I have three on my town’s council alone. This relates to the suavity situation, though. During the last election my town had an astonishing number of candidates, but the majority of the honest ones—basically the ones whom I would trust if I were next to them in a foxhole in the midst of a battle—didn’t survive the primary. Several of those who did survive—who ultimately became the present council members—were the ones who lack ethics and have a history of engaging in corrupt tactics. To their credit, they’re quite smooth with their crookedness.

...Representation indeed.

Sources: The Morning Call, My Way News

Stupidize Me...Again

2006-03-25T17:53:00.000-05:00

Photo by Catherine Meredith

...Morgan Spurlock impressed simpletons en masse with his dimwitted documentary Super-size Me, in which he ate nothing but McDonald’s food for a month and gained weight. His followers somehow figured that the fast food giant had forced poor Spurlock to eat the crappy food by using slick advertising and sinister tactics such as asking him if he wanted a larger order (apparently he had no choice but to say “yes”). On Friday afternoon, Spurlock increased that fan base to include the childish—literally—while simultaneously succeeding in making an ass out of himself in front of those audience members who weren’t going through puberty anymore.

...Spurlock gave a speech at the Hatboro-Horsham High School auditorium and was supposedly going to discuss healthy eating, but the result was a profanity-laden rant in which he mocked ethnic groups, insinuated that teachers smoked marijuana in the school’s balcony, and at one point made fun of the special education students, calling them the “retarded kids in the back wearing helmets.” The special needs teachers then ushered the children out to prevent them from being the butt of any more of Spurlock’s jokes.

...After the tirade, the students gave Spurlock a standing ovation and sought his autograph. The adults in the crowd, however, weren’t as pleased with his arrested development and seventh-grade locker room vocabulary. The district’s superintendent said, “If you put the whole package together, the use of the F-word and poking fun at teachers and the comments about special needs students, it just wasn’t appropriate.”

...Spurlock defended his act by saying that the kids learned a lesson in free speech and responded to the possibility of the school district withholding payment by saying, “They can keep every penny.”

...There’s not much to say about this. I’d sooner let Spurlock’s juvenile actions speak for themselves; it’s obvious that they speak volumes. When your fan base consists of children and imbecilic adults, it puts the whole thing into perspective, doesn’t it?

Source: The Morning Call

Last Call

2006-03-23T20:22:00.000-05:00

...The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission is using undercover agents across the lone star state to begin arresting bar patrons for being drunk—while they’re still sitting inside the bar. A spokesperson for the commission said that sitting at a bar doesn’t exempt you from laws that would otherwise be applied to people who weren’t at the bar, and by arresting them before they leave the establishment, the inebriated people won’t have a chance to get behind the wheel when they leave the pub. It doesn’t seem to matter if you have a designated driver with you or not.

...The spokesperson, Carolyn Beck, said, “There are a lot of dangerous and stupid things people do when they’re intoxicated, other than get behind the wheel of a car.”

...Ms. Beck and her friends at the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission are showing us that people can do stupid things when they’re sober, too.

Source: KUTV

This Space for Rent

2006-03-22T10:56:00.000-05:00

...The Internet has once again allowed for freedom of choice, and a few people find that downright offensive.

...The community classifieds Website Craigslist has come under fire for allowing postings of renters who want roommates with a catch. In some instances, men are offering to share their rooms with women in exchange for sex. One man, as an example, offers his Coral Gables condominium for rent at a rate of $1 per month, provided that the female housemate is willing to take care of the dog, cook, and put out at least twice a week. The Miami-Dade police call it prostitution; the renters call it bartering.

...In other instances, some renters want to live with people who are similar to them, making several so-called civil rights attorneys livid. One renter, as an example, was hoping to live with a Christian female. The Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights calls that “discrimination.” Apparently it’s being mean to atheists, agnostics, and men.

Room & Headboard

...Law enforcement agents are quick to call the rooms-for-sex idea a form of prostitution. The rooms would otherwise be paid for with money, they argue, but instead are substituted with sexual favors. Therefore, they figure, the sexual favors have the monetary value of the room. That turns the exchange into prostitution, or so they say.

...My stance on real prostitution isn’t a popular one as it is, since I think that if a person chooses to rent their body for whatever reason, it’s their choice. I’ve never used the services of a hooker—hell, I don’t even like using public water fountains—but would argue that any person whose job involves agreement by all participants is one that should be allowed. Is hooking detrimental to our society in the long run? Possibly, but if we were to outlaw all things detrimental we’d have to outlaw fast food, television, spending too much time in front of the computer, pornography, violent movies, suggestive music, video games, and even using dirty words. Will those be next?

...If anything, rooms-for-sex is a form of bartering, able to work only if there’s an absence of coercion and hinging upon absolute agreement by all parties involved. If we were to see it otherwise, it would be expanding the definition of “prostitution” to the point where we might have to arrest quite a few girlfriends and wives for what might become known as solicitation. Allow me to offer a personal story as a possibility.

...I know a woman who enjoys collecting Longaberger baskets, but they’re notoriously expensive. If she finds herself craving a new basket, but happens to be low on funds, she and her husband have an agreement whereby she goes above and beyond the call of duty in the bedroom. In return, he’s more than happy to buy her the basket of her choice. (I offer my sincere apologies to the fine people at Longaberger who now know how one of their loyal customers has been able to stay loyal for so long.)

...This must be prostitution, correct? She’s doing sexual favors for something that would otherwise have a monetary value, is she not? I guess that we’ll have to call her a hooker and he a john. We’ll have to lock them up and throw away the key.

...Not to change the subject, but one other notable aspect which cropped up in the rooms-for-sex story is how it has drawn the ire of the modern women’s rights movement (I use the term “modern” because it bears little resemblance to the women’s rights movement of the late-nineteenth century and early-twentieth century). The Miami chapter of Women’s Movement Now says that this is a sign of how women continue to be marginalized and exploited. Of the advertisements, director Sophie Brion says, “They are an indicator of how much work still needs to be done to eradicate institutional inequities and harmful attitudes toward women that persist.”

...Let’s think optimistically, shall we? This creates an opportunity for women to illustrate how strong they can really be. No one is forcing any woman to respond to these rooms-for-sex advertisements. Allow me to be an even bigger optimist and suggest that advertisements such as these permit women to unite and say “no” to a bunch of chauvinist pigs; it also allows women to think for themselves and enter into the agreement if they so choose. Women making their own choices is a good thing, isn’t it, Ms. Brion?

...This is one more situation where the modern women’s rights movement confuses me. On one hand those who are involved in the movement argue that women are strong, liberated, and able to think for themselves. On the other hand they’re quick to suggest that women are easily manipulated and exploited at the whim of a cunning male.

...So which is it? Are women headstrong, confident, and in charge of themselves, or are they fragile little creatures that are easily deceived by manipulative men who are out to use them and toss them aside? If they are fragile, naïve creatures, is their survival dependent upon the “guidance” from organizations such as Women’s Movement Now?

...My personal belief is that women—as well as men—should not be generalized. There are decisive, headstrong women who know what they want and have the gumption to tell you what they think and why (my favorite kind of woman); there are other women who are fragile little creatures who do whatever they’re told by men who manipulate them, and oftentimes exploit them. Why is this? I’m guessing that it’s because people are different. I might even be so bold as to suggest that we’re diverse.

Birds of a Feather

...The diversity issue leads us nicely into the second half of this story, where we have a few people who are against free choice, but play the discrimination card to hide their intentions.

...It might be a shock to some people, but human beings are different. We look different, we smell different, we have different interests, we like different foods, we like different music, we like different books, we have different ideas when it comes to politics. In response, many of us like to group ourselves with other people who have similar interests; conversely, we often tend to avoid people whose differences are so great that we have little common ground.

...A person who enjoys conversations on politics, books, and classical music might have little interest in spending time with a person who likes country music, NASCAR, and raccoon hunting. Is that discrimination? Yes. Is it wrong, especially when it comes to living together? A group of lawyers in Chicago might think so.

...The Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights filed a lawsuit against Craigslist for allowing advertisements which seek roommates of particular persuasions. They say that renters who want to live with specific people are discriminating against others.

...I’m not sure where to begin with this, because it reeks of something. Is it condescension? Stupidity? Political correctness? Social engineering? Indeed, it makes us wonder where it will stop. What are the odds that this is a move—similar to the bartering issue above—to broaden the definition of “discrimination” in an attempt to pave the way for more litigation and more laws to help create a “fair” society, as defined by those who are doing the paving?

...Since we’ve seen absurdities thus far, we must wonder how much more absurd things can become. Do we force a forty-something woman who seeks a similar roommate to live with a twenty-something college boy because allowing her to choose is discriminatory? Do we force a twenty-something college girl to live with a middle-aged man for “fairness”?

...If renters’ advertisements foster discrimination, let’s not be surprised if personal ads are next. If a woman is seeking a man who is tall, dark, and handsome, will it then be perceived as her discriminating against men who are short, pale, and ugly? Moreover, will she be deemed homophobic for not giving other women a chance to be her significant other? If a gay Latino man is in search of a similar person as a mate, does that mean that he’s discriminating against non-Latinos, women, or heterosexuals? Actually, in both cases they are discriminating. It’s their preference, isn’t it?

...Obviously these are extremes (for now), but every day we have a new idea of discrimination and a new group of people who are offended.

...If we’re going to be a nation of free choice and free association we must be willing to admit that those choices aren’t going to be agreed upon by 100 percent of the populace. Absolute agreement is impossible because of our diversity. In turn, we must be willing to admit that diversity isn’t limited to skin color or sex. Diversity also means different likes and dislikes, which can sometimes offend people.

...Then again, maybe this entire post was a waste of time because the cause of our disagreements is what we’re otherwise proud of: Our diversity.

Source: Miami Herald

The Student Body

2006-03-21T22:48:00.000-05:00

...After having the charges against her dropped, teacher-turned-temptress Debra LaFave held a news conference in which she remarked that her face has been plastered on every Website across the Internet. I quickly realized that I had yet to plaster her face—or breasts or legs, for that matter—here, and didn’t want to let any of my loyal readers down.

...Actually it was because I haven’t posted in a few days and felt like publishing something.

...Now begins the waiting game to see what comes first: a Debra LaFave movie? A book deal? Another bikini calendar? A spread for Playboy? A manual for bipolar teachers with X-rated curves?

...I can’t help but think that in the next few years we’ll see more people use the bipolar defense in court cases.

Source: WTSP

Reading, Writing, and Virology

2006-03-17T18:06:00.000-05:00

...When I was in kindergarten—many eons ago—my teacher and her aide spent the vast majority of their time teaching us the foundations for our years of education that would follow. We started with letters and numbers, ever so carefully as to make sure that we wouldn’t be overwhelmed; the alphabet was presented with patience, numbers were introduced 10 at a time, and after we understood the basics of those we were told how to apply them so that we could create the most basic sentence structures. In between that we learned our colors, the five senses, shapes, and the names of animals that so many of us thought were cute and cuddly. During recess we would race to the monkey bars and swing-set to see who would use it that day; those who didn’t get there in time would ultimately end up playing tag or using the sliding board.

...Oh, how times have changed.

...Starting next week, in accordance with state law, New York’s public school kindergarteners will begin to learn about HIV and AIDS, and how it’s difficult to “get well” from them. Some parents and teachers alike are questioning the curriculum, which is designed to introduce the disease to the five-year-olds with instruction that “contains positive messages about staying healthy,” according to the spokeswoman for the state’s education department. It’s said that the kids won’t hear about sex until they’re in fourth grade—is that the average age when sexual activity begins in New York?—and if any parents wish for their children to opt out of the class, they must write to the principal. I’m guessing that any kids who opt out would be sent to another room where they would learn more of the alphabet so that they can actually get to the letters H, I, and V.

...Teachers who have expressed concern over the curriculum have done so not on the basis of prudishness, but out of concern over the comprehension and cognitive abilities of children that age. One teacher said, “You can tell a second-grader there are different illnesses, colds and viruses, and they’ll understand. But they don’t understand the difference between cancer and HIV.” Another teacher remarked, “They might understand to some extent, but in kindergarten and first grade, it’s impossible.”

...Curriculum such as this, for children this age, should not be implemented for three distinct reasons.

...First, and possibly most important, is the comprehension ability of children as young as this due to their natural cognitive development. Kindergarten-age children fall into the stage of adolescence which Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget called the “preoperational stage.” According to Piaget’s research, children this age acquire language and figure out how to use symbols that represent the world around them. Children this age can deal with the world in a symbolic manner, but can’t think logically.

...In fact, Piaget’s next step in cognitive development, the “concrete operational stage” (ages seven to 11), doesn’t allow for complete logical reasoning, either; children at this level are able to apply logical reasoning only to things which they’ve experienced. It isn’t until children reach approximately 11 years of age—the “formal operational stage”—when they can finally think in fully-logical, abstract terms. Piaget’s work supports the comments that were made by the teacher who expressed concerns over her students’ inability to understand the difference between cancer and HIV. To state it bluntly, children are children—they’re not little adults.

...The second reason that the HIV/AIDS curriculum for kindergarten is difficult to defend is the nature of the disease. The state says that kindergarten children won’t be instructed on the sexual aspects of HIV and AIDS until fourth grade. If that’s the case, why even have the course in the first place? HIV and AIDS has a track record of being spread via unprotected sex, intravenous drug use (with contaminated needles being shared), and blood transfusions. The Centers for Disease Control Website offers five sections for HIV/AIDS prevention, and two of them deal with sexual topics. So, if we eliminate the sexual topics from the discussion, we’re left with mother-to-child transmission, occupational transmission for healthcare workers, and clinical trials of antiretroviral drugs as prevention. In terms of transmission, we’re left with bad blood transfusions (which are decreasing due to better screening) and intravenous drug use. Unless New York has an epidemic of smack-shooting five-year-olds who share their needles, it doesn’t seem as if any of these topics are worth discussing with a demographic whose two most important times of the day are snack time and nap time.

...My third complaint is for the people whose job it is to defend the teachers. Where is the opposition to this law from the New York teachers’ union(s)? If anything, this is ammunition for people who are critical of public education; now they can say that teachers aren’t spending enough time teaching the children the basics (i.e., the alphabet, numbers, shapes, colors, etc.). Instead, it can be argued, they’re spending time discussing viruses and diseases to an audience which isn’t completely sure of what a virus or disease is. With the implementation of this curriculum, the anti-public school crowd can now say, “These kids can’t count to 100 because more time is being spent showing them information on viruses—viruses which they can’t yet spell properly.” Is this what the New York teachers’ association wants?

...Politicians in New York should be more concerned with kindergarteners knowing their alphabet, their numbers, their colors, and their shapes; save human immunodeficiency viruses for later. On the other hand, New York voters—many of whom are parents—have elected the politicians in question. Perhaps this is simply what the parents want.

Sources: New York Daily News, Centers for Disease Control HIV/AIDS Fact Sheet, Purdue University Calumet School of Education, George Mason University

Going to the Dogs

2006-03-12T19:27:00.000-05:00

...Pennsylvania is already notorious for having essentially put all of its barbers out of business due to excessive regulations, licensing requirements, and registration fees. From requiring 1,250 hours of barber class to $845 worth of various licensing fees, it’s not hard to see why barbers are an endangered species in the commonwealth. The next profession that they’ve targeted is pet groomers.

...Legislators are mulling over a bill that was proposed by Representative Bernard O’Neill which would have a striking resemblance to the laws of haircutting. A pet bather/brusher would need 80 hours of training (it takes an equivalent of eight hours a day for two weeks to learn how to bathe and brush a pet?), an all-breed groomer would need 300 hours of training, and an all-breed master teacher/groomer (is this like the Mr. Miyagi of pet care?) would need 600 hours of training—not to mention the ability to wax on and wax off. If the bill passes, Pennsylvania will be the first in the nation to require licensing of pet groomers.

...The essence of this bill is one with which it would be difficult to disagree. As of now, there aren’t any requirements on groomers, and as such anyone and their brother would be able to open shop and call themselves a pet groomer. Such a situation increases the possibility of accidents and, for lack of a better term, malpractice.

...If this bill passes in its current form, however, Pennsylvania legislators—many of whom are the same corrupt legislators that voted themselves illegal pay raises in a late-night session last summer by calling the raises “unvouchered expenses”—will regulate a profession that goes from having no requirements to excessive requirements virtually overnight. It’s estimated that the schooling for such classes might cost a groomer over $100,000, no doubt causing severe economic hardship for a profession that can have an average salary around $25,000.

...An even bigger concern is that the lawmakers have proposed establishing a nine-member industry regulation board that would be comprised of five groomers, two politicians, and two members of the public at large. Call me whacky, but if these politicians are proposing this bill under the guise of safety, how safe is it to have a board of overseers on which almost 50 percent has little, if any, knowledge of the field which is being regulated?

...One of the bill’s co-sponsors, Representative Doug Reichley, was happy to see the possibility of more state supervision of something, saying, “The time may have come that this may be one more field that we may want to bring under this scope of review,” but a more appropriate view would be one that supports reasonable requirements and input from more people who actually know something about the field which they’re regulating.

Sources: PhillyBurbs, Pittsburgh LIVE, The Morning Call, Pennsylvania Barber Regulations

When Crime Pays

2006-03-12T12:13:00.000-05:00

Photo by Pete Shaheen

...Kyle Kehler is a high school drop-out who has been arrested on previous occasions for burglary and for his connection to house fire that was later ruled arson. In turn, his mom did what any hip 21st century mother would do: She bought him a new car.

...That turned out to be a big mistake, though, because Kehler (allegedly) killed his two passengers in an automobile crash using his mom’s gift. Blood tests showed that the 18-year-old’s blood-alcohol level was 0.12 percent, while a urine test tested positive for an unspecified opiate. For some reason I doubt that it was from a poppy-seed bagel.

...This kid’s actions are heinous alone; his mother’s aren’t much better.

...Why on Earth would she purchase a new car for a kid who not only is a high school drop-out, but has also been arrested for burglary and arson? Has America reached a point where we’re more than happy to reward our children for committing crime? Apparently so.

...Stories such as this only confirm my suspicion that a huge segment of our society likes crime and criminals, but it’s nothing new. Consider how popular Jesse James (the outlaw—not the motorcycle builder) was in the 1880s; consider how many people are on the waiting list to be buried as close to John Dillinger’s grave as possible; consider how many women wanted to get their hands on the murderous brothers Menendez and Scott Peterson.

...Why is this? I’m not certain, but I’d be willing to bet that it’s a combination of the “bad boy” image and level of popularity that comes with it. After all, you’re more likely to get your name in the news if you kill a few dozen people than if you discover a new planet or cure a wasting disease.

Source: The Morning Call

Viva Free Expression

2006-03-10T17:36:00.000-05:00

...The World Baseball Classic hasn’t gone as smoothly as originally planned. At first there was controversy over whether or not to include Cuba in the competition; then, before any games were even played, several high-profile players opted out of the games so that they could concentrate on spring training for their own Major League teams; now—again thanks to Cuba—an international hullabaloo has erupted over that nasty little thing that we call “free speech.”

...During a Cuba-Netherlands game that was being played in Puerto Rico, a fan behind home plate raised a sign that read “Down with Fidel” when translated to English. The game was televised to different countries, so the authoritarian Cuban officials who were attending the event felt it necessary to apprehend the sign-holder and silence him as soon as possible.

...That’s when Puerto Rican police intervened and reminded Castro’s cronies that they weren’t in Cuba and couldn’t enforce Cuban law on foreign soil. In fact, the Puerto Rican police took the vice president of Cuba’s National Institute of Sports to the police station and told him the rules of free speech, given that it’s a foreign concept to him.

...Not surprisingly, Cuba’s national newspaper later called such a blatant act of free expression “a cowardly incident” and said that Puerto Rico and the United States are engaging in “cynical counterrevolutionary provocations.”

...What about the people who defect, Mr. Castro? Are they engaging in these cynical counterrevolutionary provocations, too? I’d also rhetorically ask about the people who are still in Cuba and have spoken out against the state, but they’re probably not engaging in much of anything if they’re in prison or dead.

Source: ABC News

Controversy 101

2006-03-07T22:16:00.000-05:00

...After the Jay Bennish story broke last week I figured that I would pass on making a post dedicated to the story, but would opine if the topic came up in a discussion. I’ve changed my mind, however, because this topic is one that has more than one aspect to it.

...In the wake of Mr. Bennish’s digitally-recorded lecture we’ve found ourselves with two major topics that merit consideration. First, what is a teacher’s role in the classroom? Second, what kind of reaction would we have seen had Mr. Bennish’s viewpoints been from the far-right instead of the far-left?

Teaching Strategies

...Mr. Bennish’s ordeal has brought to the forefront a discussion on what a teacher’s role and responsibility is in his/her effort to educate and foster intellectual development. It has also helped to illustrate a philosophical gap that exists not only between the American public at large, but more specifically within the ranks of those of us who work in the public education system as educators.

...Is the instructor supposed to facilitate analysis and critical thinking, or are they supposed to tell students what they’re supposed to think? Should they encourage interaction to understand why a student came to a conclusion, or are they supposed to tell the student what the conclusion is right from the outset? I’m not ashamed to say that I support the former in each of these questions. Standing in front of a classroom of 10th graders and preaching for half an hour has never been conducive to learning. Many professionals seem to agree.

...Thus far, some of us who are in public education and have been critical of Mr. Bennish have expressed concern over his approach of teacher-centered instruction—in lay terms, lecturing—of this particular lesson. While taking my Methods of Education class as an undergraduate, I became accustomed to hearing my professor explain the importance of understanding that instruction for 15- and 16-year-olds who are stuck in an uncomfortable chair for seven to eight hours a day is far different than 22- or 23-year-olds listening to a college professor for an hour and twenty minutes.

...Indeed, we were informed that students will quickly lose interest in the learning process if the teacher spends most of the time talking, or if he/she takes the opposite approach and has students do the majority of the work on their own, offering little input. Essentially, there must be a happy medium.

...The Social Science Education Consortium seems to agree. In their Teaching the Social Sciences and History in Secondary Schools: A Methods Book (Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland, 1996), they cite the following as three characteristics that are, in their words, “especially important” for teaching strategies:

1.) Learning is not a process of transmission but a process of construction. This view, based on research in cognitive psychology, holds that people, as learners, “construct our own understandings of the world in which we live…by synthesizing new experiences into what we have previously come to understand” (Brooks and Brooks, In Search of Understanding: The Case for Constructivist Classrooms, 1993, 4).

2.) Classroom learning is a “social process that the teacher works to facilitate by helping students make sense of their experiences and further their understanding of the world” (Powell, “The Constructivist Approach to Teaching in Action,” Teaching About the History and Nature of Science and Technology: Teacher’s Resource Guide, 1994, 34).

3.) Individuals learn most effectively in different ways. They have learning styles—“characteristic cognitive, affective, and physiological behaviors that serve as relatively stable indicators of how learners perceive, interact, and respond to the learning environment” (O’Neill, “Making Sense of Style,” Educational Leadership, 1990, 5).

...Given these “especially important” characteristics for teaching, would we not have justification for our questioning the effectiveness of a rather lengthy speech (by Mr. Bennish or any other teacher)? Apparently not, if we were to consider the staunch support for his approach.

...On the other hand, is there another issue here? Is the majority of criticism directed at Mr. Bennish across the country based upon his lecture itself instead of his giving a lecture? Is the substance of what he said—not how he said it—the real reason that so many people’s ears have perked up over this story? Even more, is the substance of what he said the real inspiration of those who are currently supporting him?

The Message

...For a moment—for the sake of argument—let us suppose that Bennish’s viewpoints were on the opposite side of the aisle. Let us suppose that he was preaching the gospel of capitalism, preaching against socialism or communism, and telling his students that anyone who doesn’t like George W. Bush might be “unpatriotic” or “un-American.” Similar to what has happened in real life, let us suppose that a student grew tired of listening to such right-wing rants and decided to record the lecture.

...I dare say that we might have a similar situation to what we have now, only on opposite sides of the fence. Liberals would be crying for Bennish’s head on a silver platter; conservatives would be yelling, “We need more teachers like this!”

...I say this because we’ve seen such a situation occur up to this point; the only exception is that the ideological perspective is vice-versa. Conservatives are outraged because Bennish used his position to tell students that Bush and Hitler were similar and that capitalism has been a scourge on humanity; liberals are happy to see an instructor tell his students that a Republican president has similarities to a genocidal maniac and that their least favorite economic system is detrimental to humanity.

...To put it bluntly, one side heard what they hate and one side heard what they love.

Conclusion

...The only thing for which Bennish should be officially reprimanded is his questionable presentation procedure. Standing in front of a high school classroom for an extended period of time and giving a speech on your views is frowned upon by both principals and education professors who evaluate future teachers. Had it not been for this situation finding its way into the national spotlight, Bennish would have otherwise been asked by either his department chair or his principal to re-evaluate his teaching strategies.

...This situation doesn’t merit Bennish’s dismissal, even though he should have, indeed, used a different approach to discussing these topics. It obviously doesn’t merit some of the irresponsible and asinine threats made by people who didn’t like what he had said (some news reports mentioned that Bennish has received death threats over this; the student who taped the lecture has also received death threats).

...On the other side of the coin, those people who are supporting Bennish simply because he said things that they like to hear are no better than the people who want him fired over what he said. Would they be coming to the aid of a high school teacher if he/she suggested that the Earth Liberation Front had similarities to the KKK or if he/she discussed the 7,000,000 Ukrainians who starved to death during Joseph Stalin’s forced famine of the 1930s? I’m thinking no.

...I stand by what I said on another blog in reference to this story: Good teachers do have opinions on subjects and feel strongly about them; they can bring those opinions out at times in the classroom, too. They don’t, however, allow those opinions to guide the lesson, no matter if they’re conservative, liberal, libertarian, or anything else.

...When it comes time to vent on issues, they need to do so in another forum—not to a room of kids who have nothing to do but stare and take an occasional note.

Libertarians Anonymous

2006-03-06T21:43:00.000-05:00

...When I began writing this response, it was originally intended to be a follow-up to Amy’s comment on my last post. Her inquiry was short but thought-provoking: “After all, you are a Libertarian, right?” As I was reviewing the writing, I realized its length and wondered if it might be a worthy subject for a completely new post. The more that I considered it, the easier that it was to come to that conclusion.

...For quite some time my motto for life has been, “Live your life in the manner that makes you happiest so long as you’re not inflicting physical, emotional, or economic harm on others—unless they consent to do otherwise.” Likewise, it’s no secret that I’ve voted Libertarian in the last two presidential elections (mostly in agreement, partially as protest), but over the last few months I’ve turned into what might best be called a “rehabilitated libertarian.” This is simply because the more that I think about it, the more that I view libertarianism as a wonderful ideal that will never come to fruition.

...That might sound like a defeatist attitude, but it might also be a pragmatic concession. How realistic would it be to think that the majority of people would adopt a view that counters the basis of the two dominant ideologies? By “basis” I mean the concept that people need to be “guided” in some way throughout life with respect to something.

...My conservative friends want people to be “guided” in the “proper” direction in terms of their personal lives (gay marriage, drug use, gambling, and prostitution, for example); my liberal friends want people to be “guided” in the “proper” direction in terms of their finances (Social Security, graduated income tax, and public funding for numerous institutions, for example). Both sides ultimately defend their views as being “for the good of society,” and both sides ultimately disagree with the opposing view.

...Using the aforementioned examples, we can see that each has aspects which create a balance (or possibly a dilemma, depending upon how you view it): Drug use is unhealthy, but people should have the right to poison themselves; gambling increases your chance of losing vast amounts of money (sometimes money that the gambler doesn’t have in the first place), but a person should have the right to take such a risk; prostitution facilitates emotional distress and increases the chance for the spread of STDs, but a person should have the right to rent their body; Social Security (in theory) ensures that we’ll be able to pay off a few bills once a month when we reach a certain age, but it’s based on forcibly removing money from our paychecks “for our own good”; a graduated income tax allows for the country’s expenses to be met by those who have the money to do it, but it creates a mindset that wanting to earn more money makes a person bad and essentially punishes wage-earners; public funding for things like schools and libraries has helped to cut down on the illiteracy rate, but it requires that people have no choice of where their tax dollars go.

...To me, libertarian views will always be nearly impossible to challenge on an intellectual level when compared to those found in conservatism and liberalism, simply because they’re not rooted in coercion. At the same time I’m willing to recognize that libertarianism requires the absence of dishonesty and corruption to work properly. That, I’m afraid, is something that we’ll never see.

...The second situation that will keep such an ideology from gaining momentum is that most Americans fall into two categories: Those who like to “guide” others and those who like to be “guided.” Even if we ignore the dishonesty/corruption aspect of our culture, this desire for “guidance” is reason alone why libertarianism will never become a popular ideology.

Idiots, Start Your Engines

2006-03-05T19:11:00.000-05:00

...From where do some people get their driver’s license? Do they order them on the Home Shopping Network? Do they buy them from back-alley fake ID dealers? Do they offer blow jobs to the managers at the DMV office? I’m not sure, but in the northeastern United States we have some of the worst drivers in the nation. Without a doubt there are more assholes on the highways from Maine to Maryland than there are in the offices of every American proctologist combined.

...I like to find silver linings, though, and one thing that has been occurring more often is that many of these moronic drivers are willing to advertise their businesses on the sides of their vehicles. For that, I—and others drivers with common sense—say, “Thanks. Now we know who to avoid when we need a product or service from your field.”

...Within the last two weeks I’ve had a chance to add two more companies to my list of businesses to avoid: One is a bakery based in York, Pennsylvania, and the other is an ATV business in Washington, New Jersey.

...With regard to the bakery truck driver, you’ve helped me realize that not only does the bread made by your company taste like dog excrement, but your employer doesn’t really care much about the safety of other drivers (nor do you). The person who calls himself/herself the “supervisor” with this particular company might want to re-evaluate the driving guidelines as well as the drivers. After that they might want to re-evaluate their ingredients and baking methods.

...With regard to the moron behind the wheel of the gold Ford pick-up who was more than happy to let me know the name of his ATV business, all that I can say is this: There’s a difference between driving on a highway and riding an ATV on a circular dirt track. It’s bad enough that you haven’t figured that out yet; it’s even worse when you cut other drivers off when you have children in your vehicle as passengers. It’s also humorous to see that your Website boasts of how one of the company associates has a law background and is willing to “put just about anything in it’s (sic) place.” Is there a reason that you need to resort to legal threats right from the start?

...Oh well. These incompetent people are just more reasons to drive between the hours of midnight and 5 a.m. They’re also what my friends in law enforcement like to call “job security.”

The Privileged Many

2006-03-01T18:53:00.000-05:00

...It’s amazing to see how many “privileges” that we’re afforded by our glorious government officials. The most recent privilege has occurred in Virginia, where, starting in 2007, owning a car will be considered a privilege and a tax will be collected so that automobile owners can show their appreciation. It used to be that driving a car was considered a privilege; now owning it is the privilege. What’s next? A “maintenance privilege tax” when you need to buy new tires or a muffler?

...This isn’t anything new, however, nor is it something that is occurring in only certain areas. For instance, Arizona citizens must contend with a “transaction privilege tax” which is imposed on all sellers and vendors. The Arizona state government thinks that its citizens are afforded a “privilege” by them to engage in purchasing goods and services with their neighbors.

...Pennsylvanians must deal with a local tax known as the “occupational privilege tax.” Municipalities which use it say that workers should consider themselves lucky to be permitted to work within their borders. Anyone employed in that particular jurisdiction must pay the tax, whether they live in the municipality or not. Denver, Colorado, has a similar tax.

...Tennessee implements a different take on the occupational privilege tax, calling theirs a “professional privilege tax.” Tennesseans who might be accountants, architects, attorneys, pharmacists, and veterinarians are subject to forking over $400 a year as a way of saying “thanks” to the Tennessee government for permitting them to work in their field.

...Alabama levies a “business privilege tax” for, as quoted directly from their Website, “the privilege of being organized under the laws of Alabama or doing business in Alabama.”

...Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has devised an “institution and service privilege tax” which is levied upon any organization operating under a non-profit charter or established as a non-profit organization providing services to the public. Apparently the officials in the steel city see charitable organizations as their own form of charity.

...There are more privilege taxes throughout the nation, to be sure, but we don’t need many more examples to see two distinct problems. The first, and most obvious, is that when non-governmental entities force people or businesses to pay a fee in order to continue their legal acts it’s called extortion, punishable by time behind bars. When municipalities do it, it’s a privilege tax.

...The second problem is that the governments which use such taxes have adopted measures that resemble the worship requirements of organized religion. By slapping the “privilege” label on things and charging a fee for acts that were otherwise thought to be part of everyday life (i.e., selling a product or holding an occupation to put bread on the table), it appears that government officials have determined that they’re benevolent overseers who have granted us these “rights.” Having attended church on a regular basis as a child, I’m reminded of the part of the service where the congregation says in unison, “God is good. Praise be to God.”

...Perhaps I shouldn’t complain since I’m willing to live with our representative republican form of government; the officials that are imposing the privilege taxes were elected to their posts by voters, so the constituents must be happy.

...Then again, maybe I shouldn’t have worded it that way because it opens the door for someone to legally bring back poll taxes. All that they would have to do is call it a “voting privilege tax.”

Sources: Washington Times, Penn State University, City of Denver, Tennessee State Government, Alabama Department of Revenue, Pittsburgh Department of Finance, Arizona Transaction Privilege Tax

February Book Review

2006-02-27T21:56:00.000-05:00

...I’m not sure if it’ll become a regular thing for me, but I felt the urge to do a book review for this month.

...A little over a month ago I stopped by my local Barnes & Noble and, being the cheap bastard that I am, did my usual run to the bargain section. Sometimes their bargain section has a decent selection from which to choose; other times the selection leaves something to be desired. On this particular occasion I struck gold.

...I’m not sure if I should even say this, but after a few minutes of investigating the shelves I came across a book that caught my eye because of the cover (I don’t mind if anyone laughs or cries over this—I’m just being honest). It was a black-and-white photograph of newsboys standing in an alley, and—being a fan of stories that are set in the early 1900s such as To Serve Them All My Days, The Alienist, and Johnny Got His Gun—it immediately piqued my interest.

...After scanning a few pages I quickly realized that this particular book had interesting subject matter and a writing style that illustrated both intelligence and imagination. The book was The Newsboys’ Lodging-House by Jon Boorstin, and it has since become one of my favorite books.

...I’m not going to go into more detail than that which is offered on the leaf of the dust jacket, so the book’s storyline is this: William James, psychologist and philosopher, suffered a mental breakdown when he was thirty-years-old. He obsessed over the concepts of good and evil, considered committing suicide, and went into isolation. After re-emerging several months later, he had a new attitude and new view on life. No one knows why this change occurred, however, because he removed the 42 pages from his diary which covered that period of time. Boorstin decided to contemplate what might have occurred to James throughout those months, and the result is this addictive piece of historical fiction.

...Looking back on it I feel a bit guilty for having paid only $2 for this novel; it’s worth more than the $24.95 suggested retail price. It's also worth reading again.

Port Insecurity

2006-02-26T18:50:00.000-05:00

AP Photo

...The more that I read and hear, the more that I find myself wondering if the staunch opposition to the United Arab Emirates taking over American ports is really one of security concerns, or simply one that has come about because George W. Bush wasn’t opposed to it. In turn, I find myself wondering if my own initial opposition to Dubai Ports World acquiring the ports from the previous British owner is merited.

...First we saw a change in stance by people who were previously opposed to profiling and stereotyping based on skin color or nationality. It used to be that they hated to see broad generalizations of foreigners by police and security officials. Now, those very people are more than happy to suggest that the UAE are nothing but terrorists because they’re Arabic.

...The second change in stance was from the folks who work the ports, namely the Teamsters and their affiliate, the International Longshoreman’s Association. In 2002, the ILA wasn’t too keen on the possibility of losing workers at ports after a law was passed that would require criminal background checks for longshoremen and other dockworkers. At the time, officials at the ILA estimated that up to 300 of 2,000 union longshoremen were on the verge of losing their job because of the background checks. By 2003, not a single worker had a background check done due to delays caused by lawsuits. At the time, an AFL-CIO official said that if someone paid for his crime, he should have the chance to show that he’s trustworthy.

...Fast-forward to a few days ago when we saw photos of Teamsters protesting the UAE port deal under the guise of safety and security (see the photograph above). There seems to be one of three possible occurrences here: 1.) The Teamsters have had a change of heart and are now gung-ho about port security; 2.) They figure that potentially criminal Middle Easterners are worse than potentially criminal Americans; or 3.) They oppose the UAE deal because Bush didn’t oppose it, and they—along with many of us—don’t like Bush.

...That brings me to the conclusion that seems to be prevalent in this issue and the reason that I’ve found myself re-evaluating my previous opposition to the deal. Have many of the critics of the UAE deal taken their stance only because it’s the opposing stance to Bush? I didn’t vote for Bush in either 2000 or 2004, but I’ve never allowed myself to oppose something just because he supported it. Likewise, I’ve never supported something simply because he opposed it.

...We’re no better than the people whom we dislike if we oppose something just because the given issue has their support.

Sources: Teamsters Press Release, Maryland Newsline, Charleston Business News

"PC" is for "Cookie"

2006-02-25T21:36:00.000-05:00

Photo by Chuck Zovko

...Bake sales are traditionally used to help raise money for small organizations, usually ranging from volunteer fire companies to churches. In recent years, however, the politicization of almost everything has seen bake sales become another way to get a social message across.

...Similar to other politically-oriented bake sales across the nation, the Young Republicans at Kutztown University in Pennsylvania decided to hold an “affirmative action” bake sale to illustrate how preferential treatment based upon skin color and sex can be unfair and contradictory to equality. For example, white males are charged more for certain baked goods than black males; white females are charged more than Hispanic females. Not surprisingly, some students became offended.

...A rally of about 100 students ensued—including blacks, whites, and Hispanics—to protest the bake sale. One woman was irate because she was allowed to have cookies for free, as she was awarded a 25-cent credit. A plethora of protest signs were everywhere proclaiming messages such as “Respect Regardless of Race” and “Where is the Love?” A more violent one of “Justice Must Be Served” was also in the mix, as well as one that asked, “Can U Hear Me Now?” Apparently that one was carried by someone who was on their way to a remedial spelling workshop sponsored by Verizon.

...On Thursday, Kutztown University was the site of a “gender gap” bake sale, whereby men must pay more for food than women. Last year the Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance of Texas State University held their own gender gap bake sale and charged men 24 cents more for every dollar on the cost of their baked goods to bring attention to the current wage gap between the sexes in the workplace. There were no reported protests at Texas State’s gender gap bake sale.

...Throughout this story—and other ones that are similar to it—we see a common factor: The people who are offended are angry because the groups that are holding the bake sales are bringing attention to the issue of affirmative action and the inequities that are found within its policies—ironically policies that supposedly promote equality. The bake sale organizers are framing the issue in a manner that is more readily understandable for the common person. The issue of affirmative action is no longer something that is discussed solely by political junkies, theorists, or policy wonks; it’s now been turned into something that can be understood by high school kids, soccer moms, and auto mechanics. Such a situation is no doubt very threatening to those who might benefit from its unfairness.

...In the end, though, this entire situation may have been a positive thing. We saw the free expression of two opposing viewpoints, and no reports of physical violence. Even though the accompanying video of the protest on The Morning Call Website shows students who demand an apology for having been offended (would they apologize if someone were offended by them?), Kutztown’s president, F. Javier Cevallos, explained to everyone that viewpoints can’t be silenced just because others are offended by those viewpoints.

...Such a situation doesn’t always occur at institutions of higher learning, but it did here. Perhaps universities that have fascist regimes at the helm—like DePaul, for instance—should be taking notes.

Sources: The Morning Call, Currents, Foundation for Individual Rights in Education

Silence Isn't Golden

2006-02-25T12:12:00.000-05:00

...After I wrote my last post I was feeling down—actually, more frustrated than anything. Having a feeling of despair over the possibility of having few, if any, people give a shit about my small voice in a world of 6.5 billion people and 30 million blogs isn’t enjoyable, but then I reconsidered. I reconsidered my frustration after thinking of the “so what?” attitude of punk music in the late-1970s.

...When I say “punk music” I’m referring to the real punk stuff that actually had meaning in their lyrics—the Dead Kennedys, TSOL, Minor Threat, Fugazi, Verbal Abuse, GBH, DRI, et al. Don’t mistake any of this stuff with Green Day, Sum 41, Blink 182, The Used, or any other band that is rebelling against…um…uh…well, I’m not sure against what they’re rebelling.

...These pioneering bands didn’t shoot for popularity; they went for substance. Likewise, if only a few people read this blog, so be it. I’d rather vent and not be heard than know that I didn’t say anything at all.

I'm Not Sorry

2006-02-23T21:36:00.000-05:00

...I’ve been a blogger for the last year and a half. This is actually my third blog in that time period, and for the most part all three were the same thing: current events that are drenched with absurdity where the main character is stupidity defined. Along the way I grew out of each blog: the first because I grew concerned for my personal safety; the second because I found myself with less time to post on a regular basis and simultaneously read the blogs of those who read mine; and now this one because I keep feeling as if I’m talking to a brick wall.

...Well, no. Strike that last remark. My girlfriend reads my whacky opinions. You rule!

...This post was originally going to be about the FBI and the British Special Branch interrogating the English crooner Morrissey, apparently for reasons that are unknown to both me and him. Morrissey, the former Smiths vocalist, said that he wasn’t sure why the authorities were questioning him, but openly admits to disliking both George W. Bush and the Iraqi War.

...At first, I was going to rant about how it seems as though “FBI” now stands for “Federal Bureau of Intimidation” and that we’re living in scary times when we have to fear being hauled into dimly-lit smoke-filled rooms where G-men wearing institutional-grade business suits ask us all kinds of questions because we’re supposedly a threat to national security.

...Then I read the comments on the Morrissey story. Quickly I realized that my opinion was the minority of the minority. Only one other reader thought that this situation was one about which we should worry, and most of the comments suggested that Morrissey should stop complaining about the investigation.

...So, since it’s become obvious that my kook ideas on liberty and civil rights aren’t welcome in 21st century United States culture, I can’t help but feel that I’m wasting my time writing all these silly thoughts.

Source: Contact Music

A Connecticut Barney Fife in King Arthur’s Court

2006-02-21T21:12:00.000-05:00

...In England, the Bedfordshire police are having a difficult time telling fantasy from reality. They recently detained and interrogated actors who star in the movie The Road to Guantanamo in an effort to cut down on terrorism. The actors were at the Luton Airport after returning from the Berlin Film Festival.

...Rumor has it that the Bedfordshire police are now trying to track down actor Robert Englund for having invaded the nightmares of children who lived on Elm Street, and several different stuntmen who donned a hockey mask, wielded a machete, and stalked counselors at Camp Crystal Lake during the 1980s.

Source: BBC

Port of No Return

2006-02-21T10:25:00.000-05:00

...Governors, Congressmen, and average citizens are criticizing a move by the Bush Administration that allows the United Arab Emirates to control six United States ports following a UAE purchase of a British company that had previously controlled those same ports. The criticism stems from the UAE’s ties to terrorism.

...I’m in complete agreement with those who are criticizing the move by the White House, but it’s interesting to see that so many of the people who are now against a move like this were the same ones who were outraged over the profiling of Middle Eastern peoples by American police and airport security only a few years ago. Last year in New York City we saw the ACLU filing a lawsuit against searches of book-bags and knapsacks following terrorist attacks in England. (The searches were later ruled “constitutional.”)

...So which is it, my fellow Americans? Over the last five years it’s been “wrong” to target certain peoples and nationalities if they have ties to terrorism, but now it’s “right”? Perhaps it depends on the person who is delivering the message and whether or not the move fits your agenda.

...Feel free to join me in my effort to promote equality: View everyone as a potential terrorist.

Sources: My Way News, ACLU, MSNBC

ASL PLZ

2006-02-20T22:11:00.000-05:00

...Anyone who has used a chat room has noticed the abundance of acronyms. BBL, BRB, IMHO, J/K, OMG, TTYL, LOL—the list is endless. Diehard linguists are having multiple orgasms over the new vernacular that has come about from instant messaging, online chatting, and text messaging, while others have yet to find the new “language” as fascinating. For some of us, the extensive use of abbreviations and shortened words is nothing more than a sign of laziness.

...Have you ever found yourself discussing something important or engaging with someone only to be interrupted by someone named “mido_egypt_i_love_you” who has decided to send you an instant message of “ASL PLZ”? It happens to me every time that I turn on my instant message program. (Not always from Mido, mind you. Sometimes his friends Amir and Hassan have sent me similar messages, to which I firmly reply, “CNN,” “IRS,” “FBI,” or “CIA.”)

...The new “language” of instant messaging isn’t exclusively used by foreigners, though. It’s become quite popular among people who have found typing full words to be too much physical exertion. Pressing those heavy plastic keys on the keyboard must put far too much stress on the fingers. Either that or the typist is simply too lazy to make the effort to actually type.

...Here is where the concern begins for those of us who are quite anal when it comes to writing and speaking. Is instant message slang something that just comes with the territory of Internet chatting, or is it an outlet that helps to facilitate the destruction of a language? Is it increasing the odds of poor grammar and spelling, or should it not matter because those who are using such “words” wouldn’t be writing anything anyway, if it were not for Internet chatting?

...There’s no doubt that a language doesn’t have an ending point, so the argument can be made that language as a concept is always evolving and changing. This, perhaps, allows us to rephrase the question.

...Is the incessant use of such slang and abbreviations a good thing?

...National Public Radio reported that linguistics professor David Crystal views the use of this slang as a way to “extend the range of the language” as well as the “expressiveness” and “richness” of the language. Last year the Christian Science Monitor reported that Al Filreis, director of the Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing at the University of Pennsylvania, saw writing quality go up in the last 20 years because kids are writing more.

...It might be a good thing for linguists and analysts at some level, but I find it hard to believe that teenagers are concerned with range extension, expressiveness, or richness when we see them replace the words “are” with “r,” “you” with “u,” or the ever-popular “cool” with “kewl” on school work or even tests. It seems more like the path of least resistance, doesn’t it?

...These informalities aren’t going unnoticed by other educators at the college level. English professor John Briggs of the University of California remarked, “Americans have always been informal, but now the informality of pre-college culture is so ubiquitous that many students have no practice in using language in any formal setting at all.”

...On one hand, I’m finding it difficult to say that the widespread use of non-existent “words” is a good thing—it looks more like sloth than range extension. On the other hand, maybe I’ll just join in the fun. My concluding paragraph for this post will be nothing but abbreviations, whereby I, too, can play my part in the growth of the modern English language.

...TLOALI. ASDIF. ASODIFJ. OILOHI. ZQOIH. OIHOS. LOL!!! OKN. OMG! OIHOI. OIHOLQGH. WTF?!! TTIPPE. DAT B KEWL YO! TTYL.

Sources: NPR, Christian Science Monitor

Shot Down...Again

2006-02-18T02:32:00.000-05:00

Pappy Boyington

...When I was in college for my undergraduate work I was immensely interested in politics and things related to them. At the same time I had little interest in becoming involved in the student government organizations that were available because more times than not the students who were involved in them shouldn’t have been there in the first place. Most of them were involved for the power of the position or because they seemed to think that belonging to such a group might make them appear more intelligent than they really were.

...It’s too bad that the more things change, the more that they stay the same.

...At the University of Washington, a student proposed erecting a small memorial of former student and World War II legendary pilot Gregory “Pappy” Boyington, who shot down 28 Japanese planes and led the famous Black Sheep Squadron. In response, the school’s student senate shot the idea down.

...Some of the student remarks that aided the ‘no’ vote on Boyington’s proposed memorial might make one do a double-take. Jill Edwards said that she’s not sure if a member of the Marine Corps should be the type of person that the University of Washington would want to produce. Ashley Miller illustrated her investigative reporting skills and said that the university already had enough monuments commemorating rich white men. (Boyington was part Sioux and had trouble holding jobs.)

...Other students opposed the memorial because it would “honor war,” but there was no word on whether these students were going to cut down the trees on UW’s main entrance which honor 58 former UW students who died in World War I.

...In the end, though, my favorite student comment was one that was on a televised interview regarding this story. The young man said that Boyington shouldn’t be honored because it’s not as if he had been a physicist or famous actor. It’s good to know that today’s college students equate physicists with actors.

...The future looks really bright knowing that these kids are tomorrow’s leaders.

Sources: KOMO, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Aero-News, University of Washington

Beggars & Choosers

2006-02-14T16:06:00.000-05:00

...It’s interesting to see how the term “pro-choice” is becoming more and more misleading. If anything, choice is something about which the movement cares little, and a recent Massachusetts ruling against Wal-Mart is just more proof of this assertion.

...Now, before I continue with this essay, I feel the pressing need to make a brief announcement: To those right-wingers who are reading this and think that I’m one of you, look elsewhere—or better yet peruse my posts on wiretapping without warrants and the No Child Left Behind legislation. It’s more than likely that you’ll think that I’m a liberal. On the other side of the coin, to those left-wingers who are reading this and think that I’m a conservative (or “neo-con,” which has become your trendy catch-phrase) nutcase in disguise, you can peruse my other posts, too. I’m calling this as I see it, and it’s rather easy to see.

...The court ruling in question forces Wal-Mart pharmacies in Massachusetts to carry emergency contraception pills (a.k.a. morning-after pills) whether they want to or not. The decision was made by the state’s Board of Pharmacy after three women sued Wal-Mart for failing to carry the pills, and it’s similar to others that have been brought against other pharmacies across the country which have made similar decisions.

...I probably shouldn’t be shocked to hear that a private sector pharmacy isn’t allowed to make a choice as to which pharmaceuticals it carries. It’s becoming popular to sue when someone makes a choice that others don’t like. A few months ago we saw California posers Motley Crue sue NBC because NBC didn’t want them to perform on their network again after vocalist Vince Neil decided to illustrate—on live TV—his limited vocabulary that consists mostly of profanity. As if it weren’t an absurd move to begin with, the band sued the network on the grounds of free speech violations—even though NBC isn’t a government entity.

...In the case of the morning-after pills, it’s unfortunate that the three women didn’t make a move that might have required using some intellect (maybe that explains it), whereby they could have recognized that Wal-Mart was exercising their choice and chose not to sell a particular product. A wonderful response would have been a public campaign against Wal-Mart, including a push for consumers to boycott their pharmacies. If enough people boycotted, the power of the market might encourage Wal-Mart to begin offering the pills. Even if it didn’t, consumers could protest by shopping at other pharmacies that do sell the pills.

...Then again, organization requires effort and we all know that it’s easier to just file a lawsuit.

...There’s really no reason to think that there is a concept of freedom of choice anymore for anyone, or even a true state of being “pro-choice.” It’s become clear that when someone actually attempts to use their right to make a choice, they must now worry about budgeting for legal fees due to the potential of being taken to court when another person doesn’t like the choice that was made. All the while, the ones who file the suits are doing it for “choice.”

...“Pro-choice” people are for choice as much as “pro-life” people are against the death penalty. Perhaps it shouldn’t be any surprise.

Expendable Youth

2006-02-13T17:51:00.000-05:00

...What do you do when your penis is smaller than normal, you’re illiterate, you smoke crack on a daily basis, and you don’t know who your father is because your mom has been with more men than a $5 whore? Why, you become a gang member, of course.

...I apologize to anyone who is accustomed to PG-rated vocabulary, and may have unfortunately happened upon my harsh R-rated verbiage. I have little interest in restraining myself this afternoon, however, because I’ve been informed that my small town is becoming one more battlefield for the Bloods, Crips, and Latin Kings. I think that it’s a good reason to become fired up, because it’s something that is permeating throughout America, and it’s something that seems to be accepted—if not embraced—by more and more people.

...When I was younger, hearing about kids getting into fights wasn’t anything unusual. Sometimes they fought over girls, sometimes over personality conflicts, sometimes over exchanged insults, sometimes over cars, and sometimes over petty nonsense that wouldn’t even merit fisticuffs. It’s now 2006, though, and all that has changed in small-town America.

...A few nights ago I saw an ambulance screaming by my house, and later learned that a 16-year-old boy had been involved in a street fight. Early reports from my neighbors were that the boy had been done-up pretty badly, having lost several teeth and winding up with a bloody face. I thought to myself, “Oh, just a bunch of punks who have nothing else to do than beat each other.”

...How wrong I was.

...It’s now a few days later and I’ve been informed that the victim had no association with the victimizer. It was revealed that the perpetrator—who is only 14-years-old—targeted the 16-year-old because the boy was wearing red clothing, and the 14-year-old was going through an initiation into the Crips street gang where he had to brutalize someone—anyone—who might be wearing the “enemy” color. The 16-year-old is now lying in a hospital bed with a fractured skull, toothless mouth, and ruptured spleen—all because he was wearing a certain color of clothing.

...The 14-year-old criminal was charged, but will probably spend no more than a few weeks or a few months in a juvenile detention center because “children’s advocates” are opposed to anything harsher. Hell, they might even say that the 16-year-old shouldn't have worn red clothing. Eventually the 14-year-old piece of shit will then be back onto the streets where he can assault a few more people for wearing the wrong color, rape a few little girls and murder a few people for kicks. He’s just a child after all, and we need to stand up for all these good children.

...The proliferation of violence has become fashionable, gang membership is a status symbol, and anyone who calls for accountability for such heinous acts is labeled an “extremist.”

...Maybe the Soviet Union should have nuked us in the 1960s and done the rest of the world a huge favor (save for the radiation fallout).

You Can Bet On This

2006-02-13T16:16:00.000-05:00

...Most of my close friends—both of them—know that I’m a huge fan of hockey and baseball. It works out quite nicely that they run at different times of the year (for the most part), so there’s always something to hold my short attention span.

...Unfortunately, right now the National Hockey League is suffering what has become popularly called “another black eye.” Phoenix Coyotes assistant coach Rick Tocchet has been implicated in a national gambling ring that is said to have ties with mobsters and a clientele list that includes Janet Jones, the actress wife of Coyotes head coach—and hockey legend—Wayne Gretzky. Gretzky was discovered to have made inquiries into possible ways to keep Jones out of trouble should the ring be investigated.

...Since I’m known for being critical of professional athletes who break the law or just do stupid things, it probably seemed odd that I haven’t commented on this topic sooner. It may have seemed as if I had been ignoring the issue, but in actuality I was just forming a solid opinion.

...To preface this, I want to say that I’m openly opposed to gambling laws, regardless of who is doing the gambling—from drunks playing a round of poker to rich stiffs wagering millions of dollars on the Super Bowl. If you’re dumb enough to risk losing your money, then you deserve whatever comes to you.

...When it comes to athletes, the only time that gambling should become illegal is when and if the athlete in question gambles against his own team and intentionally loses a game to collect on the bet. Take Pete Rose, for instance: He bet on his own teams on occasion, and then tried his hardest to ensure that they would win. Yes, as a person Rose was nothing more than a Neanderthal with talent (in 1999, then-NBC reporter Jim Gray received death threats for asking Rose questions about the gambling), but to his credit he wasn’t willing to lose games—even for a profit.

...Now that I’ve established that, it’ll make a little more sense when I suggest that Tocchet, Jones, and Gretzky should be vilified—if not crucified—for something other than their illegal acts (if the allegations prove to be true); they should be crucified for their sheer selfishness and unadulterated stupidity.

...The NHL suffered a massive public relations meltdown last season when an entire year was lost to a lock-out. Television ratings were on the decline even before the work stoppage, so the timing for a lock-out made things even worse. ESPN considered the lock-out (combined with commissioner Gary Bettman’s greed) to make the decision that they wouldn’t renew a TV contract for the league, leaving it to find a new home on the upstart OLN Network and a few games on NBC.

...Somehow and someway the fans returned with gusto, but now this new problem has emerged—this time with the help of Gretzky, who had become known as an ambassador to the entire sport of hockey.

...If the allegations turn out to be true, and if Tocchet and Jones were, indeed, part of this gambling ring with Gretzky acting as a look-out man, there would be no reason to not blame them for any dark clouds that might hover over the Coyotes for the rest of the season, Team Canada in the Turin Olympics (Gretzky is executive director of Team Canada), or over the NHL in general for the rest of the season.

...No matter which rink they’re in, or which league they’re in, any team with ties to Tocchet or Gretzky will experience whispers in the stands, on the blogs, and across the radio waves. No matter how quiet the whispers are, the players on these teams will hear them. Players always hear them.

...While I’ll continue to believe that gambling laws need to be re-evaluated, I’m still able to realize that it’s currently illegal to do it, and those who violate those laws are going to cause strain within their particular environment if they happen to be caught. When that environment is one on a national—if not global—stage, it becomes even more important to avoid the potential problem from the start. Because of that, Rick Tocchet, Janet Jones, and Wayne Gretzky should have used a modicum of common sense.

Bad Religion, Part III

2006-02-07T09:34:00.000-05:00

...In an effort to retaliate against the Muhammad cartoon, an Iranian newspaper is staging a contest for cartoons that make fun of Holocaust victims.

...While I support the paper’s right to publish the cartoons, I think that it’s interesting to see how free speech in the Muslim world is embraced when it suits their purpose, but when it’s against them they stage widespread violence.

...Maybe there’s a positive here, however: In the future, all Middle Eastern conflicts can be fought with comic books instead of guns.

Bad Religion, Part II

2006-02-06T11:03:00.000-05:00

Reuters Photo

...The Islamic cartoon war is still waging, with some militants calling for a “European 9/11” and other militants staging attacks in Beirut, where thousands of Muslims set fires, destroyed shops, and vandalized cars. Resident Naji Korom didn’t understand why they had been the targets of the Islamic violence and asked, “Why did they attack us? Why?”

...This situation is becoming more violent and more irresponsible as each day passes. At the same time, it’s important to see two of the discussions that these barbaric atrocities have spawned.

Free Speech vs. Offending People

...Since justification has become a huge issue for both sides of this story—on one side the newspapers that printed the Mohammed parody and on the other the Muslim terrorists who feel the need to seek revenge on any and all non-Muslims—it’s important to see how each side wants their view to be the only one that is embraced.

...The newspapers that have printed the caricature of Mohammed have said that they have free speech on their side, as the press cannot begin to hold back on printing things that might offend certain segments of the world’s population. If that were to happen, real news would never be reported and real dialog over pertinent issues would never be discussed. The news would essentially become bullshit that could be enjoyed by only those wearing rose-colored glasses.

...On the opposing side, Muslims are arguing that free speech has no place in the media if it offends them. Don’t believe me? Click here to read a story about two Jordanian newspaper editors who were arrested for publishing the Mohammed cartoon. They were said to have committed an “unnecessary abuse of freedom of speech.”

...An opinion Website for the BBC has an interesting thread of comments, but two of them stuck out the most. One was the usual “you must not offend us or you’ll suffer the consequences” kind of comment, while the other summed it best by making the astute observation that such back-and-forth dialog wouldn’t even be happening if it were not for free speech.

...Even so, in Australia, the president of The Islamic Council of Queensland, Abdul Jalal, wanted an apology from papers that printed the cartoon there and said, “I was hoping, praying that our media people would have more—I hate to use the word—more sense, in not trying to agitate the situation in the local scene here in Australia.”

...Jalal thinks that there’s no sense in printing a cartoon but there is sense in using violence when you’re offended?! I’m not surprised, and that brings us to the second issue in this mess.

Values

...The same people who are committing violence after being offended by a drawing are the same ones who have no problem with kidnapping and beheading innocent people or murdering dozens of innocents via suicide bombers. In fact, such killing will supposedly get them into heaven where they will receive 72 virgins and various riches.

...“But suicide is forbidden in Islam,” you say. Suicide (qatlu nafsi-hi) is forbidden in the Traditions, but a nice way around it is to call suicide bombers “martyrs” and say that they’re dying for the noblest of all causes. How convenient.

...Things are going to be said that we don’t like to hear, but—so long as the speech isn’t false—we can’t censor ourselves for fear of violent reprisals. No matter what religious or political affiliation a person has, it doesn’t give them the right to perpetrate savagery against those who say something that they don’t like. They must counter with non-violent discourse and free speech of their own.

...Of course, that’s assuming that that particular group actually knows how to carry out anything that doesn’t involve violence.

Bad Religion

2006-02-05T12:13:00.000-05:00

...Violent Islamic militants have set ablaze the Danish consulate in Beirut in their continuing effort to somehow “avenge” the printing of a cartoon depicting the Prophet Mohammed with a turban that resembles a bomb. This comes a few days after Muslim gunmen threatened to kidnap European workers in Gaza City if the European Union failed to apologize for offending them.

...Torching buildings and kidnapping over a fucking cartoon? I thought that it was bad enough that I have to deal with militant Christians telling me that I’m going to go to hell some day because I haven’t accepted Christ as my personal savior. At least they haven’t burned my house down.

...It’s not hard to figure out why some people have no respect for organized religions.

Buffalo Chips

2006-02-04T15:04:00.000-05:00

Ryan Miller (Photo by David Duprey)

...It’s old news by now that standout goalie Ryan Miller of the Buffalo Sabres was snubbed by the United States Olympic team in favor of three goaltenders whose abilities—while still quite good—are just a wee bit under his.

...It seemed to be worth discussing the issue once again because Miller’s Sabres beat the Philadelphia Flyers by a score of 4-2 on Thursday night (Miller had 21 saves in the contest). That’s the same Flyers whose goalie, Robert Esche, was named to Team USA, along with Tampa Bay’s John Grahame and the New York Islanders’ Rick DiPietro, instead of Miller.

...Since the bigwigs in Team USA seem to be interested in being the underdog right from the start, I can’t help but think that losing in the quarterfinals is their goal. Maybe it’ll be more fun rooting for Canada or the Czech Republic, where statistics actually matter.

Can You Hear Me Now?

2006-02-03T11:25:00.000-05:00

Author’s note: In the following post, my use of the word “stupid” is meant just as it is defined in a dictionary (i.e., lacking intelligence). It is not meant to be a name-calling tactic.

...First we saw stupid people en masse file lawsuits against tobacco companies because smokers were somehow “fooled” into taking the initiative to stick cigarettes in their mouths. Cigarettes have been called “cancer sticks” since the 1930s, but these people had no clue that inhaling poison could cause lung cancer.

...Then we saw stupid people—led into battle by filmmaker Morgan Spurlock and his half-witted documentary Super-size Me—go after fast-food restaurants that supposedly made the plaintiffs overweight by offering them fatty food. Sure, the plaintiffs took the initiative to enter the fast-food joints and purchase the food, but it wasn’t their fault, or so they claimed.

...Now the stupid have a new target: Apple, and more namely, their iPod.

...John Kiel Patterson has filed a class-action lawsuit against the technology giant on behalf of all other iPod users, and he wants Apple to cough up some money to compensate for his—and the others’—lack of common sense. Patterson thinks that Apple hasn’t done enough to prevent hearing loss by iPod users who have decided to listen to their music at absurd levels. In addition to monetary damages, Patterson’s suit calls for Apple to provide software that will limit the volume of the iPod headphones.

...Apple has an entire section in their iPod users manual entitled “Avoid Hearing Damage,” where it states:

Warning: Permanent hearing loss may occur if earphones or headphones are used at high volume. You can adapt over time to a higher volume of sound, which may sound normal but can be damaging to your hearing. Set your iPod’s volume to a safe level before that happens. If you experience ringing in your ears, reduce the volume or discontinue use of your iPod.

...At first, you might be thinking that Patterson (and the other unnamed plaintiffs) simply ignored the warning, because most people who lack intelligence don’t read things. Sadly, no; Patterson actually read this warning, but in his suit he claimed that he wasn’t sure what the terms “high volume” or “safe level” meant.

...I can only hope that a lawsuit as asinine as this is thrown out of court before anyone gives it any credence. If it does succeed, it will be one more nail in the coffin for the concept of personal responsibility. How intelligent a species are we if we have to blame others for our own behavior? Scapegoats have gone from poverty and environment to companies who simply offer the choice of purchasing and using products, whether they’re chemicals, food, or technology.

...Some of us like to think that all people are equal, but as long as we continue to see members of our society who are lower on the intellectual totem pole, such as Morgan Spurlock and John Kiel Patterson, we know that such a situation isn’t the case.

...Put out the cigarette, put down the Big Mac, and turn down your headphone volume. It doesn’t take a lawsuit—or even much intelligence—to figure that out.

Diebold with a Vengeance

2006-02-01T20:52:00.000-05:00

...I’m not sure what’s more interesting: having things occur at similar times (these things being ones that make you go, “Hmmm…”) or connecting dots that end up forming a path of potential fraud and corruption. How interesting might it be if both happen simultaneously?

...Such a situation happened a few days ago when I was doing some research for a friend who needed information on lesser-known court cases dealing with the First Amendment. She was told to forgo using the more popular First Amendment cases, such as Roe v. Wade and Miller v. California, and asked me for some input on the issue. Having an interest and reasonable background in politics and law, I jumped at the chance. I quickly came to discover a few things that are frightening.

...Allow me to preface the rest of this post by saying that the aforementioned “things occurring at similar times” was a reference to the news that my home state of Pennsylvania is required to have new voting methods in use for the May 16 primaries in accordance to the federal Help America Vote Act, which was made law following the 2000 Presidential election debacle. I came across a story from the eastern half of the commonwealth saying that one more county—Schuylkill—has voted to use Diebold electronic voting machines.

...The vote by the county’s commissioners was 2-1, along party lines where the Republicans have the majority. There was debate and argument from people who were opposed to using the machines, and the Schuylkill County Democratic chief, Edward Kleha, has threatened to sue the county on the grounds that Diebold’s machines would be easy to hack and that there’s no assurance that the “e-voting” machines would provide for privacy while voting. The county’s GOP chief, Dan Daub, called the threats “a partisan political grandstand,” “childish,” and “deceitful.”

...Since Mr. Daub is apparently opposed to deceit, I can only hope that he—as well as every other voter in the United States—is aware of Diebold’s history.

...In 2003, Diebold Election Systems, Inc. sent cease-and-desist letters to multiple Internet service providers (ISPs) after internal Diebold documents were leaked and appeared on various Websites. The internal documents that were leaked dealt with security flaws in the systems of Diebold’s electronic voting machines. Some of the documents included e-mail discussions about how to resolve any problems; others contained suggestions on hiding the flaws and faking demonstration results.

...Diebold claimed that the leaked memos and e-mails were their intellectual property, and that they held some kind of inherent copyright on them; they insisted that their cease-and-desist letters be honored. In response, they found themselves being sued by the Electronic Frontier Foundation—an online free speech advocacy group—and the Center for Internet and Society Cyberlaw Clinic at Stanford Law School. EFF and the Center for Internet and Society Cyberlaw Clinic argued that Diebold didn’t have a legal copyright on the memos or e-mail, and—considering the importance of the information on future political elections—said that the information belongs in the public domain.

...At the time, Diebold attempted to silence anyone and everyone who so much as mentioned their case on their site, or even provided a link to the documents that showed Diebold’s flawed system. The matter ended up in court in the form of Online Policy Group v. Diebold, but in the end the case’s judgment was granted in-part and denied in-part for both sides. Essentially, each side had strong points and weak points.

...Avi Rubin, a Johns Hopkins University computer-security professor, managed to get his hands on Diebold’s computer source code. What he and his computer science students discovered was not only shocking, but frightening: the Diebold code to prevent potential fraud was completely amateur. Rubin said that the Diebold system was “far below even the most minimal security standards,” and added, “Anyone in my basic security classes would have done better.”

...In addition to actually fixing the source code flaws, a suggested solution to the problem was requiring that electronic voting machines offer a print-out for each vote. The print-out would occur after each vote and would go directly into a secure lockbox, and in the event of a discrepancy, the vote totals of the computerized tally would be compared to the vote totals of the paper print-outs.

...To their credit, Diebold has designed a paper-based, voter-verifiable printer module which allows for a printed hardcopy of each vote. Diebold themselves mention, however, that such a module can only be used once it is allowed by Congress and the White House. They also insist that their machines are now safer than they were in the 2003 reports, labeling any accusations suggesting otherwise as “false accusations.”

...The paper trail requirement has been given serious consideration by New Jersey Representative Rush Holt in his Voter Confidence Act legislation of 2005. The bill, HR 550, was referred to the House Committee on House Administration in February 2005, but has stopped there.

...Why hasn’t the bill made any headway? Perhaps it’s just a coincidence, but the chairman of the House Committee on House Administration is Republican Bob Ney of Ohio—the same Bob Ney who was recently in the news after he was alleged to have been given expensive trips, meals, and entertainment excursions by corrupt lobbyist Jack Abramoff in exchange for official favors. Abramoff recently pleaded guilty to conspiracy and fraud.

Entertain Me

2006-01-29T18:45:00.000-05:00

...

...Many people—myself included—have suggested that over the last six or seven years mainstream news has completed its evolution, going from investigative reporting to a ratings weapon akin to Jerry Springer or American Idol, where viewers tune in hoping to see that their hatred for a particular politician or ideological idea is supported. One more insider confirms such a theory.

...Former CNN anchor Aaron Brown, who found himself replaced with the hipper-looking Anderson Cooper in an effort to increase viewers, recently gave a speech and reaffirmed a cynical view of the media by saying, “Truth no longer matters in the context of politics and, sadly, in the context of cable news.”

...Brown’s NewsNight saw some of its highest ratings during a four-hour episode dealing with the arrest of actor Robert Blake, but experienced worse numbers when serious news stories were aired.

...Brown also mentioned a couple of other things which have come to mar mainstream journalism: the focus on arguments instead of the facts behind the arguments, and viewers who are more interested in having their viewpoints confirmed as opposed to the actual story.

...I can’t help but think that Brown is accurate in his observations. With regard to his confirmed viewpoints theory, we have more than enough proof available to us if we watch but one episode of C-Span’s daily morning show, Washington Journal. C-Span might very well be the most objective network available on cable television, but you wouldn’t think so if you relied on the opinions of callers on C-Span’s telephone lines.

...If the morning’s guest happens to be a Democrat, Republican callers will phone in to complain that a liberal guest is evidence of C-Span becoming a liberal network. If the morning guest is a Republican, Democratic callers will phone in to complain about C-Span turning into another right-wing channel. The truth is that C-Span presents various viewpoints; the perception is that C-Span is becoming “the enemy” because they don’t provide only one viewpoint—the viewpoint of the given caller.

...Hence, most political discussion has devolved into childish bickering that is punctuated with accusations of bias when a bias might not even be present. Add to that the incessant desire by the average American to be entertained instead of informed and we have the situation that Brown describes.

...Perhaps such a situation just goes hand-in-hand with an e-mail that Brown received by a viewer who was angry with the “inadequate” NewsNight coverage of an anti-war protest in Washington. The e-mailer concluded by saying, “I hope the violence visited on the people of Iraq will someday be visited on your children.”

...It’s a dark day in the United States when the peace movement has to get their point across by using violence.

Lowlife by Palp

2006-01-25T23:59:00.000-05:00

...

...As each day passes, it’s becoming more and more evident that the terms “good” and “evil” are interchangeable—especially when the situation involves juveniles. A few years ago there was the Pennsylvania story of Dennis Gumbs, 15-years-old at the time, who murdered a woman by dropping an 18-pound piece of ice from an overpass onto her passing vehicle. At the time, newspaper accounts told of people who considered Gumbs a “good kid.” Apparently the state of Virginia has its own “good kids” who murder, too. The exception is that in Virginia they ride in ambulances.

...Emergency medical technician Joshua Philip Martin was only four days into his new job when he decided to electrocute a fellow EMT with a defibrillator, killing her. What’s even more disgusting than the act itself is that Martin and his family seem to think that he shouldn’t be punished for killing 23-year-old Courtney Rhoton, who leaves behind two small children, because the electrocution was a “prank” and that he was just “playing around.”

...I wish that I were lying about some of the remarks that Martin’s family made at the courthouse following his trial, but sometimes truth is sicker than fiction.

...Martin’s mother, Diana White, said about her son, “He just made a mistake. Everybody plays on the job—even cops.” Martin’s aunt, Karen Martin, agreed and said, “He was just playing around. Anybody who knows him knows this was not intentional.” The aunt concluded by yelling, “Josh is a good kid! A good kid!”

...Since Martin’s family think that what he did was “just playing around,” and that it was a sign of his being “a good kid,” I would figure that none of the Martin clan would object to having defibrillator paddles used on them, thus strengthening the gene pool.

...Eliminating people such as these from the population might be something that is truly “good,” in the real sense of the word.

A Million Little Excuses

2006-01-24T17:07:00.000-05:00

...In the wake of James Frey’s “memoir” A Million Little Pieces being exposed for what it really is, something almost as disturbing as Frey’s willingness to pass-off a fictional tale as reality surfaced on the consumer side of the book industry: The lengths to which people will defend someone, even when the facts mount against them.

...Over the years we’ve seen all kinds of fraud, from books to music to documentaries to newspaper stories, and we can use the Frey case as yet another example since it has triggered an onslaught of questionable rationalizations. Whether we discover these arguments through conversation or by scanning various blogs and newspaper letters to the editors, we find that we can lump the vast majority of defenses for such chicanery into three categories: 1.) View the material for what it is and ignore the particulars (as if they will nicely go away); 2.) Change the subject, possibly to something positive (although still ignoring the false particulars); or 3.) Simply resort to name-calling (which seems to be popular with many people nowadays for all disagreements).

...The first argument is that of taking the book for what it is: A powerfully-written story about becoming a slave to a substance, hitting rock-bottom, and somehow finding a way to escape. There’s no doubt that such a plot is fascinating, entertaining, and inspiring. What becomes upsetting to see is how many people will use power of inspiration or entertainment value of something to not only ignore the original intent of something—in this case a book being an accurate memoir—but to defend its fraudulency by citing its “power.” If I film a fictional documentary about something, sell it as a true story, and then have the truth come out, do I deserve to have my lying deemed “acceptable” so long as my storyline was entertaining and powerful?

...The second defense, changing the subject to something positive, has become so popular that I actually began to wonder if there was some kind of James Frey talking-points seminar somewhere. From the radio to the newspaper to the Internet, when the issue of this particular book has come up, many of Frey’s fans have quickly offered the idea that the book’s power (similar to the first argument) has inspired dozens of drug users to enter rehabilitation clinics. I haven’t seen any official statistics, but I’m certainly happy to hear that so many have decided to detoxify. I’m fortunate enough to never have had any addictions, but I know that many people have become slaves to various substances. Anytime that someone decides to go clean, it’s a wonderful thing. With that said, does it justify fooling millions of people to make a few dollars off a book?

...A similar change of topic is that of using the importance of Frey’s story to bring more attention to the rampant problem of drug addiction. It has been suggested that we shouldn’t criticize Frey for lying about his experiences, but that we should use his book as a springboard to engage in conversation pertaining to the dangers of drugs. Sure, that’s a good thing, but if you’re going to use an argument like that, two problems arise: 1.) We devalue the efforts of honest drug awareness campaigns and speakers, and 2.) We open a can of worms that allows us to apply this philosophy to other aspects of life.

...For instance, we could say that we shouldn’t criticize the CIA, President Bush, or Congress because each lied to us about Iraq’s supposed weapons of mass destruction. Instead of criticizing any of them for leading us into war under false pretenses, we should use their rhetoric to focus our attention on the dangers of nuclear warfare. We would be turning a negative into a positive, and that’s the important thing, isn’t it?

...The third form of defense is the more understandable one, since it comes as second-nature for most Americans who attempt to discuss or debate issues. Name-calling has taken center stage in the James Frey saga, and by-and-large it would make a third-grader smile.

...The more civil name-callers stick with referring to the critics as “jealous,” whereas the more militant (read: juvenile) resort to “liar,” “idiot,” and the like. Such tactics have unfortunately become the American way, though; it’s the reason that I’ve disabled my comments section, and—on a more national stage—it’s why the Washington Post opted to disable their comments section on their blog, too.

...For those of you who enjoyed A Million Little Pieces, I’m happy to see that a book moved you as much as it did; good books have that power. If you were a drug addict who was inspired to enter a rehabilitation clinic after reading Frey’s book, I’m even happier; you’re one step closer to having a healthy life.

...A healthy life must be found in a mental sense as well as a physical sense, however. As such, engaging in deception isn’t a sign of being mentally healthy; defending those who commit such deception isn’t a sign of being mentally healthy, either.

Two More Reasons to be a Misanthrope

2006-01-23T16:59:00.000-05:00

...

...Every so often I find it important to defend my position as a self-proclaimed “reformed humanitarian.” All too often we find ourselves reading news articles about people who have no right whatsoever to call themselves a part of the human race—well, in my opinion, anyway.

...Here are but two more examples of our society’s bottom-of-the-barrel.

Disgrace to the Race #1

...If you haven’t heard the story by now, 7-year-old Nixzmary Brown was allegedly molested and beaten to death by her stepfather, Cesar Rodriguez, who has pleaded not guilty in the case. What is truly scary is what seems to be the reasons why Rodriguez—as well as Nixzmary’s mother—has decided to plead not guilty in the little girl’s death. Rodriguez places the blame on the little girl and claims that the beatings—perpetrated using belts, pieces of wood, and bungee cords—were for her own good.

...Here is a quote by Rodriguez from a jailhouse interview:

“I would hold her up to the mirror and make her look at herself and I would say, ‘Do you really want to live like this? Look at yourself. Talk to yourself. How do you feel about yourself?”

...Police report that Rodriguez forced the little girl to strip and beat her while her mother watched after Rodriguez discovered that Nixzmary had eaten yogurt without permission (probably because she was hungry). He also allegedly dragged the child to the bathroom, held her head under cold water, and concluded the torture session by tossing her body to the floor like a rag doll.

...New York City’s Administration for Children’s Services failed miserably in the case, as they closed Nixzmary’s file even after being notified of possible abuse of the little girl as well as multiple school absences.

...There’s no doubt that some insane group of people from some segment of our population will come to Rodriguez’s defense and attempt to somehow justify his actions (e.g., he was mentally ill, he had a bad childhood, he was poor and his state of poverty caused this, etc.). If they happen to fail in their attempts to defend a monster like this, and Rodriguez is, indeed, sentenced to a lengthy prison sentence, I hope that prison guards find a way to make him a cellmate with a fellow prisoner who happens to have a bad attitude and a very large dick.

...Hide the lubricant and make sure that he gets rectal damage that would make a proctologist cringe.

Disgrace to the Race #2

...Most of my family and close friends know that I like animals more than people, so this following story helped to keep my blood at a steady temperature of 100 degrees Celsius.

...Kenneth S. Williams III, from Slatedale, Pennsylvania, admitted to friends that he imprisoned his neighbor’s cat in a small cage, drowned the feline, and concluded by hanging it from a tree in a nearby park. According to police, one of Williams’ friends said that the cat had been in the cage on Williams’ front porch.

...The cat’s owner, Amy Henry, searched for two weeks for her pet, named Cat-Cat, which had become her daughter’s constant companion. Cat-Cat was a house cat that never ran from home, and his sudden disappearance caused alarm. Henry’s daughter is said to be heartbroken over the turn of events.

...There are militant animal-rights groups around the country such as the Animal Liberation Front that might feel the need to seek some kind of justice against scum like Kenneth S. Williams III. That being the case, I figured that anyone from the ALF (or any other vigilantes who like animals as much as me) might be interested in knowing that The Morning Call, in its print version of this story, listed Williams’ address as 3924 East Grant Street, Slatedale, Pennsylvania. (I would have listed his phone number, but it seems to be unlisted—probably because of too many bill collectors or unpaid meth dealers calling.)

...Remember: I’m not endorsing any kind of violence against Williams, but let’s just say that if anything should happen to him (like caging him, drowning him, and hanging him from a tree), I would simply say, “Good riddance. It’s one less mouth to feed.”