A fleeting grasp of civil, well reasoned discourse.
This blog will comment on topics of interest like politics, business, taxation, the War with Islam / Islamofascists, road cycling, football, and others.

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United Airlines - Chapter 11

Not much of a surprise here...

posted by Roger at 7:00 PM

 
Just Heard On CNBC

Lockheed Martin, who has the contract to develop the next-generation FA/22 fighter jet, formerly known as the F-22 Toronto Raptor, has already accumulated $1 billion in cost overruns. It's a good thing they're not redesigning interstate highways, isn't it?

posted by Roger at 6:43 PM

 
Clarification - 100 Pounds Of Bullshit

Well, that's the analysis from my favorite Democratic Senator, Joe Lieberman, on Iraq's denial of possession of Weapons of Mass Destruction:

US officials rap Iraq arms dossier

5 nations to get unedited report

Isn't that mighty white of the UN?

By Robert Schlesinger, Globe Staff, 12/9/2002

WASHINGTON - Current and former US officials and a former United Nations weapons inspector yesterday denounced Iraq's declaration that it has no weapons of mass destruction, calling the report released by Iraq on Saturday not believable.

After they picked themselves off the floor from laughing so hard...

''The important bottom line out of 12,000 pages - no weapons of mass destruction, no programs to develop them in the last four years, nothing left over from their previous program - I think that just doesn't meet the laugh test,'' David Kay, a former UN chief weapons inspector, said on NBC's ''Meet the Press.''

Bingo!

As UN officials start to pore over the 12,000-page Iraqi declaration, one of the biggest issues now facing the United States is when and to what extent it will reveal classified intelligence that officials say proves Iraq is lying. It will take weeks or possibly months for inspectors to review the mammoth declaration.

It's called buying time.

By late last night, a compromise had been reached that would allow the five permanent members of the Security Council - the United States, Britain, Russia, China and France, all of which have nuclear weapons - to receive unedited copies of the declaration, administration and Security Council officials said.

Since all five possess 100+ kiloton nukes, by implication, none of this is new stuff...

Before the 10 elected Security Council members receive the report, the Los Angeles Times reported, officials will expunge details that they fear might help other countries make their own nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons and ballistic missiles.

If the report is accurate, ''it would represent one of the most shocking and, I suppose, encouraging conversions in world history, which is that Saddam would start telling the truth instead of lying as he has been for more than a decade to the United Nations,'' Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, Democrat from Connecticut, said on ''Fox News Sunday.''

I'm sure Captain Hairdo Senator Kerry will be surprised, having taken sooooooooo long to vote for our resolution of force against Iraq...

''But ... based on intelligence reports that I have seen ... what they gave the UN yesterday was probably a 12,000-page, 100-pound lie,'' Lieberman said.

Like you need to see the report when you're bullshit detectors are off the scale.

Lieberman added that such a lie would qualify as ''a material breach'' of UN resolutions.

Asked if he believes Iraq's claims, former vice president Al Gore said, ''No, of course not,'' on ABC's ''This Week.''

Knock me over with a feather...

Senator Bob Graham of Florida, the outgoing Democratic chairman of the Select Intelligence Committee, said that the Iraqi declaration is, on its face, false.

''We have compelling evidence, both from technical sources and from human sources,'' Graham said on CBS's ''Face the Nation.'' ''The question is when do we put that on the table in making the case to the American people and the international community, which would justify the use of force and which would bring with us allies in the use of force.''

Jesus Fuckin' Christ, hasn't the case been made ad infinitum already?

On yesterday's morning talk shows, several ill-founded comparisons were made with the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Uh, guys? Iraq isn't pointing known nuclear capable delivery systems a mere 60 miles from our shores. Such comparisons are WAY overboard.

In that case, the Soviet Union bluntly denied deploying nuclear missiles on Cuba - until Adlai Stevenson, then ambassador to the United Nations, produced photographs showing the missiles. Analysts said that any US disclosure about Iraq would probably lack that sort of impact.

''What we're dealing with now are not missile silos but rather production facilities for biological and chemical weapons primarily,'' Graham said.

Translation - shut the fuck up already with the Cuban Missile crisis!

Senator Richard Lugar of Indiana, the ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said that the Bush administration should disclose intelligence to make its case.

''The administration will have to make a judgment as to how much declassification it wants to do, even while it's working with our allies, who clearly will probably learn what we know...,'' Lugar said.

That's right. In order not to expose our / double agents or other intelligence sources, this can't be done lightly. One example may suffice, but that's it.

''It may very well be that the advice of our allies will be that we ought to go very public, that we ought to have worldwide opinion,'' he said. ''I think these are delicate judgments. It depends upon the nature of the intelligence, and likewise the potential war effort in which we're involved.''

Does this mean waiting for French approval again?

Administration officials have resisted suggestions that they discuss more information to make the case against Iraq.

For reasons stated above.

They have argued that the burden of proof lies on Iraq, not on the United States or any other nation.

That's it.

On Tuesday, Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld said:

''The responsibility for demonstrating [Iraqi compliance] is not on the UN, it's not on the United States, it's not on the UK, it's not on the Security Council. It's on Iraq. And it is important to get that into one's mind because it is Iraq that is the subject of the resolutions.''

Thank you for focusing our attention to the matter at hand, Mr. Secretary.

Meanwhile, Hans Blix, the head of the UN inspection team, has publicly said that the US should should share more of its intelligence with the inspection teams.

I'd give it two weeks max, before it's leaked...

US officials have expressed concern that intelligence given to the UN teams might fall into Iraqi hands.

It's a matter of when, not if...

David Albright, a former nuclear weapons inspector, said that ''the time isn't quite right'' for the US to share intelligence.

''The intelligence agencies need to build up trust with the inspectors to make sure that stuff doesn't leak,'' Albright said.

How about that time frame being 'never'?

Senators plagarizer Joseph Biden of Delaware, the outgoing Democratic chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, and Chuck Hagel, Republican from France of Nebraska, who is on the committee, visited Kurdish Parliament and citizens in northern Iraq last week.

The Kurds believe that Hussein still has weapons of mass destruction, the senators said.

They should know, being the subjects of previous attacks...

''They were concerned that Saddam, in being taken down militarily, might very well once again use chemical weapons on them,'' Biden said on ''Meet the Press.''

''There's no doubt in their minds Saddam had and still possesses weapons of mass destruction.''

Or in anyone's mind whose head isn't shoved up his / her own ass...

Robert Schlesinger can be reached at schlesinger@globe.com

This story ran on page A12 of the Boston Globe on 12/9/2002.
© Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company.

posted by Roger at 6:27 PM

 
Cheney Task Force Records To Remain Closed

At least to congressional investigators. A federal judge has dismissed the fishing expedition inquiry by Comptroller General David Watkins, citing separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches.

I always thought this inquiry was in the witch hunt / bullshit category for that precise reason, even to the extent that Enron was involved in these meetings. Once Enron started to go belly-up, it was like lawyers sharks smelling blood in the water. I believe the GAO, which Watkins heads, can appeal to the Supreme Court, although the article isn't clear if this path will be pursued.

posted by Roger at 5:56 PM

 
Interesting Thought

While I was at the Bills - Pats game yesterday, the subject of Bill Clinton came up (I think it was about 'human dogs' or something). LD and I talked about it a few days earlier as well, but as much as I vent my spleen on various subjects, I don't believe I ever devoted an entire post to trashing this human wrecking ball. Maybe the right opportunity never came up, or maybe I'm getting soft.

Well, Saint Hillary's still serving four more years. I'll just do it by proxy...

posted by Roger at 5:42 PM

 
Open Mouth, Insert Foot

Trent Lott, soon to be Senate Majority leader again, may not return to this position if Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton have their way. It seems that Lott, speaking at Senator Strom Thurmond's 100th birthday, said the following in tribute of the Ancient One:

According to Tom Edsall of the Washington Post, “The gathering, which included many Thurmond family members and past and present staffers, applauded Lott when he said ‘we’re proud’ of the 1948 vote. But when he said ‘we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years’ if Thurmond had won, there was an audible gasp and general silence.”

Edsall explained the reason for the gasp thus: “Thurmond, then governor of South Carolina, was the presidential nominee of the breakaway Dixiecrat Party in 1948. He carried Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana and his home state. He declared during his campaign against Democrat Harry S. Truman, who supported civil rights legislation, and Republican Thomas Dewey [who it should be said supported civil rights rather more firmly than Harry Truman did]: ‘All the laws of Washington and all the bayonets of the Army cannot force the Negro into our homes, our schools, our churches.’

“On July 17, 1948, delegates from 13 southern states gathered in Birmingham to nominate Thurmond and adopt a platform that said in part, ‘We stand for the segregation of the races and the racial integrity of each race.’”

Apparently, Lott has a history of idiotic statements. I'm not a big fan of Lott's in any event, so I'd have no problem if, in this case, the professional grievance industry wins this battle.

posted by Roger at 5:29 PM

 
Those Wacky Canadians

Some of our Northern neighbors feel morally superior to Americans, no doubt this includes some of the brain-dead do-gooders who recently flew over to Iraq to act as human shields.

posted by Roger at 5:17 PM

 
12,000 Pages Of Bullshit

...is the best way to describe Iraq's declaration that it has no WMD's.

posted by Roger at 8:12 AM

 
A Cause Worth Dying For

Or is it? A report has it that a bunch of incredibly stupid fuckwits Canadians are going to Iraq to act as human shields.

"I’m not too scared,” Vandas told CBC News Online the day before she left. “I think it will be a powerful experience.”

I'll tell you this much - there isn't too much shielding from JDAM's and daisy cutters, other than to stay out of the country blast radius. I have absolutely no sympathy for these idiots and I won't feel any sorrow if and when these dumb fucks buy the farm.

posted by Roger at 8:09 AM

 
Saddam Plays Hide The Scud

More of the three-ring circus in Iraq, this time aided and abetted by the United Nations, who will make important parts of the report secret to protect Hussein to avoid revealing bomb-making techniques to the public. Naturally, the entire thing is in Arabic; translation of the Tolstoy-length tract will take that much longer,and I'm sure the 'nuances' of the Arabic language will be cited early & often as the basis for disagreements on many points.

It seems counterintuitive to me that a report that's over 10,000 pages is needed to declare the 'fact' that Iraq doesn't possess WMD. Unless the goal is obfuscation and delay (which is how I'd bet), a much smaller statement affirming no possession of weapons would suffice. Run that clock, Saddam...

posted by Roger at 12:48 PM

 
Surprise - Bulger Takes The Fifth

Bill Bulger invokes his right against self-incrimination yesterday in front of the House Committee on Government Reform.

posted by Roger at 12:41 PM

 
A Very Readable Globe Writer

That would be Scot Lehigh, explaining Captain Hairdo Senator John Kerry's Presidential appeal.

Plain talk would serve Kerry better

Yes, it would.

By Scot Lehigh, 12/6/2002

THIS WEEK, US Senator John Kerry has finally confirmed what's been painfully obvious for almost two years (or, in a larger sense, four decades). He's running for president.

Like his soulmate Bill Clinton, it does seems perpetual.

And, compared with his possible rivals, he's doing passably well. Right now, Kerry is like the soldier who suddenly appears to have taken a significant step forward, though on closer inspection it's actually because the other members of the platoon have all stepped back.

Whoa, Nelly. It's still pretty early in this horse race, as in 'we're not even out of the gate yet'.

Al Gore, for example, faces growing and vocal doubts about whether he should run again. Thwarted in four different efforts to reclaim the House for the Democrats, Dick Gephardt has given up the minority leader's post. The dwindling prospect of a Tom Daschle candidacy may have perished when his party lost control of the Senate.

This is the Democratic leadership, falling on their swords like they should.

Kerry, however, emerged from the midterm elections unscathed - and on the move. A flattering New Yorker profile has been the talk of the political town. A Tuesday speech in Ohio in which he cleverly disguised - ah, make that presented - his progressive tax scheme (freeze the Bush tax cut for the top three brackets in favor of a payroll tax cut) as an essential economic stimulus won solid, serious reviews.

In other words, more of the same tired, rehashed Democratic neo-Socialism.

Meanwhile, at a time of international trouble, his Vietnam War experience and his service on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee have clearly boosted his stature.

That's why he waited until the last minute to vote in favor of the Gulf War resolution.

And yet there remains about Kerry a cold-fish quality, which, combined with an almost visible sense of calculation, renders him, for all his gifts, an acquired taste. Too often he is left looking distant, vague, and vaporous, a half-frame out of comfortable focus.

A taste I haven't acquired, apparently...

Given that Senator John McCain's straight-talking 2000 campaign is an example Kerry hopes to emulate in 2004, it's useful to measure him against his fellow Navy veteran.

Great measuring stick, that Senator McCain. Perhaps the only Senator more vain than Kerry.

McCain is a folksy, friendly, funny figure who speaks in the American vernacular. Kerry is a more distant presence, a man whose aristocratic bearing and ornate rhetorical constructions carry him perilously close to an off-putting portentousness.

I prefer the word pretentious, but why quibble?

The bigger difference, however, is this: McCain will generally tell you what he thinks in clear, direct language. By contrast, though Kerry is laudably thoughtful, there is a ever-present sense of the tactical about him, a recurring reluctance to give a firm answer that might pin him down.

He might as well talk through a roll of toilet paper, so muffled is the message...

That quality was evident Sunday when Kerry appeared on ''Meet the Press.'' Moderator Tim Russert asked Kerry whether he would support military action against Iraq if the Bush administration judges Saddam Hussein in material breach of its UN Security Council-imposed obligation to disclose its weapons of mass destruction. Almost 600 words and two Russert promptings later, a viewer still couldn't say for sure what Kerry's position was. It seemed, however, to reduce to this: Kerry will support the president under those circumstances if he decides to support the president under those circumstances.

Just what we need in a President: A man who talks much, but says little.

Now, let's grant that it's hard to deal with hypotheticals in matters of war and peace. But should it be so hard to deal with the past? Certainly when it comes to the conduct of others, Kerry's hindsight is penetrating and acute. Thus he's castigated the Bush administration for failing for commit US troops to a greater role in the battle of Tora Bora, a decision that may well have allowed Osama bin Laden to escape.

That theory has not been proven, has it? A man of Kerry's bin Laden's vanity hasn't delivered a video tape in over a year for which to push his followers to greater glory and Jihad. He's likely under tons of rock in Tora Bora, but it's nice to have this convenient strawman, isn't it?

So, given Kerry's sharp critique of Bush's putative mistakes, another of Russert's questions proved telling: Would the senator now concede that his 1991 vote against authorizing military action against Iraq had been a misjudgment?

Never.

A candid candidate might well have answered in one word: yes. Instead, one astonishing word storm later (more than 350, punctuated by three additional probings from Russert), Kerry still wouldn't admit he had been mistaken in any measure.

What did I tell you?

Now, Russert is TV's Torquemada, an unrelenting moderator who prides himself on making his guests squirm. And Kerry certainly didn't wilt under pressure.

Not with all that mousse in his hair...

Still, he needs to do better. Here's the Sunday postmortem of one particularly savvy veteran of presidential politics. ''Kerry has got to shorten his answers, and he has got to be willing to say yes or no. Trust and authenticity are going to be very, very important in the next presidential election, so it has to feel like he is actually answering the questions he's asked.''

The logical argument is that trust and authenticity are going to be very, very important in every presidential election.

Amen. And if Kerry doesn't believe that? Well, he should ask John McCain.

Well, I think he should just drop out and quit jerking everybody off, but that's just me.

Scot Lehigh's e-mail address is lehigh@globe.com.

This story ran on page A31 of the Boston Globe on 12/6/2002.
© Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company.

posted by Roger at 7:24 PM

 
Ptech, Inc. Drive-By

You may have heard about Ptech, Inc, a Quincy, MA software firm that specializes in ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) software and, allegedly, sending money to the Saudi-based Muwafaq (Blessed Relief) Foundation, which Treasury officials allege is an al-Qaida front used to funnel millions of dollars to the terrorist organization. Big, bloated code is my take on what ERP software is, but then I've always been accused of oversimplifying things.

Since the place is right down the street from me, I checked it out around 6:00 this evening. It's a three story brick building (it looks like they occupied all floors, a few people were milling about). All the local network affiliates were there (CBS, NBC, Fox, WB-56), and some of them were packing up and hitting the road. No cops of any sort were in sight. One of the camera guys told me that I missed all the action, and that the president of the company was holed up in his house, just waiting for the cops to tie up the loose ends ax to fall.

posted by Roger at 6:47 PM

 
I'd Rather Shovel Snow

... than fisk this piece of shit. She's made The Leap - from idiotic to boring.

I'll sleep better tonight knowing Joan told us that Saddam Hussein has an 'alleged stockpile of weapons of mass destruction'. Maybe Joan should change her name to Jane.

posted by Roger at 9:03 PM

 
NFL 2002, Week 14

Home team in CAPS:

Hou +13.5
DAL +4.5
NYJ +2
Min +9.5
Chi +9

Last week = 3-3
For the year = 30-24-3

posted by Roger at 8:43 PM

 
Stupid Is As Stupid Does

Sorry, folks, I'll find the link to the actual article later. My bad.

Can't You Hear the Wind Howell?

So here we are at war, and Howell Raines's New York Times is waging a crusade over one of the great issues of the day: the membership policy of a Georgia golf club. Newsweek mocks the Old Gray Lady for having published, as of the beginning of last week, 32 articles "on the issue of whether the Augusta National Golf Club, which hosts the Masters Tournament, would admit women as members." The headline on Article No. 32, which ran on the front page, was "CBS Staying Silent in Debate on Women Joining Augusta."

Well, of course CBS is staying silent. No one cares if Augusta admits women or not, except for the Times and a group called the professional busybodies National Council of Women's Organizations, which together have contrived this whole phony debate. (Incidentally, how come "women's organizations" are kosher, but a men's golf club isn't?)

What's more, in the pages of the Times there is no debate. The New York Daily News reports that the Times killed two sports columns--one by Pulitzer Prize winner David Anderson--that took issue with the paper's position that Augusta should be bullied into changing its membership policies.

A follow-up piece in today's News notes that Times managing editor Gerald Boyd has issued a staff memo on the subject, which Jim Romenesko's Media News reprints. "We were not concerned with which 'side' the writers were on," Boyd claims. One of the columns, he writes, "focused centrally on disputing The Times's editorials about Augusta," in violation of the paper's "strict separation between the news and editorial pages." Fair enough, but surely the editors could have excised the references to the editorial rather than kill the whole column. The other column, Boyd avers, was spiked because its "logic did not meet our standards." This, as Andrew Sullivan slyly notes, from the paper that runs Maureen Dowd twice a week.

One could also question the "logic" of publishing a news story on CBS's "silence" over this tempest-in-a-teapot. Boyd defends this, too:

The decisions faced by CBS, a leading network that is a 46-year Masters partner of the club, are a significant part of the story. There is only one word for our vigor in pursuing a story--whether in Afghanistan or Augusta.

Call it journalism.

A couple of readers sent us e-mails in which they compared the Times' killing of stories that depart from the party line to the practices of the old Soviet-era Pravda. This is absurdly overwrought. The Times may be partisan, but this is a free country and there are plenty of competing media outlets. (Augusta honcho Hootie Johnson last month defended his position in The Wall Street Journal, which has a bigger circulation than the Times.)

The Times' behavior more closely resembles that of a college newspaper on a hyper-PC campus, "an island of repression in a sea of freedom," to borrow a phrase from Chester Finn in Commentary. Boyd writes that "intramural quarreling" is "unseemly and self-absorbed," but the same could be said for the excesses of the paper's Augusta coverage, in which the paper's news pages have allowed objectivity to give way to a crusading spirit.

"For the time being, blatant media bias is still limited by old rules and old norms of behavior," one observer recently wrote. "But soon the rules will be abolished, and the norms are eroding before our eyes." Will Howell Raines heed this warning? Don't bet on it--even though it comes from a man Raines himself hired, none other than former Enron adviser Paul Krugman.

posted by Roger at 7:06 PM

 
Bulger At The Beach

A false alarm has been reported about Whitey Bulger lying around at this Cape Cod beach. Six feet under.

My intuition tells me he's somewhere warm, having been in Jupiter, FL on and off until he hit the road in 1995. He might even be out of the country.

posted by Roger at 6:53 PM

 
Just Like Clinton?

You be the judge.

posted by Roger at 6:51 PM

 
Kerry On The Stump

Captain Hairdo is touring the nation on his Magical Mystery (to me) Tour, where the embarrassing questions are jumping out already:

That question: "Senator, who does your hair?"

posted by Roger at 6:49 PM

 
That's A First

A link to this site by someone at Berkeley. There's no hate mail yet, so I'm not sure what to make of it...

posted by Roger at 9:06 PM

 
These Guys Should Work Kneeland Street

...because they're so good at sucking cock:

A BOSTON GLOBE EDITORIAL

John Kerry's option

12/3/2002

SENATOR JOHN KERRY is having his presidential debut this week, with mostly favorable national media coverage as he establishes an exploratory committee for the 2004 campaign. Massachusetts Democrats might be forgiven if they already feel a hangover coming on given the state's still tender memories of the Dukakis campaign, now 14 years old, and the added burdens of hosting the 2004 national convention in Boston. But Kerry has always been a Democrat apart, more Paul Tsongas - whom he replaced in the Senate in 1984 - than Tip O'Neill, whose protege he vanquished in the primary that year. Anyone expecting a replay of the 1988 campaign should recalibrate.

Well, the debut was unofficially a few weeks ago. There will be no replay of 1988, because it's gonna suck for Kerry to go to the Fleet Center and not get the knob job nod, won't it?

Kerry, 58, presents a meaty alternative to the intellectual laziness of the current administration. He is a rigorous thinker; studious and nuanced, if a bit dry in the delivery. Famously decorated in the Vietnam War, he has a visceral understanding of what it means to ask Americans to sacrifice in foreign adventures. What he calls the ''rough, sloppy'' foreign policy of the Bush administration would not characterize a Kerry agenda.

Angry Cyclist, 2 months old, presents a nasty alternative to the intellectual arrogance of current Globe editorial writers. Kind of tough for Kerry 'to ask Americans to sacrifice in foreign adventures' when he's making up his mind at the last minute nearly every time (sorry, the Globe link is hosed). Kerry's flaw is that he's not a man of conviction, unlike those lazy intellectuals in the White House, who make up their poll-untested minds and stick with it. His Vietnam record, relied on in every freakin' press conference and mentioned in every ballsuck editorial, will wear thin fast. I mean, I'm sick of it already!

Kerry is an internationalist, appalled that foreign aid is billions less than it was when Ronald Reagan was president. He is not averse to a muscular role for the United States overseas, but he understands that there are many more notes to be sounded than the one harsh cry now eminating (sic) from Washington. He was most persuasive in explaining his vote to authorize force in Iraq when he said it was needed to spur a multilateral UN resolution.

Yup, nothing like billions in foreign aid to our many friends around the globe like Pakistan, Palestine and Egypt. Your welcome for the $2+ billion dollar a year savings tip, jackass.

This page has had its differences with Kerry over the years: We wrote that his trimming on affirmative action in a speech at Yale University back in 1992 was politically calculated as a play against type. And we do find a worrisome tendency to expediency and issue-straddling. He is against capital punishment, for example - except for terrorists. We hope that Kerry in the coming months will apply his undeniable intellect and personal courage to stand squarely for an alternative vision of America.

Globe World - where only Democrats have intellect, no Republicans need apply.

Kerry has already disagreed with staked out important policy differences with Bush as well as other Democrats. He would halt the inequitable Bush tax cuts and replace them with a cut in the payroll tax that would be far more progressive and a better stimulant to the economy. He would launch the environmental equivalent of the space race, with massive investments in new energy technologies to reduce US dependence on foreign oil.

Note the use of the word 'halt'. That's different from 'repeal', which no sane Democrat's going to oppose. Great, cut the payroll tax for one year, Kerry - why not just hand out checks like, uh, the intellectually lazy President Bush did last year?

In an interview before his reelection last month, Kerry said: ''I feel as focused and energized as at any time since I came back from Vietnam.'' He isn't a pork-rind populist and shouldn't pretend to be. But he could take a lesson from his fellow veteran John McCain and fashion his own straight-talk express: honest, bold, distinctive. He may find a surprising number of troops behind him.

...but not many Democratic delegates, at least at this juncture, which are the troops that really count.

This story ran on page A20 of the Boston Globe on 12/3/2002.
© Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company.

posted by Roger at 8:56 PM

 
Vennochi's Complaint Du Jour

Now she's complaining about bait and switch tactics that were allegedly employed by both Mayor Menino and Senator Kennedy to secure professional grievance artists minority support for landing the 2004 Democratic National Convention:

IT'S LIKE YOUR mama told you. Some men will say anything to get what they want. Then, when they get it, it's see you later, baby. That describes the current state of affairs between Mayor Thomas Menino, Massachusetts Senator Edward M. Kennedy, and the Boston branch of the NAACP regarding efforts to woo national Democrats to Boston.

My momma told me, you'd better shop around.

On Nov. 10 - crunch time for Democrats deciding where to hold their national convention in 2004 - Leonard C. Alkins, president of the NAACP's Boston branch, offered critical written support to Alice Huffman, head of the site selection committee for the Democratic National Convention: ''As I have made you aware, the Boston branch had previously discouraged the DNC in selecting Boston as its host city for the 2004 National Convention because of Boston's poor record regarding diversity. However, because of commitments from both Mayor Menino and Senator Kennedy, the NAACP Boston branch now encourages the Democratic National Committee to select Boston as the host city,'' Alkins wrote.

Three days later it was official. Boston would host the national party in 2004. Nine days later Menino wrote to Alkins informing the NAACP that he had made no commitments about anything.

''I am disappointed,'' says Alkins, who says he wrote the letter to the DNC at the official request of a staff person in Kennedy's office.

Time to start a protest or two!

''I feel used,'' adds Juan Cofield, chairman of the NAACP's 21st Century Boston Project committee.

Like one of these?

As everyone now knows, Kennedy and Menino dearly wanted the Democrats to come to Boston in 2004. What everyone does not know is how much maneuvering went on behind the scenes to convince the DNC that Boston does not have what it obviously does have: diversity issues, particularly a lack of it in high places.

Some of us would call them quotas, but what's in a name?

After top Democrats took a first look at cities vying to be the 2004 convention host, at least two black committee members complained about the lack of diversity in Boston. Local officials downplayed the criticisms, but behind the scenes, they worked to put such fears to rest. Naturally, they did not change anything substantive about Boston. They just changed the image presented to the DNC.

When advertising executive Jack Connors was dispatched to Washington for one final sweet-talking session with the DNC chairman, Terry McAuliffe, state Senator Dianne Wilkerson was part of the city's entourage. Wilkerson's skin color was apparently more important than her recent effort to undercut Democratic gubernatorial nominee Shannon O'Brien; a week after O'Brien's primary win, Wilkerson complained about the nominee and the Democratic party's record on diversity in a column published on this page.

Great move, guys. Send a convicted tax evader as part of your posse. Did they listen to the pitch, or did you get laughed out of the room?

Meanwhile, seeing opportunity for serious discussion about ''what is not happening in Boston'' and seeking real concessions change, Alkins and Cofield lobbied all summer to meet with Menino. A session finally took place on Oct. 21 over breakfast at the Parkman House.

On Oct. 29, Cofield wrote a letter to Menino summarizing the group's concerns and addressing what the NAACP viewed as a major point of agreement: Menino and the NAACP would co-chair a group to advocate ''for real diversity throughout Boston life in a concerted manner. ... We trust that you will begin the process by setting an example - hiring blacks to fill some of the high-level vacant positions in City Hall.''

Or else...?

The letter also made note of the recently adopted Massachusetts House redistricting plan, which is being challenged in federal district court on the charge that it will reverse gerrymandered districts dilute the voting strength of black voters in Mattapan. On the basis of the conversation with Menino, Cofield wrote: ''We assume that you will assent to our request and seek to have the City of Boston intervene as a plaintiff.'' Cofield's letter also noted a request, not raised at the meeting because of time constraints: ''The NAACP, Boston branch, would play a major role in selecting businesses to provide goods and services to the Democratic Party's national convention.''

Menino did not respond to the letter until after the DNC selected Boston. In a letter dated Nov. 19 but not received by Alkins until Nov. 29, the mayor wrote: ''I did not agree to cochair a blue ribbon committee on diversity.... I did not agree to have the City of Boston intervene as a plaintive [sic] in the case of Black Political Task Force v. Thomas Finneran. That matter was not discussed at our Oct. 21st meeting. We also did not discuss the NAACP's role in selecting businesses to provide goods and services to the Democratic National Convention.''

Yup, sounds like Alkins & Cofield got played, all right.

What Menino did is appoint a public relations specialist, Donna Latson Gittens, to come up with ''a strategy to involve minority groups and city neighborhoods in the huge political gathering,'' according to the Globe. That, says Alkins and Cofield, is nothing more than ''smoke and mirrors.''

The city, they say, sold a false image of itself to the DNC. The NAACP, they acknowledge, helped Boston make the sale. Now they want Menino and Kennedy to ''do the right thing.'' The NAACP is not settling for see you later, baby.

Let the fur fly!

Joan Vennochi's e-mail address is vennochi@globe.com.

This story ran on page A21 of the Boston Globe on 12/3/2002.
© Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company.

posted by Roger at 8:05 PM

 
If You Can't Beat Them, Sue Them

A US District court judge declined a case from eight stupid fucks students who didn't pass the MCAS exam, required for receiving your high school diploma in Massachusetts.

Eight students who have failed the MCAS test required for graduation are suing state education officials, saying the test is discriminatory and that many struggling schools have failed to teach students the material on the exam.

Yes, tests discriminate - against the stupid. How about studying for the test on your own to make up the difference? That concept is called homework. You'll have another year to get it down.

I sunk 300 hours into the CPA exam ten years ago last month, over double what the minimum recommendation is. Chance favors the prepared mind.

posted by Roger at 7:30 PM

 
Bill Bulger Update

It looks like this will not be the first time Billy has appeared before a grand jury:

William Bulger, a lawyer who was president of the Massachusetts Senate when he talked to his brother in January 1995, said his brother was seeking legal advice. He said he didn't urge him to surrender to authorities ''because I don't think it would be in his interest to do so.''

How convenient - his brother was seeking legal advice (Whitey - "Should I run now or wait for the indictment?") so Bill can invoke lawyer-client privilege.

posted by Roger at 7:19 PM

 
Talkin' 'Bout My... My Reunion

I went to my 20th year high school reunion on Saturday night. It turned out to be a rather interesting affair, despite my lowered expectations. Even after two days of letting this one simmer before posting, I'm hard pressed to say anything of interest on it. Here it goes...

A few people I talked / e-mailed to before last night said that they didn't want to go to this because they didn't want to run into the 'jocks and cheerleaders' crowd (which I've conveniently dubbed the Mutual Admiration Society). For dealing with such situations, I offer my handy Rule of Three: If there's a person you've had at least three conversations with, go talk to them. If not, you don't. I figure if you didn't talk to anybody during that four year stretch, why start now? It's not an insult to them, and they won't even notice. If you want to insult someone or ruffle some feathers, that's easy enough - if you're cornered by one of the Society members, say you were looking to talk to someone intelligent instead (unless they're buying you a drink, then put the diplomat hat on). Or, start your own blog!

I was walking out of the bathroom when I ran into one of these donkeys. I held the door open for him and said "Hey, how's it going"? Not a word of acknowledgement from this prick. Invoking the Rule of Three would have prevented even this minimal act of courtesy on my part. In retrospect, what I should have said in return was: "Your welcome, you fat, balding fuck." At least I don't look like the bastard love child from a gay humpfest between Frankenstein and Marty Feldman.

One clown shows up in a t-shirt and jeans, sporting a kinda mini-Mr. T Starter's Kit around his neck, just to show off his massive pythons. Well, we are talking about Manchester, NH, folks. We can out-redneck any part of the country when the need arises. Or you can go from the superlative 'Hair Of' to 'A Lot Less Hair Of' just like that!

A Boston Globe contributing columnist just went to his 25th reunion:

He's right. A reunion is an opportunity to return to the people who do know your name. You won't recognize everybody, but the ones you do will make you feel happy you came.

This paper has been deluged with calls from all over America from people needing to know where their class reunion was being held this past weekend. It's a pull we all feel for one very good reason -- our character was forged in the hallways of high school.

That sounds about right.

Naturally, I was hoping for a few more familiar faces in the crowd, but this would have only exacerbated what I felt as I was leaving around 10:30. I ran into a couple of people and talked to them for all of five minutes, which should have stretched out to about a half hour. The night did get better as the alcohol kicked in the night went on, but I had a plan to drive back to Quincy in a coherent state, so I stuck to the plan. I have some thin skin in some areas, and by that time the endless stream of 70's and 80's Greatest Hits drove me up a fucking wall. I had to escape, and fast. I got back to my car, plopped in that TOOL Lateralis CD, and it was time to roll.

The drive home was rather interesting. On I-93 south just past the I-495 interchange, I got dropped by let pass an Acura with low profile wheels and a glasspack muffler, sporting the Three Amigos. This car had "Lawrence to New Bedford Drug Run" written all over it. Since he's the blocker, it was white knuckle time from there to Stoneham, covering a 10 mile stretch in about 6 minutes. He had the lead (5 seconds) in case The Man was on radar patrol. I mellowed out from there, then of course had a State Trooper follow me on the Central Artery from the Fleet Center to the High Street exit, just to put some thrill back into the ride. It was a door to door trip in 50 minutes.

One note I'd like to make to the organizers, if they're reading this (or if someone can send them the link). A few people thought that this could be stretched out over two days, similar to what was done at the tenth year reunion, when we had a huge cookout at a state park the next day. I know that won't fly in late November, but even an 'unofficial' event at a local bar would be welcome by a lot of people (admittedly, I didn't do much polling on this), and I don't think this would add a ton of work to the next organizing event. Once all the RSVP's are received, see how many would be interested in a night before event. Pick a place that could hold that number, then tell them you're sending that size crowd over for the night. Any decent bar & grill would love to jump on something like that.

Well, that's my two cents. Since I'm avoiding full names, I'll mention three things - I owe Dave a beer, probably two by the time the next one rolls around, I'm sorry I missed Joyce, my German class 'nemesis' (and a few others in that group), and to the rest of you knobs who didn't show up for this (Donna, Jim (two of you), Ray, Heidi, Gary, Ann, Duncan, Joanne, Marc, Leslie, JP, Ernie, and others too numerous to mention) - what the fuck's up? I hope you have the 'I'm out of state and further away than Quincy MA' excuse for not showing up.

This rant's going to come back and bite me, I can feel it already...

posted by Roger at 8:20 PM

 
Bill Bulger Update

Bill? It's dinner time!

Your subpoena is served.

posted by Roger at 6:42 PM

 
Mixed Bag?

I think it's kind of hard to square this story with this one.

Personally, I think there are too many fuckin' nitwits out there using cell phones while driving, to the diminishment of their driving skills.

posted by Roger at 6:31 PM

 
Captain Hairdo Hamlet, Act III

I called it, didn't I? Here's his third major pre-announcement on his 2002 presidential run.

Here's David Frum on the esteemed Senator:

DEC. 2, 2002: AFTER THE FEAST

JFK II: So Senator Kerry has made it official: He’s running for President. Kerry told Tim Russert on Sunday that he has formed an exploratory committee, with a formal announcement of candidacy to come later. So far his campaign is long on biography (“During the NBC interview,” the AP observes, “Kerry repeatedly mentioned his service in Vietnam”) and short on ideas. There was a time when Kerry questioned the public-school monopoly and other Democratic dogmas – but the Democratic primaries are as hospitable to questioning minds as a Saudi Arabian divinity school.

Remember when Gary Hart appealed to Atari Democrats? Kerry is running as a Wahhabi Democrat, demanding a return to ancient orthodoxies on everything from foreign policy (all he is saying is give peace a chance – again) to energy (the Incan empire ran on solar power – why can’t America?).

Polls show Kerry second only to Gore among Democratic primary voters. I suspect that this is a name-recognition effect. Kerry benefits from the fact that there have been two prominent Democrats with the same name – so he gets the reputational benefit of both his own service in Vietnam and also Medal of Honor recipient Bob Kerrey’s; the durable advantages of his marriage to Teresa Heinz and the glamour of a frolic in the Nebraska governor’s mansion with Debra Winger.

But how long will that effect last? Joe Klein profiled Kerry at length in last week’s New Yorker. (Not on line.) The piece could not have been more favorable: It shot down one after another a long series of hostile assessments of Kerry’s character and career. No, Klein says, Kerry is not contrived (although he did as a younger man try to mimic John F. Kennedy’s accent). No he is not a womanizer (any more). No he is not a Clintonite careerist (although he has been running for president since about 1969). And after all this myth-busting, what’s left? Yet despite this vigorous defense over half a dozen densely printed magazine pages, I could not identify one affirmative reason why any Democrat should wake up early on a cold New Hampshire morning to go vote for Kerry – and I was left with a strong residual impression that even Klein himself was having trouble stomaching him.

Kerry’s entry into the race – and his choice of issues – is an early hint that the Democrats as a party are not taking seriously their defeat in the ’00 and ’02 elections. Of their top possible candidates – Gore, Kerry, Lieberman, Daschle, Gephardt, Edwards, Davis, Dean – all but Edwards have made clear that they are going to campaign on what might be called the Sorehead Platform: We were robbed in 2000! Roger Ailes wouldn’t let us get our message out in ’02! No to everything that has happened since – no to tax cuts, no to military action in Iraq, no to homeland security, no, no, no, no, no. Oh, and we almost forgot: all that talk about increasing energy production here in North America? No to that too.

Here's Mickey Kaus on Captain Hairdo:

Kerry Mystery Challenge: What is it that makes so many people, myself included, intensely dislike Sen. John Kerry? This is the great mystery surrounding his 2004 presidential campaign. I don't think "aloof and arrogant," the traditional Kerry negatives, are exactly it -- he may be aloof and arrogant, but there are plenty of aloof and arrogant people I don't rule out instantly due to their gross characterological deficiency, which is what I do with Kerry. It's not just his "long record of opportunism," though again that's part of it. ... I say we harness the power of the Web to solve the mystery! A copy of Kerry's undoubtedly riveting book, The New War, to the kf reader (or non-kf reader) who most precisely describes the root of Kerry's loathsomeness. ...(References to descriptions of Kerry by others may also qualify for the prize .) ... My own attempt: I think it starts with the phony furrowed brow. Perpetually furrowed and perpetually phony. It's been furrowed for so long I doubt he could unfurrow it now even if his advisers convinced him that would be a good tack to take! ...Then add the sense that Kerry would never ever take a principled or unpopular stand if losing the argument might actually threaten to derail his precious political career. (He apparently made some anti-affirmative noises in 1992 and quickly backed down when the obvious groups complained.) Add in relentless, obvious self-promotion to the point of indignity -- sucking up to Gore while jockeying for the vice-presidential nod in 2000, for example (as described by The New Republic's Ryan Lizza). Plus the way his equally ambitious supporters call him "JFK." It's creepy. The man's an animatronic Lincoln. There's a metal plate in the back of his head -- under all the glued-on "hair" -- that they open up and stick screwdrivers in when he gets back to his office.... There, that's my best shot. But I'm not sure it's quite there. I know you can do better!. ... P.S.: Here's a small-but-telling example of clumsy self-promotiional dissembling: TNR's Michael Crowley reports that Kerry is not an "unreconstructed liberal in the Kennedy tradition" because Kerry "was a strong supporter of the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings balanced-budget act ... 'That was heresy back in Massachusetts,' [Kerry] says." Heresy in Massachusetts? Teddy Kennedy himself supported Gramm-Rudman-Hollings. How heretical could it have been? ... P.P.S.: See Talking Points on the press' dislike of Kerry. ...12:53 A.M.

Last, but not least, is this diddy from Matt Drudge(note this link will go away after a few days):

XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX MON DEC 02, 2002 11:02:49 ET XXXXX

CASH AND COIF: KERRY HAIRCUT COSTS $150

**Exclusive**

Democrat all-star John Kerry of Massachusetts is positioning himself as a
populist politician while he takes the first step for a White House run...

But the self-described "Man of The People" pays $150 to get his hair styled
and shampooed -- the cost of feeding a family of three for two weeks!

MORE

Maintaining his reputation for best hair in the Senate, Kerry was recently
seen at Washington's famed Cristophe Salon, according to sources, getting
perfectly cleaned and coifed by Isabel Goetz, Hillary Clinton's
hairstylist.

Between $150 salon runs, Kerry has been on the stump advocating "the needs
of average working Americans, middle-class families" who are "struggling
harder and harder on quality of life issues."

"When it comes to his hair, Mr. Kerry is very, very particular, " says a
stylist source. "The coloring and the highlighting, the layering... but the
results are fabulous."

Kerry's haircare has become legend in media circles.

"It's always a fight to get mirror time," notes one green room insider at
FOX NEWS's D.C. bureau. "He obsessively primps and poses before he goes on
the air."

-----------------------------------------------------------
Reports are moved when circumstances warrant
http://www.drudgereport.com for updates
(c)DRUDGE REPORT 2002
Not for reproduction without permission of the author

Call my lawyer, Matt...

posted by Roger at 6:26 PM

 
NFL 2002, Week 13 - Update

Home team in CAPS:

Az +10
Chi +9.5
JAX +3
Hou +11
Sea +9.5

and...

PHI +2.5 (this was off the board until Wednesday).

posted by Roger at 11:30 AM

 
Gutter TV

Who comes up with this shit (pun intended)?

She's got... Bette Davis poo.

Between crap like Survivor, The Real contrived World and all these other voyeuristic forums, I can't help but feel the wheels of civilization are in neutral.

posted by Roger at 11:17 AM

 
It's A Three Ring Circus

How else can you explain something like this?

posted by Roger at 10:38 AM

 
There Is A God

His name is Preston.

He scored four tickets for the Buffalo at New England game for next Sunday. The Streak continues.

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

posted by Roger at 2:03 AM

 
Good News

It's a bad time to be a member of Hezbollah.

posted by Roger at 11:32 PM

 
Spot The Error

I was cruising around and found a discussion of taxation of poor people in California, in part by Kevin Drum. The column is partially a justification of usurious confiscatory tax rates for the top wage earners.

Have you spotted the error yet? If not, here it is - How on fucking Earth can someone making $12,000 a year afford property and thus incur a property tax liability? Remove that tax from the calculation and the fictitious taxpayer's percentage of tax drops to 12.5%.

Isn't it about time that the Wall Street Journal hired a fact checker for its editorial page?

Et tu, Kevin?

UPDATE - If this person (god forbid) has children, he's eligible for the FULLY REFUNDABLE Earned Income Tax Credit of $2,353 for one child and $3,888 for two or more children. For a person without children, this credit's eliminated at $10,350 of earned income.

ANOTHER UPDATE - Kevin informs me that the property tax number is arrived at by imputing rental payments by tenants as partially allocable to property tax payments. Kevin's just reporting it, so it's not on him.

Oh, yeah, and the tenant is building up equity on the portion of rent payments allocable to the building's purchase price. This is dishonest Marc Herold counting - (cough) bullshit! (cough).

posted by Roger at 5:58 PM

 
A Little Clarity

...is in order with respect to my previous critique of the EU. Gregg Easterbrook writes a column for ESPN called the Tuesday Morning Quarterback, which I simply can't read anymore. Dan Drezner notes that Easterbrook does an excellent job boiling down the essence of the great, vaunted European Union:

"The European Union is a kind of quasi-official meta-government that seeks out the cost, bureaucracy and ineffectiveness of each member nation's worst ministry, then tries to impose it on all of Europe."

This, from a senior editor of New Republic and a Brookings Institution fellow. Ouch!

posted by Roger at 5:28 PM

 
The Sports Guy

Bill Simmons misses Beantown already.

I'll miss you too, Bill.

posted by Roger at 4:58 PM

 
It's Circus Time!

Like you couldn't see this coming from ten miles away.

Why don't we just send these guys instead?

posted by Roger at 4:30 PM

 
Hate Crime, Anyone?

Norm Coleman's billboard is defaced by bitter Democrats and / or Neo-Nazis. Take your pick (link via Instapundit).

posted by Roger at 4:19 PM

 
Martha Burkitis - It's Spreading

It's on its way to merry old Ireland now.

I guess that means that all female clubs will go the way of the dodo bird, too, right?

Right?

posted by Roger at 4:13 PM

 
Independent In Name Only

Senator Benedict Arnold Jim Jeffords (Idiot - VT) has been tapped to deliver the DemocRATS' radio address tomorrow afternoon. Is it me, or does it seem like every DemocRATic move is not to advance an agenda, but rather to embarrass President Bush at every turn? It's no wonder they got their asses kicked three weeks ago.

"He's the chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee," the spokesman said.

Not for long, asswipe.

posted by Roger at 3:58 PM

 
Who Let The Bitch Out?

Personally, I'd let spoiled brat Lizzie Grubman serve the whole 60 days, but we know she has some good counsel.

posted by Roger at 3:50 PM

 
Quincy Dominatrix Update

That should get the hit count up, so to speak!

Barbara Asher pleaded innocent to slicing & dicing manslaughter charges involving her handling of a cadaver who was also a client.

I think Bobby Brown had a similar experience:

She made a little speech then,
Aw, she tried to make me say when
She had my balls in a vice, but she left the dick
I guess it's still hooked on, but now it shoots too quick

Oh God I am the American dream
But now I smell like Vaseline
An' I'm a miserable sonofabitch
Am I a boy or a lady . . . I don't know which
(I wonder wonder, wonder wonder)

posted by Roger at 3:43 PM

 
Howie Carr On Bill Bulger

I knew something was up when I saw this yesterday. Today, Howie Carr provides a great recap on precisely how much shit he's going to be in.

That's one guy I don't want to be in the next few (Kevin) Weeks. Maybe now we can figure out who ordered the hit on my buddy's brother, John McIntyre, who they dug up a mile from my place two years ago. The general theory: John rats to the FBI; Connolly informs Whitey Bulger; the hit's put out and conducted at light speed by Weeks.

It's time for redemption, Kevin.

posted by Roger at 3:25 PM

 
There's No Place Like Home

... to hide Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction.

A huge freakin' charade is what the inspection efforts is...

posted by Roger at 2:44 PM

 
Indurain on Armstrong & Ullrich

Not exactly fighting words, but Miguel Indurain thinks Jan Ullrich's a more complete rider than Lance Armstrong:

Asked about which riders had particularly impressed him in recent years, Indurain stated: "Ullrich has been the one from my era who has most impressed me. He’s won the Tour de France, been second four times, and he’s also won the Vuelta and the Olympic road race."

While affirming that he has always got on well with Armstrong, Indurain said the American "focuses very firmly on the Tour de France each year and he wins it. He only makes one major effort a season instead of two," said Indurain, who won the Giro-Tour double twice.

Indurain knows this, but doesn't admit it, and Greg LeMond will agree - you're remembered for winning Le Tour. That's why Lance's efforts are geared (no pun intended) towards that race.

posted by Roger at 12:37 PM

 
Circus Time In Iraq

You can't make this stuff up, folks. Check out this guy's qualifications. Are we looking for reactor cores or bullwhips?

Tell me the Bush Administration did this on purpose, please!

posted by Roger at 12:22 PM

 
Globe Idiocy Watch

It's not one of the Usual Suspects this time around, but from William Pfaff, whose ability to blend stuffy and banal is unparalleled, well, still remains that way with this object d' Art. When it comes to stupidity, their team is deeper than the 1986 Boston Celtics.

The problem at the root of US-European discord

... is the EU and France.

By William Pfaff, 11/29/2002

PARIS - THE ATTITUDE of the George W. Bush administration and of the neoconservative policy community that supplies its ideas is condescending at best to those who question its actions.

Donald Rumsfeld does not suffer fools gladly...

The members of the administration and their backers claim a moral realism that their critics, specifically their European critics, allegedly lack. The Washingtonians are ''grown-ups'' (in one particularly unfortunate recent formulation). Their ''realism'' consists in believing that there are evil leaders and governments in the world. They are under the impression that their critics are moral relativists, who do not recognize this.

I don't know, Bill. Some people might interpret this as aiding and abetting Palestinian terrorism.

They interpret a reluctance to go to war against Iraq, and potentially Iran and North Korea, and an unwillingness to follow the United States in making radical government reorganizations and restricting civil liberties in an ill-defined and thus far conspicuously unsuccessful war against terrorism as evidence of this moral relativism.

This bunch of fucking idiots are the ones who would rather wait until these known belligerents have 100 kiloton nuclear bombs and delivery systems.

Oh, and Osama Bin Laden? Still dead!

One might think it evidence of good sense or an informed prudence, but the Bush people believe themselves more farsighted than others. This is a recurrent fallacy in Washington. It was Madeleine Albright, secretary of state in the Clinton administration, who provided this belief's most complacent statement when she said that the United States ''sees farther'' because it ''stands taller,'' being more virtuous than other countries.

Pfaff must be about as tall as Robert Reich, then.

George Ball, an immensely respected US diplomat of the postwar period by the Left, argued in the 1960s that the United States is ''unique in world history'' because its foreign policy is disinterested. Europeans, he added, ''have little experience in the exercise of responsibility divorced from ... narrow and specific national interests.'' He said this in explaining why the United States would win the war in Vietnam.

Just look at some of George Ball's fellating luminaries. He also avoids the discussion of France decolonizing Indochina and leaving a massive power vacuum in the region, setting the table for Sino-Soviet expansion and thus, the Vietnam war.

Naturally, this attitude does not always go down very well in other countries and has become a particular irritant in American relations today with Europe.

Right. We don't want to offend anyone, do we?

The serious formulation of the neo-conservatives' argument says that while the United States acts on moral realism, the West Europeans have adopted an idealistic view of international affairs that may be appropriate in the concerns of the European community but is irresponsible as an approach to an international order threatened by rogue states and anarchic failed states.

It contends as well that the European view reflects a lack of courage and a selfish willingness to allow the United States to defend the international order while Europeans appease rogue rulers and seize shady commercial advantages that the United States high-mindedly scorns.

Well, when you let shit like this happen in your backyard and do little about it, let's face it: you're asking for more of the same. And you're a fucking idiot to boot.

In the past year, France and Germany have also been accused of displaying anti-Semitic sentiments, expediently concealed since Nazi and Vichy times but now rampant, ignored by a European leadership which in this respect is no better than that of the 1930s.

Cheap rhetorical trick here, folks. Note the use of the word 'accused', as though there has been no recent incidents in tolerant France or tolerant Germany.

In part, all this reflects old cultural attitudes tied to the complicated relationship of Americans of European descent to the countries their ancestors left in the 18th and 19th centuries, and in the case of the neo-conservatives, many of them Jewish, in the attitudes of children and grandchildren of the Nazis' victims.

Yes, the situation is too complex, too nuanced for the simplisme cowboy Americans to grasp.

It also presents, in an intense form, the same disagreement that has separated American governments from their European allies on a number of previous occasions. This, by analogy at least, is a theological disagreement.

That's complete bullshit. The Founding Fathers did not want to live under the boot of King George III and told him to piss off. We've had our constitutional government for 215 years. France has, what, at least five constitutions since then? How about Italy? Europeans, to this day, seem enamored of collectivist / Marxist societies and have done so again by the creation of the European Union, an unelected body of bureaucrats whose purpose is to impose a superstate over existing nations. Like I've mentioned before, this is Europe's biggest mistake since the French invented the Maginot Line.

The rest of Pfaff's article is pretentious claptrap. Read at your own risk.

Dualism has always been a powerful tendency in religion, the unmistakable good - light - confronting darkness and evil. Both Calvinism and the 17th-century Catholic heresy of Jansenism were affected by theological dualism, preaching predestination and the corrupting force of material goods and pleasures.

Both had great influence on the American consciousness, the first through the 17th-century Puritanism that shaped American Congregationalism in the 18th century and the evangelical Protestantism of the 19th and 20th centuries.

They preached that the world was replete with Satan's snares, and they took an activist approach (remember not only Prohibition but Carrie Nation and her hatchet). The Jansenist influence reached the United States via Irish Catholicism, deeply Puritan in outlook.

Manicheism has become a generalized term (usually of abuse), but the religion itself originated (not far from Baghdad) early in the second century of the Christian era and was a synthesis of Zoroastrianism and Christianity, with several other Asian religious influences.

Its dualism was of eternal war between God and Satan, light and darkness. It held that evil was physical, not a moral thing. Believers fell into two classes: the elect, or perfect, bearers of light, and their followers, who could hope to merit rebirth as elect. All others were sinners, destined to hell.

Manicheism had largely disappeared in Europe by the 6th century, although it influenced the medieval heresies of the Cathars, Albigenses, and the Bogomils. Its dualism is an interpretation of existence that has proven persistent and seductive. In the United States its religious expression has weakened, but its influence on the American mind, as it addresses foreign affairs, is stronger than ever.

William Pfaff is a syndicated columnist.

This story ran on page A31 of the Boston Globe on 11/29/2002.
© Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company.

posted by Roger at 11:55 AM

 
Cold, Mean And Heartless

Quiz time! That would be:

A) Republicans,

B) Big Business,

C) Big Oil, or

D) The city of San Francisco.

posted by Roger at 10:36 AM

 
Cut Off Your Nose

...to spite your face.

What a bunch of stupid, greedy cocksuckers. Airlines were in a ton of trouble well before 9/11/2001. Let the market work United die already.

posted by Roger at 10:30 AM

 
F. Lee Bailey Spotting

One of the O.J. Simpson lawyers is seeking to have his law license reinstated here in Massachusetts after his Florida license was revoked for attempting to steal mishandling a client's assets.

posted by Roger at 10:25 AM

 
Gettin' Ready For The Slammer

That would be Vincent 'Buddy' Cianci, former mayor of Providence, RI, who's going on a sixty-four month vacation to Fort Lee, New Jersey.

posted by Roger at 10:17 AM

 
Idiot Watch

From Eugene, Oregon, home of some hard-core pacifists.

I had a roommate that was re-educated here. This roommate relationship lasted about 6 months, complete with lesbian / feminist art of her creation. Christ, I'll remember her name in a few days, won't I?

She mentioned knowing all the 'ism's'; 'sexism, racism, imperialism...'

I deadpanned - 'Hot jism?'

Hey, she laughed.

posted by Roger at 9:34 PM

 
Whoa!

According to Drudge, the latest Bin Laden tape is now judged to be a fake.

Do you think our (CIA) believing it was real was, well, disinformation?

posted by Roger at 9:20 PM

 
Why Airlines Are In Trouble

Inflexible union demands being one of the major reasons.

posted by Roger at 12:18 PM

 
Search Buttons

These have been added to my Blogger template, and they work, too, for the most part.

Tip of the hat to the Cracker Barrel Philosopher, whose code I shamelessly hacked. Thanks!

UPDATE - This doesn't seem to look through my archives, which is what I was shooting for, only to links to this site from Google using the keyword (s). That looks like the next mini-project.

posted by Roger at 11:32 AM

 
Neighbor?

It might explain the handcuffs...

I had to think about this for a minute. What's disturbing about this story is that I thought the body was buried on the Quincy side of the Neponset River bridge, about a quarter mile from my place. They dug it up about a year and a half ago. That means there's two of these psychos in Quincy. Great.

posted by Roger at 11:13 AM

 
The Daily Jihad

I believe it would be a trivial matter to link to one of these every day:

Militia says it will avenge death of two leaders, but backs off claim Israel was involved

Charles Johnson shows it, he does it every single day.

For Christ's sake, if you look at one of these nitwits the wrong way, the entire Arab Street becomes enraged.

posted by Roger at 10:51 AM

 
Bulger Sighting

No, not Whitey 'On the Lam' Bulger, but his brother Bill, the current University of Massachusetts president and former Massachusetts Senate president . A US congressional inquiry is requesting Bill's presence so they can ask him a few questions.

Yeah, real tough call here - Bill won't tell them a damn useful thing. I mean, look how it's starting out:

Asked whether his client would appear next week, Kiley said, ''Don't hold your breath.'' A UMass spokesman referred all inquiries to Kiley.

Can't... hold... breath... much... longer...

posted by Roger at 10:41 AM

 
Howie Carr On John Kerry

On so many levels:

Remember the Eliot Lounge in the Back Bay? One Friday night, Liveshot decides to take a pass on the Eurotrash scene at Biba's and instead heads over to the Eliot to scout out the local talent. He waves to bartender Tommy Leonard and begins chatting up two unattached babes at the bar.

After awhile, it becomes clear that the two cupcakes do not comprehend just how privileged they are this evening, prompting the junior senator to pose the eternal question:

``Do you know who I am?''

``Yeah,'' says one of the gals. ``You're Bob Lobel.''

Oh, the pain. Liveshot was the first male politician I ever saw wearing makeup outside a TV studio. It was during his first Senate campaign, at a hotel fund-raiser, and I was there to do - what else? - a live shot.

Time for a Bob Lobel story, secondhand, unfortunately. When I was an auditor at the Massachusetts Department of Revenue, we were located at 215 First Street in Cambridge MA, about 4 or 5 miles from the Channel 4 (at the time) studios, along the Charles River, where he did his sports segment after 11:20 or so. A former friend of mine, Michael Phillip Kearns, who was the ace state sales tax auditor at that time, used to drink at the bar downstairs and noticed Lobel down there on a number of occasions, hitting and scoring on one of the waitresses before and after his gig. I'm sure Susan Wornick (his wife at the time) was real happy with that shit.

posted by Roger at 9:49 PM

 
Legume: Round Up The Usual Suspects!

Nice try by the Globe to identify Republican switch hitters in the Senate. Chafee, Specter and Snowe are mentioned. Chafee has made rumblings, so he's most likely to go. It means nothing to him unless he convinces Snowe or Specter to join, which is highly unlikely. I hear jim Jeffords is looking for some company!

Numerically speaking, it will come from the House first, and it will be a DemocRAT. I don't see the Senate shifting at all, besides Mary Landrieu (D-LA) losing her runoff next week.

posted by Roger at 9:04 PM

 
Tax Man

Pete DuPont writes in today's Opinion Journal about a Yale professor (it figures) who proposes not tax relief, but tax 'reform'. Exclusively taxing the rich via the income tax and introducing a Federal VAT (value-added tax) are among his brilliant ideas.

The Internal Revenue Code is a walking clusterfuck. I saw a report a few years ago that estimated the time spent on tax compliance in man-hours is equivalent to that of the output of General Motors, which employs 355,000 people, and I'm quite sure that calculation has increased over the intervening time. It's one of the reasons I bailed out of public accounting after a few years, simply disgusted with all the misapplications in logic.

This professor's another walking clusterfuck. What he essentially proposes is a supermajority electorate that will have the illusion that they don't have to pay taxes because they won't have to file an income tax return, but will still have to pay payroll taxes, state taxes (to the extent they don't piggyback the IRC, which are a few states) and the newly minted 14% VAT. I don't see overall tax rates decreasing with this shit proposal.

My proposals, based on experience and an absence of class warfare rhetoric, would include the following:

Flatten the tax rates. 10% (income from 6,000 to 12,000), 17.5% (income from 12,000 to 20,000) and a top marginal rate 25% (20,000 and up) will apply with a full credit for all other taxes paid, to the extent you can document them. This is nice for two reasons: 1) Everybody will start paying closer attention to their overall tax burden, and there are plenty of tricks (phaseouts, income limitations, calling certain government mandated payments 'fees', etc.) that are used to this end. 2) It eliminates any advantage one state might (say, New Hampshire) try to hype over one of its neighbors (Taxachusetts) in terms of the state tax rates because any advantage is automatically eliminated by the Federal credit. This makes decisions to move based on purer economic criteria (availability of jobs) or on quality of life decisions.

Social Security benefits - nontaxable. Jesus Christ, you've been taxed on this already.

Make dividends deductible to the corporations. The same argument applies (double taxation), because dividends aren't deductible by the corporations (tax me once) and are taxed again on individuals (tax me twice). At the corporate level, this will eliminate the bias towards debt financing by corporations, because interest is deductible and dividends aren't.

Capital gains taxes - As long as they're taxing interest & dividends, this tax would remain. I don't buy the argument that this is taxing something twice, as a few would argue, it's tax on the difference between what you started with and what you wound up with.

Unemployment benefits - nontaxable. I don't see the need to kick people when they're unemployed (I know, it's easier, but still...), having paid taxes and putting something into the system before this point.

Eliminate refundable (i.e., the Earned Income Tax) credits other than withholding taxes, which is technically a refundable tax. These types of taxes have the effect of creating high marginal rates when you jump income brackets, which is the whole point of lowering overall and marginal rates. That, and my belief that the government should not be in the business of blindly cutting checks to people. That's great if you're only making 15,000 a year. Go to 20,000, 25,000 or 30,000 and do the math.

Other credits - I'd leave them in, simply because they're credits.

Nuke the AMT. The bastards don't index it for inflation; couples who make 120K+ a year, do a Schedule A and you'll see it soon enough.

I'd also do away or flatten phaseouts, income limitations, etc., but that gets into a lot of technical shit (specific statutes and all that) which I'm trying to avoid due to the immense time it would take to cover them all.

I make these proposals because, let's face it, the Federal income tax will not disappear in our lifetime. It's too institutionalized, too much of a 'tradition', if you will. Think about somebody that has 50K in a Federal capital loss carryforward (given the boom and bust, it's not that hard to imagine, and you might even know someone in this position). And then Bush announces eliminating the income tax. You want to see someone go absolutely fuckin' apeshit? I'd pay $50 to watch that guy go through the roof!

Another point - more than 1/2 of taxpayers have someone else do their taxes. Of course, I shouldn't personally bitch about this point, but I think tax law ought not to be so complicated that you need a fuckin' Doctorate or its equivalent to make a good faith effort to comply with the law.

Many people understand what they get from the Federal government. If they're forced or otherwise influenced to also understand what they put in, I believe the electorate will make better informed decisions about what level of tax they're comfortable with.

posted by Roger at 8:13 PM

 
Al Bore

Here's the Great White Dope, who's blaming everybody but himself for all that ails America, real or imagined (mostly the latter, I believe).

posted by Roger at 6:55 PM

 
Frank Zappa Says

I have a message to deliver to the cute people of the world...if you're cute, or maybe you're beautiful...there's MORE OF US UGLY MOTHERFUCKERS OUT THERE! So watch out.

Of course, from Little Green Footballs.

posted by Roger at 9:22 PM

 
NFL 2002, Week 13

No Turkey Day games on the board. Detroit has a winning record in Thanksgiving Day games, and they rolled the Patriots last time (in 2000), 34-9. Ugly. If the Pats lose this one, they need to run the table against the Jets, Bills and Dolphins at home during the next few weeks, or they're done. They shouldn't, but I have this feeling Detroit will be a pain in the ass.

Home team in CAPS:

Az +10
Chi +9.5
JAX +3
Hou +11
Sea +9.5

Last week = 6-1 (about fuckin' time)
For the year = 27-21-3

Stl @ PHI is currently off the board. I'll update accordingly.


posted by Roger at 9:09 PM

 
When Blogging

... was blogging.

posted by Roger at 8:13 PM

 
On A Lighter Note

I was checking out Hub Blog this afternoon (the Hub Blog that posts with any frequency, I might add) and came across this very interesting update on the rantings of tortured genius, Bobby Fischer. This guy's off his fuckin' John Rocker!

I played chess growing up, and I'll admit it, I sucked like a five dollar whore. Still, it was fun to play and get the illusion that you're smarter than your buddies when you beat them.

The link above covers a lot of ground, from a recap of Bobby's life to his recent anti-American rantings and Jew-hating paranoia. Well, if I was basically kicked out of the U.S. for being an asshole ignoring a Treasury Department order not to travel to Yugoslavia because of UN sanctions in the war-torn country, I'd be pretty pissed off, too:

In 1992 Fischer came out of retirement to play Boris Spassky in a $5 million rematch that commemorated the twenty-year anniversary of their meeting in Reykjavík. Aficionados dismissed the match as meaningless, since Fischer was no longer the world champion, and Spassky was then ranked ninety-ninth in the world. But the press had reason to celebrate: Fischer was a big draw; there was the nostalgic superpower angle; and the setting was Yugoslavia. United Nations sanctions had been imposed in an effort to halt the fighting in the country, and Americans were forbidden to do any business there, even in the form of a chess match. Fischer spoke arrogantly to the press about the irrelevance of the sanctions, and practically dared the United States to keep him from playing. Annoyed, Washington decided to make an example of him; the Department of the Treasury issued a cease-and-desist letter to Fischer, stating that if he played chess in Yugoslavia, he would be in violation of Executive Order 12810. The penalty for defying the order was a $250,000 fine, ten years in prison, or both. Fischer appeared untroubled.

He had signed on for the match because he desperately needed money. This was to be his big payday. After all the missed endorsements and spurned multimillion-dollar matches, he was prepared to play one last time, to ensure his financial security: the winner's share would be $3.65 million.

In the end, though, Fischer didn't play for money. He played for love. Not for love of the game but for the love of Zita Rajcsanyi, an eighteen-year-old Hungarian chess prodigy who had leveraged a pen-pal relationship with Fischer into a full-fledged romance. With glasses, a long ponytail, and Converse high-tops, Rajcsanyi was hardly a goddess. But she was exactly what was needed to coax Fischer out of his shell. "Zita wrote Bobby beautiful letters telling him how wonderful it was for her to be inspired by his great genius," Harry Sneider, the WCG member, says. "She had a lot to do with him coming back. Actually, it was she who inspired him."

That Rajcsanyi was able to talk Fischer out of his apartment, much less onto a plane bound for Yugoslavia, is miraculous. By this time his paranoia had intensified. Several months before the match Darnay Hoffman, who produced a 1972 TV exposé about Fischer and was working on another TV project about him, had tracked Fischer to Orange Street—in the heart, curiously, of the Fairfax district, then L.A.'s largest Jewish neighborhood. When a film-crew member knocked on the door to request an interview, he heard Fischer inside frantically dialing a rotary phone and screaming into the receiver, "They've found me!"

Once Fischer arrived in Yugoslavia, however, he showed not the slightest indication of mental trouble. He wore a suit and appeared healthy, robust, almost happy. "Bobby is so kind, so friendly," Spassky marveled at the time. "He is normal!" Lev Alburt ventures an explanation. "Chess is a game that forces you to be objective and to take into account an opponent's views," he says. "It forces you to make reasonable judgments and to be sane. When Bobby quit playing, it was really the end of his rational existence. And he began filling that void with crazy ideas."

This was made painfully evident when Fischer kicked off the pre-match festivities in Yugoslavia with a press conference on September 1. After the usual battery of chess-related questions a journalist finally asked the question that was on everybody's mind: "Are you worried by U.S. government threats over your defiance of sanctions?" Fischer calmly reached into a briefcase, pulled out the Treasury Department letter, held it up, and said, "Here is my reply to their order not to defend my title here." He then spat on the paper.

Fischer proceeded to rattle off a series of astonishing proclamations: he hadn't paid his taxes since 1976 (and wasn't about to start now); he was going to write a book that would prove that Russian grand masters ("some of the lowest dogs around") had "destroyed chess" through "immoral, unethical, prearranged games"; he really wasn't an anti-Semite, because he was pro-Arab, and Arabs are Semites too. His assertion that Soviet communism was "basically a mask for Bolshevism, which is a mask for Judaism" elicited the most quizzical expressions.

The old Bobby Fischer was back, and more bizarre than ever. This was made eminently clear when Fischer informed tournament officials that he wanted the toilet in his bathroom to rise higher in the air than anyone else's.

Fischer played beautifully in the first game. Spassky resigned on his forty-ninth move. Considering that Fischer had been away from formal competitive chess for two decades, this was no small accomplishment. But the rest of the match featured less-inspiring play. Although Spassky was clearly outclassed, the contest dragged on for almost six weeks before Fischer was finally declared the victor, with ten wins, five losses, and fifteen draws. Today Fischer attacks critics who dismiss the significance of the rematch. "I hadn't played in twenty years!" he bellowed during one of his Philippine radio broadcasts. "I did what was utterly impossible. It's still my greatest match."

The Bush Administration wasn't impressed. Fischer was immediately indicted, and an arrest warrant was issued. He hasn't returned to the United States since.

But you know what, Bobby? You brought all this shit upon yourself.

What he will never figure out, for all his 'genius', is that the concepts of wealth and anonymity have a high negative correlation.

posted by Roger at 7:52 PM

 
For Your Information

Just so you blog readers don't think I'm some sort of right wing warhorse with rigid ideological blinders, I do manage to check out other points of view.

This looks like, and I hope this is, part of the game plan. You know, pat our ostensible friends on the back while we search for the soft spot to sink the fuckin' knife...

posted by Roger at 7:31 PM

 
I Almost Forgot

About the Dukakis - Kerry connection.

This makes it easier to portray Captain Hairdo as another East Coast Liberal.

posted by Roger at 7:26 PM