How many of you remember learning how to read? Do you remember how you were taught to read your first words? You were shown a word and a picture of something you were familiar with...dog, cat, toy.

Do you remember finding, after mastering "sounding out" words, all these words whose meanings were totally unknown to you? When I was a kid, teachers encouraged you to draw the meaning of new words from the context in which you found them.

It's been a long time...does it still work that way?

I don't know...I keep having conversations with people about commonly discussed issues and having someone say, "First we have to define..."

I mean, seven-year-olds would gather the meaning of a new word from a sentence worth of context, a paragraph at most. Why are so many people unable to gather the meaning of a word from a lifetime of usage?

After hosting David Gerlernter's racist bullshit (bullshit is defined as rhetoric crafted with no regard for the actual facts at hand), the LA Times hands the stage to Cass Sunstein.

Now, if you read the two you might be surprised that I refer to both in the same post. Gerlernter's rant was about affirmative action, Sunstein's editorial about...

Whatever they think of Roberts' merits, many people had hoped for something different   something other than the standard profile. First Lady Laura Bush, for instance, said, "I would really like for him to name another woman." While describing Roberts as "first-rate," Justice Sandra Day O'Connor said she was "disappointed   to see the percentage of women on our court drop by 50%." Others have hoped, and continue to hope, for a Latino justice, or perhaps for another African American. Still others, including Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, argue that the president should be considering people "outside the box," including candidates from state government, the executive branch or even Congress, rather than taking the now-usual route of elevating someone from the federal Court of Appeals.

...diversity.

Why an Africa Channel?

Let me put it this way: The country of Nigeria has more than 100 million people. Did you know that the United States of America, including Alaska, will fit into Africa about two and a half times? There are almost a billion people on that continent. It deserves recognition in so many ways, and it continues to be ignored. Take Coca-Cola. One of its most profitable operations is in Africa. There's no money in Africa; there's loads of money in Africa. That's the paradox. Africa not only has resources, it also has buying power. That Africans have money is the biggest-kept secret in the world. People only started flocking to China and Southeast Asia when people started having information about China and Southeast Asia. They started seeing pictures. CNBC, CNN started broadcasting and so on. Why do it now? Well, it's about time

...which is to say that humans are stupid all across the world.

Google site 'used by drug gang'

Ten people have been arrested in Brazil after authorities discovered them allegedly using Google's online community site, Orkut, to sell drugs.

The drugs ring was uncovered after police tapped phone calls and monitored online communications through Orkut.

The site, used for building online communities and making contacts, is hugely popular in Latin America.

According to media reports, more than half of the seven million community members are from Brazil.

"We discovered the drug ring first via authorised phone tapping, and later the investigation included monitoring of their activities on the internet," an officer at the Drugs Enforcement Service in Niteroi, near Rio de Janeiro, told the Reuters news agency.

"We are aware of the situation and are currently looking into it," Google said in a statement.

"When we are made aware of situations that are against our terms of service we take appropriate action."

How do you conduct criminal activity on a public network and not expect to get caught?

I give you my favorite Constitutional amendment: Amendment IX from the Bill of Rights

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

I'd like to know how Justice Roberts accounts for this amendment in his deliberations.

Greenspan Heightens Warning on Risky Mortgages
By Nell Henderson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, July 21, 2005; D01

Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan cautioned yesterday that certain types of increasingly popular, risky home mortgages could be "disastrous" for some borrowers betting on ever-rising house prices.

"There's potential for individual disaster there," Greenspan told the House Financial Services Committee. It was his strongest warning yet about the potential pitfalls for consumers and lenders in the nation's red-hot housing market.

...Historically, the kind of rapid price appreciation seen recently "does not go on" forever, Greenspan said. Prices could decline in some real estate markets, he said.

Some borrowers assume that continued gains will enable them to pay back various types of mortgages that initially involve very low costs, he said. They include home loans that require no down payments, that initially require payment only of the interest owed and none of the loan principal, or that start with very low interest rates that can rise rapidly and steeply over time.

Those mortgages have surged in popularity over the last year, enabling people to buy houses they could not otherwise afford and helping to further pump up prices, he said. But some borrowers could find it difficult to make their loan payments if interest rates rise sharply or their incomes fall. And if prices flatten or decline, a borrower might be unable to sell a house for enough to pay off such a loan.

Greenspan said such riskier loans account for only a small fraction of all the mortgages outstanding, and therefore do not pose a threat to the overall economy. However, Fed officials see the loans as "the tip of an iceberg we're concerned will get larger," he said.

Such mortgages in "individual cases, could prove disastrous," he said.

1up.com, a gamers' site, has a couple of quotes on the closure of this particular issue...three about Rockstar Games' handling of it and five on the ESRB. The guys who commented on Rockstar were game developers (anonymous though they be), and support my calling bullshit on the GTA excuses.

Anonymous: "I am all for defending a developer's rights to do whatever but why is it that we always have to defend Rockstar? I guess because GTA is a "known" title. It'll get people who don't know much about games to pay attention. God of War had more accessible sex (off camera), and higher-rez naked female chests... nobody says anything. Rockstar goofed up somehow, that much is clear. Either 1) they goofed up by leaving the code and content in. 2) they goofed up by not letting the ESRB know about it. 3) they were pure in their intentions, but reacted poorly when the worst happened. I lean toward 3."

David Gelernter (whoever HE is...) decided he had nothing better to do than revive every stupid argument against affirmative action he could find. And yes, the racist rhetoric reference refers to his editorialin the LA Times.

Today, affirmative action is ripe for the junkyard. There's dramatic evidence in President Bush nominating a garden-variety white male to O'Connor's seat. He said something important by doing so.

See that? A blow for White Power is struck! Obviously this guy is trying to start a battle over Roberts' nomination.

And we have stamped out so much prejudice that nowadays we are at least as strongly bigoted in favor of women and minorities as we are bigoted against them  — as any 10-year-old can tell you.

...and as no one over ten years old believes.

Gov.'s Remap Bid Ruled Invalid
By Nancy Vogel
Times Staff Writer
July 22, 2005

SACRAMENTO — Delivering a substantial blow to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's "year of reform" agenda, a judge Thursday struck from the special election ballot an initiative that would have wrested away the Legislature's power to draw political districts.

Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Gail Ohanesian ruled that the initiative should not have been placed on the Nov. 8 ballot because the wording circulated on voter petitions had not been approved according to law.

The decision was a victory for Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer, who had sued to block Proposition 77 after learning that backers had submitted one version to his office — the first stop in California's initiative process — but circulated a different one to the more than 950,000 voters who signed petitions to put it on the ballot.

This ought to set your nerves on edge.

U.S. a Battlefield, Solicitor General Tells Judges
Case of Man Held 3 Years Without Trial Focuses Attention on Administration's Anti-Terror Policies
By Tom Jackman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 20, 2005; Page A09

RICHMOND, July 19 -- A top government attorney declared Tuesday that, in the war on terror, the United States is a battlefield, and therefore President Bush has the authority to detain enemy combatants indefinitely in this country.

Solicitor General Paul D. Clement's comments came as a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit is considering whether to overturn a lower court ruling that Jose Padilla should be charged with a crime or released. In 2002, Padilla, a former Chicago gang member and Muslim convert, was taken into custody by the military and has been held without trial since.

I once wrote

I sometimes think of the USofA like it's the planet Saturn: Black folks are the ring system, considered part of the planet by everyone that's interested, but not really. It's been suggested the ring system is the remnant of a solid body. In this metaphor, the African American Culture Wars is between those who want to reassemble the shattered moon and those who want to negotiate a soft landing on the planet. And the rings, the individual moonlets, continue the dance that ornaments the planet.

I like that metaphor so I want to work with it for minute.

I think this

is how the USofA looks from the outside, and this

is how it looks to Black folks.

I think a journalist shield law could be based on our constitutional protections against unreasonable search and seizure. Just my opinion...

Bill to Shield Journalists Gets Senate Panel Hearing
By LORNE MANLY

WASHINGTON, July 20 - The Senate Judiciary Committee gave a generally positive reception on Wednesday to proposed legislation that would protect journalists from having to divulge confidential sources in most cases. But a harshly worded dissent from the Justice Department, which called the bill "bad public policy" that would hamper its ability to enforce the law and fight terrorism, underscored the difficult road the legislation faces in becoming law.

Quote of note:

What brought that on?

Just noticing after Iraq and Iran announced an agreement to cooperate on defense and less than a week later suggested the USofA could start packing up soon, we suddenly get a more realistic statement.

Iraqis Not Ready to Fight Rebels on Own, U.S. Says
By ERIC SCHMITT

WASHINGTON, July 20 - About half of Iraq's new police battalions are still being established and cannot conduct operations, while the other half of the police units and two-thirds of the new army battalions are only "partially capable" of carrying out counterinsurgency missions, and only with American help, according to a newly declassified Pentagon assessment.

Quote of note:

"The editing of any game is a highly technical process," said Take-Two spokesman Rodney Walker. "We liken it to a painter who paints one painting and paints over it on the same canvas."

It is very easy NOT to include previous versions of code on your shipping product. There's a whole class of source code control software, CVS, SCC, SVN, and any shop skilled enough to produce GTA knows perfectly well how to use it.

Take-Two is no stranger to controversy. Previous installments of "Grand Theft Auto" have been adored by hard-core gamers but excoriated by parent groups and lawmakers for their depictions of violence and sex.

In one, players could have sex with a prostitute and then beat her to death and take back their money. That game was rated "Mature" because players did not see the sex. Instead, they saw a parked car rock back and forth.

Why you think I was so harsh and disbelieving? Just do the porn game you want to do.

Riot control ray gun worries scientists
By Reuters

Scientists are questioning the safety of a Star Wars-style riot control ray gun due to be deployed in Iraq next year.

The Active Denial System weapon, classified as "less lethal" by the Pentagon, fires a 95GHz microwave beam at rioters to cause heating and intolerable pain in less than five seconds. The discomfort is designed to prompt people caught in the microwave beam to move away from it, thereby allowing riot-control personnel to break up and manage a crowd.

But New Scientist magazine reported Wednesday that during tests carried out at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico, participants playing the part of rioters were told to remove glasses and contact lenses to protect their eyes.

Quote of note:

Here's the bottom line: Scandal notwithstanding, Rove's nastiest and most valuable work for this lame-duck president is now complete...This much must be admitted: Rove has already changed the American political landscape, is largely responsible for the giant wedge that now divides the nation by reinventing the Republican Party and turning it into an efficient, ruthless machine of war and power and misprision, a party that does a beautiful job of pretending to care about the little guy even as it sends him off to die in horrific wars while giving his salary to crony CEOs and calling it a patriotic tax break.

America's Big Malignant Tumor
Libs are salivating that Karl Rove might go down. But hasn't the worst cancer already spread?
- By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist
Wednesday, July 20, 2005

Rice angered after US officials manhandled in Sudan
Thu Jul 21, 2005 9:36 AM BST

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudanese security manhandled U.S. officials and journalists outside a meeting between U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on Thursday, prompting Rice to demand an apology.

"It makes me very angry to be sitting with their president and have this happen," Rice told reporters on her plane before leaving Khartoum for Darfur. Earlier, she told reporters she wanted an apology.

Sudanese guards and officials shoved U.S. journalists away from the Bashir meeting and slammed the wooden doors to his palace in their faces.

You've seen Google Earth, right? I downloaded it, haven't installed it yet but it looks fascinating. Someone will interface that sucker with The Sims one day.

Well, to celebrate the anniversary of the first manned lunar landing they've set up Google Moon, which, not being a desktop app like Google Earth, is Google Maps for the Moon.

Interesting. And when I checked out the site's faq, I saw this question:

4. Is Google Moon a result of your Copernicus initiative?

Glad you asked, and yes, the development of our lunar hosting and research center continues apace. We usually don't announce future products in advance, but in this case, yes, we can confirm that on July 20th, 2069, in honor of the 100th anniversary of mankind's first manned lunar landing, Google will fully integrate Google Local search capabilities into Google Moon, which will allow our users to quickly find lunar business addresses, numbers and hours of operation, among other valuable forms of Moon-oriented local information.

I remember the joke, but I didn't know they set up a whole damn web site to support it.

LATER:  You MUST visit the site, and you MUST zoom in on one of the landing sites.

Einstein on Race and Racism asin: 0813536170 binding: Hardcover list price: $23.95 USD amazon price: $16.29 USD

AUTHORS' PREFACE TO EINSTEIN ON RACE AND RACISM

By Fred Jerome and Rodger Taylor

More than one hundred biographies and monographs of Einstein have been published, yet not one of them mentions the name Paul Robeson, let alone Einstein’s friendship with him, or the name W. E. B. Du Bois, let alone Einstein’s support for him. Nor does one find in any of these works any reference to the Civil Rights Congress whose campaigns Einstein actively supported. Finally, nowhere in all the ocean of published Einsteinia – anthologies, bibliographies, biographies, summaries, articles, videotapes, calendars, posters and postcards – will one find even an islet of information about Einstein’s visits and ties to the people in Princeton’s African American community around the street called Witherspoon.

Consider Daily Koz, Blogcritics and Slashdot.

Which model would be best for bringing the broadest array of Black folks' opinions to light? Which would you be most comfortableparticipating in?

Because I'm trying to work out the best way to prevent people from lying on, to, and about Black folks. I've concluded it's to make sure Black folks themselves are heard, to make sure there's a reference point.

Like this one

African Americans suffer from the dreaded "dumbass disease" that infects America as a whole. Instead of embracing the dominant culture's love affair with anti-intellectualism in our mad dash to assimilation, integration and primitive accumulation (capitalism), we better wake up and smell the green tea.

And this one

Acquiring another language can, I believe, open doors for you to new ways of seeing the world and heightening your appreciation of the role that you and others have in it. English is certainly the current language of commerce and diplomacy but, to quote the poet Rilke, "are we here for simply saying house, tree, pillar, glass, jar...or for such saying as the things themselves never hoped to be..."

Blacktown.net

EXPOSING THE DAMAGE THAT 1970's WOMEN'S LIBERATION HAS DONE TO THE BLACK COMMUNITY...

EXPOSING HOW BLACK FEMINISTS HAVE FAILED TO LEAD THE BLACK RACE ANYPLACE...

EXPOSING THE FAILURE OF BLACK LEADERSHIP...
(LIKE BILL COSBY!)

REMINDING BLACK MEN THAT IT'S TIME TO JOIN THE GROWING MEN'S MOVEMENT...

WE ARE THE ONLY BLACK ORGANIZATION THAT EXPOSES AND OPPOSES LESBIAN FEMINISM WITCHCRAFT!!

Deeply ignorant.

Something like this has GOT to start an open thread. It just has to.

BLACK PANTHERS HOT AGAIN
Huey Newton's widow resurrects militants' memory with 'Burn Baby Burn' barbecue sauce
- Rick DelVecchio, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 20, 2005

Former Black Panthers in Oakland have cooked up a hot sauce called "Burn Baby Burn" and plan to ship it to stores in the coming weeks along with a new clothing line trading on the legacy of the late-'60s revolutionary Huey Newton.

Newton's widow, Fredrika Newton, came up with the idea for the new brand of spicy condiment, and original Panther David Hilliard brewed the recipe at home in West Oakland, with help from his musician and amateur-cook friend Al Green of San Francisco.

Amassing a Treasury of Photography
By RANDY KENNEDY

In 1999 two proud powerhouses of photography - the George Eastman House in Rochester and the International Center of Photography in Midtown - began to acknowledge that they needed each other.

...now both institutions are at work on an ambitious project to create one of the largest freely accessible databases of masterwork photography anywhere on the Web, a venture that will bring their collections to much greater public notice and provide an immense resource for photography aficionados, both scholars and amateurs.

The Web site - Photomuse.org, now active only as a test site, with a smattering of images - is expected to include almost 200,000 photographs when it is completed in the fall of 2006, and as both institutions work out agreements with estates and living photographers, the intention is to add tens of thousands more pictures.

Georgia's Undemocratic Voter Law

Georgia has passed a disturbing new law that bars people from voting without government-issued photo identification and seems primarily focused on putting up obstacles for black and poor voters. The Justice Department is now weighing whether the law violates the Voting Rights Act. Clearly it does, and it should be blocked from taking effect.

The new law's supporters claim that it is an attempt to reduce voter fraud, but Secretary of State Cathy Cox has said she cannot recall a single case during her tenure when anyone impersonated a voter.

In the same period, she says, there have been numerous allegations of fraud involving absentee ballots. But the Georgia Legislature has passed a law that focuses on voter identification while actually making absentee ballots more prone to misuse.

Quote of note:

...these days in Harlem, that big-name support among the neighborhood's old guard may not be enough to bring victory, particularly with the myriad issues facing a neighborhood that has experienced sharp changes in recent years, like the development and gentrification pressures largely unknown to Harlem a generation ago.

How Harlem Could Elect a White Council Member
By JONATHAN P. HICKS

For the last few generations, central Harlem has been the home turf of City Council members who were among the powerhouses of black politics in New York, including Adam Clayton Powell Jr. and J. Raymond Jones, the master organizer known as the "Harlem Fox." C. Virginia Fields, who in most polls is running second among Democratic mayoral candidates, held the seat during the 1990's.

There's a level where I say this is an improvement on current conditions. After all, the genie is seriously out of the bottle. I just hope they did a better job with the treaty than with the North Korean one. North Korea promised not to work on one specific type of nuclear technology. The current brouhaha is over a type not covered in the treaty they signed with Clinton.

U.S. to Broaden India's Access to Nuclear-Power Technology
By STEVEN R. WEISMAN

WASHINGTON, July 18 - President Bush, bringing India a step closer to joining the club of nuclear-weapons states, reached an agreement with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to let India secure international help for its civilian nuclear reactors while retaining its nuclear arms.

Wal-Mart Applies for Banking License
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

SALT LAKE CITY, July 19 (AP) - Wal-Mart Stores, the retail giant, has applied to establish a Utah industrial bank that would process credit card, debit card and electronic check transactions from its retail locations, the bank's chief executive said Tuesday.

Wal-Mart now uses a third-party processor for the transactions. Handling the work itself would save a significant amount of money, Alan Whitchurch, the bank's president and chief executive, said. He declined to say how much money would be saved.

Wal-Mart's application with the Department of Financial Institutions in Utah comes after five years of attempts to get into banking. Previous plans to buy financial institutions in California and Oklahoma and to be a partner with a bank in Canada were unsuccessful.

Sign, Veto or Some Combination: Pataki and the Emergency Contraception Bill
By AL BAKER

ALBANY, July 18 - As Gov. George E. Pataki prepares to decide the fate of a bill to make emergency contraception available to women and girls, his associates say one of the courses he is considering is a compromise.

For weeks, those on both sides of the issue have been saying that what the governor does on this bill will be an indication of whether he will run for the White House.

A simple veto could indicate that he was trying to win support among Republican voters nationwide who are opposed to abortion, they said, and simply signing it could show that Mr. Pataki was thinking of New York voters and of seeking a fourth term as governor.

OUR politicians are talking about bombing Mecca, and namby-pamby Blair wants to talk to people? What the hell is wrong with that guy?

Quote of note:

"That is why we need a new offence - 'glorifying terrorism' would do very well," the police commissioner said.

Blair Meets With Muslim Leaders, Seeking Aid Against Extremism
By ALAN COWELL

LONDON, July 19 - As Britons struggled to explain the London bombings to themselves, Prime Minister Tony Blair met with moderate Muslim leaders today, seeking to enlist their support against Islamic extremism and to discount the war in Iraq as the prime cause for the attacks.

Back in January I wrote a post on Blogcritics titled Aren't you glad most of your income comes from investments?

Yes, for those who live on unearned income, these are flush times. Thank you, George Bush and the Republican Party.

Cash Flow in '04 Found Its Way Into Dividends
By FLOYD NORRIS

Published: January 4, 2005

American companies stepped up their dividend increases in 2004, buoyed by strong cash flows and by a changed tax law that made dividends more attractive to shareholders.

Frankly, I'm counting on having to research whoever Bush nominates tonight, so don't expect immediate commentary.

IRAQ BODY COUNT Press Release

A Dossier of Civilian Casualties in Iraq
2003–2005
Download the dossier here (pdf format)

New analysis of civilian casualties in Iraq: Report unveils comprehensive details

"A Dossier on Civilian Casualties in Iraq, 2003-2005" is the first detailed account of all non-combatants reported killed or wounded during the first two years of the continuing conflict. The report, published by Iraq Body Count in association with Oxford Research Group, is based on comprehensive analysis of over 10,000 media reports published between March 2003 and March 2005.

Findings include:

Who was killed?

• 24,865 civilians were reported killed in the first two years.
• Women and children accounted for almost 20% of all civilian deaths.
• Baghdad alone recorded almost half of all deaths.

In keeping with the following I've been having fun over at Blogcritics again. Or maybe the following is in keeping with my fun at Blogcritics, since I I started my thread there first. Or maybe they're nconnected ang great minds think alike.

Stem Sellouts
Jesse Reynolds
July 19, 2005

Jesse Reynolds is the director of the project on biotechnology accountability at the Center for Genetics and Society, a nonprofit organization working to encourage responsible uses and effective societal governance of the new human genetic and reproductive technologies.

Recent developments both technical and political  have once again brought stem cell research to the front pages of newspapers across the country. Sens. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, and Arlen Specter, R-Pa., are the sponsors of a bill in the Senate that would largely undo President Bush s restrictive federal funding policies. It s already passed the House, and is scheduled for a Senate vote this month. But now conservatives are working to dilute support for it by introducing several competing bills that would fund stem cell research that does not destroy human embryos.

Progressives are inclined to react to these reports by strengthening their support of stem cell research as an effective wedge issue to split Republicans. But before we move ahead with simplistic calls for more funding and fewer restrictions, we should pay heed to troubles with California's new stem cell research agency  and to the larger implications of biotech boosterism.

... When faced with a choice between religious zealots and biotech corporate interests, progressives understandably side with the latter. But these are not the only options. One can advocate for removing unreasonable restrictions on embryonic stem cell research without running into the waiting arms of the biotech industry.

Just listen to this.

Latin Americans say si to learning Chinese
Latin Americans are flocking to Chinese language classes to take advantage of growing economic ties between Beijing and the region.
By TYLER BRIDGES

The 14 Peruvians learning to speak Chinese are used to spelling Spanish words exactly as they are pronounced. So they struggled in class recently as they studied a character and tried to pronounce pi-jiu -- beer.

"Our teacher tells us we have to think like we're in the Cave Era, reading hieroglyphics," said Margarita Ramírez, a student at San Marcos University. "There are so many characters. The pronunciation is so different, especially zh, which is a nightmare."

In the Washington Post, Jabari Asim suggests Black Leadership's Next Big Voice need not be a big voice.

Garnet wasn't the only eloquent activist working on behalf of African-Americans during his time. Sojourner Truth began her public speaking career the same year that Garnet gave his address, and the leader of the convention was a fellow named Frederick Douglass.

Nor was he necessarily the most effective or hardest-working of the activists. Someone else, for example, reserved the hall in Buffalo, N.Y., where the convention was held. Someone else made sure there were enough chairs and arranged accommodations for out-of-town visitors. Someone else counted the receipts and printed the pamphlets. Yet the folks in attendance who are still talked about today are the ones who gave the most memorable speeches.

The charismatic model of black leadership embodied by orators such as Garnet and Douglass has often been most attractive to those who aspire to such positions. Perhaps that's why so many leaders have come from the clergy. Think of the influential spokesmen who first rose to prominence in churches or mosques: Adam Clayton Powell, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X. But such men have always depended on shrewd, mostly anonymous aides and staffers to carry out the necessary behind-the-scenes tasks.

People talk about "the charismatic model of Black leadership" like there's some difference between Black and non-Black folk in that regard.

Bush Raises Threshold for Firing Aides In Leak Probe
By Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, July 19, 2005; A01

President Bush said yesterday that he will fire anyone in the administration found to have committed a crime in the leaking of a CIA operative's name, creating a higher threshold than he did one year ago for holding aides accountable in the unmasking of Valerie Plame.

After originally saying anyone involved in leaking the name of the covert CIA operative would be fired, Bush told reporters: "If somebody committed a crime, they will no longer work in my administration."

This is a small, but potentially very significant, distinction, because details that have emerged from the leak investigation over the past week show that Karl Rove, Bush's top political aide, and I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Cheney's chief of staff, discussed Plame with reporters before her name was revealed to the public. It is unclear whether either man committed a crime, according to lawyers familiar with the case.

Grants for Gifted Children Face Major Threat From Budget Ax
By Shailagh Murray
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, July 19, 2005; Page A19

C. Todd Jones, the Education Department's associate deputy secretary for budget, said there are no particular complaints about the Javits program. "The administration can't support continued funding for everything that's gone before," he said. "At a time of war, at a time of increased needs in homeland security . . . not all programs can continue, and this is one of those programs."

The Jacob K. Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Program cost $11 million last year.

Quote of note:

The fact is that every year 27 million Americans are lifted from poverty by our system of public benefits. More than 80 million Americans receive health insurance through a government program -- Medicaid, Medicare or the State Children's Health Insurance Program, known as SCHIP. Without these programs, tens of millions would be unable to afford access to medical care. As the center notes, government programs reduce both the extent and the depth of poverty.

Does all this cost a fortune? Not by any fair reckoning. Federal spending on Medicaid and SCHIP represents 1.5 percent of gross domestic product. Federal financing for the rest of the low-income programs consumes just 2.3 percent of GDP. For a sense of comparison, consider that defense spending consumes 4 percent of GDP and interest on the national debt gobbles up 1.5 percent. President Bush's tax cuts -- which go in large part to the wealthiest Americans -- will consume roughly 2 percent of GDP.

In Defense Of Success
Government Really Can Lessen Poverty
By E. J. Dionne Jr.
Tuesday, July 19, 2005; Page A21

On Bullshit asin: 0691122946 binding: Hardcover list price: $9.95 USD amazon price: $9.95 USD

Critical point is differentiating between lies and bullshit.

Lies are false; bullshit is phony.

Liars believe they know the truth and mislead you; Bullshitters don't care what the truth is.

And this is wonderful: