Bush Orders Staff to Attend Ethics Briefings
White House Counsel to Give 'Refresher' Course
By Jim VandeHeiWashington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, November 5, 2005; Page A02

President Bush has ordered White House staff to attend mandatory briefings beginning next week on ethical behavior and the handling of classified material after the indictment last week of a senior administration official in the CIA leak probe.

According to a memo sent to aides yesterday, Bush expects all White House staff to adhere to the "spirit as well as the letter" of all ethics laws and rules. As a result, "the White House counsel's office will conduct a series of presentations next week that will provide refresher lectures on general ethics rules, including the rules of governing the protection of classified information," according to the memo, a copy of which was provided to The Washington Post by a senior White House aide.

Quote of note:

...Among the other black politicians featured on the mailer who oppose Proposition 78 are: Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald (D-Carson); Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles); Rep. Diane Watson (D-Los Angeles); Assemblywoman Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles); Los Angeles County Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke; and former Assembly Speaker Herb Wesson.

...Only a notice in small print says that appearance in the mailer does not signify endorsement of the proposition.

Black Politicians Say Mailer Distorts Support
By Noam N. Levey
Times Staff Writer
November 5, 2005

A drug industry-supported campaign, which has been criticized for giving money to people who endorsed its ballot measure, is now under fire for misrepresenting the positions of black politicians.

Key problem of note:

"A majority of NAACP dollars don't come from memberships. They come from corporate America," she said. "A lot of the time we don't agree. But if we can agree on an issue that's mutually supportive of corporate America, I think we should."

Nonsense statement of note:

Huffman said her decision was based on the merits of the two proposals. She said she feared Proposition 79 could deny patients in the state's health care system for the poor access to certain brands of medications.

She's hinting at the provision that would get your butt kicked off the formulary if your pricing is wrong. But California's market is too big...Big Pharma won't abandon that market any more than they abandoned Canada.

Black Leaders Question NAACP on Prop. 78
By STEVE LAWRENCE
Associated Press Writer
8:47 AM PST, November 5, 2005

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The pharmaceutical industry has spent $76.5 million to line up support for its prescription drug initiative on next week's ballot -- and some of the money is causing a rift among black leaders.

The spending includes $1.4 million paid to groups run by blacks, much of it to consulting firms run by two prominent black leaders: Assembly speaker and San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown and Alice Huffman, head of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in California.

Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters said Huffman and others had "dishonored the NAACP."

The industry spending is aimed at supporting passage of Proposition 78, a measure on Tuesday's ballot that would provide discounted medications to uninsured Californians making up to three times the federal poverty level -- about 5 million people.

Although most of the $1.4 million went to the firms run by Brown and Huffman, some of the money went to the NAACP and several other black organizations for Proposition 78 campaign work.

The criticism began after the state NAACP and about 15 local chapters of the organization endorsed the proposal and opposed the competing Proposition 79, which is backed by labor and consumer groups and would cover twice as many people by including uninsured Californians making up to four times the poverty level.

Assemblyman Mark Ridley-Thomas of Los Angeles said Friday that the NAACP endorsements were "starkly inconsistent" with the group's record as an advocate for minorities and the poor.

Huffman said black leaders critical of her position on the two propositions "want the NAACP to be the enemy of corporate America."

"A majority of NAACP dollars don't come from memberships. They come from corporate America," she said. "A lot of the time we don't agree. But if we can agree on an issue that's mutually supportive of corporate America, I think we should."

Anthony Wright, co-chairman of a group campaigning for Proposition 79, said the drug companies recruited black organizations "to find groups with friendlier faces" to carry their message.

"We know that once voters find out that the drug companies are behind Proposition 78, they reject it and are more likely to join consumer groups in supporting Proposition 79," he said.

Huffman said her decision was based on the merits of the two proposals. She said she feared Proposition 79 could deny patients in the state's health care system for the poor access to certain brands of medications.

Business Pushes Its Own Brand Of Justice
Tough Lobbying For Court Seat
By Jeffrey H. Birnbaum and Thomas B. Edsall
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, July 9, 2005; Page A01

Business likely to back Roberts
Supreme Court nominee argued antitrust case against Microsoft, but record generally pro-business.
July 20, 2005: 7:07 PM EDT

Court Nominee Has Paper Trail Businesses Like
By STEPHEN LABATON
WASHINGTON, Nov. 4 - Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. has reliably favored big-business litigants as he has pushed the federal appeals court in Philadelphia in a conservative direction.

Colbert I. King: 

It wasn't Bork's conservatism or his challenge to prevailing legal orthodoxy that did him in. Nor was he an ogre or Neanderthal, as some of his opponents mischaracterized him. But Bork, as with other controversial judicial picks of President Bush, seemed to come to the bar with, as The Post put it, "an almost frightening detachment from, not to say indifference toward, the real-world consequences of his views; he plays with ideas, seeks tidiness, and in the process does not seem to care who is crushed."

Quote of note:

Roads said about 1,000 citizens were still unable to vote in Tuesday's election because of Proposition 200 requirements. "The biggest bloc of people who are impacted are the legitimate citizens," Roads said.

Eligible to Vote in Arizona? Prove It
A new law requires evidence of citizenship. Thousands of legal residents are in a bind.
By Nicholas Riccardi
Times Staff Writer
November 5, 2005

PHOENIX — A stringent new voter identification law being put into effect in Arizona — designed to keep illegal immigrants from voting — will also prevent thousands of legitimate voters from casting ballots Tuesday, election officials say.

Governor Owens of Colorado, having been called a traitor to the cause for supporting the suspension of their absurd budget process, is trying to clean up his reputation on the Right by supporting a similar absurd process in California.

Yeah, that's judgmental. But here's the process, described by Govenor Owens himself.

The spending cap in Colorado is a success story. Added to the state Constitution by referendum in 1992, it helped keep the reins on Colorado's budget, primarily by using a formula based on population growth and inflation. If taxes provided surpluses above that budget, the money was returned to the taxpayers.

Placing appropriate limits on the growth of state spending makes sense. The name given to Proposition 76 in California — the "Live Within Our Means Act" — says it all. Why shouldn't government, just as a business or a family, be required to live within its means? Why should government spending grow at a rate faster that the growth of the economy in general? The answer is easy. It shouldn't.

Quote of note:

The drug manufacturers have spent about $76 million so far in favor of Proposition 78 and against Proposition 79, a competing measure pushed by organized labor and some consumer groups.

"The list of groups saying Yes to 78 grows bigger every day," says an ad airing across California. The spot does not disclose that many endorsers have received payments.

Drug Firms Gave Money to Some Who Endorsed Proposition 78
By Dan Morain
Times Staff Writer
November 4, 2005

SACRAMENTO — The nation's drug makers have given hundreds of thousands of dollars to political leaders and civil rights groups that have endorsed the industry's initiative on the Nov. 8 ballot.

Mr. Krauthammer makes a comparison which can only be considered valid if you equate adult women with inexperienced children.

Pop quiz: Which of the following abortion regulations is more restrictive, more burdensome, more likely to lead more women to forgo abortion?

(a) Requiring a minor to get the informed consent of her parents, or to get a judge to approve the abortion.

(b) Requiring a married woman to sign a form saying that she notified her husband.

...Remember: The question is not whether (a) or (b) is the wiser restriction. The only relevant question is which is more likely to discourage the woman from getting an abortion.

The answer is obvious.

Pop quiz: Whose decisions do you have any right to override? A child's or an adult's?

The answer is obvious.

The full employment plan proceeds as expected.

Youths in Rural U.S. Are Drawn To Military
Recruits' Job Worries Outweigh War Fears
By Ann Scott Tyson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, November 4, 2005; A01

As sustained combat in Iraq makes it harder than ever to fill the ranks of the all-volunteer force, newly released Pentagon demographic data show that the military is leaning heavily for recruits on economically depressed, rural areas where youths' need for jobs may outweigh the risks of going to war.

More than 44 percent of U.S. military recruits come from rural areas, Pentagon figures show. In contrast, 14 percent come from major cities. Youths living in the most sparsely populated Zip codes are 22 percent more likely to join the Army, with an opposite trend in cities. Regionally, most enlistees come from the South (40 percent) and West (24 percent).

Shrink the employee pool.

For Americans, Getting Sick Has Its Price
Survey Says U.S. Patients Pay More, Get Less Than Those in Other Western Nations
By Rob Stein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, November 4, 2005; A02

Americans pay more when they get sick than people in other Western nations and get more confused, error-prone treatment, according to the largest survey to compare U.S. health care with other nations.

The survey of nearly 7,000 sick adults in the United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Britain and Germany found Americans were the most likely to pay at least $1,000 in out-of-pocket expenses. More than half went without needed care because of cost and more than one-third endured mistakes and disorganized care when they did get treated.

It's possible he a sock puppet, and his handlers, being out of our field of vision, just don't care what we think.

Quote of note:

...as with many federal panels, membership on the board has also been doled out to top campaign contributors and supporters of the president—a move the White House defends since panelists are not required to have significant intelligence experience

In the Company of Friends
Bush may be besieged by charges of cronyism, but they don’t seem to have affected his picks for a panel assessing intelligence matters...
WEB-EXCLUSIVE COMMENTARY
By Richard Wolffe and Holly Bailey
Updated: 6:45 p.m. ET Nov. 2, 2005

Two Fictional Families, Neither Colorblind, but Only One Really Sees Black America
By ALESSANDRA STANLEY

Cartoons are sarcastic and seditious about almost everything except black America. Corporate malfeasance is lampooned on "SpongeBob SquarePants," and "Jimmy Neutron" mocks American democracy. (All candidates for the school election are corrupt or stupid.) Even death is fair game: on "Billy and Mandy," a children's series on Cartoon Network, the real star is the Grim Reaper.

It's race that takes the holiday. Cultural clashes are airbrushed out, and neighborhoods are integrated and harmonious. Almost every clique on Disney, Nickelodeon or Cartoon Network includes one nice, smart African-American friend who blends in with the others and doesn't stand out too much. Angelica, the demonically spoiled brat of "Rugrats," has a classmate named Susie who is black, sweet and well brought up. Jimmy Neutron's pal Libby is calm and brainy. Gerald is the best friend on "Hey Arnold!" and a well-intentioned voice of reason.

...which will likely require getting rid of a few more board members... 

Quote of note:

Jeffrey Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, in Washington, said he did not believe the political tussle over public broadcasting had ended, noting that Republicans still dominated the corporation's leadership. Newly elected Chairwoman Cheryl F. Halpern and Vice Chairwoman Gay Hart Gaines have both donated substantial money to GOP candidates and causes, and President Patricia Harrison is a former GOP chairwoman.

Broadcast Board Member Quits Ahead of Report
By Matea Gold
Times Staff Writer
November 4, 2005

Jasmyne Cannick:

Aide's comments to legislator accidentally sent to constituent

A Crestwood accountant who asked her state representative to support gay and lesbian civil-rights legislation next year received a reply not from the lawmaker but from an aide, who mistakenly sent comments meant for the legislator to the constituent.

"This is one of those issues where it's safe to say 'Thanks for writing, I will consider your views' and not go too far about your personal beliefs," wrote Cheryl Long of the Legislative Research Commission and an aide to Rep. David Osborne, R-Prospect. "Seriously, these people really can get out of hand! ... This particular group is much worse than pro-lifers!"

Are folks talking about the SXSW conferences yet? Maybe this year's conference was the one to attend instead of next year's, but I'm considering it.

Sometimes I wonder if I should respond to folks' stuff on their site or on mine. I behave better on their site...

I imagine myself walking into a room of black college students and telling them that I have found a black power amulet. This amulet, I say, is so powerful that it has the effect of instantly changing whitefolks' suspicion to trust and even admiration. If you wear this amulet, you will find that suddenly whitefolks from all over this country will see you in a different light and recognize you for the human being you are. If you wear it, cops will give you a second chance when they pull you over. Job interviews will go better, and all of this is guaranteed. I say this and people shake their heads in disbelief. I tell them that I know it works because it has worked for me.

REEEELY DEEP statement of note:

"Every night, 'Why is she going home?' " Stacey says, referring to her daughter's inability — or unwillingness — to accept Margoth's departure. "I ask myself that very question."

Mommy Shift Begins as Nanny Shift Ends
This Latina immigrant is one of thousands in L.A. County whose time spent with their employers' children is time spent away from their own.
By Anna Gorman
Times Staff Writer
November 3, 2005

Margoth Enriquez looks at the clock. It's 6:03 p.m. — past time to go home.

She sighs.

The nanny feeds 13-month-old Elise a bottle while Elise's twin sister rests nearby. Their 3-year-old brother sits at the table, finishing his broccoli and chicken. Samantha, 2, holds her mom's hand as they walk toward the kitchen.

Quote of note:

Made up of an area stretching from western Riverside County to the southwest corner of San Bernardino County, the Inland Empire used to be a sparsely populated, rural area of ranches, vineyards and farms, where whites were the clear and dominant majority.

All that has changed.

Racism Rising in the Golden State
By David Holthouse, Intelligence Report
Posted on November 3, 2005, Printed on November 3, 2005

CHINO HILLS, Calif. -- Despite all their big talk of honor, pride and the Aryan warrior's code, neo-Nazi Skinheads don't like a fair fight. Cowards by nature, they prefer to travel in packs and gang up on hate crime victims. The trio of Nazi skins laying in wait near a playground in a park here the morning of May 1 proved no different.

Digby: 

Unleashing The Id

Can somebody explain to me why American interrogation techniques seem to always involve sticking objects up prisoners' asses? This has got to be some sort of "method" because it is reported over and over again:

"He had two, 10-hour beatings from the Americans and I said to David, 'Sure they were Americans?' (because) he said he had a bag over his head and he said, 'Oh look ... I know their accents, they were definitely American'," Mr Hicks told Four Corners.

"Some pretty horrific things ... were done to him."

The program reported the abuse had included Hicks being injected and then penetrated anally with various objects.

Hicks' lawyers say they have witnesses relating to the abuse and that the United States has photographic evidence.

His American lawyer, Major Michael Mori, would not comment on the specifics of what information he had.

"I'd say it's an area that I'm investigating and that I've already found some evidence and witnesses that support that occurring," he told Four Corners.

Former Australian Guantanamo Bay detainee, Mamdouh Habib, who was released earlier this year, has also claimed that he was abused while on foreign soil.

In February, Mr Habib detailed how he was tortured in a military airport in Pakistan.

During a particular episode of abuse, Mr Habib said 15 men stripped him, inserted something into his anus, put him in a nappy and tied him up.

Is this some sort of American sexual panic or is it official policy that sexual violence is the best way to "interrogate" prisoners?

Greenspan is stalking to the Joint Economic Committee and some interesting stuff has come up. Does anyone know where transcripts of such hearings can be gotten?

Here's one reason I want the transcript. The attachment, enclosure, whatever is a bit of audio I plucked from C-Span2. They're flipping from the Senate floor to the Joint Economic Committee. It's his response to a question asked by Rep. Carolyn Mahoney, and they switched back to the Senate floor at a truly fascinating point.

And for the record, Greenspan is wrong in calling it an education problem. 

Barbara Jordan Health Policy Scholars Program

The Kaiser Family Foundation is now accepting applications for the 2006 Barbara Jordan Health Policy Scholars Program in partnership with Howard University in Washington D.C. 
All application materials are available online.

 News Release: Barbara Jordan Health Policy Scholars Program Awards Congressional Placements to Students of Color

A Personal Journey Into America's Past
By Bob Thompson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 3, 2005; C01

Tell John Hope Franklin that he's the Rosa Parks of historians and he lets out a long, astonished laugh.

"Please," he says.

Okay, we won't push him on that right now. But the comparison is not as silly as he makes it sound.

Franklin is in Washington this week to talk about his newly published autobiography, "Mirror to America." Now an emeritus professor at Duke, he's a handsome, white-haired man in a gray suit whose upright bearing makes him seem far younger than his 90 years. Fellow historian David Levering Lewis has described him as "a pioneer scholar; a splendid humanist; a shining model to generations of students, scholars, and activists," as well as "a man of prodigious generosity, prudent counsel, and unaffected grace."

Quote of note:

Lawmakers from Mississippi, meanwhile, said thousands of hurricane victims are still living in two-person tents without running water or adequate heat because government contractors haven't finished mobile home parks.

"It's getting cold," said Republican Rep. Charles W. "Chip" Pickering Jr

Katrina Recovery Officials Unsure What's Been Spent
Lack of Detail Irks House Panel Members
By Renae Merle and Griff Witte
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, November 3, 2005; D01

Officials responsible for doling out billions in Hurricane Katrina relief contracts told lawmakers yesterday that they still don't have answers to central questions about why certain recovery efforts have stalled, whether money is being wasted and what's keeping Gulf Coast firms from getting a bigger share of the work.

Quote of note:

Griles, flushed and agitated, denied aiding Abramoff. "I don't recall intervening on behalf of Mr. Abramoff, ever," he said.

Nope. He just intervened on behalf of Abramoff's clients.

Norton Ex-Aides Clash on Lobbyist's Influence
Lawyer Says He Accused Griles of Aiding Abramoff
By Susan Schmidt and James V. Grimaldi
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, November 3, 2005; A19

Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton's former legal counselor yesterday accused J. Steven Griles, the department's recently departed second in command, of improperly trying to meddle in decisions affecting tribal clients of lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Clue of note: 

Last November, Republicans lost control of both chambers of the Legislature for the first time since 1960

Clue purchaser of note:

Gov. Bill Owens, a Republican, then shocked his base by supporting the suspension of the budget restrictions.

How Colorado Got Its Government Back

In 1992, to the unmitigated glee of antitax types everywhere, Colorado voters amended the State Constitution to impose the nation's strictest tax and spending limits. On Tuesday, they decided that government was worth paying for after all. By 52 percent to 48 percent, they voted to suspend the fiscal limits for the next five years and told the state to keep $3.7 billion that would have otherwise been refunded to taxpayers.

If he gets that Associate Justice seat it will become easier to get the machine gun I'll probably need.

Remember the warning the other day about Sony copy protection installing a badly designed rootkit on your system?

They realized you can't do that...though it took getting caught...[LATER: Maybe it's not so good after all...]

SOFTWARE UPDATES/ PLUG-INS

November 2, 2005 - This Service Pack removes the cloaking technology component that has been recently discussed in a number of articles published regarding the XCP Technology used on SONY BMG content protected CDs. This component is not malicious and does not compromise security. However to alleviate any concerns that users may have about the program posing potential security vulnerabilities, this update has been released to enable users to remove this component from their computers.

Coloradans Vote to Give Up Tax Refunds

DENVER, Nov. 1 (AP) - Colorado voters agreed Tuesday to give up $3.7 billion in tax refunds over the next five years to allow the state to bounce back from a recession, ignoring the arguments of fiscal conservatives who say the government does not need more money to spend.

With 83 percent of the expected vote counted statewide, 463,841 voters, or 53 percent, had approved the plan, compared with 419,236 , or 47 percent, who voted against it.Supporters said Colorado could not afford to vote no, not with higher education, health care and transportation already suffering from millions of dollars in budget cuts.

I just saw a commercial for Charmin...it's diaper wipes for adults, I guess. They have these bears, and the bear had car wash brushes cleaning it's butt.

Amazing.

Reminded me of a joke. Guy in an airplane was desperate to g to the john, but only one bathroom, the laides room, was available (this was first class). The stewardess said she's guard the door, "But don't press any of the buttons on the armrest, okay?"

So of course, he presses the buttons on the armrest.

The first of the four made him jump...it was a fine spray of water sprayed across his crotch. He felt so fresh... The second activated a blowdryer to dry off his butt (he's enjoying himself now). The third button extended a powder puff to pat down his ass with talcum powder. Wondering what could possibly come next, he pressed the fourth button, shrieked in pain and passed out.

When he woke up on the stretcher, his midsection swathed in bandages, he asked the nearby stewardess, "What happened?" She said, "You idiot, that was the tampon remover!"

Open thead. 

They remembered that each Senator has powers inherant to the position. They remembered they don't have to be ignored.

Now if they remember it takes a two-thirds majority to change the Senate rules, they can't be bluffed. 

Mad About You
By Dana Milbank
Wednesday, November 2, 2005; Page A05

In the genteel club that is the United States Senate, Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) had a screaming temper tantrum yesterday.

...The Senate follows a strict script, written by the majority leader himself, who decides what legislation will be debated and who will speak when. But yesterday, using the arcane provisions of Standing Rule 21 for the first time in 25 years, the minority party seized the agenda and forced the chamber to close its doors until Republicans agreed to a probe of how the administration handled prewar Iraq intelligence.

Rosa Parks Was Not the Beginning
By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor, Berkeley Daily Planet
Posted on November 2, 2005, Printed on November 2, 2005

If things continue upon their present course--which "things" have that interesting habit of not always doing--somewhere in an elementary school 50 years from now, a teacher will stand before a class and tell her students the story of the day in 2003 when a courageous black woman, grown weary of the lies of the Bush administration, stood up by herself in the United States Congress and cast the single vote against the Iraq War Authorization, thus sparking a national movement that eventually led to both the collapse of neoconism as well as the end of the stranglehold of the radical religious right on the government of the country.

Fifty years from now some of you will almost certainly be around, and you will remember these days, and you will say patiently (but a little wearily, because you've grown tired of correcting this particular mistake) that yes, what Barbara Lee did was absolutely courageous and no, you don't want to minimize its historical importance or how much it inspired people at the time, but she was, after all, only part of a greater thing going on in opposition to Bush and the neocons and the war, and it is that thing going on of people and opinions and actions and accomplishments which must be studied and talked about if one is to understand the history of those (these) times.

But history loves the simple tale, if for nothing else in that it is so simple to tell.

And so, this week, upon the death of the dear Ms. Rosa Parks, we must suffer through the recitation of the story--once more--about the courageous little Alabama black woman who got tired one day coming from work and refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white man, thus on-and-on, you know the rest of the tale.

And at the risk of being accused of kicking dirt on the freshly dug grave of a beloved national and civil rights movement icon, we are forced to say, once again, that no, that's not exactly how it happened, and that it doesn't take away anything from Rosa Parks to tell it right.

Oh, spare me.

The metabolic syndrome, probably caused by a fundamental malfunctioning of the body's system for storing and burning energy, is defined by having a cluster of risk factors such as elevated blood pressure, poor blood sugar control, high levels of fats in the blood called triglycerides and low HDL, or "good" cholesterol.

Ever since AIDS every damn thing has to be a "syndrome."

Feh. The problem is we, as a nation, eat shit. If we ate what human bodies need the system of farm subsidies would probably collapse. 

New Diagnosis for Overweight
Major Risk Factors Add Up to 'Metabolic Syndrome'
By Rob Stein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, February 8, 2005; A01

This will be an interesting case to watch. If the questions the justices asked are indicative of their views, I think the government loses this one.

Justices Weighing Narcotics Policy Against Needs of a Church
By LINDA GREENHOUSE

WASHINGTON, Nov. 1 - The Bush administration tried to persuade the Supreme Court on Tuesday that federal narcotics policy should trump the religious needs of members of a small South American church who want to import a hallucinogenic tea that is central to their religious rituals.

Two lower federal courts have barred the government from seizing the sacred drink, known as hoasca tea, which is brewed from indigenous Brazilian plants that do not grow in the United States. The tea's hallucinogenic effect comes from a chemical, dimethyltryptamine, usually known as DMT, which occurs naturally in the plants and is listed as a Schedule I banned substance in the federal Controlled Substances Act.

In an L.A. Times op-ed titled Plamegate's real liar, Max Boot says: 

But with his investigation all but over, prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald has found no criminal conspiracy and no violations of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act, which makes it a crime in some circumstances to disclose the names of undercover CIA operatives. Among other problems, Plame doesn't seem to fit the act's definition of a "covert agent" — someone who "has within the last five years served outside the United States." By 2003, Plame had apparently been working in Langley, Va., for at least six years, which means that, mystery of mysteries, the vice president's chief of staff was indicted for covering up something that wasn't a crime.

I want you watch to see how many things from Patriot II find their way into the pandemic preparations.

Shut up, TBone. 

Bush's 'sloppy seconds' by JReid

Funniest thing I've heard all day...

“Scott, you said that – or the President said, repeatedly, that Harriet Miers was the best person for the job. So does that mean Alito is sloppy seconds, or what?”

John Roberts, you're my new favorite White House correspondent...

You know, I was wondering about that myself...What was it about Harriet that made her a better choice than Alito?

Quote of note:

Behe maintains that ID is science: “Under my definition, scientific theory is a proposed explanation which points to physical data and logical inferences.”

Astrology is scientific theory, courtroom told
13:30 19 October 2005
NewScientist.com news service
Celeste Biever

Astrology would be considered a scientific theory if judged by the same criteria used by a well-known advocate of Intelligent Design to justify his claim that ID is science, a landmark US trial heard on Tuesday.

Under cross examination, ID proponent Michael Behe, a biochemist at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, admitted his definition of “theory” was so broad it would also include astrology.

You have to remember the American S.S. is quite comfortable disciplining their own. Half the Slave Laws targeted white people (who else would a law forbidding theaching slaves to read be directed at?).

The Miers noimination wasn't directed at Progressives or America at large.

It doesn't have to be a woman
It's time to ignore gender (and race) in choosing Supreme Court nominees.
By Heather Mac Donald
HEATHER MAC DONALD is a fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a writer for City Journal.
October 28, 2005

THE COUNTRY can breathe a sigh of relief that President Bush, not usually one to admit mistakes, had the humility and wisdom to withdraw his nomination of Harriet E. Miers.

Now, to avoid a similar debacle in the future, the president should remove from his decision-making process the misguided principle that helped drive the Miers fiasco: the idea that gender (or, in other cases, race) should play a role in Supreme Court nominations. In retrospect, it's absolutely clear that, given her lack of judicial experience, her apparently unsophisticated constitutional philosophy and her abysmal writing skills, Miers never would have been nominated if she had been a man. But having just appointed a white male to be chief justice, and faced with the resignation of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor (one of only two women on the court), Bush and his advisors clearly felt that the next pick had to be a woman.

This is completely unacceptable. Although there undoubtedly are many plausible female contenders for the court, they should be selected only if they are found, after close examination, to be the best possible candidate. To do any less — to grab the nearest woman and nominate her to the highest court in the land — is an insult to women and a dangerous assault on the rule of law.

I read Jabari Asim's The Case Against Do-Rags in the Washington Post yesterday. I spent so much time trying to figure out what to say about wasting some of the most valuable media space in existance on an asinine topic that Craig at Craggie.net beat me to it. Did a nice job, too.

Rhetoric Meets Reality in the Budget Season
By Jonathan Weisman
Tuesday, November 1, 2005; Page A23

It was unfortunate political timing for House Republicans: On Friday, as the Agriculture Committee was drafting budget-cutting legislation that could knock 295,000 people off food stamps, the Agriculture Department released findings that 529,000 more Americans went hungry last year than in 2003.

The juxtaposition neatly encapsulated the problems that Republicans will have this week and next when they try to put their rhetorical zeal for spending restraint into legislative action.

The Senate took up far-reaching legislation yesterday that would slice $39 billion over the next five years from a slew of entitlement programs, including Medicare, Medicaid, student loans and agriculture subsidies, while raising revenue by opening Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. A final vote is due Thursday.

At Slate: 

Left Out: Perhaps the most revealing aspect of today's statement was what Bush didn't say. On both previous occasions, when he nominated John Roberts and Harriet Miers, Bush stressed his trademark promise that they wouldn't legislate from the bench.

"He will strictly apply the Constitution in laws, not legislate from the bench," Bush said of Roberts. "A Justice must strictly apply the Constitution and laws of the United States, and not legislate from the bench," he said the next time. "Harriet Miers will strictly interpret our Constitution and laws. She will not legislate from the bench."

Today, in nominating Alito, the President offered a much more limited view of the limits of judicial activism: "He understands that judges are to interpret the laws, not to impose their preferences or priorities on the people." No mention of the Constitution or strict constructionism. No false judicial modesty that the new guy will sit quietly and behave himself on that bench.

What is a Rootkit?
The term rootkit is used to describe the mechanisms and techniques whereby malware, including viruses, spyware, and trojans, attempt to hide their presence from spyware blockers, antivirus, and system management utilities. There are several rootkit classifications depending on whether the malware survives reboot and whether it executes in user mode or kernel mode.

Check the page...there's a cool utility to help you ferret out such stuff (you must be of the Techie tribe, no doubt). And I bring it to your attention because Sony is shipping copy-protected music CDs that protect by installing a rootkit on your PC.

[PDF] Wrestling with Stigma
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Second Betrayal of Black Freedom in America, by Shelby Steele, copyright 1998
by Shelby ... In the way that blacks had been stigmatized as inferior, ...
www-hoover.stanford.edu/publications/books/fulltext/colorline/69.pdf - 3 comments | read more

So would cancelling workers comp and letting them all die.

Oh, you don't want to do that? How about telling us where your limits are then?

Quote of note

"Doctors treating injured workers are locked in a system that is hostile to physicians and often harmful to the patients they serve," said Dr. Jack Lewin, the CMA's chief executive.

Workers' Comp Changes Hurting Treatment, Medical Study Finds
Insurance carriers are interfering with cases by denying or underpaying claims, doctors contend.
By Marc Lifsher
Times Staff Writer
November 1, 2005

SACRAMENTO — Injured workers in California are being denied needed medical care and frustrated doctors are threatening to stop treating victims of on-the-job accidents, an influential physicians' group contends in a new report on the recent overhaul of the state's workers' compensation system.

Quote of note:

Of the estimated 1.5 million people dispersed by Katrina, about three-fourths stayed within 250 miles of New Orleans. Most of them remained in Louisiana, many in sparsely populated areas.

Out of Their Element
Many New Orleans evacuees find themselves safe but stranded in rural enclaves that are a world away from the closeness of urban life.
By Tomas Alex Tizon
Times Staff Writer
November 1, 2005

GREENSBURG, La. — At the end of a long gravel driveway, up a few steps on a wide wooden porch, a mother and son discuss their conundrum.

Gladys Brown, 66, and Maurice Brown, 47, praise God for keeping them safe through the ordeal. But two months after Hurricane Katrina tore up their homes and chased them out of New Orleans, they find themselves resettled in a place to which they feel — mildly put — unsuited. Like catfish in a cornfield.

Everyone was actually surprised by the Miers nomination. Talking heads wondered aloud just why Bush chose her.

Painful as it was, I just watched the speech in which Bush nominated her because I noticed at the end of the Alito nomination speech Bush said

And I urge the Senate to act promptly on this important nomination so that an up or down vote is held before the end of this year.

"Up or down vote" is the signal for Republicans to fall in line behind this one. He didn't say that when he nominated Miers.

I don't believe Miers was a serious nomination at all. I believe it was, "You wanted a woman, here ya go..." In fact, I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest what Rove told Dobson was "She's not going to be confirmed and I guarantee you the next guy we nominate will vote to reverse Roe."

Oh, yeah, the Harvard Business Review is a veritable treasure trove for students of White Culture as well as students of social psychology. Not good enough to subscribe to...I get random copies as topics of interest pop up on the cover.

A Treasure Waiting to Be Mined
By William Raspberry
Monday, October 31, 2005; Page A19

I talk to Sylvia Hewlett about her research on corporate underappreciation of black executives and my mind goes back to the 1934 film version of Fannie Hurst's "Imitation of Life."

Not the part where "Miss Bea" (Claudette Colbert) markets the secret pancake recipe of her black friend "Delilah" (Louise Beavers) for their (evenly?) shared profit. No, I'm thinking of the poignant episode at the end, when Delilah dies, after spending years living with Miss Bea, after they have become mutually dependent, after they've raised their daughters together. The warm and sensitive Miss Bea is flabbergasted to learn, at the funeral, that her friend has scores of other friends and family members, a respected place in her church and community -- virtually an entire life -- that had been utterly unknown to her.

Why didn't she know?

Quote of note:

In "Makes You Blind," which lifts a syncopated, electronica-shaped beat, group leader Chuck D raps:

Thirty-five years old lost in an Xbox / PlayStation and videos / So that's how it goes / The world begins and ends at the tip of their nose / It ain't Eminem / It's M and M and M / McDonalds, MTV and Microsoft.

Public Enemy Takes It to the Net

...Public Enemy remains defiantly cutting edge, not just in its music but, equally importantly, in its approach to distributing its songs to fans. Ever a proponent of self-determination, the group has done more than any band to bypass the big labels and make music as it sees fit. In the late 1990s, when fellow rapper Dr. Dre sued Napster for making his songs available for free, Public Enemy's Chuck D defended the renegade file-sharing service, arguing that the internet gives artists an unprecedented ability to subvert corporate control and connect directly with their fans.

With some 900+ blogs by Black folks available in the site aggregator, I have a good starting point for those rare folks looking for Black people's opinions. Next I want to identify the serious (and a couple of non-serious) discussion forums.

Shawna already brought Cocoa Lounge to my attention, and Blaqtalk gets listed because I like them. Faheem at Black Perspective and Introspection (which has produced an Atom feed we are happlily consuming now) said he debates regularly at AfricanAmerica.org. Joint looks interesting.

Thing is, those forum need to be tracked differently than blogs because they don't have RSS feeds. I may set up a weblink directory for it...I'd have to modify the Drupal weblinks module but I'm used to that.

Katrina: Rumors, Lies, and Racist Fantasies

In an uncanny way, some beliefs always seem to function "at a distance." In order for the belief to function, there has to be some ultimate guarantor of it, and yet this guarantor is always deferred, displaced, never present in persona. The point, of course, is that this other subject who directly believes does not need to actually exist for the belief to be operative: It is enough precisely to presuppose his existence, i.e. to believe in it, either in the guise of the primitive Other or in the guise of the impersonal "one" ("one believes…").

The events in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina struck the city provide a new addition to this series of "subjects supposed to..."-- the subject supposed to loot and rape. We all remember the reports on the disintegration of public order, the explosion of black violence, rape and looting. However, later inquiries demonstrated that, in the large majority of cases, these alleged orgies of violence did not occur: Non-verified rumors were simply reported as facts by the media. For example, on September 3, the Superintendent of the New Orleans Police Department told The New York Times about conditions at the Convention Center: "The tourists are walking around there, and as soon as these individuals see them, they're being preyed upon. They are beating, they are raping them in the streets." In an interview just weeks later, he conceded that some of his most shocking statements turned out to be untrue: "We have no official reports to document any murder. Not one official report of rape or sexual assault."

Quote of note:

Deference to Mr. Bush's fixation with Saddam Hussein has cost the United States dearly. To expand that misadventure will only drive those costs higher.

War Powers in the Age of Terror
By ANDREW J. BACEVICH
Boston

WHEN senators this month asked Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice about possible military action against Syria or Iran, she recited the administration's standard response: all options remain "on the table." Pressed on whether any such action might require congressional authorization, Ms. Rice demurred. "I don't want to try and circumscribe presidential war powers," she said, adding that "the president retains those powers in the war on terrorism and in the war in Iraq."

The article

Grieving for Parks, Rights Leaders Ponder Future
By FELICIA R. LEE

The bottom line

"Today you can eat at a lunch counter but you can't get an education that allows you to go the next level," said T. J. Crawford, the 29-year-old chairman of the National Hip-Hop Political Convention and its Chicago local. "We build upon the intellectual capital, but there's not enough community building or institution building on a mass level, so you're forced to repeat the struggles of your parents and grandparents."

Quote of note:

For a recent screening at the Cantor Film Center at New York University, the audience consisted largely of young women who were in their early teens when Hanson first became popular.

Rage Against the Record Label: The Hanson Brothers Make a Film
ROBERT LEVINE

Plenty of bands have written songs complaining about their frustration with record labels. But Hanson, the band of three brothers that helped usher in a teenage pop craze with the 1997 hit "MMMBop," has made an entire documentary film about its dismal experience on the label Island Def Jam.

Originally signed to Mercury Records, Hanson found itself with Island Def Jam as a result of major label mergers. In the fall of 2000, Hanson began recording what was to be its third major-label album of new material and hired a director, Ashley Greyson, to film the process. "About eight months in, we realized there was going to be more difficulty than we thought," said Taylor Hanson, 22.

Quote of note

Mr. Hanyok's findings were published nearly five years ago in a classified in-house journal, and starting in 2002 he and other government historians argued that it should be made public. But their effort was rebuffed by higher-level agency policymakers, who by the next year were fearful that it might prompt uncomfortable comparisons with the flawed intelligence used to justify the war in Iraq, according to an intelligence official familiar with some internal discussions of the matter.

Having just made such a comparison, I can understand thei concern. So why leak it now?

Mr. Hanyok concluded that they had done it not out of any political motive but to cover up earlier errors, and that top N.S.A. and defense officials and Johnson neither knew about nor condoned the deception.

Maybe so a comparison to THAT can be made...and since the report hasn't actually been released, it can't be diectly countered.

Just remember...the words are unimportant other than as pointers to the topic under discussion. And the immediately obvious difference between the Tonkin Gulf deception and the Iraq deception is, with the Tonkin Gulf, shit piled up; with Iraq, shit rolled downhill (old corporate wise saying, you know...).

Anyway... 

Doubts Cast on Vietnam Incident, but Secret Study Stays Classified
By SCOTT SHANE

Quote of note:

"That's west, so I believe the border is that way...It's not really clear to me."

On Patrol in Vt., Minutemen Are the Outsiders
Along the Border, Group Targets Illegal Immigrants
By David A. Fahrenthold
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, October 31, 2005; A02

DERBY LINE, Vt. -- Somewhere near this spot -- where five men with lawn chairs and binoculars were watching the woods -- runs the long and mostly invisible border between the United States and Canada.

The New England Minutemen were here to guard this border.

They just weren't precisely certain where it was.

Quote of note:

We could debate on and on, but it would be so much easier, not to mention more amusing, to take Van de Velde seriously and let him play. 

Is Vandy a genius or goofball?
- Gwen Knapp
Sunday, October 30, 2005

In the fantasy, Jean Van de Velde tees off at the quirky Royal Lytham & St. Annes next summer, hemmed in by railroad tracks and a whole lot of estrogen. He gets his way and a spot in the Women's British Open.

"I'll even wear a kilt and shave my legs,'' Van de Velde said last week, in an impish protest against a decision to let women try to qualify for the men's Open.

I have enough aggregator code in place to be useful. If you're registered you can see most of it...the list of registered sites lets you read the sites or subscribe to them. Under my feeds you get the list of those feeds you subscribed to (it's in a sidebar block too), with an unsubscribe link.

Next I get to set up categories or key words or something. I don't want to de-list folks but I do want to be able to find my fellow editorial bloggers.

Meet the Press is in full shill mode.

Look folks, Fitzgerald didn't say there was no criminal conspiracy. He said he couldn't complete the investigation because Libby wouldn't come clean. So when you hear the conservative pundits talk about how important it is that there was no indictment AND  defend Libby...I guess the most polite thing to call them would be codependant.

Remember, the last thing that is considered by a grand jury is whether to prosecute. This is not unusual...grand juries mention unindicted co-conspirators regularly.

The collective need of the USofA overrides the virtues of personal responsibility and justice. Remember that too.

I'm watching, and recording Dogma on the Comedy Central instead of ThisWeek. It looks to be potentially hilarious...and if it's not, I still have an hour and change before ThisWeek starts. But I could use a laugh.

The statement that made my head explode ever so briefly:

In reality, these tax breaks are closer to spending programs than tax cuts. By giving deductions and exemptions, the government "spends" part of its potential revenue on programs for everything from housing to education to child care. The programs are run through the tax code to make them look like tax cuts. What's more, tax breaks shift the burden from taxpayers who can claim exceptions to those who can't.

This describes every tax cut this Republican-led government has lavished on the already wealthy and the corporations that are already the most profitable in the world. Before they touch a single penny of working people's earned income they need to be recapturing the money they threw at the wealthy.

Anyway... 

Homeowner tax breaks are breaking the budget
By Maya MacGuineas, Maya MacGuineas is the director of the Fiscal Policy Program at the New America Foundation.

PRESIDENT BUSH'S tax reform panel has ventured into political no man's land. It wants to limit the tax deductions for home mortgages, employer-provided health insurance and state and local taxes.

Individuals and businesses love these tax breaks. Democrats and Republicans embrace them for their own ideological reasons. The constituencies backing them are powerful. But these sacred cows are in desperate need of reform. The Treasury needs the money to close the growing budget deficit, and these tax breaks often benefit the wrong constituencies, even hurting the very economic strata they are intended to help.

Actually, I know why but it's still ridiculous.

Late pope's Ford Escort sells for $680,000
Sat Oct 29, 2005 07:26 PM ET

CHICAGO (Reuters) - The only car the late Pope John Paul II ever owned sold at auction for $680,000 on Saturday to a Houston attorney and car collector.

The car, which fetched much less than previous estimates of $2 million to $5 million, attracted four or five bids before being purchased by John O'Quinn, said a spokeswoman for the Kruse International auction house.

The 1975 powder-blue Ford Escort went on the auction block in Las Vegas after a father-son ownership spat was resolved earlier this month.

There is a fraction of support for Bush that is irreducible because it is granted non-critically. A fraction that is supported only by the evidence of things unseen. And there's a whole bag of people just don't understand.

"One thing you can't ever, ever do even if you're a regular person is lie to a grand jury," said Brad Morris, 48, a registered independent and a field representative for a lumber company who lives in Nashua, N.H. "But multiply that by a thousand times if you have power like [Libby had]. And if anybody wants to know why, ask Scooter. He's financially ruined; he'll be paying lawyers for the rest of his life."

That is just not going to be the case. Mr. Libby's legal fees will be limited due to the plea bargain he will enter into.

More, consider this: it has been made public just how deep and extensive Cheney's dispute with the CIA was. Tenet fell on his sword and in return was given immunity from prosecution the Presidential Medal of Freedom along with several other notables.

President Bush awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Tommy Franks, the now-retired Army general who led the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq; former CIA director George Tenet, who told Bush it was a "slam dunk" that Iraq still had weapons of mass destruction; and L. Paul Bremer, who presided over the first 14 months of Iraq reconstruction.

As far as Libby is concerned, he'll be pardoned entirely toward the end of 2008.

White House Ethics, Honesty Questioned
55% in Survey Say Libby Case Signals Broader Problems
By Richard Morin and Claudia Deane
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, October 30, 2005; A14

A majority of Americans say the indictment of senior White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby signals broader ethical problems in the Bush administration, and nearly half say the overall level of honesty and ethics in the federal government has fallen since President Bush took office, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News survey.