Mediocris

East Asia getting dangerous

2006-03-09T09:44:00.000-05:00

Asia is heating up, fast.

The multilateral rows between China, Taiwan and Japan have been heating up over the past few days. Leaders on all sides are making mistakes that continue to aggravate the problem, with Chen Shui-bian's pointless abolotion of the National Unification Council; the discovery that China is stockpiling missiles faster than previously expected; the North Koreans shooting off missiles for no apparent reason, sparking a joint US-Japanese test of a missile defense system; and now the Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso calling Taiwan a "country", implying that it is soverign from China.

Meanwhile, in the US, John Warner, is threatening to withold American assistance from Taiwan if they continue to pursue an admittedly aggressively independent foreign policy. Warner's comments, which are equal parts bluster and disingenuity, underscore the central problem with East Asia: Bush completely lacks any plans to deal with the entire powder keg.

Does it make sense for GOP Senators to be making foreign policy on their own? Not so much. But it makes even less sense when the White House is silent on these critical steps that have been taken over the past few weeks. Something is shaking in North Korea, Japan and China continue to drag ties to a new low over territory rights in the waters between them, and Taiwan is stirring things up as well. And there is no sign that the US is willing to even begin confronting these problems.

Bush is either too scared to act, or too dumb to know what to do, (or, likely a combination of both). But in Asia, we don't have to be like Mike Mandelbaum's Goliath, threatening with weapons and towering over the other players.

What we need right now is a simple, easy, slow-paced talk-down of the respective leaders. The US needs to show some leadership in the region by dealing with these problems before they get out of hand. A single issue here isn't enough to put the region over the edge, but a conglomeration of them all is likely to do so. With Taiwan declaring "Anti-Aggression" days, China calling Japan's PM "stupid" and "immoral", it is clear that the status quo will no longer suffice. Let's hope that someone decides to play diplomat before these problems become unsolvable.

Torturerrific

2006-03-01T14:46:00.000-05:00

Where do you think Sharen Gravelle learned this trick? Juxtapose this:

The woman accused of locking some of her 11 adopted, special-needs children in cages cried on the witness stand Wednesday as she denied that she and her husband were cruel to his biological children.

with this:

"I saw wooden structures that had a solid wooden piece for a door, an alarm to left of the opening. There was a small handle on it. They were piled one on top of another. They looked like a kennel," said Jo Ellen Johnson of the Huron County Children and Family Services.

One guess. Or, heck, let's say two.

Ah right, that would be this:

US President George W Bush says the US Government is aggressively taking action to protect Americans from terrorism but "we do not torture".

Versus this?

A Syrian witness...said he was force-fed pork and alcohol, against Islamic law.
Another inmate, forced to masturbate in public, said US troops tortured Iraqis "like it was theatre for them".

Or maybe this from 2003?:

The US President, George W Bush, has denied allegations aired on this program last week, that prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, including two Australians, have been tortured.

with this

One regular procedure that was described by people who worked at Camp Delta, the main prison facility at the naval base in Cuba, was making uncooperative prisoners strip to their underwear, having them sit in a chair while shackled hand and foot to a bolt in the floor, and forcing them to endure strobe lights and screamingly loud rock and rap music played through two close loudspeakers, while the air-conditioning was turned up to maximum levels, said one military official who witnessed the procedure. The official said that was intended to make the detainees uncomfortable, as they were accustomed to high temperatures both in their native countries and their cells.

Such sessions could last up to 14 hours with breaks, said the official

and this

So I can see how Sharen might have been fooled into thinking that she could lock several children in small cages for hours at a time, and not be torturing them. It ain't right, but it's what she's learning from the top.

Maryland Needs Steely-Jesus

2006-02-28T08:58:00.000-05:00

Michael Steele, he of the imaginary cookie attack and the too-real comparison of stem cell research to the holocaust, is once again putting a foot where a mouth should be.

Michael S. Steele exhorted religious leaders yesterday to build stronger ties between church and state and called for targeting more state money for community programs run by faith-based groups.

As usual, the Post aids and abets Steele's gaffe in two major ways by:

* Presuming the existance of ties between Church and State and

* Not having a single Democrat or challenging voice in the whole preposterous article.

But there was worse to come.

"I wanted this to be a come-to-Jesus moment," Steele (R) continued. "We have a lot of different approaches but one common goal: to do good work that touches people's lives."

The phrase "Come to Jesus" has a few secular meanings. It means, secularly, to call someone out for making a mistake and set them on the right path. That's it. And that's not how Steele is using it here.

Steele is asking the State of Maryland to Come to Jesus, literally. How do I figure? Easy. Steele doesn't have a problem with how the faith-based groups are running. He says, after all, they all have a common goal. The problem for Steele is the State of Maryland not giving money to these groups, and other faith-based or community groups who don't ask for money.

"If somebody is whining, you need to kick that brother or sister to the curb. Our modern-day story is not physical enslavement but enslavement of the mind," Steele said. "This is the story of our faith and charitable communities."

Get it, Maryland? You need to Come to Jesus. The Jesus which is government-sponsored churches.

Amazing

2006-02-27T16:36:00.000-05:00

I'm always amazed at how conservatives can say things like this:

“I don’t think [Bush] was well served on the port issue by the bureaucracy,” said Republican Dirk Kempthorne of Idaho, who is leading a united front of governors pushing back on potential reductions to National Guard forces. “He’s at the forefront on national security. When you combine this flap on the ports, and these potential cuts on the military, you need to make sure that issue doesn’t slip away. It’s one of his strengths.”

He didn't understand the federal bureaucracy on a matter of national security, and is making critical cuts to the military in a time of a war of choice, and yet, you have to make sure this issue doesn't slip away?

Note to Dirk and the media: if you botch an issue repeatedly, without fail, it is no longer yours to have. It's slipped away. You don't get to have it back by just talking about it again.

The Coming Crisis with Taiwan

2006-02-27T08:56:00.000-05:00

President Chen Shui-bian of Taiwan has announced the termination of the National Unification Council, a government body that had lain dormant since he assumed office. The NUC's primary responsibility was to unify Taiwan with China. That such a committee existed for so long under Chen is surprising, that he is willing to throw it under the bus after losing ground in last year's elections is not.

While I don't deny that the Taiwan/China issue can continue as status quo forever, I don't accept that Chen Shui-bian is the man to bring about those changes, a sentiment that most of the world holds. China, of course, is supremely pissed:

The remarks also revealed Chen's attempt to carry out new independence activities, especially a try to pave the way for the so-called "reform of constitutional politics and Taiwan's nomological independence", the article said.

The US had already sent advisors to Taiwan secretly to convince Chen not to abolish the council. The logic of risking war to abolish an already dormant committee seems absurd.

Analysts who claim that this move will more likely result in increased tensions, rather than outright war are correct. But as Chen Shui-bian remains committed to making these kind of idiotic decisions, the world will see the current relatively stable situation between the two devolve into a much more unstable powderkeg.

Japanese Royal Birth

2006-02-25T09:35:00.000-05:00

Princess Kiko is due in July, according now to official reports. Props to her and Prince Fumihito for not finding out the baby's gender. No one will be able to control the staggering amount of press this will pick up in Japan. Of course everyone is dying for a boy, so that they can continue the royal line. For me, I think patriarchal Japan could use a strong empress role model, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a girl.

See No Evil

2006-02-24T16:04:00.000-05:00

"See no evil, Speak no evil, Hear no evil". Idiot.

Unsurprisingly, a young attractive white woman is chosen to represent a movement dominated by old, unattractive white men.

She is then gagged, her ears are stopped and her vision (figuratively) impaired. I don't know what's worse, the disgusting symbolism, or the fact that MSNBC is buying it, hook, line and sinker.

Un-foxing-believable

2006-02-24T15:26:00.000-05:00

So the bozos at Faux News think that, somehow, an all-out civil war in Iraq could be a good thing. Unreal.

What other headlines might Faux News have provided throughout history? One can only wonder:

Challenger Explosion: Could it deter aliens from assaulting the planet?

Watergate: Could this strengthen the Nixon Presidency?

Slavery: Well, I guess those folks would be otherwise be stuck in Africa. Right?

The Boston Massacre: Will this alleviate the separatist factions in the Colonies?

The Crucifixition of Jesus: Can we finally stop talking about helping the poor?

The kids are not all right

2006-02-24T11:10:00.000-05:00

Fast food doesn't just make you fat. A recent study found that

children who suffer from poor nutrition during the brain's most formative years score much lower on test scores of vocabulary, reading comprehension, arithmetic and general knowledge. Unhealthy eating habits also expose children to serious medical illnesses.

Not only that, but at the rate that kids are gaining weight,

many overweight kids would need to walk three miles or more a day to just prevent further weight gain, say researchers at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) in Houston.

Grandparents talk about walking to school because there wasn't any a transportation alternative. This generation may have to start walking to avoid diabetes, heart disease and early death.

The crisis you haven't heard about

2006-02-24T07:02:00.000-05:00

So it's been under the radar for most people the past few days, but the President of Taiwan, Chen Shui-Bian, seems determined to abolish the National Unification Council. Is this serious? Well, it is serious enough that two senior level officials flew secretly to Taiwan in an attempt to persuade Chen to change his mind. The officials, National Security Council Asia specialist Dennis Wilder and the State Department's chief Taiwan staffer, Clifford Hart, were apparently unsuccessful. And it's serious enough that China considers this a serious threat to "stability in the Asian region".

The NUC is a body whose sole purpose is to promote the reunification of Taiwan and China. Not something that a whole ton of Taiwanese are crazy about. But war with China is something that they are even less crazy about. Unfortunately, because Chen lost party elections in 2005, he has decided to become more aggressive in his pursuit of independence from the Mainland.

When the People's Daily begins carrying commentary like:

In his interview with Xinhua, Chen Yunlin, director of both the Taiwan Work Office of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, said on Wednesday that the remarks of Chen Shui-bian are a risky sign of escalation of Taiwan separatists' activities.
The cross-Straits relations would be undermined seriously and the fundamental interests of the Taiwan compatriots are bound to be impaired eventually, if Chen Shui-bian clings obstinately to his course, the director said.

These are not idle threats, either. If Chen goes ahead and abolishes the NUC, it is difficult to predict what China's next move would be. I doubt that all-out war would be the first option, but it certainly will remain on the table.

The Governor and the Chair

2006-02-23T08:55:00.000-05:00

So which candidate do you support in a Democratic primary?

Candidate A, who is opposed to the death penalty except in cases of terrorism, but would enforce the death penalty per existing state law.

or Candidate B, who's in favor of the death penalty, but supports a moratorium pending additional research into the finding of a state-sponsored study that alleged bias, by race and geography, in the way the death penalty statute is applied in your state.

This is a dilemma that Democrats in Maryland face. As someone who is strongly anti-death penalty, I would prefer a flat out anti-state killing candidate. Given the two choices, though, I think I would actually support Candidate B. Why? Because candidate A is taking the easy way out, especially with that little "terrorism" bone. For me, treason is a more serious crime than terrorism, so if you're going to start making exceptions to a moral rule, you'd have to start there. But making case by case exceptions is bogus anyway, if it's a strongly held belief.

Candidate B, on the other hand, is asking tough questions. Even as someone who is in favor of state killings, Candidate B is at least willing to put a stop to all of them until it can be determined whether or not there is bias in the way the state kills people. Of course there is bias there, which would mean that Candidate B would likely continue the moratorium indefinitely.

If I was a single issue voter, which I am not, Candidate B would be due my vote. You can read the Post article to figure out that I would be supporting Doug Duncan in Maryland.

Like misspelling potato

2006-02-15T13:07:00.000-05:00

I've been a bit concerned about all of the "coverage of the coverage" of the Vice-President shooting a 78 year-old man in the face. Meta-media stories tend to lose the actual story while obsessing about how they are covering the story. This has been the case from the beginning with this shooting, as the press has been more concerned about when the shooting was reported, rather than the fact that it occurred. And now, it seems, my concerns have been justified.

The incident recalls Vice President Dan Quayle misspelling "potato" for a New Jersey sixth-grader in 1992 and President Jimmy Carter hitting an aggressive rabbit with a canoe paddle in 1979. Both incidents played into existing public images of the men and exploded into national jokes.

Yes, it's a story on the media jokes surrounding the shooting, but can you really say with a straight face that blasting a 78 year-old man with a shotgun is the same as misspelling a word? The only parallel I see is that, in America, it's relatively easy to do both.

O'Malley troubles are growing

2006-02-15T11:06:00.000-05:00

So Martin O'Malley is not willing to play ball with an obviously Republican partisan crime study. Some people are ok with that, after all, it's obviously a cheap trick by Ehrlich to come out on top. And Doug Duncan has found an issue where people will pay attention to him, so this puppy ain't going anywhere anytime soon.

My problem, though, is with O'Malley on this one. Everyone can see that Ehrlich and Duncan are just trying to play politick on this one. But if you haven't done anything wrong, you should welcome an investigation, yes, even if it's motivated by the opposite party.

This stonewalling is exactly the crap that is turning people off of the GOP on a national level, and I think O'Malley will lose some significant ground unless he decides to play ball.

Egg headed winners

2006-02-15T07:25:00.000-05:00

I have an egg-shaped head and I've never won a championship because of it. Not that I'm bitter about that.

Tagging our workers

2006-02-14T09:31:00.000-05:00

So now it's hip to chip, as in microchip your workers.

An Ohio company has embedded silicon chips in two of its employees - the first known case in which US workers have been “tagged” electronically as a way of identifying them.

Of course it will be used strictly for security reasons, like how many times did Joe go to the bathroom, and where did Larry go on that twelve minute smoke break?

And the eating of our own begins

2006-02-14T09:17:00.000-05:00

Geez, a foot of snow and the Maryland Dems resort to cannibalism:

Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan, the gubernatorial primary rival to Mayor Martin O'Malley, said yesterday that the mayor's claims of overseeing the biggest drop in violent crime in the nation are "very suspect" and should be subjected to an independent audit.

I haven't made up my mind in this race yet, but I do know that primaries don't need to be run on negative fuel. The only person this crap helps is Ehrlich.

O'Malley called Duncan's attacks "desperate" and chided him for trying to advance in the polls by bashing Baltimore. A member of the mayor's staff, who attended the Duncan event, distributed statistics afterward showing that violent crime in Montgomery County has increased 23 percent since 1999.

That shit goes for you, too, O'Malley. Both of you all need to get your houses in order first. The story that's going to come out of this whole mess is that Democrats are weak on crime. Let's keep it positive, fellas.

Marshal Cokehead

2006-02-13T16:56:00.000-05:00

Two air marshals have been busted for smuggling 15 kilos of coke. Kind of makes you wonder about that whole shooting in Florida, now, doesn't it? Maybe someone was feeling a bit jumpy? Hearing things about bombs that weren't being said? Yikes.

bigots welcome

2006-02-13T16:37:00.000-05:00

It's thread posts like this one at redstate that make you wonder why any sane homosexual would affiliate themselves with a party that makes no bones about hating them.

Your thoughts [on the Olympics] are appreciated, but be prepared for harassment if you are a guy and admit you like to watch the figure skating. This is REDState, not BLUEState.

Seriously. Being a log cabin republican is like signing up for the African-american chapter of the KKK.

Kwan, quitting, and country

2006-02-13T09:27:00.000-05:00

So the two schools of thought on Michelle Kwan go something like this:

*She was selfish for wanting to go to Italy when she knew that she probably wouldn't be able to compete, and the Olympic Committee was dumb for trusting her and letting her go. She did, however, make the right move in resigning from competition.

* Kwan is a brave athlete who was simply trying to do her best, and, regardless of the outcome, we should applaud her for being so, feisty, as well as honest, for allowing another athlete a shot at a gold she couldn't win.

Pick a side, I don't care. Both have merits, but the one thing that both arguments agree on is that Kwan did the right thing by quitting a competition she could not hope to win.

Now tell me, why is it that Americans can agree that it's ok to quit if it might allow a 15 year-old American ice skater a shiny medal, but that it's not ok to quit when it might save another 2200 Americans their lives?

Over-dramatic? Sure. Simplified? You bet. But the psychology fits. A public was fooled into thinking that someone could do a job that they couldn't. The competitor did her best. But she just couldn't accomplish the mission that she set out on. Not only that, but she knew that trying to compete would cost someone else, a fellow American, a chance at happiness. So when push came to shove, Michelle shoved herself out.

Now, in Iraq, it is painfully obvious that the American army, while still the best in the world, is not going to get the job done. Violence shows no signs of abating, public services are worse now than they were after a brutal 10-year international embargo, and we continue to lose good men and women over ground that we've won and lost for the past three years.

Not only that, but it seems that the only chance that the Iraqis might have for peace is if we let someone else take our place. Be it the UN, a new international coalition, or Iraqi troops themselves, the only chance that Iraqis have for stability and peace is for the US to honorably withdraw from combat.

It might be trite, but it's true.

Fristed

2006-02-11T08:45:00.000-05:00

You want to know why Bill Frist is going nowhere, fast? It's because when he has the opportunity to hit softballs, he ducks. He's asked to comment on Ann Coulter referring to Muslims as "ragheads", and instead of picking up the easy points (any derivation of "I am opposed to hateful rhetoric and ethnic slurs") he doesn't want to comment because he wasn't there. Hey Frist, I wasn't at the latest KKK rally in Tennessee, but I can tell you that I opposed it. Try that one on for size.

Experience Censorship, Today!

2006-02-10T14:52:00.000-05:00

With all of the furor going on over Google and China, I thought I would try my own experiment. I went to the Chinese google site and typed in 西藏独立, which, for the non-Chinese speakers out there, means "Tibetan Independence". The only links that came up were Chinese state-sponsored, usually articles from the People's Daily or Xinhua. For example, the first hit was an article entitled "'西藏的主权归属与人权状况', 二、所谓'西藏独立'的由来", or "'The Condition of Tibetan Self-rule and human rights', 2 [referring to section two of this paper] the origins of the so-called 'Tibetan Independence'", on the People's Daily site.

Compare that to a similar search on the regular google site, where the first thing that appears is an article in the Chinese-language version of Wikipedia that describes the Tibetan Independence movement and features the Tibetan flag, a forbidden image in China.

The second, and more interesting, test was when the Chinese Google site went to an error screen when I asked it to search for 民主党，or "The Democracy Party", a forbidden political party in China. When I took out the 党 character (or 'party'), no errors came up, and plenty of sites were visible. By contrast, searching for the same characters in regular google returned the Hong Kong Democracy party, as well as the forbidden site of the China Democracy party.

Anyone interested, with Chinese language capabilities on their computer, can try cutting and pasting these same slogans into regular and chinese google, to see the results. The long and short of it is, censorship is right there for us to see, for now.

Oh, what a Blue House could do...

2006-02-10T10:09:00.000-05:00

For future visions of Bush being held to accountability standards higher than those of Fox News, one needs only travel a few miles from DC to the mythical land of Annapolis. Maryland's true Red Governor, Bob Ehrlich, faces a blue house and senate. And, while the national democratic party could not hope (well, we can hope for anything, really) for a veto-busting sized majority following the elections this fall, 50+ in the Senate is not out of reach, nor is a tide-turning 218 in the House. Aside from hearings on Iraq, Katrina, and other serious crises, imagine the following scene.

Jim Oberstar, the new chairman of the House committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, invites Norman Mineta, Secretary of Transportation, to a hearing on Federal shortfalls in promised money. Unbeknownest to Secretary Mineta, Chairman Oberstar also invites a few dozen governors and mayors to the hearing as well. As Mineta frets and fumes, the mayors and governors relate stories of millions of dollars of promised federal infrastructure support that has simply not materialized. Moreover, the mayors and governors talk about the increased burden they face because of the fiscal irresponsibility of the Bush administration.

Doesn't sound like much, eh? Well, imagine this happening every day.

In Maryland, the equivalent of this happened yesterday in Annapolis.

After lecturing Flanagan on the need to keep the business of filling potholes nonpartisan, Franchot -- who is running for the Democratic nomination for comptroller -- invited the mayors to stand and tell how the loss of state highway funds was hurting their citizens.

As Flanagan stewed at the witness table, mayors and local council members told stories of being denied $50,000 here or $200,000 there -- insignificant sums in a state budget measured in billions but in some cases one-fifth of a municipal transportation budget.

While the GOP called it an ambush, when the pressure was put on, they began eating their own:

But back in the committee room, Flanagan's contention wasn't getting much support -- even from members of his own Republican Party.

John Martin, a budget analyst with the Department of Legislative Services, told the panel that the Transportation Department had "additional capacity there to find some money," and that the issue is "easily resolved by writing a check to the localities tomorrow."

End result? The GOP looks bad, the Governor looks fiscally irresponsible and the mayors make a point.

Now imagine this, once again, at a national level. Imagine it, not only in transportation, but in Defense, in Education, in Agriculture, in Appropriations, in International Relations, in Small Business. Imagine official after official getting called out and taken to task. Imagine the media coverage as Mineta sweats, as Rumsfeld steams. And imagine the Bush administration no longer getting a free pass. Ladies and gentlemen, imagine your oppositional congress, in power. This is what the framers had in mind. This is what we must do in 2006. It looks good in Annapolis. It will look even better in DC.

Yahoo! or Yes, Hu!

2006-02-09T13:32:00.000-05:00

Seems like Yahoo can't work closely enough with the Chinese secret police when it comes to jailing possible political dissidents. After earlier criticism of its cooperation with the Chinese in the jailing of reporter Shi Tao (for revealing state secrets, a favorite catch-all for Beijing), Yahoo has once agained helped the Beijing government by providing key data that lead to the arrest of Li Zhi. Mr. Li apparently posted comments online that were critical of official corruption.

To me, this is much more troubling than Google agreeing to censor its search engine results; which, while still weak-willed, does not actively help the Chinese in searching for thought criminals. In my book, Yahoo is guilty of human rights abuses. For shame.

Ehrlich booing is only gossip

2006-02-09T09:05:00.000-05:00

So when Ehrlich gets booed by a stadium full of college basketball fans, it's only gossip. I wonder how the Post would have treated a 10,000+ person booing of Doug Duncan.

Asbestos and Secrecy

2006-02-09T09:01:00.000-05:00

The debate on the asbestos legislation makes clear the divide between the GOP and the Democrats when it comes to public information. To the GOP, information is public if a Democratic senate staffer can come into a room and see a list, but not remove it, make a copy of it, or reveal its contents to anyone but the Senator that he works for, who is also bound to keep the information confidential. To the Democrats, information is public when the public can hear it.

Let Taiwan into the WHO

2006-02-03T09:26:00.000-05:00

With all of the concern over bird flu and other pandemic diseases like SARS that originate in Asia, you would think that the US would work to plug a giant gap in the global health shield against these outbreaks. The World Health Organization (WHO) has routinely denied a nation with 23 million people access, even as an observer member, to WHO events like the upcoming May conference in Geneva, or next week's Avian Flu summit in Beijing. That nation is Taiwan.

Regardless what your position may be on the China-Taiwan issue, you can't help but recognize that the WHO's failure to include Taiwan could result in a critical missed step in any global pandemic. The capital of Taiwan, Taipei is a cosmopolitan hub of several million people, with flights coming and going all over the world. If an outbreak took place in Hong Kong, Taiwan is likely one of the first places that would be infected. With the current system that is in place, the WHO would need Beijing's approval to go into Taiwan, a process that could take critical hours or days, permitting an epidemic to take place. Moreover, by being shut out of these meetings, Taiwan could miss out on critical information sharing on different diseases, creating a weak spot in the global front against disease.

If you think this is far-fetched, you're wrong. I was living in Taiwan during the 9/21 earthquake, a 7.6 monster that killed 2,500 people in modern urban buildings. It is well documented that China refused several countries' requests to aid the island and blocked access of WHO experts from disaster scenes.

Taiwan is seeking access to the WHO, not as a full member, which might cause political problems with Beijing, but only as an observer, which is the same status aS Palestine.

By routinely shutting out Taiwan, both from access to aid, and from providing aid to other nations, like the South Asia earthquake last year, China has proven that it is no friend of global health. Moreover, China has routinely lied about disease outbreaks like AIDS, SARS and Bird Flu. Why would we bow to Beijing's demands on health issues when they have proven themselves so dangerously irresponsible in looking after their own people?

A bi-partisan group in Congress is leading an effort to attempt to get the Bush administration to put pressure on the Chinese to allow this to happen. Last year's efforts failed. The Congressional Taiwan Caucus is 150 members strong. I would urge you to visit their bi-partisan member list to see if your legislator is a member. If so, please write them to let them know you support Taiwan's application as an observer member to the WHO. If not, then let your representatives and senators know that you want to plug a critical hole in the global health network by allowing Taiwan observer status in the WHO.

Evolution in the lab

2006-02-02T16:57:00.000-05:00

OK, so scientists can demonstrate evolution in a lab setting. What is this debate about again? Manimals?

Weird...

2006-02-02T11:49:00.000-05:00

If by weird, Donald H. Dwyer means a bigot, then yes, we do think he's weird.

Rumsfeld: Stupid or Lying?

2006-02-02T10:51:00.000-05:00

Donald Rumsfeld once again proved that he either has little to no understanding of the insurgency in Iraq, or is willing to flat out lie at a Pentagon news conference. His claim that the insurgency is "on the run" is, of course, laughable, but sort of standard blind rhetoric from the administration. What is really concerning is this:

They clearly have a lot of pressure on them.” But “it doesn’t mean they can’t go kill people, it doesn’t mean they can’t hire people to go out and blow themselves up.”

That the Secretary of Defense actually thinks that Suicide bombers are recruited for pay would be laughable were it not so dangerous.

As anyone who has studied terrorism (or really, anyone at all) can tell you, money is not the reason that someone goes out and commits suicide. In an interview with a would-be suicide bomber, the AP reveals as much:

Most attackers are driven not by poverty or ignorance, but by a lethal mix of nationalism, zealotry and humiliation.

When a prominent official thinks otherwise, more than four years after 9/11, this administration's willful misunderstanding of the situation in Iraq and elsewhere becomes crystal clear.

Addictions

2006-02-01T13:22:00.000-05:00

I'm certain that everyone agrees that oil does play a crucial role in driving the US economy. However, does that mean that we need to reject calls to end this dependency through scientific advances? Wingnuts would rather continue to deny the future by preventing themselves from imagining anything other than the present. Not surprising. Republicans have no plans to move towards the future, only to cling to the past.

Maryland GOP goes off deep end

2006-02-01T09:10:00.000-05:00

The Maryland GOP, having seen a united Democratic front stand up and override vetoes on raising the minimum wage and forcing Wal-Mart off the public dole, is devolving into a state of pure bigotry and hate. The Post this morning describes the "breathtakingly vicious" anti-gay marriage constitutional amendment that local bigot Donald H. Dwyer is trying to pass through the house.

[Democratic Del. Luis R. S.] Simmons said the proposed amendment, submitted by Del. Donald H. Dwyer Jr. (R-Anne Arundel), would nullify local laws in Montgomery County and Baltimore that allow gay public employees to extend health benefits to their partners and to own property jointly. A law professor later said Dwyer's proposal was "so incoherent and sloppy" that it could inadvertently outlaw divorce.

Seeing public support erode in the past few weeks and a strong Democratic party rising with solid candidates for all statewide positions, the GOP has devolved once again into the party of hate.

But in their rush to stone the gay and lesbian population of Maryland, they forgot to leave their own homes. Putting out this terrible piece of filth as an attempt at law gives evidence to the bigotry and hatred behind the so-called "marriage protection" movement, by not only banning gay marriage but eating away at the civil rights of tax-paying citizens.

Moreover, by accidentally making Divorce a potential target of the legislation, these zealots have laid bare the evidence that they are not content to only peep in the bedrooms of America's gay population. A Hopeful America, indeed.

Like Mentor, Like Protege

2006-01-31T12:21:00.000-05:00

The only problem with former top-ranking Walmart exec Tom Coughlin's $500K shoplifting spree was that the company lost money. He forgot the one vital trick that his mentor, Sam Walton, passed on to his company. Never charge the company what you can make the taxpayers pony up for.

On the other hand, I admire a man who can steal that much money in snakeskin boots and Bloody Mary mix.

Local news shocker

2006-01-30T12:50:00.000-05:00

So last night, I was watching the usually unpalatable local news to catch the weather. The weather, of course, is very warm again, it's supposed to be up to 70 F today. After the weather guy turns it back to the anchor, the anchor makes some innocuous "So, are we going to get charged for all this great weather?" line, expecting some silly response, and the weatherman says "Yes, actually, this is global warming. They've just announced that 2005 was the warmest year on record in the US." Totally sweet. I'm sure a few people choked on their dinners.

Chen goes on warpath

2006-01-30T11:01:00.000-05:00

Chen Shuibian is going on the warpath again, threatening to abolish the National Unification Council and the Guidelines for National Unification. Of course it's true that Taiwanese perceptions on reunification have altered significantly, and that the function of the Council and text of the Guidelines could be revisited.

But to propose scrapping them, while simultaneously calling for a new Constitution and Taiwanese membership in the UN under the name Taiwan is really throwing the gauntlet down. I'm no KMT apologist, but I have to say that the DPP under Chen has proven itself remarkably adept at causing unnecessary friction in the straits. Look for tensions to go up, way up, over the next week.

Why Woodruff Matters

2006-01-30T09:25:00.000-05:00

One aspect of the Woodruff attack that bears discussing is the fact that now, for the first time, millions of Americans know someone who went to Iraq and got injured. Think about this for a minute. While we all felt bad for the Cameraman, he was another faceless figure who took one for the team. But Bob Woodruff, well, people see him every day. You get familiar with TV faces like his, and you feel like you know them.

That's why, for many Americans, the Woodruff attack could be a turning point. For those of us who have had family come back from the service injured these past few years do not need any reminders about the seriousness of the War on Iraq. But many Americans live in a happy bubble, where the War on Iraq is simply a few discomforting moments a day, before you can flip to Seinfeld or turn to the comics.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that Bob Woodruff is or should be a tool of the Anti-War movement. The entire war and its mismanagement serves that purpose just fine. I do hope and pray for Bob and for Doug Vogt, the nameless cameraman.

But I hope that Bob goes back on the air soon, scars and all, to relay his experience. I hope he turns to the viewing public as a supportive family, and shares his rehab, his horror with us. Because, for many Americans, it may be the only chance they get to hear it from someone they really know.

China, et al

2006-01-27T13:52:00.000-05:00

China is pissed that Lee Teng-hui is visiting Japan. Added to the multiple visits of Koizumi to the Yasakuni shrine, Beijing reports that ties will only continue to worsen.

Meanwhile, China supports Russia in dealing with Iran, and the US has managed to push India in the wrong direction on the same issue thanks to an idiot ambassador. An idiot ambassador, by the way, who happened to be a major GOP donor. Prediction: India, Russia and China find more common ground in trying to deal with the Bush administration.

7 Challenger myths

2006-01-27T09:23:00.000-05:00

James Oberg has a great piece on MSNBC about 7 serious myths about the Challenger disaster. Read the whole piece.

Something he doesn't address is the fact that NASA is still using space shuttles. In space terms, it would be as if we were all still driving Studebakers with no seatbelts and running on leaded gasoline. Funny how, when the Cold War ended, so did the upgrades to our space vehicles.

Gun-toting VA Delegate shoots up the place

2006-01-27T07:51:00.000-05:00

If you brought a gun to work, started fiddling around with it and accidentally fired it, what would happen? Something else might get fired, right? Well, Virginia Delegate John "Jack" Reid, chair of the General Laws committee, did just that.

Del. John S. "Jack" Reid had gone through this morning routine dozens of times. He'd reach into his pocket, pull out his small semiautomatic .380 handgun, release the clip and store the weapon safely in the desk drawer of his office on the seventh floor of the Virginia General Assembly Building.
But something went wrong Thursday. Reid's pistol, which he said he carries for protection, fired as he popped the clip from the handle, sending a single bullet into the cushion of a bulletproof vest that was hanging from the back of his closed office door.

I'm not going to get into the easy yes/no debate on the legality of handguns. But what kind of a world do we live in where a delegate in a state house of representatives feels so threatened that he carries a goddamn gun to work?

After all, a visit to the VA House Appropriations Committee website warns:

Please note that due to security measures currently in place at the Capitol and General Assembly Building, it is advisable to leave all personal items in your vehicle. Everyone visiting the Capitol and General Assembly Building will be asked to pass through metal detectors and all personal belongings will be searched.

Apparently the real fear is of Richmond, and has inspired at least one other delegate to bring heat into the place of government:

"Richmond is a dangerous place," said Del. Charles W. Carrico Sr. (R-Grayson), a former state trooper who spent a year as an undercover police officer in Richmond and carries his gun in the lawmakers' office building. "I carry to protect myself and my family."

The problem we have here, ladies and gentlemen, is not a gun problem. It is a brain problem. When you carry a gun to protect yourself, you are not protected if you don't know how to use it. For example, if you can't take the gun out of its holster without shooting it off accidentally. Nobody is safe. And Reid notes in this story that he would never do what he did, i.e. put his finger on a trigger when he is not on a shooting range. But he did.

Of course there should be a debate about whether or not guns should be allowed to be carried in the House, even by legislators (I think Mr. Reid has answered that question for us with his ineptitude). But the real question is: will Mr. Reid's boss (i.e. his electorate) fire him for playing with a gun at work? The answer seems to be no. But the voters in VA's 72nd should ask themselves: would I get fired for the same thing? And wouldn't I have to agree with being fired?

GOP can Filibuster, why not Dems?

2006-01-26T14:08:00.000-05:00

We can pick and choose about the differences of state and national legislatures, but when it comes down to it, a filibuster is a filibuster. And the Maryland GOP is not afraid to filibuster a bill that funds stem cell research.

Plain and simple, stem cell research is a bread and butter anti-choice issue, and the GOP is making no bones about trying to block the legislation.

Sure, six Dems are going along with the filibuster, but that's important only because the state GOP needs those votes to carry out a filibuster. And stem cell research, like choice, is an issue where the majority of Americans are in the Democratic camp.

In comparison, the National Dems don't even need all of their Senators to go in on a filibuster where the majority of Americans support a particular issue (maintaining a pro-choice court) and they don't even have the balls to try it out. Pathetic.

calling a spy a spy

2006-01-25T12:37:00.000-05:00

Bush can rename the domestic spying without a warrant program whatever he wants, but it doesn't change the nature of the beast. I'm sure Clinton had some inventive names for things as well, but it doesn't mean the media has to give them any credibility.

What if Bush wanted to make it the "A Lollipop for Every Young Child And Toddler"? Would the Media start talking about how the ALLEYCAT program is all about lollies, because Bush said so? Would wiretaps disappear from the table?

Taking gifts from strangers

2006-01-25T11:51:00.000-05:00

It appears that some doctors are finally remembering that age old truth about gifts from strangers.

The relationships [between doctors and pharmaceutical companies] can prompt doctors to order unnecessary tests, prescribe more expensive medicines or advocate adding certain medications to a hospital's list of preferred drugs, he said.

Although most doctors say their relationships with drugmakers do not affect medical decisions, numerous studies suggest otherwise.

I wonder if those studies get axed from "peer reviewed" magazines as well?

Battered Congress Syndrome

2006-01-25T09:21:00.000-05:00

cross posted at mediocris

Ruth Marcus of the Post nails the Bush Administration's treatment of congress this morning. During Monday's Senate Appropriations hearing, Bush's two top mine safety officials walked out, despite the Chairman's request that they stay:

The administration's two top mine safety officials had finished testifying, but Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) asked them to stick around for an extra hour in case other questions came up -- as is the panel's custom. Sorry, said David G. Dye, the acting assistant secretary of labor for mine safety and health. He and Ray McKinney, the federal administrator of coal mine safety, had too much real work to do to sit around listening to a group of pesky senators...
Specter...dryly noted that the assembled senators also had some "pressing matters" on their plates. "So we don't think we're imposing too much to keep you here for another hour," he said. At which point the administration officials walked out a back door of the hearing room.

It goes on...

[T]his, in a nutshell, is the way this executive branch treats its supposedly equal partner: as an annoying impediment to the real work of government. It provides information to Congress grudgingly, if at all. It handles letters from lawmakers like junk mail, routinely tossing them aside without responding.
It unabashedly evades the need for Senate confirmation of officials by resorting to recess appointments, even for key government posts; see, for example, the recent recess appointments of the top immigration official, the number two person at the Defense Department and half of the Federal Election Commission.
It thinks of congressional oversight as if it were a trip to the dentist, to be undertaken reluctantly and gotten over with as quickly as possible. Most astonishingly, it reserves the right simply to ignore congressional dictates [i.e. laws] that it has decided intrude too much on executive branch power. President Bush's thumb-in-the-congressional-eye statement when he signed the bill banning torture of detainees, in which he announced that he would construe the law "in a manner consistent with the constitutional authority of the President," is one recent, and flagrant, example.

Read the whole piece if you can, I would encourage it. She goes on to hammer Bush on his supposed "congressional briefings" on the illegal wiretaps.

For my part, I believe that this sort of behavior, more than anything else, is what eventually could flip a key number of Republicans over to the side of impeachment. The Bush Administration is routinely rejecting the Constitutionally mandated system of government.

And, more importantly to a lot of these GOP congressmen, the Bush Administration is giving them absolutely no respect. I don't know how much longer Congress can be expected to play the whipping boy to the Bush Administration, especially a lame-duck administration loaded with scandal and disasters.

Perhaps all of the talk about Impeachment isn't too out of line after all...

Wingnut Favorites for 2008

2006-01-24T13:01:00.000-05:00

Rightwing News emailed 230 conservative bloggers to get a grip on the Wingnut flavor of the month. The top five '08 nominees include two pro-choicers (Giuliani and Rice), a candidate who divorced his first wife when she was in the hospital and then his second when she found out about his affair with his current third wife (Gingrich), a man without a heart (Cheney), a man who isn't polling at 50% in his own Senatorial reelection bid in a red state (Allen). McCain was the least popular nod (the Johnmentum of the Right).

The funny thing is, this is the wingnut dream slate. Remind me not to complain about my choices in 2008, please, unless my choices are two anti-choicers, a man who divorces his wives either in the hospital or by phone on Mother's day, an evil corporate robot or a washed-up empty suit of a Senator.

More fiscal irresponsibility

2006-01-24T10:05:00.000-05:00

Gov. Ehrlich continues the Republican party's long and notorious reputation for being bad with money, according to the nonpartisan Department of Legislative Services's office in Maryland.

Ehrlich is slated to put Maryland one billion dollars in the hole within two years. This is, of course, because Ehrlich feels that, in order to portray himself as a moderate, he has to engage in reckless spending, with slot machines as a pipe-dream source of revenue.

Meanwhile, when Doug Duncan tries to push a responsible budget for school construction in Montgomery County, the Post slams him for delaying the construction of schools. As the husband of a teacher who works in a portable, I understand more than most people the need for better school construction in the County. But Duncan is simply pointing out the obvious--with Gov. Ehrlich's irresponsible spending, we can't rely on state funds that probably won't be there in a few years.

The best thing to do is plan for the worst and hope for the best. As the GOP (and the media) still need to learn, there is nothing moderate about irresponsiblity.

Problems and Solutions

2006-01-23T09:59:00.000-05:00

The number of pasty-faced teenagers flooding the district today to talk about an issue that they don't understand is pretty substantial. Amanda at Pandagon makes a solid point about "what women really want", in that all women who get abortions don't actually want them. She's talking about notification laws, but I think it is a broader point. It reminded me of an exchange last night at the rally in front of the supreme court where an antichoicer was confronting a woman standing next to me. The woman had an abortion after being raped.

The antichoicer then claimed to love the woman (is there anything creepier than that, btw?), and said she supported her in what must have been a hard decision. The woman then pointed out that it was an easy decision, actually, because she had been raped and didn't want a child.

This hit some sort of logical short circuit for the antichoicer, which resulted in some ill-chosen biblical verse and other odd claims about DNA.

Fly on the wall

2006-01-23T07:35:00.000-05:00

Not a conspiracy theorist, or even one of the tinfoil-hat "China Threat" crowd--but man, what I wouldn't give to be a fly on the wall when China's Hu Jintao meets with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia in Beijing this week.

Like most China-watchers, I doubt that China will try to challenge America's role in Saudi Arabia, but then again, even though China bought 1/3 less oil than the US did in 2005 from the Saudis, 440,000 barrels per day has to count for something.

And this is, after all, the first visit of a Saudi monarch to China after diplomatic ties were forged in 1990. King Abdullah and Prince Saud Faisal? Feeling the love by signing a few agreements during his time in China:

"We hope this cooperation will develop even more in the future," King Abdullah said. "We emphasise (that) we praise the important role China plays regionally and internationally."

"China is one of the most important markets for Saudi oil and Saudi oil is one of the most important sources of energy for China," said Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal.

In totally unrelated news, gas prices are going up again.

On the steps of the court - some observations

2006-01-22T21:05:00.000-05:00

My wife and I went to a candlelight vigil at the Supreme Court to support the Roe V. Wade decision this evening. As we neared the building, we noticed the horde of young white baby-faced teenagers sporting "American Holocaust" T-shirts, among other nonsensical anti-choice slogans. When we arrived in front of the Court, there was one lone Pro-Choice representative, a young woman of about twenty. She left shortly after we arrived, as she had held the fort down with a bunch of anti-choice nuttos for about three hours.

Shortly after our arrival, the Pro-Choice contingency began arriving, with signs and other goodies. The anti-choice and zealot crowd was growing quickly as well. When the president of the DC Planned Parenthood chapter spoke to some reporters who had gathered (one of whom nicely filled me in on the Steelers' game, I'm only human, admittedly), the antichoicers quickly tried to fill the background with signs and nasty talkback. Myself and a few others went to the rescue, putting up NOW signs and generally trying to represent. When a nutso anti-choice woman tried to bring down the sign of a woman standing in front of me, disrupting the interview, I gently asked both of them to back up a step, touching them both on the arm. Some zealot behind me screamed bloody murder, yelling at me for "touching their girl", apparently meaning the sign-grabbing teenager in front of me.

When I pointed out that I was asking both women to back up (to give the interviewer more space and to lessen tensions), I was accused again of assault. So I zipped my lips and began sitting back, listening to the nutso rhetoric of the antichoice movement. And I began to think of a general rule that might be good for many Americans to apply to any debate.

Imagine, for a moment, that those of us in front of the Supreme Court held blank signs, and chanted nonsense slogans. In other words, imagine that you couldn't tell who was supporting what. In order to decide what group to support, you could only rely upon observation of a group. Here are your choices.

Group A is diverse in age and in race, but not in gender. Group B is overwhelmingly white and young, but equally balanced gender-wise.

Group A does not engage in slanderous or argumentative behavior. Group B members frequently confront Group A, physically pushing them and also making accusations and generally slandering them.

Group A members gather together to listen to members of their group speak. After their speechs have concluded, they try to leave the area without engaging the other group. Group B members attempt to disrupt the speech by chanting, slandering, making racist and/or sexist allegations towards the members of Group A.

Group A's signs (which we can't read, remember) are mostly all letters. The only pictoral image on those signs is a coat-hanger. Group B's signs, which we can't read, are often decorated with bloody and disturbing images.

I'm sure you can figure out which group was which at this particular rally. And really, when it was all said and done, I was proud to be a member of Group A, the pro-choice movement. Even as one of only a few men there, I was welcomed into the group, which was positive and happy to have me along.

But, to be fair, I learned some interesting things from the other side, which I will leave you with:

* Pro-choice men scare some women more than anything (because, I learned later, we don't care about women)
* I was only there because my wife made me go
* I have ovaries
* I have a uterus
* All I think about is vaginas
* The weird looking teenager with a picture of a fetus on his shirt would like to kill me, as his own personal choice.
* I am a wonderful and supportive husband, a good friend to other women, and willing to be the big guy that is positioned in front of a particularly offensive sign (because of my wingspan and my inability to be pushed).

Thanks for reading, and have a great and peaceful evening.

Google changes rules for China

2006-01-21T12:49:00.000-05:00

John Shinal of Marketwatch nails the most disturbing part of the debate going on now about internet privacy. Privacy advocates can hardly hail Google as a champion of individual rights when they have previously kowtowed to demands from Beijing by blocking access to Tibetan and Taiwanese sites from their Chinese-version search engine. And let's not forget MSN's quick capitulation in banning controversial Chinese bloggers.

As Shinal says:

I'm not sure what's more troubling -- the fact that the U.S. government wanted to get its hands on the Internet search results of millions of its citizens, or that some of the leading search firms were so quick to provide the data.

The question really becomes one of incentives. If the US government begins to threaten companies like Google in order to gain access to their records, will Google capitulate, as they did in China? Is the US becoming more like China in our retraction of rights, instead of the other way around? Tinfoil hatters will be having a field day with these issues.

Clergy and gay rights

2006-01-21T09:54:00.000-05:00

Black gay rights groups are smart to try and get clergy involved in their struggle.

Clearly, the GOP isn't afraid to pimp this issue to pick up traditionally Democratic votes. And certainly there are some logical problems with the queer-rights community completely equating their struggle to the black civil rights movement.

But the real question is whether or not these two communities will decide to come together to work for their common interests, or whether they will allow the GOP to continue to divide and conquer.

NBA moment

2006-01-20T14:49:00.000-05:00

I'm not an NBA fan, but I have been following the debate surrounding Antonio Davis and his decision to go into the stands to defend his wife from what he perceived to be an assault.

Three quick points:

First, why does the media need to harp on the fact that Kendra Davis is verbally abusive. Have they been to a Knicks game? Or any other sporting event? Fans are nasty. I'm surprised there aren't more incidents involving players' families, who are often closer than you might think, particularly if you're in a good seat. If someone was being verbally abusive to her husband, should she just shut up and listen?

Second, why was Davis suspended at all? He didn't throw any punches, he simply wanted to end a potentially dangerous situation. Fine him, but don't punish him for being concerned about his wife.

Third, how different would this situation be if Davis and his wife were white, and the man accused of assaulting her was black? I'm just sayin...

China warns US against war with Iran

2006-01-20T13:26:00.000-05:00

A headline at the People's Daily right now: Iran is not Iraq. Seems silly enough. Of course the military and socio-economic situations of both countries are different.

But, to a greater extent, this is a warning. Don't invade Iran. Not only because it would be stupid, and because you'd face a much more difficult time of things than Iraq (which, as Kos pointed out via the UPI, is pretty significant in itself), but because it would drive energy prices around the world sky-high, directly affecting China itself. In other words, China is perceiving the US threat against Iran to be directly in opposition to its own well-being, which could result in some very serious consequences to the US.

I'm not saying that we should be cowed by China, but I'm also not saying that we should treat this as an idle threat. This is pretty damn serious, folks.

America, you voted for Coal

2006-01-20T12:31:00.000-05:00

With all of the disasters currently taking place in America's coal mines, it's only fair to point out that Americans, in fact, voted for coal when they voted for George W. Bush. A vote for W was a vote for an increase in the usage of coal as an "alternative" energy source. It was also a vote for industry deregulation through the appointment of industry cronies as well as the relaxation of environmental standards.

This is something that cannot be understated. By putting Bush in the White House, America committed itself to an increase in coal production in association with a decrease in regulation. When you ask the world's most dangerous industry to increase production and then take away safety incentives, you are essentially committing miners to death.

The most obvious comparison is China, where private coal mines have sprung up to meet the demands of an energy thirsty populace. The result is that 6,000 Chinese miners die every year.

Let's not kid ourselves. Bush did not hide the fact that he believed coal was a good alternative to oil, and he said that he understood the industry:

"I want to develop coal resources. It’s an issue I know a lot about."

Apparently, this is something that the United States can look forward to. Can we increase coal production and maintain the high levels of safety and high levels of environmental protection that we cherish as Americans? Certainly. But it is clear that we cannot do this with a Republican president. With a Republican in the Oval Office, we set our goals at the same level as China.

W - "My wife knows her place"

2006-01-19T13:43:00.000-05:00

W's wife is a great lady, see? That's why she would never run for senate. She's not into running for office, just in criticizing office holders. But that's not politics, see, that's just commentary.

Short version of Roy Blunt

2006-01-19T13:02:00.000-05:00

The Republicans cut taxes for the wealthy! And we've cut benefit programs for the poor. Don't believe that other crap about us being corrupt. We're doing what we promised we'd do: robbing the poor to benefit the rich! You can trust us.

George Will is simple-minded

2006-01-19T11:20:00.000-05:00

He's a great writer, to be sure, but he just can't seem to make that extra logical step. His latest column accusing the Maryland state legislature of stealing, is a perfect example. Let me run this one by you George, and then ask you who is shoplifting from whom.

Wal-Mart offers significantly less health care coverage at a steep price. Wal-Mart made $10 billion dollars in pure profit in 2004. As a result, thousands of Wal-Mart workers must use tax dollars to provide themselves with health care.

Now, here is where it gets tricky, George, so I'll make it simple. Every dollar that state taxpayers have to pick up in health care costs is a dollar that Wal Mart makes as profit. So let's picture a dollar of yours that goes to the state government. Now watch as that same dollar pays for the health care of an under or uninsured Wal Mart employee. Who should have paid that dollar? Whose profits are inflated by tax dollars? Think about it.

So when Maryland makes Wal-Mart spend more money on health care, it's actually saving Maryland residents money. Here's another image for you. Imagine your tax bill. Now imagine that happy smiley face knocking a few numbers off of it. Make sense now?

Italy is out

2006-01-19T10:47:00.000-05:00

Italy is getting out of Iraq. They even have a timetable. And they plan on saying "Mission Completed". Whatever that means. Mission for Silvio to bail out his buddy George? Don't forget Poland, though! They keep forgetting Poland! Which is also pulling out at the end of '06, incidentally.

Burns' birthday bash

2006-01-19T09:48:00.000-05:00

Conrad Burns (R-MT) forgot to read the GOP memo on Corruption, apparently. Or else he's too deep in certain pockets to escape. Whatever the case, The Fix is reporting that Burns will be spending his 71st birthday at a party thrown by Cassidy & Associates, a leading lobbying shop. You might know Cassidy as the den of Abramoff lieutenant Todd Boulanger, who, along with Cassidy, is under fire about a $330,000 contract between the State of Texas and K Street firm, Cassidy & Associates.

At Burns' birthday bash a $1,000 PAC donation or $500 individual contribution is required. To be a "host", a donation of $2,000 per political action committee and $1,000 per individual is required.

His middle name is Montgomery, isn't it?

The future is now, sort of

2006-01-18T15:46:00.000-05:00

I'm all for cool news about futuristic thingamajigs that will take people to the moon (and even perhaps bring some back), but I can't see what is so damn special about SUV jets, other than their ridiculousness and uselessness. Do they merit such attention, or is MSNBC just admitting that it would rather run "news of the weird" than headline the capitulation of Iraqi and US forces to kidnappers demands.

Bring on Trent Lott

2006-01-18T14:33:00.000-05:00

I am all for Trent Lott stepping back into his role as Republican Senate Leader. Give the bigot a chance, people! After all, he is sorry about being a racist.

With the GOP straining to regain its footing on race issues after the Katrina debacle, I can't imagine anything dumber than putting Lott back in charge.

Then again, the GOP has been winning on a platform of dumb for the past 12 years.

Washington Post is Anti-Duncan

2006-01-18T09:58:00.000-05:00

How else to explain the article about his lackluster fundraising efforts right atop an article about the woes of the Montgomery Council planning department. I'm not nuts about the guy and am leaning towards supporting O'Malley, but when papers crap on Democratic candidate who is trying to fix a problem (which you learn after you flip to the inside fold) and harp about how much money his opponent has raised, well, that gets my blood boiling. Duncan's not a bad guy and doesn't deserve the nonsense that the Post throws at him regularly.

The Dragon sighs

2006-01-18T09:43:00.000-05:00

I don't know if China is laughing at us, commiserating as a nation that has also suffered its share of backwards thinking, or worried about the extremist Christians trying to take over the United States. But either way, having the PRC scold Americans for even considering using Creationism in the classroom is pretty sad.

Ohio: Ground Zero

2006-01-18T09:29:00.000-05:00

Glad to see my old home state is living up to the "Heart of it All" moniker that used to grace its license plates. Howard Dean is heading there to kick some ass this morning.

COLUMBUS - Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, plans to use Gov. Bob Taft's ceremonial office in the Statehouse as his backdrop this morning to call for national ethics reform.

Ohio is "ground zero" in the Democratic Party's campaign against corruption, said Damien LaVera, a DNC spokesman.

Mr. LaVera pointed to Republican Governor Taft, who was convicted on ethics violations this summer for failing to disclose golf outings and gifts; U.S. Rep. Bob Ney, who has been implicated in the federal lobbying scandal swirling around Jack Abramoff; and former Toledo-area coin dealer Tom Noe, who is being investigated for his handling of Ohio's $50 million rare-coin fund. Mr. Noe was indicted in October on three felony counts related to the alleged laundering of $45,400 into the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign.

Meanwhile the only answer the GOP had was to say that Howard Dean is a bad guy. Not mishandle $50 million in taxpayer money bad, or launder campaign contribution bad, or bribery bad. But remember how he screamed that one time?