November 29th 2005
Good News On France’s Riots
Listening to Hugh’s show today it hit me, so I called in. There’s good news in the French riots — the torching of 9,000 Renaults and Citroens has certainly improved the planet!
Archive for November, 2005
November 29th 2005
Politically Incorrect Monikers
CAIR must be rallying its attorneys even as you read this because this is just the sort of insensitivity towards Arabs that drives them nuts.
It turns out that the “Big Nose Bandit” who’s robbed 21 banks in Southern California is a fella named Amir Hossein Saadat. Not only are the cops being insensitive about his nasal volume, they’re making the incredibly biased assumption that he is, and I’m quoting here, “of Middle Eastern heritage.”
He’s still on the loose. If the FBI and local sheriffs know what’s good for them, they’ll change his monkier to “Appropriately Sized Nose Bandit.”
Photo credit and story: OCRegister
November 29th 2005
"Sorry, Judge, I Was Trying To Get These Papers Out Of My Pants And …"
Berger pleads guilty to reckless driving
The Associated Press
Tuesday, November 29, 2005FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) – Former national security adviser Sandy Berger pleaded guilty Tuesday to reckless driving after an officer clocked him at 88 mph in a 55-mph zone. A judge fined him $250.
Berger did not speak during his brief appearance before Judge Richard Horan in Fairfax County General District Court. His lawyer entered the guilty plea on his behalf.
More here.
November 29th 2005
A l-Jaz May Sue For Bush Memo
As it prepares for the March launch of its English-language affiliate, Al-Jazera is thinking about going to court in order to get the memo recording the now-famous Bush-Blair meeting in which Bush supposedly said he wanted to bomb Al-Jaz’s studios in Doha, Qatar.
The UK Guardian quotes Al-Jaz managing director Wadah Khanfar:
“Al-Jazeera is not just a TV station. It has become something people are very attached to. People are angry.”
Is this an admission that Al-Jaz is in fact a terrorist mouthpiece? Is that what Khanfar means by “not just a TV station?” And while I’m asking questions, how about this one: Would the people be angry if Al-Jaz reported the matter in a fair and objective way?
Back to Khanfar:
“We demand to know what’s happened. We need to know for the sake of history, for the sake of journalism. It has historical value.”
Here, for its historical value, is my earlier list of the reasons why the president obviously was not serious, if he said anything at all about Al-Jaz. This is the list of military bases the US operates in Qatar, which we would never jeopardize by doing something stupid like bombing a terrorist mouthpiece:
# Al Udeid AB, QA
# Camp Snoopy, QA
# Camp As Sayliyah QA
# Doha, QA
# Doha IAP, QA
# Umm Said, QA
# Falcon-78 ASP, QA
# Mesaieed, QA
Hot links are provided to each of these facilities at the Global Security web site.
November 29th 2005
Quote Of The Day
Following up on yesterday’s post regarding the disturbing portrayal of kids and parents in the new “Yours, Mine & Ours” film, here’s Dr. Dan Kindlon, a Harvard child psychologist:
“We use kids like Prozac. People don’t necessarily feel great about their spouse or their job but the kids are the bright spot in their day. They don’t want to muck up that one moment by getting yelled at. They don’t want to hurt. They don’t want to feel bad. They want to get satisfaction from their kids. They’re so precious to us – maybe more than to any generation previously. What gets thrown out the window is limits. It’s a lot easier to pick their towel up off the floor than to get them away from the PlayStation to do it.”
I see myself far too much in that quote, and thank my wife for her forcefulness in rearing the three Incredible Daughters. Being from a family of eight kids, she necessarily knows more about discipline than I do.
Dr. Kindlon’s quote is just part of an excellent article, Kids Gone Wild, in last Sunday’s NYTimes.
November 29th 2005
Quacks And Bucks
No, this isn’t about ducks and deer; it’s about docs and dollars.
Like one Mississippi doctor who stopped seeing patients and instead spent his medical career in two-minute episodes of X-ray viewing. Dr. Ray A. Harron would look at a lung X-ray, note that it proved exposure to asbestos or silica, and move on to the next X-ray.
For this, he made millions, as his work was pivotal to the litigation mills that churn out questionable lawsuits against mining and manufacturing firms. To understand the scale of the business, consider that Harron personally opined on 75,000 cases, never seeing the patients and rarely appearing in court.
For this work, he now is under investigation, as a Congressional investigation and other city or state investigations into the asbestos/silica lawsuit manufacturing industry get under way.
What’s particiularly interesting about Dr. Harron’s story is that it’s reported by the NYTimes. The story is written with the “presumed guilt objectivity” the right often senses in NYT stories. Now it’s directed not at corporate America, but legal America.
About time.
November 29th 2005
Green Anti-Semitism
The Green Party of America — impressive political force that it is — called yesterday for a campaign of boycotts and divestments against Israel in order to “guarantee human rights for Palestinians.”
Besides ignoring the fact that they are utterly insignificant and no one cares about what they say or want, the Greens seem to have missed the fact that Israeli Palestinians have rights, including the right to vote — something they don’t have in most other Middle Eastern states. They also must have missed the photo of the near-riots that occurred when worker passes for Palestinians were re-issued by Israel. Boycotting Israel would put many Palestinians out of work.
Oh, you might want to give a call to the Green Party of Wisconsin member who is behind the campaign. Look him up; his name’s Mohammed Abed.
November 28th 2005
Putting The [Blank] Back In [Blank]mas 2
The City of Encinitas in northern San Diego County decided to change this coming weekend’s celebration from Holiday Parade to Christmas Parade — and three community groups and a Jewish Temple have announced boycotts.
Here’s the mayor:
“The first 50 years of my life I went to the Encinitas Christmas Parade. Somewhere, somehow — nobody seems to know who — somebody changed it. I changed it back.”
He told AP it was no big deal. Well, it is a big deal to the Girl Scouts — shame on them! Once they were an upstanding group, but they’ve been so seized with political correctness that they are threatening to pull out of the parade in the name of diversity, which more and more is synonymous with idiocy.
Also pulling out is the town council of nearby Leucadia and (uh oh!) the Bernese Mountain Dog Club of Southern California … which I could understand if it was “Burmese,” but “Bernese?”
Rabbi David Frank of Temple Solel says it will be hard for his congregation to participate in “this specifically Christian observance.” Why? It celebrates the birth of a Jew who formed the religion practiced by most of the soldiers who freed the victims of the holocaust.
(Sources: NCTimes, AP via Nexis)
November 28th 2005
No News On Howard AFB
The Panamanians supposedly opened bids for the acquisition to development rights for the mothballed Howard Air Force Base last Friday. The Internet’s mum — no news to report.
Shipping trade papers may pick up something later this week, but it may be quiet for a while as the Panamanians review the bids and negotiate with the primary contenders.
In case you haven’t been following the story, China’s in the bidding, as are interests from the US, England and Mexico. Should China succeed, it would have control of both the Atlantic and Pacific ports of the canal, and an airfield in the Western Hemisphere.
All brought to you by Jimmy Carter, who some Dems still think was a great president.
See also:
State Watchful On Howard AFB Sale
Howard Still Under The Radar
China Could Use Howard As Air Force Base
State Clueless On China’s Plan To Bid On Panamanian Air Base
More On Commies At The Canal
China’s Panama Grab Threatens US
November 28th 2005
Biggest Blogosphere Take-Down Yet
The government of Canada crumbled today in a no-confidence vote that might never have happened were it not for the relentless blogging on the Adscam scandal by Captain’s Quarters.
The good Capt. was not subject to Canada’s repressive restrictions on the media, so he blogged merrily away — and the Canadians, God bless ‘em, just went ahead and got their news from him.
