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It's
Great Grandma
LUCY
at the
Houston Museum of Natural Science

a quote to live by

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be."

--- Thomas Jefferson

quote of the week

"It's always easier to leave than be left."
Dave Matthews on to the death of
Dave Matthews Band co-founder LeRoi Moore.

big story

Limits of Bush's Personal Diplomacy on World Stage

Bush "glimpsed inside Vladimir Putin's soul and found something to his liking. More than many of his predecessors, President Bush has invested heavily in trying to forge a strong bond with key foreign leaders. But as his term winds down, new crises in Georgia and Pakistan are underscoring the limits of Bush's personal diplomacy, as the president is receiving criticism for overpersonalizing relations with Putin, the Russian prime minister, and with Pervez Musharraf, who resigned as Pakistan's president last week."

 
Putin and Bush in Kennebunkport, 2007.
Look into my eyes, not my pecs!

"'He misjudged Putin,' said Stanford University professor Michael A. McFaul. From an early date, McFaul said, Putin has had a 'very obvious grand strategy for rolling back democracy,' but 'when new evidence came in to suggest that his initial assessment of Putin was wrong, [Bush] tended to dismiss it.'

I say "what dimplomacy?" This guy never once acted dimplomatically as president. This is the man who massaged (in public, who knows what they did behind closed doors) the neck of Angela Merkel, the Chancellor of Germany.

More to the right, but gently. I am German, after all.

I dunno why I'm so tense. Not so rough.

You're hurting me! Stop!

unvernünftiges Tier!

Joe Biden Was a Fixture on the Amtrak Line

"The strangest thing happened Monday morning at the train station in Wilmington, Delaware. 'Joe came in here with a motorcade,' says Daniel Thorpe, 44, a cab driver at the Amtrak station. A motorcade? For ol' Joe? Everybody here is used to seeing Joe Biden by himself, on his way to and from the train -- used to being able to go up and shake Joe's hand, talk about the grandkids. Biden's been commuting from this station to his job in the Senate, and back again, for more than 30 years, an hour and a quarter each way."

"The story of Biden and Amtrak starts with Biden's election to the Senate in 1972, which in turn starts with tragedy. Six weeks after he won the election, while Biden was in Washington interviewing potential staffers, a truck hit his family's station wagon. His wife, Neilia, and his baby daughter, Naomi, died. Their young sons Beau and Hunter were hospitalized. Biden, 30, considered dropping out of the Senate altogether; ultimately, he decided to go through with it and was sworn into that august body at the hospital, where his sons were recovering. He came home every night to be with his sons. Early on, Biden got a car phone and insisted on driving every morning and night so his sons could reach him at any time. When the boys got a little older, he started taking the train."

"Anyway, on Monday there he was. Big photo-op and a huge crush of press and Secret Service all around. Joe won't be taking the 7:35 a.m. Acela to Washington for a good long while, so he wanted to drop in and say goodbye. He talked to the shoeshine man. 'Sorta like a farewell,' says Robert L. Jones, 63. 'He told me, he said, don't stop speaking when he comes into the station.'"

"'I'm going to miss seeing your husband,' a cashier, Joanne Johnson, 44, says she told Jill Biden when she ducked in to buy a copy of Newsweek with the newly announced Democratic ticket on the cover. 'And she said, 'You know he's the same ol' Joe.'"

Did Real-Life Tragegy Spawn Man of Steel?

"On the night of June 2, 1932, the world's first superhero was born not on the mythical planet of Krypton but from a little-known tragedy on the streets of Cleveland. Mitchell Siegel, a Jewish immigrant from Lithuania, was in his secondhand clothing store on the near East Side. According to a police report, three men entered. One asked to see a suit of clothes and walked out without paying for it. In the commotion of the robbery, Siegel, 60, fell to the ground and died. It was the death of Jerry Siegel's father that pushed the devastated teen to come up with the idea of a 'Superman' to right all wrongs. 'Superman's invulnerability to bullets, loss of family, destruction of his homeland — all seem to overlap with Jerry's personal experience. There's a connection there: the loss of a dad.'"

Mexico City Struggles With Legal Abortion

"When Mexico City’s government made abortion legal last year, it also set out to make it available to any woman who asked for one. That includes the city’s poorest, who for years resorted to illegal clinics and midwives as wealthy women visited private doctors willing to quietly end unwanted pregnancies. But helping poor women gain equal access to the procedure has turned out to be almost as complicated as passing the law, a watershed event in this Catholic country and in a region where almost all countries severely restrict abortions. Some 85 percent of the gynecologists in the city’s public hospitals have declared themselves conscientious objectors. And women complain that even at those hospitals that perform abortions, staff members are often hostile, demeaning them and throwing up bureaucratic hurdles."

George Orwell Blogs, 70 Years to the Day

"The scholars behind the project say they are trying to get more attention for Orwell online and to make him more relevant to a younger generation he would have wanted to speak to. Though as prolific as any blogger (his collected writings occupy some 20 volumes), Orwell, who died in 1950, never had the chance to spontaneously publish his thoughts to a waiting public."

Hypocrisy Watch: Don't Let the Door Hit You...

On the day Bush was telling Russia to get out of Georgia already, Secretary of State Condi Rice was in Iraq negotiating the withdrawal timetable the Iraqi government, not Bush, insisted on. According to the agreement we won't leave until 2011, and we'll leave thousands there indefinitely as military "advisers."

NYC Will Pay 52 Antiwar Prostesters $2 Million to Settle
Civil Rights Lawsuit

Sarah Kunstler, the lead plaintiff in the case versus New York City: "I was planning to go to school. I went to the protest around 8:00 a.m. Within half an hour, we were ringed by cops in riot gear. It was very frightening. I had never—I mean, I’ve been going to protests in the city since I was a child on my father’s shoulders, and I had never seen a police response like this one. I had my backpack. It was filled with books. It was heavy. I walked up to an officer, and I said, 'What do I have to do not to get arrested?' And it was at that point that I was arrested." From Democracynow.org.

IOC President Rips the Wrong Guy

"International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge's criticism of Usain Bolt is one of the most ill-timed and gutless acts in the modern history of the Olympics. 'I have no problem with him doing a show,' Rogge said of the Jamaican sprinter. 'I think he should show more respect for his competitors and shake hands, give a tap on the shoulder to the other ones immediately after the finish and not make gestures like the one he made in the 100 meters. I understand the joy. He might have interpreted that in another way, but the way it was perceived was ‘catch me if you can.’ You don’t do that. But he’ll learn. He’s still a young man.'”

"All the powerful nations — including the United States — have carte blanche at the Games. They can pout and preen, cheat, throw bean balls, file wild complaints, break promises that got them a host bid, whatever they want. They can take turns slapping Rogge and his cronies around like rag dolls as long as the dinner with a good wine list gets paid. Bolt is everything the Olympics are supposed to be about. He isn’t the product of some rich country, some elaborate training program that churns out gold medals by any means necessary."

McCain Not Sure How Many Houses He Owns

"I think — I'll have my staff get to you," he answers. Dear John, it's actually EIGHT, according to the LA Times. Take a tour of his homes.

Minorities Are More Likely to be Paddled

"Paddlings, swats, licks. A quarter of a million schoolchildren got them last year. Blacks, American Indians and kids with disabilities got a disproportionate share of the punishment, according to a joint report by Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union."

Evidence of Self-Recognition in Magpies

"Comparative studies suggest that at least some bird species have evolved mental skills similar to those found in humans and apes. This is indicated by feats such as tool use, episodic-like memory, and the ability to use one's own experience in predicting the behavior of conspecifics. It is, however, not yet clear whether these skills are accompanied by an understanding of the self. In apes, self-directed behavior in response to a mirror has been taken as evidence of self-recognition."

This experiment "investigated mirror-induced behavior in the magpie, a songbird species from the crow family. As in apes, some individuals behaved in front of the mirror as if they were testing behavioral contingencies. When provided with a mark, magpies showed spontaneous mark-directed behavior. Our findings provide the first evidence of mirror self-recognition in a non-mammalian species. They suggest that essential components of human self-recognition have evolved independently in different vertebrate classes with a separate evolutionary history." From PLoS Biology.

Hypocrisy Watch: Bush Accuses Russia of
'Bullying and Intimidation'

Here's the video courtesy of BBC News. Speaking of buffoons. Has Bigfoot finally been caught? I sure hope so! Click the monkey for the news.

The Pill Makes Women Pick Bad Mates

"While several factors can send a woman swooning, including big brains and brawn, body odor can be critical in the final decision, the researchers say. That's because beneath a woman's flowery fragrance or a guy's musk the body sends out aromatic molecules that indicate genetic compatibility. Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes are involved in immune response and other functions, and the best mates are those that have different MHC smells than you. The new study reveals, however, that when women are on the pill they prefer guys with matching MHC odors. MHC genes churn out substances that tell the body whether a cell is a native or an invader. When individuals with different MHC genes mate, their offspring's immune systems can recognize a broader range of foreign cells, making them more fit."

"Past studies have suggested couples with dissimilar MHC genes are more satisfied and more likely to be faithful to a mate. And the opposite is also true with matchng-MHC couples showing less satisfaction and more wandering eyes. 'Not only could MHC-similarity in couples lead to fertility problems,' said lead researcher Stewart Craig Roberts, an evolutionary psychologist at the University of Newcastle in England, 'but it could ultimately lead to the breakdown of relationships when women stop using the contraceptive pill, as odor perception plays a significant role in maintaining attraction to partners.'"

"Roberts suggests a likely reason for the pill's effect on a woman's odor preferences. The pill puts a woman's body into a hormonally pregnant state (the reason she doesn’t ovulate), and during that time there would be no reason to seek out a mate. 'When women are pregnant there's no selection pressure, evolutionarily speaking, for having a preference for genetically dissimilar odors,' Roberts said."

Georgia On My Mind

"It is impossible to think about the Russian assault on Georgia without feeling like a heartless bastard or a romantic fool. Regardless of what happens next, it is worth asking what the Bush people were thinking when they egged on Mikheil Saakashvili, Georgia's young, Western-educated president, to apply for NATO membership, send 2,000 of his troops to Iraq as a full-fledged U.S. ally, and receive tactical training and weapons from our military. Did they really think Putin would sit by and see another border state (and former province of the Russian empire) slip away to the West? If they thought that Putin might not, what did they plan to do about it, and how firmly did they warn Saakashvili not to get too brash or provoke an outburst?"

"It's heartbreaking, but even more infuriating, to read so many Georgians quoted in the New York Times—officials, soldiers, and citizens—wondering when the United States is coming to their rescue. It's infuriating because it's clear that Bush did everything to encourage them to believe that he would."

While Georgia Burns, Where's Bush?

"Most days, being the U.S. president means trying to extinguish one crisis after another. Then there are days like Saturday. Mountain biking on the Olympic course. Getting in a couple of hits with the women's beach volleyball team. Chuckling after being the target of a softball player's practical joke."

"President Bush, a longtime sports fan, immersed himself into the Olympic spirit with abandon, acting like a kid.Yet there were reminders that the world's troubles follow wherever Bush goes. He received regular updates after Russia sent columns of tanks and bombed Georgian air bases Friday. 'I'm deeply concerned about the situation in Georgia,' Bush told reporters. But mostly this was a day for athletics. Bush biked the Laoshan Olympic mountain-biking course for more than an hour on a warm, muggy, hazy day, accompanied by secret service agents and aides. The president then headed for the beach volleyball at Chaoyang Park, getting sandy with defending gold medalist Misty May-Treanor."

"She turned her back to the president, offering her bikinied rear for one of the traditional slaps that volleyball players frequently give each other. 'Mr. President, want to?' she asked, repeating an offer she made before when Bush gave a pep talk to the U.S. athletes. Bush smilingly gave a flick with the back of his hand to the small of her back instead."

Army Spreads Around $2.8 Billion in Cash to Iraqis

"In the five-year struggle to finish the war in Iraq, military leaders and their troops have said a particular weapon is among the most effective in their arsenal: American cash. Soldiers walk the streets carrying thousands of dollars to pay Iraqis for doorways battered in American raids and limbs lost during firefights. The military can bypass Iraqi and U.S. bureaucratic hurdles. $48,000 was spent on 6,000 pairs of children's shoes; an additional $50,000 bought 625 sheep for people described in records as 'starving poor locals.' Soldiers ordered $100,000 worth of dolls and $500,000 in action figures. About $14,250 was spent on 'Love Iraq' T-shirts. And $12,800 was spent for two pools to cool bears and tigers at Zawra Park Zoo in Baghdad. It is not tied to international standards of redevelopment or normal government purchasing rules. Instead, it is governed by broad guidelines packaged into a field manual called 'Money as a Weapon System.'"

Russia and Georgia Clash in South Ossetia

TV image of what Russian Channel 1 says is a convoy of
Russian tanks moving towards Tskhinvali.

Photographer insists on Pledge of Allegiance before Obama rally

Former Justice Aides Broke Law in Selection of Prosecutors

"An internal Justice Department investigation says former senior department officials violated federal law in a pattern of politically and ideologically biased hiring at the nation's top law enforcement agency. The investigation grew from the political scandal last year that followed the department's bungled handling of the firings of several U.S. attorneys. After months of hearings and investigations led by Democrats, Mr. Gonzales resigned, as did most of the officials implicated in the controversy. The joint probe by the department's Office of Professional Responsibility and the Inspector General's office singled out in particular the actions of Kyle Sampson, chief of staff to former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, and Monica Goodling, Mr. Gonzales's White House liaison."

As Doctors Cater to Looks, Skin Patients Wait

"Dermatology is becoming a two-tier business in which higher-paying customers are often pampered. Dianne Ryan, who works for an airline in Dallas, went to a dermatologist in her insurance network three years ago after her husband pointed out a mole growing on the side of her foot, she said. The doctor dismissed the mole as benign, she said, but recommended she buy his brand of bleaching cream for pigmentation on her face. A few months later, Ms. Ryan said, she sought a second opinion from another dermatologist, whose diagnosis was melanoma."

American torture policy has deeper roots in Fox TV's '24'
than the U.S. Constitution

"The most influential legal thinker in the development of modern American interrogation policy is not a behavioral psychologist, international lawyer, or counterinsurgency expert. It's Jack Bauer. There are many reasons that matriculation from the Jack Bauer School of Law would have encouraged even the most cautious legal thinkers to bend and eventually break the longstanding rules against torture.

U.S. interrogators rarely if ever encounter a 'ticking time bomb,' someone with detailed information about an imminent terror plot. But according to the Parents Television Council (one of several advocacy groups to have declared war on 24), Jack Bauer encounters a 'ticking time-bomb' an average of 12 times per season. Given that each season allegedly represents a 24-hour period, Bauer encounters someone who needs torturing 12 times each day! Experienced interrogators know that information extracted through torture is rarely reliable. But Jack Bauer's torture not only elicits the truth, it does so before commercial."

Subjective Relative Income and Lottery Ticket Purchases

"Millionaire Made Here!", Los Angeles, CA, 2005

"When it comes to purchasing lottery tickets, making people feel poor will prompt them to spend more money on a chance to become rich. Researchers found that people who were convinced they were earning a low salary bought nearly twice as many lottery tickets compared to others who were made to feel more affluent. 'When people are made to feel subjectively poor, they end up buying more lottery tickets which is somewhat perverse since every time you buy a lottery ticket, it's the equivalent of burning money,' said George Loewenstein, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University. 'People who run lotteries have a lot of knowledge. They know who buys what types of tickets, they know who their customers are and their advertising certainly plays on the hopes and aspirations of low-income individuals,' Loewenstein said. A recent report by the Commission on Thrift, a project of the private, non-profit think tank Institute for American Values, said that U.S. households with incomes under $12,400 spend an average of $645 on lotteries.

Obama’s Speech in Berlin, July 24, 2008

Delivered from the base of Berlin's Victory Column (Siegessäule), this is one of the best speeches by an American politician ever. Here are the closing paragraphs:

"I know my country has not perfected itself. At times, we’ve struggled to keep the promise of liberty and equality for all of our people. We’ve made our share of mistakes, and there are times when our actions around the world have not lived up to our best intentions."

"But I also know how much I love America. I know that for more than two centuries, we have strived – at great cost and great sacrifice – to form a more perfect union; to seek, with other nations, a more hopeful world. Our allegiance has never been to any particular tribe or kingdom – indeed, every language is spoken in our country; every culture has left its imprint on ours; every point of view is expressed in our public squares. What has always united us – what has always driven our people; what drew my father to America’s shores – is a set of ideals that speak to aspirations shared by all people: that we can live free from fear and free from want; that we can speak our minds and assemble with whomever we choose and worship as we please."

"These are the aspirations that joined the fates of all nations in this city. These aspirations are bigger than anything that drives us apart. It is because of these aspirations that the airlift began. It is because of these aspirations that all free people – everywhere – became citizens of Berlin. It is in pursuit of these aspirations that a new generation – our generation – must make our mark on the world."

"People of Berlin – and people of the world – the scale of our challenge is great. The road ahead will be long. But I come before you to say that we are heirs to a struggle for freedom. We are a people of improbable hope. With an eye toward the future, with resolve in our hearts, let us remember this history, and answer our destiny, and remake the world once again." [Trasncript]

Medicine Gears Up for a Code Green

"Tossing out everything from plastic bandages and cotton swabs to hospital robes after a single use, the U.S. medical industry generates more than 2 million tons of waste per year, environmental advocates say. Some of that waste makes its way to incinerators and, when burned, releases dioxin, mercury and other toxins. Is it ironic that the industry we trust to protect our health is releasing substances that may be tied to cancer, diabetes and other illnesses? Many health-care professionals think so."

A Message From An Iraq War Veteran
 

America's Health Care Crisis: Cities on the Front Lines

"Discussions of health reform typically focus on the roles that state and federal governments play in financing coverage, frequently leaving out the stakeholders on the very front lines of the issue—cities and their leaders. The survey results show that, although each city’s involvement in health care issues is different, cities organize, fund, and deliver a wide range of health care services for their citizens through public hospitals, clinics, and a variety of other health safety net programs. Furthermore, we found that cities are profoundly affected by the rising number of uninsured Americans and the rising cost of providing coverage for their own employees. These problems have an impact on all city residents, regardless of their health insurance status, and they affect cities’ ability to fulfill other municipal functions as well."

Hiding the War Dead

"When Gina Gray took over as the public affairs director at Arlington National Cemetery about three months ago, she discovered that cemetery officials were attempting to impose new limits on media coverage of funerals of the Iraq war dead -- even after the fallen warriors' families granted permission for the coverage. She said that the new restrictions were wrong and that Army regulations didn't call for such limitations. Six weeks after The Washington Post reported her efforts to restore media coverage of funerals, Gray was demoted. Twelve days ago, the Army fired her."

Someone Is Hurt, in Need of Compassion.
Is It Human Instinct to Do Nothing?

"A woman sits alone in a psychiatric ward in a Brooklyn hospital. We do not know how long she has been sitting there. Suddenly, the woman collapses on her face onto the dirty floor. We watch through a surveillance camera as she lies there, her blue gown above her knees, her legs convulsing. We watch as a guard comes into the room. Then the guard walks away. We watch as two other patients sit across the room as the woman lies there. We watch them watch her. The video, released recently on the Internet, documents the minutes the woman twists on the floor. She stops moving at 6:07 a.m. At 6:35 a.m. a hospital staff member comes in, nudges the patient with her foot. But she walks away. We wait before someone finally rolls in a blue gurney and oxygen tank, puts the woman on the gurney and rolls her away. Later we learn that Esmin Elizabeth Green, 49, an immigrant from Jamaica who moved to New York to make money to send to her children back home, is dead."

"Last month, the Hartford, Conn., police released a chilling video of a 78-year-old man trying to cross a street with a carton of milk. He steps off the curb just as two cars that appear to be racing swerve on the wrong side of the street. The first car swerves around the man. The second car hits him and throws him into the air like a doll, then speeds away. What follows is even more chilling: People walk by. Nine vehicles pass him lying in the street. Some drivers slow down to look but drive away. 'This is a clear indication of what we have become when you see a man laying in the street, hit by a car, and people drive around him and walk by him,' Hartford Police Chief Daryl K. Roberts will tell a news conference. "At the end of the day, we have to look at ourselves and understand that our moral values have now changed. We have no regard for each other."

DOJ's Former Top Prosecutor Flagged by Terror Watch List

"The Justice Department's former top criminal prosecutor says the government's terror watch list likely has caused thousands of innocent Americans to be questioned, searched or otherwise hassled. Forrmer Assistant Attorney General Jim Robinson would know: he's one of them. Robinson joined another mistaken-identity American and the American Civil Liberties Union on Monday to urge fixing the list that's supposed to identify suspected terrorists. He believes his name matches that of someone who was put on the list in early 2005, and is routinely delayed while flying — despite having his own government top-secret security clearances renewed last year. 'I suppose if I were convinced that America is a safer place because I get hassled at the airport, I might put up with it,' Robinson said. 'But I doubt it.' The government calls its watch list one of the most effective tools in its fight against terrorism. Other audits of the watch list over the last several years, however, have concluded that it has mistakenly flagged innocent people whose names are similar to those on it. More than 30,000 airline passengers had asked the Homeland Security Department to clear their names from the list as of October 2006. Additionally, as many as 20 suspected terrorists were left off the list as of last year due to a technology glitch."

Evangelical Leaders Continue to Support Iraq War

"Most evangelical leaders still support the war in Iraq and want the United States to 'stay until the job is done,' according to a survey by the National Association of Evangelicals. 'Most evangelicals in America subscribe to the theological position called ‘Just War Theory,’ that it is morally justified to go to war under certain conditions,' explained Leith Anderson, president of the National Association of Evangelicals, in a statement. 'Iraq represents that existential threat we have from global Islamic Jihadists,' responded another unidentified leader. 'We must defeat it in Iraq, Afghanistan and then act preemptively to destroy it wherever it emerges.'"

Why Are Conservatives Happier Than Liberals?

"Conservatives are happier than liberals. This is according to a 2006 Pew Research Center survey. But New York University researchers set out to isolate the reasons why right-wingers would have greater subjective well-being than left-wingers. These scientists argue that a conservative belief acts as a psychological buffer in a world of increasing inequality. The idea is that conservatives tend to rationalize inequality as the result of a fair process in a meritocracy, whereas liberals tend to see inequality as inherently unjust."

U.S. Army to Shoot Live Pigs for Battlefield Training

"Army says it’s critical to saving the lives of wounded soldiers. Animal-rights activists call the training cruel and outdated. PETA urged the Army to end all use of animals, 'as the overwhelming majority of North American medical schools have already done.'"

Chinese Communist Interrogation Techniques
Used At Guantánamo

An interrogation class at Guantánamo Bay was based on a 1957 study of Chinese Communist techniques used to obtain confessions, often false, from U.S. prisoners.

$400 Million to Prepare the Battlefield in Iran

"Late last year, Congress agreed to a request from President Bush to fund a major escalation of covert operations against Iran. The covert activities involve support of the minority Ahwazi Arab and Baluchi groups and other dissident organizations. They also include gathering intelligence about Iran’s suspected nuclear-weapons program. In other words, some members of the Democratic leadership—Congress has been under Democratic control since the 2006 elections—were willing, in secret, to go along with the Administration in expanding covert activities directed at Iran, while the Party’s presumptive candidate for President, Barack Obama, has said that he favors direct talks and diplomacy.

Free Huzaifa Parhat from GITMO 

"Parhat is also known as ISN (Internment Serial Number) 320 at Guantanamo Bay. Parhat is Uighur, a Muslim ethnic minority group from western China. He has been held as an enemy combatant for more than six years -- even though the government concedes he was never a member of the Taliban or al-Qaeda and never took part in any hostilities against the United States. Indeed, Parhat's detention is based on evidence so flimsy that a federal appeals court told the government it had to free Parhat or come up with something more. The ruling was remarkable because its author, Clinton appointee Merrick Garland, was joined by two conservatives, Reagan appointee David Sentelle and George W. Bush appointee Thomas Griffith. It was remarkable, too, as the product of a system stacked against alleged enemy combatants -- so stacked that the Supreme Court recently declared it an inadequate substitute for full court review."

Chairman of Joint Chiefs Does Not Have Enough Soldiers to
Send to Afghanistan

"I am and have been deeply troubled by the increasing violence there," Mullen said, adding that he has made no secret of wanting to send more forces into the country. "I don't have troops I can reach for, brigades I can reach to send into Afghanistan until I have a reduced requirement in Iraq," Mullen said. Mullen said plainly that he opposes the U.S. or Israel engaging Iran with a military strike. "My strong preference is to handle all of this diplomatically with the other powers of government, as opposed to any kind of strike occurring," Mullen said. "This is a very unstable part of the world and I don't need it to be more unstable."

The New Yorker Cover

"A New Yorker cover illustration, showing Barack Obama dressed as a Muslim fist-bumping his gun-toting wife, fell afoul of the humor police yesterday. To some, it was satire. To others, it was aid and comfort to the malice mongers who hide under the rocks of American politics. If you want satire to be 'effective' (like a good editorial or a well-written position paper) you must aim at a wide audience, invite people in and wink with exaggerated meaning. Unfortunately, as debate about the image grew, the New Yorker missed a golden opportunity to question the rather odd American relationship to satire. Why must it be broadly effective rather than just funny? Why must humor, like grief, somehow be good for us on a deeper level?"

"The main problem with the New Yorker cover -- if it's a problem at all -- is that its humor is intended for a relatively insular, like-minded readership: subscribers to the New Yorker, a presumably urbane audience with strong Obama tendencies. No matter what the New Yorker says about holding up a mirror to prejudice, the cartoon certainly didn't do that. It was more like a spyglass. The cover is just another prism through which New Yorker readers confirm something that is true and easily caricatured at the same time: They are an elite, a minority, and while they might be more educated or sophisticated or adept at the play of humor, they will always be outvoted by Texas. And Kansas. And the rest of the states beyond reach of the A train."

U.S. Finds It's Getting Crowded in Space 

"Space, like Earth below, is globalizing. And as it does, America's long-held superiority in exploring, exploiting and commercializing "the final frontier" is slipping away. Although the United States remains dominant in most space-related fields -- and owns half the military satellites currently orbiting Earth -- experts say the nation's superiority is diminishing, and many other nations are expanding their civilian and commercial space capabilities at a far faster pace. 'We spent many tens of billions of dollars during the Apollo era to purchase a commanding lead in space over all nations on Earth.' said NASA Administrator Michael D. Griffin, who said his agency's budget is down by 20 percent in inflation-adjusted terms since 1992."

Cheney's Office Censored CDC Testimony to Congress

"The administration feared that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention testimony would force it to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels. Frank O'Donnell, who heads the advocacy group Clean Air Watch, said the latest revelations confirm that the vice president has been steering the nation's environmental policy during President Bush's tenure. 'For years, we've suspected that Cheney was the puppeteer for administration policy on global warming,' O'Donnell said."

A Backlog Of 900 Fraud Cases at DOJ

"Since 2001, 300 to 400 civil cases have been filed each year by employees charging that their companies defrauded the government. But under the cumbersome process that governs these cases, Justice Department lawyers must review them under seal, and whistle-blowers routinely wait 14 months or longer just to learn whether the department will get involved. The issue is drawing renewed interest among lawmakers and nonprofit groups because many of the cases involve the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, rising health-care payouts, and privatization of government functions -- all of which offer rich new opportunities to swindle taxpayers."

Gov. Perry Requested Ethanol Waiver After
$100,000 Gift to Group

"Gov. Rick Perry's request for a waiver of federal corn-based ethanol production mandates was prompted by a March meeting he had with East Texas poultry producer Lonnie "Bo" Pilgrim, who six days later gave $100,000 to the Republican Governors Association chaired by Perry. He pressed for the waiver despite an April 10 Texas A&M study that showed a waiver of federal mandates on ethanol production would have little or no effect in driving down the price of feed corn for poultry and livestock. The A&M study blamed rising corn prices on the cost of oil, global demands for corn and commodities speculation. While Perry's staff was in the process of preparing the waiver request, senior adviser Mike Morrissey and agriculture policy expert Toby Baker met with David Gibson, executive director of the Texas Corn Producers Board. The corn producers opposed the waiver. 'We never got to talk to anyone at a level higher than that,' Gibson said. Gibson said corn producers felt the meat producers were punishing grain growers in a year when prices were good."

"Pilgrim's Pride Corp., headquartered in Pittsburg, Texas, is the largest chicken producer in the United States and Puerto Rico and the second-largest chicken producer in Mexico."

False Rumors About Obama Are Flying in Flag City, USA

"On his corner of College Street, Jim Peterman stares at the four American flags planted in his front lawn. In 1968, a local congressman persuaded the House of Representatives to officially declare Findlay, Ohio, as Flag City, USA."

Tim Russert, Host of NBC's Meet the Press
Vice President of NBC News, and head of its Washington Bureau
Collapses and Dies on the Job, June 13, 2008

Replacing Tim Russert tough task for NBC News. (6/17/08)

image for the month of june

Italian police protect a video store of the US rental chain Blockbuster during an anti-Bush protest in Rome, Wednesday, June 11, 2008. President Bush arrived in Rome Wednesday for a three-day visit.
(AP Photo/Andrew Medichini) (Andrew Medichini - AP)

Thrilling Boston Marathon Finish!

Click the image to view the nail-biting play-by-play from WBZ-TV Boston.

Five Years Later: What's Accomplished???

President Bush Aboard USS Abraham Lincoln, May 1, 2003

May 1, 2008 - Congressman John P. Murtha (D-Pennsylvania), Chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, said: "Five years ago today, President Bush addressed our nation and the world from the USS Abraham Lincoln, only forty-two days after he ordered the invasion of Iraq. He declared 'Mission Accomplished.' 1,827 days later, the U.S. occupation of Iraq continues, and our 'mission' remains undefined and open-ended."

Bush is saluted by the flight deck crew of the USS Lincoln, May 1, 2003

The Washington Post's Dan Froomkin lists some of the changes "since President Bush flew aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier in 'Top Gun' style, stood under a banner proclaiming 'Mission Accomplished' and proudly declared: 'Major combat operations in Iraq have ended.'"
"Five years ago, 139 American troops had died in Iraq. Now that number is 4,064. Five years ago, 542 American troops had been wounded in Iraq. Now that number is 29,395.
Five years ago, the national debt was $6.5 trillion. Now it's $9.3 trillion.
Five years ago, your average gallon of gas cost $1.44. Now it costs $3.57.
Five years ago, Bush's job-approval rating was at 70 percent. Now it's at 28.
Five years ago, Bush's appearance on the carrier was widely hailed as a brilliant PR move, imbuing the president with the aura of a conquering hero. Now, it's possibly the single most potent image of Bush's hubris.
Five years ago, there were about 150,000 American troops in Iraq. Now there are slightly more." (No change on this one).

Life Expectancy Drops for 12% of U.S. Women
Mostly in Rural and Low Income Areas

This is inexcusable in America. And don't tell me it's about personal responsibilty and choice. It's about a lack of access to affordable healthy alternatives, nutrition education, and health care. Here's the full journal article.

"One World, One Dream, Free Tibet 08"

Pro-Tibet protesters climb Golden Gate Bridge tower.

28% of Americans Know Number of
U.S. Soldier Deaths in Iraq

The PEW RESEARCH CENTER FOR THE PEOPLE & THE PRESS found that, when faced with multiple choice questions about current events, Americans' performance was (not surprinsingly) mediocre.

One in 100 Americans in Jail or Prison

The latest Pew Center for the States Corrections and Public Safety research study reports that the U.S. has 400,000 more people incarcerated than the combined prison population of 26 European nations, including Russia. The total number of people living in those countries was 802 million, versus 299 million Amercans. The report finds that "prison growth and higher incarceration rates do not reflect a parallel increase in crime, or a corresponding surge in the nation’s population at large. Instead, more people are behind bars principally because of a wave of policy choices that are sending more lawbreakers to prison and, through popular 'three-strikes' measures and other sentencing laws, imposing longer prison stays on inmates."

Some startling numbers from the report:

One in 53 adults in their 20s is behind bars.

Men are 13 times more likely to be incarcerated than women, but the female population is expanding at a faster pace.

One in 9 black males between the ages of 20 and 34 is behind bars.

One in 100 black women in their mid- to late-30s are incarcerated.

In 2007, "states spent more than $49 billion on corrections, up from $11 billion 20 years before. However, the national recidivism rate remains virtually unchanged, with about half of released inmates returning to jail or prison within three years." The rate of increase for prison costs was six times greater than for higher education spending.

Read the full report: "One in 100: Behind Bars in America in 2008 details how, for the first time in history, more than one in every 100 adults in America are in jail or prison—a fact that significantly impacts state budgets without delivering a clear return on public safety."

Roger Clemens' Diet

Los Angeles Times Endorses Obama

Unlike the Houston Chronicle's typically unreadable and unconvincing endorsement of Obama in the Texas primary, the LA Times properly summarizes the significance of this moment in history, "An Obama presidency would present, as a distinctly American face, a man of African descent, born in the nation's youngest state, with a childhood spent partly in Asia, among Muslims. No public relations campaign could do more than Obama's mere presence in the White House to defuse anti-American passion around the world, nor could any political experience surpass Obama's life story in preparing a president to understand the American character. His candidacy offers Democrats the best hope of leading America into the future, and gives Californians the opportunity to cast their most exciting and consequential ballot in a generation."

Art in City Hall Exhibit Extended Until 2009

The City of Houston hast picked up the option to keep my painting Tres pájaros, (2007), on display through March 2009. The Art in City Hall Exhibit, City Hall Annex, 900 Bagby (just West of Houston City Hall). Take the elevators to the 4th floor (the City Attorney's floor) and turn right. You'll see the painting by the doors into the suite of offices.

First Orange, 2/8/08!

Here's the first ever orange from a Satsuma Orange tree I planted in my backyard 4 years ago.

Deceiving the U.S. on Iran

Keith Olbermann

November 2007's Picture of the Month

NYTimes, 11/05/07: "Pakistan Police Attack Lawyers at Protest"

Keith Olbermann

Special Comment: On waterboarding and torture

Top Secret Endorsement Of Torture By U.S. Interrogators

It you ever doubted how far Bush is willing to go, here's a another bombshell in the NY Times (10/4/07). Bush's actions dishonor the principles America is supposed to represent and what U.S. soldiers are defending and dying for on the battlefield.

As Promised, Bush Vetoes Children's Health Insurance Progam

President Bush proves again that even when his on party disagrees with him, his rigidity can lead to a heartless act like vetoing the bill to expand SCHIP. "'Today we learned that the same president who is willing to throw away a half trillion dollars in Iraq is unwilling to spend a small fraction of that amount to bring health care to American children,'" said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.). Well Texas Governor Perry would just find a way NOT to spend the money anyway.

Blackwater USA Security Guard Shot Indiscriminately at Iraqi Civilians

The NY Times reports (9/28/07) that at least one security guard with Blackwater USA, which provides security for the U.S Embassy in Baghdad, "continued firing on civilians while colleagues urgently called for a cease-fire. At least one guard apparently also drew a weapon on a fellow guard who did not stop shooting."

"These new details of the episode on Sept. 16, in which at least eight Iraqis were killed, including a woman and an infant, were provided by an American official who was briefed on the American investigation by someone who helped conduct it, and by Americans who had spoken directly with two guards involved in the episode. Their accounts were broadly consistent."

"The accounts provided the first glimpse into the official American investigation of the shooting, which has angered Iraqi officials and prompted calls by the Iraqi government to ban Blackwater from working in Iraq, and brought new scrutiny of the widespread use of private security contractors here."

Soldiers Speaking Out

I guess I missed this August 19 op-ed by U.S. soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division criticizing "recent press coverage portraying the conflict as increasingly manageable" because I was likely on one of my sojourns to the "mirror universe" at the time. And here's the sad epilogue for two of the soldiers who signed that letter to the New York Times.

George Speaks for Me

This is the first and probably the last time I link to George F. Will without comment.

New Video of Jeff Buckley's "Hallelujah"

We're Number 1! We're Number 1!

The Chronicle reports: "A newly released study on the well-being of children says Texas had the highest teen birth rate in the nation in 2004, a ranking that the Lone Star State may not want to brag about."

"'Texas has been showing improvement, but other states are showing more improvement,' said Frances Deviney, director of Texas Kids Count and a senior research associate for the Austin-based Center for Public Policy Priorities. Culture plays a role, statistics show, because black teens in Texas are more than twice as likely as their white peers to have a baby. And Hispanics are more than 31⁄2 times as likely as Anglos to give birth in their teen years. However, Robert Sanborn, president of Children at Risk, said that doesn't explain everything, because other states with high minority populations have lower teen pregnancy rates. He said he's concerned that Texas' sex education curriculum focuses too much on abstinence and provides too little information on other ways to prevent pregnancies. A 1995 law requires school districts to emphasize abstinence in sex education classes. 'It's a touchy subject,' Sanborn said. 'We can preach abstinence quite a bit, and there is nothing wrong with that, but it doesn't affect some kids, and apparently it's really not working in Texas.'"

The "Bush-Libby Defense"

U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey White rejected attorney Troy Ellerman's "argument that he should get a lighter sentence because President Bush commuted former vice presidential aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby's 2 1/2 -year prison sentence for perjury to probation. White said to do so would open the door to doling out unduly lenient sentences for other white collar criminals. 'If Mr. Ellerman is dissatisfied with his sentence, he should seek a commutation from the president,' White said." Ellerman, "admitted leaking the confidential grand jury testimony of Barry Bonds and other athletes to a reporter." He was sentenced Thursday (July 12) to two and a half years in prison.

There's gonna be one of these stories every time a lawyer gets sentenced to prison time for perjury. Heh, heh...

Kermit Ruffins Plays the White House

Our good friends Kermit Ruffins and the Barbeque Swingers performed for President and Mrs. Bush and Congress on the south lawn of the White House a couple of days ago. Here's the transcript and here's the QuickTime® video.

Treasury Dept. Has More Investigators On Cuba Travel than Terrorism

"Last March, six months after [Michael Moore's] initial request for travel documents [from the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)], the award-winning documentary filmmaker visited Cuba. There, he filmed a segment of SiCKO, his movie focusing on the failing U.S. health-care industry. For the segment, Moore had taken along ten 9/11 first-responders who have been suffering respiratory problems ever since."

"The OFAC "has opened an investigation on whether the filmmaker violated the U.S. embargo of Cuba, sending him an official Requirement to Furnish Information within 20 days. Failure to answer or comply could result in fines of tens of thousands of dollars."

"OFAC, whose primary mission is counter terrorism, designates 15% of its staff to enforcing Cuba travel restrictions — more employees than those tracking Iraqi terrorists or those assigned to locate the missing assets of Saddam Hussein.

Green Zone Summer Fashion Accessories: Flak Jackets and Helmets

On May 3, the U.S. Embassy issued "a strict new order" to employees to wear "personal protective equipment." inside the Green Zone, "the one-time oasis of security in Iraq's turbulent capital."

Former CIA Director Paints a Familiar Picture of Bush Presidency

"'Alternately withholding and aggrieved, earnest and disingenuous, 'At the Center of the Storm' is interesting less for any stunning new revelations than for fleshing out a portrait of the Bush White House already sketched by reporters and former administration members," writes the New York Times.

Shoddy Construction Paid for by U.S. Taxpayers

"In a troubling sign for the American-financed rebuilding program in Iraq, inspectors for a federal oversight agency have found that in a sampling of eight projects that the United States had declared successes, seven were no longer operating as designed because of plumbing and electrical failures, lack of proper maintenance, apparent looting and expensive equipment that lay idle."

The Way to Bring People Together is to Build a Wall Between Them

The U.S. Army is building a three-mile long, 12 ft tall wall around a Sunni neighborhood in Baghdad. The "community did not approve the project before construction began."

"'This will make the whole district a prison. This is collective punishment on the residents of Adhamiya. We are in our fourth year of occupation and we are seeing the number of blast walls increasing day after day, suffocating the people more and more,' said Ahmed al-Dulaimi, a 41-year-old engineer who lives in the area."

Monica Speaks (But Reveals Little)

Andrew Cohen writes in the Washington Post, "I swear, if Monica Goodling cries today when she testifies before the House Judiciary Committee about her role in the U.S. Attorney scandal I will be on the phone to Jon Stewart before Goodling's first tear hits the floor of the hearing room. She didn't cry for the good men and women within the Justice Department whom she helped get fired because they weren't 'loyal Bushies' like her. She didn't cry for the subversion of justice that the firings (and her hiring decisions) represented. She didn't cry when her former boss, the Attorney General, stonewalled. But she is going to cry when Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) asks her a question? Please."

Goodling "...should be required to explain why she refused to hire for nonpartisan positions attorneys she considered too 'liberal' while embracing other candidates who were and are considered 'conservative.'"

"Goodling should be required to explain the oddly instrumental role that her Pat Robertson-founded alma mater, Regent University, plays in the life of the Justice Department. As Richard Schmitt of the Los Angeles Times put it: 'How a 33-year-old graduate of a little-known law school that teaches courses on the philosophy of punishing and controlling 'sin' became such a powerful figure in the Justice Department is a key question for congressional investigators looking into charges that the department has been turned into a political tool of the Republican Party.' Remember, Goodling had six months of undistinguished experience when she was hired."

"Goodling should be required to explain her vision of the Justice Department and tell us why she believes that justice is served by replacing professional, non-partisan lawyers within the Department with partisan loyalists like her." [and] "...why she believes that a partisan Justice Department is better for America than a more neutral one. Now that might be tear-worthy."

John McCain vs. Jon Stewart

This is your brain.
This is your brain in a mall with 85 stores.
Any questions?

"Admitted shopoholic" Diana Lazzell of the University of Texas Health Science at Houston writes in "Shopping and Your Brain" about a new Stanford University study that examines brain areas involved in financial decisions.

If the Escalation Fails

The LA Times reports on 3/12/07 that "American military planners have begun plotting a fallback strategy for Iraq that includes a gradual withdrawal of forces and a renewed emphasis on training Iraqi fighters in case the current troop buildup fails or is derailed by Congress." The Times quotes a senior Pentagon official as saying: "This part of the world has an allergy against foreign presence." An allergy?

These are the kind of bright bulbs running the war. Name a country that likes a foreign presence on their soil. Not one wants it. And those that host foreign bases (usually including thousands of U.S. soldiers) are tolerated by their governments on the basis of "national security" and the billions of dollars paid to them, and against the will of the majority of their citizens, or even to assist those governments in oppressing their own citizens such as in Colombia today or throughtout the history of U.S. military intervention in the Third World.

Is Dissociative Amnesia a 19th Century Invention?

Authors of a new Harvard Medical School study discussed in the 2/26/07 edition of the Washington Post argue: "If repressed memories are one way the brain deals with painful memories, why would there be no literary examples of the phenomenon that are more than 200 years old?"

Five Flaws in Bush's 'New' Plan

Zbigniew Brzezinski, former National Security Adviser to President Carter, thoughtfully analyzes Wednesday's Bush speech. He closes with this:

"The speech reflects a profound misunderstanding of our era. America is acting like a colonial power in Iraq. But the age of colonialism is over. Waging a colonial war in the post-colonial age is self-defeating. That is the fatal flaw of Bush's policy."

In Official DOD Dictionary "Surge" Is Not A Word, "Escalation" Is

The mainstream media (MSM) continues to aid and abet the Bush administration with its latest propaganda term. Search for "surge" first. Then look for "escalation", which is what this should be called.

The Future is Here

Gates Didn't Spend Christmas With The Troops

"It is a tradition for the Secretary (of Defense) to serve the troops turkey at Thanksgiving and visit the front lines at Christmas."

"Gates sat down with a half-dozen soldiers as a photo-op, rushing back to Washington to leave them alone with their glum Christmas away from their loved ones."

Beauty and Evolution

The Washington Post has an article that summarizes scientitific theories and research studies on the concept of beauty. "It isn't invented by Hollywood or fashion magazines so much as it is programmed into our DNA. For example, a number of studies have shown that faces judged to be beautiful, regardless of culture, are highly symmetrical. Nature seems to have a bias in favor of balanced pairs -- two arms, two legs, two eyes, two ears, two wings.

Beat