Valentine's TV Career May Pick Up

Bobby Valentine may star in a children's show on PBS. Frankly, I think he's a scary and scary-looking man, but then I'm a Braves fan.

"So, little girl, do you think major league baseball is ready for an openly gay player?"

Davis sees donation surge

How often does a challenger outraise an incumbent? Especially in a primary? It's happened in the Alabama 7th -- the state's gerrymandered majority African-American district -- where Artur Davis has outdone Earl Hilliard. And the reason is, of all things, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Hilliard voted against the recent nonbinding resolutions supporting Israel, which led some out-of-state donors, mostly in New York, including pro-Israel organizations, to support Davis, his main challenger. Hilliard, in turn, is getting money from California. This could get ugly. The primary is essentially the election, because there is no Republican challenger, only a Libertarian.

FBI Culture Blamed for Missteps on Moussaoui (washingtonpost.com)

The FBI operates in "a climate of fear which has chilled aggressive . . . law enforcement action," whistle-blower Coleen Rowley charges in the 13-page letter that faults the FBI's leadership for hindering the investigation of a suspected terrorist prior to Sept. 11...

More or less, it seems they're afraid of looking bad. I don't think they realized just how bad they could look by not doing anything at all. More and more I'm thinking that the FBI needs someone to clean house, but I don't know if there's the political will to do more than just scapegoat Mueller. Don't get me wrong, he deserves to get the ax, but he's not the big problem. The big problem is an FBI culture that is less concerned with doing the job than keeping their jobs.

The Blogspot exodus continues with aintnobaddude.com.

FBI asks Web sites to remove video of Daniel Pearl's death

Bottle. Lid. Genie gone.

I've no interest in looking at that... thing. However, the FBI has no business going around doing things like contacting web hosters and threatening lawsuits. It's not even any of their business.

Fun with referrer logs

Recherche Google: 2002 email address of fish supply in pakistan

WHAT?

King Midas' Beguiling Domain

I'm not a big fan of travel articles, but the occasional really bizarre one catches my eye. For example, this one on central Anatolia, ancient Phrygia. It's not exactly a tourist mecca in the best of times, and considering the current climate...

Afghan Leader Expected to Get Extended Term

Democracy at its finest. Maybe Karzai and Musharraf can start a club.

It turns out that I am the #18 Google search for autopsy photos daniel pearl, even though I have never actually used that phrase. Uh, until now. Oops.

The New York Observer eulogizes Stephen Jay Gould, focusing on his baseball writing.

Stephen Jay Gould, From CSICOP Chairman, Paul Kurtz

VH1.com

I love VH1 Classic. I know that this isn't cool, but then I've never been cool anyway, so why start now? They're playing Al Green's "Let's Stay Together"; before that, it was Bob Marley, and before that Procul Harum. This is great.

File13's Amish Tech Support

RED HERRINGS, A PLAY IN NO ACTS

Read it.

Now how do I get this cola off my monitor screen?

Lawyer: Accused Man Knew of Attacks

Oh boy... There's been speculation that some in the financial community knew of 9-11 beforehand and took advantage. Now a federal prosecutor has accused a Californian financial analyst, born in Egypt, of just that.

Salon.com News | Soccer may be the world's sport, but it will never be America's

The world will never truly be free until the iron sneaker of soccer has finally been removed from the necks of those who haven't realized yet that it's incredibly boring.

The Second-generation Instapundit Effect

Looking at my Counter Stats, I notice a number of hits all coming from Travelling Shoes; most of them from the archives rather than the main site. That's funny, I think. Then I see the Professor linked to that archive page. Oh. Also explains the big push I've gotten from Matthew Yglesias the last few days.

5/24/02 -- Copperfield's Come Undone...

Claudia Schiffer's marriage plans lead to Episode III in Omar Gallaga's epic David Copperfield series.

The Baseball News Blog's permalinks are apparently nonexistent, but I wanted to point out their Friday entry. The AL West is the classic "The Opposite" episode of Seinfeld, and the Athletics have become the Angels.

OK, here's the situation. I have to work Monday. Well, I have to come to work Monday. Should I take one of my at-the-desk vacations? I mean, it's Memorial Day!

Gene-Altered Mosquito May Aid Malaria Fight (washingtonpost.com)

It's Benedict Mosquito! Well, sort of. They want to release a GM skeeter that has a lessened ability to transmit malaria. But it would still be possible, I think, even if the unmodified version doesn't outcompete it.

New Scientist
Three million would die in "limited" nuclear war over Kashmir

That's just the direct count. It doesn't count the starvation and cancer that would surely follow, or the loss of life following from the disruption of normal services. Or the civil war in Pakistan. And it's an optimistic figure anyway in my opinion. They're working off of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki data, and I think the weapons used will probably be more effective than the scientists expect. We don't really know how good the Indian and Pakistani nukes are.

Military Bids to Postpone Iraq Invasion (washingtonpost.com)

I'm not particularly surprised. The military doesn't really like to fight; I think they're much more aware than the civilian leadership that in a war, people are going to be killed.

Joint Chiefs of Staff... have repeatedly emphasized the lengthy buildup that would be required, concerns about Hussein's possible use of biological and chemical weapons and the possible casualties, officials said.

What the civilian leadership seems more aware of, however, is that we are going to have to fight Saddam sometime. And that those biological and chemical weapons aren't going to go away, and eventually (if we do nothing) will be joined by nuclear weapons. The military is pushing the use of covert ops to cause a regime change. In my opinion, this is a waste of time. Ignoring that we've been trying that off and on for a decade, do you really think Saddam's successor will disassemble his chemical and biological weaponry, or end the nuclear program? Or that he's going to be some sweetness-and-light type who will never be involved in an attack on the US or its interests?

Bomber Killed in a Bid to Drive Car Into a Tel Aviv Nightclub

Eli Federman is a hero tonight. He shot and killed a driver whose car -- the Times leaves this out of the headline -- was loaded with explosives into a nightclub packed with teenagers. Al Aksa took responsibility for "the remarkable, heroic martyrdom operation in the heart of Tel Aviv." They sure are proud of their utter failure. And Yasser Arafat sure is a reasonable man who will talk peace and only wants what's best for his people. Right.

What a Cutup: Schwimmer Takes a Hit

David Schwimmer of Friends was hit in the forehead by a shard of glass during a fight between two women. He was taken to the ER, leading to plaintive cries to not give NBC any more crossover ideas. And the poll I'm about to set up.

[Edited because "plainful" is not a word, though perhaps it should be.]

Finland to Build Controversial New Nuclear Plant

The Greens are looking a whole lot like watermelons here. Among other things:

Environment Minister Satu Hassi, a Green, has hit out against the government for raising the Cold War specter of the nation's need to lessen dependence on Russia.

The Finnish government is trying to meet greenhouse gas standards, and Finland lacks fossil fuel deposits. To meet electricity needs, nuclear power seems the way to go. The safety record of Western European nuclear power plants is outstanding, by the way. There is the problem of disposal, of course, but I think it's a relatively small concern against the possibility of widespread power shortages.

Pakistan Prepares to Shift Troops From Afghan Border to Kashmir

Thereby making it much easier for al-Qaeda and the Taliban to take over when the government collapses after the Indians smash the Pakistani army.

FBI Flaws Alleged by Field Staff (washingtonpost.com)

Over/under on Robert Mueller's remaining tenure at the FBI: 14 days.

The most telling part of this story is in the lede. The local FBI agents were "admonished" for consulting with the CIA. These turf wars are absolutely insane and I honestly don't see the reason they've been allowed to continue.

Economy Grew Less Than Initially Thought in First Quarter

The difference isn't that great, 5.6 percent rather than 5.8. This is a Reuters story, if you couldn't guess.

Sailors Sprayed With Nerve Gas in Cold War Test, Pentagon Says

My God, that's offensive. Here are these people, serving their country -- against their will, in many cases, this was the draft era -- and the Pentagon decides to make guinea pigs out of them.

Hundreds of sailors exposed to the poisons in tests conducted in the 1960's could be eligible for health care benefits, and the Department of Veterans Affairs has already begun contacting those who participated in some of the experiments, known as Project Shipboard Hazard and Defense, or SHAD.

1) Great acronym, guys.

2) And great, you're going to send them -- the ones that are still alive, anyway -- to the VA. That's going to help.

Dismal End for Race Dogs, Alabama Authorities Say

A man near Perdido Bay, in the far southern part of the state, apparently made a career out of the slaughter of greyhounds (via gunshot). Robert Rhodes claims he's been doing this since high school; he's now 68. This is a horror; the Baldwin County DA went way overboard by comparing Rhodes to Hitler, though.

Bush Tackles Terrorism, Trade in German Address (washingtonpost.com)

As Bush sat impassively, [Bundestag president Wolfgang] Thierse declared that "we need coordinated action" to combat global warming, urging Bush to reconsider his opposition to the Kyoto accord. Bush did not join in the applause that followed. Thierse then scolded Bush's rejection of the International Criminal Court, saying Germany hopes to be "moving forward together with our American friends."

Wolfy can stick his comments where the sun don't shine. The "International" Criminal Court is a farce, an attempt to impose European law on the rest of the world, and we're well out of it. (It's probably unconstitutional anyway.) As for Kyoto, I'm more or less a supporter even though it's not the treaty I would have come up with myself, but this was not the time or the place to bring this up; there's a war going on, remember?

(To summarize my view on global warming: That there is such a thing is pretty apparent. That humans are a primary cause is at best unproven. That human agency can affect the global environment seems likely considering our proven ability to affect it on a regional basis. That we actually are is impossible to say at the current state of knowledge. I would prefer that we play it safe.)

This is all before the protests by communists. Commies!

Metablogging Alert

Ignore this if you want... I've played around with the blogroll a little more, again to create room (I've well over 100 permalinks now). I've added a section "The Pros" for various professional journalists, plus the all-powerful king of the bloggers. And if anyone objects to being labeled a professional journalist, I'll understand. I had to guess at regionals for some people. Oh well.

Two wounded in New Orleans airport shooting
Gunman said people made fun of his turban

As everyone knows, the law clearly states that you are allowed to shoot anyone who makes fun of your hat... Seriously, what we have here is apparently a white American convert to Islam who was being insulted for his beliefs, as represented by said hat. There's no excuse for that, but it doesn't justify the response.

Professor: Tennessee covered up grade fixing

I am stunned to learn that football players at the University of Tennessee got good grades they did not earn. This is certainly unprecedented.

Krispy Kreme Reports 55 Percent Rise

I'm kind of stunned by the meteoric rise of the Kreme. I mean, here Yankees will pay through the nose for something I've always kind of thought of as a more or less everyday thing.

Open-Source Fight Flares At Pentagon
Microsoft Lobbies Hard Against Free Software

What a bunch of weasels. They're claiming that open-source is a security risk. Microsoft!

USS Clueless - Indo-Pak war

The Captain thinks that the most likely scenario for the first use of nuclear weapons in an Indian/Pakistani war would be as a defensive strike, in Pakistani territory, by Pakistan. Followed quickly by an Indian counterstrike, and then escalation. And I'm afraid he's right. What would we have done in 1980, say, if Warsaw Pact troops had burst into West Germany and were headed west? What would the French have done? Moreover, what if NATO troops had broken through East Germany and were headed into Poland? Do you think the Soviets would have just stood by? The balance is a little different when it's your own home territory, but I think the result would have been the same. Which is why it was so important that we and the Russians never fought directly...

Berlin's Anti-American Protesters Out to Lunch (washingtonpost.com)

Anti-American protestors like to hang out at the "Tex-Mex Cantina". They're idiots, what more can I say? What do you want to bet that they don't even see the irony? Not that they have any sense of irony.

Tensions Mount Between India and Pakistan

Here's another thing... What if Pakistan doesn't use nukes against an Indian city, but against Indian troops in Kashmir? That would seem not only more justifiable -- if barely -- but easier. What would India do? A tit-for-tat attack on Pakistani troops? An attack on Pakistani territory?

My greatest fear is of China deciding to come into the conflict on Pakistan's side. That could in turn draw us into it, or the Russians. I don't think that will happen -- China isn't really that attached to Pakistan, it's just a tool -- but it's possible.

Meanwhile, we don't seem to be doing anything to head this off, and the British are recalling some of their diplomatic personnel from Pakistan.

Former Klansman Found Guilty in '63 Church Bombing

It's a good thing, because he was obviously guilty. The defense barely put on a case beyond "Please don't put grandpappy in jail". But is this justice? Forty years ago, this man killed four children. He lived a long life, saw his grandchildren grow up. And now, he's going to live out the last few years of that life in jail. It hardly seems enough.

Bomb Explodes in Suburb of Tel Aviv; Site of Earlier Attack

Reports indicate that there was one fatality, plus the moron who blew himself up. This was the same suburb as the pool hall massacre earlier this month. Yasser sure is doing a great job controlling terrorism now that he isn't confined, huh?

FBI Pigeonholed Agent's Request (washingtonpost.com)

They didn't have enough manpower to investigate, they say. Maybe it's because Johnny Justice was expending all the manpower he could on persecuting -- uh, prosecuting -- cases against dangerous cancer patients.

Skull found in park; Levy detectives on the scene

It's in an area that had been searched in the Chandra Levy case.

National media sidestep UFOs

That's because they're not a story, and they're not a story because they don't exist, moron.

Resurfacing Animosity Awaits Bush in Europe (washingtonpost.com)

The link text was a lot more interesting, "Europe, U.S. Drifting Apart", which made me think, "Yes, but it's only a couple of inches a year." But then, I realized they weren't talking about plate tectonics.



Translation: "Stop Bush - Red/Green: Jobs". Maybe that makes more sense in the original. But I doubt it.

UAH prototype device detects `dirty bombs'

After it's used, not before. Now, that could really come in handy. The first terrorist use of nuclear material will probably be a dirty bomb, conventional explosives laced with low-grade atomic materiel.

India Prepares Troops for 'Decisive Fight'

Indian PM Vajpayee:

``Whether our neighbor understands this signal or not, whether the world takes account of it or not, history will be witness to this. We shall write a new chapter of victory,'' he told soldiers in Kupwara, northern Kashmir.

``Let's work for victory. Be prepared for sacrifices. But our aim should be victory. Because it's now time for a decisive fight.''

Oh, that doesn't sound good. I think the odds of a full-scale war just went up, to at least 2:1 in favor. And if a war happens, there is an excellent chance that Pakistan will go nuclear. Even if it doesn't, the government will likely collapse once India wins the war -- which it will -- and Pakistan will go the way its neighbor to the north did a decade ago. Frankly, the remnants of the Taliban are already crossing the border, and it will be a stampede once Pakistani troops are pulled from there to the Indian border.

Matthew Yglesias has the incredible details of one of Harvard's Commencement Addresses for this year: "American Jihad". Unbelievable.

Piazza denies he's gay

Which won't keep fans from taunting him about it, or the Atlanta paper from bringing it up... There was a story in the Post, Page Six, yesterday, where Bobby Valentine (the Mets' manager) was saying that he thought baseball was ready for an openly gay ballplayer. Speculation immediately surfaced that someone on the Mets must be ready to come out, otherwise why would Valentine bring it up? (Why not?) And then it was decided that the Gay Met must be Piazza, probably because he's good-looking, single, and has odd facial hair.

Anyway, is baseball ready for the gay Jackie Robinson? I don't know. There are a lot of neanderthal attitudes in the game. At any rate, he's going to have to be a star, someone like Piazza, because a team wouldn't go through the hassle for a marginal player.

There is of course more than one gay major league baseball player. I don't know what study to believe on the number of gays in the general population, but with 750 players on the active rosters (plus maybe another 50 on the disabled list) there could be anywhere from six to six dozen. There was a brief tempest about a year about about a gay magazine editor (for Out, I believe) who talked about his boyfriend, a closeted major league player. That player was probably not the one the Post was talking about, because he supposedly played for a team on the East Coast but not the Mets or Yankees.

For Democrats, Key Voters May Be Married to Soccer Moms (washingtonpost.com)
Pollster Says Party Should Target 'Office Park Dads'

Hey, what about the Unmarried Private School Librarians? We vote, too! Why doesn't anyone pander to us?

Ananova - Skeleton of cross-dressing Roman eunuch unveiled

Um... How do they know he was a eunuch? I mean, those parts don't normally get preserved.

(Via Dr. Frank.)

Librarian of Congress rejects proposed royalty rates for Internet music broadcasts

The Librarian of Congress isn't a librarian, by the way.

Oh, Ms. Vegan...

Lab Study: Problem With Soy Chemical (washingtonpost.com)

There's a chemical contained in soy extracts -- including infant formula -- that has been found to weaken immune systems in lab mice. There's no evidence of a problem in humans yet, but I just wanted to spread the alarm.

State Dept. Releases Report on International Terrorism (washingtonpost.com)

Iran is still #1, but we'll never have a true terrorism champion until we have a postseason playoff.

Annan calls for restraint by India, Pak.

Something I've noticed... The Indian papers -- the Hindu especially, but also the Times of India -- use "Pak" for Pakistan an awful lot. I was wondering if this was a slur (remember when the President got in trouble for saying "Paki"?) but the Pakistan News Service uses it too. But I never see it in English-language news outside the Subcontinent.

VodkaPundit thinks that the two sides have too much to lose to get into a shooting war that could lead to a nuclear exchange, setting the odds at less than one in five. I hope he's right, but I'm not optimistic. I think it's more like 50/50.

Uh-Oh.

Libéral De Guerre

Someone's translating me into French.

U.S. bars pilots from carrying guns in cockpit

Well, so much for that.

The New Republic Online: New Life

Peter Beinart, Republican deep-cover operative, wants a Democratic primary candidate to run to the left by attacking the death penalty. I figure, say we should raise taxes and cut defense spending, too. Why not go for the trifecta, then see if you can beat McGovern and Mondale and lose every state?

Ashcroft Learned of Agent's Alert Just After 9/11 but Bush Was Not Told

If this is true, it's yet another reason (collect them all!) that Johnny Justice needs to be shown the door. He's the President, you're the AG, you report to him. If I were GWB, I'd have asked for Ashcroft's resignation as soon as I learned he was stonewalling.

Grandsons say Cherry didn't boast about blast

You know, forty years after he blew up the 16th Street Baptist Church.

Defense lawyer Mickey Johnson called two of Cherry's grandsons and a Texas preacher to show that Cherry had what he called "redeeming qualities" and had grown beyond the violent segregationist past portrayed by the prosecution.

"He hasn't killed a little girl in nearly forty years! Come on guys, give him a break!"

The Scientist Who Wrote Rings Around The Earth (washingtonpost.com)

Joel Achenbach on Stephen Jay Gould...

A brilliant scientist who can write beautifully is an unusual creature, almost an evolutionary impossibility. It's like a flying horse, or a talking shark. Nature usually is sparing when it hands out talent and specializations. Stephen Jay Gould -- who died of lung cancer yesterday at the age of 60 -- was a prize example of a very rare breed.

INS 'Failure' Cited in Visa Case (washingtonpost.com)

You think? I mean, it's a tough call. Anybody could mail visas to a pair of infamous terrorists who had been dead for six months. I don't think we want to come down too hard on INS.

BLOGGER

Blogspot seems to be down. Maybe. Everyone on my link list that's on Blogspot is coming up "page not found" but recently published blogs are up. I dunno. If anyone on Blogspot is reading this, try republishing.

Eric Alterman has a blog. This might actually be interesting. Of course, MSNBC already has an experienced weblogger on staff...

I'm one of the top 20 pages for "Lucas Helder Palestinian". Of course, Lucas Helder (smiley-bomb boy) isn't a Palestinian. Odd, really.

Bush: No Lifting Of Cuba Policies (washingtonpost.com)

There's nothing morally unjustifiable about American Cuban policy. I think it's extreme, but the case can be made. The problem is that our stance towards Cuba is completely different than that towards other tyrannies. We're perfectly willing to associate with dictators as bad or worse than Castro, but Cuba is off-limits?

USS Clueless

I could post on Den Beste everyday. But today there are two entries I particularly want to point out. First, he writes of Europe and the US, and the ridiculous Wanker article on Europe as a "postmodern" state, and superior to merely "modern" America:

But that's not the limit to the arrogance here. There's also the underlying assumption that all nations actually follow, and should follow, the same path of advancement, and Europe quite naturally leads the world in this regard.

Missing is any recognition that there may be more than one answer, that the process of advancement might be a tree and not a ladder.

Also missing is any idea that maybe, just maybe, the US might have a better idea.

See, I wish I could do that. Then, he turns to Stephen Jay Gould. It's very fitting, because the idea of (biological) evolution as a tree, not a ladder, was one of Gould's favorite themes.

Stephen Jay Gould, Biologist and Theorist on Evolution, Dies at 60

No, no, no!

If Slate lets that damn Robert Wright write about this...

IOL : Scientists of Oz at war with killer jellyfish

Don't go swimming in Australia. A tiny jellyfish (an inch or less across, if I remember how long a centimeter is) has shown up in Australian waters; one American and one British tourist have been killed by them in the last year. They're translucent, which combined with their size makes them hard to see, and there's no known antidote to their venom.

Colombian Frontrunner Looks to War (washingtonpost.com)

If you desire peace, prepare for war. And if you're already at war, win it. The Colombian electorate seems to have figured this out, though the WP doesn't quite get it yet.

Study: Removing Ovaries Reduces Cancer Risk (washingtonpost.com)

Somehow, I doubt that prophylactic ovary removal is ever going to catch on as a treatment. Yes, they're talking about women with certain genetic problems leading to an increased risk of cancer, not women generally, but jeez.

Threat to Orlando water supply probed

An "unspecified", "vague and unsubstantiated" threat. But a threat. Orlando seems like a potential terror target, because of Disneyworld. But most likely this is just a crank. Again, I'm afraid the authorities are going to cry wolf until nobody is paying attention, then the strike.

Israeli Family Sues EU for Attack

YEAH!

Nothing will come of this, of course. The EU will weasel its way out of it. But it's great to see that they're being held responsible for once.

``We have yet to receive any evidence that the Palestinian Authority has misused our funds to fund terrorist activities,'' [EU spokesman David] Kriss said.

Davey, money is fungible. The Palestinians basically threw all the money into the pot, then took out a whole lot of it for terror. You can say that "your" money wasn't used, but that's facile. You sent -- and still are sending -- financial support to a terrorist group. Maybe you can say they spent it all on schoolbooks (oops!) but then that just means money they would have spent on schoolbooks was freed up for terror.

You can't get out of this that easily.

Japan opens international whaling meeting with call for resumption of commercial hunts

Of course it does. Whale meat is delicious, and who cares about endangered species?

The claim that whale overpopulation is causing the depletion of fish stocks is ridiculous. First, the whale population today is still much lower than it was even a few hundred years ago. Whales didn't overfish the sea before human predation; it's very hard to see how a whale population still only a fragment of what it once was could cause a problem. Second, a lot of the whales that the Japanese want to hunt are baleen whales, which eat plankton, not fish.

Suicide bomber kills himself in northern Israel

Who says there's no good news? One dead Splodeydope, no other casualties. Once again, the vigilance of ordinary citizens pays off; a driver informed police that a man was acting suspiciously. When the police came to question him, Splodeydope go boom!

Great Moments in Headline Writing

May 20, 2002: The NYT waxes ironic.

Midwest Towns Feel Gambling Is a Sure Thing

A little common sense will tell you that you aren't creating wealth by allowing gambling. At most, you're stealing it from other communities. And that if everybody has gambling, who's going to travel when they can stay close to home? The "gaming" boom will only last until the market is saturated, then you'll see the crash.

I don't really have a moral objection to gambling. It's stupid, but hey, a lot of people like stupid things. I like Survivor! I'm just saying that it's not a long-term solution to a community's financial problems.

British Priest Jailed For Photos

A Catholic priest, Michael O'Kelly, is going to jail for nine months for possession of child porn. Somehow, authorities can get them for that, but there's nothing to be done about the rapists.

Car Bomb in Beirut Kills Son of Radical Palestinian Leader

Israel denied involvement, but they've assassinated Palestinian terrorists before. That there were no other casualties argues for a professional job.

Cheney: Future Attacks Are 'Almost Certain' (washingtonpost.com)

Of course, the real question is if we're talking shoe-bomber level attacks, or something real. Al-Qaeda has tried to attack more than once since 9-11, and they haven't been able to do anything.

What I'm also worried about is Boy-Who-Cried-Wolf syndrome. If the government keeps saying "There's going to be an attack," and it never happens, sooner or later people will stop paying attention. And that's when the attack will occur.

CNN.com - States mull mandatory moment of silence - May 19, 2002

I'm sorry, my religion outlaws silent prayer. I need to chant loudly during your moment of silence.