CNN.com - Todd Bridges makes comeback on 'Y&R' - June 14, 2002

I honestly don't know what to say. Well, only that "Juice" is a really stupid name for a character, even on a soap opera.

I find I'm up to "Flappy Bird". Next up, rodent. I won't rest until I'm a large mammal, perhaps because I am a large mammal, if not a normal human. Also, it appears I'm easy, but we knew that.

So much good stuff from Laurence... Let's just start at the top, with his searing expose of the conflict between the Holy See and the Vaticaananites. Then go on from there.

Fun With Referrer Logs

Yahoo! Search Results for philippines girls like to get married to arabic guys

Sorry, no luck here, Abdullah.

The Nando Times: U.S. urges Yugoslavia to cooperate with war crimes panel

Well, that isn't ironic or hypocritical or anything... I'm not criticizing the administration. We've got the power, and we might as well use it. But it is odd to see us saying we won't participate in the world criminal court (again, I've no problem with that) and then pushing a war crimes tribunal on someone else.

Venezuela Demands Chavez Resignation

That's a bit of an exaggeration; when has an entire country ever agreed on anything? A lot of Venezuelans want him out; more than a hundred thousand were estimated at a rally today. But thousands were reported at a pro-Chavez demonstration in Maracay. My guess is if there hadn't been the failed coup, Hugo would be long gone.

Fun With Parallel Headlines

Thank you, Google News...

UN tells Afghan warlords to end violence

Afghanistan delegates use their fists

It is kind of hard for them to stop the fighting when there's fighting going on even in the loya jirga itself.

Judge fines state for jails' backlog

A Montgomery judge fined the state $2.16 million Friday for failing to remove hundreds of convicts from Alabama's county jails and again threatened to throw the prison commissioner in jail if conditions don't improve.

It's a switcheroo! Actually, it sounds like a bad movie, probably starring Joe Pesci, except he already made that one... The state is basically dumping its overcrowding problems on the counties by neglecting to pick up prisoners bound for state prisons. There are about a thousand state prisoners in county jails now.

Ex-Vestavia student cleared in threats case

I still say he was guilty of something, but the jury seems to have bought his act. Oh, well, he's Utah's problem now. I'm just waiting for the "Mormon Missionary Goes Berserk" headlines.

Arthur Andersen Convicted of Obstruction of Justice

It's not much, but it's something. Andersen is dying a slow death; this is just one bite. The jurors had a lot of trouble reaching the verdict and my guess is that they just wanted to go home. Hey, that happens.

CNN.com - Feds arrest man linked to 'dirty bomb' suspect - June 15, 2002

Adham Amin Hassoun is described as a "Muslim activist". The whining about being singled out coming from other Muslim activists might be more convincing if so many of their compatriots didn't keep turning up in terror investigations.

Ananova - Mongoose population threatened by paint brush production

I really hate people who do things like this, who kill wild animals for stuff like flipping paint brushes. You know what's worse? They pluck the hair while the animals are still alive. That is -- there is no other sufficient word for it -- evil... Pressure is on the Indian government to up protection for the mongoose population, but they have other things on their minds right now.

UPDATE: John Braue (Hi, John, I can't get into your comments!) points out that it's evil and stupid, because they kill the animals (I don't know the plural of mongoose) after they pluck them. I didn't even think of that, but he's right.

Lukewarm Americans Lack Enthusiasm in World Cup Success

China's Xinhua news agency reports the shocking news that Americans don't care about soccer. Oh, those wacky Yanks!

Spam Spam Spam Spam... Beautiful Spam, Wonderful Spam!

Joke if you want, but canned convenience food Spam has its own museum

Including several cans from the original production run in 1935, most of which are just as edible as they were when originally produced.

Clear Channel says strategy misunderstood as "evil"

No... I don't think that's so. It hasn't been misunderstood at all.

Benchley back in sharks' turf

Mendelian genetics... Rather than having one quarter of his grandfather's talent, Peter Benchley has none of it.

The Nando Times: Arab League chief warns U.S. against wider war

Lots of chuckles in here...

The United States and its allies should not pursue "hidden agendas" in their widening war on terror because the campaign is not the world's main concern, the head of the Arab League said Friday.

Rather, the Arab world's major worry is "the Israeli military occupation of Arab territories and the infringement of the rights of Palestinians," Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa said...

He also argued that terrorism is not linked to any one region, race or religion.

"We see an attempt to link Islam to terrorism," Moussa said. He also criticized unspecified nations and governments for allegedly "accusing all Arab or Muslims of terrorist intentions and cultures."

Bozo. Nobody has accused all Muslims, or all Arabs, of being terrorists. Nobody in power, anyway. But it's kind of hard to avoid noticing when a bunch of Arabs get together and knock down the world's largest office complex with several thousand people inside.

The anti-Israeli stuff doesn't help his cause either.

The New Republic Online: West Bank

The SFSU anti-Semitic riot story returns.

Earthquake at Yucca Mountain

I'm sure that if we'd started storing nuclear waste there, it would have been perfectly safe. It's not like it was a big earthquake. And hey, who cares if Nevada is buried in nuclear waste anyway?

Where Are They Now?
The Palm Beach Canvassing Board

ESPN.com: MLB - No typo: Rios sixth in NL outfield All-Star voting

Armando Rios is a journeyman outfielder, currently on the DL. And he's sixth in the voting among National League outfielders.

African States Seek Lifting Ban on Ivory Trade

Southern African states, that is: South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe. (Hey, I bet a lot of Mugabe-bashers don't have any problem with this. And a lot of his backers probably do. I do, and I'm a basher. I feel somehow pure.) These countries all have significant stocks of elephant tusks they'd like to sell off, but I don't think there are many elephants left in southern Africa. The big elephant homelands, India and Kenya, not only oppose the idea but want tougher standards, and I've a feeling they'll win out. It's possible the southern countries will be allowed to sell off their stocks, but I don't expect a ban on hunting or harvesting any time soon.

Oh, and Japan is back at it with the whales, again. Once again, they're going against worldwide opinion and want to be allowed to hunt whales for meat. I really have to hand it to them, it takes a lot of gumption to continually ask for the whaling ban to be lifted, knowing it won't be. Is whale meat really that good?

New Zealand Travel - nz - On the dark side of the New Zealand paradise

In addition to killing possums, hunting of wild pigs is popular in New Zealand; about a quarter of the population are hunters, fishers, and/or shooters. Like deer in the US, you have to have hunters to control populations, because pigs don't have any natural enemies there. (Unlike the US, where the predators -- wolves, bears, and pumas -- have mostly been killed off by humans, there were never any natural predators for pigs in NZ, because they're not native to the islands but were introduced by humans.) I leave you with something any number of blogospherians will appreciate:

In this climate, anti-bloodsports groups struggle to make their voices heard. Protesters who pursued duck shooters down the Waikato River a few years ago fled after the sportsmen turned their guns on them.

Whooping crane recovery spreads new wings - 6/14/2002 - ENN.com

"Lucky" is the first whooping crane born in the wild in the United States and able to fly on its own since 1939. I hope he can make it; the whooping crane has come a long way from near-extinction, but there are still only 270 individuals.

Yahoo! News - UK Firm Tests Anti-Smoking Vaccine

A bit inaccurate, that... What they're testing is something that bonds to nicotine and would prevent it from reaching the brain. They're trying something similar with cocaine. Nice, if it works.

Microsoft accidentally distributes virus - Tech News - CNET.com

What the heck is going on up in Redmond? This time, they sent the Nimda worm to Korean developers. It's a daily occurrence now, the Microsoft announcement of some horrific screwup.

Richard Goldstein's Heresy Hunt.

This showed up, by accident, as a referrer. I thought it was interesting and I'll pass it on. Jennifer Vanasco takes on Goldstein for calling conservative gays the biggest threat to the gay community.

Bishops Forced To Weigh Their Own Culpability (washingtonpost.com)

Today's reading is from the Book of Daniel, Chapter 5, verses 25-28:

25 "This is the inscription that was written:

Mene , Mene , Tekel , Parsin

26 "This is what these words mean:

Mene : God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end.
27 Tekel : You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting.
28 Peres : Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians."

The writing, as they say, is on the wall.

The Blogger King on Padilla converting in prison:

I also wonder: Padilla/Al Muhajir picked up Islam in prison. This should make us reconsider who we lock up, and how much religious freedom prisoners are granted. The prison system has been a slow-motion disaster for two or three decades, and here's yet another reason to address it.

I posted on this on the Vodkapundit board a few days ago. To reprint, edited slightly for clarity:

One of the many things I've wondered about... There's been a tacit endorsement of religion by prison authorities in this country for many years now, for many good reasons. And Islamic groups have been very busy in the prisons; more among African Americans, of course, but not exclusively. Now here we have a prison convert to Islam turned apparent terrorist. Does anyone know if there have been any changes in how the authorities look at these prosletyzing efforts? I would think al-Qaeda would appreciate a large group of non-Arabs, mostly American citizens, all of whom would have a reasonable beef with the system.

It's important to remember that religion is encouraged in prisons. It's a good way to keep the inmates under control. And it would almost certainly be unconstitutional to say that Islamic groups can't minister to the prisons while continuing to allow Christians to.

Palestinians Say Any U.S. Plan Must End Occupation

Translation: "Save your energy, guys. Nothing you can do."

USATODAY.com - Jackson, Sting, Manilow join Songwriters HOF

Uh... No. Sting, I'll grant you. I like Sting, or I did before he became a hack. But Michael Jackson? And Manilow?

Bush Urges 'Culture of Service' to Ohio State Graduates (washingtonpost.com)

Sorry, I've just been handed a correction. He meant a "Culture of Servants". Students from Ohio State who fail to become wealthy will need to take second jobs as maids for the more successful in order to pay their oxygen bills.

52 passes on social studies grad exam

100 questions. You get 52 right, you graduate. (Assuming you pass the other test.) Hey, that's more than half, what do you expect? Doing "D" level work is hard! Most of the test is just US history, 1776-1945. I mean, that's almost 200 years! (169, for those of you who took math in Alabama public schools.) You can't expect to know enough about that large a slice of time to get two-thirds of the questions right!

55 percent of tenth-graders (who don't need to pass yet) passed the test. Fine job we're doing.

Bob Barr alleges defamation in suit
against Clinton, Carville and Flynt

This has already been commented on by Atrios, among others. I can't add anything much; it's amazingly hypocritical even by House Republican standards. Bob Barr should be ashamed of himself, but if he had any sense of shame he would have left politics and joined the Foreign Legion a long time ago.

Threats all in jest, Griggs testifies

Mark Griggs said Thursday that he joked about killing classmates to ease the tension at Vestavia Hills High School.

Yep, nothing cuts the tension like a death threat. Or saying you're going to blow up the school. Or threatening to stab a girl in the face. Or telling another girl that she'd be the first victim if he brought a gun to school, and that he wanted to have sex with her mother... He had the "Anarchist Cookbook" in his room, and instructions from it on how to make a bomb on his computer.

My brother was a senior at Vestavia when this guy was a freshman, so I kinda take it personally. I don't know what he's guilty of, but he's guilty of something.

The Nando Times: Peru will seek Fujimori's extradition from Japan

As well they should. Won't do any good. Japan considers Fujimori Japanese, and he is a citizen. Japan doesn't extradite its citizens and doesn't have a treaty with Peru anyway.

Patrick Nielsen Hayden's jury duty was a murder trial. Wow.

Bishops Consider Adoption of a Stricter Policy on Abuse

Sarcastic Parochial High School Graduate Response: "Oh, Adoption is their answer to everything."

Maybe they really will do something. (Like report felons to the police!) But even if they do come up with a new policy, will the Vatican allow it to be implemented? Rome sure doesn't seem to think there's a problem. Except bad publicity.

New Zealand News - NZ - Birds back in the Waitakeres as possum count falls

They're trying to re-introduce birds, including kiwis, to the wild in parts of New Zealand. The ground-bird population is rising -- oh, this is painful -- because they're reducing the possum population. I'd guess possums eat eggs.

Department of Easy Visual Humor

When dinosaurs roamed Alabama

Viz:



It's a dumb headline anyway. They're talking about mosasaurs, which were aquatic reptiles and not dinosaurs. If I remember correctly, they were closer to modern lizards than to dinosaurs and birds. Alabama south and west of Birmingham was under the ocean in the Mesozoic. They had a mosasaur skeleton at the Red Mountain Museum, I remember.

Ananova - Michael Jackson arrives at Westminster with Uri Geller and David Blaine

This would be a good time for a meteor to strike Westminster.

Department of Making Everyone Feel Old

Hanson lead singer marries in Georgia

No, not to his cousin. You people!

I'm sure that this will work out just as well as Macauley Culkin's marriage.

The Nando Times: Mint workers charged with selling incorrectly stamped Sacagawea coins

This marks the first time anyone has wanted a Sacagawea dollar... No, wait. They were stamped with George Washington's head. Forget what I said, nobody wants the Sacagawea dollar.

EPA Proposes To Ease Rules On Clean Air (washingtonpost.com)

Good to see that Bush is rewarding the people who supported him, no? Hey, Ralph, look at this! Still think there's no difference between Bush and Gore? I suppose from Pluto, Mars and Earth look a lot alike.

Basically, they're going to allow old power plants that cause pollution, which were expected to be phased out, to stay on line indefinitely. (They will ask politely that they not pollute so much.) This is totally loathsome. There's no justification for this except in attempts to pump up corporate profits. I don't know about George and Dick, but me, I like being able to breathe.

Ananova - Karzai says his job is to rebuild Afghan dignity

He could start with his hat.

No, that was mean. I'm very sorry. Karzai is trying very hard, from all appearances, to rebuild Afghanistan, and I hope he makes it. The odds aren't on his side.

8 Killed as Bomb Goes Off Near U.S. Consulate in Pakistan

A car bomb was set off outside the consulate in Karachi; it appears to have been a splodeydope. None of the fatalities were Americans, but that's almost beside the point. What the maniacs are trying to do is set off a war between Pakistan and India. The US is the biggest thing, maybe the only thing, standing in the way. So they're trying to drive the US out of the region, or at least out of Kashmir.

It won't work. They don't understand us any more than we understand them.

If everyone else jumped off a bridge, I assume you would too?

Everyone else seems to be activating comments, and now I have too. Let's see what happens.

And in the center square, the United States Capitol!

Sensors to detect Islamic militants won't work, say experts

Apparently, we still have to wait for the long-desired Militantometer... No, this is serious, it's just a dumb headline. Basically, our plan to put sensors on the border in Kashmir won't work because of the terrain, according to these experts. We'll see; people keep underestimating American know-how.

News: JPEG worm breaks new ground

Terrific! Forget screensavers and VBS scripts, now we have a virus embedded in a picture file. It's not dangerous. Yet. But it will be.

Great Moments in Layout

June 13, 2002: The WP forgets to break a story up into paragraphs.

Scientists Find Solar System Resembling Ours (washingtonpost.com)

Except, you know, not. We aren't capable of detecting Earth-type planets. They're too small and too close to the star. Maybe someday, with a new version of the Hubble, we will. But what they found this time was a system with several Jupiter-type gas giants. This is something of an advance, in that in most of the systems previously found the giants were larger and put off more radiation.

CNN.com - Serious flaw in MS server software - June 13, 2002

What is this, the third this week?

This Is Hell!

Alabama is -- you may have heard -- kinda hot. And humid. It's well into the nineties today; it's been hot all week but this is the first day the humidity has really kicked in.

I'm an indoors kind of guy, and I have one of the ultimate indoors careers: I'm a librarian. Unfortunately, the air conditioning in the library is mostly broken. I'm in the cataloging room, which has its own unit, but in most of the building, it's extremely uncomfortable. I checked the thermostat (which does work) and it says it's 87 degrees on the first floor. You can imagine what it's like upstairs.

What does this mean for me? Well, I have to go upstairs to get books to catalog. And I can't. It's just impossible to do anything in the stacks right now except simply exist. I can make one dash upstairs in the morning, that's about it. (Man, am I whiny.)

Oh, and you can imagine what the heat and humidity are doing for the bindings of the books. Anyone looking for scrap paper?

Spy Pictures Air on Satellite TV

It's great, isn't it? Secret government materials sent as microwaves where anyone with a satellite dish can pick them up. These are in the Balkans; I hope the same isn't true in the Middle East, don't you?

Yahoo! News - Chinese Fish Sauce May Up Esophageal Cancer Risk

Another in our ongoing series "Strange things Asian people eat". I swear, I don't look for this stuff, it just keeps appearing serendipitously. Anyway, it appears that eating rotten fish causes throat cancer. So it's a good thing I don't eat rotten fish. People who smoked and ate the fish sauce had a particularly high rate, leading me to think that maybe the problem is that people who put disgusting things in their mouths are just prone to cancer.

Security Council holds open meeting on Mideast conflict

Luckily, the Syrians are presiding, so I'm sure the meeting won't get out of hand. Discussion will be 95% attacks on Israel, punctuated with the usual 5% weak defenses from us, with the occasional veto. Anyone who dissents... Well, the Syrians know how to deal with that.

USATODAY.com - Space station's robot arm to get wrist surgery

Great, the Space Station has carpal tunnel. What's next, will it need a back brace?

`Predatory' ministers must go, group says

The Southern Baptists, the only major American denomination founded to avoid black people, are meeting in St. Louis and

passed a resolution asking spiritual leaders to hold each other accountable to "the highest standards of Christian moral practice," and for seminaries to emphasize integrity in the training of ministers, missionaries and educators.

I find that my standards of Christian moral practice are fundamentally (ha!) different from those of the Southern Baptist Convention. For instance, I don't think veiled attacks on another denomination are particularly moral. I certainly don't agree with the out-and-out anti-Islamic tone of the convention. Or the bit where they called on their followers to pray that all countries convert to Christianity because it's the only answer to terrorism. Which would come as a great surprise to the IRA, or the Basque separatists. Or Eric Robert Rudolph and Terry Nichols, for that matter.

Beijing Newspaper Retreats, Apologizes for Capitol Gaffe

They still don't understand the concept of the Onion. They seem to think it's an actual newspaper that occasionally makes things up to boost circulation. Given the state of the world, which is increasingly difficult to parody, I can see why.

Salmon poaching costs man his boat and big fine

I despise poachers.

Al Qaeda captives include U.S. men
Pakistan also says American killed fighting in Kashmir

How many of these guys are there? At any event, remember how everyone was so shocked about Johnny the Rat? If this is true -- and considering that Lindh was removed from the general group of prisoners, I kind of doubt it -- do you think that the conservatives who said that Lindh was an example of permissive Bay Area culture will backtrack? Was Jose Padilla an example of permissive Chicago culture? Was the man referenced here, "Abu Adam Jibreel al Amrikeeas", who supposedly died fighting for Islam in Kashmir, an example of permissive Atlanta culture?

Donor gives dad, daughter a rare bond: New kidneys

Sometimes I think doctors do things just for the attention. In this case, a 61-year-old man and his 31-year-old daughter both got a kidney from the same donor.

Miller gives $1,000 to McKinney's opponent

Isn't it unusual for a sitting Senator to not only endorse but contribute to a congressional candidate in the primary? Especially a challenger? Maybe not, I actually try to avoid this sort of inside-politics stuff. Zell Miller, for once, is in the right. As opposed to on the right.

ABCNEWS.com : Nader's New Base: Republicans?

I don't generally write about Ralph Nader. I try not to, because I hate him. He did a lot of good once, but all of it was wiped out in 2000. But he's gone so far that I have to say something. But I don't know what.

Does Ralph Nader want to get Republicans elected? It's become clear that he does. There is no chance under the American political system to truly build a Green Party as a national force. At most, it could pick up a few House seats, but the Senate would be unlikely and the White House impossible. The Greens are, and always will be, almost exclusively a spoiler. And that's exactly what he wants. He's trying to break the Democratic Party under the bizarre belief that a more leftist party will emerge from the ruins (possible) and that that party would manage any success in national elections (no).

My proposal for all people of a progressive stripe is to take a cue from the Soviets. (Since many of his supporters appear to be Marxists, why not?) Ralph Nader is to be expunged from the history of liberal politics in the twentieth century except in his role as the man who got Bush elected. Everything he accomplished as a consumer advocate (and that was a lot) will now be given to others or made obscure. If he wants to be the man who destroyed the Democratic Party, let those of us who would stay in that Party -- whether you think it's about right, or if you think it could move to the left, or otherwise needs fixing -- remove him from our consciousness and move on to winning back the House.

The New York Observer
Slate Is Becoming … Salon!

Oh, dear. I hope not... Mainly, this means more cultural (including pop-cultural) stuff, as opposed to politics, not that it will be badly edited, include columns by raving loons, and have almost everything interesting require subscriptions.

Slate has tried to go more pop-cultural in the past. And it almost always backed off in a few weeks. We'll see if Weisberg sticks to it where Kinsley backed off.

It happens

Michael Skakel said the S-word, and Good Morning America accidentally broadcast it. Hee. It was even on a transcript they showed on the screen! I'm sorry, I love this stuff.

Chicago Tribune: New al-Qaida Warnings Cited Overseas

The United States remains on an al-Qaeda Watch until further notice. In Japan, conditions remain favorable for an outbreak of Aum Shinrikyo, while in Italy the Red Brigades Watch has been cancelled.

[END JOKE]

Some suspects with connections to Shoe Boy have been captured near Paris. Of course, a previous group of seven thought to have helped him were released (or in one case, deported to Pakistan) and maybe nothing will come of this either. There are al-Qaeda activities reported in Bombay; that would be a logical place to strike in event of an Indian/Pakistani war, but these attacks would be on banks.

JunkYard Blog (among others) compares the sketch of the mysterious "Suspect #2" of the Oklahoma City bombing and the photo of Jose Padilla. There is a resemblance in my eyes, but then I'm a white guy from Alabama. However, the pictures do not (upon closer inspection) match. Look at the chins. Padilla's chin is rather pointed; the John Doe has a wide but short chin. Also, when was the photo of Padilla taken? If it was since his current time in custody then the sketch is several years older than it, and Padilla likely looked a good deal different in 1995 (when he would have been 24/25, not 26, but that's a quibble).

Shoutin' Across the Pacific asks why most newspeople don't refer to Jose Padilla as Abdullah al Muhajir. I don't think it's a "good Muslim/bad Muslim" thing. There are two legitimate reasons why his birth name should be preferred. One is that it is his legal name, in the United States anyway. The second is that everyone used Johnny Lindh's given name (including me) and consistency argues you do the same here. I've mostly used the latter myself, but will probably switch to the former for consistency's sake. (In fact, like Johnny the Rat, Padilla has used several different names in his life.)

If you ask why we don't do the same for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Muhammad Ali, it's simple -- time. When Ali changed his name it took a very long time for most people to stop calling him Cassius Clay, but that was forty years ago. It didn't take as long, but there was an adjustment for Kareem as well. Also, those are their legal names.

Fun with software glitches.

This came up as a referrer. Obviously, it's a mistake.

Bush signs bioterror bill

$4.6 billion, including $640 million on smallpox vaccines. That's a good thing by any measure; we were far too vulnerable if someone managed to start an outbreak. My understanding, however, is that it will take a number of years to produce enough.

TeeVee Station Break - United Muppets

James Collier knows who can broker a Mideast peace deal.

Fanatic on the Roof

Laurence reacts in song to the news of Yasser the Weasel's private bombmaking facility.

West Alabama Street? Hey, I'm in West Alabama!

New harvest in Caspian Sea increases fears

Something I've never though of, but is obvious in retrospect, is the effect of the Endangered Species Act outside the United States. In this case, the Beluga sturgeon, of caviar fame, has been overharvested in the Caspian Sea. Environmental groups are petitioning, and now suing, to get the sturgeon placed on the protected list, which would keep Caspian caviar from being imported legally to the US. (There are already quotas in place in all countries on the Caspian, though they're being violated.)

One thing I'm sure of is that the fishermen would be harmed by this. It's inevitable. But it's also inevitable that if the sturgeon goes extinct they will be harmed anyway. Allowing the population to rebound, and then coming up with strong limits, is best in the long term. But it's awfully hard to think of the long term when you're trying to feed your family, especially in a poor country as all the former Soviet republics are.

Lean Left

Another lefty/liberal blog. I'll give it a permalink, but with misgivings because there's no contact information at all. No email, no comments, and it's anonymous.

UPDATE: He says he's working on the email and will modify to post his name tonight... I don't think Blogger has built-in commenting. A lot of people use YACCS. I don't, because this page takes long enough to load already. When I actually get around to moving to MT I'll enable the comments.

Great Moments in Headline Writing

June 12, 2002: The WP uses a factual headline to tell a falsehood.

Suspect Held 8 Months Without Seeing Judge (washingtonpost.com)

Nabil Almarabh entered the United States illegally in violation of a prior deportation order. He has not been allowed to see an immigration judge, but he's been in court at least three times in the time he's been held. His rights have been violated -- he should have been assigned a lawyer -- but trying to magnify the offense is unworthy of a great newspaper.

Fight at youth baseball game leaves one injured, one charged

One of the rules of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution is to take every opportunity to report any story that makes Alabama look ridiculous. Really, I think it's a directive. So we get this story on the front page of the website about two morons who got into a fight at a little league game. Then one of the fathers starts losing the fight, pulls out a knife and starts slicing. The other needed about 100 stitches.

Southern Baptist leaders stand by preacher who outraged Muslims with remarks

CRACKER PREACHER #1: Hell, what did Jerry say that was so bad?

CRACKER PREACHER #2: Nothin'. All he said was that Muhammad Ali the Islams worship was a dirty fag pederast possessed by a demon.

CP1: Aw, hell, that ain't nothin'.

-------------------------------------

I find it painful to be on the side of the Council for American-Islamic Relations, but I'm with them on this. Jerry Vines of Jacksonville said that the Prophet Mohammed was a "demon-possessed pedophile", that "Allah is not Jehovah" (is either of them YHVH?) and (by implication) that Allah would "turn you into a terrorist that'll try to bomb people and take the lives of thousands and thousands of people." Yeah, I think that's hate speech.

U.S. questions second suspect in 'dirty bomb' case

This one in Pakistan, where we don't have to worry about any of those "Constitutional Rights" liberal pansies are always going on about, but where we do have to worry about the government deciding it's OK and letting him go. The Pakistanis don't know this bomb suspect's nationality but I'm guessing he's not a US Citizen. His name is apparently "Benjamin Ahmed Mohammed", and you don't go to the trouble of changing your name only to get called Bennie.

CNN.com - Lawyer: 'Dirty bomb' suspect's rights violated - June 12, 2002

Yeah, looks that way, doesn't it? I'm a civil libertarian by inclination, but I still hold to the "not a suicide pact" school. We have a guy who was planning to set off a bomb spewing radiation everywhere, and I think under the circumstances the government is right to hold him. My fear is that violating someone's rights for good reason will lead to violating them for a bad reason, then no reason, then those rights will be gone. And don't tell me that there aren't people in the government who don't think routine surveillance of everyone, say, is a good idea.

albawaba.com: Bush may support establishment of "temporary" Palestinian state

Does that make any sense to anyone? I think there's some translation problem along the way. What they really mean -- I think -- is a temporary government to govern the state (which would be permanent) until a permanent structure could be worked out.

Corrections & Letters

Charles Austin informs me that the link to the article about Bill James posted a couple of days ago now leads to an article about Fred Hoyle. IBD apparently rotated that off their site to a paid archive. The author has reposted it on Baseball Primer (Item 13).

Jeff Jarvis, meanwhile, writes that he's had worse cams than that, and that I messed up the link. This is the correct URL.

Bush Stumps for Homeland Security and Senate Candidate

Hey, look, it's Abbey Pier!

Something else Jeff Jarvis might want to talk to the Al.com people about

Bama Cam

They have a web cam on the University of Alabama campus, allowing 24-hour surveillance of a bicycle rack. Thrilling.

Escape from Blogspot!

Grasshoppa has hopped to his own domain.

Girl dies, 9 hurt in suicide bomb attack on Herzliya restaurant

Yes, the daring men of Hamas have yet again protected their people from the threat offered by 14 year old girls eating in restaurants.

McDonald's test-markets Spam

The 78 McDonald's outlets in Hawaii have begun test-marketing a breakfast meal that consists of egg, rice and Spam.

Future products: Egg, bacon, and spam; egg, bacon, sausage, and spam; spam, bacon, sausage, and spam; spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, baked beans, spam, spam, spam and spam.

Lefties for Nukes! I'm with Ted Barlow; nuclear power is probably the way to go for electricity on this continent.

Gail Shister | Hitler mini-series won't scare advertisers, CBS predicts

I mean, it's young Hitler, right? When he was only a struggling anti-Semitic madman and not yet a mass murderer! Why would anyone be offended by that?

"Everyone recognizes that this is a controversial figure," [CBS VP of Communications Chris] Ender says, "but we have tremendous faith in the producers to handle the material responsibly and not glamorize Hitler in any way."

Um... Chris, exactly what circles are you moving in? Hitler isn't "controversial". He's Hitler! There's no controversy here, not among normal people, except maybe if he or Stalin was worse. The only people who use "controversial" for Hitler are people like David Irving.

McCartney-Mills wedding punctuated by ringing of castle bells

Guests included Ringo, of course, George Martin, Eric Clapton, Elton John, David Gilmour, Chrissie Hynde... and Bill Clinton?

Welcome to Black & White, Birmingham's City Paper
Naked Birmingham

The Birmingham News ("possibly the most conservative newspaper in the world" -- Black & White) refused to accept advertising for or mention in any stories the play The Vagina Monologues, which hits town today. The News says the word "Vagina" is not acceptable (though a letter in Romenesko points out that the word -- Vagina -- has been used in the paper 43 times since 1993). The city of Birmingham's symbol is a huge statue of a guy wearing only an apron (as this column shows), but the main paper can't say "Vagina"? That seems really odd.

Vagina Vagina Vagina. There, that ought to help the hit counter.

Debate Over Homeland Security Plan Hits Congress Full Force

"Delay in passing this bill helps the terrorists because it means we are unprepared that much longer,'' Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, told the House Government Reform subcommittee on national security.

Remember: If we don't create a wholly new cabinet department with broad, sweeping, yet ill-defined powers, the terrorists will have won!

Meanwhile Joe Lieberman is running for President and saying that the plan could hurt members of government employee unions. It's not all stupid, though:

Questions are also being raised by some Republicans and Democratic lawmakers about plans to have the new department sift through intelligence gathered by the CIA, FBI, National Security Agency and others. Intelligence analysis will not improve unless the new department has more direct authority over these agencies, they said.

Bingo.

World Cup Woe Hangs Over French Election Drive

And they say we're simplistic? They get so depressed over a loss in a soccer tournament that their politicians are too depressed to campaign? It's almost cute.

Nine Months

I just realized that it's the eleventh of June, and that it's been exactly nine months, that a child conceived that day would, theoretically, be due today. It doesn't seem that long, does it?

Poll: Majority Palestinians See Israel's Elimination as Goal

That phrase doesn't actually make sense, but nevermind, we get the gist... It is inconceivable to me that people don't realize that there can be no peace as long as the majority on one side not only refuses any reasonable peace terms, it refuses to recognize that the other side has a right to exist.

Fate of tower is still not decided

Every city except New York seems to have an inferiority complex. Your big cities -- LA and Chicago -- they tend to look to New York and say, "We're just as good as them!" Maybe they are, but they're not New York, and they're not going to be New York. Atlanta is in the same boat; the people who run the city want it to be one of the great cities of the world. Well, it's not, and it's not going to be anytime soon. Birmingham, meanwhile, wants to be Atlanta. Anytime there's a foolish city project, Atlanta's name comes up. "Fifty years ago, Birmingham was the same size as Atlanta, and they built an airport and we didn't, and now they're a big city and we suck!" Of course, it's not the fifties any more (though it increasingly feels that way) and Birmingham isn't going to become a big-time city by building an airport they don't need, or a domed stadium, or a "technological corridor", or anything like that. It doesn't work that way.

Every other city in Alabama, meanwhile, looks to Birmingham. I don't really know why, but Huntsville, for instance, was backing the silly pipeline project I mentioned a few days ago because Birmingham has a pipeline. And Mobile (getting to the subject, finally) wants to build a ridiculous office and hotel tower that there is absolutely no need for, for one reason and one reason only: it would be taller than any building in Birmingham. There's no shortage of office space or of land in Mobile, and this tower will cost a load of money. A lot of it is coming out of the city coffers in the form of infrastructure, and the city can't really afford it. But it won't matter, because Mobile will be able to say, "Mine is bigger than Birmingham's!"

Women arrested over al-Qaeda links

Two women, the wives of two of the men arrested for planning the attack at Gibraltar. Here's a question... If al-Qaeda is going to violate the fundamentals of Islam to such a degree as to use women as couriers in setting up their terrorist attacks, how can they claim to be any purer in their Islam than Saudi Arabia?

Gibraltar is an interesting choice of targets, by the way. Al-Qaeda has a weakness for the symbolic target, and few are as loaded as Gibraltar. Its name is transparently Arabic, and it's the link between Muslim Morocco and Christian Spain. Osama, you may remember, went on about the "Tragedy of Andalus" in one of his tapes, and one of his goals is to restore Islamic control in all places once part of Islam. That would include Spain, most of it anyway. An attack on Gibraltar would be seen as the first blow in a counter-Reconquista.

Islamists Vow to Defy Musharraf

This is the fulcrum. Musharraf has decided to try to survive by backing down and hoping that the US will back him up and keep him from losing too much face. And people, powerful people, in Pakistan are angry, and want the insurrection in Kashmir to continue. The Islamists are, of course, completely irrational and don't care that the likely result of their wishes would be the valley of the Sind turned into a sheet-glass graveyard. What the generals want is less clear, though I'd guess power. Better to reign in hell and all that.

Bush: Time Not Yet Ripe For Mideast Peace Deal (washingtonpost.com)

I just don't know. Sometimes, Bush seems so strong, so willing to say things that need to be said. Like that there's no point in a peace deal in Israel (the Holy Grail of the Euros and the State Department) as long as the Palestinians are under the current leadership. And other times, he's Captain Wobbly.

One theory is that there really is no George W. Bush when it comes to foreign policy, that it all depends upon what advisor currently has his ear, and that right now that advisor is someone (Wolfowitz?) from Defense. The second theory is that he's playing domestic politics, though I don't really see the gain in it for him. The third is that he's no more inconsistent than most people, it's just that his inconsistency is magnified by the office. The last is that he -- or somebody -- is really a genius and that in retrospect everything will make sense.

I don't know. I'm not an expert on Bush's psychology. But he's right this time.

Saudis accused of plot to attack warships

Arrested in Morocco for plotting to blow up American and British warships near Gibraltar. See, that was their mistake. As Saudi citizens, they could have entered the US with no special attention, because the Saudis are our allies.

Census: Metro area rich-poor gap wide

The biggest gap between rich and poor cities in the same metropolitan area? My hometown, Birmingham, Alabama. Mountain Brook -- doesn't the name just say "insufferable rich people"? -- has a per-capita income nearly $100,000 higher than Bessemer -- where I did a lot of my growing up... Overall, there are a lot more poor areas than rich areas in Alabama. And the richest areas are Birmingham suburbs feeding off of the poor city.

There's a place for wrinkles on TV - theage.com.au

Here's the thing... Young people won't watch old people on TV. Since young people are stupid and have money, they're what advertisers want.

Also, it appears that the government of Victoria has a minister in charge of senior citizens. Is this widespread in Australia? Do they have ministers for every age group? A minister of toddlers and infants, maybe?

Eschaton

Atrios (several entries) seems pretty sure that the timing of the announcement of the dirty bomb plot was for political reasons and to avoid having to make a civilian charge. Me, I'm not that dogmatic. It wouldn't surprise me any, but I prefer to take people at their word given no evidence to the contrary. I'm sure they'll try to make political hay, but there's nothing implausible about a more generous explanation.

Strangest place to get a link from:

wotmania: feed your wheel of time addiction

Someone posted my Captains America/Euro parody there. I'm shameless, I'll take hits from anywhere.

NBC (Yes, NBC) Wanted Letterman Back

It's pretty clear that NBC still doesn't understand David Letterman. He'd have come running for the "Tonight Show", but that's not what they offered. They offered a prime time slot, four nights a week, every weekday except Thursday at 8 PM ET, 7 PM CT. The thing is, they offered him a prime time slot ten years ago and he turned them down then because he didn't think it would work. Why would they think anything had changed?

Bill James Pitches A New Way

Strange juxtaposition: Bill James profiled in Investor's Business Daily.

The Nando Times: Zimbabwe president defends land-seizure policy

Of course he does. That Zimbabwe has gone from an exporter of food to widespread famine, that's just incidental. It has nothing to do with killing or exiling the people who actually knew how to grow food, including black farm workers. I understand the desires of the poor of Zimbabwe for economic justice. Hey, the land was stolen from their ancestors in the first place. But this isn't the way, and anyway the land seems to mostly go to Mugabe's cronies.

#1 on the stories that should be getting more attention is the ongoing collapse of Southern Africa. Mugabe is the star.

The Nando Times: Mexico enacts freedom of information law

Good for Mexico. Funny how some countries manage to become more open while larger, richer, more prominent countries won't even follow their own Constitutional rules of evidence.

Mob boss John Gotti dies in prison hospital at age 61

Does my heart good to think of the Dapper Don soiling himself in a prison nightgown as his last moments on Earth tick away. I've never gotten the whole Mafia glamour thing.

Bush upholds Israel's right to defense

Of course, for what other country would that be in issue? Well, the United States, according to Moan Chumpsky, but in issue among sensible people and national governments. But you go, W.

Supreme Court Rules Against Debilitated Employee in Disabilities Case (washingtonpost.com)

The Supremes aren't that fond of the ADA, but in this case I think they're right. I don't think it's fair to make an employer give someone a job they know is hazardous to their health.

Text: Ashcroft Announces Arrest of 'Dirty Bomb' Plot Suspect (washingtonpost.com)

Notes from Ashcroft's statement: The terrorist was not an Arab-American, as I thought. He was born Jose Padilla and apparently converted in prison. He was arrested May 8th at O'Hare, and why this announcement was put off I don't know; perhaps until they had all the evidence, or (more disturbingly) not until they had tried to arrest his co-conspirators.

Regulators reduce size of gill-net mesh holes

Basically, to let fishermen catch smaller fish. Which will lead, inevitably, to fewer fish, meaning in a couple of fish generations, they'll need to reduce the size again. Eventually, they'll run out of fish. Wouldn't it be easier, not to mention better in the long term, to find new jobs for them? Then, I don't like fish.

The story was written by an idiot, and had no proofreader:

The emergency rule change, announced Thursday, reduces gill net minimum mesh size from 3 inches to 3 inches...

Poll: Interest in News Stabilizes (washingtonpost.com)

Network news: Steady. Newspapers: Losing ground. Internet: Growing, but not as fast at it had been. 9-11: Probably partially responsible for interrupting the networks' declines.

There, that's the whole story.

CNN.com In-Depth Specials:
Dirty Bombs

Ashcroft: U.S. Thwarts Dirty Bomb Attack (washingtonpost.com)

Ashcroft said Abdullah Al Mujahir was in the custody of the U.S. military and being treated as an enemy combatant, suggesting plans for the first military tribunal of an alleged terrorist.

Mujahir is a US citizen and an ex-con of some stripe. The early indications are they're looking at a military tribunal, which is actually pretty fortunate for Mujahir because the jury would probably want to string him up right in the courtroom.

Israel Surrounds Arafat Compound in a Predawn Raid

As we wait for the details on the dirty-bomb plan, I find that the Israelis are back at it in Ramallah. I wonder what the provacation was this time; the Palestinians have been pretty quiet the last few days. It appears that they're doing this as a preventative measure, keeping people they're looking to arrest from taking refuge there. I guess there's a big sweep coming.

The New York Times on the Web

No link as yet, but the front page of the NYT has this:

"NEWS ALERT
U.S. Arrests Man Allegedly Planning Radioactive Dirty Bomb Attack (10:35 a.m.)"

Oh boy.

CNN.com - India unveils peace measures - June 10, 2002

First off, they lifted a ban on commercial flights from Pakistan. They're pulling back their fleet as well. But nobody is moving back from the border, and tensions are still pretty high. It's too easy, and too common, for a war to be sparked essentially by accident by commanders at the front. And militants in Kashmir -- which include, Rumsfeld indicates, al-Qaeda -- want a war between India and Pakistan. They're essentially milleniallists who think God is on their side and you can't reason with people who want to bring about the Apocalypse. We're not out of the woods yet, but things look a lot better than they did a week ago.

I'm in academia and I'm weird and nerdy anyway.

Glenn Kinen has announced he'll be taking down his site (we'll see) because "[O]nce you leave the world of academia or journalism, it's a little too weird and nerdy to maintain a weblog."

CNN.com - McCartney and Mills prepare to wed - June 10, 2002

It's actually kind of sweet. Forty years later, Paul McCartney and Mick Jagger are still dueling for attention. No, I'm sure it's a coincidence, but still...

June 10, 2002 - The Week In Quotes

How much do the Red Sox hate the Yankees? Arizona was visiting Boston this weekend and the D'Backs' first baseman, Mark Grace, had this to say:

I went to dinner at Legal Sea Foods with my wife the first night we got here. I brought [my 2001 World Series ring] with me. The bartender/food server sees the ring and says, "Are you with the Diamondbacks?" I told him who I was and he said, "You've got carte blanche here. Anything you want. You beat the [censored] Yankees!"

Department of Potpurri

Miscellaneous things I don't have a link to...

1. I'm having some problems with Blogger (no!) and it keeps restoring my template to what it was before the latest regional was added. I blame the WB. I've got it backed up and can restore it, but anyone who has dropped out, send me an email.

2. For some reason, "Inna-Gadda-Da-Vita" is stuck in my head. Pity me.

3. Interleague play is a joke, and Bud Selig lies like the used car salesman he is.

Woman accused of fatally shooting sons who had incurable 'agonizing' and incurable disease

Oh boy. This is a story to keep an eye on. Carol Carr of Georgia shot and killed two of her sons, both of whom had Huntington's Disease, which had killed their father. Each was living in a nursing home; a third brother has the disease but few symptoms as yet. Huntington's is a terrible genetic disease, and there's no treatment to speak of.

Nathan Newman wants to know where the National Security Agency has been during the whole Sept. 11 blame game. That is an excellent question, and if you ask the NSA agents now tapping your phone line maybe they can tell you.

The Techblog and the Warblog Should be Friends!

albawaba.com: Israeli report: Mubarak says Arafat caused suffering to Palestinian people

So we have an Arab report of an Israeli report, which the AP story I quote below not only doesn't match but seems to contradict. In it, Mubarak is said to have stressed Arafat's legitimacy. Not that Mubarak would see causing suffering as making someone illegitimate, but he wouldn't say that, not in public in the US anyway.

On eve of meeting with Bush, Sharon refuses return to '67 borders

Since the 1967 armistice lines (nobody ever recognized them as borders) are if not indefensible at least overly difficult to defend, it's clear that the Israelis aren't going to pull back to them if they can help it. And I don't think they can back down on Jerusalem -- which to me is less the symbol of the conflict than the symbol of how Arabs can't understand that other people have holy places too.

In the struggle to defend Israel,
e-mail is emerging as new front line

My friend Alex Ramati (who's pointed to a few articles for me) is quoted here... The media finds it necessary to be "balanced", which makes a lot of sense sometimes. But sometimes one side is purely, objectively, right, and one side is wrong, and the media can't handle it. And the Israelis are right and the Palestinians wrong in the current situation.. While bloggers know this, the simple email campaign can still reach more people, even if they're not always as energized.

Department of Urban Legends Come True

Ananova - Spider finds home in Greek woman's ear

She was driving a motorcycle when it crawled into her ear. Soon, we'll need an earplug law to go with the helmet law. There's a big picture of a spider in a web, but I assume it's a different arachnid.

IHT: Poison gas traces found at U.S. Uzbekistan base

Nerve gas and mustard gas. The Soviets probably used the base for storage; my question is why it's still there and who let it out. No symptoms have been reported.

More than half favor lottery to aid schools

And yet, when the vote comes along, it will be rejected, because few people are all that fired up about the idea, and a lot of people hate it. So money will continue to bleed into Florida and Georgia. I think lotteries are stupid, but better the money go to Montgomery than Atlanta and Tallahassee.

Moscow riot prompts World Cup rethink

A man was killed in the riot, provoked when the Russian soccer team lost to Japan in the World Cup. They're thinking of taking down the screens showing the team's games. Just another reason to hate soccer.

Amazon informs me that my Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 2 DVD has shipped, plus things needed to be broken up again, so I set up the Sunnydale Regional of known BVS fans. If I missed anyone, let me know.

Introducing:

Am I Male or Not?

(Picture via Le Sofa Blogger.)

Top Taliban sought U.S. help in 1999
Told officials he wanted to oust Taliban leader

Prediction: This is going to be a big deal on talk radio, the punditocracy, and (of course) elements of the blogosphere. Anything that can be used to blame Clinton for 9-11 is going to get attention. Of course, what do you think would have happened if President Clinton had tried to back a coup against Omar in 1999? You think Andy Sullivan and Rush Limbaugh would have offered their support? Yeah, right.

CNN.com - Sir Mick? Papers say Jagger to be knighted - June 9, 2002

This can't be good. And what about Keith? The whole pop-star as knight thing is kind of embarassing, or would be if it were still possible to embarrass the British nobility. I mean, they've knighted a pothead and a flamboyant homosexual, why not an enormous-lipped walking STD vector?

Religion of peace, my ass

Iranian Watchdog Rejects Bill Banning Torture

Apparently, outlawing torture is not consistent with sharia. Once again, an Islamic country shows it's about six centuries behind the West.

Kashmir Crisis Eases Ahead of Visit by Rumsfeld

"Uh-oh! Daddy's gonna be here soon! We better knock it off!"

Sharon In D.C. for Mideast talks

You know, I think I figured out what his problem is. It's that he has a girl's first name for a first name and another girl's first name for a last name. No wonder he's so intractable and eats almost constantly. It's a defense mechanism.

Pak criticises India for arresting Geelani

India arrested Syed Ali Shah Geelani -- head of one of the Kashmir separatist groups supporting the insurrection -- under an anti-terror law. It looks utterly justified to me, but the Pakistanis whined about it. (I love how they say it's a violation of fundamental rights. Why is it the absolutists are the loudest complainers when a democracy "violates" someone's rights?)

Meanwhile, shelling resumed at the border. My optimism is draining again.

Hundreds Of Priests Removed Since '60s (washingtonpost.com)

350 in all, 216 of them just this year. Now, think of all those whom we know were guilty but weren't removed. Obviously, this is a problem created by the Anglophone media.

Tijuana installs cameras in its police stations to prove its cops aren't corrupt

I can see tomorrow's headline: "Tijuana cops steal video cameras".

CNN.com - Mugabe in Rome for U.N. meeting - June 8, 2002

This is great. About the only thing the Euros did to Mugabe after he stole the election was put a ban on him or his family travelling to Euro-land. And what happens but the UN invites him to a meeting on world hunger ("Well, in my experience, if you kill all the farmers you'll have trouble growing enough food.") in Rome, and he gets in with them.

CNN.com - Source: Plan to move FBI to new department rejected - June 8, 2002

Yeah, because we wouldn't want the nation's primary internal security agency under control of the Department of Homeland Security. That would be too simple.