Bush resumes power after colon test

"The president says he feels 'great and will resume his normal routine at Camp David," Fleischer said.

Whatever you say, Ari. Except that (a) anyone who feels great after a colon exam is a better man than I, and (b) Bush used the same words ("I feel great") before the exam. I don't know if that means anything other than he needs a thesaurus, I just wanted to point it out.

Cheese germs carry anti-cavity vaccine: study

I just love stories like this... Lactobacillus bacteria, normally found in cheese, kill streptococcus mutans bacteria, which cause cavities. At least, in the mouths of rats they do. They last about three weeks, and maybe some day when we go to the dentist (I really need to get a checkup) for a cleaning we'll also get a cheesing.

Bay builder in hot water over rare frog
Guilty plea expected in habitat destruction

Hey, there has to be a frog story... Albert Seeno Jr. is the type of person who when told he can't destroy a couple of ponds because an endangered species lives there, tells his workers to go ahead and do it anyway. You know, an asshole. His company will probably plead guilty and pay some fines, plus go on probation. I'm sure he's shaking in his boots. What do you want to bet he comes out ahead in the deal anyway?

The endangered frog, the California red-legged frog, is apparently the frog Mark Twain wrote of in "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County."

CNN.com - Retiring GOP senator weds in Illinois - June 29, 2002

Well, good luck to Fred Thompson, whom I think is pretty good for a Republican.

CNN.com - South, North Korea clash at sea - June 29, 2002

If you missed it, what with the news dominated by not only Israel but the President's butt, North and South Korea had a small-scale sea battle yesterday. Several South Korean sailors are dead -- four for sure but several are missing. The North apparently intruded into Southern territory. If a shooting war starts (or resumed, since they're still technically at war) we're obviously going to be involved.

Hollywood's bad habit: Most nuns on celluloid are little more than caricatures

So? Most people in movies are caricatures. Some by their jobs, some by race, some by region, and so forth. You should try being a librarian sometime, or a white southerner.

allAfrica.com: Muslim Dad Rejects Catholic Son-in-Law

Ah, tolerance.

The Miami Herald | 06/28/2002 | Feds want to relocate trial for INS agent

Said agent is suing the INS for violating his civil rights after he said anti-Hispanic sentiment in the INS led to "excessive force" in the Elian Gonzalez raid. The government, meanwhile, says that anti-INS sentiment means that it can't get a fair trial in South Florida and they want to move the trial -- to the Panhandle, I expect. Larry Klayman is representing the INS agent, and you know he'd never try to stir up trouble with a frivolous lawsuit.

CNN.com - FTC to search engines: Disclose paid links - June 28, 2002

Actually, I usually can tell when they're being paid to offer links. But sounds good to me, anyway.

CNN.com - Police: Children die in hot car while mom at salon - June 29, 2002

One more for the Parental Licensing Movement... The Chief of Police says he wants Murder One, but that's not his decision, is it?

Yahoo! Search Results for "jewish gay pics"

I have no idea why I am one of only two sites for this, but it's a lot better than the constant attempts to find pictures of Darryl Kile and his wife, which are just sickening and should make a lot of people ashamed of themselves.

Mad cow disease prevention plan begins

As if Israel didn't have enough problems, they're having outbreaks of Mad Cow Disease.

Russian rocket 'SMERCH' test fired

Wasn't "SMERCH" an enemy agency on one of those sixties spy shows? Anyway, India has apparently bought some rockets from the Russians. Their range is 70-90 kilometers, about 50 miles in non-made-up measurements. So I guess they're battlefield weapons.

Bush vows to punish corporate 'wrongdoers'

How does a "wrongdoer" differ from an "evildoer"? And does he realize that naming "investors" ahead of "workers" as people who need to retain confidence in the system he's playing into all the cliches about the Republicans being the rich people's party? Of course, they are the rich people's party, but I thought they were playing that down, in public anyway.

Daschle Assails Bush Record (washingtonpost.com)

Mostly on the economy. And I think this is the 2002 election strategy, and the way things are going (well, at least no Fortune 500 companies declared bankruptcy today) it's the way to go.

But Daschle also talked about terrorism, and I really think that's a bad idea. Am I 100% behind what he's doing? Not really; I think he's wobbly, and also using the excuse of terrorism to carry out some personal goals. But you don't attack a President's war record while the war is going on. And one of the things he went after Bush on was "unilateralism", and Bush is unassailably right not to go through the UN and NATO, because those organizations can't be trusted. If there's anything that needs to be attacked, it's clearly John Ashcroft's war on the Bill of Rights (except for the Second Amendment) but we wouldn't want to look soft on terror, would we?

Alabama student who was refused to recite pledge appeals disciplinary action.

And away we go! A student refused to say the pledge of allegiance, instead raising his fist in the air and remaining silent. Other students complained, and he was paddled, of all things, because everyone knows the whole idea of freedom of speech is limited to popular speech. That's the Antonin Scalia theory, anyway.

ajc.com | Metro | GBI investigating White County mail box explosion

I just link this to freak you out. It was a domestic dispute, that's all.

washingtonpost.com: Bush to Undergo Colonoscopy, Will Transfer Power to Cheney Temporarily

Personally, I was hoping to never again have to think about any president's private parts. Bush is saying there's "no trouble", and of course he'd never lie.

AP Wire | 06/28/2002 | U.S. jets bomb Iraq military center

This isn't "news" as such; it happens all the time. I just wanted to have some sort of war-type news, plus point out that we never really stopped fighting Iraq.

The Nando Times: Better pig pickin's through science

University of Georgia scientists have cloned some pigs from the skin cells of a slaughtered boar. The intention is to produce better bacon, meaning eventually you could choose your pork according not by the name of the brand but by that of the pig.

Popular game site spread virus

A Microsoft spokesman apologized for distributing the virus. When told that Microsoft didn't own the game site, he asked, "How did that happen?"

A New Slugfest, Under God (washingtonpost.com)

This headline is for Meryl.

Mercury News | 06/27/2002 | Cats may be linked to sea otter deaths

Cats, nothing but trouble... Apparently, it's another one of those cases where "solid waste" contains organisms deadly to sea life, and the waste gets flushed down the toilet, and faster than you can say "that's what it's for", it's in the ocean. Otter experts say that you should bag up your kitty litter and put it in the garbage rather than flushing, and I know that's not going to happen.

The Nando Times: Turkey looks for tourism boost due to World Cup success

"You know, Marge, I was thinking we'd go to Majorca for our vacation, but after seeing the thrilling World Cup success of the Turkish national soccer team, let's go to Istanbul instead."

Fungus threatens to croak NZ frogs

Today's frog news is that a fungus that's been causing a collapse in the world's frog population has been found in New Zealand. There are only four native frog species in NZ. This story also reports something I haven't seen about pesticides causing male frogs to grow female sex organs. Ick. But I like typing "frog". Frog frog frog.

ITworld.com - Xerox reduces 1997-2001 income by $1.4 billion

Ironically, Xerox is copying Enron and Worldcom... This disturbs me a lot more than the others. Enron was never part of my world, really, and Worldcom was always kind of shady. But Xerox, that's a real company, one everyone knows. Xerox won't go under, because it actually makes money and was just exaggerating, but still...

Analyst believes Davis could win support of white voters

Political scientists are bullish on Artur Davis and think he could move beyond the House of Representatives to statewide office. I don't know. Davis is impressive, but I don't think this state is ready yet to elect a black man to statewide office. Two black Supreme Court justices (both appointees) were wiped out only a couple of years ago. Add in that Democrats haven't been able to beat any Republicans who aren't total bozos lately... Maybe in ten years.

Mercury News | 06/28/2002 | ICANN leaves ordinary surfer high and dry

ICANN wants to show it can "reform". It did this by:

1. Getting rid of the popular election (via online balloting) of individual Internet users, and

2. Imposing a 25 cent tax on new domains.

Apparently, ICANN subscribes to the same sort of "reform" policies as the IMF and World Bank. ICANN is evil, but you knew that. People are also concerned that it's controlled by Americans. Their response:

The board said a reformed ICANN would work to include input from the lesser-developed Net regions, including Africa and the Middle East.

I figure they begin by imposing a thousand-dollar surcharge on all .il domain names.

CNN.com - Endangered whales targeted in Japanese hunt - June 28, 2002

Pretty much says it all. The Sei whale population has rebounded to some degree but it still is endangered; the Japanese go whaling to do "research" and then sell the meat to restaurants. They love their whale meat in Japan.

Evidence suggests spotted jellies can thrive in Gulf waters

Here's another ecological invasion story... Australian spotted jellyfish invaded the Gulf of Mexico in 2000; it's possible they'll show up again. They could screw up the ecosystem by hunting young fish and eating eggs. At least they don't sting.

Interestingly, this is not our fault. Apparently they just hitched a ride on an unusual current. What that suggests to me is that they won't take up permanent residence, because if it happened in 2000 it's probably happened before, and they didn't stick then.

washingtonpost.com: College Board to Overhaul The SAT

They're moving away from trying to measure innate ability (which doesn't work) to measuring achievement (which might work for awhile but teachers will start teaching to the test and then where will we be?) They also dumped the analogies, which were my favorite part of the tests. I never actually took the SAT but I took the PSAT twice and the LSAT...

The Who Bassist John Entwistle Dies (washingtonpost.com)

Oh, man... I've been listening to a lot of Who recently. They were about to go on tour; I would guess that's not going to happen. VH1 Classic was running some interviews (mostly with Daltey and Townshend, naturally) and he looked fine.

The Pundit is the lowest form of humor.

PUN DITZ
ISNTAPUNDIT IS JEALOUS
Still striding the fine line, tall and proud...

Actually, when I was starting this thing, my runner-up name was "McPundit", and if anyone likes that feel free to steal it. But I decided to go with "War Liberal" instead. Oh, and Laurence, you forgot "Hokiepundit" and "Expatpundit".

BBC News | AFRICA | Nigeria Muslims oppose polio vaccination

Nigerian Imams oppose polio vaccinations. Out of health concern, they say. Hey, if this sort of thing catches on in other Muslim countries, a whole lot of our problems will go away.

Warning: Includes a "scholar" who trots out the dead Iraqi Babies canard and seems to have forgotten that the West did in fact intervene in Bosnia.

BBC News | HEALTH | Clean children link to asthma

Babies who are washed every day have a greater risk of eczema as well. In other words, let your kid go dirty every so often, it's good for them. I doubt this will catch on.

Covert video shows badgers infiltrating cowsheds

Sounds like Fox's latest reality program needs a bit of work...

Actually, it turns out that English badgers break into cowsheds to steal food and water, and while they're there they pass on tuberculosis to the cows. As for how they pass it on, don't ask.

The Nando Times: Alabama prison punishment declared unconstitutional

When the Supremes weren't busy gutting the separation of Church and state, they were saying Alabama's policy of torturing prisoners who misbehave on chain gangs was so obviously unconstitutional that prisoners can sue. However, even Alabama no longer chains people to hitching posts with no food or water in the middle of summer. (How many states even have chain gangs anymore?) The policy was championed by former governor Fob James, who doesn't believe in evolution and is exactly the sort of person who would be named "Fob".

The vote was 6-3. Guess how it broke down.

Fun With Referrer Logs

"Uh, you think she's ready to date again, or what?"

Peculiar partners
Israeli-Pakistani pairing focuses on playing, not politics

A couple of pro tennis players and old acquaintances -- Amir Hadad of Israel and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan -- found themselves at loose ends after washing out of a Wimbledon singles qualifier. So they teamed up in doubles, apparently just for the heck of it -- and made the field. They won their first round match.

News: Windows Media Player hole called severe

It's reaching the stage where it's a story if Microsoft launches a product that doesn't have a major security hole.

Like, Omigod! The '80s Pop Culture Box (Totally) By David Plotz and David Wild

I'm with Wild on this one, I like Hall and Oates. But then, I'm a huge wuss.

When David Tepper was putting together his list of albums for the eighties, I was thinking what we really needed was something like the Rhino collection being discussed here. Like most Rhino collections, it's a bunch of "one hit-wonders and also-rans", but while the eighties had their share of stars (Michael Jackson, Madonna, Springsteen, Prince, U2, REM, Sting with and without the Police, etc.) it was those people, the also-rans, who gave the decade its character. What character it had, at any rate. Eighties music is as much "Cars" and "Come On Eileen" as it is "Billie Jean" and "Every Breath You Take". I think there were more of those guys then than before or since, for some reason. Maybe because the Springsteens and the Princes would take three or four years to produce an album.

Cow Falls on Car, Driver Injured

This is rampant anti-bovinism. This poor cow -- an adventurous cow, who climbed a hill she probably didn't realize contained a tunnel -- fell 15 feet to her death, but the human gets all the attention.

washingtonpost.com: Cyber-Attacks by Al Qaeda Feared

Maybe it's me, but this whole cyber-sabotage thing seems to be overblown. What cyberattacks we've seen have been more nuisances than anything. Considering their general ineffectiveness of late, I kind of doubt al-Qaeda could flood an email server, much less take down a switching station.

A Violent Death Exposes Fish Piracy in Russia

Fish Pirates! Unfortunately, we're not talking about fish who turn to piracy but to people who steal fish. Despite the concept, which seems kind of silly to me, these are violent men. They killed a Russian general last month; he had come to Sakhalin to put a stop to poaching. Not out of the goodness of his heart, of course. The Russian government doesn't get any of the money from illegal fishing, and the Russian people don't see the fish; they go to Japan.

Supreme Court Upholds School Drug Tests (washingtonpost.com)

I'll talk about this ruling instead. Or rather, the policy behind it, which is mindbendingly stupid. All it will do is drive kids away from extracurriculars; it won't do anything to combat drugs. But with three justices who don't believe in the right to privacy, you've got a good chance at getting anything approved. Scalia has indicated he wouldn't mind if high schools tested all their students.

VodkaPundit has some thoughts on the Pledge thing, which I am staying out of except to say that the judge in the case hardly "declared the Pledge unconstitutional", as all the newspapers decided to report.

BBC News | SCI/TECH | Caffeine 'repels slugs'

Jeez, salt melts them, caffeine repels them. It can't be much fun being a slug.

Today's news from AY-rab

Woman testifies ex-husband killed her father in Arab

That's a disturbing headline, is it not? The name of the town appears three times in the first two paragraphs, not counting the headline, adding weight to my theory that newspaper writers just like writing about Arab. But then, so do I.

You people need help. And judging from your IP, it looks like Tom Delay was right about Texas A&M.

The Nando Times: Judge orders agency to consider golden trout for endangered species list

Don't you just hate it when judges tell bureaucrats to do their jobs? Who do they think they are, the arbiters of the law or something?

Ananova - Man eats live lizards to cure tummy trouble

How bad would your stomach have to hurt for eating 15 live geckos a day seem a good idea?

For a quarter, you can see me on that wall!

BBC News | AMERICAS | Guantanamo Bay: Tourist destination

I want to know what Alabama company is selling telescopes to the Cubans. Really, they have a made-in-Alabama telescope pointed at the bases.

Sarah Maserati on Earl Hilliard & Alabama on National Review Online

I'm sorry, but that has to be a pseudonym... Anyway, when the National Review is willing to waive goodbye to a man who favors school prayer and opposes gun control -- which is true of Hilliard -- that tells you how bad he is.

The Nando Times: Kansas murder suspect nabbed in Alabama bus depot

I'd especially like to thank the FBI agents who arrested Darrell Stallings, murderer of women, for letting him ride all the way from Meridian to Birmingham before arresting him. Of course, they did too. I've ridden the last leg of that trip (from Tuscaloosa to Birmingham) and after spending that time on a Greyhound bus, prison will probably come as a relief.

Ananova - Chinese rats fed with food-flavoured birth control drugs

Apparently, the rats won't eat the rat poison anymore. But "kids from rural families" are eating the rat poison. Um...

I've set up the Weevil Regional, for Alabama blogs. Some space has been cleared in the South Regional, so if you're a southerner and a blogger and aren't listed here, or are in the wrong section, drop me a line or just hit the comments link.

The Poor Man has gone insane!

Grandsons, yes; ex-wives, no

Black beats Smith; Ivey defeats Wallace

The Alabama Treasurer's race isn't actually interesting -- it is, after all the Alabama Treasurer's race -- but there are some interesting features. Stephen Black, grandson of the late Hugo Black (US Senator turned Supreme Court Justice), won the Democratic party nomination. However, Lisa Wallace, who divorced George Wallace before he went to meet his maker, lost in the Republican runoff.

Bombing Link Swayed Bush (washingtonpost.com)

Dubya decided that Arafat had to be removed because -- get this -- Arafat has links to terrorists! He made a payment ($20K) to the al-Aqsa Brigades recently. Apparently, this was the last straw. 40-odd years of actually being a terrorist apparently weren't enough.

Disgust With Referrer Logs

Google Search: 5 israeli operatives were caught laughing and dancing

Whoever searched for that (and I'm the top hit, somehow) sounds like someone I don't want to know.

The Miami Herald | 06/26/2002 | Palestinians, not Bush, to pick leader, Arafat says

"And by 'Palestinians,'" he didn't add, "I mean one Palestinian. Me. I hereby vote for myself as President. There, that wasn't so hard. This democracy thing is a snap, and I've been afraid of it all these years. Maybe I should try something else I've been afraid of, like bathing."

Player possibly had heart trouble

A Hoover High School football player collapsed and died on the field in a voluntary workout session. They say heart trouble, but why on God's green Earth are they having football practice outdoors in Alabama in late June? College and pro teams wouldn't do that, and here are high schools running children up and down a football field. It's ridiculous and stupid, and the coach who organized this -- every coach who organizes this sort of thing -- should be fired.

Ex-wife: McEnroe used steroids on tennis tour

Let's see... balding, bad temper, unpredictable... Well, maybe. He was like that when he was 18, too.

Reuters Wire | 06/26/2002 | Belgian Court Dismisses Sharon War Crimes Suit

Get this... The court determined that you can't prosecute someone in Belgium for crimes committed in other countries. Not unless you find them in Belgium, anyway. This probably comes as a surprise to the people who passed a law saying that you could try foreigners for human rights abuses wherever they're committed.

My advice is to stay out of Belgium. Even if you haven't done anything, you should probably stay away, it's not exactly a thrilling vacation destination.

nbc13.com - Decision 2002 - Davis Defeats Hilliard In Runoff

I was sick last night and went straight to bed, and couldn't keep up with this. But this is great. I was hoping Davis would be able to pull it out, but never expected him to blow Hilliard out. But that's what he did. Maybe it was simply the oddity of a runoff election with no gubernatorial contest, where whoever got their supporters to the polls was going to win. But I choose to believe that Hilliard's Jewbaiting and other negative tactics backfired.

During the campaign, Davis laughed off allegations by the Hilliard camp that he was a closet Republican who would switch parties once he was elected.

That is fairly laughable, though to Hilliard Davis may look like a Republican. Davis (as this story points out) interned for Howell Heflin and worked at the Southern Poverty Law Center. That's a couple of very strong Democratic ties.

Yes!

al.com: NewsFlash
District 7
486 of 488 precincts - 99 percent
x-Artur Davis, Dem 52,357 - 56 percent
Earl F. Hilliard, Dem (i) 41,049 - 44 percent

Case against Pizza Hut, staffer held - [23/06/2002] - HindustanTimes.com

You would think that in India, of all places, restaurant chains would be very careful about what they put in their products. But as the McDonald's case of a while back -- where they used beef to flavor their fries -- shows, that isn't the case. This one looks like some sort of religious beef (ha!) as Siddharth Jain, who I assume is a Jain, claims he ordered vegetarian spaghetti at Pizza Hut and when he ate it discovered there was chicken in it.

Pizza Hut's Indian CEO denies the charges, because he has intimate knowledge of the workings of all his restaurants. Two oddities... First, a Pizza Hut employee was arrested for this, which seems a little extreme, but I'd guess that India has reason to be worried about people stirring up religious strife. And Jain claims he not only doesn't eat an animal products, including eggs (and I'd guess milk) but also onions and garlic. I have to admit I don't understand why onions and garlic are considered animal products, and I expect that even Pizza Hut style Italian food probably has both.

NASA grounds space shuttle fleet

There are cracks in the propellant lines of Atlantis and Discovery. That sounds like something you might want to inspect.

Powell: U.S. will respect electoral choice of Palestinian people

Even if it's Yasser. Either Colin didn't get the memo or Wobblyness lives.

Yahoo! News - Fire Hazard Spurs Martha Stewart Potpourri Recall

Martha has definitely hit a rough patch.

news.telegraph.co.uk - GM tomato fights cancer 'by accident'

This is an old story, actually, first reported in 2001; apparently a study confirms what was reported then, that a GM tomato originally developed to ripen later contains a cancer-fighting substance. But genetically modified food is automatically bad!

NEWS.scotsman.com - Gaelic

Is the news any less incomprehensible when delivered in a nearly dead language? Let's find out.

Visionary's total precall / 'Minority Report's' future world the work of sci-fi writer Philip Dick

I really hate that word "sci-fi", have I mentioned that? Anyway, the SF Chronicle brings its own special point of view to Philip K. Dick.

A Vigorous Skeptic of Everything but Fact

Paul Kurtz of CSICOP in the NYT.

CBS News | Mideast Conflict Comes To 'Bama | June 25, 2002 09:22:24

The weirdness that is the Alabama Seventh is getting national attention... I generally only make fun of people's appearance when they deserve it on other grounds. And Earl Hilliard deserves it. Anyway, check out these pictures, which are worth the proverbial thousand words:



Hilliard is on the left (literally); Artur Davis is on the right (only in relation to Hilliard). While this is an unflattering picture of Hilliard, it is by no means out of character.

I'm not in the seventh, thanks to gerrymandering. If you are, go to the polls and vote for Davis; the state and the nation need the change.

House of Prayer defendants waive right to counsel, refuse prosecution deal

Not all religious nuts are Muslims, of course. Here's a fun group of Christians who don't see why they're being prosecuted -- and turned down a more than generous offer of five years probation -- for whipping a pair of boys aged 10 and 7. And I don't mean "whipping" like your parents might have meant for a spanking, I mean actual whipping, leaving wounds on their torsos. It was all the preacher's idea, apparently.

They're representing themselves, naturally. They're even refusing assistance from a court-appointed attorney. Since they seem to think punishment is good for the soul, they'll love prison.

Your one-stop source for all news Krispy Kreme

Today's Doonesbury strip has a Kreme reference, as Garry Trudeau's tragic efforts to be hip continue.

U.N.: Protect Radioactive Materials (washingtonpost.com)

I think we all (save your occasional al-Qaeda operative) can agree on that. The question is how. This being the UN, I expect they want a network of giant and corrupt bureaucracies.

Disturbing Search Requests

Recherche Google: jewish gay pics of military men of israel

This, like a lot of the really weird ones I get, came from Google.fr. I think we have a clue to the real source of French anti-Semitism: They're in love!

Jefferson County libraries make surfing clickingly easy

Some people were having problems using the library's databases from home. Some even had to drive down to the library and even use books. Fortunately, the Jefferson County Library Cooperative has upgraded their software, and nobody will have to risk a paper cut.

Instapundit.com:
LET THEM SWEAT

The Professor points to a Kristof column defending Third World "sweatshops"; they're actually better for workers than traditional labor. Says Reynolds:

Such bracing realism is not encouraged on the New York Times op-3d page. Mr. Kristof can expect a short career if he continues in this vein.

Hey, you know who's been defending sweatshops for years on many of the same grounds? Blogosphere Whipping Boy Paul Krugman, that's who. The Times didn't have any problem hiring him.

Ruling may thin ranks on Death Row

Alabama AG Bill Pryor is having a rough go of it. First, the Supreme Court says he can't execute any retarded people. Now, yesterday's decision on death penalty findings might keep him from executing anybody, or at least a large percentage of those already convicted. How does the Supreme Court expect us to maintain order if we can't kill people?

CNN.com - Mahathir to step down in 2003 - June 25, 2002

The Prime Minister of Malaysia is nuts, the only question is how nuts he is. Apparently, he tried to resign out of the blue over the weekend, later agreeing to stay on until next year. Remember, this is the same guy who accused George Soros of trying to wreck Malaysia's economy for nefarious personal reasons. I figure the odds are against him actually leaving when it comes down to it.

Syrians Ignore Bush's Criticisms

They also ignore basic human decency, which helps.

Syrian political analyst Imad Shuaibi rejected Bush's comments.

``This kind of approach -- `you're either with us or against us' -- will not work with Syria. Politics is not black or white. Politics is not dictatorship. Politics is compromise,'' Shuaibi said in an interview.

"Syria, now, that's a dictatorship," Shuaibi didn't add. But it was implied.

Bloggers Give Thanks

Yahoo! News - Russia gets ready to gag online dissent

If we were in Russia, we might all be in jail. Go hackers!

Text: Bush Speech Calls for New Palenstinian Leaders (washingtonpost.com)

Is W still wobbly? Does this answer your question?

Bush Calls for New Palestinian Leaders (washingtonpost.com)

Sounds like a good idea to me.

"When the Palestinian people have new leaders, new institutions and new security arrangements with their neighbors, the United States of America will support the creation of a Palestinian state, whose borders and certain aspects of its sovereignty will be provisional until resolved as part of a final settlement in the Middle East," Bush said.

In other words, we support the idea of a Palestinian state in principle, but since none of this is going to happen in our lifetimes we'll never have to actually deal with one.

Kremlin Site Vulnerable to Attack

Putin's web page is still standing strong, but Wired says it's vulnerable. I'm surprised it's lasted this long. Of course, it's in Russian, so as far as I know the text says "White Hot Communist Chick Action".

CNN.com - Tanzania train crash 'kills 100' - June 24, 2002

The engineer thought that the brakes were going, so he stopped the train. Then he decided to back it up, only to find that the brakes had in fact gone, and it rolled 20 miles before hitting a freight train... I've seen footage of these passenger trains, and they just look unsafe. I wonder how old this one was. A lot of third world countries use things that might date back to the colonial era.

Parents Accused of Chaining Daughter

Jesus, some people need to cut the cord. A California couple in their fifties chained their 21-year-old daughter spreadeagled to her bed to keep her from going out with a married man.

ESPN.com: MLB - Examiner: Kile likely died from blocked artery

Friday night, the day before he died, Darryl Kile complained of weakness and shoulder pain. (I assume it was in the left shoulder; as a righthanded pitcher pain in that shoulder would not have been particularly noteworthy.) I'm enough of a hypochondriac to know what those are the danger signs of.

Kile's father died of a heart attack in his mid-forties. My father had a cardiac episode a few years ago (he's in his sixties) which was the first sign of a congenital heart problem. These things are often hereditary, and I will probably have the same problem, if I make it that long. I intend to have that checked when it's time.

Last week, in the days before Kile's death, I was reading The Pitch That Killed by Mike Sowell. A little background for those of you not steeped in baseball history...

The 1920 season was probably the single biggest turning point in baseball history, with the possible exception of 1947 (when Jackie Robinson joined the Dodgers, followed quickly by other black players). It was the year when Babe Ruth, who had already set the major league record for home runs in a season with 29 the previous year, shattered all expectations with 54 homers, signalling the biggest change in the way baseball was played ever seen. Late in the season, the Black Sox Scandal broke, and fans learned that the 1919 Chicago White Sox had sold the World Series to gamblers.

And Cleveland Indians shortstop Ray Chapman was killed by a pitch delivered by the Yankees' Carl Mays.

These were the days before batting helmets (which weren't finally accepted until the fifties). Chapman apparently froze up when the ball started coming right at him. (Mays threw very hard, but underhanded; his fastballs rose rather than sank.) Chapman was struck in the temple; he lingered a couple of days and then died. He remains the only major leaguer to die as a direct result of something happening on the field. He left behind his wife and an unborn daughter.

Amazingly, these three teams -- Chapman's Indians, the disgraced White Sox, and the Yankees of Ruth and Mays -- spent the season locked in a pennant race. More amazingly, the Indians won the American League, and later the World Series. Chapman's position was taken over by Joe Sewell, later a Hall of Famer but then just a rookie less than a year out of the University of Alabama. The Indians were convinced Chapman had been there helping them the whole time.

NYPOST.COM Entertainment: BUFFY'S NOT TOO COOL FOR SCHOOL

Just noting that Buffy the Vampire Slayer is supposedly "returning to its roots" after last season (which was just about the darkest you'll ever see on network television), beginning with the reopening of Sunnydale High.

Court Overturns 150 Death Sentences (washingtonpost.com)

Amazingly, Scalia joined with the majority ruling that juries and not judges have to make the decision in death penalty cases. I was gaining the impression that he didn't much care who was executed, and how and why it was done, as long as someone was being killed. Sorry, Nino, I misjudged you.

Digging history at old capital

This is probably one of the things where Europeans have good reason to laugh at us. Archaeologists are digging up the first capital of Alabama, St. Stephens on the Tombigbee River in the southwest part of the state. The capital was moved about 1820 and the town was abandoned by the Civil War. In European terms, that's yesterday; I think they don't even bother digging up anything younger than Charlemagne.

Alabama is odd in that two early capitals are now ghost towns; Cahawba (on the Cahaba River, natch) was another early 19th century capital and it too is now wholly abandoned. Tuscaloosa and Huntsville were also capitals for a time, but they're still in business, as is Montgomery, which has managed to stay in charge since 1845. Though if Montgomery were abandoned, it would probably be good for everyone.

Rains Put Damper on Start of N.Irish Marching Season

In other countries, they have growing seasons, hunting seasons, sport seasons, election seasons, and, of course, seasons. In Ireland, they have a season for marching and low level rioting to boost ethno-religious separatism.

It's the End Of The World As We Know It, and They Feel Fine

Laurence Simon delivers a savage and (of course) funny beating to Time Magazine, Pentacostals, Doomsayers, Reagan cabinet secretaries, and especially those Godawful (in every sense) Left Behind books.

A lady of my acquaintance picked up one of those books in the airport (all this sort of crap sells well in the airports; I expect the possibility of imminent fiery death has something to do with it) and now she's hooked. She's a Yankee, and this sort of evangelical mumbo-jumbo was new to her. I had to explain what the Rapture was supposed to be and politics of the end of the world. I don't think she takes it seriously, at least I hope not.

Spam Spam Spam Spam...

This is kind of weird, and I don't know quite what's going on... I've gotten three pieces of apparent Spam this morning, but all came in as "Returned Mail: User Unknown" from the Mail Delivery Subsystem. (Yes, I use Outlook Express. So sue me.) Attached are emails that appear to be the usual garbage. Is somebody running some sort of spoof, and is this new or am I just seeing it for the first time?

Smokeless tobacco debate heats up

A couple of UAB researchers have been going around saying that smokeless tobacco is a good alternative to cigarettes for tobacco addicts. They are shocked to find other doctors and scientists think maybe, just maybe, younger people might think that this indicates smokeless tobacco is okay. Or that some people think that UAB getting money from the maker of Skoal and Copenhagen might have clouded their judgment just a little. Can we just agree that it's really gross and leave it at that?

Six Palestinians Killed In Missile Strike (washingtonpost.com)

Where to begin... Four of the dead were reportedly members of Hamas. Yasser has been surrounded again, and Ramallah is under Israeli control. Hamas leader Ahmed Yassin has been arrested by his fellow Palestinians. And Dubya, showing his remarkable sense of timing, is planning to propose a Palestinian state.

I get the impression that we're looking at some sort of endgame, that this phase of the conflict has gone as far as it can. My guess is that Yasser is about to be removed from the game; maybe he'll be killed, or exiled, or pushed into a figurehead role, but he seems increasingly irrelevant.

Tal G. in Jerusalem says that Syria and Iran are acting up in Lebanon again and arming Hezbollah in some sort of effort to destabilize things. I'm not sure giving Israel an excuse to move north is a particularly good idea for the Syrians.

Students learn about potables

The University of Alabama at Birmingham, which I attended for two years, has a class in bartending, focusing on cocktails. Unfortunately, it's not for credit.

Suicide bombings are indefensible

I don't agree with everything in this editorial (though I like the description of Yasser: "physically and mentally too feeble to lead the Palestinian Authority".) But that headline is nice. Why is it that the Bangkok Post can figure out something that's eluded seemingly every newspaper in Western Europe?

British Still Skeptical on Euro (washingtonpost.com)

This is a weird story. Apparently, the idea is that Britons were supposedly only disoriented by the pretty colors or something, and as soon as they got used to using Euros they would come out in favor of monetary union. Does that make any sense to anyone? It seems pretty clear to me that British opposition to dropping the pound is rooted in patriotism and in not wanting to give up power to continental bureaucrats.

Bin Laden said to be alive

Says one of his pals on an audio tape. And you know they would never lie. Other than that, they continue to not understand exactly how powerful the US is.

Al Qaeda Cell in Italy Planned Church Attack-Paper

This group was apparently a sort of North African terror multinational, with operatives from Tunisia, Morocco, and Algeria, linked to a Libyan. Their reason for the planned attack? Art criticism:

The Milan-based cell, which included members of Algeria's radical Salafist Group of Preaching and Combat, allegedly planned an attack on the basilica of San Petronio in Bologna, northern Italy, because it contains a fresco depicting Mohammad in hell.

Major Crimes In U.S. Increase (washingtonpost.com)

Let's review... Clinton is President, crime goes down every year. The GOP takes back over, and a year and a half later crime goes up. Just thought I'd point that out. The Democrats are now the party of fiscal responsibility, budget surpluses,and law and order. And we're working on the military, too, though at this rate that might happen by default. But the Republicans still have their reputation as the party of megabusiness to fall back on.

Spanish coach latest critic of World Cup referees

Fortunately, generous European social programs will provide Italian and Spanish soccer players and coaches with all the diapers they'll need.

Spider-goat, Spider-goat
Does whatever a spider won't...

Scientist mix spiders with goats

Uh... Okay. Apparently, a Canadian company has come up with a goat that, instead of milk, produces spider silk. Let's see if the goats can breed; if they can, I'd think they'll make lots of money. The Canadians, not the goats, who would only eat it anyway.

Scientist discovers two new monkeys in Amazon

The scientist, Marc Van Roosmalen, named one of the species the "bernardi monkey". As you probably guessed, Van Roosmalen is Dutch; he named the monkey after Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands. I'm not sure getting a monkey named after you is a compliment.