Donald H. Rumsfeld, Will You Please Go Now?

The time has come.
The time is now.
Just go. Go. Go!
I don't care how.

You can go by foot.
You can go by cow.
Donald H. Rumsfeld,
will you please go now!

You can go on skates.
You can go on skis.
But you can't have armor;
Don't bother with "please."

I don't care.
You can go by bike.
You can go on a Zike-Bike
if you like.

If you like
you can go
in an old blue shoe.
That's pretty much what
our soldiers do.

Donald H. Rumsfeld,
I don't care how.
Donald H. Rumsfeld,
Will you please go now!

(With apologies to Dr. Seuss.)

You don't resign from the job you want; you resign from the job you have.

BitTorrent Getting Hit Where It Hurts

From Yahoo:

One of the web's most popular file-sharing sites has shut down less than a week after Hollywood announced a flurry of lawsuits against operators of such internet servers.

A note posted on Suprnova.org says the site is closing down for good: "We are very sorry for this, but there was no other way, we have tried everything."

Last week, movie studios sued more than 100 operators of U.S. and European sites that host BitTorrent links but did not name the defendants.

Desperate, isn't it?

Here's how BitTorrent works: instead of users downloading a file from one place, files are split up and hosted all over the web; it speeds up download time, and makes it really hard to track the origins of these files. Which is why "pirates" love it so much.

But trying to keep people from information -- words, music, or movies -- is fruitless. That doesn't make theft permissable, but it does mean that these companies need a new business model. When I have found myself in possession of music acquired without payment, and discovered that I liked it, I have purchased the album. When I don't like it, I dump the file. And I'm not the only one who does that. I remind these media machines of the library argument: people check out books from the library, sometimes even making photocopies and distributing them to friends -- and yet bookstores still sell books, and publishers haven't gone out of business.

Lawsuits will not keep the future from coming, and will not address the real issues facing the music and movie industries: how to provide content with value to consumers, and how to adapt to new buying/acquisition methods.

Schwarzenegger Leans Leftward... to the Center

I'm no Republican.

That being said, I did vote for Arnold Schwarzenegger in the last gubernatorial election here in California, and so far I haven't been disappointed in him. Why not? He helps sick kids, he fights spam, he understands the concerns of small business-owners, he's a menace to criminals, and he supports stem cell research.

And here's more good news, straight from the pages of the German publication sueddeutsche.de (translated by Google and cleaned up by me).

Here's Arnold on the Republican party:

It must move somewhat. The Republican party covers the spectrum from right outside into the center, and the Democratic party covers the spectrum from left to the center. I wish that the Republican party would cross this dividing line, move a little more to the left and put more weight on the center.

For more on Arnold, check out his website.

An Open Letter to President Bush's Neoconservative Puppetmasters

I love McSweeney's. Just found a section of its site which has an open letter to President Bush's Neoconservative Puppetmasters:

To whom it may concern:

Why didn't you tell President Bush to invade Western Australia first?

I've been playing Risk: The Game of Global Domination since I was eight years old and never, never have I seen someone win the game by massing their forces in the Middle East at the beginning of the game. Too many borders! Impossible to reinforce! Enemies from all directions! Australia, on the other hand, is easily conquered. Start in Western Australia, make a straight-line march through eastern Australia, then on into New Zealand and New Guinea, and finally up to Siam, sealing the entire continent and guaranteeing an extra two armies per turn for the duration of game. (Ask Secretary Rumsfeld if those would come in handy.) Once in Siam, you can leave the remainder of your provinces virtually unguarded and mass your armies of the Far East to eventually move north into Siberia, Irkutsk and Kamchatka, ultimately overtaking the entire Asian continent (seven extra armies per turn), including, finally, the Middle East.

To read the rest of it (and you know you want to), go to McSweeney's.

On The Mark -- Happy Holiday Evildoers

President Bush must not have read all the front-page stories and editorials yesterday or read the letters I'm sure he received concerning how the evildoers in America are trying to destroy Christmas by saying "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas." Indeed, in some places in this country threats have been made to businesses and individuals if they didn't use Merry Christmas banners and decorations instead of Happy Holidays decorations.

He concluded his end-of-the-year news conference this morning twice saying "Happy Holidays." Not once did he say "Merry Christmas." Those "moral values voters" must be twisting and turning now, throwing what's left of their egg and ham breakfast at the television screen.

But this leads inquiring minds to ask, however: Would he have said "Merry Christmas" if the election were tomorrow? Like the Kennedy assassination, we'll never know...

No Compassion for the Troops

Even if everything I say is wrong, is prejudiced, spiteful, malevolent, even if I am a liar and a poisoner, it is nevertheless the truth and it will have to be swallowed.
Henry Miller (1891 - 1980), novelist

The Pentagon has acknowledged that Donald H. Rumsfeld did not personally sign condolence letters to the families of soldiers killed in Iraq. Instead he had them electronically signed, according to the Washington Post. How many more times does Rumsfeld have to demonstrate his distain for the military and how much longer will it be before President Bush no longer finds it a pleasure to have Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld serve in the administration? What has Rumsfeld done right in the four years with W? The Misanthrope honestly cannot think of anything at this particular moment. We would certainly welcome comments or even a guest commentary on the subject (contact us via e-mail).

This latest act of heartlessness from the defense secretary is the height of arrogance and should be the final straw for Bush to dismiss him. It’s not as if the soldiers are being killed hundreds at a time (thank goodness), so why won’t Rumsfeld take a few minutes to personally sign his name?

The Misanthrope believes Rumsfeld thinks that since the soldiers volunteered, they knew what they were signing-up for and therefore nothing personal is required. This man is a danger to the world.

Side Effects

The big story lately (if you ignore the cops downing twelve year-old and six year-old kids with tasers, or the death that continues to pile up in Iraq, or the woman who stole a baby from another woman's womb)... where was I? Oh yeah - the big story has been the report that Celebrex, a popular anti-arthritis drug, more than doubles your risk of having a heart attack if you take it.



Now, every drug has side effects (hear Steve Martin read his version of a side effects label at NPR); granted, the increased risk of heart attack is worse than the usual dizziness or flatulence, but medicine isn't perfect yet. The problem we are facing is that people remember the Jetsons, and expect that science should be able to provide a pill that provides for all our needs, solves our problems, and gives us the RDA of all vitamins and minerals. One day, perhaps, science will do that - but these things take time, and the public tends toward impatience. The tendency is bolstered by the unsubstantiated claims that some drug manufacturers make, wherein a little pill can help you get that football right through the middle of that tire swing every time, if you know what they mean, heh heh heh ("Dude! I'm feeling tumescent already!").

Let's all calm down a little with the prescription drugs, then. No more wonder cures that cause more problems than they treat. No more letting drugs fall into the hands of the wrong people, so kids are using them to get high instead of get well. Let's have no more "quick fixes" for childhood ailments that used to be solved with a little discipline and a lot of love. Stop treating hyperactivity and attention deficit with pills, and get those kids some exercise. There are cases where these drugs can do a lot of good, but we are overprescribing them, and the side effects to our population are as of yet still unknown.

One day, when we can cure disease without side effects, and when we can know beyond the shadow of a doubt that the medicine we prescribe is necessary and beneficial, then I'll join the party and celebrate Celebrex. Until then, we need to show a little restraint... and there's no drug yet on the market that can help us to do that; we have to to do it ourselves.

[For a well thought-out, well-researched news story on kids and pills, check this out.]

Digitized to Our Detriment?

Twenty-two acknowledged concubines, and a library of sixty-two thousand volumes attested the variety of his inclinations; and from the productions which he left behind him, it appears that both the one and the other were designed for use rather than for ostentation.
Edward Gibbon (1737 - 1794), historian; On Emperor Gordian the Younger; The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

Google’s announcement last week (Dec. 13, 2004) that it will begin converting some of the nation’s leading research libraries and Oxford University into digital files that will be searchable over the Web, leaves the Misanthrope a bit suspicious.

The Misanthrope recalls Nicholson Baker’s 2001 book Double Fold: Libraries and the Assault on Paper. The book jacket says, "Since the 1950s, our country’s libraries have followed a policy of destroying to preserve. They have methodically dismantled their collections of original bound newspapers, cut up hundreds of thousands of so-called brittle books, and replaced them with microfilmed copies." The results, as Baker discovered, were that there are no longer any complete editions remaining of most of America’s great newspapers.

Will this eventually happen to the books we have today? More importantly, what will happen to libraries? Will they become a casualty of state and federal budget cuts once everything has been digitized? This most likely will not result in The Misanthrope’s lifetime or two generations hence, but what happens when it does? If everything is technically in one spot, couldn’t some corporation or government leader ultimately control it all?

Thanks to input from colleague B2, we were reminded of Alexandria’s famous ancient library, considered to have the greatest collection of books in the ancient world. Founded by Ptolemy I Soter, king of Egypt, in the city of Alexandria, it was expanded by his son Ptolemy II Philadelphus early in the 3rd century BC. In the time of Ptolemy II, according to historians, the main library in the Alexandrian Museum contained nearly 500,000 volumes, or rolls, and an annex in the Temple of Serapis contained some 43,000 volumes. Most of the writings of antiquity were preserved in these collections from which copies were made and disseminated to libraries throughout the civilized world.



It is largely through such copies that ancient works have survived to modern times, for the Alexandrian library was partially or wholly destroyed on several occasions.

Maybe it does not matter whether we have access to history or not, humanity continues to repeat its mistakes – not just in a march of folly, but in a hyper-speed race of perversity to our own detriment.

The Misanthrope – Sunday’s Lighter Side

Americans would rather live by a Chamber-of-Commerce Creationism...satisfied with a divinely presented Shopping Mall. The integrity and character of our own ancestors is dismissed with "I couldn't live like that" by people who barely know how to live at all.
Gary Snyder (1930 - ), Poet, essayist

Shopping. We made the mistake of thinking it would be possible to quickly run into Best Buy on Friday afternoon to avoid the crowds. The Misanthrope is obviously not much of a shopper. But, we can say for certain that NASCAR has nothing on the figure-eight parking-lot demolition derby that occurs in these shopping mall lots around the holiday season.

The trouble starts by trying to fit all the elephantine vehicles (Humvees and huge SUVs) into a small boa constrictor parking lot. Meanwhile, rather than park another 10 yards away from the store, people stop their car in the middle of a parking aisle backing-up traffic, waiting five minutes or more (they could have jogged around the block and still got into the store quicker) for the finished-shopper to load his/her car with packages, arrange the bundles to ensure they don’t tumble about, then the finished-shopper eventually saunters into the car and with the careful precision of a diamond cutter attempts to back out. In the interim, parking-lot traffic has snaked out to the street inferring with boulevard traffic.

Once this time-efficient shopper moves out of the way, it’s as if the gates of hell have just opened and the starting flag waved as cars race around looking for spaces before the music stops. Tis the season to be jolly?

On The Mark -- License to Strip: G-String Divas Get Branded

It's about this time of the year that I dread the business tax bill for my business that is due in February each year. Of all the taxes I pay -- business and personal -- this one is the most hated because there is absolutely no return on it. At least with other taxes I know streets are getting paved, some social services are being provided and, unfortunately, a war is being fought. But with the business tax all I get is a piece of paper saying I'm allowed to do business in this city. Some people proudly frame this license and put it on their wall (it is supposed to be displayed at all times). I bury it deep in my desk drawer because it just makes me too angry to look at it.

Now business licenses are becoming the (forced) fashion rage for G-String Divas.

In San Antonio on Friday the City Council unanimously (11 members) approved a measure requiring exotic dancers to apply for permits. OK, that's bad enough, but get this. The dancers can't hang this license on the wall above their make-up mirrors or place them on their vanity tables. The permit, about half the size of a credit card, must be worn while the dancers are performing!! "I really don't know where we're supposed to place it," said the performer, Tempest.

I guess they'll just have to find a place to bury it, like I do.

Happie Holidays

"And so during these holiday seasons, we thank our blessings. ... "
President George W. Bush —Fort Belvoir, Va., Dec. 10, 2004

Once again, President Bush continues to embarrass the country. His latest being his faux White House Conference on the Economy, which served as a platform for announcing policies for the financial ruin of the United States. "Financial Challanges for Today and Tomorrow," the message proclaimed in dark blue capital letters against a bright yellow background beneath the president.



Bush does not care if he speaks ungrammatically and now the White House does not care how it spells either. The Misanthrope has complete sympathy for typos as long as one makes the effort to correct them – as the fight for justice is never ending, so too is the fight against typos.

However, there are enough people surrounding the president that typos should not occur. But, this president believes himself to be one of the common folk, which translated means he thinks people are stupid (The Misanthrope is staying silent). The president continues to talk as if he just walked out of the back country of Texas.

You're all invited back again to this locality. Y'all come back, here!

On The Mark -- Double Your Risk

A few years ago my back flared up and I was suffering through some severe pain. I reluctantly took some anti-inflammatories that helped relieve some of the pain, although they made my stomach rumble and my mood gloomy. I asked my mother, "How did people in your generation get through these kinds of ailments." Her response still stays with me, "We just learned to get through it, we had no other choice. But we got through it." Ever since that day, I've taken less medication -- for headaches, backaches, colds, etc. -- and I've been better for it. On a whim during my next back episode, I went through a series of acupuncture treatments. It worked wonders. I didn't take one pill. I've also found various natural and homeopathic remedies that have worked wonders compared to what the multitude of pharmaceuticals, over the counter and prescription, have to offer. We've been brainwashed to take medication for everything. And when the adult market got saturated, then kids were freely and shamelessly targeted. Is this any worse than the tobacco industry, really? When I was a kid, discipline kept me in line, not drugs. With today's news that Celebrex can cause twice the probability of heart attacks, it's another reminder to everyone to explore natural remedies. Certainly, some medications are needed, but it's time to cut through the clutter.

Bush will be paying tribute to the troops, to the tune of $40 million, during his multi-day inauguration. I wonder if even one red-stater at these parties will be thinking about the soldiers who are getting maimed while the partygoers are dancing because we don't have enough money to get the soldiers the right equipment? I mean, this is beyond pathetic. This is (the fall of) Romanesque. I keep waiting to hear someone in the administration (Rumsfeld?) say, "Let them eat cake." Does anyone know where the orgies will be taking place?

AmEx Cutting 2,000 Jobs

American Express Co. announced it will cut 2,000 jobs, or 2.5 percent of its work force, in a restructuring designed to save more than $75 million a year before taxes [Link].

Salary watch: Chief Executive Kenneth Chenault's compensation in 2002 was almost $14.5 million [Link]. Think he's taking a pay cut?

A related site of interest is found here.

Commercializing the War – An Idea that Works

A European war can only end in the ruin of the vanquished and the scarcely less fatal commercial dislocation and exhaustion of the conquerors.
Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965)

The Misanthrope has a more genteel idea on Maureen Dowd’s excellent column regarding corporate shilling. Her corporate sponsor idea is too risky for corporate image-makers.

The Misanthrope can visualize the lead-in by broadcasters: “Tonight, the Bank One War on Terror was dealt a serve blow as another car bomb killed several in the American Express Green Zone.” After the headline, the TV cameras zero in on the most sensational images while the newspaper and magazine photographers focus on the geometric framing of bodies strewn around with tattered corporate logos soiled with blood blowing in the wind (just as the government has left the soldiers), it seems a hard sell. Viewing decapitated Geoffrey, the Toys “R” Us giraffe busts, lying broken on the bombed out, crater-filled Baghdad streets, won’t fly for the near bankrupt toy distributor.

Here is a win-win situation for corporate sponsorship for greedy CEOs: recall B2’s commentary on Colgate-Palmolive’s CEO Reuben Mark, who will collect his salary, including stock gains of $148 million? Rather than be compared to Ebenezer Scrooge or Jacob Marley, for announcing layoff notices for 4,400 employees around the holiday season, Mark can donate a mere $48 million toward body or vehicle armor and most likely receive a tax credit for such big-hearted philanthropy. Now this will change the coverage of the story.

The Misanthrope believes the way to finance this war is to have Bush’s donation base – the multimillionaires, who get rich gauging the working poor, donate and underwrite war equipment. Company names and corporate sponsorship will not be allowed, as it appears too crass. Bronze plaques, from the White House, which could be hung in the lobby stating the importance of Acme’s donation will work, but only if there is not a dollar-for-dollar tax deduction for this heartfelt giving.

On The Mark -- Dowd's Coalition of the Shilling

Maureen Dowd's column today in the New York Times was written as satire, but it could very well make a lot of sense. She proposes that, in order to help the troops get the equipment and protection they need, corporate sponsors should step in as they do with stadiums (Staples Center, Minute Maid Park) and athletes, as well as product placements when soldiers are being interviewed on television (holding a can of Coke or wearing a Nike hat, for example). She called it the Coalition of the Shilling and gave several examples, including a very clever one, the American Express Green Zone. Sponsors would never support a negative image you say? OK, explain to me then the sponsorships of today's athletes who take steroids, or get arrested on charges such as rape, or any number of other thuggish activities. I think the sponsor dollar would be much better spent helping our men and women in uniform stay alive and safe. Maybe the White House shut down the Marketing and Public Relations Division too soon.

Maybe you forgot, and maybe you didn't, that Rudy G. was totally down and out before 9/11. Sure, he walks on water now, but before 9/11 I remember reading article after article about his affair, how the mayor's mansion was split in half with his divorce-in-waiting wife, and that it was reported that he allegedly wasn't bashful about bringing his mistress into the house while the divorce case was raging. Rudy's anger with Kerik really has nothing to do with Kerik's problems. Rudy knows that his shaky past will get kicked up again, just when he was about to start his campaign for the White House. During the presidential campaign Bush and Cheney kept saying that Kerry was still thinking pre-9/11 and that new world had started that day -- basically, forget about everything pre-9/11. Well, they just got some cold water splashed in their faces, because the world that existed before 9/11 hasn't gone away.

I remember while I was in Russia a conversation I had with a Russian about politics. I said to him that Putin had caused quite a stir in the USA with his comment about a secret super nuclear weapon. My Russian friend laughed and said that everyone in Russia knew that comment was good fiction, that Putin was just trying to figure out a way to stay on the world stage. I responded, "Probably as fictional as our so-called missile shield. So we're both safe because your non-existent bomb can't get through our non-existent shield." We both had a good chuckle. With today's news, it turns out the joke wasn't on us, but for us.

I hope Bose is ramping up production of their silencer headphones, because I'm anticipating a rapid uptick in sales if they allow cell phones on airplanes. Flying is already a miserable experience...can you imagine what it will be like listening to people screaming into their phones for hours and hours with no place to escape? They should install "cell-phone zones" where people will have to go to make calls, along the lines of smoking zones in airports.

Good News For The Troops

I'm pleased to report that Pentagon officials, confronting a growing furor that has thrown the military on the defensive, have taken some positive action: an Army general said Wednesday the military will spend more than $4 billion to ensure that all U.S. military vehicles in the war zone carry protective armor by next June. [Link] Thank you for your continued support.

Google v. GEICO

Type "GEICO" into Google, and you get more than just links to that company's web page -- you get ads for rival insurance companies. This happens because those companies pay Google for their ads to come up in such a search. GEICO sued Google on grounds of trademark violation -- they claimed that these other companies were using their name to generate business.

U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema of the Eastern District of Virginia disagreed -- there is no trademark violation. [Link] However, Brinkema said she would allow the case to proceed on the narrower question of whether Google should be barred from displaying advertisements for other insurers that contain the word "GEICO."

"GEICO will continue to aggressively enforce its trademark rights against purchasers of its trademark on search engines and against search engines that continue to sell its trademarks," GEICO General Counsel Charles Davies said in a statement later in the day. Maryland-based GEICO is a subsidiary of billionaire investor Warren Buffett's holding company Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

So what GEICO basically wants is protection from competition. But should they get special protection? Isn't a free-market economy all about having the market decide which companies succeed and which fail? If GEICO's prices are lower than their competitors, and the services provided are comparable, GEICO will earn more business. If the competitors are better or cheaper or both, they get the business. It should be as simple as that. For GEICO to try and shield potential customers from rival offers is ridiculous and unneccessary; if they want the money, they need to work for it.

‘Twas the Season

There are some people who want to throw their arms round you simply because it is Christmas; there are other people who want to strangle you simply because it is Christmas.
Robert Lynd (1879–1949), essayist

The commercialization of Christmas has nearly reached the natural end many expected -- cannibalizing itself. Merchants’ greed and commercialization of Xmas has placed Santa Claus, the ambassador of gift giving, to remote locations of the department store because the jolly fat man takes up too much real estate that can be used for shelves full of goods. We had to know it would eventually come to this. Fewer and fewer stores are hiring the jolly ol’ man.



In London, shoppers will not find a single Santa Claus house inside any of the hundreds of stores that line Oxford Street, the city's busiest shopping destination. In fact, with few exceptions, it is not easy to have a sit-down with Santa anywhere in the city, according to the New York Times.

Sitting on St. Nicks’ knee is out of the question these days too, because of insurance liability and sexual harassment charges. Kriss Kringle, like the late Rodney Dangerfield, gets no respect. According to the article, gangs or general street thugs even attack the seasonal philanthropist. The Misanthrope is not a fan of the money grubbing holiday (we much prefer Thanksgiving), but some tradition is nice, and respect for this symbol of the season should be allowed to ho, ho, ho without fear.

Our solution would be to regulate Christmas to every other year. People would look forward to it with a real zeal and passion. Today, we simply go through the motions and hope the holiday mood arrives. Unfortunately, the intense sad emotions the holiday season brings undoubtedly would be enhanced. The Misanthrope suspects the only answer is to do away with Christmas and focus on Thanksgiving.

What, exactly, is he looking for? Weapons of mass destruction? More armored Humvees?

Sad to say, but we've found out the pic has been doctored. Here's the original.

Stop The $30 Million Ball

The oath of office is the main focus of the inauguration ceremony, and the only part required by law (link). The Inaugural Ball that accompanies the inauguration is merely a custom, started in 1809 for the Inauguration of James Madison.

The Ball has been cancelled before - in 1853, when a grieving President Franklin Pierce—mourning the recent loss of his son—asked that it be cancelled. In 1913, when President-elect Wilson felt the ball was too expensive, and unnecessary for the solemn occasion of the Inaugural.

In 1921 President-elect Warren G. Harding requested that the Inaugural committee do away with the elaborate ball and accompanying parade, hoping to set an example of thrift and simplicity. Subsequent Inaugurations followed this trend, and charity balls were held for the Inaugurations of Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, and Franklin D. Roosevelt. FDR eliminated even this charity ball in 1945, saying that the needs of the war superceded the need for an inaugural ball.

So why is the Presidential Inaugural Committee spending $30 million on a second inauguration for President Bush, when the money could be spent on armored Humvees for our troops in Iraq?

I have written to my congressman to make sure he understands that I don't support this. Sure, some private funds are used to pay for the inauguration and its balls, but that money could be used for Humvees instead - and which donors are going to complain about helping soldiers in dire need of such supplies?

What can we do to stop this crazy ball? Write to your congressman here; just type in your zip code and you can send an email from the website. My letter follows, if you want some help getting started.

It has come to my attention that the president's inaugural committee plans to spend in the range of $30 million to $40 million on his second inauguration (Newsweek and The New York Times are both reporting this figure). Although I understand that private donors will be contributing a portion of that, and their intention is to fund said inaugural event, I would think that President Bush would do better in the eyes of the public to use that money to produce more armored vehicles for the soldiers in Iraq.

The preferred vehicle is, according to NPR, the M1114 Humvee, which costs $150,000 to produce. Robert Mcredy, president of the Aerospace and Defense Group of Armor Holdings (they provide these vehicles) says that his company could produce more than they are currently making; all they need is for the government to order more. $30 million could provide 200 more of such vehicles for our troops.

Please make it known to the powers-that-be that I, and others like me, would prefer to send proper armaments to soliders in Iraq, rather than fund another inauguration - and I'm sure that those aforementioned donors would not balk if told that's how their money was being utilized.

Rumsfeld Says We Can't Make Humvees Any Faster; The Manufacturer Says Otherwise

Remember the soldier asking Rumsfeld last week why the men in Iraq have to weld junk metal to their vehicles to serve as armor, since they don't have enough armored Humvees? (And people have been talking about this for a while.)

Here's Rumsfeld's response: "It's essentially a matter of physics; it isn't a matter of money..." He claims that these Humvees just can't be made any faster; he'd love to send some more to Iraq, but it's physically impossible. Really?

According to NPR's Chris Arnold, the defense contractor who produces armored Humvees for the military says it could produce more if asked. Robert Mcredy, president of the Aerospace and Defense Group of Armor Holdings (Jacksonville, Florida) says his company could produce another 50 to 100 more armored Humvees per month. He says he's told his customer, the U.S. military, of his capability, and is just waiting for more orders. [Link]

And for those of you missed my last post, the $30 million being spent on Bush's inauguration could fund the production of 200 of these armored Humvees.

So which is it, Rummy? Still a matter of physics or money? Or is it just a question of priorities?

Corruption is Democracy’s Cancer

Corruption, the most infallible symptom of constitutional liberty.
Edward Gibbon (1737 - 1794), British historian

Four years ago it was Florida. Today, Ohio, Washington, New Mexico and San Diego -- it is spreading. The states and the city have all been infected with voting issues or counting challenges this year. The latest sign that this cancer is spreading is that San Diego's write-in candidate, Councilwoman Donna Frye, would have beaten incumbent Mayor Dick Murphy if all votes had been counted.

The Los Angeles Times and four other news organizations and two pro-Frye voter looked at ballots that had not been counted in the official tally because the oval was not filled in. Frye would have won – what a shocker! This has to stop or change because an already lethargic electoral will only fall more anemic. This cancer will manifest itself in the form of leaders (in name only) surrounded by yes-men, involved in deal making with cronies who grease the wheel for each other.

What will happen four years hence? Send for the doctors stat!

Bush Inauguration Will Cost Same As 200 Armored Vehicles

Newsweek estimates that the second inauguration of President George W. Bush will cost $30 million. The New York Times says Bush's inaugural team is trying to raise $40 million.

Now back up a little... you remember the flak Donald Rumsfeld got when asked why there weren't enough armored vehicles (such as Humvees) in Iraq? Well, they cost a lot, right? (You already see where this is going.)

The most coveted Humvee among troops in Iraq is the M1114, which has protected glass windows and armament on its sides, front, rear, top and bottom. Almost 6,000 of them are in Iraq right now. They cost about $150,000 each. [Link]

Lt. Gen. John Sattler, commander of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, says the M1114 is the “best uparmored vehicle in the world.” It can stop AK-47 bullets, anti-personnel RPGs and most roadside bombs and mines.

So here's the math part (thanks to my wife for pointing this out to me): the inauguration costs $30 million... or we could send another 200 armored Humvees to Iraq. The choice should be obvious, and yet plans for the overpriced inauguration go on.

Draft? What draft?

There may be no plans for a national military draft, but that hasn't kept Louisiana from registering teenagers too young to serve in case conditions change.

The Town Talk reports that Larry Chevalier of Glenmora was alarmed when his 16 year-old son Nathan had to register with the Selective Service System in order to get a driver's license.

"I just can't believe it. That amazes me," Chevalier said.

During the recently concluded presidential campaigns, you may recall, the major candidates repeatedly said they had no plans to resume compulsory military service.

Neither Chavalier nor his son knew before going to the Office of Motor Vehicles that Nathan would be required to pre-register for the draft in order to get his first driver's license, he said.

Of course, this would be the first time ever that the government started to get away with something bordering on nefarious behavior without telling the general public.

[Thanks, Smirking Chimp!]

On The Mark -- The Homeless: Birds, Vets and an Eye for an Eye

Honk 4 Hawks. I couldn't help being cynical when, in the same section of a major newspaper, there was an article about homeless vets from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and an article about some red-tailed hawks that were now homeless because they had been evicted from their longtime nest located in an elegant NYC residential neighborhood. The homeless vets were left to stand on corners and beg for food and warmth. Meanwhile, the red-tailed hawks have people like Mary Tyler Moore fighting for the right for these birds to return to their home nests so, as Mary stated, they can be in their natural habitat and peaceful. This isn't an attack against Mary, for all I know she gives millions to homeless vets. Yet, wouldn't it be nice to see some people of celebrity, with influence and money, fighting loud and clear so that our vets, who fought for the right to protest for birds' rights, could also be in their natural habitat and peaceful?

I'm terribly conflicted about the Scott Peterson death verdict. There was a time when I supported the death penalty, but that was before DNA and evidence that a lot of people were put to death simply so that a prosecutor could have a good win-loss ratio and detectives could wrap up a case quickly. Even though it seems obvious that Scott did the murder(s), I would prefer that he stay on death row for the rest of his life with all its restrictions, even with the knowledge of how much it costs this taxpayer to take care of him.

Blockbuster Plans to End Late Fees

In an effort to fight upstart content distributors like Netflix, Blockbuster Inc. is planning to eliminate late fees on games and movies as of January 1.

Blockbuster apparently makes as much as $300 million annually on late fees; they think they'll make up for this lost income with increased volume.

Don't know what this will mean to the future of Blockbuster, but I do know that it's just another sign that we're catching up to the future every day, and the way we think about media, content, and ownership is changing rapidly.

Ten Things You Should Know About Voting in America

I've included sources, in case you want to check the facts.

1. 80% of all votes in America are counted by only two companies: Diebold and ES&S. [Link here and here.]

2. There is no federal agency with regulatory authority or oversight of the U.S. voting machine industry. [Link here and here]

3. The vice-president of Diebold and the president of ES&S are brothers. [Link here and here]

4. The chairman and CEO of Diebold is a major Bush campaign organizer and donor who wrote in 2003 that he was "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year." [Link here and here]

5. ES&S is the largest voting machine manufacturer in the U.S. and counts almost 60% of all U.S. votes. [Link here and here]

6. Diebold's new touch screen voting machines have no paper trail of any votes. In other words, there is no way to verify that the data coming out of the machine is the same as what was legitimately put in by voters. [Link here and here]

7. Diebold also makes ATMs, checkout scanners, and ticket machines, all of which log each transaction and can generate a paper trail. [Link here and here]

8. Jeff Dean, Diebold's Senior Vice-President and senior programmer on Diebold's central compiler code, was convicted of 23 counts of felony theft in the first degree, including planting back doors in his software and using a "high degree of sophistication" to evade detection over a period of two years. [Link here or download this PDF]

9. California banned the use of Diebold machines because the security was so bad. Despite Diebold's claims that the audit logs could not be hacked, a chimpanzee was able to do it! (See the movie here.) [Link here and here]

10. All the voting machine errors detected and reported in Florida went in favor of Bush or Republican candidates.[Link here, here, here, here and here]

Angry Girl has these and more posted on her blog for you to read, if this hasn't been enough to turn your stomach.

Publicity Drug Gone Awry

Beware the leader who bangs the drums of war in order to whip the citizenry into a patriotic fervor, for patriotism is indeed a double-edged sword. It both emboldens the blood, just as it narrows the mind... And when the drums of war have reached a fever pitch and the blood boils with hate and the mind has closed, the leader will have no need in seizing the rights of the citizenry. Rather, the citizenry, infused with fear and blinded with patriotism, will offer up all of their rights unto the leader, and gladly so. How do I know? For this is what I have done. And I am Caesar.
William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar

Jerome R. Corsi, a leader of the Swift Boat Vets and POWs for Truth campaign, which was discredited for its pack of lies against former Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John F. Kerry, is preparing for his next political project: fostering racism for what he sees as a likely war with Iran, according to the Los Angeles Times.

This man is just saying the most outrageous things in order to get publicity. He has said a war with Iran in March is not out of the question. That is interesting considering the United States does not have the troops or the resources available to win its already unnecessary war with Iraq.

Corsi, in an interview with the LA Times, calls the leaders of Iran "mad mullahs." While The Misanthrope certainly does not agree with Iran’s politics, we are just as frightened by the lunatic ravings of the publicity seeking Corsi. A little attention for an unchecked ego is the equivalent of just “one more hit” for a heroin addict.

The only solution is cold turkey for a publicity hound – ignore his book and media interviews.

The Bush/Monkey Phenomenon

Have we all seen the comparisons between George W. Bush and monkeys? You know, the pictures that make him look monkey-like? The side-by-side comparison photos? The public events featuring Bush/Monkey costumes?

The latest Bush/Monkey news item is out of New York, where a portrait of the President, made of monkeys, has led to the closure of a New York art exhibition. From afar the painting offers a likeness of Bush, but when you get closer you see the image is made up of chimpanzees or monkeys swimming in a marsh.


Click the pic to see it bigger.

"Bush Monkeys," a small acrylic on canvas by Chris Savido, created the stir at the Chelsea Market public space, leading the market's managers to close down the 60-piece show that was scheduled to stay up for the next month.

Frankly, the sacrifice of freedom of expression and political satire on the altar of patriotism seems to me to be a violation of everything which we hold dear. The country was founded on principles that allow - no, demand - the public to be actively engaged in the monitoring of its government and its elected officials; stifling our right to free speech by closing down art exhibits will temporarily silence us, yes; it is up to us to determine how long we stand for such dastardly behavior.

At least you can still buy this; it may not have monkeys, but if you're of the Hebrew persuasion (and you voted for the other guy) you'll dig it.

On The Mark -- Reporting from Russia VIII

Religion. While visiting some of the spectacular monasteries here, it's hard to believe that during Soviet times they were used as storage facilities or left empty because religion was forbidden. Religion is back in full force now with the Russian Orthodox church's stamp firmly on the population. In the small village of Zhadonsk (note: not sure of English translation spelling), a place that many Russians call the second Jerusalem, one can find a monastery that towers over the village. Not that it's a skyscraper in design, but it is colorful and tall by comparison with the rest of the homes in this location. And this was the only place I visited where most of the people live in homes vs. apartment dwellings that one sees in the cities. People in Russia flock here to be fully immersed (in the nude) in the natural spring healing waters (even when it's -12 C) that are eternally blessed by the saint who healed people at this location centuries ago. They also participate in services in the monastery, services that last for several hours and where you are not allowed to sit (there are no chairs or benches) -- you must stand at all times. You also won't hear an organ or other kinds of musical instruments, since they are forbidden, although there is a choir. They also don't see any "blending" of the religions. Through an interpreter, I requested a blessing for my father, a devout Catholic, who passed away recently. The church leader at this monastery was consulted, and my request was refused.

Tax Dollars at Work. Driving on the highways of Russia is quite a bumpy experience. They're dark at night with little or no lighting. You feel as though you're riding an all-terrain vehicle in the backcountry because, although the roads are paved, you'd never believe it unless you got out and walk on it. Then you notice all the potholes that take their toll on tires and shocks. And speaking of tolls, while driving with friends we approached a toll booth. I remarked that, in the USA, typically the fees collected at a toll road ensure that the road is better maintained and overall it's a better driving experience. My friends all laughed for several minutes. "Here," they said, "the toll roads are worse than the regular highways because the government 'assumes' these taxes will be used for the road so no governmental funds are provided. Instead, the tolls are pocketed, so the roads are actually worse because they receive no repairs or maintenance."

Lesbian Bible Replaces Men With Women

From the Weekly World News (yes, it's not exactly the most reliable publication, but I couldn't pass this up):

Out of the Closet Publishers is releasing a new Lesbian Bible (this is not your mother's Lesbian Bible) which replaces all of the men with women. So we have Adamina and Eve, Danielle in the Lion's Den, Jane and Her Coat of Many Colors, and Mona receiving the Ten Commandments. It's not for Jewish lesbians, I guess, because it includes the New Testament, and here's the best part:

Instead of Jesus, The Lesbian Bible features Justine, the daughter of God, who tells her twelve hot female disciples, "Let she who is without sin leave now, for it is far more fun to be around sinners. Now remove your clothing and let me closely inspect the divine images in which God made you." What follows is the first appearance of an X-rated jacuzzi scene in any Bible.

Democrats Need to Rise Above It

If you think about strategy as revolution...then you must acknowledge that no monarchy has ever fomented its own revolution. In other words, senior management does not have a great propensity for change.
Attributed to C. K. Prahalad, management writer

The Misanthrope predicts that shortly after the inauguration of President Bush, the Republicans will invoke what the Senate calls the nuclear option to stop filibusters by Democrats, who don’t want to have a nominee railroaded into the Supreme Court. Unfortunately, Vice President Dick Cheney and Bush prefer to govern the same way Vladimir Putin does. Therefore, we predict it will happen. All of the talk about it now is laying the groundwork, so people will be used to the idea by the time it’s invoked.

As explained in the Washington Post, the nuclear option is a seldom-used, complicated and highly controversial parliamentary maneuver. Under this procedure, it would take only a simple majority or 51 votes to uphold the ruling -- far easier for the 55-member GOP majority to get than the 60 votes needed to break a filibuster or the 67 votes needed to change the rules under normal procedures. It would then take only 51 votes to confirm a nominee, ensuring approval of most if not all of Bush's choices.

The Democrats need to rise above this and figure out how to expose the Republicans for the dirty tricks and secrecy they are using to advance their agenda without bipartisan input. Incoming Senate Democratic leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.), said, “I know procedures around here. And I know that there will still be Senate business conducted. But I will, for lack of a better word, screw things up.” These kinds of comments do nothing to help the Democrats present themselves in a better light.

Girl With Scissors Arrested; Handgun Passes Airport Security

Your safety at home is being closely guarded - this update should put your mind at ease.

First, let's hear about the 10 year-old girl arrested for taking a pair of scissors to her elementary school. School district officials said the fourth-grader did not threaten anyone with the shears, but they were taking no chances. Hmmm. OK, let's just skip that.

Next, Palm Springs International Airport has to be evacuated just a fortnight ago when someone called aside for a random security screening decided just to run off. Airport security evacuated the entire airport, including calling back and emptying two planes already on the runway, in an effort to find the suspect. They didn't.

Still, no one can get weapons on board, right? Not even nail scissors? At Yeager Airport in Charleston a short while back a woman took a loaded 9-mm handgun through screening. A screener suspected something in the bag and ordered a hand search. Another screener did not find the gun during the search, and the woman was allowed to proceed.

Yeah, we should all feel much safer these days. I miss Tom Ridge already.

The Misanthrope – Sunday’s Lighter Side

Here of a Sunday morning
My love and I would lie,
And see the coloured counties,
And hear the larks so high
About us in the sky.
A. E. Housman (1859 - 1936), poet

Day-to-Day Luxury. The Misanthrope had a fire going all day last Sunday. It was a chilly southern California day, which is not that common, mid-60s for the high and dropping to the low 40s in the evening. It was delightful. Since it was the last day of two weeks off, we wanted to completely relax, so the fire was kept going throughout the day. The Misanthrope purchases wood at almost $40 a trunk full, which is generally enough wood for several weeks of short duration fires while watching a movie. Last week’s marathon fire made The Misanthrope realize that firewood is a luxury item. We burned through the entire pile by the end of the night. What if that was our only way of keeping warm? This is a long way of pointing out the insidiousness of inflation. Higher prices for everything are creeping up much more rapidly than government statistics reveal. The cost of almost any item one can think of has gone up, in many cases substantially. Meanwhile, economists discuss inflation in term of tenths of percentages, but we feel it in dollar and cents everyday. Unfortunately, the single parent working for a smidgen over minimum wage finds it harder and harder all the time. And what is government’s solution – tighten bankruptcy rules.

Innovative Art Idea. A Painting a Day on a Paintingblog by Duane Keiser is not only a creative idea, the paintings are rather nice. As his bio says, he lives in Richmond Virginia and he is striving to make a painting each day (and The Misanthrope thought writing everyday was challenging). He paints them on a modified cigar box as his canvas. We viewed his pieces and our favorite was the Baseball, of course, it and everything was already sold. The Misanthrope applauds Duane’s brilliant idea. Thanks boingboing.

Let it Rip. The Misanthrope just discovered the wonders of ripping music to the computer. We have burned CDs, but the idea of having the entire CD collection on the computer is a treat. We cannot wait to make our playlists. B2 has a number of songs on his computer, he accomplished this a while back. We could even consider an Ipod, if all goes well. The Misanthrope is certain the daughter will read this and immediately place her order, but the key word here is consider. But, The Misanthrope being slow to embrace new technology thinks it may be nice, but not essential, however it could be one of those necessary luxuries, until we consider the cost of everything (see Day-to-Day Luxury). In the meantime, ripping The Misanthrope's collection is another distraction from stacking the latest pile of firewood and planting the dying trees.

Housekeeper is Red Herring

The condition of all human ethics can be summed up in two sentences: We ought to. But we don't.
Kurt Tucholsky (1890 - 1935), German philosopher

What a red herring the housekeeper issue is concerning nominated Secretary of Homeland Security Bernard Kerik. The former New York City police commissioner and crony of former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, withdrew his nomination Friday evening. Because of the past incidents, nanny issues are among the first that administration officials explore, and among the ones they probe most aggressively, according to the Washington Post.

The Misanthrope believes the excuse of the housekeeper is an attempt to bury or minimize allegations regarding his ethics that could possibly hurt Giuliani’s lucrative consulting business. Although, Federal immigration laws do make it a felony to knowingly conceal or harbor an illegal immigrant. The housekeeper taxes and immigration issues were used primarily by Republicans to stop President Bill Clinton nominees for attorney general nominees Judge Kimba M. Wood and Zoe Baird. The tactic has since been used against Bush to force the withdrawal of his cabinet nominee Linda Chavez as labor secretary.

According to the New York Times:
From the moment Mr. Kerik's nomination was announced by President Bush, news organizations have been digging into Mr. Kerik's background, from his time as a security chief at a hospital in Saudi Arabia in the early 1980's to his work during the last three years in the private sector for companies doing business with the Department of Homeland Security. The stream of stories - which raised questions about how he used his position of authority or whether his work in the private sector might present a conflict of interest when he returned to the government - had begun to produce questions about the status of his nomination.

The Misanthrope believes names of potential new nominees will be floated/leaked shortly, possibly in time for the Sunday political shows, to take media off Kerik’s trail.

The Fourth Estate

Kudos to Edward Lee Pitts.

The fourth estate has, in recent years, seen one of its primary raisons d’etre eroded to the point of non-existence: the discovery and revelation of injustice and malfeasance. Where once journalists would tread heavily, brazenly asking the tough questions to uncover the truth behind the flak, now they meekly report what they are told, hoping to hold on to their precious credentials and be invited to the next junket.

This is not, however, entirely the fault of the esteemed press. Rumors (and more) abound on the reticence of the current administration to deal openly with reporters; limiting opportunities for journalists to ask questions of our elected and appointed officials, restricting the sorts of questions that may be asked, and refusing to answer those that make them uncomfortable. So these reporters, in efforts to retain what little they have, now obey these mandates and find themselves penning government-approved fluff.

Not so this week, as Chattanooga Times Free Press reporter Edward Lee Pitts did the unthinkable, shocking right-wing pundits with his audacity. Knowing that only soldiers would be allowed to ask questions of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld at a Kuwait-based press conference, Pitts encouraged a soldier in the 278th Regimental Combat Team (with which Pitts is embedded) to ask a pointed question about armor on certain war vehicles.

"I was told yesterday that only soldiers could ask questions so I brought two of them along with me as my escorts," wrote Pitts in an email to co-workers. "Beforehand we worked on questions to ask Rumsfeld about the appalling lack of armor their vehicles going into combat have." Pitts also said he arranged for the questioners to get recognized. "While waiting for the VIP, I went and found the Sgt. in charge of the microphone for the question and answer session and made sure he knew to get my guys out of the crowd,"

Spc. Thomas "Jerry" Wilson, 31, of Nashville, asked Rumsfeld why, after almost two years of war, soldiers were searching dumps for metal to weld on vehicles destined for hostile territory. "Why do we soldiers have to dig through local landfills for pieces of scrap metal and compromised ballistic glass to up-armor our vehicles?" Wilson said. The question appeared to surprise Rumsfeld and prompted cheers among the soldiers listening to him in a hangar.

So the question was a valid one, and it was a question well-received by other soldiers. It is indisputably one of concern, and one to which the America people deserve an answer. This is the sort of question that needs to be asked, even if not answered, and Pitts made sure it was heard. His method of wrangling such an opportunity may be ungentlemanly, but the job of a reporter is not to be liked; rather, a reporter must find out that which is otherwise hidden, and reveal important, relevant information. That’s what the news should be for.

Pitts sums up his reasons for slipping the question in thusly: "I believe lives are at stake with so many soldiers going across the border riding with scrap metal as protection," Pitts wrote. "It may be too late for the unit I am with, but hopefully not for those who come after."

If journalists can, through their work, bring light to the world and shed it on such happenings, more power to them; they represent the public’s only tested method of obtaining information that, though sometimes hard to hear, is necessary for our protection and welfare.

On The Mark -- Reporting From Russia VII

Dating in Russia. When one travels to Russia as a tourist, you must provide a detailed itinerary of your trip, as well as letters of invitation and vouchers from the hotels where you will be staying, to the Russian embassy in the USA in order to get a visa. When you arrive at the hotels, it is necessary to provide your passport and visa, which is registered with the local government authorities and returned to you a few hours later. You cannot make any deviations in your plans without the proper paperwork and authorization in advance (or you shouldn't, anyway). In Moscow and St. Petersburg, I'm guessing it's probably a little more difficult to determine if you've settled into your room each night (but, then again, maybe not -- I certainly wasn't brave enough to find out). In the smaller cities it's a much different story. No matter how hard you try, you stick out if you're not a local.

I state this information as a setup to the following story. In a smaller city in Russia I stayed at a smaller hotel, actually a converted communal apartment building from Soviet times (not far from a Lenin monument saluting me). There was always a clerk at the entrance desk, and a gentleman keeping an eye on the elevator. I didn't pay much attention to them, and they didn't pay much attention to me (or so it seemed). I went out on some dates while I was there, enjoying great ballets and dinners for about $50 total. Our "dialogue" was limited to translation dictionaries since neither of us understood the other's language. We "spoke" in pictures, basically. Even with that drawback, we had very enjoyable days and evenings. But when we got back to my hotel, it got very interesting, because my date would automatically start looking for a taxi. Now, I have to admit that I'm used to this avoidance technique in the USA, but in this circumstance it seemed incongruous to how we had been enjoying each other's company up to that point.

So I asked an interpreter what was up. She said, "I thought you knew this. In the smaller cities, they still follow very strict rules. A lady is not allowed any further than the lobby of your hotel at any time, and is not allowed in the hotel at all after 10 pm. They can actually be arrested." I was a bit flabbergasted. I responded, "So tell me this, then. Every night I get at least three calls (in English) in my room asking me if I'd like a Russian girl sent to my room. How does she get past the clerk and guard?" The interpreter looked at me as if I was playing dumb or had a low IQ. After a few moments (which seemed like an hour), she said, "Well, that's easy. The girl pays off the clerk and the guard. How do you think these callers know you are there, and your room number? Especially since you are the only American in this city right now?"

Oh well, at least my self-esteem and confidence were restored.

The Wines of Wrath

“They're workin' away our spirits, tryin' to make us cringe and crawl, takin' away our decency.”
Tom Joad from John Steinbeck’s "The Grapes of Wrath"

President Bush announced two items that should scare everyone, because they make no sense. Why there is not an outcry from the masses is beyond The Misanthrope. (Actually, most people probably have no idea what the government is planning.)

Bush revealed plans to move forward on the creation of private Social Security accounts for younger workers without raising taxes or breaking his pledge to cut the deficit in half by 2009. This is evidence that Bush’s yes-men and -women in the Cabinet are coming back to haunt the country, since this is not fiscally possible without turning the American economy into a clone of Argentina’s.

According to New York Times columnist Paul Krugman:
There is, by the way, a precedent for Bush-style privatization. One major reason for Argentina's rapid debt buildup in the 1990’s was a pension reform involving a switch to individual accounts - a switch that President Carlos Menem, like President Bush, decided to finance with borrowing rather than taxes. So Mr. Bush intends to emulate a plan that helped set the stage for Argentina's economic crisis.

Social Security was and is the salvation of many an elderly person, but Bush and his gang want to lower the United States’ living standards, so we can again be competitive in the world-manufacturing arena. Unfortunately, the results will be another Grapes of Wrath era of Joads, packing up the SUVs and Hummers (just ahead of the repossession man), similar to how the Joad family piled into their truck with what remained of their belongings, because the U.S. economy is heading south.

The Unbearable Loudness of Being

Too many of us have wasted our breath explaining that your phone calls (and you know who you are) are not a public happening - they are not theater, they are not entertaining, and they are not what I want to listen to on my train ride.

Annoyed glares and subtle stares have no effect, and a polite word or two is often just just as ineffectual. But at least those of who speak up see a small percentage of success - there are many who just don't know what to say when their ears are being similarly assaulted. Finally, the aspirin for that headache is here! Coudal Partners has started the Society for HandHeld Hushing and created a handy tool for this exact situation.


Download the PDF from their site (or here, if it's more convenient), print it out, and start creating beautiful silence!

On The Mark -- Reporting from Russia VI

Talking Politics. In a small village in the southwestern region of Russia I was asked my opinion about President Bush. After talking for a while through an interpreter, I stated that I thought Bush would probably go down as one of the worst presidents in our history. I asked him what he thought. He had an interesting response. "I think you have a good president. At least he is fighting for you and your country, even if you don't like how he's doing it. We can't say that here. Our president only looks out for himself and his cohorts. He's left the rest of us to fend for ourselves. And it's gotten pretty ugly in the meantime." After some back and forth banter, I could understand his perspective. It didn't change my opinion of President Bush and his policies, but I had to agree that at least Bush was doing what he thought was right for the country. At the same time, I argued that many would agree with me on the point that many of his policies do support him and the businesses of his buddies, but not along the lines of what my Russian friend was expressing about his country.

All in all, I found that it doesn't matter where you are in the world, one discusses politics at their own risk.

He later asked me what Americans in general thought about Russia. I said, "Vodka, Kournikova, nuclear bombs, and a sprinkle of Putin." He laughed, thinking I was joking. I asked him what Russians in general thought about Americans. After telling me that just about every Russian in his region of the country didn't like Americans, he said, "Money, money, money, movies, sex, drugs and violence." I laughed, knowing he wasn't joking. Then he said, "But it seems that America is a place of great opportunity and hope and you can achieve whatever you dream." I told him that for a lot of people that was true, but also for many other people they could just as well be living in a third world country based on their living conditions. By the way, my Russian friend told me he makes about 150 USD a month, a typical wage in Russia.

Going to War Unprepared

"A certain degree of preparation for war...affords also the best security for the continuance of peace."
James Madison, U.S. president.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld answered a soldier’s question about lack of armor for Humvee vehicles, “You go to war with the Army you have, not the Army you might want or wish to have at a later time," he said.

The Misanthrope disputes the answer. We ask, why even go to war if your army is not 100 percent prepared when there is no direct threat to our country’s security? Why devalue our soldiers’ lives and dedication?

President Bush has not been held truly accountable. The voters gave him a pass.

On The Mark -- Reporting from Russia V

Walk at your own risk. If you ever have the chance to go to Russia, especially to cities outside Moscow and St. Petersburg, the most important thing to remember is that drivers have the right of way. They don't stop for anybody, even if you're in a crosswalk, which are hard to find anyway. I was "saved" a few times. And many times I saw people in the middle of the street as cars whipped by them from both sides, not even bothering to slow down. They also don't pay much attention to the dividing lines in the road. They create their own lanes, including going up on curbs, and squeezing between cars like we would observe motorcycles doing on our highways. In Russia, "insurance" does not exist in the dictionary. There's no such thing as car insurance. If you get in a wreck, you pay to get your car fixed or to cover medical expenses. While being driven from one of the airports in Moscow to my hotel we were delayed by an accident. As my driver approached the scene, we saw an SUV twisted, smashed, and spun around in the middle of the road. "Ah, another New Russian crumbles," he said, explaining that a $35,000 SUV in America goes for $100,000 in Russia because of customs duties, and only those few who have been able to capitalize on the new democracy, the New Russians, can afford a vehicle of this kind. "Let's see if it's a girl driver," he says with some glee. "I'm certain it was." Sure enough, there she was, standing in the middle of the road in her mink coat on a cell phone. "She's calling to see if she can find a friend to stay with for a couple weeks," he says seriously, "because her husband is going to raise hell when he finds out he's out a hundred grand. He'll be drinking a lot of vodka tonight."

Imagine

“And so dear friends, you just have to carry on, the dream is over.”
John Lennon, singer, song writer


It was 24 years ago today that Howard Cosell interrupted Monday Night Football to inform the world that John Lennon, 40, had been shot and killed. Immediately, thousands attended candlelight vigils in front of Lennon’s Dakota Brownstone. A 25-year-old man has since been charged and sentenced for life with the killing (The Misanthrope is purposely not naming the killer). Fans with tears streaming down their faces sang Lennon’s songs from his Beatle days and his solo career.

Lennon’s killing shocked and outraged a world. A then President Jimmy Carter had said, “I know that I speak for many millions of Americans when I say that I am saddened by his death, and distressed by the senseless manner of it. It is especially poignant that John Lennon has died by violence, though he had long campaigned for peace. His work as an artist and musician was far from done.”

A President-elect Ronald Reagan, who was visiting New York at the time of the slaying. said, "What can anyone say? It's a great tragedy.”

Radio airwaves around the world, including countries that were then Communist were filled with the music of the Beatles in tribute to John Lennon, which was a big deal since Western culture was mostly ignored. Moscow newspapers carried a brief report by the Soviet official news agency Tass on the death of John Lennon and Radio Moscow's English-language international service devoted a half hour to playing Lennon's 1971 album "Imagine."

A Hungarian government newspaper praised Lennon for his music and his "commitment to the cause of world peace," and Belgrade's most influential newspaper, Politika, said the Beatles were "youth's breakthrough into all pores of life ... the sound rebellion against established visions. ...

Former British Prime Minister Sir Harold Wilson, on whose recommendation Queen Elizabeth awarded the Member of the Order of the British Empire medal to the Beatles, issued a statement praising Lennon.

Lennon had recently emerged from a five-year sabbatical. He was excited about the beginning of a new decade and a new LP (long playing) record titled "Double Fantasy." Lennon died leaving behind his wife Yoko Ono, son Sean, who was 5-years old, Julian his 17-year-old son from his first wife, and millions of admirers around the globe.

The Misanthrope would have loved to hear what Lennon, a peace activist, would have sung about the tumult of the world today and the wars taking place. We will play Lennon's music today in remembrance.

Cabinet Members Resign, Tell Truth

Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson announced his resignation last week with an ominous warning of a food-related terrorist attack.

"For the life of me, I cannot understand why the terrorists have not attacked our food supply because it is so easy to do. We are importing a lot of food from the Middle East, and it would be easy to tamper with that." Very straightforward, and very clear. When asked why he was saying this now, he replied that these were his own opinions that he could now give.

So it seems that there is some good to be gleaned from the spate of resignations from Bush's cabinet: we're starting to hear some real truth from the White House.

Good Deeds Done Dirt Cheap

Always do right—this will gratify some and astonish the rest.
Mark Twain

This is the kind of story The Misanthrope enjoys reading. Associated Press reported that an anonymous tipster who was eligible to receive a $40,000 reward for providing information that led to an arrest in a murder case turned the money down, asking that it go instead to a charity established in the victim's name.

The tipster is from Kansas City, Missouri and has opted to remain anonymous. A Crime Stoppers official said they do not know the identity of any tipsters, they are given code numbers.

The sad thing is that this story and another one The Misanthrope commented upon A Real Morals Story in a Red State, is that these should not be news, but so common place that there is no reason to tell people about them. News by its nature is bad, but there are too many good news stories, which means it is abnormal for people to do the right thing.

Colgate-Palmolive Plans to Cut 4,400 Jobs

Yahoo! is reporting that Colgate-Palmolive Co. plans to cut its worldwide work force by about 4,400 jobs and close one-third of its factories as part of a plan aimed at boosting its sales and profits.

What the story does not mention (and Colgate-Palmolive Co. doesn't point it out) is that CEO Reuben Mark's annual salary, including stock gains, is $148 million. I'll type that again, so you don't think it's just a typo: $148 million every year.

So, in the spirit of helpful hints for which we at Toner Mishap are becoming known, here's one to help Colgate-Palmolive boost its profits: pay your CEO less and stop firing people.

The Military Needs to Shoot Straight

“Lying is an accursed vice. It is only our words which bind us together and make us human. If we realized the horror and weight of lying we would see that it is more worthy of the stake than other crimes.”
Michel de Montaigne1533-1592, essayist

Why do people continue to lie? If the truth were told, the victim(s), (whether it is taxpayers or an individual) more often than not, would understand and possibly forgive. Most people are taught this when they are young, by an adult who says, ‘just tell me the truth and you won’t get in trouble,’ but people continue to lie and continue to get in trouble.

The military lied about to pro football quarterback Pat Tillman turned Army Ranger. The Tillman family was originally told he was killed by enemy fire, and then the U.S. Army admitted it was friendly fire provoked by the enemy. Now seven months later, the lie is once again amended, when the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times and report that Afghans who were there said it was an overreaction to an explosion that caused our men to start firing wildly.

The lie told by the military to family, to press and to the world was unnecessary. Once again spineless leaders trying to cover their rear-ends ultimately make an ass of everyone.

Not Mentioned During the Campaign

Rationalization may be defined as self-deception by reasoning.
Karen Horney, psychoanalyst

The intelligence on Osama bin Laden has gone cold. Neither President Bush nor the CIA ever mentioned that during the election. According to the Sunday Washington Post, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said that the search has gone completely cold, with no recent intelligence indicating where he and his top lieutenants are hiding. If the United States were not distracted by oil and revenge in Iraq, maybe bin Laden would be in custody.

However, Musharraf acknowledged that recent security force operations and interrogations have been able to determine only one fact -- that bin Laden is still alive. The other non-shocker is The United States U.S.-led coalition does not have enough troops in Afghanistan, which has left "voids," said Musharraf.

So, the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks, who killed 3,000 innocent people is free, but the United States has taken out the dictator of an oil rich country, because he killed and tortured his people. This has never made any sense to The Misanthrope and it should make any sense to you. It’s the equivalent of the police arresting the first criminal they can catch and then saying, he could have helped other criminals.

It is saddening to think how fast a democratic president would be impeached and investigated, if the tables were turned.

The Misanthrope—Sunday’s Lighter Side

Ah well, perhaps one has to be very old before one learns how to be amused rather than shocked.
Pearl Buck, novelist.

Only for the Rich. Baseball ticket prices are going the way of basketball and football, even thought baseball plays more than twice the number of games. The greedy Los Angeles Dodgers Owner Frank McCourt, once again raised ticket prices. Field level seats will increase from $45 to $70. Don’t expect to see lower to middle-class families sitting in the good seats at Dodger Stadium. The prices continue to escalate and are only affordable to business people courting clients, lobbyists subtly twisting politicians’ arms, and to the rich Hollywood and Beverly Hills crowd who want to be seen, of course, many of their tickets are complimentary.

Meanwhile, feel free to take your family to the outfield bleacher seats and pray a riot doesn’t break out around you. Bleacher seats sell for $6 apiece, which is a very good price, if it came with bodyguards. Of course, alcohol is not sold out there, so naturally the drinking occurs in the parking lot before the game. This way, you don’t even get three innings completed before fans become unruly.

The pleasures of going to Dodger Stadium no longer exist for The Misanthrope’s family. We’d suggest listening to the game on the radio, but the signal is weak and the broadcasting team even weaker. (see Bring Dodger Announcer Ross Porter Back).


Rock and Roll Circus. The Rolling Stones produced their own television special in 1968, but it had never seen the light of day officially until this year’s DVD release in time for Christmas. The Misanthrope who has contributed far too much to the bands coffers, decided to rent it instead. Talk about feeling old. The Misanthrope is now older than all the thirty-something or almost thirty-something performers on the DVD. The seriousness surrounding this spectacle of bright colors and leading-edge (not just a corporate buzzword in this case) music, made one think the music was going to change the world. In the end, it created a few long running fads, great classic rock songs, some of which now shill for car ads, lingerie, perfume, software, and tennis shoes. No band or rock and roll artist is immune to commerce and greed.

It’s no wonder Mick Jagger did not release the DVD until recently. The Stones were flat. The super group of the event John Lennon, Eric Clapton, Mitch Mitchell, and Keith Richards stole the show with a great version of the Lennon and Paul McCartney’s song "Yer Blues." Jethro Tull was outstanding, The Who showed their talent, and the bar was raised and the Stones limbo’d under it.

Exclamation Point for Hammering Hank!

Oh! somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright;
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light,
And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children escape a beatin’;
But there is no joy in Mudville—mighty Barry has been caught a cheatin’.
With apologies to Ernest Lawrence Thayer, U.S. writer and poet.

Baseball is all about records and statistics. The greed and dishonest competition have served to further taint a game that through most its history provided fans a pleasurable escape from the quotidian grind.

When The Misanthrope looks back, Hank Aaron looks better and better. As exposure of steroid use continues to be uncovered among baseballs homerun hitters, the better the players of another generation look. Barry Bonds’ childish defense that he didn’t know he was rubbing steroid cream on his muscles, which soon starting bursting through his shirt like Popeye after eating a can of spinach is simply asinine.

Bonds and Mark McGwire’s records should have asterisks placed next to their names in the record books. Baseball is a toothless organization after selling its sole to television and burying players in cash (e.g., Alex Rodriguez receives $250 million for a 10-year contract). It’s doubtful baseball with its owner-commissioner, will do anything to anger the players.

What all this proves is that Hammering Hank needs an exclamation point beside his name because he faced stronger pitching, played in larger stadiums, broke Babe Ruth’s home run record by a large margin, and DID NOT CHEAT!

On The Mark -- Reporting from Russia IV

Voronezh -- It wasn't surprising to see that the Hollywood marketing machine is hard at work. The new Oliver Stone movie, "Alexander," opened in Voronezh with Russian translation (and no English subtitles). I didn't need dialogue to know that the film disintegrates quickly after the first 30 minutes, although in true Oliver Stone fashion, it had good war scenes. What I found most interesting was the crowd reaction. The men in the audience were laughing or chuckling during many scenes during the film, particularly (as well as I was able to determine) the scenes that portrayed Alexander's bi-sexual tendencies. A friend in the USA postulated that perhaps this was nervous laughter. But I can confidently say that that wasn't the case. I think the men in the audience wanted to "slap him silly," if you know what I mean. There's a lot of testosterone on the streets of Vornoezh. By the way, I didn't hear one female laugh or chuckle.

I sat in a cafe for a couple hours observing. Frequently I saw men walking or standing on street corners together. I saw women walking arm-in-arm. Rarely did I see a man and woman walking together, especially showing any kind of affection. There's a legitimate concern about the declining birth rate in Russia. This concern seems obvious as you watch the people walking the streets.

Terrorist Alert in France

From Cao's Blog:

AP and UPI report that the French government announced yesterday that it has raised its terror alert level from “run” to “hide.” The only two higher levels in France are “surrender” and “collaborate.” The raise was precipitated by the recent fire which destroyed one of France’s white flag factories, disabling their military.

Vader Sells... Out?

Darth Vader is back, and this time it's personal; click the pic to see his latest commercial venture (or right-click to download, if you prefer).



[Thanks, Cell 2187!]

Last Chapter for Booknotes

Read in order to live.
Gustave Flaubert, French novelist.

Another farewell, this time to C-Spans’ Booknotes. This was one of The Misanthrope’s favorite shows. For about two years, we watched the show regularly. It is a bit dry, but if the discussion is regarding a book one has read or is interested in but may never read it, it is a great show.

In many ways, it is a history lesson. All of the books discussed were non-fiction. The host of the show Brian Lamb, who is also the founder and CEO of C-SPAN, asked simple questions and allowed the author to respond. He did not try to showcase his intelligence through long-winded questions.

Among the guests interviewed on the show, to use Lamb's classification from his book, "Booknotes: American’s finest Authors on Reading, Writing and the Power of Ideas" were:

Storytellers: Shelby Foote, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Stephen Ambrose, Richard Reeves, Daniel Boorstin, John Keegan, David Remnick, Joseph J. Ellis, and many others.

Public Figures: Richard Nixon, Mikhail Gorbachev, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, Robert McNamara, William Rehnquist, Hannan Ashrawi, Margaret Thatcher, and many others.

Reporters: David Halberstam, Lewis Lapham, Peter Arnett, Kevin Phillips, Garry Wills, George Will, Anna Quindlen, Thomas Friedman, William F. Buckley, Jr. and many others.

Lamb says he's not tired of reading. “But I am tired of having to read a book every week — on my own time.” He figures he has read 320,000 pages. The Misanthrope guesses that Toner Mishap colleagues (B2 and On The Mark) have an almost similar reading pace.

His final guest Sunday (8 and 11 p.m. ET/5 and 8 p.m. PT) will be University of Virginia professor Mark Edmundson, author of Why Read?, a celebration of literature and a critique of the way it is taught. The Misanthrope cannot think of a better way to sign off.

Reading—I discovered—comes before writing. A society can exist—many do exist—without writing, but no society can exist without reading.
Alberto Manguel, Argentinian writer

On The Mark -- Reporting from Russia III

Voronezh -- The legend behind this city of about 1 million is that when Peter the Great decided to build his navy here he shipped in beautiful women throughout Russia to keep the sailors and ship builders happy. They say that the secret for beauty is now in the water. All I can report is that there is a lot of truth to this legend.

In America, due to the power of advertising and mass media, we marvel over the beauty of Russian women tennis players, for example. Here, in Voronezh, they would only blend in. Every street is like walking down a runway for models. And they take fashion very seriously. I was told before I arrived here that I would never see women the same again. I was quite skeptical; I live in Southern California, after all. But I can happily report that there is no exaggeration in this boast.

Drinking green tea (and vodka) with some of the citizens of Voronezh I've learned some new perspectives beyond what I've reported in earlier reports related to economic and social conditions. While dining in the half-full Pushkin Restaurant last night (a delightful meal with first-class service and live entertainment), one person told me that during Soviet times one would have to make a reservation weeks in advance to a restaurant like this.

Food and vodka was cheap. Today there's plenty of food and drink, but there's no money. In Soviet times, there wasn't a lot to choose from regarding products outside of Russia. Today there are a lot of choices, but no money to buy them, she said. In comparing past times to today, another told me that, during Soviet times that not only did most people not do much planning for their specific days, they also didn't think about the future. Everything was decided for them. Today, surviving the future is mostly all one thinks about.

Kerik Named to Lead Homeland Security

President Bush has chosen former New York police commissioner Bernard Kerik, who helped oversee the city's response to the 9/11 attacks, to run the Department of Homeland Security, a senior administration official said Thursday [link].

I thought it might be fun to post some pieces of Kerik's bio and some of his statements that you may not hear much about in other places.

From the New York Press

As Rudy Giuliani’s last police commissioner, [Kerik] decided not to fire the four cops involved in the Amadou Diallo incident, reminding New York that you have to shoot an unarmed black man at least fifty times before you lose your badge. Prior to his distinguished reign as the police commissioner, was the head of a state corrections department that for years was the city’s most dependable source of scandal and bureaucratic skullduggery. The promotional blurb for his memoir, The Lost Son: A Life in Pursuit of Justice, describes him as "a jail warden with a black belt and a background in international security and anti-terrorism." His gigantic, circa-1977 mustache almost redeems him, but not quite.

From a recent appearance on The O'Reilly Factor

Kerik: "The overall coverage in general of what's going on in Iraq is not being handled correctly or accurately. You have enormous progress throughout Iraq in economics, in hospitals, in education, in various areas of security, in the every day life of the Iraqis. You don't see any of that, any of that published or publicized on any of the news stations."

(Enormous progress? Really? He's right -- I haven't seen that on TV, either.)

From the New York Daily News

[Kerik] went to Iraq to help rebuild its police force, saying he would stay "in excess of six months... as long as it takes to get the job done" but returned after just four. Despite his efforts, Iraq's police force is still seen as corrupt and weak.

Kerik found himself denying any role in a scandal that erupted in New York after he left his job as top cop: a former boss at Rikers Island whom he promoted multiple times was accused of marshaling correction officers to work on Republican campaigns.

Saving the World with Hostess Twinkies

Going through some old comics from the 1970s, and I stumbled upon a series of ads that I had forgotten about - Marvel and DC both had full-page ads in which their superheroes shilled for Hostess Fruit Pies, Twinkies and more! I posted a few for those of you who:

1. Can't resist the lure of comic-related postings
2. Can't resist the lure of Hostess' flaky goodness
3. Have nothing better to do than look at 30 year-old comics because your mom isn't home and it's your fortieth birthday and you can do whatever you want, so there! And besides, your D&D tournament doesn't start for another hour.

So here you go; feel free to open them or download them or print them and store them in individual mylar bags.

Batman 1
Batman 2
Captain America
Captain Marvel
Daredevil 1
Daredevil 2
Hulk
Spiderman
Superman
Thor

Brazil to Break AIDS Drug Patents

BBC News reports that Brazil intends to break patents on commercial anti-AIDS drugs as part of its battle against the disease -- this being the only way that country could afford to keep up its anti-AIDS strategy.

I am pleased to note that human suffering and disease prevention take precedence over antiquated ideas about protection of certain intellectual property, and hope that this violation by Brazil is just the beginning of a message to world corporate interests that curing disease is an effort that should benefit all people, and not just those that can afford it (read: the wealthy). Let those companies find some other way to support themselves. (And kudos to the World Trade Organization, which allows countries to break drug patents if there is a national emergency!)

Blowing in the Wind

In the culture that secretly subscribes to the piratical ethic of "every man for himself"...the logical culmination of this ethic, on a person-to-person level, is that the weak are seen as the natural and just prey of the strong.
Eldridge Cleaver, writer and civil rights activist

Public and private corporate America should provide incentives for employees who have a conscience and ethics to speak out about such abuses. Mom and pop shareholders, Jane and John Doe consumers are generally the first to feel the pain of greedy executives whose crime eventually surfaces. Shareholders lose retirement money and consumers pay higher costs.

Unfortunately, there are no rewards for employees, except knowing they did the right thing, which is a very satisfying feeling, but it won’t put food on the table or pay the rent. Sure, there is legal recourse if unfairly terminated, but most don’t have the money or time to pursue justice.

For employees who report government fraud there is big money available to them, but not so in corporate America. The False Claim Act allows whistle-blowers up to a quarter of the money recovered by the government. According to a New York Times article, whistle-blowers have been at the root of federal fraud cases against Tenet Healthcare, Lockheed Martin, TAP Pharmaceutical Products Inc. and Boeing.

If there were such laws and rewards for corporate America not doing government business, Enron may not have occurred. Who knows how many other such crimes could have come to light before too much damage was inflicted to innocent bystanders.

The Misanthrope salutes those whose conscience and ethics matter and speak up about such lapses in greedy executives.

Networks Run From Tolerance (Chased by Money)

Upper Left has pointed us to the website of the United Church of Christ, which "seeks to welcome all people, regardless of ability, age, race, economic circumstance or sexual orientation." They are so intent on getting this message of tolerance out (no pun intended, but it works, so why fix it?) that they're willing to spend big bucks on network TV just to tell you that. But...

CBS wrote them a little letter explaining that they would not air the UCC commercial: "Because this commercial touches on the exclusion of gay couples and other minority groups by other individuals and organizations... and the fact the Executive Branch has recently proposed a Constitutional Amendment to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman, this spot is unacceptable for broadcast on the [CBS and UPN] networks." Similarly, a rejection by NBC declared the spot "too controversial." What this means to me, if you'll pardon the editorializing (oh right - that's why you're here, isn't it?), that certain "other individuals and organizations" (hint: they have money) would not like the UCC message and might make their concerns known to the networks - monetarily.

Upper Left comments:

Imagine how the social fabric of the so-called red states would be undermined if they found out that Jesus didn't teach hate. Next thing you know, they'd be voting blue.

The good news is that the ad has been accepted and will air on a number of networks, including ABC Family, AMC, BET, Discovery, Fox, Hallmark, History, Nick@Nite, TBS, TNT, Travel and TV Land, among others.

Last thing, and I know you'll like this - from the UCC press release: "The United Church of Christ's national offices... speak to, but not for, its nearly 6,000 congregations and 1.3 million members." I think they may have something. I won't be joining up (I am of the Hebrew persuasion), but I like what I'm seeing.

Without Delay

Thanks again, American Drama!

Ignore the Supreme Court

Republican Rep. John Hostettler of Indiana believes his constituents can -- and should -- make the federal courts virtually powerless.

Rep. Hostettler addressed a special legislative briefing of the Christian Coalition last month in Washington. "Congress controls the federal judiciary," Rep. Hostettler was quoted as saying. "If Congress wants to, it can refer all cases to the state courts. Congress can say the federal courts have limited power to enforce their decision." (Apparently, he hasn't heard of the balance of power.)

"When the courts make unconstitutional decisions, we should not enforce them," he continued. "Federal courts have no army or navy... The court can opine, decide, talk about, sing, whatever it wants to do. We're not saying they can't do that. At the end of the day, we're saying the court can't enforce its opinions."

[Thanks, American Drama, for finding this.]

Bad News For The Liberty of Ideas

A federal judge today has sadly undermined the liberty of ideas, upholding some poorly-written (and perhaps intentionally so, says my paranoid doppelganger) copyright laws. One of the problems is that some of these laws reserve rights even for materials for which creators have not sought protection! I read about this at Boing Boing, which includes links to relevant court papers.

I should also probably mention the name of the case: Kahle v. Ashcroft. It pits Internet Archive, a nonprofit digital library, and the Prelinger Archives, which preserves films, against the U.S. Justice Department. Surprised that the government wants to keep certain information out of your hands? Don't be.

On The Mark: Reporting from Russia, Part II

St. Petersburg, Russia -- I know now why Stalin despised and feared St. Petersburg (Leningrad). I also see why Hitler was so obsessed with it. Why he tried for 900 days to seize it. And why, for those 900 days, the Russians of this great city were not about to give it up. As I walk the streets and tour the well-known and less well-known sites, I can't help but think of Rue St. Germain in Paris or the canals and bridges of Amsterdam. I've never been to Venice, but I'm sure its claim to be the Venice of the North is accurate. St. Petersburg is Europe tucked into an upper small region of this great and expansive land of Russia. Spending a day in Moscow and then a day in St. Petersburg is like traveling between centuries, although Moscow is aggressively modernizing. I have read a biography on Peter the Great, but I realize now that much more needs to be known about this visionary of a man. This city was built more than 300 years ago, and has had several names -- St. Petersburg, Petrograd and Leningrad -- names that went along with the times.

As I speak to more of the people, I begin to realize that the country is like a three layer cake, each with distinct tastes and formations. One layer, let's call them the senior generation, they miss the days of communism. As one person told me, "In the days of communism, they knew exactly what was going to happen every day. If they kept quiet and out of harm's way, they had no worries for the most part. Their social services, food, etc., were all ensured. Today, after the collapse of communism, and the beginning struggles of democracy, their fears of not having food and warmth are stronger than the fears of being arrested under totalitarianism, and it's difficult for them to make a living; most earn the equivalent of $150 USD a month." The next generation, let's call them the neo-boomers, are in a state of flux. They don't know what to expect. The water in their shower, if you will, keeps switching from hot to cold. One day there's hope, the next day there is uncertainty. The next generation, let's call them the up-and-comers, are full of hope. They're too young to really understand the days of communism and totalitarianism, except from the stories they hear at family gatherings. "Not much is even taught in school about this period of our history," one person told me, "We know it's hard now, but we feel it getting better, slowly but surely. We think that in 10 years' time, it will be very good here."

This morning I depart for the deeper parts of Russia, to towns and cities far from Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Red Alert for Homeland Security

Of all the passions fear weakens judgment most.
Cardinal de Retz (1613 - 1679), French ecclesiastic and churchman

Tom Ridge, the nation’s first homeland security secretary, announced yesterday that he is resigning after only three years in the new post. The Misanthrope believes that Ridge no longer serves a purpose to the Bush administration. In fact, he failed to deliver what Bush was looking for – Pennsylvania. As former governor of the state, Ridge was counted on to deliver, he didn’t, so now he is gone.

Maybe he never was the right choice for the job. Let’s review:

• He devised the unimaginative color scheme, when all he needed to do was flip the top on a box of Crayola Crayons and we could have be secure in knowing that our color code was as unbreakable to terrorists as the Navajo language was during World War II.

• He used the alerts, six national orange alerts — second highest on the five-color scale, to overshadow Bush’s bad economic news, unnecessary deaths in Iraq, and to step on many of John Kerry's announcements.

• He attempted to replace Dr. Kevorkian with the recommendation that people keep a supply of duct tape and plastic sheeting in their homes to seal off bathrooms in the event of a chemical or biological attack, which would allow them to suffocate, rather than suffer a painful chemical death.

Bush now needs to build credibility anew to raise terrorist alerts and have them taken seriously as he prepares to appoint neo-conservative judges, destroys Social Security, and plunges the country into a debt that may never be reversed.

Botox Treatments Lead to Botulism (Is Anyone Really Surprised?)

From today's New York Post

Two couples are hospitalized in critical condition with botulism poisoning after undergoing Botox wrinkle-removing injections at a Florida clinic, health officials said yesterday.

All four people are on ventilators and being fed intravenously -- one couple in Florida and the other in New Jersey, where they had gone to visit relatives for Thanksgiving, said Palm Beach County Health Department spokesman Tim O'Connor.

Test results are expected on Thursday from the federal Centers for Disease Control, which is leading the investigation of the four cases in conjunction with the federal Food and Drug Administration.

Botox manufacturer Allergan said it is cooperating with health officials.

Botulism is a rare and potentially fatal paralytic illness caused by the botulinium toxin, which is found in contaminated food. Botox is a purified derivative of the botulinium toxin that is used as a muscle relaxant and an anti-wrinkle drug.

Write Your Own Caption

A photo of Dubya from this past week, submitted for your review - I look forward to reading any suggested captions. (You know, something like "The Cheese Stands Alone", or "World Leaders Line Up Behind Bush's Plans...NOT". Use the "comments" link below to contribute.)


[Thanks, BAGnewsNotes!]

It’s the Oil and Revenge, Stupid

Revenge is a kind of wild justice; which the more man's nature runs to, the more ought law to weed it out.
Francis Bacon (1561 - 1626), English philosopher

Supporters of the Iraq war to stop the country’s production of its weapons of mass destruction have continually discounted oil as a reason for going to war. The Misanthrope strongly believes the reasons were oil and revenge. In Monday, Nov. 29, 2004 Los Angeles Times, buried in the inside column on page four was the article “Iraq to Increase Its Oil Output.” The article points out that Iraq is the fifth-largest oil producer in the Middle East. Now why would the U.S. want Iraq’s oil? For starters, how about a daily consumption of more than 25 percent of the world’s oil that is consumed by a country that is only five percent of the world’s population. Let’s not forget China’s growing appetite for oil.

The Bush Administration does not want to control the oil; it just wants it on the free market. According to the LA Times article, some of the world’s largest oil companies, including Exxon Mobil Corp., Royal Dutch/Shell Group and ChevronTexaco Corp., are very interested in bidding to develop Iraq’s oil resources. Especially eager are Shell and Chevron offering free consulting services to help build stronger relationships that may lead to contracts

But, they can’t do it until the country’s elections are held and the official administration allows it. We certainly have a stake in who is elected. Even as the United States. invaded the country, according to the book by Rick Atkinson “In the Company of Soldiers,” the military named its air refueling points after major oil companies:

Exxon would be located near Nasariyah, in southern Iraq; Shell was to go southwest of Najaf. Conoco…would be built three hundred miles in to Iraq.

The U.S. could not possibly want the oil, right? Wrong. Let’s not forget that Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld’s previous dealings with Saddam Hussein. And, certainly one must not forget the threat to this president’s father. If there is no revenge involved, why does Bush have Hussein’s gun in the Oval office?

On The Mark -- Reporting from Russia I

St. Petersburg. In the Venice of the North, except the canals ice over here. One thing I have found throughout my travels in the world, currently in Russia, is that people are the same everywhere. Whether it's a rich or poor country. They want to have a job. They want peace. They want a family. And they want to be able to put food on the table. It's the respective governments and politics that force the people to be different. But we're seeing the people stand up now, probably not in a way that we've seen for many decades. In neighboring Ukraine, it's nearly a civil war, and the nationwide strike may bring the country to its knees. The people understand this; indeed, they are the ones who hold the power to do this. But they understand that the suffering they experience now will, in their hopes, bring peace and prosperity to generations ahead. At the same time, the consensus here in Russia, among the people that I enjoy vodka with, is that they are selecting in their next president between bad and worse.

It's a very interesting time here. Certainly people are nervous for what the future holds economically, and if the government will truly move the pendulum back to Soviet ways. But there's also a very low ebb of hope and promise. You can feel it very slightly in the people. However, I've only been to the two major cities thus far, here and Moscow. In a few days I go into the heart of Russia, to small cities and towns, where I've been told universally that "you will see the hardship of our country where the millions of our people struggle every day to survive."

Five Apes

Put five apes in a room. Hang a banana from the ceiling and place a ladder underneath the banana. The banana can only be reached by climbing the ladder. Have it set up such that any time an ape starts to climb the ladder, the whole room is sprayed with ice cold water. In a short time, all the apes will learn not to climb the ladder.

Now take one ape out and replace him with another one, number six, and disable the sprayer. The new ape will start to climb the ladder and will be attacked unmercifully by the other four apes. He will have no idea why he was attacked.

Replace another old ape with new one. The same thing will happen, with ape number six doing the most hitting. Continue this pattern until all the old apes have been replaced. Now all of the apes will stay off of the ladder, attack any ape that attempts to, and have absolutely no idea why they are doing it.

This is how a company policy is formed.

[Thanks, Rohit.]

(r)Evolutionary

Remember two weeks ago when we wrote about special disclaimer stickers in Atlanta textbooks, advising students that evolution is just a theory?

We're pleased to report that an industrious do-gooder has created some alternate textbook stickers that may be of more practical use.


Click here to see the whole selection.

Wisconsin Shooting Spree - Shooter's Statement

Here are some excerpts from the official statement of Chai Soua Vang, the man who [allegedly] shot and killed six other hunters last week (from TwinCities.com). If you want to read the whole police report, including conflicting reports of the incident, go here. Why bother reading it? It includes such wonderfully-crafted sentences as "Vang stated that Vang observed the subject with the rifle point the rifle at Vang." [All bolding is mine, for emphasis.]

+++

On November 22, 2004 at approximately 10:15 a.m. investigator Gary Gillis and FBI agent Ken Mammoser interviewed Chai Vang at the Sawyer County Jail.

Vang stated that Vang had been hunting on public land and got lost. Vang stated that Vang located a tree stand next to a swamp. Nobody was in the stand so Vang climbed into it. Vang stated that after approximately 15 minutes another hunter approached Vang. the hunter asked Vang "Why are you in the stand, you're on private property," Vang stated that Vang told the subject that Vang did not know that the land was private and that Vang did not see any "no trespassing" signs. Vang stated that Vang climbed down and started to walk away. Vang stated that while walking away Vang heard the other male subject call on a walkie talkie. Vang did not hear what was said.

Vang stated that a few moments later 2 ATVs approached his location with 5 or 6 guys on them. Vana stated that Vang was confronted by this group also. Vang stated that one of the subjects that Vang believed to be the owner of the property stated "why were you in my son's stand"? Vang stated that Vang told the man that Vang did not know it was private land. And that Vang did not see any signs indicating that land was private. Vang stated that this man stated "you just trespassed through 400 acres of private land." Vang stated that the others in the group surrounded Vang. Vang stated that the man that Vang thought to be the owner then started calling Vang names like "gook, chink, fucking asian." Vang stated that at this point the only one that Vang saw with a gun was the first subject that kicked Vang out of the stand.

Vang stated that Vang was told to get off the fucking property and never come back. Vang stated that at one point they wrote down his license number and stated that they were going to call the law enforcement. Vang stated that some of the others in the group started calling Vang names (gook, chink) and were also swearing at Vang, Vang stated that Vang started walking away and got approximately 20 yards a way and turned around and observed the man that had the rifle walking towards the rest of the group, Vang also observed the man take the rifle off his shoulder and took the rifle into his hands. Vang stated that Vang was approximately 100 feet away and looked back again, Vang stated that Vang observed the subject with the rifle point the rifle at Vang. Vang stated that Vang immediately dropped to a crouch position and the subject shot at Vang and the bullet hit the ground 30 to 40 feet behind Vang.

Vang stated that Vang removed the scope from his rifle. Vang stated that Vang shot 2 times at the man with the rifle and the man dropped to the ground. Vang saw all the others run towards the ATV's and Vang continued to shoot. Vang stated that 2 or 3 more men fell to the ground. Vang stated that a couple of the men started to run. Vang stated that Vang chased after one of the men that ran towards the cabin. Vang stated that the man was yelling "help me, help me". Vang stated that Vang shot at the man several time while chasing him. Vang stated that Vang stated that he got to about 15 to 20 feet of the man who was still running away and Vang shot him in the back. Vang stated that the man dropped to the ground. Vang stated that the man did not have a gun. Vang stated that Vang walked up to the man and heard the man groan and then Vang walked away.

Vang stated that at this point Vang heard one of the other men call on the walkie talkie and state "we've been shot and need help." Vang stated that Vang observed 3 other subjects coming on an ATV. Vang stated that Vang then turned his reversible coat from orange to camo. Vang stated that he also reloaded his magazine with 5 or 6 bullets. Vang stated that Vang did not shoot at these men because they had guns with them. Vang stated that the men were in by the other injured men for less then a minute and then left. Vang did not know if the men took any of the wounded out with them.

Vang stated that Vang then observed another ATV coming with 2 more people on it. Vang stated that the driver of this ATV had a gun on his shoulder. Vang stated that Vang began to run and Vang stated that they saw Vang running and were going too fast to stop and drove past Vang. Vang stated that they stopped approximately 10 to 15 feet past Vang at a 45 degree angle. Vang stated that the man removed the gun from his shoulder with one hand while the other hand was on the handle bars of the ATV. Vang stated that Vang shot 3 or 4 times and both people fell off the ATV and onto the ground.

Vang stated that Vang then started to run back towards where the original shooting started. Vang stated that Vang looked up the trail and saw that one of the men were standing. Vang stated that Vang yelled "you're not dead yet?" Vang stated that Vang shot one more time in the direction of this man but doesn't know if he hit the man or not. Vang stated that he continued to run away and did not return. Vang stated that at one point while running Vang decided that he did not want to shoot anybody else, so Vang threw his remaining ammunition into a swamp.

Yang stated that approximately an hour after throwing the ammunition away Vang heard the airplane overhead. Vang stated that Vang was thinking that they were looking for Vang so Vang was thinking about turning himself in. Vang stated that Vang came upon a hunter with an ATV and asked the hunter for a ride to the road. Vang stated that the hunter drove Vang to the hunter's cabin. Vang stated that the wardens were at the cabin waiting for him.

All of the victims were dressed in blaze orange clothing.

It’s Money that Matters

The salary of the chief executive of the large corporation is not a market award for achievement. It is frequently in the nature of a warm personal gesture by the individual to himself.
John Kenneth Galbraith, economist

This is a group The Misanthrope feels extreme sorrow for – the executives of Wall Street firms, who according to the New York Times, complain about the time spent on compensating their highly paid employees.

Tis the time of year to help the rich get richer. Last year, the president and chief operating officer of Goldman Sachs made $20.1 million; but only $600,000 of that was salary. Similarly, the chief executive of Merrill Lynch, made $500,000 in salary, but received a bonus of $13.5 million and restricted stock worth $11.2 million more. The Misanthrope cannot contain the tears for these over worked executives.

Even the newly minted investment-banking analyst right out of college, can expect a $65,000 salary and a $35,000 bonus. An associate just out of business school, might have made $85,000 in salary and a $115,000 bonus.

Pass another tissue, this year, bonuses for investment bankers are expected to rise 10 percent to 15 percent from last year, Wall Street executives and compensation experts report.

The Misanthrope – Sunday’s Lighter Side

In university they don't tell you that the greater part of the law is learning to tolerate fools.
Doris Lessing, British novelist

The Ignorance of Youth. The Misanthrope was shocked when a few peers at the day job were not familiar with the reporting duo known as Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. The Misanthrope’s college-attending daughter was just as appalled. She then surveyed her three roommates who not only had not heard of them, one asked, “what song do they sing?” During the previews of the new movie about Howard Hughes, a twenty-something, young woman was heard whispering, who is Howard Hughes? Jay Leno’s segment titled “Jay Walking” where he asks encyclopedic questions of young people such as “How many states make up the United States?” the numbers were all over the map. The Misanthrope should not be surprised that George Bush was elected.

Movie Going. Netflix, which rents DVDs on line, is a relative treat for escaping the rude behavior of people who today attend movies, talk throughout the show, and chomp nachos as if they are at home. To some extent, it’s understandable considering all the commercials shown at the theater. Movies theater prices are completely ridiculous. Starting at $9 for an evening show and $7.50 for the matinee only to be bombarded with commercials and previews that eliminate all suspense for the coming picture. A relatively new movie multiplex, the ArcLight on Sunset Blvd. charges $15 for reserved seats and $11 for off-peak times. The Misanthrope planned never to set foot inside, but in order to treat the hard-working, college-attending daughter, better judgment was set aside. The Misanthrope prepared for the worse, but instead became the converted. There were wide seats, ushers, fairly priced concessions (fair considering it’s a movie theater), reserved seating, no commercials, and best of all the clearest most crisp picture The Misanthrope has ever seen. It’s too far and too expensive for a regular routine, but for that special movie it’s highly recommended.

It's not my fault. I'm mentally ill. No that is not the excuse Bush voters used. It is the justification of 40-year-old Antoinette Millard, who is suing American Express for two million dollars after she ran up nearly one million dollars in charges and couldn't pay the bill.

She is now suing America Express saying she was mentally incompetent when she opened her account and the company should have known it. Millard's lawsuit says American Express gave her a prestigious Centurion “Black” card at a time when she was suffering from anorexia, depression, panic attacks, head tumors and by reason of such illnesses was mentally incompetent. The card is for people who charge more than $150,000 a year, and it carries a $2,500 annual fee.

If some jury decides this excuse has any merit, The Misanthrope believes physicals and psychological testing may be required before opening a charge card.

Now that we think about it, it’s not a bad idea.

Evolution Thwarted in New Jersey

The AP is reporting that 41 year-old Tirso Furcal of the Dominican Republic has had a few extra digits successfully removed in New Jersey this week.


I'm not one to go all neo-Darwinian here, but I am curious as to what this could have meant to the world's gene pool if he had not acted so rashly. Maybe this could have been beneficial to the world's population, especially in the uppcoming uncertainty of global warming... but now we will never know, I suppose. And the stigma of surgery will surely lessen his chances of spreading the love - and consequently, his genes - around the village.

But seriously - we haven't reached the really scary part of this story yet. The journalist refers to Mr. Furcal's village, Brisas de los Palemeras, as "a region where several other residents, mainly children, also have extra fingers and toes."

Why is no one investigating this village of superfluous fingers? The town of extra toes? I can't recall anyone I've ever met having an extra finger, but this town has several?!? Is it something in the water, or what?

Maybe we'll have a chance to find out if those extra fingers and toes are of any use after all.

Nothing is Free, Especially Charity and Religion

Religion, n. A daughter of Hope and Fear, explaining to Ignorance the nature of the Unknowable.
Ambrose Bierce, satirist and journalist

Nothing is free and rarely is anything truly done with altruist motives. Charities flourish because corporations and business individuals see networking opportunities for new business. Charitable leaders may enjoy running their non-profits, but it’s their way of avoiding the pretentious phoniness of business life. It is all rationalized away by saying that the means all justify the ends, so no one complains too loudly.

However, the most insidious of the selfish charity shams are pious preachers with piles of money keeping the poor down by milking them of the opportunity to save or get ahead. They spew propaganda from the pulpit to the sheep they are looking to shear.

Franklin Graham, son of Billy Graham is jockeying for position to lead the lemmings. The elder Graham’s free Crusades at the Rose Bowl, Nov. 18 -21, had only one purpose – to pass the throne to an outspoken son who wants to dictate how people live. And while it should no longer be surprising, people continue to want to be told how to live. More than 300,000 were herded into the Rose Bowl.

The human race continually perplexes The Misanthrope.

Getting Rich in Jail

For de little stealin' dey gits you in jail soon or late. For de big stealin' dey makes you emperor and put you in de Hall o' Fame when you croaks.
Eugene O'Neill, playwright, “The Emperor Jones”

The Misanthrope thought there was a law that stopped convicts from profiting from their crimes. Martha Stewart made almost $33 million this week while behind bars. The Sears-Kmart merger means that Stewart’s goods receive additional shelf space in more than 2,300 Sears stores, and her company stock price jumped 6 percent on the news.

It is hard to forget how Stewart lorded over that fact that she was entitled to insider information because of who she was. Her greed and her haughty attitude caused her problems. This mean queen of clean could have received a misdemeanor violation if she had pleaded guilty before going to trial, but she believed no one would convict her. The Misanthrope has no sympathy. Yet, the media is already talking about forgiveness and Stewart’s second act. Act II should require a demonstration of the ability to be humble – and honest.

Take My Kids, Please

The latest reality TV throws parental responsibility out the window. Here’s the official description of "Take My Kids, Please", a new show from WE: Women’s Entertainment.

Get set to watch the madness that ensues when singles attempt parenthood on the all-new WE original series Take My Kids, Please! In each episode, beleaguered parents are whisked away on a well-deserved romantic retreat while an inexperienced single friend or relative is left behind to care for the little darlings -- experiencing a frantic and often hilarious crash course in Kid Care 101 in the process.

As a father of three, I am stupefied. "An inexperienced single friend or relative"? That’s not "hilarious" – it’s frightening. It took my wife and I more than a little time to learn what we know about parenting (and we do not claim to be done with such learning) – to even imagine leaving our 5 year-old, 3 year-old and 1 year-old with a single friend or relative with no experience in child protection would be nothing more than stupidity.

The reason that having kids is so exhausting is because every day a kid gets something stuck in her throat, or is about to bonk their head on something sharp, or would run into traffic... but parents are there saving their childrens’ lives over and over again every day. Is my single friend who still has a beer-themed mirror over his pool table the right person with whom to leave my kids for the weekend? Or my sister-in-law and her hubbie, who have no children but breed poisonous snakes in their house?

That’s not entertainment – it’s a tragedy waiting to happen.

2000 Campaign Redux

“Our consideration is limited to the present circumstances, for the problem of equal protection I the election processes generally presents many complexities.”
Unsigned majority opinion, United States Supreme Court, Bush v. Gore

The political action taking place in Kiev, Ukraine is following uncomfortably in the foot steps of the 2000 campaign of George W. Bush v. Albert Gore, Jr. The current President Leonid D. Kuchma completed his term. Vying to be elected are Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich and Viktor Yushchenko. Voter fraud has reared it ugly head, which is of course legendary in Florida, and in 2004 Ohio, and is now a big deal in Kiev (did Diebold supply the election machines?). Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich is assuming the role of elected leader. Russian President Vladimir Putin even called to congratulate, as yet unofficial winner Yanukovich. This is something Bush’s team did well before the winner was decided, acting as though they had won the election. Viktor Yushchenko, a pro-western candidate, has also learned from the 2000 election. He will not go quietly into the good night.

The mistake Gore’s team made, according the book "Too Close to Call" by Jeffery Toobin, was not recognizing that the election was continuing after the ballots were cast. Both Viktors are very much aware that the positioning must continue. Yushchenko is calling for a national strike. Based on what The Misanthrope has read, the election was marred by voter scandal. Yushchenko has won the majority vote according to exit polls funded in part by the U.S. Embassy and other Western diplomatic missions. The challenger was ahead by 54% to 43%. The Misanthrope is not so sure after the United States recent election that exit polls can be trusted; otherwise, John Kerry would be president.

Kiev’s election is heading to their Supreme Court regarding Yushchenko’s challenge of the results. The Misanthrope hopes their Supreme Court will be more fair than the U.S. Supreme Court was.

Basketbrawl as Art

"If I was going to get beat up, I wanted to be indoors where it was warm."
Tom Heinsohn, NBA Hall of Famer

In 1937 Pablo Picasso created Guernica to shed light on the bombing in the small town of Guernica, Spain. The attacked killed an estimated 900 civilians and reduced the area to rumble. B2 of Toner Mishap discovered an outstanding parody of the famous painting at Wizznutzz. [Thanks again, BoingBoing.]



SIOUX 23, a master artist, has created one of the best depictions of the melee of the Pacers and Pistons riot in Auburn Hills, Detroit titled "Aubernica." He draws his inspiration from Picasso’s Guernica. The illustration by SIOUX 23 is most apropos as Picasso’s original, was intended to shed light on the 1937 bombing.

Not that any light needed to be shed on the Indiana Pacers and the Detroit Pistons riot in Palace at Auburn Hills, the suburban arena where the defending NBA champion Pistons play, since the media continues to show highlights (see Unrest Growing 11/22/04). By now most everyone is familiar with the brawl that involved players and fans, a flying chair and enough spilling of beer to extinguish one of California’s many brush fires.

Picasso’s composition with the truncated bodies and superimposed images in the Cubist style took the art world by storm. The famous painting shows a fleeing woman who is desperately trying to flee the bombing, her body twisted and arms hanging uselessly. The parody replaces the fleeing woman with fleeing fan. A flying chair replaces Picasso’s light; a wounded horse is now wearing an Indiana Pacers jersey; a figure with a lamp is transformed into a fist slugging the horse in the jersey.

The Misanthrope believes this work of art should be hanging in the National Basketball Association’s Hall of Fame.

U.S. Investigating Claims of Election Fraud

Yahoo! is reporting that "Secretary of State Colin Powell said... the United States does not consider legitimate the results of elections in Ukraine, which the opposition says was marred by fraud." Hmm. Yeah, I suppose if you want a country to look into voting fraud or peculiarities, it's the United States.

In related news, Congress' investigative agency (the Government Accountability Office), responding to complaints from around the country, has begun to look into the recent presidential election here in the U.S., including the handling of provisional ballots and malfunctions of voting machines. Here's the link. What kind of complaints? Read on:

Election officials in two Ohio counties have discovered possible cases of people voting twice in the presidential election, and a third county found about 2,600 ballots were double-counted.

In Columbus, Ohio, an electronic voting system gave President Bush nearly 4,000 extra votes.

An electronic count of a South Florida gambling ballot initiative failed to record thousands of votes.

In Guilford County, North Carolina, vote totals were so large that the tabulation computer didn't count some votes, and a recount awarded an additional 22,000 votes to Democrat John Kerry.

In San Francisco, a glitch in voting machine software left votes uncounted.

In Youngstown, Ohio, voters who tried to cast ballots for Kerry on electronic machines saw their votes recorded for President Bush instead.

In Sarpy County, Nebraska, a computer problem added thousands of votes to the county total. It was not clear which presidential candidate benefited from the error in the overwhelmingly Republican state.

Some employees of Arizona-based Sproul and Associates (hired by the Republican National Committee to register voters in Nevada) said they were told to register only Republicans and accused the group of tearing up Democratic registration forms. In Washoe County, the group failed to turn in some registration forms, leaving people who thought they were eligible to vote off the registration rolls. Link

And lest we forget that we can barely get local elections right, the San Diego mayoral elections featured disqualified ballots for a write-in candidate; apparently just writing in the candidate's name was not considered a vote unless the accompanying oval was also filled in; these are votes that were obviously destined for the write-in candidate, but will not be counted, thus awarding the election to the incumbent. We covered it last week.

So we know what we're talking about when it comes to election problems.

Finally - lasers that do something useful!

So far, lasers haven't been much use to the world.

Oh, sure, they helped turn desktop publishing into a reality, thereby freeing print media and the press from being under the thumb of huge media conglomerates.

Yes, they provide intense heat to enable controlled fusion experiments. Yes, the larger industrial diode lasers are used for cutting and welding where traditional methods are impractical. Sure, they serve as very precise light sources in supermarket checkout lines and CD/DVD players, and they transmit most telephone signals.

Oh yeah... they are used in medical procedures to reshape corneas and improve vision, remove tattoos and scars, resurface joints, remove rot from teeth, vaporize cancers, and pulverize kidney and gall stones, and to make surgery in general safer and easier. And don't even get me started on the practical applications of lasers in urology!

But really, what good are they? Now, finally, someone has put lasers to work for the betterment of humanity - lasers are now being used to treat bad breath.

"Now there's a laser treatment for one of the worst forms of halitosis, a rarely diagnosed version wafting relentlessly from the tonsils," New Scientist magazine said on Wednesday.

Ooh... "wafting relentlessly." I guess it was a choice between solving that or figuring out a way to cure cancer once and for all. Good choice.

Bring Los Angeles Dodger Announcer Ross Porter Back

Baseball has stood for loyalty to the verities, memories of innocence, patience with ritual; surely, no one who cared about baseball could be an opportunist at heart.
Edward Hoagland, U.S. novelist

For Toner Mishap readers who are out of state, you will have to trust The Misanthrope on this one. There has never been a more eloquent announcer in the game of baseball than the Vin Scully, who has been broadcasting Dodger games since the team was in Brooklyn. He apprenticed with the legendary Red Barber and came into his own when Barber did not go west with the team. But, this piece is not about Scully, it’s about the way the current Dodger owners and management callously released the number two announcer Ross Porter last month after 28 years of dedicated service. Frank McCourt will never get The Misanthrope’s loyalty. (The Misanthrope will provide more commentary throughout the year on the unfortunate ownership of the once proud Los Angeles Dodger organization.)

Porter brought a depth to the game and insight. Rick Monday, a former player, is the number three announcer. Problem is he is a distant third. His deep droning voice is better suited to the midnight shift on a jazz station. Monday’s voice, cadence, and stories put The Misanthrope to sleep.

Scully’s style served to place the radio listening fan in the box seats right behind the plate. Porter’s approach put the listener in the press box, watching the game with all the stats that the press have at hand. Monday allows the listener to find out the score at the top of bottom of each inning.

Talking to the listener one on one is a style that Scully perfected and Ross worked well in. The listeners benefited because the announcer talked directly to them, not to his partner, there were no inside jokes and no idiotic banter -- just baseball, what a concept.

The Dodgers have hired Charley Steiner, who The Misanthrope suspects is a fine capable broadcaster. The problem is they are going to team him with Monday. So, now the new Dodger owners will try to mimic Fox football’s intelligence insulting and distracting buddy chat. The good news is the games are broadcast on a weak-signal radio station, so we won’t have to hear them, and Scully will continue to broadcast the television games.

Let’s hope the Angels have the good sense to hire Porter.

Bring Ross Porter back

Kids and Guns *Do* Mix

Noted without comment, from a children's coloring book guide to gun ownership:



Here's the whole document. And here's where we found out about it.

Toy Safety Warning From the Grassy Knoll

The U.S. Public Interest Research Group, in its 19th annual toy safety survey released Tuesday, again warned that the greatest danger to children still comes in the form of small balls, uninflated or pieces of balloons and toys with parts small enough to choke on.

No news on whether those balloons are more or less dangerous to society than the latest in a string of tasteless, bloody video "games" that cater to the worst in our children. Of course, games advocating simulation of gang activity, theft, and murder are one thing - this latest offering is another:



The company that makes this game (which we will not mention here, because they do not deserve the free advertising) is positioning it as an educational game that lets players fire the fatal shots from the Texas Book Depository over and over again (presumably one could learn marksmanship?). The company says the game would help disprove conspiracy theories about Kennedy's death and would "stimulate a younger generation of players to take an interest in this fascinating episode of American history."

Presidential historian G. Calvin MacKenzie of Colby College said, "Aside from being in incredibly bad taste, the idea of marketing it as an educational tool seems to stretch the notion of education beyond belief.'' For more on this, see the Boston Herald. We are intentionally not linking to the game manufacturer's site.

Build an Escalator to Mars

Thank heavens for BoingBoing - without it, would we be able to find and then share pictures like this with you?



The photo is from a posting detailing an anti-Lyndon LaRouche rally (LL, you may know, is the perennial nutjob political candidate [to give you an idea of how crazy: LaRouche makes Nader look presidential]).

Check out the posting at Boing Boing.

Credit Card Cudgel

Dreading that climax of all human ills,
The inflammation of his weekly bills
Lord Byron, British poet

Is there any concern for the struggling middle class anymore? The Misanthrope is afraid there is little to none. Gas companies, drug companies, cable companies, amusement parks, politicians, and police all pick the workers’ pockets. The list is nearly endless. Unfortunately, the assaulted don’t even notice, except in one-off instances of frustration.

Credit card companies are the latest in the conga line of conglomerates to bludgeon consumers. Late on a bill payment to any business that reports to one of the credit scoring organizations, one had better keep a watchful eye on their credit card interest rate. The New York Times reported that lenders monitor payment history, not only to them, but also to any other company or utility one makes payments to. This tardiness will allow a credit card company to raise interest rates on a revolving card from nine percent up to 28 percent without notice.

It is an egregious abuse of power and an invasion of privacy. Similar to guards at an Iraqi prison, preparing to inflict humiliation on top of the pain and suffering is a bill snaking its way through Congress pushed by major financial lobbyists to tighten the bankruptcy laws. Donald Trump is aware of this and filed his petition for bankruptcy well before any change can be enacted. Once such a law is sanctioned, The Misanthrope believes that a form of debtors’ prison will return. Instead of an actual prison such as during Charles Dickens’ time, this would be closer to servitude in the form of community service.

How much more before the backs and spirits of the sinking middle class are broken? Does anyone care?

On The Mark -- A X B ≠Bi-partisan

Trying to figure out what went wrong with the intelligence bill reminds me of trying to figure out algebra problems in high school. President Bush and VP Cheney make personal calls to their republican teammates to ensure the bill gets passed. Then two republican powerbrokers vote against the bill, thus defeating it. OK, that’s odd enough to begin with. Then you have Democratic party leaders state that republicans have let the country down by shooting down this bill. Let’s see, A x B over C does not equal, E. Or does it? I can’t remember. Does this equate to Nancy Pelosi, George Bush and Dick Cheney standing stand side by side, only to be negated by a republican? Why do I get the feeling we don’t know the whole story here yet? I guess that even when they try to be bi-partisan, they can’t.

Last week, somewhat tongue-in-cheek, On the Mark asked if there had been any studies done on who (and where) is buying all those billions of dollars of pornography, hinting that there are only so many blue states. Obviously, there is a high level of moral selectivity we’re seeing in this country (just ask O’Reilly, Bennett, Limbaugh and a few others about this). Today’s New York Times scratches the surface with its front-page article, “Many Who Voted for ‘Values’ Still Like their Television Sin.” I urge the publication to take it a step further to determine if they like their Internet and DVD sin as much, or more.

The basketbrawl (with apologies to The Misanthrope) has been well reported and blogged. Certainly some fans think they get to say and do what they want with the price of their ticket, which is wrong. But what I find fascinating is that some reporters and former athletes say “you would do the same thing if you were attacked.” These are the types of comments that demonstrate the breakdown of common sense in our society. Sensible people with common sense don’t start slugging wildly at anybody who happens to be in the vicinity of someone who threw a cup of beer at them. They don’t pile on elderly people to insanely reach their prey. Wild animals will do this. But not people with common sense.

G-Men Know Where You Live, and Where You Print

Yahoo! is reporting that "several printer companies quietly encode the serial number and the manufacturing code of their color laser printers and color copiers on every document those machines produce." Oof! This means that anything you print can be tracked back to you, making anonymous printing an impossibility.

Nothing to be concerned about, unless you are printing counterfeit money, right? That's what Uncle Sam says. I, however, am not sure I like the end of anonymous printing; sometimes there are things that need to be said that are dangerous and provocative, and sometimes there are people who don't wnat those things to be said, and who will do anything to prevent such communications. And maybe I'm just paranoid.

You're fired!

When did bankruptcy become not merely the refuge of the scoundrel, but his succor?

Growing up, my impression of bankruptcy was that it was a bad thing - to be avoided like the plague. It signaled a failure - the opposite of success. (Not to say that there are not occasions when it can not be avoided, due to no fault of one's own...) To me bankruptcy meant "you've run out of money, and now you have less than nothing." In recent years, this has ceased to be the case.

It seems that filing for bankruptcy is now a clever dodge by which to avoid paying back creditors, or to similarly avoid one's debt to Uncle Sam's trick-or-treaters, the IRS. The Donald, for instance, is now faced with the fact that his casino empire is facing bankruptcy - no, strike that; they are "seeking bankruptcy protection." What does Trump say about this? Yahoo! reports that "Trump denied the bankruptcy was a setback." Here's what Trump said:

"I don't think it's a failure, it's a success... We [will] have one of the most powerful gaming companies the day it comes out [of bankruptcy]. There's no way we could have done that without the 'B' word... the future looks very good."

I, for one, am repulsed by the thought that bankruptcy is seen now as a mark of progress, or just a roadbump on the way to greater success. When you are unable to pay your debts and own up to your responsiblities, it is a clear sign that things are not going well. And yet Trump maintains his standing as a man to be imitated and idolized, as seen on his NBC sitcom, "The Apprentice."

Seriously - let's have a little judgement, OK?

Here's the quote I want you to analyze:

Personally, I detest blood-drinking and energy-draining, but because I am a Christian, I cannot hate the people who engage in it.

I guess you need the link now, right? Apparently it's a website for Christians who are werewolves, vampires, etc. Here you go.

(Thanks to Cory at BoingBoing for the tip.)

A Real Morals Story in a Red State

Virtue is its own reward.
Matthew Prior, poet

At first glance, it seems like a heart-warming story of honesty and integrity when two college students returned a purse containing $43,000 in Casper, Wyoming. Until one reads further in the article that the good Samaritans did not see that there was the envelope containing the woman’s life savings in unmarked bills.

The Misanthrope would like to think that these honest students Derek Hepner and Adam Simanton were respectful enough not to rummage through her handbag and would have returned it all to the woman either way. Let’s hope the man that corrupted Hadleyburg* does not visit Casper.

*A Mark Twain short story, "The Man That Corrupted HadleyBurg," tests the honesty of the people of the town.

Unrest Growing

A riot is at bottom the language of the unheard.
Martin Luther King, Jr., U.S. civil rights leader

Why are U.S. sports looking like European and South American soccer matches? Within the past two months, there have been riots or near riots in the baseball playoffs, the basketball game Friday night between the Indiana Pacers and the Detroit Pistons and the college football game Saturday between Clemson and South Carolina. The Misanthrope just viewed the basketbrawl game between the Pacers and the Pistons and make no mistake it was ugly. Most frightening about this episode of sports is that The Misanthrope believes it is the tip of the iceberg of society as a whole as more unrest from fans who take out their frustrations about jobs, health care, politics, finances, and other areas of discontent come to the surface. As one sees now, the slightest provocation will set off sports fans, eventually this exasperation will spread to other areas. Look at the freeways, road rage is common, destruction of property occurs regularly, but not yet, routinely outside sports finales Boston celebrating the World Series and major political meetings, recall Seattle during the World Trade meetings a few years back.

The Misanthrope believes this dissatisfaction is just an early symptom of more challenges as the gap between the haves and the have-nots continues to widen.

Holy Terror

God is the immemorial refuge of the incompetent, the helpless, the miserable. They find not only sanctuary in His arms, but also a kind of superiority, soothing to their macerated egos; He will set them above their betters.
H. L. Mencken, U.S. journalist, critic, and editor

Someone please explain the following to The Misanthrope. The politically active Rev. Jerry Falwell is opening a law school in hopes of training Christian activists, according to the Sunday Los Angeles Times. He also says in the article that the Bible is the infallible word of God and that the American Constitution is a sacred document and that the Christian worldview is their matrix of service.

Let’s see, the American Constitution is sacred, but they want to add an amendment prohibiting gay marriage. Does the 13th Amendment outlawing slavery need to be revoked since God approves of slavery? The word of God is infallible? how do they explain Leviticus 20:13 and the New Testament book of Romans that God doesn’t merely disapprove of homosexuality, but says they should be killed. God also calls for the murder of people who work on the Sabbath, along with adulterers and children who curse their parents.

The Misanthrope believes the Christians and all religions have done more than their share of instigating wars, deaths, and overall misery in the world, there is no need to add to this despicable curriculum vitae.

The Misanthrope – Sunday’s Lighter Side

It is a stupidity second to none, to busy oneself with the correction of the world.
Molière, French playwright from Le Misanthrope

Backyard Chorus. Fall and winter are wonderful times of the year. Every morning neighbors, from one or all five of the houses surrounding The Misanthrope’s backyard, let out their Alaskan Huskies, Labradors, hound dogs and floor-mop dogs with their variety of barks, howls and high-pitched yelps to serenade The Misanthrope in a syncopated cacophony that only paid kennel personnel should have to endure. The good news for the time being is mornings are relatively cold these days, so the domesticate beasts are heard only sotto voce through barely cracked open windows. Spring and summer are another story altogether.

Passive-Aggressive Shop Lifters. Library scofflaws who don’t return books nor comprehend the honor system may serve jail time in Bay County, Michigan. Don’t return a book – go to jail. The Misanthrope holds books in high regard and heartily endorses Bay County’s proposed penalty of criminal charges and up to 90 days in jail. Frankly, The Misanthrope believes the penalty should be even more severe, possibly required listening of Dr. Phil’s book on tape on continuous loop for the duration of jail time. Quaint human rights and Geneva Convention rules be damned.

Book Review. The Misanthrope highly recommends George Carlin’s new book “When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops”. Carlin points out the hypocrisy of social standards similar to how Jon Stewart’s “America, The Book” skewers the political system. Carlin reduces the Ten Commandments to Two. He also tackles embarrassing societal clichés such as the trite saying, the cost of saving one life may be worth it, but not if one looks at it the way governments and corporations do. When one thinks about the time, cost and inconvenience, saving just one life may be too expensive.

What’s in a Name? The Anaheim Angels want to change their name from the Anaheim Angels to the Los Angeles Angels to increase their attendance and advertising revenue. The Misanthrope wants to know who the hell are they kidding? Anyone who lives in southern California north of Los Angeles and is familiar with the 24/7 freeway congestion is not going to drive to Anaheim because the name has changed. If they want to increase attendance and advertising, the number one tourist stop in all of California is Disneyland. Everyone knows where Disneyland is located, it has good name recognition and remains to everyone in the red states, family friendly and morally sound, so why not change the name to the Disneyland Angels?