Posts from — December 2007

People who function outside the law are, by definition, outlaws. Originally being declared an outlaw amounted to a near certain death sentence, because there was no protection for such people, anyone could kill them without fear of reprisal. It was the secular version of excommunication.

The Coalition Provisional Authority declared “military contractors” outlaws, i.e. they weren’t subject to anyone’s laws. The worst that could officially, legally happen to a “contract employee” was to be fired and sent home, if the corporation felt it was necessary.

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While a lot of people are commenting on the historical ignorance displayed by Dana Perino, White House spokesweasel, regarding Cuban/US history as exemplified by Lower Manhattanite’s post, All You Ever Need To Know, Juan Cole takes on Rudy Giuliani’s rewriting of Reagan’s Iran actions in Giuliani, Reagan, and Kissing up to Ayatollahs with fancy Cakes.

This isn’t history for me, I lived through these events. I read about them in newspapers, not history books. I have the quaint view that no one should work in the White House at any level who doesn’t actually know American history. World history would be very nice, but American history is an absolute minimum requirement.

[Update: Olga has reorganized as a Tropical Storm and the center moved North and is tracking through the center of Hispaniola.]

Position: 19.0 N 70.6 W. [10 PM CDT]
Movement: West [275°] near 15 mph.
Maximum sustained winds: 60 mph.
Wind Gusts: 70 mph.
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 240 miles.
Minimum central pressure: 1004 mb.

Currently 55 miles Northwest of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

The BBC reports that Lebanon postpones vote yet again

The pro-West ruling bloc and pro-Syrian opposition have agreed on army chief Gen Michel Suleiman, but are divided on the make-up of the new government.

There is also said to be a dispute over how to amend the constitution to allow a senior civil servant to be elected.

The deadlock meant Emile Lahoud stepped down last month without a successor.

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Barnett R. Rubin of Informed Comment Global Affairs caught this on the ‘tube: CNN compares Al Gore to Jerry Lewis

I don’t know if it is on line somewhere, but someone should check Miles O’Brien’s segment on American Morning about Al Gore winning the Nobel Prize for Peace. What is the theme? Al Gore is more popular in Europe than in the U.S., just like Jerry Lewis! CNN then illustrates this profound point by showing a particularly moronic segment of The Nutty Professor…

Go, read, and ask yourself why anyone takes the people seriously. CNN headquarters is in Atlanta. When these people are showering with bottled water and using chemical toilets, maybe they’ll notice there’s a climate problem. When their electricity is rationed because there isn’t enough water to operate the electrical generating stations, maybe they’ll notice.

“The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread.” Anatole France

Echidne does a nice job on the reality of Income Inequality in the United States.

When people start talking about “it’s all related to education,” I’m reminded of all of the senior computer people I know who were replaced by H-1Bs because they “cost too much.” Their degrees and experience mean nothing to the bean counters and the MBAs making these decisions. Senior people might start using their vacation time, might need to use their health insurance, might actually retire from the company, so they get thrown aside. These are people who did it right, got the education in a field that needs people, and worked successfully in that field until Wall Street decided that costs had to be cut.

What lesson does this teach the children of these professionals? It teaches them to screw the company before the company screws them.

The Associated Press reports that Putin backs Medvedev as presidential candidate

MOSCOW – President Vladimir Putin on Monday expressed support for First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev as his successor — a move likely to ensure Medvedev’s election.
…

Both Medvedev and Putin worked under St. Petersburg’s reformist mayor Anatoly Sobchak in the early 1990s. After Putin became prime minister in 1999, he brought Medvedev to Moscow to become deputy chief of staff of the Cabinet. He then moved up to become deputy chief of staff for the president, became Gazprom board head in 2002 and full presidential chief of staff in 2003.

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…they keep coming back up and they generate a lot of gas.

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The Associated Press needs some technical assistance: Blogger arrested after threats to kill students

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) — Los Angeles police arrested a 21-year-old Loyola Marymount University student in connection with an online threat to shoot people on campus, officials said Saturday.

Police arrested Carlos Huerta, a senior at Loyola, for investigation of making criminal threats. Huerta was taken into custody Saturday night near his apartment on campus.

Huerta is suspected of posting a message that he would shoot and kill as many people as possible on campus before being killed himself by police, authorities said.

The anonymous threat appeared on a blog called Juicycampus.com, used primarily by college students.

Juicycampus is not a blog, it is a collection of forums, one per campus, that allows anonymous posts by people featuring rumors and gossip about that campus. Huerta apparently posted from his campus room using the campus network, which makes him incredibly stupid if his goal was to remain anonymous.

Update: The headline now reads “Student arrested after threats to attack campus” and the last line of my excerpt has been changed to “The anonymous threat appeared on a chat board called Juicycampus.com, used primarily by college students.” Someone is reading their comments. Nice work Associated Press, about the only people still reporting in the US.

Florida License Plates

Beneficiary

A weekend feature of Why Now.

The Associated Press reports that Negotiations on Hollywood labor pact collapse. everyone thought things were moving along and now the negotiators have quit – except the WGA negotiators are ready to talk and the AMPTP negotiators left.

What’s sort of interesting is what Nikke Finke has been reporting this past week. On Wednesday the report was AMPTP hired two PR firms, one associated with Dems and the other with the Repubs, and both associated with disaster control. These guys don’t come come cheap and the “fair and balanced” hiring seems to signal that the corporations expect politicians to get involved. The only reason for politicians to get involved would be if this thing dragged on for an extended period. [hint, hint]

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You really need to cut down on the Koolaid, Mr. Secretary, it interferes with leading the Department of Defense.

You are a bit out of touch when you say things like:Gulf states should confront Iran. Bob, read The Origins of the Sunni/Shia split in Islam where you will learn that they have been confronting the Shi’ia of Iran for more than a millennium, and nothing is apt to change that.

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This is going to be painful. Of all of the things the xenophobes don’t want to oppose, I would think that Paddington Bear would definitely be near the top, but then he has special relevance to military brats, so I may be biased.

The BBC reports on his golden anniversary book: Paddington Bear’s birthday book

Paddington, the bear from Peru, will be arrested and interrogated over his immigration status in a book marking his 50th birthday.
…

In the new book the bear, who arrived in the country as a stowaway, is interviewed about his right to stay in England.

He has no papers to prove his identity as his Aunt Lucy arranged for him to hide on a ship’s lifeboat from Peru when she went to live in the Home for Retired Bears in Lima.

I have a feeling this could show up at Question Time.

Board of Education of Kiryas Joel Village School District v. Grumet, 512 U.S. 687 (1994), Justice David Souter, writing for the majority, concluded that “government should not prefer one religion to another, or religion to irreligion”.

Freedom of religion necessarily includes freedom from religion. Almost 15% of Americans are reportedly non-religious. That’s about 45 million Americans, who have exactly the same rights as the other 255 million people in the United States. There is no religious test for office in the United States, it says that right in the Constitution.

If you think what you said is going to help you win against a Baptist preacher, you are missing a few teeth on the main gears in your brain. Going down to the river with James Dobson might have helped, but not that much.

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