Cripes

A little something off the beaten path: The Flaming Lips' "Fight Test". It's a great song, with some interesting coming-of-age lyrics ("I don't know where the sunbeams end and the star light begins/it's all a mystery...I don't know how a man decides what's right for his own life/it's all a mystery) Plus, it was so similar to "Father and Son", they shared royalties with Cat Stevens -- so there's your soft rock angle.

When I rifled through the contents of my morning meal "snack pack" on a flight from New York, I noticed the good folks of American Airlines armed me with a five-inch serrated plastic knife to spread my cream cheese over quarter-sized bagel chips. Besides being useless for that type of spread, I thought this type of knife was something the TSA would have confiscated from me if I carried it in my bag through screening. I wasn't worried about it, but I dunno, just seems odd they hand me a piece of cutlery that prisons think can be lethal in the wrong hands.

As somebody who lives next door to a sex offender (a rapist convicted of a 1992 sexual assault of a 30-year-old woman), I can sympathize with your plight, Joe. But I truly believe your wife has nothing to fear if she steps forward, especially if it will put this trash behind bars for 25 years. And she will be saving some little girl from being a victim. I'm not familiar with where you live, but if it's NY, do they have programs that divert convicted child molestors into mental hospitals following their state prison terms (I know Kansas does)? That could effectively keep him away forever.

Like Clarence Thomas, who voted to overturn the will and intent of Congress in 65.63 percent of cases involving constitutional review, choosing instead to mandate his own personal viewpoint into the law of the land? http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/7/6/14178/92515 No other current Supreme Court justice has been so "activist."

I thought so too, but now that I think about it, you're thinking of 1975 when the Bills were in a win-you're-in/lose-go-home playoff scenario. My memory is a little fuzzy here, but didn't Norm Bulach run to the Bills 1-yard-line on the very next play to set up the game-clinching touchdown?

Isn't this why we invaded Iraq?

This could be you or me someday

Brown gets an unfair rap because she's made political statements that get mixed in with her actual legal record. But she also has a squad of overzealous cheerleaders who don't seem to know she's written opinions that mirror those of Clinton judicial nominees that were blue slipped out of town. Y'all know, for instance, she dissented from California Supreme Court decisions that upheld racial profiling, warrantless searches, and death sentences? I pulled the following quotes from a pro-Brown story by Nat Hentoff (a Pickering champion) in the Village Voice: In People vs. McKay, Brown wrote: "There is an undeniable correlation between law enforcement stop-and-search practices and the racial characteristics of the driver. . . . The practice is so prevalent, it has a name: 'Driving While Black.' " While racial profiling is "more subtle, more diffuse, and less visible" than racial segregation, "it is only a difference in degree. If harm is still being done to people because they are black, or brown, or poor, the oppression is not lessened by the absence of television cameras." in People v. Woods (1999), Justice Brown sharply disagreed when her colleagues approved a police search of a suspected drug dealer's home because, as the cops said, his roommate had consented to warrantless searches as a condition of probation. Said Janice Rogers Brown—The New York Times' extreme, right-wing poster woman—"By their decision today, a majority of the court set the history of personal liberties back more than 200 years." She's also voted to overturn two death penalty cases due to prosecutorial misconduct or incompetent defense counsel. I wonder what John Ashcroft thinks of her? "An activist with a slant toward criminals," a judge with "a serious bias against a willingness to impose the death penalty," as he described rejected Clinton judicial nominee Ronnie White? Forget the left here. They aren't going to impact anything, not with the nuclear option still on the backburner and Dems lacking the votes to stop Frist from using it. What I want to know is, what does the Rapture crowd think of Brown? Don't forget, she's had only one major decision regarding abortion, and that was a parental notification law. In reading her opinion, I gathered her opinion was concerned more with parental rights...not on the right to choose. Is that decision enough to get hardcore Christian right support, when they would most certainly prefer Roy Moore or Michael Luttig to get going on ending RoeVWade? They have to know a Brown nomination today almost certainly means that Bush is saving Gonzales for the Rehnquist seat, and they've already voiced their anger over that possibility. O'Connor's vacancy may be their last opportunity. John Paul Stevens retiring? He seems to be in great health, traveling and giving a speech to the Chicago Bar Association. If Ralph W. can keep playing tennis, Stevens can keep putting on a robe for three more years. As a Senator, Brown would be a little too Ayn Rand-y for me (just try reading this, without operating heavy machinery, mind you), but she strikes me as an unequivocal supporter of individual rights (property owners AND criminals) who I'm not sure would be the all-out rightward tilt factor that rightwingers and the NYT are making her out to be.

If no harm done, and it was such common knowledge...then explain why John Ashcroft launched the investigation, and subsequently recused himself?

You all better enjoy Triumph's Greatest Hit while you still can. Underage bichon She told me she was one Underage bi chon I shtuped her now I'm done

"Not as big as Michael."

Thousands of Chinese and South Koreans erupted in protest two months ago when Japan issued new textbooks proclaiming the Rape of Nanking was just an "incident," and took out references of the Japanese army's "comfort women" policies. South Korea and Japan are now in a major diplomatic tiff, and China is fighting to keep Japan off the UN Security Council. And all this is happening while we're trying to deal with Kim Jong Il. Apologies matter.

"They wanted to ride back there", officer Oh, and we have a photo

Funny...you'd think that would be the case. http://www.cincypost.com/2002/apr/09/faith040902.html "To Charles Clingman, church groups' increased ability to compete for tax dollars could help restore them to their historic role in their communities. His Jireh Development Corp. in Bond Hill has received millions in public funding for programs such as job-training for welfare recipients, homebuilding for low-income families and playground maintenance." http://www.americamagazine.org/gettext.cfm? "...Lutheran Services in America, which annually receives more than one third of its $7 billion budget from government funding.." http://peerta.acf.hhs.gov/policies/faithcom.htm ...Maryland has instituted a program that allows churches to "adopt" willing welfare recipients and assume control of their benefits..." http://www.theocracywatch.org/follow_money...ion_nov1_o4.htm ..."Pat Robertson's Operation Blessing-...-was one of the first organizations to receive a faith-based grant. Robertson scored $500,000, renewable for three years, for a total of $1.5 million...Also, Chuck Colson--who had legal troubles of his own stemming from Watergate--was another significant beneficiary, through his evangelical organization Prison Fellowship Ministries, which was chosen by the faith-based office as one of only four national partners for a $22.5 million workplace re-entry program for ex-offenders..."

Cats don't suck. It's humans that suck. We slaughtered them in the middle ages. We make them walk in their own crap for a week because we're too lazy to scoop the box - and they don't put one on the dinner table in protest. We always compare and contrast them to dogs's behavior - its never "Why can't that mutt clean himself like sweet little Mr. Butterfingers?" We laugh at making 101 uses of their carcasses. Worst of all, when we include them in our popular fiction, it's usually as foils and villains to the Lassies, Rin Tin Tins, and Benjis. Ever see a weepy movie about having to put down a rabies-infected cat ("Old Coco the Calico"?) Yet they just keep lining up to willingly play the stooge (Sylvester, Scratchy, Jerry, Mr. Bigglesworth) to dogs, caged birds, pigs, rabbits, ducks, kangaroos, mice and skunks. I mean, how would you all feel if cats produced a major motion picture where the evil humans out to enslave the world's animal population get stopped cold by a heroic gorilla voiced by Tobey Maguire and the insidious man lead was cast with a hack from "Will & Grace"? Wouldn't feel good, would it? No wonder they have trouble relating to us. We should give thanks that at least they're trying.

ID is philosphy. And not without a lot of its own quandaries and dead ends. What is the purpose of ID science -- to pursue the identity of the designer? His methods? His reasons? How can ID be used to further study in the natural selection, mutations and adaptation we plainly see among species (dog breeds that didn't exist a century ago, super-bacteria, etc.?) How can ID be adapted to the study of biogenetics, where "science guys" (and "girls") have done things like locate a genetic marker for breast cancer? (And what the hell is the IDer doing putting THAT in our genome pool? It's like putting salt in the gas tank of His brand new Lexus). If there was intelligent design of man, why was it handled so poorly in some cases -- the 50 percent failure rate of human pregnancies, useless male nipples, eyes and ears that see only a fraction of available colors and sounds? It seems to me that the more you delve into ID, the less wonder you view Him with.

Pascal's Wager? Yeah, it's gotten a little feedback over the years.

I don't know how you got that we somehow agreed. Einstein NEVER developed or "posited" a unified theory. And the people who are standing on his shoulders today looking for laws and numbers that mesh the subatomic world with the three-dimensional one we exist, they find more and more puzzling evidence of the chaos and non-order of things.

Holding up? Einstein never strapped it on. "All my attempts, however, to adapt the theoretical foundation of physics to this [new type of] knowledge failed completely...It was as if the ground had been pulled out from under [me]...." For the record: No unified theory -- Newtonian, Einsteinesque, subatomic or string -- has ever been locked down.

I understand the willies Disney honchos probably have over these old shows, but I think its sad that they won't even make these "banned" cartoons and features available for the sake of the historical record. They could easily put out "Songs of the South" on DVD with all sorts of contemporary social commentary, and have nothing to apologize for.

Back to Rush's case and beyond: It's easy to root against Rush in this, because of his hypocrisy in this matter, but I really cringe at the decision the court made. Why should the state have the right to pull in all his medical records in a fishing expedition, which may or may not pertain to the allegations involved? This can lead to so many bad things, no wonder the ACLU was on his side in this thing. Remember -- Rush is not under any criminal indictment today. No charges at all yet. They're LOOKING for something to file charges on. Although the story doesn't explain it, I'm sure there are other ways for prosecutors to cull evidence of prescription abuse (DEA records and state pharmacy records, perhaps). What will be cops and DA's limits here? Apparently none. If they suspect any patient, pharmacist, or doctor, they can apparently look into any record they want. And once those records go into police files, will this eventually go into CLUE databases for insurance companies, credit bureaus and employers to trade back and forth? Or even worse, medical facilities and doctors -- meaning you could end up on some prescription abuse watch list if you've ever had multiple codeine prescriptions. "Sorry, Mr. Favre. No demerol for you and your compound fracture." Yeah, I hate Rush, too. But I think this goes too far.

A couple of Skip Bayless' greatest know-it-all calls from his years in Dallas: The 1990 Cowboys should start Steve Walsh ahead of Troy Aikman The Bills will manhandle the Redskins' poor secondary in Super Bowl XXVI. The 1993 Mavericks should draft JR Rider to lead their resurrection.

Criminy ... Check out why Jennifer Floyd Engel of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram thinks Bledsoe would be good for the Cowboys: http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/10922662.htm "Not only did Parcells draft Bledsoe first overall with the New England Patriots in 1993, but he practically defines the "bus driver" Parcells so desperately desires in a quarterback. Bledsoe has averaged only about one turnover a game in his career." "DREW BLEDSOE Age: 33 2004 stats: 2,932 yards, 20 TDs, 16 INTs, 76.6 passer rating Strength: Does not throw a lot of interceptions" 16 INTs -- That as good or worse than about 20 other starting quarterbacks in the NFL. What an attribute!

Here to clear up all this confusion and worry about his Social Security proposal is the man himself: Q. How would the privatization plan ensure that Social Security will not run out of money down the road? GW: "Because the -- all which is on the table begins to address the big cost drivers. For example, how benefits are calculate, for example, is on the table; whether or not benefits rise based upon wage increases or price increases. There's a series of parts of the formula that are being considered. And when you couple that, those different cost drivers, affecting those -- changing those with personal accounts, the idea is to get what has been promised more likely to be -- or closer delivered to what has been promised. "Does that make any sense to you? It's kind of muddled. Look, there's a series of things that cause the -- like, for example, benefits are calculated based upon the increase of wages, as opposed to the increase of prices. Some have suggested that we calculate -- the benefits will rise based upon inflation, as opposed to wage increases. There is a reform that would help solve the red if that were put into effect. In other words, how fast benefits grow, how fast the promised benefits grow, if those -- if that growth is affected, it will help on the red. "Okay, better? I'll keep working on it." --- Translation: "We have to consider what amounts to benefit cuts on future recipients, through the use the inflation-based COL index rather than the existing, and higher-yielding, wage index."

The only problem I'd have with this is if they advertise it on the cable promotional feeds. I have enough problems with my nine-year-old who watches the Cialis ads: "Dad, how long are erections supposed to last?"