Miscellany

SOTU: Drinking game, via (appropriately) Stephen Green.

Didya hear the one about the three surgeons?

Year of the dog: Descendants of the grey wolf.

Happy to oblige: New Israeli flag.

Lingerie: For your iPod.

Sid Blumenthal, Dick Cheney and President Weasel

Best 24 synopsis. Ever.

Via the Commissar.

Cyber wars

Suspicions that Muslim hackers have been going after Danish websites over the Mohammed cartoon issue have led Danish geeks to respond in kind. Rusty approves.

What do you think?

Congressional revisionists

Congressional staffers have rewritten 1,000 Wikipedia entries on their bosses.

Most glaring change: U.S. Rep. Marty Meehan's staff took out a reference to Meehan's broken pledge to limit his time in office to eight years. Other changes coming from Congressional IP addresses included slurs against Senator Bill Frist and US Rep Eric Cantor.

The changes by Meehan's staff are not as "reprehensible" as inserting derogatory comments in someone else's entry, said Stephen Potts, former director of the federal Office of Government Ethics, which establishes conduct standards for the executive branch.

But the sheer breadth of changes emanating from the House reflects an abuse of public time and equipment, said Potter, now chairman of the Ethics Resource Center.

"That kind of usage, plus the fact that they're changing one person's material, is certainly wrong and ought to be at a minimum the focus of some disciplinary action," he said.

More old movies

Put me in front of most any black-and-white movie and I'm happy--regardless of the quality of the film. I particularly love screwball comedies, but I like Charlie Chan movies, tearjerkers, war movies, whatever.

One of my current rituals when I wake up early on a weekend morning is to turn on Turner Classic Movies and watch whatever's being offered. I've got more than a dozen such movies stored on my DVR but for whatever reason, I prefer the serendipity of just watching what's on.

Even a bad old movie has something to offer whether it's the clothes, the sets or the slang of the day. Another plus: Seeing future stars in minor roles.

Recently I saw The Big Heat, a run-of-the-mill good cop battling a corrupt police department in a nameless big city movie but pretty well made and enjoyable nonetheless. Gloria Grahame is terrific as the floozie who redeems herself by helping Glenn Ford take out the big crime boss. It also features an early performance by Lee Marvin, who plays a vicious psychopath who gets his kicks hurting women.

But I really got a kick out of Glenn Ford paying 35 cents for a beer. And Lee Marvin's penthouse apartment (bad guys with ill-gotten gains always live in the penthouse) with its mid-century modern decor. Plus, I learned that women were waxing their legs in 1953: Gloria Grahame claims to know nothing about the bad guys' business because whenever the bad guys start talking about business she goes out and gets her legs waxed. Who knew?

All in all a pretty agreeable way to spend an hour and 20 minutes.

Critical detachment

Terry Teachout wishes he'd liked Wendy Wassterstein's work more.

I hated to give Third a bad review, not least because I knew Wasserstein was sick, though I didn’t know she was dying. (One of the characters in the play had cancer.) In fact, I didn’t think much of any of Wasserstein’s plays, and I dreaded having to say so in print, since she was an exceedingly nice lady. I fudged the point in my review, calling her “one of our best theatrical journalists, a keen-eared social observer with a knack for summing up cultural watershed moments like the coming of age of the baby boomers and putting them on stage to memorable effect.” All true, and none of it incompatible with the fact that I considered her to be a glib, punch-pulling lightweight, a kind of feminist Neil Simon who never cut too close to the knuckle.

Exactly so

Mark Steyn on the fury unleashed over James Frey's sham memoir, A Million Little Pieces.

The words we apply to memoirs -- "brave," "inspirational" -- derive only from their status as documentary truth. As James Frey told Oprah's viewers, "I truly, truly mean it when I say if I can do it, you can do it" -- conquer his addictions, that is, not fake a big gazillion-selling book.

Plus he quotes PG Wodehouse.

Old farts relive their youth

As political protesters.

Attending yesterday's private lunch were about 100 anti-war activists, many of them silver-haired, bespectacled veterans of the 1960s in linty sweaters and Naturalizers, nibbling on vegan pizza and bean sprouts. On the wall was a painted collage of slogans ("Make Love Not War") and nostalgic faces such as Joan Baez, Bella Abzug and a younger, thinner Ralph Nader.

Conversations at the forum centered on the war in Iraq, impeachment of Mr. Bush, torture, eavesdropping on citizens, conspiracy theories, global warming and coup d'etats.

RINO sightings

Are up at The Radical Centrist.

Rewatching old movies

Since I've seen Pillow Talk a million times, I was going to skip yesterday's viewing, but I got sucked in after a few scenes because of the clothes and the groovy furniture and accessories.

For example, Doris's apartment has shocking pink formica countertops. I love them.

Then there's this gown, which Doris wore with a short white fur bolero jacket with dolman sleeves. This pose really doesn't do it justice; the skirt is a narrow column and the waist is very high in front with a very low back. And, of course, opera-length gloves.

But best of all were her day clothes, featuring short tightly-fitted jackets with elbow- or bracelet-length sleeves and pencil skirts. A swing coat with a big collar whose lining coordinated with the Doris' suit often completed the look. Very cute. In this movie she also wore a black swing coat with a big black fur hat and muff. On another occasion, she wore a red coat with a leopard print muff and hat. Adorable. You just don't see women walking around carrying muffs anymore.

Test proves you're a racist

As a cheap parlor trick, I thought I'd take this test (found here) to see whether I chose "bad" words for blacks or whites, but I stopped before I got to that part of the test because you're already set up.

I don't sit around thinking about how many black and white people I went to school with or what class ranking Asians, blacks or whites have as a group. I just don't. So I was too annoyed to go any further and see whether I would be "humbled" by my unconscious racism.

Judging people on group averages when you have no additional information is called "statistical discrimination", although given how loaded a term "discrimination" is a better phrase may be "statistical differentiation". Statistical differentiation is not racist in that it is not a preference for one race or another, it is simply a decision based on group averages when individual information is not available.

The Implicit Project implicitly assumes that any differentiation between blacks and whites is racist, and does not consider that case of statistical differentiation. This means they do not consider that an individual may make decisions based on factors other than race, of which race is merely a statistical marker.

Miscellany

It's over: She betrayed him.

Eeeuuuw: Traveling on Chinese New Year.

Cell citation: For commuters.

Big Tony's House: Reality show.

Commenting 101: Be nice.

Jimmy Carter still loves terrorists

He always has.

On the heels of Jimmy's suggestion that the US break its own laws in order to give money to Hamas, Jacob Luskin reminds of us Carter's past record and concludes:

Arguably the saddest part of Carter's overture to Hamas is how typical it is for his career. One wants to be charitable -- to attribute his misplaced sympathies to some unstable mix of utopian idealism and political naivete. But apologies for the president increasingly ring false. After considering his years of befriending the worst the world has to offer -- from Yugoslavia's Tito to Romania's Nicolae Ceausescu, from North Korea's Kim Il Sung to Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega, from Fidel Castro to Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, from Arafat to Bashar Assad -- one is forced to conclude that Carter's values are, to borrow a metaphor, not merely endangered; they are effectively extinct.

Berlusconi swears off sex

Until after April 9 elections. "There was no word, though, if Berlusconi consulted his wife, actress Veronica Lario, before making his no-sex pledge."

Maybe it was her idea?

Open season on Smurfs

The last unprotected monority.

Police in Tampa, Fla. are now using colored targets on their shooting ranges because they fear the traditional black silhouettes on a white background might be sending a racist message, reports the Tampa Tribune.

Tampa police spokeswoman Laura McElroy, whose agency switched to "Smurf Blue" silhouette targets from black ones two years ago, said: "Nowadays, you can never be too sensitive."

The worst preparation for love

Dating.

Dating presents itself as an education in human relationships. In fact it’s an anti-education. You could invent no worse preparation for love, for marriage, than the tireless pursuit of the perfect partner. Keep Looking, says dating. You’re Not Done Yet. What About That One? And That One? Dating, like the tyrant, seeks perfection (within a certain price range). Whereas the heart, like the eye, can only cling to imperfections: her funny stride, and the way her voice breaks, child-like, on the phone. And so the dater, self-baffling, seeks what the heart cannot understand.

Via Arts & Letters Daily.

The suicidal left, Israeli division

It's one thing for the bien pensants of the US and Western Europe to kid themselves about the nature of the radical Islamists, but you'd think the Israelis would know better.

Steven Plaut at FrontPage, alerts us to this piece by Gideon Levy in Haaretz.

The good news from the occupied territories is that Hamas won the elections…one can find quite a few points of light in the Hamas victory. First, these are very authentic results, achieved through elections that were respectably democratic, even though they took place under the least democratic circumstances imaginable, the occupation. As usual, we were threatened by our experts with "anarchy," and, as usual, the Palestinians did not meet those expectations. There was no shooting and no rioting; the Palestinian nation had its say with admirable order. It said `no' to a movement that did not bring it any achievements in the just struggle against the occupation, and it said "yes" to those who appeared to the voters to be braver and with clean hands...

Second, both Israelis and Palestinians can learn important lessons from the results of the election. The Israelis have to finally learn that applying force will not get the desired results...To that end, both sides, Israel and Hamas, must free themselves of the slogans of the past. Those who pose preconditions, like disarming Hamas, will miss the chance. It is impossible to expect that Hamas will disarm, just as it is impossible to expect that Israel would disarm. In Palestinian eyes, Hamas' weapons are meant to fight the occupation, and, as is well-known, the occupation is not over. Practically, and indeed morally, the armed are armed if they are equipped with F-16s or Qassam launchers. If Israel were to commit to an end to killing Hamas operatives, there is reason to assume that Hamas would agree, at least for a while, to lay down its arms…If Israel were to be friendly toward Hamas, it could benefit.

How I spent my weekend

I had the car breakdown from Hell this weekend--actually not the worst breakdown from the annals of car breakdowns, but overall not the way you'd want to spend a sunny Saturday.

I was headed to my parents house in Delaware, generally a one-hour trip. I left my place at 11:15. The agenda for the day: Out to lunch, some shopping with my mother (tax-free shopping!) and perhaps a movie, followed by dinner and then home.

Everything was fine until I got off the highway, slowed to a light and my car stalled out. It started right up again and I proceeded on my way. At the next light, the car stalled again. Again I put the car in park and it started right up, but this time when I put the car in gear it stalled again. I started it again, gave it a little gas while in park, put the car in gear and proceeded along my way. Rinse and repeat about half a dozen times. The car would start right up, then I'd put it in gear, it would stall, one, two, three times then catch and go.

Now you might be thinking: "Rachel, why didn't you just pull off to the side of the road?" But I was so close. I figured if I could just get this baby to my parents' I'd be able to call for a tow and worry about it then.

Finally, I was about two blocks from my parents house on a busy intersection across the street from a shopping mall when it gave out altogether. I called for a tow. I was having a discussion with the T Mobile woman who was handling my call as to whether I should call the police to help get me moved off the road or just sit there gumming up traffic when a state trooper came by. The car had been running in park for about 20 minutes by this time and the trooper managed to pull it over to the lot of an apartment complex off the road.

My mother came by with a can of diet coke and some salted peanuts (I'd had no breakfast) and we sat in the car waiting for the tow truck. Now, my parents have only lived in Delaware for a couple of months, so they don't have a reliable mechanic. We were considering where we should take the car, when a woman came by. She'd seen me stalled at the light, and vowed to check back after she picked up her daughter. She gave me the name of her mechanic, who was across the state line in Pennsylvania, told us her horror story about being broken down on 495 for six hours and went on her way. After 45 minutes the tow truck guy came by and suggested Pep Boys. My mother and I followed, explained the problem to the boys and went to pick up my father for lunch at the Chinese/Korean/Thai/Malay place near their house.

It was now 3 pm, but some Beef Penang put an end to my headache and I suggested to my mother that we head to Ulta as I was in search of a new foundation. Before we got there, Pep Boys called and said my thermostat wiring was all burned out and I needed to flush and fill the radiator. Also the fuel system needed flushing and that wiring was also burned out. The conclusion: $450 and the car would be ready to go.

"$450?"

"I can take off 10 percent, that would make it $45 less."

"That sounds good. Do that. Will it be ready today?"

"Yeah, Kevin will stay late. Just make sure you're here by six o'clock."

By 5:30, we'd explored my foundation options, settled on a new makeup line and decided to head back to Pep Boys to see if Kevin and the boys had finished the car. Apparently, Kevin wasn't the only one staying late; the waiting room was full and we had to wait. By about 6:20, we'd settled the bill. Since our shopping time had been so abbreviated, we decided to finish off the evening at Barnes & Noble.

At B&N, we had coffee, browsed, bought a couple paperbacks each and wondered what else to do. I suggested we stop at the shopping center near my parents' house. We had both cars so we'd meet there. My mother took off and I began searching my capacious handbag for my keys. Not there. I looked on the floor of my car, my trunk. The seats. I emptied my bag. No keys. I called my mother. She said she'd come back and help me look. I went into B&N, checked the bathroom, the cafe and the customer service desk.
No keys.

My mother returned. With a flashlight from my trunk, we went over every inch of the car. Emptied my purse again. Went back to the B&N service desk. I called AAA and was advised that there would be a 75-minute wait for a locksmith. Because I was a much valued PLUS member, the first $100 was covered, after that I was on my own. We settled down for the wait.

A full 75 minutes later a locksmith couple, two of the fattest people on the planet, showed up. He was chatty. She was mute. They began working on the car. My mother and I repaired to her car to wait. At some point about an hour in, Mr. Locksmith started screaming at Mrs. Locksmith, calling her all sorts of foul names. Some drunken teenagers came by and started taking pictures of the locksmith couple. I have no idea why.

At 11 pm, Mr. and Mrs. Locksmith got in their van to drive over to my mother's car eight feet away from mine. I walked over. Mr. Locksmith had my new key in his mouth and was writing up the receipt: $75 since I'm an AAA-PLUS number. Mrs. Locksmith got chatty all of a sudden. I listened to her account of the many complications they encountered while completing the job. My ignition didn't have a code. He gave me a used one he had in his truck. No charge. No charge for putting my key in his mouth either. I'm a lucky gal.

I managed to get home in one piece, sometime between midnight and one. Yesterday, I really didn't have the heart to do much of anything. Instead, I stayed in bed reading chick lit, emerging only to watch Pillow Talk to the umpteenth time. I fell asleep and dreamed I was being attacked by cows. I have no idea what this means, but I woke myself up by screaming "Stop!!!"

So I'm kind of tired and cranky today. Oh, and the car still stalls out when I stop at a traffic light.

Wednesday's my last chance

At winning the Maryland lottery.

Too much of a good thing

Human ashes are making Scotland's mountains too lush and green.

The Mountaineering Council of Scotland says nature lovers and other admirers of Scotland's picturesque mountains have taken to requesting in their wills that they want their ashes dumped on the summit of their favorite peak when they die.
The result, the council says, is that a number of the more popular mountaintops are all too frequently being dusted by cremated remains, and the practice is having an unwanted chemical effect on the ecology of the surrounding area.
What happens is that plant growth is being stimulated by phosphate enrichment and changes in the acidity and alkalinity of the soil, marring the bleakness that many find so attractive in Scotland's mountain ranges.

The end of the auto-pathography

Oprah wants to put an end to phony memoirs and the publishing industry is listening. On her show yesterday, Winfrey lit into Nan Talese, publisher of James Frey's A Million Little Pieces.

"We asked if you, your company, stood behind James's book as a work of nonfiction at the time, and they said absolutely," Ms. Winfrey said. "And they were also asked if their legal department had checked out the book, and they said yes. So in a press release sent out for the book in 2004 by your company, the book was described as brutally honest and an altering look at — at addiction. So how can you say that if you haven't checked it to be sure?"

Ms. Talese replied that while the Random House legal department checks nonfiction books to make sure that no one is defamed or libeled, it does not check the truth of the assertions made in a book.

Ms. Winfrey replied, "Well, that needs to change."

And so it will.

One former publisher said he believed that the publishing industry would have to change its practices at the behest of its biggest patron, Ms. Winfrey. Laurence J. Kirshbaum, who recently retired as the chief executive of the Time Warner Book Group and who now runs his own literary agency, said in an interview yesterday that "there is no question what she said will have a far-reaching impact on our business."

"Agents, publishers and authors are all going to have to be much more cautious in the way they approach the nonfiction market," Mr. Kirshbaum said. "Traditionally, publishers have not done fact-checking and vetting. But I think you are going to see memoirs read not only from a libel point of view but for factual accuracy. And where there are questions of possible exaggeration or distortion, the author is going to need to produce documentation."

Now Bush is too nuanced

EJ Dionne writes:

In responding yesterday to Hamas's victory, President Bush, a man who prides himself on clarity and disdains nuance, was, if I may coin a word, nuancing all over the place.

On the one hand, he praised democratic elections for letting voters send a message. "If they're unhappy with the status quo," Bush said at a news conference, "they'll let you know." Indeed.

But he also seemed to rule out dealing with Hamas if the militant group didn't change itself radically -- particularly its attitude toward Israel and terrorism. "I know you can't be a partner in peace . . . if your party has got an armed wing," he said. That's a good point about Hamas, though it raises interesting questions about Iraqi political parties that have links to armed militias.

Dionne embodies the notion that the perfect is the enemy of the good. It is he and his ilk who lack nuance. Who was going to win the Palestinian elections? Abu George al-Washington? There was no one. The corrupt remains of Yasir Arafat's party or the murderous thugs of Hamas were the only choices.

"But shouldn't Washington ask itself why it didn't take more dramatic steps," Dionne asks, "over a much longer period, to change the Palestinian status quo?

And this was going to happen when? Bush is not the person who elevated Arafat from terrorist to statesman. Everyone has known for years that Arafat was squirreling away the billions he received in foreign aid, much of it from the Europeans. No one turned off the spigot or demanded that Arafat live up to his agreements in the "road map" to nowhere. Bush was about the only Western leader who tried to hold Arafat responsible.

So Arafat dies and leaves a power vaccuum and in a little over a year's time, Bush was supposed to make dramatic changes that would usher in a stable democracy? Was he supposed to install a puppet in Palestine? If this were at all possible he'd be condemned throughout the world. No. He did what Sharon did: He left the Palestinians to their own devices and they chose the openly hostile Hamas over the two-faced Fatah. They made their bed.

As for Iraq, Bush never said it was going to be easy. But the Iraqi elections, which Dionne calls "a census to count members of warring ethnic and religious factions than a way of settling underlying disputes," have gotten those factions talking.

Dionne says democracy "requires the patient building of institutions and attention to detail." So how can he expect Bush to wave a magic wand and make everything all better?

Miscellany

Ten words: The Democrat message.

Jack Bauer: Random facts, via Tom Maguire.

Hooked on a feeling: David Hasselhoff.

Dating: Be careful out there.

Beverage: The worst word in the English language?

Five female prisoners in Iraq will be freed

I don't wish for anything bad to happen to journalist Jill Carroll, but I seriously hope we're not releasing these women because of her kindnappers' demands.

And while we're all pondering the fate of Israel and the Palestinians in the wake of yesterday's election, get a load of this:

Saeed Syam, a top Hamas official in Gaza, said Monday the group "joins those who ask to release American citizen Jill Carroll."

"We have declared many times we are totally against kidnapping civilians," the Hamas official said.

But killing them is OK.

A positive development?

Emanuele Ottolenghi on the Hamas victory.

They will have to show their true face now: No more masks, no more veils, no more double-speak. If the cooptation theory — favored by the International Crisis Group and by the former British MI-6 turned talking head, Alistair Crooke — were true, this is the time for Hamas to show what hides behind its veil.

As the government of the Palestinian Authority, now they will have to say whether they accept the roadmap.

They will have to take control over security and decide whether they use it to uphold the roadmap or to wage war.

There will be no excuses or ambiguities when Hamas fires rockets on Israel and launches suicide attacks against civilian targets. Until Tuesday, the PA could hide behind the excuse that they were not directly responsible and they could not rein in the "militants." Now the "militants" are the militia of the ruling party. They are one and the same with the Palestinian Authority. If they bomb Israel from Gaza — not under occupation anymore, and is therefore, technically, part of the Palestinian state the PLO proclaimed in Algiers in 1988, but never bothered to take responsibility for — that is an act of war, which can be responded to in kind, under the full cover of the internationally recognized right of self-defense. No more excuses that the Palestinians live under occupation, that the PA is too weak to disarm Hamas, that violence is not the policy of the PA. Hamas and the PA will be the same: What Hamas does is what the PA will stand for.

Could be true, I suppose. But small comfort if you're on the receiving end of those rockets.

Galloway evicted from Big Brother house

And I missed it all.

A church to which I will never belong

The church of recycling.

And what a holier-than-thou group of congregants partake of the communion of recycling! Where I work, recycling is not mandatory but those who wish to can drive their recyclables over to a special dumpster located some distance away from our building. Two of my coworkers dutifully save their cardboard, cans and paper and take turns trundling the stuff over to the recycling center. The trip to the recycling center is heralded with as much fanfare as grace before meals. First the announcement, then the gathering of the holy cardboard, then the loading into the car and the drive over. Recently, it was suggested that we all recycle and take turns going to the center. I refused. I don't recycle, I said, I'm morally opposed to it.

Now, I could show them the figures, but facts don't much matter when you're a true believer.

The recycling congregants are great missionaries, too. "Reduce, reuse, recycle," they proclaim to all who will listen. And that especially includes your children.

I started working for a local New Jersey newspaper not too long after the garbage barge completed its 74-day odyssey and the state introduced mandatory recycling. A local wildlife center to which area schoolchildren made regular field trips took it as their mission to promote the three Rs.

We must have gotten a call a week to do a story on some middle school child who started a recycling program in his or her school. I cannot tell you the dread I felt upon being forced yet again to take a notebook and a photographer over to listen to some Stepford kid earnestly recite the litany of reasons why this program was crucial: The lack of landfill space, the fact that plastic WILL NEVER DECOMPOSE!!!! The waste, the waste, the wanton waste!!!!!

Very scary stuff.

Wanna know the best way to enter the US illegally?

Mexico's National Human Rights Commission can help. The commission, described as "an independent body that receives no government funds," will be passing out maps and posters of border areas available that provide "details of the terrain, cell-phone coverage and water stations.

"Without a doubt, these maps will enable many lives to be saved," Mauricio Farah, an inspector with the NHRC said in Mexico City. "We are not trying in any way to encourage or promote migration. The only thing we are trying to do is warn them of the risks they face and where to get water, so they don't die."

Mexican officials also said that the posters would warn potential emigrants not to believe promises of an easy journey from smugglers. "Don't Do It," the posters say. "It's Hard. There's Not Enough Water."

Fatah leading in Palestinian elections

Tough to know what this means.

The first official poll gave Fatah more than 46%, compared to 39.5% for Islamic militant group Hamas.

The real results may not be announced for several more days.

The BBC's James Reynolds in Ramallah says whatever the final outcome it is clear Fatah is no longer the single dominant force in Palestinian politics.

That is because Hamas has now managed to convert its own long-standing popular support into a formal political voice, our correspondent says.

Both Fatah and Hamas have said they will consider a coalition if there is no clear winner.

High maintenance, but worth it

I'm a Ferrari 360 Modena!

You've got it all. Power, passion, precision, and style. You're sensuous, exotic, and temperamental. Sure, you're expensive and high-maintenance, but you're worth it.

Take the Which Sports Car Are You? quiz.

Via Instapundit.

World War IV's genesis lies in World War III

Recently released Warsaw Pact documents reveal.

For decades, many in the West, including many who should have known better, refused to believe that the Soviets so thoroughly supported international terrorism. Incredibly, during the height of the Cold War, U.S. intelligence reflected this belief and expended little effort on tracking these Soviet actions. It was only in the 1980s that the U.S. began to collect systematically intelligence on Soviet support for international terrorism.

Because of this, there remains much that we can learn about international terrorism from secret Soviet archives. As the Russian government is supposed to be our ally against international terrorism, it could help the U.S. and its allies to find missing pieces of the international terrorism puzzle. Many of the networks, the personnel and the tactics are still in play. Many organizations remain an active threat. Hezbollah and Japanese Red Army, for example, remain under the wing of Syria. The only logical reason for not releasing this information is that the Russians continue to see these contacts as helpful.

The overall strategy is still being used. Recent reports based on captured Iraqi documents show that Saddam followed the Soviet example and ran terrorist camps that in just three years, from 1999 to 2002, trained an estimated 8,000 terrorists. How many were trained in Syria over the past 30 or more years? How many were trained in Cuba since Castro came to power? Where are these people today? When we see a well-trained communist rebellion in a country like Nepal—an old flashpoint between India and China—do we see this as a purely indigenous movement? And how did they learn to make bombs or conduct ambushes?

Minister Sikorski’s release of a new cache of Soviet documents gives us a tantalizing glimpse of what remains hidden in the Soviet archives. It is time for the U.S. to demand that Russia follow the Polish example and reveal the skeletons in its filing cabinet.

Gore v. Clinton in the runup to 2008?

Apparently the gang at HuffPo is all for it.

The groundswell that it would take to bring Mr. Gore into the race is already building. Ms. Huffington’s influential Hollywood-liberal Web site, the Huffington Post, has grown increasingly hostile to Mrs. Clinton, with Ms. Huffington herself attacking the former First Lady head-on and passing along the “buzz” that Mr. Gore could be the “anti-Hillary.” For Ms. Huffington, this is something of a shift: Mr. Gore wasn’t exactly her self-actualized ideal in 2000.

“You should see the stuff I wrote about him in 2000,” she told The Observer. “I was not a fan.” She wrote in “none of the above” on her ballot that year.

Now, Ms. Huffington is as enamored of Mr. Gore as she is disgusted with Mrs. Clinton. She likes his sharp critique of the Bush administration, and the fact that he offers a forceful alternative on national security. What’s more, she sees in him a transformed man—“and I know something about transformations.”

Outwitting the morality police

Tehran's fashionable fundies find ways around the regime's dress code.

Mona carefully applies a layer of shocking pink polish, the aptly named Girl About Town by MAC, to her best friend Tina's nails, while James Blunt's 'You're Beautiful' plays in the background on the Viva satellite music channel. She smiles, the diamond planted in one of her side teeth sparkling briefly: 'We're ready to go!' While Tina throws on a flimsy vest, tying a belt round the middle to make the most of her tiny waist, Mona covers her highlighted hair with a transparent chiffon scarf and adds another coating of lipgloss. Both are in knee-length skirts and high heels. Mona shoves two pairs of jeans under her arms, 'Just in case we need to get out of the car.'

Google: US government requests? No way! China's? OK!

Whatever you think about Google's stance on the government's request for search information related to pornography, wouldn't it be nice if Google took a similar stand against China's call for censorship?

Not gonna happen.

The new Chinese service at http://www.google.cn will offer a self-censored version of Google's popular search system that restricts access to thousands of terms and Web sites.

Hot topics might include issues like independence for Taiwan or Tibet or outlawed spiritual group Falun Gong.

In seeking to compete more aggressively in the world's second biggest Internet market -- where Google has lost ground to a more popular home-grown search company Baidu Inc. -- the company is facing the toughest challenge yet to its corporate mantra of "don't do evil."

In a compromise that trades off Google's desire to provide universal access to information in order to exist within local laws, Google will not offer its Gmail e-mail service, Web log publishing services or chat rooms -- tools of self-expression that could be used for political or social protest.

Instead, it said it would initially offer four of its core services -- Web site and image search, Google News and local search -- while working toward introducing additional services over time.

Pat Buchanan: Asshole

Not my words, but a reader's, who sends along this article by Buchanan about the current situation in Iran. The article's title, "Iran vs. Israel -- Bush's Dilemma," suggests that Bush has a choice: Take on Iran or let the mullahs go ahead with their plans for Israel.

Here's the part that frosts my nonexistent balls:

Whatever was done to the Jews, said Ahmadinejad, we didn't do it. Europeans did. Why should we pay the price?

This weekend, The New York Times provided supporting testimony for Ahmadinejad, citing secret Cabinet notes of Winston Churchill's in 1943:

"I'm committed to creation of a Jewish National Home in Palestine. Let us go on with that; and at end of war we shall have plenty of force with which to compel the Arabs to acquiesce in our designs. Don't shirk our duties because of difficulties ..."

As if to say: "You know Ahmadinejad may be a nutter, but he isn't entirely wrong about Israel."

No-o-o-o-o-o-o

Jimmy Carter's spawn has entered the political arena. Haven't we suffered enough? I suppose we should be grateful that it's not the loathsome Amy.

Miscellany

Literary songs: List, via Bookish.

Garfood: Culinary tidbits.

Reading: It opens up whole new worlds.

Celeb-monkeys: Just add imported bottled water.

Matzoh ball roll: The war against Easter.

I love the golden rule

You are the Golden Rule!

You presume that the legislature

would not want to apply the

statute to achieve an unreasonable or absurd

result inconsistent with its purpose. It's

not what's on the surface that matters for

you, and you try to do what's best in any

given situation. You're a bit unpredictable,

but you don't mind.


Which Canon of Statutory Construction are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Via Countertop.

Dubious firsts

Nathan on China's claim that it invented skiing, and discovered America.

One wonders if the Chinese scientific community will one day discover a long lost “original” copy of the Old Testament in China that begins, “In the beginning the Chinese created the heaven and the earth.” It makes about as much sense as the claim that a 10,000+ year old cave painting proves that a state that didn’t exist for another 8,000 years or an ethnic group that wasn’t a majority in that neck of the woods until very recently can claim to have invented skiing.

All of this reminds me of a movie I saw as a kid with my parents about Marco Polo--it may have been this one.

Anyway, we were on vacation in Florida at the time and we're all watching this movie. Marco Polo happens upon some Chinese peasants who invite him in for a meal. They present him with this long stringy stuff and Marco is amazed and excited. "This is one of the dishes of our people," says someone. "We call it spaghett."

I swear to you that I remember this. I also remember all of us saying for the rest of the week: "We call it spaghett."

In any event, I think the Chinese really did invent spaghett.

The world's 10 worst dictators

The usual suspects. Except that George Bush has been omitted from the list! What an outrage, via Eric.

Conservababe calendar

From Ann Coulter to Laurie Dhue, something for everyone.

Exploring the 'glory wall'

Just what do pictures of President Bush with disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff mean? Probably not too much, says John Dickerson.

Certain photos are worth more than others. Take presidential photos, for example. The Valenti photo is at the top: a picture that places you at a world-historical event. Next in prestige: you and the president, in casual clothes. After that: a shot of a president at your house. Below that, you and the president on Air Force One or in the Oval Office. And last: shaking hands with the president at some enormous, impersonal event.

The Abramoff-Bush pics are clearly in the bottom categories. The most potent picture, as described by Time, shows Abramoff, the president, several unidentified people, and a tribal leader in the Old Executive Office Building. Abramoff tried to sell such meetings to his clients as consultations with the president—that Bush was inviting the tribal leaders to Washington to get their views. Hooey. The president's performance at such meetings is brisk: pleasantries, remarks, handshakes, and he's out.

After all Galloway has done for them

A fatwa on Gorgeous George:

Recently, Allah (SWT) has disgraced these so-called Muslims and the one they have associated with Allah, George Galloway, by causing him to appear on a reality TV show "Celebrity Big Brother". Shows such as this contain all the corruption Allah (SWT) has forbidden, such as free-mixing, fornication, drinking, nudity, swearing and many other abominable acts. These kinds of programmes attract only the lowest of the low who desperately seek recognition and fame by any means possible. They are people who have no honour, respect or dignity and can only be described as animals. George Galloway will certainly have no trouble fitting in as he has all the criteria the show is looking for. Just recently, the media has shown George Galloway at his best – behaving like a cat (animal) purring at the hands of a woman. This is not surprising as one cannot expect anything more from a person of such low intellect and morality, a representative of those who voted for him.

And they hadn't even seen him in a leotard yet.

Via Mary Madigan.

The best and the worst for 2008

John Hawkins polls right-of-center bloggers for the candidates they'd most and least like to see get the 2008 GOP presidential nomination. I don't have five favorites, just two: Rudy and Condi, in that order.

I would love to see Condi go head-to-head with Hillary in 2008. But I prefer Rudy, because of his toughness and his proven ability to get things done. I am confident in Rudy's ability to prosecute the GWOT. And you've got to love a politician who will turn down $10 million of dirty Saudi money in the wake of 9/11.

I do have some least favorite candidates from the list:

• Newt Gingrich: Have we forgotten the Air Force One snub and Newt's general meltdown? Gingrich was a fine and feisty leader of the loyal opposition when the GOP was in the minority, but his grip started slipping almost immediately after the success of 1994.
  
  
• Bill Frist: Totally underwhelming. An empty suit.
  
  
• Chuck Hagel: No one who compares the Iraq war to Vietnam gets an endorsement from me.
  
  
• George Pataki: ?????

I'll French roast you

If you don't keep your grubby paws off my coffee.

Narcissus update

Can you stand it?

Miscellany

What wasn't on the tape: Osama.

Unique talent: Woman paints with her breasts.

Guess who: Quiz.

Your brain: In fabric.

Together again: Stolen car recovered.

Pas de deux

Why don't we get Celebrity Big Brother here? Conversely, if someone adapts the show for the states, which member of Congress do you see taking Gorgeous George's place? I think Ted Kennedy in a red leotard would have to carry some sort of warning label, though.

The most depressing day of the year

Is today. So don't feel bad if you feel bad.

You can't handle the truth

WaPo closes down blog after foul-mouthed comments. Why all the nasty comments? Ombudsman Deborah Howell wrote that both Democrats and Republicans accepted money from Jack Abramoff.

The site is open now but comments are closed. Executive Editor Jim Brady writes:

As you might expect, we're getting a ton of e-mail on this, and while I can't answer those e-mails individually, I'll address the two main points being made, that 1) we're afraid of being criticized and, 2) that were no personal attacks, profanity or hate speech in any of the comments.

On the first point, washingtonpost.com has done an awful lot to be as transparent as possible. We've started a ton of blogs, we've linked out to bloggers who are writing (often negatively) about Post content and we've made journalists from The Post and post.com available to answer questions online on a daily basis. So I find it hard to make a case that we're unwilling to be criticized. What we're not willing to do is allow the comments area to turn into a place where it's OK to unleash vicious, name-calling attacks on anyone, whether they are Post reporters, public figures or other commenters. And that's exactly what was happening. That leads into the second complaint. The reason that people were not routinely seeing the problematic posts I mentioned were that we were trying to remove them as fast as we could in order to preserve the reasoned arguments many others were making. We removed hundreds of these posts over the past few days, and it was becoming a significant burden on us to try and keep the comments area free of profanity and name-calling. So we eventually chose to turn off comments until we can come up with a better way to handle situations like this, where we have a significant amount of people who refuse to abide by the rules we set out.

UPDATE: Mike McConnell unearths some comments from Yahoo.

Via The Commissar.

25 years ago American hostages freed from Iran

After 444 days in captivity, Iran released the 52 American hostages taken captive in November 1979. At the start of the crisis, President Jimmy Carter froze Iranian assets in the US and stopped oil importation. Thereafter, he conducted months of fruitless negotiations with the terrorists before OK'ing a disastrous rescue attempt in which eight Americans were killed.

Eventually Warren Christopher negotiated a deal with the terrorists in which they got everything they wanted and the hostages were freed on the same day Ronald Reagan was inaugurated as President.

The US was changed forever. On the plus side, the crisis was responsible for the election of Ronald Reagan. On the downside:

The crisis was the first shot in our war against radical Islamists and served as a signal to them that the US would fold in the face of terror, which was bolstered by Reagan's decision to pull the Marines out of Lebanon.

The crisis launched the career of Ted Koppel, whose long-running show, Nightline, began as a nightly briefing on the crisis.

Warren Christopher became President Bill Clinton's secretary of state.

On a personal note, I attended the 1980 graduation of friend from Foreign Service School and the hostages were all anybody talked about. It was a very somber occasion and, as I recall, the feeling was that it was open season on US diplomats.

More:

Wikipedia's entry on the hostage crisis.

On This Day, from the BBC.

The diary entry of hostage Robert C. Ode on the day of the release.

The Columbia Encyclopedia.

Remembering the Failed Iranian Mission.

444 Days: The Iranian hostage crisis and its aftermath.

Jimmy Carter's Presidency from Encyclopedia Britannica.

"The Wages of Appeasement" by Victor Davis Hanson.

Iran Hostage Crisis from US History.com.

Hostage Timeline.

Terrorist attacks on Americans, 1979-1988 from Frontline.

Forget Wisteria Lane

The Desperate Housewives cul de sac has nothing on Shirley Meadow Court in Ellicott City, MD, home of alleged prostitute Brandy Britton.

Local police visited the house 20 times over the past five years on everything from complaints about Britton's 300-pound pet pigs munching grass on the front lawn to domestic violence charges.

After Britton's arrest, neighbors described Britton's behavior as eccentric and suspicious, and said police had frequently visited the home.

"They let [the pigs] ... eat the grass out in front of the house, and my kids go over to pet them," Bonnie Sorak said. "The pigs are nice, but they're huge. They weigh over 300 pounds. I can't imagine that she could have that sort of business with those animals there."

Early detection system for villainy

Virulent anti-Semitism.

I think the system could use more bells and whistles — a loud honking noise perhaps, or even closed captioning for the morally impaired. Thus, when Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says the Holocaust is a "myth" or that Israel "must be wiped off the map," you would hear a loud honk and words would appear in the air below his face: "Hello. I am an evil madman. Please stop negotiating with me now and proceed to cripple my nuclear capability by any means necessary."

Or how about when Venezuelan leader — and anti-American Iran ally — Hugo Chavez warns that "descendants of those who crucified Christ … have grabbed all the world's riches for themselves"? Honk. His subtitle: "Hi. I know you lefties are still enamored of the idea of socialism — fine. But personally, I'm a jerk and a friend of tyranny. Oh, and Mr. Belafonte? Go home before you make an ass of yourself."

Thanks to SMP for the link.

Welcome Maryland readers

It seems the entire state wants to know about women's studies expert-turned prostitute Brandy Britton. I looked for a picture of her and all I could find was this:


from the Fabulous Girls of Las Vegas Calendar. I don't think it's the same one. But this sort of validates an earlier comment from AirForceWife:

Umm, her name is Brandy Britton. What the hell other career was she SUPPOSED to have? Other than pole dancer, maybe.

Adventures of a librarian

It was a Sunday, usually a slow day at this, my part-time job. Andrea was at the circulation desk, which is right at the entrance to the library. I was at the reference desk about 15 feet and off to the side. A woman entered and began talking to Andrea. I really wasn't paying much attention, but out of the corner of my eye, I saw Andrea go into the office were we kept out AV materials.

A couple minutes later, Andrea came out of the office and walked to the reference desk.

"Can you help me? She's looking for a language tape and I can't seem to find it."

Andrea handed me some papers stapled together. It was a syllabus from a Hebrew course at a local synagogue. Attached were bad photocopies of a booklet that went with a language tape that the teacher assured this woman was available here. They were not photocopies of the title page, mind you. And the woman didn't know the name of the tape. I squinted at the paper, trying to figure out how I could search the catalog for this item given the extreme lack of information. I punched a couple of terms into the catalog when I heard a voice. It was the woman, who was still standing at the circulation desk.

Me: "Excuse me?"

Woman: "You don't look very happy about it."

Me: "Im trying to see if I can find this in the catalog."

Woman: "You're not very professional."

Me: "We're having problems finding the tape on the shelves."

Woman: "Everyone's so rude in Baltimore."

Feeling that discretion was the better part of valor--and feeling my blood pressure rising--I got up, mumbled something about checking the office and started walking away.

Woman, shouting now: "Are you from New York? You must be from New York. Everyone there is really nasty."

Andrea and I began scouring the shelves. The woman continued her rant. "I just moved here from California and everyone is so nasty here. What's wrong with you people?"

Now, on any given day, I can take your basic psychotic patron. I worked at Loehmann's, fer chrissakes. You spend eight hours manning the cash register at the semi-annual half-off clearance sale and you either develop a tough skin or you become a blithering idiot. But, for whatever reason, this woman was getting to me. I was actually shaking. So, knowing that a) I set her off; and b) she was--as they say-pushing my buttons, I chose the coward's way out: I sent Andrea out to tell her that we couldn't find the tape.

She wouldn't leave. She told Andrea that I had to come out. Andrea, poor thing, came back into the office to tell me I was summoned.

Then the woman, whose constant complaining about the relative rudeness of Baltimoreans and New Yorkers had died down into an indecipherable drone, began shouting again.

"I don't have to be treated this way. I'm a single mother!"

Well, speaking as a single mother, this absolutely made me see red. I ran out into the library.

"I don't give a goddamn about your single motherhood," I shouted. "You think you have a tough life, lady? Stand in line."

Bad, I know, probably grounds for firing. But it served to shut up the woman, who turned around and left. I went into the office and literally began throwing things while Andrea stood there wringing her hands. Enter the dean. The woman had walked over to the administration offices and found her in her office. The upshot was, I had to apologize. I did. Predictably, the woman wouldn't shut up. Again I apologized. She continued ranting. The dean tried to interrupt. The woman took a breath. I apologized again. Again with the rants. Finally, the dean convinced her to go. At the exit, she turned around and started ranting again. I returned to the office.

The next day, I got a prescription for Xanax.

Narcissus update

It's really getting exciting, now.

I really dislike meetings

In which everyone huddles around a telephone while the guy on the other end gives a powerpoint presentation. Bonus points if the room is overheated and you inexplicably woke up--and stayed up--at 4 am.

Miscellany

"Fine:" 12 things women say.

The washcloth conspiracy: Don't give in.

The Auscars: Paul Hogan snubbed by the Academy.

Godchecker: Your guide to the gods, via Infomaniac.

Most patriotic people: Israelis--Jews and Arabs.

Destined to die

Sharon Lapkin says honor killings have been on the rise in the Palestinian territories since Israel began building its security fence. Human rights groups, naturally, blame the increase on Israel, but Lapkin points out that honor killings have also increased among British Muslims since the 7/7 bombings.

Nazir Afzal, director of Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service, told Reuters, there has been at least a “dozen honor killings in the country in the past year.” This, he claims, is just a glimpse of the real problem. “There are other crimes, like rape, abduction and physical violence...”

Afzal claims that a number of Britain’s 1.6 million Muslims are “turning in on themselves...When communities perceive themselves to be under threat they tend to turn in on themselves, regardless of whether that perception has any basis in fact.”

Muslim women, in Palestine and elsewhere, don't stand a chance. Experts say "official" figures only reflect a small fraction of the honor killings committed each year because many families don't report them and Palestinian police regard such killings not as murder but as 'as deaths due to "fate and destiny.'"

Here's a sample of the killings mentioned in the article:

Rafayda Qaoud shared a bedroom in her Ramallah home with her two brothers. After they raped and impregnated her, she gave birth to a baby boy who was adopted by another family. Her mother then gave Rafayda a razor blade and ordered her to slash her own wrists. When she refused to commit suicide, her mother pulled a plastic bag tightly over her head, sliced open her daughter’s wrists and beat her with a stick until she was dead.

A four-year-old toddler who was raped by a 25 year-old man in 2002, was left to bleed to death because her rape had dishonored the family.

Faten Habash spent six weeks in hospital after she threw herself from her family’s fourth floor apartment window. Upon her return home, her father bludgeoned her to death with an iron bar.

How preposterous that someone has to even make the case that it's not Israel's fault that these women are being murdered by members of their own families.

James Frey and GWB: Two peas in a pod

Tom Scocca compares the fraudulent memoirist's book to Bush's WMD justification of the Iraq war.

Mr. Frey is not the only person pouring this cocktail of lies and denial—of “emotional truth.” More than one critic quickly picked up on the link between Mr. Frey’s literary career and the fact-averse, spin-happy presidency of George W. Bush. The joint biography is easy. Both men are dry drunks with belligerent streaks, angry and cosseted children of money. Both claim to have turned their self-destructive lives around without formal 12-step treatment, through the power of mass-market personal spirituality—pop Taoism for Mr. Frey, evangelical Christianity for Mr. Bush. Both have awkward gaps in their paper trails.

But the real bond between them is conceptual. The argument for A Million Little Pieces is identical in structure to the argument for the Iraq War: Because of my project, countless [addicts/Iraqis] now know unimagined [inspiration/liberty]—what kind of person would want to take that away by niggling about details that don’t even matter anymore?

Cornered?

That's how Drudge was describing this article titled "Iran scorns EU trio's draft nuclear resolution." But it doesn't sound like it to me.

France, Britain, Germany and the United States are expected to push to have Tehran referred to the U.N. Security Council after it resumed research that could be used for generating electricity or making atomic bombs.

But EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said European states were considering a Russian proposal that could delay a formal referral of Iran to the council.

Speaking to reporters during a visit to Washington, Solana said Russia had suggested the IAEA emergency meeting should call for a special U.N. Security Council session to debate Iran's case, but that there be no formal referral to the council at that time.

Middle class criminals

The previous post reminds me of when I was working as an editor at a weekly newspaper located in suburban New Jersey. We ran a story about the arrest of a mother and daughter for selling drugs. The day the paper came out, the circulation department began getting calls from people who hadn't received their papers. Turns out the mother was driving around the neighborhood picking up the paper from people's lawns.

Women's studies expert charged with prostitution

Life after academia.

In more than a decade of academic work, Brandy M. Britton earned a doctorate in sociology from the University of California at San Francisco, established an expertise in women's studies and founded the Institute for Women and Girls Health Research out of her Ellicott City home.

Howard County police allege that she also ran another business from her tidy beige house: a prostitution service with hourly rates of $300 and up.

...

In 1999, Britton lost her job at UMBC and filed a gender discrimination lawsuit against the university. In dismissing the suit, which is on appeal, a federal judge in Baltimore cited complaints about Britton from UMBC students and colleagues, and an accusation by the National Institutes of Health that Britton falsified data on a federally funded research project.

After losing her job, Britton directed the Institute for Women and Girls Health Research Inc., under her home address and one on St. Paul Street in Baltimore, according to Web sites. Britton also participated in meetings of a committee of the Maryland Drug Treatment Task Force, chaired by then-Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend.

I'm sure she was just conducting research.

Liberals aren't my friends

Bill Quick jettisons a so-called friend after one too many gibes.

I got the latest in a series of insulting - and I mean personally insulting - emails from a "friend" who reads Daily Pundit every once in a while. He is a writer, a guy I know personally, who lives in the SF Bay Area, and with whom I have worked on projects.

But for some reason this latest elecronic missive was the straw that broke the camel's back. He's a lefty moonbat through and through, suffused with the echo-chamber smugness and stupidity common to the breed, who is blind to the notion that those less "enlightened" than he might take offense at his personal assaults. After all, those he assaults are conservatives, libertarians, and other intellectual and political trash who, in his view, should probably be grateful he speaks to them at all.

Instead of pretending to enjoy the repartee, I simply emailed him back and said, "We aren't friends. Let's stop pretending that we are. From here on out, you're in my bozo bin. Don't bother to reply."

I've had a couple of near run-ins with a friend's husband. In fact, the last time I was there my friend forbade her husband from bringing up politics. He definitely does the baiting thing. Outside of that, no problems. Although I must say I never discuss politics with certain people and in certain venues--library school, for example. There's no point. They aren't interested in listening.


UPDATE: Omri on friends of friends

who, armed with a New York Times editorial but lacking the basic grace not to discuss politics at dinner, insist on having 'debates' about the Israeli-Arab conflict. And inevitably, the conversation devolves into us having to explain that, no matter how much they believe Noam Chomsky, it is simply not the case that Israel murders tens of thousands of Palestinians a year. but lacking the manners which would inhibit friends - for reasons genuinely beyond our abilities to reason - often try to engage us in 'debates' about the Israeli-Arab conflict.

Whatever you do, don't get naked

Muslim cleric says naked sex is prohibited and will annul your marriage.

But some clerics disagree.

During the live televised debate, Islamic scholar Abdel Muti dismissed the fatwa: "Nothing is prohibited during marital sex, except of course sodomy."

For his part, Al-Azhar's fatwa committee chairman Abdullah Megawar argued that married couples could see each other naked but should not look at each other's genitalia and suggested they cover up with a blanket during sex.

Crazy homicidal? Or crazy fun?

The art and science of picking contestants for reality TV shows.

The responsibility for determining how candidates will react and whether they are “homicidal crazy or just fun crazy” rests with psychologists. For Survivor: Pearl Islands, Roberts was interviewed by two psychologists: Dr. Richard Levak and Dr. Liza Siegel. The same two doctors also interviewed Omarosa and Solovey for The Apprentice. Omarosa credits Levak with lobbying the producers to get her on the show. “From what I understand, he said to them that I had one of the most unique psychological profiles he’d ever seen.” According to what Omarosa says Levak told her privately, this profile was an unusual combination of high intelligence and high social skills and a balanced mix of feminine and masculine qualities, elegance and poise countered by a ruthless, competitive drive. Solovey was also fascinated by his personality assessment. “Levak nailed me right on the dot. I remember him saying that I am the kind of person who will go all the way to the edge, and I have to be careful that I don’t go over the edge.” Solovey acknowledges that while this tendency to go to extremes got him selected for the show, it’s also why he lost. And in the end, he believes it may be why the reality TV experience was so tough on him.

Don't we all look alike?

According to this facial recognition software, we do. Daniel Drezner tried the facial recognition on top bloggers to see what celebrities they resemble.

Via Virginia Postrel.

You can have mine for $50

Cingular goes after businesses selling cell phone records.

In granting a temporary restraining order, a federal court in Atlanta has barred these sorts of agencies from "possessing any confidential customer information obtained from Cingular, regardless of the form or manner of storage." The order also bars companies from "disposing" of such customer information "other than by returning it to Cingular."

...

As of Monday, Locatecell.com was still promising that it could provide a list of up to 100 outbound calls placed from almost any phone — cell or landline — for $110-$125. For $95, Locatecell says it can supply a working cellphone number of anybody.

By censoring the Web, Iran hopes to silence its critics

Time reports that authorities have blocked access to RegimeChangeIran, the Iranian Feminist Tribune and even Bloomingdale's.

The government's aggressive policing of the Internet reflects how decisively Ahmadinejad has stemmed momentum toward democratic reform. Hard-liners in Iran's judiciary first sought to seal off the Internet in 2004 by arresting Web technicians and bloggers. Since 2004, authorities have rounded up at least 20 writers for posting subversive material online, handing them jail terms ranging from a few days to 14 years. Last June, following Ahmadinejad's surprise election, the government launched a fresh onslaught, this time against the websites and blogs themselves. Using keyword filters and censorship software pirated from U.S. firms, the government blocked thousands of websites containing news, political content and satire. It even blocked the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM). The crude filters make it impossible to look up suggestive words such as women, so a Google search on women's pregnancy produces an ACCESS DENIED screen. "The end result is a marginalization of women and women's issues," says activist Sussan Tahmasebi.

Transforming the Army to fight the insurgency

British Brigadier Nigel Aylwin-Foster has written what WaPo calls a "scathing critique of the U.S. Army and its performance in Iraq, accusing it of cultural ignorance, moralistic self-righteousness, unproductive micromanagement and unwarranted optimism there."

The report, "Changing the Army for Counter Insurgency Operations," praises the Army for the "speed and style" in which it was able to defeat Saddam in 2003 and addresses problems encountered since then, specifically regarding the insurgents. Aylwin-Foster frequently praises the Army and "the ultimate fighting machine" and points out that the Army has already begun implementing some of his suggestions. He criticizes the Army for a lack of adaptability to non-conventional roles and finds that this hidebound behavior can partially be attributed to a devolution of Army professionalism that occurred in the 1990s--after the first Gulf War, when a certain Democrat with a decided antagonism towards the military was in office. He concludes that the Army's planned transformation should emphasize:

The realisation that all military activity is subordinate to political intent, and must be attuned accordingly: mere destruction of the enemy is not the answer.

The development of a workforce that is genuinely adaptive to changes in purpose, as opposed to merely adapting to be even better at conventional warfighting.

Keeping the lure of technology in perspective, and realising that the human component is the key to adaptability. As important, the Army needs to learn to see itself as others do, particularly its actual or potential opponents and their supporters. They are the ones who need to be persuaded to succumb, since the alternative approach is to kill or capture them all, and that hardly seems practicable, even for the most powerful Army in the world. General Schoomaker asks, rhetorically: ‘When the historians review the events of our day, will the record for our Army at the start of the 21st Century show an adaptive and learning organisation? I think so, and we are committed to making it so’.52 His intent is absolutely right. But he faces a challenge potentially no less tough than his post-Vietnam forebears, and it is to be hoped that the historians from all nations, not just America, will agree with his provisional verdict.

David Adesnik has more here and here.

Adventures of a librarian

There were two of us at the reference desk when the woman came in and planted herself on a chair in front of Natalie. She heaved several packages onto her lap and let out a big sigh.

Natalie: May I help you?

Woman: I wanna know what you guys have here about ancient Egypt.

Natalie: Is this for a class?

Woman: Well, no. I'm just ... I dunno.

Natalie: Well, we have some reference works. Is there anything in particular you're interested in?

Woman: I want to know what languages they spoke then. See, I just did a past life regression and I learned I was a queen in ancient Egypt.

Natalie: Oh. Well let me show you what we have.

Narcissus update

Miscellany

Made in Japan: Candy.

"1 drink, 2 drink:" Illustrations for Teddy's kiddie book.

Condi makes him explode: Zhirinovsky.

Nocialism: New political movement.

Coming soon: New ideas for iPod.

Losing the bird really hurts

Parrot owner discovers his girlfriend was cheating on him after his bird started repeating the lover's name.

Taylor said he had also been forced to part with Ziggy after the bird continued to call out Gary's name and refused to stop squawking the phrases in his ex-girlfriend's voice, media reports said.

"I wasn't sorry to see the back of Suzy after what she did, but it really broke my heart to let Ziggy go," he said.

"I love him to bits and I really miss having him around, but it was torture hearing him repeat that name over and over again.

"I still can't believe he's gone. I know I'll get over Suzy, but I don't think I'll ever get over Ziggy."

My temperament

You Have a Choleric Temperament

You are a person of great enthusiasm - easily excited by many things. Unsatisfied by the ordinary, you are reaching for an epic, extraordinary life. You want the best. The best life. The best love. The best reputation. You possess a sharp and keen intellect. Your mind is your primary weapon. Strong willed, nothing can keep you down. Your energy can break down any wall. You're an instantly passionate person - and this passion gives you an intoxicating power over others. At your worst, you are a narcissist. Full of yourself and even proud of your faults. Stubborn and opinionated, you know what you think is right. End of discussion. A bit of a misanthrope, you often see others as weak, ignorant, and inferior.

What Temperment Are You?

Freudian slip?

CNN banned in Iran after translator "misquotes" President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

CNN's simultaneous translation of Ahmadinejad's lengthy news conference on Saturday included the phrase "the use of nuclear weapons is Iran's right".

In fact, what the Iranian president said was that "Iran has the right to nuclear energy," the official IRNA news agency reported. CNN later clarified in an apology on Sunday night.

Because Ahmadinejad doesn't want nuclear weapons. Nooo. Absolutely not.

Bird flu

It's Israel's fault, according to the Palestinian Authority.

Hell freezes over

Jonathan Freedland writing in the New Stateman: "We were wrong about Sharon."

On 7 February 2001, the day after Ariel Sharon won his first landslide election victory, this is what I wrote in the Guardian. "It's as shocking as if Jean-Marie Le Pen had become president of France, or Ian Paisley ruled over Northern Ireland. Last night Israel, by a massive landslide, turned to a man who has spent two decades as an international byword for extremism - a global hate-figure - and elevated him to the country's top job. Ariel Sharon, who once seemed destined only for exile into disgrace, is now the prime minister of Israel. For anyone who wishes peace for that nation and its neighbours, today is among the darkest of days."

...

So why did my heart plummet at the realisation that this man was about to vanish from Israeli politics? The answer is far away from the idealism, the Oslo dreams of peace, that were dashed when Rabin fell. It is altogether less romantic. It is simply that Sharon was beginning to do what needed to be done: he was acting for the sake of Israel, of course, but his actions would ultimately have benefited the Palestinians and those who desperately crave some respite from this desperate conflict.

...

And there is a wider lesson here for the left, which watches the Israel-Palestine conflict so closely. We can keep demanding absolute justice for the Palestinians and a complete resolution of the conflict, but the result will be that the Palestinians get nothing. We can demand a full, final peace treaty, but we will find ourselves in the same camp as Binyamin Netanyahu, who also says nothing should be resolved until everything is resolved. He, too, demands perfection, knowing it will never happen.

Outsiders may treat this as an arena in which to strike a pose, to show their lefter-than-thou credentials. But for Israelis and Palestinians, and also for many Jews and Palestinians around the world, this is not a slogan on a T-shirt. It is a matter of life and death. If Sharon was going to reduce the occupation even a bit, then that was progress. Not perfect, but progress. And if the chance of even that small advance has gone, then it's not just me who should feel glum.

Bloggin ennui

I've got it, too. But I can't see interviewing myself, cuz myself is a big contributing factor to the ennui. So. I'm open to suggestions. Questions? Comments? Issues you'd like to see me post about? Suggestions for an ennui cure? I'm open to most anything.

Yeah, a grandstanding bore

Brit Hume introduces a clip of Al Gore's speech on the wiretapping issue: Al Gore is acting a lot like his old self today.

Who needs transparency?

Dr. Rusty Shackleford has no use for NZ Bear's appeal from center-right bloggers. I must say that I find agree with this bit:

As for the Republican leadership elections, I really don't give a damn if the candidate is reform oriented or not. My major concern is that the next Majority Leader has a bloodlust for terrorists, will not be shirk from calling fascism fascism when the fascists in question are a group favored by the Left, and who will make sure enough money is spent to win the war on terror. However much money it takes.

But I'm not sanguine about finding such a leader--especially in an election year. If the news on the GWOT looks good, members of Congress will be all for it. If not? Not. And we'll see all sorts of posturing about the Patriot Act, the NSA wiretapping, and other issues that haven't even come up yet.

Outside of Lieberman and McCain, I can't think of any staunch anti-terror members of Congress--at least off the top of my head. And neither of these guys would get Rusty's (or my) seal of approval on the limited government front.

I do love that first cup of coffee in the morning

But considering my prospects lately, maybe I should lay off: Study shows caffeine could be viagra for women.

RINO sightings

This week's edition is hosted by Larry Bernard.

Discrimination outrage

Blood.

Like Hitler's bunker--as envisioned by IKEA

Saddam's bunker.

Designed by its German builder to withstand an atomic strike on the scale of Hiroshima, the bunker survived the war of 2003 intact.

Yet now the taps are gone from Saddam's bath, human waste fouls his lavatory, his bed has vanished and so has the carpet from his cramped little bedroom at the gas-proof, radiation-sealed core of the underground complex -- think Hitler's bunker remodeled in the 1970s Swedish pine-laminate contemporary look.

...

Dozens of staff could have survived for months in the 20,000 square feet of rooms and corridors, the German engineer who oversaw construction in the early 1980s has said.

"The bunker can only be cracked by ground troops or a tactical nuclear bomb," Karl Esser told Reuters during the war.

Esser, who claimed a family connection to bunker history through a grandmother who helped build a shelter for Hitler, was as good as his word. U.S. troops finally burst into the complex in April 2003, blowing apart one of the hermetically sealed doors concealed in an outbuilding which, like the entire palace itself, was designed partly as a decoy to conceal the bunker.

The sooner the better

The Israeli Air Force trains for an attack on Iran.

Raz believes an aerial assault on Iran's nuclear facilities is possible. There are many things that the IAF has done over the past few years that the public is not aware of, and it has made many important advances in mid-air refueling. Israel can strike the Iranian nuclear program, Raz said on Israel's Channel 1 TV's Politika program last week.

Former IDF Deputy Chief of Staff Uzi Dayan said last week that if Iran gets nuclear weapons, then so would terror organizations, like Hizbullah. "Israel needs to be ready to act on a military option," Dayan said. "Without getting into details, Israel is capable of doing these things."

It's not just Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's charming call to wipe Israel off the map. Or Iran's planned Holocaust-denial conference. There's the intransigence about acquiring nuclear weapons, a threat to raise oil prices in response to international sanctions and Ahmadinejad's cozy relationship with Hugo Chavez.

India's rag and bone men

And women and children. Peter Foster takes us inside the lives of trash pickers in Dharavi, Bombay's largest slum.

The rag-pickers collect the detritus of the rich and sell it to a "recycling agent" [rubbish baron], by the kilo. He in turn dumps it over a bridge where a small army of the poor and dispossessed who live the hovels beneath methodically begin to sort through it – metals, plastics, cardboard, human waste, batteries, paints, household chemicals… Everything has its price.

...

Counting back, the business of producing a single water bottle sustains about 10 different households. From the lowly child sorter who earns 100 rupees (£1.30) on a good day, right up to the great rubbish barons that can make 100,000 rupees a month and drive round in Indian-made Mahindra Scorpio four wheel drives.

Shelley winters, R.I.P.

Fantastic obit of Winters, who died yesterday at age 85.

In her later years, Ms. Winters appeared on talk-show programs to detail her indulgences with the leading men of Hollywood's golden age.

She also wrote two kiss-and-tell memoirs, in which she counted among her amorous conquests Errol Flynn, William Holden (they had an annual Christmas Eve rendezvous), Sean Connery, Burt Lancaster and Marlon Brando.

She said Brando invited her to the set of "A Streetcar Named Desire," locked her in his trailer and began to simulate violent lovemaking by shaking the room, pounding the walls and screaming with delight.

Ms. Winters wrote that she found this silly, adding: "When I refused to yell loud enough for him, he whispered, 'You're not helping my image enough. For God's sake, you studied voice projection. Use it!' "

Winters obviously enjoyed life. And she lived it to its fullest.

If, during her last years, Ms. Winters fit more comfortably into a muumuu than a sheath, she never lost her sense of laughing delight in what the world had given a poor girl from Brooklyn. In 1996 she defined herself to an interviewer as "a senior-citizen sex bomb." She added: "I get 1,000 letters a month. I send people a postcard of myself in short hair and a checkered blouse that was taken 50 years ago."

The miracle of life

Last weekend I potted some narcissus. And this weekend I have eight shoots, two per bulb, coming up. I can't tell you how good that makes me feel. Especially in this weather.

Yesterday was gray, gray, gray. And raining. I finally stirred my stumps around 4 pm and ran some errands. (How did I manage to shell out over $100 at Target when I was saving so much money?) As I was out on my appointed rounds, it began snowing--not very much, but still. And then came the winds. My patio furniture blew all over the place and my door would have blown open had it not been locked. The winds have continued today, but the sun is out.

And I have my narcissus.

Congress after Abramoff

NZ Bear's appeal from center-right bloggers calls for greater transparency and pushes Shadegg for majority leader.

We are not naive about lobbying, and we know it can and has in fact advanced crucial issues and has often served to inform rather than simply influence Members.

But we are certain that the public is disgusted with excess and with privilege. We hope the Hastert-Dreier effort leads to sweeping reforms including the end of subsidized travel and other obvious influence operations. Just as importantly, we call for major changes to increase openness, transparency and accountability in Congressional operations and in the appropriations process.

As for the Republican leadership elections, we hope to see more candidates who will support these goals, and we therefore welcome the entry of Congressman John Shadegg to the race for Majority Leader. We hope every Congressman who is committed to ethical and transparent conduct supports a reform agenda and a reform candidate. And we hope all would-be members of the leadership make themselves available to new media to answer questions now and on a regular basis in the future.

Meanwhile, Charles enumerates the advantages and disadvantages of this approach.

Contract an STD

Seven steps to becoming a famous author in the era of James Frey and JT Leroy.

Step #2: Invent your persona.

What kind of fake person do you want to be? A criminal? A victim? Some combination of the two? Anything is possible. The important thing is to throw in implausible details: J.T. Leroy supposedly carried a fax machine with him while he worked the streets, and, after achieving literary fame, never appeared publicly without sunglasses and a wig. James Frey curses a lot. I plan to merge these approaches and giving them my own special twist, by carrying a full-size scanner while working at Starbucks and saying "gee whiz" just *constantly*.

Laura Bush: Condi for president

I'm up for it.

Miscellany

Obsessed with dental hygiene: More revelations about James Frey.

Drowned in detritus: Woman sacrifices her life to clutter.

2006 Hajjometer: A disappointing year.

Crime prevention: Signs.

Filth: The moral decay of the FCC.