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Tuesday, May 17, 2005
Monday, May 16, 2005
Newsweek Apologizes For The Fictional Koran Flushing Incident
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Newsweek magazine said on Sunday it erred in a May 9 report that U.S. interrogators desecrated the Koran at Guantanamo Bay, and apologized to the victims of deadly Muslim protests sparked by the article.
Newsweek's editor, Mark Whitaker, apologized on Sunday and said the magazine inaccurately reported that personnel at the detention facility in Cuba had flushed the Muslim holy book down the toilet.
Reaction from The White House: "It's puzzling that while Newsweek now acknowledges that they got the facts wrong, they refused to retract the story," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said. " Take that with a grain of salt, friends, coming from a White House that still refuses to retract the Weapons Of Mass Destruction story they cooked up to invade Iraq.
The Newsweek report sparked violent protests across the Muslim world -- from Afghanistan, where 16 were killed and more than 100 injured, to Pakistan, Indonesia and Gaza. The Koran flushing has also been condemned in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Malaysia and by the Arab League.
I realize The Koran is sacrosanct, but, hey, that seems like pretty small potatoes compared to some of the other stuff that happened in Guantanamo or that prison in Iraq. I guess I'd flush The Koran (or the American Flag, or the Bible, or Talmud, or the Upanishads) down the toilet if I thought it would save some lives. But this didn't seem to work out so well.
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Newsweek's editor, Mark Whitaker, apologized on Sunday and said the magazine inaccurately reported that personnel at the detention facility in Cuba had flushed the Muslim holy book down the toilet.
Reaction from The White House: "It's puzzling that while Newsweek now acknowledges that they got the facts wrong, they refused to retract the story," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said. " Take that with a grain of salt, friends, coming from a White House that still refuses to retract the Weapons Of Mass Destruction story they cooked up to invade Iraq.
The Newsweek report sparked violent protests across the Muslim world -- from Afghanistan, where 16 were killed and more than 100 injured, to Pakistan, Indonesia and Gaza. The Koran flushing has also been condemned in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Malaysia and by the Arab League.
I realize The Koran is sacrosanct, but, hey, that seems like pretty small potatoes compared to some of the other stuff that happened in Guantanamo or that prison in Iraq. I guess I'd flush The Koran (or the American Flag, or the Bible, or Talmud, or the Upanishads) down the toilet if I thought it would save some lives. But this didn't seem to work out so well.
---o0o---
Sunday, May 15, 2005
Will Republicans Change The Cloture Rule And Implement Their Scorched Earth Policy?
I haven't been inclined lately to actually write about politics per se, because I find the Republican plans to change the rules of cloture overwhelmingly depressing.
Cloture is the only way the Senate can vote to place a time limit on consideration of a bill (thereby ending a filibuster). Under the cloture rule, the Senate may limit consideration of a pending matter to 30 additional hours, if they have 60 votes to do it.
60 votes for cloture has always been intended to uphold the rights of the minority and as a check and balance against extremism. The minority, which the Democrats are
(just barely), is not completely frozen out and may influence legislation by forcing compromise through a filibuster threat.
Ending the supermajority requirement will leave the Democrats in the deep freeze. We will be a party of desperate and obsequious bootlickers. Or, worse, a party of the ignored.
We had the chance to the same thing to the Republicans. We didn't. President Clinton even went so far as to nominate moderate candidates to the court, in the spirit of cooperation. I didn't like it, but I understood that you have to work with the opposition. But the Republicans, in what I hope is their last term in the White House for many years, have decided to kill the filibuster, and strongarm through their two or three dubious Supreme Court choices, and hundreds of reprobate district court, and appellate judges.
They may well succeed in nominating and confirming judges of the pathetic caliber of Justice Thomas, or another smart extremist like Scalia, not to mention the hordes of knuckledraggers they will place in the lower courts.
They may succeed. . .but it is absolutely a scorched earth option, because they may very well be the minority three years from now. There is no putting this genie back in the bottle.
The only good that may come of this is the destruction of the Republican Party. Bring back the Whigs.
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Cloture is the only way the Senate can vote to place a time limit on consideration of a bill (thereby ending a filibuster). Under the cloture rule, the Senate may limit consideration of a pending matter to 30 additional hours, if they have 60 votes to do it.
60 votes for cloture has always been intended to uphold the rights of the minority and as a check and balance against extremism. The minority, which the Democrats are
(just barely), is not completely frozen out and may influence legislation by forcing compromise through a filibuster threat.
Ending the supermajority requirement will leave the Democrats in the deep freeze. We will be a party of desperate and obsequious bootlickers. Or, worse, a party of the ignored.
We had the chance to the same thing to the Republicans. We didn't. President Clinton even went so far as to nominate moderate candidates to the court, in the spirit of cooperation. I didn't like it, but I understood that you have to work with the opposition. But the Republicans, in what I hope is their last term in the White House for many years, have decided to kill the filibuster, and strongarm through their two or three dubious Supreme Court choices, and hundreds of reprobate district court, and appellate judges.
They may well succeed in nominating and confirming judges of the pathetic caliber of Justice Thomas, or another smart extremist like Scalia, not to mention the hordes of knuckledraggers they will place in the lower courts.
They may succeed. . .but it is absolutely a scorched earth option, because they may very well be the minority three years from now. There is no putting this genie back in the bottle.
The only good that may come of this is the destruction of the Republican Party. Bring back the Whigs.
---o0o---
Seven Year Art Project, Part 8
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This one of the earliest canvases, probably done in '98 or '99.
Poem: At The Acropolis
In Greece, at the Acropolis, someone tells me
It's wrong to think about the slaves
In the quarries and on the hill
That built these things--
Missing persons locked up in the marble.
How can you look at monuments
And forget the slaves?
Standing on the Acropolis,
In the yellow wind
Blowing up from Athens, I know
We all work for the man in the dark hat
And you can't see us for our labors,
Or our lives for the marble.
---o0o---
It's wrong to think about the slaves
In the quarries and on the hill
That built these things--
Missing persons locked up in the marble.
How can you look at monuments
And forget the slaves?
Standing on the Acropolis,
In the yellow wind
Blowing up from Athens, I know
We all work for the man in the dark hat
And you can't see us for our labors,
Or our lives for the marble.
---o0o---
Saturday, May 14, 2005
All This Is That And Porn
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All This Is That is listed on a porn portal. It came up early in a search for this blog on metacrawler. It's always interesting to see how people stumble into here and how the blog gets listed in other places. The link to All This Is That is from a list at the end of their web page that has hundreds of web search results "Related Web Searches." And why did this web site end up on that web site? Because the word balloon appeared in an article I wrote about a President. Their web site has the word balloon in its name (well, 'Baloon' actually), which is how it was also misspelled in my blog, and why I now appear on this "adult action" site.
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Tucker Carlson & The Grateful Dead
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This was very strange. This week I watched Tucker Carlson, that combative, reactionary's new show on PBS. His guest was none other than Phil Lesh of the Grateful Dead. Lesh was there to publicize his memoir of his life with the band, Searching for the Sound. Tucker, a long-time fan (!), talked reverently with Lesh about the music, and philosophy. Since I had only seen Carlson as the snarling host of Crossfire, it was a little shocking to see him lobbing creampuffs to Lesh. But, hey, they had a lot of passionate fans (among which I include myself), including at least two Senators, CEOs, lawyers, doctors, and people in all walks of life. But Tucker, that f***er. . .that was a shocker.
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Friday, May 13, 2005
Seven Year Art Project, Part 7
click to enlargeAnother canvas from the 150. This is from 2005.
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Thursday, May 12, 2005
Painting: Detail From "The Flash"
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Detail from "The Flash" an acrylic on board approximately 3 x 4 feet.
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Wholesome Female Swimwear: $89 Cheap
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At last! Wholesomewear. I can finally go to the beach and not feel distracted by swim attire, the peekaboo views, curves, and anatomical outlines. These are outfits Jimmy Swaggart, The Ayatollah Khomeni, or former Attorney General John Ashcroft could feel good about.
Features include: bright colors at the neck and shoulders to draw the eye to the face, the loose fitting outer garments limit cling and body definition, and some of the suits are "slenderizing." Goodbye erect nipples, genital and and buttock outlines. Hey wait. . .the beach is just not going to be the same after these babies catch on!
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