"I might need it someday"

Former Congressperson Mark Foley apparently hosted a party at a gay bar in Philly during the convention in 2000. Someone in attendance snapped a photo of the Congressperson with an intern on his lap. Months later whoever shot the photo offered Foley a copy. This conversation ensued:

"Male or female?" he inquired.

"Female" was the reply.

"Oh, thank God," Foley responded. "Send me that photo, I might need it someday."

I'm not sure but I think it may be too late now!

Single issue voters

The Republicans have, for quite a long time, had a stranglehold on what I call "one issue voters". These are members of the electorate for which one issue generally outweighs all other considerations when making a determination of who they will vote for. There are a handful of issues that hold some portion of the voting public in this kind of thrall:

• Opposition to abortion
• Gun ownership / opposition to gun control
• "Traditional marriage" / suppression of gay rights

This GOP dominance of a material portion of the electoral base has made it difficult for Democrats and progressives to make headway, especially in non-urban areas. The Democrats do not have, and are not likely to ever have, such dominance on specific "red button" issues. In light of this how do those in opposition to Republicans make progress? There are, I think, two ways. This base becomes disgruntled about lack of progress on their core issue and their tendency to turnout to vote is reduced or other issues (Iraq, corruption) begin to intrude on their thinking and they make more complicated decisions when selecting a candidate. There are signs that this is starting to happen.

A decline in GOP base turnout would be helpful but the real return occurs when voters turnout AND change sides. This has a doubling effect on results. The war and GOP corruption (financial and moral) will probably be the biggest factors.

Britain's past, America's future?

With most legal options now closed off by the recent passage of the Torture Act, those currently illegally detained and mistreated by the US government would appear to have little opportunity to address their mistreatment.

Perhaps something that is unfolding in the British courts pertaining to the Mau Mau uprising in Kenya 50 years ago may provide a glimmer of hope. Lawyers acting for veterans of the conflict from the twilight years of the colonial era will sue the British government for mistreatment, rape and torture.

"Martyn Day, the British lawyer representing the former detainees, said torture was not carried out by a few rogue soldiers, but as a policy. 'In torturing people under their control, or allowing torture to take place, the British were negligent, they committed assault, they breached the European convention on human rights that was in effect at the time and they caused very severe suffering'".

Now that the American government has officially sanctioned torture, detention without trial and other abuses of humans rights and violations of the Geneva Conventions it may be time to consider whether options to redress the abuse exist within the civil courts.

Universal soldier

The Salt Lake City Tribune is not the first place I look for thoughtful commentary but then one is sometimes pleasantly surprised.

Former US political prisoner, Camilo Mejia has written a piece explaining why he went to jail rather than go to Iraq and why the troops should be brought home now.

Just read it!

IgNoblesse oblige

Whilst we are on the subject of prizes yesterday saw the awarding of the 2006 IgNobel Prizes at Harvard University. The IgNobel Prizes are awarded for research and discoveries that would otherwise be overlooked by professional awards givers. This years winners:

• For nutrition: Wasmia Al-Houty (Kuwait University) and Faten Al-Mussalam (Kuwait Environment Public Authority). Research in the feeding habits of the not-just-any-old-dung-beetle. Turns out they're picky. Who would have thought it?
• For peace: Howard Stapleton (Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, UK). For his invention, the Mosquito, a sonic device which emits annoying sounds that teenagers, but not adults, can hear and which repels them.
• For acoustics: D. Lynn Halpern (Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates Brandeis University and Northwestern University), Randolph Blake (Vanderbilt University and Northwestern University) and James Hillenbrand (Western Michigan University and Northwestern University). Their research into the sound of fingernails scraping on a blackboard broke new ground but perhaps did not go far enough. "Still unanswered...is the question of why this and related sounds are so grating to the ear." I think they should have had an answer to that before being awarded anything!
• For medicine: Francis M. Fesmire (University of Tennessee College of Medicine) for his article Termination of Intractable Hiccups with Digital Rectal Massage share the prize with Majed Odeh, Harry Bassan, and Arie Oliven (Bnai Zion Medical Center, Haifa, Israel) for their subsequent article also titled Termination of Intractable Hiccups with Digital Rectal Massage.
• For physics: Basile Audoly and Sebastien Neukirch (Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris). They were responsible for cutting edge research into why dry spaghetti doesn't break in two.

There's plenty more. I think that if some enterprising gets to work on why I get wetter in rain than other people the meteorology IgNobel prize will be yours!

Does this mean George Bush will getcheated again?

Can you think of a more deserving winner of the Nobel Peace Prize than George W. Bush? Well, of course you can, but there are those who can't.

News from Oslo that journalists could be eligible for the prize this year will lengthen The Decider's(TM) odds a bit more.

The head of Norwegian Nobel committee (the Swede's aren't trusted with the peace prize as they are just too warlike!), Professor Geir Lundestad, has said:

"We had discussions about this issue. We recently commissioned a report on the link between peace and news coverage.

"Good news coverage, as opposed to propaganda or inaccurate reports, can be essential to peace. Today there are constant rumours and exaggerations and these fuel conflicts. If someone has accurate information, then it can often reduce conflicts....The media should never try to do this. It should separate the truth from the lies."

Perhaps Faux News then.

The Peace Prize winner will be announced on 13 October.

Since Mr. Bush's ascendancy to the throne, err, the presidency, he has been cheated out the gong by the following less deserving individuals and groups:

2000: Kim Dae Jung of South Korea.

2001:The United Nations ( U.N.) and the UN Secretary-General, terrorist enabler and Iranian coddler, Kofi Annan.

2002: Jimmy Carter, former president of the USA. (A democrat no less!!! Can you get this godamn thing for growing peanuts?)

2003: Shirin Ebadi of Iran. (A Muslim!!!)

2004: Wangari Maathai of Kenya. (For planting trees....)

2005: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and its Director, General Mohamed ElBaradei of Egypt. (Of the horror! The horror! "Not him!. He said Iraq didn't have an atomic weapons program!" "Mr. President, Iraq didn't have a nuclear weapons program." "But he SAID they didn't! How deceitful can you get?)"

2006: Surely it must be President Bush's turn. After all he's brought peace and stability to Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, the West Bank, Lebanon and the Korean peninsula (not to mention integrity, honesty and heterosexual family values to the Sodom-on-the-Potomac that is the nation's capitol)!

Getting one's PJs in a twist

"Madam, I do apologise about the grammatical error on your childs pyjams. "

I think I've been here too long. I can't think of an American equivalent to the British retail stores, Marks & Spencer. The best I can come up with, and one must have grown up around Philadelphia and be of a certain age for even this to work, is John Wanamaker's sans organ*.

Staid, conservative and oh so middle class. The bastion of the business and casual clothing for the suburban elite (they are deservedly renowned for their knickers). The company has now lost its way a bit and sales and profits have suffered.

Which brings us to the subject of this post. The stores have recently marketed a set of children’s pyjamas which unfortunately contained a grievous, grammatical error.

Beneath a picture of two giraffes was the legend "Baby Giraffe's" (sic). To give you an idea of just how middle class the average clientele here is a quote from the outraged mother who first complained.

"Surely, they should have people who check things like that." "I do not care to dress my child in a top containing a glaring grammatical gaffe."

After referring the matter to their "childrenswear technologist" a spokesman issued the following statement:

"We apologise for any inconvenience or dissatisfaction Mrs Walker felt with this product which is no longer on sale."

They do take their grammar seriously at M&S. Not that long ago they changed their "6 items or less" checkout signs for ones declaring, more correctly, "6 items or fewer", after receiving customer complaints.

*Note: when I was about 16 I had a friend who was a talented organist. He took me along once to visit the famed Wanamaker organ (the soloist was his teacher). It was quite an impressive instrument and the setting was magical; a small booth overlooking the central shopping floor. Is it still there? I know Wanamaker's closed years ago.)

"Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me" (Jonah 1.2)

This news from Iraq is not likely to enervate the Republican base. Amidst all the intra-Islamic violence and terror the impact on the Christian community has gone largely underreported. Prior to the US invasion around 4% of the population was Christian. Post the invasion the UNHCR reports that 44% of Iraqis applying for asylum in Syria are Christian. It is likely that half the Christian population has already left the country.

(Nineveh, the home of much of the Christian community, is the city to which Jonah was sent after having been swallowed (and regurgitated) by the whale or the great fish depending on which version of the "true story" you subscribe to.)

The Guardian story quotes Mikha'il, a Christian: "The process started before the war but it has accelerated. In the schools the children now say that a Christian is a kaffir, that he is different from the Muslims. And that means he can be treated differently. In 20 years there will be no more Christians in Iraq."

I think Mikha'il is wrong. In 20 years there will probably still be American troops in Iraq. Only the Iraqi Christians will have had to leave.

Multicultural Britain

Britain is very multicultural in Brent but not so multicultural in Sedgefield. According to data released by the Office for National Statistics the odds that two strangers randomly meeting on the streets of Brent (a north London borough) being of different ethnic origins is 85%. In Sedgefield, the PM's constituency, the odds are 4%. Whilst this is not the lowest, that honour goes to Easington in Co Durham, but Sedgefield is the most homogeneously white. I wonder what this says about the government.

The overall picture is one of clusters of highly diverse population with most areas of Britain being fairly white and Anglo Saxon.

Elsewhere, in a related matter, Leader of the House of Commons and former Home Secretary, has raised the ire of the Muslim community with news that he has encouraged Islamic women to to take off the veil. He was specifically referring to the niqab,which is the veil that fully covers the woman's face leaving only a small eye slot. He said that ""We are able to relate to people we don't know by reading their faces and if you can't see their faces, that provides some separation. Those people who do wear the veil should think about the implications for community relations." He also admitted that he asked women who attended his constituency surgery to remove the veil to facilitate conversation.

I have not always agree with Mr. Straw but he appears to have spoken carefully and I agree, in principle, with what he says. His Blackburn constituency has a large Muslim population. I can't help but think that these remarks will damage his candidacy for the deputy part leadership.

Raindance

You may have heard of strange attractors which have become a subject of study in non-linear mathematics.

I am convinced that I am a "rain attractor". All my life it has seemed to me that I would get wetter in the rain than those around me. Today I think I proved it.

Earlier this afternoon I got off a bus, along with another passenger, at the moment it began tipping down. (Today's forecast - cloudy but dry.) It has been raining ever since. The two of us, quite by accident, followed the same route, down the same streets for between a half a mile and a mile; 15 or 20 minutes. At the end of our little excursion we were standing in front of a shop waiting for a traffic light to change. I turned and looked in the shop window where I saw our reflections. I looked like a drowned rat. He looked like he a walked through a sprinkler while cutting across someone's front garden.

Someone needs to look into this!

A gate for every taste

"Foleygate"?

"Follygate"?

"Pagegate"?

"Messagegate"?

Personally I favour "Groomingate" but it's just a matter of taste!

Maybe I should move to Germany

First of all I like their attitude toward Scientology. (I mean I love Phillip K. Dick but if he had founded a religion I don't think I would be a practitioner.)

Now they are turning their attention to home schooling.

I know they haven't got as much CCTV as the UK does!

Almost all of my ancestry is German. They should welcome me with open arms.

You know that members of the Fourth International are sure to have their finger of the pulse of world events. (I mean, they've never been guilty of putting their heads in the sand, have they?)

An analysis piece on the website asks the important question "will a coup in Iraq follow the US elections?".

I want an answer to an even more important question: "Why didn't a coup in America follow the Iraqi elections?"

I'm just asking!

They must be Republicans

No surprise that Patricia Dunn, former chairwoman of Hewlett Packard, is among those charged over the company's internal spying scandal.

What ought to be disturbing for all of us is that Kevin Hunsaker, the company's former director of ethics, is among those charged (emphasis mine). Guess what. Hunsaker was in charge of the internal investigation.

A phone call

Unidentified man 1 (the voice is very similar in tone to a famous, obese, irascible, drug abusing radio talk show host): "Hey. I just heard the good news."

Unidentified man 2 (believed to be the attorney of UM1): "What good news?"

UM1: "My intern here, Shelia, tells me that the government is going stop seizing prescription drug shipments from Canada."

UM2: "Why is that good news?"

UM1: "You know. my little, heh, heh, problem. You know the one you had to take care of."

UM2: "Would that be little problem number one or little problem number two?"

UM1: "LP1. LP2 wasn't really a problem. Know what I mean? Heh. And not so little either. Heh. Heh."

UM2: "I don't think the ruling applies to oxycontin. And besides you don't have a prescription anymore."

UM1: "Why the hell not! That's damn un-American! I'll rip their balls off! You must know a doctor that will give me script don't you? I mean my damn back is killing me."

UM2: "I don't know a doctor that would touch you with a ten foot pole now. They think you're more trouble than you're worth."

UM1: "Sumovabitch!" (off phone) "Shelia, honey, come out from under there. You've been telling Big Daddy some little white lies haven't you? You've been very naughty."

UM2: "Listen. I've got to go. I've got a call coming in from a referral named Foley. Know him?"

UM1: "I used to. He's a lying bastard. Whatever you do don't turn your back on him."

Straight to DVD

This important news release comes to us courtesy of Christian News Wire. It asks, but unfortunately does not answer, many questions critical to thinking men and women everywhere.

"Are the signs of the 'End Times' all around us?"

Jesus. You'd think they don't watch the news.

"What signs should we be watching for in the news?"

Just watch. It's really quite self-evident.

"How close are we to the End Times?"

Well there are only two years and a bit left in Bush's term. Just work back from there.

"Is it really possible to see into the future?" (Hint: "Christians know the Old and New Testament prophets did it with astonishing accuracy.")

Absolutely. Just come watch me at the track.

But all of this is to prepare us for the momentous news that

Grizzly Adams® Productions, producers of family friendly network TV/DVD shows, has announced the October 2006 release of their new TV/DVD program, End Times: How Close Are We? The show will air on hundreds of TV stations through several Christian broadcast networks and will also be available in Christian retail stores as a full-length DVD with two hours of bonus features, including a church-wide study curriculum. (Do the two hours of bonus features push the time of the Rapture(TM) two hours further into the future?)

The host of the programme is none other than "World-renowned biblical prophecy author and archaeologist, Dr. J. Randall Price". His website, worldofthe bible.com" is there to provide "instruction for proper biblical interpretation, prophetic awareness, and spiritual growth".

The news release goes on to tell us

"When it was written, nearly 30 percent of the Bible’s content was prophetic. Today nearly all of these prophecies have come to pass, with only a handful of predictions that have yet to be fulfilled, including the predictions of the End Times."

I did not know that. Is there a database somewhere that I may learn of this miraculous 30% prophecy rate?

Finally they inform us that

End Times: How Close Are We? tackles disturbing questions with the help of a surprising ally––modern science and technology. In addition to religious scholars and historians, scientists, including geologists, climatologists, vulcanologists ("Beam me up Scotty") and others weigh in on recent events and their potential ties to ancient prophecy and the coming end of the world.

I wait with bated breath.

You know who you are....

Time to fess up. This is not funny! Over half of Americans admit to rewrapping and regiving gifts that they have received. This is going to disappoint your president as it fails to stimulate the economy properly - buying wrapping paper is no substitute for buying gifts!

To the members of my family and any friends out there - if I find out if were you I'm going to be very, very disappointed!

Did she believe him?

An 88 year old man returned home today after being chased by a bull and forced to hide in the undergrowth.

At least that's the explanation he gave his wife for staying out all night.

Candour out of Illinois 18?

Alternet would like to make fun of Illinois congressman Ray LaHood (isn't that a French name?). When asked this morning if he meant that members of congress couldn't be trusted to be around young people he replied "Well, that's pretty obvious".

I think we poke fun at Rep. LaHood for his admirable candour but rather encourage him to go further.

What he should have said is that members of congress (and their sundry lackeys, bootlickers and other domestics) can't be trusted around ANYONE!

I'll be watch' you....

I have probably been on CCTV 100 times today and it could be 300 or more. I live in a country that has 20% of the CCTV cameras in the world! I share my own personal CCTV camera with 11 other people.

Sound creepy? Sound intrusive? Welcome to Blair's Britain 2006. The camera are truly everywhere now. On the High Street, at the train station, outside your favourite pub, on a quiet suburban street. Eventually you begin not to notice. That's probably a bad thing.

For those Americans out there who think their government is spending too much time watching them. It could be worse. You could be living under your government's best mate!

Remembering Peter Norman

Perhaps better known for being on the periphery of controversy than for his own athletic achievements, Australian sprinter Peter Norman has died at the age of 64. Norman was the silver medallist in the 200 metres at the Mexico City Olympics in 1968. The 200 metre contest that year is perhaps better remembered for the black power salute of John Carlos and Tommie Smith at the medal ceremony. Norman was supportive of the gold and bronze medal winners when he found out about their plans and it was Norman who suggested the two share a pair of gloves for the protest after Carlos forgot to bring his. He also wore the same badge as the two Americans, who were subsequently banned from the games.

A good man gone.

This is just so sad

Do you ever wonder why the world often laughs at America? (Living in Britain I very rarely do anymore. I think I see America much as my friends and neighbours do.)

Well if you do then you need look no further than this story to help explain way. An art teacher from a Dallas suburb is to be sacked after 5th graders caught a glimpse of "nude art" whilst on a class trip to the Dallas Museum of Art. I guess every kid in Rome, Paris or even (shock, horror)New York! Come on people. Wake up! It's art. It's the human body. It's beautiful!

Note: did you notice for the photo of the teacher in the article she's shown with a couple of safe Mondrians. Could be nudes. Who knows? (Don't the righties hate abstract art and prefer realism? I guess unless only when there are titties involved do abstracts become preferable! If it the kids had stumbled on this Picasso the teacher might still be employed.)

Lethal injection

Over the years the Guardian has provided excellent coverage of death penalty issues in America. Of late they have taken a more optimistic tone as the possibility of its elimination, either by court challenge or through loss of popular support. Perhaps because I spent my first 37 years in the states I do not necessarily share their upbeat attitude. There is a significant part of the population for whom it is a deeply entrenched idea that the death penalty is not only necessary but that it is good.

This morning's paper brings, a little belatedly, coverage of the California appeal hearing of Michael Morales. Morales had his execution put on hold at the last minute this past February after the refusal of the two medical attendants to take part in the lethal injection. They cited violations of medical ethics.

The hearings took place last week and irrespective of which way the judge rules the decision will be appealed and stands a good chance of getting before the Supreme Court. I cannot see the current high court allowing the death penalty to be discarded.

Talk Left has previously discussed some of the legal, ethical and moral difficulties with lethal injection here, here and here. In testimony during the Morales hearing last week a veterinarian said that he would not use the state's lethal injection procedure on an animal because it would "lead to pain and suffering". Well at least poor Rover is safe.

The article also had a graphic (not available on line) that showed the executions by state since the reinstatement of the ultimate penalty 1976 (undoubtedly as part of the bicentennial celebrations). Two things stuck out.

1. Don't live in a state that would have a Bush as governor. Texas and Florida are at numbers 1 (376 executions) and 4 (61 executions) respectively. The Texas rate works out to about one every 30 days!
2. Stay out of Oklahoma and Delaware (do you hear that family members) while you are at it. They both have a per capita rate that is higher than Texas! My former state, Pennsylvania, has the second lowest per capita rate. (Excluding those superior and civilised states that don't have the death penalty.)

States without the death penalty are: Alaska, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and New York.

I can vote! (I think)

My trials and tribulations relative to voting by absentee ballot in next month's election have previously been documented here. In this morning's post I find that the Montgomery County board of elections has sent me a corrected write in ballot for the proper district. However they did not provide a new outer envelope. The outer envelope has the town and precinct on the outside, presumably to facilitate sorting.

At least I have the correct ballot. I'll wait a week or two and see if I receive the printed ballot and whether I get the correct envelope with that. If not I suppose I'll return the ballot in my own external envelope along with a letter that notes the error.

Maybe my vote will get counted. Maybe not.

It's a shame because I have the opportunity to kick out a pair of losers: Santorum and Weldon!

If I get my chance that will mean one more vote apiece for Casey and Sestak. Oh wait a second. The instructions say I'm supposed to mark the ballot in private and not tell anyone. Forget I said anything. OK?

Sitting in limbo

I must have been imagining things because I thought the Roman catholic church did away with limbo a long time ago. I must have been wrong because it is now expected that the Pope will announce tomorrow that limbo no longer exists.

So, if I get this right, up until now all children who died without being baptised went to limbo and now they are to be delivered unto heaven. There must be billions and billions of them since time began (even if you think that was only 6,000 years ago!). I reckon they're going to have to get the builders in. What if they can't get planning permission? It's going to get awfully cramped.

This may also be a good time if you were a young woman who, having died, didn't what pass the heaven criteria. They're going to have to relocate quite a lot of marginal cases upstairs otherwise there won't be enough nannies to go around.

However a see this as a golden opportunity to resolve an issue that has been disturbing many young families who are concerned about the fate of the planet. Cloth v. disposable. What will God do?

How to lose a generation

Iraq. We are losing control of the situation in the country. Sectarian violence rages. Civil war looms. Westerns are largely confined to the heavily fortified "green zone". In short we may have "won" the past but we are losing the present.

Now we stand to lose the future as well. The education system in Iraq is on the brink of collapse. Professors and teachers, especially in the sciences and in health, have been targeted for assassination. Many staff members have fled abroad or gone into hiding. Class sizes have fallen by 50% or more in some places. I would not attempt to argue that ante bellum Iraq was without problems; political repression was extreme and human rights were regularly flouted. However it was, along with Syria (another of our great enemies), one of the most secular of nations in the Arab world. It also had a generally high quality educational system at primary, secondary and university level including wide ranging access for women.

(A story last month in the Sacramento Bee also highlights the fear of violence that pervades the system and threatens its future. )

The humanitarian tragedy that is present day Iraq is bad enough. The scope of the catastrophe will widen geometically if the ability of Iraqi childern and youths access to education. This will only play into the hands of those who wish to ensure that Iraq loese its secular status and slips into the hands whose wish their religion to drive and control society. We would count most of these people as our enemies.

I cannot imagine why this would be the desired outcome but sometimes it appears that every action we take in Iraq (and Afghanistan) is designed to ensure the failure of what are ostensibly our goals.

Should we ban known heterosexuals as well?

The Human Life Institute has issued a statement on the events surrounding the resignation of Mark Foley saying in part:

"If his claim that he was the victim of sexual molestation by a clergyman, it only further proves that known homosexuals should not be admitted to the priesthood. Foley’s actions were that of homosexual predator, not a paedophile. Homosexuals reproduce sexually by molesting children. This creates a cycle of violence and disordered behaviour that creates future generations of abusers and predators."

How open minded of them.

I guess we have to ban the known heterosexuals if any heterosexual abuse by clergy ever occurs.

I feel proud. I'm not sut but I think I may have just eliminated religion from the face of the planet!

I smell a rat

I find the story now being put about by Mark Foley's solicitor that he was abused as a child. I am not trying to belittle any horrible experience Mr. Foley may have had when he was younger whether it took the form of sexual, physical or psychological abuse. I just sense politics at work here.

To the religious right they can hint that he wasn't really gay. He was just damaged by childhood abuse (and I am not suggesting that he was not damaged just that it is not the cause of his homosexuality). They can also use this as they plot for his triumphant return as a recovering alcoholic ex-gay!

How come you never get to be over being an alcoholic but you can conquer your gayness?

We're having a party!

esWe can't get enough body armour to protect the troops. We can't get enough recruits so we keep sending back the same soldiers and won't let anyone leave the service by imposing "stop loss".

In the immortal words of Emily Litella "never mind".

But we can slip $20 million into a spending bill to pay for a celebration in the nation's capital "for commemoration of success" in Iraq and Afghanistan.

By the time there's success in Iraq AND Afghanistan you'll be lucky to get a six pack and bag of Doritos for $20 million!

Fighting the good fight in the jungle that is Toronto!

What's the difference between Conrad (Lord) Black, former proprietor of the Daily Torygraph who is currently awaiting trial on charges of racketeering and fraud and, say, Ernesto 'Che' Guevara?

Funny you should ask because if you the good Lord they are brothers in arms. They are, after all, both "freedom fighters"! Wouldn't have suspected this would you?

This is the same Lord Black who fought a court imposed spending limit of $50,000 a month. It has since been replaced by a higher figure rumoured to be near $200,000 a month. (What could you get in the Bolivian jungle for that?)

It's too bad that Alberto Korda is dead because I'm sure that the great Lord would look stunning in a beret!