cut on the bias

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

What's up with Bush?!

This is something I did not like to see:

President Bush said Tuesday that an attack by Saddam Hussein or a terrorist ally "would cripple our economy"...

(Bush) suggested the risks of attack from Saddam outweigh the potential costs of war.

"This economy cannot afford to stand an attack," he said, even as his budget team was predicting war with Iraq would cost at least $50 billion.

I understand that another attack similar to 9/11 would have a major negative effect on the economy; it comes as no surprise to anyone with a functioning brain. What I don't like to see is the fatalistic way this information is presented, even if the point is to give a justification for the war. Markets move on perceptions as well as on facts, and if people think the economy is going south, they will behave differently than if they do not think so. And if we hear, consistently, that if X happens, then Y will follow quickly, when X does happen, we begin immediately to respond to Y, or prepare to do so even before it happens, because we've been told it's inevitable. What if Y could have been averted or ameliorated if we worked at it, instead of being fatalistic? We should be thinking of ways to shore up the economy, rather than risking our own needless destruction just because of a bad attitude. When dealing with an economy like ours, spreading about that the economy will crash when our soil is attacked again could become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Such a crash could well happen even if we as a nation respond as optimistically and strongly as humanly possible. But if we harp about a "crippled economy" constantly as if it's a bygone conclusion, it makes us almost a sitting duck with a big "attack me and I will die" sign tacked in every available space. No no no no no. If Saddam, or anyone else, launches a terrible attack on our shores, there will be economic consequences. But if we approach that inevitability with a can-do, make-it-through attitude, we're going to wind up better off in the long run than if we droop our faces and lay down to die. And our president has a responsibility to win the psychological war on the home front as much as he does to win the physical one on the other side of the world.

Why I'm staying home tonight

This is the first year I've been in New Jersey for New Year's Eve, so I seriously considered going to Times Square to see the dropping of the ball live.

This is why I'm not.

Michelle also expresses it well (although I've no one at home to feel me up. I'll have to make do).

And when I asked Mike at Cold Fury his view on attending, he had this to say:

Times Square on NYE is someplace I wouldn't go to if you paid me by the hour. The whole thing is my worst nightmare come to life: awful, rude, amateur drunks shoving into you constantly while you wade around in puddles of amateur-drunk puke. Nothing worse than an amateur drunk - just one can bring down the atmosphere in an entire bar, even a good one. Imagine what a few million would be like. And all around the perimeter you have a whole ton of cops who would rather be just about anyplace else. It'll be cold as hell and you'll have to get out there hours early and just...stand...around.

Brent at The Ville also makes a good point. That cartoon is good reinforcement for staying home too.

So I have a nice bottle of sparkling apple cider chilling, and the Fellowship of the Rings extended DVD that I got for Christmas ready to go in the DVD player. Homemade soup is bubbling on the stove and bread is baking in the bread machine. I may even totally break tradition and go to bed before midnight. What a way to start a new year - doing exactly what I please.

I like this.

A Venison Tale

A couple of months ago my dad the deer hunter asked me if I would like some venison to take home with me at Christmas. Of course! I said, so he shot a doe just for me and had it dressed. I was concerned about whether I’d make it home on the plane with it, but my dad assured me that my great-uncle had taken a cooler of deer meat from Kentucky to California without incident, the meat still frozen solid when he got there.

By the end of last week I was vacillating – should I try this in today’s hypersecurity atmosphere? But it was my dad! I did want the meat, and I didn’t want to disappoint him. So he packed up a small cooler (think 4 six-pack size) with deer burger, deer sausage and deer steak and, because he knows his daughter very well, a nice package of fresh frozen home-grown corn. We left my parents’ house on Saturday morning, all my things in the back of the van including the cooler. I cried a little, because I always hate to leave. The meat was not top in my mind.

I didn’t actually leave Kentucky until 7:30 Sunday night. When we got to my sister’s house I asked my dad if the meat was okay in the cooler or should I stick it in the freezer? Or at least outside where it’d be in the 30s? He said, eh, it’ll be fine. So the meat in the cooler, with an old leather belt around it to keep it shut, stayed in my sister’s foyer while she and I went to a used bookstore in Lexington and dad went hunting again. That night I put it in the car, where it stayed until my niece handed me off to my friend Melody on Sunday afternoon. Then it stayed in the back of her Jeep while I practiced shooting with two of her revolvers (I did much better this time), and ate a wonderful meal she cooked.

To understand how the next played out, you need to know a little about me and Melody. We’re like Felix and Oscar, with me as Oscar – although neither of us is nearly as annoying as that Odd Couple. I tend to go through life with a “la la la la la” kind of attitude, figuring if something goes wrong I’ll fix it, not being the best planner. I never reconcile my bank statement. My decorating style is – ahem – eclectic, asymmetrical and flow-y. Melody likes to know exactly what’s going on at every minute. She reconciles her bank statement as soon as it hits the mailbox. Her beautiful home is very elegantly and symmetrically decorated in a kind of Colonial Williamsburg way. She isn’t so tied-down that it makes me uncomfortable, but we’re very distinctly different in our approaches to life. It makes for a great friendship, but we do have interesting moments.

This was one of them.

About an hour or so before leaving for the airport:
Melody: Susanna, I heard on the news, I think it was Dan Rather, that you couldn’t take food with you on the plane.
Me: Huh? You think so? Should I call the airline?
Melody: (Hands me the phone book)
Me: (Hanging up phone) The lady said it was okay to take it but just be warned that they may unpack it to look at it. Maybe I should leave it here.
Melody: I’ll put it in my freezer, what will fit. But you could try taking it.
Me: I think I’ll take it. Dad went to a lot of effort.

About 10 minutes before we leave for the airport:

Melody: Should we put ice in the cooler? Have you looked in it?
Me: I don’t think so. Dad said it would be fine.
Melody: Okay.

Driving down the driveway on our way to the airport, Melody’s husband driving:

Melody: How long has the meat been in the cooler:
Me: Since yesterday morning.
Melody: (Turning toward me with a Look) It’s been in there since yesterday morning?!
Me: Uh, yeah.
Melody: We need to check it to make sure it’s okay! We need to pack it in ice! Have you even looked at it?
Me: Um. No.
Melody: Do you want to pack it in ice?
Me: (Vacillating, thinking that would be a lot of trouble for them) I don’t know.
Melody: (Exasperated) Tell us now! (Her husband) will have to stop right now if we do!
Me: Okay.

We pull into the grocery store lot, we split up, I get trash bags, Mel gets ziplocs, her husband gets ice. We reconvene at the back of the Jeep, and open the cooler.

Me: This pack is not frozen but it’s still cold.
Melody: Should you keep it?
Me: Maybe not. (taking two packs to the trash)

Mel’s husband takes out the meat and empties the cooler, Mel puts the meat in ziplocs, I open the ice and start putting it in a ziploc. Her husband helps me. Other grocery customers see three people frantically packing one tiny cooler.

Melody: Hurry, hurry! We’re going to be late!
Me: (Thinking, maybe a little close but I’ll make the plane) Okay.

Finally it’s packed, wrapped in a garbage bag and back in the Jeep. We race to the airport, and Melody goes in with me so she can rescue the venison if the security folks object to it. She sits just outside the security area watching as I go through. My luggage is checked so it’s just my huge tightly packed backpack, my cooler and my coat in a tray. It goes through. I walk through, no problems. Standing on the other side, I watch the security guy looking at my things. The cooler inches out… then goes back. I practice looking nonchalant on the theory that if I look worried they’re more likely to take something off the line to check. Finally both backpack and cooler come out… but are stopped just outside waiting for another security type. Uh oh. I’m caught. Security chick comes over, and takes… my backpack? The cooler comes on toward me. I wonder if the security guy saw bones in the steaks or not. Carrying my cooler, still nonchalant, I wait for security chick to check my backpack, waving at Melody so she can leave.

Five hours later, the meat is in my freezer, having only softened along the edges in the interim, the center still solid on all the packs. Mission accomplished!

Venison chili, anyone?

Back for real (I think)

I slept 11 of the last 13 hours, so I'm beginning to get back on track. Look for A Venison Tale later this morning, and more this afternoon when I get home from work. Lots to talk about - media, politics, the Vast Left-Wing idiocy. I'm feeling energized already!

Back

I'm back in New Jersey.

I'm exhausted.

More later.

Shooting photos and guns

Just a quick entry before I head back up to The Urban Wasteland tomorrow. Someone scrounging around in photos from my nephew's wedding came up with this one that I like. It was taken at Christmas two years, a haircut and several boxes of chocolates ago; I'm wearing a corsage because I sang in the wedding.

I will also note that my hair looks more dark blonde and less red in person. I may assist nature in the "red" direction sometime, but probably not until "white" makes significant inroads.

Yesterday afternoon my dad and I went out behind the house and shot some of his guns - a .22-magnum High Standard revolver, a .38 Smith&Wesson revolver, and a .22 Marlin Carbine semi-automatic rifle. We first shot at a milk jug but I kept missing it with the revolvers, so we got the lid of a carton of apples and stood it up with the milk jug in it. You'll be happy to know that I did consistently hit the lid, although I only hit the jug twice out of about 20 shots with the revolvers. I did much better with the rifle, which had a very cool scope that made life easier. Here's how I did with it - we cut the apple I was aiming at out of the box lid so I could keep it. The white streak is about an inch long, and I was aiming for the middle of it. Please remember that the last time I've shot firearms was several years ago, and then it was only a couple of times.

Tomorrow I may get to shoot some guns at my friend Melody's house, if we have time. She has an excessively cool revolver with a laser site on it. I bet even I can hit a milk jug with that.

UPDATE: The question has arisen about why the photo of me is named "Amanda16.jpg" if it is in fact me. It's because I scanned it at my sister's house, the last few photos scanned were of my niece Amanda, and I couldn't figure out how to change the name after the software named it based on the previous names used. So "Amanda16.jpg" is what it is. Note that the photo of the shot-up paper apple is "Amanda15.jpg". I promise you my niece is not a shot-up paper apple.

Final pre-Christmas report

I'm sitting at my friend Melody's computer, behaving myself (barely, she says). She for some reason thinks that since it's her computer I can't come in and change all the settings. Hmph. Anyway, it's been a lovely day of shopping and laughter, a delightful visit. Tomorrow I'm going to try to beat the snow back to my parents' house where I'll settle in for a long winter's nap and then some.

For the last few days my left wrist has been sore; it feels like a slight inflammation of a tendon going from my hand up my forearm. I've decided it's best that I not type much (if any) until it gets all better, so I won't be posting again until the end of the week and possibly not until I return to New Jersey.

I hope all of you have a wonderful holiday. I know mine will be a blessing.

Take care.

UPDATE: Yes, I know, no more posting. But I thought you might want to see who I'll be spending the holidays with.

Holiday Report II - Family visits

Yesterday afternoon I traveled with my brother's family to my aunt's house in the county where I grew up. It was the Christmas gathering of my mom's family - three sisters (including my mom) and a brother, with assorted spouses, children and grandchildren. We ate turkey and dressing, broccoli rice casserole and sawdust salad (extremely good, even if it is jello), opened presents and commented on how much the children had grown. My first cousin's little boy, who I had not seen before, is now 2 1/2. He's a little blonde clone of his daddy - fortunately himself a handsome and kind man - and they enhanced the image by both wearing medium blue shirts and khaki pants. At one point little clone divested himself of all but the shirt, and ran around the house - in his word - "nekky". No one was incensed (kudos to whomever gets the reference), and his parents were happy because little clone peeled out after going to potty by himself. For battle-worn potty-training parents, a little "nekky" is acceptable on the way.

I would not suggest you try this at your own family party, however. There is a statute of limitations. Little clone is within it; you are not.

Today I attended church where I attended growing up, but the service was short - someone had turned off the gas at the main pipe, so there was no heat. As we didn't know how to fix it, church adjourned early. That meant an early lunch dining on leftovers from yesterday's party, most of which my sister had gotten for her family and forgot at our house. We appreciated her efforts.

The afternoon began with a reception at my cousin's house - her son graduated from college this fall. He has an elementary education degree now, as does his grandmother, his mother, his great-grandmother and great-grandfather, two great-uncles, three great-aunts and assorted cousins. Yes, it's a genetic thing, apparently. There I got to see family I hadn't seen in as long as 10 years, and I'm happy to report that all of them were worth seeing. At least the ones I spoke to. We won't discuss the others.

This was, btw, my dad's sister's daughter. We have some tangled kinships here. One of my cousins at the gathering is my first cousin once removed on her dad's side and my second cousin on her mom's side. That's because my Granny's brother married my Papaw's sister's daughter, and this cousin is their daughter. Got that?

Having gotten the family obligations out of the way, I treated myself to a trip to Wal-Mart with my mom. It was another community event, since it's a small town and everyone had last minute shopping to do. In the way of small towns, the people who hadn't seen me in 20 years - or knew my parents but did not know me - chatted when we crossed paths as if we'd sat beside each other in church this morning. I stocked up on aspirin, wrapping paper, jingle bells and toothpaste, then went to the crafts section to pick up stuff for three projects - I only brought two with me, and you never know when you may have a pressing need to crochet instead of cross-stitch.

And this is What I Did On My Christmas Vacation, Day II. What did you do?

(I did watch the news some, which seemed to be full of Hillary making an *ss of herself which is to say, nothing new on that front. The woman is trying to tar and feather the entire Republican Party for the past 100 years on the strength of Lott's scandal. The woman has the integrity of ... well, there's no one I want to insult that badly.)

Reporting in

I made it to God's Country (translation: Kentucky) last night about 11 p.m., after delays in Newark and a brief fright when the puddlejumper 33-seat jet in Pittsburgh went back to the gate after leaving it for takeoff. The pilot said there was a "discrepancy" in the "mechanical check" but it was an "easy fix". Ha. This same pilot made a beeline for the restroom which was beside my seat just before we left the first time, and then again immediately after we stopped for the "easy fix". Was the "mechanical problem" an over-greasy taco?

This was a prop jet and it was a windy night, so there were some interesting dips and wiggles as we climbed to cruising altitude. The man seated across the aisle from me told me he was a pilot, used to be a military pilot, so I kept an eye on him. As long as he was comfortably reading, I was fine. When he looked up and peered around in a questioning way, I got edgy. Very funny. We made it down safely, and I must say given how we were dipping and weaving again with the wind on the way down, it was a beautiful landing. That last bathroom run must have done the job. Or else someone gave the pilot an Immodium. That was not a landing done by someone whimpering "gotta go! get this thing down!" every breath.

My brother met me at the airport with a surprise - my almost-3-year-old niece was with him, way past her bedtime. She was excited to see me ("I came to the airport to pick you up!), but more concerned about a new car on display in the lobby which was, she said severely, "Not on top of the road where it should be!" Today was about wrapping presents, having a get together with my mom's family, some of whom I hadn't seen in two years, and then sitting around the fireplace with the tree lights on at my mom's house. That's what Christmas is all about.

My sister told this story on a friend of hers that I just had to pass along for those of you with children. A woman with a daughter just about 3 went with her husband and friends to a restaurant. The woman left to go to the restroom during dinner, and when she returned her daughter leaned forward, looked at her mom and said very loudly, "Did you wipe your butt and wash your hands??!!" I understand a good portion of the restaurant broke up, and the mom said she wanted to stand on a chair and say, YES I DID!

Now this is something that I would actually teach a small child to say. I'm bad that way. At my brother's wedding, held at his wife's parents' home in another state, I was goofing around with the 9-year-old daughter of a family who went to church with my new sis-in-law's parents. I was crossing my eyes at her (a talent of mine) much to her delight, and she begged to learn how. I took a couple of minutes to show her, then said, "When your mother asks you who taught you this, tell her 'Laurel Nolan'." That, btw, is my sister. I thought it would be days or never when she did this in front of her mother. Of course I was wrong. She made a beeline to her mom, showed off her new skill, and said, "Laurel Nolan taught me how!" I could tell from the mother's face that she was a bit, shall we say, of a sniffy nature. In good conscience I had to 'fess up. So there I was, at my brother's wedding, telling a sniffy tight-lipped woman that not only did I teach her young daughter to cross her eyes, I told her to lie about who taught her.

What is it the Bible says about that? "Be assured your sins will find you out." (That's from the very popular Susanna Paraphrase gold-embossed edition.) I've already started on my little niece - at a tea party with her this morning she gave me a toy car to hold, which I promptly drove over the "cake" (a stuffed pillow-like cake), then put it down to play like I was eating the wooden knife. My niece immediately objected ("Noooo! You do not drive the car on the cake! Noooo! You do not eat the knife!") then drove the car over the cake and licked the knife.

Maybe I should have stayed in New Jersey. For the sake of the children.

Off to God's country

I'm leavin' on a jet plane...

Should be able to check my email and things tonight. And yes, there will be posts probably every day while I'm gone. So.... cya soon.

Lott out - best case scenario?

ABC News and Drudge are reporting that Trent Lott is stepping down as Senate Majority Leader but not as Senator. Lott is supporting Tennessee Senator Bill Frist as his successor.

UPDATE: Here's the FoxNews article on it.

Thoughts on race and racism

I mentioned before that this whole discussion on racism in re: Lott has triggered my thoughts on it. It’s a topic that’s never very far from my mind, given that its drumbeat goes constantly in the background of our society. Even my hesitation about speaking my mind on it is, to me, telling about the fears we all have of being labeled racist ourselves – especially if we are white and thus ostensibly always the offender, never the victim. But can we have a debate in our society about the practical responses to the needs of all groups if we tiptoe around such a central issue?

The truth is that everyone in this society, in fact in the world, is biased about some other group. Note I said “biased about”, not “prejudiced toward”. We are as humans drawn to the familiar, people and things that represent pleasant associations, valued principles or just plain personal preferences. The need is not to stamp out bias. The need is to consciously operate in our actions in such a way that we are not letting our biases improperly guide our choices so that someone else is inappropriately harmed as a result. The “inappropriately harmed” is key – you can make the argument that when 10 people apply for a job and one gets it, the other nine are “harmed” by the fact that they did not get it. That kind of harm is a part of the push and pull of a dynamic society. The “inappropriate” happens when the choice is based on considerations other than merit in regards to the job’s tasks, and the “fit” of the person’s work habits to the job. (For example, no matter how great a writer I am, I would never be a good fit for a position that required I be bang on time every day. I’m not wired that way. I will be late. I would not work well in a position where that is a problem. So while I’m harmed by not getting the job, it’s the right thing for the hiring company to bypass me.)

So how does this bias manifest itself? Well, note that while interracial dating and marriage is more broadly accepted and done these days, dating and marrying within your own racial group is still the norm – for whites, blacks, Hispanics, Asians, whomever you want to look at. Is this a problem? I don’t think so. Marriages are strongest when you have a wide variety of cultural and value connections, and most people still find that connection in people with their same racial history. I do think that fact is in part a result of either deliberate or cultural segregation, but as the races come together more in daily interaction that will change. Is that a problem? No. It’s the natural flow of things. The younger generations now have much less race consciousness than their parents, and much less than their grandparents. And they will have more than their children. As this consciousness diminishes, more and more people will find they share sufficient cultural and value touch points to make good marriages where race really isn’t a concern. But that time can’t come as robustly as possible as long as we’re forced to consider race as a salient aspect of someone’s value.

I think we’re at a tipping point of sorts. The people who lived through the avid racism and segregationist policies of the past are coming to the end of their public lives. We really are becoming less racist over all. But there are people who have made their careers out of finding racism in every corner, and whose careers would be over if in fact we did “just all get along”. Unfortunately many of these folks have made “white” a required part of the definition of racism, as in you have to be white for your prejudice against another race to be racism. The truth is, racism in this society will not go away until everyone hates it just as much, regardless of whom it is directed against. It also won’t end until we stop conflating “bias” with “prejudice”.

Reader Dave Mecklenberg sent me a link to a column by a black columnist in the Chicago Sun-Times; I read it this morning but apparently it was at the end of its month of availability because it’s gone now. At any rate, it was published on November 21, if you’re interested in tracking it down; the title is "A White Woman, MJ? How Could You Do It?" The premise of the article is that Michael Jordan disappointed all black women by cheating on his wife with a white woman. Not just adultery, but adultery with a white woman, was a slap in the face of all black women. I asked a black co-worker of mine once what she would think if one of her two sons dated a white woman. She said, and this is a direct quote, “I’d ask him, what’s wrong with all the black girls?” Does that make you angry? Try it this way – what if I had a son dating a black woman, and I asked him, “What’s wrong with all the white girls?” Would that do it for you? Until both of those are equally distressing, we’re not where we need to be. (And a quick note: I don't think it will ever be a bad thing to prefer to marry within your own race. It's a bad thing if you hold it against someone else if they marry outside it.)

I think my generation was the one that bridged the years between the bad old days and the modern world of miscegenation at will and with all good cheer. I know there were no black children – or Hispanic, Asian, Muslim (not even Catholic) – in my elementary school. I remember distinctly thinking, as I was going to high school, that I would find a nice black girl and be her friend because I didn’t want to be racist. That memory makes me shake my head now, but it shows my heart was in the right place. It was a transition time, and if we can shut up the race baiters of all ethnicities, the transition will be complete sooner rather than later. The extent to which we kowtow to the likes of Al Sharpton, Maxine Waters and Bill Clinton is the extent to which race will continue to be a hot point for our society. Yes, Trent Lott and Strom Thurmond are a sign of a time we wish were gone. But so are all the racists of today, whatever color they are.

UPDATE: Dave found the article here; I'm reproducing it in its entirety in the MORE section. Also, here is a follow-up column that has a lot of emails sent to the columnist - Mary Mitchell - after the piece appeared.

A white woman, MJ? How could you do it?

BY MARY MITCHELL SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST

Black women forgive almost anything. Indeed, church ladies were among the Rev. Jesse Jackson's most vocal supporters when his baby mama's drama was exposed a couple of years ago. Karin Sanford, the baby's mama, was called everything but a child of God when she went on TV and discussed the details
of her love affair with the married minister. And when R. Kelly was indicted on child pornography charges, a group of black women dragged their own daughters down to 26th and California to cheer on a man who is accused of
filming himself having sex and urinating on an underage black girl.

But Michael Jordan is in trouble.

Nothing turns most black women off more than a rich black man who marries a poor white woman, or a rich black man who marries a black woman and sleeps around with white women.

Jordan was our hero.

At a time when it seems that the first thing a black athlete did when he hit the big time was to marry a white woman, Jordan married Juanita and made her a part of the Jordan dynasty. That meant a lot to black women who, frankly, were tired of watching wealthy black athletes parading white women. On Tuesday, while WGCI's "Crazy" Howard McGee and NBC-Channel 5 anchor Art
Norman were railing against the attack on Michael Jordan by Karla Knafel, black women were likely thinking: That's what Jordan gets for sleeping with a white woman.

Sounds bitter, I know.

But it's true.

When I asked a black co-worker what shocked her most about the Jordan sex
scandal, her eyes widened and she whispered what a lot of black women have been saying since Jordan filed suit against his former paramour.

"She's a white woman," the co-worker said. "How could he do that to Juanita?"

Worse yet, Jordan admitted that he paid Knafel $250,000 to keep silent about the affair. Now, maybe he would have paid a black lover the same amount, but I doubt it. In fact, I'm willing to bet the only thing a black woman would have gotten under these circumstances was a "too bad" and free tickets to Bulls games.

It is no secret that there are a lot of black women who have slept with and have
had babies fathered by multimillionaire athletes. These women didn't even get a marriage license. All they got out of the affair was court-ordered child support--and most of them had to drag themselves and their babies into court to get it.
Knafel, who behaved like a strumpet, got paid the big bucks for "mental anguish"
or for "not going public" with the affair, depending on which lawyer is doing the talking. Talk about white privilege. Not only did Knafel expect to be paid for doing the decent thing--that is, not bragging about having sex with a married man--but she expects to pick up an additional $5 million for keeping quiet about getting pregnant, even though the baby wasn't fathered by Jordan. If the affair happened the way Knafel claims it did, she has a heck of a lot of nerve for a woman who laid up with someone else's husband.

I think Jordan has a lot of nerve, as well. Rather than accept the fact that he
messed with the wrong bimbo and spare his family and the rest of us the details, he is putting his infidelity on public display.

"I really do question whether Jordan's lawsuit was a good strategy," said James
H. Feldman, a partner at Jenner & Block and one of the top domestic relations attorneys in the city. "It doesn't make any sense. I am sure this woman feels very wronged, but usually this kind of thing is approached on a more reasonable basis. This is just silliness. You have to consider what this does to his standing in this community to be involved in such a public display.''

Too bad Juanita Jordan can't do in Illinois what Margaret McCarthy did in
Seattle. When her wealthy husband died, his lover tried to get her hands on a watch, ring and $200,000 she said he had promised her. According to a segment that aired on "Good Morning America" this week, the wife turned the tables and sued Kathie O'Keefe, who acknowledged having a 20-year affair with the married man.

Under Washington state laws, one spouse cannot gift community property to an
individual without the consent of the other spouse. O'Keefe was ordered to account for all the gifts and money McCarthy's husband had ever given her and to pay it back in cash. Unfortunately, the boys in Springfield have made it difficult for wives in Illinois to do the same. The state's "Alienation of Affections Act," in effect since 1948, was changed in 1990 to make it virtually impossible for a wife to sue the girlfriend for husband tampering. Instead of Michael Jordan suing, Juanita Jordan should be the one in court suing to get back the $250,000. That's a case worth rallying behind.

Black women forgive almost anything. But this Jordan/Knafel brawl is tearing into some very deep wounds.

One thing I will agree with here - Knafel behaved like a strumpet. Only that's probably not the word I'd use.

The Blogosphere covers… Brothers arrested for terrorist funding

(More, more! they cried. And they were rewarded. Love the bloggers, etc. You may want to read the first few graphs of the story linked in the title first.)

The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler (Emperor Misha I)

Let the Mossad have ‘em!

It seems a little nasty cell of terrorist-scum has been cleaned out by the FBI in the Emperor’s own local fiefdom. These vile excuses for humanity are lucky the Feebs got them before the Emperor’s minions could forcibly show them their error with firm applications of The Cluebat ™.

Arab-American leaders said the arrests and warrants would fuel the perception among Islamic residents that legitimate charities and businesses were being singled out for harassment by law enforcement officials.

His Imperial Pissed-Offness doesn’t give a freakin’ sh*t what the “leaders” think, when they don’t do anything themselves to root out the evil puss-swollen dog-turds who hide behind their “ethnicity” while knifing his country in the back.

blogoSFERICS (Kevin McGehee)

5 Brothers Charged With Aiding Hamas Eric Lichtblau with Judith Miller, New York Times

Federal officials intensified their pursuit of terrorist financing today with the arrests of four brothers in Dallas who investigators said used their computer business to funnel money to a leader of the Islamic militant group Hamas.

The four brothers, including one who led an Islamic charity in Texas that the authorities say was a front group for terrorist financing, also illegally shipped computer goods to Libya and Syria despite their official designations as state sponsors of terrorism, prosecutors said.

Officials filed charges against a fifth brother, the brothers' company and a Hamas leader overseas and his wife. The charges were part of a flurry of activity by federal officials, who have vowed to shut down the money pipeline between American financiers and global terrorists.

Yeah, these guys are toast. The question is, why did it take so long?

The Ville (The one-named Brent)

Shut ‘em down!

What moronic *sswipes! These pampered arrogant Israel-haters set up in our country, shop at our Wal-Marts and hide behind our laws then ship money over to countries that want to kill us. I think they should all be locked up with nothing to eat but pork and bad coffee! D*mn! I feel like a song!

Mine eyes have seen the glory
of the coming of the FBI
who will arrest your sorry *sses
and lock you up until you die
You’re a traitor to my country
And deserve no break at all!
The truth is marching on!

D*mn straight! Throw away the key!

HappyFunPundit (Steve and Dan – your choice which this is)

Correspondence captured in recent arrest of Hamas supporters in US

TO: Ahmad Bill
FROM: Yassar Rick
SUBJECT: Funding

We are In Receipt of your Last Contribution to our Great Cause. The Sheikh Tom is very pleased with your generosity. Our supporters in The Great Satan the United States have made the expansion of our work possible.

Please note how this memo is addressed, and use this form in the future.

TO: Rick
FROM: Bill
SUBJECT: Thank you

Thank you for your Kind Response to our latest Contribution. We are delighted to take money from infidels good Americans who want to end our cause support your massacre of innocents important work. We hope to remit additional funds soon.

TO: Bill
FROM: Rick
SUBJECT: Rumors

We are in receipt of rumors that your terrorist supporting lying organization fine charity has been uncovered harassed by the infidels FBI. Please let us hear from you soon. We are concerned that your funding to us will dry up you have been unjustly accused.

TO : Rick
FROM: A friendly FBI agent Bill’s buddy
SUBJECT: Rumors

The rumors are exactly right unfounded. Your friends are rotting in jail doing fine. You are so screwed We hope to see you soon.

(Are we having fun yet?)

It's always annoying...

...when work interferes with blogging. I had meetings this morning and a park dedication to go to now (long boring story), so while the will is strong the time is non-existent. However, there will be bloggish goodness this afternoon, I promise!

Are these in mass production?

Kevin at Links I Like has the perfect sign for all good gun owners forced to live next to anti-gun types.

He's a good, kind boy

A NYC art student painted shirt boxes black, painted the word "Fear" on them, and attached them to various parts of the Union Square subway station.

A citizen called the police, not knowing what the boxes were about. After the bomb squad was called and the boxes neutralized, the student was arrested. His teacher gave him an A. She said he was "a very smart and caring and good person" who had "opened a dialogue".

Clinton Boisvert "only intended to observe the public's reaction to his final art project", not "create mass hysteria and fear".

I suggest the teacher and Boisvert be required to share the cost of having the police respond to the scene of Boisvert's "art".

Funhouse

The latest Carnival of the Vanities is posted on Heretical Ideas, full of chewy bloggish goodness. As I am apparently suffering writer's block today, I recommend a jaunt over there for the scoop on the world.

I'm working on some new parodies, and I'm doing some navel-gazing about the direction of the blog (and navel gazing in subzero weather can get icy, let me tell you), so I should have some posts up later today.

Speaking of blog direction, I've been reminded today that I've skidded off the media bias focus I had initially. I do want to regain that, but I don't know that I want to feel limited to it. "Cut on the bias" is about going against the grain as much as exposing media bias, so it's not just a one-note song. I'm curious about what you the reader thinks. If this were a democracy, which it's not, what would you vote for in terms of the direction of the blog? What would you like to see more of?

My readership spiraled up sharply in late summer/early fall, and has since dropped, not back to the summer levels but by about 100 readers/day, which also makes me wonder. Things that make you go hmmmm... I'm not driven by stats, but when people aren't coming back who did for a few weeks, it does make you wonder.

So there you are. I'm off to a meeting where I will be struggling to stay awake. Maybe I'll brainstorm blog posts instead of the normal doodling...

Hope springs eternal

The Republican Party in Kentucky is gathering its forces for a run at the governorship in Kentucky next year. Current governor Paul Patton, a Democrat, is serving the second of his two allowable terms, so the office would be open anyway. But Patton is embroiled in scandal with a former lover accusing the married governor of using his office to help and then hurt her, so the Democrats as a whole are hurting in the state. It's the best shot for the GOP for the top state seat since 1967. I think they have a good chance.

My money's on Ernie Fletcher. Metaphorically, of course.

Racism and the Arab teacher

Reem Sheikh is a 36-year-old Saudi native who has been teaching in a Washington, DC, public high school for 10 years. The Arab News posted an interview with her today that has several points of connection to current news stories.

First, an explanation for why people believe there might be Saudis with less than loving attitudes about the US; the ones referenced here are the parents of Sheikh's students:

As most of these parents come from low-income families with little education, they believe much that is broadcast about Arabs and fear another attack by terrorists in their ranks.

That's right. The reason any American would believe that there might be another attack by terrorists connected to Saudi Arabia is because they're poor and uneducated - not because most of the 9/11 terrorists were Saudis or because some Saudis support terrorist organizations. (That quote isn't specifically attributed to Sheikh, so I don't know whether it's her view or editorialization by the writer or editor.)

Apparently Sheikh also needs to get in touch with CAIR so they can get in touch with reality:

When asked about any racial discrimination or slurs she has experienced as an Arab woman, Reem said: “None whatsoever! I have always been treated well — in airports and in local stores, for example — and I continue to try to provide a different image of women and about Saudis. I have never had anyone discriminate against me because I was Saudi Arabian in southeast Washington, D.C. or the whole metropolitan area.”

That was actually nice to read. I'm glad, although not surprised, that this is the case. Contrast that with the attitude of students in her classroom, at a high school the article describes as in "an over-crowded, dilapidated urban area where the residents are overwhelmingly African-American":

"They tend to look at skin color more than anything else. I was once mentioning that students behave better in the classroom in the Middle East and one student said to me: ‘You’re not black and you don’t live in a black neighborhood, so you can’t talk to us about how to behave in the classroom’.”

This is one student in one school, but it's a telling comment nonetheless. In that student's mind, you have to be black and live in a black neighborhood before you can tell him (or her) how to behave. And apparently - given the way that Colin Powell, Condi Rice, Clarence Thomas and other conservative blacks are treated by liberal establishment blacks - your blackness is defined by the extent to which you hold the establishment line rather than your actual heritage. It's a convenient way to control legitimacy and thus dodge accountability.

It keeps coming back to race and bias. So more on that as well, later.

The right thing to do

Those of you who've read this blog for very long know I've gotten into some good tussles with various people about Big Bang theory, evolution and such. One thing I've been pilloried for is saying I want the public education system to stop teaching Darwinism and evolution as if they are immutable and unquestioned. That usually makes the discussion quickly skid into accusations that I want the Bible's Genesis creation account taught in schools, which is absolutely not the case.

It looks like the state of Ohio has gotten it right:

Ater months of debate, the Ohio State Board of Education unanimously adopted science standards on Dec. 10 that require Ohio students to know "how scientists continue to investigate and critically analyze aspects of evolutionary theory."

Ohio thus becomes the first state to mandate that students learn not only scientific evidence that supports Darwin's theory but also scientific evidence critical of it...

This is precisely what I want. I don't want to shut down scientific enquiry, I don't want science teachers to teach religion, and I don't have any interest in pulling evolution out of the curriculum. I want the truth of the debate taught. That's all. And given what the Ohio state board decided, that's all they want too. But that didn't stop the Darwin religionists (and yes, the adherence of some has the fervency and faith of a religious belief system):

In Ohio critics of Darwinism were compared to the Taliban, and Ohioans were warned that the effort to allow students to learn about scientific criticisms of Darwin was part of a vast conspiracy to impose nothing less than a theocracy.

But their dodges didn't work this time:

For years, Darwinists successfully shut down any public discussion of Darwinian evolution by stigmatizing every critic of Darwin as a Biblical literalist intent on injecting Genesis into biology class. While Darwinists still try that tactic, their charge is becoming increasingly implausible, even ludicrous. Far from being uneducated Bible-thumpers, the new critics of evolution hold doctorates in biology, biochemistry, mathematics and related disciplines from secular universities, and many of them teach or do research at American universities. They are scientists like Lehigh University biochemist Michael Behe, University of Idaho microbiologist Scott Minnich, and Baylor University philosopher and mathematician William Dembski.

I know that to some this is tantamount to insisting that medical schools teach the competing philosophy of "humors" as the cause of illness along with modern anatomy. But science is never diminished by opening up the debate for more voices, and always reduced when some avenues are shut down. The natural process of time and new discoveries will either validate the decision of the Ohio state board or will show it to be the last gasp of an intellectually antiquated system. But a true scientist is not afraid of honestly competing ideas.

UPDATE: I just came across this, as a small illustration of the pervasiveness of the Darwinistic evolutionary model:

Salmon cannot help being stressed out. They are programmed to die, their systems propelled into overdrive by evolutionary design.

Now this is in an interesting article on human stress, and evolution is not a part of the discussion in any direct way. I just wonder, what's wrong with saying it this way:

Salmon cannot help being stressed out. They are programmed to die, their systems designed to propel into overdrive.

You tell me: Is that a pernicious change? Does that inject religion into the article? Is it inconsistent with an evolutionary model?

The mechanism through which most bias is introduced into media is framing. I'll have more to say about that in another post soon (although not in the context of evolution), but for now I'll just note that evolutionists have been controlling the scientific frame for a long long time. I'd like to see a neutral frame become the standard.

The Blogosphere covers... Condit sues Dunne for slander

(See what you've done by encouraging me? Following are parodies, and are not to be taken seriously. All in clean fun, love the bloggers, etc.)

Asymmetrical Information (Jane Galt)

from the desk of Jane Galt

California Rep. Gary Condit is suing author Dominick Dunne for allegedly saying that Condit "should have known" that Levy would be killed.

This type of reaction is not unusual in disgraced public figures - it's an effort to regain some of their besmirched character. The annals of history show a repeated pattern from both politicians and movie stars. Look for instance at Al Gore - he sued the NY Post for calling him "a wooden, irritating lump of a stupid man" who "consorts with ill-intentioned characters in bad suits". Similarly, Barbra Streisand sued the Sean Hannity show for saying she "traded on the light of her fading stardom to bilk aging babyboomers of their ill-gotten gains while castigating them for having ill-gotten gains, yet not revealing that her own gains were ill-gotten." The problem with these legal tangles is that truth is a defense; both Gore and Streisand lost in court. I suspect Condit will have difficulty bleeding Dunne of much more than notoriety.

The economic impact of this kind of lawsuit is minimal. In an economy slowly getting its legs, the financial implications of these kinds of nuisance suits will serve as little more than opportunities for the news media to make additional money. And an unrestricted market in this instance is a good thing.

File 13’s Amish Tech Support (Laurence Simon)

Condit swims upstream

What’s with shellac-haired Gary Condit, the defiler of innocent interns (no, wait, that’s Bill Clinton) (no, wait, no wide-eyed innocence there, just wide-mouthed slurping), suing Dominick Dunne for slander? That’s like suing a weather man for saying it’s raining when he can see it out the window.

Condit: Give me a freackin' break, you idiot.

Pretzels!
I’ve got Garlic Parmesan Pretzels boiling on the stove and the oven hot to go, Lox and Feta Bread in the breadmaker, you losers are so jealous. I see your drool.

Cats!
Edloe just smacked Nardo up side the head with a catnip mouse. How I love being a cat-daddy!

Ipse Dixit (Dodd Harris)

It appears that soon to be former Rep. Gary Condit has brought a lawsuit for slander against author Dominick Dunne for his comments on several television programs claiming that Condit was connected to the death of his lover Chandra Levy. This type of lawsuit amuses me, as the facile idiocy of his response to the investigation left him open to much speculation. And Democratic party leaders waited until after his disastrous "interview" with Connie Chung to make even the most tepid statements of distaste for his behaviour, which I believe emboldened him into thinking he could ride out the situation. For him to now assail Dunne for speculation that even his own colleagues were likely whispering in the Congress cafeteria is evidence of his own over-inflated ego.

The Last Page (The Mysterious Pseudonymous Page)

8 Shopping Days ‘til Christmas

And Gary Condit, jack*ss representative from California, is suing author Dominick Dunne for slander. They’re both jack*sses.

I’m in a jack*ss mood, but since I’m all about giving I’m posting.

Here’s more. Contain your joy.

Overheard somewhere in the nation’s capitol:

(click click click)

Page: What are you doing?

Dave: Condit’s on every channel. He’s suing Dominick Dunne.

Page: Jack*ss.

Dave: Which one?

Page: Both of them.

Dave: Isn’t truth a defense?

Page: Yeah. But Condit wouldn’t know the truth if it bit him on the *ss.

(click click click)

Dave: He’s on every channel.

Page: (Updating her website) Television media is run by jack*sses, what do you expect.

There. Don’t say I don’t love you.

(Will there be more tomorrow? Who knows. I wake up in a new world every day.)

More on everything

I'm having a difficult time finding something specific to blog on today. Many of the things I want to say others are doing quite well - like, for instance, Robert Prather and Mike Hendrix on the demonization of the South as a whole in this Lott thing, and Martin Devon on how long Lott will last. Media Minded, John Rosenberg and Jeff Jacoby have the media bias ground covered, with a week-old column by E.J. Dionne preaching the Gore conservative-bias line. What is there left for me to say? I've been collecting some things on media bias lately, mostly pulling together ideas from the academic journal articles I've been reading about media. I hope to do a long post - maybe broken into two or more installments - about that maybe next week, when news will be slow.

I'm working on an essay on racism, and what my experience with it has been. It's a difficult topic because everyone has their view of what it is, of what is acceptable and what is not, and they get tight-lipped and judgmental if where you fall is not in their "safe zone". While I'm of the dreaded Euro-Caucasian heritage, I've had my own brushes with -isms that give me some peg to hang my understanding on. When I discuss bias and prejudice in the classes I teach, I make a distinction between them - prejudice is a negative judgment based on information received indirectly, second hand, or on data filtered through a cultural screen that doesn't allow all the information through or dismisses some of it. Bias is often a neutral thing, meaning you prefer one thing over another. I find no problem with, for instance, generally preferring people I have commonalities with over people I do not. The problem comes when you make judgments about someone's value based on characteristics that aren't a matter of choice - like race, place of origin, size or appearance (where it's genetic or externally determined). It's an important distinction, but one I think gets lost in modern discourse about race.

At any rate, my thoughts overall are still too chaotic to share with any coherence. Nothing unusual about that, is there? So I will have more to say when things coalesce. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Lovely

Last night I watched an HGTV special on decorating the White House for Christmas. It included a section on artists making ornaments for the White House trees. As someone who leans toward crafty things - quilting, crochet, cross stitch - I found it fascinating. They'll be replaying the shows. If you like that kind of thing, like me, you'd enjoy it.

The Blogosphere covers... the Carnival Cruise sickness

(This is the first in a series of parodies of bloggers covering various news events, wherein I attempt to mimick their styles for your amusement. I do this with the greatest of love in my heart for all these fine bloggers. Update: The links in the Instapundit parody go to real places but there are no posts there associated with the parody. It's a joke. Get it?)

Instapundit (Glenn Reynolds)

CRUISE SICKNESS: Carnival Lines is going to face some problems if they don't get a handle on this infection. It's more than the cruise industry can stomach for long. Heh.

UPDATE: Tim Blair and Virginia Postrel have more.

UPDATE: My Tech Central Station column has more on the implications for the industry.

Yourish.com (Meryl Yourish)

The Incredible Hulk leaps onto the cruise ship.

Hulk: Where bad thing?

Woman: (tossing cookies over the side of the ship) Um (gag) what bad thing?

Hulk: Hulk hear bad thing making people sick! Tourist industry hurt! Hulk smash bad thing!

Woman: Um, I don't think you can smash this, not without it being really gross.

Hulk: Hulk don't care if gross! Hulk rescue! Hulk smash!

Woman: (coughs on Hulk)

Hulk: You are bad thing! Hulk smash you! Hulk... (suddenly rushes to the edge of the ship)

Woman: Sorry.

Cold Fury (Mike Hendrix)

Happy pukin' holiday

I've noticed a lot of people are getting sick lately on these fancy *ssed cruises out in the Caribbean. Did anyone check to see if they weren't all old folks with stomach problems already? It's either that or the sh*tload of food they put on the tables there; you can't turn around without more in your face. Of course they're getting sick!

I've thought about going on a cruise, but being locked up for a week with a bunch of grampas from Wisconsin or Joe Slicks from some creepy dive in Miami ain't my idea of a good time. Give me the open road with a revved up Harley or a hot lickin' band in a bad-*ssed bar with a cold one in my hand and a woman who jiggles when she walks sittin' on my lap, I'm a happy man.

I'm just sayin', is all.

Scrappleface (Scott Ott)

GORE MISTAKES CRUISE SHIP FOR CRUISE MISSILE

WASHINGTON, DC - Al Gore announced today that he will not be running for president after hearing that a ship with cruising projectiles was in the Caribbean.

"I just can't sign on to lead a country that's willing to put cruise missiles on a ship right in our own back yard," said Gore. "We're apparently beyond help. I've applied for Canadian citizenship and plan to challenge Chretien for Prime Minister. It seems like a good fit."

Sources say that Gore misinterpreted a story on projectile vomiting on a cruise ship in the Caribbean, which lead to his decision to bypass the 2004 presidential race.

Dr. Weevil (Mysterious Male)

Sickum In Cruiselineus

The Carnival Cruise Lines have been having difficulties with vacationers getting ill on their voyages. This type of group illness is not limited to modern times; when Tactile lead his troop of Estruscans to conquer Athens, some bad mead made the whole unit violently ill. In his history of the Estruscan invasion of Athens, Platon called the illness projectionus diarrheaus, from which we get our term "projectile diarrhea".

Platon even wrote a haiku on it:

projectionus diarrheaus
extrememly biteum
whenus marcha withus groupis

My favorite translation is by Marion Estudenten:

Green leaves, long walks
enjoying
the fruits of our labors

Both Hesiod and Warbloggerwatch have been silent on this development so far, which is no surprise to anyone.

(I know, I desperately need a life. But hey, it amused me.)

No Gore in '04

In a way, I kinda wish he was running. He'd make a mess of all the campaigns of the other folks, and it'd be fun to beat him again. But I guess we'll have to settle for watching the whole thundering herd of Democratic presidential hopefuls beating up on each other for two years. Let's be good neighbors and be sure to help them out, ok?

Kudos for Hollywood

You don't see that kind of headline here very often, with good reason. But I appreciate the stars who are entertaining the GIs through the USO, including Robin Williams. It's nice to know that not all entertainers had lobotomies at the beginning of their careers.

And so it begins

Sen. Don Nickles, R-Oklahoma, Republican No. 2 leader in the Senate, the Minority Whip in the previous Congress, is calling for another vote for Senate Majority Leader, the first call (that I'm aware of) for Lott to step down from his Republican colleagues in the Senate.

Of course Nickles would be a major contender to replace Lott, so it isn't precisely an altruistic move on his part to "save the party". On the other hand, according to the article, he's not asking Lott to step down but rather seeking to get it back before the Senate for a vote. It would in essence be a vote of confidence/no confidence for Lott.

The senator who will be No. 2 in the new Congress, Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, says, basically, "He's apologized. Let it go." He would also be a potential candidate if another vote were held.

Just because Lott is wrong...

...doesn't mean the Democrats aren't being flaming hypocrites.

Because they are.

Life, she is good

I just got back from an afternoon in Manhattan, and while I'm tired I'm glad I went. I met my friend Ben in Chinatown, where we had custard buns at Maria's Bakery (I highly recommend it), then browsed some of the stores before heading up to Strand Bookstore. Did I buy books? Uh, yeah. (I was going to say, "Just you try to go there without buying books", until I realized that Ben didn't. He's much more disciplined than me though.)

We jumped on the subway next and took it to 49th, then walked over to Rockefeller Center to see the Christmas tree and watch people ice skating down below it. The place was packed, even though it was raining (that annoying rain that's just past drizzle but just shy of really raining, so you vacillate about whether to put up the umbrella). I headed home after pizza at Sbarro's under the Rockefeller Center. Although I live about 8 miles from midtown Manhattan, it takes up to an hour and half to get home, depending on how I hit the trains. This was a good night - I was home in just over an hour.

I'm worn out so I'm going to go ice my knee and watch television. I hope you all had a great day.

Elite Dems and big money

I sent this column off to two publications, both of which passed on it. So as it's getting dated, I thought I'd post it here for you all, and get to work on something else for The Big Guys.

Elitism, big money and the Dems' hypocrisy

The Democrats are facing a big money dilemma.

For years, they’ve portrayed the Republican Party as the party of big money; most especially, during the 2000 presidential election and since, they’ve alluded to George W. Bush’s family wealth and connections as the source of his power, rather than the will of the people. It’s an attractive illusion to them, but it is at heart an empty argument coming apart under the weight of their own hypocrisy.

In this fall election cycle, two women who ran for state office were careful to use their family names – the names of prominent, wealthy politician fathers – during their campaigns. Lois Combs Weinberg in Kentucky and Kathleen Kennedy Townsend in Maryland both come from families with political traditions like that of George W. Bush. Both are wealthy from family money, Weinberg’s from her father (and former Kentucky governor) Bert T. Combs’ natural gas wells in Eastern Kentucky, Townsend’s based in a wide range of business interests pursued by her grandfather, Joseph P. Kennedy, patriarch of the Kennedy political family.

Both Weinberg and Townsend are Democrats.

In October, Forbes magazine listed the top 10 wealthiest politicians currently in office or who ran for office this year. Of the 10, six are Democrats; one is an independent. Only three are Republicans. Four of the six Democrats are currently serving as senators – John Kerry (Massachusetts; $500 million), Jon Corzine (New Jersey; $300 million), Herb Kohl (Wisconsin; $250 million) and Jay Rockefeller (West Virginia; $200 million). Rockefeller’s money comes from his family’s interests; Kerry married into the Heinz fortune, while Kohl made his with department stores and Corzine through Wall Street – inherited wealth or business wealth. Big money.

Historically our nation has been served well by its public-minded wealthy citizens. Many of the framers of the Constitution, and our first President, were wealthy. In the more than two centuries since that first President George, personal wealth has continued to play a prominent role in politics, to the extent that we make a point of emphasizing an Abe Lincoln, a Harry S Truman, a Jimmy Carter – men who rose to the highest office even though from modest beginnings – because they succeeded despite a lack of personal funds. The current problem with the Democrats is that they are trying to portray themselves as a working- to middle-class populist party when in fact many of their top candidates and operatives are themselves extremely wealthy beyond the reach of the average Democrat – or, significantly, the average Republican.

Both the myth of the GOP as the party of big money and its fallacy are facts that aren’t just being noticed by conservatives. In the November 6 edition of The New York Times, a news analysis about the New Jersey election had this to say:

“New Jersey has more money than most states, more corporate headquarters, and more M.B.A.'s and S.U.V.'s, status symbols long associated with a Republican world view. But this year they have symbolized the rise of New Jersey's Democrats.

In defiance of patterns that were once political gospel, New Jersey has become more Democratic as it has become wealthier, more suburban and more educated.”

It’s not that Democrats - or anyone else - shouldn’t be wealthy. What matters are character, integrity, and a willingness to do the right thing. But a major component of the high moral ground to which Democrats lay claim is their connection to “the people”, which they contrast with those who have so much money that they don’t understand how “the people” live - and thus would not make the right decisions for the majority of people, those for whom the choice is not Mercedes or Jaguar, but a used Ford or a used Chevy. But that image is not compatible with a party where multi-millionaire entertainer Barbra Streisand sang at a party fundraiser where tickets started at $500 a person – and ten people in attendance paid $250,000 each.

The truth is, money and politics go together. What separates any politician from others is not his money, but whether he will represent his constituents honestly and with a genuine desire to further their and the country’s interests, not his own. By deliberately fostering their big-money myth, the Democrats lose even the illusion of moral high ground.

He must own a thesaurus

It appears that I am clueless, audacious and lacking in reflection, yet somehow also seemingly intelligent and articulate, with the potential to be Anne (sic) Coulter in hiding.

I'm not quite sure whether to be offended or gratified. How about I settle on amused.

Let there be rejoicing

Overlawyered is back from hiatus, and has all kinds of good stuff on legal idiocies.

Lott not stepping down (yet, anyway)

Trent Lott is right now taking questions in his press conference, which I'm listening to on Sean Hannity's show on WABC 770. Lott made a very explicit, categorical apology, and seemed sincere to me, not another non-apology. He announced that he will appear sometime early next week for a full hour on BET (Black Entertainment Television) to discuss the situation and (paraphrased) his hopes and support for the black community.

It seems he's planning to hang on, at least to ride this out. Whether he stays on as Majority Leader into the next term remains to be seen.

UPDATE: I’m taking some criticism for defending Lott at all – seeing his apology as possibly sincere, etc. Folks, this is in part just my personality. I’ve mentioned before my tendency to say “well, he has some good qualities” about virtually everyone; it’s difficult for me to dismiss someone as totally cynical and irredeemable. Some I do, but not often. I’m not saying it’s always the best way to be, but I go a long way before dusting my hands of someone completely. I do believe Lott should not be Majority Leader – there’s a difference between forgiveness and consequences. Sometimes even when you’re totally sincere and contrite, and we can forgive, you still have to accept the consequences of your wrong behavior. And that’s the best position Lott’s in now. I’m not defending Lott’s actions or words. I’m just saying, every sinner has the potential to be sincerely repentant. And I’m giving him the benefit of a doubt.

I don't apologize for being somewhat credulous. I prefer that to full-blown cynicism.

Prominent Blogger Tells Everyone What They Ott To Do

WAYCROSS, Ga. – Prominent blogger Scott Ott – known to his thousands of fans as “Scrappleface” – is on a book tour promoting his 1998 self-help tome that his publisher has re-released now that Ott’s fame is beginning to assume Sean Penn proportions.

“It was a great honor to have my book republished,” Ott said, speaking from the broom closet in the back of the Waldenbooks in Waycross, Ga., where he was signing the janitor’s mop-water stained copy of All I Ever Needed To Know About Chicken Soup I Learned from the Celestine Women of Venus. “I was surprised when approached, but grateful.”

Ott self-published his 13-page bookette.

Although short, the bookette movingly details Ott’s journey from self-ignorance to self-mockery. While noting that he personally felt and deeply absorbed every lesson along the way, Ott acknowledges his debt to John Gray and other old-line self-helpers.

“I was struggling with how to integrate my material into a form that spoke of my experience without borrowing too heavily from the other texts,” he said, pausing to sign the Waldenbook’s manager’s copy of the bookette. “However, once I consulted with my mentors, Doris Kearns Goodwin and Michael Bellesiles, I realized the answer was yellow legal pads. I had no trouble after that. It’s as if the words appeared by magic.”

One particularly outstanding feature of Ott’s bookette is the carefully drawn parables, constructed to illustrate his points. Even when the points themselves are missing, the parables stand alone as quirky asides that will make most readers go, “huh?” If you’re looking for a way to challenge yourself, to go beyond the ordinary, to reach for the stars with everything that’s inside you, this is probably the last thing you want to buy. But it’s really funny, if you like that kind of thing.

(It actually is very funny, and worth not only $1.14, but the full $3.50 asking price. You can order it on his site, in the upper left hand column.)

Hipness in NYC

Dave Barry doesn't always get it right, but when he does he gets it very right. Here's his take on a hip NYC hotel:

Speaking of insane: One of my stops on the book tour was New York City, where the publisher put me at an extremely hip hotel. It's so hip that there is no sign outside saying ''HOTEL.'' I walked right past it the first time. Evidently if you're hip, you just know there's a hotel there.

The lobby was full of hip people on stark, modernistic furniture, talking into cellphones. They were all 25 years old, and they all wore black. I suspect their underwear is black. I myself was wearing khaki pants. I felt like a pig farmer in town for the big manure-spreader show.

The worst part was that I couldn't see. At some point in recent years, light must have become unhip, because this was the darkest hotel I've ever stayed in. The lobby wasn't so bad -- it was merely gloomy -- but the elevator was so dimly lit that I had to put on my reading glasses, squat, and put my face right next to the buttons to find the one for my floor. I'm sure this amused the hip lobby people. (``Look! A pig farmer squatting in the elevator!'')

My floor was actually scary. Have you ever been in one of those Halloween fun houses, where it's pitch-black and people leap out of the darkness to frighten you? The hotel hallway was like that. It was so dark that I honestly could not see my feet. I initially thought the walls were painted black, although I was later informed that they were very dark purple (a hip color). Sometimes I would encounter other guests in the hallway, but of course I could not see them, because they were wearing black. I knew they were there only because I could hear their cellphones ringing.

My room had stark, modernistic furniture and several modernistic low-wattage lamps, which, when I turned them all on, provided about the same illumination as a radio dial. The only way to read was to turn the TV on and tune it to a program with bright colors, such as Baywatch. My room was strewn with hip items, many of them for sale, including a hotel T-shirt (black), various herbal substances and an ''Intimacy Kit'' for $12. If they really want to make money, they should sell 100-watt light bulbs; I would have paid $20 for one. They did sell a candle, labeled ''TRAVEL CANDLE,'' for $15; I considered buying it and using it in the elevator, to find the ''Lobby'' button.

I get this same feeling when I see those hip young people commercials on television, where everything is stripped down to bare walls in their apartments, both girls and guys have neutral toned slacks hanging off their prominent hipbones, their hair is spiked in a very cool way (and if it's TOTALLY cool their hair is also dyed maroon) and no matter what else they have on their bellies are showing. Most wear little eyeglasses with rectangular lenses. I think those are the people who go to Dave's NYC hotel.

Form over function, always and forever.

One of the funniest things though was unintentional - the list of columnists for The Miami Herald goes by topic: "News Columnists", "Sports Columnists", "Technology Columnists". Makes sense. Barry is listed under... "Living Columnists". I realize what they mean, but it just struck me as very funny. All the others are dead? You may get that impression from reading them, but it's unlikely to be true. I think I'd find some other designation.

Signs of the times

Hanging in my computer room, up above the door to the stairway and the outside, is a rough board about 10 inches high, 3 feet long and half an inch thick (if that). Although it’s painted with flat black paint – most likely fence paint – you’d get splinters if you ran your hand across it. Stenciled lengthwise on it is what looks like a large lobster, with a ‘93 flanking its tail. It’s in white paint with reflective qualities, which I’ve always thought was probably road sign paint. The board is nearly broken in the middle, with a small splintery hole at the top. The hole is where the nail was that held it to a telephone pole in my home county in Kentucky; it’s nearly broken because the nail resisted my efforts at yanking the sign off the telephone pole. I had wanted that sign for months, and when its utility was ended I made my parents stop their car on one of my visits home when we passed that pole. I climbed over a ditch and into a field with grass to my knees to get that sign now hanging in my apartment.

The sign is fascinating to me as a part of the modern culture of my childhood community. It’s not a lobster there, you see – why would anyone in southeastern Kentucky, tucked away in the foothills of Appalachia, have anything to do with lobsters? It is a crawdad – what those further south call crayfish - and it is a political sign. One of the men running for county judge executive in 1993 was nicknamed Crawdad, and that was his way of asking for votes. Signs like that were all over the county back then, and I wouldn’t be surprised if a few still linger now, almost 10 years later, on the side of some remote barn, or on a utility pole up some holler reached by gravel road.

Politics have their peculiar rhythm in every community, and in a small place where some families go back together over 100 years, you come to speak a shorthand without even realizing it. It’s a place where many people have nicknames, where “Crawdad” can have the same one-name relevance that “Madonna” does in other settings. To me that sign is not just an artifact, but a reminder of a culture.

CG Hill at Dustbury today quotes an article from Automobile magazine about a road trip in Kentucky where the writer found just that kind of thing:

It was election time in Kentucky, and all of our turns were marked by clumps of campaign posters for people with names like Peanuts, Lacey, Doc, Dot, Butch, and Buford. There was a Bobby Lee, a Ricky Lee, a Proctor, a Thurston, and a Catfish. You got the idea that a guy named Jim or Bob might not have much of a chance at the polls, but a guy named Jim Bob could rule the world.

Often times in communities where you passed by “Junior” generations ago, dual names and nicknames are handy ways to distinguish