While in exile in Siberia, Stalin impregnated a 14-year old. Not a lot to do in those Arctic winters, I guess. But still. And never paid child support, either. Who knew that Stalin might not be a good person?
The Supreme Court allows employers to force employers to give up their right to sue them.
Berlin is having a problem with wild boars. There's a joke there, and I wouldn't touch it with a ten-foot Pole.
According to the National Enquirer (so it must be true) (actually on this sort of thing they usually are), Jenna Bush, one of the president's daughters, smokes pot.
Friday, March 23, 2001
Favorite headline in today's Times: Hunt for escaped Filipino cannibal
Website of the week: http://www.smalltime.com/dictator.html.
You pretend to be a dictator or a sit-com character. It asks you a series of questions and then accurately guesses who you are. The amount of work necessary to create something like this is frightening.
Bush ends the Bar Association's role in evaluating prospective judges, observing that there are dozens of professional organizations interested in judicial nominees. So from now on, the Plumbers' Association of America will evaluate judicial nominees.
Bush reverses Clinton's standards for arsenic in the water supply. I'm sorry, but the only place there should be arsenic is in an Agatha Christie novel.
I don't think I mentioned the South Carolina attorney general, running soon for governor, who said that it's ok to kill people breaking into your home. In one case including the a guy who lived there. License to kill. He will *never* prosecute such cases.
Website of the week: http://www.smalltime.com/dictator.html.
You pretend to be a dictator or a sit-com character. It asks you a series of questions and then accurately guesses who you are. The amount of work necessary to create something like this is frightening.
Bush ends the Bar Association's role in evaluating prospective judges, observing that there are dozens of professional organizations interested in judicial nominees. So from now on, the Plumbers' Association of America will evaluate judicial nominees.
Bush reverses Clinton's standards for arsenic in the water supply. I'm sorry, but the only place there should be arsenic is in an Agatha Christie novel.
I don't think I mentioned the South Carolina attorney general, running soon for governor, who said that it's ok to kill people breaking into your home. In one case including the a guy who lived there. License to kill. He will *never* prosecute such cases.
Saturday, March 17, 2001
The 14th Circuit upholds Texas's anti-sodomy law.
Speaking of which, the Biker from the Village People died this week, and was buried in his biker outfit. Also, Ann Southern, who would like not to be remembered as the title character of My Mother the Car. Also, the, amazingly enough, serial killer who killed Janet Leigh's body double from Psycho, is finally convicted.
Speaking of which, the Biker from the Village People died this week, and was buried in his biker outfit. Also, Ann Southern, who would like not to be remembered as the title character of My Mother the Car. Also, the, amazingly enough, serial killer who killed Janet Leigh's body double from Psycho, is finally convicted.
Wednesday, March 14, 2001
And a special hello to those on the list who are up to their asses in snow. It's shorts and sandals weather out here, you'll be pleased to hear.
I got a leaflet in my mailbox today for a "professional Oriental gardener." I'm still not sure if he's a professional gardener or a professional Oriental.
Evidently when Bush promised to regulate carbon dioxide emissions, he was unaware of some important new information he has since learned: it might cost money.
That's not my joke, that's what the White House said.
Clarifying his foreign policy, Bush says that Russia is not an enemy but may be a threat.
Bush, evidently not going after the Nobel Peace Prize that eluded Clinton, has invited Ian Paisley to the White House for St Patrick's Day.
Three Turks were convicted for a ritual murder of a young woman to prevent any more earthquakes like that of August 1999. They received 25-year terms. And 6 months more because they took her handbag. Which I'm guessing they also planned to sacrifice.
I got a leaflet in my mailbox today for a "professional Oriental gardener." I'm still not sure if he's a professional gardener or a professional Oriental.
Evidently when Bush promised to regulate carbon dioxide emissions, he was unaware of some important new information he has since learned: it might cost money.
That's not my joke, that's what the White House said.
Clarifying his foreign policy, Bush says that Russia is not an enemy but may be a threat.
Bush, evidently not going after the Nobel Peace Prize that eluded Clinton, has invited Ian Paisley to the White House for St Patrick's Day.
Three Turks were convicted for a ritual murder of a young woman to prevent any more earthquakes like that of August 1999. They received 25-year terms. And 6 months more because they took her handbag. Which I'm guessing they also planned to sacrifice.
Saturday, March 10, 2001
Headline from today's NY Times: Fearing Virus, Alabama Quarantines Tractors.
Ariel Sharon's first act as prime minister will be to advocate the re-legalization of torture.
DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME: A Florida boy aged 14 is sentenced in Florida to life without parole for killing a 6-year old girl when he was 12, copying wrestling moves learned from tv. When you heard that a kid was sentenced to life, you did automatically assume that he was black, didn't you? Well, you'd be right. And I know this because another kid whose trial shouldn't have been televised was. Nobody seems to have asked Governor The Body for his opinion.
Next to that story on the front page of today's NY Times is the face of another kid, who was at one of those shot-up high schools, appeared on every talk show he could get on (his mother wouldn't allow him to talk to Geraldo or Larry King), and is
suffering from withdrawal of media attention three days later. If
you want to write a think-piece about the relationship between tv & violence, those 2 stories would seem to be related.
There is a Christian group here in California I believe called Snowflakes, whose job is to convince Christians to adopt embryos created for IVF but not used. Nice sense of proportion, guys.
Ariel Sharon's first act as prime minister will be to advocate the re-legalization of torture.
DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME: A Florida boy aged 14 is sentenced in Florida to life without parole for killing a 6-year old girl when he was 12, copying wrestling moves learned from tv. When you heard that a kid was sentenced to life, you did automatically assume that he was black, didn't you? Well, you'd be right. And I know this because another kid whose trial shouldn't have been televised was. Nobody seems to have asked Governor The Body for his opinion.
Next to that story on the front page of today's NY Times is the face of another kid, who was at one of those shot-up high schools, appeared on every talk show he could get on (his mother wouldn't allow him to talk to Geraldo or Larry King), and is
suffering from withdrawal of media attention three days later. If
you want to write a think-piece about the relationship between tv & violence, those 2 stories would seem to be related.
There is a Christian group here in California I believe called Snowflakes, whose job is to convince Christians to adopt embryos created for IVF but not used. Nice sense of proportion, guys.
Friday, March 09, 2001
Bush speaks / websites
First, the websites. Well, there's
and there's http://www.cookingbynumbers.com
which I didn't look at myself but which I understand involves your telling the site what stuff is in your refrigerator, and it tells you what you can make. For more of this sort of thing, you might check out http://www.seethru.co.uk,
which is a sort of fake webzine in connection with a BBC drama set in the offices of the webzine, if you follow, but its links are certainly interesting and I've passed some on before. You might also check out their random URL generator, which selects a word at random from a large dictionary, adds dot com to the end and goes there. Well I enjoyed it anyhow. Somewhere on their list of links is one for crappy corporate anthems. Enjoy.
and there's http://www.cookingbynumbers.com
which I didn't look at myself but which I understand involves your telling the site what stuff is in your refrigerator, and it tells you what you can make. For more of this sort of thing, you might check out http://www.seethru.co.uk,
which is a sort of fake webzine in connection with a BBC drama set in the offices of the webzine, if you follow, but its links are certainly interesting and I've passed some on before. You might also check out their random URL generator, which selects a word at random from a large dictionary, adds dot com to the end and goes there. Well I enjoyed it anyhow. Somewhere on their list of links is one for crappy corporate anthems. Enjoy.
Thursday, March 08, 2001
That's how the president speaks
The US military has been clearing Kosovo Albanian guerillas out of their bases, along with our new best friends, the Serbs. Today, they protected the Kosovo-Montenegran border in a military action whose only flaw was that it took place in entirely the
wrong country, thanks to faulty NATO maps.
Isn't it great how the same Republicans who complained about Clinton turning the Lincoln bedroom into a Holiday Inn are equally outspoken about the Navy using its subs as a roller coaster for the rich? Oh, right, they haven't done that. Just as well; if Trent Lott decided to do something principled his fiber-glass toupee could do major damage in the emergency surfacing exercise as he pulled his head out of his ass.
That joke worked better in my head than when I tried to condense it into a single sentence.
Ariel Sharon finally has his government, ranging from alleged peacenik Shimon Peres (who should be ashamed of himself) to people who want to expel all the "Arabs." Finally, a Cabinet that looks like Israel (except for those self-same Arabs, who have been ethnically cleansed from the Cabinet, again).
On yesterday's news, I saw footage from the courtroom of the kid who shot up his school. Why are we seeing the face of an unconvicted minor on tv?
So was Bush downplaying Cheney's latest heart "incident" or just desperate when he kept saying how sure he was that the best thing was for Cheney to return to work immediately, if not sooner? Obviously the sub hasn't been giving him enough homework, as demonstrated in this quote from today's NY Times:
In a brief exchange with reporters after meeting Mr. Kim in the Oval Office, Mr. Bush said: "We're not certain as to whether or not they're keeping all terms of all agreements." But the United States has only one agreement with North Korea -- the 1994 accord that froze North Korea's plutonium processing at a suspected nuclear weapons plant. And at a briefing this afternoon two senior administration officials, asked about the president's statement, said there was no evidence that North Korea is violating its terms.
Later, a White House spokesman said that Mr. Bush was referring to his concern about whether the North would comply with future accords, even though he did not use the future tense. "That's how the president speaks," the official said.
wrong country, thanks to faulty NATO maps.
Isn't it great how the same Republicans who complained about Clinton turning the Lincoln bedroom into a Holiday Inn are equally outspoken about the Navy using its subs as a roller coaster for the rich? Oh, right, they haven't done that. Just as well; if Trent Lott decided to do something principled his fiber-glass toupee could do major damage in the emergency surfacing exercise as he pulled his head out of his ass.
That joke worked better in my head than when I tried to condense it into a single sentence.
Ariel Sharon finally has his government, ranging from alleged peacenik Shimon Peres (who should be ashamed of himself) to people who want to expel all the "Arabs." Finally, a Cabinet that looks like Israel (except for those self-same Arabs, who have been ethnically cleansed from the Cabinet, again).
On yesterday's news, I saw footage from the courtroom of the kid who shot up his school. Why are we seeing the face of an unconvicted minor on tv?
So was Bush downplaying Cheney's latest heart "incident" or just desperate when he kept saying how sure he was that the best thing was for Cheney to return to work immediately, if not sooner? Obviously the sub hasn't been giving him enough homework, as demonstrated in this quote from today's NY Times:
In a brief exchange with reporters after meeting Mr. Kim in the Oval Office, Mr. Bush said: "We're not certain as to whether or not they're keeping all terms of all agreements." But the United States has only one agreement with North Korea -- the 1994 accord that froze North Korea's plutonium processing at a suspected nuclear weapons plant. And at a briefing this afternoon two senior administration officials, asked about the president's statement, said there was no evidence that North Korea is violating its terms.
Later, a White House spokesman said that Mr. Bush was referring to his concern about whether the North would comply with future accords, even though he did not use the future tense. "That's how the president speaks," the official said.
Tuesday, March 06, 2001
So the Taliban (which is Pushtu for "everyone's a critic") have been firing artillery at ancient statuary. Don't tell Mayor Guiliani.
Speaking of picking on someone your own size, 35 Muslims on haj in Mecca were stampled during the Stoning Satan ceremony. That would be Muslims 0, Satan 35. Go team.
Now if only the giant Buddha would get off his fat ass and kick some tiny Afghani butt of his own.
Speaking of religious loons, the NY Times reported Monday that US AID money to aid victims of El Salvador's earthquake is being funnelled through a little organization called Samaritan's Purse, run by the son of Billy Graham, which forces people to sit through prayer sessions and talks about how Jesus (a Protestant Jesus, yet) loves them before they get any food and shelter. All of which leads to the question, what sort of a name is Samaritan's Purse, anyway? One thing about those God-botherers, they do know how to accessorize.
Speaking of sending a message, the Supreme Court says that the Klan should be allowed to pick up trash (but not white trash) on the highway between St. Louis and the suburbs. Please note that this is not just about free speech within a government program (and picking up garbage next to a highway in a government-sponsored program goes beyond even my expansive views of what should be covered by the 1st Amendment). They had actually been allowed into the program. No, what they wanted was a stretch of highway used by black children in school busing programs.
A few days ago, the Times noted that jury verdicts now decide the results of only 4.3% of federal criminal trials (down from 10.4% in 1988) and 1.5% in federal civil trials. It's not just in the US that lawyers no longer trust juries. In Britain too, government plans to eliminate the option of jury trials for certain crimes has been presented as a cost-saving measure but actually reflects the fact that juries will no longer reliably convict. Government-appointed judges, of course, will.
Speaking of picking on someone your own size, 35 Muslims on haj in Mecca were stampled during the Stoning Satan ceremony. That would be Muslims 0, Satan 35. Go team.
Now if only the giant Buddha would get off his fat ass and kick some tiny Afghani butt of his own.
Speaking of religious loons, the NY Times reported Monday that US AID money to aid victims of El Salvador's earthquake is being funnelled through a little organization called Samaritan's Purse, run by the son of Billy Graham, which forces people to sit through prayer sessions and talks about how Jesus (a Protestant Jesus, yet) loves them before they get any food and shelter. All of which leads to the question, what sort of a name is Samaritan's Purse, anyway? One thing about those God-botherers, they do know how to accessorize.
Speaking of sending a message, the Supreme Court says that the Klan should be allowed to pick up trash (but not white trash) on the highway between St. Louis and the suburbs. Please note that this is not just about free speech within a government program (and picking up garbage next to a highway in a government-sponsored program goes beyond even my expansive views of what should be covered by the 1st Amendment). They had actually been allowed into the program. No, what they wanted was a stretch of highway used by black children in school busing programs.
A few days ago, the Times noted that jury verdicts now decide the results of only 4.3% of federal criminal trials (down from 10.4% in 1988) and 1.5% in federal civil trials. It's not just in the US that lawyers no longer trust juries. In Britain too, government plans to eliminate the option of jury trials for certain crimes has been presented as a cost-saving measure but actually reflects the fact that juries will no longer reliably convict. Government-appointed judges, of course, will.
Tuesday, February 27, 2001
A few selections from the British press:
Celebrations for Spam’s 60th birthday have been put on hold as a mark of respect for British farmers hit by the foot-and-mouth outbreak.
IT IS not offensive to call the Queen a bitch if the remark is made by a black man, the television standards watchdog has ruled.
Puppets under fire for TV smoking
BY PAUL MCCANN, MEDIA CORRESPONDENT
THE worlds best-known female undercover agent, Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward, has been attacked by health campaigners for setting a poor example to children.
By smoking through her trademark cigarette holder, the string puppet Lady Penelope, a Supermarionation secret agent for International Rescue in the BBC series Thunderbirds, has fallen foul of the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation.
[The show began in 1965]
Celebrations for Spam’s 60th birthday have been put on hold as a mark of respect for British farmers hit by the foot-and-mouth outbreak.
IT IS not offensive to call the Queen a bitch if the remark is made by a black man, the television standards watchdog has ruled.
Puppets under fire for TV smoking
BY PAUL MCCANN, MEDIA CORRESPONDENT
THE worlds best-known female undercover agent, Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward, has been attacked by health campaigners for setting a poor example to children.
By smoking through her trademark cigarette holder, the string puppet Lady Penelope, a Supermarionation secret agent for International Rescue in the BBC series Thunderbirds, has fallen foul of the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation.
[The show began in 1965]
Sunday, February 25, 2001
From the Daily Telegraph, which is so much more fun than a real newspaper:
THE first cockney Bible, with Jesus speaking in rhyming slang, will be published in May with the endorsement of the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Written by a religious education teacher from the East
End of London, the Bible's account of the feeding of the 5,000 in Chapter VI of the Gospel of John becomes Jesus making a "Jim Skinner" (dinner). It describes him feeding 5,000 "geezers" from five loaves of "Uncle Ned" (bread) and two "Lilian Gish" (fish).
THE first cockney Bible, with Jesus speaking in rhyming slang, will be published in May with the endorsement of the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Written by a religious education teacher from the East
End of London, the Bible's account of the feeding of the 5,000 in Chapter VI of the Gospel of John becomes Jesus making a "Jim Skinner" (dinner). It describes him feeding 5,000 "geezers" from five loaves of "Uncle Ned" (bread) and two "Lilian Gish" (fish).
Friday, February 23, 2001
I haven't read the opinion yet, but evidently the Supreme Court exempted states from the Americans with Disabilities Act on grounds of the 11th Amendment, which they clearly haven't read.
On the old cold warriors in the Bush White House, Bruce Cumings of the University of Chicago said of them in `The Nation': "There hasn't been so much pseudogravitas in one room since the last time Henry Kissinger dined alone."
I don't know what it is about cats in this building. This morning a cat was outside my door demanding to be let in. He turns out to belong to the people downstairs, but he spent the whole day either inside my apartment or trying to get in.
I forgot to mention that when Bush justified bombing Iraq, he said that Saddam should live up to his agreement to the no-fly zone. There is no such agreement. The bombing has been solely for the purpose of damaging anti-aircraft facilities which threaten no one other than Americans (and I guess Brits). So I guess our pilots are there to protect themselves. Which they could do just as easily from their couches in the States. Just to make a point that this has nothing to do with anything that happens in Iraq, Saddam's first response to last week's bombing was to assassinate a Kurdish leader.
Hillary Clinton says of her brother's role in brokering pardons, or whatever he was doing, "If he were, you know, Joe Smith from somewhere, who had no connection with me, we wouldn't be standing here, would we?" No, but then Joe Smith wouldn't have been paid $400,000 either, isn't that rather the point? Poor Hillary, it's always just about her, isn't it?
On the old cold warriors in the Bush White House, Bruce Cumings of the University of Chicago said of them in `The Nation': "There hasn't been so much pseudogravitas in one room since the last time Henry Kissinger dined alone."
I don't know what it is about cats in this building. This morning a cat was outside my door demanding to be let in. He turns out to belong to the people downstairs, but he spent the whole day either inside my apartment or trying to get in.
I forgot to mention that when Bush justified bombing Iraq, he said that Saddam should live up to his agreement to the no-fly zone. There is no such agreement. The bombing has been solely for the purpose of damaging anti-aircraft facilities which threaten no one other than Americans (and I guess Brits). So I guess our pilots are there to protect themselves. Which they could do just as easily from their couches in the States. Just to make a point that this has nothing to do with anything that happens in Iraq, Saddam's first response to last week's bombing was to assassinate a Kurdish leader.
Hillary Clinton says of her brother's role in brokering pardons, or whatever he was doing, "If he were, you know, Joe Smith from somewhere, who had no connection with me, we wouldn't be standing here, would we?" No, but then Joe Smith wouldn't have been paid $400,000 either, isn't that rather the point? Poor Hillary, it's always just about her, isn't it?
Wednesday, February 21, 2001
Nigeria Elects Black President
Monday was Presidents' Day. George W. rushed downstairs in his footy pajamas and demanded to know where his presents were.
The American intelligence community is enacting once more its game of Good Traitor/Bad Traitor over Robert Philip Hanssen. I think that double s should have been reason enough to suspect him. Anyway, Hanssen could be executed because he was a traitor to his country by telling Russia the names of two of its citizens who were traitors to their country by working for the US. This is why a robot judge would be a bad idea: the infinite regression loop would make its head explode. Anyway, he was caught with the aid of a couple of the good traitors, that is Russian citizens the US pays to give information about our traitors. I'm going to move on to something else before my own head explodes.
Some more good spies, or at any rate lawyers representing them on behalf of the US government before the Supreme Court, argued that people do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy "in the heat that's on the exterior surface of their walls." "Heat loss is an inevitable feature of heat in a structure," said deputy solicitor general Michael Dreeben, who was 98.5 at the time. "That's why there is an insulation industry."
A New Statesman competition asks for world religions summed up in under 100 words. Only one entry worth reproducing:
Protestantism: You are one on one with God.
Catholicism: You are one on one with the priest.
Buddhism: You are One with The Oneness of All.
Hinduism: You are one with a lot of gods.
Jainism: You are 1 on a scale of 1 to 5.
Judaism: You are the one in the yarmulke.
Scientology: You are the one born every minute.
Islam: You are the one with the AK47.
New Age: You are wonderful.
Satanism: Oooh, you are a one.
"http://theonion.com/onion3706/nigeria_elects_black_pres.html"
The American intelligence community is enacting once more its game of Good Traitor/Bad Traitor over Robert Philip Hanssen. I think that double s should have been reason enough to suspect him. Anyway, Hanssen could be executed because he was a traitor to his country by telling Russia the names of two of its citizens who were traitors to their country by working for the US. This is why a robot judge would be a bad idea: the infinite regression loop would make its head explode. Anyway, he was caught with the aid of a couple of the good traitors, that is Russian citizens the US pays to give information about our traitors. I'm going to move on to something else before my own head explodes.
Some more good spies, or at any rate lawyers representing them on behalf of the US government before the Supreme Court, argued that people do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy "in the heat that's on the exterior surface of their walls." "Heat loss is an inevitable feature of heat in a structure," said deputy solicitor general Michael Dreeben, who was 98.5 at the time. "That's why there is an insulation industry."
A New Statesman competition asks for world religions summed up in under 100 words. Only one entry worth reproducing:
Protestantism: You are one on one with God.
Catholicism: You are one on one with the priest.
Buddhism: You are One with The Oneness of All.
Hinduism: You are one with a lot of gods.
Jainism: You are 1 on a scale of 1 to 5.
Judaism: You are the one in the yarmulke.
Scientology: You are the one born every minute.
Islam: You are the one with the AK47.
New Age: You are wonderful.
Satanism: Oooh, you are a one.
"http://theonion.com/onion3706/nigeria_elects_black_pres.html"
Tuesday, February 20, 2001
I've figured out what's going on with that cat from downstairs. When I was out Thursday, I left food and water outside the door for my cat. When I came home more of it was gone than I though my cat would have eaten, but some of it was still there, so I knew it wasn't racoons. The point is, this cat I hadn't even met yet ate my food, and then the next morning meoued outside my door to
be let in. And today.
Beginning of a Daily Telegraph story:
be let in. And today.
Beginning of a Daily Telegraph story:
THE Swiss ringmaster and elephant trainer who has emerged as the latest lover of Princess Stephanie of Monaco yesterday declared that while he was prepared to leave his wife, he would never abandon the circus.
Monday, February 19, 2001
I suppose every country gets the tax system it deserves. The new figures say that audits halved again in 2000 and 44% of them consist of audits of poor people. This protects the rich people's taxes from fraud by the poor people, but why do the rich people even bother to pay taxes? IRS auditors are not scared that they'll lose their jobs if they go after anyone who can fight back.
The latest Clinton scandal is that his half-brother Roger, just arrested for drunk driving, has been investigated for selling pardons (although I presume his own was free). Of course his pardon covers this. Jeez, evidently the man lives in Torrance. Isn't that punishment enough?
The latest Clinton scandal is that his half-brother Roger, just arrested for drunk driving, has been investigated for selling pardons (although I presume his own was free). Of course his pardon covers this. Jeez, evidently the man lives in Torrance. Isn't that punishment enough?
Sunday, February 18, 2001
Saturday, February 17, 2001
The Dutch royal family deny that Prince Johan Friso is gay.
He is 2nd in line to the throne, but the 1st in line is dating the daughter of a member of the Argentine junta of the 1970s and would probably have to step aside if he married her.
11 countries just took a major step towards implementing
the death penalty. Can you name them?
SF mayor Willie Brown gets a restraining order against an Elvis impersonator.
In more SF news, the city health plan will now cover sex changes. I guess it's when they're mandatory that you've got a problem.
A piece on McNeil-Lehrer a couple of days ago on military spending featured people complaining that the military was still preparing to fight the Cold War against a non-existent enemy. Of course the Navy still hasn't found out that Japan surrendered in 1945.
NY Times headline: “Civilian Says Submarine Took Precautions.”
That, of course, is why they couldn't spot that big ol' trawler: their periscope had a condom over it.
You groan now, but you'll be forwarding it to all your
friends.
Bush finishes off "national security week," which some people would say hadn't gone very well, given that the same military that doesn't notice a fishing boat is supposed to hit a missile with another missile in space, by bombing Baghdad. Donald Rumsfeld on McNeil-Lehrer said that the ABM treaty was ancient history, so what's bombing Baghdad--golden oldies?
So now Bush has killed his first foreign civilians. How long before he catches up with the number of Americans he's caused
to be put to death?
The British papers suggest that the British may also have participated in the bombing of Baghdad, although you'd never know it from the American papers. London Times headline: Bombs Renew the Special Relationship. As long as it was in a good cause.
In a heart-warming story, an 11-year old boy sneaks on to a train to London, travels 150 miles, then tries to see the Queen to ask her to stop the bullying in his school. He is then beaten to death by Beefeaters. OK, maybe not that last part.
He is 2nd in line to the throne, but the 1st in line is dating the daughter of a member of the Argentine junta of the 1970s and would probably have to step aside if he married her.
11 countries just took a major step towards implementing
the death penalty. Can you name them?
SF mayor Willie Brown gets a restraining order against an Elvis impersonator.
In more SF news, the city health plan will now cover sex changes. I guess it's when they're mandatory that you've got a problem.
A piece on McNeil-Lehrer a couple of days ago on military spending featured people complaining that the military was still preparing to fight the Cold War against a non-existent enemy. Of course the Navy still hasn't found out that Japan surrendered in 1945.
NY Times headline: “Civilian Says Submarine Took Precautions.”
That, of course, is why they couldn't spot that big ol' trawler: their periscope had a condom over it.
You groan now, but you'll be forwarding it to all your
friends.
Bush finishes off "national security week," which some people would say hadn't gone very well, given that the same military that doesn't notice a fishing boat is supposed to hit a missile with another missile in space, by bombing Baghdad. Donald Rumsfeld on McNeil-Lehrer said that the ABM treaty was ancient history, so what's bombing Baghdad--golden oldies?
So now Bush has killed his first foreign civilians. How long before he catches up with the number of Americans he's caused
to be put to death?
The British papers suggest that the British may also have participated in the bombing of Baghdad, although you'd never know it from the American papers. London Times headline: Bombs Renew the Special Relationship. As long as it was in a good cause.
In a heart-warming story, an 11-year old boy sneaks on to a train to London, travels 150 miles, then tries to see the Queen to ask her to stop the bullying in his school. He is then beaten to death by Beefeaters. OK, maybe not that last part.
Saturday, February 10, 2001
Serialized in the the Sunday Times is an excerpt from a book which says that the Holocaust was run off of IBM punch cards.
A solicitor has launched a legal effort to allow solicitors to wear horse-hair wigs and long robes in mourning for Charles II just like the barristers.
Liechtenstein Prince Hans-Adam II is proposing referenda to increase his powers greatly at the expense of parliamentary government. The world's a pretty funny place when the crown prince of Liechtenstein starts getting delusions of grandeur. If they don't all pass, he threatens to move to Vienna and sell his castle to Bill Gates.
A solicitor has launched a legal effort to allow solicitors to wear horse-hair wigs and long robes in mourning for Charles II just like the barristers.
Liechtenstein Prince Hans-Adam II is proposing referenda to increase his powers greatly at the expense of parliamentary government. The world's a pretty funny place when the crown prince of Liechtenstein starts getting delusions of grandeur. If they don't all pass, he threatens to move to Vienna and sell his castle to Bill Gates.
Thursday, February 08, 2001
So thanks to the arbitrary census rules, Utah just barely
lost a Congressional seat to North Carolina. It seems that overseas federal workers including military are counted, but Mormon missionaries are not. Sound familiar at all? Utah is suing to overturn the count made under rules already in place for a decade. Now?
Bulgaria bars the former king from running for president.
What is it with tape recordings lately? Ukraine
president Kuchma is heard on tape ordering the death of a journalist; Pakistani authorities giving orders to the judge in the trial of the former prime minister; and those Peruvian bribery tapes involving every politician, leaking out one by one by one by one.
lost a Congressional seat to North Carolina. It seems that overseas federal workers including military are counted, but Mormon missionaries are not. Sound familiar at all? Utah is suing to overturn the count made under rules already in place for a decade. Now?
Bulgaria bars the former king from running for president.
What is it with tape recordings lately? Ukraine
president Kuchma is heard on tape ordering the death of a journalist; Pakistani authorities giving orders to the judge in the trial of the former prime minister; and those Peruvian bribery tapes involving every politician, leaking out one by one by one by one.
So thanks to the arbitrary census rules, Utah just barely
lost a Congressional seat to North Carolina. It seems that overseas federal workers including military are counted, but Mormon missionaries are not. Sound familiar at all? Utah is suing to overturn the count made under rules already in place for a decade. Now?
Bulgaria bars the former king from running for president.
What is it with tape recordings lately? Ukraine
president Kuchma is heard on tape ordering the death of a journalist; Pakistani authorities giving orders to the judge in the trial of the former prime minister; and those Peruvian bribery tapes involving every politician, leaking out one by one by one by one.
lost a Congressional seat to North Carolina. It seems that overseas federal workers including military are counted, but Mormon missionaries are not. Sound familiar at all? Utah is suing to overturn the count made under rules already in place for a decade. Now?
Bulgaria bars the former king from running for president.
What is it with tape recordings lately? Ukraine
president Kuchma is heard on tape ordering the death of a journalist; Pakistani authorities giving orders to the judge in the trial of the former prime minister; and those Peruvian bribery tapes involving every politician, leaking out one by one by one by one.
Tuesday, February 06, 2001
As expected, Israel elected the war criminal as prime minister. Oh good. And Barak announces that he is leaving politics. From his performance in this election, I think we all thought he left politics weeks ago. You know your "democracy" is in trouble when the only choice is between two former generals.
Putin will re-merge the bits of the old KGB that Yeltsin
split into separate organizations. Oh good. And he fired that regional governor who faked the heart attack. Evidently he couldn't keep the electricity on in Vladivostok. Hear that Gray Davis! I assume that was your fault that KQED was off the air during the first half hour of Masterpiece Theatre--now this is personal!
Putin will re-merge the bits of the old KGB that Yeltsin
split into separate organizations. Oh good. And he fired that regional governor who faked the heart attack. Evidently he couldn't keep the electricity on in Vladivostok. Hear that Gray Davis! I assume that was your fault that KQED was off the air during the first half hour of Masterpiece Theatre--now this is personal!
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