NOTE: this blog is no longer active as of 12/07. New one: http://blog.kirchhof.com
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum viditur.
Tue, 31 Aug 2004
Kudos
Garrison Keillor speaks out.
Posted at 09:52 by Randy Kirchhof [Permalink]
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My GOP Convention coverage, in a nutshell
Photo: blogger "theoria" over at Daily Kos.
Posted at 09:22 by Randy Kirchhof [Permalink]
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Sat, 28 Aug 2004
Huck is still in the top five, 124 years later...
Slashdot mentions today that the new 100 most frequently banned books compilation list is out. The top 20, in order:
- Scary Stories (Series) by Alvin Schwartz
- Daddys Roommate by Michael Willhoite
- I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
- The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
- The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
- Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
- Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. Rowling
- Forever by Judy Blume
- Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
- Alice (Series) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
- Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman
- My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
- The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
- The Giver by Lois Lowry
- Its Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris
- Goosebumps (Series) by R.L. Stine
- A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck
- The Color Purple by Alice Walker
- Sex by Madonna
- Earths Children (Series) by Jean M. Auel
Time to go hit the bookstore...
Posted at 13:22 by Randy Kirchhof [Permalink]
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Mon, 23 Aug 2004
Origami
Slashdot has a story
today about an origami competition; interesting enough, but if you go
to some of the sites mentioned, the work is just amazing. Check out this one, for
example. Very cool.
Posted at 12:46 by Randy Kirchhof [Permalink]
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Sat, 21 Aug 2004
Hey, a record's a record
From Wired's "Furthermore:"
Regis Philbin has logged many an hour on television -- 15,188 hours to
be exact. In fact, as of Friday's broadcast of Live With Regis and
Kelly, the 73-year-old talk-show host has garnered the Guinness World
Record for most hours on camera, surpassing broadcaster Hugh
Downs. "Now it's all a big blur," said Philbin, reflecting back on his
career that began as a San Diego news anchor in 1958. "When you look
back that's a lot of hours on TV." In his 46-year career, he's hosted
numerous news and entertainment shows. Philbin said the most memorable
experiences were interviews he conducted with other talk-show hosts
"that do what I do. People like Jack Paar, Steve Allen, Merv Griffin,
Johnny Carson, David Letterman that know what being a talk-show host
is about."
Posted at 10:03 by Randy Kirchhof [Permalink]
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Thu, 19 Aug 2004
The Unraveling
Retiring Republican Congressman Doug Bereuter of Nebraska breaks
big with the administration in a Journal-Star article...
"I've reached the conclusion, retrospectively, now that the inadequate
intelligence and faulty conclusions are being revealed, that all
things being considered, it was a mistake to launch that military
action," Bereuter wrote in a letter to constituents in the final days
of his congressional career.
That's especially true in view of the fact that the attack was
initiated "without a broad and engaged international coalition," the
1st District congressman said.
"Knowing now what I know about the reliance on the tenuous or
insufficiently corroborated intelligence used to conclude that Saddam
maintained a substantial WMD (weapons of mass destruction) arsenal, I
believe that launching the pre-emptive military action was not
justified."
As a result of the war, he said, "our country's reputation
around the world has never been lower and our alliances are weakened."
Bereuter is a senior member of the House International Relations
Committee and vice chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.
That bears repeating: "Bereuter is a senior member of the House
International Relations Committee and vice chairman of the House
Intelligence Committee."
Read the whole
thing. It is quite
the earthquake inside the beltway. 'Bout time, too.
(This comes via Josh Marshall's Talking Points Memo -- the consistently best news source in Washington.)
Posted at 12:27 by Randy Kirchhof [Permalink]
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Wed, 18 Aug 2004
Health Care
American Progress Action Fund:
$163 MILLION AND COUNTING: Public Campaign, a nonpartisan
research/advocacy group, today is releasing a
new report (pdf)
showing how health care special interests have made more than $163
million in political donations to Congress and presidential candidates
since 1999. The contributions come from health insurers and HMOs,
prescription drug manufacturers, meat and food processing companies,
and the tobacco industry. As the report notes, the Bush administration
"is particularly beholden to health-care special interests and has
been instrumental in rewarding these sponsors with policy paybacks."
Fifty-one Bush Pioneers and Rangers (those who have raised at least
$100,000 or $200,000, respectively, for the president's campaigns) are
employed by the health care industry. The report compares how members
of Congress voted on key health care-related legislation with how much
they received from health care interests. See the full report (pdf).
Posted at 16:45 by Randy Kirchhof [Permalink]
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Tue, 17 Aug 2004
Paranoia Watch #2
From the American Progress Action Fund:
POLITICS -- CONTROLLING EXPOSURE: AP reports that the Bush campaign is
exerting more and more control
over exactly who President Bush interacts with in supposedly public
events on the campaign trail. Specifically, Bush-Cheney officials make
sure "dissenters and would-be hecklers are turned away." On several
occasions in recent weeks, citizens have been ejected from Bush events
simply "because they wore pro-Kerry T-shirts." The AP report follows
an earlier report from the AP which found that citizens had to sign
pledges of allegiance to the Republican
Party before they were allowed to hear Vice President Dick Cheney
speak. AP notes that "by contrast, most of Kerry's events are open to
the public."
Posted at 13:36 by Randy Kirchhof [Permalink]
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Go Kevin...
Cribbed in its entirety from Political Animal:
BUSH HATERS....Jonah Goldberg, in the middle of a post about Clinton
haters and the people who hate them, says this:
The Bush-haters who are just as extreme and nasty as the Clinton-haters were, and in many ways more so....
Tell you what, Jonah. As soon as the most popular liberal editorial
page in the country accuses George Bush of murdering one of his aides,
maybe I'll give your argument a hearing. And as soon as one of the
most influential liberal interest groups in the country starts
distributing hundreds of thousands of videos suggesting that George
Bush ran a coke ring out of Austin, then I'll really perk up. And when
Senate Democrats spend $70 million investigating the Valerie Plame
affair compared to the current $0 and end up bringing impeachment
charges against George Bush, then you'll have me. You'll really have
me.
But until then, sell it somewhere else. Michael Moore calling Bush a
liar and a moron just isn't in the same league as what your side did
to Bill Clinton, and nobody who was sentient during the 90s can find
the contrary suggestion anything but laughable.
Posted at 11:10 by Randy Kirchhof [Permalink]
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Global warming
Sorry about the lack of posts...
Interesting article in Science Daily today:
Existing technologies could stop the escalation of global warming for
50 years and work on implementing them can begin immediately,
according to an analysis by Princeton University scientists.
The scientists identified 15 technologies from wind, solar and nuclear
energy to conservation techniques that are ripe for large-scale use
and showed that each could solve a significant portion of the
problem. Their analysis, published in the Aug. 13 issue of Science,
indicates that many combinations of these 15 technologies could
prevent global emissions of greenhouse gasses from rising for the next
five decades.
The finding counters the common argument that a major new technology
needs to be developed before greenhouse gasses can be controlled, said
professors Stephen Pacala and Robert Socolow, who conducted the study.
"It certainly explodes the idea that we need to do research for a long
time before getting started," said Pacala, a professor of ecology and
evolutionary biology and co-director with Socolow of Princeton's
Carbon Mitigation Initiative.
"If we decide to act, we will need to reduce carbon emissions across
the whole global economy," said Socolow, a professor of mechanical and
aerospace engineering. "Fortunately, we have the tools to do this,
especially if we think in terms of 50-year campaigns, not instant
solutions."
Although the current study did not examine the costs of scaling up
each of the 15 possible technologies, the authors point out that
implementing the measures would likely generate economic benefits,
including creating new industries, reducing the U.S. dependence on
foreign oil and lessening the need for other pollution-control
expenses associated with burning coal and other fossil fuels.
Posted at 10:46 by Randy Kirchhof [Permalink]
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Fri, 13 Aug 2004
Alternative worries for Friday the 13th
Every once in a while, it's important to worry about things other
than insane politicians. How about a 12 hour warning affecting
(potentially gravely) a few hundred million people?
From the Beeb:
A scientist has attacked the inaction over a threat from a dangerous volcano in the Canary Islands which could send a tidal wave crashing against the US.
Bill McGuire of the Benfield Grieg Hazard Research Centre said no one was keeping a proper watch on the mountain.
If Cumbre Vieja volcano erupts, it may send a rock slab the size of a small island crashing into the sea, creating a huge tidal wave, or tsunami.
Walls of water 300 feet high would travel to the US at the speed of a jet.
Within three hours, the wave would swamp the east coast of Africa, within five hours it would reach southern England and within 12 it could hit America's east coast.
The rock is in the process of slipping into the sea, but the trigger that sends it into the Atlantic is likely to be an eruption of Cumbre Vieja. According to Professor McGuire, Cumbre Vieja could blow "any time".
More here... and the original Slashdot here...
Posted at 12:22 by Randy Kirchhof [Permalink]
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Sun, 08 Aug 2004
Great quotes of our leaders
This comes via my friend John Gregory in an e-mail:
"I have always strenuously supported the right of every man to his own
opinion, however different that opinion might be to mine. He who
denies another this right makes a slave of himself to his present
opinion, because he precludes himself the right of changing it."
-- Thomas Paine, 1783
"Free speech exercised both individually and through a free press, is a
necessity in any country where people are themselves free."
--Theodore Roosevelt, 1918
"The truth is found when men are free to pursue it."
-- Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1936
"If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people
what they do not want to hear."
-- George Orwell, 1945
"Any time we deny any citizen the full exercise of his constitutional
rights, we are weakening our own claim to them."
-- Dwight David Eisenhower, 1963
"What is objectionable, what is dangerous about extremists is not that
they are extreme, but that they are intolerant."
-- Robert F. Kennedy, 1964
"Go fuck yourself."
-- Dick Cheney, 2004
Posted at 15:29 by Randy Kirchhof [Permalink]
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Fri, 06 Aug 2004
Maybe they've decided to finally speak the truth...
"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we."
George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Aug. 5, 2004
(via slate)
Posted at 09:03 by Randy Kirchhof [Permalink]
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Tue, 03 Aug 2004
Statement from the American Library Association
Statement regarding DOJ request for removal of government publications
by depository libraries
The following statement has been issued by President-Elect Michael
Gorman, representing President Carol Brey-Casiano, who is currently in
Guatemala representing the Association:
July 30, 2004
Statement from ALA President-Elect Michael Gorman:
Last week, the American Library Association learned that the
Department of Justice asked the Government Printing Office
Superintendent of Documents to instruct depository libraries to
destroy five publications the Department has deemed not "appropriate
for external use." The Department of Justice has called for these five
these public documents, two of which are texts of federal statutes, to
be removed from depository libraries and destroyed, making their
content available only to those with access to a law office or law
library.
The topics addressed in the named documents include information on how
citizens can retrieve items that may have been confiscated by the
government during an investigation. The documents to be removed and
destroyed include: Civil and Criminal Forfeiture Procedure; Select
Criminal Forfeiture Forms; Select Federal Asset Forfeiture Statutes;
Asset forfeiture and money laundering resource directory; and Civil
Asset Forfeiture Reform Act of 2000 (CAFRA).
ALA has submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for the
withdrawn materials in order to obtain an official response from the
Department of Justice regarding this unusual action, and why the
Department has requested that documents that have been available to
the public for as long as four years be removed from depository
library collections. ALA is committed to ensuring that public
documents remain available to the public and will do its best to bring
about a satisfactory resolution of this matter.
Librarians should note that, according to policy 72, written
authorization from the Superintendent of Documents is required to
remove any documents. To this date no such written authorization in
hard copy has been issued.
Keith Michael Fiels
Executive Director
American Library Association
(800) 545-2433 ext.1392
A nice little ruckus ensued; the order has been rescinded.
Just
thought that you'd like to know about things going on behind the
scenes while your news services wag the dog.
Posted at 09:13 by Randy Kirchhof [Permalink]
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Sun, 01 Aug 2004
These people are insane
In happy developments today, the Bush/Cheney campaign has reached
new lows of Orwellian intrigue. First, in New Mexico they insist that
you must sign a Loyalty
Oath to the president before you can see the Vice President of the
United States speak.
Then, on to Arizona, they insist upon knowing the
race of a newpaper photographer before offering credentials.
This is going over the top. Let's take a look at the DSM-IV entry on Paranoid Personality Disorder:
A pervasive distrust and suspiciousness of others such that
their motives are interpreted as malevolent, beginning by early
adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by four
(or more) of the following:
(1) suspects, without sufficient basis, that others are exploiting, harming, or deceiving him or her
(2) is preoccupied with unjustified doubts about the loyalty or trustworthiness of friends or associates
(3) is reluctant to confide in others because of unwarranted fear that
the information will be used maliciously against him or her
(4) reads hidden demeaning or threatening meanings into benign remarks or events
(5) persistently bears grudges, i.e., is unforgiving of insults, injuries, or slights
(6) perceives attacks on his or her character or reputation that are
not apparent to others and is quick to react angrily or to
counterattack
(7) has recurrent suspicions, without justification, regarding fidelity of spouse or sexual partner
Weeeell, I don't know about the fealty of his wife, but six out of
seven (when four are required) seem to me to be a sign of, er,
concern.
Posted at 10:17 by Randy Kirchhof [Permalink]
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