July 2007 Archives

two FANTASTIC interviews on Fresh Air today that are worth a listen if you're into blues music. One is a new interview with guitarist Steve Cropper, who played with Booker T and the MGs, and co-wrote "Soul Man" and "Dock of the Bay." Also, the program re-broadcast a 1994 interview with Isaac Hayes where he talks about his Stax records years. Good stuff!

Germaine Greer doesn't have a very high opinion of the late Princess of Wales:

Feminist Germaine Greer has caused outrage in Australia for calling the late Princess of Wales, "slow", "devious" and "disturbingly neurotic".

The controversial academic claims Diana is partly responsible for the car accident that killed her almost a decade ago - by initiating a love triangle between herself, Dodi Fayed and heart surgeon Hasnat Khan.

But rather than simply join the outrage what will surely follow such a statement, The Daily Mail found a quite civilized way to put Greer's comments in perspective:

The former Celebrity Big Brother contestant takes another episode from Diana's childhood to illustrate her "devious" nature, when she allegedly persuaded a younger school friend to write a poison pen letter to her father's second wife (Lady Raine Spencer).

and that's the second place where the article refers to Greer as "former Celebrity Big Brother contestant." Yup, I do so take seriously the thoughts of Big Brother contestants.

I'm not talking about the outright make-shit-up mode that people like OReally and "William the Bloody" Kristol use regularly, but when a conservative uses classic propaganda tactics.

I was pointed to this Michael Gerson column in WaPo from Atrios and Thers. Their snarky take on this idiot is enjoyable, but the subject of abstinence programs is one i feel a bit closer to, being the father of teens.

Gerson uses statistics from a sociologist from UVA named W. Bradford Wilcox, and the intellectual obfuscation starts right at the mention of the man's name. Gerson's on-line editor provides not a link to Wilcox's data or paper, but a generic search link for UVA--no mention of Wilcox. Then Gerson cites Wilcox's work for something called the "Russell Sage Foundation," with simply a link to the foundation's home page. In both of these cases, WaPo makes it extremely difficult to get to the souce data. Maybe I'm just spoiled with sites like Wired or Salon, but when someone cites statistical data without giving me a crack at the source, I get suspicious. When WaPo does it, I figure it's more than a simple oversight. When a conservative writing for WaPo does it, the words "fucking liar" pop up in my mind.

But OK, let's work under the assumption that the study is legitimate at some level. Gerson's personal dishonesty starts to kick in. He says:

When the statistics on teen sexuality are controlled for social and economic factors, conservative Protestant teens first have sex at about the same time as their peers -- the average is midway through their 16th year. That is hardly comforting to conservative Protestant parents, who would expect more bang for the bucks they spend funding Sunday schools -- well, actually, less bang.

For openers, I'm amazed that a WaPo columnist feels the need to go for Beavis-and-Butthead humor: "huh huh huh, he said 'bang'." Look at his conclusion:

But these numbers shift when controlled for religious intensity. For those who attend church often, sexual activity is delayed until nearly 17, while nominal evangelicals begin at 16.2 years, earlier than the national average.

Yup, lies, damn lies, and statistics. What percentage of the total surveyed in the first paragraph are we talking about here? But I don't know because Gerson didn't make it very easy for me to look at the source, did he?

Now, Gerson starts to truly deceive:

This trend is more pronounced in other measures of sexual behavior. Only 1 percent of conservative Protestants who attend church weekly cohabit, compared with 10 percent of all adults. (On this statistic, nominal evangelicals almost exactly mirror the nation.) Twelve percent of churchgoing evangelicals have children out of wedlock, compared with 33 percent of all mothers.

He's using adult numbers. Teens sex around in cars and in the back of movie theaters. Adults cohabit. He uses "out of wedlock" stats that are not adjusted for age.

But Gerson's just warming up. Here come the total bullshit conclusions:

These facts, according to Wilcox, support some liberal claims and some conservative ones. Liberals are correct that economic and cultural factors matter greatly, sometimes more than individual belief. Teens with good life prospects and a strong sense of the future -- kids with economic and educational ambitions -- tend to avoid risky behavior such as drugs and early sex. Without those prospects, the temptation to live for the moment is strong.

I suggest that Gerson sit his sorry ass in the back of a theater at a multiplex at the mall, so he can watch affluent, christian, suburban teens go at each other. That would at least give him an anecdotal perspective on the situation before his kid gets pregnant. Affluent kids avoid drugs and sex? So, all the kids driving their Hummers into ditches and trees are poor? This is the kind of paternal blinders that always amaze me. Usually you hear statements like "we gave that child every economic and educational advantage" at said child's funeral.

But, for all that Gerson talks up a load of crap, it's good to see that he endorses Hillary Clinton:

The facts also support a basic conservative belief: that it is difficult for teens to be moral alone. Wilcox argues that teen sexual behavior can be influenced -- that teenagers can be more than the sum of their hormones. But responsible behavior requires both "norms" and "networks." An intellectual belief in right and wrong is not sufficient. Teens require a community that supports their good choices, especially in times of testing and personal crisis. "Kids who are embedded in a social network with shared norms," he concludes, "are more likely to abide by them."

Yes, Mikey, it does indeed take a village.

I was pointed to "Chocolate Rain" last night, and now I can't get this friggin' tune out of my head...viral indeed...

via Fark this time. There's a judge in Ohio that likes to give crazy punishments. I have issues with this, but at least this one is funny:

PAINESVILLE, Ohio (AP) - A judge known for giving unusual sentences has ordered three men who pleaded guilty to soliciting sex to take turns dressing in a bright yellow chicken costume.

Painesville Municipal Judge Michael Cicconetti agreed to suspend a 30-day jail sentence if they wear the costume between 4 and 7 p.m. Friday outside the court while carrying a sign that reads "No Chicken Ranch in Painesville."

OK, Judge Cicconetti has a skewed view of what comprises justice. While part of me is OK with going after johns rather than hookers, the whole thing is really just a waste of time in the first place. I mean, the guys who patronize whores are as guilty as the women, but to set up a sting to lure the men in is just too much of a sex-police attitude for me.

But then again, we're talking about Ohio, which is dominionist capitol of the world.

two interesting cases where how a kid gets sentenced can make all the difference. First one is close to home:

A 21-year-old man found guilty of committing a hit-and-run almost three years ago on a New Orleans bridge will be required to sleep at Orleans Parish Prison for 18 months, while continuing to work during the day and going to school, Judge Arthur Hunter ruled Wednesday.

Assuming the system is working here, and pre-sentence investigations truly indicate that this young man is not just a sociopath, this is an appropriate sentence. Yes, he killed someone with his car. Yes, he freaked and tried to dump part of the body (the impact dismembered the victim). But it's hard for me to say I would be acting rational if I had just run someone down in a car.

The last place a 21-year old who is not already a career criminal needs to be is in prison in Louisiana. Let him continue his job, let him go to school, and hopefully being locked up at night for a year and a half will impress upon him the seriousness of his offense. If you put him into parish prison for 18 months, all you're going to end up with is another criminal who can't get a job and will likely return to prison in no time flat. We've got a prison system in this state that is so bad that young men would rather take their chances running away from cops at high speeds in cars, and then shooting it out in the hopes they can get away. They know that getting caught means Angola, and they're willing to risk death to avoid that.

Then there's the ridiculous:

Two middle-school students in Oregon are facing possible time in a juvenile jail and could have to register as sex offenders for smacking girls on the rear end at school.

Read the article, it's an interesting case. There's a lot of sex going on at age 13, but then, I look at my own 13-year old and his friends, and I can see where this may truly be a case of exuberance. Given the way my son's friends act, I'll go with exuberance. Smacking someone on the butt is not necessarily a sexual act. The parents don't want the kid to cop to a plea that criminalizes playful behavior, but then they're risking the possibility of their sons becoming "registered sex offenders" for life. That's a particularly horrible fate for a 13-year old, since it means they may never have a myspace page.

What this prosecutor should do is get this down to some sort of simple assault discussion, and leave sex out of it.

Sometimes there's a criminal case where an appeals court rejects an argument that, while it may have merit, is so morally bankrupt that you can't believe someone actually made the argument:

(Columbus, Ohio) Ohio's domestic violence laws do not conflict with the state's ban on gay marriage, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.

In a 6-1 decision, justices rejected the argument that the domestic violence law was unenforceable in cases involving unmarried couples because it refers to them as living together "as a spouse."
...
A Warren County Common Pleas judge had dismissed a felony domestic violence charge against Michael Carswell after he argued that the section of law under which he was charged conflicted with the marriage amendment.

The charge, in which he was accused of assaulting his live-in girlfriend, was reinstated by an appeals court. Wednesday's ruling upholds that decision.

Essentially, what this guy argued was that he couldn't be charged with "domestic violence" because his relationship with his girlfriend had no more legal standing than Harry and Larry butt-bumpin' each other.

I always tell my good friend and attorney that I'd never use him as my lawyer in a criminal case because he's just not craven enough to come up with this sort of thing.

Dearest Digby:

Hi. Big fan here, thanks for your regular wisdom and insight. However, I have to disagree with you on impeachments of BushCo:

I famously set forth my reservations about impeaching Bush and Cheney (and paid the price in pieces of my hide.) But I have none about impeaching this guy and I think it might even be (remotely) possible to get 17 Republicans to vote to convict. Even Jeff Sessions sounded pissed today. But I doubt it would get that far. He would likely feel the need to spend more time with his lawyers and would resign.

This man is an insult to the constitution. Impeach him. Get him out of there. Whatever it takes.

No impeachments or other form of pass-the-popcorn high political theater until the troops come home. People are dying, Digby. The constitution will be there in January, 2009, when a Democrat can do some housecleaning.

I didn't watch the YouTube debate last night. It's way too early in the season for this to matter. In retrospect, I should have, because it looks like Edwards kicked some serious ass.

Still, I'm concerned and conflicted on the amount of equivocation coming from the top three on gay rights issues. Reports indicate that none of the major candidates are willing to take a strong position on gay marriage. When the only candidate who comes out for gay marriage is Kucinich, what does that say about the rest? Are they "triangulating?" Do they honestly believe gay marriage is wrong? It's hard to say. Edwards does the "religious beliefs" thing here, but he lets his wife off the leash to say the right thing. I hate this sort of code-word politics, though. Still, it's got to be done, lest the dems give the wingnuts something to fundraise on.

We're back to the whole idea of back-burnering gay rights issues until after the election. Nobody's been able to pull this off with blacks or gays since Clinton in 1992, though. Clearly blacks know by now that they're just not going to get anywhere with Republicans. Black advocacy organizations spend less time now getting in a candidate's face and more time working within the existing framework. Gay advocacy groups are still, in many ways, on the outside looking in, and all that serves to do is to piss them off. Still, at some point, they have to come to the realization that a Republican party controlled by the religious right isn't in their best interests.

I'll say this for Edwards, though: his position on universal healthcare and his passion for the subject gives him the most wiggle room on gay marriage. since healthcare benefits are one of the biggest motivations for gay marriage, "civil unions" and "domestic partnerships." If the US had universal healthcare, there would be less of an urgent legal need for gay marriage.

Of course, I still firmly believe that anyone should be allowed to marry whoever the heck they want.

...he's warming up in-touch. Becks is good for american footy overall. You gotta love the diehard fans for de Galaxy, though. One guy on NPR the other day was complaining how they bought this over-the-hill guy when they could have acquired a couple of young guys from Argentina or Mexico with more potential.The fan's right, of course, in terms of reviving de Galaxy, but Becks is about major leauge soccer overall, and he's good for us.Besides, Posh wants to go hollywood. :-)

NPR on-air reporters:

Margot Adler:

(and yes, that's the Drawing Down The Moon Margot Adler)

Korva Coleman:

Mandalit del Barco

Lourdes Garcia-Navarro

Lakshmi Singh:

*sigh* isn't she just a doll!

and let's not forget my all-time favorite, Susan Stamberg:

I did notice, however, that one of my other favorite NPR-hotties, Snigdha Prakash, wasn't in the list anymore, and I haven't heard her on-air in ages. I guess she's moved on. That's a shame, because she's another with a great voice and good looks...

Was listening to this report on NPR's Morning Edition about fighting asthma in households in Los Angeles. Sarah Varney commented that many of the Mexican families that healthcare workers visit won't admit to having cockroaches in the house, lest people think they're, well, dirty Mexicans.

Those folks wouldn't last a day and a half in New Orleans. The cockroaches own this town and simply allow us to live here with them.

Kirsten Dunst, terrorist.

While I'd never begrudge The Editors from having fun picking on the head Little Green Fucktard, there's something these xenophobic wackjobs just don't understand. We've spent six years as an occupying force in a middle eastern country. The LGFucktards like to think we're bringing our 'murrican values to all those heathens, but it rarely works out that way. Every time the US goes to war, various aspects of the cultures of our enemies come back home with us. English and French women came home from both World Wars as brides. The Korean and Vietnamese populations of the US exploded during and after each of those wars. During the Cold War years, US military personnel brought home wives they met in countries where the country maintained long-term support bases, such as Germany and the Phillipines.

Certainly, many of these countries have overdosed on American pop culture over the last 60 years. While chatting with a young Romanian woman last week, it was interesting to hear her discuss which "foreign" language she was going to continue to study, Italian or Spanish. To her, English was a given, something she'd been studying since childhood.

It should come as no big surprised to anyone but a Little Green Fucktard that aspects of Middle Eastern culture would be filtering into America after six years of war.

Senator Harry Read (D-NV)
Senate Majority Leader

Dear Senator Reid:

I'm writing to encourage you to take a pass on opening an investigation into whether Vitty-cent violated the Senate Rules of Conduct by paying women to stick Lil Vitty in them. I know that Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington make a very compelling case for you taking official notice of Vitty-cent's actions, but I don't think you really have the time to proceed with this.

You see, there's a lot of more important things going on this country than where Lil Vitty goes. I'm thinking the Iraq War is one of them. (You're on the right track with forcing the minority to filibuster, by the way.) When not working on getting the troops home, I'd suggest keeping the heat and pressure on BushCo on any of numerous fronts. Just set up a dart board with post-its that say things like "Plame," "Rove," "Miers," "Gonzales," and "Osama." Throw darts at them and delve into whatever topic you stick.

Don't worry about Vitty-cent, he'll get his. Hell, if he can't even keep the UNO College Republicans in the fold. The Republicans are forming a circular firing squad around Vitty-cent that would make Congressional democrats from 1992 feel proud. The GOP are so anti-prostitution that they can't let him stick around for too long. The DC Madam wants to call him as a witness, should her case actually go to trial.

And don't forget, Vitty-cent doesn't have many friends back home. He's one of those guys who forgot the old adage to be careful, because the toes you step on today may be attached to an ass you might have to kiss sometime in the future. There are a lot of people who have been nursing bruised toes for years. Those toes are now ready to kick a little Vitty-cent ass.

So, you keep on with the business of the nation, Senator. Down here, we're enjoying the schadenfreude just fine for now. If you and some of your Senate buddies have spare time on the weekend, feel free to enjoy it with us over a beer or two. But when you go back to work, get the troops home. Soon.

I thought all those Colored People were still in Houston!

(h/t velvetrut)

I should have mentioned this ages ago, but no better time than the present to fix that. Over at Your Right Hand Thief, oyster has really gotten out in front of the Vitty-cent story. He also gets props for coining the term "Vitty-cent," which I enjoy using, even though I feel a twinge of guilt, associating such a fine, upstanding citizen such as Fifty-Cent with David Vitter. :-)

Anyway, YRHT's latest goes a bit meta, discussing prostitution as a concept. It's not without its jabs at Vitty-cent and his latest enabler, Rudy Giuliani, of course. Oyster also links to a piece from 2002 on the "Canal Street Madam" that offers some historical background on prostitution in New Orleans. One historical tidbit caught my eye:

But a series of police chiefs ran the elicit business off Bourbon Street, most notably Joseph Giarrusso, who became chief in 1960. The clean up the Quarter campaigns paved the way for seedy clubs to be replaced by the gift shops that dominate the Quarter today.

Yeah, those t-shirt shops have been a real improvement, lemme tell you.

John Edwards is giving the keynote address at the state Democratic party's "Jefferson-Jackson" dinner on Saturday night in Baton Rouge. In conjunction with this appearance, the Edwards campaign is asking that supporters come out and welcome the him when he arrives:

Please join us at 5:00 PM at the Hilton Capitol Center at 201 Lafayette Street in Baton Rouge. Once we've gathered, we'll walk together to greet and cheer on John when he arrives.

If you can make it, RSVP at this link:

http://johnedwards.com/r/23323/917561/

The Jefferson-Jackson Dinner is a fundraiser, but cheering Edwards on is free. :-)

Media Matters spanks NPR's Renee Montagne for her approach to interviewing John Edwards last friday on Morning Edition. Clearly Edwards has a solid position on the Iraq war, and it's dead-set against it.

What's odd is Montagne's position that there's nothing else to talk about other than the war. That's not even a Republican talking point. In fact, most Republicans standing for election next year would prefer that the conversation move away from the war--it's such a loser for them.

But Democrats also know there's more messed up about Republican control of government than the war. Even if BushCo would somehow miraculously "win" the war, there are still numerous issues where it makes a lot of sense to get the GOP the hell out of power.

What's great about Edwards is how he's hitting those points home. He's playing to win here, when his opponents are playing not to lose. Emulating RFK is a good way to galvanize the part of the base that has cash and will part with it for the right cause. At a time when Obama and Clinton are falling over themselves to chase corporate contributions, Edwards is talking about poverty and New Orleans. He's talking the talk black voters want to hear. By regularly returning to New Orleans, he's also walking the walk black voters want to see.

This is why sitting senators have a lot of difficulty winning the White House (only McKinley and JFK in the 20th century). It's more than just having the free time to go to New Orleans when his main opponents are tied down in DeeCee mumbo-jumbo. It's about not having to straddle fences.

Oh, don't get me wrong, I still want to see him resign, so Blanco can appoint a Democrat to the seat. Still, on a personal level, I very much feel sorry for Vitty-cent.

My sympathy goes along two lines. One is the generic, "there but for the grace of god go I" sort of thing that many guys feel when something bad happens to another guy. It's that Jungian sort of collective feeling men get in a movie theater when a guy gets kicked in the groin, all the men in the place suck in their breath simultaneously. It's the same thing here. We all know guys who have affairs, and/or consort with whores. Everyone wants to get their freak on occasionally. And it's really nobody's damn business but those directly involved. The reason we now know that Vitty-cent's freak is diapers is because the Federal Bureau of Investigation seems to really love to chase whores. To see the FBI closing down brothels using RICO and other tools designed to bring down organized crime is outrageous. For all that schadenfreude is enjoyable, I really shouldn't know this much about "lil Vitty."

But my sympathy for Vitty-cent goes even deeper. His background is a story I know all too well. Catholic family, Catholic school, up-and-coming lawyer. Marries your basic nice Catholic girl and makes babies. Here's where the story could become a really neat "Lifetime" movie. There's always been a lot of talk in the neighborhood that Mrs. Vitty-cent was more interested in being involved in politics than he was. That's not a new plot line, to be sure, the ambitious wife who pushes her husband further along than he ever wanted to go. Hell, the Rethugs are still beating that horse when they talk about Senator Clinton.

There are a lot of women who enjoy a bit of status at the various "Republican women's group" meetings, luncheons, etc. Oh, the stories they must hear! The taste of status that the wife of a State Representative gets is heady stuff. Makes a gal desire more and more. She talks that up in her own way to hubby, encouraging him to explore moving up in the political world. Hubby gives in and starts making political moves. Some work, some don't. All of them get him headlines in the local paper when he speaks up. Unfortunately, he's pissing off more than a couple of people as he makes these moves. But the motivation for all this is strong. Is it wife? Her father? *makes notes for screenplay*.

Then an opening presents itself. Your Congresscritter falls into disgrace and resigns. Someone new and fresh needs to take up the party's banner, and stand up to the immoral and evil libruls. I'm sitting in a coffeeshop in the 81st Representative District of Louisiana right now. This is the district that elected David Duke, and replaced him with Vitter when Dukkke took a shot at higher office. This is rich-folks land, where the main thing people want from their political officials is for them to keep the taxes down and the coloreds on the other side of the 17th Street Canal. Otherwise, they want them to stay the hell out of their lives, bedrooms, and wallets. What a great opportunity for the up-and-coming young Republican wife! But for the the man who lists "Lawyer" and "Professor" as his careers on official bios, leaving New Orleans for the rat race of DC would be just applying more and more pressure and stress to an already-stressed life. Having a nice partner's office in a nice law firm, teaching the occasional class, breaking up the routine with the 90-day legislative session in Baton Rouge, that's all fun. You can do your thing, make a good living, go to a lot of really fun social events (this is South Louisiana politics, mind you, it really doesn't get much better), and maybe even do something you believe in.

Moving to DC radically changes all that. Even in a Republican-controlled congress, there's work to be done. Being a legislator is more than a three-month-a-year job. Fundraising becomes quite the pain in the ass. No time for teaching. No nice office downtown. You've gone from being one of the big dogs on the lawn to a puppy on the porch. Thing is, your wife is loving it. She's still at home, of course, can't disrupt the children's school routine, mind you. She's now the big dog on the lawn that is the Republican women's social scene.

And then there's sex. Mrs. Vitty-cent looks like a lot of Catholic girls I've met in my life. They support their husband's career, putting them through school, running the household while they work ridiculous hours as a staff attorney. Making four babies like Mrs. Vitty-cent has done is hard work--takes time out of the day that could usually be spent going to the day spa, playing tennis, or shopping. I can't speak for Mrs. Vitty-cent's sex drive, but even if it's good, Vitty-cent can't bust a nut if she's at home and he's in DeeCee. Even when she's in DeeCee, you've got the official functions, fundraising events, etc. So, even if Mrs. Vitty-cent likes to get a bit of a freak on, there's just not a lot of opportunity. And her desire to get her freak on in the first place is a huge assumption; more likely, she's your basic repressed Catholic girl who believes sex is for procreation. If that's the case, Vitty-cent was no doubt well-acquainted with his right hand. The usual outlet for a man married to a repressed Catholic girl is to bang the secretary, nurse, office assistant...you get the idea.

That's where Southern Louisiana politics becomes really fun. LSU games, hunting trips, fishing rodeos, hanging out in Baton Rouge during the regular session while the family is back home. It's all one big frat party. And frat parties always have whores. Whether they're groupies or professionals, there are always girls around. It's a great zipless release for the guy who has a subscription full of issues. You don't have to worry about the mistress who demands you leave your wife for her; groupies and pros just want a bit of fun. They move on right away. They might come back next spring for some more fun, but they leave you alone in the summer and fall.

DeeCee doesn't work like that. Sure, there are frat parties with whores, but the microsope that you're under as a Congresscritter makes it tough to maintain the lifestyle that a kinky member of the Louisiana House of Representatives had back home. You've got to make a decision at that point. If your career is important to you, you suck it up. You put away the toys, turn down the offers when they're presented. And you damn sure tell the pros to lose your phone number.

But what if your career is more important to your wife than you? Even if you're not a sex junkie, romping in bed with women who enjoy sex has got to be more fun than a repressed Catholic girl whose idea of afterglow is to talk about your next political move. The temptation to pick up the phone for some $300/hour, no-frills fun has got to be strong. So, you give in on occasion, and it relieves some of the stress. You're willing to live the DeeCee lifestyle for a while, in the hopes you can bail on it at some point and go back to that nice downtown New Orleans office as an elder statesmen. Maybe even be a judge or something. Not to mention, the longer you're a Congresscritter, the higher you rise on the totem pole. Life gets better as your ass gets kissed more and more.

Problem is, the wife won't let up. From her perspective, she and her family have put up with a lot of your shit, and now it's time for the big payoff. The senior US Senator from your state is retiring. In spite of your mistakes, you're in good position to make a run at this job. If it works, you're in the United States Senate, a very elite club of 100. Your triumphant return to the downtown law office as elder statesman is looking even better. What's even more interesting about this run is that if you lose, you're done. You have to give up your House seat to take this shot. Losing is winning in many ways.

But you do win, and the cycle starts all over again. Worse still, wife seriously starts thinking her deepest fantasies might come true--living at the US Naval Observatory or the brass ring of the White House. She pushes. The deals you've made with truly evil men start coming back to haunt you, as they demand that you deliver. You're in way too deep by now; if you're going further, you need these people on your side. And wife demands you go further.

Still, stress relief is available, at $300/hour. The social contract between high-priced whore and Important Client is a well-established custom. You pay, they keep their mouth shut. Until the FBI gets involved, then their survival is much more important to them than your reputation. You're just 85 on the power ranking in the club of 100. Your party's leader is so deep in trouble, leagally and politically, that the FBI's whore-chasing is fine by him, even if it sucks you in. Throwing you under a bus looks real good to men who are being hit with Congressional subponeas on an hourly basis. Anything to create a distraction.

So, it all hits the fan. Your cry for help has been answered. You act tough and blame it on the libruls. Larry Flynt is everyone's favorite disgusting individual when it's time to point fingers. These evil scum won't leave you alone. They torture you and your family. It's just not fair to the children, so you reluctantly return to private life.

Yes, you tell the reporters, you're unspeakably angry that you have to return to a nice, downtown New Orleans law office. You're furious that you can be an elder statesman at Tulane games, fishing rodeos, and hunting trips. But you'll be OK, you tell the stenographer. You'll write, you'll teach, you'll work with young lawyers. The stenographer will file the report, closing the book on your public life. Your name isn't in the paper every day. The dirty fucking hippie librul bloggers move on to the next target. You hire a nice-looking secretary.

Maybe even become a judge or something.

...talking about taking his daughter to a midnight Potter-palooza:

That night was when I encountered the dark and disturbing side of Harry Potter books which manifested itself in grown adults wearing wizard hats and capes and what-not, faces frozen in a rictus of unbearable glee, glassy-eyed and a bit creepy. Employees from the bookstore mingled with the people in line, possibly in an attempt to keep a riot from breaking out as the witching hour approached, handing out Harry Potter glasses and lightning bolt tattoos and making happy chat . Since I was standing there, childless and dressed normally, a woman smiled and pointed out that I came as a "Muggle".

Since I didn't have a frigging clue what she was talking about, I just nodded amiably like I do when people talk about economics or hockey. I credit my survival to this day on my amiable nod.

I certainly agree when it comes to economics and hockey...

One of the biggest contributors to the spread of HIV in the developing world is the refusal of men who are infected with the virus to wear condoms. I don't know if the US Army is the right role model for coming down on HIV+ men who don't use protection, however:

(Raleigh, N.C.) Military and civilian authorities have charged an HIV-positive soldier with assault with a deadly weapon, accusing him of having unprotected sex with a partner he didn't tell about the infection. ... An arrest warrant filed by county officials accuses Dalton of not telling his male partner, an 18-year-old civilian, that he has HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. The teen's mother alerted authorities to the relationship after her son fell ill and told her about it; he has tested positive for HIV. Tanna said she did not know whether Dalton was the source of the teen's infection.

What I'd like to see is a hetero man who is HIV+ prosecuted for infecting a woman because he wouldn't wrap it up...

Doctor Black has some thoughts on Harry Potter:

Taste

Glancing through the now quite long Harry Potter thread at a Yglesias's place I'm rather amused. Or bemused. Or something.

I always find it quite fascinating when people seem to get angry because you don't like stuff they like or like stuff that they don't like. It's one thing if someone's making a definitive claim such as "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is the greatest novel in the English language since Middlemarch," or similar. Such statements can inspire genuine discussion and/or argument. But that's something different than "I like Harry Potter" being responded to with "You're an idiot for liking Harry Potter."

Most of us like and enjoy a full range of stuff from low brow to high brow and everything in between. High culture, pop culture, trash culture are all part of the mix. I'm sure there are a few of those rarified individuals who are never sullied by anything that the rest of us mere mortals enjoy, but who the hell wants to talk to them.

[via Eschaton]

Initially I was scared to go over to Yglesia's and see what the dirty fucking hippies are saying about Potter. My fears were justified; the comments are border on nauseating. What struck me as so odd was how the commenters lump Potter together with mainstream adult fiction. Rowling, Scholastic, Bloomsbury, and Warner Brothers have made so much money on Harry, Hermione and Ron that people forget the novels are juvenile fiction. It's like diehard fans who fail to make the distinction between an 800-page novel and a 2-hour movie. The novels are yoot fiction first; if adults want to read them, that's great. Better still, when adults and yoot share the experience. That's the part that Dr. Black and the dirty fucking hippies don't get. And I don't think I'm the one to explain it to them. I'm a dad, I've read stuff simply to understand where my kids are coming from. When it happens to work out that what they read is actually good stuff that I enjoy, I just thank the goddess and leave it at that. After all, it could be another "Goosebumps" novel.

The UNO College Republicans are calling for Vitty-cent to quit. Here's the title of their press release:

David Vitter: A Stain on the Republican Party

Of course, they're college wingnuts, so they're clueless. They want Blanco to appoint a Republican should Vitty-cent resign.

Yup, like that's going to happen.

and I can't imagine why Michael Moore does:

I have to admit, though, I do feel kinda bad taking it all out on Wolf Blitzer. It's not like he's the official representative of the mainstream media.

(via MediaBistro)

Actually, Mr. Moore, Blitzer is essentially a representative of the MSM. He's been around since the first Iraq war, and he's now one of the most senior newsreaders on the teevee these days.

And, if you search his name on Media Matters, you'll find that he's a fucking moron who panders to wingnuttery every chance he gets.

...hopefully that means my kids won't kill someone when driving:

Text messages were sent and received on a 17-year-old driver's cell phone moments before the sport utility vehicle slammed head-on into a truck, killing her and four other recent high school graduates, police said.

Bailey Goodman was driving her friends to her parents' vacation home when her SUV, which had just passed a car, swerved back into oncoming traffic, hit a tractor-trailer and burst into flames. Five days earlier, the five teenagers had graduated together from high school in Fairport, a Rochester suburb.

Goodman's inexperience at the wheel; evidence she was driving above the speed limit at night on a winding, two-lane highway; and a succession of calls and text messages on her phone were cited Friday by Sheriff Phil Povero as possible factors in the June 28 crash in western New York.

Guess that unlimited texting plan really wasn't a good idea.

No, this isn't a post about the Iraq war, and we're still talking about that much money. The Archdiocese of Los Angeles is going to pay out $660 million to victims of their priests who thought buggering little boys was fun:

Sobs and a moment of silence for those who died during years of negotiations punctuated a Monday hearing at which a judge accepted a $660 million settlement between the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles and alleged victims of clergy sex abuse.

"This is the right result," said Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Haley Fromholz.

The settlement is by far the largest payout by any diocese since the clergy abuse scandal emerged in Boston in 2002. Individual payouts, to be made by Dec. 1, will vary according to the severity of each case.

Two-thirds of a billion dollars would go a long way in improving schools in Los Angeles County. It certainly would help in re-building the Ninth Ward in New Orleans. But I don't begrudge the victims of The Holy Pole and Fr. Ratzinger, mind you. Let's just hope these foolish old men have realized they can't simply run-and-hide from buggery without very costly consequences.

AP reporting that Vitty-cent will have a press conference at 5:05 in Metairie, no specifics on location, though.

If anyone finds out more details, please comment. Also, if anyone can stop by Toys R Us and pick up a pack of Huggies to hold up at the press conference, that would be funny as all hell.

UPDATE: Presser will be at the Sheraton Galleria, which is at I-10 and Causeway. (thanks, kitteblue) :-)

While history will surely focus on the Blue Dress, Clinton's presidency was not without its substantive errors. Take the OKC Bombing case and the prosecution of Tim McVeigh. One of the tools placed into the arsenal of federal prosecutors was the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996. While it enabled the feds to quickly stick a needle in McVeigh's arm, it's also created problems for death row inmates who seek new trials based on evidence that surfaces years after their convictions.

TalkLeft mentions the case of Troy Davis, who is scheduled to be executed Tuesday by the State of Georgia. There appears to be solid evidence indicating that Davis might be innocent of the murder he will be killed for, but AEDPA makes it all but impossible for his lawyers to file a habeas writ to hold off the headsman. Go to TalkLeft for the details of Davis' case; you'll see it's compelling.

The bigger picture point here (and it's so tough for me to say that when a potentially innocent man's life hangs in the balance) is that Clinton didn't need to sign AEDPA. He was pro-death penalty, and backed that up by signing death warrants as governor of Arkansas. He could have easily said this was bad legislation and it would not have been a significant issue in the 1996 campaign. It's hard to remember a time when terrorism wasn't front-and-center, but back then, it was still the economy, stupid, and he was winning that argument hands-down.

This is one of the huge consequences of divided government, though, that bad legislation gets through because of compromise. The Republican party has so poisoned our political discourse that things like AEDPA become one of there "not-so-bad" bills that a Dem president has to give in to so he can be open to shut down the even more disgusting things these pieces of crap will pull out of their ass.

Clinton was a good president, but AEDPA will go down as one of his darker moments.

The distinguished almost-Speaker of the house Bob Livingston, has come out in support of Vitty:

Also of note, ex-Rep. Bob Livingston -- the Louisiana Republican who had to resign over his extra-marital affairs and was eventually replaced by Vitter in Congress -- said Vitter should NOT resign. Livingston said Vitter should "pick himself up and charge forward."

(h/t AmericaBlog)

So, a former Congressman with a spanking fetish is backing a Senator with a diaper fetish. Both of them, of course, thought Clinton should be impeached for a very vanilla blowjob.

It's not surprising that shit would claim that shit doesn't smell bad.

YatPundit supports the Edwards campaign. You've probably figured that out from comments I've made over the last few months, but this puts it in no uncertain terms, I'm with Edwards all the way. I see him as very electable, and the best choice of the Democratic field.

I got an e-mail from Adidas this morning. They've started a new promo website, www.futbolmeetsfootball.com. The series of ads feature Mr. Posh Spice with another very popular athlete in the Los Angeles area, #25 for the New Orleans Saints:

Becks in a Saints uniform? too funny...

I always pause on a Friday the 13th to remember a very bad "Friday the 13th" from history.

It was Friday, October 13, 1307, when Philip IV of France ordered the arrest of all members of the Knights of the Temple of Solomon in France. Phillipe le Bel ("the fair") enlisted the pope in his scheme, outlawing the order in France and getting the pope to extend that ban to the rest of the christian world. Over the next seven years, Templars were interrogated, tortured, and executed by the Church and the French.

So, my thoughts are with those men and their sacrifice, as I meditate on the 30th Degree of the Scottish Rite...

Let me say at the outset that I don't like David Vitter. I think he's an arrogant, sanctimonious piece of shit who voted identically as David Dukkke did in the state legislature. He also is obnoxious to the help at the local Marble Slab Creamery. That he is a hypocrite was well-known in Louisiana, and if this latest round of press is enough to get him to resign, I'm good with that.

All, that said, I well and truly don't care where David sticks "lil' vitty." I don't care if his wife wants to cut it off if she's been wronged. Just as I don't want David to know where I put "lil yat," what he does is really none of my damn business.

Once again, the Democratic Party has a huge opportunity to take the high road here and try to win over Libertarians in the process. Majority Leader Reid should call a presser today and issue the following statement:

"Senator Vitter's private life is just that--PRIVATE. It's none of our damn business. As such, this is the last comment you'll hear from a Democrat on the subject."

When a politician is ensared by a sex scandal, the wheels that get set in motion are incredible. I have mixed feelings about Larry Flynt using "lil vitty" to bring David down. Part of me says it's none of his damn business, either, but then, David does attack Flynt and others on the whole "family values" issue, leaving him vulnerable to the charge of hypocrisy. Then there's the MSM, who put up front page photos of hookers and tell stories of their encounters with sanctimonious politicians.

Then there's La Grace, who, as usual, is totally detached from reality:

Whether voters accept his vague contrition depends on what happens over the next few days and how his wife, Wendy, plays the situation. But in the political world his standing is already shaky.

Shaky, huh? All David's got to do is ride it out until the fall election. He doesn't stand for re-election until 2010. That's three years, a presidential election, and Mary Landrieu's re-election bid (next year) away. Her column is titled, "Can this senator's career be saved?" but she offers no possible scenario under which his career is in danger. All "lil vitty" has to do is zip up and lie low. He can kiss goodbye any hope of a prominent role in the 2008 GOP convention. Running mate dreams have been dashed. But there's no way this guy's resigining from the senate.

This is why Dems need to stay on the high road. David is going to ride this out, and he'll get re-elected in 2010. The Family Research Council and every other fundigelical group, along with the pro-life catlicks will get right behind him.

Besides, who knows when we'll have another highly-popular elected official who likes to get blowjobs from women to whom he's not married.

The bottom line on this comes, amazingly, from La Grace. In her outrage, she says:

As for his constituents, well, it's apparently none of their business.

Score one for Stephanie, she got that part right.

As a dad who's been to "bat night," "ball night," "hat night," and goddess-knows-what-else night, I can safely say that O'Really has no idea what he's talking about here.

O'Reilly: To "cluster" gays near children is "insane" and "inappropriate"

On the July 11 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, host Bill O'Reilly called the San Diego Padres' decision to host a gay pride night and a children's hat giveaway promotion during the same July 8 baseball game "insensitive," "dumb," "almost unbelievable," and a "mistake." He called it "insane" to "cluster" gay men and lesbians during a "hat giveaway for any kid under 12." O'Reilly reported that "thousands of gay adults showed up and commingled with straight families," and stated, "[C]lear-thinking people understand it is completely out of context and inappropriate." When San Diego Pride executive director Ron deHarte said that it "was no different than any other game," O'Reilly responded: "But you are focusing in and putting more homosexuals into an area. OK? See, that's the problem," adding: "You're putting it in a kid's face at a baseball game." O'Reilly later asserted: "This is social engineering by the Padres."

[via Media Matters for America]

It's common sense by the Padres, you moron. You see, it doesn't matter who is at the ballgame--if the home team is doing "hat night," then your kid is going to drag your sorry, lazy ass out to the ballpark. Simple as that. The kid could care less if Harry and Larry are sharing a hot dog two rows down, so long as you're there in time to be the first 5000 so he gets the bloody hat.

What is it with European sport leaders? I know we Americans can be real douchebags when it comes to respecting international sport, but for Ecclestone to behave like FIFA's Sepp Blatter is counter-productive:

Ecclestone: No US Grand Prix in 2008

Bernie Ecclestone has revealed Formula One will not travel to the United States next year as he was unable to come to an agreement with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. After eight years of racing at the Brickyard both parties were unable to to extend the track's contract.

"We didn't reach an agreement... Let's see if we miss America," Ecclestone told Reuters. Ecclestone furthermore said that no other U.S. venue was lined up to replace Indianapolis on the 2008 Formula 1 calendar.

OK, I know that Ferrari doesn't have a big stake in the American auto market, but certainly Mercedes, BMW, and Toyota won't mind displaying some excellent specemins of their work on American teevee.

...is not secret renditions, prisons that deny fundamental rights to those inside, or undue secrecy:

Four guilty over 21/7 bomb plot Four men have been found guilty of plotting to bomb London's transport network on 21 July 2005.

Muktar Ibrahim, 29, Yassin Omar, 26, Ramzi Mohammed, 25, and Hussain Osman, 28, were convicted at Woolwich Crown Court of conspiracy to murder.

The Brits put these men on trial in open court. No "military tribunals," or other foolishness. They were convicted. They're going to jail, and jail for terrorists in the UK isn't a pretty experience. They used to refer to two kinds of prisoners in the UK, terrorists and ODCs (Ordinary, Decent Criminals). Those in the ODC classification usually include murderers and rapists.

No, life is not going to be round-the-clock virgin-banging for these men. Their cell was shut down, and Scotland Yard and MI5 have total access to them to glean any more information out of them that can be had.

Open trial by jury. What a novel concept. Once again, we (the US) are instructed by our elders.

For example, never take nekkid pics of your wife to the neighborhood one-hour photo place. These guys you hear about who take pics of kids and drop them off at Wal-Mart should be shot just because they're that stupid. But taking the specs on Ferrari's F1 car to the Brit equivalent of a Kinkos?

Coughlan to reveal all in spy row

Ferrari say their technical secrets were taken illegally

McLaren chief designer Mike Coughlan has agreed to provide a sworn declaration about how he obtained important Ferrari documents.
...
Trudy Coughlan is alleged to have taken a 780-page Ferrari document to a photocopying shop for reproduction.

Ferrari said they would not have known about the missing documents had an employee at the shop not alerted them.

F1 motorsport is a billion-dollar-plus business with a lot of fans. Just like someone in the neighborhood is going to recognize your nekkid wife's pics at the Walgreens, this gal should have known someone would recognize that little horsey on top of the pages...

That Vitter is a pervert has been common knowledge since his abortive campaign for governor in the 1990s. It's good to see him finally admit it:

WASHINGTON _ Sen. David Vitter, R-La., apologized Monday night for "a very serious sin in my past" after his telephone number appeared among those associated with an escort service operated by the so-called "D.C. Madam."

What I find interesting is that this piece of shit would consider himself fit for Veep:

Vitter was among the first members of Congress to endorse former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani for president fueling speculation that the senator was angling for a vice presidential bid. Pinsonat said that Vitter's acknowledgement of a "serious sin" snuffs out any hope he may have had about being on a national Republican presidential ticket.

Now, the only thing that would make this funnier would be if he was banging Mexican prostitutes.

via lucious_purple in the lj-comm religous_left, I've just finished reading an op-ed piece from Professor of Religion Charles Marsh of UVA in the Boston Globe. It's a very compelling article dealing with the role of evangelical Christians in the run-up to war in Iraq:

Why did American evangelicals not pause for a moment in the rush to war to consider the near-unanimous disapproval of the global Christian community? The worldwide Christian opposition seems to me the most neglected story related to the religious debate about Iraq: Despite approval for the president's decision to go to war by 87 percent of white evangelicals in April 2003, according to a Pew Charitable Trusts poll, almost every Christian leader in the world (and almost every nonevangelical leader in the United States) voiced opposition to the war.

Marsh invokes the words and memory of Dietrich Boenhoeffer, Lutheran pastor and martyr to his cause in Hitler's Germany. I am usually one of those who invokes Godwin's Law when someone plays the "nazi" card with respect to the piece of shit who lives in the White House, but this is one time where the parallel to what happened during World War II is valid:

Bonhoeffer, who had actively opposed the Nazis since the passage of the Aryan Laws of 1933 and was executed in April 1945, believed that the church had so compromised its witness to Jesus Christ that it was now incapable of "taking the word of reconciliation and redemption to mankind and the world." The misuse of the language of faith had humiliated the Word; any hope for renewal would need to begin with the humble recognition that God was most certainly tired of all our talk.

I encourage everyone, Christian or no, to read this article and give it some consideration.