August 2005 Archives

From the Nola.com weblog tonight:

I had to leave my students behind.

Much of inner city New Orleans is filled with indigent or low-income families with no transportation. These people didn’t stay in the city, for the most part, because they were “attached” to their homes. Most have little to attach to and no money or means to leave. Instead, many either rent one side of a shotgun double house or “stay” in one of the city’s five huge housing projects. And that’s where I had to leave my students: on the second floor, in their neighbor’s apartment in the Lafitte Housing Project.

Dwight and Dwan, twin brothers who just turned 17 years old, first became my students at one of the lowest performing middle schools two years ago. Their individual stories are sad before Hurricane Katrina and maybe too intensely painful for the average parent or reader. But their reality was to call Children Services themselves last Friday when they came home to find their circumstances unlivable, once again. That day, they asked if they could live with me, but it wasn’t possible Friday. We agreed to meet on Sunday and plan their future. Hurricane Katrina made all that impossible when I evacuated Saturday night.

We spoke several times trying to coordinate how to drop-off food for the storm but officials issued a curfew by 7p.m.on Saturday night making that impossible. I asked their neighbor to take them to the Superdome, but she said it was a bad experience two years earlier when they evacuated for a tropical storm and that they trusted God.

We spoke at 4:00 a.m. and the storm hit Monday morning at 5:00 a.m. We spoke a few hours later and I haven’t been able to reach them since. From a hotel room in Houston, I sit tortured in from of the TV hoping to see a shot of their building or a face. The news just reported that the Orleans Parish School System would be closed for the next two to three months. What I want to know is… will my students be alive.

And it's unfair, because I realize many more places than New Orleans got hit by Katrina... they just weren't as famous.

But New Orleans is the place that sticks in my mind, because I finally got to go there three years ago. We stayed in a beautiful B&B in the garden district; went on a walking tour of one of the old cemeteries which concluded in a visit to a voodoo priestess's home and temple; devoured beignets and drank sweetened coffee at Cafe du Monde; saw several JazzFest shows, including Jack Johnson and Galactic at a beautiful old theater, Charlie Hunter at a crowded and steamy warehouse district club, and Karl Dennison's Tiny Universe at the fairgrounds; ate everything from so-so sushi near the warehouse club to fried fish on Bourbon Street to wonderful French food in the Garden District; and when we were worn out with shlepping around in the heat being tourists, we took a streetcar to a park by the river and just hung out and read for a while, enjoying a (slightly cooler) breeze and watching families around us enjoy their afternoon picnics. I guess all those places are gone now or at least under a lot of water. I wish I could remember all the names.

Some links of interest...

• The Times-Picayune's ongoing newsblog on the crisis
• A great explanation of how levees fail, and what New Orleans can expect as it tries to recover, from somebody over at DailyKos

And this story makes me so angry. From Editor & Publisher:

New Orleans had long known it was highly vulnerable to flooding and a direct hit from a hurricane. In fact, the federal government has been working with state and local officials in the region since the late 1960s on major hurricane and flood relief efforts. When flooding from a massive rainstorm in May 1995 killed six people, Congress authorized the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project, or SELA.

Over the next 10 years, the Army Corps of Engineers, tasked with carrying out SELA, spent $430 million on shoring up levees and building pumping stations, with $50 million in local aid. But at least $250 million in crucial projects remained, even as hurricane activity in the Atlantic Basin increased dramatically and the levees surrounding New Orleans continued to subside.

Yet after 2003, the flow of federal dollars toward SELA dropped to a trickle. The Corps never tried to hide the fact that the spending pressures of the war in Iraq, as well as homeland security -- coming at the same time as federal tax cuts -- was the reason for the strain. At least nine articles in the Times-Picayune from 2004 and 2005 specifically cite the cost of Iraq as a reason for the lack of hurricane- and flood-control dollars.

Newhouse News Service, in an article posted late Tuesday night at The Times-Picayune Web site, reported: "No one can say they didn't see it coming. ... Now in the wake of one of the worst storms ever, serious questions are being asked about the lack of preparation."

In early 2004, as the cost of the conflict in Iraq soared, President Bush proposed spending less than 20 percent of what the Corps said was needed for Lake Pontchartrain, according to a Feb. 16, 2004, article, in New Orleans CityBusiness.

On June 8, 2004, Walter Maestri, emergency management chief for Jefferson Parish, Louisiana; told the Times-Picayune: "It appears that the money has been moved in the president's budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that's the price we pay. Nobody locally is happy that the levees can't be finished, and we are doing everything we can to make the case that this is a security issue for us." 

Like there's money to pay for this disaster now? Such short-sightedness, and so many lives lost. 

Edited to add:

Of course, there's the other stuff I remember from New Orleans. We went for a walk from the B&B in our neighborhood. I remember being shocked to find that only a few blocks away, there were crumbling sidewalks and very ghetto-ey buildings, and very poor people just standing around. It was far worse than the worst areas of Oakland. We didn't feel like we should stick around.

The poorest people were the ones that got stuck in town during this hurricane, because they didn't have the money to leave. Paying $3000 for tickets to get your family to Houston was not an option for them. 

Our dear Dubya, playing a guitar given to him by a country singer. Said singer looks somewhat concerned.

Oh, and this happened yesterday.

I'm not going to make the jokes about fiddling while Rome burns (or New Orleans burbles) but rest assured, said jokes are being made. 

P.S.: www.redcross.org.

I can no longer resist the dread high school music meme of death.

• Go to musicoutfitters.com

• Enter the year you graduated from high school in the search function and get the list of 100 most popular songs of that year.

• Bold the songs you like, strike through the ones you hate and underline your favorite. Do nothing to the ones you don't remember (or feel neutrally about.)

1. Walk Like An Egyptian, Bangles (Meh. Just OK. Prefered "Hazy Shade of Winter")
2. Alone, Heart (Don't remember it, but probably wouldn't have liked it. Don't care for Heart after the 1970s)
3. Shake You Down, Gregory Abbott
4. I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me), Whitney Houston
5. Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now, Starship
6. C'est La Vie, Robbie Nevil (Meh. It's O.K.)
7. Here I Go Again, Whitesnake
8. The Way It Is, Bruce Hornsby and the Range (Meh. It's O.K.)
9. Shakedown, Bob Seger
10. Livin' On A Prayer, Bon Jovi (It's so kitchy, I can't decide whether I like it or hate it.)
11. La Bamba, Los Lobos
12. Everybody Have Fun Tonight, Wang Chung
13. Don't Dream It's Over, Crowded House (This is actually my LEAST favorite Crowded House song. I didn't like it at the time, but then I heard more Crowded House and realized just how brilliant they are)
14. Always, Atlantic Starr
15. With Or Without You, U2 (I didn't really like it, and am not into U2, but it is a good song... they just leave me cold for some reason.)
16. Looking For A New Love, Jody Watley (I am a sucker...)
17. Head To Toe, Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam (...for cheezy 80s dance pop)
18. I Think We're Alone Now, Tiffany
19. Mony Mony, Billy Idol (meh.)
20. At This Moment, Billy Vera and The Beaters
21. Lady In Red, Chris De Burgh (DIE! DIE! DIE!)
22. Didn't We Almost Have It All, Whitney Houston
23. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, U2 (see comments about U2 above. I love the parody of this that Negativland did around the same time.)
24. I Want Your Sex, George Michael
25. Notorious, Duran Duran
26. Only In My Dreams, Debbie Gibson
27. (I've Had) The Time Of My Life, Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes
28. The Next Time I Fall, Peter Cetera and Amy Grant
29. Lean On Me, Club Nouveau
30. Open Your Heart, Madonna
31. Lost In Emotion, Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam
32. (I Just) Died In Your Arms, Cutting Crew
33. Heart And Soul, T'pau
34. You Keep Me Hangin' On, Kim Wilde
35. Keep Your Hands To Yourself, Georgia Satellites
36. I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me), Aretha Franklin and George Michael (Not great)
37. Control, Janet Jackson (great album)
38. Somewhere Out There, Linda Ronstadt and James Ingram
39. U Got The Look, Prince (from one of the best albums EVER and certainly Prince's high point)
40. Land Of Confusion, Genesis (bleh)
41. Jacob's Ladder, Huey Lewis and The News
42. Who's That Girl, Madonna (Just O.K. One of her weaker songs)
43. You Got It All, Jets
44. Touch Me (I Want Your Body), Samantha Fox
45. I Just Can't Stop Loving You, Michael Jackson and Siedah Garrett
46. Causing A Commotion, Madonna
47. In Too Deep, Genesis
48. Let's Wait Awhile, Janet Jackson (I didn't love this song. Too shmaltzy)
49. Hip To Be Square, Huey Lewis and the News
50. Will You Still Love Me?, Chicago
51. Little Lies, Fleetwood Mac
52. Luka, Suzanne Vega
53. I Heard A Rumour, Bananarama
54. Don't Mean Nothing, Richard Marx
55. Songbird, Kenny G
56. Carrie, Europe
57. Don't Disturb This Groove, System
58. La Isla Bonita, Madonna
59. Bad, Michael Jackson (Yes, it was)
60. Sign 'O' The Times, Prince
61. Change Of Heart, Cyndi Lauper
62. Come Go With Me, Expose
63. Can't We Try, Dan Hill
64. To Be A Lover, Billy Idol
65. Mandolin Rain, Bruce Hornsby and the Range
66. Breakout, Swing Out Sister
67. Stand By Me, Ben E. King
68. Tonight, Tonight, Tonight, Genesis
69. Someday, Glass Tiger
70. When Smokey Sings, ABC
71. Casanova, Levert
72. Rhythm Is Gonna Get You, Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine
73. Rock Steady, Whispers
74. Wanted Dead Or Alive, Bon Jovi
75. Big Time, Peter Gabriel
76. The Finer Things, Steve Winwood
77. Let Me Be The One, Expose
78. Is This Love, Survivor
79. Diamonds, Herb Alpert
80. Point Of No Return, Expose
81. Big Love, Fleetwood Mac
82. Midnight Blue, Lou Gramm
83. Something So Strong, Crowded House
84. Heat Of The Night, Bryan Adams (haven't heard it, but I can't stand the guy)
85. Nothing's Gonna Change My Love For You, Glenn Medeiros
86. Brilliant Disguise, Bruce Springsteen
87. Just To See Her, Smokey Robinson
88. Who Will You Run Too, Heart (don't remember it)
89. Respect Yourself, Bruce Willis (Bruce Willis. 80s music career. NOOOOO!)
90. Cross My Broken Heart, Jets
91. Victory, Kool and The Gang
92. Don't Get Me Wrong, Pretenders
93. Doing It All For My Baby, Huey Lewis and The News
94. Right On Track, Breakfast Club
95. Ballerina Girl, Lionel Richie
96. Meet Me Half Way, Kenny Loggins
97. I've Been In Love Before, Cutting Crew
98. (You Gotta) Fight For Your Right To Party, Beastie Boys
99. Funkytown, Pseudo Echo
100. Love You Down, Ready For The World (I liked Oh Sheila much better)

New show on the BBC.

It sounds like a British radio version of A Mighty Wind, with Neil Finn (formerly of Crowded House) in it. ("Frodo, Don't Wear the Ring?")

Or rather, the lack thereof.

Alas, A Blog has a great roundup of links on this unspeakably depressing subject. What have we done? 

Some of the silver beads I've been creating in class... (they're not actually this big, though)

Meet the Gay Black Jewish Klansmen for Tolerance and Understanding.

This image makes me very happy. (I got this link from JewSchool, not sure where they got it)

Spotted in the Safeway parking lot the other day...

This one is making the rounds...

Subject: News from Washington.......July 23, 2005.....Authorities Overwhelmed

In an effort to overcome the continuing criticism that he is unsupportive and dismissive of Israel, one of America's closest allies, today President Bush announced that he is converting to Judaism in the hope that this will demonstrate his affinity and empathy with the Israeli people.

Authorities have been unable to handle the thousands of applicants who volunteered to be the moyel.

This article in the New Republic argues that rock snobs are an endangered species.

In some ways... the iPod revolution is a Rock Snob's dream. Now, nearly all rock music is easily and almost instantly attainable, either via our friends' computers or through online file-sharing networks. "Music swapping" on a mass scale allows my music collection to grow larger and faster than I'd ever imagined. And I can now summon any rare track from the online ether.

But there's a dark side to the iPod era. Snobbery subsists on exclusivity. And the ownership of a huge and eclectic music collection has become ordinary. Thanks to the iPod, and digital music generally, anyone can milk various friends, acquaintances, and the Internet to quickly build a glorious 10,000-song collection. Adding insult to injury, this process often comes directly at the Rock Snob's expense. We are suddenly plagued by musical parasites. For instance, a friend of middling taste recently leeched 700 songs from my computer. He offered his own library in return, but it wasn't much. Never mind my vague sense that he should pay me some money. In Rock Snob terms, I was a Boston Brahmin and he was a Beverly Hillbilly--one who certainly hadn't earned that highly obscure album of AC/DC songs performed as tender acoustic ballads but was sure to go bragging to all his friends about it...

I'm not alone in these frustrations. "Even for a recovering Rock Snob, such as myself," Steven Daly told me, "it's a little disturbing to hear a civilian music fan boast that he has the complete set of Trojan reggae box-sets on his iPod sitting alongside 9,000 other tracks that he probably neither needs nor deserves." It's true: Even if music leeches don't fully appreciate, or even listen to, some of the gems they so effortlessly acquire, we resent them anyway. One friend even confessed to me in an e-mail that "I have been known to strip the iTunes song information off mix CDs just to keep the Knowledge secret."

But resistance is futile. Even the Rock Snob's habitat, the record shop, is under siege. Say farewell to places like Championship Vinyl, the archetypal record store featured in Nick Hornby's High Fidelity. "The shop smells of stale smoke, damp, and plastic dust-covers, and it's narrow and dingy and overcrowded, partly because that's what I wanted--this is what record shops should look like," explains Hornby's proprietor, Rob. Like great used bookstores, the Championship Vinyls of the world are destinations where the browsing and people-watching is half the fun. (A certain kind of young man will forever cling to the fantasy of meeting his soul mate as they simultaneously reach for the same early-era Superchunk disc.) Equally gratifying is the hunt for elusive albums in a store's musty bins, a quest that demands time, persistence, and cunning, and whose serendipitous payoffs are nearly as rewarding as the music itself. Speaking of book-collecting, the philosopher Walter Benjamin spoke of "the thrill of acquisition." But, when everything's instantly available online, the thrill is gone.

I'm as much of a music snob as anybody, but I can't relate to any of this. Perhaps it's partly because I've always favored more portable music like cassettes over L.P.s. I also just don't get that excited by music stores, because I found they often were out of whatever I was looking for, and in the old days they didn't have listening stations. A bookstore lets you immediately sample the wares, but it Tower, et al a long time to figure out how to reproduce that experience.

And I LOVE sharing my discoveries with people. I WANT them to know what I've put on a mix C.D. and who are the artists behind the music. I would LOVE them to get just as excited about my favorites as I do. Isn't that the whole point?

Yes, it's possible to download a lot of music really quickly and easily... but a lot of people just don't bother. Or they don't know how to pick out the good stuff from the dross.

I've been listening to two newish albums a lot lately.

The first one, Siberie m'etait Contee (sorry about the missing accents) is accompanied by an illustrated book, and seems to be largely unavailable here. (I ordered it from someplace in france called alapage.com) It's almost entirely in French, so my comprehension is not as good as it should be (I can get individual phrases but feel like I'm missing the bigger picture.) But I can't stop listening to it. It moves beautifully from a jaunty description of a Parisian neighborhood (Le P'tit Jardin) to shivering in the dead of winter (Siberie Fleuve Amour). For those who have heard his previous albums: it's a different musical style than that of Claudestino, but just as good - like that one, all the songs on this album form a complete, unified work. Individual songs are excellent, and the whole thing at once is even better. It's also less scattered than Proxima Estacion: Esperanza, which had some good songs but didn't tell a coherent "story." This one does. I hope it gets released in the U.S. someday.

The second one I just got today. It's by a pair of musicians that I wasn't previously familiar with, Amadou et Miriam. Their latest album was produced by Chao, and features him on several tracks. They should form some kind of supergroup and keep on working together, as far as I'm concerned; this album is hugely enjoyable and lively. (Interestingly enough, one of the songs, M'bif à ˆ (balafon) has a backing track that's identical to that of Siberie Fleuve Amour. I guess it's O.K. to plagarize from yourself!) If you want to check out Dimanche a Bamako, it's now available on iTunes.

"The problem is: Americans tend to blame everyone but themselves for higher gas prices. But when you're actually going backward in fuel efficiency and your government subsidizes that trend, you have a problem. And when you're a president who cozies up to the enemy in Saudi Arabia and then guzzles more gas than anyone else, you might begin to have a p.r. problem. I say: toughen fuel standards, double gas taxes, remove all tax breaks for SUVs and drill in ANWR. It's a start. Oh, and if you live alone as more and more people do, and you live in an urban area, get a bike."

If you guessed "Michael Moore," you'd be wrong.  (The suggestion to drill in ANWR and the bike riding should be a dead giveaway.)

Sometimes I really like Andrew Sullivan. And other times, I want to slap him upside the head. He makes facile, bullshit statements sometimes which undercut any sensible he's trying to say. Like his recent condemnation of nutjob Pat Roberts. It starts off really well...

Yet another expression of his version of Christianity from Pat Robertson. Recall that Robertson was on the list fo [sic] people consulted by the administration on the Supreme Court nomination. He's not an outsider, even though every sane conservative says he is the minute he opens his mouth and says something hateful again. He was once a credible presidential candidate. The test of mainstream Republicans' integrity is if they do not simply denounce this comment but denounce Robertson and his political machine.

And then he blows it.

He is their Michael Moore.

Excuse me?

I don't remember Michael Moore calling Hinduism demonic. Or suggesting that the State Department be bombed. Moore would never call for the president of any country to be assassinated. It also goes without saying that he wouldn't describe feminism as a"socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians."

Michael Moore's home page, on the other hand, contains radical statements like  "How did $9 BILLION, and counting, get lost in Iraq? Demand an audit of all financial & military transactions related to the war in Iraq so we can finally get to the bottom of this horrible situation," calls to support Cindy Sheehan, various news stories (including the Pat Robertson one) and promotion of his latest book. The main criminal offense here is that there's just too much damn text on one web page. The most inflammatory thing I've ever seen him do is give that speech at the Oscars calling Bush a "fictitious president." Not exactly a threat on his life.

If only the righties had somebody as reality-based as Michael Moore on their side, perhaps we'd all be better off!

The other week, the Onion ran an item with a headline saying something like "Restaurant Offers $12 Po' Boy Sandwich".

Today, at the Ferry Building, I saw that one of the takeout places was offering po' boys for $11.50.

As my coworker said, "You'll be a po' boy after ordering that!" 

The low-carb folks weigh in on the Flying Spaghetti Monster, forming a rival sect called Bacontarianism, which offers up the Carbonara compromise.

However, we do not know what Pastafarians believe about the LARD. We do not know whether they recognize bacon as a sacrament or whether they understand the importance of the Holy LARD in both religious practice and daily life.

Meditating on this issue over a bacon-laced Cobb salad, I realized that there’s a number of strong indications that our Pastafarian bretheren may, indeed, be our brothers and sisters in the LARD. The Pastafarian liturgy ends its prayers with a solemn “Ramen”. As we all know, ramen is generally served in a pork-based broth and usually features multiple slices of roast pork atop the noodles. At the very least, we know that the Pastafarians are not abstainers, or worse, vegetarians.

 I'm hungry now.

I just heard the most remarkable exchange on the Ed Schultz show. I'm writing this from memory, so perhaps somebody else has a more accurate version. For those who aren't familiar with Ed Schultz, he's one of the hosts on Air America Radio. His particular shtick is that he sounds slightly like Rush Limbaugh, but he's liberal and quite jovial in personality, as likely to talk about football as Iraq.

Anyway, some rightie called in. He started off with an offer to concede that Bush shouldn't have invaded Iraq over the WMD issue as long as Schultz was willing to concede that Clinton missed some opportunities to go after Bin Laden. It ended with this: 

Ed Schultz: Answer me this. Are we really any safer as a result of going into iraq?

Caller: Well I feel safer —

ES: That's not the question. What's your proof?

C: Uh —

ES: Oh, you're gonna say because we haven't been hit. That's your proof.

C: [triumphantly, with the sense that at last, he's found the winning answer] LONDON's been hit!

ES: Thank you for your call... 

So I'm just sitting there thinking, oh, no, that man did NOT just say that the fact that the U.K., our chief ally in Iraq, is getting hit again despite long practice fighting the IRA... is somehow proof that we're better off?

Oh yes, he did! Moron.

Haven't been able to find the video yet, but apparently, some right-wing talkshow hack named Mike Gallagher dragged his minions to Crawford to participate in a counterprotest against Cindy Sheehan's Camp Casey. The group shouted the slogan, "We don't care! We don't care! We don't care!" repeatedly.

The best part? Gallagher's defense of the tactic.

Now of course, you know what the "We don't care" cheer was about, cause you heard me talk about it before we went to Crawford. It was about the Iraqi insurgents complaining - and the terrorist prisoners complaining - about being mistreated.

Yet, the bloggers wrote, "Mike Gallagher led a cheer of rabid right-wingers screaming, 'We don't care' directed at Cindy Sheehan over the loss of her son.

Oh, O.K.! Silly me. I thought you were saying that you didn't care that Ms. Sheehan had lost her son in the war. But all you were saying is that you don't care about all those human rights violations that have damaged our international image and derailed our struggle against terrorism! A thousand apologies. My bad! 

My cousin writes:

As someone who really loves science (and math), the whole ID issue really irks me.  However, I don’t understand why I have never heard anyone simply argue that no one is preventing ID from being taught in churches or at home from those who truly believe it and are “experts” in it.  Are the ID proponents saying that what children learn in school is more powerful than what they learn at home and at church?  If this is the case, then what does that say about the power of ideas coming from home and church?  If ID is so “obvious” and “right”, then why should it have to be taught in school at all?  Why can’t the proponents of ID simply tell their children that evolution is just poppycock and that ID is how things really happen?  If ID is “the answer”, then such a frank discussion with their children should end the debate right on the spot.  Finally, as you point out, it is simply not inconsistent to have evolution and a good foundation of faith — unless, of course, you force yourself to have a quite literal meaning of the bible.  Is religion so tenuous that it must rely on such rigidity?

I also don’t understand why no one has brought up the previous arguments about the Earth being the center of the universe and the sun revolving around the Earth that not even ID proponents say is true.  How can they be so selective with which facts are “absolute”?

Another line of argument that is a little bit like the “noodly appendage” is the fact that it is certainly quite consistent with all facts for some supernatural being to simply create the universe thousands of years ago (whatever the ID proponents believe is the true age of the universe) and to do so in whatever fashion the bible states and THEN to “start the clock” by setting up everything in the universe as a “snapshot” (i.e. all animals in place, radioactive elements in a certain state of decay, light from distant suns being at certain distances from us, etc.) and to simply go forward from that point with the physical laws that science has since measured.  Basically, God is just playing a really big joke on the scientists making it “seem” like the physical laws are immutable when really they are just there so we can have this lovely ID debate!

 Yet another line of argument is “The Matrix” line of reasoning where all reality is nothing more than mind control so it’s all arbitrary anyway — another “head fake”.

The irony is that the above arguments could actually be made consistent with whatever science comes up with -- “starting with the desired results and working backward” as Jon Carroll said.  Even though this seems quite arbitrary and even stupid, it’s not an argument one can win with someone of faith that believes in ID.

Though there isn’t any argument likely to win them over, I think that for consistency anyone who believes, and especially tries to have other people believe, in ID should become like the Amish and get away from using any modern technology since that technology is created by the same scientific principles that created the theory of evolution (that “pesky scientific materialism” as you put it).

In today's Chron (emphasis mine)...

Intelligent design is not science. It is not even a field of study. It is a belief system wrapped up in "scientific" language. Scientists have been studying the origin and nature of life on earth for at least 4,000 years. In that time, they have come up with a number of hypotheses. Then new evidence has been turned up, and the old hypotheses have been discarded, often reluctantly.

Scientists, like all humans, really hate to discard ideas that they have defended for years. The history of science is a history of unhappy people reluctantly changing their minds. Imagine the person who first realized that the sun was just another star. Terrible, terrible news. It's the universe saying, "You're not special."

The intelligent design people have never suffered such a crisis. They have never changed their minds based on new evidence. That's because they started with the desired results and worked backward.

Scientists have taken the time to study all forms of life -- mosses, flatworms, slime molds, fruit flies, sharks. What they have learned has been incorporated into the body of knowledge and sometimes has resulted in a change of assumptions.

The intelligent design people don't do mosses. They don't spend 17 years in a laboratory with a glass case full of earthworms. They are indifferent to the symbiotic relationships that create lichen. The intelligent design people are not interested in studying; they are interested in preaching. They do not present papers; they present sermons.

It's not an equal struggle. It's the world scientific community against a few guys with some Web sites and a lot of political clout.

Science has been wrong before -- the intelligent design people will stress that. Science cannot explain this bit or that bit. And it is true, science has been wrong, and science does not have all the answers. But here's the thing: In all the instances when science has been wrong and has had to change its mind to accommodate new data, never once has it done so because it failed to account for the intervention of a supernatural entity. Not once.

John Roberts is a dick. I was trying to keep an open mind about him and give him the benefit of the doubt, but this was the last straw.

The documents released Thursday recalled the battles of the Reagan era and underscored the breadth of the issues that crossed the desk of Roberts, then a young lawyer in the White House.

Reviewing material for Reagan, he counseled the president against saying AIDS couldn't be transmitted through casual contact, writing that scientists at that time weren't completely certain. ''I would not like to see the President reassuring the public on this point, only to find out he was wrong later,'' he wrote.

At one point, Roberts drafted a graceful letter to the actor James Stewart for Reagan's signature. ''I would normally be delighted to serve on any group chaired by you,'' it began, then went on to explain why White House lawyers didn't want the president to join a school advisory council.

On a more weighty issue, he struggled to define the line that Reagan and other officials should not cross in encouraging private help to the forces opposing the leftist Sandinista government of Nicaragua.

A memo dated Jan. 21, 1986, said there was no legal problem with Reagan's holding a White House briefing for two groups trying to raise funds. Then, a month later, Roberts warned against getting too close to such groups, toning down letters of commendation drafted for Reagan's signature.

On immigration, he wrote Fred Fielding, White House counsel at the time, in October 1983 that he did not share his opposition to a national ID card. Separately, anticipating a presidential interview with Spanish Today, he wrote. ''I think this audience would be pleased that we are trying to grant legal status to their illegal amigos.''

Roberts reviewed a report that summarized state efforts to combat discrimination against women. ''Many of the reported proposals and efforts are themselves highly objectionable,'' he wrote to Fielding.

As an example, he said a California program ''points to passage of a law requiring the order of layoffs to reflect affirmative action programs and not merely seniority'' -- a position at odds with administration policy.

He referred to a ''staggeringly pernicious law codifying the anti-capitalist notion of `comparable worth,' (as opposed to market value) pay scales.'' Advocates of comparable worth argued that women were victims of discrimination because they were paid less than men working in other jobs that the state had decided were worth the same.

In a third case, Roberts said a Florida measure ''cites a (presumably unconstitutional) proposal to charge women less tuition at state schools, because they have less earning potential.''

In a memo dated Sept. 26, 1983, Roberts cited the administration's objections to a proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution.

''Any amendment would ... override the prerogatives of the states and vest the federal judiciary with broader powers in this area, two of the central objections to the ERA,'' Roberts wrote.

His remark about homemakers and lawyers seemed almost a throwaway line in a one-page memo about the Clairol Rising Star Awards and Scholarship Program. The program was designed to honor women who made changes in their lives after age 30 and had made contributions in their new fields.

An administration official nominated an aide who had been a teacher but then became a lawyer. Roberts signed off on the nomination, then wrote: ''Some might question whether encouraging homemakers to become lawyers contributes to the common good, but I suppose that is for the judges to decide.''

More than a decade later, Roberts married an attorney.

 

Yep. Currently playing a government official in The Wedding Crashers, Christopher Walken has just announced that he's running for president.

Now, more active than ever, Christopher Walken has realized that the state of his country is in disarray, and the politicians in charge care less for the citizens they serve and more about fattening their resumes and campaign chests. Having residences both in rural Connecticut and upper-west Manhattan, he sees that all walks of life are becoming disgruntled and apathetic towards the American government, and feels a duty, as a child of the American public, to restore the peace, prosperity, and greatness of the United States. 

I imagine he's not aware of quite how snotty that sounds... gah.

An open letter to the Kansas Board of Education...

 I am writing you with much concern after having read of your hearing to decide whether the alternative theory of Intelligent Design should be taught along with the theory of Evolution. I think we can all agree that it is important for students to hear multiple viewpoints so they can choose for themselves the theory that makes the most sense to them. I am concerned, however, that students will only hear one theory of Intelligent Design.

 Let us remember that there are multiple theories of Intelligent Design. I and many others around the world are of the strong belief that the universe was created by a Flying Spaghetti Monster. It was He who created all that we see and all that we feel. We feel strongly that the overwhelming scientific evidence pointing towards evolutionary processes is nothing but a coincidence, put in place by Him.

 It is for this reason that I’m writing you today, to formally request that this alternative theory be taught in your schools, along with the other two theories. In fact, I will go so far as to say, if you do not agree to do this, we will be forced to proceed with legal action. I’m sure you see where we are coming from. If the Intelligent Design theory is not based on faith, but instead another scientific theory, as is claimed, then you must also allow our theory to be taught, as it is also based on science, not on faith.

 Some find that hard to believe, so it may be helpful to tell you a little more about our beliefs. We have evidence that a Flying Spaghetti Monster created the universe. None of us, of course, were around to see it, but we have written accounts of it. We have several lengthy volumes explaining all details of His power. Also, you may be surprised to hear that there are over 10 million of us, and growing. We tend to be very secretive, as many people claim our beliefs are not substantiated by observable evidence. What these people don’t understand is that He built the world to make us think the earth is older than it really is. For example, a scientist may perform a carbon-dating process on an artifact. He finds that approximately 75% of the Carbon-14 has decayed by electron emission to Nitrogen-14, and infers that this artifact is approximately 10,000 years old, as the half-life of Carbon-14 appears to be 5,730 years. But what our scientist does not realize is that every time he makes a measurement, the Flying Spaghetti Monster is there changing the results with His Noodly Appendage. We have numerous texts that describe in detail how this can be possible and the reasons why He does this. He is of course invisible and can pass through normal matter with ease.

 I’m sure you now realize how important it is that your students are taught this alternate theory. It is absolutely imperative that they realize that observable evidence is at the discretion of a Flying Spaghetti Monster. Furthermore, it is disrespectful to teach our beliefs without wearing His chosen outfit, which of course is full pirate regalia. I cannot stress the importance of this enough, and unfortunately cannot describe in detail why this must be done as I fear this letter is already becoming too long. The concise explanation is that He becomes angry if we don’t. 

It is highly important that you read the whole thing. 

From Reuters:

After months of debate over science and religion, the Kansas Board of Education has tentatively approved new state science standards that weaken the role evolution plays in teaching about the origin of life.

The 10-member board must still take a final vote, expected in either September or October, but a 6-4 vote on Tuesday that approved a draft of the standards essentially cemented a victory for conservative Christian board members who say evolution is largely unproven and can undermine religious teachings about the origins of life on earth.

"We think this is a great development ... for the academic freedom of students," said John West, senior fellow of the Discovery Institute, which supports intelligent design theory.

Intelligent design proposes that some features of the natural world are best explained as products of a considered intent as opposed to a process of natural selection.

Great. Put Kanasas school children at a competitive disadvantage from the get-go by teaching them things that are factually incorrect.

From the American Prospect, some information on that "Discovery Institute" and its motives:

The most eloquent documentation of ID’s religious inspiration comes in the form of a Discovery Institute strategic memo that made its way onto the Web in 1999: the “Wedge Document.” A broad attack on “scientific materialism,” the paper asserts that modern science has had “devastating” cultural consequences, such as the denial of objective moral standards and the undermining of religious belief. In contrast, the document states that ID “promises to reverse the stifling dominance of the materialist worldview, and to replace it with a science consonant with Christian and theistic convictions.” In order to achieve this objective, the ID movement will “function as a ‘wedge’” that will “split the trunk [of scientific materialism] … at its weakest points.”

 Yeah. That pesky scientific materialism that brought us all the technologies, medical treatments, etc. that make our way of life possible. Hate that.

Body and Soul says it best:

There's no doubt that accepting evolution makes a literal reading of any creation myth impossible. But how strange to assume most people of faith have ever read their holy books so literally. Most religions I know of take as a given that God is a mystery that human beings lean toward, like sunflowers toward the sun, and that the more you try to pin God down, the farther you stray. Refusing to pin God down might take the form of forbidding images -- or encouraging them, seeing in multiple images many facets of God, all of which are metaphorically true, none of which are complete or factual.

And if you don't take creation strories literally -- and many believers of all faiths do not -- why in the world would accepting evolution diminish faith? Is Weisberg just making the same assumption fundamentalists do -- that only those who have no concept of metaphor know God?

 It's fascinating to watch a group of powerful people systematically weaken our educational system AND cheapen our spiritual life and faith simultanously. Now where have I seen this before? Afghanistan (cough) Taliban (cough).

I saw this story mentioned on DailyKos and had to read it for myself. So unbelievably stupid and disgusting and craven. But when would I ever expect anything else from this bunch?

The Pentagon would hold a massive march and country music concert to mark the fourth anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks, US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said in an announcement tucked into an Iraq war briefing today.

"This year the Department of Defence will initiate an America Supports Your Freedom Walk," Rumsfeld said, adding that the march would remind people of "the sacrifices of this generation and of each previous generation".

The march will start at the Pentagon, where nearly 200 people died on September 11, 2001, and end at the National Mall with a show by country star Clint Black.

Word of the event startled some observers.

"I've never heard of such a thing," said John Pike, who has been a defence analyst in Washington for 25 years and runs GlobalSecurity.org.

The news also reignited debate and anger over linking September 11 with the war in Iraq.

"That piece of it is disturbing since we all know now there was no connection," said Paul Rieckhoff, an Iraq veteran who heads Operation Truth, an anti-administration military booster.

Rieckhoff suggested the event was an ill-conceived publicity stunt.

"I think it's clear that their public opinion polls are in the toilet," he said.

Rumsfeld's march had some relatives of September 11 victims fuming.

"How about telling Mr Rumsfeld to leave the memories of September 11 victims to the families?" said Monica Gabrielle, who lost her husband in the attacks.

Administration supporters insisted Rumsfeld was right to link Iraq and September 11, and hold the rally.

"We are at war," said Representative Pete King, (Republican, New York).

"It's essential that we support our troops."

He also said attacking Iraq was necessary after September 11.

"You do not defeat al-Qaeda until you stabilise the Middle East, and that's not possible as long as Saddam Hussein is in power."

 Since when does supporting our troops mean -- oh, forget it. These people are beyond reason. It's not "America Supports Our Freedom" it's "Cover Your President's Heinie."

So we moved into our house in April. Our inspection report contained a long list of electrical-related things that we needed to get fixed ASAP. It's now August.

No, it's not just that we've procrastinated, or that our money has gotten spent on expected plumbing issues (though that's true too). 

We're having the darndest time getting an electrician to actually help us. Even though we're willing to give them money and stuff.

The first one I called was upon extremely enthusiastic recommendation from my brother-in-law. He dutifully showed up, read our inspection report, walked through the house with me, took notes... and then took a ten-minute personal call on our front steps while I waited for him to finish. When he wrapped that up, he assured me he'd call me "Friday or Monday" with an estimate.

He never did, despite two messages from me and a call from my husband.

In the meantime, we got some of our other pressing household issues resolved, like a new foundation and (unexpectedly) a cleanout install and sewer pipe repair.

Finally, I was ready to try again. A friend recommended a second electrician. 

I'm sitting here fuming as the second electrician has apparently stood me up.

He was supposed to be here over an hour ago. Excuse me, hello? Can't you make a phone call? It's another electricity-and-wires-based technology, no? Surely you have some passing acquaintance with it?

For heaven's sake. It was easier getting our friggin' FOUNDATION redone! And these were both personal recommendations. If this is how they treat the friends of their customers who RECOMMENDED THEM, I hate to think how they treat hapless unconnected strangers.

Anybody out there reading this have a decent electrician who RETURNS PHONE CALLS that they can recommend? Because I'm about to blow a fuse...

That Juan Cole sure has a way with words!

Despite Americans' talk about not liking to be dependent on the Saudis, their actual policies (and certainly those of the Bush administration) are calculated to increase the dependency, not lessen it.

Remember that the next time you complain about those spreading Wahhabi-influenced madrasahs. You might as well complain about cows while eating ice cream.

I find it particularly sweet that I found this A.P. story on the Houston Chronicle's website... but the news itself is bitter.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — President Bush today signed a sweeping energy bill that will send billions of dollars in tax subsidies to energy companies, yet do little immediately to ease gas prices or lower reliance on foreign oil.

This epidemic of wingnuts backing away from Bush's positions continues unabated!

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - A leading Republican senator allied with the religious right differed on Thursday with President Bush's support for teaching an alternative to the theory of evolution known as "intelligent design."

Republican Sen. Rick Santorum, a possible 2008 presidential contender who faces a tough re-election fight next year in Pennsylvania, said intelligent design, which is backed by many religious conservatives, lacked scientific credibility and should not be taught in science classes.

Bush told reporters from Texas on Monday that "both sides" in the debate over intelligent design and evolution should be taught in schools "so people can understand what the debate is about."

"I think I would probably tailor that a little more than what the president has suggested," Santorum, the third-ranking Republican member of the U.S. Senate, told National Public Radio. "I'm not comfortable with intelligent design being taught in the science classroom."

So, the day after an AWOL IDF solider/settler shot several civilians on a bus in northern Israel, I got this lovely piece of mail in my inbox. My rants in italics.

Subject:Who was the real killer in Shfaram?

Who was the real killer in Shfaram?

/by Yekutiel Ben Yaakov /

Eden Natan Zada, a 19 year old Israeli soldier was murdered and lynched by a violent Arab mob in Shfaram [and he didn't even DO anything!!! JEEEZ!] after he allegedly opened fire on a bus, killing several Arab passengers. [Oh. That. "Allegedly."] Police cuffed and arrested Eden, and later allowed the mob to lynch him. This was still not sufficient to calm the Arab marauders down. An Arab doctor was then permitted to come on the bus to make certain that Eden was in fact dead. [note the language: "Arab" passengers (no mention of the fact that they are Israeli citizens) are "killed". The "soldier" who "allegedly opened fire" was "murdered and lynched." by "Arab marauders"]

This too was not enough as the crowd danced and stormed the bus. The police allowed this wild mob to control the area and the bus for several hours, until they stepped in to remove the Jewish body from the bus. The police moved in only after Jewish civilians threatened to extricate the body and to storm into Shefaram. Five minutes after the Jewish threat was given, the cops sent in specially trained riot police to restore some peace and order to the area around the bus. [So little mention of the people he killed, but so much dwelling on the mob's behavior in response.]

Eden's friends and family described him as being a shy, kind hearted and modest Jew, who was returning to his Jewish roots and as a person who would not harm a fly. [Well, maybe he'd leave insects alone, but he apparently had no trouble harming people. Didn't these people ever see the movie Psycho?]

Eden had been carrying out a stubborn struggle over recent months against his draft into the IDF during the disengagement period. He repeatedly pleaded with IDF recruitment officers not to draft him. Nobody listened. He was drafted. He continued to beg and cry to be relieved of duty so as not to carry out the  "historic crime." Nobody listened to his plea. He ran away from the army on three seperate occasions and sat in jail in two of those instances in his battle to be free from participating in the disengagement expulsion plan.

Voice of Judea Commentary:

Who is the real killer here? Who forced Eden to join the IDF and to violate his conscience? Who armed him, in spite of his repeated warnings? How many other Edens are out there who are torn and tormented over the role they are being forced to play in the disengagement?

This tragic incident should serve as a wake up call to Sharon to return to his senses and to permit the people of Israel to decide their own destiny. This incident should prove to all of us that Sharon can't force a majority of Israelis who are opposed to the disengagement to carry out what they feel to be his treasonous dirty work. This incident should serve as a wake up call for Sharon to listen to the pleading of the majority of his nation and of his soldiers? Somebody needs to listen to the soldiers and to hear their pain. It is very easy to threaten jail terms to soldiers who refuse to serve now and it is easy to condemn Eden. Even Eden's neighbors in Tapuach are distancing themselves from him. [If somebody I knew shot a bunch of innocent people and threatened to destroy the whole peace process and endanger Jews, I'd distance myself from him too!]

Eden was no more than a small pawn in a satanic chess game. Eden and those he killed were the first casualties in Sharon's sadistic disengagement plan. What will it take for Sharon to listen? If people are not allowed to democratically vote against his horrific plan, there will no doubt be other tormented souls who will speak through their rifles. Sharon - wake up and postpone the disengagemnet until a referendum is held. In the meantime, listen to your soldiers and free those who wish to be released. To vote in an independent referendum visit www.mishal.org [Feel free to go freep their stupid poll.]

 One other point needs to be made: In the past there have been many cases where Arab terrorists murdererd Jews and were protected from angry Jewish bystanders. [Yes. It's called "doing the right thing."] How many times have we heard the brave policeman speak of a fair trial, law and order and all of the other fine words to justify their protection of the Arab terrorists, often at great personal risk to themselves. It is shameful that in a land that calls itself a lnad of law, order and democracy that a mob of criminals were permitted to carry out a pre-trial mob lynch of a suspect. It is mind boggling to consider the police allowing this mob to control the scene for hours. It is no less outrageous to consider the fact that a doctor was permitted to participate in the lynching ceremony to formally pronounce Eden dead. [Yep. Lynching is really bad. No question there. And did those innocent people on the bus deserve being brutally murdered like that? For what crime? Where was their trial?]

Tikkun Olam's Richard Silverstein notes that in two stories in the New York Times and Haaretz, it's revealed that the soldier's parents knew he was about to do something violent and reckless. Not only that, but they tried telling the Israeli military and pleading for someone to do something. But nobody would listen. They hadn't even declared him AWOL yet.

So let’s get this straight. Say a Palestinian or Israeli Arab father called the IDF and told them that their child had a military weapon and that he was afraid the son or his comrades might use it against Israelis. And let’s further add that the father gives the IDF his son’s location. How quickly would it be before a soldier would be knocking on this kid’s door? So the fatal question is: why was the IDF so abysmally negligent? Here you have a tinderbox situation with the Gaza pullout. You have intelligence telling you that some settler groups are planning violent provocative acts to sabotage the process. And yet you do nothing when presented with such information?

Updated to add: and then there's this enchanting quote from the murderer's "best friend." 

This was a very good act. In the future streets will be named after him, he will be a hero,” Avraham said. “All of us see him as a hero of Israel.”

Asked if he felt any sympathy for the victims, Avraham stared blankly. “As far as I am concerned they are an enemy. The ones who died are the same as the ones who lynched him,” he said. “Any Arab by being Arab is our enemy and the day will come when we will kill all of them.”

Yeah. Fuck you very much.

This article about the bird flu is chilling.

If Asian bird flu mutates into a form that spreads easily between humans, an outbreak of just 40 infected people would be enough to cause a global pandemic. And within a year half of the world’s population would be infected with a mortality rate of 50%, according to two studies released on Wednesday.

And yet, the models show, if targeted action is taken within a critical three-week window, an outbreak could be limited to fewer than 100 individuals within two months.

It represents the first opportunity in history to make use of new knowledge and logistics to prevent a pandemic whose potential loss of life could dwarf the horrific 1918 influenza pandemic. But, the researchers caution, we are currently far from ready to take the necessary action.

“If an outbreak occurred tomorrow, it would be devastating,” warns Neil Ferguson from Imperial College London, UK, who led one of the studies. Nature and Science have released the two studies in tandem. The authors stress that an outbreak is no longer an “if” scenario - they are now talking about “when”.

Don't miss Juan Cole's retelling of the creation of Extremism. Terror and The War Struggle on Against It.

"The American Right, having created the Mujahideen and having mightily contributed to the creation of al-Qaeda, abruptly announced that there was something deeply wrong with Islam, that it kept producing terrorists."

Chevron, it seems, paid "security forces" who killed villagers in Africa.

Fourteen marines and their Iraqi interpreter were just killed in a bombing in Iraq. 

Bush said that Intelligent Design should be taught alongside the theory of evolution in school. (He also said he has "complete confidence in Karl Rove.")

Oy. 

Edited to add: Political Animal's Kevin Drum isn't quite as outraged as I am, because, as he points out, there's nothing new about that last story. He does go on to say...

Actually, what bugged me most about this whole affair was reading the faux outrage from Bush's conservative supporters in the blogosphere, as if they had no idea he felt this way before this week. Give it a rest, guys. Bush thinks creationism sounds great, Tom DeLay thinks the teaching of evolution was responsible for the Columbine shootings, and Bill Frist — a medical doctor! — is so scared of the Christian right that last December on "This Week" he hemmed and hawed and fidgeted like a naughty schoolchild while repeatedly declining to say whether he thought HIV-AIDS could be transmitted through tears or sweat.

Note to Bush supporters: You all knew what you were voting for when you put these guys in power. I'm happy to see you on the side of the angels here, but it's a little late to pretend to be shocked that the Republican leadership feels this way.

I still cannot believe that Bush appointed John Bolton after all that sturm und drang. Why would you want someone who has all the charm and tact of a Russell Crowe trying to use a hotel telephone in an important diplomatic position? But then again, it's always all about Bush — his right to appoint his people, as opposed to who would be the best person to represent the entire United States and its long-term interests. So.

But I have this funny little movie playing in my head of a UN session with Bolton at it.

John Bolton: We want to invade Iran. You will help us, or this building will lose ten stories and nobody will notice.

All 190 other members of the UN, in unison: Go.Fuck.Yourself. 

Or maybe he'll surprise us all, be slightly more tactful...

John Bolton: We have a plan to fight the global struggle on extreme terrorism. We'd like you to help supply troops.

190 member countries: Hmmm (pretend to think about it) We've got to consult with the home offices. We'll get back to you in... er... February 2007?

John Bolton: #$&#$@)!!! (Throws a telephone) 

Hey, I can dream, can't I?

Wisconsin bans providing birth control on U. Wisc. campuses.

Wisconsin has passed a bill entitled UW Birth Control Ban-AB 343. This bill prohibits University of Wisconsin campuses from prescribing, dispensing and advertising all forms of birth control and emergency contraceptives. Wisconsin State Rep. Dan LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, introduced this bill based on the belief that “dispensing birth control and emergency contraceptives leads to promiscuity.”

Get date-raped? Tough luck. A consenting adult who wants to safely hook up with your equally consenting and adult partner? No dice. Have hormone problems that could be helped with the Pill? Go find a doctor in town, if you're lucky. Oops, you don't have a car, do you? Well, there's no law that says we have to help you! You have no right to have sex!

So deeply depressing. As someone who hit my teens in the 80s and attended college in the late 80s/early 90s, I have memories of a time when this kind of thing would have been laughable. Unbelievable.

Here's a bunch of links that show just what a great patriot this man is. Feh.

(I also heard Randi Rhodes say that supposedly his wife complained in the divorce papers that he made her participate in threesomes with him.  Sexual experimentation is no crime... but oy, I could do without that image in my brain!)

From Reuters

CHICAGO, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Atkins Nutritionals Inc., the company behind the low-carbohydrate Atkins Diet craze, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, blaming slumping demand and increased competition.

The company, which filed for bankruptcy on Sunday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York, said there was still a bright future in weight loss and nutrition and it would focus on nutrition bars and shakes.

The Atkins diet, based on the research of Dr. Robert Atkins, promotes eating protein over carbohydrates and was so popular from 2002 through early 2004 that it was blamed for the bankruptcies of several pasta and bakery companies.

Ironically, a recent study found that protein may indeed help people lose weight. But we're talking low-fat plain yogurt, not bacon and hamburgers!

From Bloomberg:

President George W. Bush named John Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations today, bypassing a stalemate in the Senate by using his constitutional authority to make the appointment while Congress is in recess.

The action by Bush, the first recess appointment of a UN ambassador, sidesteps objections to Bolton from Senate Democrats, who have refused to allow a vote on his nomination. Bolton's appointment lasts until January 2007, when a new Congress convenes following the 2006 elections.

"A majority of United States senators agree he is the right man for the job,'' Bush said, making the announcement in the Roosevelt Room at the White House. The nomination has been held up by "partisan delaying tactics by a handful of senators.''

I bet he made this gesture while he made the appointment, too. "Now, that's what I call an up-and-down vote!"

This picture was actually taken in 2004, at a different occasion. But did he have to drag his poor Scottie into his sordid behavior?