January 2006 Archives

Bill Frist today:

WASHINGTON -- Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, who took a leading role in the Terry Schiavo case, said Sunday it taught him that Americans do not want the government involved in such end-of-life decisions.

Frist, considered a presidential hopeful for 2008, defended his call for further examinations of the brain-damaged Florida woman during the last days of a bitter family feud over her treatment. Schiavo was in a persistent vegetative state...

Asked on NBC's "Meet the Press" if he had any regrets regarding the Schiavo case, Frist said: "Well, I'll tell you what I learned from it, which is obvious. The American people don't want you involved in these decisions."

In particular, please note...

Frist, R-Tenn., said in the full Senate that he supported what he called "an opportunity to save Mrs. Schiavo's life." A heart surgeon, Frist had viewed video ordered by a court and taken by a board-certified neurologist who had concluded she was not in a persistent vegetative state.

Congress passed a bill to allow a federal court to review the case, and President Bush quickly returned from his Texas ranch to sign the bill into law. But a federal judge refused to order the tube reinserted, a decision upheld by a federal appeals court and the Supreme Court.

"I didn't make the diagnosis," Frist said Sunday. "I raised the question of whether or not she was in a persistent vegetative state."

Bill Frist, M.D., in March 2005:

Persistent vegetative state, which is what the court has ruled -- I question it. I question it based on a review of the video footage which I spent an hour or so looking at last night in my office here in the Capitol. And that footage, to me, depicts something very different than persistent vegetative state. One of the classic textbooks that we use in medicine today is called "Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine." In the 16th edition, which was published just this year, 2005, on page 1625, it reads, "the vegetative state signifies an awake but unresponsive state. These patients have emerged from coma after a period of days or weeks to an unresponsive state in which the eyelids are open, giving the appearance of wakefulness." I'll stop quoting from the classic internal medicine textbook, but one last sentence, "in the closely related, minimally conscious state, the patient may make intermittent, rudimentary vocal and motor responses."

President? Not if you were the last "doctor" on earth...

A parody of those annoying warnings you see on DVDs about the Bad Things that will Happen to You if you Copy that DVD.

For those who can't wait for Bush's State of the Union speech, here's a little preview of what we can expect.

Must be something in the water in Contra Costa County...

Raise your hand if you believe the terrorists who murdered 3,000 of us on Sept. 11 are no longer a threat. Raise your other hand if you believe that monitoring our overseas airwaves for terrorist communications is threatening our freedoms. With your hands still raised, go to a mirror and look at yourself. This is how the terrorists see you. It puts them in charge.

Ted Breitmayer

Moraga

"Raise your middle finger if you think the writer of the above is a moron!"

Mayor Nagin's insane rantings aside, New Orleans may end up being mostly white.

Also, there's a real mental health crisis going on there.

A tantrum:

Why, oh why, can I not convince my coworkers and friends that they shouldn't just forward messages telling them to forward to all their friends, not without looking them up first?

I keep telling them about Snopes.com, and they nod their heads, and then the next stupid "warning" message that comes along, they just forward it to half their addressbook. I feel like I'm banging my head against a wall.

It's not computer programming, people. It's not even trying to figure out how to record something on your VCR (I find that daunting, actually). You just go to a website and type a word or two into a searchbox. Not real difficult, not a lengthy process.

Snopes.com Bookmark it. Please?

The United States can just bask in a lovely warm glow for this one. We're really hanging with the cool kids now!

The United States joined with four of the world's most repressive regimes to reject an application by two international LGBT groups seeking to join a UN agency that advises the world body on economics and social issues.

The application by the International Lesbian and Gay Association and the Danish Association of Gays and Lesbians was dismissed without a hearing.

The groups had sought inclusion on the United Nations Economic and Social Council, a think tank made up of non governmental agencies from around the world.

The United States voted with Iran, Zimbabwe, China, Cameroon against granting a hearing for the application.

...or consumers' rights.

Congress threatens to void California's ability to set food safety laws, potentially thwarting efforts by the state attorney general to require warnings for such contaminants as mercury in tuna and acrylamide in potato chips.

Activists warn that the measure is yet another attack on Californias Proposition 65, the landmark 1986 law requiring warning labels on items known to contain carcinogens or reproductive toxins.

But supporters — including 12 California representatives — say the measure is necessary to establish uniform food standards in what is increasingly a global economy. California's concerns over trace amounts of potential carcinogens, they add, improperly taints the safest food supply in the world.

OK, so I thought the acrylamide warning was a little silly. Who doesn't know that potato chips aren't good for you? But here's the real issue...

Added David Roe, principal author of Proposition 65 who is now a partner at the San Francisco law firm Calvo & Clark, LLC: "The bill is a clone of things weve seen before. The language it uses is uniformity, as in 'Wouldnt it be awful to have 50 different labels?' The reality is ... there aren't even two labels. But there is a pressure to clean up toxic chemicals."

Proposition 65's power, Roe said, is the quiet compliance it exacts from industry. When pressured, manufactures usually clean up their products rather than add a warning label.

Oh, but we shouldn't worry!

The food industry doesn't see HR 4167 as the death of Proposition 65, despite their longstanding opposition to it. Instead, said Stephanie Childs, spokeswoman for the Grocery Manufacturers Association, the resolution offers a way to make California's warnings and concerns available to the entire nation,

Theres no reason, if a state feels there is a cause for concern ... that all residents of all 50 states shouldn't have that information, Childs said. What national uniformity would do is give California the opportunity to bring its science to the national level.

Yeah, right.

Thanks to BoingBoing and Comics.212.net, I found this 8-page online comic by Joe Sacco. A picture really is worth a thousand words.

Sorry, but have any Financial Times reporters actually been to the East Bay?

The challenge of keeping Pixar culture alive

By Richard Waters in San Francisco and Joshua Chaffin in New York

Emeryville, a run-down area of Oakland across the bay from San Francisco, is not the place you would expect to turn for one of Hollywood’s most famous names.

Yet thanks to the presence of the sprawling new Pixar studios, a centerpiece of an attempted downtown revival,..

Spotted an ad spread in a magazine yesterday for a product called "Cosmetic Botox". It featured a photograph of an attractive woman on the left-hand page, and a testimonial on the right. It started off with, "I'd heard about Cosmetic Botox for years. Yet something kept holding me back..."

At which point I wanted to yell, "Would that be COMMON SENSE!??!"

Because personally, I can think of few things as unpleasant as having botulism toxin injected into one's forehead.

Besides, a medical resident just told me the other night that apparently women who get their foreheads paralyzed in this manner (yep, that's how it works!) often go on to develop weird lines in other places on their faces instead.

Sounds great!

Gustave E. J. Jamart of Menlo Park, passed away January 6 at the age of 95 after a brief illness. He is survived by his loving wife of 23 years, Lois Simon Goldstein Jamart. He is also survived by his children Susan and Thomas Jamart, and daughter-in-law Cindy Jamart. He was the adored step-father to Jane and Dennis Ditmars and Libby Holtzman, Ellen and Dan Reich, and Sid and Suzanne Goldstein. Grandfather to Chad and Amanda Jamart, Leah Jamart and Anna and Alejandro Gervacio; as well as step-grandfather to Zachary Goldstein, Miles and Tyler Reich, Michael and Eric Ditmars, and Dinah and Jed Holtzman; uncle to Sharon Baum; and great-grandfather to Mia Kristina Jamart and Alejandro Manuel Gervacio. Known affectionately as "Gus," Gustave was born in SF in 1910. After graduating from Mission High School, he attended Stanford University, graduating with an advanced degree in electrical engineering in 1933. After a stint as an engineer for Wisix Electric Heater Company in SF, he served with the US Army on active duty from 1940 to 1946. He returned to reserve status as a colonel and completed 30 years of service in 1961. From 1947 until his retirement in 1976, Gustave was the chief engineer and vice president of De Leuw, Cather & Company, SF. He was married to Elizabeth Jensen, the mother of his children, from 1933 until her death in 1965, and to Katherine Bell from then until her death in 1979. He is survived by his adoring wife Lois, who he married in 1982. Together they shared a love of travel to the far corners of the world, often in connection with the World Affairs Council. An enthusiastic golfer, Gus was a long-time member of Stanford Golf Club, where he met Lois. A smart, outgoing, kind and patient man, Gus was well-loved will be missed by all who knew him, and whose lives were enriched by his generous nature. A private graveside interment at the National Cemetery and a celebration of his life will be held January 14, from 4 to 6pm at 2421 Sharon Oaks Drive, Menlo Park. In lieu of flowers, donations may be given to the School of Engineering, 380 Panama Mall, Stanford, CA 94305 or Lucille Packard Children's Fund, 770 Welsh Rd., Ste 350, Palo Alto, CA 94304.

The husband of my grandmother's best friend. Such a nice man. We saw him a few months ago and he was as sharp as ever.

I never knew he was widowed twice.
I really need to send a card.

Somebody over at the Reality-Baseed Community described Alito as "a smart, decent, small man."

Seems right to me. In fact, the snippet of hearings I heard the other day made me wonder why all the news organizations and the blogosphere weren't discussing Alito's Dukakis moment.

Somebody at Daily Kos caught the transcript:

FEINGOLD: My question assumes that all that's been done and the process went through and there's no legal or constitutional or procedural problems, but evidence suddenly proves that the person convicted was unquestionably innocent.

The question is: Does that person in that posture have a constitutional right not to be executed?

ALITO: Well, then the person would have to, as I said, file a petition. And if it was an initial petition, it would fall into one category. If it was a second or a successive petition, it would fall into another category and the person would have to satisfy the requirements the Congress has set out for filing a second or successive petition.

FEINGOLD: You can't say that the person has a constitutional right not to be executed?

ALITO: Well, I have to know the specific facts of the case and the way it works its way through the legal system. The rules here are complicated. A person has a right. It is one of the most fundamental rights that anybody has. It is a fundamental right and a fundamental objective of our judicial system that nobody is to be convicted without proof beyond a reasonable doubt.

And if there's evidence that the person is not guilty of the offense, then that gets to the very heart of what our whole system of criminal justice is designed to address.

He can't just say, "Yes, it's wrong."

No wonder Alito's wife cried. Somebody had to show some emotion.

I've been hearing for some time about this music site called "Pandora." It offers streaming radio stations with a twist — rather than playing preselected playlists in particular genres a la Sirius or XM or relying on listener picks and recommendations, its team of musicologists analyzes the "genome" of each song, "everything from melody, harmony and rhythm, to instrumentation, orchestration, arrangement, lyrics, and of course the rich world of singing and vocal harmony. It's not about what a band looks like, or what genre they supposedly belong to, or about who buys their records - it's about what each individual song sounds like."

A lengthy profile in the East Bay Express finally motivated me to try it out It asks you to input the name of an artist you like. I typed in "Kirsty Maccoll." It responded by playing her live duet of "A New England" with Billy Bragg, and then lined up its best guesses on what else I would like. So far, it's played me a song by Lois, another one by Belle and Sebastian, and now has moved on to Mia Doi Todd (who?) When I click on one of the songs to find out why they picked it, I'm told "Based on what you've told us so far, we're playing this track because it features folk influences, acoustic sonority, major key tonality, melodic songwriting and accoustic rhythm guitars."

So far, very nice selection, but not completely Kirsty-ish, somehow. I'm missing the lavish "wall of sound" production on much of her songs, not to mention the wry humor. I'm a bit surprised no Amy Rigby has come up yet.

Ah, now they're playing another Kirsty song, from the same live album. "There's a Guy Works Down the Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis." Well, if that album is the main example of her sound, that might explain it. Still, so far, this is pretty cool.

(Jim Lauderdale? Huh?)

Despite having taken piano lessons as a kid, One of the things I'm curious about, and which I hope this site will help me figure out, is why I like some of the stuff I like and don't like other stuff. I don't really have the vocabulary to explain it. Why do I love Hem but Sarah McLaughlin (whose voice is very similar to that of Hem's lead singer) leaves me cold? Why do I like Tom Waits but find Modest Mouse incredibly annoying? What is it about Balkan Beat Box's song "Adir Adrimi" that makes me replay it?

Wonder what they'll make of it when I put in Stereolab, Manu Chao or Danielle Dax? Guess I'll just have to find out.

In this article about bird flu in Turkey, I spotted the following (emphasis mine):

On the human side, the five cases in Ankara hospitals are different from those elsewhere in Asia. Four of the five display only mild symptoms, or no symptoms at all. Also, although all five have had some recent contact with birds, Rodier said, they are people who live on the fringes of a major city, not farmers or people who keep birds in their backyards.

The group includes two sets of brothers: the two who show no symptoms at all, and a set from the distant suburbs who developed mild symptoms after contact with gloves that had been used to dispose of a dead duck. The fifth is a 65-year-old man from inside the city itself, who the Turkish Health Ministry says had "close contact with a chicken," without elaborating on the details.

Oh yes, I have a filthy imagination...

I think maybe this is the thing that shocks me the most about that mining accident...

In an interview with USA Today, Hatfield said if the trapped miners had wireless communication devices, it would have been possible to tell them of a safe way out. The only method of communication at Sago, a wired phone, was destroyed in the blast. He said his company would consider issuing radios to miners.

Can you say, "Cheap bastards?"

Upgrade to version 6.02 of iTunes, and you may be transmitting information on what you're listening to to Apple. I'm not really surprised they're doing it, but after the Sony debacle, you think they'd be a little more careful...

Anyway, if you close the "Mini-Store" pane, the transmitting behavior will stop.

Updated to add: more from Macworld on this story. Apparently Apple does not store the information transmitted to them — music recommendations are made on the fly and then the track information is discarded — but still, explaining it would have been a smart idea.

This is a beauty. (Snarfed from American Idle)

"I guess the Iraqis who thought the US was going to turn Iraq into another America weren’t really far from the mark- we too now enjoy inane leaders, shady elections, a shaky economy, large-scale unemployment and soaring gas prices." — Riverbend at Baghdad Burning

Yikes.

Bush using a little-noticed strategy to alter the balance of power By Ron Hutcheson and James Kuhnhenn Knight Ridder Newspapers

WASHINGTON - President Bush agreed with great fanfare last month to accept a ban on torture, but he later quietly reserved the right to ignore it, even as he signed it into law.

Acting from the seclusion of his Texas ranch at the start of New Year's weekend, Bush said he would interpret the new law in keeping with his expansive view of presidential power. He did it by issuing a bill-signing statement - a little-noticed device that has become a favorite tool of presidential power in the Bush White House.

In fact, Bush has used signing statements to reject, revise or put his spin on more than 500 legislative provisions. Experts say he has been far more aggressive than any previous president in using the statements to claim sweeping executive power - and not just on national security issues.

"It's nothing short of breath-taking," said Phillip Cooper, a professor of public administration at Portland State University. "In every case, the White House has interpreted presidential authority as broadly as possible, interpreted legislative authority as narrowly as possible, and pre-empted the judiciary."

Signing statements don't have the force of law, but they can influence judicial interpretations of a statute. They also send a powerful signal to executive branch agencies on how the White House wants them to implement new federal laws.

In some cases, Bush bluntly informs Congress that he has no intention of carrying out provisions that he considers an unconstitutional encroachment on his authority.

"They don't like some of the things Congress has done so they assert the power to ignore it," said Martin Lederman, a visiting professor at the Georgetown University Law Center. "The categorical nature of their opposition is unprecedented and alarming."

And getting this problematic president under control is tough because...

In 2003, lawmakers tried to get a handle on Bush's use of signing statements by passing a Justice Department spending bill that required the department to inform Congress whenever the administration decided to ignore a legislative provision on constitutional grounds.

Bush signed the bill, but issued a statement asserting his right to ignore the notification requirement.

OK, So yes, I didn't want this stupid war in the first place. And yes, I think the troops need to come home.

But — what happened to "you broke it, you bought it?" Apparently, where rebuilding Iraq's FUBAR infrastructure, the Bush administration is planning on cutting and running.

BAGHDAD -- The Bush administration does not intend to seek any new funds for Iraq reconstruction in the budget request going before Congress in February, officials say. The decision signals the winding down of an $18.4 billion U.S. rebuilding effort in which roughly half of the money was eaten away by the insurgency, a buildup of Iraq's criminal justice system and the investigation and trial of Saddam Hussein.

Just under 20 percent of the reconstruction package remains unallocated. When the last of the $18.4 billion is spent, U.S. officials in Baghdad have made clear, other foreign donors and the fledgling Iraqi government will have to take up what authorities say is tens of billions of dollars of work yet to be done merely to bring reliable electricity, water and other services to Iraq's 26 million people.

Gah.

Can we impeach these m******* yet?

I'm starting a new blog called "Byootiful" (I may not stick with the name.) It's mostly going to be about design-related topics. Click here to read it.