wonder what happened...

when they took the US Airways plane out of the Hudson River?

Well, they had to move it. When they took the plane out of the Hudson they ended up having to detour through East Rutherford NJ. These roads were not made for planes.

check this out!



wonder what people thought if they looked out their window and didn't know what was going on.

amazing

the national media is having a field day...

and everyone with whom i'm talking here in Chicago is amused.

we shrug our shoulders because the idea of corruption in the city goes back well over a hundred years. the history of the city around the turn of the 19th to the 20th centuries makes fascinating reading in books like The Devil in the White City and Sin in the Second City: Madams, Ministers, Playboys, and the Battle for America's Soul, two of the more unique stories.

truthfully, Chicago can be blamed for the ascension of religion into politics that has had the country in a mess for the last 20-30 years. the stage was set right here. if you're familiar with the second book i mentioned, Sex in the Second City, you will discover just how that is the truth.

our biggest amazement is just how stupid Gov. Blago has been. real stupid! one local politician told one of the local TV stations that he is learning sign language to talk with colleagues because "You have to believe that everyone you're talking is wearing a wire." sad, but true.

Rachel Maddow last night pointed out that the media in Chicago was not focusing on what Blago did but on the possibility that he might just be loco. she seemed surprised with it. there are stories popping up about his delusions and behaviours all over the Chicago media. Check out this story in today's Chicago Sun-Times: Hairbrained? Is Blago's hair a sign of sickness?

or the Chicago Tribune: By Chicago standards, Blagojevich isn't crazy.

Illinois' Attorney General, Lisa Madigan [who i wouldn't trust as far as i can spit either] is talking about going to the Illinois Supreme Court to declare Blago unfit: What's next for Blagojevich? Removal?



Obama at his new conference this morning was asked what's wrong with politics in Illinois. he has two views of people involved in government, first as service to others and second as a business; a business that says, "What's in it for me?" he went on to say that there is a great history of Illinois politicians who have been of the former view, but you also have people with bad habits and a culture of politics as a means of self-aggrandizement. that has to change. the latter is the far end of the spectrum, but there are elements that are more subtle in the middle. he mentioned other governments even the federal that do things for political reasons. he hopes his campaign modeled and hi administration will model it. [the previous are more or less my notes while listening to Obama this morning.]

i would add another element - enriching your friends. Bush is using his pen and pencil to do all kinds of orders that Mr. Obama can't do anything about for at least a year. today he doomed polar bears by an order allowing more exploration for oil, gas, etc. and he is about ready to destroy the Utah Redrock wilderness for the same thing.

of course, this is the same thing as Blago did, but Tsar George was willing to wait the eight years to get all the money after he leaves the White House. Blago wanted the money now. it's all a matter of degree.

to paraphrase an old adage:

politicians - you can't live with them...
and you can't kill them.

[for those of you unfamiliar with the original, the word politician was family.]

David Shuster, Chris Matthews...

A couple of days ago I did a post entitled new addition to the blogosphere... when I talked about a new site I had just started called no comment....

In it I mention where I found the idea - on Euronews. I talked about how refreshing it was to see the news rather than listen to someone's blather about what they thought, how they interpreted what a news item meant, or why it made a difference. Just the news.

Fox News seems to be based on non-reporting reporting. [Can we use the "Enquirer" as a comparison?] Chris Matthews is one of the pundits who does this slanting all the time. Some others who use it are Joe Scarborough, Lou Dobbs, Wolf Blitzer, Glenn Beck.... The list goes on with no seeming end. [Max Headroom be proud!]

There has been much talk lately about Matthews' misogyny especially after an exchange concerning Hillary Clinton, but it has not been limited just to Clinton. There is a pattern with Matthews making these types of comments with other women.

I must say that the issue with David Shuster of MSNBC really does surprise me. I have been watching him and have been impressed with his ability to more or less stay above the fray. He has done reporting rather than editorializing, even when he would sit in for Tucker or Matthews. His style was more interviewing than showing a bent.

One website says that he was having a bad day all the way around when it began on Morning Joe when Scarborough told him not to interrupt him when he's on the phone, asked Mika to tell David about this [as she did with her Joe's a diva smirk], and then told him to continue with what he was saying.

Now the latest on the Shuster matter is being discussed as a plan/ruse/maneuver by MSNBC to keep Hillary from dropping out of the next scheduled debate it's sponsoring, and her campaign has even mentioned it as a possibility [Check here for more on this speculation.]

Whatever...

We spent eight years of Bill Clinton's presidency with all the innuendos and allegations of misdeeds, one after the other. It got so ridiculous that he was finally impeached for a b***j**! It's continued with his wife. The waterboarders have all of that in their plans and are now salivating at the thought of getting to Obama with drugs and who knows what else.

Bush at least made it clear that his twins were off limits, and that must have been a real letdown to the newspeople because those two were potential Britneys or Paris's. He also made it clear that the kind of crap that he and his supporters used on Clinton would not be tolerated. Now, the way is clear again.

I do feel sorry for David Shuster. He did make a mistake and he seems to realize it and has apologized, but it seems he's going to take the brunt of it for other's idiocy.

oh well, all popularity contests have their winners and their losers...

"vitriol"...

def: vit·ri·ol [vi-tree-uhl]
noun, verb, -oled, -ol·ing or (especially British) -olled, -ol·ling.

–noun
1. Chemistry. any of certain metallic sulfates of glassy appearance, as copper sulfate or blue vitriol, iron sulfate or green vitriol, zinc sulfate or white vitriol, etc.
2. oil of vitriol; sulfuric acid.
3. something highly caustic or severe in effect, as criticism.

–verb (used with object)
4. to treat with or as with vitriol, esp. sulfuric acid.

figrative: cruel and bitter criticism

[Origin: 1350–1400; ME [Origin: 1350–1400; ME < ML vitriolum, vitreolum, equiv. to L vitre(us) vitreous + -olum, neut. of -olus -ole1]

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)

I am to the point where I find myself tuning out people like Andrew Sullivan and Chris Matthews because of what is appearing to be a personal vitriolic hatred of Hillary and Bill Clinton. Sullivan and Matthews are just the most prominent; there are many others. It's to the point that they should consider taking some sort of medication before they give themselves a stroke or heart attack.

I also wonder if they realize that they are not "reporting" but have gone beyond being part of the fourth estate and are actually influencing people by spewing the things that they say?

over-reaction or over-cautious...

A Chicago area high school student wrote an essay during a "free writing" exercise in his creative writing class that has people in an uproar. The essay is disturbing because of the graphic nature of violence and sex it contains. You can read the essay in its entirety here: Allen Lee's essay. The opening lines:

Blood sex and Booze. Drugs Drugs Drugs are fun. Stab, Stab, Stab, S…t…a…b…, poke. "So I had this dream last night where I went into a building, pulled out two P90s and started shooting everyone…, then had sex with the dead bodies. Well, not really, but it would be funny if I did." Umm, yeah, what to wright about…… I'm leaving to join the Marines and I really don't give a F... about my academics, so why does the only class that's complete Bull Shit, happen to be the only required class…enough said.

The result of his writing: 'Disturbing' essay gets student arrested

Allen W. Lee, 18, has been charged with disorderly conduct stemming from an essay that was part of a "free writing'' assignment in a creative writing class.

and though he had already been accepted by the Marines for an October start to his basic training the Marines drop essay writer.

He was "crestfallen" when his recruiter called him with the sad news Friday that Marine regulations say the criminal charge makes him ineligible, said his attorney, Dane Liozzo.

Two very important things to keep in mind about this case: 1) the recent Virginia Tech shootings and 2) Lee is Asian-American. Are the two related to this situation? You bet.

His essay mirrors, in a lot of ways, the things reportedly said and written by the VT shooter and the guilt by ethnic-association is sadly a great possibility.

Should they be related to this case? Yes, to the writings; no, to the ethnic similarities. People have been doing the ethnic comparison on Arab-Americans since 9-11-2001 to great harm. It's not only not fair; it's discriminatory. However, back to the over-reaction vs. over-cautious question -

Arresting the young man, in my estimation, for writing what was clearly following the directions of the assignment is a gross over-reaction. The only peace he disturbed is the teacher's and the school's administration. I don't see that he actually broke any existing laws in Illinois. The police in the community took this action on their own. The teacher and the school did the two things that they should have: 1) reporting the essay to administration & 2) immediately referring the kid for intervention/counseling to determine if he posed any kind of threat to himself or others.

The over-cautiousness, given all recent incidents of school shootings, was correct on the part of the teacher. The school administration acted properly, according to law, in its actions, including reporting it to the police. As a former Illinois public school administrator, I know that this is what is required by the School Code of Illinois. The police arresting the student was more than an over-cautious over-reaction. What they did is expose the student to unnecessary notice, that will soon be national I assume, and placed themselves in a very litigious situation regarding 1st Amendment issues.

And what about young Mr. Lee? Though he followed the requirements of the assignment, he seems bright enough to have realized that possibly the content he wrote just might have been inappropriate, especially in light of the VT shootings. With the national and international coverage of the incident he certainly could not have been totally ignorant of it. Also, there is one statement in his essay that points to culpability and what could be construed as poor judgment:

I'm leaving to join the Marines and I really don't give a F... about my academics, so why does the only class that's complete Bull Shit, happen to be the only required class…enough said.

He should have cared. He has been removed from the school, is being tutored offsite, may not participate in graduation ceremonies and has been dropped by the Marines. Such are the lessons we all learn in moving towards adulthood.

Free-writing or not, it not only was poor choice of content but also a poor choice of words. The Marines had to drop him by code because of the arrest. I am sure they may be also questioning his attitude and language towards authority as well.

Whatever... It's a mess all the way around, AND now that lawyers are involved, it's going to go to even deeper and higher levels. I hope the young man comes out of this not only learning a valuable lesson about adulthood but also as unscathed as possible, because at the bottom of it all his future and well-being should be tantamount.

blog this...

It's interesting how the MSM is so on top of what's going on in the world.

All of a sudden they are reporting on the replacement (firing) of US attorneys across the country and showing indignation at its happening.

Sen. Feinstein first brought it to the country's attention at least three weeks ago. It's been on Americablog.com, Crooks & Liars, Pam's House Blend, the Raw Story, the Daily Dish. Hell, even I posted about it at least two weeks ago.

I've noticed how things appear on the blogosphere almost instanteously and it takes weeks, literally, to make it into the MSM. What's more interesting is that all of the MSM now has an on-line presence and their own blogs but you're wont to find more immediate coverage of things.

The blogosphere has really changed the face of not just the world's news but also the nature of democracy. We now have direct participation in what's happening in the world. We now have every person, you and I, commenting and reporting on what's going on in the world. We now have more and more people aware of the consequences of actions of people in charge and saying, "I don't like it."

There is more to come. Much, much more. I can't wait to see what the world is going to look like in two years, let alone ten!

how about you?

just asking...

what's going on here (part X)...

This could kill New Orleans

St. Paul Travelers Cos. Inc., Louisiana's largest commercial insurance provider, plans to cancel all its commercial property policies in the New Orleans area next year, sparking fears that other insurers will follow and slow the region's economic recovery.

I wonder how much of this has the right wing-nuts behind it? modern-day sodom and gomorrah? just asking...

Rumsfeld Memo on Iraq Proposed ‘Major’ Change

Two days before he resigned as defense secretary, Donald H. Rumsfeld submitted a classified memo to the White House that acknowledged that the Bush administration’s strategy in Iraq was not working and called for a major course correction.

So was he fired because he was doing a lousy job or because he was starting to not kowtow into King George W's agenda? just asking...

Has He Started Talking to the Walls?

As Mr. Bush has ricocheted from Vietnam to Latvia to Jordan in recent weeks, we’ve witnessed the troubling behavior of a president who isn’t merely in a state of denial but is completely untethered from reality. It’s not that he can’t handle the truth about Iraq. He doesn’t know what the truth is.

Civil war? Sectarian violence? A phase? This much is certain: The dead in Iraq don’t give a damn what we call it. Mr. Rich is just asking...

Shhh! He's wearing make-up!*

According to Georgina Caldwell, the assistant editor of European Cosmetic Markets magazine, the male grooming market is worth £667 million. And more and more professional men - Tony Blair, as was recently revealed, included - are discovering the benefits of a bit of foundation.

The male in the vast majority of species is the better looking, prettier eye-catcher, ie the peacock. The female doesn't have any color at all. It has to do with survival of the species. The better looking, the better the chance the male is healthy and can produce... offspring that is. Besides, if you look better, don't you feel better? just asking... Oh, my. We have a conundrum here. Gay men are in the forefront of wearing foundation. They don't produce. Wait, isn't there Queer Eye for the Straight Guy? Whew. They're helping to keep the species going. Aren't they? just asking...


Mars Attacked

The founder of the conservative megachurch [Mars Hill], the largest Christian assembly in Seattle, often shares his opinion that women shouldn't be leaders of homes, congregations, or nations.... Driscoll's latest controversial remarks appeared on his blog, in a response to the gay-prostitute and meth scandal that brought down fundamentalist Ted Haggard. Driscoll wrote that he had seen many pastors' wives who "really let themselves go," implying to many readers that Driscoll blamed Mrs. Haggard for neglecting her wifely duties and abandoning her husband to his sexual vices.

Shame on you Mr. Driscoll. [and shame on you for thinking this was an Orson Welles/H.G. Wells posting. Helllloooo...., Tom Cruise!] I can't imagine that Mrs. Haggard had anything to do with her husband's indiscretions. [Well, some believe that the elder Mrs. Haggard, Ted's mommy, may have.] If the Christianists believe that sex is for procreation, then Mrs. Haggard [the younger] fulfilled her duty by having children and wasn't bound to continue having sex with her husband. At least that's one way of thinking about it. Right? Another way would be, "Have you looked at Haggard? I wonder what she saw in him anyway. And the hustler? just asking...

Sources: first draft, New York Times, New York Times Opinion, Telegraph.uk.co, the stranger.com, wikipedia.org

* The answer to your question is, "Yes, I do." Have for years. No one, even my closest friends, has ever said a word. I've always wondered what my response would be should anyone ask. I could say, "My skin medication is tinted." or "No." or "So, what?" I hope that my answer, since the question might come up rather quickly and when least expected, will just be, "Yes." and I'll quickly move on. I hope...

pander...

the word of the day: pander

verb [intrans.] (pander to)
gratify or indulge (an immoral or distasteful desire , need, or habit or a person with such a desire, etc.) : newspapers are pandering to people's baser instincts.

noun dated
a pimp
• archaic a person who assists the baser urges or designs of others : the lowest panders of a venal press

ORIGIN late Middle English (as a noun):
from Pandare, the name of a character in
Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde (see
Pandarus). The verb dates from the early
17th cent.

Pope Backs Turkey’s Bid to Join European Union

the money quote:

ANKARA, Turkey, Nov. 28 — Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Turkey on Tuesday armed with a surprise gesture of good will aimed at blunting Muslim anger toward him: he backed Turkey’s long-stalled desire to join the European Union, reversing a statement he made two years ago.

The traditional Hollywood image of a pimp in the US includes a man riding around in a popemobile - I'm sorry - pimpmobile wearing an outrageous outfit that often includes red shoes.

Sound familiar?

just asking...

Source: New York Times: 11/29/06

what's going on here (part IX)...

Grandmother Blows Self Up in Gaza Suicide Blast

Okay, here's my question. Suicide bombers are promised, what, 71, 72 virgins when they blow themselves up in the name of Allah against the Isrealis. Right? Does this mean she gets 71 male virgins? Or, is she a lesbian? just asking...

Woman faces fines for wreath peace sign

Yes, she may have moved into the neighborhood knowing that there were rules to how her house could look and what was acceptable decoration, but her response that displaying a holiday wreath in the form of a peace symbol is not meant as anti-Iraq and consequently anti-military support is just more hooey to the response from the Architectual Design Committee: He [the homeowners association president] said some residents have also believed it was a symbol of Satan. Now, I might be way off base here, but doesn't Satan love chaos and destruction and death and war and human suffering? Does this then make the christianists satanists for being against peace? just asking...



awesome, after proofreading the two items above, I realized how well they go together. peace, anti-peace, war, anti-war, christianism, islamism, terror of the minority, terror of the majority aaaannnndddd just plain nuts. what is the world coming to? just asking...


Sources: New York Times, Yahoo! News

what's going on here (part VIII)...

O.J. Deal Leaves Sour Taste in Many Mouths

Not just a book on how he would have committed the murders but a 2-hour special on Fox! There is a lot of bad on both sides of the issue, but making money off a murder in any way is not just beyond bad taste it's beneath human. Animals don't celebrate taking a life. When they take a life it's for survival purposes - starvation or protection. Humans take life for emotional reasons, like pleasure, jealousy, hatred, fear. Do you think maybe the ability to think not just puts us apart from the animal kingdom but puts us beneath it? just asking...


Melinda Henneberger: Bush's Pick to Head Family Planning: What Is He Thinking?

The problem is with the basic principle of the post: what makes her believe that there was any thinking involved? just asking...


Blair admits Iraq is 'pretty much a disaster'

duh? ya think? Where's he been the last few years? just asking...


Bush, in Vietnam, Says Change Takes Time

After avoiding going to Vietnam at all costs in a previous life, Mr. Bush's draft number is finally called up. My number was 323, as I recall. My friends weren't as lucky. I readily admit I also had a low probability of going by having a teaching deferment, but I didn't go into teaching to avoid the draft. I had planned on being a teacher since my sophomore year in high school. My Daddy had no sway either. As I sit here and watch it all happening again, without a draft this time, I too am amazed at some of the similarities between Iraq and Vietnam. The US, having successfully waged the first guerilla war for independence from England, repeatedly gets into guerilla wars and looses. If change takes time, Mr. Bush, then why the rush into Iraq? And why the dalliance to get out? just asking...

Alaska Lawmakers Thumb Nose At Court Ordered Gay Benefits and You're Crazy

While you may think that these two don't go together, read a little more carefully. The first headline is saying that the wingers are taking away not just some benefits of a specific group of people but are denegrating citizens of the US. The second is a reference to Kathryn-Jean Lopez at NRO relating to removing condoms from purveyance by adults because Passing out contraception without any deeper context or conversation is degrading and disrespectful — to men and women. Tell me I'm crazy. And so Andrew told her she was crazy. As he goes on to point out, the wingers want to be in every room of our lives - especially the bedroom. Is 1984 just around the corner, even if it was 22 years ago? just asking...



Sources: Washington Post, Huffington Post, the timesonline, Washington Post, 365gay.com, andrewsullivan.com, National Review Online

what's going on here (part IV)...

U.S. Jobs Shape Condoms’ Role in Foreign Aid

Alabama firms were given an almost exclusive contract to produce condoms for foreign aid. The purpose was to keep jobs in the US rather than using cheaper more cost-effective condoms from Asia. They can't keep up with the number of condoms required. The federal government begins buying the cheaper condoms. In effect, it out-sources just like many American companies. American lay-offs are to begin soon. Sen. Jeffers (R-Ala) wants a law to use only US made condoms. He'll probably get it. What's the price of millions of people in Africa and Asia dying of AIDS when we can save a couple of hundred Alabaman's jobs? just asking...



GOP at a loss? Karl Rove has an 11th-hour plan to win

be afraid... be very, very afraid. Not of the terrorists but of the promised October Surprise. [There are still three more days in October!] Rather than focusing on issues, this man focuses on power, getting it, keeping it, and abusing it. No tactic is above consideration. He consistently uses tactics that scare not only little babies but full-grown adults. Anybody counting down the number of day? Can he spill over into November if he doesn't have enough time? just asking...



Relief for Nasa as Discovery makes a textbook landing

Did anyone know that Discovery had even launched, let alone returned safely? This makes the news in the UK and you can't find it in the NYT, LA Times, Chicago Sun-Times...? Have we become so inured by space travel in the US that it is now routine? Or are we being led to only read certain things in the news? just asking...



Tearing Down The Walls

al-Jazeera in English? The station may have an idea here. Many people in the US don't have an inkling on the thinking going on in the heads of people who actually live in the Middle East. Democracy is based on free speech & dialogue. Yet, we seldom hear a word, let alone have any kind of dialogue, from the people of the Middle East. Is this part of Homeland Security? just asking...



Gay Cruises Are on the Seas and in the Mainstream

They're everywhere! They're everywhere! I hadn't gone on any cruise, let alone a gay one, until this past January. My friends kept telling me I would like it. I didn't want to believe them. I had no idea that a cruise could be so relaxing and enjoyable. I venture onto a gay cruise this coming March 10-17. [shhhh, it's a secret.] Anyone else going to be there? just asking...



Une jeune femme grièvement brûlée dans l'incendie d'un bus à Marseille

On the first anniversary, the rioting returns in France with a bus being burned, damage to property, injuries to rioters, and the death of one young lady. What have the French learned in one year? Appeasement? Ignorance? Stay the course? just asking...



Sources: New York Times, Telegraph.co.uk, Los Angeles Times, Time Magazine - Europe Edition, Le Monde