Another Piece of the Bird Flu Puzzle Falls Into Place

It's not a matter of if, but of when:

Death toll from bird flu hits 70 as Thai boy dies
Fri Dec 9, 2005 11:21 PM ET

By Panarat Thepgumpanat and Maggie Fox
BANGKOK/WASHINGTON (Reuters)
[...]The death of the 5-year-old boy from the central province of Nakhon Nayok, 110 km (70 miles) from Bangkok, took Thailand's bird flu death toll to 14 out of 22 known cases since the virus swept through large parts of Asia in late 2003.

It was not certain how the boy caught the virus, which usually strikes those in close contact with infected fowl or their droppings. The boy, who died in hospital on Wednesday, was not known to have had direct contact with chickens.

"We believe that the boy contracted the virus from his surroundings because, although his family does not raise chickens, there are chickens raised in his neighborhood," said Thawat Suntrajarn, head of the Health Ministry's Disease Control Department.

While there's some relief to be had from the fact that there are chickens raised in the boy's neighborhood, my eyebrow was raised from the fact that the boy's family did not raise chickens, nor was there any known direct contact between the chickens and the boy.

Meaning the disease might now be airborne, a development that scientists have feared for a long time.

The National Geographic channel had a marvelous program last night called Race Against The Killer Flu (likely it will be rebroadcast many times), in which the striking piece of information was the speed at which this particular virus mutates.

All viruses, based on unstable RNA, will mutate and often. That's why there's no cure for the common cold, and why flu vaccines have to be updated annually. This particular virus, the H5N1, mutates at an alarming rate.

Just a month ago, it was reported that the virus would require a pig to mutate into the mammalian form. Now it turns out that it can mutate in any mammal, including humans. Five tigers died from exposure to the avian flu in a zoo in Southeast Asia this fall.

It's coming. It's just a matter of when.

More On The Wascally Wepubwiccans

Clinton Challenger Not Ready to Drop Out

By MARC HUMBERT
Associated Press Writer

December 11, 2005, 7:27 PM EST

ALBANY, N.Y. -- Jeanine Pirro, one the state's highest-profile district attorneys, won't immediately end her campaign to challenge Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in 2006 even if GOP leaders ask her to, a top aide said Sunday.

"The rumors and speculation that Jeanine Pirro is dropping out of the Senate race tomorrow are false," said Pirro campaign spokeswoman Andrea Tantaros.

Tantaros refused to comment on what might ultimately happen with the Republican's struggling campaign.

GOP chairmen from counties across the state are scheduled to meet Monday in Albany and could endorse a request from the top Republican in the state Senate that Pirro drop her U.S. Senate bid and run for state attorney general instead.

The New York Post, quoting unidentified Republicans, said Pirro didn't want to bail out yet because fundraising was easier as a Clinton opponent than as a candidate for state attorney general. Tantaros disputed the report, saying that was not driving the Westchester County district attorney's continued Senate campaign.

I hadn't considered that Pirro might be using the opportunity to build up a war chest (I got a solicitation from Hillary this weekend that should have clued me in...imagine, here's someone who should win in a walk against any opponent the GOP can throw up against her and has a rumoured 10:1 fund raising advantage over Pirro (Golisano may be the only opponent who can match her funding, and that's his own money), and she's looking for nickle-and-dime money (altho I did get a spiffy yard sign and a bumper sticker).

And then it hit me: she can save money for her Presidential bid in 2008.

But back to the GOP. The county leader meeting today should be interesting, and I've got a wacky prediction to make:

Jeannine Pirro will step aside tomorrow to run for AG. William Weld will run for Governor. Tom Golisano will challenge Hillary for the Senate.

A related note:

Levy backs Spitzer for Gov.
BY ERROL A. COCKFIELD JR
STAFF WRITER

December 8, 2005

ALBANY - If Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi is wondering how difficult it would be to garner support for his possible bid to become governor next year, all he has to do is look to the county next door.

Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy was one of five Democratic county executives throughout the state who announced yesterday they will endorse Attorney General Eliot Spitzer in his run for governor.

Interesting turn of events, one designed to knock Suozzi and his nascent (but methodical) political machine out of the governor's race.

So I'm going to make yet another bold prediction here: Suozzi will challenge Peter King (the biggest bastard Bushevik in New York State anyway, and that says a lot from a state that's produced George Pataki and Rudy Giuliani) for Congress next year.

And win. Big.

Bubble Boy

Bush in the Bubble

He has a tight circle of trust, and he likes it that way. But members of both parties are urging Bush to reach beyond the White House walls. How he governs—and how his M.O. stacks up historically.

By Evan Thomas and Richard Wolffe
Newsweek

[....]

President Bush has always shown an admirable ability to ignore the Washington pundits and make fun of the chattering classes. Yet his inattention to Murtha, a coal-country Pennsylvanian and rock-solid patriot, suggests a level of indifference, if not denial, that is dangerous for a president who seeks to transform the world. All presidents face a tension between sticking to their guns and dealing with changing reality. History suggests it can be a mistake to listen too closely to the ever-present (and often self-aggrandizing) critics. But likewise, the idea that any president can go it alone is, to say the least, problematic.

Clearly, George W. Bush's role model is not his father, who every week would ride down from the White House to the House of Representatives gymnasium, just to hear what fellows like Murtha were saying. Nor is the model John F. Kennedy, who during the Cuban missile crisis reached out to form an "ExCom" of present and past national-security officials, from both parties, to find some way back from the abyss short of war. Nor is it Franklin Roosevelt, who liked to create competition between advisers to find the best solution. Or Abraham Lincoln who, as historian Doris Kearns Goodwin writes in her new book, "Team of Rivals," appointed his political foes to his cabinet.

Bush likes to say that his hero is Ronald Reagan, a true-blue conservative who knew his own mind. But Reagan also knew when to compromise, and when he got into trouble early in his second term, he reached out for help, making a moderate, former senator, Howard Baker, his chief of staff. The chance that George W. Bush will give a top White House job to an establishment moderate (say, Brent Scow-croft, his father's national-security adviser) is about the same as that Texas will become a province of France.

Hm. Where have I seen a plaint like this before about Bush...???

While President Bush likes to project an image of strength and courage, the truth is that in the presence of his large financial contributors he is a moral coward – so weak that he seldom if ever says “No” to them on anything – no matter what the public interest might mandate.

From an Al Gore speech, given on Jan. 15, 2004 at the Beacon Theatre in New York City.

Prescient man, that President Gore.

tags technorati : Top 50

Bush Whacked On Global Warming

This is just too juice:

Clinton Says Bush Is 'Flat Wrong' on Kyoto

By CHARLES J. HANLEY, AP Special Correspondent
1 hour, 1 minute ago

MONTREAL - Former President Clinton told a global audience of diplomats, environmentalists and others Friday that the Bush administration is "flat wrong" in claiming that reducing greenhouse-gas emissions to fight global warming would damage the U.S. economy.

With a "serious disciplined effort" to develop energy-saving technology, he said, "we could meet and surpass the Kyoto targets in a way that would strengthen and not weaken our economies."

Clinton, a champion of the Kyoto Protocol, the existing emissions-controls agreement opposed by the Bush administration, spoke in the final hours of a two-week U.N. climate conference at which Washington has come under heavy criticism for its stand.

Most delegations appeared ready Friday to leave an unwilling United States behind and open a new round of negotiations on future cutbacks in the emissions blamed for global warming.

"There's no longer any serious doubt that climate change is real, accelerating and caused by human activities," said Clinton, whose address was interrupted repeatedly by enthusiastic applause. "We are uncertain about how deep and the time of arrival of the consequences, but we are quite clear they will not be good."

Canadian officials said the U.S. delegation was displeased with the last-minute scheduling of the Clinton speech. But U.S. delegation chief Paula Dobriansky issued a statement saying events like Clinton's appearance "are useful opportunities to hear a wide range of views on global climate change."

Thought For The Weekend

The War On Christmas: New York Style

Christmas debate at Manhasset tree lighting

BY CAROL EISENBERG
STAFF WRITER


When the Rev. Nick Zientarski invoked the name of Jesus Christ during his traditional blessing of the official Christmas tree lighting in Manhasset last week, he had no idea he had signed on as a soldier in the culture wars over Christmas.

Even as he spoke, the Roman Catholic priest said he could hear North Hempstead Supervisor Jon Kaiman angrily objecting behind him, "this is inappropriate." Then, Kaiman got up and told the crowd, "I just want to make it clear that this is in no way a religious ceremony."

A collective gasp came from the 200 adults and children gathered around the gazebo across from Town Hall. Nothing has been the same since in this well-heeled community that counts at least a dozen houses of worship in about 2 square miles.

"I have to tell you that Manhasset is in an uproar" over Kaiman's remarks, said Christine Roberts, who is Jewish and attended the ceremony with her two sons. "It really was the wrong thing to say at the wrong time. There is a lot of hostility going around. Angry letters to the editor of the local paper. Angry conversations. Insanity has absolutely overtaken this town."

John Kiggins, owner of Manhasset Sporting Goods, was so angry with the "disrespectful" way Kaiman treated the priest that he sent him a furious e-mail. "Manhasset is a predominantly Christian town and it's a conservative town," said Kiggins, a parishioner at St. Mary's, where Zientarski is a priest. "There's a certain number of us who believe that if we're celebrating Christmas, then call it Christmas and recognize that we're celebrating the birth of Christ. And the event was billed as a Christmas tree lighting. Had it not been billed that way, I probably wouldn't have gone."

A week later, despite public mea culpas from a white-faced Kaiman at a meeting Wednesday night and, again, in a letter to the editor in yesterday's Manhasset Press, angry constituents are still calling and sending letters. Some did not even witness the event, but heard about it through a widely disseminated e-mail from the priest.
[....]
Kaiman, who is Jewish, said that his reaction to the blessing had nothing to do with his own faith, but related to his concern the town might be perceived as sponsoring a sectarian religious event. He said he has apologized to the priest as well as to St. Mary's pastor.

Zientarski, for one, said he accepts that apology. He sent out a second e-mail yesterday, noting Kaiman's effort to mend fences. "He definitely recognizes the offense he committed and he's truly sorry," the priest said. "As Catholics, we want to offer forgiveness and give people a second chance."

Still, Zientarski issued a call to arms to everyone on his e-mail list to defend Christmas. "Call your stores and encourage them to say, 'Merry Christmas' (and Happy Hannukah too)," he wrote. "Look for those Nativity scenes! We should all be proud to be Christians who believe in the Lord, Our Savior, and we should encourage ALL faiths to be people of 'faith,' not 'holidays' and the secular."

(emphasis added) I wasn't going to comment on this, but it appears that this has gotten a bit of a visceral reaction from my gut.

OK, Christians???? Gather round. Take a knee.

The time has come to admit something to ourselves: we don't own or run the world. Moreover, we don't own the public square. It's a holiday ceremony, featuring a pagan symbol co-opted by medieval Christians as a decoration, commemorating...what, precisely?

Our Lord's birth? He was born in a fucking desert, not the Ardene forest.

Grow up. Maybe the town supervisor's reaction was over the top, but Manhasset is ALSO home to a significant Jewish population, many of whom attended that ceremony. And Hannukkah is nearly as important in the Jewish faith as Jesus' birth is in the Christian (keeping a clear eye on the fact that it is Easter that defines Christianity, for without that, Jesus is just another wacko Jewish prophet running around Galilee).

Can we PLEASE grow up now? It's only been two thousand fucking years!

Seperated At Birth?

So...Poland...

Remember this little exchange from the first Presidential debate last year?

KERRY: The United Nations, Kofi Annan offered help after Baghdad fell. And we never picked him up on that and did what was necessary to transfer authority and to transfer reconstruction. It was always American-run.

Secondly, when we went in, there were three countries: Great Britain, Australia and the United States. That's not a grand coalition. We can do better.

LEHRER: Thirty seconds, Mr. President.

BUSH: Well, actually, he forgot Poland. And now there's 30 nations involved, standing side by side with our American troops.

Come this now. Suddenly, we see how Poland mattered.

Poland was main CIA detention base in Europe: Human Rights Watch

WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland was the heart of the CIA's secret detention network in Europe, with bases there until recently holding a quarter of the 100 detainees estimated held in such camps worldwide, a human rights group said.

Reports of the CIA operating secret jails in Poland and Romania as part of its war on terror have raised controversy on both sides of the Atlantic and dogged U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's European trip this week.

"Poland was the main base for CIA interrogations in Europe, while Romania played more of a role in the transfer of detained prisoners," Marc Garlasco, a leading analyst at Human Rights Watch, was quoted by Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza on Friday as saying.

Garlasco said the CIA had set up two detention centers in Poland, which were closed shortly after the Washington Post published an article about secret prisons last month.

He said the allegations were based on information from CIA sources and other documents obtained by Human Rights Watch. "We have leads, circumstantial evidence to check but it's too early to reveal them," Garlasco said.

Polish authorities have repeatedly denied the existence of secret jails of any form on Polish territory, with Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkieicz saying this week he would fully cooperate in human rights probes into the allegations.

George Pataki: Trying To Save The GOP's bacon

Gov fires at Assembly

Pataki accuses Dems of blocking gun legislation

BY LISA L. COLANGELO and JOE MAHONEY
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

Gov. Pataki accused Assembly Democrats yesterday of standing in the way of a crackdown on gun traffickers - suggesting the legislative logjam could lead to tragedies like the slaying of a Brooklyn cop killed with an illegal firearm.
"I hope now that they will realize that the failure to pass this legislation has very real consequences," Pataki said one day after the funeral of Officer Dillon Stewart, a 35-year-old father of two young daughters.

Pataki has been pushing for mandatory prison time for thugs who peddle multiple guns illegally. But the Assembly leadership's version of a crackdown would allow gunrunners caught with fewer than 20 firearms to get probation.

"It is disappointing to me that today if you have 19 illegal handguns and you are arrested by police, the crime is the same as if you shoplifted an orange from a grocery store," Pataki said, adding, "It is criminal, it is wrong."

That's not entirely true, however it IS true that the Assembly was the only body to do ANYTHING on gun control this year.

This bill was passed in May 2005. And while it does offer severe penalties for more than 20 illegal guns held for the purposes of sale, the penalties for holding even three guns are equivalent to that of holding 20 guns:

Section 6 of the bill amends section 265.02 of the Penal Law defining the class D violent felony of criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree by inserting gender-neutral references and by reducing
from 20 to 3 the number of firearms required to be possessed to constitute a violation of paragraph (i) of subdivision 5 of that section.

So three guns are equivalent to 20 guns in this bill.

The state Senate, led by Joseph "Never Met a Bribe I Didn't Take" Bruno quietly killed this bill before it came to the floor of the Senate.

But aides to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said lawmakers in the lower house this year passed a package of "tough" measures that the Republican-led Senate blocked.

And even took a bite outta Pataki:

Silver sarcastically responded that he was surprised Pataki was speaking out on a New York issue - because the governor's been spending so much time testing the waters for a presidential run.

"Nobody is really governing New York," Silver charged.

The governor's response to this bill and it being stalled? Glad you asked:

Pataki's criminal justice czar, Chauncey Parker, said his boss and the Senate don't support the Assembly bill because it would allow some gun traffickers to get probation.

So some might get probation, but you know what? If it takes ANY guns off the streets right now, why do we care? Let's work that stuff out later.

They Must Really Be Desperate For Soldiers

Medford single mother called back to active duty in Iraq

BY MARTIN C. EVANS
STAFF WRITER

December 8, 2005


While most of her friends and neighbors are amusing themselves with Christmas decorations and holiday gifts, Patricia Arndt is fretting over far more serious matters.

The single mother from Medford has been unexpectedly pulled from the inactive Army reserve and ordered to report for active duty by Feb. 5.

As Christmas nears, Arndt, 43, is trying to sell the Medford home she says she will not be able to keep on an Army salary of approximately $60,000 a year, and is searching for someone to care for her 13-year-old son, Shane. She expects to train for an 18-month tour of duty that could take her to Iraq or Afghanistan.

She said she never saw her return to active duty as a possibility. "Never in a million years," she said.

"This is a very hard thing for me," she said. "I absolutely love my country. I feel I owe it to the Army and my fellow soldiers, because I wouldn't be here without them.

"If I were a reservist assigned to a unit, I'd have been trained and informed of the possibility that I would be called. I'm not prepared for this."

U.S. Army officials said Arndt is not being treated unfairly.

"Single parents are treated no differently than any other soldier, and are expected to have a family care plan at all times," said Army spokeswoman Lt. Col. Pamela Hart.

How....special, Col., um, Hart, a dubiously name for an officer if I've ever heard one.

Ms. Arndt is a respiratory therapist at a major medical facility on Long Island.

Here's the kicker: Arndt served a four year tour of duty.

Twenty years ago.

Now, formerly, Army policy was not to call up this type of reservist to fill in for combat duty. Her status these past twenty years has been as an Individual Ready Reserve, which meant she could be called up domestically to sub in for a full-time Army troop dispatched to a front line somewhere.

But...well, let Newsday say more:

The war in Iraq, now 21/2 years old, has changed that. Currently, more than 6,500 ready reservists have been called back to active duty, including Chief Warrant Officer Margaret Murray, 56, of Schenectady. While receiving training at Fort Jackson last year, Murray told Newsday that she hoped she would not be sent into combat. If she is sent, she said, "I'll do the best I can."

Now comes the really sad part of this story:

Arndt, who is also appealing her orders, is far from alone. Almost 8 percent of all current Army personnel -- and 13.8 percent of female soldiers -- are single parents, the officials said.

How does Bush sleep at night?

In Memoriam

I've always believed it was ironic that the lyrics of his last album included the line "Life is what happens to you when you're busy making other plans."

Twisted individuals destroy creative geniuses, that seems to be the legacy of America since World War II. One can tie this thought in so many ways: the debate over evolution, the rise of the fear-mongering Christian right, the persecution of President Clinton, the assassinations of John, Robert, and Martin, and of course, this John.

But stupidity abides. Reagan outlived his feeble, small mind. I suspect Bush will as well.

You may be gone, John.

But you are far from forgotten. While this mortal coil contains idiots, the larger world that you now inhabit only allows for genius. I aspire one day to join you there.

Maybe Jeanine Pirro SHOULD Have Baked Pataki's Cookies....

A tabloid smelled blood in the water, speculating that Albert Pirro Jr., the Westchester district attorney's baggage-carrying husband, was working behind the scenes to undermine his wife's campaign. More likely, considering Al Pirro's political connections: the makings of a coordinated campaign to see that a "spontaneous" groundswell of support drafts Jeanine Pirro for a New York attorney general run. Phoenix rises; Clinton gets other company.

In the race for most scandalous husband, while Hillary has a huge advantage in terms of media play, Jeanine's husband Al would "hands-down" win on criminality.

I'm seeing that State Senate leader Joe Bruno is probably offering Albert some cushy contracts in the next legislature. That would be my guess for all this pressure being applied.

Of course, Albert may just have more skeletons in the closet than he has let on, and is trying to save Jeanine's face on December 12th.

Hard to say. Graft and the New York GOP is a little like candy and kids: you can't scrape the one off the other.

Imagine There's No Curfew

This started as part of Rudy Giuliani's idiotic crime prevention scheme, but I'm ashamed to say it's continued on in the Bloomberg years, particularly on such a poignant anniversary:

Lennon fans won't be able to imagine past curfew

BY BRYAN VIRASAMI AND ROCCO PARASCANDOLA
STAFF WRITER

December 7, 2005


Fans who converge in Strawberry Fields Thursday night to mark the 25th anniversary of John Lennon's death won't get to stay past the park's usual 1 a.m. curfew, despite the pleas from vigil organizers.

Candido Bonilla, a Rockaway Park trumpet player who helps organize the annual gathering, said the city should make an exception to the rule given Lennon's worldwide appeal, the fact he lived in New York when he died and that this year marks the 25th anniversary.

"He was a great leader of our time," Bonilla said. "We feel the least the city should do is to allow the vigil to go uninterrupted, to let it run its course."

The former Beatle, famous around the globe for such songs as "Imagine" and "All You Need is Love" featuring lyrics that promoted peace and kindness, was gunned down Dec. 8, 1980 in Manhattan.

Until the Rudy Giuliani mayoral administration, vigil participants were allowed to stay in the park as long as they wished, organizers said.

I probably will go tomorrow night, weather and health permitting.

John is dead. Miss him. Miss him. Miss him.

Santa Fitz Is Coming To Towwwwwwwwwwwn....

RedHedd at Firedog Lake (who really ought to bill herself as president of the Patrick Fitzgerald Fan Club International), has an item up that Pat Fitzgerald is heading back in front of a grand jury today with testimony in hand.

Give it a look.

Christmas In A New Orleans Mall, Courtesy of George W. Bush

A Gamble of Evidence On Global Warming

You may remember a movie out last year called The Day After Tomorrow, about a sudden cataclysmic climate change overtaking the world, and plunging it deep into an ice age.

Turns out, the truth may (and I stress may) not be so far from fiction.

Is Europe Due For a Big Chill?
By shutting down ocean currents, global warming could actually cool things offBy MICHAEL D. LEMONICK

[L]ast week...scientists from Britain's National Oceanography Center reported in Nature that a component of the oceanic current system that drives the Gulf Stream has slowed by 30% since 1992. The likely, paradoxical cause? Global warming. While climate experts around the world caution that the data are too preliminary to be definitive, "the result," writes University of Hamburg climatologist Detlef Quadfasel in a commentary on the study that also appears in Nature, "is alarming."

It's also not entirely unexpected. Back in the 1980s, Wallace Broecker, a geophysicist at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, was trying to understand why temperatures in Greenland had plunged dramatically several times over the past 70,000 years. His theory: fresh water, perhaps from melting glaciers, might have diluted the ocean's salinity, making it harder for cooling water to sink and return southward to pick up more heat. That could shut off the entire "conveyor belt" of water that keeps Europe temperate. It's hard to determine precisely what would have caused such a big thaw 70,000 years back, but we do know that today global warming is causing more meltwater to stream into the North Atlantic from glaciers and older sea ice, which is lower in salt. Could the conveyor belt stop again?

Climate experts are not sure--and some have serious reservations about the new paper--mostly because the observed change is happening too fast. Computer models predict that it should take at least 100 years to weaken the ocean conveyor belt. What's more, nobody was even measuring those currents before 1957. Says Broecker: "We don't know how much the flow bounces around normally."

Clearly, pieces are still missing from the equation, so even the scientists who wrote the study counsel against panic. Rather than be worried, says co-author Stuart Cunningham, "people should be more interested and concerned. The ocean seems to have changed in a large enough way to be detectable." It's something, in other words, to keep an eye on.

A 30% drop in less than 15 years. And things are only getting warmer each year, so that's probably accelerated since.

Now, Nature magazine is not some eco-terror organ, but is a bona fide referreed science magazine, which means that the research and the conclusions drawn from that research must pass rigorous vetting. Not to say they are always right, but that the experiments have been validated, the results have been vetted and the conclusions drawn are reasonable based on the evidence presented.

Kinda scary stuff, wouldn't you agree? This would put Europe squarely in competition for oil and natural gas and unlike us, they don't have a Canada or Mexico sitting right on the doorstep for supplies.

They'll need to go to the Middle East. Any wonder why they are not lifting a finger to assist us in Iraq?

Not To Toot My Own Horn, But...

Everyone that I nominated (and campaign-managed) for Brilliant Blogger, won for November!

Congratulations, Agitprop (who had really tough competition in Shakespeare's Sister AND Pam's House Blend, two very heavyweight political blogs), my good friends Vesti at The Intellectual Comedy Salon (if you haven't read his stuff, go. It's a treat!), and Fantod at Voodoo Innuendo.

Hm. Maybe I should try this shtick out in real life...

Bloomberg's Billions

Y'know, it wasn't that long ago that this type of money would buy the Presidency for you. Talk about inflation!

Bloomberg spends more than $77 million on re-election

BY DAN JANISON
STAFF WRITER

December 6, 2005


The gilded 2005 campaign of Mayor Michael Bloomberg ended up spending more than $103 for each vote he got, topping the record he set four years ago.

New disclosure forms show that Bloomberg had experienced campaign volunteers flown into town to work the final week, and even gave his canvassers tens of thousands of dollars' worth of MetroCards.

"It is what it is," Bloomberg said Monday at a Manhattan news conference. "I spent my own money. I had a big message to get out and we did get the message out. ... I'm very proud of the campaign we put together."

The $77,894,878 cost figure posted by the Bloomberg camp Monday is 12 percent higher than the $69,843,000 he'd shelled out by this time in 2001.

In this past election, Bloomberg received 753,089 votes on the Republican and Independence lines, to 503,219 for Democrat Fernando Ferrer, whose campaign as of Oct. 28 had spent a relatively small $7,655,005.

The Ferrer camp Monday said its spending number would total about $9.5 million, or about $19 for each vote he got.

Y'know, he could have just bought me a couple of cases of beer, and I'd have been OK to vote for him. I wonder how many people would have gone for that? :-)

Seriously, $78MM is about 2% of his estimated net worth. Estimates for the upcoming Senate race in which Hillary Clinton will defend her job versus SomeDumbSchmuck will come in at about the same level.

I know Bloomberg said he didn't want to run for higher office, at least at this time. It makes you wonder why he felt he needed to spend so much? Is vanity a legitimate motive, especially in a mayoral race?

And I note his excuse, or rather, non-excuse: "It is what it is."

I wish that worked in more places. Imagine coming home late at night, reeking of alcohol and someone else's scent?

"It is what it is."

Truly, a Zen moment in American politics.

Tags: Actor212, New York, New York City, Politics

Judgement At Nuremberg

Apparently, HBO and Showtime knew that I was home all weekend, and so put on a series of great films (coincidentally, starring Spencer Tracy), which made me think a bit about the United States.

First up, Judgement At Nuremberg

Ernst Janning: There was a fever over the land. A fever of disgrace, of indignity, of hunger. We had a democracy, yes, but it was torn by elements within. There was, above all, fear. Fear of today, fear of tomorrow, fear of our neighbors, fear of ourselves. Only when you understand that can you understand what Hitler meant to us. Because he said to us: 'Lift up your heads! Be proud to be German! There are devils among us. Communists, Liberals, Jews, Gypsies! Once the devils will be destroyed, your miseries will be destroyed.' It was the old, old story of the sacrifical lamb. What about us, who knew better? We who knew the words were lies and worse than lies? Why did we sit silent? Why did we participate? Because we loved our country! What difference does it make if a few political extremists lose their rights? What difference does it make if a few racial minorities lose their rights? It is only a passing phase. It is only a stage we are going through. It will be discarded sooner or later. 'The country is in danger.' We will 'march out of the shadows.' 'We will go forward.' And history tells you how well we succeeded! We succeeded beyond our wildest dreams. The very elements of hate and power about Hitler that mesmerized Germany, mesmerized the world! We found ourselves with sudden powerful allies. Things that had been denied us as a democracy were open to us now. The world said go ahead, take it! Take Sudetenland, take the Rhineland - remilitarize it - take all of Austria, take it! We marched forward, the danger passed. And then one day, we looked around and found we were in even more terrible danger. The rites began in this courtroom, swept over our land like a raging, roaring disease! What was going to be a passing phase became a way of life.

Judge Dan Haywood: Janning, to be sure, is a tragic figure. We believe he loathed the evil he did. But compassion for the present torture of his soul must not beget forgetfulness of the torture and death of millions by the government of which he was a part. Janning's record and his fate illuminate the most shattering truth that has emerged from this trial. If he and the other defendants were all depraved perverts - if the leaders of the Third Reich were sadistic monsters and maniacs - these events would have no more moral significance than an earthquake or other natural catastrophes. But this trial has shown that under the stress of a national crisis, men - even able and extraordinary men - can delude themselves into the commission of crimes and atrocities so vast and heinous as to stagger the imagination. No one who has sat through this trial can ever forget. The sterilization of men because of their political beliefs... The murder of children... How easily that can happen. There are those in our country today, too, who speak of the protection of the country. Of survival. The answer to that is: survival as what? A country isn't a rock. And it isn't an extension of one's self. It's what it stands for, when standing for something is the most difficult. Before the people of the world - let it now be noted in our decision here that this is what we stand for: justice, truth... and the value of a single human being.

(emphasis added)

A warning to America if I've ever heard one. In this simple exchange (OK, separated by five minutes of screen time or so, but Haywood IS responding to Janning's speech), we see both how a society can corrupt itself by indulging in fear and hatred and rage, and why it must not.

Tags: Fascism, Bush, America

Inherit The Wind

The other great movie that got me to thinking this weekend was Inherit The Wind

Henry Drummond: Can't you understand? That if you take a law like evolution and you make it a crime to teach it in the public schools, tomorrow you can make it a crime to teach it in the private schools? And tomorrow you may make it a crime to read about it. And soon you may ban books and newspapers. And then you may turn Catholic against Protestant, and Protestant against Protestant, and try to foist your own religion upon the mind of man. If you can do one, you can do the other. Because fanaticism and ignorance is forever busy, and needs feeding. And soon, your Honor, with banners flying and with drums beating we'll be marching backward, BACKWARD, through the glorious ages of that Sixteenth Century when bigots burned the man who dared bring enlightenment and intelligence to the human mind!

How true is this?

We're seeing it happen now. The Intelligent Design manifesto walks lock-step with the right wing who wish to see all the progress of the past fifty years remanded to the dustbin of history, a failed attempt by man to swing down from his tree and walk upright on the savannah of enlightenment and truth, to think for himself, free from the will of God, for what is man if he has not the capacity to think?

Henry Drummond: Then why did God plague us with the capacity to think? Mr. Brady, why do you deny the one thing that sets above the other animals? What other merit have we? The elephant is larger, the horse stronger and swifter, the butterfly more beautiful, the mosquito more prolific, even the sponge is more durable. Or does a sponge think?

Matthew Harrison Brady: I don't know. I'm a man, not a sponge!

Henry Drummond: Do you think a sponge thinks?

Matthew Harrison Brady: If the Lord wishes a sponge to think, it thinks!

Henry Drummond: Does a man have the same privilege as a sponge?

Matthew Harrison Brady: Of course!

Henry Drummond: Then this man wishes to have the same privilege of a sponge, he wishes to think!

What harm is there in a man thinking, independent of any authority, divine or earthly? Is it not how we act on those thoughts that define us as human, as humane and good, or inhumane and evil? Do we act out of fear and rage, or do we act out of compassion and an earnest self-preservation that includes not only ourselves, and our families, but the good of the society we live in?

Isn't that, ultimately, that provides God's rationale for our existence? He didn't banish Adam and Eve from the Garden for being evil, He banished them because they chose the good of themselves over the good of the society around them.

Taags: Evolution, Intelligent Design, Darwin, Religious Right, Education

The Flypaper Theory

You know, the so-called "Flypaper Theory" (popularized as "We must fight them there so we don't fight them here!"), has been debunked so many times that it's frightening that the right wing continues to bring it up as a justification.

Today's news, however, brings something into focus for me as regards that theory, and points out yet another reason it's idiotic to fight a land war in South Asia.

Suicide bombers kill 27 at Iraq police academy

The first explosion occurred as police cadets headed to lunch after shooting practice, said Nizal Mahmoud Khalaf, a police trainee who survived the blasts. The second bomber struck as the cadets ran for shelter, he told Reuters outside a hospital where the wounded were treated.

The U.S. military, who initially said the bombers walked into a classroom and blew themselves up, later said one of the bombers struck near a group of students outside a classroom.

Thinking the explosion was an attack from outside, Iraqi police officers and students ran to a bunker for shelter, where the second bomber detonated his vest strapped with explosives, the military said.

Lately, the targets of insurgent attacks (which modestly abated after the offensive near the Syrian border, but have roared back anew) have been Iraqis who are full-out cooperating with American efforts to re-arm the military and re-establish a police force.

So the question becomes, why?

Given Bush's intransigence regarding removing an American presence in the country, one begins to see that the Flypaper Theory has actually worked in reverse: by placing troops over there, we've lightened the burden enormously for Al Qaeda and other terror organizations to accomplish what they swore to do in jihad: kill Americans.

Too, we've sent them the cream of the crop: our youngest, most ambitious kids, not even career Army but the kids who joined the Guard and Reserves in order to get a college education and a signing bonus.

Entire generations of families will be snuffed out as this war there continues, and the Islamists lick their chops every morning that our ineffective and ineffectual response remains tied into a military dominance strategy relying heavily on getting the natives armed for conflict (yea, there's a good idea...as if guns here haven't proven deadly enough...) and then bugging out.

There has to be a solution, unfortunately the sole body capable of enforcing that solution, the United Nations, has been both asked to, and on it's own accord, wash its hands of this business.

So what to do?

Tags: Flypaper Theory, Iraq War, Terrorism, Bush

tags technorati : Top 50

Why Guns Need To Be Controlled In America

Judge Jack Weinstein spelled out how firearms makers flood New York with illegal weapons when he upheld the city's right to sue last week. Here's how he summed up the charges:

The United States leads the world in the number of people and in the number of children who die and are injured each year by guns. The yearly toll of several thousand persons killed compares to no more than a few hundred per year in every other industrialized country. A teenager in the United States is more likely to die from a gunshot wound than from all natural causes combined.


Firearms are by far the preferred method of murder in New York City, and are used in approximately 60% of the murders committed each year. In 1996, 652 people were murdered with a firearm in New York City; in 1997, 465 were murdered with guns; in 1998, 375; and in 1999, 391.

Approximately double the number of persons are injured by the criminal use of firearms with over 2,000 criminal shooting victims reported each year in New York City.

Firearms are also used in connection with many crimes other than murder. [In] 1998, for example, of the 39,358 reported robberies in the city, 7,640 or approximately 20% involved the use of firearm.

In that same year, of the 2,181 reported felony reckless endangerment cases, 23% involved the use of a firearm and 20% of menacing cases also involved the use of a firearm. These figures are typical of more recent years.

In the period from Aug. 1, 1997, through July 31, 1998, the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, through its National Firearms Tracing Database, traced 8,437 guns used in crimes in New York City. The 8,437 crime guns traced were used in the commission of 433 robberies, 309 assaults/threats, 278 homicides, 143 narcotics crimes, 101 burglaries/thefts/frauds, and 7,123 firearms-related offenses. ... The actual number of defendants'"crime guns" used in New York City over the last five years is vastly higher.

***

Criminals are an important market segment for the gun industry. Recent analyses have shown that 11% of handguns sold between 1996 and 2000 were used in violent crimes by the year 2000; 18% of handguns sold in the year 1990 were in the hands of violent criminals or used in violent crimes by the year 2000.

Recent analyses have shown that guns move quickly from the legal to the illegal market; 13% of guns recovered in crimes were recovered within one year of their sale, and 30% were recovered within three years of their first sale.

ATF trace data indicates that as many as 43% of guns used in crimes in urban centers across the U.S. were purchased from retail dealers less than three years prior to commission of the crime.

***

Straw purchases, wherein the purchaser buys the gun from a licensed dealer for a person who is not qualified to purchase the firearm under federal and state regulations, are a source of firearms for the secondary market. In one recent law enforcement study, more than 50% of the firearms subject to firearm trafficking investigations had been acquired as part of a straw purchase.

***

According to a recent ATF study, just 1.2% of dealers accounted for over 57% of the crime guns traced to current dealers in 1998. ... A congressional study of ATF data found that an extraordinary proportion of crime guns were purchased from the same"high crime" gun dealers. The same 137 dealers were the source of more than 34,000 crime guns between 1996 and 1998.

***

Defendants produce, market and distribute substantially more handguns than they reasonably expect to sell to law-abiding purchasers. They oversupply states with weak handgun controls and restrictions, such as certain southern states along the I-95 corridor, with substantially more handguns than they know or should know will be purchased by legitimate purchasers in those states.

***

Over 84% of the crime guns recovered in New York City come from out of state. Of these crime guns, the top source states were Virginia (414), Florida (329), Georgia (282), North Carolina (268), South Carolina (224), Pennsylvania (159), Ohio (136), Alabama (106) and Texas (99).

Handguns manufactured, imported or distributed by defendants are acquired in states and cities where gun regulations are lax, diverted to the illegal market in New York, and used to cause injury, death or the threat thereof to residents of the City of New York.

Weak New York Political Parties

I spent much of the weekend pondering the events of last week's GOP unravelling, and then comparing it to what happened to the NY Democratic party when Al D'Amato was effectively running the state (even Cuomo had to cut a bargain with D'Amato to keep his office).

Imagine my surprise this morning to find out that I was not the only one wondering what the future of politics in NY is going to be:

It's time for changes in NY party lines

Dan Janison

December 5, 2005

Sixty-eight years ago, Democrat Jeremiah Mahoney racked up 890,756 votes for mayor, but lost in a record landslide to Republican Fiorello LaGuardia.

Last month, Republican Michael Bloomberg drew only 753,089 votes, but basks in the glow of what some compare to LaGuardia's romp of 1937.

How? Simple. Two of three registered voters sat out the election.

The city in 2005 saw 1,315,360 ballots cast for Bloomberg, Fernando Ferrer, Tom Ognibene and everyone else - combined. The total includes dozens of write-ins, whose names, as soberly certified by the Board of Elections, included Serpico, William Clinton, Jesus Christ, Bella Abzug and Daffy Duck.

Compare that to 1937, when an astounding 2,300,220 people voted. And the city then had as many as a million fewer residents than it does today. All by himself, LaGuardia that year garnered 1,344,630 votes, according to figures dug up by consultant Joe Mercurio.

Even if you suspect that many more of the dead were voting back in the old days, the contrast is glaring.

The city's depressed turnout is nothing unique. Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi, a Democrat, also glided to re-election Nov. 8 as about one in three local voters showed up. And Nassau even had some added drama that led to the ouster of a veteran Republican district attorney.

Because New York is one of those rare states that grows its own minor parties, perhaps it is time to found a few new ballot lines that will restore participation by marketing and better reflecting the diverse moods of voters.

Now, Janison in the spirit of Jonathan Swift, goes on to name several, um, narrow-focus parties.

But he has a point: in New York State there is an effective mechanism for giving a minor party a fair shot at ballot access and matching funds access. What's really odd is, those few parties that have accomplished this not-mean feat have seemingly squandered an opportunity to get an effective message across.

I'm thinking in particular of the Working Families Party, of course. You'd think a party that describes itself as "grassroots, community and labor based" would be a slam-dunk to gather some political heat in a state where labor unions have a very strong hold, especially in the civil service sectors.

Apparently not. They've merely assumed the mantle that the old Liberal Party in New York once claimed: a mirror for the Democratic candidates to appear on TWO party lines (with some exceptions) on the ballot, thus negating the Republican/Conservative duopoly (and make it that much more confusing for voters).

One wonders what it would take to combine organized labor, suburban family voters and young urbanites into a cohesive party that would stick together on social issues like gay marriage and fiscal issues like property tax relief (as well as an equitable distribution of income tax relief for city residents who provide essential services for commuters).

tags technorati : Top 50

A Presidency In The Crapper

Bush may delay push for major tax overhaul

By Caren Bohan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House may delay unveiling a broad proposal to overhaul the tax code until 2007 or later, despite earlier discussions of making it a major theme for next year, people close to the White House said.

A panel named by President George W. Bush has recommended sweeping changes to the tax code, including reducing deductions for home mortgages and state and local taxes.

Bush is having the Treasury Department review the recommendations and submit a plan to him.

The White House had initially considered having Treasury prepare a plan by the end of the year that could form the basis for a proposal in Bush's State of the Union address.

But several Republicans with close administration ties said it now seems likely Bush may only speak generally about tax reform in the address and not unveil specifics.

"I don't think there is enough time to churn out a policy," said one Republican, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Time Magazine, in its latest edition, quoted a White House official as expressing doubt that a major proposal to change the tax code could attract Democratic support in a mid-term election year.

This is an administration that came into office claiming that change was in the air, meanwhile espousing small-minded shortsighted goals.

I don't think they ever imagined how hard it was going to be when the idiot with his hand on the wheel was drunk.

More on NY GOP Woes

GOP is divided over early vote to pick gubernatorial candidate

By YANCEY ROY

Not so fast, Stephen Minarik.

That's what some Republicans are telling their party chairman. Don't make us vote on a slate of candidates Dec. 12 — 11 months before Election Day and almost six months before the Republican convention.

Some are saying it privately, in a don't-put-my-name-on-it way to reporters. Some are saying it publicly, like the Legislature's most powerful Republican, a congressman and one of the party's gubernatorial hopefuls.

Even some on their way out the political door ack-nowledge it.

"I would say there is a split," said Charles Nesbitt, who stepped down this week as Assembly Republican leader to take a job in the Pataki administration. "The county leaders I've talked to, some believe it is the right time, but some believe we should wait."

At issue is Minarik's wish to have the GOP settle on a gubernatorial candidate this month so it can begin to raise the tens of millions of dollars it will take to run the campaign.

The reason? Democratic frontrunner Eliot Spitzer is already way ahead of any potential Republican candidates in the polls and will likely have more than $10 million in his campaign chest by January.

While it's true Spitzer seems to be unstoppable (even if Pirro runs, which she has said she will not), it's premature for the NY GOP to foster a slate of candidates. Fundraising isn't likely to be that great this early on, especially given Bush's woes (most Republicans I've spoken to are frustrated by this administration, and clearly the November results speak to a party that is hanging by a thread in NY).

Again, this all sort of points up what I said earlier this week: Al D'Amato was a master of politics in this state, but those days are long gone, and if the GOP is wise (doubtfully), they'll drop the bullying tactics of D'Amato, Bruno, and Giuliani in favor of the more nuanced Republicanism of former Democrat, Mike Bloomberg.

Naturally, as a liberal Democrat, I pray they keep ignorance as their calling card.

You Thought It Only Happened In The Movies

The FBI infiltrating a civic activity to spy? Specifically, Fahrenheit 9/11:

FAHRENHEIT 9/11: "[T]he photo of the man in the newspaper was not the Aaron Stokes they had come to know, [a member of Peace Fresno]. He was actually Deputy Aaron Kilner. And he had infiltrated their group."

"Aaron Kilner, 27, who joined the force in June 1999 and had been assigned the last 18 months to the anti-terrorist team under the vice-intelligence unit, apparently was killed instantly when his blue Yamaha motorcycle slammed into the right front side of a 1999 Buick, Fresno police said." Louis Galvan, "Crash Kills Off-Duty Detective, Victim Joined Fresno County Force in 1999," Fresno Bee, August 31, 2003.

"It remains unclear why the Fresno County Sheriff's Department infiltrated the peace group there, but Pierce said his department's actions were legal. ‘We can be anywhere we want to that's open to the public,’ Pierce said in a telephone interview from his Fresno office." Sam Stanton and Emily Bazar, "More Scrutiny of Peace Groups, Public Safety Justifies Surveillance Since 9/11, Authorities Say," Sacramento Bee, November 9, 2003.

Comes today this story:

FBI Plants Fake Candidate in W.Va. Race

by LAWRENCE MESSINA, Associated Press Writer Sat Dec 3, 3:05 AM ET

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Thomas Esposito's campaign for the Legislature seemed to be following the usual pattern. The longtime Democratic mayor issued press releases, raised money and bought newspaper ads. Signs bearing his name popped up in yards around rural Logan County.

But less than a month before the May 2004 primary election, Esposito dropped out, saying he had to withdraw because of his ailing mother-in-law.

The real reason surfaced only later: The FBI had planted Esposito among the field of candidates to help find evidence of vote-buying in southern West Virginia.

Federal prosecutors say the gambit worked.

They allege Esposito gave $2,000 in government-supplied money to a resident who had offered to bribe voters on his behalf.

Question: Why weren't they investigating the Diebold machines?

Pirro To Stay In Race

After Pataki Talks, Pirro Says She's Still in Race

By PATRICK D. HEALY and TIMOTHY WILLIAMS
Published: December 2, 2005
After a meeting with Gov. George E. Pataki today that heightened speculation that she would drop out of the United States Senate race, Jeanine F. Pirro emerged to say that she remains a candidate to oppose Hillary Rodham Clinton in next year's election.

The 90-minute meeting in the governor's midtown Manhattan office came after the Republican State Senate majority leader, Joseph L. Bruno, said Ms. Pirro should run for attorney general instead. Polls have shown the Republican Ms. Pirro trailing badly in the race against Senator Clinton, a Democrat. Ms. Pirro, the outgoing Westchester County district attorney, has also had a difficult time raising money.

After the meeting with Governor Pataki today, Ms. Pirro tried to put a positive spin on why members of her own party have called for her to drop her Senate candidacy.

"What's happened in the last several days is that there are people who are complimenting my abilities to run for other offices as well, and I am grateful for their belief that I can run for any office in this state," she said. "Right now, I am a candidate for the United States Senate."

Ms. Pirro declined to discuss details of the meeting, so it was not immediately clear what advice Governor Pataki gave to her.On another front involving the 2006 Republican ticket for statewide offices, Mr. Bruno met with Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg on Thursday to try to persuade him to run for governor next year. An aide to Mr. Bruno cited the mayor's landslide re-election last month, but Mr. Bloomberg quickly rejected the proposal.

Interesting, this last bit.

I happened to have lunch in the governor's office building this afternoon, so I caught this press conference (big deal, two stinking cameras and a handful of reporters...I wish I'd had a tape recorder with me). She looked....frazzled, scared, and a bit morose. her body language spoke of someone who was really weary and fed up.

I don't think this is the last we've heard of this decision.

Now, I seriously doubt Bloomberg will run. I take him at his word about not seeking higher office.

Bird Flu is Here!

Mild strain of bird flu found in N. Carolina

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Turkeys at a farm in North Carolina tested positive for a mild, low-pathogenic strain of bird flu which is common in birds and poses no threat to humans, the U.S. Agriculture Department said on Thursday.

Routine tests conducted on poultry in North Carolina found the H3N2 strain of bird flu in turkeys on a farm in Sampson County, in the eastern part of the state, the USDA said.

A much more serious strain of the disease, known as H5N1, has been found in Asia and Eastern Europe and been blamed for 68 deaths.

The low-pathogenic disease found in North Carolina has appeared elsewhere in the United States this year, according to USDA.

And this from Blondesense:

Weak Strain of Bird Flu Found At Sun Valley Farm

But, take a look at this:

Senate Panel Backs Special Vaccine Agency

By ANDREW BRIDGES, Associated Press Writer
Fri Dec 2, 7:39 AM ET

WASHINGTON - By creating a federal agency shielded from public scrutiny, some lawmakers think they can speed the development and testing of new drugs and vaccines needed to respond to a bioterrorist attack or super-flu pandemic.

The proposed Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Agency, or BARDA, would be exempt from long-standing open records and meetings laws that apply to most government departments, according to legislation approved Oct. 18 by the Senate health committee.

Sorta like Cheney's energy panel...is there NOTHING these guys trust us with???

Will Pirro Put On Pataki's Apron And Bake Cookies?

Pirro feels the heat

Westchester DA to meet with Pataki to mull idea of abandoning GOP race for Hillary's Senate seat, instead vying for attorney general

This story was reported by Albany bureau chief ERROL A. COCKFIELD JR., GLENN THRUSH of the Washington bureau and MICHAEL ROTHFELD
It was written by COCKFIELD and THRUSH.

December 2, 2005


ALBANY -- Pressured by fellow Republicans to scrap her challenge of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Westchester County District Attorney Jeanine Pirro will meet this morning with Gov. George Pataki to discuss the fate of her tottering campaign.

Pirro huddled with advisers yesterday, anguishing over whether to stay in the race or quit to run for state attorney general, as many Republicans have urged her to do, sources said. The abrupt turns of mood came on a day in which confusion seemed to reign in her camp.

A top Pirro adviser said she wanted to discuss her political future with Pataki, whose support has waned in recent days. But as of last night she had no plans to quit.

"She got together with her people, debated the pros and cons, and decided to stay in it for now," the official told Newsday.

When asked how long Pirro would remain in the race, the person replied, "Who knows? Ask me in a month."

A Pirro switch would be another in a series of embarrassing setbacks for the Republican Party as it struggles to field candidates for 2006.

This last paragraph intrigued me, and reminds me of something: where's Al D'Amato in all this?

See, when D'Amato was running his crooked political machine out of Long Island, the Republicans regularly registered unusual strength in a highly Democratic state...well, state-wide at any rate.

See, New York state as a political entity is fractious: the large urban areas are overwhemlingly liberal and Democractic, while suburban areas tend to be moderate Republican, and rural areas make the South look like urbane outposts of genteelity.

Having residence in all three sectors, it can be quite confusing!

However, when Alphonse ran the machine (which included the current governor, George Pataki, a shiftless nobody destined to be mayor of a small hamlet in the lower Hudson Valley, until a larger political machine dragged him mfrom obscurity, propped him up in front of a camera and managed to have him beat arguably the most popular governor of the past thirty years, Mario Cuomo), Republicans were nigh unstoppable. Even Rudy Giuliani had to genuflect at Mr. D'Amato's feet and kiss his pinky ring, when in truth, his job called for him to squeeze the shady crook until blood came from his ears.

D'Amato effectively retired in 1998 when Chuck Schumer beat him for his Senate seat, despite Rovian-type campaign ads and a whisper campaign upstate about "the Jew from Brooklyn".

Pataki won re-election last go-round without D'Amato (2002) because he was running against nobody (well, actually, Peter Vallone, Speaker of the NYC Council, which meant nothing outside of the Bronx and maybe Queens). He would have faced a formidable challenge from Elliot Spitzer, a tough-as-nails state attorney general who also had serious street cred as a liberal, ground Pataki can visit with his pro-choice stances.

But note this: even Rudy Giuliani got nailed in the downdraft of the vacuum that D'Amato's absence left in New York politics, failing to even secure the Republican nomination in 2000 to run against Hillary Clinton when he publicly announced he was divorcing his wife before telling her personally.

Apparently, Rudy felt he was Caesar, that New York City was ancient Rome, and that a man could divorce his wife merely by saying, "We're divorced" three times.

(Aside: Let him run for President. I would gloat at the ad campaign that would run against him.)

The political disintegration we're seeing in New York State is a direct result of D'Amato abandoning the wheel and leaving no one (or at least anyone competent) behind in charge to lead. We're now seeing the Bruno/Pataki Albany faction trying desperately to maintain control over a bunch of unruly children who see opportunities and want a piece of the action, primarily from the Hudson Valley districts where moderate Republicans really can run and win.

Too, I think the Democrats smell blood in the water, and are challenging what had previously been held as "safe" Republican seats. Sue Kelly, for example, New York's representative from the 19th district, faces a formidable challenge from no less than five Democrats vying to run against her, including John Hall.

This is a party in deep trouble, and it doesn't bode well for Bush and the GOP national committee that this tempest is unavoidable and happening so close to a major election that will be a referendum on Bush's second term. I can hear the spin doctors grinding their "Well, you know, all Presidents lose seats in their midterms and Bush is no exception" plaint.

tags technorati : Top 50

More Hot Air From The Bushies

US rejects Blair's climate hopes

The US has dismissed a suggestion from UK Prime Minister Tony Blair that it may be prepared to sign up to binding targets to tackle climate change.
Speaking at UN climate talks in Canada, the US chief negotiator said his nation would not enter talks about fixed curbs on emissions of greenhouse gases.

Mr Blair told UK business leaders on Tuesday that he believed all major nations would support new targets.

The current targets within the Kyoto Protocol will expire in 2012.

"We would certainly not agree to the United States being part of legally binding targets and timetable agreement post-2012," Dr Harlan Watson, the head of the US delegation, told reporters at the climate conference in Montreal.

In other words, we'll take our ball and bat and go home.

Dr Watson was responding directly to comments made by the UK prime minister at a Confederation of British Industry conference in London.

Mr Blair told delegates: "Climate change is producing a sense of urgency. I have no doubt where policy is heading, here, in the US, [and] across the emerging economies of the world.

"I believe there will be a binding international agreement to succeed Kyoto when the protocol expires in 2012 that will include all major economies."

I've got a compound word that describes what the US just did to our staunchest ally: smackdown!

We're fucked, the longer these assholes remain in power.

A Moment

Still The One

I swear, that will be the only Orleans pun I use in this piece...

You may recall last year in the election campaign, Bush/Cheney used the song "Still The One" at campaign stops until the band, Orleans, told them to stop?

Apparently, it pushed John Hall, who along with his then-wife wrote the song, to seek higher office. Hall had been a local Democratic legislator, but had retired from public service, and was writing music as well as serving on the board of Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, a project designed to attract attention to the pollution of the Hudson River and preservation of the Hudson River valley environment.

So now, given the Bushies, and the big corporate interests placing our nation in thrall to them, Hall has decided to run for Congress. From his website:

I've always been proud of our country, but we deserve to be proud of our government. Dishonesty, cronyism, and pandering to special interests have damaged the reputation and interests of the United States of America both at home and around the world.

If elected, I will be a voice for truth. No more "Clear Skies" initiative that allows more greenhouse gases in our air; no more "Healthy Forests" plan that lets timber companies build roads and cut prime trees in our national forests. No more tax "reform" bills that result in a greater gap between rich and poor, and especially no more wars based on false premises.

It's time to REDEFINE NATIONAL SECURITY to include all the factors that make the United States of America strong and safe, in the present and future.

I've been blessed with a successful career in the music business, but I'm so concerned about the direction the Bush administration and this Congress are taking our Country that I am committing myself fully to this campaign. I am not beholden to any special interest group, and will do my best to represent all the citizens of the 19th District. Please consider what I have to say, and help me in any way you are able.

Good luck, John!

The Republican Party, NY Chapter, Is Disintegrating

Bruno to Pirro: Drop out of race

BY ERROL A. COCKFIELD JR
ALBANY BUREAU CHIEF

November 30, 2005


ALBANY - The state's second most powerful Republican sent a tremor through GOP ranks yesterday when he said Westchester County District Attorney Jeanine Pirro should abandon her challenge of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and instead run for attorney general.

Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno (R-Brunswick) said Pirro was more suited to be the state's top prosecutor because of her criminal justice background, and insiders agreed that the timing of his comments illustrated growing fault lines within the state GOP.

[....]

Pirro issued a statement yesterday, making it clear where her intentions stood. "Senator Bruno is a respected majority leader and I appreciate his confidence in my abilities," she said. "However, I am a candidate for U.S. Senate."

Others viewed Bruno's comments as a message to state Sen. Michael Balboni (R-East Williston) that he should not pursue a run for attorney general.

Now, couple that with this story...

L.I. GOP BOSS JOINS ANTI-WELD GOV DRIVE

By FREDRIC U. DICKER

November 29, 2005 -- ALBANY — Nassau County Republican Party Chairman Joseph Mondello has joined Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno in an effort to block the GOP from endorsing former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld for governor of New York next month, The Post has learned.
Mondello may even boycott the Dec. 12 meeting of all 62 county Republican chairs, a sit-down called by state GOP boss Stephen Minarik in hopes of lining up support for Weld.

Perhaps this is why

Weld faces school funding scandal
New York candidate headed now-bankrupt college

11/27/05


By Michael Gormley
Associated Press

ALBANY, N.Y. -- Republican gubernatorial candidate William Weld on Tuesday countered criticism that he is responsible for a failed Kentucky school that he ran and that is now at the center of a federal fraud investigation.

"Nobody feels worse about the school closing than I do," Weld said. "I felt a proprietary relationship with the students."

Weld also said he gave more than $500,000 of his money in equity and loans to the Decker College trade school this summer because he anticipated U.S. Education Department approvals and the release of millions of dollars in aid. The Education Department, however, in late August said it wouldn't release the federal financial aid.

"If I had ever known there was a problem, I wouldn't have put (in) a half-million dollars of my own money in June and July," Weld said. He said he is still working to get the 3,700 affected students transferred to other programs to complete their studies.

"I am not aware of any wrongdoing," he said.

Meaning, of course, he hands the state Democratic candidate (likely, Elliot Spitzer) a golden, Bush-bashing issue. This issue gives a candidate agita, because no matter how you slice it, there's a Republican at the heart of it. If Weld blames the DoE, then its because Bush doesn't like him, and how can he be expected to work with the Federal government, and if he accepts blame for it, how well can he manage the state deficit?

How She Paid For The Twins

First it was Duke Cunningham, who went down to the tune of $2.4 million, partly in bribes provided by coerced employees of MZM Inc.

Now, the spotlight turns to none other than Katherine Harris, proving once more that graft is an equal-opportunity corruptor. She, along with with at least two other House Republicans (including, of course, Cunningham), have been named as recipients of similar sizable donations from MZM employees.

What does MZM do? Well, no one's really sure. However, former employees point to three government contracts MZM has:

Counter Intelligence Field Activity, a highly secretive program created in 2002 by a Pentagon directive that focuses on gathering intelligence to avert attacks like the ones on Sept. 11, 2001.

The Army National Ground Intelligence Center in Charlottesville, Va., whose mission is to provide soldiers with battlefield intelligence.

The U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command at Ft. Belvoir, Va., just outside Washington, which also provides battlefield intelligence.

MZM has been seeking to increase its contracts with the Central Command, which oversees military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the Special Operations Command, both based at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla., according to former employees.

Why Harris, whose name is hardly synonymous with "intelligence"?

MZM is also planning to buy a facility in Harris' district, where it can be close to two of its other customers, the U.S. Central Command and the Special Operations Command, which are in a neighboring congressional district.

Thanks to Talking Points Memo for this tidbit.
Actor212

Quick Quiz

What is the fourth largest city in the US (as of Dec. 2003)?

If you said Houston, you'd be wrong.

The fourth largest city in the United States is the US prison system. It holds 2.1 million inmates at any given time, which also makes it the 36th largest state.

I say this, because our, errrrrm, President actually wants to increase the prison population as part of his new immigration scheme.

On enforcement, he pledged to harden the border with increased manpower and new technology including unmanned aerial surveillance. He proposed returning illegals to hometowns in Mexico's interior and adding capacity to detention facilities.

It could conceivably vault the US detention system to the third largest city (so long, Chicago).

By contrast, there are 40,000 people in Canadian prisons. Mind you, Canada has the *second* highest rate of incarceration in the developed world! In fact, America holds the dubious distinction of having roughly 25% of the world's prison population (but only 5% of the world's population).

Food for thought.

Sounds Like Someone Running For President To Me

Ex-Powell Aide Criticizes Bush on Iraq By ANNE GEARAN, AP Diplomatic Writer
2 hours, 26 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Former Secretary of State Colin Powell's chief of staff says President Bush was "too aloof, too distant from the details" of post-war planning, allowing underlings to exploit Bush's detachment and make bad decisions.

In an Associated Press interview Monday, former Powell chief of staff Lawrence Wilkerson also said that wrongheaded ideas for the handling of foreign detainees after Sept. 11 arose from a coterie of White House and Pentagon aides who argued that "the president of the United States is all-powerful," and that the Geneva Conventions were irrelevant.

Wilkerson blamed Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and like-minded aides. Wilkerson said that Cheney must have sincerely believed that Iraq could be a spawning ground for new terror assaults, because "otherwise I have to declare him a moron, an idiot or a nefarious bastard."

Wilkerson suggested his former boss may agree with him that Bush was too hands-off about Iraq.

"What he seems to be saying to me now is the president failed to discipline the process the way he should have and that the president is ultimately responsible for this whole mess," Wilkerson said.

He said Powell now generally believes it was a good idea to remove Saddam Hussein from power, but may not agree with either the timing or execution of the war. Wilkerson said Powell may have had doubts about the extent of the threat posed by Saddam Hussein but was convinced by then-CIA Director George Tenet and others that the intelligence girding the push toward war was sound.

Apparently, Colin has learned how to master the art of the subordinate attack.

The Best News Democrats Could Have Hoped For

Bush Trying to Help Republican Candidates

By LIZ SIDOTI

PHOENIX (AP) - Despite his low standing in the polls, President Bush is working to help Republican House and Senate candidates build their campaign war chests while promoting his own troubled agenda.

The president is expected to assume the campaign role more often in the coming months as the 2006 congressional election year begins.

``I, fortunately, have had my fill of campaigns, but there's nothing like walking into a room full of enthusiastic supporters to give you that spirit, to kind of put that wind behind your back,'' the second-term president told about 1,300 people at a dinner fundraiser for GOP Sen. Jon Kyl in Phoenix on Monday.

The president's appearance was expected to bring in at least $1.4 million for the Republican incumbent.

On Tuesday, Bush was slated to appear at a fundraising luncheon for Republican Rep. Marilyn Musgrave in Denver at the end of a two-day swing to pitch his immigration reform proposal.

OK, so given that Bush's approval ratings are lower than most women's waist-sizes, you have to ask yourself what help he can be.

If the Kyl event is any indication, Bush will be appearing only in safe Republican states where the incumbent stands a strong chance of winning. After all, even the Christofascists of the Washington Times say that Bush cost them a fairly even race for Governor of Virginia, a state Bush carried handily just a year earlier, and one that, while having elected Democratic governors with some consistency, is not a blue local state by any means. Democratic Lt. Gov. Kaine was leading in the polls running up to the election (in some, by as many as 15 points), however there was a sizable chunk of the electorate that was on the fence, as 12 percent of Virginia voters made their minds up just before or on Election Day.

Things got so bad for Bush that Kaine actually culled 22% of the Republican vote, this in a state that consistently gave Bush a 51% approval rating until this month, one of a handful of states to rate the President above the 50% mark.

So if he could kill a ticket in a state like that, where the hell is he going to fundraise?

He is still popular with the, errrrr, "base" (you remember the quote from "Farenheit 9-11"...'What an impressive crowd: the haves, and the have-mores. Some people call you the elite, I call you my base.'), as he has all but guaranteed the freezing of wealth among the richest one percent for the next several generations.

The money folks.

I'd never given much thought to what happens when you remove from the economic equation the transfer of money down the economic scale. I'm not talking about trickle-down economic theory. That's been shown to be a failure.

No, what I'm talking about is the wholesale transfer of wealth, not just through taxes, but thru family peccadilloes that cause heirs to splurge their wealth without creating replacement wealth.

I may have to give that a bit of thought.

Anyway, good news for Dems. If I'm a Pubbie, I'd be cringing.

A Fan Letter to Booze

Dear Alcohol,
First & foremost, let me tell you that I'm a huge fan of yours. As my friend, you always seem to be there when needed. However, lately I've been wondering about your intentions. While I want to believe that you have my best interests at heart, I feel that your influence has led to some unwise choices:

1. Phone calls: While I agree with you that communication is important, I question the suggestion that any conversation of substance or necessity takes place after 2 a.m. Why would you make me call all those ex's when I know for a fact they do not want to hear from me during the day, let alone all hours of the night.

2. Eating: Now, you know I love a good meal, but why do you suggest that I eat a taco with chili sauce, along with a big Italian meatball and some stale chips (washed down with WINE & topped off with a Kit Kat after a few cheese curls & chili cheese fries)? I'm an eclectic eater, but I think you went too far this time.

3. Clumsiness: Unless you're subtly trying to tell me that I need to do more yoga to improve my balance, I see NO need to hammer the issue home by causing me to fall down. It's completely unnecessary, and the black & blue marks that appear on my body mysteriously the next day are beyond me.

Similarly, it should never take me more than 45 seconds to get the front door key into the lock.

Furthermore, the hangovers have GOT to stop. This is getting ridiculous. I know a little penance for our previous evening's debauchery may be in order, but the 3pm hangover immobility is completely unacceptable.

My entire day is shot. I ask that, if the proper precautions are taken (water, vitamin B, bread products, aspirin) prior to going to sleep/passing out face down on the kitchen floor with a bag of popcorn, the hangover should be minimal & in no way interfere with my daily activities.

Alcohol, I have enjoyed our friendship for some years now & would like to ensure that we remain on good terms.

You've been the invoker of great stories, the provocation for much laughter, and the needed companion when I just don't know what to do with the extra money in my pockets.

In order to continue this friendship, I ask that you carefully review my grievances above & address them immediately. I will look for an answer no later than Thursday 3pm (pre-happy hour) on your possible solutions & hopefully we can continue this fruitful partnership.

Thank you,
Your biggest fan

P.S. THINGS THAT ARE DIFFICULT TO SAY WHEN DRUNK:
1. Innovative
2. Preliminary
3. Proliferation
4. Cinnamon

THINGS THAT ARE VERY DIFFICULT
TO SAY WHEN DRUNK :
1. Specificity
2. British Constitution
3. Passive-aggressive disorder

THINGS THAT ARE DOWNRIGHT IMPOSSIBLE TO SAY WHEN DRUNK:
1. Thanks, but I don't want to have sex.
2 Nope, no more beer for me.
3. Sorry, but you're not really my type.
4. Good evening, officer. Isn't it lovely out tonight?
5. Oh, I couldn't. No one wants to hear me sing.
6. Oh, I couldn't. No one wants to see me dance.
7. Oh, what's this? I could of sworn you were a woman last night?
8. Shots, only one please.

Are You An Irritable Male?

Take the quiz.

I scored a 47.

In our study of nearly 10,000 males we found that a score of 0-25 indicated none or few signs of IMS. A score 26-49 suggests some indications of IMS. You may want to take the quiz again to see if things improve or get worse. A score of 50-75 indicates that IMS is likely and we suggest you seek help. A score of 76 and above indicates that IMS is definitely present and it is advisable that you seek help right away.

Your Primary Category Types are:

Type 6: Exhausted
Men who fall into this category are tired a good deal of the time. We often feel stressed at home and at work. Life can seem overwhelming at times and we think of getting away from it all. Our energy level is low and it seems we are often running on empty. We may have difficulty sleeping. We often feel we haven’t lived up to our potential.

Type 9: Bored
Men who fall into this category act bored, but often feel frustrated. We feel quite cynical about life and often think that things are going down the tubes. Although we are dissatisfied with the way things are we don’t have much hope that things will improve. We can be quite cutting in our remarks and often don’t realize the pain we cause.

Your Secondary Category Type is:

Type 4: Unappreciated
Men who fall into this category often feel unappreciated and unloved. Whether we are with a partner or on our own we have a deep feeling of sadness and loneliness. We try and be nice and accommodating but it seems that we give more than we receive. We long to have an intimate partnership, but our hidden anger often pushes people away.

Ain't that the truth! Well, except for the "hidden" bit...
Oh, while you're at it, taking tests and all....

You are Spock
Very loyal and a good friend. You will sacrifice
yourself for others and give very good advice.
You are very serious person, but also can have
fun if you want.


Which Alien are you?
brought to you by QuizillaHat tip to Miss Cellania

Oh BRUDDER!

Hat tip To Gort42:

"The Bush administration has finally agreed to let the military build a forward base on the moon, which will put them in a better position to keep track of the goings and comings of the visitors from space, and to shoot at them, if they so decide."

Irony, Thou Art Like Water

Dam at a Catskill Reservoir Needs Emergency Repair, City Says

By ANTHONY DePALMA
Published: November 28, 2005
FULTONHAM, N.Y., Nov. 23 - A massive 78-year-old dam in the Catskill Mountains that is owned by New York City does not meet state safety standards and will have to undergo emergency repairs before next spring's snow melt.

City officials said there was a remote possibility that the Gilboa Dam would fail if there was a record storm and snow melt, sending the 20 billion gallons of water in the Schoharie Reservoir roaring through the valley below, a historic area of covered bridges and small farms that is home to about 5,000 people.

In an attempt to reduce the danger as quickly as possible, the city has been trying to lower the reservoir level in recent weeks by sending as much as 540 million gallons of water a day through a 17-mile tunnel. The water flows into a more southerly reservoir, the Ashokan, where it must be treated with aluminum sulfates to remove sediments before it is released to New York City.

But the Schoharie Reservoir refills with rain as fast as the water drains out. The city is now considering hanging 10 large drainage hoses, 24 inches in diameter, over the top of the dam to siphon out more water.

OK, so why is this ironic?

Well, about a decade ago, the counties surrounding the NYC reservoir system were mad as hornets over the fact that the city wished to have eminent domain restrictions relaxed and to have tougher environmental rules enforced on the farms and communities surrounding the water supply. Upstate New Yorkers even called in Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. in an effort to force the city to repudiate any claims as to run-off (asphalt roads, as well as agricultural chemicals), and to back away from purchasing (at fair value) more land surrounding the reservoirs.

The other irony?

The Catskill region is in the grips of a drought! The obvious solution, run a hose to the surrounding towns, may not be feasible, but you have to smirk a little at the irony.

Bad Month For The Chinese

Explosion in China Coal Mine Kills 68

By JOE McDONALD, Associated Press Writer
43 minutes ago

QITAIHE, China - Coal dust caught fire in a mine in northeast China, sparking an explosion that killed at least 68 people and left 79 missing, the government said Monday, as the country's leadership called for tighter work safety measures.

Some 221 miners were underground when the blast occurred late Sunday at the Dongfeng Coal mine in Qitaihe, a city in Heilongjiang province, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

Seventy-four miners had been rescued by Monday, it said.

Outside the mine, distraught family members sought answers. Among them were four women, apparently relatives of missing miners, who stood at the mine's gates shouting at security guards to let them in. When they weren't allowed in, they became further agitated and screamed insults at the guards.

A stream of emergency vehicles with flashing lights traveled back and forth on the narrow road leading to the mine late Monday.

Coal mining is a key industry in depressed northeastern China, and huge of piles of waste rock from mining liter the landscape in Qitaihe.

Keep in mind that this is essentially the same area as the two chemical spills earlier this month.

First, We Had Gay Dogs.....

Hat tip to The Moderate Voice for this doozy:

As reported in The Oxford (UK, and yes, that Oxford...) Student last term, (Sam) Brown had just left the Cellar Bar when he allegedly called out to the policemen “Mate, you know your horse is gay, I hope you don’t have a problem with that.” Warned by one officer not to repeat his comment, Brown reassured him that he was not insulting both horses, and said: “No, don’t worry. Your horse is fine, it’s his horse, his horse is gay.” He then proceeded to follow the policemen down the street, repeating his comments.

“Sam was adamant his equine gaydar was accurate,” eyewitness Daniel Cooper told The Oxford Student at the time. However, the officers considered the comments to be a breach of the Public Order Act, and took him into custody, calling on two squad cars and six policemen to make the arrest.

I'm not sure which is funnnier: the fact the cops just couldn't ride away, or the fact that it took six more cops to arrest the wanker. P.S. He refused to pay an £80 fine (about $150), and is testing the case in the docket.

Good on ya, mate!

hOw biG A NERd R u?

And I dumbed my answers down...

Hat tip to Agitprop.

OK, Let's Do This Very Quietly On A Holiday Weekend...

And let's let a reeeeeeally junior official announce it, so it misses the raadar. Note that this isn't a real troop withdrawal, per se, just a reduction in the additional troops that were called up ahead of the election season, being scaled back.

This way, the administration gets to play multiple cards: 1) "We're reducing troops!", 2) "But we're committed to staying", 3) "We had this planned all along", and 4) "We're sensitive to the needs of our troops and the concerns of the American people":

US mulls troop cuts in Iraq

by Will Dunham
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon plans to shrink the U.S. troop presence in Iraq, currently 155,000, to about 138,000 after the December 15 Iraqi elections and is considering dropping the number to about 100,000 next summer if conditions allow, defense officials said on Wednesday.

But officials said a variety of planning scenarios, including the possibility of no cut in troop levels, are being reviewed based on political and security conditions in Iraq and progress in developing U.S.-trained Iraqi security forces.

The officials stressed no decisions had been made. This comes amid intensifying debate in the U.S. Congress over whether U.S. troops should be withdrawn after 2-1/2 years of war in Iraq.

"The United States military looks at the full range of things that could occur in Iraq and makes plans accordingly, and makes plans for conditions that would lead to a smaller coalition force as well as conditions that would lead to a larger coalition force," said Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman.

Whitman said the plan was to drop back to 138,000 troops, considered the recent baseline level for the U.S. force, following the December 15 elections in which Iraqis will select a new permanent government.

The Pentagon increased U.S. troop levels in Iraq ahead of the October 15 referendum in which Iraqis approved a constitution, and the U.S. force peaked in October at about 161,000, the highest level of the war. After temporarily dropping by several thousand troops, the size of the U.S. force again is rising to help provide security for the December 15 elections.