Sun, 26 Mar 2006 12:04:30 GMT

SEPARATED BY A COMMON, ETC. The great thing about …

SEPARATED BY A COMMON, ETC.
The great thing about British newspapers is that I always have to look up words to figure out what the hell they’re talking about.
Bomb plot suspect sold poisoned burgers, says supergrass
:

AN ISLAMIST terrorist sold poisoned burgers from a street-corner van and planned to contaminate beer at a football stadium, the Old Bailey was told yesterday.

The alleged extremist, one of seven on trial for plotting to blow up British targets, was also said to have suggested poisoning takeaway food and sabotaging BT.

The claim was made by an American supergrass said to have links to al-Qaeda, testifying against his alleged former accomplices.

I’m fairly familiar with a lot of British idiom, but hardly all of it, and so I was all
WTF?
Naturally,
here
is an explanation, and naturally cockney rhyming slang is involved.

American newspapers tick me off because they write as if written for idiots, with explanations in almost every article of the most common terms (“Congress, the elected legislature of the United States government,” is a phrase that wouldn’t surprise me in the least to see in a story).

British papers, on the other hand, are always full of last week’s slang, and endless terms unique and specific to Britain, and they’re
never
explained, because everyone knows what they mean (I remember a decade ago having to look up what the constantly referred-to “MORI” was, which was in every other news story).

Somewhere between these two methods is a happy method, but you probably have to drown in mid-Atlantic to find it.

Read The Rest Scale: 2 out of 5. It’s all
pants
, I tell you, and I
cock a snook
at it.

(To point out the obvious,
this
has a lot of nice words.)

- Gary Farber [Amygdala]

Interesting observation regarding the two approaches. One expects its readers to be current on the latest neologisms, requiring a reactive approach from readers that are not in the know (i.e. look up the stupid word) whereas the US dumbs down the language so that a thrid grader can read it, remving most of the uniqueness of the writing as it removes nuance.

Sun, 26 Mar 2006 11:45:38 GMT

That settles that

In a tape obtained by SCOTUSblog,
Justice Scalia Announces Opposition to Trials in Civil Courts for Alien Military Detainees
:

in answer to one question from the audience�, Justice Scalia expresses incredulity at the notion that detainees captured “on the battlefield” should receive a trial in civil courts. It is, he says, a “crazy idea.” To a follow-up question about the Geneva Conventions and other human rights treaties, he responds with evident disdain: “What do they mean? They mean almost anything.” The questioner then refers again to a hypothetical Guantanamo detainee, at which point Justice Scalia interjects: “If he was captured by my army on a battlefield, that is where he belongs. I had a son on that battlefield and they were shooting at my son. And I am not about to give this man who was captured in a war a full jury trial. I mean it’s crazy.”

This coming Tuesday, the Court will hear arguments in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, a case in which the questions include, among other things, whether a detainee held at Guantanamo can be tried for an alleged violation of war in the Pentagon’s military tribunal instead of in a civilian court or by court-martial, and whether and to what extent the Geneva Conventions protect Guantanamo detainees.

I know Scalia doesn’t like looking to other nations for guidance. I understand his argument and disagree.

Does he really want to go on record against Article 6: “all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby.”

Scalia has recused himself in other situations when he’s obviously prejudged the case, and Chief Justice Roberts heard the Hamdan case as an appellate court judge, so he recused himself already.

- Josh Rosenau [Thoughts from Kansas]

The problem with Scalia’s rhetoric is that a large number of the prisoners at Gitmo and other prisons were not captured on the battlefield. They were turned over to the US by warlords for bounty money that we paid. Or swept up in generalized operations that targeted civilians too. With little more than being in the wrong place at the wrong time. This Administration has known that many were innocent. One has even been killed by torture that almost everyone agrees was innocent. Scalia can be such a tool.

Sun, 26 Mar 2006 11:31:50 GMT

They Call the Wind M’Ry-ah. A Congresswoman called for hurricanes to be given African-American names. [New Urban Legends]

I love to hear about racists sending tings through email that get their butts fired. Nothing like forgetting that the internet is not a private conversation and that, while we often do, it never forgets.

Sun, 26 Mar 2006 11:18:22 GMT

Bush slashes into CDC bone and muscle.

We reported on this before (here and here), but now we now have more details in an analysis by the Campaign for Public Health (CPH), a CDC advocacy group that includes as senior advisors four former CDC Directors (William Foege, William Roper, David Satcher and Jeffrey Koplan) and a former Secretary of HHS (Louis Sullivan). Many were Republican appointees.Under President George (“Keep Us Safe”) Bush’s budget request, CDC is going to take a big hit. CPH makes clear the cuts are deep and go to core CDC functions. The extent of the damage is concealed on paper where CDC appears flatlined, but there is a huge chunk in the budget earmarked specifically for bioterrorism and bird flu and a huge chunk of that goes to develop vaccines and purchase antivirals.

“Once these items are excluded, it becomes clear the administration’s proposal drastically cuts the CDC,” the organization said.

[CDC Director Dr. Julie] Gerberding acknowledged the budget cut during an appearance at a forum on government investment in research and development.

“That’s correct,” she said. “Obviously, it creates a challenge. We do what every family does when their budget is short. They have to really priortize and make sure that the investments they’re making are accomplishing the most they can.”

She added that the CDC was “working hard to be more effective with less, but I’m not going to pretend that it’s not a challenge.” (Atlanta Journal Constitution)

According to CPH (and its advisors would know), the current fiscal year is the first time in 25 years CDC’s operational budget has been slashed. It was done by our “Promise them anything but give them Jack Abramoff” Republican congress.

The further cut anticipated by Bush’s proposed federal budget for next year would mean “core programs at the CDC will be cut by more than 8 percent in just two years,” the organization sai

Core programs at CDC include research on infectious and environmental diseases, health promotion, and studies on public health and occupational safety and health concerns.

At Tuesday’s forum, Gerberding said the country “simply cannot sustain this lack of investment in effective [disease] prevention sciences.”

So you read about it here. You might also have read it in the Atlanta Journal Constitution. But think how many more people would read about it if the CDC Director, Dr. Gerberding, would stand up and say, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore.”

It might have miraculous effects, like restoring her reputation among her public health colleagues. Sure, Bush would fire her. So what? She would go out in a blaze of glory. And it’s not like she’s going to be living in a Kelvinator box on the street.

(h/t crofsblog)

By noemail@noemail.org (Revere). [Effect Measure]

It os for these short sighted plans that we will all be paying in the coming years. The CDC is a tremendous resoure but i guess it just did not put enough money into lobbyists and corrupt politicians. Much better to have a bridge to nowhere than a office to coordinate our fight against infectious disease. I guess rich Republicans don’t get sick.

Sun, 26 Mar 2006 11:11:36 GMT

Bush’s No Child Left Behind Forcing Schools To Cut Subjects Beyond Reading and Math….

Thousands of schools across the nation are responding to the reading and math testing requirements laid out in No Child Left Behind, President Bush’s signature education law, by reducing class time spent on other subjects and, for some low-proficiency students, eliminating it.

Schools from Vermont to California are increasing — in some cases tripling — the class time that low-proficiency students spend on reading and math, mainly because the federal law, signed in 2002, requires annual exams only in those subjects and punishes schools that fall short of rising benchmarks.

[The Huffington Post | Full News Feed]

So, only 2 ‘R’s are being taught. The idea of testing in such a top-down approach is rife for unintended consequences. Since the idea of NCLB is to destroy the public school system so the people who send their kids to private school can get public money to pay for it, this news seems to fit right in Make public school education worthless and people will want to move. And another brick in the wall protecting the fearful from the masses, all to the detriment of what made America a great country.

Sun, 26 Mar 2006 11:06:40 GMT

Bay Area Earthquake Fault “Locked And Loaded And Ready To Fire At Any Time”….

New cracks appear in Elke DeMuynck’s ceiling every few weeks, zigzagging across her living room, creeping toward the fireplace, veering down the wall. Month after month, year after year, she patches, paints and waits.

“It definitely lets you know your house is constantly shifting,” DeMuynck said. So do the gate outside that swings uselessly 2 1/2 inches from its latch, the strange bulges in the street and the geology students who make pilgrimages to her cul-de-sac.

[The Huffington Post | Full News Feed]

It was alomst 100 years ago, April 18, 1906, when San Francisco was leveled by an earthquake. This one would take out the eastside of the Bay, through Berkeley. It could destroy 155,000 houses. Katrina destroyed about 220,000 in Louisiana. I wonder if we will hear about why should we rebuild houses on top of a fault-line, as we hear about rebuilding New Orleans?

Sun, 26 Mar 2006 10:45:01 GMT

500,000..

The number of immigration rights advocates who marched in downtown Los Angeles yesterday in favor of comprehensive, practical reform. “Wearing white shirts to symbolize peace, marchers chanted ‘Mexico!’ ‘USA!’ and ‘Si se puede,’ an old Mexican-American civil rights shout that means ‘Yes, we can.’”

[Think Progress]

500,000 is the police estimate, too. Yet, if you go to Google right now, or the NYT or the Washington Post, there is no mention of it. Immigration reform has the possibility of catalyzing a lot of acton. Because now, 10-12 million people will be directly affected, and ANYONE who helps those 10 million will be affected. The Catholic Church is goingto fight. Will the Republicans have enough political savvy to change course?

Sat, 25 Mar 2006 21:24:46 GMT

You win.

If I were one of the cops facing this guy, I’d be seriously tempted to put my gun aside and say, “You win. Go ahead and leave.”

At least no one other than the perpetrator was hurt.

Read the entire post | Read the comments on this post [Respectful Insolence]

A story that is sure to make most men squirm. I wonder when we will see this on CSI?

Mon, 20 Mar 2006 16:09:06 GMT

Print your tax forms to PDF.

Never has Mac OS X’s “print to PDF” capability come in so handy as when I had to email tax documents to my accountant.

Lots of banks offer tax forms online these days, and instead of printing them out on paper and snail mailing or faxing them to your accountant, print ‘em to PDF for emailing or archiving on your hard drive. Mac users, this functionality is built right in for you: from the Print dialog, choose “Save as PDF” from the PDF menu. Windows peeps, free software CutePDF will add this capability to your PC. Perfect for income tax return slackers (like me) who need to get their accountant their forms pronto.
Comment on this post

Related: Phishing alert: IRS tax refunds
Related: Don’t use your credit card to pay taxes
Related: Recover your tax documents from old software

[Lifehacker]

The print to PDF feature of OS X is one of its unheralded advantages. It is so easy and something that I have to do so often.

Mon, 20 Mar 2006 16:06:13 GMT

A creationist pest.

A certain creationist has been spamming me lately with these same questions over and over. I’ll answer them here, and I’ll send the link to JASE3217 and see if we can’t get him over here to “handle the truth.”

From: JASE3217
To: pzmyers@pharyngula.org
Sent: Fri, 10 Mar 2006 17:23:10 -0500
Subject: About evolution?

1. Is a theory a fact or a belief?

2. Where did the gases (big bang theory) come from?

3. After the water was formed, what was the first creature to come out of it?

4. Was it amphibious? Or did it run in and out of the water until it developed lungs?

5. If, yes why would it develop lungs under water?

6. What are the true mathematical odds (ask someone in your physics department) of something evolving? Of course you won’t because you don’t like the physics department, because they always prove biologist wrong.

7. If any of these questions are answered with a no, then using science they can not be facts at all!

This would make the cartoon completely hypocritical. You see if you just simply BELIEVE in evolution, then you have a religion! The religion maybe Darwinism, but if you answer I don’t know to any of the questions above then you have a faith based concept of how we as a planet came about. Not a fact based!

I would challenge you to answer these questions, and give me a reply! I doubt you will, because most of you people are only interested in your truth and not actual truth. Try reading LEE STROBEL, “A Case for Christ.”

I see you won’t answer my questions, but I figured you wouldn’t because most liberals can’t handle the truth.

Ho hum. I’ve put my answers below the fold.

Read the entire post | Read the comments on this post [Pharyngula]

These aren’t even very difficult questions. The inability of so many creationists to even bring forward coherent arguments is astounding. And they all feel that by simply disproving evolution or the Modern Synthesis or even just Darwin, that this means creationism is true. That does not follow.

Mon, 20 Mar 2006 16:03:52 GMT

And the Winners of the “MURROW for a MINUTE” Contest Are….

And the Winners of the “MURROW for a MINUTE” Contest Are…

Truly amazing effort on everyone’s part. It was a great pleasure for me to put together this contest on behalf of John, and I thank everyone in the C&L community for being so gracious and welcoming. Of course, a special thank you goes to the amazing John Amato for the invite and I look forward to next time.
Here are the three winners, which were compiled through the comment section here, as well as emails I received through my blog. Kryptic came in a strong first; Steve Davis second; with Ian in third place. Congratulations! (Nice efforts by Scott Knick, Kitty, Jeff, Mike Anderson and Emmett, but just not enough.)
Once again, the C&L “Murrow for a Minute” winners, only this time I’m going to add Murrow’s coda, which they’ve earned the right to share, at least in this community.

When the government and journalists no longer speak for the American citizen, the American Citizen must learn to speak for himself. Good night, and good luck. – Kryptic
Too often, this administration has been unable to distinguish friend from foe, or to separate substantive reasons from insubstantial rhetoric. To the Republican chairman, who believes that the senator from Wisconsin has ’sided with the terrorists,’ we offer the following advice: when you find yourself on sentry–Republican and Democrat alike–with the lines drawn close to your enemies, and when the night’s smothering darkness is broken only by the flashes of distant battle, there is a password to let you know friend from foe, and that word is ‘liberty.’ Good night, and good luck. – Steve Davis
We must not forget that everything we take for granted was once an act of great courage. That only by risking one’s comfort, one’s job, or one’s life, can we ensure that future generations will not have to do so. Good night, and good luck. � Ian

guest posted by Taylor Marsh

“Good night, and good luck.”

[Crooks and Liars]

Loved all of these. Wish we had some reporters who would actually talk and act this way. Most are just too comfortable with their high salaries to actually ever rock the boat. Superstar journalists are the death of journalism. Someone making millions a year is really not so interested in the little man. And the guys who might do something work in outlets that really do not have the resources to accomplish much. I guess TV really did destroy the Golden Age of Reporting.

Mon, 20 Mar 2006 15:54:17 GMT

ABC’s Tapper: Iraqi sitcom coordinator assassinated while I was there.

ABC’s Tapper: Iraqi sitcom coordinator assassinated while I was there

On “Reliable Sources” Sunday morning, the discussion revolved around” if the media’s coverage was fair,” and Jake Tapper of ABC recounted a horrifying story that illustrates the violence that permeates Iraq.
Video-WMP Video-QT
(transcript provided by CNN)

TAPPER: It’s a very complicated question, obviously. What journalists, when, who, what are you talking about specifically? I think that there is a lot of violence still in Iraq, and I think that if you listen to commanders on the ground and if you go to Iraq, you’ll see that that security situation is an incredibly important one. And as much as the Pentagon may not want to talk about it or may want to talk about the positive, the parliament and the elections and the things that are being achieved, which are tangible achievements, the violence makes it very difficult to get past, you know, the daily boom. Let me just — one quick story.
We wanted to do a story about the freedom of the press in Iraq, and we went to the set of a new Iraqi sitcom that they’re filming, because there’s been -there’s all this entertainment now, and it’s one of the things that the ambassador there has trumpeted.
KURTZ: So what happened?
TAPPER: We got there, and the guy who had set it up with us- we shot-we shot for a little while, and the guy who had helped us arrange it was assassinated the very morning while we were there on the set. And so our cameras were rolling while the director and the producer and the cast and crew found out that the guy that had green-lit the show and the guy that had set up our being there was killed. So no matter how hard we try to cover the positive, the violence has a way of rearing its head.
KURTZ: Talk about changing your storyline.

[Crooks and Liars]

Even when trying to cover something good, something bad intervenes. This is like something out of the movie Network.

Mon, 20 Mar 2006 15:51:34 GMT

Iraqi Police Accuse US Soldiers Of Executing 11 Civilians In Raid Last Wednesday….

Iraqi police have accused American troops of executing 11 people, including a 75-year-old woman and a 6-month-old infant, in the aftermath of a raid last Wednesday on a house about 60 miles north of Baghdad.

The villagers were killed after American troops herded them into a single room of the house, according to a police document obtained by Knight Ridder Newspapers. The soldiers also burned three vehicles, killed the villagers’ animals and blew up the house, the document said.

[The Huffington Post | Full News Feed]

We will have to see how this plays out but it does not help us with the Iraqi population if our troops are involved in these things. No new schools can overcome this sort of news

Mon, 20 Mar 2006 15:49:06 GMT

Dubai Company May Take Over Some US Weapons Plants….

Dubai, which agreed this month to sell its interest in U.S. ports, said its $1.2 billion takeover of a U.K. company with U.S. plants that make military equipment is delayed while the authorities investigate security concerns.

Dubai International Capital LLC, which is owned by the government of the Persian Gulf emirate, and Doncasters Group Ltd. agreed to delay the transaction by as many as two months from March 31 while government agencies review the purchase, Sameer Al Ansari, Dubai International’s chief executive, said in an interview today.

[The Huffington Post | Full News Feed]

So, building equipment for our military raises security concerns but running our ports does not. This sure makes me feel safer.

A Promise

Okay, I’ve been a bad boy and failed to use spell check often enough. Looking through my old posts, I see that it has gotten incredibly bad. So much so that I just do not feel like going back and correcting them. So I promise to use spell check in the future and not get caught up in the moment with my words that I end up looking like an illiterate idiot.