Say Hey!

Fifty years ago today, Willie Mays, playing in the first game of the 1954 World Series, made the greatest catch in the history of baseball. He followed that up with one of the greatest throws in the history of baseball. George Vecsey at The New York Times tells about that great play, and how it has affected the lives of some people involved.

Happy Birthday, Hilary

Hilary Duff turns 17 today, and in her honor, another edition of the free online magazine HilaryStuff is out! In it, you can read what Hilary should say should she ever win an Oscar (but don’t hold your breath). Hilary should thank Disney, according to the mag, which indeed would be the main reason anyone has ever heard of Hilary Duff in the first place. Although we doubt Hilary would do so, we think this is excellent advice!

You can also read how Hilary’s move this summer, A Cinderella Story, trumped Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen’s movie New York Minute (as if it could be otherwise). Also, there’s some cattiness directed at Hilary-fued-opponent Lindsay Lohan, who despite having a singing and acting career, does not have line of clothing in her name, as Hilary does.

Let me say that Hilary’s wardrobe choices seem to have deteriorated as she gets older. There are some pictures of Hilary on pages 16–21 of HilaryStuff that make me wonder if she even looked in the mirror before posing fot the pictures. For someone promoting her own line of clothing, I am quite surprised at what Hilary wears in some of these pictures.

Scientists and Engineers For Change

This well written and easily navigated web site puts forth a case for change in the way science is currently managed by the Federal government. Positions taken by John Kerry and George W. Bush are explained and contrasted.

Some of their main points are:

• Innovation lies at the heart of American economic growth and the creation of rewarding jobs.
• We’re losing momentum in health research.
• Affordable strategies for establishing energy independence and strengthening the environment depend on technology.
• It’s essential to improve the education of scientists and engineers. US schools face unprecedented competition from first-rate universities worldwide; minorities and women continue to be underrepresented in US science and engineering. Immigration policies are choking US access to world research.
• National Defense and Homeland Security depend on basic and applied research.
• Unbiased science and technology advice is essential for effective Presidential leadership. Kerry has promised to appoint a Science Advisor immediately upon taking office.

A list of Nobel Laureates and other top scientists in this new organization is here. (Link via The Intersection)

What Up, Hilary Duff?

Everyone’s favorite tween, Hilary Duff, will be endorsing a new line of Barbie dolls called Fashion Fever, girls apparel, accessories and Barbie fragrance.

According to a press release, Duff actually said: “When I was younger, I was so inspired by Barbie(R). She has been a role model for my friends and me — I love her style and her spirit!”

I don’t know about you, but I never thought someone could have a doll as a role model. (Link via Adrants)

One Thousand Song Weekend

Do the radio stations you listen to advertise “One Thousand Song Weekends”? The station I listen to makes such a claim; and I’ve heard it on other stations and in other cities. And it really bothers me that they make such a claim, because not only is it not reasonable, I think it is false advertising.

A weekend is composed of 48 hours, Saturday and Sunday. Let’s assume that a typical song is about 3.5 minutes (actually, I think it is more, but let’s give the radio station the benefit of the doubt for now), so let’s see, it take 3500 minutes to play 1000 songs, and 3500 minutes is 58 1/3 hours. Can you spot a problem here? But wait, let’s be liberal, let’s include Friday night from the time work ends up through midnight as part of the weekend. That’s seven more hours, now the weekend is 55 hours and it still takes 58 1/3 hours to play 1000 songs.

Let’s get even more liberal on our definition of weekend. Let’s add in the first seven hours of Monday morning. Now, I know, most people don’t consider this the weekend, but during this time most people aren’t working and they aren’t preparing to go to work. So now a weekend is 62 hours, and they are going to play 58 1/3 hours of music. That leaves about three and one-half minutes per hour for non-music — things like talking, commercials, promos, news, weather and non-music programming. It still doesn’t wash. I don’t believe it.

How can radio stations get away with this ridiculous claim? Why isn’t this false advertising? Obviously, Western civilization will collapse if this continues. And you heard it here first.

Whos Fault Is It?

President Bush says the current humungous Federal deficit is not his fault. The Congressional Budget Office says otherwise:

The Congressional Budget Office estimated this month that cyclical economic problems contributed only $47 billion of this year’s anticipated deficit of $422 billion. Next year, cyclical economic problems are expected to have almost no impact on the budget, but the deficit is expected to be $348 billion.

Going forward, virtually the entire federal deficit will be a result of structural causes — tax and spending policies set down by the president and Congress.

(Link via No More Mister Nice Blog)

Key Bush assertions about Iraq in dispute

Reuters:

Many of President George W. Bush’s assertions about progress in Iraq — from police raining and reconstruction to preparations for January elections — are in dispute, according to internal Pentagon documents, lawmakers and key congressional aides on Sunday. (Link via Informed Comment)

Update: Secretary of State Colin Powell contradicts President Bush by saying that the situation in Iraq is “getting worse”. (Link via The American Street)

Two Faces of Bush

Flip, or flop?



Details:
see Juan Cole
see Nicholas Kristof
see Kevin Drum
see Atrios
see Spencer Ackerman

Flip Flop, Or Not?

Mark Sandalow, at The San Francisco Chronicle, examined John Kerry’s statements on the subject of the Iraq War, in 200 of Kerry’s most recent speeches. Such journalistic techniques seem rare today, but the end result is that Kerry has been extremely consistent throughout that time, advocating international cooperation and war as a last resort. While the Bush administration wants people to believe Kerry is flip flopping, the evidence suggests just the opposite. (Link via Talking Point Memo)

Pesky Facts

Just in case you need more outrage, Pesky Facts keeps track of the latest moves by the Bush Administration that take the country down the wrong path. Updated daily! (Link via Lean Left)

The Poor Get Poorer, Thanks To The Republican Party

The Washington Post reports today:

Congressional negotiators beat back efforts yesterday to expand and preserve tax refunds for poor families, even as they added $13 billion in corporate tax breaks to a package of middle-class tax cuts that could come to a vote in the Senate today.

Kevin Drum at Political Animal comments:

How do you screw the poor without looking like you're screwing the poor? Easy: insist that income requirements for child tax credits increase with inflation even though the incomes of the poor have stagnated or even dropped in the past few years. Jack O’Toole has the dismal details.

Needless to say, fine distinctions like this didn’t get in the way of extending $13 billion in "last minute" corporate tax breaks.

Steve M. at No More Mister Nice Blog says: “Message: Caribbean distillers get a tax break. Poor American families get a TAX INCREASE.”

Update: Judd at Winning Argument makes a few more points along these lines. “The middle class could end up worse off. Middle class families receive an average benefit of just $169. This could be more than off-set by program cuts or future tax increases that will inevitably be required to pay down the added debt created by the bill.”

Electronic Voting Security Lapse

Kevin at Lean Left writes about a security problem with Diebold electronic voting machines, in which a malicious person could write a five line script which changes the vote totals, and then erase the script and the evidence of its existence. And, there is no audit trail on the part of the Diebold software to alert people to the fact that vote totals have been changed.

Are We Better Off Now?

Juan Cole at Informed Comment tells us that the US Military is spending about $1 Billion a week on the fighting in Iraq. Now, I don’t know about other people, but I think that money would have been better used here at home for about a zillion other things. And, furthermore, I think that the $200 Billion spent so far on Iraq would have been much better spent here in the United States as well.

This is what George W. Bush has wrought, by invading Iraq when in fact there were no weapons of mass distruction, even though the evidence provided by his own intelligence agencies was inconclusive prior to the war, and the agencies may well have been pressured into saying what Bush wanted to hear; and by deciding that Iraq and Al Qaeda were cooperating, when in fact there was almost no cooperation between the two.

Sadly, we are now stuck in a quagmire in Iraq. It costs us greatly to stay; it costs us greatly to leave. I don’t know what the solution is. But I know one thing, I intend to hold the man responsible for getting us into this mess. Bush has shown that his decisions are not based on solid facts and reality, and thus is unfit for a second term. I believe that John Kerry, not George W. Bush, will more realistically set foreign policy in the future.

Update: Kevin Drum posts a map drawn up by the State Department in November 2001 showing countries in which Al Qaeda was active. Interestingly, Iraq was not one of those countries.

Am I Safer Now?

The New York Times reports that the CIA Agency charged with searching for Osama bin Laden has been systematically neglected by the Bush Administration, despite repeated requests to hire more personnel. The result is far fewer personnel with expertise and responsibility to search for bin Laden than on 9/11.

Update: But, we are safe from Cat Stevens!

And, on a similar score, Attorney General John Ashcroft’s use of the Patriot Act to track down potential terrorists after 9/11 has netted 5,000 internments, and not a single conviction.

Fafblog! Interviews God and Satan

Fafnir interviews God and Satan:

FB: What can we do to make sure that American politics is Godly politics?
GOD: Vote for Godly Republicans, like Tom Coburn and Alan Keyes! You will know them by Mine mark: they will be alight with the Holy Spirit, and shall speak in strange tongues - equating the estate tax with slavery, and calling for the death penalty for doctors who perform abortions on rape victims!
SATAN: No, Fafnir, listen to me, and be seduced to the Dark Side by my vile policies of nuclear non-proliferation, equality of all citizens, and fiscal discipline! BLAAARRRRHHH!

No One Circles The Wagons Like The Buffalo Bills

Sadly, despite the Bills’ prowess at circling wagons, they have noticeably less prowess at playing football. Today, as last week, their performance was frustrating, tantalizing, and in the end, inefficient. They had several chances to either stay in the game, or change the course of the game in their favor, and again, they failed to make good on those chances. If I had to give grades, I would give the offense an F, the defense a D, the punter an A+ and the remaining special teams an F. How much more of this can I stand to watch?

Browse Happy

More details about why you shouldn’t use Internet Explorer any more are at BrowseHappy. Pick a browser that’s right for you!

700

From the Associated Press: “As Barry Bonds’ numbers rise, the words to describe them become less adequate. When the slugger hit his 700th homer, only daughter Aisha could sum up the history and majesty of the blast. ‘My dad is the best player,’ the 5-year-old said.”

Get Rid of IE Already

Mozilla has just announed a Version 1.0 Preview Release of its wonderful browser Firefox. Here’s what Walt Mossberg in The Wall Street Journal had to say:

I suggest dumping Microsoft's Internet Explorer Web browser, which has a history of security breaches. I recommend instead Mozilla Firefox, which is free at www.mozilla.org. It's not only more secure but also more modern and advanced, with tabbed browsing, which allows multiple pages to be open on one screen, and a better pop-up ad blocker than the belated one Microsoft recently added to IE.

Of course, maybe you like pop-ups, maybe you don’t mind the security lapses, and you don’t want a whole lot of other useful features. Then go ahead, stick with IE. It’s your computer and your life.

Britney’s New T-Shirt

Stereogum posts a picture of Britney Spears, in a charming new t-shirt. Yes, Britney, when someone looks up the word “class” in a dictionary, this picture should be next to the definition. (Link via Jennifer’s History And Stuff)

SK Bubba Goes On A Rant

South Knox Bubba:

What's goin' on? We've spent the last two weeks talking about Dan Rather's superscript font and 1970s typewriter technology. Before that we were talking about swift boats and Cambodia. In the middle of all that we were talking about gay marriage and drowning hamsters and Jenna/Not-Jenna's wardrobe malfunctions. Now we're talking about Theresa Heinz-Kerry and naked hurricane victims and some Kinko's in Texas. And I'm so disgusted I'm reduced to posting pictures of cows and bunny rabbits.
…
But I'll give them credit. They have figured out that Americans are the stupidest, most easily distracted people on Earth. Look! Over there! It's gay Cambodian terrorists faking memos for Dan Rather! Mission Accomplished!

God, we are such a nation of idiots. If we let these creeps get away with this we deserve whatever happens to us.

OK, then.

Bush’s National Guard Service

Kevin Drum at Political Animal:

There are plenty more reasons to be skeptical about Bush’s National Guard service, but leave those aside for the moment. What we know for sure is that Bush began having problems flying in 1972; refused his physical; was grounded; disappeared for five months; probably disappeared for an entire year; failed to sign up with a unit in Boston for his final year of service; and got an honorable discharge anyway.

Thoughts of a Buffalo Bills Watcher

First, a joke. What do the Buffalo Bills and the Reverend Billy Graham have in common? They can both make 65,000 people jump to their feet and yell “Jesus Christ”.

The annual exercise in frustration, the Buffalo Bills, resumed right where they left off last year. They played a truly frustrating game, they had chance after chance, both on offense and defense, to put the game away, and they just couldn’t do it. So, despite a new coach, despite many new players including last year’s first round draft choice Willis McGahee, despite the fact that Jacksonville needed to convert three fourth downs on the final drive to win, the Bills wound up losing on the last play of the game. And to make things even more frustrating, the play on which Jacksonville won required their receiver to just barely get his feet down inbounds, and then the Bills fans had to wait while the referees reviewed the play. When the final decision was announced, the silence at Rich Stadium was deafening.

It may be a long year for us Buffalo Bills watchers.

Web Cams

Train cam

Panda cam

Macquarie Island (Australia) cam

Niagara Falls cam

Texas Renaissance Festival cam

Prague (Czech Republic) cam

Mall cam

Ghost cam

Electoral Vote Predictor 2004

I have mentioned this before, but you might want to bookmark the Current Electoral Vote Predictor 2004. It keeps you up to date on the current state-by-state polls, and adds up the electoral college votes, and is updated regularly as new poll results arrive.

Chicken George

Atrios:

So, Bush is scared to face questions by regular folks because some of them may come from “partisan” people. What does this tell us?

First, it reaffirms what we know — that his audiences and their questions are pre-screened.

Second, it reaffirms that Chicken George is indeed a chicken, frightened of the people he's supposed to govern.

And, finally, it tells us that Chicken George is scared the people will ask him tougher questions than the press corps will.

Worst Photo Ever

I submit for your edification and amazement, my nomination for the worst photo ever taken.

Day in the Life of Joe Middle-Class Republican

Yep, liberals are evil. (Link via The Leiter Reports)

The World’s Remotest Island Has A Website

Log on to www.tristantimes.com to find out all about Tristan da Cunha, which is located 2800km from the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa.

Below is a picture of part of Tristan da Cunha, showing Inaccesible Island from the Potato Patches.

Excel for Blondes

(Link via J-Walk)

Galaxy M51 — The Whirlpool Galaxy

Another brilliant and beautiful image from APOD (Astronomy Picture of the Day).

Iraq, Iraq, Iraq

General Tommy Franks is quoted by former Senator Bob Graham as saying that the Bush administration deliberately took resources out of Afghanistan in preparation for a war in Iraq. This was in February, 2002, four months after invading Afghanistan.

This chart of US deaths in Iraq shows that the rate of fatalities has continued almost unabated since President Bush declared “Mission Accomplished”. (Link via Proletariat Network)

The Washington Post reports that there have been 1,100 injuries to US servicemen in August, the most of any month since the invasion began.

The New York Times reports that more and more areas of Iraq are no longer under the control of the United States military, and that the local sheiks cannot control these areas either.

Kevin Drun at Political Animal previews a Time article in which it is claimed that another term for President Bush could bring about four or five more wars. A senior Pentagon policy official is quoted.

But don’t despair, there’s good news too! A new sewage pipeline in Sadr City has won some goodwill for America. And don’t we need that right now.

Shields Up!

If your computer is always on and hooked up to the Internet, you need to worry about computer security. This site, Shields Up!, is a “must visit” if you are concerned about the security of your computer — and if you are not concerned, then you should be.

Shields Up, run by Internet security expert Steve Gibson, president of the Gibson Research Corporation, is a totally free method of checking to see how secure (or insecure) your computer is, and whether or not it is vulnerable to an internet attack. If your computer is found vulnerable, it explains in very simple language what it has found and what you can do about it.

So visit Shields Up! today!

A Double-Take

Normally, if someone has an unusual name, I don’t comment on it, since my own name is somewhat unusual. However, I couldn’t help doing a double-take upon seeing someone named Simson Garfinkel. What’s that you say, Mrs. Robinson?

CEO of America

Juan Cole writes about viewing George W. Bush as CEO of America:

Let us imagine you had a corporation with annual gross revenues of about $2 trillion. And let's say that in 2000, it had profits of $150 billion. So you bring in a new CEO, and within four years, the profit falls to zero and then the company goes into the red to the tune of over $400 billion per year. You're on the Board of Directors and the CEO's term is up for renewal. Do you vote to keep him in? That's what Bush did to the US government. He took it from surpluses to deep in the red. We are all paying interest on the unprecedented $400 billion per year in deficits (a deficit is just a loan), and our grandchildren will be paying the interest in all likelihood.

Of course, there’s more, including America’s pre-emptive hostile takeover of Mesopotamia Corp, and America’s ignoring the threat from Al Qaeda, Inc.

Bizarre Headline

The screen shot below is from this morning’s NFL.com. It says “Fantasy 2004: The Real Thing”. I guess some people take fantasy football very seriously! Silly me, I thought the men running around on the gridiron wearing helmets and shoulder pads was “the real thing”.

How Times Have Changed

Fifty four years ago, Brooklyn Dodgers first baseman Gil Hodges blasted four home runs in one game. Hodges, who was 26 and playing in his fifth major league season, said after his four home run game: “I hope it brings us a place to live.” His wife Joan added “We’ve tried everything to get a decent home to rent. We’re living here with my folks (in Brooklyn), and there just isn’t enough room. We’ve advertised, but didn’t have any luck. Maybe, now, something will happen.” The next day, the Dodgers’ switchboard lit up with offers of free rent for the Hodges family.

Freddie The Dog’s Blog

Freddie the dog blogs! One of his more interesting comments, including a link:

“Ruff ruff ruff ruff ruff ruff ruff ruff ruff. Ruff ruff ruff!” (link via The Presurfer)

Beam Me Up, Scotty

James Doohan, the actor who played Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott on Star Trek, made his final public appearance the other day, when he received a star on the Hollywood walk of fame. Scotty, as he was known, was a feisty officer who wouldn’t back down fromany fight, could fix anything in the nick of time, and had a passion for Saurian brandy. Doohan, who appeared in the original Star Trek as well as in several of the movies, is suffering from Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, diabetes and lung fibrosis.

Farewell, James Doohan!

Those Wacky Bush Twins

Michael Bérubé has one of the funniest posts ever on the Bush twins talk at the Republican National Convention on Tuesday. And he has a few funny remarks about Governor Arnold and Laura Bush’s speeches, too.

Economic Girlie Men

(This post is shamelessly stolen in its entirety from Natasha at Pacific Views. If that’s illegal or unethical, sue me.)

This post is for all the wimps out there that couldn’t stomach pay cuts, losing their jobs, or not being able to afford health coverage. Prepare for more bad economic news, and take it like a man (i.e., walk stiffly and pretend nothing happened):

Brad DeLong alerts us that both Ford and GM will cut production. Clearly a cynical ploy to reduce Bush’s poll numbers in swing states.

Wampum notes that consumer confidence is dropping. No doubt because people with less income are too girlie to take on more credit card debt to help the economy. Chickens.

House prices are up. Got to get in now to avoid getting crushed in the out-of-control inflation for things ordinary people buy.

US Airways to cut pilot wages. United plans to do them one better by laying people off and terminating pensions.

Profits weak at Walmart. What a bunch of tools not to be able to afford to shop at Walmart.

The Angry Bear notes that income and savings rates are in poor shape, shows you where to find an infuriating report on executive compensation, and explains that the extra income the Bush administration claims people have been getting has been entirely eaten up by health care costs.

Meanwhile, take a lesson from coca growers in South America. They’re such macho capitalists that they’ve rebounded from the RoundUp pesticide dousing of their countryside to develop RoundUp resistant coca plants. Considering that they can now grow nothing else, this is admirably ingenious, and illustrative of the basic principles of evolution as well. Which is to say that if you spend an enormous amount of effort wiping a group out, and fail to get every last one, then the hardiest and most unkillable will survive to proliferate. Apparently works in business as in nature. (Thanks to a How to Save the World post on the prevalence of toxins.)

So none of yer dang whining.

The Top 10 Things You Won’t Hear About Bush’s Speech

TBogg has a Letterman-like list of things you won’t hear about Bush’s speech. Some we particularly enjoyed:

I don’t care for Bush, but I felt kinda sorry for him when he got his head stuck in the podium.

It was really nice to see Laura Bush blink that one time. It made her seem so...real

Hiring Halliburton to do the balloon drop was a good idea, but I expected a lot more for $2.4 billion