Memorial Day
. . . was originally known as Decoration Day (for decorating the graves of the Civil War dead, which decimated over 600,000 Americans, nearly 2% of the total population of the Union and Confederacy), but at the turn of the century it was designated as Memorial Day. The first observance took place on May 30, 1868. In 1971 its observance was extended to honor all soldiers who died in American wars. At Arlington National Cemetery a wreath is placed at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and each grave is decorated with a small American flag.

Mark Steyn's Recalling a time when setbacks didn't deter us.

I've always liked Tom Selleck
. . . since back in the olden days, so it's nice to read about him in Chrenkoff's blog, which has a link to this interview.

Tom's playing Ike tonight at 8PM on A&E.

(hey, I know the picture's big, but Tom does look good)

The MSM's been had,and a "by the way"
Michael Moore already pulled one on the French when they embraced him, the epitome of what the French hate about Americans (i.e., fat, vulgar, uneducated, gross, vile, ignorant, egotistical, self-important cretins and greedy blowhards) -- small wonder this lady says (in Spanish) Cannes got Americanized. But not only did Big Mike pull one on the French, he's pulled a bigger one (ehem) on the MainsStreamMedia (a.k.a. MSM) with his publicity campaign for his upcoming movie.

I submit for your consideration:
Miramx paid $6 million for Moore to make Farenheit 9/11. In 2003 Disney, which owns Miramax, tells him they won't distribute it. Moore waits a full year, and then, just before leaving for Cannes, makes rude noises about D's refusal to distribute. MSM spends endless hours touting these noises at a fevered pitch. Moore takes the film to Cannes. The Cannes Film Festival jury is headed by Quentin Tarantino. Tarantino's ultraviolent movies are distributed by (guess!) Miramax. Moore's movie wins the Palme d'Or. MSM's fevered pitch increases. Now guess who's distributing Moore's movie?

Was Moore the mastermind of this very effective (and free) publicity campaign? Or Harvey and Bob Weinstein?
Your guess.

(by the way, I don't credit the MSM with enough cunning to have been in on the ploy, but that's not nice of me, is it?)

Will there be a sequel? Free Frank Warner (via Hispalibertas) wants one, but not from Moore:

Only days after he won honors at Cannes, Michael Moore today revealed he left out of his film “Fahrenheit 9-11” an exclusive 20-minute interview with Nick Berg, whom an al Qaida-type group beheaded in Iraq earlier this month.
Now why would Moore censor this interview of a young American businessman trying to help rebuild Iraq’s communications systems?
Is it possible that what Berg said just didn’t fit in with Moore’s world view that the Iraqis were better off with Saddam Hussein’s fascist police state? Is it possible Berg said Iraq was obviously better off because of the U.S.-led liberation?
With Moore, all the hatred is on the screen, and all the truth is on the cutting room floor.
I can't wait for the day a free Iraqi makes a documentary film about how Michael Moore wanted to let Saddam torture and murder Iraqis forever.

Will the MSM spill rivers of ink on that? Will Miramax finance and distribute it?
Your guess on that, too.

Sunday blogging
Paul Mulshine has Limited faith in government. Manel from Hispalibertas is aware of other prisoner abuse scandals, and some awful photos that I don't think either Moore or the MSM will be showing.

Derbyshire's serenely optimistic about the war.

The Iraq war has had some minor secondary benefits we don't hear much about. There is, for example, the document dump. No doubt Saddam's people managed to destroy a lot of government documents while our armies advanced; and we hear that Ahmad Chalabi's people grabbed a lot more. Given the age of the regime, the speed of our advance, and the number of government and military locations in a dictatorship as thorough as Saddam's, though, it's hard not to believe we still got a good haul, which will be of considerable use to us for purposes of intelligence and diplomacy.
Another secondary benefit is the workout our military got. I'm willing to take instruction from military readers on this, but it seems to me that a military recently experienced in the organization and fighting of a hot war has, other things being equal, a tremendous advantage over one that has not been so experienced. Soldiers want to fight, and soldiers like ours and Britain's, who have recent experience of hard fighting, are keener, better motivated, swifter, calmer, and more skilled at their trade than armies that have spent 20 years doing training exercises and "peace-keeping" missions.

At the same time, Mark Steyn is optimistic on Iraq but pessimistic on Europe.

And, for local flavor, Nader was visiting in The Principality

Hoy El Herald
. . . tiene dos opiniones interesantes, una sobre lo que ha dicho Bernard Lewis, y otra, sobre como Cannes se fue por los yankis.
Pero no se pierdan el artículo de Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza, titulado Gato por liebre

En México, Venezuela y otros países latinoamericanos, los militantes de ETA suelen cubrir sus acciones con una piel de oveja. Definen la suya como una patriótica lucha por la independencia del País Vasco o se hacen llamar con toda inocencia movimiento separatista, y hay quienes al otro lado del Atlántico, tan lejano a sus sangrientas acciones, se tragan el cuento. Lo sé de sobra, pues alguna vez que escribí en varios diarios latinoamericanos un informe titulado España frente al terrorismo de ETA, no faltaron lectores extraviados que enviaron cartas de protesta. Apoyándose en las simpatías que en ellos suscitan los movimientos independentistas, ETA a veces logra venderles gato por liebre, escamoteando con astucia su carácter de movimiento terrorista.

Si no han leído Manual del perfecto idiota latinoamericano-- y español (Guide to the Perfect Latin American Idiot), se los recomiendo.

Connections
Via the Barcepundit, The Connection: How al Qaeda's Collaboration with Saddam Hussein has Endangered America

Five months later [ed.'s note, in January 1999], the same Richard Clarke who would one day claim that there was "absolutely no evidence that Iraq was supporting al Qaeda, ever," told the Washington Post that the U.S. government was "sure" that Iraq was behind the production of the chemical weapons precursor at the al Shifa plant. "Clarke said U.S. intelligence does not know how much of the substance was produced at al Shifa or what happened to it," wrote Post reporter Vernon Loeb, in an article published January 23, 1999. "But he said that intelligence exists linking bin Laden to al Shifa's current and past operators, the Iraqi nerve gas experts, and the National Islamic Front in Sudan."

PoliPundit has been asking for quite a while Maybe When Hardball and 60 Minutes Stop Covering Abu Ghraib, They Can Start Connecting Some Dots? I'm not holding my breath.

UNScam today
Claudia Rossert's article asks Cover-Up Culture:
When will the real Oil-for-Food investigations begin?

In sum, we have Treasury not quite focused on Oil-for-Food, the KPMG investigation stalled, Congress stymied, the Volcker inquiry only just begun, and the Ernst & Young audit not yet started. So, is it time to write off the likelihood that anyone will ever get to the bottom of Oil-for-Food? Hardly. Volcker has plenty at stake — after a long and respected career, he has placed his own reputation on the line, and we might yet hope that this will help overcome his current surroundings. Hankes-Drielsma says that KPMG, given any chance, is willing to proceed with the investigation already begun. And Oil-for-Food, overall, was simply too enormous and too rotten to stay stuffed under a rug. Information will almost certainly continue to seep out. Right now, amid all the high and mighty talk about a clean and transparent new start for Iraq, would be a good moment for both the U.N. and the White House to reconsider the perils of cover-ups.

Stephen at Friends of Saddam shows that Oil For Food Lives, with a link to Food security in Iraq. People are commenting over at Roger's.

The Bad Hair Blog, the bad hair gene
Last March when I first started The Bad Hair Blog I used a bad haircut as a metaphor,

Which brings me back to my haircut. Since the streets are in deplorable condition, I use the township hall only to deposit my tax payments, no one in the house attends public school, rarely go downtown because of the traffic and lack of time to be going downtown to get stuck in traffic, and order my books through Amazon because the library is downtown, the bad haircut describes this taxpayer's situation: Fewer services (cut 2" too short), "in flux" (one side longer than the other), and stuck with the bill ($60 for the haircut, unknown amount for the taxes).
It's all about the haircut.

Now a friend sent me this article, which states,

Turns out, there's a gene that directs hair to grow in nice tidy patterns. Take the gene away and the hair doesn't know which way to grow

which raises the question, is the municipal overspending-and-overtaxing genetically caused?
Nature or nurture?

And about those pesky cicadas,
. . . the same friend sent recipes, available from this site. I thank G-d there other things I can afford to eat.

Blogging, the new chocolate
Many boast about their chocolate addictions, but now blogging's the new chocolate. I was just reading Jane's blog, and it turns out the NYTimes is writing about it.
Kwool.

Parking-building-built-on-the-stream back in the headlines
. . . in at least one of the dead-tree papers (but not on its on-line version; the other dead-tree paper didn't even mention it): Garage suit returns to court: Appeals panel hears argument on redevelopment law

The suit alleges the borough improperly applied the state's redevelopment law to the project and did not put the $13.7 million bond ordinance to . . . to a referendum.
The attorney for Concerned Citizens said his clients were conceding Phase I of the development (i.e., the parking-building-built-on-the-stream, a five story mixed-use building, and a plaza), but not Phase II (another 5-story building, food market and small plaza)

The presiding judge said "the case is a difficult one that raises substantive legal questions".

New evidence of a link between Iraq and al Qaeda,
at Opinion Journal, which reminds me of this. Speaking of the Wall Street Journal, Outside The Beltway has The Real Story Of Fallujah.

NYTimes admits to faulty information
. . . while Belmont Club examines the problem, and concludes

It stems directly and plainly from a very poor management of the factual source material. . .
It is only fair to say that these defects can be found in conservative news outlets as well because the media in general is not organizationally structured to verify and preserve the integrity of information nor to apply rigorous analysis to it.

EU Referendum has questions on how Schröder attempts to bully Poland, and also asks Is press freedom in the EU our business?
Volokh, however, posts on why GWB said, I'm honored to shake the hand of a brave Iraqi citizen who had his hand cut off by Saddam Hussein. And I'm honored GWB does.

Iced Earth, straight on
Sensational interview of Iced Earth's band leader Jon Schaffer (via Andrew Sullivan),

BW&BK: "Do you think 9/11 will be viewed as the first event in the US empire's decline and fall?"

JS: "No. This is not an empire, first of all. If the United States was an empire, your country would be our 51st state."

A man after my own heart (even with the bad language). I'll be listening to Iced Earth now.

Go, Stuyve, Go!
Mr. Pell's on his way back from Washington! I'm sure I speak for all his friends in wishing him a successful and fun trip.
He's raising funds for the Crisis Ministry of Princeton and Trenton, as well as the Trenton After School Program, so please contribute a donation for Mr. Pell's bike ride, by making a check out to: Trinity Church, 33 Mercer St., 08540. The words "bike ride" need to be written as a memo on the check.

More on junk environmental "science", plus update
Yesterday Jane made a comment, "This reminds me of the environmentalists successful campaign to stop the use of DDT in Africa where malaria rates are now sky high".

Junk Science has an article by Roger Thurow that explains why In Malaria War, South Africa Turns
To Pesticide Long Banned in the West

Mr. Sharp believes that the best way to keep mosquitoes from becoming pesticide-resistant is for the entire region to hit them with a coordinated rotation of sprays that include DDT. Otherwise, he says, resistant mosquitoes will cross borders to areas where they can thrive.

Mr. Sharp unfurls a map of the Mozambique-South Africa-Swaziland border area, where he has charted the prevalence of the malaria parasite in children under 15. In South Africa and Swaziland, where DDT is sprayed inside houses, most rates are in the single digits, with the highest, 41.8%, recorded in a South African village near Mozambique. In southern Mozambique, where a more expensive carbamate insecticide is used, the rates rarely fall below 70% and often approach 90%.

"No doubt about it, malaria's the most common illness here," says Antonio Gumende, sliding behind his desk in the one-room clinic in the small southern Mozambican village of Mahubo. "In the summer, it's about 100 cases a week."

On Mr. Sharp's map, Mahubo is in an area where three-quarters of the children are thought to have the malaria parasite. "Last month, the government introduced nets for beds, but I don't think it's enough," Dr. Gumende says, adding that he doesn't remember any spraying locally. Should DDT be used? "Whatever works," he says

The same site also has a list of 100 things you should know about DDT , including It is believed that [malaria] afflicts between 300 and 500 million every year, causing up to 2.7 million deaths, mainly among children under five years. When used carefully, DDT would help save lives.
Update: Climate change and other alarms, at Samizdata.

On Slavery
From Forbes, Preying On Human Cargo

Newly arrived illegals are herded into what veterans call "hell houses." They're not allowed to leave until they pay off the snakehead. For those who haven't brought the cash with them, it means a phone call or two to relatives back in China who must raise the money and send it immediately. Toughs do everything they can to get paid--threatening the relatives of illegals back home and subjecting the migrants to torture and interest rates of up to 5% a month. Immigrant rights activist Wong, a former investigator with the U.S. Coast Guard who participated in raids, recalls seeing people with burns from cigarettes. Some had bloody bruises on their heads, apparently from hammer blows. But Wong says these are extreme cases; 85% of illegals in these circumstances pay up within three weeks, then spend years at below-minimum-wage jobs as dishwashers and sweatshop workers to reimburse their relatives.

UNScam today
From Forbes, Chalabi Raid Complicates Oil-For-Food Probe

Meanwhile, former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, appointed last month by U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan to lead yet another inquiry, is pressing forward with his own investigation. Some say Annan must bear ultimate responsibility for the program's massive failings. "I think our investigation is the central, authoritative investigation," Volcker said at a press conference today. "I would like to think it's understood quite generally."

Far from it. Volcker lacks the necessary power to subpoena witnesses in an investigation, according to sources on Capitol Hill, policy experts and lobbyists. And despite today's raid, the Iraqi Governing Council doesn't appear to be giving up its fight for control over the oil-for-food audit. The council's finance committee is working with Patton Boggs, a well-connected Washington, D.C., law firm, to help it navigate the political system

Update There's Another Soldier Scandal, via Merde In France

Good news
. . . from Iraq, via Chrenkoff, with 5 subheadings,

• Rebuilding the society
  
• Reconstruction
  
• Humanitarian effort
  
• Our troops on the ground
  
• Security situation

Junk environmental "science", updated
There's a lot of myths concerning the environment, and now we have a movie.

The first myth is that "earth is on the balance". In fact, earth existed long before mankind, and the odds are it'll be around long after mankind is gone (yes, I'm a woman, but I say mankind, so there). The issue is more accurately described as "mankind is on the balance"; the goal of sound environmental policy is to make earth more sustainable for "man" and "woman".

A good place to start is Greenspirit, one of the permanent links in my website list. It has a section dedicated to Bjorn Lomborg's The Skeptical Environmentalist, a good book whose main point is,

we should continuously be aware of the necessary prioritization -- that we should strive to make the decisions, which actually do good and not just the ones that sound good. This requires straight and honest analysis that is willing to challenge any however well established myth.

Junk science weakens the arguments for truly sound environmental policy.

As to the movie, here's what an expert has to say: 'Day After Tomorrow': A lot of hot air

Global warming? Some scientists think climate change strengthens El Niño, the large atmospheric oscillation responsible for a variety of weather -- both good and bad. El Niños are known to rip apart hurricanes. So it's more likely that climate change is weakening these storms than enhancing them.

I already saw a horror movie this week, so I'll pass on Day After Tomorrow.
Update Now the entire state of Vermont's endangered due to the prospect of cheaper, more convenient shopping. "We think the danger to the character of Vermont communities and the landscape is so severe that it warrants making an exception and re-listing the state."
Plweez.
Update: A friend sent this link to Envirotruth's Myths and Envirotruth Regarding Climate Change

Plastic self-mutilation
One of the more revolting trends nowadays is the prevalence of plastic surgery and its glorification through reports in the media, including TV programs such as Extreme Makeover, a horrifying show where people with severe self-image problems put themselves through awful medical experiments in order to erase what they think are their problems.

To me the average person looks fine and I'm certainly spending a good amount of time and money on skin care and grooming, but I see a huge chasm between applying moisturizer twice a day and having a weekly manicure, and putting oneself through laser resurfacing of the skin, nose jobs, facelifts, boob jobs, and major foot surgery so your feet will fit into a pair of these.

Many people have had life-enhancing cosmetic surgery after awful automobile accidents (for instance, one of my uncles), or for reconstruction of cleft palates (the son of one of my friends). These are truly life-saving procedures, in many instances, not only because of the mental benefits but also because of the improvement in functionality. However, putting an otherwise healthy body through the knife for the sake of looks alone is an experiment in futility.

What I have against nose jobs and facelifts is that they try to homogenize all faces into a characterless mask void of expression and individuality. One of the most beautiful young actors today, Adrien Brody, has luckily kept his nose in place, and therefore can play a more believable character than many others who went for the botox and the pug nose. Women who resort to boob jobs because they want to attract men are probably self-sabotaging their search for a worthwhile partner -- do they really want to spend quality time with a man that can't look beyond a bra size? Wrinkleless, expressionless faces can't erase the pain behind the self-loathing of a person who won't face the pain within. Liposuction is a great deal more disgusting and painful than exercising for 1/2 hr daily and eating a proper diet. And if your feet hurt in Manolos, get comfortable shoes, for Pete's sake! (and for $1000/pair, you can probably have custom-made shoes anyway).

Melanie Phillips has it right,

In fact, this is an age of spiritual emptiness. The fashion for bodily mutilation is the outward sign of the horrifying increase in those whose sense of themselves is fragile or shattered, very often because of the fragmentation of the family. . .
For this is a culture the inner emptiness of which finds expression in both violence and self-mutilation, to retreat from civilised values, deny reality and take refuge in a cosmetic defiance and pretence.

No amount of extreme-making-over will remedy a total lack of self-acceptance.

Today's Must-read
On Strength (2-part essay)

From Hispalibertas, and an update
FALLUJA, Iraq (Reuters) - A month after hundreds were killed in fierce clashes between U.S. Marines and guerrillas, Falluja's leaders said Thursday the city is the safest in Iraq and invited U.S. contractors back to rebuild it.
Re: the wedding that wasn't, Betsy wants an apology from the media, while Belmont Club tracks how the reporting evolved.

Politically active Teletubbies
Just when you thought PBS couldn't stoop any lower, now they're playing an anti-Bush Teletubby short film. (For the initiated, the Telletubbies are four too-cute characters that live in a Hobbit hole somewhere in the British countryside, along with their vacuum cleaner, NooNoo. I assume it's marketed to the pre-preschool crowd since the tubbies appear to be pre-verbal.) Last night at approx. 7:30PM WNYE played a short film showing a malevolent sun with GWB's face, bombing the Teletubby locale (and scaring the bunnies, of course); the field becomes an oil field with oil pumps and quickly becomes flooded with oil.
I won't be mollified when the same people who created this show the malevolent Osama sun wiping out the countryside, Buddhas, WTC, and all. That would be equally stupid -- a while ago Pat Buchanan made a flap about whether the Teltubbies were gay, an equally moronic speculation. Just keep the politics out of the children's programs.
What I object to is that taxpayer's monies from the USA and the UK (the Teletubbies are a BBC program) are paying for this propaganda.

Really nice!
Thomas Sweet, everybody's favorite ice cream store in The Principality, is sponsoring an outdoor movie festival. If you ever are in the vicinity, make sure to stop at Thomas Sweet for really really good ice cream.

Must read, with 3 updates
If you read one article this entire week, read this: How to lose this war. Hanson gives a menu on how to lose this war. Among others:

• As gas prices rise at home, scream that the war abroad was fought to steal Iraqi oil and get American hands on cheap petroleum.
  
• Insist that Iraq has nothing to do with the wider struggle against Islamic fundamentalists and their autocratic state supporters in the Middle East.
  
• Ignore, if not ridicule, any evidence that does not fit a preconceived view: Mohammed Atta could have never met with Iraqi intelligence officers; Abu Abbas and Abu Nidal were not really terrorists and not really in Baghdad; there is no chance that WMD have been transferred to Syria or evidence of its removal or destruction found in Iraq.
  
• Ignore American soldiers in battle and turn the entire nation’s attention toward sexual abuse and humiliation of Iraqi prisoners by a few miscreant American soldiers.
  
• Pay as little attention as possible to horrific footage of American civilians burned alive and desecrated or to Jewish-American citizens beheaded on tape.

Suggestions? We must press on, of course. Use the troops that we have to put down the insurrectionists immediately and without mercy—and we will not need perpetually to call for ever more soldiers. One subdued Fallujah is worth two additional armored divisions in terms of deterrence. Give the Iraqis a higher public profile, and do not waver from the long scheduled dates of transfer of power. And finally, keep reminding the American people how much has been accomplished and how rare is our effort to defeat fascism and leave consensual government in its wake—and do that every day.

Clarity of purpose is what wins struggles. This article is a must-read.
Update: Congress, Media Could Talk U.S. Into Iraq Defeat. Second update: Kill Faster! Third update: Dr. Sowell has something to say.

The cicadas are out . . .
. . . and making such a loud noise that even the France2 newscast talked about it. In spite of the large number of cicadan carcasses, the France2 commentator surprisingly didn't call it a quagmire and didn't blame GWB.

UNScam raid
A friend just emailed me this article. She highlighted the final paragraph:

The Americans also raided other offices of the INC, Musawi said.
U.S. officials declined to comment on the raid targeting a longtime ally of the Pentagon. Privately, however, American authorities have complained that Chalabi is interfering with a U.S. investigation into allegations that Saddam Hussein's regime skimmed millions of dollars in oil revenues during the U.N.-run oil-for-food program,

which explains this.
The same friend tells me she watched a Fox News TV reporter today stick a microphone on the face of a UN official and ask uncomfortable questions. To me, this is progress. In the meantime, Friends of Saddam has new information on UNScam, and Roger has commentary (don't miss the comments!).

Olympic worries
Kelly at Suburban Blight shares my feelings.

Paul's great Highlands idea
The principle of Occam's Razor teaches us that one should not increase, beyond what is necessary, the number of entities required to explain anything. It admonishes us to choose from a set of otherwise equivalent models of a given phenomenon the simplest one. A cynic would say that this is antithetical to politics, but I digress.
In today's article, Paul Mulshine explains his plan

Unlike the state's plan, which takes up 100 pages, mine can be stated in two sentences.
1) Set up a Highlands Commission that is empowered to buy land and/or conservation easements with that money.
2) Give that commission the right to match any private offer on any land for sale in the Highlands.

Clearly Paul has been following Occam.

Taranto's in fine shape . . .
. . . in yesterday's Best Of The Web.

Blogger Arthur Chrenkoff has an excellent, and long, roundup of good news from Iraq, along with links. Here's a very brief summary:
* Several parts of the country are already holding local elections.
* Iraqis are wealthier, and their health and education systems are better.
* Iraq's culture is undergoing a revival. The national soccer team beat Saudi Arabia for a place in the Olympics, Kurdish music albums are selling big, and the Marsh Arabs are coming back and restoring the environment that Saddam Hussein wrecked.
* Reconstruction is going well.
* Outside Fallujah and some parts of the south, the security situation is good.
* Nine Iraqis whose hands Saddam's regime amputated are getting prosthetic ones thanks to American volunteers, as our Dan Henninger noted last week.
* Other Middle Eastern countries are beginning to make reformist noises.

But the top story is this,

Bizarre as it may sound, that's the tack the Times is taking toward the discovery earlier this week of an artillery shell containing sarin in Iraq. Although, as we noted yesterday, the volume of the sarin is between three quarts and a gallon, the Times insists that field tests found only "very small traces of sarin."
The Times continues protesting Saddam Hussein's innocence, suggesting that he did away with his weapons in "a large-scale destruction program" from which only "some residual weapons" may have "escaped"--never mind that U.N. resolutions obliged Saddam to destroy all his weapons and to document their destruction.

Which reminds me of what this blogger said, also yesterday (warning: bad language) How far the rabbit hole goes. When it comes to Iraq, the ironies are many

Dead-tree headlines in The Principality:
Project Developers Target Late Summer To Begin "Phase II"; Large Delays Expected in PHS Construction; Arts Council Plans to Lobby for Expansion Despite Differences With Community Groups
All three have to do with buildings that will never pay taxes.
I've blogged about "Phase II".
The neighbors of the Art Council have talked and compromised, and the Arts Council still trys to push through an ugly building the neighbors don't want.
The Principality High School construction, part of the district's $81.3 million construction project, is expected to be delayed six or seven months from the original plan. And how much will this cost?
Stay tuned.

Le Monde speaks, Updated twice
So here we have the French -- who supposedly hate Americans because they're fat, vulgar, uneducated, gross, vile, ignorant, egotistical, self-important cretins and greedy blowhards -- embracing Michael Moore, whose latest oeuvre is up for the Palm D'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
A contradiction?
Not at all. The headline says it all "Fahrenheit 9/11" : un film de guerre pour chasser George W. Bush" (Fahrenheit 9/11: a war film to drive out George W Bush). "Michael Moore is not just a filmmaker, he's a man who's found the role of his life: the man who drives George Bush out of the White House" (my translation).
If Moore spends 35-hr weeks at this, GWB's got nothing to worry about.
Update: Great minds think alike Second Update On the red carpet (sent by "No Friend Of Moore")

UNScam today
Don't miss Friends of Saddam today.

Second leaked UN document raises further concerns about UN accounting
for its Iraq mission. The UN Secretariat must answer directly for around
$3 billion

Roger's got a comment.

About Iraq
From Down Under, Chrenkoff has the good news. (via Andrew Sullivan). In the meantime, Don't Take Seymour's Word for It, while Safire asks, Sarin? What Sarin?, since the news organizations can't seem to remember.

Update: THIS IS WAR Stop the Moral Equivalence: Suicide-bombing and hostage-taking vs. democracy

UNScam, today
Chadster at Friends of Saddam has two interesting entries:
A link to Oil-for-Food scandal: The French Connection, and
A link to an article in NewScientist, Chemical weapon antidotes found in Iraqi base, from which Chadster raises the question, Could the U.N.'s OFF program, in addition to helping solidify Saddam's wealth and power, have contributed to Iraq's chemical weapon plans? Time will tell.

While on the subject of Iraq,
The awful news CNN had to keep to itself: [The] Iraqis' torment. And also, I had neglected to post that two weeks ago, U.S. military units discovered mustard gas. Look at how reporting at Fox and CNN compare. Surprised?

Give that woman a bra
Obviously the airline lost her luggage containing the undergarments.

Spirit of America Update
Just received this email,

Greetings,

Over the last several days all the remaining gear that - with your help - we donated to the Marines for 7 Iraqi TV stations has arrived at Camp Blue Diamond - the Marines Division Headquarters in Ar Ramadi, Iraq.

Below is an update email from LtCol John Lutkenhouse. You'll find more photos that he sent from Iraq here:
http://www.spiritofamerica.net/blog/archives/000074.html#more

While - like you - I am eager to hear these stations are up and running, it's important to keep in mind that all the gear is going into a war zone. The security situation changes unpredictably and plans change. Thus, I'd expect some delay. There may be even bad news. It's a war of ideas there as much as an armed conflict. Those fighting against us understand the danger that these stations (and free, unintimidated media) present to their agenda. One can assume they will resist them at some point. These are my thoughts. I'm not speaking for the Marines. I hope I'm wrong.

On a different note, you'll be hearing from us more frequently in the next few weeks. We are preparing to launch a national campaign that - for internal purposes - we are referring to as "Spirit of America Full Throttle." This campaign will have high goals for participation by many more Americans in support of winning the peace in Iraq (I should note that we have received donations from the UK, Spain, France, Canada and Australia, too).

Our view has been that the tremendous support you (more than 8,000 donors) provided recently to this TV initiative and other requests was scratching the surface of the desire that's out there to support the mission of a free and peaceful Iraq. Our intention with SoA Full Throttle is to scratch the surface a lot harder. We'll have specific ways that you can help out.

As part of Full Throttle, we will have SoA representatives in Iraq. For starters they will be embedded with the Marines in Al Anbar Province. I'll be going to Iraq to meet with the Marines to get this new phase established. More on that later.

Lastly, we have received a request originating from Major General Jim Mattis of the 1st Marine Division for 1,000 sewing machines to help Iraqi women earn a better living. This request is the kind of thing that can have an immediate impact on improving the conditions and aspirations of people in Iraq. More on that later, too.

All the best,
Jim Hake and Spirit of America Team
staff@spiritofamerica.net

There's an article here: Marines prepare to distribute gear for unbiased Iraqi media. Lt.Col. Lutkenhouse's message read,

As far as next steps, we are coordinating with Harris Corp (the folks who are providing the support to IMN) to send reps our way who can add their expertise as we travel out to the stations and distribute the gear. This would include two of their engineers and an IMN cameraman who will document our visits and report on the Spirit of America equipment we donate. We will also use some of the equipment for the local AM radio station that we are moving onto our camp from an outlying base. We will be integrating our efforts with Harris Corp's strategic plan in order to make sure we give the right type of equipment to the right sites (i.e. avoid giving video production equipment to a TV station that is not designated as a production site). Keeping in mind the required combat assets to get around our AO, as it looks right now we should able to hit all of the stations within the next 2-3 weeks. In conjunction with this, we will continue to engage the media leadership in Al Anbar (station managers, etc) in order to build relationships that will foster trust and cooperation. In fact, we are even exploring mentoring programs to help these broadcasters think and operate as independent news organizations/media enterprises. Case in point, one of the things we are finding is that their reporters don't really know how to be reporters (ask questions, think critically, and dig for the truth). As you well know, one of the legacies of the former regime is the pervasive fear that effects the decisions of Iraqis in all walks of life.

As such, we are taking 'baby steps' to encourage both media professionals and local governments (town councils) to see the benefits of getting information to the public, to be seen making decisions in council, and to develop the instincts of an open society.

The end state here is to give the Iraqis in Al Anbar an open and independent broadcast media that will present the truth and serve as an alternative to the biased reporting from the likes of Al Jazeera. At the same time, this will also gain us access to the airwaves across our entire zone in order to help ensure that our message gets out. I will keep you and the folks back home posted as we move forward.

Thanks again to you and to the donors who are generously supporting our efforts.

This is great news. Now I'm particularly interested in the upcoming sewing machines project. More on that as it develops. In the meantime, Belmont Club has a very interesting article on News Coverage as a Weapon.

A 155 (mm) artillery round containing sarin nerve agent had been found. Let's see what the dead-tree press makes of this one.
Update: Gerry's keeping track
While you wait, you might want to take The Satirical Political Beliefs Assessment Test

El Che y la coincidencia
Zoe Valdes en El Nuevo Herald,

No dudo que Gael García Bernal haya afrontado ambos trabajos con la seriedad y el talento que ha sabido trabajarse desde Amores Perros. Pero no he podido evitar partirme de la risa al comprobar que ha querido la coincidencia que el mexicano se haya visto obligado a interpretar, casi al mismo tiempo, en la primera película a un travestido de pelucón amarillo violado por un cura y en la segunda a la figura de uno de los asesinos más legendarios de todos los tiempos.
Ya se habrán dado cuenta de la razón de mi ataque de risa. ¡Con lo que odiaba el Che a los homosexuales! Y el azar ha hecho lo suyo y ha puesto al mismo actor que encarna su personaje a protagonizar también a un gay traumatizado por el clérigo.

Asi son las ironias de la vida.

More on Iraq
Another view of Iraq from Labour MP and long-standing Iraq human rights campaigner Ann Clwyd, via Harry's Place. At least the article came out in a dead-tree newspaper.
Update: Read Jane's article in Arab News

Literature, fer sure!
I just found What The SAT People Say Your Kids Should Read... at Cake Eater Chronicles. Except for seven titles, I've read all on the list, but at the time I took the SATs I'd only read a dozen or so. Not to brag but I had really really good SAT scores, and even back then I could spell Jane Austen. Hmm. So much for College Board recommendations.

The Bloomsday centennial's coming up next month, which inspired me for yet another limerick,

There once was a writer named Joyce,
whose Ulysses was big as a Royce.
He fannagled with words
and is loved by the nerds,
who on June 16 will rejoice.

Now, if I ever write a book, I'll have at least one chapter of headlines. (Hitchens wrote a nice article on the centennial, which you can find in the June -- Brad Pitt -- issue of Vanity Fair).

On Slavery
Slavery, the drug trade and terrorism are connected. From The Economist

Sudan's rulers rounded up terrorist suspects, shared intelligence and froze Mr bin Laden's assets in Sudan, including a cannabis farm worked by child slaves who had apparently been bought from a Ugandan rebel group for one Kalashnikov each.

Fleeing the horsemen who kill for Khartoum May 13th 2004, From The Economist print edition. The Telegraph has the first report by a British journalist from Darfur.

Sunday levity

You Are a Plain Ole Cup of Joe But don't think plain - instead think, uncomplicated. You're a low maintenance kind of girl... who can hang with the guys. Down to earth, easy going, and fun! Yup, that's you: the friend everyone invites. And your dependable too. Both for a laugh and a sympathetic ear. What Kind Of Coffee Are You? Take This Quiz :-) Find the Love of Your Life (and More Love Quizzes) at Your New Romance.

What Sy Hersh doesn't want you to hear
What's up at Mohammed's

The negative media want our eyes to pause on the bad events to win time in this worldwide battle and to make us forget the good pictures that encourage us to keep the momentum. This includes most of the major western media.
They are ‘unconsciously’ supporting the terrorists and the totalitarian regimes in the region to stop this great progress. The media have managed to create some distrust and hate between some Iraqis and some of the coalition and the west in general. Well, not in my city, it seems to be immune to their poison.

What Lowell Ponte has to say
Here's a suggestion by a blogger.

The Other Prision Torture Scandals
The Religious Policeman's back, with the details of one. The Scotman has a different report, partly funded by the Finnish government.

No moral equivalence
Last evening there was a rather heated discussion between a person at my house and myself; basically the other person thought the Abu Ghraib photos was equivalent to the barbarism exhibited in the Middle East. I invite that person and all that might be interested to review, for instance, the Berg video, or maybe just Roger's entry of May 14: [warning: explicit violence]

First, the photographs. They are of actual live castrations of Kurds.

Now, the video tapes:

Two beheadings, during one of which "Happy Birthday, Saddam" is being sung in Arabic.

Fingers being cut off one by one from a hand tied to a board.

People being thrown off four-story buildings, one forced to wear a Superman costume.

A man scourged ninety-nine times.

Three different instances of gas poisonings (probably employing different types), including dead babies.

In view of this, how about something different

Dr. Agris saw that the Abu Ghraib "surgeries" were a botch. They'd cut through the joining of the wrist's carpal bones, "like carving a Turkey leg." Saddam's doctors did nothing to repair the nerve endings, which left the men with constant real and "phantom" pain. Drs. Agris and Kestler had two preliminary tasks: Repair the nerves, and, alas, take another inch off the men's lower arms, to leave a smooth surface for attaching their new prosthetic "hands." They worked for two days operating on the seven men, who then took a week to recover before receiving their new hands.

Those devices were donated by the German-American prosthetic company Otto Bock, at a cost of $50,000 each. They are state-of-the-art electronic hands, with fingers, which respond to trained muscular movements. The rehabilitation and training is being donated by two other Houston companies, TIRR and Dynamic Orthotics. The Iraqi men are in Houston now, spending five hours a day learning to use their new right hands. And oh yes, the brands on their heads were removed.

Don North completed his documentary on what happened to these men in Iraq. I watched "Remembering Saddam" this week. Several of the men insisted on seeing Saddam's home video of the atrocity, and so it's in the film--a bizarre, almost dainty image of forceps, scalpel, surgical gloves and green operating-room garments. Nothing like it since Dr. Mengele. Watching his hand come off, Baasim Al Fadhly says: "Look at this doctor, who considers his career noble and swears to God to be a noble person. Let everyone see this film."

Charles has something to say. Senator Joe Lieberman reminds us,

We cannot allow the prison scandal in Iraq to diminish our own American sense of national honor and purpose, or further erode support for our just and necessary cause in Iraq. American opponents of the war may try to do the latter, while foreign critics and enemies of the United States will try to do the former. The misdeeds of a few do not alter the character of our nation or the honor of the many who serve in our defense--and the world's--every day. Winning the war we are now fighting in Iraq against Saddam loyalists and jihadist terrorists remains critical to the security of the American people, the freedom of the Iraqi people, and the hopes of all the Middle East for stability and peace.

Then there is the matter, as I mentioned before, The Saddam-9/11 Link's Confirmed, and, did you ask about WMDs, perhaps?
Update Eleonora Bruzual has a comment (in Spanish).
Update: A friend emailed this article The Berg dilemma

The Low-carb Life
While the low-carb fad rages on, I have no choice but to stay in a low-carb diet. For the past several years I've developed severe reactuve hypoglycemia (will save that long story for another day, but I assure you it's serious), and the only way to control my blood sugars is by keeping to a low-carb diet. I guess I'm trendy in spite of all.

All foods are fats, carbohydrates, or proteins. A low-carb diet keeps the levels of sugars low because all carbos are metabolized as sugars; if you lower the amount of carbos you eat, you are eating less sugars. Most people get their largest intake of calories from starches, from foods that are heavy in carbos. Therefore, when one goes low-carb, one looses weight. There are lots of books and several sites showing the glycemic index of foods, and for a low-carb diet you consume the foods with the low index.

The fastest way to go on a low-carb diet is to
1. Avoid all foods that have sugar added.
2. Eat 3 servings of non-starchy vegetables at each meal.
3. Give up the junk food. Staying away from prepared foods in general is a good idea.
4. Instead of buying prepared salad dressings and dips, make your own.

I don't tolerate any foods with added sugar, and the only juice I tolerate is V8 (the one without added sugar). I tolerate small amounts of certain fruits, and since I don't like the taste of artificial sweeteners, I don't eat sweets at all (except for Edy's Triple-Chocolate Ice Cream), and luckily I never did like sweets much in the olden days. The reason I don't feel deprived is that I eat a very great variety of foods:
1. Never eat the same thing for 2 days in a row: Monday chicken, Tuesday fish, etc.
2. Buy frozen green vegetables (which are probably fresher than at the produce section) already chopped and ready to cook.
3. Buy ready-made green salad greens, add pre-chopped mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, and black olives. Keep in a plastic container and add olive oil and vinegar only when eating it.
4. Buy pre0chopped cole slaw, add mayo, vinegar, and dill weed, and have it in the fridge ready to eat.

By then, when serving a meal, I'm ready to have a salad, cole slaw, and a steamed vegetable within 8 minutes, along with some pan-grilled meat/fish/chicken (chicken takes some 15 mins). The dinner plate looks like this:

• One half is taken up by vegetables
  
• One quarter is chicken, meat, fish, etc.
  
• Rice, potato, pasta, or any other starch are a 1/3 cup portion or smaller.

For dessert, a few raspberries with fresh cream, or some Edy's Triple Chocolate, will complete the meal.

And that's the basics of a low-carb "diet".

Following up
On old rockers: The British Pickle tells us that one old rocker is no dhimmi!
On Saddam: The Saddam-9/11 Link Confirmed (notice how this is a woman reporter, like Claudia Rossert, who's staying on top of the UNScam story?)
On UNScam: At Friends of Saddam, news that there's legislation put forth by Senators Graham and Ensign (R-NV) attempting to ensure U.N. cooperation in Congressional investigations into the Oil-for-Food program. At stake is U.S. funding of the U.N. itself. Read also Middle East and Morality's As If UNSCAM--the UN Oil-for-food scandal--was not enough.
And finally, Why The Big Media Continue To Lose Their Audience, Meme and matrix, and what the women are saying.

On slavery
600 Sudanese children freed from slavery: "The rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) . . . believes that up to 40,000 children are still held as slaves in government-controlled territories". Armies of Liberation has a link to The shameful Muslim silence on Darfur. As CaribPundit said yesterday,silence betokens consent.

Países ricos y países pobres,
(in Spanish), In an op-ed article in El Nuevo Dia, Enrique Vázquez Quintana explains (my translation):

When one studies the personal attitudes of the people in rich countries, you find that most of them abide by these rules: . . .
morality as a basic principle, order and cleanliness, integrity, punctuality, responsibility (i.e., personal accountability), the wish for betterment, the respect for law and the rule of law, the respect for the rights of others, their love of and dedication to their work, and their efforts towards saving and commitment (to a goal).

Dr. Vázquez has it right.

From Iraq
The Mesopotamian:

The Baathists were masters of the “Terreur”, and it was the essential means of their hold on power. In fact what we see now is something rather similar. It is a similar technique; they are trying to intimidate both the Iraqi people first but mainly the western people. They will stop at nothing. You must understand that this is their only expertise; their sole training and method and way of thinking. They think they can inspire fear and terror into the Coalition forces and their people and leadership exactly in the same way that they did with the Iraqis. They think that they can intimidate the whole world exactly in the same way that they did with us.
So I just wanted to say the above to help people understand why these horrible things are happening: You are just being treated to a small sample of what we suffered for more than three decades.

And from Zeyad's blog, Healing Iraq:

Strange coincidence that the Nick Berg video was released almost
simultaneously with the video of Palestinian 'freedom fighters'
displaying the severed head of an Israeli soldier on a table. . .
So, to distance myself from the shameful hypocritical Arab and Muslim masses. I wish to denounce this barbaric act and the pathetic ideology that fueled it, to disown any person from my part of the world who would justify it, and to offer my sincere condolences and sympathy to the family and countrymen of Nicholas Berg.
And for Muslims, who are definitely going to say 'this isn't the real Islam':
"When you meet the unbelievers, strike off their heads; then when you have made wide slaughter among them, carefully tie up the remaining captives." Surat Mohammed:4
Grow up, and leave the 7th century.

Where is the outrage? Where is the apology?
John Moore wants to stop the media's double standard; I prefer Lorie's oprtion. Jonathan writes about The Western Street. Bob McManus knows that America will win, it if has the guts. Robert Spencer reminds us

this man had committed no crime for which execution was warranted by any frame of reference. He was murdered. Will the world that is recoiling in ever-greater paroxysms of horror over the prisoner abuse note how disproportionate is this response?

Natalie Solent tells the terrorists,

In all this agonized talk about what we are, we were beginning to forget what you are. What you stand for.
What your pictures show.

Bush and Blair must never forget: if they blink, they lose.
Never forget who the enemy is.
Update (warning: grisly photo) At CaribPunditU.S.: Why we MUST fight and NEVER surrender

UNScam today
Eric at ¡No Pasarán!: The UN is not as beneficient as its supporters would have us believe… In fact, to be quite honest… those leaders' main reason for opposing Washington seems to have been to profit from "grand larceny" with one of the most blood-thirsty dictators born in the 20th Century, with more commentary in his blog

Borough proposes housing size limit. Money quote,

Roman Barsky, owner of Princeton Township-based builder Barsky Homes, warned that the proposed ordinance poses a significant downside for Princeton residents who live in the borough's more modest houses but might want to sell their property.

"The large homes in Princeton will benefit because there will be a limited amount of large homes in Princeton," Barsky said.

"That will affect very badly the nonwealthy population, while the wealthy ones will benefit," he contends.

Mr. Barsky's right. Even the borough mayor realizes that "If you do not renew the housing stock in some way or another, you, in some point in time, create a slum".

The consequences of this proposed limitation are long-term and will affect only the smaller properties. While the Borough and Township have fooled themselves into believing that "it will preserve diversity", because "every little house near a big house is at risk", the fact is that according to the borough's construction office, only three permits for teardowns have been issued in the last two years.

"The Politics of the Last Five Minutes"
The brilliant Roger L. Simon coined the phrase "The Politics of the Last Five Minutes". Seldom has a phrase been more appropriate. While the TV and dead-tree-press is on an endless loop of Iraqi prisoner photos, the press ignores

• the reports of slavery in Sudan, while Sudan sits on the UN Human Rights Commission
  
• the violence in Nigeria
  
• the Israeli pregnant woman killed with her 4 daughters and videotaped by their murderers
  
• the 2 foreigners stoned to death in Kabul, and
  
• the Pakistani Christian tortured to death by radical Muslims.

All these events took place last week, while we are shown over and over the photos.

And who's reporting about UNScam, today?
Update: Roger, and The Wall Street Journal! Money quote,
If abuse of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. soldiers demands an accounting, so too does the world-wide conspiracy of bribery that helped prop up Saddam Hussein's torture-based regime

Men in skirts
Sandal-and-toga epics are now in the limelight, and so (apparently) are gladiatorial skirts. Just this week I learned that Brad's legs were too skinny, while at the same time he claims men will be wearing skirts after Troy's released. Anderson poked fun at the idea. Goran, who has lovely legs, at least refrained from making fashion predictions.

Men -- even Sean Connery in full Scot drag -- don't look good in skirts (neither do a lot of women, methinks). Thankfully, The Husband (who also has lovely legs) is not about to get himself into a kilt/skirt/whatnot. I hope.

The Sensational Mr. Jackman
is up for a Tony. Yesss!

Abu Gharib, other parts of the picture, from Iraq The Model.

Sarkozy goes to it, updated
While we celebrated Mother's Day here, Sarkozy has maneuvered the UMP government party into supporting a referendum for the proposed EU constitution. As explained by Samizdata's Gustave La Joie,

the call by the newly appointed Minister of Finance represents a shift away from automatic rubber-stamping by the French parliament.

Privately Chirac will be fuming. He hates Sarkhozy and fears his possible election in 2007 as President. Unlike the recently convicted fraudster Alain Juppé, Mr Sarkozy might not feel inclined to whitewash the current President's dubious financial history. Meanwhile, Alain Juppé, the UMP party chairman, has endorsed Mr Sarkhozy's call with the qualification: "within the constitutional prerogatives of the President". Mr Juppé no doubt feels it is a good time to roll with his colleague's punches.

On April 29 I wrote about how Chirac might have placed Sarkozy in the hot seat, but NS's feeling right at home in it.
Yup, he does.

Jim's bad idea
I was reading yesterday's newspaper, In Short Hills, a yawn over 'millionaire's tax', and found out that

Gov. James. E McGreevey unveiled a "millionaire's tax," going after households earning $500,000 or more. . . to increase the state income tax from 6.37 percent to 8.97 percent for New Jersey households making over $500,000.

The resulting $800 million would be distributed to every New Jersey homeowner earning less than $200,000, in the form of property tax rebates.

So, now we have the governor in Robin Hood mode, scalping the rich to "give" to the middle class while punishing success.

What the state needs is to review its budget and cut down on expenses, and for government to downsize itself (an oxymoron if there ever was one). Instead, the proposed "millionaire's tax" will have the effect that kind of tax has always had: It will drive away from the state the very people responsible for creating jobs and expanding businesses. They won't respond with "a yawn" -- they'll move. It's happened in Europe, which is why Luxembourg and Monaco and the island of Jersey are such popular spots for their well-to-do neighbors. If New Jersey was an island it would be harder to move a business, but NJ is near states that have much better deals -- The Bucks County, PA chamber of commerce can thank NJ for the number of new residents and business already fleeing NJ -- so the "millionaires" don't even have to leave this part of the country. Here are the tax brackets for neighboring states:
CONNECTICUT 3.0 - 5.0%
DELAWARE 2.2 - 5.95%
MARYLAND 2.0 - 4.75%
PENNSYLVANIA 3.07%
If the "millionaires" want to stop playing the state income tax game altogether, there are also Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington and Wyoming, which have no state income tax at all, and New Hampshire and Tennessee where the state income tax is limited to dividends and interest income only. I wouldn't be surprised if several "millionaires" already own, or are contemplating owning,homes in those states, and can declare them as their primary residence.

The point is, no amount of punishing taxes will solve the root cause. As one of the people in the article put it, they're avoiding the real issue -- which is how the state is going to solve its budget problems

And while you're at it, take a look at Paul's article explaining how affordable-housing laws are making housing less affordable, and pointing out the fact that the state government's in the grip of the big developers, if campaign contribution data are any indication.

9-11 and Saddam
Safire has written about it in The New York Times, and now there's this article DAY OF INFAMY 2001: New evidence of Saddam link to 9-11,Czech records indicate Atta meeting with Iraqi official in Prague. "She also reveals court records that suggest one of bombers Timothy McVeigh's and Terry Nichols's accused Middle Eastern handlers had foreknowledge of the 9-11 plot". Read the whole article.

Downtown's redeveloping irony.
Redevelopment plan stalls; Planning Board delays review of project's second phase

On Thursday, the Planning Board was scheduled to review the final site plan for the project's second phase — a five-story, 78,867-square-foot structure with 53 residential units and a food market on the site of the Tulane Street lot.
Called Building C, the new edifice will have 10 low- to moderate-income apartments.
. . . Meanwhile, a slight increase in the building's size stirred up controversy at Tuesday's Borough Council meeting.
At 78,867 square feet, Building C is substantially larger in size than what the Borough Council agreed to under the developer's agreement with Nassau HKT. Because the basement is excluded from the calculation of square footage under site-plan approval standards, documents on file with the Planning Board consider the building's size to be only 72,452 square feet. But that is still almost 5,000 square feet more than called for in the developer's agreement. Building C, under the agreement, should be approximately 67,500 square feet and not greater than 56 feet in height.
. . . Robert Powell, principal with Nassau HKT, said the developer will adjust the compensation paid to the borough in the form of a lease payment for the Tulane Street lot to account for the increase in square footage.

While over 1000 residents petitioned the Council for referendum on the above project and were refused, now there's Much talk, little chance of shifting school taxes; Borough Council members want to change the cost-sharing formula financing the regional school system. Money quote,

Councilman Roger Martindell suggested the council lobby the state Legislature to allow municipalities to pull out unilaterally from a regional school district by a municipal referendum

Ah, the ironies of life.

Great links from Roger, and from Jane
Roger L. Simon runs one of the best blogs around. Right now he's discussing articles by Nelson Ascher, Wretchard's Belmont Club, and Omar's Iraq The Model. Jane has The lucky ones who got the taste of American whipping.

Slavery update: Also at Roger's there's a link to Kosovo UN troops 'fuel sex trade'" and women are enslaved. Jane's Armies Of Liberation has a link to Mothers' Day Around The World, bringing attention to the fact that "the overwhelming majority of slaves today are women and children -- mothers, sons and daughters". And the slave masters sit at the United Nations.

Slavery watch
A friend emailed a link to this article, Al-Sadr's Basra Aide Offers Rewards:

A senior aide of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr told worshippers during a Friday sermon in southern Iraq (news - web sites) that anyone capturing a female British soldier can keep her as a slave

Slavery still exists.

al-Jazeera confirms shortage of virgins
In its latest installment of the telenovela Dead Man Talking, al-Jazeera confirms that due to a shortage of virgins, rewards have been substituted.
And now for one of my famous limmericks,

They say it's the voice of Osama,
who never has washed his pajama.
He is offering gold,
or so we are told,
but some of us think it's a scam-a.

You can thank me later.
Update: On a more serious vein, via Hispalibertas, Al Qaeda's Gold: Following Trail to Dubai

Spam that takes the cake
Just received this beaut,

From
Dr. Mrs Luisa Ejercito Estrada
Metro-manila
philippines
Dear friend,
This letter may come to you as a surprise due to the fact that we have not met. The message could be strange but real, if you pay some attention to it. I could have notified you about it at least for the sake of your integrity. Please accept my apologies in bringing this message of goodwill to you, I have to say that I have no intention of causing you any pain or harm.
I am LUISA E.ESTRADA, the wife of Mr. JOSEPH ESTRADA the former President of Philippines presently in jail and facing trial on charges of corruption and embezzlement of public funds while in government. My husband was recently impeached from office by a backed uprising of mass demonstrators and the Senate. My husband is presently in jail and facing trial on charges of corruption, embezzlement, and the mysterious charge of plunder which might lead to death sentence. The present government is forcing my husband out of Manila to avoid demonstration by his supporters. During my husband's regime as president of Philippine, I realized some reasonable amount of money from various deals that I successfully executed. I have plans to invest this money for my children's future on real estate and industrial production. My husband is not aware of this because I wish to do it secretly for now.
Before my husband was impeached, I secretly transferred the sum of $18,000,000 million USD (Eighteen million United States dollars) out of
Philippines and deposited the money with a security firm that transports valuable goods and consignments through diplomatic means. I also declared that the consignment was solid gold and my foreign business partner owned it. I am contacting you because I want you to go to the security company and claim the money on my behalf since I have declared that the consignment belong to my foreign business partner. You shall also be required to assist me in investment in your country. I hope to trust you as a God fearing person who will not sit on this money when you claim it, rather assist me properly, I am willing to offer you 25% of the funds for your sincere assistance. When I receive your positive response I will let you know
where the security company is and also my son Carlito (Daniel) will contact you with the details of this project.
For now, let all our communication be by e-mail because my lines are right now connected to the Philippines Telecommunication Network services.
Please do send me your private telephone/ fax number so that we can have a smooth communication.

Thank you and God bless you and your family
Warmest Regards,
DR. MRS LUISA EJERCITO ESTRADA

No thanks Luisa, I already watched The Spanish Prisoner, which is the proper name of this older-than-the-hills scam. Maybe these guys at 202-324-3000 would like to hear from you, though.

Good news today
VA executives are helping rebuild Afghanistan's busiest women's hospital. John Fears, Clyde Parks, and Nathan Geraths deserve praise.

Clearly, someone likes Picassos more than I
. . . since they paid $104.1 million last night at Sotheby's for this.
I'm a Matisse type, instead.

UNScam today:
From the NY Post's Op-Ed Page (via Friends of Saddam):

No talk of right-wing plots can alter the plain truth:
* That much of the food, hospital supplies and other humanitarian goods that were supposed to be bought with Oil-for-Food funds never were, because contractors overcharged the program and kicked back a percentage of the proceeds to Iraqi officials.
* That fully half of the 13 percent of Oil-for-Food revenues that were supposed to go to the Kurds living in the northern No-Fly Zone - some $4.4 billion - is still unaccounted for. The money seems to have been hijacked by Saddam's officials while U.N. "watchmen" turned a blind eye.
* That the Oil-for-Food office never transferred its database to the Coalition Provisional Authority - despite Benon Savan's assurances to the Security Council that it had done so.
* That many Oil-for-Food contractors turned out to be false fronts or non-existent when the CPA tried to contact them.
* That Oil-for-Food funds meant for a full range of humanitarian projects were instead diverted to pay for luxury cars and the construction of an Olympic Stadium for Saddam's son Uday - a project that Kofi Annan personally approved.
* That the United Nations can't begin to explain how all of this happened, or how its oversight system failed.

I would like to see a person, a former prosecutor, with a very strong background on racketeering cases, in charge of the American investigation. Rudolph Giuliani, for instance. After all, one of the banks involved is already under investigation for fraud in NY state.

UNScam today
The indefatigable Claudia Rosett asks Why won't the U.N. answer questions about its Iraq scandal?. Friends of Saddam makes a prediction. Jeff features an excerpt of the latest Sherlock Holmes Mystery (via Outside the beltway).

Spartacus's Cause
Visitors to this blog might notice that I added Spartacus's Cause to the title of my Monday, May 3 entry, He put the spar in Spartacus. Slavery is the most horrible and most-encompassing of all crimes, corroding and corrupting all in the societies where it is condoned.

There are major 2 websites dealing with present-day slavery: Antislavery.org, and iAbolish.com. In addition, Jane's blog Armies of Liberation, has started a list of participating blogs in the Blogosphere Uprising, and I'm honored to be asked if The Bad Hair Blog could be added. Jane's promoting the Iabolish petition to US, UN, and EU leaders demanding investigation of slavery in Sudan's Darfur region. Slavery can take place in our country, as Thief's Den posted on domestic workers held as slaves, a felony in the USA and punishable with prison.

I also have one question: In the comments section of the Spartacus entry, a visitor asked if there is a knowlegeable source where one can research what products (aside from gems) are slave-trade based. I couldn't find any specifics, since one of the problems is that, as they say in iAbolish, "They could be identified as slaves only by studying the underlying economic arrangement.".

If any readers have any information on this subject, please email me at faustaw-at-yahoo.com. Thank you.

Godot's parking-building-built-on-the-stream (G'sPBBOTS) set to open this week; Library begins regular hours
The Library began regular hours effective April 30.
Godot's parking-building-built-on-the-stream (G'sPBBOTS), however,

"should open sometime this week", said the Borough Administrator.
"It is day to day. . . We continue to be hopeful that it will be one in a few days"

And so we wait, while the Council ponders a parking rate increase.

Is the UN a Reactionary Institution?, asks Roger
And my answer is that the UN is, indeed, a reactionary institution that's absurdly perpetuating the worst abuses against its own declarations of human rights and justice. Sudan, Cuba, and Lybia, Guinea and Togo, in the Human Rights Commission is a sample of its absurdity.

As to Kofi Annan, just two days ago, when asked about the UNScam investigation, he said one thing,

MR. RUSSERT: What if they don't cooperate with the investigation? Will they be dismissed?
SEC'Y-GEN. ANNAN: They will be dismissed because they have to cooperate with the investigation.

so this morning the NY Post reports he does another,

The United Nations yesterday threw up a stone wall in the oil-for-food scandal, insisting that contracts between the world body and private companies should not be turned over to investigators.
In a defiant move that has infuriated probers, Secretary-General Kofi Annan threw his support behind a letter from former oil-for-food head Benon Sevan to officials of a Dutch company that inspected Iraqi oil shipments. The letter directed the company not to hand over documents to congressional committees and other "governmental authorities.".

That's a hypocrite for you.

Dr. Sowell on medical care
In The 'cost' of medical care, Dr. Sowell makes a vital distinction:

The difference between prices and costs is not just a fine distinction made by economists. Prices are what pay for costs -- and if they do not pay enough to cover the costs, then centuries of history in countries around the world show that the supply is going to decline in quantity or quality, or both. In the case of medical care, the supply is a matter of life and death.

Read the rest.

He put the spar in Spartacus/ Spartacus's Cause
Ok, so I watched Spartacus because Alan Bates was in it. I've been a fan of Alan Bates for decades, and wanted to watch his last performance, which he filmed while undergoing chemotherapy.

Bates was his usual brilliant self, even when the part was small and his character made a number of p.c. comments any self-respecting Roman consul would probably never utter even if he were around today. Bates had a way of saying a line while digging-in-and-turning-the-knife that few actors have been able to do, and he was in fine shape.

I did stay to watch the whole miniseries because I saw the original Kubric movie starring Kirk Douglas, and in my eyes Goran Visnjic's Spartacus beats Kirk's. Goran's DDG (drop-dead-gorgeous), and as a gladiator he looked credible in the top-fighters category, agile, big (not steroid-big, just muscular and tall), with 6-pack abs, and would have creamed Kirk's and probably Russell's gladiators, too (Russell's not all that big in person). Goran put the spar in Spartacus.

Sandal-and-toga epics have been on screen since the days of silent movies. Each generation places its message in its version. The director of the TV Spartacus said "There are interesting parallels about power and evildoers" , and the executive producer "defends the remake for exploring the same political themes, such as personal freedom and segregation, that were pertinent more than 40 years ago [my italics]. "I think it's more relevant today to look at the fact that we haven't maybe progressed as far as we think we have," she says". While they were at it, they injected the dialog with ridiculous allusions to US politics: Crassus refers to Spartacus' slave army as "terrorists", talks about a "New World Order" and even uses the phrase "you're either with us or against us". They took the idiotic route to the sandal-and-toga. In looking at what they consider pertinent "more than 40 years ago", they missed the point of a struggle that started more than 2000 years ago: slavery.

Sadly, by doing so both the director and the exec producer "missed an opportunity to speak up" (to misquote Jacques Chirac). A brief note at the end of the lengthy program, reminding the audience that slavery still exists, would have given their message meaning. And it would have honored the real-life Spartacus.

Spirit of America's TV station update
I just received this email:

Today we delivered to Marines at Camp Pendleton, CA the equipment that will be used to equip Iraqi-owned and operated television stations in Al Anbar province. On Saturday, May 1 the Marines will fly the equipment from March Air Force Base to Iraq. This initiative and the original request is described here: http://www.spiritofamerica.net/req_12/request.html. We try hard to provide rapid response to requests we receive. Here is the timeline of this project:

April 8: SoA receives Marines request for television equipment.
April 14: SoA posts the request on our Web site and begins fundraising.
April 29: SoA delivers $82,687 of TV studio equipment to Camp Pendleton.
April 29: Marines pack donated equipment and prepare for shipment to Iraq.
May 1: Marines fly equipment to Iraq.

This rapid turnaround makes a difference in Iraq.

We have received $1,532,931 in donations in the last two weeks. Contributions from 7,438 donors have been made to every request and every area of Spirit of America's operations. I can't begin to describe the effects this generosity will have on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan - both in helping the people of those countries and in supporting the hard work of those serving there.

As encouraging as the last 14 days have been, I believe we are just at the beginning of seeing homefront support for America's efforts in Iraq. We're fortunate to receive emails, letters and handwritten notes from our donors that thank us for finally getting the opportunity to make a meaningful contribution. Since 9/11 many have felt helpless. That no longer need be the case.

You can find more on what's happened and what next at: http://www.spiritofamerica.net/blog. As promised, we have an accounting there of how the money was spent on the first phase of the Marines TV request.

All the best,
Jim Hake

UNScam
Roger's been reading about Canada. Friends of Saddam has a different list than the fiirst list, and

There was a tacit agreement between OIP (UN Office of the Iraq Program) and the Iraqi regime that none of the foreign UN staff would be either British or American nationals. In addition, the OPI and UN agencies deliberately refused to employ any Kurd among its international staff.

The NY Times is asleep at the wheel.

Godot's parking-building-built-on-the-stream (G'sPBBOTS) has kinks . . .
. . . or at least that's what the headline says: Kinks in electronic systems delay garage opening by another week, while work proceeded on the mixed-use building and plaza, named Building A/Witherspoon House, which should open in October*.
An appellate court will hear arguments in the Concerned Citizens of [The Principality] lawsuit seeking a halt to the downtown redevelopment project. May 24 hearing set for garage lawsuit "The suit alleges that the borough improperly applied the state's redevelopment law to the project and did not put the 413.7 million bond ordinance to help finance the project to a referendum". Phase 1 (Godot's parking-building-built-on-the-stream, and Building A) is under way. Phase 2, the proposed building on the Tulane parking lot, needs final site plan review by the Planning Board.

*"Good weather in the spring and summer months is essential for the October opening".
Hm. The library was scheduled to open in December, and it's just started running a limited schedule. G'sPBBOTS has kinks and hasn't opened, but was scheduled to open in December. I say Building A will open in . . . late March. Assuming, of course that the Borough doesn't lose in court.

What, you don't like your haircut?
Budget woes elicit outcry. Tax-crunched residents bring ideas to table, read the dead-tree press headline: The Borough Council ran a forum on the 2004 municipal budget, and people showed up to complain. The salient points of the article were

• No Council member committed to specific program cuts.
  
• The "relatively low parking rates are subsidized by borough taxpayers for visitors to the downtown.
  
• Among the residents' suggestions were that the borough may obtain more payments in lieu of taxes from the nonprofits in town, and taxing The University on its 4.5 million square feet of nontaxable space at a quarter of the municipal rate as a means to defraying infrastructure costs.
  
• A gentleman who's paying $5,000 a month on property taxes reminded them that residents "will quite likely be voting with our feet".
  

The first item is to be expected. Council's on a spending binge.
The second item goes like this: taxes go up since taxpayers subsidize parking, which in turn brings in more cars, which in turn need a $14 million building, which in turn needs subsidies, and on and on.
The third item is never going to happen. Tax-exempt status of non-profits is going to remain exactly the way it is. What's a great deal more likely to happen is the last item: people vote with their feet. A great many bastions of middle-class prosperity in New Jersey have been ruined by mismanagement. You can name a few if you've lived in this state for a decade or so. If you are of a certain age, you or your parents might have even voted with your feet, too.

Speaking of haircuts,
From one bad haircut to another:
Chris Muir's Day By Day's cartoon yesterday, April 30, had Zed watching the TV news where they talked about Kerry flying in his hairdresser by private jet, and the last box showed Zed listening to the commentator say Senator Kerry's CAFE legislation will require SUVs to attain 35 MPG, to which Zed thinks,

Who's really getting a haircut here?

Thank you Chris.