Time for the delay to be put to DeLay
House of Representatives Majority Leader Tom DeLay, under fire for his use of campaign dollars and other ethical problems, addressed the conference in a videotaped message on Thursday in which he denounced a “judiciary run amok.”
I was reading this article and I wound up getting so sick to my stomach I was going to write this long diatribe but, in the end I can sum it up with one word... Schmuck!
I may not always agree with them but I am certainly thankful for the judiciary.
Apr 9, 2005
Look for them...
A man and his young child visited the bathroom. The father had to pick his son up so Agent Simmons could help him wash his hands. He tipped $1. Agent Simmons made it clear that tips were entirely optional and that his services were provided free of charge. He made small talk with everyone who entered the room, asking them where they were from, if they had seen a Broadway play, etc. He also peppered McDonald’s slogans in to his banter. “We’re lovin’ it today and we hope you are too.” “You deserve a break today.” “We like to see you smile, sir.”
Yes, probably MacDonald’s could do it and increase traffic but, if you see something strange going on around Manhattan, don’t think it hasn’t necessarily been orchestrated just to gauge your reaction...
Check out Improv Everywhere’s website.
Found via This American Life.
A man and his young child visited the bathroom. The father had to pick his son up so Agent Simmons could help him wash his hands. He tipped $1. Agent Simmons made it clear that tips were entirely optional and that his services were provided free of charge. He made small talk with everyone who entered the room, asking them where they were from, if they had seen a Broadway play, etc. He also peppered McDonald’s slogans in to his banter. “We’re lovin’ it today and we hope you are too.” “You deserve a break today.” “We like to see you smile, sir.”
Yes, probably MacDonald’s could do it and increase traffic but, if you see something strange going on around Manhattan, don’t think it hasn’t necessarily been orchestrated just to gauge your reaction...
Check out Improv Everywhere’s website.
Found via This American Life.
Apr 4, 2005
He’ll be missed...
Over the last few weeks, I found myself wanting to write something about the Pope.
I probably don’t strike many people as the most religious guy. It’s the rather liberal, healthy sprinkling of profanity during the course of my conversation no doubt. I imagine though, the main thing I picked up from all those years of a Catholic upbringing, besides the healthy dosage of Catholic guilt (which could give Jewish guilt a run for its money any day), is a person’s religion isn’t something to force upon others or to carry around like a banner proclaiming one’s faith to the world. Such displays seem vainglorious and inappropriate.
Anyway, over the last few weeks I’ve watched the various news reports about the Pope’s failing health and I found myself feeling really bad. In my more private moments, I prayed for an ease to the man’s suffering. We live in a strange society where life is valued but, while we have the tools to prolong life, our tools don’t necessarily allow us to improve its quality.
Now, I haven’t stepped into a church in a long time. Part of that is the fear of the divinely inspired bolt of lightening with my name on it arriving as I cross the threshold into a church. More likely, there it’s also the disagreement with some of the church’s stances. In any event, the one thing I didn’t have a problem with was the Pope.
Yeah, the Pope wasn’t about to do things most American Catholics would like him to do, like ordaining women or married men into the preisthood but, he did come across as a ‘cool guy.’ Maybe the best analogy would be an older relative who wouldn’t always agree with you but, had a solid moral center and wanted nothing but the best for you. In a lot of ways, he always tried to make the world a better place and ultimately that was enough.
The world that Pope John Paul II was ordained Pope into was a very different one than the world we live in today. Terms like MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction), the Iron Curtain, the Soviet Bloc which were so common, so consuming don’t exist anymore and his being Pope had something to do with it.
So, before I go on for too long - I looked around trying to find something which would just be nice as some acknowledgement and I came across John Paul’s letter to artists:
Society needs artists, just as it needs scientists, technicians, workers, professional people, witnesses of the faith, teachers, fathers and mothers, who ensure the growth of the person and the development of the community by means of that supreme art form which is “the art of education.” Within the vast cultural panorama of each nation, artists have their unique place. Obedient to their inspiration in creating works both worthwhile and beautiful, they not only enrich the cultural heritage of each nation and of all humanity, but they also render an exceptional social service in favour of the common good.
The particular vocation of individual artists decides the arena in which they serve and points as well to the tasks they must assume, the hard work they must endure and the responsibility they must accept. Artists who are conscious of all this know too that they must labour without allowing themselves to be driven by the search for empty glory or the craving for cheap popularity, and still less by the calculation of some possible profit for themselves. There is therefore an ethic, even a “spirituality” of artistic service, which contributes in its way to the life and renewal of a people. It is precisely this to which Cyprian Norwid seems to allude in declaring that “beauty is to enthuse us for work, and work is to raise us up.”
All in all, I think Karol Wojtyla made the world a better place and the next guy to follow his act will have some big shoes to fill. His biography can be found here.
Over the last few weeks, I found myself wanting to write something about the Pope.
I probably don’t strike many people as the most religious guy. It’s the rather liberal, healthy sprinkling of profanity during the course of my conversation no doubt. I imagine though, the main thing I picked up from all those years of a Catholic upbringing, besides the healthy dosage of Catholic guilt (which could give Jewish guilt a run for its money any day), is a person’s religion isn’t something to force upon others or to carry around like a banner proclaiming one’s faith to the world. Such displays seem vainglorious and inappropriate.
Anyway, over the last few weeks I’ve watched the various news reports about the Pope’s failing health and I found myself feeling really bad. In my more private moments, I prayed for an ease to the man’s suffering. We live in a strange society where life is valued but, while we have the tools to prolong life, our tools don’t necessarily allow us to improve its quality.
Now, I haven’t stepped into a church in a long time. Part of that is the fear of the divinely inspired bolt of lightening with my name on it arriving as I cross the threshold into a church. More likely, there it’s also the disagreement with some of the church’s stances. In any event, the one thing I didn’t have a problem with was the Pope.
Yeah, the Pope wasn’t about to do things most American Catholics would like him to do, like ordaining women or married men into the preisthood but, he did come across as a ‘cool guy.’ Maybe the best analogy would be an older relative who wouldn’t always agree with you but, had a solid moral center and wanted nothing but the best for you. In a lot of ways, he always tried to make the world a better place and ultimately that was enough.
The world that Pope John Paul II was ordained Pope into was a very different one than the world we live in today. Terms like MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction), the Iron Curtain, the Soviet Bloc which were so common, so consuming don’t exist anymore and his being Pope had something to do with it.
So, before I go on for too long - I looked around trying to find something which would just be nice as some acknowledgement and I came across John Paul’s letter to artists:
Society needs artists, just as it needs scientists, technicians, workers, professional people, witnesses of the faith, teachers, fathers and mothers, who ensure the growth of the person and the development of the community by means of that supreme art form which is “the art of education.” Within the vast cultural panorama of each nation, artists have their unique place. Obedient to their inspiration in creating works both worthwhile and beautiful, they not only enrich the cultural heritage of each nation and of all humanity, but they also render an exceptional social service in favour of the common good.
The particular vocation of individual artists decides the arena in which they serve and points as well to the tasks they must assume, the hard work they must endure and the responsibility they must accept. Artists who are conscious of all this know too that they must labour without allowing themselves to be driven by the search for empty glory or the craving for cheap popularity, and still less by the calculation of some possible profit for themselves. There is therefore an ethic, even a “spirituality” of artistic service, which contributes in its way to the life and renewal of a people. It is precisely this to which Cyprian Norwid seems to allude in declaring that “beauty is to enthuse us for work, and work is to raise us up.”
All in all, I think Karol Wojtyla made the world a better place and the next guy to follow his act will have some big shoes to fill. His biography can be found here.
Apr 2, 2005
Just when you make up your mind about something...
So, I like everyone else had been subjected to the nonstop coverage of the Terry Shiavo case and I figured, let the poor woman die already. 15 years of suffering is enough and you see old pictures of her and she looks so beautiful and so full of life in contrast to the other pictures you see of her - which are actually three years old!
Then, I get a chance to read Nat Hentoff’s column and since I respect Nat Hentoff a great deal I wonder if I wasn’t mistaken:
For all the world to see, a 41-year-old woman, who has committed no crime, will die of dehydration and starvation in the longest public execution in American history.
She is not brain-dead or comatose, and breathes naturally on her own. Although brain-damaged, she is not in a persistent vegetative state, according to an increasing number of radiologists and neurologists.
Among many other violations of her due process rights, Terri Schiavo has never been allowed by the primary judge in her case—Florida Circuit Judge George Greer, whose conclusions have been robotically upheld by all the courts above him—to have her own lawyer represent her.
Greer has declared Terri Schiavo to be in a persistent vegetative state, but he has never gone to see her. His eyesight is very poor, but surely he could have visited her along with another member of his staff. Unlike people in a persistent vegetative state, Terri Schiavo is indeed responsive beyond mere reflexes.
...but, there are two sides to every story and the Voice ran the opposing views in a facing spread:
Taking on the Schiavo case was supposed to give the Bushes an opportunity to appease the religious conservatives who put them into office. The problem for the stop-at-nothing brothers, though, is that the conservative Catholics and evangelicals fixated on Schiavo are even further out of the mainstream when it comes to the right to die than they are on abortion. While some people are truly torn about what restrictions should apply when dealing with an unwanted pregnancy, few think anyone should be forced to hover on the edges of existence if they don’t want to and have no chance of recovery. Nearly 80 percent of Americans wouldn’t want to be kept alive in Terri’s situation, according to an ABC News poll. Even more opposed federal intervention in the Schiavo case, including 72 percent of Republicans, according to a CBS News poll. Meanwhile, the president’s approval rating is falling, having just hit 43 percent, down from 49 last month.
Talk about a great political issue! A clear winner finally landed in the Democrats’ lap. Unfortunately, few seemed to recognize it. No senator, Democrat or Republican, stopped the legislation giving Schiavo’s parents the opportunity to take the case to federal court. Forty-seven Democrats supported the bill in the House. And even Howard Dean, head of the Democratic Party, seemed to roll over, offering no comment when asked about Bush’s support of the law.
So, I like everyone else had been subjected to the nonstop coverage of the Terry Shiavo case and I figured, let the poor woman die already. 15 years of suffering is enough and you see old pictures of her and she looks so beautiful and so full of life in contrast to the other pictures you see of her - which are actually three years old!
Then, I get a chance to read Nat Hentoff’s column and since I respect Nat Hentoff a great deal I wonder if I wasn’t mistaken:
For all the world to see, a 41-year-old woman, who has committed no crime, will die of dehydration and starvation in the longest public execution in American history.
She is not brain-dead or comatose, and breathes naturally on her own. Although brain-damaged, she is not in a persistent vegetative state, according to an increasing number of radiologists and neurologists.
Among many other violations of her due process rights, Terri Schiavo has never been allowed by the primary judge in her case—Florida Circuit Judge George Greer, whose conclusions have been robotically upheld by all the courts above him—to have her own lawyer represent her.
Greer has declared Terri Schiavo to be in a persistent vegetative state, but he has never gone to see her. His eyesight is very poor, but surely he could have visited her along with another member of his staff. Unlike people in a persistent vegetative state, Terri Schiavo is indeed responsive beyond mere reflexes.
...but, there are two sides to every story and the Voice ran the opposing views in a facing spread:
Taking on the Schiavo case was supposed to give the Bushes an opportunity to appease the religious conservatives who put them into office. The problem for the stop-at-nothing brothers, though, is that the conservative Catholics and evangelicals fixated on Schiavo are even further out of the mainstream when it comes to the right to die than they are on abortion. While some people are truly torn about what restrictions should apply when dealing with an unwanted pregnancy, few think anyone should be forced to hover on the edges of existence if they don’t want to and have no chance of recovery. Nearly 80 percent of Americans wouldn’t want to be kept alive in Terri’s situation, according to an ABC News poll. Even more opposed federal intervention in the Schiavo case, including 72 percent of Republicans, according to a CBS News poll. Meanwhile, the president’s approval rating is falling, having just hit 43 percent, down from 49 last month.
Talk about a great political issue! A clear winner finally landed in the Democrats’ lap. Unfortunately, few seemed to recognize it. No senator, Democrat or Republican, stopped the legislation giving Schiavo’s parents the opportunity to take the case to federal court. Forty-seven Democrats supported the bill in the House. And even Howard Dean, head of the Democratic Party, seemed to roll over, offering no comment when asked about Bush’s support of the law.
Well, I’m glad I saw it...
For all its graphic splendor, watching Sin City is like spending two hours in a state-of-the-art wax museum. Rodriguez loves his material so much that he embalmed it.
I got into an early show yesterday, thankfully since every show after the four o’clock that we went to was sold out. Visually, the movie was stunning and it does have a great cast but, I think there’s a bad case of writer-itis going on. Since Frank Miller was so intricately involved in the project, he wanted something as close to the original graphic novels as possible. Unfortunately, film is a visual medium which is unlike Miller’s normal environs. The last time I was clubbed over the head so much by a voiceover narration, it was for the DeLaurentis adaptation of Frank Herbert’s Dune.
Somebody needs to tell Frankie boy, sometimes less is more. Save the narration for when it’s really needed!
For all its graphic splendor, watching Sin City is like spending two hours in a state-of-the-art wax museum. Rodriguez loves his material so much that he embalmed it.
I got into an early show yesterday, thankfully since every show after the four o’clock that we went to was sold out. Visually, the movie was stunning and it does have a great cast but, I think there’s a bad case of writer-itis going on. Since Frank Miller was so intricately involved in the project, he wanted something as close to the original graphic novels as possible. Unfortunately, film is a visual medium which is unlike Miller’s normal environs. The last time I was clubbed over the head so much by a voiceover narration, it was for the DeLaurentis adaptation of Frank Herbert’s Dune.
Somebody needs to tell Frankie boy, sometimes less is more. Save the narration for when it’s really needed!
Holy Aladdin Batman, what next?!?!
An advertisement on the US government’s Federal Business Opportunities website is inviting applications for someone to develop an “original comic book series.”
“In order to achieve long-term peace and stability in the Middle East, the youth need to be reached,” the ad says.
An advertisement on the US government’s Federal Business Opportunities website is inviting applications for someone to develop an “original comic book series.”
“In order to achieve long-term peace and stability in the Middle East, the youth need to be reached,” the ad says.
Mar 30, 2005
Mar 26, 2005
It never bothered Sister Mary Elephant...
Nearly half of the country’s secondary school teachers have suffered mental health problems due to worsening pupil behaviour, a survey has revealed.
The research, by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, on 300 secondary school teachers, showed that abuse at the hands of pupils had left 46 per cent taking antidepressants or facing long lay-offs from school through stress.
What?!?! You don’t know who Sister Mary Elephant is?
Look here...
Nearly half of the country’s secondary school teachers have suffered mental health problems due to worsening pupil behaviour, a survey has revealed.
The research, by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, on 300 secondary school teachers, showed that abuse at the hands of pupils had left 46 per cent taking antidepressants or facing long lay-offs from school through stress.
What?!?! You don’t know who Sister Mary Elephant is?
Look here...
Mar 25, 2005
Something of note...
“When Greenspan takes the stage today [February 17], he will fail to mention the following disconnect. On Tuesday, the California Association of Realtors discussed the homebuyer income gap index. California households, with a median household income of $53,240, are $56,070 short of the $109,320 qualifying income needed to purchase a median priced home at $470,920 in the state. [In 2001, the median U.S. family’s pretax income was $39,900] The realtors’ homebuyer income gap index for California increased 41.6% during the fourth quarter of 2004 compared to the fourth quarter of 2003, when the gap stood at $39,610, the median household income was $51,860, and qualifying income needed to purchase a median-priced home at $390,250 was $91,460. At $84,690 the San Francisco Bay Area had the highest gap in the state since potential homebuyers had, in 2004, a median household income of $67,750 but needed qualifying income of $152,440 to purchase a median-priced home at $656,690.”
A snippet from the rather interesting Housing Bubble blog.
“When Greenspan takes the stage today [February 17], he will fail to mention the following disconnect. On Tuesday, the California Association of Realtors discussed the homebuyer income gap index. California households, with a median household income of $53,240, are $56,070 short of the $109,320 qualifying income needed to purchase a median priced home at $470,920 in the state. [In 2001, the median U.S. family’s pretax income was $39,900] The realtors’ homebuyer income gap index for California increased 41.6% during the fourth quarter of 2004 compared to the fourth quarter of 2003, when the gap stood at $39,610, the median household income was $51,860, and qualifying income needed to purchase a median-priced home at $390,250 was $91,460. At $84,690 the San Francisco Bay Area had the highest gap in the state since potential homebuyers had, in 2004, a median household income of $67,750 but needed qualifying income of $152,440 to purchase a median-priced home at $656,690.”
A snippet from the rather interesting Housing Bubble blog.
The taming of the beast...
“In the ’80s we had crackheads, prostitutes, we got no help from anyone. We survived all that,” he said. “Now they just want us to go away.”
New York has undergone great change over the last decade, it’s gotten cleaner without a doubt and safer too as the declining murder rate seems to indicate.
Manhattan in particular is rapidly being homogenized, taking on many of the negative aspects of the rest of the country. Maybe, it’s an attempt to make the city more of a ‘fun park.’ It’s funny, in Vegas there is a New York, New York hotel which tries to capture a charm which may not even exist anymore.
In the last fifteen years, I’ve seen the flower district just about vanish, the fur district disappear, the meat district shrink to a paltry block or two. Working downtown, you can see the Fulton Fish Market is still in operation but, you have to wonder about how long it will stay where it is.
So many Manhattan commercial areas predate any residential development but, it seems whenever people begin settling in these neighborhoods, the new residents develop a case of the NIMBY’s and don’t want the commercial activity which preceded them to continue. Over the last few weeks I have been commiserating with my peers about the rapidly changing landscape of New York city. The lighting and restaurant district along the Bowery seems to be shrinking too, never in my wildest imaginings did I think the Bowery would be reclaimed but, it’s looking more and more like the rest of the city.
The original draw of the city was that it was a melting pot and a gateway to the world, I fear those days are gone and the city is becoming a pale shadow of what it was.
“In the ’80s we had crackheads, prostitutes, we got no help from anyone. We survived all that,” he said. “Now they just want us to go away.”
New York has undergone great change over the last decade, it’s gotten cleaner without a doubt and safer too as the declining murder rate seems to indicate.
Manhattan in particular is rapidly being homogenized, taking on many of the negative aspects of the rest of the country. Maybe, it’s an attempt to make the city more of a ‘fun park.’ It’s funny, in Vegas there is a New York, New York hotel which tries to capture a charm which may not even exist anymore.
In the last fifteen years, I’ve seen the flower district just about vanish, the fur district disappear, the meat district shrink to a paltry block or two. Working downtown, you can see the Fulton Fish Market is still in operation but, you have to wonder about how long it will stay where it is.
So many Manhattan commercial areas predate any residential development but, it seems whenever people begin settling in these neighborhoods, the new residents develop a case of the NIMBY’s and don’t want the commercial activity which preceded them to continue. Over the last few weeks I have been commiserating with my peers about the rapidly changing landscape of New York city. The lighting and restaurant district along the Bowery seems to be shrinking too, never in my wildest imaginings did I think the Bowery would be reclaimed but, it’s looking more and more like the rest of the city.
The original draw of the city was that it was a melting pot and a gateway to the world, I fear those days are gone and the city is becoming a pale shadow of what it was.
Mar 24, 2005
Doesn’t the government have better things to occupy themselves with...
“This is a sad day for Terri,” Michael Schiavo, Terri’s husband, told ABC’s Good Morning America earlier today. “But I’ll tell you what: it's also is a sad day for everyone in this country because the United States government is going to come in and trample all over your personal family matters.”
James Ridgeway’s article on the Terri Schiavo case from the Village Voice.
“This is a sad day for Terri,” Michael Schiavo, Terri’s husband, told ABC’s Good Morning America earlier today. “But I’ll tell you what: it's also is a sad day for everyone in this country because the United States government is going to come in and trample all over your personal family matters.”
James Ridgeway’s article on the Terri Schiavo case from the Village Voice.
Mar 23, 2005
A prospect of truly alarming proportions
“If Republicans win on the nuclear option, they could get John Ashcroft confirmed as chief justice.”
The irony here is I’m a registered GOP member and this is something I find totally unsettling - there are checks and balances in the three branches of government for a reason.
“If Republicans win on the nuclear option, they could get John Ashcroft confirmed as chief justice.”
The irony here is I’m a registered GOP member and this is something I find totally unsettling - there are checks and balances in the three branches of government for a reason.
Another interesting snippet
Wal-Mart is like the Death Star—you can wipe them out, but they’ll be back.
Ah, but they haven’t been able to stop Home Depot.
(added later)Stupid MapQuest!
Wal-Mart is like the Death Star—you can wipe them out, but they’ll be back.
Ah, but they haven’t been able to stop Home Depot.
(added later)Stupid MapQuest!
Being a veritable font of information, I give you this link for more valuable but, free stuff. Bookmark it, use it:
Your credit report.
Your credit report.
Mar 18, 2005
On baseball...
“It’s a sad day and a loss for this organization because he gave so much,” Mets catcher Mike Piazza said. “Joe always did what was asked of him and picked up the slack when necessary. But he’s a positive guy, and I’m sure he’s going to end up somewhere that’s good for him”
“At least he’s got a couple of weeks to hook up with another team. I think he’d be a valuable asset to any team because he’s a good teammate and can play practically any position.”
Mike lamenting the departure of Super Joe - as a fan, all I can say is that Super Joe was fun to watch. The smile on his face made no secret of how much fun he was having playing ball and you couldn’t help but be infected by his glee and love for the game. I was watching an exhibition game a few days back and the announcers were commenting on just such a thing happening in the Mets releasing Super Joe. They observed even when his playing career comes to an end, he’ll probably wind up as a coach. I can’t think of a man better suited for the job.
Speaking for Mets fans everywhere, thanks for the last five years and we wish you the best of luck Super Joe.
“It’s a sad day and a loss for this organization because he gave so much,” Mets catcher Mike Piazza said. “Joe always did what was asked of him and picked up the slack when necessary. But he’s a positive guy, and I’m sure he’s going to end up somewhere that’s good for him”
“At least he’s got a couple of weeks to hook up with another team. I think he’d be a valuable asset to any team because he’s a good teammate and can play practically any position.”
Mike lamenting the departure of Super Joe - as a fan, all I can say is that Super Joe was fun to watch. The smile on his face made no secret of how much fun he was having playing ball and you couldn’t help but be infected by his glee and love for the game. I was watching an exhibition game a few days back and the announcers were commenting on just such a thing happening in the Mets releasing Super Joe. They observed even when his playing career comes to an end, he’ll probably wind up as a coach. I can’t think of a man better suited for the job.
Speaking for Mets fans everywhere, thanks for the last five years and we wish you the best of luck Super Joe.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)