:: PROLEGOMENA ::

:: Friday, October 31 ::

I THOUGHT WE WERE A BUNCH OF RACISTS DOWN HERE

Census: Blacks migrating to South in record numbers

Oh. I see. We were.

A strong economy and vastly improved race relations are luring record numbers of black Americans to the South, a region that many deserted early in the 20th century.

However - and I love this report - the Northeast was the only region that had a net loss in each category of racial minority. HA! Do the race theory claques throughout Northeast academe approve of the move? Are the movers the "right kind of black"? Or will those schools become even more obsessed with what white man is doing wrong to drive out the minorities?
:: michael parker Friday, October 31, 2003 [+] ::
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THIS IS NEWS?

U.S. says WMD went from Iraq to Syria

I thought we knew this in January, when aerial/satellite photos caught convoys going to Syria. We have known for some time that the heavily guarded Bekaa Valley is Saddam's likely self-storage. Really, l do not understand this administration sometimes. I am well aware of the importance of protecting information to protect informants, but this is not, and never was, the case here. Satellites are not NOC's.

Anyone remember when the Israeli drone filmed the Palestinians faking the massacre at Jenin? They released that footage immediately.

:: michael parker Thursday, October 30, 2003 [+] ::
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THE NEXT ROSS PEROT

Not turned on since Meet the Press, the TV was still on NBC this morning, and just in time for a Today Show interview with Wesley Clark. Like the psychiatrist whose patient wore plastic wrap, I can clearly see he's nuts.

"We need to go after Osama bin Ladin," he declared in a brilliant alternative to attacking states like Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, Saddam's Iraq, or the Syria which stores Saddam's convoy of weapons in the Bekaa Valley. Clark rambled that hitting states instead of terrorists was plain wrong. It seems that he cannot recognize state-sponsored terrorism, or he is willing to do away with that very important distinction for the sake of sound bite. This makes him either the worst sort of leader, or the worst sort of politician.

:: michael parker Wednesday, October 29, 2003 [+] ::
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STUPID QUOTE OF THE DAY

The Democrats are going to help fund an Ed Schultz radio show to compete with the Rush Limbaugh Show...

"The Democrats are getting the tar beat out of them constantly by Limbaugh and Hannity, and they feel they don't have a platform," Schultz said. "There's this conservative mantra that's being jammed down the throats of the American people, and the other side of the story is not being told."

At last someone feels my pain. First, the tobacco companies bound and dragged me off to a dimly lit room to jam cigarettes into my mouth (but I fought them away). Then for years the evil EIB network has been locking me into a room and forcing me to hear Rush's voice, the way they made those chimpanzees watch violence on film in 28 Days Later.

They feel they don't have a platform? Por quoi? Because bashing a President who is adamant about fighting a global terror network is something you cannot stand on? Because flying to Mexico to claim that Mexican illegal aliens in America are being terrorized indicates a serious vocabulary problem? Because flying to Baghdad to side with Saddam Hussein is tantamount to treason? Because condemning a general for calling the terrorists "Satanic" is a clue of whose team you are rooting for?

:: michael parker Tuesday, October 28, 2003 [+] ::
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The Rumsfeld memo was read aloud yesterday by Tim Russert to Colin Powell. It was the first time I had seen it. His excellent question was, paraphrased, "Are we killing the terrorists faster than they are reproducing?" In his exact remark, he questioned the productivity of the madrasses along with the training camps and other recruiters.

Is it any wonder he showed up at the podium last week with a dictionary? Not only does the press need that, they need a course in reading comprehension. The Islamic schools need to be watched and watched ever more closely, as do their funders. It is important that he sites the madrassas in the memo. It reminded me of the one near DC.

Also in great need of a dictionary is U.S. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who finds it appropriate to tell Mexico that Americans are terrorizing illegal immigrants. Is anyone thinking of Bonior and McDermott's fact-finding mission to Baghdad? But that is the new role of the Democratic party, to go abroad and talk badly about America, even if what they do amounts to treason.

:: michael parker Monday, October 27, 2003 [+] ::
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FINAL FLIGHT

There were only sixteen of them built, and I likely would never fly one for the expense, but the end of commercial Concorde flights feels like a step backwards. At least the cancellation is for economic reasons and not because a bunch of environmental crybabies won an argument with an end-is-near-because-of-16-Concordes claim.

I remember the frst time I saw one. I was touring Chiswick House, west of London, built in 1729. Through the front east window in late afternoon, I was admiring a heavily detailed capital atop a front porch column, and a Concorde flew into view. It made a very good photo, combining western achievement and, ironically, two things that would outlive their usefulness.

:: michael parker Friday, October 24, 2003 [+] ::
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AND WITHOUT SLAUGHTERING INFIDELS...

Two-thirds of Americans believe they are going to heaven.

This article, while reporting a little of the complete obvious, still is a good survey of what Americans think about the most important of personal questions. Ministers will find much of the information instructive, especially when it comes to some of the liberalism within beliefs which by definition are being contradicted.

:: michael parker Friday, October 24, 2003 [+] ::
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HA!

For once, I beat Taranto to it.
He adds a very clever analogy, though: "The New York Times does provide one synonym, referring to "a procedure that doctors call intact dilation and extraction but critics call partial-birth abortion." But "intact dilation" is just a clinical way of saying "partial birth"; the Times' formulation is the equivalent of saying "a condition that doctors call melanoma but critics call skin cancer."

:: michael parker Thursday, October 23, 2003 [+] ::
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THE PARTIAL BAN MOVES FORWARD

Rather, NPR just reported that the Senate has voted in favor of "what critics call" partial birth abortion.

"what critics call"

However, NPR's word for the procedure was not in the report. They broadcast a sound bite from a Republican making a sensible argument, and then another from a Democrat dismissing the argument as "political."

"political" -Now that's about the emptiest argument one can give. Of course there are politics involved, good politics, but the Democrat is afraid to acknowledge that the debate is about right and wrong.

Anyway, "what critics call" partial-birth abortion is actually "mostly-born abortion". Study this diagram of "what neutral people call" the procedure and find a way to not call it wrong.

Add to that the 1996 testimony before Congress that the aborted feel great pain in spite of the anesthesia. There it is. Of course anyone with an agenda can misrepresent it, as NPR did this morning, but what the hell is anesthesia for in the first place?

If it is not yet human, even with legs and torso outside the body, even with a brain to suck out with only the head still inside the mother, what is the anesthesia for, if it is not yet alive?

:: michael parker Wednesday, October 22, 2003 [+] ::
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TEXAS STRAIGHT-TALK, DEFINITELY NOT A TWO-STEP

Would the man who sued to become president, the winner of the popular vote in 2000, have ever gone to the face of a Muslim head-of-state and told him he was wrong?

The face to face rebuke came after US National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice attacked the speech as 'reprehensible'.

Dr Mahathir, attending his last major summit ahead of retirement on Oct 31, has not commented on his exchange with Mr Bush, but he continued to fire salvos against the West yesterday.

What was that word? - wrong? Not very diplomatic, there, President Bush.

Did you say it in his language? Sala, Mahathir! Sala! Sala! Sala!

But be careful, Madeleine Albright, Clinton's Secretary of State who didn't even know she was Jewish, has been blasting your foreign policy in France. The French, armed with her rhetoric, may just launch a pre-emptive strike (it's OK for France to do that) and tell you... you're wrong! What are you going to say then?

:: michael parker Tuesday, October 21, 2003 [+] ::
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SEMI-STUPID QUOTE OF THE DAY

Not this:

Deputy TSA Administrator Stephen McHale said Monday's court action "makes clear that renegade acts to probe airport security for whatever reason will not be tolerated, pure and simple.''

But this:

"Amateur testing of our systems do not show us in any way our flaws,'' McHale said. "We know where the vulnerabilities are and we are testing them ... This does not help.''

Then what exactly did it show you, Mr. McHale? Why are you testing the vulnerabilities you know of when you should be solving the vulnerabilities you know of? Again, we will handle any box cutter-wielding nutjob in the cabin, a la Todd Beamer. You get the damn plastic explosive detection machines online, screen the airport employees, screen the checked luggage, and teach your airport security people that no one can actually hijack the plane with GI Joe's rifle.

I wonder, when Nathaniel Heatwole first e-mailed his intentions to test the system, was he given this warning?

:: michael parker Monday, October 20, 2003 [+] ::
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A LITTLE BIT TESTY

So this kid from a Quaker college in Greensboro, NC warns the government that he will sneak illegal materials onto planes to expose holes in security.
And he does what he said he would do.

Government prosecutors still were trying to determine what charges they might bring against Nathaniel T. Heatwole. The 20-year-old student had warned officials he would try to bring forbidden articles onto commercial flights to expose holes in security, an official said.

Indeed what might they charge the student who exposed much of the farce that airport security still is? They should punish him, or every smart-aleck student will make a sport of grounding planes, increasing delays, and causing the annoying re-screening of passengers, and the confiscation of GI Joe's 2-inch plastic rifle.

But here's the truth we still have to live with:

The aviation security system has undergone enormous changes since the Sept. 11 attacks, in which 19 hijackers used box cutters to take over four planes. Gaps remain, however. Government officials acknowledge X-ray machines can miss plastic explosives and box cutters. Airport workers who have access to planes are not screened, nor is much of the cargo that goes aboard commercial flights.

Yeah, great changes. Scrutinized hip replacements and special searches of little Jimmy's Beanie Baby bag. They actually looked under my wristwatch.

It's up to the passengers. Mohammed Atta and friends did not just use box cutters, they used the passengers' belief that if they did as the were told, all would be well. But Todd Beamer had a cell phone and the latest news.

Americans are no longer going to move to the back of the Airbus, so it's up to security to screen what lies beneath.

:: michael parker Monday, October 20, 2003 [+] ::
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MEMO TO MUHATHIR: YOU JUST CAN'T SPIN THAT

AP reporter Patrick McDowell implies, perhaps accidentally, that the Malaysian leader was simply Dan Quayle siting Murphy Brown as an example.
Read my post at Israpundit.

:: michael parker Friday, October 17, 2003 [+] ::
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THE PROOF: RELIGION OF PEACE, MY ASS

NO- THE NEW STUPID QUOTE OF THE DAY, WEEK .... YEAR!

Someone tell Michael Moore he won't get the prize.

The President of Malaysia just told the world what a complete failure and farce is the religion of peace. Speaking to the 57-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference, he was not representing or speaking just for those who have hijacked Islam, he was speaking for Islam.

With his own numbers he acknowleges that this tiny race of people, down six million in World War II, with six million left (his numbers), has what it takes to hold down 1.3 billion Muslims. Of course they cannot do it by themselves, but the Jooooooz possess the power to control the rest of the world enough to control the rest of the world.

Mahathir Mohamad, who rules Malaysia in the shadows of two of the tallest buildings in the world, said Muslims for years believed mistakenly that Islam rejected new technology and progress.

They evidently have a motivation problem as well. In spite of their efforts to continue the circulation of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and even turning it into an Egyptian TV show, they have had the Jews' own diabolical plan for over a century, while they believe that the people with a plan to conquer the world would actually be dumb enough to publish their plan. Now how could the Muslims think that anybody could be that dumb.. hmmm?

:: michael parker Thursday, October 16, 2003 [+] ::
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STUPID QUOTE OF THE DAY, WEEK? - (but not the year!)

"In his campaign, Bush had said he thought the biggest security issue was Iraq and a national missile defence," Clinton said. "I told him that in my opinion, the biggest security problem was Osama bin Laden."

So if he knew that, why didn't Clinton during his second term....?
Oh. Nevermind. If that bastard Ken Starr had backed off and let Clinton get his job.
Done, I mean.

But seriously, it's just better to ask why Osama bin Laden was still our biggest security problem at the end of his eight-year Presidency.

It won't be long before Al Gore claims he said this to Bush first. Plus, it brings back the old joke, "How do you know when Clinton is lying?" I wonder what Michael Moore thought our biggest security problem was when Clinton allegedly said this to Bush.

:: michael parker Thursday, October 16, 2003 [+] ::
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FRENCH MUMIA

The funny thing about watching the world every day and making a big effort to to be mega-informed is how you still miss some very big things the other bloggers got.

So... Paris made convicted cop-killer Mumia Abu-Jamal an honorary citizen. In what is obviously a protest against American capital punishment - murder in the eyes of the French - they have honored a murderer.

Old Europe, indeed. How do you yell "Barabbas!" in French?


KILLING TERRI

In another example of missing a huge, and in this case a years-long story, a friend pointed this out to me last night. Guest blogger Doug is repulsed by another kind of state-sanctioned killing.

The more I think about the case of Terri Schiavo, the more disgusted I become. How any sane, rational person can conclude that by taking away her only means of nutrition it is justice is beyond my ability to comprehend.

Those who say this is a right to die case are just plain wrong. Right-to-die cases are about people whose death is imminent due to illness or injury. This woman is not ill. She does not have a life-threatening disease. She is horribly brain-damaged, but she will not die as a result of her condition. She is going to die, because the man who pledge to love her in sickness and in health would prefer to starve her to death than continue caring for her.

What probably galls me the most is that he is completely unwilling to allow her parents to take over custody of their daughter and her care. It would seem to me that he'd be happy to be free of the responsibility, so he could then get on with his life guilt-free. As much as it pains me to think this, my gut feeling is that he's afraid she'll rehabilitate enough to be able to communicate something that he doesn't want known. Why else would he stop them from caring for her? Why would he care if she lives another 25, 35 or 50 years if he's no longer footing the bills or visiting her?

The judge in all of this is no saint either. Why not allow an attempt to spoon feed the woman? What if she proved that she can eat? Why is that no even an option? Does he not understand the concepts of 'death by natural causes' versus 'death by starvation?' To take it many steps futher, is the judge ruling that those who cannot feed themselves have no right to life? Isn't that how every one of us comes into this world?

In no way am I arguing that I think Terry Schiavo has a high quality of life or could possibly be rehabilitated to the point where she might have one. All I am saying is that she has a right to live, and I wouldn't want to be the judge or the husband come Judgement Day. I only pray that Governor Jeb Bush has the strength of conviction to do what only he might be able to do: stop the state-sponsored murder of Terry Schiavo.

-posted by Doug M.

According to the article linked just above, Governor Bush has begun to act. The Christian Broadcasting Network, unsurprisingly on the story, posts this interview at its website. From this in the interview, if it is true, then somebody is definitely going to hell:

GORDON ROBERTSON: I hate to call it this way, but I think I have to. Isn’t this really murder? Aren’t we having a court-appointed guardian for financial self-interest reasons wanting his former wife or current wife to die?

WESLEY SMITH: Well, he certainly wants her to die, but we can’t call it murder, because the judge has approved it. But I think we do need to take a look at the facts of this case. He promised a jury when he sued for medical malpractice that he’d provide her rehabilitation. Since the money was put in the bank, not one hour, not one minute, not one second of rehabilitation has been given to this woman. She’s been forced to just lay in a bed for 10 years. Within two months of the money in the bank, he put a do-not-resuscitate order on her chart. He started to deny her medical treatment, such as antibiotics for an infection. He got engaged. He’s had one baby with his fiancée. I understand they’re pregnant with a second child. It kind of gives a whole new meaning to the term "till death do us part," doesn’t it?

For the husband, and then for the judge and other like-minded people, no example betters this for the need for spiritual training, for the tests given by God like the ones Joseph endured in Egypt, for the belief that this life will not matter once finished compared to the rewards of Heaven, and for that matter, even the eventual rewards while still in this life.

I must agree this is about killing her to get her out of the way. There's even a website - how about that? http://www.terrisfight.org/

:: michael parker Thursday, October 16, 2003 [+] ::
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BITCHSLAP IN BEANTOWN

A hilarious picture show posted today at Allah is in the House.

:: michael parker Tuesday, October 14, 2003 [+] ::
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THEY SAY WE FAKED THE MOON LANDING

China pulls plug on live broadcast of manned space launch.

Are they trying to avoid this bad publicity?

:: michael parker Tuesday, October 14, 2003 [+] ::
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FATWA FOR BEGINNERS

I'll bet you've never read one. Click here for a death warrant issued by the Shari'ah Court of the UK. Yes, that's the United Kingdom.

Several of you will say you've seen such hate in America, in Separatist Church literature and Klan pamphlets. However, Kodak, Tennessee Jew-haters and white trash in white sheets aren't stealing planes and flying them into buildings. Nor are they affecting the sensibilities of a fifth of the world's population.


PEOPLE OF THE BOOK UNITE!

The fatwa quotes something those who repeat the religion-of-peace mantra repeatedly overlook.

"O Believers, do not take Jews and Christians as an alliance, they are only allies to each other, and whosoever allies with them, he is one of them, and Allah does not guide the oppressors." [EMQ Surah Ma'idah, 5: 51-52]

MUSLIM ZERO TOLERANCE POLICY

Do they amputate a limb, or kick them out of the Madrassa?

And for those who go to fight, remember that the Prophet (saw) forbade for Muslims to point a small knife at another Muslim even as a joke, he (saw) said:

"Whoever points a small knife or piece of metal jokingly towards his Muslim brother, the angels will curse him and he will never smell paradise."

-via a Lapides Israpundit post - Fred's comments are cool, too
:: michael parker Tuesday, October 14, 2003 [+] ::
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This weekend saw the first anniversary of the bombing in Bali, and also of my learning of Indymedia. It brought to mind a whacko article posted at Indymedia which explained the whole thing:

Mossad Bombs Kill Almost 200 in Bali Tourist Nightspot
by Dean Bates 6:39am Sun Oct 13 '02 (Modified on 5:56pm Mon Oct 14 '02)

BALI, Indonesia (Sun Oct 13, 2002) – Mossad Bombs ripped through a packed nightspot on Indonesia's traditionally tranquil tourist island of Bali overnight in a Israeli staged terror attack, killing at least 182 people, many of them Australians.

The Saturday night blasts, which where a mossad terror operation followed persistent reports that mossad was operating in the area. After the massive peace rally in Australia yesterday these mossad operations where put into high gear in a deadly way. Mossad terror network operations are trying to draw the western world into war for Israeli and U.S conquest.
Police said the dead included nationals from Australia, Britain, France, Germany and Sweden, but declined to speculate on who might be responsible.

Indymedia describes itself as "a network of collectively run media outlets for the creation of radical, objective, and passionate tellings of the truth." The article was quickly pulled from indymedia.org, but remains posted at indy sites at Chapel Hill (unsurprisingly), Jakarta, and even Sydney.

...
Friday's headlines reported a current, and truly American, example of placing the blame where it doesn't go:
Family Sues NFL After Daughter Injured By Drunken Fan

:: michael parker Monday, October 13, 2003 [+] ::
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THE KIM JONG-IL SCHOOL OF TALKING POINTS

The Palestinians have threatened the US:

If Israel is allowed to continue construction, "this will mean the end of the two-state solution, and that will take us to either a more drastic and radical solution or perpetual conflict. It should be looked at that seriously," Palestinian U.N. envoy Nasser al-Kidwa said.

Er - that two-state solution was a non-solution, as evidenced by the Palestinians' wholesale rejection of the two-state solution, also known as the Second Intifada. The fence, the threat-to-peace-of-the-moment, is an enormous statement about the suicide bombers and where they come from. Perhaps if the Palestinians didn't dance in the streets and pass out candy after each Islamakazi attack, (and then name those streets after the "martyrs") the world might be less convinced about where the suicide bombers actually come from.

"A more drastic and radical solution"? What - send in all the suicide bombers at one time? Five armies lined up along the 1967 borders wasn't enough against Israel. Or are they suggesting a different drastic measure, like, say, forcing the Israelis to put them out of their misery?

Other alumni from the talking points school:
Nelson Mandela: "The U.S.A. Is a Threat to World Peace" (news flash, Mr. Mandela, we don't have world peace.)

Jimmy Carter: "The peace [attacking Iraq] establishes must be a clear improvement over what exists" (What is your definition of improvement, Mr. Carter?)

Allah: "Those to whom We have given the Book, and who recite it as it ought to be read, truly believe in it; those who disbelieve it shall be the losers."

:: michael parker Saturday, October 11, 2003 [+] ::
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IGNOBEL PEACE PRIZES

The world is excited by the rumor that the Pope will receive this year's Nobel Peace Prize. However, the media reports it is specifically for his opposition to the US-led war to oust Saddam Hussein. This headline, "Pope mooted for Nobel Peace Prize," was a bit amusing. Pardon me for playing Bill Safire here, but moot is an odd verb for nominating, ya think?

On the other hand, moot is a good word to have in the same sentence with "Nobel Peace Prize." Here's a headline to to support that: "Peres Says Arafat Deserved Nobel Peace Prize"

Arafat, he said, broke ground by publicly recognizing Israel, declaring he would "go out of terror to the domain of negotiations" and saying a Palestinian state should be formed in the West Bank and Gaza rather than inside Israeli territory.

Well, then, the winning's in the words. Clinton may get his prize yet.

In other lands, the shamefully underpublicized movement for democracy in Iran will get a little attention via the award to female Iranian human rights activist Shirin Ebadi for her work fighting for democracy and the rights of women and children. She is the first Muslim woman and the first Iranian to receive the prize.

She is not in good company, however. Let's go back to Say-the-right-thing Arafat, with a few lines plucked from James Taranto:
1. The official TV station of his Palestinian Authority broadcast a sermon by a Gaza imam who declared that "the United States will remain our primary enemy" and added: "O God, help our kinfolk in Iraq defeat their enemy."
2. Speaking for Arafat, the Lebanon commander of Arafat's Fatah faction, explained Arafat's call to stop suicide bombings as not condemning the bombings themselves, but rather the killing of innocent civilians and organized Israeli terrorism against the Palestinian people.
3. While Arafat has amassed a personal fortune of about $1.3 billion, and keeps tight control over it, with little accountability a study for the United States Agency for International Development is finds that malnutrition among Palestinian children in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip increased substantially during the conflict with Israel.
4. (July 2002) Fatah's military wing, al-Aksa Martyrs Brigades, issued a statement in which it threatened "to strike at Zionist and American interests and installations" in Israel and throughout the world if the United States maintains its opposition to Arafat.
5. (June 2002) Yasser Arafat declared Saturday that if Israel doesn't meet his demands and withdraw completely from disputed territories, "the whole region will witness a disastrous explosion that will impact not only the region but the stability of the whole world."

:: michael parker Friday, October 10, 2003 [+] ::
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DADDY - WHY'D THAT TIGER DRAG THAT MAN OFF THE STAGE?

Having learned nothing from the recent stage, a grizzly lover, along with his lover, got eaten alive by the subject of his love. The camera recorded only the sound of the attacks, and was found with the lens cap still on, indicating a near-miss loss of the joke, "What's a redneck's last words?" -this guy was from Malibu.

When my redneck friend Jerry and I went to Alaska two years ago, we went with a gun. Even then, the Alaskans laughed at the Colt .45, and we were advised to chisel off the site so it would hurt less when the bear shoved it up our ass. A .44 was better, they insisted.

The camera recorded what may have been a withdrawal of the grizzly lover's previous quotes:
"I think they've been misunderstood."
"We are the dangerous ones."
"I would never ever kill a bear in defense of my own life."

I wonder - had he lived, would he have gone back to the grizzlies like the animal rights activist who survived being gored by one of the bulls of Pamplona?

In other unsurprising news, Siegfried and Roy say the show will go on. I thought it would, and strongly suspect they have had a plan for this all along. It would be smart to address the what-if's, especially in a business that employs around 250 people and is nothing without the men who are the name. It's different with these tiger-tamers, I think they have been wary and prepared all along to restart the show if the risk they took didn't turn out to be too costly.

Did you notice however, the flood of reports that the show's employees needed to print their resumes and the numerous calls for retiring the tigers? It brings to mind the Manhattan way of not rebuilding.

The undeniable ferociousness of these creatures also takes me to the Animal Liberation Front, and its release in August of 10,000 minks from a Washington farm. Among the 9000 that were recaptured, cannibalism became rampant. If they are not placed back with their original litter, they will eat each other. Maybe we should put the activists in the cages with them.

:: michael parker Thursday, October 09, 2003 [+] ::
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LEAKY VOCABULARY LESSON

Bill Safire, famous for more than calling Hillary Clinton "a congenital liar," wrote an amusing what's-what for October 6. you have to register with the NYT, but it's easy and so far has not caused any trouble. I had to read this definition three times. It's one of those words you know the meaning of until you read what it means.

•counterleak (now we're getting sophisticated) is an anonymous source's passing of a charge of someone else's leaking to a reporter, who sees a conspiracy in the exposure of the original, possibly authorized, leak.

:: michael parker Wednesday, October 08, 2003 [+] ::
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CENSORING OLIVER CASTRO

Drudge links to this report that Oliver Stone was upset by HBO's decision to pull his documentary, "Comandante".

HBO co-produced the 90-minute film, but the cable channel pulled the documentary in May after Castro had three hijackers executed and imprisoned some 70 dissidents. Stone was asked to return to Cuba to reinterview the longstanding Cuban president.

It can be presumed that Stone's documentary put Castro in a favorable light, and HBO seems to understand its viewers better than Stone. Perhaps he should have teamed up with Michael Moore to blame those executions on the NRA. At the very least he could have learned to selectively edit the re-interview with Castro. "The reason ordinary rural Cuban houses have no windows is because they fear American drive-by shooting culture."

HBO's decision followed an event in late April, our ambassador to the UN walking out after Cuba got elected to the Human Rights Commission. To clarify, the same Cuba that took less than a month to execute the Havana ferry hijackers by firing squad, the same Cuba where Amnesty International for more than a year considered treatment of imprisoned Taliban at Guantanamo a priority, and the same Human Rights Commission that has had China, Syria, and Libya as members while the US was voted out.

Perhaps, Stone, who complained in an Arab country about being censored in the US, should pack up Alec Baldwin and move in with Robert Altman.

:: michael parker Tuesday, October 07, 2003 [+] ::
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DID YOU MISS DIRTY TRICKS THURSDAY?

Most of us know about the October Surprise, and we are very accustomed to dirty tricks shortly before an election (think DUI records). However, I never knew there was a name for the day. Jill Stewart writes about Dirty Tricks Thursday, Schwarzeneggar's Anita Hills, and something very, very ugly that the LA Times knows about about California's seemingly mousy governor.

Some politicos dub the Thursday before a big election "Dirty Tricks Thursday." That's the best day for an opponent to unload his bag of filth against another candidate, getting maximum headlines, while giving his stunned opponent no time to credibly investigate or respond to the charges.

It creates a Black Friday, where the candidate spends a precious business day right before the election desperately investigating the accusations, before facing a weekend in which reporters only care about further accusations that invariably spill out of the woodwork.

A RUNNING MATE FOR HILLARY

Hillary Clinton's recent public surprise at Chinese censorship of her memoir strongly suggested she is the perfect running mate for John Duped-by-a-dope Kerry, who has famously complained that our underintellegent president misled him. However, Jill Stewart's description of Gray Davis' in-office behavior throws us back to those much talked-about Little Rock lamp throwings.

Since at least 1997, the Times has been sitting on information that Gov. Gray Davis is an "office batterer" who has attacked female members of his staff, thrown objects at subservients and launched into red-faced fits, screaming the f-word until staffers cower.

... ... ...

He so violently shoved his loyal, 62-year-old secretary out of a doorway that she suffered a breakdown and refused to ever work in the same room with him. She worked at home, in an arrangement with state officials, then worked in a separate area where she was promised Davis would not go. She finally transferred to another job, desperate to avoid him.

The institutional bias that Stewart convincingly describes leaves me wondering, what do these media people want? As empty as so much idealism is, there still has to be at least a little want there. If they truly do not care at all for that which they say they march, then why bother marching?

:: michael parker Monday, October 06, 2003 [+] ::
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YAKYAKYAKYAK

Rush Limbaugh's explanation, that his comments were aimed at the media, are perfectly acceptable. Thinking people knew what he meant before the explanation, and only thinking people know what he meant after. It was a far touchier remark than Dusty Baker's comments about how darker-skinned people can take the heat, but the media (the same confidential source-obsessed media that wants to expose Bob Novak's confidential source) did the same damned thing with Colin Powell.

There are interesting non-Clinton-parallels in the Schwarzeneggar apology, especially in that he apologized. I haven't, and probably won't read the details of the six accusers, but women who see superstar athletes in their hotel rooms at 2am come to mind. If anything, Arnold's recent near-scandal is a history lesson about the 1970's, and reminiscent of a DUI record that surfaced four days before Al Gore sued to become President.

Speaking of suing...

Tonight Paula Zahn, who left Fox for CNN to report the election in Saddam's Iraq as if it were an election, will interview the former personal injury lawyer from North Carolina, Senator John Edwards about his candidacy is if it were a candidacy. Having already earned "Senator What's-his-name" status in James Taranto's rants weeks ago, he would be well-advised not to make any references to the Martha Stewart case, because he is going to need her in his $3.8 million dollar Georgetown house before he leaves the Senate.

:: michael parker Friday, October 03, 2003 [+] ::
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THE NOT-SO-SECRET-AGENT

The media has officially imploded. How can you trust any member or outlet of the media that wants to get to the bottom of who-leaked-what, when those same people would (and do) go to jail to protect their confidential sources.

The CIA has not imploded, but it is at fault and needs to admit it.

Go to Sgt Stryker for the best blog I can find on the Novak revelation. If there is anything else to add to this, you will find it in the brown paper bag on the picnic table at Los Alamos.

:: michael parker Wednesday, October 01, 2003 [+] ::
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