Archive for 3/4/2008 - 27 Adar I, 5768

Ashcroft requested the medical records of 45 women, and since he asked for them with the identifying information blacked out (’redacted’), he assumed that would take care of any privacy issues. The courts so far have disagreed.

Here’s an interesting analysis of why anonymity isn’t the same as privacy.

Political Satirist Al Franken, and others, have commenced airing an “alternative” to Conservative Talk Radio. Air America started airing in a handful of cities across the US today at noon (Eastern).

If no local station is airing the programming at the moment (as is the case in St. Louis), if you get XM Satellite radio, you can tune it to Channel 167. Or you can go to AirAmericaRadio.com and listen to it in streaming audio. (Real Player required)

I talked previously about France outlawing head coverings in schools, and about a couple US states that allow schools to prohibit teachers from wearing religious head coverings.

However, there is a School in Oklahoma in the news that bans all “hats, caps, bandannas or jacket hoods inside school buildings.” A Muslim girl’s parents have sued for the right of their child to wear a head scarf. And the Dept of Justice is thankfully supporting the side of the parents.

“No student should be forced to choose between following her faith and enjoying the benefits of a public education.” — Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Alex Acosta

Hopefully, this will just be another case among many where an individual school makes a poor decision in crafting its rules, and need the courts to explain the constitution to them.

Actor, and former model Michael Bergin has written a book called, The Other Man, detailing his affair with the late Carolyn Bessette (JFK Jr.’s wife). The NY Post has some even more shocking details (naturally).

The ABC news story mentions that Michael Bergin claims Carolyn told him she suspected JFK Jr was having an affair too.

I know it will come as a shock to many, but I have a confession to make…I was the guy he was having an affair with! I’ve started writing the book now. If the NY Post, or any other newspaper is interested in the details, all they have to do is contact me.

Search Continues for U. of Wisconsin Coed. This is the headline on a Fox News story.

I should note the story is actually an Associated Press story, but the word “coed” only appears in the headline. It is my understanding that the news source that uses the AP story writes the headline.

You can search for text from the article on Google News and come up with a list of those who have printed the story. At this moment in time, every occurrence uses the word “Student”, or the woman’s name, except for Fox News. They’ve chosen to use the word “Coed.”

“You can’t be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline - it helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer.”

– Frank Zappa

I’d like to add the addendum, ‘and it helps if the beer from your country doesn’t taste like horse urine.’ Of course, there would be some individuals who will go unnamed who would query how I know what horse urine tastes like. I write poetry and fiction. I have a creative mind. So I can state with authority, Horse urine tastes (sigh) like the beer made in my hometown. And my authority is as unquestionable as a New York Times columnist’s. (sigh)

Kerry visited a church Sunday and quoted scripture.

‘What does it profit my brother if someone says he has faith, but does not have works,’” Kerry continued. “When we look at what is happening in America today, ‘Where are the works?’ For it is also written, ‘The doers of the word are no hearers only.

Bush was upset Kerry quoted scripture:

Bush campaign spokesman Steve Schmidt said Kerry’s comment “was beyond the bounds of acceptable discourse and a sad exploitation of Scripture for a political attack.”

So I guess this means that Bush never quotes scripture for political reasons? (Insert laughter here.)

This wasn’t difficult to find at all…

The current Bush frequently quotes Scripture and invokes prayer. He quoted the biblical prophet Isaiah in his State of the Union speech last month. (2/7/2003 Gannett News Service)

And lets not forget that Dubya Declared June 10, 2000 as “Jesus Day” in the State of Texas. Now, lets also remember the election was in November 2000. Does anyone at all believe that his proclamation as Governor of Texas was not political in any way?

The AFP refers to itself as “the world’s oldest established news agency”, “a top quality international service” “represents editorial quality and reliability, a reputation built since the agency was founded in 1835.”

Here’s the opening paragraph of an AFP news story from this morning:

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US Senate approved a controversial bill that would recognize a fetus as a victim separate from its mother during a violent crime, drawing fire from opponents who believe it could erode pro-abortion legislation.

What responsible news agency uses the phrase “pro-abortion legislation”? (For the record, I’d be as upset with them if in a parallel story they used the phrase ‘anti-choice’ or ‘anti-woman’)

I have no idea who the AFP is. But Yahoo News apparently thinks they’re qualified to report the news. If you do a google news search on the phrase, most of the stories you come up with are from GOPNews, LifeSite, LifeNews, Agape Press, the National Review, etc. It only appears in respectable news stories in quotes from a partisan.

Some of the below should be funny to all, others…well, nu?

Sign over the urinal in a bathroom at Hebrew University:
” The future of the Jewish people is in your hands.”

My Mother is a typical Jewish mother. Once she was on jury duty. They sent her home. She insisted SHE was guilty.

Shul committees should be made up of three members, two of whom should be absent at every meeting. [note: Shul = synagogue]

Any time a person goes into a delicatessen and orders a pastrami on white bread, somewhere a Jew dies.

I once wanted to become an atheist but I gave up. They have no holidays.

Don’t be humble; you are not that great.

I have enough money to last me the rest of my life, unless I buy something.

The time is at hand when the wearing of a prayer shawl and skullcap will not bar a man from the White House, unless, of course, the man is Jewish.

As Lenny Bruce once said, even if you are Catholic, if you live in New York you’re Jewish. However, what he didn’t say, is if you live in Butte, Montana, even if you are Jewish, you’re not.

It was mealtime during a flight on El-Al.
“Would you like dinner?,” the flight attendant asked Moshe, seated in front.
“What are my choices?,” Moshe asked.
“Yes or no,” she replied.

An elderly Jewish man is knocked down by a car and brought to the local hospital. A pretty nurse tucks him into bed and says, “Mr. Epstein, are you comfortable?”
Epstein replies, “I make a nice living….”

Saul Epstein was taking an oral exam, applying for his citizenship papers. He was asked to spell “cultivate” and he spelled it correctly. He was then asked to use the word in a sentence, and with a big smile, responded: “Last vinter on a very cold day, I vas vaiting for a bus, but it vas too cultivate, so I took the subvay home.”

A Rabbi was opening his mail one morning. Taking a single sheet of paper from an envelope he found written on it only one word: “shmuck.” At the next Friday night service, the Rabbi announced, “I have known many people who have written letters and forgot to sign their names, but this week I received a letter from someone who signed his name…. and forgot to write a letter.

Three Jewish women get together for lunch. As they are being seated in the restaurant, one takes a deep breath and gives a long, slow “oy.” The second takes a deep breath as well and lets out a long, slow “oy.” The third takes a deep breath and says impatiently, “Girls, I thought we agreed that we weren’t going to talk about our children.”

Signs on Synagogue Bulleting Boards:
- Under same management for over 5763 years.
- Beat the Rosh Hashanah rush, come to shul this Shabbat.
- Don’t give up. Moses was once a basket case!
- Come early for a good seat.
- What part of “Thou shalt not” don’t you understand?

Chanukah Songs that Never Quite Caught on:
- Oy to the World
- Schlepping through a Winter Wonderland
- Matzo Man (by the Lower East Side Village People)
- Come on Baby Light my Menorah
- Deck the Halls with Balls of Matzos
- Silent Night? I Should Be So Lucky

A woman goes to the post office to buy stamps for her Chanukah cards. She says to the clerk “May I have 50 Chanukah stamps please.”
“What denomination?,” says the clerk.
The woman says “Oy vay, my g-d, has it come to this? Okay, give me 6 orthodox, 12 conservative and 32 reform!”

A well-meaning gentile from Connecticut, upon getting to Washington on his vacation, is about to enter Senator Lieberman’s office when a Capitol Building guard stops him.
“I’m sorry, Sir,” the guard explained. “Senator Lieberman is doing Mincha and Maariv at this time.”
The gentile walks away shaking his head, saying: “Hmmm, Clinton only had Monica.
[Note: Mincha is the afternoon prayer, and Maariv is the evening prayer]

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg asked in the hearings whether or not “Under God’ in the pledge was more or less problematic than Presidents including “The Year of Our Lord” in Presidential Proclamations.

Unless presidents are required to use that language, I see nothing wrong with that in that it would be a personal choice. I am sure if someone who did not believe we were in the 2004th “Year of Our Lord” were to become President, they would change the language to suit their personal beliefs. Presidential Proclamations are just that, personal proclamations of the President. It’s just that we have never had a non-Christian President.

I don’t feel our current President is speaking for me when he says 99% of what he says, why would I feel he is speaking for me when he says “Our Lord”?

The Jewish Telegraphic Agency has a good overview of the Supreme Court hearings on the Pledge, and the responses of various Jewish groups.

I feel what Marc Stern of the American Jewish Congress says makes a lot of sense. If the Supreme Court were to remove the words from the pledge, there is absolutely no question what would happen next. It would be the quickest passage of a Constitutional Ammendment this nation has ever seen. And the language of the ammendment could well contain stuff that would be much more damaging than those two words in the pledge. So, while one might prefer the pledge not to have those two words, and while one might rationally conclude that it is a violation of the first ammendment, it’s better we do not go down this path.

Last Wednesday we were supposed to wear Green.

Friday, some will be Wearing Pink in support of some 7th and 8th grade boys who were banned from a school picture for wearing pink.

They claimed they wore pink because “American Idol” host Ryan Seacrest wears pink. The school thought it was gang related. The day after the incident, 400 out of the 1000 students in the school wore pink.

And now Ryan Seacrest is encouraging everyone to wear pink Friday.

I had no idea pink was ‘in.’ Especially for 7th and 8th grade boys. Times change.

Monty Python’s Life of Brian will be re-released next month to mark its 25th Anniversary.

There is no attempt to hide the fact the decision to re-release it is tied to the success of Mel Gibson’s Passion. Advertisements will even ask the question “Mel or Monty?” Surviving members of Monty Python describe it as “counter-programming.”

The BBC article above interestingly notes that the movie would never have been released 25 years ago if former Beatle George Harrison hadn’t stepped in to finance the movie when the original financiers stepped out fearing the controversy.

I post the below entry, and 2 seconds later, the following appears in my email box:

Moses & The Lord

“Excuse me, Sir.”

“Is that you again, Moses?”

“I’m afraid it is, Sir.”

“What is it this time, Moses; more computer problems?”

“How did you guess?”

“I don’t have to guess, Moses. Remember ?”

“Oh, yes; I forgot.”

“Tell me what you want, Moses.”

“But you already know, Sir. Remember?”

“Moses!”

“Sorry, Sir.”

“Well, go ahead, Moses; spit it out.”

“Well, I have a question, Sir. You know those ten ‘things’ you sent me via e-mail?”
“You mean the Ten Commandments, Moses?”

“That’s it. I was wondering if they are important.”

“What do you mean ‘if they are important,’ Moses? Of course, they are important. Otherwise, I would not have sent them to you.”

“Well, sorry, Sir, but I lost them. I could say the dog ate them; but, of course, you would see right through that.”

“What do you mean you ‘lost them’? Are you trying to tell me you didn’t save them, Moses?”

“No, Sir; I forgot.”

“You should always save, Moses.”

“Yes, I know. You told me that before. I was going to save them, but I forgot. I did forward them to some people before I lost them though.”

“And did you hear back from any of them?”

“You already know I did. There was the one guy who said he never uses ’shalt not.’ May he change the words a little bit?”

“Yes, Moses, as long as he does not change the meaning.”

“And what about the guy who thought your stance was a little harsh, and recommended calling them the ‘Ten Suggestions,’ or letting people pick one or two to try for a while?”

“Moses, I will act as if I did not hear that.”

“I think that means ‘no.’ Well, what about the guy who said I was scamming him?”

“I think the term is ’spamming,’ Moses.”

“Oh, yes. I E-mailed him back and told him I don’t even eat that stuff, and I have no idea how you can send it to someone through a computer.”

“And what did he say?”

“You know what he said. He used Your name in vain. You don’t think he might have sent me one of those — err — plagues, and that’s the reason I lost those ten ‘things’, do you?”

“They are not plagues; they are called ‘viruses,’ Moses.”

“Whatever! This computer stuff is just too much for me. Can we go back to those stone tablets? It was hard on my back taking them out and reading them each day, but at least I never lost them.”

“We will do it the new way, Moses; using computers!!”

“I was afraid you would say that, Sir.”

“Moses, what did I tell you to do if you messed up?”

“You told me to hold up this rat and point it toward the computer.”

“It’s a mouse, Moses, not a rat. Mouse! Mouse! And did you do that?”

“No, I decided to try calling technical support first. After all, who knows more about this stuff than you? And I really like your hours. By the way, Sir, did Noah have two of these mice on the ark?”

“No, Moses.”

“One other thing. Why did you not name them ‘frogs’ instead of ‘mice,’ because did you not tell me the thing they sit on is a pad?”

“I did not name them, Moses. Man did, and you can call yours a frog if you want to.”

“Oh, that explains it. I bet some woman told Adam to call it a mouse. After all, was it not a woman who named one of the computers ‘Apple?’”

“Say good night, Moses.”

“Wait a minute, Sir. I am pointing the mouse, and it seems to be working. Yes, a couple of the ten ‘things’ have come back.”

“Which ones are they, Moses?”

“Let me see.

‘Thou shalt not steal from any grave an image’ and ‘Thou shalt not uncover Thy neighbor’s wife.’”

“Turn the computer off, Moses. I’m sending you another set of stone tablets.”

Oldest version of this joke on the net I could find dates back to October 1999

A public school in SW missouri has a 10 Commandments plaque in their cafeteria. (And allegedly school officials have led students in organized prayer). A local woman has sued.

The New York Times examines what “Under God” means in our pledge, as the Supreme Court begins to look at that issue.

According to the Bush administration, which is defending the pledge, its recitation is no more a religious act than pocketing a coin imprinted with “In God We Trust.” The administration’s brief says both are simply patriotic acknowledgments of “the nation’s religious history” and of the “undeniable historical fact that the nation was founded by individuals who believed in God,” an empirical statement that poses no threat to the separation of church and state.

I find most interesting a religious response to this position:

According to another group of religious individuals, 32 Christian and Jewish clergy members who take the opposite side in the case, reciting the pledge with “under God” invites a troubling kind of civic blasphemy. If children are supposed to utter the phrase without meaning it as an affirmation of personal faith, the group’s brief asserts, “then every day, government asks millions of schoolchildren to take the name of the Lord in vain.”

So either the pledge is asking students to affirm a faith in God, as the plaintiff, Newdow is claiming. Or it is requiring religious students to violate one of their 10 commandments. Either way, it’s a violation of the First Ammendment.

addendum
Here’s an article from the perspective of a non-Judeo-Christian-Islamic author. Many assume incorrectly those who are unwilling to say “Under God” are comprised only of atheists. But we are a diverse nation. There are also Polytheists in this country. And a pledge of allegiance stating the nation is “under God” not only implies their faith in a multiple of gods is incorrect, it forces them into a decision between being patriotic and violating their religious faith, or holding to their religious faith and appearing unpatriotic.

Sen. Ted Kennedy says he’d support a Constitutional Ammendment allowing Alien-born citizens to run for President. This of course is gratifying for Kennedy’s Nephew-in-law, the alien currently governor of California.

No word on whether mutants should be allowed to run as well…

The more things change…

Florida has cleaned up their election system. They’ve done it so well, that in their primary two weeks ago, Gephardt won a county! Gephardt, who dropped out of the race months ago, and got 1% of the vote everywhere else, got over 60% in Bay County.

Luckily, it was an Optical Scanner system, so there were paper ballots to recount. And recount they did, and unsurprisingly, there had been a *small* error.

But many counties in Florida have Diebold Electronic Voting Systems. With absolutely no paper trail.

In a January election, with only one race on the ballot, and electronic voting, there was a 12 point margin of victory, and 130 blank ballots. (Why would 130 people show up to vote, and not vote? Remember, there was only one race on the ballot.) The loser wanted a recount. There was nothing to recount.

There are a few bills in Congress to require verification methods. Hopefully something can be done by November.

Utah has banned the firing squad as a means of execution. All that’s left there is lethal injection.

The reason for the ban, unfortunately, had nothing to do with the cruelty of firing squads over injection, but instead they didn’t want to give convicts the option, since they considered it a “dramatic” choice.

Nanon Williams one of 70 juveniles currently on death row.

One county in Texas, Harris County, has 10 of those 70. 14% is absolutely amazing for one county. They must be proud. (Sadly, they probably are.)

Nanon was convicted with flawed evidence. His accuser actually admitted to the crime himself on tape. But Texas still wants to execute him.

Title of post is a reference to this Phil Ochs song

Five years ago, yesterday, an innocent person may have been executed by the State of Missouri. Christy explains it as well as, if not better, than I could.

The possibility of executing innocent people is but one of several reasons I have against the death penalty. I’ve covered them several times in this space in the past.

1) The inherent racially-biased nature of capital punishment
2) The logical difficulties with teaching respect for human life by destroying it
3) The lack of any evidence that it deters future crime

As a side note. The US is also one of very few nations in the world that executes juveniles.

Since 1990 Amnesty International has recorded 34 executions of child offenders ñ 19 of them in the USA. Since 2000 there have been 14 ñ nine of them in the USA.

List of countries, and the number of juvenile offenders executed, since 1990: China (1), Congo (1), Nigeria (1), Saudi Arabia (1), Yemen (1), Pakistan (3), Iran (8), US (19).

Chief Justice Rehnquist has just made the Supreme Court a campaign issue. He has confirmed that he is considering retirement. I doubt even if he decided next week to announce, that Congress would be able to select a replacement. There’d be enough foot-dragging by the Democrats until afteer the election. (And then if Kerry won, until January)

Everyone’s pretty much said, as last time, but even more so, the President after Jan 20 of next year will fill at least one seat. But it can now be said with even more certainty. And of course who the Chief Justice is will also have a big influence.

Unless Renquist modifies the statement “hey folks, I’m only considering it, maybe in four, five years” or something like that — unless that happens, it’s going to be brought up. By both sides.

Purim begins Saturday at sunset

Traditionally it is said, Jews are commanded to get so drunk on Purim they are unable to tell the difference between “Cursed Haman” and “Blessed Mordecai”. (Some translate this as Wrong and Right). Obviously this is a very dangerous commandment if so interpreted.

Here’s an intriguing look at the origins of this tradition, and what may really have been intended.

For those who know I like numerology, I was surprised to learn that in Hebrew, the words “Cursed Haman” and “Blessed Mordecai” are numerologically equal. And therefore the commandment may just mean drunk enough not to be able to do the math required to realize this. (Which isn’t very drunk at all. As the column indicates, many people can’t do that sober.)

A nice cliche, but usually in America we can’t try someone twice for the same crime. Of course, the Supreme Court has been nice enough to provide us with a loophole.

I guess if the State of Oklahoma doesn’t succeed in getting a death sentence for Nichols, Oklahoma can pass a law that allows localities to try people, and Oklahoma City can set up a third trial. After that — since we’d have exhausted the possibilities in America, we could go on to the World Court. (But unfortunately, most members of The World Court are against the Death Penalty.)