He’s Back

Ken AshfordWar on Terrorism/TortureLeave a Comment

After remaining silent for 3 years, Osama bin Laden is going to post an online video to mark the 6th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, according to news reports.

For you kids out there, a little history:

  • bin Laden and his organization, al Qaeda, were responsible for the 9/11 attacks
  • Saddam Hussein in Iraq wasn’t
  • None of the hijackers were from Iraq (in fact, they were mostly from Saudi Arabia, our ally, which incidently may be where bin Laden is actually hiding out)
  • We invided Iraq anyway, under the false pretenses of Hussein having WMDs
  • To do so, we diverted military personnel and resources away from the hunt for bin Laden
  • Saddam didn’t have WMDs
  • al Qaeda and al Qaeda-inspired jihadist groups didn’t exist in Iraq prior to our invasion
  • They do now
  • 3,760 U.S. soldiers have died in Iraq, including the seven killed yesterday
  • Bush: "We’re kicking ass".
  • Bush also hailed Anbar province in Iraq as a success story, hailing the improved security there.
  • Four of the seven U.S. soldiers killed yesterday died in Anbar province attacks.

Mission accomplished.

Another Dirty Moral Values Person

Ken AshfordSex/Morality/Family ValuesLeave a Comment

Sex in a men’s bathroom?  Visiting prostitutes?  Being a prostitute?  It’s like a parlor game trying to guess the next GOP/"moral values" crusader who gets caught doing something very naughty.

78701testerToday’s contestent is the 58 year old Rev. Tommy Tester of Bristol, Virginia.  He’s a Baptist minister and works for a Christian radio station:

Police in Johnson City arrested a Bristol, Virginia, minister for driving under the influence…

DWI.  Hmmm.  Well, that’s not too bad I guess.  We’ve certainly seen worse from the moral majority crowd.

A report also accuses Tester of offering police officers sexual favors…

Oh, dear.  Not good. 

Police say 58-year-old Tommy Tester urinated in front of children at a car wash…

Oh please God.  Tell me there’s not more.

…while wearing a skirt.

Waiter?  Check, please.

Dispatches From The University Of Noshit Sherlock

Ken AshfordScience & TechnologyLeave a Comment

On the heels of the no-duh-inducing scientific study that men are attracted to good-looking women comes another scientific study from the realms of the glaringly obvious: two year olds have better social learning skills than apes.

Is there any doubt that this is true?  I mean, two year olds eventually learn to behave and be more socially skilled.  Apes, not so much.  Therefore, it’s rather obvious that 2 year olds have better social learning skills than apes.  We don’t need a scientific study to prove this.

Another recent no-brainer study finds that (shock!) women place a greater emphasis on kissing than men.

And another obvious scientific study inform us what we already know to be true: Rock stars are more likely to die young than non-rocker stars.

Reeeeaaaallly???

Guess what else we’ve learn from recent scientific studies:

  • Combining Drugs and Alcohol is Bad For You
  • Gun-Toting Drivers are More Prone to Road Rage
  • Too Many Meetings Make You Grumpy
  • Faraway Objects Are Tougher to See
  • Swallowing More Than One Magnet is Dangerous
  • Smoking Cigarettes Costs You Money
  • Memory and Concentration Fade With Age
  • Women Like Funny Men

What’s going on here?  Have scientists run out of things to study?

Hey, you lab-coat-wearing, bespeckled, nerds!  I want my flying car!  A cure for the common cold! A holodeck! Get crackin’!

Thompson, Clinton Lead In NC

Ken AshfordElection 2008, Local InterestLeave a Comment

Republicans:  Thompson at 34%, Giuliani at 16%, Romney at 13%,  McCain at 7%, "Others" at 7%, "Undecided" at 22%

Democrats:  Clinton at 30%, Edwards at 28%, Obama at 21%, "Other" at 12%, "Undecided" at 21%

Poll was taken yesterday (the day Thomson announced)

Details here (PDF)

The Conservative Argument Against Gay Marriage

Ken AshfordSex/Morality/Family ValuesLeave a Comment

I love this.  At the New Hampshire GOP debate last night, GOP candidate Sam Brownbeck got this question:

“Should there be a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage? And if so, why?”

His answer, I think, is the standard issue conservative answer.  Here is is, in its entirety —

“I understand this is a divided audience on this, and I understand we as a country are struggling with this question, but these issues aren’t done in a vacuum. I had a question earlier about family values, and I think this is important for us to rebuild the family structure. In countries that have redefined marriage, where they’ve said, okay, it’s not just a man and a woman, it can be two men, two women, the marriage rates in those countries have plummeted to where you have counties now in Northern Europe where 80 percent of the first-born children are born out of wedlock. We don’t need more children born out of wedlock; we need more children born into wedlock between a mom and a dad bonded together for life.

“When you do these vast social experiments — and that’s what this is, when you redefine marriage. It’s a vast social experiment. They’re not done in isolation. They impact the rest of the culture around you. When you take the sacredness out of marriage, you will drive the marriage rates down. And currently in this country, currently we’re at 36 percent of our children born out of wedlock. You can raise a good child in that setting, but we know the best place is between a mom and a dad bonded together for life. (Boos, cheers, applause.)”

Now, let’s just that boil it down to its essence.  Ready?  The Brownbeck/conservative argument:

  • If gays are allowed to get married, then straight people will stop getting married
  • If straight people stop getting married, then we’ll have more children born out-of-wedlock
  • Even though children born out-of-wedlock don’t necessarily become criminals and deviants, society as a whole will crumble

These points are, on their face, laughable.

But even if you buy them, aren’t they an argument for making divorce illegal?  If you truly believe that marriages must be heterosexual and intact (you know, for the sake of the future of mankind) — if it is that much of a threat — then why aren’t you for making divorce impossible?

Nuke Iran?

Ken AshfordIranLeave a Comment

The story about how the Air Force "lost" five nuclear warheads (for a while) has an interesting and unnerving twist:

Why the hubbub over a B-52 taking off from a B-52 base in Minot, North Dakota and subsequently landing at a B-52 base in Barksdale, Louisiana? That’s like getting excited if you see a postal worker in uniform walking out of a post office. And how does someone watching a B-52 land identify the cruise missiles as nukes? It just does not make sense.

So I called a old friend and retired B-52 pilot and asked him. What he told me offers one compelling case of circumstantial evidence. My buddy, let’s call him Jack D. Ripper, reminded me that the only times you put weapons on a plane is when they are on alert or if you are tasked to move the weapons to a specific site.

Then he told me something I had not heard before.

Barksdale Air Force Base is being used as a jumping off point for Middle East operations. Gee, why would we want cruise missile nukes at Barksdale Air Force Base. Can’t imagine we would need to use them in Iraq. Why would we want to preposition nuclear weapons at a base conducting Middle East operations?

His final point was to observe that someone on the inside obviously leaked the info that the planes were carrying nukes. A B-52 landing at Barksdale is a non-event. A B-52 landing with nukes. That is something else.

Now maybe there is an innocent explanation for this? I can’t think of one. What is certain is that the pilots of this plane did not just make a last minute decision to strap on some nukes and take them for a joy ride.

(Disturbing) food for thought.

UPDATE:  The speculation, however, has plenty of dissenters.

Jott Blog Post

Ken AshfordBlogging2 Comments

We the people of the United States in order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, ensure to meet tranquility, provide to the common events, promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty toward some of the prosperity to ordain and establish with constitution of United States.
Click here to listen

Powered by Jott.com – Try it at 1 (866) JOTT123 – Jott.com

COMMENTARY:  Not bad.  Not bad at all, especially when you consider that I talked fast and spoke through a cell phone.  And it got the punctuation (i.e., before and after "establish justice") which is pretty awesome.

It took a while for the Jott service to process my registration, but now that it seems to work, it’s pretty awesome.  The only problem is that every Jotted post will have the same title: "Jott Blog Post".  Hopefully, they will fix that in future upgrades.  In the past, when I drive home to New Hampshire for Xmas, I often mobile blog on the way.  This Jott service will make it easier because rather than type on my cell phone while driving (not recommended) or pulling over to type during gas stops (still kind of a pain), I can just speak into the cell and have that be posted.

(If you don’t understand what this post is about, it is a test of a free service which allows you to blog by — literally — phoning it in.  Scroll down ("If This Works…") or click here for more).

R.I.P. Lucianno

Ken AshfordIn PassingLeave a Comment

Luciano_pavarotti_bNot a big opera buff myself, but when a giant in the arts passes, I would be remiss in not noting it:

Luciano Pavarotti, opera’s biggest superstar of the late 20th century, died Thursday. He was 71. He was the son of a singing baker and became the king of the high C’s.

Pavarotti, who had been diagnosed last year with pancreatic cancer and underwent treatment last month, died at his home in his native Modena at 5 a.m., his manager told The Associated Press in an e-mailed statement.

His wife, Nicoletta, four daughters and sister were among family and friends at his side, manager Terri Robson said.

I’ve seen Pavarotti perform twice.  The first time was at the Boston Commons Esplanade in the early 80’s (yes, Mom, I remember) when he gave a public performance for his film — which bombed — Yes, Giorgio.  Technically, my family and I, along with several hundred other people, were movie extras.  I also saw him perform in London in 1983 at some free outdoor concert, although he was one of many "acts".

Opera diva Beverly Sills died earlier this month.  If these things happen in threes, then I guess another opera star is doomed.  But the only two living opera stars I’ve heard of are now dead.

Little Shop Of Horrors Cast Announcement

Ken AshfordLocal Interest, Theatre2 Comments

Congrats to the cast of Little Shop of Horrors, to be performed by Winston-Salem Theatre Alliance on October 19-28. 

Get tickets now! Performed at SECCA.  All shows at 8 pm, except Sundays at 2 pm. FOR INFORMATION CALL 336.768.5655

Images3 Seymour: Gray Smith

Audrey:  Cheri Van Loon

Chiffon: Venessa Martinez

Crystal:  Emily Snow

Ronnette:  Cary Newberry

Cherelle/Urchin # 4:  Nichelle Wright

Mushnik:  Ken Ashford

Orin:  Zack Brown

Male Ensemble: Dan Lee & Jordan Long

Audrey II: Dennis Raley

Plant Operator:  Winston Sims

This is an unofficial cast list, seeing as how I got the info from a very faint phone recording and I couldn’t catch all the names.  Apologies also for any misspellings.

Anyone who has worked with Jamie knows he doesn’t pussyfoot around when it comes to blocking.  Tonight, the first rehearsal, he’s outdoing even himself — we’re blocking the entire show (top to bottom) tonight.  (Of course, we’ll be skipping over choreographed numbers).

If This Works….

Ken AshfordBloggingLeave a Comment

I am SOOOO using it:

Jott Networks, which has developed a technology to convert voice to text and then have the messages broadcast via e-mail or text message to individuals or groups of people, unveiled a new set of free services today. Users can now categorize messages in folders — for example "work," "personal" or "expenses" –and set a Jott Reminder to receive an e-mail or text message at a certain date and time.

The Seattle startup also unveiled a service called Jott Links, which allows people to use their voice to post updates on blogs, Yahoo Groups and Twitter. Furthermore, it allows people to speak an address into a mobile phone and receive a home valuation from Zillow.com.

It supposedly works with Blogger, Typepad, Twitter, etc.  After signing up and registering, here’s how it works….

From your phone with your voice

  1. Call 1-866-JOTT-123
  2. When asked who you would like to Jott, say the name of your link (ie: "Twitter")
  3. After the beep, say your message and hang up

And what you say gets translated into text and posted to your link.  Also works with email.  Apparently, it’s free.  [UPDATE:  Wait — is the "866" exchange toll-free?] [SECOND UPDATE:  Yes, it is.]

When I get the chance, I will try out Jott on this blog.  I’ll recite the Preamble to the Constitution:

"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

Stay tuned for the results….

“We’re Kicking Ass”

Ken AshfordIraqLeave a Comment

Embarrassing:

"We’re kicking ass," he told Mark Vaile on the tarmac after the Deputy Prime Minister inquired politely of the President’s stopover in Iraq en route to Sydney.

We need a President who doesn’t talk like a 13 year old raving about a new video game.

Oh, and a President who can grasp reality:

As for the “substance” (I use the word loosely) of Bush’s boast, could he be any more wrong? Yesterday, the GAO documented the fact that Iraq has successfully completed three of the administration’s 18 benchmarks. Maybe 17% results were enough for Gentlemen’s Cs to get Bush through school, but in this universe, it hardly qualifies as “kicking ass.”

I suspect Bush hasn’t thought this through very clearly, but it’s almost as if the president has decided that he needs to start really lying. Dems keep pointing to reality, and highlighting the fact that the policy isn’t working. If Bush concedes publicly that his strategy is struggling, it would be perceived as a sign of weakness. So, he swings for the fences — his Iraq policy isn’t just starting to produce results; it’s actually “kicking ass.”