Iraqis Cannot Agree On Constitution?

Ken AshfordBreaking News, IraqLeave a Comment

The Associated Press is reporting:

Parliament announced it had no plans to gather Thursday night and no date for a future session, signaling Iraqi factions were failing to agree on a new constitution before a self-imposed midnight target.

It’s the "no date for a future session" part that is alarming.  It’s one thing if they are negotiating, haggling, horse-trading, or even arguing, but if (as it seems) they’re not even going to meet, then the process of forming a democracy is effectively over.

I wonder what happens then.  Chaos, I expect.  And our soldiers will be in the thick of it.  For a "noble cause" of an Iraqi government which isn’t there (much like the WMDs).

UPDATE:  But on the other hand, Bloomberg is reporting:

Iraqi lawmakers today plan to vote on a new constitution, paving the way for an October referendum. Leaders of the Sunni Muslim minority have refused to endorse the document, saying it will divide the country along ethnic and religious lines.

So which is it?

UPDATE 2:  Aaaah.  I see.  They’re only pretending to vote on the constitution today.

Blogenlust’s Guide To Wingnut Logic

Ken AshfordRight Wing Punditry/IdiocyLeave a Comment

This is hysterical and spot-on.  I suspect it will be updated often so bookmark it and keep checking back.

Blogenlust’s Law:

As an online discussion among wingnuts grows longer, the probability that a Clinton will be blamed for something approaches 1 (i.e., certainty).

The "Even Clinton Agreed" Corollary to Blogenlust’s Law

There is equal probability that a wingnut will point to Clinton as an example of what not to do as there is that they will justify a Bush action by saying "Well, even Clinton agreed."

The BJ Corollary:

Anything can be justified absent blow jobs.

Parallel to the BJ Corollary:

Blow jobs are worse than or equal to any bad act.

The Michael Moore Rule:

In a discussion among wingnuts, the probability that Michael Moore’s name will be mentioned increases in direct relation to the size of his waist.

The Bernie Goldberg Postulate: 

In a discussion among wingnuts, the probability that someone will be blamed for any given situation is inversely proportionate to the power they hold.

The O’Reilly Rule

The volume level (including ALL CAPS) of those defending a position is inversely proportional to how defendable that position is.

The Santorum Slope:

In order to show that society’s problems stem from liberal influences, a sequence of increasingly unacceptable events is shown to follow from liberal influences on society, even though conservative institutions are technically responsible.

The Brent Bozell Theory of Moral Decay

Anything bad that happens follows from the exposure of Janet Jackson’s nipple.

The Robertson-Falwell Corollary to the Brent Bozell Theory of Moral Decay

Anything bad that happens (e.g., 9/11) follows from God’s hatred of homosexuality.

The These Colors Don’t Bleed Rule

The number of magnetic "Support the Troops" ribbons on your car is directly proportional to your car’s ratio of miles per gallon.

The Max Cleland Maxim

Military service is the most honorable and admirable thing you can do for your country, if and only if  you are not running against a Republican in an election.

The Cindy Sheehan Corollary to the Max Cleland Maxim

Raising a child who serves his/her country is the most honorable thing a parent can do if and only if they support the war.

The 9/11 Implication

If 9/11, then anything can be justified.

Generik’s Law of Martyrdom and Underdoggery

As the power and influence of the Republican Party grows, the level of howling about how oppresed and victimized they are increases.

Stay And Leave

Ken AshfordBush & Co., IraqLeave a Comment

I’m glad I’m not the only one confused.

Bush gave another "stay the course in Iraq" speech yesterday.  Which I would expect him to do.

But then there’s this story from today’s Financial Times:

The US is expected to pull significant numbers of troops out of Iraq in the next 12 months in spite of the continuing violence, according to the general responsible for near-term planning in the country.

Maj Gen Douglas Lute, director of operations at US Central Command, yesterday said the reductions were part of a push by Gen John Abizaid, commander of all US troops in the region, to put the burden of defending Iraq on Iraqi forces.

Seems like a bit of a disconnect there. 

Garance Franke-Ruta over at Tapped offers a possible explanation:

I wonder if what we’re in fact seeing is a White House strategy of maximizing harm to domestic political opponents (by continuing to cast them as peaceniks unwilling to defend America) while slowly bowing to public opinion (which has turned against the war). For all his vaunted stubbornness, the president has actually changed course and bowed to public opinion on numerous occasions in the past (creating the Department of Homeland Security, for example, and establishing the September 11 commission and allowing Condoleezza Rice to testify before it), but in every one of those instances he has ultimately managed to spin the shift in his favor. A political strategy of using the next six to nine months to continue to paint the Democrats as weak on national security, to be followed by a declaration of success and public return of some significant fraction — but not all — troops in advance of the mid-term elections, to be followed in turn by attacks on anti-war Democrats who wanted the United States to pull out "too early" and before the job was done, doesn’t seem outside the realm of possibility.

Sounds very plausible to me.

Concept Of Time Eludes O’Reilly

Ken AshfordRight Wing Punditry/IdiocyLeave a Comment

Fox News host Bill O’Reilly, on his show The Radio Factor, August 22, complained that Grandparents Day this year will fall on 9/11:

"Now, listen to this. September 11 not only the day of the attack, but it’s Grandparents Day. Can you imagine who made the calendar on Grandparents Day on September 11, what a genius this was?"

The answer?  The "geniuses" were the 1979 Congress.  President Carter signed the bill into law, which says that National Grandparents Day will be the first Sunday after Labor Day. 

This year, that day happens to fall on September 11.

Note to Bill:  People in 1979 were not aware of events that were to unfold in 2001.  Welcome to the space-time continuum.

Tomorrow:  O’Reilly wonders why he can’t put on his socks after he puts on his shoes.

Mmmmmm . . . Fresca

Ken AshfordRandom Musings1 Comment

20050615frescasmI love my Sprite "Aruba Jam".  Ever since I started looking for a non-caffinated, no calorie soft drink, "Aruba Jam" has become my favorite beverage of choice.  I got into Fresca too, but Aruba Jam is even better.

Problem is, my stores haven’t been stocking it lately.  How come?  Could it be a Natalee Holloway thing?

Hmmmm.  No answers can be found through googling.  I guess — wait!  What’s this?  Fresca is getting a "makeover"?  Cool.

But even cooler is the two new Fresca flavors: Sparkling Peach Citrus Fresca (WOW!) and Sparkling Black Cherry Citrus Fresca (ugh!).  Okay, since they won’t give me my Aruba Jam, I’ll try the Peach Fresca.  Now where is it?

Scientist Observes B.S.

Ken AshfordEducation, GodstuffLeave a Comment

Trex_150 The Discovery Institute has a list of 400 scientists who doubt the central tenets of Darwin’s theory of evolution (or, at least the Discovery Institute says the scientists doubt evolution). 

Here’s the current Discovery Institute list in PDF format.

And here’s a profile on one of those scientists, Robert C. Davidson (he’s on page ten of the above list, 4th name up from the bottom):

Bob Davidson is a scientist — a doctor, and for 28 years a nephrology professor at the University of Washington medical school.

He’s also a devout Christian who believes we’re here because of God. It was these twin devotions to science and religion that first attracted him to Seattle’s Discovery Institute. That’s the think tank that this summer has pushed "intelligent design" — a replacement theory for evolution — all the way to the lips of President Bush and into the national conversation.

Davidson says he was seeking a place where people "believe in a Creator and also believe in science.

"I thought it was refreshing," he says.

Not anymore. He’s concluded the institute is an affront to both science and religion.

"When I joined I didn’t think they were about bashing evolution. It’s pseudo-science, at best … What they’re doing is instigating a conflict between science and religion."

I got Davidson’s name off a list of 400 people with scientific degrees, provided by the Discovery Institute, who are said to doubt the "central tenets of Darwin’s theory of evolution." Davidson, at 78 a UW professor emeritus, says he shouldn’t be on the list because he believes "the scientific evidence for evolution is overwhelming."

He’s only one scientist, one opinion in our ongoing debate about evolution and faith.

But I bring you Davidson’s views because I suspect he is a bellwether for the Discovery Institute and intelligent design, as more scientists learn about them. He was attracted to an institute that embraced both science and religion, yet he found its critique of existing science wrong and its new theory empty.

"I’m kind of embarrassed that I ever got involved with this," Davidson says.

He was shocked, he says, when he saw the Discovery Institute was calling evolution a "theory in crisis."

"It’s laughable: There have been millions of experiments over more than a century that support evolution," he says. "There’s always questions being asked about parts of the theory, as there are with any theory, but there’s no real scientific controversy about it."

Davidson began to believe the institute is an "elaborate, clever marketing program" to tear down evolution for religious reasons. He read its writings on intelligent design — the notion that some of life is so complex it must have been designed — and found them lacking in scientific merit.

Then Davidson, who attends First Presbyterian Church in Bellevue, heard a sermon in which the pastor argued it’s foolish to try to use science to understand God.

Science is about measuring things, and God is immeasurable, the pastor said.

"It just clicked with me that this whole movement is wrongheaded on all counts," Davidson said. "It’s a misuse of science, and a misuse of religion.

"Why can’t we just keep the two separate?"

That’s a good question, especially coming from someone who believes strongly in both.

Read more about intelligent design "lists" here:  Project Steve

In Which I Become A Hypochondriac

Ken AshfordHealth Care, PersonalLeave a Comment

Daydreamfadeoutl I’ve noticed that my tendency to daydream has declined rapidly in the past few years.  Not that I ever daydreamed to excess, but in those quiet moments alone at home, my mind would occasionaly indulge itself with flights of fancy.  But not so much anymore.

I’ve also noticed that my mind is quite as sharp as it once was.  Not that I have become dotty, but I seem to forget things more often.  Inconsequential and forgettable things mostly, but nevertheless, there’s a hole in the seive somewhere.

So I kind of freaked out when I read this:

Study Links Daydreaming, Alzheimer’s

A new Washington University study shows the part of the brain used to daydream is the same where Alzheimer’s disease develops — in some people — later in life. It suggests the normal brain activity of daydreaming fuels the sequence of events leading to Alzheimer’s.

"The implication, albeit a speculative one, is that those activity patterns in young adults are the foothold onto which Alzheimer’s disease forms," said lead researcher Randy Buckner, associate professor of psychology. He said they may lead to a life-long cascade that ends in Alzheimer’s disease in some people.

***

Researchers at Washington University and the University of Pittsburgh used five imaging techniques to map the brains of 764 people. The subjects fell into three groups — people in their 20s, and older people with either early-stage dementia, or Alzheimer’s disease.

When they compared images, they found that parts of the brain involved in musing, daydreaming or recalling pleasant memories in young people were where evidence of Alzheimer’s disease appears.

Oh, great.

The Other Crazy Pat

Ken AshfordBush & Co., Iraq, Right Wing Punditry/Idiocy, SheehanLeave a Comment

WorldNutDaily has an exclusive.  The old headline, as reported here, was

"Rock Legend Shreds Cindy Sheehan ‘Peaceniks’"

but apparently the editors at WND had second thoughts about being on the side of someone involved with rock (aka "the devil’s music").

And who is that "rock legend"?  Why, Pat Boone, of course, who became famous for taking songs from black musicians like Chuck Berry and Little Richard, adding whole milk, and whiting them up for the suburbs.

Anyway, Pat Boone apparently thinks that Cindy Sheehan and her co-horts are "the very same people that were the dropout, turn-on, anti-war peace activists back [in the Vietnam War era]", which is one of those silly laughable lies based on, well, nothing. 

First of all, Cindy Sheehan is roughly my age, which means she was about ten years old — tops — during the Vietman War era.

Secondly, prior to the Iraq War, Sheehan was:

no rebel. The mother of four was a youth minister at St. Mary’s Catholic Church, in quiet, conservative Vacaville.

But I’ll let others skewer Pat Boone and the WND article.  People like World O’Crap and Sadly, No.  Read them.

Soldiers Are Special

Ken AshfordRight Wing Punditry/IdiocyLeave a Comment

I don’t get it.  The rightosphere is all up in arms about a barroom attack in Seattle in which two guys, soldiers who had just returned from Iraq, got savagely beaten.

Obviously, any illegal altercation which leaves two men seriously injured is stomach-turning.  But sadly, there are probably hundreds of bar fight every day in this country of ours.  Why is this one so special?

Oh, right.  Because the victims are U.S. soldiers.

It should be stressed that they were not beat up because they were soldiers (it involved territoriality over some women, as many barfights do).  In fact, I can’t find any news report suggesting they were wearing uniforms.  But I’m sure the right wishes that they were beat up because they were soldiers; then they could blame Cindy Sheehan for the "climate of hatred" and/or try to make a connection between the assailants and the anti-war movement.

So I wonder what is the real motivation for plugging this story.  Maybe it’s their way of re-emphasizing their support of the troops.  Yet, where has been the outrage about the lack of armor, and Bush’s decision to cut veteran’s benefits for returning soldiers?

Come to think of it, how are these two soldiers going to pay their medical expenses?  Is the military going to help out?

RIP: “Your Ad Here”

Ken AshfordIraqLeave a Comment

Wargravestones This is rather disgusting:

ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) – Unlike earlier wars, nearly all Arlington National Cemetery gravestones for troops killed in Iraq or Afghanistan are inscribed with the slogan-like operation names the Pentagon selected to promote public support for the conflicts.

Families of fallen soldiers and Marines are being told they have the option to have the government-furnished headstones engraved with "Operation Enduring Freedom" or "Operation Iraqi Freedom" at no extra charge, whether they are buried in Arlington or elsewhere. A mock-up shown to many families includes the operation names.

The vast majority of military gravestones from other eras are inscribed with just the basic, required information: name, rank, military branch, date of death and, if applicable, the war and foreign country in which the person served.

Families are supposed to have final approval over what goes on the tombstones. That hasn’t always happened.

Nadia and Robert McCaffrey, whose son Patrick was killed in Iraq in June 2004, said "Operation Iraqi Freedom" ended up on his government-supplied headstone in Oceanside, Calif., without family approval.

"I was a little taken aback," Robert McCaffrey said, describing his reaction when he first saw the operation name on Patrick’s tombstone. "They certainly didn’t ask my wife; they didn’t ask me." He said Patrick’s widow told him she had not been asked either.

"In one way, I feel it’s taking advantage to a small degree," McCaffrey said. "Patrick did not want to be there, that is a definite fact."

The owner of the company that has been making gravestones for Arlington and other national cemeteries for nearly two decades is uncomfortable, too.

"It just seems a little brazen that that’s put on stones," said Jeff Martell, owner of Granite Industries of Vermont. "It seems like it might be connected to politics."

The Department of Veterans Affairs says it isn’t. "The headstone is not a PR purpose. It is to let the country know and the people that visit the cemetery know who served this country and made the country free for us," VA official Steve Muro said.

That last quote cracks me up.  "No, it’s not public relations; we’re just informing the public!"

Wonkette sees the not-too-distant future:

You20think20were20kidding