Recently in Culture Category

It's fairly predictable that when gay issues are in the news, the usual peripheral background stories appear. You know, the ones about a "gay gene", or the fluff pieces showing some gay couple raising a an apparently well-adjusted child, etc.

The ruling last week by the California Supreme Court on the state's gay-marriage ban has brought the "it's OK, monkeys and penguins do it" people out of the woodwork:

As gay couples celebrate their newfound right to marry in California and opposition groups rally to fight the ruling, many struggle with this question: Is homosexuality natural?

On this issue, Nature has spoken: Same-sex lovin' is common in hundreds of species, scientists say.

Roy and Silo, two male chinstrap penguins at New York's Central Park Zoo, were a couple for about six years, during which they nurtured a fertilized egg together (given to them by a zookeeper) and raised the young chick that hatched.

According to University of Oslo zoologist Petter Böckman, about 1,500 animal species are known to practice same-sex coupling, including bears, gorillas, flamingos, owls, salmon and many others.

Animals also eat their own young and slaughter each other based on instinct, not morality or intelligent thought. Shouldn't we aspire to be a little better than that?

It's interesting that the biologist quoted in the article laments:

The funny thing is that people say homosexuality is unnatural, that non-humans don't engage in homosexual behavior, but that's not true. Then they'll say it's base and animalistic."

Can't imagine where they got that idea...

Quick, what's the title of this post referring to?

If you guessed you, have a cigar. I'm not a breakfast person, and I'm grateful I didn't have to hold down an omelet while reading this:

Since they first walked the planet, humans have either buried or burned their dead. Now a new option is generating interest — dissolving bodies in lye and flushing the brownish, syrupy residue down the drain.

The process is called alkaline hydrolysis and was developed in this country 16 years ago to get rid of animal carcasses. It uses lye, 300-degree heat and 60 pounds of pressure per square inch to destroy bodies in big stainless-steel cylinders that are similar to pressure cookers.

Ick.

In a similar vein to the previous post, the town of Sitka, Alaska has its own nightmare:

Jason Alex Abbott, a gaunt 18-year-old with a shaved head, has been charged with four counts of murder, accused of using a dagger to kill his grandparents, an aunt and her fiance.

He's also charged with a single count of attempted murder for stabbing another aunt multiple times; she was the sole survivor of the March 25 slayings.

"It was a very horrific type of crime with a lot of blood," Police Chief Sheldon Schmitt said. "It was a very chaotic scene. There was a lot of blood in the home and on the street."

The last time a killing occurred in Sitka was 1996. Police don't have a motive, but this stands out from the story:

Three days before the killings, Jason Abbott was arrested for allegedly trying to punch his mother because she had orange and red colored items in her home. He said they were "evil colors," according to court documents.

From Waycross, GA:

WAYCROSS, Ga. - A group of third-graders plotted to attack their teacher, bringing a broken steak knife, handcuffs, duct tape and other items for the job and assigning children tasks including covering the windows and cleaning up afterward, police said Tuesday.

They were upset with the teacher because she fussed at a student for standing on a chair.

Can you imagine how the teacher felt when she learned about this? I bet it will be a long, long time before she turns her back on a class.

So, is this a sign of the times? I've been to Waycross - it's a sleepy little southern town, not an urban blight zone. Frightening.

Am I the only one who thought of "Children of the Corn" while reading this story?

Via Fox News:

Women, Want a Healthy Marriage? Marry Man Uglier Than You, Study Says

The best marriages are those where women marry men who are less attractive than themselves, research has found.

Psychologists who studied newlyweds found men who were better-looking than their wives were more likely to be unhappy and have negative feelings about their marriage.

In couples where the wife is more attractive, both partners tended to be very content.

Well, yeah - at least it works that way in my home. TB looks way better than me, and we're fairly happy.

Featured at the Bangkok International Fashion Week:

I'm sure Madonna will be grateful that this look is back in style. I'm not so sure anyone else will be.

I'll admit it - I like Starbucks. Not many of us righties do, mostly due to the reputation they have as a gathering place for liberals. I don't care. I like the coffee. That Starbucks is a lefty cultural phenomenon means little to me when I'm in the mood for an overly-roasted caffeine fix.

They used to have a really rich chocolate drink that TB really liked, but when they removed it from the menu she soured on Starbucks. So now I only go when I travel.

I almost always tip when I go - yes, the coffee is expensive, but that's hardly the fault of the baristas - they don't set the price. So naturally I was drawn to this headline yesterday:

Starbucks ordered to pay back tips

Could it be that the tip jars are emptied into Starbuck's coffers and the poor baristas are denied? No, it's even worse - the shift supervisor who slings venti drips and dry pastries right next to the lesser-paid baristas has been benefiting from the tip jar as well:

SAN DIEGO - A Superior Court judge on Thursday ordered Starbucks Corp. to pay its California baristas more than $100 million in back tips and interest that the coffee chain paid to shift supervisors.

San Diego Superior Court Judge Patricia Cowett also issued an injunction that prevents Starbucks' shift supervisors from sharing in future tips, saying state law prohibits managers and supervisors from sharing in employee gratuities.

I might have a little sympathy if the supervisors sat in the back office browsing the web while the baristas slaved over a hot espresso machine, and maybe in some places they do. But the stores I usually frequent have a small staff. From the outside looking in, supervisors appear to be baristas with additional duties. If someone out there who works as Starbucks has a different perspective, please feel free to chime in. I'm by no means unpersuadable.

But we all tend to draw on personal experience when possible, so here's where I come from. While I was still active duty in the USAF, I had a string of second jobs. One was pizza delivery - a job where the employee expects that much of their income will be derived from tips. On nights when we were shorthanded on drivers (or just plain swamped), the shift supervisor (and sometimes the manager) would fire up their Corollas and deliver as well. I don't recall any of the regular drivers whining about lost tips or asking for a share, and I never heard the boss offering to forgo tips.

Now, I know that it might be a little different than having a communal tip jar, but isn't the underlying principle the same? The customer at Starbucks expects the folks serving the coffee to share the tips, if the supervisor is serving alongside the baristas, why should he/she be excluded from the spoils? Isn't it possible that some of the tips were intended to reward service provided by the supervisor?

"...state law prohibits managers and supervisors from sharing in employee gratuities." This one has me curious as well - if, during a rush, a supervisor waits tables in a restaurant, does he have to refuse tips (or give them away to the "employees")? Or does this only apply when there's a tip jar? I can understand the intent to prevent supervisors from skimming tips they didn't earn, but can't there be some circumstances where the supervisor is entitled to tips he/she has directly earned?

I expect that the real harm done to Starbucks won't be the $100 million award. It will be from the supervisors who will now warm a chair in the back room instead of helping out at the counter. Service will suffer, and the baristas may have fewer tips as a result.

Added thoughts: What are baristas paid, anyway? Do they get 8-9 bucks an hour, or a sub-minimum "waitress wage"? Are their hours held back to a small number in order to avoid the baggage of full-time employees? And all the same questions about the supervisors as well. Would the answers change my view? Maybe - although the argument for supervisors to be less involved at the counter still gets stonger as sympathy for the baristas' claim to tips increases.

Welcome InstaPundit readers! And thanks again, Glenn. Are shift supervisors entitled to tips or just greedy? Feel free to join the conversation!

Clarification: The story specifies shift supervisors, not managers. If anyone stops by who knows otherwise, please chime in. But I assume that a shift supervisor is as I've observed - someone who's job description includes barista plus some additional duties, like locking up and putting away the money, etc. And what do you think of this kind of thing outside of California, where there may not be laws as specific? Are communal tips an entitlement for the lowest paid workers regardless of who provides the tippable service? Should a company be able to set rules regarding tips? Join in!

Here's a Chinese condom hat:

If I had seen the photo before I read the article, I'd have thought the same thing:

Police: Hershey candy looks like drugs

Someone has to be the one to ask - what kind of drugs was the designer of this packaging on?

From the "Funeral Collection" of Romania's Catalin Botezatu featured at the Bucharest Fashion Week last week:

Call me old-fashioned, but when it comes to the "queen of the undead" look, I much prefer this.

Today's Wilmington News Journal features an editorial about Amazon's new Kindle book reader. The piece takes a wait and see approach to the device, suggesting that it will have to improve on the inherent simplicity and elegance of traditional ink and paper books to be successful.

It's certainly an attractive enough gadget, with features like fee-less wireless and a built-in keyboard for annotating and bookmarking:

I think economy is likely going to be a larger driver to success or failure, though. And it doesn't look like Kindle is ready for prime time yet.

The Kindle itself sells for $399.00, you'd have to be a voracious reader to make that up through the discounts Amazon offers on the Kindle versions of books. Even Amazon knows this and resorts to a little subterfuge with the numbers to make it seem more attractive. For example, on the main Kindle page, Amazon suggests that you would save $17.96 by reading "The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court" by reading it electronically vs. the hardback edition. However, they use(disingenuously, I feel) list price as a comparison.

Amazon regularly sells the paper and ink version for $16.77 - so the real savings is only $6.78. In order to save money by using Amazon's device, you'd have to read 59 such books. How many hardback books do you buy in year?

So what kind of savings will the Kindle provide against paperbacks? My lovely wife TB has a thing for J.D. Robb's work, so I checked out her titles to see. "Judgment In Death" normally sells for $7.99 in paperback, and the Kindle version sells for $6.39. Assuming similar savings for other titles, TB would have to read a staggering 249 books to make up the cost of the device alone. It would likely become worn out or obsolete first.

So do I think the Kindle is a total loser? No. Amazon will sell enough of them to keep the product alive for the near future at least. But I don't see any significant degree of market penetration. This is a product that's going to be popular with the hard-core gotta-have-the-latest-and-hippest-gadget-no-matter-what-the-price crowd. You know, the same crowd that stood in line for the iPhone, then whined because Apple dropped the price enough to diminish its exclusivity and ultimately, their bragging rights.

Perhaps that's all Amazon hopes to achieve.

Santa is no longer free to say "Ho, Ho, Ho" in Sydney:

SYDNEY (AFP) - Santas in Australia's largest city have been told not to use Father Christmas's traditional "ho ho ho" greeting because it may be offensive to women, it was reported Thursday.

Sydney's Santa Clauses have instead been instructed to say "ha ha ha" instead, the Daily Telegraph reported.

One disgruntled Santa told the newspaper a recruitment firm warned him not to use "ho ho ho" because it could frighten children and was too close to "ho", a US slang term for prostitute.

I don't recall ever being frightened by "Ho, Ho, Ho" when I was a child. This is political correctness stupidity.

It's the argument they used in Maine to give potentially harmful prescription drugs to girls who could benefit only if they were raped.

It's been used countless times in the past 4 or 5 decades and each time the effect has always been the same - the continued downward definition of moral standards.

The "they're going to do it anyway" crowd is hallmarked by laziness, selfishness, or both. They are either unwilling to do the hard work necessary to address a problem, or actively seek the normalization of behaviors that they themselves desire to participate in.

What started this rant?

LONDON (Reuters) - A Roman Catholic bishop in the southern English port city of Portsmouth is backing a campaign to legalize brothels without in any way condoning them.

The Right Reverend Crispian Hollis supported the local branch of the Women's Institute which wants to license brothels.

How - wholesome.

When the Catholic Church starts using the same argument that leftists and some libertarians have made over the years to redefine behavioral standards down, we should all take notice - and be a little embarrassed at what we're becoming.

Even when you have legitimate concerns over copyrights, it's never a good idea to threaten your fans - particularly when you have so few left.

Turns out his kid sold the tape to National Enquirer for "A lot of money".

While panning provocative costumes for kids (a sentiment I wholeheartedly agree with), Glenn Reynolds weighs in with this statement which appears to approve of slutty wear for adult women:

"I'm okay on slutty, but not for 9-year-olds."

This begs the question: Isn't it about time for another sweeps week? Your fans need pictorial examples.

Apparently, they take their fences much too seriously in OK.

When you see a link to a story titled:

Naked man arrested for concealed weapon

Don't click on it unless you really need to know. Ick.

Update: This must be the season for naked criminals (and waffles, too!):

Nude couple's feud ends at Waffle House

If you heard of a company:

- A large U.S. company.
- A company whose suppliers were almost all overseas.
- A company whose profit has increased at high levels for years.
- A company who, upon learning that of of it's third world supplier nations was attempting to increase wages for its impoverished workers, actively worked to block them in order to keep costs low.

What would you think? If you're on the left, you're might be thinking I'm talking about Wal-Mart. But you'd be wrong:

Starbucks, the giant US coffee chain, has used its muscle to block an attempt by Ethiopia's farmers to copyright their most famous coffee bean types, denying them potential earnings of up to £47m a year, said Oxfam.

The development agency said the Ethiopian government last year filed copyright applications to trademark its most famous coffee names - Sidamo, Harar and Yirgacheffe. Securing the rights to these names would enable the impoverished African country to control their use in the market and allow farmers to receive a greater share of the retail price.

The move would have increased its annual export earnings from coffee by 25%.

But Oxfam said Starbucks, which enjoyed a 22% rise in annual global turnover to £7.8bn in the year to October, has acted to block Ethiopia's application to the US patent and trademark office.

Starbucks claims they pay an average of $1.28 / lb for coffee worldwide, but in Ethiopia, it's as low as 60 cents. No wonder they feature an Ethiopian blend on the Starbucks website.

Hmmm. I wonder if a price increase would affect its sustainability?

Considering their target demographic here in the US, you'd think Starbucks would be more sensitive. On the other hand, considering where the money goes, do ya think the left will even notice? Next time you enter a Starbucks, if you happen to pass a couple of forty-something women with unshaved legs and "Impeach Bush" bumper stickers on the lids of their laptops discussing the evils of Wal-Mart, smile and nod as you pass.

Most mothers don't get enough sleep

They needed a study for this? The lovely TB is eight years ahead of science on this one. They also discovered tired moms are less happy - who knew?

A convicted female drug dealer in Viet Nam gets pregnant while on death row, and police are befuddled:

The report said it was the first time that a death-row prisoner had become pregnant in Vietnam and that police were investigating how it had happened.

Someone should send 'em here. I'm sure they're old enough to let them in on the secret...

BA coddles Muslims and Sikhs but punishes Christians:

LONDON - A British Airways employee was suspended from work for refusing to remove a necklace bearing a Christian cross, a British newspaper reported Saturday.

Nadia Eweida, a check-in worker at Heathrow Airport, told the Daily Mail she was suing the airline for religious discrimination after being sent home for breaching BA's dress code.

"British Airways permits Muslims to wear a headscarf, Sikhs to wear a turban and other faiths religious apparel. Only Christians are forbidden to express their faith," Eweida was quoted as saying.

I hope she wins. Of course, BA could solve the problem by banning all religious wear, but won't. Anyone care to guess why?

In an earlier post, did I say weird? It's much worse than that. These are from a fashion show in Ukraine:

Leaving the plastic caps on was kinda wimpy, if you ask me. Lacks conviction.

Incidentally, I don't think those are balloons on her head. Her expression doesn't seem very festive for someone sporting a hairdo with a reservior tip, does it?

I like hot foods, but this is beyond my tolerance level:

DALLAS - A 62-year-old retired accountant from Nevada swallowed 247 peppers in eight minutes to win the Jalapeno Eating World Championship at the State Fair of Texas.

Richard LeFevre won $2,000 for prevailing in Sunday's contest, which was sponsored by the International Federation of Competitive Eating.

At least AP asked a medical professional to weigh in on the wisdom of this behaviour:

Dr. Daniel DeMarco, a gastroenterologist and director of endoscopy at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas, said the amount of jalapenos consumed in an eating contest is more harmful than the burn.

"It's really pretty stupid," DeMarco said. "Like any sort of abuse of your body, it doesn't make any sense."

Is it just me, or does anyone else feel that the current crop of top fashion designers are just plain wierd?

Keep in mind that these are from the creator's "ready to wear" collection. ick.

Added (10/07/06 6:00PM) : I hope they paid this model in cash. She could use a hot meal soonest. It breaks my heart to see young people go hungry:

Update (10/10/06 4:43AM): Allahpundit on the emaciated waif shown above: Scary. And he has a bonus pic that isn't scary at all.

It seems that the Dixie Chicks have lost the hearts and minds of those “in” Dixie. They don’t appear to be doing well in their home state of Texas or the heartland of the country. They also seem to be able to find everything to blame except for themselves for the constant changing of their concerts and lack of ticket interest, sales and air time.

They should change their name to just “Chicks” or go for the name “Foot-n-Mouth” band because it looks like they lost a good portion of their fans or the fans aren’t ready to make nice either. In other words, the fans are putting new meaning to flipping someone the bird.

TB found this while surfing yesterday evening:

‘Dateline’ hidden cameras investigate cleanliness of America’s top 10 fast food chains

Fast food: It’s served fast and you eat it fast, maybe too fast to notice the restaurant is a little dirty. The fact is that no one has ever done a national survey looking at the cleanliness of fast food chains — until now. Recently, we took our Dateline cameras undercover for the first-ever investigation of whether America’s top 10 fast food chains are clean and safe. How did your favorite restaurant do?

This is one of the few areas that I think require more regulation and oversight. More frequent unannounced inspections combined with genuinely painful sanctions for frequent violators would help.

I was also shocked to learn that not all states require food handler's training and licensure. While I have no data (I'm still looking), I suspect that states that do have fewer problems.

$55.5 million on Friday. Wow.

Of course, we're going to go see it as well - but we'll wait until we don't have to wait in long lines to get in. We liked the first Pirates of the Caribbean so much we bought the DVD.

OK, I don't hunt. But I have nothing against it, either. I just wish hunters in general were more honest about why they do it. It does seem to me that this was a creepy and unsporting idea:

The idea was this: Hunters sign up on the web site and pay some $1,500 or more. They schedule a session, then log on at their appointed time to watch a feeding station on the computer screen. The animal that was ordered—from wild hogs to antelope—is in the area, and when it approaches the food, the hunter moves on-screen crosshairs into place. A click of the mouse fires a rifle to kill the animal.

The armchair hunter's trophy animal would then be mounted and shipped for display.

And I don't buy the notion that this was all for the handicapped, either. Not at $1500 a pop. On the other hand, this is going to curb some fashion trends:

"Responsible hunters know there's no sport in shooting an animal remotely while lying in bed and wearing camouflage pajamas," Markarian said in a statement today.

I guess there's no longer a reason to make your bedroom look like a hunter's blind anymore. It's just as well - too easy to lose the baby in all that camouflage.

From Reuters:

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Cable operator Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq:CMCSA - news) said on Monday it fired an employee who was caught on camera sleeping on a customer's couch after the video clip was shared all over the Web.

The homeowner videotaped the technician, put it to music and shared it with the world on YouTube.

Man, that's cold.

Ick.

In Vancouver, Washington, it's no longer a good idea to cruise for WiFi hotspots:

Wireless Freeloader Charged Because He Never Bought Coffee

A Vancouver, Wash. coffee shop tired of seeing a 20-year-old man mooch off their free wireless Internet access called the police, who charged him with "theft of services."

Brewed Awakenings employees dialed 911 after Alexander Eric Smith of Battle Ground, Wash. piggybacked off the shop's wireless Internet service for more than three months.

"He doesn't buy anything," Emily Pranger, the shop's manager, told KATU, a Portland, Ore. television station. "It's not right for him to come and use it."

Smith allegedly parked his truck in the parking lot to use Brewed Awakenings' wireless access.

County deputies charged Smith with theft of services after returning to the parking lot after they told him to stop. The crime, which covers such crimes as bypassing a utility meter, stealing cable, and leaving a restaurant without paying, has been used in the past to prosecute hackers who have accessed a computer or network without paying for it. "It's something that is borderline creepy," Pranger said to KATU.

The Clark County sheriff's office and its prosecutors are reviewing the case, the television station's Web site noted.

This was bound to happen sooner or later. Businesses offer wireless internet to attrack customers - it's not a gift.

However, it will be interesting to see if the creative charges hold. After all, the fellow was not taking up table space. In the end, it may have more to do with who owns the parking lot, and was it considered public.

Of course, ethically, the guy was dead wrong. He surely knows (or at least correctly assumed) that the coffee shop didn't welcome non-paying customers hooking up to their wireless, else he would have gone inside and sat at a table...

Anchoress finds an offbeat Folger's commercial, says it's growing on her. Ann Althouse gives it a thumbs up.

I don't know - maybe a little too cheerful for me. I do agree it's clever, though. I just wish they had hired Tim Burton to do it...

And I may or may not post much today depending on what TB and the kids have planned for me. All I know so far is that they created homemade Father's day cards, thanks to the fact that 4 year-olds have no sense of how far voices carry.

I hope all the Dad's out there have a terrific day!

That seems to be the response to 'Not ready to make nice' as the Dixie Chicks are cancelling some tour dates due to poor ticket sales.

Unsurprisingly, the shows cancelled so far include Oklahoma City, Memphis, and Houston.

However, they sold out in Toronto where a second date is being added. Go figure.

Via AP/Yahoo:

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - Truth proved to be stranger than fiction for a high school criminology class investigating a fake crime scene when the students discovered a real body during a field trip.

Teacher Sue Messenger had been creating mock crime scenes with fake skeletons and other evidence for more than 20 years to give students in her forensics courses a firsthand look at what crime scene investigators do.

On Monday, however, 29 students from St. Thomas Aquinas High School got more of a jolt they expected when they discovered the real body in Fort Lauderdale's Holiday Park.

"The first thing we thought was, 'That's a real good dummy she set up,'" said student Juan Cantor, 15.

"I think they kind of went into shock and disbelief," Messenger said. "What are the odds that we would be out here?"

Police on Tuesday identified the body as David Wayne Bodie, 45, a homeless man who apparently died of natural causes.

I don't think I would have been composed enough to talk to the media when I was that age. Hell, I would have been pretty traumatized.

I'll bet Ms. Messenger checks out her mock crime scenes more carefully in the future.

Via AP/Yahoo:

DENVER - A new study reinforces a tiny rodent's reputation as the mouse that roared, and that could block millions of dollars in development in Wyoming and Colorado if it hangs on to its endangered status.

For the second time, a study has found the Preble's meadow jumping mouse is distinct from other types of mice and deserves federal protection.

The 3-inch-long mouse has been at the center of a huge controversy in the West because its habitat includes prime undeveloped real estate, and protected status would put limits on what the owners could do with their land.

Why does this have to be so hard? The solution is pretty simple, and everyone wins:

Land owners in Wyoming and Colorado - capture a few dozen breeding pairs of the filthy little rodents. Take in enough stray cats to eliminate the rest of the mouse population (that's called natural selection, folks). Ship the breeding pairs out to families in danger of having their homes taken away by eminent domain (google to find out where they are - I can't be bothered with details). Once the mice are gone, you can do what you wish with your own land.

Eminent domain victims - Take good care of the breeding pair - cute little critters, aren't they? Once they have their first litter, release onto your property. Notify animal rights and conservation groups that you have an endangered species on your property, and they'll rush to court, protecting the cute little critters from the evil developers. Once the city has built the stadium or shopping center in another location, you're home free, and you can follow the instructions for land owners above to rid yourselves of the filthy little rodents.

The best part is the conservationists win, too, since you've all helped the species survive.

Next week, I'll outline my solution to the snail darter situation. Cheers!

I occasionally drive over to New Jersey - one of the quaint oddities to be found there is that the state doesn't allow self-service at gas pumps. Since I'm old enough to remember when it was that way in many more places, it brings back a few memories for me. I'm sure younger visitors probably find it just odd.

Evidently the folks in the garden state like it that way:

In New Jersey, motorists who need to fill 'er up haven't pumped their own gas in 57 years. But in the face of soaring gas prices, Gov. Jon Corzine came up with a novel plan last month to try to ease the pain: allow self-service at some stations along the New Jersey Turnpike and see if prices dip. He believed prices could drop 5 to 7 cents a gallon.

Corzine retreated after about 1,400 e-mails and calls poured in from a mostly outraged public. Concern about other state issues paled in comparison. A proposal to raise the sales tax by one cent, for example, received about 200 responses from the public, says Brendan Gilfillan, a spokesman for the governor.

Only in Jersey...

Via AP/Reuters:

ROME (Reuters) - An Italian restaurant was fined 688 euros ($855) for displaying live lobsters on ice to attract patrons, in an innovative application of an anti-cruelty law usually affecting to household pets.

A court in the northeastern city of Vicenza ruled the display was a form of abuse dooming the crustaceans to a slow death by suffocation.

"We're appealing," said Giuseppe Scalesia, who runs La Conchiglia D'Oro, or "Golden Shell," restaurant along with his brother Camillo.

"They said that the lobsters, laying on the ice, suffer... They compared them in court to other animals, like cats and dogs."

The case was brought by Gianpaolo Cecchetto, a former environmental activist, who took his two young children to the Vicenza restaurant in May 2002.

"They were shocked by the display," Cecchetto told Reuters, adding he immediately got in touch with the ENPA national animal protection entity. "ENPA took care of the lawyers and legal proceedings."

Italy has some of the world's toughest animal rights laws. The city of Rome in October banned goldfish bowls, seen as cruel, while Turin passed a law last year that would fine dog owners 500 euros unless they walked their canine friends at least three times a day.

Has the whole world gone nuts? These lobsters are intended for food - death followed by consumption by human beings is the desired result. Who the hell cares how they got to the table?

I have a lot more to say about this, but I've gotta run - I have an irresistable urge to go melt some butter...

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - A three-year investigation into drug use by Rush Limbaugh ended abruptly when the conservative commentator was booked on a single charge of prescription fraud in a deal his attorney says spares him a trial.

The charge will be dropped if Limbaugh continues treatment, attorney Roy Black said Friday.

My guess is that some of the hinge-less crowd will be unhappy that his life wasn't completely destroyed...

A followup to Thursday's post. The woman who was spanked at work was awarded 1.7 million from her former employer, Alarm One.

In the same week that we had a Spanish group trying to give apes human rights, today's Wall Street Journal features none other than Pamela Anderson on a "related" subject:

"Chimpanzees are our closest living relatives, with at least 95% of the same DNA. We're closer to them than they are to gorillas, so when I see chimpanzees being used as on-screen comedians, dressed up in silly costumes to sell credit cards, I think, Is this any way to treat a relative?"

There's that nasty DNA thing again. Sigh.

But Pamela, what about the mice? Those poor, mistreated, 99% similar to human mice?

For those of you looking to motivate your workforce, I recommend taking them to lunch, offering bonuses, you know, the usual stuff.

Spanking your employees should be on the "avoid at all costs" list.

Hope that helps.

Via AP/Yahoo:

WASHINGTON - The simplest grammar, long thought to be one of the skills that separate man from beast, can be taught to a common songbird, new research suggests.

Damn - next the birds will be demanding equal rights, too. At least we're still trying to kill bugs, though.

Kevin Sites reports on an unusual musician:

Near the piano, on a black stand that resembles a bipod, sits a Winchester lever action rifle. On its polished barrel are four hash marks, representing, says Lopez, the four people killed by it.

But there's much more to the gun than its history: six metal guitar strings stretch from the mid-point of its wooden stock, across the loading chamber, past the fret board threaded over the weapon's barrel, ending at a guitar neck flaring past the muzzle.

It's part of project in which Lopez transforms weapons of war into instruments of killer sound, using them in a kind of political performance art.

I'm thinking this guy should make the props if they make another sequel to Desperado and Once Upon a Time in Mexico.

Back in November I brought you the story of the late Jerry Garcia's household items being auctioned for charity. Included were appliances, cabinets, and bathroom fixtures. That auction never occured, as the owner was blocked from holding the auction by the folks to which he sold Garcia's house.

Last month the toilet was finally sold to a casino for $2550.00. But the story's not over - the fabled throne of the king of cult-rock has been stolen:

SONOMA, California - The long, strange trip continues for Jerry Garcia's toilet. Police say the Grateful Dead leader's commode was stolen recently from a driveway along with three other toilets and a bidet, The Press Democrat newspaper reported Saturday.

"...along with three other toilets"? Was this part of a collection? Ick.

It's unclear if the toilet was swiped by a wayward Deadhead or a thief remodeling a bathroom. Police have no suspects or leads.

Since the investigation is in the crapper, the casino has offered a $250.00 reward. The previous owner explains why the late rock star's privvy is so valuable:

Henry Koltys said Friday that the toilet once stood in the master bathroom of Garcia, who died in 1995 at age 53. "It would have been his personal head," he said.

Sometimes I see folks handling memorabilia from famous people and saying something like "if only this could talk - think of the stories it could tell". I can't think of any stories told by this toilet that I would want to hear.

By the way, the Canadian on-line casino that bought it has made a few other wierd purchases:

...it paid $25,000 for actor William Shatner's kidney stones and $28,000 for a grilled cheese sandwich that reportedly had the image of the Virgin Mary on it...

Via AP/Yahoo:

U.N. spokesman Adrian Edwards said the world body was working with the Afghan government to meet the request by Abdul Rahman, 41.

"Mr. Rahman has asked for asylum outside Afghanistan," he said. "We expect this will be provided by one of the countries interested in a peaceful solution to this case."

Of course, that's assuming he can make it out of the country alive:

Earlier, hundreds of people protested a court's decision Sunday to drop the case against Rahman, and an official said discussions were underway to determine when he would be released.

Muslim clerics have threatened to incite Afghans to kill Rahman if he is freed, saying he is guilty of apostasy and deserves to die. They said Rahman violated Islamic Shariah law by rejecting Islam.

But of course, if he does survive, we all know who will get the blame:

Monday's protest ended peacefully about two hours after it started in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, said police commander Nasruddin Hamdrad. The protesters chanted "Death to Bush!" and other anti-Western slogans, while the police stood guard.

Sadly, this fellow is likely to be in danger anywhere he goes. And knowing this, it appears that our State Department isn't extending a hand, at least not publicly (H/T Michelle Malkin):

"He will be released," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters. "I understand now that the details of his release and any potential onward travel are being handled as a private matter."

I think following through is a requirement here. I hope our State Department is part of that "private matter".

TB (my lovely bride, for those of you who didn't know) loves books - she has little stashes of books in strategic places around the house so that she's never far away from a good read. At least she knows what to do with them, unlike Ukrainian designer Andre Tan...

You don't suppose that's a copy of An Army of Davids, do you? Or would a different kind of read be more appropriate for evening wear?

Via AP/Yahoo, Ben Stein hammers Hollywood over their disrespect for the troops:

"Stop spitting in the face of Americans and maybe we will go to the movies."

One of the stories that got garnered minor attention from some of the media last week was of the tape of Jay Bennish's 10th grade world geography class. It was covered widely in the blogosphere, most notably by Michelle Malkin, who says of Bennish, "I think he needs medical help".

With due respect to Michelle, her coverage suffered the same problem that I observed in the media's coverage along with that of the blogosphere - it centered on the teacher's lecture (with was wholly inappropriate) and missed the real story entirely. The real story is the Cherry Creek school district's reaction:

Cherry Creek School District officials are investigating the incident, but no disciplinary action has been taken, district spokeswoman Tustin Amole said.

Bennish was placed on leave "to take some of the pressure off of him" during the investigation, which could wrap up in a week, Amole said.

Superintendent Monte Moses, who received a copy of the recording on Monday from 850 KOA-AM radio show host Mike Rosen, said it appears "a breach of district policy" occurred.

"Our policy calls for both sides to be present ... in the interest of intellectual discourse," Moses said. Bennish's presentation appeared to be unbalanced, he said.

The district is looking into whether the incident was an isolated one and will ensure that a balanced viewpoint of the president's State of the Union address is provided to students, Moses said.

So the Cherry Creek School District Superintendant is not concerned that a 10th grade geography teacher is engaging in political proselytizing? No. Is he concerned that the topic of discussion is inappropriate for a geography class? No. How about the rampant factual errors in his diatribe? No concern.

No, the good Superintendant centers his concern around whether the teacher ended his rant with the words, "but some people disagree" or not. To him, it's about balance, not whether the topic is inappropriate.

There's a reason we don't let children vote in this country. The young are impressionable and immature - a dangerous combination that is easily exploited by folks like Mr. Bennish. But the responsibility not to indoctrinate has fallen aside in some of our schools. Developing critical thinking skills is a good thing. But coaching the students on the desired outcome of that thought undermines the process - a child is likely to view facts through a prism in an attempt to shoehorn them into pre-conceived views.

Is this a wide-spread pattern? Perhaps, but I'm hopeful that it isn't. But this story, also from this week, weakens my hope:

President Bush is being tried for "crimes against civilian populations" and "inhumane treatment of prisoners" at Parsippany High School, with students arguing both sides before a five-teacher "international court of justice." The panel's verdict could come as soon as Friday.

While I'm certain that John Conyers would applaud, I wonder if many parents think this is really healthy.

What are your thoughts? Comments welcome.

That's the theme of an editorial by Amir Taheri in today's WSJ online. I urge you to go and read it all, as it offers some interesting insight on the demonstration organizers and their divergence with the principles of Islam - but here's a sample:

"But how representative of Islam are all those demonstrators? The "rage machine" was set in motion when the Muslim Brotherhood--a political, not a religious, organization--called on sympathizers in the Middle East and Europe to take the field. A fatwa was issued by Yussuf al-Qaradawi, a Brotherhood sheikh with his own program on al-Jazeera. Not to be left behind, the Brotherhood's rivals, Hizb al-Tahrir al-Islami (Islamic Liberation Party) and the Movement of the Exiles (Ghuraba), joined the fray. Believing that there might be something in it for themselves, the Syrian Baathist leaders abandoned their party's 60-year-old secular pretensions and organized attacks on the Danish and Norwegian embassies in Damascus and Beirut."

Via AP/Yahoo:

Fires damaged three more rural churches in Alabama following rash of suspected arsons that burned five churches south of Birmingham last week, a state official said Tuesday.

Ragan Ingram, a spokesman for the state insurance agency that oversees fire investigations, said the fires were at a church near Aliceville in Pickens County, near Emelle in Sumter Country and near Boligee in Greene County.

He said the extent of damage was not immediately known and it wasn't immediately clear when the three churches burned. State and federal fire investigators were sent to the scenes, he said.

"Obviously we're going to investigate these as suspected arsons," Ingram said.

No indication yet as to why someone is doing this, but the police are looking for a dark Nissan Pathfinder that was spotted near one of Friday's fires.

Here's hoping that the police find whoever is responsible soon.

You know, this time of year TB and I look to the classics for mid-winter mealtime fare. And what could be more classic than a meal of ham?

And there are no finer hams than the fine imported Danish Crown family of hams. Whether you choose a Plumrose ham packed in natural juices, or our personal favorite, the DAK ham packed in water, you've got a winner of a meal that is sure to satisfy the entire family. That's why they're the official canned hams of DGITL!

And there's also no better way to show your patriotism. Denmark is a proud supporter of the Global War on Terror, and a participating member of the coalition helping to create a free and safe Iraq - so your support to the economy of Denmark makes all of us safer.

They're available at any freedom-loving grocer - so why not stop by and grab a Danish ham today. Better yet, get two - they make great gifts!

The validation of the cartoon's stereotypes continues and spreads to other countries. Today, it's Indonesia:

Iraq:

Jordan:

India:

Afganistan:

Thailand:

and Iran:

I'll have more later this morning.

For those that feel that the Danish cartoons are a "hate crime", or "persecution" - you really don't have to go far to put these charges in the perspective they deserve:

CENTREVILLE, Ala. — The search for a possible arsonist or arsonists was under way Friday after six small churches in rural Alabama were found burning. At least five of the fires were suspected to have been set deliberately.

The fires were set "as fast as they could drive from one location to the next," Bibb County Chief Deputy Sheriff Kenneth Weems said of the cluster of blazes, all near U.S. 82 and Highway 139.

Most of the churches were Baptist and all were in Bibb County, about 25 miles south of Birmingham. Of the five suspected to have been targeted by arsonists, three were destroyed and two others were damaged.

So far, no Baptists have threatened to cut anyone's head off.

So far, no Baptists have threatened a holocaust.

So far, no Baptists have taken to the streets in scenes like these.

Isn't perspective wonderful?

Update: Terrific roundup of the cartoon insanity at All Things Beautiful.

That's the take of French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy on the violent demonstrations over the Danish cartoons:

"I am totally shocked and find it unacceptable that -- because there have been caricatures in the West -- extremists can burn flags or take fundamentalist or extremist positions which would prove the cartoonists right," he told LCI television.

Indeed. It's interesting to see Europe struggling with multiculturalism, after years of claiming superiority in this area. But it also highlights the dangers of multiculturalism to every nation - many European nations are now deciding whether to shift their national values with the introduction of each new immigrant.

We've been struggling with the same issues over here, to the point that we actually ignore immigration laws in some cities so that illegal immigrants feel safe applying for college grants and food stamps. But there is at least one major difference in the conflict here and that being waged across the Atlantic.

Our response to the pressures of multiculturalism has been timidity and appeasement in the face of protests, lawsuits, and media pressure. Europe, on the other hand, is threatened with violence for it's offence of publishing a few cartoons. And surprisingly, there are a few in the European media willing to fight back.

But the cultural clash has grave consequences stemming directly from the larger conflict between Islam and the rest of the world:

Early Friday, Palestinian militants threw a bomb at a French cultural center in Gaza City, and many Palestinians began boycotting European goods, especially those from Denmark.

"Whoever defames our prophet should be executed," said Ismail Hassan, 37, a tailor who marched through the pouring rain along with hundreds of others in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

"Bin Laden our beloved, Denmark must be blown up," protesters in Ramallah chanted.

In mosques throughout Palestinian cities, clerics condemned the cartoons. An imam at the Omari Mosque in Gaza City told 9,000 worshippers that those behind the drawings should have their heads cut off.

"If they want a war of religions, we are ready," Hassan Sharaf, an imam in Nablus, said in his sermon.

About 10,000 demonstrators, including gunmen from the Islamic militant group Hamas firing in the air, marched through Gaza City to the Palestinian legislature, where they climbed on the roof, waving green Hamas banners.

"We are ready to redeem you with our souls and our blood our beloved prophet," they chanted. "Down, Down Denmark."

Religion of peace indeed. But while Europe's press is taking the high road, European governments are taking the traditional liberal tack of appeasement. I hope Europe realizes that it's liberal tendancies toward appeasement will ill serve them in this era. The behavior they reinforce will be used again, with perhaps consequences closer to home.

The muslims interviewed in the media would have you believe that this is about respect. Respect, though, is earned - and not through threats of violence. Respect is not earned by burning flags, or firing weapons into the air. Respect is not earned by holding a sign calling for a second holocaust.

When a government chooses to make religion it's cornerstone, it opens itself up to political critisism on that cornerstone. Since muslims can't draw a distinction between religion and politics, it can hardly expect westerners to do so either.

It's been said by many before, and it's worth saying again - when Islam cleans it's own house of the rampant killing in the name of Mohamed, maybe there will be some reason to protest the stereotypes depicted in the Danish cartoons. Until then, blaming others for the stereotypes that they themselves have reinforced deserves contempt.

Last night the History Channel aired a special on Abraham Lincoln. We only watched a little of it - the part I saw was as dark and negative as I've seen. We changed the channel when Gore Vidal came on and made comparisons between Bush and Lincoln, suggesting that Bush is only "pretending" that he's a wartime President. Then he followed with (and I didn't tape it so the wording may not be exact):

"The ‘War on Terror’ is like a war on dandruff. It’s a metaphor, it's nothing. The Civil War was real.”

He didn't actualy mention Bush by name, but it was clear from the context who he meant.

How utterly inappropriate to use a documentary on Lincoln to showcase your BDS. Can the left get any lower?

If the name isn't familiar, the story should be - Paul is the former Canadian Defence Minister who announced his belief in UFOs last September, saying "I'm so concerned about what the consequences might be of starting an intergalactic war, that I just think I had to say something."

In a bold move to help flagging sales at Alcoa (makers of Reynolds Wrap), Paul is coming to the USA to deliver the keynote speech at a forthcoming conference in Hawaii on "Extraterrestrial Civilizations & World Peace". Here's the press release:

KEALAKEKUA, Hawaii, Jan. 9 /U.S. Newswire/ -- the Hon. Paul Hellyer, former Canadian Minister for National Defense, recently declared that evidence confirming the reality of UFOs and visiting extraterrestrial civilizations is subject to "what has probably been the greatest and most successful cover up in the history of the world." He confirmed that senior political officials even at the rank of Minister of Defense, a position he himself occupied, are out of the loop when it comes to information concerning UFOs and extraterrestrial civilizations visiting the Earth. Hellyer will be speaking at a forthcoming conference in Hawaii on "Extraterrestrial Civilizations & World Peace." In this, the first scheduled public presentation of his UFO related views on U.S. soil, the Hon. Paul Hellyer will deliver a key note address on many of the key policy issues over the UFO "cover up," and efforts to covertly target visiting extraterrestrial civilizations using space weapons.

The conference is scheduled for June 9-11. I kinda feel sorry for the folks in Roswell, this is sure to cut into their tourism revenue for June.

Hellyer has raised a profound policy question concerning the designation by the U.S. military of visiting extraterrestrials as an "enemy." According to Hellyer, this had led to the development of "laser and particle guns to the point that they can be used against the visitors from space." It is this targeting of visiting extraterrestrials that deeply concerns Hellyer, and he asks "is it wise to spend so much time and money to build weapon systems to rid the skies of alien visitors?" Hellyer poignantly raises the key policy question: "Are they really enemies or merely legitimate explorers from afar?" Hellyer's question has profound importance in understanding the relationship between visiting extraterrestrial civilizations and world peace.

Of course, I don't buy into any of this. If the military really regarded aliens as a threat, John Murtha would be advocating the redeployment of all our space weapons to a standoff location - right?

Paul Hellyer is the first senior politician to unambiguously declare the existence of a government cover up of evidence concerning visiting extraterrestrial civilizations. He is blazing a trail that many other senior politicians are destined to take.

Yeah, I see a groundswell of politicians taking this route. By the way, check out the web page for the conference here. Note the qualifications of the speakers - there are the ones you might expect, such as "extraterrestrial contactee". But I want to know where the latest dig was for the "Exoarcheology Researcher". And my guidance councellor was remiss in not mentioning the field of Exopolitics to me in high school. Don't forget to check the biographies as well. They refer you to Wikipedia for information on Hellyer. Classy. My favorite, though, is in the bio for Joan Ocean:

She was the convenor of the first Dolpin-Extraterrestrial Civilizations conference in Kona, Hawaii (2005), and is pioneer in human-dolphin-extraterrestrial communications.

I bet those late night bull sessions are fascinating.

Update: Just for fun, here's Joan's website about bigfoot. Apparently, they can read, write, and de-materialize whenever sane folks with cameras are nearby.

Update 2: I wasn't going to mention it, but I was disappointed the registration form was missing the checkboxes for "Alien Contact" and "Whales/Dolphins told me" under the question "How Did You Learn of the Extraterrestrial Civilizations & World Peace Conference?"

That's what the organizer of this crime spree involving drunks in Santa suits calls it:

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - Forty drunken Santas rampaged through central Auckland, stealing from stores and assaulting security guards, the New Zealand Herald reported on Sunday, in a protest against the commercialization of Christmas.

Police said some of the Santas threw beer bottles, one tried to climb the mooring rope of a cruise ship and a security guard was punched during the fracas.

"They came in, said 'Merry Christmas' and then helped themselves," convenience store staff member Changa Manakynda told the Herald, which reported the Santas also attacked a Christmas tree.

The ringleader apparently warned about this in advance:

The event organizer, Alex Dyer, had warned the antics would only stop when someone was arrested, said the Herald, which linked the incident to "Santarchy."

Santarchy (www.santarchy.com) and online encyclopedia wikipedia (www.wikipedia.org) record protests going back around 10 years in the United States, with participants marking Christmas in anti-commercial manner involving street theater, pranks and public drunkenness.

Virtually everyone agrees that Christmas is too commercial. But most folks don't perform drunken crimes in Santa suits to protest it. I wonder how many kids saw them, and what effect did it have?

Also, they may not be able to punish all of them for their vandalism and theft, since the police line-up is going to be a joke:

Police said identification was a key issue as they tried to sort out which of the 40 men and women had done what.

"With a number of people dressed in the same outfit, it was difficult for any witnesses to confirm the identity of who was doing what," Senior Sergeant Matt Rogers told Reuters.

The sad thing is that this kind of behavior won't make Christmas any less commercial. Instead, it just puts negative images in the media about Santa at a time when children are paying close attention. Doesn't anyone think anymore?

From Al-Reuters/Yahoo:

You've got mail, and maybe gonorrhea

E-mail sent through Web sites launched in Los Angeles and San Francisco is providing people with a free, sometimes anonymous, way to tell their casual sex partners they might have picked up more than they bargained for.

The website is called inSPOT and is funded by the San Francisco Department of Public Health. There's another in Los Angeles as well.

Now I do recognize that folks need to be notified if they might have caught some dread disease. And as much as I feel that folks should take responsibility for their own actions, I can see that some folks simply won't. And this might have been a good idea, if the ecards weren't tasteless and easy to abuse (click to enlarge):

I predict these will start showing up as joke emails in so many inboxes that they'll have to pull the sites down.

And in case you're speculating, no - I didn't send one to Glenn Reynolds as a joke, or even as a cheap attempt to garner an instalanche. That would be - well, tasteless.

If only they would put so much effort into illegal immigration and drug interdiction:

Mexican Park Rangers Protect Butterflies

SIERRA CHINCUA, Mexico - With assault rifles over their shoulders and body armor strapped to their chests, Roberto Paleo and his 17 officers are among the world's most heavily armed park rangers. Yet they guard one of nature's most delicate creatures — the monarch butterfly.

The rangers say they need the weapons to protect the winter nesting grounds of millions of orange and black winged butterflies from armed gangs of illegal loggers in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve.

Loggers in this country have a reputation for being rough and rugged. But they pale in comparison to the loggeristas:

In 2003, a group of 100 loggers armed with shotguns and machetes held three park rangers hostage for six hours while they chopped down trees.

"These loggers are heavily armed, organized groups who are sometimes linked to drug traffickers," said environmentalist Homero Aridjis, a Michoacan native who has been campaigning to protect the monarchs for three decades.

TB and I lived in a northern Texas town for a few years that was on the Monarch migration path, the tree next to our house attracted thousands of butterflies every year. Very pretty, but they kept us up all night with their wild parties. Still, that's a minor inconvenience next to the prospect of a hundred armed loggers.

Sigh. Soooo glad to be an American.

Cell Phones Are Disrupting Family Life

In my last position, my employer gave me a cell phone. I got calls day and night, weekends and holidays. Now, it's much better.

But cell phones have been good for us as well. TB and I each have one, and we subscribe to a family plan. We communicate better than ever since we don't have to save everything up and try to blurt it all out to each other at once toward the end of the day. And if something is happening with the kids, I can be reached anywhere.

TB adds: While the convenience the cell phone has brought us is wonderful, the dark side of cell phones - loud people using them in theaters, restaurants, etc, drivers wandering all over the road while yakking - just goes to highlight the fact that we're becoming less considerate as a society. I'm not sure it's a good trade.

About a week ago, I posted about the scandalous Wikipedia post claiming the John Seigenthaler was a suspected assasin. John had written a blistering editorial in USA Today about it, and apparently it resonated - at least a little:

SAN FRANCISCO - Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia that allows anyone to contribute articles, is tightening its rules for submitting entries following the disclosure that it ran a piece falsely implicating a man in the Kennedy assassinations.

Wikipedia will now require users to register before they can create articles, Jimmy Wales, founder of the St. Petersburg, Fla.-based Web site, said Monday.

The change comes less than a week after John Seigenthaler Sr., who was Robert Kennedy's administrative assistant in the early 1960s, wrote an op-ed article revealing that Wikipedia had run a biography claiming Seigenthaler had been suspected in the assassinations of the former Attorney General and his brother, President John F. Kennedy.

While this is a good start, it doesn't go far enough:

Wikipedia visitors will still be able to edit content already posted without registering. It takes 15 to 20 seconds to create an account on the Web site, and an e-mail address is not required.

So let me see if I got it straight. Only a registered user can create an article, but anyone can edit an existing entry without registration? And with no email address required, Wikipedia can't track down who did what in the event of libel? What a sweet deal for Wikipedia - but for no one else. Mr. Seigenthaler has doubts about this "fix" as well:

Seigenthaler said he wasn't convinced the new registration requirement would stop the practice of vandals posting content that is slanderous or knowingly incorrect. Wikipedia will either have to fix the problem or will lose whatever credibility it still has, he said.

"The marketplace of ideas ultimately will take care of the problem," Seigenthaler said. "In the meantime, what happens to people like me?"

Unfortunately, what started as a seemingly good idea is in need of major repair. Free articles on the Easter Island Heads or the Wright Brother's airplane is what made Wikipedia fun, but credibility requires accountability. And it appears they still have a little bit to go before they have it.

As you know, banks are the hot target for reparationists. Currently, there's a case pending in the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago, Ill. involving J.P. Morgan Chase. Apparently, the reparationists feel their going to lose, and are trying to exert pressure to get the bank to settle:

Students to Boycott Slavery Banks

NEW YORK, Dec. 5 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Outraged over JP Morgan Chase's refusal to settle a slavery restitution case pending in the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago, Ill., students, hip hop activists, church leadership, politicians, and reparations organizations are calling a boycott of the company's student loans -- a business worth over $9 billion.

Other targets for reparations have been Wachovia Bank, Fleet Bank, And Bank of America.

This is yet another shakedown in a never ending series of shakedowns. JP Morgan Chase's officers, employees, stockholders, and customers do not own slaves, and their parents and grandparents don't either. But the Restitution Study Group doesn't care about that - if shaking down corporations gets them a few bucks and helps pave the way toward going after the U.S. government (their real goal), punishing innocent people and damaging the economy are, in their twisted view of justice, fair paving stones along the way.

Ironic is that the student loan program they wish to boycott helps many minority students get an education they may not otherwise get. And the companies that Restitution Study Group targets have already made concessions:

Charlotte-based Wachovia Corp. committed an undisclosed sum to support black history education in June, a few days after announcing that two of its predecessor banks owned slaves. Also this year, New York-based JPMorgan Chase & Co. gave $5 million to support college scholarships for black students in Louisiana, where two of its predecessor banks received thousands of slaves as collateral.

And go here to see what Bank of America has done. Reparations groups, in their unabashed greed, would take away Bank of America's profits and assets, cynically ending the bank's ability to give to such worthy causes as United Negro College Fund, INROADS Inc., Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and many more.

Appeasement never gets the desired result, as illustrated by the current court case even after banks have given generously. It just breeds calls for more appeasement.

Really, folks - for the sake of everyone, it's time for the shakedowns to stop.

over his entry on Wikipedia. And after reading his Op/Ed (via USA Today/Yahoo), I'm inclined to feel that he's justified. He speaks of the difficulty of getting the entry corrected:

For four months, Wikipedia depicted me as a suspected assassin before Wales erased it from his website's history Oct. 5. The falsehoods remained on Answers.com and Reference.com for three more weeks.

I've seen lots of blog posts over the last year questioning the reliability of Wikipedia. I think it just shows that you get what you pay for.

Here's the corrected Wikipedia entry.

and the almost cult-like following they had. Sure, they had a few tunes I liked, but I was never bitten by the same bug that created one of the most loyal fan bases the music industry has ever known.

Now we get to see just how obsessed that fan base really is as Jerry Garcia's toilet goes to the auction block:

SAN FRANCISCO - Jerry Garcia's dishwasher, toilets and other home appliances will be auctioned by a nonprofit group hoping to raise more than $100,000.

Normally, auctions involving personal items from deceased celebrities would include items meaningful to their career - you know, letters, collections, memorabilia from performances, etc. But a dishwasher?

If that's not worth bidding on for you, they have other items as well:

The items, which also include stereo cabinets, cupboards and a freezer, will be available for bidding on the online auction site eBay from Dec. 18 through Dec. 24.

It's all for charity, of course. But a toilet?

Linked with:
Don Surber (Okay, so I'm stubborn. So what?)

Now that Thanksgiving is over, lots of us will be preparing for Christmas. Before you pat yourself on the back for your Griswald-like decoration job, you may want to take a look at this (via snopes.com).

If you have control issues, Alek's Christmas Lights Webcam lets you turn lights on and off, and even inflate/deflate Frankenstein (since when did he become a symbol for Christmas?). It was fake last year, but this year he promises to make it real, and all to raise a few bucks for Celiac Disease Research.

If you hadn't heard the music in the first item before, it's from the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. I've always liked the blending of rock with classical, and they do it nicely. I wish they would make a few more videos like this, though. The music from the first item is called Wizards in Winter, and a better quality listen can be found here.

If you still need decorating ideas, there are lots of pictures of Griwald wanna-be's at Planet Christmas. And for the curious, here's how Christmas lights work.

For examples of what not to do, check out Holly's Tacky Christmas Lights. I hope she updates it for this year. And take a look at this from the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Not that Virginia has the market cornered on over-done lighting - here's a few in other states. Who knows, maybe you'll come across your house?

California: San Fransisco, Bakersfield (fun video here)

Florida: Pinecrest (this one raises money for cancer research, so they're at least doing it for a good cause), Tampa

Texas: Austin (some of these would make Neal Boortz proud)

By the way - comedian/author Doug Hecox thinks we're inviting trouble with all the Christmas lights. I bet he'd be really popular in Canada.

Update: Alek of Alec's Christmas Lights reponds.

Linked with and Thanks to:
Wizbang
Stop the ACLU
Basil's Blog
bRight & Early
Conservative Cat

While most of us are more concerned with the War on Terror, Some Canadians worry about a different war:

Former Canadian Minister Of Defence Asks Canadian Parliament Asked To Hold Hearings On Relations With Alien "Et" Civilizations

(PRWEB) - OTTAWA, CANADA (PRWEB) November 24, 2005 -- A former Canadian Minister of Defence and Deputy Prime Minister under Pierre Trudeau has joined forces with three Non-governmental organizations to ask the Parliament of Canada to hold public hearings on Exopolitics -- relations with “ETs.”

By “ETs,” Mr. Hellyer and these organizations mean ethical, advanced extraterrestrial civilizations that may now be visiting Earth.

On September 25, 2005, in a startling speech at the University of Toronto that caught the attention of mainstream newspapers and magazines, Paul Hellyer, Canada’s Defence Minister from 1963-67 under Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Prime Minister Lester Pearson, publicly stated: "UFOs, are as real as the airplanes that fly over your head."

Mr. Hellyer went on to say, "I'm so concerned about what the consequences might be of starting an intergalactic war, that I just think I had to say something."

Of course, it's probably all Bush's fault:

Hellyer warned, "The United States military are preparing weapons which could be used against the aliens, and they could get us into an intergalactic war without us ever having any warning. He stated, "The Bush administration has finally agreed to let the military build a forward base on the moon, which will put them in a better position to keep track of the goings and comings of the visitors from space, and to shoot at them, if they so decide."

Definitely the oddest example of BDS I've seen in a while...

Update: Little Green Footballs is posting on this as well. Beat me by 5 minutes, too.

This is wrong on so many levels:

Drug Smuggler Crowned Miss Penitentiary

SAO PAULO, Brazil - South America's latest beauty queen won't be campaigning abroad for world peace any time soon, unless, of course, she's granted early parole.

Angelica Mazua, a statuesque Angolan serving five years on international drug smuggling charges, on Thursday was voted Miss Penitentiary 2005 after a six-hour contest pitting 40 women inmates from 10 prisons around Brazil's largest city, Sao Paulo.

This is the second year for the event in Brazil. The contestants come from all walks of life:

The women, serving sentences for crimes from armed robbery to drug trafficking, were vying to be named Miss Penitentiary 2005 — a title that brings a $160 prize and a break from dreary routine.

Although it seems to me that an unintended side effect might be the glorification of criminals, the prison system thought up the idea to boost self-esteem:

Prison officials came up with the idea of a beauty contest last year as a way of trying to boost inmates' self-confidence. Judges include celebrities, soccer players and journalists, and there are prizes in three other categories, writing, public speaking and congeniality.

I wonder how a murderess or an armed robber prepares for "miss congeniality"?

When it comes to getting all mushy about holidays, I'm certainly no amateur. At least internally. Sure, I get emotional inside when watching holiday movies, and I really get wound up when seeing the expressions on my kid's faces on Christmas morning.

But express it in writing? No way. I just don't have it in me to wax poetic about being thankful for all the things in my life such as my two beautiful daughters, who delight me every day with their curiousity, energy, and zest for living, and have an amazing ability for taking away the day's pain and stress with just a hug.

And I certainly don't have the writing ability to express how the beautiful TB makes my life complete in every way, and how my affection for her has grown daily through thick and thin, and how proud and thankful I am to go on life's journey hand in hand with her.

And I could never be able to express how much I appreciate living in the best country on the planet along with all the opportunity it's given me - the twenty years I served in the Air Force is poor repayment indeed.

I also wish there were some way for my words to convey how thankful I am to all of you, my new friends in the blogosphere, both readers and fellow bloggers; whether we agree or not, I value you all.

And last but not least, I simply haven't the words to say how proud and thankful I am for our uniformed men and women who have sacrificed and continue to sacrifice so that we can all remain free.

Nope, there's no way I can do it. So I won't. Instead, I charge you with going to all the other blogs who do have words befitting of this day. When you see one that's especially well-written and emotes the requisite amount of sentimentality, please pause and say, "LB would have said that - if he could".

Happy Thanksgiving To You All!

from LB and the entire B family.

Linked to:
All Things Beautiful

Via AP/Yahoo:

Pardoned Turkey Is Going to Disneyland

Marshmallow and its backup, Yam, are being shipped to Disneyland in California, where Marshmallow will serve as grand marshall of the annual holiday parade.

That'll make Paul and Heather happy. They'll get to keep their toes, too.

I don't think much of this idea:

Brazil's Coffee Industry Association (Abic) is seeking the support of 50 roasters to launch a pilot "Adopt-a-School" program to feed breakfast to 1 million Brazilian school children aged 6 to 18.

Hope it doesn't migrate here.

Sorry, Heather. And sorry to you, too, Paul.

I like my Thanksgiving turkey. More than that, I love my Thanksgiving turkey. And so do TB and the kids.

So when I'm carving up that delicious, juicy turkey this thursday, I won't be wondering about where it's toes went.

And even your new PSA won't get me to.

And by the way, why Viva! USA? Don't they have turkeys in the UK?

And I can't say I blame her. Go and read her post from late last night, "Just a yellow woman doing a white man's job".

It never ceases to amaze me the lengths the folks on the left will go when challenged by minorities who don't agree with the liberal message.

While the tone of her post is set by her (obviously justified) frustration, it also gives a glimpse into Michelle's private life - something I wish she had shared in a happier post, because I think there's a terrific story there. Framing issues aside, though, I'm still glad she shared it. Michelle, is there any chance we'll get to see more?

Anyway, this is a must-read for today.

To Michelle, a quote from Samuel Johnson (English author, 1709–1784):

"Attack is the reaction. I never think I have hit hard unless it rebounds."

Keep hitting 'em hard, Michelle.

Has put out its "Top Politically inCorrect Words for 2005"

The right side of the blogosphere should note with satisfaction that the BBC is the headliner of this "top ten" list:

1. Misguided Criminals for Terrorist: The BBC attempts to strip away all emotion by using what it considers neutral descriptions when describing those who carried out the bombings in the London Tubes. The rub: the professed intent of these misguided criminals was to kill, without warning, as many innocents as possible (which is the common definition for the term, terrorist).

My favorite comes in at number 5:

Out of the Mainstream when used to describe the ideology of any political opponent: At one time slavery was in the mainstream, thinking the sun orbited the earth was in the mainstream, having your blood sucked out by leeches was in the mainstream. What's so great about being in the mainstream?

We at DGITL hope you're having an out of the mainstream day.

That's the name of this piece by John Leo. Please go and read it. There will be a test in the morning.

No, I'm not going to quote it. You can see it here.

By the way, for some odd reason this was in the "most popular" list at Yahoo News.

Advocating child abuse.

If you have a desire to protest - after all, it's all the rage nowadays - but nothing that's, well, important to protest about, then try protesting old adages and cliches:

There Are Atheists in Foxholes, Says Institute for Humanist Studies; VeteransDay Event in Nation's Capital to Honor Military Atheists

Yes, Jason Torpy of Ohio is really upset over the antiquated phrase "There are no atheists in foxholes". Never mind that it's just an expression that refers more to fear than God, and it's hardly used anymore:

"There are atheists in foxholes," said atheist Jason Torpy of Ohio, a retired U.S. Army Captain. He now serves as president of the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers, an Internet-based support network for non-theistic service members.

On Nov. 10-11, Torpy will join other atheist veterans and active duty service members to participate in a Washington D.C. event honoring those who have served in the United States Armed Forces and who do not believe in God or gods. On Friday, Nov. 11, there will be a Veterans Day "Atheists in Foxholes" parade and rally on the National Mall, starting at 11 a.m.

U.S. Army Master Sgt. Kathleen Johnson, an atheist on active duty at Fort Hood, Texas, is unhappy about the uncommon phrase as well:

"I am personally insulted by the use of that phrase (There are no atheists in foxholes)"

And so is Duncan Creary:

"Religious bias and ignorance leads many journalists and editors to think it's OK to falsely report that there are no atheists in foxholes -- or, more recently, hurricane zones," said Duncan Crary, communications director of the Institute for Humanist Studies.

Although the phrase, widely used during the first two world wars, has all but disappeared from the language, the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers apparently feels that its use hasn't disappeared fast enough. So they're having a protest march:

On Nov. 10-11, Torpy will join other atheist veterans and active duty service members to participate in a Washington D.C. event honoring those who have served in the United States Armed Forces and who do not believe in God or gods. On Friday, Nov. 11, there will be a Veterans Day "Atheists in Foxholes" parade and rally on the National Mall, starting at 11 a.m.

In other news, the British Astronomer's Association is holding a candlelight vigil in London this weekend to protest the antiquated phrase "The sun never sets on the British empire". Niles Blackthorn, director of the BAA, explains the rationale behind the group's activism:

"We find that phrase "The sun never sets on the British empire" insulting and completely false. Why, if it were true, we astronomers would never get any work done!"

WASHINGTON - The State Department, in a report being released Tuesday, cites Saudi Arabia and seven other countries as restricting religious freedom.

Also Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Sudan and Vietnam.

I'm shocked.

Via The Smoking Gun:

As if the Michael Jackson story wasn't tasteless enough, Actress Dawn Westlake and Bruce Rheins, the CBS News producer covered the Jackson child molestation case, want to sell wine under the name of "Jesus Juice". The label features a Michael Jackson look-a-like in a pose resembling a crucifix.

I will not post the logo (too offensive), but you may see it here.

I just can't see this being a hit.

Oh, by the way... The wine is a merlot. This screams for a joke about "merlot democrats" and maybe Howard Dean. Post your original best along with the name of your favorite charity in the comments. My lovely bride, TB, will pick the best by tomorrow around dinnertime (7 p.m. EST). We'll give 20 bucks to the charity chosen by the winner.

Update (5:04 p.m. 07 Nov 05): Mark Tapscott, on the involvement of Bruce Rheins: "There are the obvious conflict of interest issues here, but even more important is what the situation suggests about the cultural perspectives within the CBS News organization."

I couldn't agree more.

Evidently, someone is selling MREs (Meals, Ready to Eat) on eBay:

U.S. Investigates Sale of MREs on eBay

The investigation is based on the premise that some of the meals provided for hurricane victims may be for sale.

I ate more than a few MREs when I was still active duty. When Desert Storm began, my unit closed our chow hall and issued them out for nearly a month. They weren't really awful, it's just that they weren't, well, good, either. I seriously question the sanity or taste of whoever buys them.

A group that calls itself "Free Press" has this posted on their website:

Don't FOX with local news

Fox News Channel's political agenda is coming to a television station near you.

Roger Ailes, the architect behind the right-wing tilt of cable news, is now remaking 35 local television stations -- broadcasting to nearly 40 percent of America's homes -- in Fox News Channel's image.

Media consolidation made Ailes' takeover of local news possible. We need to break up the big media conglomerates and get higher quality news and information in return for free use of the public's airwaves. To protect local media from corporate consolidation, millions of Americans need to stand up and be counted.

Free Press Basics

Free Press is a national nonpartisan organization working to increase informed public participation in crucial media policy debates, and to generate policies that will produce a more competitive and public interest-oriented media system with a strong nonprofit and noncommercial sector.

We believe that a more democratic US media system will lead to better public policies — at home and abroad. As our world becomes more and more interconnected, it is imperative that any kind of development takes into account basic environment, economic, and human rights, while defining corporate and personal responsibilities. Free Press considers information to be among the most important resources to any society. We strive to open up the media system to allow more diversity of opinion to be expressed, to present a broader perspective, and to increase the caliber of information available to everyday people. This, in turn, will lead to a more participatory and accountable government and to more sustainable policies and practices regarding national and global development.

Talk about low hanging fruit...

Via AP/Yahoo:

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - The author of a new state law that allows felony charges against owners of dangerous dogs was hospitalized over the weekend after his own dog attacked him.

Does he have to turn himself in now?

Via Reuters/CNN:

Chinese building sparks holey row

SHANGHAI, China (Reuters) -- The designs for China's tallest building in Shanghai have been tweaked, its Japanese builders have said, after the original plans for an eye-catching round hole aroused anti-Japan sentiment.

The plans for a round opening through the upper stories of the 492-meter (1,614-ft), 101-storey Shanghai World Financial Centre sparked an uproar in China because many likened it to the rising sun of Japan's war-time flag -- a sentiment that caught developers Mori Building Co. by surprise.

That reminds me. What ever happened to the "Crescent of Embrace"?

Via AP/Yahoo:

Groups Threaten to Boycott American Girl

NEW YORK - American Girl, manufacturer of a highly popular line of dolls and children's books, has become the target of conservative activists threatening a boycott unless the toy maker cuts off contributions to a youth organization that supports abortion rights and acceptance of lesbians.

The protest is directed at an ongoing American Girl campaign in which proceeds from sales of a special "I Can" wristband help support educational and empowerment programs of Girls Inc., a national nonprofit organization which describes its mission as "inspiring girls to be strong, smart and bold."

If you've missed the American Girl craze, this is a line of dolls dressed in period clothing from american history. These have been a hot item for a number of years, especially among collectors.

Certainly American Girl has a right to support any cause it wishes. However, I think this clearly illustrates that when you market a product for children, you should be careful about what causes you support, since it's the adults who fess up the cash. This should be a no brainer.

Anyone from the comic book generation knows that superman can turn a lump of coal into a diamond using super pressure from his bare hands. Science has been able to duplicate this process to create man-made gems as well.

Environmentalists everywhere will be delighted that we no longer have to plunder our natural resources to perform this transformation. Coal has now been replaced by Aunt Mildred:

Via AFP/Yahoo:

CHICAGO (AFP) - Everyone said she was a gem. Now, just eight ounces of cremated remains is all it takes to turn your mother into a diamond.

In fact, there's enough carbon in those ashes to make about 20 gems. And there will still be several pounds of ashes left over to display on the mantelpiece.

So far, nobody's ordered more than 11 diamonds, said Dean VandenBiesen, vice president of operations for LifeGem, which uses super-hot ovens to transform ashes to graphite and then presses the stone into blue and yellow diamonds that retail for anywhere from 2,700 to 20,000 dollars.

There's a creepiness factor built in to the notion that I could be turned into an object that my heirs might pawn or auction on Ebay. And I don't personally know anyone who would find this respectful or appropriate. Here's the money quote from Mr. VandenBieson on the general demeanor of his clients:

"It's not for everyone," VandenBiesen admitted, adding that for those who do chose to immortalize their loved ones in jewelry, the experience is extremely positive.

"We have people that approach us who have just experienced a tragedy and they say I can't wait, I'm so excited about this," he said. "In the field of death care, when someone says I'm really excited about this, I think we've achieved what we wanted to do which is change the culture of death." (emphasis mine)

Put that way, I'm now even more creeped out. On the other hand, maybe I could dress up my kids as diamonds this Halloween....

This post on Power Line is gratuitous and devoid of meaningful content - so much so, that I've bookmarked it and will re-read it often so that I can avoid making the same mistakes.

The Times (UK) has an article today about the effects of religion entitled Societies worse off 'when they have God on their side':

RELIGIOUS belief can cause damage to a society, contributing towards high murder rates, abortion, sexual promiscuity and suicide, according to research published today.

According to the study, belief in and worship of God are not only unnecessary for a healthy society but may actually contribute to social problems.

The study referenced in the article can be found here. The theme for the study runs along the lines of:

European countries are by and large more secular than the US.
European countries have lower rates of crime, STDs, teen pregnancy, etc.
High rates in the belief of a higher being, combined with low rates of acceptance for Darwinism causes our high rates of crime, STDs, teen pregnancy, etc.

I disagree completely with this premise, indeed I suggest that our rates of crime and other social ills are built on more complex foundations than "more bible thumpers = more murderers". If I graphed data on toy inventories at Wal-Mart or the rise in popularity of bowling leagues I might find a similar correlation. But I would be wrong to suggest that bowling causes murder and AIDS.

The author of the study is Gregory S. Paul, who the Times calls a "social scientist". I wonder if this is the same Mr. Paul who wrote this book, and this article for the Council for Secular Humanism's Free Inquiry magazine? If so, shouldn't the times have mentioned it?

On a side note, I would love to see a debate between this guy and Bill Bennett.

Update - My dyslexia is getting in the way. Son of Sam killed because his dog told him to. Sorry.