Jailbird Judy Wonkette notes that Time Warner caved on the subpoenas, but that Sulzberger is more than happy for Judy Miller to go to jail in order to preserve the integrity of the NYT. Frankly, I think Judy Miller should go to jail for her ridiculously slanted coverage of the Dean campaign, and her totally willingness to be duped by Ahmad Chalabi et al. in the run up to the war.

Oh yeah, and can someone please tell me WHY THE F**K ROBERT NOVAK IS NOT IN JAIL?

Argh.
  ¶ 1:12 PM 0 comments

  She's...so...poplar... Poplars suck.  ¶ 1:02 PM 0 comments

  GOHOVATHEAH MY LORD, GOHOVATHEAH The NYT today profiles a Secular Summer-camp.

It seems that growing up secular-humanist in the the Red States is quite a trial for many kids, and this is a safe haven for them. I didn't realize that finding a non-religious summer camp was particularly hard, but apparently it is...

Growing up in NYC in the 70's and 80's, I don't think I actually knew any in-your-face religious people, certainly not Christians. I didn't meet any until I got to college.

And when I did meet them, my HS Bible class (acknowledged by a Harvard B.A., U.Mich Classics Ph. D friend of mine to be the best class he ever took) gave me enough scripture to quote for my purpose, plus a whole boatload of documentary hypothesis.

But of course, you can't win an argument with someone who just wants to save your soul. You're better off just playing Tetris or something.

Anyway, I'm glad that geographically isolated rationalists have somewhere to hang out until they get old enough to move to the coasts. Hang in there, kids.

Of course, now that I'm a parent, I'm a Unitarian. There are no atheists in delivery rooms, or single-prop planes with 6-month pregnant wives.   ¶ 9:34 PM 1 comments

  Illiberal Justices So, the Supreme Court has essentially ruled that "economic development" is a compelling public interest that can justify eminent domain seizures by local (and presumably state and federal) governments. So, the government can seize your property and sell it to a developer if that development will bring in more taxes and create more jobs.

It's even worse because the ones who are generally the evil right-wingers (Rehnquist, Scalia, Thomas, and O'Connor) who are on the right side of this one.

Argh.

Full PDF of the Decision  ¶ 12:23 PM 0 comments

  That's not me. I have an unusual name. Very few share my last name, and last I checked, there are only four of us that share my full name: me, an airforce sargeant, a Stanford kid, and a Wisconsin HS wrestler.

I just got a phone call and had this conversation:

"Is this [my name]?"
"Who's calling?"
"I'm looking for the [my name] that used to live in San Antonio."
"The airforce guy?"
"Yeah, he's an old buddy of mine."
"That's not me. But I Googled him too. Good luck."
"Thanks."  ¶ 5:08 PM 0 comments

  Get them while they're young, I guess Apparently, it's no longer good enough to wait until you're an insufferable adolescent and can read Ayn Rand all by yourself. Now they're after your children.  ¶ 6:29 PM 2 comments

  Disband the College Republicans and turn them into rifleman... An immodest proposal  ¶ 3:07 PM 0 comments

  Voinovich signed on. OK, 15 pro-lynching senators. I guess being from Ohio does mean something after all. And my friend from Ohio tells me Voinovich was pretty independent on the Bolton nomination. So some of my faith in the Mason-Dixon line is restored, anyway. Here's the Amended Pro-Lynching Senator List.  ¶ 6:08 PM 0 comments

  Safeguarding Helium for our children Some interesting facts about helium.

When they realized that there was only a limited amount of helium in the Earth and that when it was gone there would be no practical way to make it, the Government began collecting the helium in giant storage tanks.

Today there are billions of cubic feet of compressed helium kept in the national reserves.

  ¶ 1:33 PM 0 comments

  16 pro-lynching senators 16 Republican senators have not cosponsored the Senate's recent resolution apologizing for not passing an anti-lynching law in the early and mid 20th century. They are listed at Daily Kos.

Besides the Dixie Republicans, the list includes both senators from New Hampshire, Utah, and Wyoming. Plus, GEORGE VOINOVICH from OHIO.

Ohio? What the hell?  ¶ 6:02 PM 0 comments

  Howard speaks to truth to spinelessness "My view is FOX News is a propaganda outlet for the Republican Party and I don't comment on FOX News."  ¶ 6:10 AM 0 comments

  Best Spam of the Day "We are Finnish. Save over 50% leitmotif on pharmaceuticals"  ¶ 10:11 AM 0 comments

  Give 'em Hell, Howard. Andy Borowitz on the Dean flap du jour: DEAN CALLS REPUBLICANS FAT, UGLY.

Personally, I think he should start calling them "the assholes." If anyone complains, he can refer them to Dick Cheney.

All this stuff about how "divisive never wins" is hooey. Let's remember, the 20th century Democratic presidential run was based on Southern racism. Carter was Watergate backlash, and Clinton was elected by Ross Perot and re-elected by a booming economy. We just need to do divisive better.  ¶ 6:24 PM 2 comments

  No sleep till JFK So I've been flying Song up and down to FL for work lately, and one of the albums they have to listen to is Licensed to Ill, which I wasn't nearly cool enough to appreciate when it came out, but for which I've developed an odd nostalgia.

Born and bred Brooklyn - U.S.A.
They call me Adam Yauch - but I'm M.C.A.
Like a lemon to a lime - a lime to a lemon
I sip the def ale with all the fly women.

How true, how true.  ¶ 10:58 AM 0 comments

  a travesty of a mockery of a sham of a mockery of a travesty of two mockeries of a sham. The Mayo Clinic rips off Woody Allen in "Bananas" with a modern version of the Execu-sizer. Thanks, Chris  ¶ 6:17 PM 0 comments

  Here's to you, Mrs. Brooks. Anne Bancroft died.   ¶ 5:01 PM 0 comments

  The Finnish Model... A Finn responds in the NYT to the Friedman quote I blogged before:

In my country, Finland, women work outside the home just about as much as men, in jobs that pay about as well and are about as productive. Second, most of us are pretty well educated. But then the World Bank and the World Economic Forum rate our little economy as the most competitive in the world.
That's why I don't feel too afraid of losing the six-week vacations I like to take together with my wife, even if the entry of India and China into the information age is likely to increase global prosperity to new heights.


Gee, you mean educating women, creating a social structure where they can easily work outside the home, and paying them market rates can lead to a strong economy? Who would have guessed?

  ¶ 7:13 AM 0 comments

  Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell... More from the NYT this morning, in an article on mergers: "''I speak with senior executives in the course of my research,'' [said] Robert Bruner, the Darden business school professor. ''They all tell stories about how they are charged with maintaining earnings growth. They can only get 5 to 6 percent growth organically, yet the C.E.O. has set a target that is much more ambitious, and they must make up the difference by acquisitions.''

So, a typical large business is capable of growing 5-6% organically, but the CEO (and the markets) demand stronger growth than is possible from a mature company. So the only way to get that growth is to buy it.

This feeds into one of my recurring rants about shareholder capitalism. Shareholder capitalism started like this: I'll buy some of your company, and you give me some of the profits. Highest goal: Profitability.

But then it mutated into this: I'll buy some of your company, and you make the company more valuable so that I can sell my piece to someone else later for more than I bought it for. Higest goal: Increasing market value of company.

The first model incents companies that sell things (or services or whatever). The second model incents companies that essentially sell themselves. Why is this any different from "Greater Fool" on a massive, massive scale?  ¶ 9:09 AM 0 comments

  Of course, we knew that from 1999... "The data generated by the capuchin monkeys, Chen says, ''make them statistically indistinguishable from most stock-market investors.'' (from today's NYT article by the authors of Freakonomics)  ¶ 8:58 AM 0 comments

  Working Hard v. Hardly Working? Two random things in the NYT this week that underline my general theory that self-motivated entrepreneurialism is the only secure career path for Americans in an increasingly post-corporate world.

One was a Op-Ed today by the author of A Whole New Mind, which I haven't read but it seems to be about why the only safe thing to do is follow your passion because everything else will be automated and outsourced.

The other was an Op-Ed on 6/3/05 by Tom "I'm still here in Bangalore plugging my new book about globalization" Friedman, about how emerging economy workers are not only willing to work cheaper, they're willing to work harder. "It is interesting because French voters are trying to preserve a 35-hour work week in a world where Indian engineers are ready to work a 35-hour day. Good luck."

  ¶ 12:00 PM 0 comments