JMac Scores 6 Three-Pointers

“Jason McElwain, an autistic high school basketball team member in Rochester NY, served as the coach’s assistant and spirit leader for several years. On the final game of the season the coach let him finally put on a jersey with the rest of the team. Watch what happens then…”

Wildlife

Diving Under Antarctic Ice has a bunch of other-worldly photos of life in Antarctica (link via Inkycircus).

BBC News reports on how elephant seals dive for science, with a computerized tag on its head (which does not hurt the seal at all). (link via Inkycircus again)

28th Skeptic’s Circle

Go read it at Unused and Probably Unusable.

You Can’t Copy Your Music To Your IPod?

The RIAA is arguing that you have no right to make copies of your CDs or transfer them to your iPod. Read more at Lean Left.

California Re-Certifies Hackable Voting Machines

Bradblog has the unpleasant details.

A Belated Farewell

I have been remiss in not noticing the passing of actor Eddie Albert nearly a year ago. Albert starred in one of the funniest television shows of all times, Green Acres. Portraying lawyer-turned-farmer Oliver Wendell Douglas in the town of Hooterville, Albert’s looks of exasperation at the various townspeople are classic comedy, and absolutely hysterical.

But Albert had many other fine qualities, as noted in his obituary. “He was a tireless conservationist, crusading for endangered species, healthful food, cleanup of Santa Monica Bay pollution and other causes. … He helped Dr. Albert Schweitzer combat famine in Africa. He traveled the world for UNICEF. Concerned about seeing fewer pelicans on beaches where he was jogging, he went with ecologists and his son on a trip to Anacapa Island. ‘We discovered that in every nest all the eggs were crushed, and nobody knew why,’ the younger Albert [son of Eddie Albert] said. ‘They took samples and tested them, and found DDT in all the eggs. … An entire generation of species was being wiped out.’ Albert began speaking about the harmful effects of the pesticide at universities around the country, and in 1972 the federal government banned DDT.”

Not My Fault!

David Niewert:

It’s not my fault! cried the Republican.

It’s not my fault that I shot one of my hunting partners, says Dick Cheney. It’s his fault.

It’s not my fault the invasion of Iraq is turning into a nightmare, says Donald Rumsfeld. It’s those evildoers!

It’s not my fault that we outed the identity of a valuable CIA operative involved in weapons of mass destruction proliferation, says Karl Rove. It was, um, um, um ... Lewis Libby! Yeah!

It’s not my fault that FEMA so badly bungled the response to Hurricane Katrina, says Michael Brown. It’s those local Democrats!

It’s not my fault there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, says Condoleezza Rice. It’s the CIA’s fault!

It’s not my fault we ignored official warnings and were asleep at the wheel on Sept. 11, says George W. Bush and the whole cabal. It’s Bill Clinton's fault!

Ah yes. It’s a refrain we’ve come to know so well: The Buck Stops There.

Over at Factesque:

If we didn’t already know it before yesterday, Cheney’s shooting of his hunting partner has put this administration’s defining characteristic directly in the spotlight: These people take responsibility for nothing that they do or fail to do.

• Nobody could have imagined that people would fly a plane into a skyscraper.
• Nobody could have known that bin Laden was a threat.
• Nobody could have captured him at Tora Bora.
• Nobody could have anticipated that the levees would fail.
• Nobody could have expected deadly mine disasters resulting from lax regulation of the industry.

Full Time Officials

Now that the NFL, and its fans, have realized that referees can make mistakes in big games, the call for full-time officials seems to be hitting a crescendo. And surprisingly, a call for calm making some very solid arguments, comes from a Seattle Times writer, John Boyle. Boyle quotes the NFL’s Aaron Pointer (an evaluator of officials) as saying: “There’s a human element involved, and when that’s involved, there are going to be some questions in judgment. All of these guys know the rules. Spending more time on that won’t make a difference.”

The major reason why full-time officials won’t make a noticeable difference is that the only way for an individual to improve in officiating is to officiate more — just as the only way to improve any skill is to do it more. But, there are no more games to officiate in the NFL during the week. The current crop of officials, if they were made full-time, couldn’t officiate more, and if they spent the week studying tape or studying the rules, it will only have a minor impact on their skills, and it won’t improve their judgment one bit.

Lastly, next time someone brings up the argument that full-time officials are the solution to the NFL’s officiating problem, remind them that the NHL, NBA and Major League Baseball all have full-time officials, and how’s that working out? There were no controversies regarding umpiring during the World Series, right?

Phantastic Photo

Photo from Aaron Hockley of Dogcaught blog (click on photo to see full version)

Scandal Fatigue

I was going to write a post about the multitude of scandals hitting the Bush administration just this week, but Benj Hellie has beaten me to it. The New York Times also chimes in on this topic. Each scandal would have been sufficient to bring down previous administrations. If those aren’t enough to convince you that impeachment is necessary, I guess you will never be convinced.

Evolution Sunday

On the birthday of Charles Darwin, a special event is planned, Evolution Sunday. “On 12 February 2006 hundreds of Christian churches from all portions of the country and a host of denominations will come together to discuss the compatibility of religion and science. For far too long, strident voices, in the name of Christianity, have been claiming that people must choose between religion and modern science. More than 10,000 Christian clergy have already signed The Clergy Letter demonstrating that this is a false dichotomy. … Together, participating religious leaders will be making the statement that religion and science are not adversaries. And, together, they will be elevating the quality of the national debate on this topic.”

Google Desktop Boycott Urged

Or at the very least, be extremely careful how you configure it, otherwise you personal information may wind up on Google’s servers, where others may find stuff there you don’t want them to find.

Details here (via). Update (2/11/06): Apparently, only the latest version, Google Desktop 3, has these privacy concerns.

Proof That Vegetables Are Evil

From “Proof That Vegetables Are Evil”:

The fact that vegetables are vile, unappetizing crunchy lumps of grotesquitude that children have to be forced to eat should be enough to convince anyone that they’re evil. But the “If it’s bad, it must be good for you” mindset of the miserable guilt-ridden majority is too well-ingrained to shrug off easily. Since many of those self-same pious proponents of self-denial also happen to be religious, I shall now present Biblical evidence that vegetables are evil...

Commentary

Commander-In-Thief

Georgia10 goes on a fine rant today about how the men and women who fight for our country deserve our eternal support, but they don’t receive it from Bush or the Republican Congress.

Democrats realize that as a nation, we are indebted to those who are willing to die in its name. Republicans, on the other hand, don’t understand the concept of being indebted to a soldier’s sacrifice. Indebted to lobbyists for filling their campaign coffers? They understand that perfectly. Indebted to the families of those who return from battle in coffins? Never.
…
The President’s 2007 Budget boasts a 7% increase in defense spending, with billions poured into military operations overseas and programs here at home.
…
The military’s health care program, TRICARE, supports some 9.2 million beneficiaries. Veterans from wars too soon forgotten depend on the program. From military families who have buried their husbands or wives, to those who dread a call in the middle of the night about those who currently serve, the program is designed to take care of those families — our families. First, Bush’s plan would eventually cause some 600,000 retirees to be dropped from the military’s healthcare program. Bush’s budget also makes across-the-board premium increases to TRICARE retirees under the age of 65. Veterans will see an increase of 41% for single or family coverage within two years; senior enlisted and officer retirees will see increases of up to 204%. By 2009, healthcare premiums for our veterans will TRIPLE.

Links — and Outrage

So that liar George Bush knew the levees in New Orleans had been breached the night before Katrina hit, still did nothing, and then later said that no one anticipated the levees would be breached.

A simple, easy to understand guide to the Plame scandal, with pictures, courtesy of Juan Cole!

That liar George Bush says that a plot involving shoe bombs to fly a plane into a Los Angeles building was averted in 2002. However, screening for shoe bombs began shortly after Richard Reid’s attempted shoe bombing was thwarted on December 22, 2001. Update (2/11/06): So the Feds didn’t stop the plot, the pilot himself backed out and cancelled the project. Nice job, Bushie!

Emptywheel provides a few facts to help develop outrage in your Republican-minded friends and family members. “You’ve spent $1,500 this year to bomb Afghans. Did you know that?” “They just took out a $5,000 dollar loan in your name with which to bomb Iraqi civilians.” “Say, did you hear the Republicans just put an accused money-launderer in charge of your pocket-book?”

Book Review

Wilt, 1962, The Night of 100 Points and the Dawn of a New Era
by Gary M. Pomerantz

“Here came the Philadelphia Warriors guard York Larese, son of an immigrant tinsmith from northern Italy, leading the fast break. Larese took the ball to the middle, a teammate angling on either side of him, three Warriors moving toward the New York Knickerbockers basket, perfectly choreographed.

“But from behind, covering ninety-four feet in twelve strides, Chamberlain was coming, and Larese felt the force. The local kids had left their seats in the Hershey Sports Arena by now, and the pressed close to the court and shouted, ‘Give it to Wilt! Give it to Wilt!’

“From the Warriors bench, Coach Frank McGruire, a dandy from the Irish side of Greenwich Village, called out those same words. The tinsmith’s son cradled the ball in his right hand and drove toward the basket, Knicks converging on him from all sides. At the last moment, Larese lifted the ball high — a lob pass to Chamberlain.

“Larese’s momentum carried him beneath the basket and beyond the baseline and, as he drifted from the play, he looked back, and what he saw was unforgettable … beautiful and monstrous, exquisite and terrifying, a hugeness unlike anything he’d ever seen on a basketball court, rising up, up, up, Chamberlain, long and lean, leaping with both arms extended above his head, revealing the ‘PHILA 13’ across his white jersey, catching the ball twelve-and-a-half or thirteen feet above the hardwood floor — two-and-a-half or three feet above the flimsy rim — and in one motion, slamming it through the basket with a ferocity that branded itself in Larese’s memory.

“The ball bounced high off the floor, and Zink called out on the public address system, ‘That’s nine-tee eigghhhttt!’ ”

And so begins Pomerantz’s book. Like all great books, it grabs you by the throat right in the preface, and keeps your attention riveted. Pomerantz, in writing a book that focuses on a legendary moment, Wilt Chamberlain’s (aka “The Dipper”) 100 point game, delivers a book that paints a portrait not only of that game, but of the men who played the game, the city of Hershey, the NBA and the culture of America at that time.

We get to know Chamberlain as a human being, struggling with the racial divide in America in 1962, struggling with his height which separated him from most Americans despite his celebrity, and struggling with his opponents who would do almost anything to stop him. And despite being quadruple-teamed and quintuple-teamed on that night in Hershey, Pennsylvania, Chameberlain succeeds not only in scoring 100 points, but in transforming the NBA. Pomerantz’s book describes all these sub-themes magnificently, as he weaves many stories into the narrative of Chamberlain’s 100 point game.

In order to write this book, Pomerantz conducted 250 interviews, including players, coaches, referees, fans and others, and we get the impression by reading the book that we are actually there that night in Hershey. We feel the emotion of those moments, and we feel the game progress, our anticipation building as the game nears its conclusion.

And along the way, there are many, many moments that make you say to yourself “oh, my goodness!” There is the story of photographer Paul Vathis, who had taken a famous photograph of JFK and Dwight Eisenhower. Vathis had brought his son to the game in Hershey as a present for his son’s tenth birthday. Pomerantz tells us: “On this night in Hershey, Vathis left his camera in the trunk of his car.”

As the fourth quarter began, Wilt had 69 points, and he was clearly on a pace to break his own NBA record, which then stood at 78 points. WCAU radio announcer Bill Campbell told his listeners “This is the big fourth quarter and everybody’s thinking, ‘How many is Wilt gonna get?’ ”

Pomerantz picks up the story of photographer Vathis. “Sitting with his ten-year-old son on folding chears near the court, the Associated Press photographer Paul Vathis wasn’t taking any chances. He told his son, ‘Wilt’s going to get eighty. You stay right here. I’ll be back.’ Vathis went outside to his car and pulled his mamiyaFlex 2 1/4 inch camera from his trunk.” It would be Vathis, the only on-duty photographer left in the arena, who would take the famous post-game photograph of Wilt.

With two minutes, twenty-eight seconds to play, Wilt had 92 points. The Knicks resorted to all sorts of tactics to prevent Wilt from getting 100. In addition to quadruple- and quintuple-teaming The Dipper, the Knicks started fouling other Warriors to prevent Wilt from getting the ball. They also took almost all of the 24 second-clock before shooting. And nevertheless, Wilt’s assault on what Campbell called “the big one-zero-zero” continued.

Fifty seconds to play, Wilt had 98, thanks to Larese’s lob pass.

“Now, with the ball in the hands of Joe Ruklick, the Kennedy liberal, the Knicks had their opportunity — their man to foul. Guerin knew it. Ruklick saw Guerin bearing down on him, like a football linebacker. He saw something else — the Dipper, down low, bumping away from Cleveland Buckner. Ruklick heard the Dipper call out, ‘Woo!’ a short barking sound, a signal that he was in the open. Ruklick flipped the pass perfectly, high and into the middle. The Dipper caught it in front of the basket, only inches away, and rose high above the Knicks, high above the rim. Bill Campbell, energized, made his own loud barking sound, husky yet clear, ‘He made it! He made it! He made it! A Dipper Dunk!’ ”

Fourteen year old Kerry Ryman, who had snuck into the game, as he had done many times previously at the Hershey Arena, was one of the many fans to run onto the court that night to congratulate Chamberlain. Ryman, in an act of incredible bravado, stole the ball from Chamberlain, and despite being chased by security guards, Ryman escaped the arena with the ball. That ball, and the 100 point game, would slowly fade from memory. The NBA would revive interest in the 100 point game years later, as it celebrated its own history in many ways. An audio tape of Campbell’s call of the fourth quarter (which you should definitely listen to) surfaced in 1988. The ball became surrounded in controversy, as Ryman could not prove it definitely was “the” ball.

Chamberlain continued to dominate the NBA, and became its all-time leading scorer (a record later passed by Michael Jordan). He never married and boasted that he seduced 20,000 women during his lifetime. In his final years, he lived alone. He was uncomfortable with the memory of his 100 point game for many years.

“Only in his final yaers did the Dipper publicly embrace the hundred-point game. On a radio show in San Francisco in march 1993 commemorating the game’s thirty-first anniversary, he said, ‘As the time goes by, I feel more and more a part of that hundred-point game. When it first happened — you must understand, I’m from the streets and when you throw up sixty-three shots in a game you are considered to be a gunner, understand? I always looked at that as me having my best day gunning, not really performing. But it has become my handle and I have begun to realize just how and what I did …’ His words had the feeling of a fifty-seven-year-old father professing devotion to his long-lost thirty-one-year-old son. But he was still the Dipper, after all. That night on radio, he also said, ‘If the New York Knicks had decided to play basketball and not tried to concentrate on me scoring one hundred point, I might have had one hundred forty or one hundred fifty’ ”.

The Assault On The Poor And Middle Class Continues

Yesterday, I pointed to a study showing how horribly misguided policies enacted by Republicans were affecting the nation’s children. Now, President Bush puts forth his 2007 budget, and the the assault the poor and middle class continues. Bush calls for cuts in services on top of cuts in services. At the same time, billions of dollars (or is it trillions?) continue to be spent on a wasteful and misguided war in Iraq, and Bush and the Republicans resist efforts to tax windfall profits from the oil industry, and to give away more tax breaks to the pharmaceutical industry. It’s time to write your Congressman, especially if you have a Republican congressman, and let them know that this trend has to stop. Write them early, and write them often!

Children’s Issues

At The Right Left Story, we are pointed to a study by The Children's Defense Fund Action Council, which evaluated Congressmen on children’s issues. This study found that 23 Senators, all Democrats, scored 100% on children’s issues, while 30 Senators, all Republicans, scored 0% on children’s issues. Ninety members of the House, all Democrats except for independent Bernie Sanders of Vermont, scored 100%, and 167 members of the House, all Republicans, scored 0% on children’s issues.

There’s a pattern in there, one everyone should think about in the next election. And if you’re not happy with that pattern, and your Congressperson is one of those with a zero score, write letters!

Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid

The House of Representatives has elected a new majority leader, John Boehner of Ohio. Here are ten reasons why anyone who cares about our freedoms in this country, especially the separation of church and state, should be very afraid.

Handy Dandy Guide to the State Of The Union Falsehoods

Think Progress has a rebuttal for most of President Bush’s statements during his State of The Union address. Links are given to actual facts (what a concept!) that show the President was just plain lyi … um, wrong.

Both Sides of His Mouth

President Bush makes a promise in his State of the Union message:

The best way to break this addiction is through technology. Since 2001, we have spent nearly 10 billion dollars to develop cleaner, cheaper, more reliable alternative energy sources – and we are on the threshold of incredible advances.

Do we believe Mr. Bush? Of course not! In fact, The New York Times reports (via No More Mister Nice Blog):

The Energy Department will begin laying off researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in the next week or two because of cuts to its budget.

A veteran researcher said the staff had been told that the cuts would be concentrated among researchers in wind and biomass, which includes ethanol. Those are two of the technologies that Mr. Bush cited on Tuesday night as holding the promise to replace part of the nation’s oil imports.

Think Progress also shows more of Mr. Bush’s hypocrisy — Bush pushed for cuts in renewable energy programs in the current budget, he rejected last year’s bipartisan goals for renewable energy and the Bush energy bill contained very little on renewable energy.