Private Conduct, Public Conduct

TChris makes an interesting point, talking about the resignation of a Bush administration official for “receiving massages” from a paid escort: “In Republican world, private conduct that causes only private harm, if any, is a greater reason for disgrace than repeated efforts to undermine the country's legal structure. Go figure.”

Here’s how I figure it: repeated efforts to undermine the country’s legal structure is what Rethuglicans want. It’s their goal. They won’t come out and say it, but their lack of condemnation of such repeated efforts to undermine the country’s legal system speaks volumes. We can clearly see why Rethuglicans think there is no reason for disgrace here.

And further, the reason private conduct can have such huge repercussions in a Rethuglican world is because the worst thing you can do is engage in sexual or “immoral” activities outside of marriage and get caught. That explains the Clinton impeachment, it explains the outrage over the Janet Jackson “wardrobe malfunction”, and it explains this current resignation.

Thank You!

A big thank you to Congress, for voting to set a timetable for withdrawing troops from Iraq.

Another big thank you to the American people, who wised up after many years of disastrous Rethuglican government, to vote for a change of direction and to install a Democratic-led Congress — the same American people, the majority of whom now want to see a timetable for withdrawing troops from Iraq, and only 28% of whom now think President Bush is doing a good job.

Finally, a big thank you to Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), who today submitted a bill calling for the impeachment of Vice President Cheney. Kucinich backs up his bill with lots of documentation. Now we need other Congressmen with similar amount of nerve as Kucinich. I will be writing letters.

The Health Of Nations

Ezra Klein studies other health care systems and writes: “Here’s how Canada, France, Britain, Germany, and our own Veterans Health Administration manage to cover everybody at less cost and with better care than we do.”

Americans pay more for health care and get less health care. It’s time for a new deal on health care. Let’s take the best of these other systems, and turn our health care system into the best and most comprehensive in the world.

“Kryptonite” discovered in mine

An unknown mineral was found in a mine in Serbia, and when mineralogist Chris Stanley examined it, he discovered it was made of sodium lithium boron silicate hydroxide. Dr. Stanley then did a web search to find if there were minerals with this chemical composition. The web search turned up one such mineral, in a work of fiction. The mineral was describe in the movie Superman Returns, and was called “Kryptonite”. The newly discovered mineral will be named Jadarite. (via)

Freeway Blogger (Copycat) Visits Rochester

Today the Freeway Blogger (or a copycat) posted a sign on an overpass over Route 590 (I think it was the N. Winton Road overpass, but I’m not 100% sure) that said “Out of Iraq” over the southbound lanes and “Troops Home Now” over the northbound lanes. Nice job!

Things That Scare Me, Part 3

From Think Progress, we learn the effect of moronic leaders like Australia’s John Howard:

Australia has warned that it will have to switch off the water supply to the continent's food bowl unless heavy rains break an epic drought - heralding what could be the first climate change-driven disaster to strike a developed nation.

The Murray-Darling basin in south-eastern Australia yields 40 per cent of the country's agricultural produce. But the two rivers that feed the region are so pitifully low that there will soon be only enough water for drinking supplies. Australia is in the grip of its worst drought on record, the victim of changing weather patterns attributed to global warming and a government that is only just starting to wake up to the severity of the position.

… many people are asking why crippling water shortages in the world's driest inhabited continent are only now being addressed with any sense of urgency.

More CSX Track Defects

Rochester’s biggest railroad, CSX, maintains its tracks in such terrible condition that virtually any time there is an inspection, defects and “serious violation(s) of safety standards” are found. An inspection this week found more violations.



Speaking as someone who drives over CSX railroad crossings almost every day, I am certainly un-nerved by this. Once again, I call upon CSX to live up to their responsibilities as corporate citizens, and I call upon the Federal Railroad Administration to issue severe fines.



I expect neither of those things to happen.

Why Can’t Democrats Understand This?

Paul Krugman, writing in New York Times Select, states (via):

But the Democratic presidential candidates — Mr. Obama in particular — have been facing a lot of pressure from the base to get specific about what they’re proposing. And the base is doing them a favor … There’s no conflict between catering to the Democratic base and staking out positions that can win in the 2008 election, because the things the base wants — an end to the Iraq war, a guarantee of health insurance for all — are also things that the country as a whole supports. The only risk the party now faces is excessive caution on the part of its politicians. Or, to coin a phrase, the only thing Democrats have to fear is fear itself.

This seems simple enough. A majority of Americans want us out of Iraq, sooner rather than later. A large majority of Americans, according to poll after poll, want universal health care. Why aren’t Democratic candidates jumping on this and enthusiastically supporting these issues?

Wegmans Wins!

Wegmans wins the Best Supermarket category at the First Annual Food Network Awards! Three cheers for Wegmans! No wonder I called them “the best supermarket on the planet (and maybe the entire galaxy)”.

Things That Scare Me, Part 2

From the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, entitled “Bitter Dryness Seen In Region’s Future”:

Arthur DeGaetano, a Cornell professor and head of the Northeast Regional Climate Center, said that climate change is already inevitable, but humans could adapt to those changes if greenhouse-gas emissions are reduced now. However, if we continue in our trend of fossil fuel dependency and global industrialization without mandated limits, he said, we could be headed for catastrophe.

“These changes impact many aspects of life in New York, ranging from the frequency of flooding to agricultural production,” he said. “It is time to consider steps to both adapt to these inevitable changes and lower the emissions of greenhouses gases.”

Save The Earth! (Part 2)

The more I use the new re-usable Wegmans’ shopping bags, the more I like them. You can pack a lot more into one of these bags than you can in the old flimsy plastic bags. The re-usable bag’s handles are strong enough to carry everything without a problem. But the other big advantage is that the bags stand up straight and tall when you are driving home. I can’t tell you how many times, with the old plastic bags, did I see a tomato or an apple actually roll out of the bag while I was driving home. This just doesn’t happen with the new re-usable bags. Well done, Wegmans!

Orangutans Play Video Games

No, not Donkey Kong. Games designed for orangutans!

Imus

When I was a teenager in the early 70s, I listed to Imus In The Morning every day. I thought he was brilliantly funny, and I couldn’t wait to hear one of Imus’s characters, the Right Reverend Dr. Billy Sol Hargis, proclaim “Put your hands on the radio!” I went out and bought one of Imus’s books, a satire starring Dr. Hargis. Was Imus bigoted and racist back then? I don’t think so, but I honestly can’t remember.

As an adult, and as a women’s basketball fan, I watched the Rutgers women’s basketball team four or five times this year. I saw them defeat their arch-rival Connecticut, and I watched in disbelief as Rutgers knocked off Duke in the NCAA Regional Finals this year. I admire their coach, C. Vivian Stringer, and by the end of the season, I could name and recognize the five starters on Rutgers.

Not once did I think of the Rutgers women, to use Imus’s recent words, as “nappy headed hos”. Not once did I think of them, as Imus’s called them, “rough girls”. And not once did I think of them as “jigaboos”, like one of Imus’s guests called them.

You see, I don’t think that way. But apparently Imus and his guests and enablers do think that way. Athenae, over at First Draft, listens to Imus’s explanation and sums it up nicely. “It's an imposition, to not be a racist asshole.” And: “People like this really do feel put-upon that they can’t give in to their basest instincts. They really feel like they’ve been somehow reduced because they’re not allowed to reduce others.”

Imus has been suspended for two weeks. That would be fine if this was the first such incident of bigoted racial slurs. But no, there have been a long string of such comments from Imus.

Imus and others have been bigoted and racist for a long time, and have become more and more aggressive about using insensitive wording, code-words for racial intolerance, and outright slurs. It’s time for this to stop. It’s time for Imus to be fired. And its time for anyone who engages in this type of commentary to be fired and permanently shunned.

See Ya, Sam’s Club

I stopped shopping at Wal-Mart years ago. You can read many of the reasons at Wal-Mart Watch, but to make things simple for you, I despise the shabby way they have treated their employees. I also have a general dislike of their cut-throat way of doing business.

All of the negatives associated with Wal-Mart are also associated with Sam’s Club. However Sam’s Club (owned by Wal-Mart) kept renewing my membership automatically, and so I kept telling myself “Self! You’ve just paid for another year, you might as well use it.” It was the lazy thing to do.

But no more! I will not be renewing the membership at Sam’s Club, and I will begin shopping at their competition, BJ’s Wholesale Club. Similar items do cost a little more at BJ’s, but to my way of thinking, in the long run shopping at Wal-Mart and Sam’s is actually expensive because of the effects on our community. In many states, Wal-Mart employees made up an unusually large percentage of a state’s public health care costs, because those same employees could not afford the Wal-Mart health insurance on their Wal-Mart salary. In fact, in many states Wal-Mart had more of its workers on public assisted health-care than any other company. That’s just one way Wal-Mart and Sam’s wind up hurting a community.

BJ’s also has a nice deal for new members — 15 months membership for the price of 12 months, and $10 off your first purchase of $25 or more. Plus, I get a free extra membership card for a family member (Sam’s charges extra).

See Ya, Sam’s Club (and Wal-Mart). I won’t miss you a bit. And may your future profits shrivel and go negative as more and more people start to see the world as I do.

Letter of Titanic Survivor Released

Today, we are five days short of the 95th anniversary of the sinking of RMS Titanic. A letter from survivor Laura Mabel Francatelli, written shortly after the disaster, has just been released, and will be sold at auction in May. Said Francatelli:

... we went down into the blackness of the water. Which never shall I forget. There wasn’t a light, or a lamp in the boat... We rowed away from the ship, which was sinking fast so to get away from the swell or suction. Then all the rest is too terrible for me to write. The screams of the hundreds of dear women, children and the bravest of men fighting in the icy cold waves, I still hear.

Save The Earth!

I’m doing my part to save the earth. I just purchased two of the new, re-usable Wegmans bags, to replace the plastic bags they use. I’m quite happy with these re-usable bags, as they hold more groceries than the old flimsy plastic bags, and they are re-usable! So I may (almost) never again use a plastic bag, which are non-biodegradable and the manufacture of each one uses scarce, non-renewable resources. I agree with Stlo7 at RochesterTurning, a company can be environmentally friendly and still make profits.

Open Congress

Rochester Turning has a brilliant post about a new web site called OpenCongress.org. There you can find out who voted for every bill and amendment, and how any particular Congressman voted. There are links to news stories and blog posts by the vote, or by the Congressman.

Things That Scare Me

Honey bees are disappearing world-wide. The cause is unknown, although some suspect genetically modified crops. Bees pollinate most of the world’s known food crops, including $14 billion in seeds and crops in the United States.

The world will some day run out of oil. The United States has doing very little to prepare (unlike other countries). We can’s even agree on conservation measures to help prolong the supply of oil that exists.

Update (4/6/07): The Ug99 virus that can destroy all wheat crops over a wide area, now causing serious problems in Kenya and Ethiopia.

UN Panel issues bleakest warning yet on Global Warming.

Ellison sues Forbes Magazine over 2007 richest-people list

According to CNet News, “Peeved Oracle CEO sues Forbes magazine for libel after appearing at #11 in annual billionaire list. Suit claims Ellison's total net worth is $22.1 billion, not $21.5 billion, putting him in top 10.”



Those and other April Fool’s stories:

• “Animal rights groups protest repeated killing of Schroedinger's cat”
• “U.N. panel downplays warming of blogosphere”
• “U.S. government outlaws Windows Vista”
• “CIOs respond to Anna Nicole Smith tragedy”
  
  

New Clue to Amelia Earhart’s Disappearance

The diary of a reporter present at Howland Island when famous aviatrix Amelia Earhart failed to appear has been found. James W. Carey’s diary adds new information to the disappearance. One of the clues in the diary is that Amelia Earhart's last distress call may have been 12 minutes later than previously thought. By itself that information is not earthshaking, but it is the first known diary of a person who was present at Howland Island. After the disappearance, according to Carey’s diary, the ship Itasca set off “full speed ahead” to search for Earhart. By evening, the ship’s mood had “taken a turn to the more serious side”.