Fighting for the Right to Drink. During Pregnancy.

November 29, The New York Times:

Julia Moskin writes of lack of evidence that moderate alcohol consumption can be harmful to the unborn children of pregnant mothers. The article also addresses moderate consumption of allegedly threatening foods and drinks.

In the article, women and doctors discuss whether it is really necessary to abstain from alcohol entirely during pregnancy, and most are doubtful.

But the question that popped into my head while reading this is, why is it so hard to give up alcohol for nine months? Is doubt of how harmful it can be reason enough not to abstain? Perhaps our nation has a drinking problem. Just a thought.

Noteworthy News of My Afternoon

Kirk Johnson, in today's New York Times:

The triumvirate that threatened $25-a-day fines for the hanging of a peace-sign wreath resigned. Two disconnected their phones. The decision of the board of a homeowner's association in Denver left many baffled, apparently including some of the board members. The board originally said the threat was made because the wreath was seen as politically divisive, but: "A board member later told a newspaper that he thought the familiar circle with angled lines was also, perhaps, a sign of the devil." Okay, maybe this isn't that important. But it is hilarious.


Bush on meeting with Maliki:

“My questions to him will be: ‘What do we need to do to succeed? What is your strategy in dealing with the sectarian violence?’ ”

I wonder if Maliki will respond with a statement that includes the phrase "stay the course." Why should Maliki have to answer this question, if the Bush administration never has to? Mr. Bush still won't characterize the situation in Iraq as a civil war.

On the State of Things:

While politicians and government officials bemoan the high cost of medical care in the U.S., medical schools have adopted a quite different attitude:

doctors have become so interested in the business side of medicine that more than 40 medical schools have added, over the last 20 years, an optional fifth year of schooling for those who want to earn an M.B.A. degree as well as an M.D. Some go directly to Wall Street or into health care management without ever practicing medicine. (The New York Times 11-27-06)

And Black Friday:

ShopperTrak RCT, which measures purchases at 45,000 mall-based stores, found that sales for the day after Thanksgiving rose 6 percent from last year, to $9 billion. On the same day last year, sales at stores monitored by ShopperTrak dropped 0.9 percent. (The New York Times 11-27-06)

"Americans hate paying taxes. They'd rather give their money to the Chinese." — Anon.

Dollar Falls While Shoppers Riot:

In today's business news, two items leap to the forefront: First, the dollar has fallen against the Euro, dropping in value below the $1.30 exchange rate. While this might bode well in times when the U.S. economic engine was actually selling goods overseas—the cheap dollar made U.S. goods cheaper—this is simply not the case now. The U.S. doesn't manufacture much any longer. In fact, Americans are buying more and more from China, whose monetary value continues to be controlled by the state. The big fear is that the Chinese holders of dollars will begin to sell the dollars they hold in banks off faster, thus causing a further collapse of the dollar's value.

In other economic news, riots broke out across the U.S. as shoppers responded in unexpectedly huge numbers to advertised bargains at malls around the country. Today's New York Times reported on violence in Utah and Ohio, among other states, when good Christian folk in red states descended on shopping malls in hordes to grab up the latest foreign made goods.


Reading the Writing on the Wall:

Leading energy companies are beginning to shift towards recognizing that they too have a responsibility for the environment that their grandchildren will live in, even if Bush doesn't.

Today's Washington Post reported the following comments by a chief energy spokesman:

"We have to deal with greenhouse gases," John Hofmeister, president of Shell Oil Co., said in a recent speech at the National Press Club. "From Shell's point of view, the debate is over. When 98 percent of scientists agree, who is Shell to say, 'Let's debate the science'?"

But perhaps the most telling turn of events is

Exxon Mobil Corp., the highest-profile corporate skeptic about global warming, said in September that it was considering ending its funding of a think tank that has sought to cast doubts on climate change. And on Nov. 2, the company announced that it will contribute more than $1.25 million to a European Union study on how to store carbon dioxide in natural gas fields in the Norwegian North Sea, Algeria and Germany.

When Exxon Mobil starts scrambling for cover, you know a sea change is about to occur. The question is whether the actions taken by the energy companies will be enough or not. China is still out there building coal fired energy plants as quickly as they can be slapped together, and the temptation in this country to follow suit should not be ignored.

Insurgents Create Havoc on All Fronts:

While insurgets in Iraq killed 144 yesterday in the deadliest sectarian attack since the American-led invasion, another kind of insurgency is taking place in the U.S. Representatives of two dozen drug companies met recently in Washington, D.C. to determine how best to combat the new Democratic Congress.

The drug companies are concerned—is that too soft a word?—that the new congress will begin to combat the run away medical care costs by allowing the government to begin negotiating prices for Medicare drug patients. For more than a decade the Republicans have been telling us that the Medicare program had to be fixed, that the treasury would be bankrupt in the near future if something wasn't done, but now that Democrats are in control of Congress, there actually seems a chance that something might actually be done. The strongest indication, of course, is the conspiratorial meetings between top officials of the drug companies and their attempts to hire top assistants to Democratic leaders as lobbyest.

Drugged Out Nation:

The drug wars? You thought they were about cocain and the ghetto, well, guess again. It seems we're raising a generation of children being used as guinea pigs for the medical profession. Has your kid every thrown a tantrum in a store? Is he or she a problem for the teacher? Maybe a combo of psychiatric drugs will make him more controlable. But what's the long term effect? How is his or her marriage going to go in the future? What are his or her children going to be like? Is this any way for a society to function? Check out these numbers from today's New York Times:

Last year in the United States, about 1.6 million children and teenagers — 280,000 of them under age 10 — were given at least two psychiatric drugs in combination, according to an analysis performed by Medco Health Solutions at the request of The New York Times. More than 500,000 were prescribed at least three psychiatric drugs. More than 160,000 got at least four medications together, the analysis found.

Higher Education in the News:

Today's New York Times contains an interesting editorial on the state of higher education in our state universities and colleges. It seems the haves are continuing to make out over the have nots, surprise, surprise:

The flagship schools compete for high-income, high-achieving students who would otherwise attend college elsewhere, while overlooking low-income students who are perfectly able to succeed at college but whose options are far more narrow.

In recent years, aid to students whose families earn over $100,000 has more than quadrupled at the public flagship and research universities. Incredibly, the average institutional grant to students from high-income families is actually larger than the average grant to low- or middle-income families.

Partly as a result, high-performing students from low-income groups are much less likely to attend college than their high-income counterparts — and are less likely to ever get four-year degrees if they do attend.

The big culprit is the failure of the government to adequately fund the Pell Grant system, which was intended as a bootstrap financial program for the working poor. Remember, it was the Republicans who ranted against social programs in favor of dumping trillions of dollars into the largest welfare program ever devised, the military industrial complex good old Ike warned us about.

On Thanksgiving, Be Thankful:

You're not on death row. The U.S.'s self-righteous fascination with vengeance and obliterating the uncomfortable is a hot topic in today's New York Times. Ralph Blumenthal has an article on the death penalty and the mentally ill, in which he highlights a number of prisoners around the country who are seriously mentally ill and waiting to be executed for crimes they committed, including one, Guy T. LeGrande, who represented himself in his trial.

Mr. LeGrande, was hired to kill the wife of another man, who is not mentally ill and is serving a life sentence for his part in the killing. The irony here certainly cannot be overlooked. Obviously, prosecutors took the easy way out. The more serious perpetrator of the crime receives a life term, while the tool with which he committed his crime will be executed by the state. The one who was more difficult to convict receives the lighter sentence, while the one who was easy to convict, the one whom we feel most repulsed by receives the death penalty.

In a related article, Adam Liptak reports that Kentucky's Supreme Court has ruled that the "cruel and unusual punishment" prohibition does not preclude the absence of pain. Thus if the drugs used to bring about the death of a convicted murderer cause pain, regardless of its degree, that's okay by them. That should make the self-righteous among us who enjoy their sanctimonious position on the death penalty feel very good about themselves as they stuff turkey into their mouths today.

"The death penalty has nothing to do with justice and everything to do with masking our own guilt with feelings of piety and self exoneration." — Anon.

An Iraqi Forecast:

Omar Ghanim Fathi, writing in today's New York Times Op-Ed section:

[T]he problems of Iraq will not be solved without a long and very bloody civil war. The fragments that will emerge should practice democracy by choosing their own leaders, away from the influence of the Americans — even if those leaders are terrorists. But the people will not enjoy the democracy and liberty that was already given to them, because they refused it.

On another note, the Pentagon's new strategy for Iraq has been labeled "Go Big, Go Long, Go Home." Seems to be self-explanitory. Wonder if they're dreaming of bringing back the draft?

On the State of Things:

The finger pointing within the Republican party continues. In today's Washington Post, Peter Baker reports Kenneth Adelman, a former Reagan administration official, as saying, "There are a lot of lives that are lost. A country's at stake. A region's at stake. This is a gigantic situation … . This didn't have to be managed this bad. It's just awful."

Shortly after the invasion in 2003, Baker reports, Adelman and others gathered in Chaney's secret layer and toasted Bush and the administration's success in topling the regime in Iraq. So much for "happy days are here again." This was the war that was fought to prove the conservatives' thesis that Vietnam could have been won easily. This is what happens when you live with your head burried up your nether sphincter.

The best advice I ever heard from an Army drill instructor went something like this: "Son, reach down between your thighs, grab holt o' your ears, and give your head a vigorous jerk." (It might have been a bit more explicit.)

We all need to hear that advice every now and again, but who has the courage to tell Bush or Darth Vadar this?

FLASH!!!

This just in: Bush declares victory in Vietnam! Pres. George Bush, pictured in today's New York Times strolling with Darth Vadar in a Vietnamese garden, declared victory in the Vietnam War.

"This proves," he stated in a pseudo press conference, "that if you just 'stay the course' you can get that cheap oil when you need it and not have some sleazy dictator sell it for Euroes on you."

Mr. Vadar had no comment, but his Cheshire smile spoke a mouthful. (Let's face it, the man knows when he has something better to do. Shouldn't we all?)

Learning Lessons for Iraq in Vietnam: The War is Winnable?

Bush reports that he is learning important lessons in Vietnam about the war in Iraq. I for one think it's a good thing that Mr. Bush is catching up on 30 years of world history that he missed while he was serving his country in the Air National Guard, recovering from alcoholism, driving oil companies into the ground, and governing Texas and the United States. The lesson he's learning? That we failed in Vietnam because we left, and that we will succeed in Iraq by not leaving - liberty will succeed over hatred simply by waiting out the hateful.

As reported by The Associated Press, the New York Times:

The president said there was much to be learned from the divisive Vietnam War -- the longest conflict in U.S. history -- as his administration contemplates new strategies for the increasingly difficult war in Iraq, now in its fourth year. But his critics see parallels with Vietnam -- a determined insurgency and a death toll that has drained public support -- that spell danger for dragging out U.S. involvement in Iraq.

''It's just going to take a long period of time for the ideology that is hopeful -- and that is an ideology of freedom -- to overcome an ideology of hate,'' Bush said after having lunch at his lakeside hotel with Australian Prime Minister John Howard, whose country has been one of America's strongest allies in Iraq, Vietnam and other conflicts.

''We'll succeed,'' Bush added, ''unless we quit."

I hadn't realized we were fighting a war on hatred. That changes everything. When we were fighting terrorism, a tactic, I felt terrible about the war. But now that we are fighting a sentiment, I am totally convinced that we can win this thing.

On a Lighter Note

What is it about unspoken rules that we prefer to keep unspoken?

Stephanie Rosenbloom, today's New York Times:

Yet it is rare for people to have confrontations about personal space. “No one will ever turn to the nice person from Italy or Greece and say ‘I like you but you’re standing too close to me,’ ” said Dr. Archer, who has videotaped strangers’ responses to personal-space violations.

Rather, they will likely angle and inch their bodies away from anyone they feel breached their buffer zone. Blood pressure may rise, the heart rate may go up and the palms may sweat, said David B. Givens, the director of the Center for Nonverbal Studies in Spokane, Wash. “All animals tend to have an aversion to being touched by a strange critter,” he said.

The New York Times: "Putting Faith Before Politics"

David Kuo seems to believe that politics and religion may part ways, or at least that they may take a new turn on their current road. Is this prophecy, or is it wishful thinking?

Ted Koppel on The Daily Show:

"Just think about it. Thirty-five years ago, George Bush joined the Texas Air National Guard to stay out of Vietnam. Soon he'll be going to Vietnam to stay out of Washington." (11-15-06)

Ted Koppel in Wikpedia

The Daily Show with John Stewart

Election Analysis:

A week after the debacle, Mike Murphy, a Republican consultant, offers the following in today's New York Times:

George Allen won 94 percent of the Republican vote and Jim Webb won 93 percent of the Democratic. Since more Republicans than Democrats vote in Virginia, Senator Allen should have won. Instead of splitting the swing vote, however, Mr. Webb thumped Mr. Allen among independents by 12 points. It was the same in Montana and Ohio and, well, just about everywhere. It is the real reason we lost the House and Senate.

Sounds good by me.

Our Students Are Not Just Not Learning Math in School These Days.

A September report released by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics is turning some heads toward education - one of those domestic issues that people keep telling us we are forgetting about. Yes, our nation is underperforming in mathematics, and we are blaming so-called "fuzzy math" for this underperformance, according to today's New York Times. Apparently, in recent years education has turned away from traditional practices of teaching math to young students in favor of ways that do not "stifle their creativity."

But, while we panic over our poor performance in math, (afterall, our children are the future, the future is technology, and math and science are the route to technology, therefore our future is math) we ignore the fact that our school system is simply underperforming. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to tell you that our schools are underperforming; professors of literature, communications, philosophy, and even education can tell you the same thing. There is a shockingly large number of students in America who don't perform any academic task at or above grade level. In our best public schools we have about 75% of students performing at grade level, and in the worst, we've got 75% performing well below grade level.

Worse, the system for addressing these problems is corrupt - and the corruption is essential to its design. Diverting money from poorly performing schools to schools that perform well is not a way to improve education for all. The idea is that students will eventually be forced to move to these schools that are doing well, but economic and social factors prevent this. Not everyone can afford to live in the suburbs, and upper-middle-class suburbanites tend to live there in part because not everyone else can.

Should we be shocked that America is performing poorly in math? I would argue not. Should we still talk about it? Absolutely. But let's talk about the millions of Americans who can barely read also. Let's talk about how education in general is not living up to our needs or our values. Let's not just worry that we are losing those highly-valued math-and-science-related jobs to professionals from other countries.

Medicating Childhood?

An article in todays New York Times discussed the growing rate of childhood mental and behavioral disorders, as diagnosed within the medical community. The article, "What's Wrong With Children?..." by Benedict Carey, raises some serious questions about the current state of child psychiatry.

For example, take a look at the symptoms of

The Shef Goes to Motor City: The Yankees Reach the Ego Cap and Have to Let Someone Go

Yesterday, Gary Sheffield was traded by the Yankees to the Detroit Tigers for three minor league pitching prospects, leaving one to question, why exactly was the Shef asking for a trade in the first place? According to numerous, copious, way too many, articles on the matter, good ol' Gar was unhappy for two reasons; the Yanks weren't going to extend him, and he was likely to play first base or DH in New York. Upon being traded to Detroit, Gary received a 2-year extension to his contract, but he is likely to DH for the Tigers most of the time.

Perhaps the biggest upside to this is that Mr. Sheffield can now join the rest of us real baseball fans in hating the Yankees' empire and hating the emperor himself, Mr. Darth Steinbrenner. Welcome, Gary. But don't tell your buddy Barry, because he's not invited.

Paul Krugman on the Election:

Two years ago, people were talking about permanent right-wing dominance of American politics. But since then the American people have gotten a clearer sense of what rule by movement conservatives means. They’ve seen the movement take us into an unnecessary war, and botch every aspect of that war. They’ve seen a great American city left to drown; they’ve seen corruption reach deep into our political process; they’ve seen the hypocrisy of those who lecture us on morality.

And they just said no. (Paul Krugman, "The Great Revulsion," New York Times Op-Ed page 11-10-06)

Who's Rumsfeld?

The day after the Democrats win congress back from the Republicans as a result of the democratic process in America, Marines serving in Iraq learn of the change in their chain of command, not through their own chain of command, but from the Iraqi citizens. From today's New York Times comes one of the best stories to come out of the war to date, by C. J. Chivers, "Marines Get the News from an Iraqi Host: Rumsfeld's Out. 'Who's Rumsfeld?'" This is a must read for insight into the lives of our soldiers serving in Iraq.

Today's Hot Topic:

The news is all about Britain's MI5 Website and Tony Blair's warning that the UK has become the training ground for Islamic fundamentalist terrorism. This seems a peculiar time for Cousin Tony to hit the airwaves preaching this fear laden message, coming as it does right on the heels of the American electorate demanding swift change in policy. Does Tony see a sinking ship in the offing?

"You can gain a lot of mileage off fear mongering, but eventually you wear your constituency out." — Anon.

Let's see, Tony Blair — cost the Brits billions in treasury, preached kill the enemy. John Lennon — bought his own guitar, along with his mates helped make the British treasury solvent (for which he was knighted), preached "give peace a chance." Hmmm …? Curiouser and curiouser, monsieur cat.

Technology:

Remember when the world held it's collective breath, waiting for the release of the latest Microsoft operating system? It's been over five years now since Redmund shipped WindowsXP, and now the buzz in the techie communittee is all about the latest operating system, Vista, which Microsoft insists it is about to release on the world.

Who cares?

The computer manufacturers have been taking some big hits of late. They need something to jump start sales of new hardware. As far as we can tell, there is little that would compel anyone to rush out and buy a new system just to have the latest version of the OS on it. Most of the talk in the bloggosphere has focused on the beta testers' reports that the OS does work, and nothing, so far as we can tell, about how it is superior to either XP or even 2000 for that matter. Sure, it has an improved built in firewall, but the average user is only interested in the firewall if it prevents him or her from installing a favorite game or downloading music or a movie or visiting YouTube.

We are told that the networking stack has been rebuilt, with support for IPv6, but you'd better be an IT pro to have any idea what that means. It'll come with IE7 pre-installed, but 90 percent of users haven't a clue what their Web browser is called. (The other 10 percent use FireFox anyway.)

Probably the most important function to the new OS for the average user will be the new backup tools, which includes the ability to recover previous versions of a file. But wait a minute, what's "back up"?

Polls on college campuses over the past few years indicate that if you ask the average college student which office program he or she is using the student is most likely to say, "Windows." If you ask which word processing program he is using, he will say, "Windows." If you ask what Web browser he is using, he will say, "Windows." If you ask which version of Windows he is using, he will say, "Huh?"

"Frankly, I've decided if it ain't broken that I should probably stop fiddling with it or I probably will break it." — Anon. computer user.

Bush's Press Announcement — Rummy Finished!

This just in from my son:

Winning the war on terror is by far the morst impoortant priority—more important than the economy, education, health care, etc? Is that because winning the war on tactics is the only issue on which no one can reasonably expect results? Or because the war is the only issue on which corporations associated with the Republican party can make a profit?

In the News:

Gas prices were down another 2 cents per gallon this past week. Energy experts (the oil companies) reported prices will now level off due to excess suply now being "wrung out" of the system (trans. the election coming to a conclusion as of tomorrow). In otherwords, folks, fill your tanks now because the price of gas and oil is going back up soon.

Saddam receives death sentence: Just in time for the US election. Coincidence?

Preparing for the worst:

According to Paul Krugman in an op-ed piece for today's Times, "a White House strategist has already told Time magazine that the administration plans a 'cataclysmic fight to the death' if Democrats in Congress try to exercise their right to issue subpoenas." So much for a co-equal branches of the government philosophy. Tricky Dick Nixon didn't come anywhere close to this level of arrogance.

Election Fraud Heads Further into the Heartland:

The Washington Post is forecasting that the next state to be co-opted by the election riggers, following the examples set in Florida and Ohio, will be Missouri.

NOTE: No one as yet has been able to verify the rumor that Dick Cheney likes to scoot around in his cave in a wheelchair, while forcing his right arm back down onto the chair's arm after it leaps involunarily into a straight-armed salute above his head. (Doctor, that's sure some strange love you have there.)

Get ready for tonight's Charlie Rose Show with Norman Ornstein (American Enterprise Institute) and "others," for pre-election coverage. Tomorrow night's show will feature analysis, providing the election results are actually in.

National Debt Races Towards $10 Trillion under Bush:

Under the Republican administration, the national debt has been climbing at an astronomical rate of $2.55 billion per day. By the end of GW's reign, the debt will have reached $10 trillion. Currently, every American owes nearly $30,000, not including what you owe your credit card companies and the bank that holds the lien on your house or the lender who paid for your child's college education.

So with less than a handful of days remaining until the midterm elections what has the party of GW "I wanna be Alexander the Great" Bush decided to run on? The economy! Can you believe it? This party that has kept the minimum wage down so low that more Americans are living below the poverty level than at any time in history and seen more business scandal than at any time in the previous fifty years wants to brag about how effectively it has managed the economy!

In the Bible we can read the story of the profligate son who returns home to a forgiving father. There is no comparable story of a profligate father who destroys his children's patrimony.

Chickens Coming Home:

It's time to roost, little birdies: It's all about power, it's always about power. Pity the poor evangelicals as one of their loudest voices faces the scrutiny he likes to place others under. The Rev. Ted Haggard took a leave of absence in order to hide from accusations about his sexual predilections after a male prostitute dragged the Reverend from his closet during an interview on a Denver radio talk show. You can find the story all over the place, but I prefer NPR.org. You can read about it or listen to it. Whatever turns you on. Say, I wonder what the Reverend's take is on the sanctity of marriage now?

NOTE: People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. Fortunately, bloggers live in cyberspace where Windows has a recovery program and Linux never crashes. (That Apple stuff is just sinful.)

The Shape of Things:

Back in the mid-twentieth century, the future was forecast in terms of wonderful technological advances, like everyone having his or her own personal flying car. The only dark spot on the horizan seemed to be that bugaboo, over population. Food production was the criteria by which we measured this, although people did have fun with predicting that by such and such a year we would all have one square foot of ground to stand on.

Then The Green Revolution sprang into full force, and we were able to produce more food than was necessary to feed the teeming millions that crowded, mostly, along the shore lines of the world. Now the only problem seemed to be how to get the food to the hungry mouths, circumventing, at least sometimes, nasty politicians who used food to control their populations.

But it's quite possible that food will soon be back as a standard. Consider the story in today's New York Times, "Study Sees 'Global Collapse' of Fish Species." Some of the first focus on the environment had to do with life in the seas. We took difficult steps to assure that whales, for instance, would continue to exist. Now it seems we may not have gone for enough. A new study published in the journal Science forecasts a future that promises some very difficult choices for us in the not so disatant future.

We have to expect that Charlie Rose will blunder across this story at some point.

The Joke That Was, the Joke That Wasn't:

One guy not running for office tries to crack wise about another guy who isn't running either, and suddenly the desperation of the Republicans boils over the pot and onto the stove. Will anything result of it other than some noise?

Senator John Kerry made a failed attempt at a joke disparaging of his cousin's poor college performance — and his performance in virtually everything else as well — and the Republicans — on the run in every district where a real race is taking place — whine that Kerry — a real war hero — is ridiculing the troops. Lest we forget, it was Cousin W. who hid away in the Texas National Guard, using daddy's money to dodge the draft. At least a real draft dodger has the courage of his convictions.

According to the Washington Post:

After reading Kerry's comments to a GOP audience in Georgia, Bush said Kerry's statement was "insulting and it is shameful. The members of the United States military are plenty smart and they are plenty brave, and the senator from Massachusetts owes them an apology." The White House tipped off the networks to when Bush would attack Kerry, so the comments could be carried live and make the evening news.

But again, as the Post points out, W. continues to hide from doing any real campaigning. No candidate in doubt wants the Campaigner in Chief showing up on his turf. W. just reminds everybody of what a quagmire Bush the Younger has created and how inept he is at getting us out of any mess he's responsible for.

Let's hope Charlie Rose weighs in on this one with more than a lightweight dismissal.

The Way of Things:

With less than a week to go until the midterm elections, the following is of obvious interest:

“We have certainly advised candidates to not appear that they are marching in lock step with the administration in terms of how the Iraq war is being conducted,” a senior Republican Party Senate strategist said, insisting on anonymity in exchange for disclosing political advice being given to candidates. “If you aren’t speaking out against the way that this war has been conducted, you are dead in the water.” (The New York Times - ADAM NAGOURNEY and JIM RUTENBERG 11-1-06)

Custer has been surrounded, and the reserves are being advised not to join the battle. You'd think Charlie Rose would be advising all of us to go to our local video stores and rent Little Big Man. History, it seems, has never repeated itself so accurately. (Iraq=Little Big Horn, George W.=George A.)