perfidy

A Harvard study finds that the root cause of terrorism is not poverty, but oppression.

A John F. Kennedy School of Government researcher has cast doubt on the widely held belief that terrorism stems from poverty, finding instead that terrorist violence is related to a nation's level of political freedom.

Associate Professor of Public Policy Alberto Abadie examined data on terrorism and variables such as wealth, political freedom, geography, and ethnic fractionalization for nations that have been targets of terrorist attacks.

Before analyzing the data, Abadie believed it was a reasonable assumption that terrorism has its roots in poverty, especially since studies have linked civil war to economic factors. However, once the data was corrected for the influence of other factors studied, Abadie said he found no significant relationship between a nation's wealth and the level of terrorism it experiences.

"In the past, we heard people refer to the strong link between terrorism and poverty, but in fact when you look at the data, it's not there. This is true not only for events of international terrorism, as previous studies have shown, but perhaps more surprisingly also for the overall level of terrorism, both of domestic and of foreign origin," Abadie said.

Instead, Abadie detected a peculiar relationship between the levels of political freedom a nation affords and the severity of terrorism. Though terrorism declined among nations with high levels of political freedom, it was the intermediate nations that seemed most vulnerable.

Maybe our chimpanzee in chief wasn't blowing smoke up our collective ass when he insisted that the spread of freedom will make us safer.

Slate's got a little guide and questionnaire regarding potential Canadian residents. See how you fit in!

Remember, pot's legal! ;)

For the week ending 31Oct04

Special Iraq-free edition! (the gnomes in our Baghdad bureau are spending a week decompressing on the Ministry's dime in a hotel in Beirut.)

Spotlight Missourah: High school student Brad Mathewson was recently sent home on two separate occasions for wearing a "gay pride" t-shirt to school. In the ACLU press release, Mathewson notes that the school administration asked him "to go home and change shirts because someone might be offended." Entertainingly, Mathewson's observation that what he found offensive were the anti-gay stickers plastered on cars in the school parking lot, on notebooks, and often on other students at the school, fell on deaf ears.

Remember kids: it's only hate if you don't yourself believe it. Hate the sin, not the sinner. They chose that life of high-school ostracism and misery. Perverts cause herpes. And more stuff like that if you need to feel better about your deep distaste for gays. It's not your hang-up, it's theirs.

Spotlight Missourah (again): Hey! Want a mentally challenged slave to do your laundry? Call these guys.

Two people have been charged with holding six mentally ill patients at group homes and making them work against their will, authorities said.

A man and a woman were arrested Tuesday under a federal law banning involuntary servitude after 20 FBI agents searched two group homes in Newton, Kansas.

The agents rescued four adults from one home and two from the other, FBI spokesman Jeff Lanza said. The identities of the two people who were arrested were not immediately released.

The six mentally ill individuals had lived in the homes for "a long period of time," Lanza said. It was not immediately clear what type of work they had been forced to perform.

The accused, I'm sure, would cite purely humanitarian reasons, arguing that washing windows for free builds character. Too bad there's no "'tard exception clause" in the Thirteenth Amendment.

Spotlight Florida: Vote early, vote often, vote with your car! Barry Seltzer of Sarasota, Florida, has some rage issues. While motoring along a busy street in Sarasota on October 27th, Mr. Seltzer happened to catch sight of shrill election-rigging harpy Katherine Harris and a knot of her supporters. What happened next is unclear. Witnesses say that Seltzer drove his Cadillac up onto the sidewalk and directly at Harris, possibly swerving to avoid her at the last moment. Seltzer, apparently trying for a first-ever gestalt of the Twinkie Defense and the First Amendment, argues "I intimidated them with my car... They were standing in the street... I was exercising my political expression!" The police naturally take a dim view of attempted vehicular homicide, and Mr. Seltzer is currently under arrest for same, a political prisoner and regrettable casualty of a system designed to disenfranchise the little guy and his Cadillac.

If the car don't hit, you must acquit.

Spotlight the Interweb: We're all pundits here, or at least fans of pundits. Why else would you be reading this here website? We are used to crafting biting commentary, sometimes rather heated, about whatever subject suits our fancy. Some of us (like us Perfidians) prefer a thin scrim of anonymity. The blog-o-sphere has seen its share of death threats (Emperor Misha), enraged denunciations (Eric Muller and the increasingly despicable Michelle Malkin), and just plain idiocy (everyone). But what happens when some specially-bred packet sniffing canine channeling data in some sub-sub-sub basement out in Reston happens to notice... you?

Livejournaler "anniej" was lucky enough to find out. In a post following one of the Parsdential Debates, "anniej" put up a post (since deleted) that in her own words "was a mock-prayer to God in response to Bush's comment that he could feel it every time Americans prayed for him. I jokingly prayed for an aneurysm, and invited the "prayers" of others." Little did anniej know that she was about to get a lesson in the pointy end of American Civics 101.

Stories have abounded this election season about the bubble of privacy around the President: protestors or gadflies channelled into "free speech" zones a quarter mile from rallies; Kerry t-shirt wearers being forcibly removed; people in queue to ask questions at Q&As being removed if their question is not a softball. Evidently the bubble is very large now, and transmissible over telephone lines. As anniej describes it,

At 9:45 last night, the Secret Service showed up on my mother's front door to talk to me about what I said about the President, as what I said could apparently be misconstrued as a threat to his life. After about ten minutes of talking to me and my family, they quickly came to the conclusion that I was not a threat to national security (mostly because we are the least threatening people in the entire world) and told me that they would not recommend that any further action be taken with my case. However, I do now have a file with the FBI that includes my photograph, my e-mail address, and the location of my LJ. This will follow me around for the rest of my life, regardless of the fact that the Secret Service knows that I am not a threat.

[long list of advice, whys and wherefores redacted]

Now, at this juncture, I am not planning on making any kind of formal complaint with the A.C.L.U., as some on my friendslist have suggested. I did not feel that my civil rights were violated by the visit, and I did not feel intimidated by the Secret Service agents. I have, however, contacted an attorney simply because I want to ensure that my rights are protected in the future, and because the Secret Service were less than clear about what exactly can be construed as a threat and what would be done with my FBI file and any medical records they requested. I am not making any efforts to contact the media, and I doubt that I will in the future.

HOWEVER.

I want people to be aware that what they say on their LJ can cause problems for them in RL, because I love all of you and I don't wish what happened to me on you. You are more than welcome to discuss this post in your journal, and you are more than welcome to link to it from your journal. If you want to post this in a community, go for it. Hell, if you want to put me on fandom_wank, it's probably not a bad idea. The wankers would have a FIELD DAY with this. I know I would. Please, feel free to make an example out of me. So share this with your friends. Tell them what can happen. It's beneficial to all of us to know that this can happen, and hopefully, it'll prevent something like this from happening again.

Now, with all that said, I really, REALLY need some goddamn porn today. GAAAAAH.

Thattagirl. Look at some weeners and forget about the government.

Loyal readers may well now be asking "where's the exemplary human behavior here?" I answer: when the Secret Service, whose solemn and sworn duty is protecting the President's life, make housecalls based on prayers they read on the internet, it's time to dial it back a bit. Don't they know there's a war on?

Spotlight Taiwan A discussion over weapons purchases in the Taiwanese Parliament last week spilled over into cartoonish violence when a food fight broke out among the legislators.

Opposition lawmaker Chu Fong-chi stood up and began shouting at ruling party lawmakers when she appeared to duck to avoid being hit by an object. She picked up a lunch box and flung it across the room at legislator Chen Chong-yi of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party.

Chen grabbed a lunch box and tossed it back at Chu, who had what appeared to be food stains down the back of her blouse. "My whole body smells like a lunch box!" she shrieked to TV cameras covering the melee.

The food fight, which lasted just minutes, left tabletops, chairs and the floor littered with rice and chunks of hard-boiled eggs.

Although every governing body from the town council of Possum Holler, Kentucky up to the secret cabal of plutocrats who comprise the Bavarian Illuminati is at any given moment no more than a thrown sandwich away from a food fight, actually throwing food is, shall we say, a little on the nose.

Spotlight Vietnam: Vietnamese government official Luong Quoc Dung is on trial for raping a thirteen year old girl to rid himself of bad luck.

Ugh. Moving on...

Spotlight Pitcairn Island In what must be some sort of record, half the male population of this tiny Pacific island nation were recently convicted of raping more than half the female population. In total, six men-- including the mayor (who leads the nation in both the political sense and the "sick bastard who raped the most girls" sense)-- were convicted of more than fifty sex abuse charges over the past 40 years, with some victims as young as five years old. In a cruel twist, many of the victims have come forward in defense of the convicted men, arguing that the island's well-being will suffer for half the men being in prison.

Interesting fact: Pitcairn Island is populated entirely by descendents of mutineers from the HMS Bounty.

Spotlight Wisconsin: Woman digs up boyfriend's remains; drinks his beer. Karen Stolzmann was arrested this week for the decade-old crime of graverobbing. When her boyfriend, Michael Hendrickson, killed himself in 1992, his ashes were buried with a beer and a pack of cigarettes. He had been in the ground less than a month when authorities noticed the grave had been disturbed and the urn and beer were missing.

Call me crazy, but that gives me a great idea for an ad campaign: "What would YOU do for a Michelob?"

For the Week Ending 25Oct04:

Spotlight Iraq: Since this feature began, Iraq has been a bottomless well of exemplary human behavior. This week is no different. Savages kidnapped Margaret Hassan, head of CARE International's Iraq operations. Hassan is part Iraqi herself, and has spent much of the last 30 years working in the country to help (according to the CARE homepage) "the world's poorest communities solve their most threatening problems." But Hassan is only the highest-profile prisoner this week. Three Macedonian contractors captured in August were beheaded. Perhaps the head chopping, self-imagined footsoldiers for Allah might be counted among the most threatening problems in Iraq?

Spotlight South Carolina: A Rock Hill, SC policeman used his taser to subdue a 75 year old woman who...ahem..."assaulted" him. The woman refused to leave a nursing home after visiting hours and became argumentative when told to leave. The cop claims the woman swung at him, despite her having "arthritis and six broken ribs". Tasering ensued, although why he couldn't have just picked her up and tucked her under his arm I'm not sure about.

I might have wished for a taser once or twice when I foolishly put myself between an elderly phalanx of walkers, canes, and Rascals and the 3-for-a-dollar cucumber bin at my grocery store. Warm cookie and macrame cozy grandma disappears; coldly shrewd and implacable ancient evil takes her place. But I manage to get myself out of their way without actually having to, you know, electrocute anyone. Sheesh.

Spotlight Pennsylvania: A man shooting at a mouse in his home shot his girlfriend instead.

One more time: A man shooting at a mouse...in his home...shot his girlfriend instead.

So. His first instinct wasn't to buy some traps, or get a fucking cat, but to take out his .22 and start shooting. As far as I'm concerned, she got what she deserved by being so stupid as to hang around someone so improbably stupid. Too bad the mouse didn't skitter across his forehead when he was shooting. We would've owed him and all mousekind a great debt by helping eradicate this contamination of the human genepool.

Spotlight Massachussesss: Boston is aswarm with historical places. The city is aware of its history and that history's greater relationship to the national imagination. Boston and environs have pioneered living responsibly within important historical spaces in the evolving cityscape. And most importantly, Boston has mastered marketing history to make money from tourists. So it was just true to form that after a historic win in a historic game, the Land of Bean and Cod had itself a good, olde tyme riot.

Lots of property damage, your basic flipped and burned cars, busted windows aplenty. Not a few busted noses. And one death: an undergraduate killed by a policeman firing a munition marketed as "non-lethal". Since the victim is non-alive, and will ever remain so, I urge Boston PD to reconsider non-lethal ammunition's place in the force and treat it henceforward as lethal. Because it quite obviously can be.

Meanwhile, at the University of Massachuessesss-Amherst, local police had their own riots to contend with. There were at least 29 arrests immediately following the game, relating primarily to destruction of property, assault, and....oh yes, hurling beer cans of flaming liquid at cops. Several thousand dollars will be spent to repair windows and replace furniture.

The leaders of tomorrow. Today.

Ministry safety tip: Kids, rioting can be a blast. You can break stuff and steal things, maybe even bust a head or two, all in good fun. You even get plausible deniability to the cops by being a nameless face in a crowd. For precisely the same reason, you get to sound like a big man because you can say you were wherever you need to say you were to sound interesting to chicks. And best of all, you don't even have to be a malefactor- just being there is enough to claim anything for any audience. But when you see a line of riot police with shields, faceplates, and mounted cavalry on the march, go home. Come down off the telephone pole and go the hell home.

An Australian Journalist was released by terrorists after they confirmed his identity using Google. Apparently, what they found on the internet convinced his captors that he was not working for the CIA or an American contractor.

I like this Nobel Laureate a lot better than the wacko who thinks that AIDS is a CIA plot.

Bill Gertz of the Washington Times is reporting that Saddam Hussein used the UN oil-for-food program to skim billions of dollars and directed $1.78 billion to French businessmen, officials and journalists in order to get the French to oppose American policy.

Here's a juicy bit:

The report named former French Interior Minister Charles Pascua as getting a voucher for 11 million barrels of oil, and Patrick Maugein, who received a voucher for 13 million barrels of oil. The report said Mr. Maugein, the chief executive officer of the SOCO oil company, was a "conduit" to Mr. Chirac.

The report mentioned is the report of the CIA's Iraq survey group, the basis of Gertz' article. For comparison, French oil companies Total and SOCAP each got vouchers in the neighborhood of 100 million barrels of oil.

The corruption extends beyond France. Russia and China also featured prominently on the list. Those who have most vociferously opposed the war in Iraq might be shocked and embarrassed that the actions of their allies in the governments of France and Russia were not motivated by simon-pure pacificism and upright morals. (Why they might imagine this in the first place is another question altogether, given those nation's history.) If America's primary non-Iraqi opponents in the war in Iraq had not been bought off on the cheap and had remained neutral or even provided minimal support; would world opinion have swung so dramatically against the United States? Would those in the US who opposed the war been so confident if they had not been able to point at France, Germany and Russia?

Ironic that the most damage Saddam did in the war, he did before the war started. Of course, any apparent correlation between those who received billions of dollars from Saddam and those nation's anti-US policies might be merely accidental.

[wik] For more info on the Oil For Food Scandal, go here.

spotlight Ohio: Woman trades naked pix of young daughter for NFL tickets. (And a jersey. Don't forget the jersey!). Link goes to partial transcript of IM conversation. I especially love this part here:

Lustyliss429: how much can i trust u...
Buckin4God2: very
Lustylis429: are you sure
Buckin4God2: can you send it please
Buckin4God2: yes
Buckin4God2: can u send it
Lustylis429: ur not an undercover cop r u ... lol
Buckin4God2: no

Well, that settles that! It's on the internet... what's not to trust? On the other hand, the parts where mom says how cute her 4-year old daughter thinks Buckin4God2 is are sick and disgusting and if there's a hell anywhere she's gonna.... oh, right. She already lives in Toledo.

spotlight Baltimore: Last night during the Ravens - Saints game of American Football, the candid microphones captured Raven Ray Lewis-- who didn't kill two people, advising teammate Jamal Lewis-- who is about to plead guilty for conspiracy to traffic cocaine and some other skeezy drug stuff-- how best to deal with the pressure of being on trial for something horrible. The big difference is that Ray L. didn't kill two guys, and Jamal L. is a dirtbag who definitely did have a bunch of cocaine to sell. But whatever. This NFL-par behavior is not really the "exemplary human" part. The "exemplary human behavior" has been demonstrated by the NFL itself, who have seen fit to augment Lewis' expected jail time with a draconian punishment of its own-- a 2 to 4 game suspension. Is that the going price for a felony these days in football? Crime does pay!!!

Over at the Smallest Minority, I found an interesting discussion about possibilities for a second American civil war. Sadly, the comment thingy there would not let me post my comment, and so you are perforce subjected to my thinking here. I try to lighten the burden, but it doesn't always work.

We discussed this not long ago on this very blog, in the comments somewhere, and I'm too lazy to dig it up. There's some interesting thinking in the post I linked, and it gives context to what I say below.

Despite the deep divisions in our soceity, over abortion and many other issues there really isn't much cause for civil war.

The reason is economic. In the first civil war, issues of states' rights and slavery were claimed as the motivating causes for the two sides to start slaughtering each other. However, for those causes to reach the point of bloodshed, they had to be supported by deep economic divisions as well. The proto industrial north v. the agrarian/slaveholding south. The West by and large joined the north, although not uniformly, witness bleeding Kansas. That economic division gave substance to the philosophical and religious differences.

Our divisions today are more geographically dispersed, and also there is no major economic divide that lines up along ideological divides. People on both sides of most ideological divides are living the same lifestyle as each other - or at least the same spread of lifestyles. Rich, poor, worker, industrialist whatever.

Not to say that this can't change, but unless it does, I'm pretty sure we'll muddle through. The wingnuts on both sides are largely (largely) isolated from the power centers of either party, and government is still from the center. No one except the wingnuts is even remotely pissed enough to think about armed rebellion.

I would think that we would need at least two of these three things for a real civil war: an opening economic divide that happened to line up along an existing or new serious ideological divide; or a new movement that powerfully motivates and gains followers while simultaneously scaring the bejeebus out of everyone else; or an honest to god coup, which leaves many with divided loyalties.

Economics, ideology, and wars of succession are the big three historical causes of civil war.

Barring a world wide depression and a spectacularly poor response to it, I don't thing we'll see the economy tanking dramatically enough, or changing enough to support the first probability. Communism might (barely) have been a force like that here a most of a century ago, but now, no chance. Islam has never really spread except by the sword, and I don't think that will happen here. It would have to be something new. It can always happen, and has often in the past - the thirty years' war in Germany, countless third world civil wars in the last century, and our own civil war. Our system, for all its flaws, is pretty good at preventing the last one, even when its poked real hard like four years ago. Not to say it couldn't, but it isn't necessarily enough.

And, as a side note, bleeding Kansas situations only happen when there is a general breakdown in civil order, like when there's a civil war going on. I don't think most grabastic leftist groups, tempted into terrorism, would last very long against our pretty formidible law enforcement agencies.

In the wake of the truly horrific terrorist attacks in Russia, it seems that Putin is letting the terrorist win. At least in the sense that he is apparently abandoning many of the more democratic features of Russian soceity in an effort to a) fight terrorism or b) consolidate his personal power.

President Vladimir Putin announced plans Monday for a "radically restructured" political system that would bolster his power by ending the popular election of governors and independent lawmakers, moves he portrayed as a response to this month's deadly seizure of a Russian school.

It seems that merely taking measures to more effectively combat terrorism is not sufficient to meet the crisis:

"Under current conditions, the system of executive power in the country should not just be adapted to operating in crisis situations, but should be radically restructured in order to strengthen the unity of the country and prevent further crises,"

Putin has often in the past raised concerns regarding his commitment to any kind of democratic ideals. His treatment of the press, in particular, has been the subject of much criticism. But it has not been limited to attempts to control the press. When he gained power, he kicked the governors out of the Federation council, and set up a a system of Putin-appointed presidential envoys to control them. Moving to eliminate independent governors and replace them with his appointees entirely would further centralize power in Putin's hands. The fact that the current governors are not making much of fuss suggests that they are think Putin's plans will succeed, and they are hoping to retain their jobs in the new dispensation.

Restricting the state parliament or Duma to only party list delegates would further restrict democracy. Right now, half of the delegates are elected from individual districts and the other half are selected from party lists based on the percentage of the vote that the party receives in the election. Given the cut-off for representation, many parties would fail to have any representation at all in the new system. In a nation like Germany, this is not a terrible arrangement - but in Russia, it means that getting into parliament would require the approval of often corrupt party apparatchiks, again centralizing control. As the article mentions, some parties are very nearly selling slots on their lists.

The newest moves take a vision he calls "managed democracy" to a new level.

"Managed democracy" sounds like a soon-to-be-unpleasant euphemism. Russia has had exactly two periods of democracy in its history. The first lasted only months and ended with the Bolshevik coup and subsequent terror. The current experiment has been longer, but always on a shaky foundation.

Putin seems to be relying on his KGB instincts. However, I don't think that this presages a return to a communist state. Despite the fact that the Communist party still holds many seats in the Duma, Putin's moves seem much more in line with traditional authoritarian government rather than outright totalitarianism. If pro-democracy forces in Russia are unable to contain Putin (and it seems very likely indeed that they will fail to do so) the result will be a more or less typical authoritarian government along the lines of Pinochet in Chili, Chiang Kai Shek in Taiwan, or the regime of Syngmann Rhee in South Korea.

While not a happy thought for the near term, an authoritarian government in Russia does hold out some hope for the future. Authoritarian leaders are not generally concerned with micromanaging the economy for ideological reasons. In each of the three nations listed above, stable representative government eventually emerged as economic progress created a middle class. Which means that Democracy might reappear in a few decades.

This:

Combined with this report on what might happen if a category five hurricane hits New Orleans, is not reassuring.

The debris, largely the remains of about 70 camps smashed by the waves of a storm surge more than 7 feet above sea level, showed that Georges, a Category 2 storm that only grazed New Orleans, had pushed waves to within a foot of the top of the levees. A stronger storm on a slightly different course -- such as the path Georges was on just 16 hours before landfall -- could have realized emergency officials' worst-case scenario: hundreds of billions of gallons of lake water pouring over the levees into an area averaging 5 feet below sea level with no natural means of drainage.

That would turn the city and the east bank of Jefferson Parish into a lake as much as 30 feet deep, fouled with chemicals and waste from ruined septic systems, businesses and homes. Such a flood could trap hundreds of thousands of people in buildings and in vehicles. At the same time, high winds and tornadoes would tear at everything left standing. Between 25,000 and 100,000 people would die, said John Clizbe, national vice president for disaster services with the American Red Cross...

Like coastal Bangladesh, where typhoons killed 100,000 and 300,000 villagers, respectively, in two horrific storms in 1970 and 1991, the New Orleans area lies in a low, flat coastal area. Unlike Bangladesh, New Orleans has hurricane levees that create a bowl with the bottom dipping lower than the bottom of Lake Pontchartrain. Though providing protection from weaker storms, the levees also would trap any water that gets inside -- by breach, overtopping or torrential downpour -- in a catastrophic storm.

"Filling the bowl" is the worst potential scenario for a natural disaster in the United States, emergency officials say. The Red Cross' projected death toll dwarfs estimates of 14,000 dead from a major earthquake along the New Madrid, Mo., fault, and 4,500 dead from a similar catastrophic earthquake hitting San Francisco, the next two deadliest disasters on the agency's list.

The projected death and destruction eclipse almost any other natural disaster that people paid to think about catastrophes can dream up. And the risks are significant, especially over the long term. In a given year, for example, the corps says the risk of the lakefront levees being topped is less than 1 in 300. But over the life of a 30-year mortgage, statistically that risk approaches 9 percent.

Like Paul at Wizbang says, pray.

Loyal reader #00017, EDog, notes that among the many new flavors of Kit Kat bars being tested in the UK is cumin-masala.

I mean, I'm a big a fan as anyone of the whole chapati/korma/keema paratha/lamb rogan josh thing-- in fact Indian food is #1 tops in my book, but jeezus. Remember, this is the country that deep-fries frozen pizzas, so I'm inclined to <spite>let them have their spicy chocolate if they want it</spite>.

I don't remember how I got to it, but Ken Layne is having some fun with the linking rules established by the nasty bureaucrats of the Athens Olympic Games. Apparently, the internet department has some rather authoritarian ideas about how one should go about linking the games' website:

For your protection and ours we have established a procedure for parties wishing to introduce a link to the ATHENS 2004 website on their site. By introducing a link to the ATHENS 2004 official Website on your site you are agreeing to comply with the ATHENS 2004 Website General Terms and Conditions. In order to place a link embedded in copy interested parties should:

a) Use the term ATHENS 2004 only, and no other term as the text referent

b) Not associate the link with any image, esp. the ATHENS 2004 Emblem (see paragraph below)

c) Send a request letter to the Internet Department stating:

Short description of site
Reason for linking
Unique URL containing the link (if no unique URL than just the main URL)
Publishing period
Contact point (e-mail address)

Once the request has been mailed, interested parties can proceed to include the link and will only receive a response if ATHENS 2004 does not accept the link. All requests should be sent to: 

The Internet Department
Iolkou 8 and Filikis Eterias str.
GR-142 34 N. Ionia, Athens

On further research, Ken discovered that there are also rules about linking to the Olypic logo:

Incredible.

There are additional rules if you'd like to use one of their stupid little gifs, and Big Trouble awaits should you dare to use an image of the stupid little Olympic circles:

"Linking using the Olympic Emblem is strictly prohibited as the Olympic Emblem, Trademarks and Terms are duly registered internationally and are protected under existing legislation (as defined in article 2 of Greek law 2819/2000). Parties wishing to use the emblem are requested to contact the ATHENS 2004 Internet Department (see address above). Permission to use these properties as links will be granted only under special circumstances."

Because of his deep concern for the people making these rules, Ken created this special logo:

Some others got into the game as well.
 

posted by chicobangs at 4:51 PM CST on August 16 Chico, is that a new demonstration sport? And BTW, DrJohn, I ate an Atkins bagel today, toasted with CarbOptions Peanut Butter! -- posted by billsaysthis at 5:16 PM CST on August 16

Tasty, yet morally ambiguous. -- posted by DrJohnEvans at 9:53 AM CST on August 17

Chico, I have nothing to add except for the fact that that's the best picture I've ever seen anywhere. -- posted by Samsonov14 at 1:16 PM CST on August 17

Chico, is that a new demonstration sport?

Yes, it's called Mexican Farm Animal Stacking and the Antarcticans dominate the sport. Them penguins can stack the fuck out of some farm animals. -- posted by NoMich at 1:26 PM CST on August 17

Indeed. Mexican Farm Animal Stacking will, I think, become a very popular Olympic event. It is even possible that this man will someday win the Mexican Farm Animal Stacking gold medal: 

Thanks to the Rev. Moon's largesse, North Korea is now said to be in possession of a dozen Soviet-surplus nuclear missile submarines in fine working order. Remember, this is the same Rev. Moon who was crowned emperor a few months ago by members of the US Congress.

If I were Tom Clancy and I were writing this shit into a novel, I would throw it out. It's crazy and nobody would believe it.

Here's an interesting article in the WaPo about efforts by the Telemundo network to train all its in-house actors and personalities to speak Mexican Spanish, which the network considers to be the equivalent of American Newscaster English.

There's some interesting stuff in there, particularly about Colombia's sensitivity to the changes ( it turns out that Colombia thinks they speak standard Spanish and resent their native actors going Mexican) and about the need for Telemundo to take any advantage they can in competing with Univision, a network more than three times Telemundo's size.

In all, it's both gratifying to see that Spanish language entertainment is becoming truly internationalized on a large scale, and a little bittersweet that I might no longer have the pleasure of wrinkling my brow in consternation as I try to follow the harsh fricatives and clipped speech of an Argentinian soap actor speaking his native accent. Accent standardization is a sign that the Spanish entertainment industry is mature and expecting great future growth.

(Thanks to Casper at blogcritics.)

[wik] As for Colombian being standard Spanish, that's simply crazy talk. My brother in law is Colombian, and I have more trouble understanding his family's clipped, fast conversation than I do understanding my Madrid-born boss, the Mexicans and Dominicans at the local bodega, or the excited ranting of Mexican soccer announcers (of course, "GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL!!! is universal).

Chronically underemployed former Floydian Roger Waters has finally weighed in on the Israeli-Palestinian issue. Not surprisingly, he is against Israel's wall.

Waters and a group of communists, fellow travelers, and "artists" have signed a smaller version of the wall, which will tour the UK garnering signatures. The final garaffiti-ed structure will be presented as a petition at the tour's completion.

In addition to his signature, Waters' wrote- in an extraordinarily unclever moment- "We Don't Need No Thought Control". The comment is clearly supposed to connect this wall with The Wall although I'm not sure what one has to do with another. What does this Israeli project have to do with post-war Britain's educational system? Will the defensive wall drive nascent Palestinian rock stars mad?

It's like the promoters of this project brainstormed which celebrities they could get behind them..."If only there was someone with big-name recognition who had SOMETHING to do with a wall yet had nothing better to do..." *fingers snap* "Hey, wait a minute..."

Being genetically designed for cave-dwelling, my recent trip to British Columbia's Sunshine Coast had predictable results. Two days in, I had a nice sunburn/sun reaction. I've seen it a dozen times before and I know that seeing a doctor is a good idea when it gets severe. Since I haven't lived in Canada in ten years, I don't have a provincial health card any more. I therefore entered the BC medical system as a simple cash-carrying person (yes, we do have that in Canada).

I called in the morning, and had an appointment for that afternoon. The doctor and I spent about 15 minutes together, and I walked out with my prescription. Let's tote up the costs:

$40 for the office visit, cash. $9.32 for the prescription. Both those figures are in Canadian dollars, so at today's exchange rate my interaction with the health system cost US$36.57.

About two years ago the same thing happened while here at home. I did get an appointment for the same afternoon, but I had to wait about an hour and a half. The 10 minute office visit cost around $65 (covered by insurance, but shouldn't we look to see how much we're being charged). The prescription cost about $20, for the same medication; our interaction total is about US$85.

There's no discernible difference in the quality of care received, for an interaction like this, between the US and Canadian system. So why do we have such a difference in charges to the patient? There's a laundry list of reasons, I suppose. Doctors in Canada don't have the same vulnerability to malpractice; there's some legislative protection, and large jury awards are almost unheard of in Canada. Staffing costs are higher in the US, which means higher costs to cover.

One of the largest factors is the massive administrative and paperwork overhead in the US system. This burden is estimated to chew up almost 30% of medical dollars; it's the constant paper cut knife-fighting between physicians' offices' admins and their counterparts at the insurance companies. The insurance companies don't want to pay out; the longer they can hold on to their dollars the more they earn on investments. Most doctors in the US have at least one and usually more people on staff who work payment issues almost full-time.

Administrative overhead in the Canadian system is about 6%, and other socialized medicine systems run about the same.

I think the medical insurance companies are at the heart of this. An ob-gyn friend has just been presented with a Faustian deal by her malpractice company; either sign a new agreement with a "tail clause", or lose her insurance. The malpractice insurance policy used to cost $85,000 per year. The "new deal" is that if she ever ceases insuring with this company, she must pay them two years, in full upon doing so. Malpractice insurance companies are local, so if she moves to another state, this amount would be due and payable.

So she should just go to another insurance company, right? Wrong. Malpractice insurance is highly specialized; it turns out that in our area, there is exactly one company offering malpractice insurance to ob-gyns. Of course, that company is likely owned by another, much larger company that does national health insurance, but for the purposes of this contract it is irrelevant.

Her practice of (I believe) eight ob-gyns are all being forced into the same deal. Some of them are nearing the end of their careers or don't have any plans to move; for them the deal is still possible.

There's a bizarre little circle at the heart of the system. That first $85,000 in revenues is paid by insurance companies and then routed right back to insurance companies. We know that the payout rate for medical malpractice insurance is around 4 to 1; for every four dollars taken in, one dollar is paid out. Mathematically, this tells us that the insurance industry needs to keep malpractice underwriting small and local; only when the risk is concentrated can the premiums be justified. In the aggregate malpractice insurance is rather profitable.

By shifting money into the malpractice stream, the cost of health care has been exaggerrated. Insurance companies have dramatically raised their rates over the past four years, citing increased costs and malpractice, when they themselves are the primary reasons for those cost increases.

For those Americans looking for affordable health care, you might want to look north of the border. For the cash-paying patient, it's prompt and efficient, and less than half the cost of American care of comparable quality. Powell River British Columbia has noted a recent trend -- medical tourism. It seems that the excellent hospital and ready availability of care has recently been drawing patients from Canada's urban centers, as well as from the US.

And just to head it off, I'll admit that the finest health care in the world is available right here in the US. Of course, only a tiny fraction of the population can actually afford it, but who the hell cares about the rest? Paying twice as much to insure only 60% of the population is the American Way; that paperwork and overhead is the heart of the system. And private medical care must be preserved at all costs! Private care like you can, uh, get in Canada.

Imposing a system on the population that benefits and works for only a small number of people? That's real elitism; the kind that takes food from children, breaks a man's life with medical expenses, laughs at the suffering, and guides the body politic to cement it in place.

Sayonara, Survivor! Bye-Bye Big Brother! Farewell Fear Factor! It appears the new Arab reality show, Cave In To My Demands Or I'll Saw Your Citizens' Heads Off, is really taking the world by storm. I haven't seen any of this season's episodes yet, but I have read about them and man I am blown away! Many appear shocked at the graphic nature of it, and surprised at the union of ultra violence, political messages, and media saturation; it's that shock that's going to take this show straight to the top!

Lots of good marketing and distribution in US markets, although I don't believe it's getting the same demographic penetration as in the Arab world. Product tie-ins, like with green headbands or specially prepared throwin' stones say, are weak here as well outside narrow markets trending to the young, hip, prostrate crowd. There is some progress on Muslim catch phrases (Allahu akbar; Dar al-Islam; Dar al-Kufr) penetrating the mainstream, but most common usage is still in mosques and prisons.

I have a passing familiarity with other reality TV from the Middle East, like the long running 11th Century House; the unforgettable Candid Clitorectomy; the often imitated A Suicide Bomber Story, and the fun but trifling My Big Fat Obnoxious Husband and His 3 Other Big Fat Obnoxious Wives. But nothing compares to the interest audiences are giving to ...Heads Off.

Looks like Muslim TV really has a hit on its hands.

OMG! LOL! ROTFLMAO! YGBK! And other acronyms to express disbelief and hilarity!

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) -- Syria is preparing a law that would prohibit trade dealings with the United States in response to U.S. sanctions imposed on the Arab country last month, Syrian legislators said Saturday.

More than 130 members of the 250-seat legislature have prepared a draft of the "America Accountability Act" that would impose "strict sanctions" on American interests in Syria.

So... what? They're going to stop exporting terrorists?

Turns out, no.

Muhammad Habash, a lawmaker with moderate Islamic affiliations who is one of the campaigners for the draft law, said the law was meant to maintain the dignity of Syrians.

"We are not simple-minded to the degree that we imagine we can affect the great American economy," he said. "But we are able to maintain our dignity and slap the Americans so they know that if they continue with their arrogant policies, people everywhere around the globe will spit at them."

Good luck with that, folks. Hope it works out for you. (Thanks to blogmother Kathy Kinsley for the pointer.)

[wik] In yet another example of the uncanny interconnectedness of the world, Syria's decision will actually affect me directly. I bought a pair of discount slacks last week at Marshalls' that according to the tag were made in Syria. They're comfy and have enough room in the butt, so I won't be taking them back even though the little spangled Patriotism fairy on my shoulder tells me I should do so instead of supporting state-sponsored terrorism with my pants dollar. Under sanctions, this debate would be moot because there would be no more Terror Pants for me to buy. So, Syria. Nice job. Pretty soon everyone in the US will be walking around without any Terror Pants. Is that what you wanted?

[alsø wik] Goodwyfe Two-Cents was wondering whether the pants were just manufactured in Syria, or whether the wool and fabric were also domestically produced. It occured to me; maybe my pants were once just fibers, wrapped around a case of Sarin or a disassembled Scud bound from Tikrit. It'd be perfect! "No, no sir, just some wool for the Syrian trouser trade. Nothing to see here."

Just a crazy idea, I know. I'm full of 'em. Maybe I should go work for the State Department as Special Minister of Crazy Ideas that Just Might Be True.

[alsø alsø wik] One might ask: Are these sanctions a legitimate state action taken by the Syrian government in protest of US policy? Or is this whole thing just an orchestrated performance by the parliamentary puppets of the Syrian trouser concern to game the world market in single-pleated brown three-season wool slacks? Inquiring minds want to know!

[wi nøt trei a høliday in Sweden this yër?] Then again, maybe State has enough of its own crazy ideas to deal with right now. I'd better steer clear.

NDR of The Rhine River just doesn't seem to get this whole blogging thing. Instead of tossing off snarky, ill-considered polemics on current events at a furious pace, he keeps issuing thoughtful, interesting, and well-written posts on relatively obscure topics.

Check out two of his most recent: Why Not Marry Your Rapist?, about a terrible case in Ethiopia, and A Tale of Two Frances, which discusses the vexed legacy of Alsatians who fought for Germany during Dubya Dubya Two:

Thursday will be the sixtieth anniversary of one of the most notorious massacres of the war. Surprised by the D-Day invasion, German troops were sent into Vichy France (the technically autonomous France in the south) in order to shore up security. Near Bordeaux, a unit of the Waffen SS massacred almost the entire population of the small town of Oradour-sur-Glane. The men were separated out and shot. The women and children were shut up in the church, asphyxiated, shot, and burned. 642 people died.

As shocking as the event was, it was discovered after the war that fourteen of the German soldiers were Alsatians:malgré-nous, people who were considered German citizens (Reichsdeutsch). Because the National Socialists considered Alsatians to be Aryan and ethnically German, they were obligated to serve the state as other Germans. Furthermore, the Nazis were anxious to show the participation of Alsatians in the Reich. Many Alsatian men were forced to serve in the military–often members of their families were held hostage or were harmed in order to compel them to fight. Most malgré-nous fought on the Eastern Front in the Waffen SS (the military division of the SS, often given the most arduous missions). . . .

A court in Bordeaux tried the Alsatian soldiers, along with seven Germans, in 1953 and condemned them. But the sentence caused outrage in Alsace. People felt that the rest of France did not understand the unique suffering that they experienced during the war. Not just occupied, the Nazis put tremendous pressure on the Alsatians to integrate and Germanize. . . .

Dialogue between the two is still difficult. The Limousin demand recognition of the massacre, and they are unwilling to recognize the precarious situation in which Alsatians found themselves. In the 1980s, one of the malgré-nous sued for a military pension (something which he would be entitled to despite fighting for Germany), but was lambasted by a storm of public opinion.

I did not know that.

As an olive branch to the people of the Limousin region, here via epicurious is a recipe for a traditional Limousin dessert: clafouti:

1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 large eggs
2/3 cup milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 teaspoon orange zest
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup Bing cherries, halved and pitted
1/2 tablespoon unsalted butter, cut into bits
vanilla ice cream as an accompaniment if desired

Preheat the oven to 400°F. In a blender blend together 1/3 cup of the sugar, the flour, the eggs, the milk, the vanilla, the zest, the almond extract, and the salt until the custard is just smooth. Arrange the cherries in one layer in a buttered 3-cup gratin dish or flameproof shallow baking dish, pour the custard over them, and bake the clafouti in the middle of the oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the top is puffed and springy to the touch. Sprinkle the top with the remaining 1 tablespoon sugar, dot it with the butter, and broil the clafouti under a preheated broiler about 3 inches from the heat for 1 minute, or until it is browned. Serve the clafouti with the ice cream.

When I make this, I sometimes use blueberries, since I do live in New England near the source of those wonderful low-bush Maine berries, but cherries are traditional and delicious.