Not Trying To Offend Anyone?

Who the hell is he kidding? AP (12.30.06), via Digby:

“A man unhappy with an Islamic association’s plans to build a mosque next to his property has staged pig races as a protest during afternoon prayers.

Craig Baker, 46, sold merchandise and grilled sausages Friday for about 100 people who showed up in heavy rain. He insisted he wasn’t trying to offend anyone with the pigs, which are forbidden from the Muslim diet.”

Man Races Pigs Near Planned Mosque Site

“‘I am just defending my rights and my property,’ Baker said. ‘They totally disrespected me and my family.'”

So what did Katy Islamic Association do that was so disrespectful? It bought some property next to Baker’s to build “a mosque, community center, athletic facilities and a school”, then asked Baker to stop grazing his cows on their land.

The reaction from the Association about the pig races? Something along the lines of BFD.

“Muslims don’t hate pigs, they just don’t eat them, said engineer Kamel Fotouh, president of the 500-member Katy Islamic Association in this Houston suburb.”

“‘I don’t care if he races, roasts or slaughters pigs,’ said Yousef Allam, a spokesman for the group.”

“Resident Susan Canavespe said the pig racing wasn’t mean-spirited — ‘It’s just Texas-spirited.'”

Dear George

Happy New Year. Love, Congress. Bloomberg (12.31.06):

Republican Senator Richard Lugar, outgoing chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, said President George W. Bush should consult with the incoming Democratic-led U.S. Congress before announcing plans for Iraq.

‘In the past, the administration has been inclined not to disregard Congress, but to not take Congress very seriously, Lugar said today on Fox News. ‘I think this time Congress has to be taken seriously.'”

Lugar Says Bush Should Consult With New U.S. Congress on Iraq

“Lugar suggested that members of the Foreign Relations panel be allowed to study Bush’s proposal before the president addresses the nation sometime after Jan. 1.”

And if he doesn’t let ’em review it? The good Senator sez George then “can expect ‘a lot of hearings, a lot of study, a lot of criticism'”. “The debate could get ugly, ‘and it need not,’ he said.”

Our Very Own Frankenstein

The Independent (12.31.06):

“When they hanged him, he was America’s vanquished foe, likened to Hitler and Stalin for the murderous evil of his ways. What is forgotten is that once, for more than a decade, Saddam Hussein was staunchly supported by the US.”

How Washington and London helped to create the monster they went to war to destroy

“Indeed, it was Washington that supplied him with many of the weapons of mass destruction the dictator used against his foes – weapons that one day would serve as a pretext for the US-led invasion that toppled him.”

Saddam took over in 1978. In 1980, he attacked Iran. “Washington was under no illusions about the brutality of Saddam’s regime. But as Tehran gained the upper hand in the fighting, he came to be seen as the lesser of two evils – a vital bulwark against domination by a radical, anti-Western Iran of the strategically vital Gulf region, with its colossal oil reserves.”

“Quietly, the US delivered the technology, weapons and logistical support to prevent Iraq’s defeat. Its policy was symbolised by the cordial meeting in Baghdad in December 1983 between Saddam and a certain Donald Rumsfeld, then President Reagan’s special envoy to the Middle East.”

Saddam was our boy right up until he invaded Kuwait in August, 1990. “Indeed, just a week earlier, on 25 July 1990, the American ambassador, April Glaspie, had met Saddam. According to a transcript of the meeting, she informed him that Washington had no opinion on Arab-Arab conflicts, ‘like your border disagreement with Kuwait’.”

Saddam took that as a green light to attack. The rest, as they say, is history.

“It is a matter of debate whether Iraqis are now worse off than under Saddam’s dictatorship. The chaos in their country, however, has produced one undisputed winner: an unchecked Iran, more menacing today than in Ayatollah Khomeini’s time.”

Fair And Balanced In Turkmenistan

Any way you look at it, it’ll be hard to replace Saparmurat. NYTimes (12.27.06):

“Five days after the death of Turkmenistan’s authoritarian president, Saparmurat Niyazov, the upper chamber of the legislature agreed Tuesday to schedule an election for Feb. 11 to pick his successor but also limited those who could run to the six candidates it chose.

The assembly signaled its tacit endorsement of the acting president, Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, a deputy prime minister, by unanimously approving his candidacy.”

Turkmenistan Limits Election to Soviet-Style Slate

Gurbanguly “was the only candidate to receive a unanimous vote.”

“The Constitution barred Mr. Berdymukhammedov’s candidacy because it said an acting president could not run. But the assembly voted to change the Constitution to allow his candidacy.”

“Speaking to legislators, Turkmenistan’s chief of elections, Murad Kariyev, promised to administer a fair election and provide voting stations with transparent ballot boxes.”

Transparent ballot boxes? As you can see inside ’em?

Anyway, there was another Constitutional issue which also was summarily resolved. LATimes (12.27.06):

“Under the constitution, the speaker of parliament, a smaller and less powerful body than the People’s Council, should have become acting president.

But the man holding that post, Ovezgeldy Atayev, was pushed aside and arrested within hours of Niyazov’s death.”

Turkmenistan candidate looks like a lock

“The prosecutor general’s office accused him of inciting discord among clans.” If that wasn’t enough, Ovezgeldy was also accused of “abuse of authority and immoral conduct.”

Swing And A Miss

Microsoft sez: “Windows Vista is engineered to be the most secure version of Windows yet. The new features in Windows Vista help to give you the control and confidence you need to get the most out of your PC.” On the other hand. NYTimes (12.24.06), via Gilliard:

“Microsoft is facing an early crisis of confidence in the quality of its Windows Vista operating system as computer security researchers and hackers have begun to find potentially serious flaws in the system that was released to corporate customers late last month.

On Dec. 15, a Russian programmer posted a description of a flaw that makes it possible to increase a user’s privileges on all of the company’s recent operating systems, including Vista.”

Flaws Are Detected in Microsoft’s Vista

And that’s not all, folks. “(O)ver the weekend a Silicon Valley computer security firm said it had notified Microsoft that it had also found that flaw, as well as five other vulnerabilities, including one serious error in the software code underlying the company’s new Internet Explorer 7 browser.”

“The browser flaw is particularly troubling because it potentially means that Web users could become infected with malicious software simply by visiting a booby-trapped site. That would make it possible for an attacker to inject rogue software into the Vista-based computer, according to executives at Determina, a company based in Redwood City, Calif., that sells software intended to protect against operating system and other vulnerabilities.”

In the past, Determina has helped old Bill Gates out by publishing its own patches to Microsoft software.

Commie Pinko

Daniel Gross (12.24.06) (link in original):

“Another anti-capitalist, anti-free-market, business ignoramus for universal health care. Self-made billionaire Mortimer Zuckerman.”

Raging Lefty Watch

Mort, number 382 on the Forbes list of “The World’s Billionaires“, has this to say (12.17.06):

“Tens of millions of Americans live in fear that a major health problem can reduce them to bankruptcy. They realize their families are one health crisis away from family hardship, which is a key reason for the pervasive feeling of personal and permanent insecurity.”

America’s High Anxiety

“If there is one single source of risk our policymakers must tackle, it is health insurance. We must not muddle on, a band-aid here and a band-aid there. We must find some way to provide universal health insurance, especially to cover all children. This is one of the critical reasons that Americans are nervous and no longer believe that the next generation will be better off.”

A Lesson To Be Learned

Remember the good old days, when the Privateers were all touting the Chilean Social Security system as the answer to our prayers? No? Here’s an example, from José Piñera, the guy who designed the system. Cato (12.17.98):

“America’s Social Security system will go bust in 2010. As political leaders scramble to save it, they’ve overlooked an obvious free-market solution that works. They need only look at Chile.”

Chile’s Social Security Lesson For The U.S.

Ignoring the fact that José’s statement that Social Security here will “go bust in 2010” is a crock of shit, how well has his program worked? Well by golly, it’s worked so well, the Chilean government is chucking it. NYTimes (12.19.06):

“Responding to growing complaints that the privatized pension system here is failing to deliver adequate benefits, the Chilean government has recommended that it be supplanted by a system in which the state would play a much larger role.”

Chile Proposes to Reform Pension System

The replacement is “meant to stimulate competition, reducing the high costs to contributors and the extraordinarily high profits for pension fund administrators that analysts blame for some of the current problems.”

So the privatized plan resulted in extraordinarily high profits for pension fund administrators? Wow. Isn’t that something? Who’d a thunk it?

Fact of the matter is the damned thing never really worked. NYTimes (12.27.05):

“Under the Chilean program – which President Bush has cited as a model for his plans to overhaul Social Security – the promise was that such investments, by helping to spur economic growth and generating higher returns, would deliver monthly pension benefits larger than what the traditional system could offer.

But now that the first generation of workers to depend on the new system is beginning to retire, Chileans are finding that it is falling far short of what was originally advertised under the authoritarian government of Gen. Augusto Pinochet.”

Chile’s Retirees Find Shortfall in Private Plan

“For all the program’s success in economic terms, the government continues to direct billions of dollars to a safety net for those whose contributions were not large enough to ensure even a minimum pension approaching $140 a month.”

“Even many middle-class workers who contributed regularly are finding that their private accounts – burdened with hidden fees that may have soaked up as much as a third of their original investment – are failing to deliver as much in benefits as they would have received if they had stayed in the old system.”

If a Chilean had stuck with “the government’s original pay-as-you-go system, the maximum retirement benefit [would be] about $1,250 a month.” For those who went with the private retirement plan, “workers would have to contribute more than $250,000 over their careers, a target that has been reached by fewer than 500 of the private system’s 7 million past and present contributors.”

Something Completely Different

Jeepers. Who’da figured this’d be going on? LATimes (12.24.06):

“‘A hundred armed Taliban men passed through the Pakistani border with their equipment, and with their rocket-propelled grenade launchers,’ said Qasim Khail, commander of the Afghan border police’s 2nd Brigade, which guards the post here.

‘And they retreated the same way. There are only two escape routes out of here, and both of them end at a Pakistani border post.’

On the trail of the Taliban’s support

“Confidential documents obtained by The Times show that for at least two years, U.S. military intelligence agencies have warned American commanders that Taliban militants were arming and training in Pakistan, then slipping into Afghanistan with the help of Pakistani border control officers.”

“On Sept. 5, Pashtun tribal leaders in Pakistan’s North Waziristan border region signed a pact with the central government in Islamabad led by President Pervez Musharraf, an avowed ally of the U.S. in its declared war on terrorism.”

Said pact also including amnesty for Osama.

“Under the agreement, the Pakistani army, which had fought fierce battles with pro-Taliban militants, withdrew from the region, leaving a tribal force in charge of border posts. In return, the tribesmen foreswore giving support, training and sanctuary to Taliban and Al Qaeda-linked fighters, although some foreigners were allowed to remain.”

They foreswore? Ha! Check’s in the mail too, you chumps.

“But the violence has not abated. Instead, Afghan officials and the U.S. military say that since the pact was signed, cross-border attacks have escalated.”

My, my. Color us shocked. The more things change, the more they stay the same. McClatchy (09.01.06):

“Zia Mojadedi, a senior national security aide to Karzai, criticized the Bush administration for accepting Pakistani assurances that the new truces include rebel promises not to join the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan.

‘The thrust of (Pakistan’s) strategy remains the same: how to milk the Americans’ for more money, he said.”

Truces fueling resurgence of Taliban, critics say

Boy. How’d we ever get fooled on that one?

We’re Number Three!

Yahoo continues to take on water. Bloomberg (12.22.06):

“Google Inc. displaced Yahoo! Inc. as the world’s second-most visited Web site in November and closed in on leader Microsoft Corp., a market researcher said today.

Visitors to Google’s sites rose 9.1 percent to 475.7 million in November from a year earlier, while those to Yahoo sites rose 5.2 percent to 475.3 million, ComScore Networks Inc. said today.”

Google Passes Yahoo as Second Most-Visited Web Site

“Both sites trail Microsoft, which had 501.7 million visitors, ComScore said.”

Yahoo tried for eight years to make a go of providing video content. They never could figure out how to do it. In the meantime, Google bought YouTube. The rest, as they say, is history.

Speaking Of Morons

This is pee-in-pants funny. Network World (12.21.06) (links in original), via Josh Marshall:

“The communications director for Montana’s lone congressman solicited the services of two men he falsely believed to be criminally minded hackers-for-hire — with the expressed goal of jacking up his college [ed. – Texas Christian University, btw] GPA — during an exchange that spanned 22 e-mails over two weeks this past summer.”

Congressional aide admits trying to hire hackers — to boost his college GPA

The hacker guys asked for pictures of squirrels and pigeons on campus so they’d know the guy was on the level. He took some and sent ’em in. They’re all over the internets now, tee hee.

So Mind Your Own Damned Business, Eh?

Our rep in Congress does us proud. Wolfie interviews Keith. CNN, The Situation Room (12.21.06):

“Well, Wolf, I’m glad you made that distinction because when I’m officially sworn in, I will do it the same, exact way as every Congressperson-elect who is sworn in. We will all stand up and, in unison, lift our hand and swear to uphold that Constitution.

And then later, in a private ceremony, of course, I’ll put my hand on a book that is the basis of my faith, which is Islam. And I think that this is a beauty.”

Lone Muslim Congressman Speaks Out

“This is a wonderful thing for our country, because Jewish members will put their hands on the Torah, Mormon members will put their hand on the Book of Mormon, Catholic members will put their hand on the book of their choice. And members who don’t want to put their hand on any book are also fully free to do that. That’s the American way.”

If it were us, we’da put it the same way, except we’da added: “Any morons out there who don’t like it can kiss our ass.” But that’s just us, of course.

Speaking of morons:

Dennis Prager

Man. Gotta believe having old Dennis as your next-door neighbor would be a real drag.

We’re Number Two

Bloomberg (12.22.06):

“Toyota Motor Corp. may end General Motors Corp.’s 81-year reign as the world’s largest carmaker as soon as next year.

Toyota expects demand for fuel-efficient models in the U.S., Asia and Europe to raise sales at the company and its affiliates by 6 percent to 9.34 million vehicles next year, the carmaker said in a statement in Nagoya, Japan. Production in 2007 will rise 4 percent to 9.42 million vehicles.”

Toyota May Surpass GM in 2007 With Record Car Sales

This says it all: “President Katsuaki Watanabe opened a $1.28 billion pickup factory in Texas last month and will start production in Russia next year. Detroit-based GM plans to shut 12 factories in North America by 2008 in response to declining demand for trucks and sport-utility vehicles while Ford Motor Co., which reported a third-quarter loss of $5.8 billion, is eliminating 38,000 jobs.”

“In addition to the new factory in San Antonio that the company opened last month to make Tundra pickup trucks, Toyota plans a second Canadian factory in Woodstock, Ontario, in 2008. The company will need another plant in North America after the new Canadian factory opens, Watanabe said.”

Toyota had considered building its new factories in the US, but there were, uhh, issues.

Long and short? It’s the cost of health care. Has been for a long time. Hell, even GM won’t build here any more. In These Times (04.27.05):

“‘The Canadian plan has been a significant advantage for investing in Canada,’ says GM Canada spokesman David Patterson, noting that in the United States, GM spends $1,400 per car on health benefits.

Indeed, with the provinces sharing 75 percent of the cost of Canadian healthcare, it’s no surprise that GM, Ford and Chrysler have all been shifting car production across the border at such a rate that the name ‘Motor City’ should belong to Windsor, not Detroit.”

GM’s Healthcare Double Standard

On the other hand, it’s a mighty fine time to be selling health insurance down here.

A Mortal After All

Good riddance. AP (12.21.06):

“President Saparmurat Niyazov, Turkmenistan’s eccentric and iron-fisted leader who created a lavish cult of personality during two decades of rule over his isolated nation, died Thursday. He was 66.

A terse report from state television said Niyazov died early Thursday of heart failure and showed a black-framed portrait of the man who had ordered citizens to refer to him as ‘Turkmenbashi’ — the Father of All Turkmen.”

Turkmen President Niyazov Dies at 66

Eccentric? Jesus, the guy was as fuggin’ crazy as they come.

“The funeral is to be held Sunday in his hometown of Kipchak, where Niyazov built Central Asia’s largest mosque, called ‘Spirit of Turkmenbashi,’ at a reported cost of more than $100 million.”

Pig bastard.

Damn

National Post (12.15.06), via Roger Ailes:

“In a discovery that has stunned even those behind it, scientists at a Toronto hospital say they have proof the body’s nervous system helps trigger diabetes, opening the door to a potential near-cure of the disease that affects millions of Canadians.

Diabetic mice became healthy virtually overnight after researchers injected a substance to counteract the effect of malfunctioning pain neurons in the pancreas.”

Diabetes breakthrough

“‘I couldn’t believe it,’ said Dr. Michael Salter, a pain expert at the Hospital for Sick Children and one of the scientists. ‘Mice with diabetes suddenly didn’t have diabetes any more.'”

Roger notes that “(m)eanwhile, fucking American hospitals can’t even fucking bill their patients correctly.”

Technologist.com (12.20.06):

“By injecting of neuropeptide substance P, the team discovered that they could reverse islet cell inflammation in mice within a day and normalise the associated insulin resistance. These two effects reversed the effects of the disease without causing toxic immunosuppression.”

A possible cure for diabetes

More on the mysterious “Substance P” from one of Roger’s commentators, Tlazolteotl.

Abstinence?

Yeah, we’ve heard of it. AP (12.20.06), via Huffington:

“More than nine out of 10 Americans, men and women alike, have had premarital sex, according to a new study. The high rates extend even to women born in the 1940s, challenging perceptions that people were more chaste in the past.

‘This is reality-check research,’ said the study’s author, Lawrence Finer. ‘Premarital sex is normal behavior for the vast majority of Americans, and has been for decades.'”

Most Americans Have Had Premarital Sex

“Finer is a research director at the Guttmacher Institute, a private New York-based think tank that studies sexual and reproductive issues and which disagrees with government-funded programs that rely primarily on abstinence-only teachings. The study, released Tuesday, appears in the new issue of Public Health Reports.”

“The study, examining how sexual behavior before marriage has changed over time, was based on interviews conducted with more than 38,000 people — about 33,000 of them women — in 1982, 1988, 1995 and 2002 for the federal National Survey of Family Growth. According to Finer’s analysis, 99 percent of the respondents had had sex by age 44, and 95 percent had done so before marriage.”

“Even among a subgroup of those who abstained from sex until at least age 20, four-fifths had had premarital sex by age 44, the study found.”

Humping like weasels, we are.

“‘The data clearly show that the majority of older teens and adults have already had sex before marriage, which calls into question the federal government’s funding of abstinence-only-until-marriage programs for 12- to 29-year-olds,’ Finer said.”

“Under the Bush administration, such programs have received hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding.”

“‘It would be more effective,’ Finer said, ‘to provide young people with the skills and information they need to be safe once they become sexually active — which nearly everyone eventually will.'”

Funding sex education instead of abstinence programs? Don’t hold your breath on that one.