Off The Left End

Bush swings his SCOTUS nomination bat again, this time seemingly back on his meds. Tennessee Guerilla Women takes instant exception to the new nominee Samuel Alito, on the grounds of Alito's consenting opinion on case regarding a Pennsylvania law that required a woman to notify her husband before getting an abortion. Now, although I usually find Guerilla Women enlightening read, and I think Alito has demonstrated to me objectionable bias, I have to disagree with this statement:

When the male dominated state considers ordering you to tell your husband anything, it's time to wonder what country, or what century, you are living in.

Hello? For one, the Pennsylvania law did not require the wife to ask the husband for a permission, but give notice, which would be plain common decency between a married couple. It takes a male and a female to conceive, and a marriage is a legal contract between two consenting adults, with the associated privileges and joint responsibilities. If the wife can't tell the husband she's pregnant before getting an abortion -- or any other medical procedure that puts a financial/emotional/legal liability on the couple for that matter -- they oughta not be married at all, let alone breed together.
UPDATE: Hope at Appalachia Alumni Association has pretty much the same arguments as Guerilla Women. Let's flip the question: If the mother has full and final say over the birth of the child, shouldn't the father then have the full and final say over whether he wants to support the child? Of course not. There is no "man's right to choose".

Fire, Um, Someone

Coming from a country where football means soccer (which is only played when snow doesn't reach your eyeballs), I probably should refrain from commenting on the woes of the UT football program. But Bubba Thomas at FireRandySanders.com hits the nail in the head saying "the problem is there is no discipline, zero, nada, zilch". When a dozen athletes get arrested, suspended or booted from the program before the season starts, and the coach doesn't raise holy hell, you know there's a discipline problem.
I first noticed this lack of discipline when I went to my first (and only) Vols football game on the Neyland stadium a couple of years back against Kentucky. In the pregame warmup, the Wildcats were running plays as a team whereas the Vols were standing around in groups of two or three, chattering away.
The same was evident before the recent Georgia game. The Bulldogs entered the field side by side, arms locked, as a team; the Vols meandered in one by one or in small groups. The free-wheeling individualism was very apparent during the game. Sheer talent is no substitute for teamwork, and that applies to the coaching staff as well.
Having said that, I'll leave coach firings and hirings to the pros, and remove myself promptly to watch the Ice Bears beat the stuffing out out of Huntsville Havoc tonight at the Civic Colisseum. Drop the puck!
UPDATE: Well, we sucked (both football and hockey). Interesting comment by Dr. John Hancock at tricitiessports.com:

Even most of [Phil Fulmer's] friends who both played and coached with him, many of whom now do commentary on the radio occasionally, realize he has been in a state of denial regarding the status of his football team and the root causes of the problems. These constructive criticisms, including the facts that the offensive linemen are too big and out of shape, that the receivers are undisciplined and have an attitude problem, and that the offense is stale and unimaginative, are things that fans have been saying for years.

Some denial when a football newbie like myself can see what's going on!

Crackpot

Darwin Award of the day: CNN reports that an Oregonian woman won $1 million in lottery, but paid for the winning ticket with a stolen credit card. Allegedly, the lady went on a shopping spree with the bogus credit card (including the lottery ticket), and upon learning she had won, went and cashed in the ticket. When cops served her with a search warrant related to the credit card, she got busted for methamphetamine possession and stolen goods in her home. Oops!

No Excuse To Look The Other Way

Every day, more than 100 children are reported abused or neglected in Tennessee. Tennessee is among about 18 states that require any person who suspects child abuse or neglect to report it to the authorities. A new law that became effective last week increases fines for failing to report child abuse directly to the Department of Children's Services to up to $2,500. The CPS Central Intake phone number is 1-877-237-0004.

The True Meaning Of Family Values

Now I know what the conservative "family values" means. It means that you've got to have a family in order to be of any value. The Republican-dominated congress, admitting that we're broke as a nation, began targeting government programs for budget cuts. The first in line: Foster care, child support enforcement and Medicare support for poor children. That's right, the "compassionate conservatives" in congress value their bridges to nowhere and other pork more than lives of innocent children. They know that poor people don't vote Republican, and the kids of poor people don't vote at all. There, have a serving of "moral values" to feed your kids. They clamor their "every life is sacred" anti-abortion mantra for the unborn while condemning the living to a life of sickness and squalor. Friggin' hypocrites. Shame, shame, shame!

A-Ha!

I knew it! GWB nominating Harriet Miers was just a ploy so that he can go ahead and nominate John Ashcroft like I predicted earlier. :)

How About Them Ice Bears?

If you get tired of cheering for your 3-3 (2-3 SEC) football team, you can always go and cheer for your 2-0 ice hockey team.

It's Hockey Time in East Tennessee!

The Knoxville Ice Bears of SPHL begins their third season against the Florida Seals tonight at the Knoxville Civic Colisseum. The Ice Bears won the regular season last year, and the core of their kickass team has signed up for this year. Tickets are cheap and action is plentiful, so there's no excuse to not support your local team. Drop the puck!

Cabals And Cowboys

Larry Wilkerson is a grumpy man. As ex-Secretary of State Colin Powell's right-hand man during GWB's first term, he could not afford to criticize the administration. But now he can really let it rip. Wilkerson spares no words in describing a "secret cabal" between Cheney and Rumsfeld that steamrollered a clueless president in order to get a war in Iraq for the benefit of large government contractors (um, Halliburton anyone?). He describes former defense undersecretary Douglas Feith as "seldom in my life have I met a dumber man" and Condoleezza Rice as "weak" (political cronyism anyone?). Wilkerson concludes that should Bush administration be faced with something truly serious, "you are going to see the ineptitude of this government in a way that will take you back to the Declaration of Independence".
Before Katrina and Plamegate, it would've been easy to write Wilkerson's outburst off as frustration of an ousted government official. But now, his tirade is another piece in the puzzle that will eventually reveal the picture "left wing loonies", and anyone with common sense, have long seen. The evidence to back his words is there. The question is, will we be lucky enough to survive until 2008? (Full transcript here).

File This Under "I.F.O."

Here's some fodder for income tax opposers in Tennessee: An unpaid tax bill could cost a resident of Loveland, Ohio, 18 months in the slammer. Apparently, the woman was unemployed, and having no income, didn't file local tax returns for four years. This resulted in late fees of $200. Unable to pay the late fees, she's now charged with four misdemeanors in court. The tax liability in question? $1.16 (yes, a buck and change). Oh, those wacky Ohioans!

Unionize This

It worked for the airline industry: If you're a CEO faced with stubborn labor unions, run the company to the ground by selling your product at loss with insane discounts. When union leaders are faced with losing their jobs instead of just poor SOBs with lower seniority, they'll yield. Ailing Detroit automakers are now reading commercial air carrier playbook. The only thing yet missing from the picture is government bail-out, which is sure to follow soon. R.I.P U.A.W.

Headline Of The Day

SICKO WOMB RAIDER exclaims the New York Post.

Cruiser Control

City of Knoxville is launching a $200,000 campaign to slow down speeding cars on local streets. Apart from education, Knoxville Police will engage in aggressive ticket writing to enforce the 30 mph speed limit on residential areas.
I try to be a safe driver, and I certainly don't condone reckless driving, so it irks me that every day I see THP and Knox County cruisers flying down the interstates and main roads way above the speed limit with no emergency lights or sirens on.
Tennessee Code 55-8-108 allows "driver of an authorized emergency vehicle [...] exceed the speed limits so long as life or property is not thereby endangered [...] only when such vehicle is making use of audible and visual signals meeting the requirements of the applicable laws of this state". Failure to use emergency lights subjects the police to the same speed limits as ordinary motorists, but apparently many police officers in traffic enforcement duties consider themselves above the law.

Grump On, Brother!

Doug Soderstrom, Ph.D., pumps the grumpiness quotient way up this morning with his fiery rant. (via Thomas Paine's Corner)

Why Can't We All Be Friends?

Here's a rare insight into how the European Union works: the EU passed a Copyright Directive, which is (not suprisingly) analogous with the much maligned U.S. Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA 1201). Under the EU Copyright Directive, circumventing digital rights management in order to make copies of content for personal use is just as illegal as doing so for public distribution.
Finland is a member of the EU, and thus was obliged to change their national legislation to match that of the EU directive. However Finns, being a pretty technologically sophisticated nation, balked against such silliness. The EU responded by threatening to bitch-slap Finland unless they complied with the EU orders.
Hitting Finland where it hurts the most (their wallet) produced the desired results: the Finnish parliament passed a copyright law revision that is in line with the EU marching orders. However, the Finnish government continues to thumb their nose at Brussels by asking content owners not to sue individuals for hacking DRM systems for purposes of lawful private copying. I'm sure multinational media giants will be more than happy to oblige.

Chicken Run

Bird flu epidemic is knocking at the door of the European Union. On this side of the Atlantic, our government is "pursuing multiple strategies in its effort to be prepared for an outbreak of pandemic flu", which in plain English means sitting on their thumbs, then figuring out the windfall to pharmaceutical companies and finally deciding which part of the population is disposable when the plague hits.

Dress Code Violation

Southwest Airlines is wholeheartedly supporting our current administration's efforts to spread democracy. They are now allowing passengers on their flights decide who gets to fly and who doesn't. I'll take a bunch of prissy Bushites to clear me for a flight over the TSA any day!

Louisiana Love Boat

In case you were wondering where the $14.5 billion so far used for hurricane Katrina have gone, here's an example: FEMA is reimbursing Louisiana State University for rental of a Finnish ferryboat from the Baltic Sea to be used as temporary housing. The 700-foot "Finnjet" will arrive in Louisiana in early October and dock at Port Allen, across the Mississippi River from Baton Rouge. The cruise line's website promises that "on the legendary Finnjet you can wine and dine in romantic settings, have a swim in the pool, enjoy a traditional Finnish sauna or go to the cinema. Whatever you choose to do, you are sure to have the time of your life". Sounds like fairly decent dorm to me.

Bright Side Of Life

Put yourself in the shoes of a City of New Orleans employee (say, a teacher):
Your house is flooded, but your insurance won't pay. You still owe on your mortgage for the house you can't live in. Thanks to recent Bankruptcy Reform, if you default on your mortgage, you're financially ruined for the foreseeable future. Then to make sure you're screwed, the City lays you off to save $5 million (that's 0.03% of the $14.5 billion spent for hurricane Katrina aid). So you'll end up in the streets, homeless and in debt up to your ears. You'll be happy to hear that GOP-led congress is seeking to cut food stamps programs and Medicaid for the poor.
Don't worry, though. If things get too tough, I hear the U.S. military is hiring into exciting positions with full benefits!

Finns In Space

And now onto something entirely different: From the country that brought you the free Linux operating system hails a feature-length movie available free of charge via internet download. Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning is an amateur Star Trek parody seven years in the making. The sci-fi spoof has attained an estimated 700,000 downloads since its release on Oct 1., becoming one of the most popular Finnish movies of all times. And yes, it's subtitled (in the vein of Hong Kong kung-fu movies).

The Gospel Two Minutes Or Less

Wife and I have a policy of not imposing any kind of religious activity on our foster children unless the kids request it themselves (for example, if a child wants to go to church on Sunday, we arrange so that he or she can go there with their relatives). We try to instill in them proper moral and ethical values, but in secular context, and we observe the major holidays, but not in a religious manner.
When my born-again Christian aunt was visiting us last week, she gave me a postcard with a picture of Jesus on it. I stuck it on the fridge door without much thinking. Yesterday, our 4-year-old foster son noticed the postcard and said, "That's Jesus. I love Jesus." I told him that's a good thing, and hoped that it would end the subject. But he went on, "Where does Jesus live?". Oh boy.
It was a dilemma: Whether to explain Jesus to him as I believe, a historical figure of great influence; or according to Christian beliefs, as the Son of God. This is how I put it:
"A long, long, long time ago, even before Mema and Pepa were born, in a land far, far away, there was a man named Jesus. When he was grown up, he become a teacher. He taught people how to make good choices in life. The boss of the land where he lived didn't like him telling people what to do. So he had him killed. After Jesus died and was buried, some people believed he had gone to Heaven to live with God. They started traveling around and teaching other people like Jesus had done. They made the boss mad, but little by little, lot of people believed in Jesus. They called him the Christ, and themselves Christians. And some people wrote down what Jesus had said, and the book they wrote is now a part of the Bible. Some people got together to teach and learn about Jesus, and how to make good choices in life. That is what is called a church. If you want to learn more about Jesus, you'll have to go to Sunday school."
Well, by the time I finished, he had already lost interest in the story (sometimes ADHD is a blessing), so I don't know if he'll be saved or not. Time will tell.

Rent-A-Supreme?

I predicted, partially in jest, that Bush would nominate John Ashcroft to the SCOTUS. I was wrong about the name, but let's see about qualifications:

1. Bush likes to reward loyal lapdogs (or pitbulls in this case).
   
2. Miers doesn't appear to be a wingnut guaranteed to please the Religious Right -- instead there is much grumbling among the faithful.
   
3. Miers has the dirt on Bush, and his SCOTUS nomination will guarantee he will never pull a Trent Lott on his master.
   
4. Miers' nomination will drive Democrats apeshit and detract from criticism over Katrina -- well, maybe not.

Mema Is Mad

My in-laws live in the mountains of eastern Kentucky; poor but proud, hard-working and God-fearing people. My mother-in-law, whom I respect a great deal, has been to me a window to the unfathomable logic of rural American conservative voters. She voted for Bush, twice, because Bush is a "good Christian man", and no other qualifications were necessary. But this past weekend, she surmised that she and Mr. Bush might have to part ways. "There are a lot of folks around here," she said, "who make $8 an hour and can't afford $14 a day to pay for gas to be able to get to work". But she added, "Bush is still better than that Kerry."