Real Thought

Please tell me that HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt was stoned or drunk. Or tell me that he is channeling Brak from “Space Ghost”. We are supposed to buy tuna fish and powdered milk in case of a bird flu pandemic? And keep it under our beds? Is this the state of medical technology in 21st century America? What about eye of newt and blood of rodent? Let me guess, the scientists at Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore are now searching for the philosopher’s stone.

Seriously, what kind of survival advice is this? I can understand the standard “have a couple or three cases of bottled water, some MREs and some extra food for your pets”, but tuna fish and powdered milk? What in the hell kind of survival rations are those? This is almost as pointless as telling people to stock up on rolls of plastic and duct tape in case of a biological or chemical attack. No one realized that the amount of duct tape and plastic to make the average house airtight is enormous and that making a house airtight with said materials is next to impossible.

Now we get tuna fish and powdered milk. OK, Mike, you go right ahead. Meanwhile the wife and I will continue to rely on Spam, MREs, bottled water, dried fruit and granola bars for our survival. Tell you what Mr. Secretary Leavitt, I’ll bet you that after a week, she and I will be in much better shape than you.

Enjoy your diet of “Atun con leche seco” and I’ll stick to a more sensible survival option.

Senator Russ Feingold of Wisconsin is planning to introduce a resolution in the Senate to censure the President of the United States tomorrow. This has only been done once before when Andrew Jackson was censured after a dispute over his veto of the Second Bank of the United States. Senator McCain must be proud of his collegue and co-sponsor of one of the worst pieces of legislation ever, the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (PL 107-155).

As many of you already know, the BCRA bans so-called “soft money” and places restrictions on so-called “issue ads” both of which I see as a direct violation of the First Amendment. This law and the debate over it thrust Russ Feingold into the national limelight. Now, he is using his prominence to take a cheap shot at the president over the issue of domestic wiretapping. This issue has already been debated ad nauseam in both the media and Congress and there is a current investigation of the issue by the Senate Intelligence Committee.

I agree with those who believe that Senator Feingold is grandstanding. There will be plenty of time to enter motions to censure the President after the Intelligence Committee finishes its investigation. It is clear to me that Feingold is simply using this issue to position himself for a presidential campaign in 2008. Hopefully, others will see through this transparent act of partisanship. John McCain must be very proud.

The new season of “The Sopranos” begins tonight.  I have been a fan of the show since the very beginning.  The tale of Tony and his “family” is a post-modernist morality play where good and evil often are two sides of the same character.  The writing is clean and crisp and the main characters are compelling if often violent and disgusting.  Finally, there is something on televistion worth watching.

Today, the BBC is reporting that the death of Slobodan Milosevic is the “worst outcome” for his war crimes trial. How so? Because the deaths of Milosevic and the chief witness against him, Milan Babic, cast doubts on the legitimacy of war crimes tribunals in general.

No kidding. Really? War Crimes trials lacking legitimacy? Since when? Andersonville perhaps? Nuremburg? Tokyo? The simple reality is that all war crimes trials lack legitimacy. They are simply a way for the victors to extract vengence upon the losers. That is not to say that crimes are not committed during wartime but charges like “waging aggressive war” are not exactily crimes in and of themselves. Simply put, we choose a side in a war and punish those who choose the other after we are victorious. This is not justice, it is simply might makes right.

Should those who commit genocide or torture and kill prisoners of war wholesale be punished? Yes. Should those who ordered them to commit their crimes be punished? Yes. Of course, this didn’t happen in Tokyo War Crimes Trials because the United States had a vested interest in protecting Emperor Hirohito. But to believe that “War Crimes” trials have any legitimacy beyond that which the victors in a conflict give them is absurd.

Are you kidding me? $100 million dollars? Am I in an Austin Powers movie? According to the head of the Federal Election Commission, that will be the case. Can you say oligarchy?

According to a report from the Associated press, the body of Tom Fox, a United States Christian peace activist was found in Baghdad Thursday. Evidently, Mr. Fox and others were in Iraq to investigate reports of abuse of Iraqi detainees at the hands the forces of the United States and Iraq. The report states that Mr. Fox and others were kidnapped by a previously unknown group calling themselves the “Swords of Rightiousness Brigades” and have been missing since late November.

Again, this action begs the question, is Islam really a religion of peace? Mr. Fox and his group were in Iraq to help, as they saw it, the Iraqis in their struggle against the Coalition occupation of their country and yet Mr. Fox was still kidnapped, tortured, mutilated and killed by a fanatical Islamic group. How many more examples do we need that this war is not a stuggle about oil or political power or a personal vendetta against Saddam Hussein by President Bush, but instead is a struggle betwwen civilization and barbarism?

The world is a much better place today. According to the Associated Press, Slobodan Milosevic, the tyrant that caused so much suffering and bloodshed in the former Yugoslavia, was found dead in his cell in the Netherlands. He was 64. I have absolutely no sympathy for Mr. Milosevic and others of his ilk. All I can say is that if there is a just and merciful God, hopefully Mr. Milosevic will have an eternity to repent his crimes in a place where he will never have to worry about wearing winter clothes.

On the “Today Show” this morning, Jay Bennish defended his remarks in the classroom by saying that he was just trying to get his students to “think critically” about the issues of the day.  I have one question for Mr. Bennish, collegue to collegue, if I, in an effort to get my students to “think critically”, stated in my classroom that the continued poor performance compared to other racial and ethnic groups on standardized tests by African-American students was not due to any socio-economic factors but instead was due to the fact that African-Americans were inherently intellectually inferior to other students, would that be acceptable?

I think we all know the answer to that question and I think we all see right through Mr. Bennish’s facile attempts to justify his remarks.

Will this poor woman ever go away?  Can’t someone get her some grief counseling?  OK, we get it.  The death of her son has put her over the edge concering the Iraq War and this is the way she copes with her grief.  I understand.  But stunts like today’s protest in front of the US Mission to the United Nations are certainly not garnering any more sympathy for Ms Sheehan or the anti-war protest movement.  In fact, I think that this type of juvenile behavior is doing just the opposite.  It is making people like me want to give Cindy the telephone number of a really good grief counselor and making the anti-war protesters look like a bunch of Looney Tunes. 

Someone get her a double shot of tequila and a shoulder to cry on, quick! 

Tonight is the night when Hollywood, that source of all things evil just 300 some odd miles down the road from me, indulges in an orgy of self congratulation. I can’t even remember the last time I paid attention to the Oscars. Maybe when they gave the “Lifetime Achievement” award to George Burns? The last Oscar winning film I really enjoyed was “The Sting”. But, for your edification or at least my amusement, here are my choices:

Best Film: Some movie I haven’t seen or couldn’t care less about.

Best Actor: Some guy who is either straight and played a gay or gay and played a straight. How about giving a nod to Rock Hudson for the latter?

Best Actress: Someone who played a transvestite. Anyone remember “Victor, Victoria”?

Best Screenplay: Awarded to the person who least hacked a story into unrecognizable bits.

Best Song: Something forgettable which I have never heard.

Best Animated Film: “Wallace and Gromit: The Curse Of The Wererabbit”. That one I did see and loved. Nick Parks is a genius!

The rest? Who cares? Do I really need to know the winner of the “Best Sound Production in an Underwater Documentary involving at least Three Midgets” category? And if the Best Supporting Actors and Actresses are so good, why not nominate them for Best Actor and Actress and be done with it?

I guess I’ll be getting ready for work tomorrow.