Ho Ho Ho
by digby
One of the sad effects of the studios refusing to pay writers what they deserve is that David Letterman won’t be featuring Darlene Love singing “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” tonight.
But thanks to Youtube, you can enjoy her appearance from last year:
H/T to the indefatigable BB
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The Maharaja
by digby
I just found out that jazz virtuoso Oscar Peterson shuffled off his mortal coil yesterday at the age of 82. For those of you who aren’t familiar with his work, you might think of him as the Eddie Van Halen of jazz piano — aggressive, fast and fierce. Duke Ellington called him the Maharaja.
Here is a Youtube of him playing “Caravan” with the Oscar Peterson Trio in 1985. Hang in there for the first minute or so and you won’t be disappointed. It’s like a volcano explosion — a fiery and smokin’, powerful sound.
He was the greatest.
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No Room At the Capitol
by digby
From Group News Blog:
Women should leave some jobs to the men
Editor:
Regarding a story that appeared in
The Post-Star
on Dec. 6: “Rep. Gillibrand announces she is pregnant.”
First of all, I must admit that I am a male chauvinist and that there are, thankfully, differences between men and women. There are many occupations suitable for women and their physical attributes. Carrying a weapon while serving in the Armed Forces and firefighting are not suitable lines of work for women to prove that they are physically equal to men. How many male police officers feel comfortable with a 100 pound female backup?
And now, I have to add serving in the U.S. House and Senate as an occupation that may not be suitable for women.
Ms. Gillibrand’s current pregnancy makes a strong case for my opinion. Ms. Gillibrand was elected to serve her constituency, and while she is away from her elected office she cannot perform those duties. The taxpayers who were duped into voting for her will have to pay for her medical benefits. Yes, Mr. and Mrs. Taxpayer, Ms. Gillibrand receives excellent health benefits, courtesy of her constituents. We will be without representation in Congress for a time leading up to and following the child’s birth. There will be times when she and the new baby will visit doctors. You can add those days to the total that she will not be serving her constituents.
The current base salary (2006) for members of the House and Senate is $165,200 per year. I wonder if Ms. Gillibrand will do the right thing and reimburse the U.S. Treasury in the amount of $452.60, her daily salary, for each day that she is unable to perform her elected duties. For some reason, I doubt it.
RON BLACHUT
Queensbury
As Jesse at GNB concluded in his reply to Mr Blachut:
Here at the Group News Blog Editorial Desk we are thankful to you for having chosen the sacred Christmas season as your special moment to go off on a woman with child (and her husband) in a small village in the Hudson Valley. You bring credit to all of New York’s 20th Congressional District.
And when we set up the nativity scene, we know where to go to find an ass.
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States’ Wrongs
by digby
Nicole at Crooks and Liars writes:
Usually, when someone applies for a waiver of some legislation, it’s because they are unable to comply with the standards set. Not so when it comes to the EPA air quality standards and the state of California. California has been on the forefront of combatting smog since the 70s when we had nearly daily smog alerts. And since 1975, California has requested and received a waiver from federal EPA standards, because our standards were stricter.
“The Bush administration is moving forward with a clear national solution — not a confusing patchwork of state rules — to reduce America’s climate footprint from vehicles,” EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson said in a statement.
“States’ rights” have`been shown in the last few years to be the con we always knew it was. This is just the latest proof of their intellectual bankruptcy.
It’s also why it’s a serious mistake for people who believe in the right to choose to allow themselves to be seduced into believing that the forced pregnancy forces will ever be content to leave it up to the states. They won’t. They only say that when it’s convenient, as the above clearly shows. States’ rights for me but not for thee.
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Torture Me Elmo
by digby
AOL is using “don’t tase me bro” to hilariously sell its product. Man, is this a great country, or what? Torture is now so funny and kewl, everybody wants a piece of it.
How about using the image of the naked pyramid to sell body lotions? Or maybe waterboarding to sell Evian? It’s all good.
Can running your mouth off at a police officer during a confrontation in a crowded store get you blasted with a Taser?
It happened last month when a Daytona Beach police officer stunned a yoga instructor. The officer used her Taser when the teacher refused to pipe down inside the Best Buy store on West International Speedway Boulevard.
Some human rights and civil liberties experts say a Taser, and the 50,000 volts its twin projectile probes deliver, should never be used in a situation like that. But Daytona Beach’s police chief said the verbal lashing his officer got and the way her commands were ignored gave his officer every right to use her weapon.
The incident reflects a growing international debate over Taser use. Last month, after six people who were stunned died in the United States and Canada, a United Nations committee said the use of Tasers can be a form of torture. Law enforcement advocates counter that stun guns are safe, essential tools that save officer lives and protect the public.
It was Nov. 26 when 35-year-old Elizabeth Beeland of Ormond Beach stopped at the store to purchase a CD player for her father, she told The Daytona Beach News-Journal before refusing to speak more about the incident.
Beeland’s shopping trip ended up with a ride to the Volusia County Branch Jail, charged with two misdemeanors — one for disorderly conduct and the other for resisting a police officer without violence.
Beeland’s attorney entered a plea of not guilty in the case and now it will be up to the State Attorney’s Office to determine whether to prosecute.
In a report police are required to prepare after deploying their Tasers, Officer Claudia Wright said she used her weapon on Beeland because the woman was “verbally profane, abusive, loud and irate.” Beeland pointed her finger “towards my face” and was waving her arms, the officer wrote.
But is that against the law? And is yelling at a cop considered enough resistance to merit the use of a Taser?
According to an American Civil Liberties Union representative in Orlando, yelling at a police officer and even cussing one out is constitutionally protected speech. And both the ACLU and Amnesty International USA say this incident likely could have been handled differently, adding that Taser use has become too casual and too common among police officers.
Police Chief Mike Chitwood said if a Taser had not been available, his officer likely would have used other weapons to subdue Beeland.
“I was never raised on Tasers,” the chief said. “I used nightsticks and slapjacks.”
The chief said Wright initially approached Beeland under the assumption a credit card had been stolen. In the end, it was determined Beeland was using her own card and had committed no crime.
But according to Wright’s report — the officer declined comment for this story — Beeland yelled to the point of disrupting business at the Best Buy and she would not comply with the officer’s commands. Wright warned Beeland she could be arrested and ultimately, could be shot with the Taser, unless she calmed down, the report shows.
Wright, at the store investigating another matter, was called over by a Best Buy cashier that afternoon after Beeland — who was about to pay for her item with a credit card — suddenly left her transaction unfinished and walked outside.
The cashier apparently thought the card was stolen because of Beeland’s sudden exit, the report indicates. When Wright caught up with Beeland just outside the glass doors, Wright said, Beeland began yelling at her, even at one point using the “F” word.
The officer said she asked Beeland to calm down. She then asked Beeland to step inside the store so it could be determined whether the credit card left with the cashier was hers.
Once inside, Wright states Beeland kept yelling at her and causing a disruption. She says Beeland’s screaming drew a crowd of patrons. Wright said she told Beeland if she didn’t calm down, she would be arrested.
Finally, Wright warned Beeland if she didn’t quit the commotion, she would have to deploy her Taser.
A tape from the store’s surveillance camera shows Beeland motioning with her hands and talking to Wright. She is seen slowly backing away from Wright as the officer advances.
Then, in one fell swoop, the tape shows Wright reaching for the Taser gun and shooting Beeland in the abdomen. She crumpled to the floor.
The entire confrontation inside the store took less than a minute, the tape shows.
It took less than a minute before the office stunned this woman.
Funny, funny stuff.
Update: Oh, I forgot this part:
That afternoon when Beeland suddenly walked away from her transaction, leaving her credit card behind at the cash register, she had received an upsetting telephone call from her husband about their child, said Beeland’s attorney, William Chanfrau Jr.
Distraught, she walked outside to speak to him more privately, forgetting for that moment about her card and her purchase, he said.
“She fully intended to go back inside and finish making her purchase,” Chanfrau said.
H/T to DE
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Dogwhistling Into Hell
by digby
According to Steve Benen, Ron Paul doesn’t believe in evolution. (Excuse me, Dr. Ron Paul, the obstetrician.) This means that four of the original GOP candidates (five if you count Alan Keyes) don’t believe in evolution. But really, we shouldn’t be surprised by this. After all, with few exceptions, the alleged intellectuals of the GOP spin like tops when asked about it.
William Kristol, The Weekly Standard
Whether he personally believes in evolution: “I don’t discuss personal opinions. … I’m familiar with what’s obviously true about it as well as what’s problematic. … I’m not a scientist. … It’s like me asking you whether you believe in the Big Bang.”
How evolution should be taught in public schools: “I managed to have my children go through the Fairfax, Virginia schools without ever looking at one of their science textbooks.”
Grover Norquist, Americans for Tax Reform
Whether he personally believes in evolution: “I’ve never understood how an eye evolves.”
What he thinks of intelligent design: “Put me down for the intelligent design people.”
How evolution should be taught in public schools: “The real problem here is that you shouldn’t have government-run schools. … Given that we have to spend all our time crushing the capital gains tax I don’t have much time for this issue.”
David Frum, American Enterprise Institute and National Review
Whether he personally believes in evolution: “I do believe in evolution.”
What he thinks of intelligent design: “If intelligent design means that evolution occurs under some divine guidance, I believe that.”
How evolution should be taught in public schools: “I don’t believe that anything that offends nine-tenths of the American public should be taught in public schools. … Christianity is the faith of nine-tenths of the American public. … I don’t believe that public schools should embark on teaching anything that offends Christian principle.”
Stephen Moore, Free Enterprise Fund
Whether he personally believes in evolution: “I believe in parts of it but I think there are holes in the evolutionary theory.”
What he thinks of intelligent design: “I generally agree with said critique.”
Whether intelligent design or a similar critique should be taught in public schools: “I think people should be taught … that there are various theories about how man was created.”
Whether schools should leave open the possibility that man was created by God in his present form: “Of course, yes, definitely.”
Jonah Goldberg, National Review
Whether he personally believes in evolution: “Sure.”
What he thinks of intelligent design: “I think it’s interesting. … I think it’s wrong. I think it’s God-in-the-gaps theorizing. But I’m not hostile to it the way other people are because I don’t, while I think evolution is real, I don’t think any specific–there are a lot of unknowns left in evolution theory and criticizing evolution from different areas doesn’t really bother me, just as long as you’re not going to say the world was created in six days or something.”
How evolution should be taught in public schools: “I don’t think you should teach religious conclusions as science and I don’t think you should teach science as religion. … I see nothing [wrong] with having teachers pay some attention to the sensitivities of other people in the room. I think if that means you’re more careful about some issues than others that’s fine. People are careful about race and gender; I don’t see why all of a sudden we can’t be diplomatic on these issues when it comes to religion.”
Charles Krauthammer, The Washington Post
Whether he personally believes in evolution: “Of course.”
What he thinks of intelligent design: “At most, interesting.”
Whether intelligent design should be taught in public schools: “The idea that [intelligent design] should be taught as a competing theory to evolution is ridiculous. … The entire structure of modern biology, and every branch of it [is] built around evolution and to teach anything but evolution would be a tremendous disservice to scientific education. If you wanna have one lecture at the end of your year on evolutionary biology, on intelligent design as a way to understand evolution, that’s fine. But the idea that there are these two competing scientific schools is ridiculous.”
William Buckley, National Review
Whether he personally believes in evolution: “Yes.”
What he thinks of intelligent design: “I’d have to write that down. … I’d have to say something more carefully than I can over the telephone. I’m a Christian.”
Whether schools should raise the possibility that the original genetic code was written by an intelligent designer: “Well, surely, yeah, absolutely.”
Whether schools should raise the possibility–but not in biology classes–that man was created by God in his present form? : “Yes, sure, absolutely.”
Which classes that should be discussed in: “History, etymology.”
John Tierney, The New York Times (via email)
Whether he personally believes in evolution: “I believe that the theory of evolution has great explanatory powers.”
What he thinks of intelligent design: “I haven’t really studied the arguments for intelligent design, so I’m loath to say much about it except that I’m skeptical.”
James Taranto, The Wall Street Journal
Whether he personally believes in evolution: “Yes.”
What he thinks of intelligent design: “I could not speak fluently on the subject but I know what the basic argument is.”
Whether schools should teach intelligent design or similar critiques of evolution in biology classes: “I guess I would say they probably shouldn’t be taught in biology classes; they probably should be taught in philosophy classes if there is such a thing. It seems to me, and again I don’t speak with any authority on this, that the hypothesis … that the universe is somehow inherently intelligent is not a scientific hypothesis. Because how do you prove it or disprove it? And really the question is how do you disprove it, because a scientific hypothesis has to be capable of being falsified. So while there may be holes in Darwinian theory, while there’s obviously a lot we don’t know, and perhaps Darwinian theory could be wrong altogether, I think whether or not the universe is designed is just a question outside the realm of science.”
How evolution should be taught in public schools: “It probably should be taught, if it’s going to be taught, in a more thoroughgoing way, a more rigorous way that explains what a scientific theory is. … You know, my general impression is that high school instruction in general is not all that rigorous. … I think one possible way of solving this problem is by–if you can’t teach it in a rigorous way, if the schools aren’t up to that, and if it’s going to be a political hot potato in the way it is, and we have schools that are politically run, one possible solution might be just take it out of the curriculum altogether. I’m not necessarily advocating that, but I think it’s something that policy makers might think about. I’d rather see it taught in a rigorous and serious way, but as a realistic matter that may be expecting too much of our government schools.”
Norman Podhoretz, Commentary (via email)
Whether he personally believes in evolution: “It’s impossible to answer that question with a simple yes or no.”
Richard Brookhiser, National Review
Whether he personally believes in evolution: “Yes.”
What he thinks of intelligent design: “It doesn’t seem like good science to me.”
Whether intelligent design should be taught in public schools: “No.”
Pat Buchanan, The American Conservative
Whether he personally believes in evolution: “Do I believe in absolute evolution? No. I don’t believe that evolution can explain the creation of matter. … Do I believe in Darwinian evolution? The answer is no.”
What he thinks of intelligent design: “Do I believe in a Darwinian evolutionary process which can be inspired by a creator? Yeah, that’s a real possibility. I don’t believe evolution can explain the creation of matter. I don’t believe it can explain the intelligent design in the universe. I just don’t believe it can explain the tremendous complexity of the human being when you get down to DNA and you get down to atomic particles, and molecules, atomic particles, subatomic particles, which we’re only beginning to understand right now. I think to say it all happened by accident or by chance or simply evolved, I just don’t believe it.”
How evolution should be taught in public schools: “Evolution [has] been so powerful a theory in Western history in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and often a malevolent force–it’s been used by non-Christians and anti-Christians to justify polices which have been horrendous. I do believe that every American student should be introduced to the idea and its effects on society. But I don’t think it ought to be taught as fact. It ought to be taught as theory. … How do you answer a kid who says, ‘Where did we all come from?’ Do you say, ‘We all evolved’? I think that’s a theory. … Now the biblical story of creation should be taught to children, not as dogma but every child should know first of all the famous biblical stories because they have had a tremendous influence as well. … I don’t think it should be taught as religion to kids who don’t wanna learn it. … I think in biology that honest teachers gotta say, ‘Look the universe exhibits, betrays the idea that there is a first mover, that there is intelligent design.’ … You should leave the teaching of religion to a voluntary classes in my judgment and only those who wish to attend.”
Tucker Carlson, MSNBC
Whether he personally believes in evolution: “I think God’s responsible for the existence of the universe and everything in it. … I think God is probably clever enough to think up evolution. … It’s plausible to me that God designed evolution; I don’t know why that’s outside the realm. It’s not in my view.”
On the possibility that God created man in his present form: “I don’t know if He created man in his present form. … I don’t discount it at all. I don’t know the answer. I would put it this way: The one thing I feel confident saying I’m certain of is that God created everything there is.”
On the possibility that man evolved from a common ancestor with apes: “I don’t know. It wouldn’t rock my world if it were true. It doesn’t sound proved to me. But, yeah I’m willing to believe it, sure.”
How evolution should be taught in public schools: “I don’t have a problem with public schools or any schools teaching evolution. I guess I would have a problem if a school or a science teacher asserted that we know how life began, because we don’t so far as I know, do we? … If science teachers are teaching that we know things that in fact we don’t know, then I’m against that. That’s a lie. But if they are merely describing the state of knowledge in 2005 then I don’t have problem with that. If they are saying, ‘Most scientists believe this,’ and most scientists believe it, then it’s an accurate statement. What bothers me is the suggestion that we know things we don’t know. That’s just another form of religion it seems to me.”
Ramesh Ponnuru, National Review
Whether he personally believes in evolution: “Yes.”
What he thinks of intelligent design: “To the extent that I am familiar with it, and that’s not very much, I guess what I think is this: The intelligent designers are correct insofar as they are reacting against a view of evolution which holds that it can’t have been guided by God in any way–can’t even have sort of been set in motion by God to achieve particular results and that no step in the process is guided by God. But they seem to give too little attention to the possibility that God could have set up an evolutionary process.”
Whether intelligent design should be taught in public schools: “I guess my own inclination would be to teach evolution in the public schools. I don’t think that you ought to make a federal case out of it though.”
David Brooks, The New York Times (via email)
Whether he personally believes in evolution: “I believe in the theory of evolution.”
What he thinks of intelligent design: “I’ve never really studied the issue or learned much about ID, so I’m afraid I couldn’t add anything intelligent to the discussion.”
And now they are in lather when a full on creationist Mike Huckabee is suddenly a serious contender in presidential politics. What did they expect?
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Saturday Night At The Movies
Girl, you’ll be a woman soon
By Dennis Hartley
Here’s a line you’ve likely never heard in an “ABC After-school Special”:
“I’m already pregnant, so what other shenanigans can I get into?”
It’s a bullet-proof rhetorical question, posed by a glibly self-aware 16 year-old named Juno MacGuff, played to perfection by the ever-surprising Ellen Page (“Hard Candy
Juno is an intelligent and unconventional Minneapolis teen who finds herself up the duff after deciding, on one fateful evening, to lose her virginity with her (initially) platonic buddy, a gawky, introverted but sweet-natured classmate named Paulie (Michael Cera). Not wanting to be a burden to Paulie, or trouble her loving parents (J.K. Simmons and Allison Janney) with the news, Juno decides to take sole responsibility for her situation.
After losing her nerve at an abortion clinic, Juno brainstorms with her girlfriend Leah (Olivia Thirlby) who suggests a search in the Penny Saver (!) for couples looking to adopt. Enter Mark and Vanessa (well-played by Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner), a childless yuppie couple with a sprawling house in the ‘burbs, complete with the requisite unfinished nursery (Pink, blue, or “gender neutral” yellow? Decisions, decisions.)
With the blessing of Juno’s supportive dad, papers are drawn up and Mark and Vanessa become the adoptive parents-in-waiting. Everything appears hunky dory- but you know what they say about the best-laid plans of mice (with apologies to Douglas Adams).
With such oft-used cinematic fodder at its core, this film could have easily descended into cliché-ridden piffle, but it doesn’t; in fact it surprises and delights at every twist and turn, without feeling manipulative. I can’t give enough praise to the acting ensemble here. Page and Cera mange to convey Juno and Paulie’s growing pains in a very genuine and touchingly palpable manner, even through all the hyper stylized dialog. Simmons and Janney deserve kudos as Juno’s dad and step mom, respectively. It’s refreshing to see Simmons play such a likeable character after all the heavies he’s played in the past (I think this role will finally exorcise the creepy inmate he played for 6 years on HBO’s brutal prison series, “Oz”). In fact, all the actors emanate that same understated vibe of “Minnesota nice” that made the characters in “Fargo” so endearing, despite their travails.
Reitman (son of director Ivan Reitman) has hit one out of the park with this sophomore effort (his first film was “Thank You for Smoking
I have to mention the film’s soundtrack, which is one of the better ones I’ve heard in a while. The original songs, by Kimya Dawson and Antsy Pants, are catchy, whimsical alt-pop in the Moxy Fruvous vein, but I was more impressed by selections from the likes of The Kinks, Sonic Youth, Belle & Sebastian, Velvet Underground, Mott the Hoople and Astrud Gilberto (it sounded like they had raided my CD collection!). A must-see.
“Juno” and its young star reminded me of one of my all-time favorite films, “Wish You Were Here
Early bloomers: A Summer Place
Magical Human Control Devices
by digby
I’ve been meaning to write about this and it slipped my mind what with all the panda activity and all. I’m sure most of you all are aware that there was a huge protest in New Orleans over the demolition of public housing the other day. Evidently a lot of people in the city are suspicious that they are going to tear down housing for poor people in the hopes that they relocate to another place. (Why do you suppose they would think such a thing?)
Anyway, CNN was showing pictures of the protest live when police went into the crowd with pepper spray and tasers to push back the protesters. It was the usual stomach churning sight of people covering their eyes in horrible pain, falling to the ground, screaming.
Anyway, as I watched these pictures, here was the CNN anchor blathering on and on, with no emotion about what was happening on the screen:
PHILLIPS: Got a situation happening right now in New Orleans, Louisiana. You’re looking at New Orleans police officers trying to contain protesters just outside city hall.
Here’s the situation. For years the housing developments in New Orleans have been just an incredible place for crime, drugs, murders, some of the highest rates in the country. And so there is a move to actually demolish the housing projects.
But see, people in New Orleans are saying, “Why demolish these housing projects when so many of us don’t even have a place to live?”
So, you’ve got crime-infested housing projects. They want to finally tear them down. But you’ve got people in New Orleans saying, “We need some place to live. We can’t afford to buy a home. Our homes have been demolished. Let us live in these housing developments.”
So, while the vote is supposed to take place, the protesters actually tried to charge this gate at city hall. And you’re seeing what broke out. About 300 protesters, we’re told. Police had to get involved with stun guns and pepper spray.
CNN showed the footage of the melee on a loop while Kyra interviewed reporters and local officials blathering on as she does above, never commenting on the fact that police were spraying people directly in the face with mace and tasering the crowd while protesters writhed on the ground screaming in pain, attended to by their friends and then being picked up and carried off camera.
Later, CNN returned to the story and here’s how Phillips characterized the situation:
PHILLIPS: All right. We’ve got live pictures now coming out of New Orleans. This is via our affiliate WDSU. They’re chanting “stop the demolition now.”
And just to give you a little perspective of what’s going on, these protesters are just outside city hall gates right now, and this is actually pretty calm, compared to the way it was just a little while ago. We’re going to give you an inside look on that in just a second.
It actually got pretty crazy there. About 300 people tried to charge that gate into city hall, and New Orleans police right here had to respond with pepper spray and stun guns. Some of the protesters even kind of dropped to their knees when that happened. But they were pushing the gate, trying to get inside because there is a move now to demolish some of the housing projects there in New Orleans.
They “kind of even dropped to their knees.” Imagine that.
This is just business as usual in the United States. Back in the day they used to hit protesters and strikers with firehoses and batons, so it’s not like using violence in these cases is new — or even necessarily preventable. But with tasers and sprays it’s so clean and easy now — no blood, no bruises — that when a reporter is narrating the scene he or she doesn’t even mention that people are being hurt right before their eyes. The cops “respond with pepper spray and stun guns,” the protesters just magically drop to their knees and everything is under control.
I guess that’s progress…?
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Holiday Fun
by digby
Zhen Zhen, the newest charismatic mega-vertebrate at the San Diego Zoo, was climbing a downed tree branch in her grotto Friday when she went wobbly and plopped to the ground, 3 feet below.
Not to worry giant panda-philes, it’s all part of the maturation process. Plus, if anything had gone seriously amiss, her mother, Bai Yun, was nearby having a bamboo breakfast.
After four months of being visible only on the panda cam on the zoo’s website, Zhen Zhen (pronounced jun-jun) is to go on public display today
When your blood pressure goes up, or you’re feeling down during this stressful season, I recommend a panda cam. You can’t help but feel a little bit better. Here’s the one at the San Diego Zoo.
Vote panda ’08!
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It’s A PayGo Christmas
by digby
The Fox Greedhead Scrooges are apoplectic this morning, screeching for ten solid minutes because Hillary Clinton’s Christmas ad doesn’t say where she’s going to get the money to pay for her “gifts.” (She’s treating us like children! She’s bribing the public!)
If you want to see a war on Christmas, watch these guys in action. Market fundies think Christmas is nothing more than a socialist redistibutionist scheme.
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