Virtuous Circle

Separated At Birth

WARD CHURCHILL                                                         PETER BOYLE AS YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN

Even For the AP-A New Low

I haven't posted in two months because I have a life. I took on a real job after enjoying a number of years of semi-retirement. I expect posting to be infrequent. Also,we won-thank God. However this headline on Yahoo News

Arabs Hope Mideast Cease-Fire Will Hold Because the Yahoo News Link will disappear in a few days I'll paste the whole article. My comments are in Blue. First the Headline-Is It Only the Arabs that Hope Cease Fire Will Hold? and second does the story even correspond to the headline? CAIRO, Egypt - Long wary of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites) yet tired of incessant regional violence, Arabs across the Middle East expressed hope that Tuesday's Israeli-Palestinian commitment to end four years of violence could pay off. AP Photo Still, many noted that because the burning issues are yet to be tackled — including the continued Israeli occupation of Arab territories, Palestinian demands for Jerusalem to be the capital of their future state and the right of return for Palestinian refugees — the bloodshed may not be over. "I am happy to see Sharon here today and making this (cease-fire) agreement, but if he doesn't stick to his word the violence will resume," In other words of we don't get our way including the right of returning(ie the destruction of the Jewish state) the violence will resume. Hamid Youssef, a 40-year-old grocer, said while lugging a box of bananas into his Cairo store. Several hundred Egyptian students and journalists staged separate protests to criticize their president, summit host Hosni Mubarak (news - web sites), for inviting Sharon to Egypt — the latest in a series of steps toward normalizing relations. Despite their 1979 peace deal, relations have never been warm. "I am against normalization with Israel and I see no step forward (from this summit) for the rights of the Palestinians," Don't sense any eagerness here boss.Egyptian journalist Dina Heshmat told Associated Press Television Network during a protest outside the Egyptian Journalist's Syndicate in Cairo. Others felt the summit could ultimately help end a conflict that has taken its toll on a region longing for political reform and economic prosperity. "While I don't mind Sharon, I sure don't like him. But if this is going to stop the bloodshed for the Palestinian kids, I don't mind having him in my house," said 33-year-old Hassan Abd el-Warith, a fruit shop owner in a bustling, downtown Cairo souk. Bloodshed for the Palestinian kids-guess the Jewish kids who get blown up got what they deserve-Hassan-by the way does the AP interview anyone other than journalists or fruit shop owners. Prominent Palestinian refugee and author Waleed al-Barghouti criticized the summit, saying it left Israel holding the upper hand. "I am not against appeasement and would encourage any chance for peace, but I don't trust the Sharon administration," al-Barghouti said in Cairo, where he arrived in 1963 as a student but was prevented from returning home because of the outbreak of the 1967 war. Some Palestinian refugees in Lebanon said Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, would pursue key Palestinian demands. "President Abu Mazen will be successful and will not give up on Palestinians' legitimate rights,"and what are these legitamate rights said Khaled al-Aref, representative of the Palestinian Liberation Organization from the Ein el-Hilweh refugee camp, the largest among Lebanon's 12 Palestinian camps. But many Arabs, familiar with the peace process' steps forward and back, felt little would change. "I will not be optimistic until I see Sharon and his (extremist) line of thinking out of office," said Abdullah Sahar, a political science teacher at Kuwait University. "Only then can matters be treated with realism and justice." Enough already -Why the hell would Yahoo  link to this crap.Where is the Israeli side in the headlines today. "

Carter-Helping Our Cause

BBC NEWS | Americas | Carter fears Florida vote trouble

With enemies like him-you don't need friends.
direct quote from article
"He accused Florida Secretary of State Glenda Hood, a Republican, of trying to get the name of independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader included on the state ballot, knowing he might divert Democrat votes.
He also said: "A fumbling attempt has been made recently to disqualify 22,000 African Americans (likely Democrats), but only 61 Hispanics (likely Republicans), as alleged felons." end direct quote

How was this man ever president-putting Ralph Nader on the ballot is bad and likewise barring felons-What an idiot-go tell it to Castro you crybaby moron

Anti-Republican Protests

From Here

I wonder if this protestor is in favor of prayer in the schools?

Kubler Ross-RIP as You Helped Others

CNN.com - 'On Death' author Kubler-Ross dies - Aug 25, 2004
I had missed this obituary until I found the following link in the blog of Sheila O'Malleyand this post is an expansion of comments I made there.
I was a medical student in 1969 when "On Death and Dying" was published.Ross's work gained acceptance(no
pun intended)rather rapidly as it filled both a conceptual as well as a
therapeutic void. The adoption of her precepts which I will greatly simplify as-
Gently guiding the patient through five stages of grief -- denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance was so fast that had it occured two years later I would have assumed the work was from a previous era.-Holdouts were usually cheerfully optimistic towards dying patients holding out false hope-
In my experience most patients actually went through these stages without coaching and I have seen children as young as 3 protecting their parents by outwardly seeming to be unaware of impending death but talking about it to their physicians,nurses and clergy.
Like many truly innovative cultural concepts,in
retrospect it seems to have occurred overnight. Think about the internet or
about the anti-war and civil rights movements of the 1960's.
In my own field of pediatric oncology , the conceptual framework
provided by Ross allowed us to watch her sequence, ending in acceptance
unfold and it was exrtremly rare to see a patient go out kicking and
screaming.
She was a constant presence in the mid seventies giving lectures and
rounds and being generally accessable. Unfortunately at about that time
to many of us she seemed to forget that our role as physcians was to
prolong useful life as long as possible and as physician researchers we
were to attempt to manage diseases long term(eg AIDS) and to attempt to
cure them. In her later years her emphasisHer outline has been generalized to areas of loss other than death-for example alcoholics who must stop drinking go through similar stages or professioal athletes upon retirement. on acceptance seemed to work
against medical progress and in some cases discouraged patients from
seeking long term treatment or cures.
She became weird in those years-like a middle european maiden aunt
angel of death and seemed to disappear from the mainstream medical
community.
Despite the shortcomings of her later years, she will be remembered
for her truly original work and for also having the tenacity and skill
to see it actualized.

The Turnng Point:Campaign 2004

In the following link Michelle Malkin describes her experience on the Chris Mattews show.
Michelle Malkin: AMBUSH JOURNALISM...OR MY EVENING WITH CAVEMAN CHRIS MATTHEWS
Many campaings have turning points which while not always obvious at the time they occur, in retrospect cause or at least refect an irreversible change in momentum and which can be described in a simple high-concept way. In the New York senate race of 2000 it occurred when Rick Lazio invaded the personal space of Hilary Clinton. In the 1988 presidential race it was the Wille Horton ad. For Barry Goldwater it was Johnson's daisy ad and for Clinton in '92 it was his appearence on the Imus radio show in which he was able to deflect the Gennifer Flowers isssue.
While for conservatives and Republicans it has been obvious for some time that the mainstream left is unhinged it is now obvious to the population as a whole. Matthew for some reason replayed his foaming rabid attack and I saw it while flipping channels during the Olympics as I'm sure others have. Malkin as a multiple minority in the opinion of democrats must be considered a traitor and may have triggered the apoplectic response just by her presence.
While the Swift Boat Veterens attack may have altered the terms of the debate, I believe the Malkin interview will be remembered as the actual turning point of this campaign.

Deja Vu

Left-Theresa Heinz Kerry Right-Eva Peron

USATODAY.com-Is it Biased

USATODAY.com

Read the above link for a list of questions in the USATODAY POLLS
I wonder if there are sources of bias that are not at all apparent-I've noticed in my area which is split pretty evenly between Red and Blue-there are many more Kerry bumper stickers than those for Bush. Also many conservatives have told me they feel uncomfortable to put it mildly in stating their views. I have become reluctant and discouraged if not outright intimidated in speaking up also.

Is it possible that pollsters are viewed as part of the liberal media elite and therefore Conservatives/Republicans are uncomfortable speaking frankly. Don't the polls have names like CNN,Quinnipiac and other media type or university origins to them. Who are the pollsters-are they students on summer vacartion,what do they wear? What are their own leanings? Subtle bias may creep in. What race are they?

Has anyone looked at pollster/respondee correlations?
I'm not suggesting deliberate fraud or poor design but sure would like to address these issues.
Also are there possible pro-Republican sources of bias?
Is there anyone able to address these issues?
Did a similar phenomenon happen in the 2002 elections?

If this is a source of bias-it will certainly disappear in the voting booth.

Desert Queen-Gertrude Bell and the Creation of Modern Iraq

Left-Bell with Winston Churchill and T.E.Lawrence -Lower Right King Faisal is in foreground on the right`-On Right Bell at an unknown age-````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
I prefer biographies in which the author both admires and would appear to have enjoyed the company of the subject. In Desert Queen,a biography of Gertrude Bell, Janet Wallach meets both of these criteria.
Bell was an upper class Englishwoman (1868-1926), who, perhaps more than any other, defined the boundaries and political structures of modern Iraq. A headstrong woman and one of the first female graduates of Oxford, she was a first rate mountaineer and archeologist and an incredibly astute judge of people. A woman of prodigious physical energy and will, she was considered an honorary man by Arab sheiks and Moslem holy men. Wallach paints a vivid picture of the late and decaying Ottoman Empire and gives many vivid accounts of its' cosmopolitan flair and incredible diversity. Arabs, Christians, Greeks, Persians, Jews, Turks, businessmen, Bedouins, Shiites, Sunnis and other Europeans come to life. The noises and smells of the souk and the starkness and beauty of the desert give the book a physical dimension that complements the character and ethnic portraits.
Selected Quotes
"She stepped carefully away from the piles of dung left by camels and mules parading through the labyrinth of alleys. The narrow streets were a storefront for fortune tellers reading palms, public scribes and seal engravers selling their services…a cacophony of cries from ragged beggars and sweaty street merchants and wailing muezzins…pistachio nuts, roasted peas, sweet Damascene pastries, licorice, biscuits and all kinds of breads…. sherbet sellers in bright read aprons…." A description of Damascus: "…. pashas in gold embroidered robes, sheiks in gilt-edged cloaks; Turks covered in long silk coats with colorful turbans wound round their heads; Christians in frock coats holding rosaries in their hands; Jews with long beards, their heads in turbans, their pants in Turkish style; Armenians and Greeks in colorfully embroidered tunics; old men proudly wearing green turbans that announced they had made the pilgrimage to Mecca; Bedouin just in from the desert, in their striped blue abbas and kafeeyahs……."

The heat, dust and other physical discomforts are contrasted with the gardens of dates and magnificent flowers. The stark beauty of the desert, the poetry, the rhythm of the souk, the concept of honor and the feudal nature of society are all apparent from the narrative. It is not clear how much of these descriptions are derived from Bell herself or are Wallachs interpretations, however Wallach a woman who has apparently traveled extensively in the Middle East, is capable of painting or at least transcribing the essential "feel" of specific locales. She is able to bring to life a society of gracious manners, cutthroat rogues, and cunning sheiks while not ignoring the timeless poverty and the slavish condition of women.
Bell, a women bitterly disappointed in her love life, is overwhelmed by the romance of the Middle East. She is consumed with the vision of an Arabian kingdom which will progress in tandem with its' British guides and which will be able to integrate British legal, educational and economic features, while maintaining the essential features of an Arabian identity. At the core of the vision of Bell, as filtered through Wallach (as I have not read any of the primary source material), is a dual vision of the Arab world. At once romantic in both the noble savage sense, as well as the cosmopolitan world of the late Ottoman Empire, and yet capable of progressing into a modern democracy. These considerations are obviously important today and not much has changed in the last 80-90 years.

Not Hard to Find a Worse One

The Conspiracy to Keep You Poor and Stupid
"As to the claim that Ashcroft is the worst attorney general ever, accuracy aside, no English professor I know would allow an opening or closing line so unsupported by the rest of the essay"-Hit the link to read the whole thing
What about Waco, Ruby Ridge, Elian Gonzalez-see he's not the worst ever-Krugman has become a self-parody