This just in: Tucker Carlson still a dick

Tucker Carlsons is back with a new show, but up to old tricks. The NY Times has this to say:

Jon Stewart appeared on Mr. Carlson’s program on that channel and complained that political pro-wrestling debate programs like “Crossfire” were “hurting America.” CNN’s new president, Jonathan Klein, said that he agreed wholeheartedly with Mr. Stewart’s assessment, adding that CNN would stick to more substantive reporting and analysis.

“The Situation” is an hour long, but Mr. Carlson has not taken the extra time to deepen the debate. Each episode hurls up a dozen different topics, from the Texas Ten Commandments case to obesity, transvestite beauty contests and Hillary Rodham Clinton; the discussion is as hurried and abrupt as an auction at an agricultural fair. Mr. Carlson does not debate a liberal counterpart, he throws questions out at guests. And he is surprisingly churlish. He interviewed Lory Manning, a retired Navy captain, on whether military women should be allowed to work in combat zones and slapped down her reasoned arguments with schoolyard sarcasm, dismissing her position as, “Mutilation is a woman’s right.” New York Times

In other words: Still a dick.

(If you have no idea what I am referring to with the ‘dick’ reference, you should go watch this.)

Spain legalizes gay marriage and adoption for same-sex couples

Spain legalized Gay marriage and adoption of children by same sex couples today. The legislation was passed by the lower house and will go into effect next month. BBC

Prince Bandar ‘Bandar Bush,’ Saudi ambassador to the U.S. resigns after over 20 years

This has not hit the mainstream press yet, but it appears Saudi Arabian Prince Bandar, ambassador to the U.S., has resigned:

Washington’s ultimate insider, the longest serving ambassador to the United States, Saudi Arabia’s Prince Bandar bin Sultan has resigned, officials said.

(…)Some experts are commenting that the timing could be crucial, coming in the light of King Fahd’s failing health - he has been in hospital for several weeks with pneumonia - and Bandar (who’s elderly father is defence minister) is positioning himself in a possible succession battle.

Prince Bandar who has served for 22 years - the longest diplomatic posting to the US capital by any foreign country, became Saudi ambassador to Washington in 1983, when Ronald Reagan was in the White House and has been close to every president, Republican and Democrat, since. Aljazeera

Bandar has been a longtime friend of the Bush family who nicknamed him ‘Bandar Bush’ and consider him a member of the family. The night of 9/11 he was at the White House smoking a cigar with the President while planning to have Osama Bin Laden’s relatives flown out of the country while the rest of America’s flights were still grounded.

Update: The BBC now confirms it here.

President Bush cries ?9/11? one too many times

The president had a chance to level with the American public Tuesday night in a televised speech at Fort Bragg, NC. Once again, the chance to come clean was squandered. Instead of addressing reasonable concerns of the public, he may now be remembered as the president who cried ?9/11!? one time too many.

Invoking the attacks of Sept. 11 has been a parlor game at the White House and Congress for years now. But to invoke a national tragedy just because it is convenient to help further the agenda of the day is as despicable today as it has been the numerous times the administration has done so in the past.

The president claims that if we do not stop terrorism in Iraq, it will come to our shores again. This makes about as much sense as the claim made last century that if we do not stop communism in Vietnam, it will take root in the United States.

If the ?terrorists? ? a conveniently vague term that apparently can include any group at the administration?s whim ? truly intend to attack on American soil, why would they waste their time in Iraq?

We are told that on Sept. 11 it only took a few men with a twisted calling and box cutters to attack some of the nation?s most emblematic buildings, the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon. Why would the next attack be any different, and why would it have to be devised in Iraq as the president claims?

Americans watching the speech were hoping for a sign that the Bush administration?s practice of misconstruing facts to fit its agenda is a matter of the past. Instead they saw a canned speech that contained nothing that had not been said before. No strategy to win the conflict was offered, nor did the president address criticism over military readiness, slumping enlistment numbers, lack of equipment such as body armor or the fact that most of the few allies the United States had in the conflict have left.
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USF?s clash with Greeks was inevitable

The University of South Florida is finding out why it is problematic to place Greek housing on campus. For some students, Greek societies belong to the college experience as much as Spring Break and Homecoming, but part of their appeal is their exclusiveness.

By expecting the organizations to abide by the same rules as ?average? resident students, the University would take away what makes such organizations alluring to students. But if the University allows members of fraternities and sororities to live by different rules, it will create a hierarchy dividing students between Greeks and non-Greeks.
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Bush’s speech summed up

To sum up President Bush’s speech from Tuesday night:

Invoking 9/11 + ignoring the obvious while the public is aware of it = lame duck president

Let me just add that there was only one time the soldiers applauded during the speech, even though Bush is their Commander in Chief. That time a White House staff member started clapping and the soldiers felt obliged to applaud too. What’s beautiful about that is that most journalist on TV pointed that fact out, including Fox News. Even the captive audience didn’t like what they saw.

More detailed analysis will follow. I am writing on it for Thursday. Full text of the speech here.

SebiMeyer podcast listed on iTunes 4.9

Not only did iTunes 4.9 come out today with support for podcasts, it also lists my show!

To subscribe with iTunes 4.9 and use this link.

iTunes 4.9 out - sporting support for Podcasts

It’s here and it’s free. Podcasts have also been added to the music store.

US started bombing Iraq nine months before war was oficially started

RawStory.com has a very interesting piece about the bombing raids prior to the “official” start of the war in Iraq. Their tally shows a clear spike in bombing raids on Iraq in the months leading up to the war. Details here.

This was in the days when President Bush was declaring to use “diplomacy” and “war is only a last resort.” These numbers go along with both UK and other allies confirming that the bombing raids started over nine months prior to the war as detailed by the Sunday Times yesterday (link).

What makes this so disturbing is that while RawStory and the Times did a good job of compiling the data, the data itself was readily available. Why did the U.S. Congress not ask questions about it? And why did/does the media not cover it? And of course: Why do we have to read it on a Web site and a foreign paper?

BBC: Missing teen case grips US media

One of the many reasons I stopped watching American TV news coverage:

The disappearance of 18-year-old Natalee Holloway on the Caribbean island of Aruba is a story that is dominating the US media.

Natalee Holloway’s disappearance has dominated many news bulletins

Since the teenager went missing after leaving a nightclub on 30 May her picture has stared out from newspapers, while TV bulletins have covered every movement in the story.
It is not hard to imagine cynical reasons why.

Natalee is young, pretty and white. BBC

Gas prices in Germany

This is something I keep being asked: How much is gas/petrol in Germany?

The German Automobile Association (ADAC) issued the cost of a liter of gas on average today: 1.25 euro for a liter of regular gas.

That’s approximately $1.51 per liter or about $5.72 per gallon.

So quit the whining, will ‘ya?

Chinese investors rebuked

I find the concerns of Chinese investors buying American oil company Unocal rather puzzling:

Whether the purchase of (U.S. oil company) Unocal Corp. by the Chinese would pose a risk to U.S. security is just one of many hurdles the proposed $18.5 billion offer by China’s state-owned CNOOC Ltd. must overcome. Washington Post

Why would that be a problem? Or more specifically; how would that be different from how things are right now?

Wal Mart, the worlds largest retailer, gets 70 percent of its merchandise from China (and yes, that includes “support our troops” decals as much as American flags.). Meanwhile the U.S. is still dependent on foreign oil and has to suck up to foreign governments in order to procure it:

How would China owning an oil company be any different?

Italian judge orders arrest of 13 CIA agents

Funny how we need a foreign government to keep our intelligence officials in check. Didn’t that used to be the job of the U.S. Congress?

An Italian judge on Friday ordered the arrests of 13 CIA officers for secretly transporting a Muslim preacher from Italy to Egypt as part of U.S. anti-terrorism efforts - a rare public objection to the practice by a close American ally.

The Egyptian was spirited away in 2003, purportedly as part of the CIA’s “extraordinary rendition” program in which terror suspects are transferred to third countries without court approval, subjecting them to possible torture. AP

Spray-on mud sold to SUV drivers

As if owning a SUV isn’t pretentious enough, this is being sold to SUV drivers in the UK and the U.S.:

It could be the ultimate accessory for the 4×4-driving city dweller: spray-on mud. A few squirts and neighbours will think you spent the weekend hurtling along muddy lanes looking for a country retreat, rather than sitting in traffic on the way to drop the kids off before your yoga class. Guardian

(For the record: we own a VW Golf.)

Election tampering evident in Ohio, reform needed

For most Americans, the Presidential Election of 2004 is old news, but a group under the auspices of the Democratic National Committee has spent the past five months investigating allegations of foul play in the state of Ohio. The state provided the deciding electoral votes in a very close election, making the report?s findings troubling, if not damning.

Rather than being dismissed as partisan sour grapes, as has been the case, the report is yet one more warning sign that America?s democratic process is in serious trouble.

The report, released yesterday, paints a damning picture: More than one-fourth of the voters in Ohio had trouble voting.

Such claims range from excessive delays for black voters ? who, on average, spent 52 minutes waiting compared to the white voter?s average of 18 minutes. Intimidation tactics, such as ?unlawful requests for identification,? were also reported by 16 percent of black voters. Ohio law requires only first-time voters to provide ID, but while just 7 percent of Ohio voters were newly registered, 67 percent of two different groups ? black males and voters under the age of 30 ? were asked to show ID. Only 5 percent of aggregate white voters claimed intimidation by such tactics.

Due to such practices, only 19 percent of black voters said they had confidence their vote was counted, while among white voters that confidence was 71 percent.

Leading up to the election, a legal battle ensued over whether either party was allowed to have representatives present that would be allowed to question voters. The Republican Party had been planning to pay 3,600 poll workers $100 each and drive them into heavily Democratic precincts to question individual voters? right to vote, The New York Times reported.
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Ban on flag burning

The House on Wednesday approved a constitutional amendment that would give Congress the power to ban desecration of the American flag, a measure rejected twice by the Senate in the past decade but expected to get a closer vote this year. AP

Who cares about flag burning? What the country needs is a ban on burning the Bill of Rights. And no, I don’t mean that in the literal sense.

U.S. ambassador to Iraq ‘horrified,’ warns of ‘civil war”

And of course we have to read about it in a UK paper, because it includes news concerning the U.S.:

The new US ambassador to Iraq expressed horror at the violence wracking the country and said Islamic extremists and Saddam Hussein loyalists are trying to start a civil war.

US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, who arrived from Afghanistan, said yesterday that militants are using Iraqis as ?cannon fodder? in a quest to dominate the Islamic world.(…)
?Foreign terrorists and hard-line Baathists want Iraq to descend into civil war. Foreign terrorists are using the Iraqi people as cannon fodder,? said Khalilzad, who previously served as US ambassador to his native Afghanistan.Scotsman.com

Cakes and flowers, eh? I am not sure what I find more troubling: that the Bush administration had been planning to start a war in Iraq even before George W. swore an oath to uphold the constitution, or that even though they had all this time to plan, it still is one of the worst planned military actions the U.S. has ever been involved in.

Executive Order 13292

The Bush administration is still stonewalling on information concerning John Bolton. Democrat Sen. have been asking for records pertaining his actions/service in the State Department. These requests have been issued months ago when the nomination process first started and are the main reason why Democrats and a fair number of Republican Senators are blocking the confirmation vote.

I’d like to remind President Bush of his Executive Order 13292:

In no case shall information be classified in order to: (1) conceal violations of law, inefficiency, or administrative error; (2) prevent embarrassment to a person, organization, or agency.

George W. Bush, Executive Order 13292, March 25, 2003. link

So what’s the holdup?

polish plumbers are sexy

Polish EU diplomats sure have humor: link

EU FAQ

The BBC posted a frequently asked questions guide on the EU ‘crisis’ here: link

For example it explains very eloquently what the “rebates” are that made the UK break off talks about the EU budget last week:

The British rebate is money given back to the UK because it pays in far more to the EU budget than it gets back.
Britain gets back two-thirds of the difference between the two. It was agreed in 1984 at a summit in Fontainebleau and will need unanimity to get it changed.
Other countries also pay in more than they get back (Germany especially and the Netherlands) but only Britain has a rebate. BBC

Anniversary

Some completely non-political news: Today is our fourth wedding anniversary and I’d like to thank my dear wifey for the last few years and hope that there’s more where that came from. I consider myself damn lucky. (Awww….)

To the rest of you: Happy solstice!

John Bolton vote blocked for second time

The vote on John Bolton’s nomination for ambassador to the United Nations was blocked again for the second time yesterday. I’ve written at length about why I don’t see him fit for the job (Original entry here: link) but to have his nomination vote blocked for a second time opens up an interesting future route.

Congress will go into recess for the July 4th weekend. President Bush could use the break to appoint Bolton without any confirmation by the Senate. The question is if he is daring enough to do so as the action could be interpreted as bypassing the checks and balances of the U.S. system.

Update: Apparently the BBC comes to the same conclusion here.

Assuming Mr Bolton does not withdraw, the president is faced with a tough political choice.
He has the power to appoint his man over the heads of the senators during their recess for the 4 July holiday - an appointment which would last until 2007.
Would that look like a bold move overcoming petty partisan politics, or the desperate strategy of a lame-duck second-term president?
Mr Bush’s advisors must decide.

Safety standards at theme parks worth a closer look

The four year old who collapsed and died after experiencing a ride at Disney World?s Epcot Center certainly received some media attention. The death has raised concerns over the safety of not only the ride on which the incident occurred, but also about America?s theme parks in general. While it is important not to over-react, closer inspection of safety rules may be in order.

Ever since Walt Disney opened Disney World, California, in the mid-50s, theme parks have become icons of America?s way of life. Since then audiences have craved faster and more elaborate thrill-inducing rides.
Rides now often carry up to several thousand visitors a day. Some accidents, such as bumps and bruises, are therefore bound to happen sooner or later and in most cases, the riders themselves are to blame. But it is important that such accidents, as well as security regulations in general, are not simply brushed aside to attract a few more customers.

Tampa?s Busch Gardens is no exception to this. By opening SheiKra, one of America?s most extreme roller coasters, the park was hoping to attract up to 15 percent more customers in the first year of its operation. But the ride is also one of those cases where thrill was prioritized over safety, at least in the first days the ride was in operation.
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Rift in GOP - Sen. Hagel calls Bush ‘disconnected from reality,’ says ‘Iraq getting worse’

Emphasis added:

Nebraska Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel is angry. He’s upset about the more than 1,700 U.S. soldiers killed and nearly 13,000 wounded in Iraq. He’s also aggravated by the continued string of sunny assessments from the Bush administration, such as Vice President Dick Cheney’s recent remark that the insurgency is in its “last throes.” “Things aren’t getting better; they’re getting worse. The White House is completely disconnected from reality,” Hagel tells U.S. News. “It’s like they’re just making it up as they go along. The reality is that we’re losing in Iraq.” USNews.com

Hagel is considered moderate in the GOP, but its interesting that anyone would even dare to say something such as this. A couple of years ago nobody would have dared to go against the president like this.

Sen. McCain will be on Meet the Press later today. Should be interesting.