Not everyone forgot Poland

This is why it’s good to have friends who make a habit of diving into government statistics: I was asked today what nation ranked third - a huge third - on the list of states receiving U.S. economic and military aid in 2003. Iraq was an unsurprising first on the list, followed by an equally unsurprising Israel. Third on that list, I was informed, is Poland.

Poland?

A glance at the Statistical Abstract of the United States (table 1286) tells an incredible story. Not only does Poland rank third on the 2003 list with total aid amounting to $3.8 billion dollars - a quantum leap from the previous year’s total of $16 million, but virtually all of that is military aid. In comparison, Israel (a nation with notable security issues) only received about $3.1 billion in military aid.

So when George Bush snarkily chided John Kerry for “forgetting Poland” during the presidential debates, it’s clear that Poland was very much on Bush’s mind for other reasons. But what were those reasons? Just how important is Poland to us, anyway?

Read more

Insert sound of static here

I generally stay away from the weblog over the weekend. It’s mostly a matter of having other things to do, domestic-type stuff, though mindset does factor into it as well. That is, blogging is a welcome break from, uh, the stuff I do during daylight hours Monday through Friday.

I’ve noticed, though, that returning to the blog after a couple of days away is no automatic proposition. For me, blogging seems to require states of either (a) ironic abstraction or (b) high dudgeon. Neither of those qualities are usually in ample supply on a Monday (or post-holiday Tuesday).

This is all by way of explaining the hitch in my giddyup today. Sorry about that. As Dr. Johnny Fever once said, I need time to think. A shot of bourbon. A couple of hours of shuteye.

Of course, Johnny Fever also once said “booger.” So, well, there it is.

Back tomorrow.

Regarding Barry Bonds

On Friday I started reading the recently published Bonds-on-’roids book, Game of Shadows. It’s turned out to be one of those books that’s always in my right hand as I move from room to room in the house; that is, it’s well-written and utterly damning in that fine muckraking tradition.

On Sunday I was working out down in the basement, accompanied by GameDay on ESPN when the program broke away for Bonds’ latest attempt to pass Babe Ruth’s HR record. He actually did it this time. As I paused to listen to the obligatory description of the ball’s majestic flight into history, I was surprised to hear the voice of announcer Dave Flemming just…sort of…trail off. All I could hear was crowd noise. I figured that this was Flemming’s stylistic choice - let the adoring fans speak for the moment. Turns out that it wasn’t Flemming’s choice at all:

Speaking of HR calls, the call of Bonds’ No. 715 by KNBR’s Dave Flemming will never be heard. Flemming’s mike inexplicably went dead right after Bonds hit the ball, meaning the biggest moment of his broadcasting career was lost in space. That’s what’s known as “Murphy’s Law” folks.

Too bad for Flemming. The guys at ESPN - who’ve held themselves hostage to Bonds for weeks by breaking away to cover his every at-bat - tried to laugh off the failed HR call, suggetsing that the ghost of the Babe interfered. I smiled and gave thanks instead to a just Providence. Then I finished working out and had a protein shake, sans steroids.

Technorati Tags: Barry Bonds

Ennui, thy name is Friday before a holiday

“Shots heard” near the Capitol; Hayden in as CIA chief; Bush regrets that people misinterpreted moronic things he once said. There’s your roundup. Did I miss anything?

Not a lot to say just now, except that the weekend can’t start soon enough. More later, or not, as events warrant.

Army verdict on LaVena Johnson: Suicide

(Note to MetaFilter readers: Welcome! Thank you for reading, and know that the story doesn’t end here. Please visit the LaVena Johnson petition site for to learn more info and to join the fight!)

Norm Parish of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported today (link defunct) that the Army investigation into the July 2005 death of Pfc. LaVena L. Johnson has concluded that she killed herself. This is essentially a repeat of the military’s initial findings. LaVena’s father, John Johnson, maintains that the young Florissant woman met her end by foul play and is considering an independent autopsy.

So far as casual searches can tell, no interviews have been published featuring LaVena’s fellow soldiers in the 129th Corps Support Battalion. It is possible that such testimonies might shed light on the circumstances surrounding her death.

Justice, Ken and Jeff. Ken and Jeff, Justice.

Defrauded former Enron employees, rejoice! Lay and Skilling have met justice. Along with chief financial officer-turned-stool pigeon Andy Fastow, the former “smartest guys in the room” can now only boast of being the smartest guys in Cell Block C:

Enron former chief executive Jeffrey Skilling and founder Kenneth Lay were found guilty today of conspiracy and fraud in the granddaddy of all corporate fraud cases. On the sixth day of deliberations, a jury of eight women and four men convicted the former executives of misleading the public about the true financial health of Enron, the giant energy company that collapsed in late 2001.

Of course, there’ll likely be a lengthy appeals process. But jail’s waiting at the end of the line for the Enron guys. Scandal, disgrace, and prison are the least that Lay and Skilling deserve.

Anyone looking for more fuel for the schadenfreude should pick up Kurt Eichenwald’s Conspiracy of Fools. On the other hand, you might wait until the inevitable revised edition comes out which includes today’s happy verdicts.

Technorati Tags: Enron

The Da Vinci Code

So we saw The Da Vinci Code on opening day - that is, the opening day for us plebian Americans, not for jet-setting celebritoid Cannes-types - “we” being myself, M, and M’s friend Linda, a Lutheran minister. I had never read the book; indeed, I really had no idea what it was even about. (I tried hard not to know; if pressed, I’d have guessed that the big secret was that Jesus was just a day laborer, while the Christ was actually some guy named Brian. I’d have been wrong, of course.) M had read it and enjoyed it. Linda had listened to the full text of the book while on a cross-country drive. We saw the movie at the Chase in the Central West End; as we approached in the car, I pointed out the towering spire near the theatre, an antenna from some TV news van. “Wonder which station that is,” I said. It turned out to be the local CBS affiliate, and as I drove past we saw that it was accompanied by vans from the local NBC and Fox stations as well. All that was missing was a van from the WB (soon to be the CW, I guess) affiliate, and that was probably because that station was located a half-block away from the theatre. Nothing like a controversial movie and a slow news day to bring out the remote crews.

We parked a block away and walked back to the theatre. The sun was shining and the clouds were scattered, and yet it began to rain. “It’s a sign from above!” we exclaimed gleefully.

I expected protestors, and I guess the newsies did too. There was only one such as we entered the movie house, though I heard later that he was joined by others.

And that pretty much constitutes the highlight of this story, because the film itself was deathly dull. Even that criticism isn’t fresh, as I see that Stephen Rea of the Philadelphia Inquirer used the same phrase to describe it. Flat dialogue, uninspired acting (except for Ian McKellen, by and large), strangely muted action scenes. A more suspenseful movie would have been an improvement. A more interesting presentation of the theological argument would have been preferable. The Da Vinci Code struck a disappointing middle course between those possibilities and achieved neither of them. Too bad.

The popcorn was good, though.

Technorati Tags: The Da Vinci Code

Have they never seen Green Acres?

Them city folks just don’t know how good love can be down on the farm:

Frustrated by the limits their jobs put on their love life, some farmers and ranchers are turning to a Web site designed to play Cupid to members of the agricultural community sprawled across the United States and Canada.

“I had tried a couple of other sites,” said Dan Temaat, a farmer in western Kansas. “Those people are all into their real expensive coffee and quitting at 4 o’clock in the afternoon. They just don’t understand that out in farm country, that just doesn’t happen.”

So Temaat tried FarmersOnly.com, which caters to farmers and lovers of country living from Jerome, Idaho, to Stony Plain, Alberta, who are too busy to meet at bars or coffee shops.

Them city wimmin don’t deserve you, Farmer Dan. Good luck! Hope you get hitched before harvest time.

(Crap - now I’ve got that theme song running through my head.)

Technorati Tags: Dating

The long walkback of the pander bear

If John McCain is serious about snaring the GOP presidential nomination, he has a lot of kissing up to do. Pandering to such religious conservatives as Jerry Falwell - whose ilk McCain once famously labeled as “agents of intolerance” - is only the beginning of a long and humiliating walkback in store for the former political maverick. In the May 8 issue of CQ Weekly (in print, or online via subscription), David Nather’s article “How to Define ‘Conservative’” identifies other right-wing groups awaiting McCain’s fawning approach - among them, tax cutters:

Read more

MiniBlog: The high costs of CEOs at The Home Depot

¶   So that’s why peat moss costs so much at The Home Depot: CEO nets $245 million over 5 years, while company stock slides 12 percent.

Next Page »