Tom Faranda's Folly

Peggy Noonan on politics

I discovered Peggy Noonan (former Reagan speechwriter; she wrote some of his most famous speeches) back in the early 90's when I read her great book about the Reagan presidency "What I Saw at the Revolution."

Since then I've read a number of her books (go here for a review of one of them: Tom Faranda's Folly: Latest read - "John Paul the Great" ) and usually take a look at her Friday column in the Wall Street Journal.

Today's column was classic, as she looked at political debates, Giuliani, and (Mrs) Clinton. Hit the link forthe full feature. Below it are some excerpts about the political debates and Clinton.

Death, Taxes, and Mrs. Clinton OpinionJournal - Peggy Noonan

I will never forget that breathtaking moment when, in the CNN/YouTube debate earlier this fall, the woman from Ohio held up a picture and said, "Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Obama, Mr. Edwards, this is a human fetus. Given a few more months, it will be a baby you could hold in your arms. You all say you're 'for the children.' I would ask you to look America in the eye and tell us how you can support laws to end this life. Thank you."

They were momentarily nonplussed, then awkwardly struggled to answer, to regain lost high ground. One of them, John Edwards I think, finally criticizing the woman for being "manipulative," using "hot images" and indulging in "the politics of personal destruction." The woman then stood in the audience for her follow up. "I beg your pardon, but the literal politics of personal destruction--of destroying a person--is what you stand for."

Oh, I wish I weren't about to say, "Wait, that didn't happen." For of course it did not. Who of our media masters would allow a question so piercing on such a painful and politically incorrect subject?

I thought of this the other night when citizens who turned out to be partisans for Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Obama and Mr. Edwards asked the Republicans, in debate, would Jesus support the death penalty, do you believe every word of the Bible, and what does the Confederate flag mean to you?

It was a good debate, feisty and revealing. It's not bad that the questions had a certain spin, and played on stereotypes of the GOP. It's just bad that it doesn't quite happen at Democratic debates. ...

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This is the first time she's (Mrs. Clinton) faced a real threat, in Barack Obama, and it's left me thinking about how being The Inevitable is a high-risk game. You can get far being the inevitable choice. A lot of people will believe it and support you, especially the weak, and the pragmatic. They give you early support and early money. Others see the endorsements and contributions. Another level of giver and supporter kicks in. It starts to show in the national polls. Everyone knows you're inevitable.

But there are two problems with this strategy. One is that your support is by definition broad but shallow. You have a lot of people, but they won't crawl over broken glass for you. When I talk to Hillary supporters they mostly enact a facsimile of what they think passion is, and are reduced to a dulled aggression. "We're gonna win."

The second part of the inevitability problem is that once you seem no longer inevitable--once the polls stop rising or start to fall, once that air is out of the balloon and the thing that made everyone fall in line is gone--well, what do you do? If the main argument of your candidacy is you're inevitable and suddenly you're evitable, where does that leave you? What does it leave you with? Mere hunger. Insistence: "It will be me."

And anger at this nobody who wasn't even in the Senate when you took the big votes, this cream puff who was a functionary in Chicago when you were getting your head beaten in by Ken Starr. What does Mrs. Clinton do when she's feeling angry? What has she done in the past? Goodness, this won't be pretty.

 

Washington Post - America's "Obesity epidemic" plateauing

According to the latest word, one in three Americans are obese. Not overweight; obese.

Obesity is most commonly medically  defined as having a body mass index (BMI) of 30.0 or more. Go here to find out your rough BMI - Calculate your BMI - Standard BMI Calculator . Mine is 26.6 which means I'm overweight (Haha. Only slightly. Overweight starts at a BMI of 25.0 How's that for rationalizing?)

The Post feature says that as a country, we may have reached an obesity plateau.

Obesity Epidemic In America Shows Signs of Plateauing - washingtonpost.com

The latest data collected from a nationally representative sample of 4,400 Americans age 20 and older showed that, while the proportion of women who were obese increased from 33.2 percent in 2003 and 2004 to 35.3 percent in 2005 and 2006, that difference was not statistically significant, and the rate has been stable since 1999.

Among men, Ogden and her colleagues found that the rate increased from 31.1 percent to 33.3 percent, but that change, too, was not statistically significant. But because the rate was still up compared with 1999, Odgen said more data are needed to confirm the stall.

And here's something for me to worry about, since Tim definitely has a weight problem.

Ogden noted that obesity rates vary by age, with adults ages 40 to 59 having the highest. About 40 percent of men in this age group are obese, compared with 28 percent of those 20 to 39 and 32 percent of men 60 and older. Among women, 41 percent of those 40 to 59 are obese, compared with 30.5 percent of women 20 to 39 and about 34 percent of women age 60 and older.

There are also large racial disparities among women. Approximately 53 percent of non-Hispanic black women and 51 percent of Mexican-American women ages 40 to 59 are obese, compared with about 39 percent of non-Hispanic white women of the same age.

Several researchers noted that childhood obesity rates are continuing to increase.

"As more obese children reach adulthood, it is conceivable that obesity levels will begin to rise again," David B. Allison, director of the clinical nutrition research center of the University of Alabama at Birmingham wrote in an e-mail.

The Peace Corps is looking for a few good older men and women

My brother Jim was in the Peace Corps (in Gatemala), and I knew a number of volunteers when I was working in Jamaica. As well as our friends, the Gagnons.

The Peace Corps has a goal of 15% of volunteers over the age of 50.

Peace Corps Looks for Older Volunteers - New York Times

The director of the Peace Corps, Ronald A. Tschetter, said he was traveling around the country to address groups of older potential volunteers. General recruiting meetings usually draw about 30 people, Mr. Tschetter said, but events aimed at retirees have drawn up to 300.

It is too early to tell if the new emphasis is working. However, in October, the Peace Corps nearly doubled — to 93 from 50 the previous year — the number of applicants over 50 years old.

Mr. Tschetter, a former volunteer himself, served with former President Jimmy Carter’s mother, Lillian Carter, when she was 68. He said that reflecting on his service with eight older recruits made him realize it was “really special to have people like this.”

That age group has ideal traits, Mr. Tschetter said, characterizing its members as givers with years of accumulated skills and knowledge. The Peace Corps has found that older recruits are more than three times as likely to serve another tour than younger recruits.

Health update

Had my six month CAT scan yesterday. It produced the usual gastro-intestinal effects which I won't bother detailing... and which kept me from going to the gym yesterday.

My appointment to see the lymphoma guru, Dr. Zelenetz was postponed a week (he'll be away at a conference), so I will see him two weeks from today (Dec. 13).

The Party of the Rich

is the Democratic Party. That's not to say the Democrats aren't also the Party of some minorities - blacks vote 85-90% Democrat and hispanics over 60% - but they are also the party of the wealthy. Here are two recent feature articles with strong evidence -

Study: Democrats the party of the rich - - The Washington Times, America's Newspaper

In a state-by-state, district-by-district comparison of wealth concentrations based on Internal Revenue Service income data, Michael Franc, vice president of government relations at the Heritage Foundation, found that the majority of the nation's wealthiest congressional jurisdictions were represented by Democrats.

He also found that more than half of the wealthiest households were concentrated in the 18 states where Democrats hold both Senate seats.

"If you take the wealthiest one-third of the 435 congressional districts, we found that the Democrats represent about 58 percent of those jurisdictions," Mr. Franc said.

A key measure of each district's wealth was the number of single-filer taxpayers earning more than $100,000 a year and married couples filing jointly who earn more than $200,000 annually, he said.

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Mr. Franc's study also showed that contrary to the Democrats' tendency to define Republicans as the party of the rich, "the vast majoritiy of unabashed conservative House members hail from profoundly middle-class districts."

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Some Democrats acknowledge that moneyed interests are exerting a strong influence on their party's agenda and legislation.

"The fact is that [the Democratic campaign committees] have had large contributions from these hedge-fund folks," said Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, a liberal think tank.

"As far as the hedge funds and tax breaks go, the Democrats are clearly getting a lot of money from people who are affected by that, and they're responding," Mr. Baker said.

Mr. Franc thinks this turnabout by Democrats, whose campaign mantra has long been to tax the rich more, is only the beginning.

"Increasingly, we will see Democrats responding to the economic demands of this particular upper-income constituency," he said.

And then there's this from the Wall Street Journal on November 16th (you may have trouble linking):

Affluent Voters Switch Brands - WSJ.com

DENVER -- Driving her city bus through downtown Denver, Angela Williams would seem to be one of those "invisible" people Hillary Clinton and fellow Democrats appeal to. She's a Hispanic union member who earns $39,000 a year.

Jim Kelley, whose office Ms. Williams drives by, looks like one of those plutocrats whom Democrats are talking about taxing more. He buys companies for the $7 billion private-equity firm Vestar Capital Partners, with headquarters on New York's Park Avenue.

Think again. Ms. Williams, 43 years old, is a conservative Christian whose biggest political fear is that fellow Republicans might nominate abortion-rights supporter Rudy Giuliani for president. Mr. Kelley, 53, is writing big campaign checks for Barack Obama and other Democrats -- and taxes don't make his top 10 list of critical political issues.

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In the 2004 election, exit surveys showed President Bush defeated John Kerry by 58% to 41% among those earning more than $100,000. In 2006, Republican House candidates edged Democrats among that group by 51% to 47%. Now the Wall Street Journal-NBC News poll shows Americans earning more than $100,000 want Democrats to win the White House next year by 48% to 41%, and want Democrats to win control of Congress by 45% to 42%.

Campaign-finance data represents another yardstick. The top five Democratic presidential candidates raised $242 million through the first three quarters of 2007, according to Federal Election Commission figures compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics. The top five Republican candidates have raised $167 million.

"There's a difference in the type of giver that I've seen," observes Kirk Dornbush, a veteran Democratic fund-raiser who runs an Atlanta-based biotechnology firm. In the past, he explains, affluent donors from business or the professions were often "people that needed access."

Now, he says, Democrats are benefiting from concerns over America's "loss of standing in the world," Mr. Bush's environmental policies, and concern over the possibility of recession. An increasing number of high-income Americans "are yearning for something different. And something different is the Democrats."

As Mr. Kelley's disdain for "so-called moral issues" suggests, the roles he and Ms. Williams play in politics are connected. Since the Reagan era, conservative Christians have grown in prominence as Republican foot soldiers. Voters like Ms. Williams have elevated "values" concerns in a party once associated more with the Chamber of Commerce than the church. "I'm pro-life. Basically, that's why I'm Republican," Ms. Williams says.

She also agrees with Republican criticism of Democrats' economic policies. "Democrats are all for social programs which raise my taxes," says Ms. Williams, who lives in a working-class neighborhood. "I'm not working to pay for people to sit at home watching cable all day."

Over time, both those concerns have generated a backlash in Colorado among affluent, secular voters with different priorities. "Twenty-five years ago...business could safely vote Republican and believe that their interests in business were going to be taken care of," says Neil Westergaard, editor of the Denver Business Journal. "As the Republican Party has changed, I think that became less [true]."

While business leaders still generally favor holding down taxes, he says, "Colorado already has low taxes and has always. And we began in the 1990s to start feeling the effects of limited tax support for things like higher education and transportation, which coincidentally became more important as economic-development issues for the business community."

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Democrats aim to repeat that success in the 2008 presidential race, with Mr. Kelley helping to provide the financial fuel. His wife, Amie, a documentary filmmaker, jokes that they seem to hold fund-raisers at their elegant Denver home at the rate of "one a month."

Since 2004, the private-equity executive has donated more than $183,000 to federal candidates -- more than twice as much as he had given in the previous 12 years, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Thompson's tax proposal

An idea whose time has come. Choose to pay under the current code, or opt for a simple tw llevel flat tax. Accountants (and many other industries!) will hate this.

Flat tax Fred OpinionJournal - Featured Article

... his really big idea is a voluntary flat tax that would give every American the option of ditching the current code in favor of filing a simple tax return with two tax rates of 10% and 25%.

Mr. Thompson is getting aboard what has become a global bandwagon, with more than 20 nations having adopted some form of flat tax. Most--especially in Eastern Europe--have seen their economies grow and revenues increase as they've adopted low tax rates of between 13% and 25% with few exemptions.

The main political obstacle to such a reform in the U.S. has come from liberals, who favor punitive taxes for "class" reasons, and K Street corporate lobbyists who want to retain their tax-loophole empires. The housing and insurance industries, states and localities, charities, bond traders and tax preparers are all foes of low tax rates.

That's why the idea of a voluntary flat tax--introduced on these pages a dozen years ago--makes political sense. The Thompson plan would allow taxpayers to keep their mortgage and charitable deductions if they prefer, by adhering to the current tax code and rates. But it would also allow the option to abandon those credits and deductions except for a single allowance based on family size ($39,000 for a family of four). Most taxpayers would pay a 10% rate on income above that allowance, with a 25% rate kicking in at $100,000 for a couple. There would only be five lines on the tax form and most taxpayers could fill it out in minutes.

Blonde Joke

From humor consultant Ellen ...

A blonde gets home early from shopping and hears strange noises coming from the bedroom. She rushes upstairs to find her husband naked on the bed, sweating and panting."What's up?" she asks.
"I'm having a heart attack," cries the husband. The blonde rushes downstairs to grab the phone, but just as she's dialing, her four-year-old son comes up and says, "Mommy! Mommy! Aunt Shirley is hiding in your closet, and she's got no clothes on!"
The blonde slams the phone down and storms upstairs Into the bedroom, right past her husband, and rips open the closet door.
Sure enough, there is her sister, totally naked and cowering on the closet floor.
"You rotten bitch," she screams. "My husband's having a heart attack, and you're running around naked scaring the kids!"

Day after Turkey Day trip up Turkey Hill

Last Friday Brigid and I joined Kathy and Sal Americo for a nice hike/climb up Turkey Hill, the highest (831 feet) point in Westchester.  Kathy had gone with us on our Appalachian Trail walk on the last day of October Tom Faranda's Folly: Through the Lemon Squeezer

Turkey Hill is in Yorktown Heights (on rte. 118 directly across from Peter Pratt's restaurant, if you know the area), only about 15 minutes from our house. We had never been to it before.

It was a really nice walk - we went on a two and a half mile circular route, and it took under 2 hours, including a half hour stop at the top for lunch.

Kathy checks out the mushrooms growing out of the tree

Sal and Brigid

We arrived at the top at 11:30; it took us just over fifty minutes. We had it almost all to ourselves for lunch and the very fine views. Looking west is part of the Croton reservoir system. You can just make out the back of the Dam. And further west of course is the Hudson river.

And south is a fine view of the Manhattan skyline.

Here's a view east

And west again

The plan was to eat at the top, and both the Farandas and Americos had brought along some wine. But theirs was homemade and better than ours - so we just drank theirs!

This was just about the end of this year's batch of wine. So the Americo's will soon get going on the next year's 40 gallons.

We started down the hill right at noontime, and just as other people - mostly young families - started turning up. It was perfect timing really. We continued on the circular path down.

Kathy took a business call

We were back at the parking lot at 12:30. The whole walk took just under 2 hours, including the lunch stop. It was just about the perfect way to spend part of the day after Thanksgiving, due in no small part to the conviviality of Sal and Kathy (and the wine was excellent).

Brigid and I then spent the next ninety minutes doing a little exploring around the Croton reservoir and dam. Willl have to post those pictures in a day or two.

Two of the big names in cardiovascular surgery reconcile

Michael DeBakey and Denton Cooley.

Pioneering surgeons with massive egos.

Dr. Michael E. DeBakey and Dr. Denton A. Cooley - Heart Surgeons - New York Times

Dr. DeBakey is now 99; Dr. Cooley is 87. Characteristically, they take starkly different views of the schism, with Dr. Cooley calling the short distance between their operating rooms “a demilitarized zone,” and Dr. DeBakey denying — implausibly, many say — that there even was a feud.

The breach began in 1960, when Dr. Cooley left Dr. DeBakey’s practice at Methodist and moved the few hundred yards to St. Luke’s Hospital, where he later established the Texas Heart Institute. But it was an incident in 1969 that turned the rift into a full-blown feud.

It happened when Dr. Cooley, without approval from Dr. DeBakey or Baylor, commandeered an artificial heart from his former partner’s lab and implanted it in a patient at St. Luke’s.

Over the years, Dr. DeBakey has called that first-ever use of a total artificial heart a theft, a betrayal, unethical and “a childish act” to claim a medical first. Dr. Cooley defended the implant as a desperate, if ultimately unsuccessful, act to save a life.

Happy Holidays from Rail Europe

Contributed by my humor consultant, Ellen.

Warm holiday wishes from Rail Europe

Health Update

Tomorow I go down to Sloan Kettering for my semi-annual CAT scan. The next week I see the Lymphoma guru, Dr. Zelenetz.

I feel fine, no signs of any lumps or funny itching that might indicate the return of my mantle cell. So I expect a good report.

I have been going to the gym about six days a week. A few days ago there was a very good article in the NY Times on fitness and recovery after an injury, or layoff.

Short Layoff, Long Comeback - New York Times

WHEN Helen Betancourt, an assistant coach at Princeton, was preparing for the World Championships in rowing in 1998, she suffered an overuse injury: stress fractures of her ribs. She competed anyway, but then had to take five months off.

Like most athletes, she did her best to maintain her fitness, spending hours cycling. Finally, she returned to her sport.

“I lost half my strength,” she said. And rowing just felt weird. “It was like I had stepped off another planet.”

Yet a couple of months later, much faster than it takes to get that strong to begin with, Ms. Betancourt felt like her old self on the water. Four months of rowing and she was in top form.

It shows, exercise physiologists say, that training is exquisitely specific: you can acquire and maintain cardiovascular fitness with many activities, but if you want to keep your ability to row, or run, or swim, you have to do that exact activity.

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WHEN Helen Betancourt, an assistant coach at Princeton, was preparing for the World Championships in rowing in 1998, she suffered an overuse injury: stress fractures of her ribs. She competed anyway, but then had to take five months off.

Like most athletes, she did her best to maintain her fitness, spending hours cycling. Finally, she returned to her sport.

“I lost half my strength,” she said. And rowing just felt weird. “It was like I had stepped off another planet.”

Yet a couple of months later, much faster than it takes to get that strong to begin with, Ms. Betancourt felt like her old self on the water. Four months of rowing and she was in top form.

It shows, exercise physiologists say, that training is exquisitely specific: you can acquire and maintain cardiovascular fitness with many activities, but if you want to keep your ability to row, or run, or swim, you have to do that exact activity.

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But the good news is that it takes much less time to regain fitness for a specific sport than it did to become fit in the first place.

Even exercise physiologists are surprised at how quickly the body can readapt when training resumes. Almost immediately, blood volume goes up, heartbeats become more powerful, and muscle mitochondria come back.

Of course, researchers say, individuals respond differently and young people may bounce back faster than older athletes. But, they say, speed and strength and endurance do return, even in deconditioned athletes, some of whose lab test results look like those of a sedentary person.

Part of the reason, researchers say, is that training may elicit lasting effects that are very hard to measure, like changes in nerve-firing patterns and blood vessels. Dr. Coyle, who has measured muscle mitochondria, said that even though muscles lose mitochondria when athletes stop training, they retain more of them than are found in muscles of a person who has always been sedentary.

But another reason may be that athletes, unlike most inactive people, know how to train and how to push themselves.

Apropos to the article, I am almost back to my old bench press mark. As I posted previously, I'd stopped doing bench presses, and was just using a chest press machine. When I tried some benching a couple of months ago, I was pretty shocked at my poor performance, compared to the past. (Not that I was any great shakes!)  Tom Faranda's Folly: Health Update

Excellent op ed on science and faith

The author, Paul Davies, is a physicist, and prolific writer. I have read about half a bozen of his books, going back twenty years.

Taking Science on Faith - New York Times

The problem with this neat separation into “non-overlapping magisteria,” as Stephen Jay Gould described science and religion, is that science has its own faith-based belief system. All science proceeds on the assumption that nature is ordered in a rational and intelligible way. You couldn’t be a scientist if you thought the universe was a meaningless jumble of odds and ends haphazardly juxtaposed. When physicists probe to a deeper level of subatomic structure, or astronomers extend the reach of their instruments, they expect to encounter additional elegant mathematical order. And so far this faith has been justified.

The most refined expression of the rational intelligibility of the cosmos is found in the laws of physics, the fundamental rules on which nature runs. The laws of gravitation and electromagnetism, the laws that regulate the world within the atom, the laws of motion — all are expressed as tidy mathematical relationships. But where do these laws come from? And why do they have the form that they do?

When I was a student, the laws of physics were regarded as completely off limits. The job of the scientist, we were told, is to discover the laws and apply them, not inquire into their provenance. The laws were treated as “given” — imprinted on the universe like a maker’s mark at the moment of cosmic birth — and fixed forevermore. Therefore, to be a scientist, you had to have faith that the universe is governed by dependable, immutable, absolute, universal, mathematical laws of an unspecified origin. You’ve got to believe that these laws won’t fail, that we won’t wake up tomorrow to find heat flowing from cold to hot, or the speed of light changing by the hour.

Over the years I have often asked my physicist colleagues why the laws of physics are what they are. The answers vary from “that’s not a scientific question” to “nobody knows.” The favorite reply is, “There is no reason they are what they are — they just are.” The idea that the laws exist reasonlessly is deeply anti-rational. After all, the very essence of a scientific explanation of some phenomenon is that the world is ordered logically and that there are reasons things are as they are. If one traces these reasons all the way down to the bedrock of reality — the laws of physics — only to find that reason then deserts us, it makes a mockery of science.

Can the mighty edifice of physical order we perceive in the world about us ultimately be rooted in reasonless absurdity? If so, then nature is a fiendishly clever bit of trickery: meaninglessness and absurdity somehow masquerading as ingenious order and rationality.

Although scientists have long had an inclination to shrug aside such questions concerning the source of the laws of physics, the mood has now shifted considerably. Part of the reason is the growing acceptance that the emergence of life in the universe, and hence the existence of observers like ourselves, depends rather sensitively on the form of the laws. If the laws of physics were just any old ragbag of rules, life would almost certainly not exist.

The mystery of what happened to the children of the last Russian Czar seems to have been settled

Here's an interesting story about the missing children of  the last Russian Czar, Nicholas II, killed in 1918.

Amateurs Unravel Russia’s Last Royal Mystery - New York Times

A short way through a clearing, toward a cluster of birch trees, the killers deposited their victims’ bodies, which had been mutilated, burned and doused with acid to mask their origins. It would be 73 more years, in 1991, before the remains would be reclaimed and the announcement would ring out: the grave of the last Russian czar, Nicholas II, and his family had been found.

But the story does not end there.

Eleven people were said to have been killed that day in July 1918 on Lenin’s orders. Just nine sets of remains were dug up here and then authenticated using DNA. The remains of the czar’s son, Aleksei, and one daughter, whose identity is still not absolutely clear, were missing. Did their bones lie elsewhere, or could it actually be that they had escaped execution, as rumor had it for so long?

Only in the past few months have these questions dating from the Russian revolution apparently been resolved here, and only by a group of amateur sleuths who spent their weekends plumbing the case. In fact, it appears that the clues to what happened to the two children were always there, waiting to be found. All that was needed was to listen closely to the boastful voices of the killers.

Another article underlining that the sacrifices entailed the War on Terror are borne by just a few of us

The big mistake of Bush's Presidency was not rallying the whole country for an effort with sacrifices from everyone.

Of course, I don't know how he could have done that, or what the answer is.

For Decorated GI, Grief, Recovery and Redeployment - washingtonpost.com

"It's kind of hard to explain" how it feels to be part of a small segment of the U.S. population that is "bearing the brunt of the responsibilities" from today's conflicts, Jackson said as he waited for his flight at Dulles International Airport. "It doesn't affect society at large in the slightest. Life just goes on, and a lot of people . . . are more concerned about the price of gas than about soldiers fighting and dying," said Jackson, who has lost several comrades in the wars.

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Amid rising attrition among graduates of some West Point classes, Jackson said he and most of his peers from the class of 2005 are "on the fence" about whether to make the military a career.

Ecology, the environment, and the Law of Unintended Consequences

Here's an example of how the best intentions - in this case building environmentallly friendly buildings - can fall ofuol of the "Law of Unintended Consequences".

Environmentally friendly buildings are the enemies of flying birds.

Emory building draped in black to save birds | ajc.com

The building killed 60 birds in the first year," said Wegner, Emory's chief environmental officer. "It was the wall of death."

Wegner, a professor in Emory's Department of Environmental Studies, began documenting the deaths shortly after the building opened in 2002. He found an average of two birds a day were losing their lives during the height of the migration season.

Magnolia warblers, Swainson's thrushes, ovenbirds — no species was safe.

After getting the brush-off from the administration and architects, Wegner stuffed a couple of dead birds into his pockets and whipped them out during a meeting with his boss. Suddenly, he had an audience.

Now Emory drapes parts of the $40 million building with black mesh netting for about three months each fall, and migrating birds bounce off safely.

"It has saved hundreds of lives," he said.

Turns out, environmentally friendly buildings are often bird killers.

Ornithologist Daniel Klem, a professor at Muhlenberg College in Pennsylvania who has studied the problem for decades, said between 100 million and 1 billion birds die in the United States each year in collisions with glass.

Buildings that earn LEED certifications, the brass ring of environmentally sustainable construction, are often largely glass. Klem said few architects take their feathered friends into account. They are an unintended consequence of light-filled structures.

Thanksgiving Day

We had an excellent Thanksgiving.

It started with Dad, Joe and Tim going to the annual "Turkey Bowl" game between Fordham Prep and Xavier H.S. The two schools bill this as "New York City's Oldest Rivalry", with the first game played in 1905 (Fordham won 32-0). They played sporadically, until 1930, but have played every year since. The record is in Fordham's favor, 46-34-3.

But this year Xavier won, 20-14, after a scoreless first half. It was a pretty exciting game, which either team could have won.

The game was played at a sports complex on the old Floyd Bennett Field airbase in the Rockaways. It was Xavier's home game, and it's next to impossible to get a field in Manhattan, so I guess they have to use this facility in one of the southernmost parts of Brooklyn. The Rockaways are on the ocean.

We had a good time, despite the fairly long drive out.

Very interesting - Xavier (in Maroon) uses a single wing offence! I mentioned this to my brother Phil, and he didn't even know what the single wing was.

 

See the Concorde behind Tim - as well as the old red monoplane. 

Joe doesn't like having his picture taken

Through Thanksgiving there were still plenty of leaves on the trees going north on the Bronx River Parkway and the Sprain Brook Parkway. But I'll bet they've almost all fallen in the last two days.

We arrived home to find that Brigid had worked her fingers to the bone, or anyway cut both her thumbs, whilst getting our Thanksgiving meal going.

But it was great! My mother was with us to eat. Note the colors of the red maple out the back window. In the morning all the red leaves had come down.

Ahhhh, but the fun wasn't over! We headed to Briarcliff to have dessert with my brother Phil, his wife Ann, and Joe and Tim's four cousins. The boys are constantly after us to take them for a visit to their cousins - they love playing around with them.

Here's some of the dessert madhouse - Tim has Luke, his oldest cousin to his left, while Catherine sneaks in under his arm to raid the fruit.

My mother with her youngest granchild, Mark. Or anyway, the back of his head. My mother is one month short of being 81 years older than Mark.

Ann's Aunt Maria is starting to get a headache over at the dessert table.

 

Thanksgiving madhouse

This is not a great picture by any means, but I HAD TO INCLUDE IT, since it's the only shot that includes my sister-in-law, Ann. I only realized afterwards that she'd been running around like a loon, trying to keep everybody happy ... that's her, in the white sweater in front of Tim, not facing the camera. The chap in the foreground is my godchild Gregory.

Now Gregory is an interesting character. Phil says he's the most Faranda-ish of his children. Here's a good example, as he eats the chocolate chips off the top of the cookies, leaving the cookie (hey, makes sense to me). Catherine in the background is counting her candy pumpkins.

And here he is, about to start his soft shoe(less) routine

This is Luke, the oldest of the four cousins. He is five and in kindergarten.

Next in line is Catherine, who will turn four in January. Gregory is third; he will be three next month, which makes Greg and Catherine "Irish twins."

And here is Mark, between his Aunt Maria, and his cousin Tim. Mark was born in March.

Penultimate picture goes to Joe (who I've beheaded) and his cousing Gregory - my godchild.

And last shot to the youngest Faranda, Mark

The Cruise Ship sunk by an iceberg

The ship, The Explorer, specialized in cruises to Antarctica.

The NY Times has the story with some amazing pictures.

Icy Rescue as Seas Claim a Cruise Ship - New York Times

“We all got a little nervous when the ship began to list sharply, and the lifeboats still hadn’t been lowered,” John Cartwright, a Canadian, told CBC radio.

About 1:30 a.m., the passengers climbed down ladders on the ship’s side into open lifeboats and inflatable craft. They bobbed for some four hours in the rough seas and biting winds as the sun rose and the day broadened, sandwiched between the 20-degree air and the nearly freezing waters, huddled under thin foil blankets, marking time. Their ship traced loose circles in the steely ocean.

And then a research ship and a Norwegian cruise liner that had heard the distress call approached.

“There was a long line of black rubber Zodiac boats and a handful of orange lifeboats strung out, and it was very surreal because it was a very beautiful morning with the sun glistening off the relatively calm sea,” said Jon Bowermaster, a travel writer and filmmaker who was aboard the ship, the National Geographic Endeavour, and was reached by satellite phone. “And all you could think was how relieved these people must have been when they saw these two big ships coming.”

Five books on understanding the Scots

I've never met a Scot (a person of Scottish descent) who I didn't like.

This week's "Five Best" books on opinionjournal.com are about understanding Scotland and the Scots. I wouldn't have though "the Wind and the Willows" would qualify, but the head of Scottish National Party includes it.

Great Scots OpinionJournal - Five Best

Who does the NY Times want to be the next President?

One look at these pictures will tell you. With thanks to Ann Alhouse' blog for the heads up on this!

Where the Votes Are, So Are All Those Calories - New York Times

My high school alma mater wins it's Turkey Bowl

For the second year in  row, Stepinac defeated White Plains H.S. on Thanksgiving. It was the 37th meeting, and I am sure White Plains is way ahead in the series (they have a much larger student body). But hey, you're only as good as your last game!

Stepinac finished the season with the best season record in their history, 10-2. And they won the CHSAA championship.

Slowley, Stepinac feast on Turkey BowlStep

A look at the new Apple operating system - Leopard

But not by me. I am a P.C. guy. Compaqs in the past and now Dell. However Brigid, who was the original computer savvy member of the family - way back when - has wanted to get an Apple for awhile. An Apple was our first computer.

However I convinced her to wait for the new operating system to come pre-installed on Macs before buying a new one.

Here's a discussion by Ann Alhouse on her weblog about how happy she is to have the new system on her computer.

Althouse: Leopard.

Ah! I'm so happy with Leopard, which I've just installed in my MacBook, and I can boil my reason for happiness down to one word: Buttons!

Somalia - another Africa disaster

This article is a couple of dayas old. I just didn't feel like posting it before Thanksgiving.

Terrible.

As Somali Crisis Swells, Experts See a Void in Aid - New York Times

A year ago, the road between the market town of Afgooye and the capital of Mogadishu was just another typical Somali byway, lined with overgrown cactuses and the occasional bullet-riddled building. Now it is a corridor teeming with misery, with 200,000 recently displaced people crammed into swelling camps that are rapidly running out of food.

>>>>>>>>>>

Top United Nations officials who specialize in Somalia said the country had higher malnutrition rates, more current bloodshed and fewer aid workers than Darfur, which is often publicized as the world’s most pressing humanitarian crisis and has taken clear priority in terms of getting peacekeepers and aid money.

>>>>>>>>>>

Unlike Darfur, where the suffering is being eased by a billion-dollar aid operation and more than 10,000 aid workers, Somalia is still considered mostly a no-go zone. Just last week, a Somali aid worker and a guard were shot to death at an aid distribution center in Afgooye. United Nations officials estimate that total emergency aid is under $200 million, partly because it is so difficult just getting food into the country.

Pirates lurking off the coast of Somalia have attacked more than 20 ships this year, including two carrying United Nations food. The militias that rule the streets — typically teenage gunmen in wraparound sunglasses and flip-flops — have jacked up roadblock taxes to $400 per truck. The transitional government last month jailed a senior official of the United Nations food program in Somalia, accusing him of helping terrorists, though he was eventually released.

United Nations officials now concede that the country was in better shape during the brief reign of Somalia’s Islamist movement last year. “It was more peaceful, and much easier for us to work,” Mr. Laroche said. “The Islamists didn’t cause us any problems."

Giving Thanks

I had a look back at my Thanksgiving two years ago. We ate in Ossining with my mother, brother Phil, his wife Ann and their three children.Tom Faranda's Folly: Thanksgiving Picture

Here's the picture from that posting - Tim on the left, cousin Catherine, and Joe.

Wow! Joe looks a lot older now - I guess that's puberty for you.

Then on the Saturday two days later I took the train down to Sloan for my 48 hour admission - the administration of my second dose of RICE.  Tom Faranda's Folly: In Sloan Kettering for RICE #2

And here's a picture of me at Sloan

Yikes! A wraith!

And now two years later and 22 months after the 20 day stay at Sloan, I'm here and doing pretty well.

I offer great thanks and gratitude to all the many people who supported and continue to support me in so many ways. Here's a picture Tim just took. May everyone have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Washington Post op ed "Krugman vs. Krugman"

Washington Post editorial writer Ruth Marcus takes on NYT op ed flake Paul Krugman, for his column criticizing Obama. He was unhappy that Obama suggested the social security needed reform. Played for a Sucker - New York Times

Here's Marcus' column -

Krugman vs. Krugman

In liberal Democratic circles, the debate over Social Security has taken a dangerous "don't worry, be happy" turn.

The argument has two equally dishonest components. The first is to deny that Social Security faces a daunting financing problem -- one that will be much easier to fix (and less onerous for the low-income retirees that the head-in-the-sanders purport to care about) sooner rather than later. The second is to mischaracterize the arguments of those who advocate responsible action, accusing them of hyping the system's woes.

One prominent practitioner of this misguided approach is New York Times columnist Paul Krugman. "Inside the Beltway, doomsaying about Social Security -- declaring that the program as we know it can't survive the onslaught of retiring baby boomers -- is regarded as a sort of badge of seriousness, a way of showing how statesmanlike and tough-minded you are," Krugman wrote last week. "In fact, the whole Beltway obsession with the fiscal burden of an aging population is misguided."

Somebody should introduce Paul Krugman to . . . Paul Krugman.

"[A] decade from now the population served by those programs [Social Security and Medicare] will explode. . . . Because of those facts, merely balancing the federal budget would be a deeply irresponsible policy -- because that would leave us unprepared for the demographic deluge, with no alternative once it arrives except to raise taxes and slash benefits." (July 11, 2001)

"Broadly speaking, the next administration . . . will face two big economic tests. One . . . is whether it can stick to a fiscal policy, including a policy toward Social Security, that prepares this country for the demographic deluge." (Nov. 12, 2000)

"The reason Social Security is in trouble is that the system has a large 'hole' -- basically a hidden debt -- because previous generations of retirees were paid benefits out of the contributions of younger workers . . . a multitrillion-dollar debt that somebody has to pay." (Oct. 1, 2000)

"[B]ecause the baby boomers' contributions were used to provide generous benefits to earlier generations, there isn't enough money in the system to pay the benefits promised to the boomers themselves." (June 21, 2000)

In addition to this fiscal amnesia, Krugman misrepresents responsible voices in the debate.

First, he quoted a new paper by Congressional Budget Office Director Peter Orszag and CBO analyst Philip Ellis. Notwithstanding "all the attention paid to demographic challenges," they conclude, "our country's financial health will in fact be determined primarily by the growth rate of per capita health care costs."

True, but Krugman omits any mention of Orszag's latest book, inconveniently titled "Saving Social Security." Orszag and co-author Peter Diamond wrote that "Social Security's projected financial difficulties are real and that addressing those difficulties sooner rather than later would make sensible reforms easier and more likely."

Krugman then takes on The Post for an October editorial that, in his skewed retelling, castigated Hillary Clinton"for, um, not being panicky about Social Security."

I write for the Post editorial page, including sometimes on Social Security, and, um, the editorial said nothing about panicking. It quoted one Bill Clinton, circa 1998, saying: "Every single year we avoid resolving this, it will get harder and harder and harder."

How to not gain weight over the Holidays

Pretty good article; some of this you already know. Have a good breakfast, don't eat meals while watching TV...

Make It an Early Bird - New York Times

New research by John M. de Castro of Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Tex., suggests that morning intake of carbohydrates and fats in particular may reduce overall daily intake. He analyzed weeklong food diaries recorded by 867 people and found that breakfast eaters consumed significantly less than those who skipped the morning meal. On average, for every 240 calories more of carbohydrate or fat they ate early in the day, they took in 240 fewer total calories over the entire day.

It doesn’t much matter whether those morning carbs or fats come in the form of bacon, buttered toast or whole-grain cereal, Dr. de Castro found; they’re more satiating when they’re consumed early.

Eat a healthful whole-grain breakfast for a year, thereby decreasing your overall intake, speculates Dr. de Castro, and you could lose up to 11 pounds of fat.

Weight loss also calls for exercise, a nutritious diet and careful monitoring of portions. Still, breakfast appears to play a noteworthy role. Records kept by the National Weight Control Registry show that among people who have lost a substantial amount of weight and kept it off, 78 percent are breakfast-eaters.

Flying this weekend? What are the chances of your luggage getting lost?

The chances are one in 138.

That's on the major airlines. On the regionals, it's worse. And a record number of people will travel this holiday.

I love feature articles like this; an insight into how our fascinating world works.

Travelers’ Odds Decline on Airline Baggage - New York Times

American’s baggage operation at O’Hare, the airline’s second-largest hub, after Dallas-Fort Worth, is huge, with more than seven miles of conveyers, hundreds of workers and scores of tractors pulling baggage carts.

Checked bags are immediately sent on a fast conveyor to be screened by the Transportation Security Administration and then sent back to American’s big bag room. There, bar-code readers direct the bags onto piers that handle one or more destinations. From there, bags are placed on carts and towed out to planes for loading.

Bags with unreadable tags are left to circle the piers up to three times before being hauled off and manually placed in the correct stack.

About 2 percent are misread and dropped onto the wrong pier. Then, it is up to a worker stacking the bags on carts to notice the mistake. “He better,” said Ms. Wilewski, the baggage manager.

American and other domestic airlines have resisted investing in radio frequency identification tags, which are used by big retailers to track inventory and are far more accurate. The tags cost about 20 cents each so it would cost $50,000 a day for American’s 250,000 bags, plus the cost of hardware to read them at each step in the process.

“We don’t lose enough bags to justify that investment,” said Mark Mitchell, American’s managing director of customer experience.

The internet addiction test

Worried tht your addicted to web surfing? Take the test!

I scored a 29. "You are an average on-line user. You may surf the web a bit too long at times, but you have control over your usage."

Whew!

Internet Addiction Test (IAT)

With thanks to Ann Althouse' blog, where I found this. She scored a 46.

Althouse: Hey, I'm not addicted to the internet!

Tom Brokaw - print newspapers may be gone in ten years

Will reading a newspaper actually printed on paper soon be obsolete?

Brokaw: Washington Post Print Paper 'Probably' Dead in 10 Years

The former NBC “Nightly News” anchor appeared at the Sixth & I Synagogue in

Washington

,

D.C.

on November 19 to promote his new book, “Boom!” Brokaw said he envisioned a major newspaper going completely digital in 10 years.

     “I was at The Washington Post earlier today,” Brokaw said. “And in the lobby they’ve got a wonderful graphic describing how the printing press works and where it is … 75,000 copies an hour it can turn out. Its last run is at 2:15 in the morning and [has] an automatic paper roll that comes when they run out of paper and the ink is recharge and I looked at all that and I thought – ‘Ten years from now, will it be here?’ I don’t know. Probably … if you would do a hardcore analysis – probably not. It’ll be probably digital 10 years from now.”

    Brokaw referred to how the younger generations rely solely on digital forms media to get their information.

     “You talk to them about the tactile experience at the newspaper and they look at you, and it’s like ‘Man, what planet were you born on?’” Brokaw quipped.

Global Warming Update #25

The Wall Street Journal has a good editorial this morning on Al Gore's joining a Venture Capital Firm.

Global Warming, Inc OpinionJournal - Featured Article

Al Gore no longer needs to make claims about creating the Internet, because the former Vice President deserves much of the credit for creating an entire new industry--the global warming business.

And like the energy barons of an earlier age, Mr. Gore has the chance to achieve enormous wealth after being named last week as a new partner at the famously successful venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins. No fewer than three of his new colleagues sit on the Forbes list of wealthiest Americans. If Mr. Gore can develop market-based solutions to environmental challenges, we will cheer the well-deserved riches flowing his way. On the other hand, if he monetizes his Nobel Peace Prize by securing permanent government subsidies for nonmarket science projects, he'll have earned a different judgment.

>>>>>>>>

Mr. Gore seems to grasp the scale of the challenge, and the need for government help, telling Fortune magazine, "What we are going to have to put in place is a combination of the Manhattan Project, the Apollo Project and the Marshall Plan, and scale it globally." That's the kind of "green" vision that will require a lot of greenbacks.

We'll be as happy as the Sierra Club if one or more of these new technologies turns out to solve the secrets of cheap, efficient energy. But we recall the same technological promises being made in the 1970s, the last time the feds poured subsidies into alternative fuels.

Which leads us to suspect that maybe Mr. Gore has been hired by Kleiner Perkins for more than his technological knowhow, investment acumen, or global vision. His new partners may have hired him for the more prosaic task of getting 60 Senate votes to keep those taxpayer greenbacks coming.

New headset developed for hands free driving in NY and New Jersey

It's illegal to drive and talk on your cell phone without a headset. But they can cost $20-75.

Here's a new economy model that costs less than a penny!

Rivera, Posada and A-Rod are all back

Ok, Pettitte may retire. Which would be a real loss.

But with all the signings, a stable full of good young pitchers, and a hungry new manager, the Yanks are looking good.

The Official Site of New York Yankees: News: New York Yankees News

Is "Britishness" in the blood, or taught?

Here's a serious article in the Telegram (UK), but which I found amusing

Great Britons: A thorough examination of the best of Britishness - Telegraph

Once upon a time, Britishness was something we had and foreigners didn't. There was no possible way you could somehow become British, just as there was no way a costermonger could ever become a gentleman. You were either born with it, old boy, or you weren't.

>>>>>>

At the heart of the debate is the question of how exactly you define Britishness. If it's getting a lump in the throat during the national anthem, then no, you can't pass that on through hours of patient study. But if it's examining the judicial and constitutional factors that have empowered our enshrinement of political liberties and free speech, then yes, you can teach it in the classroom. Though it's a moot point whether anyone will still be awake at the end of the lesson.

>>>>>>>

Time, then, to get the views of the boys and girls who are actually being taught Britishness. And first question to the children of Danes Hill Year Eight (aged 12) is how many of you actually call yourselves British?

The answer is 12 out of 19, with all sorts of permutations in between. And, while Danes Hill is as far removed as possible from an inner-city, melting-pot comprehensive (this is a private school in leafy Surrey), only three of the pupils in this class have grandparents who are both British. On top of which, roughly half the children have spent some time living abroad, which means their perspective on Britishness is far from parochial. And not always positive.

"I don't think people in Britain are that friendly," says Robbie Stemmons, who has an American passport but has lived all his life in the UK. "When I go to America, everyone in the neighbourhood knows everyone else. Around my home here, though, I only play with other Americans. The British ones don't mix." Stand-offishness is a quality that his classmate Ariana Pugh has noticed in us, too: "I'm half Danish and I know that if someone hadn't taken us around and introduced us to our British neighbours, they would never have come and said hello to us."

Others have similar stories of British reserve-cum-insularity, made worse by the growth of gated communities and residential security fences. At the same time, though, most of the children feel we Brits are basically well-disposed to our fellow humans.

"I find it strange that Robbie says the US is friendly, because we found they were much more hostile than over here," says Adele Hayer, whose parents are Indian and Serbo-Croatian. "Everyone in Britain has been very welcoming and very kind to us, although, of course, there's always one grumpy old man wherever you go." Politeness is another thing we can pat ourselves on the back for. One boy remarks how his father's American colleagues were astonished by the way he actually asked for permission before helping himself to seconds at a company buffet. And classmate Ellouise Bishop thinks our manners still merit a mention.

Is being a Blonde contagious?

Evidently so.

You silly boys: blondes make men act dumb - Times Online

WHEN men meet fair-haired women they really do have a “blonde moment”. Scientists have found that their mental performance drops, apparently because they believe they are dealing with someone less intelligent.

Researchers discovered what might be called the “bimbo delusion” by studying men’s ability to complete general knowledge tests after exposure to different women. The academics found that men’s scores fell after they were shown pictures of blondes.

Further analysis convinced the team that, rather than simply being distracted by the flaxen hair, those who performed poorly had been unconsciously driven by social stereotypes to “think blonde”.

“This proves that people confronted with stereotypes generally behave in line with them,” said Thierry Meyer, joint author of the study and professor of social psychology at the University of Paris X-Nanterre. “In this case blondes have the potential to make people act in a dumber way, because they mimic the unconscious stereotype of the dumb blonde.”

Wall Street bonuses set record

Heard on Bloomberg radio this morning that the "Big Five" Wall Street Firms (Merrill, Goldman Sachs, etc) would be paying out $38 billion in bonus money to their employees this year. This averages out to $202,000 per employee.

Of course the bonus money isn't spread evenly; the top people - executives, traders, et al, can receive $10 or $20 million; it's a lot less if you're the doorman.

Considering the performance of several of the Firms - Merrill just took an $8 billion write-down for sub-prime mortgages and sacked it's CEO - some shareholders are likely to be pretty unhappy.

And of course my socialist friends will be OUTRAGED!

Here's a clip from Bloomberg TV on the issue:

Bloomberg News

Great Moments in Food History!

In fact the 100 Greatest Moments. Here's something I came across in my wanderings - lots of fun. You may not guess the #1 moment, but then when you see it - it's obvious.

Also included is the "Hall of Infamy" - the ten darkest moments in food history

Greatest moments in food history - Food issues - Celebrities and articles - Food - Waitrose.com

Here's the #50 Greatest Moment  ---   1861 Birth of Dame Nellie Melba: she bears the distinction of having both peach Melba (created by Escoffier) and Melba toast named after her.

And the #5 Darkest moment ---   1937 Hormel’s Spiced Ham holds a competition for a new name. ‘Spam’ is the winner: it goes on to sell more than 6 billion tins.

For all the rest - hit the link.

Obama-mania Update VI

Several of my die-hard, yellow dog Democrat* friends are big Obama supporters. And there was an op ed in the NY Times a few days ago, as well as a long (much too long) piece by Andrew Sullivan in the Atlantic Monthly. The common theme is that Obama will be a unifier, taking us beyond partisan politics.**

Here is a very interesting post on Althouse, about another recent feature on Obama, in The New Yorker magazine . I haven't read the New Yorker article, but it seems the gist of it is in this post.

Althouse: "A bunch of conventional wisdom patched together."

* A yellow dog Democrat - someone who will vote Democrat even if their candidate is a yellow dog.

** My opinion, expressed in other posts I've put up, is that Obama is Dan Quayle Lite. Form without substance. An empty suit. I am quite sure the Obama campaign could care less about my opinon.

A little bit on the Farandaville domestic front

Friday was one of those big days  - two large boxes arrived - the new Dell computer.

By the time I got home, the official family IT guy - Joe - had gotten stuck into things, and there were wires running all over the first floor. In addition to the computer and screen, we got a router (to allow for better wireless operation around the house - ESPECIALLY TO THE XBOX 360). Why a router designed to help us go wireless requires wires strung everywhere I don't understand, which is why Joe is the IT guy and I just use things.

And the study/computer room was a shambles. Here's a picture from Saturday morning, when the mess had been a little cleaned up, showing the maestro at work.

You can't really see the computer itself - it's on the floor to the right of Joe, on it's side.

Most of yesterday I took easy - have caught a cold and am trying to shake it. I even skipped the gym.

But Brigid, having gone to the Ossining Market, decided to cook a Sea Bass (we think it's a Bass) she bought, along with some scallops. I have to tell you, we rarely eat a fresh fish, so it was a bit of a big deal. Here Mr. Bass is, from start to finish.

It was a pretty good-tasting fish -

But it looks like it took a bit of work!

Then Brigid did some marshmallows and wafer cookies dipped in chocolate for a Church bake sale today.

Needless to say, not all the inventory is making it to Church this morning.

Typical U.N. muddling

Here's standard U.N. obfuscation. But global warming Tom Faranda's Folly: Global Warming Update #24 is horrible.

U.S. Measure Against Rape Fails at U.N. - New York Times

Grover Joseph Rees 3rd, an American ambassador with responsibilities for human rights, protested that “contrary to what some have suggested, this resolution never said there were ‘two kinds of rape.’”

He said the original language had been aimed at “the particularly outrageous situation in which a state condones the use of systematic mass rape by its own forces or surrogate militias in order to advance their military or political objectives.”

While he said the Unites States welcomed the final agreement by consensus, he added, “It is no secret that we would have strongly preferred the final wording to place stronger emphasis on the use of rape to attain political and military objectives.”

Kristen Silverberg, the assistant secretary of state for international organization affairs, said Friday: “We are very disappointed that we could not secure stronger language condemning government-sponsored rape. We would not have imagined that language along those lines would provoke controversy.”

Could the idea of theraputic cloning soon be yesterday's news?

We hope. In fact I posted about this yesterday. Tom Faranda's Folly: More on cloning

Here,s more - an illuminating article from the very interesting Australian/New Zealand website MercatorNet.

MercatorNet - Is therapeutic cloning on the skids?

... The scientist who cloned Dolly, Ian Wilmut, the world's most prominent expert in cloning, has abandoned his plans to clone human embryos. He believes that an "extremely exciting and astonishing" Japanese method of creating stem cells is more effective and carried no ethical baggage. "His announcement could mark the beginning of the end for therapeutic cloning," says the London Daily Telegraph. 

This confirms what critics have been saying for years. What's baffling about the pubic infatuation with embryonic stem cells, which are obtained by dissecting and killing early stage embryos, is that they have not cured anyone or been useful for anything.

A very thorough summary of current research therapeutic cloning was presented to the German Parliament (the Bundestag) earlier this year. In it Dr Lukas Kenner, of the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Cancer Research in Vienna, reminded the German government that only a single experimental study has demonstrated that therapeutic cloning is possible, at least in mice. However, to the surprise of the researchers, the cloned cells were incompatible with the patient's immune system. That was in 2002, and in the five ensuing years, no one, not even the original authors, have "produced animal experimental evidence of the core hypothesis of the feasibility of immunocompatible 'therapeutic cloning' that overcomes the hurdle of immune rejection".

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The hoopla over monkey cloning shows the enormous pressure on scientists to wring good news out of the tiniest advances. In this hyper-competitive atmosphere, some are bound to exaggerate or even fake their results. This has already happened -- and not just in Korea. Last year it was discovered that a scientist at the University of Missouri-Columbia, had digitally altered images of mouse embryos for an article in an article in the leading journal Science.

The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, which has the world's biggest stem cell budget -- US$3 billion over 10 years, mostly for embryonic stem cells -- has already had problems with two of its grants.

>>>>>>>>>>

Too much hype. Too many daydreams. Too much taxpayers money. Too few researchers. Too little supervision. It's the kind of brew that rogues and rascals thrive on. We can expect more stem cell scandals in the years to come unless scientists follow Ian Wilmut's lead and abandon therapeutic cloning.
 

Is this Abe Lincoln?

Go here to see some newly discovered pictures of what appears to be Lincoln at Gettysburgh.

News - AOL News - Honestly, Is That Really Abe in 3-D?

Bush to host Nobel Prize winners

This is amusing.

Inconvenient Truth: Gore Won a Nobel, and Bush Will Host the Winners - washingtonpost.com

Maybe he'll bring the slide show.

Former vice president Al Gore plans to return to the White House after Thanksgiving, apparently for the first time since leaving office, to be honored by the man who beat him seven years ago.

Global Warming Update #24

The NY Times has a preview of the fourth report coming from the Nobel Prize winning (shared with Al Gore) UN Panel for Global Warming. According to the Times, their winning of the Prize has "emboldened" the scientists to really tell how bad things are! Or anyway, how bad it's going to be.

Plus, as a bonus, below the excerpts another link explaining who the big culprits are in CO2 discharge. That's right - what we exhale is now , in some circles, considered a pollutant.

U.N. Report Describes Risks of Inaction on Climate Change - New York Times

Even though the synthesis report is more alarming than its predecessors, some researchers believe that it still understates the trajectory of global warming and its impact. The I.P.C.C.’s scientific process, which takes five years of study and writing from start to finish, cannot take into account the very latest data on climate change or economic trends, which show larger than predicted development and energy use in China.

“The world is already at or above the worst case scenarios in terms of emissions,” said Gernot Klepper, of the Kiel Institute for World Economy in Kiel, Germany. “In terms of emissions, we are moving past the most pessimistic estimates of the I.P.C.C., and by some estimates we are above that red line.”

The panel presents several scenarios for the trajectory of emissions and climate change. In 2006, 8.4 gigatons of carbon were put into the atmosphere from fossil fuels, according to a study in the proceedings of the National Academy of Science, which was co-written by Dr. Klepper. That is almost identical to the panel’s worst case prediction for that year.

Likewise, a recent International Energy Agency report looking at the unexpectedly rapid emissions growth in China and India estimated that if current policies were not changed the world would warm six degrees by 2030, a disastrous increase far higher than the panel’s estimates of one to four degrees by the end of the century.

Here's the Bonus, courtesy of CNN:

Map shows top CO2 producers in the world - CNN.com

Australians produce 11 tons of CO2 for each of its people from their power plants -- the highest anywhere -- compared to 9 tons per person in the United States and 2 tons per person in China.

But the United States has the most CO2 emissions (2.79 billion tons), followed by China (2.66 billion tons). China, which soon is expected to pass the United States, is home to three of the world's five most CO2-polluting utilities.

Especially for Bush-haters - Caution: X-rated language!

Bush-haters, you'll  be delighted go crazy for love this - from the San Francisco Chronicle. It shows how classy the people are, who are into Bush-hating. This is currently the most read, most emailed article in the San Fran paper.

Bush Death Watch: Countdown! / It's official: Less than one year until history slaps Dubya to the curb. Can you feel the tingle?

What's more, the glorious collapse of the evangelical Christian right marches on apace, as Pat Robertson, now a dejected, lonely widower after the death of secret boy-toy husband Jerry Falwell, has officially endorsed pro-choice, pro-gay, thrice-married, massively unbalanced moral pit bull Rudy Giuliani for president, which is a bit like a militant vegan endorsing Hot Dog on a Stick for the title of Lord of the Food Court. Desperate times indeed.

But wait, it gets better. While it's easy to focus on Shrub and Cheney and to gleefully, achingly imagine their dreary march out of office on that happy day, it is also vital and heartwarming to note that this time next year will also mark the demise of an entire army of toxic leaders, federal department heads, gay-bashing appointees and misogynist directors of every stripe and scandal and spittle, a simply huge array of right-wing Bushies who are still entrenched in all manner of powerful federal bureaus and organizations and policy-making bodies.

It's true. Despite how a huge hunk of hideous GOP policymakers lost their seats during the last congressional election, plenty more appointees are still around to poison the well. From Kevin Martin, the lackey who oversees the FCC, to noxious Idahoan and rabid anti-environmentalist Dick Kempthorne of the Department of the Interior, to anti-choice Republican Mormon knucklehead charity scammer and Department of Health and Human Services overseer Mike Leavitt, and on and on — in a year, all on their way out.

Oh, and one more deserves special attention. Because one year from now will also be the glorious political end of one Dr. David W. Hager, the rabid evangelical Christian gynecologist (I know, so wrong) who currently advises the FDA on women's health issues and who was largely responsible for delaying the approval of Plan B, opposed RU-486, is in fact against all contraception, stem-cell research, premarital sex, and (quite naturally) women's choice, and whose own ex-wife claims he anally raped her, over and over again, in her sleep.

Intelligent women nationwide still shudder that this man is allowed anywhere near a living vagina, much less permitted to touch and probe and offer advice. But there is one noteworthy aspect to Hager; he is the perfect incarnation of the Christian right's view of women as subordinate, lesser-intelligent sluts who cannot control their own bodies and therefore need men, God, and the government to do it for them. Hager is a deep shame to the male gender, and his return to the private practice of ruining the sex lives of unfortunate women in Kentucky cannot come soon enough.

>>>>>>>>

Now is the time. The coming year will slide by rather quickly and the feeling of urgent change and upheaval will only build and it doesn't really matter if it's Hillary or Obama or Edwards leading the shift, because no matter who gets the nod, they will require — from me, from you, from anyone who professes to care — a roiling tidal wave of progressive momentum behind them to help them cleanse and haul away the overwhelming mountain of moral fecal matter Bush has left behind.

Yes, true true, class. As Oliver North once said, "plenty of people died face down in the mud" for columnists like Mark Morford.

More on cloning

The NY Times is thrilled that great progress is being made in Oregon with cloned monkey embryos. They foresee theraputic advances when we're able to clone human embryos and take out embryonic stem cells (of course it kills the embryos. Oh well, that's progress, right?).

A Stem Cell Achievement - New York Times

BUT, the scientist who first cloned a mammal - remember Dolly the sheep? - is RENOUNCING human cloning - even though he has been given a "license to clone human embryos" in Great Britain

Dolly creator Prof Ian Wilmut shuns cloning - Telegraph

Prof Wilmut, who works at Edinburgh University, believes a rival method pioneered in Japan has better potential for making human embryonic cells which can be used to grow a patient's own cells and tissues for a vast range of treatments, from treating strokes to heart attacks and Parkinson's, and will be less controversial than the Dolly method, known as "nuclear transfer."

His announcement could mark the beginning of the end for therapeutic cloning, on which tens of millions of pounds have been spent worldwide over the past decade. "I decided a few weeks ago not to pursue nuclear transfer," Prof Wilmut said.

Most of his motivation is practical but he admits the Japanese approach is also "easier to accept socially."

His inspiration comes from the research by Prof Shinya Yamanaka at Kyoto University, which suggests a way to create human embryo stem cells without the need for human eggs, which are in extremely short supply, and without the need to create and destroy human cloned embryos, which is bitterly opposed by the pro life movement.

Prof Yamanaka has shown in mice how to turn skin cells into what look like versatile stem cells potentially capable of overcoming the effects of disease.

This pioneering work to revert adult cells to an embryonic state has been reproduced by a team in America and Prof Yamanaka is, according to one British stem cell scientist, thought to have achieved the same feat in human cells....

"(Prof. Wilmut)... I have no doubt that in the long term, direct reprogramming will be more productive, though we can't be sure exactly when, next year or five years into the future."

Prof Yamanaka's work suggests the dream of converting adult cells into those that can grow into many different types can be realised remarkably easily.

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Britain's new Nobel prize winner and pioneer of stem cell research, Sir Martin Evans of the Cardiff School of Biosciences, commented on the Japanese work: "This will be the long-term solution."

The news that Prof Wilmut is to abandon cloning was welcomed by Josephine Quintavalle on behalf of Comment on Reproductive Ethics, which is against the use of human embryos in research.

"At last scientists are starting to see reason and we are going to have fact and reality, rather than hype. It could not come at a better time with the new Human Tissue and Embryos Bill having its second reading in the Lords on Monday. It is a gift to us all. We are at last going to see some common sense coming into the debate."

The 18th anniversary of the El Salvador murders

The assassinations of six Jesuits, along with their housekeeper and her daughter.

Here's some information that was put online on the tenth anniversary.

10th Anniversary

A nice story about the birth of quintuplets

But Russian doctors refused to treat the family unless...

Some anonymous help saved the day.

How faith kept my quintuplets alive, says Russian mum | the Daily Mail

Murdoch expects to offer free access to the Wall Street Journal web content

As well as being a subscriber to the print version of the Wall Street Journal, I pay a lttle bit extra ($40/yr.) for full access to their website. Now it appears that the pending new owner of the Journal, Rupert Murdoch through his NewsCorp company, is going to offer free access, under the expectation that they can make more money through advertising to the expected  increase in users.

I think this is good news. The Journal is the premier U.S. daily publication (my opinion).

Web Sites Tear Down That Wall - washingtonpost.com

But most consumers expect free mainstream content, including news and mass-audience entertainment, whether they find it on YouTube or washingtonpost.com.

"Subscriptions thrive in an area where there's scarcity -- content that people can't get anywhere else," said Rafat Ali, publisher of PaidContent.org. "Other than that, you need an advertising-based model."

The shift toward free, ad-supported sites should prove to be more lucrative, said Murdoch, who plans to conclude his purchase of the Wall Street Journal before the end of the year. The Journal, with about 1 million subscribers, is one of a few publications that have made a business of selling content online. But the number of users could increase to 10 million to 15 million if the site were free, Murdoch told shareholders in a speech in Australia. That would mean the site could charge more to advertisers who want to reach that broader audience or any part of it.

Spitzer's nastiness - has it caught up with him?

The Wall Street Journal has written several editorials in the past few years documenting Eliot Spitzer's winning through intimidation tactics while he was attorney general for NY State. And they have a good one this morning on his now ended plans to give drivers licenses to illegal residents, and apply NY State sales tax to internet purchases. I posted about hte license debacle yesterday. Tom Faranda's Folly: What was the logic of giving licenses to illegal immigrants?

Governor Spitzer's approval ratings are at 25%, but this is New york and he's a loyal Democrat. I've no doubt he'll be re-electd in three years (especially given the moribund condition ofthe NY Republican party.)

Spitzer's Fall OpinionJournal - Featured Article

When we last checked on New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, he had got himself into an ethics imbroglio over the matter of trying to destroy a political opponent. His descent has continued--to where a poll this week reports that only 25% of New Yorkers say they'd re-elect him. The other 75% can't say they weren't warned.

Mr. Spitzer's most recent setback came this week, when he retreated after being routed by his own party on his proposal to issue drivers licenses to illegal immigrants. In trademark Spitzer style, the Governor presented his proposal in September as a fait accompli. He then moved swiftly into bullying mode, calling one early critic of the plan "factually wrong, legally wrong, morally wrong, ethically wrong."

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Given Mr. Spitzer's fall in the polls, it's tempting to say New Yorkers have learned something new about the man who said on his inauguration day that, "we must change the ethics of Albany and end the politics of cynicism and division in our state." But the bullying, the arrogance and the focus on destroying anyone who stood his way were on full display when he was Attorney General.

Most of the media chose to overlook these qualities, instead extolling his "crusading" style. Readers of this newspaper knew better, having seen (among other things) how he threatened to destroy John Whitehead, the former Goldman Sachs and State Department official, for daring to defend former AIG CEO Hank Greenberg in public.

The only real difference between Mr. Spitzer now and then is that as Governor he is obliged to govern, as opposed to merely bringing charges amid a PR offensive and then settling before having to prove anything in court. His heavy-handed approach to the drivers license plan shows the limits of such behavior in a job where he actually has to persuade people.

Will the Iraqi leadership fumble? Let's hope not

But here's a Washington Post feature article - things are on a knife edge

Iraqis Wasting An Opportunity, U.S. Officers Say - washingtonpost.com

Brig. Gen. John F. Campbell, deputy commanding general of the 1st Cavalry Division, complained last week that Iraqi politicians appear out of touch with everyday citizens. "The ministers, they don't get out," he said. "They don't know what the hell is going on on the ground." Campbell noted approvingly that Lt. Gen. Aboud Qanbar, the top Iraqi commander in the Baghdad security offensive, lately has begun escorting cabinet officials involved in health, housing, oil and other issues out of the Green Zone to show them, as Campbell put it, "Hey, I got the security, bring in the [expletive] essential services."

Indeed, some U.S. Army officers now talk more sympathetically about former insurgents than they do about their ostensible allies in the Shiite-led central government. "It is painful, very painful," dealing with the obstructionism of Iraqi officials, said Army Lt. Col. Mark Fetter. As for the Sunni fighters who for years bombed and shot U.S. soldiers and now want to join the police, Fetter shrugged. "They have got to eat," he said over lunch in the 1st Cavalry Division's mess hall here. "There are so many we've detained and interrogated, they did what they did for money."

The best promise for breaking the deadlock would be holding provincial elections, officers said -- though they recognize that elections could turn bloody and turbulent, undercutting the fragile stability they now see developing in Iraq.

"The tipping point that I've been looking for as an intel officer, we are there," said one Army officer here who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of his position. "The GOI [government of Iraq] and ISF [Iraqi security forces] are at the point where they can make it or break it."

The latest news of declining violence comes as the U.S. troop contingent in Iraq has reached an all-time high. This week, the U.S. troop number will hit 175,000 -- the largest presence so far in the 4 1/2 -year war -- as units that are rotating in and out overlap briefly. But those numbers are scheduled to come down rapidly over the next several months, which will place an increasing burden on Iraqi security forces and an Iraqi government that has yet to demonstrate it is up to the challenge, senior military officials said.

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On the diplomatic side of the Iraq equation, U.S. officials said they realize time is short. "We've got six months because the military is leaving," said one official. But this official and others expressed irritation with the military's negativity toward the Iraqi government -- which they interpret as blaming the State Department for not speeding reconciliation.

"That's their out," the official said of the military. "It's convenient, and I know plenty of them have been helping that story around."

Diplomatic officials, none of whom were authorized to speak on the record, insisted that progress is being made, even if it lags behind military successes. They highlighted two key elements needed for political reconciliation in Iraq, one domestic and one external. Internally, sectarian politicians remain deadlocked on a range of issues. Shiite political groups are holding back as they vie for national power and control over resources, while the majority Shiite population fears that the Sunnis hope to recapture the dominance they held under Saddam Hussein.

Mitt Romney's early years

The Times has a feature on Romeny, and his years as a Mormon missionary and student at Brigham Young

Romney, Searching and Earnest, Set His Path in ’60s - New York Times

It was the midpoint in a six-year immersion in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — first as a missionary and then at the church’s Brigham Young University — that set the conservative course Mr. Romney would follow as a businessman, politician and now a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination.