When the bear gets you

Consumers have been taking it in the gas tank for quite awhile now. Things got way out of hand in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and continue to slam ordinary people. As the economy continues its downward spiral, The Dow took a 315 point hit on news of escalating oil costs and inflation fears. Food and energy costs are even vexing the Federal Reserve, which is quickly reaching the limit of its ability to do anything else to fix things. Consumer confidence has dropped like a stone and bank losses are expected to mushroom.

In the meantime, the fools on Capitol Hill demonstrated how out of touch they are with outside the Beltway reality, descending into partisan bickering as the economy burns. Senate Republicans are withholding relief to mortgage holders facing foreclosure because President Bush wants his precious and pointless tax cuts extended until the Second Coming. Congress really needs to get its priorities straight and get over this lame duck president's issues before the voters give these Congresscritters a lesson in the kind of pocketbook pain they're experiencing right now.

Taking a leap

New approaches in the war on "bio-psycho-spiritual disorder." Newsweek

Consumers are as mad as hell, and they're not going to take it from the credit companies anymore. Time

Proving that America has no monopoly on incompetent politicians. The Economist

Understanding the sacrifices, appreciating the divide. U.S. News

Children of an unaffiliated god

A new report on religion in America by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life was released and the results show a large amount of churn in the spiritual marketplace. The report is an interview survey with a sample size of 35,000. Expect more reports to come out of the results this data set. Spiritual independents are a growing bloc at more than 12 percent. Atheists and agnostics clock in at a mere 4 percent. It also turns out that about 10 percent of the U.S. population is in the “former Catholic” category. And while they make up .4 percent of the population, Hindus are the wealthiest and best-educated religious group. Sadly, while the report spells out the clear differences between Buddhist adherents, the Associated Press can’t seem to figure out what constitutes a follower of Buddhism.

No country for young men

For those of you who may have missed it watching that other awards show Sunday night, the post of Cuba’s maximum leader went to one Raul Castro, 76, in a unanimous vote that must have surprised no one. Apparently even "El Comandante" voted for him by absentee ballot. Jose Ramon Machado, 76, will be his first vice president. Juan Almeida Bosque, Abelardo Colomi Ibarra, Carlos Lage Davila, Esteban Lazo Hernandez and Julio Casas Regueiro will round out the rest of the vice prez posse. Ricardo Alarcón, 70, was re-elected president of the National Assembly. The long-time leader of Cuba’s military dressed tastefully in a suit and tie, eschewing traditional military fatigues which are now so out of fashion, when he addressed the assembly. Raul is promising a more democratic government, but says that the Communist party is the guarantee of the Cuban nation. I guess you don’t have to worry about thanking the academy when your’s is the only name on the ballot.

Spoiler Alert

Ralph Nader has returned to the presidential race. And, as usual, the word 'spoiler' is being attached to his candidacy. Because the American presidential system is designed for two parties, any third party candidate gets tarred with the term. Every story about his candidacy has trotted out the fury many Democrats have for the man because of the 2000 election. The Associated Press in particular gets an 'F' for effort. All it could seem to muster was a terse two paragraph story with the liberal fury bit as its second item. At least the BBC went the extra mile to spell out his consumer advocacy credentials. It never occurs to either the press or the Democrats that maybe Al Gore was the reason Al Gore lost the 2000 election. Moreover, Nader is right to note that if the Democrats succeeed in snatching defeat from the jaws of victory in the upcoming election, they ought to pack their bags and call it a day. Obama offered this telling opinion regarding Nader's entry:

"He seems to have a pretty high opinion of his own work."

Hello!? Isn't that a prerequisite for any presidential candidate?

In a nation that prides itself on being able to choose from 30 different flavors of ice cream, isn't it time that Americans began priding themselves on more choices of viable political parties? Why should that kind of choice be left to the Europeans? Nader has the right to run and to rise and fall on his own merits at the ballot box just like any other candidate. The built in cultural bias toward the two dominant parties we currently have does a disservice to the public and the parties themselves. This nation was built on revolutionary ideas. Nader deserves to run on his.

Animation for adults

The future of hand-drawn animation and the best argument for the survival of the artform in the face of modern CGI can be summed up in one word: Persepolis. This film is based on the autobiographical graphic novel of the same name by the Iranian-born artist Marjane Satrapi. Its style is true to her graphic novel making the movie a much more personal work. And while the movie does allude to the violence of recent Iranian history as well as that which she experienced in her own life, it works much more effectively as simply that, allusion, than if these things had been made explicit. The movie is mostly black and white, with a very canny and sparing use of color. It is a traditional coming-of-age tale from a perspective we haven't seen before and offers a window into a world that has been demonized by a succession of U.S. presidential administrations. In doing so, it doesn't rely on the crutches of overt depictions of sex, violence and special effects. It doesn't shy away from the subjects of sex, drugs and violence, but it doesn't rely on them for audience shock value. That is perhaps the most telling feature of this animated feature. It is a mature work. It's an animated feature for adults and it respects its audience.

What makes this the future of the form? The individual style. The use of paint to provide access to a world beyond reach (as making this film as a live action movie on location would have been impossible and would have robbed it of its power). The effectiveness of communicating the truth of Satrapi's inner states as they related to her experience of her outer world. The future of hand-painted animation is Persepolis because it puts the form back in the hands of an individual artist for the purpose of communicating a unique, personal vision.

The sign of The Times

The man, the myth, the plain spoken bloggerette father, John McCain has gotten himself into a spot regarding an alleged 'inappropriate relationship' with lobbyist Vicki Iseman. The accusations first surfaced in the New York Times, which of course, stands by its reporting. In the standard fashion of these kinds of debacles in a campaign season, the Senator from Arizona shot back denying the story and the allegations. This of course led to the closing of ranks among the media with the Washington Post reporting the story as well, because, well the Times can't possibly be wrong when it says 'the facts have been nailed down to our satisfaction.'

The story itself will not change the fact that McCain will still be the likely Republican nominee. Even if the bottom suddenly dropped out because of the story (which it won't), Mike Huckabee will not have the time to win enough delegates to beat out McCain (short of an act of God, which this story isn't). And it since the allegations are pre-Sept. 11, 2001 (1999? Yawn!) most voters (most of who don't read the New York Times or the Washington Post anyway) will likely just shrug and say "So? He says it didn't happen. That's good enough for me."

The bad part of all of this, of course, is that there likely is something that matters about this story and a lot of good reporting hours and fact-checking were probably devoted to it. The worst part is that we're going to see more of this sort of thing as the season progresses. If there truly is anything of substance wrong with the Gray Lady's reporting you can bet that a) there will be a terse correction that no one is going to read, b) there will be no apology for having gotten it wrong, and c) even if there is an apology or a even an A1 retraction (if such a thing ends up being merited) the damage to both parties in this dispute will already have been done. Nobody is perfect. And God only knows that there are plenty of shady lobbyists/campaign supporters making the rounds.

Because everything during persidential hunting season becomes magnified and malicious motives get ascribed to everything, especially where the Times is concerned, the lesson to be learned for the media (and it never is) is that taking a little bit more time and asking all the important questions three or four more times is probably a better course of action than running it to press. The lessons to be learned for the candidates (and they never are) is to thoroughly oppo yourself, and if you don't want bad press, then don't create it.

Bullseye

The U.S. Navy, in accordance with its standard 'hurry up and wait' operating procedure, finally got around to taking down a dying spy satellite with a missile. It was a $60 million long shot. The stated reason was to destroy half a ton of toxic fuel. Alterior (one might even say Freudian) motives, however, are alleged.

And the Moon is eclipsed by the Earth

A 'significant shortfall' through the cracks - Time

Sharia Law - The Economist

Getting shamued - Newsweek

Occupation: Massage Specialist. Profession: Martyr - U.S. News

Livin la vida retiremente

First Kosovo unilaterally declares its independence. Then Pakistan sticks it Musharraf. Now Fidel Castro declares he’s calling it quits. How long Castro actually lives will determine what kind of Cuba emerges following his resignation as maximum leader. The Cuban National Assembly votes for a new leader on February 24. There are several possible candidates to choose from but in all probability the reins of power will remain in the hands of his brother Raul, derided as Fidel-lite. While Fidel's former daughter-in-law warns not to expect any immediate miracles, there are reasons to think things could improve, albeit slowly. Exile leaders want to see the U.S. government bring criminal charges against Raul in the deaths linked to the downing of a plane. On the streets, all was quiet. Garbage was collected and a relative calm prevailed, a view shared by passengers arriving from Havana. In a week of momentous change one can only wonder what's next.

What the world thinks now

World reaction to Fidel Castro’s retirement announcement has been mixed. The Bush Administration did what every other U.S. administration has done and did so in it's normally unhelpful manner, declaring that it will not tear down the trade wall with Cuba. China called Fidel an old friend. The UK's Gordon Brown hopes it'll provide a transition to democracy, and the EU is hoping for revived ties to the island nation. Spain's secretary of state for Iberoamerica is optimistic that economic reform is in the offing. For the most part, the Cubans themselves and the exiles in Miami seem to be saying to the world ‘don’t hold your breath.’

Vote at your own risk

People finally cast their votes in the repeatedly delayed and literally explosive Pakistani election. Despite a dismal turnout, it seems Pervez Musharraf’s party got trounced by the party of Benazir Bhutto. It also seems to be a good election for the Pakistan Muslim League-N whose leader ran on the promise of restoring the country’s ousted supreme court justice. Of course there were some problems with voters’ names missing from the rolls and an attempt to steal ballots. And apparently, some of the government election officials came to the polling sites hammered. This election was seen as much a referendum on President Bush as it was Musharraf. Final results won’t be available for days, but one can hope that despite the violence and problems, democracy might finally be restored to what at least one news source has called “the most dangerous country in the world.”

Independence Day

Monday, Monday. Any other day would be just fine. This Monday, however, the U.S. and several EU member nations are set to recognize the independence of Kosovo, part of Serbia and once part of the former Yugoslavia. But apparently nobody bothered to discuss it with the Russians and the Serbians who are less than pleased by this. Russia has demanded an emergency session of the UN Security Council and means to block its admission of Kosovo into the august body that is the United Nations. The nation, having been under the UN's watchful eye since 1999, with 16,000 NATO troops stationed there, will now be under the EU's watchful eye. The EU is sending police and judicial officers to replace the UN's mission there. The detractors argue that Kosovo's unilateral declaration is illegal and will only ignite a wave of similar actions throughout the world (read: in Russia's backyard). With the an open session of the Security Council scheduled, we're going to find out if the Serbian president and his Russian allies will succeed in shooting Kosovo's day down.

Love's labors investigated

Have questions about that person you're dating online? Want to be sure they're everything they're claiming to be? Are you ready to move beyond Googling your potential Mr./Miss Good Enough for maybe Forever? Apparently in India, some suitors are hiring private detectives to do just that. And business seems to be booming. It used to be that “on the Internet, no one knows you’re a dog.” As an unintended consequence, people now want to know exactly what kind of dog you are, how distinguished your pedigree is, and what packs you run in. Given the kind of business that online dating services do in the United States, it's a wonder that American private detectives haven't moved more vigorously to fill this particular niche. And while one might hope that “Love Conquers All,” it may have to endure questioning by a nosey, gravelly-voiced middle-aged man to do it.

More than just hot air

While the Israelis may be working to beta test an electric car infrastructure and the U.S. Government may suddenly have gotten religion over biofuels, an Indian engineer may have come up with another interesting solution to the fossil-fuel driven vehicle problem. The pneumatic car. Tata motors is backing the development of an air-driven car. All the zero-emission vehicle needs for a fuel up is an air compressor. It may also need an electric engine for long hauls. Still, this is exactly the kind of thinking that companies in Detroit ought to be embracing. Having posted a $38.7 billion loss for 2007, GM could be trying to do something really innovative right about now. If the pneumatic car works and goes into mass distribution, drivers could be lining up at gas station air pumps to do more than inflate their tires.

Oh Mugniyah ... You won't see him no more.

One of the world's most wanted was rubbed out in a bomb attack in Syria. And while it caught the blame, Israel is denying any involvement. There's certainly no shortage of suspects though. Imad Mugniyah, Hezbollah's senior military commander, has been blamed for everything from global warming to E.D. He left a fingerprint on an airplane during a1985 highjacking that landed him on the FBI's most wanted list. Israel came close to getting him in 1992, but ended up killing his brother instead. He also is linked to the Mahdi Army as a military trainer. And while nobody knows who did it yet, everybody except Iran is crowing over his demise. Hezbollah is throwing a public memorial Thursday in Damascus. Some sort of retaliation is expected. Mugniyah was the second-most wanted in the world. Now if we could only run down the first.

The Future Strikes Back

Keep those paper backups CNN

Landed eagle, hidden dragon Time

At least it wasn't an upgrade to Windows Vista Wired

Poking the bear with a stick

Well it's a mixed bag so far for the Westward-leaning Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko burnt the midnight oil in negotiations over Gasprom's delivery of natural gas to Ukraine and the renegotiation of alleged debts. The good news is that the old pair of shifty intermediary companies will be replaced by a new pair of shifty intermediaries. The new firms will be jointly owned by Gazprom and Naftogaz, a Ukrainian state company. The bad news is that at the same time, Putin has advised Ukraine against joining NATO. Russia will reduce it's military cooperation with Ukraine and would target its missiles at Ukraine if it allowed the U.S. to put a missile defense system in place there. Needless to say, Ukraine's biggest bargaining chip, having a say on if and how Russia joins the WTO, may have just gotten a little bit more important.

Pulp Arthouse Non-Fiction

It seems like something out of a Tarantino flick. Instead of knocking over a bank or a store, a couple of people in masks with guns robbed a Zurich museum in broad daylight. Nearly every story claims it was a spectacular robbery. Four paintings, all on one wall, were stolen from the E.G. Buehrle Collection. While the paintings by Paul Cezanne, Edgar Degas, Claude Monet and Vincent van Gogh themselves were worth about $163 million, they weren't even the most valuable in the collection. They apparently loaded the paintings into a white vehicle but will have some difficulty unloading them in the open market. It seems that there's a spree going on in Switzerland right now. This latest robbery follows the recent theft of two paintings by Pablo Picasso -- at another Swiss museum which were valued at $4.5 million -- that were on loan from a German museum. The market for stolen art is estimated by the FBI at about $6 billion a year and the European agency Interpol has logged in nearly 30,000 works into it's stolen art database. The real tragedy is that these thefts deprive the world of cultural masterpieces for someone else's petty financial gain. And these works can be lost to the public for years. One can only hope that the when the works are recovered, someone will get mediaeval on the thieves.

The line of kings failed

A black market in red roses BBC

Expect some Crackberry withdrawal WashPost

The Islamic Revolution turns 29 CNN

Tolkien estate seeks it's fair share of New Line the Golden’s treasure Time

The doctor is in ... custody

They got him. Amit Kumar, who had been on the run from Indian authorities for his part in the organ removal scandal in India was bagged in a Nepal jungle resort 95 miles south of Kathmandu. He had a load of money on him when he was arrested. Of course he's claiming that he did nothing wrong. Nepal is going to see if he violated laws there before sending him back to India. Good thing Kumar had all that money on him. Legal charges alone are going to cost him an arm, a leg, and maybe even a kidney.

Leave the gun, take the cannolis

There is new hope for Naples. Italy that is. Operation Old Bridge, a major sweep of mafia figures in the U.S. and Italy, has netted 54 arrests in New York City and 25 to 30 in Palermo. The operation may have decapitated the Gambino family, although John "Jackie the Nose" D'Amico, the acting boss is currently on vacation. How the Italians managed to hold up their end without a government is anyone's guess. Now maybe the trash in Naples will finally get picked up. Maybe even on time too.

Out of the gun barrels of babes

Al Qaida's been busy recently, burying dead commanders, declaring cease-fires and corrupting Iraq's youth. Sadly, our Pakistani allies aren't doing so well in the war against al Qaida. It seems that the recently deceased Abu Laith al-Libi had the run of Waziristan before the missile strike that killed him last week. The Pakistanis are being blamed for frustrating the efforts of the U.S. and its allies to stop the group and the Taliban. The Pakistani army has been taking its share of casualties in regional fighting, including the decapitation of it's regional command staff in a helicopter accident. But it's al Qaida's focus on children that's most disturbing. By turning kids into terrorists, al Qaida is opening a new, long-term offensive in what many are calling The Long War. Unless we start funding alternatives to war for disaffected Middle Eastern youths and start a more aggressive public deplomacy offensive, this could very well become a war without end.

Not that you asked

Everything you wanted to know about being stopped for a ticket, but were afraid to ask. CNN

Without writers, they're just fishing for content: NYT

An unprecedented signing statement: WashPost

The Russian President: BBC

The wins of the Father

After amassing 902 career wins, Bobby Knight is calling it a day at Texas Tech and passing the torch to his son Pat. This time around it was his call, rather than being fired by a school's leadership. One can hope he will retire to McLennan County, Texas, and proceed to yell and throw chairs at his neighbor.

Changing of the Gods

Elizabeth Wayland Barber and Paul T. Barber wrote a fascinating book titled When They Severed Earth from Sky: How the Human Mind Shapes Myth. They outline a thesis that explains the relationship of ascendence and fall of principle gods and the changes in the night sky cycle of solstices and equinoxes. An archaeological link may have been unearthed in Greece with the discovery of an altar that predates the worship of Zeus. As one researcher pointedly put it to the New York Times:

As Dr. Romano remarked, quoting a quip by a friend, “We went from B.C. to B.Z., before Zeus.”

From a religious/mythological perspective this is just about right. The dating is also in line with Barber and Barber. Chaos was overthrown by Uranus. Uranus overthrown by Saturn. Saturn overthrown by Zeus. The Father replaced by the Son. If gods come and go, in the west they seem to have a two millennium shelf life. Which means we're probably overdue for a new one.

Circle in the sand

It's been a year since the U.S. implemented the Surge in Iraq. Commanders on the ground are cautiously optimistic about it's impact there which came about as a result of more boots on the ground, converting enemies into friends, and Muqtada al-Sadr and his militia maintaining a cease-fire. Military commanders are presently upbeat about the three wars being fought in Iraq: 1) against al-Qaida in Iraq, 2) against the domestic Sunni insurgency and 3) against the Shiite extremist militias. The first remains a bit of a problem. A lull has passed over the second. The third, however remains alive and well and may actually be a proxy war with Iran. The troops are making inroads and continue patrolling the streets. Make no mistake though, the war is taking its toll on the troops. Apparently suicide attempts by military personnel are up from 350 in 2002 to 2,100 in 2007. Troops will continue rotating home until July. Lets hope they all get to come home sooner rather than later.

A sort of homecoming

Becoming the ayatollah - Newsweek

Art for Italy's sake - The Economist

"The future for Khattab" - Time

Lest we forget - US News