HOLIDAY CHEER
Yesterday morning, upon my return from grocery shopping, I was surpised by one of my neighbors. I was unloading my car when he said hi, but I hadn't noticed him, so I started, let out a pathetic squeal, and was like, "Whoa! You scared me. How's it going?"
My neighbor got all snitty. He said, "I saw you driving up, so I thought I'd be polite and say hello. I wasn't trying to scare you." And then he got into his car and drove off.
In my time, I've been startled, and I have startled people. I've never known it to be cause for insult on either side. What a world.
Sunday, December 19, 2004
Tuesday, December 14, 2004
Thursday, December 09, 2004
Couple marry in gibbon wedding
Two animal conservationists have got married in a gibbon-style wedding ceremony in Thailand.
Briton Sam Lake met Israeli Norka Russin while working as a volunteer for the Return Gibbons to the Forest project at Phuket.
Mr Lake, 26, accompanied by a drum band and carrying trays of gifts, summoned his mate by imitating a male gibbon call.
His 28-year-old bride Israel responded with happy monkey calls while swinging down from a treetop into his embrace, reports The Nation.
After the wedding, at a wildlife sanctuary, the groom said: "Once the gibbon has chosen a mate it will not philander."
The couple also exchanged wedding bands, performed a Thai-style water-cleansing ceremony and registered their marriage in the presence of an official
As a wedding gift to the couple, wildlife officials released a gibbon family of four into the wild.
Two animal conservationists have got married in a gibbon-style wedding ceremony in Thailand.
Briton Sam Lake met Israeli Norka Russin while working as a volunteer for the Return Gibbons to the Forest project at Phuket.
Mr Lake, 26, accompanied by a drum band and carrying trays of gifts, summoned his mate by imitating a male gibbon call.
His 28-year-old bride Israel responded with happy monkey calls while swinging down from a treetop into his embrace, reports The Nation.
After the wedding, at a wildlife sanctuary, the groom said: "Once the gibbon has chosen a mate it will not philander."
The couple also exchanged wedding bands, performed a Thai-style water-cleansing ceremony and registered their marriage in the presence of an official
As a wedding gift to the couple, wildlife officials released a gibbon family of four into the wild.
Monday, December 06, 2004
Earlier today, I read a reference to Resident Evil: Apocalypse. It took me a minute, and then I realized that not only did that movie come out, some time ago in fact, but I had seen actually it. I was surprised by this realization.
I'm linking out of a sense of fundamental fairness, but this is really the best one:
The Ten Least Successful Holiday Specials of All Time
The Ten Least Successful Holiday Specials of All Time
A Canadian Christmas with David Cronenberg
(1986)
Thursday, December 02, 2004
Some Abstinence Programs Mislead Teens, Report Says
By Ceci Connolly
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, December 2, 2004; Page A01
Many American youngsters participating in federally funded abstinence-only programs have been taught over the past three years that abortion can lead to sterility and suicide, that half the gay male teenagers in the United States have tested positive for the AIDS virus, and that touching a person's genitals "can result in pregnancy," a congressional staff analysis has found.
Those and other assertions are examples of the "false, misleading, or distorted information" in the programs' teaching materials, said the analysis, released yesterday, which reviewed the curricula of more than a dozen projects aimed at preventing teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease.
In providing nearly $170 million next year to fund groups that teach abstinence only, the Bush administration, with backing from the Republican Congress, is investing heavily in a just-say-no strategy for teenagers and sex. But youngsters taking the courses frequently receive medically inaccurate or misleading information, often in direct contradiction to the findings of government scientists, said the report, by Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), a critic of the administration who has long argued for comprehensive sex education.
Several million children ages 9 to 18 have participated in the more than 100 federal abstinence programs since the efforts began in 1999. Waxman's staff reviewed the 13 most commonly used curricula -- those used by at least five programs apiece.
The report concluded that two of the curricula were accurate but the 11 others, used by 69 organizations in 25 states, contain unproved claims, subjective conclusions or outright falsehoods regarding reproductive health, gender traits and when life begins. In some cases, Waxman said in an interview, the factual issues were limited to occasional misinterpretations of publicly available data; in others, the materials pervasively presented subjective opinions as scientific fact.
Among the misconceptions cited by Waxman's investigators:
• A 43-day-old fetus is a "thinking person."
• HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, can be spread via sweat and tears.
• Condoms fail to prevent HIV transmission as often as 31 percent of the time in heterosexual intercourse.
One curriculum, called "Me, My World, My Future," teaches that women who have an abortion "are more prone to suicide" and that as many as 10 percent of them become sterile. This contradicts the 2001 edition of a standard obstetrics textbook that says fertility is not affected by elective abortion, the Waxman report said.
"I have no objection talking about abstinence as a surefire way to prevent unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases," Waxman said. "I don't think we ought to lie to our children about science. Something is seriously wrong when federal tax dollars are being used to mislead kids about basic health facts."
When used properly and consistently, condoms fail to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) less than 3 percent of the time, federal researchers say, and it is not known how many gay teenagers are HIV-positive. The assertion regarding gay teenagers may be a misinterpretation of data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that found that 59 percent of HIV-infected males ages 13 to 19 contracted the virus through homosexual relations.
Joe. S. McIlhaney Jr., who runs the Medical Institute for Sexual Health, which developed much of the material that was surveyed, said he is "saddened" that Waxman chose to "blast" well-intentioned abstinence educators when there is much the two sides could agree on.
McIlhaney acknowledged that his group, which publishes "Sexual Health Today" instruction manuals, made a mistake in describing the relationship between a rare type of infection caused by chlamydia bacteria and heart failure. Chlamydia also causes a common type of sexually transmitted infection, but that is not linked to heart disease. But McIlhaney said Waxman misinterpreted a slide that warns young people about the possibility of pregnancy without intercourse. McIlhaney said the slide accurately describes a real, though small, risk of pregnancy in mutual masturbation.
Congress first allocated money for abstinence-only programs in 1999, setting aside $80 million in grants, which go to a variety of religious, civic and medical organizations. To be eligible, groups must limit discussion of contraception to failure rates.
President Bush has enthusiastically backed the movement, proposing to spend $270 million on abstinence projects in 2005. Congress reduced that to about $168 million, bringing total abstinence funding to nearly $900 million over five years. It does not appear that the abstinence-only curricula are being taught in the Washington area.
Waxman and other liberal sex-education proponents argue that adolescents who take abstinence-only programs are ill-equipped to protect themselves if they become sexually active. According to the latest CDC data, 61 percent of graduating high school seniors have had sex.
Supporters of the abstinence approach, also called abstinence until marriage, counter that teaching young people about "safer sex" is an invitation to have sex.
Alma Golden, deputy assistant secretary for population affairs in the Department of Health and Human Services, said in a statement that Waxman's report is a political document that does a "disservice to our children." Speaking as a pediatrician, Golden said, she knows "abstaining from sex is the most effective means of preventing the sexual transmission of HIV, STDs and preventing pregnancy."
Nonpartisan researchers have been unable to document measurable benefits of the abstinence-only model. Columbia University researchers found that although teenagers who take "virginity pledges" may wait longer to initiate sexual activity, 88 percent eventually have premarital sex.
Bill Smith, vice president of public policy at the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States, a comprehensive sex education group that also receives federal funding, said the Waxman report underscored the need for closer monitoring of what he called the "shame-based, fear-based, medically inaccurate messages" being disseminated with tax money. He said the danger of abstinence education lies in the omission of useful medical information.
Some course materials cited in Waxman's report present as scientific fact notions about a man's need for "admiration" and "sexual fulfillment" compared with a woman's need for "financial support." One book in the "Choosing Best" series tells the story of a knight who married a village maiden instead of the princess because the princess offered so many tips on slaying the local dragon. "Moral of the story," notes the popular text: "Occasional suggestions and assistance may be alright, but too much of it will lessen a man's confidence or even turn him away from his princess."
© 2004 The Washington Post Company
By Ceci Connolly
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, December 2, 2004; Page A01
Many American youngsters participating in federally funded abstinence-only programs have been taught over the past three years that abortion can lead to sterility and suicide, that half the gay male teenagers in the United States have tested positive for the AIDS virus, and that touching a person's genitals "can result in pregnancy," a congressional staff analysis has found.
Those and other assertions are examples of the "false, misleading, or distorted information" in the programs' teaching materials, said the analysis, released yesterday, which reviewed the curricula of more than a dozen projects aimed at preventing teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease.
In providing nearly $170 million next year to fund groups that teach abstinence only, the Bush administration, with backing from the Republican Congress, is investing heavily in a just-say-no strategy for teenagers and sex. But youngsters taking the courses frequently receive medically inaccurate or misleading information, often in direct contradiction to the findings of government scientists, said the report, by Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), a critic of the administration who has long argued for comprehensive sex education.
Several million children ages 9 to 18 have participated in the more than 100 federal abstinence programs since the efforts began in 1999. Waxman's staff reviewed the 13 most commonly used curricula -- those used by at least five programs apiece.
The report concluded that two of the curricula were accurate but the 11 others, used by 69 organizations in 25 states, contain unproved claims, subjective conclusions or outright falsehoods regarding reproductive health, gender traits and when life begins. In some cases, Waxman said in an interview, the factual issues were limited to occasional misinterpretations of publicly available data; in others, the materials pervasively presented subjective opinions as scientific fact.
Among the misconceptions cited by Waxman's investigators:
• A 43-day-old fetus is a "thinking person."
• HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, can be spread via sweat and tears.
• Condoms fail to prevent HIV transmission as often as 31 percent of the time in heterosexual intercourse.
One curriculum, called "Me, My World, My Future," teaches that women who have an abortion "are more prone to suicide" and that as many as 10 percent of them become sterile. This contradicts the 2001 edition of a standard obstetrics textbook that says fertility is not affected by elective abortion, the Waxman report said.
"I have no objection talking about abstinence as a surefire way to prevent unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases," Waxman said. "I don't think we ought to lie to our children about science. Something is seriously wrong when federal tax dollars are being used to mislead kids about basic health facts."
When used properly and consistently, condoms fail to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) less than 3 percent of the time, federal researchers say, and it is not known how many gay teenagers are HIV-positive. The assertion regarding gay teenagers may be a misinterpretation of data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that found that 59 percent of HIV-infected males ages 13 to 19 contracted the virus through homosexual relations.
Joe. S. McIlhaney Jr., who runs the Medical Institute for Sexual Health, which developed much of the material that was surveyed, said he is "saddened" that Waxman chose to "blast" well-intentioned abstinence educators when there is much the two sides could agree on.
McIlhaney acknowledged that his group, which publishes "Sexual Health Today" instruction manuals, made a mistake in describing the relationship between a rare type of infection caused by chlamydia bacteria and heart failure. Chlamydia also causes a common type of sexually transmitted infection, but that is not linked to heart disease. But McIlhaney said Waxman misinterpreted a slide that warns young people about the possibility of pregnancy without intercourse. McIlhaney said the slide accurately describes a real, though small, risk of pregnancy in mutual masturbation.
Congress first allocated money for abstinence-only programs in 1999, setting aside $80 million in grants, which go to a variety of religious, civic and medical organizations. To be eligible, groups must limit discussion of contraception to failure rates.
President Bush has enthusiastically backed the movement, proposing to spend $270 million on abstinence projects in 2005. Congress reduced that to about $168 million, bringing total abstinence funding to nearly $900 million over five years. It does not appear that the abstinence-only curricula are being taught in the Washington area.
Waxman and other liberal sex-education proponents argue that adolescents who take abstinence-only programs are ill-equipped to protect themselves if they become sexually active. According to the latest CDC data, 61 percent of graduating high school seniors have had sex.
Supporters of the abstinence approach, also called abstinence until marriage, counter that teaching young people about "safer sex" is an invitation to have sex.
Alma Golden, deputy assistant secretary for population affairs in the Department of Health and Human Services, said in a statement that Waxman's report is a political document that does a "disservice to our children." Speaking as a pediatrician, Golden said, she knows "abstaining from sex is the most effective means of preventing the sexual transmission of HIV, STDs and preventing pregnancy."
Nonpartisan researchers have been unable to document measurable benefits of the abstinence-only model. Columbia University researchers found that although teenagers who take "virginity pledges" may wait longer to initiate sexual activity, 88 percent eventually have premarital sex.
Bill Smith, vice president of public policy at the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States, a comprehensive sex education group that also receives federal funding, said the Waxman report underscored the need for closer monitoring of what he called the "shame-based, fear-based, medically inaccurate messages" being disseminated with tax money. He said the danger of abstinence education lies in the omission of useful medical information.
Some course materials cited in Waxman's report present as scientific fact notions about a man's need for "admiration" and "sexual fulfillment" compared with a woman's need for "financial support." One book in the "Choosing Best" series tells the story of a knight who married a village maiden instead of the princess because the princess offered so many tips on slaying the local dragon. "Moral of the story," notes the popular text: "Occasional suggestions and assistance may be alright, but too much of it will lessen a man's confidence or even turn him away from his princess."
© 2004 The Washington Post Company
Thursday, November 11, 2004
Wednesday, November 03, 2004
From: "Devil May Care" by Tucker Carlson, Talk Magazine, September 1999, p. 106
"Bush's brand of forthright tough-guy populism can be appealing, and it has played well in Texas. Yet occasionally there are flashes of meanness visible beneath it.
While driving back from the speech later that day, Bush mentions Karla Faye Tucker, a double murderer who was executed in Texas last year. In the weeks before the execution, Bush says, Bianca Jagger and a number of other protesters came to Austin to demand clemency for Tucker. 'Did you meet with any of them?' I ask.
Bush whips around and stares at me. 'No, I didn't meet with any of them,' he snaps, as though I've just asked the dumbest, most offensive question ever posed. 'I didn't meet with Larry King either when he came down for it. I watched his interview with [Tucker], though. He asked her real difficult questions, like 'What would you say to Governor Bush?' 'What was her answer?' I wonder.
'Please,' Bush whimpers, his lips pursed in mock desperation, 'don't kill me.'
I must look shocked -- ridiculing the pleas of a condemned prisoner who has since been executed seems odd and cruel, even for someone as militantly anticrime as Bush -- because he immediately stops smirking.
'It's tough stuff,' Bush says, suddenly somber, 'but my job is to enforce the law.' As it turns out, the Larry King-Karla Faye Tucker exchange Bush recounted never took place, at least not on television. During her interview with King, however, Tucker did imply that Bush was succumbing to election-year pressure from pro-death penalty voters. Apparently Bush never forgot it. He has a long memory for slights."
"Bush's brand of forthright tough-guy populism can be appealing, and it has played well in Texas. Yet occasionally there are flashes of meanness visible beneath it.
While driving back from the speech later that day, Bush mentions Karla Faye Tucker, a double murderer who was executed in Texas last year. In the weeks before the execution, Bush says, Bianca Jagger and a number of other protesters came to Austin to demand clemency for Tucker. 'Did you meet with any of them?' I ask.
Bush whips around and stares at me. 'No, I didn't meet with any of them,' he snaps, as though I've just asked the dumbest, most offensive question ever posed. 'I didn't meet with Larry King either when he came down for it. I watched his interview with [Tucker], though. He asked her real difficult questions, like 'What would you say to Governor Bush?' 'What was her answer?' I wonder.
'Please,' Bush whimpers, his lips pursed in mock desperation, 'don't kill me.'
I must look shocked -- ridiculing the pleas of a condemned prisoner who has since been executed seems odd and cruel, even for someone as militantly anticrime as Bush -- because he immediately stops smirking.
'It's tough stuff,' Bush says, suddenly somber, 'but my job is to enforce the law.' As it turns out, the Larry King-Karla Faye Tucker exchange Bush recounted never took place, at least not on television. During her interview with King, however, Tucker did imply that Bush was succumbing to election-year pressure from pro-death penalty voters. Apparently Bush never forgot it. He has a long memory for slights."
Tuesday, November 02, 2004
Monday, November 01, 2004
Thursday, October 28, 2004
The Wit of President Bush
The worst thing about this is how satisfied he appears by his own humor. I've literally been in the same position, and never spared an extra fifteen second for self-satisfied smirking.
The worst thing about this is how satisfied he appears by his own humor. I've literally been in the same position, and never spared an extra fifteen second for self-satisfied smirking.
Thursday, October 21, 2004
After The Apprentice was over, I decided to keep the television on and give ER a chance, for the fist time in some while, partly because the commercials implied the departure from the series of the one character I recognized. The show began with a loud scene of domestic terror, and I turned it off. Fuck if I need to see that.
Saturday, October 16, 2004
Friday, September 17, 2004
Sophia Parlock, 3, cries while seated on the shoulders of her father, Phil Parlock, a supporter of President Bush, after a Bush-Cheney sign she and her father were holding was torn up by another person standing in the crowd that had gathered to greet Democratic vice presidential nominee Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C.
Wednesday, September 15, 2004
Slate has reduced Kitty Kelly's new Bush tome to its elemental core.
Page 271: Joke excised from Bush's 2001 Yale commencement speech: "It's great to return to New Haven. My car was followed all the way from the airport by a long line of police cars with slowly rotating lights. It was just like being an undergraduate again."
I know as a right-thinking sentient I'm supposed to hate the guy, but he keeps making jokes like this, and I just can't. If only he were Baseball Commissioner, he would be beloved.
The rest...
Academic Honors
Page 252: George H.W. Bush comes to the rescue when his sons run afoul of Andover honor codes. Jeb violates the school's alcohol ban, but he's allowed to finish his degree after his father intervenes. Years later, Kelley writes, school officials catch W.'s younger brother Marvin with drugs, but dad talks them out of expulsion and secures for his son an "honorary transfer" to another school.
Whatever. My parents talked a private school out of expelling me, but they were hardly throwing their political weight around.
Sex and Drugs
Page 49: Prescott Bush frequently shows up drunk at the lavish Hartford Club and never tips the bellboys. "Finally we figured out how to exact revenge," says one bellboy. "Whenever he came in drunk and wanted to go upstairs, we'd take him in the elevator and stop about three inches from his floor. He'd step out and fall flat on his face."
Page 79: In a letter to his mother during World War II, H.W. fulminates against the casual sex he sees at a Naval Air Station: "These girls are not prostitutes, but just girls without any morals at all."
If he wasn't being such a prissy nitwit, this would be a clever remark.
Page 266: George W. and cocaine. One anonymous Yalie claims he sold coke to Bush; another classmate says he and Bush snorted the drug together. Sharon Bush, W.'s ex-sister-in-law, tells Kelley that Bush has used cocaine at Camp David "not once, but many times." (Sharon has since denied telling Kelley this.)
This would be more interesting if the anonymous Yalie has purchased the cocaine from Bush.
Page 575: A friend says Laura Bush was the "go-to girl for dime bags" at Southern Methodist University.
I find this extremely hard to believe.
Ibid.: George and Laura visit Hall of Fame pitcher Sandy Koufax and his girlfriend Jane Clark in the Caribbean and attended pot parties.
This doesn't even make any sense.
Team Sports
Page 258-59: Under the moniker "Tweeds Bush," W. presides as unofficial chairman of Andover's stickball league. He manufactures a series of bogus membership cards that double as fake IDs in Boston bars.
God, this means my sister could be President someday.
Ibid.: W. introduces the school to the sport of pig ball, which involves throwing a football high in the air and then throttling a random player. As one ex-student puts it, "[T]o me he is the epitome of pig ball."
What the fuck?
Page 276: George H.W. challenges Yale chaplain William Sloane Coffin to a series of squash games. When Coffin takes four in a row, Bush refuses to quit until he wins. "That time I kicked a little ass and it felt good," Coffin gloats.
This is awesome. Again, what the fuck is up with that "pig ball" thing. Seriously. What the fuck? What kind of game involves throttling a random player? Is this on South Park?
Matriarchs
Page 191: At Yale, George H.W. asks Bar find a job to pay for her smoking habit.
I bet he also insisted she smoke the same brand all the time, so he'd know if she had any company over.
Page 467: An associate on Barbara: "She can make a clean kill from a thousand yards away. … [W]hen she delivers the life-taking blow, she does it with a thin-lipped smile."
I assume this is a metaphor. If not, then it's hardly crticism.
Page 534: After Bush loses the 1992 election, Barbara holds a White House rummage sale and hawks her lightly used ball gowns to staffers.
Again, unsettling image of one of my sisters living in the White House.
Black Sheep
Page 337-39: Prescott Bush III—"P3"—abandons his wife shortly after their wedding and, according to various accounts, is diagnosed with schizophrenia and moves in with members of the Weather Underground.
Huh? Awesome. I definitely want to know more about this story.
Compassionate Conservatism
Page 247: H.W. campaigns hard to be Nixon's running mate in 1968. Nixon goes with Spiro Agnew, a Greek-American, whom Bush derides as "Zorba, the Veep."
There's no way Bush is that clever. No fucking way.
Page 252: George W. hangs a Confederate flag in his dorm room at Andover.
I did that too. It gave me "personality."
Page 481: Miss USA visits the Oval Office in 1989 and affirms her commitment to world peace. After she leaves, H.W. tells reporters, "Did ya hear that, fellas? It's all about brains now. I liked it better when it was just bikinis."
Hardly an offensive sentiment. Only George H.W. Bush alone could sound like a twit saying that ( and how I hate typing his stupid fucking intials. Asshole.).
Power Plays
Page 454: After a testy interview with Dan Rather in 1988, H.W. remarks, "That guy makes Lesley Stahl look like a pussy."
Page 598: George W. to McCain during the nasty 2000 South Carolina primary: "John, we've got to start running a better campaign." McCain: "Don't give me that shit. And take your hands off me."
Oh, shit. That would have been an awesome fight.
Secrets of the Bushies
Page 95: George H.W. weeps during Skull and Bones initiation when describing his World War II heroics.
Page 213; 347: H.W. as Oliver Stone—hours after the Kennedy assassination, Bush phones the FBI and tells them about a 24-year-old Bircher who he says plotted to kill the president. The man is later cleared. As CIA director, for reasons no one quite understands, Bush demands to see many of the agency's assassination files.
Page 618: A friend says that during their famous Crawford summit, Bush treated Russia's Vladimir Putin as if he were an unreformed Communist apparatchik: "I told Putin that in this country we own our own homes and because we own them we take great pride in them. … I don't think the son of a bitch knew what the hell I was talking about."
To be fair, Bush told me the same thing when I knew him. Like I didn't what property ownership is. What a dipshit.
Page 271: Joke excised from Bush's 2001 Yale commencement speech: "It's great to return to New Haven. My car was followed all the way from the airport by a long line of police cars with slowly rotating lights. It was just like being an undergraduate again."
I know as a right-thinking sentient I'm supposed to hate the guy, but he keeps making jokes like this, and I just can't. If only he were Baseball Commissioner, he would be beloved.
The rest...
Academic Honors
Page 252: George H.W. Bush comes to the rescue when his sons run afoul of Andover honor codes. Jeb violates the school's alcohol ban, but he's allowed to finish his degree after his father intervenes. Years later, Kelley writes, school officials catch W.'s younger brother Marvin with drugs, but dad talks them out of expulsion and secures for his son an "honorary transfer" to another school.
Whatever. My parents talked a private school out of expelling me, but they were hardly throwing their political weight around.
Sex and Drugs
Page 49: Prescott Bush frequently shows up drunk at the lavish Hartford Club and never tips the bellboys. "Finally we figured out how to exact revenge," says one bellboy. "Whenever he came in drunk and wanted to go upstairs, we'd take him in the elevator and stop about three inches from his floor. He'd step out and fall flat on his face."
Page 79: In a letter to his mother during World War II, H.W. fulminates against the casual sex he sees at a Naval Air Station: "These girls are not prostitutes, but just girls without any morals at all."
If he wasn't being such a prissy nitwit, this would be a clever remark.
Page 266: George W. and cocaine. One anonymous Yalie claims he sold coke to Bush; another classmate says he and Bush snorted the drug together. Sharon Bush, W.'s ex-sister-in-law, tells Kelley that Bush has used cocaine at Camp David "not once, but many times." (Sharon has since denied telling Kelley this.)
This would be more interesting if the anonymous Yalie has purchased the cocaine from Bush.
Page 575: A friend says Laura Bush was the "go-to girl for dime bags" at Southern Methodist University.
I find this extremely hard to believe.
Ibid.: George and Laura visit Hall of Fame pitcher Sandy Koufax and his girlfriend Jane Clark in the Caribbean and attended pot parties.
This doesn't even make any sense.
Team Sports
Page 258-59: Under the moniker "Tweeds Bush," W. presides as unofficial chairman of Andover's stickball league. He manufactures a series of bogus membership cards that double as fake IDs in Boston bars.
God, this means my sister could be President someday.
Ibid.: W. introduces the school to the sport of pig ball, which involves throwing a football high in the air and then throttling a random player. As one ex-student puts it, "[T]o me he is the epitome of pig ball."
What the fuck?
Page 276: George H.W. challenges Yale chaplain William Sloane Coffin to a series of squash games. When Coffin takes four in a row, Bush refuses to quit until he wins. "That time I kicked a little ass and it felt good," Coffin gloats.
This is awesome. Again, what the fuck is up with that "pig ball" thing. Seriously. What the fuck? What kind of game involves throttling a random player? Is this on South Park?
Matriarchs
Page 191: At Yale, George H.W. asks Bar find a job to pay for her smoking habit.
I bet he also insisted she smoke the same brand all the time, so he'd know if she had any company over.
Page 467: An associate on Barbara: "She can make a clean kill from a thousand yards away. … [W]hen she delivers the life-taking blow, she does it with a thin-lipped smile."
I assume this is a metaphor. If not, then it's hardly crticism.
Page 534: After Bush loses the 1992 election, Barbara holds a White House rummage sale and hawks her lightly used ball gowns to staffers.
Again, unsettling image of one of my sisters living in the White House.
Black Sheep
Page 337-39: Prescott Bush III—"P3"—abandons his wife shortly after their wedding and, according to various accounts, is diagnosed with schizophrenia and moves in with members of the Weather Underground.
Huh? Awesome. I definitely want to know more about this story.
Compassionate Conservatism
Page 247: H.W. campaigns hard to be Nixon's running mate in 1968. Nixon goes with Spiro Agnew, a Greek-American, whom Bush derides as "Zorba, the Veep."
There's no way Bush is that clever. No fucking way.
Page 252: George W. hangs a Confederate flag in his dorm room at Andover.
I did that too. It gave me "personality."
Page 481: Miss USA visits the Oval Office in 1989 and affirms her commitment to world peace. After she leaves, H.W. tells reporters, "Did ya hear that, fellas? It's all about brains now. I liked it better when it was just bikinis."
Hardly an offensive sentiment. Only George H.W. Bush alone could sound like a twit saying that ( and how I hate typing his stupid fucking intials. Asshole.).
Power Plays
Page 454: After a testy interview with Dan Rather in 1988, H.W. remarks, "That guy makes Lesley Stahl look like a pussy."
Page 598: George W. to McCain during the nasty 2000 South Carolina primary: "John, we've got to start running a better campaign." McCain: "Don't give me that shit. And take your hands off me."
Oh, shit. That would have been an awesome fight.
Secrets of the Bushies
Page 95: George H.W. weeps during Skull and Bones initiation when describing his World War II heroics.
Page 213; 347: H.W. as Oliver Stone—hours after the Kennedy assassination, Bush phones the FBI and tells them about a 24-year-old Bircher who he says plotted to kill the president. The man is later cleared. As CIA director, for reasons no one quite understands, Bush demands to see many of the agency's assassination files.
Page 618: A friend says that during their famous Crawford summit, Bush treated Russia's Vladimir Putin as if he were an unreformed Communist apparatchik: "I told Putin that in this country we own our own homes and because we own them we take great pride in them. … I don't think the son of a bitch knew what the hell I was talking about."
To be fair, Bush told me the same thing when I knew him. Like I didn't what property ownership is. What a dipshit.
Friday, September 10, 2004
The college I regrettfully claim as my alma matter gets a pat on the back today from the Seattle Times, for its minority recruitment efforts.
Cougars of color
Washington State University long ago overcame a relatively remote location to succeed as a respected academic and research institution.
But diversity has come to WSU at a slower rate. Distance can be a deterrent to attracting a diverse student body, and in response, WSU created the Future Cougars of Color program, an aggressive recruitment and retention plan already bearing fruit. Last spring, WSU invited 66 students of color with average GPAs of 3.57 to spend the weekend in Pullman, learning about the university's 10 academic colleges and getting a feel for the place. Two-thirds of those students now have committed to WSU, making it the most successful diversity recruitment effort in the school's history.
The rate of college-bound students of color is on the rise. Credit WSU and its corporate partners, including Bon-Macy's, for creating a purposeful union that will keep many of our best and brightest here in the state.
The students won't be let down by WSU, where a beautiful campus, top-notch professors and myriad support programs await them.
Those recruits make up a whopping 1% of what should be a freshman class of 4,000, as well as a statistically insignificant increase to the current minority popul;ation, which runs at somewhere around 25%. Way to co, Cougs! Great job!
Cougars of color
Washington State University long ago overcame a relatively remote location to succeed as a respected academic and research institution.
But diversity has come to WSU at a slower rate. Distance can be a deterrent to attracting a diverse student body, and in response, WSU created the Future Cougars of Color program, an aggressive recruitment and retention plan already bearing fruit. Last spring, WSU invited 66 students of color with average GPAs of 3.57 to spend the weekend in Pullman, learning about the university's 10 academic colleges and getting a feel for the place. Two-thirds of those students now have committed to WSU, making it the most successful diversity recruitment effort in the school's history.
The rate of college-bound students of color is on the rise. Credit WSU and its corporate partners, including Bon-Macy's, for creating a purposeful union that will keep many of our best and brightest here in the state.
The students won't be let down by WSU, where a beautiful campus, top-notch professors and myriad support programs await them.
Those recruits make up a whopping 1% of what should be a freshman class of 4,000, as well as a statistically insignificant increase to the current minority popul;ation, which runs at somewhere around 25%. Way to co, Cougs! Great job!
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