Some odd stories from the BBC in 2006

The man who married a goat
A paper clip for a house
Porn in the news

Don't the English Courts Have Better Things To Do?

It's been almost ten years. The deaths of Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed have been deemed accidents, yet there will be more hearings on the matter in January.

Maybe one is cheaper than many

The OECD has been publishing statistics on health care and its costs for years. The latest report is for 2004. Here's how we compare to Canada, France, Australia and Britain.

Health Care Spending per Person
United States $6102
Canada 3165
France 3159
Australia 3120
Britain 2508

Life Expectancy in Years
United States 77.5
Canada 79.9
France 80.3
Australia 80.6
Britain 78.5

Infant Mortality per 1000 births
United States 6.9
Canada 5.3
France 3.9
Australia 4.7
Britain 5.1

So, we spend more but die earlier and are more likely to have stillbirths. Is there something wrong with this picture? Each of the other countries has adopted a single-payer health insurance system. We have not. Could our higher costs be a function of the fact that we have an almost myriad number of health insurance providers?

Words for the USA?

David Grossman, an Israeli writer, spoke at this year's Yitzhak Rabin Memorial Ceremony. The NY Review of Books printed his talk , entitled "Looking at Ourselves", in this week's issue. While his words are addressed to the leaders of Israel, if watered down somewhat they also can be applied to our leaders. Here are some excerpts:

And I ask you, how can it be that a people with our powers of creativity and regeneration, a nation that has known how to pick itself up out of the dust time and again, finds itself today—precisely when it has such great military power—in such a feeble, helpless state? A state in which it is again a victim, but now a victim of itself, of its fears and despair, of its own shortsightedness?

My intention is to make it clear that the people who today lead Israel are unable to connect Israelis with their identity, and certainly not with the healthy, sustaining, inspiring parts of Jewish identity. I mean those parts of identity and memory and values that can give us strength and hope, that can serve as antidotes to the attenuation of mutual responsibility and of our connection to the land, that can grant meaning to our exhausting, desperate struggle for survival.

Today, Israel's leadership fills the husk of its regime primarily with fears and intimidations, with the allure of power and the winks of the backroom deal, with haggling over all that is dear to us. In this sense, our leaders are not real leaders. They are certainly not the leaders that a people in such a complicated, disoriented state need.

Look at those who lead us. Not at all of them, of course, but all too many of them. Look at the way they act—terrified, suspicious, sweaty, legalistic, deceptive. It's ridiculous to even hope that the Law will come forth from them, that they can produce a vision, or even an original, truly creative, bold, momentous idea.

In all sincerity, it is important to me that you succeed. Because our future depends on your ability to rise up and act. Yitzhak Rabin turned to the path of peace with the Palestinians not because he was fond of them or their leaders. Then also, if you remember, the common wisdom was that we had no partner among the Palestinians, and that there was nothing for us to talk about with them. Rabin decided to act because he detected, with great astuteness, that Israeli society could not long continue in a state of unresolved conflict. He understood, before many people understood, that life in a constant climate of violence, of occupation, of terror and fear and hopelessness, comes at a price that Israel cannot afford to pay.

And these are some of the reasons that, in an amazingly short time, Israel has degenerated into heartlessness, real cruelty toward the weak, the poor, and the suffering. Israel displays indifference to the hungry, the elderly, the sick, and the handicapped, equanimity in the face of, for example, trafficking in women, or the exploitation of foreign workers in conditions of slave labor, and in the face of profound, institutionalized racism toward its Arab minority. When all this happens as if it were perfectly natural, without outrage and without protest, I begin to fear that even if peace comes tomorrow, even if we eventually return to some sort of normality, it may be too late to heal us completely.

Appeal to the Palestinians, Mr. Olmert. Appeal to them over Hamas's head. Appeal to the moderates among them, to those who, like you and me, oppose Hamas and its ideology. Appeal to the Palestinian people. Speak to their deepest wound, acknowledge their unending suffering. You won't lose anything, and Israel's position in any future negotiation will not be compromised. But hearts will open a bit to each other, and that opening has great power. Simple human compassion has the power of a force of nature, precisely in a situation of stagnation and hostility.

Go to the Palestinians, Mr. Olmert. Don't look for reasons not to talk to them.

Of course not everything depends on what we do. There are great and strong forces acting in this region and in the world, and some of them, like Iran, like radical Islam, wish us ill. Nevertheless, so much does depend on what we do, and what we will be.

Why does our political leadership continue to reflect the positions of the extremists and not of the majority?

From where I stand at this moment, I request, call out to all those listening —to young people who came back from the war, who know that they are the ones who will have to pay the price of the next war; to Jewish and Arab citizens; to the people of the right and the people of the left: stop for a moment. Look over the edge of the abyss, and consider how close we are to losing what we have created here. Ask yourselves if the time has not arrived for us to come to our senses, to break out of our paralysis, to demand for ourselves, finally, the lives that we deserve to live.

Just a quiet Christmas party

From Myway.com

LILLINGTON, N.C. (AP) - A woman attacked a man in his genitals during a Christmas party, injuring him badly enough that he needed 50 stitches, authorities said Friday. Rebecca Arnold Dawson, 34, was charged with malicious castration in a fight early Tuesday at a party hosted by the 38-year-old man's girlfriend, police said.

All three were heavily intoxicated, police Chief Frank Powers said.

Dawson is accused of grabbing the man's genitals. Police said a weapon was not used. He declined to elaborate.

"I believe he needed more than 50 stitches to repair the damage, but he is back home at this point," police Cpl. Brad Stevens said. "All we can tell you is that the injury was done with her hands."

Dawson does not have a listed phone number.

State law describes malicious castration as cutting off, maiming or disfiguring a person's genitals with the intent to hurt or render the victim impotent.

Dawson, who was released Wednesday on $50,000 bond, also was charged with offenses including assault causing serious bodily injury.

The castration arrest was the first of its kind in Lillington, a town of about 3,000 roughly 30 miles south of Raleigh, Powers said.

Lowball it ...

and then jack up the price. That was Humana's strategy in offering the lowest cost Part D Medicare plan last year. This year, seniors who bought Humana will see their costs jump 60% on average. Some will see increases of 466%.

Yet, even with these increases Humana's plans are still among the lowest cost.

A different version

Here's "Somewhere over the Rainbow" as you've probably never heard it. I first heard it over the Muzak system at a hotel in Taormina a few weeks ago.

It's too bad that the singer, Israel Kamakawiwo'ole, died in 1997. Apparently, he was well known in his home state of Hawaii. His body lay in state in the capital rotunda.

Chrysler to sell Chery

That's 'CheRy' as in the Chery Automobile Company of China. Chrysler expects to offer the cars early in 2008. The price will be around $10,000.

More Numbers for 2006

An Israeli human rights group, B'Tselem, claims that three times as many Palestinians were killed by Israeli security forces in 2006 than in 2005, while about half as many Israelis were killed by Palestinian attacks in 2006 as compared to 2005.

Also, 9,075 Palestinians are being held in Israeli jails, 738 without knowing the charges.

Where and how B'Tselem got this information is not specified.

45% More

The Pentagon will be asking for another $100 billion to fund its efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan and "the longer war against terror". This will bring FY2007's war costs to almost $107 billion, 45% more than we spent in FY2006. Who knows whether more will be sought later in the fiscal year which still has nine months to go? This round brings the total spent on these efforts to $507 billion since 2001; that's about $1600 for every man, woman and child in the US. And still we're told that the Bush tax cuts should be made permanent. What madness makes some of our leaders believe that the tax cuts (primarily for the wealthy) are on balance good for this country?

It's difficult to figure out how much of this round will be spent on the "longer war", but the question is whether the money could be spent more wisely on this 'longer war' by law enforcement groups rather than by the military.

Training the Iraqi and Afghan forces will receive as much money, $9 billion, in this budget round as it has received in total since 2001.

The Footnote of the Year

Footnoted.org selects the most egregious use of company money each year. This year it's Aaron's Rents which paid close to $1,000,000 to train the sons of their marketing VP in the art of automobile racing.

It may not be due to global warming...

but it's a heck of a big piece of ice.

The Vineyard Makes The Wall Street Journal

Wednesday's Journal featured the Souza family of Oak Bluffs to illustrate some of the problems surrounding immigration. The Souzas are but one of a considerable number of Brazilians who have come to the Vineyard in the past 15 - 20 years. No one really knows how many Brazilians live here, but estimates range from 2500 - 5000. Many of them have come here illegally. Many have not. The Souza family is one of those who came here legally. The problem is they came here on a tourist visa. But that's only part of the story.

Zandro Souza came here in 2000 and started working in restaurants. He's a talented guy and quickly rose from dishwasher to demonstrating his skills at the chi-chi Tribeca Grill in NYC. He brought his wife and son here in 2001. His son is another part of the story. Igor was born blind and with mental deficiencies. He needs a heck of a lot of care, which the Souzas have given him and paid for on their own dime.

His family's arrival coincided with a change in the immigration laws which provided a temporary 'pardon' allowing employers to sponsor their employees for the green card process even if the immigrant had overstayed his visa or entered the country illegally. In 2002 the Souzas were notified that their application was being processed. In 2004 they received Social Security numbers and work permits.

In 2005 they were interviewed by an immigration officer as part of the last steps. Here was where the first real hurdle appeared - if Mr. Souza and his wife died, who would take care of Igor. They had 12 weeks to prove that Igor would not be a public charge should they die. This request by INS could be deemed excessive in that Souza's sponsor, his employer, was also a financial guarantor. However, the Souzas supplied evidence that his father's house would be sold should both of them die and the funds would be used for Igor.

At the start of this year the Souzas were denied their green cards and ordered to appear in court to begin deportation hearings. This time the reason was that they came on a tourist visa although they had intended to become permanent residents. Yet, the law under which they started this specifically included those who had come here illegally. The Souzas entered the US legally as tourists; they did not sneak in, like some of their compatriots. They have paid their own money to care for their son. They are willing to sell their house should they no longer be on earth. It would seem that they are the kinds of people this country should welcome.

Tax breaks for semi-professional athletes

Many colleges are renovating their stadiums, including adding the same luxury boxes you can buy at the stadiums of professional sports teams. Some colleges have been able to inveigle companies to pay for the right to put their name on these renovated stadiums. The problem is that we taxpayers are paying for a good portion of these renovations.

Since 1980 the tax laws have designated the right to purchase seating at a college game (which is what these luxury boxes are sold as) and the right to spend money to have a stadium named in your honor are charitable gifts for which the purchaser can deduct 80% of the payment from his taxes. Plus the colleges issue tax-free bonds for the actual construction costs.

Athletic directors claim that the tax breaks are needed so that they can get the 'donations' which are then used for such purposes as the stadium renovation, minor sports and academic tutoring of athletes. Right!

Ford's Thoughts About Iraq and Some of the Players

The Washington Post has an article by Woodward recounting interviews he had with Ford, which interviews would not be published during Ford's lifetime. Count Ford as another Republican who disagreed with the President but held his tongue.

The Truth Will Make You Free

Here are some intelligent comments made this year and gleaned by Media Matters.

Someone has to pay

It doesn't matter that the scientific evidence shoots large holes in the prosecution's case. But, unless the Supreme Court of Libya overturns their convictions, five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor will be killed for the 'crime' of deliberately infecting Libyan children with HIV. The Court spared the prisoners, who have been in jail since 1999, before. Maybe they will do it again.

Why can't we get more?

Britain gets half of an oil company's revenue produced on property owned by England. Norway gets as much as 78%. The average government brings in 60% and more. The US brings in 40%. Make sense to you?

Escalating responses

The peasants in China have apparently taken another step in their protests against getting screwed by local officials who sell village land and keep most of the proceeds for themselves. Now they have started taking the officials as hostages. In one case the hostages were kept for eight days before being freed by a police raid.

I guess they won't be responding

True to their apparent philosophy of "the customer be damned", Comcast has yet to respond to the letters I sent to their Vice Presidents 'extolling' the quality of their service.

Why are software renewal licenses so frustrating?

Particularly with security products. I dropped Norton when I found it impossible to explain my questions to the support people or to understand their answers. I dropped Bit Defender when they were unable to supply me with an updated copy of their software. I should have dropped Trend Micro when I realized that they were getting a royalty from every time they needed a restart of the computer in order to renew my license. Plus, the product cannot download using Firefox. Plus, their documentation stinks.

I swear

Does it really matter what book someone places their hand on when they take an oath to tell the truth? Does it matter whether a book is used at all? A Congressman from Virginia thinks so. He is quite upset about new Congressman Ellison's decision to take the oath of office with his hand placed on the Koran.

Just another indication of the low quality of our political leaders.

The first day of winter

Now the sun will shine a little longer each day. The blackness of night will take a trifle longer to arrive. Spring is only 90 days away.

Surging to Disaster

There are several articles on the web arguing against increasing the number of troops in Iraq. This article by Lawrence Korb and Max Bergmann is short and to the point.

One of my favorite boondoggles...

is the government's program to reduce STDs via abstinence education. In FY2005 you and I spent $158,000,000 on these programs. Did they work? The GAO tried to answer this question. The short answer is - no one knows. Furthermore, some of these programs provide educational materials that are based on wishes rather than facts.

Could we use this $158,000,000 more intelligently?

$74,000,000 spent wisely?

For the past ten years we have given $74,000,000 to dissidents in Cuba. Has the money been well spent? That's the question a new GAO report asks.

We shipped food, medicine, clothing, office equipment and supplies, shortwave radios, books, and newsletters to Cuba. In return, the recipients conducted international advocacy for human and workers' rights in Cuba and planned for a future democratic transition. Laudable goals perhaps.

But the GAO did not find that the internal controls used ensured that the grant funds are being used properly and that grantees are in compliance with applicable laws and regulations. Nor were there any measures to determine whether the funds were being spent wisely.

36 steps

The GAO (General Accountability Office) has published a list of suggested topics needing attention by the incoming Congress. There are thirty-six topics divided into three groups:

1. Targets for near term oversight - such as reducing the tax gap, making DHS a useful agency, improving security, etc.
2. Policies and programs that are in need of fundamental reform and reengineering - like Afghanistan and Iraq, Medicare and Medicaid, Energy Supply, etc.
3. Governance issues for a better government for all of us - such as the budget process, management structure and operation of the government, etc.

It's quite a comprehensive list, but we are in serious trouble. Unless these fine people who are representing us start actually doing constructive work such as that proposed by the GAO, we'll be in even deeper doodoo than we are now.

It's only been two weeks....

but I couldn't find anything about the Iraq Study Group today. Here, they spent nine months, interviewed a couple of hundred 'experts', delayed their report because it would 'affect' the election and it seems that the only aspect of the report that our leaders are talking about is whether or not to increase the number of our troops there. Hell, it worked in Baghdad. Didn't it? It's much quieter there since we sent in 17,000 troops this past summer.

One emphasis of the report was the need for national reconciliation on the part of the Iraqis. Will the Shiites, who have been under the control of the Sunnis and others for hundreds of years, now be willing to truly share the power that they finally have after so long being the underdog? It's unlikely.

Will Syria and Iran be willing to talk about helping resolve the issues in Iraq without wanting concessions from us? If they do sit down, will the Sunnis of Saudi Arabia and the other countries sit down with them?

Will our natural allies be willing to help after we ignored their warnings in so callous a manner?

Is a federated Iraq divided into three areas - Sunni, Shiite and Kurd - with some sharing of the oil wealth really an impossible goal?

Okay, the vacation is over

Although CNN and the BBC were available in Sicily, I did manage to avoid watching them most of the time. The few times I did watch I did get the sense that things were getting worse, however. Today's NY Times confirmed this sense.

The Army reports that in the last reporting period (August to November) there were 5 attacks against Americans or Iraqis every hour. American deaths and injuries numbered one an hour. The increase is attributed to the rise of the Shiite militias, not the insurgents.

Oil is being produced at the rate of 2,300,000 barrels a day, somewhat short of the 2,500,000 goal.

Electricity in Baghdad continues to be available fewer and fewer hours per day. Now it's only available less than 7 hours a day. Of the nine lines supplying power to Baghdad, only two are still standing. The people destroying power sources in the desert are working faster than the government can repair the damage. How long can this last?

Talk about hysteria

From today's Boston Globe:

The Catholic Archdiocese of Boston reinstated a Waltham priest yesterday after an investigation found no evidence to support a single allegation that he had sexually abused a minor about 20 years ago. The Rev. Roger N. Jacques, former pastor of St. Joseph Parish in Waltham, was placed on administrative leave in October 2002 pending an archdiocesan review of the complaint. Jacques was among 58 Boston-area priests who signed a letter questioning the credibility of Cardinal Bernard F. Law and asking him to resign after a string of priests were accused of sexually abusing minors. (AP)

How would you like to be Rev. Jacques? One person accuses you and the church takes four years to find that the accusation was baseless? Makes you think of Salem.

We're back

How could a New Englander not like a place where the winter temperature is 65+? That's how warm Sicily was for our first ten days and then it cooled off to 55. The weather was not hard to take, nor was the scenery. It really is a beautiful island, but I would not want to drive a car outside of a major city; the roads are narrow and, since Sicily is fairly mountainous, they are also quite treacherous in places.

While we took about 500 photographs of the scenery, the event that struck me the most was a talk by a founder of an anti-Mafia group in Corleone, which is not only the fictional home of The Godfather but has been the home of many very real Mafia CEOs. Gino was a very good presenter, he also is a brave guy as he and his family are at risk from retaliation by the Mafia.

But, even Gino acknowledged that the fundamental problem is economic. With unemployment at 20+% and a low wage scale for those employed, the people of Sicily feel that they need the aid of the Mafia. In addition, the island has been conquered by an amazing number of nations. While this has led to a wonderful variety of buildings and public architecture, it has also, I feel, led to a nation accustomed to being ruled by the more powerful not only from their own people but, more importantly, from outsiders. That being said I met a number of people in their 30s and 40s who seemed to recognize the island's problems and were working to solve them.

See you in two weeks

We're off to Sicily and, hopefully, will have a break from the 21st century world.

The Morning After - Again

Five years after 'defeating' the Taliban there is still not an effective police force in Afghanistan. And no one knows how many police officers are on duty nor can many trucks and much equipment be found although we have paid for them. Heck, they can't even find the contract between the government and DynCorp, the contractor hired to train the police force. Furthermore, although Afghanistan and Iraq have about the same population, the Iraqi police force, such as it is, is twice the size of that of Afghanistan.

A friend of mine frequently said that success in business is all about blocking and tackling - that is, doing the mundane but necessary tasks that a successful business must be able to execute day after day. Clearly, he would be appalled at our government's inability to block and tackle.

A refresher on Europe and the Muslims

James Carroll provides a brief summary of the history between the Muslims and Europe, while recognizing that Pope Benedict seems to be mellowing with regard to his concerns with Islam.

Another victim of the war on drugs

That victim is this country if the article in today's Observer is true (and it sounds that way to me). Basically, the article, which is based on court records, accuses the Immigration and Customs Executive (ICE) branch of Homeland Security of turning a blind eye towards an informant who was killing people for a drug cartel in Mexico. Further, a Deputy Attorney General and the US Attorney for Western Texas are also accused of not stopping the employment of this killer and trying to silence any government agent who tried to make the public aware of this.

It is a damning indictment of the futility of the government's decades long war on drugs, which seems to engender a loss of ethics and morality.

The War of the Imagination

Mark Danner has quite a long article entitled "The War of the Imagination" in the holiday issue of the NY Review of Books. As with most NYR articles it's more than a review of books by Woodward, Suskind and Risen; Danner expounds on his views of our Iraq debacle. Danner's thesis is, at this point, not original: our leaders' actions were based on how they wanted the world to be, rather than how it is. However, he does makes some interesting points.

One of the more interesting sections of the article is an excerpt from the formerly top-secret National Security Presidential Directive entitled "Iraq: Goals, Objectives and Strategy", which President Bush signed on August 29, 2002. Looked at 4+ years later, it does seem to have become a work of the imagination, rather than of reality.

Woodward reports on a startling meeting between Bush, Powell and Rice in which Powell tries to explain the problems inherent in having two chains of command - Garner and Franks - in Iraq, both reporting to the Pentagon, neither reporting to the White House. First, Bush and Rice don't believe him; then, after verifying it, they do nothing beyond acknowledging that Powell is correct but the discussion was "theoretical".

Chalabi, of course, has to be brought up. He was the Pentagon's 'silver bullet' for postwar running of Iraq. Bush vetoed him. But neither the Pentagon nor Bush suggested a Plan B, i.e., if Chalabi was not going to be the man, who was?

But, as you would expect, Danner (and the authors of the books reviewed) reserves his sharpest criticism for Bush and Cheney. Essentially, they knew what was right and didn't want to hear anything else. They were the 'deciders'. They did not need to hear what was happening in the world of reality. We and the Iraqis continue to pay the price for their arrogance and stupidity.

An unusual decision..

but one that may help prevent departing CEOs from taking advantage of stockholders. A federal judge ruled that Mr. McGuire, ex-CEO of United Health, cannot exercise his severance benefits until a United Health committee decides whether the company has any claims against him. Demonstrating that he is a somewhat unusual CEO (or so wealthy that he doesn't need the money) McGuire supported the plaintiff's motion.

A novel idea

Why not ask the people affected? That's what Scott Turow, novelist, thinks we should do with regard to withdrawing from Iraq. In a Wall Street Journal op-ed he proposes a plebiscite that asks the Iraqis one question: Should American forces remain in Iraq until a stable democratic order emerges, however long that takes, or should we instead withdraw in stages over a fixed period, say, the next twelve months?

The answer would be valuable input into a reasoned decision.

And I thought it was just the name of a hot sauce

LONDON, Dec 1 (Reuters Life!) - Nearly two-thirds of Britons think the fiery Italian sauce Arrabiata is a sex infection, according to a survey on Friday.

The survey, of 1,015 people and released on World AIDS day, also showed nearly half were unable to identify a range of common sexual complaints.

"What is very worrying is the lack of knowledge about sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) revealed in the survey," said sex therapist Emily Dubberley.

"Sixty-three percent in the UK thought an Italian sauce was an STD and over 43 percent couldn't identify any of the common sexual complaints we asked about.

"This ignorance has no excuse in today's world."

The survey, conducted by pollsters MYVOICE, also found that 48 percent of respondents found body odor and poor personal hygiene a turn off against just 4 percent who felt the same about a refusal to wear a condom.

The poll also found that 35 percent of people looked for information about sex on the Internet against 27 percent who consulted magazines.

In contrast only 4 percent went to their doctors.

© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.