markinore

In reference to looting, remember who said, "Stuff happens"? Remember who said, "While you can't condone looting, you can understand how people might react after decades of repression"? All together now: DONALD RUMSFELD

Ironically, Jack Lambert was probably one Steeler less likely to have been using steroids at that time. His playing weight was only 220 pounds. Furthermore, I have met him a couple times since then. He is a forest ranger, and he looks to be about the same size now.

I am struck by the relative reticence of many Christian leaders to denounce Robertson. This is especially true in light of calls for Muslims leaders to denounce other Muslims who advocate violence.

England will not invade Syria. It will not be required to remove your shoes to get on the London subway. London fireman will not get laid any more frequently. The English will not interrupt every soccer game for the next 10 years to sing “God Save the Queen.” If an Englishman decides to take revenge by beating the crap out of an individual who came from the same country of origin as the presumed terrorists, he will not attack a Sikh. Tony Blair will not get regular blow jobs from George Bush. The far right in England will not attribute the attacks to lack of religious observance by the English.

Yesterday, researchers in South Korea announced that they had successfully established stem cell lines through therapeutic cloning using DNA from specific individuals who might benefit from this approach. Most of these DNA donors had spinal cord injuries (think Christopher Reeves). This is an incredible breakthrough, because the cells generated from the stem cell lines will be immunologically identical to the donors, and therefore there won't be any rejection if they are implanted. While South Korea is racing ahead in this technology, Bush's Taliban-like restrictions on NIH funding will mean that we lag behind. Oh, well, our scientists can always pray for cures.

Let's see if the White House and its supporters express one tenth as much outrage over the murder of prisoners as it does over a goddamn magazine article. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/225135_abuse20.html

Gee, you would be a hell of a lot more persuasive if you also argued that those who lied about starting the Iraq war in the first place should be held accountable for the lives lost.

This is a good point. 21 or 22 year olds, college educated or not, are not going to go for the bullshit as much as 18 year olds. I think the armed forces appreciates the value of those who are easily led and easily lied to.

Alex, I appreciate your logic. I also appreciate that the cause of equality would be better served by a draft than by the present method of obtaining soldiers, which is all too frequently just an economic form of conscription. I am not all that sure, however, that the existence of a draft temper Americans' enthusiasm for going to war on flimsy premises. After all, now that there is absolutely no doubt that Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11 and had no weapons of mass destruction, look how many people still think this war was okay. It takes a hell of a lot of denial to support Bush's lies, but our country appears capable of providing it. The ribbon magnets are just a bonus.

Maybe the Pulitzer Prize committee should even things up by giving Bush the prize for fiction.

I can't watch Tom DeLay and Bill Frist pontificating on this subject without thinking about "Weekend at Bernie's." I can just see Terry Schiavo being dragged around between them as a prop while they engage in their hilarious hijinks.

The worst part of the hearings was the testimony by the families of the kids who committed suicide, possibly related to their steroid use. As a father of two teenage boys, I felt sympathy for them. It is unfair, however, to attribute the use of steroids by those unfortunate young men to Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, or any other baseball player. High school athletes, like other athletes, use steroids for one reason--they work. Those who are inclined to use this short cut to athletic success would do so even if no baseball player ever used steroids, even if Major League Baseball had the toughest rules imaginable for testing and disqualification. You could just as easily blame Arnold Schwartenegger, Ben Johnson, or the old East German track and swim teams for the deaths of those boys. So while my sympathy for the families knows no bounds, I have to ask them this: What did you think was going on when your adolescent son suddenly added a massive amount of muscle? Why did you not do anything about it? At my kids' school and in their non-school athletic functions, it is necessary for parents to sign a release form in order that they may participate. If a parent suspects his or her child of using steroids, it should be simple to say, "Okay, I might not be able to stop you from using them, but I can stop you from playing the sport. Your choice." If the parents who so tearfully testified had taken this step, their sons might be alive.

The facts are that it IS possible to dramatically reduce our use of petroleum WITHOUT major dislocations of our economy. Actually, it might even improve our country's competitiveness. Let me explain: If the average car's mileage increased by only ONE mile per gallon (something that could be achieved if we all drove with the correct pressure in our tires), over a 25 year period we would save more petroleum than could ever be produced by ANWR. If the average car's mileage increased by THREE miles per gallon (something that could be achieved if we all kept our cars properly tuned up), we would NEVER have to import any oil from Iraq or Kuwait. Gee, think THAT might alter the political imperatives? If the average car's mileage increased by EIGHT miles per gallon, we would need ZERO petroleum from the Middle East. Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, and everybody else over there could sell it Europe or to Japan or to China, but the reduced demand would result in markedly reduced prices, right? Now, to get an additional eight miles per gallon, it would take either forcing people to drive smaller cars (coercive, likely to be opposed) or we could increase CAFE standards and work with Detroit to improve fuel efficiency. The U.S. could be the leader in this effort. This would result in making rapidly developing countries like China (which doesn't want to be over the oil barrel) one of our main customers, rather than the other way around. In summary, the environment is preserved, our dependence on despotic Middle Eastern governments is eliminated, and our economic competitiveness is enhanced. Everybody wins, right? Well, unless your name is Cheney, Bush, or Haliburton.

He saw into the evil soul of Richard Nixon well before the truth of Watergate became known. One of my favorite passages is from the Nixon obituary he wrote for the Rolling Stone in 1994: "Let there be no mistake in the history books about that. Richard Nixon was an evil man--evil in a way that only those who believe in the physical reality of the Devil can understand it. He was utterly without ethics or morals or any bedrock sense of decency. Nobody trusted him--except maybe the Stalinist Chinese, and honest historians will remember him mainly as a rat who kept scrambling to get back on the ship." For those of us who came of age in the '60s and '70s, an era when it was common to say, "Well, you might disagree with him BUT YOU HAVE TO SHOW SOME RESPECT FOR THE PRESIDENT," Thompson cut like a chain saw through the hypocrisy.

There we were. Twenty-five thousand feet about sea level. Within spitting distance of our goal. The clouds started to break up, and the summit was in sight. My faithful sherpa knew my thoughts. He frowned. "Markinore," he said, "The wind. The wind is bad. Very, very bad wind." Without changing expression, I reached into my pack and pulled out my Patagucci Houdini. A smile lit up his weatherbeaten visage. "Yes," he said, "Markinore will summit." (Sorry. Watching too many Seinfeld reruns.)

You MUST check out Enchanted Rock. How this place gets as little publicity as it does is a complete mystery to me. The rock is beautifully grained granite--almost Yosemite quality--with excellent crack and face climbing as far as the eye can see.

I, on the other hand, have followed the rule to treat your wife like your favorite baseball glove: never leave them out in the grass overnight; if you forget, rub down the hide with a little bit of Neatsfoot oil to prevent the hide from getting cracked and rough.

The whole issue of "moral values" as an excuse for voting for a particular candidate would be amusing if it weren't so sad. The moral values of loving one's neighbor, caring for the sick, feeding the poor, housing the homeless, and helping the sick don't mean shit. Bashing the homos, now THERE'S a moral value.

By the way, now that the election has passed, and Dubya could give a shit about what the American people think about the body bags coming back, how long do you think it will be before there is a major invasion of Fallujah? What's the over/under on the American deaths? 100? 500? 1000? What's the over/under on Iraqi deaths? Ten times the Americans?

Face it. There was no way Kerry's plan was going to result in stability after U.S. troops left--and I voted for Kerry. The Bush administration doesn't have a clue. In other words, I believe that Iraq is going to degenerate into a civil war, with the resultant chaos becoming a veritable Petri dish for culturing terrorists. This is what will happen regardless of when our troops leave or how they leave. If you believe that, then the only rational approach is to reduce the number of dead Americans by getting the fuck out of there right now.

Is anyone out there opposed to stem cell research? (Let me clarify: stem cell research that requires new cell lines obtained from the destruction of frozen fertilized eggs. You know. The stuff that the Religious Right doesn't think should be allowed.) If you are opposed to this on principle, will you make this promise? "I vow that I will refuse to accept any drug, operation, or other medical treatment that was developed in whole or in part through stem cell research." Didn't think so.

Dem or Rep, you can't deny that this means: 1) four more years of scientific decisions based on advice from an imaginary friend. 2) four more years of bad country music.

Awesome letter. Speaking of awe, anybody remember "Shock and Awe?" Whatever happened to them? They were supposed to be the cornerstone of the Iraq campaign. Saddam's army, the insurgents, terrorists from outside--what happened to their sense of awe? I guess awe just ain't what it used to be.

The funniest part of the story is how the Fox lawyers are now accusing the plaintiff's attorney of the crime of "extortion" because he asked for a huge amount of money to settle. Hey, Fox lawyers, it's called NEGOTIATING. And you stand about as much chance of succeeding on that as you did suing Al Franken for his book using the words "Fair and Balanced."

Stewart is not only hilarious, he also shows a willingness to skewer both Democrats and Republicans for their evils. Okay, he is more willing to skewer Republicans (but then again, they are more evil). Does anyone doubt that if Kerry wins, he will whale on Kerry with abandon? The Crossfire excerpt showed how merciless he is to the media. Did anyone see his interview with Koppel during the convention? That was another time that he deflated the pretentiousness of media biggies. For a guy who acknowledges that he anchors a fake news show, he probably is more insightful, honest, and accurate than anyone else I can think of in the media today. I think he could be said to be the H. L. Mencken of our time.