Beautiful Horizons

Some Unfinished Business . . .

 . . . regarding the object in this photo. If you're interested in an explanation, contact me offline and I'll explain why.

 

Run, Dick, Run !

From a review of Weekly Standard hack Stephen Hayes' recently published 578 page love letter, "Cheney", in the New York Sun:

"While generally friendly to Mr. Cheney, this account doesn't flinch from his unpopularity. The Washington Post's polling expert, Richard Morin, noted that at 18% approval, Vice President Cheney was less popular than Michael Jackson after he was tried for child abuse and O.J. Simpson after he was tried for murder. Mr. Hayes quotes Mr. Morin as reporting that Mr. Cheney was 'less popular with Americans than Joseph Stalin is with Russians.'"

The review, by one Ira Stoll, goes from those rather dire observations to this: "My own guess — okay, hope — is that Mr. Cheney has taken a look at the Republican presidential field and sees an opening." The New York Sun is notable in the annals of American journalism for having published an editorial back in April urging Cheney to jump into the GOP Presidential sweepstakes. I'm all for it. Rub salt in the wound.

¡Ai Yi Yi!

This wins my vote for headline most likely to get you to click to the story.

Poor kid.

A Modest Proposal

Some of the commenters in this post at Road to Surfdom and this post at TalkLeft are determined to define deviancy down by parsing the definition of torture in the Convention Against Torture:

For the purposes of this Convention, torture means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. It does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in or incidental to lawful sanctions.

Simply put, they are debating the definition of what defines "severe pain or suffering" in the above text. So in the spirit of Jonathan Swift, I would like to make the following "modest proposal":

Let these commenters have some of the various forms of torture being alleged against those involved with Abu Ghraib and the recently released documents from the  US Army's CID be practiced against them. Allow them to become guinea pigs in the torture interrogation methods. Maybe they can volunteer for water boarding. As they don't seem to believe that being forced to remain in contorted positions, perhaps they would like to try the pau de arara (parrot's perch):

Getting spanked on the feet sound easy? Let them try the falanga punishment.

Why limit this to physical torture? Tell them the sound of that person screaming in the next room is their son or daughter, or spouse or parents or sibling. Blast them with heavy metal music for 18 hours at a time. Keep them awake for days at a time.

Or they should simply ask themselves if they are comfortable with this being done in their name and if they wouldlike citizens of their country being treated this way if arrested. If the answer to the former is yes, then they have ceded any moral authority they may have had. If the answer to the latter is no, then they should be branded for what they are: hypocrites.

I think that the forehead would be an appropriate spot for such branding.

Shakespeare Blogging

The Bard of Avon rules. Just read the quote and click the link:

"The saying is true, 'The empty vessel makes the greatest sound.'" [lots of candidates for this one]

- Henry V

"I am but mad north-northwest: when the wind is southerly I know a hawk from a handsaw."

- Hamlet

"Thou call'dst me a dog before thou had a cause, But since I am a dog, beware my fangs."

- The Merchant of Venice

"The day will come that thou shalt wish for me to help thee curse this poisonous, bunch back'd toad."

- Richard III

"A gentleman, nurse, that loves to hear himself talk, and will speak more in a minute than he will stand to in a month."

- Romeo and Juliet

"And thus I clothe my naked villainy with odd old ends stol'n forth of holy writ, and seem a saint when most I play the devil."

- Richard III

"It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury and signifying nothing."

- Macbeth

"And be these juggling fiends no more believ'd
That palter with us in a double sense;
That keep the word of promise to our ear
And break it to our hope."
- Macbeth

Profound Relief

Well, I'm profoundly relieved that a Google search of my name finally makes this weblog first as opposed to the porno actor who happens to have my name.

Which reminds me of a funny story. Several years ago, back when Times Square was still sleazy and not like the family-friendly version of the Strip in Las Vegas (minus the casinos, but not the garishness), a good friend of mine called one afternoon and wanted to know if I had any plans the next night. I said no, and asked her if she wanted to get together. She asked me if I was sure. I said of course, albeit a bit mystified. So when we got together the next night we made a detour to Times Square and she took me to the window of one of the grind houses. It said "Live Sex Show featuring Randy Paul." I assured that I have never been paid for it, nor did I have any expectations of being paid for it. I only regret that she didn't suggest that I bring my camera as the sign was gone the next day when I showed up with my camera.

Chilean Judge Removed From Pedophile Investigation

This is unusual in probably the most socially conservative country in South America:

Chile's Supreme Court said it made the decision because of events that were public knowledge, referring to Judge Daniel Calvo's admission two days ago.

The Supreme Court did not say why the confession disqualified Calvo, who has not been accused of any crime, from running the month-long investigation into whether politicians were linked to wealthy businessman Claudio Spiniak, in jail charged with illegally tricking adolescents into sex.

The judge was also investigating accusations by child welfare workers that Spiniak was part of a pedophile ring. Spiniak has not been charged with pedophilia, which in Chile means sex with someone under the age of 12.

[edit]

At a news conference on Wednesday, Calvo, a married father of five, denied he was gay. He did not say why he had gone to the bathhouse, but the admission came hours before a local television station was to air a report on his visits.

Well, if wanting to go to gay bathhouses hasn't hurt Bill O'Reilly, why should it hurt this judge?