“You can argue that the leakers should be fired for carelessness in revealing that Wilson’s wife worked for the C.I.A., but there’s been no evidence yet that they realized it was illegal because of her status as a covert agent. ”
— John Tierney in today’s Times.
Albuquerqueans in particular might enjoy Lonely Are the Brave, a modern-day western filmed largely in the Sandia Mountains. Kirk Douglas is a throw-back cowboy who breaks out of jail and heads for the crest on horseback to escape the sheriff’s posse (in jeeps and helicopters). It’s in black and white and difficult to see anything in the distant shots of Albuquerque — except that there wasn’t anything anywhere close to the mountains in those days (the film was released in 1962).
Walter Matthau is the ambivalent sheriff, George Kennedy a sadistic deputy. Look for future television stars Carroll O’Connor, WIlliam Schallert and Bill Bixby. Screenplay by Dalton Trumbo from a novel by Edward Abbey.
NewMexiKen once read that Douglas thought this was his best performance.
The film has been making the rounds on cable a lot lately.
Lying is a moral wrong. Perjury is a lie told under oath that is legally wrong. To be illegal, the lie must be willfully told, must be believed to be untrue, and must relate to a material matter. Title 18, Section 1621 and 1623, U.S. Code.
If President Washington, as a child, had cut down a cherry tree and lied about it, he would be guilty of ‘lying,’ but would not be guilty of ‘perjury.’
If, on the other hand, President Washington, as an adult, had been warned not to cut down a cherry tree, but he cut it down anyway, with the tree falling on a man and severely injuring or killing him, with President Washington stating later under oath that it was not he who cut down the tree, that would be ‘perjury.’ Because it was a material fact in determining the circumstances of the man’s injury or death.
Some would argue that the President in the second example should not be impeached because the whole thing is about a cherry tree, and lies about cherry trees, even under oath, though despicable, do not rise to the level of impeachable offenses under the Constitution. I disagree.
The perjury committed in the second example was an attempt to impede, frustrate, and obstruct the judicial system in determining how the man was injured or killed, when, and by whose hand, in order to escape personal responsibility under the law, either civil or criminal. Such would be an impeachable offense. To say otherwise would be to severely lower the moral and legal standards of accountability that are imposed on ordinary citizens every day. The same standard should be imposed on our leaders.
Nearly every child in America believes that President Washington, as a child himself, did in fact cut down the cherry tree and admitted to his father that he did it, saying simply: ‘I cannot tell a lie.’
I will not compromise this simple but high moral principle in order to avoid serious consequences to a successor President who may choose to ignore it.
— U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, February 12, 1999, regarding impeachment of President Clinton
SEN. HUTCHISON: Tim, you know, I think we have to remember something here. An indictment of any kind is not a guilty verdict, and I do think we have in this country the right to go to court and have due process and be innocent until proven guilty. And secondly, I certainly hope that if there is going to be an indictment that says something happened, that it is an indictment on a crime and not some perjury technicality where they couldn’t indict on the crime and so they go to something just to show that their two years of investigation was not a waste of time and taxpayer dollars. So they go to something that trips someone up because they said something in the first grand jury and then maybe they found new information or they forgot something and they tried to correct that in a second grand jury.
— U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison on Meet the Press, October 23, 2005, regarding possible legal action against Bush Administration officials
“Starbucks says they are going to start putting religious quotes on cups. The very first one will say, ‘Jesus this cup is expensive!'”
— Conan O’Brien
“Pro-marijuana activists in Nevada gathered 6,000 signatures on petitions for a ballot initiative but then forgot to file the petitions.”
— Chicago Sun-Times via “The Edge” in The Oregonian
Keith Olbermann isn’t a fan of The Rocket.
Here is the nasty truth. After Saturday night, Roger Clemens has now made 33 post-season starts in the last two decades (an admittedly remarkable achievement). His team has lost 17 of them.
In the post-season, he is a sub-.500 starter.
To be fair, Saturday’s loss only brought his team’s record with him pitching down to .500 (4-4).
But behind the simple numbers, he has an unfortunate resume of either coughing up leads his mates have given him (eight different games so far – in one of which in 2002 he blew three separate leads), or getting out of the game prematurely or controversially, or all of the above. If the Astros live to a Game Five and Clemens is healthy, they should just say “no, thanks.”
Olbermann has the gory details.
Thanks to Jenny Miller and Bears Will Attack for making NewMexiKen’s Best Line of the Day a featured link.
According to AAA, the nationwide average price for a gallon of regular is down to $2.624.
Michael Bérubé has some considered advice on name-calling. Here’s the second half of his entry; the first half discusses the origin of the once respectable terms moron and idiot.
The other day, as my poor automobile was minding its own business, just humming along down the highway, it was suddenly set upon by a clump of drivers so reckless and inattentive that I referred to two of them (then in the act of cutting each other off in the left lane) as “idiots.” “You know,’ said my co-pilot, “we should probably retire that word one of these days.” She was right, and I admitted as much at the time. “Besides,” I added, “these guys are really assholes.”
After all, dear reader, it’s not as if the English language is hurtin’ for terms of abuse. If you truly believe that someone is acting unwisely or thinking incompetently, you can draw upon thousands of words that speak about performance rather than capacity, which is far more appropriate anyway (as Chris Clarke has eloquently pointed out). That “moron” you revile might just as easily be a jerk, a jerkoff, or a jackass; the “idiot” in the adjacent car or adjacent voting booth might instead be a fool, a wuss, a sap, a chump, a poltroon, a schlemiel, or a patsy. Even as you read these words, thousands of people are just begging to be called scoundrels, prigs, and coxcombs. Why, there’s even an entire Shakespearean Insult Server available online for those of you who want to hurl especially colorful and vivid forms of contempt and contumely upon your adversaries, so there’s really no excuse for failing to take full advantage of the opportunities afforded by this rich and complex language of ours.
If you’re concerned about stigmatizing jackasses, however, on the grounds that you may likening an innocent beast to a hideous human (or, conversely, figuratively dehumanizing one of your fellow men or women), you can always adopt the more politically correct term “jackass-American,” presuming, of course, that the jackass in question is -American.
So next time you’re fed up with someone and you want to call his or her intelligence or judgment into question, remember: you might be better off with insults that speak to the performance of intelligence or judgment rather than to capacity. This isn’t just a matter of politeness; it’s also a matter of proper English usage. Many, many morons and retards have very good judgment about some matters, whereas many, many ostensibly intelligent people make bafflingly, excruciatingly bad decisions. Why? Because some of them are knaves, and others gulls, and still others hoodlums and miscreants. That’s why.
Dr. Frist: “My holdings are in a blind trust.”
Public: “We’d like a second opinion.”
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) was given considerable information about his stake in his family’s hospital company, according to records that are at odds with his past statements that he did not know what was in his stock holdings. …
The letters seem to undermine one of the major arguments the senator has used throughout his political career to rebut criticism of his ownership in HCA: that the stock was held in blind trusts beyond his control and that he had little idea of the extent of those holdings.
Via Rox Populi
Link via LifeHacker
It may be the latest dieting craze, but there’s a lot of good sense in slowing down while eating.
Eating too fast puts your hunger at odds with your body’s metabolism. It takes time for the nutrients from food to get absorbed into your blood stream. When you eat slowly, you give your body time to tell you that it”s eaten enough.
Net result? You may eat fewer calories. Side effect? Slowing down lets you enjoy the tastes and flavors of your food and the companionship of your table mates.
From Sideline Chatter:
Who’s writing this guy’s stuff, Yogi Berra?
As beleaguered Joe Torre — invited back for an 11th season as Yankees manager despite not winning a World Series since 2000 — told HBO’s Bob Costas: “Let’s put it this way:
“If the last five years were the first five years, I wouldn’t have been here for the last five years.”
Plus this:
[Dan] Daly [of The Washington Times], on senior citizen Sylvester Stallone being slated to appear in yet another “Rocky” movie: “No truth to the rumor that the weigh-in scene will include a prostate exam.”
… of Bill Wyman. The Rolling Stones’ bassist (1962-1992) is 69.
… of F. Murray Abraham. The Oscar-winning actor (Best Actor for Amadeus) is 66 today.
… of Kevin Kline. The Oscar-winning actor (Best Supporting for A Fish Called Wanda) is 58 today.
How can a hit television series like “Frasier” gross $1.5 billion and yet be $200 million in the red?
That’s the issue at the center of a recent lawsuit filed against Paramount Pictures by two talent agencies seeking answers to how “Frasier” — the Emmy-winning NBC sitcom starring Kelsey Grammer that ran for 11 seasons — can claim that it never turned a net profit even though it was one of the most successful shows in television history.
Read more from the Los Angeles Times
True freshman (18-year-old) Willie Tuitama played in his first game at quarterback for NewMexiKen’s alma mater last night. They’re 1-6, but according to reports Tuitama brings some excitement to the game. He was 18 for 34 with two TDs (and one interception) in his debut, a loss to Oregon 21-28. We’ll see.
Calvin and Hobbes discuss life’s challenges.
Johnny Carson would have been 80 today had he smoked less.
If you like Steve Martin, Stephen Hunter has an article about Martin in today’s Washington Post that will probably make you like him even more.
Sunday morning brings out the classical. Here’s the last dozen randomly (?) selected by iTunes.
Former two-term New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson broke his back October 13 paragliding on Maui. He’s bed bound for six months. And it’s not the first time he’s broken his back.
Stephen W. Terrell has a good report.
… was authorized on this date in 1972.
This 50-million year old lake bed is one of the richest fossil localities in the world. Recorded in limestone are dynamic and complete paleoecosystems that spanned two million years. Preservation is so complete that it allows for detailed study of climate change and its effects on biological communities.
Visitors discover that this resource displays the interrelationships of plants, insects, fishes, reptiles and mammals, like few other known fossil sites. The relevance and challenge of study and preservation of this ancient ecosystem are equal to those of a modern ecosystem.
The surface topography of Fossil Butte is now covered by a high cold desert. Sagebrush is the dominant vegetation at the lower elevations, while limber pine and aspen occur on the slopes. Pronghorn, Mule deer and a variety of birds are commonly seen. Moose, elk and beaver are sometimes observed.
Source: National Park Service
… was authorized on this date in 1972.
Cumberland Island is 17.5 miles long and totals 36,415 acres of which 16,850 are marsh, mud flats, and tidal creeks. It is well known for its sea turtles, wild turkeys, wild horses, armadillos, abundant shore birds, dune fields, maritime forests, salt marshes, and historic structures.
Source: National Park Service