Tell ABC What You Think

Bush AdvisersThe Democratic Party has a form that you can email to Disney President Robert Iger. Here’s the background:

The ABC television network — a cog in the Walt Disney empire — unleashed a promotional blitz in the last week for a new “docudrama” called “The Path to 9/11”. ABC bills the two-night production as a public service that is “based on the 9/11 Commission Report”. That is false – it is actually a bald-faced attempt to slander Democrats.

“The Path to 9/11” is a conservative attempt to rewrite the history of September 11th to blame Democrats. The Walt Disney Corporation could have given Americans an honest look at September 11. Instead, the company abandoned its duty to the truth — and embraced the fiction known as “The Path to 9/11.”

Tell Walt Disney president Robert Iger that you hold his company responsible — and that this community demands that ABC tell the truth.

It’ll take you a few seconds.

Here’s the text of a letter from President Clinton’s Lawyer to ABC.

Image of “Bush Advisers” from Daily Kos.

Update: Here in Albuquerque, call KOAT, 505-884-7777.

Interesting Birthdays Today

Elizabeth, born in 1533. The queen Virginia is named after.

Anna Mary Robertson, born in 1860. Grandma Moses lived until 1961, and only started painting at age 76.

David Packard, born in 1912. The “P” in HP.

Tenor saxophonist Theodore Rollins. Sonny, born in 1930, is 76 today.

Buddy Holly, born in 1936. Just 22 when the music died.

Gloria Gaynor, born in 1949. Still surviving.

Julie Kavner, born in 1951. NewMexiKen liked her best in Awakenings, but we all know her as the voice of Marge Simpson.

W. Earl Brown, born in 1963. Dan Dority of Deadwood.

Sunday Is Grandparents Day (I’m thinking presents and cash)

“Grandparents Day was the brainchild of Marian McQuade of Fayette County, W.Va., who hoped that such an observance might persuade grandchildren to tap the wisdom and heritage of their grandparents. The first presidential proclamation was issued in 1978, and one has been issued each year since — designating the first Sunday after Labor Day as National Grandparents Day. In honor of our nation’s grandparents, the Census Bureau presents an array of data about these unsung role models and caregivers.”

  • About 56 million — Number of grandparents in the United States.
  • 5.7 million — The number of grandparents whose grandchildren under 18 live with them.
  • 2.4 million — The number of grandparents responsible for most of the basic needs (i.e., food, shelter, clothing) of one or more of the grandchildren who live with them. These grandparents represent about 42 percent of all grandparents whose grandchildren live with them. Of these caregivers, 1.5 million are grandmothers and 880,000 are grandfathers.
  • 920,000 — Number of grandparents responsible for caring for their grandchildren for at least the last five years.
  • 28% — Among preschoolers with employed mothers, the percentage regularly cared for by their grandparent during the hours their mom spends employed outside the home. No other type of child care arrangement was more prevalent than by grandparents.
  • 6.1 million — The number of children living with a grandparent; these children comprise 8 percent of all children in the United States. Of these children, 4.1 million lived in a grandparent’s home and 1.9 million in a parent’s home.
  • Recent research by the AARP (American Association of Retired Persons) reveals that more than 80 percent of the nation’s grandparents had visited or spoken with their grandchildren by phone in the past month.
  • About 3 million — Number of Grandparents Day cards given, nationwide, each year.

— US Census Press Releases

Summing up

If the president wants to argue that all this is necessary, that we need to breach the Geneva Conventions in order to protect the public, then he should say so. He should make the argument, and persuade Americans that torture should now be official policy, and seek explicit legislation amounting to a breach of the Geneva Conventions. That would be an honest position. He would gain the support of much of the Republican base, a large swathe of the conservative intelligentsia, and the contempt of the civilized world. We could then debate this honestly, including the torture techniques he has authorized and supports. Instead he lies.

— Andrew Sullivan

More than you want to know about gasoline

NewMexiKen bought gasoline last week for $3.019 (mid-grade) then saw premium at Costco and Sam’s a little while later for $2.749. Wow, I thought, 27¢ a gallon, how can that be?

Then I read why in the October Consumer Reports.

When oil prices are relatively low or falling and supplies are adequate, independent gas stations tend to have the lowest prices because they’re free to shop around…. Super-size independents or hyper marketers, such as Costco, can afford to market gas for little profit; convenience-store gas independents make more profits selling coffee and cigarettes [and beer] than gasoline….

When oil prices are relatively high or rising and supplies are tight, brand-name gas stations will tend to have a pricing edge. That’s because the brand-name companies make sure their own stations get scarce supplies first, at contract prices that insulate them somewhat from hikes…. Scarcity pushes up spot market prices and independents’ costs.

The article also points out that gasoline is a generic product. “The only thing that distinguishes brands is the fraction of a percent of proprietary additives dropped into tanker trucks before delivery to retail gas stations.”

NewMexiKen also read recently that it is unwise to buy gasoline while a tanker truck is filling the station’s tanks. Apparently the delivery will stir up impurities in the underground tanks and send them along to your vehicle.

Possible Cure for Aging

… but it causes cancer. No, really.

One implication is that therapists hoping to increase longevity must tackle a system that may be hard to cheat. Any intervention that reduces production of the Ink-4 protein in order to prevent the age-related decline of stem cells will also increase the risk of cancer.

“There is no free lunch — we are all doomed,” Dr. Sharpless said.

Read all about it — Gene Found to Switch Off Stem Cells During Aging.

Charlie Brown Has Never Knowingly Taken Steroids

From McSweeney’s Internet Tendency. Funny stuff. A couple of excerpts:

DISTRICT ATTORNEY OTHMAR: Wah wah-wah wah, wah, wah wah-wah-wah wah?

CHARLIE BROWN: I’m sorry, sir, but I didn’t knowingly lie to the grand jury.

D.A.: Wah-wah-wah-wah?

BROWN: I did not knowingly take steroids, sir. Period. Snoopy gave me something to make me throw harder, but he said it was flaxseed oil and vitamin drops. I was tired of having the ball hit back up the middle and all my clothes torn off.

BROWN: My head’s always been this big. Ask Sally. And I’m not going bald; I’ve never had more than three hairs, sir.

More on ABC’s mock-u-drama

This from reasonably neutral Editor and Publisher, which has reviewed the program:

The first half, to be aired Sunday, explores the terrorist threat starting with the 1993 bombing at the World Trade Center, and there is little question that President Clinton is dealt with severely, almost mockingly, with the Lewinsky scandal closely tied to his failure to cripple al-Qaeda.

“The Path to 9/11” ends with a long segment on the day of the attacks and top officials’ response — though we only see President Bush in his speech to the nation, not in the Florida classroom with “The Pet Goat.”

Science fiction

According to Zillow.com, the estimated value of Casa NewMexiKen has risen 60% since spring.

I’m not believing it, but I’m open to offers.

(No house on my street of 27 has been listed for sale since I bought mine in 1999. Some have been sold privately I’m told.)

This isn’t going to be pretty

Two excerpts from an article about Nightmare Mortgages from Business Week:

The option adjustable rate mortgage (ARM) might be the riskiest and most complicated home loan product ever created. With its temptingly low minimum payments, the option ARM brought a whole new group of buyers into the housing market, extending the boom longer than it could have otherwise lasted, especially in the hottest markets. Suddenly, almost anyone could afford a home — or so they thought. The option ARM’s low payments are only temporary. And the less a borrower chooses to pay now, the more is tacked onto the balance.

The bill is coming due. Many of the option ARMs taken out in 2004 and 2005 are resetting at much higher payment schedules — often to the astonishment of people who thought the low installments were fixed for at least five years. And because home prices have leveled off, borrowers can’t count on rising equity to bail them out. What’s more, steep penalties prevent them from refinancing. The most diligent home buyers asked enough questions to know that option ARMs can be fraught with risk. But others, caught up in real estate mania, ignored or failed to appreciate the risk.

Most of the pain will be born by ordinary people. And it’s already happening. More than a fifth of option ARM loans in 2004 and 2005 are upside down — meaning borrowers’ homes are worth less than their debt. If home prices fall 10%, that number would double. “The number of houses for sale is tripling in some markets, so people are not going to get out of their debt,” says the Ford Foundation’s McCarthy. “A lot are going to walk.”

Jennifer and Eric Hinz of Somerset, Wis., are feeling the squeeze. They refinanced out of a 5.25% fixed-rate, 30-year loan in June, 2005, and into an option ARM with a 1% teaser rate from Indymac Bank. The $1,483 payment for their original mortgage dropped to as low as $747 with the new option ARM. They say they had no idea when they signed up, however, that the low payment adds $600 in deferred interest to their balance every month. Worse, they thought the 1% would last three years, but they’re already paying 7.68%. “What reasonable human being would ever knowingly give up a 5.25% fixed-rate for what we’re getting now?” says Eric, 36, who works in commercial construction. Refinancing is out because they can’t afford the $15,000 or so in fees. “I’m paying more, and the interest is just going up and up and up,” says Jennifer, 34, a stay-at-home mom. “I feel like we got totally screwed.” They say their mortgage broker has stopped returning their phone calls. Indymac declined to comment on the loan’s specifics.

Here’s that ‘liberal media’ acting out again

ABC has been aggressively advancing its inaccurate and politically slanted miniseries, “The Path to 9/11,” to the right wing. Big players like Rush Limbaugh have been provided copies, as have obscure right-wing bloggers like Patterico.

But ABC has refused to provide a copy to President Clinton’s office. Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and former National Security Adviser Samuel Berger have also requested copies of the film from ABC, and both have been denied. Both Berger and Albright are harshly criticized in the film in scenes that, according to former counterterrorism czar Richard Clarke, are “180 degrees from what happened.”

— Think Progress

Update: The Daily Howler sums up:

“This used to be called a “broadcast” network. Now, they narrow-cast to the intellectually challenged—and make a sick joke of our public discourse. Sorry, but the American system—indeed, the western experiment—simply can’t function this way.”

Best line of Wednesday, so far

The press had lots of commentary like the one by Lauren Stiller Rikleen, titled “Women need Katie Couric to succeed.”

Actually, the minute Katie Couric was given a $15 million paycheck to read from a teleprompter for 15 or 20 minutes a night, women won. Women have been doing that at the BBC and on American cable stations for years, and for a lot less dough. Jackie Robinson represented a revolution; Katie Couric represented a promotion.

— Maureen Dowd

Remember this?

NewMexiKen posted it a year ago today (September 5, 2005):

In the chaos that was Causeway Boulevard, this group of refugees stood out: a 6-year-old boy walking down the road, holding a 5-month-old, surrounded by five toddlers who followed him around as if he were their leader.

They were holding hands. Three of the children were about 2 years old, and one was wearing only diapers. A 3-year-old girl, who wore colorful barrettes on the ends of her braids, had her 14-month-old brother in tow. The 6-year-old spoke for all of them, and he told rescuers his name was Deamonte Love.

— Los Angeles Times

Well, Digby brings us up to date. Go read.

NCAA Redux

Malcolm Gladwell continues the discussion about the NCAA; an excerpt:

I made this point before, briefly. But it’s worth restating in more detail. McElrathbey is an athlete. He is also a student, a brother and, now the legal guardian of his younger brother. The NCAA’s formal mandate is to govern students in their capacity as athletes. But here, in forbidding McElrathbey from accepting outside donations to help him take care of his little brother, the NCAA has extended its jurisdiction to govern McElrathbey in his capacity as a brother and legal guardian.

I think that’s outrageous.

All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten

“He also told us about the green-yellow-red behavior system and said that he won’t get any reds but we should expect a few yellows.”

That’s Mack’s mom reporting on Mack’s first day of kindergarten.

It’s difficult to go through kindergarten, or any other part of life, without a few yellows.

Update: Mack says it’s not that he might purposefully break a rule, it’s that you don’t always know the rules. Indeed.

Mack’s dad told Mack that if he gets all the way through kindergarten with no yellows, he’ll get him a car.

Three from The Times

Sunday’s New York Times had an interesting look at the new SAT essays:

Last week, when the board released 20 top-scoring essays, all on the topic of whether memories are a help or a hindrance, it was impossible not to notice that many were — what’s the right word? — awkward …

Also in Sunday’s Times, a look at the best food at some state fairs:

In fact, the whole point of these folksy, vulgar blow-outs is to award excess: the biggest swine, the strongest ox, the fastest hot rods, the most meticulous map of the Americas made entirely of different colored beans and the prettiest brace of identical cobs of sweet corn.

A state fair is a picnic that everyone’s invited to …

And, an anthropoligist writes in Snakes on the Brain that snakes may have been good for our eyes:

That humans have been afraid of snakes for a long time is not a fresh observation; that this fear may be entwined with our development as a species is. New anthropological evidence suggests that snakes, as predators, may have figured prominently in the evolution of primate vision — the ability, shared by humans, apes and monkeys, to see the world in crisp, three-dimensional living color.