The King of Pointland

Plans

I have a pair of denim jeans. On the surface, over the right front pocket, are several black ink stains, clearly visible. I have washed the jeans, after pretreating the stains, but the stains remain. Helpful friends, and my mother, too, tell me that hair spray may do the trick. I have no hair spray.

Now, on the final day of 2005, I plan to walk to the local supermarket to purchase some hair spray. I am going. Now.

UPDATE: Does anybody need aerosol hair spray? I have a virtually unused can of "Consort - For Men." It won't remove waterproof ink stains, but it does promise "Great Hold, Never Stiff, Never Sticky."

Happy New Year, friends.

Concision

From yesterday's Post, front page of the Metro section:

Obituaries

Joseph G. Anastasi, 68; Md. Economic Secretary
Democrat later became a developer. B4

Heinrich Gross, 90
Psychiarist worked at Nazi clinic that killed children. B4

What will your death sentence be?

Checks, Balances, and Parties

From time to time, the CIA tortures suspects until they die. As we are a signatory to the U.N. Convention Against Torture, it seems that this is already illegal under U.S. law. But, just to be clear, John McCain and the rest of the U.S. Congress have forced the president to finally concede this point:

President Relents, Backs Torture Ban
McCain Proposal Had Veto-Proof Support

By Josh White
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, December 16, 2005; A01

President Bush reversed position yesterday and endorsed a torture ban crafted by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) after months of White House attempts to weaken the measure, which would prohibit the "cruel, inhuman, or degrading" treatment of any detainee in U.S. custody anywhere in the world.

The announcement of a deal at the White House yesterday was a setback for the administration, which had pressed the senator to either drop the measure or modify it so that interrogators, especially with the CIA, would have the flexibility to use a range of extreme tactics on terrorism suspects. In the end, McCain, bolstered by strong support in both houses of Congress, was willing to add only two paragraphs that would give civilian interrogators legal protections that are already afforded to military interrogators.

This is a bill the President had threatened to make the first victim of his veto pen.

How did the House of Representatives vote Wednesday on a measure supporting the anti-torture language? Overall, "[o]n a 308 to 122 vote, the House yesterday supported the specific language proposed by McCain." But that broke down as follows: Republicans voted 121 against and 107 for the measure. Democrats voted 200 for and 1 against the measure. Remember this the next time you are told the two parties are no different.

Well, where is it?

I just put my index finger on the F5 key and found myself waiting for a tooltip to appear.

Man 1, Bears 0

From today's WSJ (subscription required):

Is Global Warming Killing the Polar Bears?
By JIM CARLTON
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
December 14, 2005; Page B1

It may be the latest evidence of global warming: Polar bears are 
drowning.

Scientists for the first time have documented multiple deaths of 
polar bears off Alaska, where they likely drowned after swimming long
distances in the ocean amid the melting of the Arctic ice shelf. The 
bears spend most of their time hunting and raising their young on ice 
floes.

In a quarter-century of aerial surveys of the Alaskan coastline 
before 2004, researchers from the U.S. Minerals Management Service 
said they typically spotted a lone polar bear swimming in the ocean 
far from ice about once every two years. Polar-bear drownings were so 
rare that they have never been documented in the surveys.

But in September 2004, when the polar ice cap had retreated a record 
160 miles north of the northern coast of Alaska, researchers counted 
10 polar bears swimming as far as 60 miles offshore. Polar bears can 
swim long distances but have evolved to mainly swim between sheets of 
ice, scientists say.

The researchers returned to the vicinity a few days after a fierce 
storm and found four dead bears floating in the water. "Extrapolation 
of survey data suggests that on the order of 40 bears may have been 
swimming and that many of those probably drowned as a result of rough 
seas caused by high winds," the researchers say in a report set to be 
released today.

...

Bears: Get out of the water and head south. Our economy is doing well, unemployment is low, and fish are cheap!

CP: Crime and Punishment

I really hope they catch these fuckers.

Duplicity

While recuperating from my stomach flu (or whatever the hell I had) this weekend, I read the paper as I sometimes do. So many amusing stories, so little time. Here's one I enjoyed:

Alito Distances Himself From 1985 Memos

Supreme Court nominee Samuel A. Alito Jr. yesterday tried to tamp down criticisms of several past statements -- including his assertion that the Constitution does not protect the right to abortion -- by saying they were personal views or an advocate's work and not necessarily indications of how he might rule if confirmed, according to a key senator who quizzed him for more than an hour.

...

As for the earlier memo, the senator [Arlen Specter] said, "I asked him about the line here, 'The Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion.' And he identifies that as a personal opinion . . . and he said that his personal opinion would not be a factor in his judicial decision."

So, Mr. Alito, do you find in the Constitution language that protects a right to abort a pregnancy?

"No. I have read the text many times, examined the relevant case law, carefully analyzed arguments on both sides, and it is my studied opinion that there simply is no such right described. . . Well, that's what my 'person' brain thinks. I call him 'Sammy.' Now my 'judge' brain ('Samuel') agrees entirely with Justice Blackmun in his opinion for the Court in Roe v. Wade. Personally, I find my judge brain's reasoning rather unpersuasive. I try to silence it. But, sometimes, the voices won't stop. Quiet Samuel! Sammy will hear you! He doesn't like it when you talk about abortion rights!"