17. oktober 2003

So that's why they have those long robes A French judge in Angouleme was seen masturbating in court. Three witnesses, a lawyer, a woman in the public gallery and a journalist, all reported seeing the act. French newspaper Charente Libre, whose reporter was among the witnesses, said it happened as an attorney was pleading his case. I guess the attorney's arguments weren't too exciting then, or maybe they were. At any rate, the outcome should be a complete toss-up. 6:55:37 PM    comment []  trackback []

The Bible and gays Conservative Christians, including the Anglicans who now fight against a modernisation of their church, typically make vague references to "the Bible" to avoid tackling the ethical issues related to homosexuality. However, as Stephen Bates points out, it is not altogether clear what the pet Bible texts really mean, and surely not what ethical implications it should have for modern life. And then there is the question of what rules to select, and what rules to discard. It has been rightly pointed out in the current argument that homosexuality is not the only human practice which is condemned and that others the Biblical writers thought were wicked have now been accepted. This leaves a question mark over what it is about homosexuality that is unchangeably bad when practices such as divorce, lending money, eating shellfish, wearing a mixture of fabrics, cross-breeding livestock and sowing mixed seed in fields have long since become acceptable and tolerated. Not to mention, why anti-gay clerics don't fight for the restoration of slavery, which certainly was a Biblical institution as good as any. 5:52:27 PM    comment []  trackback []

The fine print on troop morale The morale survey conducted among US troops in Iraq has received wide attention today. The publication conducting the survey, Stars and Stripes, is pretty upfront about the methodological problems of the survey. The rest of the press is not so clear on that significant fact. Most significantly, the reporters visited troops wherever they could, handed out and received back almost 2,000 questionnaires. The selection, so crucial for all scientific polls, was non-existant. There is also, alas, no indication how many forms were not returned, or if anyone declined participation. Whatever the case, it is obvious that whoever wanted to participate in the survey would have more incentive to fill in the questionnaire than those that did not care. Thus, there would be a bias for opiniated soldiers. Nevertheless, this is not mentioned, or is just article filler on the bottom of the article, of those countless news sources worldwide who report from this study. Moreover, the BBC and others report the morale as "sliding," but at least I am not aware of any earlier comparable study to determine a trend. Also, as Stars and Stripes points out in another article, there is no uniform way to define morale, and opinions and definitions differ among soldiers and experts alike. For a significant number of questions, the troops divide themselves into three similar-sized groups. Roughly a third is happy about things and have good morale, a third reports things as average, and a third are dissatisfied. Interestingly, more thinks the morale is low of their collegues than report their own morale as low. There is the half-full, half-empty issue. For BBC, it is of course half-empty: Over 70% of United States troops in Iraq questioned by a Pentagon-funded newspaper say their morale is low or average Why on Earth should the low and average groups be combined like this? Why not combine high and average to get about the same figure? Obviously the Beeb works hard to make the case that the majority have low morale, instead of accepting that many of those polled meant to say that 'average' meant business as usual. What it comes down to, is this: You haul a number of young men and women in their best age away from family and friends, have them live in a harsh climate while being shot at and facing a monumental task with no clear end in sight. Perhaps what is astonishing is that given the circumstances, a significant amount of the men and women in uniform report that their morale is good. While we're talking about it: How is morale at your workplace or school? Anybody shooting at you there? 2:22:56 PM    comment []  trackback []

Senate makes $10bn of Iraq rebuilding money into loan Despite frantic lobbying from the White House, the US Senate secured a majority for the proposal to convert half the $20bn rebuilding money for Iraq into a loan, adding to the country's already astronomical foreign debt. A similar proposal was turned down in the house, meaning a new round of negotiations for the final bill. The Senate proposal did contain a provision to convert the loan into a grant if the US succeeded to substantially reduce Iraq's debt with other countries. Under the bipartisan loan amendment, the money would be transformed into a grant if other countries agreed to forgive at least 90 percent of the debt they were owed by Iraq. That debt is usually estimated at between $90 billion and $127 billion. The problem is that these countries are Russia, Saudi Arabia, France and Germany. Thus, it is not only the Bush administration negotiating skills that are put on the line, but the goodwill of the US' biggest opponents. If you want to hold the Iraqi economy hostage, you getter make sure whoever you negotiate with have its best interests in mind. Essentially, the US will have to ask these countries to help them succeed in Iraq, and help them avoid giving the impression the US is in Iraq for its oil. The creditors have every interest, not only to have their debt repaid, but to give the US a poke in the eye. 1:29:41 PM    comment []  trackback []

MI5 chief: war on terrorism will be long Director general of the British Security Service MI5, Eliza Manningham-Buller, recently gave a talk to police officers in London, and described al-Qaeda as very much alive, powerful and dangerous. “We are now past the second anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the United States and it is clear that the threat from Islamist terrorism will be with us for a long time,” said Ms Manningham-Buller. “I see no prospect of a significant reduction in the threat posed to the UK and its interests from Islamist terrorism over the next five years, and I fear for a considerable number of years afterwards. “The effort to defeat the Islamist threat is going to be a long haul.” Until quite recently, even the existence of the British security and intelligence services were an official secret, and their officials never spoke in public. Now, when they do, there is a good reason to listen. 1:37:25 AM    comment []  trackback []

About that 'dude' book Spinsanity has taken a close look at Michael Moore's latest book, the one with the most pun-friendly publication title ever, and as expected, they have found quite a bit of distortions, lies and half-truths. Bjørn Stærk recently wrote about a rather surprising review of "Dude, where is my country?" in a Norwegian newspaper (surprising because it was critical). 12:36:17 AM    comment []  trackback []

GM: Excuse our French General Motors has been forced to rename its Buick in Canada after getting a surprise lesson in Quebec's peculiar slang. General Motor's plans to rechristen the Canadian-built Buick Regal passenger car as the Buick LaCrosse have hit a snag: In Québécois youth culture, the word is slang for masturbation, among other things. And here I thought that LaCrosse was a team sport. This took at least one GM exec by a bit of surprise. "I speak French as taught in Switzerland and as taught in France, I spent three years in Paris functioning in the French system, and I thought I knew every expression existing in the French language for self-gratification, including the crudest ones known to man," said a GM vice-chairman. A local elaborates on the finer arts of Quebec slang: Stew Low, a GM Canada spokesman, said in Quebec youth culture the word is a slang term "that means a couple of things, either to masturbate or 'I just got screwed,' or 'I just got taken.' " GM is not the first car maker to run into a rude language barrier. Honda wanted to call its Jazz model Honda Fitta in Norway, choosing the Scandinavian word for 'cunt.' Honda's slogan for the new car was "small on the outside, large when you get inside." 12:20:35 AM    comment []  trackback []

© Copyright 2003 Jan Haugland. Last update: 01.11.2003; 03:20:01.