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Tuesday, February 24, 2004
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Latest Lily
These are the first pictures to even partially do justice to her always-rosy cheeks and nose.
1:03:10 PM 
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The Passion
My spritual beliefs and Biblical knowledge specifically mean that I am very much an outside observer of the phenomenon of controversy surrounding the release of "The Passion of Christ". Whenever I see someone expressing a strong opinion in favor of the movie (or against it), my immediate thought is that their opinion is biased by their religious dogma.
Which, of course, is my opinion based on my own anti-religious dogma.
Which leaves part of me thinking that maybe I should see what all the hubbub is about. But a larger part of me just doesn't care too much. I just don't care about the movie, or who really killed Christ.
Oh, but I love the PC answer that I hear so much--"We ALL killed Christ." Well, sorry, I've got a really iron-clad alibi on that one, seeing as how I wasn't to be born for another 1900 years or so. But that's just me.
I would, though, be interested to see just how violent the movie is. By most accounts I've heard, it's quite violent. How does this jibe with the actions of so many evangelicals and conservative groups to temper violence in movies? I suppose if it's "violence with a positive message", that's OK.
11:22:48 AM
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"Ah, oui, oui. I am John Kewweee!"
John "Froggy" Kerry
The only cable news channel I get is MSNBC, so I'm forced to watch non-entities like Scarborough Country. Sometimes this is good, sometimes bad. Last night they closed with this nugget.
Joe Scarborough: "Did you think the 'F' in 'John F. Kerry' stood for 'Frenchy'? Well, probably not, but listen to this..."
Then they show footage of Kerry speaking French. I didn't quite catch what he said because the audio wasn't great, something about a menage a trois at the biblioteque. Then Scarborough said Kerry can say that he served in Vietnam in nine languages.
OK. Does that mean Kerry actually speaks nine languages? I don't think that's what it means. I think Scarborough was speaking literally, that John Kerry learned how to tell people he served in Vietnam in nine different languages. Now, maybe it's just me, but I think that's pretty corny. I'm really hoping Kerry can say something other than "I served in Vietnam" in those nine languages, at the very least, "Bring me a beer," or "I have a rich wife," or "I have diarrhea and must find a bathroom immediately."
I mean, the Vietnam focus for Kerry is already a comedy target, as witnessed by the jokes on Saturday Night Live. But if the guy actually learned how to say that one phrase, and only that one phrase, in nine languages, then maybe there's something to it all. Incidentally, the nine languages are: English, French, Olde English, Esperonto, Klingon, Elvish, Vietnamese, HTML and Ebonics.
And does anybody think it's a coincidence that they showed Kerry speaking French, out of all the nine languages? Political kiss of death. I can hear the cafe talk among middle American swing voters right now..."Kerry speaks French. You know who else speaks French? The French!"
11:09:27 AM
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Nader Becomes Punching Bag For Chris Matthews
I had the misfortune of catching Ralph Nader on MSNBC last night. Poor Nader. Yeah, he got himself into this, but still, you can't help but watch the guy and think, "Poor Nader."
It sort of went like this:
Matthews, shouting: "You don't own a car! You don't live in a house! You're not married, nor did you have kids! You're not a typical American, are you?"
Nader: "I don't need a car. I've helped America a lot."
Matthews, shouting: "How can you be an American if you don't own a car! If you did own a car, what car would you own?"
Nader: "Volvos are good cars."
Matthews, screaming, pointing: "But you don't own a Volvo, do you?"
Nader, expressionless and humorless as he tries to cut in on Matthews: "It's...it's...it's...it's...no wonder...no wonder...they parody you on Saturday Night...Saturday Night Live. It's no wonder...they parody you..."
Then on the screen below Nader, a graphic appears: "Ralph Nader's mother did not let him play with toys."
I'm not making this up.
10:55:02 AM
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Bush Finally Supporting Constitutional Ban on Gay Marriage
Looks like they figured they couldn't play cat and mouse with their evangelical base any longer--Bush came out today in broad support of a gay marriage ban, though he declined to support any specific legislation.
I've tried to follow the polls on this one, and it seems to me that the numbers vacillate wildly from poll to poll. Clearly, the majority of Americans are not ready to embrace gay marriage. At best, there seems to be a relative split on whether a Constitutional ban is the right thing to do, while a firm majority of Americans still seem open to civil unions.
What appears to me to be happening is that Bush and Kerry are both gravitating to a civil unions approach, though this could still be troublesome for Bush, because a lot of his evangelical base wants to go ahead and push to make civil unions for gays illegal as well.
I'm not sure what it does to Kerry, relative to his position on a Constitutional ban. I guess I don't see how Kerry can be hurt by opposing an amendment and saying the states should decide, when 38 states have already passed legislation banning gay marriage.
I still think the Dems should stick to their guns and paint the GOP position for what it is, discrimination. History will reflect kindly on that decision.
10:40:03 AM
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Broadcast Disaster
The Twins have started their own cable venture, Victory Sports. The games used to be on Fox Sports Net, but the Twins see Victory as a revenue generator, especially since they can also bargain for the rights to various University of Minnesota sports, the Wolves, and perhaps even the Wild.
But there's a problem. Victory hasn't been able to reach an agreement with the local cable providers that serve the Metro area. Meaning, the Twins face a very real danger of going into the season without anybody in their major market having the ability to see them. You can't even get Victory on a dish.
Brilliant. The Twins thought they would have the leverage, but now who has the leverage? Victory, or the cable companies? I'm guessing the cable companies.
10:14:42 AM
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The Joe Mauer Era Begins
Reading the raves Joe Mauer is drawing after just one day of Spring Training reminds me of when Randy Moss first reported to Vikings camp for his rookie year in '98. At that point, very few people had actually seen Moss play. Usually, coaches and other players temper their enthusiasm for rookies, but that's not the case so far with Mauer, just like it wasn't with Moss.
I'll never forget reading the quotes from Moss's first camp. People were saying things like, "Jesus, I've never seen anything like it," or "He's going to steamroll this league from the get-go." You just don't hear that kind of thing about rookies, but in Moss's case it was certainly true.
Mauer isn't going to be an offensive machine his first year, but he won't be an automatic out, either. What I'm intrigued by are the descriptions of his work behind the plate and with the pitching staff. These early reports aren't exactly dampening my enthusiasm.
10:07:03 AM
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FDA Scare Tactics On Reimportation
Minnesota is blazing a trail, becoming the first state to set up a website that facilitates reimportation of prescription drugs from Canada. It was a natural move, because so many Minnesotans are already making the drive up north anyway. Although I have serious issues with several of Governor Tim Pawlenty's policies, he deserves major kudos for this in my mind.
Naturally, the FDA has gone on the offensive, trying to use the boogeyman of "unsafe Canadian drugs" to discourage this practice, despite the fact that several independent studies show that Canadian drugs meet or exceed FDA safety standards. I think we all know why the FDA, or the U.S. government in general, would want to discourage this practice. Why are Canadian drugs cheaper? Because Canada actually uses its large purchasing power to negotiate lower prices with drug manufacturers, something that doesn't happen here as a result of the overly cozy relationship both parties have with the pharm companies.
The FDA isn't mandating that they shut this website down, yet, but I'm guessing it won't be long till that happens. Then what?
There is a frequent commenter on Pipeline who knows a thing or three about the pharm industry. I'd love to hear what she thinks about this.
9:53:41 AM
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© Copyright 2004 DH.
Last update:
3/1/2004; 11:37:51 AM.
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