Plead the First

Now that it turns out the bomb scare in Boston was nothing more than a TV promotion gone awry, it’s good to see that people are calming down. Oh, wait … never mind:

Assistant Attorney General John Grossman called the light boards “bomb-like” devices and said that if they had been explosive they could have damaged transportation infrastructure in the city.

He’s right! And if they had been nuclear devices, they could have wiped out the whole city! Or what if they were alien death rays? The entire East coast might be a smouldering pile of ash right now.

Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis called the stunt “unconscionable,” while Boston Mayor Thomas Menino called it “outrageous” and the product of “corporate greed.” Democratic Rep. Ed Markey, a Boston-area congressman, added, “It would be hard to dream up a more appalling publicity stunt.”

Only if you’re totally lacking in imagination. How about if instead of a cartoon character giving everyone the finger, the device displayed a digital timer, counting down to zero. That might be a bit more appalling. Or if there were fake sticks of dynamite strapped to the device. Or if the device was playing reruns of “Touched by an Angel”. It really isn’t that hard to dream up something more appalling.

It’s fine that officials took precautions and investigated (although they were the only city to do so, despite this promotion taking place in a dozen other major cities). But now that they’ve found out what was going on, it’s probably time to lighten up a little bit. Maybe take a cue from the two men who were responsible for the promotion:

At a news conference after the hearing, Stevens and Berdovsky stepped to the microphones and said they were taking questions only about 1970s hairstyles.

When a reporter accused them of not taking the situation seriously, Stevens responded, “We’re taking it very seriously.” Asked another question about the case, Stevens reiterated they were answering questions only about hair and accused the reporter of not taking him and Berdovsky seriously.

Reporters did not relent and as they continued, Berdovsky disregarded their queries, saying, “That’s not a hair question. I’m sorry.”

Update: Ratcheting up the silliness, a t-shirt featuring one of the ATHF Lite-Brites strapped to a suicide bomber was up for sale earlier on Ebay. (via Golden Fiddle)

According to a recent survey by Public Policy Polling, if NC Senator Elizabeth Dole and Governor Mike Easley went head-to-head in a senate election today, Easley would stand a good chance of coming out on top.

If the hypothetical head-to-head contest was held today, Governor Easley edges Senator Dole 44% to 41%.

Clearly Governor Easley is helped by his strong approval ratings. According to this survey, 50% of voters approve of Easley’s job performance, while 33% disapprove. This is a much stronger rating than Senator Dole’s: 36% approve and 36% disapprove.

As the survey points out, however, Easley has repeatedly said that he won’t run for the Senate. It’s doubtful anyone else would stack up as well right off the bat, but this suggests that beating Dole is at least within the realm of possibility.

(Via Kos, pointed out to me by a friend)

Psychics tend to be extremely accurate – as long as you ignore their misses. Here’s a recent example of a big miss that psychic-believers would probably like to sweep under the rug.

Shawn Hornbeck’s disappearance had a happy ending when police found him alive earlier this month. The news took many people by surprise, most likely including psychic Sylvia Browne, who had earlier told Shawn’s parents that he was dead:

His parents were beyond desperate when they went on Montel Williams’ syndicated television program, where they were brought together with renowned psychic Sylvia Browne … Browne was telling his parents the worst possible news — that Shawn was dead, and that his body was in a rocky, forested area within 20 miles of their home. For the next three weeks, the search reportedly focused on finding Shawn’s body in that prescribed area.

Of course, they failed to find the body because last week — four years after he went missing — Shawn Hornbeck turned up very much alive.

It’s despicable that someone would pretend to have knowledge of a child’s fate and lead his parents – and the police – astray like this.

Browne was totally wrong, not just about Shawn’s fate, but about his abductor as well. According to James Randi:

But there was more specific drivel from Browne, She said that Shawn had been taken by a “dark-skinned man, he wasn’t black – more like Hispanic.” She said the kidnaper had long, black hair worn in dreadlocks and was “really tall.” He was driving an older model blue sedan, she said, a car with fins like in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s Chevrolets. All of this drivel was wrong, from the description of the man – he is not Hispanic nor dark-skinned, he’s Caucasian, he’s heavy and not tall – and his car was quite the opposite of Browne’s invented notions: it was a white pickup truck.

Maybe it’s time to have criminal penalties for psychics who provide police with false information?

This week’s cartoon, in which things get even worse for Mike Nifong.

The Bush Administration takes a step away from the edge:

Reversing a position it defended for more than a year, the Bush administration announced Wednesday that it has begun getting court approval before eavesdropping on the communications of suspected terrorists or their associates.

If I were cynical, I would think this had something to do with a Democratic-controlled Congress. It’s amazing how all this time, the Bush administration has been saying that warrants weren’t needed – in fact, it was necessary to forego warrants to protect our country. Now, suddenly, it seems that our laws regarding warrants aren’t too restrictive after all.

Between his apparent reversal on global warming, his recent admission that Iraq had no WMDs, and now this, it sounds like Bush himself has a bad case of BDS.

Guilford County jails are getting crowded. With some inmates sleeping on floors, I’m sure it’s not a pleasant experience for them, and it sounds like things may soon get uncomfortable for taxpayers as well:

Some way, somehow, taxpayers in Guilford County must come up with $104.8 million for a new jail.

Whether the money comes from higher property taxes or higher sales taxes is up to the county commissioners.

First of all, let it be known that I’m pretty much ok with the fact that Saddam was executed. If anyone deserved it, he certainly did. However, Richard Dawkins brings up an interesting point: By executing Saddam we have lost the chance to study him and learn from him.

Imagine, in fancy, that some science fiction equivalent of Simon Wiesenthal built a time machine, travelled back to 1945 and returned to the present with a manacled Adolf Hitler. What should we do with him? Execute him? No, a thousand times no. Historians squabbling over exactly what happened in the Third Reich and the Second World War would never forgive us for destroying the central witness to all the inside stories, and one of the pivotal influences on twentieth century history. Psychologists, struggling to understand how an individual human being could be so evil and so devastatingly effective at persuading others to join him, would give their eye teeth for such a rich research subject. Kill Hitler? You would have to be mad to do so. Yet that is undoubtedly what we would have done if he hadn’t killed himself in 1945. Saddam Hussein is not in the same league as Hitler but, nevertheless, in a small way his execution represents a wanton and vandalistic destruction of important research data.

I’m not sure how far such arguments can swing the pendulum in favor of not executing someone, but it’s certainly something worth thinking about.

A lot of talk gets thrown around about political hypocrisy and double standards, but this is about as clear cut as it gets: Republicans, now in the minority in Congress, are pushing for a minority bill of rights, designed to give the minority party a little more say in legislation and to safeguard their voice in Congress.

However, this bill of rights is nearly identical to the one originally proposed by Pelosi in 2004 when the Dems were in the minority. At the time it was rejected by Republicans, who refused to even respond to Pelosi’s memo.

Suddenly, now that they are the ones in the minority, it’s a good idea.

This is nothing more than a cheap political stunt of course, but it’s certainly a win-win one for the GOP. If the Democrats reject the proposal, Pelosi will be nailed for being hypocritical (and rightly so). If the proposal is adopted, the Republicans benefit from safeguards they originally denied to the Democrats.

(Hat tip: Ed Brayton)

District Attorney Mike Nifong is taking an increasing amount of heat over the rape case involving a stripper and some Duke lacrosse players. Recently, DNA tests failed to turn up any physical forensic connection to the Duke students. Then late last month the stripper began to waver in some of the details of her story. Now, ethics charges filed against Nifong may force him off the case completely. Future resolutions aside, I’m sure there are a few aspects of the case that Nifong wishes he had handled differently.

Then he slithered and slunk, with a smile most unpleasant,
Around the whole room, and he took every present!
Pop guns! And bicycles! Roller skates! Drums!
Checkerboards! Tricycles! Popcorn! And plums!
And he stuffed them in bags. Then the Grinch, very nimbly,
Stuffed all the bags, one by one, up the chimney!

Then he slunk to the icebox. He took the Whos’ feast!
He took the Who-pudding! He took the roast beast!
He cleaned out that icebox as quick as a flash.
Why, that Grinch even took their last can of Who-hash!

Then he stuffed all the food up the chimney with glee.
“And NOW!” grinned the Grinch, “I will stuff up the tree!”

And the Grinch grabbed the tree, and he started to shove
When he heard a small sound like the coo of a dove.
He turned around fast, and he saw a small Who!
Little Cindy-Lou Who, who was not more than two.

The Grinch had been caught by this little Who daughter
Who’d got out of bed for a cup of cold water.
She stared at the Grinch and said, “Santy Claus, why,
“Why are you taking our Christmas tree? WHY?”

But, you know, that old Grinch was so smart and so slick
He thought up a lie, and he thought it up quick!
“Why, my sweet little tot,” the fake Santy Claus lied,
“There’s a light on this tree that won’t light on one side.
“So I’m taking it home to my workshop, my dear.
“I’ll fix it up there. Then I’ll bring it back here.”

And his fib fooled the child. Then he patted her head
And he got her a drink and he sent he to bed.
And when Cindy-Lou Who went to bed with her cup,
HE went to the chimney and stuffed the tree up!

Then the last thing he took
Was the log for their fire.
Then he went up the chimney himself, the old liar.
On their walls he left nothing but hooks, and some wire.

And the one speck of food
The he left in the house
Was a crumb that was even too small for a mouse.

– From How the Grinch Stole Christmas, by Dr. Seuss

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!