drat fink

a taxing situation

"If the politics of the issue no longer crudely favors Republicans, it may be for a straightforward reason: Democrats have changed. Well into the 1980s, it was not a grotesque distortion to accuse the party of wanting to "tax and spend." Many Democrats frankly advocated higher taxes to pay for a substantially larger federal government than most Republicans wanted. But during the Clinton years, Democrats shifted to become the party of fiscal responsibility. Today, the essential difference between Democrats and Republicans on fiscal matters lies not in how big the federal government should be—the 2002 budget bills Bush signed increased spending 13 percent and early indications are that his 2003 budget will ask for more huge increases. The main difference is that Democrats want to pay for all the government they want, while Republicans don't."

you spin me round

"The political equivalent of Ken Lay would be a politician who insisted he was going to win the election even though all the polls showed him heading for near-certain defeat. In the political world, though, spin is not merely tolerated: It is required. It is regarded as a basic test of competence."

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splitter

"A fresh outbreak of fighting between Northern Alliance factions highlights the continued ineffectiveness of Afghanistan's central government. Warlords who have a stake in the government are only behaving long enough to receive international aid while those outside the government are motivated to cause its collapse."

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"American soldiers in the Philippines will be encouraged to go on tours of museums instead of touring local brothels."

no kidding

"The Langley Schools Music Project is a 60-voice chorus of rural school children from western Canada, untrained but captivated by melodic magic, singing tunes by the Beach Boys, Paul McCartney, David Bowie, The Bay City Rollers, and others (in 1976). The students accompany themselves with the shimmering gamelan chimes of Orff percussion, and elemental rock trimmings arranged by their itinerant music teacher, Hans.Fenger."

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waite is on

"I can recognise the conditions that prisoners are being kept in at the US camp at Guantanamo Bay because I have been there. Not to Cuba's Camp X-Ray, but to the darkened cell in Beirut that I occupied for five years. I was chained to a wall by my hands and feet; beaten on the soles of my feet with cable; denied all my human rights, and contact with my family for five years, and given no access to the outside world. Because I was kept in very similar conditions, I am appalled at the way we - countries that call ourselves civilised - are treating these captives. Is this justice or revenge?"

national pasttime

"It seems the Nation won't let the facts interfere with a Bush-bashing opportunity. The Wall Street Journal noted in its "Best of the Web" column Friday that a Matt Bivens story in the Nation, "The Enron Box," began with a howler: "When George W. Bush co-owned the Houston Astros and construction began on a new stadium, Kenneth Lay agreed to spend $100 million over thirty years for rights to name the park after Enron." As the Journal noted, "it was the Texas Rangers, not the Astros, that Bush co-owned." Strike One.

The Nation was quick to "fix" this on their website. By late Friday, they had come up with this solution: "When George W. Bush co-owned the Texas Rangers and construction began on a new stadium, Kenneth Lay agreed to spend $100 million over thirty years for rights to name the park after Enron."

Problem is, the Texas Rangers play at The Ballpark in Arlington. Enron Field is where the Houston Astros play, more than 200 miles away. Strike Two.

The Scrapbook is beginning to think the Nation folks need to get out more. They don't know Texas; they don't know baseball. The only ERA they've heard of is probably the Equal Rights Amendment. So to prevent further embarrassment, we are happy to clue them in: Texas has not one, but two major league baseball teams, the Rangers and the Astros. The Rangers play in the American League; the Astros in the National League.

And what does Bush's onetime ownership of the Rangers have to do with the Astros' Enron Field? Absolutely nothing. Strike Three."

phone spam

"Responding to industry criticism that the commission's proposal to create a national do-not-call registry was an attempt to limit the right of free speech, the director of the FTC's Consumer Protection Bureau said it was an attempt to protect another key American right -- the right to privacy."