I’ve blogged before about my dislike of bullfighting and of the “sport” of hunting grass-eaters. Well the Festival of San Fermin, which takes place in Pamplona, Spain, is less than three weeks away, so Pamplona’s barbarous Running of the Bulls is back in the news.

Early in the morning of July 7, six “wild” bulls and herds of tame ones will be released to run the half-mile from the Santo Domingo corrals to the Bull Ring, where they will fight and die in the arena later that same day. The only compensation for the stampeding bulls is that they have a chance to inflict a little payback on the knuckleheaded monkeyboys who will attempt to race the route just ahead of them. ¡Victoria a los toros!

On the lighter side of needless animal cruelty, here’s a bit o’ wit from the last people on Earth you’d expect to have a sense of humor: PETA. On the 5th of July, two days before the Festival of San Fermin, they’re sponsoring the fifth annual Running of the Nudes in Pamplona. PETA promises that “this festive, cheeky event, [is] full of babes, not bulls.” To back it up, they have a page of “hot-to-trot hotties you could be partying with in Pamplona this year!”

Maybe, but I’ve seen the video from last year’s run and the nudes I saw merely confirmed Heinlein’s observation that “some people should wear clothes.”

Tags: blog | weblog | humor | life | pamplona | peta

According to this Washington Post article, CBS is beating Dan Rather like a rented mule.

CBS executives have decided there is no future role at the network for Dan Rather, making it certain that the man who sat in the anchor chair for 24 years will depart by this fall.

These executives recognize Rather’s contributions over four decades and are not trying to boot him because of the controversy surrounding his botched story on President Bush and the National Guard, say network sources who declined to be named while discussing a sensitive personnel matter. But the executives concluded there was no room for Rather at “60 Minutes,” particularly with incoming anchor Katie Couric planning to report a half-dozen stories a year and the hiring of CNN’s Anderson Cooper as a part-time contributor.

This is absurd. If you look at who contributes to 60 Minutes, the main difference between Couric and Rather would seem to be Dan’s age and experience. But that can’t be the reason Rather’s being dumped because most contributors to 60 Minutes (Morley Safer, Ed Bradley, Lesley Stahl, Andy Rooney, and Mike Wallace) are 65 or older and none of them have been forced out to make room for perky Katie and Anderson. So it’s not age and experience, hmmm.

Could it be that they haven’t screwed up in a big way and left CBS open to unanswerable criticisms of liberal bias? That’s my guess as to why Dan is being so publicly humiliated after 44 years of service:

In place of the swagger that had served him so well throughout his 44-year career at CBS News was an obvious sadness that his tenure at the network was ticking down to an inglorious end. Mr. Rather complained that since stepping down as anchor of the ” CBS Evening News” last year, in the aftermath of a reporting scandal, he had been ill used as a correspondent on “60 Minutes” and had been given virtually nothing at all to do for the previous six weeks.

If you have forgotten the particulars behind Rathergate, drop by LittleGreenFootballs and check out Charles Johnson’s proof that the memo broadcast by 60 Minutes 2 was a forgery.

So that’s what’s really behind Dan Rather’s downfall at CBS, here’s what we’ve learned from his fall from grace:

• Those who report for the major mainstream media news organizations have a liberal bias. I’m sure that Dan’s peers think his error wasn’t in manipulating the news, it was getting caught in the act.

• The content of news from CBS and the rest of the MSM is biased in favor of liberals. Rathergate made it harder for them to keep up the charade of impartiality.

• Most important, no matter how glaring the evidence may be that the MSM is biased, they will never ever admit it because their only remaining claim to legitimacy (bogus though it is) is the gravitas that comes from being “balanced.” If Rather had actually admitted to liberal bias that admission would done far more harm to CBS news.

So when Dan Rather and Mary Mapes were caught in the act trying to swing the 2004 election in John Kerry’s favor by broadcasting a story based on phony documents, they had to claim that the documents were valid, no matter how conclusive the evidence was that they were forgeries. Ordinarily they might have gotten away with the lies, but the blogosphere kept the story alive in spite of the MSM’s attempts to ignore it. (It helped that the evidence was so compelling that nobody with two synapses to rub together could believe they were authentic.)

There’s a saying about infidelity “when caught red-handed, deny, deny, deny.” When the trap you’re in is such that you can’t even tell the truth, denial is the only option left. Mary Mapes’s explanation as to why the 60 Minutes letters weren’t forgeries is a perfect example:

They claimed that CBS used forged documents and they repeated that lie so often that it stuck. The mainstream media picked it up, repeating bloggers’ criticisms without making any serious effort to investigate the story. But then that would have required real legwork, something that very few were willing to do on this subject.

As for document analysis, it is a mind-numbing and arcane discipline, an imperfect undertaking reserved for courtroom use, not for headlines or Internet political battles. Document analysis is certainly not meant to be done at 11 o’clock at night by someone with no training or experience sitting in front of a glowing computer nursing a grudge and spoiling for a fight. But that’s precisely how the right’s attack against Dan Rather and CBS News was launched.

That first anonymous analyst (who turned out to be a Republican activist lawyer) raised questions about the memo using only a single shot of a faxed document digitally transmitted to his computer screen. Those kinds of transmissions radically change the way a document looks. His analysis was worthless.

Neither Mapes or Rather are stupid (just bitterly partisan) and they know they look foolish by maintaining that the docs were legit. But the alternative is to confirm people’s suspicions by admitting they tried using suspect documents to harm President Bush’s chances for reelection, which would have been a calamity for CBS (Americans won’t tolerate a news organization trying to subvert an election). Not to mention what Congress might have done to CBS the next time broadcast licenses were up for renewal (election meddling does not qualify as broadcasting in the public interest).

So there you have it, Dan can’t tell the truth because he’d never work for an MSM news organization again, and being dissed by CBS has got to tarnish his reputation, so another job in the mainstream media is even more unlikely. He might land something with a liberal cable channel like MSNBC, but he’s used to having millions of viewers and everybody with cable watches Fox News, so what’s left?

Well, he could always try blogging. Working with the pajama-clad minions of the blogosphere could be a refreshing change, but after years in the MSM, I doubt he’d enjoy the relentless fact-checking scrutiny. You never know, he might fit right in!

Tags: blog | weblog | politics | journalists | rathergate | liberal bias | liberals | scandals | miserable failure

Drudge’s breaking news is the headline “DEMS ANNOUNCE PLAN TO WIN BACK CONGRESS.”

It’s a few years late – better late than never, right? – but the Democrats are finally ready to state what they think are the most important issues facing us and what they intend to do about them if they gain control of Congress in November.

I clicked the link and after waiting a while for the crush on the Dem’s servers to ease, read the plan.

And I’m stunned. Here is what comprises their plan for “A NEW DIRECTION FOR AMERICA":

• Make Health Care More Affordable: Fix the prescription drug program by putting people ahead of drug companies and HMO’s…
• Lower Gas Prices and Achieve Energy Independence: Crack down on price gouging…
• Help Working Families: Raise the minimum wage…
• Cut College Costs: Make college tuition deductible from taxes….
• Ensure Dignified Retirement: Prevent the privatization of Social Security…
• Require Fiscal Responsibility: Restore the budget discipline of the 1990s…

Very good plan…for a pre-9/11 election! What the heck is wrong with the Dem leadership that they ignored the Global War on Terror?

They do know there’s a war on because today 149 Democrats voted against a resolution “Declaring that the United States will prevail in the Global War on Terror, the struggle to protect freedom from the terrorist adversary.”

The resolution passed anyway of course, because Republicans don’t have to appease a crazy anti-war fringe, so they can assert that the U.S. will win the GWoT without fearing a backlash from their base.

On the same day as that shameful vote, the Dem leadership releases “A New Direction for America” that doesn’t even mention the GWoT or conflict in Iraq. Forget “stuck on stupid” the Democrats are “intent on immolation!”

I predicted months ago, back when things looked black for the GOP, that the Republicans wouldn’t lose control of Congress this election cycle, but what with the continuing displays of incompetence by Pelosi and Reid when it comes to national security issues, it doesn’t look like such a risky bet now.

You know, sometimes never is better than late!

Tags: blog | weblog | politics | democrats | republicans | the left | liberals | conservatives | gop

Robert Heinlein is in the news again with the awarding of the first Heinlein Prize for Advances in Space Commercialization to Dr. Peter H. Diamandis, the founder and Chairman of the X PRIZE Foundation.

From the news release:

May 26, 2006–Trustees of the Robert A. and Virginia Heinlein Prize Trust announced today that the first-ever Heinlein Prize will go to Dr. Peter H. Diamandis. The Heinlein Prize was founded to reward individuals for making practical contributions to the commercialization of space. Dr. Diamandis will be honored at a dinner and award ceremony on July 7, 2006 at the St. Regis Hotel in Houston, Texas and receive $500,000, a gold Heinlein Medallion, the Lady Vivamus Sword (as described in Heinlein’s book Glory Road) and a Laureate’s Diploma.

“Dr. Diamandis’ accomplishments have started space settlement and commerce,” explains Art Dula, Trustee and literary executor of the Heinlein Estate. “He has catalyzed space activities by hundreds of people and organizations all over the Earth who are creating a proud and prosperous future for humanity.”

Diamandis is a pioneer and leader in the commercial space arena. In the past 25 years he started more than a dozen leading non-profit and for-profit space organizations. Diamandis is best known as Founder and Chairman of the X PRIZE Foundation, whose $10 million Ansari X PRIZE sparked the birth of the personal spaceflight industry.

Congratulations Dr. Diamandis!

The Star Beast and self-heating canned food

Since last year, OnTech has been marketing self-heating canned food in the form of soups and coffee drinks that work much like Heinlein described in his 1954 novel “Star Beast.”

In the book, John Thomas and his alien companion Lummox are hiding from authorities who want to destroy Lummox (read the book to find out why – trust me, it’s worth your while). To prepare a quick breakfast, John pulled a container of ham and eggs from his backpack, “twisted off the top, and waited for it to heat.”

Pretty neat! Fifty years later, OnTech’s products work in a similar fashion: “When it’s time to enjoy a hot beverage, the consumer simply pulls off the tamper-proof cover on the bottom of the can…” Removing the cover causes water to mix with calcuim oxide in an inner core, which produces enough heat to warm the outer container that holds the soup or drink.

I should have said “allegedly work” because, according to this Engadget story, OnTech hasn’t ironed out all the wrinkles yet:

Self heating Wolfgang Puck lattes recalled en masse

Looks like the world’s most beloved slightly wonky Austrian chef extraordinaire is soon to have a PR fiasco on his hands. Those self-heating single serving Wolfgang Puck branded packs are being pulled from the market faster than you can say Spago. Puck’s namesake company demanded brand-licensee BrandSource Inc. pull the products from stores nationwide after complaints of incidents where the cans overheated, leaked, or the calcium oxide found its way into the hot coffee beverage, resulting in some severely burned consumers. It gets sticky though, because BrandSource only licensed the name; OnTech was the company who provided the cans, and they apparently shoddily subcontracted, which has resulted in litigation between the two companies over some very shady dealings. In other words, if you see one of these cans, steer clear, people.

Tags: blog | weblog | sci-fi | science fiction | heinlein | humor | life | fiasco | wolfgang puck

From Reuters comes this story:

Naked on Everest: a peek on the peak?

The head of the Nepal Mountaineering Association urged the government Saturday to take action against a sherpa who reportedly stripped on top of Mount Everest.

The Himalayan Times had reported Friday that the Nepali climbing guide, whose name it gave as Lakpa Tharke, stood naked for three minutes in freezing conditions on the 29,035-foot summit of the world’s highest peak.

If confirmed, he would be the first person known to have stripped atop Everest, considered by Nepali Buddhists as a god.

[The] climb’s organizers seemed happy enough with Lakpa Thaeke’s strip.

“We are planning to file his extraordinary feat for the Guinness Book of World Records,” the paper quoted an official of the hiking group that employs Tharke as saying.

By itself, just a harmless “boys will be boys” story, but then there’s this more sinister story from the Associated Press via ESPN.com:

As others pass, climber dies alone on Mount Everest

The story, an open secret in the crowded nylon city of Mount Everest base camp, trickled out from the high Himalayas: A British mountaineer desperate for oxygen had collapsed along a well-traveled route to the summit.

Dozens of people walked right past him, unwilling to risk their own ascents.

Within hours, David Sharp, 34, was dead.

The tale was shocking, an apparent display of preening callousness. Sir Edmund Hillary, who was on the team that first summitted Everest in 1953, called it “horrifying” that climbers would leave a dying man.

Sheesh, let a man die because you’re too busy achieving your hobby?

Tags: blog | weblog | climbing news | mountaineering | life is cheap | life | news

From DenverChannel.com comes this story about Jason Niccum, a commuter in Longmont, Colorado who was “always running late” and decided to do something about it.

He bought an Opticon strobe on eBay for $100 that let him change traffic lights from red to green by jamming the optical sensors atop traffic signals. The plan worked pretty well until March 29 when police got wise to what he was doing and ticketed him $50 for suspicion of interfering with a traffic signal. They also confiscated the strobe, so he’s back to being a mere mortal.

lt’s fun to daydream about having such a device, but what happens if drivers approaching an intersection from different directions all have Opticons and use them at the same time? Green lights for everyone? Could be unpleasant.

Tags: blog | weblog | police | traffic | opticon | odd stories | life | news