Happy Easter!

To me and to many other Christians around the world, today is the holiest day of the year. Christmas used to be the most important holiday to me and I think a part of that had to do with the presents I would get. But as I have gotten older and more mature, I have realized the importance of Easter. Easter is what makes me and millions of others Christians. It is the realization that our deaths in this world will only be physical and that our spirit lives on because of Jesus's sacrifice on the cross. In celebration of Easter, here is today's reading from John 20: 1-18:

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him." Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples returned to their homes.

But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him." When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?" Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away." Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to him in Hebrew, "Rabbouni!" (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, "Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'" Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord"; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

What a Game

Generally, I have no thoughts on college basketball games that do not involve Notre Dame, but tonight's Illinois-Arizona game is worth discussing. I watched the entire game and with 3 and half minutes to go, Illinois looked dead in the water. They were down 14 and running the Notre Dame offense of standing around and chucking up 3's every possession. Then the 3's starting falling. Then Illinois got some steals. Then all of a sudden with 38 seconds to go, the game was tied. One of the gutiest efforts I have ever seen. It did not seem to matter how much Illinois got down, they refused to quit. I wish Notre Dame's basketball team would show half as much heart as Illinois showed tonight. If I'm an Arizona fan tonight, I am not upset about Illinois being able to come back down 14, but rather that perplexing play they ran at the end of the game. Did Lute Olsen even call a play? Did the players realize they had only 14 seconds left in the game? Worst crunch time coaching ever. But hey I'll get to hear that gravely voice of Bruce Weber for one more week.

Cry Me A River

Earlier in the week, I happened to be watching ESPN News when they were showing Barry Bonds saying this:

I'm tired of my kids crying. You wanted me to jump off a bridge, I finally did. You finally brought me and my family down. So now go pick a different person.

I could not stop myself from laughing about this because I have seen this so many times in my short life. It's not my fault. It's the media's fault. What added to the hilarity of Bonds's meltdown was Bonds having his 15-year old son at his side. See look how sad he is! It's your fault media! Sure I carried on I added twenty pounds of muscle in one off-season even though its virtually impossible to do at 40 without a little assistance. Sure I admitted in grand jury testimony that I inadvertently took steroids after repeatedly denying in the public of ever taking steroids. Sure I had a long time extramarital affair. But it's not my fault. Thankfully, Skip Bayless of ESPN, is leading the charge in asking for Bonds's forgiveness.

Huh?

Legendary chess player Bobby Fischer was allowed to leave Japan for Iceland, where he will be given citizenship there. Fischer had some harsh words for the President Bush, stating, "Bush does not respect law." This is coming from the guy who is accepting Iceland citizenship to attempt to avoid criminal charges he faces in the U.S. (though Iceland does have an extradition treaty with the U.S.). Read more of his quotes here. He offers many more, I guess you could say, insightful comments about the U.S. and Israel.

Guilty Pleasure

I should find this offensive, but I can't stop myself from laughing.

Again?

Power Line is hot on the trail of another possible fake memo. This time having to do with the Schiavo debate in Congress.

If Someone Owes You $50...

...this might not be the smartest way to get that person to pay you back.

Note to Readers

Blogging is going to be sporadic for the next two weeks as my not so trusty laptop has to be sent in to get its hard drive replaced.

It All Started When Hitler Privatized the German Retirement System

One of my good friends was in town over the weekend and we did the monument tour on the Mall. The first thing that greeted us before we began the tour was a table set up by supporters of Lyndon LaRouche. For those of you who do not know, Lyndon LaRouche is a man who has ran for President 8 times. Politically, he is considered far, far to left. He is also paranoid. For example, he has accused American, Soviet and British intelligence agencies, of sending brainwashed zombies to assassinate him for three decades (Apparently, brainwashed zombies are not effective assassins). Even though LaRouche is a fringe political figure, he has a cultish following amongst his supporters.

I was amused as people came by and kicked over their signs and some argued with LaRouche supporters including my friend. After quickly realizing that trying to argue with a LaRouche supporter is pointless, we began to walk away, and as we walked away, the LaRouche supporter handed us a magazine from the LaRouche PAC. On the cover of this magazine was this: "Bush's Social Security Fraud-Stop George Schultz's Drive to Fascism!" I have heard all kinds of arguments on why George Bush's privatization plan is bad. It's too risky. It's too costly. It won't help Social Security's long-term solvency. I have never heard the argument that privatizing Social Security is a step towards fascism. If only the Democrats knew this, then Bush's plan wouldn't have a prayer.

Heh

Greensboro, North Carolina has temporarily suspended their red light camera program and it is not by choice as this quote explains:

The council decided to suspend the program in light of a recent court decision that -if upheld in the state appellate courts -- could cause the city to lose money on every red-light citation issued. It also could force the city to pay out millions of dollars in revenue from past tickets, money paid to the contractor operating the program.

Rather than watching the potential bill climb with each new ticket, the city had to suspend the program, Councilman Robbie Perkins said.

"We're cutting our losses. That's all we're doing," he said.

The issue arose after a Guilford Superior Court judge ruled last month that Guilford County Schools is entitled to 90 percent of the proceeds from High Point's red-light camera program.

That would have forced High Point to pay $45 to the school system plus between $27 to $35 to the contractor that operates the cameras for every $50 citation. The city would also owe the schools close to $1.5 million in past ticket revenue.

(hat tip: InstaPundit)

Iraq Had WMDs?

That's the impression that this New York Times article gives even though the headline is: "Looting at Weapons Plants Was Systematic, Iraqi Says". Here's the power quote:

Dr. Araji [the Iraqi Deputy Minister of Industry] said equipment capable of making parts for missiles as well as chemical, biological and nuclear arms was missing from 8 or 10 sites that were the heart of Iraq's dormant program on unconventional weapons. After the invasion, occupation forces found no unconventional arms, and C.I.A. inspectors concluded that the effort had been largely abandoned after the Persian Gulf war in 1991.

Christopher Hitchens of Slate has an excellent analysis of these revelations in the New York Times and explains how the theft of machinery from these weapons installations was not looting.

I Didn't Realize That Drug Dealers Were This Dumb

Three teens in Florida bought drugs with fake cash they printed off a home laser printer. They've been arrested on federal counterfeiting charges. (hat tip: All Dumb)

Check it out

I posted some good stuff on the recent FCC ruling on the Monday Night Football segement featuring Nicollette Sheridan and Terrell Owens and Harvard's no confidence vote in Lawrence Summers here and here at Daily Contentions.

More on Lebanon

More good news coming of Lebanon today, as Syrian military intelligence officers began vacating their offices today in Beirut.

Wizbang provides an excellent (and somewhat superficial) reason why the opposition movement in Lebanon will succeed. (hat tip: InstaPundit)

Freedom Strikes Back in Lebanon

Last week, efforts to push Syria's army and intelligence officers out of Lebanon took a setback when close to 500,000 Hezbollah supporters marched in Beirut to support the continued presence of Syria. There were doubts that anti-Syrian forces in Lebanon could match the fervor of Hezbollah. Based on what occurred today, it looks like the Hezbollah rally served to motivate the anti-Syrian forces in Lebanon. At least 800,000 people jammed the streets of Beirut (some estimated there was well over a million) to continue to protest the presence of Syria and the reappointment of pro-Syrian Prime minister Omar Karami. I was shocked by the number of people who participated in today's protest. I thought the opposition forces in Lebanon were strong, but not this strong. What was particular encouraging about today's rally was not only the number of people who participated, but also the diversity of those who participated in the rally. It was not just a crowd of mostly male Shiites like Hezbollah's rally last week. Instead there was a wide array of male and female Sunni Muslims, Christians and Druse participating today. The anti-Syrian forces may not have the guns, but it appears that they have the will of the people. I have to believe that after seeing today's protests, Syrian President Bashar Assad realizes that it is over in Lebanon. Not only will the U.S. or France not stand for Syria's continued meddling, neither will a majority of the people in Lebanon.

Northern Iowa and a Look Ahead to Next Season

Last like season, Notre Dame was firmly on the bubble on Selection Sunday, and like last season, Notre Dame is left out of the NCAA tournament. However, unlike last season, this snub leaves a bitter taste in my mouth based on a particular team that got in and that team is Northern Iowa. Who is Northern Iowa? Well, they play in the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC), finished with a 21-10 record and a RPI of 44. They lost to the powerhouse team Southwest Missouri State in the quarterfinals of the MVC tournament. Despite that lost, they were more deserving than Notre Dame, Maryland, St. Joseph's, DePaul, Miami of Ohio and Buffalo to be invited to the NCAA tournament. Excuse me? Take a look at their schedule here. They lost games to Evansville, Witchita State, Bradley and Drake. Their best two wins came against Southern Illinois and Iowa State. Both are good teams, but neither are expected to go deep into the tournament. I think if any of the bubble teams that I mentioned above had gotten in over Notre Dame, I probably would not be as irritated as I am now. I have to wonder if Iowa's AD's participation in the selection committee had something to do with the extremely questionable selection here.

Then again, I would not be on this rant right now if Notre Dame had taken care of business and beaten a team that was 2-14 in the Big East. This was the most frustrating Notre Dame season to watch in recent memory because you never knew which Notre Dame was going to show up. Would it be the team that beats undefeated Boston College or would it be the team that gets dominated by a mediocre Pac-10 team-UCLA? As I said in my last post about Notre Dame's basketball team, I think Mike Brey is firmly on the hot seat. He has to get to the NCAA tournament next season to keep his job. There is no reason why a program like Notre Dame should not be in the NCAA tournament 2 out of every 3 years.

The team should be better next year. Chris Thomas and Jordan Cornette will be gone, but neither loss will hurt Notre Dame much. Thomas did some nice things this year distributing the basketball and rebounding, but his shooting was atrocious all season and his defense left a lot to be desired. Chris Quinn became Notre Dame's best player as the season wore on and he will be an upgrade over Thomas at the point. As for Cornette, he has been one of Notre Dame's best defensive players, but his offensive game was pathetic. He played like he was a 6'2" guard on the offensive side of the ball even though he is 6'10". Not having to see Cornette hoist up bricks behind three point line next year will be a welcome relief. Incoming freshman and McDonald's All-American, Luke Zeller, should more than adequately fill Cornette's shoes. Unlike Cornette, he uses his size to take quality shots inside though he is a question mark defensively.

So what will be Notre Dame's starting five next year? A very good question. There is little doubt that the backcourt will be Quinn and Falls with Francis playing center or power forward. The other post position will be taken by one of three players: Latimore, Cornett or Zeller. The big question mark is who will fill that other spot. Will Brey go with Russell Carter, who has shown sparks offensively, but is not a strong defender or will he go with Omari Israel, who has the ability to put the ball on the floor and has great size, but has been erratic when he played this season. The success of Notre Dame's season next year could depend on the development of Israel and Carter who both should see major minutes next season. Another big question mark is who will back up Quinn at the point? I think it is unrealistic to expect Quinn to play 40 minutes night in and night out. There is no obvious answer and they might have to rely on incoming freshman, Kyle McAlarney, to provide quality minutes when Quinn needs a breather.

Notre Dame should have a quality inside-outside combination with Falls/Quinn and Francis/Latimore/Zeller/Cornett and that alone should be good enough for 17 wins. If Notre Dame can get good play out of Israel and Carter, and get some decent minutes out of whoever Quinn's backup will be, Notre Dame should have 20-21 wins and be at least a 5 or 6 seed in the NCAA tournament.

Update on Atlanta Shooting

Brian Nichols has been captured this morning. Unfortunately, it looks like he might have also killed a federal customs agent. He is going to need a damn good lawyer to avoid the death penalty.

Tragedy in an Atlanta Courthouse

Brian Nichols, who was on trial for rape and other charges in Atlanta, overpowered a deputy, stole her gun and shot and killed the judge in his case and the court reporter today. Nichols was then able to escape from the 8TH FLOOR and shot and killed a deputy. Nichols then pistol- whipped an Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter and stole his green Honda. Nichols is still at large.

If there is anything good that comes out of this horrible tragedy, it is that it will get other states/jurisdictions aware of the need to have more stringent security at their courthouses. As this New York Times article points out, many jurisdictions do not have adequate security equipment like metal detectors and x-ray machines and lack sufficient manpower to prevent tragedies such as the one today. Let's hope and pray that Nichols is caught quickly and tragedies like this never happen again.

In unsurprising news....

...Michael Jackson had another episode of bizarre behavior.

Disgusting

Notre Dame lost to Rutgers tonight. Thus, it looks like Notre Dame's next game will be in the Not In Tournament. My patience is wearing thin with Mike Brey and if he cannot take Notre Dame to the tournament next season with what I think will be a more talented team, he should be gone.

More on Lebanon

Lebanon's outgoing Prime Minister Omar Karami, who recently resigned, is set to be reappointed as the Prime Minister. While on the surface, this looks like a setback to independence efforts in Lebanon, I see a positive out of this development. The reappointment of Omar Karami will keep the anti-Syrian groups motivated to keep up their demonstrations and pressure against the Syrians and the pro-Syrian Lebanon government. I also think today's developments shows these anti-Syrian groups that its going to take a long, dedicated fight to push the Syrian influence out.

More on Bankruptcy Reform

A lot of people do not like the current bankruptcy reform bill that is just about to be passed. A lot of that angst has to due with people's hatred for credit card companies. While I share many consumers' disdain for credit card companies (see my post below), I think people's feelings on credit card companies is clouding the issue of bankruptcy reform. As I pointed out below, this reform bill will only effect about 10 percent of consumers who file for bankruptcy, which suggests to me that this bill is targeting those gaming the bankruptcy system, not those who fall into the trap of high late fees and high interest rates because of job loss or some other unexpected life crisis though I do think bankruptcy reform opponents do have a valid point that the means test to determine whether one qualifies for Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 is too inflexible in this bill.

I Don't Think This is Going to Work

Canadian researchers are going to do a study to see if giving heroin along with methadone treats heroin addicts better than the methadone treatment alone.

Mea Culpa

When I get something wrong on this blog, I want to correct it as soon as possible. Last week I had two posts that criticized NBC News (here and here) for airing an inaccurate report on the presiding judge in Saddam's trial being killed. I was particularly critical for them showing the face of the still alive presiding judge. Brian Williams was on The Daily Show this evening and he said that two senior administration officials told NBC News that it was the presiding judge that was killed and that the sources did not change their story until they aired the story. Williams also added that they did not out the presiding judge when they showed his face because the judge had previously revealed himself in a story in the New York Times Magazine. I accept Williams's explanation and I take back all criticism of NBC News.

Bankruptcy Reform

After years of failed attempts to reform bankruptcy laws, Congress is on the verge of passing bankruptcy reform. Under the reformed bankruptcy statues, to declare for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, which wipes clean your debts, individuals will now have to have an income that is below the median income in their state and/or have the inability to pay $6,000 over five years. This reform will force more people to declare Chapter 13 bankruptcy, which requires a repayment plan.

I think for the most part, this a good reform to bankruptcy statues. According to an editorial in the Washington Post, close to 80 percent of those who file for bankruptcy will still be eligible for Chapter 7 protection, and only 10 percent of consumer bankruptcy will be effected. I don't think people will have to worry about bankruptcy courts hounding grandma to repay her $50,000 in medical bills, if she's living on Social Security. Not to mention, it makes sense that people who have the ability to pay back their debts, should be obligated to do so. While I think this is a good reform, I find it comical that this reform has been pushed by credit card companies for years when they've been passing out their credit cards out like candy to college students, who in turn, run up huge debts, and then are later forced to declare for bankruptcy.

Democracy Hits a Bump in the Road

Close to 500,000 people/Hezbollah followers jammed the streets of Beirut in support of Syria today. That number dwarfs the 70,000+ people that marched yesterday demanding the complete withdrawal of Syrian troops out of Lebanon. While I was surprised by the high number of people who turned out in support of Syria, I think today's developments reminded me that the road to democracy will not be easy in the Middle East. Pro-Democratic forces can only succeed by winning the hearts and minds of the people.

Freedom on the March

Syrian troops began to withdrawn to the Lebanon border today as the Syrian ambassador to the U.S., Imad Moustapha, promised that Syria would withdraw all its troops from Lebanon within a few months (probably not voluntarily). This measure, however, did not satisfy the 70,000+ demonstrators in Beirut shouting, "Freedom! Sovereignty! Independence!" or President Bush, as White House spokesman, Scott McClellan, called today's troop withdraw a "half-measure".

What is even more encouraging than the resolve of Lebanonese citizens and the U.S. government to demand the complete withdrawal of Syrian troops is the recent development that Hezbollah, the powerful terrorist group in Lebanon, is siding with Syria, and calling for counter-demonstrations tomorrow in support of Syria. There was fear by some that Hezbollah wanted Syria out, so they could take advantage of the power vacuum. But now that it is clear they support the status-quo, their popularity will wane, which is vital in developing a government in Lebanon that is not worse than the current Syrian rule.

Does Grand Theft Auto Cause People to Kill?

The makers of the video game Grand Theft Auto, along with Walmart and GameStop are being sued by families of two police officers who were killed by 18-year old Devin Moore (ed. note: Moore shot and killed three officers), who said after he killed the police officers, "Life is like a video game. Everybody's got to die sometime." The question is: Is Grand Theft Auto responsible for these officers deaths?

When interviewed by 60 Minutes, child psychologist, David Walsh, had this to say, "You know, not every kid that plays a violent video game is gonna turn to violence. And that's because they don't have all of those other risk factors going on. It's a combination of risk factors, which come together in a tragic outcome." I think that's a sensible answer and I know quite a bit on the subject matter, as I wrote a Senior Thesis on violent video games last year. So what are some of those risk factors? An aggressive disposition (e.g., believing that use of violence is an effective means to solve problems, angry mood, etc.) and being a male are two of the biggest risk factors. Moore has both of these risk factors as not is he a male, but he came from a broken home and bounced around several foster homes. Then when you add the hours of Grand Theft Auto he played, it does make it more likely he will act out violently.

If playing Grand Theft Auto when mixed with the right risk factors can lead to tragic consequences like the death of the three officers here, does that mean the makers of Grand Theft Auto are civilly liable for the officers' deaths? Probably not. You would have to show that playing Grand Theft Auto caused Moore to shoot those officers. That is a tricky proposition. Simply being a risk factor for possible violence is probably not enough for the makers of Grand Theft Auto to be liable. Not to mention, researchers really do not know how big of a role violent video game playing is in a person's decision to act out violent. I tried to answer that question in my Senior Thesis project without a lot of success. Until more is known about the effects of violent video games, I do not see lawsuits against video game makers or its sellers will have much success.

While video game makers for now, may not be liable for the violent actions taken by its players, the states can do a better job in making sure games like Grand Theft Auto do not end up in the hands of children. A simple measure that states could pass would be to require all video game sellers to only sell mature-rated videos to people 17 and older. Hence, treating mature-rated video games like R-rated movies and carding those individuals who do not look old enough to purchase the games. In addition to the video game sellers being more aware of who they sell their games to, parents must do a better job of monitoring what their children play and to exercise some common sense in what games they buy for their children. For example, if you're buying Grand Theft Auto for your 13-year old son, you're a terrible parent, especially if your child has a problem with aggression. Games like Grand Theft Auto are meant to be played by adults.

The Progressive Country of Iran

You may notice the ridiculousness of my title above, yet one prominent politician feels that way and his name is Bill Clinton. During an interview with Charlie Rose at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, former President Clinton had the following to say:

Yeah - the Shi'ites have been pretty smart about that. And if you look at the Iranian-Iran's a whole different kettle of fish, but it's a sad story that really began in the 1950s when the United States deposed Mr. Mossadegh, who was an elected parliamentary democrat, and brought the Shah back in and then he was overturned by the Ayatollah Khomeini, driving us into the arms of one Saddam Hussein. Most of the terrible things Saddam Hussein did in the 1980s he did with the full, knowing support of the United States government, because he was in Iran, and Iran was what it was because we got rid of the parliamentary democracy back in the '50s; at least, that is my belief.

I know it is not popular for an American ever to say anything like this, but I think it's true [applause], and I apologized when President Khatami was elected. I publicly acknowledged that the United States had actively overthrown Mossadegh and I apologized for it, and I hope that we could have some rapprochement with Iran. I think basically the Europeans' initiative to Iran to try to figure out a way to defuse the nuclear crisis is a good one.

I think President Bush has done, so far, the right thing by not taking the military option off the table, but not pushing it too much. I didn't like the story that looked like the military option had been elevated above a diplomatic option. But Iran is the most perplexing problem ... we face, for the following reasons: It is the only country in the world with two governments, and the only country in the world that has now had six elections since the first election of President Khatami. [It is] the only one with elections, including the United States, including Israel, including you name it, where the liberals, or the progressives, have won two-thirds to 70 percent of the vote in six elections: two for President; two for the parliament, the Majlis; two for the mayoralities.

In every single election, the guys I identify with got two-thirds to 70% of the vote. There is no other country in the world I can say that about, certainly not my own.

Apparently Easton Jordan did make the most yet absurd comments in Davos, yet there has been next zero mention about this in the MSM even though there is an audio recording of Clinton making these comments. But maybe Clinton is right. I mean you have progressives like President Khatami, who recently voiced his support for the progressive country of Syria (hat tip: Power Line). Yep, I'm betting that there will be an internal struggle soon in Iran in whether they should reform social security.

Yuck

Notre Dame failed to take advantage of a golden opportunity to solidify an NCAA tournament bid and turned in a stinker performance against Pittsburgh. Yet again, Notre Dame's inside play was PATHETIC. They were outscored 52-16 in paint and Pittsburgh got offensive rebounds whenever they wanted. As I pointed out in my last post about Notre Dame's basketball team, they must get some semblance of inside play if the want to make the tournament and be able to win a game or two. Today's game perfectly illustrated that great three-point shooting can only take you so far. Colin Falls was unconscious in the first half, and then when he cooled off in the second half Notre Dame was toast.

Next up for the Irish is Rutgers in the Big East tournament and this game is a must win for the Irish. A loss and Notre Dame will be NIT-bound. A win and they're in the NCAA tournament. If Notre Dame can beat Rutgers (and there's no reason why they shouldn't), Notre Dame will be anywhere from a 7 to 11 seed depending on how far they go in the Big East tournament. Let's hope Notre Dame's big men can get an offensive rebound or two when the Big East tournament begins on Wednesday.

How Low Can the UN Go?

The UN has been aware since last spring that UN peacekeepers have been engaging in sexually exploitative acts with the locals in Congo. The UN, acting in their usual slow unresponsive ways, failed to take immediate action to crack down on this horrific behavior. Then ABC ran a damning piece about a month ago on how UN peacekeepers are soliciting prostitutes and raping young children in Congo. With the UN having long been aware of the problems in Congo and being embarrassed on national American television, has the UN finally cleaned up its act? In short, no. Despite pledges from UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to get tough with the sex abuses in Congo, the sex abuses by UN peacekeepers continues.

So is anyone going to be held accountable for yet another scandal at the UN? Don't bet on it. The UN Envoy to Congo, William Lacy Swing, was reportedly going to be forced out, and "send a signal that senior U.N. officials will be held accountable for not cracking down on misconduct by U.N. personnel under their watch," according to UN officials. So when is Swing going to step down? Not any time soon. Swing is set to stay on as the UN Envoy to Congo. According to Annan, now "was not the moment for a sudden change of SRSG [Special Representative] with the disruption that it would cause." Why again is the U.S. giving any money to support this joke of an organization. Annan should have stepped down months ago. This scandal makes the Abu Ghraib prison scandal look like harmless frat boy antics, and the refusal by the UN to get tough in dealing with these sexual predators just disgusts me.

Saving President Bush's Social Security Proposal

President Bush today was at my alma mater, Notre Dame, trying to win support for his Social Security plan, which appears to be in serious trouble with top Republicans such as Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, wanting to put off a vote on the President's plan until 2006. One of the significant difficulties President Bush's plan has is that it would potentially cost trillions of dollars in transition costs to partly privatize Social Security. I would love to have the opportunity to invest part of my Social Security taxes in a private account, but I worry that the short-term transition costs are going to run government deficits so high that it puts a downward pressure on the dollar and causes a recession. This is an issue that President Bush has to deal with, especially when Social Security is not going to start losing money for at least 10 to 15 years and he is not going to be able to sell this as a "crisis".

So how does President Bush pay the trillions of dollars in transition costs for Social Security without running the economy into a recession? Answer: Raise the cap at which Social Security taxes is collected. This idea has been floated around by President Bush as an alternative to his privatization plan, but it has caused great wailing amongst several conservatives such as Larry Kudlow, who believe that raising the cap would hurt job growth. It's true that raising the cap with the current Social Security tax system would increase the cost of labor for an employer since the employer matches their employee's Social Security tax contribution.

However, with a little creativity, that problem can be eliminated and the cap can be raised without wrinkling the feathers of too many Republicans. To prevent the problem of raising the cost of labor, employer's contribution would be $0 after $90,000. Then in raising the cap, the cap should be set at $200,000 (this number could be potentially higher or lower depending on how the math works out), with any income between $90,000 and $200,000 being taxed at the rate of 5% for Social Security with anything above $200,000 not being taxed for Social Security. This rate would lower than the current rate of 6.2% employees contribute to Social Security for the first $90,000. In addition, there would be a sunset provision for this tax to expire in ten to fifteen years in order to win the support of jittery Republicans worried about passing a tax increase. The increase in the cap would bring in the sufficient funds to pay for the transition costs of privatizing Social Security. In addition, the cap increase should have the support of most Americans, especially when considering that most Americans make less than $90,000 and have all their income subjected to the Social Security tax, not just a part of it.

Once President Bush has a way to pay for the transition costs of Social Security, the other current problems with his proposal become more manageable. The plan will seem less risky, making it easier to sell Americans on the plan and significantly undercut one of the Democrats talking points on the issue. There might be other ways to pay for the transition costs, but it is an issue that President Bush must figure out quickly if his plan is to have a prayer of passing.

Changes Made

I've done a little tweaking to the blog. I have replaced the Blogger comments with Haloscan comments. The one side effect of this is that any comment made before this change has been erased. Sorry if any of your comments got erased.

Update on Senator Byrd's Comments

After being criticized for his comments on the Senate floor on Tuesday, Senator Byrd on Wednesday didn't apologize for his comments, but instead denied ever comparing Republicans to Nazis. Umm Senator, you might want to take a closer look at the transcript of your comments. (hat tip: Little Green Footballs)

More on NBC's Big Mistake

Yesterday I did a short post on NBC News leading off its broadcast on Tuesday by misidentifying the Iraqi judge killed and then showing a video feed of the still alive judge. As promised I have more on the story. NBC admitted their error and aired a correction to their "confirmed" story on their second feed of the story at 7:00 PM ET on Tuesday. They also aired a correction on their Wednesday broadcast. While I credit them for airing a correction, that still does not make up for their grave error of showing the judge's face on TV. Even if they correctly identified the judge killed, it would have still been irresponsible for them to show his face unblurred because terrorists could have used the picture to target the dead judge's family. The chief administration judge of Saddam's trial has apparently already been the target of assassination attempts and now that the whole world has pretty good idea what he looks like, those assassination attempts are likely to increase even though the judge is under heavy guard. Some one at NBC News screwed up and should be held accountable.

Quote of the Day

"Wow, Brian Williams ran a story, said it was confirmed, it turned out to be false. [Pause] Welcome to network news baby!"

Jon Stewart commenting on the NBC News's inaccurate report of the presiding judge in Saddam's trial being gunned down.

I Think I'm Done with Network News for the Time-Being

Yesterday, NBC News led with a story that the presiding judge on Saddam Hussein's war crimes tribunal was assassinated. One problem, they had the wrong judge. A judge on the Iraq war crimes tribunal, not the presiding judge on Saddam's war crimes tribunal, was the one who was assassinated. NBC, then compounded that mistake by showing most of the face of the still alive judge. I'll have more on this tomorrow. I think someone should be fired over this.

Are Democrats Trying to Get more Republicans Elected?

After some of their recent comments, I'm beginning to wonder. First, Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley said the following on President Bush's budget cuts:

"These cuts, ladies and gentlemen, are sad. Irresponsible. They are also dishonest. Back on September 11, terrorists attacked our metropolitan cores, two of America's great cities. They did that because they knew that was where they could do the most damage and weaken us the most. Years later, we are given a budget proposal by our commander in chief, the president of the United States. And with a budget ax, he is attacking America's cities. He is attacking our metropolitan core."

That's right he's comparing Bush's budget to the attacks on 9/11.

But wait, its gets better. Senator Robert Byrd had this to say on the possibility of Senate Republicans trying to reverse the Senate rule of allowing cloture (i.e., filibustering) on judicial nominations:

We, unlike Nazi Germany or Mussolini's Italy, have never stopped being a nation of laws, not of men.

But witness how men with motives and a majority can manipulate law to crueland unjust ends. Historian Alan Bullock writes that Hitler's dictatorship rested on the constitutional foundation of a single law, the Enabling Law. Hitler needed a two thirds vote to pass that law, and he cajoled his opposition in the Reichstag to support it. Bullock writes that "Hitler was prepared to promise anything to get his bill through, with the appearances of legality preserved intact." And he succeeded.

Hitler's originality lay in his realization that effective revolutions, in modern conditions, are carried out with, and not against, the power of the state: the correct order of events was first to secure access to that power and then begin his revolution. Hitler never abandoned the cloak of legality; he recognized the enormous psychological value of having the law on his side. Instead, he turned the law inside out and made illegality legal.

And that is what the nuclear option seeks to do to Rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate. . . . For the temporary gain of a handful of "out of the mainstream" judges, some in the Senate are ready to callously incinerate each senator's right of extended debate.

I didn't realize that if the Senate allows this "nuclear option", President Bush will finally be able to establish his dictatorship.

Then there's former Clinton official, Nancy Soderberg, who realized that it would be hard to match the overheated rhetoric of O'Malley and Byrd, so she decided to openly root against democracy in the Middle East during her interview with Jon Stewart on The Daily Show. Here's the exchange:

Soderberg: The truth always helps in these things, I have to say. But I think that there is also going on in the Middle East peace process--they may well have a chance to do a historic deal with the Palestinians and the Israelis. These guys could really pull off a whole--

Stewart: This could be unbelievable!

Soderberg:---series of Nobel Peace Prizes here, which--it may well work. I think that, um, it's--

Stewart: [buries head in hands] Oh my God! [audience laughter] He's got, you know, here's--

Soderberg: It's scary for Democrats, I have to say.

Stewart: He's gonna be a great--pretty soon, Republicans are gonna be like, "Reagan was nothing compared to this guy." Like, my kid's gonna go to a high school named after him, I just know it.

Soderberg: Well, there's still Iran and North Korea, don't forget. There's hope for the rest of us.

Stewart: [crossing fingers] Iran and North Korea, that's true, that is true [audience laughter]. No, it's--it is--I absolutely agree with you, this is--this is the most difficult thing for me to--because, I think, I don't care for the tactics, I don't care for this, the weird arrogance, the setting up. But I gotta say, I haven't seen results like this ever in that region.

Soderberg: Well wait. It hasn't actually gotten very far. I mean, we've had--

Stewart: Oh, I'm shallow! I'm very shallow!

Soderberg: There's always hope that this might not work. No, but I think, um, it's-you know, you have changes going on in Egypt; Saudi Arabia finally had a few votes, although women couldn't participate. What's going on here in--you know, Syria's been living in the 1960s since the 1960s--it's, part of this is

Stewart: You mean free love and that kind of stuff? [audience laughter] Like, free love, drugs?

Soderberg: If you're a terrorist, yeah.

Yep, it's a proud time to be a Democrat. I figure at this rate, there should 65 Republicans in the Senate after the 2006 election. Howard Dean should be proud.

Grrrrrrrrrr

Senator Ted Stevens stated today he will push to have broadcast decency standards apply to cable television and satellite radio. According to Senator Stevens, "I think we have the same power to deal with cable as over-the-air broadcasters." Yes, lets expand the arbitrariness of the FCC. Bono saying the F-word is not okay, but use of the F-word in Saving Private Ryan is ok.

Even though the FCC has no clue on what is appropriate and what is inappropriate, I understand why there has to be some kind of decency standards on basic TV (e.g., ABC, CBS, NBC, etc.). You can't have little Johnny flipping on any TV and being able to see porn or see someone yelling a bunch of profanity. But this country should not have to revolve all of our television watching and radio listening around children. If you don't want little Johnny to hear Tony Soprano using the F-word or see poop coming out of Cartman's mouth you have three options: don't have cable, lock out objectionable channels or simply change the channel when you believe objectionable material is on. The same goes for satellite radio (though I don't think you can lock out stations). It's not that difficult of a concept. I just wish that Senators like Senator Stevens would realize that the First Amendment still applies in this country.

More Encouraging News Out of the Middle East

U.S. & France tell Syria to leave Lebanon. In a related story, Syrian President Bashar Assad told Time in an interview released today that he will withdraw troops "very soon and maybe in the next few months. Not after that." I'm betting he's going to need to a few more shoves from the U.S. and Europe before he holds up his word.

Iraqis Protest at the Site of Yesterday's Suicide Bombing. More and more Iraqis are realizing that the enemy is not the United States, but Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and his band of thugs.