Sick Transit

If Sir Mix-a-lot were born again (and white): Baby Got Book (Quicktime)

In response to yesterday’s suicide bombing in Tel Aviv, Palestinian security forces actually arrested two people. They also appear not have complained or protested as the Israelis arrested five others.

I was too young to follow all the news in the early 90’s, so someone please remind me: even in the halcyon days of the Oslo process, did Arafat ever do that?

Automatic updates have been a god-send to the software industry. They are the best solution to one of the peskiest security problems: the apathy or ignorance of users responsible for installing critical patches.

At the same, like many techies, I’ve always been uncomfortable with the loss of control over my own computer entailed in auto-update. I never click ‘Yes’ to an update without first finding out what it is. And here’s an example of why:

There you’ve got it: a software provider using auto-update to reduce the functionality of software that is already installed on users’ machines. WinAmp users out there, I hope you saved a copy of your last version download.

I agree with Jan Haugland that Doug Wead–the former Bush aide who has publicized tape recordings of conversations with the then-candidate–is a traitorous SOB. That said, the material is out there, so I’m going to discuss it.

What struck me the most from the excerpts was Bush’s self-serving morality. Self-righteousness is part of the human condition, of course. But I thought the tapes had a few beauts.

First off, Bush on the virtues of hypocrisy:

Because of course, refusing to admit what you’ve obviously done is a great way to convince kids to listen to you.

Next up, Bush on the benefits of Bible reading:

That, unfortunately, depends on how you read the Bible. It’s all too easy to identify with the men on a mission from God, and read all the criticisms as applying to everyone else.

Interestingly, it seems that nationalism is a Christian virtue:

Finally, one aspect of Christianity that apparently does not number among the Presidential virtues: repentance.

Definitely an interesting picture.

G. B. Shaw was a passionate exponent of the idea that doctors–like members of any other profession–respond to financial incentives, and that private physicians are therefore in a perpetual conflict of interest because they are paid for treatment they prescribe. Unfortunately, his proposed solution was socialized medicine, which hasn’t proven to be much of an improvement.

But he would definitely not be surprised by this bit of counter-intuitive economics reported by Yglesias. In a standard supply/demand situation, increased supply should lower prices. Instead, Yglesias writes:

There are several potential correlation/causation issues with this analysis. Are lives shorter because these high-supply areas are urban? Is supply higher because the population is sicker and there is greater demand?

If true, however, this illustrates the basic economic truth underlying the healthcare price crisis: as long as the people choosing the service aren’t the ones paying for it, prices will continue to rise.

I’ve never seen the classic porn flick Deep Throat, but David Edelstein has a fascinating tidbit in a review of a documentary about the production.

There was a lot in the movie for upholders of traditional morality to object to. According to Edelstein, it was “the first heterosexual hard-core porn picture to focus on fellatio”, and contained “the first so-called pornographic ‘money shot’ that many Americans would witness.” But for at least one New York prosecutor, there was something even more disturbing about it:

No touching the happy button!

A separated husband and wife in Jordan both decided to look for companionship on the ‘net. After spending three months pseudonymously corresponding with their new loves, they decided to meet IRL, only to find that they had in fact been writing to each other!

At this point, if the story were a Hollywood movie, the couple would realize that they were made for each other, and reconcile. Instead, the enraged husband uttered the traditional Islamic divorce formula on the spot. No word on whether they intend to look for new partners on the Internet.

(link via Sullivan)

I haven’t posted anything about Bush’s budget because I didn’t have anything to add, but Kevin Drum has summarized the whole thing so neatly that I just have to quote:

Preach it, Kevin.

Matt Yglesias justly ridicules this hilarious fruitcake of a column by Thomas Friedman. (I’m sure it must deeply rankle Yglesias’ righteous and underpaid soul that Friedman actually got paid good money for writing that clonker.) I think Friedman does make one good point–doubling the reward for Osama from $25 to $50 million is unlikely to make much of a difference. The rest of the column, however, is so naive as to beggar belief.

IMHO, however, Yglesias’ main criticism misses the mark as well. In response to Friedman’s suggestion of a scholarship program for young Arabs and Muslims, Matt writes:

Now that’s a fair point. Khalid Sheik Mohammed went to school in the US; several of the 9/11 hijackers went to college in Germany, and were in fact chosen for the mission for that very reason. A Western college education does not automatically turn a young South Asian into a cultural European.

But that’s a far cry from saying that Western education is “neither here nor there as far as terrorism-control is concerned.” Education is a key part of the web of commerce and relationships that serves as a major barrier to war between developed nations. You can’t spend four years immersed in an alien culture without coming to know it, and being affected by it. That makes education an excellent way to chip away at the negative stereotypes that feed hatred and support for violence. This can’t be the cornerstone of our anti-terror policy, but it does have to be a part of it.

Terrorist groups are, in many ways, similar to religious cults. Despite the focus of university education on critical thinking and reasoning, colleges are the prime recruiting grounds of cults. That doesn’t mean that college education is a failure. And the fact that some graduates of American colleges went on to join–or even lead–cults of jihad does not mean that education is not a useful tool of cultural persuasion

Drug WarRant reports on a truly nasty case of cops gone bad in Campbell County, TN.

Five Sheriff’s Department officers entered the home of an illiterate middle-aged man who was on probation for selling drugs, and beat him, held his head underwater, and threatened to electrocute and shoot him. Luckily, the victim’s wife managed to tape-record the ordeal, and the officers have been fired and are facing Federal charges.

The transcript is chilling:

The scariest part of the story is that the deputies almost got away with it. If Siler’s wife hadn’t had the presence of mind to start a tape recorder before answering the door, or if the deputies had searched the house and found the recorder, no one would have taken the word of an illiterate druggie against five officers of the law.

According to the article, Campbell County has been nationally featured as a major success in the war on drugs. This story makes me wonder what was behind that victory.

AP reports (via Volokh) that an NY State trial court has ruled that the ban on same-sex marriage violates the state constitution. NYC has yet to reveal whether it will appeal the ruling, but there’s fairly strong pro-gay-marriage sentiment in NY, even though the Republic governor opposes it. This is definitely one to watch.

A bit of poetic justice:

(link via Slate’s William Saletan, who points out another tidbit from the article: the average consumer of pay-per-view porn watches for only seven minutes.)