Lovely spam, wonderful spam If you think the anti-spam bill George Bush signed will reduce the unsolicited e-mails in your in-box, just read this well-argued policy piece from the November Reason. Or this killer profile of Bill Waggoner, the "spam king," from Sunday's Review-Journal: Waggoner is a single father, a guitar-playing metalhead and the boyfriend of a topless dancer. He's also a raconteur, a staunch political conservative and a conspiracy theorist with his own Internet radio show. A tangle of contradictions, he's a devotee of alternative medicine and all-natural products who smokes two packs a day. ... But Waggoner isn't just any spam king. He might be the most hated in the world. Just ask the subculture of anti-spam computer buffs from San Francisco to London who have battled him for five years in the war to stop the wildfirelike spread of spam. This army of tech geeks has a special antipathy for Waggoner because, unlike other spammers, he doesn...
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Triumph of hope over experience It's not so surprising that liberal editorialists, who are incapable of distinguishing between corruption and corruptibility, might shrug off, or even celebrate, the McCain-Feingold ruling. The same with politcians, who benefit from its limits on competitive races, and good-government types, who hate the process of campaigning anyway. (Maybe we should dispense with elective office entirely and simply appoint bureaucrats to rule our lives.) What's more puzzling is the lack of outrage by responsible liberals such as Mickey Kaus , who (second item) is not "wildly upset" by the decision. Why? Because It doesn't prevent rich (and non-rich) individuals from banding together to spend as much money as they want on "independent" last-minute issue" ads that criticize or praise candidates by name--something that I'd argue is their right. It only bans them if they incorporate. Of course, a future Congress or court could do aw...
A futile and stupid gesture The Review-Journal's take on the campaign-reform decision (with quotes from Animal House !). Just curious: Has anyone put together an editorial-page scorecard on the ruling? Sure, the mammoth, lefty, establishment papers that Congress exempted from the law (for now, as Justice Thomas noted) cooed about the decision, but I'm not seeing much institutional concern from any papers other than those identified with "the right" over it. Very sad, very shortsighted, and very cynical.
Plain-speaking cowboy Love him or loathe him, when he was in Congress, Wyoming's Alan Simpson was always entertaining, almost a throwback to the days senators and representatives nearly (or actually) came to blows in the halls of Capitol Hill. Well, the big guy's at it again, according to this Washington Post story (third item) about Simpson's activity with the Republican Unity Coalition , a "big tent" GOP group. When the "famously anti-gay" Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., formally protested Simpson's support of the gay marriage court ruling in Massachusetts, with a letter from pastor Fred W. Phelps urging the construction of a monument in Cheyenne featuring the biblical admonition against homosexuality, Simpson fired back with this response: I just wanted to alert you to the fact that some dizzy shit is sending out mailings and e-mails from the Westboro Baptist Church -- and using your name! I'm certain that you would not want this to ...
Zevon gets five Warren Zevon tallies five Grammy nominations , including Best Contemporary Folk (??) Album for The Wind. I'd be surprised if he doesn't capture at least one award, though, face it, folks, were Zevon still alive and well, he'd never have gotten a second thought from the nominating crowd. On the other hand, we can only hope the Oscar nominations mirror those of the film-oriented Grammys. If so, we'll see The Folksmen, et al., performing the theme to " A Mighty Wind " come Feb. 29.
Meet Freddy The newest member of the household. He's named for my dad Fred, and we adopted him from the Las Vegas Valley Humane Society on Nov. 15, when he was eight weeks old. He's 100% boy, rambunctuous but completely affectionate. He also has a keen sense of smell (which Willow totally lacks), so cooking the turkey and stuffing and dealing with the leftovers has been an adventure. He sleeps with us on the bed and is completely at home. He and Willow chase each other around the house ... when they aren't curled up together asleep. We think we'll keep him.
Why newspapers remain important Sources tell the Review-Journal that Wendell Williams will be fired from the city of Las Vegas, perhaps as early as today. His former supervisor, Sharon Segerblom, will be allowed to keep her job, which is only appropriate. Segerblom couldn't really discipline Williams without the support of the city higher-ups who kept giving him raises and promotions (including former Mayor Jan Jones, who encouraged the city to get as many employees in the Legislature as possible), even as he was violating policies and breaking laws. Had the Review-Journal (and a much lesser extent, the Sun -- or, more to the point, Jon Ralston) failed in their relentless pursuit of the facts in this case, Williams would have not only kept his job, but quite possibly continued up the city hierarchy, landing lifetime patronage posts for a lot more people than his "special friend," Topazia Jones. This is the type of story that TV just can't nail. It requires weaving di...