by the Shirelles was Number One in the charts the week I was born. What significance it has for my personality I can only guess at, but the idea that it has any at all is the tongue-in-cheek basis of the new book Popstrology, a system for achieving self-awareness through study of the pop charts.
Unfortunately, it uses the U.S. charts, not the British ones, but, as I said below about Saint Malachy, does that in any way alter its predictive power?
Tuesday, April 05, 2005
Cut Off the Louisiana Pricks
Interview with Sister Helen Prejean on Hardball with Chris Matthews, January 6th:
MATTHEWS: Sister Helen Prejean is well known for her book Dead Man Walking, where she was played by Susan Sarandon in the movies about the death penalty in America.
She has a new book, The Death of Innocents, which covers the cases of two men, both executed for murder she says these two guys did not commit.
Sister Prejean, thank you very much for joining us.
What‘s the worst thing about capital punishment?
SISTER HELEN PREJEAN: What it does to the society that practices it, all the people that get involved, the people who have to carry it out, prosecutors or people that get under pressure and go for the death penalty when they shouldn‘t or...
MATTHEWS: But doesn‘t executing someone guarantee that no one else will ever be killed by that person?
PREJEAN: It at least does that. But the states that practice capital punishment the most have roughly double the homicide rate of states that don‘t.
MATTHEWS: Well, you can‘t prove causality, can you?
PREJEAN: Well...
MATTHEWS: There are states who are simply more—the society is a bit more violent than it is in other states.
I mean, you have countries like England and Belgium and Holland where nobody kills anybody. And you have got other countries where a lot of people kill each other.
PREJEAN: No, right. But you know what I learned about it? I learned this in “Dead Man Walking,” even more so in this book. The selectivity. There are about 15,000 homicides, murders, a year. And less than 2 percent of people are selected to die, eight out of every 10 of them in Southern states...
MATTHEWS: Anybody rich ever executed?
PREJEAN: Never.
MATTHEWS: Anybody famous, famous for something besides killing somebody?
PREJEAN: I don‘t know. Well, O.J. Simpson, it sure helped him to be famous.
MATTHEWS: Well, that chicken prosecutor wouldn‘t even call him for capital punishment, because he knew he wouldn‘t have a chance.
PREJEAN: Yes, really.
MATTHEWS: But you‘re saying it is basically about class. It‘s—I also think sometimes it is about looks. Some of these guys just look bad. They‘re tough-looking customers.
PREJEAN: Right.
MATTHEWS: And the juries just don‘t like them.
PREJEAN: Well...
MATTHEWS: Is the quality of defense is also the problem? They just don‘t have decent lawyers?
PREJEAN: Chris, that‘s the key structural problem about why we can‘t fix the death penalty; 117 wrongly convicted people have walked off of death row because they got saved by college students. But our state like Louisiana, our legislature is never going to put money in there to get a good defense. You don‘t have a good defense, you dope have adversarial system of truth to get both sides.
MATTHEWS: Right.
PREJEAN: And that‘s why there are so many wrong decisions.
MATTHEWS: Are you saying, in Louisiana, they believe, where there‘s smoke, there‘s fire? If you‘re a defendant, you‘re probably guilty, so what the hell?
PREJEAN: Yes, right.
MATTHEWS: Is that the attitude? Is that the attitude?
PREJEAN: Yes, absolutely it is. And people get political points for being strong about the death penalty, if they‘re prosecuted. We even have awards in Louisiana. This is an attaboy behind-the-scenes thing called the Louisiana prick award. You get this plaque you hang in your office. It shows the state bird, the pelican flying with hypodermic needles in its talons. And that means you got a death penalty. And they give those awards behind the scenes to each other. And then they run for judge after they‘ve done...
MATTHEWS: But what about the other end? What about some liberal ACLU lawyer that gets somebody off on a technicality and they go out and kill somebody else? How do they feel? Shouldn‘t they feel responsible for the second murder?
(CROSSTALK)
MATTHEWS: Shouldn‘t they? Let‘s be fair here.
PREJEAN: Hold on. But there‘s more technicality if you‘re talking about constitutional protections that people are supposed to have. That‘s what this book brings out, the constitutional protection like Dobie Williams, the first story.
MATTHEWS: OK.
PREJEAN: Black man on trial for supposedly killing a white woman, all white jury. And every court in the land said he had an impartial jury of his peers. What happened to that?
MATTHEWS: How did he get stuck with an all-white jury if he‘s an African-American defendant?
PREJEAN: Ah, that‘s very good. You got to read the book on that one and see what happens.
MATTHEWS: Do you find a racial peace in this, an ethnic piece in this?
PREJEAN: Big time.
MATTHEWS: Where black defendants have it tougher? How so? What do you find?
PREJEAN: Big time. First of all, in the selectivity we were talking about about the death penalty, overwhelmingly, eight out of 10 people siting on death row from California to wherever is because they kill white people. When people of color are killed in this country, it barely is a blip on the radar screen. Very seldom is the death penalty pursued for the death of people of color. What does that say to us?
. . .
MATTHEWS: Sister Helen Prejean is well known for her book Dead Man Walking, where she was played by Susan Sarandon in the movies about the death penalty in America.
She has a new book, The Death of Innocents, which covers the cases of two men, both executed for murder she says these two guys did not commit.
Sister Prejean, thank you very much for joining us.
What‘s the worst thing about capital punishment?
SISTER HELEN PREJEAN: What it does to the society that practices it, all the people that get involved, the people who have to carry it out, prosecutors or people that get under pressure and go for the death penalty when they shouldn‘t or...
MATTHEWS: But doesn‘t executing someone guarantee that no one else will ever be killed by that person?
PREJEAN: It at least does that. But the states that practice capital punishment the most have roughly double the homicide rate of states that don‘t.
MATTHEWS: Well, you can‘t prove causality, can you?
PREJEAN: Well...
MATTHEWS: There are states who are simply more—the society is a bit more violent than it is in other states.
I mean, you have countries like England and Belgium and Holland where nobody kills anybody. And you have got other countries where a lot of people kill each other.
PREJEAN: No, right. But you know what I learned about it? I learned this in “Dead Man Walking,” even more so in this book. The selectivity. There are about 15,000 homicides, murders, a year. And less than 2 percent of people are selected to die, eight out of every 10 of them in Southern states...
MATTHEWS: Anybody rich ever executed?
PREJEAN: Never.
MATTHEWS: Anybody famous, famous for something besides killing somebody?
PREJEAN: I don‘t know. Well, O.J. Simpson, it sure helped him to be famous.
MATTHEWS: Well, that chicken prosecutor wouldn‘t even call him for capital punishment, because he knew he wouldn‘t have a chance.
PREJEAN: Yes, really.
MATTHEWS: But you‘re saying it is basically about class. It‘s—I also think sometimes it is about looks. Some of these guys just look bad. They‘re tough-looking customers.
PREJEAN: Right.
MATTHEWS: And the juries just don‘t like them.
PREJEAN: Well...
MATTHEWS: Is the quality of defense is also the problem? They just don‘t have decent lawyers?
PREJEAN: Chris, that‘s the key structural problem about why we can‘t fix the death penalty; 117 wrongly convicted people have walked off of death row because they got saved by college students. But our state like Louisiana, our legislature is never going to put money in there to get a good defense. You don‘t have a good defense, you dope have adversarial system of truth to get both sides.
MATTHEWS: Right.
PREJEAN: And that‘s why there are so many wrong decisions.
MATTHEWS: Are you saying, in Louisiana, they believe, where there‘s smoke, there‘s fire? If you‘re a defendant, you‘re probably guilty, so what the hell?
PREJEAN: Yes, right.
MATTHEWS: Is that the attitude? Is that the attitude?
PREJEAN: Yes, absolutely it is. And people get political points for being strong about the death penalty, if they‘re prosecuted. We even have awards in Louisiana. This is an attaboy behind-the-scenes thing called the Louisiana prick award. You get this plaque you hang in your office. It shows the state bird, the pelican flying with hypodermic needles in its talons. And that means you got a death penalty. And they give those awards behind the scenes to each other. And then they run for judge after they‘ve done...
MATTHEWS: But what about the other end? What about some liberal ACLU lawyer that gets somebody off on a technicality and they go out and kill somebody else? How do they feel? Shouldn‘t they feel responsible for the second murder?
(CROSSTALK)
MATTHEWS: Shouldn‘t they? Let‘s be fair here.
PREJEAN: Hold on. But there‘s more technicality if you‘re talking about constitutional protections that people are supposed to have. That‘s what this book brings out, the constitutional protection like Dobie Williams, the first story.
MATTHEWS: OK.
PREJEAN: Black man on trial for supposedly killing a white woman, all white jury. And every court in the land said he had an impartial jury of his peers. What happened to that?
MATTHEWS: How did he get stuck with an all-white jury if he‘s an African-American defendant?
PREJEAN: Ah, that‘s very good. You got to read the book on that one and see what happens.
MATTHEWS: Do you find a racial peace in this, an ethnic piece in this?
PREJEAN: Big time.
MATTHEWS: Where black defendants have it tougher? How so? What do you find?
PREJEAN: Big time. First of all, in the selectivity we were talking about about the death penalty, overwhelmingly, eight out of 10 people siting on death row from California to wherever is because they kill white people. When people of color are killed in this country, it barely is a blip on the radar screen. Very seldom is the death penalty pursued for the death of people of color. What does that say to us?
. . .
Monday, April 04, 2005
At home with the intelligentsia. No. 4: Jean-Paul Sartre
(Full image shows Sartre stomping on lobsters)
Laugh? I Nearly Went to Bed
There have ben very few times in my 40-odd years that I've genuinely felt I was pointlessly frittering away my time on this planet; even Champions League matches on the telly provide me with an opportunity for doing the ironing (in itself not the most valuable of activities), but never I have felt that my time was so wasted as when I watched Channel 4's 50 Greatest Comedy Sketches last night.
My main objection to the program was simply that, instead of showing the 50 sketches in their entirety, the producers decided to show snippets, interspersed with talking heads and recollections from the participants. The programme wasn't helped by the poor quality of the selected sketches, which only served to highlight how dependent comedic power is on the unexpected. Much as I despise Griff Rhys-Jones, his comment that "a sketch is a sketch is a sketch" proved to be true, at least retrospectively: If you know what's coming in a sketch, the humour dissipates. Very few are those comedy moments that retain any great power upon repetition. And Monty Python's Spanish Inquisition has been forever soiled in my mind by John Hannah's abuse of it in Sliding Doors. He suddenly made you realize what wankers those people are who repeat sketches verbatim as though the humour somehow rubbed off on them.
What did I laugh at last night? The League of Gentlemen's Papa Lazarou is still recent enough and dark enough to enjoy. Its creepiness and absurdity appeals to my misanthropic side; if it can scare kids, I like it, although I don't imagine many kids these days are scared by the likes of former Footlights bods.
Anything other laughter generated in our household last night was generated by affection rather than entertainment. Morecambe and Wise, Monty Python, and that was about it, although the hugely underrated Absolutely was, predictably, underrepresented. I loved John Sparkes's and Morwenna Banks's monologues, which were probably discounted on that basis, but it's criminal that none of the sketches featuring Moray Hunter as Calum Gilhooley were included: Booking a holiday by phone and dealing with Jehovah's Witnesses were just two that I remember, off the top of my head, that were BOTH better than the top sketch last night, from Little Britain.
Maybe I'm just getting old.
Arse.
My main objection to the program was simply that, instead of showing the 50 sketches in their entirety, the producers decided to show snippets, interspersed with talking heads and recollections from the participants. The programme wasn't helped by the poor quality of the selected sketches, which only served to highlight how dependent comedic power is on the unexpected. Much as I despise Griff Rhys-Jones, his comment that "a sketch is a sketch is a sketch" proved to be true, at least retrospectively: If you know what's coming in a sketch, the humour dissipates. Very few are those comedy moments that retain any great power upon repetition. And Monty Python's Spanish Inquisition has been forever soiled in my mind by John Hannah's abuse of it in Sliding Doors. He suddenly made you realize what wankers those people are who repeat sketches verbatim as though the humour somehow rubbed off on them.
What did I laugh at last night? The League of Gentlemen's Papa Lazarou is still recent enough and dark enough to enjoy. Its creepiness and absurdity appeals to my misanthropic side; if it can scare kids, I like it, although I don't imagine many kids these days are scared by the likes of former Footlights bods.
Anything other laughter generated in our household last night was generated by affection rather than entertainment. Morecambe and Wise, Monty Python, and that was about it, although the hugely underrated Absolutely was, predictably, underrepresented. I loved John Sparkes's and Morwenna Banks's monologues, which were probably discounted on that basis, but it's criminal that none of the sketches featuring Moray Hunter as Calum Gilhooley were included: Booking a holiday by phone and dealing with Jehovah's Witnesses were just two that I remember, off the top of my head, that were BOTH better than the top sketch last night, from Little Britain.
Maybe I'm just getting old.
Arse.
One Down, Two to Go
According to the prophecies of St. Malachy of Armagh, at least. There will be only two more popes before the destruction of Rome and the end of the world, he predicted. And he should know.
Yeah, they might be forgeries, but so what? Does that alter their predictive power in any way?
Yeah, they might be forgeries, but so what? Does that alter their predictive power in any way?
What I Read on My Holidays #3
Small Places, Large Issues: An Introduction to Social and Cultural Anthropology, by Thomas Hylland Eriksen
A timely review, since Lenin mentions that it’s one of his most recent purchases in the book meme doing the rounds.
This is an example of a book that does exactly what it says on the cover, but nothing more than that. Indeed, what surprised me above all was the extent of the overlap between social anthropology and sociology as disciplines. Extract the archetypal anthropological studies of Trobriand Islanders, hairy Ainus (that's the Ainus of Japan), and County Mayo farmers and you’re left with a standard introduction to Junior Cert sociological theory. There’s no great depth to Eriksen’s explanations of the difference between Marx and Weber, for instance, only an attempt to ensure that all relevant divergent perspectives are mentioned, just so that the reader is made aware of their existence and can follow up on them if he or she so desires. The suggested further reading for them at the end of each chapter gives some indication of the target audience: Lay readers with no previous knowledge of the subject.
I can’t complain about that; as I say, it calls itself an introduction, and that’s all it is. My disappointment arises only from presupposing there was more to social anthropology than comparative cultural studies.
A timely review, since Lenin mentions that it’s one of his most recent purchases in the book meme doing the rounds.
This is an example of a book that does exactly what it says on the cover, but nothing more than that. Indeed, what surprised me above all was the extent of the overlap between social anthropology and sociology as disciplines. Extract the archetypal anthropological studies of Trobriand Islanders, hairy Ainus (that's the Ainus of Japan), and County Mayo farmers and you’re left with a standard introduction to Junior Cert sociological theory. There’s no great depth to Eriksen’s explanations of the difference between Marx and Weber, for instance, only an attempt to ensure that all relevant divergent perspectives are mentioned, just so that the reader is made aware of their existence and can follow up on them if he or she so desires. The suggested further reading for them at the end of each chapter gives some indication of the target audience: Lay readers with no previous knowledge of the subject.
I can’t complain about that; as I say, it calls itself an introduction, and that’s all it is. My disappointment arises only from presupposing there was more to social anthropology than comparative cultural studies.
Saturday, April 02, 2005
Call the Michigan Militia!
Karol Wojtyla pops his clogs.
Perhaps now's the time to abolish the papacy altogether. I mean, it's not like he has any heirs.
(I chickened out on using the headline that will no doubt run in the loyalist tabloids tomorrow: Pope Fucked).
Perhaps now's the time to abolish the papacy altogether. I mean, it's not like he has any heirs.
(I chickened out on using the headline that will no doubt run in the loyalist tabloids tomorrow: Pope Fucked).
At home with the intelligentsia. No. 3: Norbert Elias
(Full image shows Elias driving a convertible TR7 at night-time the wrong way up a dual carriageway)
Friday, April 01, 2005
Calling all wise-cracking women
News of the discovery of a new species of worm, the Osedax, meaning bone-devourer, found feasting on the bones of a dead whale off the coast of California. One of the most fascinating things about this species is that the males are microscopic “sperm packages” that live inside the tubes of the female worms. The males spend their entire lives servicing the reproductive needs of the females in an otherwise pointless existence.
Can't fault their ambition
An article in the Petoskey News-Review by Fred Gray reveals that militias were planning to "rescue" Terri Schiavo.
“Norm Olson, senior adviser to the Michigan militia and pastor of a strong right-to-life church in Wolverine, said Tuesday he had put together an unarmed coalition of state militias that were prepared to storm the Florida hospice where Terri Schiavo has been left to die, and take her to a safe house.
Olson said he needed only the OK from Schiavo's father, Robert Schindler, either directly or through his attorney David Gibbs, to put the plan, called "Operation Resurrection," into action on Sunday.”
Read the rest here.
Wow, resurrection. So, now she's dead, should we give these guys a shot?
“Norm Olson, senior adviser to the Michigan militia and pastor of a strong right-to-life church in Wolverine, said Tuesday he had put together an unarmed coalition of state militias that were prepared to storm the Florida hospice where Terri Schiavo has been left to die, and take her to a safe house.
Olson said he needed only the OK from Schiavo's father, Robert Schindler, either directly or through his attorney David Gibbs, to put the plan, called "Operation Resurrection," into action on Sunday.”
Read the rest here.
Wow, resurrection. So, now she's dead, should we give these guys a shot?
Grassroots Gathering
This weekend in Dublin. Go if you can.
Including, on April 4,
The Miners Strike 20 years On.
A talk by Dave Douglass, an anarchist and lay NUM official on the Miners Strike.
For 29 years David or Dave (or "Danny The Red", as he is more popularly known around the mining community of Stainforth and Hatfield) worked as a coal miner in the coal fields of Durham and South Yorkshire. Since 1979 he has been the elected NUM Branch Delegate for Hatfield Colliery. In 1994/5 he became Branch Secretary at Hatfield Main but after the pit was privatised the NUM no longer had any recognition there. In 1994 he opened the Miners Community Advice Centre in Stainforth so that he may help the people from the mining community - working miners, ex-miners and their widows and dependants. The centre also acts as a political, sociological and Trade Union Centre, taking up the causes affecting the Mining Industry and Mining Community.
Dave has written a number of books, including his autobiography; "Geordies - Wa Mental" and "All power to the imagination". Politically Dave describes himself as "a revolutionary Marxist on the Anarchist left, and a member of South Yorkshire Class War and the IWW".
And while we're at it:
Anti Deportations Demo
Residents Againts Racism have called a demonstration for Saturday April 2nd at 12.30 meeting outside the G.P.O. in O' Connell Street against racism and deporations. Please come along and bring your fellow workers/students/friends and family.
Including, on April 4,
The Miners Strike 20 years On.
A talk by Dave Douglass, an anarchist and lay NUM official on the Miners Strike.
For 29 years David or Dave (or "Danny The Red", as he is more popularly known around the mining community of Stainforth and Hatfield) worked as a coal miner in the coal fields of Durham and South Yorkshire. Since 1979 he has been the elected NUM Branch Delegate for Hatfield Colliery. In 1994/5 he became Branch Secretary at Hatfield Main but after the pit was privatised the NUM no longer had any recognition there. In 1994 he opened the Miners Community Advice Centre in Stainforth so that he may help the people from the mining community - working miners, ex-miners and their widows and dependants. The centre also acts as a political, sociological and Trade Union Centre, taking up the causes affecting the Mining Industry and Mining Community.
Dave has written a number of books, including his autobiography; "Geordies - Wa Mental" and "All power to the imagination". Politically Dave describes himself as "a revolutionary Marxist on the Anarchist left, and a member of South Yorkshire Class War and the IWW".
And while we're at it:
Anti Deportations Demo
Residents Againts Racism have called a demonstration for Saturday April 2nd at 12.30 meeting outside the G.P.O. in O' Connell Street against racism and deporations. Please come along and bring your fellow workers/students/friends and family.
Thursday, March 31, 2005
At home with the intelligentsia. No. 2: Michel Foucault
(Full image shows Foucault losing a game of Othello to a small monkey in a baseball cap)
Goats are getting braver
At least that's according to the Childhood Goat Trauma Foundation, which provides testimonials and accounts from adults and kids who've been assaulted and bitten by the pesky creatures.
A spoof site, I'm sad to say.
A spoof site, I'm sad to say.
Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud
An editorial in the March issue of Christianity Today, "a magazine of evangelical conviction," laments that relief workers in the tsunami-hit regions of South Asia are being asked not to evangelize:
"Asking relief workers to muzzle their religious convictions or get out is both unrealistic and unfair—both to the helpers and to those being helped. If religious freedom means anything, relief agencies must be free not only to help, but to explain why they are helping."
Heaven forbid that the locals might resent rich foreigners dispensing aid with conditions attached.
"The affected areas have long been difficult in terms of Christian witness. But as one missionary told The Philadelphia Inquirer, the disaster, though terrible, "is one of the greatest opportunities God has given us to share his love with people.""
Of course. God does indeed move in mysterious ways. He devastates regions and the lives of thousands just so that evangelists can go in with their good news.
Don't share HIS love with them, you fucker, share yours.
"Asking relief workers to muzzle their religious convictions or get out is both unrealistic and unfair—both to the helpers and to those being helped. If religious freedom means anything, relief agencies must be free not only to help, but to explain why they are helping."
Heaven forbid that the locals might resent rich foreigners dispensing aid with conditions attached.
"The affected areas have long been difficult in terms of Christian witness. But as one missionary told The Philadelphia Inquirer, the disaster, though terrible, "is one of the greatest opportunities God has given us to share his love with people.""
Of course. God does indeed move in mysterious ways. He devastates regions and the lives of thousands just so that evangelists can go in with their good news.
Don't share HIS love with them, you fucker, share yours.
Never work with children or animals
The March issue of Outdoor Life features a profile by Hannes Wessels of Tommy Bosman, "the unluckiest game ranger in Africa," who has been attacked by a leopard, an elephant, and a pet hyena.
A pet hyena, I ask you.
A pet hyena, I ask you.
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
Mind How You Go, Now
Ever since the introduction of GPS into cars, I've been predicting that the following scenarios, described by Anne Kandra in the April issue of PC World, would cease to become unusual:
"The next time you rent a car, you might want to check for stowaways. A few years ago, a Connecticut rental car company fined a customer $450 when the GPS device in his car indicated that he had been speeding. And there have been other reported instances in which companies have monitored the locations and driving practices of their clients. A British insurance company, for instance, has even experimented with installing the devices in its clients' own cars--the idea being that the company could offer lower premiums for proven safe drivers."
How long before all cars have GPS monitors fitted that will automatically report speeding? Not that you'll be arrested: No doubt your bank account or credit card will be automatically charged the appropriate fine the moment you exceed the speed limit, saving everyone lots of time and trouble.
Read the rest here.
"The next time you rent a car, you might want to check for stowaways. A few years ago, a Connecticut rental car company fined a customer $450 when the GPS device in his car indicated that he had been speeding. And there have been other reported instances in which companies have monitored the locations and driving practices of their clients. A British insurance company, for instance, has even experimented with installing the devices in its clients' own cars--the idea being that the company could offer lower premiums for proven safe drivers."
How long before all cars have GPS monitors fitted that will automatically report speeding? Not that you'll be arrested: No doubt your bank account or credit card will be automatically charged the appropriate fine the moment you exceed the speed limit, saving everyone lots of time and trouble.
Read the rest here.
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