August 26, 2007 at 8:14 am (George W. Bush, Politics, World)
Tags: Iraq
On May 1, 2003, President Bush announced, “Major combat operations in Iraq have ended.”
On August 26, 2007, President Bush’s radio address included the statement, ”We are still in the early stages of our new operations.“
Both links above are from www.whitehouse.gov.
August 24, 2007 at 2:16 pm (Body Image, Women)
Tags: Lawyers
Thanks to Without Measure (WOM) Beta for this item.
All the way from the UK, reported in Metro on May 17, 2007:
A barrister provoked outrage yesterday by claiming that the victim of an alleged gang rape was so fat she would have been ‘glad of the attention’.
Sheilagh Davies, defending one of three boys accused of raping two girls, said the 16-year-old girl had ’slimmed down a lot’ since the alleged attack.
She told Inner London Crown Court: ‘She was 12st 6lb – not quite the swan she may turn into. She may well have been glad of the attention.’
I can’t imagine that Ms. Davies’ comments helped her client’s case. Beyond that, I’m speechless on this one.
(12st 6lb=174 pounds. Irrelevant, but as a former translator I have an impulse to convert measurement.)
August 20, 2007 at 12:54 pm (Obvious, Politics)
Tags: psychology, torture
This just in: torture isn’t healthy.
That’s right, the American Psychological Association’s policy-making council has voted to oppose interrogation abuse.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports (italics are mine):
Psychologists who witness interrogators using mock executions, simulated drowning, sexual and religious humiliation, stress positions or sleep deprivation are required to intervene to stop such abuse…. Also ruled out of bounds are the exploitation of prisoners’ phobias, the use of mind-altering drugs, hooding, forced nakedness, the use of dogs to frighten prisoners, exposing prisoners to extreme heat and cold, physical assault and threatening the use of such techniques against a prisoner or a prisoner’s family.
Several psychologists declared that these methods were physically and psychologically damaging to both inmates and captors.
August 20, 2007 at 12:17 pm (Communication, George W. Bush)
Here’s a great list of Bushisms compiled by Jacob Weisberg.
If my self-esteem is in a slump, I just read a couple and it puts everything in perspective.
I never thought I’d admit to something positive coming out of this presidency, but this could be it.
August 17, 2007 at 8:08 am (Politics)
Tags: 9-11, Rudy Giuliani
Russ Buettner at the New York Times has shown how much time Giuliani spent at Ground Zero from September 17 to December 16, 2001: a total of 29 hours. Surely Rudy must have known that his mayoral archive would give up this information — something he might have considered before claiming that he had been in the ruins “as often, if not more” than the cleanup workers, or that he was there “five, six times a day for four months. I kind of thought of it as living here.”
August 16, 2007 at 8:08 am (Bureaucracy, Communication)
I write an email to an HR manager, asking for her help to determine the status of my job application.
She writes back, ”Do you have a position with us?”
I’m pulling my hair out with these people.
August 16, 2007 at 4:53 am (Bureaucracy, Communication)
Me: May I speak with Martha Gómez, please?
Bureaucrat: I can’t give out employees’ information, ma’am.
Me: ?? ….
Bureaucrat: I’m not allowed to give out employees’ information or connect you directly to an employee.
Me: ?? ….
Bureaucrat: If you have a department…
Me: Um, she works in human resources.
Bureaucrat: Oh, you want to talk to JoAnn Lopéz. Her number is 720-555-5555.
Me: Isn’t she an employee?
Bureaucrat:Excuse me, ma’am?
Me: Well, why can you give me JoAnn’s number but not Martha’s?
Bureaucrat: ?? ….
Me: Never mind.
August 15, 2007 at 10:04 pm (Culture, Overheard, Travel)
Tags: México
Man, pointing out the window, to his wife: Look, honey, they even have cars!
Aboard a plane on its final approach to Puerto Vallarta.
