Search for Sunlight Yeilds Infamy Instead

It seems a striking young DC paralegal, fond of taking lunch breaks on the roof of her firm, ended up causing a bit of a stir. The tanktops she scaled down to in the privacy (so she thought) of her sunny lunches apparently did not sit well with a few of the more reserved associates of Winston & Strawn, and so a quite hilarious "clothing is not optional on the rooftop" memo was distributed. That now famous memo eventually found its way onto Wonkette (one of the most widely read blogs in America) making an anonymous sun-seeking 23 year-old instantly famous.

But here at the Loosh Spot we have an exclusive report on the "shoulders that launched a thousand memos." It's time to pluck this delightful young woman from anonymity and give her proper credit.

Mo Dollinger, we salute you:-)

Maverick and Joey!?

Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes. Hmm... This is an interesting couple to say the least. They're not without common ground, however. Cruise soared to stardom playing a high school student in Risky Business in 1983. Holmes soared to stardom playing a high school student on Dawson's Creek, which ended in 2003. News of the pairing reportedly caused Dawson to squint, and then look pensively to the side for several moments. He then went to sit on a dock and sort through his reeling emotions.

New Government In Iraq

Today is a pivotal day in Iraq, as the leadership of the new government has been ratified. The last paragraph of this story relates two disconcerting facts, however. Prime Minister Ibrahim Jafari (a Shiite) ended up naming himself Acting Defense Minister, a position that had been held for a Sunni. About the worst thing someone could do for the defense of Iraq is to make Sunnis unhappy, as their most disenfranchised citizens pose by far the most significant security threat to the nation.

Worse still is the appointment of the highly suspect Ahmed Chalabi as one of four deputy prime ministers. Chalabi--at the time in exile--was beloved by the Pentagon and was the enthusiastic source behind several erroneous U.S. intelligence conclusions about Iraq (the existence of a clandestine WMD program, the use of portable weapons labs). As we understand better now, he was mostly just itching to return to his country in a position to take power. He was, in fact, the original choice of the U.S. to be interim Prime Minister. That is, until the U.S. discovered strong evidence of fraud, deception, and collusion with Iran and ousted Chalabi in favor of Iyad Allawi. Somehow the slick and charming Chalabi secured a top position in the Iraqi government nevertheless.

His history of self-interested cooperation with foreign powers will probably not play well with the public given his other newly acquired position in the government: Acting Oil Minister. Even if he proves honest, the appearance could not be any worse...

Watching TV Makes You Smarter?

Steven Johnson tries to make this counter-intuitive argument in an upcoming book Everything Bad Is Good for You: How Today's Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter, excerpted over the weekend in New York Times Magazine. His thesis? Many shows today weave several intricate plot lines and include a heavy dose of mostly accurate technical information from their settings in governmental affairs, crime investigation, etc. He wants to say today's TV makes you smarter. Dana Stevens isn't convinced...

They Never Would Have Thought About It, but They Kept Hearing About It On TV

Apparently a fair number of young girls are using steroids? Strange...

American Catholics Like Pope; American Journalists Not So Much

After all of the howling and screaming from the mainstream media, out comes an interesting poll--American Catholics overwhelmingly approve of the choice of Ratzinger as Pope. More than 80% support the choice of Pope, and 73% characterize their support of Pope Benedict as "enthusiastic." Strangely, the Washington Post article revealing the results of their joint poll with ABC News offers this opening sentence of interpretation/analysis after relating the raw data:

The poll suggested the magnitude of the challenge facing the newly installed pontiff in the United States as he attempts to lead a congregation deeply split between those who want the church to maintain its traditional policies and beliefs, and those who say the church needs to change in order to reflect the way Catholics live today.

What!? The surprise here is that the Pope we have been told again and again and again is extreme, polarizing, and poorly recieved is actually quite well received. Rather than acknowledge the largely mistaken prevailing assumption of the American media, the Post immediately reverts to the same original (now debunked) Pope talking points--he is out of step with the modern world and will have a hard time winning over American Catholics.

It is truly incredible that the interpretive analysis of this poll immediately homes in on the dissension within the Catholic church. It's now a news story when 27% of people are not "enthusiastic" about a world leader with highly visible stances on abortion, euthanasia, birth control, gay marriage, and the death penalty? What person in modern times has held a position of power with highly visible stances on all of those issues and enjoyed the enthusiastic support of 3 out of 4 citizens in a country where his/her particular views are least popular? It's actually astounding the level of support the man has in this country after every story on his election included rude nicknames coined by his enemies (e.g. "darth vader"), negative buzzwords (e.g. "ultraconservative"), and manipulative associations with the Nazi party (which his father resisted, and whose army he deserted after being drafted).

It's an amazing progression:
1) Ratzinger delivers a critical conclave sermon that is mostly an internal warning/rebuke and prays that he will not be elected Pope, but is nevertheless elected faster than almost anyone in the last century.
2) He is immediately dragged through the mud by the 24 hour news cycle with alarmist reaction pieces from almost every major media outlet in the United States.
3) He somehow still gains the "enthusiastic" support of 3/4 of American Catholics.
4) The Washington Post surveys this data and comments on the "deeply split" American faithful.

Did they just write a story about infighting in the Catholic church before the poll and not bother to write a new one when they got the results back?

New Pope; Little Hope

The Cardinals' enclave has selected Joseph Ratzinger as the new Pope of the Catholic Church. The media wasted no time playing up Ratzinger's strict enforcement of traditional conservative Catholic doctrine, and many outlets also had fun with his compulsory involvement in the Nazi party during his youth. Though his father openly opposed Hitler, and though he deserted the Nazi army (risking a penalty of death), Ratzinger's announcement was greeted with blaring "Nazi" headlines by the British tabloids and other similar papers. Andrew Sullivan compared enduring this choice for the papacy after John Paul II as a gay Catholic to a liberal enduring 4 terms of George W. Bush and then having Karl Rove elected President. Indeed there seems to be a prevailing sense of despair among young and/or liberal America that Dr. Evil has been appointed head of the world's largest religious body. (this was aided tremendously by the coverage of his election, which usually included the use of nicknames ascribed to him by his opponents--"God's Rottweiler," "Cardinal No," "the enforcer," and "Panzer Cardinal.")

I think Ratzinger deserves more of a chance to prove that he can be cooperative, positive, and reach out. His positions on hot-button issues are clear, and will disappoint those hoping to move closer to female priests, married clergy, acceptance of homosexuality, and more open theological debate within the church. His strictness, however, has certainly seemed more paramount due to his longstanding role as theological watchdog and guardian for the church at the behest of John Paul II. Given the job title of theology enforcer it is no wonder that he has most frequently been visible for cracking down on dissidents. He was disciplinarian and that is a position from which one can hardly hope to win a broad base of friends--the best one could hope for is grudging respect. Ratzinger has chosen the name of a moderate for his papal name and has said some very conciliatory things in his first few remarks as Pope. I think the American intellegentsia is rushing to judgment.

I have had more than one Catholic friend tell me they are officially leaving the Catholic church over this selection of Pope. For these individuals, this essentially means giving up on religion. I think this is a sad response. If the Catholic church were a local club it might make sense to quit once it no longer stands for what you want it to. But it is the most large, historical, and global institution in the world. It needs the voices of many. I suspect that some young people I know are almost happy to have a Pope that they can lump together with their most reviled Republican villains. It provides them a noble, retroactive reason for not going to church. They're not just skipping church anymore--they're boycotting because it represents something they don't stand for. All of the huffing and puffing about how mean and intolerant the new Pope is seems a little overblown to me and I only wish that coverage of the Catholic church was a bit more judicious and fair than it is currently. Apparently a fair amount of personnel in the mainstream media had some pretty crummy experiences with the church growing up. And I honestly think any Pope that was European and didn't adhere to the platform of the Democratic party was going to get jobbed by the media. Ratzinger (after years of doctrine enforcing) was especially easy pickings.

But Will it Thaw Lindsey's Heart?

During the Yankees' off-day in Boston during their current series with the Red Sox Alex (A-Rod) Rodriguez apparently saved a boy from being hit by a truck.

Hush That Fuss

Outkast has finally reached a settlement with the most over-rated figure of the 20th century, Rosa Parks. Parks' name also served as the title of one of Outkasts most successful songs back in 1998. The suit was initiated by Parks' seedy handlers (she suffers from dimentia) years ago, but the settlement was reached by her new guardian, former Detroit mayor and Michigan Supreme Court justice Dennis Archer, who took over custody recently after close family pleaded that Parks was being taken advantage of. Archer admitted there was no fault on the part of Outkast, and came up with a cuddly plan where the two parties will work together to promote a cuddly idea I don't remember from the article.

Perhaps if the band had it to do over again they would have just named the song--which never mentions Parks; only moving "to the back of the bus"--Mary Louise Smith or Claudette Colvin, two teenagers who were jailed for not giving up their bus seat in Montgomery, Alabama long before Parks. Though a resistence movement to the bus policy was already in the works, these young women were not considered "suitable icons" around which to build a movement. In the case of Colvin, the first recorded resister, she was 15, rebellious, and, by the time of her trial, visibly pregnant. NAACP chapter secretary Parks turned out to be suitable enough indeed and the incredibly successful and inspirational Montgomery bus boycott was luanched upon her arrest.

Her fortune to be the poster child for this movement has probably made her name the second most recognizable among figures of the civil rights movement (second only to the boycott's leader, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.), ahead of men like Medgar Evers or perhaps even Malcolm X, both of whom gave their very lives to the cause (literally and figuratively). They unfortunately did not live to boycott NAACP functions hosted by Cedric the Entertainer because--can you believe it?--he raised the question of whether others might deserve to share much of Parks' credit in Barbershop.

Brand Name Babies

Slate has been publishing some fascinating excerpts from a study on baby names. Today's focuses on the way popular names among the upper-class trickle down to the lower class and move in a cycle. The names of the rich end up being a much truer predictor of spikes in baby names than the names of celebrities or celebrity children. It also includes some other curious tidbits:

Increasingly, there are brand names (Lexus, Armani, Bacardi, Timberland) and what might be called aspirational names. The California data show eight Harvards born during the 1990s (all of them black), 15 Yales (all white), and 18 Princetons (all black). There were no Doctors but three Lawyers (all black), nine Judges (eight of them white), three Senators (all white), and two Presidents (both black).

Pro-Choice or Pro-Saline?

Tensions ran high on the nation's Capitol today as women gave their input before a forthcoming legislative ruling. "We have a right to decide what is right for our own bodies," said Virginia Silverman of Orange County, California. "Women along with their surgeons should be allowed to choose..." said Arlene Nicole Cummings. But she wasn't talking about abortion--she was just borrowing the language. The choice Ms. Cummings advocates is the choice to put silicone gel implants into her breasts, rather than the current saline variety. The more lifelike silicone implants have been illegal for 13 years, but today's hearing comes as the FDA considers making them legal once again, despite a history of significant complications with the implants and evidence that suggests their malfunction can lead to serious illness. The women-and-their-bodies-and-their-doctors line of argument used by the silicone proponents wasn't just overly dramatic; it was cheap and bizarre. I think it's safe to assume that pro-choice advocates were not thrilled to have the pro-silicone lobby piggy back on their cause. But hey--they are women, and they do have bodies... GIVE THEM THEIR RIGHTS!!!

Life, liberty, and the pursuit of greater cup sizes...

Protestants are Mean

The mostly Protestant fans of the Scottish soccer team Hearts got a little ugly in the leadup to their team's match against Celtic (a team with mostly Catholic fans). When the audience was asked to honor Pope John Paull II with a minute of silence they jeered the late Pope so noisily and rudely that the referee ended the memorial less than halfway through. We can only assume that the few women in attendance immediately forgave this incredible display of rudeness, since the utterances all came from men with English accents.

Power Shift in Iraq

There are no U.S. elections impending so folks here no longer care too much about Iraq, but that country now has a Kurdish President and a Shiite Prime Minister. It's obviously a rough analogy, but we can imagine the sense of progress if we suddenly woke up to a Black U.S. President, an Asian Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and a Latino Speaker of the House. As far as disenfranchised/unprivileged people groups, it's not so different. What is different is that the Kurds and Shiites in Iraq represent an overwhelming majority (80%) of the total population--and still they were brutally kept from power by the well-armed Sunni minority, whose oppression was more brutal than most Americans can fathom. Saddam's put down of the Kurds (which included the use of WMDs) was the Montgomery fire hoses to the tenth power. So this is a significant and great development in Iraq.

Yes, the Sunni 20% isn't loving it. But then how many white South Africans living after apartheid said "This new combined governance ROCKS!!" People that have had a stranglehold on power don't like losing it. Sometimes they'd even rather blow themselves up in a crowd of empowered minorities applying for work than live to see those people take the jobs.

We overestimate how much the residual turmoil in Iraq is about us and our President. Clearly he set the whole thing in motion and initiated the present situation. But the real conflict now in Iraq is between people groups who have suddenly switched places, since power is now derived more from raw population than weaponry.

Here's what people don't get: they saw the insurgency and decided the aggression was the result of Anti-American sentiments held by super-Muslim Iraqis who wanted the infidels gone. The fact is there is no country on earth where the indigenous population is comfortable with foreigners roving their town with machine guns. They want us gone, plain and simple. Everyone wants us gone. But this is not an Arab vs. Infidel thing. Much more so, it is an internal Sunni-Shiite feud, which somehow even very well read people seem to be missing as the all-important element in current events there. Let's spell this out simply...

Iraq is 80% Kurdish and Shiite, 20% Sunni. The Sunni's had a brutal stranglehold on the country's power. The rest of the Muslim world, however, is almost entirely Sunni. So what is minority in Iraq is the Islamic status quo in every other Arab country. Why are we confused then, when large numbers of Arabs come streaming into Iraq to try to disrupt the new provisional government? They just don't want Shiites running Iraq. An insurgent gives his life to shoot a bunch of unemployed Iraqis trying to become police officers and we think it's about us? Do we think they're just too disgusted to see their fellow countrymen working for the big bad Americans? No way. They're mad because those other people are now running the country. We have seen similar resentments on a smaller scale time and again in America as different waves of immigrants came. Never did they acquire jobs or rise to political influence without harsh violent resistance from those who were giving these finite things up. The scene in Gangs of New York where the newly elected Irishmen gets the axe thrown in his back by Bill the Butcher (native Anglo-American) offers a pretty good idea of the sentiment behind many of the insurgent attacks.

We need to stop thrusting our own goodness or badness into everything that takes place in Iraq and start seeing the country for what it is and the people who comprise it. And then we need to figure out the best ways to ensure safety and justice.

But it is a good day there today, and I have the greatest hopes for the new government. Power to the people.

Grading Takes a Softer Hue

The strivings to avoid making students feel bad has netted another victim--an increasing number of red pens. CNN reports that many schools are doing away with red pens for grading, as they seem too harsh, mean, and judgemental. Blues and purples are in, making the corrective suggestions of teachers far less confrontational, if not downright cuddly. Maybe instead of letter grades, we could assign different animals (each special in its own unique way) to graded work? Seems like getting C's and D's has a bad connotation at this point for people--I'm sure they'd rather have a kitten or turtle or something instead. Drawn in blue ink of course.

Terri Schiavo Part II

I know some of my conservative friends disagreed with my opposition to prolonging Terri Schiavo's life further, but I think people jumped into that battle a little too quickly and passionately once the culture wars lines had been drawn. I'm amazed at the wildly distorted perceptions my friends hold of Terri Schiavo's husband and medical state, and for this reason I am posting an excerpt from the highly reasonable (and culture of life proponent) Andrew Sullivan, in hopes of providing some still sorely needed pretext to a story that may now fade from the news, terribly misunderstood by religious conservatives, in light of the Pope's death.

Here are the relevant facts. Fifteen years ago, one Terri Schiavo suffered a heart stoppage caused by bulimia. Her brain was temporarily starved of oxygen and scans showed that her cerebral cortex had stopped functioning. A CAT scan shows that her brain has since shrunk massively. Her electroencephalogram reading was and is completely flat - she has no brain waves. She is not brain-dead. But she has no ability to think, feel, or communicate. She can breathe on her own; and random eye movements can give the impression of some kind of awareness. She is kept alive by a feeding tube.

In the first years that she was in this horrifying state, her husband, Michael, did all he could to find treatment, went from hospital to hospital trying new therapies. According to the Miami Herald, which has covered the case more thoroughly than any other outlet, "each rehabilitation facility treated her with aggressive physical, recreational, speech and language therapy, moving her arms and legs, trying to rouse her with scents. But according to court filings, Terri was not responsive to neurological or swallowing tests." Terri was even sent to California to have experimental platinum electrodes inplanted to get her brain going again. Michael slept next to her for five weeks. At the time, he and Terri's parents were united in doing all they could for what was left of his wife.

But eventually, the husband acquiesced to near-universal medical opinion and came to terms with the fact that his wife would never revive. He said that when she was cogniscent, she had once told him she didn't want to be kept alive artificially for an indefinite period of time. You can see why. From the Miami Herald again: "She suffered from bile stones and kidney stones, according to court papers, and had to have her gallbladder removed. She has 'drop foot,' where her foot twists downward, and the ensuing pressure resulted in the amputation of her left little toe. She frequently developed urinary tract infections, diarrhea and vaginitis. Several cysts were removed from her neck. Several times, her feeding tube got infected." The sight of a human being in such a state of complete disintegration became too much for Michael Schiavo to bear. So he decided that it would be more compassionate to let her die with dignity.

Her parents, for understandable reasons, differed and fought Michael in the Florida courts. The litigation has gone on for many painful years. The parents, who had at first encouraged Michael to date other women, then used his second relationship (he subsequently dated another woman and had two children with her) as a weapon against him in the courts. But court after court acknowledged the overwhelming medical data and the fact that Terri's legal guardian was her husband...