Thursday, 5 June, 2003No True JournalistEarlier today, I was watching Al Franken tearing Bill O'Reilly a new one at the BookExpo Book & Author Luncheon last Saturday*, and it occurred to me that the whole "liberal media" thing that Coulter et al. harp on about is almost a textbook example of the "No True Scotsman" fallacy (or, to be more exact, combination of fallacies). When all the mainstream media report something harmful to the right wing, the term "liberal media" serves to indicate that they're all biased; when evidence countering this assertion is presented, the meaning of the term is quickly shifted to indicate only media which demonstrably have a left-wing (by American standards) bias. Shoddy. * - See here; scroll down to the "Book & Author Luncheon" on May 31st, which is the first one from the top. If you want to skip Ivins and O'Reilly and go straight to Franken's bit, the introduction starts at 26:30 or so, and Franken starts talking around 28:30. NB: O'Reilly subsequently claims—twice—that Franken went on for thirty-five minutes, more than twice the allotted time of fifteen minutes; a quick glance at the timer shows that Franken actually talked for twenty minutes, give or take a dozen seconds. I understand this is fairly indicative of O'Reilly's accuracy in fact-checking. How much of a pratt do you have to be present yourself as an "analyst" when you evidently can't even tell time? posted 0251 Z-8 [link] ...You're going to become a permanent resident! Last month, the BCIS field office in Seattle approved my application for adjustment to permanent resident status (they're very nice down there, and not just because they gave me the okay). I got a temporary stamp in my passport, and I'm now allowed to leave the United States and come back again, go through the "citizens and permanent residents" line at the airport, own firearms in the state of Washington, work, what have you. Last Monday, I got no fewer than four welcome notices from the BCIS (actually, the stationary still says INS, but hey) service centre in Nebraska, stating that my Permanent Resident (aka "Green") Card will be arriving by mail within three weeks. I wonder if I'll get four? posted 0203 Z-8 [link] Wednesday, 4 June, 2003Trail credA couple of months ago, a friend of Carolyn's donated a bunch of stuff to us which had been gathering dust in her garage for years, and which we might put to better use. This included a lawnmower, some lawn furniture, an exercise bike and a bicycle. The latter was particularly handy from my perspective, since I don't have a driver's license and it would give me a means of transport to get around town. posted 0008 Z-8 [more..] Tuesday, 3 June, 2003Bulldozer buffsI've noticed that I've had some visitors who arrived at this blog looking for info on Caterpillar D9 bulldozers. Let me make it easy on you. On Caterpillar's website, you can find the civilian versions of the D9R, and also the D10R. But what you're probably really looking for is the versions used by the Israeli Defence Force, and for that I should direct you to the appropriate page at Israeli-weapons.com. Actually, the Caterpillar pages give the full technical data; the distinguishing feature of the IDF versions is that they have between 5 and 6 metric tons of armour bolted on. And they're painted olive rather than yellow. That's it really, posted 0346 Z-8 [link] Supranational bodies 101 Follow the electron trail: Russell "Mean Mr. Mustard" Wardlow links to "Sparkey" (at "Sgt. Stryker's Daily Briefing") who links to BC at "Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler" who links to this article in the Daily Telegraph; taking this article as a cue, all bloggers reaffirm their disgust for and hatred of "the UN." The only thing any of them adequately demonstrates is ignorance of the way the UN is organised. I've been over this before, but I think a booster shot is called for. I can only hope some of the aforementioned bloggers and their commenters may read this (and, deo volente, understand it). posted 0049 Z-8 [more..] |
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