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<:> i n t e r a l i a <:>

7 January 2003

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In Today's Issue
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
1. A Word A Day -- mense
2. Graphics of the Day -- by David J. L'Hoste
3. Quote of the Day -- The Death of Santa Claus
4. HotSites - Miscellany
5. Reading List - Paul Krugman
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
`````````````````
1. A Word A Day
`````````````````
mense (mens) noun

Propriety, decorum.

verb tr.

To adorn, grace.

[From Middle English menske (honor), from Old Norse mennska (humanity).]

   "Auld Vandal! ye but show your little mense,
   Just much about it wi' your scanty sense:
   Will your poor, narrow foot-path of a street,
   Where twa wheel-barrows tremble when they meet."
   Robert Burns, The Brigs Of Ayr, 1787.

   These lines are from a poem Burns wrote about a dialog between two
   bridges when the construction of a new bridge began over the Ayr in
   Scotland in 1786. The Auld Brig retorts to the above mocking by New
   Brig that one shouldn't get carried away in vanity and pride:
   "I'll be a brig when ye're a shapeless cairn!"

--
>From A Word A Day:
http://www.wordsmith.org/awad/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
2. Graphics of the Day -- by David J. L'Hoste
``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Jason:
http://www.lhostelaw.com/0212/0212jason.htm

Jessica:
http://www.lhostelaw.com/0212/0212jessica.htm

Rainy Highway:
http://www.lhostelaw.com/0212/021204rainyhighway_1391.htm

Baton Rouge from Mississippi River Bridge:
http://www.lhostelaw.com/0212/021204brskyline_1387.htm

Dirge Study:
http://www.lhostelaw.com/0212/dirgestudy.htm
--
Last Issue:
1. Column Detail:
http://www.lhostelaw.com/0211/021124034_column.htm

2. Another Great Egret:
http://www.lhostelaw.com/0211/021129012_greg.htm
--
GOTD Archives:
http://lhostelaw.com/iaa/ia_graphics.htm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
3. Quote of the Day -- The Death of Santa Claus
`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
The Death of Santa Claus
by Charles Webb

He's had the chest pains for weeks,
but doctors don't make house
calls to the North Pole,

he's let his Blue Cross lapse,
blood tests make him faint,
hospital gown always flap

open, waiting rooms upset
his stomach, and it's only
indigestion anyway, he thinks,

until, feeding the reindeer,
he feels as if a monster fist
has grabbed his heart and won't

stop squeezing. He can't
breathe, and the beautiful white
world he loves goes black,

and he drops on his jelly belly
in the snow and Mrs. Claus
tears out of the toy factory

wailing, and the elves wring
their little hands, and Rudolph's
nose blinks like a sad ambulance

light, and in a tract house
in Houston, Texas, I'm 8,
telling my mom that stupid

kids at school say Santa's a big
fake, and she sits with me
on our purple-flowered couch,

and takes my hand, tears
in her throat, the terrible
news rising in her eyes.

from Reading The Water, 2001
Northeastern University Press

Copyright 2001 by Charles Webb.
All rights reserved.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
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4. HotSites - Miscellany
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````
eNature:
http://www.enature.com/

U.S. Geological Survey:
http://www.usgs.gov/

Arts & Letters Daily:
http://www.aldaily.com/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````
5. Reading List - Paul Krugman
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````
January 7, 2003
An Irrelevant Proposal
By PAUL KRUGMAN

Here's how it works. Faced with a real problem —
terrorism, the economy, nukes in North Korea — the Bush
administration's response has nothing to do with
solving that problem. Instead it exploits the issue to
advance its political agenda.

Nonetheless, the faithful laud our glorious leader's
wisdom. For a variety of reasons, including the desire
to avoid charges of liberal bias, most reporting is
carefully hedged. And the public, reading only praise
or he-said-she-said discussions, never grasps the
fundamental disconnect between problem and policy.

And so it goes with the administration's "stimulus"
plan.

Boosting a stumbling economy ("It's Clinton's fault!"
shouted the claque) isn't rocket science. All a
sensible plan must do is focus on the present, not the
distant future; on those who are suffering, not on
those doing well; and on those who are most likely to
spend additional money.

Right now a sensible plan would rush help to the long-
term unemployed, whose benefits — in an act of
incredible callousness — were allowed to lapse last
month. It would provide immediate, large-scale aid to
beleaguered state governments, which have been burdened
with expensive homeland security mandates even as their
revenues have plunged. Given our long-run budget
problems, any tax relief would be temporary, and go
largely to low- and middle-income families.

Yesterday House Democrats released a plan right out of
the textbook: aid to states and the jobless, rebates to
everyone. But the centerpiece of the administration's
proposal is, of all things, the permanent elimination
of taxes on dividends.

So instead of a temporary measure, we get a permanent
tax cut. The price tag of the overall plan is a
whopping $600 billion, yet less than $100 billion will
arrive in the first year. The Democratic plan, with an
overall price tag of only $136 billion, actually
provides more short-run stimulus.

And instead of helping the needy, the Bush plan is
almost ludicrously tilted toward the very, very well
off. If you have stocks in a 401(k), your dividends are
already tax-sheltered; this proposal gives big breaks
only to people who have lots of stock outside their
retirement accounts. More than half the benefits would
go to people making more than $200,000 per year, a
quarter to people making more than $1 million per year.
("Class warfare!" shouted the claque.)

Even the administration's economists barely pretend
that this proposal has anything to do with short-run
stimulus. Instead they sell it as the answer to various
other problems. (It slices! It dices! It purées!) Above
all, it's supposed to end the evil of "double
taxation."

Now lots of income faces double taxation, in the sense
that the same dollar gets taxed more than once along
the way. For example, most of us pay income and payroll
taxes when we earn our salary, then pay sales taxes
when we spend it. So why has it suddenly become urgent
to ensure that dividends, in particular, never be taxed
more than once?

That is, if they're taxed at all. In practice, the Bush
plan would exempt a lot of income — rich people's
income — from all taxes. Thanks to the efforts of
lobbyists, today's corporate tax code has as many holes
in it as a piece of Swiss cheese, and today's
corporations take full advantage. Case in point:
Between 1998 and 2001 CSX Corporation, the company run
by the incoming Treasury secretary, John Snow, made
$900 million in profits, but paid no net taxes — in
fact, it received $164 million in rebates. This wasn't
exceptional; the average tax rate on profits has fallen
to a nearly 60-year low.

Anyway, even to debate the pros and cons of dividend
taxation is to play the administration's game, which is
to change the subject. Weren't we supposed to be
talking about emergency economic stimulus?

No doubt the final version of the "stimulus" plan will
contain a few genuine recession-fighting measures — a
child credit here, an unemployment benefit there, a few
crumbs for the states — for which the administration
will expect immense gratitude. But the man in charge —
that is, Karl Rove — is clearly betting that the
economy will recover on its own, and intends to use the
pretense of stimulus mainly as an opportunity to get
more tax cuts for the rich.

Ideology aside, will these guys ever decide that their
job includes solving problems, not just using them?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
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Subject: <:>i n t e r a l i a<:> 28 January 2003

<:> i n t e r a l i a <:>

28 January 2003

On this day in 1990: Super Bowl XXIV -- San Francisco
49ers beat Denver Broncos, 55-10 in New Orleans; Super
Bowl MVP Joe Montana, San Francisco, Quarterback

In Today's Issue
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
1. A Word A Day -- corybantic
2. Graphics of the Day -- by David J. L'Hoste
3. Quote of the Day -- Mark Halliday
4. HotSites - Political Opinion, Commentary, and Ranting
5. Reading List - Bogus Stimulus Bush's plan will benefit
the wealthy -- but not the economy. Robert Kuttner

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
`````````````````
1. A Word A Day
`````````````````
corybantic (kor-i-BAN-tik) adjective

Wild; frenzied; uncontrolled.

[After Corybant, an ancient priest of Phrygian goddess
Cybele, who performed wild ecstatic dances in her worship.]
"The radio is nothing but a conduit through which
pre-fabricated din can flow into our homes. And this din
goes far deeper, of course, than the eardrums. It
penetrates the mind, filling it with a babble of
distractions, blasts of corybantic or sentimental music,
continually repeated doses of drama that bring no catharsis,
but usually create a craving for daily or even hourly
emotional enemas." Aldous Huxley, On Silence, 1946.

Lily:
http://www.lhostelaw.com/0301/030125lily_1868.htm

Flower (Computer Art):
http://www.lhostelaw.com/0301/myart2.htm

--
LAST ISSUE:
Jason:
http://www.lhostelaw.com/0212/0212jason.htm

Jessica:
http://www.lhostelaw.com/0212/0212jessica.htm

Rainy Highway:
http://www.lhostelaw.com/0212/021204rainyhighway_1391.htm

Baton Rouge from Mississippi River Bridge:
http://www.lhostelaw.com/0212/021204brskyline_1387.htm

Dirge Study:
http://www.lhostelaw.com/0212/dirgestudy.htm

--
GOTD Archives:
http://lhostelaw.com/iaa/ia_graphics.htm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
3. Quote of the Day -- Mark Halliday
`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Legs

by Mark Halliday

In the last year of my marriage,
among a hundred other symptoms I wrote a poem called
"The Woman across the Shaft"—she was someone
I never met—she had long bare legs
on a summer night when she answered the phone
in her kitchen and lifted her legs to the table
while she talked and laughed and I tried to listen
from my window across an airshaft between buildings
and watched her legs. I doubt she was beautiful
but her legs were young and long
and she laughed on the phone
while I sat in my dark of dissolving faith
and I tried to capture or contain the unknown woman
in a poem: the real and the ideal,
the mess of frayed bonds versus untouched possibility,
so forth. Embarrassed now
I imagine a female editor
who received "The Woman across the Shaft"
as a submission to her magazine—the distaste she felt—
perhaps disgust she felt—I imagine her
grimacing slightly as she considers writing "Pathetic"
on the rejection slip but instead lets the slip stay blank
and then returns to another envelope
from a writer she has learned to trust,
crossing her long legs on her smart literary desk.

from Selfwolf, 1988
Ohio University, Athens, OH
Copyright 1988 by Mark Halliday.
All rights reserved.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````
4. HotSites - Political Opinion, Commentary, and Ranting
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````
From the LEFT:
BuzzFlash.com
http://buzzflash.com/

The SmirkingChimp.ocm
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/

truthout.com
http://www.truthout.com/

=====****=====

From the RIGHT:
FreeRepublic.com
http://www.freerepublic.com/

LoudCitizen.com
http://www.loudcitizen.com/

EagleForum.org
http://www.eagleforum.org/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````
5. Reading List - Robert Kuttner
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Bogus Stimulus Bush's plan will benefit the wealthy --
but not the economy. Robert Kuttner

If ever there were a president who needed a war, it is
George W. Bush. And if ever an opposition party needed
to start behaving like an opposition, it is the
Democrats.

The economy is faltering; Bush's foreign policy is a
mess; his domestic program is aimed more at rewarding
favored interest groups than solving national problems.
If properly challenged, Bush's program would be
monumentally unpopular.

The centerpiece of the Bush economic program is
permanent repeal of the tax on corporate dividends,
falsely advertised as an economic "stimulus." The Bush
plan would reduce revenues by $670 billion over 10
years, about half just from repeal of the dividend tax.

The proposal is bad economics and irresponsible budget
policy. Two-thirds of the benefit would go to the
wealthiest 5 percent. About half of all Americans have
some money in the stock market, but most small
investors have their money in IRAs, Keoghs, and 401(k)
plans, which are already tax exempt. Bush is betting
that small investors will misunderstand the law and
identify with big investors.

The administration also claims that dividend income
should be exempt from the income tax because
corporations already pay taxes on their profits. "It's
unfair to tax money twice," the president has declared.

But why special treatment for dividends? Workers pay
income tax on wages and salaries, and then they pay
sales tax at the store and property taxes on their
homes and excise taxes on tickets -- all on spending
from earnings that have already been taxed once.

Though Bush touts the benefits of increased investment,
business investment is sluggish this year because
customers aren't buying, not because dividends are
taxed. Other parts of Bush's plan offer some token
short-term stimulus, but the amounts are puny --
nothing for hard pressed states other than a new $3.6
billion federal retraining program that the states
would administer and a short extension of unemployment
benefits.

The Bush plan also accelerates some of the tax cuts
enacted in 2001. But because most of those benefits go
to the top, the typical family would receive little.

Two years ago, when Bush proposed his first huge tax
cut (also tilted toward the very wealthy), Democrats in
Congress were splintered. Many voted for the Bush plan.

This time, however, congressional Democrats are
unified. On Monday, the House Democratic leadership
proposed a stimulus plan that puts money where it is
needed -- $31 billion so that states won't have to cut
health and education outlays in a recession and to help
states and cities pay for stepped up civil defense
efforts. The Democrats would also give an immediate
rebate of $600 per working couple.

Because the Democratic alternative does not cut taxes
on dividends, the plan spends only $131 billion rather
than $670 billion -- but spends most of it this year
when the economic stimulus is needed. Interestingly,
both the moderate and liberal wings of the party are
backing this plan. The House minority leader, Nancy
Pelosi of San Francisco, a liberal, worked closely with
Representative John Spratt of South Carolina, a fiscal
conservative, in crafting the plan. The Democrats were
also quick off the mark, upstaging the president's
formal unveiling of the administration plan in his
Tuesday speech at the Economic Club of Chicago.

When critics of trickle-down economics challenge Bush's
warped priorities, Bush's defenders invariably charge,
"Class warfare!" But tax and budget policy always
invites questions and entails choices. Would permanent
repeal of the tax on dividends really do much for the
economy this year?

And if we didn't take $300 billion out of the budget to
cut taxes on dividend income, what else might we use it
for? Prescription drug benefits? Decent child care? Tax
breaks for working families?

This president and his program ought to be highly
vulnerable. For half a century, no president has begun
his term with a worse economic performance.

Soon the president will unveil his plans for Medicare
and Social Security. Advance reports suggest that Bush
wants to scrap traditional Medicare, cap the federal
contribution to health insurance of the elderly, and
invite them to sign up for the tender mercies of HMOs.
For Social Security, the administration plans a partial
privatization that would cut guaranteed benefits to
future retirees and place more reliance on the stock
market.

If the Democrats can muster the same nerve and unity
that they belatedly displayed in challenging the Bush
tax plan, these proposals will be revealed as
monumentally unpopular, too. Even Bush's ill-conceived
and suspiciously timed war on Iraq won't change that.

Robert Kuttner is co-editor of the Prospect.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
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X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Version 5.1
Date: Thu, 06 Feb 2003 08:05:27 -0600
To: lhoste@lhostelaw.com
From: "David J. L'Hoste" <lhoste@lhostelaw.com>
Subject: <:> i n t e r a l i a <:> 06Feb2003

<:> i n t e r a l i a <:>

06 February 2003

On this day in 1987, no-smoking rules
were implemented in federal buildings
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
An archive of past issues of <:>inter alia<:> is
online, with issues dating back to April 1998:
http://lhostelaw.com/iaa/ia_archive.htm
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

In Today's Issue
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
1. A Word A Day -- guttle
2. Graphics of the Day -- by David J. L'Hoste
3. Quote of the Day -- Ron Padgett
4. HotSites - Miscellany
5. Reading List - Someone, blow the whistle on Bush's
excessive secrecy
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
`````````````````
1. A Word A Day
`````````````````
guttle (GUT-l) verb tr., intr.

To eat voraciously; to devour greedily.

[From gut, on the pattern of guzzle, from Middle English gut, from plural
guttes (entrails), from Old English guttas.]

  "Wednesday was early closing day in Umtali, a relief for both of us, and
   Mr. Gordon was not obliged to linger at the tuckshop where he would read
   the notices posted on the board over the cash register or inspect the
   polish on his shoes or crack his lumpy knuckles while he waited for me
   to guttle my ice cream."
   George Makana Clark, A is For Ancestors, Transition (Durham, N. Carolina),
   2000.

  "Confess my pipings, dancings, posings served
   A purpose: guttlings, guzzlings, had their use!"
   Robert Browning, Aristophanes' Apology, 1875.

--
LAST ISSUE:
Rose:
http://www.lhostelaw.com/0301/030125rose2_1869.htm

Lily:
http://www.lhostelaw.com/0301/030125lily_1868.htm

Flower (Computer Art):
http://www.lhostelaw.com/0301/myart2.htm

--
GOTD Archives:
http://lhostelaw.com/iaa/ia_graphics.htm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
3. Quote of the Day -- Ron Padgett
`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Animals and Art
by Ron Padgett

I was saying that sometimes I feel sorry for wild
animals, out there in the dark, looking for something
to eat while in fear of being eaten. And they have no
ballet companies or art museums. Animals of course are
not aware of their lack of cultural activities, and
therefore do not regret their absence. I was saying
this to my wife as we walked along a path in the woods.
Every once in a while she would go Unh-huh or Hmmm, but
I suspected that she was wondering why I was saying
such things. I was saying them in order to see how they
would feel when spoken without any hint of irony. Then
I quoted the remark about human life being nasty,
brutish, and short, but neither she nor I could recall
who had said that, though I offered a guess (Carlyle).
In fact I had seen the quotation ascribed to someone
recently, but I did not mention this to her, for fear
of appearing senile. But the truth is that I do not
bother to try to remember information that I can look
up in a reference book, thinking, I suppose, that I
would prefer to fill my mind with the impressions and
sensations and spontaneous ideas and mental images that
fly past so quickly. Would such a person as I make a
good animal? The news today is that scientists have
finished the genetic mapping of the human being, and it
turns out that we are 99 per cent chimpanzee. I don't
feel 99 per cent chimpanzee. It makes me wonder about
the enormity of the remaining one per cent, the sliver
that causes me to take the subway up to the Met and
look at pictures and sculptures and other beautiful and
interesting objects, then go to the museum cafeteria
and have a cup of tea and a bun, all without the fear
that some creature is going to eat me. But back of all
of it is a spreading sorrow for those that hide and
tremble in the dark.

Ron Padgett
The Canary River Review
Number 1 Autumn 2002
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````
4. HotSites - Miscellany
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Worldwide Telephone Directories
http://www.infobel.com/world/

Worldwide Newspapers
http://www.world-newspapers.com/

Total News (news search)
http://www.totalnews.com/

NPPA (the best of photojournalism)
http://www.nppa.org/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````
5. Reading List - Someone, blow the whistle on Bush's
excessive secrecy
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Someone, blow the whistle on Bush's excessive secrecy
By Pat M. Holt
WASHINGTON - It is time for Congress or
the courts to blow the whistle on the Bush
administration's excessive secrecy. The secrecy is
especially pernicious when set in the context of the
administration's proclivity to spin. "Spin" is the
fashionable word. "Twist," "distort," "deceive," or
"cover up" would be more forthright.

Consider these examples:

• The White House tried to obstruct the appointment of
an independent commission to investigate the terrorist
attacks of Sept. 11, implying it doesn't want Congress
to know what it knows. Contrast President Truman's
cooperation when Congress appointed a joint committee
to investigate the attack on Pearl Harbor.

• Attorney General Ashcroft insists on closing court
proceedings that are ordinarily open, including some
the Constitution requires to be open. He's done this
under the flimsiest of excuses: The release of names of
arrestees would give away to Al Qaeda bosses who has
been arrested. Or that release of names would violate
the arrestees' right of privacy.

• The Environmental Protection Agency, the Department
of Agriculture, and the Department of Health and Human
Services have been given the authority to classify
documents as "secret." Wielding a SECRET stamp gives
bureaucrats a particular sense of exhilaration; and we
can be sure that if a bureaucrat has this power, he or
she will use it.

• Vice President Cheney argues that the administration
came to the government determined to restore the powers
of the president to what they were before the
congressional onslaught during the Vietnam War and
Watergate. Since the Washington administration, the
powers of the president and Congress have moved against
each other like a seesaw. They may be expected to
continue to do this, but not at such an abrupt pace.

What particularly upset Mr. Cheney was the request by
the General Accounting Office, on behalf of Congress,
for the names of those in his office who participated
in discussions of oil policy at the start of the
administration. He argued vigorously that presidents
(as well as vice presidents and Cabinet members) need
and deserve frank advice that they cannot get if the
advisers think it may be made public. Nobody disputes
this, but only counsel from staff and personal advisers
enjoys such protection.

• Perhaps most egregious of all, Mr. Bush has signed an
executive order which gives the sitting president the
right to control the release of the papers of any past
president. That is, if Bush were so inclined, he could
bar the release of the papers of George Washington. His
White House counsel, in fact, did order the National
Archives not to release 68,000 pages from Ronald
Reagan's administration. These included papers from
George H. W. Bush's vice presidency.

Later the current Bush permitted the release of almost
all of the Reagan pages in question. In the meantime,
however, the White House has issued another order
permitting former presidents, vice presidents, their
representatives, or surviving relatives to bar release
of documents for a variety of reasons: "military,
diplomatic, or national security secrets, presidential
communications, legal advice, legal work, or the
deliberative processes of the president and the
president's advisers." This is an arrogant assertion of
presidential power when applied to past presidents. It
allows the president to determine what the people may
know - or don't know - about what their own government
does.

It is highly questionable whether any president has
ever had the power to control presidential papers
contrary to the will of Congress, as this executive
order would permit. It raises a serious question of
whether the motive of the current president is to cover
up his father's actions in the Iran-contra arms
scandal. Under the law, such affairs are supposed to be
regulated by the National Security Council (NSC). At
the time of Iran-contra, the NSC consisted of Mr.
Reagan, Vice President Bush, Secretary of State George
Shultz, and Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger.
Afterward they declared their positions as follows:
Reagan and Mr. Bush said they didn't know about it; Mr.
Shultz and Mr. Weinberger said they opposed it. That's
two abstentions and two against. How, then, could the
scandal have happened? And is it any wonder the
controlling, abstaining participants would want to
cover their part?

• Pat M. Holt is former chief of staff of the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee

==
From:
The Christian Science Monitor http://www.csmonitor.com/
from the February 06, 2003 edition -
http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0206/p09s02-coop.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
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Date: Tue, 11 Feb 2003 08:48:59 -0600
To: lhoste@lhostelaw.com
From: "David J. L'Hoste" <lhoste@lhostelaw.com>
Subject: <:>i n t e r a l i a<:> 11Feb03

<:> i n t e r a l i a <:>

11 February 2003

On this day in 1990, Nelson Mandela (political
prisoner for 27 years) freed in South Africa
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
An archive of past issues of <:>inter alia<:> is
online, with issues dating back to April 1998:
http://lhostelaw.com/iaa/ia_archive.htm
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In Today's Issue
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
1. A Word A Day -- sockdolager
2. Graphics of the Day -- by David J. L'Hoste
3. Quote of the Day -- Steve Kowit
4. HotSites - Miscellany
5. Reading List -
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
`````````````````
1. A Word A Day
`````````````````
sockdolager (sok-DOL-uh-juhr) noun

1. A decisive blow or remark.

2. Something exceptional or outstanding.

[Of unknown origin, apparently from sock.]

This sockdolager of a word has an unusual claim to fame in the US
history. It turned out to be the cue on which John Wilkes Booth
fired his shot at President Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln was watching the
play "Our American Cousin" in Ford's Theater on that fateful night. His
killer, Booth, an actor himself and aware of the dialog, knew the line
that brought the loudest burst of laughter from the audience was:

"Well, I guess I know enough to turn you inside out, you sockdologising
old man-trap."

Booth fired his gun at that precise moment to muffle the loud noise
of his shot with the guffaws from the audience.

   "This year's storm was a sockdolager. The white stuff pounded the East
   Coast."
   Be Prepared, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Richmond, Virginia), Jan 17, 1996.
--
>From A Word A Day:
http://www.wordsmith.org/awad/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
2. Graphics of the Day -- by David J. L'Hoste
``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Pears:
http://www.lhostelaw.com/0302/pears/

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LAST ISSUE:

Flamingoes:
http://www.lhostelaw.com/0302/grfl_tit.htm

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GOTD Archives:
http://lhostelaw.com/iaa/ia_graphics.htm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
3. Quote of the Day -- Steve Kowit
`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Some Clouds
- by Steve Kowit

Now that I've unplugged the phone,
no one can reach me-
At least for this one afternoon
they will have to get by without my advice
or opinion.
Now nobody else is going to call
& ask in a tentative voice
if I haven't yet heard that she's dead,
that woman I once loved-
nothing but ashes scattered over a city
that barely itself any longer exists.
Yes, thank you, I've heard.
It had been too lovely a morning.
That in itself should have warned me.
The sun lit up the tangerines
& the blazing poinsettias
like so many candles.
For one afternoon they will have to forgive me.
I am busy watching things happen again
that happened a long time ago.
as I lean back in Josephine's lawnchair
under a sky of incredible blue,
broken - if that is the word for it -
by a few billowing clouds,
all white & unspeakably lovely,
drifting out of one nothingness into another.

from Mysteries of the Body, 1994
Uroboros Books

Copyright 1991 by Steve Kowit.
All rights reserved.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
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4. HotSites - Miscellany
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````
IRS:
http://www.irs.gov/

Space News:
<http://www.spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts107/030201columbia/radarimage.html>

75th Academy Awards:
http://www.oscar.com/

Small Business Administration:
http://www.sba.gov/

Sacred Texts:
http://www.sacred-texts.com/index.htm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````
5. Reading List -
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````
From the Star Telegram:
A Few Words From Our President
-by Molly Ivins
<http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/news/columnists/molly_ivins/5119168.htm>

From Mother Jones:
America's Age of Empire: The Bush Doctrine
<http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/columns/2003/02/ma_205_01.html>

From Newsweek:
Judging the Case
<http://www.msnbc.com/news/869606.asp?0cv=KA01&cp1=1>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
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X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Version 5.1
Date: Fri, 21 Feb 2003 08:55:03 -0600
To: lhoste@lhostelaw.com
From: "David J. L'Hoste" <lhoste@lhostelaw.com>
Subject: <:>i n t e r a l i a<:> 21Feb2003

<:> i n t e r a l i a <:>

21 February 2003

       On this day in 1968, Baseball announced
       a minimum annual salary of $10,000.
       (Today it is $300,000.)
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
An archive of past issues of <:>inter alia<:> is
online, with issues dating back to April 1998:
http://lhostelaw.com/iaa/ia_archive.htm
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In Today's Issue
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
1. A Word A Day -- Rubicon
2. Graphics of the Day -- by David J. L'Hoste
3. Quote of the Day -- Douglas Goetsch
4. HotSites - Miscellany
5. Reading List
6. Weird News - Naked woman doesn't want to be rescued
from trunk of car.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
`````````````````
1. A Word A Day
`````````````````
Rubicon (ROO-bi-kon) noun

A point of no return, one where an action taken commits a person
irrevocably.

[Contrary to popular belief, Caesar salad is not named after Julius Caesar.
But today's term does have connection to him. In 49 BCE, Caesar crossed the
Rubicon, a small river that formed boundary between Cisalpine Gaul and
Italy. As he crossed the river into Italy, he exclaimed "iacta alea est"
(the die is cast) knowing well that his action signified the declaration
of a war with Pompey. Today when an action marks a situation where there
is no going back, we say the Rubicon has been crossed.]

  "The age-old Labour debate between universal and means-tested social
   benefits is being decisively resolved in favour of means-testing. Tony
   Blair's government has indeed crossed the Rubicon."
   The Universal Means Test; The Economist (London); Mar 6, 1999.

  "Why should one not say, for example, that the defendants in Boyle
   'crossed the Rubicon' and were thus guilty of attempted burglary when
   they attacked the door of the house which they intended to burgle ..."
   R.A. Duff; Criminal Attempts; Oxford University; 1996.
   Full-text on Questia at http://www.questia.com/CM.qst?D=wotdrubicon

2. Purple Prisms:
http://www.lhostelaw.com/0302art/

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GOTD Archives:
http://lhostelaw.com/iaa/ia_graphics.htm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
3. Quote of the Day -- Douglas Goetsch
`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Smell and Envy
- by Douglas Goetsch

You nature poets think you've got it, hostaged
somewhere in Vermont or Oregon,
so it blooms and withers only for you,
so all you have to do is name it: primrose
- and now you're writing poetry, and now
you ship it off to us, to smell and envy.

But we are made of newspaper and smoke
and we dunk your roses in vats of blue.
Birds don't call, our pigeons play it close
to the vest. When the moon is full
we hear it in the sirens. The Pleiades
you could probably buy downtown. Gravity
is the receiver on the hook. Mortality
we smell on certain people as they pass.

from Nobody's Hell, 1999
Hanging Loose Press, Brooklyn, NY

Copyright 1999 by Douglas Goetsch.
All rights reserved.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````
4. HotSites - Miscellany
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Common Errors in English:
http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/

Leonardo da Vinci Exhibition at the Met:
<http://www.metmuseum.org/special/Leonardo_Master_Draftsman/draftsman_splash.htm>

Bloomsbury Magazine Research Centre:
<http://www.bloomsburymagazine.com/ARC/browse.asp?l=A>

Mardi Gras Parade Schedule With Maps:
<http://www.nola.com/mardigras/parades/?/mardigras/parades/daycal.html>

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````
5. Reading List
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````
The United States of America Has Gone Mad
-by John le Carre
<http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0115-01.htm#>

Midwinter Madness
-by Molly Ivins
<http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/news/columnists/molly_ivins/5194511.htm>

Americans were duped before;it may be happening again
-by Don Williams
<http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/todays_editorial/article/0,1406,KNS_362_1759272,00.html>

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````
6. Weird News
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Naked Kidnap Fantasy Has Police Scrambling
Thu Feb 20, 8:10 AM ET

EDMONTON, Alberta (Reuters) - Canadian police in a
frantic search for an abducted woman dispatched a SWAT
team to her home late on Tuesday before officers on a
routine patrol across town found her naked and bound in
the back of a car.

But police in Edmonton, Alberta, soon realized they had
a problem -- she did not want to be rescued.

It emerged that the 17-year-old female and a man at the
scene were engaged in a role-playing game, but not
before the man was arrested and the woman sent to
hospital for examination. She was less than co-
operative, police said.

"She did answer questions, but she wasn't very
forthcoming with the detectives. They pieced it
together that it was some form of fantasy scenario on
the part of the people involved," Edmonton police
spokesman Wes Bellmore said on Wednesday

Full Story:
<http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=573&ncid=573&e=12&u=/nm/20030220/od_nm/odd_canada_abduction_dc>

From Yahoo News Oddly Enough Section:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/
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Date: Sat, 08 Mar 2003 04:41:24 -0600
To: lhoste@lhostelaw.com
From: "David J. L'Hoste" <lhoste@lhostelaw.com>
Subject: <:>i n t e r a l i a<:> 8 March 2003

<:> i n t e r a l i a <:>

08 March 2003

On this day in 1973 Paul & Linda McCartney
were fined £100 for growing cannabis.

In Today's Issue
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
1. A Word A Day -- sciolist
2. Graphics of the Day -- by David J. L'Hoste
3. Quote of the Day -- Jerald Winakur
4. HotSites - Miscellany
5. Reading List - Pushing the Big Lie
6. Weird News - Widow Hopes Tattoo Will Keep Doctors Away
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
`````````````````
1. A Word A Day
`````````````````
sciolist (SAI-uh-list) noun

One who engages in pretentious display of superficial knowledge.

[From Late Latin sciolus (smatterer), diminutive of Latin scius (knowing),
from scire (to know). Another example of the similar kind of word formation
is the name of the bird oriole which is derived from the diminutive form of
Latin aureus (golden).]

  "Never was so brilliant a lecture-room as his evening banqueting-hall;
   highly connected students from Rome mixed with the sharp-witted provincial
   of Greece or Asia Minor; and the flippant sciolist, and the nondescript
   visitor, half philosopher, half tramp, met with a reception, courteous
   always, but suitable to his deserts."
   John Henry Newman; The Idea Of A University, University Life At Athens;
   1854.

  "On the other hand, judged strictly by the standard of his own time,
   (Francis) Bacon's ignorance of the progress which science had up to that
   time made is only to be equalled by his insolence toward men in comparison
   with whom he was the merest sciolist."
   Thomas H. Huxley; Harvey Discovers The Circulation Of The Blood;
   History of the World.
--
>From A Word A Day:
http://www.wordsmith.org/awad/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
2. Graphics of the Day -- by David J. L'Hoste
``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
(1) Camellia:
http://members.cox.net/lhoste/0303/030304camellia2_bw.htm

(2) Camellia:
http://members.cox.net/lhoste/0303/030304camellia.htm

(3) Viola:
http://members.cox.net/lhoste/0303/030304viola.htm

(4) Viola:
http://members.cox.net/lhoste/0303/030304viola2.htm

LAST ISSUE:
(1) RazorHead:
http://www.lhostelaw.com/0302/facewall.htm

(2) Purple Prisms:
http://www.lhostelaw.com/0302art/

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GOTD Archives:
http://lhostelaw.com/iaa/ia_graphics.htm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
3. Quote of the Day -- Jerald Winakur
`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
A Paper Anniversary at 52

And now you sleep in the bed left over
from your first marriage, tucked
into the only room of this old farmhouse
that's warm when the wind comes
from the north.
These walls are paper thin & mice live
within them and bigger things in the attic
where I have yet to go.
There are children of ours somewhere in the world
older than we were at our first unions.
The lake is almost dry from the drought
and the old garden is nothing but weeds
and the rock walls are falling down
and the barn is red from rust more than paint.
And we gave it all up for this:
that bluebirds will find the box you helped me
nail to the fencepost across the field from
the kitchen window;
that the martins will nest in the house atop
the pole you held as I hoisted all the way up;
that the thistles will be fewer next spring
now that we have wrestled so many out of the ground;
that another year like another season
will never be enough
until it is over.

Jerald Winakur
Poetry
Volume CLXXXI, Number 4
February 2003

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````
4. HotSites - Miscellany
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Game Rules
http://www.everyrule.com/

Protect your privacy online
http://www.eff.org/Privacy/eff_privacy_top_12.html

Dino Directory
http://internt.nhm.ac.uk/cgi-bin/dino/

Bush Pushes the Big Lie Toward the Brink
Even some in government can no longer be
silent in the face of falsehood.

-by Robert Scheer

March 4, 2003

So the truth is out: George W. Bush lied when he
claimed to be worried about Iraq's alleged weapons of
mass destruction. Otherwise, Iraq's stepped-up
cooperation with the U.N. on disarmament would be
stunningly good news, obviating the need to rush to
war.

Instead, the U.N. weapons inspectors' verification of
Iraq's destruction of missiles, private meetings with
Iraqi weapons scientists, visits to locations where
biological and chemical weapons were destroyed in 1991
and a series of unfettered flights by U2 spy plans have
been met with a shrug and sneer in Washington. The
White House line is that even if the Iraqis destroy all
their slingshots, Goliath is still bringing his tanks
and instituting "regime change." The arrogance is
breathtaking. We have demanded that a country disarm --
and even as it is doing so, we say it doesn't matter:
it's too late; we're coming in. Put down your guns and
await the slaughter.

Abraham Lincoln once observed that even a free people
can be fooled for a time -- and this, mind you, was
long before Fox News existed -- and in his chaotic two-
year presidency, Bush has pushed the Big Lie approach
so far that we are seeing dramatic signs of its
cracking: an international backlash, a domestic peace
movement and whistle-blowing from inside our own
intelligence and diplomatic corps.

"We have not seen such systematic distortion of
intelligence, such systematic manipulation of the
American people, since the war in Vietnam," wrote John
Brady Kiesling, a 20-year veteran of the U.S. Foreign
Service in his letter of resignation last week to
Secretary of State Colin Powell. Kiesling, who was
political counselor in U.S. embassies throughout the
Mideast, added that "until this administration, it had
been possible to believe that by upholding the policies
of my president, I was also upholding the interests of
the American people and the world. I believe it no
longer."

And this brave man is not the only one who has caught
on. The entire world is astonished that our president
is lying not about a personal indiscretion but about
the most sacred duty of the leader of the most powerful
nation in human history not to recklessly endanger the
lives of his own or the world's people. Yet lie he has.

The first lie, claimed outright, was that Iraq aided
and abetted the Sept. 11 terrorists. There is no
evidence at all for this claim. It is also interesting
to note that not a single leading Al Qaeda operative
has turned out to be Iraqi. The latest to be nabbed,
Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, was living in Pakistan, was
raised in Kuwait and studied engineering -- and
presumably the physics of explosives -- at a college in
North Carolina.

The second lie was that Iraq's alleged weapons of mass
destruction represent an imminent threat to U.S.
security. Despite the most hugely expensive but secret
high-tech spy operation in human history -- estimated
by most at well over $100 billion a year -- and a vast
network of defectors and spies, we have not been able
to find their supposed weapons.

The third and most dangerous lie is that our mission
now is to bring lasting peace to the Mideast by a
devastating invasion of Iraq, which will end, as the
president outlined last week, in U.S. dominance over
the structure of government and politics throughout the
region. After abandoning promising efforts by the
previous administration to create peace between Israel
and the Palestinians, the Bush team now claims that
changing Muslim governments around the world will end
the downward spiral of violence there. Which leads us
to another lie: that this is all good for our ally,
Israel -- the claim of the cabal of neoconservative
ideologues running our Mideast policy. In fact,
however, Israel will be placed in a terribly dangerous
position, serving as a fig leaf for U.S. ambitions,
further ensuring that it remain forever an isolated
military garrison.

This construction of a new world order comes from a
naive and untraveled president, emboldened in his
ignorance by advisors who have been plotting an
aggressive Pax Americana ever since the Soviet bloc's
collapse. Bush insiders Richard Perle, Elliott Abrams,
Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz and Donald Rumsfeld are all
members of something called the Project for a New
American Century that has been pushing for a U.S.
redesign of the Mideast since 1997. After Sept. 11,
they seized on our national tragedy as a way to enlist
George W. in support of their grand design. Not only
was this reckless scheme never mentioned by Bush during
the election campaign, it was the sort of thing
renounced as "nation-building," something he would
never support. Yet another lie.

<http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-scheer4mar04,1,7003517.column?coll=la%2Dnews%2Dcomment%2Dopinions>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````
6. Weird News
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Widow Hopes Tattoo Will Keep Doctors Away
Thu Mar 6,8:35 AM ET

LONDON (Reuters) - An 85 year-old widow is so
determined not to be resuscitated against her will by
doctors that she has tattooed the words "Do Not
Resuscitate" across her chest.

Frances Polack, a former nurse, said she paid $40 for a
tattoo with the instruction and a heart with a 'no-go'
sign in red and blue to ensure medical staff knew she
did not want to be revived.

"Years ago when I was nursing I could see they
resuscitated so many people they shouldn't have,"
Polack told the Nursing Standard magazine.

"I don't want to die twice. By resuscitating me, they
would be bringing me back from the dead only for me to
have to go through it again," Polack said.

The white-haired pensioner who lives in the New Forest
in the south of England said she visited a local
tattooist with a friend. "I don't know if I want to
start a fashion, but I hope I will start a debate," she
said.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

X-Sender: davidlhoste@pop.east.cox.net (Unverified)
X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Version 5.1
Date: Mon, 17 Mar 2003 07:44:42 -0600
To: lhoste@lhostelaw.com
From: "David J. L'Hoste" <lhoste@lhostelaw.com>
Subject: <:>i n t e r a l i a<:> 17 March 2003

             <:> i n t e r a l i a <:>
                  17 March 2003
               HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
An archive of past issues of <:>inter alia<:> is
online, with issues dating back to April 1998:
http://lhostelaw.com/iaa/ia_archive.htm
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

In Today's Issue
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
1. A Word A Day -- punchinello
2. Graphics of the Day -- by David J. L'Hoste
3. Quote of the Day -- Kurt Brown
4. HotSites - Miscellany
5. Reading List - George W. Queeg
6. Weird News - Latrine deaths over Kenyan cell phone
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
`````````````````
1. A Word A Day
`````````````````
punchinello (pun-chuh-NEL-o) noun

1. A short, fat buffoon, principal character in an
Italian puppet show.

2. A grotesque person.

[From Italian (Naples dialect) polecenella (a character
in Italian puppet shows), diminutive of pollecena
(turkey pullet), ultimately from Latin pullus (young
chicken). From the resemblance of punchinello's nose to
a turkey's beak.]

"Unlike Mr. Donahue, she doesn't automatically
sympathize with every oddball and Punchinello who feels
mistreated by `straight society' (a phrase, believe it
or not, that still rolls off Mr. Donahue's tongue)."
Martha Bayles, Oprah vs. Phil: Warmth Wins Out, The
Wall Street Journal (New York), Jan 26, 1987.
--
>From A Word A Day:
http://www.wordsmith.org/awad/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
2. Graphics of the Day -- by David J. L'Hoste
``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
THIS ISSUE:
Batture Trees
http://www.lhostelaw.com/030308/batture.htm

LAST ISSUE:
(1) Camellia:
http://members.cox.net/lhoste/0303/030304camellia2_bw.htm

(2) Camellia:
http://members.cox.net/lhoste/0303/030304camellia.htm

(3) Viola:
http://members.cox.net/lhoste/0303/030304viola.htm

(4) Viola:
http://members.cox.net/lhoste/0303/030304viola2.htm

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GOTD Archives:
http://lhostelaw.com/iaa/ia_graphics.htm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
3. Quote of the Day -- Kurt Brown
`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Fisherman
Kurt Brown

A man spends his whole life fishing in himself
for something grand. It's like some lost lunker, big enough
to break all records. But he's only heard rumors, myths,
vague promises of wonder. He's only felt the shadow
of something enormous darken his life. Or has he?
Maybe it's the shadow of other fish, greater than his,
the shadow of other men's souls passing over him.
Each day he grabs his gear and makes his way
to the ocean. At least he's sure of that: or is he? Is it the ocean
or the little puddle of his tears? Is this his dinghy
or the frayed boards of his ego, scoured by storm?
He shoves off, feeling the land fall away under his boots.
Soon he's drifting under clouds, wind whispering blandishments
in his ears. It could be today: the water heaves
and settles like a chest. . . He's not far out.
It's all so pleasant, so comforting--the sunlight,
the waves. He'll go back soon, thinking: "Maybe tonight."
Night with its concealments, its shadow masking all other shadows.
Night with its privacies, its alluringly distant stars.

Reprinted from More Things in Heaven and Earth.
Copyright © 2002 by Kurt Brown. All rights reserved.

National Gallery of Art
http://www.nga.gov/home.htm

Earth From Space
http://earth.jsc.nasa.gov/index.html

St. Patrick
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11554a.htm

Aboard the U.S.S. Caine, it was the business with the
strawberries that finally convinced the doubters that
something was amiss with the captain. Is foreign policy
George W. Bush's quart of strawberries?

Over the past few weeks there has been an epidemic of
epiphanies. There's a long list of pundits who
previously supported Bush's policy on Iraq but have
publicly changed their minds. None of them quarrel with
the goal; who wouldn't want to see Saddam Hussein
overthrown? But they are finally realizing that Mr.
Bush is the wrong man to do the job. And more people
than you would think — including a fair number of
people in the Treasury Department, the State Department
and, yes, the Pentagon — don't just question the
competence of Mr. Bush and his inner circle; they
believe that America's leadership has lost touch with
reality.

If that sounds harsh, consider the debacle of recent
diplomacy — a debacle brought on by awesome arrogance
and a vastly inflated sense of self-importance.

Mr. Bush's inner circle seems amazed that the tactics
that work so well on journalists and Democrats don't
work on the rest of the world. They've made promises,
oblivious to the fact that most countries don't trust
their word. They've made threats. They've done the
aura-of-inevitability thing — how many times now have
administration officials claimed to have lined up the
necessary votes in the Security Council? They've warned
other countries that if they oppose America's will they
are objectively pro-terrorist. Yet still the world
balks.

Wasn't someone at the State Department allowed to point
out that in matters nonmilitary, the U.S. isn't all
that dominant — that Russia and Turkey need the
European market more than they need ours, that Europe
gives more than twice as much foreign aid as we do and
that in much of the world public opinion matters?
Apparently not.

And to what end has Mr. Bush alienated all our most
valuable allies? (And I mean all: Tony Blair may be
with us, but British public opinion is now virulently
anti-Bush.) The original reasons given for making Iraq
an immediate priority have collapsed. No evidence has
ever surfaced of the supposed link with Al Qaeda, or of
an active nuclear program. And the administration's
eagerness to believe that an Iraqi nuclear program does
exist has led to a series of embarrassing debacles,
capped by the case of the forged Niger papers, which
supposedly supported that claim. At this point it is
clear that deposing Saddam has become an obsession,
detached from any real rationale.

What really has the insiders panicked, however, is the
irresponsibility of Mr. Bush and his team, their almost
childish unwillingness to face up to problems that they
don't feel like dealing with right now.

I've talked in this column about the administration's
eerie passivity in the face of a stalling economy and
an exploding budget deficit: reality isn't allowed to
intrude on the obsession with long-run tax cuts. That
same "don't bother me, I'm busy" attitude is driving
foreign policy experts, inside and outside the
government, to despair.

Need I point out that North Korea, not Iraq, is the
clear and present danger? Kim Jong Il's nuclear program
isn't a rumor or a forgery; it's an incipient bomb
assembly line. Yet the administration insists that it's
a mere "regional" crisis, and refuses even to talk to
Mr. Kim.

The Nelson Report, an influential foreign policy
newsletter, says: "It would be difficult to exaggerate
the growing mixture of anger, despair, disgust and fear
actuating the foreign policy community in Washington as
the attack on Iraq moves closer, and the North Korea
crisis festers with no coherent U.S. policy. . . . We
are at the point now where foreign policy generally,
and Korea policy specifically, may become George Bush's
`Waco.' . . . This time, it's Kim Jong Il (and Saddam)
playing David Koresh. . . . Sober minds wrestle with
how to break into the mind of George Bush."

We all hope that the war with Iraq is a swift victory,
with a minimum of civilian casualties. But more and
more people now realize that even if all goes well at
first, it will have been the wrong war, fought for the
wrong reasons — and there will be a heavy price to pay.

Alas, the epiphanies of the pundits have almost surely
come too late. The odds are that by the time you read
my next column, the war will already have started.

Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company
http://www.nytimes.com/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````
6. Weird News
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Latrine deaths over Kenyan cell phone

Three men have died trying to retrieve a mobile
phone from a pit latrine in the Kenyan town of
Mombasa. University student Dora Mwabela dropped
the phone into the latrine while she was answering
a call of nature, the Daily Nation newspaper reports.

She offered a reward of 1,000 shillings ($13) for
anyone who could recover the phone, worth 6,000
shillings.

Most Kenyans survive on less than $1 a day.

First, recently married radio technician Patrick
Luhakha, 30, tried to get the phone back.

He ripped up the toilet floor before going down a
ladder into the latrine.

After a while, nothing more was heard from him and a
neighbour, Kevin Wambua, went to check on his friend.
He then slipped and fell into the putrid mess and was
also unable to get out.

A third man, John Solo, then tried to rescue the two,
while policemen stood and watched, the paper reports.

He collapsed while halfway down the ladder and
neighbours managed to haul him to the surface but he
died on his way to hospital.

A fourth man had to be held back from trying to rescue
his two friends by acting Mombasa Police chief Peter
Njenga.

"We would have been talking of four dead," Mr Njenga
said.

"The fumes inside must be extremely poisonous
considering the short time it was taking to disable the
retrievers," he said.

The cell phone was not found.

Story from BBC NEWS: <http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-
/1/hi/world/africa/2850045.stm>

Published: 2003/03/14 12:16:57

© BBC MMIII
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21 March 2003

On this day in 1969 John & Yoko staged their
1st bed-in for peace (Amsterdam Hilton)
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In Today's Issue
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
1. A Word A Day -- lickerish
2. Graphics of the Day -- by David J. L'Hoste
3. Quote of the Day -- Bob Hicok
4. HotSites - Iraq
5. Reading List - An Air of Empire
6. Humor - A Different Kind of French Kiss
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
`````````````````
1. A Word A Day
`````````````````
lickerish (LIK-uhr-ish) adjective

1. Lascivious; lecherous.

2. Greedy; desirous.

3. Archaic. Relishing good food. Obsolete. Arousing
hunger; appetizing.

[Middle English likerous, perhaps from Old French
lecheor, lekier.]
"[H]e the lickerish snake who literally hisses at his
adversaries. Their cruel games will lead them to peek
through keyholes, swipe bedroom keys, purloin letters,
ruin lives." Richard Corliss, Cinema: Lust Is a Thing
with Feathers, Time, 16 Jan 1989.
--
>From A Word A Day:
http://www.wordsmith.org/awad/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
2. Graphics of the Day -- by David J. L'Hoste
``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
THIS ISSUE:
Candy
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White Horse
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White Horse II
http://www.lhostelaw.com/030309/030309horse_2291.htm

Foggy Lighterage
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`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
3. Quote of the Day -- Bob Hicok
`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
The Edge

One day the kid showed up with a tattoo of a stapler
on his shoulder. The others had tattoos of geckos
and fish and the Incredible Hulk, an emerald
Lou Ferigno against a background of fire. He'd
have been beaten up except they were dazed by it,
not just the precise cursive of the word Swingline
or the luster of the striking plate but the fact
of the stapler itself. He got the last pizza
at lunch and was touched on the wrist by a girl
at the fountain. This made him believe he was real
in a way breathing never had. Over the next
few months he stopped feeling he lived
on the wrong side of the mirror. There
was an election & his name was penciled in
on a few ballots. The guy with the red Camaro
gave him a ride home and let him pick the music.
In second period French he stood to ask
what Harcourt Brace knew all men wanted to know,
if Monique and Evette would join him Saturday
on the sailboat. First the teacher cried,
then the students sang the Marseillaise
because in four years all he'd ever said
was como tallez vous? No one questioned the tattoo.
Who'd believe he got up to pee and it was there,
just as the image of the body of Christ
appeared one morning on the thigh
of St. Barthelme of Flours. Otherwise
their stories differ. St. Barthelme was stoned
to death. The kid went to homecoming in a tux
with blue cumulus cuffs and a girl
embarrassed by anything but the slowest dance.

Bob Hicok
The Iowa Review
Volume 32, Number 1
Spring 2002

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````
4. HotSites - Iraq
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Iraq News Portal
http://www.lib.ecu.edu/govdoc/iraq.html

Iraq Links
http://www.journaliststoolbox.com/newswriting/iraq.html

Iraq Facts
http://www.countryreports.org/iraq.htm

Thursday, March 20, 2003; Page A29

The word "empire" has been used fairly often as a
metaphor to convey the global scope of American
interests and of American military, economic and
political influence. After the conquest of Iraq,
however, it can be fairly argued that we shall have
created not a figure of speech but a concrete reality.

First of all, we will have made clear that the United
States answers to no authority other than itself when
it comes to the use of military force. Moreover, the
authority of the United States will be mostly
indistinguishable from the personal will of its
president. The Bush doctrine of preemption becomes a
replacement for international law: Any president at any
time in the future can decide to attack any country,
provided only that he is satisfied that said country
might at some point represent a direct threat to the
United States.

Second, the United States will have established itself
as the dominant force at the geographic core of a
region that, in turn, exercises tremendous leverage
over the rest of the globe through the oil market. As
occupying power, the United States will unilaterally
assume responsibility for decisions that will determine
the future course of Iraq's oil and gas industries. We
become in effect a virtual member of OPEC, and one of
the most powerful at that. So immense military power
will be united with an equally impressive form of
economic power. No, this war is certainly not about
oil. But the peace that follows it will be another
matter.

The fact that we will have acted out of fear of
terrorism in an impulse of self-protection does not
change the essential nature of this event for much of
the rest of the world. What matters is the answer to a
single question: Does the United States consider itself
bound by any international obligation if that
obligation is seen as an impediment to its will? The
Bush administration will have difficulty saying
otherwise, in view of its pattern of unilateral action,
established well before the present crisis.

If war comes, we may be quickly victorious. And perhaps
the president's sweeping vision of positive change
throughout the Middle East will also come to pass. The
more brilliant our success, however, the more deeply we
will be feared. And the reason for that is not just the
stunning demonstration of power in bringing it about
but the fact that the government of the United States
went out of its way to drive home one point: We are
dominant, and dominant is as dominance does. That has
its price.

Americans -- whether they support or oppose war with
Iraq -- need to realize the consequences of the status
we may shortly assume. The beginning of empire is the
end of commonwealth. We have already seen how that
works in the failed bidding war the United States
engaged in for the sake of support in the Security
Council and from Turkey.

The irony is that all along the United States has had
every right to resume military operations against Iraq
under existing Security Council resolutions, because
Saddam Hussein was patently in breach of his
commitments. Instead, the administration chose to base
its actions on an unlimited assertion of an American
right to make war at will.

Whether or not we intend to be an empire, we now
present the aspect of one -- an appearance that has
already contributed to the fracturing of our alliances
by playing into the ambitions of those, such as the
French and their followers, who believe their mission
is to contain us. The administration knows that it is
responsible for the reconstruction of Iraq after this
war is over. But it does not appear to realize that it
also must find a way to reconstruct another collateral
casualty: the notion that America is part of a
community of nations.

The writer was national security adviser to former vice
president Al Gore. He is now a research professor at
George Washington University.

© 2003 The Washington Post Company
From: http://www.washingtonpost.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````
6. Humor
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Posted on Sun, Mar. 16, 2003

A different kind of French kiss

DAVE BARRY

OK, if nobody else will do it, I'm going to patch up
this spat between the United States and France.

As you know, our two nations are not getting along, as
evidenced by the high-level meeting in Paris last week,
during which French President Jacques Chirac and U.S.
Secretary of State Colin Powell, in what aides
described as ''a frank exchange of views,'' bit each
other.

Yes, relations are at an all-time low. The French view
us as a bunch of fat, simplistic, SUV-driving, gum-
chewing, gun-shooting, mall-dwelling, John Wayne
cowboys who put ketchup on everything we eat, including
breath mints. Whereas we view the French as a bunch of
snotty, hygiene-impaired, pseudo-intellectual, snail-
slurping weenies whose sole military accomplishment in
the past 100 years was inventing the tasseled combat
boot.

Sadly -- as is so often the case when people resort to
vicious stereotypes -- both sides in this dispute are
100 percent correct. But the fact that we hate each
other, with good reason, does NOT mean we can't be
friends! After all, the United States and France have a
close relationship that dates back to the Revolutionary
War, when we were helped in our struggle for
independence by a French person whose name we will
never, ever forget, as long as we have Internet access
to the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Let's see . . . Ladybird, Ladybug, Ladyfinger . . . OK,
here it is: Lafayette. Actually, according to the
Encyclopedia Britannica, his full name was -- I am not
making this up -- Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert
Motier, Marquis de Lafayette. As a result, he had a
hellish childhood. His mother would lean out the
kitchen window and shout: ''Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch
Gilbert Motier, Marquis de Lafayette! You get back in
here and finish your snails THIS INSTANT!'' Hearing
this, the other French children would tease Lafayette,
calling him ''Marie'' and threatening to brush his
teeth. So as soon as he could, he left France and came
to America, where he joined the army and told everybody
his name was Mark.

From that moment on, France and America were close
allies. In 1886, as a gift symbolizing more than a
century of friendship, France gave us the Statue of
Liberty; in return, we sent the French 18 tons of
jerky, which they claimed was lost in shipping. And the
relationship continues to this very day, when, many of
the words that we use all the time, such as ''French
fries,'' ''French toast,'' ''French kiss,'' ''French
poodle'' and ''Chef Boy-Ar-Dee,'' are, believe it or
not, actually of French origin.

We simply cannot allow a close relationship like this
to be destroyed because of some silly little dispute
over who gets to run the world. That is why today I am
calling upon you, my fellow Americans, to ''extend the
olive jar'' to our French brothers and sisters and
yappy little dogs. I want you to deliberately approach
French people wherever you can find them -- on the
street, on the Internet, in the ''Small World'' ride at
Disney World, in public restrooms -- and make friendly
overtures to them in their own language (French). To
help you do this, here is a list of friendly French
phrases:

''Bonjour, personne francaise!'' (``Hello, French
person!'')

''Je suis un Americain, et, dangue il, je vais vous
donner une grande vieille etreinte!'' (``I am an
American and, dang it, I am going to give you a big old
hug!'')

''Parole! Vous ne sentez pas demi aussi de mauvais que
j'ai prevu!'' (``Say! You do not smell half as bad as I
expected!'')

''Qui s'inquiete qui court darned le monde?'' (``Who
cares who runs the darned world?'')

''Voulez-vous la gomme? Elle ketchup-est assaisonnee!''
(``Do you want gum? It's ketchup-flavored!'')

''Voulez que je vous porte au mail dans mon SUV?''
(``Want me to take you to the mall in my SUV?'')

''Vous pouvez vous rendre au garde de securite!''
(``You can surrender to the security guard!'')

''Ha ha, je suis badiner juste autour hors de
l'amiti!'' (``Ha ha, I am just kidding around out of
friendship!'')

''Hey, revenez ici!'' (``Hey, come back here!'')

''Il n'y a aucune cause pour l'alarme! Mon pistolet a
une surete!'' (``There is no cause for alarm! My gun
has a safety!'')

Yes, fellow Americans, with a little effort, we can
heal this rift between us and our old friends. Because,
in the end, we have a lot more in common than we do
separating us! Or, as the French would say, ''Je suis
un grand gros menteur'' (``I am a big fat liar'').

From the Miami Herald: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
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Date: Wed, 16 Apr 2003 09:15:44 -0500
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Subject: <:>i n t e r a l i a<:> 16 April 2003

<:> i n t e r a l i a <:>
16 April 2003

In Today's Issue
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
1. A Word A Day -- travail
2. Graphics of the Day -- by David J. L'Hoste
3. Quote of the Day -- Sylvia Plath
4. HotSites - Miscellany
5. Reading List - Republican Patriot Police Protect Bush
6. Weird News - Court Orders Brothel to Refund Sex Bill
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
`````````````````
1. A Word A Day
`````````````````
travail (truh-VAYL) noun

Painfully difficult work; agony, anguish; the pain of
childbirth.

verb intr.

To work strenuously, toil; be in labor.

[From Old French travailler (to work hard), from Vulgar
Latin tripaliare, (to torture with a tripalium). A
tripalium was a three-staked instrument of torture.]

Travel also derives from travailler, with reference to
the hardships of a journey. The first recorded use of
travel (as travelen) was in the 14th century, when
anyone venturing on a journey could expect to face many
hardships, even if not encountering a three-staked
torture device.

Travail and travel derive from Indo-European root
*trei-, meaning three. Less obvious words in this
family include trammel, sitar, trivia, trivial, troika,
trivet, testify, testimony, testament, attest, contest,
detest, and protest. These last seven words derive from
Latin testis, with reference to a (third party)
witness, also the source of the word for the testicles
that bear witness to male virility. One more word in
the *trei- family is triskaidekaphobia, fear of the
number thirteen.

"Mustapha and Ishaya Bamaiyi may never have liked each
other's guts but their travails have many parallels.
Both are products of the Abacha years and are both
counting on good luck and a lot of legal antics to save
their necks." Goodluck Ebelo and Seyi Oduyela; A Rescue
Effort Hits the Top Gear Reports; Tempo (Lagos,
Nigeria); Jan 13, 1999.

"One keeps turning pages, savoring pithy moments like
this, long after wearying of the mouthpiece characters
and their trumped-up travails." Scott Prater; Trumped-
up Travails; The Atlantic Monthly (Boston); Apr 2003.

Swamp Denizen:
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LAST ISSUE:
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
3. Quote of the Day -- Sylvia Plath
`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Morning Song
Sylvia Plath

Love set you going like a fat gold watch.
The midwife slapped your footsoles, and your bald cry
Took its place among the elements.

Our voices echo, magnifying your arrival. New statue.
In a drafty museum, your nakedness
Shadows our safety. We stand round blankly as walls.

I'm no more your mother
Than the cloud that distills a mirror to reflect its own slow
Effacement at the wind's hand.

All night your moth-breath
Flickers among the flat pink roses. I wake to listen:
A far sea moves in my ear.

One cry, and I stumble from bed, cow-heavy and floral
In my Victorian nightgown.
Your mouth opens clean as a cat's. The window square

Whitens and swallows its dull stars. And now you try
Your handful of notes;
The clear vowels rise like balloons.

From Ariel, published by Harper & Row, 1966.
Copyright © 1966 by Ted Hughes. All rights reserved.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````
4. HotSites - Miscellany
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````
2003 Pulitzer Prize Winners
http://www.pulitzer.org/2003/2003.html

PC computer shortcut keys
http://www.computerhope.com/shortcut.htm

Maps from UT
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/map_sites/map_sites.html

Republican Patriot Police Protect Bush from Critics

First, the Patriot Police came for the Dixie Chicks,
and I said nothing because I'm fed up with the
predigested mush that passes for country music these
days. I wouldn't include the Chicks in that category,
but flag-waving deejays and war-loving singers in
cowboy hats strike me as an enormous bore. At a Texas
rodeo recently, somebody remained seated when the
loudspeaker played Lee Greenwood's cornball ballad
"Proud to Be an American." The man said he didn't have
to stand for no damn country song, and fisticuffs
ensued.

So Dixie Chicks lead singer Natalie Maines ought to
have known she was asking for trouble by telling a
London audience, "Just so you know, we're ashamed the
president of the United States is from Texas." After
all, she grew up in Lubbock. Even after a carefully-
orchestrated uproar broke out--radio stations dropped
the Chicks from their playlist and held CD-smashing
rallies after an e-mail and telephone campaign
reportedly originating with the Republican National
Committee--Maines briefly hung in there. "[O]ne of the
privileges of being an American," she said "is you are
free to voice your own point of view."

Not if you want your songs on the radio, sweetheart.
With the music business, like the news business,
increasingly dominated by huge corporations such as
Clear Channel Communications, the San Antonio giant
that owns 1200 stations, uses its muscle to manage and
promote concert tours, stages pro-war rallies, and has
direct political ties to President Junior, artists
exercise those rights at their peril. Within days, the
Chicks were back in harness.

"As a concerned American citizen," Maines said "I
apologize to President Bush because my remark was
disrespectful. I feel that whoever holds that office
should be treated with the utmost respect."

The satirical website thespeciousreport.com finished
the statement for her. "I'm just a young girl who grew
up in Texas," they wrote. "As far back as I can
remember, I heard people say they were ashamed of
President Clinton. I saw bumper stickers calling him
everything from a pothead to a murderer. I heard people
on the radio and TV...bad mouthing the President and
ridiculing his wife and daughter at every opportunity.
I heard LOTS of people disrespecting the President. So
I guess I just assumed it was acceptable behavior."

Next the Patriot Police came for a CBS TV producer who
spoke too frankly about his forthcoming miniseries
"Hitler: The Rise of Evil," and I didn't say anything
because hyperbolic analogies to Hitler are a dime a
dozen. People making them deserve to lose the argument.
According to the Washington Post, Ed Gernon told TV
Guide that "fear fueled both the Bush administration's
adoption of a preemptive-strike policy and the public's
acceptance of it....Gernon said a similar fearfulness
in a devastated post-World War I Germany was
'absolutely' behind that nation's acceptance of
Hitler's extremism."

Both TV Guide and the New York Post, which made a big
issue of Gernon's remark, are owned by right-wing
Australian magnate Rupert Murdoch. CBS abruptly fired
the veteran producer before too loud a clamor arose.

Next the Patriot Police came after actors Susan
Sarandon and Tim Robbins, and I was tempted to keep
quiet because Sarandon inexplicably sets my teeth on
edge. Her presence almost ruined Bull Durham for me, an
otherwise near-perfect baseball movie. Baseball Hall of
Fame president Dale Petroskey launched a pre-emptive
strike on free speech because he feared what the
outspoken couple might say at a scheduled 15th
anniversary celebration of the popular film at
Cooperstown later this month. Instead, Petroskey
cancelled the event.

A one-time press flack for President Reagan and Sen.
Elizabeth Dole (R-NC), Petroskey informed Robbins that
criticizing Junior was tantamount to treason. "We
believe your very public criticism of President Bush at
this important--and sensitive--time in our nation's
history helps undermine the U.S. position, which
ultimately could put our troops in even more danger. As
an institution, we stand behind our president and our
troops in this conflict."

Robbins responded with appropriate anger. "To suggest
that my criticism of the President put the troops in
danger is absurd," he wrote in an open letter to
Petroskey. "I had been unaware, that baseball is a
Republican sport....You invoke patriotism and use words
like freedom in an attempt to intimidate and bully. In
doing so, you dishonor the words patriotism and freedom
and dishonor the men and women who have fought wars to
keep this nation a place where one can freely express
their opinion without fear of reprisal or punishment."

Like most serious fans, Robbins regards baseball as an
oasis beyond politics, and said he'd had no intention
of dragging Bush into it. Alas, to the GOP Patriot
Police, there's no such thing. Major League Baseball
quickly disassociated itself from Petroskey's action.
Former Texas Rangers "owner" George W. Bush should too,
unless the right to criticize him isn't among the
freedoms he values.

BERLIN (Reuters) - A German court has ordered a brothel
to reimburse a man charged for sex he could not
remember having, after the establishment failed to
provide an itemized receipt for services rendered.

"The brothel failed to provide concrete documentation
of the prices and services provided," said court
spokesman Vera Huth in the western town of Duesseldorf
on Friday.

"They should have, for example, listed two sexual
intercourse sessions at 600 euros, oral sex at 300
euros or anal sex at 400 euros a go," she told Reuters.

The man told the court he had been too drunk to
remember what sexual services he may have ordered at
the brothel in Kaarst. The establishment charged him
9,000 euros (dollars) on his credit card. The brothel
owner testified he had ordered the "full program."

From Yahoo's Oddly Enough News:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=index&cid=573&/
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Date: Tue, 06 May 2003 09:40:15 -0500
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Subject: Fwd: <:>i n t e r a l i a<:> 6 May 2003

Date: Tue, 06 May 2003 05:35:24 -0500
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Subject: <:>i n t e r a l i a<:> 6 May 2003
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             <:> i n t e r a l i a <:>
                    6 May 2003
   On this day in 1960 President Eisenhower
     signed the Civil Rights Act of 1960

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
An archive of past issues of <:>inter alia<:> is
online, with issues dating back to April 1998:
http://lhostelaw.com/iaa/ia_archive.htm
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

In Today's Issue
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
1. A Word A Day -- eristic
2. Graphics of the Day -- by David J. L'Hoste
3. Quote of the Day -- Michael Teig
4. HotSites - Miscellany
5. Reading List - Matters of Emphasis
6. Health News - Overweight Linked to Cancer
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
`````````````````
1. A Word A Day
`````````````````
eristic (i-RIS-tik) adjective

Characterized by controversy or disputes.

noun

1. One who engages in arguments or disputes; a
controversialist.

2. The art of disputation.

[From Greek eristikos, from erizein (to wrangle), from
eris (strife). Eris was the goddess of discord in Greek
mythology. The Romans called her Discordia.]

"Finally, Truth and Progress exhibits both the dazzle
and idiosyncrasy of Rorty's literary style and eristic
habits--the sharp insider wit, the hyperactive thumb-
nailing of other thinkers to hawk fresh images of their
thought ..." Carlin Romano; Books & the Arts: Rortyism
for Beginners; The Nation (New York); Jul 27, 1998.

"Endlessly questioning nuances of meaning in front of
exasperated colleagues, or calling attention to
inappropriate administrative power, might make you the
star of the show in Plato's Academy or Aristotle's
Lyceum. But is that too obnoxiously eristic for the
faculty meeting, a ritual most characterized by the
common desire of its participants to see it end
promptly, so everyone can go home and forget about
disliked colleagues?" Carlin Romano; On Collegiality,
College Style; The Chronicle of Higher Education
(Washington, DC); May 26, 2000.

Savannah Sparrow
http://www.lhostelaw.com/0304/030427_sasp2518a.htm

Summer Tanager
http://www.lhostelaw.com/0304/030410_suta2386.htm

Cattle Egret
http://www.lhostelaw.com/0304/030427_caeg2539.htm

LAST ISSUE:
Louisiana Swamp with Irises:
http://www.lhostelaw.com/0304/030406_swamp2374a.htm

Swamp Denizen:
http://www.lhostelaw.com/0304/030406_gator2362a.htm

--
GOTD Archives:
http://lhostelaw.com/iaa/ia_graphics.htm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
3. Quote of the Day -- Michael Teig
`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
When I Looked Next

I found the orchard anxious with bees and a bowlegged dog
and I knew I was home.

On the opposite hill, the houses strung out like laundry
along the ridgelines and the fields face up.

Shuttling sun. The neighbor lady
sweeping as if god said, Sweep.

I found my father with a seed catalogue and a blue plastic pail.
Hold this, he says, Hold still.

For years I found his shirts in my closet. Apparently the way
I scratch my head is his.

I saw him later at the gas station and spent two nights across
from his ruined face in a bar.

After the music stopped I went on
more or less singing.

In one story we can't stop playing whiffle ball, the trees
done up in uniforms of dusk.

In another my friends and I phone every Richard in the book
including Richard Richards

who is a cousin. I remember a brief cameo with a fire engine,
the sunflowers grown stiff and bankrupt

in the yard, unrelenting.
I have the pictures.

They show a man younger than myself with something like evening
settling beneath his eyeglasses,

the afternoon so warm and simple it looks ridiculous
to believe in a day like that.

Michael Teig
Big Back Yard
BOA Editions, Ltd.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````
4. HotSites - Miscellany
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````
GRIN (Great Images In NASA)
http://grin.hq.nasa.gov/subject.html

Portals to the World (from the Library of Congress)
http://www.loc.gov/rr/international/portals.html

The American Heritage Book of English Usage
http://www.bartleby.com/64/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````
5. Reading List
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Matters of Emphasis
By Paul Krugman
New York Times

Tuesday 29 April 2003

We were not lying," a Bush administration official told
ABC News. "But it was just a matter of emphasis." The
official was referring to the way the administration
hyped the threat that Saddam Hussein posed to the
United States. According to the ABC report, the real
reason for the war was that the administration "wanted
to make a statement." And why Iraq? "Officials
acknowledge that Saddam had all the requirements to
make him, from their standpoint, the perfect target."

A British newspaper, The Independent, reports that
"intelligence agencies on both sides of the Atlantic
were furious that briefings they gave political leaders
were distorted in the rush to war." One "high-level
source" told the paper that "they ignored intelligence
assessments which said Iraq was not a threat."

Sure enough, we have yet to find any weapons of mass
destruction. It's hard to believe that we won't
eventually find some poison gas or crude biological
weapons. But those aren't true W.M.D.'s, the sort of
weapons that can make a small, poor country a threat to
the greatest power the world has ever known. Remember
that President Bush made his case for war by warning of
a "mushroom cloud." Clearly, Iraq didn't have anything
like that - and Mr. Bush must have known that it
didn't.

Does it matter that we were misled into war? Some
people say that it doesn't: we won, and the Iraqi
people have been freed. But we ought to ask some hard
questions - not just about Iraq, but about ourselves.

First, why is our compassion so selective? In 2001 the
World Health Organization - the same organization we
now count on to protect us from SARS - called for a
program to fight infectious diseases in poor countries,
arguing that it would save the lives of millions of
people every year. The U.S. share of the expenses would
have been about $10 billion per year - a small fraction
of what we will spend on war and occupation. Yet the
Bush administration contemptuously dismissed the
proposal.

Or consider one of America's first major postwar acts
of diplomacy: blocking a plan to send U.N. peacekeepers
to Ivory Coast (a former French colony) to enforce a
truce in a vicious civil war. The U.S. complains that
it will cost too much. And that must be true - we
wouldn't let innocent people die just to spite the
French, would we?

So it seems that our deep concern for the Iraqi people
doesn't extend to suffering people elsewhere. I guess
it's just a matter of emphasis. A cynic might point
out, however, that saving lives peacefully doesn't
offer any occasion to stage a victory parade.

Meanwhile, aren't the leaders of a democratic nation
supposed to tell their citizens the truth?

One wonders whether most of the public will ever learn
that the original case for war has turned out to be
false. In fact, my guess is that most Americans believe
that we have found W.M.D.'s. Each potential find gets
blaring coverage on TV; how many people catch the later
announcement - if it is ever announced - that it was a
false alarm? It's a pattern of misinformation that
recapitulates the way the war was sold in the first
place. Each administration charge against Iraq received
prominent coverage; the subsequent debunking did not.

Did the news media feel that it was unpatriotic to
question the administration's credibility? Some strange
things certainly happened. For example, in September
Mr. Bush cited an International Atomic Energy Agency
report that he said showed that Saddam was only months
from having nuclear weapons. "I don't know what more
evidence we need," he said. In fact, the report said no
such thing - and for a few hours the lead story on
MSNBC's Web site bore the headline "White House: Bush
Misstated Report on Iraq." Then the story vanished -
not just from the top of the page, but from the site.

Thanks to this pattern of loud assertions and muted or
suppressed retractions, the American public probably
believes that we went to war to avert an immediate
threat - just as it believes that Saddam had something
to do with Sept. 11.

Now it's true that the war removed an evil tyrant. But
a democracy's decisions, right or wrong, are supposed
to take place with the informed consent of its
citizens. That didn't happen this time. And we are a
democracy - aren't we?

See also: Man on Horseback - by Paul Krugman
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/06/opinion/06KRUG.html

From: http://www.nytimes.com/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````
6. Health News
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Encouraging Americans to shed their
excess weight could prevent some 90,000 cancer deaths a
year, a study found.

The 16-year study of 900,000 men and women for the
American Cancer Society showed that
excess weight and obesity accounted for 14 percent of
all cancer deaths in men and 20 percent in women. The
results were published in the New England Journal of
Medicine.

"As a society, we have not really acknowledged the
contribution of obesity to chronic disease in general
and cancer in particular, said Eugenia Calle, director
of analytic epidemiology at the American Cancer Society
and lead author of the study.

"We are not taking it seriously enough to turn it
around. We are not acting on it."

The study focused on 404,576 men and 495,477 women, of
whom 57,145 died of cancer. The researchers found that
the heaviest members of the group were those with the
highest risk of dying of cancer, showing that weight
played a greater role in cancer formation than
previously known.

"Overweight and obesity has a very broad impact on
cancer across most cancer sites," Calle said. "Thats
not something thats really in the consciousness of the
American people."

The researchers recommended stronger efforts to promote
exercise and a healthy diet among Americans.

Some 65 percent of the adult US population was
overweight or obese in 2000, according to the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
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Date: Tue, 20 May 2003 09:11:09 -0500
To: lhoste@lhostelaw.com
From: "David J. L'Hoste" <lhoste@lhostelaw.com>
Subject: <:>i n t e r a l i a<:> 20 May 2003

<:> i n t e r a l i a <:>
20 May 2003

On this day in 1927 Saudi Arabia became
independent of Great Britain (Treaty of Jedda)
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
An archive of past issues of <:>inter alia<:> is
online, with issues dating back to April 1998:
http://lhostelaw.com/iaa/ia_archive.htm
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

In Today's Issue
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
1. A Word A Day -- misocainea
2. Graphics of the Day -- by David J. L'Hoste
3. Quote of the Day -- David Berman
4. HotSites - Miscellany
5. Reading List - Corporate Shills
6. Harper's Index, April
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
`````````````````
1. A Word A Day
`````````````````
misocainea (mis-oh-KY-nee-uh, mi-soh-) noun

Hatred of anything new.

[Greek miso- (hate) + caino- (new).]

   "Although I agree with the majority that no appellate court has yet held
   an insurer liable absent a premium payment, it may be nothing more than
   appellate judges suffering from a case of misocainea!"
   Hill v. Chubb Life American Insurance Co., Arizona Business Gazette
   (Phoenix), Nov 11, 1993.
--
>From A Word A Day:
http://www.wordsmith.org/awad/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
2. Graphics of the Day -- by David J. L'Hoste
``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
THIS ISSUE:
Boxcar Art
http://www.lhostelaw.com/0305boxcar/boxcarart.htm

LAST ISSUE:
Cameron Sunrise (East Jetty Beach)
http://www.lhostelaw.com/0304/030427_sunrise2474.htm

Savannah Sparrow
http://www.lhostelaw.com/0304/030427_sasp2518a.htm

Summer Tanager
http://www.lhostelaw.com/0304/030410_suta2386.htm

Cattle Egret
http://www.lhostelaw.com/0304/030427_caeg2539.htm
--
GOTD Archives:
http://lhostelaw.com/iaa/ia_graphics.htm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
3. Quote of the Day -- David Berman
`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Imagining Defeat
David Berman

She woke me up at dawn,
her suitcase like a little brown dog at her heels.

I sat up and looked out the window
at the snow falling in the stand of blackjack trees.

A bus ticket in her hand.

Then she brought something black up to her mouth,
a plum I thought, but it was an asthma inhaler.

I reached under the bed for my menthols
and she asked if I ever thought of cancer.

Yes, I said, but always as a tree way up ahead
in the distance where it doesn't matter

And I suppose a dead soul must look back at that tree,
so far behind his wagon where it also doesn't matter.

except as a memory of rest or water.

Though to believe any of that, I thought,
you have to accept the premise

that she woke me up at all.

--
from Actual Air, 1999
Open City Books, New York
Copyright 1999 by David Berman.
All rights reserved.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````
4. HotSites - Miscellany
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Every Rule - board games, card games, golf, everything,
even etiquette:
http://www.everyrule.com/index.htm

Becoming Human
http://www.becominghuman.org/

Spices - Exotic Flavors and Medicines
http://unitproj.library.ucla.edu/biomed/spice/index.cfm

When George W. Bush ran for President three years ago,
his strategists and media advisers positioned him quite
carefully as something new in the political spectrum.
Seeking to appeal to his party´s rightist base while
disguising his extremism, Mr. Bush declared himself a
"compassionate conservative." Now we know him
better—and as he seeks to pack the federal appellate
courts with reactionary judges, his ideological
disguise is so thin as to be transparent.

The conservatism of the Bush judicial nominees is plain
enough, if "conservative" is defined as synonymous with
the attitudes and objectives of the religious right.
One of his most recent choices for a federal appellate
nomination, Alabama Attorney General Bill Pryor, filed
an amicus brief in the Texas sodomy-law case currently
pending before the Supreme Court that compares gays
with those who practice "necrophilia, bestiality,
possession of child pornography, incest and
pedophilia."

In other words, Mr. Pryor is the kind of devout
busybody whose overwhelming desire to intervene in
other people´s private sexual conduct defines him as a
"conservative" in the White House lexicon. Other Bush
nominees apparently share these prejudices masquerading
as conservatism. But in what sense can the President´s
judicial selections be described as compassionate?
Only, perhaps, if that word´s definition has been
twisted to mean absolute solicitude for corporations
and bureaucracies—and none for ordinary citizens.

Consider Carolyn Kuhl, the President´s choice for a
seat on the Ninth Circuit federal appellate bench in
San Francisco. Ms. Kuhl is a former conservative
staffer in the Reagan Justice Department whose main
contribution to government in her youth was a paper
endorsing the tax-exempt status of the infamously
bigoted Bob Jones University. (She has recently revised
her opinion, saying that she made a "mistake" back
then.) More recently, however, she has earned a degree
of notoriety for her decision in a case titled Sanchez-
Scott v. Alza Pharmaceuticals. In a ruling overturned
on appeal, she dismissed a lawsuit brought by Azucena
Sanchez-Scott, a cancer patient whose breast
examination was observed in her doctor´s office—without
her informed consent—by a drug-company salesman. The
humiliated woman sued both the doctor and the
salesman´s company, Alza Pharmaceuticals, for invasion
of privacy. As a judge on the Los Angeles Superior
Court, Ms. Kuhl dismissed the plaintiff´s case against
both the doctor and the drug company.

The appellate judges who unanimously overturned the
Kuhl decision seemed dumbfounded by her reasoning, or
lack thereof. What they didn´t understand is that in
Bush-style jurisprudence, the corporation is always
right.

Among the Bush nominees, Ms. Kuhl is hardly alone in
her corporation-coddling approach to the law. Priscilla
Owen, the Texas judge whose nomination to an appellate
seat by the President was subjected to a filibuster by
Senate Democrats, was similarly disposed in her
consistent rulings against consumers and in favor of
insurance companies and corporations. Texas justice
permits judges to hear cases involving their corporate
contributors; and Ms. Owen´s rulings were especially
favorable to firms that had contributed to her judicial
campaigns, including Enron and Dow Chemical.

Among the judge´s great achievements is a decision
overturning lower-court rulings in favor of a woman who
had sued her insurance company after it declined to
cover operations that removed her spleen and gall
bladder. The trial jury awarded the woman $50,000, and
the court trebled the damages under a state law
forbidding deceptive trade practices. On appeal,
however, the reliable Judge Owen found a legal means to
protect the insurance company from its customer.

Nor should we overlook Deborah Cook, nominated to a
vacancy on the Sixth Circuit federal appellate court in
Cincinnati. Ms. Cook, a former corporate lawyer, has
compiled a truly impressive record of shilling for
business and insurance interests during eight years on
the Ohio Supreme Court. Even her fellow Republican
judges often find her opinions astonishing. As The New
York Times remarked recently, this is a judge who often
"reaches for a harsh legal technicality to send a
hapless victim home empty-handed."

Her own victims have included a poisoned worker in a
beryllium plant; a 61-year-old office manager publicly
humiliated by an employer trying to force her to
retire; and the widow of a Wal-Mart forklift operator
crushed to death in a work accident, whose case was
compromised by the company´s lying and concealment of
evidence. In all those cases, Judge Cook ruled for the
corporation against the citizen. (Fortunately, her
colleagues ignored her dissenting views.)

For accuracy´s sake, Presidential guru Karl Rove should
rename the philosophy he and his boss espouse. Perhaps
it should be called "corporate conservatism," or
"conservative corporatism," or "compassion for
corporations." Or just about anything except
"compassionate conservatism."

This column ran on page 5 in the 5/19/2003
edition of The New York Observer.
http://www2.observer.com/observer/index_go.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````
6. Harper's Index, April
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````
April 2003

Rank of Kim Jong Il and the Saudi royal family among
the world's worst dictators, according to Parade
magazine : 1, 2

Months after the fall of the Taliban that the United
States began on-site assessment of Afghanistan's
natural resources : 8

Percentage of Americans who say that other countries'
interests are considered in making U.S. foreign policy
: 75

Average percentage of the 30 other surveyed
nationalities who say this : 35

Fine levied on three Norwegians in 2001 for throwing
paper airplanes at the U.S. embassy : $350

Total fines U.S. investment banks will pay to end
investigations into their stock recommendations :
$985,000,000

Chance that a member of a U.S. firm's executive-
compensation committee has financial or familial ties
to its CEO : 1 in 5

Percentage change since 1998 in the total promotional
spending of U.S. pharmaceutical companies : +47

Percentage change since then in such companies' average
profit per dollar spent on promotion : –24

Percentage of California's economy that is accounted
for by agriculture : 7

Percentage of the state's water that is used for
agriculture : 43

Estimated percentage change since 2000 in acres of
Texas recognized as wetlands by the Army Corps of
Engineers : –40

Amount budgeted last year for the EPA's Leaking
Underground Storage Tank Program : $72,000,000

Ratio of the annual budget of the EPA to that of NASA :
1:2

Number of the 158 used hard drives purchased for an MIT
study this year that contained recoverable data : 129

Minimum number of credit-card numbers the hard drives
contained : 6,650

Ratio of the number of words in the U.S. income-tax
code today to the number in 1955 : 6:1

Harper's:
http://www.harpers.org/
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X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Version 5.1
Date: Tue, 03 Jun 2003 06:32:24 -0500
To: lhoste@lhostelaw.com
From: "David J. L'Hoste" <lhoste@lhostelaw.com>
Subject: <:>i n t e r a l i a<:> 03 June 2003

<:> i n t e r a l i a <:>
03 June 2003

    On this day in 1949 Wesley Anthony Brown
    graduated from the US Naval Academy -- the
         first African American to do so
  -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
An archive of past issues of <:>inter alia<:> is
online, with issues dating back to April 1998:
http://lhostelaw.com/iaa/ia_archive.htm
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

In Today's Issue
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
1. A Word A Day -- impuissance
2. Graphics of the Day -- by David J. L'Hoste
3. Quote of the Day -- William Hathaway
4. HotSites - All PBS
5. Reading List - Another Day, Another $350 Billion in Debt
6. Weird News - Height of Pleasure, Brothel Offers Plane Sex
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
`````````````````
1. A Word A Day
`````````````````
impuissance (im-PYOO-i-suhns) noun

Lack of strength or power.

[From Middle English, from Old French, from in- (not) + puissance (power),
ultimately from Indo-European root poti- (powerful). Some other words that
are derived from the same root: possess, power, possible, and potent.]

  "In conjunction with their impuissance and low status, the regulated
   designs of Zoroastrian houses facilitated tension and conflict between
   members of the two groups."
   Sanjoy Mazumdar and Shampa Mazumdar; Intergroup Social Relations And
   Architecture; Environment and Behavior (Thousand Oaks, California);
   May 1997.

  "This friendly warning - this forbearance to strike the blow that was
   to remove the manacles from millions of bondsmen - was treated by the
   masters of the slaves with scorn. It was sneered at by them, as an act of
   sheer impuissance."
   Benson J. Lossing; Our Country; 1905.
--
>From A Word A Day:
http://www.wordsmith.org/awad/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
2. Graphics of the Day -- by David J. L'Hoste
``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
THIS ISSUE:

Agapanthus africanus (series of four)
http://www.lhostelaw.com/030524/030524_flowers2735.htm

Eyes: Descent From Reality (series of five)
http://www.lhostelaw.com/030524/030524bleweye.htm

LAST ISSUE:
Boxcar Art
http://www.lhostelaw.com/0305boxcar/boxcarart.htm

--
GOTD Archives:
http://lhostelaw.com/iaa/ia_graphics.htm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ia~~~~~~
`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
3. Quote of the Day --
`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Death in the Age of the Zoloft Eaters
by William Hathaway

The old masters, Auden said, always got it
right how a dog was forever taking a leak
over to the left of life's great-big events,
and that seemed right at the time
I read it. But then Jarrell wrote a poem
about how Auden