Funmurphys: the Blog

The Triumph of Hope over Experience

Archive for category Current Events

The Talented Mr. Russert

Feb 14

Posted by Kevin Murphy in Current Events | No Comments

Tom Maguire of Just One Minute Fame has made the case that Tim Russert could have lied (OK, just let his memory go dim) in the Scooter Libby perjury case because he was covering for prior less than the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth statements. Frequent commenter, Barney Frank, claims he should get credit for the white lie leading down a slippery slope of further cover up possibility. I’m sorry to tell both Mr. Frank and Mr. Maguire that there is a very fine movie that pre-dates Mr. Russerts legal entanglements, The Talented Mr. Ripley, that starts with a far more innocent misdirection and ultimately ends up in a far darker place than perjury. The movie is well worth seeing. The Libby Trial, not so much.

I have no idea if Russert was telling the truth about his conversation with Libby (Don Imus thinks he wasn’t), although his actual testimony was that while he doesn’t remember discussing Mrs. Wilson (which I can believe) with Libby, it was impossible that he told Libby about Mrs. Wilson. However, I can’t believe Mr. Russert couldn’t remember whether or not he told his boss he had cooperated with the FBI while NBC was fighting the grand jury subpeona. That I just simply can not believe. Nor can I believe that the FBI lost the notes from that initial conversation with Mr. Russert. Oddly enough, I haven’t seen either mentioned in conventional news outlets.

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More Heat Than Light

Feb 7

Posted by Kevin Murphy in Current Events | No Comments

Just before the November elections, some nice lady in California, Jill Asher, called me a crazy nut case for opposing Amendment 2 here in Missouri. Clearly Ms. Asher is passionate about the subject because her step mother has Alzheimer’s which is a terrible disease. However, she isn’t particularly knowledgable about the amendment, and while she linked to a pro and anti site each, she didn’t both to link to the actual text of the amendment.

“So when I hear about you nut cases voting against Amendment 2, you are voting to halt research against this horrible disease that affects my family – and soon will affect YOURS in some way. I guarantee that as you age, you or one family members will be doomed with this horrific disease – or other’s that can be cured with stem cell research.”

First off, stem cells aren’t likely to cure alzheimer’s.Secondly, there is a distinction between adult and embryonic stem cells that Ms. Asher is ignoring. I’m all in favor of studying adult stem cells. Pour the money there, please.

And finally, a vote against amendment 2 wasn’t a vote to halt any research whatsoever. Amendment 2 was a preemptive change — it ties restrictions in Missouri to Federal restrictions. Since there are no stem cell research restrictions in Missouri, no reaserch would have been halted if Amendment 2 didn’t pass — and no reaserch started because restrictions were lifted by the passage of Amendment 2. The only effect is on the ability of institutions, mainly Washington University, to attract money and researchers for embryonic stem cell research because Missouri would be no worse than any other state. Needless to say, supporters didn’t mention this angle.

“Sorry if I sound bitter, but I can’t imagine that so many people would actually vote against funding that will help us all in the future, and possibly find cures for so many diseases. I know I probably won’t change your mind, but I hope you get a crystal clear picture of what you will be going through in the future.”

Funding? What funding? Maybe you are confused because California voted on funding embryonic stem cell research, but here in Missouri there was no funding involved.Also, next time you have a failure of imagination, maybe you should do more investigation and ask yourself “maybe I’m wrong?”. It works wonders for me.

And no, you won’t change my mind with a post like that. You’re passion means nothing to me; your reasoning, facts, and acknowledgment of my reasoning and facts mean everything.

“Do you understand what stem cell research can do for you and your family?”

Well here’s the deal. The results so far indicate that adult stem cell therapies can provide all the benefits more easily than embryonic stem cell therapies. I understand the desire of scientists to study everything, but ethical factors should and do limit research from time to time. No doubt not all that long ago vivisection would have provided a great deal of useful medical knowledge, but it was outlawed for ethical concerns. And it would be much easier to experiment on people without their knowledge, but again we limit that as well for ethical reasons. Now I understand we disagree about the ethics of embryonic stem cell research, but please understand that ethical concerns are my objection to embryonic stem cell research, which means appeals to utility fall on deaf ears.What I disliked most about the amendment was the deception involved. The amendment claimed to ban all human cloning while it specifically only banned creating a clone for reproduction and not for research. The Amendment claimed to guarantee access to stem cell cures for Missourians but there are no restrictions on the cures and there are no embryonic stem cell cures at the moment.

Ms. Asher called me a crazy nut case (yeah, that will help change my opinion) while linking my ballot measures roundup post wherein I thought I made clear the reasons I was opposed to the Amendment and summed up: “While I don’t think this amendment will make much difference one way or another, I’m voting against it because (1) it is deliberately misleading, and (2) it doesn’t belong in the constitution.”

Maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t see how that makes me a crazy nutcase.

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More Heat Than Light

Feb 7

Posted by Kevin Murphy in Current Events | No Comments

Just before the November elections, some nice lady in California, Jill Asher, called me a crazy nut case for opposing Amendment 2 here in Missouri. Clearly Ms. Asher is passionate about the subject because her step mother has Alzheimer’s which is a terrible disease. However, she isn’t particularly knowledgable about the amendment, and while she linked to a pro and anti site each, she didn’t both to link to the actual text of the amendment.

“So when I hear about you nut cases voting against Amendment 2, you are voting to halt research against this horrible disease that affects my family – and soon will affect YOURS in some way. I guarantee that as you age, you or one family members will be doomed with this horrific disease – or other’s that can be cured with stem cell research.”

First off, stem cells aren’t likely to cure alzheimer’s.

Secondly, there is a distinction between adult and embryonic stem cells that Ms. Asher is ignoring. I’m all in favor of studying adult stem cells. Pour the money there, please.

And finally, a vote against amendment 2 wasn’t a vote to halt any research whatsoever. Amendment 2 was a preemptive change — it ties restrictions in Missouri to Federal restrictions. Since there are no stem cell research restrictions in Missouri, no reaserch would have been halted if Amendment 2 didn’t pass — and no reaserch started because restrictions were lifted by the passage of Amendment 2. The only effect is on the ability of institutions, mainly Washington University, to attract money and researchers for embryonic stem cell research because Missouri would be no worse than any other state. Needless to say, supporters didn’t mention this angle.

“Sorry if I sound bitter, but I can’t imagine that so many people would actually vote against funding that will help us all in the future, and possibly find cures for so many diseases. I know I probably won’t change your mind, but I hope you get a crystal clear picture of what you will be going through in the future.”

Funding? What funding? Maybe you are confused because California voted on funding embryonic stem cell research, but here in Missouri there was no funding involved.

Also, next time you have a failure of imagination, maybe you should do more investigation and ask yourself “maybe I’m wrong?”. It works wonders for me.

And no, you won’t change my mind with a post like that. You’re passion means nothing to me; your reasoning, facts, and acknowledgment of my reasoning and facts mean everything.

“Do you understand what stem cell research can do for you and your family?”

Well here’s the deal. The results so far indicate that adult stem cell therapies can provide all the benefits more easily than embryonic stem cell therapies. I understand the desire of scientists to study everything, but ethical factors should and do limit research from time to time. No doubt not all that long ago vivisection would have provided a great deal of useful medical knowledge, but it was outlawed for ethical concerns. And it would be much easier to experiment on people without their knowledge, but again we limit that as well for ethical reasons. Now I understand we disagree about the ethics of embryonic stem cell research, but please understand that ethical concerns are my objection to embryonic stem cell research, which means appeals to utility fall on deaf ears.

What I disliked most about the amendment was the deception involved. The amendment claimed to ban all human cloning while it specifically only banned creating a clone for reproduction and not for research. The Amendment claimed to guarantee access to stem cell cures for Missourians but there are no restrictions on the cures and there are no embryonic stem cell cures at the moment.

Ms. Asher called me a crazy nut case (yeah, that will help change my opinion) while linking my ballot measures roundup post wherein I thought I made clear the reasons I was opposed to the Amendment and summed up: “While I don’t think this amendment will make much difference one way or another, I’m voting against it because (1) it is deliberately misleading, and (2) it doesn’t belong in the constitution.”

Maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t see how that makes me a crazy nutcase.

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Superbowl XLI

Feb 4

Posted by Kevin Murphy in Current Events | No Comments

The game: lopsided except for the score.

The ads: dull, dull, dull.

The halftime show: not bad.

I was looking forward to the superbowl, I was rooting for Indy, but when the half time show is the high point of the experience, something is wrong. Very wrong.

Maybe it’s time to scrap the Roman Numerals and use Arabic. Maybe it wasn’t time to hold the Superbowl in a stadium that isn’t a dome. Maybe it’s just another football game.

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Why Is Scooter Libby On Trial?

Feb 1

Posted by Kevin Murphy in Current Events | No Comments

I’ve promised one last Plame post numerous times, but the Scooter Libby trial requires comment — if only for the sheer fun of saying the defendant’s name. If you want the ins and outs, Tom Maguire is as always your man. I’m taking a big picture look.

First off, near as I can tell just about everybody who got roped into Fitzgerald’s investigation has had trouble with remembering what actually happened — who said what to whom when — or has changed their story, yet only Mr. Libby is on trial. Mr. Fitzgerald claims that is because Mr. Libby deliberately mislead him and impeded his investigation, but his investigation into what? He determined that no crime occured, and that determination had nothing to do with who leaked first, it had to do with Ms. Plame-Wilson’s status.

Secondly, Joe Wilson has lied long and loud and clear yet he suffers no penalty for doing so. I’m not even sure he actually went to Niger since he’s lied about everything else. And as it turns out, he is the guy who actually leaked his wife’s status as an ex-NOC — up until he yapped to Mr. Corn, his wife simply worked at the CIA. It’s bad enough Armitage, Fleischer, Rove and Libby let out that much, but Joe himself did the most damage.

Third and last, why is Fitzgerald and the government wasting time with this prosecution when real live CIA leaks that actually caused harm are going uninvestigated and unpunished?

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Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?

Jan 9

Posted by Kevin Murphy in Current Events | No Comments

I admit it – I love Scooby-Doo. Not the later, lamer cartoons, but the original. So I report with sadness that his creator, Iwao Takamoto, has died.

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Obesity Has Replaced Starvation

Jan 8

Posted by Kevin Murphy in Current Events | No Comments

I admit it’s an odd sort of good news: Obeseity has replaced starvation as the main problem with world food supply. As a onetime Guidance and Controls guy (GPS isn’t guidance, its Nav!) I hope it’s just overshoot until we settle into a proper caloric balance:

One of the most surprising news items of 2006, at least to me, was the announcement that there are now more overweight people in the world than hungry ones.Say what? It was not that long ago that all the experts were predicting that our skyrocketing human population would soon outstrip its food supply, leading directly to mass famine. By now millions were supposed to be perishing from hunger every year. It was the old doom-and-gloom Malthusian mathematics at work: population shoots up geometrically while food production lags. It makes eminent sense. I grew up with Malthus’s ideas brought up-to-date in apocalyptic books like The Population Bomb.

Who defused the bomb? Instead of mass starvation, we seem to be awash in food. And it’s not just the United States. Obesity is on the increase in Mexico. Fat-related diabetes is becoming epidemic in India. My parents used to tell me when I didn’t eat my dinner to think about the hungry children in China. Today one in five people in China is overweight, 60 million are obese, and the rate of overweight children has increased 28-fold since 1985. Everywhere you look, from Buffalo to Beijing, it’s ballooning bellies.

Needless to say, reality hasn’t caught up to everyone just yet, but with world population set to peak around 2050, the looming problem is aging/shriking populations (yes Virginia, evenChina) and how will countries deal with that?

Hat tip to TinkertyTonk

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Potpourri for 100

Jan 2

Posted by Kevin Murphy in Current Events | 1 Comment

My wife likes Christmas CDs, I like Billy Idol, but somehow I don’t think it’s right to mix the two. IOW, I didn’t buy the Billy Idol: Happy Holidays despite the obvious temptation.

Is it just me, or do liberals only like dead Republican presidents?

Is there a downside to the Rosie Trump feud? Yes – more attention for a couple of people who need to go on a strict publicity diet.

Maybe it’s time to consider a 3 state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Let’s Go Crazy

Jan 2

Posted by Kevin Murphy in Current Events, Family | No Comments

Speaking of Apple, I too noticed a slow down in the iTunes store on Christmas morning when the Fruit of the Murphy Loins were trying to load up their new gifts.

Speaking of layers of editors etc. , I just had to laugh at this line:

That extravagant spending may not last forever: one analyst said that while Apple now has about 75 percent of the market for downloaded music, it could see as much as 5 percent of market share go elsewhere in 2007 because of increased competition.

May not last forever? As the once and current Prince noted, forever is a mighty long time, so one can drop the “may” part. But then the writer would be confronted with putting a real time limit on how long Apple’s dominance will last, which, in the words of Donald Rumsfeld, is a known unknowable.

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A Friendly Reminder

Dec 15

Posted by Kevin Murphy in Current Events | No Comments

Nine shopping days left.

No, I’m not done. Are you?

My problem is that I always start with the easy gifts, and then as time is running out I’m stuck with people who are impossible to buy for. Yes, that is a pretty easy recipe for stress.

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