Tokyo.
Two things about this of interest to travelers: First, because it's a frequent-flyer miles purchase, I can hold the reservation without fully committing for a week. So, if something changes before the 3rd, I'm not out anything. Second: as much as the Congressional Republicans boggle my mind, and as much as I wish they'd shut up for ten seconds and reauthorize the FAA, their idiocy is my gain. Instead of the usual expensive tax I'd have to pay to the US for a premium frequent-flyer ticket, I only have to pay Japanese taxes of about $50.
Arigato gozaimas, Congress.
Because only in the United States do we have, enshrined in our basic law, the right to establish a city populated exclusively by religious nutters:
Kiryas Joel is an enclave of ultra-orthodox Jews who belong to the Satmar Hasidic sect. Members of this group believe in separating themselves from others – they’d rather not be around non-sect members. Thirty-four years ago, they won the right to create their own village from the surrounding community of Monroe.
The village’s founders might have envisioned an idyllic community where people of a shared faith lived in harmony. It hasn’t worked out that way. As often happens when people live in insular communities, factions emerge. Dissidents in Kiryas Joel don’t like the way the town of about 20,000 is being run. The dissidents, who by some accounts now make up 40 percent of the community, say religious discrimination is rampant. They say if you don’t belong to the right synagogue, you’re a second-class citizen.
Money quote:
A sign at the village entrance admonishes visitors to dress modestly. Cleavage-revealing tops for women are verboten, and both sexes are told to cover arms and legs. Couples are advised to "maintain gender separation in public places." ... Imagine the reaction from the Religious Right if this were a town of fundamentalist Muslims and they erected a sign reading, "Women are welcome to visit if accompanied by a male relative. Please respect our values by wearing a burqa."
Of course, the same constitutional language giving people freedom of religion also takes a little bit back. In fact, the establishment clause comes before the free exercise clause. We adopted the first amendment to prevent having the head of state also be the head of the official church, as it was (and still is) in England. What does this mean for Kiryas Joel? Well, you see, if the village government and the biggest synagogue are the same people...yeah. Thus, the lawsuit.
I'll keep my eye on this.
The indefatigable Paul Krugman smacks down the excuses for why the government has failed to get the economy going:
[A] destructive passivity has overtaken our discourse. Turn on your TV and you’ll see some self-satisfied pundit declaring that nothing much can be done about the economy’s short-run problems (reminder: this “short run” is now in its fourth year), that we should focus on the long run instead.
This gets things exactly wrong. The truth is that creating jobs in a depressed economy is something government could and should be doing. Yes, there are huge political obstacles to action — notably, the fact that the House is controlled by a party that benefits from the economy’s weakness. But political gridlock should not be conflated with economic reality.
This is the frustration: the GOP does not want the economy to improve. I hope Americans understand this by next November.
As TPM's David Kurtz puts it:
Republicans are taking the country to the brink of default demanding spending cuts that will signify their commitment to fiscal responsibility, smaller government and austerity—but for reasons that are political in the macro- and micro- sense, they can't come up with a list of cuts that actually gets the job done. It's not that they can't do the math.
One begins to feel like a Christian Scientist with appendicitis...
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released the 1981-2010 temperature normals this week, and guess what? They're warmer:
Normals serve as a 30 year baseline average of important climate variables that are used to understand average climate conditions at any location and serve as a consistent point of reference. The new normals update the 30-year averages of climatological variables, including average temperature and precipitation for more than 7,500 locations across the United States. This once-a-decade update will replace the current 1971–2000 normals.
In the continental United States, every state’s annual maximum and minimum temperature increased on average. “The climate of the 2000s is about 1.5 degree F warmer than the 1970s, so we would expect the updated 30-year normals to be warmer,” said Thomas R. Karl, L.H.D., NCDC director.
Like the myth of heliocentrism before it, the myth of anthropogenic climate change will stand forever disproven!
(Yet, it moves...)
This probably should have been yesterday's:
22 December 2009, ISO-100, 1/125 at f/8, near here.
Via Tim Vanderbilt, an encapsulation of bad traffic habits:
3-Way Street from ronconcocacola on Vimeo.
A motorcyclist died during a ride to protest helmet laws:
State troopers tell The Post-Standard of Syracuse that 55-year-old Philip A. Contos of Parish, N.Y., was driving a 1983 Harley Davidson with a group of bikers who were protesting helmet laws by not wearing helmets.
Troopers say Contos hit his brakes and the motorcycle fishtailed. The bike spun out of control, and Contos toppled over the handlebars. He was pronounced dead at a hospital.
Troopers say Contos would have likely survived if he had been wearing a helmet.
This, you see, is called irony.
It's impressive, isn't it, that four of the last seven Illinois governors earned felony convictions and jail time? Rod Blagojevich was today found guilty on 17 of 20 counts. From the Trib:
This marks the second time in less than a year that the 54-year-old Blagojevich, the only Illinois chief executive ever impeached and ousted from office, had been convicted of a crime. The jury at his first trial last summer found him guilty of lying to theFBI, though that panel deadlocked on all the other counts. That impasse set the stage for a retrial.
This time the verdict was unequivocal, with the jury of 11 women and one man finding Blagojevich guilty on 17 criminal counts he faced, including charges of wire fraud, attempted extortion, bribery and conspiracy. The marquee charge in the case involved an attempt by Blagojevich in late 2008 to cash in on his power to name a replacement in the U.S. Senate for newly elected President Barack Obama.
The jury acquitted Blagojevich on one count and deadlocked on two others.
Blagojevich, the fourth former Illinois governor convicted of felonies since 1973, likely faces a significant prison sentence.
You know, I feel sorry for the guy. He had this thing, and it was f'ing golden...
On the other hand, the guy is dumber than a box of hair. As the Trib drolled: "Blagojevich’s turn on the witness stand, something he had promised to do in his first trial before backing out, proved a double-edged sword. Under cross-examination he came off as a quibbler as a prosecutor drew a bead on his credibility from the very first question: 'You are a convicted liar, correct?' "
I'm not a practicing attorney, but even I could have guessed the government would lead the cross-examination with that question. Hell, the lawyers who advertise on the bus for slip-fall clients could have guessed that. But ol' Blago...wow.
I just realized that today's news comes in time for tonight's Daily Show taping. I can't wait to watch.
Last night the New York Senate passed a same-sex marriage law making the state the sixth to legalize it and effectively doubling the population of SSM-legal jurisdictions.
Connecticut, D.C., Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, and Vermont now allow same-sex marriage; civil unions or domestic partnerships are recognized in California, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Washington, and Wisconsin (to greater or lesser extent).
One part of the country lurches into the 21st century while another staggers back to the 19th...
Map: Wikipedia
Fallows justly slams Rep. Eric Cantor (R-OH):
A petulant demonstration to the rest of the world that we can't meet the baseline obligation we expect of any two-bit duchy -- that it will face its financial problems and honor its sovereign debt -- would be a big, damaging step in the wrong direction. Good for John Boehner in recognizing that more than his own ambitions are at stake here. If the default actually comes, and markets panic, and interest rates for everything shoot up, keep the courageous Rep. Cantor in mind on that day.
Every once in a while, it would be nice if the Republicans in Congress did their jobs.