Eclectic Views

    
If there's a First Amendment right to make such calls, I guess I'm violating
the Constitution if I don't answer.
  

    
> I guess I'm violating the Constitution if I don't answer

No, you have a right to remain silent.
  

    
This ought to ring familiar to the Californians here:

Arizona voters back plan on illegals
September 29, 2003

A poll shows Arizona voters overwhelmingly support a proposed ballot
initiative that would cut off services to illegal immigrants, despite a
wall of opposition from both Republican and Democratic politicians.

The poll, released last week by Arizona State University and KAET-TV,
found that 70 percent of voters surveyed said they would back the
initiative, even though organizers are still gathering signatures to
place it on the November 2004 ballot.

"The voters love us, unlike the politicians. There's a real disconnect
there," said Kathy McKee, director of Protect Arizona Now. <<<

The rest is at:

<http://dynamic.washtimes.com/print_story.cfm?StoryID=20030929-123102-5626r>
  

    
Wow. Wow, wow, wow!!

>>>Vaccine for advanced breast cancer shows promise; 14 women
participated in government study
LINDSEY TANNER, AP Medical Writer
Wednesday, October 22, 2003
©2003 Associated Press

After five major surgeries for a particularly aggressive form of
breast cancer, Patricia Thomas called the little pinprick she received
in a government study the simplest procedure she's undergone.

That pinprick above her knee was an experimental vaccine derived from
tiny bits of tumor protein that researchers hope will keep the
70-year-old Arlington, Va., woman's cancer from returning.

Though only preliminary, early results in Thomas and 13 other
vaccinated survivors of advanced breast cancer suggest the researchers
might be on the right path.

They have detected signs that the vaccine triggered an immune-system
response in all 14 that might potentially fight recurring cancer cells,
said co-researcher Dr. George Peoples Jr. of Walter Reed Army Medical
Center. <<

More at:

<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/10/22/national1728EDT0738.DTL&type=printable>
  

    
Wow is right!!!
  

    
oops ...

Buick's name means 'masturbate' in Quebec slang
Associated Press
Thursday, October 23, 2003
©2003 SF Gate

URL:
<sfgate.com/article.cgi?file=/gate/archive/2003/10/23/MNlacrosse.DTL>

NEW YORK -- It's all in the name. General Motors Corp. has scrapped
plans to replace the Buick Regal with the Buick LaCrosse in Canada
because in the French-speaking province of Quebec "lacrosse" means to
masturbate. Among other things.

GM Canada spokesman Stew Low told the La Crosse Tribune in Wisconsin
last Friday that in Quebec youth culture the word is a new slang term.

"(It) means a couple of things, either to masturbate or 'I just got
screwed,' or 'I just got taken'" Low told the newspaper in Saturday's
copyright editions. "People of our age wouldn't even think twice about
(the word.)"

He told the paper he first learned of the new slang usage about six
weeks ago. In organized focus groups in Quebec, young participants
giggled when they heard the named of the new car, Low said.  ...
  

    
From an article in USA Today, on how SARS may be carried by animals
eaten in China:

>>'Three-screams' rat:  The markets cater to the unusual culinary
tastes of Guangdong province residents, famed for a willingness to eat
anything. Some even savor small, live rats in a delicacy called "san
jiao," or "three screams." (The rat is said to scream once as it is
hefted with chopsticks; a second time as it is dipped in vinegar; and a
third time when it is bitten.)<<

<http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2003-10-28-sars-wild-animals_x.htm>
  

    

yuk
  

    
Oh, that's just AWFUL!  :o
  

    
Do they at least shave the little fuckers?  Blah.
  

    
Hey, without the hairballs, you may as well miss out on the entire
experience!
  

    
Wouldn't that be a shame.
  

    
Three Screams And A Heave
  

    
Aren't they a one-hit wonder from the 70s?
  

    
I am not making this up; from the BBC at
  <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/middle_east/3243623.stm>

Saudis 'fear sand shortage'

Saudi Arabia has reportedly imposed strict border checks to enforce a ban on
the export of sand.  There are fears that the growing demands of the
construction industry could lead to a shortage in the desert kingdom.
  

    
That's not as absurd as it might sound:  sand for concrete should be sharp
and angular, like grains of salt, to bond well.  But wind-blown sand is
usually rounded, like tiny beads, and doesn't make strong concrete.  I'd
expect that most of the sand in the Saudi desert is of the latter kind, and
not suitable for construction.
  

    
I can see that. But it's still kind of hard to wrap your mind around.

Check this out - don't like that red light? Change it to green!
<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/11/05/financial1006EST0050.DTL&type=printable>
  

    
AAK!
  

    
Anticipating the argument that Drudge is not a source of "news" per se
- still, this is interesting:

>> Jessica Lynch criticized military for exaggerating accounts of her
rescue and recasting her ordeal as patriotic fable.... MORE.. Asked by
ABCNEWS anchor Diane Sawyer if military's portrayal of rescue bothered
her, Lynch said: 'Yeah, it does. It does that they used me as a way to
symbolize all this stuff. Yeah, it's wrong' ... Asked how she felt
about reports of her heroism: 'It hurt in a way that people would make
up stories that they had no truth about. Only I would have been able to
know that, because the other four people on my vehicle aren't here to
tell the story. So I would have been the only one able to say, Yeah, I
went down shooting. But I didn't' ... Asked about claims the military
exaggerated danger of the rescue mission: 'Yeah, I don't think it
happened quite like that'... <<
  

    
Essentially that same information is available from the NY Times:

<http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/07/national/07LYNC.html?ex=1068872400&amp;en=456dd578d7db397b&amp;ei=5062&amp;partner=GOOGLE>
  

    
An agricultural subsidiary of Russia's Yukos Oil which has been under
pressure from the Kremlin was accused by a provincial government of allowing
the "unsystematic coupling" of rabbits on which "no zoological-technological
monitoring records are kept".

A company spokesman responded "The unsystematic coupling of rabbits at a
company farm is an outrage indeed; those responsible will definitely be
punished."  His response is believed to be an example of Russian humor.
  

    
It's great that Russian company spokesmen are witty. We could use some
of that in US company spokespersons. 

<44> & <45> - Given what she's been through, I'm glad Jessica has the
guts to speak out about being used in this cynical way. Right on. Shows
real gumption, I think. 
  

    
Yeah, I was afraid we'd never hear honest input from her, granted the
tenor of the times.
  

    
Here's an interesting one: New Hampshire Supreme Court says a married
woman having sex with another woman has not committed adultery:

<http://www.thechamplainchannel.com/wnne/2619895/detail.html>

"Oh, no, we're just REALLY good friends!"
  

    
That's going to be an interesting precedent. They've just decided that you
can screw around all you want so long as there is no penis-vagina
penetration. I wonder if they thought through the implications for het
philandering.