Insert a Trite Metaphor for a Corral #38

Posted on January 26, 2007 in Roundup

Nancy Pelosi and John Murtha got to go to Iraq on a fact-finding trip. How long will it be before Republicans denounce this as a junket? Meanwhile the United States is getting antsy about what it has been shipping to China all these years after the killer satellite test. And Michael Jackson has returned to the United States. Here are the stories you might have missed:

• Having trouble stopping smoking? Maybe you need to have a stroke.
• The WHO’s dream of eradicating polio has been complicated by fears among Pakistanis that the vaccine causes impotence.
• Even though they had no part in his humiliation, the government of Canada has apologized to a man who was detained on his return via the US from [[Tunisia]] and farmed out to Syria toi be tortured as a terrorism suspect. Maher Arar will receive $10.8 million Canadian for his woes. The US is expected to make no contribution.
• Here’s an African-American response to the study that complained about negative Islamic characterizations in movies. “[T]o say that movies such as Disney’s Aladdin were negative is silly in my opinion. They are shooting themselves in their own foot with such an accusation. All the characters in that movie were Arabic, and yes the architecture, timeframe, and clothing indicate they are all Muslim. But I cannot agree that this movie was done in bad faith.”
• Jonathan Jones considers the impact of memorials. The Vietnam memorial Wall, for example, “seizure by patriots must surely reverse the artist’s intention. At [[My Lai]] in 1968, more than 500 Vietnamese civilians were killed by American soldiers who – to give the most sympathetic account possible – were crazed by months of exposure to [[booby trap|booby traps]]. Sound familiar? Some of the men remembered here surely had innocent blood on their hands. So do all soldiers in history, which doesn’t mean their deaths aren’t worth mourning; but it makes any war memorial mythic. When it was unveiled, the Wall was praised as an art of “healing” – and so it is, if healing is the right word for helping Americans believe again in the old lie that it is sweet and good to die for one’s country.”
• Check out this interview with Eva Green who gave up the title to [[James Bond|Bond]] Girl to [[Daniel Craig]].
• AHnold is getting old.
• Not every package showing fruit on its label contains any fruit. “Of the 37 products examined, 19 contained no fruit ingredients and six had only minimal amounts of fruit juice. Two contained 100% fruit juice, and 10 contained actual whole fruits, which have less sugar and more fiber and nutrients than juice alone.”
• Desperate Welsh dairy farmers have taken to posting singles ads on the sides of milk cartons. “My family thinks I’m nuts,” said 30-year-old farmer Iwan Jones, who is on the cartons and hasn’t had a date in a year. “My friends think it’s hilarious.” I knew there was a reason why I’d been missing the LA Times.
• Since Hounddog isn’t reaching U.S. theaters any time soon, you may wish to read the film script. Note that the actual rape occurs in darkness so you don’t see any of the details.
• The family of a 28-year old California woman who placed second in a “hold your urine” contest and subsequently died of water intoxication is suing Sacramento’s KDND-FM.
• The fashion industry is taking a hard look at the place of skinny models. Has anyone asked [[Twiggy]] — who started it all — her opinion?
• Mississippi FBI agents arrested alleged Klansman James Ford Seale on two counts of kidnapping and one of conspiracy to commit kidnapping. For the story of his probable 1964 crime and the long road to justice, click here.
• An unconventional Orange county psychiatrist faces censure. Dr. John Henry (Rick) Massimino and his staff for “41 violations of state regulations, including using “threats and punishment” to keep clients in line, denying clients their right to see or contact their families and locking them out of the facility.”
• They caught me: most diabetics don’t exercise.
• Finally, the ultimate breakfast food for those who are tired of spilling coffee all over themselves during [[rush hour]]: Caffeinated donuts.

If you find any articles worthy of mention in these roundups, send the URL to gazissax at best dot com. And feel free to comment!