Best of the Web Today - January 9, 2004
By JAMES TARANTO
Zero-Tolerance Watch
We got lots of response to yesterday's item on Carl Grimmer, the 13-year-old Richland Middle School student hit with a three-day suspension for using an instant messaging program to say "Hey!" to fellow students. Just a small bit of chastisement for the complaining "computer instructor" that came to me whilst reading the blurb concerning the teenager suspended for saying "Hey!" Here's an interesting letter from reader T.J. Miller:
As a computer science teacher myself, I know full well that students can (and often try to) take advantage of computer systems to perform the equivalent of passing notes in class. However, the problem can be very easily prevented, if this teacher had any real-world experience as a network or systems administrator, as opposed to her being merely a "computer teacher in the real world of public education."
You see, this "note" was most likely passed around in DOS (but most likely a Windows-based system) using the command "net send" (which comes built-in, and is not a "hacking" tool at all), and can be very easily remedied by instituting even the most basic of settings, right at the workstations themselves. Incidentally, shutting this off also prevents the pop-up window spam that many users at home have had to contend with as well. (In Windows, this whole thing is part of what is called the messenger service.)
In the interest of brevity, what kind of incompetence dictates that a school computer science class leave its workstations so wide open to the school network? As a basic standard, I have my classroom network tightly controlled with both proxy and firewall servers (old Linux-based computers, so they cost approximately $0) betwixt classroom and school network, so that any experiments gone awry (or any boneheaded actual hacking attempts) get stopped cold before even leaving the classroom.
Personally, and this is merely the humble opinion of a computer science teacher who has "real world" real-world experience as a systems administrator: if anyone is at fault here, it is either the school network admin, or the computer science teacher who was too ignorant of actual networking to prevent something so easily preventable.
The worst the kid is guilty of is passing notes in class.
Meanwhile, check out the Web page of pompous pedagogue Beverly Sweeney. The first thing you'll notice is the annoying music, but if you scroll down, you learn that she has three degrees, "a BA in Sociology, a BA in Anthropology and an MA in Sociology." So of course she's qualified to teach computer science.
But here's something really chilling. Scroll down further, below the bio, and you find a shockingly violent image: a "cartoon" of a poorly dressed man smashing a computer terminal with a spiked club. Below it is the caption "Sometimes this is how we feel!!!"
In this post-Columbine age, it is appalling that an adult in a position of responsibility would encourage impressionable children to solve their problems with violence. Oh sure, maybe today they're just smashing computers, but who's to say they won't be beating the dog tomorrow or shooting up the school the day after? We certainly hope the Birdville School District will take swift disciplinary action against Ms. Sweeney for this shocking abuse of authority.
In other zero-tolerance news, the Seattle Times reports that Alexander Graham Bell Elementary School in nearby Kirkland has expanded zero-tolerance madness to cover snowball fights:
Julie Miles has two kids at A.G. Bell Elementary in Kirkland, a school with a zero tolerance for snowballs. Students there say they were told they can't even touch the snow, much less pack and hurl it.
And they're at it again in Rio Rancho, N.M. The Associated Press reports "a teenager has been suspended from Rio Rancho Mid-High School for five days for bringing an over-the-counter drug to school." The drug, Gas-X, "breaks up gas bubbles in the digestive tract."
The Ladies' Man
It's more or less official: Wesley Clark is January's Flavor of the Month, the new anti-Dean, the man who can beat President Bush, blah blah blah. But the New York Times notes that the erstwhile general has a problem: When it comes to women, he isn't exactly Bill Clinton. "Some Democrats say the problem is that women are put off by the military persona," the Times reports.
Meanwhile, the Manchester (N.H.) Union Leader reports that Clark has taken one of the most extreme positions on abortion of any presidential candidate in history. Clark "told The Union Leader that until the moment of birth, the government has no right to influence a mother's decision on whether to have an abortion" (emphasis ours).
"I'm not going to get into a discussion of when life begins," Clark tells the paper. But at another point in the interview he says, "Life begins with the mother's decision." He also says: "I'm in favor of choice, period. Pure and simple."
"Pure and simple" is a bad approach to abortion, from a political standpoint as well as a philosophical one. The two parties are polarized on the issue, but most Americans are somewhere in the middle. Most Americans, including many who are generally pro-choice, would be repelled by Clark's suggestion that if a nine-month-pregnant woman wants to kill her baby, so long as he hasn't yet been born, the government has no business even trying to talk her out of it. It's as if a Republican candidate said any woman who has an abortion should be thrown in prison. Our hypothetical Republican, of course, would be taking a lot more heat in the press, but you can bet that if Clark is the nominee, these remarks will come back to haunt him next fall.
Smart presidential candidates have a formula for dealing with abortion: adopt the party line in general terms, but avoid discussing its most extreme implications; and make rhetorical concessions to the other side so that no one thinks you're a lunatic. Thus Bill Clinton said in 1992 that he wanted to make abortion "safe, legal and rare," and George W. Bush declared in 1999: "I'm a realistic enough person to know that America is not ready to ban abortions."
What would drive Clark to stake out such an extreme position? The obvious answer is that it's part of his effort to appeal to the "women's vote," in which case it looks even worse as a political matter. It's a myth that women are more likely than men to favor legal abortion; every public-opinion poll we've seen shows the sexes break down nearly identically as to which side of the issue they're on.
It does seem, however--and here our impression is anecdotal, not poll-based--that women on both sides of the issue tend to be more passionate about abortion than men, for obvious reasons. Clark, who has never run for office and has spent virtually his entire adult life in the military, has had far less contact with women than have most politicians (to say nothing of Bill Clinton), and thus he probably never felt the need to think deeply about the subject of abortion. Probably his wife is pro-choice; certainly his new party is pro-choice, so naturally he's pro-choice. But he doesn't understand the topic well enough to realize that there is room for nuance and moderation--that you can be "pro-choice" and draw the line somewhere short of outright infanticide.
The Times reports that in his effort to woo female voters, "Clark has begun to show a softer side. Gone are his navy blue suit, red tie and loafers, replaced by argyle sweaters, corduroys and duck boots." We would venture to say that women are far less superficial than the Times seems to think. If women are put off by Clark, it's probably more because of the crudeness of his thoughts on topics like abortion than because of the way he dresses.
The Ladies' Woman
Well, at least someone is more clueless than Wesley Clark when it comes to understanding the female voter. We refer, of course, to Patricia Ireland, a former president of the National Organization for Women, who's quoted in a report from WMUR-TV in Manchester, N.H.:
Ireland said she believes many female voters want to hear a message that's pro-choice, pro-public education and health care, and antiwar.
"They have been drawn toward candidates against the war, like Dean, Kucinich, and my candidate, Carol Moseley Braun," Ireland said.
Dean maybe, but according to the latest American Research Group New Hampshire tracking poll, Dennis Kucinich has all of 2% support among Granite Staters. Ireland's candidate, Carol Moseley Braun, scores a big fat goose egg, putting her in an eighth-place tie with Al Sharpton.
Start Spreading the News
News of Saddam Hussein's capture is having a salutary effect on al Qaeda prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, the Associated Press reports:
Interrogators told some detainees of the war in Iraq in June, and word of Saddam's capture reached others during interrogations in December, Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller told reporters in an interview.
The entire prison population was later informed of Saddam's capture by loudspeaker after officials determined there was no risk to security or intelligence-gathering, Miller said, without specifying the date.
"We told them we had a war with Iraq, we told them the United States won, and we told them we captured Saddam Hussein," Miller said. "There was some shock." . . .
The announcement about the U.S. victory in Iraq and Saddam's Dec. 13 capture has resulted in increased cooperation by some detainees during interrogation, Miller said.
This is further evidence, as if any were needed, that Howard Dean lied--at least by the Democratic definition of the term--when he said Saddam's capture hasn't made America any safer.
Strangers on a Train Wreck
Here's a fascinating tidbit from this week's CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll. The following table shows the proportion of "Republicans/Republican leaners" and "Democrats/Democratic leaners" who said they'd "never heard of" each of the Democratic presidential candidates:
Candidate Reps Dems
Clark 17% 22%
Dean 14% 17%
Edwards 25% 28%
Gephardt 14% 21%
Kerry 18% 20%
Lieberman 7% 11%
For the most part these differences aren't huge, but it's nonetheless striking that in every case, Republicans were more likely than Democrats to have heard of the Democratic candidates--especially since Dems are in a position to vote on these guys in the next few months. It's hard to avoid the conclusion that people who are more informed about politics tend to be Republicans.
How Will the Dems Ever Top This?
"Bush Adds $1 to Political Warchest"--headline, Chattanooga (Tenn.) Times Free Press, Jan. 9
Mensch of the Year
Time magazine's decision to name "the American soldier" as its 2003 "person of the year" was prompted in party by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, CNN reports:
Rumsfeld, in a Pentagon meeting with Time's top executives late last year, had correctly suspected he was among the candidates for the magazine's honor, and offered what one participant called some "free advice" as the meeting came to an end.
Time Managing Editor James Kelly told CNN that Rumsfeld's unsolicited suggestion to honor the troops was the "first time in my recollection that someone who was obviously a candidate has volunteered someone else."
Kelly said the troops were already in the running, but that Rumsfeld's unprompted comment helped tipped the scale. "In my mind, there were two leading candidates," Kelly recalled, "the American soldier, and the secretary of defense. He did not know that, and in my meeting with him, he volunteered" that the honor should go to the American soldier.
An earlier report in the Hill suggested that Rumsfeld had turned down an "offer" to be "person."
Sharp Relief
"Israeli officials said Thursday that Syria has reportedly allowed Teheran to resume their supplies of weapons to Hizbullah through Damascus by taking advantage of the massive airlift of humanitarian aid to earthquake victims in Iran," the Jerusalem Post reports:
According to Channel 1, cargo planes filled with weapons began landing in the Syrian capital last week brimming with weapons for the Iranian-backed Hizbullah organization. It was the first time since the Syrians halted the weapons flow under American pressure prior to the invasion of Iraq a year ago.
Sources in the Defense Ministry confirmed the reports, calling it a "cynical manipulation of humanitarian aid." They said that there has always been a trickling of weapons and propaganda to the Hizbullah but that the weapons transferred recently were larger quantities than in the past.
Iran is denying the report, and "Syrian officials had no immediate comment."
The Pride of Yemen
"Yemen to Celebrate Arab Illiteracy Day"--headlne, Yemen News Agency Saba, Jan. 6
Our Friends the Israelis
"Israeli officials have drafted a copyright bill that would halt compensation to American artists and their record companies when their songs are played on Israeli radio stations and in Israeli clubs," the Jerusalem Post reports:
Other artists, Israeli and foreign, would continue to receive payment under current practices, sources in Washington familiar with the bill told The Jerusalem Post. . . .
Israel seems to be considering excluding US artists and companies from payment, since officials believe only artists from countries which are party to the Rome Convention--a 1961 copyright treaty that grants protection to performers, record producers, and broadcasting organizations--should be compensated.
While 76 countries, including Israel, are party to the convention, the US is not. Israel became a member in 2002.
The bill, if passed, could anger the US, which has been sharply critical in recent years of Israel's efforts to combat illegal copying of copyrighted and trademarked items. In May, the US rewarded Israel for improved police efforts in the area by removing it from its list of worst copyright pirates. Israel, however, remains on a watch list.
Such an attempted theft is an outrage, especially coming from a country to which America has been such a steadfast friend. It's also stupid since, unlike many other copyright scofflaws, Israel actually has an advanced, knowledge-based economy that produces lots of intellectual property that Jerusalem would presumably like America to protect.
The New Math
"UN: World Tobacco Demand Will Increase, but Consumption Will Fall"--headline, VOA News, Jan. 8
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Hello, 911? My Candle Is Burning!
"92,000 Candles Recalled for Fire Hazard"--headline, WKMG-TV Web site (Orlando, Fla.), Jan. 7
Life Imitates 'South Park'
"Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride"--episode title, "South Park," Sept. 3, 1997
"R Family Vacations, Founded by Rosie O'Donnell and Her Partner With Gay Travel Entrepreneur Gregg Kaminsky, Gears Up for the First Ever Gay and Lesbian Family Cruise"--headline, press release, Jan. 8, 2004
Didn't Carl Sagan Say There Were Billions and Billions?
"Hubble Study Shows Thousands of Stars"--headline, Associated Press, Jan. 9
What Would Wallets Do Without Experts?
"Experts: Low Dollar May Hurt Wallets"--headline, Jackson (Miss.) Clarion Ledger, Jan. 9
Save Some for the Humans
Three polish divers are under investigation after a news photo showed them serving champagne to a pike. "The picture in Nowa Trybuna daily showed three frogmen neck-deep in a lake, with one of them tipping a bottle of cheap Russian bubbly into the fish's open mouth," Reuters reports from Warsaw. Maria Niedziolka of the National Fishing Authority tells the wire service that "they may have committed offences of poaching and maltreating a fish."
Sounds to us as though the fish got stewed, not poached. |
