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Sunday, July 02, 2006
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Showing the leader’s special skill for picking the most unqualified people for the most important jobs
More than 18 months after his Homeland Security nomination sank over ethics questions, former police commissioner Bernard Kerik pleaded guilty Friday to accepting tens of thousands of dollars in gifts from a New Jersey firm with alleged mob connections.
Kerik pleaded guilty to a pair of misdemeanors in state Supreme Court in the Bronx in a deal that spared him any jail time. Kerik was instead ordered to pay a total of $221,000 in fines at the 10-minute hearing.
Kerik acknowledged accepting $165,000 worth of renovations on his Bronx apartment from a company attempting to do business with the city — Interstate Industrial Corp., a business reputedly linked to organized crime. And he admitted failing to report a loan as required by city law.
UPDATE: And in case you forgot, Kerik was highly touted by probable GOP candidate for the presidency, Rudy Giuliani.
(Via Oliver Willis - Like Kryptonite To Stupid.)
11:01:21 PM 
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Sam Harris on The Myth of Secular Moral Chaos.
The notion that the Bible is a perfect guide to morality is really quite amazing, given the contents of the book. Human sacrifice, genocide, slaveholding, and misogyny are consistently celebrated. Of course, God’s counsel to parents is refreshingly straightforward: whenever children get out of line, we should beat them with a rod (Proverbs 13:24, 20:30, and 23:13–14). If they are shameless enough to talk back to us, we should kill them (Exodus 21:15, Leviticus 20:9, Deuteronomy 21:18–21, Mark 7:9–13, and Matthew 15:4–7). We must also stone people to death for heresy, adultery, homosexuality, working on the Sabbath, worshiping graven images, practicing sorcery, and a wide variety of other imaginary crimes.
Most Christians imagine that Jesus did away with all this barbarism and delivered a doctrine of pure love and toleration. He didn’t. (See Matthew 5:18–19, Luke 16:17, 2 Timothy 3:16, 2 Peter 20–21, John 7:19.) Anyone who believes that Jesus only taught the Golden Rule and love of one’s neighbor should go back and read the New Testament. And he or she should pay particular attention to the morality that will be on display if Jesus ever returns to earth trailing clouds of glory (e.g., 2 Thessalonians 1:7–9, 2:8; Hebrews 10:28–29; 2 Peter 3:7; and all of Revelation).
(Via Atheist Blogs Aggregated.)
3:25:59 PM
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Strange lyrics in one of Dylan's unpublished and unperformed new songs, according to the Guardian:
'Thunder on the mountain, fires on the moon, There's a ruckus in the alley and the sun will be here soon,' it begins, before quickly skipping to the lines 'I was thinking about Alicia Keys, couldn't help from crying/When she was born in Hell's Kitchen, I was living down the line/I'm wondering where in the world Alicia Keys could be/I been looking for her even clean through Tennessee.'
(Via Expecting Rain.)
12:00:01 PM
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© Copyright 2006 Steve Michel.
Last update: 8/1/2006; 8:55:10 AM.
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