May 17, 2002

Cardinal's Panel on Abuse Urges a Zero Tolerance Policy. A commission set up by Cardinal Bernard Law urged the archdiocese today to remove members of the clergy after one offense. By The Associated Press. [Headlines From The NY Times] Will the recommendations would taken seriously by the Cardinal?  It will be months before we know. 10:11:11 PM

Arafat says elections after pull-out. The Palestinian leader says presidential and parliamentary elections can only be held after an Israeli withdrawal. [BBC News: world] Arafat says he can have elections in six months.  I don't think it can be done.  It will take more time to find another 70 year old woman to run against him.  His sole opponent in 1996 was in fact, social worker Samiha Khalil a 70 year old woman.  I kid you not.  Palestinian democracy at it's best. 8:29:38 PM

I really like Michael Moore.  He is doing some neat stuff on his two websites, michaelmoore.com and theawfultruth.com.  In fact he is almost doing a weblog of his book tour.  But I suspect the software he is using is too difficult for him to update it as regularly as he would like.  He would need to be able to easily update it from any webrowser, with having to know anything about HTML or FTP or anything like that.  hmm, sounds like a job for RADIO! His new documentary "Bowling for Columbine," inspired by the 1999 Columbine High School massacre in Littleton, Colorado, is the first documentary to be shown in competition at the Cannes film festival in 46 years. The film has a very telling start, a Michigan bank advertises a peculiar promotional gift for opening a new account: a gun. So we watch Moore visit, and ask a few questions - "the bank is a licensed firearms dealer," a clerk tells him - and next we watch him walk out with a new rifle. An interview with Moses (Chuck Heston) and rocker Marilyn Manson are great features. 8:08:34 PM

Women have been turned away from a shelter due to the wording in a funding contract. Wording in a funding agreement between the provincial government and women's abuse shelters are creating problems.  The agreement only allows for 'for women who have been abused by an intimate partner'.  The shelter can't take women who might be abused by their own children for example. [ canada.com ] 7:54:13 PM

I found this while reading andrewsullivan.com, it is a Victor Davis Hansen piece on the war so far. Andrew hilighted this  paragraph: Mr. Ashcroft has been libeled as an insurrectionist, and yet so far our Constitution is intact — and we have not seen another September 11. Mr. Bush was pilloried for ineptness — and yet Israel has been allowed to take the necessary measures to curb the suicide bombing. Our military has been denounced alternatively as too cruel and too lenient — and al Qaeda is now truncated. Guantanamo was called a concentration camp, but the inmates look stouter and healthier than when they arrived. Mr. Sharon was dubbed a killer, but now Palestinians who have sponsored real killing are talking of peace. Mr. Rumsfeld was declared at war with Mr. Powell, but in fact, both are complementary, not adversarial, as enemies and allies now realize it is their own choice whether to meet a conciliatory Powell halfway — or deal all the way with a bellicose Rumsfeld. I really think the whole article was worth the read. 7:42:27 PM

Keith Teare, former CEO of RealNames, lost his company this week.  He didn't really misplace it, but it is starting to look like someone is stealing it. You don't have to watch X-Files for intrigue, shadow people working in the background, or just plain paranoia.  Keith is putting it all out for us to see in his brand new weblog. Did Microsoft close him down with the intention of stealing his ideas, and patenting them for themselves?  Is Realnames keyword technology really like the Keywords at AOL? And what about China?  Ya, what about China? Stay tuned to Mr Teare's web log at www.teare.com 7:17:54 PM