very simple

In all of the brouhaha surrounding Prince Harry’s boneheaded move to wear a nazi uniform to a costume party (and I honestly believe it to be an active of idiocy rather than malice), apparently no one is particularly upset that the entire theme of the party was "native and colonial". Because that’s not offensive at all.

And let’s not forget, this act of moronicism was carried out by someone who actually has handlers scheduling his entire day. And who is third in line to the British throne. (And, as pointed out by a friend at work today, not only offended countless jews, but probably his own grandmother, who spent her WWII youth volunteering as a driver for the war effort against the Nazis.)

Since the sideblog only keeps my most recent five entries, I figure I’ll keep them archived by doing a weekly post rounding up all of these minor notes (or at least the ones that aren’t complete gibberish). Because these items run the categorical gamut, they’re getting their own category. This week:

Wed Jan 5 2005:

• Virginia Heffernan really hates comic books, and isn’t afraid to let us know.(8:35 AM)
• Apparently I’m not the only one who’s been sick forever. But mine has run the gamut from head cold to chest cold and now back to head cold. I appear to have sequentially caught everything going around my office.(12:03 PM)

Thu Jan 6 2005:

• Wow. Andrea Yates’ conviction was just overturned. (10:05 AM)
• It’s nice to know that in 2000, when it actually could have made a difference, the Senate Democrats were all a bunch of cowards, but when all they can do is make a completely symbolic gesture, with absolutely no consequences, they’re real pros.(10:45 AM)
• I’m listening to the Gonzales hearings on the radio right now – If I hear the phrase "That’s hypothetical and I’m not going to answer it" one more time, I’m going to scream.(3:35 PM)
• Armando over at dailyKos has some of the highlights (lowlights?) of the Gonzales hearings. I have to say, more than any specific legal disagreements I have with the guy, after listening to the hearings today, I worry that he’s not even technically competent to hold the position. No wonder Bush likes him so much.(7:10 PM)

Fri Jan 7 2005:

• If the proposed subway photography ban passes, it would be a real loss for the city. (11:30 AM)
• Talk about a miscarriage of justice…because what women need after they miscarry is a threat of prosecution, rather than medical care. How anyone who holds even vaguely libertarian values has not run screaming as far away as possible from these guys absolutely confounds me. (1:31 PM)

I am constantly amazed at the levels that some people will sink to in the face of a tragedy. I should mention that I actually got what appeared to be a scam email last week related to the disaster relief – but it was pretty carefully tailored for the fact that I was a legal professional – it was someone claiming to be a UK-based legal recruiter, who was contacting his clients. It’s too bad that I’ve never even heard of this guy, much less looked for a job in the UK (having not updated my resume since my second year of law school when I got my first job, I haven’t much looked for a different job anywhere).

Jonathan Klein, the new Chief Executive at CNN, has not only opted not to renew Tucker Carlson’s contract, but is considering ending Crossfire completely. The Carlson contract could just be seen as a negotiations breakdown, particularly since he appears to be in talks with another network, but as for Crossfire itself, here are a few choice quotes from Klein himself:

It’s stuff like this that actually makes me feel like I should go see Sandra Bullock movies….too bad that they often suck.

I would be more enthusiastic in general, but in light of recent events, I’ll just say that no matter how your 2004 was, here’s hoping that 2005 is better…for you and for the planet.

In the meantime, I’m off to a party in about 20 minutes, where I hope to get nice and drunk in time for the new year.

Oh, who am I kidding? I’ll have two cosmopolitans and fall asleep. because I’m old. and I spent too many years of my youth volunteering to be the designated driver.

Apple has replaced it’s normal advertising-related front page with a list of organizations that can be donated to. Some of these are repeats, but what the heck:

…given the recent news out of Asia, but I was incredibly saddened today to learn that Jerry Orbach had died. To most people, he was the ultimate New York cop, Lennie Briscoe, on Law and Order, but what a lot of people don’t realize is that he first made his name as one of the most prolific song and dance men on broadway, including originating the role of Billy Flynn in Chicago. Last month I actually tivo’d (and am only halfway through) the PBS documentary about Broadway, and Orbach is all over the thing – it was really amazing to see how young (and suave) he looked in the clips…

Between Orbach and Susan Sontag, we’ve lost two quintessential New Yorkers in the past few days, both to cancer. I’m wondering who the third is going to be, because these things do always come in three’s, don’t they?

generally, if you’re afraid that photographs of yourself "sitting on hooded and bound detainees, holding a gun to a detainee’s bloodied head, and placing a boot on the chest of a prone man" will put your life at risk, maybe you shouldn’t post them on the internet in the first place. Just a thought.

Does anyone want anything to happen in the near future? Because apparently if I write about something, it appears in the news the next day.

Maybe I should start writing stories about winning the lottery.