Why 'Samson' Runs: Jerusalem Fever

By CLYDE HABERMAN,
Published: May 13, 1992

JERUSALEM, May 12— The sturdy young Canadian thought he was Samson, and went on to prove it by smashing through a wall to escape the other week from Kfar Shaul, the Government psychiatric hospital on Jerusalem's western reaches. ...

... A few years ago, Kfar Shaul had at the same time two patients convinced that they were the Messiah. He put them together, the hospital director recalls, but it didn't work out.

"They spoke, and they discussed," he said. "And finally, each decided that the other was an imposter."

Note: In print, the article's title was the same as this post's title. The printed article has a photo of Dr. Yair Bar-El.


Clippings from The New York Times appear at a new blog: New York Clippings

Photoshop and Photography: When is it real?

From David Pogue's column, Photoshop and Photography: When is it real?

In the March issue of Popular Photography magazine, the editor's note, by Miriam Leuchter, is called "What Is a Photograph?" ...

... But meanwhile, we live in an age where Photoshop jobs are commonplace, reality TV shows dominate the airwaves, and news bites are taken out of context and manipulated. Maybe, these days, the question isn’t “What is a photograph?”; it’s “What is reality?”

Technology Assisting The Repo Man

It was a surprise, this morning, to read in the NY Times about a new technology to assist repo men (and women). Surprising, because there is another technology that may be much more useful.

The technology described in the Times photographs license plates and matches plates against a database of vehicles with payments past due. It's interesting and works, but there is another way.

A car dealer can now place a device that is essentially a GPS receiver and cell phone in the vehicle when it's sold. With that installed, the car can be tracked and its location known at any time (well, as long as it's in an area with cell phone coverage and receiving GPS signals). The device can do more than send data to someone interested in the vehicle's location.

The device can receive data: It can be programmed to send an alarm if the vehicle travels outside an area, for example. It's even possible to send the device a message that will prevent the car from being restarted.

An attractive thing about the technology is that the cost of installing the device and monitoring the buyer's use of the vehicle can be passed on to the buyer. The technology is especially interesting to dealers who have had to resort to financing vehicle purchases themselves rather than selling their purchase contracts to banks, which became difficult to do when the credit cruch hit.

Both technologies exist to find out where an interesting vehicle is. The one described by the Times may not be the most effective.

Flightseeing In Alaska

Journeys

Alaskan Road Trip, 500 Feet Up

Scott Dickerson for The New York Times - A flightseeing tour of Alaska.

By SARAH MASLIN NIR

Published: February 21, 2010

[I]n Alaska, a vast state covering 663,267 square miles, much of the terrain is completely cut off from roads. By conventional means, a tourist can get only so far — or rather, so near. Standing at the end of the Homer Spit, I’d reached the end of the road: a few feet in front of me, the pavement dropped off into the sea.

Slideshow

Above it All in Alaska

Sarah Maslin Nir also wrote Sarah Palin: Going rogue in Wasilla

Bamboozlement -- Sarah Palin Style

The New York Times' Palin Visible and Vocal, Is Positioned for Variety of Roles has a lot of people talking. Is the article accurate? Fully informed? How did the reporter write the article?

When asked by The New York Times for others to speak to about Ms. Palin, her spokeswoman, Ms. Stapleton, mentioned the Republican media adviser Mary Matalin (who has been in sporadic contact with Ms. Palin’s camp) and Dana Perino, the former White House press secretary for George W. Bush (who seemed barely to know her).

The reporter spoke with people whom Meg Stapleton — "her [Sarah Palin's] longtime spokeswoman" — recommended to him. Apparently, at least one of those recommended by Ms. Stapleton, Dana Perino, didn't know Sarah Palin well enough to comment for the article! This must certainly be an interesting, informative article. Let's look at the direct quotes, so we can find out whether Ms. Stapleton may have recommended anyone else:

“Few public figures not in office have leveraged the nexus between media and political positioning as Sarah Palin has,” said the Washington lawyer Robert Barnett[.] [My, my, the attorney who set-up Sarah Palin's book deal has praised her. Hasn't he?]

“I wouldn’t exactly call it a badge of honor to be thought of negatively by some of these people,” Mr. Recher said. “But the bottom line is, I was incredibly proud to serve John McCain, and I couldn’t be happier to be part of Sarah Palin’s world now.” [Jason Recher was paid well by Sarah's PAC to accompany her on the Going Rogue tour.]

“She used to be a moderate Republican in Alaska, but I think all of these attacks have hardened her and made her absolutely more conservative,” said John Coale[.] “I think there have been times during all the attacks when she thought, ‘This is just too much,’ ” Mr. Coale said. “But now I think it all makes her more determined. Whatever she’s doing now, it feels like a calling to her.” [Mr. Coale helped set-up Sarah's PAC and is married to Greta Van Susteren. They are both friends of Sarah]

“I’m disappointed by her endorsement of Paul,” said William Kristol, the editor of The Weekly Standard and one of the conservatives credited with “discovering” Ms. Palin in 2007. “But they always disappoint you.” [William's the guy who brought Sarah to the national dance and after initially expressing surprise when she stormed off the floor, provided the spin that's ... well, kept her spinning.]

“I think if Sarah has a passion, it’s that she really believes that there is a silent majority out there that she wants the folks in Washington to know about,” said Kristan Cole, a friend in Wasilla. [Yes, long-time friend — old enough, like Sarah, to have heard of Nixon's "silent majority" — and founder of the Alaska Fund Trust, Sarah Palin's do-whatever-she-wants-with-it legal defense fund, ostensibly formed to defend against ethics charges, now, itself, mired in ethics problems.]

There you have it. No new characters have joined the cast, so how is the reporter's statement, "Beyond what her Fox-watchers and Facebookers can see, Ms. Palin is quietly assembling the infrastructure of an expanding political operation," meaningful?

What about that "soon-to-be-built television studio in her living room?" Would you want a television studio in your living room? What is meant by "television studio?" Sarah Palin has appeared on "Oprah" and Fox from her home in Wasilla, apparently without a studio. Perhaps Fox has found some deficiencies: perhaps Fox has found that the lighting could be improved or that the electrical service could be upgraded or that a more professional backdrop is in order. Is that a whole television studio? We are well aware of Sarah Palin's (and her spokeswoman's) tendency to exaggerate and embellish.

The reporter wrote, "She reads daily e-mail briefings on domestic and foreign policy from a small group of advisers who remained loyal after her tumultuous vice presidential campaign in 2008." Would any of those advisers be associated with conservatives4palin.com? From SarahPac's last financial disclosures, we learned that two of that group's founders, Rebecca Mansour and Joseph Russo, have been paid by the PAC. They've certainly been loyal, even if their missives haven't always been accurate. Sarah Palin certainly relies on e-mail, so much so that she once embarrassed herself by citing a rumor that originated in an e-mail chain letter.

The reporter quoted one other person: “She has expanded her house and turned it into a compound,” said Rebecca Braun, who edits the nonpartisan Alaska Budget Report. “She is basically invisible in Alaska but as big a celebrity as Princess Di everywhere else.” Rebecca Braun didn't appear to be one of Sarah Palin's fans after a revelatory NPR story was read. Apparently the reporter spoke with one person whom Ms. Stapleton may not have recommended.

Of course, Sarah Palin had no involvement in writing the article, or so it might seem, because we're told, "Ms. Palin, who declined to comment for this article, is scarcely seen around her hometown these days, said residents of the so-called Duct Tape Capital of the World. And since leaving office [to "progress" Alaska] last year, she is silent on state political matters."


Other articles have referred to the New York Times article, Palin Visible and Vocal, Is Positioned for Variety of Roles, directly or indirectly, and may be better informed:

Talking Points Memo has Brain Trust To Nowhere

The Atlantic has Palin Puts Together a ... Campaign?

The Daily Beast has Sarah Palin's Money Man

The Washington Independent has Team Palin, which appears to be factually inaccurate concerning Becki Donatelli's involvement (An out-of-date Washington Post column, The Protectors of the Palin Brand, is cited; a later column is more up-to-date; note, however, that that column doesn't mention that Becki Donatelli quit SarahPac. (A reader might infer from Meg Stapleton's remarks in that column of the Washington Post that an amicable separation had occurred))

Shameless Republican Leaders Put Party Ahead of Country

When he addressed the GOP House Issues Conference in Baltimore, Maryland, January 29, 2010, President Obama stated that he could not understand the Republicans' The-Party-of-No's attempt to obstruct passage of the Recovery Act:

I didn't understand then, and I still don't understand, why we got opposition in this caucus for almost $300 billion in badly needed tax cuts for the American people or COBRA coverage to help Americans who'd lost jobs in this recession to keep the health insurance that they desperately needed, or opposition to putting Americans to work laying broadband and rebuilding roads and bridges and breaking ground on new construction projects.

There was an interesting headline in — in CNN today: Americans disapprove of stimulus, but like every policy in it. And there was a poll that showed that if you broke it down into its component parts, 80 percent approved of the tax cuts, 80 percent approved of the infrastructure, 80 percent approved of the assistance to the unemployed.

Well, that's what the Recovery Act was, and I — you know, let's face it, some of you have been at the ribbon cuttings for some of these important projects in your communities.

It is not difficult to show that the President's assertion that Republicans voted NO! on the Recovery Act, but reaped its benefits is true. Here are two examples, one a House member, the other a Senator:

Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) Held A Job Fair Where Nearly Half The 30 Organizations Received Stimulus Funds; Cantor Also Supported Using Stimulus Funds To Build A Washington To Richmond Rail. Washington Post: “For months, Democrats have dubbed U.S. Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia a hypocrite for strongly opposing the federal stimulus package only to promote aspects of it later. Here’s the latest example: Nearly half of the 30 organizations participating in a job fair Cantor is holding Monday in Culpeper were recipients of the stimulus…In the summer, Cantor came under fire after he talked about his support of using stimulus money to build a rail project from Washington to Richmond.” [Washington Post Virginia Blog, 11/18/09]

- Congressman Eric Cantor Voted Against The Recovery Package Twice [Roll Call Vote #46; Roll Call Vote #70]

Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) Brags About Stimulus Projects, Requests More Money. McConnell and Rep. Ben Chandler (D-KY) toured a construction site at the Blue Grass Army Depot in Madison County, Kentucky. McConnell quickly took credit for the new construction, noting that he and Chandler had inserted an additional $5 million into the 2010 budget. McConnell bragged: “This is going to be a source of significant employment. At the peak, we could have up to 600 people working on this, and we believe the substantial majority of those workers will be Kentuckians.” However, McConnell conveniently forgot to mention that even more additional funds for facility construction were awarded through the stimulus. A Defense Department report states that $5,876,000 has been allocated from the Recovery Act to the Blue Grass facility for repairs. (Chandler voted for the stimulus.)

-Senator McConnell Voted Against The Recovery Package Twice [Record Vote 59; Record Vote 60]

Those are but two examples from a Think Progress article, Blocking The Recovery While Reaping Its Benefits. These clowns — Yes! There are clowns in Congress — put party ahead of country. They left Democrats to do the heavy lifting, criticized them for spending, then reaped the benefits of the spending. That's shameless, two-faced, hypocrisy from House Republican and Senate Republican "leaders." It shows that their "principles" are nothing more than empty talking points. Alaska's Don Young is among the members of congress cited in the Think Progress article.


Video of The President's opening remarks

A transcript of The President's opening remarks

TV to Watch: Obama vs. House GOP - UPDATED

President Barack Obama spoke at the GOP House Issues Conference in Baltimore, Maryland, January 29, 2010.

The Atlantic's Heather Horn wrote, "The political story of the afternoon is President Obama's address to the House Republican retreat and the riveting Q&A session that followed. Commentators are delighted by the frank exchanges and unscripted debate that unfolded. Several are comparing it to the famous rough-and-tumble of British parliamentary politics. In fact, both liberals and conservatives want to see more, and there's a distinct bipartisan feeling that this may have been one of the president's better moves."

Here's The President's opening remarks:


Watch CBS News Videos Online


Here's the Q&A:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Salon's Mike Madden wrote,

The whole thing [Q&A] basically went like [this]: Republican asks obnoxious question rooted in Glenn Beck-ian talking points; Obama swats it away, makes the questioner look silly, and then smiles at the end. It got so bad, in fact, that Fox News cut away from the event before it was over. Democratic operatives around Washington watching it had pretty much the same reaction: "Where the hell has this guy been?" One source said GOP aides probably wished they'd spoken to John McCain "about what happened to him in the presidential debates" before they broadcast the event. "It's quite a show," a White House official said, apparently going for the same deadpan tone the president was.

At the conference, The President reiterated his State of the Union address plea for bipartisanship on health care and other economic issues: The confernce transcript; The full video of the conference.


I suspect that the "conservatives" hoping for more of this sort of interaction between the administration and the GOP are thinking conservatives, not the common-sense conservatives ideologues who get their news talking points from Fox. Good night, Mrs. Palin.


Update: Replaced the YouTube intro with CBS' original. Added Q&A from MSNBC.

Update: PolitiFact has fact-checked the Q&A and found Representative Price's assertion that there was a consensus in the administration that Republicans were trying to obstruct healthcare reform — were failing to offer ideas and solutions — was a true statement. PolitiFact did not find that the President's response to Price's initial question was false. The President truthfully answered Price's question. Essentially, after The President smacked-down Price's assertion that in his State of the Union address the President had said that Republicans hadn't offered any ideas or solutions, Price began whining about the administration's characterization of the Republicans' obstructionism during the legislative process.

Update: Andrew Sullivan asks his conservative and libertarian friends to look at the healthcare issue pragmatically rather than ideologically.

FBI/U.S. Marshalls Bust Conservative Activists - UPDATED

Four conservative activists were arrested for attempting to interfere with the telephones in Senator Mary Landrieu's New Orleans office. One of them is James O'Keefe, who posed as a pimp to target the community organizing group ACORN. Another is Robert Flanagan, the son of acting U.S. Atty. Bill Flanagan in Shreveport. A third is Joseph Basel. O'Keefe was in Landrieu's office when Flanagan and Basel arrived, claiming to be telephone repairmen. Stan Dai was not in the Senator's office, but was arrested, later, for assisting the others in planning, coordinating and preparing the operation.

Bill Flanagan has been serving as Acting U.S. Attorney since Donald Washington, who was appointed by George W. Bush, resigned on Monday, January 18th, 2010. President Obama nominated Stephanie Finley to replace Washington on Wednesday, January 20, 2010. She must be confirmed by the Senate before she can take the post.


Talking Points Memo has a story. TPM's rendering of the FBI's affidavit is here.

Andrew Brietbart, whose Big Government site published O'Keefe's pimp video states, "We have no knowledge about or connection to any alleged acts and events involving James O'Keefe at Senator Mary Landrieu's office." But, later, "I pay O'Keefe a salary."

Arrestees share a common experience as young ideologues writing for conservative publications.

The Leadership Institute.

The Pelican Institute.

Update: Bill Flanagan, William J. Flanagan, was a First Assistant U.S. Attorney, before becoming Acting U.S. Attorney in the wake of Washington's resignation. Flanagan is not a presidential appointee. William J. Flanagan, First AUSA. Is he this William J. Flanagan, a partner in a D.C. law firm?

Update: The arrestees were just trying to help. Sure they were.

Update: Full TPM coverage is here.

Update: The Times-Picayune broke the story and may have updates.

Haitian Earthquake: One Week Later

The devastation caused by the Haitian earthquake of last week is still visible. In this photo, an Israeli team is searching the rubble for survivors in what remains of a reinforced concrete building:

Photos: One Week After The Haitian Earthquake

The U.S. Military is providing humanitarian assistance:

"There is no 'easing' into the day here at the military encampment at the Port au Prince airport. Navy and Marine helos hit the deck here at 0630 sharp. There’s no snooze button on that alarm. You roll out of your cot, put the same uniform on that you’ve worn for the last 3 or 4 days. Does it stink? Who knows, everyone is in the same boat. This ain’t no formal dinner. These are bare base operations. Our focus is mission. Our mission is saving lives." — Chief Master Sergeant Tyler Foster

Dispatch from an Airman in Haiti — "One Life at a Time"

If you'd like more information or would like to contribute to the relief effort, USAID has an information and update page; its site also has information about how $10 can be quickly donated to the American Red Cross by sending a text message. Contributions to the American Red Cross can also be made at its Haiti Relief and Development webpage, which was found at the USAID site.


If you use French postage, collect stamps, or would like to help via La Poste, this stamp has been issued by France's Post Office.

It's an ordinary Marianne stamp with an extra label. Its price is one euro: 0.56 pays for postage; 0.44 is provided to the Red Cross of France. About seven million such stamps are expected to be sold. Via Álbum de Estampillas



Update: Watching Urban Change by Satellite: Google's satellite imagery has helped relief efforts.

Hawaiian Vacation: Obama Style

The Obama family is vacationing in Hawaii. They arrived the day before Christmas. Palin family copycats? No! The Obamas' vacation plans have been known for some time; the Palins slipped out of Alaska unannounced. In Hawaii eyes boost to tourism as Obama's vacation brings attention, we're told that Hawaii's tourism industry is hoping to get a boost from the Obama family's visit. A rush of vacationers isn't expected, but with much of the country experiencing cold weather, photos of the Obamas enjoying Hawaii's warm, sunny weather might appear in the media, reminding people that Hawaii offers great vacation experiences. In Taking Work Home (Even When Home Means Hawaii), we learn that, so far, Obama has been staying out of sight. Yesterday, he went to a Marine base, where Michelle worked-out and he played golf.

Before he arrived, Obama was concerned that he might not be able to go body surfing, like he did last year, due to Secret Service concerns. The President did say, however, "I will definitely be enjoying some sun." The Coast Guard has setup a security zone around the Obamas' vacation home, so there is yet some hope that he will be able to enjoy the water. Obama low-profile on Hawaii vacation, but security isn't, provides additional information about the security implications of the President's visit.

President Obama was born in Hawaii. In June of this year, the Obamas hosted a luau at the White House, and, during an earlier visit to Hawaii, the Obamas enjoyed some Waiola Shave Ice.

The Hawaii Convention and Visitors Bureau has setup a website, Barack Obama's Hawaii, which may post news and links to the First Family's visit. It has an extensive collection of photos and links to stories about his life in Hawaii. The Honolulu Advertiser already has Obama Ohana Comes Home 2009 up, with photos, links and news; it may be the best place to find news and photo updates.

Despite all the gawkers and paparazzi out, trying to get a glimpse of the Obamas, it's doubtful that they'll quit their vacation. We shall see. The vacation ends January 2, 2010.

Lie of the Year

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PolitiFact, a 2009 Pulitzer Prize winner, has given each of these statements a False or Pants-on-Fire rating. One of them will receive Lie of the Year award:

"When one person sneezes, it goes all the way through the aircraft."
-- Joe Biden on Thursday, April 30, 2009, in an interview on The Today Show

Preventive care "saves money."
-- Barack Obama on Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2009, in a speech to Congress

"You lie!" (in response to President Obama saying health reform would not insure illegal immigrants.)
-- Joe Wilson on Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2009, in the audience at a joint session of Congress

Seniors and the disabled "will have to stand in front of Obama's 'death panel' so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their 'level of productivity in society,' whether they are worthy of health care."
-- Sarah Palin on Friday, Aug. 7, 2009, in a message posted on Facebook

John Holdren, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, "has proposed forcing abortions and putting sterilants in the drinking water to control population."
-- Glenn Beck on Wednesday, July 22, 2009, in his TV program

An amendment to the House health reform bill "puts new restrictions on women's access to abortion coverage in the private health insurance market even when they would pay premiums with their own money."
-- Nita Lowey on Saturday, Nov. 7, 2009, in a speech on the House floor

A birth certificate shows Barack Obama was born in Kenya.
-- Orly Taitz on Sunday, Aug. 2, 2009, in an attachment to a lawsuit

Page 92 of the House health care bill "says specifically that people can't purchase private health insurance after a date certain."
-- Michele Bachmann on Friday, Oct. 30, 2009, in an interview on the Fox News Channel.

The rating for each statement can be found at PolitiFact, along with an explanation of the lie. If you can't decide which is Lie of the Year, here is the spoiler.

Bonus: This story will be on NPR's All Things Considered, which may be available here.
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