The Economy or Iraq?

In recent days, there has been much public discussion as to which issue, the economy or the possibility of war with Iraq, will be decisive in the November elections. Polls show that Americans tend to rate congressional Republicans as better able to deal with issues of foreign policy, including the war on terrorism. At the same time, Americans tend to rate Democrats as better able to deal with domestic issues such as Social Security, education, and healthcare. Thus, it is generally assumed that if voters are mostly concerned about a possible war with Iraq, they will be more likely to vote for Republicans, and if they are mostly concerned about domestic issues, they will vote for Democrats.

But the current results suggest a somewhat different scenario. According to the poll, Democrats enjoy an electoral advantage among those who care most deeply about the economy and those most concerned with the possibility of war with Iraq, suggesting that there may be a protest vote on both issues. Likely voters who cite Iraq as the most important issue, for example, oppose invading that country by a two-to-one margin, 66% to 33%. They also indicate they would vote for Democrats over Republicans by a 16-point margin, 56% to 40%. By contrast, among all likely voters, opinion on war with Iraq is evenly divided (47% favor invasion, 46% oppose), as is the vote for the two parties.

Vote Choice in Congressional Elections Compared by Most Important Issue to Voter

Oct 3-6, 2002

Via Gallup.com

Historical Walking Tour

New York City Vacation Packages is conducting professionally-guided walking tours of Lower Manhattan, including a visit to "Ground Zero" from the official viewing area. The past does make a difference! Visit the single most historic area in the United States. Learn more about the exciting history of NYC and America -- you will care more about this very special and precious place in American History. Visit the former site of the WORLD TRADE CENTER TWIN TOWERS where you will be afforded an excellent permitted view of the 16 acre scene of great heroism and tragedy.


"Nine-eleven is part of modern history; it has been embedded in our memory, and people will always want to come to visit it," said Barry Tenenbaum, a native New Yorker and president of New York City Vacation Packages, a tour operator that has organized walking tours of Lower Manhattan and ground zero since January. "People are going to go down there regardless," he said. "We're just helping them to do it in a respectful way while exposing them to the history of Lower Manhattan that they didn't know about."

Tenenbaum, a history buff, feels that it is Lower Manhattan's legacy of great men such as Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton that makes tourists realize the impact that the terrorist attacks made on American freedom. His tours present ground zero as part of a continuum of the area's history.

Conveniently Timed

Bush is busy piling enough manpower and armor around the Persian Gulf region to pull off practically any regime change, according to an Oct. 14 AP report in Newsday.

Under the guise of field training, tens of thousands of U.S. troops pumped full of vaccines against anthrax and other killer chemical agents are quietly surrounding Saddam Hussein on aircraft carriers, in special operation ground assault troops, and with all the gear that comprises the rear. Why, even America’s current celebrity war commander in waiting—Gen. Tommy Franks—will pick up and move his command post to that new airbase in Qatar next month. Simply a test of the new deployable headquarters, said Franks, who painted the strategic positioning of his h.q. as some kind of lucky coincidence. "This just happens to be a very good time, a very good place and a very good way" to do the exercise, Franks said.

Sign of the Times

The first anti-terrorism retail store in America?

Where else but NYC.

People walk past the new Safer America store in New York's financial district Tuesday.

Whether you're looking for a Biohazard suit, Potassium iodide pills, a parachute for jumping from a burning high-rise building, you can now find it all under one roof. New Yorkers need not worry about their emergency-preparedness shopping, Safer America is now open for business..

(AP Photo)

"We want to empower the public," said Harvey Kushner, the terrorism pundit and a co-owner of the store. "The fear factor can be crippling. We believe the public needs and wants to have some control of their own destiny. If the world was in different, more pristine times, these products wouldn't be necessary."

Kushner, the author of several books on terrorism and a staple of television talk shows, said the store brings gear that has long been the province of mail-order companies into a more conventional retail market.

Customers will be trained to use the equipment properly, as well as offered safety seminars.

Psycho

There’s a story about the sniper case in USA Today that touches on something a friend and I were discusing today.

Newsweek magazine put the sniper on the cover this week with the headline: The Tarot Card Killer, a reference to a tarot ''Death'' card found at the scene of one of the shootings last week.

The New York Post calls him the Beltway Psycho Sniper or the Psycho Sniper. CNN and Time magazine weighed in with the Beltway Sniper.

But criminologists and investigators in the case fret that enhancing the sniper's public persona by giving him any nickname may only encourage him to keep shooting.

Notorious crime figures have been attracting nicknames since Jack the Ripper prowled the streets of Victorian London.


In the 1970s, the New York City news media named David Berkowitz, who fatally shot six people in New York City in 1976 and 1977, Son of Sam, after Berkowitz referred to himself as ''Sam's creation'' in a series of bizarre notes he wrote to newspapers and the police.

Howard Kurtz, critic for The Washington Post, says the news media can't help themselves when it comes to giving a killer some title, especially in the age of cable television, when every story has its own logo.
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In a related story, CNN's Larry king spoke to criminologist Jack Levin last evening about the sniper:

KING: Is he definitely -- are there certain definite things about him? Is he definitely white? Is he definitely angry? And he is definitely crazy?

LEVIN: Well, he's definitely not crazy. He may be white. You know if he were a guy with an AK-47 who went into a shopping mall and sprayed bullets at everything that moved we'd say, you know, he's psychotic. He's crazy. He talks to dogs. He hallucinates. He hears voices in an empty room commanding him to kill.

Full transcript Here

Kung Fool

The Associated Press reports that a holloween costume distributor said Wednesday it has stopped shipping its "Kung Fool" outfit to retailers after Asian-American groups complained it was racist.

Groups including the Organization of Chinese Americans, the National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium and the National Asian American Student Conference said the Halloween costume perpetuates stereotypes. They also called for Disguise Inc. to remove it from retail stores.

The company, headquartered in Poway, Calif., said the adult costume -- which includes a mask with buckteeth and slanted-eyes -- has already been shipped to retailers across the country, including Party City and Wal-Mart. No more will be distributed.

In protest of the costume, the Asian-American news Web site Yellowworld.org started an online petition drive. "Asian-Americans don't want to be Halloween masks," said Elbert Oh, founder of the site.

I'm sure this controversy will cause these costumes to fly off the shelves. looks like someone on E Bay has already jumped on the band wagon.

The drums of War

[An Iraqi woman fires into the air from her Baghdad balcony yesterday in celebration of Saddam Hussein’s victory.]
(AP Photo)

There was only ever going to be one result: Every single one of the 11,445,638 eligible voters came to the polls, and every single one voted 'yes' to seven more years of Saddam Hussein's presidency, Iraqi officials said.

"Someone who does not know the Iraqi people, he will not believe this percentage, but it is real," said Izzat Ibrahim, Hussein's top lieutenant. "Whether it looks that way to someone or not. We don't have opposition in Iraq."

The result left some of the hundreds of foreign journalists invited to observe the referendum wondering what statement the Iraqi president might be making to the world with this unprecedented unanimous approval. Surely he could not hope to convince the world that every single person in his country stands by his side. More important, perhaps, was another message: Hussein still retains absolute power inside Iraq, and if the United States believes it finds him at a moment of weakness, it is wrong. [more]

Via NY Newsday

In a related story, The Associated Press has this article

Facing strong opposition from dozens of nations, the United States has backed down from its demand that a new U.N. resolution must explictly authorize military force if Iraq fails to cooperate with U.N. weapons inspectors, diplomats said Thursday.

That seems like a good development, I just don't feel that tough wording explicitly threatening Iraq upfront is a necessarily a good diplomatic move from the global perspective, we've been down that route before.

Decisions

We know drugs are illegal as of course they should be.

What possible fun could they be?

How much fun is it to suck clouds of acrid smoke into your lungs?

Sniff abrasive acidic crystals into the sensitive linings of your nostrils.

Ram a razor sharp needle into your veins.

The actual physiological effects are as much fun as doing figure eights upside down in a rickety biplane. I'm saying.

Afroman makes the point better Here.

Up in the sky ... it's ...

The Anchorage Daily News reported yesterday that over the past weeks, several residents of southwestern Alaska have reported seeing "a huge bird that's much bigger than anything they have seen before." These are people, keep in mind, who live in big-bird country, and who are quite used to seeing eagles and the like. But this thing? Estimates put the wingspan at some 14 feet.

The scientific community, of course, is pooh-poohing the reports because it’s their job to do so—until it’s too late.

"I'm certainly not aware of anything with a 14-foot wingspan that's been alive for the last 100,000 years," said a federal raptor specialist.

Mr. Raptor specialist, I’m sure there are several cryptozoologists around the country who would beg to differ.

Who knows, maybe Rodan is back.

Lord Help Us

Whatever happened to good old fashion manners? seems to have disappeared entirely, at least in my neck of the woods it has.

No more cheery greeting of a stranger on a sunny Sunday morning.

No more offers of helping old ladies across the street.

No more polite smiles as you cross paths in the street.

No more asking for directions or giving them.

No more showing interest in children and parents playing in the park.

What the hell?

Avert your eyes, turn the cold shoulder, harden your heart, listen to no one, respond to nothing, hurry on. Helpfulness is a risk.