Lee Emmerich Jamison
Mark Twain said that there were..."lies, damned lies, and statistics." Oh, that his wit could have been applied to some of the modern world's notions of the sciences. When I was a student at Centenary College of Louisiana Economics was "the dismal science". "Political Science" was a punch line. Both statements remain true today. Unfortunately society has since been indoctrinated to speaking these course names with a straight face.Lee Emmerich Jamison
In the summer of 1995 I wrote an article for the Huntsville Item about the then-current state of affairs in what was widely referred to as "PLAMEGATE" in the Washington-New York-Boston center of the known universe. The issue at hand was who "outed" CIA agent Valerie Plame. The problem, as I saw it then, was that there so clearly was NO STORY. Virtually all of Plame's aquaintances knew she worked for the CIA. It was common knowledge, too, that she has been "under cover" (Her children even famously spouted off as much in the Boston Airport about the time this article was written.)
This is all current today because the only person indicted in the witchunt for a way to put Karl Rove in jail, Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, Scooter Libby, is now on trial for perjury. Was he the leaker? No. Everybody who does not depend on the network news shows or the front pages of a major liberal newspaper for their news now knows not only that Richard L. Armitage admitted in September that he was the leaker, but we now know that Plamegate special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald KNEW FROM DAY ONE that he was the leaker. Libby's prosecution turns on whether he really remembered who first told him Valerie Plame was a spy and when or if he really forgot and misreported his first knowlege during the unnecessary investigation.
This blog is not just about whatever pops into my head. It is about prejudice, bigotry, and how some people use those foibles to empower themselves. I have stated that bigotry is the bias we can't see in the mirror. That is an innocent form. There is a form that is simply unmitigated evil, though, and this series of events is a clear case of a bigoted media mis-, dis-, and un-informing us for the sake of practicing and keeping power for themselves and their friends.
I re-print the article exactly as I first submitted it below.
Lee Emmerich Jamison
Jeanne Calment died in August of 1997 at the age of 122. Her short reign as the world's oldest person had followed that of a gentleman believed to have been 127. Emma Faust Tillman became the oldest person this week at age 114. This is a troubling situation.
In somewhat less than ten years the age of the world’s oldest person has fallen by eight years, (or five more if you count the gentleman who surrendered the crown to Calment). At this rate, by the more optimistic assumption, the human race will become extinct by 2150. Assuming the more drastic rate of decline we will all kick the bucket in 2094.
On hearing this news Al Gore stated this would be a significant contribution to stemming global warming, but he still felt additional steps should be taken.
Lee Emmerich Jamison
Many, well make that nearly all, of you do not know that from about the year 800 A.D. to about the year 1150A.D. the Earth was warmer than it is today. Yes, warmer even than today. There were vineyards growing wine grapes north of London in that time, something done nowhere on the British Isles today. Someone with a keen ear to the ground of history will note something else about that period that has been poorly taught from the English-speaking perspective. It was a time during which a people disciplined into efficiency by a harsh environment were permitted by a period of unaccustomed plenty to impose that skill on their neighbors. In doing so they revolutionized European government. They also provided for us an object lesson in what government really always threatens to become- the only formally sanctioned criminal activity.
The following column (hereinafter referred to as "The Column") may contain elements of humor and/or serious commentary. The reader is under no obligation to read this product. As a voluntary user of this product the reader is advised that he/she proceeds at his/her own risk. No warranty is made or implied as to the universal appeal of elements intended as humor, or those intended as serious commentary, nor is any warranty made or implied as to distinct divisions between elements intended as humor and elements intended as commentary. Failure on the part of the reader to detect disernable differences between humorous and serious passages and/or elements shall not be deemed a defect in this product for legal purposes. Nor shall such failure be deemed to imply a defect in the reader.
