America, 2006: "Can't anybody here play this game?"
Amazin'.
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President Bush is threatening to veto Rep. Mike Castle's bill to lift the Bush administration's limits on federally funds for research involving embryonic stem cells. Reporting on this has uniformly treated this as a typical instance of a president threatening a veto — but it's not.
George W. Bush has been in office for more than five years. During those five years he has repeatedly threatened to veto legislation he doesn't like.
But he never has. Not once.
Bush is the first American president never to veto a bill since James A. Garfield, who was shot less than four months after taking office.
This is extraordinary, or at the least, remarkable. So how come reporters routinely fail to remark on it? How many hollow veto threats do they need to witness before they begin to treat such threats with a minimum of journalistic skepticism?
If this turns out, in fact, to be the precedent-setting, first-ever veto threat from President Bush that was more than hollow bluster and hot air, then that too would be remarkable. Think anybody'll bother remarking on it?
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Shiny Penny passes along this tip: the video game "Left Behind: Eternal Forces" only has white characters.
The game's producer says they're working on adding diversity in the expansion packs. In the meantime, I suppose, gamers will just have to assume that all nonwhite people have been raptured.
John H. sends along a game review suggesting it may not be all that bad — at least not as bad as the books.
I especially liked this note:
The game is shipping with a number of different SKUs. Some will include a free Bible, others a free copy of the first book and still others cheat codes.
So you can get the Bible, or cheat codes, or a book by people who think they've figured out the cheat codes to the Bible.
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CHINO columnist Richard D. Lamm says, "History shows … that no nation can survive the tension, conflict and antagonism of two competing languages and cultures."
To which I say, "Cau dy ben a stedd ar hwn, haliwr."
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So, Joss, Why do you write these strong female characters?
And if you've ever wondered what happened to all those potential slayers after the final episode of Buffy, here's one of them — playing guitar in Massachusetts.
(Both links via.)
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Avuncular Republican Rep. Mike Castle may be the most popular person in his home state of Delaware, in part because he comes across as a nice guy — moderate in temperament as well as in his politics.
Here's how a nice guy nicely and politely calls bullshit on the two-faced head of his own party:
Rep. Mike Castle, R-Del., who authored the original bill, said he expects the president to veto the embryonic bill quietly, then hold a signing ceremony for the adult stem cell bill, touting his support for stem cell research.
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Many company buyouts are designed to usher older workers out the door. Older workers typically earn more than their younger counterparts. They're also more likely to have health problems, which raise the cost of company-provided health care. Here are some strategies to help you demonstrate you're worth keeping:
• Participate in your company's training and development programs. …
• Make sure your experience is recognized. In your performance reviews, point out "things you do and you know that no one else can do and no one else knows" …
This is from Mindy Fetterman, Sandra Block and John Waggoner of USA Today — three employees of the Gannett Corporation. As reward for their years of loyal service, their appointments with the Two Bobs have been scheduled tomorrow morning for 9:05, 9:10 and 9:15, respectively.
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