Quotulatiousness

March 1, 2010

Christopher Hitchens’ retrospective on the life of Alexander Haig

Filed under: Government, History, Politics, USA — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 09:30

Christopher Hitchens does not come to praise (a would-be) Caesar, but to bury him . . . good and deep:

“Nobody has a higher opinion of General Alexander Haig than I do,” I once wrote. “And I think he is a homicidal buffoon.” I did not then realize that this view of mine was at least partly shared by so many senior figures on the American right.

When I moved to Washington in the very early years of Ronald Reagan’s tenure, I was pretty sure that Haig, then secretary of state, was delusional (and not even in a good way). What I would not have believed then was what has become apparent since — that his boss, Ronald Reagan, often felt the same way.

And this is the nice part of the biography. Go read the whole thing.

February 7, 2010

Philippine music critics over-react to “My Way” karaoke

Filed under: Asia — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 15:14

I’m not a karaoke fan, but even I think that this is a bit of over-reaction to bad singing:

The authorities do not know exactly how many people have been killed warbling “My Way” in karaoke bars over the years in the Philippines, or how many fatal fights it has fueled. But the news media have recorded at least half a dozen victims in the past decade and includes them in a subcategory of crime dubbed the “My Way Killings.”

The killings have produced urban legends about the song and left Filipinos groping for answers. Are the killings the natural byproduct of the country’s culture of violence, drinking and machismo? Or is there something inherently sinister in the song?

Whatever the reason, many karaoke bars have removed the song from their playbooks. And the country’s many Sinatra lovers, like Mr. Gregorio here in this city in the southernmost Philippines, are practicing self-censorship out of perceived self-preservation.

Karaoke-related killings are not limited to the Philippines. In the past two years alone, a Malaysian man was fatally stabbed for hogging the microphone at a bar and a Thai man killed eight of his neighbors in a rage after they sang John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads.” Karaoke-related assaults have also occurred in the United States, including at a Seattle bar where a woman punched a man for singing Coldplay’s “Yellow” after criticizing his version.

H/T to Walter Olsen for the link.

November 3, 2009

When they say “Don’t touch anything”, they mean it

Filed under: Military — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 13:11

This man didn’t pay attention, and took a more exciting ride than he expected:

It probably is best not to fiddle with switches or controls when riding in the back seat of an air force plane.

A man who failed to obey that principle found himself hurtling out of the cockpit, smashing through the Perspex canopy and into space after grabbing the black- and yellow-striped handle between his legs. He had inadvertently pulled the eject lever and found himself blasted 100 metres into the sky on his rocket-powered seat.

The South African air force has confirmed the incident that took place last Wednesday, when the passenger took off for a flight with an experienced pilot from South Africa’s Silver Falcons air display team. Investigators are assuming that the passenger tried to steady himself while the pilot was putting the Pilatus PC-7 Mk II through its paces by grabbing the eject lever.

The passenger survived, with only minor injuries. That’s more than a little surprising:

“We train for this and if you don’t get it right, and are not in the correct ejection posture, you can sustain severe spinal cord injuries or even worse.”

H/T to Jeff Scarbrough for the link.

September 8, 2009

Follow-up on the Fire Chief who was shot in court . . . by the police

Filed under: Law — Tags: , — Nicholas @ 18:21

The situation isn’t any less surreal than the original report. Kevin Drum provides an update:

He’s OK, but the police department, which was already in deep trouble for its habit of ticketing everything on wheels that rolled through Jericho, has been disbanded and all outstanding tickets have been voided. The town’s part-time judge has quit too. And nobody knows what’s happened to all the ticket revenue.

September 4, 2009

“They shot him. Right there in court.”

Filed under: Law — Tags: , — Nicholas @ 12:54

Radley Balko links to the weirdest “cops gone wild” story I’ve encountered in quite a while:

It was just too much, having to return to court twice on the same day to contest yet another traffic ticket, and Fire Chief Don Payne didn’t hesitate to tell the judge what he thought of the police and their speed traps.

The response from cops? They shot him. Right there in court.

Note also the fascinating fact that there are 7 police officers watching over a population of 174 people. That’s an amazing level of “protection” those folks are getting.

Original story here.

Update: Bonus story from Radley’s site, Feds bust doctor for . . . meeting women on the internet. Amazing. Just freakin’ amazing.

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