Month: September 2005

The “refugee” debate

Did you know that the word “refugee” was racist[*1] ? I didn’t, either.

News organizations are struggling for the right word.

Many, including the Associated Press, have used “refugee” to describe those displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

But the choice has stirred anger among some, particularly in the black community. They argue “refugee” implies the displaced storm victims, many of whom are black, are second-class citizens — or not even Americans.

“It is racist to call American citizens refugees,” the Rev. Jesse Jackson said, visiting the Houston Astrodome on Monday. Members of the Congressional Black Caucus have expressed similar sentiments.

If Jesse Jackson wants to find racism, he should start by looking in the mirror. Personally, I prefer the terms”victims” or “evacuees,” as “refugee” tends to have a political component which does not exist here. In fact, I could easily argue that race-baters and witch-hunters should prefer the more politically charged “refugee” label to the more accurate “victim/evacuee” terms

“Refugee” is inaccurate. It isn’t racist.

White Sox 6, Royals 5

Another day, another Royals loss[*1] :

Emil Brown and John Buck each had two-run homers for the Royals, who have dropped four of five. Kansas City starter Jose Lima (5-14) got tagged with the loss after allowing five runs and 10 hits in six innings.

Royals need to go 19-7 to avoid 100 losses. That ain’t gonna happen.

The Kansas City Hornets?

The Kansas City Star reports that Kansas City offers Kemper Arena[*1] as a part-time home for the New Orleans Hornets of the NBA:

Kansas City is one of several non-NBA cities volunteering their facilities to the Hornets. Oklahoma City, San Diego and Nashville have made offers, though it’s more likely the club would prefer to remain closer to home and play at LSU’s Pete Maravich Assembly Center in Baton Rouge or the University of Southwestern Louisiana’s Cajundome in Lafayette.

“We’ve made clear that we certainly would be responsive to that opportunity,” Barnes said Tuesday. “On the other hand, I understand that the team might very well want to be as close to New Orleans as possible. I think we’ve done everything that is appropriate for us to do, which is express our willingness to have the Hornets be here for a period of time.”

SportzAssassin has an opinion about the Hornets’ owner George Shinn:

Most people around the organization and the league do say that this is all just rumors. The team has a long lease with the city and received a lot of fabulous cash and prizes for arriving on the Bayou.

And like a plague of locusts, Shinn is trying to go around the country and kill the NBA dreams of various cities. Though Charlotte has the brand spanking new Bobcats [and the new arena Shinn wanted]….attendance is still under 15,000. Only New Orleans, the ho-hum Hawks, the aforementioned Magic and the soon-to-be moving-to-Brooklyn Nets have smaller numbers attending games. But Shinn broke a lot of hearts in Charlotte….and some that are slow to accept a new team.

I stil would rather see an NHL team in Kansas City than an NBA team–even a part-time temporary NBA team.

Airlines in trouble

Three American airlines are teetering on the brink, and it’s uncertain that any of them will survive in their current form.

Delta[*1] sells planes, cuts back its Cincinaati hub in their battle to avoid bankruptcy:

Delta said that beginning Dec. 1, it will reduce mainline and Delta Connection carrier capacity in Cincinnati by 26 percent, while boosting the percentage of local traffic from 36 to nearly 50 percent.
. . .
In addition, Delta said it will accelerate the removal from service of its Boeing 767-200 aircraft type, the least efficient wide-body aircraft in its fleet. These aircraft are scheduled to be removed from service by Dec. 1, 2005, with the majority to be sold to ABX Air Inc.

United[*2] struggles to emerge from bankruptcy:

“People who assume that this is a done deal are making a mistake,” said bankruptcy expert Bill Brandt, president and CEO of Chicago-based restructuring firm Development Specialists Inc. “It’s a starting point, a structure. … In many ways, for many of the parties in this case, it’s ‘Game on.”‘

The bankruptcy overhaul, initially expected to last 18 months, is now ensured to take more than three years– complicated by higher fuel prices, the difficulties in obtaining two rounds of labor cuts and the failure to secure federal loan guarantees.

Northwest[*3] machinists strike drags on:

Several dozen strikers, members of the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association, hurl insults at the “scabs” in the buses and flash hand gestures their mothers might not approve of.
. . .
Judging from recent activity at the airport, travelers go about their business largely unaffected by the strike. The two sides have no plans to resume negotiations on a contract that would eliminate jobs and cut pay.

Morning Whip, September 6, 2005

#10: “Buttock-vibrating technology”
#9: Drink on, Big Easy
#8: Eat them hot dogs, they’re good for you
#7: Olive oil: anti-inflammatory?
#6: Oil for food
#5: European Katrina aid held up, Bush not blamed
#4: What about Mississippi?
#3: General Honore and the Half-Wit Press
#2: Najaf base transferred to Iraqis
#1: Levee progress in New Orleans

Drink on, Big Easy

Via Reason Hit and Run[*1] , this CNN.com story[*2] :

Except for wind damage, the Quarter stayed high and dry and so did Molly’s and Johnny White’s. And both were back in business Monday, August 29, with little apparent damage despite a lack of electricity and running water.

“That’s our job. That’s just what we do,” Molly’s owner Jim Monaghan, 47, said.

Molly’s somehow managed to serve iced drinks Sunday to a mixed crowd of die-hard locals, visiting authorities and the media gaggle. Monaghan wouldn’t say where he got the ice, and any inquisitors didn’t much care.

“Buttock-vibrating technology”

Car makers look at seat vibrators[*1] to warn drivers that they’re tailgating.

So, there is some method to all this buttock-shaking madness. For his part, Dr Spence is examining the possibility of vibrating other bits of the vehicle, including the seat belt, pedals and steering wheel. Spence says that one Japanese manufacturers claims all cars will be fitted with tactile warning systems by 2010, so don’t say we didn’t warn you.

Fark’s headline: “Future cars will have seats that vibrate when the driver is following too closely. So get used to women drivers tailgating you.” Okay, then . . .

Eat them hot dogs, they’re good for you

Sodium nitrite[*1] , common preservative added to processed meats, appears to have some healthful benefits:

The scientists are so convinced of nitrite’s promise that lead researcher Dr. Mark T. Gladwin says the government will pursue drug development on its own if necessary.

“We are turning organs into hot dogs,” Gladwin jokes. Then he turns serious: “We think we stumbled into an innate protection mechanism.”

If it works, “this drug would be pennies to dollars per day,” says Dr. Christian Hunter of California’s Loma Linda University. By January, Hunter hopes to begin studies of nitrite treatment for babies with an often fatal disease called pulmonary hypertension. “It’s so easy to use.”

Gladwin and an NIH cardiologist, Dr. Richard Cannon III, discovered nitrite’s effect by accident while studying a related compound, nitric oxide, long known to improve blood flow by dilating blood vessels, but difficult to use as a drug.

Gladwin and Cannon injected sodium nitrite into healthy volunteers. Tiny doses almost tripled blood flow. Moreover, when people exercised, nitrite levels plummeted in the muscles being worked — the body was using it.