Henry Kissinger Violating Campaign Finance Laws?

Fun and games with online campaign contribution web site. If you go to www.fundrace.org you can search for who is contributing to whom, and how much. On a lark, I did a Neighbor Search inputting "Henry Kissinger" and turned up the following:

• HENRY A. KISSINGER - CHAIRMAN
  KISSINGER ASSOCIATES, INC. 350 PARK Ave, NEW YORK, NY 10022
  George W. Bush
  $1,000



• HENRY A. KISSINGER - CHAIRMAN
  KISSINGER ASSOCIATES, INC. 350 PARK Ave, NEW YORK, NY 10022
  George W. Bush
  $1,000



• HENRY A. KISSINGER - CHAIRMAN
  KISSINGER ASSOCIATES, INC. 350 PARK Ave, NEW YORK, NY 10022
  George W. Bush
  $1,000

If I understand the current contribution limits established by law Kissinger should only be allowed to give $2,000 per election and is thus in violation. However, the existing law has a footnote that I don't quite understand:

Individual contribution limits under the new law are higher to candidates facing wealthy opponents financing their own election.

I like to think the worst of folks, so let's just pile on a little more criminal activity for which Dr. Strangelove won't see any prosecutorial grief.

True Tales of the Reference Desk

I've often said that one's profession skews your sense of reality and humanity. Think. A dentist has to think that everyone has bad teeth (most of what he does is encounter and deal with people with teeth problems). An MD must think everyone is in ill health (most of the people in good health won't come and see him, right?). I shudder to think of a gynecologist's world view! A librarian? We really think everyone is stupid - we don't deal much with those of you who are intelligent; you ask a question, get some assistance, and carry on smartly. Mostly, we deal with morons who don't know how to zip up their pants or put in tampons. A case in point ...

It's Saturday and I've got the entire 9am - 5pm desk shift to myself. Occasional "where's the bathroom?" questions are spiced up by showing the "cute chix" at the circulation desk how to create faux barcodes in order to steal books is suddenly ground into reality when SHE shows up.

SHE: Where's your stuff on the Praxis exam? (note: Missouri ed certificate certification exam.)

ME: I can look up what we have, but we don't have much since we have a separate education library on the South Campus. Even if I find something it's probably there. (I look up "praxis" and "education" and sure enough determine that all the relevant materials are on the South Campus.)

SHE: You know, it would really make sense if you had stuff in this library on the Praxis exam.

ME: We don't have infinite space. In fact, we ship stuff off to the Depository Library in order to keep adding stuff in this building. That's why we have a separate Education Library - it's designed to house the materials for Education students.

SHE: Well, I'm taking the exam right now (!) and during the break I thought I'd get some help on the test. You people on this side of the campus have always hated us. I've written lots of letters to the administration on this in the last 20 years I've been a student here (!).

ME: Um, OK. Do you want to register a complaint?

SHE: No, it's just really obvious you don't want to help education students.

WHAT I REALLY WANTED TO SAY ...

SHE: Where's your stuff on the Praxis exam? (note: Missouri ed certificate certification exam.)

ME: Go to the South Campus Education Library. They can help you with this.

SHE: You know, it would really make sense if you had stuff in this library on the Praxis exam.

ME: Glad you know better how to manage our library than we do. When we have infinite space and infinite funding, we'll have everything that everybody wants.

SHE: Well, I'm taking the exam right now (!) and during the break I thought I'd get some help on the test. You people on this side of the campus have always hated us. I've written lots of letters to the administration on this in the last 20 years I've been a student here (!).

ME: What? You didn't prepare properly for the exam and you're looking to cheat on it right now? What's your problem? We don't hate education students, but you're a typical example of what a bunch of morons want to become teachers. "Those who can, do, those who can't, teach." Ever hear of that? And what's this 20 years bullshit? Who spends 20 years pursuing a degree? I'll tell you: repressed wannabe intellectuals who don't have the chops to pull it off. Um, OK. Do you want to register a complaint?

SHE: No, it's just really obvious you don't want to help education students.

ME: Fuck off, twit. Either get yourself committed, find some idiot guy to give his first blowjob so you can be taken care of for life, or face up to the fact that in the next five years you're going to be focussing on which exhaust grate in downtown is warmest as you try to figure out how you became homeless.

SHE: But I'm a taxpayer! You HAVE to help me!

ME: Here's your dime (reach in my pocket, pull it out, press it into her palm).

Brutal Historic Florentine Soccer

Originally submitted to Everything2.com Jan. 23, 2002.

Calcio storico fiorentino means "historic Florentine soccer." It is a wonderfully brutal reenactment of an early version of soccer. It is held annually in the historic piazzas of Florence, Italy. The four quarters of the city hold a tournament to win the palio, or prize, which is an ox.

Each quarter's team is referred to by the name of the quarter of the city, as well as by their colors.

• Santa Croce / azzurro (blue)
  
• Santa Maria Novella / rosso (red)
  
• Santo Spirito / biancho (white)
  
• San Giovanni / verde (green)
  

Often, the cheers during a match directed from one quarter to another are unabashedly obscene, such as one chanted to the Santa Croce squad thus:

Azzurro, azzurro, va fa'n culo!
(Blue, blue, go fuck yourself in the anus)

Or this one towards the poor "greens" of San Giovanni:

San Giovani, Giovani, figli di puttane!
(San Giovanni, Giovani, sons of whores!)

Originally played as a post Lenten celebration in the 1500's, calcio storico fell into disuse with a final match played in 1739. Under the fascist regime of Benito Mussolini, calcio storico was revived almost 200 years later in 1930 as a glorification of Italian culture.

Each squad consists of 27 players. The goal stretches the width of the field at each end, with points scored thus:

• Ball in goal = 2 points for scoring team
  
• Ball over goal = 1/2 point for opposing team
  

There are no other discernible rules. Unlike modern soccer there are no restrictions concerning parts of the body that may be used to strike the ball. Likened to a combination of wrestling, rugby, and soccer, calcio storico when played looks like a mass riot.

The game is approximately 50 minutes in duration. The referee carries a sword and needs it. Typically, the only reason fist fights on the field cease is because the referee throws the ball high into the air thus presenting an opportunity to score for the greater glory of the quartiere; much scrambling, including thrown elbows, fists, and knees, ensues.

Calcio storico fiorentino is a mix of brutality and beauty. A parade of the nobles and officials of Florence, all wearing medieval costume, precedes the event. Many of those marching are the direct descendents of the Medici and other noble Florentine families of the city's past. The players complete the pageantry by competing in short pantaloons and otherwise authentic costume.

The match I observed in the late 1980's was played beneath the stars and the stern gaze of the statue of Dante Alighieri in Piazza Santa Croce. The contest was between what we were told were the two poorest quarters of the city, the "Blues" of Santa Croce and the "Greens" of San Giovanni. I confess not knowing who won, but it was obvious by the genuine tears of anguish being shed by the losing fans that the contest was taken seriously by the locals.

A similar, and better known celebration is the Palio di Siena wherein the various districts of Siena, Italy, compete in a brutal horse race. The Palio di Siena is the oldest of such celebrations in Italy and is often referred to merely by the single word, palio.

Information for this submission came from personal memories, as well as the Italian language web site for calcio storico fiorentino at

http://www.globeit.it/caf/

Stop and get your free fag bag : Careless matches aid the Axis.

Hirshman, Louis, artist. [Pennsylvania : WPA War Services Project, between 1941 and 1943]

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA

DIGITAL ID
(color film copy slide) cph 3b49005 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3b49005

On the stealing of books

Don't do this. Really.

But. Curiously enough:

If you go to the barcodes, inc. web site (coincidentally linked from the Jeebus Saves logo at the top of this blog) you can create barcodes. Many libraries use the "Code 39" symbology set. Barcodes are typically affixed to library books and scanned by laser beam when books are checked out and in. If you know a book's barcode number (printed beneath the barcode) you can create a duplicate at this web site . . .

Affix the duplicate to, say, a reference book that doesn't circulate. Check out the reference book (when scanned the REAL book will indicate as checked out). Leave.

Come back. Go to the book you "checked out" and put it in the RETURN slot. The book's barcode will be scanned. The book is checked back in.

Don't be a dick. Bring the reference book back to the library.

Make a barcode. Take it to a tattoo parlor. Have it affixed to your body. Befriend a librarian. Have them scan you.

The Plasmatics

Originally posted on www.everything2.com on April 23, 2002
http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1290119&displaytype=printable

Debuting at New York's CBGB on July 26, 1978, The Plasmatics are best classified as a post-Sex Pistols, sex and violence, heavy metal, performance art musical group. The original members consisted of Wendy O. Williams (vocals and chainsaw), Richie Stotts (guitar), Wes Beech (guitar), Stu Deutsch (drums), and Chosei Funahara (bass guitar). Funahara was later replaced on bass by Jean Beauvoir.

Wendy Orlean(s) Williams was born in Webster, NY on May 28, 1949. She died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in Storrs, Connecticut on April 6, 1998. Williams was considered the most striking of the group's members and was the group's lead vocalist. While on stage, the statuesque mohawked blonde used strategically placed tape to conceal her private parts. Of interest is that, depending upon the source cited, the tape used was masking tape, duct tape, or black electrical tape. On stage performances could include everything from smashing televisions to using a chainsaw on a guitar to masturbation.

Rod Swenson, the band's manager, had previously produced videos with Patti Smith and The Ramones. Swenson discovered Williams as a topless dancer in New York and immediately used her as the front-person for his new band, The Plasmatics. He and Williams remained friends to the end.

Guitarist Richie Stotts sported a blue mohawk, nurse's togs, and assorted tutus and dresses. He later formed a group called The Richie Stotts Experience of which little is now known.

Bass guitarist Jean Beauvoir played with Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul starting in 1982. He released a duo of solo albums (Drums Along the Mohawk 1986; Jacknifed 1988).

Little information is available regarding the other band members.

A Plasmatics Discography

New Hope for the Wretched (Stiff 1980)
Beyond the Valley of 1984 (Stiff 1981)
Metal Priestess (? 1982)
Coup D'etat (Capitol 1982)

Sources:
(note: The following sources were full of numerous inconsistencies.)

"Plasmatics" IN Encyclopedia of Popular Music / Colin Larkin (ed.) New York : MUZE UK, 1998. vol. 6, p. 4261

"The Plasmatics" IN The New Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock and Roll / Patricia Romanowski, Holly George-Warren (eds.) New York : Fireside, 1995. p. 772

http://www.hartfordadvocate.com/articles/wendyo.html

http://www.plasmatics.com

NEGRO
. . .

To this premature ossification of the skull, preventing all further development of the brain, many pathologists have attributed the inherent mental inferiority of the blacks, an inferiority which is even more marked than their physical differences. Nearly all observers admit that the Negro child is on the whole quite as intelligent as those of other human varieties, but that on arriving at puberty all further progress seems to be arrested. No one has more carefully studied this point than Filippo Manetta, who during a long residence on the plantations of the Southern States of America noted that "the Negro children were sharp, intelligent, and full of vivacity, but on approaching the adult period, a gradual change set in. The intellect seemed to become clouded, animation giving place to a sort of lethargy, briskness yielding to indolence."
. . .

volume 17, page 327

Source: The Encyclopaedia britannica : a dictionary of arts, sciences, and general literature. Philadelphia : J. M. Stoddart, 1875-1890?. 9th ed. American reprint. / With a complete index by D. O. Kellogg. volume 17, pp. 325-328 (OCLC Number 4554599)

Comment:

Hmmm ... young black child ... 1870s ... Southern States plantation ... playing in the fields ... finding frogs, turtles, climbing trees ... curious ... lively ... turns, say, 14 years old and looks forward to a life of unending labor on a plantation ... ? ... nah.

Stercoraceous

\Ster`co*ra"ceous\, a. [L. stercus, -oris, dung.]
Of or pertaining to dung; partaking of the nature of, or
containing, dung.

- Webster's 1913 Dictionary (via hyperdictionary - www.hyperdictionary.com)

stercoraceous

Look it up.

Use it.

"Mr. Cheney, your comments are stercoraceous."