Apparently Fox News host Bill O’Reilly has been hit with a sexual harassment lawsuit. Almost as a side note, he gets quoted threatening Al Franken.
Franken’s going to have a field day with this, I’m sure (if you’ve read his book Lies and the Lying Liars et al you’ll know what I mean).
Update: O’Reilly is counter-suing.
As usual, the Yankees are in the playoffs and my Mets are in the toilet. Even so, I’d prefer the Yanks to beat the Sox, so GO YANKEES!
I had the great pleasure of seeing Christopher Reeve on Broadway in 1986 at Circle in the Square, in a production of Beaumarchais’ “The Marriage of Figaro” — the play which Mozart used as the basis for his opera of the same name. Reeve played the Count and did it admirably. He was a much better actor than the “Superman” movie and its sequels ever let him show.
A few years later, I briefly worked at the Williamstown Summer Theater Festival while Reeve was rehearsing a production of “Undiscovered Country”. I never crossed paths with him, to my great disappointment, but word of mouth was that he was a cool guy.
It’s sad that a man who took a shattering personal tragedy and turned it into something positive did not live to see significant progress made towards a cure for spinal cord injuries. I hope something good comes from his passing.
If you’re a flu shot recipient (I am not) this is a little alarming:
British authorities suspended the license of Chiron Corp. for three months because of problems at its vaccine manufacturing plant in Liverpool, England, which primarily supplies the American market. The action means the company can’t supply any flu vaccine during that time, and Chiron said it would provide no U.S. vaccine this year.
(snip)
Chiron had planned to ship 46 million to 48 million doses, but that already had been delayed by a contamination problem discovered in August in the English factory where the vaccine is made. At the time, the company said only 4 million doses were tainted but that the entire supply would be held up and re-tested.
About 1 million doses already had arrived in the United States, but now even that won’t be made available because of the British safety concerns.
Chiron’s stock, of course, is taking a sharp nosedive today.
And I can’t resist the political cheap shot:
Less than two weeks ago, top U.S. health officials assured the public that close FDA monitoring of the rest of Chiron’s supply suggested it was fine and that there would be plenty of supplies.
Guess that Reality Distortion Field emanating from the White House has reached the FDA too.
It’s hardly a new or unique insight, but it’s all too obvious that we should never have left Saddam in charge of Iraq after Gulf War I. George Bush senior has been quoted as saying that at the time, the Arab members of the coalition forces objected to Saddam’s removal from power so he was left in place. I wonder sometimes, how much would have been different if was had told those allies, “No, he’s going down”.
The road ahead is grim, and the growing rumblings in the blogosphere and the press about the possible need to re-institute the draft are worrisome. I try not to make too much of the rumblings, but then I picture my 21 year old cousin with a draft card of his hand and it’s not so simple.
It’s been 30 years since the draft was last a reality. A lot has changed since then. One thing that hasn’t changed is that no matter how they try to write the rules, the richer, more well-connected, and smarter kids will find ways around any draft.
I am not, by the way, convinced that a Kerry victory means we will not have a draft instituted. It is not clear whether even with the best intentions we will be able to draw down significant troops out of Iraq in the near future. No matter who wins in November, it’s possible we will have to change how we build our military. But I am sure that a Kerry administration would not be so reckless with the lives of our soldiers as this administration has been.
The government’s cybersecurity chief has abruptly resigned after one year with the Department of Homeland Security, confiding to industry colleagues his frustration over what he considers a lack of attention paid to computer security issues within the agency.
Amit Yoran, a former software executive from Symantec, informed the White House about his plans to quit as director of the National Cyber Security Division and made his resignation effective at the end of Thursday, effectively giving a single’s day notice of his intentions to leave.
I’m sure there’s a story there we’re not hearing, but no clue what it is.