American Idol Update: Billboard Charts

Ken AshfordPopular Culture1 Comment

Okay.  Now the show is really good.  There really isn’t a weak one in the remaining five.  Now we have to separate the silver standard from the gold standard.

I hadn’t watched Idol in a couple of years, and I forgot that they switch to a two-song-per-show format as thing get to the wire.  Good.  It’s much better all around, for the audience and the contestents.

Elliott sang "On Broadway" and "Home".  Despite what Simon said, I really don’t think people are going to vote him off simply because the lyrics to "Home" suggest a desire to "go home".  Elliott did better with the ballad than with "On Broadway", but I wasn’t moved at all by either song.  His performances were clean and fine — but just, you know, fine.

Paris sang "Kiss" and "Be Without You".  "Kiss" was fine (there’s that word again), but the song doesn’t work for me unless you bring a lot of steam and sex to it.  Paris didn’t try to emulate Prince, which is smart.  But that still left the song with some void.  "Be Without You" was better and more in Paris’s style.

Chris’s first song, "Renegade" rocked the house.  It was the best performance all evening, even if it was a little pitchy in places.  His second song, "I Dare You" was also very good, but, as the judges noted, he has noticeably strained his voice and that detracts from the performance.  He’s going to lose his voice if he doesn’t take care of it this coming week.

Katharine McPhee played this week smart.  Whereas everybody else downshifted for their second song, Katharine went the opposite way.  Good move, because it made her dynamic song stand out.  Her first son was "Against All Odds".  I thought it was off, and after Daughtry’s "Renegade", it was like a balloon losing air.  She was far far better with "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree".  While not the most challenging song vocally, and it didn’t show her best vocal "stuff", she had a lot of fun with it and it was entertaining to watch. 

Taylor Hicks kicked it with "Play That Funky Music".  Not his best vocal I thought, but he owned the stage and showed no fear.  That alone made it amazing.  When he switched gears for the Beatles’ "Something", he really showed his versitality.  I thought it was the best ballad of the evening.

In my opinion, Chris and Taylor are safe.  I said right from the beginning (well, right from the 12 finalists), that they both were going all the way to the end.  I still think that’s true.

I think Elliott and Paris will be in the bottom two this week, and if I had to guess, I would say Elliott is going.  First of all, he went first, and was shown up by later, more dynamic performances.  Secondly, I’m not sure America wants one girl and three guys.  Much more interesting to have 2 guys and 2 women.

So, although it’s a tough call, I’d say Elliott will be the one hearing "Bad Day".

Professor Volokh’s Criminal Law Question

Ken AshfordCourts/Law, CrimeLeave a Comment

Professor Volokh posted a question that he is giving to his Criminal Law class:

Bert and Ernie are walking down the street from the local bar, when they see their old nemesis the Count. Drunk and a little paranoid, they conclude that the Count is trying to kill them, so they decide to kill him to prevent that from happening; but they don’t want to confront him directly.

Fortunately, they see Oscar sitting in his trashcan. "Help us out, Oscar," they say; "come up to the Count and ask him to count your trash bag collection." "No!," says Oscar, annoyed by the request. "You’d better do it, or else we’ll beat you up." "Okay," says Oscar, and does what they ask of him.

While the Count is distracted, Bert pulls out his handgun and pulls the trigger; but it turns out that Bert had forgotten to load the handgun. Bert and Ernie then run away, but Oscar isn’t as fast. The Count jumps on Oscar and tries to kill him by drinking his blood, but the police come before Oscar is entirely drained, and save Oscar’s life.

What crimes have been committed, or may have been committed, here? Apply the Model Penal Code as well as the various common-law rules that we’ve studied.

The comments to his post (many from top law professors around the country) are funny. 

But I think you can nail Bert and Ernie for conspiracy, and attempted murder (both through the conspiracy).  Their intoxication is not a defense.  The fact that they were supposedly acting in self-defense would not hold muster under a "reasonable person" standard (or even a "reasonable Muppet" standard).

The Count could be charged with voluntary manslaughter.  He may have a reasonable self-defense defense, albeit a mistaken one (thinking incorrectly that Oscar was trying to kill him).

Oscar would probably not be charged with anything, since, according to the facts he was not aware of the conspiracy.

Sadly, real life crimes are never as intellectually interesting as the ones made up by law professors.

Five’s A Crowd

Ken AshfordSex/Morality/Family ValuesLeave a Comment

Everyone’s got a breaking point:

A Pakistani woman beheaded her husband, chopped up his body and dumped the dismembered parts in a sewerage drain after he announced plans to take a fourth wife, police said today.

***

She said her 55-year-old husband had taken other wives and flaunted his infidelity, but she was pushed over the edge when he announced plans to take a fourth wife, according to the police officer.

Islam permits men to take up to four wives.

I wonder why Wife #4 set her off, and not, say, Wife #3. 

Or Wife #2, for that matter.

Progress In Iraq

Ken AshfordIraqLeave a Comment

BEHIND SCHEDULE:

  • A US Inspector General’s report into reconstruction found that although $22 billion had been spent, water, sewage and electricity, infrastructure still operated at prewar levels

  • Despite “significant progress” in recent months, less than half the water and electricity projects have been completed

  • Only six of the 150 planned health centres have been completed

  • US officials spent $70 million on medical equipment for health clinics that are unlikely ever to be built. More than 75 per cent of the funds for the 150 planned clinics have been allocated

  • Task Force Shield, the $147 million programme to train Iraqi security units to protect key oil and electrical sites failed to meet its goals. A fraud investigation is under way

  • Oil production was 2.18 million barrels per day in the last week of March. Before the war it was 2.6 million

    ON SCHEDULE:

  • The U.S. embassy in Baghdad, known disparagingly to Iraqis as "George W’s palace" — a 104 acre complex which will be the largest embassy in the world

  • A water park, complete with a wave machine.  Rad!!

    • More National Anthems

    Ken AshfordPopular CultureLeave a Comment

    With all the hub-bub about the Spanish version of the National Anthem, I thought I’d generate more ire by linking to this mp3 of the National Anthem in Morse Code (yup, the International Morse Code), via Boing Boing.

    Not your cup of tea?  Fine.  Below the fold is the National Anthem …in binary code.  Enjoy.

    Read More

    Primary Day 2006 (Updated and Bumped)

    Ken AshfordElection 2006, Local InterestLeave a Comment

    UPDATE:  Well, dear Nathan lost, getting roughly 32% of the vote, compared to Brunstetter’s 44%.  He’s a two-time loser now, having lost his bid for NC Congress in 2004 (Note to Nathan: you can take down these websites after a couple of years).

    Name on Ballot Party Statewide
    Ballot Count
    Peter Samuel (Pete) Brunstetter REP 4,423
    Nathan Tabor REP 3,167
    Gloria D. Whisenhunt REP 2,354

    Now he can go back to preachy moralizing in the rightwing press, which is his natural calling anyway.

    UPDATE TO THE UPDATE:  As I wrote below, Nathan got himself into trouble when he made a campaign promise that he would "never, ever help elect a Democrat."  Nathan’s blind partisanship turned off Republican voters who, even in rural NC, are adult enough to recognize that ideas are what matter, not unrelenting faith to one political party over another.

    Sore loser Nathan didn’t get the message.  His Nathan Tabor for Senate website carries this terse message: "I look forward to working with conservatives and Republicans to advance our agenda." (emphasis mine).

    Sadly Nathan, the voters have spoken and you’re not going to be working with anybody.  But I think you need to listen to what they are saying — they need someone who can work with everybody.  Partisanship was your downfall.

    *********************************************************************

    Today is primary day in NC.  In my district, three Republicans are vying for an open State Senate seat — one of them being nationally syndicated columnist and religious conservative Nathan Tabor (who we often satirize on this site).  There is no Democrat running, so whoever wins here, goes to Raleigh.

    Nathan reportedly used $38,000 of his own (and family’s) money, and his yard signs are plastered everywhere on my way to/from work.  It would be a shame if he lost his bid — again.  Heh.

    Sadly (no, not really), Nathan seems to have put his foot in it when he was quoted recently as saying:

    "I give you my word: I will never, ever help elect a Democrat."

    The responses in the local letters-to-the-editor, mostly from Republicans and Independents, say it all:

    Read More

    Not So Fast, Senator Alexander

    Ken AshfordBush & Co., Foreign AffairsLeave a Comment

    Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) proposed a Senate Resolution yesterday to the effect that the Star Spangled Banner should only be sung in English.  In his press release, Alexander stated:

    That flag and that song are a part of our history and our national identity. It declares some of our national ideals, in being the “land of the free and the home of the brave.” That’s why in 1931 Congress declared the Star-Spangled Banner our national anthem.

    That’s why we should always sing it in our common language, English.

    SpanishanthemUm, Senator?  On its website, the U.S. State Department has four versions of the Star-Spangled Banner in espanol. 

    And in 1919, the U.S. Department of Education commissioned a Spanish version of the anthem.

    But don’t let facts get in the way of your xenophobia, Senator.

    [H/T: Think Progress]

    RELATED:  Bush also stated: "I think people who want to be a citizen of this country ought to learn English. And they ought to learn to sing the anthem in English."

    Sadly, this Bush family biography states:

    When visiting cities like Chicago, Milwaukee or Philadelphia, in pivotal states, he would drop in at Hispanic festivals and parites, sometimes joining in singing "The Star-Spangled Banner" in Spanish, sometimes partying with a "Viva Bush" mariachi band flown in from Texas.

    LATE UPDATE:  I would say this pretty much ends the debate — The National Anthem was sung in Spanish …at Bush’s First Inaugural.

    Are Our Children Learning?

    Ken AshfordEducation1 Comment

    Not geography, apparently.  A survey of young Americans aged 18 to 24 found out that:

  • Thirty-three percent of respondents couldn’t pinpoint Louisiana on a map.
  • Fewer than three in 10 think it important to know the locations of countries in the news and just 14 percent believe speaking another language is a necessary skill.
  • Two-thirds didn’t know that the earthquake that killed 70,000 people in October 2005 occurred in Pakistan.
  • Six in 10 could not find Iraq on a map of the Middle East.
  • Forty-seven percent could not find the Indian subcontinent on a map of Asia.
  • Seven-five percent were unable to locate Israel on a map of the Middle East.
  • Nearly three-quarters incorrectly named English as the most widely spoken native language.
  • Six in 10 did not know the border between North and South Korea is the most heavily fortified in the world.
  • Thirty percent thought the most heavily fortified border was between the United States and Mexico.

    • To Everything, Turn, Turn, Turn

    Ken AshfordIraqLeave a Comment

    Yesterday, with the formation of a permanent government in Baghdad, Bush declared that the War in Iraq was at a "turning point".

    Another turning point?  From the Gadflyer:

    May, 2003 – As Bush played soldier aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, while real ones were dying, he proclaimed our "Mission Accomplished" in Iraq and a "turning of the tide" in the war on terror. State department reports on global terror beg to differ, of course.

    July 2003 – The murder of Saddam’s two sons hailed as a turning point.

    December 2003 – The capture of Saddam hailed as a turning point. In fairness, many people believed this was so and, as you’ll recall, Howard Dean was pilloried for suggesting otherwise.

    May 2004 – Intensified US operations against Moqtada al-Sadr deemed a turning point (this from Sullivan when he was still desperately trying to defend his support for the war – he’s mostly given that up now).

    January 2005 – Iraq’s first post-Saddam elections heralded as a turning point.

    Bonus prediction from January 2005: McClellan called those elections a "body blow" to terrorists. Apparently, McClellan meant, from the terrorists’ perspective, the good kind of body blow.

    March 2005 – RNC regards the (short-lived) drop in US casualties in Iraq following the January elections as a turning point.

    December 2005 – Iraq’s parliamentary elections celebrated as a "turning point."

    Times Explains “Net Neutrality”

    Ken AshfordCorporate GreedLeave a Comment

    Good editorial:

    "Net neutrality" is a concept that is still unfamiliar to most Americans, but it keeps the Internet democratic. Cable and telephone companies that provide Internet service are talking about creating a two-tiered Internet, in which Web sites that pay them large fees would get priority over everything else. Opponents of these plans are supporting Net-neutrality legislation, which would require all Web sites to be treated equally. Net neutrality recently suffered a setback in the House, but there is growing hope that the Senate will take up the cause.

    One of the Internet’s great strengths is that a single blogger or a small political group can inexpensively create a Web page that is just as accessible to the world as Microsoft’s home page. But this democratic Internet would be in danger if the companies that deliver Internet service changed the rules so that Web sites that pay them money would be easily accessible, while little-guy sites would be harder to access, and slower to navigate. Providers could also block access to sites they do not like.

    Bush vs Nixon

    Ken AshfordBush & Co.Leave a Comment

    From A Tiny Revolution:

    Bushnixon1_1

    Bushnixon2_1

    The poll numbers are Gallup, which notes: "If current trends continue, by no means a certainty, Bush’s rating would be at an all-time low for any president of 22% by June of 2007."

    But right now, Bush’s disapproval is almost on a par with Nixon’s, on the day Nixon resigned.

    Why Outing Plame Mattered

    Ken AshfordIran, PlamegateLeave a Comment

    Here’s the press release (in its original allcaps):

    INTELLIGENCE SOURCES SAY VALERIE WILSON WAS PART OF AN OPERATION THREE YEARS AGO TRACKING THE PROLIFERATION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS MATERIAL INTO IRAN. AND THE SOURCES ALLEGE THAT WHEN MRS. WILSON’S COVER WAS BLOWN, THE ADMINISTRATION’S ABILITY TO TRACK IRAN’S NUCLEAR AMBITIONS WAS DAMAGED AS WELL.

    Interesting.