That must be why they changed the name from Humanitarian Bowl

I can't speak for everyone, but I know many folks, including some from Idaho, who think of the state as a bastion of white supremacy. Incidents like Ruby Ridge and other militia and paramilitary groups hunkered down in the state don't help dispell such impression for most folks. Nor, for that matter, do ethnically and racially insensitive comments at one of the state's big events of the year.

At a banquet Monday night before the MPC Computers Bowl between the Eagles and Boise State, {MPC Computers CEO] Mike Adkins read a list of the top 10 things Boise and Boston have in common, including, "No one in either city can properly pronounce Mathias Kiwanuka." Adkins mispronounced Kiwanuka's name in the punchline and some Boston College players said later they found the joke insulting and disrespectful.

Kiwanuka is the grandson of Uganda's first prime minister, assassinated by mass-murdering dictator Idi Amin. Adkins apologized to Kiwanuka in a statement Thursday.

Stay classy, Idaho.

Should I end up getting lynched for treason June 12 ...

... you'll know why:

Czech Republic v. USA, opening match, 2006 World Cup, Gelsenkirchen, Germany.

Here's a change

It's not every day I find myself wanting to defend Dubya. In fact, I believe this would be the first time.

Rather shockingly, the official White House greeting cards this year contain a generic holiday greeting, rather than wishing a "Merry Christmas."

That's surprisingly tolerant and inclusive, especially coming from such a born again who routinely milks opportunities to invoke his religion whenever possible. After all, he didn't really stop to consider other people's beliefs when he tried to shift social programs to "faith-based initiatives," or when he pushed for "abstinence-only education [sic]," so why start now, and here?

It's mystifying. But the best part is, he seems to have really pissed off the hardcore evangelical right, which is having a conniption.

The key passage, without doubt, is the following:

Bush "claims to be a born-again, evangelical Christian. But he sure doesn't act like one," said Joseph Farah, editor of the conservative Web site WorldNetDaily.com. "I threw out my White House card as soon as I got it."

That would have to also rate as a first. Not too many folks capable of transcending their prejudices would make such a preposterous claim that Dubya hasn't acted like a born-again. Some might argue that Bush hasn't behaved in a way very befitting of a Christian ("I think it's more important to put Christ back into our war planning than into our Christmas cards," quipped the Rev. Bob Edgar, a former Democratic congressman).

If the Religious Right is so offended by having this "un-Christian" greeting foisted upon them, then maybe it's just for them to get a taste of what it's like for the non-Christian part of the country to have an evangelical agenda rammed down their throats all the time.

Besides, it's not like most folks celebrate Christmas in a fashion that seems to particularly stress Christ. Unless you consider mad shopping sprees and crass consumerism emblematic of a man who thought the poor more virtuous than the rich. (Or maybe not.)

So I guess I should wish the Bushes a happy holiday as well.

Yet another reason to hate liberal Hollywood

ABC has tabbed Mel Gibson's production company to make a miniseries about a Holocaust survivor.

It's right for me to find this patently offensive, no? I mean, as the lead from the story notes, Gibson's big film, "The Passion of the Christ," was criticized as anti-Semitic, and his father, Hutton Gibson, is a Holocaust denier.

Granted, Mel Gibson himself might not actually be involved with this project, other than having his production company undertaking it, but it still sends a very strong a disturbing message to put the two together.

And it's really insensitive, I think, that ABC seems to relish the controversy it'll create, since it'll drum up interest and thus viewers, meaning profits:

But Quinn Taylor, ABC's senior vice president for movies for television, acknowledged that the attention-getting value of having Mr. Gibson attached to a Holocaust project was a factor.

"Controversy's publicity, and vice versa," Mr. Taylor said.

Yeah, except that when part of that publicity is generated by a tangential link to Gibson's father, who has stated publicly that stories of the Holocaust were largely "fiction," and that Europe emerged from the Second World War with more Jews than before; and when Gibson hasn't distanced himself from those comments, only acknowledging that "some" of the tens of millions killed in the war were Jews, it's a good bit more problematic.

But hey, I guess ABC thinks it's OK to exploit a genocide 60 years down the road if there's money to be made off it. Perhaps I sound a bit crass, but I'd say I'm no more so than the ABC execs who think this is a really good idea.

I would disagree

A judge in the US state of Texas has agreed to allow President George W Bush to postpone jury service - on the grounds he is busy running the country.

Now, it's true that, technically, Dubya is the president, and thus would have an excuse for avoiding jury duty.

Except that it doesn't seem like he's really working that hard at running the country. Unless by "running the country" one means "running the country into the ground." After all, this is the president whose vacations would make a Frenchman envious.

Not all of us have the luxury of spending more than a quarter of our time on vacation, but then, this is no ordinary president.

Besides, all those days clearing brush on the Crawford ranch really eat into Dubya's time to do other things, like serve on a jury, or meet with the mother of a slain G.I. Or act like he gives a damn.

At least if he's going to shirk jury duty, he ought to try to come up with a better excuse than the "I'm the president" business.

Then again, Dubya certainly has shown a propensity for being above the law in his nearly five years in office.