Hell Nation

2006-02-24T16:01:00.000-06:00

-Iraqi soldiers are reflected in a pool of blood at the site where a roadside bomb exploded in central Baquba city, northeast of Baghdad. Iraq has imposed a daytime curfew on Baghdad and three neighbouring provinces to prevent further outbursts of sectarian violence on the Muslim day of prayers(AFP/Ali Yussef)

FOXNews responds:

Canada Post

2006-01-12T12:41:00.000-06:00

Letter sent to Toronto Star:

Much is being made regarding Stephen Harper’s allegiance to the American political right. He contends that the reason he had told the American right wing that they are “a light and an inspiration” and that Canada is “alienating its allies” on Iraq is because he was standing up for Canada’s best interests by giving George W. Bush a political shoulder rub.

At question is whose American opinion of Canada matters. Mr. Harper worries a lot about “anti-Americanism;” acutely in the US political left and chronically in Canada. If “America” equals only George W. Bush, then he has a point.

But it doesn’t.

I was born, raised, and live in the United States. I know who my friends are. My inspiration comes not from Bush, but from Canada. Because my president has not bothered to find Osama bin Laden, I appreciate Canada for lending a hand in Afghanistan. My president and our FEMA—heckuva job notwithstanding—did little in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Instead, my inspiration is the Vancouver Urban Search and Rescue team for their quick and needed response.

Anyone—even those who would be Prime Minister—who contend that Canada has been anything less than a good neighbour is sadly mistaken.

Yet I understand the electorate’s desire to punish the scandalous Liberals. I endorse this; they deserve to lose the government. However, Mr. Harper should not be given a majority. He simply does not represent the Canada that I know and have come to admire. If one is looking to vote against the Liberals, but not make George W. Bush smirk, why not support the NDP instead?

Here’s a bonus: the NDP is right on the issues in this election. It is notable that they offer the only balanced approach to crime and gun smuggling. They are the only credible party to clean up government. They want to work on behalf of ordinary Canadians, not of political movements. On the 23rd, give the NDP a chance.

Unlike Mr. Harper, I would never deride Canada as a “Northern European welfare state in the worst sense of the term, and very proud of it.” Canada is something else: the Western Hemisphere’s best example of how to actually run a decent country.

Call it what you will, but Canadians are right to be proud of that. Don’t give a government to a man that isn’t.

Who Says

2006-01-03T13:09:00.000-06:00

We don't make anything in the States anymore?

This Is the Modern World

2005-12-29T08:06:00.000-06:00

Where the spirit does not work with the hand there is no art.

-Leonardo da Vinci

(Brand names eliminated by me):

The black-on-white graffiti shows wide-eyed cartoon characters riding the [electronic game platform] like a skateboard, licking it like a lollipop or cranking it like a Jack-in-the-Box.

But there's no mention of the [company] or [electronic game platform] brands — nor any hint the wordless display is an ad.

"I don't think that's graffiti," [local resident] Griggs said as she paused beside the [electronic game platform] ad. "That's art."
-[electronic game platform] Graffiti Ads Spark Controversy
Associated Press
29 Dec 2005

Whenever I hear the word culture, I release the safety-catch of my Browning!

-Hanns Johst

NIMBY

2005-12-21T06:58:00.000-06:00

In the St Paul suburbs:

A tattoo shop would have a stigma that doesn't fit the image of the area, they said. Some complaints: There's a bus stop nearby, and the neighbors want positive influences for children. It threatens neighborhood values and ways of life. Property values might decrease. Adult-only businesses don't belong near neighborhoods.

Neighbor Rockne Waite, who said he has nothing against people with tattoos, attended the meeting.

"I don't care that there's a tattoo parlor. It's just not a good neighborhood for it," he said. "Coupling [the thrift shop] with a tattoo parlor would again bring in people that think a little differently than people around here. There's not a lot of people around here who are heavily tattooed."
-Tattoos draw opposition in suburbs
StarTribune
21 Dec 2005

Also at issue in the story is how an "adult" business (the tattoo parlour) fits in with the particular suburb's zoning codes. Do the codes allow such a business or not?

Or should we even have such things as zoning?

Cities are vibrant places, but the legacy of zoning has separated land uses and caused the standardization of our cities. A professional class of managers, lawyers, developers, and planners (among others) has risen to mange and navigate the labyrinthine laws created to control the functionality of the city. I should be grateful, I guess, as I'm applying to grad school in...urban planning!

But it's bittersweet. Actually, more bitter than sweet. Yes, I understand the need to regulate such things as building and sanitary codes and occupancy limits; these regs were the correct response to the hypergrowth seen in US cities during the Industrial Revolution.

But I think that it's all gone too far. Cities should be given the benefit of the doubt. They should be allowed to develop as "organically" as possible. I belong to the school of thought that contends that cities are living things; that the city itself knows how to grow and develop and live.

Managers don't. They simply know how to regulate, how to divide and parcel, and how to extract maximum profit from a development.

And pity the small business owner that tries to follow their dreams by opening up a tattoo parlour or a coffee shop and has to navigate all of these regulations. It begins to make sense at how Starbucks and Olive Garden and Barnes and Noble - with their mercenary armies of city code legal specialists - swallow up the mom-and-pop shops that once were the tax base of the city.

If someone wants to sell books out of their home, why couldn't they? If someone wants to rent out their unused garage as a housing unit, why not? Sure, there should be some sanitary standards, but how successful have our managers been in solving the affordable housing shortage? Not very.

Lastly, I find it interesting that these laws and regulations are enforced most strongly in the suburbs, with their reliable Republican vote. As the "free market" supporters and "pro-Freedom" party, you'd think that they would support small businesses (what's more, the tattoo parlour owner identified himself as a devout Christian!) more and regulations less. You'd think that such things as minimum lot sizes - an intrusion into the market - would be rejected. Yet, for all my criticism, it is the heathen liberal central cities which are more flexible in such matters. But we can be more flexible.

Let's relax zoning laws and figure out a way to dismantle the whole "property value" canard while we're at it.

I'm tired of giving a legalist legitimacy to those who want to separate us geographically into constituent groups.

Makin' Progress

2005-12-20T14:34:00.000-06:00

Consider a line buried deep in the AP report of the vice president's visit to Taji Air Base in Iraq: "U.S. forces guarded Cheney with weapons at the ready while Iraqi soldiers, who had no weapons, held their arms out as if they were carrying imaginary guns."

For all of Cheney's cheerleading about how well things are going, those carrying the real guns recognize that they will not soon be coming home from a country where their "replacements" are carrying imaginary guns.

-Cheney's Cheerleading Falls Flat [emphasis added]
The Nation
19 Dec 2005

Carrying

Imaginary

Guns

???

Jesus Christ.

Two Americas

2005-12-20T14:05:00.000-06:00

Senators launched new salvos in the battle over national security and civil liberties yesterday as recent revelations of domestic spying continued to color the chamber’s stalemate on an extension of the anti-terrorism law known as the Patriot Act.

“None of your civil liberties matter much after you’re dead,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a former judge and close ally of the president who sits on the Judiciary Committee.

Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.), who has led a bipartisan filibuster against a reauthorization of the Patriot Act, quoted Patrick Henry, an icon of the American Revolution, in response: “Give me liberty or give me death.”

He called Cornyn’s comments “a retreat from who we are and who we should be.”

-Civil liberties don’t matter much ‘after you’re dead,’ Cornyn says on spy case
The Hill
20 Dec 2005

New Colour

2005-12-20T12:21:00.000-06:00

Lavender to be added to Terror Alert colour chart...

Uh-Oh

2005-12-20T10:13:00.000-06:00

They're on to me...

To any FBI or NSA Agents, let it be known that I will be transporting 4 vegan pumpkin pies across the MN-WI state line on 22 December. I plan on feeding the tofu-containing pies to numerous relatives.

Go ahead and stop me.

In all seriousness, when al-Qaida is active in 60 countries (as the President points out here) and we're bogged down in Iraq (which had nothing to do with al-Q), I FEEL MUCH SAFER when the FBI is doing surveilance against vegan potlucks.

I mean, we use nutritional yeast.

CLOTURE FAILS - 52/47!!!!!

2005-12-16T11:51:00.000-06:00

Go Russ!

WASHINGTON - The Senate on Friday rejected attempts to reauthorize several provisions of the USA Patriot Act as infringing too much on Americans' privacy and liberty, dealing a huge defeat to the Bush administration and Republican leaders.

In a crucial vote early Friday, the bill's Senate supporters were not able to get the 60 votes needed to overcome a threatened filibuster by Sens. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., and Larry Craig, R-Idaho, and their allies. The final vote was 52-47.
-Senate Rejects Extension of Patriot Act
Associated Press
16 Nov 2005

Patriot Acts

2005-12-16T08:18:00.000-06:00

WASHINGTON - In Congress, where numbers are everything, the math on the Patriot Act suddenly seems to be moving in favor of Sen. Russell Feingold.

He was a minority of one four years ago, when the Wisconsin Democrat cast the lone Senate vote against the USA Patriot Act in the traumatic weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks. The law, he said then, gave government too much power to investigate its citizens. Ninety-nine senators disagreed.

Now add more than two dozen senators to Feingold's side, including the leaders of his party and some of the chamber's most conservative Republicans, and the balance of power shifts.
[...]
Feingold finds himself with some unlikely allies, including the Christian Defense Coalition. Notably, the National Rifle Association has not endorsed the Patriot Act renewal that was personally negotiated by Vice President Dick Cheney. The NRA's non-position allows its Senate supporters to oppose renewing the law in its entirety.

"Folks, when we're dealing with civil liberties, you don't compromise them," said Sen. Larry Craig (news, bio, voting record), R-Idaho, an NRA board member.
-Feingold Now Has Numbers On His Side
Associated Press
15 Nov 2003

A showdown vote was scheduled Friday, with the White House and its congressional allies rejecting suggestions for a short-term extension of the current law as is. White House allies said they would prefer to let the 16 temporary provisions expire completely rather than give critics more time to add additional restrictions on the FBI's ability to comb through Americans' computer files and bank and library records.

Making most of the Act's provisions permanent is a priority for both the Bush administration and Republican leaders on Capitol Hill before Congress adjourns for the year.

-Senate May Derail Patriot Act Extension
Associated Press
16 Nov 2005

Today's going to be a big day for Russ Feingold. Consider the fact that Russ was the ONLY Senator to vote against the PATRIOT Act in the first place. This vote was cast in the context of the US just being attacked by al Qaida and the subsequent "rally around the president." This could never be considered as a "political vote." It was pure conscience.

Yet now, Feingold has lined up support all across the political spectrum. He has single-handedly - single-handedly - orchestrated the impending defeat of one of the Cheney Administration's major legislative goals.

And he's done it in a hostile political climate. He's done it in spite of being labeled as a "terrorist sympathizer." He's done it in a GOP-controlled Senate. He's given courage to the Senate Democrats (perhaps the most amazing coup!).

And he did it because he's a fighter and because any patriot would; he loves this counrty. Kind of like something a nation would look for in a President...

Whatever happens with the renewal, the mere debate is a boost for Feingold and any presidential aspirations he may nurture after next year's midterm elections — a development that carries some irony.

"People don't go to the well of the Senate and become the only senator to vote against something called the 'USA Patriot Act' five weeks after 9/11 because they're trying to get ready to run for president," Feingold said.

But four years later, during visits to the presidential proving grounds of New Hampshire and Iowa, Feingold says there's evidence his position has resonated with more than just the Democratic base.

"It's something that people like about me," he said. "We'll see where it goes."
-Feingold Now Has Numbers on His Side

We'll see indeed...

Red Rattler

2005-12-11T16:38:00.000-06:00

No derailleur
Clip-on fenders
Sidewall reflectors

Oh yeah

Paging Jello Biafra

2005-12-09T14:52:00.000-06:00

Methinks it time to rewrite California Über Alles. To wit:

But Republican operatives said grass-roots volunteers are so disturbed by the appointment that they are threatening to abandon Schwarzenegger during his re-election bid next year. Others said Schwarzenegger is risking a nasty fight that could cause the party to rescind its endorsement during February's convention in San Jose.

There is even a movement to draft Mel Gibson, the actor and director, to run against Schwarzenegger in the Republican primary next year -- in part because the success of Gibson's movie, "The Passion of the Christ," could help his chances among religious conservatives.

Or, perhaps the Clash (sans Strummer) should just rewrite I'm So Bored With the USA...

Catblogging: The Yellow Balloon Edition

2005-12-02T20:38:00.000-06:00

The Next Step

2005-12-02T14:38:00.000-06:00

Japanese automaker Mazda Motor Corp. is recommending its employees walk to the office, rather than commute by car, as part of an effort to improve their health and protect the environment, a company spokesman said Friday.

Those meeting a set of requirements by going to the office on foot are eligible to receive 1,500 yen ($12) a month, Mazda spokesman Ken Haruki said.

Aimed at improving employees' health and to promote environment protection, Mazda introduced its "Eco-walk commutation allowance" on Thursday, Hakuki said.

"Looking further toward the future," Hakuki intimated, "we shall stop this whole business of promoting, manufacturing, and selling automobiles. We've grown weary at accumulating Capital at the expense of the Common Good."

Sigh

2005-12-02T10:54:00.000-06:00

Not one more. Not in my name.

Food For Thought

2005-11-30T13:59:00.000-06:00

Chew on this.
(via Food Fight grocery)

Au Contraire

2005-11-30T11:05:00.000-06:00

These are serious times in which we live, and it requires serious, experienced people to deal with the problems that we're confronted with. And the biggest problem we got is we're still at war. I wish I could report to you we weren't at war, but there's an enemy that still lurks that wants to do harm to the United States of America. And they want to do us harm because we stand squarely for freedom and democracy and we're not going to change. You see, they can't stand the fact -- (applause) -- they can't stand the fact that we allow people to worship freely, or to speak their mind in the public square, or to print articles the way they want to print them in America. They have a different view of the world. They've got this vision of darkness that stifles dissent and stifles the freedoms that many of us take for granted...
-President's Remarks at Jon Kyl for Senate Dinner
White House.gov
28 Nov 2005

#################################################

As part of an information offensive in Iraq, the U.S. military is secretly paying Iraqi newspapers to publish stories written by American troops in an effort to burnish the image of the U.S. mission in Iraq.
[...]
Though the articles are basically factual, they present only one side of events and omit information that might reflect poorly on the U.S. or Iraqi governments, officials said.
[...]
The military's effort to disseminate propaganda in the Iraqi media is taking place even as U.S. officials are pledging to promote democratic principles, political transparency and freedom of speech in a country emerging from decades of dictatorship and corruption.

It comes as the State Department is training Iraqi reporters in basic journalism skills and Western media ethics, including one workshop titled "The Role of Press in a Democratic Society."
[...]
The arrangement with Lincoln Group is evidence of how far the Pentagon has moved to blur the traditional boundaries between military public affairs — the dissemination of factual information to the media — and psychological and information operations, which use propaganda and sometimes misleading information to advance the objectives of a military campaign.

The Bush administration has come under criticism for distributing video and news stories in the United States without identifying the federal government as their source and for paying American journalists to promote administration policies, practices the Government Accountability Office has labeled "covert propaganda."

-U.S. Military Covertly Pays to Run Stories in Iraqi Press
LA Times
30 November 2005

Don't Do It

2005-11-30T09:05:00.000-06:00

Toronto's subway stations are about to become a little more beautiful — less like a 1960s-era washroom, and more like a "gateway" to the neighbourhoods they serve.
-TTC platforms may get a makeover
Toronto Star
30 Nov 2005

Please don't. There is a certain charm to the old tiled stations with that unmistakeable 1950's era Catholic school cafeteria motif. Every city tries to go "glitzy" with their subway stations, but Toronto is all about pure utilitarianism.

And there's also something to be said for having one unified subterranean aesthetic throughout the city. And the tiling goes beautifully with the pretty T-1 subway cars:

Don't ever change that interior red colour.

Besides, the font used on the station walls is celebrated: here's a font set. How about some neat buttons to represent your favourite station? Tiles? Check.

And that door opening/closing chime...

Catblogging: Triple Header Edition

2005-11-19T06:40:00.000-06:00

Since I'll be out of town, I'll resurrect the Catblogging.

All that window for just a little cat

Clara contemplates the wheel

Moi?

Run Russ Run!

2005-11-18T17:15:00.000-06:00

"PATRIOT" Act stalled in Senate!

Go Russ Go!

2005-11-18T08:42:00.000-06:00

WASHINGTON, Nov. 17 - A tentative deal to extend the government's antiterrorism powers under the law known as the USA Patriot Act appeared in some jeopardy Thursday, as Senate Democrats threatened to mount a filibuster in an effort to block the legislation.

"This is worth the fight," Senator Russell D. Feingold, a Wisconsin Democrat who serves on the Judiciary Committee, said in an interview.

"I've cleared my schedule right up to Thanksgiving," Mr. Feingold said, adding that he was making plans to read aloud from the Bill of Rights as part of a filibuster if necessary.

-Extension of Patriot Act Faces Threat of Filibuster
Washington Post
18 November 2005

Where Were You?

2005-11-14T23:02:00.000-06:00

If Democrats want to pick a winner for the White House in 2008, check the following list. Any potential candidate from Congress must have voted against the Iraq War. Consistency counts. The newest GOP canard regarding Iraq War critics is - and I hate to say it - right on the money. Although, lost in the meme is the fact that the majority of House Democrats voted against the Iraq War Resolution.

Some of the bigger lefty bloggers snidely dismiss the latest GOP spin as "You fucked up - you trusted us!" but that is completely missing the point.

The point is that there was a rift between the big name, big money Dems who demurred to the Cheney Administration to avoid charges of being unpatriotic, and the rank-and-file members who instead voted their conscience.

Dennis Kucinich and Russ Feingold and Mark Dayton and Peter DeFazio and Tammy Baldwin saw the same "intelligence" as John Kerry or John Edwards or Hillary Clinton or Dick Gephardt, yet only the former somehow saw through the lies.

Here are the Congresspersons that neither fucked up nor trusted the Cheney Administration:

Abercrombie
Allen
Baca
Baird
Baldacci
Baldwin
Barrett
Becerra
Blumenauer
Bonior
Brady (PA)
Brown (FL)
Brown (OH)
Capps
Capuano
Cardin
Carson (IN)
Clay
Clayton
Clyburn
Condit
Conyers
Costello
Coyne
Cummings
Davis (CA)
Davis (IL)
DeFazio
DeGette
Delahunt
DeLauro
Dingell
Doggett
Doyle
Eshoo
Evans
Farr
Fattah
Filner
Frank
Gonzalez
Gutierrez
Hastings (FL)
Hilliard
Hinchey
Hinojosa
Holt
Honda
Hooley
Inslee
Jackson (IL)
Jackson-Lee (TX)
Johnson, E. B.
Jones (OH)
Kaptur
Kildee
Kilpatrick
Kleczka
Kucinich
LaFalce
Langevin
Larsen (WA)
Larson (CT)
Leach
Lee
Levin
Lewis (GA)
Lipinski
Lofgren
Maloney (CT)
Matsui
McCarthy (MO)
McCollum
McDermott
McGovern
McKinney
Meek (FL)
Meeks (NY)
Menendez
Millender-McDonald
Miller, George
Mollohan
Moran (VA)
Nadler
Napolitano
Neal
Oberstar
Obey
Olver
Owens
Pallone
Pastor
Payne
Pelosi
Price (NC)
Rahall
Rangel
Reyes
Rivers
Rodriguez
Roybal-Allard
Rush
Sabo
Sanchez
Sawyer
Schakowsky
Scott
Serrano
Slaughter
Snyder
Solis
Stark
Strickland
Stupak
Thompson (CA)
Thompson (MS)
Tierney
Towns
Udall (CO)
Udall (NM)
Velazquez
Visclosky
Waters
Watson (CA)
Watt (NC)
Woolsey
Wu

-Democrats voting "Nay"
House Joint Resolution 114
10 October, 2002

Akaka
Bingaman
Boxer
Byrd
Conrad
Corzine
Dayton
Durbin
Feingold
Graham
Inouye
Kennedy
Leahy
Levin
Mikulski
Murray
Reed
Sarbanes
Stabenow
Wellstone
Wyden

-Democrats voting "Nay"
House Joint Resolution 114, US Senate
10 Oct 2002

For what it's worth, I too was against the war from the very beginning. I knew that Bush was lying.

But where was the leadership of the Democratic Party?

And more importantly, when will we begin to mistrust the "strategic class"?

Now Go Pay Your Taxes

2005-11-10T17:33:00.000-06:00

Supporters of a ban in Minnesota said they hope that the political mobilization of pastors doesn't end even if they accomplish their primary goal. Some mentioned causes as varied as pushing for tougher divorce laws in the state, reducing legalized gambling and environmentalism as possible sources of future activism.

-Pastors gather in summit to argue for same-sex marriage ban
Minneapolis StarTribune
10 Nov 2005

Fine. But first go pay your taxes.

I'll Say

2005-11-10T17:27:00.000-06:00

"I operate with a different mentality," Schwarzenegger said

Rubes

2005-11-04T11:40:00.000-06:00

Sure, I'm an eleitist liberal. But it takes a special kind of rube to vote for Republicans.

To wit:

In addition, the legislation contained no more money for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. The Maine senators have sought to add about $3 billion to the roughly $2 billion already budgeted, because heating oil prices are so much higher than last year.

"With record fuel prices in Maine and across the country, the message I hope to send with my vote today is that we must help our most vulnerable citizens keep warm this winter," Snowe said.
[...]
The bill makes mild cuts to health care programs for the elderly, poor and disabled, but leaves the food stamp program untouched.

The spending battle now heads to the House, where Republicans are divided about whether to cut more deeply across a broader range of social programs.
-Boost in heating aid left out of Senate bill
Portland (ME) Press-Herald
4 November 2005

But the money flies on useless crap:

The Senate moved the digital TV transition one step closer to reality on Thursday, setting a firm date for television broadcasters to switch to all-digital transmissions.
[...]
The bill also would provide $3 billion to help millions of Americans buy digital-to-analog converter boxes for their older television sets — so those consumers will continue to receive a signal once the switch is made permanent.
[...]
National Association of Broadcasters president Eddie Fritts said the 2009 deadline "represents a victory for millions of Americans who could have been left stranded by a premature end to analog television service."
-Senate Sets 2009 Digital TV Deadline
Associated Press
4 November 2005

Sorry, Grandma, no help on your heating bill. What would all those people do, though, without there analog-to-digital TV converters? Why, they may have to think instead, and we can't have that...they might catch on to the slick joke that the GOP has been perpetrating.

Comedy Gold

2005-11-04T11:08:00.000-06:00

Do it, Hugo:

Bush and an outspoken critic, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, also were likely to run into each other Friday, shortly after Chavez's speech to a demonstration of mostly anti-Bush protesters.

"I will, of course, be polite," Bush told reporters. "That's what the American people expect their president to do."

Chavez has joked about whether Bush is afraid of him and said he might sneak up and scare Bush at the summit. Chavez has said he would use the meeting as a stage to denounce the U.S. as a "capitalist, imperialist model" of democracy that exploits the economies of developing nations.

The Argentinians are protesting the presence of Dear Leader, but, in a moment of lucidity, Dear Leader highlights the similarityes between Argentina and the US:

Relations between Bush and Kirchner, a populist leader elected in the political upheaval that followed Argentina's economic collapse, have been chilly. The Argentine was an opponent of the war in Iraq and said before their meeting at the last Summit of the Americas that he would "win by a knockout" in his private meeting with Bush.

Each leader referred repeatedly to how "candid" their discussions were, and the pair took no questions from reporters.

"I'm leaving this meeting feeling very satisfied because it wasn't a meeting looking for nice words but to speak the truth," Kirchner said. "Each us did just that."

But Bush clearly sought to stress common ground. He mentioned Manu Ginobili of Bahia Blanca, Argentina, a star guard who has helped the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association win two titles in the past three years.

"He's made a vital contribution to a basketball team from the state in which I live," Bush said. "But he's also a good ambassador for your country."

I'm sure that makes the Argentinians feel alot better.

I suspect that these dudes are even better ambassadors:

Two Bit

2005-11-03T13:44:00.000-06:00

[Corporate rapper] 50 [Cent] says he disagrees with West's infamous statement that "George Bush doesn't care about black people," proclaimed during a September telethon for Hurricane Katrina victims.

"I think people responded to it the best way they can," 50 told ContactMusic.com. "What Kanye West was saying, I don't know where that came from."

Instead, 50 said, "The New Orleans disaster was meant to happen. It was an act of God."
-50 Cent Disagrees With Kanye West
Associated Press
2 Nov 2005

Well, here's part of where it came from:

Newly-released e-mails show former FEMA director Michael Brown discussing his wardrobe during the crisis caused by Hurricane Katrina.
[...]
"My eyes must certainly be deceiving me. You look fabulous — and I'm not talking the makeup," writes Cindy Taylor, FEMA's deputy director of public affairs to Brown on 7:10 a.m. local time on Aug. 29.

"I got it at Nordstroms," Brown writes back. "Are you proud of me? Can I quit now? Can I go home?" An hour later, Brown adds: "If you'll look at my lovely FEMA attire, you'll really vomit. I am a fashion god."

A week later, Brown's aide, Sharon Worthy, reminds him to pay heed to his image on TV. "In this crises and on TV you just need to look more hardworking ... ROLL UP THE SLEEVES!" Worthy wrote, noting that even President Bush "rolled his sleeves to just below the elbow."
-Brown Discussed Wardrobe During Katrina
Associated Press
3 Nov 2005

Again, I want to thank you all for -- and, Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job. The FEMA Director is working 24 -- (applause) -- they're working 24 hours a day.
-George W Bush
Whitehouse.gov
2 September 2005

General Morons

2005-11-03T11:07:00.000-06:00

U.S. sales of new cars and trucks at the retail level appear to have fallen off the cliff in October, led by steep declines at General Motors Corp.
[...]
A report from the industry tracking firm's closely watched Power Information Network cited a lack of high-impact incentives from major automakers, high U.S. gasoline prices,
[...]
results were down at nine major automakers, but GM led the pack with a 57 percent decline followed by Ford, which saw its retail sales drop 45 percent over the first nine days of the month.
[...]
Slowing sales of fuel-thristy sport utility vehicles were a leading factor behind GM's overall sales decline of 24 percent last month. Ford's September sales fell 20 percent. Both companies are heavily reliant on sales of traditional truck-based SUVs, which are heavier and get poorer fuel economy than smaller, car-based SUVs known as crossover vehicles.

-Dramatic slump seen in vehicle sales
Reuters
14 Oct 2005

Sales of Detroit trucks stalled in September as spiking gas prices sped up a consumer shift toward more fuel-efficient vehicles.
[...]
Yesterday Standard & Poor's put both Ford and GM under review for possible downgrade of their credit ratings out of concern over competitive pressures.
[...]
Detroit has a perception problem among consumers who are not aware that U.S. automakers offer many fuel-efficient sedans and small cars. Instead, customers are buying the few hybrid cars on the market as well as smaller cars and little sport-utility vehicles from import companies.
[...]
At Honda, sales of the Civic, one of the industry's most popular small cars, grew 37 percent from a year ago. Honda reported a 25 percent sales increase in the gasoline-electric hybrid version of the Civic. Sales of the hybrid Toyota Prius nearly doubled, to 8,193 for the month.
[...]
Chrysler's performance was helped by a 69 percent increase in sales of the Dodge Neon, a car that the automaker is phasing out and barely marketing.

-Truck and SUV Sales Plunge as Gas Prices Rise
Washington Post
4 October 2005

Total vehicle sales at Ford were down almost 20% in September, while at GM they dipped by 24% overall. The biggest drop was in sales of fuel guzzling sports utility vehicles (SUVs).

Many US consumers seem to be turning away from SUVs and trucks in favour of more efficient, less polluting vehicles.

Ford said sales of its Explorer, the best-selling SUV in the US, dropped by almost two thirds in September. Total truck sales at Ford dropped by half, while at GM the picture was little better. SUV and truck sales at GM fell by 30% in September.

"There is legitimate pressure on some utility categories," said Paul Ballew, GM's executive director of global market and industry analysis.

However, Mr Ballew countered that the drop off came after months of growth. "We're coming off the three strongest months in the history of the industry," he explained.

Ford said that it expected SUV sales to remain weak in coming months.

-Ford and GM vehicle sales plummet
BBC News
3 October 2005

So, what's Detroit's plan of action?

General Motors Corp. on Thursday said it will invest about $20 million in its Shreveport, Louisiana, truck assembly plant to increase production of the Hummer H3 sport utility vehicle and Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon mid-size pickups.
-GM to boost Hummer 3, truck output
Reuters
3 November 2005

Wow, that's dumb. Not that I'm complaining, of course. If GM wants to make horrid decisions, this dude won't stop 'em. The sooner we get to the Death of Cars, the better.

Of Stack Bolts and Surveys

2005-11-02T10:28:00.000-06:00

I've been having problems with stack bolts; namely, they keep loosening up. I noticed it during a little nighttime South Minneapolis jaunt with Pete. He said that the grinding creak originating from somewhere around my bottom bracket was most likely a case of loose stack bolts.

He was right. Pete, you're a genius! I'll buy you your "flavorful" drink tonight, if you're up for it.

Anyhow, when I got home, sure enough, it was the stack bolts. Hell, they weren't even finger tight. Yikes. What's more puzzling is that one of the bolts won't even tighten; it just spins and spins, and there seems to be some kind of a spacer between the bolt head and the crank spider. Is that normal?

I've mentioned a number of times that I'm running a pretty big gear - 50x16 which means (according to Sheldom Brown's awesome gear calculator) 82.4 gear inches. I notice the creaking (loosening?) comes back the more I have to backpedal/brake.

So what do y'all think...is it likely that there's a limit to what a set of stack bolts will be able to take? Is it time to slap on the 45-tooth chainring?

Oh, and leave me your gearing in the comments. I'm curious to know what people are running.

Speechless

2005-10-31T08:04:00.000-06:00

This is the first time I can remember that I'm sitting at work in a GOOD mood. I feel so happy I can barely stand it.

This morning was my first commute on the fixie. I guess I'm pleased to report that I only applied my brakes twice; once on the rather steep downhill on Portland Ave as it slopes down toward the Stone Arch Bridge (there's a stop sign at the bottom) and again (coincidentally) at University and SE 10th Ave, rapidly approaching a yellow light as I was thinking about how I only used the brake once.

I'm not at all winded, I made near record (or maybe record indeed) time, and all I want to do is keep going. I'm apparently riding a harder gear, but I tackled the really long eastbound University Ave incline with alot less effort.

Slowing/stopping is still a bear, but I think it's getting to be less so. We'll see how my knees feel by the end of the week. I feel like there's more balance and that the bike itself is noticeably lighter without the extra cogs and chainwheels and cables and that one hanging do-hickey wheely thing (I forget what they're called...).

I'm really trying to pay attention to the motion of the pedals, so I can pedal in nice circles.

Everyone should ride a fixed gear.

Fixed Gear Good

2005-10-30T17:11:00.000-06:00

Took the Takara to the Hub to have it converted to a fixed gear. However, due to availablility problems with the Mavic WE9068 wheel, I only have a brand new rear wheel (actually, there were NO front wheels available, save for the low-end model). Of course, it has a nifty Surly flip-flop hub; fixed on both sides.

This is a new experience. Everything seems more fluid. Stopping/slowing is where the real change is. I'm running a 50x16 gearing (I'm a bit of a masher), and all I can say is that I'm glad I'm running breaks!

Once I get everything all set up (new bar tape, and the front wheel), I certainly PROMISE that pics will go up.

Anyone have any riding tips? Are there any aches or pains that I should expect in the next week or so?

And do you think I should pop an 18 tooth cog on the other side of my hub?

LIBBY INDICTED - 5 COUNTS

2005-10-28T11:53:00.000-05:00

2 Perjury
2 Making false statements
1 Obstruction of Justice

It's a good start...

Human Caricature

2005-10-27T11:25:00.000-05:00

It doesn't get any better than this:

-In a file photo Exxon Mobil Corp. Chairman and CEO Lee Raymond laughs during a news conference in Dallas, Wednesday, May 25, 2005. Exxon Mobil Corp., the largest publicly traded oil company in the world, on Thursday, Oct. 27, 2005, said third-quarter profit surged, buoyed by higher crude-oil and natural-gas prices, even as the period's hurricanes hampered production. Revenue grew to $100.72 billion from $76.38 billion in the prior-year period. (AP Photo/Donna McWilliam)

Rats

2005-10-25T08:18:00.000-05:00

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Early nerve damage caused by repetitive motion on the job can cause "sick worker" syndrome, a fatigue or depression that can be mistaken for poor work performance, according to a study published in this month's Journal of Neuroimmunology.

The study done on rats found that nerve injuries caused by low-force, highly repetitive movement -- common to typists, pianists and meatpackers, among other professions -- can be blamed on increased production of proteins known as cytokines.

Cytokines show up in injured nerves as early as three weeks after the first signs of cell stress, much earlier than previously thought, researchers at Temple University found.

Cytokines also are known to spark symptoms of malaise and the study concludes that an onslaught of these proteins affected the rats' psychosocial responses, the researchers said.

With so many cytokines entering the blood stream so early, some apparently traveled to the brain, sparking the rat version of "sick worker" syndrome, the study said.

"At three weeks, even before the rats experienced pain from their wrist injuries, we watched them self-regulate their work behavior," researcher Ann Barr said. "With inflammatory proteins in the bloodstream, they began to slack off from completing their tasks."

By five weeks to eight weeks, when cytokine production reached "peak" levels, some rats curled up in a ball and slept in between tasks, the study said.
-'Sick worker' malady may be early RSI sign-study
Reuters
25 Oct 2005

Owing to the extensive use of machinery, and to the division of labour, the work of the proletarians has lost all individual character, and, consequently, all charm for the workman. He becomes an appendage of the machine, and it is only the most simple, most monotonous, and most easily acquired knack, that is required of him. Hence, the cost of production of a workman is restricted, almost entirely, to the means of subsistence that he requires for maintenance, and for the propagation of his race. But the price of a commodity, and therefore also of labour, is equal to its cost of production. In proportion, therefore, as the repulsiveness of the work increases, the wage decreases. Nay more, in proportion as the use of machinery and division of labour increases, in the same proportion the burden of toil also increases, whether by prolongation of the working hours, by the increase of the work exacted in a given time or by increased speed of machinery, etc.

-Communist Manifesto
Karl Marx
1848

The researchers theorized that as cytokines first appear in the newly injured nerve of workers who perform the same physical movement over and over, signs of "sick worker" syndrome begin. People may call in sick with undefined symptoms, or slow down their work production or a low-grade depression may set in, the researchers said.

Some bosses might see the cytokine connection as an excuse for employees to slack off work, but Temple researcher Mary Barbe disagrees.
-'Sick worker' malady may be early RSI sign-study

Modern Industry has converted the little workshop of the patriarchal master into the great factory of the industrial capitalist. Masses of labourers, crowded into the factory, are organised like soldiers. As privates of the industrial army they are placed under the command of a perfect hierarchy of officers and sergeants. Not only are they slaves of the bourgeois class, and of the bourgeois State; they are daily and hourly enslaved by the machine, by the overlooker, and, above all, by the individual bourgeois manufacturer himself. The more openly this despotism proclaims gain to be its end and aim, the more petty, the more hateful and the more embittering it is.

-Communist Manifesto

"Cytokines are self-protective," she said. "This undefined feeling of malaise may be telling the body to take some time off to heal, before things get worse."
-'Sick worker' malady may be early RSI sign-study

But, instead of changing The System, I'm sure we'll just study how to develop a drug that blocks the production of cytokines...

Irony

2005-10-24T08:20:00.000-05:00

SAN FRANCISCO - The latest "Got Milk?" commercial hit a little too close to home for Major League Baseball. Poking fun at the league's steroid scandal, the television ad for the California Milk Processor Board talks about a player getting pulled from a game "after testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance."

In the next scene, a coach pulls a carton of milk from the slugger's locker.

"There is nothing humorous about steroid abuse," said Tim Brosnan, executive vice president for business for the league. "I would think that the California Milk Processor Board and their advertising agency would know better regarding an issue that threatens America's youth."
[...]
"It's just milk," Goodby said. "Believe me, we know parody is based on a serious topic. So we wanted to make sure that it was goofy enough so that people didn't get upset."

He said ad was meant to deliver the message that "milk is good for you, that milk actually does many of the things that people hope those wonder drugs might do for them and does so naturally."
-New 'Got Milk?' Ad Not a Hit With MLB
Associated Press
24 Oct 2005

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

IGF-1 and Milk: Q&A

Q. What is IGF-1?
A. Insulin-like Growth Factor 1 (IGF-1)is a normal growth factor. Excess levels have been increasingly linked by modern research to human cancer development and growth.

Q. How does IGF-1 get into milk?
A. In 1994, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the use of the recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH). According to rBGH manufacturers, injections of rBGH causes cows to produce up to 20 percent more milk. The growth hormone also stimulates the liver to increase IGF-1 levels in the milk of those cows. Recently, Eli Lilly & Co., a manufacturer of rBGH, reported a ten-fold increase in IGF-1 levels in milk of cows receiving the hormone. IGF-1 is the same in humans and cows, and is not destroyed by pasteurization. In fact, the pasteurization process actually increases IGF-1 levels in milk.

Q. How does rBGH milk containing IGF-1, affect, humans?
A. After the rBGH milk is consumed, IGF-1 is not destroyed by human digestion. Instead, IGF-1 is readily absorbed across the intestinal wall. Additional research has shown that it can be absorbed into the bloodstream where it can effect other hormones.

Q. Is IGF-1 likely to increase the risk of specific kinds of cancer?
A. It is highly likely that IGF-1 promotes transformation of normal breast cells to breast cancers. In addition, IGF-1 maintains the malignancy of human breast cancer cells, including their invasiveness and ability to spread to distant organs. (Increased levels of IGF-1 have similarly been associated with colon and prostate cancers.) The prenatal and infant breast is particularly susceptible to hormonal influences. Such imprinting by IGF-1 may increase future breast cancer risks, and may also increase the sensitivity of the breast to subsequent unrelated risks such as mammography and the carcinogenic and estrogen-like effects of pesticide residues in food, particularly in pre-menopausal women.

Q. Are cows adversely affected by elevated IGF-1 levels?
A. Cows injected with rBGH show heavy localization of IGF-1 in breast (udder) epithelial cells. This does not occur in untreated cows. Cows are also affected in other ways by rBGH, through increased rates of mastitis, an udder infection. Industry data show up to an 80 percent incidence of mastitis in hormone-treated cattle, resulting in the contamination of milk with significant levels of pus. Mastitis requires the use of antibiotics to treat, which leaves residues to pass on through the milk for human consumption.
-Milk: America’s Health Problem
Cancer Prevention Coalition
2003

Fatigued

2005-10-12T15:35:00.000-05:00

So I've been studying math for my GRE for the last, oh, eternity or so. I just ran through another practice test - 600 verbal and 520 quantitative. I still want (need?) a higher quant score; I'm not sure how much more ready I can get ebtween now and Sunday.

I think the analytical writing/argument went well, though.

I can't wait to get this over with.

On a lighter note, I see I proved a cliché true...I took the Takara to the car wash and hosed it down. The chrome is chrome and shiny again. So, now that it's all cleanied up, of course it rains out.

Oh well.

Okay, I have to go figure out if the area of 18 nonoverlapping circles with a diameter of 2 inches each is greater or less than 36 square inches...

Check Your Premises

2005-10-04T12:01:00.000-05:00

Evangelist Franklin Graham told an audience that Hurricane Katrina could lead to a spiritual rebirth of what he called a sinful New Orleans.

"There's been satanic worship. There's been sexual perversion,'' Graham said Monday in an appearance at Liberty University. "God is going to use that storm to bring revival. God has a plan. God has a purpose.''
-'Revival' ahead for New Orleans, Billy Graham's son says
Associated Press
4 Oct 2005

First off, those who are Christian may be better off if they realize that "god" doesn't have a plan. "He" just is. Remeber that creation myth about the apple of the tree of life? The one "god" warned us about? The apple that promised to tell us right from wrong? Maybe you were being told something; heed no clergy.

These guys are business men, selling religion to the masses. Beware. There are no lemon laws when the product is your soul...

But I digress.

One thing that I've been quite interested in is that many an evangelist is trying to have us believe that Katrina struck a degenerate New Orleans. That the breaking of the levees was a sort of baptism of the city's sins.

Yet, none of them has noted that it was the French Quarter - the purported playground of perversion loathe to the fundies - that remained mostly unharmed by the storm. Ironic, no?

Perhaps Katrina was really the work of Satan - the poor and black Ninth Ward, suburban Jefferson Parish, and "red" Biloxi and Gulfport Mississippi took the brunt of the storm. Of course Satan hates the upstanding suburbanite and the moralist republicans in MS. And yes, of course Satan would be a racist and an economic elitist.

Or, perhaps when we look deeper, other "targets" can be seen. The gambling industry took a big hit. Maybe because...

So did Big Oil. Oil is alot like money. It's not inherently bad, but often the love and addiction pursuit of it is. Bush, Cheney, and Condolezza Rice (to name a few) are all oil industry luminaries.

Just who's under attack?

Besides, if I were a New Orleanean, I'd think long and hard about heeding the moral clarity of Billy Graham's kid. They say the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, and lord knows that a certain Billy Graham revival was rather ineffective.

Remeber, by their works, ye shall know them...

(An Iraqi girl screamed Tuesday after her parents were killed when American soldiers fired on their car when it failed to stop, despite warning shots, in Tal Afar, Iraq. The military is investigating the incident.)

Catblogging: A Campin' We Will Go Edition

2005-09-30T19:22:00.000-05:00

Priorities

2005-09-23T13:47:00.000-05:00

In light of recent and upcoming events, it is interesting to note that

Procter & Gamble says it spends more than $5 million a day developing products like Olay's Regenerist, which uses an "exclusive Amino-Peptide Complex" to minimize fine lines and age spots.

Discuss.

Not So Fast

2005-09-23T12:48:00.000-05:00

One of several bitter and harsh messages that Hurricane Katrina has delivered to the poor in this country should be a surprise: You cannot count on public transit or public officials to get you out of harm's way when it's important for you to leave your home.

That was certainly true in New Orleans and is probably true anywhere else in this country. And it's always "been the book" on public transit: You move to its schedule, it doesn't move to yours. If you're especially in a hurry, well, gee, that's too bad.

Car ownership in the developing world -- China and India, in particular -- is skyrocketing. If you can afford the additional choice and safety of a private car -- wherever you are in the world -- you buy it.

And there, as here, it's the poorest of the poor who can't buy that choice and are left to fend for themselves in the slim pickings of what's left.

Rather than fantasize about a world where jobs long gone now suddenly migrate back to the center of Minneapolis and St. Paul because of high gas prices, a more realistic and compassionate approach for the Star Tribune and others would be to find a way to get more of the poor real transportation: private cars.

Light rail or a bus won't get a new immigrant to a good construction job in Blaine, or Hugo, or a manufacturing job in Monticello or Rosemount.

And it sure won't get him and his family out of town when the sirens go off.

What's needed is creative thinking about car use and car costs (like insurance) ... and the roads they will need to drive on. Certainly car ownership, like home ownership, should be the focus of good government policy concerned for the long-term health of our region and the country.
-The world would do better with more private cars
Fritz Knaak
23 Sep 2005

Ah, yes, more cars equals good policy. Good to GM and Exxon, maybe, but not to everyone else. And why root for China and India to have car ownership rates equivalent to ours? Consider the combined population of China and India - 2.386.578.200. That is about 37% of the entire population of planet earth.

There are about 225 million registered cars in the US. Doing some quick math, this would amount to 1,815,752,844 more cars on the road in China and India.

Cars that run on the same gas and oil we now lay claim to. China and India will want that oil. China owns the bulk of our national debt. China - and India - are both nuclear powers. China and India have begun forming an alliance. And what about Iran? Others are getting in on the game, too. If you think gas is expensive now, just wait...

Second, there has been massive government policy and subsidy for years to funnel people into private automobiles and to destroy public transit. Slowly, we are beginning to realize that transit - and mixed use development - is needed.

But go ahead, put all your transportation eggs into one basket; a basket that a much bigger mofo is eyeing up. It doesn't bother me - I don't have a car. Just don't come cryin' to me about a government bailout when you can't afford to fill up your tank.

And I'll bet you the biggest whiners will be the "free-market" "libertarians".

This much is clear: we cannot lay absolute claim to the world's oil for much longer. Better to give it up and discover new energy sources than to have it ripped from our hands at a moment of others' choosing.

Oh, and as far as getting out of town when a hurricane is coming, haven't you been watching the news?

Crawling through Houston's northern suburbs yesterday afternoon, the resident of Missouri City, Texas, grew increasingly worried that she would be trapped in her car when the hurricane hit.

"It's hell," she said as she idled on Interstate 45. "There's no gas. There's no food ... the bathroom is a problem.

"I guess at this point my strategy is to pray," Kritikakis said. "I thought about going home, but I probably don't have enough gas to get back. ... At this rate, there are going to be a lot of hurt people."
[...]
With temperatures in the 90s, many cars were overheating, as were some tempers.

"I've been screaming in the car," said Abbie Huckleby, who was trapped on Interstate 45 with her husband and two children as they tried to get from the Houston suburb of Katy to Dallas, about 250 miles away. "It's not working. If I would have known it was this bad, I would have stayed at home and rode out the storm at home."
-Evacuees fear being trapped on highways
Seattle Times
23 Sep 2005

Catblogging: Post Hiatus Edition

2005-09-16T20:09:00.000-05:00

Final Solution

2005-09-09T08:45:00.000-05:00

Our own Roger Clegg noted last year that "Birth rates for unmarried women vary widely by race and Hispanic origin ... Among African Americans, 68.2 percent of births are illegitimate, versus 23.0 percent for non-Hispanic whites."

Meanwhile, so far as males are concerned, the Bureau of Justice reports that "At midyear 2004 there were 4,919 black male prison and jail inmates per 100,000 black males in the United States, compared to 1,717 Hispanic male inmates per 100,000 Hispanic males and 717 white male inmates per 100,000 white males."

Under the circumstances, to say, as Steve Sailer does, that African Americans "tend to possess poorer native judgment than members of better-educated groups," and "need stricter moral guidance from society" does not seem to me very outrageous.

Unless, that is, you believe that it is ill-mannered to talk about these things at all... in which case you had better take the matter up with Roger Clegg and the Bureau of Justice for their "shocking," "unspeakable," and "tasteless" breaches of etiquette.

-"Judgement and Guidance"
The Corner, National Review Online
5 Sep 2005

Two shaky House incumbents, Democrat Melancon and Republican Boustany, hope response to hurricane rallies voters behind them. House Republican campaign chief Reynolds touts chance to market conservative social-policy solutions; Rep. Baker of Baton Rouge is overheard telling lobbyists: "We finally cleaned up public housing in New Orleans. We couldn't do it, but God did."
Baker explains later he didn't intend flippancy but has long wanted to improve low-income housing.

-"The Shame"
The Stakeholder
9 Sep 2005

In 1904, Alfred Ploetz founded the German Eugenics Society. Sixteen years later, a work seminal to the development of the German eugenics movement, The Permission to Destroy Life Unworthy of Life, was published. Written by Karl Binding, a widely respected judge, and renowned psychiatrist Alfred Hoche, the work was key to the formulation of Nazi ideology, rhetoric and practice:

[It] defended the theory which stated that the elimination of "worthless people" should be legalized. Thus the concepts of "worthless life" or "life unworthy of life" used by the Nazis come from that book. Binding and Hoche speak in that book about "worthless human beings". [Binding and Hoche] plead for "the elimination of those who cannot be saved, ... whose death is an urgent need" ... [and] about those who are below the beast[s] [with] "neither the will to live nor to die". [The book also refers] to those who are "mentally dead" and who form "a foreign body to the human society".

The work of Ploetz and the words of Binding and Hoche were the foreshadowings of Hitler's "final solution" two decades later.

-The Holocaust
Wikipedia
accessed 9 Sep 2005

NOLA Needs Your Help

2005-09-01T09:08:00.000-05:00

I'll have to figure out how to do a banner or something, but here are some links to good organizations that are responding to Hurrican Katrina:

Mennonite Disaster Service

American Red Cross

Humane Society of the United States (don't forget our four-legged friends)

Muir Mail

2005-09-01T08:54:00.000-05:00

Mr. Muir:

I see that you took exception to New Orleans resident Mike Franklin's rationalization for the rampant looting occurring in said city. To refreh your memory, Mr. Franklin's words were:

"To be honest with you, people who are oppressed all their lives, man, it's an opportunity to get back at society."

Your response was:

"I have doubts if Franklin can spell the words "crutch" or "entitlement" but he sure has the "somebody-owes-me" concept mastered."

Now, I realize that your response is cloistered in partisan code-words (i.e., "entitlement" as a synonym for "liberal mentality"), but consider the words of Donald Rumsfeld during the looting of Baghdad:

"Stuff happens."

Mr. Rumsfeld also sought to analyze the situation in Baghdad as "a spontaneous outburst of the oppressed Iraqi people" and that "free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes."

Maybe that's where Mr. Franklin picked up his rationalization of the spiralling lawnessness in the streets of New Orleans.

Something to think about,

(mister serious)
Minneapolis, MN

Different Here

2005-09-01T08:18:00.000-05:00

"The truth is, a terrible tragedy like this brings out the best in most people, brings out the worst in some people," said Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour on NBC's "Today" show. "We're trying to deal with looters as ruthlessly as we can get our hands on them."
[...]
Bush expressed sympathy for those who were still suffering but also said there should be "zero tolerance" for breaking the law during an emergency situation.

-Troops, Police Deployed to Stop Looting
Associated Press
1 Sep 2005

Yet when rioters were tearing up the U.S.-controlled city of Baghdad last week, Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld responded by saying, "Stuff happens." Then, echoing statements of other Bush administration apparatchiks, Rumsfeld described the looting of the city as an "untidy" display of freedom. In response to questions about the first signs of chaos in the streets of Baghdad, the Secretary of Defense told Americans that they were seeing "a spontaneous outburst of the oppressed Iraqi people..."

-'Stuff Happens': Riots? Looting?
The Nation, via Common Dreams
15 April 2003

Given the magnitude of the situation - a disaster like many of have never witnessed - I have a simple solution for the looting problem.

Shoot 'em. Shoot 'em on sight.
[...]
Perhaps a sign of the times we live in came in the comments from an individual identified as Mike Franklin, who lives in New Orleans. Talking to an Associated Press reporter, Franklin offered an explanation, albeit skewed, about the reason some people loot.

"To be honest with you, people who are oppressed all their lives, man, it's an opportunity to get back at society," Franklin said.

I have doubts if Franklin can spell the words "crutch" or "entitlement" but he sure has the "somebody-owes-me" concept mastered.

-Jim Muir: Thoughts on looters, shooters, fools and heroes
Southern Illinoisan
1 Sep 2005

"It is unfortunate that there was looting and damage done to the museum and we have offered rewards, as Secretary Rumsfeld has said, for individuals who may have taken items from the museum to bring those back," White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan said in Crawford, Texas, where President Bush is spending a long Easter break.

-Bush Cultural Advisers Quit Over Iraq Museum Theft
Reuters, via Veterans for Peace
17 April 2003

The point is not to condone looting; but if it were, I could just say that the looting is simply an eruption of freedom-loving behaviour by NOLA's poor and oppressed.

Hey, BushCo said so.

Let Them Eat Cake

2005-08-30T23:31:00.000-05:00

Yesterday:

Today:

I remeber Dear Leader being roused out of his Crawford bed in the middle of the night to fly to the White House to sign an 11th hour law to keep Teri Schiavo from being disconnected from life support.

New Orleans will probably cease to exist tomorrow. George seems to take it all in stride. According to Louisiana Senator Landrieu, Dear Leader may do a flyover on Friday.

Friday.

Well, what do you expect?

What a guy.

You Don't Say!

2005-08-29T16:10:00.000-05:00

The main reason for the box office slump is the quality of the movies themselves, according to a survey of moviegoers' opinions found in Internet chat rooms and posted on message boards.
-Poor films explains box office slump - survey
Reuters
29 Aug 2005

...Forget honesty
Forget creativity

The dumbest buy the mostest,
That's the name of the game

But sales are slumping
And no one will say why
Could it be they put out one too many
LLLLLLLOUSY RRRRRRRECORDS?!?

MTV, get off the air

NOW!
-Dead Kennedys
"MTV Get Off The Air"
1985

Loring Park Neighbours

2005-08-16T20:49:00.000-05:00

There will be a candlelight vigil for Cindy Sheehan tomorrow evening at 7:30 on the pedestrian bridge over Hennepin/Lyndale/I-94.

More info here.

See you there!

(PS - Obviously, bring a candle.)

Say It With Me

2005-08-16T17:02:00.000-05:00

CRAWFORD, Texas (Reuters) - President George W. Bush, an avid cyclist, will test his mettle against Lance Armstrong when the cycling superstar visits the president's Texas ranch this weekend.
-Bush to ride with cycling champion Armstrong
Reuters
16 Aug 2005

IF YOU CAN MEET WITH LANCE, YOU CAN MEET WITH CINDY...

Home Is Where the Mail Is

2005-08-16T08:19:00.000-05:00

I read this commentary by a returned Iraq War vet in the breakroom over my first cup of coffee. The last sentence is absolutely tragic and shows the profound shame that George W Bush has brought upon this nation.

This is not "honour and dignity".

Well, if there's any consolation, in the midst of all the John Crawfords and Cindy Sheehans and Lila Lipscombs out there, Bush is down in Texas clearing brush, going to fundraisers and achieving balance.

Sure is a funny way to feel their pain. Of course, when it comes down to it, we all know how the NeoCons really feel about the troops:

More here.

Oh, Come On

2005-08-15T09:11:00.000-05:00

Sure, some hotel alarm clocks may be flummoxing. But come, on, I've figured them out within a few minutes of tinkering.

Why don't you ask for a wake-up call or bring your own alarm clock?

Yeesh.

Cindy Sheehan, Answered

2005-08-13T22:02:00.000-05:00

The Bush administration is significantly lowering expectations of what can be achieved in Iraq, recognizing that the United States will have to settle for far less progress than originally envisioned during the transition due to end in four months, according to U.S. officials in Washington and Baghdad.

The United States no longer expects to see a model new democracy, a self-supporting oil industry or a society where the majority of people are free from serious security or economic challenges, U.S. officials say.
[...]
But the realities of daily life are a constant reminder of how the initial U.S. ambitions have not been fulfilled in ways that Americans and Iraqis once anticipated. Many of Baghdad's 6 million people go without electricity for days in 120-degree heat. Parents fearful of kidnapping are keeping children indoors.

Barbers post signs saying they do not shave men, after months of barbers being killed by religious extremists. Ethnic or religious-based militias police the northern and southern portions of Iraq. Analysts estimate that in the whole of Iraq, unemployment is 50 percent to 65 percent.
[...]
"We didn't calculate the depths of feeling in both the Kurdish and Shiite communities for a winner-take-all attitude," said Judith S. Yaphe, a former CIA Iraq analyst at the National Defense University.
[...]
On security, the administration originally expected the U.S.-led coalition to be welcomed with rice and rosewater, traditional Arab greetings, with only a limited reaction from loyalists of ousted Iraqi president Saddam Hussein. The surprising scope of the insurgency and influx of foreign fighters has forced Washington to repeatedly lower expectations -- about the time-frame for quelling the insurgency and creating an effective and cohesive Iraqi force capable of stepping in, U.S. officials said.
[...]
Washington now does not expect to fully defeat the insurgency before departing, but instead to diminish it, officials and analysts said.
-U.S. Lowers Sights On What Can Be Achieved in Iraq
Washington Post
14 August 2005

No Schadenfreude here. This is not good. Pardon my French, but this is a

FUCKING

TRAVESTY.

It is now clear why Mr. Bush cannot face Ms. Sheehan.

Catblogging: Lazy Evening Edition

2005-08-13T20:31:00.000-05:00

Almost 3 In Carlsbad

2005-08-12T09:13:00.000-05:00

Regular gas is almost $3 per gallon in Carlsbad, CA:

FWIW, my bike costs $0.00 per gallon.

Accountability Is On The March

2005-08-12T09:06:00.000-05:00

This is a very good roundup of the growing number of (extra)ordinary Americans that are making the peace pilgrimage to Crawford.

Is America finally waking up?

D - E - V - O

2005-08-11T19:04:00.000-05:00

We are DEVO:

The researchers also tested the technology at a bar in Cambridge where a group of singles were "speed-dating,'' rotating through a series of five-minute conversations.
"Mathematically modeling'' each person's speaking style let the research team predict whether a speed-dater would agree to a real date. It was a good sign, Madan said, if the speed-daters engaged in "back and forth exchanges,'' punctuated by "ahas'' and "yups.''

This is precisely why I don't have a cell phone.

It's going to get to the point where we simply badger ourselves to death. Here's a radical idea: we really don't need "Jerk-O-Meters" to regulate our interest in things.

We just need access to interesting things, which is precisely what we are short on. Interesting things are hard to pigeonhole and distribute on a wide scale. Interesting things are fiercely subjective and are not passively consumed.

We live in a thoroughly corporatized, consumptive culture. Through appropriation and co-opting interesting stuff, we cede our curiosity and instead let Big Money entertain us.

And when we've become sufficiently dulled and end up with stuff named "Jerk-O-Meter", we won't even realize the ironic joke is on us.

And here I thought the capitalists had no sense of humour...

66

2005-08-11T12:36:00.000-05:00

One more dollar to becoming a literal fossil fuel.

Also:

"Geoff Sundstrom, spokesman for travel club AAA, said gasoline at $3 a gallon is within the "realm of possibility," but that AAA doesn't try to forecast gas prices. "

600

2005-08-10T19:48:00.000-05:00

(Ed. note - this is related to "65" below)

More than 600 truckers gathered in their big rigs Wednesday to protest the rising gas prices in South Florida, NBC 6's Hank Tester reported.
[...]
The trucks traveled 20 miles to present a petition requesting a fuel surcharge break for independently owned trucks.

The truckers claim that the high cost of gas has made it impossible for them to earn a living.

"The airlines are charging passengers. The steam ship lines are charging the shippers. Everyone who's got clout is getting a surcharge," said Ron Carver of the Teamsters Union. "But the truck drivers who have to buy their own fuel are going into bankruptcy because they don't have the clout to demand this. So they're here today asking Congress to pass a mandatory fuel surcharge to keep them afloat."

And so the social wrangling around the end of oil starts...

Does Not Condone

2005-08-10T14:59:00.000-05:00

In a story regarding Time Canada's Newsmaker Of The Year (note the Time US Person of the Year, to the left of Mr. Arar...):

Government lawyers never once conceded yesterday that Arar had been tortured or that the United States had been complicit in his treatment, but they argued they should not have to tell the court why they thought Arar was a member of the terrorist network, because to do so would be to divulge state secrets.

"It is absolutely clear the U.S. does not participate in or condone torture and that it is, in fact, unlawful," said Mary Mason, a justice department lawyer.

Now, I may not be a lawyer, but how can we send a Canadian to Syria to be tortured and then say that we do not condone or participate in torture.

I guess it depends on the meaning of "condone"...

65

2005-08-10T14:53:00.000-05:00

Oil hits $65 a barrel.

Whom To Believe?

2005-08-09T08:22:00.000-05:00

Competing headlines on Yahoo News this morning:

"Fed Expected to Raise Interest Rates"
and
"Housing Prices High for Low Income Workers"

In one story (guess), we hear the good news that

The Federal Reserve, responding to solid growth in the economy after a brief slowdown early in the year, is expected to keep raising interest rates.

The Fed's credit tightening campaign will keep mortgage rates and other consumer interest rates rising as well but at a pace that should slow only modestly the nation's booming housing market, private economists believe.

And, even better, right next to that graf is an add to refinance your home with a large national mortgage lender. Nice touch.

But, the other story tells us that

Housing prices are far outstripping salary increases for low- and moderate-income jobs, putting the American dream of owning a home beyond the reach of teachers, firefighters and other community workers in many cities, said a study being released Tuesday.

The report, by a coalition advocating affordable housing, found that even cities once considered affordable, such as Tulsa, Okla., are rapidly becoming too pricey for lower-income workers such as janitors and retail sales employees.

And next to that graf? The same ad for the same large national mortgage lender (subprime division, no doubt).

One story is full of

solid growth! booming housing market! private economists believe! new vigor!

While the other is a barbituate cocktail of

American dream beyond reach. rapidly becoming too pricey. wages were flat. salaries don't come close. they'll never catch up. unattainable. flatness of the wage growth. increased pressures on home prices.

The economists trumpet that "Housing has been one of the economy's standout performers. Sales of both new and existing homes are expected to hit new record highs for a fifth straight year this year, with home prices soaring as well", while the advocates remind us that there is a downside to such a thing. Namely, that working class professionals such as teachers and nurses and firefighters, are being priced out of the very communities that they serve.

Also noted in the Fed article is "In addition to wage pressures, inflation could also worsen from another flare-up in oil prices, which shot up to a record close of $63.94 per barrel in New York trading on Monday".

Well, whom should we believe? Is the economy doing well? Or, by "economy" are we talking about only a certain caste segment of American society? Are home prices - the engine of the economy - going to price even more people out or force them to borrow even farther beyond there means? And will the housing bubble burst (as ever-so-delicately hinted at in the Fed article...), and how high will interest rates be when the American people are left holdiong the bag?

Worse, will oil hit $100 a barrel?

Do our enemies indeed have us over a barrel?

If so, will we adjust accordingly?

Or, will the housing bubble burst while the price of gas simultaneously renders suburbia completely futile?

"W" Stands for Won't

2005-08-08T13:13:00.000-05:00

He can say it:

Fort A.P. Hill, Va. -- Four adult scout leaders from Alaska were killed Monday afternoon in an electrical accident that occurred as they were setting up camp at the Boy Scout Jamboree, a gathering of thousands of scouts and leaders from throughout the world, officials said.

Two others, a scout leader and a contract worker, were injured in the accident, which occurred between 4:30 and 5 p.m., said a spokeswoman for the jamboree, which is held here every four years and opened Monday at noon.

-4 Boy Scout leaders die in accident at Jamboree
San Francisco Chronicle (via Washington Post)
26 July 2005

In his 20-minute address, Bush offered his condolences for the four Alaskan scout leaders killed in an electrical accident July 25 and gave special thanks to Boy Scouts of America President John Cushman and Chief Scout Executive Roy L. Williams, Joint Task Force National Scout Jamboree Commander Army Maj. Gen. John A. Yingling and “all the troops who fight for our freedom.”
-Bush provides high note at Scout Jamboree
Army News Service
4 August 2005

But he won't say it:

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A roadside bomb blast killed 14 Marines and a civilian interpreter Wednesday as they rode in a vehicle near Haditha, Iraq, U.S. military officials said.
[...]
On Monday, six Marine sniper team members were killed in a firefight near Haditha. The six were attached to the same unit as the 14. A suicide car bomb killed a seventh Marine Monday in nearby Hit.

In the past 10 days, 43 U.S. troops have been killed in Iraq. That brings the number of U.S. troops killed in the war to 1,820, according to U.S. military reports.

-Fourteen Marines, civilian killed in bombing
CNN.com
4 August 2005

THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. As families across the country enjoy the summer, Americans can be optimistic about our economic future. In the past four years, our economy has been through a lot: we faced a stock market decline, a recession, corporate scandals, an attack on our homeland, and the demands of an ongoing war on terror.

To grow the economy and help American families, we acted by passing the largest tax relief in a generation. And today, thanks to the tax relief and the efforts of America's workers and entrepreneurs, our economy is strong and growing stronger.

This past week, we learned that America added over 200,000 new jobs in July. Since May of 2003, we've added nearly 4 million new jobs. The unemployment rate is down to 5 percent, below the average of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. And more Americans are working today than ever before in our nation's history.

Recent economic reports show that our economy is growing faster than any other major industrialized nation. Small businesses are flourishing. Workers are taking home more of what they earn. Real disposable personal income has grown by over 12 percent since the end of 2000. Inflation is low and mortgage rates are low. And over the past year, the home ownership rate in America has reached record levels.

The tax relief stimulated economic vitality and growth and it has helped increase revenues to the Treasury. The increased revenues and our spending restraint have led to good progress in reducing the federal deficit. Last month we learned that the deficit is now projected to be $94 billion less than previously expected. I set a goal of cutting the deficit in half by 2009, and we are ahead of pace to meet that goal.

To continue creating jobs and to ensure that our prosperity reaches every corner of America, we're opening markets abroad for our goods and services. This past week, I was proud to sign the Central American-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement. This historic agreement will level the playing field for America's workers and farmers, and open up a market of 44 million customers for products made in the United States.

To keep our economy growing we also need affordable, reliable supplies of energy. Next week in New Mexico, I'll sign a bipartisan energy bill that encourages conservation, expands domestic production in environmentally sensitive ways, diversifies our energy supply, modernizes our electricity grid and makes America less dependent on foreign sources of energy. And next Wednesday in Illinois, I'll sign a highway bill that will improve the safety of our roads, strengthen our transportation infrastructure and create good jobs.

Our economy is strong, yet I will not be satisfied until every American who wants to work can find a job. So this coming Tuesday I will meet with my economic team in Texas to discuss our agenda to keep the economy moving forward. As Congress considers appropriations bills this fall, we will work with the House and the Senate to ensure that taxpayer dollars are spent wisely, or not at all.

We need to make the tax relief permanent, end the death tax forever, and make our tax code simpler, fairer and more pro-growth. We'll continue working on Social Security reform. Social Security is sound for today's seniors, but there's a hole in the safety net for our younger workers, so I'll work with the Congress to strengthen Social Security for our children and grandchildren. I'll continue to press for legal reform to protect small businesses, doctors and hospitals from junk lawsuits. And we will work to make health care more affordable and accessible for all Americans.

The American economy is the envy of the world and we will keep it that way. We will continue to unleash the entrepreneurial spirit of America, so more of our citizens can realize the American Dream.

Thank you for listening.
-President's Radio Address
Whitehouse.gov
6 August 2005

Catblogging: I Guess We Got Our Answer Edition

2005-08-05T19:38:00.000-05:00

(Our answer to the question posed in the previous post, that is)

Today's the Day

2005-08-02T08:32:00.000-05:00

Ohioans, it's your choice. Fear and loathing:

or a new start.

What's it gonna be?

No Faith: Or, Why Paul Hackett Matters

2005-07-30T07:47:00.000-05:00

The last few years have been really tough for those Americans with a conscience - and who value life (in the real sense, not the "pro-life" sense).

I now have no faith in the ability of this nation to govern and sustain itself.

We've been attacked by knuckle-dragging, Qu'ran thumping extremists. Our president, consoling the nation, tells us to keep shopping, a message corporate Amerika surely appreciated.

And for all the B-movie superhero talk of "goin' to get the bad guys" and "shinin' the light of justice" on them as we "smoke 'em out of their holes," we really accomplished nothing in this "War On Terror."

Well, actually, not so. Accomplishing nothing would be an improvement over what The Administration is getting us into...

We "traitors" who opposed the Iraq War have been thoroughly vindicated. There was no Iraqi WMD. There was no yellowcake from Niger. And although the GOP wurlitzer made sure to mention Saddam and 9/11 in the same sentence, we were the ones who did not succumb to this psychological trick. There was no connection between Saddam and 9/11. There were no chemical or biological weapons.

So, we go to war. And although the war was fought under false pretenses, only the left wing of the Democratic Party really cared. Finding bin Laden took a back seat to "Supporting Our President."

As massive amounts of money get spent on this war - more than any since WWII (yes, including Viet Nam) - The Administration presses for the biggest tax cut in history. The defecit is allowed to balloon to historic levels. The trade deficit gets wider.

And the troops go without armour.

It's so bad, that even Thomas Friedman and I can agree on it.

We've become a land in which "Supporting Our President" and tacking on a Chinese-made magnet on the back of a petroleum-burning automobile is the only way to show your support of the United States and its military. This is decadent, but this is the way the people want it.

So, we get to the 2004 Presidential election. The Democrats choose the most benign, non-offensive, centrist candidate (who is also a veteran) to run against Bush. During the televised debates, the consensus emerged that Kerry, not Bush, was the man most equipped and capable of running the country.

But it wasn't to be; Kerry was too wonky, too nuanced, and served in the military. Bush won because he was a "reg'lar guy," a Christian with good values, and hates fags.

Or, at the very least, lets people hate fags.

Since the election, numerous scandals and failures emerge. Still no WMD in Iraq. The attempt to privatize social security. Terrorist attacks in London. Plamegate. John Bolton. Terri Schiavo fiasco. The complete implosion of Iraq policy.

Which brings us to August 2005. Tomorrow, east of Cincinatti, a special Congressional election is scheduled. The setting - Ohio's 2nd District ("OH-2") - is a bastion of Republicanism. The District is typically carried 3-to-1 in favour of the Republicans.

The candidates?

Jean Schmidt: a scandal-plagued, priviledged Republican who runs as a "supporter of the president (note especially bullet point 3...)" first, and a woman with her own ideals second.

Paul Hackett: an Iraq War II vet, critical of the president, and known for being plain-spoken and direct. A Democrat, yet "pro-gun".

To my mind, there is a lot riding on this race. It's an archetypal matchup if there ever was one; a corrupt insider politician doing the bidding of the dark forces in Washington against a tough-talking indepentantly-minded veteran who wants to go to Washington to right some wrongs. This battle is not ideological; the choice being presented (by the way the candidates are running their races) to the people of OH-2 is:

"Do you support your president and stand for Christian values, or do you assent to the culture of corruption rampant in GOP-controlled Columbus and to Bushcheney's immoral Iraq War?"

I've been watching this race, and even sent some money to Mr. Hackett. Tomorrow is a big day. Will OH-2 residents - the stereotypical "ordinary Heartland Americans" - stand up and vote for David, or will they choose Goliath?

Will they choose the courage of conviction, or will they bend to the politics of fear and loathing?

At the end of the day tomorrow, will OH-2 voters roll up their sleeves, call spades, admit the president's mistakes, and for the good of democracy, begin to fix them?

Or will they just shrug their shoulders, ask for more tax cuts, and beat on the queers?

Stay tuned...

Catblogging: Post Protein Feed Naptime Edition

2005-07-29T19:56:00.000-05:00

No Qualms

2005-07-26T09:56:00.000-05:00

Someone passed this article on to me:

I fault this president (George W. Bush) for not knowing what death is. He does not suffer the death of our twenty-one year olds who wanted to be what they could be.

On the eve of D-day in 1944 General Eisenhower prayed to God for the lives of the young soldiers he knew were going to die. He knew what death was. Even in a justifiable war, a war not of choice but of necessity, a war of survival, the cost was almost more than Eisenhower could bear.

But this president does not know what death is. He hasn't the mind for it. You see him joking with the press, peering under the table for the WMDs he can't seem to find, you see him at rallies strutting up to the stage in shirt sleeves to the roar of the carefully screened crowd, smiling and waving, triumphal, a he-man. He does not mourn. He doesn't understand why he should mourn. He is satisfied during the course of a speech written for him to look solemn for a moment and speak of the brave young Americans who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.

But you study him, you look into his eyes and know he dissembles an emotion which he does not feel in the depths of his being because he has no capacity for it. He does not feel a personal responsibility for the thousand dead young men and women who wanted to be what they could be.

They come to his desk not as youngsters with mothers and fathers or wives and children who will suffer to the end of their days a terribly torn fabric of familial relationships and the inconsolable remembrance of aborted life.... They come to his desk as a political liability which is why the press is not permitted to photograph the arrival of their coffins from Iraq.

How then can he mourn? To mourn is to express regret and he regrets nothing. He does not regret that his reason for going to war was, as he knew, unsubstantiated by the facts. He does not regret that his bungled plan for the war's aftermath has made of his mission-accomplished a disaster. He does not regret that rather than controlling terrorism his war in Iraq has licensed it.

So he never mourns for the dead and crippled youngsters who have fought this war of his choice. He wanted to go to war and he did. He had not the mind to perceive the costs of war, or to listen to those who knew those costs. He did not understand that you do not go to war when it is one of the options, but when it is the only option; you go not because you want to but because you have to.

This president knew it would be difficult for Americans not to cheer the overthrow of a foreign dictator. He knew that much. This president and his supporters would seem to have a mind for only one thing --- to take power, to remain in power, and to use that power for the sake of themselves and their friends. A war will do that as well as anything. You become a wartime leader. The country gets behind you. Dissent becomes inappropriate. And so he does not drop to his knees, he is not contrite, he does not sit in the church with the grieving parents and wives and children.

He is the President who does not feel. He does not feel for the families of the dead; he does not feel for the thirty five million of us who live in poverty; he does not feel for the forty percent who cannot afford health insurance; he does not feel for the miners whose lungs are turning black or for the working people he has deprived of the chance to work overtime at time-and-a-half to pay their bills --- it is amazing for how many people in this country this President does not feel.

But he will dissemble feeling. He will say in all sincerity he is relieving the wealthiest one percent of the population of their tax burden for the sake of the rest of us, and that he is polluting the air we breathe for the sake of our economy, and that he is decreasing the safety regulations for coal mines to save the coal miners' jobs, and that he is depriving workers of their time-and-a- half benefits for overtime because this is actually a way to honor them by raising them into the professional class.

And this litany of lies he will versify with reverences for God and the flag and democracy, when just what he and his party are doing to our democracy is choking the life out of it.

But there is one more terribly sad thing about all of this. I remember the millions of people here and around the world who marched against the war. It was extraordinary, that spontaneously aroused oversoul of alarm and protest that transcended national borders. Why did it happen? After all, this was not the only war anyone had ever seen coming. There are little wars all over the world most of the time.

But the cry of protest was the appalled understanding of millions of people that America was ceding its role as the last best hope of mankind. It was their perception that the classic archetype of democracy was morphing into a rogue nation. The greatest democratic republic in history was turning its back on the future, using its extraordinary power and standing not to advance the ideal of a concordance of civilizations but to endorse the kind of tribal combat that originated with the Neanderthals, a people, now extinct, who could imagine ensuring their survival by no other means than pre-emptive war.

The president we get is the country we get. With each president the nation is conformed spiritually. He is the artificer of our malleable national soul. He proposes not only the laws but the kinds of lawlessness that govern our lives and invoke our responses. The people he appoints are cast in his image. The trouble they get into and get us into, is his characteristic trouble.

Finally the media amplify his character into our moral weather report. He becomes the face of our sky, the conditions that prevail: How can we sustain ourselves as the United States of America given the stupid and ineffective warmaking, the constitutionally insensitive lawgiving, and the monarchal economics of this president? He cannot mourn but is a figure of such moral vacancy as to make us mourn for ourselves.

-E.L. Doctorow

My response is that I agree, but I think that it goes farther. For perspective, we still only mustered about half of eligible voters at the polls this last election. I consider those that did not vote to be supportive of Dear Leader.

Of the half that did vote, 53% supported Dear Leader.

So, roughly 75% of the voting public support the Cheney Administration.

In 1970, Hunter S. Thompson lamented the fall of the democratic polity:

This may be the year when we finally come face to face with ourselves; finally just lay back and say it—that we are really just a nation of 220 million used car salesmen with all the money we need to buy guns, and no qualms at all about killing anybody else in the world who tries to make us feel uncomfortable.

Some may say that there is no comparison – no historical semblance – between Viet Nam and Iraq. Well maybe. There’s an old (by now) joke: “What’s the difference between Viet Nam and Iraq? Well, George W Bush had an exit plan for Viet Nam!”

This speaks to a larger truth. GWB is a product of his environment, America’s inevitable progeny; he – and Americans - *do* understand death. He, his own, and us our own. To George W Bush, war is to be avoided if it demands sacrifice of George W Bush. George didn’t want to fight in a war that he did not understand against Vietnamese people that did nothing wrong except attempt to throw off their colonialist French oppressors. To the American people, war is to be avoided if it demands collective sacrifice (or in the new Republican Way, collective sacrifice is to be avoided even if it demands war). In the face of this costly war, Americans demand tax cuts. They demand cheap gasoline for their vehicles. They demand more cheap plastic crap from Wal Mart. As the World Trade Center was reduced to a smoldering holocaust, what were we told by our president?

Keep shopping.

Indeed; as long as we can Tivo our favourite sitcom while sitting with a bag of Cheetos while watching Arabs get their heads blown off by well-tanned American (er, “Coalition” – I almost forgot Poland) troops with running commentary by retired generals playing with toy tanks in sandboxes with six-figure-salaried cable news network anchors, well, all can say is that Ol’ Gonzo was right. That we have no qualms whatsoever about turning Iraq – whose people did nothing to us – into a living “flypaper” theory and perpetual war laboratory proves it.

My advice? Leave if you can or hunker down for the new face of Amerika. It ain’t pretty…

Catblogging: Hard Day's Night Edition

2005-07-15T18:20:00.000-05:00

-Clara seems to have had the hardest day of all.

Flip Flop

2005-07-11T16:47:00.000-05:00

Four days after the London bombings, President Bush on Monday warned there will be difficult moments in the war on terrorism but said the United States must stay on offense to overcome a hateful enemy.

"These kind of people who blow up subways and buses are not people you can negotiate with, or reason with, or appease," Bush said in a tough-talking speech at the FBI training academy. "In the face of such adversaries there is only one course of action: We will continue to take the fight to the enemy, and we will fight until this enemy is defeated."

-Bush: U.S. Must Stay on Offense Vs. Terror
Associated Press
11 July 2005

Major reductions in U.S. troop levels in Iraq next year appear increasingly likely, although Pentagon officials said Monday it is too early to predict the specific size and timing.

The Pentagon is eager to pull some of its 135,000 troops out of Iraq in 2006, partly because the counterinsurgency is stretching the Army and Marine Corps perilously thin as casualties mount and partly because officials believe the presence of a large U.S. force is generating tacit support for anti-American violence.

-U.S. May Begin Iraq Troop Drawdown in '06
Associated Press
11 July 2005

"There will be tough fighting ahead," Bush cautioned. "There will be difficult moments along the path to victory. The terrorists know they can't defeat us on the battlefield. The only way the terrorists can win is if we lose our nerve. This isn't going to happen on my watch."

-Bush: U.S. Must Stay on Offense Vs. Terror

Bush administration officials and U.S. commanders are eager to reduce the U.S. military presence in Iraq as soon as possible — not least because of the psychological burden imposed by the presence of an occupation force.
[...]
"Insurgencies by their nature need to be defeated by the country, the people of the country," he said in a radio interview July 5. "A foreign occupying force really can't do that as effectively."

-U.S. May Begin Iraq Troop Drawdown in '06

"America" Is Not Yours

2005-07-11T08:33:00.000-05:00

From the Strib letter bag:

Enough whining

With growing frustration I read yet another article on the ridiculous claims that Muslims' religious rights are being trampled upon by claiming that their employer is not making adequate provisions for prayers (Star Tribune, July 7).

We have separation of church and state in this country. Why not separation of church and work? Why should employers be held ransom to ridiculous claims of religious persecution by a group of people whom we never asked to come to this country?

I have a simple solution: If you feel you are being persecuted, go back to where you came from and leave us alone! We have many larger problems to deal with than to cater to you.

Al Heinle, Maple Grove.

If the white man wants to live in peace with the indian...we can live in peace. There need be no trouble. Treat all men alike.... give them all the same law. Give them all an even chance to live and grow. You might as well expect the rivers to run backward as that any man who is born a free man should be contented when penned up and denied liberty to go where he pleases. We only ask an even chance to live as other men live. We ask to be recognized as men. Let me be a free man...free to travel... free to stop...free to work...free to choose my own teachers...free to follow the religion of my Fathers...free to think and talk and act for myself and I will obey every law, or submit to the penalty.
-Chief Joseph

When asked by an anthropologist what the Indians called America before the white man came, an Indian said simply, "Ours."
-Vine Deloria, Jr

Who asked Al Heinle of Maple Grove, Minnesota to come to the "America"? And, where would a Muslim born in America go if Al Heinle of Maple Grove, Minnesota did not approve of said Muslim's religious freedom?

I guess that never occurred to him.

Catblogging: Jambalaya for Cats Edition

2005-07-08T20:23:00.000-05:00

Yes, they actually make Jambalaya cat food. Cute little pieces of red pepper in there - that was the first thing Clara went for. Well, without further ado:

Toronto Blogging

2005-07-08T20:10:00.000-05:00

This is looking WNW onto Brock Ave from the roof of the New Horizons Old Folks Home/Hostel/Student Residence/Bed and Breakfast (on Bloor and Dufferin). This is looking away from downtown. Note the density:

(click to enlarge the photos - it's worth it)

Here is a view of downtown and midtown Toronto from a spire of Casa Loma:

Canada Day fireworks over the Ex:

And, to Andrew, thanks for the tip, but unfortunately we had already left by the time you posted! We were right there but didn't notice it - a rooftop pint would've been pretty nice. I'll put it on the list for next time. We spent a really nice night at Fressen on Queen Street West (we're both vegans) on our last night in town.

Dear Mr. Gibson

2005-07-07T12:37:00.000-05:00

I've emailed FOXNews regarding my previous post:

Mr. Gibson:

In your July 6 Editorial ("Missed Opportunity"), you had indicated that it would be "exquisite" to watch Parisians struggle with security during the 2012 Olympics. In lieu of today's tragedy in London, are you saying that you would take pleasure in the slaying of ordinary Parisians at the hands of Islamic terrorists? As we see today, security measures can fail and the results can be horrific. But if it were to happen in France - and during the Olympics no less - than "ces't la vie."

That is what can be reasonably concluded from your comments, and thus you have more in common with the terrorists than you let on.

The terrorizing of innocent civilians - be they in Manhattan, Darfur, Baghdad, Paris, Tokyo, or London, is anything but exquisite to witness.

I do not fantasize for the day when terrorists succeed in striking and harming their enemies, even if they are the French. You do.

Shame on you, you hateful and vile person!

[Mister Serious]
Minneapolis

Hope You're Happy

2005-07-07T11:49:00.000-05:00

The host city for the 2012 Olympics (search) was picked. New York was out early and that was a big relief to me, personally. I think New York needs a rest from big events. All that security wears on you.
[...]
All day long people have been saying to me, "Wasn't it great they didn't pick Paris?" And I've been saying, "No, no, no."
[...]
First, the French think they are so good at dealing with the Arab world that they would have gone out and paid every terrorist off. And things would have been calm.

Or another way to look at it is the French are already up to their eyeballs in terrorists. The French hide them in miserable slums, out of sight of the rich people in Paris.

So it would have been a treat, actually, to watch the French dealing with the problem of their own homegrown Islamist terrorists living in France already.

It would have been a delight to have Parisians worried about security instead of New Yorkers. It would have been exquisite to watch.

But, alas, they picked London. I like the Brits. I like London. I hate to see them going through all this garbage when it would have been just fine in Paris.

C'est la vie. Goes to show the Olympic committee doesn't recognize the perfect opportunity when it presents itself.

That's My Word.
-Missed Opportunity
John Gibson, FOXNews
6 July 2005

LONDON - Four blasts rocked the London subway and tore open a packed double-decker bus during the morning rush hour Thursday, sending bloodied victims fleeing in the worst attack on London since World War II. At least 40 people were killed, U.S. officials said, and more than 390 wounded in the terror attacks. A clearly shaken Prime Minister Tony Blair called the attacks "barbaric" and said they were designed to coincide with the G-8 summit opening in Gleneagles, Scotland.
-Four London Blasts Kill 40, Injure 350
Associated Press
7 July 2005

This would be OK in France, though, eh? Mail the hateful little John Gibson at:

myword@foxnews.com

Prices

2005-07-04T07:57:00.000-05:00

They say that Toronto is an expensive city. Wha? In Chinatown (the one centered on Dunas and Spadina) I saw the salons charging only $4 Canadian for a men's haircut. $4!!! A guy was selling bottled water in the Kensington market to the thirsty tourists for 50 cents! We got a plateful o' vegan food at a place on Bloor for just $5 per plate - including an awesome cup of vegan cream of mushroom soup. A TTC day pass costs only $8 and is good for two adults during the weekend and holidays! I got a nice sized jug of freshly-made soy milk at the Fong On tofu shop for $1.25! It goes on and on.

I saw a condo building going up on Shaw and King with units starting at only $199,000! Chop about a fourth of that off to get the US dollar equivalent.

Wow, Minneapolis, on the other hand is really expensive. I wonder what people make up here in Toronto...

Another thing - a lot of the restaurants open up the entire front of the building to let the fresh summer air in (gorgeous weather this weekend - no humidity at all). No screens needed, as there seem to be no bugs or flies here. I wonder why?

Just More Chill

2005-07-02T08:06:00.000-05:00

So far, a successful vacation. The thing (insert obligatory joke-at-Candians' expense here)aboot Canada is that it's quite similar to the northern parts of America, yet there are a subtle range of differences.

Take transit. The TTC still runs streetcars on some of the city's main streets - Queen, King, Carlton, St. Clair, Spadina, and Bathurst. Yeah, they're old streetcars but they are frequent. Same with the busses. Some of them old some of them new. But everytime I looked out my window onto Bloor and Dufferin, there was a bus. It's super frequent (and yesterday was a holiday). What they don't have are expensive fancy fareboxes (that don't work half the time)or a too generous return-trip transfer system like in Minneapolis. Torontonians also get some great subway service out of the deal.

Another thing is the people. I not one who likes to go to big events, but Ms. Seriou and I went down to the Ex to go to the CHIN Radio Picnic. Basically your typical multicultural festival. But this one had a criterion race, so I thought I'd scope it out, if no reason just to see how fast a fast biker is supposed to be.

The sound of a pack of about 40-50 cyclists quietly zooming by is beautiful. It's one of those sounds - kind of like when one is in the middle of a bunch of Critical Massers and you get going from being stopped and everyone all at once is hooking their shoes into their pedal clips.

So, back to the festival...not only could I get a vegetarian flame-grilled hot dog (with sauerkraut, relish, pickles, mustard and ketchup), not only could I get a bag of ketchup chips, but I could also get an ice-cold Portuguese beer. Looking around, we noticed the lack of alpha-male jocks. Sure, there were garden-variety jocks there, but they aren't out to prove their macho-ness like in the States. Why?

It's just more chill up here.

And just as we were talking about the other differences between here and there, over the loudspeakers it was announced that the Miss CHIN Bikini Contest Winner will receive tickets for two to...Cuba.

There's another difference.

Happy Birthday, Canada!

2005-07-01T10:23:00.000-05:00

Happy Canada Day, everyone. Well, T.O. is a great city and I'm fired up for a full day of sight seeing...

Oh, and Pete, how's Clara? Hope the note wasn't too long and that you can find everything you need.

They Get Letters

2005-06-29T17:43:00.000-05:00

So I've sent some emails regarding Minnesota's budget talks. To the DFL ("Democratic Farmer Labor," or,"Democrats" to all you non-Minnesotans):

I'm sure you're being deluged with mail...but as a State Employee I feel a real sense of urgency to the breakdown of "budget" negotiations. However, I've been reading that the Republicans in general (and Tim Pawlenty in particular) are attempting to use the budget crisis as a Trojan Horse to implement particular policy goals.

They are not bargaining in good faith. This is wrong, and I hope the DFL will stand up to this.

Good luck, and keep fighting for Minnesota! I sincerely appreciate your effort.

And to House Majority Leader Steve Sviggum (the Republican), I've sent the following (entitled "A Show of Character"):

As a State Employee, I feel it especially incumbent upon me to give my opinion regarding the current budget negotiations. Unlike the legislators, I am not getting paid extra due to the special session.

Instead, we State Employees stand to lose a significant amount of take-home pay as a result of this.

But nevertheless, I sincerely hope that the DFL rejects your party's bad faith negotiating.

I think it is absolutely appalling that the Governor is attempting to introduce "government reforms" to the budget process. What does a prohibition on teacher strikes during the school year have to do with the budget?

When I read you say things like "It's not the right thing to do, it's not a good thing to do, but you don't want to be just shocked by what is going to happen tomorrow night, either," [StarTribune, 29 June 2005] I take hope that perhaps you've come to realize that your allegiance to the State of Minnesota is more important than your allegiance to Tim Pawlenty's future poitical aspirations.

But, I guess it's always easier to be a patsy, right?

Sviggum, incidentally, was the only one who sent an autoresponse. Why does that seem so typical?

Pink Slip

2005-06-29T15:21:00.000-05:00

Just got my layoff notice, as I'm not a "core function state employee".

Thanks, Pawlenty!

(UPDATE - Pete, I wasn't fired! Just laid off.)

Not A Budget Item

2005-06-29T13:26:00.000-05:00

Minnesota is heading toward a government shutdown. Apparently 5/6 months is not enough time to work out an agreement.

But according to today's latest, the problem resides in the governor's mansion, not the legislature:

On Tuesday, Democrats dropped their call for an income tax increase on the roughly 40,000 highest paid Minnesotans. They said they hoped Republicans would give up on a proposed state-sanctioned casino. But the so-called Racino at Canterbury Park is still in the mix, GOP leaders said. Officials from both parties have effectively signed off on a 75-cent-per-pack charge on cigarettes, which Pawlenty describes as a fee but others call a tax.

Senate Majority Leader Dean Johnson, DFL-Willmar, said the morning's discussions focused largely on Pawlenty's desire for at least one hallmark government reform in addition to a budget agreement.

"It has little to do with money at this point in time,'' Johnson said as he left the governor's residence for a briefing with his DFL colleagues. "We're off to discuss what meaningful reform is.''

Pawlenty has given lawmakers a laundry list of options. Among them: an initiative and referendum process that gives voters a chance to make laws at the ballot box; some form of school choice, which DFLers deride as vouchers; a prohibition on teacher strikes during the school year; or a law change to withhold paychecks from politicians during special sessions forced by budget gridlock.

"Government has to be more than just how much more can you spend and how much can you tax. Government has to be about some changes and some reforms that are important,'' Sviggum said.

WHAT DOES PAWLENTY'S "LAUNDRY LIST" HAVE TO DO WITH THE BUDGET?????????????????????

Lies

2005-06-28T17:23:00.000-05:00

Before Our Glorious Leader takes to the telescreen to exploit the name of Goldberg and claim that we were always at war with Eurasia, consider this (emphasis added):

The Pentagon quickly drafted plans to attack the camp with cruise missiles and airstrikes and sent it to the White House, where, according to U.S. government sources, the plan was debated to death in the National Security Council.

“Here we had targets, we had opportunities, we had a country willing to support casualties, or risk casualties after 9/11 and we still didn’t do it,” said Michael O’Hanlon, military analyst with the Brookings Institution.

Four months later, intelligence showed Zarqawi was planning to use ricin in terrorist attacks in Europe.

The Pentagon drew up a second strike plan, and the White House again killed it. By then the administration had set its course for war with Iraq.

“People were more obsessed with developing the coalition to overthrow Saddam than to execute the president’s policy of preemption against terrorists,” according to terrorism expert and former National Security Council member Roger Cressey.

In January 2003, the threat turned real. Police in London arrested six terror suspects and discovered a ricin lab connected to the camp in Iraq.

The Pentagon drew up still another attack plan, and for the third time, the National Security Council killed it.

Military officials insist their case for attacking Zarqawi’s operation was airtight, but the administration feared destroying the terrorist camp in Iraq could undercut its case for war against Saddam.

Your President is willfully jeopardizing America for mere politics. This war has served not in America's interests, but instead as a tool to build the Republican Party. Never forget that.

And to my fellow Liberals and Leftists, please be safe during this speech. No drink-everytime-Bush-lies-drinking-games. You'll most likely get alcohol poisoning by the third paragraph of his speech.

APB

2005-06-27T08:44:00.000-05:00

Okay, if anyone spots a (by now water-logged) On Guard mini U-lock lying in the eastbound lane of Franklin Ave East, let me know.

It's mine.

When I got to work I realized the plastic bracket broke, allowing gravity to do its thing and neatly deposit the lock onto the street.

And it was such a great ride this morning. Figures...

Lesson learned. Lock either goes in messenger bag or back pocket from now on.

-the article in question

Back In Black

2005-06-27T08:41:00.000-05:00

Yeah!

Catblogging: Post-Critical Mass, Pre-Twin Cities Pride Edition

2005-06-24T19:00:00.000-05:00

Cat 'n' Cow, livin' in harmony

Wild Weekend

2005-06-24T08:29:00.000-05:00

Everyone must come down to the 'hood for TC Pride.

And since it's that time of year, it means two things:
1. It's going to be hotter than a piston this weekend, and
2. I get to hear that MC that sounds exactly like Jello Biafra.

Oh, and Critical Mass tonite. Berger fountain. 5pm. See you on the streets...

(PS - this background is supposed to be "lavender". What do you think?)

Value$

2005-06-22T13:23:00.000-05:00

Yet again, it is time to point out the obvious...

Forget Iraq. Forget terrorism. Forget the economy. The biggest factor shaping people's votes Tuesday (Nov. 2) was the mother of all sleeper issues—"moral values."

In nationwide exit polls, one in five voters said moral values were the most important issue in casting their votes, outpacing every other major topic. Those "values" voters overwhelmingly went for President Bush over Sen. John Kerry, 79 percent to 18 percent.

The stronger-than-expected role of moral values signals that the nation's values agenda is likely to be dominated by "social morality" concerns for abortion, gay marriage, and stem-cell research—issues vital to Bush's base. The election also marks a defeat for progressive groups who tried to cast "social justice" concerns of poverty, war, and the environment as moral issues.
-'Moral Values' Tops Voters' Concerns—But What Does It Mean? : Sexual morality
probably trumped social justice concerns, say observers.
Christianity Today
4 November 2004

The third reason, the third idea that we will -- that is a reason for our advance is that we are defending time-honored values. Conservatives have long known that political liberty depends on a healthy social and moral order. And so the president is committed to strengthening society's key institutions: families, schools, communities. And he is committed to protecting those mediating structures so important to our freedom, like our churches, our neighborhood and private groups, the institutions that create values, that shape character, that provide our young with moral education.
-Karl Rove's Speech to CPAC 2005
CPAC.org
17 February 2005

(Before you continue, read this post by Billmon.)

President Bush's re-election insures that more federal money will flow to abstinence education that precludes discussion of birth control, even as the administration awaits evidence that the approach gets kids to refrain from sex.

The president has been a strong proponent of school-based sexual education that focuses on abstinence, but does not include instruction on safe sex.
[...]
The push for abstinence is one of several Bush policies popular with religious conservatives. Also topping the agenda: the faith-based initiative, which aims to open more government programs to religious groups.
-Bush urges more abstinence funds; effectiveness uncertain
USA Today
25 November 2004

"Pornography is a delivery system, if you will, for a complicated set of behaviors that lead to self-destructive, compulsive and addictive patterns," he explained. "That's what it ought to be treated as."

Activist judges often rule unconstitutional the laws Congress passes to stop pornography; all the while, the America that stands for freedom has become a chief contributor to the international slave trade, according to Focus on the Family's Media and Sexuality Analyst Daniel Weiss.

"We are creating a market for the trafficking of persons," he said. "That's precisely what pornography is; it's the turning of a person into a commodity, to then be bought or sold."

U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., said the Justice Department has created a task force to prosecute corporate pornographers.

"You can prosecute for obscenity based on community standards," he explained, "and start those on mainstream corporations that are purveying the pornography."

Weiss said pornography laws must be enforced.

"The laws that are already there, that continue to be upheld by the courts, are good," he said. "Those are good solid laws. And if we simply enforce them we'll have the impact we need."
-Porn's Effects Discussed in D.C.
American Family Association
20 May 2005

Carey was the guest of her boss, pornographer Mark Kulkis of Kick A– Pictures, at the National Republican Congressional Committee's multimillion-dollar dinner with the president here last week.
[...]
Despite criticism of the White House and the NRCC for including a hard-core pornographer and one of his porn stars at the event, neither Bush nor the Republicans showed any signs of hesitation at taking $5,000 from Kulkis and including the pair among the 6,000 guests – this despite Carey's appearance in such movies as "Lesbian Big Boob Bangeroo" and "Everybody Loves Big Boobies."
[...]
Kulkis said it was an evening that would "make pop-culture history" – the intersection of the most powerful man in the world and the hard-core world of celebrity sex performer Carey.

If the goal was raising money, the Republicans succeeded – bringing in some $23 million at two big fund-raisers. Yet, much of the attention at the dinner was diverted from Bush toward Carey and Kulkis, who boasts of making only authentic hard-core action movies where actors don't wear condoms and don't fake sex.
[...]
Kulkis, who says he was personally invited to the dinner, used the opportunity to promote his company and the pornography industry in general.

The presence of two high-profile pornographers at an event to honor the president didn't concerned the organization hosting the event.

"They've paid their money," explained Carl Forti, communications director of the NRCC. "No matter what they do, the money is going to go to help elect Republicans to the House."
-Porn star's dream: Sex with Bush twins [emphasis mine]
World Net Daily
21 June 2005

Question 18: What part does faith play in policy decisions?

SCHIEFFER: Mr. President, let's go to a new question.

You were asked before the invasion, or after the invasion, of Iraq if you'd checked with your dad. And I believe, I don't remember the quote exactly, but I believe you said you had checked with a higher authority.

I would like to ask you, what part does your faith play on your policy decisions?

BUSH: First, my faith plays a lot -- a big part in my life. And that's, when I answering that question, what I was really saying to the person was that I pray a lot. And I do.
[...]
But when I make decisions, I stand on principle, and the principles are derived from who I am.
-Transcript: Bush, Kerry debate domestic policies
CNN.com
14 October 2004

"I met a lot of nice people, I met some people who talked about helping me on my next campaign. I thought everyone would be stuck up and no one was going to like me. Instead, everyone loved me, got drunk and took pictures with me. So I want to keep going to Republican events. I'm a fully converted Republican now."

"I'm especially looking forward to meeting Karl Rove. Smart men like him are so sexy. I know that he's against gay marriage, but I think I can convince him that a little girl-on-girl action now and then isn't so bad!"

She says she reads the Bible and prays daily.

Carey's manager Mark Kulkis says, They just gave us the dinner tickets. A Secret Service agent even came up and asked for Mary's autograph."

Kulkis also says the Republican National Committee took his $2,500.00 donation towards the dinner with no problems at all.
-Porn Star Mary Carey "Full Fledged Republican From Now On"
All Headline News
16 June 2005

Saddam the Freeper?

2005-06-20T14:19:00.000-05:00

GQ magazine's July issue says Saddam greatly admired President Reagan...
[snip]
For a time his favorite food was Cheetos, and when those ran out, Saddam would "get grumpy,'' the story says.
-No Froot Loops for Saddam, GI guards say
Associated Press
20 June 2005

Can We Do This Here?

2005-06-20T09:14:00.001-05:00

Toronto the Good:

And, another cool think about T.O. bikers - this site where bike lane invaders get narced out!

Sleater-Kinney Blogging

2005-06-17T17:05:00.000-05:00

Psychadelic photos for a new psych sound (at least that's my excuse for the sub-par photos)

Catblogging: Petguard Organic Purrlicious Tartar Control Edition

2005-06-17T16:52:00.000-05:00

-pretty please?

-num num!

I Didn't Think He Meant It Literally

2005-06-17T15:56:00.000-05:00

"Our country has accepted obligations that are difficult to fulfill and would be dishonorable to abandon," said Bush, 58, whose decision to invade Iraq still divides the U.S. public. "By our efforts, we have lit a fire ... a fire in the minds of men."
-Bush embraces 'fire of freedom'
USA Today
21 Jan 2005

And then, well, back to the future:

American officials lied to British ministers over the use of "internationally reviled" napalm-type firebombs in Iraq.

Yesterday's disclosure led to calls by MPs for a full statement to the Commons and opened ministers to allegations that they held back the facts until after the general election.

"The US confirmed to my officials that they had not used MK77s in Iraq at any time and this was the basis of my response to you," he told Mr Cohen. "I regret to say that I have since discovered that this is not the case and must now correct the position."

Mr Ingram said 30 MK77 firebombs were used by the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force in the invasion of Iraq between 31 March and 2 April 2003. They were used against military targets "away from civilian targets", he said. This avoids breaching the 1980 Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW), which permits their use only against military targets.
[...]
Britain, which has no stockpiles of the weapons, ratified the convention, but the US did not.

The MK77 bombs, an evolution of the napalm used in Vietnam and Korea, carry kerosene-based jet fuel and polystyrene so that, like napalm, the gel sticks to structures and to its victims. The bombs lack stabilising fins, making them far from precise.
-US lied to Britain over use of napalm in Iraq war
The Independent (UK)
17 Jun 2005

Things That Make Ya Go Hmmmmm

2005-06-17T09:58:00.000-05:00

(Or, Punk Rock Gossip)

The Soviettes will be hosting a CD Release Party at the Mainroom tomorrow. Go see them.

But, this caught my eye on the Fat Wreck Chords site:

From the Land o' Lakes, it's the gals and guy known as The Soviettes! Their new record LP III comes out June 28th and those nutty kids will be embarking on a big U.S. tour this Summer. Get out to their shows and hear the new hits off LP III! And Susy, I still have your fucking keys! How are you getting into your house and shit?!?!

Hmmm...just what is Fat Mike doing with bassist Susy's house keys? Inquiring minds want to know!

-Susy, second from left

-Fat Mike

(Oh, and Oyster, if you read this, the Soviettes - one of Mpls' best bands - will be down in "New Oyuns" on...well, apparently not on this tour. But if you can get to Birmingham (AL) on 14 July, they'll be at Cave 9...)

Hey George:

2005-06-17T09:43:00.000-05:00

Click me.

(thanks to Atrios)

Lame Duck

2005-06-16T14:22:00.000-05:00

House votes to curb PATRIOT Act - stuns The Administration:

House Republican leaders are not accustomed to losing, and they did not hide their anger about the result. One aide to a House leader referred to the victorious coalition as "the crazies on the left and the crazies on the right, meeting in the middle."

Justice Department spokesman Kevin Madden issued a statement reiterating the administration's insistence that the provision is vital. The statement said the section "provides national security investigators with an important tool for investigating and intercepting terrorism while at the same time establishing robust safeguards to protect law-abiding Americans."

The amendment was sponsored by Rep. Bernard Sanders (Vt.), a socialist who is the chamber's lone independent. He said the measure, which he originally introduced as the Freedom to Read Protection Act, "simply restores the checks and balances that protect innocent Americans under the Constitution."

So, a socialist sponsors a civil rights bill that mainline Democrats and conservative Republicans can agree on? I don't know what to say, other than maybe not all is lost.

Truth In the Back of a Cab

2005-06-16T14:04:00.000-05:00

Too true.

Rock and Roll Will Never Die

2005-06-16T09:57:00.000-05:00

Went to see Sleater-Kinney last night. At current, I am lacking about 30% hearing in my left ear.

That and a sawbuck a small price to pay, indeed. (I am going to try to use the word sawbuck more. And radical, as in "Only a sawbuck to get in? Radical!)

A few things struck me:

* the guy in age somewhere between my dad and grandpa walking up to First Ave with a "Sleater-Kinney is for Lovers" T-shirt.

* Corin's laugh during Step Aside, when Carrie sang the line "Disassemble your discrimination"

* Carrie Brownstein - guitar god! Had only SG's on stage.

* the noting of "we're glad First Ave reopened" and Carrie's dedication of I Want to be Your Joey Ramone to Let It Be Records, which sadly closed its doors last night. Ms. Serious reported that the signs are already off the building. So, it's official: downtown Minneapolis OFFICIALLY SUCKS.

* Janet's drumroll in the encore, bridging the cover of Danzig's Mother and Dig Me Out. It got louder and louder and I swear to god the roof was going to collapse and kill us all.

Well, I brought the film camera, and if things turned out, I'll post pics later.

Rock and Roll!

Yes, Let's Talk About Iraq!

2005-06-15T15:41:00.000-05:00

Ever since Iraq's remarkable election, the country has been descending deeper and deeper into violence. But no one in Washington wants to talk about it. Conservatives don't want to talk about it because, with a few exceptions, they think their job is just to applaud whatever the Bush team does. Liberals don't want to talk about Iraq because, with a few exceptions, they thought the war was wrong and deep down don't want the Bush team to succeed.
-Let's Talk About Iraq
New York Times
15 June 2005

Actually, Mr. Fried-man, we liberals DO WANT TO TALK ABOUT IRAQ. Stay tuned...

Oh, and you want to double the number of boots on the ground? We can't even make our recruiting goals now - ostensibly to maintain current forces - so where the hell do you propose we get more bodies?

From a draft?

For a war that we were totally lied to about?

For the sole purpose of holding onto more oil (a dying energy source)?

Despicable.

Liberal Hack Media

2005-06-14T13:28:00.000-05:00

Also, the demands of other important stories kept diverting them. "Our people felt it wasn't a completely clear comment from the raw material," Tatro said. "It was our intent to do a story, and it just didn't happen."
-Readers pillory press for lagging on [Downing Street] memo story
Portland Oregonian
12 June 2005

Self censorship does not occur in a democratic society. Period.

Catblogging: "Why No Ketchup-Flavoured Chips In America?" Edition

2005-06-10T18:21:00.000-05:00