Jolly Mystery Solved
Friday, July 11, 2003
Thursday, July 10, 2003
Blogs Recommended on Salon's Table Talk
Blogs Recommended on Salon's Table Talk
Here are some blogs (and related sites) recommended by the excellent folks at Salon.com's Table Talk:
Orcinus - David Niewert David
Neiwert is a freelance journalist based in Seattle. His reportage for MSNBC.com on domestic terrorism won the National Press Club Award for Distinguished Online Journalism in 2000.
Citizen Cites by Douglas Wikes
Citizen Cites content is politics, science, legislation, tech, agriculture and opinion.
DonkeyRising A meeting ground for centrists and populists within the Democratic Party. This section provides key articles and commentary from both sides of the debate as well as a set of tools and opportunities for discussion and collaboration. Resources for building the new majority. This section includes an online library of information on public opinion, coalition building and political strategy as well as links to internet resources and announcements of upcoming events.
Irregular Times
This blog is devoted to irregular speech: Not according to rule, accepted order, or general practice Not conforming to legality, moral law, or social conventions Not straight, uniform, or symmetrical Of uneven rate, occurence, or duration Falling below the manufacturer's standard or usual specifications, imperfect. We are honest, bent, flawed.
We are irregular.
For more blogs from TableTalk, see the bottom of the left column...
Wednesday, July 09, 2003
The Third Annual Media That Matters Film Festival
the eyes of the world are watching...
Media That Matters
For film buffs there's Cannes, Sundance, Banff…then there's Media That Matters. The Third Annual Media That Matters Film Festival selects the best short films and new media that will inspire you to speak out and take action for social change. It's an all-online festival, presented cleverly alongside real-life resources that address the subject of the film. For instance, check out the humorous film on diversity that asks, "Is My Neighbor Latino?" Or watch "We Were Human," a multimedia production that quantifies the potential impact of spending world military budgets on human services. The festival is presented by MediaRights.org, co-presented by the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival and powered by Free Speech TV.
also...some unrelated links:
Dave's Garden
becoming a blogger
Fund for Investigative Reporting and Editing
TechSoup's older article on blogging
Hi there!
Tuesday, July 08, 2003
Weird 911
Weird 911
or Gates of Delirium
I ran across this review I had written about the Yes concert at Radio City Music Hall in Manhattan, just a couple of days before 9-11. (see below) I had come to Manhattan to celebrate a friend's birthday on the 6th of September, and was coerced into sticking around a few days. I was having a great time anyway, and they are very dear.
I had not really wanted to go to New York, as I had had all manner of bad feelings, intuitions, synchronicities...which told me not to go, things were going to get very bad very soon, and New York seems to have had a particularly negative sheen about it. Enough to cause me to simply head back home after missing the first plane...although I was urged to go back and get on the next one. After all, they had already booked the flight for me.
I would be interested in hearing if others had also had premonitions, for lack of better word, about impending doom...
Anyway...the Yes concert was, in some strange way, meant to happen. I'm sure they would tell you the same thing.
For more on the Yes reviews, visit YesNet online.
The review:
Venue: New York, NY, September 8
Waves of baraka and emotion rising and exchanging between the band and audience, creating a perfect end to their tour here in sunny Manhattan. Nous sommes du soleil, indeed! And to think...had I not auspiciously flown up from Charlotte, I might have missed this sacred and holy event -- which will likely act upon the beings of those who shared in the darshan in such a way as to make such auspicious pearls of synchronicity a more common occurrence, as
these next potentially troubling weeks and months pass before us one
by one.
And not a day too soon!
So much love passing back and forth tonight! Miracles of palpable love spreading outward from Jon's heart chakras, who seemed ever-keen on its reception as well. One can hardly imagine a more generous pantheon of souls as these masters of music.
Their new works were quite good as well, and one, in particular, struck me exceptional and in the tradition of CTTE, Tales, etc...which I suppose was called Sacred Ground. If it's actually not new, then I apologize. Great song, regardless.
The orchestra conductor was exuberant and tight enough to be
considered a member of the band, IMHO...and the orchestra, from what I could tell, seemed to be enjoying themselves, while not allowing their enjoyment to negatively impact their performance, as it that were even possible.
Magic, wondrous magic...and a pulsing blue light...the starlight...so soon...
I am tired of using words. I want to replay the concert in my head now.
Thanks, Yes! Thanks, Manhattan!
-DB
God, indeed ferocious, devours ludibund Earth
...the horror, the horror...
On the lighter side, a string of nonsense based on yesterday's blogpulse...
OK, this is my test blog. Did you hear the one about Michael Savage?
He is going to join the West Wing line up, unlike Buddy Ebsen (who is not), and the tv show will be moving to Thursday night, or what our ancestors efficiently called Thursnight. You may want to get your digital camera and your hot dogs ready, because there is bad news on the horizon. Yes, Legally blond is going to be required viewing at Summer School (thanks to Big Brother), so you may want to get yer phone calls out of the way before you fall asleep. And remember the 4th of July weekend, and how the Air Force, flanked by government officials, entertained you while hackers peered into your hard drive.
As fiction characters, Harry Potter and President Bush (Mr. Bush) are a good deal more likeable than, say, the all-too-real Michael Savage...who is really no Michael at all. Michael, after all, was an angel...and the only angels anywhere near the punditsphere are Howard Dean and John Edwards. Buddy Ebsen is also one now, but of a different sort. Same goes for Barry White...the antithesis of Ann Coulter.
Meanwhile, Tony Blair and Andrew Sullivan, as brits, still eat very dull fast food, a la Bill Clinton and/or Jed Clampett.
News From the Edge
If Rod McKuen were a hominid
politicalwire.com/linkers
AND YET...
Open Government Information Awareness
http://opengov.media.mit.edu
TypePad
http://www.typepad.com
Herald.com - Your Miami Everything Guide
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/entertainment/6251351.htm
OpinionJournal - Dorothy Rabinowitz's Media Log
http://www.opinionjournal.com/medialog/?id=110003713
Troop morale in Iraq hits 'rock bottom' | csmonitor.com
http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0707/p02s01-woiq.html
Cannot find Weapons of Mass Destruction
http://www.coxar.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk
SelectSmart.com Selectors | 2004 AMERICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE SELECTOR | President Candidates Bayh Biden Bradley Browne Buchanan Bush Clark Clinton Constitution Party Daschle Dean Democratic Party Dodd Edwards Feingold Feinstein Gephardt Gore Graham Green Party Hagelin Hart Jackson Kaptur Kerry Kucinich LaRouche Leahy Libertarian Lieberman McCain Moseley-Braun Nader Natural Law Phillips Reform Republican Party Sharpton Socialist Party Vilsack
http://www.selectsmart.com/president
Ed Lu, ISS Science Officer
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/station/crew/exp7/luletters
En Guardian!
http://nymetro.com/nymetro/news/media/columns/medialife/n_8938
ESPN.com: NBA - No charges filed yet in Bryant case
http://msn.espn.go.com/nba/news/2003/0706/1577357.html
BuzzMachine... by Jeff Jarvis
http://www.buzzmachine.com/archives/2003_07.html#004146
Blogathon 2003
http://www.blogathon.org
www.AndrewSullivan.com - Latest Posts
http://www.andrewsullivan.com/main_article.php?artnum=20030705
Wired News: Last.fm: Music to Listeners' Ears
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,59522,00.html
Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/july0301.html#0707031206pm
Faery Lands Forlorn
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/07/opinion/07BYAT.html?th=&pagewanted=print&position=
The Register
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/39/31600.html
firing of Michael Savage
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,91255,00.html
Lawrence Lessig
http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/lessig/blog
Baby Ink Tattoo
http://www.babyink.com
Scripting News in Manila
http://scriptingnews.userland.com/2003/07/07#When:1:21:54PM
USATODAY.com - Bush pushes for next generation of nukes
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2003-07-06-nuclear-usat_x.htm
The Truth Laid Bear: The Blogosphere Ecosystem
http://www.truthlaidbear.com/ecosystem.php
FrontPage - Sam Ruby's Wiki
http://www.intertwingly.net/wiki/pie/FrontPage
:: w.bloggar ::
http://wbloggar.com
Monday, July 07, 2003
Blog Glossary
Blog Glossary
Including:
Including:
Blogerati
noun. The blogosphere (qv) intelligentsia.
Blogger ecosystem
phrase. A chart or lists showing the links between blogs. Also: Blog ecosystem.
Bloggerel
variant of "doggerel." Opinion put forward on a blog that has previously been repeated over and over and over again until it makes people sick.
(Coined by The Pontificator)
Bloggerverse
noun. See Blogosphere.
Blogistan
noun. The totality of blogs; blogs as a community.
However, the term is sometimes used to mean the totality of just warblogs (qv), or pundit blogs (qv) rather than the entire blogosphere (qv). Also see: blogosphere, blogiverse
Blogiverse
noun. See blogosphere.
Blognoscenti
noun. A blog connoisseur.
Blogorrhea
noun. An unusually high volume output of articles on a blog.
Usage: "Well, 48 hours and 4,195 words later, we're reaching for our dictionary to check the definition of "significantly." After that, we're going to look up blogorrhea."
- William Quick
Blogosphere
noun. The totality of blogs; blogs as a community
(coined by William Quick)
Blogroll
1. noun. A list of links in the sidebar of a blog, often linking to other blogs. Also: blog roll.
2. . A blog link management system such as www.blogrolling.com
Also see: Sidebar links
Blogspot
noun. The blog hosting servers operated by blogger.com. More blogs are hosted on blogspot than anywhere else.
Blogstipation
1. noun. To be unable to think of anything to blog about, i.e. writer's block for bloggers.
2. noun. To be unable to post an article on your blog because blogger.com is down yet again.
(meaning 2. coined by Jim Treacher)
Blogule
noun. A concept or point within an article on a blog that is not quite grandiose enough to be a 'meme'.
(coined by Brian Micklethwait)
Blurker
1. noun. One who reads many blogs but leaves no evidence of themselves such as comments behind; a silent observer of blogs.
2. noun. One who reads many blogs but has no blog of their own; a blog-watcher or blog voyeur.
Dead-tree media
phrase. Paper newspapers and magazines, also known as Old Media. Also: 'on dead trees'.
Hitnosis
noun. Being unable to stop yourself constantly refreshing your browser to see if your hit counter or comments section has increased since the last time you did it (i.e. about 1 minute ago). This often occurs when a 'memorable number' is coming up (such as a blog's hit counter crossing 10,000 or 100,000 or 250,000 visitors etc.) or an unusually large surge of posted comments are attracted by an article.
(coined by Perry de Havilland)
Instapundited
tr.verb. To have your blog mentioned on Instapundit.com. Also: Instalanche.
Usage: "Holy shit, look at the hit counter! We must have been Instapundited!"
Also see: Slashdotted
Link rot
noun. Over time any large list of links will contain an increasing number of dead links.
Link whore
noun. A blogger (qv) who will go to any lengths to get other bloggers to link to them (the term is usually intended to be humourous). Also: Link slut. Both terms are in fact non-gender specific.
Meme
noun. A meme is considered to be a discrete idea that replicates itself, with the connotation that memes replicate themselves and are propagated by people through social and technological networks, much like both real and computer viruses.
(Coined by Richard Dawkins)
Usage: "The sarcastic meme of 'Our friends, the Saudis' continues to spread across the Intenet"
Note: Although not strictly speaking a 'blog specific' term, meme is very widely used in the Blogosphere (qv).
Also see: Meme hack, Meme war
Ping
1. noun. A ping is a system administrator tool that is an automated packet of information (64 bytes) sent through a network to another to establish the status of a target system.
2. verb. To ping another site is to send a small automated packet of data to actuate some expected function, such as a Trackback (qv).
PING is an acronym for 'Packet INternet Grouper'
Progblog
noun. A 'Progressive Weblog'. A blog expressing various left wing political views.
(coined by Madeleine Begun)
Pundit blog
noun. A blog (qv) focused on news punditry. The bulk of a pundit blogs' content will be dissection of, or pointers to, stories currently running in the established media. Pundit blogs are largely the same thing as News blogs. Also: Punditblog.
Pundit blogs form one of the three primary distinct (and largely separate) cultural groups within the blogging world, the other two being Journal blogs and Tech blogs.
The archetypal pundit blog is Instapundit.com
Sunday, July 06, 2003
Some blog stuff...
BLOGWISE - Blog Directory and Weblog Research
Ever wonder what bloggers in other countries were thinking?
Me neither.
But if you know someone who is not completely xenophobic, you might direct him to this site by Blogwise:
http://www.blogwise.com/bycountry.php
EatonWeb Portal"It's good to be a heathen, as long as you're nice to everyone."
- Politics Portal
Professors Who Blog
Blog City
Saturday, July 05, 2003
The Republican Handicap
[in progress]
It is time for the Republican Party to shed the training wheels, refuse the outrageous handicap, and see what they can do by ideas alone. No more paying people to cast their votes for you. No more financial favors and promises. No more blackmail, deceit, corruption, extortiion. No more shoehorning the president into office using friends in high courts. No more fake addresses in Florida and energy warfare on California.
What if both parties had exactly the same advantages? Not necessarily mandated, but just as a gentlemanly thing to do. Would not the Republicans then have to come up with something other than war, tax cuts, and religious rhetoric? I say it would be a good thing if both parties broke out of their mold, and began to act as free agents guided by their highest angels. Such angels would only accept a fair challenge. And would consider anything less to be, well, ungentlemanly at best.
The editors at The Nation have written a memorable editorial about the Billionaire Bush Club, where Bush himself hopes to be one day, once he clears this little hurdle of sitting in as leader of the free world. Why settle for a free world when a world of paying customers would be much better. And besides, "free" is so much like "french", and we wouldn't want a french world.
Incompatible with BushWorld Inc. Wouldn't be prudient.
And so Mr. Bush continues in his work of enabling "Big Cookie" to know and determine all our future purchases...
But there is hope. And it comes from those ever-clever folks over to the Media Lab at MIT...who have put the consumer, the common man, the smelly one, back in the proverbial driver's seat. And this time he doesn't need to wear the hat.
zhr, or in fact, she, can turn the telescopes and microscopes on the government...who is, by now, just an arm of business, as you will see:
Government Information Awareness
turning the tables on our prying government
Wired's take
Here, for example, are some contributions to Republican Kay Bailey Hutchinson:
http://opengov.media.mit.edu/ex?D=300054
Campaign Contribution : Corporation
» Enron Corp $35,500.00 [s][c]
» Goldman Sachs Group (GS) $27,500.00 [s][c]
» Texas Instruments (TXN) $25,000.00 [s][c]
» TXU Corp $24,250.00 [s][c]
» El Paso Corp $23,000.00 [s][c]
» MBNA (KRB) $19,000.00 [s][c]
» SBC Communications (SBC) $17,750.00 [s][c]
» Verizon Communications (VZ) $17,750.00 [s][c]
» American International Group (AIG) $17,250.00 [s][c]
» Marathon Oil (MRO) $16,500.00 [s][c]
» Bank One Corp. (ONE) $16,000.00 [s][c]
» Valero Energy (VLO) $14,000.00 [s][c]
» Dell Computer (DELL) $13,750.00 [s][c]
...and how it breaks down by industry:
Industry Support : Industry
» Oil & Gas $484,362.00 [s][c]
» Lawyers / Law Firms $328,902.00 [s][c]
» Finance / Credit Companies $220,301.00 [s][c]
» Commercial Banks $182,964.00 [s][c]
» Real Estate $157,649.00 [s][c]
» Health Professionals $155,590.00 [s][c]
» Securities & Investment $148,150.00 [s][c]
» Insurance $111,947.00 [s][c]
» Livestock $81,750.00 [s][c]
» General Contractors $74,600.00 [s][c]
» Misc Manufacturing & Distributing $74,114.00 [s][c]
» Computer Equipment & Services $72,150.00 [s][c]
» Food & Beverage $66,796.00 [s][c]
» Republican/Conservative $65,267.00 [s][c]
» Automotive $63,050.00 [s][c]
» Electric Utilities $62,000.00 [s][c]
» Business Services $59,661.00 [s][c]
» Chemical & Related Manufacturing $53,472.00 [s][c]
» Telephone Utilities $48,250.00 [s][c]
Now look at the paltry numbers behind a Democrat. In this case, Joseph Lieberman:
http://opengov.media.mit.edu/ex?D=300067
Campaign Contribution : Corporation
» Pfizer Inc (PFE) $20,000.00 [s][c]
» General Electric (GE) $12,000.00 [s][c]
» GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) $12,000.00 [s][c]
» Verizon Communications (VZ) $11,000.00 [s][c]
» Independent Insurance Agents of America $10,999.00 [s][c]
» Aetna Inc (AET) $10,000.00 [s][c]
» American International Group (AIG) $10,000.00 [s][c]
» Cigna Corp (CI) $10,000.00 [s][c]
» FedEx (FDX) $10,000.00 [s][c]
» General Dynamics (GD) $10,000.00 [s][c]
» Hartford Financial Services (HIG) $10,000.00 [s][c]
» Koch Industries $10,000.00 [s][c]
» United Parcel Service (UPS) $10,000.00 [s][c]
» United Technologies (UTX) $10,000.00 [s][c]
Industry Support : Industry
» Real Estate $9,318.00 [s][c]
» Computer Equipment & Services $8,000.00 [s][c]
» Lawyers / Law Firms $8,000.00 [s][c]
» Pharmaceuticals / Health Products $7,000.00 [s][c]
» Chemical & Related Manufacturing $6,750.00 [s][c]
» Public Sector Unions $5,000.00 [s][c]
» Education $4,900.00 [s][c]
» Hospitals & Nursing Homes $4,750.00 [s][c]
» Misc Manufacturing & Distributing $4,250.00 [s][c]
» Securities & Investment $4,250.00 [s][c]
» Printing & Publishing $4,000.00 [s][c]
» Retail Sales $3,250.00 [s][c]
» TV / Movies / Music $2,000.00 [s][c]
» Health Services/HMOs $2,000.00 [s][c]
» Insurance $1,900.00 [s][c]
» Health Professionals $1,810.00 [s][c]
» Telecom Services & Equipment $1,500.00 [s][c]
» Business Services $1,250.00 [s][c]
» Civil Servants/Public Officials $1,250.00 [s][c]
» Defense Aerospace $1,250.00 [s][c]
Not a pretty site, is it? But it is revealing, on many levels. For example, look at the pharms and GE at the top of Lieberman's list. Is this why he has become such a Russert? Joe Lieberman: The Tim Russert of Politics. Hmm...
Only Tim is paid quite handsomely. More than his own handsomeness merits, and way more than his impartial service to humankind --which is nonexistent -- merits. But then again, why should GE want a philosopher? Most counter-productive. Better to have a locker-room clown snapping towels at privates of Democrats in front of millions.
The shame has not sunk in. His third eye has glazed green.
REFERENCES:
http://opengov.media.mit.edu/
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20030721&s=editors
http://business.boston.com/business/globe/articles/2003/07/04/website_turns_tables_on_government_officials
http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,59495,00.html
BlogChatter - Realtime Weblog Aggregation
BlogChatter - Realtime Weblog Aggregation
BlogChatter is a window into weblog activity right now, at this moment. It is a real-time event stream of weblog updates, similar to the data provided by weblogs.com, without polling or a static data format. Pings to BlogChatter are displayed instantly the moment they are received, and only persisted in memory for no longer than 30 seconds. *HOT*
http://www.mod-pubsub.org/kn_apps/blogchatter/
BlogChatter is a window into weblog activity right now, at this moment. It is a real-time event stream of weblog updates, similar to the data provided by weblogs.com, without polling or a static data format. Pings to BlogChatter are displayed instantly the moment they are received, and only persisted in memory for no longer than 30 seconds. *HOT*
http://www.mod-pubsub.org/kn_apps/blogchatter/
Democracy Now! | A Look At Why The Carlyle Group Wanted to Drop George W. Bush From Its Board A Decade Ago
Democracy Now! | A Look At Why The Carlyle Group Wanted to Drop George W. Bush From Its Board A Decade Ago
This one is a scream...
David Rubenstein, the head of the Carlyle Group, in a candid, and unbeknownst to him, taped, interview, talks about how he was urged to give a fellow a break by granting him a place on the board. Boorish and useless, the fellow was eventually told to take a hike, to which he responded that he didn't need the stinking job anyway...in so many words.
This useless boor is now in the White House. Can you guess his name?
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=03/07/03/1429210
EXCERPT:
This one is a scream...
David Rubenstein, the head of the Carlyle Group, in a candid, and unbeknownst to him, taped, interview, talks about how he was urged to give a fellow a break by granting him a place on the board. Boorish and useless, the fellow was eventually told to take a hike, to which he responded that he didn't need the stinking job anyway...in so many words.
This useless boor is now in the White House. Can you guess his name?
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=03/07/03/1429210
EXCERPT:
But when we were putting the board together, somebody came to me and said, look there is a guy who would like to be on the board. He's kind of down on his luck a bit. Needs a job. Needs a board position. Needs some board positions. Could you put him on the board? Pay him a salary and he'll be a good board member and be a loyal vote for the management and so forth.
I said well we're not usually in that business. But okay, let me meet the guy. I met the guy. I said I don't think he adds that much value. We'll put him on the board because - you know - we'll do a favor for this guy; he's done a favor for us. We put him on the board and spent three years. Came to all the meetings. Told a lot of jokes. Not that many clean ones. And after a while I kind of said to him, after about three years - you know, I'm not sure this is really for you. Maybe you should do something else. Because I don't think you're adding that much value to the board. You don't know that much about the company.
He said, well I think I'm getting out of this business anyway. And I don't really like it that much. So I'm probably going to resign from the board.
And I said, thanks - didn't think I'd ever see him again. His name is George W. Bush. He became President of the United States. So you know if you said to me, name 25 million people who would maybe be President of the United States, he wouldn't have been in that category. So you never know. Anyway, I haven't been invited to the White House for any things.
The Fifth of July: Why Consequences Matter
Understanding the War After the War
One thing we have learned: There is always a day after. That is why we need to consider one of the tricks in envisioning...
Envision the consequences.
Oops! Nobody ever told me that!
Anyway, now that you know...I feel safer already. Now if we can only make you a good person, I might sleep better still. For as Surreal McCoy once said: "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't lead a swan." And what are we if, if not trumpeter swans...signalling from the flames, fruit from this ill-dealt hand.
Wednesday, July 02, 2003
Dennis Miller: The Ted Nugent of Comedy
Journey FROM the Center of the Mind
Money has a funny way of luring the weak from their minds and principles. Pay them enough and they will say anything. It's all about the money. Who cares if hell awaits. This is about me, me, me...
Over the past failures, Dennis Miller has finally landed at the last place where people will accept him. And this only because he says what he is told to say, the "official story", the lie of the day. Only his job is to make it sound funny.
Not a bad idea when you consider that if people felt the gravity of Bush's having put America into a nosedive, they would be jumping out of buildings.
Sheesh. Jumping out of buildings. Where have I seen that before? Oh yes, it was while visiting New York a couple of years ago in early September...
So please...do your comedy, Mr. Miller. But know that you are now the Ted Nugent of Comedy. And that Ted Nugent was the Millard Fillmore of Rock.
And no...he's not the one from whom the Fillmore East and West got their name. You could have been a contender. A Clapton, a Santana, a Fripp, a Beck. A member of the Beatles or Radiohead. So many who completely overwhelm Ted Nugentski. Come and listen to a story 'bout a man named Ted...
Let me explain something to you though. TV has experienced a brain-drain, ever since the Internet captured the sharper minds. That your attempts at liberality were met with disdain should not have been unexpected. Liberals don't watch TV...save Bravo, PBS, NOW, movie channels, and the more edifying and instructive shows. Certainly not football...at least not in great numbers. For liberals, winning isn't everything. The truth and fair play are also important.
In other words, you should have moved once you found that you were in a bad neighborhood. Instead, you merged with the audience...who themselves had merged with Rush, O'Reilly, and the other would-be fuhrers of our Bush-initiated dark age. Hope you enjoy their company! BWAHAHAHAHAAA!
Sorry, but I have been there, and it is not a pretty sight. I mean...to consider Ann Coulter or Lisa Myers a babe! My God! Have you no shame? No standards?
But look. You were hilarious during the Comic Relief segments. Sure, you were surrounded by a bunch of damn liberals, but did you not feel the love? Does the love not count for anything? Why turn your back on the love, and join the camp of fear, it's opposite?
I'm afraid that, like Mr. Heston, you have alienated half of your original client-base. And the ones you now have will turn on you at the slightest gesture of liberality. Fear is as fear does. The rice paper upon which you walk is beginning to weaken from your clumsiness.
Humor, like the love, has the power to heal, and yet lies and fear do not. They destroy health and lives. Surely you have kept up with the casualty toll already exacted upon the Bushwatch... Thousands! Thousands whose families would much rather have a tryst in the White House than an empty place at the dinner table.
I know you think Bush is a killer President.
At least you're half right.
Time to come home, young man.
Time for all our young men, and women, to come home...
-Anon
Now...enjoy some excellent satire from Buzzflash reader and contributor, David Monroe, MD:
http://www.buzzflash.com/contributors/03/07/01_miller.html
Tuesday, July 01, 2003
"Get our asses out of here..."
"U.S. officials need to get our [expletive] out of here," said the 43-year-old reservist from Pittsburgh, who arrived in Iraq with the 307th Military Police Company on May 24. "I say that seriously. We have no business being here. We will not change the culture they have in Iraq, in Baghdad. Baghdad is so corrupted. All we are here is potential people to be killed and sitting ducks."
MORE:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A54872-2003Jun30.html?nav=hptop_tb
AND YET...
Ann Coulter, janatrix of the reich, would accuse this brave soldier of treason...
Monday, June 30, 2003
Parts of the U.S. Near Financial Collapse
Parts of the U.S. Near Financial Collapse
Bush Fiddles While LA Burns
Where was George?
He was nowhere to be found when California, and other states under his watch, drown in a sea of red ink. But then again, it was Bush's friends at Enron and other energy bilknesses, that set them on their spiral downward.
Remember the blackouts?
Remember the cause?
Sure Governor Davis is a little weenie-man. But the world is full of weenie-men, and they have to work somewhere! Why not as governor of California? I mean, look at the king weenie in the White House. We have lost all standards. There are no Sir Roberts left.
Where are the Sir Roberts?
Remember Sir Robert? He was the gentleman and MP in the play and film, An Ideal Husband, who, through the help of ill-gotten gains, finally achieves an honorable position in society.
Now don't get me wrong. There are plenty of people who have gotten where they are through ill-gotten gains. The difference here is that, like Jean Valjean, Sir Robert actually evolves into an honorable man of worth...by rejecting a scheme that would require his reactivating, for lack of better words, his ancient prejudice toward money, and against goodness and honesty.
How nice it would be if leaders in America, although tainted, would raise themselves to the honorificabilitude of a Sir Robert.
But perhaps I am wrong. There already is a Sir Robert. And this Sir Robert hails from, of all places, West Virginia.
Sir Robert Byrd was once a member of the Ku Klux Klan.
But look at how he has achieved that which is beyond the scope of some...he has evolved. And is even allowed to believe in such evolution! Not only has he shunned his errant past, and shady connections...he has risen to become the outspoken voice of the people on the Senate floor.
It is sad to realize that his age all but guarantees that we will not have that voice much longer.
Long live Sir Robert Byrd! Champion of the People...
MORE ON THE COLLAPSE FROM THE WASHINGTON POST:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A48925-2003Jun29.html
ADDENDUM:
http://www.blogpulse.com/03_07_01/links.html
8. washingtonpost.com
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A48925-2003Jun29.html
Sample context: ".... longer. Long live Sir Robert Byrd! Champion of the People... MORE ON THE COLLAPSE FROM THE WASHINGTON POST: HTTP://WWW.WASHINGTONPOST.COM/WP-DYN/ARTICLES/A48925-2003JUN29.HTML 10:19 PM ...."
Citations (10 of 16) :
http://www.celissasblog.com/weblog.php
http://www.freedartmouth.com/
http://www.guardroom.com/jjdaley/
http://www.civicdialogues.org/weblog.php
http://bilge.seablogger.com/
http://anonymoses.blogspot.com/
http://www.poorschmuck.net/
http://blogdex.media.mit.edu/
http://www.tomopia.com/
http://bigstick.blogspot.com/
Wired News: Bloggers Gain Libel Protection
Bloggers Gain Libel Protection
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,59424,00.html/wn_ascii
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last Tuesday that Web loggers, website operators and e-mail list editors can't be held responsible for libel for information they republish, extending crucial First Amendment protections to do-it-yourself online publishers.
Online free speech advocates praised the decision as a victory. The ruling effectively differentiates conventional news media, which can be sued relatively easily for libel, from certain forms of online communication such as moderated e-mail lists. One implication is that DIY publishers like bloggers cannot be sued as easily.
"One-way news publications have editors and fact-checkers, and they're not just selling information -- they're selling reliability," said Cindy Cohn, legal director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "But on blogs or e-mail lists, people aren't necessarily selling anything, they're just engaging in speech. That freedom of speech wouldn't exist if you were held liable for every piece of information you cut, paste and forward."
MORE...
Sunday, June 29, 2003
Conservatives Burn Beatles Albums
FLASHBACK:
Reactionaries Burning Music
It was 40 years ago today...(well, thereabouts)...and Klansmen and their families, fearing an assault on their precious "values", gathered in fasces to set flame to those ungodly and unpatriot Beatles. And since they were too poor to actually go to England...they set fire to their albums instead.
Flash-forward 40 years...and similarly-minded folk are destroying Dixie Chicks CDs. They are putting people like Susan Sarandon, Alec Baldwin, Tim Robbins, Sean Penn, George Michael, and other outspoken opponents onto graven images, and trying their damndest to anti-worship them to death. Unfortunately, as cyberphilosopher and clicheist, Surreal McCoy, has noted...the problem with hatred is that half the people don't know they are hated, and the the other half don't care. And the strange third half will sick Guido on you. Hating is also bad for the health, manifesting all manner of halitoticities and malolfactions.
The upside of all this daft reactionism is that the really good artists never appear on their screens. You will never see a Ricky Skaggs CD in the same home of an Arvo Part or Radiohead CD. Nor will you see Phillip Glass, Lisa Gerrard, Gorecki, or Ginestera. And that's just the G's. Also safe are David Hykes, Dave Brubeck, John Coltrane (largely due to death), King Crimson, Messaien, Stockhausen, Cage, Beth Orton or Bigger Than the Beetles. Most of MP3 is also safe.
So let the reactionaries burn their CDs. The music ain't that good anyway. And besides, it makes them look foolish and petty. And how fun that people like Sir Tim Russert have to lick their low-taste boots...
Before there were Dixie Chicks, there were The Beatles...
Reactionaries Burning Music
It was 40 years ago today...(well, thereabouts)...and Klansmen and their families, fearing an assault on their precious "values", gathered in fasces to set flame to those ungodly and unpatriot Beatles. And since they were too poor to actually go to England...they set fire to their albums instead.
Flash-forward 40 years...and similarly-minded folk are destroying Dixie Chicks CDs. They are putting people like Susan Sarandon, Alec Baldwin, Tim Robbins, Sean Penn, George Michael, and other outspoken opponents onto graven images, and trying their damndest to anti-worship them to death. Unfortunately, as cyberphilosopher and clicheist, Surreal McCoy, has noted...the problem with hatred is that half the people don't know they are hated, and the the other half don't care. And the strange third half will sick Guido on you. Hating is also bad for the health, manifesting all manner of halitoticities and malolfactions.
The upside of all this daft reactionism is that the really good artists never appear on their screens. You will never see a Ricky Skaggs CD in the same home of an Arvo Part or Radiohead CD. Nor will you see Phillip Glass, Lisa Gerrard, Gorecki, or Ginestera. And that's just the G's. Also safe are David Hykes, Dave Brubeck, John Coltrane (largely due to death), King Crimson, Messaien, Stockhausen, Cage, Beth Orton or Bigger Than the Beetles. Most of MP3 is also safe.
So let the reactionaries burn their CDs. The music ain't that good anyway. And besides, it makes them look foolish and petty. And how fun that people like Sir Tim Russert have to lick their low-taste boots...
Bush Administration Embraces Fascism
Bush Administration Embraces Fascism
Bats 14 For 14
The 14 CHARACTERISTICS OF FASCISM
by Lawrence Britt
Dr. Britt studied the fascist regimes of Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain), Suharto (Indonesia), and Pinochet (Chile), and found they all had 14 elements in common.
The 14 characteristics are:
1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism
Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.
"Oh I'm proud to be an American..."
2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights
Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need." The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.
What is Guantanamo, Alex?
3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause
The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial , ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.
4. Supremacy of the Military
Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.
5. Rampant Sexism
The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Opposition to abortion is high, as is homophobia and anti-gay legislation and national policy.
6. Controlled Mass Media
Sometimes the media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.
7. Obsession with National Security
Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.
8. Religion and Government are Intertwined
Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government's policies or actions.
9. Corporate Power is Protected
The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.
10. Labor Power is Suppressed
Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed .
11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts
Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts is openly attacked, and governments often refuse to fund the arts.
12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment
Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.
13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption
Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.
14. Fraudulent Elections
Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.
Jeez! 14 our of 14! He finally made a hundred.
Billion!
And just when we lost our hundred billion! What a coincidence!
Look. I'm no happier about this than you are. Americans are more than just customers. Indeed, we are more than just employees and employers.
Bush's business model for how to run America and the world is very short-sighted and bereft of historical wisdom.
We needn't allow it to continue. The next election must send an overwhelming message. Close is not good enough. We see what happens in such cases.
America, and indeed, the world requires that we return to more sensible people and policies, based more on human rights and age-old wisdom, than on making the quick buck.
It is completely okay to sit on your hands at election time, ye Republican readers...if you think you really cannot put your stamp, your signature, your vote on continuing in this backward and even deadly direction. But speaking out against it would be even better. Sins of omission are still sins.
-Anon
Saturday, June 28, 2003
Patrick Kennedy Admits to White-Collar Crime
Patrick Kennedy Admits to White-Collar Crime
"I never worked a bleeping day of my life"
"Distressingly little time for sloth or idleness."
- Lord Goring from "An Ideal Husband", Oscar Wilde
Rep. Patrick Kennedy has gone and mentioned the unmentionable...that he (like most white-collar folk) has never worked a bleeping day in his life. And it is hoped that others like him will come forward and admit that they too have coinclined.
Mr. Kennedy was alluding to the obscene tax cut that was recently granted to folks like him...and not to folks unlike him. These others, the actual workers, will get nothing, or close to nothing. But then again, they work, they are used to punishment.
We at Anonymoses applaude Mr. Kennedy's bold admission, and hope others will follow suit, if not follow in suits. Don't plan around it though. I certainly won't. Too much work.
Google News and Media Weblogs
Google News and Media Weblogs
INCLUDING...
Weblogs Compendium -
Listings of templates, tools, directories, hosting and discussion about weblogs.
Dive into Accessibility -
Presenting tips which can be applied to a weblog template to make it more accessible. Although these concepts apply to all web sites, focus is on implementation using popular weblogging tools.
Blogroots -
Discussion and resource site for webloggers.
Write a Better Weblog -
Article about writing a better blog, by Dennis A. Mahoney.
Mediajunk -
A blog-style site with news of blogging, new media, thin media, Google and other web stuff. Packaged and presented in Michael Heraghty's style.
Photobloggies Awards -
Awards for photoblogs.
MovableBlog -
A blog about the MovableType Personal Publishing System.
WebWOWzer -
Putting the wow in your browser. Websites reviewed.
Weblog Bookwatch -
Links to books that are popular on weblogs. Mainly books about blogging.
An Incomplete History of Weblogs -
Commentary on the early development of weblogs.
The Psychology of Weblogs -
Essays about blogging and the behavior and motivations behind it, from an online psychologist.
Deconstructing "You've Got Blog" -
Reading between the lines of Rebecca Mead's November 2000 New Yorker article on Weblog culture.
Blogging @ Writers Write -
A resource containing blogging news headlines, resources, tools and articles about creating a weblog.
Anatomy of a Blogging Engine -
Article on implementing a content managed blogging engine.
eCriteria Datablog -
Online resource for blogging and web service related resources, tools, article publishing, and group blogging community sign up.
Weblogger User Group -
A user group for and by webloggers (aka bloggers, diary keepers, personal journalists). Busy discussion list.
The Peer-to-Peer Review Project -
Site to encourage interaction by having bloggers review each other's blogs.
Weblog Devel: Homemade Weblog Tools -
There are many tools available to build a weblog (GreyMatter, Moveable Type, and Blogger), but some bloggers still decided to design their own tools. This group is here for those of us who built their own, homemade from scratch.
BlogPromo -
A moderated mailing list for promoting blogs, weblogs, and online journals and diaries.
Blogtech -
List for technical discussion of weblog-related software. All projects are welcome.
Media Coverage of Weblogs -
Collection of links to articles and media coverage regarding Web logs.
Live Journal Review -
A weblog that primarily reviews online journals and weblogs and gives ratings and awards based on categories.
Rewrite -
The search for innovation in newspapers. This blog explores where we've gone wrong and what we're doing right, with an eye toward rewriting the future of newspapers.
All Consuming -
Aggregates books that are mentioned on weblogs and provides insight into what the weblog community is reading at the moment.
Hypergene MediaBlog -
All about participatory journalism: how audiences are changing the future of news and information.
ISSN for Weblogs -
How to sign up your weblog for an International Standard Serial Number, adding it to the standardized worldwide encyclopedia of periodicals.
Blogads -
Blogging about blogonomics, catablogs, thin media, old media, ezines, klogs, blogads.
Microcontent News -
A blog on blogging, micromedia, microads, ezines and self-publishing and corporate blogging.
Philringnalda.com -
Research Professor of Markup Cryptography, University of Blogaria. Help setting up and keeping going for those who blog.
INCLUDING...
Weblogs Compendium -
Listings of templates, tools, directories, hosting and discussion about weblogs.
Dive into Accessibility -
Presenting tips which can be applied to a weblog template to make it more accessible. Although these concepts apply to all web sites, focus is on implementation using popular weblogging tools.
Blogroots -
Discussion and resource site for webloggers.
Write a Better Weblog -
Article about writing a better blog, by Dennis A. Mahoney.
Mediajunk -
A blog-style site with news of blogging, new media, thin media, Google and other web stuff. Packaged and presented in Michael Heraghty's style.
Photobloggies Awards -
Awards for photoblogs.
MovableBlog -
A blog about the MovableType Personal Publishing System.
WebWOWzer -
Putting the wow in your browser. Websites reviewed.
Weblog Bookwatch -
Links to books that are popular on weblogs. Mainly books about blogging.
An Incomplete History of Weblogs -
Commentary on the early development of weblogs.
The Psychology of Weblogs -
Essays about blogging and the behavior and motivations behind it, from an online psychologist.
Deconstructing "You've Got Blog" -
Reading between the lines of Rebecca Mead's November 2000 New Yorker article on Weblog culture.
Blogging @ Writers Write -
A resource containing blogging news headlines, resources, tools and articles about creating a weblog.
Anatomy of a Blogging Engine -
Article on implementing a content managed blogging engine.
eCriteria Datablog -
Online resource for blogging and web service related resources, tools, article publishing, and group blogging community sign up.
Weblogger User Group -
A user group for and by webloggers (aka bloggers, diary keepers, personal journalists). Busy discussion list.
The Peer-to-Peer Review Project -
Site to encourage interaction by having bloggers review each other's blogs.
Weblog Devel: Homemade Weblog Tools -
There are many tools available to build a weblog (GreyMatter, Moveable Type, and Blogger), but some bloggers still decided to design their own tools. This group is here for those of us who built their own, homemade from scratch.
BlogPromo -
A moderated mailing list for promoting blogs, weblogs, and online journals and diaries.
Blogtech -
List for technical discussion of weblog-related software. All projects are welcome.
Media Coverage of Weblogs -
Collection of links to articles and media coverage regarding Web logs.
Live Journal Review -
A weblog that primarily reviews online journals and weblogs and gives ratings and awards based on categories.
Rewrite -
The search for innovation in newspapers. This blog explores where we've gone wrong and what we're doing right, with an eye toward rewriting the future of newspapers.
All Consuming -
Aggregates books that are mentioned on weblogs and provides insight into what the weblog community is reading at the moment.
Hypergene MediaBlog -
All about participatory journalism: how audiences are changing the future of news and information.
ISSN for Weblogs -
How to sign up your weblog for an International Standard Serial Number, adding it to the standardized worldwide encyclopedia of periodicals.
Blogads -
Blogging about blogonomics, catablogs, thin media, old media, ezines, klogs, blogads.
Microcontent News -
A blog on blogging, micromedia, microads, ezines and self-publishing and corporate blogging.
Philringnalda.com -
Research Professor of Markup Cryptography, University of Blogaria. Help setting up and keeping going for those who blog.
Thursday, June 26, 2003
Senator Thurmond is dead
Senator Strom Thurmond is dead.
God rest his soul and heal the hearts of his family.
Although a political opposite in many ways, still,
as they say in China..."Ancient Rare". And should be honored as such.
May angels rest his eyes, and whoosh him home.
Fueling the Recovery
This lovely Charlotte manor shows taste when lighting the night.
FUELING THE "RECOVERY"
...but why is Charlotte lighting the day?
Come to Charlotte. It's a beautiful city in a beautiful state. It is beginning to catch onto the subtleties of night lighting.
My question is: Why light the day?
Travel around Charlotte on any given day, and you will see streetlights just a-pumpin' out the light. And this stuff ain't cheap. It ain't even needed. If it were water, we would have been Venice years ago. Only we'd have motorboats. With NASCAR all over 'em. Just thinkin' about it makes me loosen my grammar. Drop g's an' shit. Even cuss. Dayem!
But I digress. Or will die gressing. Enough already!
So yes. Make 'em shut off the lights. I'm tired of fueling the "recovery"...
-Anon
Fake Giant Among Real Pygmies
FAKE GIANT AMONG REAL PYGMIES
Author, Paul Theroux has a superior brother... Alexander Theroux, the author of "Darconville's Cat" which Anthony Burgess included within his famous 99 best novels.
At any rate, one of my favorite phrases from this phrase-rich oevre is "fake giant among real pygmies"...which I have borrowed, and now give credit where due. A pregnant phrase, really, with much currency...
Here is Dalkey Press' interview of Alexander Theroux:
http://www.centerforbookculture.org/media/media_authors/theroux_alexander.jpg
EXCERPT:
AT: ...I've always admired stylists. I put the writers of bumphable, ready-to-wear prose, calculated to sell, guaranteed not to shock, in the same category as artists who can't draw. There is a lack of bravery and a lot of fraud in them. I have tried never to write a book that didn't attempt something new in the way of narrative technique. Writing is an assault on cliche. I find little to admire in writers who make no attempt at originality. (I remember, among other things, effortfully working to make the perambulations in London of Roland McGuffey recapitulate the lines of the Union Jack.) It's death commercially, of course, but I knew from the beginning that I was too opinionated, literate, and unconventional to enjoy a widespread reputation. It doesn't bother me in the least. I've always been too busy to make money. I'm among the freest people I know.
SM: You mean that?
AT: In the sense of not needing fame, yes. A psychiatrist once told me, "You're always trying to get out of the world." So? We all have to manage that one day. Maybe I'm only practicing my technique.
SM: Something Darconville shares.
AT: And Marina, in "An Adultery." There is a method, a deliberateness in a way of writing that has its parallel in the way of living. I'm talking about being loyal to your own vision, not living by borrowed apocalypse or polluting your dreams, in life or art, just for success. It's interesting, fashion is the enemy. True style means more than anything a refusal to compromise.
SM: You mean to be true to yourself?
AT: Basically. Write the books you should, be the person you are. I wanted to write a "roman d'analyse," for example, with "An Adultery." A new genre. Plot didn't interest me in the least. Character is plot, anyway. Start delineating a figure--merely describe a person--and he or she will begin to act, do things, go in a particular direction. I set the novel up as a syllogism and purposely wrote balancing rhythmic and arhythmic sentences. I think its rewards come only if you're willing to think, to come to terms with what I set out to question, sort through, analyze. (pause) Nothing there for the Leon Uris crowd--beach readers, military minds, people who flip pages to pass time. I wanted the book to be what it was, no self-promotion, no hook for a publishing scheme. There's a mystical passivity in refusing the entrepreneurial.
SNAILworld: History of the Slow of Head
from the Snail Media series:
IS BIG MEDIA (BM) IRRELEVANT?
In 1995, I wrote a column about the brain-drain from the Snail World to the Web World. People with brains were gravitating to the internet, leaving the slower of head to fill the jobs and places in the Old World of corporate radio, TV, newspapers and such. And as such...the quality of content was systematically diminishing.
Well, not much has changed, trendwise. If one wants to find out what is really going on in the world...to depend on the corporate media is foolhardy, and maybe even dangerous. It is THAT bad. Look at it! Listen to it! That is...if you can stomach all the SUV and pharmaceutical ads...not to mention infantile content and their constant sins of omission.
In 2003, the Internet has become infected with commercialism, and blogs are among the cutting edge of consumption...and production. If you're not being paid to lie...why do it? Indeed, why do it anyway? Surely there is a ring of Hell for those who lie because they are paid to do so. And hanging out in the fire with Rush Limbaugh, Dennis Miller, Michael Savage, Bill O'Reilly, Ann Coulter and the like, would not be something I would care to do. The yowling itself would be reason enough to go elsewhere. The licking flames might be a form of mercy.
I'm not the only blogger who thinks Big Media is becoming irrelevant. Here is another take on the matter:
http://iddybud.blogspot.com/2003_06_22_iddybud_archive.html#105665770239591282
FROM THE SILLY QUESTION FILES:
Will David Beckham convert to American football?
Guess.
Will Martha Stewart change her name to Kay Martin?
No, even though she may find herself Goodwill hunting, she will never be k-martin'.
What is the N.E.E.K.C. Foundation?
I think you mean the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
Who is Robert Woodjohnson?
I'll give you a wood johnson! It's three names, not two.
Is it true you are writing a book on Clinton called "LBJ"? If so, why?
The book is called "el B.J."...although I may simply call it "Johnson"...since that was the focus of the media during his glorious reign.
Will David Beckham convert to American football?
Guess.
Will Martha Stewart change her name to Kay Martin?
No, even though she may find herself Goodwill hunting, she will never be k-martin'.
What is the N.E.E.K.C. Foundation?
I think you mean the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
Who is Robert Woodjohnson?
I'll give you a wood johnson! It's three names, not two.
Is it true you are writing a book on Clinton called "LBJ"? If so, why?
The book is called "el B.J."...although I may simply call it "Johnson"...since that was the focus of the media during his glorious reign.
http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext96/thbrs10.txt
The Project Gutenberg Etext of
Thomas Hart Benton's Remarks to the United States Senate
"ON THE EXPUNGING RESOLUTION"
http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext04/8fmun10.txt
FORMATION OF THE UNION
1750-1829
BY
ALBERT BUSHNELL HART, PH.D.
FORMATION OF THE UNION
1750-1829
BY
ALBERT BUSHNELL HART, PH.D.
http://www.gutenberg.net/
PROJECT GUTENBERG
Project Gutenberg is the brainchild of Michael Hart, who in 1971 decided that it would be a really good idea if lots of famous and important texts were freely available to everyone in the world. Since then, he has been joined by hundreds of volunteers who share his vision.
Now, more than thirty years later, Project Gutenberg has the following figures (as of November 8th 2002): 203 New eBooks released during October 2002, 1975 New eBooks produced in 2002 (they were 1240 in 2001) for a total of 6267 Total Project Gutenberg eBooks. 119 eBooks have been posted so far by Project Gutenberg of Australia.
PROJECT GUTENBERG
Project Gutenberg is the brainchild of Michael Hart, who in 1971 decided that it would be a really good idea if lots of famous and important texts were freely available to everyone in the world. Since then, he has been joined by hundreds of volunteers who share his vision.
Now, more than thirty years later, Project Gutenberg has the following figures (as of November 8th 2002): 203 New eBooks released during October 2002, 1975 New eBooks produced in 2002 (they were 1240 in 2001) for a total of 6267 Total Project Gutenberg eBooks. 119 eBooks have been posted so far by Project Gutenberg of Australia.
John Kerry + Wesley Clark?
http://eyeteeth.blogspot.com/John Kerry + Wesley Clark?
While I lean more toward Rep. Dennis Kucinich's unabashed liberalism or Gov. Howard Dean's chutzpah, I'm intrigued by Joe Conason's Democratic dream ticket: John Kerry and Wesley Clark. To counter Karl Rove's campaign strategy of casting Bush as a strong "wartime" president, this ticket would pair two progressives who are also highly decorated veterans. Kerry won five Purple Hearts, a Silver Star and a Bronze Star, then went on to join Vietnam Veterans for Peace; Clark graduated first in his class at West Point, was a Rhodes scholar at Oxford, and ended his military career as the four-star supreme allied commander of NATO.
Wednesday, June 25, 2003
Bill Moyers is getting around...
BlogPulse Top Links [BETA] - Automated Trend Discovery for Weblogs 15.This is Your Story - The Progressive Story of America. Pass It On.
http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0610-11.htm
Sample context: ".... THIS IS YOUR STORY - THE PROGRESSIVE STORY OF AMERICA. PASS IT ON. "If you think these guys are bad, you should see their constituents." 1:41 PM ...."
Citations (10 of 26) :
http://anonymoses.blogspot.com/
http://benedictus.blogspot.com/
http://bushfilter.metafilter.com/
http://elayneriggs.blogspot.com/http://environy.weblogger.com/
http://evilbusdriver.blogspot.com/
http://g3rm.blogspot.com/
http://home.pacbell.net/sparagus/
http://iddybud.blogspot.com/
http://jacsongs.blogspot.com/
CANDIDATES AS CABINET
Imagine that only one of the Democratic candidates makes it to the top slot. Say John Dean or John Edwards. Maybe even John Kerry. Certainly a John though. There has never been a King Dennis, and so precedence is not cheerleading from the background, adding the winds of history to the sails of the candidacy. It could happen. At any rate, you can imagine it because it will certainly be so. They all can't be president. At least not this time. They have to take turns. Maybe even earn it.
Of course there is the possibility that two will rise, leaving the rest to what? Pack up and go home? Well maybe not. Maybe each can have a vital role in whichever administration takes over the current unpleasantness.
I can imagine, say, a Dean/Edwards ticket, with Kerry as State, Kucinich as Drug Czar, Gephardt as Labor, Braun as Attorney General, General Wesley Clark as Defense, Lieberman as Commerce, Gore as Energy...and Sharpton as the official Merlin, or seer to the President. In such a scenario, a synergy, rather than a competition, would ensue...and together both they and we can restore democracy and help put our country back on healthy soil, heading in a positive direction.
Something to think about...
Imagine that only one of the Democratic candidates makes it to the top slot. Say John Dean or John Edwards. Maybe even John Kerry. Certainly a John though. There has never been a King Dennis, and so precedence is not cheerleading from the background, adding the winds of history to the sails of the candidacy. It could happen. At any rate, you can imagine it because it will certainly be so. They all can't be president. At least not this time. They have to take turns. Maybe even earn it.
Of course there is the possibility that two will rise, leaving the rest to what? Pack up and go home? Well maybe not. Maybe each can have a vital role in whichever administration takes over the current unpleasantness.
I can imagine, say, a Dean/Edwards ticket, with Kerry as State, Kucinich as Drug Czar, Gephardt as Labor, Braun as Attorney General, General Wesley Clark as Defense, Lieberman as Commerce, Gore as Energy...and Sharpton as the official Merlin, or seer to the President. In such a scenario, a synergy, rather than a competition, would ensue...and together both they and we can restore democracy and help put our country back on healthy soil, heading in a positive direction.
Something to think about...
Monday, June 23, 2003
Wired News: Dems to Vie for Online Votes
"What's revolutionary is that it absolutely negates the role of money," said Fertik, who is working as a consultant for the Kucinich campaign.
"What that means is this is pure democracy at work. This is people choosing the candidate with the best message and the best ideas," he said.
"What's revolutionary is that it absolutely negates the role of money," said Fertik, who is working as a consultant for the Kucinich campaign.
"What that means is this is pure democracy at work. This is people choosing the candidate with the best message and the best ideas," he said.
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In the Heat of Play
apostropher: June 2003 Archives 2:06 am
In acknowledgement of the time of this entry, I'll mention this story. Japanese researchers at Akita University School of Medicine published a study indicating that viewing computer monitors at night, particularly bright ones, produces physiological changes that could disrupt the sleep cycle. Interesting enough, if not particularly surprising. But what caught my eye was only mentioned in passing. They had the subjects doing exciting (a shooting game) and boring (addition) tasks on bright and dim displays and collected a range of measurements during the tasks.
Rectal temperature was recorded at two-minute intervals during each task. [...] The rectal temperature decreased during the night in all conditions. The rectal temperature was higher during the exciting task than during the boring one and significantly higher during the tasks with a BD than during the tasks with a DD in the latter half of each task.
Now, I'm not really a gamer; you get much past left, right, fire, and hyperspace and I start to panic. I can add numbers in my head pretty easily. But I have to think my ability at either would be greatly diminished by the distraction of 11 rectal temperature readings in a twenty minute span.
Posted by apostropher at 02:06 AM
Sunday, June 22, 2003
I don't know...I tried to get through the other candidates' letters, but was reminded what David Ogilvy once said, which ALL the candidates should keep in mind:
"You can't BORE someone into buying your product." - David Ogilvy
Senator Edwards tells his usual common man story; the Reverend Al Sharpton all but surrenders and yet throws his vote to whomever is chosen; Lieberman is his arrogant, constipative self...overly possessive of the votes won for Gore in 2000; Kucinich is great and yet...are we ready for a President with bangs? Gephardt sounds like his words were granked out by a machine or a grinder-organ monkey. Braun is not as impressive as she could be either. Hard to get excited about most of them. Dean is the real shiner, although Kucinich is also powerful and saying that which needs to be said. Change the hair though, Dennis. Get a better suit. God I'm shallow!
"You can't BORE someone into buying your product." - David Ogilvy
Senator Edwards tells his usual common man story; the Reverend Al Sharpton all but surrenders and yet throws his vote to whomever is chosen; Lieberman is his arrogant, constipative self...overly possessive of the votes won for Gore in 2000; Kucinich is great and yet...are we ready for a President with bangs? Gephardt sounds like his words were granked out by a machine or a grinder-organ monkey. Braun is not as impressive as she could be either. Hard to get excited about most of them. Dean is the real shiner, although Kucinich is also powerful and saying that which needs to be said. Change the hair though, Dennis. Get a better suit. God I'm shallow!
Saturday, June 21, 2003
MoveOn.org PAC
Here is Senator John Kerry's letter to MoveOn.org members. I haven't read it yet, so I ain't gonna comment till I do...
OK...Now I am reading it. Read with me...and remember. HE speaks in italics.
Dear MoveOn Members,
Three words sum up why we need to take action today: The Supreme Court. I need you to join me in keeping the Supreme Court out of the hands of right wing ideologues. I am prepared to filibuster, if necessary, any Supreme Court nominee who would turn back the clock on a woman’s right to choose, on civil rights and individual liberties, and on the laws protecting workers and the environment.
This is, of course, an urgent and important thing to do. But even with its urgency, I don't know if it makes a good lead. Lead with your best. This panoply of issues is hardly different that any politician has said since time immemorial. Watch "The Candidate" with Robert Redford. That is, if he lets you. If he does, say that I sent you, and then invite me over. HE is the one who deserves to be President. Unfortunately America doesn't deserve HIM.
But back to Kerry's opening graf... The Bush Residency in unprecented...and he should be unpresidented. Look. The Media is not gonna tell us squat about his true weaknesses. If you don't...switch parties. Or become a talk-show host. Pays better. You ARE on good terms with Mammon, aren't you?
If you agree with me that there should be no equivocation, no double-speak, no avoidance of the issue, then sign my online petition today at:
http://petition.johnkerry.com
Most people don't know what equivocation means. As such it may well qualify as a showpoint, for lack of better words. One almost thinks you are trying to tell yourself these things. Leave memos on the fridge. Not here. We do love ya though. Don't get me wrong...
I will deliver this petition to Senate Democratic Leader, Tom Daschle, and the Ranking Democratic Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Pat Leahy, as well as their counterparts on the Republican side of the aisle – Majority Leader Bill Frist and Judiciary Chairman Orrin Hatch. We will assure that they hear our voices loud and clear that we will oppose a nominee who would turn back the clock on a woman’s right to choose, on civil rights and individual liberties, and on the laws protecting workers and the environment.
Still on the Supreme Court, I see...
What applies to equivocation also applies to those other specialized terms: Daschle, Hatch, bla bla bla.
If you are gonna talk about the Supreme Court...talk about their egregious behavior during the 2000 selection.
The conflicts of interests...those things the media love to bury or avoid altogether.
Mister Senator. Open all your chakras. Compose your message thusly: By using and appealing to the head, the heart, and the body. There is a profound lack of this mixture in the entire canon of western letters, and yet the East mixes and synergizes them almost, and probably, by nature. So far...you are just head.
The criteria are basic: Any person who thinks it’s his or her job to push an extreme political agenda, rather than to interpret the law, should not be a Supreme Court Justice. Any person who thinks it’s his or her job to carry out the President’s political agenda, rather than to provide justice to ordinary Americans, should not be a Supreme Court Justice.
Agreed, but arcana to most. Earth to Senator Kerry...
Make no mistake, we need to take back the White House in 2004 and that’s why I’m running for President. When I’m President there will be no John Ashcroft trampling on the Bill of Rights – but before I become President we must stop George W. Bush from using the Supreme Court to carry out the President’s political agenda, rather than to provide justice to ordinary Americans.
I see you know about the magic of "when". But it is reather presumptuous, don't you think. Don't come off as pompous or as the rightful heir. Sounds too much like Bush, rather than his antithesis.
The differences today are clear: George Bush wants to criminalize the right of women to choose, he’s willing to take us back to the days of back alleys, to gag doctors and to deny families the right to plan and be aware of their choices. And don’t take my word for it: just look at who they’ve already tried to ram down our throats: Judges like Charles Pickering and Priscilla Owen who have long records of opposition to Roe v. Wade, have sought to restrict laws barring sexual discrimination, have supported a ban on interracial marriage, and have worked to narrow laws on gender discrimination. Or Judges like James Leon Holmes who dismissed arguments for the availability of abortion for rape victims claiming that conceptions from rape occur with approximately the same frequency as snowfall in Miami. Each year in America, over 30,000 women become pregnant as a result of rape or incest; snow falls in Miami roughly once every 100 years.
One-trick pony, huh...
I believe America should move forward and advance our right to privacy and equal rights, the civil rights, and the right to choose in this nation.
No one is better at demanding action and holding government accountable than MoveOn.Org – and together we can stop the Bush right-wing juggernaut by mobilizing the United States Senate to reject any Bush Supreme Court nominee hostile to the rights of women to choose.
What can I say. Most disappointing. Do you need a speechwriter? Call me. I could at least add a touch of jocularity to your wooden, canned excuse for a State-of-the-Union address.
No wait. This was just a letter to MoveOn.org. My bad.
But seriously...tell the whole truth. From the top down. Start with that which we are not being told by Bush's media arm...ie FOX, MSNBC, CNN, Washington Post, etc. Go over their heads. You are a Senator of the United States for God's sake. Not a mere pundit or media whore. Act like it. And act ON it. Wanna be a real hero?
MoveOn.org PAC
Here is the Howard Dean Letter to MoveOn.org...who is having an online vote this week. Don't miss it!
Now we move on the Governor Howard Dean of Vermont...
Dear MoveOn member,
Our country is at stake. The Bush Doctrine of preemptive war is wrong for America. The Bush tax cuts are not about cutting taxes; they are about starving and destroying Social Security, Medicare, and our public schools. They call polluting our air "The Clear Skies Act," destroying old growth "The Healthy Forest Act," and taking away our civil liberties "The Patriot Act."
Brilliant! Better yet...true! A great opening graf...although "wrong for America". Hmmm. Sure it is true. But wouldn't "poison for America" be stronger? After all...they ARE the coalition of polluters.
Strange...when I first saw "Healthy Forest Act", I thought it said "Heal Thy Forest Act". Maybe they will change it now...
If you are as tired and angry as I am about the manipulation and lies, then please join my campaign by signing the Pledge to Take Back America. Let's show that millions of us are not ashamed to stand up for our values:
http://www.deanforamerica.com/moveon
Now THIS is what should be coming out of the mouths of Democrats. Not the same old same old. Not afraid to call lying "lying". Not afraid to admit that "I'm ashamed to be an American, 'cause, you know, I'm cheap..." Something like that. Shame, indeed, has its uses. The Reich should try it sometime...
Too many in my party have failed to stand up to this administration's assault on our country's ideals. Let's show them that the era of conservative intimidation is over. People in Washington worry about "electability"-but they forget why they were elected in the first place. Silence equals defeat. Victory requires educating, organizing, and convincing.
I AM convinced. Who can top this? Anyone else of the 9?
It is 9, isn't it? Seems more like 3 or 4.
"Conservative intimidation".
What?
"Conservative intimidation". Sheesh. Listen next time!
"Sorry, but it bears repeating..."
Defeating George Bush will take nothing short of a massive grassroots movement. That's why we've taken a page from MoveOn's book by providing tools on our Web site to help build the movement in your community. Click below to see what's happening near you and to join in. And please forward this email to your friends -- I want everyone to know that there is a way to get involved, no matter where they live, or how much time they have:
http://action.deanforamerica.com
Candidates who continue to say whatever it takes to be elected will lose. What Americans want is a leader who believes in and will fight for sensible and principled positions, including balanced budgets, health care for every American, and a defense policy consistent with American values. The only way we can beat George W. Bush is to stand for a clear alternative.
"A defense policy consistent with American values..."
What?
"A defense policy consistent with American values...YOU HEARD ME! I'm on to you..."
This also needs not only repeating, but inacting. Like Citizen Kane, America, under George W. Bush, has drifted into darkness. We now attack other countries, preemptively willy-nilly. Americans are not like that. We are much better than that. Practically the opposite. The Republicans down OWN the military or the defence of America...which is more than just intimidating and killing people. It is protecting life...here and abroad. And not just our species. We are bigger than that. Our policies should be consistent with that larger view.
On my first day in office, I will tear up the Bush Doctrine of preemptive war. I will end this President's policy of domestic division. I will repeal those parts of the Patriot Act that betray the Bill of Rights. And I will roll back this President's tax cuts, because we will never achieve social justice in this country unless we balance the budget.
Dean is the one. The Grail King. The protector of the people. I can hear it in his voice...
I stood up against this President's attack on Iraq. I did not support his huge tax cuts. I did not support the misnamed "No Child Left Behind Act," which is raising property taxes all over America and bankrupting our public school system. Unlike all but one of my opponents, I have balanced a budget and I have appointed judges-and I am the only candidate who has made health care available to 99% of the children and 90% of the adults in my state.
...another reason to vote for Dr. Dean...
I believe that we can protect ourselves from terrorism and protect the civil liberties that make our nation strong. I believe that we can grow and prosper while also protecting our environment. I believe that a free and brave nation will always be stronger than a fearful nation, and I refuse to submit to fear any longer.
Hear! Hear! Bodhisattva!! As John once said...True love casteth out all fear. We must no submit to this cheap tool of Fascists; fear. People fear death. People fear poverty. Yet all die, and with poverty comes wisdom. Ask Meister Eckhart. Ask Peter Gomes. Hell...ask yourself: Am I getting any wiser standing here, polishing my cars?
Abraham Lincoln said that a government of the people, by the people and for the people would not perish from this earth. Only you-we-have the power to ensure that the ideals of America are not destroyed by this President's radical agenda. If you share my beliefs, then join me in pledging to take back America in 2004:
http://www.deanforamerica.com/moveon
To plan or to join campaign events near you -- including a nationwide day of rallies and house parties on June 23 -- please click here:
http://action.deanforamerica.com
Will do...
We can only undo the damage this President has done by coming together as Americans today. MoveOn-and members like you-have proven that the grassroots has more power today than at any time in history. Yet MoveOn took years to grow to the size it is today. We do not have years. Years from now will be too late. We must come together now to defeat George W. Bush -- so please pass this email along to all of your friends who believe, as you do, that we must act now to take back America.
Agreed. Those who are posturing for 2008 are doing a profound disservice...to themselves, and to America and the Democratic Party.
We cannot let the theft, lies, poverty and violence continue.
Formidable, Governor Dean. I did not, heretofore, realize how timely, true, and important it is that you, or at least your ideas, become the fabric of America. We have been in the dark too long. And to think...Clinton ushered in quite a lot of sunshine. Only to be replaced by a rebelliant (my word) and floodprone weather, symbolically and otherwise.
If all 9 Democrats were as gutsy as you...at least our side of the story -- the truth -- will get out.
MoveOn.org PACHere goes a letter to MoveOn.org from the handsome Senator Edwards of North Carolina. Of all the candidates, he is certain in the top tier.
Also participating are:
Carol Moseley Braun
Howard Dean
John Edwards
Dick Gephardt
Bob Graham
John Kerry
Dennis Kucinich
Joe Lieberman
Al Sharpton
Lieberman, Graham and Gephardt seem to Anonymoses to be weak and eminently beatable. Sharpton tells it like it is, and is, in my opinion a great asset to the party...along with Kucinich and Moseley Braun.
But Edwards, Dean and Kerry are, in the mind of Anonymoses, the best choices for winning. Dean will probably be portrayed as another Gore wonk...which I like, but the automations will have hay with it.
As a doctor, Dean can pull in the Medical vote, which Bush seems to be trying to pit against the lawyers. Dean and Edwards might then be a most balanced ticket...and win the upper-middle class voter, who are oftentimes in the doctor/lawyer profession. And Bush might well be intimidated by his being a doctor. Edwards certainly has more charisma than Dean, but together...a good team indeed. Kerry can mop the floor with Bush, but will he? Hard to imagine anyone NOT being able to beat Bush, actually. Too bad they cheat lie and steal...as it really helps them get selected. The money doesn't hurt either.
If it comes down to mere money...revolution may be the only solution.
Enough talk...I need dinner.
The Masters of Spin
In this column written for the opprobrious MSNBC, Eleanor Clift deconstructs Bush Inc's lie machine. Why she writes for that piece of shit is beyond me, but there it is. Enjoy...
In this column written for the opprobrious MSNBC, Eleanor Clift deconstructs Bush Inc's lie machine. Why she writes for that piece of shit is beyond me, but there it is. Enjoy...
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