People; hominids, often say to me, they say: "Hey Nonny...who are you talking to when you write your blog?" To which I usually respond: "Which blog"? (For you see, it really does make a difference.) But this usually confuses the querent (since I hang out at sanitoria, usually feeding them soylent green through the tynes of the fence) and they move on to greyer fissures, being fissure kings in the court of The Fisher of Rolando. Percevalis est.
Sometimes they, in their insanity, ask me (again) how I came to be named Nonny, to which I (again) respond by telling them that it is a nickname for Anonymoses, which generally sends them down the path of asking about other nicknames that have been foisted upon me over the millennia.
Names like Surreal McCoy, Yokel from the 8th Dimension, Mr. Wondrous, Adamant Steve, Clara Bowie (on my prettier days), Buckwheat, Annoythemost, Analmouse, (these two from detractors), Oliver Sutton, Lee Marvin, Abel Baruch, Melchizedek, Acey Bach, T. Wedanta, Swamiprob, Hugh Pada, Yaggers, Ryni, Daveithe, A.L.P. Coel, Luke Cool, The Number 13, Sharday, George Michael Jackson Brown, Prince Albert Gore Vidal Sassoon, Osama Ben Franklin Roosevelt Greer Garson Kanin Abel, All and Everything...you get the picture. I rarely tell them.
I'll have to get back to you on the rest of the story. My glass fingers do weary early.
Friday, October 10, 2003
President Pat Robertson: It Could Happen!
Conservative Republican Emeritus, Pat Robertson, is alienating Democrats AND Republicans these days, and we at Anonymoses offer our condolences for his now glowingly evident senescence. His most recent whopper is when he suggested nuking Foggy Bottom -- long associated with the Underground Railroad.
In related news, I heard that Jimmies Bakker and Swaggert have collaborated on a book they plan to call "Evangelists do more than Lay People". I know, I know...an old joke. But it does relate...
Anonymoses presents:
Tired of the same old blather? Tired of words like piffle, nexus and pathetic?
Tired of phrases like "There is no question but that ..."?
Let the Political Verbivore help you out of Clicheville. Let him or her show you some new words with which to browbeat your political opponents.
The PV will pop in here every so often and edify us with his or her verbal blepherospasms.
Why here he is now!
Not much time. Here eat these. Gotta go.
SCAREBABE - Relates to scaring babies. Used as a noun or adjective. EX: Bush's scarebabe policies toward the most primal foods of water and air caused Republican mothers to sit on their hands during the election. Tom Delay was such a scarebabe that he never campaigned among real people.
QUAKEBUTTOCK - A coward. EX: If you weren't such a quakebuttock, you wouldn't need a gun.
WHARFINGER - The owner of a wharf, but SOUNDS like Warfinger, which is not yet a word. OK I just deemed it a word. It means organic disgust at war, and all its rotten fruits.
WARFINGER - Organic disgust at war, and all its rotten fruits. EX: The only thing I shoot is the warfinger, and I do it in your direction.
THE POLITICAL VERBIVORE
Tired of the same old blather? Tired of words like piffle, nexus and pathetic?
Tired of phrases like "There is no question but that ..."?
Let the Political Verbivore help you out of Clicheville. Let him or her show you some new words with which to browbeat your political opponents.
The PV will pop in here every so often and edify us with his or her verbal blepherospasms.
Why here he is now!
Not much time. Here eat these. Gotta go.
SCAREBABE - Relates to scaring babies. Used as a noun or adjective. EX: Bush's scarebabe policies toward the most primal foods of water and air caused Republican mothers to sit on their hands during the election. Tom Delay was such a scarebabe that he never campaigned among real people.
QUAKEBUTTOCK - A coward. EX: If you weren't such a quakebuttock, you wouldn't need a gun.
WHARFINGER - The owner of a wharf, but SOUNDS like Warfinger, which is not yet a word. OK I just deemed it a word. It means organic disgust at war, and all its rotten fruits.
WARFINGER - Organic disgust at war, and all its rotten fruits. EX: The only thing I shoot is the warfinger, and I do it in your direction.
Thursday, October 09, 2003
Kelsey Grammer: A Bob Hope or a Nixon?
Kelsey Grammer has a golden opportunity. I wonder if he knows it. Now that Bob Hope has died, there will be great nostalgia for him. And no one looks like Bob Hope as much as Kelsey Grammer.
But Kelsey Grammer is thinking about getting into politics. The man in politics he most resembles is Nixon.
Granted, all three are Republicans. Hope's son-in-law was apparently a lobbyist for a military contractor. Hope is no Nixon, but Grammer may be thought of as one...should he forego this golden opportunity, and chose politics instead.
Kelsey is a smart man. Almost as smart as David Hyde Pierce. Maybe he will realize he can do more good as a funnyman than as just another Republican token.
Time will tell. But Kelsey...if you take my advice...remember where you heard it. I take donations.
Tuesday, October 07, 2003
Arnold Wins Recall! : California Verifiable Laughingstock
Lawsuits, impeachment & another recall to follow
A Big Victory for Enron, gropers, and ze gestapo
None Dare Call it Armageddon
None dare call it crusades,
None dare call it Armageddon...
Time for a little peace, love and truth-telling
I just watched a History Channel video on The Crusades, just to gain a little information on that period for a dollar...the rental charge on the video.
Turns out Damascus played an important role. I flash forward to the present news of Israel bombing Damascus and shake my head. Will this madness ever cease? Why can't we all just get along? Is God that deranged that he or she would not allow a sort of wise tolerance to enter into the souls of these endlessly warring peoples?
I googlesearch the matter and stumble upon a page which bears this quote:
The Prophet (pbuh) said: The place of assembly of the Muslims at the time of the Armageddon (al-Malhamah, the great war) will be in al-Ghutah near a city called Damascus, one of the best cities in Sham. (Abu-Dawud)
...this makes me feel no better. No better at all. Even a little anxious.
Bush's poll numbers are falling, badly, and when that happens...someone has to be kicked. Kicking dogs is illegal. Vicariousness is an intriguing concept, and one wonders if such things do not still go on among world leaders. We don't need no stinking religious war or religious victory. Blessed the peacemakers.
All people are created equal. It is the handful who act otherwise. And sadly, it is that handful that currently rule the world.
If mothers ruled the world, less children would die.
Women...rise. Gaia is calling her daughters to save her from the rapists and child-killers.
Sheesh! And to think Google caused all this!
Let us make a detour around Armageddon. Let our children live.
Winning is not everything. Possession is overrated. Cain means ownership.
Peace is disarming.
FADE TO BLACK
None dare call it Armageddon...
Time for a little peace, love and truth-telling
I just watched a History Channel video on The Crusades, just to gain a little information on that period for a dollar...the rental charge on the video.
Turns out Damascus played an important role. I flash forward to the present news of Israel bombing Damascus and shake my head. Will this madness ever cease? Why can't we all just get along? Is God that deranged that he or she would not allow a sort of wise tolerance to enter into the souls of these endlessly warring peoples?
I googlesearch the matter and stumble upon a page which bears this quote:
The Prophet (pbuh) said: The place of assembly of the Muslims at the time of the Armageddon (al-Malhamah, the great war) will be in al-Ghutah near a city called Damascus, one of the best cities in Sham. (Abu-Dawud)
...this makes me feel no better. No better at all. Even a little anxious.
Bush's poll numbers are falling, badly, and when that happens...someone has to be kicked. Kicking dogs is illegal. Vicariousness is an intriguing concept, and one wonders if such things do not still go on among world leaders. We don't need no stinking religious war or religious victory. Blessed the peacemakers.
All people are created equal. It is the handful who act otherwise. And sadly, it is that handful that currently rule the world.
If mothers ruled the world, less children would die.
Women...rise. Gaia is calling her daughters to save her from the rapists and child-killers.
Sheesh! And to think Google caused all this!
Let us make a detour around Armageddon. Let our children live.
Winning is not everything. Possession is overrated. Cain means ownership.
Peace is disarming.
Bush: "It's very important that any action Israel take(s) should avoid escalation and creating higher tensions."
FAT CHANCE!
Blessed are the Peacemakers
Cursed are the Warmakers
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A55227-2003Oct7?language=printer
From the article:
"Israel will not be deterred from defending its citizens and will hit its enemies any place and in any way," Sharon said in a speech broadcast live from a military cemetery in Jerusalem.
"At the same time, we will not miss any opening and opportunity to reach an agreement with our neighbors and peace."
Peacemaker? Warmaker? Blessed or cursed?
And how will Bush respond when the answer comes?
Is Bush a Peacemaker or a Warmaker?
Faux News: Live and/or Learn
More on "Garbage In"
Fox News makes people patriotic but stupid...but what can be expected from one of the main mouthpieces of the lying liars? But, as Jim Lobe points out in his Alternet article, commercial television news, in general, is guilty of purveying untruths and misperceptions.
From the article:
"This is a dangerously revealing study," said Marvin Kalb, a former television correspondent and a senior fellow of the Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
While Kalb said he had some reservations about the specificity of the questions directed at the respondents, he noted that, "People who have had a strong belief that there is an unholy alliance between politics and the press now have more evidence." Fox, in particular, has been accused of pursuing a chauvinistic agenda in its news coverage despite its motto, "We report, you decide."
MORE...
So...what are the media's obligation in debunking myths (should they ever decide to correct their ways)?
Editor & Publisher take on this question here:
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/editorandpublisher/headlines/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1991322
Fox News makes people patriotic but stupid...but what can be expected from one of the main mouthpieces of the lying liars? But, as Jim Lobe points out in his Alternet article, commercial television news, in general, is guilty of purveying untruths and misperceptions.
From the article:
"This is a dangerously revealing study," said Marvin Kalb, a former television correspondent and a senior fellow of the Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
While Kalb said he had some reservations about the specificity of the questions directed at the respondents, he noted that, "People who have had a strong belief that there is an unholy alliance between politics and the press now have more evidence." Fox, in particular, has been accused of pursuing a chauvinistic agenda in its news coverage despite its motto, "We report, you decide."
MORE...
So...what are the media's obligation in debunking myths (should they ever decide to correct their ways)?
Editor & Publisher take on this question here:
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/editorandpublisher/headlines/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1991322
Monday, October 06, 2003
Sunday, October 05, 2003
SNL : Why Bother?
I saw the very first Saturday Night Live. It was fresh. It was ballsy. It took on the establishment...and was funny. Very funny.
The players were even gifted. One could sense that the Second City proverb "Think at the top of your intelligence" was still very much alive and well.
Those days have long passed. Thank God for the wondrous physical comedian and Renaissance Man, Jack Black, who was the bright spot of the evening. Even Smigel, always the best part of the show, seemed to have lost his nerve. Whither the edge? Why the middling intelligence?
Maybe it will get better in the second half -- it is still on, and currently there is, mercifully, a commercial break.
I'll return when it's over and see if it gets any better. I'm not holding my breath...
Well, the News segment pulled it out. But, as others have noted, it is still not as scintillant as Jon Stewart at The Daily Show.
We are glad to see Tracy Morgan go, and hope that Horatio Sans works a little harder this year. He is no John Belushi, no matter how hard he tries to look like him. Chris Parnell, will, I predict, emerge as the leading light of the new pack. I just hope that they quit skirting political issues, and, instead, take on the madness...left and right. Clinton was fair game. Bush should be as well. When did Lorne Michaels become so pussilanimous anyway? Is he overpaid or something?
If they don't change...this current pack may well preside over the demise of SNL. It's time may alas have come. We hope not. But there are alternatives now, and they are, at present, much better than the current SNL...so far.
EX POST FACTO
Linda Holmes shares my grief over the sad moribunditude of the erstwhile humorous institution:
Lame, From New York, it's SNL
The players were even gifted. One could sense that the Second City proverb "Think at the top of your intelligence" was still very much alive and well.
Those days have long passed. Thank God for the wondrous physical comedian and Renaissance Man, Jack Black, who was the bright spot of the evening. Even Smigel, always the best part of the show, seemed to have lost his nerve. Whither the edge? Why the middling intelligence?
Maybe it will get better in the second half -- it is still on, and currently there is, mercifully, a commercial break.
I'll return when it's over and see if it gets any better. I'm not holding my breath...
Well, the News segment pulled it out. But, as others have noted, it is still not as scintillant as Jon Stewart at The Daily Show.
We are glad to see Tracy Morgan go, and hope that Horatio Sans works a little harder this year. He is no John Belushi, no matter how hard he tries to look like him. Chris Parnell, will, I predict, emerge as the leading light of the new pack. I just hope that they quit skirting political issues, and, instead, take on the madness...left and right. Clinton was fair game. Bush should be as well. When did Lorne Michaels become so pussilanimous anyway? Is he overpaid or something?
If they don't change...this current pack may well preside over the demise of SNL. It's time may alas have come. We hope not. But there are alternatives now, and they are, at present, much better than the current SNL...so far.
EX POST FACTO
Linda Holmes shares my grief over the sad moribunditude of the erstwhile humorous institution:
Lame, From New York, it's SNL
Saturday, October 04, 2003
Beck for President
Beck for President
For Peace and Justice
The Campaign of Sanderson Beck:
Democrat for President of the United States
FROM THE WEBSITE:
Why I Am Running for President
I am deeply concerned that the United States is being led in the wrong direction by George W. Bush and reactionary Democrats. I intend to educate people by explaining how we can lead the world into a golden age of peace, justice, and prosperity, not just for US but for everyone in the world. I aim to apply the wise teachings of the Christ, Buddha, Socrates, Lao-zi, Confucius, and other sages to politics to make the world a better place. I hope to awaken "Christians" who have been led astray by hypocrites supporting wars and the uncharitable policies of right-wing politicians that are contrary to what Jesus taught.
I was born on March 5, 1947 in Los Angeles, and I was a Conscientious Objector during the Vietnam War. I have taught more than forty different college courses, written many books, and dedicated my life to working for world peace. I will be honest, and I admit that my policies are closer to Greens than Democrats. I am offering the Democratic Party progressive policies, and I hope to be included in the Democratic debates during the primaries. Also, by running as a Democrat I will not hurt the Democratic nominee who goes against the Republican in the final 2004 election.
Our great country has become an oppressive empire to serve the greed of those with power. Now that the Cold War is over, we can eliminate all weapons of mass destruction and reduce all military forces in the world. Nonviolent methods and international law can resolve conflicts and protect human rights. We can reduce terrorism by not terrorizing the world with a bullying foreign policy. I believe the United States of America can lead the way to a world that is more democratic, free, fair, peaceful, prosperous, and sustainable if we act intelligently and responsibly with our great power and wealth. I appeal to the best in people so that we may treat others as we would be wish to be treated. I hope you will join me in this effort to reform our government.
A Vote for Arnold is a Vote for Enron
Read Greg Palast on the Arnold/Enron Connection
http://gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=283&row=0
EXCERPT:
It's not what Arnold Schwarzenegger did to the girls a decade back that should raise an eyebrow. According to a series of memoranda our office obtained today, it's his dalliance with the boys in a hotel room just two years ago that's the real scandal.
The wannabe governor has yet to deny that on May 17, 2001, at the Peninsula Hotel in Los Angeles, he had consensual political intercourse with Enron chieftain Kenneth Lay. Also frolicking with Arnold and Ken was convicted stock swindler Mike Milken.
Now, thirty-four pages of internal Enron memoranda have just come through this reporter's fax machine tell all about the tryst between Maria's husband and the corporate con men. It turns out that Schwarzenegger knowingly joined the hush-hush encounter as part of a campaign to sabotage a Davis-Bustamante plan to make Enron and other power pirates then ravaging California pay back the $9 billion in illicit profits they carried off.
Here's the story Arnold doesn't want you to hear. The biggest single threat to Ken Lay and the electricity lords is a private lawsuit filed last year under California's unique Civil Code provision 17200, the "Unfair Business Practices Act." This litigation, heading to trial now in Los Angeles, would make the power companies return the $9 billion they filched from California electricity and gas customers.
Friday, October 03, 2003
Total Recoil: Arnold Purges Jews from the Republican Party
Granted. Arnold swears he has changed his ways, and no longer thinks Hitler was such a great man, after all. Good. Welcome aboard. But what possessed him to hold such views in the first place? Was it because his father was a Nazi, and he was just honoring his memory and work by going along, making happy talk? And what about his high opinions of Kurt Waldheim? Sure, he has nice pecs and all, but one needs to draw the line sometimes. And Arnold hasn't. Not entirely. But don't expect me to step in the ring with him. He looks like one of those Reifenstahlian specimens manufactured to look good while doing pernicious and opprobrious deeds. I do not. I look like a swan. Should never have slammed on brakes.
But the Republicans in California might do well by a little Brakhage, I mean brakage. Is it worth winning California if it means alienating the handful of Jews who have attempted to find a home in the monoculture known as the GOP?
As someone who has disdained and lamented the very existence of Adolph Hitler since around the age of 6 or 7, when I saw a library book on his life and "work". I can still remember the images to this day. Someone had written little baloons over the pictures, with words written in. On one, there was a picture of a devastated city, and someone had written in the words: "Little bomb goes boom." Strange how I found that amusing at the time. Silly words, really. Many a better caption can be concocted by any dog or undergraduate.
Alas, I digress...
Anyway, I should think the Republicans might think twice before sacrificing hard-won gains. You win, you lose.
I personally welcome the homecoming.
But the Republicans in California might do well by a little Brakhage, I mean brakage. Is it worth winning California if it means alienating the handful of Jews who have attempted to find a home in the monoculture known as the GOP?
As someone who has disdained and lamented the very existence of Adolph Hitler since around the age of 6 or 7, when I saw a library book on his life and "work". I can still remember the images to this day. Someone had written little baloons over the pictures, with words written in. On one, there was a picture of a devastated city, and someone had written in the words: "Little bomb goes boom." Strange how I found that amusing at the time. Silly words, really. Many a better caption can be concocted by any dog or undergraduate.
Alas, I digress...
Anyway, I should think the Republicans might think twice before sacrificing hard-won gains. You win, you lose.
I personally welcome the homecoming.
Thursday, October 02, 2003
Rush and Pharmaceuticals or How Rush Listens to God
People have landed at my blog, thinking that Oxytocin is Oxycontin, or vice versa. They are not the same thing. Oxycontin , often called "heroin in a pill" or "Hillbilly Heroin", is apparently a highly addictive mind-altering drug, while Oxytocin is a blog. Granted, it is also a drug, a hormone, the love hormone, and not the one Mr. Limbaugh is accused of taking.
Is it true that Rush was taking Oxycontin? How should I know? I'm not his maid. My own feeling is that he is ill and needs that which money can't buy.
I feel sorry for him, which is strange, since I normally feel my blood pressure rise with his every utterance.
My wish is that he realize his mortality and vulnerability, and fling off the shackles that constrain him and pay him. Suddenly stricken by an inability to think beneath the top of his intelligence, he apologized for all which he knows was misleading, and tells what is called the truth.
Then he will be healed.
Who knows?
Now here's an interesting tidbit. Rush apparently talked up OxyContin on his show back in 2001.
FROM THE WEBSITE:
OxyContin can be mailed to you. The prescription has to be hand-delivered by the patient or doctor's office to the pharmacy.
Rush Limbaugh (talk radio) talked about OxyContin at length today--maybe an hour of his 3-hour show. The talk was mostly about the abusers of the drug, and that it was a shame that the abuse affected people who really need it.
RECENT LINKS ON THE STORY:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20031002/ap_on_sp_fo_ne/fbn_mcnabb_limbaugh_30
http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=dobbs
http://www.nydailynews.com/10-02-2003/front/story/122839p-110349c.html
Is it true that Rush was taking Oxycontin? How should I know? I'm not his maid. My own feeling is that he is ill and needs that which money can't buy.
I feel sorry for him, which is strange, since I normally feel my blood pressure rise with his every utterance.
My wish is that he realize his mortality and vulnerability, and fling off the shackles that constrain him and pay him. Suddenly stricken by an inability to think beneath the top of his intelligence, he apologized for all which he knows was misleading, and tells what is called the truth.
Then he will be healed.
Who knows?
Now here's an interesting tidbit. Rush apparently talked up OxyContin on his show back in 2001.
FROM THE WEBSITE:
OxyContin can be mailed to you. The prescription has to be hand-delivered by the patient or doctor's office to the pharmacy.
Rush Limbaugh (talk radio) talked about OxyContin at length today--maybe an hour of his 3-hour show. The talk was mostly about the abusers of the drug, and that it was a shame that the abuse affected people who really need it.
RECENT LINKS ON THE STORY:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20031002/ap_on_sp_fo_ne/fbn_mcnabb_limbaugh_30
http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=dobbs
http://www.nydailynews.com/10-02-2003/front/story/122839p-110349c.html
Wednesday, October 01, 2003
General Clark urges ABC to fire lying racist Limbaugh
General Clark urges ABC to fire lying racist Limbaugh
Legendary patriot and hero, General Wesley Clark, has called for the ouster of drop-out and bigot, Rush Limbaugh, for espousing his racist views on ABC's ESPN. Limbaugh is also fat and overpaid for a college dropout and racist. Most racist dropouts wind up as a guest on Jerry Springer, and are paid one hundred dollars. Rush's boss should reconsider his societal worth and make appropriate adjustments.
Legendary patriot and hero, General Wesley Clark, has called for the ouster of drop-out and bigot, Rush Limbaugh, for espousing his racist views on ABC's ESPN. Limbaugh is also fat and overpaid for a college dropout and racist. Most racist dropouts wind up as a guest on Jerry Springer, and are paid one hundred dollars. Rush's boss should reconsider his societal worth and make appropriate adjustments.
Tuesday, September 30, 2003
Images of 911 by Anonymoses
How many of you who were in Manhattan on 9-11-03 looked up and saw this strange creature floating by?
Run through a photoshop filter, we get this strange creature...
MORE
Run through a photoshop filter, we get this strange creature...
MORE
Is Arnold Just Another Koslowski?
Arnold's friends in the entertainment world have resorted to bragging about all of his extravagent purchases...which include a dozen or so humvees, a tank, and many other gas-guzzling examples of conspicuous consumption and classlessness. You can't buy class, Arnold and Mr. Koslowski. But you can buy the media. I guess you know this already...
Sunday, September 28, 2003
Beware The Luntz
GOP Pollster, Frank Luntz
GOP Strategist, Grover Norquist
Beware The Luntz
There is a reason pollster Frank Luntz resembles Grover Norquist.
He is in love with him. Well maybe. He is at least in love with his ideas.
So why does he pose as a non-partisan pollster? And why did he do so during those crucial days of the 2000 election? And why did MSNBC hire this ex-Enron consultant to mislead us?
Read this, and don't get fooled again. He's just another lying liar...
The Death of Credentials
Thought leaders?
SEAN HANNITY
finished High School
RUSH LIMBAUGH
finished High School
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULIS
BA (Political Science), Columbia University, summa cum laude
MA (Theology), Oxford University
AL FRANKEN
BA, Harvard College
Standards are important. Time to start listing the credentials of the pundits and talking heads...
Opening the Hollywood Pandora's Box
Opening the Hollywood Pandora's Box
Bring on your Swartzeneggers, your Kelsey Grammers, your Dennis Millers!
Make Hollywood the only talent pool for politics. I'll be sure to tell Butch and Sundance to gather friends...
Saturday, September 27, 2003
Edward Said and George Plimpton died this week
Edward Said and George Plimpton died this week...
I first met Edward Said in 1980, I believe it was, when he was giving a talk at Duke University on Orientalism. Sadly I didn't know who he was at the time, but was deeply moved by his depth and passion. Since that time, I have often thought about him and his work, and often look back on that intimate meeting with a sort of reverence. He was a light illuminating much that is even still kept in the dark. May his work and spirit live on...
PROFILE: REMEMBRANCE OF EDWARD SAID, PROFESSOR, AUTHOR AND ADVOCATE OF THE PALESTINIAN CAUSE
All Things Considered: September 25, 2003
Also this week, another monumental personality passes from us.
George Plimpton, among other things, was a great fan of pyrotechnics...and it was in this context that I first made my acquaintance with the lofty old soul.
It was in the early 1980s in Boston, and Mr. Plimpton was to host an international fireworks festival. George introduced each country's firework presentation, describing the subtleties and techniques employed. And while the display was taking place, an orchestra would feature that country's music.
The French were really good with pastels; the English were good at causing the fireworks to sort of park themselves in the air, then branch off in different directions, then repeat the process. The Japanese fireworks were most similar to viewing a computer screen, and the fireworks seemed to be directed at the stationary viewer. Palimpsests were also quite excellent. The Chinese had perhaps the strangest. A dozen strings of glowing red apples that slowly drifted across the sky, in time with the music. Very subtle. Very different from the American fireworks that finished off the evening...and, by the way, won the competition. To me they merely looked like a battleship had pulled up to the shore and just starting opening fire on the crowd. Huge white fireballs.
Goodness gracious!
For his myriad interests which he shared with the world, George Plimpton will be missed and remembered. I don't expect to have a more scintillating experience of the world of pyrotechnics.
Goodbye to two great gentlemen.
I first met Edward Said in 1980, I believe it was, when he was giving a talk at Duke University on Orientalism. Sadly I didn't know who he was at the time, but was deeply moved by his depth and passion. Since that time, I have often thought about him and his work, and often look back on that intimate meeting with a sort of reverence. He was a light illuminating much that is even still kept in the dark. May his work and spirit live on...
PROFILE: REMEMBRANCE OF EDWARD SAID, PROFESSOR, AUTHOR AND ADVOCATE OF THE PALESTINIAN CAUSE
All Things Considered: September 25, 2003
Also this week, another monumental personality passes from us.
George Plimpton, among other things, was a great fan of pyrotechnics...and it was in this context that I first made my acquaintance with the lofty old soul.
It was in the early 1980s in Boston, and Mr. Plimpton was to host an international fireworks festival. George introduced each country's firework presentation, describing the subtleties and techniques employed. And while the display was taking place, an orchestra would feature that country's music.
The French were really good with pastels; the English were good at causing the fireworks to sort of park themselves in the air, then branch off in different directions, then repeat the process. The Japanese fireworks were most similar to viewing a computer screen, and the fireworks seemed to be directed at the stationary viewer. Palimpsests were also quite excellent. The Chinese had perhaps the strangest. A dozen strings of glowing red apples that slowly drifted across the sky, in time with the music. Very subtle. Very different from the American fireworks that finished off the evening...and, by the way, won the competition. To me they merely looked like a battleship had pulled up to the shore and just starting opening fire on the crowd. Huge white fireballs.
Goodness gracious!
For his myriad interests which he shared with the world, George Plimpton will be missed and remembered. I don't expect to have a more scintillating experience of the world of pyrotechnics.
Goodbye to two great gentlemen.
Friday, September 26, 2003
Monday, September 22, 2003
Clark and Kerry Beat Bush in CNN-USA Today-Gallup poll
Note how they frame it as a tie...even though both Clark and Kerry receive more percentage points than George. Typical media shilling for Bush...
FROM THE ARTICLE:
WASHINGTON - Democrat Wesley Clark, in the presidential race for less than a week, is tied with President Bush (news - web sites) in a head-to-head matchup, according to a poll that shows several Democratic candidates strongly challenging the Republican incumbent.
Clark, a retired Army general, garnered 49 percent support to Bush's 46 percent, which is essentially a tie given the poll's margin of error. The CNN-USA Today-Gallup poll was conducted Sept. 19-21, beginning two days after Clark announced he would become the 10th Democratic candidate for the party's nomination.
Several other Democrats who have been in the race for months also were close to Bush in direct matchups. Sen. John Kerry (news - web sites) of Massachusetts and Sen. Joe Lieberman (news - web sites) of Connecticut also were tied with the president, while Bush held a slight lead over former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean (news - web sites) and Rep. Dick Gephardt (news - web sites) of Missouri.
In the head-to-head confrontations, it was Kerry at 48 percent to Bush's 47 percent; and Bush's 48 percent to Lieberman's 47 percent. Bush held a slight lead over Dean, 49-45 percent, and had a similar advantage over Gephardt.
Wednesday, September 17, 2003
Monday, September 15, 2003
King Clinton Offers Sage Advice
Bill Clinton looking like Dali's apparition of a bust of Voltaire
King Clinton Offers Sage Advice to Democrats
Reassures World that America is not beyond Hope
Find a copy of this speech. I heard it over the telephone...and thought it was the most lucid blueprint to emerge this season. In fact, no one tells it better than Clinton and Gore...but, as Clinton said, this is the best set of candidates in many decades. Maybe ever. No need to overstate. Any one of them is superior to the current occupier. And we know, he will not show his face...unless it is a closed clique paying huge sums. And even there Bush looks like he has swallowed a jar of Contac. Nothing authentic. Nothing genuine. Simulacrum at best.
Not so the Democrats. None of them. All eminently qualified, and all worthy of our love, respect...and yes, funding.
As President Clinton himself said: We don't have to beat up on the Republicans. Just tell the truth and they will think it's Hell.
Friday, September 12, 2003
Lying Liar Limbaugh Lies Again
GARBAGE IN
Lying liar, Rush Limbaugh, is lying as I speak. Check it out! He must not have read Al Franken's book, or he'd know how ridiculous he sounds. But for that kind of money, I guess many weak-willed opportunists would lie all day. In fact there are many, and not just Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly.
Arm yourself from their garbage. Garbage in, garbage out. They are the garbage. Franken proves it. And you can learn all the sly ways these lying liars will lie to you.
Do you really want to be accused of purveying garbage? Remember...garbage in, garbage out. And they are the garbage.
That is...unless you don't mind building your house on a foundation of lies.
For example, Rush just blathered on and on about how he never, would never, try to flame someone. And then he went on to call for his listeners, in so many words, to flame MoveOn.org.
He's drunk on his "power". But the very rednecks who are his lemmings will, one day, turn ON him. Remember what your mother told you. Those who will steal or lie FOR you...with steal FROM you and lie TO you.
Maybe it would be best to just step out of the way and let them destroy each other...
The bottom 1%
Jerusalem Post says "Kill Arafat", and now the Israeli Government has authorized the removal of Arafat, while the United States, Europe and Egypt warn Israel against carrying out a threat to expel him.
Meanwhile America appears ever-closer to inheriting the winds of Hurricane Isabelle. Strangely, Isa is the Muslim word for Jesus. Hmm. Bad wording?
New namer! Maybe colors or notes would be better. Hurricane F#...not that threatening...hmm...
I say it it time to bring back exuberance. The world is going in the wrong direction.
Time for the Peacemakers to reign. 99% of the world wants peace. It's just those who profit who don't.
Meanwhile America appears ever-closer to inheriting the winds of Hurricane Isabelle. Strangely, Isa is the Muslim word for Jesus. Hmm. Bad wording?
New namer! Maybe colors or notes would be better. Hurricane F#...not that threatening...hmm...
I say it it time to bring back exuberance. The world is going in the wrong direction.
Time for the Peacemakers to reign. 99% of the world wants peace. It's just those who profit who don't.
Thursday, September 11, 2003
Is a Dean/Clark Dream Team Emerging?
Is a Dean/Clark Dream Team Emerging?
Among other things, a Dean/Clark team would usurp the Medical/Military initiative from Chimpy.
This would leave Hillary and Gore as the other Dream VPs for Edwards and Kerry to scoop up.
The clock is ticking...
Among other things, a Dean/Clark team would usurp the Medical/Military initiative from Chimpy.
This would leave Hillary and Gore as the other Dream VPs for Edwards and Kerry to scoop up.
The clock is ticking...
Howard Dean doesn't pass Fox-style "Fair & Balanced" test on Israel
Howard Dean doesn't pass Fox-style "Fair & Balanced" test on Israel
During the most recent Democratic debate, Howard Dean had the gall to say that America needs to have the trust of both Israel and Palestine...and was bitchslapped for having done so.
Like Fox News, there are those who would have us pretend to be fair and balanced brokers, when in fact, we are not.
Yet another reason why the UN should be charge of the "Roadmap"...
During the most recent Democratic debate, Howard Dean had the gall to say that America needs to have the trust of both Israel and Palestine...and was bitchslapped for having done so.
Like Fox News, there are those who would have us pretend to be fair and balanced brokers, when in fact, we are not.
Yet another reason why the UN should be charge of the "Roadmap"...
Sunday, September 07, 2003
The Disservice of Angry Jayson Blairs
Why Media Lies reap only short-term gains
and are destructive in the long-term.
An impartial media may well be among the best treasures of a nation...particularly if there is a two-way dialog. And why is this? It is because the best solutions to problems often come from outside the system.
But to ensure best solutions...good information has to be available. Misinformation and disinformation only make people stupider, and the future recruitment of these people who have drunk your kool-ade will require the added cost of deprogramming; cleaning their minds of the garbage they have been dealt.
This is the sad future of those who only listen to your Foxes, your Limbaughs, your Regnery Press devotees.
May the more responsible news organs learn and understand this, and strive to provide good information, and let the chips fall where they may. At least a wiser future will be assured.
Jayson Blair did a disservice, and was canned for it. What about all these angry Jayson Blairs who daily dish out lies? Are they merely insuring those that surround them become dumber and dumber...and less useful?
Sharon and Hamas VERY Mad at Each Other
JERUSALEM (AP) - Hamas leaders are ``marked for death'' and won't have a moment's rest, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon warned Sunday, after Israel failed in an attempt to kill the top echelon of Hamas with a 550-pound bomb dropped on a Gaza City apartment.
Hamas threatened unprecedented revenge, with spokesman Abdel Aziz Rantisi saying Israel had ``opened the gates of hell'' with the attack on Hamas founder, Sheik Ahmed Yassin, who escaped with a minor injury. Israel declared a high security alert and imposed a blanket closure on the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Security officials said the Shin Bet security service tightened protection of Israeli leaders.
Sharon told the Yediot Ahronot newspaper that Israel's campaign against militants would continue.
``They are marked for death,'' Sharon was quoted as saying, referring to Hamas leaders. ``We won't give them a moment's rest. We will continue to hunt them because they have only one objective: the destruction of Israel.''
http://www.canada.com/news/world/story.asp?id=42A37C9B-DE9F-4E09-A27F-0AEE546BB530
Hamas threatened unprecedented revenge, with spokesman Abdel Aziz Rantisi saying Israel had ``opened the gates of hell'' with the attack on Hamas founder, Sheik Ahmed Yassin, who escaped with a minor injury. Israel declared a high security alert and imposed a blanket closure on the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Security officials said the Shin Bet security service tightened protection of Israeli leaders.
Sharon told the Yediot Ahronot newspaper that Israel's campaign against militants would continue.
``They are marked for death,'' Sharon was quoted as saying, referring to Hamas leaders. ``We won't give them a moment's rest. We will continue to hunt them because they have only one objective: the destruction of Israel.''
http://www.canada.com/news/world/story.asp?id=42A37C9B-DE9F-4E09-A27F-0AEE546BB530
"FirstEnergy should not have a license to drive a car, let alone a license to operate a nuclear power plant or a transmission grid," Markey said.
Congressman Ed Markey, D-Mass.
"FirstEnergy should not have a license to drive a car, let alone a license to operate a nuclear power plant or a transmission grid," Markey said.
[Gray]Davis sharply criticized the Bush administration's economic policies, saying that "Republicans in power have refused to learn from their mistakes."
Sharply? I read this in the news today, right after reading Markey's rebuke...and the contrast could not be more glaring. Can someone please exorcise Gray's soul and replace it with Markey's? And why isn't he on the national stage? He has been great for years. A sort of Peter O'Toole meets Mister Smith...who already is in Washington.
Saturday, September 06, 2003
A Brand New Vid of WTC @ 9-11 in time for September Terror
Brand New Vid of WTC @ 9-11 in time for September Terror
Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) - The only videotape known to have captured both planes slamming into the World Trade Center, and only the second image of the first strike, has surfaced on the eve of the second anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
The footage, obtained by The New York Times, was taken by a Czech immigant construction worker.
It's a good thing there is nothing to fear but fear itself...
The article goes on the say:
Pavel Hlava, an immigrant construction worker from the Czech Republic, shot footage of the first plane hitting the north tower as a sport utility vehicle he was riding in entered the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel en route to lower Manhattan.
Hlava, who made the tape looking at the camera's relatively low-resolution LCD display, told the Times he did not see the first plane as he focused on the towers. But the tape shows a whitish object hitting the tower, followed by dust spurting from the tower's side and a silvery, expanding cloud.
Passing through the tunnel, Hlava, his brother and his boss heard a radio report that a small private plane had hit the World Trade Center, straight ahead outside the tunnel. That hardly prepared them for what they saw when they emerged: the north tower, looming over them, bursting with flames.
As Hlava continued filming, the second jet shrieked behind him. He caught the plane as it shot into the south tower, exploding into an orange fireball and sending papers flying in every direction. Later, after crossing the Brooklyn Bridge, he focused on the buildings again as the south tower tilted to one side and collapsed.
Looking back, I wonder why it didn't dawn on me to leave the Upper East Side apartment and videotape the event. Guess I was too busy keeping folks calm and throwing the I Ching -- a real help when everything else around you is knocked off-center and less than impartial. I did, however, snap a few shots from the back porch with a still camera...one of which being what appeared to be a huge reclining corpse made of clouds floating by, and later, an evil-looking dragon-cloud...which, I learned later, upon seeing "The Mothman Prophesy", that it (the cloud formation) looked remarkably similar to the mothman image from the brainscan. [Twilight Zone theme]
I digress...
Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) - The only videotape known to have captured both planes slamming into the World Trade Center, and only the second image of the first strike, has surfaced on the eve of the second anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
The footage, obtained by The New York Times, was taken by a Czech immigant construction worker.
It's a good thing there is nothing to fear but fear itself...
The article goes on the say:
Pavel Hlava, an immigrant construction worker from the Czech Republic, shot footage of the first plane hitting the north tower as a sport utility vehicle he was riding in entered the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel en route to lower Manhattan.
Hlava, who made the tape looking at the camera's relatively low-resolution LCD display, told the Times he did not see the first plane as he focused on the towers. But the tape shows a whitish object hitting the tower, followed by dust spurting from the tower's side and a silvery, expanding cloud.
Passing through the tunnel, Hlava, his brother and his boss heard a radio report that a small private plane had hit the World Trade Center, straight ahead outside the tunnel. That hardly prepared them for what they saw when they emerged: the north tower, looming over them, bursting with flames.
As Hlava continued filming, the second jet shrieked behind him. He caught the plane as it shot into the south tower, exploding into an orange fireball and sending papers flying in every direction. Later, after crossing the Brooklyn Bridge, he focused on the buildings again as the south tower tilted to one side and collapsed.
Looking back, I wonder why it didn't dawn on me to leave the Upper East Side apartment and videotape the event. Guess I was too busy keeping folks calm and throwing the I Ching -- a real help when everything else around you is knocked off-center and less than impartial. I did, however, snap a few shots from the back porch with a still camera...one of which being what appeared to be a huge reclining corpse made of clouds floating by, and later, an evil-looking dragon-cloud...which, I learned later, upon seeing "The Mothman Prophesy", that it (the cloud formation) looked remarkably similar to the mothman image from the brainscan. [Twilight Zone theme]
I digress...
Hamas threatens to kill Sharon. EU, US Blacklists Hamas.
Abbas Resigns as EU and US place Hamas on Terror List
The predicted Hell Week comes to this. Abbas resigns, Hamas vows to kill Sharon, and the EU joins the US in blacklisting Hamas...putting them on the Terrorist list. This after Israel declared "all-out war" on Hamas.
One can expect media blackouts, diversions and such as the bloodbath begins...
Ready to play football...indeed.
As Peter Gabriel once sang:"The eyes of the world are watching now..."
And as Rod King once said: "Can't we all just get along"?
EYELESS IN GAZA
Hindustani Times:
The Palestinian Islamic militant group Hamas threatened on Saturday to assassinate Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon after an Israeli air strike wounded its spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.
"We warn Sharon that his head is now wanted by our troops," leaders of Hamas' military wing said via loudspeaker at a Gaza City hospital where Yassin was treated for a light hand injury. About 15 others were wounded.
Upon hearing of Abbas' resignation, Israel, apparently fearing a dangerous vacuum forming, according the ABC News "dropped a 550-pound bomb on a Gaza City apartment in a botched attempt to kill several top Hamas leaders, including the Islamic militant group's founder, Sheik Ahmed Yassin, who escaped with a minor injury."
Yassin was the highest ranking Hamas leader to have been targetted by Israel. In response, "Israel declared a state of high alert Saturday evening, bracing for more attacks."
"In Gaza City, thousands of Hamas supporters poured into the streets, handing out sweets to celebrate the survival of their leaders. One Hamas member riding in a car led a chant over a loudspeaker: "Sharon listen very well. You bought a free ticket to hell.""
Friday, September 05, 2003
Ameripalooza : Durn! It's already taken!
But the big event was July 17 at Wetlands, long the rootsiest of NYC's alt venues: the so-called Ameripalooza Festival, two floors of music from 7:30 till whenever. Arriving an hour late, I checked out eight acts. Maybe I would also have liked Dakotan-turned-Austinite Anna Egge at 7:30 ("a combination of bluegrass, folk and Texas-style country that defies easy categorization"--No Depression). Still, much of my pleasure was anthropological. Lifestyles of the alt and country.
...and I was going to use it to describe the magnificent 7 embodiments of the Democratic spirit. And Demopalooza is taken too. Shite! Perhaps I am using a lesser metaphor anyway. I mean, who among them would ever find themselves at a -palooza anyway? None. But at least they know what music is. Earwash. And Lawd knows we need it today. Garbage in. Garbage in.
...and I was going to use it to describe the magnificent 7 embodiments of the Democratic spirit. And Demopalooza is taken too. Shite! Perhaps I am using a lesser metaphor anyway. I mean, who among them would ever find themselves at a -palooza anyway? None. But at least they know what music is. Earwash. And Lawd knows we need it today. Garbage in. Garbage in.
Democrats: The Magnificent 7
Graham, Braun, Gephart, Kerry, Edwards, Kuchinich, Dean
Call them the Magnificent 7. They were...magnificent!
But there are 9, you say?
Not last night there weren't! The Reverend Sharpton couldn't make it, and Lieberman wasn't magnificent. In fact he wasn't a Democrat. He was, instead, an attacker of Democrats. One, in particular...Dr. Dean...who merely rolls his eyes and stands there, everneckless, a semaphor, with a coquettish look of incredulity and mock injury swirling in eddies around his crystalline countenance.
The other Democrats, excepting Kucinich, kept their focus on the real problem, Bush Inc., but only seemed to overstep when he cacked a praeteradolescent "Helloooo". A daft move for such a smart man, IMHO. Otherwise, he looked dignified and almost holy at times, and, of course, his ideas were, in the main, valuable and timely, if overpunctuated by commas and rhetorical flourish.
Dick Gephart sounded passionate, almost human, but it may be a case of "too little, too late." Why play that role now, while sitting on your hands for decades? But that said, his passion can serve as a model of something useful. He's not the one though. Sorry. He doesn't have it. Secretary of the Interior, maybe.
And speaking of which...and one reason they shouldn't chew each other up...those who do not wind up being the standard-bearer; the next President...why you all become the now-well-known cabinet in the next administration. You may well be the first cabinet to be familiar to the majority of Americans, and indeed, the world.
Introduce yourself!
Think about it...and consider it. No bait-and-switch. No unseen, secret, merchandise. We are the administration! And you know us.
Who knows. Maybe...
Moving on...
Kerry looked the most presidential. Period. Braun looked the most sane.
Edwards is probably the best-looking and most visionary, but he really has to bring his internal gladiator to bear.
Senator Graham was very good, and actually way better than I expected, but I can't help but see him in a more supporting role.
Were I to be forced to predict who will wind up in not a supporting role, but a senior role, I would have to place my bets on Kerry, Dean, Edwards, and Braun.
I also see General Wesley Clark as, perhaps, the best choice for VP, exempting the sudden addition of a Hillary or Gore expressing interest...at which point I would give the 3 even odds. All are remarkable people. All would be better than Bush and his ludibund, monoculture administration.
In any case, I think it is important that each and every one of the candidates reassure the people that all will be well, for it will be well. Terrorizing people, on the other hand, is for terrorists. There is nothing to fear, and nothing broken that can't be mended.
Fear is bad for your health. The fastest way to improve the health of Americans is to remove the fear in their lives. Be the healer. Speak in healing tones. Be authentic. Think at the top of your intelligence, and feel from the depth of your being. Be divine and wise.
America must become a humanitarian superpower, if a superpower at all. Take us there.
Godspeed...
Thursday, September 04, 2003
Can't They ALL Be President? The Democrats Debate
Except for maybe Senator Lieberman, every one of the Democratic Candidates showed that they would be better than Bush. Lieberman, for some reason, has gone insane. Must've been the stolen election. Watching him now though, I am not so upset by the result. Edwards OR Kerry woiuld have been infinitely better, and both showed why tonight.
Ambassador Braun may have been the big winner though. I can't see her bowing out, and hopes she doesn't. She may be just what is needed...
In all...a great performance by 8 great men..er...people. They should go on the road. Ameripalooza! Say it everybody! Ameripalooza!!
Got a ring to it!
Deserves it's own post...
(See future post.)
Ambassador Braun may have been the big winner though. I can't see her bowing out, and hopes she doesn't. She may be just what is needed...
In all...a great performance by 8 great men..er...people. They should go on the road. Ameripalooza! Say it everybody! Ameripalooza!!
Got a ring to it!
Deserves it's own post...
(See future post.)
"God is not on your side", Pope declares
CATHOLIC CHURCH: Bush Administration Guilty of "Crimes Against Peace"
"God is not on your side", Pope declares
Pope John Paul II calls War a Defeat for Humanity:
Neoconservative Iraq Just War Theories Rejected
EXCERPT:
In the weeks and months before the U.S. attacked Iraq, not only the Holy Father, but also one Cardinal and Archbishop after another at the Vatican spoke out against a
"preemptive" or "preventive" strike. They declared that the just war theory could not justify such a war. Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran said that such a "war of aggression" is a crime against peace. Archbishop Renato Martino, who used the same words in calling the possible military intervention a "crime against peace that cries out vengeance before God," also criticized the pressure that the most powerful nations exerted on the less powerful ones on the U.N. Security Council to support the war. The Pope spoke out almost every day against war and in support of diplomatic efforts for peace.
John Paul II sent his personal representative, Cardinal Pio Laghi, a friend of the Bush family, to remonstrate with the U.S. President before the war began. The message: God is not on your side if you invade Iraq.
LINK
Future VP General Clark: "I am proud to be a Democrat."
"As I looked at where the country is now domestically and look at our policies abroad, I have to say that I'm aligned with the Democratic Party, I like the message the party has. I like what it stands for," Clark said in an interview on CNN's "Inside Politics."
The 58-year-old Clark is a Rhodes scholar who graduated first in his class at West Point and served as NATO commander during the 1999 campaign in Kosovo. Clark now works as a businessman and consultant in Arkansas.
MORE
The 58-year-old Clark is a Rhodes scholar who graduated first in his class at West Point and served as NATO commander during the 1999 campaign in Kosovo. Clark now works as a businessman and consultant in Arkansas.
MORE
Britney & Bush: Not That Innocent
Britney & Bush: Not That Innocent
Faux journalist and blacklistmonger, Matt Drudge, hath posted a new member of the whitelist -- Britney Spears. Well, sort of...
Drudge's headline says:
BRITNEY COMES OUT SWINGING FOR BUSH
...but the "swinging" he refers to is culled from the following exchange:
BRITNEY COMES OUT SWINGING FOR BUSH
Wed Sep 03 2003 19:35:45 ET
Britney Spears came out swinging for President Bush on Wednesday during an interview with CNN's Tucker Carlson.
CARLSON: A lot of entertainers have come out against the war in Iraq. Have you?
SPEARS: Honestly, I think we should just trust our president in every decision that he makes and we should just support that, you know, and be faithful in what happens.
CARLSON: Do you trust this president?
SPEARS: Yes, I do.
CARLSON: Excellent. Do you think he's going to win again?
SPEARS: I don't know. I don't know that.
END
Comes out swinging? Sounds more like a prepared statement manufactured for ass protection. But then again...she's a kid. And like Bush...not that innocent.
Wednesday, September 03, 2003
Joseph Wilson Rove handcuffs
Get your Joseph Wilson Rove handcuffs here!
What people are saying!
"At the end of the day, it's of keen interest to me to see whether or not we can get Karl Rove frog-marched out of the White House in handcuffs. And trust me, when I use that name, I measure my words."
- Ambassador Joseph Wilson
READ ALL ABOUT IT!
Tuesday, September 02, 2003
Rush: "15 years of work down the tubes"
Rush Limbaugh is hyperventilating about a report about RNC's Mr. Gillespie's having said that the Republican Party no longer holds the smaller is better government notion. Some such drivel...
His hyperventilations are geared toward getting Gillespie to reverse or deny it.
"15 years of work down the tube", carks Limbaugh.
Where will the madness end? Look. The current Republican Party seems to be capable of doing and saying anything for mere short-term gain; expediency.
His hyperventilations are geared toward getting Gillespie to reverse or deny it.
"15 years of work down the tube", carks Limbaugh.
Where will the madness end? Look. The current Republican Party seems to be capable of doing and saying anything for mere short-term gain; expediency.
FEAR: The New Slavery
- G. Gurdjieff
[aside: The pig-looking Rush Limbaugh, when confronted by the news that The Bush Administration has grown the biggest government in history, diverts and says..."and the Liberals are upset! And they wanted it!"
I don't know whether to say "thanks", or say "I knew you were lying..."]
"Death is not evil. Evil is mechanical."
- D.H. Lawrence
"'Progress' and 'Civilization', in the real meaning of these words, can appear only as a result of conscious efforts.
They cannot appear as the result of unconscious mechanical actions."- G. Gurdjieff
"Imagine that we are sitting here talking of religions and that the maid Masha hears our conversation. She, of course, understands it in her own way and she repeats what she has understood to the porter Ivan. The porter Ivan again understands it in his own way and he repeats what he has understood to the coachman Peter next door. The coachman Peter goes to the country and recounts in the village what the gentry talk about in town. Do you think that what he recounts will at all resemble what we said? This is precisely the relation between existing religions and that which was their basis. You get teachings, traditions, prayers, rites, not at fifth but at twenty-fifth hand, and, of course, almost everything has been distorted beyond recognition and everything essential forgotten long ago."
- G. Gurdjieff
Hell Week
My intuition (and events around the world) seem to be telling me that things are spiralling out of control, and are likely to have tragic consequences. All-out war in Israel. Rampant global warming at an all-time high. China flooding causing 17000 houses to collapse, and 200,000 to evacuate their homes. 2.8 million people in India affected by floods there. And now, a super-saturated and flooding South and midwest facing the added waters of approaching hurricanes, and the Taiwan typhoon races towards Hong Kong. Attacks on US personnel in Iraq on the rise amid massive demonstrations. Another car bomb exploded in central Baghdad outside police headquarters. Some are even saying we have already lost the war...
And I have to get my car inspected...
Expect shark stories and news blackouts...
Peter Gabriel
When the night shows
the signals grow on radios
All the strange things
they come and go, as early warnings
Stranded starfish have no place to hide
still waiting for the swollen Easter tide
There's no point in direction we cannot
even choose a side.
I took the old track
the hollow shoulder, across the waters
On the tall cliffs
they were getting older, sons and daughters
The jaded underworld was riding high
Waves of steel hurled metal at the sky
and as the nail sunk in the cloud, the rain
was warm and soaked the crowd.
Lord, here comes the flood
We'll say goodbye to flesh and blood
If again the seas are silent
in any still alive
It'll be those who gave their island to survive
Drink up, dreamers, you're running dry.
When the flood calls
You have no home, you have no walls
In the thunder crash
You're a thousand minds, within a flash
Don't be afraid to cry at what you see
The actors gone, there's only you and me
And if we break before the dawn, they'll
use up what we used to be.
Lord, here comes the flood
We'll say goodbye to flesh and blood
If again the seas are silent
in any still alive
It'll be those who gave their island to survive
Drink up, dreamers, you're running dry.
Monday, September 01, 2003
The Media: People Paid to Lie
You know it. I know it. Who, in the media, are paid the most?
Why...it is the ones who either tell the biggest whoppers (in the case of the stupid) or those who could expose the truth, but are paid to refrain from doing so.
Or as John Swinton, the former chief of staff at The New York Times, put it, while speaking to the National press Club:
There is not one of you who dares to write your honest opinions, and if you did, you know beforehand that it would never appear in print.
I am paid weekly for keeping my honest opinion out of the paper I am connected with. Others of you are paid similar salaries for similar things, and any of you who would be so foolish as to write honest opinions would be out on the street looking for another job.
If I allowed my honest opinion to appear in one issue of my paper, before twenty-four hours my occupation would be gone.
We are the tools and vassals of rich men behind the scenes.
We are the jumping jacks, they pull the strings and we dance.
Our talents, our possibilities and our lives are all the property of other men.
We are intellectual prostitutes."
http://www.whatareweswallowing.freeserve.co.uk/swinton.htm
Why...it is the ones who either tell the biggest whoppers (in the case of the stupid) or those who could expose the truth, but are paid to refrain from doing so.
Or as John Swinton, the former chief of staff at The New York Times, put it, while speaking to the National press Club:
There is not one of you who dares to write your honest opinions, and if you did, you know beforehand that it would never appear in print.
I am paid weekly for keeping my honest opinion out of the paper I am connected with. Others of you are paid similar salaries for similar things, and any of you who would be so foolish as to write honest opinions would be out on the street looking for another job.
If I allowed my honest opinion to appear in one issue of my paper, before twenty-four hours my occupation would be gone.
We are the tools and vassals of rich men behind the scenes.
We are the jumping jacks, they pull the strings and we dance.
Our talents, our possibilities and our lives are all the property of other men.
We are intellectual prostitutes."
http://www.whatareweswallowing.freeserve.co.uk/swinton.htm
The Pharmaceutical "Serpent's Egg"
DON'T DRINK THE KOOL-ADE!
http://www.whatareweswallowing.freeserve.co.uk/thebook.htm
Quite shockingly, the majority of 'epidemics' portrayed as 'needing swift state intervention' are nothing more than callous business ploys designed to boost the pharmaceutical industry’s revenue through the public’s deep-seated fear of disease. Corporate coffers swell exponentially as we obligingly line up to receive the necessary 'cure'. And as we receive these 'cures', a far more real epidemic is taking place - that of vaccine and related, doctor-induced medical injury. Are you properly informed of the facts? Could you and your family be at risk?
MORE...
http://www.whatareweswallowing.freeserve.co.uk/enterzone.htm
http://www.whatareweswallowing.freeserve.co.uk/thebook.htm
Quite shockingly, the majority of 'epidemics' portrayed as 'needing swift state intervention' are nothing more than callous business ploys designed to boost the pharmaceutical industry’s revenue through the public’s deep-seated fear of disease. Corporate coffers swell exponentially as we obligingly line up to receive the necessary 'cure'. And as we receive these 'cures', a far more real epidemic is taking place - that of vaccine and related, doctor-induced medical injury. Are you properly informed of the facts? Could you and your family be at risk?
MORE...
http://www.whatareweswallowing.freeserve.co.uk/enterzone.htm
Tuesday, August 26, 2003
MSN House & Home - Best Places to Live 2003
Raleigh, North Carolina
Best Places to Live 2003
1. Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, NC
Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill has the warmth and charm of a small southern town, while still being large enough to provide all the amenities of big-city living. Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill's scores are above average in nearly every category. The city has the second-best health score in the nation, thanks to great air quality and affordable health care. The citizens of Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill are a smart bunch—91% of its 312,000 residents have graduated from high school, and nearly 19% have a four-year college degree. A healthy economy and a low cost of living cement Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill's ranking as America's Best Place to Live.
Monday, August 25, 2003
10 Liberal Commandments
1 THEN God spoke all these words, saying,
2 I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
3 You shall have no other gods before Me.
4 You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.
5 You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me,
6 but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
7 You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.
8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
10 but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you.
11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.
12 Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the LORD your God gives you.
13 You shall not murder.
14 You shall not commit adultery.
15 You shall not steal.
16 You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
17 You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
2 I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
3 You shall have no other gods before Me.
4 You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.
5 You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me,
6 but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
7 You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.
8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
10 but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you.
11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.
12 Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the LORD your God gives you.
13 You shall not murder.
14 You shall not commit adultery.
15 You shall not steal.
16 You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
17 You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
Higher Gas? DON'T BUY IT!
Iraq is turning out to be something other than the cash cow they hallucinated it would be. So they have to fill their coffers another way. Bilking you.
They know you are afraid to travel by plane or train...which they hate anyway. They know you want to take that oblicatory "vacation" which they grant you for an incredibly short amount of time, by world standards. They know you will take that car. And preferably that SUV. The more gas sales...the better. Simple business.
But you don't have to play their game. You are in control of your own life, and there are plenty of interesting places and people right in your own neighborhood. Dig them instead. Postpone your holiday for a month, and see if the prices actually do come down by early September, as the pundidiocy promise.
Participate in history. You are fabulous. Anonymoses knows his roses.
Mars, Marduk and the Iraq Connection
Mars, Marduk and the Iraq Connection
Is it a coincidence that Mars is close to us while we are close to Marduk, it's namesake? Hell if I know!
Here's an article on the matter. HERE
Is it a coincidence that Mars is close to us while we are close to Marduk, it's namesake? Hell if I know!
Here's an article on the matter. HERE
Where is Osama?
Where is Osama?
new information encouraged investigators to focus their attention on the sparsely populated deserts of Baluchistan.
Read Guardian's story.
About Baluchistan
new information encouraged investigators to focus their attention on the sparsely populated deserts of Baluchistan.
Read Guardian's story.
About Baluchistan
Democratic Dream Teams
DEMOCRATIC DREAM TEAMS AND DREAM SEQUENCES
Advice for Democratic Candidates
There is so much natural wealth among the Democrats, finding the best "Dream Team" becomes a challenge.
If one thinks of what I call a "Dream Sequence"...one may come up with something like this:
Clark/Dean>Dean/Edwards>Edwards/???
In other words...Clark/Dean could beat Bush...and keep it 8 years.
Then VP Dean could pick the then well-known Edwards.
After their 8 years, Edwards could pick, say, a native-American or African-American woman or some other whose representation is long overdue.
So that is a "Dream Sequence".
How about "Dream Squad"?
In this case...the focus is on putting the great Democratic wealth to work in the upcoming administration. A scenerio here would be like this:
Clark opts out, but says he would like to take over Rummy's job. Dean/Edwards then drafts him as their Secretary of Defence. Additionally, they solicit the help of Kucinich to become, say, Secretary of Labor or the Interior.
Put them all to use, in other words. We are slowly getting to know them all...despite the Media blackout.
All kinds of possibilities...
They ALL can have a place in a new Democratic Administration. But getting the right people in the right jobs is what is important. Also getting Bush out.
Another amazing possibility is this...
Gore NEVER said he wouldn't run for VP!
He may well be the perfect person for that role. He's got experience already...and a record to beat all records.
Consider Gore for VP...
Hillary too should be included in any dream package...as should war-hero Kerry.
None of this can happen if they chew and spit out each other. They should bolster each other. They could be a real dream team...if the order, structure and sequence are done right, er, correctly. At the top, though, we need to have the strongest pair, who can and will stand up to Bush Inc.
Lieberman, as nice and funny as he is, has left the building, I mean party. Seems to me. Bush Lite is still a form of Bush...
As a final note...should Edwards win the top slot, I think it would only be fair to return the favor that Gore extended to him...by including him within his short list. From my perspective, Dean, Clark, Edwards, Gore and Hillary could all beat and be better than Bush. As much as I like Kucinich, I think he might be better in a supportive role. (I'm just thinking about the visual effect during debates with Bush).
DEVELOPING...
ARNOLD NAKED! (warning: peepee shot)
ARNOLD NAKED! (warning: peepee shot)
also in the news...
What's the truth about the air in post-911 New York?
http://www.mahablog.com/
(As one who suffered a few weeks of breathing the smoky spew, and having my health deteriorate, I'd like to know. )
also in the news...
What's the truth about the air in post-911 New York?
http://www.mahablog.com/
(As one who suffered a few weeks of breathing the smoky spew, and having my health deteriorate, I'd like to know. )
Saturday, August 23, 2003
Social Network Diagram for ARBUSTO ENERGY INC
Social Network Diagram for ARBUSTO ENERGY INC
OTHER FUN LINKS:
http://www.onlinejournal.com/Special_Reports/Hatfield-R-091901/hatfield-r-091901.html
http://www.americanfreepress.net/10_07_01/Bush___Bin_Laden_-_George_W__B/bush___bin_laden_-_george_w__b.html
http://www.nexusitalia.com/famigliabinladenbush.htm
Friday, August 22, 2003
Whining Apologist, Limbaugh, Has No Audience
And if he does, why do they bury their heads?
The whining apologist, Rush Limbaugh, is lying again.
He would lead you to believe there are substantial numbers of people who listen to his show. But where are they?
I went slumming today, and listened to his "Open Lines Friday" show today.
But where were the callers? Are they dumb? Are they chicken? Or are they simply non-existent?
Maybe it is HE that is dumb and chicken. We know too well that he exists...
On our local NPR station, Mike Collins, who hosts the show, daily has to turn away callers. Same goes for Diane Rehm, and every other talk show on NPR...local or otherwise.
But Rush is on for 3 hours, and most of it is just Rush himself, ruffling paper, pounding his desk, ululating one distortion or untruth or another, and it is a rare moment when a caller gets through. And should the caller be anything other than a dittohead lemmingboy sheeple nobody...he will cut them off and talk over them. Did no one ever teach this bumpkin dropout from a mediocre excuse for an institute of higher education...any manners?
Why can't he be polite....like me?
Were he worth his salt, he would truly open his lines, and allow free expression.
I have learned about all manner of things while listening to NPR and BBC. But one is merely wasting one's time, if one thinks an education can be had on the Rush Limbaugh show....even though he is now proclaiming that "intelligence" is the most important thing.
Live and/or learn...
The whining apologist, Rush Limbaugh, is lying again.
He would lead you to believe there are substantial numbers of people who listen to his show. But where are they?
I went slumming today, and listened to his "Open Lines Friday" show today.
But where were the callers? Are they dumb? Are they chicken? Or are they simply non-existent?
Maybe it is HE that is dumb and chicken. We know too well that he exists...
On our local NPR station, Mike Collins, who hosts the show, daily has to turn away callers. Same goes for Diane Rehm, and every other talk show on NPR...local or otherwise.
But Rush is on for 3 hours, and most of it is just Rush himself, ruffling paper, pounding his desk, ululating one distortion or untruth or another, and it is a rare moment when a caller gets through. And should the caller be anything other than a dittohead lemmingboy sheeple nobody...he will cut them off and talk over them. Did no one ever teach this bumpkin dropout from a mediocre excuse for an institute of higher education...any manners?
Why can't he be polite....like me?
Were he worth his salt, he would truly open his lines, and allow free expression.
I have learned about all manner of things while listening to NPR and BBC. But one is merely wasting one's time, if one thinks an education can be had on the Rush Limbaugh show....even though he is now proclaiming that "intelligence" is the most important thing.
Live and/or learn...
Virus Alert
Virus Alert
http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGA6D58JOJD.html
NEW YORK (AP) - The fast-spreading computer virus already blamed for slowing or shutting down e-mail systems worldwide was programmed to coordinate a new type of attack, antivirus experts said Friday.
Instructions written into the latest version of the "Sobig" virus, which began appearing Tuesday, called for infected Windows machines to try to download a program of unknown function as early as 3 p.m. Friday.
"It could be a game, and all these computers would start playing a game, or it could be a destructive program that immediately deletes files," said Mikko Hypponen, manager of antivirus research with F-Secure Corp. in Finland.
Such a program might also attempt to steal passwords or create rogue e-mail servers for spreading junk e-mail, Hypponen said.
He said users should clean their computers using antivirus software - antivirus companies have issued free tools to do so - or turn off machines if they cannot run the disinfecting software.
Users with firewall programs can also block UDP port 8998, which is the Internet opening the virus uses to communicate with the outside world.
The attack was expected to end at 6 p.m., though the virus would try again every Friday and Sunday between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m
MORE...
http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGA6D58JOJD.html
NEW YORK (AP) - The fast-spreading computer virus already blamed for slowing or shutting down e-mail systems worldwide was programmed to coordinate a new type of attack, antivirus experts said Friday.
Instructions written into the latest version of the "Sobig" virus, which began appearing Tuesday, called for infected Windows machines to try to download a program of unknown function as early as 3 p.m. Friday.
"It could be a game, and all these computers would start playing a game, or it could be a destructive program that immediately deletes files," said Mikko Hypponen, manager of antivirus research with F-Secure Corp. in Finland.
Such a program might also attempt to steal passwords or create rogue e-mail servers for spreading junk e-mail, Hypponen said.
He said users should clean their computers using antivirus software - antivirus companies have issued free tools to do so - or turn off machines if they cannot run the disinfecting software.
Users with firewall programs can also block UDP port 8998, which is the Internet opening the virus uses to communicate with the outside world.
The attack was expected to end at 6 p.m., though the virus would try again every Friday and Sunday between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m
MORE...
Shock and Awe, Bombings Blamed on Heat Wave
I hereby blame the Heat Wave that has killed tens of thousands worldwide on the so-called "Shock and Awe" as well as the bombing and other war-related activities in Iraq. The gas-guzzling equipment used also has contributed to the unusually hot weather, as have the hordes of SUVs tooling around the American backwoods.
DEVELOPING...
See also:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0415931029/plenty150com-20/103-7428530-7724664
and:
France Heat Death May Exceed 10,000
DEVELOPING...
See also:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0415931029/plenty150com-20/103-7428530-7724664
and:
France Heat Death May Exceed 10,000
Some News
SOME NEWS
Some in Minn. Eye Recalling Governor
Associated Press
FALCON HEIGHTS, Minn. - Minnesota DFL leaders say they're considering a California-style effort to remove Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty by recall petition - just the latest in the summer-long political food fight between the parties.
DFLers are urging State Fair visitors to their booth to send postcards and e-mails calling for Pawlenty to open his tax records to show whether he paid taxes on $60,000 he received from a telecommunications entrepreneur and political ally while he was running for governor.
Baghdad Burning
a girl blogs from Iraq
Bush's secret war
How five Muslims in Malawi were spirited away in the night
Behind the Failure
By E. J. Dionne Jr.
Friday, August 22, 2003; Page A21
Can we now please admit that the Bush administration's policies in Iraq are a terrible failure?
Brace for shock at pump
Gas prices may reach highest level in history
Some in Minn. Eye Recalling Governor
Associated Press
FALCON HEIGHTS, Minn. - Minnesota DFL leaders say they're considering a California-style effort to remove Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty by recall petition - just the latest in the summer-long political food fight between the parties.
DFLers are urging State Fair visitors to their booth to send postcards and e-mails calling for Pawlenty to open his tax records to show whether he paid taxes on $60,000 he received from a telecommunications entrepreneur and political ally while he was running for governor.
Baghdad Burning
a girl blogs from Iraq
Bush's secret war
How five Muslims in Malawi were spirited away in the night
Behind the Failure
By E. J. Dionne Jr.
Friday, August 22, 2003; Page A21
Can we now please admit that the Bush administration's policies in Iraq are a terrible failure?
Brace for shock at pump
Gas prices may reach highest level in history
As above, So below : Texas Republicans to Destroy Democrat Headquarters
As above, So below : Texas Republicans to Destroy Democrat Headquarters
True to their apparent mission, Republicans are now planning on the wreaking their destructive havoc...on American soil.
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/2058919
True to their apparent mission, Republicans are now planning on the wreaking their destructive havoc...on American soil.
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/2058919
Wesley Clark puts little Tommy Delay in his place...
Wesley Clark puts little Tommy Delay in his place...
EXCERPT:
"Blitzer played for Clark a videotape of DeLay's criticism of the general's regular paid commentary on the Iraqi war for CNN, which has now been discontinued, by the way.
DeLay said, "Frankly, what irritates me the most are these blow-dried Napoleons that come on television and, in some cases, have their own agendas. Gen. Clark is one of them that is running for president. Yet he's paid to be an expert on your network. And he's questioning the plan and raising doubts as he becomes this expert. I think they would serve the nation better if they would just comment on what they see and what they know, rather than putting their own agenda forward as an expert."
This is how Clark responded: "Well, first of all, I'd be happy to compare my hair with Tom DeLay's. We'll see who's got the blow-dried hair. But beyond that, Wolf, he's got it exactly backward. It's upside down. I am saying what I believe. And I'm being drawn into the political process because of what I believe and what I've said about it. So it's precisely the opposite of a man like Tom DeLay, who is only motivated by politics and says whatever he needs to say to get the political purpose. And so, you know, it couldn't be more diametrically opposed, and I couldn't be more opposed than I am to Tom DeLay.
"You know, Wolf, when our airmen were flying over Kosovo, Tom DeLay led the House Republicans to vote not to support their activities, when American troops were in combat. To me, that's a real indicator of a man who is motivated not by patriotism or support for the troops, but for partisan political purposes." "
EXCERPT:
"Blitzer played for Clark a videotape of DeLay's criticism of the general's regular paid commentary on the Iraqi war for CNN, which has now been discontinued, by the way.
DeLay said, "Frankly, what irritates me the most are these blow-dried Napoleons that come on television and, in some cases, have their own agendas. Gen. Clark is one of them that is running for president. Yet he's paid to be an expert on your network. And he's questioning the plan and raising doubts as he becomes this expert. I think they would serve the nation better if they would just comment on what they see and what they know, rather than putting their own agenda forward as an expert."
This is how Clark responded: "Well, first of all, I'd be happy to compare my hair with Tom DeLay's. We'll see who's got the blow-dried hair. But beyond that, Wolf, he's got it exactly backward. It's upside down. I am saying what I believe. And I'm being drawn into the political process because of what I believe and what I've said about it. So it's precisely the opposite of a man like Tom DeLay, who is only motivated by politics and says whatever he needs to say to get the political purpose. And so, you know, it couldn't be more diametrically opposed, and I couldn't be more opposed than I am to Tom DeLay.
"You know, Wolf, when our airmen were flying over Kosovo, Tom DeLay led the House Republicans to vote not to support their activities, when American troops were in combat. To me, that's a real indicator of a man who is motivated not by patriotism or support for the troops, but for partisan political purposes." "
Tuesday, August 19, 2003
Friday, August 15, 2003
More Evidence Bush Inc. Caused (or Allowed) Northeast Blackout
Bush Inc. may not have caused 911. But he did allow it.
He may have even caused it. Who knows? He shut the books.
The same can be said about the Great Northeast Blackout...
[Bush is where? In the Southwest. Coincidence?]
Bush Inc. cronies Enron and Reliant were behind the California Blackout...as this event will recall in the minds of many Californians...who, after all, are in a recall kinda state of mind.
One has to ask oneself: Is our "president" petty, vengeful and mean? Like Nixon?
I, for one, suspect he is.
Think back...
Bush spends megabucks and many hours courting California voters in 2000. They do not respond the way he wishes.
BLACKOUT!
Then he gets selected, visits New York (which he openly disdained) and they treat him, well, as one would suspect. America was already going down the tubes. The looting and lotting had already begun. New York embarrassed Bush...
911!
Today, there are a confluence of forces which may have prompted Bush Inc. to whack the Northeast again.
As I said yesterday...to take news from Arnold...and to simply show how all-powerful he fancies himself.
But today I learn from Buzzflash and Greg Palast that there are yet other reasons...
GREG PALAST:
"Is tonight's black-out a surprise? Heck, no, not to us in the field who've watched Bush's buddies flick the switches across the globe. In Brazil, Houston Industries seized ownership of Rio de Janeiro's electric company. The Texans (aided by their French partners) fired workers, raised prices, cut maintenance expenditures and, CLICK! the juice went out so often the locals now call it, "Rio Dark."
So too the free-market cowboys of Niagara Mohawk raised prices, slashed staff, cut maintenance and CLICK! -- New York joins Brazil in the Dark Ages.
Californians have found the solution to the deregulation disaster: re-call the only governor in the nation with the cojones to stand up to the electricity price fixers. And unlike Arnold Schwarzenegger, Gov. Gray Davis stood alone against the bad guys without using a body double. Davis called Reliant Corp of Houston a pack of "pirates" --and now he'll walk the plank for daring to stand up to the Texas marauders.
"
As the Saint Pete Times put it:
This Enron saga is far from over.
Expect the usual chaos and confusion. The many chads. The impossibility of knowing how the blackout started. That sort of ruse...
DEVELOPING...
http://www.buzzflash.com/analysis/03/08/15_blackout.html
http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=257&row=0
http://www.sptimes.com/2003/08/15/Columns/Blackout_serves_as_jo.shtml
Thursday, August 14, 2003
"Oh yeah? I'll show you!": Bush takes issue with 'biggest political story'
Bush takes issue with 'biggest political story'
Thursday, August 14, 2003 Posted: 1:07 PM EDT (1707 GMT)
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Is President Bush a tad jealous of all the attention fellow Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger is getting from the national media?
Speaking to reporters at his Crawford, Texas ranch, Bush seemed miffed this week when one asked him about the recall election in California. The reporter prefaced the question by describing it as the "biggest political story in the country."
That phrase caught the president's attention and he just couldn't let it go.
Surely not...
???
Thursday, August 14, 2003 Posted: 1:07 PM EDT (1707 GMT)
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Is President Bush a tad jealous of all the attention fellow Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger is getting from the national media?
Speaking to reporters at his Crawford, Texas ranch, Bush seemed miffed this week when one asked him about the recall election in California. The reporter prefaced the question by describing it as the "biggest political story in the country."
That phrase caught the president's attention and he just couldn't let it go.
Surely not...
???
Is Enron Behind the Blackout?
Is Enron Behind the Blackout?
What a shame that such an idea would naturally come to mind...but recent experience in apparently memory-dead California, lead me to believe that such an occurrence would not be unprecedented...
What a shame that such an idea would naturally come to mind...but recent experience in apparently memory-dead California, lead me to believe that such an occurrence would not be unprecedented...
Bloomberg vs Bush : Who is the real leader?
Bloomberg vs Bush : Who is the real leader?
The contrast between Michael Bloomberg's reassuring and remarkably informed press conference, and Mister Bush's mutterings, could not be more glaring.
Is this, essentially, Mayor Bloomberg's first major national address? Has he greater offices in sight?
Sure would be better than what we have now!
I guess his years as a Democrat paid off...
The contrast between Michael Bloomberg's reassuring and remarkably informed press conference, and Mister Bush's mutterings, could not be more glaring.
Is this, essentially, Mayor Bloomberg's first major national address? Has he greater offices in sight?
Sure would be better than what we have now!
I guess his years as a Democrat paid off...
Koppel duped by "phone terrorist"
Koppel duped by Subgenius Dobbs
Telling Ted Koppel, and millions of others, to go to thankyoufortakingmycall.com and watch the video, a caller named "Bob Dobbs", for a good five minutes, unfolded what appears to me to be a massive, and potentially dangerous hoax. I could be wrong, as I have not gone to the website, but at this early date, it sure seems fishy...just as the entire power outage smells of Enron and memory-dead California.
UPDATE
Here is what Google says about the website:
Thank you for taking my call!
Thank you for taking my call! This site is dedicating to spreading word
about the phenomenon of the phone "goof". Sometimes television ...
www.thankyoufortakingmycall.com/ - 5k - Cached - Similar pages
Links
... 2) www.fueltv.net CIA Music - Chattanooga Independent Artists www.ciamusic.com The
Goofs Tape www.thankyoufortakingmycall.com Church of Now www.angelfire.com ...
members.aol.com/boggob/links/links.html - 7k - Cached - Similar pages
Talk Radio 102.3 - Website du Jour Archive
... 19 - www.soschatt.com; Friday, May 16 - www.herofund.com; Thursday,
May 15 - www.thankyoufortakingmycall.com; Wednesday, May 14 - www ...
www.wgow.com/fm/websites.htm - 30k - Cached - Similar pages
Recreation > Humor > Pranks > Prank Calls
... shows. http://www.thankyoufortakingmycall.com. 40 The Telephone Terrorist
Marketing an audio CD of prank calls by comedian Harry Gio. ...
www.xasa.com/directorio/dmoz/Recreation/ Humor/Pranks/Prank_Calls/ - 23k - Cached - Similar pages
Yep. We were had.
Pray for light.
News Summary
NEWS SUMMARY
Blackout hits East Coast, Midwest
DEVELOPING...
"Mr. Droopy" Loserman, his facial flab dragging the ground and voice sounding constipated, gets roundly booed for saying that his colleagues ""run the risk of sending a message that they don't know a just war when they see one."
Arnold has been sleeping with California Energy Rapist, Ken Lay.
Hans Blix wants US and UK to stop bullshitting and reveal the final truth.
Al Gore has become the "Standard Bearer" of the Democratic Party.
Enron GATS what Enron wants.
Rove: Florida will be Ground Zero in 2004. Expect usual shenanigans.
Who Owns What?
Blackout hits East Coast, Midwest
DEVELOPING...
"Mr. Droopy" Loserman, his facial flab dragging the ground and voice sounding constipated, gets roundly booed for saying that his colleagues ""run the risk of sending a message that they don't know a just war when they see one."
Arnold has been sleeping with California Energy Rapist, Ken Lay.
Hans Blix wants US and UK to stop bullshitting and reveal the final truth.
Al Gore has become the "Standard Bearer" of the Democratic Party.
Enron GATS what Enron wants.
Rove: Florida will be Ground Zero in 2004. Expect usual shenanigans.
Who Owns What?
Monday, August 11, 2003
Will the Pussycrats grow nuts? Will the Media?
[blog in progress]
Will the Pussycrats grow nuts?
Or will they allow the god, Enron, to seal their lips about its role in California's collapse?
http://www.takebackthemedia.com/demron.html
EXCERPT:
DO DEMOCRATS LACK THE COURAGE TO EXPOSE THE ENRON-BUSH ROLE IN THE CALIFORNIA DEFICIT?
TBTM writings and links culled from a DemocraticUnderground thread by RICHM.
The coming fiasco in the California Recall is going to be, IMHO, an unusually literal example of the expression "they can't tell the truth to save their own lives."
The California Democrats are in a perfect position to expose Bush-Cheney for what they really are: gangsters & looters, intent on destabilizing & destroying democratic institutions. The only pretext offered by the rightwing to justify the Calif Recall is the budget fiasco. There are 2 main factors that created the budget deficit: the popping of the high-tech bubble, & the raiding of the Calif Treasury in 2001 by Enron & Reliant -- which was DIRECTLY ABETTED by Bush & Cheney, who went to bat for their Enron pals.
At what point do leaders' connections become treason?
SOME people use words like ‘‘treason'' and ‘‘traitor'' to describe people who disagree with their world view. Many Americans now seem to believe that to disagree with them is simply to be un-American. Nothing could be more un-American than that. I, for one, do not use words like treason or traitor lightly.
http://www.whittierdailynews.com/Stories/0,1413,207~12044~1555967,00.html
Will the Pussycrats grow nuts?
Or will they allow the god, Enron, to seal their lips about its role in California's collapse?
http://www.takebackthemedia.com/demron.html
EXCERPT:
DO DEMOCRATS LACK THE COURAGE TO EXPOSE THE ENRON-BUSH ROLE IN THE CALIFORNIA DEFICIT?
TBTM writings and links culled from a DemocraticUnderground thread by RICHM.
The coming fiasco in the California Recall is going to be, IMHO, an unusually literal example of the expression "they can't tell the truth to save their own lives."
The California Democrats are in a perfect position to expose Bush-Cheney for what they really are: gangsters & looters, intent on destabilizing & destroying democratic institutions. The only pretext offered by the rightwing to justify the Calif Recall is the budget fiasco. There are 2 main factors that created the budget deficit: the popping of the high-tech bubble, & the raiding of the Calif Treasury in 2001 by Enron & Reliant -- which was DIRECTLY ABETTED by Bush & Cheney, who went to bat for their Enron pals.
At what point do leaders' connections become treason?
SOME people use words like ‘‘treason'' and ‘‘traitor'' to describe people who disagree with their world view. Many Americans now seem to believe that to disagree with them is simply to be un-American. Nothing could be more un-American than that. I, for one, do not use words like treason or traitor lightly.
http://www.whittierdailynews.com/Stories/0,1413,207~12044~1555967,00.html
flash mob
flash mob", "flash-mob" or "flashmob"? NAME THAT PRODUCT!
But is it just a product...or is it a tool for Chaos & Confusion?
I'm no expert on flashmobs (or whatever)...in fact, I've never even been in one. Not sure that I ever will. I do so enjoy sitting. Much easier to write to you, my beloved reader. But I do enjoy linguistics and language. When a new meme makes it to the forebrain, the curiosity is roused, and, when time allows, I will often allow myself to ruminate upon it. Better than fecating upon it, I suppose.
Anyway, back to said flashmob...
Normally, in the evolution of terms, there is a process which goes like this:
When two words are unrelated, they remain apart.
Then, as they begin to be used together, the use of hyphens become the norm.
Finally, as they meld as an acceptedness...one word, unhyphenated.
Thus:
flash mob>flash-mob>flashmob
or
never the less>never-the-less>nevertheless
Current occurrences on Google are:
flash mob - 38,000
flash-mob - 40,800
flashmob - 15,600
Of course things are skewered by the presence of "Flashmob" as a proper noun...since references could be for the blog named 'Flashmob" and the social phenomena.
In the future, there will be flashmobs of war. Imagine, say, that the Redcoats are marching through Cambridge, heading for Concord and Lexington. The word is put on, and hundreds or thousands of citizens come out to "greet" them.
As it turns out, it sort of happened that way anyway. And the effect was disarming to the British soldiers.
But what if this happened in Iraq? (God forbid)
Maybe it is something in the word, "mob", that throws up warning flags for me...
Even the word, "flash" conjures up imagery of war...
Granted, flashmobs, so far, have probably all been a real hoot. A knee-slapper even. And a way to meet people very quickly. But there is also the fairly new concept (or should I say "product"? -- everyone else is!) known as speed-dating...which will accomplish the same goal, and in fact has it as it's chief goal.
(It is hyphenated because of the two "d"s, no doubt.) 'Twill be interesting to watch the evolution.
I just did a Google News search and found that a flashmob has brought "chaos and confusion" to London's West End. Sheesh! Chaos and Confusion. Bush's 2 favorite C-words. (The other being Conservative.) I really am beginning to smell a rat...or maybe it's a con...
He brought it to Florida, he brought it to Iraq and Afghanistan, and had brought it everywhere he goes.
When Bill Clinton was asked what the Democrats should do (before the 2000 selection), he said: "Seek Clarity".
Clarity...the opposite of Confusion.
Maybe Bush is just projecting his own mind as he spreads chaos and confusion, and maybe flashmobs won't devolve into mere tools for those who would spread chaos and confusion, rather than clarity, sweetness and light. I don't know. I just blog. A blogging machine. Only slightly more advanced than SHRDLU or Eliza...and with the disadvantage of having to eat...which I am about to go and do.
Maybe we all should! How 'bout Maxim's at 2!
For more on the product, check out blogmeister Oxytocin. There you will find much to delight the brain...including why peepees are shaped the way they are.
Republicans are fed up with Bush's incompetence
Republicans are beginning to say they are mad as Hell and not gonna take it anymore...
Biggest Blunder In History?
Here is a letter from a Texas Republican which ends with these words:
Folks, our world image is in free-fall and our egomaniacal invasion of Iraq is still costing Iraqi lives, young American lives and the U.S. taxpayer $4 billion a month. Economic and technological preeminence was evidently not enough — military dominance is more glorious. What was the president's comment when asked about the assassins still killing our troops in Iraq? "Bring 'em on," he says. Sure.
It's time to dump this administration and all its congressional lapdogs. And if the next bunch doesn't clean up this mess, we should dump them, too.
And yes, I've been a registered Republican for over 50 years. Today I'd even vote for Hillary.
Friday, August 08, 2003
ENRON: Genetics at Work OR Why California Fell
Why California Fell...
New logo found scrawled on napkin:
New logo found scrawled on napkin:
Dope-Smoking Son-of-a-Nazi Runs for California Governorship
Dope-Smoking Son-of-a-Nazi Runs for California Governorship
and other news...
It All Depends on What You Mean by 'Have'
By STEVE MARTIN
The war in Iraq is just starting
By JON CARROLL
Arnold's Nazi Problem
Why won't he repudiate Kurt Waldheim?
By Timothy Noah
The Movie Arnold Doesn't Want You To See
Where Arnold lights up a fatty...
The Clinton legacy and America
By TODD GITLAND
5 Foes of Bush Form PAC in Bid to Defeat Him
By MICHAEL JANOFSKY
Thursday, August 07, 2003
This is the worst government the U.S. has ever had in its more than 200 years of history
The ghost of Al Gore comes back to haunt Chimpy
"This is the worst government the U.S. has ever had in its more than 200 years of history."
- 2001 winner of the Nobel Prize for Economics, George Akerlof
"What we have here is a form of looting" - George Akerlof
AL GORE DELIVERS REMARKS AT NEW YORK UNIVERSITY ON PRESIDENT BUSH'S IRAQ POLICY
Thu Aug 07 2003 11:48:22 ET
The 2001 winner of the Nobel Prize for Economics,
George Akerlof, went even further last week in Germany
when he told Der Spiegel, "This is the worst
government the US has ever had in its more than 200
years of history...This is not normal government
policy." In describing the impact of the Bush policies
on
America's future, Akerloff added, "What we have here
is a form of looting."
(It is one for the history books. Think Tom Paine...)
Tuesday, August 05, 2003
Flash-mobs and Flascism: What Would Kant Say?
Flash-mobs and Flascism: What Would Kant Say?
Flashmobs (flash-mobs, flash mobs [reverse-order]) are everywhere.
Here are just a few headlines today:
Flash mob fever
Seattle Post Intelligencer, WA - 17 hours ago
Hundreds Flock to Coop for Local 'Flash Mob'
The Harvard Crimson, MA - Aug 1, 2003
'Flash mobs' spread to Europe
CNN - 9 hours ago
Internet-organized 'flash mob' makes Twin Cities debut
Minneapolis Star Tribune, MN - Jul 22, 2003
A flash-mob is when and where people, notified by email, gather at a chosen place and time for a variety of reasons. So far, there hasn't been (as far as I have seen) any real negative consequences from this social innovation. I hope it stays that way...but I'm too reminded of certain intimidatory thugs who flash-mobbed vote-counters in Florida...
People can start to think they are invisible or lacking in responsibility as the throng swells around you. Floors are built to hold limited weight. Perhaps the appeal is just that the unexpected can happen...and is certainly more likely to.
But even though bad things may come of this trend -- and come they certainly will -- good and even great things can also occur. And not just Art. Healing can also occur.
'Twill be interesting (in the Strunkian sense) to see what new forms of flash-mobs come to fruition. I will check back now and again.
Zzzzzzz.....
Monday, August 04, 2003
Nicotine Beer: or Hath Hell No Basement?
An Addicted Customer is a Customer For Life
I've heard of stupid things before. In fact I have written about stupid things. Lots of 'em. In fact I am doing so right now.
But I also did several years ago -- 16 years ago in fact -- when I was writing a quasi-humorous pamphlet called Proper Gander, within which I had a "news item" the headline of which read:
Traces of Cocaine Found in Beer, Cigarettes
The point of the seemingly ludicrous item was to bring to attention the lure of addictive products, and the strange bedfellows who share business models.
Flash-forward seven odd years...
A crooked line of CEOs are all testifying to Congress that nicotine is not addictive. A joke then, and a joke now. A bad joke. A joke that kills and enslaves. Who knows which is worse? And yet here they are again. Double-whammy this time. Alcohol AND Nicotine. Why not cocaine too while they're at it?
Did you know that Blockbuster Video covers their video cases with angel dust?
And that when you touch the video, you become addicted?
Well, that is because they don't do that. It would be heinous, and the perpetrators of such a scheme would surely do time.
Adding addictive substances to products should be illegal...but it is clearly not. Soft drinks contain unnecessary caffiene, cigarettes are super-charged with additional nicotine and lord only knows what other kinds of designer additive/addictives.
Sure it is profitable. But only for a handful, and at the expense of the enslaved.
Slavery has been abolished.
We just need to keep reminding ourselves.
MORE ON NICOTINE BEER:
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/WolfFiles/wolffiles.html
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