1600 internet cafes have been shut down in china. why? to 'protect the children'.
[link via slashdot]
Sunday, October 31, 2004
Autocrats Are The Same Everywhere
Saturday, October 30, 2004
Resolve
we are days away from the election, and i can barely contain myself. obsessively trawling all my favorite blogs, i rejoice in every sign of a bush slippage and despair at any sign that kerry is losing ground. i've never cared so much about the outcome of an election. every time i hear someone blather that the choice of our national leader is little more than a personality contest, a tide of bile sours my throat.
we treat it as a personality contest, and our media certainly contributes to the horse race fury of it. however, these choices *are* important. they reveal the heart of our country, its aspirations, and its values. the candidates themselves may only be the surface onto which the voters project themselves, but those projections reveal us in ways we hardly know.
i wish our system were different. i think we'd have more of an engagement with our civic responsibilities if our form of government allowed more flexibility in political representation. i hate the electoral college. basically, i hate winner-take-all in everything except poker. our system runs the risk of mutual radicalization, the dangers of which mrs. robinson, a commentor at orcinus, discusses with more eloquence than i could manage:
Breathtaking, Dave. But we've come to take that for granted from you.mrs. robinson's comments are in response to this post, one in a series on pseudo-fascism in 'movement conservatism' that david has been writing for several weeks. everytime i read a self-serving, smug comment from an evangelical christian (such as charlie, a frequent visitor at political animal) regarding his or her plans for america upon george bush's re-election, i find myself waging an internal battle not to hate christians. my own bigotry could become my worst enemy. i think this is why i long to live in another country where religion is a far more subdued feature of public life.I've got a quibble with your dissection of Paxton's fourth point, though. You write:
"Obviously, this meme does not appear among liberals in any shape (nor for that matter among any non-movement conservatives, except for the extremists of the racist and Patriot far right). Indeed, it's difficult to even find a liberal mirror to the conservative argument, to wit, that conservatives are at the root of all the nation's ills."
You work overtime to maintain a very carefully measured and balanced journalist's voice. But, still, I find this statement just a bit disingenuous. Faithful readers of "Orcinus" are well aware that you are not without a point of view -- and that your POV comes very close to refuting the above assertion.
Taken as a whole, your work provides strong evidence that we should start looking at conservatism -- or, at least, the far-right authoritarianism that now passes itself off as conservatism -- as a social pathology. It may not yet be "at the root of all the nation's ills," but it's certainly a factor in creating the fear and division that grip us today.
Of course, you're far from alone in providing support for this meme. Quite a few psychologists, sociologists, and other "liberal intellectual elite" types have produced a growing body of studies (I'm working on a list, and welcome submissions to it) that point to the notion that conservatism can seriously be considered as a personal and social pathology.
Here's a thumbnail summary of some of the studies I've seen so far. On a personal level, conservatives are personally more fearful, more reactive, and more suspicious of others. Phyisologically, fear reactions tend to suppress rational thinking, so these people are more likely to act out of emotion rather than reason (and to demonize those who refuse to let go of reality to join them in their hysteria). Movement conservatives also tend on average to have attended lower-quality schools, completed fewer years of education, and have done far less traveling abroad. (There's a reason they call it "liberal eduation.")
When conservatives come together to express these traits in their religion and their politics, the results are equally unhealthy. A quick trip through your own archives provides a very damning catalog of this behavior.
Taken together, this "reality-based" body of data could easily support a lively liberal argument that conservatism is a cancer on the body politic -- one that needs to be excised for the health of the republic.
Right now, I think most of us are too broad-minded to embrace this idea with the fervor of true believers. We're just not wired that way. But we are swayed by reason and science. If liberals become the regular targets of brownshirt violence -- increasing our own levels of fear and unreason -- the temptation to demonize them as "unfit for democracy" could become overwhelming.
We've already got everything required to launch a liberal eliminationist counter-meme. All that's missing is the will. And all it would take is another stolen election to shred what's left of our long liberal patience, freeing us to find that will.
It's not far-fetched, and not at all far out of reach of where we are now.
but i realize that it would be cowardly to run. it wouldn't help diffuse the power of american fundamentalism. the sense of defeat would poison the relief i'd feel. i fear the specter of a nuclear iran, but i fear more the specter of a nuclear-armed fundamentalist government here. that promises a global nightmare. i can run, but i can't hide.
must. stop. laughing. coffee. coming. out. nose.
thanks, littleYellowDifferent! now my day is complete!
Narcissism
a letter from a recent boston globe:
My husband’s in Iraq"We can no longer apologize for being Americans. We can't afford to feel bad because we are a great nation that has done well."HOWELL, Mich.
During the first Gulf War, I was a student at Central Michigan University. My favorite professor wore a black arm band and talked passionately about Vietnam and our corrupt government. I wrote letters to soldiers, but attended peace marches and political speeches against the war. Back then, I was a liberal, feminist, prochoice Democrat. My first elected position was as a precinct delegate in the Democratic Party. While I was spoon-fed the values of the Democratic Party growing up, I hungered for something more. I'm a 32-year-old stay-at-home mother of three, and I started to realize that the government couldn't fix families or the world -- people needed to. But Democrats don't believe that. Hillary Clinton captured the liberal outlook when she said, "It takes a village to raise a child." Contrary to Clinton's opinion, it takes just a mom and dad.
When 9/11 happened, I knew the country would have to change. This is really when the Democratic Party left me forever. We can no longer apologize for being Americans. We can't afford to feel bad because we are a great nation that has done well. We can't rely on the approval of the international community before we protect our own interests. We need a president who is committed to defending America.
My husband left this week to report to active duty. As a Michigan National Guard member, this is his first deployment. With his life on the line, this election has become very personal to me. I fear for the country my husband will come home to if John Kerry is elected. Will my husband be treated like the vets returning from Vietnam? Kerry and people like Michael Moore have already set that trend into motion.
President Bush is a man of faith. He is a man of his word. He is the right man for a time such as this. I trust my husband's life in his hands.
-- Wendy Day
????????????
i thought we are fighting religious fundamentalists who are aghast at the freedom accorded women here due to the very feminism that this woman now disdains with so much sneering. of course, you can't help but notice that she gets in a dig at hillary clinton for being so uppity and political instead of just standing behind her man.
also, what exactly does domestic social policy (i think that's what she means by 'fixing families') have to do with the war on terror? osama didn't attack us because we give welfare payments to poor single mothers. he attacked us because... i dunno... because he's a fucking nutjob with little to no respect for human life, specifically american human life.
michael moore does not attack the troops. his latest movie raised some important issues regarding the fact that poor youth fill the military's lower ranks. i think it's a good idea to ask why this country's national security apparatus requires so much from those who have so little. moore may be guilty of being occassionally patronizing towards the troops, but he is not and did not advocate spitting on them, attacking them, or calling them baby-killers upon their return from iraq.
and then the kicker is that she supports bush because he's a 'man of faith'.
this letter ventures so far into the realm of the ridiculous that i can't help but wonder if it's astroturf.
Friday, October 29, 2004
Well well well
emily0's recent discovery:
if you type wwwblogspot.com into your url bar, you are redirected to ... ta da dum ... swiftvets.com.
after doing a bit of testing, i have determined that the same thing happens if you visit wwwblogger.com.
oh. my. god.
i think this has been floating around the blogosphere for a couple of days, but hell... i gotta post this: scariest halloween costumes ever!
Thursday, October 28, 2004
kerry sees omen as the red sox wins
could the red sox win be foreshadowing the outcome of the election? look, i don't believe the world series and the u.s. election, statistically, have anything to do with each other, but damn... it's almost believable.
my first reaction was...
not that jesse helms was campaigning for his lesbian granddaughter, but that damn, that old fart is still alive and standing upright! wow, those pig pickin's in carolina really do the trick, don't they? forget the atkins diet; eat southern barbecue.
oh for crying out loud...
ABC news is in possession of an alleged al qaeda video tape. in the tape, a "fair skinned" male, speaking in an american accent, dons a palestinian-style headscarf and sunglasses and warns about an imminent attack. native arabic speakers say that he is not a native, and he also quotes bill maher and bbc sources in his indictment.
The tape's speaker references the conflict in Darfur, the 9/11 commission, Massachusetts same sex legislation, and the upcoming US presidential election.i think we have another home-grown nutjob on our hands...
khmer rouge embrace jesus
i swear, every time i think it can't get any worse... Khmer Rouge embraces [sic] Jesus.
i can't even comment further than to note that khmer rouge is a plural form and therefore takes plural agreement.
other than that, i just can't say anything. i mean, what the hezmana can i say after something like that?
58000 paper ballots from democrat-majority county missing
active election tampering has already begun in florida. the title of this post sums it up:
60000 paper ballots were 'mailed' by the florida election commission to voters in the predominently democratic broward county; the post office only has records of 2000 and, in fact, only delivered this number.
so, in an incredibly tight race, in a borderline state, 58000 persons, mainly democrats, have lost their vote.
i'm honestly nauseated right now. i mean, i feel sick to my stomach.
this isn't supposed to be happening yet. i mean, a democrat-inclined voter tried to run down catherine harris, a kerry supporter was threatened with a pistol, and now this.
we really frelling are heading for civil war action, aren't we? i can't believe this.
it's like someone 9/11ed our civil rights.
OR Measure 36
Alas, A Blog asked people to link to this crucial issue: apparently today a nastygram came in oregonians' mailboxes stating that if measure 36 fails, gay sex will be taught to children, whatever the frell that means.
honestly. sex education aside, measure 36 is an attempt to block the civil rights of lgbtsi folk, specifically to limit our right to marry. this issue has nothing to do with sex education. it has only to do with children because it protects them. the frelling nerve.
I called Senator Smith's office in Portland - (503) 326-3386. I read the staff person who answered that caption, and politely asked if Senator Smith believes that if Measure 36 fails, The person promised to have someone call me back. I then called the Senator's Washington office - (202) 224-3753 - and asked them the same question. The staffer I spoke to asked me to email Senator Smith and promised that someone would get back to me.this is the letter that went out to the senator about the issue from the owner of Alas, A Blog:
I just received a flier in the mail from "Yes on 36." Directly over the "yes on 36" return address, there's a smiling color photograph of Senator Smith along with a quote from Senator Smith endorsing traditional marriage.please, if you are an oregonian, contact the senator using the information above. it's really important.Opening up the flier, I see a huge caption saying "If Measure 36 fails gay and lesbian sex will be taught in Oregon schools."
I would like to know if Senator Smith believes or endorses the statement that "If Measure 36 fails gay and lesbian sex will be taught in Oregon schools."
My impression is that Gordon Smith values his relatively good relationship with lesbian and gay Oregonians, and is one of the most genuinely non-bigoted members of the GOP. And I realize that same-sex marriage is an issue that people can in good faith disagree on.
However, the idea that lesbians and gays are seeking to teach gay sex in schools is a bigoted and dangerous myth, which spreads hatred of lesbians and gays and encourages gaybashing. I would be very disappointed if Gordon Smith allowed his name and image to be used to endorse such a bigoted myth. Please let me know Mr. Smith's position on this specific question - "If Measure 36 fails gay and lesbian sex will be taught in Oregon schools" - as soon as possible.
Thank you very much.
homelessness isn't just for bums
mobile homemaker's blog is a bit special. he's homeless.
i have to say i find his blog fascinating. i've been in situations where i've been without money i need for things: traveling in indonesia, i was often sleeping in the open or scrounging for food or washing my clothes and self in the rivers.
and homelessness is just two steps away for most people. honestly, how many times have you or your friends slept on someone's couch? imagine if you didn't have those support systems. it's easy to fall through the cracks, and even easier.
mobile homemaker is a smart blogger, too. he writes about the disgusting tactics of the christian right in shelters - he prefers the freezing cold to forced church service attendance before they'll give him food, shelter, a bathroom. he has wise thoughts for how and why you want to survive; how to scrounge bathing facilities; how to find spiritual and personal comfort in a situation that is fundamentally at odds with our very understanding of what those words mean.
it's a really good read. i'm going to keep reading it, that's for sure.
chip chip chip...
livejournal poster gets a visit from the secret service for a satirical and generally facetious politically charged post. i kid you not.
i wonder if trey parker and matt stone will get a visit soon.
eminem already has.
did jadakiss get a visit for his "bush knocked down those towers" line in "why"?
did the dead kennedys ever get a visit from the secret service?
is this country getting this ludicrous?
abe lincoln redux
i posted earlier about lincoln being our first gay president. i wasn't kidding. my professor told me this last year.
more here. the book is due out in march.
Wednesday, October 27, 2004
Boston Doesn't Need To Have An Inferiority Complex Anymore
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Red Sox!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
now if we could just get the MBTA to run a 24 hours service....
America! Fuck Yeah!
Amurrika! Fuck Yeah!
Freeduuuum issint freee!
It's got a hefty fuccckin priiice!
the review of team america in my school paper characterized the movie as a biting satire of the decadent and hypocritical left. the reviewer got a real kick of the portrayal of michael moore as a terrorist. i see this as a fine example of the human being's capacity to selectively absorb only information that falls in line with its very own opinions.
i think that reviewer needs to sit down and have a good listen to the soundtrack. the movie doesn't show any particular reverence for either the 'left' or the 'right' if we must resort to such descriptive and informative labels to describe the political spectrum in this country. the movie gleefully skewers the triumphalist patriotism of the shoot first and ask questions later bunch with as much abandon as it mocks hollywood liberalism.
the satire is also remarkably self-conscious, a signature trait of parker and stone's work. it's definitely the work of gen-xers, that irony-obsessed, apolitical band of under-achievers.
okay, i'm done stereotyping now. that was fun.
on second thought: bush is a uniter
i would even go as far as to say that he is a genius and the greatest uniter of modern history. if anyone dares to disagree with me, please be my guest.
however, here is my argument: anyone capable of uniting eminem (and eminem's perennial punching bag moby), andrew sullivan, the dixie chicks, the log cabin republicans, christopher hitchens, donald trump, al sharpton, michael moore, and howard stern... without putting them all into a fabulous house in a large city while cameras follow them around 24-7 (and one houseguest is voted off the house every week)... has the magic touch.
george w. bush, i salute you. you have achieved the impossible.
mtv is gettin' hectic!
i took a screenshot of the "hot 5 videos" they picked to be on their front page today.
5) wyclef jean "president"
4) john mellencamp "walk tall"
3) sarah mclachlan "world on fire"
2) prince "cinnamon girl"
1) eminem "mosh"
you already know about "mosh." (incidentally, msnbc only caught wind of the "mosh" video three hours ago and still thinks it is an internet only production. news networks can be painfully slow and incredibly far from the pulse of popular culture... it's so pathetic.) so
instead, i'd like to talk about "cinnamon girl" by prince, a video that came out weeks ago, another powerful video that has sometimes become misinterpreted by the mainstream media (and flaming idiots who can't see past the imagery) as being incendiary and justifying suicide bomber attacks.
lyrics from the song:
Cinnamon Girl of mixed heritage
Never knew the meaning of color lines
911 turned that all around
When she got accused of this crime
in the video, as a result of 9/11, an innocent arab-american girl becomes a victim of discrimination, which makes her upset and ashamed. her parents' store is vandalized with the words "terrorist scum." other bad things happen to her. in her frustration, she imagines blowing up an airport terminal but... here's the catch... IT DOESN'T HAPPEN. the airport terminal returns to normal. it's only in her head, and she is visibly distraught at the end. now, did everyone miss the "didn't happen - it was all imagination" part? heh, if anyone ever took a picture of the images in my head on bad days at school, they'd think i was a columbine killer wanna be.
a more detailed explanation from detroit news
seriously, people, just sit back and soak it all in - and then process before you react. it pains me to have to tell this to adults.
and here are some lyrics from john mellencamp's "walk tall," because it's about stupid people:
The simple minded
And the uninformed
Can be easily led astray
And those that cannot connect the dots
Hey look the other wayPeople believe what they want to believe
When it makes no sense at all
So be careful of those killing in Jesus’s name
He don’t believe in killing at all
i love my mtv.
suffrage
so i was thinking about women's suffrage, having recently seen iron jawed angels, when i discovered on Wikipedia this nice list of places in the world where suffrage is not extended to women.
Bhutan: One vote per family in village-level elections.note that the only place that totally prohibits women from the vote is the Vatican.
Kuwait: Female suffrage at the municipal level only.
Lebanon: Proof of education required for women, not required for men. Voting compulsory for men, optional for women.
Vatican City: Voting restricted to all-male College of Cardinals.
Oman: limited to 175000 people chosen by the government, mostly male.
nice touch, that. the most medieval country in the world, i guess.
necromania!
so. another mystery solved - ed wood's lost film necromania has been discovered!
zap2it.com reports,
Wood's final film, necromania, was thought lost for 30 years before author Rudolph Grey, who wrote Nightmare of Ecstasy: The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood, Jr., discovered a copy in a Los Angeles warehouse, reports Reuters. Now, the porn film will be re-released in two versions -- soft core and more explicit -- on DVD for sale online. necromania centers on a young couple, Danny and Shirley, who seek out Madame Heles, the leader of a coven of witches, for help with their sex life. The low-budget 1971 film was shot over a handful of days for less than $7000 and is considered yet another work that proves Wood's nonexistent directing talent.man, i am sogonna rent this one. the hardcore version, of course - what's not to love?
not to mention it's based on a novel called the only house what i would luuuurv to read, although it seems to be completely unavailable - not listed in the library of congress, even.
Fredrik Carlstrom, executive producer of the DVD, says that necromania epitomizes Wood's charm. "It has a story, it has ambition," he says. "It's like all his films, like anything that's so bad it becomes good. Or maybe it's pure genius. That's the appeal of Ed Wood."or else it just sucks so bad it's good. either way, the article mentions it's just in time for the 10th anniversary release of the tim burton film biopic of the director's life starring johnny depp, ed wood.
i remember my dad telling me all about plan 9 from outer space when i was a child - "worst movie ever made," he used to say. too true, too true - and yet, how much a cult film it has become!
in other news, christian bale will play batman in the upcoming movie. i guess this is the insane, axe-murdering version of batman we know so well from the eighties - not bad, not bad. i like my henrys homicidal. ;-)
hobbits discovered. no, really. i'm not kidding.
das bbc reports today in 'Hobbit' joins human family tree that investigators have discovered a teensy human relative lived - and might remain somewhere - on the island of flores in indonesia.
Scientists have discovered a new and tiny species of human that lived in Indonesia at the same time our own ancestors were colonising the world.this is some wild stuff. no kidding - keep reading, they lived recently.The new species - dubbed "the Hobbit" due to its small size - lived on Flores island until at least 12,000 years ago.
[snip]
Details of the sensational find are described in the journal Nature.
[snip]
At first, the researchers thought it was the body of a child. But further investigation revealed otherwise.
Wear on the teeth and growth lines on the skull confirm it was an adult, features of the pelvis identify it as female and a leg bone confirms that it walked upright like we do.
The 18,000-year-old specimen, known as Liang Bua 1 or LB1, has been assigned to a new species called Homo floresiensis. It was about one metre tall with long arms and a skull the size of a large grapefruit.
The researchers have since found remains belonging to six other individuals from the same species.
serioiusly. i hope this isn't boring the shit out of you, because it is one of the most remarkable discoveries of the 20th century.LB1 shared its island with a pony-sized dwarf elephant called Stegodon, a golden retriever-sized rat, giant tortoises and huge lizards - including Komodo dragons.
[snip]
H. floresiensis probably evolved from another species called Homo erectus, whose remains have been discovered on the Indonesian island of Java.
Homo erectus may have arrived on Flores about one million years ago, evolving its tiny physique in the isolation provided by the island.
What is surprising about this is that Homo erectus must have made it to Flores by boat. Yet building craft for travel on open water is traditionally thought to have been beyond the intellectual abilities of this member of the human family.
but this is the best part:Professor Stringer said the find "rewrites our knowledge of human evolution." He added: "To have [this species] present 12,000 years ago is frankly astonishing."
[snip]
The presence of Stegodon remains - particularly the teeth of juveniles - in the same deposits as H. floresiensis suggests they may have hunted these dwarf elephants. Some smaller animal remains in Liang Bua cave are charred, perhaps by cooking.
Miniature stone tools - just the right size for the diminutive H. floresiensis to have made and used - have been found at the cave. Their sophistication has surprised some scientists given the human's small brain size of 380cc (around the same size as a chimpanzee).
"The whole idea that you need a particular brain size to do anything intelligent is completely blown away by this find," Dr Gee commented.
one of the grand questions is how related h. erectus is to our own species: we have no d.n.a. evidence on the subject - at least, we didn't before!Because the remains are relatively recent and not fossilised, scientists are even hopeful they might yield DNA. Genetic information from this descendent of Homo erectus could provide an entirely new perspective on the evolution of the human lineage.
read the article - i left out all the juicy bits about possible modern survivals of h. floresiensis, for example...
a royal bedchamber in the white house
the aptly-named investigative journalism site Where in Washington, DC is Sun Myung Moon? has a piece up pointing to a last-minute laura bush revamp of the lincoln bedroom reported over at the washington post.
who cares? well,
The pièce de résistance, both decoratively and symbolically, will be a carved bed canopy in the shape of a crown. It too has been sent for gilding. When affixed to the ceiling, the crown will support yards of regal purple satin over white lace, both trailing to the floor.WiWDCiSMM? is concerned about this mostly because of the recent spate of bipartisan Moonie whoring in the shape of 'coronation of the king of the universe' ceremonies for "rev." moon held three times recently in congressional offices; personally, i just think it's more generalised bush-believes-god-chose-him christian insanity to use royal imagery in the united state's very symbol of democracy. (until bush stole that shit, that is.)[snip]
Gilded crowns and royal colors strike an unusual note in a house carefully stage-managed to symbolize the democracy. Neither element would have been acceptable to George Washington, who was advised to surround himself only with things that were "substantially good and majestically plain." Eagles were fine in "the President's House." Allusions to monarchy would have been anathema.
alice school
today's megatokyo has an article that reminds me of something, o my em'lys and henrys. the commentary by dom beneath the comic has a section with comments on a news item of perverse interest to me: alices, what i reckon are something between emilys and THE DOROTHY. weird...
So later this week, Gakuen Alice starts airing on Japanese TV. I would talk a little about Gakuen Alice, but honestly, I've barely read the manga I own, since it's been on loan for so long.However, Gakuen Alice amuses me in too many perverse ways for me to let it pass without comment. Y'see, I like to call it the Shoujo X-Men. And I'm not joking.
Y'see, the main character, Sakura Mikan, and her best friend Imai Hotaru, transfer to a school for Alices (thus the name, Gakuen Alice). What are Alices? They're people who have special abilities beyond that of normal humans, and to develop their abilities, the principal of the school is gathering them up.
See what I mean? I can't help but be fascinated by the Bizarro World version of X-Men, especially since they're all ten years old. One of them controls fire, one invents, one... emits animal pheromones...
But c'mon, how can you not be morbidly fascinated by that?
[emphasis mine. -em0]
indeed, how can i not be morbidly obsessed with the notion of the alice? even tho she's not from a story about reaching over the rainbow but rather diving under the world and civilisation and mucking about in it like an 1890s the filth.
an for you emilys and henrys what are unfamiliar with certain terms, check Wikipedia: a notable example is shoujo.
Tuesday, October 26, 2004
dropping dead
"bush to northeast: 'drop dead'" is the title of an article at the gadflyer - one that you should go read.
oi frelnik, didn't i tell you to go read the article? what are you still doing on this blog?The new line of attack came as an independent liberal group began airing a new ad in which an elderly couple says, "George Bush should take his NASCAR-loving, tobacco-chewing, trailer-park-living, redneck freak show back to Texas, where it belongs."Of course, we've never seen a story like this one – like all Democrats, John Kerry knows that if he criticized one state or one region of the country, the press and the Republicans would come down on him like a ton of bricks, charging him with being a Northeastern elitist who doesn't want to be the president of all Americans.But the rules are different on the other side of the aisle. In today's politics, it is acceptable for Republicans to traffic in ugly stereotypes and assert outright that people who come from some areas of America are not really American. Some might remember the ad to which I referred, aired by the conservative Club for Growth, which said, "Howard Dean should take his tax-hiking, government-expanding, latte-drinking, sushi-eating, Volvo-driving, New York Times-reading, body-piercing, Hollywood-loving, left-wing freak show back to Vermont, where it belongs."
barking yonkers
the thing about the national review online (no, you get no stinking link, beeyotch) that really gets to me is that they are barking mad. also, they are incoherent.
i can't even understand the nutjob rantings they are making - understand meaning, of course, 'parse their claims into coherent sentences' rather than 'see how someone might think said chain of thoughts followed the rules of logic'.
i can't stomach citing an example, i just can't. but take it from me that i have been scratching my head trying to make sense out of posts that have sentences a propos of no previous argument and yet presuppose said previous arguments.
i decided to stomach an extract:
HANNITIZING THE VOTE [KJL]that was not taken out of context. i get the general gist - bush + hannity good, kerry + couric bad - but what the frelling hezmana do those sentences mean? are they typing these entries after their liquid lunch? i mean, "It's important because he gets to make his case, to a wide national audience and rally the troops." what? is that, like, the grocer's comma or something?I think it's important that Bush did that Sean Hannity interview--of which I've heard and watched parts. It's important because he gets to make his case, to a wide national audience and rally the troops. And take a second to contrast, say, the Kerry-Couric interview and the Bush-Hannity. Hannity asks actual intelligent questions, and Bush answers them well, substantively. Bush, of course, besides doing a "friendly," sat down with Gibson (and some of his silly questions), not knowing what he'd get. Kerry knew pretty full well.
and sweet six-teated mother of the tcho-tcho, sean hannity's interview was as hard-hitting as jon stewart's was. so i gotta ask - sean, baby: what did the prezninent have for lunch two weeks ago? i mean, here's a quote from faux nudes' own transcript:
HANNITY: Do you think that when he says these things, John Kerry, your opponent, you were in these three debates with him, do you think he knows he's not telling the truth? I mean...well, i'm sure glad he's not biased, or stumping for bush, or making the talking points for bush, who has a robot attached to his back to control his desire to do a line of coke right on national television when hannity sucks his faux-texan cock like that. (he can't help it - pavlovian response.)BUSH: I'm not sure Sean.
HANNITY: You've been pretty clear on the issue, but yet he continues to go out there and say it. When I think of old people that I know that say to you, uh oh, somebody is going to take my Social Security and that scares them.
let's just recap the nro's perception with what we just read: "Hannity asks actual intelligent questions, and Bush answers them well, substantively."
having the stomach flu was less nauseating than reading that kind of dren.
update: damn.
well, fuck me!
it seems like kos had the same dumb idea i did. and unlike us, kos has tens of thousands of readers. as much as i would like to say: hrmph! it's a good thing he did it. [just to be a little bitch, i got the lyrics first!] [i had already emailed atrios and oliver willis to post the link to TRL a couple of hours ago.]
it looks like MTV *will* play this video on TRL due to the overwhelming number internet requests.
god damn... yeah!
another update: since the requests have been coming in, MTV updated its voting site to include the video as an "official" choice - no need to write it in anymore.
further update: MTV just played the video in its entirely.
listen, i know it sounds like i'm chirping over nothing, but really, you must see this video. i don't get worked up over very many things, but this one *will* be getting an award. and it deserves one.
to you old fat fucks out there! hello! that's YOU!
[of which i am one, so don't get yer panties in a bunch]
let me tell you the power mtv's total request live has over the minds of our youth... when classes were let out for hurricane floyd, where did the kids go? to times square to cheer carson daly on TRL.
i also intern in the music industry. industry people would eat their own shit and slash each other to pieces to get videos premiered on TRL. they suck cock to get artists to perform on TRL. TRL is the golden key to overexposure. and in this case, younger voters need this type of message. you get this video on TRL, you will reach millions of people - people who don't necessarily use the internet. okay?
trl is the force that has rebuilt the pop charts | even PBS did a piece on TRL
from a marketing perspective and a cultural perspective, TRL is NOT lightweight shit. don't be a snob on this one, okay?
SO PLEASE vote for eminem's "mosh" on TRL. it is a very powerful video. and it's eminem. the 18-25 crowd is the least likely to vote. okay? send the link around via e-mail too.
wonkette links sites where the video is being hosted here
the trl link is below this post.
this has been a public service announcement.
definitely not an "internet leak"
the "leak" was definitely planned. check this out...
eminem's "mosh" video - officially released (a week from the election nonetheless!)
very clever promo. seriously, take the time to watch it - the end is not what you think it is. i don't think mtv will have the balls to play it though. (note: eminem should have released it in early october, when voter registrations were still being taken.)
[via oliver willis]
and SPOILERS!!! the story on the "mosh" video via mtv.com
VOTE FOR VIDEO ON TRL: http://www.mtv.com/onair/trl/vote/ - scroll down to bottom, type in "eminem" and "mosh" - it takes 10 seconds
albright on the daily show...
madelaine albright is being interviewed on the daily show. right now i'm watching the repeat of the original broadcast.
it's the fucking bomb. she is gouging the fuck out of the occupation administration - just cutting the frell out of them.
she's cool as hell - she saw team america: world police. not to mention she made a crack about jon's appearance on assfire.
the "moment of zen" at the end of the show was john kerry giving a speech. in spanish!
it'll be repeated tomorry night at about seven - you gotta watch it. i'll try to remind you.
also, tomorrow's daily show (new eppys are on at 2300h) will have someone good on...
Monday, October 25, 2004
yes he was
for those of you who doubt my endless ability to regurgitate facts, here's a nyah nyah to those of you who said my story was dren a few months ago about schwarzenegger having been the first to buy a civilian hummer:
Schwarzenegger was the first person to buy a Hummer, a civilian version of the military vehicle that caught the public's attention during the Gulf War. GM estimates the latest version of the vehicle, the 6,400-pound H2, gets 10 to 13 miles per gallon. Dealers put the figure at 8 to 10 mpg.darling, i frelling well told you so.
just to let you all know...
we may be looking at chief justice clarence thomas or antonin scalia sooner rather than later.
anyone else still think the president doesn't affect domestic policy?
and one more gripe... this article - and many others - keep stating that the rehnquist court is known for espousing federalist principles, i.e. empowering states.
and then, often in the same breath, they mention that the rehnquist court took away the power of the florida supreme court to determine the proper procedure of counting florida's votes in bush v. gore.
federalists my little rosy ass.
vote swapping, revisited
when people ask me who i voted for in the last election, i say "gore." technically, i didn't vote for gore, but in effect, i did. i participated in third-party vote swapping: someone in a swing state would put in a vote for gore, while i put in a vote for nader. this way, in a close election, due to the electoral college system, a third party candidate's harm in a swing state would be minimized, and someone in a "safe" state could put in a vote for a third party candidate and help that candidate's goal of getting a larger segment of the total popular vote. in a state like new york, which has a heavily democrat voting base, we could have traded all the gore votes needed to wipe out all of florida's nader votes, and we still would have had a more than comfortable lead. [new york voter breakdown in 2000] | [florida breakdown in 2000]
you do the math.
vote swapping: it's baaaack!!!
note: based on polls, nader could only get a maximum of 2% of the popular vote (he needs at least 5%), so vote swapping this year is pretty much a waste.
i have a neighbor who is an attorney. he is a staunch nader supporter and plans to vote nader this time around. i told him that it was a waste and he should vote kerry to oust bush. then in four years, he can vote for a third party candidate to push the democratic party closer to whatever planet he wants to live on. after all, that's one effect of third-party candidates; they siphon away voters for major parties, voters who are disillusioned with the "middle of the road" positions of major party candidates. in a way, third party candidates keep major candidates accountable.
but in this election, that ain't the way to go, bro.
[paraphrased]
him: "nah, i think you should just vote for who you want to win."
me: "but he won't win. and he's not going to get the 5% for FEC funding, so why are you bothering? why bother getting up that morning? why bother even standing in line at the polls. you might as well just sleep in."
him: "nader rules!"
my roommate: [to neighbor] "you're dumb. vote kerry."
i'm glad he is either registered in new york or d.c. where his waste of a vote won't matter.
If Armageddon Is Coming, I'm Gonna Roast Me Some Hot Dogs
tony blair declares that the international community will not accept a nuclear iran. he also stated that he knows of no US plans to participate in a military strike on the country.
it just occured to me (i know i'm slow), but why would a country with enormous natural desposits of oil and gas want to develop a nuclear *power* program? did the whole country become environmentalists overnight or something?
i'm reading conflicting reports about iran's negotiations with the EU over its nuclear program. there are some stories stating that they ready to capitulate, whereas a few hours ago, they rejected a proposal from the EU. i assume this means that the negotiations are still ongoing.
Sunday, October 24, 2004
Operation Nuclear Bowels
here in my very own home, i have the perfect weapons of Ass Destruction. one should not be deceived by their relatively innocuous appearance. while they may appear to be harmless, overweight housecats, they are a force to be reckoned with. my friends, these adorable but deadly creatures have what is known as Fetid Ass Syndrome. there is no gas more poisonous, no bomb more destructive than that which hails forth from their buttholes.
these felines truly give new meaning to the phrase 'diesel shit.' the only ingredients required to start my own personal home WAD program is one bag of cheap dry catfood from the local grocery store. i may even volunteer their services for fighting terror around the globe.
I Need to Put Away the Tinfoil Hat
so, kos says that the big story that's going to 'destroy' kerry is a total washout. kerry stated a while back that he met with the entire security council before voting to authorize the use of force against iraq. the moonie times is going to publish a story stating that some of the security council members allege that he did not in fact meet with them.
big whoop.
this election is driving me insane.
insanity
last night in blurbs, uncensored:
beer.
ex.
jump.
stares.
beer.
ex.
glares.
drunk friends yell "are you back with your ex?!"
more glares.
dancing.
classmate.
more dancing.
more beer.
girl.
dancing.
kamikaze shot.
limo.
extremely large bulldyke hitting on male driver.
drugs.
girl.
making out.
cruising around manhattan.
making out.
lost boy.
prostitute scam.
24 hour diner.
lost boy's fear of large black weiners.
eggs.
girl.
making out.
home.
lost boy and make out girl back to jersey.
not blogging
i have found myself not blogging recently. there are several factors to account for this.
first, i am inexplicitly covered with what i called pysin rysin as a child. i have a debilitating allergy to said plant; though several excruciating shots of antivenom as a child helps, i still am mostly incapacitated by this demon weed.
second, my computer remains on the fritz, meaning i must slide into computer time when my roomie isn't using it - and she be mighty obsessed with upcoming election, so recently this has been a challenge equally mighty.
third, and perhaps most crucial to this situation of non-blogginess, is election burnout. i mean, the frelniks running these three-ring circuses are making me nuts. i'm a staunch kerryite - used to say staunch anybody-but-bushite till i realised we had viable third-party candidates whose presence might make the difference between bush and anybody else in this tooth-grinder of an election (frell you very much, ralph nader) - but i'm tired of this dren. seriously, man, if i see one more pressed-honkey sandwich i will blow my yarbles.
so. i'm laying low. i'm trying to figure out whether or not our next president is going to be a staunch (if american-style) catholic or if he's going to be a drug-addled moron who thinks the divine speaks into his left ear and tells him to do stuff.
which reminds me that this iran drek is very, very scary. hath the LORD commanded captain chimpy to send team america: world police in with the israelis? i frelling hope not or we're going to be in serious trouble.
Iran Redux
the roundup:
the israeli president is stating that iran finances terrorism in the west bank. i think it's likely that this is true. even saddam gave money to the families of palestinian suicide bombers.
another snippet from the news:
A leading Israeli think-tank also warned against Iran's efforts to develop nuclear weapons but assessed that with world attention rising to that danger, the United States seems "closer to the possible use of force to prevent Iran completing its nuclear program".so, maybe it's not such an indistinct possibility that the us will take action against iran for its nuclear program. i also don't trust the iranian government's assertions that they aren't developing nuclear weapons.However, it said that US difficulties in pacifying Iraq had distracted Washington from its war on terrorism, while Iraq itself had become a "locus of terror".
unfortunately, our military is bogged down in iraq, so it's really unclear how we could respond to a nuclear threat from iran. given how badly things have gone in iraq, i am really quite afraid that a military engagement in iran could just as easily spiral out of control. their army is in a lot better shape than iraq's was before the invasion.
is the part where we bend over and kiss our asses goodbye?
update:
still trawling google news. israel's opposition leader is downplaying the possibility of an israeli military strike on iran's nuclear facilities.
iran just rejected the EU's proposal to end their uranium enrichment program.
bulgaria is denying that it discussed a military strike on iran during an october 9th meeting with donald rumsfeld.
the Malkanista
orcinus has this to say:
I guess it shouldn't come as any surprise to any student of history who has read In Defense of Internment, but Michelle Malkin has now established, beyond any serious doubt, that no one should believe a word that comes out of her mouth or her keyboard.um, dude... those words are coming right out of her ass because that's where her head is. i think she must have to stand up to type.
Sinking Feeling
some righty bloggers have been getting email tips about a major story coming out in the moonie times that will hurt john kerry's campaign. a kossite has posted the story, and most people are brushing it off as a non-event. the washington times isn't exactly a credible newspaper, i suppose.
the whole thing sounds like a hair-brained smear job:
John Kerry, the Democratic presidential candidate, is being given money by an Albanian terrorist organization known as the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA or UCK in Albanian).interesting. this organization 'apparently' has ties to the iranian government. gee, i wonder where this is going.The KLA is currently smuggling weapons into Kosovo as part of a plot to attack American and other UN peacekeepers, should the UN Security Counsel refuse their demand for Kosovo's secession from Serbia and Montenegro.
About the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA/UCK)
In order to fully understand the significance of John Kerry's involvement with the KLA it is first necessary to understand what sort of an organization the KLA is. The KLA is a terrorist organization with ties to Osama bin Laden and the Iranian government. The KLA's main objective is to break Kosovo, which has been an integral part of Serbia for centuries, away from Serbia.
The KLA began on the radical fringe of Kosovo-Albanian politics, originally made up of diehard Marxist-Leninists as well as by descendants of the fascist militias raised by the Italians in World War II. [1]
The KLA made its military debut in February 1996 with the bombing of several camps housing Serbian refugees from wars in Croatia and Bosnia.
... snip ...
update:
the kla opposed milosevic. i have a feeling that anyone who tries to run this story will get laughed out of the country. hopefully. fingers crossed.
update:
well, after poking around the internet, it seems that the story of the KLA is a complicated one. some of them are guilty of committing war crimes against serbs. in the context of such a horrible civil war, i doubt that anyone really comes out smelling like roses. in any case, i think this whole story, if it is indeed the big story the righty bloggers are talking about, will not hurt kerry's campaign. the people who use it to smear him will only end up looking *really* desperate.
i hate this election. so many rumors, so much anxiety, and the constant, nearly irresistible temptation to go off half-cocked, ready to believe anything and everything. i need to take up drinking.
Saturday, October 23, 2004
Attack on Iran
i've been encountering a lot of rumors that the us is going to launch a joint attack on iran with israel. this is the second such article i've encountered in the last week. it states that the CIA and the Defense Intelligence Agency are in open revolt against the white house.
frankly, i am FUCKING sick of this shit. i am fucking sick of anonymous leaks and unfounded rumors. if bush and co. are truly insane, these stupid COWARDS need to make their accusations in public. if our leadership is going to draw this country into a FUCKING nuclear confrontation, then you snivelling, craven anonymous *assholes* need to STEP forward and make yourselves known. otherwise, you are pissing into the wind.
This. Is. Not. A. Tom. Clancey. Novel.
if a major city in this country is reduced to smoking rubble because you people acted like a bunch of mice, sneaking around in the shadows while you still had the chance to do something, i sincerely and truly hope you are left swinging from the nearest lamppost first because you deserve it. you really do. your duty is to protect this country. if you can't do that, quit your job. i don't want you working for me or the rest of the american people in some of the most important and pivotal positions in our government.
P.S.
i don't believe that the bush administration would launch a joint attack on iran with israel because they think they'd win the election. however, they did name iran as a member of the axis of evil, and the whole iraq war was about a policy of pre-emption.
P.P.S.
okay, last postscript. i know that in these tense days, i should always strictly evaluate every unfounded rumor before contributing to its spread. for example, suskind's new york times magazine article appealed to my inner bush hater. i didn't link it because most of it was based on people talking from behind the curtain of anonymity, and i refuse to give credence to their accusations if they aren't willing to make them in public.
so, i've done some google searching on the iran attack story. nothing from any major, trustworthy publication indicated that the us would participate in such an attack, but i did find several recent articles reporting on israel's growing unease with iran's nuclear program.
the us, given its close relationship with israel, would probably help israel in such an attack, even if it were only behind the scenes. in fact, i doubt the us government would want to take a prominent role in it.
so, i am officially very afraid. what kills me is that the majority of ordinary citizens in iran do not want to live under a fundamentalist government. there has been a lot of pressure from iranian public for a more modern society. but the movement is fragile, and an attack on iran would do nothing but inflame fundamentalist passions further.
what a fucking insane world this is. i want off this planet.
P.P.P.S.
okay, last postscript for sure. i really mean it. this situation is quickly heating up.
P.P.P.P.S.
holy shit.
lyrics to eminem's "mosh"
[update: those who found these lyrics through a search engine, please read this update if you are a first time voter or need help voting.]
these are the lyrics to eminem's new song that "leaked" onto the internet. the song is critical of bush. it will be on eminem's next album "encore" due to drop november 16th. [i used "leaked" in quotes, because this song's message was most likely meant to be heard bfore november 2nd... i don't think it was accidentally leaked.]
the song begins with children reciting the opening words to the pledge of allegiance with the crescendoing sounds of bombs and helicopters eventually drowning out their words. the song's delivery is forceful and angry and set to grandiose pessimistic loops [in the same genre of the imperial death march in star wars - can't think of any other way to describe it].
no, eminem has never been subtle.
Eminem
Mosh
VERSE 1:
Scrutinize every word, memorize every line
I spit it once, refuel re-energize and rewind
I give sight to the blind, my insight through the mind
I exercise my right to express what I feel inside
Its just all in your mind, what you interpret it as
I say to fight you take it as I'mma whip someone's ass
If you don't understand don't even bother to ask
A father who has grown up with a fatherless past
Who has blown up now to rap phenomenon that has
Or atleast shows no difficulty multi-taskin
And juggling both, perhaps mastered his craft, slash
Entrepenaur, who has helped launch a few more rap acts
Who has had a few obstacles thrown his way through the last half
Of his careeer, typical manur, moving past that
Mister kiss his ass crack, hes a class act
Rubberband man, yeah, he just snaps back
(Chorus)
Come along, follow me, as I lead through the darkness
As I provide just enough spark that we need, to proceed
Carry on, give me hope, give me strength, come with me, and I won't, steer you wrong
Give your faith and your trust, as I guide us through the fog, to the light at the end of the tunnel
We gon fight, we gon charge, we gon stomp, we gon march through the swamp, we gon mosh through the marsh, take us right
through the doors
Come on
VERSE 2:
All the people up top, on the side and the middle, from the ghetto, lets all form and stomp just a little
Just let it gradually build, from the front to the back
All you can see is a sea of people, some white and some black
Don’t matter what color, all that matters is we're gathered together
To celebrate for the same cause, no matter the weather
If it rains, let it rain, yeah the wetter the better
They ain’t gon’ stop us, they cant, were stronger now more then ever
They tell us no we say yeah, they tell us stop we say go
Rebel with a rebel yell, raise hell, we gon let em? No
Stomp, push, shove, mush... Fuck Bush, until they bring our troops home
Come On
(Chorus)
Come along, follow me, as I lead through the darkness
As I provide just enough spark that we need, to proceed
Carry on, give me hope, give me strength, come with me, and I won't, steer you wrong
Give your faith and your trust, as I guide us through the fog, to the light at the end of the tunnel
We gon fight, we gon charge, we gon stomp, we gon march through the swamp, we gon mosh through the marsh, take us right
through the doors
Come on
VERSE 3:
Imagine it poorin, its rainin down on us, mosh pits outside the oval office
Someone’s tryin to tell us something, maybe this is god, just sayin we responsible
For this monster, this coward, that we have empowered
This is Bin Laden, look at his head noddin, how can we allow something like this, without pumpin our fists
Now, this is our, final hour
Let me, be the voice, in your strength and your choice, let me simplify the rhyme, just to amplify the noise
Tryin to amplify to times it, and multiply it by six-teen million people are equal at this high pitch
Maybe we can reach alqueda through my speech, let the president answer our high anarchy
Strap him with a AK-47, let him go fight his own war, let him impress daddy that way
No more blood for oil, we got our own battles to fight on our own soil, no more psychological warfare to trick us to thinking that we ain’t loyal
If we don’t serve our own country, we’re patronizing our hero
Look in his eyes, its all lies, the stars and stripes, have been swiped, washed out and wiped,
And replaced with his own face, mosh now or die, if I get sniped tonight, you’ll know why, cuz I told you to fight
(Chorus)
Come along, follow me, as I lead through the darkness
As I provide just enough spark that we need, to proceed
Carry on, give me hope, give me strength, come with me, and I won't, steer you wrong
Give your faith and your trust, as I guide us through the fog, to the light at the end of the tunnel
We gon fight, we gon charge, we gon stomp, we gon march through the swamp, we gon mosh through the marsh, take us right
through the doors
Come on
(Epilogue)
And as we proceed to mosh through this desert storm
And these closing statements if they should argue
Let us beg to differ
As we set aside our differences
And assemble our own army
To disarm this weapon of mass destruction
That we call our president for the present
And mosh for the future of our generation
To speak and be heard
Mr. President, Mr. Senator
(children's voices: you guys hear us?)
The Sequel: Must. Not. Stop. Laughing.
i've wavered as to whether a tit for tat answer to the nastiness of bush's campaign strategy is the best response. despite the fact that every major political campaign in american history was characterized by bare knuckle negativity, when a presidential election rolls around, people always bitch about the negativity and express a longing for that mythical (non-existent) time when political campaigns were polite, and candidates exchanged flowers, puppies, and pleasantries over tea. negative attacks work. otherwise, politicians wouldn't employ them.
there are dozens of ways to go negative.
so, the question is -- how does one go negative while minimizing the turn-off for potential voters? humor can cut an opponent down to size (yes, there is a bit of a castration metaphor going on here) in an entertaining way. humor asserts superiority over the object of derision. if done right, the audience is included in that feeling of superiority. if done clumsily, the audience is turned off by the perceived snobbery. so, one must be careful not to make the object of attack sympathetic.
a direct attack gives credence to the power and legitimacy of the object in a way that humor does not because humor is for the audience. aggressive humor implies that one attacks for the sheer amusement of it, sending the message that the object of attack is hardly worthy of any serious attention. it's a classic passive aggressive strategy. the point is to provoke frothing, incoherent rage in the object of attack while remaining cool as a cucumber oneself.
and finally, here is a fine example of the use of humor to aggress. thanks to nightmares for sale for that link. since hollywood is practically in the democrats' pockets, they really ought to enlist the help of comedians to produce good political advertising that employs this kind of aggression. SNL was always a lot funnier under republican administrations anyway. humor defies convention, the status quo, and tradition -- all of which are privileged by a philosophy of conservatism. it really ought to be the natural tool of liberal political advertising.
the Reason Why Trust in the System is Crucial
from a comment at daily kos (i know i said i was going to avoid that place, but i can't help it. there's nothing happening at the other blogs i read):
The freepers and wingnuts we disdain so readily here on DailyKos actually believe that it is the democracts trying to steal the election - ACORN, ACT, as well as the DNC. Mayor Daley in Chicago won the election for John Kennedy by registering an impressive number of former citizens who might well have voted for Kennedy - if they'd still been alive.We, of course, believe that it is the Republicans looking to steal the election - but if you look at the evidence (say the fact that 35 thousand notices to newly registered voters were returned as undeliverable), with a republican eye (which sees liberal media and conspiracies everywhere), it is not surprising that they've convinced themselves that the democrats are cheating.
I would imagine that most of those returned notices were sent to the wrong address because the registration form was misread by county officials - handwriting on a clipboard in front of the grocery store is not always the most legible, and they've been so overwhelmed by the huge registration numbers this time round - and thus the addresses entered into the database are a little off, and that database is what the republicans used for their test mailings. We need to face that at least a few of those registrations are probably bad - either because the person working the booth was desperate to get his forms filled out and cut corners, or because the person signing up is not eligible for some reason - but of the some 200,000 new registrations in Ohio (I'm guessing at the number), I'd think 95% are probably good - but that still leaves 10,000 registrations that the republicans have every right to politely challenge.
The challenge for us is to be there too, and make sure that EVERY voter stays in line if things slow down, and that the challenges are carried out in a lawful, non-discriminatory, and non-intimidating way. I think we're up to it.
Friday, October 22, 2004
Today's Wingnut Media Edition
why do i get the feelng that the next charge against a group trying to run a pro-kerry ad will be:
how dare they politicize this election!
polls are in!
living around large bodies of water [including the great lakes] makes you a kerry voter, except when you live in a hurricane region [i guess all the spinny air got into their heads] or it's too cold to appreciate the coastline.
the answer is water!
hurry up! someone bring back noah and moses! water seems to move around when they are around. we should consult them for advice.
if only it weren't half true
condi: now, george, you will simply *have* to learn how to pronounce words properly.
george: whaddya mean?
condi: remember the whole "nukular" thing?
george: well, those countries DO have nukular weapons!
condi: no, it's new-klee-er! new-klee-er!
george: nukular.
condi: *sigh* anyhow, this is what happens when people misunderstand you.
george: i don't get it.
condi: you meant to say that we'd kick the "terrorists'" ass, but it came closer to "tourists'."
george: huh? well terrrists are bad!
condi: "terrorists" are extremists that resort to violence to make a political or social statement. "tourists" are people who run around places like niagra falls and take pictures.
george: okay, so terrrrists are bad but terrrrrists and good.
condi: WHY ARE YOU SUCH A FOOL? BOY I SHOULD WHUP YOUR ASS!
Thursday, October 21, 2004
gripes.
i can't say i'm feeling too rosy about the upcoming election either. however, pestering your friends who don't understand or care about the repercussions of electing bush (although it bothers me that law students can be so naive) is pointless. it only divides and makes social outings miserable. i learned that as a first year, when peaceful lunchtime discussions would escalate to screaming matches. after being appointed the president of the queer student organization on campus, i've learned a lot more is at stake than i thought. (i had to get a little more educated in order not to look like a completely ignorant hack, which was pretty much what i was when i went in.) a lot of amazing LGBT faculty members came forward and offered their support, advice, and knowledge.
- the current incarnation of the republican party is not just after marriage rights for gays and lesbians - they want to prevent any legal recognition of same sex relationships whatsoever (look this up on andrew sullivan's blog - i'm too lazy to search for the relevant posts). i know i'll get skewered for saying this, but andrew sullivan is one of my favorite bloggers, an independent thinker, and an expert on same sex legal relationships. i plan to ask him to speak at school in the spring.
- three supreme court justice spots are most likely up for grabs, including the ever so level-headed sandra day o'connor and the liberal-leaning john paul stevens. anyone who says that the president does not affect domestic policy is on crack. with a republican senate, who knows what will happen. i can't say that i am personally invested in the abortion debate specifically, but it is something i feel i must stand by, as roe v. wade isn't just about "the right to abortion" - it is about the scope of privacy rights, something that the current administration has little regard for in general. and who knows what will happen to lawrence v. texas, another "sphere of privacy" case. those damned social conservatives want to paint it as a "right to homosexual sodomy" case, when it really is a "don't bother me when i am at home and having consensual relations" case.
- our new director of public service law has been embroiled in a battle over domestic partnership benefits in new york city since her partner fell ill and finally passed away. they were not eligible to get domestic partner benefits and had to pay $700 a month for cobra. this is just disgusting. hearing about it on the news is one thing, but when it's up close and personal, it really just hits you in a different way. to make a long story short, our mayor is now suing, because the city council overrode his veto on a new bill that says that new york city can only do business with contractors who give domestic partnership benefits. i can't stand people who want to sit around barfing up legal arguments on why this is allowable. i don't care. this is an attack on families, which is just wrong. really, don't even try it. at some point, legal arguments must end, and common sense must start. compassionate conservatism my ass. anyhow, you start a "discussion" with me on this topic, and i will be tempted to send your name to various people in the administration, which, by the way, is queer friendly to say the very least. i am *that* pissed off. i won't do it, but it's been crossing my mind.
a fellow student, someone who had recently come out confided in me that she felt betrayed by her friends. you wouldn't know that she was queer. in fact, she blends in quite well with the over-privileged, feminine socialite, westchester/long island scene that often dominates our school. she told me that she was hurt that these people couldn't understand why she felt so scared about the election and who brushed off her fear as an "overreaction." "do these people care about me?" she asked. and i replied, "yes, but they don't understand, so stop trying. it will only make you angrier." more than just a few of the queers on campus have come up to me telling me that they will actually cry if bush is elected. i wonder if the rest of the fucking school knows about this.
every time i hear: "but the FMA will never pass!" or "you're just blowing things out of proportion!" or "why are you so angry?" i feel like i'm talking to a flaming idiot. what may happen is important, but it is the simple fact that sexual orientation has been demonized and used as a political tool by the republicans... it's just fucking wrong! so what if kerry mentioned that cheney has a lesbian daughter! she's running her father's election for crying out loud! she's a public figure! and all kerry did was mention her name. he's not harrassing her like the "dear mary" folks. when republican alan keyes called mary cheney a "selfish hedonist" the cheneys were silent. YES, HE WENT ON THE AIR AND CALLED MARY CHENEY - PERSONALLY - A SELFISH HEDONIST. now lynne cheney is getting her panties in a bunch because kerry mentioned something we already knew! does ANYONE see that lynne cheney has made a tactical move to make the democrats look bad rather than just "speaking as a mother"? are you all SO STUPID?! hello! can i have what you guys are smoking?
sometimes, i don't like being in positions of responsibility, because i actually have to take responsibility and do so without losing my temper or laying into someone. i have to listen and not go on a rampage. i'm getting very close to losing it. i now know why people in the innocence project are so passionate about their work (it's people's lives!) and why the holocaust restitution clinic is such depressing work. "holocaust restitution" is a fucking oxymoron in and of itself. most people don't know about these things, but those who do... well, they have to just truck on and not get pulled down by the sheer difficulty and emotional nature of the work. and the fact that most people just simply do not care.
and this is why i don't talk politics at school anymore.
Hopeless
i feel pretty depressed today. i know that i've declared off and on that i would be leaving the country if bush gets another four years. now that the election is just days away, i'm starting to contemplate what that would mean. you never realize how much a creature you are of your natal culture until you're outside of it. i feel alienated. i feel like we don't really have anything but false choices. i didn't and still don't feel very enthusiastic about john kerry as a candidate.
why does everyone care so much about vietnam? why did we all waste so much time arguing about a 30 year old war instead of the one going on right now? why are so many political discussions, public and private, of the he-said, she-said variety? i mean, what's the fucking point? are people really that simple-minded?
i'm afraid of the religious right, to be sure. but, i have no doubt that the people who really run things around here would dispense with them in a heartbeat if they were no longer politically expedient. seriously, cheney and crowd don't give a shit about whether fags and dykes get married. they don't give a shit about little mary from the midwest sneaking into planned parenthood and getting an abortion without her parents' permission. they really don't give a flying fuck about what they teach high school biology students in kansas.
i just have a sinking feeling that no matter how many people vote for kerry, bush is still going to be president after the polls close, and basically that means the religious right is going to get their way. the republicans can't avoid rewarding them for those crucial evangelical votes. i'd rather move elsewhere and pay taxes to a government that doesn't flirt with authoritarian creatures who abuse a doctrine of peace and love to enforce an aesthetic of violence, retribution, and control. they aren't really all that different from fanatical muslims who privilege the kind of jihad that involves beheading other human beings over the jihad against their own inner sinners.
i have a friend who lives in london who said he'd help me find a job there. i think i'm going to take him up on the offer when i graduate. i'd like to take my chances with a government not headed by people who are partially beholden to religious fundamentalists. i'm leaning towards leaving even if kerry wins.
Something Stuck In My Craw
i have that acrid feeling in the back of my throat again. stress. dread. anxiety. and always that poisonous feeling of rage. i hate myself for saying this, but i miss the sweet bliss of apathy. frankly, i'd give anything not to care about politics again. just a few years ago, it all seemed so harmless -- a burlesque parade of manufactured soap opera scandals.
i know now that the culture war is real. if bush takes it, he's going to pack the court with a bunch of clucking old bastards who will write away women's property rights to their own bodies right after taking a wrecking ball to the wall separating church and state. meanwhile, a crowd of crowing devout will pat themselves on the back for achieving another victory for jesus, and all i can think about are women and girls bleeding to death in botched illegal abortions.
i had a screaming match with my father over this election. he said in so many words that i am an idiot who doesn't know what she's talking about. i know this is standard fare for parents towards even their adult children, but it still pisses me off. we ended up arguing about minutae -- the phrase 'imminent threat' versus 'gathering threat.' i told him i was going to send him some articles supporting what i had to say, but i'm not going to bother. nothing i say or do will make a damned bit of difference. this is someone who thinks rush limbaugh is a 'smart man' but froths at the mouth over michael moore and doesn't detect a trace of irony in any of it.
something about the political discourse in this country freezes the tongue. jon stewart recently claimed that political television is nothing more than theater. he shouldn't have stopped there. all politics in this country is theater.
sometimes at work, the subject of politics arises and sends a bolt of tension through my spine. most of my american co-workers can barely contain themselves in their eagerness to impart the latest talking points they've absorbed form the chattering heads on tv, all convinced they are slyly converting people with their wise, thoughtful, and considered opinions.
the difference between them and my foreign-born coworkers is mind-blowing. the foreign-born co-workers don't play politics like good pavlovian poodles. they express real opinions. they don't seem compelled to spout inanities about corporate overlords, trial lawyers, or bang the old 'the gubmint can't do nothing right' drum. they also don't seem afraid to simply state their opinions and why they have them.
the americans however, seem to approach the political discussion from a dishonest perspective -- no matter how partisan they are, they try to position themselves as members of that honorable, elite cadre of non-partisan wise heads who are above all that messy political fray. they also try to frame their positions as if they weren't opinions formed on the basis of a subjective reality, but the bare and obvious truth. it all adds up to a vaguely manipulative power game, regardless of which side they support.
i wish i were more articulate today. i'm trying to verbalize something that isn't quite coming out right. i'm exhausted. i'm always introducing ideas and promising to develop them further in subsequent posts, but i never do. i don't know if i'll return to this subject. i don't know if want to.
Wednesday, October 20, 2004
dump out the vaccine!
remember when you two took a bold stand against our most ungracious "ally," the land of smelly cheese and government-sanctioned secular humanism? when i heard about your drive to change "french fries" to "freedom fries" on the white house menu, i shit my pants in glee. way to go, boys! in fact, those soiled pants have been preserved in a small sarcophagus next to a shrine to commemorate those who make revolutionary decisions for the good of our country.
however, i am not writing to laud your achievements. instead, i have bad news. tell you of a most disturbing development. it seems that we are about to import a whole SHITLOAD of french flu vaccine into this holy land. this cannot happen! please tell your constituents that they must boycott this vile vaccine. they are tainted with french cooties! furthermore, i suggest you send all off the poisonous french liquid to the blue states, and most importantly, areas like new york city, san francisco, west hollywood, and cambridge, massachusetts - anywhere that is seething with metrosexuals, intellectuals, and butt-fucking queers. inject them all with the poison, and let us catch "freedom flu!"
as always, NO to french fries, YES to falafels, and GOD BLESS AMERICA!
love,
a true american... FUCK YEAH!
[update: gotdammit! i was pre-empted. bleh!]
Tuesday, October 19, 2004
HAHA!!!
sinclair shareholders commence action
Glickenhaus & Co., a Wall Street investment firm holding 6,100 shares of Sinclair stock, is taking action against Sinclair on behalf of its clients holding shares in Sinclair. General partner Jim Glickenhaus mounted the action based on Sinclair's CEO and directors having a financial obligation to shareholders.law is fun! hrm, i dunno about using that stock price thing as evidence though... the price has been falling for months, before sinclair tried to stop ted koppel from reading the names of dead soldiers way back in (april?). i think the root cause of sinclair broadcasting's stock price tanking is that traditional media conglomerates just can't do as well in the age of tivo and the internet, and also perhaps the people in charge of sinclair just suck as businessmen in general. hmmm... perhaps this whole "ignoring shareholder demand" thing *can* act as proof that sinclair sucks at doing business. [the first thing we learned in "corporations:" corporations have a duty to their shareholders, and this duty is FUCKIN' IMPORTANT. in fact, it's the primary duty.] ah, the market does take care of itself doesn't it?
"We are not partisan. We are investors," Glickenhaus explained today. "Sinclair's decision has caused harm to the value of our investment in Sinclair. We believe Sinclair must give equal time to an opposing point of view. Otherwise the company is placing its future and the value of our investment in jeopardy, by putting the renewal of its FCC licenses at risk, alienating local advertisers, and opening itself up to libel suits against the company."
Since Sinclair's decision to air Stolen Honor became public on October 9, the company's stock has fallen nearly 13 percent, as of the close of the market yesterday, October 18, wiping out nearly $90 million in shareholder value.
an update.
Monday, October 18, 2004
note to self:
quit wasting your time with people who don't appreciate you. by this age you're old enough to smell bullshit a mile away. when someone does something assy with full knowledge that she's doing something assy, then said person is an ass. whatever comes out of said ass's piehole, even if it sounds nice... is nothing but FART! just pick up and move on. the faster the better. let it go. and no, don't allow yourself to be bribed back into the latrine of drama by fancy dinners. food is great. but sanity is better.
note #2: people who only kiss your ass when you lay smackdowns to them are really lame. the rule should be: mutual niceness. people who gravitate towards drama and abuse are people you should stay away from.
love,
me!
PHWAHAHAHAHA
the guy from "king missile" is a fucking lawyer now. and he interned for the same lawyer i'm interning for now. and went to my law school. that "detachable penis" record was the first "indie" album i ever bought.
who knew the detachable penis guy and i had *anything* in common.
a thought on hybrid cars vs. gas-guzzling suv's
about switching to alternative energy vs. sticking with oil products... i think that, in the end, it doesn't matter. eventually, everyone will be forced to switch to "alternative" energies, because the oil supply will run out. however, before that happens, due to the simple rules of supply/demand, at some point, it will just not be worth it to own a car that runs on gasoline. it will be cheaper to own a car that runs on "alternative" energy. (and by then, these energies will no longer be "alternative.") but my point is, we don't need to switch until we have to. and the switch will happen naturally. right now, it's simply less of a hassle to get a car that runs on gasoline. the moment companies like shell, bp, exxon, etc. have just as many "alternative energy" stations as gasoline stations - AND the energy is the same price or less - then it's GOODBYE GASOLINE for me! but if i move to california and am forced to purchase a car right now, i'd have to go old school. let the other people test out the newfangled systems. the first incarnation of any product always has problems (see, for example 1st through 3rd generation iPod battery). engineers are not gods. products improve by trial and error. i don't want "new." i want the best!
this is also why i am foregoing laser eye surgery until i know the long term effects.
look at how long it took for mainstream americans to get plugged into the internet. i was online on dial-up BBSes in the late 80's. i knew how efficient the internet was when it came to file-sharing and communication. other people were less thrilled. it really annoyed me that other people couldn't see the potential of the internet. but eventually... people caught on. because now, you're fucked if you don't use the internet! but remember, we also went through a period of confusion and experimentation on the internet, creating systems - business plans, different web browsers, search engines - and the bubble burst in 2000, and all the crappy business plans went the way of the buffalo. many people, including myself, lost their shirts. but the ones that were successful hung on. those were the systems that worked. and now, we're still going through a period of evolution. it wasn't long ago that google became the boss. just a couple of years ago, it was yahoo. it will be a while before we see true market stability.
basically, if it's a good idea... it will be used. in time. but damned if i'm ever going to be a guinea pig again!
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