well, it seems to have been a banner day once again at the Scary Squirrel Man household. i awoke at 5 this morning and for some strange reason decided to just get up and go to work instead of rolling over and trying to ease the kink out of my back. honestly, i truly sleep about 3-4 hours a night. the rest of the time i doze and try to fight my way out of dreams that keep going wrong (the other day i had a nap dream in which i was able to ask God [for some odd reason] to get me out of a situation and i woke right up. first time ever). so, this morning i get up at the ass crack of dawn and shower, brush my head, rub my teeth, salt lick my pits, make tea and a couple of burritoes and go to work. the sacramento office has sent me all of their asphalt and i look forward to a full day of puttering around (lots of work, no work- i'm a great, professional putterer). but i also know that a certain lady is going to call me. she is going to call me with glad tidings. her tidings will spill forth onto my lack of a steady car. and i shall be washed in the bath of the replacement.
yes, i bought a new used car. it took almost four hours, because i was doing this under the benediction of my credit union, and while it is nice to have such an indulgence, it sure does take a damn long time. fortunately, the woman selling it to me appeared more and more desperate to get the money. and it wasn't a "god, this car sucks" so much as it was "god, i hate my ex-husband and this car reminds me of him too much". it's a 1998 saturn wagon and i already love it (unless, of course, the engine falls completely off tomorrow; in which case i will continue to love the car wash i bought it today, but not much else). it's a beaut.
also, two weeks ago i went to garden grove (smells like blue dog inside the van) to take my level 1 NICET (National Institute for Certification of Engineering Technicians) tests. i have run most of these tests for a long time, but i walked out of the testing very unconfident. i was pretty sure i had fucked up and would receive a shitload of wellearned abuse from my fellow labbies. i got the results in the mail today and...i passed all three first levels (soils, concrete and asphalt). out of 34 tests i failed only three (one i knew i failed and two that had me scratching my head). this, to me, is the best news of the dayweekmonth. it would have ben bery bery humiliating had i not passed, even though i was afraid i had bombed. here's a sample question of what i did miss:
Assuming no friction, how many Newtons of Force would it take to move a stationary object of such and such a weight into constant motion at such and such a speed?
um, who fucking cares? i guessed and may have gotten it right, because i passed that test for some unknown reason. my goodness, basic math and physical science were never my forte, but when did they start wanting to know what wattage/amperage would provide the most power? again, who the fuck cares? but i passed and i can go into work tomorrow knowing that now our lab is one of the very few in the state to have four labbies holding this title at the same time. it's so very cool.
anyway, it's time for political/social outrage and spittle. so, grab your drool cups and prepare to wonder what the hell i live for since it ain't sex and fritoes:
In the world as Bunnatine Greenhouse sees it, people do the right thing. They stand up for the greater good and they speak up when things go wrong. She believes God has a purpose for each life and she prays every day for that purpose to be made evident. These days she is praying her heart out, because she is in a great deal of trouble.
The news that Toyota is locating its next North American auto plant in Canada rather than in the U.S. shouldn't have come as such a shock to American bigwigs.
If there’s still any question what to call it — and Lord knows some in Washington tried — Ohio can now sadly assure the nation beyond any shadow of doubt.
Last week, Bush again brushed off polls showing his public approval ratings are the lowest of his presidency, saying a politician who made decisions based on polls would be "a miserable leader."
Reminded that power is perception, Bush scoffed, "Power is being president."
Several recent developments —persistently high gasoline prices, unprecedented warnings from the Secretary of Energy and the major oil companies, China's brief pursuit of the American Unocal Corporation—suggest that we are just about to enter the Twilight Era of Petroleum
Will fundamentalism tighten its grip on Hollywood, as it did many years ago?
It's "backdoor budget chicanery,"
"At this time we have a choice to make. Father God is watching while we cause Mother Earth so much pain. It's such a shame. Not enough money for the young, the old, the poor, but for war there is always more,"
Mohamed Yousry, an Arabic-language translator, has been practicing for life in a prison cell. He closes himself into small spaces to meditate and combs through his library for nonpolitical books he supposes his keepers will allow him to read.
and the letter i can't send to the Wall Street Journal can be read here (and the reason i can't send is that i have to subscribe to their crappy rag):
No offense intended to you illustrious journalists there at the Journal, but you just printed another column that stated Valerie Plame got her husband the Niger gig. Do you not read CIA memos? This is a fabrication that was shot down a long time ago. While she had influence over who was asked to Niger to track down the nonexistent "yellowcake", all CIA bigwigs and 'those in the know' have stated en masse that Joe Wilson was not her decision or request and their decision was not based on her influence or request. Their decision was based on his expertise and experience. Oh, and willingness to go without large entourage or expense account. Get this kind of thing right and you may be able to stop wondering why many of us who consider ourselves "normal" consider you "not".
Monday, August 08, 2005
Sunday, August 07, 2005
Please welcome the newest group of California nutcakes: the National Association for the Advancement of Preborn Children.
(oh yeah. the New York Times didn't archive their opinion piece that i linked to in my last post. sorry, jane.)
(oh yeah. the New York Times didn't archive their opinion piece that i linked to in my last post. sorry, jane.)
Saturday, August 06, 2005
Heroes? Maybe, Maybe Not
here is an interesting story from the new york times that speaks of the dearth of wartime heroes now and how that may have come into play. and it reminds the reader that people like me who are against the war need to remember the men and women who are over there fighting it and just trying to survive and come home, while doing their best to uphold the traditions of the military branches they serve. these people deserve our respect if only because this war is not what they signed up for, but they are not shirking the reponsibility their signing of contracts committed them to. i will argue against this war and the actions of my government, but i can't condemn the soldiers to death. some, i'm sure, love killing anyone who stands in their way. but most just want to do what they agreed to and come home in one piece. you want heroes? no sane soldier who survives will accept that mantle, but they're exactly the ones who deserve it. not because they defended my "freedom", but because they defended themselves and their buddies in a situation they didn't ask for.
Too Good To Be True...
my gawd, it's 1860 all over again. git out the muskets and drop in the powder, martha. we's havin' us a feud.
"South Carolina Republicans say the Democrats need to stop dragging their feet and return the beer money they are owed. Democrats say the check's in the mail."
"South Carolina Republicans say the Democrats need to stop dragging their feet and return the beer money they are owed. Democrats say the check's in the mail."
Thursday, August 04, 2005
Rant O' The Week
i know you don't want to hear it, but i'll keep saying it: our current administration (with the acquiescence of both parties in congress) is leading us down the same road that hitler did in the 1930's. the "war on terror", which has now been redubbed "the war on extremism" (because the former was no longer polling well) has been a smokescreen for global hegemony. we don't care if the world is safe for everyone. we only care that it's safe for our corporations. it's about the money, silly. not the democracy. and it's about whatever smallminded agenda the voting base thinks is important (even though it really isn't).
--quick, which would you rather have: a world free of HIV... or $2.00 a gallon gasoline?
--which sounds better to you: no poverty, no malnutrition, no polio...or unlimited weekend and evening minutes?
--make the choice: 13,000 females a year in the U.S.A. impregnated by rapists or a blanket denial of access to an abortion?
--alternate question: accept funds from the U.S.A. for HIV medicine only if you agree to not promote contraceptives as a means of stopping its spread or tell the U.S.A. to go fuck itself, because you know its abstinence message is death incarnate? warning: the latter will keep all american government monies out of your hands.
--(multiple choice) you find yourself invited to a Bush Townhouse speech. you are given a ticket and you go. on the surface you look like a "normal" person (i.e. no tee shirt with anti-bush slogans, no anti-bush cardboard signs stuffed down your pants). the car you arrive in, however, bears a bumpersticker that reads something to the effect of "no war for oil". after you've been seated a man who looks very much like a secret service agent approaches you, flashes what looks like a badge and tells you that you have to leave. do you:
a) acquiesce quietly and do whatever he tells you even though you've done nothing untoward;
b) ask him what the problem is and ask to speak to his boss when he won't tell you what the problem is;
c) quickly strip down to the anti-bush tee shirts that you had worn in under your outer clothing and begin chanting "we will come all over" ala "we will overcome";
d) know that the prunes coupled with the brownies would take effect about now and, taking a squat, share with your bretheren and sisteren the "fruits" of how you view bush's policies toward anyone who attempts to disagree.
you see, i disagree with almost everything he and his bunch have done. i blog about it. i write to the newspaper about it. i email people about it. and i am on a list because of it. not because i am a threat to our country, but simply because i disagree. i was on the FBI's list once before, because i refused to sign up for the selective service back in 1980 or 82. the FBI sent me nasty letters. claimed i was a "class 4 felon". i was in high school. my mother, who is liberal, didn't like the whole SSS process, but told me i had to do it. i lied when she asked if i had gone to the post office and registered. there was no way. i was hip deep in reagan's island hopping down in central america. no way. but that felon thing blew away like so much political baby kissing. i hope this does, too. i hope we rebound as a nation and get our balances back. because right now we are out of whack. we are not dope. we are not sick.
it's amazing to think that whack doesn't mean "hit on the noggin". and sick means not sick.and dope is...cool. as for phat...well, i am not a linguist and so i think i decide to pronounce it p-hat.
from this site comes "an editorial:
...the folks who today call themselves "conservatives" - from Limbaugh to Gingrich to Kristol to the senior Bushies - are not conservatives in either the American or the classical European mold. They represent something entirely new in the experience of America, breathtaking in its sweep and horrifying in its reach and ambitions. They are the "new conservatives" or "neo-conservatives."
Arguably, the last two political philosophers who both influenced world events and shared many of the worldviews of today's neocons were the Nicolo Machiavelli (who published "The Prince" in Italy in 1515) and Jörg Lanz von Liebenfels (who inspired a young Adolf Hitler with his magazine "Ostara").
--quick, which would you rather have: a world free of HIV... or $2.00 a gallon gasoline?
--which sounds better to you: no poverty, no malnutrition, no polio...or unlimited weekend and evening minutes?
--make the choice: 13,000 females a year in the U.S.A. impregnated by rapists or a blanket denial of access to an abortion?
--alternate question: accept funds from the U.S.A. for HIV medicine only if you agree to not promote contraceptives as a means of stopping its spread or tell the U.S.A. to go fuck itself, because you know its abstinence message is death incarnate? warning: the latter will keep all american government monies out of your hands.
--(multiple choice) you find yourself invited to a Bush Townhouse speech. you are given a ticket and you go. on the surface you look like a "normal" person (i.e. no tee shirt with anti-bush slogans, no anti-bush cardboard signs stuffed down your pants). the car you arrive in, however, bears a bumpersticker that reads something to the effect of "no war for oil". after you've been seated a man who looks very much like a secret service agent approaches you, flashes what looks like a badge and tells you that you have to leave. do you:
a) acquiesce quietly and do whatever he tells you even though you've done nothing untoward;
b) ask him what the problem is and ask to speak to his boss when he won't tell you what the problem is;
c) quickly strip down to the anti-bush tee shirts that you had worn in under your outer clothing and begin chanting "we will come all over" ala "we will overcome";
d) know that the prunes coupled with the brownies would take effect about now and, taking a squat, share with your bretheren and sisteren the "fruits" of how you view bush's policies toward anyone who attempts to disagree.
you see, i disagree with almost everything he and his bunch have done. i blog about it. i write to the newspaper about it. i email people about it. and i am on a list because of it. not because i am a threat to our country, but simply because i disagree. i was on the FBI's list once before, because i refused to sign up for the selective service back in 1980 or 82. the FBI sent me nasty letters. claimed i was a "class 4 felon". i was in high school. my mother, who is liberal, didn't like the whole SSS process, but told me i had to do it. i lied when she asked if i had gone to the post office and registered. there was no way. i was hip deep in reagan's island hopping down in central america. no way. but that felon thing blew away like so much political baby kissing. i hope this does, too. i hope we rebound as a nation and get our balances back. because right now we are out of whack. we are not dope. we are not sick.
it's amazing to think that whack doesn't mean "hit on the noggin". and sick means not sick.and dope is...cool. as for phat...well, i am not a linguist and so i think i decide to pronounce it p-hat.
from this site comes "an editorial:
...the folks who today call themselves "conservatives" - from Limbaugh to Gingrich to Kristol to the senior Bushies - are not conservatives in either the American or the classical European mold. They represent something entirely new in the experience of America, breathtaking in its sweep and horrifying in its reach and ambitions. They are the "new conservatives" or "neo-conservatives."
Arguably, the last two political philosophers who both influenced world events and shared many of the worldviews of today's neocons were the Nicolo Machiavelli (who published "The Prince" in Italy in 1515) and Jörg Lanz von Liebenfels (who inspired a young Adolf Hitler with his magazine "Ostara").
Half Nekkid Thursday
yes, folks. it's that time. high time. high time to give you an unclothed view of part of my anatomy for your delectition. enjoy. try not to swoon. thank you. thankyouverymuch. pogo thanks you, too. and pogo's friends- albert alligator, cherchy lafemme, miz skunk, champeen hosshead, owl, porkypine an' mrs. beaver- thank you as well. and asked me if i wouldn't mind sendin' you a little poem to think of them by (ahem):
how much wood would a woodchunk chunk
would a wood chunk chunk would
a wood chunk chunk woodawood wunk
chunk wooda woo
wa wuh wozza, hum?
or:
how
much ground
round would
a hound dog hog
if a ground hog
was ground round?
you see, i grew up with pogo the possum an' all his little friends even though they were aborn before my time. while other children were dreaming of g.i. joe, barbie and matchbox i was immersed in the theatrical throes of whether pogo would give a good one to the beak of deacon mushrat. it was also the case with penrod, that irrascible gent penned by booth tarkington. written and inked before my time, but my mother was one for the literate arts and the fiendishly juvenile.
so, this is me, fairly damn nekkid.
Tuesday, August 02, 2005
so, there i was, deep in the fresno. wondering if i would ever get out alive. north fresnans were all around me. clovisites were closing in. i realized that i worked in one of the most dangerous places in the world for a towerist: next to PELCO. bastion of greed, greed, greed and charity. damn that last one.
i'll tell you what, though. driving to work in the morning from the relatively safe confines of the tower to the supposedly safe confines of a business near the airport is not what the mayor would have you believe. alan autry. wow. i knew him as a bad actor. bubba from The Heat of the Night (sorry to say, the t.v. series) is my spokesperson to the World At Large. this is the man who "meets" with Mr. Arnie the Steroids Horse who impersonates the Governor in a laugh-filled romp that will leave you breathless and voting for any hooker or midget who ever runs for their offices again.
but today i had to opt out of the 8 hour schedule, because i had to be home between 1 and 4 p.m. the air conditioning guy was going to come by sometime within those time restaints and fix my air conditioning. and it was 103 degrees today. as providence would have it (and we all know that when a service technician says "between this time and this time" he or she means as close as possible to the later one) he showed at 4:15. amazingly, i hadn't given up and left yet to walk and get my car from the shop. i had my hat on, my keys in my pocket and was trying to convince thumper to come in from the front stoop. thumper had other things on her mind like seeing how long i would talk to her before giving up in disgust.
so, the a.c. guy is there. he looks at my furnace. he looks at my condensor unit (he doesn't laugh when i tell him the unit only looks small because of the freon). and he tells me that everything is working fine and to call his shop when something breaks. the damn thing wouldn't turn on on sunday. flat out. wouldn't work.
so, i head down to the car shop where my car is sitting. the same car that wouldn't start on sunday. flat out. wouldn't work. after a nice walk of about 20 minutes in the 103 weather i get there and my car is ready to go. no charge. why no charge? because as soon as it got there it behaved like the child of your relatives' dreams. no pissing, no crapping, sugar doesn't raise the heartbeat by a smidge. so, now i have a car that i don't know will start in the morning (unless it feels like it) and an a.c. unit that will kick if it feels like it. and the experts all agree that i'm not a movie star and i should stop acting like i deserve to be treated like one. almost makes me want to blog another po-em...but not tonight.
i got meat on my mind.
i'll tell you what, though. driving to work in the morning from the relatively safe confines of the tower to the supposedly safe confines of a business near the airport is not what the mayor would have you believe. alan autry. wow. i knew him as a bad actor. bubba from The Heat of the Night (sorry to say, the t.v. series) is my spokesperson to the World At Large. this is the man who "meets" with Mr. Arnie the Steroids Horse who impersonates the Governor in a laugh-filled romp that will leave you breathless and voting for any hooker or midget who ever runs for their offices again.
but today i had to opt out of the 8 hour schedule, because i had to be home between 1 and 4 p.m. the air conditioning guy was going to come by sometime within those time restaints and fix my air conditioning. and it was 103 degrees today. as providence would have it (and we all know that when a service technician says "between this time and this time" he or she means as close as possible to the later one) he showed at 4:15. amazingly, i hadn't given up and left yet to walk and get my car from the shop. i had my hat on, my keys in my pocket and was trying to convince thumper to come in from the front stoop. thumper had other things on her mind like seeing how long i would talk to her before giving up in disgust.
so, the a.c. guy is there. he looks at my furnace. he looks at my condensor unit (he doesn't laugh when i tell him the unit only looks small because of the freon). and he tells me that everything is working fine and to call his shop when something breaks. the damn thing wouldn't turn on on sunday. flat out. wouldn't work.
so, i head down to the car shop where my car is sitting. the same car that wouldn't start on sunday. flat out. wouldn't work. after a nice walk of about 20 minutes in the 103 weather i get there and my car is ready to go. no charge. why no charge? because as soon as it got there it behaved like the child of your relatives' dreams. no pissing, no crapping, sugar doesn't raise the heartbeat by a smidge. so, now i have a car that i don't know will start in the morning (unless it feels like it) and an a.c. unit that will kick if it feels like it. and the experts all agree that i'm not a movie star and i should stop acting like i deserve to be treated like one. almost makes me want to blog another po-em...but not tonight.
i got meat on my mind.
The Adventures of Buck Buck #3
...hmmm...so, i've made it out of that one guy's pocket. gave me up for a beer. how do you like that? one buck, one beer. he didn't get charged for the second beer or one of my comrades- ducat and cash -would be hanging with me still.
anyway, i'm free at last. thank god almighty, i'm free at last. now if i can only get this new guy to pick me up from the computer table and put me in his pocket. otherwise, how can he spend me? hope there's no sawbucks or larger already in there. change is nice. they're sociable, like to chatter a bit when they're bored. good way to while the waiting time.
huh. he keeps staring at me, then glancing away quickly. wonder what that's about?
oh crap. he's got a cat. filthy little beasts. if i'm so much as moved an inch i'll become a flip toy. okay, so let's concentrate on no wind. still as a midsummer's day. nothing to see here you nasty little monster. keep moving. oh look, it's baby jesus on a string! man, cats are dumb.
...i'm starting to think this may not be my day. he just sits there staring at his computer screen and occasionally pecking inexpertly at it. now, he's surfing the web. wonder what he's looking-- oh, that's just disgusting. perv!!! oh god, spend me quick! and with the other hand!!!
...i feel so dirty and used...
(police blotter #18843-28: supect was turned in by owner at 14:23:30 on 8/2/05. supect gives its name as "buck". refused to speak or cooperate with arresting officers. appeared delusional, paranoid and wrinkled. upon body search, smallish amounts of white residue were noted. suspect was consequently tested for drugs. trace amounts of cocaine, speed and crystal meth were present in suspect's fibers. suspect was remanded to owner's custody with one year's probation. conditions of probation are as follows:
1. no loitering near liquor stores;
2. no loitering near toilet tanks;
3. not to be seen rolled up in public;
4. not to be seen in north fresno college bars;
5. complete 30 cents of a drug diversion program;
6. no gang associations (i.e. "13th street hempers").
suspect is required to check in weekly with an officer of the court to verify current address and may be subject to random drug tests. any failure to comply with all or any of the above requirements may result in a jail sentence of no more than one year and a fine of one dollar.)
update circa 19:27-
yup, this guy's pretty much a tradeoff with the last guy. goes to the store, buys beer and cigarettes. pays with plastic. yeah, i know i couldn't cover the purchase. but he could have gotten rid of some of the "elite" that he is still holding onto. and he had them in his pocket (yes, i'm forced into uncomfortably close confines with a five, ten and twenty...bitchy little pricks).
ah well, tomorrow's a new day and he does so like the catering truck that shows up at work for the morning break. perhaps he'll want a muffin or breakfast burrito. one can only hope and dream, because his pocket is dark, warm and humid. and smells of elderberries.
Monday, August 01, 2005
These Asian Times
JAPAN STOCKPILES PLUTONIUM AS THREAT OF NUCLEAR ESCALATION SPREADS ACROSS ASIA
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article302724.ece
"We have plenty of plutonium in our nuclear power plants, so it's possible for us to produce 3,000 to 4,000 nuclear warheads." The same year the chief cabinet secretary, Yasuo Fukuda, stunned the nation by claiming Japan's "pacifist" constitution did not prohibit nuclear weapons.
ARROYO'S LAST CHA-CHA
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/GG30Ae02.html
Outsiders could forgive the average Filipino for being cynical, and even that might be too generous a word. In fact most are way past being cynical. A good portion of the more than 80 million Filipinos are so fed up with their keepers, they simply don' t care any more. Instead, they prefer to lampoon their leader, with jokes spread by text messages and, perhaps most hilariously, by making her voice into a wildly popular cell phone ring tone.
(snip)
What seemed strange at the time was a former president holding a news conference from inside the presidential palace. More than a few people speculated that there had been some kind of soft coup, that Arroyo had become nothing more than a figurehead, with Ramos as the real power in charge. While Ramos laughed off the suggestions, Arroyo's words at the state of the nation address said otherwise. As she commenced her speech, she welcomed and thanked Ramos even before the Senate president, Franklin Drilon, who occupied the chair right behind her. From a protocol standpoint this was a serious blunder. From a political angle, however, it made perfect sense; Drilon, a former staunch ally, had recently dumped Arroyo and asked her to resign.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article302724.ece
"We have plenty of plutonium in our nuclear power plants, so it's possible for us to produce 3,000 to 4,000 nuclear warheads." The same year the chief cabinet secretary, Yasuo Fukuda, stunned the nation by claiming Japan's "pacifist" constitution did not prohibit nuclear weapons.
ARROYO'S LAST CHA-CHA
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/GG30Ae02.html
Outsiders could forgive the average Filipino for being cynical, and even that might be too generous a word. In fact most are way past being cynical. A good portion of the more than 80 million Filipinos are so fed up with their keepers, they simply don' t care any more. Instead, they prefer to lampoon their leader, with jokes spread by text messages and, perhaps most hilariously, by making her voice into a wildly popular cell phone ring tone.
(snip)
What seemed strange at the time was a former president holding a news conference from inside the presidential palace. More than a few people speculated that there had been some kind of soft coup, that Arroyo had become nothing more than a figurehead, with Ramos as the real power in charge. While Ramos laughed off the suggestions, Arroyo's words at the state of the nation address said otherwise. As she commenced her speech, she welcomed and thanked Ramos even before the Senate president, Franklin Drilon, who occupied the chair right behind her. From a protocol standpoint this was a serious blunder. From a political angle, however, it made perfect sense; Drilon, a former staunch ally, had recently dumped Arroyo and asked her to resign.
A Case of the Mondays
here i sit broken hearted
have a car which shoulda started
ignition switch has gone kapoop
i'm missing work and outtta the loop.
AC unit done quit on me
and the air in here is 103
money's tight, not much to give
now i know how artists live.
yes, indeedy. home alone. without a car. without reliable air conditioning. and a cat that suddenly wants to be picked up and held. i have to admit that the walk home this morning from the mechanic's shop was not so bad. i stayed on van ness blvd as long as i could. and the tow truck fee was a lot smaller than it could have been. you see, yesterday when i got in my beloved bmw 3.0 Si (silver) to go and meet lecram for sunday coffee at java wava i noticed something amiss. the damn thing wouldn't start! wouldn't even turn over! all it would do was play dead!
so, i calmly got back out of the car and called lecram to inform him that i would not be meeting him after all. this was not a good start to the day. especially after i very calmly put my fist through the window and my foot as well.
that was a joke.
so, i fretted some and i stewed some and i chewed my nails some wondering whereohwhere was i going to raise cash if the car problem thingy turned into an expensive surgery (and trust me. nothing about this car's upkeep is cheap). after a while i turned on the central A.C., because the thermostat hit 90. an hour later i realized that besides stewing i was now steaming. boiling over. that's when i noticed the thermostat read 95. that's when i noticed something new was amiss. that's when i noticed the outside condensor unit hadn't kicked on. that's when i noticed that the furnace blower was pushing outside air in without benefit of cooling.
all of this on a sunday when nothing's open and no one cares.
so, i walked over to my mechanic's house to find him remodeling the kitchen. i told him of the problem and asked him for advice. the advice he gave me in body language was to leave immediately. i politely did so without reminding him of the more than $2000 i had spent at his shop in the last year.
so, now to this morning. i called van ness automotive (a neighborhood shop), was given the green light to bring it in and proceeded to call for a tow truck. first, though, i (in my infinite wisdom) decided to try starting the car one more time. and it star---no it didn't. it thought about it for half of a second, then reverted to its original opinion.
i called for the truck. the truck arrives, driver asks what's the problem, checks lights, asks me to turn the key with lights on to check battery...and guess what? the car starts. it starts as if it hadn't a care in the world. after a good, hearty, man to man chuckle with the driver (and i'd swear the car was laughing, too) we agreed that he would charge me for a service call and would follow me to the car shop at no extra fee. so, a silverer lining around my silver P.O.S.
now, i'm home again thinking that i could hop on the city bus and be at work in about an hour (because fresno's bus system serving a community of well over 500,000 souls is a system built for a town of 500). then, my landlord calls.
"joel, whozit air conditioning will be at your house tomorrow between 1 p.m. and 4."
"...greeaat. i'll be here."
at that point i know i have no intention of getting on any bus to drive anywhere for over an hour and still have a 3/4 mile walk to work. i, also, knew that i would have to call my manager and gently inform him that i would be bussing it to work tomorrow and needing to leave early...but that brings up the question: if the earliest i can get to work is about 7:30 a.m. and i would need to catch a bus that got me back to my house by 1 p.m., should i even go in if i can only be there for four hours? the asphalt work that i do is an all day affair. after 4 hours i'm just getting into the nitty gritty of the tests.
well, i haven't called him yet. most likely he'll tell me to borrow a company truck to drive home in tomorrow. which ain't a bad thing. those trucks have better air conditioning than my car.
so, here does the call...
have a car which shoulda started
ignition switch has gone kapoop
i'm missing work and outtta the loop.
AC unit done quit on me
and the air in here is 103
money's tight, not much to give
now i know how artists live.
yes, indeedy. home alone. without a car. without reliable air conditioning. and a cat that suddenly wants to be picked up and held. i have to admit that the walk home this morning from the mechanic's shop was not so bad. i stayed on van ness blvd as long as i could. and the tow truck fee was a lot smaller than it could have been. you see, yesterday when i got in my beloved bmw 3.0 Si (silver) to go and meet lecram for sunday coffee at java wava i noticed something amiss. the damn thing wouldn't start! wouldn't even turn over! all it would do was play dead!
so, i calmly got back out of the car and called lecram to inform him that i would not be meeting him after all. this was not a good start to the day. especially after i very calmly put my fist through the window and my foot as well.
that was a joke.
so, i fretted some and i stewed some and i chewed my nails some wondering whereohwhere was i going to raise cash if the car problem thingy turned into an expensive surgery (and trust me. nothing about this car's upkeep is cheap). after a while i turned on the central A.C., because the thermostat hit 90. an hour later i realized that besides stewing i was now steaming. boiling over. that's when i noticed the thermostat read 95. that's when i noticed something new was amiss. that's when i noticed the outside condensor unit hadn't kicked on. that's when i noticed that the furnace blower was pushing outside air in without benefit of cooling.
all of this on a sunday when nothing's open and no one cares.
so, i walked over to my mechanic's house to find him remodeling the kitchen. i told him of the problem and asked him for advice. the advice he gave me in body language was to leave immediately. i politely did so without reminding him of the more than $2000 i had spent at his shop in the last year.
so, now to this morning. i called van ness automotive (a neighborhood shop), was given the green light to bring it in and proceeded to call for a tow truck. first, though, i (in my infinite wisdom) decided to try starting the car one more time. and it star---no it didn't. it thought about it for half of a second, then reverted to its original opinion.
i called for the truck. the truck arrives, driver asks what's the problem, checks lights, asks me to turn the key with lights on to check battery...and guess what? the car starts. it starts as if it hadn't a care in the world. after a good, hearty, man to man chuckle with the driver (and i'd swear the car was laughing, too) we agreed that he would charge me for a service call and would follow me to the car shop at no extra fee. so, a silverer lining around my silver P.O.S.
now, i'm home again thinking that i could hop on the city bus and be at work in about an hour (because fresno's bus system serving a community of well over 500,000 souls is a system built for a town of 500). then, my landlord calls.
"joel, whozit air conditioning will be at your house tomorrow between 1 p.m. and 4."
"...greeaat. i'll be here."
at that point i know i have no intention of getting on any bus to drive anywhere for over an hour and still have a 3/4 mile walk to work. i, also, knew that i would have to call my manager and gently inform him that i would be bussing it to work tomorrow and needing to leave early...but that brings up the question: if the earliest i can get to work is about 7:30 a.m. and i would need to catch a bus that got me back to my house by 1 p.m., should i even go in if i can only be there for four hours? the asphalt work that i do is an all day affair. after 4 hours i'm just getting into the nitty gritty of the tests.
well, i haven't called him yet. most likely he'll tell me to borrow a company truck to drive home in tomorrow. which ain't a bad thing. those trucks have better air conditioning than my car.
so, here does the call...
Sunday, July 31, 2005
Sunday Sermon
yes, Jayne, there is a Santa Claus (so long as we keep him in our hearts). but no, jayne, there is no democracy. there hasn't been for quite a long time. it's not Bush who started it. it wasn't Reagan or Clinton. it was a group of former Communists who became disillusioned with that party's goals, realizing that it had no chance of surviving or effecting change. so, they became Democrats. they were part of the New Deal and Kennedy's Camelot (though many were opting out by that point). some were singled out during the McCarthy debacle. after that, they became Neo-Conservatives. and they studied. and they realized that corporations, not nations, are the true rulers of this world. corporations make and break governments. corporations control the flow of money and research. corporations such as IBM, AT&T, Exxon, General Electric, Mobil, Johnson & Johnson, Nike...these entities are what control your and my destiny inasmuch as we consume. and we consume much more often than we vote or read or write. do you drink water? they own the water. our government doesn't. do you need gas, electricity, food, entertainment, clothes, housing? all basic needs, all owned by corporations. all touted by politicians as issues to be addressed if only you will vote for said politician. but said politician's war chest is not filled by you or me. it is filled by corporations intent on changing or introducing legislation. it is filled by corporations which are filling the opposition's war chest as well. corporations don't care who wins so long as one does. and it's no secret that the "special interest lobby groups" and PAC's in D.C. are the movers and shakers. all governments look at public polls. all governments try not to step too far out of the norm when pushing their agendas. but the special interests and PAC's are the corporation fronts that tell our governments just how far they CAN tiptoe out without being dragged down. halliburton being given new war contracts despite its lousy accounting department, despite its cost overruns and fraudulent billing? no problem so long as Bolton is being held up for crucifixion. no problem so long as Rove is blabbing secrets. the corporations are the ones raping us. they are the ones who control our every move. Bush and his band are the Players, the ones who put on the show in order to distract. if he's lucky, Bush will go down in the history books as a great president. if he's unlucky, he'll be remembered as a schmuck. the corporations don't care either way. they get their contracts. they manipulate the stock market. the oversee global transactions. they shadow every government in existence and almost always are "in the king's ear" before our government is. and our government will never say boo, because the corporations are the best at wooing and bedding. and once bedded...always wedded.
(so, this may have nothing to do with the above diatribe, but i find it indicative)
Leaked emails from two former prosecutors claim the military commissions set up to try detainees at Guantanamo Bay are rigged, fraudulent, and thin on evidence against the accused.
(so, this may have nothing to do with the above diatribe, but i find it indicative)
Leaked emails from two former prosecutors claim the military commissions set up to try detainees at Guantanamo Bay are rigged, fraudulent, and thin on evidence against the accused.
Friday, July 29, 2005
Why The Saudi Envoy Really Went Home
Asia Times Online, Hong Kong
WHY THE SAUDI ENVOY REALLY WENT HOME
The Saudi ruling family has tried to convince the world that everything is just as it should be inside the kingdom in the two months since the ailing King Fahd was hospitalized with chronic pneumonia. But the resignation this week of Prince Bandar, the Saudi ambassador to Washington for 22 years, and the announcement that he will be replaced by the current London ambassador, Prince Turki al-Faisal, heightens speculation that an announcement of the king's death is imminent. Bandar's dramatic return to Riyadh will allow him to jostle for position when Crown Prince Abdullah becomes king. … Indeed, the main reason behind the resignation of Prince Bandar is believed to be the friction-creating situation between him and Abdullah, and the latter's increasing dependence on Adel al-Jubair, his private counselor in Washington, for communicating messages to the US administration. Turki, meanwhile, is a brother of Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal, who announced Bandar's resignation in Riyadh last week, even though Bandar had issued a statement denying the fact a week before. Saud is Abdullah's closest ally. The jostling for position has clearly begun. … Those waiting in the wings who are most disciplined and determined – and desperate to seize the oil wealth and claim all the prestige that comes with the governorship of the two holy shrines – are the followers of Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden.
WHY THE SAUDI ENVOY REALLY WENT HOME
The Saudi ruling family has tried to convince the world that everything is just as it should be inside the kingdom in the two months since the ailing King Fahd was hospitalized with chronic pneumonia. But the resignation this week of Prince Bandar, the Saudi ambassador to Washington for 22 years, and the announcement that he will be replaced by the current London ambassador, Prince Turki al-Faisal, heightens speculation that an announcement of the king's death is imminent. Bandar's dramatic return to Riyadh will allow him to jostle for position when Crown Prince Abdullah becomes king. … Indeed, the main reason behind the resignation of Prince Bandar is believed to be the friction-creating situation between him and Abdullah, and the latter's increasing dependence on Adel al-Jubair, his private counselor in Washington, for communicating messages to the US administration. Turki, meanwhile, is a brother of Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal, who announced Bandar's resignation in Riyadh last week, even though Bandar had issued a statement denying the fact a week before. Saud is Abdullah's closest ally. The jostling for position has clearly begun. … Those waiting in the wings who are most disciplined and determined – and desperate to seize the oil wealth and claim all the prestige that comes with the governorship of the two holy shrines – are the followers of Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden.
Thursday, July 28, 2005
All Bullock. All The Time.
It was sandra's birthday on wednesday and i thought a little celebration was in order. so:whoo hoo!
shake it mama!
and i think it only proper that i nominate sandra for official clelbrity muse of either Girls Gone Rogue or the Hootchie Fest. whichever. i'm not picky.
Wednesday, July 27, 2005
Fresno Bee Reported $1.5 Billion As Tax Cuts, Nothing Else
(a must read: Henry Waxman's letter that is highlighted and linked below)
DeLay Still Up To Dirty Tricks
Tom DeLay thinks the federal treasury is his personal piggy bank. DeLay slipped “a $1.5 billion giveaway to the oil industry, Halliburton, and Sugar Land, Texas” into the energy bill.
But this isn’t a normal case of government pork. DeLay has completely dispensed with the democratic process. From a letter Rep. Henry Waxman just sent Speaker Dennis Hastert:
The provision was inserted into the energy legislation after the conference was closed, so members of the conference committee had no opportunity to consider or reject this measure.
The $1.5 billion won’t be administered by the government by a private consortium in DeLay’s district:
The subtitle appears to steer the administration of 75% of the $1.5 billion fund to a private consortium located in the district of Majority Leader Tom DeLay. Ordinarily, a large fund like this would be administered directly by the government.
Hastert and DeLay need to explain themselves immediately. No member of Congress who takes taxpayer dollars seriously should vote for the energy bill until this matter is resolved.
DeLay Still Up To Dirty Tricks
Tom DeLay thinks the federal treasury is his personal piggy bank. DeLay slipped “a $1.5 billion giveaway to the oil industry, Halliburton, and Sugar Land, Texas” into the energy bill.
But this isn’t a normal case of government pork. DeLay has completely dispensed with the democratic process. From a letter Rep. Henry Waxman just sent Speaker Dennis Hastert:
The provision was inserted into the energy legislation after the conference was closed, so members of the conference committee had no opportunity to consider or reject this measure.
The $1.5 billion won’t be administered by the government by a private consortium in DeLay’s district:
The subtitle appears to steer the administration of 75% of the $1.5 billion fund to a private consortium located in the district of Majority Leader Tom DeLay. Ordinarily, a large fund like this would be administered directly by the government.
Hastert and DeLay need to explain themselves immediately. No member of Congress who takes taxpayer dollars seriously should vote for the energy bill until this matter is resolved.
Tuesday, July 26, 2005
the "mainstream press" has a long and illustrious history of not investigating stories until it's sure that readership will not fall off. now, after two years of photographic and anecdotal evidence, the numbers are beginning to add up in such a manner that publications like the washington post and new yahk times and time magazine and newsweek cannot afford to remain silent on the alleged mistreatment and/or torture of those people detained incommunicado by our government.
i wonder why it takes so long for the so-called bastions of freedom to take an interest in actual reporting if it's not because of the money. below are some of my other concerns about our current state of the union and the silence of the press up until recently:
i wonder why it takes so long for the so-called bastions of freedom to take an interest in actual reporting if it's not because of the money. below are some of my other concerns about our current state of the union and the silence of the press up until recently:
- the karl rove/valerie plame leak hit the press over two years ago.
- the government's "faulty" WMD info happened in 2002.
- john kerry's vietnam war record was under attack (fraudulently) in 2000.
- john ashcroft recused himself from the rove investigation over a year ago when bloggers began reporting he might have been given inside info on the affair. no one has questioned him on his sudden departure from the investigation or asked about the so-called "conflict of interest".
- abu ghraib pictures surfaced two or so years ago and not one mainstream reporter went after it. or, if one did, the indepth story was quashed for a year.
- george bush said two years ago that anyone in his administration caught leaking sensitive info to the public would be fired. now he says anyone "convicted of the crime of leaking sensitive info to the public" will be fired.
- judith miller has chosen to go to jail rather than give up her sources for a story she never even wrote. matt cooper somehow was given a waiver by his sources. bob novak, who wrote the actual story that outed valerie plame/wilson, seems to have been given a free pass by the independent prosecutor.
- if cooper spoke with rove and scooter libby and somehow was given permission to speak their names to a grand jury, then who spoke with judith miller? it couldn't have been those two, could it? someone higher up, maybe? dick cheney (which is the punchline for the piercing joke they say bush likes to tell)?
- why are we now prosecuting sergeants in the prisoner abuse cases after two years? shouldn't we up to colonels by now?
- when is halliburton going to pay back the hundreds of millions of $$$ it overcharged the government (which is our tax money) instead of continuing to be given new contracts?
- are the women of Iraq and Afghanistan destined to remain chattel under their new U.S. backed governments? not that i could realistically argue against it if this is what these cultures have practiced for aeons. our government only seems to desire a semblance of democracy. it doesn't seem concerned with true democracy. true democracy might get in the way of oil, money and power. besides, if true democracy exists in Iraq, then it includes powersharing with Iran (which is perhaps the most ironic thing to happen so far).
- senate republicans are calling for an investigation into the rove/plame leak affair and (at the same time) an investigation into the special prosecutor's job of handling it. so far, the prosecutor has been given high marks by almost all involved. why, then, would he need investigating? no republican wanted kenneth starr "investigated" while he took a gander at monica's dress and claimed that clinton was satan.
these are just some of the things that don't really keep me up at night. but that's only because i promised in my first blog never to do this sober (and i've only broken that vow a number of times). the one thing that lets me sleep at night is the fact that i write this and then take 5 minutes to laugh like a hyena, throw my poop at passing cars like a chimpanzee, and pee all over my neighbor's bushes (because it confuses the hell out their dog the next morning). stress relief baby.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/26/AR2005072601792.html?sub=AR
and just so you know a bit more about karl rove, read this.
and today's white house briefing (parsed i must add).
so, tell me if you will and are worthy what you think of any of this. i shudder to think that i am almost alone in looking further into this morass than others. i would specifically enjoy input by soldiers or those who have been soldiers...and by "input" i don't mean the 'hey sailor' sort of thing, mustang.
i've always thought that children, as they reach alleged adulthood, will do anything to move as far away from their parents as possible (with the exception of the majority who would rather stay at home and sponge for as long as possible or move out and then back in ten years later due to a downsizing in their industry or a divorce or a spiritual rebirth in which they find that they never really knew their parents and now want to reconnect in a spongy manner or they're misunderstood artists working on the next earth shattering movement and need the comfort of manageable unemployment or they're drug fiends with no fixed income).so, i was a little underprepared (to say the least) when my son dropped by this evening to let me in on the news that he is moving into a house a little over a block away. while this, in and of itself, is very good news as he and i seem to never see each other, i can't help but begin to envision the awkward situations which come into play. fortunately (for him, not me), my love life is (as they say) the size of squirrel nuts. unfortunately (for me, not him), my hermitage may just have gone by the wayside...not that i would expect him to be dropping in very often. after all, he's 18 and a so-called "anarchist" (but one of the nice ones).
seriously, i think this could be a very neat thing.
but still...weird in a Tower sort of way.
Hairy Polarity
from the Tim Todd Ministries comes this "hilariously entertaining" comic book that will, also, teach and enlighten you about the evils of the Harry Potter book series (specifically the godlessness and wizards and witches being seen as neutral instead of evil).
disclaimer: i've read all of the Potter books and enjoyed them to their full immensity without having bad dreams, wet dreams, moments of supernatural clarity, without having discovered hidden magical talents (i already know all of mine, thankyouverymuch) or the ability to fart in technicolor (i put this in only if j.k. rowling is reading my blog).
however, the comic book is available at www.truthforyouth.com.
the graphics look nice, don't they? although, i am wondering what the pig is all about...
Monday, July 25, 2005
and the treason beat goes on:
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000991278
along with a bird's eye view of the Wilsons:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2005-07-24-wilson-neighbor_x.htm
SSM's A Made Man
stole this from the "i am not afraid" site, but it had to be done. i think you all should meet my capo tu nutti, the balls behind the brains. the next time you want to insult SSM, remember this picture. the ball may toll for you.
The Po-em
it's that time again, children. now, gather 'round and eat your ice cream quietly whilst uncle joel entertains you with another of his gentle and sweet works of the Word:
We have immaculate assholes.
we are stone cold sincere
when we fuck you.
where you can't smell
we are.
shitting
takes time
and runs flush with mortality.
arrest the atoms
and let the vacuum
sweep through.
i feel wilder
through her eyes,
the tickling of fangs
in her throat.
stilettos cackle
as i'm carried down
to her doom.
the silence then is element
and stark.
We have immaculate assholes.
we are stone cold sincere
when we fuck you.
where you can't smell
we are.
shitting
takes time
and runs flush with mortality.
arrest the atoms
and let the vacuum
sweep through.
i feel wilder
through her eyes,
the tickling of fangs
in her throat.
stilettos cackle
as i'm carried down
to her doom.
the silence then is element
and stark.
Who Are The Knuckleheads? We Are The Knuckleheads!
naomi klein reports on the continued violence in Haiti. check the last couple of paragraphs for Noriega's comments that sound eerily familiar to ones made about Osama bin Laden:
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20050801&s=klein
p.s. it's been 1407 days since preznit bush said osama bin laden was "wanted dead or alive".
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20050801&s=klein
p.s. it's been 1407 days since preznit bush said osama bin laden was "wanted dead or alive".
Gap This
hey, wasn't nixon's gap only seventeen minutes long? bush's appears to be 36 hours:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/24/opinion/24rich.html?pagewanted=all
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/24/opinion/24rich.html?pagewanted=all
Sunday, July 24, 2005
Wednesday, July 20, 2005
Deferred Gagging
LONDON (Reuters) - The word "fail" should be banned from use in British classrooms and replaced with the phrase "deferred success" to avoid demoralizing pupils, a group of teachers has proposed. Members of the Professional Association of Teachers (PAT) argue that telling pupils they have failed can put them off learning for life. A spokesman for the group said it wanted to avoid labeling children. "We recognize that children do not necessarily achieve success first time," he said. "But I recognize that we can't just strike a word from the dictionary," he said.
The PAT said it would debate the proposal at a conference next week.
The PAT said it would debate the proposal at a conference next week.
Tuesday, July 19, 2005
John Roberts, The Man Who Would Be Bushed
different takes on this most holy jurist:
http://media.pfaw.org/roberts.pdf
a history of his political donations:
http://mpetrelis.blogspot.com/2005_07_19_mpetrelis_archive.html#112181755570419005
this one's biased:
http://www.independentjudiciary.com/resources/docs/John_Roberts_Report.pdf
roberts has his say on different legal matters. it's the one in which he states that violence against women should be left to the states, because it's (i assume he means the violence) is different in different states that i begin to wonder about him:
http://www.independentjudiciary.com/resources/docs/John_Roberts_Report.pdf
a very good bio:
http://courtinginfluence.net/nominee.php?nominee_id=55
http://www.now.org/issues/legislat/nominees/roberts.html
http://media.pfaw.org/roberts.pdf
a history of his political donations:
http://mpetrelis.blogspot.com/2005_07_19_mpetrelis_archive.html#112181755570419005
this one's biased:
http://www.independentjudiciary.com/resources/docs/John_Roberts_Report.pdf
roberts has his say on different legal matters. it's the one in which he states that violence against women should be left to the states, because it's (i assume he means the violence) is different in different states that i begin to wonder about him:
http://www.independentjudiciary.com/resources/docs/John_Roberts_Report.pdf
a very good bio:
http://courtinginfluence.net/nominee.php?nominee_id=55
http://www.now.org/issues/legislat/nominees/roberts.html
Beam Me Up, Scottie!
scott mcClellan makes it through another day of having actual reporters inside the white house press briefing room.
Monday, July 18, 2005
Plop It On The Table, Man
yo, dubya, you said before that you would fire anyone who leaked classified info. you were "very concerned" about a leaker (so much so that you said the word "leaker" 6 times in three sentences in one interview). now you say they'll only be fired if they committed a crime. so, who's word will you take concerning that little parse? either karl rove leaked info or he didn't. hiding behind "rove never said her name" (when the truth is he said she was the wife of joe wilson and worked for the CIA) isn't going to wash in the long run. why not just admit rove fucked up and let him go? he would probably be more effective on the outside now that he got you your second term. any number of conservative law firms and corporations will hire him on the spot and still do business with you and the Big Checkbook.
your ratings are a bear in the woods. you know that, right? a big growler.
you seem to have only two choices right about now. you can continue to plop the line about "waiting until all the evidence is in" (and how many times has that one turned out to be an alamo?), "that depends on what the definition of 'is' is" or "the president was out of the loop" as long as you like. but the longer you insist on these things the less likely we will be to believe it. you're fair caught.
or you as scissors can make peace with rock. give this to us and we as a whole will paper it over. i won't personally, because i know of so many other things you and your handlers have done these past 5 years (oh god, three more?!?) and will continue to try to expose.
as a whole, though: plop it on the table, man.
President Bush qualified his pledge to dismiss any White House official found to have leaked the name of a CIA operative, saying Monday that "if someone committed a crime" he would be fired.
your ratings are a bear in the woods. you know that, right? a big growler.
you seem to have only two choices right about now. you can continue to plop the line about "waiting until all the evidence is in" (and how many times has that one turned out to be an alamo?), "that depends on what the definition of 'is' is" or "the president was out of the loop" as long as you like. but the longer you insist on these things the less likely we will be to believe it. you're fair caught.
or you as scissors can make peace with rock. give this to us and we as a whole will paper it over. i won't personally, because i know of so many other things you and your handlers have done these past 5 years (oh god, three more?!?) and will continue to try to expose.
as a whole, though: plop it on the table, man.
President Bush qualified his pledge to dismiss any White House official found to have leaked the name of a CIA operative, saying Monday that "if someone committed a crime" he would be fired.
Get Your War ON
by the way (in case i haven't mentioned it before) there is a very funny, caustic, stick-in-your-eye, bush-is-an-asshole-along-with-all-of-his-buddies cartoon strip that can be seen nowhere else (especially not in the mainstream press). i encourage all to visit it, read it, laugh and/or weep and/or send love/hate mail and/or curse/scream with joy:
http://www.mnftiu.cc/mnftiu.cc/war.html
http://www.mnftiu.cc/mnftiu.cc/war.html
Seymour Hersh Writes Again
The January 30th election in Iraq was publicly perceived as a political triumph for George W. Bush and a vindication of his decision to overturn the regime of Saddam Hussein. More than eight million Iraqis defied the threats of the insurgency and came out to vote for provincial councils and a national assembly. Many of them spent hours waiting patiently in line, knowing that they were risking their lives. Images of smiling Iraqis waving purple index fingers, signifying that they had voted, were transmitted around the world. Even some of the President’s harshest critics acknowledged that he might have been right: democracy, as he defined it, could take hold in the Middle East. The fact that very few Sunnis, who were dominant under Saddam Hussein, chose to vote was seen within the Administration as a temporary setback.
Sunday, July 17, 2005
These Songs Can Turn You Gay (guess i'm over the sandra tragedy)
read the following from the Weekly World News and let me know if you think they forgot any songs.
PSYCHOLOGISTS nationwide are reporting a disturbing trend among new, formerly heterosexual, patients -- they heard specific songs that apparently turned them gay. And the more times they hear these songs, the gayer they become. The tunes mentioned most frequently as being responsible for such gay brainwashing include:
YMCA, In the Navy, or Macho Man -- The Village People
I'm Coming Out --DianaRoss
ConstantCraving -- k.d. lang
Outside -- George Michael
Over the Rainbow -- Judy Garland
I'm Too Sexy -- Right Said Fred
I Will Survive -- Gloria Gaynor
Saturday Night Fever -- and anything else by the Bee Gees
Dancing Queen -- Abba
It's Raining Men -- The Weather Girls
Supermodel -- RuPaul
Believe -- Cher
Love to Love You -- Donna Summer
Vogue -- Madonna
Relax -- Frankie Goes to Hollywood
I Will Always Love You -- Whitney Huston
That's the Way I Like It -- KC and the Sunshine Band
Wake Me Up Before You Go Go -- Wham
I'm So Excited -- Pointer Sisters
Psychologist Dr. Todd Snider, author of the upcoming book, Don't Let Music Turn You Gay, recommends that if any of these songs start playing, "Turn them off immediately, leave the room, and start listening to any music by Ted Nugent, Ozzy Osbourne, Van Halen or Frank Sinatra. If it's too late, check into the nearest hospital emergency room as soon as possible."
PSYCHOLOGISTS nationwide are reporting a disturbing trend among new, formerly heterosexual, patients -- they heard specific songs that apparently turned them gay. And the more times they hear these songs, the gayer they become. The tunes mentioned most frequently as being responsible for such gay brainwashing include:
YMCA, In the Navy, or Macho Man -- The Village People
I'm Coming Out --DianaRoss
ConstantCraving -- k.d. lang
Outside -- George Michael
Over the Rainbow -- Judy Garland
I'm Too Sexy -- Right Said Fred
I Will Survive -- Gloria Gaynor
Saturday Night Fever -- and anything else by the Bee Gees
Dancing Queen -- Abba
It's Raining Men -- The Weather Girls
Supermodel -- RuPaul
Believe -- Cher
Love to Love You -- Donna Summer
Vogue -- Madonna
Relax -- Frankie Goes to Hollywood
I Will Always Love You -- Whitney Huston
That's the Way I Like It -- KC and the Sunshine Band
Wake Me Up Before You Go Go -- Wham
I'm So Excited -- Pointer Sisters
Psychologist Dr. Todd Snider, author of the upcoming book, Don't Let Music Turn You Gay, recommends that if any of these songs start playing, "Turn them off immediately, leave the room, and start listening to any music by Ted Nugent, Ozzy Osbourne, Van Halen or Frank Sinatra. If it's too late, check into the nearest hospital emergency room as soon as possible."
R.I.P. Scary Squirrel Man's Heart
(well, that's it. i've died and gone to hell)
Breaking News: SANDRA BULLOCK MARRIES
Sandra Bullock married Monster Garage star Jesse James Saturday at a ranch north of Santa Barbara. Bullock and James started dating in December 2003. This is Bullock's first marriage and James' second. He has one son and two daughters from the previous marriages.
evidently, there is nothing sacred in this world anymore. so long as sandra remained single i knew my life would continue to have meaning. now that is to be no more. somewhere there is an Island of Lost Loves and i must begin preparations for the journey. if i blog never again you will know the reason why.
adieu, innocence.
fare thee well, dreams.
ciao, meaningful nocturnal emissions.
to sleep, perchance to wetdream...no more.
Breaking News: SANDRA BULLOCK MARRIES
Sandra Bullock married Monster Garage star Jesse James Saturday at a ranch north of Santa Barbara. Bullock and James started dating in December 2003. This is Bullock's first marriage and James' second. He has one son and two daughters from the previous marriages.
evidently, there is nothing sacred in this world anymore. so long as sandra remained single i knew my life would continue to have meaning. now that is to be no more. somewhere there is an Island of Lost Loves and i must begin preparations for the journey. if i blog never again you will know the reason why.
adieu, innocence.
fare thee well, dreams.
ciao, meaningful nocturnal emissions.
to sleep, perchance to wetdream...no more.
Plamegate
The tar baby that is Plamegate.
and here
and here (wherein we find that P.J. O'Rourke evidently has stepped over to the Darkside if he is indeed trying to dismiss this whole affair)
and here we have the letter sent by Joe Wilson to the Senate Select Committee, which refutes their dismissive claims.
ta for now. must try to find out if an Indian restaurant is going to be built in my neighborhood (so the rumors go).
and here
and here (wherein we find that P.J. O'Rourke evidently has stepped over to the Darkside if he is indeed trying to dismiss this whole affair)
and here we have the letter sent by Joe Wilson to the Senate Select Committee, which refutes their dismissive claims.
ta for now. must try to find out if an Indian restaurant is going to be built in my neighborhood (so the rumors go).
Saturday, July 16, 2005
Evidently Losers Never Prosper
Sasamori, who now lives in Marina del Rey, Calif., said she is not angry with Americans for how World War II ended, but hates war itself and is saddened by the actions of those who made the bomb.
But she was upset about a $125-per-ticket event at the National Atomic Museum in Albuquerque on Friday.
But she was upset about a $125-per-ticket event at the National Atomic Museum in Albuquerque on Friday.
Is Rove The Fall Guy?
wow. judith miller evidently has done something for the free press that she never did before. by refusing to name sources and being sent to jail she has awakened a sleeping giant that doesn't seem to like being bashed by the administration. the new yawk times has been sporadic in its blunt reporting of activities undertaken by the white house and a bit blase when it came to "investigative" journalism. but now it appears that that is no longer the case. a very good, articulate (if late) editorial:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/17/opinion/17rich.html?hp
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/17/opinion/17rich.html?hp
Crap Crap Crap
it's becoming quite intriguing as this sad little story begins to spin its web farther and farther out:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/15/AR2005071502080.html
it seems that karl rove may not walk the plank after all, if multiple leaks really does pan out and bush can hand someone else's head to the axeman:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/7/16/2851/37971
and it is now looking like a bush administration attempt to knock attention away from the DNC convention before the 2004 election may have also knocked a British investigation off stride which might have resulted in stimying the recent London bomb attacks.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/15/AR2005071502080.html
it seems that karl rove may not walk the plank after all, if multiple leaks really does pan out and bush can hand someone else's head to the axeman:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/7/16/2851/37971
and it is now looking like a bush administration attempt to knock attention away from the DNC convention before the 2004 election may have also knocked a British investigation off stride which might have resulted in stimying the recent London bomb attacks.
Tower News
the latest gossip for the tower district is that the tower trust turned a bid by the people's church to buy either the tower theater or the whole property, because the trust thought it would not be conducive to the neighborhood.
also, word has it that the daily planet is being bought and turned into a 40's style nightclub complete with big band; formal attire required. supposedly this was announced on the local news last night.
i will keep listening for further updates. if any of you know more or know different, please post your comments.
also, word has it that the daily planet is being bought and turned into a 40's style nightclub complete with big band; formal attire required. supposedly this was announced on the local news last night.
i will keep listening for further updates. if any of you know more or know different, please post your comments.
Friday, July 15, 2005
Daily Rove Update
yup, i just won't let it go. karl rove is a person i have learned to love to hate. it's his idology that pushes bush's agenda. to be honest, though, i think rove's idology revolves solely around power; it has no interest in fundamentalism, democratic freedom around the world, faith-based anything, or even global hegemony. these are things that others are allowed to pursue because of his hunger for power and ability to attain it at any cost to anyone who might stand in the way of his dream. power...the power to bend people to his will, even (and especially) the president of the united states. evil exists, i think, and he is a prime example.
Karl Rove's Nondisclosure Agreement
A BUZZFLASH NEWS ALERT
Rep. Waxman released a fact sheet today that explains that the nondisclosure agreement signed by Karl Rove prohibited Mr. Rove from confirming the identity of covert CIA agent Valerie Wilson to reporters. Under the nondisclosure agreement and the applicable executive order, even "negligent" disclosures to reporters are grounds for revocation of a security clearance or dismissal.
* * *
Committee on Government ReformU.S. House of Representatives
July 15, 2005
Fact SheetToday, news reports revealed that Karl Rove, the White House Deputy Chief of Staff and the President's top political advisor, confirmed the identity of covert CIA official Valerie Plame Wilson with Robert Novak on July 8, 2003, six days before Mr. Novak published the information in a nationally syndicated column. These new disclosures have obvious relevance to the criminal investigation of Patrick Fitzgerald, the Special Counsel who is investigating whether Mr. Rove violated a criminal statute by revealing Ms. Wilson's identity as a covert CIA official.
Independent of the relevance these new disclosures have to Mr. Fitzgerald's investigation, they also have significant implications for: (1) whether Mr. Rove violated his obligations under his "Classified Information Nondisclosure Agreement" and (2) whether the White House violated its obligations under Executive Order 12958. Under the nondisclosure agreement and the executive order, Mr. Rove would be subject to the loss of his security clearance or dismissal even for "negligently" disclosing Ms. Wilson's identity.
Karl Rove's Nondisclosure Agreement
Executive Order 12958 governs how federal employees are awarded security clearances in order to obtain access to classified information. It was last updated by President George W. Bush on March 25, 2003, although it has existed in some form since the Truman era. The executive order applies to any entity within the executive branch that comes into possession of classified information, including the White House. It requires employees to undergo a criminal background check, obtain training on how to protect classified information, and sign a "Classified Information Nondisclosure Agreement," also known as a SF-312, promising not to reveal classified information.[1] The nondisclosure agreement signed by White House officials such as Mr. Rove states: "I will never divulge classified information to anyone" who is not authorized to receive it.[2]
The Prohibition Against "Confirming" Classified Information
Mr. Rove, through his attorney, has raised the implication that there is a distinction between releasing classified information to someone not authorized to receive it and confirming classified information from someone not authorized to have it. In fact, there is no such distinction under the nondisclosure agreement Mr. Rove signed.
One of the most basic rules of safeguarding classified information is that an official who has signed a nondisclosure agreement cannot confirm classified information obtained by a reporter. In fact, this obligation is highlighted in the "briefing booklet" that new security clearance recipients receive when they sign their nondisclosure agreements:
Before ... confirming the accuracy of what appears in the public source, the signer of the SF 312 must confirm through an authorized official that the information has, in fact, been declassified. If it has not, ... confirmation of its accuracy is also an unauthorized disclosure.[3]
The Independent Duty to Verify the Classified Status of Information
Mr. Rove's attorney has implied that if Mr. Rove learned Ms. Wilson's identity and occupation from a reporter, this somehow makes a difference in what he can say about the information. This is inaccurate. The executive order states: "Classified information shall not be declassified automatically as a result of any unauthorized disclosure of identical or similar information."[4]
Mr. Rove was not at liberty to repeat classified information he may have learned from a reporter. Instead, he had an affirmative obligation to determine whether the information had been declassified before repeating it. The briefing booklet is explicit on this point: "before disseminating the information elsewhere ... the signer of the SF 312 must confirm through an authorized official that the information has, in fact, been declassified."[5]
"Negligent" Disclosure of Classified Information
Mr. Rove's attorney has also implied that Mr. Rove's conduct should be at issue only if he intentionally or knowingly disclosed Ms. Wilson's covert status. In fact, the nondisclosure agreement and the executive order require sanctions against security clearance holders who "knowingly, willfully, or negligently" disclose classified information.[6] The sanctions for such a breach include "reprimand, suspension without pay, removal, termination of classification authority, loss or denial of access to classified information, or other sanctions."[7]
The White House Obligations Under Executive Order 12958
Under the executive order, the White House has an affirmative obligation to investigate and take remedial action separate and apart from any ongoing criminal investigation. The executive order specifically provides that when a breach occurs, each agency must "take appropriate and prompt corrective action."[8] This includes a determination of whether individual employees improperly disseminated or obtained access to classified information.
The executive order further provides that sanctions for violations are not optional. The executive order expressly provides: "Officers and employees of the United States Government ... shall be subject to appropriate sanctions if they knowingly, willfully, or negligently ... disclose to unauthorized persons information properly classified."[9]
There is no evidence that the White House complied with these requirements.
ENDNOTES
[1] Executive Order No. 12958, Classified National Security Information (as amended), sec. 4.1(a) (Mar. 28, 2003) (online here).
[2] Classified Information Nondisclosure Agreement, Standard Form 312 (Prescribed by NARA/ISOO) (32 C.F.R. 2003, E.O. 12958) (PDF here).
[3] Information Security Oversight Office, National Archives and Records Administration, Briefing Booklet: Classified Information Nondisclosure Agreement (Standard Form 312), at 73 (emphasis added) (PDF here).
[4] Executive Order No. 12958, sec. 1.1(b).
[5] Briefing Booklet, supra note 3, at 73.
[6] Executive Order No. 12958, sec. 5.5(b) (emphasis added).
[7] Id. at 5.5(c).
[8] Id. at 5.5(e)(1).
[9] Id. at 5.5(b).
Karl Rove's Nondisclosure Agreement
A BUZZFLASH NEWS ALERT
Rep. Waxman released a fact sheet today that explains that the nondisclosure agreement signed by Karl Rove prohibited Mr. Rove from confirming the identity of covert CIA agent Valerie Wilson to reporters. Under the nondisclosure agreement and the applicable executive order, even "negligent" disclosures to reporters are grounds for revocation of a security clearance or dismissal.
* * *
Committee on Government ReformU.S. House of Representatives
July 15, 2005
Fact SheetToday, news reports revealed that Karl Rove, the White House Deputy Chief of Staff and the President's top political advisor, confirmed the identity of covert CIA official Valerie Plame Wilson with Robert Novak on July 8, 2003, six days before Mr. Novak published the information in a nationally syndicated column. These new disclosures have obvious relevance to the criminal investigation of Patrick Fitzgerald, the Special Counsel who is investigating whether Mr. Rove violated a criminal statute by revealing Ms. Wilson's identity as a covert CIA official.
Independent of the relevance these new disclosures have to Mr. Fitzgerald's investigation, they also have significant implications for: (1) whether Mr. Rove violated his obligations under his "Classified Information Nondisclosure Agreement" and (2) whether the White House violated its obligations under Executive Order 12958. Under the nondisclosure agreement and the executive order, Mr. Rove would be subject to the loss of his security clearance or dismissal even for "negligently" disclosing Ms. Wilson's identity.
Karl Rove's Nondisclosure Agreement
Executive Order 12958 governs how federal employees are awarded security clearances in order to obtain access to classified information. It was last updated by President George W. Bush on March 25, 2003, although it has existed in some form since the Truman era. The executive order applies to any entity within the executive branch that comes into possession of classified information, including the White House. It requires employees to undergo a criminal background check, obtain training on how to protect classified information, and sign a "Classified Information Nondisclosure Agreement," also known as a SF-312, promising not to reveal classified information.[1] The nondisclosure agreement signed by White House officials such as Mr. Rove states: "I will never divulge classified information to anyone" who is not authorized to receive it.[2]
The Prohibition Against "Confirming" Classified Information
Mr. Rove, through his attorney, has raised the implication that there is a distinction between releasing classified information to someone not authorized to receive it and confirming classified information from someone not authorized to have it. In fact, there is no such distinction under the nondisclosure agreement Mr. Rove signed.
One of the most basic rules of safeguarding classified information is that an official who has signed a nondisclosure agreement cannot confirm classified information obtained by a reporter. In fact, this obligation is highlighted in the "briefing booklet" that new security clearance recipients receive when they sign their nondisclosure agreements:
Before ... confirming the accuracy of what appears in the public source, the signer of the SF 312 must confirm through an authorized official that the information has, in fact, been declassified. If it has not, ... confirmation of its accuracy is also an unauthorized disclosure.[3]
The Independent Duty to Verify the Classified Status of Information
Mr. Rove's attorney has implied that if Mr. Rove learned Ms. Wilson's identity and occupation from a reporter, this somehow makes a difference in what he can say about the information. This is inaccurate. The executive order states: "Classified information shall not be declassified automatically as a result of any unauthorized disclosure of identical or similar information."[4]
Mr. Rove was not at liberty to repeat classified information he may have learned from a reporter. Instead, he had an affirmative obligation to determine whether the information had been declassified before repeating it. The briefing booklet is explicit on this point: "before disseminating the information elsewhere ... the signer of the SF 312 must confirm through an authorized official that the information has, in fact, been declassified."[5]
"Negligent" Disclosure of Classified Information
Mr. Rove's attorney has also implied that Mr. Rove's conduct should be at issue only if he intentionally or knowingly disclosed Ms. Wilson's covert status. In fact, the nondisclosure agreement and the executive order require sanctions against security clearance holders who "knowingly, willfully, or negligently" disclose classified information.[6] The sanctions for such a breach include "reprimand, suspension without pay, removal, termination of classification authority, loss or denial of access to classified information, or other sanctions."[7]
The White House Obligations Under Executive Order 12958
Under the executive order, the White House has an affirmative obligation to investigate and take remedial action separate and apart from any ongoing criminal investigation. The executive order specifically provides that when a breach occurs, each agency must "take appropriate and prompt corrective action."[8] This includes a determination of whether individual employees improperly disseminated or obtained access to classified information.
The executive order further provides that sanctions for violations are not optional. The executive order expressly provides: "Officers and employees of the United States Government ... shall be subject to appropriate sanctions if they knowingly, willfully, or negligently ... disclose to unauthorized persons information properly classified."[9]
There is no evidence that the White House complied with these requirements.
ENDNOTES
[1] Executive Order No. 12958, Classified National Security Information (as amended), sec. 4.1(a) (Mar. 28, 2003) (online here).
[2] Classified Information Nondisclosure Agreement, Standard Form 312 (Prescribed by NARA/ISOO) (32 C.F.R. 2003, E.O. 12958) (PDF here).
[3] Information Security Oversight Office, National Archives and Records Administration, Briefing Booklet: Classified Information Nondisclosure Agreement (Standard Form 312), at 73 (emphasis added) (PDF here).
[4] Executive Order No. 12958, sec. 1.1(b).
[5] Briefing Booklet, supra note 3, at 73.
[6] Executive Order No. 12958, sec. 5.5(b) (emphasis added).
[7] Id. at 5.5(c).
[8] Id. at 5.5(e)(1).
[9] Id. at 5.5(b).
Tuesday, July 12, 2005
Fox Rocks
More crap from FOX News. Today Fox News host John Gibson said that Karl Rove should be given a "medal" for outing the identity of Valerie Plame. Gibson also said that he is glad that someone finally outed Valerie Plame.
Gibson also shared his thoughts on Joe Wilson or as Mr. Gibson likes to call him, "a peacenik".
It sounds like another partisan hack thinks that it's acceptable to disclose the name of an undercover CIA agent.
Contact John Gibson - myword@foxnews.com
CNN's Kyra Phillips: "definitely a major smear campaign going on" against Rove
CNN anchor Kyra Philips responded to a call by Democratic senators for President Bush to fire White House senior adviser Karl Rove for his alleged role in the outing of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame by saying: "definitely a major smear campaign going on."
Phillips made her comment on the July 12 edition of CNN's Live From ..., following footage of Sens. John Kerry (D-MA) and Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) calling for Rove to be fired:
KERRY: Is the value of day-to-day politics, and the value of political advice, and the value of his position greater than the national security of our country, and the protection of the identity of people, as well as their own word and their own policy? The White House's credibility is at issue here. I believe very clearly Karl Rove ought to be fired.
CLINTON: I'm nodding. [laughter]
BOB FRANKEN (national correspondent): And just a nod from the president, but no answer, Kyra, when he was asked about Karl Rove today at a photo op. Kyra?
PHILIPS: Bob, definitely a major smear campaign going on. I mean, what's the chances of hearing from Karl Rove? Could he speak? Could he come forward? A lot of people said that could just clear the air if he just came forward and gave the facts.
FRANKEN: Well, the White House would respond that the Democrats are involved in something akin to a smear campaign. The Democrats would only say that they're only interested in good government. And the White House says that in the context of an investigation that's ongoing Karl Rove should not speak.
whoops. AP News must be slipping. It's sounding "liberal":
http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBRWILR1BE.html
It seems that everyone in journalism knows who outed Plame. Why they waited until the dog was down to start kicking it I might never know. From Tompaine.com comes the "turd blossom":
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20050712/turd_blossom_must_go.php
"talking points" sent to those familiar with and sympathetic to Rove's miseries:
http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Exclusive_GOP_talking_points_on_Rove_seek_to_discre_0712.html
and please don't forget the original newspaper article that outed Valerie Plame, ruined her career and put in physical jeapordy herself and all of her subordinates, associates and underground contacts:
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/robertnovak/rn20030714.shtml
why has robert novak not been convicted of conspiracy to out a CIA agent, held in contempt for not disclosing those agents responsible for leaking her name? why does he get away with appearing before a grand jury and walking? is it because he named names and the D.A. can't do anything with it based on administration pressure?
second day of the McClellan Press Conference strafing. he still won't answer, the press still won't stop asking (there may be other issues that need answers, but this one is the most fun and indicative of what we voted back into power):
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000977648
Gibson also shared his thoughts on Joe Wilson or as Mr. Gibson likes to call him, "a peacenik".
It sounds like another partisan hack thinks that it's acceptable to disclose the name of an undercover CIA agent.
Contact John Gibson - myword@foxnews.com
CNN's Kyra Phillips: "definitely a major smear campaign going on" against Rove
CNN anchor Kyra Philips responded to a call by Democratic senators for President Bush to fire White House senior adviser Karl Rove for his alleged role in the outing of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame by saying: "definitely a major smear campaign going on."
Phillips made her comment on the July 12 edition of CNN's Live From ..., following footage of Sens. John Kerry (D-MA) and Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) calling for Rove to be fired:
KERRY: Is the value of day-to-day politics, and the value of political advice, and the value of his position greater than the national security of our country, and the protection of the identity of people, as well as their own word and their own policy? The White House's credibility is at issue here. I believe very clearly Karl Rove ought to be fired.
CLINTON: I'm nodding. [laughter]
BOB FRANKEN (national correspondent): And just a nod from the president, but no answer, Kyra, when he was asked about Karl Rove today at a photo op. Kyra?
PHILIPS: Bob, definitely a major smear campaign going on. I mean, what's the chances of hearing from Karl Rove? Could he speak? Could he come forward? A lot of people said that could just clear the air if he just came forward and gave the facts.
FRANKEN: Well, the White House would respond that the Democrats are involved in something akin to a smear campaign. The Democrats would only say that they're only interested in good government. And the White House says that in the context of an investigation that's ongoing Karl Rove should not speak.
whoops. AP News must be slipping. It's sounding "liberal":
http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBRWILR1BE.html
It seems that everyone in journalism knows who outed Plame. Why they waited until the dog was down to start kicking it I might never know. From Tompaine.com comes the "turd blossom":
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20050712/turd_blossom_must_go.php
"talking points" sent to those familiar with and sympathetic to Rove's miseries:
http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Exclusive_GOP_talking_points_on_Rove_seek_to_discre_0712.html
and please don't forget the original newspaper article that outed Valerie Plame, ruined her career and put in physical jeapordy herself and all of her subordinates, associates and underground contacts:
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/robertnovak/rn20030714.shtml
why has robert novak not been convicted of conspiracy to out a CIA agent, held in contempt for not disclosing those agents responsible for leaking her name? why does he get away with appearing before a grand jury and walking? is it because he named names and the D.A. can't do anything with it based on administration pressure?
second day of the McClellan Press Conference strafing. he still won't answer, the press still won't stop asking (there may be other issues that need answers, but this one is the most fun and indicative of what we voted back into power):
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000977648
Ahem...A Po-em
I noticed that Lecram is posting excerpts of his plays. How pretentious. How "artistic". How...Tower. In that vein, I feel I have something to offer. And so, I present you with a po-em:
That's a goddam goodlooking sandwich
she's eating all alone
enough for me and the twin I never had
and I'll have it too
if I have to break both
her glazed face and her diamond teeth
my last repast
paisley pastrami and
lettuce so latticed that it
couldn't hold its folds
ain't sittin' so pretty
like two lovers in love should
I'll break her fucking arms
the one holding the food
and the one holding his wood
and he looks like a guy
who can't get it up without-
goddam that's a goodlooking sandwich
grease slips soft and over
her busy little lips
red red meat and moist moist green
shoving their way past her gullet
musky dusky cheese and wet dripping
au jus
a Picasso of a poorboy
a thick quick slice of Van Gogh
I'll break her arms
both fucking one of them
just to force it whole
down her throat
it's that goddam goodlooking a sandwich.
That's a goddam goodlooking sandwich
she's eating all alone
enough for me and the twin I never had
and I'll have it too
if I have to break both
her glazed face and her diamond teeth
my last repast
paisley pastrami and
lettuce so latticed that it
couldn't hold its folds
ain't sittin' so pretty
like two lovers in love should
I'll break her fucking arms
the one holding the food
and the one holding his wood
and he looks like a guy
who can't get it up without-
goddam that's a goodlooking sandwich
grease slips soft and over
her busy little lips
red red meat and moist moist green
shoving their way past her gullet
musky dusky cheese and wet dripping
au jus
a Picasso of a poorboy
a thick quick slice of Van Gogh
I'll break her arms
both fucking one of them
just to force it whole
down her throat
it's that goddam goodlooking a sandwich.
Monday, July 11, 2005
Aaaaannnnddd Introducing Rove's Laaaaawwwwyyyyyeeeeerrr!
(July 11, 2005 -- 12:21 AM EDT // link // print)
Now that it's clear that Karl Rove's defense amounts to some sort of cover-blowing 'I didn't inhale' defense, I thought I'd check in a bit on what his lawyer's deal
is. Reason being, as near as I can tell, Rove attorney Robert D. Luskin has made a series of, shall we say, contradictory statements over the last week or so, each necessitated by further revelations about his client's conduct.
So I was curious: Is Robert D. Luskin the sort of lawyer who never gets caught in a fib or a misstatement on his client's behalf? Or is he a bit more fast and loose?
Well, it turns out that Luskin is a rather colorful figure with not a bad sense of humor. In 1999, when the Legal Times asked him why he was shutting down his boutique litigation firm, he quipped: "To paraphrase Hobbes: The life of a boutique is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short."
One case that jumps out at you is his representation of Stephen A. Saccoccia.
Saccoccia and his wife Donna were eventually convicted of laundering more than a hundred million dollars for various Colombian drug kingpins. Stephen is currently serving a 660 year sentence. Their racket was laundering drug money through companies which traded in precious metals.
Saccoccia was convicted in 1993. And Luskin took up his case on appeal.
Eventually the Feds got the idea that the money Saccoccia had paid Luskin and his other attorneys for their services was itself part of the $137 million in drug money he was ordered to forfeit. Now, on the face of it this seems a bit unfair since under our system everyone is entitled to good representation and how was Luskin to know it was tainted money.
Well, the prosecutors thought he should have gotten some inkling when Saccoccia started paying Luskin's attorney's fees in gold bars.
Yep, you heard that right. Luskin got paid more than $500,000 of his attorney's fees in gold bars from his client who was trying to appeal his conviction on charges that he laundered drug money through precious metals dealers. Who woulda thought that was drug money?
Luskin insisted that he "never have, and never would, knowingly accept a fee that was the proceeds of illegal activities."
But when federal prosecutors finally got a chance to depose Luskin and Saccoccia's other lawyers, they found that their lawyers' fees had come in forms "such as gold bars, cash that was dropped off at hotels and trunks of cars, and money transfers from Swiss bank accounts."
Eventually, in 1998, Luskin came to a settlement with the government in which he agreed to cough up $245,000 of the money he'd gotten from Saccoccia.
(ed.note: At first I couldn't believe that Saccoccia's Robert Luskin was the same guy Rove had defending him. The Saccoccia articles refer to Luskin as a partner in a firm called Comey Boyd & Luskin. But Luskin's bio page at Patton Boggs, where reporters working the Rove story confirm that Rove's lawyer works, makes no mention of such a firm. But a snippet in the December 20-27, 1999 Legal Times seems to settle the matter: "The D.C. litigation boutique of Comey, Boyd & Luskin is history. Name partner Robert Luskin is leaving the firm to join Patton Boggs Jan. 1.")
Late Update: Also on Luskin, look at this piece today in the Times by Adam Liptak, and see if Luskin didn't screw up and get his client in a lot of trouble by shooting off his mouth to the Journal.
Later Update: If you'd like to share your views on this, we're discussing Rove and Luskin over here at the TPMCafe politics discussion table.
-- Josh Marshall
(July 10, 2005 -- 11:04 PM EDT // link // print)
Now that it's clear that Karl Rove's defense amounts to some sort of cover-blowing 'I didn't inhale' defense, I thought I'd check in a bit on what his lawyer's deal
is. Reason being, as near as I can tell, Rove attorney Robert D. Luskin has made a series of, shall we say, contradictory statements over the last week or so, each necessitated by further revelations about his client's conduct.
So I was curious: Is Robert D. Luskin the sort of lawyer who never gets caught in a fib or a misstatement on his client's behalf? Or is he a bit more fast and loose?
Well, it turns out that Luskin is a rather colorful figure with not a bad sense of humor. In 1999, when the Legal Times asked him why he was shutting down his boutique litigation firm, he quipped: "To paraphrase Hobbes: The life of a boutique is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short."
One case that jumps out at you is his representation of Stephen A. Saccoccia.
Saccoccia and his wife Donna were eventually convicted of laundering more than a hundred million dollars for various Colombian drug kingpins. Stephen is currently serving a 660 year sentence. Their racket was laundering drug money through companies which traded in precious metals.
Saccoccia was convicted in 1993. And Luskin took up his case on appeal.
Eventually the Feds got the idea that the money Saccoccia had paid Luskin and his other attorneys for their services was itself part of the $137 million in drug money he was ordered to forfeit. Now, on the face of it this seems a bit unfair since under our system everyone is entitled to good representation and how was Luskin to know it was tainted money.
Well, the prosecutors thought he should have gotten some inkling when Saccoccia started paying Luskin's attorney's fees in gold bars.
Yep, you heard that right. Luskin got paid more than $500,000 of his attorney's fees in gold bars from his client who was trying to appeal his conviction on charges that he laundered drug money through precious metals dealers. Who woulda thought that was drug money?
Luskin insisted that he "never have, and never would, knowingly accept a fee that was the proceeds of illegal activities."
But when federal prosecutors finally got a chance to depose Luskin and Saccoccia's other lawyers, they found that their lawyers' fees had come in forms "such as gold bars, cash that was dropped off at hotels and trunks of cars, and money transfers from Swiss bank accounts."
Eventually, in 1998, Luskin came to a settlement with the government in which he agreed to cough up $245,000 of the money he'd gotten from Saccoccia.
(ed.note: At first I couldn't believe that Saccoccia's Robert Luskin was the same guy Rove had defending him. The Saccoccia articles refer to Luskin as a partner in a firm called Comey Boyd & Luskin. But Luskin's bio page at Patton Boggs, where reporters working the Rove story confirm that Rove's lawyer works, makes no mention of such a firm. But a snippet in the December 20-27, 1999 Legal Times seems to settle the matter: "The D.C. litigation boutique of Comey, Boyd & Luskin is history. Name partner Robert Luskin is leaving the firm to join Patton Boggs Jan. 1.")
Late Update: Also on Luskin, look at this piece today in the Times by Adam Liptak, and see if Luskin didn't screw up and get his client in a lot of trouble by shooting off his mouth to the Journal.
Later Update: If you'd like to share your views on this, we're discussing Rove and Luskin over here at the TPMCafe politics discussion table.
-- Josh Marshall
(July 10, 2005 -- 11:04 PM EDT // link // print)
fe fi fo fum, i smell the blood of a Rovian
so, it's heating up and the spin has only begun as has the CYA. most likely, there will be no conviction, no firing, no tar lingering on the cheek of anyone; but it's still nice to see the White House twist in the wind for once.
a short history of scottie's dance steps:
http://www.swingstateproject.com/2005/07/scott_mcclellan_1.php
a short history of scottie's dance steps:
http://www.swingstateproject.com/2005/07/scott_mcclellan_1.php
"the president wants to get to the bottom of this"
very fun excerpts of today's white house press corps briefing. makes you wonder if the reporters get together in the green room and lay bets on who can be the most annoying to scottie:
http://jabbs.blogspot.com/2005/07/nine-days-later-white-house-press.html
http://jabbs.blogspot.com/2005/07/nine-days-later-white-house-press.html
Sunday, July 10, 2005
Steven Spielberg Gettin' Historical Again
Spielberg's next movie is described here:
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1525239,00.html
and a prominent blogger (ha ha, no, not me) gives his two (not ten) cents about the uproar in the conservative camps that has started already:
http://jameswolcott.com/archives/2005/07/oliver_stone_an.php
note for anyone who has seen Angels In America: its writer is involved in this new movie as well.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1525239,00.html
and a prominent blogger (ha ha, no, not me) gives his two (not ten) cents about the uproar in the conservative camps that has started already:
http://jameswolcott.com/archives/2005/07/oliver_stone_an.php
note for anyone who has seen Angels In America: its writer is involved in this new movie as well.
The Twenty Third Qualm
THE TWENTY THIRD QUALM
President Bush is my shepherd; I shall dwell in fear.
He causeth the trees to be cut down in national forests.
He sendeth earth movers into the virgin wilderness.
He restoreth my insecurity.
He leadeth me in the paths of international disgrace for his ego's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valleys of pollution and war,
I will find no exit, whilst thou art in office.
The tax cuts for the wealthy and thy media control they discomfort me.
Thou preparest an agenda of deception in the guise of religion.
Thou annointest my head with foreign oil.
My health insurance runneth out.
Surely meglomania and false patriotism shall follow me all the
remaining days of thy term in office.
author unknown
President Bush is my shepherd; I shall dwell in fear.
He causeth the trees to be cut down in national forests.
He sendeth earth movers into the virgin wilderness.
He restoreth my insecurity.
He leadeth me in the paths of international disgrace for his ego's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valleys of pollution and war,
I will find no exit, whilst thou art in office.
The tax cuts for the wealthy and thy media control they discomfort me.
Thou preparest an agenda of deception in the guise of religion.
Thou annointest my head with foreign oil.
My health insurance runneth out.
Surely meglomania and false patriotism shall follow me all the
remaining days of thy term in office.
author unknown
Saturday, July 09, 2005
Setting Fireworks Records
just so all of you who attended the barbecue at Marcel's on the 4th know...
the air pollution meter was three times higher than normal for Fresno (we didn't do as well as most of the other valley cities like bakersfield, which was 10 times higher, but it's still a hell of a go). and I have a good feeling where most of it disseminated from. so hold your heads up high. we made a difference on the 4th. they noticed. we celebrated our freedom in such a grandiose and drawnout manner that other less patriotic folks began to wheeze. so, slap yourselves on the backs (unless it makes you cough). and I, for one, can tell you that the metallic dye in the fireworks that was the culprit of the pollution rise and can cause cancer did nothing to me. nothing at all. even though i was firemaster and stood over all of the explosions. i've never felt better. in fact, i...uh... oh cra
the air pollution meter was three times higher than normal for Fresno (we didn't do as well as most of the other valley cities like bakersfield, which was 10 times higher, but it's still a hell of a go). and I have a good feeling where most of it disseminated from. so hold your heads up high. we made a difference on the 4th. they noticed. we celebrated our freedom in such a grandiose and drawnout manner that other less patriotic folks began to wheeze. so, slap yourselves on the backs (unless it makes you cough). and I, for one, can tell you that the metallic dye in the fireworks that was the culprit of the pollution rise and can cause cancer did nothing to me. nothing at all. even though i was firemaster and stood over all of the explosions. i've never felt better. in fact, i...uh... oh cra
Friday, July 08, 2005
AIDS Help...If You Goosestep With Bush
Posted on Fri, Jul. 08, 2005
Bush gives global AIDS fighters ultimatumJUAN-CARLOS RODRIGUEZAssociated Press
WASHINGTON - U.S. groups fighting AIDS overseas are being given an ultimatum by the government: Pledge your opposition to sex trafficking and prostitution or do without federal funds.
The new rule has created confusion among health groups that wonder how it will affect them, and has drawn criticism from others who say it infringes on free speech rights and could do more harm than good.
It will affect about $2.2 billion in AIDS grants and contracts this year, according to Kent Hill, acting administrator for global health at the U.S. Agency for International Development, which recently issued a policy directive outlining the regulation.
Hill said the pledge is a tool the United States can use to make sure none of its money goes to support a practice he called degrading and debilitating.
"Prostitution worldwide has always been connected to human rights violations, dehumanization, and organized crime," Hill said. "The vast majority of people, globally, do not find themselves there by choice."
Terri Bartlett, vice president for public policy at Population Action International, a health advocacy group for women's issues, said while she agrees with the idea behind the pledge, she thinks the government is infringing on health organizations' free speech rights by requiring it.
"There's a litmus test of issues and organizations' positions on those issues, and regardless of their ability, they will be judged by that position," Bartlett said.
Bartlett said that while she agreed with the pledge requirement's premise that prostitution is a harmful occupation, it may have the unintended effect of deterring prostitutes from seeking help by unnecessarily singling them out.
"We want to build trust and reduce stigma," Bartlett said of dealing with the high-risk population of prostitutes. "This policy flies in the face of what we know works."
There are groups that don't mind signing the pledge, however. "We agree with the statement," said Meredith Long, director of International Health for World Relief.
Congress passed a bill containing the pledge requirement in 2003. It was immediately applied to foreign aid recipients, but the Justice Department questioned the constitutionality of applying it to domestic organizations. Last fall, the department finally gave the all-clear for the government to implement the requirement here.
The rule now affects private U.S. groups conducting AIDS programs overseas. If a group is looking for a federal grant or contract, it must first adopt a statement saying it opposes prostitution and sex trafficking. Then it must sign a form for the government promising it has the policy. Only then is the organization eligible for funding.
Michael Wiest, vice president of Catholic Relief Services, a recipient of USAID funds, said it would take a lot of time and money to make sure his organization wasn't working with any foreign partner groups that violated the pledge. He said that would be wasted energy because "the idea that one of our partners would be pro-prostitution is ... off the charts."
Although the bill that contained the funding restrictions passed with broad bipartisan support, David Olson, a spokesman for Population Services International, said he is worried that the rules will be used against groups that use methods with which conservatives don't agree.
"This administration has made no secret that they want new partners for AIDS work," Olson said.
He said conservatives favor AIDS prevention programs that focus on abstinence and monogamy, rather than ones that endorse condom use and safe sex.
Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., made statements to that effect in a letter he wrote to President Bush regarding AIDS programs last month. He specifically criticized USAID for funding Olson's group, which has programs aimed at educating prostitutes and their clients in nightclubs and at bingo-type games where the two groups traditionally mix.
"There is something seriously askew at USAID when the agency's response to a dehumanizing and abusive practice that exploits women and young girls is parties and games." Coburn's letter said.
The anti-prostitution pledge rule is a continuation of conservative policy shifts the Bush administration has implemented for non-governmental organizations.
On Bush's first day in office in 2001, he reinstated the "Mexico City policy," which prohibits private, foreign groups that receive federal family planning money from advising or even discussing the possibility of abortions for clients.
The policy, called the "global gag rule" by critics, originated during President Reagan's era but was dropped during President Clinton's.
Besides the pledge, the new rules require AIDS groups to inform clients of condom failure rates. Another requirement is that the federal government must now give equal opportunity to funding applicants that have "a religious or moral objection" to a particular AIDS prevention method or treatment program, such as condoms or needle exchanges.
ON THE NET
U.S. Agency for International Development: http://www.usaid.gov/
From Grist Magazine: Eco-Terrorists?
The Terror of Our Ways
Conflating environmentalists and terrorists is all the rageBy Michael J. Kavanagh
08 Jul 2005
What liberals and their allies in the environmentalist wacko movement fail to understand is: their message has gotten out. Their anti-capitalist, socialist, gloom-and-doom, fear-based, lunatic ravings have been amplified -- and Americans understand exactly who they are, and what they're about. As the "Mr. Big" of the vast right-wing conspiracy, I am proud, ladies and gentlemen, to play a major part in the exposé leading to their depression.- Rush Limbaugh April 25, 2005Currently, about 20 million people tune in to Rush Limbaugh every week. His lingo is now conservative lingua franca. Limbaugh figured out that if you repeat your best lines -- e.g. "environmentalist wackos" -- often enough, they become more than just funny catchphrases; they become a reconfiguration of reality and a call to arms. In his world (and it's a world in which a lot of people live), you can't be an environmentalist and escape wacko-ism. In Limbaugh, a large group of Americans who felt their country was being taken away from them found an emotional outlet. If his facts didn't always ring true, his anger did. Limbaugh proved that someone with a quick wit and a microphone could wield tremendous power, and his success spawned a legion of copycat shows across the country.
One of them is hosted by John Stokes of KGEZ in Montana's Flathead Valley. Stokes is featured in the new PBS film "The Fire Next Time," which premieres Tuesday, July 12. The documentary was made by Patrice O'Neill and The Working Group, a film company that also works with communities to overcome intolerance. The film follows several groups in Kalispell, Mont., over a two-year period in which their community goes up in flames -- figuratively and literally -- over conflicts about environmental preservation. Everybody in Kalispell cares about trees. Trees feed the timber industry, help drain the land, attract tourists, and provide habitat for wildlife; and they also catch fire and endanger homes and lives during the annual forest-fire season. Talking about trees in Kalispell means talking about livelihoods and lifestyles, and the Valley's different interest groups are like sticks dangerously rubbing together in its drought-plagued forests. Enter Stokes, radio host and human blowtorch. On environmentalists, Stokes has this to say: "Eradicate 'em. Their message stinks. They're destroying America. And it all came out of the Third Reich. You know, the Third Reich was born out of the environmental community. I don't make it up. It's there." Stokes attends town meetings, holds rallies, and burns green swastikas to protest what he sees as the tyranny of liberals, the U.S. Forest Service, immigrants, the government, and, of course, the people he refers to as "eco-Nazis" and "green Nazis."
"John Stokes came to this valley and all of the sudden the people had a way of telling the truth," says one timber worker featured in the film.Clearly, Stokes and his listeners are angry. They're angry at the Forest Service and the more uncompromising environmentalists for not letting loggers thin the forests in a way that will (they think) boost the flagging Montana economy and prevent fires. They're angry about losing their timber-industry jobs. They're angry about watching property values soar as millionaires buy weekend ranches in the Valley. During forest-fire season, when the Valley's residents are at their most vulnerable, Stokes' provocations are strongest. "Anybody who's ever written a check to the Sierra Club, the Nature Conservancy, Audubon, Citizens for a Better Planet," he says, "Hope you're happy with yourself, cause we blame you." Stokes warns his listeners to be careful, because "there are eco-arsonist terrorists out there." He holds up a copy of an Earth Liberation Front manual and tells the camera "They just had a terror training camp in Missoula in June." It's not true, but it doesn't matter: with his rants, Stokes has placed environmentalism squarely in the middle of the most charged discourse in post-9/11 America -- the one revolving around the word "terrorism." And while Stokes seems extreme, these days, the jump from environmentalist to terrorist is not as uncommon as you might think. It's not just Stokes who's warning his listeners; it's also Joe Friday.
Fed Up
On June 21 of this year, FBI Deputy Assistant Director for Counterterrorism John Lewis called eco-terrorism one of the top domestic terrorist threats in the U.S. One month earlier, he'd made similar statements before a Congressional committee. The FBI claims that 1,200 acts of eco-terrorism have taken place since 1990, causing over $110 million in property damage. Although ELF has said that it has never and would never target humans, the FBI is worried that might change. It has decided that ELF and the Animal Liberation Front pose a threat comparable to militias of the Timothy McVeigh stripe (whose numbers have fallen but whose threat remains significant [PDF], especially in Montana), and to white supremacist groups (whose numbers are rising, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center). Ironically, the Flathead Valley was home to one of the more notorious militia groups, Project Seven, which in 2003 was found with a cache of arms and a hit list of government officials. The FBI says its concern is based on the fact that eco-terrorists are currently the most active of domestic terrorism groups. But when I spoke with FBI spokesperson Bill Carter, he was unable to detail the nature of the 1,200 "acts," how many had occurred in each of the past few years, or how many people have been involved in committing them (although Lewis' testimony says about 150 cases are currently under investigation). Even the top brass at the FBI seems confused about the extent of the threat. In February, FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III testified before the Senate Committee on Intelligence that major incidents of eco-terror had actually declined in 2004. Meanwhile, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) recently published a policy paper [PDF] that questioned why a draft of the 2005 terrorism priorities of the Department of Homeland Security reportedly did not mention right-wing terrorist groups (such as militias), while eco-terrorism was placed front and center. Thompson asked to testify before a May Congressional panel that discussed eco-terrorism and threats to the nation's infrastructure, but his request was denied by the panel's chair, Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.). It was only the second time in history, according to a Democratic spokesperson at the DHS, that a member of Congress had not been given the privilege of making remarks before a panel.According to the Associated Press, Inhofe said he hoped to investigate how ELF and ALF raise money and support from "mainstream activists." "Just like al-Qaida or any other terrorist organization, ELF and ALF cannot accomplish their goals without money, membership, and the media,'' the AP quoted Inhofe as saying.
It's not that Thompson -- or anyone, for that matter -- is defending acts of terrorism on behalf of the environment. (Thompson has denounced ELF and ALF, as has every major environmental group.) It's that they are trying to figure out how and with what consequences environmentalism and terrorism got coupled together in the first place. Yes, some expensive and illegal acts are committed in the name of the environment; and yes, the framework of terrorism is an easy and useful one for the FBI and the DHS to use when handling those incidences. (By calling ecological sabotage "terrorism" as opposed to arson or vandalism, federal officials are given slightly greater powers in investigating and bringing perpetrators to justice.) But what does it mean for environmentalism when the whole movement is defined by its margins? And what does it mean for the nation and the world when language is used so loosely even as last week's attacks in London make the danger of real terror tragically plain?For some, broadening the term "terrorist" to include organizations like ELF is bad for both environmentalists and for our sense of what real terror is. "These people are not environmentalists, they're arsonists," says Eric Antebi, a Sierra Club spokesperson. Antebi also rejects the idea that ELF's actions constitute real terrorism. "Eco-terrorism is not a legitimate phrase -- it cheapens what real terrorism is. We have seen in this country the real forms that terrorism takes," he says.However atypical ELF and ALF may be of environmentalism, they have come to characterize the movement for many on the right, in Congress, and in law enforcement. The backdrop to this development, of course, was September 11, 2001. First of all, 9/11 solidified the power of a government that also happens to be anti-environmentalist. Second, because of a (perhaps justified) national state of paranoia, 9/11 complicated the use of a tool that has been always essential to the environmental movement: direct action. "We used to put banners on bridges, banners on big monuments," says John Passacantando, executive director of Greenpeace USA. "When people are worried about this kind of structure, you don't see us doing that. Our direct actions always have to be in the tone and the temper of the time." The FBI insists it distinguishes groups like ELF and ALF from the rest of the environmental movement, and is committed to the lawful expression of free speech. But the government has occasionally raised the specter of terrorism to support its cause, even if it meant darkening the name of mainstream environmental groups. In a widely publicized 2003 case in which Greenpeace activists boarded a ship carrying illegal mahogany from the Brazilian Amazon bound for the U.S., the Department of Justice seemed so bent on prosecuting the environmental group that it dug up an obscure 1872 law prohibiting "sail-mongering." Greenpeace's Passacantando says that during the trial, federal prosecutors regularly referred -- directly and indirectly -- to 9/11. (At one point, he says, federal prosecutors stood a scale model of the ship on its aft next to two other scale models: a skyscraper that looked like one of the twin towers, and a 747.) "Even with Greenpeace, a group that's been doing nonviolent action for 30 years, they tried to make us look like terrorists," he says. The case was thrown out of court. Meanwhile, few seem to be paying attention to another kind of eco-terror. For many environmentalists and politicians, eco-terrorism used to mean blowing up a nuclear plant or poisoning a water system -- actions that, unlike those of ALF or ELF, would deliberately put thousands or tens of thousands of lives at risk. Ironically, the post-9/11 crackdown on terrorism has stifled some of the organizations that used to draw attention to those threats. "Greenpeace used to go into nuclear plants, chemical plants," Passacantando says. "We don't do that anymore. We could -- the security there is terrible. We put out reports instead." In a country where up to 80 percent of the citizenry professes some support for environmental protections, the environmental movement has somehow found itself on the fringes of the political discourse. In part, that's because people like Rush Limbaugh and John Stokes have been effective at reducing the environmental movement to a group of little green Hitler elves, running around blowing things up. Clearly, destroying private property in the name of the environment is a crime, and the few activists doing so are a proper focus of law enforcement. But equating ELF and ALF direct actions with the deadly attacks of terrorist groups fuels the anti-environmental rhetoric of the right and irresponsibly conflates two very different kinds of criminal activity. What we lose in the process is our grasp on both the real nature of environmentalism and the real nature of terrorism. For someone like John Stokes, who is only interested in exploiting his listeners' fear, the difference doesn't matter. For the rest of us, it should.
Conflating environmentalists and terrorists is all the rageBy Michael J. Kavanagh
08 Jul 2005
What liberals and their allies in the environmentalist wacko movement fail to understand is: their message has gotten out. Their anti-capitalist, socialist, gloom-and-doom, fear-based, lunatic ravings have been amplified -- and Americans understand exactly who they are, and what they're about. As the "Mr. Big" of the vast right-wing conspiracy, I am proud, ladies and gentlemen, to play a major part in the exposé leading to their depression.- Rush Limbaugh April 25, 2005Currently, about 20 million people tune in to Rush Limbaugh every week. His lingo is now conservative lingua franca. Limbaugh figured out that if you repeat your best lines -- e.g. "environmentalist wackos" -- often enough, they become more than just funny catchphrases; they become a reconfiguration of reality and a call to arms. In his world (and it's a world in which a lot of people live), you can't be an environmentalist and escape wacko-ism. In Limbaugh, a large group of Americans who felt their country was being taken away from them found an emotional outlet. If his facts didn't always ring true, his anger did. Limbaugh proved that someone with a quick wit and a microphone could wield tremendous power, and his success spawned a legion of copycat shows across the country.
One of them is hosted by John Stokes of KGEZ in Montana's Flathead Valley. Stokes is featured in the new PBS film "The Fire Next Time," which premieres Tuesday, July 12. The documentary was made by Patrice O'Neill and The Working Group, a film company that also works with communities to overcome intolerance. The film follows several groups in Kalispell, Mont., over a two-year period in which their community goes up in flames -- figuratively and literally -- over conflicts about environmental preservation. Everybody in Kalispell cares about trees. Trees feed the timber industry, help drain the land, attract tourists, and provide habitat for wildlife; and they also catch fire and endanger homes and lives during the annual forest-fire season. Talking about trees in Kalispell means talking about livelihoods and lifestyles, and the Valley's different interest groups are like sticks dangerously rubbing together in its drought-plagued forests. Enter Stokes, radio host and human blowtorch. On environmentalists, Stokes has this to say: "Eradicate 'em. Their message stinks. They're destroying America. And it all came out of the Third Reich. You know, the Third Reich was born out of the environmental community. I don't make it up. It's there." Stokes attends town meetings, holds rallies, and burns green swastikas to protest what he sees as the tyranny of liberals, the U.S. Forest Service, immigrants, the government, and, of course, the people he refers to as "eco-Nazis" and "green Nazis."
"John Stokes came to this valley and all of the sudden the people had a way of telling the truth," says one timber worker featured in the film.Clearly, Stokes and his listeners are angry. They're angry at the Forest Service and the more uncompromising environmentalists for not letting loggers thin the forests in a way that will (they think) boost the flagging Montana economy and prevent fires. They're angry about losing their timber-industry jobs. They're angry about watching property values soar as millionaires buy weekend ranches in the Valley. During forest-fire season, when the Valley's residents are at their most vulnerable, Stokes' provocations are strongest. "Anybody who's ever written a check to the Sierra Club, the Nature Conservancy, Audubon, Citizens for a Better Planet," he says, "Hope you're happy with yourself, cause we blame you." Stokes warns his listeners to be careful, because "there are eco-arsonist terrorists out there." He holds up a copy of an Earth Liberation Front manual and tells the camera "They just had a terror training camp in Missoula in June." It's not true, but it doesn't matter: with his rants, Stokes has placed environmentalism squarely in the middle of the most charged discourse in post-9/11 America -- the one revolving around the word "terrorism." And while Stokes seems extreme, these days, the jump from environmentalist to terrorist is not as uncommon as you might think. It's not just Stokes who's warning his listeners; it's also Joe Friday.
Fed Up
On June 21 of this year, FBI Deputy Assistant Director for Counterterrorism John Lewis called eco-terrorism one of the top domestic terrorist threats in the U.S. One month earlier, he'd made similar statements before a Congressional committee. The FBI claims that 1,200 acts of eco-terrorism have taken place since 1990, causing over $110 million in property damage. Although ELF has said that it has never and would never target humans, the FBI is worried that might change. It has decided that ELF and the Animal Liberation Front pose a threat comparable to militias of the Timothy McVeigh stripe (whose numbers have fallen but whose threat remains significant [PDF], especially in Montana), and to white supremacist groups (whose numbers are rising, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center). Ironically, the Flathead Valley was home to one of the more notorious militia groups, Project Seven, which in 2003 was found with a cache of arms and a hit list of government officials. The FBI says its concern is based on the fact that eco-terrorists are currently the most active of domestic terrorism groups. But when I spoke with FBI spokesperson Bill Carter, he was unable to detail the nature of the 1,200 "acts," how many had occurred in each of the past few years, or how many people have been involved in committing them (although Lewis' testimony says about 150 cases are currently under investigation). Even the top brass at the FBI seems confused about the extent of the threat. In February, FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III testified before the Senate Committee on Intelligence that major incidents of eco-terror had actually declined in 2004. Meanwhile, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) recently published a policy paper [PDF] that questioned why a draft of the 2005 terrorism priorities of the Department of Homeland Security reportedly did not mention right-wing terrorist groups (such as militias), while eco-terrorism was placed front and center. Thompson asked to testify before a May Congressional panel that discussed eco-terrorism and threats to the nation's infrastructure, but his request was denied by the panel's chair, Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.). It was only the second time in history, according to a Democratic spokesperson at the DHS, that a member of Congress had not been given the privilege of making remarks before a panel.According to the Associated Press, Inhofe said he hoped to investigate how ELF and ALF raise money and support from "mainstream activists." "Just like al-Qaida or any other terrorist organization, ELF and ALF cannot accomplish their goals without money, membership, and the media,'' the AP quoted Inhofe as saying.
It's not that Thompson -- or anyone, for that matter -- is defending acts of terrorism on behalf of the environment. (Thompson has denounced ELF and ALF, as has every major environmental group.) It's that they are trying to figure out how and with what consequences environmentalism and terrorism got coupled together in the first place. Yes, some expensive and illegal acts are committed in the name of the environment; and yes, the framework of terrorism is an easy and useful one for the FBI and the DHS to use when handling those incidences. (By calling ecological sabotage "terrorism" as opposed to arson or vandalism, federal officials are given slightly greater powers in investigating and bringing perpetrators to justice.) But what does it mean for environmentalism when the whole movement is defined by its margins? And what does it mean for the nation and the world when language is used so loosely even as last week's attacks in London make the danger of real terror tragically plain?For some, broadening the term "terrorist" to include organizations like ELF is bad for both environmentalists and for our sense of what real terror is. "These people are not environmentalists, they're arsonists," says Eric Antebi, a Sierra Club spokesperson. Antebi also rejects the idea that ELF's actions constitute real terrorism. "Eco-terrorism is not a legitimate phrase -- it cheapens what real terrorism is. We have seen in this country the real forms that terrorism takes," he says.However atypical ELF and ALF may be of environmentalism, they have come to characterize the movement for many on the right, in Congress, and in law enforcement. The backdrop to this development, of course, was September 11, 2001. First of all, 9/11 solidified the power of a government that also happens to be anti-environmentalist. Second, because of a (perhaps justified) national state of paranoia, 9/11 complicated the use of a tool that has been always essential to the environmental movement: direct action. "We used to put banners on bridges, banners on big monuments," says John Passacantando, executive director of Greenpeace USA. "When people are worried about this kind of structure, you don't see us doing that. Our direct actions always have to be in the tone and the temper of the time." The FBI insists it distinguishes groups like ELF and ALF from the rest of the environmental movement, and is committed to the lawful expression of free speech. But the government has occasionally raised the specter of terrorism to support its cause, even if it meant darkening the name of mainstream environmental groups. In a widely publicized 2003 case in which Greenpeace activists boarded a ship carrying illegal mahogany from the Brazilian Amazon bound for the U.S., the Department of Justice seemed so bent on prosecuting the environmental group that it dug up an obscure 1872 law prohibiting "sail-mongering." Greenpeace's Passacantando says that during the trial, federal prosecutors regularly referred -- directly and indirectly -- to 9/11. (At one point, he says, federal prosecutors stood a scale model of the ship on its aft next to two other scale models: a skyscraper that looked like one of the twin towers, and a 747.) "Even with Greenpeace, a group that's been doing nonviolent action for 30 years, they tried to make us look like terrorists," he says. The case was thrown out of court. Meanwhile, few seem to be paying attention to another kind of eco-terror. For many environmentalists and politicians, eco-terrorism used to mean blowing up a nuclear plant or poisoning a water system -- actions that, unlike those of ALF or ELF, would deliberately put thousands or tens of thousands of lives at risk. Ironically, the post-9/11 crackdown on terrorism has stifled some of the organizations that used to draw attention to those threats. "Greenpeace used to go into nuclear plants, chemical plants," Passacantando says. "We don't do that anymore. We could -- the security there is terrible. We put out reports instead." In a country where up to 80 percent of the citizenry professes some support for environmental protections, the environmental movement has somehow found itself on the fringes of the political discourse. In part, that's because people like Rush Limbaugh and John Stokes have been effective at reducing the environmental movement to a group of little green Hitler elves, running around blowing things up. Clearly, destroying private property in the name of the environment is a crime, and the few activists doing so are a proper focus of law enforcement. But equating ELF and ALF direct actions with the deadly attacks of terrorist groups fuels the anti-environmental rhetoric of the right and irresponsibly conflates two very different kinds of criminal activity. What we lose in the process is our grasp on both the real nature of environmentalism and the real nature of terrorism. For someone like John Stokes, who is only interested in exploiting his listeners' fear, the difference doesn't matter. For the rest of us, it should.
Wednesday, July 06, 2005
All Roads Still Lead To Rove
saw this quote and it fit for the current climate of 'kill the dissenter':
"A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murder is less to fear."
-- Cicero Marcus Tullius, Born on January 3, 106 BC and was murdered on December 7, 43 BC.
"A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murder is less to fear."
-- Cicero Marcus Tullius, Born on January 3, 106 BC and was murdered on December 7, 43 BC.
"Presidential Bike"?????? What the Fu-???
Bush Involved in Bike Crash in Scotland
Wed Jul 6, 7:00 PM ET
GLENEAGLES, Scotland -
President Bush collided with a local police officer and fell during a bike ride on the grounds of the Gleneagles golf resort while attending a meeting of world leaders Wednesday.
Bush suffered "mild to moderate" scrapes on his hands and arms that required bandages by the White House physician, said White House spokesman Scott McClellan. The accident occurred on asphalt, McClellan said. It was raining lightly at the time, and Bush was wearing a helmet.
Police said the officer suffered a "very minor" ankle injury.
The officer was on a security detail. He is a member of the police department of Strathclyde, McClellan said.
The president talked with the officer to make sure he was all right, and also asked White House physician Richard Tubb to monitor the officer's condition at the hospital.
The presidential bike suffered some damage, McClellan said, so Bush rode back to the hotel in a
Secret Service vehiclee.
The fall did not affect the president's schedule. Dressed in a tuxedo, he attended a dinner hosted by Queen Elizabeth at the annual Group of Eight economic summit. He showed no signs of distress.
A year ago, Bush was cut and bruised when he sailed over the handlebars while riding a mountain bike at his Texas ranch.
In 2003, he tried out a Segway, the standup, motorized scooter at the family's seaside estate in Maine. It went down on his first attempt, but he stayed on his feet with a flying leap over the machine. Undeterred, he got on again and cruised around the driveway with his father.
Wed Jul 6, 7:00 PM ET
GLENEAGLES, Scotland -
President Bush collided with a local police officer and fell during a bike ride on the grounds of the Gleneagles golf resort while attending a meeting of world leaders Wednesday.
Bush suffered "mild to moderate" scrapes on his hands and arms that required bandages by the White House physician, said White House spokesman Scott McClellan. The accident occurred on asphalt, McClellan said. It was raining lightly at the time, and Bush was wearing a helmet.
Police said the officer suffered a "very minor" ankle injury.
The officer was on a security detail. He is a member of the police department of Strathclyde, McClellan said.
The president talked with the officer to make sure he was all right, and also asked White House physician Richard Tubb to monitor the officer's condition at the hospital.
The presidential bike suffered some damage, McClellan said, so Bush rode back to the hotel in a
Secret Service vehiclee.
The fall did not affect the president's schedule. Dressed in a tuxedo, he attended a dinner hosted by Queen Elizabeth at the annual Group of Eight economic summit. He showed no signs of distress.
A year ago, Bush was cut and bruised when he sailed over the handlebars while riding a mountain bike at his Texas ranch.
In 2003, he tried out a Segway, the standup, motorized scooter at the family's seaside estate in Maine. It went down on his first attempt, but he stayed on his feet with a flying leap over the machine. Undeterred, he got on again and cruised around the driveway with his father.
Plame Timeline and Great Bush Quote
"But I want to tell you something -- leaks of classified information are a bad thing. And we've had them -- there's too much leaking in Washington. That's just the way it is. And we've had leaks out of the administrative branch, had leaks out of the legislative branch, and out of the executive branch and the legislative branch, and I've spoken out consistently against them and I want to know who the leakers are."
Perhaps the most famous leaker in all of washington's history is John Handcock. At the first sign of snow he'd pratically wet his pants in anticipation of writing his name in it for all to see.
Perhaps the most famous leaker in all of washington's history is John Handcock. At the first sign of snow he'd pratically wet his pants in anticipation of writing his name in it for all to see.
All Roads Lead To Rove
Bill Israel, a friend and former colleague of Karl Rove, is speaking out about journalists' need to know when to draw the line as it concerns source confidentiality. The title of this post is a line that Israel wrote and I think it speaks volumes.
and then there are some good quotes by and about Herr Rove that provide food for thought.
and then there are some good quotes by and about Herr Rove that provide food for thought.
Astrologist Sues NASA Over Comet Crash
MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian astrologist who says NASA has altered her horoscope by crashing a spacecraft into a comet is suing the U.S. space agency for damages of $300 million, local media reported Monday. NASA deliberately crashed its probe, named Deep Impact, into the Tempel 1 comet to unleash a spray of material formed billions of years ago which scientists hope will shed new light on the composition of the solar system. "It is obvious that elements of the comet's orbit, and correspondingly the ephemeris, will change after the explosion, which interferes with my astrology work and distorts my horoscope," Izvestia daily quoted astrologist Marina Bai as saying in legal documents submitted before Monday's collision. A spokeswoman for a Moscow district court said initial preparations for the case were underway but could not say when the hearing would begin. NASA representatives in Moscow were unavailable for comment.
Sunday, July 03, 2005
The Crusades Are Over As Of Now!!!
okay, they probably aren't, but my friend mustang sent me this link that describes a journey by christians to retrace the route of the last crusade in the 1100's in order to apologize to the very people who were massacred by it. very powerful and a good moral lesson for those of us who think "our god is bigger than their god".
http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_cru1.htm
http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_cru1.htm
Letter To Congresspeoples
I expect the next Supreme Court Justice to follow in the footsteps of Sandra Day O'Connor and rule both by the wisdom of common sense and by the progress and evolution our nation has undergone during these almost 250 years since our independence as markers for deciding what is and is not in the best interest of this nation judicially. To base a confirmation on ideology or philosophy goes against the very grain of democracy. To maintain that the writers of the Constitution would not have approved of a contemporary ruling is to say that our nation has made no progress on our "experiment" in over two centuries. Justices must be allowed to deviate and think outside of accepted norms when dealing with arguments that can polarize us. If "thou shall not kill" can be construed to mean "thou shall not murder" by those who would demand strict Constitutional adherence, then their own argument is destroyed. Please demand that any Supreme Court nominee show a devotion to common sense rather than a slavery to blind obedience.
Independence Day Bash
for those of you who know me or lecram and did not receive an invite via email (probably because i don't have your address) there will be a burning of the meat tomorrow at 3ish. food should be ready by 4ish. at twilight there will be a fireworks display (and maybe a trash fire or two). bring something to put on the grill if you can or a salad, fruit dish, beer or other beverage, chips (unopened this time), cookies...etc.
it will be a swell time as marcel and i are versed in the finer arts of burning meat and making things explode.
that is all. as you were.
it will be a swell time as marcel and i are versed in the finer arts of burning meat and making things explode.
that is all. as you were.
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