I was sitting in Rosie's Tavern tonight, enjoying a drink with a birthday girl, and Wolf Blitzer's Situation Room was on. This was the head line:
"End Times?"
This, of course, was followed by the usual biblical "evidence" from the Book of Revelations, and I became really sad, because there are some who are actually cheerleading this bullshit, for their own selfish reasons:
"'America needs to stand with Israel according to the word of God, and for victory,' Gwen Resser said. 'I mean, it's for victory. It's not a time for concessions'.
'If you support Israel, you will be blessed, and if you don't support Israel, you will be cursed', Dean Resser added. "
These people make me sad, because they are misinformed, mislead, and they have misread their own holy books:
"'The thing that's different about Israel is that Israel is the only nation in the world created by the hand of God', Hagee said".
Well, not exactly...I think the British and the U.S., with a U.N. sanction, created Israel, at least in the material sense...but anyway...
"Hagee explored this from a political standpoint in his interpretation of scripture, 'Jerusalem Countdown', which has sold more than 600,000 copies. The book's geopolitics are very precise, beginning with an alliance between Russia and the Islamic world.
Russia is going to get in that position and they are literally, with all that massive military force, going to attack Israel," Hagee said. 'This is recorded in Ezekiel 38 and 39. God himself is literally going to destroy that army. Decimate it'.
And he said that will be followed by a Chinese army of 200 million coming to the city of Armageddon where they will meet British and U.S. forces in the Battle of Armageddon.
'At that point, Jesus Christ returns to Earth and sets up his eternal kingdom in the city of Jerusalem and there's 1,000 years of peace', Hagee said. 'The Jewish people are going to see the supernatural hand of God preserve them and deliver them while the enemies of Israel are crushed. That's the end-time story'.
Except, of course, that the Jews all die in the end. Heartwarming.
Monday, July 31, 2006
The Passion of the Tequila
I really don't give a hot fuck about celebrities, but this piece from the L.A. Times got me wondering: Maybe Mel Gibson is as unhinged as he was portrayed on South Park.
Saturday, July 29, 2006
50 Missions?!?
The Catch 22 of Iraq and the Continued Rotation of the Human Being Lawnmower.
To all my friends over there, and anybody else's, for that matter: "I'm sorry. Hang On. Be Safe".
To all my friends over there, and anybody else's, for that matter: "I'm sorry. Hang On. Be Safe".
Minimum Wage
The House Republicans, in all their magnanimity, are trying to raise the Federal Minimum Wage.
Now, before you have images of the Grinch's heart suddenly bursting with Christmas Cheer:
"They announced they had tacked it onto a 180-page bill that would cut the estate tax and extend a host of temporary tax cuts [...]".
Nice.
Now, before you have images of the Grinch's heart suddenly bursting with Christmas Cheer:
"They announced they had tacked it onto a 180-page bill that would cut the estate tax and extend a host of temporary tax cuts [...]".
Nice.
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Eminent Domain: Not Immanent
All of a sudden, sanity breaks out. It's nice when that happens:
"COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Ohio Supreme Court ruled unanimously on Wednesday that a Cincinnati suburb cannot take private property by eminent domain for a $125 million project of offices, shops and restaurants
The case was the first challenge of property rights laws to reach a state high court since the
U.S. Supreme Court last summer allowed municipalities to seize homes for use by a private developer.
The case involves the city of Norwood, which used its power of eminent domain to seize properties holding out against private development in an area considered to be deteriorating.
The court found that economic development isn't a sufficient reason under the state constitution to justify taking homes.
In the ruling, Justice Maureen O'Connor said cities may consider economic benefits but that courts deciding such cases in the future must 'apply heightened scrutiny' to assure private citizens' property rights.
'For the individual property owner, the appropriation is not simply the seizure of a house', she wrote. 'It is the taking of a home — the place where ancestors toiled, where families were raised, where memories were made,'
Targeting property because it is in a deteriorating area also is unconstitutional because the term is too vague and requires speculation, the court found.
O'Connor wrote that the court attempted in its decision to balance 'two competing interests of great import in American democracy: the individual's rights in the possession and security of property, and the sovereign's power to take private property for the benefit of the community'."
Congratulations on keeping your homes!!!
via Covington
"COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Ohio Supreme Court ruled unanimously on Wednesday that a Cincinnati suburb cannot take private property by eminent domain for a $125 million project of offices, shops and restaurants
The case was the first challenge of property rights laws to reach a state high court since the
U.S. Supreme Court last summer allowed municipalities to seize homes for use by a private developer.
The case involves the city of Norwood, which used its power of eminent domain to seize properties holding out against private development in an area considered to be deteriorating.
The court found that economic development isn't a sufficient reason under the state constitution to justify taking homes.
In the ruling, Justice Maureen O'Connor said cities may consider economic benefits but that courts deciding such cases in the future must 'apply heightened scrutiny' to assure private citizens' property rights.
'For the individual property owner, the appropriation is not simply the seizure of a house', she wrote. 'It is the taking of a home — the place where ancestors toiled, where families were raised, where memories were made,'
Targeting property because it is in a deteriorating area also is unconstitutional because the term is too vague and requires speculation, the court found.
O'Connor wrote that the court attempted in its decision to balance 'two competing interests of great import in American democracy: the individual's rights in the possession and security of property, and the sovereign's power to take private property for the benefit of the community'."
Congratulations on keeping your homes!!!
via Covington
Oh Shit...
Sometimes, a headline is all you need:
"Bush: Lebanon a lot like Iraq in struggle for democracy"
To reiterate: Oh shit...
"Bush: Lebanon a lot like Iraq in struggle for democracy"
To reiterate: Oh shit...
The Man Act
Looks like the testicles have it!
Young women of America, I emplore you: Save it! Don't let just any old raincoat or family member brutally rape you. Wait for your "elected" officials. Your body, after all, is a sacred temple, the perfect embodiment of the "love" that Uncle Sam has for you...
Young women of America, I emplore you: Save it! Don't let just any old raincoat or family member brutally rape you. Wait for your "elected" officials. Your body, after all, is a sacred temple, the perfect embodiment of the "love" that Uncle Sam has for you...
Monday, July 24, 2006
Marvin Lewis interveiw = media nightmare
All the off field troubles for the Bengals just keep pilling up, and Cincinnati Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis just keeps doing what he does. He continually starves the media for that nugget that they want. He never flinches from his message. It is all about Football, all the time.
Star linebacker Odell Therman is apperantly suspended for the first 4 games of the season, and in rehab for a Meth problem, that he has also had before he became a pro. Marvin played that one to a tee.
If you have never heard a Marvin Lewis interview before, this one is what it is like all the time. He will always duck the big question with a "it's just football" kind of response, and I think he really thinks that way. I also think Marvin Lewis is smart as hell, and he can play the media like drum.
Training camp starts this Saturday, and I am about jumping out of my skin at the fact that football season is upon us. There is no better time of the year than the cooling in the air, and the start of Football season!!
Star linebacker Odell Therman is apperantly suspended for the first 4 games of the season, and in rehab for a Meth problem, that he has also had before he became a pro. Marvin played that one to a tee.
If you have never heard a Marvin Lewis interview before, this one is what it is like all the time. He will always duck the big question with a "it's just football" kind of response, and I think he really thinks that way. I also think Marvin Lewis is smart as hell, and he can play the media like drum.
Training camp starts this Saturday, and I am about jumping out of my skin at the fact that football season is upon us. There is no better time of the year than the cooling in the air, and the start of Football season!!
United States Congress v. George W. Bush
Hmmm. This is interesting, not that I expect it to come to much. Who knows?
One thing is for sure: Don't Fuck with Lawyers.
One thing is for sure: Don't Fuck with Lawyers.
Cessation of Violence
Diplomacy? The hell, you say.
Is it possible that the Bush Administration might actually do something right. In this case, they might, after the absolute goat fuck that is Iraq, realize that blowing up countries, or allowing them to be blown up, might make people hate us more, not withstanding the moral bankruptcy of it all.
Let's hope so.
Update: A refugee's rant, justified, I'd think.
"I don't know what to say anymore. I mean, how am I supporting Hizbullah. Here you have personal proof people that I had to leave my own country because a friend of ours was killed the other day. Why? Because he was loading WOOD from his truck into his farm and probably some crazy spy plane caught view of this and figured 'hey...he shouldn't be out past curfew, and those 4x10's look pretty suspiscious to me...let's do something about it.' I mean how ridiculous is that? And the sad thing is he used to tell all the people in the village to go to his farm out in the middle of no where because Israel would never EVER fire there unless it was intentional."
Is it possible that the Bush Administration might actually do something right. In this case, they might, after the absolute goat fuck that is Iraq, realize that blowing up countries, or allowing them to be blown up, might make people hate us more, not withstanding the moral bankruptcy of it all.
Let's hope so.
Update: A refugee's rant, justified, I'd think.
"I don't know what to say anymore. I mean, how am I supporting Hizbullah. Here you have personal proof people that I had to leave my own country because a friend of ours was killed the other day. Why? Because he was loading WOOD from his truck into his farm and probably some crazy spy plane caught view of this and figured 'hey...he shouldn't be out past curfew, and those 4x10's look pretty suspiscious to me...let's do something about it.' I mean how ridiculous is that? And the sad thing is he used to tell all the people in the village to go to his farm out in the middle of no where because Israel would never EVER fire there unless it was intentional."
Lieberman: The Devil You Know
Fox News thinks so, but then again, he's one of their two favorite Democrats.
However, I think it interesting that Bill Clinton is showing up to lend support, which puts us in an interesting pickle, because its clear to everyone, centrists, liberals and leftists (and if the truth be told, conservatives) that anything other than stopping the GOP machine is indeed the road to hell, given the disasterous policies of the last six years, even if that stop is a total stooge of the GOP.
On the other hand, does conceding this to the point of selling out principle, and electing Bush Lite to another term just because he's ostensibly a Democrat insure anything?
During the 2004 campaign, I talked to alot of Goldwater conservatives, and Independents who thought it prudent to stick with the "devil you know" rather than reading the writing on the wall. That turned out great, didn't it?
However, I think it interesting that Bill Clinton is showing up to lend support, which puts us in an interesting pickle, because its clear to everyone, centrists, liberals and leftists (and if the truth be told, conservatives) that anything other than stopping the GOP machine is indeed the road to hell, given the disasterous policies of the last six years, even if that stop is a total stooge of the GOP.
On the other hand, does conceding this to the point of selling out principle, and electing Bush Lite to another term just because he's ostensibly a Democrat insure anything?
During the 2004 campaign, I talked to alot of Goldwater conservatives, and Independents who thought it prudent to stick with the "devil you know" rather than reading the writing on the wall. That turned out great, didn't it?
Sunday, July 23, 2006
Half Full?
I'm optimistic as the next guy, but this might be a bit naive:
"Condoleezza Rice has described the plight of Lebanon as a part of the 'birth pangs of a new Middle East' and said that Israel should ignore calls for a ceasefire [...]"
And speaking of half full glasses, wonder what's up in that beacon of freedom?
Update: Biffman finds Digby pointing out Condi's rapture. Praise Jesus and pass the ammo.
"Condoleezza Rice has described the plight of Lebanon as a part of the 'birth pangs of a new Middle East' and said that Israel should ignore calls for a ceasefire [...]"
And speaking of half full glasses, wonder what's up in that beacon of freedom?
Update: Biffman finds Digby pointing out Condi's rapture. Praise Jesus and pass the ammo.
Friday, July 21, 2006
Clerks II: Electric Boogaloo
I haven't seen this yet, but from the sound of Joel Siegal's "review", I'll be buying a ticket tomorrow.
Thursday, July 20, 2006
Homeward, Christian Soldiers
Some good news: Looks like Alex P. Keaton got clocked. Went to the cookie jar too often, eh?
Bush goes to the NAACP
Amazingly, he wasn't pelted with rotten eggs:
"'And I understand that a lot of African-Americans distrust my political party', the president said, drawing perhaps the loudest applause of his morning. 'I consider it a tragedy that the party of Abraham Lincoln let go of its historical ties with the African-American community'.''
Find me a more cynical move than this: Bush's operatives in Florida in 2000 and likely Ohio in 2004 disenfranchised thousands of black voters, not to mention education and health care, which are concerns that black americans share with all americans.
Well, except these americans, and they are the only ones that count.
"'And I understand that a lot of African-Americans distrust my political party', the president said, drawing perhaps the loudest applause of his morning. 'I consider it a tragedy that the party of Abraham Lincoln let go of its historical ties with the African-American community'.''
Find me a more cynical move than this: Bush's operatives in Florida in 2000 and likely Ohio in 2004 disenfranchised thousands of black voters, not to mention education and health care, which are concerns that black americans share with all americans.
Well, except these americans, and they are the only ones that count.
Doctor Jeep: On and On
Like some nightmare remembered from the 80's, Lebanon is being blown all to hell. Again. Invasion appears immanent.
Here's an interesting perspective on things.
Ever get the feeling that things are getting worse?
Here's an interesting perspective on things.
Ever get the feeling that things are getting worse?
Monday, July 17, 2006
Liberal Bias: The Discovery Channel
Interesting that Brokaw decides to do this. More interesting: The networks probably wouldn't air this-"fair and balanced", you know.
Shenanigans
The Stem Cell debate, as it is currently constituted, is a sham, according to MSNBC's Robert Bazell.
However, the humanitarians at the National Review Online think the president's got it right.
However, the humanitarians at the National Review Online think the president's got it right.
Doctor Jeep
Christ...the feedback loop continues- Lebanon pounded by Israeli missiles. The administration scrambles for erudite solutions to problems they exacerbated in Iraq.
Reminds me of this Sisters of Mercy track.
"everybody shouts on I Love Lucy
Pee Wee reads the evening news
a pre-owned song or a second-hand Uzi
everybody got a job to lose
here come the golden oldies
here come the Hizbollah
businessmen from South Miami
humming AOR ".
The hawk apologists are trying to spin this into a political miracle, the idea that all of this will come to something aside from Rochambeau, and "Meanwhile [....] Doctor Jeep plays on and on and on".
Reminds me of this Sisters of Mercy track.
"everybody shouts on I Love Lucy
Pee Wee reads the evening news
a pre-owned song or a second-hand Uzi
everybody got a job to lose
here come the golden oldies
here come the Hizbollah
businessmen from South Miami
humming AOR ".
The hawk apologists are trying to spin this into a political miracle, the idea that all of this will come to something aside from Rochambeau, and "Meanwhile [....] Doctor Jeep plays on and on and on".
Sunday, July 16, 2006
Mike Brown steps up
Mike Brown, the owner of the Cincinnati Bengals, makes a statement to defend his players. I think this was a great thing for an owner who has been known in the past for being the main reason for the Bengals being so bad for so long. It helps take some of the heat off of his head coach.
Saturday, July 15, 2006
Friday, July 14, 2006
Thursday, July 13, 2006
More trouble in Bengaldome
Well what an ironic day for the Bengals.
This off season for the Bengals has been not what you would expect from a team that made such great strides last year. The "in Marvin we trust" motto has taken a big hit in the last year or so because of the young and now rich thugs that Marvin Lewis has drafted, are now getting into some off the field trouble.
And now today, they draft Ahmad Brooks in the Supplimental draft, a guy with plenty of off the field issues of his own. And on the same day, it is revealed that Odell Thurman, a rookie sensation LB from last year, has been suspended for the first 4 games of the regular season for a violation of the NFL substance abuse system.
I thought that we had enough of this crap from Chris Henry, another rookie from last year who has been arrested 4 times in the past year. The highlight of the 4 arrests has got to be the one where he got pulled over by the Covington police at 2am and they found that he had a bag of weed in his shoe, and expired plates.....nice work young man.
I am sorry that this has to be one of my first post. I do love me my Bengals. I never mean to be negative, but the off season has been a bunch of crap.
This off season for the Bengals has been not what you would expect from a team that made such great strides last year. The "in Marvin we trust" motto has taken a big hit in the last year or so because of the young and now rich thugs that Marvin Lewis has drafted, are now getting into some off the field trouble.
And now today, they draft Ahmad Brooks in the Supplimental draft, a guy with plenty of off the field issues of his own. And on the same day, it is revealed that Odell Thurman, a rookie sensation LB from last year, has been suspended for the first 4 games of the regular season for a violation of the NFL substance abuse system.
I thought that we had enough of this crap from Chris Henry, another rookie from last year who has been arrested 4 times in the past year. The highlight of the 4 arrests has got to be the one where he got pulled over by the Covington police at 2am and they found that he had a bag of weed in his shoe, and expired plates.....nice work young man.
I am sorry that this has to be one of my first post. I do love me my Bengals. I never mean to be negative, but the off season has been a bunch of crap.
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Dark Globe
In the course of busy busy business, huge events often go overlooked. One such event slid under The Wizard's radar this weekend: Syd Barrett died.
Eulogized thusly: Syd Barrett, original singer and songwriter of Pink Floyd, famous acid casualty, recluse, nut, inspiration for "Shine On (You Crazy Diamond)".
Nick Kent broke that diagnosis years ago, yet I wait for the snarkier, more sinister in its thirty something year old "Oh, what did the 60's mean?, "Hotel California" deep post mordem to come from critics and talking heads to follow. Fuck them.
Drugs by the Shovelful? Possible Mental Illness? Possible...
How about Syd deciding that maybe he didn't want to be a ROCK STAR. Maybe he no longer wanted to be a "Crazy Diamond" for the less talented to whore: The best post Syd Floyd is all the stuff that cops Syd's expansive infinitum, the space of space, the vast void of The Piper at the Gates of Dawn; Dark Side of the Moon, apotheiosis of Roger Waters's bloated and souless vision of the universe, thus $$$ from suburban headphone cosmonauts for whom Pink Floyd's whiny mediocrity came to emblemize, trading on poor Syd's long shadow of true progessive bravery, the avant garde dies a stadium death. For some, at least he left his "reputation" behind for ghouls. Hell, maybe he realized that Roger Waters was a pissant "intellectual" careerist who'd hump his legend forever...
The thing is, I feel Syd Barrett like I feel Lord Byron: subconcious and deep, like an instinct or a English daydream come home, beautiful and damaged visionaries of the rarest kind. Maybe its more Rimbaud than Byron, for the boy savant of Charleville was, like Byron andBarrett, a beautiful and damaged visionary, but it is in the boy savant we find the best comparison: Barrett and Rimbaud, audaciously innocent in imagination yet fiercely experimental in technique. Both said "fuck it" and were finished, with Rimbaud running guns in Abyssinia and Syd back to mum's garden, which I would say fit their varied "fuck it" attitudes. With Byron a revolutionary casualty in Greece's War of Independence, all were adventurers, though Syd's ultimately was sublimely mundane figures in gold in the morning dew of his garden.
Maybe Syd became lost in the sublime, chosing his vision over "reality", and painted for himself, finding peace of mind. Is that so weird: Emily Dickinson never left the attic. Maybe Syd saw that, if he gave his soul to the starmachine, this appreciation of the expansiveness of ordinary things would die, and cynicism would creep in. Stadium Death.
In the end, Syd preferred a quieter death, a death in the country, near his garden. Sure, he could have ended it years ago like Cobain and Morrison, a real rock star's death and forevermore have it sexed up for the aforementioned ghouls, but he opted to go home, and do something else. An ordinary death is fitting.
Syd...I hope you found it.
Friday, July 7, 2006
This would be painful if it weren't so funny
Check out this blog's condemnation of poor Caroline Weber for speaking out about her pro-abortion views in an Onion editorial. This is priceless.
Thanks Squidlette
Thanks Squidlette
Wednesday, July 5, 2006
Please allow me to introduce myself
At the Wizards request, I have been asked to contribute to the Width of the Circle. I have been very good friends with the Wizard for a long time, and he thought it would be a good idea to bring a little sports to the Circle if you will, and what ever else may come to my sick little mind.
With the NFL season quickly approaching, I will be having much to talk about my Bengals and Seahawks, and also the 29 other teams in the NFL. (I say 29, because I don't consider the Steelers an NFL team......they are Satan)
I am very new to this Blogging thing, so give me some time kids. I am looking forward to learning a thing or two from you folks.
With the NFL season quickly approaching, I will be having much to talk about my Bengals and Seahawks, and also the 29 other teams in the NFL. (I say 29, because I don't consider the Steelers an NFL team......they are Satan)
I am very new to this Blogging thing, so give me some time kids. I am looking forward to learning a thing or two from you folks.
Why We Need the ACLU
Are these the kind of values the Anti-ACLU bunch talk about?
"A large Delaware school district promoted Christianity so aggressively that a Jewish family felt it necessary to move to Wilmington, two hours away, because they feared retaliation for filing a lawsuit. The complaint recounts a raucous crowd that applauded the board’s opening prayer and then, when sixth-grader Alexander Dobrich stood up to read a statement, yelled at him 'take your yarmulke off!' His statement, read by Samantha, confided 'I feel bad when kids in my class call me Jew boy'.
…A former board member suggested that Mona Dobrich might "disappear" like Madalyn Murray O’Hair, the atheist whose Supreme Court case resulted in ending organized school prayer. She disappeared in 1995 and her dismembered body was found six years later.The crowd booed an ACLU speaker and told her to 'go back up north'. In the days after the meeting the community poured venom on the Dobriches. Callers to the local radio station said the family they should convert or leave the area. Someone called them and said the Ku Klux Klan was nearby."
Of course, the ACLU is protecting the vile speech of these psychopaths.
via Crooks and Liars.
"A large Delaware school district promoted Christianity so aggressively that a Jewish family felt it necessary to move to Wilmington, two hours away, because they feared retaliation for filing a lawsuit. The complaint recounts a raucous crowd that applauded the board’s opening prayer and then, when sixth-grader Alexander Dobrich stood up to read a statement, yelled at him 'take your yarmulke off!' His statement, read by Samantha, confided 'I feel bad when kids in my class call me Jew boy'.
…A former board member suggested that Mona Dobrich might "disappear" like Madalyn Murray O’Hair, the atheist whose Supreme Court case resulted in ending organized school prayer. She disappeared in 1995 and her dismembered body was found six years later.The crowd booed an ACLU speaker and told her to 'go back up north'. In the days after the meeting the community poured venom on the Dobriches. Callers to the local radio station said the family they should convert or leave the area. Someone called them and said the Ku Klux Klan was nearby."
Of course, the ACLU is protecting the vile speech of these psychopaths.
via Crooks and Liars.
Welcome to Hell, Mr. Lay.
For after him shall come of fouler deed
From tow'rds the west a Pastor without law,
Such as befits to cover him and me.
New Jason will he be, of whom we read
In Maccabees; and as his king was pliant,
So he who governs France shall be to this one."
I do not know if I were here too bold,
That him I answered only in this metre:
"I pray thee tell me now how great a treasure"
Our Lord demanded of Saint Peter first,
Before he put the keys into his keeping?
Truly he nothing asked but 'Follow me.'
Nor Peter nor the rest asked of Matthias
Silver or gold, when he by lot was chosen
Unto the place the guilty soul had lost.
Therefore stay here, for thou art justly punished,
And keep safe guard o'er the ill-gotten money,
Which caused thee to be valiant against Charles [...] (Dante "The Inferno, Canto 24).
Thanks Wes F.
Tuesday, July 4, 2006
"May the Fourth Be with You"
Incidentally, and what I explain in a quick, the above phrase was required, and printed on receipts, at the Fireworks Store-Soulcrushing, no?Anyway, I am trying to decide how best to celebrate.Fireworks are out of the question, having spent 5 years hawking Communist made pyro to red blooded Americans (oh the deliciousness of that-red made for red blood?), so I don't give a hot fuck about silver chrysanthemums, green peony's or wolfpack mortars. So what does one do?
I have 18 Modelo Especials in my fridge at this moment, awaiting my burning hand to unleash the cold cold mexican goodness into my parchment, however virtual, and this, too, is tradicional (take that!)....
Digression: The Fireworks store I worked at, first as a stocker and then as a manager, was very near to liquor stores just across the border in Indiana, and frequently, patrons would park in our lot, ice down an obscene amount of beer, move the cases of Early Times to the front of the truck bed, and buy around a grand worth of explosives, all while drinking in said parking lot, surreptiously, and blasting .38 Special out of the cab. All American Fun. Made me think of that joke: "What's a Redneck's last words? Hey Y'all...watch this!".
Even now, as I live in a city where aerial pyro is a bad idea (isn't that any city?), I can hear bottlerockets screaming outside my window, and wonder whether anybody has thought about the why of the day, especially since we are surrounded by sheep in patriot's clothing, the true revolutionary intent of the Fourth of July. Like "Support the Troops" slogans on Miller Lite signs, I suspect it means very little to most, and it assuages any guilt about not doing jack shit about either the troops or the revolution.
So, this day, as I contemplate those tasty cervezas, I'll enjoy this classic in revolutionary spirit, contemplate the austerity and beauty of this revolutionary act, and hope that we can evolve into better people and a better nation, an intelligent nation.
awww fuck.
Monday, July 3, 2006
"NSAT & T"
"'While your account information may be personal to you, these records constitute business records that are owned by AT&T', the new policy declares. "As such, AT&T may disclose such records to protect its legitimate business interests, safeguard others, or respond to legal process."
Nice to see these corporate weasels watching out for you and me...kinda like the Maher skit earlier in the spring.
Nice to see these corporate weasels watching out for you and me...kinda like the Maher skit earlier in the spring.
Saturday, July 1, 2006
Glint...maaaaannnn.
As a fan of the show Strangers with Candy, I am pretty excited about the prospect of the movie. I really hope it isn't as awful as the Ali G movie, but anyway, The Onion has a cool interview with Amy Sedaris
"What an outrage. Big win for democrats." II: The Birth of a Talking Point, and some thoughts in and around
The Wall Street Journal, the paper of record for folks who like their police jack-booted, their politicians brownshirted, and their poor people Dickensian, tells us that the SCOTUS ruling might be good for Bush. John D. McKinnon and Jess Bravin are here to tell us that "Many Republicans predict that despite the White House's legal defeat over military tribunals, President Bush will emerge as the political winner among security-conscious voters."
Hmmm. Seems a bit over-reaching, doesn't it? Overly optimistic? Desperation to make lemonade out of lemons, as Erma Bombeck might say. Problem was, is, and always will be with the Administration's policy concerning Gitmo and the various other black-ops hell holes scattered about is that they are fundementally un-American. This is shit that Reagan reminded us ad infinitum about the Soviet Union, and something that only an idiot would try to deny about that regime: Incarceration without trials, family disappearing in the middle of the night. This is the stuff of Stalin, who would, of course, argue the necessity of such for security reasons. These are the same reasons we get everyday from the White House. Funny how the march of history goes, teleologically speaking, when one "superpower" emerges, but Hegelian metaphysics aside, axiomonically speaking, they were always trying to turn "chicken shit into chicken salad", and sell it with a large suspension of reality and a toy World Trade Center in the Super Security Happy Meal...while supplies last...
But I digress, but only slightly, because this is the underpinning of the quickening talking point, something that House Majority Leader John BONER, representing the gated constituents of West Chester, elucidates in concluding that "Democrats [support] 'special privileges for terrorists'."
There is something so sublime in that very Southwest Ohio conception of such, for he has managed to incorporate the "special rights" meme of the Gay Rights ordinance / Gay Marriage amendment battle of 2004. We hate "special rights", even if they are civil/human rights, and "special privileges" for terrorists, for they are enemy combatants. Of course it matters not if many were picked up nowhere near Iraq or Afghanistan.
Part of the problem is in definition: Are they criminals or combatants? Combatants implies a battle field, an active engagement with troops, being captured, etc. Noriega was captured in Panama, a battle field, yet was afforded a civil trial, no? Even Nuremburg was a public trial. Previous administrations treated these peoples as criminals because they represented no nations but an ideological one.
The apologists would say that I am engaged in "Pre 9/11" thinking, but the question the 800 pound Guerilla in the room points to the fact that if this is a new kind of war, as they say, then why are we conducting it in the old way, vis a vis, occupation, land armies, etc. The answer is the Cold Warriors in the administration who cannot look past their monolithic paradigm: The Soviet Union is gone, so we need another monolith to struggle against. The Soviets had the same paradigm, Al Quaeda does not, neither did we, when we kicked the British out. Seems a bit flawed.
I look for Boner's comment to end up in campaign commercials across the country, and for those "security minded" folks, desperate to shore up their fantasies about the world, to savor every bit of Chickenshit, uh, salad, sandwhich.
Wholesome goodness.
Hmmm. Seems a bit over-reaching, doesn't it? Overly optimistic? Desperation to make lemonade out of lemons, as Erma Bombeck might say. Problem was, is, and always will be with the Administration's policy concerning Gitmo and the various other black-ops hell holes scattered about is that they are fundementally un-American. This is shit that Reagan reminded us ad infinitum about the Soviet Union, and something that only an idiot would try to deny about that regime: Incarceration without trials, family disappearing in the middle of the night. This is the stuff of Stalin, who would, of course, argue the necessity of such for security reasons. These are the same reasons we get everyday from the White House. Funny how the march of history goes, teleologically speaking, when one "superpower" emerges, but Hegelian metaphysics aside, axiomonically speaking, they were always trying to turn "chicken shit into chicken salad", and sell it with a large suspension of reality and a toy World Trade Center in the Super Security Happy Meal...while supplies last...
But I digress, but only slightly, because this is the underpinning of the quickening talking point, something that House Majority Leader John BONER, representing the gated constituents of West Chester, elucidates in concluding that "Democrats [support] 'special privileges for terrorists'."
There is something so sublime in that very Southwest Ohio conception of such, for he has managed to incorporate the "special rights" meme of the Gay Rights ordinance / Gay Marriage amendment battle of 2004. We hate "special rights", even if they are civil/human rights, and "special privileges" for terrorists, for they are enemy combatants. Of course it matters not if many were picked up nowhere near Iraq or Afghanistan.
Part of the problem is in definition: Are they criminals or combatants? Combatants implies a battle field, an active engagement with troops, being captured, etc. Noriega was captured in Panama, a battle field, yet was afforded a civil trial, no? Even Nuremburg was a public trial. Previous administrations treated these peoples as criminals because they represented no nations but an ideological one.
The apologists would say that I am engaged in "Pre 9/11" thinking, but the question the 800 pound Guerilla in the room points to the fact that if this is a new kind of war, as they say, then why are we conducting it in the old way, vis a vis, occupation, land armies, etc. The answer is the Cold Warriors in the administration who cannot look past their monolithic paradigm: The Soviet Union is gone, so we need another monolith to struggle against. The Soviets had the same paradigm, Al Quaeda does not, neither did we, when we kicked the British out. Seems a bit flawed.
I look for Boner's comment to end up in campaign commercials across the country, and for those "security minded" folks, desperate to shore up their fantasies about the world, to savor every bit of Chickenshit, uh, salad, sandwhich.
Wholesome goodness.
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