Irony and the Pin Drops

Megachurches all over this nation are faced with an interesting dilemna:

"Abortion Pill Twarts Breast Cancer".

Swearing to God

Courtesy of Katie G.:

I would think that being forced to take an oath on a book that is not as holy to a person would kind of undermine the point of taking an oath in the first place. But hey, what do I know.

Adequitesee and the Shuddering English Prof

Normally, I leave vapid starlets to their own vapid devices, but the lack of sleep, unsatisfactory drafts, and then...this...demands comment and/or ridicule.

No Child Left Behind, indeed...

"Lindsay Lohan released a statement Tuesday extending her condolences to Robert Altman's family:

I would like to send my condolences out to Catherine Altman, Robert Altmans wife, as well as all of his immediate family, close friends, co-workers, and all of his inner circle.

I feel as if I've just had the wind knocked out of me and my heart aches.

If not only my heart but the heart of Mr. Altman's wife and family and many fellow actors/artists that admire him for his work and love him for making people laugh whenever and however he could..

Robert altman made dreams possible for many independent aspiring filmmakers, as well as creating roles for countless actors.

I am lucky enough to of been able to work with Robert Altman amongst the other greats on a film that I can genuinely say created a turning point in my career.

I learned so much from Altman and he was the closest thing to my father and grandfather that I really do believe I've had in several years.

The point is, he made a difference.

He left us with a legend that all of us have the ability to do.

So every day when you wake up.

Look in the mirror and thank god for every second you have and cherish all moments.
The fighting, the anger, the drama is tedious.

Please just take each moment day by day and consider yourself lucky to breathe and feel at all and smile. Be thankful.

Life comes once, doesn't 'keep coming back' and we all take such advantage of what we have.

When we shouldn't..... '

Make a searching and fearless moral inventory of yourselves' (12st book) -everytime there's a triumph in the world a million souls hafta be trampled on.-altman Its true. But treasure each triumph as they come.

If I can do anything for those who are in a very hard time right now, as I'm one of them with hearing this news, please take advantage of the fact that I'm just a phone call away.

God Bless, peace and love always.

Thank You,

BE ADEQUITE

Lindsay Lohan"

Indeed...way to tell 'em to reach for the stars. I always encourage my students to do the bare minimum...

Incidentally, if one does a google image search for Lindsay...

Bullshit: An American Pictorial

Interesting Diary over at Kos today.

Sad

Evidentally, the National Science Teachers Association won't touch An Inconvenient Truth. Looking at their position statement on teaching Environmental Literacy, I'd like to re-educate these teachers on the meaning of bias.

The My Pet Goat wing?

Christ...a monument to stupidity, in the guise of a storehouse of learning, for a guy who never learned a goddamned thing.

William S. Burroughs - Thanksgiving Prayer

Happy Thanksgiving!

Yer Blues

Dunno...I was just reminded of this. Maybe its because we're goin' drinkin' tonight...

N joi.

Lucas

Last time: It is impossible for large, multinational corporations to have a "liberal agenda" . I mean, think it through:

"The political media aren't becoming more responsible; they're simply continuing to direct their scorn at Democrats and progressives. Just this week, media have hyped purported Democratic disarray while downplaying or ignoring altogether GOP infighting; falsely suggested that Nancy Pelosi is as unpopular as President Bush; asserted that Democrats -- who do not yet actually control Congress and won't until next year -- are 'starting to feel some of the pressure' of catching Osama bin Laden without explaining how Bush and the GOP let him get away; and suggested that Nancy Pelosi, who hasn't even become speaker of the House yet, is already 'damaged goods'. Meanwhile, Trent Lott, who has as good a claim on being 'damaged goods' as anyone, is the beneficiary of a media whitewash of his history of associating himself with racist organizations and ideas. Fox News, not typically known for subtlety or for downplaying controversy, told viewers that Lott 'ran into a little bit of difficulty, but now he's making a comeback'. Yes, that unpleasantness about his suggestion that America would be better off had a segregationist been elected president is behind him, and Lott is now ready, we presume, to act as a uniter, not a divider. Right...."

Since the election, I've been de-toxing from politics (and grading tons of student papers, all of which illustrate the "genius" behind No Child Left Behind, standardized testing, et al.)

One thing I've noticed is that, after the sexy sexy of the tidal wave cum ass whippin' the Dem's laid on the GOP is that there is a subtext becoming text: The GOP lost because they got away from Conservative values (this is partially true: When Reagan got in bed with the Religious Right, the writing was on the wall. However, the conflation of Conservative and NeoConservative renders this moot), and not because this not so dearly departed GOP hegemon were a bunch of crooks. Moreover, it certainly had nothing to do with the glaring failures of their policy and philosophy: It was Bush.

The worst part of this subtext is the almost cheerleading for the GOP as underdogs: It matters not how disasterous it has been for our country, as long as the story is forced into a narrative peghole and conforms with some pre-existing American semiotic dementia involving underdogs. Make history fit the narrative.

In a related note, I guess the world needs a Conservative Daily Show, since the "underdogs" need to lash at the "liberal" establishment. Dennis Miller is probably speed dialing his agent while frantically searching his house to figure out where his funny went:

"If successful, the show could take its place on the regular schedule, adding satire to FNC's formula of news and opinion."

Read the above quotation again. After you stop laughing, read it again. WTF?

Rest in Piece, you old bastard

Robert Altman, the genius behind MASH and Nashville, left this world, no doubt snarling.

Woohoo!! Good Stuff

The Janitors Win! And that's no small accomplishment in the South, where Labor exists on the food chain just above mealworms.

More on the striking Houston janitors trampled by mounted police and jailed.

Some welcome home we've given our homeless vets

I hope the decision whether to drag out the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and commit more troops takes all of the costs into account. Here are some fun facts to consider:

One in three adult homeless males is a veteran and 45 percent of those suffer from mental illness, according to the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans.

A recent report in the New England Journal of Medicine, meanwhile, found that one in four veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan were diagnosed with some kind of mental health problem.

And those are just the ones who found their way to a VA hospital. Many don't.

Also, this.

White Fear is a whole different kind of thing these days at East Cental High School

Back in the day when the Wizard and I went to East Central High School, White Fear was the fear of some dumb ass hick in your study hall targeting you for a 3am lawn job, while drunk on a case of the Beast in their daddy's pickup truck.

Now in 2006, this is White Fear in St. Leon IN. , the home of the Trojans.

How things have changed.

Uncle Milty and the Oppression Lotto

Milton Friedman, Nobel Laureate, is now dead.

It's remarkable that such an obviously brilliant man creates such polarizing viewpoints.

For instance:

"'Milton Friedman revived the economics of liberty when it had been all but forgotten', said former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, one of the politicians and colleagues who lauded Friedman on Thursday. 'He was an intellectual freedom fighter. Never was there a less dismal practitioner of a dismal science'."

and

"'He has used a brilliant mind to advance a moral vision -- the vision of a society where men and women are free, free to choose, but where government is not as free to override their decisions', President Bush said in 2002. 'That vision has changed America, and it is changing the world'."

Versus This:

"In terms of the policies he inspired or influenced, however, the report card is not so glowing. His great claim, the idea that "inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon" may have set off the Monetarist versus Keynesian "econ-wars" of the late 1970s and 1980s. But Friedman's ideas of directly targeting the money supply were tried and rejected as a failure, in both the UK and the US, and Friedman himself backed away from his dogmatic earlier positions. Today, no major central bank directly targets money supply data in setting monetary policy - instead they are far more pragmatic. Even Friedman's great admirer Alan Greenspan never tied himself to the monetarist mast, preferring to keep his options open."

I'm not an economist, but I always found those who talked loudest about absolute Free Market Capitalism as the most free state for humanity always ignored that one ignoble fact about humanity: That we are, in our lizard brains, predators, and such a market is necessarily predatory.

Moreover, the "unregulated" market is a misnomer-It is regulated, by those who hold the most capital, and so, the Horatio Alger pose underlying this ideology is deceitful at best, and destructive at worst.

More on this later...

The Honeymoon is Over?

Jesus...not this again:

"In a stunning push back against incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., House Democrats on Thursday elected Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland as majority leader for the 110th Congress."

That's not to say I favored either or, but the tone in the new majority seems to be getting ugly, and this time, the far left has nothing to do with it.

Can we just start fixing the country? Please?!?

Outfoxed: The Emperor Strikes Back

Christ...are you telling me these assholes over at the Rupert U. aren't any smarter than this.

Fair and Balanced, indeed.

The Bengals need a Miracle

I can still not believe what happened at Paul Brown Stadium yesterday.

For those of you who had the pleasure of not watching the second half, consider yourselves lucky. It was enough to make any fan sick to the point of puking.

The Cincinnati Bengals had leads of 21-0, and 28-7 in the first half of the game. They then proceeded to to get out scored 42-13 in the second half, losing the game 49-42.

The Bengals offence puts up 582 yards on offense, WR Chad Johnson had his best game as a Pro, and they put up 42 points..........AND THEY STILL LOST THE FUCKING GAME.

This in not AA College football. You do not give up 42 points in one half. Defensive Cordinator, Chuck Bresnahan should be fired immediatly, but it does not look like that is going to happen.

The Bengals are now 4-5 with 7 games to go. They are 3 games back of the Baltimore Ravens in their division. After going 11-5 last year, and going to the playoffs, the Bengals have already matched thier lost total from all of last year. NOT GOOD. The ramaining schedule does not look favorable for the Bengals to make the playoffs, and as a huge fan, it is breaking my fucking heart.

Don't get me wrong, I am not all gloom and doom, but DE Justin Smith said it best today. Every game from here on out is the Super Bowl for the Bengals. I am a super fan, and I will be watching next week, and the week after, and so on.......and cheering my ass off. I have been through too many shitty ass losing seasons with the Bengals to not appreciate the NEW Bengals, even when they struggle.

WHO DEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!...........well five teams so far this year, but fuck it....WHO DEY anyway.

GO BENGALS!!!!!

oh no, this just does not look too good.

The Bengals are in some deep shit this weekend. They have to turn it around right now, but the Chargers are the last team the Bengals need to be seeing at this time. A win would be huge, but seems to be far fetched.

On a bright note, the Seahawks are without their Pro Bowl QB, and RB, and have a chance to really close the door on the NFC West.

A Drug Against War

Still feeling a bit giddy after such a historic week.

JenJen the Tavern Wench commented that "There's this weird, goofy optimism coming over me that I haven't felt since the '90s. Or maybe I've just had too much to drink."

Katie G agrees. Hell, I agree. Maybe will all agree.

Interesting, isn't it, to recall those days. Where were you then? What was up in your life?

For me, I can't help but recall this lilting diddy, and all the "feelings" it brings back...

It's funny to think about it now, but then, KMFDM may or may not be the "drug against war". However, there is a representation in this clip that certainly reminds me of what the hell I was up to...

The Drug Against War? Indeed.

Cheers, HopeFiends.

Jim Webb wins...

Sweet jesus travis wake the fuck up..!!!!!!

Officially.

Jesus...

Yes yes. The sniping has begun already. Check the comments...

However, I want to point out we progressives/liberals/leftists/Greens have realized the importance of being team players, that our agendas will ultimately be better served, our voices heard, with the Democrats in power. Baby steps, ya know.

Yet know, when we can all take a breather and realize that we have a lot of collective work to do so we can begin to fix our democracy, the "mainstream" Democrats are now taking potshots at the left.

People, this is counter-productive, and more over, this isn't the time to show the country this ugly underbelly of the Democratic Party, and its not fair: Our enthusiasm, our shouting of truth to power, helped win the day.

Call me a whiner, but I really think this is shoddy, and I hope its just the hangover.

Holy Shit

MSNBC IS REPORTING THAT RUMSFELD IS RESIGNING TODAY.


His replacement: Robert Gates...

Update: via Covington

"Nice. Robert Gates, who allegedly was part of the delegation that got Iran to keep the hostages until after the 1980 election, and who was involved in the (really chapter 2 of the Oct Surprise) Iran Contra scandal, was onthe board of SAIC (spell it backwards), which was set up with slush fund money siphoned off the sale of weapons to Iran, and was the company that employed the anthrax mailer.

AND was on the board of VoteHere, a company providing software for election machine tabulation.

http://www.opednews.com/landes_voting_machine_fiasco.htm

And now he's going to be our new Secretary of Defense.
Well, at least he's already got all the members of SPECTRE on his speeddial list."

Tales From the Front Line of Democracy: Take it up with the Govenor

Oh what in the world can this portend, via Mike :

"I wish I could be optimistic. I went to vote at 6:15 AM.

I vote at the Newport High School precinct. As you undoubtedly know, Geoff Davis is tied with or narrowly trailing Ken Lucas in most polls.

I arrived at the poll at around 6:30 this morning. The poll workers were standing around the touch screen machine, while one of them was on the phone with someone in the clerk's office.

A gentleman who had voted at just after 6:00 (as it said on his receipt) was asking for verification of his vote. Apparently, he had voted, and then the machine had gone blank. There was then a burning smell and the "control unit" stopped working.

They said "the machine's broken," and the person from the clerk's office could give them no help.

The man with the reciept asked for verification that he actually did vote -- and they could not give him any. He said, "I want to vote on the other machine, since those votes are all lost." (They had an older-style backup machine there.) They told him that he could only vote once. He again said that he wanted to either get verification that his vote counted or vote on the machine that worked.

They refused to do so, and they told him to "take it up with the Governor."

I was able to cast my ballot on the older machine.

All it would take would be swapping out a 10 amp fuse in the circa-1988 technology "control unit" with a 20 amp, and the whole thing would melt, taking all the votes with it.

It begins."

Spacetropic is live blogging, and I'm attempting watching like a Hawk.

Update (15:38): Voter intimidation in Virginia. No, its not the machines.

Kos is calling for the end of electronic voting. Can't say I disagree. Shit, Scarborough agrees we need a paper trail.

Update (18:43) via MSNBC, Ohio Dems seek injunction to keep polls open later due to voting machine problems. Dems favored

Exit Polls (MSNBC) (19:00):

Bernard Sanders wins in Vermont.

Richard Lugar wins in Indiana.

Exit Polls (MSNBC) (19:30)

Strickland is the Projected Winner in Ohio.


Update (19:57):

I just slugged down a double Saint Remy, and John Cale's contorted cover of "Walkin' the Dog" is blasting on my stereo(incidentally, imagine an electric and insane, version of this if you need a reference). Up to this point, my attempts at live blogging have been very clipped, and technically not really live, but a simulacra: I'm in my living room, I've just opened a bottle of Ol' Red (thanks Alphonse!). I've got that feeling, like something is afoot, history perhaps unfolding, like the generation before me, via the cathode ray-

-Katherine Harris got her ass kicked. MSNBC projected Nelson the winner at 20:03. Jim Webb is up a thou in Virginia. Deval Patrick is projected to win Govenor in Mass.

I chose John Cale's Sabotage (Live) for this Soundtrack to History because, well, John Cale sounds unhinged, on the edge, in some kind of Cognac n Krell mania: Paranoid, Desperate...plus it has the sublime "Rosegarden Funeral of Sores", a dirge of considerable dread and fear, an existential agony of a world gone suicide. I feel this dread at this moment: What is born into the future if the future is a slide downward in paranoid warmongering. What becomes of history when it's held at gunpoint by mercenaries, aware of their angst but turning it outward and for profit:

"Mercenaries, abuseless, disunited, unfaithful

They have never enough to keep them in a battle

Other than a meager wage

Which is just about enough to make them wanna kill for you

But not enough to make them wanna die for ya"

That meager sum is the the definition of the American RePublic. What is the lyric if the song is called "Liberators"?

Update (20:30): MSNBC just projected that (Casey) Jones just teabagged Frothy Anal-Torum.

"Only Time Will Tell", sung very sweetly, and faithfully, just finished, and I wonder at, given the instantanous nature of the world of zero's and one's, how very slowly history unfolds for us. Just imagine what it was like in the fearful trembling centuries prior. No wonder people thought in terms of burning wheels in the sky, guys walking on water. Maybe that's why people still do? The codex of time leaves much between the lines, both in experience and meaning.

Chris Matthews and Howard Dean are talking to each other TV EYE. Slick. Two guys tolerable right now only as actors in this drama. Matthews is playing tough, asking for a position on Iraq.

-Sherrod Brown predicted to win Senate in Ohio. Think I'll have some more of de Wine.

Blackwell concedes, and, evidentally, 65% of Buckeyes, at this point, want no smoking

anywhere. 1% reporting.

In my living room, I can smoke like a free man, and am, heavily, Camel Lights, hardpack, while "Chickenshit" blares, all barroom piano and churing guitars while watching a watch party watch a watch party at the Hyatt.

"Give me information/Memphis Tennessee"

-Fuck...Lieberman predicted to win in Connectcuit.

The double agent, the establishment's "Democrat", will no doubt keep it greasy for the President. Hot damn. The Center? Center of the Rove, a scurrilous, careering bastard. Party Loyalty? At this late stage, how can...

Update (21.23): ...I didn't leave the Democratic Party, the Democratic Left Me...

Arrggghhh. I hate that. Maybe the Democratic Party didn't leave you...maybe you just became a prick.

Sorry (I'm not...)yEAH.

Pelosis in simulacra amidst the old glory bunting. Hannity claims that she's the second coming of Stalin. She looks like she might feed you Frookies...I don't get it, but then again, I just called alot of people pricks.

The United Colors of Benetton voted today, the talking head says. Deval Patrick won. Cut to comment from talking head of color. Thus the gravitas (not really...it was Juan Cole).

Chris Matthews scares children. Scarborough has "Butthead" eyes. Christ, I can't believe I'm paying this much attention to them. Cathode Ray brain waves.

Olbermann et al. are talking about a complicated formula for exit polls, and seem to be having trouble getting the graphics synced with the projections, and experts like Dick Armey are being interviewed in a kind of post-game, losing team sort of way. History unrolls into a sunrise?

I realize its sophomoric, but does anybody think that a name like "Dick Armey" is hilarious. It sounds like....dunno...a gay porn theater troupe? The current Administration? Do they shoot with "Dick Lugar"(s)..?

-Sheldon wins in Rhode Island.

Let's see what's on Fox.

Must be the Ol Red...think I'll have more of de Wine.

See, the point of this is really a description...perceptions of a colossal worrier. Thus, its really the notes from the underground above ground, the second floor of somewhere in Covington, KY. A TV kid watching the TV democracy. Electric Epistlelary to History. My Commentary on Election Day. Objective...with wine. Bitchy-er with every passing minute.

An experiment in Shpilkes. Or Schadenfreunde.

Britt Hume just said "portend' as though his world were collapsing. This moment alone is almost worth the price of admission. Fox News is laying some sufficiently impressive, strong, alpha male style graphics. "Shift of Power" in bold gold, "Balance of Power", with red and blue blocks symbolizing Senate and House Seats. Jesus...they even broke out the "Madden Screen Page". I'd rather have Mortimer Ichabod from "Picture Page".

Fox has always been good with simplistic representations. Afterall, they hired Britt Hume. Christ...he put his reading glasses on. How serious is this? Suddenly, he's goddamned Ed Marrow. Puh-leez.

Update (22:15): New Soundtrack. "God Only Knows". Now "Ooh Baby Baby". Random playlist for random thoughts.

Speaking of "keeping it greasy", McCain is cheerleading, being a company man.

Update (22:23) Bill Kristol just said "the south is the heartland" that will "save the Republican Party". He claims to not know whether this is "good or bad".

Ohio is going smoke free, evidentally. That sucks-no more drinking in Ohio. Spent a lot of my youth smoking and drinking in Ohio.

Britt Hume reminds us that the GOP got Liebermann re-elected. No Shit...

My cousin arrives(22:40)... Queen's "I Want to Break Free" comes on.

Britt Hume is beginning to slur a bit. Kinda like Larry Merchant.(22:23 Fox).

We're listening to the "Three's Company" theme song. I have no idea why...

FOX CALLS CONTROL OF THE HOUSE TO DEMOCRATS... For some reason, "Welcome Back" is playings (all props to Travis G.)

The Greatest American Hero? Insanity rules the night.

Schwarzenegger wins...

Update (MSNBC)(midnight-34):

Corker wins Tennessee.

Allen is talking up the troops. Allen is maybe building up for a legal challenge (mid-night 38). Allen is talking about "stay strong for democracy". Allen is behind by 22oo votes. Recount mandatory at a .5% percent margin of vicory.

Hmmm.

UPDATE (3:53): Democrats take the Senate?!! Lights On!

Pretty amazing, really, to think about history...now...while they apologize for Bush, while perhaps history rolls over the tyrants, thieves, and the pimps of faux federalism. They joke about "K Street" while the Impuratir gets the smack down. The Faces, then AC/DC, hell ain't a bad place to be. Something to hope for, into the dawn, chance of redemption, chance we might make the creed flesh. Can we smile because there is finally hope?

**************************************************************************************

Okay...its 9:42 in the a.m, and evidentally, they're still counting in Montana and Virginia, so the Senate is still in question.

Here's the breakdown.

I think the lessons that one might be gleaned from this might be:

• Science still matters, even in Missouri.
• Race still matters in Tennesee.
• Cincinnati inexplicably still loves Chabot, and Ohio hates smoking, Blackwell, Dewine.
• I love de Wine, Corstino Ol Red. Mmmm.
• As it turns out, the American people are tired of Bush.
• Splashy graphics and dramatic music get tiresome in the Cathrode Ray.
• Britt Hume is a mumbly douchebag, and its fun to watch him squirm into some approximation of impartiality.
• Chris Matthews may scare children?

Two soldiers died in a helicopter crash yesterday. Over a hundred died last month. It would seem the whole thing was about Iraq. Good-it needs to be.

And what happened to the religious right? I thought it was a given that they'd come out for Bush...

Come to think of it, maybe, like that woman in Kentucky, alot of people in this country have expected that faith will fix it, that if we really believe, the snake won't bite us. BushCo certainly have the "Leave Everything to Me!" message.

However, out here in the reality based community, we know that such intellectual dishonesty is catastrophic here and abroad, and we can hopefully begin to fix what this administration has broken.

Afterall, and at the risk of sounding "I told you so", some of us always knew Bush is the snake.

Election Eve

Tomorrow is Election Day. I've given my students the day off, and I am wondering about the future.

Can it possible that the GOP might stymie the necessary historical change, or will the Democrats be able to pull it out?

I don't know, but I know that the GOP is in a life or death struggle, as are the Democrats. Good.

However, I am looking forward to the end of the political ads, though I dread the Presidential Ads, because, if this is a precedent, it will be gruesome indeed.

And as I sit here, and ponder tomorrow, I have to wonder what's going on at my favorite wingnut's blog? What is the otherside up to?

"Not that I’m surprised in the least by this, but maybe it’ll motivate you to help the GOP’s GOTV effort:

Something rotten going on in Ohio? Check out left-wing Buckeye State Blog, which appears to be trying to infiltrate GOP get-out-the-vote efforts

They are scum. Pathetic scum. Some moron is saying “I think it’s a hoax,” but considering the history of sleazy dirty tricks used by Democrats, the idea that it’s a hoax is frankly laughable. Remember in 2004 (?), when Democrats signed up as GOP volunteers but didn’t show up? I can’t find a link (yet), but I remember it clearly.Free Republic is all over this story.

Michelle Malkin has a screenshot, and I’ve got one from an earlier post at another election fraudster’s blog."

She's right. Something is rotten in Ohio. Maybe it has something to do with past issues of Fraud and Voter Suppression. Call me crazy.

Hussein to Hang

By now, everybody has heard about this, but its far from a foregone conclusion that it changes anything.

This is a bit of a conundrum, really: On the one hand, a total son of a bitch is being called to account for crimes against humanity, which is always good. One the other hand, the method in which this total son of a bitch is being called has cost us lives, both ours and the Iraqi peoples, international prestige, our moral compass, and has fostered a civil war that we may never see the resolution of in our lifetimes.

No doubt, at this late date, this will be political hay for all concerned, because nobody wants to be seen as a lover of Hussein.

Who knows?

Sandinista!

Curious.

I thought that our country was the only one with the 80's nostalgia:

"Daniel Ortega, who fought the American-backed contras in a bloody war in the 1980s, held a strong lead over four other Nicaraguan presidential candidates in preliminary results here, officials said early Monday."

Funnier, still, is the ideological line that Reagan style Capitalism was so self evidentally better that if the people knew, they'd see the truth.

The truth is...maybe it doesn't work in every case. Maybe Nicaragua is so messed up as a result of the predatory capitalism.

Sgt. Rummy

Sgt. Rummy get out:

"The editorial says the truth about the war in Iraq 'been difficult to come by from leaders in Washington'. Instead, the editorial says President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Rumsfeld have issued 'one rosy reassurance after another'.

Naturally...there's an erudite refutation afoot...

"What the editorial doesn't mention is that the author has a long history of leftist tendencies, and the Rumsfeld piece is no exception. This entire episode is a slick 'November surprise'."

See. Isn't that wonderful.

Making a Molehill out of a Mountain

The malaprop (or Freudian Slip?) of a county worker best sums up HBO's thoroughly disturbing Hacking Democracy.

This documentary, illustrating the efforts of the fine folks at BlackBox Voting , was a kind of visual shpilkes for the thick, ignoble scab that was the Presidental Election in 2004, and the following dark days in which our media virtually ignored the kind of voting irregularities that went on in Ohio, not to mention the goatfuck that was Florida in 2000 (Remember: Its not worth the "stress" to figure out how Gore ended up with -16000 votes. Get over it.)

Oh yes. Sour Grapes. Sore Loserman. Conspiracy nuts...The Mandate!!!

Except that maybe it wasn't. Maybe now people are realizing that their has been widespread fraud in the 2004 election. Certainly Diebold seems a bit nervous about this white light on their culpability in this.

History has already been made, and the last six years can't be scratched away, and maybe it shouldn't be.

If the Democrats take control of Congress as it has been predicted, then we can hopefully begin the long hard work of fixing the disaster that has been the last six years, and look at this time in our history as a cautionary tale about unchecked executive power, real "judicial activism" and that our Democracy, our Republic, our Deepest Values, have been whored for profit.

Tuesday is election day, and I wish I could be more optimistic, but given what I know now, I can't be sure.

Nevertheless, I will be watching like a fucking Owl.

With any luck, the will of the people, this time, might actually be done.

Pure Entertainment

I found a crumpled copy of The Boston Phoenix on the T last weekend with an article on The 40 greatest concerts in Boston history. Very entertaining. Takes me back to Zappa at Cincy Gardens, Black Flag at The Jockey Club, Royal Crescent Mob at Bogarts. Ah, the memories.

Traces of Daley, The Subjectivity of Objective Pronouns and the Ideology of Pederasty

It's the final week before the Midterms, and, to paraphrase Lewis Carroll, things are getting fucked up.

George Allen's goons beat up a blogger. Here's more footage, a little different than the local news. CNN, naturally, has unvarnished analysis of the situation. No calls to Walter about being mugged, though...

John Kerry's joke gets the Rove. Kerry Clarifies , and Heir Apparent John McCain crawls further into the slime. Hincty, no?

On a related note: Allen Colmes's balls seem to be getting bigger.

Speaking of balls, here's a powerful response to the Rove.

Finally...Ken Blackwell and NAMBLA. Ideology at its most foul.