This caught my attention today:
Several high-profile FBI investigations, in which substantial progress have been made, may well have been put on hold by the Bush administration for political reasons. That is, it has been alleged to me that the White House may have leaned on the FBI-- not to drop the investigations but to postpone some key arrests until after the November elections.
There's been noise of delaying military action in Iraq until after the election as well, so I see this as fitting a pattern, but it also brought to mind an article by Kevin Drum, arguing that if Bush gets a second term we'll be treated to a hella messa scandal, and we're not talking about the stained blue dress variety.
I guess we'll see what happens...hopefully these investigations will bear fruit either way. The only question is whether they'll be front page news, or relegated to the back pages if Kerry's in office...
The unexpected endorsements just keep coming.
This explains a lot:
Majorities of Bush supporters incorrectly assumed that Bush favors including labor and environmental standards in trade agreements (84%), and the US being part of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (69%), the International Criminal Court (66%), the treaty banning land mines (72%), and the Kyoto Treaty on global warming (51%). They were divided between those who knew that Bush favors building a new missile defense system now (44%) and those who incorrectly believe he wishes to do more research until its capabilities are proven (41%). However, majorities were correct that Bush favors increased defense spending (57%) and wants the US, not the UN, to take the stronger role in developing Iraq’s new government (70%).
The article doesn't say how many are Fox viewers.
I've been meaning to post this for a while now, but reading about Dave Winer's recent discoveries reminded me that I should get it done before the point is moot. I would have just linked to someone else's image, but apparently no one else has put it on the net, which seems weird. Anyway...
The actual site is slammed, but you can find excerpts from an interesting endorsement here...
From Salon.com Politics:
Imagine that."You know what's really frightening?" O'Reilly teased Stewart when the comedian appeared on O'Reilly's show recently. "You actually have an influence on this presidential election. That is scary, but it's true. You've got stoned slackers watching your dopey show every night and they can vote."
The Comedy Central folks knew O'Reilly was poking fun, but they decided to do a little research anyway, and found that viewers of "The Daily Show" are more likely to have completed four years of college than people who watch "The O'Reilly Factor," according to Nielsen Media Research.
Hmm...you s'pose it would really be this easy to get into mischief?
"
Please join us THIS Wednesday for a National Conference Call with Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele. Lt. Gov. Steele will discuss his personal experience at this year's convention and how to get more involved in the upcoming election. Team Leaders are guaranteed a spot, so there is no need to RSVP to participate in this call. Lt. Gov. Steele will answer as many questions as time permits.
DIAL-IN NUMBERS: 877-675-5901
PASSCODE: TEAM LEADER
CALL DATE: SEP-29-2004 (Wednesday)
CALL TIME: 7:00 PM EASTERN TIME
Joining the call is easy! Simply dial the call-in number above and use the pass code "Team Leader". Hope you can join us and thank you for your continued support. Please encourage your friends and family to join the call!!
Ed Gillespie
Chairman
Republican National Committee(Via Eschaton.)
I'm just experimenting with new weblog editing software and wanted to try posting an image. This is a 3D anaglyph picture of our backyard. Pull out your red/cyan (or red/blue) glasses and take a gander:
Got back from New York yesterday, and spent most of the day recovering from the train trip. While we're glad we tried it, I doubt we'll be taking Amtrak again anytime soon. We both found it difficult to sleep, and the train was an hour and a half late in both directions. Coming back that was particularly frustrating, since over an hour of that was spent just a stone's throw away from the station. If they'd have let us, we could have gotten off the train and walked down the tracks to the car, but no...
The rest of the trip was fun, though. Saw "The Producers," hit a jazz club, a couple museums to expand our minds, had a multitude of pamphlets thrust in our directions, etc. Typical New York stuff. We'll be back, I'm sure, just not on the train.
Lots of folks are linking to this and I hear it got play on CNN, so hopefully it will penetrate the undecided brains upon which this election is riding. Here are a couple excerpts:
That means we must have a great honest national debate on Iraq. The President claims it is the centerpiece of his war on terror. In fact, Iraq was a profound diversion from that war and the battle against our greatest enemy, Osama bin Laden and the terrorists. Invading Iraq has created a crisis of historic proportions and, if we do not change course, there is the prospect of a war with no end in sight.. . . .
42 Americans died in Iraq in June -- the month before the handover. But 54 died in July…66 in August… and already 54 halfway through September.
And more than 1,100 Americans were wounded in August – more than in any other month since the invasion.
We are fighting a growing insurgency in an ever widening war-zone. In March, insurgents attacked our forces 700 times. In August, they attacked 2,700 times – a 400% increase.
Falluja…Ramadi… Samarra … even parts of Baghdad – are now “no go zones”… breeding grounds for terrorists who are free to plot and launch attacks against our soldiers. The radical Shi’a cleric, Moktada al-Sadr, who’s accused of complicity in the murder of Americans, holds more sway in the suburbs of Baghdad.
Violence against Iraqis… from bombings to kidnappings to intimidation … is on the rise.
Basic living conditions are also deteriorating.
Residents of Baghdad are suffering electricity blackouts lasting up to 14 hours a day.
Raw sewage fills the streets, rising above the hubcaps of our Humvees. Children wade through garbage on their way to school.
Unemployment is over 50 percent. Insurgents are able to find plenty of people willing to take $150 for tossing grenades at passing U.S. convoys.
Yes, there has been some progress, thanks to the extraordinary efforts of our soldiers and civilians in Iraq. Schools, shops and hospitals have been opened. In parts of Iraq, normalcy actually prevails.
But most Iraqis have lost faith in our ability to deliver meaningful improvements to their lives. So they’re sitting on the fence… instead of siding with us against the insurgents.
That is the truth. The truth that the Commander in Chief owes to our troops and the American people.
There's lots more, so I highly recommend giving it a read.
From Mr. Marshall:
The young and very serious John Kerry once asked "How do you ask a man to be the last man to die in Vietnam? How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?" A less anguished George W. Bush has decided that a soldier or two a day is a reasonable price to pay to avoid admitting a mistake.
Once again, it all depends on your priorities.
Mr. Winer says:
Let's make a deal with Kerry, that he'll agree to hire Clinton's advisors, and listen to them, and give him the job and send Dubya off to Baghdad, to complete his military service.
Hmm...now where have I heard something like that before?
So here I sit trying to solve a problem with QuickTime streaming, and the tornado alarm starts going off. "Everybody to the first floor lobby!" says the intercom. We all troop downstairs. Then 5 minutes later, "Everyone to the stairwell! Go as high as you can go!" Weird...my recollection is that tornados tend to blow roofs off of buildings, which would make me & a big chunk of the UGA student population rather vulnerable, but what the hell do I know? So, here here I sit in the stairway one floor above where I started, and I still can't get the stream to work...
Ah, yes...a bucolic nature scene...
Every fall, after raising their young near Teshekpuk Lake and the Colville River, tens of thousands of geese and tundra swans leave the North Slope of Alaska for more southerly shores. Some end their journey at the Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in the flatlands of North Carolina.
Sounds lovely doesn't it? I thought so. Apparently others disagree, though...
Both habitats could be transformed if current Bush administration initiatives come to pass. The birds would have oil rigs as neighbors in Alaska and be greeted by Navy jets simulating carrier takeoffs and landings in North Carolina.
Ah, yes...what can we rape and pillage today?
The Clone Wars "micro series" won an Emmy. Now if the cel we ordered would just hurry up and get here, we could own a piece of an award-winning show. Yeeha!
And here I thought "Apocalypse Now" was weird. It sounds like Baghdad, U.S.A. might top that:
The Green Zone is certainly a world unto itself. Women in shorts and T shirts jog down broad avenues, and the Pizza Inn does a brisk business from the parking lot of the heavily fortified U.S. Embassy. Near the Green Zone Bazaar, Iraqi kids hawk pornographic DVDs to soldiers. Sheik Fuad Rashid, the U.S.-appointed imam of the local mosque, dresses like a nun, dyes his hair platinum blond and claims that Mary Mother of Jesus appeared to him in a vision (hence the getup). On any given night, residents can listen to karaoke, play badminton or frequent one of several rowdy bars, including an invitation-only speakeasy run by the CIA. At the Green Zone Cafe—where contractors toting 9mm pistols smoke hookahs while an Iraqi drummer provides entertainment—a sign on the door warns customers to empty their weapons before consuming alcohol.
This is a fun little toy. Imagine having a magnetic poetry kit that can talk and suffers from delusions of grandeur.
Josh Marshall notes Bush's uptick in polls, and points to some reasons why this has happened. He then says this:
As my friend John Judis noted recently, the key to winning an election is often simply a matter of bringing to the surface of the public consciousness what voters already really know. They know Iraq is a disaster. They know it's President Bush's fault.
So let's quit talking about the last fucked-up war already, and get back to the one we can do something about, eh?
Side note: I hate living in a state where my vote for president isn't likely to do a damn bit of good thanks to the electoral college. Aside from rants here, I feel like I'm reduced to this:
I believe the operative phrase here is "oh, snap!"
Link:
Indicators measure the nation’s unemployment rate, consumer spending and other economic milestones, but Vice President Dick Cheney says it misses the hundreds of thousands who make money selling on eBay.
“That’s a source that didn’t even exist 10 years ago,” Cheney told an audience in Cincinnati on Thursday. “Four hundred thousand people make some money trading on eBay.”
San Jose, Calif.-based eBay Inc. is an Internet auction site where anyone can sell just about anything, including clothing, cell phones, jewelry, memorabilia, trinkets and automobiles.
“If we only included bake sales and how much money kids make at lemonade stands, this economy would really be cooking,” Edwards said in a statement.
[Eschaton]
I first hit this article thinking that it might give me an excuse to quote the illustrious John Prine, but it turns out there's more here than just whacked out notions of what "patriotism" means. What struck me most was what one soldier said he most likes to see in care packages:
“What I really like is when we get a box full of NEWSWEEK, Time, Sports Illustrated—magazines. That I really like. I get yesterday’s news tomorrow, but at least I can read something that is not in the Stars and Stripes.”
I forget that over in Iraq these guys can't necessarily run down to Border's or even go through a supermarket checkout and pickup whatever magazine or publication it is that tickles their fancy. I'm guessing they only get a very narrow view of what's going on in the world...
This has been coming for a while, and we've finally passed the threshold. And don't forget all the "merely" wounded, who get next to no attention at all. I won't even ask rhetorically if it's been worth it, because we should all know damn well that it hasn't.
Now the next question is, how does our lovely administration react to the news? Well, by now you should know the answer to that one...
Ok, so the remnants of hurricane Frances have been traipsing through here over the last 12-18 hours or so. We both woke up when the power went out and the UPS units started beeping. I got up to turn off the nearest one, and then stumbled back into bed. This morning Chandra pointed out that while I was doing that she had gone around the house to track down an alternate alarm clock and flashlights so that we could still get ready for work in the morning. I guess that would explain why she wasn't there when I came back...
This is an interesting point:
With dismaying frequency, Bush, Rumsfeld and senior military leaders have made critical decisions on the basis of what they thought was a clear view of their adversaries — looking at the enemy through an open window, so to speak. In reality, they were looking at a mirror and seeing fuzzy images of themselves.
I would argue that it's not just Bush, Rumsfeld, and/or senior military leaders who is projecting themselves on their opponents. This seems to be an overall tendency in Republican circles. Think about it-- bad-mouthing shadowy 527 groups, when the Swift Boat gang is the ultimate in that class, not to mention Zell's remark about the Democrat's "manic obsession" with unseating Bush. If that phrase applies to anyone, it applies to the right's attitude toward Clinton, but no matter how much Democrats want to get Bush out of office, I don't see anyone stooping to the kind of garbage Republicans did not that long ago...
I have to say that this took me by surprise. Turns out the Grim Reaper is a Bush supporter. I guess it makes sense, given the way W took us galloping off to war in Iraq, the subsequent garbage that's gone on in Abu Ghraib, and the noises some in his administration have made about going after Iran next...not to mention Zell's performance. The whole RNC had the odor of death about it. Anyway, don't take my word for it, check out the pics:
These people are not human:
President Bush on Friday wished Bill Clinton "best wishes for a swift and speedy recovery.''"He's is in our thoughts and prayers,'' Bush said at a campaign rally.
Bush's audience of thousands in West Allis, Wis., booed. Bush did nothing to stop them.
What the hell kind of knuckle-dragging assholes are these people, anyway? Disgusting. And Bush? If he had balls and a heart he'd have cut them off and told them to grow up and stop it. No heart, no guts.
UPDATE: ...or not. Apparently this was a misunderstanding. AP's bad, and I suppose mine for believing it. Still, it does seem like the kind of thing a large chunk of right-wingers would be prone to do...I guess that's why I bought into it.
Bill's having some problems with his ticker. Hang in there, dude.
I agree with this-- the Purple Heart band-aids at the RNC were completely despicable.
Just watched this on TV...if you haven't seen it, the Daily Show did a fairly brutal mock Bush campaign video.
This may sound a little extreme, but I think there's some truth to it.
The election is becoming a referendum on democracy.
I wonder if the iLeader has bumped into that traveling gnome yet...
Apple's CEO may be on sick leave, but a diminutive Steve Jobs doll is busy traveling the world like a kidnapped garden gnome, spreading the message of Mac unity. By Leander Kahney. [Wired News]
Looks like protesters have made it into the convention hall. (AP mentions the incident as well...)
I have to say, I'm finding all this news of protest coming from New York to be strangely comforting...
Some of these are pretty good, and might even make it to my iPod.
The Defense Department spent $70,500 to produce a Humphrey Bogart-themed video called "The People's Right to Know" to teach employees to respond to citizen requests for information. But when it came to showing the tape to the public, the Pentagon censored some of the footage.
Supposedly the issue is copyright, not anything that should alarm the tinfoil hat brigades...
Worth a listen.
Maciej strikes again with a brilliant post. He's using an audio post to demonstrate how useless audio posts are. The problem is, the demonstration is so good and so funny that it seems to prove the opposite: audio posts can be efficient and entertaining.
Still, I'll follow his advice and stick to writing. Until I can do video posts, of course. ;-) [ni.vu.ni.connu - Martine]
Coming from the realm of instructional technology, this seems particularly relevant. There's been a long parade of different ways to do the same thing, from radio to film to video to hypermedia to this, that, and the other thing. Each step appears snazzier than the last, but that's not to say that each step is necessarily better or more effective. In the same way, audio blogging may be fun for some folks, but I doubt it's the best way to get your message out.
