Another batch of coffin photos have been released, and this time they've censored the identities of the soldiers standing alongside or carrying them.
The rest of the post is more serious, but I thought FAFLFAPF was pretty funny. The acronym is even better. Say it a few times and you'll see.
Can someone explain to me why this isn't getting plastered all over the airwaves?
Guckert made more than two dozen excursions to the White House when there were no scheduled briefings. On many of these days, the Press Office held press gaggles aboard Air Force One%u2014which raises questions about what Guckert was doing at the White House. On other days, the president held photo opportunities.
On at least fourteen occasions, Secret Service records show either the entry or exit time missing. Generally, the existing entry or exit times correlate with press conferences; on most of these days, the records show that Guckert checked in but was never processed out.
I don't want to go hunting for links for all this, but let's do a quick review:
You know what, let's just stop there. We've got a likely former prostitute going to the White House, let's say on a Tuesday, and not leaving until say Thursday. Does that not strike anyone as intriguing? Salacious perhaps? Scandalous? Remember, I said gay. Dollars to donuts there's someone in the White House with a blue dress from Catherine's with samples on it that would make Ken Starr cry. Even if you react to the thought of a gay prostitute in the White House with "not that there's anything wrong with that," surely you're intrigued. And the supposed puritans running things in Washington should be completely up in arms...but no.
I'm no statistician, but it strikes me as something of a leap to draw a direct line between gas prices and Bush's popularity rating, as this chart tries to do.
I think this speaks for itself:
The State Department decided to stop publishing an annual report on international terrorism after the government's top terrorism center concluded that there were more terrorist attacks in 2004 than in any year since 1985, the first year the publication covered.
. . . .
According to Johnson and U.S. intelligence officials familiar with the issue, statistics that the National Counterterrorism Center provided to the State Department reported 625 'significant' terrorist attacks in 2004.
That compared with 175 such incidents in 2003, the highest number in two decades.
So that WarOnTerra© is goin' real well there, isn't it? No wonder Dubya's spending all his time talking about Social Security.
This strikes me as a good idea:
How about a new idea? Since some- but not all- Conservatives maintain there is no right to privacy, why don’t we have a constitutional amendment to propose one?
Blood...boiling...
The New York Times > New York Region > Videos Challenge Accounts of Convention Unrest: "Accused of inciting a riot and resisting arrest, Mr. Kyne was the first of the 1,806 people arrested in New York last summer during the Republican National Convention to take his case to a jury. But one day after Officer Wohl testified, and before the defense called a single witness, the prosecutor abruptly dropped all charges.
During a recess, the defense had brought new information to the prosecutor. A videotape shot by a documentary filmmaker showed Mr. Kyne agitated but plainly walking under his own power down the library steps, contradicting the vivid account of Officer Wohl, who was nowhere to be seen in the pictures. Nor was the officer seen taking part in the arrests of four other people at the library against whom he signed complaints."
Atrios asks an interesting question, but I think he's coming at it from the wrong direction:
This question basically applies to people with nontrivial daily auto commutes. At what sustained level of gas prices would you seriously consider major lifestyle changes? That is, at what gas price would you seriously consider moving closer to your place of employment, or shifting to public transportation if it's available, or to a location where you would generally be less auto dependent (such as, for example, moving to a place where public transit is more convenient)?
The problem I have with this question is that I suspect for most people the options aren't realistic. For example, here in Athens there are a large number of people who work at the University in relatively low paying jobs (custodial, clerical, etc.) who have to commute. If they wanted to live closer to the University they would have to contend with sky-high property prices in certain areas, and high concentrations of students in others. There is a bus system in Athens, but they don't run 24 hours, and when they are in service they only run once an hour.
Athens is relatively small and the kinds of people I'm thinking about here don't fit the criteria of a "nontrivial" commuter, but I suspect the problems here are similar elsewhere. I'm sure there are a number of people who would consider moving or shifting to public transportation even now, but its just not feasible. Relocating to a different city is an even bigger hurdle, and one that is out of the question for many.
A better question to consider, I think, is at what point will high gas prices create enough pressure on local governments (for example, because people can't afford to drive to work) that they begin to reconsider zoning policies and public transportation? Speaking for myself, I would take the bus to work in a heartbeat if it didn't mean adding 2 hours to my day and taking a chance on being stranded downtown if I miss the one bus that leaves after 5.
How to explain this...
One of the sites I'm involved with supporting at UGA is the Managed Software Distribution site. The end of fiscal year is coming soon, which always necessitates early warning. There's always a mad rush to spend end-of-year funds before they disappear for good, but MSD can't take in money past a certain date or they end up losing money just like everyone else. So, they have a cutoff date beyond which they want everything to go to the next fiscal year. In order to call attention to this they wanted to have something on the homepage that people couldn't miss. Ultimately, we ended up with the graphic you can see here.
This is the kind of thing designers (at least ones like me) hate, but it does get your attention, which I guess is the point. And just ignore the image on the left. That's a whole other post that I'll refrain from getting into now.
Anyway, we only arrived at the current animated gif after a couple of other options that were discarded. The folks at MSD passed along a different animated gif that looked fine by itself, but being red and in a serif font clashed horribly with the rest of the site. The first file they wanted to use was an even more ucky (yes, "ucky") flash movie. However, it was not nearly as obnoxious as it could have been (turn up your sound to get the full effect).
Not everyone thinks the Pope and/or the Catholic Church is the cat's pajamas:
The BBC airwaves have disgraced themselves. The Mail went mad with its front-page headlines, "Safe in Heaven" and the next day "Amen". Even this august organ, which sprang from the loins of nonconformist dissent, astounded many readers with its broad acres of Pope reverencing. Poor old Prince Rainier of that squalid little tax haven missed his full Hello! death rites through bad timing.
The arcane flummery brings forth dusty academics in Vaticanology, the Act of Settlement and laws of Monegasque succession. These pantomimes of power fascinate in their quaintness, but they signify nothing beyond momentary frisson.
She goes on to compare the Pope's death and funeral to that of Princess Diana, which for many is probably about right. I can't speak for devout Catholics, but for me at least the whole thing is just Another Famous Dead Person and an excuse to listen to one of my favorite silly Prince songs.
This is nifty-- a web site prototyping tool that let's you sketch out designs and then make the designs interactive.
In between odes to the Pope (who is still dead, I believe), you might ponder why we aren't hearing more about this:
RollingStone.com: The Long Emergency : Politics: "Carl Jung, one of the fathers of psychology, famously remarked that 'people cannot stand too much reality.' What you're about to read may challenge your assumptions about the kind of world we live in, and especially the kind of world into which events are propelling us. We are in for a rough ride through uncharted territory.
It has been very hard for Americans -- lost in dark raptures of nonstop infotainment, recreational shopping and compulsive motoring -- to make sense of the gathering forces that will fundamentally alter the terms of everyday life in our technological society. Even after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, America is still sleepwalking into the future. I call this coming time the Long Emergency."
I can't remember where I saw it, but I believe that there are also people suggesting that the no-turnaround point for global warming could come in roughly the same period as people are predicting major crises over energy. While it would suck mightily for both of these to occur, a part of me has to appreciate the irony of it.
This is too funny.
Vote Rick James, *^#@$ !: "From the NY Post's Page Six:
A HATTIESBURG, Miss., policewoman and her husband found out the hard way how popular Dave Chappelle's Comedy Central show is - especially his catch phrase, 'I'm Rick James, bitch!'Diane James' husband, Rick James, is running for Hattiesburg City Council. She wrote to Comedy Central: 'Due to the popularity of the Dave Chappelle show, people keep stealing our 'Vote Rick James' yard signs ... we would appreciate a small campaign donation for more signs, as we are working-class people and financing this campaign out of our own pockets. Each time a sign is stolen, it costs us $4.75! Every time a 'Rick James' piece runs on your show, we stand to lose dozens of signs overnight, which end up decorating people's front yards and dorm rooms ... the yard signs have been spotted at least 100 miles from our home by truckers ... Also, young children on bikes scream, 'I'm Rick James, bitch!' as we drive by in our car with our 'Rick James' car signs ... People even drive by our home and scream, 'Super Freak.'' No word on whether Comedy central will pitch in for more signs.
"(Via Daily Kos Diaries.)