Joe's got issues. Big issues.

If you haven't watched one of MSNBC's new republican trash shows, "Scarborough Country", don't start. First off, it's boring, and host Joe Scarborough has a personality that's about as inviting as genitial warts. He doesn't add any new twists on his bland commentary that you can already get from a [fill in the blank] syndicated AM radio show. Michael Savage, for example, is an asshole and a complete moron, but at least he's entertaining. Joe Scarborough makes me snore.

Now we have to wonder about Joe's multiple levels of bias. We already know that he's a raving republican looney, but what has he reported for his own personal gain?

Atrios today has a link to this story from the Washington Post which discusses how Joe Scarborough brought on a guest who is employed by a Florida lawfirm that also had Mr. Scarborough on their payroll before he got hired by MSNBC. The guest and Joe then talked about a company which the lawfirm was suing, urging his audience to call upon the government to recall this company's product. Of course, Joe's audience was not informed that his guest and him used to be employed by the same lawfirm, and that this lawfirm was suing the company they were speaking out against.

Whoops!

Joe admitted his "mistake" on his show, but doesn't it make you wonder what self-interests he has in doing his show? And if Donahue can be axed for having one of the highest rated shows in MSNBC's history, why isn't Joe Scarborough out on his ass for his "mistake" and misleading his audience? Does a right wing nutjob on MSNBC have to wish AIDS upon his viewers to get his show cancelled?

Damn, I wish the media was liberal.

From the "That's it?" department

Halliburton, who still has our vice president on their payroll, has been awarded $2 billion in Iraqi reconstruction contracts from the Bush administration, and the Army says that figure could go higher.

Nope, no conflict of interest here, folks.

I thought this figure was higher, but hey, if Bush gets his $87 billion from Congress, one has to wonder how much Halliburton would receive when the "planning" for what to do with the money is done.

Oops

Fucked Company gives us a look at a $239 million whether satellite, still under construction, which was damaged after being "toppled to the floor" at Lockheed-Martin. Someody needs to caption this photo with "priceless".

On the front burner

As promised, I will be doing some writing about the WTO protests, actions, and WTO/Seattle from 1999. I should have time to do so today, but waking up an hour before noon because your saw a show in New Haven, CT, last night doesn't help my cause.. And, the sad part about this is that the show wasn't even that good. I went as a favor to a friend, because a few years back she went to see Pansy Division with me after much begging and complaining about going alone on my part. Most of the fans at the show were there to see Cave In, who, and even my friend agreed with me, hardcore sucked. The first word I thought of when they started playing was "pretentious". Their set feature 3-7 loops is keyboad sounds that would make a dog howl. It was just this one sound sequence repeated and echoed and dragged on and on and on and on. After they played and a lot of people left, I joked with my friend about how they're are no guitarists in the crowd anymore. (I guess you have to be a musician to get that one.)

So, for now, I'm still recovering. If you do not see another entry today, please blame Cave In. Thanks.

Have your pet and eat it, too

What do you do if your town has a dog problem? Eat'em! Kep Chuktema, the City governor of Phnom Penh, is pushing for stray mutts to be consumed, saying, "Come on, dog meat is so delicious."

Well, I guess when my puppy acts up, I won't be telling him to goto Hong Kong anymore. [insert drumroll here]

I guess this news brings new meaning to the phrase "weiner dog". [insert another drumroll]

Thank you, thank you, I'll be here forever..

The Man Comes Around

Johnny Cash passd away today at 71, which I have always thought is much too young of an age to die. It should come as no surprise that I, just like most Americans, am a Cash fan.

The man drew a lot of respect from the music community itself, not just fans of particular genres and sub-genres. I'll probably hear about the metal community's reaction tonight when I goto a metal show with a metal friend; she told me that when Johnny's wife died, they were sad. First thought that crossed my mind was based in logic, "Why do metal fans care that Johnny Cash's wife died?" He's not a metal artist, never has been. But it doesn't matter, he's Johnny Cash. That's good enough for most people.

He's earned a lot of respect over the years, and he's done a lot of great songs over the years. And, if it even matters in his case, he still proved that his music had commercial viability, even at the age of 71. When country stations stopped playing his music, alternative stations started, introducing a new generation to the legend.

Be it metal, county, punk, hardcore, or even power violence (not only is that a genre of music, but it's one of my favorites!), there's going to be a lot of sad musicians and fans today. No matter what one liked to listen to, everyone had respect for the man.

Welcome to the new Loaded Mouth

New layout, dramatic reduction of useless sections, and I've finally joined the 21st century by adding a comments section to every blog entry and ditched straight HTML to use a style sheet. Snazzy, no?

If you see any bugs, please email them to me (tas at loadedmouth dot com).

This is the first part of a site revamp that I have been aiming to do for a long time. I wanted to put all the changes up in one fell swoop, but, quite honestly, I was so sick of the old layout that I decided to jump the gun. Astute readers will notice the use of the letter "a" in the title, though, and figure that I'm just getting started. I will reveal more about Loaded Mouth's future plans at a later date, probably when I need some help. Then you'll see me begging.

For now, enjoy!

Protests hit Cancun against the WTO meetings
The World Trade Organiztion is meeting in Cacun, an the protets have already started. Indymedia, hands down, produces the best and most honest coverage of protests, so I'll post a coupl of links to their up-to-the-minute resources, and later I will post a retrospective of Seattle, 1999, and the latest drug flap in the WTO. Refer to my previous entry about the puppy chewing things up, like (metaphorically) my time.

Newswire (not entirely in english): cancun.mediosindependientes.org
Radio coverage: radio.indymedia.org/cancun

Censored!
Project Censored has released their top 25 most censroed news stories of 2002-2003. The censored lists they produce always make for interesting reading, which I intend to do when I can find some time. Try blogging and having a puppy that likes to chew up everything and tell me if it's easy..

Patriot Act II: It's baaaack
TalkLeft and Indymedia NYC have great articles discussing how the Bush administration wants to ram Patriot Act II through Congress. This time, all of the provisions will be seperate bills, instead of one all-encompassing bill. Both linked articles detail what bills are going through Congress, and TalkLeft points out an ACLU fact sheet on what liberties our soldiers won't be fighting for anymore.

You know how to contact your senators and representatives (1-800-839-5276), so do it.

Second batch...
Greg Palast write the speech we all wish Bush would give: Bush Resignation Hailed by World Leaders.

And a speech that, if Bush delivered it, the man would finally be telling the truth: A special speech to the nation. "Our battle for freedom is already paying significant dividends. Halliburton stock, for instance, is just skyrocketing."

Al Jazeera goes over the reaction from Asian countries in a editorial called, "Bushwhacked! Asia remembers 9/11."

Some things will never change. Newsmax, one of the most vicious Republican "news" organizations ever, couldn't even wait 24 hours after 9/11 happened to place all the blame on Clinton. Not having gained any class or intellect in the past two years, they continue to blame him. For full disclosure, I haven't read this column, since I've heard enough from Newsmax to get a general idea of what crap they are spewing. I simply did a text search for "clinton" just to see if my assumptions were correct.

First listing of 9/11 editiorials you should read
A couple days after 9/11, I wrote a column on what I thought; and a year later I regrouped my thoughts and wrote this, which was retrospective and let me look into my crystal ball.

I only realized a couple days ago that the 2 year anniversary was coming up.. It's not that I have forgot the attacks happened, but 2 years have passed and, likewise, so has some of the pain. I'm not breaking down and crying when I'm reminded of the attacks like I did after the first year passed, but I can't say that I don't get a tear in my eye while writing this.

I looked over what I wrote last year, and most of it is just as relevant now as it was then. This year, I'm not sure if I am going to write anything. I won't write something for the sake of writing, because that would feel cheap. So for now, and throughout the rest of the day, I'll be posting links to what I editorials I have been reading that I think are important for everyone to read. If I did do write anything more, you'll see it.

---

Ted Rall, a New Yorker, reflects on what he did on 9/11/01 his feelings, andhow Bush hascheapened 9/11 by trying to use it for his partisan advantage: HOW BUSH CHEAPENED 9/11

Indian Express has an editoral which asks, "So who’s winning this war"

The Guardian looks at what the Bush administration has done since 9/11 and how it's viewed by Americans and the rest of the world: Two lost years

What isn't being reported?
The first two paragraphs in an article from Xinhua surprise me:

"The intensity of attacks on American interests in Iraq has evidently ascended in recent two days after nearly a week of ebb, as a voice purportedly from al-Qaida terror network threatens with more assaults on occupying troops.

"The US troops in Iraq suffered 22 attacks in the last 24 hours, in which one soldier was killed and six wounded, US military spokesman Lt. Col. George Krivo said on Wednesday."

Why do I have to hear about the intensity of attacks our troops are under from a news agency based in China? A bit odd if you ask me. Well, Walter Rodgers from CNN basically came out and admitted that the media isn't doing their jobs with this quote that I found on a great blog, Corrente:

"What the Iraqis do is they set off these roadside bombs, homemade explosive devices, remotely detonated beside the road. They know the routes that the U.S. patrols are going to take, and when the U.S. patrols go by, they detonate it. And they've been doing a fair amount of these attacks, at least a dozen a day, so many sometimes that they don't even get reported."

It makes you wonder what else is slipping through the cracks in Iraq that we don't get to hear about.

From rall.com

Describe EVIL!
Shock and Awe knows how to describe evil all while making fun of CNN while making references to D&D. "5th level spell? Holy crap, that Mullah Omar must be at least 9th level, then!" Make sure you don't have any foreign substances in your mouth when reading this, you wouldn't want a spell to cast them onto your keyboard.

Tell me again that this president is popular
"Hey, Bush wants $87 billion for the war," my coworker jests while jerking his fist in front of his crotch, "Yeah, right."

I came into work today to find my coworkers, who rarily talk about politics, none to happy with the speech Bush made last night, and that made me very happy. I'm working on a costruction job right now, the averag age of my coworkers is 48. Most of them are married men with children, houses, and big trucks. They enjoy going home and cracking open a beer after a day of sometimes hard work. Plus today is Monday, the day after the start of the football season, and our Patriots were absolutely destroyed by the Bills, 31-0. (I'm not a football fan, but at least the pathetic Bengals scored yesterday.) I fully expected conversation today to center around yesterdays football game, but I heard more about Bush this morning and less about the game.

Granted that I live and work in Rhode Island, a very Democratic state and these views should be more commonplace. But my coworkers are the constituency that Bush should be able to lay a decent claim to; most workers there sport at least one American flag on their hardhats, they consider themselves to be patriotic. And they are just getting sick of Bush.

If Bush can't land these voters, even when trying to shore up patriotic fever with a war going on, then he's going to have big problems next November. I'll be the first to invite him to the unemployment lines, but h's going to have to wait a long time, they have been growing since he took office Why isn't this money being used to help the near record numbers of unemployed get back to work?

Have your cake and sign a waiver, too
A restaurant in Seattle is making their customers sign a waiver before ordering their signature dessert to protect themselves from McDonald's-style lawsuits by people with, uhm, a lot of weight to pull. It's not completely serious, they are poking fun at the whole situation with McDonald's being sued for supposedly making people overweight. I'm no fan of Mcdonald's, but, quite honestly, it's not their responsibility to moderate what goes into your body, it's your responsiblity. Anybody who blames McDonald's for making them fat needs to get their priorities in check, and also need to stop eating at fucking McDonald's. Or, if they really, really must eat at McDonald's, I hear they have a plethoria of salads on the menu now, so stop sucking down their greaseball hamburgers.

More on that growing economy of ours...
The economy is growing! The tax cuts are working! People are spending money! Businesses cut 93,000 jobs in August! So, uhm, if the economy is growing and more purchases are being made, yet jobs are still being cut, just who is making those purchases? Obviously, people with money have to be making them, and if you don't have a job then you don't have any money... Anyone see where I am going with this?

Why does Rolling Stone try?
Veering off the news path, here's Rolling Stone's list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time, which is sure to start flame wars all across the internet.

Just like everyone else and their mother, I have a few gripes about this list. Before I start my bitching, I'll give you a brief background of my musical tastes: I love punk rock, old hardcore, power violence, and basically everything that's catchy and has a driving beat. I'm not into classic ock songs with the long, drawn out guitar solos and everything. Of course, that's not all that Ilike, and what I listen to really depends on the band who is playing it more than the genre, but I always find myself listening to bands like the Queers, Ramones, Screeching Weasel, Mr. T Experience, Minor Threat, A.C., Charles Bronson, Spazz, etc. My tastes don't dip too far into the mainstream.

With that said, I will also say that I have no clue how Rolling Stone is rating guitarists, what criteria they are using, and what they think makes a guitarist great. But the list still leaves me puzzled.

Johnny Ramone, one of the fastest guitarist who ever lived but could never do much with a uitar solo, is ranked 16. WTF? Johnny's playing and the influence it has had on mainstream music is undeniable, andmaybe that's what Rolling Stone was looking at, but many people think that Joe Queer from the Queers can play faster, and he can pulloff slick guitar solos to boot. I know that the Queers haven't had a hit, but bands like them, Screeching Weasel, Operation Ivy, and the Mr. T Experience ushered in a new era of punk rock, setting the foundation for bands like Green Day to make it big. That presenceis still felt today. So, if a guitarists influence is to be considered in determining their greatness, shouldn't we see Joe Queer, Dr. Frank of MTX, or Jughead from Screeching Weasel on the list? If we want to reach back a little farther for influence, how about Steve Jones fromt he Sex Pistols? Or Joe Strummer from the Clash? Or East Bay Ray from the Dead Kennedys? Greg Ginn from Black Flag cracked the list at 99, so the list does pay attention to influential punk, so that leavesalot of question marks.

How the hell did wah-wah pedal abuser Tom Morello from Rage Aginst The Machine make it on the list? For the matter, what the hell is Jack White from the White Strips doing at number 17? He has, what, two albums under his belt, nothing that has really been spectacular, no solos in their singles and no really influence yet. Shouldn't guitarists on this list prove that they can stand the test of time?

Eddie Van Halen comes in at number 70. I'm not a big an, but I would have expected thathe would be in the top ten.

I admitt ha there's a lot of people on here that Ihave never heard of, an there's things that I agree with. Steve Cropper from Booker T and the MG's is 36, and he deserves that. B.B. King is number 3, maybe he should be a bit lower bit still deserves to be on there. But Kurt Cobain at number 12? Metallica's Kirk Hammett at number 11? Could theyhave picked a better metal guitarist, I'm sure there's a ton out there in bands that don't perpetually suck.

What do you think?