So much for Nader supporting third parties...

Found this on Nader's website:

This Thursday night, August 19th, representatives of the Bush/Cheney, Kerry/Edwards, and Nader/Camejo presidential tickets will gather to debate in Riverside County, CA. The debate will be shown that night, and several times on later dates. The televised time is being donated by Adelphia Cable Television, with the approval of the Temecula City Council.

Notice how there's no representatives for David Cobb of the Green Party. Nor is there anybody representing the Libertarians' Michael Badnarik.

Fuck you, Ralph.

Fark Headline of the Day

"N. Kentucky passes law stating strippers no longer allowed to talk to customers. Oh well, just have to look at the boobies."

This reminds me of the time I went to a strip club in Covington, KY. I went with my Republican, and now ex, girlfriend, and her friends, and we were the only people in there who weren't dirty old men. And the strippers came over and started talking to us about their kids.

So what's up in the world's newest democracy?!

Certain not anything democratic.

It was clear that Iraq's National Conference was not going to satisfy everybody as it went into an unscheduled fourth day on Thursday. Some delegates independent of the main parties making up the interim government left the conference in protest over what they said was the big parties' dominance of the proceedings.

It chose 81 people to fill the majority of seats on a new advisory council to oversee the interim government pending elections next year. But the council members were selected, not elected in a vote among the 1,300 delegates, as initially planned. Some critics say that process assures the advisory council will mostly be a reflection of the government itself, with little room for independent voices.

You know, Saddam also had a rubber stamp congress, too. Maybe we can call this new government a Selectomocracy!, which has a nice infomercial ring to it. I can picture it now: "It slices! It dices! It's the Selectomocracy! I'm George W. Bush and I approve this message."

Gabba Gabba Hey, Ramones blogging!

Salon's got a good review of "End of the Century: Story of the Ramones," which will hopefully soon be playing in a theater or DVD player near you.

And if you don't like the Ramones, then you just suck. :)

What would a Kerry Supreme Court look like?

It would certainly be better than the Dubya Supreme Court, but...

Republicans (and conservatives), of course, have a highly activist constitutional vision -- including rolling back Congress' ability to regulate interstate commerce, rolling back federal regulations, strengthening the presidency, protecting property rights, and dismantling much of the legal framework upholding the New Deal. Right now, the Democrats have no countervailing ideals. Bland Kerry appointees in the mold of Stephen Breyer may cast liberal votes here and there, but they will likely do little to fight the Rehnquist Court's rollback of federal regulations. Without a stronger legal vision, liberals could ultimately lose the battle of the courts, even if Kerry does get elected.

Somehow, I'm not feeling too excited right now.

Best political sign... Ever!

1979: Jello Biafra runs for mayor of San Francisco. Somebody shows up at his rally with the sign, "IF HE DOESN'T WIN... I'LL KILL MYSELF." That's just fucking priceless.

Those whacky Estonians

They just erected a monument celebrating Estonian soldiers who fought with the Nazis. Because that's just something to be damn proud of.

What is Sadr's bodycount?

One rumor about Sadr from the streets of Najaf:

Where the Mahdi army has been newly turfed out, there is little sympathy for Mr Sadr, or for his militia, many of whose corpses lie unburied to the north of the shrine, in Najaf's vast cemetery.

"They are looters, murderers and Ba'athists," a shopkeeper, Abdul Amir, said. His troubles started six months ago, he said, when an American soldier bought one of his fridges.

"A month later the Mahdi army took me to the cemetery, accused me of being an American agent, and beat me up. After that I had to appear before Moqtada's Sharia court. Dozens of people have been tortured or disappeared. Moqtada has a secret underground jail. His followers have executed at least 300 people," he claimed.

It is not a claim that can be easily verified. But what is clear is that in the battle for Najaf, civilians are dying.

I'll admit that the majority or items I post about Iraq don't reflect well upon the US government. I'm certainly not a fan of the invasion. But it's necessary to realize that some of the people we're fighting probably aren't any better than Saddam. And Sadr doesn't seem like a happy-go-lucky fellow.

Got overtime?

Little blurb from an article about the new overtime regulations.

People identified as generally exempt from overtime pay include pharmacists, funeral directors, embalmers, journalists, financial services industry workers, insurance claims adjusters, human resource managers, management consultants, executive and administrative assistants, purchasing agents, registered or certified medical technologists, dental hygienists, physician assistants, accountants, chefs, athletic trainers with degrees or specialized training, computer system analysts, programmers and software engineers.

That's quite a lot of exemptions.

What the fuck is Instapundit talking about?

Read this instadrivel:

WHAT'S REALLY INTERESTING about this Kerry cartoon from the Charlotte Observer is that it assumes the reader's knowledge of a story that's gotten, even today, very little coverage from the traditional media (including, based on a site search, the Observer itself). I think this says something significant about how people get news nowadays.

"Very little coverage from the traditional media," what the fuck is he talking about? Maybe my head's buried too far into blogs, but all I've heard about for the past month is the Swift Boat Vets against Kerry. I've eat, drank, and slept with this story against my will. In fact, I'm fucking sick of hearing about it. As for the media coverage given to books lambasting presidential candidates with baseless accusations, why did a certain Bush bashing book called Fontunate Son, released in 1999, receive little to no media coverage? Why doesn't Instapundit talk about that?

God, what a fucking hack.

File Sharing v. Whining Crybabies

US Appeals Court ruling goes against the RIAA and MPAA, saying P2P software makers are not responsible for the data transferred over their networks.

Now we need is a lawsuit blaming record labels for all the shitty music that's been released lately. "Your honor, I'd like to call my first witness, Mr. William Hung."

You can't be pro-life with a bullet

Shots were fired at a Planned Parenthood clinic in where...? You guessed it, Texas! The shots, at least four of them, were fired while the clinic was closed. If anything, this incident sounds like a warning to me, because...

In recent months, the clinic has been the target of anti-abortion protests conducted by the Brazos Valley Coalition for Life, which held a meeting earlier this summer to discuss efforts to close down a nearby Planned Parenthood clinic in Bryan, Texas...

So the Brazos Valley Coalition for Life want to close the clinic, and suddenly people are shooting guns at it. Nope, that doesn't sound suspicious in the least... Maybe they should rename themselves to "Brazos Valley Coalition for Life ..and Guns!"

I. Need. These.

Urban Asshole Notification Cards. Just to let someone know that you really, really care.

The first people who should receive these cards is anyone who dresses up their children in "Child Pimp & Ho Costumes."

Sudanese government continues to attack Darfur

Tell me again why we gave these assholes 30 days to comply with a UN Security Council resolution? Nothing ever changes with them.

Lino Bordin, deputy representative of the UN high commissioner for refugees in Chad, said the villages had been attacked in waves, beginning with an aerial bombardment.

"The refugees said that 11 villages were attacked from the 2nd to the 10th of August. They were attacked by plane, and after that by cars full of soldiers, and after that by the Janjaweed [militia]," he said.

"These are broken promises by Sudan. They promised that they would start to solve this situation, but that has not happened yet.

"The refugees have arrived in the camps suffering from malnutrition and dehydration, and without any of their possessions. They came with nothing. When the Janjaweed arrived, they stole everything from the houses."

Meanwhile, it's been 28 days since our Congress declared that genocide was happening in Sudan, yet Bush and the European Union have yet to do the same. How much longer will they let this conflict fester before it becomes a successful campaign of genocide?

How much influence did the Bush administration have on Venezuela's recall election?

It's a well known fact that the Bush administration wants Venezuelan president Chavez out of power, and that some of its fingerprints were all over the attempted coup in 2002. Now it appears that a US-based polling firm tried influencing the Venezuelan recall vote by releasing exit polls saying Chavez lost 5 hours before voting was closed.

"Exit Poll Results Show Major Defeat for Chavez," the survey, conducted by Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates, asserted even as Sunday's voting was still on. But in fact, the opposite was true Chavez ended up trouncing his enemies and capturing 59 percent of the vote.

Why would PSB Associates release possibly false exit polling data before elections closed? Could it be because the opposition to Chavez were on their payroll?

Penn, Schoen & Berland had members of Sumate, a Venezuelan group that helped organize the recall initiative, do the fieldwork for the poll, election observers said.

Roberto Abdul, a Sumate official, acknowledged in a telephone interview that the firm "supervised" an exit poll carried out by Sumate. Abdul added that at least five exit polls were completed for the opposition, with all pointing to a Chavez victory.

I know that, at this point, implicating that the Bush administration had anything to do with this is pure speculation, but given their stance and help with the attempted coup against Chavez, you have to wonder why a polling firm that just happens to be based in the US was trying to influence the recall vote.

And I thought this was a spoof...

When I hit Salon today, the first thing I saw was this picture. Give it a good look and try, just try, not to laugh. It features a goofy picture of Bush with the caption "World's Greatest Cowboy," claiming he's the star of a movie with a generally uncreative title, The Big Picture. At the bottom, we see the "villains": Kerry, Osama, and Saddam. This obviously implies that Kerry is in cahoots with terrorists, which defies the fact that only one "villain" pictured is involved with global terrorism. This whole picture is absolutely ridiculous, and I thought it had to be a spoof.

But it's real, and it may be playing in your town soon. "The Big Picture" is financed by David Bossie's Citizens United. If you look up "partisan hacks" in the dictionary, you'll see their logo. Citizens United is also the group that, ironically enough, tried to stop advertising for Fahrenheit 9/11 from being aired, but I guess if they produce their own film, they think advertising is a-OK! But they may run into a few problems.

But Bossie's latest project could create legal problems for him and his organization -- in part because Lionel Chetwynd, the award-winning director, is working not only on the documentary but also on two shorter films to be screened at the Republican National Convention.

Whoops. What's worse their's evidence that the Republican Party itself is directly helping Citizens United fund the film.

Exactly how "The Big Picture" was financed, and how much it will cost, remain mysterious. A tantalizing clue, however, showed up in a July 19 post on the right-wing Free Republic Web site, where someone nicknamed Smogger sought guidance from fellow Freepers about a political donation:

"Who is Dave Bossie and Citizens United?" asked Smogger. "I just gave them $50 that they claim they are going to use to create a movie to praise the efforts of George Bush and to counter Farenheit 911 [sic]. They said they were trying to raise $500,000 in 30 days for this effort. I assume they got my number from the RNC."

Yes, how did Citizens United get this man's number?

Some may say that I'm being a hypocrite because I'm an advocate for free speech and supporter of Fahrenheit 9/11, but I'm against The Big Picture. For the record, I support anybody's right to speak, but there are election laws that have to be followed. Michael Moore followed them. Fahrenheit 9/11 was not financed by the Kerry campaign or the Democratic Party, it is completely independent production. Just because his independent voice was listened to by plenty of Americans, hence he may influence the election, is no reason to censor him. Michael Moore has a right to speak, just like the rest of us do.

But The Big Picture is different, because if the Republicans even helped to fund this movie, it's breaking election laws.

Maybe I shouldn't complain, though. Taking a look at the cover, one can tell just how ridiculous this film is going to be, and I could use a good laugh.

[Crossposted to Gotham City 13.]

The Pointless Battle

The Guardian has a great article today which discusses the views of residents in Sadr City, a Baghdad slum with 2 million Shia and, obviously, the heavy influence of Moqtada al-Sadr. It doesn't display any great love for the Americans or al-Sadr.

"This is a pointless battle," he [Riyadh Aabid] said. "The Mahdi army attacks the Americans from inside the houses. And then the Americans attack the houses. But it's innocent civilians that get killed. Both sides claim they are right. But both are wrong." ...

The US military claimed it had killed 50 Sadr fighters in overnight fighting. According to Mr Aabid, however, most of the victims were ordinary people like him. Nobody knew how many had died.

"My two children couldn't sleep. I held both of them in my arms all night. They were trembling. The American bombs were so loud," he said. "Our message to the Americans is 'stop shooting into houses. Unarmed people live there'."

But Mr Aabid and other Sadr City residents said they were as fed up with the Mahdi army, whose hit-and-run tactics invariably lead to a disproportionate US response.

"We hated Saddam. But in the Saddam era we didn't have bullets being fired into our shops. The only gunfire was at wedding parties," he said.

Fark Headline of the Day

"Van Halen suing the Baltimore Orioles. Court to decide who sucks worse."

Well, that's a two word answer starting with a V...

Lies!

While the Republicans throw a hissy fit about the media not giving enough coverage to a lie attributed to Kerry 18 years ago, they couldn't be bothered to give a shit about the huge lies the media spreads in favor of the Bush administration. For example:

"All across the country, doctors are being litigated out of practice and American families are finding it more difficult to find health insurance because senators like Kerry and Edwards are opposed to commonsense fixes," said Bush campaign spokesman Steve Schmidt.

Wrong!

They're only adhering to the Bush Doctrine, right?

Iran threatens to launch a preemptive strike against Israel's nuclear facilities.

"We will not sit (with arms folded) to wait for what others will do to us. Some military commanders in Iran are convinced that preventive operations which the Americans talk about are not their monopoly," [Iranian Defence Minister Ali] Shamkhani said when asked about the possibility of a US or Israeli strike against Iran's nuclear facilities.

Not only is this statement scary, but it also lends evidence to the argument that Iran could want nuclear weapons because they feel threatened by Israel. And maybe if Israel admmitted to having weapons and disarmed them, the world wouldn't need to worry about Iran having the atomic bomb.

[8/20 Update - Some have attributed this article to Iran threatening the US.]

Obviously, you're not a golfer an economist

Bush apparently thinks theSoviet dinar was being traded for euros in Iraq, something which Saddam punished his citizens for.

Fun facts: The mysterious Soviet dinar doesn't exist. And it never has. And the Soviet Union crumbled last century, while the euro came into existence this century.

!@#$ this

I've tried using Blogger for 30 minutes today and it's already gobbled up two posts and come up with a bunch of errors, so I think I'll take a day off from blogging and do something more constructive. Like work on my Wordpress template.

I suppose I'll try Blogger again later this morning. No promises, though.

...hmm, Blogger seems to be working now. Keeping my toes crossed. And trying not to walk. You try walking with your toes crossed, it's tough!

Fark Headline of the Day

"LeBron gets his own Powerade flavour which 'truly reflects his personality.' Working name of the drink is 'Overrated Hype'"

Vroooom putt putt ..sputter

It's almost 1:30 and guess who hasn't started browsing the news yet? Today just has "light blogging" written all over it.

So why can't former felons vote in some states?

Because dem 'dere black folk are too darn Democrat.

An op-ed in the Post wonders why many states bar ex-felons from voting even after they've cleared probation. About 4.7 million Americans are denied a ballot under state laws, including 13 percent of African-American men. The history of such disenfranchisement traces back to the days of slavery. Not that the practice is totally antiquated. "As frank as I can be," Alabama's GOP chairman said last year, "we're opposed to it because felons don't tend to vote Republican."

If only there were more white ex-felons, then we could have a real democracy!

Immature humor break!

China is cracking down on phone sex services, says their Minister of Information Industry, Wang Xudong.

The guy's name is "Wang." You'd think this automatically discredits him from cracking down on any sexual operations... Well, at least the managers over at phone sex callbanks get to shout "THE WANG IS COMING!" before being shut down. Such a fitting climax, don'tcha think?

Now that's a natural disaster

Hurricane Chuck's death toll in Florida climbed to 20 today. Meanwhile, Typhoon Rananim hits China, killing 164 and injuring over 1800.

Just thought I'd let ya know.

Why do they keep getting contracts? Oh, it's because they have a Big Dick.

The Army will start withholding payments to Halliburton. Why? Because Halliburton can't account for the costs in some of the $6 billion worth of contracts they've received. It's good to know that we're giving billions to a company that is either stealing taxpayer money, or is actually too incompetent to account for it. Or both.

8/19 update: The Pentagon recanted, and they will continue to pay Halliburton in full. Is anyone surprised?

NYC is set to explode

A couple of things from Ted Rall's latest column, "NYC TO GOP: DROP DEAD," piqued my interest.

The original plan was to have Bush shuttle between Madison Square Garden and Ground Zero for photo ops to coincide with the third anniversary of the September 11th attacks. Bush's visits to the Trade Center site were quietly canceled a few months back after 9/11 survivors expressed revulsion at the idea.

Think about all the Republicans who claim liberals that hate Bush are nuts, then read that over again. How could anyone not perceive him as nothing but an asshole for even planning to pull a stunt like this? It gets better...

..some groups are encouraging liberal-minded New Yorkers to volunteer for the city's squad of official greeters. Creatively altered maps of streets and subways will be handed out to button-clad stupid white men. Other saboteurs wearing fake RNC T-shirts will direct them to parts of town where Bush's policies have hit hardest. Rumor has it that prostitutes suffering from sexually transmitted diseases will discourage the use of condoms with Republican customers.

Some may complain about that last item, since giving Republicans STDs is actually harming them. But what business does anybody from the family values clique have getting a hooker?

Fuck'em. They deserve everything their transgressions foster.

Ann Coulter needs a hug (and a box of clue cookies)

I haven't been able to take my eyes off the London Independent's interview of Ann Coulter, and for good reason. Chew on some of these quotes:

"Liberals don't want people to have sovereignty over their own mind and body," says Ann. "They take my money, they tell me how many gallons of water I can have in my tank, they define conservative speech as hate speech. They're total fascists, but they're going out and imposing their left-wing fascism on the rest of the country. The beauty of America is that you can have gay-rights parades in New York and you can perform abortions on your dining-room table, but who's flying to Mississippi and suing them to take down their Ten Commandments in a public park?"

One thing can be said for Coulter: she does not worry about causing offence. When we talk about the "war on terror", she sounds almost nostalgic for the Cold War. "When we were fighting communism, OK, they had mass murderers and gulags, but they were white men and they were sane. Now we're up against absolutely insane savages."

"The country is trapped in a political discourse that resembles professional wrestling," she has written. "Liberals are calling names while conservatives are trying to make arguments." But her view of what constitutes an argument seems to be a distinctly one-sided affair. I try again: "Do you think I have any point at all about..." I begin, but she interrupts again. "No!" She doesn't even know what my point was.

Is Ann Coulter a nutcase? If she is, she's one listened to and approved of by a frightening number of Americans. Surely, I say, hoping she will concede that she sometimes provokes to amuse, she doesn't believe everything she comes out with. "This is the shocking thing for your readers," she replies. "I believe everything I say."

God help us.

Listen up you primitive screwheads!

Freedy vs. Jason vs. Ash. Bwwwwhahahahah! This movie idea could become reality very, very soon...

Sometimes, I should just keep my head buried in the sand

It's taken me a long time to actually become interested in the Kerry/Cambodia story. Even though I'm a pacifist, I think it's pretty low to insult Kerry's military service because at least the man stood for something. What did Bush stand for? He was for the war but dodged the draft, which he didn't even have the balls to do so on his own accord. While Clinton took a stand against the war and put his own ass on the line, Bush used his rich daddy's connections to get into the National Guard. Then the ungrateful prick couldn't even stay in the service. The man went fucking AWOL and all of these pro-war, pro-military chickenhawks, every single one of which screamed bloody murder against Clinton dodging the draft, can't be bothered to give a shit about Bush's actual fucking crimes.

But if Kerry claims that he was in Cambodia on Christmas, 1968, and he lied, this is supposed to be a bigger issue? It was a claim that he only made once, in nineteen eighty fuckin' six, for fuck's sake. And it's only half false, since Kerry did make it to Cambodia, just a couple months after Christmas.

Where was Bush during Christmas of 1968? Keeping the Vietcong out of Houston? Getting the silver spoon surgically removed from his ass so he could fly again? Give me a fucking break.

If this is the pressing "issue" that the Republicans are concerned about with Kerry, it's no fucking wonder why this country is going to hell in a fucking handbasket.

Now presenting Loaded Mouth's No Shit! moment of the day

Headline: "Cutting Fat, Boosting Fruit May Fight Weight Gain." I like that word, "may"...

Say it with me on 3.. 2.. 1.. NO SHIT!

Protesters for Bush?

Salon's lead article today discusses the prospects of violence at the RNC protests being "Christmas in August for the Bush campaign." It looked like an interesting read, and if I wasn't half asleep right now...

Remember how corporate run charter schools were supposed to save us from the horrors of public schools?

Yeah, well, they're not. Test scores of charter school students are lower than their public school counterparts. Needlenose has all the details.

Priceless

Found this in a Fark photoshop thread titled themed, "If corporations could run for political office..."

You know this is what he's thinking

How many protesters are expected at the GOP Convention?

The Observer says 250,000. In Boston, I wouldn't have even placed the total at 5000, so if the Observer is only half right, these protests are still going to be huge.

I've handed in my vacation request for 9/2/04, so with any luck I can make into the city and snap a few pictures on the last day of the convention.

Define "Rain Season"

I'm sure you've heard about the importance of getting aid to Darfur before the rain season starts, but just in case you haven't taken it seriously, read this account by an aid worker attempting to travel in Darfur.

On the way home we manage to cross all of the wadis - river beds that are dry except during the rainy season - bar one. The last wadi on the outskirts of Garsila has risen into a massive river. So, despite our frantic dash to leave before we got stuck, we now have to wait patiently for two hours for the waves to go down.

After sitting it out for a while, surrounded by villagers doing the same, we decide to cross on foot, scouting out a path through the waist-deep water. We enlist the aid of another truck from our base that waits on the other side and are able to connect a tow cable across the water.

With a flourish of water, mud and gusto, the first truck makes it across to the cheers of the crowd. My truck is next and debate rages between drivers as to the best path to follow. We follow that of the truck before and, after initially looking hopeful, get stuck.

The water seeps rapidly into the cabin, which fills to knee-height in the passenger seat. Cables are adjusted, trucks linked in series and the massive push power of the local crowd is put to use. Amid wailing women and roaring diesel engines, we mount a final successful bid and tear free from the mud, just as the first drops of the next rain shower begin to fall.

Fahrenheitization v2.0

Michael Moore is releasing Fahrenheit 9/11 on October 5th, just in time for the election!

This sounds more democratic, so naturally, the Republicans are against it

This November, Colorado voters will decide if their states electoral votes should be awarded proportionally. So instead of Bush taking all 9 electoral votes after winning the state by a small margin, he gets 5 votes while Gore would have received 4. And won the election.

No wonder Republicans are against it. God forbid a democracy go with the will of the voters...

How desperate of a political climate has Bush fostered?

Bush is such an asshole that he's causing some anarchists to vote for Kerry. For those of us who are familiar with anarchists, we know that they see no difference between the major party candidates in any election. But Bush is so bad that he's creating an anarchist bloc for Kerry. On a scale of 1 - 10, this gets a 35.

That scripting error is finally fixed...

Thanks to Lumenia. :)

Redefining Big Brother Government

When I first read this story about the government spying on protesters for the GOP convention, I wasn't going to post it to the blog. It's not exactly new information, and when you're familiar with Cointelpro and some of the history behind the government's tactics to gather intelligence on leftist protesters, this is something that you've read 50 times over in the past six months. But what struck me about this AP report was the final paragraph that tied everything together.

The intelligence unit of the New York Police Department has been closely monitoring Web sites run by self-described anarchists. It also has sought to infiltrate protest groups with young, scruffy-looking officers posing as activists.

It's so open, it's so matter of fact... The police and the government have come right out and said, "Yup, we're spying on your fellow citizens because they dare to use their democractic right to speak out against us." Like this isn't supposed to be a problem. Hell, the AP apparently doesn't think it's a big enough issue, they didn't even bother to get quotes from a few of the groups being spied on. Nor did they bother to ask the powers that be if and how they are implementing the PATRIOT Act into their surveillance operations. Indeed, when they quoted Jim Margolin, spokesman for the New York office of the FBI, as saying, "We're not engaging in surveillance of groups or individuals without legal predication," did the AP reporter even bother to get a definition of "legal predication?"

No questioning, no quotes from the opposition, nobody even bothers to present the obvious dangers to a democratic society that having the government spy on those against it poses. Nothing. The government talks openly about cracking down on hose who protest against it, and I guess we're all supposed to sit here and take it. Seeing articles presented in this manner scares the shit out of me.

[13:12 - Purposely moved above all other posts.]

"The vile smell of voter suppression is all over this so-called investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement."

Bob Herbert discusses Florida's other hurricane.

State police officers have gone into the homes of elderly black voters in Orlando and interrogated them as part of an odd "investigation" that has frightened many voters, intimidated elderly volunteers and thrown a chill over efforts to get out the black vote in November.

The officers, from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which reports to Gov. Jeb Bush, say they are investigating allegations of voter fraud that came up during the Orlando mayoral election in March. ...

I asked Mr. Morales [spokesman for the Department of Law Enforcement] in a telephone conversation to tell me what criminal activity had taken place.

"I can't talk about that," he said.

I asked if all the people interrogated were black.

"Well, mainly it was a black neighborhood we were looking at - yes,'' he said.

He also said, "Most of them were elderly."

When I asked why, he said, "That's just the people we selected out of a random sample to interview." ...

Back in the bad old days, some decades ago, when Southern whites used every imaginable form of chicanery to prevent blacks from voting, blacks often fought back by creating voters leagues, which were organizations that helped to register, educate and encourage black voters. It became a tradition that continues in many places, including Florida, today. ...

The president of the Orlando League of Voters is Ezzie Thomas, who is 73 years old. With his demonstrated ability to deliver the black vote in Orlando, Mr. Thomas is a tempting target for supporters of George W. Bush in a state in which the black vote may well spell the difference between victory and defeat.

I'll admit that I just abused blockquote to the extent of quoting half the piece, but still read the whole thing.

100,000 Atomic Bombs

That's how powerful ole Chucky was.

More freedom and democracy in the new Iraq

It appears that Allawi missed the conference call on how a free press is necessary for a democratic nation to unction as a democracy. You know, keeping the people informed and educated, yadda yadda yadda. This doesn't keep people informed:

Last night Iraqi police ordered all journalists to leave Najaf. Four police cars surrounded a hotel where journalists were staying and presented the order, signed by Najaf's police chief, Brigadier Ghalib al-Jazaari, the Associated Press news agency reported. Police said reporters who remained would be arrested, journalists said.

This paragraph came from a story discussing insurgents setting off around a "historic national conference in Baghdad" to setup a democratic congress. Apparently, Allawi forgot to mail a few invitations.

It's the American Way

Reservists are coming back to to find their promotions, benefits, and jobs are gone.

Where's Darwin when you need him?

Headline: "Kids Plus Rocks Equals 120,000 Angry Bees."

An airport report

Couple news blurbs I stumbled across that could be of some interest.

* "A Chicago-bound flight from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport was evacuated Saturday after" a "Middle Eastern man abruptly got off the plane," AP reports. The plane and "airport concourse were evacuated, and all passengers were rescreened," and the passenger, who "couldn't be questioned immediately because he didn't speak English," was "turned over to the FBI, questioned and released several hours later."

* "Federal air marshals protect less than 5 percent of daily U.S. flights, and the numbers are declining, despite assurances by the federal government that most planes would be protected," the Washington Times reports.

Playing hide and seek with $400,000,000,000

When I read a story like this:

The Defense Department lacks an effective program to protect personnel and facilities against weapons of mass destruction attacks, and needs a single organization to coordinate preparedness efforts, according to government auditors.

It makes me wonder where all that $400 billion our government has allocated for the defense budget is going.

Anxiously awaiting their next hissy fit

After staging a failed coup and a general strike that nearly crippled their national economy, the conservative (and Bush administration backed) Venezuelan opposition to President Hugo Chavez lost the recall vote. Though they aren't willing to admit it yet, and they probably never will.

They should be thankful that Chavez isn't actually the dictator they say he is. If he was, they'd all be in concentration camps by now.

How much longer?

About a month ago, I wrote a letter to my local paper about their lack of coverage concerning Sudan. An editor replied, telling me there's plenty of coverage about it, didn't I see the op-ed piece?

An op-ed piece, oooooh. Big fucking whoop.

But after giving the editorial/op-ed page a look today, I could only wish for such a piece. Now, in it's "Voices Around The World" section that takes up a whole sixth of a page, there's a blurb about Sudan which contains information that's all a week old. It talks about the African Union sending in 2000 troops, but says nothing about those plans being canceled because the Sudanese government, with the help of the Arab League, suddenly opposed them.

Ironically enough, the blurb starts with, "How much longer is the West going to stand by..."

How much longer is our lapdog media going to stand by and let Sudan commit genocide against its own people?

[cc: letters@projo.com]

Where are all the media reports about soldiers dying in Iraq, anyways?

Enjoy the poster, I'm off to bed early tonight. Some things are more important than blogging, like taking care of a car that refuses to start.

...and if I have a car that runs, I can make it down to NYC to snap some pictures of the RNC "festivities." Hee hee hee...

Athens has me feeling jipped

In years past, one of the great things about watching the Olympics is seeing even the "mediocre" athletes perform amazing feats. Look at synchronized diving, for example; even the divers who finish in last place look absolutely spectacular doing it.

But this USA Mens Basketball team just flat out sucks.

...or, as a Fark headline succulently details: "Team USA basketball continues their unabated suckage as they get their asses handed to them by Puerto Rico. Upcoming opponents Outer Mongolia, Little Sisters of Mercy said to like their chances."

Sunday's Totally Mature Penis Discussion Thread

What's your favorite phrase/nickname for the penis? For example, some call it the Super Inflatable Fuckstick. I've shown you mine, now show me yours.

Sunday is Cartoon Day!

As always, a couple by Ted Rall.

The bandnames kids think of these days...

Matt and I went to a show tonight, and one band we saw was called Goatwhore.

Goatwhore... What exactly is one supposed to think of such a bandname? Usually bands give themselves a name that has an implied conclusion, some cite a historical event, some are even inside jokes. But Goatwhore? All I can picture is four scary death metal guys fucking a goat. Since I don't think any man wants people to assume that he's a dirty goatfucker, I doubt that's the hidden meaning behind Goatwhore.

But, I mean, if a band called themselves "Cockwhore," I'd assume they're either gay or women with an extremely irreverent sense of humor. But Goatwhore? I don't know what the fuck Goatwhore is.