Loaded Mouth is (finally) running in Drupal!
The URL for my new feed is http://loadedmouth.com/?q=node/feed, which is currently having issues with updating... But I'm trying to fix that. (Update: I've setup an alternative feed: loadedmouth.com/atom.)
But check out the semi-new look and feel of Loaded Mouth. I'm pleased with it.
In the interests of being fairly balanced...
On 11/26/04, I wrote a piece concerning the protest efforts of the Turn your back on Bush group. In short, I thought their hearts were in the right place, but a protest like this would go unnoticed. I based my opinion on the fact that the 2000 protests, which were large and very widespread, were pretty much ignored by the mainstream media.
Since then, I have received an email from Jet Heiko, one of TyboB's organizers, which I haven't replied to yet. He highlighted upon some differences we have in what protest tactics we think should be displayed on the streets, and also mentioned that TyboB was garnering some mainstream media attention. Last night, a short article about TyboB was released by the AP, and picked up (so far) by MSNBC and USA Today. Do I think this is big and takes away from my point that I think this type of protest will go largely unnoticed? No, I don't, but it is fair to mention that they have received some media coverage.
On Iraq the Farce...
When I commented on Juan Cole's post about Iraq the Model yesterday, I kind of assumed that he put in the research needed to make his claims. Shame on me. Juan trusted the tin foil hat brigade at Martini Republic to do the research for him, and it looks like they really screwed the pooch by doing a half-assed job with that research, and making a few half-assed posts about it. I'm trying to be nice here, but after reading a few other posts at MR (like one titled "Kos anti-Democratic?," which shows me just how far their trust goes and how they'll use conspiracy theory to make the most ridiculous claims), I can't fathom why anyone would think MR is a trusted source. Unfortunately because these are who Juan relied upon, I'll now forever read his blog with a small voice in the back of my head screaming, "This guy doesn't research his shit!"
What a dick
I've never read Michael J. Totten until tonight, and I must say... God, this guy is a compelte and total fucking asshole.
Abstinence teachers, well, they're just special
Kathy at Random Thoughts points out that, unlike other teachers, those who teach abstinence courses do not need a college degree, or even a teaching certificate. This goes against the requirements for teachers in Bush's very own No Child Left Behind Act. Why are abstinence teachers so special?
Well, Kathy also got ahold of some abstinence program curriculum, and it's so stupid that anyone with an education would recognize it instantly as complete crap. But it's even worse since it focuses on the 60s and takes aim at liberals in general. To quote her conclusions:
I don't support replacing sex-ed with abstinence only education. But I have been open to abstinence education as a component of sex-ed. No longer. This is pure indoctrination. It has nothing to do with abstinence and everything to do with a specific conservative world view. It's serving kids a specific political and cultural kool-aid, right down to discussion on how the kids can convert their parents to this perspective, how parents aren't always right. It's bullshit and has no place in our schools.
And since I'm not as articulate as Kathy right now, I'll attempt wit and say something like "Fuck abstinence in the ass!" I'm predictable today, sorry folks...
Do not insult our Monkey Führer! Es ist verboten!
This bit of news from Chepooka seems like it could have been ripped from a German newspaper circa 1937, but it's just has modern as history repeating itself, unfortunately.
A portrait of President George W. Bush using monkeys to form his image has led to the closure of a New York art exhibition over the weekend and anguished protests over freedom of expression ...
"We had tons of people, like more than 2,000 people show up for the opening on Thursday night," said show organizer Bucky Turco. "Then this manager saw the piece and the guy just kind of flipped out. 'The show is over. Get this work down or I'm gonna arrest you,' he said. It's been kind of wild."
Ahhh, yes, winning over hearts and minds... Wait, isn't that statement solely reserved for describing Iraq?
But we brought them freedom!
"IRAQI HITLER' WARNING: Yawer warned in an interview published Monday that long-term instability and violence in his country could create the conditions for an "Iraqi Hitler" to emerge.
"If the situation in Iraq will continue like this, it will create within the Iraqi people feelings of bitterness, rage and humiliation which will provide, in the long run, an appropriate environment for an Iraqi Hitler to appear similar to the German Hitler who emerged after Germany's defeat and the humiliation of the German people in World War I," Yawer was quoted as saying in the London-based Asharq al-Awsat newspaper.
Who is this Yawer character? Well, he's Ghazi al-Yawer, who just happens to be Iraq's interim president. This whole "Iraqi Hitler" business is part of his pitch to the UN for help, telling them him desperate the condidtions are in his nation right now. Even if this is hyperbole, I can't say that statements like this coming from Iraq's interim president bode that well for Bush's public lies about us giving the Iraqi people freedom.
[Whoops, forgot the link.]
They mine as well just say "America: Land of Assholes"
Headline: "With U.S. Absent, 190 Countries Celebrate Global Warming Treaty."
Iraq the Farce?
Juan Cole wonders if Iraq the Model, an Iraqi blog popular with right wingers because it feeds them everything they want to hear, is actually an example of "blog trolling." How Juan defines blog trolling is by taking a regular troll in comments who makes "deliberately false and inflammatory comments, to which all the other posters feel they must reply, so that it roils the list." So think of blog trolling as an actual blog which makes deliberately false and inflammatory posts, to which other bloggers feel they must reply to halt the spread of propaganda. Juan points out that the ISP for Iraq the Model's bloggers is located in halfway around the world in Texas, and their opinions differ wildly from that of mainstream Iraqis, so is Iraq the Model not a blog, but instead a site setup by the right posing as a blog to intentionally influence public opinion? Possibly, since no ordainary Iraqi is allowed to visit President Bush in the Oval Office, but that's just what Iraq the Model's bloggers did last week.
I hope you didn't need your health...
You -- Yes, you! -- Could be next in line to get fucked!
Michael Leavitt, President Bush's choice to be secretary of Health and Human Services, may have to cut billions of dollars from the government's mammoth health programs for the elderly, poor and disabled to pare the budget deficit.
The Medicare and Medicaid programs, consuming nearly $500 billion a year and growing quickly, could be vulnerable in the context of last year's $413 billion budget deficit, the ongoing war in Iraq, costly domestic security commitments and administration plans to revamp Social Security without raising taxes.
How sickening. You have to love how the AP reporter framed this one. "The government's mammoth health programs." Mammoth, eh? $500 billion, eh? Sounds like it takes up the same amount of the budget as the Pentagon, especially with the bungle in Iraq. Yet we never hear of the military termed as "mammoth." I wonder why that is...
More fucking blogger awards?!
Wampum's accepting nominations for the Koufax Awards. They have a more welcoming atmosphere than the Weblog Awards, even if we already have a good idea of who's going to/has a chance to win. I haven't decided who I'm going to nominate yet.
The new site is almost ready
Remember my whining session from a couple weeks ago about how I hated web design, PHP, and I was just generally frustrated because I didn't have a clue on how to customize Drupal? Well, I'm happy to report that my skills in PHP aren't as bad as I thought, and I've got the layout complete. I just have to do some more testing, keep my fingers crossed, and hopeful Loaded Mouth will be running on Drupal by the end of the week.
And speaking of testing, just one more of those this morning before I get back to blogging...
I've got a bridge to sell ya...
Reading this article about the opening of the world's tallest bridge in France amazes me. The Millau motorway viaduct, at a height of 885 feet and length of 1.6 miles, took 3 years to build and cost just $520 million. God, simple road construction projects in my state have gone on for a fucking decade for who knows how many millions of dollars, and the French can build one of the biggest bridges in the world for half a billion and get it completed in 3 years. I feel embarrassed.
It's nice to know that some Republicans don't have to have their lips surgically removed from Bush's ass
John McCain just publicly stated that he has "no confidence" in Rumsfeld, and said that we'll need 80,000 more Army troops and 20-30,000 more Marines in Iraq to, you know, stabilize the country and all that jazz. Bush doesn't want to hear that, though. I mean, we need all those troops to invade Iran, right?
Shea Stadium, where a free agent's all star career is known to suffer a painful, violent death
Nice knowing ya, Pedro.
No, in fact, they don't support the troops
Roxanne comments on six troops who were court-martialed for "taking Army vehicles abandoned in Kuwait by other units so they could carry out their own unit's mission to Iraq." Why did the troops take these abandoned vehicles? Well, they just happened to have armor, that's why. Roxanne ends her post with this:
I've said it dozens of times here and elsewhere. If you believe in the Iraq War, you need to suit up or shut up. When you say you support the troops, what does that really mean?
One of her commenters, Pam, snarkily quipped this in reply:
It means placing a $5.00 magnetic ribbon on your own Hummer here at home, naturally.
Sigh. It's funny because it's true...
The second shortest explanation you'll ever read proving that Beinart is a tool
By trying to reguritate the platform of Joseph Lieberman, Beinart has vaulted himself up as a leading member of the "Democrats must move even farther to the right" crowd. This is lunacy, absolutely luancy. In effect, Beinart is saying that we have to become the Republicans if we ever hope to defeat them, and thus he has displayed two negative factors about his intellect and values.
Intellectually, Beinart shows that he cannot grasp the most simple of concepts in American politics: It's impossible to move to the right of the Republican Party. If the Democrats continue to try, then they will continue to looked upon as Republican-Lites, who Republicans nor Liberals will never feel compelled to vote for.
But what I find most troubling about Beinart are his values. What Beinart essentially said with his article is that he could give a damn about what the Democrats stand for because they have to win elections, and to do such, they will need to foment neoconservative values. Or, in other words, Beinart cares solely about power and doesn't give a damn about the methods used in obtaining that power. This makes Beinart a certifiable asshole who doesn't give a damn about his country or what we do abroad.
There's already a party which shares Beinart's values. They are called the Republicans, and my suggestion to him is that he join them.
[15:23 - Grammar corrections.]
War with Iran is happening when...?
The Military is practicing war games under the pretense of waging a three-phase war with Iran.
The U.S. Defense Department was said to have completed simulated war games to determine the feasibility of destroying Iran's nuclear weapons program.
The Atlantic Monthly magazine reported in its latest issue that the Pentagon held simulations of a U.S. military strike on Iranian bases and nuclear facilities. The magazine said the recent war games also included a ground invasion of Iran.
The simulation envisioned a three-phase war against the Islamic republic. The first phase was composed of air strikes against bases of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, believed to control Iran's nuclear and missile programs.
U.S. intelligence sources were quoted as saying that such a strike would require one day and comprised the easiest part of any military campaign.
Assfucking: $100 billion
Expect this to be the amount that Bush will demand from Congress for the Iraq war next year. And hey, after that passes, then maybe, just maybe, the troops will get armor!
Monday is Radio Mouth Day!
This week's offering is "Circle-Jack (Chase the magic words, Lego Lego)," by Melt Banana, a punk/hardcore/fastcore/cartooncore/whatevercore (just don't call it "japcore") band from Japan. I really can't describe them accurately. Hell, I can't even tell if she's singing in English or Japanese, or both...
And on the topic of pure speculation
Lieberman, Chief of Homeland Security? That sound you here in the distance is Peter Beinart's pleasureable moans.
I'm making December the official BLOG AUDIT month
That's right fellow sinners bloggers, it's time for y'all to fess the fuck up. You know you've been wrong about a few things this past year, now it's time to air out your dirty laundry and eat a little crow. It gives you more creibility, and besides, if you don't learn from your mistakes then you're just not learning, period.
Loaded Mouth Audit: Judith Miller
On 10/8/04, I advocated that NY Times reporter Judith Miller be thrown in jail for withholding her sources from a federal court. In light if the Jim Taricani case basically being the same as the case against Miller, and my support for Taricani, I can't be hypocritical and say that I support one while speaking out against the other. I'm very, very biased against Miller for her reporting helping to place our troops in Iraq, but I'll have to rescind my calls against her in this case.
The world has turned upside down. In other news, I'll be quoting William Safire because I agree with him.
Safire on the "sudden wave of judicial repression" against jounralists:
Activist federal judges in the District of Columbia and Providence, R.I., have already thrown two chilling strikes at journalists for refusing to betray their sources. In San Francisco, a third strike against reporters' ability to gather the news may be on the way.
This sudden wave of judicial repression, unless checked quickly by higher courts or by Congressional action, will make it much easier for the government to deny a citizen's right to know about wrongdoing by every miscreant from corrupt officials to sports heroes.
One year ago, baseball's leading slugger, Barry Bonds, was called before a federal grand jury in the Northern District of California investigating steroid use by athletes to enhance performance. He admitted using a "clear substance" he said he thought was a muscle rub provided by his trainer, who has since been indicted.
The secret Bonds testimony, along with admission of steroid use by Jason Giambi, the Yankee, was reported by The San Francisco Chronicle. [...]
Such justice is secondary to the new vogue of leak-plumbing that has seized the federal judiciary. Inspired by the sentences for contempt imposed in D.C. on Judith Miller of The Times and Matthew Cooper of Time, and on Jim Taricani, the TV reporter in Rhode Island, a judge in San Francisco is urging the Justice Department to conduct an investigation of who brought the evidence of steroid abuse into public view one year after the explosive testimony was taken.
If the new plumbing pattern is followed, Chronicle reporters will be threatened with jail for contempt unless they reveal who provided the transcripts of grand jury testimony (which the paper had the First Amendment right, and journalistic obligation, to print). I cannot imagine the newspaper burning its source. [...]
Liberals may now be fearful of opposing mindless media hatred, but why are principled conservatives not aroused by imperial judges? The founders ensured freedom of the Fourth Estate as a check against the powers of all three branches of central government. Most states are doing their part. Pass that federal shield law before a judiciary on steroids throws Strike 3.
Aye. Why aren't Republicans, besides Safire, angered by this blatant form of judicial activism? Is it because they are hypocrites?
Please pop a couple "Head Explosion Suppression" pills before reading
Honestly, this is just too much. Bernard Kerik, who was up for Secretary for Homeland Security, had to withdraw his candidacy because he hired an illegal immigrant as a nanny. And--he didn't know that she was an illegal immigrant.
Uh, hello?
You want to run homeland security and you can't even keep on top of what's going on in your own home? You want to determine security policy against all of those foriegn baddies out there--Shrub seems to think there are hordes of them--but you can't even be bothered to take security measures in your own home? With your own kids?
In other news, Bush is a goddamn fucking moron.
Another milestone in international diplomacy for our Führer
IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei's phones have been tapped by our government to listen to his conversations with Iranian officials and procure ammunition to use to have him kicked out of office. Because, you know, war with Iran just couldn't start soon enough for these fucks in the Bush administration. What a disgrace. How can anyone in the world trust us when our government does shit like this?
Corrupt DNC leadership to bloggers: Go fuck yourselves
Seriously, as Jerome Armstrong details him and Matt Stroller being kicked out of functions at a recent DNC conference that anybody off the street could have attended. Why were they kicked out? Because they were bloggers. God forbid that a couple of the people responsible from bringing in millions of dollars in small donor contributions from the internet be allowed to actually participate in the process of picking who should next head the DNC!
Christ. We need Dean, and we need him now.
Stop Scalia. And Reid, for the matter.
At the PBAHQ, Deb posted some important links from NARAL to keep Scalia from becoming Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Most important among them is letting our new, Scalia praising minority leader Reid know that support for Scalia is simply unacceptable. Place some pressure on Reid now before it's too late. And be sure to let your senators know exactly what you think.
The shortest explanation you'll ever read proving that Beinart is a tool
Beinart's article on how Democrats can win elections basically espouses the platform of Joseph Lieberman, and who the fuck was going to vote for him? Nobody, that's who.
Those goddamn Clinton's are at it again!
Boy do these fucking assholes burn me up!
Spc. Robert Loria of Middletown, New York, who lost his arm in Iraq, was stuck at Fort Hood and in hock to the Army for nearly $1,800 for travel expenses to a hospital and lost equipment.
Several New York lawmakers including Rep. Maurice Hinchey and Senators Charles Schumer and Hillary Rodham Clinton interceded after the 27-year-old veteran’s wife told his hometown paper about the problem.
I tell ya, she's nothing but a communist lesbo who suppresses her ugres to floss her teeth with Kim Jong-il's incher!
This just in: Mainstream media starts telling the truth. Finally.
Headline: "Pentagon adept at deflecting truth."
Subscribe to
Posts [Atom]
