will work for freedom

The Abyss

2006-08-14T09:36:00.000-07:00

~ The Abyss - Faces of Drama (1986 - Video 2006)

Puppet of the Religious Right

2006-07-19T13:43:00.000-07:00

Behind closed doors ....
In First Veto, Bush Blocks Stem Cell Bill

*sigh* What a tool he is...

Thought Experiment: There is a fire at a fertility clinic and you, the reader, are inside. On one side of the room is a cooler with 100's of blastocysts, on the other is a 2 year old baby. You only have time to save one.
What do you do? What do you save?
Living baby? or 100's of snowflakes?

......a hint via Darksyde

One more time for those in the back row: On the left is a blastocyst from which embryonic stem cell lines are made. It's ten times smaller than the dot at the end of this sentence and contains roughly 100 cells. On the right is a human baby, one of many who's life might someday be saved or greatly enhanced by treatments developed from ESC research. Any questions?

Rove's November Laundry List

2006-06-28T09:55:00.000-07:00

Ø - Fags - ~~Amendment on same sex marriage~~
Ø - Flags - ~~Amendment on flag burning~~
Ø - Mexicans - ~~Immigration bill~~
Ø - Dead white males - ~~Estate Tax~~
± - Media - House condemnation of NY Times
Ø - ~~Blacks~~ - cancelled due to Katrina
± - Abortion - ? ? ?

"Full Liquid Jacket"

2006-06-20T22:54:00.000-07:00

The Iraq Mis-Adventure has cost the lives of thousands of American soldiers with thousands more severly wounded. Today's body armour and protective head gear works very well, keeping the death rate at about 2 soliders a day - despite "the level of violence that we’ve encountered". But the protection is limited and as such has left thousands with out their limbs. One product may soon help with the extreme loss of extremities.

Liquid Armor

A new "liquid armor" could be the solution for protecting the parts of the body that aren't currently covered by standard-issue ballistic vests – arms and legs, where many of these devastating and life-threatening injuries occur. Co-developed by two research teams – one led by Norman Wagner at the University of Delaware, and the other led by Eric Wetzel at the U.S. Army Research Lab in Aberdeen, MD – the liquid technology will soon lead to light, flexible full-body armor.
...
The liquid - called 'shear thickening fluid' is actually a mixture of hard nanoparticles and nonevaporating liquid. It flows normally under low-energy conditions, but when agitated or hit with an impact it stiffens and behaves like a solid. This temporary stiffening occurs less than a millisecond after impact, and is caused by the nanoparticles forming tiny clusters inside the fluid. "The particles jam up forming a log jam structure that prevents things from penetrating through them," Wagner explains.

Very cool and very very necessary.

The Eyes Have It

2006-06-17T23:38:00.000-07:00

On June 16th 2001 Bush said about Russian Federation President Putin

I looked the man in the eye. I found him to be very straightforward and trustworthy. We had a very good dialogue. I was able to get a sense of his soul;...

And just last week June 2006

President Bush flew to Baghdad last week to size up Iraq's new leader. "I have come not only to thank you," he told American troops gathered in the Green Zone on Tuesday, "but to look Prime Minister Maliki in the eyes -- to determine whether or not he is as dedicated to a free Iraq as you are."

The presidential determination? "I believe he is," Bush said.

And this past week again - June 2006.

President Bush To Legally Blind Reporter: ‘Are You Going to Ask That Question with Shades On?’

Tony Snow - Day 2

2006-05-17T21:29:00.000-07:00

Well he did it again. No no no, not something like his first day.

MR. SNOW: Well, as I pointed out -- I mentioned this yesterday, and for -- let me see if I can find my quote, because I pulled it out. Chuck Hagel, as you may recall, made a fair amount of news over the weekend when he first said that -- let's see -- "Well, I want to listen to the details and I want to listen to the President," said Senator Hagel -- he said this on "This Week" on a competing network.

A competing network?

Yes, ABC is in competion with the White House News Network, or as it's commonly known, Fox News.

(via crooks and liars)

Immigration - It's a Shinny Thingy.

2006-05-15T12:10:00.000-07:00

It's been the mantra - BushCo will protect us. - 4 years of flogging the security whip, keeping a level of fear present in the country at all times. But it's really all a continuing political campaign to maintain power - all issues focused on the continuation of republican power. Real world issues, revelations of corruption and lies arise and fade away because BushCo drives the media agenda. It's all about pushing the issues that perk the ears of average Americans.

This time it's Immigration that's being trotted out. It's a tactic to bring out their biased base. We've seen it with same sex marriage, Stem Cell research, abortion and other hot button issues. These smaller "hot" issues are wrapped deep beneath the flag of security.

The absence of, the actual ignoring of, border security was the something that always bothered me - hit me as odd. Why, if they were in control, had all the power and security was their mantra, why didn't they do something about the borders before this? If America was truly vulnerable they would have done something right away. But why didn't the issue come up? Why didn't BushCo address it and show America, in a tangible way, they were strong on security? It could be because of the "Big Business" interests involved in the issue, but a better explanation fits the Rovian Political MO a bit better.

The immigration issue was kept purposely in their back pocket. It's the perfect election year distraction issue. Not only does it deal with an issue that riles up their biased base but also touches, nay, embraces the "security" mantra. Think about it. If the immigration issue wasn't swirling around, what would the headlines be? Iraq... Rove... Darfur... Iran... but no, the main issue is immigration and everyone has an opinion - a deep emotional opinion.

Ben Ferguson is a Big Pussy

2006-05-13T13:34:00.000-07:00

Crooks and Liars has the Video

~

Someday Someone Somewhere Somehow

2006-05-12T15:28:00.000-07:00

“Last Goodbye” - Agent Orange 1981 Mp3

someday someone somewhere somehow
is going to make you understand
these words will drill into your head
you undergo the process then
you will do anything they say
they will have power over you
you will not question their authority
you know what they can do
i shake my head i don't know what to say
i see my chance to turn and walk away
i will not be a part of this romance
i just can't take that chance
because i see my opportunity to shout
the last goodbye
i bet you never did expect
to have a big important name
they all will have exquisite taste
but everyone will look the same
you will be quickly photographed
you will be shot from every side
they'll teach you what you need to learn
then they will take you for a ride

Quaint and Antiquated

2006-05-12T10:17:00.000-07:00

Fourth Ammendment of the the Constitution of the United States of America.

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

This used to mean something in America...

In the eye of the NSA

2006-05-11T13:09:00.000-07:00

~ 2006

NSA has massive database of Americans' phone calls

The National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans, using data provided by AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth, people with direct knowledge of the arrangement told USA TODAY.

The NSA program reaches into homes and businesses across the nation by amassing information about the calls of ordinary Americans — most of whom aren't suspected of any crime.

~ 200X

A Party member lives from birth to death under the eye of the Thought Police. Even when he is alone he can never be sure that he is alone. Wherever he may be, asleep or awake, working or resting, in his bath or in bed, he can be inspected without warning and without knowing that he is being inspected. Nothing that he does is indifferent. His friendships, his relaxations, his behaviour towards his wife and children, the expression of his face when he is alone, the words he mutters in sleep, even the characteristic movements of his body, are all jealously scrutinized. Not only any actual misdemeanour, but any eccentricity, however small, any change of habits, any nervous mannerism that could possibly be the symptom of an inner struggle, is certain to be detected. He has no freedom of choice in any direction whatever. 1984 - Orwell

Privacy - a quaint and antiquated concept.

Got Tact?

2006-05-10T09:33:00.000-07:00

The Emperor in Chief went on a little MediScare tour yesterday and stopped Broward Community College in Florida. Whilst meeting with seniors, Bush, as is his styleless style, showed his lack of tact, compassion and decency when he

...greeted a man who remained sitting in a wheelchair with, "You look mighty comfortable."

Maybe next time Bush could ask the guy if he wants to go for a run...

~

DBJP

2006-05-09T14:47:00.000-07:00

Join the Death Bed Joke Project over at the Liberal Avenger.

gods of nature

2006-05-07T10:26:00.000-07:00

Creationism dismissed as 'a kind of paganism' by Vatican's astronomer

Believing that God created the universe in six days is a form of superstitious paganism, the Vatican astronomer Guy Consolmagno claimed yesterday.

Brother Consolmagno, who works in a Vatican observatory in Arizona and as curator of the Vatican meteorite collection in Italy, said a "destructive myth" had developed in modern society that religion and science were competing ideologies.

He described creationism, whose supporters want it taught in schools alongside evolution, as a "kind of paganism" because it harked back to the days of "nature gods" who were responsible for natural events.
...

"Religion needs science to keep it away from superstition and keep it close to reality, to protect it from creationism, which at the end of the day is a kind of paganism - it's turning God into a nature god. And science needs religion in order to have a conscience, to know that, just because something is possible, it may not be a good thing to do."

Elmo Goes to War

2006-04-27T10:20:00.000-07:00

Sesame workshop and Wal-mart are producing a DVD, starring little red retarded Elmo and big red shell-shocked Elmodaddy, to help little kids deal with issues involved with military families and parents who are deployed in the Iraq and Afghanistan. Though the plot is still a closely guarded secret, The Rude Pundit has an idea about how it might go down when Elmodaddy comes back home to Sesame Street.

Elmo Doesn't Like It When Daddy Screams In His Sleep:

...Then how cute it'll be when Elmodaddy discovers he's got no job he can possibly do, being so fucked up from his injuries, and so he starts to drink, which doesn't help the nightmares, the way he's gotta get up every night to walk the perimeter inside his own home, and the fact that he can't fuck Elmomommy anymore, and Elmo disappears ever more into his fantasy land of psychic goldfish, smiling computers, and strange bow-tied men and women who mime their misunderstanding of basic language outside his window.

Of course, that's all might be wishful thinking. The whole thing could end with Elmodaddy being ripped to cloth and stuffing shreds by an IED because his government couldn't afford to equip him with the armor he needed to protect his red fuzzy ass. Then we can watch as Elmo radicalizes, marches, and chants, "One, two, three, four, Elmo doesn't want your fucking war." And, hey, he'll still be teaching the children how to count.

Section 603

2006-04-25T15:51:00.000-07:00

Who would have thunk it? Jefferson that's who!

Section 603 of Jefferson's Manual of the Rules of the United States House of Representatives states Impeachment can be initiated in several ways.

... by charges made on the floor on the responsibility of a Member or Delegate ...by charges preferred by a memorial, which is usually referred to a committee for examination ...or by a resolution dropped in the hopper by a Member and referred to a committee... by a message from the President... by charges transmitted from the legislature of a State ... or Territory ... or from a grand jury ...or from facts developed and reported by an investigating committee of the House

Both the Illinios and California legislatures are moving to charge Bush and begin the proceedings.

California Becomes Second State to Introduce Bush Impeachment

Walker Peace Brigade on Trial

2006-04-25T12:00:00.000-07:00

18 Antiwar `Grannies' on Trial in New York

NEW YORK — Eighteen antiwar protesters who call themselves the Granny Peace Brigade went on trial Thursday for staging a rally in Times Square last year, with the prosecution saying the case was about disorderly conduct — not war.
The defendants, some supporting themselves on canes and walkers, entered the small courtroom packed with about 75 supporters. They are each charged with two counts of disorderly conduct stemming from an Oct. 17, 2005, protest against the Iraq war outside the military recruiting station in Times Square.
...
The women — several in their 80s and 90s — wore buttons that read: "Granny Peace Brigade" and "Love the Troops, Hate the War." Some wore T-shirts that said: "We will not be silent."

Give em hell grandma...

The Decider

2006-04-19T07:58:00.000-07:00

Bush is no Alan Turning

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decider

"In computability theory, a machine that always halts — also called a decider (Sipser, 1996) — is any abstract machine or model of computation that, contrary to the most general Turing machines, is guaranteed to halt for any particular description and input (see halting problem)."
...
"In practice, a machine that always halts can be implemented as a programming language with restricted flow control instructions, so that no program (i.e. description) will ever cause the machine to enter an infinite loop."
...
Machines that always halt are less powerful than Turing machines, as the following theorem shows:

There are (Turing-)computable total functions that are not computable by any machine that always halts.

...(see theorem)

Despite the above theorem, it is possible to construct a machine that always halts and yet computes the majority of functions of interest (the so-called primitive recursive functions),
...

primitive recursive functions... hate...war...greed.

“I’m the decider” Mr. Bush said

Continue reading the post...

I’m of the opinion that Bush is Halting all the time as he is guaranteed to halt for any particular description and input

“Mr President, we need more troops for Iraq invasion…”

HALT !

“Mr President, things aren’t looking good in Iraq…”

HALT !

“Mr President, we have this Hurricane and…”

HALT !

“Mr President, the constitution says…”

HALT !

and so on and so on and so on….

Kind of a variation of “Talk to the hand”.

Intelligent Design's Ugly Cousin

2006-03-30T10:14:00.000-08:00

Dadahead has a piece up about those wacky geocentrists.

Sungenis is a geocentrist. He contends the sun orbits the Earth instead of vice versa. He says physics and the Bible show that the vastness of space revolves around us; that we're at the center of everything, on a planet that does not rotate.

Time for the...Galaxy song by Monty Python

~

The Walker Brigade

2006-03-27T01:05:00.000-08:00

Woman, 78, gets recruitment letter from Marine Corps

SAUGUS - Sonia Goldstein was flattered by the nice recruiting letter asking her to consider becoming one of "the few, the proud."

...

The letter told her the corps could use her unique language skills, but also warned that life as a Marine would test her physical and mental abilities "beyond anything you've ever known."

"There I am with my walker. I can't maneuver from here to there without it," said Goldstein, who added that her only language is English.

She's gonna have a hard time with the obstacle course...

~

Remember this later

2006-03-14T12:52:00.000-08:00

US general says no proof Iran behind Iraq arms

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top U.S. military officer said on Tuesday the United States does not have proof that Iran's government is responsible for Iranians smuggling weapons and military personnel into Iraq.

President George W. Bush said on Monday components from Iran were being used in powerful roadside bombs used in Iraq, and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said last week that Iranian Revolutionary Guard personnel had been inside Iraq.

Asked whether the United States has proof that Iran's government was behind these developments, Marine Corps Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the military's Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a Pentagon briefing, "I do not, sir."

briefs or going commando

2006-03-12T08:53:00.000-08:00

Judge Says Libby Can See Bush's Briefs

U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton rejected CIA warnings that the nation's security would be imperiled if the presidential-level documents were disclosed to lawyers for I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Cheney's former chief of staff.

The judge said the CIA can either delete highly classified information from the briefing material and provide copies of what Libby received six days a week, often with Cheney. Or, Walton said, the CIA can produce "topic overviews" of the matters covered in the briefings.

The judge also ordered the CIA to give Libby an index of the topics covered in follow-up questions that the former White House aide asked intelligence officers who conducted the briefings.

Scooter is gonna get to paw around in the Presidential drawers.

But how long till the Porter simply refuses to drop the presidents pants?

~

nanobiobots

2006-03-08T23:05:00.000-08:00

Salon - I, Nanobot

Nanofabricated animats may be infinitessimally tiny, but their electrons will be exactly the same size as ours -- and their effect on human reality will be as immeasurable as the universe. Like an inverted SETI program, humanity must now look inward, constantly scanning technology space for animats, or their progenitors. The first alien life may not come from the stars, but from ourselves.

greymail

2006-03-07T17:31:00.000-08:00

We all knew this was where it was going - it's the defense focus and Libby's only hope. Greymail the Fitz into dropping the case.

To refresh his mind, as it "turns in clusters", Scooter asks for classified documents that, if released, would damage national security.

The government , "because their roots connect them" to national security, could be forced to drop the case - and do so for a variety of national security reasons.

Like this one...

CIA says Libby defense could disrupt intelligence

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The
CIA would have a hard time advising President George W. Bush on security threats if a judge forced it to provide material sought by a former vice presidential aide accused of perjury, the agency said in a court filing made public on Tuesday.

CIA officials would need up to nine months to dig up classified information sought by Lewis "Scooter" Libby as part of his defense against perjury charges, the CIA said.

"The job would divert their precious time and effort away from their primary task: preparing breaking intelligence for the president's immediate attention," CIA information review officer Marilyn Dorn wrote.

Not that the President pays any attention to those intelligence briefings...

(ht: noz)
~crossposted at the liberal avenger

Bush Says He Doesn't Care About US Security

2006-02-23T09:14:00.000-08:00

This deal wouldn't go forward if we were concerned about the security of the United States of America
George Bush regarding the DPW port deal

Why not let the UAE control the ports

2006-02-22T09:11:00.000-08:00

Besides the fact that the company is run by the UAE government...

The Rude Pundit says it well...

Let's say, and why not, that you're a victim of a crime, where a guy breaks down the doors to your house, wrecks the fuck out of your living room, strangles your cockatiel, and shits on the floor. You know who did it. It's your neighbor who hated hearing your goddamn cockatiel start chirpin' at sunrise everyday. But the cops can't find your neighbor. Now let's say you hire a decorator to come in to refurbish your shat on, fucked up living room. Let's say you discover that the decorator's assistant is your neighbor's cousin. Sure, you can be assured over and over that he only saw your neighbor at large family gatherings and that he doesn't know where the fucker is, but, c'mon, you gonna feel comfortable with that dude in your house every day? Would you be wrong to fire him?

Dick Cheney Jokes

2006-02-15T20:50:00.000-08:00

Dick Cheney Jokes.

a laugh or two

2006-02-14T09:28:00.000-08:00

Dick Cheney jokes about being Big Brother's Big Brother then shoots party member.

The question that they just can't answer

2006-02-12T08:33:00.000-08:00

FISA on Eat the Press

Senator Roberts : FISA is old and outdated, this is new world with technology and new threats.

Russert : Why not go to congress and have the Law changed.

Senator Roberts : [hem haw ...stall]... Look here...terror... president... war...leaks... briefed...

~

Science Should Study Faith

2006-02-05T22:43:00.000-08:00

Now this is religious study that I can get behind.

SuperNatural Selection - Boston Globe

A Tufts philosopher and famed Darwinist wants us to study religion like any other human behavior - as a 'natural phenomenon.' Scientists, meanwhile, may be on the way to explaining how, and why, we got religion.

...

A month ago, when federal Judge John E. Jones III ruled that intelligent design could not be taught in a Pennsylvania school district, scientists and secularists celebrated the decision as a victory not only for the separation of church and state, but of church and science. A few editorials quoted Harvard evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould's argument that science, concerned as it is with facts, and religion, concerned with human purposes and values, were ''Non-Overlapping Magisteria," separate sources of authority that could exist in ''respectful noninterference." Judge Jones himself took pains to emphasize that the theory of evolution ''in no way conflicts with, nor does it deny, the existence of a divine creator."

Daniel Dennett, however, is no great believer in respectful noninterference, and in his new book, ''Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon" (Viking), he argues vehemently against it. Religion, Dennett says, is human behavior, and there are branches of science to study human behavior. ''Whether or not [Gould] was right," Dennett told me in his office at Tufts University, where he is director of the Center for Cognitive Studies, ''and I don't think he was, I'm not making a claim that he would disagree with. I'm not saying that science should do what religion does. I'm saying science should study what religion does."

The argument that religion can be explained as a natural rather than a supernatural phenomenon is not new. The Scottish philosopher David Hume set himself a similar task over 250 years ago. Marx and Freud had their own explanations. Over the years, scholars have enlisted everything from rational choice theory to brain scans in their efforts to trace the origins of faith.

Dennett himself is not a researcher, nor is his book a sustained argument for any one theory. His primary role, as he sees it, is to be as much a standard-bearer as a thinker, introducing the world to the work of scholars who, in sometimes conflicting ways, are setting out to explain the workings of belief.

Dennett opens his book by comparing religion to a parasite. The lancet fluke is a microorganism that, as part of its unlikely life cycle, lodges in the brain of an ant, turning it into a sort of ant zombie that every night crawls to the top of a blade of grass and waits to get eaten by a grazing cow or sheep, in whose liver the lancet fluke can propagate. Dennett is being provocative, but he is also making a point: Certain religious behaviors-abstinence, for example, or martyrdom, or ritually sacrificing livestock in the middle of a famine-can look decidedly, almost inexplicably, irrational both to nonbelievers and behavioral scientists, so much so that it might be worth asking who or what is actually benefiting from them.

Full article here

~

Never ending war continues to never end.

2006-01-31T20:50:00.000-08:00

So are we winning or not?

The enemy has not lost the desire or capability to attack us. --- Bush SOTU 2006

What no progress yet?

Loathsome Much?

2006-01-24T19:52:00.000-08:00

Over at the Liberal Avenger there was a post about The Beast's 50 Most Loathsome People in America, 2005

A few of my favorites are... Continue reading the post...

34. Scooter Libby

Charges: Known as “germ boy” within the administration for his obsession with creating panic over biological warfare in order to facilitate huge government vaccine purchases and alter markets to the benefit of big pharmaceutical industry stock holders like Rumsfeld, George Shultz and himself. Sound familiar? A high-level fall guy, responsible for leaking what was in the interest of profit, not leaking what wasn’t, and barking on cue to produce the noise of governance without the drawbacks of actual governance.

Exhibit A: “The Aspens turn in clusters,” or something.

Sentence: Raped by bear.
____________________________

15. Karl Rove

Charges: A greasy pig whose only distinction in life is his total lack of decency. Rove is decidedly not a genius; he is simply missing the part of his soul that prevents the rest of us from kicking elderly women in the face. His admirers have elevated fanatical, amoral ambition to the status of a virtue, along with lying, cheating, and negligent homicide, all in the name of “values.” Quite possibly the worst person in the worst White House in American history.

Exhibit A: “As people do better, they start voting like Republicans - unless they have too much education and vote Democratic, which proves there can be too much of a good thing.”

Sentence: Lowered head first into oil refinery smokestack.

And...

13. God

Charges: If your answer to the age-old question of God’s existence is “yes,” your next question should be, “Why is he such a dick?” After three major natural disasters, not to mention the eternal constants of famine, war and disease, to believe in God is to believe either that He enjoys fucking with us, or at best has totally lost interest in the whole “people” thing. Never calls anymore.

Exhibit A: Mosquitoes, Ralph Reed.

Sentence: Forever listening to an unending stream of idiotic, mundane prayers uttered by the dumbest, most inarticulate people in His creation.

Ah those ol' Terror Alerts

2006-01-21T09:14:00.000-08:00

Whenever there is talk of "Terror Alerts" I think back to September 30th 2004.

~

Truth is only the Truth of the Party

2006-01-14T11:13:00.000-08:00

We sit here watching as America is pulled further and further into an abyss of it's own apathic creation. The vapid and vanity driven society we have created has turned most Americans into spongy automatons capable of believing anything BushCo tells them. Believing not because of logic or the real truth involved but rather because of messenger repetition. For BushCo truth is subjectively relative while at the same time portrayed as absolute and objective. For the past 5 years we have been constantly told what to believe, talking point after talking point and plenty have followed, shuffling in shackled lockstep with whatever the party line is at the time. Fix the facts to fit the belief - never mind if it doesn't make sense, "sense" is subjective to the Party's objectivity.

"Who controls the present controls the past,"' said O'Brien, nodding his head with slow approval. ...

...

... We, the Party, control all records, and we control all memories. Then we control the past, do we not?'

'But how can you stop people remembering things?' cried Winston again momentarily forgetting the dial. 'It is involuntary. It is outside oneself. How can you control memory? You have not controlled mine!'

O'Brien's manner grew stern again. He laid his hand on the dial.

'On the contrary,' he said, 'you have not controlled it. That is what has brought you here. You are here because you have failed in humility, in self-discipline. You would not make the act of submission which is the price of sanity. You preferred to be a lunatic, a minority of one. Only the disciplined mind can see reality, Winston. You believe that reality is something objective, external, existing in its own right. You also believe that the nature of reality is self-evident. When you delude yourself into thinking that you see something, you assume that everyone else sees the same thing as you. But I tell you, Winston, that reality is not external. Reality exists in the human mind, and nowhere else. Not in the individual mind, which can make mistakes, and in any case soon perishes: only in the mind of the Party, which is collective and immortal. Whatever the Party holds to be the truth, is truth. It is impossible to see reality except by looking through the eyes of the Party. That is the fact that you have got to relearn, Winston. It needs an act of self-destruction, an effort of the will. You must humble yourself before you can become sane.' --- Orwell 1984

Too many Memes

2006-01-02T16:37:00.000-08:00

That edge.org question sure has a lot of great stuff.. here's another by one of my favorite Philosophers

DANIEL C. DENNETT
Philosopher; University Professor, Co-Director, Center for Cognitive Studies, Tufts University; Author, Darwin's Dangerous Idea

There aren't enough minds to house the population explosion of memes

Ideas can be dangerous. Darwin had one, for instance. We hold all sorts of inventors and other innovators responsible for assaying, in advance, the environmental impact of their creations, and since ideas can have huge environmental impacts, I see no reason to exempt us thinkers from the responsibility of quarantining any deadly ideas we may happen to come across. So if I found what I took to be such a dangerous idea, I would button my lip until I could find some way of preparing the ground for its safe expression. I expect that others who are replying to this year's Edge question have engaged in similar reflections and arrived at the same policy. If so, then some people may be pulling their punches with their replies. The really dangerous ideas they are keeping to themselves.

But here is an unsettling idea that is bound to be true in one version or another, and so far as I can see, it won't hurt to publicize it more. It might well help.

The human population is still growing, but at nowhere near the rate that the population of memes is growing. There is competition for the limited space in human brains for memes, and something has to give. Thanks to our incessant and often technically brilliant efforts, and our apparently insatiable appetites for novelty, we have created an explosively growing flood of information, in all media, on all topics, in every genre. Now either (1) we will drown in this flood of information, or (2) we won't drown in it. Both alternatives are deeply disturbing. What do I mean by drowning? I mean that we will become psychologically overwhelmed, unable to cope, victimized by the glut and unable to make life-enhancing decisions in the face of an unimaginable surfeit. (I recall the brilliant scene in the film of Evelyn Waugh's dark comedy The Loved One in which embalmer Mr. Joyboy's gluttonous mother is found sprawled on the kitchen floor, helplessly wallowing in the bounty that has spilled from a capsized refrigerator.) We will be lost in the maze, preyed upon by whatever clever forces find ways of pumping money–or simply further memetic replications–out of our situation. (In The War of the Worlds, H. G. Wells sees that it might well be our germs, not our high-tech military contraptions, that subdue our alien invaders. Similarly, might our own minds succumb not to the devious manipulations of evil brainwashers and propagandists, but to nothing more than a swarm of irresistible ditties, Noφs nibbled to death by slogans and one-liners?)

If we don't drown, how will we cope? If we somehow learn to swim in the rising tide of the infosphere, that will entail that we–that is to say, our grandchildren and their grandchildren–become very very different from our recent ancestors. What will "we" be like? (Some years ago, Doug Hofstadter wrote a wonderful piece, " In 2093, Just Who Will Be We?" in which he imagines robots being created to have "human" values, robots that gradually take over the social roles of our biological descendants, who become stupider and less concerned with the things we value. If we could secure the welfare of just one of these groups, our children or our brainchildren, which group would we care about the most, with which group would we identify?)

Whether "we" are mammals or robots in the not so distant future, what will we know and what will we have forgotten forever, as our previously shared intentional objects recede in the churning wake of the great ship that floats on this sea and charges into the future propelled by jets of newly packaged information? What will happen to our cultural landmarks? Presumably our descendants will all still recognize a few reference points (the pyramids of Egypt, arithmetic, the Bible, Paris, Shakespeare, Einstein, Bach . . . ) but as wave after wave of novelty passes over them, what will they lose sight of? The Beatles are truly wonderful, but if their cultural immortality is to be purchased by the loss of such minor 20th century figures as Billie Holiday, Igor Stravinsky, and Georges Brassens [who he?], what will remain of our shared understanding?

The intergenerational mismatches that we all experience in macroscopic versions (great-grandpa's joke falls on deaf ears, because nobody else in the room knows that Nixon's wife was named "Pat") will presumably be multiplied to the point where much of the raw information that we have piled in our digital storehouses is simply incomprehensible to everyone–except that we will have created phalanxes of "smart" Rosetta-stones of one sort or another that can "translate" the alien material into something we (think maybe we) understand. I suspect we hugely underestimate the importance (to our sense of cognitive security) of our regular participation in the four-dimensional human fabric of mutual understanding, with its reassuring moments of shared–and seen to be shared, and seen to be seen to be shared–comprehension.

What will happen to common knowledge in the future? I do think our ancestors had it easy: aside from all the juicy bits of unshared gossip and some proprietary trade secrets and the like, people all knew pretty much the same things, and knew that they knew the same things. There just wasn't that much to know. Won't people be able to create and exploit illusions of common knowledge in the future, virtual worlds in which people only think they are in touch with their cyber-neighbors?

I see small-scale projects that might protect us to some degree, if they are done wisely. Think of all the work published in academic journals before, say, 1990 that is in danger of becoming practically invisible to later researchers because it can't be found on-line with a good search engine. Just scanning it all and hence making it "available" is not the solution. There is too much of it. But we could start projects in which (virtual) communities of retired researchers who still have their wits about them and who know particular literatures well could brainstorm amongst themselves, using their pooled experience to elevate the forgotten gems, rendering them accessible to the next generation of researchers. This sort of activity has in the past been seen to be a stodgy sort of scholarship, fine for classicists and historians, but not fit work for cutting-edge scientists and the like. I think we should try to shift this imagery and help people recognize the importance of providing for each other this sort of pathfinding through the forests of information. It's a drop in the bucket, but perhaps if we all start thinking about conservation of valuable mind-space, we can save ourselves (our descendants) from informational collapse.

Alone.. not so bad really

2006-01-02T15:40:00.000-08:00

Via The Edge Annual Question — 2006
WHAT IS YOUR DANGEROUS IDEA?

KEITH DEVLIN

We are entirely alone

Living creatures capable of reflecting on their own existence are a one-off, freak accident, existing for one brief moment in the history of the universe. There may be life elsewhere in the universe, but it does not have self-reflective consciousness. There is no God; no Intelligent Designer; no higher purpose to our lives.

Personally, I have never found this possibility particularly troubling, but my experience has been that most people go to considerable lengths to convince themselves that it is otherwise.

I think that many people find the suggestion dangerous because they see it as leading to a life devoid of meaning or moral values. They see it as a suggestion full of despair, an idea that makes our lives seem pointless. I believe that the opposite is the case. As the product of that unique, freak accident, finding ourselves able to reflect on and enjoy our conscious existence, the very unlikeliness and uniqueness of our situation surely makes us highly appreciative of what we have. ...continue reading

(ht Sirk)

Happy New Year

2006-01-01T11:29:00.000-08:00

Woo hoo... Party time ... excellent...

Got a hangover this morning....?

Yes?

How hung over are you?

See The Hangover Rating Guide.

~

redirect yourself

2005-12-15T16:54:00.000-08:00

Go here...

Freedom To Turkey - Mission accomplished!

2005-11-27T08:27:00.000-08:00

This past week President Bush put an end to terrorism by bringing freedom to a pair of Meleagris gallopavos who, without being charged with a crime, had been held for almost 2 years while they awaited their inevitable bloodletting.

Bring freedom to turkey?
Mission accomplished! (Ny Daily News)

In an act of clemency Guantanamo prisoners can only dream of, Dubya yesterday freed two gobblers from the food chain and sent them off to Disneyland.

...

The President peered into Marshmallow's eyes and stroked the bird's fluffy white feathers with a tenderness usually reserved for members of the Saudi royal family.

During Bush's turkey lovefest Dick Cheney's secert weakness was revealed.

The NY Times reports - "After the bird had settled down, Mr. Bush cautiously stroked its white feathers, patted its head and invited a group of schoolchildren to the stage to do the same. Mr. Cheney, who has never been known as a lively campaigner, hung back in a corner of the stage and approached neither the turkey nor the children."

Ah... Dick is terrified of birds and small children.

~

Torture

2005-11-19T08:38:00.000-08:00

1984

With that first blow on the elbow the nightmare had started. Later he was to realize that all that then happened was merely a preliminary, a routine interrogation to which nearly all prisoners were subjected. There was a long range of crimes -- espionage, sabotage, and the like -- to which everyone had to confess as a matter of course. The confession was a formality, though the torture was real. How many times he had been beaten, how long the beatings had continued, he could not remember.1984 - Orwell

2003

Breaking chemical lights and pouring the phosphoric liquid on detainees; pouring cold water on naked detainees; beating detainees with a broom handle and a chair; threatening male detainees with rape; allowing a military police guard to stitch the wound of a detainee who was injured after being slammed against the wall in his cell; sodomizing a detainee with a chemical light and perhaps a broom stick, and using military working dogs to frighten and intimidate detainees with threats of attack, and in one instance actually biting a detainee. 2004 Taguba Report

1984

He became simply a mouth that uttered, a hand that signed, whatever was demanded of him. His sole concern was to find out what they wanted him to confess, and then confess it quickly, before the bullying started anew. He confessed to the assassination of eminent Party members, the distribution of seditious pamphlets, embezzlement of public funds, sale of military secrets, sabotage of every kind. He confessed that he had been a spy in the pay of the Eastasian government as far back as 1968. He confessed that he was a religious believer, an admirer of capitalism, and a sexual pervert. He confessed that he had murdered his wife, although he knew, and his questioners must have known, that his wife was still alive. He confessed that for years he had been in personal touch with Goldstein and had been a member of an underground organization which had included almost every human being he had ever known. It was easier to confess everything and implicate everybody. Besides, in a sense it was all true. It was true that he had been the enemy of the Party, and in the eyes of the Party there was no distinction between the thought and the deed. 1984 - Orwell

It's once again time to re-read Orwell.

~

It's a Joke right Steven?

2005-11-13T08:06:00.000-08:00

Steven Hadley today on Wolf Blitzer said:

The President made his decisions based on intelligence

President - intelligence ... in the same sentence...?

NO matter how ya look at the word "intelligence" here it still makes George a brainless twit...

It's gotta be a joke --- right Steven ?

As Firedoglake Said :"Stephen Hadley is a Big, Fat Dissembling Piece of Shit"

(graphic courtesy The Heretik)
~

Down the Memory Hole Again....

2005-11-10T11:53:00.000-08:00

~
"With the deep, unconscious sigh which not even the nearness of the telescreen could prevent him from uttering when his day's work started, Winston pulled the speakwrite towards him, blew the dust from its mouthpiece, and put on his spectacles. Then he unrolled and clipped together four small cylinders of paper which had already flopped out of the pneumatic tube on the right-hand side of his desk."(orwell 1984)

Editor and Publisher:
White House Breifing: At the Oct. 31 briefing, David Gregory of NBC News stated the following question to McClellan about White House aides Karl Rove and I. Lewis Libby: "Whether there's a question of legality, we know for a fact that there was involvement. We know that Karl Rove, based on what he and his lawyer have said, did have a conversation about somebody who Patrick Fitzgerald said was a covert officer of the Central Intelligence Agency. We know that Scooter Libby also had conversations."

Two outside news agencies, Congressional Quarterly and Federal News Service - which provide transcripts for a fee -both reported the response as "that's accurate."

What?

A correction was needed...

Winston thought for a moment, then pulled the speakwrite towards him and began dictating in Big Brother's familiar style: a style at once military and pedantic..."(orwell 1984)

WH Transcript Oct. 31 briefing question by David Gregory:
REPLACE: "that's accurate."
WITH "I don’t think that's accurate."

Better, much better.

"As soon as Winston had dealt with each of the messages, he clipped his speakwritten corrections to the appropriate copy of The Times and pushed them into the pneumatic tube. Then, with a movement which was as nearly as possible unconscious, he crumpled up the original message and any notes that he himself had made, and dropped them into the memory hole to be devoured by the flames." (orwell 1984)

~

Free Speech... Not a Chance...Kiss it Goodbye.

2005-11-08T09:27:00.000-08:00

I wake up today, the day of the election and go outside and what do I find? My sign for Democratic Mayoral candidate Donna Frye is missing. Across the street is the polling place, in the same place it's been in the past - including the Kerry v. Bush election . We have always put up signs and we have checked with the powers that be and they've said we could. So I ask "Hey who took my sign". A big fat white Poll worker says "your neighbor took it down". What? So I see my neighbor leaving for work (note that he's a republican) . He says " I took it down because the poll worker said it had to come down, it was too close to Polls, so I threw in my backyard" and he drives off. ... stunned I yell "YOU CAN"T DO THAT" ... I go over to the Polls and the worker says "we never told him to take it down"...What I say??? Someone is a liar here...later the Poll worker admits to my other neighbor (who is a democrat and is equally pissed) that he did indeed say the sign needed to come down and did tell the other neighbor to take it down. At this point I'm irate. Why didn't anyone come and knock on my door? Couldn't have someone come by and politely said that they believed my sign was too close and would need to be moved? I would have moved it...But no one even bothered to asked me.

Funny thing, in the last presidential election my neighbors had Bush signs all over the place. Funny how the poll workers didn't have those taken down. So, I go over to the polling place and express my displeasure with the situation and another fat white guy in a suit tells me that he's going to have me arrested for disrupting a polling place and he's a witness to it. My Democratic neighbor is there and he says he's a witness to the fat guy harassing me. I'm livid at this point... hell I'm still pissed right now. So the Fat Bastard goes back to the polls and makes some kind of complaint... right now I'm waiting for the police to show up and haul me away...haul me away for them not allowing my freedom of speech.

There are 2 points here that are very troubling. First the gall of the both the poll worker and my repugnic neighbor who think they can unilaterally act to take away my freedom of speech and the second, which is much more chilling, that the Government can create a No Speech Zone by arbitrarily plopping a polling place in front of your house. We never have been consulted about the placement of the Polls. Whatever happened to voting in a public place like a school or the post office? Think about it... what if I had painted my house with political slogans... would they make me take down my house? What about the bumper stickers that all these people who come to vote have on their cars? They are certainly too close. What about signs in my window? What if they consider those too close? According to the Mr. fatassed poll worker they would be. Will they break into my house to remove them? I don't expect them to ask me to remove them... they didn't this morning. Why is it that my neighbors, a few houses down, have different free speech rights than I do?

So I sit here and wait to be hauled off to the pokey for believing that the first amendment means something.

UPDATE: My Democrat neighbor calls registrar of voters and says she is scared to vote because she feels uncomfortable with the poll worker (the fatassed one that is) who was harassing me and her husband, so the registrar says they'll send someone down. I go and walk the dog - he had to pee ya see. Back at 2:30pm and no cops, and the Poll workers appear to have caved - from across the street one Poll worker says "we are so sorry for the misunderstanding that we had this morning...do you want a donut?" "No" I reply then the Fatassed Poll worker says it was all his fault.

Hmmm did some poll workers get slapped down and told what was what? I'd say so.

(crossposted at the Liberal Avenger)

WordPress for LiberalAvenger.com in Progress!

2005-11-07T09:56:00.000-08:00

It's ugly, but it's ours.

I Missed This Last Week - Did You?

2005-11-07T09:54:00.000-08:00

Dan Froomkin posts at WhiteHouse Briefing that The Big Dick may have the blood of the tortured on his hands.

Another shocking accusation by former administration insider Lawrence Wilkerson appears to be going under the media radar today.

On NPR yesterday, the former chief of staff to the secretary of state said that he had uncovered a "visible audit trail" tracing the practice of prisoner abuse by U.S. soldiers directly back to Vice President Cheney's office.

...

"Mr. WILKERSON: I'm privy to the paperwork, both classified and unclassified, that the secretary of State asked me to assemble on how this all got started, what the audit trail was, and when I began to assemble this paperwork, which I no longer have access to, it was clear to me that there was a visible audit trail from the vice president's office through the secretary of Defense down to the commanders in the field that in carefully couched terms

Not To Torture yet to Torture

2005-11-07T09:53:00.000-08:00

Bushy wants it both ways....

PANAMA CITY (Reuters) - The United States will do what it takes to protect itself but "we do not torture," President Bush said on Monday in response to criticism of reported secret CIA prisons and the handling of terrorism suspects.

Bush defended his administration's efforts to stop the U.S. Congress from imposing rules on the handling of terrorism suspects.

The Hypocrisy from this Administration is staggering ain't it?

~

French Newspapers Weigh in on the Social Unrest in France

2005-11-07T09:17:00.000-08:00

Via the Liberal Avenger

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | 'France is paying for its arrogance'

Highlights, translated into English by The Guardian.

**((Posted by the Liberal Avenger))**

What the Administration has wrought

2005-11-07T08:49:00.000-08:00

This post is for all of us... but particularly for those who support the lies and distortions that led to these images. None of their winger rhetoric changes the ghastly reality that is the War in Iraq. None of their pathetic sophism changes the horror this Administration has brought upon the sons and daughters of our country. None of their bullshit changes the generational tragedy caused by Bush's war of choice.
And nothing but contempt do these Bushian apologists deserve.

Watch the slide show... and ask yourself..

Is this what America is suppose to be all about?

"WARNING

THE FOLLOWING SLIDESHOW CONTAINS GRAPHICS FROM THE ONGOING WAR IN IRAQ.

IF YOU ARE OFFENDED BY SUCH IMAGERY STOP VOTING FOR REPUBLICANS"

Prevail
by Eric Blumrich

(---not work safe---)

thanx to dubhaltach for the link.
~

Thinking They Are Thinking

2005-10-31T07:06:00.000-08:00

We know these folks. We might work with them or even have them in our own family. We see them at the store or passing by us in the street. We see them on TV. We see them in the comments of this blog. - We see all of them draped in the bumper sticker flag of Bushian freedom. They are part of that 38% - the steadfast defenders of the Leader and the Party - never wavering in their support - faithfully repeating the word of the day, each and every day, day after day. Defiant of facts they repeat the repetition, sitting on conclusions without any regard to their support - simply repeating evidence-free fallacious arguments to prop up their prefabricated determinations.

We see the positions and they just don't seem to follow from the evidence or history or logic. Yet the beat goes on - persistent, ever mindful to stay the course - never surrendering - never conceding defeat - spinning any failure or defeat back upon their enemies. They march, as automatons, to the beat of a faux freedom drumroll of conformity - all the while the true sounds of liberty whither from the relentless attack upon logic and reason.

Somehow these folks, the 38%, must think differently - process information in some other way...Just how can they reach the conclusions they reach? Are they thinking at all?

In a reality based world evidence points the way to conclusions.

Philosoraptor states...

But--of course--this is not how those now in the White House think. They employ what a friend of mine calls "The Method of Inverse Criticism." The rational person inspects evidence and forms his opinions on the basis of that evidence--even if he doesn't like the opinion he is forced to accept. He who employs the MOIC inspects the conclusion first, determines whether he likes it or not, and then accepts or rejects the reasoning accordlingly. This reminds me of several people of my acquaintance who will accept any argument--no matter how patently fallacious--so long as its conclusion is 'God exists,' and who reject any argument--no matter how apparently sound--so long as its conclusion is 'God does not exist.' (I know atheists who do exactly the same thing--by which I mean exactly the opposite thing--of course.)

One is reasonable insofar as one can be moved by reasons--by evidence. But the remaining 38% of the population that does not think Bush is a terrible president is probably the 38% that simply cannot be moved by evidence on this point. I mean, what exactly are they waiting for? Laser base on the moon? Cheney stroking a white cat during the State of the Union address? The Republican Party changing its name to 'The Legion of Doom?'

What will it take?
Hazard a guess anyone?

~

Bushy Speaks

2005-10-25T08:52:00.000-07:00

I'm listening to Bush speak today and I have to do a double take...

Think I hear him say this ....

"we weren't in Iraq in Sept 2001 and Al Qaeda still attacked us..."

Duh... the two weren't connected back then dipshit....

I gotta check the transcript... did he really say this?

Update: Yup he said something really close.

Some have argued that extremism has been strengthened by the actions of our coalition in Iraq, claiming that our presence in that country has somehow caused or triggered the rage of radicals. I would remind them that we were not in Iraq on September 11th, 2001, and al Qaeda attacked us anyway.

I guess I missed the first part - the part where he claims that "some" folks say that just being in Iraq is what pissess al Qaeda off. um... who are these "some peoples" ? He talks about them all the time....)

I only heard the second part where Bushy puts Iraq and al Qaeda and 911 in a nice little package tied in a bloody slip knot.

oops

~

I never thought...

2005-10-21T11:20:00.000-07:00

Yup, I never thought I'd agree with anything that Krauthammer ever said... but today I found myself in agreement...EEEKKK

Miers should withdraw her nomination.

Krauthammer writes in the NY Times that the Miers nomination is a bust and shouldn't have been put forward in the first place. She should withdraw herself - she's a train wreck waiting to happen.

The omens are not good. When the chairman and ranking minority member of the Judiciary Committee express bipartisan exasperation, annoyance and almost indignation at her answers to the committee's simple questionnaire, she's got trouble. This after she confused Chairman Arlen Specter about her position on Griswold , the second most famous "right to privacy" case, and seemed confused when answering ranking Democrat Patrick Leahy's question about her favorite justice.

But it gets worse: There's the off-stage stuff. John Fund reports that in a conference call of conservative leaders, two Miers confidants explicitly said that she would overturn Roe v. Wade . The subsequent denial by one of these judges that he ever said that, and the subsequent affirmation by two of the people who had heard the call that he did say so, create the nightmare scenario of subpoenaed witnesses contradicting each other under oath. We need an exit strategy from this debacle. I have it.

He wants to save face for the Repugnics and sees their only "Exit Strategy"
It'll be an issue about records. The Senate wants more documents and the White House won't give them up - executive privilege ya know... Senate Repugnics meekly concur that more are needed and with an impass created Miers can appear to rise above the politics and then as chucky says

Miers withdraws out of respect for both the Senate and the executive's prerogatives, the Senate expresses appreciation for this gracious acknowledgment of its needs and responsibilities, and the White House accepts her decision with the deepest regret and with gratitude for Miers's putting preservation of executive prerogative above personal ambition.

I'd prefer the Repugs fall on their face... but if it'll derail Miers then they can save face by witholding more documents from the Senate...
They do it all the time... and it always looks bad for the White House.

~

How to debate Intelligent Design

2005-10-20T13:45:00.000-07:00

The Abstract Factory shows us the

"The only debate on Intelligent Design that is worthy of its subject".

Moderator: We're here today to debate the hot new topic, evolution versus Intelligent Des---

(Scientist pulls out baseball bat.)

Moderator: Hey, what are you doing?

(Scientist breaks Intelligent Design advocate's kneecap.)

Intelligent Design advocate: YEAAARRRRGGGHHHH! YOU BROKE MY KNEECAP!

Scientist: Perhaps it only appears that I broke your kneecap. Certainly, all the evidence points to the hypothesis I broke your kneecap. For example, your kneecap is broken; it appears to be a fresh wound; and I am holding a baseball bat, which is spattered with your blood. However, a mere preponderance of evidence doesn't mean anything. Perhaps your kneecap was designed that way. Certainly, there are some features of the current situation that are inexplicable according to the "naturalistic" explanation you have just advanced, such as the exact contours of the excruciating pain that you are experiencing right now.

...Continue Reading...

(Via Pharyngula)

Crossposted at The Liberal Avenger

Waiting for ....

2005-10-17T08:32:00.000-07:00

Just waiting for Fitz...

~

Bush gives us Harriet

2005-10-04T16:14:00.000-07:00

The Creeps - Social Distortion (1983)

I'll be vigilant, I'll be silent Yes, know one will know.
You want something for nothing,
A toast on your grave!!

"I just wanna give you the CREEPS!!"

Run and hide when I'm on the streets,
Your fears and your tears
I'll taunt you in your sleep!!

"I just wanna give you the CREEPS!!"

Hell comes to your court...

2005-10-01T14:20:00.000-07:00

I saw this Friday on the LA Times front page (above the fold no less) and then ran across it posted at the Talent Show.

World bursts into flames as Roberts takes seat on High Court.

~

Jesus of Methamphetamine

2005-09-29T12:01:00.000-07:00

Held captive and then released becasue of Jesus - Jesus of Methamphetamine

Hostage Gave Meth to Atlanta Fugitive
ATLANTA - Ashley Smith, the woman who says she persuaded suspected courthouse gunman Brian Nichols to release her by talking about her faith, discloses in a new book that she gave him methamphetamine during the hostage ordeal.

...

During the ordeal, Smith says, she pulled out Rick Warren's book "The Purpose-Driven Life" and read to Nichols a chapter called "Using What God Gave Me" to gain his trust.

...

after Nichols had snorted some of Smith's meth — she tried to win Nichols' trust by talking about her faith in God and relating to him her personal stories.

"Using What God Gave Me"... ? ... God has a Meth Lab ?

(Hat Tip to the Liberal Avenger)

~

Ribbons...

2005-09-26T20:18:00.000-07:00

More about Ribbons at the Liberal Avenger.

~

Ya gotta laugh either way...

2005-09-23T14:27:00.000-07:00

At the bottom of today's White House Briefing by Dan Froomkin

Desperately Seeking Bianca

Lloyd Grove writes in the New York Daily News: "President Bush treated White House reporters to a decidedly goofy moment yesterday, when he kept demanding the whereabouts of the junior Bloomberg News correspondent during a mini-press conference at the Pentagon. 'Bianca?' Bush inquired, looking down at a list of White House press poolers (notably Bloomberg reporter Bianca Davie). 'Nobody named Bianca? Well, sorry Bianca's not here. I'll be glad to answer her question.' While Vice President Cheney and other high officials smiled supportively, Bush explained: 'Just trying to spread around the joy of asking a question.' More official smiles. The President wouldn't give up. 'Are you Bianca?' he asked another young woman. 'No, I'm not,' the woman answered. 'Anita - Fox News.' Bush responded with determination: 'Okay. I was looking for Bianca. I'm sorry.'"

Blogger Wonkette writes: "Sources inform us that Bianca was at the Pentagon for the President's remarks, but she was sitting in the back, and she's in radio so she had headphones on. After the conference, someone said: "Who's Bianca?' She said sheepishly: 'I am.' Someone asked, 'Didn't you hear him?' She said: 'I didn't have a question.'"

Ya gotta wonder why did he need Bianca?
Maybe it was Binaca he wanted....

~

Relative Absolutism...

2005-09-14T09:34:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to post this link for sometime now. It's a book review of "Truth: A Guide" by Simon Blackburn.

Beneath all the divisions of contemporary society -- between, say, the religious and secular worldviews, red-state conservatives and blue-state liberals, the bicoastal "cultural elite" and the heartland "moral values" set -- philosopher Simon Blackburn sees something deeper. These are all distorted manifestations, he thinks, of a "war of ideas and attitudes" that underpins the way contemporary human beings view their world. This is a war over what we know, or think we know, and how we know it. It's a war over the nature of truth.

All human societies -- and all individuals, Blackburn argues -- must confront the problem of truth. Although common-sense reasoning is a useful part of our armature (unlike some philosophers, Blackburn defends it), it isn't entirely sufficient. Can we say with certainty that things we think are true really are? Is the earth really a sphere 93 million miles -- or 150 million kilometers, if you prefer European truth -- from the sun? Is democracy a superior form of government, and capitalism its necessary corollary? Are slavery and female genital mutilation morally wrong? Did the Red Sox really win the World Series?

Or are these and all other so-called truths merely cultural and political constructs, more or less useful fictions we blind and feeble animals create as we stumble through an unknowable universe? To quote the great American philosopher William James (as Blackburn does often), "Objective evidence and certitude are doubtless very fine ideals to play with, but where on this moonlit and dream-visited planet are they found?" To quote your stoned sophomore-year roommate, "How do we know any of this is real, man?"

By now you may be nodding sagely, or you may be flinging your half-decaf latte across the room in a white-hot rage. But whichever side you're on, and even if your impulse is to stake out some kind of pseudo-agnostic middle ground, Blackburn's lively new book "Truth: A Guide" will challenge and surprise you. Furthermore, Blackburn wants to turn your political assumptions about this dispute upside down. He is clearly a leftist and an opponent of the Iraq war, who uses any opportunity to take gratuitous digs at George W. Bush and Tony Blair. But he believes the left has damaged itself irreparably because of its postmodern refusal to talk about truth and its avoidance of the open disagreement such claims inevitably bring. Meanwhile, the right wing has waged crusade after crusade while wrapped in the mantle of absolute truth, despite the fact (he argues) that its notion of truth is a slippery, cynical one.

You go read the rest of the review here

I'm going out to buy the book.

Bush hates parking

2005-09-10T20:35:00.000-07:00

On the Gulf Coast concert tonight, Chris Rock just muttered:

''George Bush hates midgets,"

Want proof?

Air Force One midget parking patrol.

UPDATE - Chris Rock on BET relief concert

''George Bush hates albinos,"

He must loathe albino midgets.
~

Heartless

2005-09-10T14:43:00.000-07:00

We all know that Cheney has had several heart operations, what I didn't know was that they removed his heart during one of them.

Today the Dick said:

"I think we are in fact on our way to getting on top of the whole Katrina exercise. We've got a lot of work ahead of us,"

exercise? exercise? EXERCISE !!!

He's got to be kidding right?
An exercise is a training run or a "task, problem, or other effort performed to develop or maintain fitness or increase skill"

Read that?
Performed to develop, maintain or increase skill - in other words, to practice so you get better.

Hey Dick - this isn't a drill, it's the real deal you stupid fuck....

~

Your City, Your Disaster

2005-09-09T18:29:00.000-07:00

If I've learned anything this past week I've learned that the Federal Govt. can't or won't ensure my security during a major crisis.

I'm on my own and most likely you (if you are not stinking rich) are on your own too.

So how would your City fare with the flood in New Orleans?

condobuzz.com has a map of the flood that superimposes over your particular city.

And to prepare yourself-yourself take a look at

Fafblog Presents: The Do-It-Yourself Emergency Management Guide!

Full Emergency Management preparation with - Make-And-Bake Clay Levee! How to Make a Paper Helicopter and
Do-It-Yourself National Guard!

~

Wake Up Silent Majority

2005-09-08T14:17:00.000-07:00

True Sounds of Liberty

"Abolish Government/Silent Majority" released 1981

Abolish Government
Its nothing to me
Forget about god
He's not here to see
We live by a system
A perfect mold
People perfect people
Who are poor and old
Lives were spent on the ladder of success
Working for nothing in this
In this worthless mess
Presidents a name
Presidents a label
Highest man on the government table.

America
Land of the free
Free to the power of the people in uniform

People are so blind they just can't see
Send your son to bootcamp
Send him off to war
If he comes back he'll be dead and nothing more
Struggle for a land, for a country, for a freedom
All you mindless people looking for someone to lead them

Wake up to the same old shit
Live your life to suit their fit
Some people they don't like your hair
Policemen they just don't care

Snipers that want to be
Rifle sites are aimed at me

Wake up silent majority

The government they don't want us here
You folks can't feel that fear
You can walk the streets today
You can walk in your own way

People think that I'm crazy
These people just can't see

Wake up silent majority

Live your life
Day by day
Doing everything
That they say

Silent majority

Promote freedom
Let it be heard
Don't forget that its only a word

Silent Majority
When you gunna wake up?

Preznidiot

2005-09-07T23:37:00.000-07:00

David Corn notes the thing that had me shaking my head when trying to sit through Bush's latest Gulf Coast Photo-op...

When he went back to Louisiana on Monday, he said that he and Laura had returned "to let the good people of the region know there's a lot of work to be done." That was a real newsflash. Most people probably already had an inkling that there was much to do and did not need to be reminded by Bush.

So disconnected from reality is Dear Leader. -

But the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

"And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this--this (she chuckles slightly) is working very well for them."
Barbara Bush regarding displaced Americans in the astrodome.

The Bushian compassion runs in the family - arrgg!

Under the bus

2005-09-06T11:56:00.000-07:00

Calls are mounting for the President to fire FEMA Director Michael D. Brown.

I can see the headline now.

Bush decides to throw FEMA Director Brown under bus.
Bus to arrive in 3 to 5 days.

~

Overheard in New York

2005-09-06T11:02:00.000-07:00

Something I ran across at apostropher.

A conversation overheard in New York:

But It's Jewish with a Big Hole in It

Chick #1: What did you do with that bagel I gave you?
Chick #2: I threw it away. I'm fasting today.
Chick #1: You can't throw away bread!
Chick #2: Why not?
Chick #1: It's the body of Christ!
Chick #2: It can't be the body of Christ; it's a bagel!

--Office, 53rd & Madison

Overheard by: greek goddess

hehe

Various

2005-09-05T12:00:00.000-07:00

Doctor C has telling images

Olbermann has something he wants to say - [video]

It has just proved that it cannot save its citizens from a biological weapon called standing water.

For the "what about Clinton" crowd - comments over at Hullabaloo

Hey, remember the first time the Clinton administration presided over the death of thousands of Americans because it had its head up its arse? Remember the second time? Remember the third? No, me neither, but it must have happened because the American media were giving him a harder time than they're giving Bush right now after 3,000+1,900+[watch this space] American deaths.

Crazy country.
derek | 09.04.05 - 5:31 pm |>

And let's not forget this -

George's "hard work"

2005-09-05T01:29:00.000-07:00

Ok... we've all been told that being Preznit is "hard work". But has anyone ever asked Bush what that "hard work" is?

What is Commander Codpiece working on right now?

Are Bush and his administration so involved in the relief efforts, the clean up and the futures of the hundreds of thousands of Americans who have lost everything that BushCo could care less about political opportunity and image?

Or is the image of Dear Leader of such importance that top aides would be on a different type cleanup?

What's Bad Dog Karl been roving around?

NY Times: White House Enacts a Plan to Ease Political Damage

Published: September 5, 2005

WASHINGTON, Sept. 4 - Under the command of President Bush's two senior political advisers, the White House rolled out a plan this weekend to contain the political damage from the administration's response to Hurricane Katrina.

...

The effort is being directed by Mr. Bush's chief political adviser, Karl Rove, and his communications director, Dan Bartlett. It began late last week after Congressional Republicans called White House officials to register alarm about what they saw as a feeble response by Mr. Bush to the hurricane, according to Republican Congressional aides.
...

In many ways, the unfolding public relations campaign reflects the style Mr. Rove has brought to the political campaigns he has run for Mr. Bush. For example, administration officials who went on television on Sunday were instructed to avoid getting drawn into exchanges about the problems of the past week, and to turn the discussion to what the government is doing now.
...

One Republican with knowledge of the effort said that Mr. Rove had told administration officials not to respond to Democratic attacks on Mr. Bush's handling of the hurricane in the belief that the president was in a weak moment and that the administration should not appear to be seen now as being blatantly political. As with others in the party, this Republican would discuss the deliberations only on condition of anonymity because of keen White House sensitivity about how the administration and its strategy would be perceived.

In a reflection of what has long been a hallmark of Mr. Rove's tough political style, the administration is also working to shift the blame away from the White House and toward officials of New Orleans and Louisiana who, as it happens, are Democrats.

But they can't blame the Local officials or the State officials

Dated August 27th (via the White House web site)
We have this

The President today declared an emergency exists in the State of Louisiana and ordered Federal aid to supplement state and local response efforts in the parishes located in the path of Hurricane Katrina beginning on August 26, 2005, and continuing.

...

The President's action authorizes the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to coordinate all disaster relief efforts which have the purpose of alleviating the hardship and suffering caused by the emergency on the local population, and to provide appropriate assistance for required emergency measures, authorized under Title V of the Stafford Act, to save lives, protect property and public health and safety, or to lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe ... Specifically, FEMA is authorized to identify, mobilize, and provide at its discretion, equipment and resources necessary to alleviate the impacts of the emergency.

So who's fault was it that people weren't evacuated beforehand? The above makes it crystal clear that the Federal Govt. was responsible --- And who is in charge of the Federal Govt?

That would be BUSH!

It didn't have to be this way...

2005-09-04T13:55:00.000-07:00

"The life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short".

Thomas Hobbes, "The Leviathan"
English political philosopher (1588 - 1679)

Squirrel gets it

2005-09-03T13:16:00.000-07:00

Even a Squirrel gets it!

Foamy the Squirrel reports on the reporters.

"HURRICANE KATRINA SPECIAL REPORT"

... what's pissing me off is these fucking newsreporters who are wringing their hands in glee at the shear destruction caused in the wake of the storm ... these people are slime - what's worse are the jerkoffs actually on location covering the story - Fuck the story - go out and help some people off their roofs you fucking retarded assholes ...

...

And I find it fucking sad that a cartoon squirrel has more sympathy for the human beings affected here than the asshole people reporting it …

(HT: Mark from ireland)

Did anything really change?

2005-09-02T17:14:00.000-07:00

BushCo is oh so fond of saying "911 changed everything". But did it really change anything at all?

EarlG gets it right. - via Democratic Underground

911 Changed Nothing

Let's pretend for a moment that this catastrophe was caused not by a hurricane, but by terrorists who planted bombs which blew up the levees. The situation would have been somewhat different, yet the result would have been essentially the same.

The differences: there would have been no hurricane damage. Nobody would have been evacuated beforehand. This would have left hundreds of thousands more people stranded in the city.

The similarities: the entire city of New Orleans would have been devastated by flooding. Thousands would have died.

But it is now crystal clear that there would have been no difference in the emergency response. What we are seeing is the Bush administration's handling of a massive terrorist attack, without the terrorists. Since 9/11 we have been told that national security is our number one priority, but we are now finding out exactly what would have happened if terrorists had attacked us again.

The Bush administration's facade has been torn down and we are learning just how unprepared they were to protect this country, despite years of assurances that "9/11 changed everything." How much money has been diverted to FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security since 9/11? Where has it gone? Where is the planning, the infrastructure, the resources?

Nothing changed - BushCo was as, if not more, unprepared for Katrina as they were for 911.

Dog help us all...

Under Qualified - Par for the course

2005-09-02T10:29:00.000-07:00

Via War and Peace

"My lord, the guy heading FEMA has no qualifications
What was he doing before getting pulled into FEMA by the Bush administration in 2003? He was an estate planning lawyer in Colorado and of counsel for the International Arabian Horse Association Legal Department. And yes, it is the same Michael D. Brown."

Lovely, the guy in charge has no experience.

Now why doesn't that surprise me...

~

Under Prepared - Chaos begins

2005-09-01T09:51:00.000-07:00

The disaster is much larger and more ominous than most might want to think about. The human toll alone is enormous - incredibly hard to fathom. Even in the main shelter death and destruction surrounds all. Desperation is the norm. Fear grows and chaos creeps in. Sadly this is just the beginning for America's new refugees.

LA TIMES: Trapped in an Arena of Suffering

By Scott Gold

By Wednesday, it had degenerated into horror. A few hundred people were evacuated from the arena Wednesday, and buses will take away the vast majority of refugees today.

"We pee on the floor. We are like animals," said Taffany Smith, 25, as she cradled her 3-week-old son, Terry. In her right hand she carried a half-full bottle of formula provided by rescuers. Baby supplies are running low; one mother said she was given two diapers and told to scrape them off when they got dirty and use them again.

At least two people, including a child, have been raped. At least three people have died, including one man who jumped 50 feet to his death, saying he had nothing left to live for.

...

One man tried to escape Wednesday by leaping a barricade and racing toward the streets. The man was desperate, National Guard Sgt. Caleb Wells said. Everything he was able to bring to the Superdome had been stolen. His house had probably been destroyed, his relatives killed.

"We had to chase him down," Wells said. "He said he just wanted to get out, to go somewhere. We took him to the terrace and said: 'Look.' "

Below, floodwaters were continuing to rise, submerging cars.

"He didn't realize how bad things are out there," Wells said. "He just broke down. He started bawling. We took him back inside."

...

There is a local legend that sports teams that have called the Superdome home have fared poorly because the facility, which broke ground in 1971, was built atop a cemetery. Perhaps, some said Wednesday, the curse is real.

Inside, a man coughed up blood and his shoulders quaked as he was wheeled through the halls. Thousands clutched their meager belongings, sitting in seats normally used for football games or lying on the artificial turf, its end zones painted with the word "Saints."

...

"People started shooting last night," said Stacey Bodden, 11.

...

Her uncle David Rodriguez, 28, said he heard at least seven shots Tuesday night and saw one man running past him with a gun. "Don't shoot," he told the man, who didn't.

"This is a nuthouse," said April Thomas, 42, who fled to the Superdome with her 11 children. She has enlisted the older boys to take turns walking patrols at night as the rest of the family sleeps.

"You have to fend people off constantly," she said. "You have to fight for your life. I wake up in the morning and the first thing I say is: Where are my babies? Is everyone here?"

There's a thriving black market; the most popular items are cigarettes, which sell for $10 a pack, and anti-diuretics, which allow people to avoid using the bathroom for as long as possible.

...

One man was lying partway on a cot, his legs flopped off the side, a forgotten blood pressure monitor attached to his right arm. Some people had wrapped plastic bags on their feet to escape the urine and wastewater seeping from piles of trash. Others, fearing the onset of disease, had surgical masks over their mouths. An alarm had been going off for more than 24 hours and no one knew how to turn it off.

Suddenly, incongruously, the first notes of Bach's Sonata No. 1 in G minor," the Adagio, pierced the desperation.

Samuel Thompson, 34, is trying to make it as a professional violinist. He had grabbed his instrument — made in 1996 by a Boston woman — as he fled the youth hostel Sunday where he had been staying in New Orleans for the last two months.

"It's the most important thing I own," he said.

...

"These people have nothing," he said. "I have a violin. And I should play for them. They should have something."

Did we really have a plan?
Why were we so clearly under-prepared?
Where is the HELP now?

Will a Real Leader step up?

Supernatural Selection

2005-08-25T17:17:00.000-07:00

An Intelligent cartoon by Mark Fiore that takes on the Design argument

Charles Darwin gave the world the Theory of Evolution & the concept of evolution.

Now, make way for Intelligent Design and the concept of
Supernatural Selection

See Supernatural Selection here

Via pharyngula

It's getting darker

2005-08-23T17:22:00.000-07:00

"As nightfall does not come all at once, neither does oppression. In both instances, there is a twilight. And it is in such twilight that we all must be aware of change in the air -- however slight -- lest we become unwitting victims of the darkness." -- Justice William O. Douglas, US Supreme Court (1939-75)

Still hot in here

2005-08-14T23:12:00.000-07:00

The world's real scientists are wiping the sweat off their collective furrowed brows wondering how hot it's gotta get before Bushco wakes up and smells the scalding coffee. BushCo's pseudo scientists continue to say it's not hot in here and they point to the sky and proclaim they've got the evidence.
Well it seems that the BushCo nigglers of GlobalWarming ain't got no evidence after all.

Via Live Science
Key Argument for Global Warming Critics Evaporates

For years, skeptics of global warming have used satellite and weather balloon data to argue that climate models were wrong and that global warming isn't really happening.

Now, according to three new studies published in the journal Science, it turns out those conclusions based on satellite and weather balloon data were based on faulty analyses.

The atmosphere is indeed warming, not cooling as the data previously showed.

It's still hot in here...

not as good as they thought...

2005-08-14T10:00:00.000-07:00

The Liberal Avenger has a link to an article in the Washington Post titled
"U.S. Lowers Sights On What Can Be Achieved in Iraq"

Though the title surprised me a bit, this quote I had to read a couple times.

"What we expected to achieve was never realistic given the timetable or what unfolded on the ground," said a senior official involved in policy since the 2003 invasion. "We are in a process of absorbing the factors of the situation we're in and shedding the unreality that dominated at the beginning."

That, to me, is just a flat out acknowledgment that BushCo's Pollyanna world was just that - unrealistic unreality.

Loyalität Über Alles

2005-08-11T08:33:00.000-07:00

Loyalty over everything. That's our man Bushy. Just ask Medal of Freedom winners George "slam Dunk" Tenent, or Paul "where is that $8.8bn" Bremer. Bush loves his friends above all. His pals can do no wrong, people just don't understand them.

Is been clear for years that Bush's political judgement is based on belief and loyalty. Recently Palmeiro's positive steroid test gives us a good look inside Bushy's head and how belief and loyalty fits into his world.

"Rafael Palmeiro is a friend. He testified in public and I believe him," Bush said Monday. "He's the kind of person that's going to stand up in front of the klieg lights and say he didn't use steroids, and I believe him. Still do."

William Douglas of Knight Ridder Newspapers writes: Bush's loyalty raises doubts about his political judgment

Bush's loyalty to his friends extends from the baseball diamond to the White House, where he's backed beleaguered Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove, who's mired in an investigation over who leaked the name of an undercover CIA officer, and to John Bolton, whom Bush appointed ambassador to the United Nations despite Senate reservations.

But the president's quick and unequivocal defense of Palmeiro - who's now the subject of a congressional investigation - has raised questions about whether Bush's loyalty undercuts his political judgment.

"It seems that President Bush is falling into the Nixon trap - his administration can do no wrong. His allies and people who support him can do no wrong," said Robert Dallek, a presidential historian. "Palmeiro is above suspicion, Rove is not to be questioned, John Bolton is a stand-up guy.

It's all about belief. Thinking about, never mind processing, the facts doesn't matter - what matters is loyalty and from that loyalty stems an unflinching belief. It's like religion or a cult - conflicting information is put aside, facts are ignored, and belief is paramount.

Mark Kleiman concurs

So when Bush said, of Palmeiro's denial that he had ever used steroids, "I believe him," he can't have meant what philosophers, scientists, engineers, and other members of the reality-based community mean by "belief": an opinion about the world-as-it-is, formed (at least in principle) after the weighing of evidence.

No, he meant more or less what adherents to religious creeds mean by "belief" or "faith." In this usage, belief isn't a cognitive function, it's an act of will. In Bush's mind, and the minds of his supporters, he wasn't, other than incidentally, making a claim about the real world. He was, rather, taking a position, and a position loyal to his friend.

As I said here - "They don't "think" they "believe" and fighting belief with facts is impossible".

It's all about loyalty to people and loyalty to belief. It pervades the whole Iraq mis-adventure. They really believed we would be greeted with flowers and candy. It flows from the top to rest of BushCo and it's become typical of the Repugnics as a whole. It's playground games - belief beats fact like rock beats scissors - not even seeing that scissors are magnificent tools, little connected swords if you will, and when used correctly they can easily beat rocks. Trying to crack through this belief shell is getting increasingly more difficult. Presenting more facts that fly in the face of the misguided beliefs seems to only tighten the grip on the belief. But that's typical of a fear based cult that uses belief to try and overcome ever-increasing insurmountable facts

~

Monty Hall Problem....

2005-08-06T22:43:00.000-07:00

I never had a problem with Monty Hall...

But Dr. C points out the Monty Hall Problem.

Think, Remember and Think Again.

2005-07-29T08:50:00.000-07:00

History should be your guide. Here are some quotes to think about.

"No people ever recognize their dictator in advance. He never stands for election on the platform of dictatorship. He always represents himself as the instrument [of] the Incorporated National Will. ... When our dictator turns up you can depend on it that he will be one of the boys, and he will stand for everything traditionally American. And nobody will ever say 'Heil' to him, nor will they call him 'Fuhrer' or 'Duce.' But they will greet him with one great big, universal, democratic, sheeplike bleat of 'O.K., Chief! Fix it like you wanna, Chief! Oh Kaaaay!'"
---- Dorothy Thompson, 1935

"This separation of government from people, this widening of the gap, took place so gradually and so insensibly, each step disguised (perhaps not even intentionally) as a temporary emergency measure or associated with true patriotic allegiance or with real social purposes. And all the crises and reforms (real reforms, too) so occupied the people that they did not see the slow motion underneath, of the whole process of government growing remoter and remoter. ...

"To live in this process is absolutely not to be able to notice it... unless one has a much greater degree of political awareness, acuity, than most of us had ever had occasion to develop. Each step was so small, so inconsequential, so well explained or, on occasion, 'regretted,' that, unless one were detached from the whole process from the beginning, unless one understood what the whole thing was in principle, what all these 'little measures' that no 'patriotic Germans' could resent must some day lead to, one no more saw it developing from day to day than a farmer in his field sees the corn growing. One day it is over his head.
_--- Milton Mayer quoting a collegue in They Thought They Were Free; The Germans, 1933-45 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1955).

"What happened here was the gradual habituation of the people, little by little, to being governed by surprise; to receiving decisions deliberated in secret; to believing that the situation was so complicated that the government had to act on information which the people could not understand, or so dangerous that, even if the people could understand it, it could not be released because of national security...".
---- They Thought They Were Free, Milton Mayer, 1955"

(Above quotes taken from Bill Berkowitz Lurching toward theocracy)

And finally...let's go way way way back

"This is what extremely grieves us, that a man who never fought should contrive our fees to pilfer, on who for his native land never to this day had oar, or lance, or blister in his hand." ---- Aristophanes (450 BC - 388 BC), Wasps, 422 B.C.

Freedom Holsters

2005-07-28T11:17:00.000-07:00

They hate our Freedom... I've heard that nonsense over and over and over again.

Folks like Bushy talk about Freedom like it's something you carry around in your pocket or in a bag or box or holster or maybe on your Ipod...

But freedom is only word - actions make it real.
And the reality of action today is:

The ever-widening Orwellian Patriot Act, searches at the airport, searches in the subway, neighbors spying on neighbors, library book checks, racial profiling, Government seizure of private property, denying equal rights to homosexuals, being called a traitor should you disagree with the Administration's skewed view of reality, stop loss orders, the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer, the hate, fear and stupidity of sophist arguments, the unbridled huburis of a president that doesn't care a lick for humanity...................

Yes it's clear ... Freedom is on the FrogMarch

When wheels fall off the cart

2005-07-24T08:29:00.000-07:00

Perusing (not reading) the Dauo Report last week I took a look at the right side of my monitor. I rarely do this, as a low tolernce for stupidity brings on high blood pressure. Taking a quick look at that side of the monitor I saw their wheels falling off their crooked carts.

First off is Polipundit - "The Left did it". Pardon me but ...BAWWWWAAA....

Absolutely no way Bush would desert him, especially when the facts are starting to show Rove was [what a shock] set up by the Left."

Next John Podhoretz plays symantics .. again.

Knowing as his lawyer must have that the criminally dangerous portion of the statute being invoked requires the actual use of Plame's name, maybe Russert told the special prosecutor he didn't use the NAME."

Captian's Quarters re-defines what is 2nd in a group of 3.

Most people don't understand that "secret" is the second-lowest classification grade possible.

pardonmyenglish should really pardon their own english for the bogus description of reallity.

If the Karl Rove issue hadn't yet fizzled, it's non-existent now. Already, the Democrats have begun to rapidly shift their focus from the non-story story they and the liberal press ginned up

the daily polemic are just Idiots. The whole thing is about our National Security. ... morons ...

Since the Liberals are more concerned with what a dastardly, horrible, nasty little boy Karl Rove is than they are about uniting to combat terrorism,

Boortz channels Obrien in classic 1984 form-

"Yesterday, President Bush spoke to the media, and he was asked if he stood by his pledge to fire anyone in his administration who leaked Valerie Plame's name.... Bush's position hasn't move one bit.

And MoonBatCentral needs to get themselves some perpective as they are "laughably inconsequential"

"Let’s place the Wilson/Plame/Rove/Bush affair within the context of the threat this country faces from Islamists. Compare it to the meaning of the London bombings. Compare it to Zarqawi’s ratcheting-up of the Iraq suicide bomb campaign. When compared to the War on Islamist Terror, the Plame mess is laughably inconsequential

And the wheels come off.

on DogShit or If I were Karl Rove

2005-07-23T11:27:00.000-07:00

If I were Karl Rove...

First thing I'd do is kill myself - since I'm such an evil retarded ugly little monkey fucker. But since I'm such an evil retarded ugly little monkey fucker I don't think I'd even think about it, much less have the balls to do it.

So how would I save my crooked ass?

Attack their strengths - that's what I do.

What are the strengths - Facts that's what.
Who reports the Facts - The Media

For years I have been marginalizing the media so...
the media is my target of attack.

I'll claim the evil Liberal media told me.

Maybe I'll set it up so that they do tell me --- all on their own --
I'll just confirm.

But how to get the media the information? Our own press people of course.

Let's get Jeffy and Bobby to do it... They'll do anything for us...

Oh Yeah

2005-07-21T16:56:00.000-07:00

I've forgotten to mention that I'm also spitting out my rational BushCo hatered over at the Liberal Avenger.

I pity the fool who doesn't read The Avenger but as a public service I'll point you to today's post "over there" : Double Super-Secret Background

It's a video... Go SEE IT !

Two Gigantic Boobs

2005-07-21T15:54:00.000-07:00

"Crooks and Liars" have two really big boobs.

~

Harry Potter and the Half-Truth Princes

2005-07-20T16:33:00.000-07:00

Mark Kleinman has the scoop on a new Harry Potter Movie.

Breaking news:

Robert Novak has agreed to play Severus Snape in the new Harry Potter movie.

Karl Rove is scheduled for a cameo as Cornelius Fudge.

Sources familiar with the project report that those scenes are being shot now, in advance of principal photography, just in case the two actors become unavailable for, say, ten years each.

Developing.

You heard it there first.

Time is Now

2005-07-19T19:05:00.000-07:00

What I'm pointing you to was posted a while back but re-framing the abortion issue is going to be most important now that Bush has nominated his Judge.

Abortion opponents are Not Pro-life but rather Pro-criminalization...

This post hits the nail right on the head as to how the debate should be re-framed.

Framing

GO AND READ IT NOW!

~

Deception playbook

2005-07-18T22:12:00.000-07:00

Why all the panic on the Right? Why all the ridiculous arguments and stupid excuses?

This was in the comments of a Washington Monthly post a month ago. I had thought I'd lost it but now it's found. Though it was written regarding the Downing Street Memos, it applies also to the circling of the Rovian wagons.

Please understand the right in America's #1 goal is to protect their cult. They know the DSMs are real but they have to give their cultees a way to rationalize they need not deal with them. This is a simple exercise in a form of mind control.

Think I am kidding? Wish I was. Read THIS and THIS. What do you see?

You will notice the screeching has gotten worse from the right recently. This is because cults get wacky when they are exposed and confronted for they must rationalize their KNOWN LIES and DECEPTIONS. They know Team Thug are liars. But they must, MUST, find ways to ignore all the evidence that they are taking themselves and our nation to hell.

Does anyone really think Rush and O'realiy are out to tell the truth about ANYTHING? ha

Misinformation is a key element in mind control. Ever wonder why studies show that FOX viewers are not in touch with reality?

Posted by: pahoo on June 19, 2005 at 7:55 PM

What did the President know, and when did he know it ?

2005-07-13T08:19:00.000-07:00

With the heat being turned up on Bad Dog Karl, the water must be warming for our Fearless Leader and Mr Bush must be feeling just a bit poached. I wonder if he's called Jim Sharp lately?

Remember when the fire on Plame first started to be fanned - Bush spoke with reporters.
Let's set the WayBack machine to February 11, 2004

WASHINGTON -(CNN) -- President Bush said Tuesday he welcomes a Justice Department investigation into who revealed the classified identity of a CIA operative.

"If there's a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is," Bush told reporters at an impromptu news conference during a fund-raising stop in Chicago, Illinois. "If the person has violated law, that person will be taken care of.
...
He added that he did not know of "anybody in my administration who leaked classified information."

Seems Bushy doesn't know anything...
But if we change our settings on the good ole WayBack machine to
June 3, 2004 we see something has changed...

Bush consults lawyer in leak probe
President says he might hire him for grand jury case

"I met with an attorney to determine whether or not I need his advice and if I deem I need his advice I’ll probably hire him," the president told reporters.

And did Bushy deem he needed the advice of an attorney and would he retain one?
Sherman, set the WayBack Machine to June 24 2004 - let's see if we can find out...

Transcript: White House Daily Briefing:

MR. McCLELLAN: All right, let's get started. We'll release this transcript, as well.

I told you I'd keep you informed at the appropriate time. The President met with Pat Fitzgerald, the U.S. Attorney in charge of the leak investigation, as well as members of his team. ...

QUESTION: This morning?

MR. McCLELLAN: This morning. He also recently retained a lawyer, Jim Sharp, who you all have reported about before. I would just say that -- what I've said previously, and what the President has said: The leaking of classified information is a very serious matter.

Bushy "deemed" he needed the advice of an attorney and so he hired one. Why would that be? Although "leaking of classified information is a very serious matter" Bush didn't know anything - so why hire Sharp. Had something changed? What did he find out? What did he know? When did he know it?

So the real question that should be flogged by our newly neuticled press corps is, as it was in the past:
"What did the President know, and when did he know it ?".

History likes to repeat itself ya know...

Back to the present...Set the WayBack to Monday... Isikoff comments on CNN (via Atrios)

ISIKOFF: But the problem that people in the White House, Rove among them, may have is how did they know that Valerie Plame, or Wilson's wife worked at the CIA? What we do know is there was a classified State Department report that said this, that was taken by Secretary of State Powell with him on the trip to Africa that President Bush was then on, and many senior White House aides were on.

That classified State Department report appears to have been -- or may well have been the source for the information that Rove and others were then dishing out to reporters. And if that's the case, there still may be -- we don't know yet, but there still may be an instance where classified information was provided to reporter

If this classified State Department report was the genesis of the illegal information dispersal then we gotta ask a few more questions.
*Who let Karl see the report?
* Was it Bushy himself?
*Is that why he deemed it necessary to retain a private attorney?
*Will they claim that Rove just found it on the plame ,,,err plane?
* Or was it someone else who simply mis-re-layed the report?
*Will they blame Powell for outing Plame on da plane?
*Is that what Novak meant when he said with a smirk:

I’d like to say a lot about the case, but because of my attorney’s advice I can’t. But I will. And there might be some surprising things. (CNN)

Or was it somewhere else and something completely different altogether?

In any case the question still remains:
"What did the President know, and when did he know it ?".

One thing for sure, Karl will never truely "recall" where and who it was who laid it out plame,,err plain - because memory lane may just lead us to Dear Leader way...

History likes to repeat itself ya know....

~

Hell opening it's doors for Karl and Company

2005-07-10T10:10:00.000-07:00

This was reported right around the time Rove attacked the patriotism of all liberals and just before the time that Bad Dog Karl was fingered as the Plame leeker.

Looks like mother earth is opening up a door to Hell and getting ready to recieve the likes of Rove, Delay, the BushCo minion and dear old Bushy himself...

Massive Crack Opens In Earth In Texas

CLAUDE, TX -- A massive crack in the earth opened up last week in Claude, Texas and it's creating a stir among geologists.

Geologists said Tuesday the crack was a joint in the earth's crust. They believe the opening is the result of...

...the corruption of Texas Republicans?
~

where is the good news

2005-07-06T17:20:00.000-07:00

Ok... Tell me the Good News... or point me to the "Good News" that is coming out of Iraq on a daily basis.

If you can't point to it then don't blame the "media" as a whole. Blame FOX News, and Scarbrough on MSNBC or Rush Or any of the ring wing radio and TV guys and gals. Blame the RingWing bloggers who spend their time critizing the Media and Left - while ignoring the "Good News"

Why aren't they all filling the airwaves with the GOOD NEWS?

Is it easier to critize than to provide the "Good News"?

Maybe it is...

This quote by The Weekly Standard's Matt Labash puts it quite well

"...While all these hand-wringing Freedom Forum types talk about objectivity, the conservative media likes to rap the liberal media on the knuckles for not being objective. We've created this cottage industry in which it pays to be un-objective. It pays to be subjective as much as possible. It's a great way to have your cake and eat it too. Criticize other people for not being objective. Be as subjective as you want. It's a great little racket...(link)."

In other words - They don't address the issue - they play the victim.

But what about the "Good News"?

"Truth Tour"

What was that?... so ya say some RightWing talk show hosts are going to Iraq? Going on the "truth tour" bringing back the "Good News"

"Truth Tour" very orwellian...

too bad that "in war, truth is the first casualty".

~

BushCo 911-I slicer-dicer

2005-06-29T10:06:00.000-07:00

Well, Bushy had his Iraq Infomercial on tuesday... He made a pitch for the 911/Iraq combo slicer and dicer.

At one point during his presentation my neighbor started his old beat up Fairlane and the dog started barking so all I heard was...

The war (Varoom --grrr,,,grr,,,bang) September the 11th, 2001(Grrr,,,Varoom,,, varoom,,,roar )we (roar) - murder in the name of a totalitarian ideology that hates freedom, rejects tolerance, and despises all dissent. (Varoom,,,ROAR,,,Woof)aim is to remake the Middle East in (ROAR) grim image of tyranny and oppression -- by toppling governments, (WOOF,,, WOOF) and by exporting terror.

Hmmm,is this our plan? , naw I must have missed some parts ...

Anyhow, since I got distracted,,,

Rude Pundit gives us the gist of the pitch.

When Bush spoke on Tuesday, he was trying, desperately, to get back in the good graces of people like Rude Bro. Unfortunately, what he declared was that the United States (or the "coalition") has transformed Iraq from a relatively stable, if insane and murderous, dictatorship to a battle-scarred, body-part strewn shitstorm of a terrorist magnet, using American soldiers as bait and Iraqis as pawns:"Some wonder whether Iraq is a central front in the war on terror. Among the terrorists, there is no debate. Hear the words of Osama Bin Laden: 'This Third World War is raging' in Iraq." It's always nice to allow the terror masterminds to control the rhetoric and define the terms of engagement, no? Later, he said, "We fight today because terrorists want to attack our country and kill our citizens, and Iraq is where they are making their stand." Or, you know, it's cheaper to drive to Iraq than to deal with American airport security.

hmmm... I'm not buying anymore BushCo products
no thank you
~

Bad Bad Dog Karl

2005-06-24T07:38:00.000-07:00

A picture is worth a thousand words...

Bad Dog Karl... Bad Dog

But if we need a few words about Rove's recent disrespect for every democrat, liberal, Serviceman and other American then Glenn Smith at BOP has a take on Bad Dog Karl.

Karl Rove's un-American attacks on those who disagree with him deserve the condemnation they're receiving. I've known him for 20 years, and I'm not surprised he said them. He's a socially inept but patient thug whose willingness to haunt the nation's dark political alleys for years, waiting for the right time and the right victims, is too often taken for unparalleled political intelligence.

Being attacked by Rove is a little like being criticized by the Boston Strangler. At least you know you're alive. If we want to understand Rove, maybe we should get an FBI profiler.

Rove's a hack. His strength comes from his immorality. There are no barriers. If power didn't corrupt, Rove would have corrupted it.

Your Religion at Work...

2005-06-22T00:14:00.000-07:00

They had to do it. She was possessed by the Devil.

You know, The devil, lucifer, the prince of darkness - that non-existent all around bad guy. That never-present fallen evil angel who got all that bad press from Dante and Milton. He had his hooks in her so they had to act fast...

BBCNews :Crucified nun dies in 'exorcism'

A Romanian nun has died after being bound to a cross, gagged and left alone for three days in a cold room in a convent, Romanian police have said.

Members of the convent in north-east Romania claim Maricica Irina Cornici was possessed and that the crucifixion had been part of an exorcism ritual.

Cornici was found dead on the cross on Wednesday after fellow nuns called an ambulance, according to police.

A priest and four nuns were charged with imprisonment leading to death.

...

Local media reports that the young woman had arrived at the remote convent three months before, having initially gone there to visit a friend and opted to stay.

...

Father Daniel who is accused of orchestrating the crime is said to be unrepentant.

"God has performed a miracle for her, finally Irina is delivered from evil,"

Yes, "delivered from evil" - she's out of insane Father Daniel's religious torture chamber...dead however...

So which God is it again that lets this shit happen in his name?

~

The Other Side Of Space

2005-06-20T16:24:00.000-07:00

I was gonna post regarding world's first solar-sail-powered spacecraft, which launches June 21, but The Liberal Avenger beat me to it.

So Instead let's take a look at the other side of space with some excerpts from...

Weapons In Space: Dawn of a New Era
from space.com
...

The White House is now delving into U.S. military space policy and what it sees as the need to reshape current national space policy, a leftover legacy document from the Clinton Administration.

Clinton’s unclassified National Space Policy was issued in September 1996. Among its proclamations: "Consistent with treaty obligations, the United States will develop, operate and maintain space control capabilities to ensure freedom of action in space and, if directed, deny such freedom of action to adversaries. These capabilities may also be enhanced by diplomatic, legal or military measures to preclude an adversary's hostile use of space systems and services."

In a June 10 press briefing, White House spokesman, Scott McClellan, explained that the national space policy has been "undergoing an interagency review" because it hasn’t been updated in several years.

McClellan said that "we’ve seen a lot of dramatic changes, internationally and domestically, that affect our space policy. And that’s why it needs to be updated."

"But we believe in the peaceful exploration of space," McClellan continued. "And there are treaties in place, and we continue to abide by those treaties. But there are issues that relate to our space program that could affect those space programs that we need to make sure are addressed."

...

What the White House will spin up and out as new military space policy, nobody knows for sure. But already there’s heated debate.

...

Theresa Hitchens, Vice President of the Center for Defense Information in Washington, D.C. is skeptical about what’s in the offing from White House space policy wonks. Contrasted with the Clinton space policy, she feels it’s a question of emphasis.

The Bush policy will embrace a need to bolster U.S. military space, Hitchens predicted. It will provide a stronger incentive for military space operations to "ensure freedom of action in space" and for "space protection," she explained.

"The new policy will be more military-oriented, rather than the heavily civil-oriented predecessor," Hitchens suggested. What’s ahead is a shift of terminology, she added, a "playing with the words."

As example, the term "freedom of action in space" is now a code phrase for "freedom to attack as well as freedom from attack," Hitchens emphasized, drawing the distinction from recently issued U.S. Air Force Counterspace Operations Doctrine.

Read the all of it here...

Down the memory hole

2005-06-19T15:38:00.000-07:00

AP: BAGDAD,Iraq ~(June 17th 2005) - "Us Troops launched a major combat operation Friday..."

What?
Major Combat Operations are over....over for 2 Years now...

President Bush~ May 2003 - Major Combat Operations in Iraq Have Ended.

A correction was needed...

Winston thought for a moment, then pulled the speakwrite towards him and began dictating in Big Brother's familiar style: a style at once military and pedantic..."(orwell 1984)

AP: BAGDAD,Iraq ~(June 17th 2005~ 2 hours later) - "American Troops bombarded a dusty border town with airstrikes..."

How long is forever?

2005-06-17T13:56:00.000-07:00

Joe:~How long are we gonna keep the people who are being held in Guantanamo?

Mr aWiggins:~ until de end of da war...

Joe: ~Got any critiria to "defined when there is the end of conflict."

Mr aWiggins:~ uh... uh..."No, sir,"

Joe: ~"If there is no definition as to when the conflict ends, that means forever, forever, forever these folks get held at Guantanamo Bay,"

Mr aWiggins: ~Yup, yesiree, "It's our position that, legally, they can be held in" per.. perppet, "perpetuity," which means no end which means forever, neat and clean ya see sir. Endless war = Perpetual captivity .

Rude Pundit has a take on the answer

In Perpetuity, Forever and Ever, Amen:
The point yesterday when Deputy Attorney General J. Michael Wiggins told the Senate Judiciary Committee, in answer to a question from Joe Biden, that, regarding inmates at the prison at Guantanamo Bay, "It's our position that, legally, they can be held in perpetuity" was the moment that the zombie corpses of Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams should have burst into the chamber and ripped the head off the government stooge who just declared the United States shits on three and a half centuries of legal precedent. Then the three Founders should have divided and eaten Wiggins's depraved brain before heading over to the increasingly misnamed Department of Justice to dine on Alberto Gonzales's intestines. Ahh, sweet vengeance of history - the government that has eaten away the Constitution will now get eaten by those who created it.

rude more

Divine Intervention

2005-06-16T13:15:00.000-07:00

It's about time they had an Intervention...

Via the Charlotte Observer...by Steve Stoeckel
A divine intervention on Christianity (Reg. Req.)

[The scene: a large room beyond time and space. Several are gathered around a large table; at the head sits The Great One, who moderates]

Great One: Everyone is present. Before we begin, I wish to welcome Agnosticism and Atheism, who are here as my guests. Their memories will be wiped after this session. [Turns to Ath. and Agn.] If I hear a hint of irreverence, I will not hesitate to remove you instantly. Understood?

Agnosticism and Atheism [In unison]: Yes, Sir!

Great One: Who wants to start?

Christianity: I do. Since this seems to be about me, I have a few questions, the first being: What can I possibly gain from this, this exercise? I'm me [stares around the table], you're not. What can you tell me about myself that I don't know? What insight [sarcastically] can I gain?

Buddhism: A good question, well phrased. I submit that each of us has two parts -- that part which we know by being privy to our thoughts, and that part which we show the world. I submit also that when this inner part matches the outer, we are in harmony and therefore a more healthy, functioning entity. Is this not true? [Turns to The Great One, who tilts His head and waggles His hand, palm down] Perhaps, you are not in harmony. You seem to have lost your identity, and cannot honestly answer "What makes a Christian a Christian?"

Confucianism: You started out so well as a youngster. So few rules! It was not easy being a Christian -- many found you not to their liking -- but it was easy to become one. A savior. Resurrection. Eternal life. Such beauty, such simplicity! That was all the belief one needed. Now we see such fractiousness! Some of you have issues with the strangest of things: Dancing, Blood transfusions. Baptism -- full immersion or not, you argue and argue. You differ in how you view women, people of color, how old the Earth is, what sin is.

Hinduism: You have turned the hereafter into a gated community, and each faction claims to hold the key. You not only relegate us [waves a hand around the room] to eternal damnation, but also some of your own kind.

Chr. [face reddening]: Not true! All those differences are due to human nature. You can't control them! [Much nodding around the table, even from The Great One]. Besides, it doesn't matter! All my folks are heaven bound, no matter what their petty differences. Right? [Turns to face The Great One, who is staring at a spot on the ceiling, hands folded on the table].

Buddhism: For every one of your moderates that would agree with what you have just said, there are two extremists who would not -- thus the paradox. When you fight among yourselves, you look small. And when you disparage others, you shrink further. Your phrase "gutter religion" for example. [Everyone turns to look at Judaism and Islam, who have remained silent until now].

Great One: How do you feel, Islam, Judaism, when you hear those words?

Islam [Gives Christianity a long, stony stare]: Disappointed.

Judaism. [Shrugs]: I agree.

Great One [Roars with laughter, pounds the table]: Islam and Judaism agree? And they say the age of miracles has passed! Christianity, what do you say to that?

Chr: Just another question: Assuming any of this is true, why should I care about what any of you think? I'm the one here with the Good News, the Truth. [He glances at The Great One, who now idly twiddles a pencil between thumb and forefinger].

Agnostic: Ooo! I can handle this one! You're the one who wants market share here, Christianity. You'd be happiest if the whole world was in your camp. People like me and Atheism here, well we're sometimes searching for answers too, and we'll occasionally take a look-see. Say we're shopping for a car [The Great One stops twiddling the pencil, furrows His brow and stares intently at Agnosticism]. Your car, well it looks kinda weird -- the steering wheel is on the wrong side, and none of the paint matches. It goes down the road weaving from left to right, and even though you've promised me a lifetime warranty, I honestly have to be looking at Judaism here. A vintage car, solid design, with a long history. Reliable. No nonsense.

Judaism [A slight bow of his head]: You overestimate me, but your compliment I accept.

Great One [wearily]: So your point, Agnosticism, is that Christianity can be confusing and off-putting to those seeking spiritual enlightenment, and that may be endangering their future membership and their message. Atheism, do you agree?

Atheism: Damn right! [The Great One locates a red button labeled "Smite" on his armrest and presses it. Atheism vanishes in a flash of light. Agnosticism sits very still].

Chr: Confusing? Tell it to the Shiites and Sunnis. If your criticism is "Doesn't play well with others," don't lay this at my feet. There's plenty to go around. And I told you before: ITS NOT MY FAULT. You were the One who gave them free will. You're the One who's all-knowing, but never-revealing. We get no answers, we get no...

Great One: Strange and mysterious are the ways of the Lord.

(Christianity begins a tart reply, but notices that The Great One's pencil is actually a tiny, bright bolt of lightning, which makes slight sizzling sounds as it's being twiddled between His fingers.)

Great One: Yes, I gave them free will. And I also gave them you, all of you, to help guide them to me. Yes they're a nuisance. They're distractible. They can be thoughtless, even hateful creatures. But [smiles blissfully] they're mine. And [looks around the table, the smile fading] so are you. I'm starting to think there are too many of you, that -- what's the earthly expression? -- that the planet is overserved, yes. This is about you today, Christianity, but it's just the first of many of these "exercises," as you call them.

Be here next week, each of you with, let's say, 10 good reasons written in stone why you should keep your job. You can all let yourselves out. [Tucks the lightning bolt in his pocket and vanishes in a pillar of fire].

Islam: I hate it when he does that.

Agnosticism: Who are you guys?

Why January 2003?

2005-06-13T20:29:00.000-07:00

Something stuck me as odd when reading the Cabinet Office paper: Conditions for military action
Via Juan Cole

It's in number 14.

14. It is just possible that an ultimatum could be cast in terms which Saddam would reject (because he is unwilling to accept unfettered access) and which would not be regarded as unreasonable by the international community. However, failing that (or an Iraqi attack) we would be most unlikely to achieve a legal base for military action by January 2003

No not the fact that they are talking about fixing the game by asking for something that they believed would never be agreed to. But rather the last line - the last 3 words..."by January 2003"
Why January 2003? At the time this was written, July 21, 2002, there should have been no timetable to meet nor to adhere to.
If, as BushCo claims, they were trying to find a peaceful solution then why a date ?

Why was justification required by a specific month?

.

tomorrow belongs too....You tell me

2005-06-11T12:55:00.000-07:00

Welcome to America everyone...check your freedoms at the door.

For Saturday morning we have an on the mark video the "14 defining characteristic of Fascism" via BuZZFlash...

thanx to Thinking Rocks for the pointer...