Tuesday, December 02, 2003
Lies and the Lying Liars
Kicking Ass reminds us of a few statements by the White House which are, as they say, no longer operative.
Idiot in LaHood
So, is Rep. LaHood (R-Sounds French) making stuff up, leaking important intelligence information, or do they have Saddam on ice and are just waiting for the appropriate moment?
Report from the Scene
There's obviously no way to confirm the veracity of this report from a soldier in Iraq, but it does mesh with a certain interpretation of news reports about what really happened in Samara.
I think we've given up on the whole hearts and minds thing.
I think we've given up on the whole hearts and minds thing.
Hillary for Majority Leader?
Not 100%, but I may just agree with Ezra.
But, I definitely agree that Daschle has to go. '04 has to be a national campaign, and we need all the party leaders to realize that and be able to run with it.
But, I definitely agree that Daschle has to go. '04 has to be a national campaign, and we need all the party leaders to realize that and be able to run with it.
That Liberal NPR
Today, Morning Edition had an entire, basically uncritical, segment about Choicepoint, without mentioning their role in the massive disenfranchisement of minority voters in Florida.
Monday, December 01, 2003
Atrios Revealed!
Someone just wrote in asking what the hell the name "Atrios" means. It doesn't actually mean anything. At some point while reading political message boards I had to come up with a nickname to register, so I pulled one from memory. The name I meant to use was actually "Antrios," who was an unseen character in the play Art, by Yasmina Reza. The central set piece of the play, which drives the plot, is a featureless all-white painting. Antrios was the name of the artist who painted it. But, I remembered the name incorrectly, so I is Atrios.
But, what is Atrios? In Spanish, it means "vestibules." It's also the name of a planet from Dr. Who.
Otherwise, Atrios is me.
The last lines of Art (delivered by, in the performance I saw, Stacey Keach):
But, what is Atrios? In Spanish, it means "vestibules." It's also the name of a planet from Dr. Who.
Otherwise, Atrios is me.
The last lines of Art (delivered by, in the performance I saw, Stacey Keach):
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Under the white clouds, the snow is falling. You can't see the white clouds, or the snow. Or the cold, or the white glow of the earth. A solitary man glides downhill on his skis. The snow is falling. It falls until the man disappears back into the landscape. My friend Serge, who's one of my oldest friends, has bought a painting. It's a canvas about five foot by four. It represents a man who moves across a space and disappears.
Hack the Vote
Krugman has a pretty good column about electronic voting machines. I think he gets it just about right. The only reason this is a partisan issue is that all the top voting machine companies have deep links to Republicans, but it *shouldn't* be a partisan issue. I have no idea if Diebold machines have been rigged, but nor do you and nor does anybody else and most importantly...nor can anyone else. Even if these machines aren't an evil plot being drummed up in Dick Cheney's undisclosed location, they are incredibly easy to manipulate. It doesn't take an RNC-led conspiracy to do it - just tech savvy people with access to the machines.
It's really very simple. Electronic machine prints ballot. Voter reads ballot, confirms their vote choices. Voter drops ballot in old fashioned ballot box. A random sample of old fashioned ballot boxes are manually counted every election night, as should be any locations where there are possible problems, technical or otherwise. It's so obvious - and simple - what should be done that it should scare us all that it isn't being done.
It's really very simple. Electronic machine prints ballot. Voter reads ballot, confirms their vote choices. Voter drops ballot in old fashioned ballot box. A random sample of old fashioned ballot boxes are manually counted every election night, as should be any locations where there are possible problems, technical or otherwise. It's so obvious - and simple - what should be done that it should scare us all that it isn't being done.
Fun with Amber
Amber's been linked many times before, but for an entire week's worth of giggle-generating bad objectivist prose, go here...
(the stuff on sex and sexuality is the best)
(the stuff on sex and sexuality is the best)
Life in Amurca
Lovely:
Well, it isn't as if there are very many homosexuals in southern Louisiana.... [/sarcasm]
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Dec. 1, 2003 | LAFAYETTE, La. (AP) -- A 7-year-old boy was scolded and forced to write "I will never use the word `gay' in school again" after he told a classmate about his lesbian mother, the American Civil Liberties Union alleged Monday.
Second-grader Marcus McLaurin was waiting for recess Nov. 11 at Ernest Gaullet Elementary School when a classmate asked about Marcus' mother and father, the ACLU said in a complaint.
Marcus responded he had two mothers because his mother is gay. When the other child asked for explanation, Marcus told him: "Gay is when a girl likes another girl," according to the complaint.
A teacher who heard the remark scolded Marcus, telling him "gay" was a "bad word" and sending him to the principal's office. The following week, Marcus had to come to school early and repeatedly write: "I will never use the word `gay' in school again."
...
"I was concerned when the assistant principal called and told me my son had said a word so bad that he didn't want to repeat it over the phone," Huff said. "But that was nothing compared to the shock I felt when my little boy came home and told me that his teacher had told him his family is a dirty word."
Well, it isn't as if there are very many homosexuals in southern Louisiana.... [/sarcasm]
Lies and the Lying Liars
There really isn't anything these people won't lie about:
Dan Bartlett is a big fucking liar. Every story which contains his name should have the qualification, "Dan Bartlett, proven liar..."
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - British Airways said on Monday that none of its pilots made contact with President Bush (news - web sites)'s plane during its secret flight to Baghdad, contradicting White House reports of a mid-air exchange that nearly prompted Bush to call off his trip.
Honor Verrier, a spokeswoman for British Airways in North America, said two BA aircraft were in the area at the time and neither radioed the president's plane to ask if it was Air Force One.
"We have spoken to the British Airways captains who were in the area at the time and neither made comments to Air Force One nor did they hear any other aircraft make the statement over the radio," Verrier said in response to a question from Reuters.
The White House had no immediate comment on the discrepancy.
Bush aides recounted with excitement last week the moment during the flight to Baghdad when they said a BA pilot thought he spotted the president's blue and white Boeing 747 from his cockpit.
Dan Bartlett is a big fucking liar. Every story which contains his name should have the qualification, "Dan Bartlett, proven liar..."
Disconnect Overload
George Will shouldn't be allowed to write columns about divorce and Phyllis Schlafly shouldn't be allowed to write anything about gay issues.
Read this Book
University of Wisconsin Press has just published a 10th anniversary edition of Michelangelo Signorile's book Queer in America: Sex, the Media, and the Closets of Power. It's really a fascinating read - part personal memoir, part description of the gonzo activism used by the gay community to bring attention to the AIDS crisis, and part scathing indictment of the media's double standards (or really, lack of any coherent standards) regarding the personal lives of public figures.
The centerpiece of the book is probably the story of the "outing" of then-Pentagon spokesman Pete Williams. This was at a time when the justifcation for not allowing gays and lesbians to serve in the military was partially because they were claimed to be a security risk due to their susceptability of being blackmailed over their personal lives. So, the sexual orientation of Williams, who wasn't really "in the closet" anyway, was a relevant issue. The story of how this "open secret" swirled around various media circles and outlets before finally bubbling up, as well as the hysterical reactions to the very notion of talking about the personal lives of gay people in the same way that you would unthinkingly do for straight people are quite interesting.
Times have changed somewhat since then, but these issues keep coming up again and again.
...Jim C. remembers.
The centerpiece of the book is probably the story of the "outing" of then-Pentagon spokesman Pete Williams. This was at a time when the justifcation for not allowing gays and lesbians to serve in the military was partially because they were claimed to be a security risk due to their susceptability of being blackmailed over their personal lives. So, the sexual orientation of Williams, who wasn't really "in the closet" anyway, was a relevant issue. The story of how this "open secret" swirled around various media circles and outlets before finally bubbling up, as well as the hysterical reactions to the very notion of talking about the personal lives of gay people in the same way that you would unthinkingly do for straight people are quite interesting.
Times have changed somewhat since then, but these issues keep coming up again and again.
...Jim C. remembers.
Rant on Brother
Jim Henley. He concludes with:
Indeed.
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Go read the real crackpots. They've been more right than I was.
Indeed.
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