O'REILLY: Orlando, Florida, Mike, go.
CALLER: Hey Bill, I appreciate you taking my call.
O'REILLY: Sure.
CALLER: I like to listen to you during the day, I think Keith Olbermann's show --
O'REILLY: There ya go, Mike is -- he's a gone guy. You know, we have his -- we have your phone numbers, by the way. So, if you're listening, Mike, we have your phone number, and we're going to turn it over to Fox security, and you'll be getting a little visit.
HILL: Maybe Mike is from the mothership.
O'REILLY: No, Maybe Mike is going to get into big trouble, because we're not going to play around. When you call us, ladies and gentleman, just so you know, we do have your phone number, and if you say anything untoward, obscene, or anything like that, Fox security then will contact your local authorities, and you will be held accountable. Fair?
HILL: That's fair.
O'REILLY: So, just -- all you guys who do this kind of a thing, you know, I know some shock jocks. Whatever. You will be held accountable. Believe it.
Friday, March 03, 2006
Fox Security
O'Reilly imagines he has his own private police force.
This Sounds Promising
Link:
The U.S. Air Force has begun moving heavily armed AC-130 airplanes - the lethal "flying gunships" of the Vietnam War - to a base in Iraq as commanders search for new tools to counter the Iraqi resistance, The Associated Press has learned.
An AP reporter saw the first of the turboprop-driven aircraft after it landed at the airfield this week. Four are expected.
The Iraq-based special forces command controlling the AC-130s, the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force, said it would have no comment on the deployment. But the plan's general outline was confirmed by other Air Force officers, speaking anonymously because of the sensitivity of the subject.
Musharraf of Arabia
oy:
I believe that a prosperous, democratic Pakistan will be a steadfast partner for America, a peaceful neighbor for India, and a force for freedom and moderation in the Arab world.
Old
I look forward to the full data, but hopefully this will help kill of the "blog readers are young" zombie. I would be quite happy if they were, but they just aren't. It's a silly mischaracterization, along with "bloggers are geeks because they use computers." I'm sure plenty of us are geeks, but it has little to do with the fact that we stumbled upon free easy to use tools requiring little actual geek knowledge in order to rant away on the internets.
Kittens
The Editors:
So please don’t write a big long post pointing out times in the past when you said torture is bad, because that doesn’t cut it. All it is going to do is make me feel very, very sleepy, and so I’m going to have to have another cup of coffee, and if I have another cup of coffee before I get some food in my stomach … well, it’s not going to be a pretty picture for anyone involved. What is really going to put me in my place is if someone - say, for example, you - actually decides that the Bush policy of extralegal, unaccountable torture is worth getting upset about, perhaps even more deserving of disapprobation than Ward Churchill getting tenure, Al Gore’s views on visa policy, Michael Moore’s waistline, or whatever else the leading lights of today’s denatured conservatism think everyone should be gnashing their teeth about this week. (Or last week.) Because right now, America tortures people. You live in a country where the President has declared an effectively permanent state of war, and can, and does, as a matter of policy, and on a global scale, engage in torture. Morally, practically, spiritually, profoundly: this is wrong. It is worth being upset about. It is worth overlooking the use of literary devices you don’t agree with. It is worth forgiving minor policy disagreements. It is even worth telling people you otherwise agree with that, when they defend, excuse, or minimize the situation, they are wrong - morally, practically, spiritually, profoundly, even - and they, through deed or inaction, disgrace America. Because they do. And if you did it, you’d probably be more polite than me. And they might even listen. And then, eventually, this might change. And then I’d be completely busted, and I’d have to start berating you about, I don’t know, marginal tax rates, and uh, workplace harrassment lawsuits, and all those other things I’m told I care so deeply about, instead of about the corruption of the soul of my country. Please let me live with that shame instead.
Kerry's Email List
One question floating around out there is how much "power" does Kerry's massive email list have.
According to an email I just got sent to the list he sent out a fundraising email for 3 Vets running for Congress and raised over $250,000 in 48 hours.
According to an email I just got sent to the list he sent out a fundraising email for 3 Vets running for Congress and raised over $250,000 in 48 hours.
Time Warp
The advantage of troll poop is that most of the time they're just cutting and pasting something they've seen on some right wing blog. Here we have Roger L. Simon chastizing Robert Byrd for not counting his involvement with the Klan as one of the regrets of his Senate career, even though that was, you know, not something which happened during his Senate career.
Idiot.
Idiot.
Nothing Worse Than Agreeing With the Derb
Who's smacking his fellow Cornerites around.
One of the more fascinating revelations I had was when I realized that many war supporters thought things were going well simply because there was evidence that people were living "normal lives" in Iraq, as if not living a normal life was an option. Cowering under a bed for 3 years is not, in fact, an option, even though it appears to be what much of the cheeto crowd have done themselves since 9/11. People need to work to earn money to feed themselves and their families, all of which requires attempting to live as much as possible a "normal life."
One of the more fascinating revelations I had was when I realized that many war supporters thought things were going well simply because there was evidence that people were living "normal lives" in Iraq, as if not living a normal life was an option. Cowering under a bed for 3 years is not, in fact, an option, even though it appears to be what much of the cheeto crowd have done themselves since 9/11. People need to work to earn money to feed themselves and their families, all of which requires attempting to live as much as possible a "normal life."
What They Want
Missouri:
Missouri legislators in Jefferson City considered a bill that would name Christianity the state's official "majority" religion.
House Concurrent Resolution 13 has is pending in the state legislature.
...
The resolution would recognize "a Christian god," and it would not protect minority religions, but "protect the majority's right to express their religious beliefs.
The resolution also recognizes that, "a greater power exists," and only Christianity receives what the resolution calls, "justified recognition."
Wanker of the Day
John Dickerson, who makes very clear what's obvious with our presidential courtiers.
The Homo Movie
I saw this CNN piece yesterday and I was floored:
BROOKE ANDERSON, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Carol.
This is a year when smaller, more independent films are being recognized in a big way, films with controversial theme, political themes, gay or transgender themes, but outside of Hollywood are the Oscars and the films that are honoring. Are they relevant to middle America? Well, I took a trip to Kansas to find out.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON (voice-over): Far from the glitz and glamour of Hollywood lies Lebanon, Kansas, population 250 people, median age 52. A place where three houses recently sold for a grand total of $11,000 on eBay.
Many have asked the question, is Hollywood out of touch with middle America? What better place to find out than the middle of America. This is the geographic center of the continental United States in Lebanon, Kansas.
RANDY MAUS, LEBANON RESIDENT: Out here, at least in rural America where you could say it's the Bible belt, we're still looking for movies that have creative substance and a storyline.
ANDERSON: Randy Maus is a Lebanon transplant from the Boston area. He, along with other Lebanon residence, including the ladies in the Methodist Church bell choir, aren't exactly thrilled with the films the Oscars are honoring.
Has anybody seen "Brokeback Mountain?"
LADIES: No.
ANDERSON: Anybody want to see it?
LADIES: No.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're just not interested in all the sex and skin.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's just not my style of life.
ANDERSON: What kind of movies do you want Hollywood to make?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What about "The Sound of Music" and some of those?
LADIES: Right. Right.
ANDERSON: We stopped by the Lebanon hotspot, Ladow's Market, where one local told us Hollywood just can't relate to a farming way of life.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They've never been back in here to know what it's like to actually have to make a living doing this.
ANDERSON: The closest theater is 12 miles away in Smith Center, Kansas. One movie theater, one film shown per week, and none of the movies nominated for best picture have played here.
MIKE HUGHES, CENTER THEATER: We have a large senior citizen base, so we gear a lot of our movies towards that and our children's pictures do real well.
ANDERSON: So say you put "Brokeback Mountain" on the screen?
HUGHES: I feel it would not play very well. It wouldn't be profitable for us.
ANDERSON: Dave Karger, a senior writer for "Entertainment Weekly," says profits aren't the driving force behind the Academy Awards.
DAVE KARGER, "ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY": They're about recognizing the five best movies of the year, not the five most profitable movies of the year.
ANDERSON: Here in the middle of America, in Lebanon, the Oscars are as far from their minds as they seem to be from the minds of those in Hollywood.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: And in addition to "Brokeback Mountain," many of the residents hadn't even heard of the other best picture nominees, "Capote," "Crash," "Munich," "Good Night and Good Luck," and if they had, many of them weren't interested in seeing them. You can bet millions of people will be watching the Oscars, but most likely the viewer numbers will be very, very low in Lebanon, Kansas.
LIN: But "Big Momma" was plague at the theater, and I don't think that one's nominated is it, Brooke?
ANDERSON: "Big Momma's House 2," no it is not nominated this year. I think "Pink Panther" is on its way to that theater as well.
LIN: Excellent. All right, we all are for the arts. Thanks, Brooke.
Thursday, March 02, 2006
Age Appropriate Books
Inspired in part by comments in the thead below, your late night thread involves discussing novels which should be read at a particular age. I'm especially curious if there are any novels which should be read when you are actually older - 40+. I can come up with plenty which are best read in middle/late adolescence and early adulthood.
Your Liberal Media
Post:
Things unknown are unknown only to us it seems... I'm sure Joe Klein will be around to explain why government spying on the conversations between American lawyers and their clients without a court order* is A-OK.
*If this indeed turns out to be the case. It may not, in this case, but certainly the Bush administration has asserted its authority to do so.
A classified document that an Islamic charity says is evidence of illegal government eavesdropping on its phone calls and e-mails was provided in 2004 to a Washington Post reporter, who returned it when the FBI demanded it back a few months later.
According to a source familiar with the case, the document indicated that the National Security Agency intercepted telephone conversations in the spring of 2004 between a director of the al-Haramain Islamic Foundation and lawyers for the foundation in the District.
...
At the same time, an attorney for al-Haramain, Wendell Belew, provided a copy of the document to Post reporter David B. Ottaway. Ottaway was researching Islamic groups and individuals who had been designated terrorists by the U.S. government and were attempting to prove their innocence.
In November 2004, FBI agents approached Belew, and soon thereafter Ottaway, saying that the government had mistakenly released the document. They demanded all copies back and warned that anyone who revealed its contents could be prosecuted.
Ottaway declined to discuss the contents of the document other than to confirm it appeared to be a summary of one or more conversations intercepted by the government.
"The FBI said that . . . it contained highly sensitive national security information," Ottaway said yesterday in a statement. "I returned it after consulting with Washington Post editors and lawyers, and concluding that it was not relevant to what I was working on at the time."
...
The suit contends that the government's interception of conversations between al-Haramain officer Suliman al-Buthe in Saudi Arabia and lawyers Belew and Asim Ghafoor in Washington violated the Fourth Amendment, attorney-client privilege and the federal law that requires a court warrant to tap certain domestic phone conversations.
Things unknown are unknown only to us it seems... I'm sure Joe Klein will be around to explain why government spying on the conversations between American lawyers and their clients without a court order* is A-OK.
*If this indeed turns out to be the case. It may not, in this case, but certainly the Bush administration has asserted its authority to do so.
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