The Vidiot's weekly blog:

What pissed me off this week? 10/4/2004

(updated every Monday at some point during the day)

Sadly, we've reached 1,000.

Mirror (in case geocities is wacky or, in case of trouble in New York, check it for messages): http://129.79.148.33/vidiotcontact/

Everybody is talking about the debate (transcript here), so I'm sure I can't add much more to the discourse. All the predictions of Bush winning were wrong, I'm happy to say. (Here in this house, he is now called Blinky.) Though, I'm hard-pressed to call it a debate. I mean really, it was just two candidates at a fancified press conference. Descriptions of the "debate" results run from "Knockout" to "Rout", and oddly enough, to "a tie"?! There was even some speculation that Bush slipped and talked to the voice in his earpiece. Polls show Kerry moving up, but still, the reporting on the polls is annoying. For instance, when Bush was ahead by 3, it was "The President leads Kerry!" but when Kerry leads by 3, they feel the need to remind us that that's within the margin of error. Jeesh.

Well, the only thing I can be sure about is that Kerry looked presidential, Bush did not and maybe, finally, people outside of New York and the west coast will notice.

Movie Review: Saw Going Upriver: The Long War of John Kerry. Whoa. Even though it was obviously pro pro pro Kerry in the extreme, what struck me most about the movie was the fact that an entire generation of men was so damaged from the traumas of losing their friends, their limbs and their souls. Then extrapolate that to the mess in Iraq and we have a whole new generation of men and women that will be scarred for life. And the fact that Kerry transcended all of that to speak out against the war? I used to ABB, now I'm all for Kerry. This guy MUST be elected. He has the temperament, the intelligence and the life experience for the job. Do what you can.

New Favorite Dictionary Site: Hyperdictionary.com

Cool Site of the Week: Current Value of Old Money

Site of the Week (saw it on Kos): Band of Sisters

Favorite Debate Joke of the Week: From Jon Stewart.

Not as funny as it should be: Florida Voting.

Programming Note: Don't forget, Edwards v Vader on Tuesday night (I wonder if Edwards will bring up how Cheney routed money to Nigeria while at Halliburton) and debate #2 on Friday night. Also, as a lead up to Farscape's brief return, SciFi will be airing a bunch of Farscapes so catch up on what you missed. It's worth it.

Why we're not talking about the judiciary during this election is beyond me.

Excerpt: The next president's most enduring legacy may be in an area little mentioned in the campaign so far: the federal courts, where rulings on such hot-button issues as abortion, gay marriage and the death penalty could have lasting impact.

What Putin is doing in Russia must be GW's wet dream.

Excerpt: In a move to further strengthen the Kremlin's grip, the Federation Council has drafted a bill that would blur the line between the separation of the judicial and executive branches of power by putting the judiciary system under the control of the Kremlin.

Though, Putin's decision to approve Kyoto

Excerpt:The Cabinet endorsed the Kyoto Protocol on Thursday, making international implementation of one of the most far-reaching and controversial environmental initiatives a near certainty.

has a few benefits for him: It deflects some criticism regarding his anti-democratic maneuvering and it isolates the US even more.

Here's something to get your knickers in a twist: the next round of P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act enhancements have a whole bunch of new reasons to execute people.

Excerpt: Section 110’s expansion of the federal death penalty would be drastic. In addition to creating twenty-three separate new death penalties in one stroke, section 110 also creates an unprecedented “catch-all” death penalty for any federal crime, or any attempt or conspiracy to commit such a crime, that meets the PATRIOT Act’s overbroad definition of terrorism.

And what's an "overbroad definition of terrorism" mean? Think back to how the Bush people are always saying "can't send mixed messages" or "the protestors are giving aid and comfort to the enemy" and it's really quite scary.

Excerpt: Patriot Act II would create 15 new death penalties, one of which could be applied to acts of protest. Under the Hastert measure’s definitions, anti-war protesters could be deemed terrorists. In fact, any dissident could be spied on, harassed, and imprisoned indefinitely for exercising their legal and constitutionally protected rights.

Alright. I'm sure that's a gross misinterpretation. But frankly, I don't put anything past this bunch of miscreants.

As gas tops $50/barrell

Excerpt: Oil prices ended above $50 a barrel on Friday amid concern over possible fighting between rebels and the military in Nigeria's oil-rich delta region.

Let's remember that Bush promised, in 2000, that he would lower oil prices through the sheer force of his personality (saw it on WRH).

Excerpt:Gov. George W. Bush of Texas said today that if he was president, he would bring down gasoline prices through sheer force of personality, by creating enough political good will with oil-producing nations that they would increase their supply of crude.

Wow. I guess the force of his personality had an effect on the Saudis, huh?

Excerpt: Saudi Arabia, long the largest supplier of oil to the United States, has cut U.S. sales dramatically and may soon no longer be among the top five largest U.S. suppliers.

Gee, who 'da thunk the working poor suffered the most under Bush's tax cuts?

Excerpt: To help pay for federal tax cuts, many programs that served the working poor were reduced or eliminated as the deficit grew. This report shows that the amount of money millions of Americans now pay to cover such expenses as child care, housing and college education is greater than the amount they saved through the tax cuts.

And who didn't know that Allawi's speeches were written by the White House?

Excerpt; In a letter to the White House, a leading US Senate Democrat expressed "profound dismay" that the White House allegedly wrote a large portion of Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's speech to Congress last week.

I mean, so much of the wording could've been identical just out of sheer coincidence, right?

Why the Boss is The Boss.

Excerpt: As an artist and a citizen, you're gaining a chance to take part in moving the country in the direction of its deepest ideals. Artists are always speaking to people's freedoms. The shout for freedom and its implications was implicit in rock & roll from its inception. Freedom can only find its deepest meaning within a community of purpose. So as an individual I'm getting to take a small part in that process.

My favorite blogger, Kos, is writing a weekly column for the Guardian.

Excerpt: We all hope to have an impact in 2004, but there's reality: conservatives have spent 30 years building their infrastructure. We can't be expected to counter that in one year. We do things with an eye to the future, all the while doing our best to spare our country (and the world) four more years of a Bush administration.

Though Billmon, another one of my favorite bloggers who has since retired his blog is not so impressed with the blogging thing.

Excerpt: Recently, however, I've watched the commercialization of this culture of dissent with growing unease. When I recently decided to take a long break from blogging, it was for a mix of personal and philosophical reasons. But the direction the blogosphere is going makes me wonder whether I'll ever go back.

Personally, I can see the downside and upside. We need blogs right now because there's so much right spin on the news. Yet, bloggers have to be careful. Sometimes, the worst of human nature can take over. Going mainstream and being "accepted" by the very thing you've been criticizing is not necessarily good.

Those Bush twins sure like the hooch.

Excerpt: She was drinking Budweiser and smoking Marlboro Reds. She was incoherent, that's how drunk she was. She was holding court in back, trying to be inconspicuous. She was so drunk she couldn't even sit up, her friend dragged her to the back of the bar stumbling because she couldn't' walk on her own. She then proceeded to take more shots because, like, that's what this girl really needed at this point was more liquor."

I guess those nuts didn't fall far from the tree.

Excerpt; A new source has emerged with what she says is personal knowledge about why George W. Bush prematurely left his Texas National Guard unit in 1972--because nerves, fear and a possible drinking problem were affecting his ability to pilot his F-102A plane.

Of course our government had something to do with the attempted coup in Nigeria. No surprise there.

Excerpt: Links have been discovered between senior American military officials and the failed coup plot in Equatorial Guinea that has left Sir Mark Thatcher facing trial in South Africa.

As if Rathergate wasn't bad enough, and as if many of us aren't already suspicious of the way the freepers came out so fast with all sorts of knowledge about typewriters and such, is it any wonder that a right-winger registered the website "rathergate.com" before there was a "gate" to be discussed?

Excerpt: Rathergate.com was created on 09/10, one week before CBS "realised" their mistake. Registered by Mike Krempasky, who recently disclosed, that he is the political director for American Target Advertising, a Virginia firm run by Richard Viguerie, the conservative strategist widely credited with inventing political direct mail and helping Ronald Reagan and numerous other Republicans get elected.

Oh, and FYI, the guy CBS hired to investigate Rathergate is none other than Richard Thornburgh. Google him. He's quite the BFEE iran/contra operative.

And to add more grist for the mill, more Bush AWOL paperwork was released that had the same type of type in it. WTF?

Excerpt: “I find the timing of the release of this proportionally spaced document to be very curious,” [James] Moore said. “The CBS documents were attacked for similar spacing because of an argument that typewriters did not have that capability more than 30 years ago. But this new document clearly proves that to be wrong.”
Moore said he suspects Rove was involved with the scandal

This is why I prefer to volunteer my time rather than donate money.

Excerpt: Compensation increases in 2003 for the executives who run the largest nonprofit organizations nearly doubled the rate of inflation, according to The Chronicle of Philanthropy's annual survey.

Don't forget, there are other wars to wage. Do I hear a vote for Syria? Syria? Anybody for going to war with Syria?

Excerpt:Deep in the Pentagon, admirals and generals are updating plans for possible U.S. military action in Syria and Iran.

How about Iran? Does anyone have a preference for Iran?

Excerpt: Iran said today it has successfully test-fired a long-range "strategic missile" and delivered it to its armed forces, saying it is now prepared to deal with any regional threats and even the "big powers."

And I knew Barack Obama was too good to be true.

Excerpt: In an interview with the editorial board of the Chicago Tribunepublished September 26, Democratic Senate candidate Barack Obama said he would favor the use of “surgical” missile strikes against Iran if it failed to bow to Washington’s demand that it eliminate its nuclear energy program. Obama also said that, in the event of a coup that removed the Musharraf regime in Pakistan, the US should attack that nation’s nuclear arsenal.

Interesting discussion of hurricanes and their centers.

Excerpt; These planetary examples have long been elegant confirmations of our Hyperdimensional Physics Model for the entire solar system: that rotating mass, by virtue of the nature of space and “multi-dimensional reality,” is able to “open a gate” into another, more energetic dimension … allowing that energy to cascade -- in a highly organized and geometric form – “down” into our dimension.

Uh oh. Mom? They followed you!

Excerpt: Apparently on Wednesday morning, September 22, numerous callers to Cleveland, Ohio radio station 1100 WTAM reported a rainbow-like aerial situation similar to a 'Sundog.' The situation complicates, however, as others begin describing unusual contrails, jet scrambles and other military activity all across northern Ohio. One caller, Amin, describes an unusual light seen the night before Sept. 22 while driving home from Detroit around 1:00 a.m. while another caller, Kevin, claims the similar sighting of a 'bluish green light' around 10:35 p.m. on Route 8 near the Stow, Ohio area (north of Akron). At daybreak the morning of Sept. 22, northeastern Ohio skies were allegedly 'ripped' with jet vapor trails.

Here's a really weird picture of a UFO.

Excerpt: Well defined craft. Brightly lit. Non-morphing. W. Like something out of Star Wars

And it seems that the Da Vinci code is more of a puzzle than we thought.

Excerpt: Baigent and Leigh claim that the novel's premise and chunks of factual research are plagiarised from their original historical hypothesis, which has sold more than two million copies despite being denounced by several Church commentators as "pseudo-history". Baigent said: "Whether our hypothesis is right or wrong is irrelevant. The fact is that this is work that we put together and spent years and years building up."

 

Previous rant

At the very least, point your CNN-loving friends to my links page. Just getting started in reading alternate news sites gets people thinking. I have one friend who was very happy-go-lucky, thinking ol' Greta was telling the whole truth until I opened up his eyes a bit. Now, he's all depressed. He'll get over it. You gotta' get depressed before you get angry and you gotta' get angry before you can accomplish anything. We're all in mourning. We have to move through the steps. But we gotta' hurry it up.

Read. Inform. Spread the word. Even if it means your friends avoid you for awhile. If they really love you, they'll start to listen.

"POSSE COMITATUS ACT" (18 USC 1385): A Reconstruction Era criminal law proscribing use of Army (later, Air Force) to "execute the laws" except where expressly authorized by Constitution or Congress. Limit on use of military for civilian law enforcement also applies to Navy by regulation. Dec '81 additional laws were enacted (codified 10 USC 371-78) clarifying permissible military assistance to civilian law enforcement agencies--including the Coast Guard--especially in combating drug smuggling into the United States. Posse Comitatus clarifications emphasize supportive and technical assistance (e.g., use of facilities, vessels, aircraft, intelligence, tech aid, surveillance, etc.) while generally prohibiting direct participation of DoD personnel in law enforcement (e.g., search, seizure, and arrests). For example, Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachments (LEDETS) serve aboard Navy vessels and perform the actual boardings of interdicted suspect drug smuggling vessels and, if needed, arrest their crews). Positive results have been realized especially from Navy ship/aircraft involvement.

(Tom Ridge has practically said he'd do away with this act.)

{back}

These sites are good at culling stories from a multitude of media sites:

buzzflash.com
unknownnews.net
rawstory.com

Here are some excellant blogs:

Bartcop
Daily Kos
Atrios
Tacitus
Josh Marshall
DNC: Kicking Ass
Two Glasses
Billmon (retired)
Semi-Daily Journal
The Wonkette
Urban Survival

Link exchange:

Ilia Dreams Blog
Iraq War Blog
BushVote.com

These blogs will be covering the primaries and elections:

Salon.com's War Room
The Campaign Desk
FactCheck.org

media-bias exposed:

dailyhowler.com

these are good left-wing journalism sites:

onlinejournal.com
thenation.com
inthesetimes.com
tompaine.com
commondreams.org
truthout.com
guerrillanews.com

a little more to the left:

wsws.org
indymedia.org

conspiratorial:

whatreallyhappened.com
almartinraw.com

HIGHLY entertaining:

surfingtheapocalypse.com

really good "Alternate Thinking" site:

goroadachi.com/etemenanki/

and for godsakes, stay away
from FOX NEWS,  MSNBC, CNN, ABC, CBS, and NBC.
It's ALL CRAP!!!
watch the BBC news
or ITN news instead.

if you must succumb to reading a newspaper: 

www.guardian.co.uk 

or any other paper in another fucking country. All of our newspapers are owned by the same idiots that own the TV stations so all of the news is all the same CRAP.