The Vidiot's weekly blog:

What pissed me off this week? 10/11/2004

(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/

More debates, more lies, more wins for the Kerry team. Though, honestly, as I was watching the Cheney v. Edwards debate, I felt like it was a lot more of a draw than the polls and the spin showed. I thought Cheney threw a couple of good ones at Edwards, even though they were lies, lies, and more lies and I thought Edwards was on the defensive more than Cheney. But, the post-spin was all "Edwards won."

The second Bush v. Kerry debate, though more aggressive, I thought was a win for Kerry, but not so much on quality of information, but on delivery. Bush was yelling like a shrill monkey through most of it, (hair-trigger temper much? Listen to him freak out on Gibson.) but at least Bush managed to remain on-message, no matter how delusional that message was. I just didn't think it was a big a win as the post-spin said it was. (The Wonkette's summary of the debate was spot on.)

So here's my theory (and I hope I'm not jinxing it by putting it out there): I think that the media has finally turned on Bush et al. I mean, maybe they've finally gotten it through their heads that they've been taken for a ride and have been used by these guys and they're sick of having their credibility questioned. Though, it's not total and complete. Old habits die hard. Just a thought, not a brilliant one, but it's the only thing I can think of to explain why the spin is going Kerry's way.

Besides, I hear the Bilderbergers are none too pleased with our neocons and many of the CIA "old guard" are none to pleased with this administration.

Oh, and about the Earpiece thing: I don't want to say it is an earpiece thing because I don't want to think that they're just that clumsy and overt because, if they are, that just has all sorts of ramifications I can't handle right now. But speculation is downright rampant.

Correction from a few weeks ago: I thought that Russia had decided to sign the Kyoto agreement because they wanted to deflect criticism about their anti-democratic moves and that they wanted to make the U.S. look bad. I was mostly wrong. They wanted in on the WTO.

Website of the Week: Surviving Peak Oil

Weird movie I just heard about: The Beast

Must-read of the Week: Kerry interview in the NYT Magazine.

Video clip of the week: George Bush Presenile Dementia Video

Action of the Week: Stop Sinclair Broadcasting

Mark of the Beast?: µ-chip

Superman has died.

Excerpt: In the last week Reeve had developed a serious systemic infection from a pressure wound, a common complication for people living with paralysis. He entered the hospital Saturday.

I don't know why this bothers me so much. Maybe it's because I waited on him once at a party in 1988 I was tending bar at. He was so nice and handsome. Asked for a ginger ale.

Though, honestly, "Somewhere in Time" was my favorite of his movies.

Bush DID alienate allies that would've sent troops had Bush not been such an asshole.

Excerpt: A new book published in France this week states that French officials were ready to send as many as 15,000 troops for an invasion of Iraq before relations soured between Bush and French leaders over the attack’s timing, reports Glenn Kessler of the (registration-restricted)Washington Post.

Putin is going to Iran for a visit.

Excerpt: Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to visit Iran where Russia will continue to assist in development of a civilian nuclear program, a senior Russian official said here Thursday.

Here's an article that managed to give me the creepies. I don't necessarily go for Bush and Hitler comparisons...well, maybe I do just a little bit. But this article really made me think.

Excerpt: “Hitler came to office in 1933 as the result, not of any irresistible revolutionary or national movement sweeping him into power, nor even of a popular victory at the polls, but as part of a shoddy political deal with the ‘Old Gang’ whom he had been attacking for months.... Hitler did not seize power; he was jobbed into office by a backstairs intrigue.” At the time, most Germans couldn’t imagine that Hitler would last long because his bombastic and swaggering manner and his overly simplistic speeches about Germany’s social, economic, and political problems were a “joke.” Politically sophisticated Germans dismissed Hitler as an inept caricature, but he and his accomplices consolidated their power by passing national security legislation supported by a stacked court. During these critical times of concentrating power, der Schutzstaffein (SS) made sure that Hitler’s critics and opponents were kept far away and silenced so that it would appear as though he had complete national support and, indeed, a mandate. Thus peacefully began Nazi totalitarianism.

Ever hear of Hitler's "Enabling Act"?

Excerpt: Before the vote, Hitler made a speech in which he pledged to use restraint. "The government will make use of these powers only insofar as they are essential for carrying out vitally necessary measures. The number of cases in which an internal necessity exists for having recourse to such a law is in itself a limited one," Hitler told the Reichstag.

Think I'm paranoid? (Well, alright, I'm a little paranoid). But more police state laws, under the guise of the 9/11 Commission Implementation Act has been passed by the House.

Excerpt: In addition to overhauling national security agencies, as recommended by the 9/11 Commission, the legislation would also allow the US government to deport immigrants to countries that allow torture, severely restrict asylum seekers, and compile a massive database of information on law-abiding citizens. The 9/11 Commission did not recommend any of these reforms, some of which were found in the Domestic Security Enhancement Act, commonly known as "Patriot II" -- legislation so alarming, public outcry kept it from coming to a vote. Recently lawmakers in both the House and Senate have introduced legislation that would revive pieces of that controversial bill (previous coverage).

Though, to be fair, Bush is backing down on the deport-to-torture provision, but probably not because he's against it, but more likely because it's politically difficult.

Excerpt: But John Feehery, spokesman for House Speaker Dennis Hastert, who introduced the bill last Friday, said the provision had actually been requested by the Department of Homeland Security. “For whatever reason,” Feehery said, “the White House has decided they don’t want to take this on because they’re afraid of the political implications.”

But, it's P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act Part Deux, you can be sure about it.

Excerpt: Some of the legislative measures and amendments, particularly S. 2845, a measure introduced in the Senate by Sen. Collins (ME) and Sen. Lieberman (CT), have been bi-partisan efforts, carefully drafted to respond to the commission's recommendations. Others, most dramatically HR 10, introduced by Speaker Hastert (IL) in the House, and amendments to S. 2845 introduced by Sen. Kyl (AZ) in the Senate, do not follow the 9/11 Commission's recommendations about security and are freighted with provisions that diminish civil liberties protections.

Did you know that they US and the UK conspired to displace an entire island of people to make way for a military base?

Excerpt: Diego Garcia is America’s biggest military base in the world, outside the US. There are more than 4,000 troops, two bomber runways, thirty warships and a satellite spy station. The Pentagon calls it an “indispensable platform” for policing the world. 
Before the Americans came, more than 2,000 people lived on the islands, many with roots back to the late 18th century. There were thriving villages, a school, a hospital, a church, a railway and an undisturbed way of life. The islands were, and still are, a British crown colony. 

Is this one of those frivolous lawsuits to which the Bush/Cheney team continuously refer?

Excerpt: Suha Said, a member of the Iraqi interim parliament, said "now that the WMD file is closed, it's only natural that Washington should compensate the Iraqi people for all the damage inflicted since April 9, 2003".

Bush goes down in the polls and a terror warning comes out. This time its about downloaded plans for schools here in the U.S. making the story all about a possible "russian school incident" here in the U.S. Of course, the date was found in July which must makes it so much more relevant today, right?

Excerpt: The downloaded data was found by the U.S. military in July. All of the information is publicly available on the Internet and included an Education Department report guiding schools on how to prepare and respond to a crisis, said one of the officials, who spoke Thursday on condition of anonymity.

In the end, turns out the guy downloaded them because he was designing schools in Iraq and was fishing for ideas.

Is it me, or is the fact that they've recreated a "cousin" of the 1918 flu pandemic virus

Excerpt: Their lab-made microbe, a concoction of two synthetic genes copied from the 1918 virus and three other human viruses, has already made quick work of killing mice. More importantly, it has for the first time revealed how one gene might have made the infamous 1918 pathogen so lethal.

and the fact that we're having some sort of vaccine crises

Excerpt: Global and United States health officials warned on Tue 5 Oct 2004 of major influenza vaccine shortages after British health officials abruptly pulled the license of the maker of half the US vaccine just as the influenza season was about to begin. The news means the US will face "a significant shortage," said Dr Anthony Fauci, the National Institutes of Health's infectious disease chief. Other countries will likely face similar problems. "The implications may be significant," said Dr Klaus Stohr, of the World Health Organization.

a really scary combo.

Remember, wash your hands frequently.

Excerpt: Careful hygiene can help people avoid catching the flu or other infectious diseases, or spreading germs to others.

Uh, can we really afford more giveaways to the big corporations?

Excerpt: In an act of pre-election largess, House and Senate negotiators approved a sprawling corporate tax bill on Wednesday that would shower corporations and farmers in politically sensitive states with about $145 billion worth of new tax cuts.

It ain't over yet for DeLay. He could be indicted in the near future.

Excerpt: I've spent the day talking to several Texas political observers. The rumors are flying fast and furious in Texas and DC that a DeLay indictment is imminent, but I wanted to find out the reasoning behind those rumors. Such rumors could've been little more than wishful thinking.
After doing a bit of reporting, the case for a DeLay indictment is circumstantial, but quite intriguing.

Not for nothing, but I don't think Judith Miller belongs in jail for this.

Excerpt: A federal judge has ordered Judith Miller (pictured, left) to prison for refusing to name some confidential sources.

For this definitely,

Excerpt: And of all Miller's unreliable sources, the most unreliable was Ahmed Chalabi -- whose little neocon-funded kingdom came crashing down last week when Iraqi forces smashed down his door after U.S. officials feared he was sending secrets to Iran.

But not for that Wilsongate thing.

Here's a story you've not heard this week I betchya': Did you hear that the House voted to break up the 9th Circuit Court? Do you think it might be more about the myriad of liberal-leaning decisions rather than the case load?

Excerpt: The Republican-led House voted Tuesday to break up the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, an action opponents said was motivated by conservatives' ire over some of the court's rulings.

And did you hear that a bunch of Indymedia servers were confiscated by the FBI?

Excerpt: Tim Gopsill of the NUJ said: "If the security services of the UK or US can just walk in and take away a server, then there is no freedom of expression."

The draft bill may be down, but not out. Trust me, it wouldn't take much effort to resurrect the bill and vote on it again.

Excerpt: House Republicans sought to quash a persistent Internet rumor that President Bush wants to reinstate the draft if he is re-elected, engineering an overwhelming vote Tuesday killing legislation that would do just that.

Murphy's law can be shown mathematically.

Excerpt: But now a panel of experts has provided the statistical rule for predicting the law of "anything that can go wrong, will go wrong" - or ((U+C+I) x (10-S))/20 x A x 1/(1-sin(F/10)).

 

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.