The Vidiot's weekly blog:
What pissed me off this week? 2/28/2005
(updated every Monday at some point during the day)
...'cause I'm angry and my friends are sick of listening to me...
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Programming Note: Greetings, and welcome to a very special edition of "Boy! Am I EVER Pissed Off!" While the Vidiot is held incommunicado in Term Paper Hell I thought I'd sneak in and rearrange the furniture. I'll do my best to adhere to the Vidiot's low standards, high dudgeon and snark quotient, but it's gonna be tough. Them are mighty big shoes to fill. (I mean it, they're sittin' in the corner and they look like Doc Marten's making clown shoes!)
So make yourself at home, put your feet up, kick back and relax, the show's about to start.
The Vidiot will be back next week, thanks for dropping by,
Sailor
The Vidiot Says: THANK YOU FOR DOING THIS BECAUSE MY TERM PAPER IS DRIVING ME INSAAAAAAAANE!
Hare Raising Site of the Week: Save Toby!
I Can See My House! Site of the Week: Global Xplorer
It's Not Stricken from MY Record Site of the Week: The Wayback Machine
Thoughtful Idea Site of the Week: Boycott God
Everything You Know Is Wrong Site of the Week: Science Misconceptions
Corporate Helper Site of the Week: Mission Statement Generator
Useful Reminder Site of the Week: There Is No Crisis!
Useful Media Site of the Week: Bug Me Not
Yep, just a few bad apples!
Excerpt: Three British soldiers convicted of mistreating captured looters in Iraq were expelled from the army and jailed on Friday after a trial over prisoner abuse that drew comparison with the Abu Ghraib scandal.
My favorite quote:
"When you abused the power that you had over them as you did, you cannot expect very much leniency," Judge Advocate Michael Hunter told the men.
Of course it's not like you had to actually be looting to be beaten
Excerpt: Relatives of Iraqis tortured by British soldiers revealed last night how they were also arrested and brutally beaten simply for asking questions.
The US claims they had nothing to do with the arrest and torture of an American citizen by Saudi Arabian authorities, yet they somehow managed to produce him on demand ... once they were sued.
Excerpt: The judge wrote in December that there was "at least some circumstantial evidence that Abu Ali has been tortured during interrogations with the knowledge of the United States.'' In addition, Bates wrote that Abu Ali's family said a U.S. diplomat reported to them that Abu Ali said FBI agents who questioned him threatened to send him to the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Of course US prosecutors say the claims of torture Òare utter fabrications.Ó but then you read:
Defense attorneys told the judge Abu Ali had been tortured and offered to show the judge proof. Sources said that proof includes scars on Abu Ali's back showing he had been whipped.
Now they claim he was in a plot to kill Bush. Sounds serious until you hear that the Saudis killed the only witness 17 months ago.
In a subsequent filing Wednesday, federal prosecutors asked that Abu Ali remain in jail pending trial. They also revealed another interesting fact: The only other witness to the alleged conversations Abu Ali allegedly took part in was killed in September 2003.
How conveeeeenient!
And not even the Feds think their case is winnable
There was no indication the alleged Bush assassination plot ever advanced beyond the talking phase. No FBI agents were there when Abu Ali made his self-incriminating confession. If the Saudis sent Abu Ali homeÑas they kept offering to doÑJustice officials fretted the videotape would likely get tossed out of court, and Abu Ali would walk. "We didn't know what to do with this guy," one former Justice official confided to NEWSWEEK. So for the next 20 months, Justice let Abu Ali, a U.S. citizen, languish in a Saudi jail cell. He had no access to a lawyer, and no charges were filed against him.
And speaking of Extraordinary Rendition, Maher Arar is still in the news:
Emphasis mine, but when did unprecedented and Standard Operating Procedure became synonymous? Some think the problem might be with CanadaExcerpt: Amidst the tough talk and sanctions, it's easy to forget that Syria was very recently a useful ally in Washington's war on terror. So useful that US officials sent suspected terrorists to Syria for interrogation, including Canadian citizen Maher Arar, who was tortured by Syrian intelligence officials for ten months. Released to Canadian authorities in October 2003 after Syria found no links to terrorism, Arar and the Center for Constitutional Rights are suing the US government for transferring Arar to a country where they knew he would be tortured. In an unprecedented countermove, the Department of Justice (news - web sites) is trying to dismiss the motion on national security grounds, while the Bush Administration insists it has stopped transporting suspects to Syria.
And his name is Jim Bob Jeff Gannonuckert ... or something. This story apparently has legs, (and don't mention the uncut 8 inches*1 ) 'cause it's actually starting to make the MSM. At least the SF Chronicle gets it :
Excerpt: The idea that the White House might try to infiltrate the press corps with a shill is a chilling thought in this democracy, but this is the administration that has been caught paying "journalists" and generating its own prefabricated "news reports" to distribute to TV stations too naïve to recognize the attempt at propaganda.
Sen. Biden gets the Money Quote Award:
Excerpt: As Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., pointed out during a meeting with The Chronicle editorial board Wednesday, the Guckert case, at a minimum, suggests "sheer, friggin' incompetence,''
Which pretty much sums up this administration ... in a nut sack
The LA Times and the NY Times seem to have a problem with bloggers, and vice versa.
Excerpt: the Los Angeles Times ran a story today in which 6, count 'em, 6 sources were cited defending Gannon, and ZERO sources were quoted from the other side. And apparently, it's now "gay activists" who exposed Gannon (Markos is gay?!), rather than the top progressive blogs.
Since this story started out in blogtopia (y, wksctp*2), it suddenly is about 'scalps' and 'bloglust' and not the facts.
Ari Fleischer, who gave Gannon day passes when he was working for GOPUSA expressed concern about the reporter's ties to the GOP and didn't call on him for a week.
He said he resumed calling on Guckert, who used the alias Jeff Gannon, after Bobby Eberle, owner of both GOPUSA and Talon News, "assured me that they were not part of the Republican Party." Eberle is a Texas Republican activist and served as a delegate to the 2000 Republican National Convention.
Yep, his word is good enough for me [ ... sound of head exploding]
I've even got the Movie of the Week title: White House Whore By Day, Anybody's Whore By Night
AmericaBlog is the goto place for Mangate news, they do it so you won't have to.*1 - I asked you not to mention
it! [/Get Smart!]
*2 - Yes, We
Know Skippy Coined
That Phrase!
It's 11 O'Clock, do you know where your children are? Now you can track them just like the Pros do!
Excerpt: Earnie Graham, principal and superintendent of the one-school district, is a self-described "tech guy." He liked the badge idea because it would streamline the taking of attendance, giving teachers a few minutes more each day to teach and boost accuracy, no small matter given that California school funding is based on how many children attend class each day.
Maybe he's not quite as nerdy and selfless as you thought:
Some have also questioned the financial relationship between the school and the cardsÕ manufacturer, which is paying the school to try out the cards and offering it commissions on future sales to other schools.
Of course it might be a problem that the little darlings can just take the tag off, but science had a solution for that too!
Excerpt: While Halmaka is apparently the first person to test an RFID chip for medical purposes, there are about 40 other people in the U.S. with implanted VeriChips, who are testing them for ID and security-access purposes.
"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro."
" Who does vote for these dishonest shitheads?" he writes, referring to the people currently occupying the White House. "They are the racists and hate mongers among us -- they are the Ku Klux Klan. I piss down the throats of these Nazis."
The Kansas AG is demanding abortion clinics "disclose the patients' names, as well as their medical histories, birth control, sexual practices and other personal details".
Excerpt: In October, District Judge Richard Anderson in Shawnee County, Kan., ruled that the attorney general's office could get the files and information after investigators said they suspected the records included cases in which adult women had undergone late-term abortions and girls age 15 and younger had had abortions.
Why are we just hearing about it now?
Excerpt: Lawyers for the clinics said a gag order, issued by Anderson, prevented them from discussing the case. The order also blocked the clinics from letting patients know that their records would be released, said Elizabeth Herbert, a lawyer for one of the clinics.
The FBI continues to stonewall Sibel Edmonds whistleblower case:
Excerpt: The translator, Sibel Edmonds, was a contract linguist for the bureau for about six months, translating material in Azerbaijani, Farsi and Turkish. Ms. Edmonds was dismissed in 2002 after complaining repeatedly that bureau linguists had produced slipshod and incomplete translations of important terrorism intelligence before and after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
The Swiftboat Liars are at it again. Who knew the AARP supported the 'homosexual agenda' and hates the troops?
Excerpt: It began with an almost comically hyperbolic Internet ad that briefly ran on The American Spectator's Web site, painting AARP as pro-gay sex Ñ even though it's tough to think of AARP and steamy lust in the same hot breath Ñ and anti-soldier. It showed a soldier with a red X across him, and two gay men kissing at their nuptuals, with the headline "The REAL AARP Agenda."
There is no crisis, except in the dark souls of these self loathing hypocrites
Excerpt: A man who has been hired to do media consultation for a group that is running an antigay ad works as a private consultant for a company headed by Charles Francis, a gay Republican who leads a prominent national gay Republican group.
But trust Faux News for their fairly unbalanced promotion of this group
Linkletter appeared on FOX News' Hannity & Colmes, where co-host Sean Hannity introduced him as "a strong advocate for seniors, as the national chairman of the United Seniors Association." On February 18, Linkletter was a guest on FOX News' Your World with Neil Cavuto, where he was introduced as "One senior [who] says it's [President Bush's Social Security proposal] a grand idea." During the interview, Linkletter contradicted Jarvis's assertion two days earlier that USA Next is not conservative, describing the group as "very conservative." And on the February 24 edition of Special Report with Brit Hume, FOX News general assignment correspondent Major Garrett referred to USA Next as simply "a special interest group."
Gee, I wonder why this could be happening.
Excerpt: Army recruiting goals in jeopardy
The active-duty Army is in danger of failing to meet its recruiting goals and is beginning to suffer from manpower strains like those that have dropped the National Guard and Reserves below full strength, according to Army figures and interviews with senior officers.
For the first time since 2001, the Army began the fiscal year last October with only 18.4 percent of the year's target of 80,000 active-duty recruits already in the pipeline. That amounts to half of the previous year's figure and falls well below the Army's goal of 25 percent.
Monday Sailboat Blogging
Albert "A.J." Tasker, 28, an assistant state attorney, gained a modicum of fame Monday when he ran nude through a hotel parking lot after what police said must have been a night of heavy drinking. The whole idea, apparently, was for Mr. Tasker to strip at one end of the TraveLodge parking lot, then run across to a friend's car and hop into the back seat. This he did, except for one little mistake. He got into the wrong car.
Spare The Rod and spoil the child!?
This story was hard to swallow
Thanks, I'll be here all week, you guys have been great. Don't forget to tip your bartenders and waitresses. The Vidiot will be back next Monday, Thank You Good Night!
What do we do about all of this crap? I have no idea. Part of me wants to start teach-ins at my local pub. Just go to the bar, rant and rave and inform the idiots who still think Dan Rather is telling them the truth. Another part of me wants to organize a voter observation program to insure that this moron isn't in the White House all the way to 2008. I sincerely believe that if we protected the voting rights of the underprivileged that any Democrat could SWEEP any election. And we'd have to start with the Florida Election for Governor THIS FALL (like these guys!.) I don't think Democrats are the answer. But they are at least a start.
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.)
These sites are good at culling stories from a multitude of media sites:
buzzflash.com
unknownnews.net
rawstory.com
daou report
Here are some excellant blogs:
Bartcop
Daily Kos
Atrios
Tacitus
Josh Marshall
DNC: Kicking
Ass
Two Glasses
Brad
DeLong
The Wonkette
Urban
Survival
Greg Palast
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:
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:
conspiratorial:
whatreallyhappened.com
almartinraw.com
HIGHLY entertaining:
really good "Alternate Thinking" site:
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:
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.