The Vidiot's weekly blog:

What pissed me off this week? 9/19/2005

(updated every Monday at some point during the day)

...'cause I'm angry and my friends are sick of listening to me...

Cost of the War in Iraq

Remember these faces

Media Contacts

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Some Katrina Relief Info

Hurricane Housing.org


Free stuff can be found here

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Welcome to my Rutgers classmates.

I didn't watch the speech last week. I had better things to do. But it did not get rave reviews, down to the buttoning of his shirt. I guess it wasn't a BAD speech, per se. He said most of the right things, it's just that HE was the one to say them, so what can you believe? Do you really believe he accepts "responsibility"? (Honestly, when I heard that, I immediately ran to the window and checked for the four horsemen. And I'm not the only one.) And the media's response? They fawned over 19 words. Anyone who thought they'd sprouted spines over the last few weeks can just toss THAT notion out the window with the fairies.

In the Katrina aftermath, a few interesting things have come to light. Turns out the Red Cross was working with Homeland Security and withholding aid, The LA governor, Blanco, did her job correctly (contrary to the right wing spin), and unusual long-term repercussion of the evacuation will be more republicans in office, The Feds bungled their response, FEMA is outsourcing it body counting to a Bush-linked (funeralgate) body-dumping firm and Bush is lifting wage rules for the rebuilding of the Gulf Coast, (a rebuilding, I might add, that's being run by Karl Rove.)

But let's just discuss THAT wage thing for a moment, shall we? On the surface, it would seem that Bush is thinking of the small business and severely unemployed here. The thinking being, they can hire more people with the same amount of money. WELL, you can bet that's not how it will work out. All those "connected" firms that are getting the contracts, can now basically pay slave wages, increase their bottom line and pocket even more profit. (Judging by their behavior in Iraq, we can totally trust them with the money.)

Well, at least the guy is consistent. And his polls keep going down and his base is getting pissed off.

But it's like Leno said on his show the other night (Saw it on ABC Sunday Morning. It's not like I actually watch Leno.): "In the 80s, there was a Bush in the Whitehouse, his ratings were in the 30s and there was a Clinton waiting to take his job. Nothing has changed!"

It's a kakistocracy.


Oh, oh, oh, and the biggest thing... they're trying to kill the Posse Comitatus act. I've been going on about that for YEARS. I knew they would try to kill it. It's just too inconvenient for them.


Swag of the Week: Vasectomy pen knife

Useful Site of the Week/Year: IVR Phone System Shortcuts

Pictures of the Week: The Mummies of Guanajuato

Clothing of the Week: Hypercolour t-Shirt

WTF? of the Week: The Catman

Craft of the Week: Crochet

Creepy yet Cool Idea of the Week: Video Tombstones

Clever Idea of the Week: Pizza Fork

Flash of the Week: Falling Bush

Cool Thing of the Week: Pocket Mod

Video of the Week: Fainting Goats

Another Video of the Week: Japanese Cockroaches

Senseless Site of the Week: Things in Rubbers

Animal Site of the Week: Jumping Cats

Correction: Last week, I linked to a Robertson statement blaming Katrina on the Emmy award committee's choice of Ellen Degeneres as the host. Ok. It was satire. I felt like it was, but Robertson is SOOOooo off the deep end, it was easy to believe, no?

Programming note: Watch PBS' wideangle this week. They're doing a story on Avian flu.


Asshole of the Week

Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner for not waiving the new bankruptcy law for Katrina victims.

Excerpt: Survivors of Hurricane Katrina who were hoping to avoid the weight of the new bankruptcy law may be out of luck. Representative F. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, has indicated he will not hold a hearing on waiving the law for purposes of disaster relief.

Hell has a room ready for you, sir.


Faith no more.

This guy is brilliant. He posed as a "head-banger for Jesus" on Christian radio. And they were so dumb, they didn't figure it out.

Excerpt: It's always been a dream of mine to get booked on a Christian talk show posing as a guy who fronts a Christian speed-metal band. Thank Jesus -- my prayers are answered.


A win by default.

Here's what gets me about this:

Excerpt:A post-Katrina poll published in last Monday's newstand edition of Newsweek (PRNewswire link) contains heartening news for Democrats, RAW STORY has discovered. Just fourteen months before the Congressional elections, Democrats have opened up a 12 point lead over their GOP rivals.

It's not that the dems had any real strategy to garner the support, they just haven't fucked up as much as the republicans have.


Flipper lives.

One of the feel good stories to come out of New Orleans was the one about the pod of dolphins.

Excerpt: "We are so pleased to have found these dolphins and that they are all together," said NOAA Fisheries Service lead veterinarian Teri Rowles. "Our biologists and the trainers say all of them appear significantly underweight and have severe to minor wounds. These animals have been swimming in water, where we are unsure of the conditions, and have been nutritionally stressed for two weeks. We remain cautiously optimistic that they will recover from this ordeal."


Headline of the Week

What? They didn't have potatoes?

Excerpt: No Rice at UN Dinner on Women's Rights

(thanks Dave.)


A little Watergate anyone?

Seems there was a coverup. Just a little one.

Excerpt:A Pentagon employee was ordered to destroy documents that identified Mohamed Atta as a terrorist two years before the 2001 attacks, a congressman said Thursday.

Now, who might've done it that, and what exactly might have been the long-term consequences of that?

Well, no nevermind. If this article is true:

Excerpt: Apparently, there is brisk movement within the US Federal Court of Chicago to get these indictments out despite intense pressure from within by a Judge Magistrate named Mark R. Filip, who has thus far suppressed them from being released to the public, according to Heneghen. "We are heading toward a real showdown in United states of America, and we are heading toward what we might be looking at is a constitutional crisis," stated Heneghen emphatically about the Chicago court situation.

Then there's a lot more going on that will nail these guys.


Chavez should up his bodyguards' pay.

This has got to be killing the Bushies. First, Chavez lobs all sorts of insults at the UN

Excerpt: Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez called the United States a "terrorist state" and said the United Nations headquarters should be moved away from New York.

And the Bushies can't find anyone to form a coalition against Venezuela.

Excerpt:U.S. policymakers striving to curb the influence of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez are confronting a dilemma: Like a prizefighter, he seems to get stronger with every sparring session.


May I please be excused?

I'm sure you've all seen the picture of the note Bush wrote Condi at the UN.

Excerpt: U.S. President George W. Bush writes a note to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during a Security Council meeting at the 2005 World Summit and 60th General Assembly of the United Nations in New York September 14, 2005.

Not that I don't think the leader of the free-world should have to hold it in until he implodes (and here's a solution), but couldn't they have come up with a more discreet head scratch or ear tug? I mean, he's the laughing stock of Europe now. (As if he wasn't before)

Excerpt: A source at the Washington Post tells E&P that the paper is considering it for prominent play, in the context that, at least in some minds, it raises questions about overall perception of the U.S. at the United Nations, right or wrong. Reuters reports extremely strong interest in the photo today.

And is this part of Condi's new job description?


Not my president.

It known to most of us out here who have been paying attention the there was a good chance the that last election was tampered with. Well, what we didn't know was that Homeland Security had issued an alert to Diebold that it was a possibility.

Excerpt: In exclusive stunning admissions to The BRAD BLOG some 11 months after the 2004 Presidential Election, a "Diebold Insider" is now finally speaking out for the first time about the alarming security flaws within Diebold, Inc's electronic voting systems, software and machinery. The source is acknowledging that the company's "upper management" -- as well as "top government officials" -- were keenly aware of the "undocumented backdoor" in Diebold's main "GEM Central Tabulator" software well prior to the 2004 election. A branch of the Federal Government even posted a security warning on the Internet.

Bottom line: election software should be open-source.


Were you aware...

Just in case you missed this in the headlines this week, they seemed to have cured breast cancer in mice.

Excerpt: A team from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine has shown that by using a cancer vaccine based on the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes, they can cure mice with established breast tumors.

There's also this,

Excerpt:Recall how hydrogen peroxide is poured on wounds to kill germs. Well now researchers clearly show high-dose vitamin C, when administered intravenously, can increase hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) levels within cancer cells and kills them. I.V. vitamin C was also demonstrated to kill germs and may be an effective therapy for infectious disease.

but I don't know how credible it is.


Media & Stuff

What was missing from this article on AQ Khan was any mention of AG Khan's history with the US government.

Excerpt: The Pakistani leader's comments about the results of the interrogations of the expert, A. Q. Khan, a national hero who is under a loose form of house arrest in Islamabad, are significant because they tend to confirm the accusations American intelligence officials made against North Korea in 2002.

That's all they said about him. But Khan has a rich and sordid history that could've been included with at least the on-line version of the story. (Though, honestly, the New York Times has done a poor job of reporting the Khan story to begin with.)

Excerpt: Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and top members of the administration reacted with shock when they found out that Abdul Qadeer Khan, Pakistan's top nuclear scientist, spent the past 15 years selling outlaw nations nuclear technology and equipment. So it was sort of a surprise when Bush, upon finding out about Khan's proliferation of nuclear technology, let Pakistan off with a slap on the wrist. But it was all an act. In fact, it was actually a coverup designed to shield Cheney because he knew about the proliferation for more than a decade and did nothing to stop it.

Bottom line, the US government allowed Khan to do what he did because in 1993, it behooved them with regards to Russia's war in Afghanistan. Then, later, when it behooved the administration to expose him, they did.

In a realist foreign policy way, it makes sense. A realist, which many in this administration are, is sort of machiavellian. It's the national interest that usurps all other interests. I think the NYT does a disservice to it's readers when it glosses over issues like this, just providing facts with no background.

Comments?


News of the Weird

Yeah, I know lots of German guys (homophobes) who'd wear one of these.

Excerpt: German designers are promoting a skirt for male drinkers to wear at the Munich Beer Festival.

Just in case you missed this story,

Excerpt:An Australian man built up a 40,000-volt charge of static electricity in his clothes as he walked, leaving a trail of scorched carpet and molten plastic and forcing firefighters to evacuate a building.

 

Previous rants


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 Brian Williams is telling them the truth. I sincerely believe that if we protected the voting rights of the underprivileged that any Democrat could SWEEP any election. 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.

{back}

 

 

Who am I?:

I am a biker chick who lives in NYC. This blog is about current events and my left-leaning, acerbic spin on those events. Nobody pays me anything to do this. Nobody tells me what to write. I will NEVER tout anything for anybody's money! EVER!


Use this instead of Google:

Clusty.com

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

buzzflash.com
unknownnews.net
rawstory.com


Here are some excellent blogs:

Bartcop
Daily Kos
Atrios
Tacitus
Josh Marshall
Two Glasses
Brad DeLong
The Wonkette
Urban Survival
Greg Palast
Mark Crispin Miller


Link exchange:

Ilia Dreams Blog
Iraq War Blog
BushVote.com
Dommecile.com
Funny Farm

media-bias exposed:

dailyhowler.com


these are good left-wing journalism sites:

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


a little more to the left:

wsws.org
indymedia.org


different:

whatreallyhappened.com
almartinraw.com

more different :

surfingtheapocalypse.com


really different:

goroadachi.com/etemenanki/

 

and for godsakes, stay away
from FOX NEWS,  MSNBC, CNN, ABC, CBS, and NBC.
It's ALL CRAP!!!
w atch 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 (and whose companies are diversified in industries that support the war machine) so all of the news is all the same CRAP.