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7.31.2004
CNN.com - Retired general: Bush foreign policy a 'national disaster' - Jul 31, 2004: "'The report of the 9/11 commission makes this clear: Fighting terrorists alone just doesn't work,' he said. 'If our enemy hatches a terror plot in Rome, we will need help from the Italians. If German intelligence knows the whereabouts of a senior al Qaeda member, America must have that information.'" I don't know what this guy is talking about. Bush is a strong and steady leader in these times of change. Take for instance, the terror plot in Rome, Bush would: Blame the Italians for not being pro-Bush, blame the Democrats for letting gay abortionist destroy our nation; put together a false case for invading an unrelated country; warn the world that not supporting Bush is the same as supporting the terrorists, pass another round of tax cuts and take a vacation at the ranch in Crawford. Steady leadership in times of change. Or, German intelligence knows the wherabouts of a senior Al Qaeda member, Bush would: Blame the Germans for not being pro-Bush, blame the Democrats for letting gay abortionist destroy our nation; put together a false case for invading an unrelated country; warn the world that not supporting Bush is the same as supporting the terrorists, pass another round of tax cuts and take a vacation at the ranch in Crawford. Steady leadership in times of change. More nonsense from former Bush supporter and Air Force chief of staff during the first Gulf War, Retired Gen.Tony McPeak: "The real deal for me is not whether a strategy or a plan or an idea is Republican or Democrat, but whether it makes us safer," he said. "And it means an awful lot to me that John Kerry fought for his country as a young man." A vote for Kerry is a vote for Terror. | 7.30.2004
I had another post in the works. Its saved as a draft. Its about taxes again. It can wait. Its story time. I had two groups of friends in high school. I spent loads of time with each group and enjoyed every minute of it, but rarely did the two groups mix. Though I don't find much use in Astrology, I was born on May 29th 1974. One day in a fit of naivete I asked my two good friends P and J whether they had ever engaged in the act of self defeat. I'm not exactly sure how I phrased it, but I asked them if they had ever just stopped and ripped apart all their conceptions and brought themselves down to nothing. The blank looks were my answer. "You know? Just admit to yourself all those things that you secretly dread? Get it out there. Listen to your own voice say it? Put yourself in the position of vulnerability? And realize its not worth all this running away?" Self destruction is a beautiful thing, because only on top of our own self delusions do we build our worst selves. Human beings, nasty brutish things as we are, only transcend our natures when we can have the courage to look at it, and see it for what it is. Never admit weakness. Some people find this kind of self honesty off-putting. But really, can you expect to wrestle your demons in the dark? Take a break, flip on the lights, say "Man, you some ugly mofo!" flip the lights back off and go about your task yet again. Who would think that the road to success leads to many different places? Somebody has to live like I do. S would have understood. | 7.28.2004
Tax cuts are great aren't they? Its like free money. Except that we all know that nothing comes for free. So you have to be wondering, where does it all comes from? Well, from Sept of 1997 to Sept of 2000 the public debt increased by 261 Billion dollars. That's alot of money isn't it? From Sept 2001 to the present the public debt has increased by almost 1.5 Trillion dollars. A nearly five fold increase for the same time frame. So what happens to this money that we spend? You can think of the total debt as accumulated deficits plus accumulated off-budget surpluses. The on-budget deficits require the Treasury to borrow money to raise cash needed to keep the Government operating. We borrow the money by selling Treasury securities like T-bills, notes, bonds and savings bonds to the public Yeah, its a transfer of wealth. The government can issue tax cuts out the front door and borrow money out the back door. Its a great little system especially if you own some of that government debt. You know they're good for it right? Even better? Wage a war, wherein you pay large public companies billions to supply food, equipment and services with that borrowed money. Any profits will be paid out in dividends. You do own defense stocks right? Imagine, the money that the government borrowed from you is now being paid out back to you in dividends AND tax cuts? What could be better? A reduction in the rate at which that money is taxed for instance? Bling! Bush is my personal lord and savior! Seems like a pretty good system until you realize that the government has to pay off these loans with interest, meaning that they pay for the privilege of borrowing that money, just like you do on your credit cards. Current Interest YTD? $ 274,948,205,291.57. I wonder what the minimum monthly is on that? So we pay out nearly 300 billion dollars a year for the privilege of spending more money than we collect? Whose bright idea was this? Those tax cuts are looking more and more like those checks I get every month from the credit card companies informing me that I can write myself a check for $5,000 to fix up my home or take a vacation. I would, but I know that in the long run I'll have to pay alot more for that vacation than what I would if I just saved for it. Don't get me wrong, borrowing can be a useful tool in managing finances, but you know as well as I do that if you carry too much constant debt your income will be sapped by all the interest you're paying on that debt. It works the same for the government as well. But in this case, that debt is owned by the investor classes that are politically well connected and want the government to borrow more money from them. Its a safe investment. Unless you own some of that government debt, or stocks in companies that benefit from this rash of overspending, you will be paying for your own tax cut with interest. How nice, if you want to pay it down early you can send one of those credit card checks to: ATTN DEPT G BUREAU OF THE PUBLIC DEBT P O BOX 2188 PARKERSBURG, WV 26106-2188 "In the memo section of the check, make sure you write 'Gift to reduce the Debt Held by the Public'" SPECIAL NOTE: For you conservatives that are confused, this is the difference between Fiscal Conservatism, where you reduce spending to counterbalance tax cuts and Cronyism, where you spend like crazy and shift the burden to the middle class in some future time period. Those loans are guaranteed you know? | I am incapable of answering a direct question posed to me. My interpretive brain immediately begins to parse the meaning of the question and wastes no time actually formulating an answer. I dare not say what I'm actually thinking. So I come off pretty stupid. Tonight I sat down to play my guitar and it took me about five minutes to remember the rhythm to a song I've been working on all week. I've always been this way. Today I stumbled across the chord progression to a Shins song. (The song is Gone for Good, the chords are c, f, c, g, c for the verses, Am, c, f, c-g (repeat second time) end on f. Just don't ever ask me to play it, I'll have forgotten how. Incidently this is almost the same chord progression for Summersault, by Zero 7. Very different rhythm, very similar chords.) But enough guitar wankery... Interpretive thought does have its advantages. Many times I've come up with great song ideas while just sitting around exploring rhythms, chords and sounds. Playing something wrong can be a wonderful accident, even though it makes me a horrible performer. If I was an actor I'd be the one whispering "Line!" all the time. Furthermore... Picked up a Pinback cd, "blue screen life". I ran out and purchased this little jewel after a listening to "Grey Machine". It gave me goosebumps, really. This cd doesn't contain "Grey Machine", but it does have ten new songs that I hadn't heard before. So do yourself a favor and head over to the sample page and download the two songs there. (...and go find a copy of "Grey Machine") One of my favorite shirts has a hole in it. I wore it today, but the hole is getting pretty obvious. It looks trashy, cool, but trashy. So my plan is to cut out the coolness, a giant barcode, and sew it to another less cool shirt. It will either bestow coolness on the new shirt or look like utter crap. cool. I have a blog personality. What? A BP is who you are when you blog. Mine is: "gets to complete an actual thought before getting interupted for taking too long to get to the point". Other poeple get saucy or mean or sarastic. I suppose that happens to me too. Here at least I get a chance to snack on a banana or dance in front of the fan before getting back to a thought. That very rarely happens in real life. "Please excuse me while my mind wanders off on to other matters" And to answer the question: Can you take a picture of a 35mm negative through a loupe and invert it back in Photoshop? Why yes you can. Witness: 
This crazy staircase led down from my apartment. The building was a converted home reconfigured to house eight seperate apartments. I lived in number 2, upstairs, one closet, a non-fuctioning fireplace, a functioning gas heater in the bathroom and built in bookcases and booth. I have a great 8x10 of this on my wall as well. I could have just taken a picture of it I suppose, but what fun is that? | 7.27.2004
Years ago I used to work at an offshoot cafe in a large bookstore. I didn't like coffee, and admitted as much in the job interview, but they hired me anyways, figuring that I was a good loss prevention risk. They never asked about my fondness for cookies. I've since learned to tolerate the taste of coffee, provided its black and watered down. I never did understand the milk and sugar thing people do to their coffee. Does it really taste like coffee after four packets of sugar? I worked there full time, during the days. It was quiet, and I would waste away the day reading magazines from the nearby rack; Adbusters, Popular Photography, Modern Drummer, Electronic Musician and several others. I even managed to read a good chunk of "Infinite Jest" whilst "working", tucking it up next the register, behind the plant. Like any other open public place, we had regulars, people that would show up on such a frequent basis that you recognized them from a quick glance and you knew exactly what they wanted and maybe even a little bit about their personal lives. We gave them nicknames since we didn't know their real names. "Spoon Man" showed up every Sunday, grabbed a massive stack of books from the store and spent about eight hours looking through his selections. He earned his nickname when one day he reached across the counter, grabbed the stirring spoon that we used to mix the drinks, and used it for his own personal beverage. This action drove my co-worker ballistic. From then on we would make sure the spoon was safely out of reach when his drink was ready. "Cafe Breve Lady" substitute taught at a local high school and lived in constant fear of either teaching or being laid off. To assuage these fears she drank two large Cafe Breves every visit. Two shots of espresso and sixteen ounces of Half and Half went into each one. Sometimes she would also eat a cream filled pastry. Stress is a strange motivator. "Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Lady" would stop by just to see if we had gotten in a fresh shipment of oatmeal raisin cookies. I could have just told here that they came from a nearby bakery, but I didn't. "Phillip" was the only regular that I really got to know. He was a med student that spent hours sipping lattes and studying diseases and conditions. Occasionally he would take a break from studying and we would talk about home recording or whatever wasting disease he was studying at the time. He had a multitrack recorder and was in the process of recording his dad's cd. He would bring in his recordings for me to listen to, and I made him listen to my most recent efforts as well. I still run into him occasionally. Still not a doctor. There were others, the "Latte Lady" and her daughter, who went through an entire pregnancy that year; the "gorgeous supermodel lady" that drove the Mercedes and was planning her wedding to a gorgeous supermodel looking guy; the two high school girls that spent their lunch hour eating out of a dinky little case instead of getting real food at decent prices elsewhere, and there were more. The regulars made the job interesting and also, a little irritating. As a private person I have an aversion to letting people know things about me. I like to think that I remain a mystery. When a person sees you, they know where you are and how you are constrained. A random person is full of possibilities. They could be from anywhere, be anyone, on their way to who knows where. But if you see them week after week, you know they too are stuck in the daily cycle of life. They work, sleep, and eat, going from point A to point B and back again. Familiarity either breeds affinity or resentment. I used to avoid being seen at the same place too often. I felt guilty about seeing the same people over and over again. I would know their secret and they would know mine. I knew that they worked at the gas station full time and they knew that I came down the same street every day on the way home from work. So I would go to different gas stations, take different routes to places and avoid going to the same place more than maybe once or twice a year. I think I cared way too much about what other people where thinking, confusing my own over-analytical obsessions with others. Now I don't care anymore. I fill up at the same gas station a couple of times a week, I go to the same grocery store even if its to get a block of cheese and a bag of tortillas. I even go out to the same place to sit and read. I think it all changed with Quiznos. I used to work around the corner from one and it was the best place in the shopping center for food. It was either Quiznos or walking further for worse food. You see, I had no access to my car at this time. Quiznos had two sandwiches that were vegetarian, and I enjoyed seeing the people that worked there. They knew what I liked, and never seemed to mind that they had to see me three to five times a week. In this instance, familiarity bred affinity. I was saddened when the guy there got another job roofing, and pleased when he came back from working the crappy roofing job. They said their goodbyes when I told them that I was moving back to Tulsa. So now I experiment with being a known variable. Maybe its better to be known. It still feels weird, and I wonder what people are thinking, but more so out of a sense of curiosity than anything else. My secrets are out of the bag. Except for my super secret blogger identity. HA! | 7.24.2004
A (unofficial) Kilgore Trout Appreciation Society Member Another night out with the Friday Night Boozers, henceforth known as the unofficial Kilgore Trout Appreciation Society. (Pending the blessings of Kilgore Trout himself) UPDATE: Its official, we're offical. We got the official go ahead last night from KT himself. Work on the charter goes slow, with an ongoing, heated debate about how we can make sure people know that we appreciate the "real" Kilgore Trout; author of Chaotic Not Random, marathon runner, and nobody's daddy, and not some fictional character invented by Kurt Vonnegut. Initial ideas for the uKTAS website were discussed, as well as for a fansite for myself. Discussion stalled though when it was asked aloud (how rude) just what... would go... on my fansite? I dunno. Isn't it enough that I came up with the initial idea?!! Myself, I was distracted by the rain and lightening outside and the random appearances of a certain stunning red attired beauty in my peripheral vision. Confounded Confabulation. I thought I saw girls in bikinis, he thought he saw girls in leather chaps, turns out we were both right. Founding member, and KT devotee, Sadie was still a little hoarse (sssssss), but sounded nothing like Demi Moore. I have to confess though, that this made her a little hard to hear, and that occasionally, amidst attempts to look behind me without moving either my eyes or my head, I missed a few things. I shall have to go back over the minutes of the meeting. So.. who took notes? NEW RULE! Next time we appoint a Secretary, whose duty it will be to hand out copies of the various emails we've received that week from KT and to record any and all witty remarks made throughout the course of the night. It is recommended that the secretary be the least inebriated of the group, be the least prone to frequent bathroom journeys, and be a chick. I have this vision of a court reporter, perched near the table, hands poised over her court reporter typing thing machine (Sadie help me out here), confused look on her face, trying to decide just how to type "Beerlaryness" in shorthand. (The part of JMJ will now be played by James Spader) Henceforth, Dr. JMJ will been renamed Sir JMJ in an attempt to increase his appeal to the English, who, we speculate, do daily searches for "fookin" "shag" and "sexy english accent". "Your search - "sexy oklahoma accent" - did not match any documents" Your search - "sexy okie accent" - did not match any documents. Bloody fookin' 'ell! | 7.23.2004
Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise Online: "The Bartlesville Doenges Ford Injuns could not have put a better ending to their final regular season game at Bill Doenges Memorial Stadium on Wednesday night." If only they could have worked in Drunken. I think I would be more upset about playing on a team that was a walking ad for a car lot. Al McKinney is a Democrat. His campaign so kindly left a flyer on my door letting me know where Al McKinney, Democrat, stands on the issues. Sounds ok, but just how do we do this, sans big money giveaways or punishments? Everyone does... very few politicians come out and say "I'm all about mega-corporations and their lobbying money!" Not sure what this means really, but if it means loose laws regarding polluting, then that might be bad. Pro-Life / Pro-Choice is not that big an issue for me, a guy. I tend to go Pro-Choice. "Traditional marriage" means discriminating against gays, I can't support that. HOW.... HOW... and uh... how? I always say, pay teachers well. "support the pledge" means keeping "Under God" in and making sure it stays fundi-liscious. Good... until you find out its easier to get money to build roads than to fix them. Sure.. do it. Vets deserve what they were promised. I can live with that. I don't mind gun owners. Most NRA members are cool. But I can't stand the NRA people that use guns as a wedge issue to drive voters to the GOP. Is it only in Oklahoma where the Democrats look more like Republicans than they do Democrats? Did you know that if you use the GeorgeWBush.com website to send emails to newspapers, you can click on the appropriate phrases you want to include, such as "The leadership of President Bush is unleashing the armies of compassion across our nation. I am grateful for his leadership and his call to greater civic duty. This issue is just one more example of how our President is providing the courageous leadership America needs"? Its true, and if you do this to send email to The Virginian-Pilot you will be sending Presidential Spam to a guy named Dave Addis that works there. Dave is not the editor, he's a columnist, and he just deletes the website generated spam. You see the Armies of Compassion are armed with an "automatronic robotic web site" (dave's words) that does all the thinking for them. Nice to know. Bonus points for knowing where the post title comes from. | schmutzie's the one for fun, except when she's not: "One of the reasons that I was leaving my workplace was that it was squashing my care for humanity. I had to put on a fake personality for so much of my day that I was becoming accustomed to seeing mostly the surfaces of things, and in doing so I had forgotten to look at people as more than being either a convenience or an inconvenience to me. I had ended up disassociating myself from my environment as a defensive measure, which had made me look upon Selma as little more than a nuisance, and now here this nuisance was sitting across from me with moist eyes and had just offered me a gift given out of what little money she had. " Great story. A little more insight on how your work environment can effect the way you view people, and humanity. | 7.22.2004
Preservation Online: Today's News Archives: Tulsa Newspaper Will Raze 1921 Building for Parking Lot: "Last week, the Tulsa World announced plans to demolish downtown Tulsa's 1921 Skelly Oil Building later this summer. The nine-story building, which the newspaper has owned since 1993, will be replaced by a parking lot." You can follow the link to see a picture of the building. You may recall that last week (or so) I remarked on how I think Tulsa should use its history as just one way to generate interest in the city. Quick quiz: How many cities have a historic building built for William G. Skelly (Mr. Tulsa) in the 1920's when Tulsa was known as the Oil Capital of the World? Ok, now how many cities have a parking lot? I don't know the details of the building, for all I know it could be on the verge of collapse. But it seems indicative of an attitude of laziness. There is a habit of avoiding core issues of transportation and design and addressing them with real solutions that leave valuable historical assets intact and provide for the needs of businesses. Lazy... yeah, sometimes I think that's the Tulsa way. Reading through the current news selectionof the Preservation Online website you get a general idea of what's happening around the country... Chicago restores its oldest house Bank building turned into schoolhouse Boston renovates Opera House Saratoga Springs bathhouse to reopen as spa Free lighthouses to good home Tulsa razes historic building. Way to go against the grain there fellows. That's showing some real leadership. Parking lots are visionary. Its not like there aren't quite a few REALLY nasty old buildings in downtown that could go, we have to tear down a cool one? But why stop there? At least five other historic buildings in downtown Tulsa are also scheduled to be demolished this year. Where's our city leaders? What? We have none.. just good ol' boys sucking off the city teat? I think the goal is to have all our historic buildings leveled in time for the National Preservation Conference to be held here in 2008. C'mon guys we can make downtown look like 71st street before then! | Right now I am listening to the Q&A session after the press conference releasing the 9-11 commission report. As a person that does not have cable, my access to information from television is limited to the network stations. They broke into programming to show the press conference. But now, as the Q&A continues and more information and discussion takes place, they have gone back to their regular programming. - Local News - A Soap Opera - Judge Joe Brown See, they do believe that daytime TV watchers are junkshow addicts that have little or no interest in the state of the country. | 7.21.2004
Jake is a smart guy and not prone to knee-jerk rhetoric like some of the others I've met at cam's site. So its a little saddening that he is willing to settle for four more years of Bush's madness because of some vague notion of Kerry that I have yet to hear anyone actually articulate. So far its been: The medals flap The "Its my wife's SUV" flap The Flip Flop flap Is THIS ALL YOU GOT!?! Make fun of his long face, his uppity filthy rich wife and his dour demeanor all you want but at the end of the day Bush is still a liar that mislead the American people, drove up the debt, and plays footsy with the religious whackos for political favor. I'll take that bet any day fools! So Kerry sounds like your garden variety politician? Ooohhhh how I long for the those days. Its like Bush was the answer to the age old question "Could it get any worse?" Yes... YES IT CAN, AND IT FUCKING DID. I'm sorry, I didn't think it was possible but Bush proved me wrong. I admit, I was wrong, it got worse. Jake said: I completely disagree that "it's obvious" that Kerry will do anything. We have no idea what Kerry will do. You're comparing hindsight of Bush and his tagalongs, with foresight of Kerry and his tagalongs. I'll roll the dice. Bush is a proven disaster. I would be happy if Kerry does any of the following: Assuming that Kerry will have to at least do the first one, I think its pretty obvious that I would be happier with him in the White House and the current gang of liars and thieves safely back in the corporate world. My idea is that FIRST, we return to where we were, crooked politics WITHOUT the lunacy, and work up from there. | Well, I finally broke down and bought an mp3 player. Yes, I know I am about the last person in the world to get one. I still don't have a cell phone either so bleeeehhh!! And no, I'm not cool enough to join the ranks of ipod ownership. I decided to go the flash route for price considerations. I don't need to carry around my entire music collection with me. I would however like an alternative to what I am doing now, which is burning mp3 cds to play in my portable. I dislike the size of the player when I want to take a few songs with me to listen at a remote location. I find that even a cd's worth of songs is more than I really need for any given occasion. I do however have a nice cd of Wilco, The Shins and Death Cab for Cutie that I've been listening to in my car for the last few weeks. I got two albums from each on a cd. My choice for an mp3 player is the mpio 128MB player with an additional 256MB card as well. My decision had alot to do with my ability to get these items at a discounted price. There just isn't much you can get off the fancy smancy ipod-like players. I can get about 100 songs on thins thing so I'm happy with that. I can just swap out the occasional song as I get tired of it. Its small and has an FM tuner and a voice recorder as well. So far so good. We'll see how I like it in a week. Also... (you mean there's more?) My sister got a pool. Nothing fancy, and it was a bit of a surprise for me. One day she shows up and says "Hey, dad and I are going to get a pool". She shows me an add for a 3000 gallon plastic pool that looks like its about waist deep. So, I spent the last Sunday helping to level out the ground with sand (7.99 a scoop at Sutherlands!) and trying to get the thing ready to fill. The box said "Ready for water in 15 minutes". We started at noon and didn't start filling the pool until around seven. I think the 15 minute estimate is one of those "if all the stars are aligned at you a championship pool assembling team" type things. I don't think we are particularly inept at this sort of thing, and truth be told we spent most of that time making sure the ground was level. We could have just laid out the thing on the grass and thrown in a garden hose. So I have access to a pool. Not a big one, but nice enough for a swim when the weather gets hot as freaking hell. That's a good thing. I know many of you are reading this and thinking "Well, I've always had a pool". But I say "Hey, I haven't... so grant me some excitement here." I used to house sit for a friend that had a nice, but small, in-ground concrete pool. I got paid to watch the dogs and make sure the pool stayed clean. I did this by inviting people over to hang out and go swimming. I'd keep the pool clean out of my own self interest. The rest of the time I took advantage of the DVD collection and home theater room. Good times... *End of Story* | 7.19.2004
OGL I hope not. Iran, unlike Iraq actually has a slim chance of dragging itself out of clutches of its theocratic rulers. I wonder what is with all the talk about Iran and Al Qaeda? In what I might consider a slap-in-the-forehead moment of stupidity the US announced that we might consider sanctions against Iran for not cooperating on nuclear issues. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell says the Bush administration will reconsider in September the question of whether to pursue U.N. sanctions against Iran because of its nuclear program. Mr. Powell discussed the issue Monday with the International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Mohamed el-Baradei. The reason I see this as stupid is because sanctions will only strengthen the leaders that are in power there and deprive the young generation of Iranians that want more wealth and openness of a chance at real reform from within. Did we learn nothing from Iraq? Sanctions only seem to work well if the nation gives in to the threat, otherwise you end up punishing the people of the country more than you do the leaders who can take control of what wealth remains and destroy their political opponents. That's what Saddam did in Iraq, another Middle East country that hosted a population that was well educated and open-minded. Even after a decade of sanctions he was still in power and the suffering had been passed down to the people of Iraq who in turn started to resent the world that was punishing them for the misdeeds of their leader. I think it would be a mistake to go the sanctions route with Iran. I also feel that it would be a strategic mistake to draw Iran into a direct conflict with the US. The Iranian leaders would have an easy time convincing their people that the US is making false claims simply to justify another Iraq-like invasion of a Muslim country. The ensuing hysteria would surely result in a crackdown on any liberalizing elements within the country and a return to a stricter form of government; all justified in the name of security. Our saber rattling will be the best gift we could give to the ruling Mullahs there. Pro-western elements would be branded as US collaborators and thrown into prison. The last thing we want if we hope to ever achieve a self-directed reform of that country. We need to find ways of empowering the reform movement in that country by making it worth their time to be loyal to our interests. We can do this with one of the most powerful weapons we have at our disposal: money. Cutting Iran off from outside sources of wealth will only precipitate their slide into hostility. | 7.18.2004
Most days I forget that I own a sports car. Sure, its fourteen years old and I got it primarily because it met two requirements: Hatchback for carrying around equipment (I was in a band at the time) and having at least a six cylinder. I wanted a car with something better than a four because I assumed that it would hold up better. I tend to think that fours are pushed too hard by highway and stop and go driving. Some days though I remember that I do have the latent ability to accelerate at something that might be called thrill-worthy. This day, with the sun not so bright, the heat not so debilitating and the wind just kind enough to blow I was reminded of my sports-car owning status. So on the way back from he grocery store I decided to take a nice little scenic detour. The popsicles would stay frozen for a few more minutes. (scuse me.. frozen fruit bars.) Set the stage. Back road, with signs posted: Speed Limit 35 MPH, Narrow Bridge; cows watching from behind flimsy wire fences, Maroon 5 cd in the player, singer singing about Sunday Morning (which is still a day away!) and me hoping that I wouldn't get stuck behind a tractor. Always a real possibility around here. Turn right past the boarded up Git and Go, slow climb up the hill where it always sounds like my tires are ripping velcro strips from the pavement, up and over the small hill and glide down into the low area where a truck is parked in the grass alongside the road, over the bridge, look right to see if anyone is out fishing on the creek, accelerate under the highway and brake as we enter the tree covered one lane bridge right before the neighborhood. Coast for a minute or two and punch it for the climb, over a narrow hill wide enough for maybe one and a half cars and we're up on the farmlands. Down once more and to a stop, turn right onto the good road and ride it out till we hit the neighborhood. Remember to check the fluids. Temp good, pressure good... fuel, ok. I have a slight grin on my face and the tops of my forearms are a little numb from the blowing wind. | 7.17.2004
Call it what you want, allegiance, loyalty, priorities, but what got me thinking about it was a little flag. It flew under Old Glory. It was white, with a field of blue in one corner enclosing a red cross. It was the Christian Flag. It got me thinking. We all have a list of things that we carry in our head. This above that, below this other thing. The first question that popped into my head upon seeing the Christian Flag was "I wonder whether they would put their religion above their country?" I've read things on the web that indicate that some (possibly a very small minority) would sell out their nation if they thought it would be God's will to do so. Or if they perceived that the will of the nation was not in line with the will of God a revolution would be in order. I don't even think about my own priorities very often. I think we internalize these kinds of things. I put religion very low on the ladder. I know others put it very high up. If I were to make a list of the top five things that I value most they would be: Family, Friends, Self Preservation, Humanity.. and everything else. I know some people would put pride, career, race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality etc. higher up in the mix than I would. But to me those things matter less. I would gladly sacrifice my pride to help a family member, I would quit a job in a heartbeat if I was needed by a friend. It matters little what race, religion or sexual orientation you are if you want to be friends or need help. I often wonder what kind of things that people put a high value on in their minds. | 7.16.2004
:: Xinhuanet - English ::: "Astrophysicist Stephen Hawking has back-pedalled on his arguments that a black hole swallows up everything that falls into it, according to a report on CRIENGLISH.COM on Friday. A new group called Astrophysicists against Stephen Hawking has formed with fundings from Richard Mellon Scaife and has called a press conference to say that former Hawking's collegues would not vote for Hawking for President, saying he was "unfit" to be Commander in Chief. HackEdwards.com has posted a series of articles illustrating the various "theories" that Hawkin has proposed over the years that have been "disputed" by many "respected" scientists. GrudgeReport has announced that there are rumors that Hawking may be faking ALS and was seen visiting a local abortion clinic with Hillary Clinton last year. Developing...!!! Michael Moore has been keeping the incriminating footage under wraps to fuel ticket sales of his next blockbuster documentary "Black Hole Sun Myung Moon". Fox News is reporting that Americans are still supporting OUR PRESIDENT. Hawkin may be an athiest, and is definately a liberal. ----- oh wait... you mean he's not running for president as a Democrat? Opps... so sorry. | .. and thus.. you can stop posting about. Wow.. doesn't it sound stupid when you say it out loud. Try it...say it aloud. Don't you sound fucking stupid? Well, thanks for the endless hours of boredom you've provided. Now go have an original thought. Yes, I'm being snarky. | 7.14.2004
American Family Association - AgapePress news: "'I can say with certainty that [the president] knows what the real score is,' Weyrich says. 'He feels he has to say these things -- and maybe if you and I were president, we'd have to do the same thing.' Boy, for while there I was feeling like a paranoid for suggesting that people saw Bush as a holy warrior leading the Christians in a holy war against Islam. Well, according to Weyrich, that's exactly what Bush is about, he only talks about Islam as a religion of peace to keep the masses from catching on? Comforting thoughts... But how deep is this belief amongst the religious nuts? I can only hope... not so much. (courtesy of Scrutiny Hooligans) | The last few weeks I've had the pleasure of hanging out with some fellow Tulsa bloggers. I mention this because a) I wanted to use the above title and b) because we don't even really talk about politics. We focus on our own stories and personal experience, because well, talking politics is kind of a bore. Politics, while important, are a pale shadow of what's really important, and that's people's lives and the stories they live. Our activities in the political arena should be towards the aim of making it as easy as possible for the most amount of people to live good lives. We should not have to think about getting shot down in the streets, or losing everything we own to thieves or corruption. We should not have to suffer needlessly in a society that has the means to provide each of use at least the basic level of human dignity. We should have the freedom to pursue our own interests and vision of ourselves with as little outside interference as possible. That most people don't focus their lives on politics is a good sign in many ways. It means that politics has become transparent in our lives. But we should not go so far as to ignore any threats to our way of life. There is a balance between nerdy fascination and negligence. I lean in one direction, others lean in the other. Living in a conservative place like Oklahoma has taught me that where people stand on the political spectrum matters less than their core concepts of right and wrong. Its a mistake to think that liberals and conservatives are opposites in how we view basic human decency. In general I can go great lengths into a conversation with a person without discerning their political bent. Its not until you start discussing methods for achieving our common goals does it become apparent that there are divisions. So I would encourage everyone to sit down with a person you might disagree with an just talk about your own lives outside of the context of political parties and ideologies. You'll be surprised to see how much common ground can be found. Especially if you grease the wheels with a few pints first. | 7.13.2004
Conservative and Right has posted some reasons why Bush is looking good in the next election. In doing so she posed some questions that I have attempted to answer. Because I am not a writer by trade I know that I did not always articulate my thoughts as thoroughly as possible and to do so would require a book of some length. But I hope you get the general idea and can fill in teh obvious holes for yourself. I've felt like I've dont this, but for the sake of having something to say I'll go over it again and provide some specific answers to some specific questions. There are many policies that I disagree with, but the bigger issue for me the is the deceptive methods of this administration. Behind many of the policy decisions have been shifting rationales. From the tax cuts that would reward the good economy to the tax cuts that would spur a sagging economy. From the invasion of Iraq that was about WMD and fighting terrorism to the invasion of Iraq that was about freeing the Iraqi people. I disagree with a constitutional amendment to ban gay marraige and regard it as divisive politics at its worst. I disagree with the re-institution of the global gag rule that makes it difficult to promote a RIGHT that we enjoy in this country. I disagree with an energy policy that pays too little attention to moving our economy away from dependency. Its like the terrorist attacks never happened. I disagree with the eduction policies that put way to much emphasis on testing and not enough on providing schools with the resources they need. I disagree with vouchers. I disagree with the detention of American citizens without giving them access to their constitutional rights to due process. I disagree with pushing laws that would weaken the right of women to have abortions as they deem necesary. I disagree with trade policies that I feel will enshrine corporate rights over national sovereignty. I disagree with his opposition to stem cell research. I disagree with his administrations attempts to restrict scientific research to protect their political donors. No, of course not, but it is fair to dismiss his presidency based on a pattern of behavior. I find that the GOP gives the religious right too much power over their policies to the detriminent of well... everyone else. I feel that Bush has no overiding vision for this nation other than pandering to the various factions that will fuel his political future AND that those interests do not have the interests of the country as their first priority. Not at all, most of what he aired in his film is common knowledge to people that follow politics. I've spent the last year following the president and his foibles. He could have included more damamging information but a documentary outlining the deception of this administration would look like Lord of the Rings, a three part epic. Yes, his version is in his presentation of the facts and the inclusion or exclusion of certain information. However, I don't think that people expressing their dislike for the preseident and his policies, as shown by the mother of a fallen solider, the soldier back from Iraq, or the soldiers serving in Iraq are false in any way. I'm sure there are people that hold similar strong opinions for the president as well. The truth is more elusive than any of us realize. I generally discount people that claim to know the truth without admitting that its all relative to their experience and access to good information. I disagree with the strategy and I disagree that we should be fighting a "war" on terror. Its a long thought that I've written about previously, but in general I do not believe that we will ever win against terrorism by methods of violence. The important lesson of 9-11 was that being the most militaristic and wealthy nation on the planet did not make us safe. We will only be safe by engaging the world and working to create societies that put extremists in their proper place, in the minority, shunned by civilization. Bush's method has only proven to the terrorists that if they strike us we will smite our own noses to get back at them. We have fallen into their trap of going tit-for-tat. The obvious answer would be to reform the intelligence gathering agencies and try to address the political climate that prevented good intelligence from getting into the right hands. I would make real efforts to address security holes and provide funding to people to provide that security. I would work to secure as much nuclear material as possible from around the world, especially from the former Soviet States. I would work on engaging countries like Pakistan and Saudi Arabia where many of the next generation of terrorists are now being trained in the religious schools there. I would not pass new laws limiting our own rights in this country. I would not call dissenters unpatriotic and anti-American. I would not throw out decades of good diplomatic relations over pettty squabbles...Sadly I feel that our current methods of dealing with terrorism has come down to needless displays of military muscle to try to protray an image of strength in a world where strength has little to do with sophisticated weaponry. Yes, I do. That was never the issue. Years ago people argued that exact same point when these same people that bleed for the Iraqi people today were saying "screw them". Now you care? Where we you for the past decade? I would also like all people to have food and clothes and a place to sleep. The issue is that the rationale for the war changed as each reason was exposed to be false. Nobody argues that the world is not better off without Saddam in a position of power. However, it is a distraction from the real battle to reduce terrorism. I do not agree that replacing Saddam with a American-led reconstruction project with minimal international support was the best way to help the Iraqi people. It should have been done better and if not for the irrational hatred of all things UN and an unwillingness to compromise we would have had a real chance to do it right. Bush showed a real lack of leadership in dismissing the concerns of the world when it was obvious that they were voicing legitimate questions. I would redeirect your trick question to Iraqis, who can speak for themselves. Kerry and Edwards are not my first choices. But I do feel that a Kerry presidency will go a long way towards repairing our image in the world, rebuilding the good faith of our word, and freeing us from the short sighted ideolically driven policies that have painted us into a corner. It would also get the religious nuts out of a position to dictate policy. That alone is good enough for me. I would also like to, once again, have a president that can articulate our national goals without resorting to vague language and Orwellian Doublespeak. | 
Clicking on the picture will open a new window with a larger version See more photos. Not much to say today... but I did find this post at Information Pollution interesting, enough so that I could think of nothing else today while I was out mowing the grass. Personal liberty is something that we must all strive for. I think, however, that if we keep in mind the goals of our society as we make our own personal choices in life, we should be able to strengthen both at the same time. If that involves sacrifice in the now, then perhaps the series of connected events that occur from your actions will come back and help you out when you're in need. I see it as a "can't have one without the other" type deal. Sometimes it takes the collective action of many individuals to secure their own liberties. And I don't think anyone ever wants to get to the point where all human activity is viewed through the lens of collective benefit. For what its worth, I think we need to reclaim the idea of collective responsibility. The ideals of community and social responsibility were around for a long time before we decided that any form of collective action inevitably leads to socialism. What has been demonized is not collectivism in any form, just those forms that threaten the established power structure. | 7.11.2004
Okiedoke - Vintage Okie opinion :: The same but different Mike is back with some fresh changes, to which I say "Hey why not?" I can't seem to go a month around here without fiddling with something, the colors, the fonts or the tables... Notice the new address: http://okiedoke.com/blog/ -- which is easier to remember than the last one.
Portrait of Nationally Acclaimed Folk Singer To Be Dedicated At State Capitol Senator Charles Ford announced the upcoming presentation of a portrait of singer, songwriter, and author Woody Guthrie, commissioned by the Oklahoma State Senate Historical Preservation Fund, Inc. The portrait by veteran painter Charles Banks Wilson will be unveiled Thursday July 15th at 12:00 p.m. in the Capitol rotunda. The irony? Well, it was conservative Sen. Ford that commisioned the work telling the artist that he could paint whatever he wished after the painter Wilson had turned down ideas suggested by Ford. | Why do I stay in Tulsa? I asked that question in Part One. I shall try to answer that question now. Like I said before, the short answer is my family. I have a good family that is mucho supportive and good to me. The longer answer has to do with my desire to see the underdog win. I don't like to give up and run away. I hate it when people just say "Tulsa sucks" and move away. Well, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that if everyone leaves then nobody stays to make Tulsa a better place for the next generation. The reason "Tulsa sucks" is because people like yourself bailed before you, just like you are bailing on the people who will come after you. There are people that choose to make Tulsa their home and are working to make their mark here. Its true that we have lost some of the big employers and it looks pretty grim on the surface of things. But these last few years I've seen something that I hadn't before in this city; young people starting up their own businesses, taking old buildings, cleaning them up and doing really cool shit with them. I've started hanging around downtown more often because people are doing something there. I think people have looked at this city, seen the cool buildings and architecture left over from the oil boom days and realized that with a little vision and hard work there can be some real character to this city. That's taking advantage of the natural assets that we have. But let's take a stark look at the city, what do we have to work with? We're not blessed with beaches or perpetual sun. We got crazy weather and a few lakes, but that's not going to get us far. A place like Tulsa has to make its own destiny, we can't just sit back and let our natural assets work for us, because we don't have many. So what, we're centrally located... big whoop! What makes our pervasive attitude against self improvement so devastating is that its the only way that we are going to rise above other cities and draw people here to live and invest. When you've not been given the goods from the start you have to make something for yourself; and that's going to take collective action. Things like infrastructure pay off for years to some. Like I was saying before, people are remodeling and polishing up those old art deco buildings from like 80 years ago. They were an investment that is now being realized yet again. The city leaders of today need to take a broader vision of the city and plan on future growth. But what can a landlocked place like Tulsa do to rise above the fray? Our saving grace can come from the growing realization among people that geographic location is becoming less and less of a factor in the viability of your business. No longer do you need to be physically down the street to be accessible. The new internet age has made it possible for a small business here in Oklahoma to have clients around the freaking world. It simply doesn't matter where you are anymore. It helps in certain situations, but cheap digital communications has paved the way for a world that relies less and less on physical restraints. So I might complain about how so few of the great bands come through town on their concert tours but really, I have access to just as much as everyone else when I go online. The internet has been the best thing in the world for rural parts of the world who have access. No longer are you punished with an information blackout by choosing to live outside of the city centers. If you can log on to the internet you can get access to the best information out there. You can sit around in Catoosa (a Tulsa suburb) and read the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal without ever leaving your house. How cool is that? (It also does wonders to cure our provincial and isolated view of the world...) So I might not get to see Wilco play live but I can learn all about when their new albums come out and read reviews and download songs just like some kid in the heart of New York City. And the best news? I can do so in a nice house with a yard and not get soaked on rent every month. So living in Tulsa doesn't seem so bad? Well, there is still no substitute for being some place. And that gets me to another gripe I have about Tulsa. I think its inexcusable that we don't have a cheap and easy way for people to get to OKC and Dallas without spending all day behind the wheel of a car. Sure, planes are great and fast, but they are expensive and post 9-11 not the most convenient way to travel. But trains, are nice. If we had a train that could get me to OKC in an hour I might be tempted to head down there every so often to enjoy the new arenas and development. I have to confess that the idea of driving back home after a night of partying is that LAST thing I want to do. But if I could crash on a train for an hour and wake up in Tulsa a few minutes drive from my house I would be tempted. Its simple you dumbasses, connect downtown Tulsa to Downtown OKC. Do it NOW!!! It will help the development on both sides, especially with a new arena being planned here in Tulsa. National acts will see the combined purchase power of the two cities and be more likely to come our way. Hey it works for Dallas-Fort Worth, who, by the way have invested in a rail connection. Connect Tulsa to Kansas City, OKC is already connected to Dallas. Do you see where I'm coming from? Make Tulsa part of a four city area that can share resources and population. Collective power. Make it easier for people to move around. And next, make it easier for information to move around. Find the people and business that are wanting to make an investment into high speed internet access and make it easier for them. Quit chasing those big corporate plants that are looking for mega-handouts, we just can't compete and I believe that in the long run it drains your resources. Instead look and find those young entrepreneurs that are going to INVEST some of their own time and money into making the city better and make it easier for them to get off the ground. It might cost the same money to help out a hundred small businesses but they, unlike the corporate behemoths are more likely to stay here and keep contributing instead of high-tailing it out of Dodge at the first whiff of money elsewhere. We might not be the next Silicon Valley but we can minimize the penalties people encounter by choosing to stay and live here. The easiest thing that people here can do is support local businesses that are making the city a more enjoyable place to live. That means getting out and spending money. How easy is that? But spend it wisely. Don't just go to Outback or Chedders or some other chain place. Look for a local alternative and go there instead. A city will not develop character by building the same chain stores as everywhere else. When a person thinks about living in a city they consider the "local flavor". If that local flavor is McDonald's then they might just pass. Consider that. (next time: Churches, Banks and Quiktrips... oh my!) | 7.09.2004
KTOK-AM Oklahoma City's News, Weather, and Traffic Station!: "A Russian Web site is selling a 30-minute video of a topless Cameron Diaz in a sado-masochistic drama she made 12 years ago. Somewhere there is a 16 yo boy that has pledged his undying loyalty to God for granting him his one and only wish. Now, getting mom to let him use her credit card to place an order for an S&M video from Russian might require further divine intervention. But as they say "where there is a will, there is a way", though in this case it will most likely involve a P2P network and a DVD burner. | G O P.com :: RNC Research: Who Is John Edwards? Holy Crap! The other day when I said that the opposition research guys at the GOP were already hard at work I had no clue that they had been working overtime to smear any of the top picks for the VP slot. More at This Modern World. Its interesting to note that many of the things that Edwards is being criticized for are in fact votes against Bush's agenda. It is noted that Edwards voted against medical malpractice "reform" (and those are very deliberate quotes) as well as voting against Bush's tax cuts. Good for him. Because why would I vote out a guy to replace him with one that was just like him? I find it hilarious that they are trying to peg Edwards as inexperienced considering their own choice of candidate four years ago. They really went for the heavyweight with little Bush last time didn't they? | 7.08.2004
AP Wire | 07/07/2004 | Veterans protest war in Iraq: "'I supported this war at first, when my administration led me to believe that it was the right thing to do to oppose the government of Saddam Hussein and free the Iraqi people,' said Capt. David Harris, a 12-year veteran who recently returned from Iraq." The question is... will the truth about Bush's deception and failure trickle out to the general public in time for the election? Will the GOP spin machine succeed in tarring the John's with the horrible stigma of being.... WEALTHY? (oooh irony you fickle mistress!!!) Will the fundies clamp their hands over their ears, shout LALALALALA, and vote for Bush anyways? While I don't feel comfortable making a prediction about the election I get the general feeling that the tide has turned against Bush and his policies. Even here in Oklahoma I hear people talking about the issues in ways that don't seem to favor Bush. So while he will still win the state I suspect that in swing states around the country, crucial supporters are making the decision to stay home. I find that lately, when I criticize Bush I no longer get angry rebuttals but resigned acceptance. There is just no way you can argue for the Iraq invasion with WMDs or terrorism. Both have proven to be false and those people that stood up for Bush on those grounds were left with egg on their faces. A year later we have found no weapons and the 9-11 commission has stated that no tie exists between the September 11th attacks and Saddam Hussein. So unless they can find Osama Bin Laden hiding in an Iraqi cave surrounded with Saddam's WMDs with framed pictures of Osama and Saddam hugging, they got nothing. Unless they want to run on the economy, and there, people know better than the rhetoric. You can tell people all day that the economy is booming, but unless they see it, they won't buy it. | 7.07.2004
"You're a bitter man," said Candide "That's because I've lived," said Martin ----- I've been trying for the last few days to think about Tulsa, in all its good and bad graces. Today whilst driving I noticed a small scale oil well planted in a overgrown field, put there as ornament. It stood about four feet tall but reminded me of the history of this city. Tulsa has become a city without a reason to exist. People used to come here to benefit from the oil. Its was the lifeblood of the city. The older, more orate buildings sprang up then. People have to have a reason to be or go some place. Most follow the opportunities that present themselves. Thus when Tulsa was flush with oil money people came and stayed, they built homes, they built community and the city grew. When the oil business dried up people moved on. In the not to distant past Tulsa's fortunes were tied to the aerospace business. Its still not uncommon to run into people that used to work for American or McDonnell Douglas. But that business too is drying up. In the last decade or so most corporations have learned how to grow legs and to use that new mobility to shop for incentives. A small city like Tulsa has a difficult time putting up the kind of dough most of these players are looking for. In a way, any city of a certain size will have its own inertia. The people here serve the other people here. The waiter shops at the grocery store and a certain amount of economic activity simmers. But without an influx of money from the outside its a meager existence that has little fuel to grow. We've seen development, but its been a building up of chain stores and restaurants. These businesses, while providing some jobs for the service biz, end up draining more out of the community than they give back. The developers make a bit, the construction people make a bit and the city makes a bit, but in the long run that money leaves Tulsa and goes elsewhere. Tulsa will not survive by building Walgreen stores on every corner. People won't be moving here to work at Chedders. They won't be tempted to stay here when those jobs exist in every other city as well. Why wait tables and live in a dinky apartment in Tulsa when you could do that some place with a beach, or a music scene, or better yet, a nicer job? What opportunity does Tulsa have to offer people looking for a better life for themselves? That question is answered by the scarcity of young professionals here. Its seems that anyone with ambition and a drive to succeed is forced to flee out of necessity. Being a reasonably educated single thirty something is a lonely situation here. So why am I here? Good question. The short answer? Family. The long answer? For another post. | 
Clicking on the picture will open a new window with a larger version See more photos. Tall oaks and lonely shadows in a sacred grove are sublime; flower beds, low hedges and trees trimmed in figures are beautiful. Night is sublime, day is beautiful. Temperments that possess a feeling for the sublime are drawn gradually, by the quiet stillness of a summer evening as the shimmering light of the stars break through the brown shadows of night and the lonely moon rises into view, into high feelings of friendship, of disdain for the world, of eternity. - Immanuel Kant | 7.06.2004
Kerry announced his VP pick this morning and I can just faintly hear the wheels of the right wing attack machine grinding in his direction. If reading through the right wing sites this morning is any indication, there has been no official memo sent out yet. Most are just talking about his lack of experience and his general trail lawyer evilness. But never fear, the opposition research guys are no doubt on the case and will be coming up with some insignificant episode that can be blown way out of proportion. Why do I say this? Well, the RW still has some hangup with Kerry and Ketchup, go figure? Its not like we'll be invading any countries to get access to their tomatoes. Edwards just doesn't inspire the kind of mouth foaming hatred as Dean or Gephardt. I've even read a few favorable remarks amongst the RW comments. Charm has that effect on people, you hate that you like him. Edward's rhetoric during the primary was very geared towards addressing class conflict, with his "two Americas" theme, more so than Dean who was derided as a moonbat socialist. Public perception colors people's view of the message. Its a shame really. I'll be going to see "that fat man's" movie today. I may or may not write about it. I guess being a political junkie took most of the fun out of the Michael Moore movie. With all this talk about how powerful the film is, I was expecting more. Hell, he could have spent an hour just on Bush's rise to power. A few key points: All in all, its information you should have already been exposed to. But alas, most people have not. | 7.04.2004
Backslider's Wine: Keep On Rockin' In The Free World...: "Kerry's just not bull-goose insane like Bush is, that's the most important difference." My feelings in a nutshell. Is it really asking too much to have a sane man run the country? Kerry's boring and he pretty much stands for all the same ol' crap that every other politician stands for. He's a decent guy who will try to do a few good things for the country and end up doing little more than maintaining the status quo. But its like letting the student driver take the wheel when the rest of you are all falling down drunk. Sure, its probably not as good as having Dale Jr. chauffeuring you home, but it sure beats spending the night in a ditch. | 7.03.2004
Favorite words...a few A nice L will stop a word, push it up against the roof of your mouth then push it out. ----- General words of wisdom : People make time for the things that truly matter to them. | Friday, in chronological order... Woke up, ate a cheese omelette and had some coffee. Afternoon, went and saw Spiderman 2. Awesome movie. Great story with one helluva fight scene involving a train. After the movie my friend J let me borrow his Bronica ETRS. Now I just need to figure out what all the buttons and knobs do.... Later that night, I hung out and had a few drinks with two unpretentious types; the adorable* Sadie and the supercool** JMJ. yeah.. good day. I even stayed off the sidewalks. * but not like red shoe waitress, or KD adorable ** not gay | 7.02.2004
Gordon Keith dot com (first seen by me on Camedwards.com : and you thought it was all right wing spin?) So Paige Davis, host of Trading Spaces gets a little dirty, stripper style? No doubt this will raise the hackles of the American Anti-Sex League. Who, despite being a minority in this country still manages to scare television executives into running from any star that even hints that they might know how to use their own sexual organs. So remind me again why naked women will be the downfall of civilization? We are a nation of repressed perverts. Husbands across the nation nod in agreement that its "shameful" that Janet's boobies came peeking out during the Superbowl then they rush to their computers to download the pictures, or video. Further stupidity? Several CBS stations are being fined up to 30K for the Janet "Wardrobe Malfunction". First off, they had no control over the event. Why fine innocent people just to send a message that boobies will not be tolerated? Second, The flag waving members of the AAL are the biggest closet perverts. They always get caught. Ol' Jack Ryan had to drop out of his race not because he is a dumbfuck for wanting his awesome wife to sleep with other men, but because it was about sex. I call it an example of poor judgement if anything else. "I can't vote for Jack Ryan now" "Why, because of the morals thing?" "No, because I don't want a guy that stupid running anything!" | This weeks... I'M NOT SCARED, R (1:55 long) Fri-Tue -- 12:45, 3:15, 5:35, 7:55, 10:25 FAHRENHEIT 9/11, R (2:10) Fri-Tue -- 11:00 am, 1:45, 4:30, 7:20, 10:15 SAVED!, PG-13 (1:45) Fri-Tue -- 12:40, 2:55, 5:05 ----- And I should be seeing Spiderman 2 tommorow. | 7.01.2004
OK, its been a while since I've covered this topic but I am still amazed by the sheer stupidity exhibited by both sides here. Liberal = free thought, free expression Conservative = Orthodoxy, authority (in a simplified nutshell) So taking that into consideration: Why aren't more Conservatives speaking at graduation ceremonies? Could it be that universities are traditionally institutions that promote free thought and free expression? Or is it a grand evil conspiracy by the liberals to stifle conservative voices? The Young America's Foundation spokesman feels it is "a real disservice" to students to prevent them from hearing a balanced variety of ideas at graduation. Last year he represented YAF on a panel about liberal bias on college campuses at the 30th Annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). Liberal bias on college campuses? What are we to do about that? Next they'll be telling us that there is a conservative bias in church. Isn't it dishonest to expect colleges, an institution dedicated to liberal ideas and values to give balanced time to voices that advocate a strict adherence to authority? Do we really want people like John Ashcroft, who thinks that giving a U.S. citizen the right to challenge their indefinite detention by the U.S. government an "additional right", speaking at a Law School graduation? Do we want people like Tim Lehay, a creationist with a whacked out apocalyptic vision of the future speaking to a crowd of engineering students? Or even better, would we want Bush up there explaining how terrorists are EVIL to some newly minted philosophy graduates? Hell, they'd either get booed or laughed off the stage. So we can't take this whining seriously. Its just another attempt to shame liberals into giving conservatives a bully pulpit from which they can denounce liberals and the value of free thought. And straight into my other peeve for today. What's with everyone calling their Public Relations "news". The NRA now has a news station. Can we take that seriously. We know they are a lobbying group for looser gun restrictions. That's fine, they have every right to do so. But c'mon, you know what kind of "news" to expect? Anchor: "This just in, assault rifle used to prevent burglary, let's go live to the scene!" Reporter: "Yes, Cam, thank GOD that this American Citizen had an assault rifle when this man [image of blood soaked sheet covering a body] tried to break into his home early this afternoon. Thank GOD for the second amendment right to BEAR ARMS. We're lucky the liberals and John Kerry have not had a chance to prevent this honest citizen from exercising his rights as laid down in the constitution. NO telling what would have happened had this event occurred AFTER the November election and a ANTI-GUN John Kerry had been sitting in the White House! Anchor: "Wow, I shudder at the thought! In other news.. we'll find out which guns taste better when shoved down your throat." Sure, you can editorialize all you want but don't try to dress it up as news. I can't even bring myself to call 80% of what's on cable "news" programs news at all. They're shouting matches. Its like Jerry Springer but with Capital Hillbillies instead of the real thing. What makes programs like NRA news any different from that "news" show late at night where the guests sit around and talk about the new "calcium" supplement? It all comes from this absurd notion that its fair because "the media" have been biased all along. The media is biased towards conventional wisdom, its how they can tell a story in such a short span of time. But once you assume its deliberate you can rationalize doing the same thing for your own views and dressing it up as "news". We all know what news is supposed to look and sound like. Its a reporting of the facts as they happen. We know editiorializing when we see and hear it as well. It pushing an interpretation of the news. Let's not confuse the two ok? (and yes, my satire of NRA news was an exaggeration) | |
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