the politics of sinclair broadcast group

This whoe mess with their refusal to broadcast Nightline tonight got me interested into what's going on there. It seems pretty obvious to me that they are censoring the news because they don't want the president to receive any more bad rap than he already is. It didn't take me long to find some evidence of that theory.

Searching the employer fies at Open Secrets for "Sincair Broadcast" I found a list of donations made by employees of that group, and at a glance it appears that a good 90% of them in the 2000, 2002, and 2004 election cycles have been made to Republican candidates and Republican groups (auch as the RNC).

Though SBG President and CEO David Smith seems to spread his money around to every candidate, Vice President Frederick Smith has given tens of thousands of dollars to Republicans and barely any to Democrats. Vice President and Secretary Duncan Smith has also donated to mostly Republican causes. Furthermore, the Sinclair Boradcast Group PAC contributed $14,600 in the 2000 election cycle, 99% of that money to Republican candidates (including the maximum allowable by law $5000 to George W. Bush). In 2002, the PAC contributed $11,000 to exclusively Republican candidates.

This, of course, adds fuel to the fire as to whose actions are politically motivated. The top three executives of SBG are highly vested in President Bush and have donated as much as is legal possible to him.

nightline redux

Senator John McCain, the only Republican I like, had this to say to Sinclair:

I write to strongly protest your decision to instruct Sinclair’s ABC affiliates to preempt this evening’s Nightline program. I find deeply offensive Sinclair’s objection to Nightline’s intention to broadcast the names and photographs of Americans who gave their lives in service to our country in Iraq.

I supported the President’s decision to go to war in Iraq, and remain a strong supporter of that decision. But every American has a responsibility to understand fully the terrible costs of war and the extraordinary sacrifices it requires of those brave men and women who volunteer to defend the rest of us; lest we ever forget or grow insensitive to how grave a decision it is for our government to order Americans into combat. It is a solemn responsibility of elected officials to accept responsibility for our decision and its consequences, and, with those who disseminate the news, to ensure that Americans are fully informed of those consequences.

There is no valid reason for Sinclair to shirk its responsibility in what I assume is a very misguided attempt to prevent your viewers from completely appreciating the extraordinary sacrifices made on their behalf by Americans serving in Iraq. War is an awful, but sometimes necessary business. Your decision to deny your viewers an opportunity to be reminded of war’s terrible costs, in all their heartbreaking detail, is a gross disservice to the public, and to the men and women of the United States Armed Forces. It is, in short, sir, unpatriotic. I hope it meets with the public opprobrium it most certainly deserves.

Who the hell voted Bush in over this guy? I, for the record, supported McCain in 2000 and would do so over and over again.

are we any better?

from Yahoo! News:

"They keep asking why we hate them? Why we detest them? Maybe they should look well in the mirror and then they will hate themselves," said Khadija Mousa from Syria. "What I saw is very very humiliating. The Americans are showing their true image."

"The liberators are worse than the dictators. This is the straw that broke the camel's back for America," said Abdel-Bari Atwan on Friday, editor of the Arab newspaper Al Quds Al Arabi.

This is, of course, in reference to the awful pictures of torture by the hands of US servicemembers that were broadcast by CBS news last night. You can bet that as a result of these pictures, there are hundreds, thousands, more pissed-off Arabs ready to die to kill us great Satans. I can't say I blame them.

These are war crimes people, they're nothing less. Those that committed them are war criminals. I have heard one of those that's been accused of participating claiming that they "didn't know" because their superiors didn't adequately train them in proper procedure, but it doesn't take Einstein to realize that stacking a bunch of naked, hooded prisoners into a human pyramid then leaning over it and smiling might, MIGHT, not be what general whoop-ti-doo might tel them if they did. No, what these service members did as wrong and we are all going to pay the price for it.

Things, of course, might be better if we were members of the world court and could hand these servicemembers over to the Hague and have them tried as the war criminals that they are, accept conviction and punishment (which would probably be the same as the ones they will receive here eventually...at least I would hope so), and thereby make as much restitution to the world community as is possible in such a case as this. As it is, they will most ikely receive court marshalls, receive their punishment, and forever be seen as "getting away with it" by those that hate us (even more now). That air of legitimacy just isn't there when a country charges its own people with crimes against humanity under international law (sort of like what Saddam's trial will be like in Baghdad).

move on, there's nothing to see here...

Tomorrow night, Friday, Nightline is planning to use it's program to broadcast the names of every serviceman and woman that has died in Iraq over the past year as a tribute to them. Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc., which owns stations in 39 markets, is ordering it's stations not to air the broadcast. They feel that it's a political stunt on the part of ABC news and do not want to air it.

What? The death of US servicemen and women is not news but "politics"? Since when? Certainly, it seems that the war itself was politically motivated and that these deaths then are the result of politics, but the "expression of respect which simply seeks to honor those who have laid down their lives for this country" as ABC calls is it not. It is respect to give those that died "protecting" this country a moment of light so that they can be more than just mere statistics...after all, they made the ultimate sacrifice of their lives. I think this stunt on the part of Sinclair is sad and disrespectful of those dead.

They have a statement on their website asking that those who question their decision, " question Mr. Koppel as to why he chose to read the names of 523 troops killed in combat in Iraq, rather than the names of the thousands of private citizens killed in terrorist attacks since and including the events of September 11, 2001."

The readings of names on Spetember 11 was done, ad naseum by groups and people all over the place. It is true that Nightline did not participate, but was that necessary given the name-readings done at ground zero and elsewhere? I don't thin so. In fact, according to the Wall Street Journal (reprinted in at Freepress.net), Nightline producer Leroy Sievers was inspired "by memories of a Life magazine photo spread during the Vietnam War. 'They did a spread of all the people who died in one week ? I've never forgotten that,' he said in an interview. The name-reading ritual also evokes anniversary ceremonies remembering the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks."

This seems to contradict Sinclair's reasoning behind removing the broadcast, instead suggesting that it's their motivations which are poitical here...

That is scary. Very scary. That a media company which operates substantial numbers of stations takes it upon itself to judge the intention of a repected news organization and censor news (and again, people, Americans are dying in Iraq, by the Humvee-ful...which is news whether you like it or not) from its public. This is why the monopolization of media outlets that is occuring in many markets is alarming. When a company, headed by a handful of people with all the power, can make the decision over what is and is not news...that's the tippy-top of a very high, very fast slippery slope towards a very un-American America of the future.

If Sinclair finds this broadcast so politically motivated and ABC news lacking the integrity to base their broadcasts in ideological activism ratehr than news, perhaps it's best that they sell their ABC stations and move away from that particular organization, rather than prevent the people from hearing what's going on outside our borders.

early half-birthday gift idea

This ambient orb thing is pretty kick ass. I want one. If anyone out there wants to shell out $150.00 to make kyle a very happy boy, getting this for me as a half-birthday present would do it.

publicity for ebay

This guy is cool, selling his ex-wife's wedding dress. It's worth a read and so I thought I'd share.

p.s. why do I always post so much when I'm drunk?

so close

Well, it looks like Arlen Specter won his primary contest. I was sort of hoping that he'd lose to his much more conservative opponent which would have virtually sealed a Democratic win in the Senate seat (and therefore possibly for the presidential vote given the way things work) come November given the Democratic leanings of highly unionized and urban Pennsylvania. It does say something though that Specter, who was endorsed for some reason by Bush, only won by a couple of percent...and that's that Bush's endorsement of the man didn't do him a whole lot of good. I mean, if Bush's endorsement doesn't lead to a landslide victory in the Republican primary, than it doesn't lend itself to a Bush landslide at all in the November elections...in fact, I dare say that Specter's mere edging out of his opponent is a bad sign for Bush.

...at least let us hope and pray that that's the case eh?

i'm pissed

...in the British sense of the word.

I can't remember the last time I felt this way, but my face is numb and my hands are feeling kinda freaky....

The problem is that I have the next four weeks off. FOUR WEEKS. This sucks. Financially, I can pretty much make it...all but a couple hundred dollars come time that June rent is due (assuming that's all I'll need given the fact that lazy-ass roommate is still unemployed -- suprise, suprise -- and I saw him at the bar tonight, sipping $5 drinks), but I can borrow that if push comes to shove, given my paycheck come June 11 will be very good. I hate doing that.

But sometimes you just HAVE to get wicked drunk, you know?

...sorry about about shuffling Bristish and East Coast slang.

...and sorry for my drunken typing skills too.

what an ass

I was just now flipping through the channels and stopped at Fox News long enough to hear Sean Hannity refer to the dropping of the atomic bomb on Nagasaki as "one of the best things we [the United States] has ever done."

This should be reported because this is an unacceptable statement for any "news" man to make.

back in the summer a couple years after '69

This is sad. It's sad how the Republican bullshit machine is going after Kerry for his Vietnam war experience and now his possible throwing of medals or whatever at an anti-war rally. First off, because the guy has been very open about the fact that he opposed the Vietnam war when he got back...an act of protest would only seem, um, kinda sorta logical, no?

But there's the issue of Kerry having at one time or another said he didn't do such a thing..."he lied!" the Republicans say. Um, where are those WMDs that were in all those pictures that Colin Powell showed to the UN security council? Thank you very much.

But to top everything is the simple matter of what George W. Bush was up to in the 70's. He wasn't fighting the war, he wasn't even protesting against it. He was doing anything but anything that was healthy for himself or the country... I mean, really.

I'll take throwing away military awards and lying about it over drinking, snorting cocaine, and dancing nude on a bar for responsibility, character, or any of that anyday thank you very much.

quick drop-by

Sorry I haven't gotten in to post much recently...I will later today...but I have added a few links and stuff to the left that you might want to check out...just to keep you occupied.

I'm out of work again, probably on Thursday (which is much better than when I thought I was going to be out of work last Wednesday since it means another $350-400 before on go on my unplanned vacation) so I will be posting a lot again soon. So much to write about, really...I hope I can remember it all. I've been having a lot of those sitting on a bus/in a friend's car/at work/at the grocery store profound and beuatiful thoughts moments with nary a computer or scrap of paer in sight to write them down... crap.

Anyway, I'm also thinking it's about time for a design overhaul of this blog so I'll be doing that soon too.

stupid roommates

Wanna hear something fucked up? My roommate is unemployed at the moment and, I think, hurting financially. He should be hurting financially at least...hopefully to the point of learning a lesson about being fucking retarded.

Anyway....that's not what this is about. Well, yesterday was sorta cold in Michigan...50 degrees or so with a good stiff wind of about 20 mph making it that much colder. The week previous had been rather warm, 70ish, and as such warm enough to open windows and turn the thermostat down to 50 or whatever so it wouldn't fire the furnace. I had turned it up however when the cold snap hit. Well, my roommate -- who's in charge of the gas bill in it's entirety (soething he wanted to pay himself rather than split all three of our mutual bills) -- turned it back down again while I was at work yesterday and let the apartment cool down well below 60. I get home and it's frigid in my room so I turn the thermostat on, up to 64 or something just to get some heat in my room. The furnace fires immediately, then again fifteen minutes later...just to attest to how cold it was.

In any case, it's finally warm enough and I'm sitting in the living room eating dinner and watching the Simpsons when he comes in and says in a semi-whiney voice: "Did you turn the heat on?". "Yeah," I said, "It's freezing in my room." Not a word he says, but stands their silently for ten seconds breathing loudly like he's pissed off (He was behind me and I wasn't about to turn around to answer such a stupid question and so I couldn't see his face)... I get the impression that y turning on the heat somehow is interupting his scheme to not work by not having to pay bills by not using heat, no matter how cold it is. After all, I should be willing to make the sarifice even though it was his boneheaded idea to quit his job...

But anyway, he hasn't spoken to me since.

It's pretty fucking pathetic if you ask me. I came home today and like usually said "what's up?" and he didn't even look at me. Not even a nod. Just a pout while continuing to stare at the television. Every time that we were in the same room together until he just left to play poker with his friends (yes, for money, even though he doesn't have a job...) he was very, very, very cold.

I'm only relaying this story because I find it funny. Funny, Ha Ha. This guy is 25 fricken years old and he acts like this....quitting jobs in the middle of recessions because he doesn't like them, giving his roommate the silent treatment because, God forbid, it's bloody cold out in and he turns the heat on accordingly, and otherwise acting like he's 12 years old. I am so bloody sick of this shit. Seriously.

If anyone knows of anyone in the Grand Rapids, MI area looking for a roommate, please e-mail me. That goes for anyone googling roommates in Grand Rapids or room for rent in Grand Rapids (anyone thinking of anything else to add in order to draw Googler's add them to the comments, I think it works). The rent is $325 a month and bills split evenly come to around $85 (I don't know for sure...given my roommate hasn't gotten on the budgeting plan and he never winterproofed the three storm-windowless windows in the the same room as the thermostat like I told him he should) on top of that. I'm quiet and spend most of my time in my room so I doubt it's that hard to live with me. All you have to be is more responsible than my current roommate (which shouldn't be difficult if you're over the age of, say, 17)...I'm really pretty lenient (I mean, I've put up with my current for 9 months of BS now). ...the sooner I find someone, the sooner I can say buh-bye to my current. Oh, and, of course, I need to give him a month's notice before I boot him so you should keep that in mind.

...okay, enough of the want ad. :P

fan-fricken-tastic

Mumblings of the draft

I just erased the long string of obsenities that occupied this space for the last hour because having calmed down I wanted to coment on one thing. Namely, something that Sen. Hagel said:

"There's not an American ... that doesn't understand what we are engaged in today and what the prospects are for the future...Why shouldn't we ask all of our citizens to bear some responsibility and pay some price?" Hagel said, arguing that restoring compulsory military service would force "our citizens to understand the intensity and depth of challenges we face."

I have an idea...why don't we institute the draft only for those that actually support Bush and his warmongering and actually vote for the guy this November? Like everyone between the ages of 18 and 25 who shows up and votes Bush gets handed a card telling the time and date they show up at the airport to have their heads shaved and asses dragged to the desert. Hell, not even the 18 to 25 year-olds...make it anyone in fighting health that so strongly believes that what we're doing over there is justified, let alone honorable or right. Fuck it, it's about time they put their skins where their mouths are...instead of driving around with flags plastered on their SUVs they should be over there taking one for the Gipper...or "Gumper"...I like that name for Bush...

we need a proctologist, stat!

Someone should take up a collection to get whatever it is that's stuck up John Thompson's rectum removed. Seriously, this guy has real issues. Writing the FCC because the word "shit" is mumbled under breath on 60 Minutes? C'mon.

With the world going to shit like it is these days, it's amazing what some people find important. I mean, Attorney General Ashcroft is starting up a war on porn and there are all sorts of people out there trying to pass a Constitutional Amendment that for only the second time in history (the first being prohibition...and see how well that worked) deny American citizens their rights. There all over the place too... And what's funny is that right now they're all ignoring the "war on terra" but the second the shit hits the fan and something bad happens (or rather, something "good" in terms of the Bush adminstration's approval rating) they snap to attention and start bitching and moaning about how real issues, like how the entirity of the human race outside American borders hates us, aren't addressed because the lousy Democrats are holding up Judicial nominees or some such bullshit.

Perhaps I've been watching too many zombie movies lately, but it's all like when a platoon of zombies are gnawing on the remains of the fifth to last guy in the movie when the soon-to-be fourth to last guy uncautiously rounds the corner and the zombies take immediate notice and action...

goodbye old girl

It's a sad statement about the world in which we live when I hear about things such as the closure of a local theater like the Wealthy Street. The remodeling and re-opening of the building five years or so ago completely changed the momentum of the neighborhood. Prior to it's remodelling, the corner a few doors down was one fo the busiest drug-dealing corners in Grand Rapids -- I know, I used to live two blocks down -- but as soon as the theater opened up, the neighborhood started calling itslef the "Wealthy Theater District" and sleazy liquor stores were refurbished into education centers and hair salons into banks. But now the centerpiece is closing.

I find it ironic because that area of town is literally less than a mile from houses that reach into the millions of dollars in value. Cars that cost more than the houses in the neighborhood drive down that street every day...sometimes those cars would park in front of the theater and their owners patronize any of the any events held there. But in the end, I guess, it wasn't enough.

It's strange to me that such a community resource that literally takes a neighborhood and spins it completely around from slum to hip in just five years should hurt for money. It seems strange to me that those that could help wouldn't step up to the plate and do so. I would if I could. Why, just two weekends ago the Wealthy Theater hosted a benefit film festival, but because of the cost, I couldn't go. I wish I had some money to give.

That's what I don't get. I don't understand the thinking of spending money on fancy houses and cars when the tiniest fraction of that could have so much power and do so much good. I mean, surely as people passed in their Mercedes SUVs adnd Hummers they saw how the community was becoming alive after many years struggling on the brink of death. Surely they could have helped, but they didn't. Bah.

Maybe it isn't their fault even. Maybe the theater was mismanaged or what have you. Maybe it's no one's fault at all. All I know is that the place was beautiful and a shining example of just what urban revitalization can do and how effectively and quickly it can do it. But that's all past. Hopefully even with her doors closing, the Wealthy Theater District named after her will continue to flourish.

see, it's a good thing that girl's don't like me

Pee pee go boom boom. Youch!

people who drive, suck

I just got back from the grocery store, which I got to on my bike. It is one and a half miles from my apartment. In that distance, I got almost hit on three separate occasions, two of them having just left the parking lot...both in the same intersection. Sitting on the crosswalk, waiting for the light to turn green, I stand by a car turning right. As I am going straight I go once the light turns green...so does he. I try to hit his car with my open right hand and miss, but tell him what I think of him anyway...he dives off. As I am still moving forward, a guy and his girlfriend take a real shallow left, trying to sneak in in front of me, almost hitting me in the process. I flip him off and tell him to he can do to himself...he has theballs to try and tell me where to stick it as if I weren't the one doing shit that could kill another human being.

The third near-death experience was one of the usual...not bothering to look both ways while turning. Bikes are slower and so people "just assume" that I won't get to their corner before they go. I've learned to anticipate this and correct myself -- either by hitting the brakes or swerving -- before it becomes an issue, so it's really a non-issue, I guess. But it isn't, you know.

I only mention this because I find it indicitive of the human condition as a whole. I've been thinking a lot about what's wrong with society and been able to whittle it down to just a few. I'm not ready with my thoughts to explain them in any sort of detail, but I have found one that transcends the others, and is in a lot of ways related to them, though I haven't figured out exactly how...whether it is the cause, the effect, or something else...but I think that the most major disease of the human race is our ego. We regularly put ourselves and our needs ahead of any and everyone elses...it's why conscience doesn't always stop murders from happening, and it's what drives a consumeristic society. ...It's also what gets me almost killed about once per every mile bicycled in my experience.

curse my luck

So I find out on Thusday that we're running out of work at work for a full bloody month starting sometime next week. Of course, the day prior I had spent $90 on eBay buying a new cell phone and a CD wallet (in order to finally ditch the jewel cases and free up some room). After coming home from work on Thursday, however, I find out that the Pixies (my jaw is still on the floor about them getting back together for a reunion tour) have added a fourth show in Chicago and that tickets go on sale on Saturday, but because Im not going to be working, I can't really afford them. Yay. That's all I got to say about that. I hate money, you know that? blech.

Anyway, I just got back from Kill Bill 2. Awesome.

the onion making real news again

I find this funny because I wrote about the Onion and how good they are just yesterday...but I guess in the city of London, Ontario there is a debate going on about making schools more "gay-friendly" or whatever and those opposed to doing so have been humiliated by having used an image from the Onion to prove their point. From what I can gather, it's the image from this article back in 1998. The woman who used the image, Marilyn Ashworth, said "We knew it was a gay paper and we hold that even as a joke, the gay community is proud of their advancements into the safe schools program in the U.S, we don't think homosexuality in schools is a joke." I wish I knew more, but the only article that I can find is currently unavailable and I can only go by the blurb mentioned in the Dailly Rotten and in a couple yahoo/google news searches.

I think it's funny because every now and then, every six months or so, a news story comes out that people took the Onion seriously and got all bent out of shape about something they read there. It's funny because they usually tend to be people of the stick-up-their-butt persuasion too and I just love for their ignorance to shine as brightly as it is deep.

I have to wonder how many people got worked up when this story ran with the picture of Clinton decked out like Qaddafi on the front page. I betcha "those people" were shittin' their shorts.

(Of course, liberals can be duped too...just read some of the feedback that Whitehouse.org receives...though it was better during the Clinton administration)

An a sadder note, looking back through the archives of the Onion, this article about the Bush campaign executing 253 Democrats to gain New Mexico's electoral votes in the 2000 elections is less funny than it was three years ago. I wonder why?...

the answers to some age-old questions

Zebras are white with black stripes it seems.

And, of course, that was just the segue for a joke:

A chicken and an egg are laying in bed after just having had sex. The Chicken is laying back relaxed and smoking a cigarette while the egg is restless, jittery, and otherwise not quite so satisfied. Noticing the egg discomfort, the chicken nudges it with a chickeny elbow and says, "I guess we answered that question once and for all".

fun wit bush's news conference

A quote: "One of my hardest parts of my job is to console the family members who have lost their life." -- George W. Bush

One of the things that really bothered me about Bush last night was his evasiveness with a couple of issues (well, to be fair, he was evasive with just about everything, but especially so with a couple issues). The first was the way he, when asked if made any mistakes before 9-11 and during the lead-up to war in Iraq, did not answer the question. He went through a litany of stuff that he repeated several times throughout the event but never came out and said "yes" or "no". I'm sorry, but a man (and especially one of such character as Bush likes to make himself out to be) has the balls to admit when he's been wrong. If he hasn't been wrong (or he feels like he hasn't been), he has the balls to stand up and say, "look, I haven't done anything wrong". Bush is not willing to do either. His evasiveness would suggest that he does feel he made mistakes but is unwilling to accept it publically and apologize for the pain and destructions that his mistakes lead to (also probably fearful of the reprecussions given it'd set him up nicely for impeachment and maybe even war-crimes trials).

Another quote: "a country that hides something is a country that is afraid of getting caught" -- George W. Bush

If the same could be said about, I don't know, Presidential administrations, then I think I lot could be said about their fears of being caught...caught with their pants down on Iraq, their economic policies, their energy policies, their fatherland, erm, "homeland" security policies and just about every policy given their secrecy, their declarations of executive priviledge all over the place and otherwise hiding just about everything that they do away from the public eye. Including what they're doing about the 9-11 commission.

The other evasive answer of Bush that really bothered me was when he was asked about appearing before that 9-11 commission with Dick Cheney and behind closed doors. When asked why he was appearing with the VP, he smirked and gave the non-answer of how he wanted to answer questions. When asked again he only smirked again and gave the same answer. He refused to answer the question that was obviously being asked (which was, and I quote from the Whitehouse's transcript, "I was asking why you're appearing together, rather than separately, which was their request."). It is a question that I think should be answered...why wouldn't each one be able to appear on their own? I can see why they'd want to hold their testimony behind closed doors as they are the president and vice-president and (I don't think) should be paraded in front of commissions like that, but why must they be together, and furthermore, why must their testimony not be under oath as they have insisted on its not being so? These are very important questions and the president's dismissal of them is really rather disappointing.

just a rant

Like I said in my last post, sorry I haven't updated in awhile...it's just been one of those weeks you know? Like today, I had a couple suprise days off last week on Thursday and Friday. Well, I had been planning on having my 15-year-old brother come and spend the night on Saturday so we could hang out and stuff, but I called we changed it to Thursday night (given tha he was on Spring Break). So anyway, all day Thursday and Friday until 6:30 or so we ended up watching Dawn of the Dead at the movie theater as well as five or six DVDs back at my place. We went to the mall twice to go to the arcade and stuff and rode across town twice on the bus to get there. On Thursday night our middle brother came over and we played cards, ordered pizza and otherwise had a brothers' night and, well, it all wore me out...

I spent Saturday recouping, Sunday at my aunt's for Easter and then work on Monday and Tuesday. Of course, that in itself wouldn't be so bad but for the fact that my roommate got in at 5 in the morning on Monday and promptly lit up a cigarette in his room which then filled his air with smoke, sending it into the heating ducts into my room, thusly waking me up at 5 in the fucking morning. For an hour or so I laid there, thinking I was trying to get back to sleep but in reality was thinking about how I was going to find me a new roommate who isn't so galactically retarded to think that jobs are growing on trees (and thus he can just quit jobs because he doesn't like them as I wrote about last week or whatever) and that the bedrooms in 100 year old houses are airtight (and that non-smokers actually enjoy the smell of second-hand smoke at five in the morning). Fuck. Now I've gone and pissed myself off again....

Anyway, because I was so tired due to my roommate being a complete and total asshole and retard I made the mistake of taking a nap on Monday when I got home from work...this of course made it so that I couldn't get to sleep until 2 in the morning that night, even after trying all the tricks I know for getting myself to sleep.

So today is actually a blessing in disguise I guess since I really needed to get some sleep and was able to sleep in today until 10 or so (after having woken at 7am like I keep doing on my days off lately because I'm too used to getting upa t 6:30) so I feel much better. I do wish I had more steady work however. I've been working for two months now and am already behind about $1000 or more due to rather frequent work shortages. That's to say, if I'd been working every day I would have at least an extra thousand lying around, or rather, working to take down some of my debt. As it is, I am making enough to live off of, plus some (I have about $400 saved up but that's it), but it's nothing like what I wanted. So now I'm looking for jobs where I can reasonably expect to work my 40 hours or whatever every week without having to worry about running out of stuff to do and therefore losing days of work...

...at least it means I'm making little enough to file for a economic deferment on my student loans. Hey, which reminds me, did you know that even if you were stupid and applied for forbearance on student loans (and therefore were accumulating interest) while on unemployment and later figure out that you could have gotten a deferrment where the government would have paid for most of your interest, that you can file paperwork that retroactively takes back your interest? It's awesome.

Anyway, just needed to rant a bit and also to explain why I haven't been around much. I just checked the stats too and I always feel guilty when I see people have been visiting and I haven't been posting. Sorry.

the news of tomorrow, printed today

What a sad commentary it is when The Onion prints a satirical piece that one year later is more or less the truth. Read this, which is from March of 2003 and tell me that this exact same conversion is not being had in coffeehouses and diners all over the friggen place. I mean, the Iraq war has come down to those of us who have been against it from the beginning (and the millions of converts to our side) being able to make rational arguments evidenced by newstories that fill the front pages of every newspaper and fill fifteen of the thurty mintues alloted by the networks for national news each night...versus those that still support the war saying "uh, no. You're wrong. Move to Canada" or some such bullshit.

But the Onion, a year ago, called it out precisely. That's a better track record than the CIA has going for it.



...oh, and sorry I haven't posted for awhile...it's been an extraordinarily long week or so for me. I hope it settles down soon.

comments

I don't know why they're being stupid all of a sudden. I didn't do anything but you have to click the little "check master dohicky" in order to see them. Blech.

This is how early I get up in the morning. It SUCKS.

you, guestmap, pin

here

thank you president bush

Depending on the news reports, between 13 and 17 US troops died today in Iraq as well as 7 yesterday and 11 on Sunday which marked the beginning of an uprisig among the Shiite population of Iraq, a group that until now has remained placid and willing to tolerate American presence as a means to the end of Saddam's regime. Thirty-seven Americans, dead in three days as a result of our waging war in Iraq. And this is just the beginning, now that the Shiites have started to rebel, there's no reason to think that they'll stop -- these sorts of daily casualities, I fear, are going to be considered low three months from now as the violence continues to escalate.

As a result, more US troops will be sent into Iraq along with more resources and more money...resources that would be better served fighting terrorism so that all Americans (and all the world) can be a little bit safer than serving to cover Bush's ass for making the as-to-yet meglomaniacal blunder of the millenium in diverting the "the war on terror" to the sands of Babylon in the first place. So, we have more troops dead and potentially more dead in terrorist attacks...committed by the thousands of new terrorists pissed off to the point of suicidal rage because of our action hither and tither around the globe.

Yes, people are going to die and we have much to thank our President for that. And that's why I thank him with every drop of cynicism and, dare I say, hate in my heart. Many (including Dean and Kennedy) have lately compared him disfavorably with Nixon as of late and I think that that's almost a compliment.

adaptation

I just got done watching the movie Adaptation and...wow. I see a lot of movies (usually at least three or four that I've never seen before, new and old, a week) and rarely do I talk about them here but when I do it's because they mpact me somehow. The last one was The Passion of the Christ which I think I made pretty obvious I loathed, and before that it was Big Fish. I link to the post I made about Big Fish because I wrote then that that movie felt as if it were made for me.

If Big Fish was made for me, then Adaptation was written about me.

So much of Charlie Kaufman's autobiographical main character is me...from the shyness and profuse sweating in social situations to the balding to the feelings of himself. From the way he battles so incredibly hard to stick to his principles and be independent in his writing to the frustration and loathing of his brother for learning how to write at a three-day seminar after which he creates a million dollar script. Granted, I'm not a screenwriter. Truth be told, my writing these days tends to stick to this blog and e-mails. But that desn't matter.

What matters is that in Charlie Kaufman's character I find the closest outside representation of me that I have ever seen on film. Sad as that may be, I find some peace in that I am not alone...assuming Charlie Kaufman truly did try to represent himself in the movie. Happiness, for me, can be found in that by the end...I knew what would happen and what happens (without giving the ending away) is everything that I want for my life.

quick note on numbers

I was just looking at the election poll numbers at Polling Report and noticing that even though Bush has spent $48 MILLION so far (and this is a month behind) on his uber-negative campaign of attacks on John Kerry (which, I don't know if it's a Michigan thing, is getting really annoying because I hear Bush saying "I approve this message..." at least once or twice per hour of TV and it's only bloody April) and is still either statistically tied or BEHIND Kerry in every single poll. Imagine what will happen when the recent spat of administration whistle-blowers reach a critical mass where even the most ardent Bush supporters and those living under rocks can't avoid giving it their attention, if only for a brief moment...

I can't wait for November 4...and then Januray 20 will be the second best day.

even matt drudge needs to report this stuff

I find it funny how just about every day there's something horribly wicked that comes out about Bush and/or his administration and how Matt Drudge tends to sweep it under the rug as much as possible.

Today, it's an article about John Dean's (Nixon's legal counsel during the whole Watergate "thing") new book in which he writes that Bush is more corrupt than Nixon ever was. He tells the Telegraph:

"Bush and [Vice-President Richard] Cheney are a throwback to the Nixon time," Mr Dean, 65, told The Telegraph last night. "All government business is filtered through a political process at this White House, which is the most secretive ever to run the United States.

"This is not in the public's interest. It's in the White House's interest, and the interest of Bush's re-election. The White House is being run like a private business, with the difference that it is not accountable to the shareholders - in this case the voters."

In any case Drudge reports this sort of news not in his huge banner at the top of the page (where one might find "John Kerry caught on film picking his nose!" in big bold letters if such a thing were to come to pass) but down below, lost in the snippets here and there...and with spin. For this one he writes: "BUSH IS THE 'MOST CORRUPT PRESIDENT', SAYS NIXON AIDE JAILED FOR WATERGATE PERJURY...". Note how he makes a point of discrediting the guy while reporting the statement. He's not just mentioned as having been Nixon's counsel (in fact, he's demoted to "aide") or having been jailed for his role, but also makes a point to point out it was for perjury, lying under oath.

You know, if this was just some nut with a website that'd be fine. And even though it is a nut with a fantastically popular website it's cool...Most people know of the DrudgeReport's leanings to the right and he has every right in the world to have those leanings and spout his BS to the world (heck, I check his site daily). The thing is, this seems to be the nature of the entirety of the Bush campaign for re-election...slander Kerry with bogus claims, try to tack on typical Republican attack buzz words like "anti-American" and "tax and spend liberal", and drag anyone that says anything not positive about Bush through the mud. There's no rebuttle on substance on any of these nearly daily charges of people who know something, there's only "well he was in charge of unearthing terrorist plots when the Cole was bombed so what does he know?" and "he was convicted of perjury so you can't listen to him". That's sad. It brings down the office of the presidency.

And as for John Dean's opinion...considering the man worked for Nixon, I think he should know a thing or two about corruption...it's sorta like Satan commenting on the August heat.

a veep sooner than usual

According to the New York Times, the Kerry Camp is planning on coming up with a running mate well before the usual annocement time of the month of the convention. There is just so much room for error here...I hope Kerry doesn't do something stupid.

There has been talk of Hillary Clinton being a running mate (though not in this article) but that would be disasterous as it would only make to anger many conservatives in the same way that democrats are angered by W. which is one of Kerry's strong points. A nobody like Richardson of New Mexico (well, not a nobody if you pay atention, but to the vast majority of Americans a nobody) or the like will not do much good. A soft spoken, likeable type like John Edwards would be good because he could take on the "southern charm" vote that's one of Bush's strong points. But the person I would most like to see is John McCain.

How brilliant would that be? I mean, if it could happen it would be a landslide victory for Kerry. Not only would you get the Bush-haters onboard, but you'd also get that rather large segment of the population that's distrustful of Bush but also weary of John "the tax and spend liberal" Kerry. In a sense, the liberals would have John Kerry and the moderates would have John McCain -- two high profile and decorated Vietnam vets mind you -- whereas the conservatives (those that haven't been turned off completely by Bush's fiscal and civil rights policies) would be all that Bush has left. It'd be a crushing defeat...one that wouldn't even require the Supreme Court to mettle in. That'd be grand.

Oh well...it's Saturday night and I'm thinking politics...must mean I'm drunk. :)

what i'm talking about

So I've mentioned how my roommate drives me nuts by being entirely irresponsible in just about every way, right? Well, now he's quitting his job. Quitting it for no other reason than he doesn't like it anymore. Does he have another job lined up? Hell no. What's he going to do? Live off of his tax rebate until he finds one (yes, this being the guy who blew $6000 in three months while working and just three days ago there was a letter in the mail that looked suspiciously like yet another check from yet another relative). "My old boss called," he says, "and I'll be able to work for him again, I don't know when..." and here's the kicker: "I'll just find a temp job that pays $10 an hour until then."

How FUCKING naive can a person be? How can he even think this so-called "plan" of his is even the tiniest bit workable when his roommate (who actually has marketable skills with writing, editing, and marketing experience and a college degree) just went through a hellish period of seven months of desperately seeking but unable to find a job...even a minimum wage paying position at movie theaters and stores galore? How the FUCK does he think he'll so easily be able to find work (and temp work that pays $10 an hour to non-college grads) when there is still a 7%+ unemployment rate in my neck of the woods that continues to grow with two large employers having laid off hundreds of workers in the last week or two?

In any case, this is one reason why I can't stand him as a roommate...how can I even count on him having rent money for next month when he is so damn retarded when it comes to the real world and how he fits into it? Fuck.

And, of course, it makes me think his girlfriend is even more retarded than ever...a single mother of two kids dating some guy who can't even begin to think about reasonably supporting himself. Scratch that first bit...a mother of three kids 'cuz I'm about fed up of playing the role of mother for the dumbass in abstentia of the woman from whose womb he escaped.

Sorry, sometimes I just need to rant, you know?

and the winner is...the neocon conspiracy

To all those dead soldiers and their families, your hardship is not in vain, you and yours died to protect a soveriegn nation though not your own...you and yours died for Israel:

Iraq under Saddam Hussein did not pose a threat to the United States, but it did to Israel, which is one reason why Washington invaded the Arab country, according to a speech made by a member of a top-level White House intelligence group.

Inter Press Service uncovered the remarks by Philip Zelikow, who is now the executive director of the body set up to investigate the terrorist attacks on the US in September 2001 - the 9/11 commission - in which he suggests a prime motive for the invasion just over one year ago was to eliminate a threat to Israel, a staunch US ally in the Middle East.

The Asia Times

This isn't a suprise really if you've read up on neocon philosophy who believe, above most other things, that anything and everything should be done to protect the state of Israel at all costs...obviously even the destruction of the United States' relationships with every other country in the world, even her allies. The tragedy, of course, is that not everyone is aware of the neocon movement and its desires as well as its foothold in the Bush adminstration with such high-ranking ideologues as Vice President Cheney, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, and especially undersecretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz.

What makes it that sad is that, if Philip Zelikow is telling the truth, is that the president did indeed mislead the country, making a case for war under one set of principles (though that "one" set seemed to change daily from 9/11 connections to WMDs to "freeing" the Iraqi people) when in reality there was one more prominent, more true reason that was held most secretly...that our boys and girls were sent over to die to rotect another country that itself was not under attack (i.e. not like Britain in WWII or South Korea in the Korean War). Our military was, in effect, secretly turned into a mercenary force to make the ultimate sacrifice for another nation...without the blessing, or even acknowledgement made to, the people of that so-called "democracy".

This is not to say that Israel is not our ally and not entitled to our protection if attacked, I believe that we would have that duty. But if this story is true (and according to this .pdf file Philip Zelikow did speak on that day at that school and many other news sources are reporting this story) then it is despicable that this motivation was kept from us (and, of course, it would have been kept from us because I highly doubt it would have been popular at all) and we need to call out the administration on it.