Notes From Atlanta


Wednesday, June 30, 2004
 

Fox News blurs nipple but shows full penetration.



Just go look! (NSFW)

People on Fark.com, where the link came from, have already been contecting the FCC. Also contacted was Bill O'Reilly. I dislike him, but he should have some fun with this at Fox New's expense. 


 

Not another flag battle!





Georgia Adds Swastika, Middle Finger To State Flag.

Guess. 


 

Help the Beastie Boys avoid the evil Neocons.



Triple Trouble!

Think Frogger 


 

Top Ten George W. Bush Complaints About "Fahrenheit 9/11"



10. That actor who played the President was totally unconvincing

9. It oversimplified the way I stole the election

8. Too many of them fancy college-boy words

7. If Michael Moore had waited a few months, he could have included the part where I get him deported

6. Didn't have one of them hilarious monkeys who smoke cigarettes and gives people the finger

5. Of all Michael Moore's accusations, only 97% are true

4. Not sure - - I passed out after a piece of popcorn lodged in my windpipe

3. Where the hell was Spider-man?

2. Couldn't hear most of the movie over Cheney's foul mouth

1. I thought this was supposed to be about Dodgeball

From The Late Show

Now watch this drive... 


Tuesday, June 29, 2004
 

Things are heating up in Cheneyville.



From the NY Times.

In the seventh inning, during Ronan Tynan's "God Bless America," they booed the sight of Cheney on the right-field video screen.


The sharks are circling, methinks.

Update: The "so-called-liberal" NY Times removed the part about Cheney being booed! Hmmm...

More- From the NY Daily News:

Steinbrenner also was asked about the unmistakable boos that were heard when attending Vice President Dick Cheney was shown on the scoreboard during Irish tenor Ronan Tynan's seventh-inning rendition of "God Bless America."

"A politician, always (gets booed). Rudy Giuliani, there were times when he had a tough time, too," said Steinbrenner, who mostly stayed away from his suite while Vice President Cheney's group was there. "He had his own party, his own people and I didn't want to get in the way of it."


Damn, even Steinbrenner didn't want to hang with Cheney. 


 

Mattel loses court battle to defend Barbie's honour.



Everybody should have a right to protect themselves from baseless and debasing sexual innuendo, particularly the kind that ridicules and humiliates. According to a US federal judge, however, that right does not extend to dolls - even Barbie.


And in honor of that, go see a really cool, not safe for work, Barbie animation. (Sound alert! Loud moaning and slapping sound alert!)

Barbie, meet Jerry Falwell. Jerry, neet Barbie. Barbie, meet the Rev. Falwell's mother...

 


Monday, June 28, 2004
 

Dale Earnhardt Jr. says that, politics aside, everyone should see Farenheit 911.



Freepers heads 'sploding all over the place.

Via Atrios, Freeperville was in a panic as Dale Earnhardt Jr. tells his pit crew to go see Farenheit 911. Free Republic has taken the thread down, rather ironic? Luckily somebody did cache it. You can view it here (part 1) and here (part2). Freepers are threatening to "Dixie Chick" his career. If that means selling out every concert on a tour, Dale must be sweating.

Highlights:

Just shut up and drive Junior!!!!!!!

--F.J. Mitchell


Dale Jr. is also a big fan of gangsta rap and one of his best friend is none other than Snoop Dog, as I recall. Dale Sr. must be spinning in his grave. There's no doubting Junior's talent as a driver, but if you're looking for role models in NASCAR, you can do better than #8...

--Spook86 [Note: Little Freeper racism?]


there is no sport more tied with sponsors than NASCAR.....isn't KFC a new Jr. sponsor? [Mote: More Freeper racism?]

--rface


Earnhardt's new sponsor KFC privatley asked Junior not to alienate its biggest (pun intended) customer. That's all. [Note: Even more Freeper racism?]

--Cooter


If we ruined the careers of the Dixie Chicks we can ruin the careers of Michael Moore and Dale Jr. [Note: Think sold out concerts.]

--pete anderson


I have always thought Jr. to be a buttwipe! [Who could kick this Freepers ass.]

--lawdude


DON'T WORRY ABOUT THIS. THOSE OL' REDNECK BOYS IN ALABAMA WILL STRAIGHTEN HIM OUT. [Caps Lock, "moran."]

--no dems


It's gonna backfire on the kid. He's gotten way too big for his (and his father's) britches. [Sr. has some big britches.]

--sarasota
 


 

David Lee Roth of Van Halen to become a paramedic.



Former Van Halen rocker David Lee Roth has quit music to become a paramedic.

...

Roth has moved from California to New York, and is living in a small apartment while he trains as an emergency medical technician.

He adds, "I want to be working in the outer boroughs. This city promises great color and insight in each and every neighborhood.

"On the upper East Side, it's gonna be heart attacks and stomach aches. But in other neighborhoods, it's all trauma."


I could be laying there with a compound fracture, and after seeing David Lee Roth pull up, I would get up and walk away saying "Nah dude, it is fine. I can walk, no problem. Just a flesh wound."

Uhh, did he quit music, or did music quit him? Zell Miller in reverse. 


Sunday, June 27, 2004
 

Needs no comment.



 


Friday, June 25, 2004
 

A naked bike ride protesting oil dependency.



Some bush against Bush. 


 

We trust Phil Liggett's cycling commentary about as much as we trust our uncle near an unlocked liquor cabinet.



I love this from a Velonews letter:

While we all love Phil Liggett like that crazy old uncle who just got out of rehab, we trust his commentary about as much as we trust that uncle around our unlocked liquor cabinet. Has there ever been such a legendary sports announcer who is so often absolutely wrong in almost every prediction he makes about a race? I personally love watching the mountain stages, because almost as soon as Uncle Phil says that a rider has been written off for dead, you see that rider launch an attack like he just strapped a Saturn rocket booster to his back. Drunk Uncle Phil's alternate view of reality is fun, but it would make a great moment for us in the audience to see him get called on his completely ludicrous comments.

You at VeloNews have connections with Bob Roll. Can you get him, just once this Tour, to respond to Liggett with, "Are you still drunk or are you senile?" or, "Phil, I think 'Little Robbie McEwen' is gonna whip your ass if he hears you call him that again?" You just know that Bobke has it in him.


And yes, Tour time is almost upon us. 


 

Profanity is a crutch for ingnorant motherfuckers.





My dick is this long, hard. And that is why my wife writes girl-on-girl porn. 


 

He destroyed you?



Why would you say that?

Monica Lewinsky says she feels betrayed by Bill Clinton's failure to acknowledge how he destroyed her life in his newly released memoirs.


I think you who destroyed your life when you blew a married man. Even if he was the one who did the pursuing, you could have said, "Sorry, I don't perform oral sex on married men." You were not a victim, you were a consenting adult. 


 

Malpractice not the cause for increasing premiums.



Insurance company greed is.

The A.M.A. has its crisis states marked in red on a map of the U.S. on its Web site. One of the red states is Missouri. But a press release in April from the Missouri Department of Insurance said, "Missouri medical malpractice claims, filed and paid, fell to all-time lows in 2003 while insurers enjoyed a cash-flow windfall."

Another red state on the A.M.A. map is New Jersey. Earlier this month, over the furious objections of physicians' representatives, a judge ordered the release of data showing how much was being paid out to satisfy malpractice claims. The judge's order was in response to a suit by The Bergen Record.

The newspaper reported that an analysis of the data showed that malpractice payments in New Jersey had declined by 21 percent from 2001 to 2003. But malpractice insurance premiums surged over the same period. A.M.A. officials told me yesterday that they thought the New Jersey data was "incomplete," but they did not dispute the 21 percent figure.

Last summer a legislative committee in Florida, another red state, put insurance executives, lawyers and medical lobbyists under oath in an effort to get to the truth about malpractice costs. When questions about frivolous lawsuits arose, Sandra Mortham, the chief executive of the Florida Medical Association, told the panel, "I don't feel that I have the information to say whether or not there are frivolous lawsuits in the state of Florida."


Want to stop the increase in medical malpractice insurance? Regulate the medical malpractice insurance business. Regulate it just like HMOs and Medicare Supplement is regulated. Limit the loss ratios these companies are allowed. In medicare supplement companies have to file refund calculations to show what their loss ratios are. Some states, such as Florida, have to refund premiums if the loss ratio is too low. No proce increases are allowed unless you can show that the loss ratio is too high. When this regulation is done to the medicare malpractice insurance industry, and we can see the raw data on who is making money, then we can further work to solve this "problem." 


 

Fair and balanced government.



While the Republicans scream about an estate tax, they call it a death tax, taking inheritance from rich people, they have no problem taking any assets poor people have, if they are receiving Medicaid for long term care.

Ruby Fair, 91, resides in a Louisville nursing home, with her care paid for since 2001 by the state's Medicaid program for the poor and disabled.

The 162 acres she inherited in Louisville, in east Georgia, is the only thing she owns of value. But that former farmland — in her family for decades — may go to the state under a new program that seeks to recover the state's costs for delivering long-term care.

Fair's son Roy and her daughter Pat Lamb were among family members and advocates for the elderly who testified Thursday at a state Department of Community Health public hearing on Georgia's plan to go after the homes and other assets of people receiving long-term care under Medicaid. The program starts in August.

"Are they going to bear down this hard on our elderly population and go for the jugular vein?'' Lamb said.


The Republicans won't go after the Bush sons for all the money the sucked out of the S&L scandal which cost the government over a trillion dollars, nor will they go after the Enron people who cost the government and people billions of dollars, but they will go after the property of sick elderly people who receive long term care. Lovely.

Pretty ironic that the people in the story are from rural Georgia, which voted overwhelmingly Republican. Kind of like the teachers who supported Perdue for governor, only to watch him do away with their raises. Will people ever learn? 


Thursday, June 24, 2004
 

My Life by the Big Dog.



On sale at Target for $21. Go get it now. No shipping, just take it out the front door with you. 


 

Gmail invites.



I have 6. Anybody want one? It rocks. 


 

Dog toy or marital aid?



A slightly perverted game.

Warmup round, 12 of 14 right. Difficult round, 11 of 14 right.

I was wondering what happened to some of my dog's toys during my divorce. I think I know now.... 


 

Max Cleland involved in new documentary.



Disabled vet says Iraq war a tragic error.

"This is Vietnam revisited in every way," Cleland, who lost two legs and an arm in a 1968 grenade explosion, said in an interview Wednesday. "I thought I'd never see it again in my lifetime. I thought we'd learned some basic lessons."

...

"The human loss of this misguided policy in Iraq is excruciating," said Cleland, who is campaigning for Democratic presidential candidate and fellow Vietnam veteran Sen. John Kerry. "It's the untold message of war, and one of the reasons I wanted to be involved in telling it was to make sure that people understand the costs involved."

...

The film paints a parallel between wars past and present during Cleland's conversations with Pvt. Alan Lewis, 24. Lewis' Humvee hit an antitank mine in Iraq on July 16, 2003. He lost his legs.

Cleland and Lewis talk in the film as they sit across from each other, the old soldier in his wheelchair and the young one stretching out new prosthetic legs.

Cleland also visits the family of Spc. Jamaal Addison, the first soldier from Georgia killed in Iraq.

"I'm hoping that this film sheds light on the fact that there were a lot of assumptions and misconceptions regarding the war that led us into this hell," said Addison's father, Kevin, a postal employee from Decatur. "It's gotten worse over time, and there's no sign of it getting better."


Another film everyone needs to see. Another film Bush and Cheney won't. Maybe that piece of garbage Saxby Chambliss can slander Cleland again because of this, telling everyone Cleland is as bad as OBL because he talks with injured vets in the hospital. 


Thursday, June 17, 2004
 

In Florida.



I am sitting on a beach in Florida, with a book and a drink. Odds are, you are not. See you next week. 


Wednesday, June 16, 2004
 

Are you ready?





Premiere June 25th. Show up at a movie theater near you, and party with everyone! 


 

20 Things You Have to Believe to Be a Republican Today:




1. Being a drug addict is a moral failing and a crime, unless you're a conservative radio host. Then it's an illness and you need our prayers for your recovery

2. The United States should get out of the United Nations, and our highest national priority is enforcing U.N. resolutions against Iraq.

3. Government should relax regulation of Big Business and Big Money but crack down on individuals who use marijuana to relieve the pain of illness.

4. "Standing Tall for America"; means firing your workers and moving their jobs to India.

5. A woman can't be trusted with decisions about her own body, but multi-national corporations can make decisions affecting all mankind without regulation.

6. Jesus loves you, and shares your hatred of homosexuals and Hillary Clinton.

7. The best way to improve military morale is to praise the troops in speeches while slashing veterans' benefits and combat pay.

8. Group sex and drug use are degenerate sins unless you someday run for governor of California as a Republican.

9. If condoms are kept out of schools, adolescents won't have sex.

10. A good way to fight terrorism is to belittle our long-time allies, then demand their cooperation and money.

11. HMOs and insurance companies have the interest of the public at heart.

12. Providing health care to all Iraqis is sound policy. Providing health care to all Americans is socialism.

13. Global warming and tobacco's link to cancer are junk science, but creationism should be taught in schools.

14. Saddam was a good guy when Reagan armed him, a bad guy when Bush's daddy made war on him, a good guy when Cheney did business with him and a bad guy when Bush needed a "we can't find Bin Laden" diversion.

15. A president lying about an extramarital affair is an impeachable offense. A president lying to enlist support for a war in which thousands die is solid defense policy.

16. Government should limit itself to the powers named in the
Constitution, which include banning gay marriages and censoring the Internet.

17. The public has a right to know about Hillary's cattle trades, but George Bush's driving record is none of our business.

18. You support states' rights, which means Attorney General John
Ashcroft can tell states what local voter initiatives they have a right to adopt.

19. What Bill Clinton did in the 1960s is of vital national interest, but what Bush did in the '80s is irrelevant.

20. Trade with Cuba is wrong because the country is communist, but trade with China and Vietnam is vital to a spirit of international harmony. 


 

The AJC on Bush and torture.



Our Opinion.

When asked three times at a recent news conference whether the United States was torturing prisoners overseas, President Bush could have said no. "No" would have been the appropriate response from someone who prides himself on simple, direct language.

But the president did not say no.

Instead, each time he was asked, Bush sidestepped the torture question by saying that he had ordered American officials to abide by U.S. law and treaty obligations.

"The authorization I issued was that anything we did would conform to U.S. law and would be consistent with international treaty obligations," he said the first time.

"What I've authorized is that we stay within U.S. law," he said the second time he was offered a chance to repudiate torture.

"Look, I'm going to say it one more time," he said the third time. "Maybe I can be more clear...


What is the definition of "is."

Our use of torture will only lead to more torture around the world, including torture of our soldiers. The US is supposed to take the high ground. We ar supposed to be better than other countries. This administration is taking us to the level of middle eastern countries, not only through the use of torture, but also with the crackdown on demonstrations, free speech, and the branding of political oponents as traitors. It is time honor and dignity be restored to the White House.

Even Bush, in the same news conference in which he sidestepped the torture issue, described our mission in the Middle East as "advanc[ing] the universal values of human dignity, freedom, democracy, the rule of law, economic opportunity and social justice."

The universal values of human dignity, freedom, democracy and the rule of law cannot be advanced through the use of torture. And all the lawyers in the world can't change that.


Sadly, when the AJC writes about supporting what makes our country truly great, they will be attacked by conservatives as being liberal, commie scum. 


Tuesday, June 15, 2004
 

Truth is stranger than fiction.



An alligator walks into a bar... no, wait, I mean a travelling salesman walks up to a farm... no wait... a blind guy, his guide dog and a man who had been drinking hop onto a golf cart...

They say the blind man, Samuel McClain, drove the golf cart Saturday along two miles of winding paths through Peachtree City before crashing into a parked car.

Along the way, Michael Johnston gave the driver directions, after having drunk six or seven beers and "admittedly under the influence of alcoholic beverage," police said.


I've been mighty drunk in my day, but never drunk enough to let a blind man drive. 


Monday, June 14, 2004
 

And then when you need a divorce...



A story about how doctors want to refuse to treat lawyers who handle medical malpractice lawsuits.

A doctor's proposal asking the American Medical Association to endorse refusing care to attorneys involved in medical malpractice cases drew an angry response from colleagues Sunday at the annual meeting of the nation's largest physicians group.

Many doctors stood up to denounce the resolution in passionate speeches even after its sponsor, Dr. J. Chris Hawk, asked that it be withdrawn.


This just goes to show that only 50% of doctors graduated in the top half of their class. Luckily smarter doctors showed the doctor what an idiot he was, and the resolution was pulled. Hopefully somebody will point out that it is not medical malpractice suits that are jacking up rates, few ever get settled and fewer ever go to court. It is the small percentage of doctors who should not be practicing medicine, the doctors who refuse to police the profession, and the greedy insurance companies who are using the example of a few lawsuits to jack up rates so that they may make a bundle that are causing rate increases. If doctors want lower malpractice rates, they should clear the bad doctors out, and ask for government regulation of medical malpractice.

If that doctor ever needs a lawyer, I hope they all go tell him to go jump in a lake. Let him represent himself against his wife's attorney. 


 

Smart people write letters to!



People are finally starting to get it. Read the first three letters. The first one is my favorite.

Administration's moral compass lost.

I immigrated to this country from Holland in 1952, having lived through the Nazi era, and have always been emboldened by America's quest to right wrongs. Other than during the McCarthy era, this country has stood for justice and the rule of law. We corrected the wrongs of child labor, women not being allowed to vote and Jim Crow. We have always moved forward, closer to a more perfect union.

However, the prisoner abuse scandals at Guantanamo, Afghanistan and Iraq have made it clear that the Bush administration, using Sept. 11 as an excuse, has taken us backward. Ignoring the rules of the Geneva Convention has put our own soldiers at risk and cost this country its moral standing in the world. I think the administration has lost its moral compass.

And shame on those who excuse this behavior as a necessity of this war because it is against a globalized enemy. What will they say when our solders are captured and treated like we treated the Iraqi prisoners; what will be their righteous indignation then?

LEO KLEIN
Marietta


And remember, you can write letters to the editor. Be polite, short, and truthful. I've had three printed this year, so they'll print anybody's. 


Friday, June 11, 2004
 

They write letters.



And sometimes people get it.

Thou art hypocrites

The ridiculous assertion that Southerners support President Bush because he's a Christian is more than I can stomach ("Southern Christians like Bush's faith," Letters, June 9). Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton are Christians, and conservative Southerners seem to harbor an intense hatred for both of them.

Maybe Bush practices a particular brand of Christianity that can be detected only by a particular brand of Southerner. I'm familiar with it. It's called hypocrisy.

ERIC PEARSON
Atlanta


Republican christians are good. Democratic christians are panderers.

I went to the Jefferson-Jackson Democratic Fundraiser Dinner this year. Because all the officers wanted free dinners, I ended up being the only Democrat from the company going. I had to listen to all these bozos tell me that if they could have lunch with anybody, it would be Jesus, and how great "The Passion was. When a black minister got up to give the benediction, they all scoffed, made comments about Democrats pandeing to black christians, and kept saying how the place was starting to resemble Ebernezer Baptist Church. They just could not see their own hypocrisy. For some genetic reason, Republicans are unable to see hypocrisy or irony.  


 

Is this who Democrats want representing them in Georgia?



Ex-wife says candidate made intimidating call.

U.S. Senate candidate Cliff Oxford, trying to neutralize domestic violence allegations by his second wife, now has been accused by his first wife of trying to browbeat her family into silence.

Oxford's second ex-wife, Caryn Oxford, has said she will support his candidacy despite their acrimonious divorce, which included allegations of domestic abuse. But Oxford's first ex-wife, Christie Oxford, will not be cheering his high-profile run for office.


Why can't we get a normal kind of guy, or gal, to run. This is garnage.

In the divorce file, Caryn Oxford, who also lives in Cobb County, said she had "been spit upon, slapped and frequently backed into corners" by Oxford.

Oxford denied any physical violence against his wife, but accused her of attacking him on 11 occasions with "scissors and fingernail files."


Either the guy is a wife beater, or a wuss. Either way, he was unable to sit down, talk with his wife, and work out problems. Is this really the guy we want in the Senate?

Cliff Oxford's first marriage was dissolved on July 10, 1993. He remarried 10 days later.


Damn! Are we sure he is not a Republican? Sounds like Gingrich or Barr. 


Thursday, June 10, 2004
 

Ray Charles passes.



Bummer! 


 

Just a reminder.



From Boondocks:

Remember, a vote for George Bush is a vote for photos of butt-nekkid men on my television.

...and thats nasty if you ask me.


Boondocks also reminds us:

Now, as nasty as Clinton was, even he never did anything that resulted in me seeing pictures of nekkid men on TV - and I respect that.
 


 

Just ran across this movie poster.



Looky!

I would love to find some of this guys TV shows on DVD, like the whole series. 


 

GOP hoping Zell Miller will attend the GOP Convention in NY.



May not be a bad idea for him to attend the Republican's convention, since he most certainly would not be welcome at the Democratic Convention. Hell, he is not even allowed to caucus with the Democrats in the Senate.

For now, Miller is keeping mum about his plans. Asked whether he would attend the GOP convention, Miller replied, “I don’t know. I’m not going to the Democratic convention.”

...

Miller no longer attends the party’s weekly luncheon meeting, after slamming Democrats in his book, A National Party No More: The Conscience of a Conservative Democrat.


I think Andre Rison would be more welcome at the Falcon's training camp that Zell Miller would be at the Democratic Convention. 


 

Thank God some Republicans will say no to Bush.



House panel rejects Bush's nuclear plans.

A House subcommittee told the Bush administration Wednesday to rethink some of its plans for nuclear weapons, including development of a "bunker buster" warhead.

The panel refused to provide money for development of a nuclear bunker buster, a weapon that can destroy a deeply buried target. It also denied funding for research into the feasibility of a low-yield "mini-nuke" warhead and for work on a new plant to produce plutonium triggers for the warheads.


At least there are some folk in Washington with some brains, just not int the Whitehouse. All we need is another nuclear arms race, be it large or small warheads. 


Wednesday, June 09, 2004
 

New book of quotes.



From "Take Them at Their Words: Shocking, Amusing and Baffling Quotations From the GOP and Their Friends, 1994-2004.", via Salon.com.

"God said, 'Earth is yours. Take it. Rape it. It's yours.'"

-- Ann Coulter, "Hannity & Colmes," Fox News, 6/20/01


"[Environmentalists] are a socialist group of individuals that are the tool of the Democrat Party ... I'm proud to say that they are my enemy. They are not Americans, never have been Americans, never will be Americans."

-- Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, 8/19/96


Pete: "You probably weren't even born when Kennedy was killed, right?
Wayne: "Ted Kennedy was killed?"
Pete: "Yeah. There'll be a party at my place later." [Laughter].

-- Fill-in hosts for Kim Peterson, WGST/Atlanta, 9/11/03


"Kurt Cobain died of a drug-induced suicide, I just -- he was a worthless shred of human debris."

-- Rush Limbaugh, Lumberjackonline.com, 4/8/94


"[Gun-control activist Sarah Brady, wife of former White House press secretary Jim Brady] ought to be put down. A humane shot at a veterinarian's would be an easy way to do it. I wish she would just keep wheeling her husband around, wiping the saliva off his mouth once in a while -- and leave the rest of us damn well alone."

-- Talk-radio host Bob Mohan, New York Times, 1/1/95


That last one really shows the hatred of the right, what they accuse the left of. A man who was injured during Reagan's assasination attempt, and they can speak such of him and his wife.

And now for the irony, which the right never gets:

"Black ministers should not be involved in politics ... I thought there was separation of church and state."

-- Talk radio host Bill Cunningham, WLW, Cincinnati, 2/20/95


White religious folk are allowed to get into politics, just not black religious folk. I have a better idea, how about only churches that have not had religious leaders involved in pedophilia get to be involved in politics. 


 

Reagan and Saddam.



The liaison can be dated from the summer of 1982, two years into the bloody Iran-Iraq war. Iraq was losing, with Iranian forces advancing deep into Iraqi territory. Saddam was desperate for help, and he found it at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, where Ronald Reagan decided that Iraq must not be defeated. Almost immediately, despite the fact that Iraq was then on the official list of terrorist nations, U.S. support began flowing to Baghdad, including precursor chemicals for chemical weapons.

The friendship was not without occasional disputes. In 1986, it emerged that Reagan, while aiding Saddam, was also providing assistance to the Iranians. In fact, during a bloody battle on the Fao Peninsula in January that year, both sides were operating with U.S.-supplied intelligence data. Reagan had to apologize to Saddam for two-timing him, make up for it by stepping up assistance to the Iraqi dictator.

There was one last favor for Reagan to bestow on his Baghdad pen pal. After an Iraqi chemical attack slaughtered some 5,000 Kurds in the city of Halabja in March 1988, there were moves both internationally and in Congress to issue protests and sanctions. The Reagan administration quietly stymied all such efforts. That's what friends are for.

In the light of their friendship, it would be only fitting if Saddam, wherever he is, were allowed to join with other world leaders, past and present, in expressing his condolences at the passing of a faithful ally.

-Andrew Cockburn, co-author of "Out of the Ashes: The Resurrection of Saddam Hussein"


Of course Bush makes close friends also, like Chalabi. 


Tuesday, June 08, 2004
 

War records.



Kerry: Volunteered for the Navy, as an ensign on a frigate off the coast of Vietnam he requested a transfer to a swift boat in country, some nortoriously dangerous duty. He was awarded 3 purple hearts, a bronze star and a silver star- how one conducts themself well.

Bush: While training in an oboslete fighter in Texas, he ceased flying wasting our taxpayers money that paid for his training, and requested the notoriously dangerous duty riding a postal company desk in Alabama, where it is alledged he did not report. He did not receive any citations, DUI or others, of which there is a written record.

Reagan: Was a famous soldier, in the movies.
 


 

Even Libertarians write letters to the AJC.



From an out of state Libertarian:

Trooper reflects Atlanta's tripartisan support

Attending the Libertarian Party's recent national convention, my wife and I found the downtown facilities excellent and Atlanta one of the friendliest cities we had ever visited.

A Georgia state trooper was so concerned about our safety that he decided to stop us alongside five lanes of I-75 traffic to cite me for not wearing a seat belt. I don't think he was a Libertarian, though.


I am sure the Libertarian did not want the police officer to help him properly adjust his seatbelt, but if he had been robbed, I bet the police are who he would have called first. Gotta love Libertarians! 


Monday, June 07, 2004
 

Oh yeah, it is coming!



Fahrenheit 9/11 trailer.

Is that 10cc? I just love hearing the old political rock and roll being used again. It touches me like no other music does.

Update: That would be Ten Years After "I'd Love to Change the World," featuring Alvin Lee's blistering guitar. I can't believe I missed that? 


 

Reagan without revision.



How can they call him one of the best Presidents with a straight face?

I did not say anything yesterday about Ronald Reagan's death. The day a person dies he has a right to be left alone.

But yesterday is now history, and Reagan's legacy should not pass without comment.

Reagan had an ability to project a kindly image, and was well liked personally by virtually everyone who knew him, apparently. But it always struck me that he was a mean man. I remember learning, in the late 1960s, of the impact Michael Harrington's The Other America had had on Johnson's War on Poverty. Harrington demonstrated that in the early 1960s there was still hunger in places like Appalachia, deriving from poverty. It was hard for middle class Americans to believe, and Lyndon Johnson, who represented many poor people himself, was galvanized to take action.

I remember seeing a tape of Reagan speaking in California from that era. He said that he had heard that some asserted there was hunger in America. He said it sarcastically. He said, "Sure there is; they're dieting!" or words to that effect. This handsome Hollywood millionnaire making fun of people so poor they sometimes went to bed hungry seemed to me monstrous. I remember his wealthy audience of suburbanites going wild with laughter and applause. I am still not entirely sure what was going on there. Did they think Harrington's and similar studies were lies? Did they blame the poor for being poor, and resent demands on them in the form of a few tax dollars, to address their hunger?

...


Go read this blog entry. Very enlightening. It gets into other issues including how Reagan is partially repsonsible for the Taliban and other muslim extremist groups. A bad president with frightenly bad policies. 


 

Ronald Reagan dead.



66 Things to remember about him.

The firing of the air traffic controllers, winnable nuclear war, recallable nuclear missiles, trees that cause pollution, Elliott Abrams lying to Congress, ketchup as a vegetable, colluding with Guatemalan thugs, pardons for F.B.I. lawbreakers, voodoo economics, budget deficits, toasts to Ferdinand Marcos, public housing cutbacks, redbaiting the nuclear freeze movement, James Watt.

Getting cozy with Argentine fascist generals, tax credits for segregated schools, disinformation campaigns, "homeless by choice," Manuel Noriega, falling wages, the HUD scandal, air raids on Libya, "constructive engagement" with apartheid South Africa, United States Information Agency blacklists of liberal speakers, attacks on OSHA and workplace safety, the invasion of Grenada, assassination manuals, Nancy's astrologer.

Drug tests, lie detector tests, Fawn Hall, female appointees (8 percent), mining harbors, the S&L scandal, 239 dead U.S. troops in Beirut, Al Haig "in control," silence on AIDS, food-stamp reductions, Debategate, White House shredding, Jonas Savimbi, tax cuts for the rich, "mistakes were made."

Michael Deaver's conviction for influence peddling, Lyn Nofziger's conviction for influence peddling, Caspar Weinberger's five-count indictment, Ed Meese ("You don't have many suspects who are innocent of a crime"), Donald Regan (women don't "understand throw-weights"), education cuts, massacres in El Salvador.

"The bombing begins in five minutes," $640 Pentagon toilet seats, African-American judicial appointees (1.9 percent), Reader's Digest, C.I.A.-sponsored car-bombing in Lebanon (more than eighty civilians killed), 200 officials accused of wrongdoing, William Casey, Iran/contra. "Facts are stupid things," three-by-five cards, the MX missile, Bitburg, S.D.I., Robert Bork, naps, Teflon.


-David Corn, The Nation. March 2, 1998


How about a few quotes?

"I am not worried about the deficit. It is big enough to take care of itself."

"Trees cause more pollution than automobiles."

"All the waste in a year from a nuclear power plant can be stored under a desk."

"Approximately 80 percent of our air pollution stems from hydrocarbons released by vegetation, so let's not go overboard in setting and enforcing tough emission standards from man-made sources."


And finally...

"My name is Ronald Reagan. What's yours?" –introducing himself after delivering a prep school commencement address. The individual responded, "I'm your son, Mike," to which Reagan replied, "Oh, I didn't recognize you."

 


Thursday, June 03, 2004
 

Rabbi has bad words for Madonna.



Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, the former friend and adviser to Michael Jackson, has attacked the Material Mom, calling her a "slut" and a "vulgarian."

In a startling essay for SomethingJewish.Co.UK, the Rabbi blasts Phillip Berg, the head of the Kabbalah Centre, for letting the Material Girl be the religion's highest-profile spokesperson.

"Earth to Phillip Berg: Do us all a favor and dump Madonna as your principal spokesperson," Boteach writes. "Sorry to be so crass, but Madonna is a slut. Yes, she may sing, and she may dance. But she is famous for being a slut. And no religion dare have a slut as its principal representative."


He then suggested that the playful and childlike Michael Jackson is available for spokesperson jobs.

The national Catholic Priest Union, CPU, is currently in talks with Jackson to be their spokesperson and perhaps to perform at their national convention. Jackson may also sing there. 


 

Another serious disconnect from reality.



Condoleza Rice:

As President Bush begins a week of foreign diplomacy, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice insists that he will one day rank alongside such statesmen as President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

...

"When you think of statesmen, you think of people who seized historic opportunities to change the world for the better, people like Roosevelt, people like Churchill, and people like [President Harry] Truman . . ." she said. "And this president has been an agent of . . . historic change for the better."


Better? What one thing is better now than it was when Bush stole, .... er, ... assumed office? I think we should quit worrying about past drug use, and concentrate on current drug use.  


 

Don King campaigns for Bush.



Yes, that Don King.

Don King, the wild-haired boxing promoter, is touring the country with Republican National Committee chairman Ed Gillespie to tout President Bush's re-election.

...

King's rap sheet makes him an odd choice for Bush front man. He was convicted in the 1967 beating death of a man who owed him money and spent nearly four years in prison. In 1954, he killed a man who was robbing a numbers house he operated in Cleveland, but it was ruled self-defense.

King also has beaten tax evasion and fraud charges, faced numerous lawsuits from boxers and their handlers and endured three grand jury investigations and an FBI sting operation -- all while cementing his status as one of the world's top boxing promoters.


Pretty much the same credentials as much of the Bush Administration. He should fit right in. Everybody loves the law and order party. 


Wednesday, June 02, 2004
 

Traffic engineers are idiots.



Engineers closed part of the 85 North to 400 North exit ramp today in an effort to reduce backups.

Unsuspecting commuters trying to exit I-85 north to Ga. 400 got a blood-boiling surprise Wednesday morning when they found one of two exit lanes had been crossed out.

The resulting bottleneck backed up traffic for miles, ticking off confused drivers who could have sworn there were two lanes the day before

...

[Spokeswoman Vicki] Gavalas said department engineers believe once drivers get the hang of the single-lane setup they will merge sooner and reduce backups.

"We think there is a bit of a learning curve," Gavalas said. "We're asking folks to bear with us the next couple of weeks as we evaluate the impact."


Yeah, reducing the number of lanes usually has the effect of improving traffic flow. Where do these idiots come from? How did they get engineering jobs?

You know, this stupidity ranks right up there with not including a 85 South to 400 North ramp when building this interchange. "Oh, nobody would want to go from 85 South to 400 North! Dum de dum." 


 

Bush vs. Kerry.



Bush training in Texas to fly an obsolete aircraft, requests a transfer to an obsolete desk in a postal unit of the Army National Guard in Alabama. Records question whether he ever showed up.

Kerry serving a combat tour of duty on a frigate off the coast of Vietnam, requests a transfer to a swift boat on the Mekong Delta, Vietnam, in the middle of combat. He earns three Purple Hearts, a Bronze Star and a Silver Star.

Coward vs. Hero. 


 

And they say Democrats wish for bad things to happen...



From Salon.com on Enron traders:

CBS News obtained a videotape showing potty-mouthed Enron traders gleefully cheering on a forest fire that shut down a major transmission line in California ("Burn, baby, burn") and generally gloating over bringing on and cashing in on the energy crisis in the West four years ago.


Lovely, cheering on events that ended up with millions of people being raped on their energy bills. Who else but Republicans.  


 

He gets it.



Jim Duvall writes the AJC:

We had to close our small business, which included two carpet retail stores, because we could not compete with big business. Now we hear that Georgia spent millions to help big business ruin small businesses ("$19 million in public money spent on Wal-Mart in Georgia," Business, May 25). That is using our tax money against us.


Little light bulbs are starting to light up in people heads. Subsidizing big business is not a free market economy, it is favoritism. Small business cannot compete against that. Your tax dollars keeping 5 members of the Walton family on the "Forbes Richest People in the World List." 


Tuesday, June 01, 2004
 

Idiots write letters.



Mel Steely of Carrolton writes to the AJC:

I was amused by professor David Franklin's overwrought sense of self-importance as he castigated Zell Miller.

It is clear that ol' Zell has mellowed -- a few years ago, he would have gone to teach at Young Harris College anyway and dented that young prof's ego by whipping his butt.


Zell Miller could not whip Ann Coulter's skinny ass. I doubt David Franklin is sweating any threat Zell Miller could throw at him. Zell Miller is known as "Zig Zag Zell" from all the times as a kid, Zell would run when the kids from the grade below his would chase him trying to whip his ass. Zell would zig to the right, and then Zag to the left. He would run like a drug dealer on Peachtree Street with a pocket full of crack and a wake full of cops. 


 

Rush in Charlotte.



Let me say, this was a great concert. A selection of songs from a 30 year career, video selected from a 30 year career, serious musicianship, a band making fun of themselves, and the return of the doubleneck! Wow!

Jerry Stiller officially starts the show in a video- Wakes up, "What? Did I miss the show?" As the band kicks into an instrumental medley of old favorites, he is dancing and air guitaring away. Hilarious.

Last tour, Vapor Trails, there were three clothes dryers on the stage behind Geddy, as opposed to a huge stack of Marshalls. This time there were two dryers and a vending machine. It was amusing to see a roadie casually walk onto the stage during the concert, put quarters into the dryers to start them up after they had stopped, and then casually stand behind Geddy looking at the selection in the vending machine before getting himself a mid concert snack.

Rush has recorded, and will release in June, a CD of covers. They chose old songs that inspired them to become musicians for this project. The first to be unveiled during the show was The Seeker. Great choice for them to cover. The second was during the short acoustic set where they played Buffalo Springfield's Heart Full of Soul. Geddy nailed the vocals. During the encore they covered Summertime Blues and Crossroads. Alex was blistering during the solos on both of these.

Surprises during the show were many. My favorite was Between the Wheels, which I don't think Rush had played since the Grace Under Pressure tour. The crowd exploded, except for the kid sitting next to me, who a minute into the song was tapping me on the shoulder, "What song is that!?" When I saw the return of the doubleneck, I knew Alex was about to launch into Xanadu- another song that had been mothballed for a while. (That must not have been the original white double neck, since Alex said in an interview many years ago that an elephant stepped on the guitar, ruining it.) Finally, during Working Man, the crowd was treated to a montage of 30 years of video, showcasing Rush's fondness for really bad haircuts throughout their career, and a tendency to dress like the Golden Girls during the 70's. I could not take my eyes off the video screen.

There was no surprise in Neil's drumming. Without a doubt one of the best in the business, and most drummers will say the best. His is the only drum solo that does not bore me, and the only one that has me yelling for more.

That Darned Dragon was a clever video spoof of bad televisions shows of a bygone era, that featured our favorite band as bobbled head dolls out to save the world from that darned dragon. Nice to see a band that does not take themselves too seriously.

It is always nice to hear the band crank into the first few parts of 2112. One of the greatest riffs in rock and roll. While the crowd was yelling during this, I think there was a let down from the fans on the Rush in Rio concert DVD. After seeing just how nuts the Rio fans went, I was waiting for the fans in Charlotte to do the same. They didn't, and I don't suppose I should have expected them to. Rio is just a different world, with people who celebrate on the edge.

Jerry Stiller ended the show on the video screen asking why we were still there- "Isn't 31 songs enough for you? Shoo!"

It wasn't enough, but I will take 3 hour and 20 minute concert any day. Worth every minute of my long drive to Charlotte. 


 

Ask the Pilot gets it.



An excerpt from Ask the Pilot's new book.

The preoccupation with Weapons of Mass Distraction gets back to a stubborn fixation with the September 11th template, assuming any sequel is bound to unfurl around a do-it-yourself arsenal similar to that used by the original 19 skyjackers. Terrorists, the intercepted messages and payrolled tipsters inform us, are again targeting airliners. But while I don't know exactly what an al-Qaida operative might have in store, I'm skeptical of one thing, which is the likelihood of another suicide skyjacking. The skyjack model, it's critical to note, is forever changed, as never again will anybody believe a purloined plane is headed to Havana, Beirut, or anywhere but into the side of a building. I can't imagine anybody making it two steps up the aisle, to say nothing of into the cockpit, with less than a bucket of pinless grenades balanced on his head.

...

Antipodal as it may sound in the current climate, the true deadly weapon on Sept. 11 wasn't anything tactile. It was surprise. The tool of choice, had it been boxcutters, butter knives, or bare knuckles and a shod foot, was effectively unimportant. We needn't scapegoat airport workers, the FAA, or anybody who wears the uniform of an air carrier.


It was not what the terrorists carried on, it was the flaw the terrorists found that brought down the World Trade Center. Basically, people are taught to do nothing but sit calmly and wait when hijacked. That will never happen again.

From Social Engineering Fundamentals, Part I: Hacker Tactics:

The one thing that everyone seems to agree upon is that social engineering is generally a hacker’s clever manipulation of the natural human tendency to trust.


Never again will passengers trust that hijackers will fly them safely to Cuba, or any other country. Anytime somebody hijacks an airplane, passengers will attack and take bake the plane. They will never allow themselves to be flown into the side of a building. Stopping people from taking tweezers and nail clippers onto a plane does not make anybody safer. When our government finally realizes this, maybe we can actually concentrating on making our airlines, and our country, safer.

Ask the Pilot sure uses some big words- Antipodal? 

News and notes from Atlanta, and a touch of national stuff, as seen by gttim.




Georgia for Dean



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