Just a reminder that the NAOBFis happening this weekend, starts at noon Fri-Sunday at Overlook Park. This is my favorite brewfest of the year. It doesn’t get crazy crowded, there are tons of fun beers to try, and it’s always an all-around good time. I’m helping Dave Knowswith his story about it this year, so double-stoked. See you there.

okay, police violence sucks. It’s a drag that unarmed people get shot. Lately, I’ve been putting together some tips I’ve picked from my years of experience not getting shot at by the police in an effort to help people avoid the short barrel of the law. First, you can take a preemptive strike and keep the police away in general. Try to avoid situations in which housemates and loved ones feel the need to call the police in regards to you.

Okay, I’m pretty frustrated with the more liberal party right now. Tuning in, there are two major themes right now. Health care and Fort Hood. These are both important issues, but I am not liking what I’m hearing. First, Fort Hood was a tragedy, plain and simple. But the theme that I’m hearing on the (left) radio is almost a defence of of Hasan for the pressures he was under. Laying the onus on the military, that they didn’t listen enough.

I was pretty excited about V. It was bringing back what in my mind was the original miniseries, and a nice bit of sci-fi. But this time with a budget and awesome effects and some hindsight on making a great series. Plus, I wrapped BSG and 4400 up pretty recently and need a new sci-fi serial fix. I watched the pilot last night, and was a bit disappointed. 4400 was great, and there are some strong ties to that show here, between Joel Gretcsh and Scott Peters they really raised the bar.

The debate has been serious this summer. From touchy questions on sides of buses to annoying comments on blog posts to occasional legal debate. The community has been vexed by this question: Is a bicycle a car or a pedestrian? To help shed light on this problem, beerdrinker has gone undercover, actually riding his bicycle most days, frequently more than 25 miles. I’ve been thinking about this question for quite awhile, but it really came to a head (or mine) when Webtrends posted their controversial question on Portland’s public transportation: Should cyclists pay a road tax?

Thank you City Hall fold for helping us to bring Major League Soccer to Portland. Just so you know, we’re all really excited about it. We have a massive underground presence here. Not that you’d know it from the sad lack of soccer bars in this town. The funny thing about that is that ballers like to drink. With a bit of love, you’ll have a well-supported locale. But enough about that.

Rob L of the Oregon Brew Crew posted this to our listserv in a conversation about a new beer tax proposed in Oregon. He makes a number of lucid points. And doesn’t just complain but proposes action. Oregon HB2461 surprised me. Actually, at first it was shock, then disbelief and anger. Now I’m ready to do something about it. Jim P wrote: Cost of producing each keg (tax is production cost) would go up $25.

K-smacky alerted me to this. Prohibition ended 75 years ago, an event which opened the door to true American innovation. After the innovation of Prohibition expired…speakeasies, booze runners with false bottoms, etc, opened the doors to a new age of enlightenment. In fact, some would argue that it was the repeal of Prohibition that directly contributed to the space program, nuclear physics, and the internet.

So, I’ve been working on an idea. Devalue the dollar. Print money. Lots of it. My idea is to print money and use it to help people pay mortgages. Bottom up principle. Save people’s houses. Keep the notes good. The banks stay solvent. Everybody’s happy. Of course, what if you don’t have a mortgage? I guess that’s a bummer for you because your dollars are being devalued as well. I’ve been trying to think of a better solution.

‘”Change has come” and we can all work together for a better and united future for all in our country and worldwide.’ That was my mom in the comments tonite. We had a fun little election party, and for the first time in a long time, we ended up happy, not just wiser. And we cheered. McCain’s speech was great. That McCain may have won the election. He was honest, sincere, honorable, clear, and inspiring.

Okay, last email here. Hopefully I can make it count. The topic for today is what are you afraid of? I’ve had a lot of conversations with people who “don’t like either candidate” but are voting for McCain. My question for them is — Why? What’s wrong with Barack Obama? Sometimes you don’t trust him, sometimes he’s not experienced enough, sometimes, you can’t really express it. What has Obama ever done to break your trust?

A good article by a conservative voting for Obama. Cliff notes version: It’ll devalue Jesse Jackson. He’s more fiscally responsible. Better foreign policy Better relationship between foreign policy and the military Obama is cool, calm, and collected. He’s intellectual about his Christianity I’m not sure what he’s getting at here…I think it’s that he’ll help ease the generational divides.

Sent: 10/22/2008 It appears that internally, at least, al-qaeda and other terrorist organizations support McCain’s candidacy. Makes sense, considering how successfully the war in Iraq has divided the country, emptied our coffers, exhausted our military, and alienated our allies. “Al-Qaeda will have to support McCain in the coming election,” said a commentary posted Monday on the extremist Web site al-Hesbah, which is closely linked to the terrorist group. It said the Arizona Republican would continue the “failing march of his predecessor,” President Bush.

Sent: 10/15/2008 Okay, I just can’t resist commenting on this, because it is such an absolutely clear illustration of Sarah Palin and her in-your-face lies. Sarah said: “The report that came out also was very clear in that there was no unethical or unlawful behavior on my part,” Palin told a local CBS affiliate in Pittsburgh, adding, “No abuse of power there at all.” Actually she said things like that multiple times.

Okay, there’s so much going on, Palin on SNL, righty attack dogs saying any insanity necessary to preserve their jobs, and all I can this is… Thispsycho woman looks ridiculously like Max Headroom. To be honest, she’s been driving me up the wall for awhile. Notice how she smiles as broad as her face while spitting fork-tongued venom. And this is mellow.

fyi…the scammers are on the loose….in general don’t follow emails that _ask_ you to login to your bank or similar. the new ones in particular are falsely coming from one institution that may have acquired another institution, and therefore needs to update their records. Don’t believe it!

McCain will show up to the debate, and there will be more than one “fist pump” on the approach to the podium. You heard it here first. But Obama will still hand him his ass, probably still with fist pumping.

But this makes me miss being a nerd! Read more about Wednesday’s upcoming excitement here. Props nader for the links and the reminder.

Not sure if any of you get the forwards digging into Barack Obama…his secret code references to Muslim jihad and his non-citizenship and all, but I came across his personal site addressing the smears. It’s pretty good. Even more interesting is reading the ones that I haven’t heard yet.

The North American Organic Brewers Festival is this weekend, beginning tomorrow at 3pm. I had a great time last year, but I generally go to these events early and leave early. This is one of my favorites. I’m surprised that they picked this weekend since at least one of the organizers is a huge soccer fan and the Euro cup final is Sunday. His boys aren’t in it this time around, though Spain vs Germany should be a pretty awesome match.

If any of y’all are interested in checking out an interesting social phenomena or just partying along with soccer, head out to Delta Park this weekend during the daylight hours. Our little subculture called the Moist Coalition is gathering to play in the Classic tourney over Memorial Day. It’s ridiculous, great fun, and full-on immersion in something beautiful. It’s really pretty amazing…so many people, often many have never met, and just good times.

Went to Ignite last week, it was pretty sweet. The premise is a bunch of presenters get up and talk about something presumably interesting for a little while. The catch is that they have exactly five minutes, 20 slides (power-pointish), 15 seconds each, and they roll automatically. That keeps things moving and keeps you on your toes. And from experience (not at Ignite), talking about something for five minutes can be tough.

Personally I don’t really give a crap about who Iowans think should be president. I know one or two people from there, but that’s as far as it goes. But man, did they just hammer some hork into the republican gameplan. Romney just got hosed by Huckabee, and Giuliananinaniani didn’t even show. A couple other dudes got some votes. I missed Ron Paul, who despite my serious issues with libertarians (in brief I believe it’s a great philosophy for an ideal world) is better than all the others.

There have been a number of tragedies involving bikes and motor vehicles around Portland recently. Very sad for all involved, I truly feel for the families of the victims, and for the drivers of the vehicles as well. But setting up bicycle stings at innocuous intersections is just not the right way to go about fixing the problem. Why are the victims being punished? Cyclists, watch out at Flint and Broadway, the man is waiting to swoop in and wreck your beautiful day.

In response to NaNoWriMo, an event in which you write a novel in a month, Defective Yeti came up with NaNoReMo (same but read a novel in a month). The event starts today, and the book is Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. I just picked mine up at Powell’s and have read a whopping 2 pages (~15/day is the target). So I’ll be reading along and writing my ficlets.

Well, the iPhone dropped in price way faster than I expected. I’d figured they had a price point figured out and would keep the phone around there. But they had the trendsetters figured out and took their cut. The 8GB iPhone is now $399 instead of $599. So tempting. But for all of you who are upset that you paid the extra two hundred bucks to strut it around for two months, I’m still not rushing out to buy one.

A great man has passed. I raise a toast to the memory of Michael Jackson, beer connoisseur.

God’s writing checks.

Hey! Hope is was nice. If you’re not into xmas, cool. I hope it was a good day for you anyway. Also, James Brown rest in peace. A true star and visionary.

anners sends me this. What a disaster.

Could it be true? Word on the street is that beer will be flowing from the Skidmore fountain in about 10 minutes….3pm, September 22. I haven’t found any real confirmations, but a lot of rumors and such. And me bound to the house. arrrr! Always the bridesmaid, never the fratboy doing a kegstand over the Skidmore Fountain.

Beerdrinker zen.

This is sad: Arrested Development is getting canned. Dear Fox, You create and maintain some great shows. 24 has been awesome, Prison Break is good, The Simpsons is a classic, Family Guy is amazing. But Arrested Development. Please don’t do it. Keep Arrested Development. Sometimes a joke comes to me days later. I laugh at strange times thanks to your show. Keep it. Laugh at me laughing. The characters are amazing.

Wow. Is this true? prezzo has borrowed 1.05 trillion dollars, which is as much as the previous 42 presidents combined. Holy crap. That’s pretty scary. It’s a lot of money. It’s basically around 5000 bucks per american. Sweet. And now he wants to get rid of my mortgage interest writeoff. That writeoff is huge for the middle class (which I work hard to maintain my membership in), and the loss will dwarf any gain I ever saw in his tax cuts.

The flippant flopping that I’ve been witnessing has been astonishing. After working so hard to save the institution of marriage from the gays who would destroy it, Republicans now seem to be working to destroy it themselves. Listening to Tony Snow this morning, he asserted that Terri was not Michael’s wife because he’d taken up with another woman, with whom he had lived, had kids, found comfort, and if that’s not marriage then what is.

sorry, I’ve been trying to keep out of the political arena since I’m not that good at it. But this seems a bit messed up: Iraqis are voting in the first free elections in half a century as mortar and suicide attacks rattle polling booths in Baghdad and beyond..(CNN news) I totally agree that free elections are a good thing, but doesn’t it seem just a bit messed up that there are mortar and suicide attacks?

What the heck? We have some nerve passing judgement on anybody else’s election at this time. Our elections over the last 4 years have been corrupt, failed disasters. And now we’re calling out the Ukraine? If we’re not able to do it right ourselves, we just need to STFU and go sit in the corner. And we couldn’t. Let’s figure out our elections mess for ourselves before we try to bring democracy to the world, because right now it’s just not working.

This one here. If nothing else, it builds nicely. But it is also quite plausible, there’s no telling.

via Blue Oregon, a nice little rant responding to the usual conservative hoo-haw. PG-13, but work friendly bee-yatch!

I no longer believe that Bush won the election fair and square. That’s a bad thing. I thought that there would be problems, and wondered why the heck the conservatives were fighting so hard to _not_ have printed receipts from the electronic voting machines. Well, here we are. There have been numerous accounts of more votes than voters in Florida and Ohio. Here’s the latest. If it turns out that there’s nothing we can do, or if Bush won anyway, we at least have to make sure that there is a paper trail for every vote cast.

It’s over. And not much good came out of it. W won the presidency, apparently fair and square. That’s what the people wanted, I guess. So now begins the great experiment. Four years of the same group with significantly less opposition, probably 1-2 supreme court nomination (maybe more….shiver). He now has the popular vote and the electoral vote, so he doesn’t feel obligated to play the middle like he did so well over the last four years, and his career politicking is done, all he is concerned with for next election is getting his brother in there.

Amazing. As far as I can tell this is the most anticipated voting day for generations. Many generations. So many people have put in so much effort to help the Good Guys win (and I hope they do). MoveOn, Dean for America, bloggers, and more have really built the grass roots effort. The volunteers helping people get to the polls, making calls, knocking on doors, it’s been truly amazing and heartening.

The great earth mother or God or somebody may be trying to say something. I don’t know, but it’s a pretty nifty view of the hurricane situation on Florida. (note: I hope that this tragedy ends with as little damage and suffering as possible). thx kruff. kruff updated me, Snopes says this is a hoax.

Have you ever seen The Office? It’s this genius British comedy about an office run by this totally schmaltzy character, very funny but in a painful not laugh-out-loud way (leading to occasional explosions). Well, with Cheney’s recent terrorist comments methinks it could’ve been based on the USA. Holy cow. Vote for Kerry and be attacked by terrorists? Wow. They must’ve heard in the chatter that the bad guys are enjoying their Haliburton jobs and will stop at nothing to keep their sweetheart deals.

Soccer may actually get played over here on the Olympics TV broadcasts—prezzo has coopted their story as a massive photo-op, using it in campaign ads and speeches. Unfortunately, the team isn’t that happy about it. I’m amazed about a few things in this article. First, it’s awfully political for SI. Second, it’s awfully long for a soccer article in SI. Third, it mentions Beaverton, OR, which means that the Beav will likely get two mentions in two weeks since I hear that the winner of lady’s fencing is from there too.

as usual, Krugman has interesting things to say. This timely piece regards the Reagan presidency, and some comparisons to prezzo’s. rec’d by the albatross.

Like the Phoenix, Al Gore emerges. Very good speech (lotta words to read, but it’s good!), and he pretty much stopped just short of bringing up treason.

This is an interesting article in which the author, a lefty, immerses himself in right wing media for 30 days, and discusses his feelings throughout. I listen to several right wing talk shows in a similar vein, and have made many similar findings personally. However, I tend to find both the left and right wing talk shows to be repetitive, biased, and lacking in significant objective insight. And they have too many commercials…I still listen to both, but not as much as I’d been trying to in the past.

In an effort to connect with what he quaintly refers to as ‘the people’, prezzo has hit the road with a swagger and some starch in his collar. He scored a brilliant trade at a car lot outside Jersey City where he was able to get the dealership to throw in two pieces of intelligence regarding WMDs along with the ’76 Winnebago he got in exchange for Air Force One. In an effort not to be out-down-homed, he bought 2 sacks of Krusteaz at the local Wal-Mart, espousing the virtues of local business and quality jobs creation.

We learn how it wentwith getting Condi “Tank” Rice on the stand over at Zeros and Ones.

Oregon is leading the charge in more than just gay marriage. We’re also helping to keep jobs from going overseas. How? My unemployed friends are still unemployed, you may wonder. Well, your prison friends aren’t! Rather than moving call centers overseas, we’re contracting out prison workers to answer phone calls. I wonder what happens if they violate the DNC list…they’re already in jail. Cheap labor, less turnover. That sounds like a win to me.

Great news, same-sex marriages are now permitted in Little Beirut. I heard some dude griping about it over lunch. I’ve never heard an argument against that was remotely sensible to me. All that I could do was shake my head. I guess I could’ve said something, but I really wasn’t in the mood. Anyway, way to stay progressive Portland! And no, marriage is not weakened. If anything marriage is strengthened because now it’s even closer to being about love.

I’ve found that I pretty much enjoy the classic plays best when I know what’s going to happen already, and am able to ride the elegantly structured language to the conclusion. Yesterday I listened to Victor Balk on Portland’s 860. His show was entirely about a question asked of John Kerry, “Do you believe God is on the United State’s side?” The answer, I never heard from Kerry’s mouth, merely Vic’s weasle-like paraphrasing, so I won’t comment on it now.

“This is the third nomination and first Oscar for…Canada.” Beautiful. As usual the Oscars were full of ludicrousness and hijinks and whacky times watching the big hoohaas pat each other on the back. I did pretty good with predictions, only getting 3 wrong (best actor, one of the sound ones, and something else). For two I was just trying to give the whole LotR thing a rest..jesus, there’re more movies out there, what a bunch of crap.

So, the land is abuzz with talk of Nader running. Sure, I don’t like the fact that he might take votes from some undetermined Demo candidate, and I’m pretty sure that he can’t win on his own, and I really strongly think that prezzo has to lose or we’re in a lot of trouble. The rest of the world may be able to forgive us as long as they know that 1) we never really elected him and 2) when we realized how bad he was, we voted him out…but if he’s elected for sure this time, then there’s going to be little turning back.

Zeros and Ones has an interesting post discussing the differences between real and issue candidates, that also has an interesting Dean perspective (just a wee bit outdated from my side, but short and good).

It seems to me that there should be regulations to precent this kind of thing. Comcast should not own Disney, Disney should not own Comcast, and they shouldn’t merge either. Disney’s sphere of influence is too great already. The genius of the separate spheres of influence placed in out government need to be implemented in the business world. Instead, in a brilliant maneuver, the corporate world has been dismantling the safeguards in the government.

I’m posting this for my buddy Travis who doesn’t read this, so you all have to suffer for absolutely nothing. But I just saw that Feb. 28 is the Lebowski Fest in Las Vegas. I don’t know if Travis bowls or not, but that’s not what matters. I don’t know if he’s seen the movie (I’m sure he has), but that’s not what matters. What matters is that The Jesus’s bowling partner will be there, and that they’re serving white Russians.

In another nod to the photo-op, prezzo has demonstrated one way and then acted the opposite. Can you spell apawlang? via World Wide Pablo (fab OR blog). I had something more original to say today than rip a local blogger, but it’s slipping my mind at the moment. I noticed Dean’s little machine did an endo tonite though…third is gonna hurt (not predicting an end…but the ensuing infighting will hurt our battle against the nasty).

via Slashdot, Yahoo has an article reporting about companies moving jobs overseas. This is nothing new. It is scary though. As executives demand higher and higher salaries, those on the bottom get axed and replaced by cheap foreign labor. This is a scary trend that needs to be regulated. The lobbyist arguments that the problem is that tech workers are not willing to work for the low wages, and that makes moving the jobs overseas okay is simply not valid.

Yes, I suppose that it is a necessary evil. And a very profitable one for him, the closing of companies, trashing of dreams, the dismissal of incompetence, but Martin here looks like he’s carrying quite the big stick.

David Mamet has written a nice little piece on names. It’s a bit rambling at times, but he’s trying to express some pretty abstract concepts. Not too long, and it addresses something that’s interesting to think about in a way that applies to our lives on several levels. via the albatross.

and then the days start getting longer again. Is it just me or has this been a really dry fall here in beer drinker’s paradise?

Because Arnold won the election, it is now clear that he is an innocent man. There is no need for an investigation, after all, he’s apologized to anyone he may have offended. blech.

Fill in the blank. If those people came by my perfectly manicured lawn and took a crap in it in the middle of the day like they did to the frickin Queen of England I’d be extraordinarily pissed. But, while my lawn is nowhere near perfectly manicured, I’ve been reading up on such a thing, and have an idea of what a massive chore requiring planning, knowledge, and perseverance it is to maintain an exquisite garden.

Could this CNN headline have been an accident? U.S. REASSURES SEOUL OVER TROOPS. I think not.

Busily making P Diddy look like a lonely guy, GWB maintains a hearty entourage. No wonder we’re running a deficit, it has nothing to do with tax cuts.

Can anyone out there turn this into a statement that contains meaning? It certainly strains my suspension of disbelief. And we never heard from it again. While we’re at it, let’s consider deeply this paragraph from the liberal media: Californians, angry over a flagging economy and disenchanted with Democratic Gov. Gray Davis, cut short his second term by recalling the career politician less than a year into his second term and selected Schwarzenegger from a field of 135 candidates to succeed him.

bastards. So, via Atrios the Senate’s vote on the 87bil was unrecorded. Some ten bothered to show up. The rest, we don’t know how they voted. Cowards. These men should all be fired. Like GWB, they are all fired in my mind. Ron, I fire you. Gordon, I fire you. George W., I fire you. Dick, you go out with GWB, you may control him from his coattails, but you’re fired too.

Not.

Alright, a pleasurable analysis on how prezzie is squandering the resources of our country, smart, not too long, not too short. Well, maybe a bit short, but that’s because it’s so good. Nathan Newman, via Kos. Ya know, it’s articles like these that truly lend fodder to the war. Hard data, not fluffy hearsay, presented in a cool but passionate manner, clearly. Argue against them in their own terms. None of this bumpersticker crap…no “One cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war” doo-hickey.

big posting day…WWP talks about another great sadness: the church’s heinous treatment of gays. Follow the link to Sullivan’s article as well, it’s a should-read.

Makin cookies, makin friends. We vetoed the recent UN security resolution regarding the wall in Israel. I’m not sure who we’re trying to convince about what with us being on their side and making peace. Nice work.

This is a quite scary must-read. via genfoods, Calpundit analyzes the insane Texas Republican platform. While his statements about the Texas Republican party being the guiding light, the trailblazer, or whatnot, for the national republicans, may or may not be fully accurate, I think it’s more accurate than not considering the current administration. The thing is that, as I’ve said before, many Republicans that I know have quite reasonable and respectable views (though I often may not agree), but the direction of the party is towards an extreme and frightening right-wing, fundamentalist fringe.

Beyond the horrible gropings that Arnold has committed, Greg Palast has uncovered some real scandal that has been largely ignored by major media. It involves conspiratorial meetings between Ken Lay, Arnold, and others to overturn a lawsuit againt the power companies that would free California of much, if not all, of the debt owed to the power monopolist scumbags who fleeced the entire state. Bustamonte and Davis are doing what they can to get the money back (just as they did what they had to to get the power back at the time).

via genfoods, OSpolitics has a lucid overview of the White House’s Plame mess. I’m quite curious to see how they spin this one, but even the most staunch supporters of these jerks will at least have to to take a step back if they are at all capable of critical thought.

Wow, one of the Bush’s people who has really gone about wrecking this country may be stepping down. This is great news, as this Michael Powell sucks ass and maybe he’ll relieve a bit of the stranglehold round daddy’s privates from the pressure on his coattails. Yes, I feel strongly about the frickin evil horrible non-representing of the people, corrupt, base legislation he was hired to force upon the American people like[insert tasteless sexual reference here].

wow, via TBOGG, some guy (World ‘o Crap) lays the smackdown on some other guy’s (Dennis Prager) twiddling sexist, racist, imbecilic rationale regarding why women might vote some way or another as regards weddedness. Entertaining reading the dismantling of this fallacious right-wing spew.

This depressing little tale of a soldier’s disillusionment with the war in Iraq is a pretty good read. I hadn’t heard the words Shock and Awe in quite awhile. That’s probably for a few reasons. When you’re busily rewriting history so that your atrocious war is a humanitarian effort rather than an anti-terrorist homeland security activity, shock and awe doesn’t mix well with humanitarian. It also continues with this administration’s never look back (except in the case of 9/11) policy–who needs 20/20 hindsight when you’ve blacked out the rear window?

A painful interview with Paul Krugman. I’d put this one high up on your to-read list. via the albatross (vi robot wisdom methinks). No chance to rant on it now, but holy cow, I think he does a good enough job.

The albatross sent me a depressing link about a first-time teacher’s summer school experience. Ouch, what a panful experience she describes, an intellectual woman of experience wanting to give something to the community (symbiotically, she admits), who is thrust into a classroom of students who just don’t want to learn. They have their reasons, and you can’t hate (most of) them for it, as so many have horrible home lives, but she has to battle so many sides her job is nearly impossible.

Bigair Fred has a disturbing, lucid rant about the anti-tax scams and where they’re leading us. A good read, so get on it.

Iraq continues to be ugly. Maybe it grows uglier. The situation there, that is. The one created by prezzo and his keepers. Soldiers keep being shot, and building continue to blow up. People are dying. Sure, that’s part of war, I understand that. It does not appear that we’re on the way to stabilizing the place. I now read that the US has asked for increased assistance from that horrible, outdated, useless drag of an organization, the UN.

Some non geniuses have cleverly put together a scheme to add a bit of chaos to the happy right world of prezzo. (note to self: ooh, I’ve been searching for the right nick for W, and I think I may have just hit on it….ahhh, prezzo). Check out this bit of action that is only possible through the internet because even if I could’ve made the protest today I couldn’t so all I can to is TYPE LOUDER.

Greg Palast writes some pretty infuriating articles. I’ve been reading his book, The Best Democracy Money Can Buy, and browse his site from time to time. But this article, tying together Enron, GB, GWB, England, the CA blackouts, and the NY blackouts had me shaking with anger. To hear about these looters who have somehow managed to position themselves at the top of the country and paste on facades of honor and decency, it makes me furious, sad, and hopeful, and defeated all at once.

oboy oboy. Join Arnold for a new era of bipartisanship. What a bunch of hooey. How did bipartisanship get redefined as Republicans doing what they want and getting their radio thugs to make whoopee if someone thinks twice about undoing already weak environmental protections. But the best part of the site is how it looks in my browser…the images split so Arnie and consort look like a coupla South Park Canadians.

After the fact, the Post brings up some interesting points, and a nice summary of some of the Iraq war BS pulled by those in charge. via Atrios.

Last night, I was listening to the strongly Republican-slanted liberal media, a local station (normally it’s satellite, but not my car) and heard the following snippets…loosely quoted, but pretty close to what was said. Shawn Steele (CA Republican party chair): speaking of the democrat presidential hopefuls, how they’re a bunch of nobody’s who will embarass the democratic party. In the next sentence, regarding the recall of Gray Davis, and how he’s not sure what they’re going to do now that [arnold] Schwarzenegger has [likely] withdrawn.

Pretty informative LA Times article takes a freaky twist at the end. Read it to the end. Or just skip to the end, but the rest is good too. via Atrios.

Just got word that Ashcroft is paying a sneaky sneaky surprise visit to Puddletown, probably to buy some grass. Here’s the scoop: John Ashcroft will be in Portland tomorrow. [US Attorney General John] Ashcroft also plans to meet with the Portland Joint Terrorism Task Force and hold a press conference at 11:30 a.m. in the Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse, Duckett said. That’s the Mark O. Hatfield Courthouse at 1000 SW Third Avenue in downtown Portland.

go to this article.. Read it. Do what it says. McChesney’s a sharp cookie, and Nichols is no slouch. The FCC is ganging up with the media giants against the people, don’t let them get away with it.

Ari: “I think the burden is on those people who think he didn’t have weapons of mass destruction to tell the world where they are.” huh?. This make absolutely no sense at all. I suppose par for the course. via Atrios. **Update:**One thing that gets me, that so much of the world appears to be missing– Bush says he is “absolutely confident” that he’s done the right thing. I ask you to show me one time that Bush didn’t push forward with absolute confidence, whether or not it was conveyed or warranted.

Our president is a cowboy macho man. Referring to the attacks in Iraq on our troops ‘post-war’ he has told the world and the would-be attackers to “bring ’em on.” To me this is not okay. Sure, he was piloted onto the aircraft carrier and could have seen the conditions of the boys and their frames of mind if he could find time away from photo ops, but to in-your-face challenge people like that is reminiscent of a high school brawl, or a WWF/WCW title bout.

Kids are just out of control these days. Between swearing and sex and partying and dancing and music and rebellion, I swear, what we need is a good gulag-style lockup to set them straight. Make sure that there is plenty of demeaning punishment, physical and mental. Make them wear signs advertising that they’re still f-ed up. Lie them on their faces for 24-hours, and if that’s not enough, do it again.

Robert Anton Wilson seems to be a pretty sharp guy. Well-researched, he often sounds a bit wingnut, but there’s soundness to his ideas that I find intriguing. This is a pretty interesting article about the CIA and their involvement in our national politics, as well as the drug trade, the war on drugs, and the dismantling of the Bill of Rights.

Pretty good news here, McDonalds is phasing out antibiotic-fed animals. Partially and loosely. But still, this is a good thing. They’re working with their suppliers to phase out some percentage of antibiotic-fed animals by the end of 2004. Livestock is fed antibiotics in their diets to enhance meat production. The problems that can arise from this are many. The most significant in my opinion is the Darwinian immunity we are encouraging through this practice.

A recent lawsuit has been won by consumers against music manufacturers, in which a la The Jerk several million plaintiffs will receive some $10 each. The recording industry jerks have basically been found guilty of price fixing, which shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone. I’ve slowed down on my cd purchases a bit since I got satellite radio, but I’ve been ripped off by those people in the past. Knowingly. I just tire of albums with one or two good tunes, and a bunch of crap, but I guess everyone does so I don’t have a lot to add to this thought right now.

Continuing a long string of actions in which Bush’s support (read: photo op) of a public service or similar is followed shortly by the cutting of its funding or being axed in general, BoMa has a wonderful link to a nicely defaced propaganda billboard. I think the only way for services to survive this regime is to remain unnoticed. Compassionate conservativism my ass, quit the doublespeak. Sometimes I wonder if their strategy isn’t just to propagate such atrocities, lies, and doublespeak, along with a colorful collection of labels, that speaking of these things sounds ludicrous and brands one as lefty wacko.

turned out to be a few pages torn from an old Cleveland Thomas Guide.

You know bad shit’s going down because the funny blogs are really funny. Check out defective yeti’s and Izzle Pfaff’s recent observations. Must have something to do with 4000 billion deficit we’re exacerbating with the taxcuts. Makes me feel funny too.

Emma at the Oregon Blog points us to an article describing how beer and beverage distributors are trying to circumvent the successful, 30+ year-old bottle bill. The article describes a generally cynical Salem that is willing to tear down a hallmark of Oregon legislature. Look forward to OSPIRG showing up at your doors about this. The most interesting bit in this article is in a quote from Paul Romain, a lobbyist:

Bohemian Mama has a nice shit happens rundown of some current events. Permanent link broke for me, but it shouldn’t be too hard to find, it’s the most recent at the time of this writing.

I don’t know if he is guilty or innocent. Never did. Never met the guy, don’t really care to. But. It is not okay to arrest somebody and detain them without charges in the manner in which he has been detained. A solid month of solitary confinement without charges being brought up. Not okay. Maybe he’s guilty. These tactics are the antithesis of American civil rights, and should not be practiced against a citizen of this country.

The IRS has identified the working poor’s Earned Income Credit as an area of fraud they need to address promptly (NYT link, requires free registration, props Nader). This tax credit has been instrumental in raising a vast number of families above the poverty level. Now many of these families will be required to furnish proof of eligibility in a manner likely to make obtaining the dollars too difficult for many properly eligible families.

Howard Dean is quite serious in his bid for the presidency. I am so pleased with what I’ve seen before, and now he’s written an article at Common Dreams explicitly stating his strong disapproval of Bush’s foreign policy. This is fantastic. It’s nice to see the combination editorial/campaign speech style in his words. It’s not just a complaint, it’s an offering up of a solution, written passionately, but with the reserve needed to win a broad support base.

Googlin around for info on the No Child Left Behind Act, I came across an interesting caveat mentioned by Mother Jones. If a military body requests a school for student contact information, they must furnish it. This is a huge violation of rights. While I was not significantly harrassed by recruiters, I know people who were, and these people would not stop…phone calls everyday, mailings, and now probably mass emailings. And what is next?

Go Tim! A nice speech in which he lays out several of the issues with protesting the war and the manner in which the current administration has impeded dissent, without once using the word protest.

another swell article. happy friday.

Patriot Act II. Need I say more?

via Robot Wisdom, a very interesting rundown of White House conspiracy possibilities.

this is a fun page in which a warmonger educates a peacenik.

Alright, this is totally ludicrous. Big Air Fred links us to an article in which the Pentagon asserts that a) Saddam Hussein is the worst ruler in world history, and b) his rule is unprecedented in oppression and torture. The Iraqi people will be free of decades and decades and decades of torture and oppression the likes of which I think the world has not ever seen before (Victoria Clarke, Pentagon)

Crazy work times, so light blogging in this time-smear. But came across this link (via Robot Wisdom) to a well-done quiz.

Operation Shock and Awe, the Big Show, the one we’ve been waiting for, has begun. Everyone is also happy to know that only seven oil wells have been set afire, not 30 as previously though. Also, Emma writes a lucid post on why we shouldn’t be in this war now, even suggesting some gestures that would have made our agression more palatable.

In a surprising turn of events, internet searches for war have outnumbered searches for sex, though I can’t say that they surpass the combination of all mispellings of Britney. That’s reported in England, but I’m sure that American thirst for knowledge is comparable.

This one snuck up on me. Apparently Iran wants in on the nukes game as well. I don’t know what to think, with Ari justifying our accusations with reasons like “After all, Iran has been in possession of a great amount of energy of a non-nuclear nature as a result of their gas and oil supplies,” he said. “There is no economic justification for this, and it does remain a matter of great concern.

This guy really kicks butt. Vermont governor Howard Dean, speaks well, actually says stuff, and believes in some important issues, such as reproductive rights, preserving the environment, sensible foreign policy, and well though-out education policies. And he says things like, “Another example of the Administration’s ineptness is on the Korean Peninsula, where U.S. policy has been incoherent, inconsistent and dangerously disengaged.” If there’s anybody out there to restore hope in the Democratic Party, it going to be someone like Gov.

In an astounding statement of their distate towards all things UnAmerican and therefore anti-Freedom, an elite school has updated their menu, renaming French Fries and French Toast to Freedom such-n-such. Also, the district office has renamed Russian Roulette to Reagan Roulette, and is now referring to Mexico as New Texas. The sad part is is that part of that is true! Of course, the school is the House of Representatives. This tactic is unacceptable.

Setting aside the undisputable fact that President Bush and his supporters are the leading experts on Iraq’s military positioning and nucular programmes, this article suggests that perhaps the inspections are maybe possibly worthwhile enough to continue considering an increase in compliance from Iraq. It also makes the controversial point that Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction aren’t really a threat to us. Alright, that’s most likely true, but they fund terrorists and harbor them.

This was linked from slashdot, so to help you avoid the slashdot effect, which will likely mean they’re going to move it or it’ll be slow as molasses over a 28.8 modem. Anyway, it’s by this Newsweek reporter, and is supposedly just an email that she sent to some friends but it ended up on the interweb for all to see. Very interesting overview of that the global shot-callers are thinking.

Now we know why their coffee costs so dang much! (props abrichar)

I just read that we’ve bombed Iraq!. Don’t go nuts, we’re not in all-out war yet that I know of, but as I listened to International News I heard that marines around Iraq were reacting to the various chemical/biological warfare alarms in the area.

Much of the world is considering George Walker Bush to be a greater threat than Saddam. I was already feeling that way. Not to say that Saddam isn’t kinda crazy-mad because I have no reason to say otherwise, but he’s not the one who has been driving the war machine full-bore at himself. George seems to have only taken the idea of war to the UN to find out who he needs to bribe, bully, and coerce into consenting.

Alright, it seems to me that everyone else has their thoughts on Joe Millionairre. Well, I watched it all, and here’s what I think the surprise twist should have been. Fox shows two different endings (ala Clue), and depending on focus group research they show Evan (that’s his real name!) choosing Zora or Sara.

This is a very interexting piece on potential motivations for the current war on Iraq. There are a number of interesting bits in this article, and it is fairly long, but well worth the read. Quick overview: The Euro standard is making grounds against the dollar as the oil exchange currency, which is a bad thing as the market will be flooded with dollars, devaluing our already hurting unit. Iraq made that switch already, and that in conjunction with the Caspian Sea being far under expected yield (suddenly Afghanistan is much less interesting!

I’ve been in caves, but have never been down into a mine shaft. After all the Hardy Boys mysteries and AD&D I used to play, I sure have a romanticized ideal of them, though! Deep, winding caverns, bizarre echoes surrounded by muffled silence, creaking, underground waterways. And groovy headlamps! And don’t pass on all those treasures and wandering monsters. Then there’s the remembrances of the Americans who built this country, toiling underground in coal mines, suffering blacklung, cave-ins, suffocation, and other horrible fates.

Having been a science guy and geek, this whole space shuttle Columbia disaster has been on my mind a bit. There’s so much to think about and to say. So many facets of the human experience uncovered. Of course there are the teen-age vigils that bring tears to GWB’s eyes, and the bizarre press coverage of people finding helmets and wheels. Also, the whole hero thing and the family’s stories. And NASA playing CYAssa.

I’ve come across an interesting article today, in which Bill Gates speaks out against the estate tax. It is quite well-written, succinct, offering up a spattering of fact, some opinion, and a fair amount of implication. There’s something fairly convincing about the wealthiest man I can think of arguing that we should take his dough. Of course, he also writes this with full knowledge of who our manufactured leader is and the inevitability of a vast array of tax breaks for the wealthy.