Political Rants

I was reading this Reuters article on the Bush response to Kerry's speech last night. Struck by this: "Bush, who aides said slept rather than watch his rival's Democratic nomination acceptance speech to run against him in November...'He went to sleep last night. That was a late speech,' McClellan told reporters, but he said Bush had 'read some of the coverage.'" FOX's coverage, no doubt, digested 'specially for him. And since when is 10:30 late in the Eastern time zone?! Keep sleeping, George, I'm sure someone will steal you the Cliff's Notes. [emphasis and disdain mine]

Also from the Windmills guys, this color-coded gay alert. Originally from Gaywired.

Lots of claim and denial about the rumor. But I agree with Kevin and Ian at Tilting at Windmills that complaining about making $175K/year is a bit ludicrous. Complaining about the frustrations of the job. Yeah, I get that. Or maybe he's figured out he'll be unemployed come January anyways, so...

An amusing response to Ahnold's latest idiocy:

www.sacramentogirliemen.com

"20% of proceeds will benefit the California Democratic Party, which as you may have noticed could use the help."

JaBbA found it first.

Okay, an update on the Linda Ronstadt thing. Seems the so-called "bedlam" was not that big a deal. And it was her encore, so of course everybody left! One begins to wonder what prompted the casino's actions.

Okay, Laurince sent me this one. A new take on political 'action'. Not Safe For Work!

Seems that singer Linda Ronstadt was fired from a casino gig for dedicating "Desperado" to Michael Moore and his film Fahrenheit 9/11. There's some question that she was trying to deliberately piss off the casino, but still, nice choice of dedications, Linda! Watch out, Dixie Chicks, Linda's got your back!

Moore chose to respond.

There are days when my library friends (virtual and otherwise) are the only sanity in my world...so thanks, Mr. Quinn, for this all-too-realistic site.

Seems that P2P (peer-to-peer) networks aren't just for downloading the latest Justin Timberlake single. One site, according to this Wired article is using P2P to make government more accountable.

While legislators in Washington work to outlaw peer-to-peer networks, one website is turning the peer-to-peer technology back on Washington to expose its inner, secretive workings.

But outragedmoderates.org isn't offering copyright music and videos for download. The site, launched two weeks ago, has aggregated more than 600 government and court documents to make them available for download through the Kazaa, LimeWire and Soulseek P2P networks in the interest of making government more transparent and accountable.

Thad Anderson, a second-year student at St. John's School of Law in Queens, New York, said he was driven to launch the site by what he says is the current administration's disregard for fundamental democratic structures and its increasing practice of withholding information from the public...

...Anderson didn't intend to make a statement by using P2P networks, but his use of the networks to deliver the data counters the usual government and entertainment industry arguments that P2P networks have no value, apart from stealing copyright works, and therefore should be outlawed.

Many thanks to Chris for posting this to the Library Underground list. He also made a good point that this will really get the anti-P2P pundits like Orrin Hatch in a twist. Britney and Metallica are one thing, but FOIA documents are quite another.

Have you seen Outfoxed, the new documentary about how Fox News is a Republican tool? If you'd like to see a clip, showing Bill O'Reilly in full ass-licking rant, you can go here. Sign the petition (from MoveOn.org, Common Cause and others) or not as you see fit, but the clip is worth seeing.

This Dishonest Dubya Doll comes with four outfits. Use the remote control to make him Lie or Say Something Stupid. Fun for the whole family.

Again, thanks to Laura M. (and others) for sending this new Flash to me. It's a parody of Woody Guthrie's This Land outlining our current political, uh, situation. Pretty much takes no prisoners. It's very popular right now, so you might not get to it the first try. Keep trying.

UPDATE: I guess we crashed their server They're giving this alternate link, though.

Can anyone really be this politically un-savvy?! Seems that Ralph Nader has now pissed off the Congressional Black Caucus:

Tensions between Ralph Nader and the Congressional Black Caucus flared again yesterday, after a letter from the independent presidential candidate to the caucus chairman, Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), demanded an apology for an “obscene racial epitaph� at a tense meeting last month.

Black lawmakers reacted to Nader’s letter with a combination of anger and disdain, questioning his mental health and accusing him of acute and advanced egomania.

“He ain’t playing with a full deck,� said Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.), a member of the caucus and vice chairman of the Democratic caucus.

...“We were particularly offended by Nader’s exhibitionism, his selfishness and egotism,� Wynn added.

Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) said, “If he didn’t understand what the meeting was about, not only is he an egotistical maniac, he’s dumber than I thought he was.�

Way to go, Ralph. Oh, yeah, and now you're getting help from Dick Armey (see rest of article). Nice bedfellows you've got there.

Aschroft and Co. released their Report from the field: the USA Patriot Act at work (PDF). They managed to leave out most of the relevant challenges to Patriot. What a surprise...

The ACLU responded yesterday:

A report submitted to Congress today by Attorney General Ashcroft on the government’s use of the Patriot Act omits key information and avoids any mention of numerous controversial provisions of the law, the American Civil Liberties Union said.

"President Bush and Attorney General Ashcroft need to spend less time waging public relations campaigns and more time responding to the specific, legitimate concerns of the American people," said ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero. "It’s astounding that the Attorney General could release a 30-page report on the Patriot Act and never mention some of the provisions that are most controversial."

The Attorney General’s report, submitted to the House Judiciary Committee, sidesteps the most serious concerns raised by the ACLU and many other organizations and individuals from across the political spectrum.

Disturbing day. It seems the Federal Marriage Amendment was defeated, but only just (link to my brother's blog). 48-50! Presumably if Kerry and Edwards were voting it would have been 48-52, but still. That was TOO close. And almost straight down party lines.

Exceptions included Senators Byrd (D-WV), Nelson (D-NE) and Miller (D-GA) voting Yea, and Senators McCain (R-AZ), Campbell (R-CO) and Snowe (R-ME) voting Nay. These make a certain amount of sense. I can't see McCain putting up with such a pointless misuse of the powers to amend. I'm a little surprised by Byrd, but not terribly. Still, it was far, far too close. And I really don't think it was representative of actual public opinion. I hope.