Musings and rants about politics and geekery with a distinct Chicago flavor.
Courtesy of my sister’s LJ, At the Rivendell Internet Cafe. What would happen if fictional characters suddenly gained access to the slash fanfic written about them? *chuckle*
PA ruled out “Pennsylvania: We’re old. We’re cranky. Deal with it.” as a state slogan.
Interesting news story:
You could call them the sympathetic robbers. At least one of them, anyway.
A 39-year-old woman told Wichita police that two men kicked in her back door in the 2400 block of North Prince around 5:30 a.m. Monday, pointed a gun at her and demanded money.
According to a police report, she told them she had just gotten out of the hospital and suffers from epilepsy. That prompted one of the robbers to tell the woman that he had a cousin with the same condition. That suspect then talked the other suspect into not robbing the woman, the report said.
Interesting: a timeline of the nation’s alert level. The nation’s “terror alert level” has never been on ‘Severe’ (red), ‘Guarded’ (blue), or ‘Low’ (green). We’ve always been either “elevated” (yellow) or “high” (orange). Of course, if we do go red, New Jersey’s announced that they’ll pretty much shut down the state.
Was Finding Nemo plagiarized? Well, let’s put it this way … as much as I admire Pixar, given past Disney behavior, it wouldn’t surprise me.
I’m not sure whether to be amused or not by this animated short. There’s one event it references in there which I really don’t think should be made light of. But at the same time, it is a bit funny to see one event set off this entire chain of things … and I loved the Titanic and Yellow Submarine references.
Clive & Cabbage: Alien Safari. Fun little comic. And Copper is just sweet. (Not sweet as in “sweeeeeeet” but sweet as in “endearing.”)
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I never knew that Harrison Ford said this about Daley ripping up Meigs Field:
“How does it feel to live in a city where the mayor tears up an airport? [I'm] furious. I don’t think I’ve been as angry about anything in a long time.” — Harrison Ford, actor and private pilot, to Sun-Times columnist Bill Zwecker.
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“The Statue of Liberty is no longer saying ‘Give me your poor, your tired, your huddled masses.’ She’s got a baseball bat and she’s yelling, ‘You want a piece of me?’” — Robin Williams
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It’s amazing that these guys didn’t crash.
Donkey Konga!
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Fox goes high-brow as usual. *sigh*
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“When I first said I wanted to be a comedian, everybody laughed. Well, they’re not laughing now.” — Bob Monkhouse
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I got to admit, this strikes me as a bit of a Nelsonesque “HA ha!”.
Google Print.
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On December 13, President Bush signed into law H.R. 2417, previously mentioned by Slashdot, into law, greatly expanding the authority of the PATRIOT Act. Various intelligence agencies no longer have to report to Congress on their more privacy-invading actions. Why was this not covered by any media? Perhaps because it was, conveniently, the same day that Saddam Hussein was captured. Or … really, was it? Hope we still have free elections next November.
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If you’re easily offended, you might not appreciate this — however, I found this clip humorous in very many waves. 
And, as far as I can tell, this is a legitimate Amazon listing … but I must just flat-out say … “What the hell?!?!?”
The Geek Hierarchy.
CNN: The United States government wants to speak with 13 passengers who didn’t show up for Air France flights. All of these passengers are on U.S. terrorist watch lists. One has a pilot’s license.
You can buy a Bellsouth pay phone for your home for $135. Kinda cool, actually.
An amusing read.
Silent Night: The Story of the World War I Christmas Truce, by Stanley Weintraub (link).
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A rather interesting trailer for “I, Robot,” in the form of a commercial for the NS-5, the “world’s first fully automated domestic assistant.” Cooly enough, though, the style of the mock advertisement seems to taken from old Apple commercials.
I hate to be unkind, but when I see this photograph of Strom Thurmond’s daughter, I only can think of these lyrics.
The Smithfield Packing Company donated 40 cases of pork chops, 50 cases each of roast beef, pastrami and corned beef, 118 cases of pork rib patties and more to a local food bank. Nice to hear about happy acts of corporate generosity every once in a while.
And here’s another good story: local women accidentally gets bag full of cash, instead of her order … and returns it.
Some pretty amazing images from the Hubble Space Telescope’s successor.
Watch armed guards break into a high school and aim guns with live ammo at children’s heads. Yes, the War on Drugs is just a real democratic thing, isn’t it? (If just clicking on that link doesn’t work, use your browser to copy the link to the clipboard, and then paste it into RealPlayer.)
Evidently, next year, not only are we going to have an absolutely incredibly bad “Garfield” movie, we’re also going to have an absolutely incredibly bad sequel to The Mask.
Someone, right when the Doom video game came out, did a comic book of it. It’s absolutely hilarious.
Someone took the plot of the Lord of the Rings and placed it to the tune of the Buffy musical episode “Once More, With Feeling.” Enjoy … “Once More, With Hobbits” …
Every single year
The same arrangement
Fireworks and food and beer
But this time I feel
A strange estrangement
Nothing here is real
My departure’s near
I don’t think he knows
But when I go
This will all be Frodo’s
‘Cause I’ve been going through the motions
Walking through the part
The open road is calling to my heart
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Heh. From today’s Quick Takes column in the Sun-Times:
News Item: “U.S. forces said they found Saddam Hussein, long-haired, bearded and bedraggled, in a hole on a farm near his hometown of Tikrit.”
Just retribution, pending the trial, is to turn him over to “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.”
A.V. Phibes: “I just found out by way of a genealogist relation that President Bush is my 12th cousin 3 times removed.”
This has to be the most suggestive Sesame Street song I’ve ever heard.
I Want A Monster To Be My Friend
Words by Robert Pierce
Music by Sam Pottle
(c) 1975 Sesame Street, Inc. (ASCAP)
Some kids just love to play with dolls
or put on funny hats
and some make pets of birds and fish
and dogs and alley cats
That’s not the way I like to play
I’m tired of all these
I need a very special friend
Won’t you help me please?
I want a monster to be my playmate
I want a monster to be my friend
I want to get for my own pet
A real live monster who is not pretend
Oh, I want a monster to be my playmate
We’d soon become good friends because
Although they’re hairy and sometimes scary
They have such soft and furry paws
If I make friends with a friendly monster
I’d let him bounce me on his knee
I’d let him do whatever he wants to
Especially if he’s bigger than me
So, if you know a nice old monster
If you’ve a monster to recommend
Ooh, golly gee, please send him to me
I just can’t wait until then!
I want a monster
A real live monster
I want a monster
To be my friend!
Please be my friend!
Return of the King programmers designed CGI soldiers who could think for themselves. The soldiers promptly ran away. Heh.
How to tell if a Rolex is real.
Okay, I’m a Dean fan. I even help out with the campaign. But this is just fuckin’ creepy.
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Creepy.
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This is gonna suck.
Saddam Captured While Playing Santa In Montana Mall.
And hey, before you rejoice about Saddam’s capture, let’s really not forget this footage and whom exactly put him there in the first place.
New York Times, December 10: “President Bush found himself in the awkward position on Wednesday of calling the leaders of France, Germany and Russia to ask them to forgive Iraq’s debts, just a day after the Pentagon said it was excluding those countries and others from $18 billion in American-financed Iraqi reconstruction projects.”
These are the most hilariously non-intentionally creepy Halloween costumes I’ve ever seen.
Google might be adopting a new look.
John Kerry and Dick Gephardt join together and put out a commercial attacking Dean. (You can watch the commercial on that page using Windows Media Player, if you want to form your own opinion.)
Despicable.
They can’t figure out how this works, but it’s pretty cool that it does.
Really, really, really, really damn cool.
IBM says to SCO as part of the discovery process, “We want you to produce code.” SCO says, “Sure.” They then print out the code on 1,000,000 pieces of paper and deliver it to IBM.
SCO and IBM have each filed several motions to try to compel the other side to release information. In a motion Wednesday, IBM criticized SCO for delivering source code to IBM that had been printed on 1 million sheets of paper.
“Knowing full well that IBM would need its source code in electronic form so that proper analyses–such as those SCO itself claims to have performed–could be conducted, SCO instead produced the source code on one million sheets of paper,” IBM said in the motion. “The only reason for SCO’s production of code on paper was, we believe, to stall the progress of these proceedings while giving the (false) impression of being forthcoming in its discovery responses.”
In response to IBM’s complaint, Stowell said, “If a company wants code, it’s the other party’s decision to provide that any way they feel like providing that.”
Sen. Graham (D-FL)’s Voter Verification Act. Very good little bill! Tell your Senators to endorse S. 1980 and your Representatives to endorse H.R. 2239!
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A good article on the history of Monty Python.
Yes, get the new hit CD that defeated Britney Spears on Billboard’s Top 10 … Ronald Reagan’s Greatest Laughs! *rolls eyes* (Wonder if this’ll be on there?)
Check out the very important work that Secretary of State Colin Powell did today. :-/
Eminem’s brother’s webpage. Oh, dear. 
Coupons actually do have ‘cash value.’
These are very cute animated shorts.
Republicans: Let’s put Reagan on the dime! Who the fuck cares about FDR?
Nancy Reagan: Um, I do. So did Ronnie. Nuh-uh.
Or, more classily:
“I do not support this proposal, and I’m certain Ronnie would not. When our country chooses to honor a great president such as Franklin Roosevelt by placing his likeness on our currency, it would be wrong to remove him and replace him with another,” she said. “It is my hope that the proposed legislation will be withdrawn.”
Good commercial. (More info.)
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Clever.
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More from Sun-Times columnist Zay Smith:
News Item: Anti-smoking summonses to more than 200 New York City businesses for possession of ashtrays.
News Item: New York man issued summons for sitting on a milk crate in front of a store.
News Item: Man stopped and ticketed for noise pollution by New York police because his small child popped a balloon.
News Item: Pregnant New York woman fined $50 for sitting on subway steps.
News Item: Fine upheld of New York woman who rested an injured leg on an adjoining subway seat.
New York, New York, it’s a wonderful town!
Courtesy of Wesley Crusher himself, it’s the Wesley Saves the Day generator … 
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I really chuckled when I read this one. How very true. “American Woman” and “Born in the U.S.A.” may somehow have weirdly obtained cult status as patriotic songs, but the lyrics show them as actually quite the couple of protest songs.
When given a single wish, the peasant tells the genie, “My neighbor Janov just got a new cow. It gives enough milk for his entire family, and he is finally prospering.” “So you would like a cow like that? or a couple?” the genie asks. “No, I want you to kill his cow.”
Thanks to Zay L. Smith: Results of a periodic Canadian Ministry of Consumer and Business Services inspections audit:
- Debt Collectors: 4,000 complaints and inquiries, 10 inspections.
- Auto Repair Shops: 2,000 complaints, six inspections.
- Adult Video Stores: Eight complaints, 1,600 inspections.
Heh.
This woman’s ego knows no bounds, evidently. You can purchase one of her CDs for $1,000.00. “This is how much music should be worth, if there is talent there. They are cheapening music and talent, by selling it like it is fried chicken at KFC.” And you can hire her to perform for $50,000.00. “I have to do everything alone, because alot of my music is very advanced. People are not working that hard.”
“Silent fish, holy fish / All is calm, all is fish … ”
If you lived through the 1980s, then you’ll enjoy Build Your Own Garbage Pail Kid ….
After reading this, I think I’ve developed a headache.
Chomp.
This shows how screwed up the United States patent system is …
One of the weirder FARK threads in a while.
Some truths from a very funny 404 page.
We can spare $87 billion for Iraq. We evidently cannot spare even a fraction of that to reopen the Statue of Liberty after having been closed for more than two years.
Common Sense for the New Century, by Gov. Howard Dean, M.D. A good document. Full of idealism and statements about what we can be. I like it. It’s why I go to Dean meetups every month.
Soylent Dean: “His campaign! It’s made out of … people!”
A criticizing history of McDonald’s.
I don’t find myself grossed out by films that often. However, the human body and someone who’s sniffing a lot has managed to do it, with these two videos.
Donald Rumsfeld, winner of the Foot in Mouth Award by the British Plain English Campaign, for: “Reports that say something hasn’t happened are interesting to me, because as we know, there are known unknowns; there things we know we know, We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns — the ones we don’t know we don’t know.”
A very funny website about bootleg toys. This one is particularly funny.
Woulda been nice if Dubya had the class to have said something like this.
Roy Disney tells Eisner how Disney today is crap.
From the nut files of the FBI. Some of them are hilarious:
I had a visit yesterday from two gentlemen who said they were from the SECRET SERVICE! They were looking for the HAMBURGLAR who said the PRESIDENT might choke on a CHEESEBURGER on AIR FORCE ONE! No wonder they can’t balance a TRILLION DOLLAR BUDGET in DC, they have to check out all the MCDONALDS in AMERICA for the DEADLY CHEESEBURGER that might KILL the PRESIDENT! This is not a JOKE!
And some of them are freaky:
“Some files, however, are eerie in their seeming prescience or certainty: the poem from a young man that seems to hint at the massacre at Columbine High School, the anonymous caller offering impossible theories of a conspiracy involving the CIA who leaves a return phone number that connects to an internal CIA office number.”
Interesting news story about a hoarder, an organizational expert, and a judge …
Homophobia is evidently alive and well at Ernest Gallet Elementary School.
H.R. 3261 … another Constitution-killing, lobbyist-loving piece of shit legislation … 
A quite amusing piece recapping the Slashdotters’ negative (and entirely WRONG) reactions to the iPod.
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Guess Bush is going to get re-elected now. I swear to God, what a fricking moron …
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Congratulations, folks. This is the guy you elected as your Governor.
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An anti-spam bill based on these tenets would have been great. Interestingly enough, every single one of these precepts seems to have been specifically ignored. Pre-emption DOES exist, no private right of action, opt-out instead of opt-in, hazy definitions … 
In a move sure to be very popular with Brits, London has banned “thongs and skimpy swimwear” at their public pools.
I love Zippy’s remark about Pixar here.
And this strip is great, although it won’t be always be up. (The one I like is entitled “The Original Neo-Con Plan.”)
Linux + Billy Mouth Bass = Geek Project of the Year. 
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Happy Thanksgiving!
I really enjoyed this Red Meat cartoon and this Sluggy strip.
President Bush signed a bill repealing a decade-old ban on developing new nuclear weapons, authorizing the development of the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator to get at those nasty terrorists who make their bunkers really, really deep. Just when I think the man can’t get any more evil, he kickstarts Cold War II.
Some really interesting thoughts about a possible new killer piece of hardware from those innovators at Apple.
This is pretty cool. Could you imagine buying a DVD that was a DVD on one side, a CD on the other?
Now, the Republicans are actually stealing documents from the Democrats. Of course, Sen. Orrin Hatch claims complete and total mortification. But if you believe that, I have some excellent river-spanning property in Brooklyn to offer you for a very modest fee.
Bush’s stuttering delivery is now being digitally altered for campaign commercials. Oh, FUN. :-/
Amusing list of reasons why RateMyKitten.Com might have rejected your photograph of your cat.
Washington Post: “A broad survey of U.S. troops in Iraq by a Pentagon-funded newspaper found that half of those questioned described their unit’s morale as low and their training as insufficient, and said they do not plan to reenlist. The survey, conducted by the Stars and Stripes newspaper, also recorded about a third of the respondents complaining that their mission lacks clear definition and characterizing the war in Iraq as of little or no value. Fully 40 percent said the jobs they were doing had little or nothing to do with their training.”
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Norman Singleton, legislative director for Congressman Ron Paul: “Most members did not read [a bill granting the FBI the power to subpoena information about you from any business or organization, without needing approval or permission from a judge, plus with a gag order on the targeted organization] because the details are ‘classified’ and only one copy is available for members to go to a certain room and sit there and read it!” Original link, and Slashdot discussion. And yet ANOTHER step towards the new American police state … *sigh*
In a recent speech, John Ashcroft said that the PATRIOT Act ‘honors’ liberty and freedom. You know, if I was God, I’d be pretty tempted to grab a few lightening bolts … I mean, seriously. That’s just asking for it.
Especially considering: “Last week, on the MSNBC show ‘Scarborough Country’, the host Joe Scarborough (libertarian-conservative) reported that a strip club in Las Vegas had been busted under the auspices of the PATRIOT Act. He was quite incensed that under the direction of Ashcroft (who appears to be an aging Basset Hound/Sharpei mix) had turned his attention from al-Qaeda to strippers in the name of Homeland Security.”
Natalie Apostolou is the third journalist in three months to come forward about being deported from the USA for not having the correct visa.
The newest sensation: “Who Wants to Be a First Lady?“
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How true. How very true.
In a twist worthy of 1984, the anti-spam bill pretty much is a pro-spam bill, as the direct marketers boogie down in happiness.
I’m definitely a geek, because this looks so damn cool.
Sydney Morning Herald: “Walt Disney has pulled out of the new $140 million film version of Peter Pan after refusing to give a share of its profits to a children’s hospital in London.” [...] “Disney believed it should be exempt from making any payment to the hospital from the sale of spin-off books, board games, soft toys and computer games, which are expected to generate tens of millions of dollars in their own right.”
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Airport terminals + Bart Simpson-like prank calls = amusing.
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Found a great Photoshop contest … what would a Victorian-age Internet have been? Microsoft Titanic Simulator 1891. And what Amazon might have looked like.
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From today’s Sun-Times “Quick Takes” column …
What a load of …
The Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus, which is at the United Center through Nov. 30, wants you to know it now generates 5,700 cubic feet of manure each week.
Look over your shoulders, Congress.
Ringling Bros. is gaining.
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Cleveland Plain Dealer: “Um, we’re sorry. The guy who said ‘[t]he evil ones now find themselves in crisis, and this is God’s will for them’ wasn’t Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD), it was Saddam Hussein.”
This is kind of funny. A pickpocketer picked the oh-so-wrong block to try to steal a guy’s money: not only were there three cops on every single corner, there were anti-terrorist Operation Atlas cops, a Cobra terrorist response team, and a highway patrol unit. Needless to say, when the victim yelled, “Help, police!”, um, the guy pretty much got flattened.
Akron Beacon Journal: Readers yell en masse, “ENOUGH WITH THE LEBRON JAMES COVER PHOTOS!!”
Playwright Harold Pinter to President Bush: “I’m sure you’ll be having a nice little tea party with your fellow war criminal, Tony Blair. Please wash the cucumber sandwiches down with a glass of blood, with my compliments.”
Okay, I love London’s mayor, now. London Mayor Ken Livingstone: “I actually think Bush is the greatest threat to life on this planet that we’ve most probably ever seen. The policies he is initiating will doom us to extinction. I don’t formally recognise George Bush because he was not officially elected.”
[Warning: nude link.] Shannon Doherty has officially hit the very last rung of the “fallen A-list former female celebrity” ladder.
Finding Nemo is now the best-selling DVD of all time. 15 million DVDs in 14 days. Pretty damn cool.
*snicker*
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Two comics I really enjoyed today: Non Sequitur and Boy on a Stick and Slither.
“Little Goody Two-Shoes” is actually a 18th century children’s tale. ‘Goody’ is short for ‘goodwife.’ And a G-string is probably derived from a ‘girdlestring.’ (Amazing what the Straight Dope answers.)
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Hey, this is not only cool, but it’s very interesting: a map of campaign donations. Pretty much could tell how the election might go. Check it out. Nervously, I note that there’s not much blue in that map. Could America be comprised of that many f—king idiots? Perhaps …
Todd Lappin speaks about his experience with digital dentistry — pretty damn cool.
I’ve discovered the worst song in the entire world: “I Need You Now,” by Smokie Norful. B103 plays it over and over again. There’s just this awful chorus where he goes “right now” over and over again in this way that sounds as if he’s getting something caught and twisted in a vise.
Dick and Jane: the Advanced Reader. 
“Twenty years ago I did a comic book about a twenty-first century America with endless reality shows based on public humiliation; a federal government secretly selling off pieces of the United States; and a citizenry so drugged out on media they colluded in their own betrayal. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
This is about the only time I have enjoyed watching Barney sing.
Um, did we nuke Jupiter when we drove Gallileo into it?
These are the directories on its website that the White House doesn’t want you to be able to get at via Google. Interesting how many times the word “Iraq” comes up in there. Hm. Wonder why that’s so? *fake sarcastic puzzled look*
As a daily rider of the subway, all I can say is “sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet.”
An interview with Gore Vidal is pretty darn interesting. Here’s some quotes:
Hence the great speech, which I quote at length in the book, that Franklin, old and dying, had someone read for him. He said, I am in favor of this Constitution, as flawed as it is, because we need good government and we need it fast. And this, properly enacted, will give us, for a space of years, such government. But then, Franklin said, it will fail, as all such constitutions have in the past, because of the essential corruption of the people. He pointed his finger at all the American people. And when the people become so corrupt, he said, we will find it is not a republic that they want but rather despotism — the only form of government suitable for such a people.
Q: But Gore, you have lived through a number of inglorious administrations in your lifetime, from Truman’s founding of the national-security state, to LBJ’s debacle in Vietnam, to Nixon and Watergate, and yet here you are to tell the tale. So when it comes to this Bush administration, are you really talking about despots per se? Or is this really just one more rather corrupt and foolish Republican administration?
A: No. We are talking about despotism. I have read not only the first PATRIOT Act but also the second one, which has not yet been totally made public nor approved by Congress and to which there is already great resistance. An American citizen can be fingered as a terrorist, and with what proof? No proof. All you need is the word of the attorney general or maybe the president himself. You can then be locked up without access to a lawyer, and then tried by military tribunal and even executed. Or, in a brand-new wrinkle, you can be exiled, stripped of your citizenship and packed off to another place not even organized as a country — like Tierra del Fuego or some rock in the Pacific. All of this is in the USA PATRIOT Act. The Founding Fathers would have found this to be despotism in spades. And they would have hanged anybody who tried to get this through the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. Hanged.
Q: So if George W. Bush or John Ashcroft had been around in the early days of the republic, they would have been indicted and then hanged by the Founders?
A: No. It would have been better and worse. [Laughs.] Bush and Ashcroft would have been considered so disreputable as to not belong in this country at all. They might be invited to go down to Bolivia or Paraguay and take part in the military administration of some Spanish colony, where they would feel so much more at home. They would not be called Americans — most Americans would not think of them as citizens.”
“Q: Speaking of elections, is George W. Bush going to be re-elected next year?
A: No. At least if there is a fair election, an election that is not electronic. That would be dangerous. We don’t want an election without a paper trail. The makers of the voting machines say no one can look inside of them, because they would reveal trade secrets. What secrets? Isn’t their job to count votes? Or do they get secret messages from Mars? Is the cure for cancer inside the machines? I mean, come on. And all three owners of the companies who make these machines are donors to the Bush administration. Is this not corruption?
So Bush will probably win if the country is covered with these balloting machines. He can’t lose.
Q: But Gore, aren’t you still enough of a believer in the democratic instincts of ordinary people to think that, in the end, those sorts of conspiracies eventually fall apart?
A: Oh no! I find they only get stronger, more entrenched. Who would have thought that Harry Truman’s plans to militarize America would have come as far as we are today? All the money we have wasted on the military, while our schools are nowhere. There is no health care; we know the litany. We get nothing back for our taxes. I wouldn’t have thought that would have lasted the last 50 years, which I lived through. But it did last.
But getting back to Bush. If we use old-fashioned paper ballots and have them counted in the precinct where they are cast, he will be swept from office. He’s made every error you can. He’s wrecked the economy. Unemployment is up. People can’t find jobs. Poverty is up. It’s a total mess. How does he make such a mess? Well, he is plainly very stupid. But the people around him are not. They want to stay in power.
Q: You paint a very dark picture of the current administration and of the American political system in general. But at a deeper, more societal level, isn’t there still a democratic underpinning?
No. There are some memories of what we once were. There are still a few old people around who remember the New Deal, which was the last time we had a government that showed some interest in the welfare of the American people. Now we have governments, in the last 20 to 30 years, that care only about the welfare of the rich.
Q: Is Bush the worst president we’ve ever had?
Well, nobody has ever wrecked the Bill of Rights as he has. Other presidents have dodged around it, but no president before this one has so put the Bill of Rights at risk. No one has proposed preemptive war before. And two countries in a row that have done no harm to us have been bombed.
Q: How do you think the current war in Iraq is going to play out?
A: I think we will go down the tubes right with it. With each action Bush ever more enrages the Muslims. And there are a billion of them. And sooner or later they will have a Saladin who will pull them together, and they will come after us. And it won’t be pretty.
Um, this is a little bit R-rated, but nevertheless a funny, FARKworthy notation. 
I sympathize with the kids in this article. At the same time, a publicly accessible weblog journal is not the same as a private journal. I have frustrations about my work. I don’t go into them here. Why? It’s fairly possible it could be read by my employers. The fact is … a publicly accessible, non-password-protected journal on the Internet … it’s kind of stupid of them, or at least ingenuous, for them to complain about people’s hyperreactions. I don’t agree with the hyperreactions, but that is a possibility when you don’t take steps to protect your thoughts. Public Internet weblog != private journal.
We Apple fans just had so much fun with this video. Please, please don’t miss the link at the bottom: “Developers: the Musical.” See, now, you’ll never see Steve Jobs doing that. Especially sweating through his shirt. 
Heh. Questions for President Bush’s Next Press Conference.
You know, I just, for the first time, took a look at Bush’s re-election site. And when I saw this image, I couldn’t decide whether to chuckle or vomit. Yee. Hah.
Miami New Times: “Myths Over Miami: Captured on South Beach, Satan later escaped. His demons and the horrible Bloody Mary are now killing people. God has fled. Avenging angels hide out in the Everglades. And other tales from children in Dade’s homeless shelters.”
Can’t say I agree with any of it … but it’s sort of cute and sort of so-bad-it’s-campy. The vegan Flash cartoon The Meatrix.
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Charlie’s not eating. I’ll probably be hospitalizing him tomorrow so that he will be force-fed. Your prayers and good thoughts would be very much appreciated.
That having been said, I *really* needed this laugh.
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He’s home! He’s sneezing a lot, which is a little concerning, but my mother thought that might just be him getting the anesthetic out of his system. He’s sleeping, though, and he seems to have a healthy appetite. So I’ll just keep an eye on him.
Evidently dogs don’t know it’s not bacon, but incredibly gross yet incredibly informative.
Kucinich ‘04: let’s get him a lady friend. 
Ars Technica’s review of Mac OS 10.3.
London Evening Standard: “American officials want a virtual three-day shutdown of central London in a bid to foil disruption of the visit by anti-war protestors. They are demanding that police ban all marches and seal off the city centre.”
As the march towards ‘1984′ proceeds onwards and onwards …
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Amazing.
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