Ashcroft dismisses anti-PATRIOT protests as “hysteria.” If you read this piece carefully, you’ll note that he says “[we] don’t care what you read,” with the implication being “but we get to know anyway,” or, in other words “trust me.”
No thanks, John. Especially not when you say things like
“The hysteria is ridiculous. Our job is not,” Ashcroft said.
I’ve added a [categories] link above, which should produce, if you gesture at it, you’ll get a list of our current categories here at Miscellaneous Heathen (they’re noted at the bottom of all the links now). Select one to show only entries from that category.
The basic functionality should work for any browser, but it’ll work best in a modern browser. It works most well in IE 6 or Safari; Moz does pretty well. IE 5 is, of course, continuing to ride the software short bus, but since this is a personal site, I don’t have to humor its fucktard ways.
Apparently, some folks are playing the Star Wars Imperial March (1.5M mp3) whenever Ashcroft appears publically. I love those guys.
This may be why Ashcroft is no longer talking to print journalists (who presumably tend to ask hard questions), and has been speaking in support of PATRIOT only in front of very specific groups.
In any case, his DOJ has been given seminars to local law enforcement on how they may use the USA PATRIOT act to prosecute drug crimes as terrorist acts, which can presumably produce lots of good law-and-order press for reelection time. Before PATRIOT, making crystal meth was merely a silly, stupid thing to do; now, it’s terrorism! (more)
Rub his belly.
This Apple advertisement from nearly 20 years ago includes three computer industry luminaries. The middle one is Mitch Kapor, designer of Lotus 1-2-3 and current leader of the Open Source Applications Foundation, currently hard at work on a true Open competitor to Outlook. The one on the right is Fred Gibbons, whose company has essentially disappeared.
The real question, though, is “does the dork on the left still have that shirt?”
Another brief memory of Zevon, courtesy of AintNoBadDude.com.
I know some of my readers are just as geeky as I am (if not moreso!), but many of you aren’t. Maybe you don’t know what all this fuss is about over Open Source software, or why it matters, or why it might be a good idea even for your business or home. Most people outside the tech business world probably don’t understand any of this, and that’s not surprising.
Fortunately, the Economist is running this piece, which paints a pretty fair picture of why OS software is appealing to businesses and government, and why proprietary (i.e., closed) software is seen as undesirable in some contexts no matter what the cost. In no small part, it has to to with control and flexibility: if you’re using OS, you’re free to do as you please with your software. If you’re tied to a vendor, then that vendor’s business plan will start dictating your own business plan. It’s not a long piece, so its coverage is limited, but it’s as fine a rundown for the lay person as I’ve seen yet.
I know I post about this all the time, but dammit, it’s important. Another weblog has a fine rundown of a recent Nightline segment wherein Ted Koppel examines PATRIOT and questions its supporters and critics. Frankly, it’s some astounding stuff. The blog author, Lisa Rein, has some trouble with punctuation and spelling in her transcripts, but she’s also providing some fine clips from the show. Please take a few minutes and read, if nothing else, the transcript of Barbara Comstock’s defense of the act, and note — as Koppel does — how she seems to keep forgetting that those “terrorists” she mentions are actually only “suspected terrorists;” none have sat for any trial.
Koppel closes with this, which is as clear an evisceration of Ashcroft’s DOJ as any I’ve seen:
The men who drafted our constitution, who framed our civil rights and protected our various freedoms under the law would, I suspect, retch at some of the bone headed, self-serving, misinterpretations of their intentions that they so often use these days to undermine the very freedoms they pretend to safeguard. The miracle of American Law is not that it protects popular speech, or the privacy of the powerful, or the homes of the priviledged, but rather, that the least among us, those with the fewest defenses thoses suspected of the worst crimes, the most despised in our midst, are presumed innocent until proven guilty. That remains as revolutionary a concept now as it was in the 1780s. It makes protecting the country against terrorism excruciatingly difficult, but we cannot arbitrarily suspend the rights of one catagory of suspects without endangering all the others.
Food for thought, kids. Remember, too, that on this past 9/11, our president was insisting that PATRIOT didn’t go far enough.
Mike Nichols has been signed to direct a musical adaptation of Monty Python and the Holy Grail for the stage.
The good news? It’s Eric Idle’s idea.
For a long time, this guy — and I don’t know him; I just know his site — had a photo diary of his son’s development here. Today, Biggerhand.com is a tribute to the Man in Black, and it’s nice, simple, and true.
Barry knew him, and tells a fine story or two about him.
This commentary — by a member of Parliament, no less — from The Guardian, a British newspaper, says nothing we haven’t seen before, but it does say it all at once, and very clearly. Why journalists on this side of the pond aren’t also saying this is beyond me, especially since the PNAC documents are widely avaiable, and the events of the last two years match PNAC’s goals awfully closely. Even if you don’t agree with his points, at least consider his comments.
American icon and music legend Johnny Cash passed away early today. The stated cause of death was complications from diabetes, but we ought not dismiss the obvious: his wife of 35 years, June Carter Cash, passed away earlier this summer.
Cash’s career spans decades, and includes a myriad of collaborations of the type typified by his last recording contract, with Rick Rubin. In the sixties, he worked with Bob Dylan on Nashville Skyline; his ’69 – ’71 TV show included guests such as Dylan, Joni Mitchell, and Louis Armstrong. Another famous guest on that program was Merle Haggard, who first saw Cash from the audience at Cash’s 1958 San Quentin show. Over four decades, he had 48 singles on the Billboard pop chart and won 11 Grammys, including a lifetime achievement award and the 1998 Country Album of the Year. CNN notes that “it’s said that more than 100 other recording artists and groups have recorded ‘I Walk the Line,'” and it’s easy to believe.
At 48 (in 1980), Cash became the youngest living inductee to the Country Music Hall of Fame. In 1992, he added the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to his accomplishments. Two years later, his relationship with Rick Rubin began, and he entered a sort of creative renaissance. Rubin stated he wanted Cash to sing and record whatever he wanted, and Cash obliged, including new recordings of his own work as well as almost shocking reinterpretations of songs by Soundgarden, U2, Danzig, Depeche Mode, and Trent Reznor. What could have been jokes — “old country artist does hard rock and roll” — turned out to be startling and affecting, thanks no doubt to Cash’s inimitable baritone and style.
Last year, Sony put out a previously unreleased recording of a 1969 show at Madison Square Garden. Along with Cash, it includes performances by Carl Perkins, the Carter Family, the Statler Brothers, and others; he’s at the height of his power and popularity. It’s been in heavy rotation at Nogators HQ for several months. It’s a fine piece of work, and of course, it begins the same way he started all his concerts: “Hello, I’m Johnny Cash.” We here at Nogators believe you might enjoy it, too.
John Ritter collapsed on the set of his current show yesterday before dying at a Burbank hospital, apparently succumbing to a heretofore undiagnosed heart ailment. He was a week from turning 55, which is entirely too young, particularly considering the dramatic work he’s turned in over the last ten years (beginning with Sling Blade). Ritter was the youngest son of western hero and country artist Tex Ritter, which I didn’t know until today.
This is a list of all the search terms people have used to find this site so far this month. My favorites: “antibiotics or pitying or performer or counterpart or imposing” and “a list of things auto mechanics do.” I have no idea why either led those poor fools here.
Fantastically, the list also includes “they say that the road ain’t no place to start a family” and “work hard to get my fill everybody wants a thrill.” I’m used to Journey-based searches (what with hosting this and all), but actual Journey lyrics are new.
This bit is from the Badger people, but features the music of Wesley Willis, who died last week.
It’s been a while since we had one of these. Badger Badger Badger Badger Badger Badger Badger MUSHROOM MUSHROOM.
Infernal Bridegroom Productions begins its 2003-2004 season with the world premiere Jerry’s World on September 25. The show is based on the work of radio personality Joe Frank; Harry Shearer once described Frank’s work as “a fist coming through the radio,” so I’m pretty excited. Not about fists per se, of course, but about what this company will do with this material. IBP Associate Artistic Director Troy Schulze has adapated Frank’s material for the stage, so I’ve got high hopes — he did an adaptation of David Berman’s work last year that was amazing.
The Point? Oh yes. Come with us on opening night, or go on your own. The salient data:
What? Jerry’s World<br/> When? 9/25, 26, 27; 10/2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11, 16, 17, 18. All at 8pm.<br/> Where? The Axiom at 2524 McKinney, behind (east of) George R. Brown<br/> How Much? $5.99 for the September shows; thereafter, ten bucks on Thursdays, twelve on Fridays, and fifteen clams on Saturday nights. <br/> Do I need reservations? Probably. Call ’em at 713-522-8443.<br/>
At lunch, I tried to go buy Warren Zevon’s last album at my local record shop.
They were sold out.
Updated Colophon now online, reflecting the migration to and rationale for Blosxom, plus some additional bits and details. Oh, and now that page actually validates for real.
The American Social Hygiene Poster Database is a fine, fine collection of public & social health posters, ca. 1910 through 1970.<br/>
But some of these are actually pretty clever.<br/>
Salon is running a piece on Ashcroft’s summer pro-PATRIOT roadshow that includes a bit of data I hadn’t heard before: apparently, one potential successor to PATRIOT is called the “VICTORY Act.”
Up next, Victory Gin, Victory Chocolates, and Victory Cigarettes. Apparently, the literary blind spot at the Ashcroft DOJ extends from our own Constitution and Bill of Rights (PDF link) all the way to disturbingly prescient works of literature.
Creepy as all get-out.
The RIAA has settled its file-swapping lawsuit against a 12-year-old girl for $2,000. Way to go, guys.
Warren Zevon died on Sunday. He was 56. Diagnosed with terminal lung cancer last August, he was able to spend much of the last year working on his musical epitaph, The Wind, released just last month. Astute Heathen will note it was Zevon who gave us the title for my dove hunting essay of several years ago (reposted last week).
Obits:
And a quote (from the Billboard obit):
In a candid interview with Billboard last year, Zevon — who had addressed death with frankness and caustic amusement frequently during the course of his 30-year career — joked that he wanted to live long enough to see the latest James Bond film. Once a Hollywood wild man of legendary reputation, Zevon had been sober for nearly 18 years and quit smoking almost five years ago. When he was asked last year what he does while staring death in the eye, Zevon replied by saying, “Work.” “Harder, hopefully with some focus,” Zevon said. “I’m working a lot every day. I already have great relationships with my children … I’ve already led two lives. I got to be a wild, crazy, Jim Morrison quasi-rock star, anyway, and I got to be a sober dad for 18 years. I can’t possibly complain.”
Well, he’s not exactly local — he lives in NYC, and he’s from Birmingham, and here I am in Texas — and the degree to which “publication in an Internet magazine” can be construed as “makes good” should be left as an exercise for the reader (particularly when said publication is really just him being snarky at his (real or imagined (HDANCN?) neighbors), but my pal Chris Mohney has a piece in McSweeney’s. (It’s the September 5 top story; there does not appear to be a permanent link yet.)
Mr Bond, your car is ready.
Minor style changes & such. The whole thing should (a) center in your browser and (b) resize with the browser, rendering it useful (?) in any width window. The shoemakers children in this case now have at least nominal footwear, but only on a few static pages plus the Heathen section.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled shenanigans.
At last, a historically accurate George W. Bush Action Figure! (Karl Rove Control Chip and Spine sold separately.)
In honor of my annual hunting trip, a trip in the wayback machine from 1997: Lawyers, Guns, and Money. Thanks to longtime NoGator Hunting Correspondent P.M. for yet another fine trip to reduce the Dove Menace.
You know, this whole Judge-Moore, Ten-Commandments bruhaha has given the rest of the country plenty of time to poke at the rigid, fundamentalist streak that runs through Alabama and the South in general, and its concomitant inability to understand what “separation of Church and State” actually means. As a native Mississippian, though, I have able to take refuge in the fact that for once, the state being lampooned wasn’t my own.
Well, Mississippi Governor Ronnie Musgrove has gone out of his way to make sure everyone remembers that Mississippi is backward, too. Thanks, Ronnie.
Because a triple cheesburger is for losers.
Yeah. We can see it from our bed.
This analysis of the state of Windows as compared to Linux and Mac OS X is as clear a discussion as I’ve seen, and points out what those of us in technology already know: all these worms and viruses spreading like wildfire are actually only dangerous to your machine if you’re running Windows. He begins:
Between the Blaster worm and the Sobig virus, it’s been a long two weeks for Windows users. But nobody with a Mac or a Linux PC has had to lose a moment of sleep over these outbreaks — just like in earlier “malware” epidemics. This is not a coincidence. . . . In its default setup, Windows XP on the Internet amounts to a car parked in a bad part of town, with the doors unlocked, the key in the ignition and a Post-It note on the dashboard saying, “Please don’t steal this.”
What’s the cost of these worms and viruses? Millions if not billions of dollars in lost productivity, not to mention data loss. Microsoft doesn’t care, and they don’t have to; the market has never punished them for offering such ridiculous default configurations, or such absurd security nightmares as Outlook/Exchange. Even their servers are industry jokes; it’s been years since Gartner officially recommended against using any outward-facing Microsoft server, but do the suits listen? No.
At the end of the day, the point is this: Offices not dependent on Microsoft’s poorly engineered software got away essentially scott free this month, while many that are ground to a halt. I wonder how many CFOs will notice?
The, er, “eccentric” behind the Thought-Screen Helment tin-foil-will-save-you site I posted a few days ago wrote me in response:
So here you are. Enjoy.
They’re reviving CAPPS II — the airline traveller profiling system — by involving a private firm. This is ugly shit. Read more at DontSpyOnUs.com.
Perhaps you are aware of Fox News’ attempts to force satirist Al Franken to remove “Fair and Balanced” from the title of his new book ( Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right). Leaving aside for a moment the sheer amusement value of their argument (that Franken will blur and distort the meaning of “fair and balanced”), let’s look at Fox commentator Bill O’Reilly and his rant in (where else?) the Murdoch-owned Daily News, wherein he attempts to assert that Al Franken — one of the originial writers at Saturday Night Live — is not in fact a satirist, and therefore not entitled to use Fox’s catch phrase in a satirical effort. With no trace of irony, he says:
Fox News has become the highest-rated news network on cable because we feature lively debate and all honest voices are welcome. We don’t do drive-by character assassinations, and we don’t denigrate opposing points of view by launching gratuitous personal attacks . . . It makes me sick to see intellectually dishonest individuals hide behind the First Amendment to spread propaganda, libel and slander. But this is a growing trend in America, where the exchange of ideas often degenerates into verbal mud wrestling with intent to injure.
All I can make of this is that apparently, he doesn’t watch his own show. His abusive tactics are seen by millions of viewers a week, and have been well documented. Only a few months ago he cut the mike of a 9/11 victim’s son because he disagreed with his comments. More than this, Franken makes the case quite well that O’Reilly belongs on the cover of this book, given his history of distorting and exaggerating his journalism resume, not to mention his ongoing attempts to cast his upper-middle-class upbringing as poor and humble. Franken has publically busted O’Reilly before, too, since Bill seems to like to claim to have won a Peabody — which, of course, has never happened.
The scary thing is this: people still take O’Reilly seriously.
Which is why nobody will run this in conventional media: Why I Hate George W. Bush.
The US now has the highest incarceration rate in the world. According to a Justice Department report, 1 in 37 Americans is now serving or has served time; the population has quadrupled in the last 23 years. The Christian Science Monitor examines the situation further.
Marriage is a sacred thing, and can be a beautiful expression of love between two people. But weddings themselves are notoriously stressful and expensive affairs, so there’s little surprise that frayed nerves often fill the hours before the blessed union.
Of course, that’s probably not quite enough to explain the debacle described here, though if we factor “18 year old bride” and “classless dipsomaniacal bimbo” into the equation, we may get somewhere. (RealVideo coverage here as well, not to be missed.)
The people at StopAbductions.com are refreshingly unconcerned with abductions that, you know, actually happen. Oh, and you’re free to copy their instructions for creating a “Thought Screen Helmet,” if you like. If you make one, I encourage you to wear it at all times so that the rest of us can, um, admire your self-reliance.
Soros, that is. He’s ponied up big bucks to help defeat Bush’s money machine. I think I’ll send him a check.
Just as Diebold. They can’t even keep their web site secure, and they expect us to trust them with our republic?
Today, it’s 101 fun-loving degrees here. That’s the actual air temperature. With the heat index, it’s more like 111.
Every summer, I wonder how many more of these Houston Augusts I can take before I move to someplace temperate, like Atlanta, or Venus.