An Alabama woman has been fired for refusing to remove a Kerry/Edwards sticker from her car. The boss in question has apparently also been stuffing employee mailboxes with pro-Bush fliers, which, while not illegal, is certainly creepy. Especially in light of his actions where this woman is concerned. (Original story here.)
Any members of the Alabama Bar want to contact this woman about a wrongful termination case?
Despite a court ruling to the contrary (on the grounds that the Reform party doesn’t qualify as a national party), the Florida Secretary of State has ordered Ralph Nader’s name placed on the November ballot.
Now, if he gets support he ought to be on the ballot, but a ruling is a ruling, isn’t it? I guess not if Jeb’s in charge.
No, not the obsolete Sony also-ran, but the Supreme Court decision that made owning a Betamax legal. The MPAA whined and whined — and sued — over the whole notion of time-shifting and home taping, insisting (famously) that the Betamax was some sort of technological equivalent of the Boston Strangler (thanks, Valenti), and that home taping in and of itself was infringment on their copyright (and never mind Fair Use), and further wanted Sony held liable for contributory infringement for making the VTR available in the first place. The Supremes saw it differently, and thereby allowed the market for home video to explode — which, of course, is now part of the bread and butter revenue stream for that very same MPAA that sought to ban the Betamax and its ilk in the first place.
Now we have something called the INDUCE Act before Congress; this law would essentially undo the Betamax ruling, conceivably making Apple liable for the infringment of iPod owners, for example. (Read it, or some analysis, yourself; it’s not pretty.)
In response, some concerned folks have created SaveBetamax.org, and online grassroots organization whose first task is a coordinated day of phone calls to targetted Congresspeople. Go sign up and make a call if you like the idea of deciding when to watch the Sopranos, or on what format you wish to listen to your newest CD. It’s that kind of fair use that the RIAA and MPAA would dearly love to eliminate, and that’s what the INDUCE Act is about. It won’t take much time — hell, some of you spend more time than this will take on this site alone, if the access logs are to be believed. (Heh.)
Ivan is fucking enormous, and is headed for my homeland.
The Brown Bunny has a billboard in LA.
The group behind the subturranean cafe reveals how they built it; apparently, it took about 18 months.
According to Cheney, the poor economic data is flawed because it skips all those people selling crap on eBay. Riiiiight.
“If we only included bake sales and how much money kids make at lemonade stands, this economy would really be cooking,” [John] Edwards said in a statement.
Don’t miss that last one.
We don’t really listen to Keillor’s show much, but after reading a piece like this, we may need to reconsider:
The party of Lincoln and Liberty was transmogrified into the party of hairy-backed swamp developers and corporate shills, faith-based economists, fundamentalist bullies with Bibles, Christians of convenience, freelance racists, misanthropic frat boys, shrieking midgets of AM radio, tax cheats, nihilists in golf pants, brownshirts in pinstripes, sweatshop tycoons, hacks, fakirs, aggressive dorks, Lamborghini libertarians, people who believe Neil ArmstrongÕs moonwalk was filmed in Roswell, New Mexico, little honkers out to diminish the rest of us, NewtÕs evil spawn and their Etch-A-Sketch president, a dull and rigid man suspicious of the free flow of information and of secular institutions, whose philosophy is a jumble of badly sutured body parts trying to walk. Republicans: The No.1 reason the rest of the world thinks weÕre deaf, dumb and dangerous. Rich ironies abound! Lies pop up like toadstools in the forest! Wild swine crowd round the public trough! Outrageous gerrymandering! Pocket lining on a massive scale! Paid lobbyists sit in committee rooms and write legislation to alleviate the suffering of billionaires! Hypocrisies shine like cat turds in the moonlight! O Mark Twain, where art thou at this hour? Arise and behold the Gilded Age reincarnated gaudier than ever, upholding great wealth as the sure sign of Divine Grace. Here in 2004, George W. Bush is running for reelection on a platform of tragedyÑthe single greatest failure of national defense in our history, the attacks of 9/11 in which 19 men with box cutters put this nation into a tailspin, a failure the details of which the White House fought to keep secret even as it ran the country into hock up to the hubcaps, thanks to generous tax cuts for the well-fixed, hoping to lead us into a box canyon of debt that will render government impotent, even as we engage in a war against a small country that was undertaken for the presidentÕs personal satisfaction but sold to the American public on the basis of brazen misinformation, a war whose purpose is to distract us from an enormous transfer of wealth taking place in this country, flowing upward, and the deception is working beautifully.
Johnny Knoxville is slated to star in a big-screen adaptation of The Dukes of Hazzard set for a 2005 release.
Ernie Ball, dead at 74. Damn.
Top Cat! The most effectual Top Cat! Who’s intellectual close friends get to call him T.C., providing it’s with dignity. Top Cat! The indisputable leader of the gang. He’s the boss, he’s a pip, he’s the championship. He’s the most tip top, Top Cat.
Hey there where ya goin’, not exactly knowin’, who says you have to call just one place home. He’s goin’ everywhere, B.J. McKay and his best friend Bear. He just keeps on movin’, ladies keep improvin’, every day is better than the last. New dreams and better scenes, and best of all I don’t pay property tax. Rollin’ down to Dallas, who’s providin’ my palace, off to New Orleans or who knows where. Places new and ladies, too, I’m B.J. McKay and this is my best friend Bear.
I never spend much time in school but I taught ladies plenty. It’s true I hire my body out for pay, hey hey. I’ve gotten burned over Cheryl Tiegs, blown up for Raquel Welch. But when I end up in the hay it’s only hay, hey hey. I might jump an open drawbridge, or Tarzan from a vine. ‘Cause I’m the unknown stuntman that makes Eastwood look so fine.
(Here.)
Or, if you prefer:
Samt vilket datum dessa Šndringar gjordes b) Du tillser att alla verk som. Ett sŒdant meddelande som nŠmns ovan) , Programvaran licensieras i sin helhet utan. FšrŠndrade versioner av Programvaran eller verk enligt villkoren. Startas skall det skriva ut. Programvaran eller verk enligt villkoren i paragraf 1 ovan fšrutsatt att du ocksŒ uppfyller fšljande, innehŒller eller Šr hŠrlett frŒn Programvaran eller en del av Programvaran. Och distribuera sŒdana fšrŠndrade versioner av Programvaran eller verk enligt villkoren i paragraf. De fšrŠndrade filerna har ett tydligt meddelande som berŠttar att Du Šndrat; att de fšrŠndrade filerna har ett tydligt meddelande som berŠttar att Du Šndrat filerna! Kan utfšra interaktiv kommandon nŠr det; kostnad till tredje man enligt dessa licensvillkor c) Om den fšrŠndrade Programvaran i sitt?
(Here.)
We already noted that complete lack of secret catacomb clubs, but now we have to accept the fact that we not only don’t have a secret-agent themed restaurant/nightclub, but Milwaukee does: the Safehouse. Sigh.
As quoted by Atrios:
And finally, New Rule: You can’t run on a mistake. Franklin Roosevelt didn’t run for re-election claiming Pearl Harbor was his finest hour. Abe Lincoln was a great president, but the high point of his second term wasn’t theater security. 9/11 wasn’t a triumph of the human spirit. It was a fuck-up by a guy on vacation. Now, don’t get me wrong, Mr. President. I’m not blaming you for 9/11. We have blue-ribbon commissions to do that. And I’m not saying there was anything improper about your immediate response to the attacks. Someone had to stay in that classroom and protect those kids from Chechen rebels. But by the looks of your convention, you’d think that the worst thing that ever happened to us was the best thing that ever happened to you. You just can’t keep celebrating the deadliest attack ever as if it’s your personal rendezvous with greatness. You don’t see old men who were shot down during World War II jumping out of a plane every year. I mean, other than your dad. … So I say, if you absolutely must win an election on the backs of dead people, do it like they do in Chicago, and have them actually vote for you. Cite
Senator Bob Graham has some disturbing things to say in his new book. More coverage at the Miami Herald.
The gist is this: a web of politically motivated secret classifications has prevented a genuine inquiry into the relationship between the Saudis and the 9/11 hijackers, and this stonewalling continues to this day. What is known is that at least two of the hijackers were financially supported by Saudi agents prior to 9/11, which is more than a little disturbing.
Australian prisoners are milking spiders and using the venom to get high.
A wholesale lack of secret movie theater/restaurant/bar facilities in the catacombs under the city.
What were those damned Allen brothers thinking, anyway?
JWZ points out that Chuck Jones heirs have loaned Jones’ “The Scweam” (at right, click for larger version) to Norway’s Munch Museum as a stand-in until the genuine article is returned.
Hugh Hefner and Stan Lee are teaming up on a project called Superbunnies. I Am Not Making This Up.
This Onion story just isn’t anywhere nearly as funny was it was four years ago:
“We as a people must stand united, banding together to tear this nation in two,” Bush said. “Much work lies ahead of us: The gap between the rich and the poor may be wide, be there’s much more widening left to do. We must squander our nation’s hard-won budget surplus on tax breaks for the wealthiest 15 percent. And, on the foreign front, we must find an enemy and defeat it.”
Sigh.
Head on over to Defective Yeti for a hi-larious riff on the scripted Q&A sessions our President has been enjoying of late. Trust me on this, and read all the way to the end of the entry.
Cheney: Vote for us, or you might DIE.
Well, maybe, anyway. (Math geeks only.)
Unless, that is, you Save Bernd.
Missouri Loves Company has this to say about Hero:
“Hero,” by the way, is an outstanding movie, even if the fight scene between the two chicks did remind me of a Bjork video. Think Rashamon meets Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. With an athletic, sword-wielding Bjork.
We recommend you go read the whole post, especially the part about people demanding their money back because they didn’t understand what “subtitled” meant on the poster.
A New Times paper somewhere posts The Ten Most Hated Men In Rock (Besides Sting). We think they’re mostly right.
TPM has the text of a letter from former President Jimmy Carter to Zell Miller.
Hard Case Crime brings back the lurid pulp format, but with the likes of Lawrence Block writing the prose. Neat idea.
At least, you know, if there’s a convention in town. Check it out; the NYPD basically arrested everyone they could find — more than at any other political convention in the US — and held them far as long as they wanted (i.e., until the convention was over) with no regard for whether or not the people arrested were breaking laws, or were really even protesters.
Dollars to donuts says there will be no real repercussions against the cops who did this, and even less against those who ordered it, and that makes it much easier for NYPD or LAPD or anyone to do exactly the same thing again, any time they decide they want to quash legal dissent.
Who is it that hates freedom again? I forget.
John Gilmore has sued the US Government in order to force it to disclose the laws requiring ID checks when we fly; the government’s response has been that the laws themselves must remain secret for “national security reasons,” which precisely no one with half a brain believes.
It gets better, though: now the Feds are insisting that their own arguments in the case must be kept secret as well. What about oversight?
“We’re dealing with the government’s review of a secret law that now they want a secret judicial review for,” one of Gilmore’s attorneys, James Harrison, said in a phone interview Sunday. “This administration’s use of a secret law is more dangerous to the security of the nation than any external threat.”
Damn right. I fear what an unchecked Executive may do far more than I fear Al Queda. We will always have enemies beyond our borders, either because we backed friendly dictators or committed some other foreign policy cockup, or because sometimes people just hate for no good reason; that’s a given. But we shouldn’t have to deal with these kinds of enemies of freedom, liberty, and transparent government within our own republic. Christ.
This is what may happen if you (a) leave your car outside at night and, presumably, (b) live on the walking route home from the sort of place Faulkner once called “foot-stomping, fiddle-impregnated destinations”.
As it happens, some of the people that the “Swift Boat Veterans for Truth” cited as supporters of their cause had no idea their names were being used, and aren’t too happy about it.
Anybody got a swimming pool we can use? We want to have a Sodium Party.
As if they couldn’t sink lower. Christ.
Whisky of Mass Destruction: how the US spied on the Bruichladdich distillery.
Molly Ivins has quite a bit to say about the RNC. It’s worth a read.
From Sen. Kerry:
Let me tell you what I think makes someone unfit for duty. Misleading our nation into war in Iraq makes you unfit to lead this nation. Doing nothing while this nation loses millions of jobs makes you unfit to lead this nation. Letting 45 million Americans go without healthcare makes you unfit to lead this nation. Letting the Saudi Royal Family control our energy costs makes you unfit to lead this nation. Handing out billions of government contracts to Halliburton while you’re still on their payroll makes you unfit. That’s the record of George Bush and Dick Cheney. And it’s not going to change. I believe it’s time to move America in a new direction; I believe it’s time to set a new course for America.
Atrios has more, natch.
There’s nothing we can type that can improve this picture.
I’m sorry the sanctions against the city and NYPD weren’t harsher, but a NYC judge has ordered the release of more than 500 “demonstrators” (including some juveniles) held too long in legal limbo in what was clearly a ploy to assure a quiet RNC, and never mind the Constitution.
The good news is “the courts still work.” The bad news is it took this long, and the people who ordered this approach — “arrest everydamnbody, and hold ’em until somebody with a lawyer starts squawking” — will see no real consequences.
Senior Heathen Tri-State Culture Analyst Mohney has some fun things to say about a trip to Coney Island, including what may be the finest picture of a ride-ticket-taker-guy ever.
The Agonist points out a bit of a “Harper’s Index” rundown of Bush’s administration from The Independent.
The cool thing about “Yellow” is that you always end up needing it a lot more than you anticipate. Nobody ever picks yellow out of the box just for the Hell of it, but once you start coloring in whatever coloring book or colored coloring you colored, there’s a 99.9% chance you’ll eventually need the yellow for something. In that I cheerfully liken it to bay leaves.
What more need be said?
Jessica “Washingtonienne” Cutler is in an upcoming issue of Playboy.
Collateral: No, except for the scene in the jazz club.
The Bourne Supremecy: Yes, except for the frenetic camera work.
In the annals of advertising, there are a variety of campaigns that really stand out. “Where’s the Beef” became a national catchphrase; Miller Lite’s initial “Tastes Great/Less Filling” ads lived for a full generation.
We’re not sure, but we think Carl’s Jr. (Quicktime) may be on to something here. But we’re not sure it’s precisely what they’re shooting for.
This, we presume, is what went through Alan Keyes noggin before he gave these quotes.
The always-excellent Fred Clark over at Slacktivist points out a long piece in the upcoming New Yorker about the direction of Bush’s economic policies. Short answer: if you earn a living, you’ll be taxed, but if you live off wealth, the trend is toward eliminating those taxes.
Dennis Hastert — the Speaker of the House, for crying out loud — suggested in an interview with Chris Wallace that progressive patron George Soros was funded by drug lords:
On “Fox News Sunday,” the Illinois Republican insinuated that billionaire financier George Soros, who’s funding an independent media campaign to dislodge President Bush, is getting his big bucks from shady sources. “You know, I don’t know where George Soros gets his money. I don’t know where – if it comes overseas or from drug groups or where it comes from,” Hastert mused. An astonished Chris Wallace asked: “Excuse me?” The Speaker went on: “Well, that’s what he’s been for a number years – George Soros has been for legalizing drugs in this country. So, I mean, he’s got a lot of ancillary interests out there.” Wallace: “You think he may be getting money from the drug cartel?” Hastert: “I’m saying I don’t know where groups – could be people who support this type of thing. I’m saying we don’t know.” Daily News, via TPM
As Josh Marshall put it, there’s literally no depth to which these people won’t sink. Lest you think this is just a case of loose lips, Marshall notes that Hastert has been repeating the charge at the convention this week, a technique we might call the Big Lie, because that’s what it is. Soros, however, isn’t taking this lying down, and has issued a public challenge for Hastert to put up or shut up:
I’ve talked to reporters who’ve asked Hastert this around the convention hall. And he’s been aggressively restating the ‘charge.’ I’m told he even shoved his finger in the chest of one of them when repeating it. Now Soros has written this letter to Hastert, asking him to put up or shut up, or, more specifically “either substantiate these claims — which you canont do because they are false — or publicly apologize for attempting to defame my character and damage my reputation.” Whatever you think of Soros, this is the sort of slur that only comes from a real pig. And to think that the author of it is the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and out in the light of day. TPM
Remember: one side of this race has aggressively mislead the American people at every possible turn, and when they’re not misleading they’re stonewalling (e.g., the 9/11 commission, or GWB’s military records). Their fetish for secrecy is anathema to the freedoms we claim to cherish. They have and will continue to disparage the records of honored veterans with ridiculous insinuations (see Cleland, Max) or outright lies (see Kerry, John). They’ll even recruit other honored veterans who know better (see Dole, Bob). If someone with resources puts his money where his mouth is, they insinuate that he’s up to no good just because he’s against their agenda. They do this because they cannot compete on ideas and merits, and know the only way they can keep power is to keep the debate from every becoming substantive by cultivating a culture of fear and lies. They will keep doing this until someone calls them on their bullshit, and you can be damned sure the lapdog mainstream media won’t do that. Pay attention.
