Sunday, December 28, 2003

Mad Cow In 8 States!
The US hates to lag behind anyone, so we're having our own Mad Cow Disease freakout. The AP wire says carcasses of cows with Mad Cow disease may already be in 8 states. Read it here, from LA Times.
Swimming With Piranhas
In Brazil, the damming of rivers has lead to a rise in the piranha population, which has lead to a rise in piranha attacks. Check out the story and photos here, from BBC News, of people swimming right next to signs reading "Danger! Piranhas!" Those Brazilians don't give a fuck.

Saturday, December 27, 2003

Iran Quake Leaves 25,000 Dead
A horrific earthquake has rocked Iran, killing over 25,000 people according to the NY Times. The governor of the province in which the quake struck, said the death toll my climb up to the 40,000 mark. Unimaginable devastation and suffering.

Friday, December 26, 2003

C'mon Beagle 2, You Can Do It!!!
Everyone muster up their psychic energies and beam them to lonely little Beagle 2, currently sitting on the surface of Mars but too bashful to call home. Read about it, here. Beagle 2 landed on Christmas but we've received no transmissions from the probe. What's those Martians' problem, anyway?

Tuesday, December 23, 2003

Donald Rumsfeld Loves Saddam Hussein
Even after the international baddie Hussein used chemical weapons on the Kurds on an almost daily basis, Rummy still loved him. Newly declassified documents tell the whole disgraceful tale. Read it here, from the Independent. Rummy went to Iraq at the behest of Ronnie Reagan to let Hussein know the USA only disapproved of the chemical attacks because we were forced to. Rummy and all the other soulless villainswho concocted the new Iraq war have some soul-searching to do. If we were a country that valued integrity, truth, justice, or freedom, a villain like Rumsfeld would be run out on a rail. Rumsfeld should resign immediately.
Saha And Viduka Sought By Manchester United
The French striker Louis Saha, who plays for Fulham, and the Leeds United Aussie striker Mark Viduka, are on the Christmas list of Premiership champions Manchester United. Fulham boss Coleman says Saha is out "over my dead body." Leeds is facing relegation and could use the cash, but if they unload their top striker, how will their relegation battle turn out? Read it here, from the Independent. Is it all posturing, to raise their prices? We'll have to see what turns up in Man Utd's stocking.
Mad Cow USA
We warned you, now it's happened. The first case of Mad Cow Disease in the USA is now a fact. Read about it, here. Want to avoid the brain-wasting disease? STOP EATING MEAT.
Jack White: The Lord Of The Ring
Jack White recently beat the crap out of Von Bondies' singer Jason Stollsteimer. See the damage done to Jason's face, here. White turned himself into Detroit police and if all goes wrong for him, could face a year in jail. Read about that, here. The courts will decide if White acted in self-defense (as he claims) or if he attacked Stollsteimer after the latter refused to fight him. We think Jack and Jason should have teamed up and beaten the crap out of some rockers who really deserve it. Fight shitty music together. Maybe the pressure of being the unerring boy genius of the moment is finally getting to Jack. Remember what that sort of hype and pressure did to Kurt Cobain? The photos of Stollsteimer should serve as ample warning: give Jack some space!
Beagle 2 Inbound!
The UK space mission, Beagle 2, is on schedule to land on Mars on Christmas Day. Read about this exciting mission, here. Why have so many Mars missions failed? Well, everyone knows that Phobos, one of Mars' "moons" (they are technically asteroids, not moons) is an artificial satellite, likely hollow and lofted into orbit by Martians, and it's also painfully obvious that the Martians don't want us nosing around. Stay tuned!
Seinfeldian Tragedy
Kramer, Elaine, and George won't give on-camera interviews for an upcoming DVD release of the "Seinfeld" series. Read it here, from NY Times. Their reason? They declined because they weren't given a "piece of the action" and thought, why should they "make other people richer." The answer, as all you working stiffs know, is because they're already millionaires several times over, for fuck's sake! They were lucky when they were picked to be Jerry Seinfeld's buddies. They won the lottery, getting over $600,000 per show. All Seinfeld fans know and love those 3, but give me a fucking break. Maybe Jason Alexander should go back to hawking Kentucky Fried, or he, Richards and Dreyfuss can take another stab at their own shows, which were all unmitigated disasters. Seinfeld was the star. Take your millions, your fame, the good will of the fans, do the goddamn interviews, and fuck off.
Limbaugh: Sad, Pathetic, Lonely Fraud
So this right-wing blowhard hate-monger who has made millions of dollars and fans by bashing drug users and anyone "soft" on crime, now has the shoe on the other foot. Limbaugh went into rehab for his prescription drug addiction but still refuses to accept responsibility. He still lashes out at "Democrats" for his drug problem controversy, like a naughty schoolboy caught red-handed. Isn't one of Rush's big hypocrisies that he contantly harps on people for not taking responsibility, for blaming their woes on others? Admit it, Rush, you are no better than the millions of drug users you heap scorn upon. Yours is an empire built on hate and distortions of truth. Now the crows have come home to roost. Read about Rush, here. We're supposed to feel sad and sorry for poor Rush's "back pain" even though the number of drugs he bought and took over a four-month period could have kept him drugged up 24 hours a day for 14 years. Face it Rush, you're a drug addict. You should get help, you should have treatment. Come clean and admit your entire act is bullshit. You have now seen, with your own drug-addled eyes, that treatment beats incarceration. So shut the fuck up, only idiots still believe in your righteous indignation or your sermonizing. Your game is up, Rush. You're a sad, pathetic fraud.

Wednesday, December 17, 2003

The Sept. 11th Attacks Could Have Been Prevented
This is the bombshell being dropped by former Republican governor Thomas Kean, the man appointed by Bush to head the 9/11 investigation. Read more, here, from CBS News. Kean promises more startling revelations as hearings get underway next month. Kean levels the blame at key members inside the current administration, and if he gets the subpoenaed documents from the White House, maybe Bush himself. Stay tuned.
30,000 Year Old Art
Recently unearthed in Germany's Ach Valley region, were 3 carved ivory objects depicting a bird, a horse, and a half-man/half-lion figure. Read it here, from BBC News. These finds are among the oldest representations of art ever found. Imagine 30,000 years ago. That would be during an Ice Age where the Saharan desert would have been covered in ice, most of Europe would have been a living hell. And yet, early humans still created art. Boggles the mind.

Tuesday, December 16, 2003

Should We Execute Hussein?
I think not. I think we should turn his daily life into a Reality TV show. Hussein would be given a new crap job every week and cameras would follow him around, televising his humiliation and degradation to the world. We could even do it as a pay-per-view series, where the proceeds go to pay off the $87 billion we spent on the Iraq war. First job would be cleaning the toilets in the New York subway. Imagine Saddam, there with bristle brush and a can of disinfectant, elbowing the homeless out of the way to remove layer upon layer of graffiti and filth. The next week, Hussein could shovel coal. And so on. Paris Hilton can kiss Hussein's ass, because Hussein TV would crush that insipid The Simple Life.
Fantasy Soccer
My fantasy soccer team (through the BBC Sports pages) is really kicking ass, moving up from a ranking of 145,000 for the month to 79,000! That's momentum! It's like Seabiscuit cruising up the outside, shoving the punters against the rail! I've got Van Nistelrooy, Scholes, Shearer, Savage, Lampard, Joe Cole, Mills, Clapham, Lehmann, Campo and Sinclair on my team! I expect this game month will see us move up into 50,000th place. Quite a remarkable feat, really.

Monday, December 15, 2003

Premiership Table. See who's on top, here.
Okay, we'll tell you. Arsenal is on top, followed by Manchester United, Chelsea, Fulham, and Newcastle.
Hussein Captured
I was having coctails with some friends this afternoon and we talked about Hussein's capture. It sounds like a slamdunk win for the Bush Team for next year, but hopefully the media will remember that Hussein had nothing to do with the Sept 11th attacks. Of course Hussein was a nasty bugger and the world is better off without him in power, no question. The world would also be better off without many heads of state, including our own, and hopefully next election will send him from office.

Let's look at Hussein's resume. Hussein killed 8,000 Kurds with VX gas rockets. These chemical weapons were made from materials the US sold him. Yes, Hussein caused about 1 million deaths in the Iran-Iraq war, but the US did things like shell Iranian oil platforms and break the Iranian blockade of Iraq to help our ally, Hussein, and to improve Iraq's position in the war. President Reagan issued and Executive Order that stated we would do anything we had to in order to ensure Iraq did not lose the war with Iran. In fact, Reagan removed Iraq from the list of nations that sponsors terrorism, in 1983. In 1990, Hussein was told through a US ambassador that the US does not view Kuwait as having any connection to the US, meaning it was a green light for Iraq to invade Kuwait. After the Gulf War, when we let Hussein's forces massacre those who expected the US to assist in a rebellion, it was like the Bay Of Pigs fiasco. This time, around 60,000 people were killed by Hussein for taking part in the uprising.

It seems our little dictator, that we nurtured and armed and turned loose on Iraq and the middle east, finally got too big for his britches and then we decided to take him out. The crimes and excesses of Hussein would not have been possible without the generous support of the US. Talk about crows coming home to roost!

Saturday, December 13, 2003

Bolton Wanderers Stun Chelsea!
Chelsea, the West London club of superstars recently assembled during a 140 million pound spending spree, went down 2-1 to 10th place Bolton. An amazing day for the away team, read it here. The last time Bolton beat Chelsea at Chelsea's home ground of Stamford Bridge was in 1975! Result!

Friday, December 12, 2003

Something New To Worry About --- The Magnetic Fields!
Okay, when was the last time you worried about the Earth's magnetic fields switching polarity? Tuesday? Wow. Anyway, it appears that the magnetic fields are declining at a rate of 10% year and when they're gone, who knows what will happen. Authors like Graham Hancock say that pole reversals presage a new Ice Age, which would not be, um, cool, but others are saying that the fossil records indicate no massive die-offs of species during pole reversals. Read about it here, NY Times.
War Profiteering
A Halliburton subsidiary stands accused of overcharging the US military for fuel delivery and for cafeteria costs. The company, Kellogg, Brown & Root, was awarded the contract without any bids, without any competitors, and solely because Cheney used to run Halliburton. How's that for the Free Market?! Aren't Republicans supposed to get all misty-eyed over the free market? What gives? Is this, in other words, shameless war profiteering, and act that in times past has amounted to Treason? Read it here.
Mick Jagger Knighted
As recognition for Jagger's years of dedication and service to drugs, groupies, devil worship, he was knighted at Buckingham Palace by Prince Charles, yesterday. Read it here. Bandmate Keith Richards, who arguably has done his fair share of drugs and groupies, was not similarly feted. Sounds like Prince Charles is stirring up some trouble, trying to revive the old feud. Not to worry, Jagger and Richards are rich as fuck and date women as young as their youngest daughters. Think they give a fuck? No.
International Human Rights Day --- Dec 10th
How did you celebrate this day? What? You didn't even know it was on, eh? Oh well, what can you expect in 2003. This is also the first time the United States has been voted off the Human Rights commission that we created. It makes sense that the Bush White House wouldn't get all excited about human rights. As long as we're safe, right?
Vinnie Jones - Sent Off!
The former Wimbledon thug-turned-actor, Vinnie Jones, recently has a punch-up on airplance. Read it here. Vinnie Jones is the real deal, when it comes to being a tough guy. He plays tough guys now in the movies, but unlike Bruce Willis and Schwarzenegger, et al, Jones will crush you like a grape if you get in his way.

Tuesday, December 02, 2003

The Governator Files --- New California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is having is first civics lesson. Read it here, from the LA Times. It appears that Arnie's $4 billion in cuts (mostly taking money away from health care programs, higher education, and the disabled) won't magically go away, and he can't just ram his fist into the stomach of the deficit. Shocking! Who needs all that health care and higher education when you can just tool around town in your enviro-killer Hummer 2 and cash residual checks from the dozens of hyper violent, jingoistic, feeble-minded bullshit movies you made during the last 25 years? For the last time, get all these filthy poor people away from us beautiful types!

Back In Action --- My computer has been going through a crisis lately and refused to allow any web pages to load properly, including but not limited to, this one. So it looks like the problem is fixed and the News will again start flowing!

Tuesday, November 11, 2003

The Winner Of The 2000 Election, Al Gore ---
The folks at Move On have provided the text of Al Gore's speech last Sunday. Gore's speech is a call to arms to wake up this slumbering populace and retake our country. It's heady reading.

As Prepared for Delivery

Remarks

By Al Gore

November 9, 2003

FREEDOM AND SECURITY

Thank you, Lisa, for that warm and generous introduction. Thank you Zack, and thank you all for coming here today

I want to thank the American Constitution Society for co-sponsoring today's event, and for their hard work and dedication in defending our most basic public values.

And I am especially grateful to Moveon.org, not only for co-sponsoring this event, but also for using 21st Century techniques to breathe new life into our democracy.

For my part, I'm just a "recovering politician" -- but I truly believe that some of the issues most important to America's future are ones that all of us should be dealing with.

And perhaps the most important of these issues is the one I want to talk about today: the true relationship between Freedom and Security.

So it seems to me that the logical place to start the discussion is with an accounting of exactly what has happened to civil liberties and security since the vicious attacks against America of September 11, 2001 -- and it's important to note at the outset that the Administration and the Congress have brought about many beneficial and needed improvements to make law enforcement and intelligence community efforts more effective against potential terrorists.

But a lot of other changes have taken place that a lot of people don't know about and that come as unwelcome surprises. For example, for the first time in our history, American citizens have been seized by the executive branch of government and put in prison without being charged with a crime, without having the right to a trial, without being able to see a lawyer, and without even being able to contact their families.

President Bush is claiming the unilateral right to do that to any American citizen he believes is an "enemy combatant." Those are the magic words. If the President alone decides that those two words accurately describe someone, then that person can be immediately locked up and held incommunicado for as long as the President wants, with no court having the right to determine whether the facts actually justify his imprisonment.

Now if the President makes a mistake, or is given faulty information by somebody working for him, and locks up the wrong person, then it's almost impossible for that person to prove his innocence -- because he can't talk to a lawyer or his family or anyone else and he doesn't even have the right to know what specific crime he is accused of committing. So a constitutional right to liberty and the pursuit of happiness that we used to think of in an old-fashioned way as "inalienable" can now be instantly stripped from any American by the President with no meaningful review by any other branch of government.

How do we feel about that? Is that OK?

Here's another recent change in our civil liberties: Now, if it wants to, the federal government has the right to monitor every website you go to on the internet, keep a list of everyone you send email to or receive email from and everyone who you call on the telephone or who calls you -- and they don't even have to show probable cause that you've done anything wrong. Nor do they ever have to report to any court on what they're doing with the information. Moreover, there are precious few safeguards to keep them from reading the content of all your email.

Everybody fine with that?

If so, what about this next change?

For America's first 212 years, it used to be that if the police wanted to search your house, they had to be able to convince an independent judge to give them a search warrant and then (with rare exceptions) they had to go bang on your door and yell, "Open up!" Then, if you didn't quickly open up, they could knock the door down. Also, if they seized anything, they had to leave a list explaining what they had taken. That way, if it was all a terrible mistake (as it sometimes is) you could go and get your stuff back.

But that's all changed now. Starting two years ago, federal agents were given broad new statutory authority by the Patriot Act to "sneak and peak" in non-terrorism cases. They can secretly enter your home with no warning -- whether you are there or not -- and they can wait for months before telling you they were there. And it doesn't have to have any relationship to terrorism whatsoever. It applies to any garden-variety crime. And the new law makes it very easy to get around the need for a traditional warrant – simply by saying that searching your house might have some connection (even a remote one) to the investigation of some agent of a foreign power. Then they can go to another court, a secret court, that more or less has to give them a warrant whenever they ask.

Three weeks ago, in a speech at FBI Headquarters, President Bush went even further and formally proposed that the Attorney General be allowed to authorize subpoenas by administrative order, without the need for a warrant from any court.

What about the right to consult a lawyer if you're arrested? Is that important?

Attorney General Ashcroft has issued regulations authorizing the secret monitoring of attorney-client conversations on his say-so alone; bypassing procedures for obtaining prior judicial review for such monitoring in the rare instances when it was permitted in the past. Now, whoever is in custody has to assume that the government is always listening to consultations between them and their lawyers.

Does it matter if the government listens in on everything you say to your lawyer? Is that Ok?

Or, to take another change – and thanks to the librarians, more people know about this one – the FBI now has the right to go into any library and ask for the records of everybody who has used the library and get a list of who is reading what. Similarly, the FBI can demand all the records of banks, colleges, hotels, hospitals, credit-card companies, and many more kinds of companies. And these changes are only the beginning. Just last week, Attorney General Ashcroft issued brand new guidelines permitting FBI agents to run credit checks and background checks and gather other information about anyone who is "of investigatory interest," - meaning anyone the agent thinks is suspicious - without any evidence of criminal behavior.

So, is that fine with everyone?

Listen to the way Israel's highest court dealt with a similar question when, in 1999, it was asked to balance due process rights against dire threats to the security of its people:

"This is the destiny of democracy, as not all means are acceptable to it, and not all practices employed by its enemies are open before it. Although a democracy must often fight with one hand tied behind its back, it nonetheless has the upper hand. Preserving the Rule of Law and recognition of an individual's liberty constitutes an important component in its understanding of security. At the end of the day they (add to) its strength."

I want to challenge the Bush Administration's implicit assumption that we have to give up many of our traditional freedoms in order to be safe from terrorists.

Because it is simply not true.

In fact, in my opinion, it makes no more sense to launch an assault on our civil liberties as the best way to get at terrorists than it did to launch an invasion of Iraq as the best way to get at Osama Bin Laden.

In both cases, the Administration has attacked the wrong target.

In both cases they have recklessly put our country in grave and unnecessary danger, while avoiding and neglecting obvious and much more important challenges that would actually help to protect the country.

In both cases, the administration has fostered false impressions and misled the nation with superficial, emotional and manipulative presentations that are not worthy of American Democracy.

In both cases they have exploited public fears for partisan political gain and postured themselves as bold defenders of our country while actually weakening not strengthening America.

In both cases, they have used unprecedented secrecy and deception in order to avoid accountability to the Congress, the Courts, the press and the people.

Indeed, this Administration has turned the fundamental presumption of our democracy on its head. A government of and for the people is supposed to be generally open to public scrutiny by the people – while the private information of the people themselves should be routinely protected from government intrusion.

But instead, this Administration is seeking to conduct its work in secret even as it demands broad unfettered access to personal information about American citizens. Under the rubric of protecting national security, they have obtained new powers to gather information from citizens and to keep it secret. Yet at the same time they themselves refuse to disclose information that is highly relevant to the war against terrorism.

They are even arrogantly refusing to provide information about 9/11 that is in their possession to the 9/11 Commission -- the lawful investigative body charged with examining not only the performance of the Bush Administration, but also the actions of the prior Administration in which I served. The whole point is to learn all we can about preventing future terrorist attacks,

Two days ago, the Commission was forced to issue a subpoena to the Pentagon, which has -- disgracefully -- put Secretary Rumsfeld's desire to avoid embarrassment ahead of the nation's need to learn how we can best avoid future terrorist attacks. The Commission also served notice that it will issue a subpoena to the White House if the President continues to withhold information essential to the investigation.

And the White House is also refusing to respond to repeated bipartisan Congressional requests for information about 9/11 -- even though the Congress is simply exercising its Constitutional oversight authority. In the words of Senator Main, "Excessive administration secrecy on issues related to the September 11 attacks feeds conspiracy theories and reduces the public's confidence in government."

In a revealing move, just three days ago, the White House asked the Republican leadership of the Senate to shut down the Intelligence Committee's investigation of 9/11 based on a trivial political dispute. Apparently the President is anxious to keep the Congress from seeing what are said to have been clear, strong and explicit warnings directly to him a few weeks before 9/11 that terrorists were planning to hijack commercial airliners and use them to attack us.

Astonishingly, the Republican Senate leadership quickly complied with the President's request. Such obedience and complicity in what looks like a cover-up from the majority party in a separate and supposedly co-equal branch of government makes it seem like a very long time ago when a Republican Attorney General and his deputy resigned rather than comply with an order to fire the special prosecutor investigating Richard Nixon.

In an even more brazen move, more than two years after they rounded up over 1,200 individuals of Arab descent, they still refuse to release the names of the individuals they detained, even though virtually every one of those arrested has been "cleared" by the FBI of any connection to terrorism and there is absolutely no national security justification for keeping the names secret. Yet at the same time, White House officials themselves leaked the name of a CIA operative serving the country, in clear violation of the law, in an effort to get at her husband, who had angered them by disclosing that the President had relied on forged evidence in his state of the union address as part of his effort to convince the country that Saddam Hussein was on the verge of building nuclear weapons.

And even as they claim the right to see the private bank records of every American, they are adopting a new policy on the Freedom of Information Act that actively encourages federal agencies to fully consider all potential reasons for non-disclosure regardless of whether the disclosure would be harmful. In other words, the federal government will now actively resist complying with ANY request for information.

Moreover, they have established a new exemption that enables them to refuse the release to the press and the public of important health, safety and environmental information submitted to the government by businesses -- merely by calling it "critical infrastructure."


By closely guarding information about their own behavior, they are dismantling a fundamental element of our system of checks and balances. Because so long as the government's actions are secret, they cannot be held accountable. A government for the people and by the people must be transparent to the people.

The administration is justifying the collection of all this information by saying in effect that it will make us safer to have it. But it is not the kind of information that would have been of much help in preventing 9/11. However, there was in fact a great deal of specific information that WAS available prior to 9/11 that probably could have been used to prevent the tragedy. A recent analysis by the Merkle foundation, (working with data from a software company that received venture capital from a CIA-sponsored firm) demonstrates this point in a startling way:

In late August 2001, Nawaq Alhamzi and Khalid Al-Midhar bought tickets to fly on American Airlines Flight 77 (which was flown into the Pentagon). They bought the tickets using their real names. Both names were then on a State Department/INS watch list called TIPOFF. Both men were sought by the FBI and CIA as suspected terrorists, in part because they had been observed at a terrorist meeting in Malaysia.
These two passenger names would have been exact matches when checked against the TIPOFF list. But that would only have been the first step. Further data checks could then have begun.
Checking for common addresses (address information is widely available, including on the internet), analysts would have discovered that Salem Al-Hazmi (who also bought a seat on American 77) used the same address as Nawaq Alhazmi. More importantly, they could have discovered that Mohamed Atta (American 11, North Tower of the World Trade Center) and Marwan Al-Shehhi (United 175, South Tower of the World Trade Center) used the same address as Khalid Al-Midhar.
Checking for identical frequent flier numbers, analysts would have discovered that Majed Moqed (American 77) used the same number as Al-Midhar.
With Mohamed Atta now also identified as a possible associate of the wanted terrorist, Al-Midhar, analysts could have added Atta's phone numbers (also publicly available information) to their checklist. By doing so they would have identified five other hijackers (Fayez Ahmed, Mohand Alshehri, Wail Alsheri, and Abdulaziz Alomari).
Closer to September 11, a further check of passenger lists against a more innocuous INS watch list (for expired visas) would have identified Ahmed Alghandi. Through him, the same sort of relatively simple correlations could have led to identifying the remaining hijackers, who boarded United 93 (which crashed in Pennsylvania)."
In addition, Al-Midhar and Nawaf Alhamzi, the two who were on the terrorist watch list, rented an apartment in San Diego under their own names and were listed, again under their own names, in the San Diego phone book while the FBI was searching for them.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but what is needed is better and more timely analysis. Simply piling up more raw data that is almost entirely irrelevant is not only not going to help. It may actually hurt the cause. As one FBI agent said privately of Ashcroft: "We're looking for a needle in a haystack here and he (Ashcroft) is just piling on more hay."

In other words, the mass collecting of personal data on hundreds of millions of people actually makes it more difficult to protect the nation against terrorists, so they ought to cut most of it out.

And meanwhile, the real story is that while the administration

manages to convey the impression that it is doing everything possible to protect America, in reality it has seriously neglected most of the measures that it could have taken to really make our country safer.

For example, there is still no serious strategy for domestic security that protects critical infrastructure such as electric power lines, gas pipelines, nuclear facilities, ports, chemical plants and the like.

They're still not checking incoming cargo carriers for radiation. They're still skimping on protection of certain nuclear weapons storage facilities. They're still not hardening critical facilities that must never be soft targets for terrorists. They're still not investing in the translators and analysts we need to counter the growing terror threat.

The administration is still not investing in local government training and infrastructures where they could make the biggest difference. The first responder community is still being shortchanged. In many cases, fire and police still don't have the communications equipment to talk to each other. The CDC and local hospitals are still nowhere close to being ready for a biological weapons attack.

The administration has still failed to address the fundamental disorganization and rivalries of our law enforcement, intelligence and investigative agencies. In particular, the critical FBI-CIA coordination, while finally improved at the top, still remains dysfunctional in the trenches.

The constant violations of civil liberties promote the false impression that these violations are necessary in order to take every precaution against another terrorist attack. But the simple truth is that the vast majority of the violations have not benefited our security at all; to the contrary, they hurt our security.

And the treatment of immigrants was probably the worst example. This mass mistreatment actually hurt our security in a number of important ways.

But first, let's be clear about what happened: this was little more than a cheap and cruel political stunt by John Ashcroft. More than 99% of the mostly Arab-background men who were rounded up had merely overstayed their visas or committed some other minor offense as they tried to pursue the American dream just like most immigrants. But they were used as extras in the Administration's effort to give the impression that they had caught a large number of bad guys. And many of them were treated horribly and abusively.

Consider this example reported in depth by Anthony Lewis:

"Anser Mehmood, a Pakistani who had overstayed his visa, was arrested in New York on October 3, 2001. The next day he was briefly questioned by FBI agents, who said they had no further interest in him. Then he was shackled in handcuffs, leg irons, and a belly chain and taken to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. Guards there put two more sets of handcuffs on him and another set of leg irons. One threw Mehmood against a wall. The guards forced him to run down a long ramp, the irons cutting into his wrists and ankles. The physical abuse was mixed with verbal taunts.

"After two weeks Mehmood was allowed to make a telephone call to his wife. She was not at home and Mehmood was told that he would have to wait six weeks to try again. He first saw her, on a visit, three months after his arrest. All that time he was kept in a windowless cell, in solitary confinement, with two overhead fluorescent lights on all the time. In the end he was charged with using an invalid Social Security card. He was deported in May 2002, nearly eight months after his arrest.

The faith tradition I share with Ashcroft includes this teaching from Jesus: "whatsoever you do unto the least of these, you do unto me."

And make no mistake: the disgraceful treatment suffered by many of these vulnerable immigrants at the hands of the administration has created deep resentments and hurt the cooperation desperately needed from immigrant communities in the U.S.and from the Security Services of other countries.

Second, these gross violations of their rights have seriously damaged U.S. moral authority and goodwill around the world, and delegitimized U.S.efforts to continue promoting Human Rights around the world. As one analyst put it, "We used to set the standard; now we have lowered the bar." And our moral authority is, after all, our greatest source of enduring strength in the world.

And the handling of prisoners at Guantanomo has been particularly harmful to America's image. Even England and Australia have criticized our departure from international law and the Geneva Convention. Sec. Rumsfeld's handling of the captives there has been about as thoughtful as his "postwar" plan for Iraq.

So the mass violations of civil liberties have hurt rather than helped. But there is yet another reason for urgency in stopping what this administration is doing. Where Civil Liberties are concerned, they have taken us much farther down the road toward an intrusive, "Big Brother"-style government – toward the dangers prophesized by George Orwell in his book "1984" – than anyone ever thought would be possible in the United States of America.

And they have done it primarily by heightening and exploiting public anxieties and apprehensions. Rather than leading with a call to courage, this Administration has chosen to lead us by inciting fear.

Almost eighty years ago, Justice Louis Brandeis wrote "Those who won our independence by revolution were not cowards. . . . They did not exalt order at the cost of liberty." Those who won our independence, Brandeis asserted, understood that "courage [is] the secret of liberty" and "fear [only] breeds repression."

Rather than defending our freedoms, this Administration has sought to abandon them. Rather than accepting our traditions of openness and accountability, this Administration has opted to rule by secrecy and unquestioned authority. Instead, its assaults on our core democratic principles have only left us less free and less secure.

Throughout American history, what we now call Civil Liberties have often been abused and limited during times of war and perceived threats to security. The best known instances include the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798-1800, the brief suspension of habeas corpus during the Civil War, the extreme abuses during World War I and the notorious Red Scare and Palmer Raids immediately after the war, the shameful internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II, and the excesses of the FBI and CIA during the Vietnam War and social turmoil of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

But in each of these cases, the nation has recovered its equilibrium when the war ended and absorbed the lessons learned in a recurring cycle of excess and regret.

There are reasons for concern this time around that what we are experiencing may no longer be the first half of a recurring cycle but rather, the beginning of something new. For one thing, this war is predicted by the administration to "last for the rest of our lives." Others have expressed the view that over time it will begin to resemble the "war" against drugs -- that is, that it will become a more or less permanent struggle that occupies a significant part of our law enforcement and security agenda from now on. If that is the case, then when -- if ever – does this encroachment on our freedoms die a natural death?

It is important to remember that throughout history, the loss of civil liberties by individuals and the aggregation of too much unchecked power in the executive go hand in hand. They are two sides of the same coin.

A second reason to worry that what we are witnessing is a discontinuity and not another turn of the recurring cycle is that the new technologies of surveillance -- long anticipated by novelists like Orwell and other prophets of the "Police State" – are now more widespread than they have ever been.

And they do have the potential for shifting the balance of power between the apparatus of the state and the freedom of the individual in ways both subtle and profound.

Moreover, these technologies are being widely used not only by the government but also by corporations and other private entities. And that is relevant to an assessment of the new requirements in the Patriot Act for so many corporations -- especially in the finance industries -- to prepare millions of reports annually for the government on suspicious activities by their customers. It is also relevant to the new flexibility corporations have been given to share information with one another about their customers.

The third reason for concern is that the threat of more terror strikes is all too real. And the potential use of weapons of mass destruction by terrorist groups does create a new practical imperative for the speedy exercise of discretionary power by the executive branch -- just as the emergence of nuclear weapons and ICBMs created a new practical imperative in the Cold War that altered the balance of war-making responsibility between Congress and the President.

But President Bush has stretched this new practical imperative beyond what is healthy for our democracy. Indeed, one of the ways he has tried to maximize his power within the American system has been by constantly emphasizing his role as Commander-in-Chief, far more than any previous President – assuming it as often and as visibly as he can, and bringing it into the domestic arena and conflating it with his other roles: as head of government and head of state -- and especially with his political role as head of the Republican Party.

Indeed, the most worrisome new factor, in my view, is the aggressive ideological approach of the current administration, which seems determined to use fear as a political tool to consolidate its power and to escape any accountability for its use. Just as unilateralism and dominance are the guiding principles of their disastrous approach to international relations, they are also the guiding impulses of the administration's approach to domestic politics. They are impatient with any constraints on the exercise of power overseas – whether from our allies, the UN, or international law. And in the same way, they are impatient with any obstacles to their use of power at home -- whether from Congress, the Courts, the press, or the rule of law.

Ashcroft has also authorized FBI agents to attend church meetings, rallies, political meetings and any other citizen activity open to the public simply on the agents' own initiative, reversing a decades old policy that required justification to supervisors that such infiltrations has a provable connection to a legitimate investigation;

They have even taken steps that seem to be clearly aimed at stifling dissent. The Bush Justice Department has recently begun a highly disturbing criminal prosecution of the environmental group Greenpeace because of a non-violent direct action protest against what Greenpeace claimed was the illegal importation of endangered mahogany from the Amazon. Independent legal experts and historians have said that the prosecution – under an obscure and bizarre 1872 law against "sailor-mongering" – appears to be aimed at inhibiting Greenpeace's First Amendment activities.

And at the same time they are breaking new ground by prosecuting Greenpeace, the Bush Administration announced just a few days ago that it is dropping the investigations of 50 power plants for violating the Clean Air Act -- a move that Sen. Chuck Schumer said, "basically announced to the power industry that it can now pollute with impunity."

The politicization of law enforcement in this administration is part of their larger agenda to roll back the changes in government policy brought about by the New Deal and the Progressive Movement. Toward that end, they are cutting back on Civil Rights enforcement, Women's Rights, progressive taxation, the estate tax, access to the courts, Medicare, and much more. And they approach every issue as a partisan fight to the finish, even in the areas of national security and terror.

Instead of trying to make the "War on Terrorism" a bipartisan cause, the Bush White House has consistently tried to exploit it for partisan advantage. The President goes to war verbally against terrorists in virtually every campaign speech and fundraising dinner for his political party. It is his main political theme. Democratic candidates like Max Cleland in Georgiawere labeled unpatriotic for voting differently from the White House on obscure amendments to the Homeland Security Bill.

When the Republican leader in the House of Representatives, Tom DeLay, was embroiled in an effort to pick up more congressional seats in Texas by forcing a highly unusual redistricting vote in the state senate, he was able to track down Democratic legislators who fled the state to prevent a quorum (and thus prevent the vote) by enlisting the help of President Bush's new Department of Homeland Security, as many as 13 employees of the Federal Aviation Administration who conducted an eight-hour search, and at least one FBI agent (though several other agents who were asked to help refused to do so.)

By locating the Democrats quickly with the technology put in place for tracking terrorists, the Republicans were able to succeed in focusing public pressure on the weakest of the Senators and forced passage of their new political redistricting plan. Now, thanks in part to the efforts of three different federal agencies, Bush and DeLay are celebrating the gain of up to seven new Republican congressional seats in the next Congress.

The White House timing for its big push for a vote in Congress on going to war with Iraqalso happened to coincide exactly with the start of the fall election campaign in September a year ago. The President's chief of staff said the timing was chosen because "from a marketing point of view, you don't introduce new products in August."

White House political advisor Karl Rove advised Republican candidates that their best political strategy was to "run on the war". And as soon as the troops began to mobilize, the Republican National Committee distributed yard signs throughout Americasaying, "I support President Bush and the troops" – as if they were one and the same.

This persistent effort to politicize the war in Iraqand the war against terrorism for partisan advantage is obviously harmful to the prospects for bipartisan support of the nation's security policies. By sharp contrast, consider the different approach that was taken by Prime Minister Winston Churchill during the terrible days of October 1943 when in the midst of World War II, he faced a controversy with the potential to divide his bipartisan coalition. He said, "What holds us together is the prosecution of the war. No…man has been asked to give up his convictions. That would be indecent and improper. We are held together by something outside, which rivets our attention. The principle that we work on is, 'Everything for the war, whether controversial or not, and nothing controversial that is not bona fide for the war.' That is our position. We must also be careful that a pretext is not made of war needs to introduce far-reaching social or political changes by a side wind."

Yet that is exactly what the Bush Administration is attempting to do -- to use the war against terrorism for partisan advantage and to introduce far reaching controversial changes in social policy by a "side wind," in an effort to consolidate its political power.

It is an approach that is deeply antithetical to the American spirit. Respect for our President is important. But so is respect for our people. Our founders knew -- and our history has proven -- that freedom is best guaranteed by a separation of powers into co-equal branches of government within a system of checks and balances – to prevent the unhealthy concentration of too much power in the hands of any one person or group.

Our framers were also keenly aware that the history of the world proves that Republics are fragile. The very hour of America's birth in Philadelphia, when Benjamin Franklin was asked, "What have we got? A Republic or a Monarchy?" he cautiously replied, "A Republic, if you can keep it."

And even in the midst of our greatest testing, Lincoln knew that our fate was tied to the larger question of whether ANY nation so conceived could long endure.

This Administration simply does not seem to agree that the challenge of preserving democratic freedom cannot be met by surrendering core American values. Incredibly, this Administration has attempted to compromise the most precious rights that Americahas stood for all over the world for more than 200 years: due process, equal treatment under the law, the dignity of the individual, freedom from unreasonable search and seizure, freedom from promiscuous government surveillance. And in the name of security, this Administration has attempted to relegate the Congress and the Courts to the sidelines and replace our democratic system of checks and balances with an unaccountable Executive. And all the while, it has constantly angled for new ways to exploit the sense of crisis for partisan gain and political dominance. How dare they!

Years ago, during World War II, one of our most eloquent Supreme Court Justices, Robert Jackson, wrote that the President should be given the "widest latitude" in wartime, but he warned against the "loose and irresponsible invocation of war as an excuse for discharging the Executive Branch from the rules of law that govern our Republic in times of peace. No penance would ever expiate the sin against free government," Jackson said, "of holding that a President can escape control of executive powers by law through assuming his military role. Our government has ample authority under the Constitution to take those steps which are genuinely necessary for our security. At the same time, our system demands that government act only on the basis of measures that have been the subject of open and thoughtful debate in Congress and among the American people, and that invasions of the liberty or equal dignity of any individual are subject to review by courts which are open to those affected and independent of the government which is curtailing their freedom."

So what should be done? Well, to begin with, our country ought to find a way to immediately stop its policy of indefinitely detaining American citizens without charges and without a judicial determination that their detention is proper.

Such a course of conduct is incompatible with American traditions and values, with sacred principles of due process of law and separation of powers.

It is no accident that our Constitution requires in criminal prosecutions a "speedy and public trial." The principles of liberty and the accountability of government, at the heart of what makes Americaunique, require no less. The Bush Administration's treatment of American citizens it calls "enemy combatants" is nothing short of un-American.

Second, foreign citizens held in Guantanamo should be given hearings to determine their status provided for under Article V of the Geneva Convention, a hearing that the United Stateshas given those captured in every war until this one, including Vietnamand the Gulf War.

If we don't provide this, how can we expect American soldiers captured overseas to be treated with equal respect? We owe this to our sons and daughters who fight to defend freedom in Iraq, in Afghanistanand elsewhere in the world.

Third, the President should seek congressional authorization for the military commissions he says he intends to use instead of civilian courts to try some of those who are charged with violating the laws of war. Military commissions are exceptional in American law and they present unique dangers. The prosecutor and the judge both work for the same man, the President of the United States. Such commissions may be appropriate in time of war, but they must be authorized by Congress, as they were in World War II, and Congress must delineate the scope of their authority. Review of their decisions must be available in a civilian court, at least the Supreme Court, as it was in World War II.

Next, our nation's greatness is measured by how we treat those who are the most vulnerable. Noncitizens who the government seeks to detain should be entitled to some basic rights. The administration must stop abusing the material witness statute. That statute was designed to hold witnesses briefly before they are called to testify before a grand jury. It has been misused by this administration as a pretext for indefinite detention without charge. That is simply not right.

Finally, I have studied the Patriot Act and have found that along with its many excesses, it contains a few needed changes in the law. And it is certainly true that many of the worst abuses of due process and civil liberties that are now occurring are taking place under the color of laws and executive orders other than the Patriot Act.

Nevertheless, I believe the Patriot Act has turned out to be, on balance, a terrible mistake, and that it became a kind of Tonkin Gulf Resolution conferring Congress' blessing for this President's assault on civil liberties. Therefore, I believe strongly that the few good features of this law should be passed again in a new, smaller law -- but that the Patriot Act must be repealed.

As John Adams wrote in 1780, ours is a government of laws and not of men. What is at stake today is that defining principle of our nation, and thus the very nature of America. As the Supreme Court has written, "Our Constitution is a covenant running from the first generation of Americans to us and then to future genera­tions." The Constitution includes no wartime exception, though its Framers knew well the reality of war. And, as Justice Holmes reminded us shortly after World War I, the Constitution's principles only have value if we apply them in the difficult times as well as those where it matters less.

The question before us could be of no greater moment: will we continue to live as a people under the rule of law as embodied in our Constitution? Or will we fail future generations, by leaving them a Constitution far diminished from the charter of liberty we have inherited from our forebears? Our choice is clear.

Monday, November 10, 2003

Constitutional Crisis --- For the thousand or so "enemy combatants" held in Guantanamo, their 18 month long period of limbo may be coming to some resolution. The US Supreme Court (see GW Bush Vs. Gore for some of their more clever rulings) is deciding whether the courts can determine these prisoners' status, despite what the Bush White House has maintained. Story here, from Reuters. Finally one of the other branches is checking the Executive branch. The idea that America, bastion of civil rights and freedom, would hold people in solitary confinement for 18 months , never seeing an attorney, never being charged with any crime, without telling them that anyone knows about their plight, and without affording them any of the international rights guaranteed under the Geneva Accords, is outrageous. This is what corrupt totalitarian states like the Soviet Union did, not what an open, democratic, free society does. Bring them to court, charge them with crimes, and let the law decide their fate. That's the American thing to do. Remember America? I do.
Iran --- Here We Go Again?
According to the UN regulatory agency, Iran has not been attempting to make nuclear weapons. Yes, we did name them to the elite Axis Of Evil, but maybe they have not done enough to earn this vaunted position. Story, here, from Associated Press. Basically they're just a country full of very religious people who don't want to participate in Western democracy or relations. We don't like their religion and they don't like ours. Is this justification, as Ann Coulter suggests, for going in and killing all their leaders and converting the people to Christianity? Wouldn't a sensible person conclude that Christianity must be a bunch of baloney if this is what Christians do? Just asking, but I sure get tired of self-appointed Christians going around the world stirring up trouble and inspiring wrath, just because they feel God has chosen them. Enough. How about following your own religion quietly? Then again, Iraq didn't have any WMDs either, and all that Bush-issued nonsense about Hussein being able to strike us within 45 minutes with nukes turned out to be, well, pure malarkey. So, here we are nosing into Iran. What will the spinmeisters come up with to justify going into Iran and knocking everything down?
Guatemala --- Oye! Que pasa por la calle?!
Guatemala just elected a new president, with a voter turnout of about 80%. Oscar Berger is the new President, signaling for many an end to the corruption and cronyism that plagues most of Latin American and American politics. Did you know that the civil war in Guatemala only ended in 1996, after 36 years? The former dictator, Rios Montt, also ran and came in third! What is scarier, that most of us didn't know Guatemala was even having a civil war, or that the person responsible for thousands of human rights abuses during this civil war came in third place? Congratulations to Guatemala on their new government.

Friday, November 07, 2003

Blackhawks Down --- Another US Blackhawk was shot down today, killing 6 American soldiers. A farmer who saw the incident said a missile (or rpg) hit the helicopter and split it in two. More on that story, from The Washington Post. It's another needless tragedy. The more soldiers we get into Iraq without a coherent plan for that country, the more sitting ducks we have on the ground. Every time I hear of another US soldier getting killed over there, it makes me shudder. I don't see any way out of this mess other than pulling out. To stay and "pacify" the region will take decades and billions of dollars and thousands of American lives. Meanwhile, Halliburton and other energy companies are making billions in profits from our Iraq Adventure, and the whole thing stinks to High Heaven.

Part of the problem with waging this "war" in Iraq, is that it is not a war at all. It never was and now it's devolved to regular attacks by guerrilla units. Saddam Hussein's army is gone and offered faint resistance anyway. As anyone who has played any combat games like Half-Life knows, mastering "sophisticated technology" (as it was termed this morning on NPR) like an RPG (rocket-propelled grenade) takes about 5 minutes. A child could steer an RPG into a Blackhawk probably on the first or second attempt. That's the beauty of them: they are incredibly simple to use. Half-Life and other games use real-world physics models and accurate velocities on these weapons, so other than the weight of the weapon and any recoil, you've got the real deal online. The fact that we put 6 soldiers on a $45 Million helicopter that can be (and was) destroyed by a $3000 rocket, is lunacy. It's not dealing with reality. We are never going to have to face a real army in Iraq. There will never be columns of tanks rolling in to retake Baghdad airport. Bunching up and presenting big fat targets, like we're doing, is just plain stupid. We will not kill the enemy in numbers greater than twos or threes, and meanwhile, they shoot down helicopters with impunity.

As has already been stated here, this "war" is becoming more like Vietnam everyday. That war was unwinnable, and this "war" is also proving to be unwinnable. We should get out now, let the UN take over, and help rebuild Iraq instead of providing target practice for every insane Muslim in the world.

Tuesday, November 04, 2003

Our page counter website has been offline for 2 weeks now. How many of you are out there? Who are you? We don't know. We do know that we're over 10,000 visits to The Culture Bunker now, though, so thanks for hangin' tough, like the NKOTB.
The Strokes --- Are playing every Tuesday night in November on Conan O'Brien. If you're up at 12:35am watching TV, you've got worries.

Monday, November 03, 2003

Go Go Galaxy --- The MLS playoffs are underway, and the Galaxy beat San Jose 2-0 in the first leg. Read it here. Galaxy are the defending champions, by the way.
Sun Flares --- We've been having monster solar storms this week. Check out this amazing photo of the latest batch of solar flares, here.
Iraq Is Vietnam --- In an article on Tom Paine today, a former CIA analyst compares the recent downing of a US helicopter to an incident in Vietnam which allowed Johnson to begin the militarization of the conflict. It's sobering. Remember, after 58,000 dead GIs and 3 million dead Vietnamese, we withdrew.

Friday, October 31, 2003

Story Of The Year --- Unless the "story" is how awful current popular music is, I don't get the band name. Saw SOTY last night in support of Sugarcult, a band we like a lot. Do yourself a favour and show up late, time it so the only thing you hear from SOTY is "thank you, goodnight." I don't know what was better, the heavy metal guitars and riffs, or the mongrelization of Avail and Finch thrown into one stewpot. If you take the absolute worst song Avail ever wrote, and then make it worse, excise anything fun in it, add some bad vocals, and sprinkle dopey guitars over it, have everyone in the band jumping up and down together like they're the Aquabats or something, and then have a sealion do a barking "arggghrrrhrr" in the chorus, you sir, will have Story Of The Year. Drinking didn't make them any better. If you're down with that band, you're on the wrong website, pal, because that music won't find any friends in the Bunker.

Thursday, October 30, 2003

How Sweet It Is! Arsenal Players Fined and Suspended --- The FA handed out various penalties to the jackasses involved in the fracas during the Man Utd v. Arsenal match of September 21. Read the results, here.

Wednesday, October 29, 2003

Richard Blow Calls Bullshit On Krugman-bashers --- Writing for the Tom Paine website, Richard Blow details how the rabid right wing is trying to smear New York Times Op/Ed columnist Paul Krugman. They don't attack his assertions or his facts, they seek to smear him ad hominem. If you've read Krugman's book "The Great Unraveling," you know that what Krugman does is hold Bush people accountable for their actions and business dealings. He uses his economic acumen to point out the lies and blunders of Bush's economic policy. Many of the articles written in 2001 and 2002 are astonishing for the accuracy in predicting what we are faced with now at the ass end of 2003. Krugman is right. Blow is right. The right relies on lazy journalism and a lazy populace. When they can call opponents of the "war" in Iraq traitors and say they are "sickening," it really points out the deplorable state of American politics. Where are the wise men and women, fashioning intelligent policy after considered debate, interested only in the public well-being and not their own self-interest?
Al Sharpton, Go Home --- Don't think there aren't loathsome toads on the left side of the political spectrum. Al Sharpton, who has never passed up an opportunity to advance himself and his political futures whenever any incident (crime, university admissions, police actions, etc) could possibly be painted with a racial tinge, is now accusing Howard Dean's campaign of being anti-black. Washington Post has it, here. That tactic has served him well over the years. Anytime someone disagress with the mighty Sharpton, they get called racist, and Sharpton then whips up a considerable frenzy among people who listen to him but don't check their facts. Will Sharpton be satisfied if in the 2004 election many black voters remember only his condemnation of Dean and not the facts? Will Sharpton be pleased if Bush wins re-election because Dean lost votes among blacks thanks to his comments? Sharpton, shut your hole, go home, and get over yourself.
How Deep The Rabbit Hole Goes --- Howard Kurz, in today's Washington Post, writes a frightening account of how TV media is spinning everything to the right side of the spectrum. Including misrepresenting a recent Clinton interview, spinning the innocuous comments as an indirect attack on Howard Dean, and how Bush failed to answer a New York Times reporter's question about reducing the number of our troops in Iraq next year, dismissing the question as a "trick." Kurz goes on to detail that many California Republican strategists are now considering running Dennis Miller against Barbara Boxer. Yes, that Dennis Miller. What's shocking is that so many people, even now, refuse to believe that Miller is a shill for the Republicans. It's true, kiddies. I've always hated Dennis Miller. He's not funny, for one thing, and for another, he's the epitome of false learning. Anyone remember his contemptible attempt at NFL commentary? Sheee-it.

Wednesday, October 22, 2003

Thank You Mr Smith --- Elliott Smith has died, apparently of a self-inflicted stab wound to his chest. The singer, 34, brought a great gentleness and sensitivity to his songs. He will be missed. Article, from BBC, here. We are greatly saddened by this news. We loved you, Elliott, why'd you have to go and leave us so soon?

Wednesday, October 15, 2003

Fuck Alpay And The Turkey Team --- In the Euro 2004 qualifier on Saturday, England faced Turkey, the winner gaining a guaranteed spot in the 2004 tournament. Turkey defender Alpay resorted to dirty tricks against England captain David Beckham. Alpay made remarks about Becks' mother and then jabbed him in the face after Becks slipped on his run-up to a spot kick. As the players walked off at halftime, Alpay continued needling Becks and a full shoving match between the sides occured in the players' tunnel. Later of course, Alpay claimed he was the victim, that Beckham spat on the Turkey logo on his shirt. Alpay, fucking suck it, you jackass. Alpay has brought the game into disrepute. Ban him from English football. Let Alpay enjoy Turkish soccer where he can wallow in that sort of cheater's paradise. Article, here, from BBC Sport.

Tuesday, October 14, 2003

Campfire Girls --- New record in stores today! It's called "Tell Them Hi" and it musically picks up from where they left off so many years ago, but with a modern, cleaner approach. Pick this up, citizen! Then go see CG on tour:

Tourdates:
11/1/2003 -Agora Theater Cleveland, OH, W/ S.T.U.N. & Chevelle
11/3/2003 -Crocodile Rock Cafe Allentown, PA, W/ S.T.U.N. & Chevelle
11/4/2003 -Webster Theatre Hartford, CT, W/ S.T.U.N. & Chevelle
11/6/2003 -Orbit Room Grand Rapids, MI, W/ S.T.U.N. & Chevelle
11/7/2003 -Clutch Cargo's Pontiac, MI, W/ S.T.U.N. & Chevelle
11/8/2003 -Bogart's Cincinnati, OH, W/ S.T.U.N. & Chevelle
11/10/2003 -Newport Music Hall Columbus, OH, W/ S.T.U.N. & Chevelle
11/11/2003 -Club Laga Pittsburgh, PA, W/ S.T.U.N. & Chevelle
11/13/2003 -The Quest Club Minneapolis, MN, W/ S.T.U.N. & Chevelle
11/14/2003 -The Rave Complex Milwaukee, WI, W/ S.T.U.N. & Chevelle
11/15/2003 -Wabash College Crawfordsville, IN, W/ S.T.U.N. & Chevelle
11/18/2003 -House of Blues San Diego, CA, W/ Chevelle
11/19/2003 -Rialto Theater Tucson, AZ, W/ Chevelle
11/21/2003 -Fox Theater & Cafe Boulder, CO, W/ Dredg & Chevelle
11/24/2003 -Gypsy Tea Room & Ballroom Dallas, TX, W/ Dredg & Chevelle
11/26/2003 -Verizon Wireless Amphitheater Houston, TX, W/ Chevelle
11/28/2003 -New Daisy Theatre Memphis, TN, WMFS Show w/ Dredg & Chevelle
12/1/2003 -Rechter Theatre Baltimore , MD, WIYY Show w/ Dredg & Chevelle
12/17/2003 -House of Blues Chicago, IL, Q101 Radio Show

Sunday, October 12, 2003

Eliza Dushku --- She was that hot gymnast who moved to town and joined the cheerleading squad in "Bring It On." Now she's got her own show, "Tru Calling," and I didn't recognize her. What happened? Bring back the foxy Eliza! Now she looks like she's been given a makeover to have her look more like Jennifer Alba, of the cancelled vacuum "Dark Angel."
Baseball --- The incredibly dull American "pasttime" got a little more interesting yesterday in the Red Sox v. Yankees game. Personally I don't blame Pedro Martinez for grabbing that fat old man by the head and throwing him on his ass, he did rush Pedro and try to punch him. You'd have thought he'd have learned something in 72 years, but evidently he did not and it must have been a long time since he's had his ass kicked. And then 2 Yankees jumped on and beat down a Red Sox employee for pumping his fist in the bullpen. Boston police have already corroborated the guy's story, so save your breath for your porridge, Yankee fans. The guy had his back cut open with cleats. Couple of Yankee tough guys. From the Boston Globe,

"Lt. Kelly McCormick of Area B-3 forwarded witness information to Det. Dunn and P.O. Pankievich regarding their eyewitness account of the incident where they stated they observed member(s) of the NY Yankees baseball team initiate an unprovoked attack upon the victim. Summonses to be sought in Roxbury District Court for assault and battery on both Jeff Nelson and Karim Garcia of the Yankees baseball organization."

No wonder everyone outside of NYC hates that team. Baseball mostly just annoys me. 2 guys sweat, the pitcher and the catcher. You can play an entire game and there's no physical contact between the teams. How is that a sport? I really love how the announcers dredge up astonishingly meaningless statistics every 20 seconds, to make you feel like you're watching History. I wish you could just get the game sounds and turn those fucking jackasses off. Give me that option on Tivo, and you just made a sale.
The Libertines --- Are rumored to be playing the Rough Trade 25th Anniversary show on the 14th. Hopefully this signals that Pete is back in the band and won't be burgling his mates' flats anymore in a heroin-fueled stupor. Progress!

Kings Of Leon --- They're from America, they are young, and related. That's all you need to be the new rock hype sensations. A professional songsmith also came in and has co-writing credits on all of their songs. The record ain't bad, but it certainly ain't lightning either. Southern fried rock pop. Novel.

Jet --- How many times did I hear "music biz" dipshits crowing over how they were going to the Jet show at the Roxy 2 weeks ago. The Roxy holds about 450 people, so it was 2 for 1 Industry Dork Nite. Again, Jet's record is okay, not great. In fact, it's the kind of record you might listen to twice before taking it down to Amoeba to sell.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs --- Karen fell off a stage in Australia during their set. Not permanently damaged. When the YYYs played the Greek in support of The White Stripes, Los Angeles was treated to the real deal, a genuine rock 'n' roll animal. Karen is a female Iggy. She really is that character on stage. Fuck yeah, for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs!

Friday, October 10, 2003

Bob Novak And Leaking CIA Agent's Names --- The columnist Robert Novak, who recently named a CIA agent and her cover company, is an idiot or a traitor, according to former Justice Department official John Loftus. Article, Conspiracy Planet, here. John Loftus writes,

" ...what Novak has done is to name one CIA agent and then go and expose the whole ring. He named the cover operation... Wilson is one of those rare women who was a superspy. She risked her own life by going overseas without official protection, no diplomatic immunity. If she got arrested, she would be shot as a spy... I hope that none of her agents are in countries like North Korea or Iran, because those people are going to be tortured to find out --were you ever an agent for Mrs. Wilson?"
Rush Limbaugh, Dope Fiend --- The rightwing bloviating blowhard recently admitted to being addicted to Oxycontin and having his housekeeper score for him on the streets. Rush, the first guy to point out the flaws in others, the lead jackal baying for Clinton's blood, now appears to be little more than a pathetic hypocrite. The following quotes from Conspiracy Planet explain a little of Rush's philosophy on drug use:

We're going to let you destroy your life. We're going to make it easy and then all of us who accept the responsibilities of life and don't destroy our lives on drugs, we'll pay for whatever messes you get into."
-- Rush Limbaugh show, Dec. 9, 1993

"I'm appalled at people who simply want to look at all this abhorrent behavior and say people are going to do drugs anyway let's legalize it. It's a dumb idea. It's a rotten idea and those who are for it are purely 100 percent selfish."
-- Rush Limbaugh show, Dec 9, 1993

"If(Surgeon General Jocelyn Elders) wants to legalize drugs, send the people who want to do drugs to London and Zurich, and let's be rid of them.
-- Rush Limbaugh show, Dec 9, 1993

"There's nothing good about drug use. We know it. It destroys individuals. It destroys families. Drug use destroys societies. Drug use, some might say, is destroying this country. And we have laws against selling drugs, pushing drugs, using drugs, importing drugs. And the laws are good because we know what happens to people in societies and neighborhoods which become consumed by them. And so if people are violating the law by doing drugs, they ought to be accused and they ought to be convicted and they ought to be sent up.

"What this says to me is that too many whites are getting away with drug use. Too many whites are getting away with drug sales. Too many whites are getting away with trafficking in this stuff. The answer to this disparity is not to start letting people out of jail because we're not putting others in jail who are breaking the law. The answer is to go out and find the ones who are getting away with it, convict them and send them up the river, too."
-- Rush Limbaugh show, Oct. 5, 1995


Okay, Rush, we'll take your advice and give you a 10 year sentence for starters, just so you can continue to be the shining example for the right wing.


Thursday, October 09, 2003

Democrat-o-rama! --- Democratic Presidential nominee hopefuls had a televised debate, but you're still in a blissful state of ecstasy over Arnie's ascension to the throne. Howard Dean and Wesley Clark took a lot of heat from their peers, mainly for appearing to be their own men, not yes-men squeezed out of the Party meat grinder. Article, Los Angeles Times. Right now, I've gotta say I don't trust Clark. He was not even registered Democrat when he announced his candidacy. He's a general, more importantly, which means he will likely see things in a militaristic light. The military is our last resort, not our first option. The fact that Clark also voted for Nixon and Reagen scares me, as does his lavish praise in 2001 of Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld. It's true, a real Democrat would never have voted for Reagan. I think Clark is some kind of Republican Trojan horse, where he's going to slip in and convince the half-asleep voters he's one thing, and in the morning, we'll all realize we let in another Republican!
Elvis Costello --- has a new album, "North," out now. Go buy it and try to redeem your sorry self.
Krugman Deals Bush A Devastating Body Blow! --- New York Times Op/Ed columnist Paul Krugman delivers a one-two punch to that fatuous ass, Bush, here, in his piece "Lessons In Civility."

"It's impolite to say that George W. Bush is the most fiscally irresponsible president in American history, but it would be dishonest to pretend otherwise." Uppercut!

"Surely, then, Mr. Bush's critics have the right to point out that the life story of the man inside the flight suit isn't particularly heroic — that he has never taken a risk or made a sacrifice for the sake of his country, and that his business career is a story of murky deals and insider privilege." Right hook!

"It's impolite to say that Mr. Bush has damaged our national security with his military adventurism, but it would be dishonest to pretend otherwise." And the smashing left cross sends him reeling to the canvas! Knock out!

Pamela Mackey's Soul For Sale --- Sold! Mackey is Kobe Bryant's lawyer, btw, in open court today based the defense's case on smearing the victim. Article, NYT. Let's try to remember, folks, the gravity of this case. It's a rape case. Is it possible that Markey, by asking whether the victim's injuries could also have been caused "...by having sex with 3 different men over 3 days" is so disheartening and terrible for the cause of justice, that one has to wonder how much money Markey sold her soul for. The fact that a woman, a woman, could so callously disregard the seriousness of this case, and so easily leap to blaming the victim, makes me want to spit. What's the statistic now, 1 in 4 American women get raped in their lifetimes. 1 in 4. Could it be that Markey, for using her gender to help soften Kobe's image and then saying horrible things about a teenager who may have been raped, is a little shit weasel ? The prosecution was stunned that the defense stooped so low, attempting to smear the victim in the press, repeatedly mentioning her name for all the reporters to hear, and trying to garner sympathy in the public. Markey, you sold out your gender, your profession, and your country.
Shit Burger --- Anyone care for a germ-infested, shit-encrusted hamburger? Well, you're in luck! With all of the relaxing of inspection rules, you'll get your appetite whetted a lot sooner than you think. Article, from New York Times.
Libertines --- Pete Doherty did his 2 months in jail for burgling Carl's flat, and now he's released. The Libertines reunited and played to a crowd of 200 people on the day of Pete's release. Here's hoping Pete keeps clean. Article from the BBC, here.

Tuesday, October 07, 2003

Half - Life 2 Stolen --- The sequel to the greatest video game ever made, Half-Life, will not be released before Christmas because a group of assholes stole Valve's code. Valve has been working on the sequel for close to 5 years and recently a concerted attack by a group of hackers succeeded in stealing about 1/3 of the game, including the closely-guarded physics engine. Read about it, here, from the BBC. Read about how rad this game is going to be here, from Planet Half-Life.

Monday, October 06, 2003

Recall Day Of Judgment --- It's finally here (or will be when you read this): the recall. I hope you're all fairly disgusted with the entire enterprise. From start to finish it has been a bad experience. It started as a disgruntled Republican millionaire, Darryl Issa, decided that he was tired of being in the losing party, so why not exploit California's recall law? This he did, investing 2 million of his own dollars, and selflessly put himself forward as a replacement candidate. Fawn, grovel, fawn... Issa's sugarplum dreams of party leadership quickly evaporated when the recall morphed into a circus of shysters. Issa finally, tearfully, bowed out of a race had not a snowball's chance in hell of winning. Goodbye Issa, we hope you feel you got your money's worth, because it will end up costing the taxpayers of California over $70 million. Thanks for sticking us with the bill, asshole. Then Cruz Bustamente, a puffed up blowhard who has risen up the Democratic ranks like a rat up a drainpipe, solely on his ethnicity. Even Davis is fairly disgusted with the grovelling Bustamente. We can give some credit to Tom McClintock. First, we don't agree with any of Tom's political beliefs, but we will give him the thumbs up for this: the Republican Party bosses pressured him to drop out so that Arnold would have an open field for the Republican votes. Tom refused, and rightly so. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE knows McClintock is far more qualified than Schwarzenegger. Even a dumbfuck knows that. Tom rightly pointed out that Arnold's campaign is a shellgame, little more than an extended publicity stunt being fobbed off on the Californian voters as a progressive movement. Tom knows that Arnold doesn't know a goddamn thing about being Governor. Tom stayed in the race, and it would be lovely if he garnered more votes than Arnold because I think he really believes what he's saying and is running on principle. God knows why Arnold is doing this. Legitimacy? Ego? Powertripping? What kind of a dipshit votes for Arnold? Seriously, if you're a Republican, wouldn't you vote for the candidate of your party who can actually do the job? That ain't Arnie, who has released ZERO information on how he would pull off all the miracles he has been promising. Just like if you're a Democrat, you should vote No On The Recall and then vote for the candidate you like, not Bustamente just because he's a Democrat. Bustamente is incompetent, as everyone outside of his campaign recognizes. I do honestly believe that anything besides a Republican would be a good thing, but I will not vote for Bustamente because he is a loathsome entity, Democrat or no. People who value parties so highly are mislead. I think the Republicans deserve to lose this election because they engineered the recall in the first place. The Bush White House is very aware of what's going on and I think it's some kind of payback for Davis' smashing defeat of Riordan in the last election. Bush is paying back Davis for hurting one of his buddies. The whole thing fucking stinks to high heaven, so hopefully we will defeat the recall and can move on.
Some Sobering Information --- Go to this link, here, from the LA Times. It lists each US soldier killed in the Iraq war, has their photo, and some biographical details. Consider those deaths when you think about what we're doing in Iraq.
Last Day Of Recall --- It's almost in the voters' hands. California will either weather this political storm, or will be suddenly under the rule of Arnie. Read about it here, from LA Times. What disturbs you more, the fact that 15 women have come forward saying Arnie sexually assaulted them, or that Gray Davis, a decorated Vietnam war veteran, is being portrayed as some kind of anti-American, or that the very real budgetary woes are being portrayed by the Republicans as the fault of Davis and they want nothing to do with the facts that Bush's disastrous national policies are to blame, or even that 47 other states are also in similar dire straits? This recall is bullshit, vote NO. If you vote YES, then you must also answer these following questions:

1. Do you think the 40 hour work week is bullshit?
2. Do you think over time pay should be abolished?
3. Do you think US companies should be allowed to relocate to avoid taxes?
4. Do you think public education should be dismantled?
5. Do you think the super-rich should avoid paying taxes?
6. Do you think regulating the food, air, and water of all Americans is a bad thing?
7. Do you think corporate CEOs should be paid 640 times the pay of the average worker and should not be held responsible when they allow accounting felonies to occur which drain workers' pensions?
8. Do you think our public lands should be sold to the highest bidder so that a few corporations can make mega profits in the short run, and in the long run our national heritage will be destroyed forever?
9. Do you think the designation of "endangered" animals is some bullshit and should not stand in the way of greedy developers?

If you vote YES on the recall, then you are also voting YES on all those questions. Find out what the Republicans stand for and don't be awed by an actor.
Couldn't Call It Unexpected --- This one almost needs no commentary: Roy of Siegfried & Roy, the Las Vegas flamboyant duo who perform with endangered tigers, was told in no uncertain terms by one of his tigers that he's had enough of his act. The tiger grabbed him by the throat and shook him like a ragdoll, appearing to say, "fuck you, I am not a toy to be played with in the middle of the goddamn desert for a bunch of fat pensioners. I am an endangered animal, you shmuck." Read about it here, from NY Times.

Friday, October 03, 2003

In Defense Of Arnie --- On one level, I don't fault Arnie for the various things he's done which are now being used to flog him in public. For example, his drug use in the 70s (and probably much later): I don't think that should be held against him because drugs should be decriminalized. I'm not sure if I'd include the illegal steroids that gave him his macho body in this decriminalization, but for the sake of argument we'll say maybe. He says he's pro-choice, which means Arnie is a Democrat in my book, although the fact that he's not a woman and therefore does not have to carry a child to term, in my view, renders his view moot (unless he seeks to change the laws). Arnie was a wild womanizer in his pumping iron heyday, going to gang-bangs and using women: again, that was the 70s and I don't care how many sexual partners a person has had. I don't require sexual chastity from my elected officials, and I don't think it is anyone's business what sexual antics Arnie got up to. To sum it up, Arnie is free to do as many drugs and women as he can get away with, and did get away with.
The reasons I don't support Arnie are:
1. I really loathe his film persona
2. his films in the 80s represented the worst of American jingoism
3. he's smug, arrogant, and deeply enamored of himself
4. he treats women like shit, especially on his sets, which is sexual harassment in the worst way
5. the recent comments he made about admiring Hitler... well, do we need to explain this one?
6. I don't believe his conversion to Republican nice guy.
7. I don't accept his economic theories, namely, that tax cuts for the uber-rich are the way to solve budgetary problems.
8. he will appoint Republicans (if elected) who are far more right-wing than he is, just like Bush did, and then he too will become the lapdog of the crazy right wing (again, like Bush)
9. he has argued that unions are un-American and the reason movies cost so much to make, never mind his $25 Million per movie salary
10. as a rich person he doesn't seem to grasp the reality of those who are poor
11. his type of "fix" is exemplified by his non-funded, yet legally binding after school program for kids, which ties the state's hands. It's not a bad program but it needs to be paid for, and those types of programs are paid for by taxes - the very taxes he's trying to cut. It makes no goddamn sense, just like most Republican plans these days.
12. he's a very wealthy person who benefited greatly from the American system. Now, instead of gratitude for the tremendous success he's had, he instead wants to deprive those in the lowest income brackets of some of the basics they need to survive (welfare, school lunches, policing, fire stations, libraries, sports/arts programs --- anything paid for by taxes that are opposed by his party).
Close, But No Cigar --- Courtney Love ODs Again
Love was rushed to a Century City hospital for ODing at 6:10am. Read it here, from This Is London.

Heil Schwarzenegger --- Arnie may have crossed the line when praising Hitler, but who knows, California voters could still be stupid enough to elect him. Read some humanizing comments about Hitler from Arnie, here, from ABC News.

Thursday, October 02, 2003

Arnold Schwarzenegger: What's A Little Ass-grabbing Among Co-workers?
The LA Times finally decided to zip up their trousers and quit being the bitch of the right wingers, and published a story yesterday of Arnie's sexual harassment over the years. Read it here. The full allegations can be read here. The report has Arnie apologizing for "behaving badly" on a "rowdy movie set." Nice fucking try, robot. Arnold grabbed women's breasts, put his hander under skirts, tried removing a woman's bathing suit several times, etc., while they worked on his films and he was married. That's rowdy? Are you sure that isn't "being a fucking asshole" instead? Is there a possibility that the Republican party, now firmly endorsing Arnie, are the biggest bunch of hypocrites ever under one roof? Is there a chance that Arnie really is a loathsome, misogynistic, steroid-pumping meathead with as much qualifications to run California as Governor as Ron Jeremy?

Wednesday, October 01, 2003

All Tomorrow's Parties --- The troubled music festival is on again, this time scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, November 8th and 9th, 2003 , On the Queen Mary and in the Queen Mary Events Park 1126 Queens Highway, Long Beach CA 90802. The lineup isn't as stellar as it was the first time it was skedded for this year, but there are still some great acts worth checking out. You should go to this festival. Why? Because LA should be able to host and support a music festival with interesting bands, an antidote to the bullshit KROQ sponsors. Although they are still struggling, ATP will eventually feature some great lineups if they survive. They need your support. Nevermind that a music fest for LA uses as its title a song from the Velvets, the seminal NY band of all time, it's just another example of how transplants to LA are usually clueless morons who can never figure out they aren't still in [insert hometown here]. How about a title taken from an LA band? It's like, "let's have a Californian beach festival and we'll call it The Brooklyn Bridge Festival." Anyway, complete lineup is:

Saturday, November 8th, 2003:

Sonic Youth --- still rad no matter what Bucket says
Built To Spill --- thought they were defunct but guess not
Modest Mouse --- still waiting for that good record...
The Magic Band --- ?
The Shins --- nah
!!! --- get funky
Unknown Hinson --- unknown is right
Spoon --- go for Austin, TX!
The Black Heart Procession --- Nick Cave Lite
Mike Watt/George Hurley - (Minutemen Duet) --- hmm
Deerhoof --- still on Interscope?
Danielson Famile --- who?
Daniel Johnston --- who?
Liarbird --- hoo hoo?
+more TBA

and Sunday,

Iggy & The Stooges --- quick, before he's in a Gap ad... too late.
The Mars Volta --- biggest hair on the biggest poseurs
Elliott Smith --- goddamn don't make him cry onstage
Mission of Burma --- fan-freaking-tastic!
Har Mar Superstar --- so he thinks
James Chance & The Contortions --- ?
Bardo Pond --- hippies or noise merchants? you decide.
Bangs --- original name of the Bangles. lame then, lame now.
Cat Power --- big fucking yawn. $50 if you can stay awake.
American Analog Set --- true underground icons
Carla Bozulich --- I beg your pardon?
Terry Riley and Stefano Scodonibbio --- have fun, jack.
Jackie-O Motherf***er --- I'm a big boy now: it's motherFUCKER.
John Wesley Harding --- didn't Dylan already do this?
Moris Teper --- a teperware party
+more TBA

Tuesday, September 30, 2003

Goodbye, Mr. Rove --- the noose tightens around Karl Rove's neck, here. Wilson has come out and named Rove as the one who leaked his wife's name to Newsday columnist Robert Novak, (she was an undercover CIA operative, and exposing her is a Federal crime). Rove's nasty tricks have finally caught up to him.
Red Meat Causes Cancer --- New research confirms what vegetarians have been saying for centuries: red meat is gonna fucking kill you. Read about it here, from the BBC. Here's the other shocking news: white meat ain't so good for you either. Nothing is funnier than people talking about being healthy as they eat meat. It's like someone saying they're going to clean up by smearing dog feces on themself.

What about protein? Read this, here, from PETA. (answer: non-animal foods provide us with plenty).

Only smelly hippies are vegetarians, right? Read this one, jack.
High Crimes & Misdemeanors Redux --- Did the White House illegally leak a CIA agent's name to the press in order to discredit her husband? Such is the current belief, which you can read about, here, from the BBC. Leaking classified info is a Federal crime punishable by 10 years in prison. Someone in the White House should have thought about that before attempting to exact retribution on former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, who was sent to investigate claims that Iraq sought nuclear materials from Niger. You remember that, don't you? Bush mentioned this as justification for levelling Iraq in his January state of the union address. Wilson then wrote a piece in the New York Times asking why his report, which stated that the Niger purchase was complete fabrication, was not heeded? Many believe that this leak is payback for Wilson embarassing Bush. In other words, Bush lied to us all and got caught because Wilson didn't play lapdog (like George Tenet did). The Justice Department yesterday was involved in a preliminary investigation of the incident, and today has modified their search into a full investigation. Come on Justice Department, follow this one through and nab the bad guys, please, we're rooting for you! How about an Independent Counsel? Remember the $70 Million of taxpayers' money that was blown investigating Clinton? I say it's time for some more payback.