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wPuri sermonis amator
Politics and Pop Culture.

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wFriday, May 30, 2003


Hmmm, Sean Penn ain't a dumb guy.

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 3:26 PM
(0) comments


w


USATODAY.com - Top U.S. commander surprised at not finding WMD
Lt. Gen. James Conway, commander of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, said in a video teleconference from his headquarters in southern Iraq that he was convinced before and during the war that at least some Republican Guard units had been provided with chemical weapons.

"It was a surprise to me then — it remains a surprise to me now — that we have not uncovered weapons, as you say, in some of the forward dispersal sites," he told reporters at the Pentagon.

"Believe me, it's not for lack of trying," he added. "We've been to virtually every ammunition supply point between the Kuwaiti border and Baghdad, but they're simply not there."


posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 1:11 PM
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w


Salon.com Sex | The twins thing
Greg, a 30-year-old business school student, went dumb when I asked him how he felt about the incestuous connotations in the "Here's to Twins" Coors ads. The look of incredulous annoyance on his face -- it read, "What the hell is your problem?" -- was one I would come to know well. I would also come to know that explaining I have no problem, but am simply wondering why it is that the implicit sexual relationship between twin sisters sits just fine with him, and in fact strikes him as fucking awesome, was not only futile but cruel. I had no idea that asking men to analyze the biological relationship between Diane and Elaine Klimaszewski would be like asking a 7-year-old to analyze the time frame for Santa's worldwide toy delivery schedule.
Ahh, Twins. It's Salon, so you have to jump through a hoop or two, but it is really funny.

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 10:46 AM
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w


Salam is Real

And he's going to write a column for the Guardian.

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 10:27 AM
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w


Ahhh, nothing says lovin' like Friday Krugman: Waggy Dog Stories

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 10:15 AM
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wThursday, May 29, 2003


This is important!

So, the St. Louis Instead of War Coalition is having a meeting this Saturday to determine the future course for the organization.

The bad news is this is taking place at 8:45 in the morning. Of course, this means that we might be able to take over.

Leave a note, give me a call, or send me an e-mail. I want everyone in the St. Louis area that reads this to be there. If you need a ride, I'm sure it can be arranged - just let me know you want to come.

8:45 -11:30 AM
St. Cronan Catholic Church (Education Building)
1202 St. Boyle (4 blocks east of Manchester and
Kingshighway and 1 ½ south on Boyle.)
Forum and Initial Meetings of IOW Action Groups:
· Labor Against War
· Student Organizing
· Artists for Peace
· Challenging the Patriot Act
· Congregations Allied for Justice and Peace
· End the Occupation and Perpetual War
· Challenging the Media
· Pledge of Resistance
· Budget Priorities and War
· Boeing Action Group
· Voting for Peace and Justice in 2004
· War and the Environment


posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 10:54 PM
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w


To Recap:

On the Iraqi Front:
  • No Weapons of Mass Destruction have been found.
  • That Civilian Death counter is still ticking upwards.
  • American soldiers are being killed on a daily basis in Iraq, even after our dear leader informed us that mission had been accomplished.
  • That whole "decapitation strike" (we used to call it an assassination, by the way) was a lie.
On to Iran!

On the Domestic Front:
  • Enjoying the massive economic growth from the first Bush tax cut?
  • Get ready for the spurt of investment and job creation that will follow the second.
  • Average money from the tax cut for a millionaire: $93,500
  • Average for someone making thirty grand a year: $50
  • And we all know that the real size of the tax cut is closer to $800 Billion, right? Or did you think they're really planning on letting some of these tax cuts expire?
  • It does look like the federal deficit is about to sky-rocket (see below) - is that why O'Neil got canned?
  • And this really pisses me off.


War on the first amendment: "It is the content of your sign".

Not really Bush's fault, but cops can torture you now.


posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 2:44 PM
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w


Smoking Bans Have Gone Too Far
Yahoo! News - Dutch Ban on Smoking Hits Pot Businesses

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - The latest news from the mecca of marijuana users is a real mindblower. Under a new ban on smoking in public places, Dutch coffee shops would be allowed to continue selling joints, but customers would have to go outside to smoke them.


posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 1:39 PM
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w


Yahoo! News - Washington shelved report of 44-trillion-dollar deficit
In the midst of negotiating a steep tax cuts package, the US government shelved a report that showed the United States faces future federal budget deficits of more than 44.2 trillion dollars.


posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 11:54 AM
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w


No Bunker where U.S. Bombs Targeted Saddam-CBS
The Baghdad bunker which the United States said it bombed on the opening night of the Iraq war in a bid to kill Saddam Hussein never existed, CBS Evening News reported Wednesday.


posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 11:48 AM
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w


Which Way? Will the Democrats follow Robert Byrd or Nancy Pelosi on foreign policy?

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 11:17 AM
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w


Fifty Years of Playboy
Asked how it feels to have won, Hugh Hefner pauses, looks down and almost whispers, "Wonderful." Then he says: "I guess if you live long enough . . . "
Alright, this is just creepy - George Will writing about the success of Playboy.

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 10:42 AM
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wWednesday, May 28, 2003




posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 5:08 PM
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w


This is a fairly interesting analysis on how the campaigns are using the internet: The Internet Constituency. One guess who the author supports.

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 4:50 PM
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w


You know, if Bush wins re-election, I am moving to Canada.

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 1:37 PM
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w


Wil Wheaton's book is out: Dancing Barefoot

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 1:13 PM
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w


Progressive Tacks - The Democrats turn left. By William Saletan

Eh, if you're following the Dem race, you should generally be reading all of Saletan's articles.

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 10:52 AM
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w


American Presidential Karaoke Idol

This is almost too bizzare to post: Kareoke contest in New Hampshire.

And the full set list.

And Team Gephardt wrote their own lyrics.
I’m too sexy for New Hampshire, too sexy for New Hampshire
No one’s going to beat me (sung as Rep. Dick Gephardt)

I’m too sexy for the polls, too sexy for my money
so sexy it hurts (sung as Sen. John Edwards)

And I’m too sexy for Concord, too sexy for Keene
Portsmouth and Manch (sung as Rep. Dennis Kucinich)

And I’m too sexy for Saturday
Too sexy for the liberals
Hey Ray (Buckley) I’m disco dancing (sung as Sen. Joe Lieberman)

I’m John Kerry and you know I’m aloof
And I do my little thing on my Harley
Yeah with big hair
And the ketchup money
I do my little thing in the wetsuit (sung as Sen. John Kerry)

I’m too sexy to campaign, too sexy for these men
Too sexy by far (sung by Carol Moseley Braun)

And I’m too sexy for NATO, too sexy for CNN
Hey Dems think about that (sung as Gen. Wesley Clark)

I’m Howard Dean you and know I’m the Doc
And I do my little thing with the Iraqis
Yeah with the hippies
Not John Kerry yeah
I shake my little touche on MeetUp.com (sung as Gov. Howard Dean)
I’m too sexy for McCain, too sexy for Hussein, too sexy for the Dems (sung as President George W. Bush)

Cause I’m Dick Gephardt you know I love labor
And I do my winning thing in New Hampshire
Yeah with Demers
Greathouse, Mattoon, and Ward
I’ll beat their touches in the primary (sung as Rep. Dick Gephardt)

I’m too sexy for the FEC, too sexy for a staff
Poor Reverend, poor Reverend Al (sung as Al Sharpton)

I’m too sexy for my notebooks, too sexy for charisma
Vice President for me (sung as Sen. Bob Graham)

And I’m too sexy for this song (sung as Rep. Dick Gephardt)


posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 10:45 AM
(0) comments


wTuesday, May 27, 2003


New E-Post on Lord of the Rings at Ian McKellen's official site.

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 8:04 PM
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w


Another Dean petition
Americans cherish the freedom of the press -- and the diversity of the press that ensures they can get access to the truth and to the information they need. The Bush Administration may not appreciate that freedom and diversity, but they should not tamper with it.

On June 2nd, the Federal Communications Commission should decide against allowing a single company to own multiple television stations, radio stations, and newspapers in a single town. The Bush Administration has urged the FCC to remove regulations that protect every Americans' right to a free press. This latest attempt by the Bush Administration to undermine the American ideals enshrined in our Constitution is wrong.
Why is Dean doing this? I think his campaign has been changed a great deal by the internet and his grass roots support. Even if he loses the nomination, if he can get more americans active and involved in the political process on a constant basis (instead of casting a vote every 2 years), he'll have made a real difference.

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 3:50 PM
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w


Hey, here's a rough draft of the EU Constitution. No, I'm not going to read the whole thing. At least not right now.

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 3:30 PM
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w


Pretty obvious stuff, but it's Bob Reich, so it gets posted: Democratic Economics

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 3:11 PM
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w


Environmental Group Says It Burned Houses
The radical environmental group Earth Liberation Front is claiming responsibility for fires that destroyed two houses near Ann Arbor in March.

The slogan "ELF, no sprawl" was spray painted on the garage door of a house next to one of those burned March 21 in the Mystic Forest subdivision. On its Web site, the group claims responsibility for the fires, which it says caused $400,000 in damage.

The group also takes responsibility for burning luxury homes being built near Philadelphia late last year. A picture of a burning home is featured on the Web site, along with instructions on how to start fires.
You know, I might have an opinion about this if ELF's website wasn't blocked by my coporate firewall. What do you think?

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 1:20 PM
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w


Post a day late

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 12:07 PM
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w


Tuesday Krugman: Stating the Obvious

There was a special extra-long Krugman in Saturday's paper, in case you missed it. He talks about the liquidity trap, and how we just might be screwed. He's so dreamy.

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 11:20 AM
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wFriday, May 23, 2003


Dean's Hair Continues to Change

Compare this photo , taken last year.

With the current front page picture at www.deanforamerica.com

(P.S. I was dared to post this story. I'm not really that obsessed.)

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 2:53 PM
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w


It's About (Mexico's) Oil

A majority of Mexicans believe the United States invaded Iraq simply to acquire its valuable oil reserves. They are also beginning to suspect that the powers that run America have designs on Mexico's oil as well.

As the daily newspaper La Jornada recently asked rhetorically, "If they cited non-existent threats just to get ahold of Iraq's petroleum, what won't they do to appropriate ours?" It isn't lost on Mexicans that, while Iraq's oil is halfway around the world from the thirsty colossus, Mexico's oil is conveniently right next door.

There is some other good stuff on this site including an article entitled "Media Watch".

posted by Anonymous at 2:24 PM
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w


Read it.

Have a good weekend.

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 1:23 PM
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w


The New Republic Online: Dean.com
"Witches," says Joe Trippi. "And it pisses me off because they have people all over the world." Trippi, the fiery campaign manager for Howard Dean, is talking about Meetup.com, the year-old Internet service created to facilitate gatherings of people who share common interests—everything from knitting to Wicca—that is now the primary grassroots organizing tool for Dean. Trippi obsessively tracks the latest Meetup figures, and he has just learned that the number of registered Dean supporters has surpassed 25,000, far more than the next largest Meetup group, witches, who trail Dean by 10,000 but whose stats still irk Trippi a little bit. "They get their numbers all revved up because they get lots of people in London and Paris or whatever."
Ha ha. Trippi's pretty funny.

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 11:20 AM
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wThursday, May 22, 2003


Smack!
But, I contend that, through it all, the people know. The American people unfortunately are used to political shading, spin, and the usual chicanery they hear from public officials. They patiently tolerate it up to a point. But there is a line. It may seem to be drawn in invisible ink for a time, but eventually it will appear in dark colors, tinged with anger. When it comes to shedding American blood - - when it comes to wreaking havoc on civilians, on innocent men, women, and children, callous dissembling is not acceptable. Nothing is worth that kind of lie - - not oil, not revenge, not reelection, not somebody's grand pipedream of a democratic domino theory.
Byrd is the Word

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 4:00 PM
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w


Guardian Unlimited | World Latest | Howard Dean Raises $1M Via Internet
Democratic presidential hopeful Howard Dean has raised $1 million without serving hors d'oeuvres, hitting the phones or mailing thousands of appeals. The money has come through the Internet, a possible sign of fund-raising trends to come.

The former Vermont governor and self-described underdog has used the Internet to complement traditional fund-raising techniques, collecting contributions through his Web site and e-mail at little cost to his campaign.

Dean hit the $1 million mark in Internet fund raising last week, becoming the first 2004 presidential hopeful to announce he has done so. Dean supporters also are using the Internet to organize volunteers across the country.


posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 3:02 PM
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w


Here's an interesting article about Dean's chances in the South

Can Dean do dixie?
A Vermont Yankee's prospects for presidential success in the South



posted by Anonymous at 1:12 PM
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w


Truthout Interview with Dean

Some excerpts (and good talking points if you're chatting with a wingnut):
People in my party fundamentally misunderstand why this President is popular. The reason he is popular has absolutely nothing to do with the issues. It has to do with the fact that people think he is a leader. The way to deal with a leader is to be another leader, and to be strong in your views and present the American people with a choice.

In politics, sometimes one single event can crystallize what the problem is. For me, when the Cumulus Corporation, which owns a lot of radio stations, kicked the Dixie Chicks off their networks – a couple hundred radio stations – I realized that media corporations have too much power.

The best defense policy we could have in this country is not just to have a strong military, but it is to build middle-class nations with strong democratic ideals, where women fully participate in the government. Those countries don't go to war with each other, and they don't harbor groups like al Qaeda.


Now go read the whole thing.

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 10:45 AM
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w


A White House Fluent In Language Of Fanatics
By Arianna Huffington

I've been racking my brain, trying to reconcile the ever-widening chasm between what the White House claims to be true and what is actually true. After all, we know the president and his men are not stupid. And despite the tidal wave of misinformation pouring out of their mouths, I don't believe they are consciously lying.

The best explanation I can come up with for the growing gap between their rhetoric and reality is that we are being governed by a gang of out and out fanatics.

The defining trait of the fanatic – be it a Marxist, a fascist, or, gulp, a Wolfowitz – is the utter refusal to allow anything as piddling as evidence to get in the way of an unshakable belief. Bush and his fellow fanatics are the political equivalent of those yogis who can hold their breath and go without air for hours. Such is their mental control, they can go without truth for, well, years. Because, in their minds, they're always right. Oopso facto.

Even if she wasn't so damn smart and funny I'd love her, just because she sounds like Debbie Reynolds doing an imitation of Eva Gabor. (I know, I'm old)




posted by Anonymous at 8:38 AM
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wWednesday, May 21, 2003


A Study in Contrast:

Protesters leave Santorum speech
About one in every eight graduates walked out of commencement Sunday at Saint Joseph’s University before the keynote address by Sen. Rick Santorum, who recently infuriated gay groups and others with derogatory remarks about homosexual behavior.


N.Y. Times reporter booed off stage
During the speech, some graduates and audience members protested silently by turning their backs to the stage, while others rushed up the aisle to shout at the Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter. One student tossed his cap and gown toward the speaker.

Jeers, foghorns and calls of "God Bless America" also could be heard.

After Hedges' microphone was unplugged for a second time, Pribbenow told him to wrap up his speech.


What's more American, to walk out in protest, or to pull someone's microphone so they can't say things you don't like? Ho hum. I suggest you read his speech, Hedges is a smart guy.
War, we have come to believe, is a spectator sport. The military and the press -- remember in wartime the press is always part of the problem -- have turned war into a vast video arcade came. Its very essence -- death -- is hidden from public view.

There was no more candor in the Persian Gulf War or the War in Afghanistan or the War in Iraq than there was in Vietnam. But in the age of live feeds and satellite television, the state and the military have perfected the appearance of candor.

Because we no longer understand war, we no longer understand that it can all go horribly wrong. We no longer understand that war begins by calling for the annihilation of others but ends if we do not know when to make or maintain peace with self-annihilation. We flirt, given the potency of modern weapons, with our own destruction.


And he's Got His War On in a book I've been planning on buying for some time: War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 5:10 PM
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w


Which Side Are We On? Redefining Who’s Us and Who’s Them
In trying to bring about egalitarian social change, however, it doesn’t make good political sense to frame this picture of economic concentration and class domination in terms of one social class against another. Defining the “opponents” as “the capitalists” or “the rich” is a strategic mistake. Because the problem is developing new policies and gaining political power, the struggle should be framed from the start as a political one, not an economic one. The “in-group” should be all those who come to embrace the program of the egalitarian movement, and the “out-group” should be all those who oppose such changes.

If the conflict is framed this way, an egalitarian coalition has a chance to win over the moderates, neutrals and independents who currently identify with capitalists and might be offended by blanket criticisms of them as a class. It may even attract dissident members of the capitalist class who transcend their class interests and in the process become very valuable in legitimating the movement to those in the middle who are hesitant to climb on board.


posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 3:09 PM
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w


Kant and Mill in Baghdad. By John B. Judis.
But the Bush administration, perhaps emboldened by its success in Afghanistan, proceeded to defy the post-World War II principles of international law. Last June, Bush announced a new doctrine of preemptive (really preventive) war against merely potential adversaries. That was meant to justify an invasion of Iraq. Even if this doctrine is seen as a legitimate nuclear-age extension of self-defense, however, the invasion does not seem justified. The United States would have had to demonstrate that the Iraqis had not merely a few chemical weapons (which had failed to deter Iran in the 1980s war) but a burgeoning nuclear program. But no such programs came to light during the inspections or the war. By Kantian standards, the war was aggression without justifiable cause.

Administration officials have tried to justify the war ex post facto entirely on utilitarian grounds -- that is, that the war will lead to the democratization or modernization of the Arab region. These arguments echo those of 19th- and early 20th-century imperialists, and indeed some neoconservatives, including Max Boot and Stanley Kurtz, have argued candidly for a return to imperialism. They have replaced the older promise of civilization with that of democracy or of modernization. The Bush administration, fearful of criticism from abroad, has steered clear of explicitly advocating imperialism, but it uses the same utilitarian logic in advancing its aims that European and American proponents of empire used a century ago.


posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 1:57 PM
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posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 11:15 AM
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Go Read This Blog

By this blog, I mean fishyshark, where Markos, the guy behind the Daily Kos is blogging about his upcoming fatherhood.
The baby can now kick, curl its toes, fan its toes, and do other interesting things. And I mean interesting. Can you "fan" your toes? It sounds like something Spock might be able to do, but if our child can fan his toes, then he may have a career in a circus freak show.

I'm getting excited about this -- it would spare us the trouble of setting up a college fund!
Of course, reading things like this always begs the question - why are any parents pro-choice?

Ho hum...

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 10:27 AM
(0) comments


wTuesday, May 20, 2003


Bad Bart

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 11:59 PM
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w


Hey, if you've got broadband, download all of these.

And burn them to a cd.

And bring them to the next meetup, with your laptop so we can hook 'em up to a projector.

And by You, I mean "Mike Meyers".

DeanTV

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 11:50 PM
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w


Paul's Dead. Now the fuckers want Russ:
Rove's fascination with the Feingold race is no surprise. After all, Feingold is not just another Democrat in a Senate where, on too many issues, Democrats are little different from Republicans. Feingold cast the sole vote in the Senate against the administration's constitutionally dubious Patriot Act in 2001 and, this year, he was the first senator to attack efforts by the administration to use the Iraq war as an excuse to extend the Patriot Act's assault on civil liberties. Feingold was one of just 23 senators to refuse to grant the administration authorization to use force in Iraq. Only last week, he and Florida Democrat Bob Graham boldly challenged the administration's mishandling of the war on terrorism...


posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 11:44 PM
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w


Third Greatest Philosopher of the Twentieth Century
Rawls's Life: The quiet American

From then on the Rawls story is of slow, thorough and detailed work, culminating in the publication of his magnum opus A Theory of Justice in 1971. It is one of the few works of 20th century philosophy that many contemporaries believe will enter the canon of the great texts. It has sold in excess of 300,000 copies in the US alone and has been translated into 27 languages. Such is the literature it has generated that the most comprehensive Rawls bibliography contains around 5,000 items.
So what if none of you have ever heard of him?

I'm entitled to post esoteric things on occasion. If there's interest, I'll write more about Rawls later and why I like him so much. But I wonder if you people ever pay attention to me when I ramble on about Philosophy. So, a quiz - if Rawls is my third favorite, who are the first two?

Hint: They all wrote in English.

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 11:17 PM
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w


Fun With Stamp Collecting*
Chimps Belong on Human Branch of Family Tree, Study Says

A new report argues that chimpanzees are so closely related to humans that they should be included in our branch of the tree of life. Chimpanzees and other apes have historically been separated from humans in classification schemes, with humans deemed the only living members of the hominid family of species.

Now, biologists at Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, Michigan, provide new genetic evidence that lineages of chimps (currently Pan troglodytes) and humans (Homo sapiens) diverged so recently that chimps should be reclassed as Homo troglodytes. The move would make chimps full members of our genus Homo, along with Neandertals, and all other human-like fossil species. "We humans appear as only slightly remodeled chimpanzee-like apes," says the study.
*"In science, there is only physics; all the rest is stamp collecting."
-- Ernest Rutherford, British Physicist

Update:Billmon has irrefutable scientific photographic proof.

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 4:08 PM
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w


Debate

Here's a transcript of last Saturday's Democratic Debate

And my favorite choice bit:
DEAN: This is going to be a real quick one. First of all, I want to thank Senator Edwards and all of the senators and also Tom Daschle for filibustering Miguel Estrada and Priscilla Owens. They are not qualified to serve.

(APPLAUSE)

Second of all, Bob Graham and I are the only people that have actually ever appointed judges, and I never thought I'd ever say anything that I agreed with Dick Nixon, but what we need is a strict constructionist. What we really need is a somebody who is going to uphold the Constitution, and what the president is doing is appointing members of the far-right federalist society who don't see the Constitution the way most Americans do.

I happen to think there is such a thing as a right to privacy in the Constitution, and we need to appoint judges who will support our civil liberties, who will declare parts of the Patriot Act unconstitutional. It is not OK...

(APPLAUSE)

... it is not OK to hold American citizens without the right to see a lawyer indefinitely. It is not OK to snoop through our video files to see what we rented last Saturday night.

I'm going to appoint judges, as I have in the past, who will uphold the Constitution, work hard and will not come with an ideological agenda.
Of course I agree...

And I Hate Nixon!

And then, of course, Dean's closing statement:
But I don't agree with Bob Graham about one thing. As the recipient of the Wellstone, I'm very proud to be a member of the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party, and if we worry so much about electability, that they can't tell the difference between the Democratic and the Democratic Party and the Republicans, then we're going to be in a lot of trouble in this party.

We need to win this election by standing up for who we are and speaking our peace.

Now as a former governor, I can say that I'm the only one that's actually delivered universal health care to a significant number of our people, and my health care plan will pass because it's inexpensive. And it will give Americans the same health-care plan that the members of Congress have.

I don't think we can win this election by voting for tax cuts. I don't think we can win this election by voting for No Child Left Behind and then saying it's only bad because it's unfunded. I don't know a teacher in America who thinks that's a good bill. It labels good schools as failing schools. It's the wrong thing to do.

I went to Seattle a couple of days ago. Twelve hundred people showed up to hear me speak. I stopped my speech in the middle of it and I said, "How many of you all haven't been in politics in the last 10 or 15 years?" Half of the room stood up. We're not going to win this election in this room. We're going to win this election talking to people who want hope again, who want hope in America, who are going to stand up.

It's not just going to be Democrats that win this election. It's independents who want jobs again.

The biggest lie that people like me tell you is, "If you elect me I'm going to solve all of your problems." The truth is that you have the power to change this country, that you have the power to make a difference to nominate somebody in this party who can bring those 50 percent of the people who have given up on the political process back in, that we can win and we can mobilize again.

Abraham Lincoln said that a government of the people by the people and for the people shall not perish from this earth. The truth is that this president has forgotten about ordinary people, and that you have the power to take this country back. You have the power to take this party back and you have the power to take the White House back in 2004.


posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 12:29 PM
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w


Hey, go read the Washington Post's Editorial Page today.

You'll get an op-ed from Sen. John Edwards on reforming the medical malpractice insurance industry:
What the president's proposal won't do is work. Insurance premiums have spiked recently because of insurance companies' losses on their investments, not their losses to victims. In fact, about half the states already have some limits on victim compensation, yet premiums in states with caps average about the same as premiums in states without caps. California finally controlled rates not by attacking victims -- that didn't work -- but by reforming the insurance industry and rolling back premium increases.
He's a smart guy, if we didn't live in bizzaro world, everything he says would already be law.

Next up, Warren Buffet (the third richest man in the world, if I remember correctly) tells us that a dividend tax cut is a really bad idea:
When you listen to tax-cut rhetoric, remember that giving one class of taxpayer a "break" requires -- now or down the line -- that an equivalent burden be imposed on other parties. In other words, if I get a break, someone else pays. Government can't deliver a free lunch to the country as a whole. It can, however, determine who pays for lunch. And last week the Senate handed the bill to the wrong party.

Supporters of making dividends tax-free like to paint critics as promoters of class warfare. The fact is, however, that their proposal promotes class welfare. For my class.
I always liked the old coot. Salon had a story on him a while back that pointed out his unwillingness to change the way he did business during the 90s, which is why his company was pretty much unaffected when the bottom fell out of the economy.

Richard Cohen has a fairly entertaining ramble that starts off funny and then gets serious without ever suggesting a solution. I've got one.

And then E.J. goes to bat for Kerry:
That's what made Sen. John Kerry's speech yesterday about service and citizenship so interesting. Of course, no one can be against national service or patriotism. President Bush speaks often about these subjects and has appointed some good people to lead his service effort. He could have killed the AmeriCorps program, President Clinton's creation. Instead, he morphed it into his USA Freedom Corps.

True enough. But Kerry gave the service idea a new twist. Drawing from fellow Vietnam veteran John McCain's rhetoric -- Americans, Kerry said, "think elected officials no longer ask them to serve a cause larger than themselves" -- the Democratic presidential candidate cast patriotism and community-mindedness as the opposites of "get-mine and get-out rhetoric" and of "a creed of greed." These he associated with Bush's overall approach to domestic policy.

All in all, nice page today. But it doesn't make up for the fact that Krugman isn't in the New York Times this morning. =(

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 12:16 PM
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Bush's Great Aids Works

The Fine Print

I take back the one nice thing I've said about Bush here. He may intend to help people, but his other priorities (War and Tax Cuts) make it impossible.

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 11:09 AM
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wMonday, May 19, 2003


Krugman on Wall Street Week
COLVIN: Guys, we're just about out of time, but I want to get from both of you very briefly how investors should think about the President's proposal.

KRUGMAN: Run for the hills.
Tee hee.

Transcript


posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 3:59 PM
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GOP outspends Democrats in states
Both far outpace rate of inflation
Republicans, who pride themselves on being frugal with taxpayers' money, were bigger spenders than Democrats in state legislatures over the past five years, a USA TODAY analysis shows.

State legislatures controlled by Republicans increased spending an average of 6.54% per year from 1997 to 2002, compared with 6.17% for legislatures run by Democrats. State spending rose slowest -- 6% annually -- when legislatures were split, and each party controlled one chamber. Inflation averaged 2.55% annually 1997-2002.

At a time when states are facing severe budget problems, many Republicans are blaming shortfalls on runaway spending by Democrats during the economic boom of the late 1990s. USA TODAY's analysis suggests otherwise.
Hmmm, apparently Republicans are full of shit. You know, in general.

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 1:11 PM
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Confusion Surrounds Missouri'04 Primary
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Missouri's 2004 presidential primary appears to be in limbo after legislators went home without canceling the election, but also without appropriating money to pay for it.

Presidential primaries have been held in Missouri just twice, in 1988 and 2000, with party caucuses held in other years. So with the economy weak and tax revenues below estimates, lawmakers chose to save the $3.7 million that would be needed for next year's primary by leaving it out of the budget.
And so, we still don't know. Arg.

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 12:56 PM
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w


Moore Scoop
Ain't It Cool News - View Article FAHRENHEIT 9-11: THE TEMPERATURE AT WHICH TRUTH BURNS will be ready for Cannes next year and release Sept in North America (prior to the elections I'm told).


posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 11:52 AM
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Bush Spokesman Ari Fleischer to Resign (washingtonpost.com)
White House press secretary Ari Fleischer, whose televised briefings gave viewers a daily window on President Bush in wartime, said today that he will resign this summer, probably in late July.

Fleischer, a New Yorker and Capitol Hill veteran, told friends he plans to work in the private sector and wants "a quieter life." He said that when he told Bush of the decision on Friday, the president kissed his bald pate.
In the words of Hunter S. Thompson: "Fuck. I'm gonna miss him."

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 10:08 AM
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Bill M. is funny today.

posted by Anonymous at 8:28 AM
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wSaturday, May 17, 2003


Cuteness

Look, if you're not checking out Kevin Drum's cat blogging every Friday, you're missing out. Just so you know.

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 12:20 AM
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wFriday, May 16, 2003


Bush: "…the North Korean nuclear pennichula..."

President Roh: "Did he just say 'North Korean nuclear pennichula'? I don’t speak English, and even I know that’s wrong."

More


posted by Anonymous at 6:44 PM
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Interview with Howard Dean, by Sandeep Kaushik
I’ve been calling around to various political players. I was talking to [Democratic strategist] Donna Brazile about the 2000 campaign. She has this hard-eyed realism about how political campaigns should run: “It takes money, and organization, but ultimately money because money buys the organization.”

We’re building an organization which doesn’t require anything close to the amount of money she would need. I’ll give you a perfect example: I went down to Houston to give a speech a few weeks ago. Thirty people showed up at the convention center. The other guy who was on the program didn’t have any. Those things make a difference, and that’s all free—it doesn’t cost us anything. Those were Houston volunteers. I went to a fundraiser one time and about half the people were the Democratic fundraising types—we didn’t know the rest. One person came up and said, “Hi, I’m your Texas coordinator.” I didn’t know we had a Texas coordinator. We have people who are totally volunteers, even in Texas, for us. It is a highly motivated group of people. Imagine being neck and neck in New Hampshire, where the guy’s got four times as much money as you do.


posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 3:30 PM
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Party reckons with Dean phenomenon
Democratic strategist Pat Caddell told MSNBC’s Chris Matthews the centrist DLC is spooked by the Dean phenomenon.

“They’re panicked by it because the Democratic grass roots is in revolt right now because they’re tired of a party that doesn’t stand for anything,” Caddell said.


posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 11:04 AM
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The Saga of Texas
When last we left the saga of Texas' few living elected Democrats, they had fled the state pursued by minions of the law -- legislators on the lam. These courageous citizens, fleeing vile Republican oppression in their state capital, took refuge at the Holiday Inn in Ardmore, Oklahoma.

Reporters embedded with the law-breaker law-makers in Ardmore say the perps remain unrepentant.


posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 10:59 AM
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Friday Krugman: Paths of Glory

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 10:47 AM
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wThursday, May 15, 2003


Kinsley's a vicious snide bastard.

That's why we love him.

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 11:03 PM
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Ummm, hey, is this the DLC?

Yeah, this is the Dean Campaign. I just called to let you guys know that my cock is bigger than yours. Thanks for asking, though.

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 10:50 PM
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A quick survey of the news informs us that the Texas Democrats are sticking to their guns, and won't be going home until midnight tonight. Beautiful. Screw you, Tom DeLay.

Anyway, I'm off to the Company Picnic now, so you're going to have to search for "Howard Dean" on Google News every hour all by yourself now.

(P.S. Tom Paine has a blog now.)

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 11:19 AM
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Ewww
Kerry made his Bones in secret club - like Bush

Sen. John F. Kerry expounds on many issues in his presidential campaign, but he's completely silent on one topic: his membership in Skull and Bones, Yale's infamous secret society.
I put this out there for all you black helicopter/tin foil hat types.

The Illuminati is coming for you.

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 11:09 AM
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Hey, go sign this.

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 10:53 AM
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The 'D' in DLC Doesn't Stand for Dean (washingtonpost.com)
More than 50 centrist Democrats, including Virginia Gov. Mark R. Warner, met here yesterday to plot strategy for the "New Democrat" movement. To help get the ball rolling they read a memo by Al From and Bruce Reed, the chairman and president of the Democratic Leadership Council.

The memo dismissed Dean as an elitist liberal from the "McGovern-Mondale wing" of the party -- "the wing that lost 49 states in two elections, and transformed Democrats from a strong national party into a much weaker regional one."
Fuck the DLC. That'd be the wing of the party that lost us the 2000 and 2002 elections.

The Big Dog weighs in:
If the current crop of candidates is judged on what they accomplished before running for president, the field is strong, Clinton said. And some of those accomplishments contradict the image candidates have earned in the presidential race, he said.

Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean is described as very liberal by many following the presidential race, Clinton said, "but look at what he did as governor of Vermont."

Clinton described Dean's accomplishments with health care in his home state and his proposal to promote a national health care plan with a modest price tag as "New Democrat" positions. He was referring to the moniker the Democratic Leadership Council puts on Democrats who can blend moderate ideas that appeal to swing voters with traditional Democratic themes.


posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 10:43 AM
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Dean in Seattle
"The deal I'm going to make with you tonight," the Democratic presidential hopeful told an overflow audience of more than 1,100 in Seattle, "is that if you make me the Democratic nominee, I'll make you proud to be Democrats again."
The article is bland, but the quote was worth posting.

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 10:35 AM
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wWednesday, May 14, 2003


Synchronicity
Journal Inquirer

Dick Morris, the pollster who was President Bill Clinton's chief political strategist before a sex scandal forced him to quit during the 1996 Democratic National Convention, is one of the biggest tax scofflaws in Connecticut, according to state officials.

The Redding resident, now a commentator for the Fox News Channel and a columnist for the New York Post and the Washington, D.C., weekly, The Hill, owes $257,624 in state income taxes and is ranked sixth on the state Department of Revenue Services' roster of "Top 100 Delinquent Taxpayer Accounts."
And to think, today, of all days, I choose to bash Morris. He's not just an idiot, he's not just an adulterer, he's also a white-collar criminal!

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 3:44 PM
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Who wants to go to Iowa this weekend?

Road Trip

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 2:26 PM
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You know, Dick Morris was wrong about Monica* (he told Clinton to lie to us), he was wrong about the 1998 congressional elections (details from The Hill), he was wrong about Hillary's Senate Race (as detailed in Salon), he was wrong about the 2002 midterm elections (as detailed by The New Republic), and now he's wrong about the 2004 Presidential Race.

I love how people on the right keep telling us that Lieberman is the only one who can win. Look guys, just because he's the one guy up there that you can relate to, doesn't mean that the rest of the country feels the same way.

My question though, is how in the hell does Morris still get work these days?

* To Quote Sid's New Book:
When I saw the poll reproduced in the Starr Report it struck me as mostly worthless as a political document, because all the key questions had the word "crimes" attached to them, ensuring negative responses. The statistics indicating the public's inclination to forgive incidents that were just sex, Morris misinterpreted.


posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 12:27 PM
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Chillin' in Okie



Why We Are Here - Working To Defend Texas

We did not choose our path, Tom Delay did. We are ready to stand on the House floor and work day and night to deal with real issues facing Texas families. At a time when we are told there is no time to deal with school finance, and when we must still resolve issues like the state budget crisis and insurance reform, the fact that an outrageous partisan power grab sits atop the House calendar is unconscionable.

Our House rules, including those regarding a quorum, were adopted precisely to protect the people from what is before the House today - the tyranny of a majority. By our actions today, we are fulfilling our responsibilities to our constituents and upholding the oaths we took to serve the people of Texas.

More


And here's an AP Story
The defiant Democrats remained at the hotel in Ardmore, Okla., about 30 miles north of the Texas border and about 270 miles due north of Austin. They met privately in a hotel conference room to discuss school financing, homeowners insurance, the state budget and other issues.

Several Texans traveled to Oklahoma to give their support, including Sharon Copeland, who lives about 60 miles away in Denton.

"You guys are my heroes," Copeland said as she threw her arms around Rep. Lon Burnam. "I sure am proud to be a Democrat today. I didn't even know this could be done."


posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 12:02 PM
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President Endorses Dean
I kidded Martin about spending most of his time in jail because of his activist causes. He laughed, "I'm never comfortable unless I'm uncomfortable. But I think it's important for this show to go on. I try now to keep a rather low profile because my work on the show is more important than making some statement. If the voice of 'The West Wing' is ever silenced, we'll all be the poorer for it. Many people seem to be against what we stand for, but many others depend on us and are backing us up." When I asked this actor/activist who he is supporting politically, he said, "Howard Dean. He is not afraid to lose."
Sure, it's old news, but I liked the picture.



You know how cool I am? I'm so cool I was arrested with Martin Sheen. Well, along with almost 2,000 other people, but I'm still cool.

New York Post Gossip Column

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 11:37 AM
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wTuesday, May 13, 2003


::gets punched in the stomach by an Oreo:: Oww... those things are bad for you.

posted by Anonymous at 4:49 PM
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Remember the Real War?
The bombing in Riyadh, which killed at least 90 people according to the US State Department, coincided with a visit to Saudi Arabia by Secretary of State Colin Powell, who vowed to hunt down the al-Qaeda militants he said were responsible.

As many as 12 US citizens were among the dead and up to 44 were among the scores of wounded, officials said.


posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 4:27 PM
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I'm not running for president in spite of the fact that I'm a doctor.

In a very real sense, I'm running because of it.

I'm in this race because I'm convinced that America's strength can't only be measured by the power of our military, but by the depth of our compassion and our humanity.

- Howard Dean
Well, he went and announced the finished plan. Not much in it surprises me, and I think it's a damn good plan.

First, a little history out there for all of you single-payer types (that'd be me too). Dean tried to get universal single-payer health care passed in Vermont in 1994. He failed. And if you can't do an overhaul of the system in the People's Republic of Vermont, then the chances of that sort of plan passing the U.S. congress ain't that great.

Given that, the good Doctor's plan seems to be a decent compromise with political reality.

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 2:11 PM
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Rick Santorum's New Position In The Bush Regime

posted by Anonymous at 1:41 PM
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Howard Dean Lays Out Health Care Plan
WASHINGTON (AP) - Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean laid out his plan Tuesday to provide health coverage for all Americans up to age 25 and greatly expand coverage to uninsured adults.

Providing health care for the uninsured will be a major campaign issue for many of the Democrats trying to oust President Bush next year. Dean, a physician who has a record of expanding health care coverage as governor of Vermont, sees himself as the best positioned to lead on the issue.

As governor, Dean focused on small expansions of the existing health care programs so that today 96 percent of Vermont children and 91 percent of adults are covered, and his presidential campaign is based on the same principle.

``Here, in the richest, most advanced country in the world in the 21st century, it's simply wrong for a sick child to go without seeing a doctor because her parents can't afford it,'' he said in remarks prepared for delivery at Columbia University in New York City, where he took classes before going to medical school. ``We have fallen 50 years behind the social standards of what we consider to be the civilized world.''


posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 12:56 PM
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Dems on the Run!
Dems on the run!
And the jailer man and
Speaker Tom, were searching everyone... for the
Dems on the Run...
High drama and high-stakes politics put more than 50 Texas legislators on the lam from the law on Monday. Given the choice of being steamrollered on a Republican congressional redistricting plan or denying the state House of Representatives a quorum until a legislative deadline passes this week, 59 of the House's 62 Democrats surreptitiously slipped out of Austin, into hiding and onto quorumless, Republican House Speaker Tom Craddick's most-wanted list.
I am not alone in thinking this is hilarious.

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 10:50 AM
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w


Ahhh, Tuesday Krugman: The China Syndrome

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 10:29 AM
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wMonday, May 12, 2003


Apparently there is going to be a total Lunar Eclipse on the 16th. If you live in St. Louis, it'll start around 10:15. Go here for precise details: Lunar Eclipse Computer

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 5:16 PM
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Snapshots of Our Economy and Politics by Ralph Nader
1. Congress refuses to raise the federal minimum wage to the level of purchasing power that existed in 1968. At $5.15, it is over 33% less now in the goods and services it can buy than what workers received 35 years ago. Yet Congress increases its own salaries just about every year -- presently indexing it to inflation at over $75 per hour plus great benefits and perks....


posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 2:35 PM
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Hmmm, so the Dean Campaign is the first political campaign I've ever seen that offers AIM Icons for downloading. It may be politically savvy, but I find it just a tad strange... of course that won't stop me from using one.

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 11:57 AM
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No WMD Found; Search to End

I read this on Sunday, but I couldn't believe it.
BAGHDAD -- The group directing all known U.S. search efforts for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq is winding down operations without finding proof that President Saddam Hussein kept clandestine stocks of outlawed arms, according to participants.
Why isn't the Liberal Media jumping all over this story? Why aren't commentators blasting Bush 24/7 over this? The reason we went to war was either a lie or reflects a stunning incompetance in the Bush administration.

But oh well, doesn't Georgie look swell in a flight suit?

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 11:40 AM
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McGovern Strikes Back!

A More Constructive Internationalism
In his May 1 op-ed piece, Will Marshall praised presidential candidates Dick Gephardt, Joe Lieberman, John Kerry and John Edwards as "Blair Democrats" -- internationalists who are willing "to use force in the national interest." He rejoiced that the Democratic Party "is moving away from McGovernism and back to its international roots."

One wonders why Marshall went to Britain for an example of how American Democrats ought to behave. It is more puzzling why he concluded that I'm opposed to internationalism and the "use of force in the national interest." I first used force in the national interest during World War II, when I flew 35 combat missions in Europe. American involvement in that war was clearly in our national interest, and that is why I volunteered at the age of 19 to be part of it.


posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 9:44 AM
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wFriday, May 09, 2003


Ananova - Man's advert selling son draws police's attention
A Scottish man has been questioned by police after jokingly offering his son for sale on the internet.

Alex Wilson, from Cumbernauld, was reported to officers by a woman in the US state of Washington.

She'd spotted the advert on an web page offering bicycles and prams for sale.

It read: "Hyperactive kid for sale, good at vacuuming, not great at washing dishes because he's too short. Guaranteed to annoy. £5 or nearest offer."


posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 1:55 PM
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Hi everyone,
This is my first post, I apologize for the length (it won't happen again) but I did not have a link to send you to. THis just touches on so many of the things I have seen posted here that I had to send it.

Dr. Lawrence Britt, a political scientist, wrote an article about fascism which appeared in Free Inquiry magazine -- a journal of humanist thought. Dr. Britt studied the fascist regimes of Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain), Suharto (Indonesia), and Pinochet (Chile). He found the regimes all had 14 things in common, and he calls these the identifying characteristics of fascism. The article is titled 'Fascism Anyone?', by Lawrence Britt, and appears in Free Inquiry's Spring 2003 issue on page 20.

The 14 characteristics are:
1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism -- Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.
2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights -- Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need". The people tend to 'look the other way' or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.
3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause -- The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial, ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.
4. Supremacy of the Military -- Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.
5. Rampant Sexism -- The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Opposition to abortion is high, as is homophobia and anti-gay legislation and national policy.
6. Controlled Mass Media -- Sometimes the media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or through sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in wartime, is very common.
7. Obsession with National Security -- Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.
8. Religion and Government are Intertwined -- Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government's policies or actions.
9. Corporate Power is Protected -- The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.
10. Labor Power is Suppressed -- Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely or are severely suppressed.
11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts -- Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or
even arrested. Free expression in the arts is openly attacked, and governments often refuse to fund the arts.
12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment -- Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses, and even forego civil liberties, in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.
13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption -- Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions, and who use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.
14. Fraudulent Elections -- Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against (or even the assassination of) opposition candidates,
the use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and the manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.

Whew... good thing none of that is going on here in America.


posted by Anonymous at 12:56 PM
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Mother's Day
"Arise, then, women of this day!

Arise all women who have hearts! Whether your baptism be that of water or of tears!

Say firmly:

We will not have questions decided by irrelevant agencies, Our husbands shall not come to us reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause.

Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.

We women of one country will be too tender of those of another country to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.

From the bosom of the devastated earth a voice goes up with our own.

It says, ‘Disarm, Disarm!’

The sword of murder is not the balance of justice! Blood does not wipe out dishonor nor violence indicate possession.

As men have often forsaken the plow and the anvil at the summons of war, let women now leave all that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of counsel.

Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead. Let them then solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means whereby the great human family can live in peace, each bearing after their own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar, but of God.

In the name of womanhood and of humanity, I earnestly ask that a general congress of women without limit of nationality may be appointed and held at some place deemed most convenient and at the earliest period consistent with its objects, to promote the alliance of the different nationalities, the amicable settlement of international questions, the great and general interests of peace."


Forget the Flowers! The Real Politics of Mother's Day


posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 12:03 PM
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Friday Krugman: Into the Sunset

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 10:56 AM
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wThursday, May 08, 2003


TAP: Test Run.
Meanwhile, Dean's most important target is Kerry, and Kerry's greatest threat is Dean. The battle for New Hampshire spilled over into South Carolina. Dean came off terribly during this debate. Though his tussles with the other candidates seem to be driven more by strategy than any predisposition toward belligerence, if Dean can't figure out how to play nicer he's going to alienate more people than just the other campaigns' staffers. No candidate unable to gracefully parry a direct and personal attack will be able to beat Bush in 2004.

That said, it was interesting to watch Dean in South Carolina. One of the shorter candidates, Dean somehow managed to appear exactly the right height to look every person he met in the eye. He was willing to engage almost anyone in a real discussion about real issues. Over the weekend, he was spontaneous and garrulous and seemed to really love campaigning. When he crossed paths with fish-fry attendee Joan Trezevant during a walk-through with supporters, she was dancing and he was just some politician in her way. So she asked him to dance, and then and there they did the shag, the South Carolina state dance. Let me be the first to report that the former governor of Vermont dances beautifully. Said a clearly thrilled Trezevant afterward, "He has the moves."

Nor is Dean afraid to take his campaign to venues that wouldn't, at first blush, seem to be his natural base, such as the South Carolina Democratic Leadership Council's (DLC) Saturday lunch. "In the South, Republicans always make sure that race is an issue," Dean told the assembled. "We're going to talk about race. I'm going to talk to southern whites who've been voting Republican since 1968. The way we win the South is that . . . we talk to white southern voters about the issues we care about as Democrats, because they're their issues, too." In his Saturday afternoon speech at the convention, he extended those remarks: We have "to talk to folks who haven't voted for us in 30 years and ask them, 'You've been voting for Republicans for 30 years. What do you have to show for it?'" At the same time, "We have an obligation to the African American base not to ignore them. . . . We are going to make sure that our base does not feel neglected."

The message played surprisingly well with the DLC crowd. "I think that's a very brave statement he's making," said Ed Craig, a businessman who heard Dean at the lunch. "The issues in this state are graphically racial. This is a racially divided population. It's something we need to confess to and we need to stop." Mike Hawkins, an insurance agent from Prosperity, S.C., described himself as "surprised and pleased with what [Dean] had to say." "He works for me," Hawkins said. "Is it going to work in the South? I hope so."


posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 3:00 PM
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'Bionic eye' breakthrough can allow the blind to see
A "bionic" eye that can help the blind to see has restored partial vision to three people who lost their sight because of incurable disease.

The results of the first clinical trial of an artificial retina implanted into the eye showed that it worked well enough to allow the blind to distinguish light from dark and even to see simple objects.


posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 2:49 PM
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Salam is back, kinda.

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 2:00 PM
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RogerSimon.Com: Campaign Notebook
AND IF YOU NEVER CHANGE YOUR UNDERWEAR, YOU CAN FIT EVERYTHING IN A BEN & JERRY’S CARTON. I ran into Howard Dean at Dulles Airport on his way down to South Carolina and noticed he was wearing a very conservative gray pinstripe suit, blue pinstripe shirt and blue foulard tie.

“What are you going to wear to the fish fry?” I asked him.

“This,” he said. “I only have this suit with me. You never have to carry a suitbag if you wear only one suit.”
Chuckle. I'd do the same damn thing.

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 1:18 PM
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Pigfucker on Letterman
Top Ten Reasons, I, Joe Lieberman, Would Make A Great President


10. "Not only will my vice president be in an undisclosed location, I won't even reveal who he is"

9. "I know Microsoft Excel and can type 65 words a minute"

8. "I've gotten a lot of good advice from Martin Sheen"

7. "Instead of taking Air Force One, I can use all of my accumulated frequent flier miles"

6. "Saddam's a president and I'm way less nuts than he is"

5. "I will change the Constitution to guarantee every American a free DVD player"

4. "I am very comfortable in oval-shaped rooms"

3. "It just so happens Spider-Man is a close, personal friend of mine"

2. "I won't take any crap from France"

1. "Look at me. Do you honestly think there'll be a sex scandal?"
See, I'm not entirely anti-Lieberman.


posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 12:16 PM
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From BOP:
In a brilliant marketing move Avi Arad, head of Marvel studios and Executive Producer on films such as Spider-Man and X2, announced during Marvel's first quarter earnings conference call that the studio is targeting November 4, 2004 as a release date for The Fantastic Four.
What Time Is It?

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 11:57 AM
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Tim or Mike

Can one of you burn me a copy of this (preferably DVD format, but we'll take what we can get).

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 11:38 AM
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Good times at the Dean meetup last night, we got a lot of new people, and I think we're going to launch even more ambitious plans next week. Stay tuned.

In the meantime, you can have fun finding me (and Schmoo, and Lou, and Jon, and maybe even Becca) in these pictures.

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 11:21 AM
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wWednesday, May 07, 2003


Why Dean is Still the Democrat to Watch
Then there’s the candidate himself. Howard Dean, at least as a candidate, is a shark in Land’s End clothing. He is always moving forward and always on the attack. Most of his rivals genuinely loathe him at this point, but Dean doesn’t seem to care. He’s looking to inspire voters, and thinks his combative style is what they want. He thinks that Democrats want some anger in their candidate to confront Bush’s Red State triumphalism. Dean appears to draw inspiration from the cutthroat side of the Kennedy legacy, Bobby and Jack in particular. Their rhetoric soared and their ideals were noble, but their tactics were tough. When they wanted to dismiss someone as a nonentity, they called him a “nice man.”

Dean is not a nice man. His Web page, for example, derides Kerry as “The Anointed One.” In the latest polls, he and Kerry are running neck and neck in New Hampshire, where only one of them will survive the primary next year.


posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 5:32 PM
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A letter to my Representative:

Dear Rod Blagojevich,

It is to my understanding that the state of Illinois has cut almost, if not more, $112 million in educational spending, as seen in Carbondale's Daily Egyptian, in addition to the Bush administration cutting Pell funding, leaving a reported 375,000
students who don't have the income to afford the hiked tuition costs without a chance for an education, as reported by Senators Kennedy and Harkin, and Representatives Miller and Obey.

Many of the residents in Southern Illinois are heavily dependent on government grants to gain their basic education. I should know--I work in my school's Financial Aid office. But what am I supposed to tell the person in front of me, the person who works like a slave to make ends meet, born into poverty, that she will forever remain in poverty, because our state doesn't care about its lower class-lower middle class citizens enough to allow them funding for a decent education? What would you like me to say? "I'm sorry, but our governor doesn't care"? Is that what you want your citizens to think of you as?

I am outraged at the continual educational budget cuts you are enforcing. If you cannot consider the lives of those who are of lower income in the state you represent, then I will vote for someone who will.

Thank you for your time.

-(name censored for the blog)

Now, everyone go send a letter and complain!

posted by Anonymous at 3:24 PM
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Shatner News!

William Shatner's ex-wife sues over horse semen
The lawsuit says that until this breeding season, the "Star Trek" star provided Lafferty the semen of one of the horses, Great Day's Came the Son, in "fresh cooled format." In March, the lawsuit says, Lafferty learned the breeding privileges from that horse and two other stallions would be in the form of frozen semen.

"Mr. Shatner's offer to provide semen from the three stallions in question in frozen form is unacceptable to Ms. Lafferty," says the lawsuit, filed in late April in Woodford County Circuit Court. "Potential buyers of the breeding privileges do not want the semen in frozen format."
And...

Oklahoma's Newschannel 8 - William Shatner's "Lucy in the Sky" Voted Worst Beatles Cover
William Shatner's version of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" has been voted the worst Beatles cover of all time.


posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 3:24 PM
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Dean may be Democrats' ideal (and the GOP's)
"Morals and world opinion matter in foreign policy," he says, which is why he's arguing for a multinational reconstruction process.

"We need to internationalize the administration of Iraq as soon as we can," he says, if only for the very practical reason that he thinks Americans won't want to hang in alone for the 10 years he believes reconstruction will take.

"If Bush really believes we can be out of there in two years," says Dean, "he's smoking something a lot stronger than he smoked at Yale."
There's a lot of fun quotes in that one.

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 2:34 PM
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CNN.com - Caped crusader saves the day in English town
LONDON, England (Reuters) -- A masked and caped do-gooder has been sweeping through an English town, performing good deeds and scattering terrified bad guys, a local newspaper reported on Friday.
WTF?

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 12:28 PM
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Salon.com | Letters to a young heterosexual
If I said that I had no problems with heterosexuals, except that it offends me to see them holding hands, or bringing their wives to dinner parties, or having consensual sex in private, no one would think I was "inclusive." They'd think I was out of my mind. Why? Because we accept that being straight is simply being human. Who would deny a human being such obvious comforts and needs as the love for one another, supremely symbolized in the act of marriage? But that is precisely what so many would deny gays. It may not be because they are consciously bigoted, although that's certainly how it sometimes seems and feels. It's simply because they do not understand the phenomenon they are talking about. They don't see how deep it goes, how equivalent it really is to heterosexuality. Which means that our work as gay people and as the friends and families of gay people really is cut out for us. The arguments for gay equality make complete sense, once you have acknowledged the essential humanness of being gay. And the only way we will convince others of that is by talking to them, explaining to them, opening up to them, and showing them the depth of our conviction and the dignity of our love. This is hard, certainly harder than demonizing them for bigotry or retreating into an insecure ghetto or forgetting about it all and going to the next cocktail party. But it is something we have to do, if we actually want change.
Andrew Sullivan is a conservative. Andrew Sullivan is gay. Conservatives make a lot of sense when talking about something that affects their own lives.

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 11:23 AM
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Top Gun at Job Destruction
There's no denying that George Bush knows how to stage patriotic spectacles at sea, but the reality back on shore is not so technicolor pretty. Did you know that Top Gun Bush is poised to become the first President since Herbert Hoover to preside over job destruction rather than job creation? Thanks to Daniel Gross's article, recently posted on Slate, we also know that Bush's last tax cut, the largest cut in American history, has so far "cost" America 1.7 million jobs and counting.
She's got some interesting statistics on job growth. And although Reagan's numbers look high, I seem to recall that he'd actuall be the lowest on the list if you excluded the defense industry.

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 11:18 AM
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wTuesday, May 06, 2003


Kick Ass
"I've concluded that I do not have sufficient enthusiasm for the mechanical side of campaigning, the money, the media and the polling and so forth to go forward with a campaign," Hart said in a telephone interview.

Hart Decides Against Seeking Presidency


Dean's response:
“Gary Hart’s ideas and insight have contributed a tremendous amount to our national dialogue, particularly in the area of national security. Traveling across our country, I am struck by the number of young people whom former Senator Hart continues to inspire. As Democrats, Gary Hart reminds us that new and critical thinking is required to solve the challenges our nation faces. Despite his declaration today that he will not be a candidate for president, we must not lose his voice or the prescient and informed worldview that Gary Hart brings in patriotic service to our nation.”
And let's link to Hart's blog again.

We now have a perfect candidate for Secretary of State, or Homeland Security.

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 8:23 PM
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Scott Ritter
“We need regime change, and we need it quick,” Ritter told a gathering of peace activists in New Jersey on Sunday. “George W. Bush does not have the right…to represent the American people, if he told a lie. And he told a whopper.”

That whopper, said Ritter, was claiming that the US government had evidence that Saddam Hussein was hiding massive amounts of weapons of mass destruction and that was why Iraq must be invaded. The facts, he said, are that “the inspections worked. The United Nations did disarm Iraq.”

“I want the president impeached because he lied to the Congress of the United States,” Ritter said. “He may well go out and tell another lie about weapons of mass destruction” being found amid the rubble in Iraq. But, Ritter said, any scheme to plant evidence would run afoul of professional soldiers like those he served with in Gulf War I. “I can tell you, my fellow officers won’t sustain that lie.”


posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 3:54 PM
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Media AWOL in noting irony of Bush's flight
The short version: In May 1968 the silver-spoon son of a U.S. congressman jumped to the top of a long waiting list despite mediocre scores on his pilot-aptitude test and was allowed to enlist in the Guard, a common way to avoid being drafted into combat in Vietnam.

In May 1972 he sought a transfer from Houston, where he flew F-102s on weekends, to a unit in Montgomery, Ala. There, he worked on the U.S. Senate campaign of a friend of his father's and, records indicate, blew off his military obligations.

Bush failed to take his annual flight physical in 1972 so Guard officials grounded him, the story went. He never flew again and received an early discharge to go to graduate school. His final officer-efficiency report from May 1973 noted only that supervisors hadn't seen him or heard from him.
I already knew this, but you guys might not. For more information, check out http://www.awolbush.com/.

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 1:36 PM
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Hey, Bob Graham is officially a candidate now. I can barely contain my excitement.

Ho Hum, at least he finally put up a website: http://www.grahamforpresident.com/

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 1:01 PM
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I made the posting boxes a bit bigger. What do y'all think? Anyone having trouble reading it? Any other cosmetic changes you'd like to see?

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 11:19 AM
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posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 11:07 AM
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Tuesday Krugman: Man on Horseback

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 10:45 AM
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wMonday, May 05, 2003


Are you people CRAZY? Even FEMALE country singers are misogynistic. Shania Twain -- "Color my hair, short skirts, I feel like a woman". Defining women by physical attributes pleasing more to men than heterosexual women. Few women wear ass-skirts for any reason other than to feel more "womanly" or get looks from men. In a non-sexual all-woman society, miniskirts would probably sink out of fashion. They aren't comfortable by any stretch of the imagination, and if the option is between clothes that flash your panties or clothes that don't, the ones that don't would most likely survive more.

Need I dare go into "Love of a Woman"? Lyrics can be found here. How can you possibly get more sexist than that piece of work? The entire song is based on the image of what I heard at a Catholic wedding once--"The silent wife is a good wife, the obedient wife is the good wife." But this is Travis Tritt, one of the country music spokespeople.

But do keep in mind that Toby Keith is an all-around asshole and sexist pig. I could tell this from the times of "How Do You Like Me Now" where some girl who dumped him in HS is having a miserable life, even cries herself to sleep every night, and all he can say is "Ha ha you stupid bitch, look at me, I'm a rock star." Awful jackass. Toby Keith is a bad guy in just about every area imaginable.

That's my rant.

posted by Anonymous at 3:54 PM
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TheStar.com - Pot plan puts U.S. noses out of joint
Welcome to the latest flashpoint in Canada-U.S. relations, one that has nothing to do with regime change or war and everything to do with pot.

Even as the wounds from a winter of bilateral discontent fester, Washington this week sharpened its attack on Prime Minister Jean Chrétien's plans to decriminalize marijuana, indicating a move most Canadians are prepared to accept with a shrug is seen as an affront to the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush.


posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 2:19 PM
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My Hero



posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 2:12 PM
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Transcript of the Debate.

I don't think Dean did very well, but that comes across clearer in watching than it does in reading.

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 1:08 PM
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Bad Bet by Bill Bennett (washingtonpost.com)
Sinners have long cherished the fantasy that William Bennett, the virtue magnate, might be among our number. The news over the weekend -- that Bennett's $50,000 sermons and bestselling moral instruction manuals have financed a multimillion-dollar gambling habit -- has lit a lamp of happiness in even the darkest hearts. As the joyous word spread, crack flowed like water through inner-city streets, family court judges began handing out free divorces, and children lit bonfires of "The Book of Virtues," "More Virtuous Virtues," "Who Cheesed My Virtue?" "Moral Tails: Virtue for Dogs," etc. And cynics everywhere thought, for just a moment: Maybe there is a God after all.
Hee Hee Hee.

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 10:55 AM
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wSunday, May 04, 2003


Bits 'O Wisdom

'It takes a big man to cry, but it takes a very big man to laugh at that big man and an even bigger man to ask why'

'I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.'

'Man who laugh last not get joke.'

'A fool will learn nothing from a wise man, but a wise man will learn much from a fool.'

'If your injury is real and I fail to assist you, then I have violated myself.'

'Can you track a man who can walk over rice paper without leaving a mark?'

'The superior man acts before he speaks, and afterwards speaks according to his action.'

'Never test depth of water with both feet.'

'Wax on. Wax off.'

'To me, kung-fu is like a ballet, except there's no music, no choreography, and the dancers hit each other.'

'Against overwhelming odds, you will lose!'

'Wherever you go, go with all your heart.'

'Man who falls in vat of molten glass makes spectacle of himself.'

'Funny noises are not funny unless laughed at.'


posted by Anonymous at 11:02 PM
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It seems to me Paine is doing nothing but grasping at straws for something to support the left and squash the right. Lingering Sexism? Excuse me. Bull shit.

How, in the name of God and this green earth, is the Country Music community sexist? Twain and Brooks. Both very good singers, both of which me and my mother like. Their respective songs supporting women and gays don't bother us one bit. I do have to admit though I'm not a real big fan of Country music.

I count 5 times Paine attributes some of the grief the Dixie Chicks are getting due to their Gender. I'm sorry, that has nothing to do with it. The sexist percentage of Country Music listeners is comparable with the percentage of sexist people most everywhere in my experince.

"It matters too that Maines made her statement overseas." How? Welcome to the Global Community, Mr. Paine. You can make a statement in Zimbabwe, and it's still heard by and considered by the people accross the world.

Also, as some of you may notice, I'm not a big fan of sterotyping. Here are a few reasons why I'm responding a bit negatively to Paine; "...its pickup trucks, its NASCAR on Fox...", "...manifest that insecurity with such testosterone-fueled rage?", "...macho, ranch-owning, cowboy boot-wearing Texan president...", "...red-meat men and probably some "traditional" women...".

And finally, "The Dixie Chick-bashers translate their socio-economic anxiety and threatened masculinity into misogyny, fear and violence." So......, my mother not liking the Dixie Chicks, is responding like this becasue she feels her masculinity is threatened?



posted by Anonymous at 8:02 PM
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wFriday, May 02, 2003


TOMPAINE.com - The Chicks Are Alright
It's difficult, but essential, to understand why. After all, "Red-State" America has its president, its Congress, its pickup trucks, its NASCAR on Fox, its domination of the political media, and its war. You'd think that Red-Staters would be feeling fat and happy. Why then do they sound so culturally insecure? And why do they manifest that insecurity with such testosterone-fueled rage?

Much of the answer has to do with lingering sexism within the world of country music and among white male Bush supporters (the overlap is substantial). Most of the backlash instigators and participants were men. The Dixie Chicks are, obviously, women, and in some quarters folks don't appreciate chicks criticizing a macho, ranch-owning, cowboy boot-wearing Texan president -- especially when the women are claiming the Texas mantle for themselves. (Maines comes from Lubbock.)


posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 1:45 PM
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Hey, what's a presidential candidate on fire look like? Kind of like this.

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 1:15 PM
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A New Friend for Rumsfeld (washingtonpost.com)
Drawing a sharp line between the Clinton years and the Republican years, before and after, is simply not true to the story. Yes, Clinton cut military spending more deeply than many Republicans wished. But many of Clinton's cuts were subsequently blessed by Rumsfeld. As this President Bush's defense secretary, Rumsfeld kept the Clinton force structure largely intact. No wonder Clinton likes Rummy.

These facts pose problems for Republicans, but also for Democrats. Republicans make a good part of their living demonizing Clinton, so they can't concede any of this. "Thankfully, we have a very strong country that survived his leadership," snapped the normally nice Andrew Card, Bush's chief of staff, when asked recently about some Clinton comments by Fox News Channel's Cal Thomas. Yes, indeed, we survived the creation of 22.9 million jobs and the turning of large deficits into large surpluses. But Card is such a nice guy that I'll stop there.
You know, E.J.'s right, but why does he have to be so damn nice about it all the time. Note to any Liberal: be more of a self-righteous ass, we're good at it.

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 11:11 AM
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Friday Krugman: The Acid Test

As much as I wish the title were a reference to Ken Kesey, it isn't. But the op-ed is still good. Because, you know, it's Krugman!

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 10:58 AM
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Senator in Heated Exchange With Parents of Gay Children
Four parents of gay children had a fiery private exchange tonight with Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania. The meeting did not go well, and Mr. Santorum, who has infuriated gays by likening homosexuality to incest and bigamy, left in a hurry, tripping over a chair, the parents said.


posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 10:53 AM
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Today's Notepad was only sent through e-mail, as a dastardly ploy for ABC to make me register with them. And since most of you probably didn't get it, I'll share the funniest submission for today, from the Edwards campaign:
Top Ten Comments Overheard on the USS Lincoln

1) "Condi promised there'd be a place to work out."

2) "Star? Port? Why don't they just say 'right' and 'left' like everyone else?"

3) " Just dump it overboard. Ain't no environmental treaty gonna interfere with this man's Navy."

4) "This isn't just any blankie; it's the one I got from Mommy."

5) "This would be a great place for a fundraiser."

6) "Hey sailor, want a tax cut . . . uh, sorry you're not in the right bracket."

7) "Whadda ya mean you've never seen a male cheerleader?"

8) "Reservations, please ... I'd like to book the same room for the whole month of October 2004."

9) "When is nap time?

10) "That's the Bush family motto: First in wars, last in jobs, and last in the American League."

--Jennifer Palmieri for the Edwards campaign


posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 10:41 AM
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Grrr

The Debate won't be televised on C-Span until Sunday. Grrr.

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 10:27 AM
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wThursday, May 01, 2003


Bush Rapes the Corpse of May Day
Loyalty Day, 2003

This Loyalty Day, as we express allegiance to our Nation and its founding ideals, we resolve to ensure that the blessings of liberty endure and extend for generations to come.

The Congress, by Public Law 85-529, as amended, has designated May 1 of each year as "Loyalty Day," and I ask all Americans to join me in this day of celebration and in reaffirming our allegiance to our Nation.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim May 1, 2003, as Loyalty Day. I call upon all the people of the United States to join in support of this national observance. I also call upon government officials to display the flag of the United States on all government buildings on Loyalty Day.


Update: It seems Clinton did this too. My question is - when did this thing start?

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 2:19 PM
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Take this test.

Man, I kick ass on the Mid-east and Central Asia, but I only got like half of Africa right on the first try.

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 12:33 PM
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May Day

You may not know it, but May Day is Labor Day in Europe and much of the rest of the world. And they go crazy.

Violence as Europeans Celebrates May Day
May Day, originally a pagan festival to celebrate spring, is a holiday in honor of organized labor in much of the world. In recent years, the event has been a focal point of anti-capitalist demonstrations, with international companies such as McDonald's Corp. and Nike Inc. coming under attack.

``This is a celebration of peace and working-class sovereignty,'' said a London marcher, Will Podmore, 54 and a medical librarian. ``Whether you wear a shirt into work or a T- shirt, we're all workers.''

Financial markets were closed today in most of Europe and several Asian countries
Thousands March in Matola On May Day
Well over 10,000 workers from Maputo province and city marched through the city of Matola on Thursday, demanding improved wages, and an end to mass redundancies.

This was the first time in Mozambican history that the main celebrations of May Day had been shifted from Maputo to the neighbouring city of Matola. The decision makes sense in that Matola is an industrial city, containing the country's major concentration of heavy industry.

Far from reducing attendance at the march, the shift to Matola seemed to have boosted it. Workplaces that had never sent a contingent to marches in Maputo appeared with their banners and placards.
May Day Protesters Target 'Mass Destruction' Firms
Radical British anti-capitalist activists had a hit-list of more than 50 "companies of mass destruction" in their sights on Thursday for May Day protests in London and elsewhere that police feared could turn violent.

Anarchist groups published the names and addresses of the firms -- mainly oil companies, arms manufacturers, banks and multinationals -- along with government departments such as the Ministry of Defense, on various Internet sites.

London May Day protests in previous years have turned ugly, particularly in 2000 when rioters ran amok.

"On May Day we propose a pre-emptive strike at the future that capitalism dictates for us, a future that can only offer us more exploitation, boredom, and submission," one Web Site called "Our MayDay" said.
Schröder Faces May Day Showdown over Reforms
Thousands of Germans took to the streets Thursday, joining traditional May Day marches. Trade unions are hoping to use the nationwide demonstrations to mobilize support against the government’s planned welfare reforms.

German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder was greeted with whistles and boos as he attended the main union rally in Neu-Anspach near Frankfurt. Normally such an event would be a friendly setting for Schröder, since the unions and his Social Democratic party (SPD) are historically political allies.

But unionists and the left-wing SPD members have been up in arms, ever since the chancellor announced his “Agenda 2010” package of social reforms last month. The proposals aim to cut Germany’s generous unemployment benefits and loosen job protection rules.

“I didn’t know that whistles counted as part of the unions’ arguments,” Schröder said as he fought to make himself heard over a chorus of boos and whistles.
Thousands celebrate Worker's Day around the country
Workers across the country celebrated Worker's Day today. In Johannesburg, history was made when government and the country's labour federations Cosatu, Nactu and Fedusa held a joint celebration.

Worker's Day is a global holiday for workers to celebrate historical victories in their pursuit for better working conditions. President Thabo Mbeki reminded workers in Johannesburg that in South Africa, worker struggles have historically been political.


I'll give a dollar to anyone who can find me a major U.S. Newspaper with anything related to May Day on the front page.

And a brief History on Labor Day / May Day in the United States

posted by Matthew Carroll-Schmidt at 11:20 AM
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