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Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Get Ready For Fox"News" And Their Employees To Claim Sabotage

Is this life playing a joke on Fox, or is the karma calling-in it's marker?

DENVER - A sprinkler system partially flooded part of the Pepsi Center Monday morning.


The Denver Fire Department, which has a crew stationed at the center all week, was able to respond quickly before 5 a.m. when the sprinkler went off.

The sprinkler was located on the club level in a skybox which had recently been renovated to host a news crew. It appears the skybox belongs to Fox.




A couple of posters at ConservativeUnderground are claiming sabatoge ( snarkily ), but it was Fox's own fault that they got flooded-out:

A freelance crew setting up lights in the Pepsi Center skybox used by Fox affiliate service Fox News Edge got a little too close to the sprinkler system last night. A tipster writes, 'They set up their lights against a sprinkler head (against instructions).

Newt's Plan Is Funded By Oil Companies

The former Speaker Of The House, Newt Gingrich, has a plan he likes to call "Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less".

Last week, liberals in Congress voted for the equivalent of a $150 billion tax increase. They voted to make your next trip to the gas station more expensive; to make your next airplane ticket more expensive; to make heating your home more expensive -- even to make feeding your family more expensive.

How did they do it? By voting to block environmentally sound production of U.S. energy in favor of continuing to be held hostage to oil from foreign dictatorships. I'll explain in a minute.


More here.

While it's a standard response from someone like Gingrich to blame the opposition party for any and everything, this is nothing more than spin tarted-up to look like facts.

Oil companies have millions of acres to drill on, but they won't do it. Why? Republicans are opperating under the poor assumption that within days, weeks, months of the first drilling-rig going operational, that we will start to see "releif". While speculation does help drive price one way or another, we aren't going to see the type of decrease in price that they are claiming will come if the "drill now" meme becomes reality.

And, speaking of reality, guess where the money for Gingrich's program is coming from?

Worst In The World v 2.7

From Friday Night's Countdown:

Chicago Tribune, The Grammar Vigilantes, and Sean Hannity

Ridley Scott Returns With Body Of Lies

My favorite director of all time, Ridley Scott, is back with Russell Crowe with a new film:



A CIA operative is sent to Jordan to track a high-ranking terrorist. The spy is aided by the head of Jordan's covert operations in an uneasy alliance that leads to cultural and moral clashed between the men.


Ridley also employs screenwriter William Monahan whom he worked with previously on Kingdom of Heaven and with Scorsese on his Academy Award winning film The Departed.

Monday, August 25, 2008

New Mix : Desultorious

This week's mix is a bit more abreviated than previous ones. But, there's lots of great music packed in there.

Enjoy

Desultorious


Tracklisting:

Tony Rohr - Sweep The Leg
The Hacker & Eric Borgo - Zone ( Smagghe and Paris Mix )
Chris Forier - Don't Hide What You Feel ( Per's Trufax Mix )
Danny Tenaglia - Spacedance ( Radio Slave Mix )
Sharam - Get Wild ( dub ) + Meika Du Frax - Motion ( Accapella )
Davis & May - No Words Needed ( Kiko Mix )
Magitman & Brisker - Concreed ( James Harcourt Mix )

Running Time: 00:44:10

Selected Mix Imagry













Crowe To Play Hicks

Finally, a biopic about one of my favorite comedians and social commentators, Bill Hicks.

UK, August 26, 2008 - Russell Crowe is considering playing the lead role in a biopic of controversial comedian Bill Hicks, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.

The actor, who now has a gap in his schedule following the postponement of Ridley Scott's Nottingham, told the paper: "I have another project based on the life of comedian Bill Hicks, which is going from treatment to draft stage with Kiwi writer Mark Staufer."


More here.

Here is how Bill Hicks used to end his shows. These words speak volumes, even today.

Fox"News" Perpetuating The Notion That People Who Are Environmentally Mindful Are "Snobs"

You have got to be kidding me....

Every morning, as Lynn Schmidt walks out of her Long Island, N.Y., home, opens the door to her baby-blue Prius, waves to her grumbling neighbor and pulls out of the driveway, she has every reason to smile.

It's not just the 45 miles per gallon her gasoline-electric hybrid vehicle is getting. And it's not only that she can go three weeks without a fill-up.

It's also because that through her choice of automobile, Lynn is doing what she considers her share of being ecologically reasonable.

"Everyone should be concerned about the level of emissions," says Schmidt. "We all need to do our part and make changes for the better."

She's not alone. With skyrocketing oil prices, many owners of hybrid vehicles and practitioners of the "green" lifestyle are seeing their eco-friendly choices pay off.

But that's led to some grumblings from late adopters — and charges that the greener-than-thou are guilty of "eco-snobbery."


more here

For the life of me, it never ceases to amaze me that Fox - and all those that identify with them - are more than willing to traffic in such nonsense simply because it is a platform that is important to "progressives" and Democrats in this country.

If a prominent Democrat started speaking about the health benefits of eating vegetables, Fox employees would start trying to convince their audience that vegetables were bad - or that if you eat vegetables, you're a "snob", and "elitist".

Monday Musical Lunch feat. Noisia & Phace

CANNONBALL

Ridiculousness In Advertising

For people that aren't able to see that you can't compare two opposites to try and validate your reasoning, this type of advertising works.



The ad targets CNN and the claim that Fox"News" is somehow more "fair" more "balanced" than them or any other news organization.

Fox lives by the creed that if you repeat a falsehood loud enough and long enough - and with fancier graphics than the competition - then you are obviously telling the truth.

The ultimate folly of the claim laid-out in this ad is that "because" their audience is divided up more "evenly" than CNN, that THAT alone means that their "coverage" follows along explicitly with their "fair and balanced" claim.

Much in the way that Bill O'Reilly consistantly refers to his ratings as the penultimate validation that he operates a a show that his "honest" and allows "no-spin", this ad is nothing but laughable.

Of Protests And Amateur Reporters

It's not suprising in the least that Fox"News" would begin framing the DNC by highlighting a protest.

What's even more interesting, is that the reporter on the scene, Griff Jenkins - might as well have been called Spencer Maryweather III - dives right into the crowd and literally shoves the mic into people's faces.



"Do you not believe in freedom of speech"?

What kind of question is that? They're protesting, aren't they?

And, can anyone at Fox"News" not wrap their head around the notion that everyone in the Democratic party has an opinion. I mean, do they think that the majority of us just sit at home and let the "crazies" do the talking for us?

Jenkin's apparent intentionaly improper handling of the protest march and the Fox anchor's statement that people are willing to re-create the riots of the 1968 DNC aside, the protestors could have come up with something more to say. But, refusing to talk to answer dumb questions like "don't you believe in freedom of speech" is a good way to start.

Friday, August 22, 2008

Conservatives, Religion, And Government - No Longer BFFs?

Considering that Conservative political figures - and those that write about them - love the subject of religion, this can almost be seen as something moderately shocking.

Social conservatives are growing more wary of church involvement in politics, joining moderates and liberals in their unease about blurring the lines between pulpit and ballot box, a new study found.

Fifty percent of conservatives think churches and other places of worship should stay out of social and political matters, up from 30 percent four years ago, according to a survey released Thursday by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life and the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.

That significant shift in conservative thought has brought the country to a tipping point on the question: a slim majority of Americans - 52 percent - now think churches should keep out of politics.

That's an eight percentage point increase over 2004 and the first time a majority of Americans has held that opinion since Pew officials started asking the question 12 years ago.


source

The hardline conservative media seems to drag religion into every argument where it can barely be squeezed in. But religion and politics have been partners in conservative ideology for as long as I can remember.

Are conservatives beginning to think that some topics of discussion within their churches are likely to come to the forefront?

Considering the Right's lambasting of Rev. Jeremiah Wright, this seems more than just a mildly plausible option.

Pastor John Hagee's Anti-Catholic rhetoric put the "fear" into McCain, though the media seemed to think that it wasn't as "important" a story? Why is that? Could it be that this is a common theme among many congregations that practice their faith in a simular fashion?

But, more to the point of this story, what is a Social Conservative anyway?

People are so caught up with the notion that everyone must be compartmentalized, be labeled, be broken down into statistical groups so much until we tend to not even fully understand who they are.

By default, Social Conservatives - and what they strive to maintain - go hand-in-hand with "the church": preservation of the 'sanctity of marriage', maintaining a "pro-life" stance, are for government involvement in promoting "family values" and "social morality", as well as preserving "second ammendment rights".

Social Conservatives do, in fact, "cling to guns and religion".

So, why the sudden shift?

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Tuesday Afternoon Punkishness with The Misfits

Where Eagles Dare

Come On, Reach Ed, Reach, You Can Do It!

You have got to be kidding me.

Maybe the DNCC has kept track of the polling this summer and figures the Democratic nominee is officially in distress. That’s the only explanation for a silly gaffe by the convention committee for the graphics on their credentials for those allowed to see Barack Obama’s acceptance speech at Invesco Field. The holographic image uses an American flag motif with the blue field at the bottom, with Obama’s head emerging from it in one of the two alternating images.






More lunatic-fringe psycho-babble here.

Considering the fact that Ed Morrissey and Michelle Malkin's crew love Photoshop so much, you would think that they would at least have even a novice-level knowledge of graphic design.

Apparently not.

The comments are even more pathetic than Morrissey's reasoning behind writing this:

The symbolism of the upside down flag cannot be a mere error in graphic design. It is a subliminal suggestion implanted not all that subtly.

coldwarrior on August 19, 2008 at 8:00 AM


So Barry literally wraps himself in an upside down American flag. Is there a better metaphor for his candidacy?

Buy Danish on August 19, 2008 at 8:12 AM


Come now, you expect the Democrats to know how to fly an American flag? The hammer and sickle, however, is another matter.

rbj on August 19, 2008 at 8:17 AM


The lefties are in distress, but tis not the only explanation.

It doesn’t matter that it’s not a representation of a real American flag.

Perception is reality, and the obamanator can’t seem to grasp that concept. (I’m convinced it’s an ego thang…)

But this is S.O.P. for the obamanator’s swooning flock of democratic socialist myrmidons - they won’t admit anything is wrong because they didn’t know anything was wrong.

They are a clueless morass of amoral, relativistic, touchy-feely cognitive dissonance.

In Che they trust. The obamanator will lede them. And Geo. Soros will bank roll it all.

God save the Republic.

locomotivebreath1901 on August 19, 2008 at 8:20 AM


Is there an image of Obama’s best buddy Bill Ayers hidden somewhere in this souvenir to audacity? Are both men dancing with/on the stars, so to speak?

onlineanalyst on August 19, 2008 at 8:39 AM


You get the point.

The many in the conservative movement prefer the "symbol" over the "message". This seems to be a problem that radiates from the likes of Ed Morrissey and his commentors. Granted, we are an image-based society, and we learn through images what certain things in our society represent.

The Flag Code states that there is no penalty for violating any of its many regulations.

No. The Flag Code serves as a guide to be followed on a purely voluntary basis to insure proper respect for the flag. The Supreme Court has ruled that politically motivated violations of the Flag Code are protected by the First Amendment.

The Flag Code has no provision for enforcement. No fines, no penalties. There is nothing law enforcement can do when the Flag Code is broken.


If you are into "nit-picking" then claiming that the "pass" that the DNCC is using just might violate the flag code. The real point is this - does it really matter?

Only to the reactionary idiots at HotAir, it seems.

And, while we're on the subject, does this violate the "Flag Code"?



Probably.

Monday, August 18, 2008

In A Minute : Cutting Out The Crap

I love this feature on 23/6





Avril Lavigne Is What?!?!

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Malaysia's Islamic opposition party has urged the government to cancel a concert by Avril Lavigne, saying the Canadian singer's on-stage moves are "too sexy," an official said Monday.

Lavigne, a Grammy-nominated rock singer who burst to fame with her 2002 debut album "Let's Go," plans to start her monthlong Asia tour with a performance in Kuala Lumpur on Aug. 29.

The youth wing of the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party said Lavigne's concert would promote wrong values ahead of Malaysia's Aug. 31 independence day.


source



It's almost a certainty that this story will be used against people of the Islamic faith. And, it is testament as to how people in the Islamic world view females.

But, Avril Lavigne is "sexy"?

Monday Afternoon Tracks featuring DJ Shadow

Shadow's set at Bonnaroo 2007 was absolutely mind-blowing. He was still going after dawn and staff had to make him stop. If you ever get the chance to see him live --- do it.


The Organ Donor

Would You Trust John Stewart To Deliver Your News?

It was stated some years ago in a study by Pew Research that Daily Show viewers were more educated on National/International affairs than Fox"News" - who's viewership was LAST btw.

So, what did this - and what does this continue - to say about John Stewart?

Would you trust him more than Brokaw? Olbermann? O'Rielly?


IT’S been more than eight years since “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart” made its first foray into presidential politics with the presciently named Indecision 2000, and the difference in the show’s approach to its coverage then and now provides a tongue-in-cheek measure of the show’s striking evolution.

In 1999, the “Daily Show” correspondent Steve Carell struggled to talk his way off Senator John McCain’s overflow press bus — “a repository for outcasts, misfits and journalistic bottom-feeders” — and onto the actual Straight Talk Express, while at the 2000 Republican Convention Mr. Stewart self-deprecatingly promised exclusive coverage of “all the day’s events — at least the ones we’re allowed into.” In this year’s promotional spot for “The Daily Show’s” convention coverage, the news newbies have been transformed into a swaggering A Team — “the best campaign team in the universe ever,” working out of “ ‘The Daily Show’ news-scraper: 117 stories, 73 situation rooms, 26 news tickers,” and promising to bring “you all the news stories — first ... before it’s even true.”

Though this spot is the program’s mocking sendup of itself and the news media’s mania for self-promotion, it inadvertently gets at one very real truth: the emergence of “The Daily Show” as a genuine cultural and political force. When Americans were asked in a 2007 poll by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press to name the journalist they most admired, Mr. Stewart, the fake news anchor, came in at No. 4, tied with the real news anchors Brian Williams and Tom Brokaw of NBC, Dan Rather of CBS and Anderson Cooper of CNN. And a study this year from the center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism concluded that “ ‘The Daily Show’ is clearly impacting American dialogue” and “getting people to think critically about the public square.”


More here at The New York Times

Someone In The "Quality Control" Just Lost Their Job

Surely, someone must have known what this could mean:

Disney said on Friday that it has stopped selling a line of panties for girls after parents in Britain complained about the message printed on them.

The underwear, made for ‘tween girls, invited the the reader to ”Dive In” and was, according to company officials, themed for a swimming pool scene from the Disney Channel hit movie,”High School Musical 2.”


more here.


I'm sure these were available at your local Wal-Mart, and more than likely will be until all "recalls" are pulled from the floor. The report says that they've "all" be recalled, but I highly doubt that.

Look for this to be up on EBay any second now.

What were these people thinking?

Hollywood Is Running Out Of Ideas

If you thought that another Friday The 13th or Nightmare On Elm Street wasn't bad enough, Candyman is coming back:

August 15, 2008 - Sony Pictures is reportedly considering remaking their 1992 horror cult classic Candyman, based on the character created by novelist Clive Barker in his story The Forbidden.


more here.







And like Jason, or Freddy, or Leatherface, Candyman is a great character ( and Clive Barker is an amazing character creator/author ) but, shouldn't people in the movie making industry realize that these characters do have a shelf-life?

Even though this movie-maniac is interesting, the films have never been great, by any means. So, why would Hollywood waste time and money making another one?

Monday Morning Music feat Grizzly Bear

Easily one of my favorite bands of the last 2 years. Their album Yellow House is fantastic.

Here's the video for Knife:

McCain's "Dirt Cross" Story Isn't True

Watching the forum on Faith and Politics at Rick Warren's Saddleback church this weekend, I heard McCain recount a story involving a guard that drew a "cross" on the dirt.

The story sounded suspiciously "contrived" and somewhat familiar all at once.

Yesterday, while perusing some blogs, news sites, and checking my email, my concerns were validated.

I came across this diary from Rickrocket @ DailyKos:

It just sounded so fake and so contrived, so I did a little research about it. Someone on here said it sounded like a scene from Ben-Hur, so I did a google search about Ben-Hur and cross in the sand and such. No dice. But I searched around a little bit more and here is what I found. A story about Alexander Solzhenitsyn from his times in the Soviet Gulags.


"Along with other prisoners, he worked in the fields day after day, in rain and sun, during summer and winter. His life appeared to be nothing more than backbreaking labor and slow starvation. The intense suffering reduced him to a state of despair.

On one particular day, the hopelessness of his situation became too much for him. He saw no reason to continue his struggle, no reason to keep on living. His life made no difference in the world. So he gave up.

Leaving his shovel on the ground, he slowly walked to a crude bench and sat down. He knew that at any moment a guard would order him to stand up, and when he failed to respond, the guard would beat him to death, probably with his own shovel. He had seen it happen to other prisoners.

As he waited, head down, he felt a presence. Slowly he looked up and saw a skinny old prisoner squat down beside him. The man said nothing. Instead, he used a stick to trace in the dirt the sign of the Cross. The man then got back up and returned to his work.

As Solzhenitsyn stared at the Cross drawn in the dirt his entire perspective changed. He knew he was only one man against the all-powerful Soviet empire. Yet he knew there was something greater than the evil he saw in the prison camp, something greater than the Soviet Union. He knew that hope for all people was represented by that simple Cross. Through the power of the Cross, anything was possible.

Solzhenitsyn slowly rose to his feet, picked up his shovel, and went back to work. Outwardly, nothing had changed. Inside, he had received hope.

[From Luke Veronis, "The Sign of the Cross"; Communion, issue 8, Pascha 1997.]"



Was is plausible that McCain had such a simular experience as Solzhenitsyn? Considering the details of the stories are so simular, I would have to say no.

But, another Kos diarist takes this even further.

It seems that the website "FreeRepublic" was talking about this 3 years ago:

Posted on Saturday, December 10, 2005 7:49:29 PM by freedomdefender

In Part Four of his new book, "Character is Destiny," McCain writes about his role as chaplain for Christmas service in his Vietnamese prison, and about a guard who snuck in at night to loosen the ropes that bound McCain, and then snuck in in the morning to tighten them before other guards could notice.

The guard said nothing while performing this kindness, but one time, in the yard, "I became aware of him as he walked near me and then, for a moment, stood very close to me. He did not speak or smile or look at me. He just stared at the ground and then, very casually, he used his foot to draw a cross in the dirt. We both stood looking at his work for a minute until he rubbed it out and walked away."


Some of the responses to the story lead me to believe that some Republicans anticipated McCain's run in 2008 and were less than pleased.

Here's the comment that helps put McCain's "retelling" into further context:

Hmmmm. Looks like McCain has been reading Solzhenitsyn.
From The Mayor's daily posts at FR's Finest and The Canteen from the devotional "Our Daily Bread" comes Sunday's reading...

World-famous Russian author Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was sent to a Siberian prison because he criticized communism. Languishing there under intolerable conditions year after year, he decided to end his life. But suicide, he firmly believed, would be against God's will. He thought it would be better for a guard to shoot him.

So at a public assembly of the prisoners, he sat in a front row, planning to get up and walk toward an exit, compelling a guard to kill him. But to his surprise, another prisoner sat down, blocking his exit. That unknown man leaned over and, to Solzhenitsyn's astonishment, drew a cross on the dirt floor.


So, the question stands, will we see any reporting on this?

The right-wing blogs have been abuzz since Saturday evening that McCain somehow "won" this discussion. For me, I wasn't operating under the pathetic assumption that there was going to be a "winner" from Warren's forum.

In all honesty, it seemed that this Q&A period wasn't designed to sway any voter one way or another. The Christians and hard-line evangelicals have, at this point, already made up their minds.

In light of what saw when Hillary Clinton's "sniper" comments were shown to be false - there was weeks of constant coverage on that - it would be reasonable to expect the media to tackle this as well.

Whereas Clinton's comments were seen as "creative revisions" at best, McCain is using the fact that he was a POW as a "sheild" of sorts. After all, you can't question a man that was captured and tortured, can you? Considering that McCain is banking on voters ingorance on this and many issues as well as his willingness to use his POW status to create lies that he hopes no one will question, I say he deserves to be questioned.

Friday, August 15, 2008

The Kind Of Pre-Packaged Hollywood Crap Even The Fox"News" Audience Can Love

Anyone remember the movie Airplane?

How about The Naked Gun?

While those films stand as classic spoofs, the genre has been diluted with so much crap from the Wayans' crew that spoof-flicks just don't really seem to matter than much anymore.

But now, David Zucker - the same guy that made Airplane and The Naked Gun so great - is doing his best to make people who love Fox"News" stop talking so much trash about Hollywood.

Oh, and Bill O'Reilly has a cameo. Great, now he's going to think he's a movie-star.

Here's the trailer:



Seriously, was the script written from outtakes of "Hannity's America"?:

- everyone in the Arab world is named Mohammad
- Micheal Moore is a dumb, flatulant, mass of hair and flesh that hates America
- war protesters are actually hairy "butch" women
- Trace Adkins is fucking awesome

The guys over at 23/6 put it far better than I could:

Looks like we'll have to just wait for the next Hertz commercial to watch Kevin Farley rape his brother's memory some more.

Vacation For Me But Not For Thee

Ed Morrissey is more of a predictable hack than most people are willing to acknowledge.

His most recent piece on HotAir ( I still love how valid that name is ) accuses Obama of "hiding" in Hawaii while John McCain showed "leadership" - all this in relation to the Georgia / Russia confrontation.

Morrissey's piece reads in part:

The New York Times notices that a completely predictable reversal has taken place between Barack Obama, John McCain, and media coverage. Two weeks ago, the national media followed Obama devotedly as he toured Europe, straining to capture every word on what they considered a historic event. Now, though, the media has awakened to truly historical events in the Caucasus, and McCain has commanded their attention with his leadership — while Obama hides in Hawaii


Wait just a tick, did Ed just quote "the enemy" - The New York Times!?!?!

Yeah, he did.

The blatant spin for McCain goes even further as Morrissey tries to show that Obama is afraid to confront the issue:

McCain spent the week leading the American response in a real way, forcing the White House to catch up. Obama spent the week … body surfing and golfing. For a candidate who already has a confidence deficit on national security and foreign policy among voters, Obama seems strangely disengaged on what is the most crititcal and emergent foreign-policy issue of the campaign. He has taken a strangely passive path, and the contradictory statements by his surrogates have made Obama seem even more vacillating than usual.


Lest we forget, it was McCain that told us that "nations don't invade other nations in the 21st century". He also claims that this is "the first serious international crisis since the Cold War".

That's sound more like ignorance than "leadership".

And, of course we're going to hear a lot from McCain on the Georgia/Russia conflict. McCain does, after all, have lobbyists to consider.

This is all typical tripe from Morrissey anyway.

Obama and his family deserve a brief vacation.

I mean, where was all this righteous indignation when George W. was vacationing the months prior to September 11th. Now that was a vacation that deserved to be complained about.

Poor O'Reilly, He Feels Rejected

Barack Obama, you haven't gone on O'Reilly's program, so Bill's going to go after you.



What else would expect the man to do?

This is pretty much Bill's schtick - "either you come on my show or I call you a coward and make up stuff about you that only people who can't think for themselves will believe."

I'm sure somewhere in America there's a 75+ year-old couple, sharing their second can of Ensure, who will agree with just about anything Bill O'Reilly says. But, let's make one thing clear - when O'Reilly, or Hannity, Cavuto, Hume, or Ingraham, or even Gibson call you a coward for not coming on Fox"News", it's just part of their "game" they play.

It's parlor-tricks - distractions meant to keep the audience away from the real issues.

Here's something interesting to note. Even if someone that Bill disagrees with - with every ounce of his undulating soul - he's still going to trash talk them. His loyal followers have to be insane in order to believe him. He's done it recently to Chris Dodd and Scott McClellan. And what makes you think that he'll actually give a good interview. I mean, did you see his interview with Hillary Clinton?

John Amato @ C&L has more.

Friday Afternoon Drum and Bass feat Dom and Roland

Dom & Roland - CAN'T PUNISH ME



Always been a favorite of mine.

Corsi vs. Media Matters' Waldman

It's standard operating procedure for Fox"News" ( specifically Sean Hannity ) to attack Barack Obama. That's why Fox and just about every far-right conservative love Jerome Corsi.

Corsi is the author of the new book The Obama Nation, went on Larry King Live to discuss the book and was taken-to-task by Paul waldman of Media Matters over the fact that the book doesn't use facts.



Conservative authors have this trick they like to use - footnotes.

You see, I can have footnotes all day long within something that I write. That doesn't mean that they are going to be "facts". Ann Coulter pulled this same line when discussing her book "Godless" 2 years ago.

Conservatives love to lambast Media Matters, claiming that they "smear" people. But, when they can provide accurate quotes, audio, video, authorized transcripts, and provide facts to back up their reporting, can you really call it a "smear"?

Anyone Remember The Star Wars Christmas Special?

I didn't know about this until around 1996.

I was at a comic convention in Chattanooga ( Chatta-Con, I think ) and they had a copy for sale.

I will never get that $20 and that time back - ever.

August 14, 2008 - This weekend sees the release of the new animated film Star Wars: The Clone Wars. As most of you are probably aware of by now, the Clone Wars movie will be followed this fall by a new ongoing animated series of the same name on the Cartoon Network. Here at IGN TV, we are going to lead up to the debut of the new TV series by looking back at the history of Star Wars on television. For our first segment, we take you back to the first version of Star Wars on TV… and to perhaps the darkest time in Star Wars history – to a title that makes babies weep and the strongest men shudder, and has even suffered the snark of George Lucas from time to time. Yes, it's time to look back at The Star Wars Holiday Special.

The Star Wars Holiday Special is epically bad. It's amazingly bad. It's a special kind of bad that one doesn't just come across that often. Barely a year after the original Star Wars opened, the public was clamoring for something, anything, to tide them over until The Empire Strikes Back opened. However, it's safe to say they couldn't have conceived that this is what they'd get.


More here.





The last 3 ( which are in reality the "first three" ) STAR WARS films sucked.

I was caught up with the notion back in 1999 - when The Phantom Menace came out - that simply because it was a "Star Wars" movie, that it was great. I watched it three times and came to the swift realization that Lucas has completely destroyed something fantastic that he created all those years ago.

In poiint-of-fact, Lucas had very little input into the "holiday special". But, considering hindsight is the perpetually clear-eyed bastard that it is, those of us that saw the "holiday special" might have forseen that Lucas would eventually screw things up in a big way.

The only portion of the "special" that is in any way even moderately redeemable is the animated portion where the world got it's first glimps of this guy:

The Latest From Brave New Films



Robert Greenwald's Brave New Films provides interesting insight into how Fox"News" presents Republican propoganda, spin, conjecture, distortion, and outright lies as "facts".

Their latest video is about how Fox uses these tactics to paint an obscure and "scary" portrait of Barack Obama.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Worst In The World v 2.5

From last night's edition of Countdown:


Ray Kelly and the NYPD, Rochelle Bachman, Ed Kinsley

Thursday Afternoon Hip Hop feat Dr. Octagon

Guess Who Active Military Personel Favor?

Republicans like to create the false aura around them that the military will automatically favor them. Time and time again, Republican politicians, conservative media outlets, and right-wing pundits will use the military as a "stick" with which to beat their opposition with. They do this with the false hope that the military will back them up.

It appears that that the Republicans are in for a rude awakening.

During World War II, soldiers crouching in foxholes penned letters assuring their sweethearts that they'd be home soon. Now, between firefights in the Iraqi desert, some infantrymen have been sending a different kind of mail stateside: two or three hundred dollars -- or whatever they can spare -- towards a presidential election that could very well determine just how soon they come home.



According to an analysis of campaign contributions by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, Democrat Barack Obama has received nearly six times as much money from troops deployed overseas at the time of their contributions than has Republican John McCain, and the fiercely anti-war Ron Paul, though he suspended his campaign for the Republican nomination months ago, has received more than four times McCain's haul.


More here at OpenSecret.Org

Parents Often Embarrass Their Kids

......and George W. Bush is no exception to the rule.

AK. Democratic Chairman Murdered

This story could perhaps fuel speculation as to how political affiliation and crime are connected.

Several bloggers are postulating that this murder and the shooting at the Knoxville Unitarian Church are, in some ways, parallel.


LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) -- Police and neighbors are struggling to explain why a man described as a loner drove more than 30 miles to Arkansas' Democratic Party headquarters and fatally shot its chairman hours after getting fired from his job.

Police said Timothy Dale Johnson, 50, of Searcy, barged into Bill Gwatney's office on Wednesday and shot him multiple times. There were no signs that Gwatney and Johnson, who was later shot dead by officers, knew each other.

A Target retail store in Conway had fired Johnson early Wednesday because he had written graffiti on a wall, police said. Before noon, Johnson was in Gwatney's office in Little Rock with a handgun.

"He said he was interested in volunteering, but that was obviously a lie," said Sam Higginbotham, a 17-year-old volunteer at the party's headquarters.



More here.

Of course, conservative bloggers are sure to use this event as a way to attack Democrats.

It didn't take Michelle Malkin long to use the dead in Knoxville and Bill Gwatney as an instrument with which to attack those who disagree with her.


The Arkansas Democrat Party chairman was shot today at his office in a horrible attack and is in critical condition. There is scant information about the unhinged shooter, but it seems he was disgruntled over losing his job. There is no indication of his political affiliations, his ideology, or his motives for singling out the Democrat Party chairman.

No matter. I’m already getting blamed for the incident.

Yeah, I did it:

....I am also guilty of last month’s shooting at a Knoxville church, for which a nutroots blogger similarly says I need to be held “accountable.”

For what? For blogging, writing columns, and authoring books with which they disagree.

Such stalwart, principled champions of free speech they are



Malkin's predictable handling of this ( she published the name and email of the person that claimed her and other far-right conservatives are fueling hatred ) it was a comment on her blog that caught my attention.

I cannot count the many times people like O'Reilly, Malkin, Ingraham - and other far-right people that don't understand how the internet works - have complained about "hate-filled" comments and proper "vetting" of comment sections while letting the same comments appear on their respective sites.

John Amato @ CrooksAndLiars has more.

A Fantastic Cook And A Spy Too?

Yep, Julia Child was a spy during World War II.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Before Julia Child became known to the world as a leading chef, she admitted at least one failing when applying for a job as a spy: impulsiveness. Details about Child's background as a government agent come into the public spotlight Thursday with the National Archives' release of more than 35,000 top-secret personnel files of World War II-era spies. The CIA held this information for decades.

The 750,000 documents identify the vast spy network managed by the Office of Strategic Services, which later became the CIA. President Franklin Roosevelt created the OSS, the country's first centralized intelligence operation.


More from the AP story via the Taunton Gazette.

Kind of lends new credibility to the story behind the film Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind, doesn't it.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

When Religion And Music Meet

Some people will find this amusing.

Some will find it possibly a shade blasphemous.

I think it's fantastic.

Does Being A POW Mean That You Can Get Away With Adultery?

Sean Hannity says that McCain's adultery was alright because:

Hannity: “He was in a prisoner of war camp! [He cheated on his wife] after five and a half years in a prisoner of war camp!“




Perhaps Colmes has finally grown-a-pair and is ready to step-up to Sean Hannity when he pulls stunts like this.

Honestly, Colmes should have been doing this for years. Sean's arguements are based off nothing more than his own tilted sense of reasoning. What else would you expect.

Hannity: I’m not getting this. Explain to me and I’m wondering if you can’t keep the promise to your family, can’t keep your promise to your wife, you’re having an affair, you’re lying about the affair repeatedly, why should the American people trust you when you say you’re not going to lie to them? Why should we trust you?

Colmes: And by the way, that’s a great question Sean asks and so Amanda, if that’s true and you can’t trust somebody who had an affair. How can we trust John McCain to be President of the United States—he cheated on by his own admission on his first wife, he didn’t keep his martial vows, he didn’t keep his pledge to his first family…

Hannity: Thirty years ago after five and a half years of being a POW

Colmes: Excuse me Sean. You’ve had your chance to speak, I’m up. John McCain cheated on his wife, right. Amanda? So how do we trust John McCain? He cheated on his wife, why do you have a double standard and John McCain’s running for President? John Edwards is not. John McCain’s wife was in a car accident. John McCain’s running for President, what about his affair?



So, let's go with this rationalization, shall we.

Rudy Guliani wasn't a POW, and he's cheated - A LOT.

Sean helped fund-raise for him. So, he must have an excuse for Rudy's crotch-hopping excapades.

No one should expect people like Sean Hannity to be an objective journalist, he's not and he never will be.

But, the question is this - can you prove beyond reasonable doubt that a person that has an affair and lies about it can't do their job or the job that they are attempting to get?

Billy-Bob Kreuger?

I don't think that the Nightmare On Elm Street series has been valid since before they decided to make a part 2.

Now, it appears that Micheal Bay's Platinum Dunes pictures ( oh, great ) is looking at Billy Bob Thorton to portray the man with the cool-ass glove:

UK, August 13, 2008 - File this one under rumour for now, but Robert Englund is claiming that Billy Bob Thornton will inherit his razor-blade glove to play Freddy Krueger in the Nightmare on Elm Street remake.

According to JoBlo, the original Freddy made the statement on radio show Loveline, stating he'd be pleased to see Thornton in the role and would love to see the franchise rebooted with the budget it deserves.


More here

A new Jason, and now a new Freddy pic in the works?

Mainstream Hollywood sucks.

It's a shame too, since Thorton is such a great actor.

Worst In The World v 2.4

From last night's Countdown:

The Rocky Mountain News, Sean Hannity, and American Airlines

And This Guy Is The Attorney General Of The US?

Let's start this one off with a quick definition:

Crime -

–noun 1. an action or an instance of negligence that is deemed injurious to the public welfare or morals or to the interests of the state and that is legally prohibited.
2. criminal activity and those engaged in it: to fight crime.
3. the habitual or frequent commission of crimes: a life of crime.
4. any offense, serious wrongdoing, or sin.
5. a foolish, senseless, or shameful act: It's a crime to let that beautiful garden go to ruin.


When Micheal Mukasy addressed the American Bar Association regarding the politicization of the Department of Justice, he said he wouldn't prosecute them for any wrong-doing, because not every crime is a "crime":

Attorney General Michael Mukasey said Tuesday that the Department of Justice would not pursue criminal charges against former employees implicated in an internal investigation on politicized hiring practices.

“Where there is evidence of criminal wrongdoing, we vigorously investigate it,” Mukasey said in a speech at the American Bar Association. “And where there is enough evidence to charge someone with a crime, we vigorously prosecute. But not every wrong, or even every violation of the law, is a crime.”


More here.

There's so much that can be read into this, but it's widely apparent what Mukasey means. He doesn't care because this was done for the party that he represents, he's doing what he is told - bottom-line.

However, I'm seriously considering citing this statement the next time I'm pulled-over for speeding.

Something About This Doesn't Seem Right

This story is starting to make a run around the conservative blogs, but I have some relevant questions regarding how the authorities are getting and distributing their information:

Man Dead, Large Amount Of Possible Cyanide Found


DENVER (CBS4) ― It has the makings of international intrigue. Less than two weeks before the Democratic National Convention a man has been found dead in a Denver hotel room with a container of what authorities initially suspect to be the deadly poison cyanide.

Adding to the intrigue is that the dead man, Saleman Abdirahman Dirie, 29, appears to be from outside the U.S. No passport was found on Dirie, who is believed to have entered the country from Canada.

A large container of a white powdery substance was found in the man's room on the fourth floor of The Burnsley Hotel at 10th Avenue and Grant Street.

Tests are now being done by the Denver Police Crime Lab to determine exactly what the substance is. The tests could take days.


More here.

The statement that he "appears to be from outside the US" is most likely ham-fisted TV-reporter lingo for "his probalby an Arab, but I can't say for sure, so I'll just say this".

But, if he has no passport, how do they know. Did they get his name from another form of ID that he had?

And, as far as the "powder" is concerned, how are authorities so certain it was cyanide?

How do they know he came in through Canada? Is there video surveillance of this? Did he leave some kind of trail? Was he photographed at all? Was it bread crums?

And, "appears to have died from something other than the substance"? Wow, this CBS guy is top-notch.

I mean, how fucking vague can you get.

This is how fear is generated through the media. They are so wrapped-up in this notion that any "powder" could be Anthrax, or Cyanide, or Ricin, that those words come spilling out of their mouths before there is any confirmation.

The shoddy reportage aside, be on the lookout for conservative bloggers and other right-wing media to spin this story into something that it is more than likely not.

Classic Drum and Bass feat Adam F

Quite easily one of the greatest electronic-dance-tracks ever recorded

CIRCLES

A Spy From The NY Post?!?!

Rupert Murdock is a businessman.

He's also unblushingly conservative.

He owns many papers in the US and abroad, as well as television stations, movie-production companies, and MySpace.

Keith Olbermann works for MSNBC.

He doesn't like Rupert Murdock, NewsCorp, Fox"News" or anything owned by Murdock.

He's obviously a progressive type-of-guy and approaches stories on his show with jounalistic integrity that his many detractors only wish they could possess.

The NYPost ( Page 6 ) ran this story about Olbermann, MSNBC, and MySpace:

KEITH Olbermann is again being an embarrassment to MSNBC. The cable channel and MySpace have teamed up to choose two "citizen journalist" correspondents to cover the upcoming national political conventions. The "journalists" will be featured both on MySpace and MSNBC's campaign coverage. A spy said, "Every anchor is onboard and willing to play along, except Keith. He refuses to participate because MySpace is owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp." - which also owns Fox News and The Post. A rep for Olbermann said, "There are no plans for the contest winners to be on any programs other than 'Morning Joe.' "


A spy? Did I read that right, a spy?!?!

Wow, I mean, are we talking 007 style or just some intern that Rich Johnson paid $20 to under-the-table to find something out? Was it made up?

I'm opting for the latter.

This is not the first time that "Page 6" has tried to create a controversy around Olbermann. There's been a longtime rivalry between Olbermann and everyone in Murdock's NewsCorp empire, but to try and paint the man as an "embarassment" simply because he doesn't want anything to do with a NewsCorp-owned company is pretty lame.

You Know That The Opposition Is In Trouble When.....

......they start "praying" for the Democrats to have bad luck.

Seriously, if God exists, do you really think that he would listen to one particular political party over another? Do you really think he/she cares about James Dobson's Focus On The Family?

Apparently they think God does.


Stewart Shepard, FOTF's video-production-guy, posted a video on the site that asked fanatical right-wing zealots to pray for rain of "biblical proportions" that would, in turn, "wash out" Barack Obama's speech at Mile High Stadium in Denver on August 28th.

But, it appears that FOTF and Shepard had a change of heart and tried to remove the video.

And now, the spin begins:


Focus on the Family Action pulled a video from its Web site today that asked people to pray for “rain of biblical proportions” during Barack Obama’s Aug. 28 appearance at Invesco Field in Denver to accept the Democratic nomination for president.

Stuart Shepard, director of digital media at Focus Action, the political arm of Focus on the Family, said the video he wrote and starred in was meant to be “mildly humorous.”

But complaints from about a dozen Focus members convinced the organization to pull the video, said Tom Minnery, Focus Action vice president of public policy.

“If people took it seriously, we regret it,” Minnery said Monday.


More here

This brings up two thoughts:

First, the religious conservatives in this country are so afraid of Obama, that they are willing to wish a damaging flood upon an etire city. I know from personal experience that flooding is no joke.

Secondly, this is a major signal from the conservative movement that they don't think that McCain is going to be able to beat Obama. I mean, they're praying for a miracle.

Monday, August 11, 2008

Worst In The World v 2.2-2.3

From Thursday and Friday's Countdown:

Baseball Umps, Glenn Beck, Rudy Guiliani



John McCain, Bill O'Reilly, Newt Gingrich

So, John Edwards Fucked Another Woman.........And?

There's something that's been bothering me about politics for a long time.

Couldn't quite put my finger on it until just recently. And, truth-be-told, it was John Edwards' extra-marital goings-on that brought it bubbling to the surface.

It was obvious all along, and I'm almost embarassed that I didn't realize it until now.

These people, these politicians, are just humans. We've come to see them on television so much, we've come to diefy them to an extent for so long, that we have forgotten that they are humans and have human failures.

Just like you and me, they make mistakes. They aren't perfect. Their shit smells just like yours does.

So, why does it seem like this is at all "shocking"?

Well, was it the fact that Edwards was, until recetly, running for President ( again ) that this somehow makes this situation all the more "juicy"? Was it that Edwards was able to connect with so many people? Was it the fact that he had fabulous hair?

No, no, and certainly not.

It's "shocking" because we are told that it is. But I'll let you all in on a little secret, it's not - at all.

What about John McCain, isn't he guilty of this?

Cenk Uygur points out that the media ( like they normally do ) tend to forget things like this:

We have this weird notion in America now that if a politician is caught in an affair that his career is done. We seem to be saying that what he did in his private life effects his policies or how he governs. But we all know that isn't true. We know that because almost all of our great presidents, and great leaders throughout history, have had numerous affairs. Obviously it didn't hurt how they governed at all.

I love the idea of someone saying Alexander the Great can't lead his empire because he's cheating on his wife (by the way, doesn't Alexander's bisexuality single-handedly destroy the idea that gays can't serve in the military). How about Genghis Khan? He had so many affairs that nearly 1% of the entire world population has his genes. Not fit to lead? And there have also been men of great compassion who led noble fights while still doing ignoble things in their private lives. We are all human at home.


More here.

Of course, if you're on the verge of saying, "you can't present the arguement that since McCain did it Edwards can do it to" then you are far more predictable than most will give you credit for.

The major point in Uygur's piece is that, like Edwards, ALL politicians are humans regardless of party affiliation.

They aren't these superheroes that we make them out to be. They have faults, quirks, strange attributes, and bizarre personal issues that we all have in one form or another.

Just because Edwards "got some" on the side, does that make him any less of a patriot, any less American, any less capable of anything?

Fifty-percent of marriages end in divorce, many of which are due to infidelity. How many of that 50% are politicians, either "visable" to the average American through media exposure or not?

Is this going to destroy Edwards' credibility? Proably not. The people that are having such a field-day with this story did't like the man to begin with, so what does it matter what they say. They aren't saying anything that their audience doesn't already believe. In that respect, they are pointless voices who only serve to add to the collective cacauphony that ignore issues of importance.

Sure, you can go around and postulate that Edwards' affair somehow ruined Hillary Clinton's chance at getting her party's nomination. But, does that make it a reasonable assumption? Most likely, no.

Everyone politician has belched, farted, masturbated, cursed, fucked their spouses while thinking of someone else, stolen, lied, manipulated, slept-in late, took the last cookie and lied about it, drank milk from the carton, and has done or will do something that you don't agree with at some point.

Get over it.

Monday Morning Classic Jams feat Grandmaster Flash

White Lines

Predictability : Michelle Malkin Whines About NBC And The Olympics

I had thought about prefacing this blog with the phrase "if someone at NBC had come up with the cure for cancer, Michelle Malkin would find a way to bitch about it".

But seeing as how it is the conservatives that tend to live in the "what if" world rather than the one that most people inhabit, I'll skip that and get right to the point.

Michelle Malkin - as well as those that follower her as if she has some hypnotic musk or perhaps a tractor-beam emanating from her evry orafice - seems to think that NBC is "supporting" or "glossing over" the fact that China is a "communist" nation.

True, China is censoring the internet, certain members of the press have been detained, people were removed, dust-masks were seen as insults, and some are even claiming that Bejing is becoming a massive police-state for this years events.

If Bejing were a dangerous place to hold the games, the IOC would most likely have not chosen it, don't you think?

But, the Olympics are about a coming-together of nations where a sort-of common ground can be shared and the spirit of competitiveness and sportsmanship is shared and learned from.

I'm opting not to watch the Olympics this year simply because I've lost interest in them.

True, as a former competitive swimmer, I'm hoping that Micheal Phelps gets all 8 golds that he is striving for, but I'm not going to watch - no other reason than I just don't feel like it.

Enter "The Pursed-Lipped-One", Michelle Malkin.

Malkin needs - no DEMANDS - that you have a reason that you are watching the Olympics, demands that you rationalize your reasoning of "supporting" NBC. She demands that NBC fall into lock-step with her and her followers. She ( and a few others ) seem to think that NBC is somehow "glossing over" the fact that the games are being held in China.

So, what do Malkin and her fellow compatriots do? They do what they always do - complain without offering a reasonable solution and ( their favorite tactic ) using Photoshop.

Seriously, if your ability to proficiently execute all the options available through Photoshop somehow made you a respectable and praise-worthy blogger, then Malkin and her reactionary-minions might be something to marvel at.

The truth is, it doesn't and she's not.

You're not going to hear about other protests, other activists' voices quoted, other's statements of disapproval echoed by Malkin unless she has "approval" of them alread. Why would the woman want to talk about anything that she didn't think of to begin with.

This whole "China-Bad-NBC-Bad-Malkin-Smash" schtick brings up an interesting point.

Why is it that so many people wait for a "world-event" to talk about things like nations censoring their citizens, governments removing any form of civil liberties, segregation, genocide, et al?

The reason is, to me at least, it gives them ( Malkin in particular ) the false-glow of "awareness".

You see, we like to admire people who pretend to know what they are talking about.

I'll be up front and tell you that I am ignorant about many things that I should know plenty about. But I learn. I read. I listen. I rationalize. I process and make informed, reasonable, logical decisions.

If there's one thing that I know of, one thing that I can say unequivocally, it is that Malkin has never supplied a "solution" to anything.

Friday, August 8, 2008

Ruler Of Heaven and Earth and Every Goddamn Thing In Between

Words can't describe.....





Is Justin Danhoff Really That Dumb? Of Course He Is.

Don't feel bad if you don't know who Justin Danhoff is. I had no idea who he was either until I read his piece that was featured in the Christian Science Monitor about Congress, gas prices, movie theatres, and "oil profiteering".

With this summer's high gas prices, Americans are trading in their traditional vacations for "staycations" – vacations much closer to home.

But compared with other things Americans might do, driving is still a bargain.

Consider, for example, the costs of going to a movie:


Oh, great. Here we go again.

To say that conservative writers use Hollywood as a boogie-man is to overstate the obvious. What isn't as obvious is that these same writers are exploiting an ignorance within certain segments of the American population that helps further their cause, helps elect their officials, helps keep people in line.

But, as much as exploitation is a standard operating procedure within the conservative movement, let me take a moment to highlight Justin Danhoff's ignorance regarding movie theatres.

To say that Danhoff is comparing apples to oranges is bit of an understatement.

In the first quarter of 2008, Big Oil had a profit margin of 7.4 percent. Over that same period, the pharmaceutical and medicine industry earned a 25.9 percent profit, the chemical industry earned 15.7 percent and the electronic equipment industry earned 12.1 percent.

What about those movie theater refreshments? Four large popcorns and four large sodas cost $31.50. The total raw ingredient cost is approximately $7.56. That equals a 76 percent gross margin. Where is the political outrage over that figure?


That's not exactly the most clever way to present an argument, as Danhoff is stacking the "percentage" of oil profits directly against the "cost" of refreshments at a theatre without backing up where he got his theatre-snack cost.

At the time of the writing, the cost of a barrel of oil is below $120.00 per barrel.

The average ticket price for a movie, as of the middle of 2008, is $7.08.

Let's say the average price for a small bag of popcorn and a soda ( also small ) is about $10. Fair?

You see, this is where Danhoff's piece starts to fall apart.

You don't have to buy snacks at a movie theatre. So, for the average family ( mom, dad, 2 kids ) the price is only $28.32. If everyone got a soda, and there were 2 bags of popcorn to share, that would make the price $48.32. That's dangerously close to the cost of a full tank of gas for a mid-sized, American-made car.

Can't make it through a movie without snacks? There's an easy solution - bring your own. I've been doin it for years. It's easy.

There is a reason that snacks cost more at movie theatres. If a theatre can't sell snacks, there's no theatre. Pretty simple to understand.

Most of the money from ticket sales goes back to the movie studio. A film booker leases a movie to a particular theater for a set period of weeks. The percentage of ticket sales that the studio takes decreases on each week that a movie is in the theater. If the screening was arranged by an independent middleman, he also takes a slice. So the movie has to pull in sizeable audiences for several weeks in order for theater owners to make any serious profits.


"Surveying about 1,000 U.S. consumers, ages 18-54, Interpret found that 52 percent of respondents said they were seeing fewer movies at the multiplex, significantly more than the 35 percent of respondents who said they were attending fewer live sports events," according to a Wall Street Journal report about the survey, which was conducted by Interpret LLC.


more here.

Movies are a "choice". Using oil isn't much of a choice for many people. Even if you don't drive, you're still using gas in some fashion. You can wait for a movie to come out on DVD and rent or buy it, but you can't just "magically appear" at work, or make it to your moms, or go to the concert without using gas to power the vehicle to get you there.

Here's some other things that Danhoff can't seem to wrap his head around:

You don't get a "matinee" price on gas before 5pm.

The comparison of gas prices to the Grand Canyon or Disneyworld versus the cost of a movie with snacks might sound impressive, but what about admission to those vacaion spots? What about food? What about people that have further to travel to "vacation destinations" - don't they have lodging costs?

Danhoff's piece is easily seen for what it is when someone with a rational thought process reads it - conservative drivel.

Friday Morning Music Selections feat Mushroomhead

The band that had their "look" stolen by Slipnot.

I'm not as big a fan of the metal genre as I once was, but this band has nevr disappointed.

SOLITARE UNRAVELLED

Thursday, August 7, 2008

When Political Affiliation Means Nothing - Except That It Does, Maybe

It's become a predictable situation, that hardline Republicans will either deny party affiliation when one of their own has been "caught in the act" of something. Either that, or they will create the illusion that the offender of of an "opposing" party is guilty in part simply because is "of that party".

The particular story that I reference here is in regards to the "Anthrax Mailer" and how the blog AceOf Spades is using this story to show that the fact that he was allegedly a "registered Democrat" helps prove his guilt.

So if you're wondering why Ivins' political affiliation has not been reported -- as many of you were certain would be the main storyline here, assuming he had turned out to be Republican -- there's your answer. Surely the MSM would be calling him a Republican in every report, but, alas, it turns out he's a Democrat, and hence no reportage on this aspect of his political beliefs whatsoever.

I wouldn't read too much into his political affiliation; his main party was of course "Crazy."


What is a conservative blogger, reporter, pundit, or commentator to do when a story about a "crime" is ran without mention of the criminals registered political party? Why, use that to show that those reporting it are biased, of course.

And, if said criminal is allegedly a registered Democrat, take it a step further and claim that "the left" will attempt to exonerate said criminal simply because of this.

Ivins Was an Out-and-Proud, Bona-Fide, Broken-Glass Democrat: Kudos to the Brad Blog for reporting it. I suppose it's sadly inevitable that, having found out the culprit was an out-and-proud partisan Democrat, the lefty blog immediately begins doubting he could have been the culprit.


So, my question is this - what does a person's voter registration status have to do with criminal acts they may or may not have commited? Is there a precedent somewhere that shows that a Democrat is more likely to commit a crime than a Republican?

The answer is, most likely, a resounding "no".

Though "Ace" attempts to mask the thesis of his story, it is clear that he is attempting to draw a direct correlation between being a Democrat and being a person that is likely to commit a "terrorist" attack.

And, while we are on the subject of Dr. Ivin's alleged guilt, there was an interesting discussion about this on last night's COUNTDOWN:



Though many - if not all - within the conservative-blogging-community will lambast me for even referencing this dicussion above, it should be noted that none of what was discussed on COUTNDOWN seems to be a topic of discussion anywhere else. Of course, knowing the conservative response to that would be that Olbermann is obviously a biased, left-wing, hack isn't going to stop me from referencing it.

****UPDATE****

Dr. Ivin's story is starting to get some traction.

If Dr. Ivin's was so "mentally unstable", why was he not removed from his job? It would appear that his employer would have known of this and either fired him or not hired him in the first place.

What about the fact that the Anthrax that Dr. Ivin's used to test out a vaccine with was in liquid and not "weaponized" form?

What about the fact that it took 7 years to find this man?

Perhaps it's my cynical nature, or my unwillingness to believe any and everything that my government and the media-at-large tells me, but there has to be more to this story than we are being told.

Olbermann's highlighting of this in no way makes me believe Dr. Ivin's is innocent, but at least he is asking the questions that others don't seem to be.

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Worst Persons In The World v 2.1

Last night's bunch from COUNTDOWN

Austrailian airport security, John McCain, and Bill O'Reilly

Wednesday Evening Music Club feat 1000 HOMO DJs

As featured on the Wax Trax Black Box series from back in the 90's, 1000 Homo DJs was comprised of several musicians from teh label.

In this version of Supernaut ( originally recorded by Black Sabbath ) Trent Reznor is on lead vocals. A later version of the song featured Al Jourgensen at the mic.

Kevin Smith vs. The MPAA ( again )

Always been a fan of Kevin Smith.

Sure, he did become a bit of a "whore" for the industry back in the late 90's, but that's how you make the money you need sometimes.

His new film, Zack and Miri Make a Porno, almost got slapped with the dreaded NC-17 rating. But, this isn't the first time that it has happened:

His 1994 debut "Clerks" initially received an NC-17 rating that was reduced to an R on appeal, while his 2003 film "Jersey Girl" was reduced to PG-13 after first being rated R.

Smith said the title alone should be enough to caution audiences about the contents.

"Anybody not inclined to see a movie with `Porno' in the title is not going to see it, so it kind of regulates itself to a degree," Smith said. "And anybody who is going is not going to be surprised by what they see."


More at The Huffington Post.

The film revolves around a couple that attempt to make an amateur porn in order to get out of debt. In terms of having realistic sublject matter in a Kevin Smith film, this seems pretty plausible, considering the state of the American economy right now.

And speaking of the MPAA and "ratings", I'm reminded of a recent documentary entitled The Film Has Not Been Rated.

It shows not only how films are rated, but the secrecy with which members of the Ratings Board are surrounded with and how bias all play a part.

Here's the documentary - in 10 segments

















Johnny Come Lately {or} Making Up A Story So We Can Look Like We Know What We're Talking About

For anyone familiar with "Johnny Dollar", you'll no doubt find this title is a bit predictable:

Milbank: I Was Banned from Countdown for Defending McCain Advisor!


The problem is, that isn't the truth.

Dana Milbank had been working out a deal to move to CNN since at least July 7th - and probably since before then:

Not so, says Milbank. “I started contract talks with CNN on July 7,” Milbank told Big Head DC this afternoon. “It has nothing to do with last week’s column. I like Keith, and I’m sorry he’s angry about my departure.”


The piece that appeared in POLITICO that OlbyWatch si referencing reads in part:

An MSNBC spokesperson confirmed there was a conversation where Black came, but the producer was only joking. The spokesperson said there was no connection between anything Dana said about Black and his not being booked on “Countdown.”


And, if this next segment - also in the POLITICO article - is to be true, it was executive producer Katy Karp that allegedly mentioned that there was an "issue" surround something that Milbank said about Charlie Black.

The "OlbyWatch" piece is nothing more than speculaction from a rampantly-sychophantic right-wing hack. Johnny Dollar and his band of blisfully ignorant compatriots are citing sources ( that they appear to find less-then-valuable ) as viable proof that Olbermann had Milbank removed.

The situation can be easily explained as an amalgam of two things.

Milbank has wanted to work for CNN for a long time and was looking for an "out". That "out" is being exploited and rearranged to look like a feud between Olbermann and Milbank.

The other, is that Olbermann is trying to make Dana's departure for another network look like something that it isn't. Truth-be-told, COUNTDOWN is loosing a great guest, and Keith may have realized a little too late that he should have tried to hold on to Dana. All that Keith is doing now is trying rationalize this anyway he can.

It's nothing sinister, nothing that shows that COUNTDOWN is anything other than what it actually is.

Of course, it would be foolish to think someone like Johnny Dollar would do anything but try and make "something" out of "nothing".

Wednesday Lunchtime Rhythmns feat John Dahlback

This track is featured on this weeks mix ( check the blog-list for the link to download ).

MORPHINE

MTV Is Screwing Up America v 1.0

If you ever come across someone from the midwest, or the west-coast, or even the south that says, "I remember the watching MTV the day it started" they are a liar.

MTV started as a station that was only available in Jersey and parts of NYC. It wasn't until much later that cable station started carrying the "music channel". Remember the "I Want My MTV" campaign? That's what I remember.

But, long gone are the "music channel" days.

MTV, some years ago, tried to be clever and started running an ad where people complained about there not being music on MTV anymore. All you had to do was get MTV2 on your cable service - and not everyone had that.

Now, there are multiple versions of MTV on various cable platforms. Sadly, the major ones ( MTV and it's original sister MTV2 ) aren't a "music channel" in even the most minimal sense of the phrase.

A larger problem has emerged.

MTV is ruining "music".

Most people who are able to think for themselves already know this, and there are some pretty vocal people out there that are wanting to go on record in reference to the corporation that is dumbing-down America.

The latest voice is --- Bette Midler?!?!

>
"Video really did kill the radio star," Midler told us after wowing a sold-out crowd with her "Showgirl Must Go On" extravaganza at The Colosseum at Caesars Las Vegas. "After MTV came along, people were seeing their favorite singers in videos, and suddenly there was a certain vision of a song - how it should sound, how it should look. Then [in concert], there was no room for improvisation - everyone wanted an exact replica."




More from NYDailyNews

God Bless Paris Hilton ( Someone Shoot Me )

On a normal day, I wouldn't be able to stand this woman. Wait, is she even a woman? Well, she seemed to be "a woman of some sort" in that one video I saw of her.

Anyway, she gets some redemption points for this.

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Tuesday Evening Music Club feat Rage Against The Machine

RATM will be playing a concert in Minneapolis during the GOP convention.

Would love to make it to this

Let's take a trip back before George W's hi-jacking of the Presidency.

TESTIFY

Hellride : A Grindhouse Feature

I love the fact that Tarrantino and Rodriguez are breathing new life into the "B" movie genre.

There's a new one about to hit theatres:

HELL RIDE

Click here for trailers courtesy of IGN.com.



Lots of info at the official movie site.

Here's a brief plot synopsis:

Larry Bishop stars as bad-ass biker Pistolero, (named after the original title for Robert Rodriguez’s Desperado) who along with The Gent (Michael Madsen) and Comanche (Eric Balfour), hit the road to avenge the death of Pistolero’s old lady Cherokee Kisum (Julia Jones), by the 666ers, a rival motorcycle gang. Vinnie Jones and the ultimate bike riding legend Dennis Hopper to star as members of the satanic biker gang the 666ers

KFC In Iraq? Not Exactly, But It Makes For Good TV

It's almost a cartoonish vision, the idea of the indoctrination of the peoples of Iraq via American corporations.

A McDonalds in Anbar province, a Pizza Hut just outside the "Green Zone", a KFC in Fallujah.

That last one was actually reported on'Fox and Friends' the other morning:



From TPM Muckraker

The story seems to have popped up two weeks ago in a report by a Marine public information officer. Cpl. Chris T. Mann is a PIO for Regimental Combat Team 1, which is part of the 1st Marine Division. The following photo accompanied his post on the regimental website:




And the footage that Fox used can be traced back to a 5-minute clip at LiveLeak.com, which shows scenes of chicken frying amid assorted KFC-branded signage. Another marine, Public Affairs Chief Josh Higgins of Regimental Combat Team 1, referenced the same "KFC" in a recent article for the Greenville, TN, newspaper.

In an email Saturday, 1st Lt Brian Block, a media officer for Multi National Force - West, told me that Cpl. Mann would be out on a mission for the next couple of days. We've also called the number of the faux KFC itself, but no one at the restaurant seems to speak English.

All we know for sure right now is that the original Fox report -- that a KFC franchise opened in Fallujah -- was bogus.


Considering that KFC is a "publicly traded company", this shouldn't have been that difficult to confirm. If in fact this was a real KFC opening up, this would have been a huge story. But, then again, Fox rarely lets fact get in the way.

The Playlist Of Doom



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