massdestruction

I am astounded.

I am so completely astounded. I have just watched Eminem's new video. Let me mention that I do not like Eminem.. at all. I have retracted that opinion.

This video is one of the best pieces of political activism in an artform I have seen in a very long time. If you hate Eminem, if you loathe Eminem, go watch the video anyway.

If you are halfway through the video and decide to close it, dont. I think the play on appearances he gives off is brilliantly done. The ending is mature and thoughtful even though it appears that he is going down a more violent path.

Well done Eminem.

Lusty, young, and cheerful of breath

Last night Cate and I went with my Uncle to see the UNC Playmakers production of Richard II. It wasn't timely or anything... its just about a King who loses his kingdom because he takes the money and land away from the people to fund a war with a country that starts with an "I" — a war the people don't want. Oh yeah, he doesn't listen to his sane advisors, only the ones who agree with him. No, not topical at all.

It wasn't a bad production. It wasn't the greatest either, but it was worth the cash.

We have season tickets to Playmakers this year. I do this because it helps me visit with my Uncle who lives here in Chapel Hill but whom I never see. This season though it looks like a good lineup including Copenhagen, one of my favorites.

Mr. Jigglepants

I was talking with my friend Bryan earlier about how I wish to go to the polls. I was thinking about flipping a quarter in plain view, shrugging my shoulders, and filling out my ballot.

Bryan, as usual, had a better idea. An idea I like:

a hand puppet.

you need to take a hand puppet to the polls with you, and talk with it continuously, and out loud. Especially once in the booth, and for each and every office..."And who should we vote for Circuit Judge, Mr. Jinglepants?"...(high squeaky voice) "THE ONE WITH THE FUNNY MUSTACHE! THE ONE WITH THE FUNNY MUSTACHE!"

and while waiting in line, you should probably argue with it, too, but not about politics...i think an ongoing "chunky" vs. "smooth" debate on peanut butter would be so much better.

The Copyright Cube

Its too bad the explosives in Al QaQaa didn't infringe any copyrights.

Isn't this the ultimate in "big government"? Is this the act of an agency formed by a "conservative" administration? The mind boggles.

Denver Post Endorsement? (emphasis on the ?)

In 2000 the Denver Post endorsed Al Gore. In 2004 they claim to be endorsing George W. Bush. The party switch isn't so odd, the once independent paper was sold inbetween these elections. What is odd is the actual endorsement text.

What kind of Bush endorsement includes the following about the candidate?

It's no secret that we part company with the president over many issues. Two glaring sore spots are his obsession to cut taxes even while piling up record deficits, and his mishandling of all things Iraq. He squandered global good will by taking a "my way or the highway" approach to matters of global warming, international law, Iraq weapons inspections and ultimately the Iraq invasion. He bows to corporate preference in matters of energy and environment, and his education funding levels leave far too many children behind.

And what kind of endorsement of Bush includes the following about Kerry?

Kerry has infused the 2004 campaign with energy and gumption, offering fresh ideas on health care and sensible plans for our tax structure. His are the superior proposals on environmental protection, on stem-cell research and judicial nominations. Sure, we've seen Kerry bend to the political winds over his long career, but we wouldn't mind one bit if more Washington politicians would reconsider their past judgments and ideological certainties. Kerry's growth on the campaign trail gives a glimpse of his potential.

Sure it goes on to say that they have decided on Bush for "security" but it seems to me their heart isn't really in it. Just call the Denver Post the John McCain of the corporate newspaper world.

The Jo(h)ns

Tomorrow in Raleigh there is a rally for Kerry/Edwards. John Edwards will be there with his wife and performing live will be, wait for it... Jon Bon Jovi!

Yeah, after a long tour on the steel horse John and Jon are pulling into town to play Dorton Arena. All the big stars play Dorton... George Thorogood, Billy Ray Cyrus, oh and local hero (and nausea inducing procedure for the medical community) Clay Aiken. Yes, Dorton Arena is our real-life Vandermint Auditorium.

"We've seen five-thousand faces, and we've rocked them all!"

If it were Kerry I might go. If it were another venue I might go. If they didn't feel the need to "entertain" I might go.

I'm not going.

Rest in Peace Babe

Congratulations Boston Red Sox!

Unfortunately now they are just another team. Nothing to make's them special anymore. No more curse.

The straight banana

You know, just this morning I said to myself: self, I really wish there was a way to straighten this banana. Oh thanks the gods, a new, beautiful day has arrived where our world will be full of straight bananas.

Whats in a name

Due to the events of the day, my dog has gained another middle-name. His full name is now:

Ch. Orange County ASPCA Gianfranco Zola Buddy-Ro Buckshot Mason, Jr.

My Dog Part II

I got my dog back - he has a ruptured ACL and will have to have surgery. The really interesting side note is that in his previous life (we got him when he was 6 months old, he had been a stray) he had acquired a bit of buckshot which shows up rather clearly in his xrays. The vet says they see that a lot. All I know is my doggie is one tough customer.

The other interesting thing is that he seems no worse for wear - he limps but doesn't seem to be in pain. He doesn't even act like he has been sedated. I guess an ACL is nothing when someone's "popped a cap in your ass."

This does explain one thing though. I think whoever loaded him up with shot looked like the only person he hates: my friend Paul.

Looks like? ... hmmmmm

My dog

First of all, my dog truly is my best friend. He absolutely rocks. So having to leave him at the vet this morning so they can xray his knee is difficult at best. They think he might have ruptured his ACL. What is that saying about dogs starting to look like their masters? How about dogs starting to injure like their masters?

The results will be in later today, as will my dog - its very, very quiet here.

Jon Stewart's other books

Man, this sucks. Only one out of 15 people have found my review of Jon Stewart's new book helpful. Some people.

More from the PIPA report

Its hard to keep reading the PIPA report. How about this:

...only 31% of Bush supporters recognize that the majority of people in the world oppose the US having gone to war with Iraq. Forty-two percent assume that views are evenly divided, and 26% assume that the majority approves. Among Kerry supporters, 74% assume that the majority of the world is opposed.

Similarly, 57% of Bush supporters assume that the majority of people in the world would favor Bush's reelection; 33% assumed that views are evenly divided and only 9% assumed that Kerry would be preferred. A recent poll by GlobeScan and PIPA of 35 of the major countries around the world found that in 30, a majority or plurality favored Kerry, while in just 3 Bush was favored. On average, Kerry was preferred more than two to one.

Wow. Let me make this easier to read.

Of Bush supporters:

• 57% assume that the majority of the world would support his reelection


• 26% think the world approves of the US going to war with Iraq

What the hell is going on??

New political reality

One of the things that has really bugged me with George W. Bush's Presidency is the willful misleading of the American people. Sure, it is easy to say that most Presidents (nay, most politicians) mislead the people from time to time, but rarely are the stakes so high.

According to this sobering PIPA study:

Even after the final report of Charles Duelfer to Congress saying that Iraq did not have a significant WMD program, 72% of Bush supporters continue to believe that Iraq had actual WMD (47%) or a major program for developing them (25%). Fifty-six percent assume that most experts believe Iraq had actual WMD and 57% also assume, incorrectly, that Duelfer concluded Iraq had at least a major WMD program. Kerry supporters hold opposite beliefs on all these points.

PIPA is a non-partisan group that studies public opinion on Foreign policy. It is associated with the University of Maryland. So why is this happening? Well, also according to the study, both sides agree that the reason for this is that Bush and Cheney keep saying that these things are true. For the record, these things are NOT true.

This is why I have become so involved in this election cycle. I feel that I was duped before the Iraq war. I, like many, was simply scared of what was being said and predicted by my government. This was especially true when Colin Powell gave his UN speech. I respected Colin Powell and was trying my hardest to give him the benefit of the doubt. When I found out the truth I wanted to make sure someone took responsibility for these grave, grave mistakes.

The best way to fight this lack of responsibility is to do everything I can do to get these guys out of office. John Kerry is the best weapon to get them out. As if no one knew, or as if it mattered... I am officially endorsing John Forbes Kerry for President of the United States. I urge you to join me in voting for the Kerry/Edwards ticket.

FAA v RIAA

I downloaded the mp3s listed on this website. The worst part of this example of our Government in action is when the innocent FAA guys start questioning if what they are doing is a good idea.

The other thing I would like to note is that someone better be paying their ASCAP or BMI fees as there is some awful hold music that is now being dissiminated on the web. Someone call the RIAA!! First the House of Representatives becomes a smut peddlar and now this.

Make me a commissioner

I watched the last three games of the Red Sox/Yankees series and was duly impressed. I don't follow baseball but I might if they took a cue from the NFL - have fewer games. Those guys really play hard and create great excitement... when they care. Its the same with hockey. It seems to me that if there were fewer games the stadiums wouldn't lose too much either as most of them can hardly fill one section for most of the season. If the players and fans cared about every game they would have waiting lists.

• Baseball and hockey should learn the season schedule from football
• Football should learn how to officiate a game from baseball
• Both should steal the relegation idea from European soccer

the choir

So who reads the ever-increasing number of political books? Well, it turns out that its the choir that is being preached to. Take a look at these graphs, which use the amazon "people who bought this book also bought this book" to look at purchasing trends within the genre.

It appears that people don't seem to care much of what "the other side" thinks.

I generally only like political books that are written by people who have a knack for beautiful writing, are really funny, or take historical looks at current situations. Having said that, I don't read a great deal of political books. Having said that, I don't read any "right wing" books. I suppose the issue for me is that I would find it frustrating and infuriating... not what I am looking for in a book.

So here we are divided down the middle in terms of opinion in our country and we go out and buy books that make us feel good about our side. Books that only solidify our position and opinion.

A meta-comment on comments

With the rise of comment spam in my blog, I keep wondering whether its worth the trouble. I'm not wondering of the worth of the blog, it is something I enjoy doing so that side of it is more about using it for my purposes. No, I am wondering about the comments. There are about five people whose comments keep coming, are insightful, and I am grateful for. Losing these would be lame, but dealing with the spam is perhaps more lame.

In a google search I actually ran across a debate about whether blogs are enhanced by comments or not. I was surprised by the "not" side and I didn't totally disagree with what they had to say (mostly, a good blog doesn't need them - especially considering the true nature of a blog). On the other hand, I have had some good debates take place in this blog and I hate to lose those moments. I am also not sure that I am confident enough that my blog actually stands up well on its on.

It is something I will have to think about more. I have tried every trick I can find and think of to stop the spam but the spiders are winning out. Switching to yet another blogging system will only postpone the pain. The really sad part is that now the spammers are actually looking for certain functional perl and php files and using them to automagically add spam. Having an old-school, self-designed, non-comment blog is the only way to beat it.

Oh yeah, I would also hate to lose the never-ending comment machine. I am climbing up google in searches for "livestrong". People, that is sad.

Beach weekend

This weekend we went to the beach with some friends. Our friend Preston's parents have a really nice beach house so we got to hang out with him, his wife Katy, their three very cute kids, and our good friend Jen.

I have put some photos up from the venture. Click on this photo to go to the album.

Buy meds online!

I have been informed that my comments section is, once again, broken.

I updated two things last night, Movable Type, and Blacklist(the comment spam blocker). I did this after getting about 100 spam comments in one night. So it appears that my comments are now broken to the people I want to comment, and are still working for spammers as I got another 10 or so spams last night.

At some point it will be more trouble than its worth. It probably already is.

Note: Turns out that MT reverted to having comments off by default. They are back on now.

My Landrover

Just thought I'd put a picture of Chupi (my Series III Land Rover) on my blog.

"Chupi" is Swahili for "underpants"

Oh yeah, I am also trying out Flickr.com. Its awfully convienient that I can export a group of photos from iPhoto to Flickr, then blog any of my photos from Flickr to this here blog. Interesting.

I am Ironman

Today I got myself a new Ironman watch. I didn't get this because I wanted to be like squishy, although that's a plus. No, I bought this fancy Timex because for the first time in a little over 11 years I have misplaced my beloved, actually-fancy watch.

I guess it had a good run - 11 years is great considering I only got it cleaned and lubricated once. The Timex is good - but its not exactly what I want in a watch. Nonetheless, it is a perfect temporary watch.

Bow ties and Poland

First, I would like to say that I have been thinking recently that it is quite possible, if not probable, that all guys who wear bowties vote.

Now, for something completely different: http://www.youforgotpoland.com/

Independently Stupid

Supposedly tonight's Presidential Debate questions were asked by people the Gallup poll identified as truly undecided voters. In other words, liars and complete and utter dumbasses.

How the hell can you not decide between these two if you aren't supporting a "third" party? Are you insane? Are you high? I think we need to let the Gallup people find even more of these people so we can populate an experimental Mars colony.

Fuzzy Math

Damnit Mr. President!! Quit saying we've gotten 75% of Al Qaeda! How in the hell can you know the denominator for that?!!? Kerry needs to smash that now....

Wild Wild West International Airport

Oh god people... what is it going to take? Things are increasingly turning to the insane.

Factcheck

Earlier in the year I pointed out the Fact Check dot Org website. I had no idea a candidate would point it out... especially Dick Cheney. Unfortunately for the VP he got the URL wrong and factcheck doesn't actually back him up.

Unfortunately for all of us, factcheck.org doesn't have the server-power to handle this brew-ha-ha. I hope they won't mind if I re-publish today's report on last night's debate but I think it is extremely important for people to see how lies are becoming such easy fodder for politicians. Luckily the Annenberg center runs a truly non-partisan outfit. Their report is after the jump:

From Factcheck.org, 10/06/2004:

Cheney & Edwards Mangle Facts

Getting it wrong about combat pay, Halliburton, and FactCheck.org

October 6, 2004

Modified:October 6, 2004
Summary

Cheney wrongly implied that FactCheck had defended his tenure as CEO of Halliburton Co., and the vice president even got our name wrong. He overstated matters when he said Edwards voted "for the war" and "to commit the troops, to send them to war." He exaggerated the number of times Kerry has voted to raise taxes, and puffed up the number of small business owners who would see a tax increase under Kerry's proposals.

Edwards falsely claimed the administration "lobbied the Congress" to cut the combat pay of troops in Iraq, something the White House never supported, and he used misleading numbers about jobs.
Analysis

"FactCheck.com"

Cheney: Well, the reason they keep mentioning Halliburton is because they're trying to throw up a smokescreen. They know the charges are false.They know that if you go, for example, to FactCheck.com (sic), an independent Web site sponsored by the University of Pennsylvania, you can get the specific details with respect to Halliburton.

Cheney Plugs FactCheck

Cheney got our domain name wrong -- calling us "FactCheck.com" -- and wrongly implied that we had rebutted allegations Edwards was making about what Cheney had done as chief executive officer of Halliburton.

In fact, we did post an article pointing out that Cheney hasn't profited personally while in office from Halliburton's Iraq contracts, as falsely implied by a Kerry TV ad. But Edwards was talking about Cheney's responsibility for earlier Halliburton troubles. And in fact, Edwards was mostly right.

Edwards on Halliburton: Partial Credit

We can only give Edwards partial credit for his Halliburton attack, however. He implied that Cheney was in charge of the company when it did business with Libya in violation of US sanctions, but that happened long before Cheney joined the company.

"Halliburton"

Edwards: While he (Cheney) was CEO of Halliburton, they paid millions of dollars in fines for providing false information on their company, just like Enron and Ken Lay.

They did business with Libya and Iran, two sworn enemies of the United States.

They're now under investigation for having bribed foreign officials during that period of time.

Edwards was also slightly off when he said Halliburton paid millions in fines "while he (Cheney) was CEO." What he meant was that it paid fines for matters that took place while Cheney was in charge. And in fact, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced Aug. 3 that Halliburton will pay $7.5 million to settle a matter that dates back to 1998, when Cheney was CEO.

Halliburton failed to disclose a change in its accounting procedures that resulted in making its earnings look better. Cheney himself was not charged with any wrongdoing, however. The SEC said Cheney "provided sworn testimony and cooperated willingly and fully in the investigation."

On other matters, Edwards said Halliburton "did business with Libya and Iran, two sworn enemies of the United States" and is now "under investigation for having bribed foreign officials" while Cheney was CEO.

*
Iran: Indeed, Halliburton has said it does about $30 million to $40 million in oilfield service business in Iran annually through a subsidiary, Halliburton Products and Services Ltd. The company says that the subsidiary fully complies with US sanctions laws, but the matter currently is under investigation by a federal grand jury in Houston.
* Bribery Investigation: U.S. and French authorities currently are investigating whether a joint venture whose partners included a Halliburton subsidiary paid bribes or kickbacks to win a $12 billion construction project in Nigeria.
*
Libya: Edwards was wrong to include Libya, however. In 1995, before Cheney joined the company, Halliburton pled guilty to criminal charges that it violated the U.S. ban on exports to Libya and said it would pay $3.81 million in fines. Those violations dated back to 1987 and 1990.

"Lobbied to Cut Combat Pay"

Edwards: They sent 40,000 American troops into Iraq without the body armor they needed. They sent them without the armored vehicles they needed. While they were on the ground fighting, they lobbied the Congress to cut their combat pay. This is the height of hypocrisy.

They said that they supported the troops; and then while our troops were on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan, they went to the Congress and lobbied to have their combat pay cut.

Cutting Combat Pay?

Edwards twice accused the administration of having "lobbied the Congress" to cut the combat pay of troops in Iraq, when in fact the White House never supported such a plan.

Rather, the Defense Department proposed allowing a temporary pay increase for all troops worldwide (even those not in Iraq or Afghanistan) to expire, and promised to maintain current pay levels for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan with separate pay raises if necessary.

Army Times reported in its issue for the week ending Aug. 18, 2003 that a Pentagon budget assessment sent to Congress in July called for letting a temporary combat pay raise enacted earlier that year for troops worldwide expire at the end of the fiscal year, Sept. 30. The result would have been a cut of $75 a month in "imminent danger pay" and $150 a month in "family separation allowances."

But according to an Aug. 15 American Forces Press Service report, David S.C. Chu, defense undersecretary for personnel and readiness, said the department could raise hardship duty pay or incentive pay. The bottom line: "We are not going to reduce their compensation," Chu said. The Pentagon also said in an Aug. 14 news release : "This is an issue of targeting those most deserving, and certainly people serving in Iraq and Afghanistan are in these categories."

VP Debate

Well I think Edwards did OK - but then I am on his "side of the aisle". I really don't know how he played to the general public as opposed to the Veep but I thought he made Cheney look a bit grumpy.

Having said that, there are two things I wish had happened. 1) I wish there was a different format for Cheney to blow it because he is more in his element in this type of debate. 2) If I were Edwards I would have used the one trick you can always use against someone named Dick. The pause. All he had to do for any issue is say "but here is the problem... ... ... Dick ... ... ... blah blah blah." It treads that fine line where one wonders if they just called them a dick, or Dick.

What a dick.

MAR

This past weekend Cate and I went to the Mid-Atlantic Rally for the Rover Owner's Association of Virginia. This is a great event for those of us with old Land Rovers to go play around with other Rover geeks but mostly it is a great excuse for some high-luxury-style camping. Since we are taking our Rovers, we stuff them to the roofs full of stuff.

The recent hurricanes made it a very muddy affair but fun was had by all. I thought we had some particularly good food this year and we made some very good new friends at our campsite. This event is getting larger and larger every year. We could really use a year with no big-rain hurricanes so that more of the camping areas are open.