[ My America is certainly not looking like yours, Wm. Safire.

Please. Don't tell me that the 25 bucks that fictional lady saved on shoes makes up for fact that Bush's tax cuts have cost her 100 times that much in the form of increased local and state taxes, not to mention the fact that there is no consideration given to the quality of life of the american factory worker who is collecting unemployment because his job is now done by someone in Myanmar for a buck a day -- at the very least not a wage that's going to tear down the walls and bless the poor nations of the world with our freedom and prosperity.

Safire accuses the dems of fear mongering - all the while clouding the issues with linguistic image distortion - phrasing that draws mean 'ol democrats stealing the shoes right off poor kids' feet.

He also quotes 5.5% unemployment, which is as optimistic as Bush saying he's gonna manage to create 2 million jobs this year. His analysis of how the numbers are affected by people dropping out of the job search is also absurd... the fact that a process is not reversible doesn't invalidate it, jackass, especially when it's partially based on psychology, not some mechanical, invariant system. If my analysis of the economy makes me a "gloomy-Gus" (when did we revert to elementary school, by the way?) then the republicans should all change their names, because i've heard nothing but fear, distrust and anger governing our foreign policy of late. Bush loves to bring up how dangerous the world is, how things have changed, how much the fundamentalists hate us... and you know what, the world *is* dangerous and some people *do* hate us. I disagree with some of the ways the Bush whitehouse has responded to these issues, but the door swings both ways here. No one's used more fear to sell the Patriot Act, CAPPS, TIA, and War than the republicans. Drawing attention to the bad shit that's going down in the world isn't the same as being pessimistic -- it's called addressing the problem.

Jesus, take your pseudo-populist ("my momma didn't raise no fool") cheerleading and shove it. -k]

My Anti-Stump Speech

[ I'm not ready to call doomsday on the american economy, but certainly we need to take a long look at the kinds of jobs we're likely to be able to retain. IT jobs ain't it, manufacturing ain't it, so what can we keep? If the answer is "Low paying service jobs and not much else." then I don't see how we can justify free trade. I see the argument that free trade *can* enrich the world-at-large, which ends up being good for everyone, but that's not the way it's going... we're slightly enriching India, while seriously enriching american executives. So, what is america good at? Good enough that no one else can really threaten yet? -k]

Theory vs. Reality

[ this is one seriouosly balsy primate, pulling tails, and ears and bitchslapping some tiger cubs apparently just for the hell of it... -k]

Messing with Tigers, for fun...

[ Rumz shows you his Wu-Tang Style -k]

POE News: Rumsfeld Fighting Technique

Any thoughts on the rights of "enemy combatants"? What are their actual rights (if any) and what are they entitled to?

I definitely am not cool with the U.S. just holding them with trial, or, I'm assuming, even charging. Of course, this kind of thing probably happens all the time, especially after 9-11.

[ fuck it, just shoot 'em dead. they hate america, so they deserve to die. while we're at it, lets also snipe anyone who utters a critical word against the government, because dissent is trasonous... Ann Coulter should be in charge of all this -- she knows what patriotism really is.

jesus. i thought the constitution was pretty clear on this one, really. i understand that national security requires some special considerations, but seems like there's some rights being neglected here. -k]

CNN.com - UK investigates Guantanamo five - Feb. 20, 2004

[ It may be too late for this, but maybe not... tell Nader you think he should sit this one out (if you agree, of course) -- this link is to a flash movie with some info at the end. -k]

ralphdontrun.net

"only the Polytron reduces an entire mouse to a soup-like homogenate in 30 seconds."

[oi. nice... -k]

the Polytron

] President Bush took advantage of the Congressional recess
] today to bypass Senate Democrats and install Alabama's
] attorney general, William H. Pryor, on a federal appeals
] court that oversees three Southern states.
]
] The president named Mr. Pryor, who has gained prominence as an
] outspoken opponent of legalized abortion and as an advocate for a
] greater Christian influence in government, to the United States Court
] of Appeals for the 11th Circuit.

Well, this pisses me off.

There is, at first glance, an extreme hypocrisy in telling the Iraqi governing council that you are a methodist, and that you would like to be able to practice your religion in their country, while on the other hand appointing a fundamentalist from Alabama, whose track record clearly shows that he is opposed to freedom of religion, to a federal appeals court in your own country. The only way to resolve this inconsistency is to accept that Bush doesn't actually believe in freedom of religion. He believes in the propagation of the Christian faith, and he sees freedom of religion in the middle east as a stepping stone toward achieving that goal.

[hear-hear. Someone should tell right wingers that wanting the world to be free from religions other than your own isn't the same as freedom of religion.

and don't get me started on how *not* *at* *all* *christian* most fundamentalist "christians" actually are. If i was into the concept of hell, i'd reckon on there being a special place there for motherfuckers who pay lip service to jesus and then act in greedy, hateful, and inhuman ways that jesus would find deplorable. -k]

Bush Seats Judicial Nominee That Senate Democrats Blocked

] A candidate must meet some %u2014 but not all %u2014 of
] the following criteria from which the committee
] recommends that protection begin:
]
] Must be an announced candidate;
]
] Must be actively campaigning on a national basis;
]
] Must be registering in opinion polls;
]
] Must be winning 10 percent of the vote in two
] consecutive primaries or caucuses;
]
] Must be receiving matching funds;
]
] Must be receiving at least $2 million in
] contributions;
]
] Must have the committed support of at least 10 percent
] of the convention delegates.

[ This otherwise People-magazine-like article only struck me for the bits i noted above. First, i'm not sure what "Must be..." means in the context of only having to meet some of the criteria, but more interesting is the part about having to have opted for matching funds in order to qualify for SS protection. Is that meant to be an incentive to use the system? Seems very strange to me. -k]

ABCNEWS.com : Guessing Kerry's Code Name

] The researcher accidentally pricked herself with a needle
] that contained a weakened form of the Ebola virus last
] week while she was injecting mice with the virus as part
] of a research effort.

[ Oh *man* that sucks! You can't even hyperbolize it, like, "That sucks like ...", because anything you put in there for ... is probably less bullshit than "accidentally giving yourself Ebola." Sure, she may be fine (god willing), but shit man, that's so, so not good. -k]

CNN.com - Researcher isolated after possible Ebola exposure - Feb. 19, 2004