April 2006 Archives

Since This Modern World doesn't load properly in this template (but I like the template and am planning to keep it for now), I'll just link to this week's comic.

Enjoy.

I've been asked a few times where I gather a lot of the articles I link here. Incidentally, if you would please start using the comment feature I can respond to more than one person at a time. No, seriously. I am porting this thing to a blog because of people's requests. Please use the new functionality.

In any case, here goes. In no particular order other than mental recollection, here are the sites I visit, by topic of my daily news roundup.

General News
CNN - Yeah, I know, but it's easy and accessible.
BBC - Trigger the International version if you are headed there.
Reuters - More of a catch-all site for news
NPR - I listen to it in the car and check it online for updates
International Herald Tribune - Mostly, I like their layout
New York Times - The old standby

Tech News and Schtuff
Slashdot - Geek news all day every day
Ars Technica - Interesting stories, helpful guides
Lifehacker - My lastest favorite site. Decent tips, interesting links

Blatantly Partisan
Huffington Post - Nice collection of liberal thought
Think Progress - Pretty up-to-date
Daily Kos - More opinion than fact but useful
Crooks & Liars - If it's on video, they're probably hosting it right now
Truthdig - Another fine collection of articles from across the web
Democratic Underground - A little slow on the take but this isn't necessarily bad
Working for Change - Very activist-oriented site; just so you're aware
DubyaD40 - Funny with an edge, also good focus on environment issues. I demand you read Clyde and Wally's posts.

Obviously there are more sites out there I randomly visit and/or get the RSS feed from. But these are the ones I usually visit at least a couple times a week. Now, unfortunately, between this post and the Google Reader feed down to the right, you no longer have to read my posts.

Well, at least I hope that's not the case. But seriously, use the comment feature and let me know your favorite information sites.

As some of you may know, my wife works at UNLV and every so often lets me know of events going on at the campus. Tonight we went to a college tour roundtable that is part of the IAVA.

Now, I do not speak for the group and, frankly, hadn't heard of them before tonight, but I went and listened to the stories of three servicemen who did a tour (sometimes more) in either Iraq or Afghanistan. They each gave a synopsis of their time in theatre with a few anecdotes, some humorous, some very grim. Then they opened the floor for a Q & A session. Now, granted, southern Nevada is a lot more liberal than the rest of the state, so you can imagine a certain attitude against the war.

The servicemen involved handled it well however. It didn't hurt that, when pushed, much of their personal beliefs were in line with much of the crowd, but they adamantly stressed that their goal was to speak of the troops and not about policies. They did a very good job of channeling the discussion down those lines.

What I got most from the discussion was that each of them, some who went through unscathed, others not, physically or mentally, were proud of their service and we very strong in the belief that we should actually support our troops, not by mere words or ribbon magnets or, especially, tying their service to some political agenda, but by actually supporting the troops.

To do this, they offered a myriad of sites to send items to the troops, something I've always been a proponent of and know more than a few of you have done for specific soldiers and the force at large. They also went on to encourage people to demand better treatment of the troops once they get home; primarily in getting VA hospitals built, funded, and resourced.

If you want to know more, I encourage you to visit the IAVA site for more on this group. I enjoyed listening to them speak and am glad I took the time to spend an evening listening to their stories.

The GOP is at it again, and across all fronts it seems.

More news about the Air Force becoming a hive of conservative zealotry.

Georgia has passed a particularly virulent anti-immigration bill. Meanwhile, those who look for a way to legally become an American citizen are fired for either attempting to be a citizen or for backing those who share that dream.

In fact, this got me thinking a bit. Just last week, the House GOP backed off a plan that would make being an illegal alien a felony. Go with me for a couple logical leaps here.

So...let me get this straight. The GOP's plan was to make it a felony to want to be an American. Which would make us ALL felons, as I for one like being a United States citizen.

Now compound this with the House GOP being among those who label anyone who disagrees with Bush in any way shape or form a "traitor." So, in defying their false god Bush on immigration, doesn't it make House Republicans seditious traitors themselves? Hmm, not only are they racists who hate American citizens and those who wish to be citizens, they're also traitors. Try that one out on the conservative of your choice.

It must be an election year because the GOP has remembered again that it has to buy off the "Religious Right." Expect more hateful, non-Christian legislation to bubble up from the evil sludge of the moral majority ilk as the year progresses.

More on the so-called moral Republicans. The LA Times reports that various Christians are suing for the right to be intolerant. Nice.

Oh, and that country the conservatives want us to return to of some long-forgotten golden years? It ain't Beaver Cleaver's 1950's America: it's modern day El Salvador.

Oh, that bird flu pandemic the Bushites keep screaming about to distract you from: the Iraq war, the price of gas, the loss of civil liberties, rampant corruption, vote fraud, environmental destruction, etc.? A British scientist downplays the hype...and by more than a little bit.

Speaking of mythologies, the battle is starting early on whether to renew parts of the Voting Rights Act set to expire next year. As usual, the GOP refuses to belief racism exists in this country. Your average election in the South, or even Ohio to the contrary of course.

And hey! Interior Secretary Gail Norton has announced that we have actually increased wetlands while under the apocalyptic reign of Bush. I mean, that's if you count water hazards on golf courses and fetid ponds of the megafarms. Even Field and Stream isn't buying that load of BS.

Finally, normally I don't give blowhard conservative bloggers the time of day. Usually I read Michelle Malkin at my heart rate's peril. I imagine she wants to be the next Ann Coulter...or maybe the Bitch of Buchenwald. I'm not exactly sure. Either way, when UC Santa Cruz students ran off army recruiters from their campus, they stupidly posted their contact info. Now they are receiving death threats from compassionate conservatives. They've done their best to get rid of the information from their site, and have succeeded in doing so. However, there remains Malkin, who has posted the info on her site, apparently to egg on the hatemongers, despite her vaguely coherent claims to the contrary. Ezra Klein dives into this a lot better than I can.

And hell, why not? Here's a left wing screed about the Bush clan being potential traitors.

I'm on call so I'm stuck working today but I hope all of you are having a good day with your families.

Not much to rant on - or actually nothing I wish to sully the day with - so I'll leave you with this story about the history of Easter candy.

Wow. Talk about stumbling into idiocy.

The Senate deal for immigration reform falls apart last week. Between Frist playing the racist Republican base and suddenly self-thinking GOP minions trying to gain advantage every which way, the party in power couldn't get the bill passed. The House GOP goal was more geared for 1930s Germany than 21st century America, but no one seemed to give a damn about that.

No, despite a racist House and a disunited majority in the Senate, Bush is blaming the Democrats for the deal falling apart. That's like blaming the dog for your kid driving through the garage door.

That's alright though. I'm used to Bush blaming everyone but himself and his quasi-loyal usurpers. A couple weeks ago he was blaming Saddam for all the violence in Iraq. Okay, sure the guy is a total wretch, and he definitely is responsible for holding down the majority Shi'a population. So, maybe Bush-head has a point.

However....

The US invaded Iraq and allowed looting to happen, allowed the economy to fail, bungled diplomatic efforts, and railroaded elections to attempt to put their puppets in power. It was Bush, not Saddam, that invited all the terrorists in the world to "bring it on" and come into Iraq to play shooting gallery games with our soldiers' lives.

I'm not about to apologize for a mass murderer, but I seriously doubt anyone with more than a wet sponge in their head is going to believe that Bush, who is in charge of the occupying army, is blameless for the violence in Iraq. And I doubt that you can really pin this all on Saddam, a known secular anti-fundamentalist, who - incidentally - has been locked up in military custody for the past couple years, is the mastermind behind a religious Shi'ite majority revolution that is fighting a religious Sunni terrorist-backed civil war in his own homeland.

Once again, you are an idiot if you believe this man at all.

Retired Gen. Anthony Zinni, former CENTCOM commander, has rightfully been pointing out that the media has been somehow blamed for all the bad news in Iraq. If you have the time, watch CBS' Lara Logan try to dispell this meme a few weeks ago (video here).

Even spokesfiend Scott McClellan is blaming the media for the administration's use of reports of roving Iraqi weapons vans. You know, information so "credible" they forced Colin Powell to present it to the UN as fact.

More on military matters. A couple of stories about how retired generals are speaking out against Rumsfeld as current officers apparently face demotion and forced retirement if they do it themselves. More info on this here.

How does the military learn how to interface with Iraqis on the street? Why, by playing video games! Interested? Here's a story about the game "Tactical Iraqi". Hey, if it keeps soldiers alive and helps with the hearts-and-minds thing, why not?

One more. Here's the story of a Marine reservist who was held up on his way home from fighting terrorist because...HE WAS ON A TERRORIST WATCH LIST! Now folks, only BushCo could bring such tragic farce into being. Though, if you have to emphasize with the Gestapo, consider this: he was trained in US military weapons and tactics, he was in a military theatre, he did have a tan, and, of course, Dan Brown is probably a cover name for a incoming terrorist.

Not that I believe a word of any of that.

As for the rest of us, apparently 54% of us ""don't trust" Bush to handle the situation in Iran. Now THAT'S foreign policy skill in action.

To wrap up, a story on the NSA's infiltration of AT&T. Oh joy, government spies and a recombined communications giant. A laughable story about the follies of creationist education, and how it confuses schoolchildren. "Wait momma, I thought mythology class was only on Sundays?"

I've been spending a lot of time visiting Lifehacker lately. Among some of my recent favorite articleslinks are How to sleep on an airplane plus news on Google Calendar, including a link to keyboard commands. Plus links to useful utilities like cl1p.net, which I used just yesterday to help with some support issues I've had on call.

"We need more human intelligence. That means we need more protection for the methods we use to gather intelligence and more protection for our sources, particularly our human sources, people that are risking their lives for their country.

- George H.W. Bush, the Dedication Ceremony for the George Bush Center for Intelligence, 26 April 1999

"Poppy" must be mighty proud of his boy.

Boy George is apparently responsible for authorizing the leak that outed a CIA agent. Which would, in his father's eyes, if not the GOP-owned Congress and Supreme Court, make him a traitor. And why risk treason? To merely discredit an administration opponent.

Meanwhile, Bush is also planning on using the only toy he hasn't played with...namely "nookular" weapons. Where would he unleash the apocalyse? Why, Iran, of course.

Speaking of military matters, Seymour Hersh speaks of discontent in the ranks, while outsiders report a large losses in the officers' ranks as many have decided they do not approve of administration policies nor are endeared to the concept of ever-lasting war.

As for Bush's plan to cram democracy down the throats of everyone in the Middle East? Not exactly going to plan.

The major league baseball season started last week, and a couple images come to mind.

First, we have Bush throwing the first pitch for the Cincinnati Reds:

The Reds went on to lose to the Cubs, 16-7, giving up 5 runs in the top of the 1st inning. Yes, Bush's stench of failure touches everything he does.

Next we have the sad case of Barry Bonds. Sad as in pathetic, not endearing. Here, we have a San Diego fan expressing to Barry what will likely be a common refrain.

It couldn't happen to a slimier jerk.

Speaking of jerks, here's a pic of a former Tom Delay supporter giving up the fight, click for accompanying story.

The military keeps screwing up notifying families of those killed in Iraq. The rich are getting richer. McCain keeps sucking up to the Bushes. Climate scientists are being silenced by the Bushites.

One last thing. Go watch this video. It's a guy who crashed a Bush rally to tell Shrub what he thinks of him.

All this talk of immigration lately has bubbled forth a piece of shadowy American history I was unaware of. At least, I didn't know the actual scope of this particular issue.

As reported in yesterday's USA Today, during the Great Depression, hundreds of thousands of Mexicans and Mexican-American citizens were sent to Mexico just so whites could have job preference. In the words of one LA official of the time, “It is a question of pigment, not a question of citizenship or right.” Sounds pretty much like most House Repugnantcans these days.

Schools in many states have taken to banning flags as these symbols are being used for divisive purposes. Gee, aren't you imbeciles supposed to be EDUCATING children. Wait, maybe they are. Bushites are keen on supressing free speech so this may be an opportunity to teach the children that free speech is dead in this nation.

In other news, the same paper speaks about how Massachusetts and other states are looking for ways to < href="http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/money/20060405/universal.art.htm" target="_blank">insure their populations. You know, since the feds don't seem to give a damn about the problem. Massachusetts has passed a law that will < href="http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/money/20060405/1b_masshealth05.art.htm" target="_blank">require that all its citizens be covered. The proposed plans of other states to provide health coverage is also discussed.

One down. Tom DeLay has finally realized he can no longer disguise the fact that he's a world-class scumbag and has decided not to run for re-election this fall.

In Florida, it still hasn't occurred to Katherine Harris what a loathsome piece of excrement she is, but the departure of much of her campaign staff may be a sizeable clue.

Bush may still be in firing mode. Mouthpiece-in-chief Scott McClellan and Treasury Eliminator John "Deficits are Good" Snow are apparently on their way out.

None of this probably changes a thing. Republicans will always vote for a racist, warmongering bully as long as they pretend to be religious and promise to take away civil rights from non-whites. But at least it is entertaining.

Leslie and I caught a Cubs game here in town on Friday. The Cubbies lost (box score), but it was definitely a fun night and a good time.

I've been in town for awhile, a couple projects moved around and kept me in town, but I'm back on the road again this week so updates will be sporadic - as if you'll notice a change.

So, immigration has come up a lot in the news lately. I wanted to take a spin around the block and confront the issue a bit. By all rights, what I hear from conservative talk radio (yeah, I can take it in very small 10 minutes or less doses) is a free pass for every Republican Racist to get out the sheets and blame immigrants from everything from toppling Fortune 500 businesses (ever see an illiterate migrant take a CEO job from someone?) to carrying bombs for al-Qaeda (how many Mexican Muslims are there?) to carrying diseases (well, if US pharmabusiness wasn't too busy price gouging, maybe those actually ill would be able to be cured?). In short, the KKK might as well be running a membership drive. Indeed, radio idiot Michael Savage has recommended that people run through the streets burning Mexican flags. Next thing you know, Scott McClellan will be blaming them for 9/11. More on the blame game in a bit.

In any case, NPR has done a great job collecting data on this, including results of a recent Pew poll. More info on the poll from the source, including a breakdown on who the immigrants are. An AP/Ipsos poll shows similar results.

Molly Ivins gives her take on the issue. And here's a view from an employer in southern California.

Truth is, Bush is almost on to something here. Or at least, more so than the racists he calls his base. Oh well, you don't get points for trying.

The Minutemen are gearing up to go back to terrorizing illegal immigrants in the name of white power or Jesus or some other made up crap. And just in time for this potential mayhem is the Border Film Project. Give it a look-see.

Global warming is in the news, but not as part of an administration goal. Here's Time magazine front story for this past week. You've been warned.

Oh yeah, in a similar vein, another story on those home-built Chevy/Apprentice ads.

One more thing, for you fools who keep telling me to take it easy on McCain. I invite you to look here and look at the whole interview in question here. What a shill.