smays.com

Dancing Freakazoids

"As always, the parade started with the Dykes on Bikes - a contingent of dozens of lesbians on motorcycles who waved, honked and cheered as they roared down Market Street to screams from the crowd. This year, some members of the normally leather-clad group channeled their softer side and rode in wedding dresses and veils, streaming rainbow flags from their bikes." [SFGate.com]

The San Francisco Gay Pride Parade took place yesterday. Barb is in SF for a legal conference and planned to catch the parade and take some pix. Can't wait to see her stuff (so to speak). She's a much better photographer than I. In the meantime, there's interesting images on flickr.

If you can dance in heels, I suppose it's no great trick to run on stilts. Still, I'm impressed. And where do you even find an outfit like this?

If you feel like shooing me, I second that amendment

In April of 2007, John Edwards, Senator Hillary Clinton and Senator Barack Obama were in Iowa, campaigning for the Iowa Caucuses. Radio Iowa News Director Kay Henderson interviewed the candidates and asked each  spoke with each who made a point of talking about gun rights and none of the three endorsed such proposals as gun registration or a ban on handguns.

Kay posted portions of her interviews on her blog, which has generated a couple of dozen comments over the past year. Some flaky, but most thoughtful. The one that  haunts me is from Sergio (who has an email address in Aruba?):

"As a non-US citizen I can't believe how Americans in 2008 still cling to their weapons while trying to police and moralize the rest of the world. Although the US has a unique culture and history - certainly when it comes to guns - I wonder if Americans ever consider why almost no other country in the world allows people to bear arms, especially fire arms. The US has one of if not the highest gun killing rates in the world for a country that is not at (civil) war.

Do you really believe that weapons make a society safer? Strictly licensed weapon possession for hunting and sports is allowed in most countries of the world, but the 'right to keep and bear arms' is really unique."

I honestly don't know if we enjoy the freedoms we do because of, or in spite of, all the handguns (and assault rifles etc etc). If every man in Zimbabwe had a gun, would Robert Mugabe still be in power? Let's face it, the ballot box is a joke in that country. Sort of like Florida.

The recent Supreme Court ruling has prompted me to think about this topic a little. And make a list of all the reasons I can think of for a private citizen owning a handgun. In no particular order:

• Self-defense (from a mugger or home invader)
• Sport/target shooting
• Collector/keepsake
• Repel government goons when some president decides two terms aren't enough
• Commit crimes
• Piss off people who don't think handguns should be legal

That's all that I can come up with at the moment. Self-defense is a popular reason for gun ownership, but I can't recall the last time I heard of someone repelling a robber with their six-shooter. And it seems like there's no end of stories of some youngster shooting his sister (or a dozen or so classmates) with dad's Glock. That's the tasteless interview I'd like to hear.

"Mr. Smith, it's been a year since your oldest boy shot and killed his little brother with the gun he took from your bedside table. Has this terrible tragedy changed your position on hand-gun ownership in anyway?"

I think Sergio is right on one point. We need to stop "trying to police and moralize (to) the rest of the world." It just makes us look like dicks.

If it's all the same to you, we'll wait for the next war

I was talking with a co-worker about Lara Logan's (CBS Chief Foreign Correspondent) recent appearance on The Daily Show. She posed the question, "When was the last time you saw a dead American soldier on TV?" She was making the point that media in the U. S. has been MIA on the war in Iraq (except for that victorious march into Baghdad).

My co-worker's take was: "The only reason to show a dead American soldier would be to turn someone against the war."

Or maybe that war is news and death is part of the story?

Actually, I didn't have a response. I can understand that view coming from W or Rumsfeld (back in the day). But how many citizens feel the same? How many would rather not to see the bloody reality of war on their TV screens?

By this logic, we also shouldn't be seeing the critically wounded at Walter Reed. Or can we translate missing limbs to a "don't-let-their-sacrifices-be-in-vain" message?

So I'm asking myself why we saw more dead troops during the Viet Nam war, and it came to me. We had lots of reporters on the front lines in that war. But not so many on the mean streets of Baghdad.

In the old days, you could make a career filing reports from the front lines. Sure, you could shot, but you weren't likely to wind up the star of a YouTube beheading video.

Naw, American journalism took a pass on this war. Better to let the Brits cover this one.

Obama's management style sounds familiar

This NYT story reminded me one of my favorite management stories (The Cleanest Tastee Freeze in Town). A couple of grafs in particular:

"No state was more important to his candidacy than Iowa, but when (Senator Obama) arrived there for campaign visits he stopped aides who tried to give detailed accounts of developments."

“I’d get in the car with him and talk a mile a minute,” recalled Paul Tewes, who was the campaign’s state director. Mr. Tewes recalled that on the candidate’s fifth visit to the state, Mr. Obama interrupted one of his detailed updates, saying: “You know what, Paul? All I want from you is for you to do your best, and I trust you and you know what you’re doing.”

In the years that I reported to Clyde Lear, I heard him say (to me and others) almost those exact words, more times than I can count. I've heard many talk the talk in this regard, but only a few that could walk the walk. Nice to know Senator O is one of them.

America's prison for terrorists often held the wrong men

An eight-month McClatchy investigation of the detention system created after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks has found that the U.S. imprisoned innocent men, subjected them to abuse, stripped them of their legal rights and allowed Islamic militants to turn the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba into a school for jihad.

"The McClatchy investigation found that top Bush administration officials knew within months of opening the Guantanamo detention center that many of the prisoners there weren't "the worst of the worst." From the moment that Guantanamo opened in early 2002, former Secretary of the Army Thomas White said, it was obvious that at least a third of the population didn't belong there."

Stories like this one -- and the way those accused respond to them -- raise a troubling (to me) question about American journalism. Why can't we have one news organization that everyone can agree is factual and fair. Just one. "Truthiness" is no longer a joke.

Somewhere in the White House and the Pentagon, men and women are figuring out ways to discredit this story and the people who reported it. I won't try to list the tactics they employee because we are all too familiar with them.

And those who chose not to believe stories like this one need only the flimsiest excuse ("There goes the Liberal Media again." or "Fox News says it's not true.").

Remember how skeptical the world was of the claims by German citizens that they didn't know what was going on in the concentration camps?

"Whoa! Hold on there smays.com! You aren't comparing Guantanamo to Auschwitz are you?"

No. I'm talking about what we, the American people, allow our government to do on our behalf. If we've been holding hundreds of innocent men for five or six years and --in some cases-- torturing (I know, I know... water boarding is not torture) them, will our best explanation be, "We were at war."

Ich bin beschämt

Already missing Tim Russert (and my dad)

And I'm not sure why. I didn't "know" the man but, like many of his faithful viewers, felt as though I did. NBC devoted the full half-hour of the evening newscast to memories of Tim ("Mr. Russert" doesn't feel right).

Maybe it's my new-found interest in politics... or Father's Day rolling around again... but I'm reminded of my pop, who died six years ago.

Dad was not the "family man" Tim Russert was reported to be. At least not demonstrably so. But he had his passions and radio was one of them. One I shared.

So, in memory of Tim Russert --and my dad-- I share this interview I did with my dad shortly before he retired from radio.

Obama's spirituality

In 2004, Chicago Sun-Times religion writer Cathleen Falsani interviewed freshman state legislator Barack Obama about his spiritual beliefs. Earlier this year, she republished the entire interview on her blog. Here are a few paragraphs from that interview [pulled selectively]:

"I’m rooted in the Christian tradition. I believe that there are many paths to the same place, and that is a belief that there is a higher power, a belief that we are connected as a people. That there are values that transcend race or culture, that move us forward, and there’s an obligation for all of us individually as well as collectively to take responsibility to make those values lived."

"I’m not somebody who is always comfortable with language that implies I’ve got a monopoly on the truth, or that my faith is automatically transferable to others."

"I’m a big believer in tolerance. I think that religion at it’s best comes with a big dose of doubt. I’m suspicious of too much certainty in the pursuit of understanding just because I think people are limited in their understanding."

"The most powerful political moments for me come when I feel like my actions are aligned with a certain truth. I can feel it. When I’m talking to a group and I’m saying something truthful, I can feel a power that comes out of those statements that is different than when I’m just being glib or clever. I think there is an enormous danger on the part of public figures to rationalize or justify their actions by claiming God’s mandate."

"I think there is this tendency that I don’t think is healthy for public figures to wear religion on their sleeve as a means to insulate themselves from criticism, or dialogue with people who disagree with them."

"What I believe in is that if I live my life as well as I can, that I will be rewarded. I don’t presume to have knowledge of what happens after I die. But I feel very strongly that whether the reward is in the here and now or in the hereafter, the aligning myself to my faith and my values is a good thing."

For all the sturm and drang --and endless showing of a couple of video clips-- surrounding the Reverend Wright... I don't even know what to call it... issue? We learned precious little about Senator Obama's faith and spirituality. This blog post offers a useful insight.

Inside the Beltway

Dave Winer shares a thoughtful post on whether Barack Obama will turn into an Inside The Beltway guy if he gets elected. Dave, like the rest of us, has seen bright young idealistic people get taken over by the systems they proposed to dismantle.

"I don't want to be an insider, I don't want the insiders to rule, I don't want there to be insiders at all. I want to distribute opportunity and acknowledge intelligence and goodness where ever it appears."

"The Internet destabilizes every hierarchy it contacts. It erases every barrier to entry. The only way to win is to point off-site, in every way you can think of. Win by offering better value, not by locking users in. People will become instant refugees to escape your clutches. Think you're immune? Think again."

I've long thought --but could not put into words-- that the Internet might somehow be our salvation. I still think that. 

We wuz robbed!

As the days dwindle down to a precious few, Bill Clinton is bringing back fond memories of those early American Idol try-outs. You know the ones I mean. A large woman (seems like it was usually a woman) comes storming out of the audition room, pushing past Ryan Seacrest screaming, "Fuck Simon! Fuck him!" At least that's what I assume she was screaming. Idol producers bleeped the audio and covered her mouth with a little "censored" sign so we couldn't read her lips (Did she say "Freak you,Simon!? What does that mean?").

Maybe Hillary can be the Syesha Mercado of the primary contest. Go out with a little style. A little class.

I'm telling you, this will make one hell of a movie if and when someone good gets around to making it. Like, oh... how about Mike Nichols and Elaine May. Maybe get John Travolta to play Bill. You know who would be good as Hillary? That British actress... what's her name? Emma Thompson! She'd be perfect.

American Airlines: Boarding of the Fittest

How bad has air travel in the U. S. become? We all know about the delays, canceled flights, germ-laden air, 12-hours-on-the-tarmac and all the rest. But the story my friend George shared this weekend is, I fear, a chilling portent of what's ahead.

He and a colleague were flying back from a business trip (Baltimore to St. Louis) on American Airlines. Of course the flight was over-booked (by three people) and the gate agent offered vouchers for anyone willing to give up their seat (I think he said it was $200).

A little while later they made the announcement again, including some reference to not being able to depart until the oversold problem (now down to two) was resolved. Still no takers.

A few minutes later the agent came back on the PA and made an announcement that George recalls as:

"Ladies and gentlemen. We are still oversold and we can't delay departure any longer. Please line up for boarding... the last two people in line will not get on this flight."

George couldn't believe his ears. Everyone in the departure area looked at each other for a second and then stampeded, pushing and elbowing trying to insure they wouldn't be at the end of the line.

This might just be the most chicken-shit thing yet from an airline. The gate agent could determine the last two passengers to book the the flight and break the bad news. Instead, they made the other passengers fight and claw like animals to get on the plane.

What about the infirm or women with babies, I asked. "No pre-boarding of any kind."

Yes, maybe this was an isolated incident. One gutless gate agent. But can you imagine if this is --or becomes-- standard procedure?

New media can't get here soon enough

Proto-blogger Dave Winer thinks the real problem revealed by Scott McClellan's new tell-all book is that the press was complicit in beating the Iraq war drum:

"But corporate-owned media isn't interested in helping us make decisions as a country, they're only interested in ad revenue. That's why it's so important that we're creating new media that isn't so conflicted, and why the question of whether bloggers run ads or not is far from a trivial issue."

When it comes to national media, there really are not that many outlets that need to be manipulated. Four TV networks; maybe that many cable news channels; a handful of newspapers with national reach. If you can juke them, you've got a lot of the country juked.

The sooner their influence is diminished, the better. There will no longer be even the illusion of "national media" and people will have to work (a little) at being informed. Sure, the willfully clueless will still head for blogs and news sites that confirm their view. But the rest of us will stop trusting (if we haven't already) news organizations that are child's play for political spin-miesters.

Scott's been brainwashed!

Let me see if I've got this... the mainstream media boys are covering --and evaluating-- Scott McClellan's charges that the mainstream media was asleep at the wheel in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq. Is that right?

Give me a fucking break. McClellan's book appears to confirm what most Americans now "know in their knowers"... Bush & Co. lied to us in selling the war.

What we're seeing now is the frantic scramble you get when you turn the light on in a kitchen full of roaches. RUN!!!

What mystifies me is why the Bush Gang cares. They long ago quit giving a shit what the American people thought about them and their policies. Why all the drama about a press secretary's book.

The obvious spin is going be that someone "got to" Scott McClellan.

"Poor whites are being conned"

So writes Leonard Pitts, a columnist for the Miami Herald who's trying to understand why Barack Obama lost so decisively in West Virginia (and later in Kentucky). If there's a victim here, it's not Senator Obama.

"The white poor have been victims of a con job going back at least as far as the Civil War, when poor white men were used as cannon fodder for the right of rich white men -- I repeat: rich white men -- to keep slaves. They were told they fought for state's rights.

From then till now, the white poor have often been the front line of white supremacy. You think people with college degrees and six-figure salaries are out there marching around under pointy white hoods, burning crosses? Hardly.

My point is that race has often been used as a means of distracting and diverting the white poor. They had little in life, nor any realistic expectation of having more.

But the one thing they did have -- or so the con went -- was whiteness itself. Which meant they had someone to be better than. Someone to look down upon."

Hearing this idea so clearly expressed reminded me of some of my favorite films that incorporated this theme: To Kill A Mockingbird, In the Heat of the Night, Monster's Ball.

It will be interesting to see how the GOP works this lever between now and November.

flickr'ing and 'tubing Obama and Clinton

Senator Hillary Clinton has been complaining (whining?) that she is not being treated fairly by The Media. I won't argue that point because "media" probably means something different to me than to her.

But I was fascinated by the results of flickr searches for "Hillary Clinton" and "Barack Obama." Rather than try to characterize the two here, I'll let you browse at your leisure and draw your own conclusions. And I'm open to the possibility my perception is colored by my support for Obama.

I suppose Senator Clinton could argue that she is not being treated fairly by "flickr users" since her core constituencies seem to be white women over 50 and less-affluent, less-educated white people living in Appalachia. Not heavy flickr users, one might suppose.

But I'm not sure how one could argue that the future does not belong to the Internet generation(s). And I recently hit 60 so I don't think that's ageism.

What's my point? This just underscores the idea that Obama represents the future and, yes, change. McCain and Clinton... the past. Things as they have been.

PS: I just did the same searches on YouTube and the difference is even more pronounced. Obama - Clinton.

Novel only missed by eight years

I'm reading (for the 4th or 5th time) The War in 2020 by Ralph Peters. One of the minor characters in the novel, written in 1991, is Johathan Water, the black president of the United States. Here are a couple of paragraphs from page 120:

"President Waters had been elected in 2016, on a platform that focused on domestic renewal and on bridging the gap between the increasingly polarized elements in American society.

The candidacy of Jonathan Water succeeded on the premise that all Americans could live together. He promised education, urban renewal, and opportunity, and he was a handsome, magnetic man, who spoke in the rhetoric of Yale rather than the Baptist Church. A campaign-season joke called him the white-man's black and the black-man's white... and he felt like the right man for the times to a bare majority of the citizens of his country. He defeated an opponent who was a foreign policy expert, but who had few domestic solutions with which to inspire a troubled nation."

Is it just me, or does that have a familiar ring to it?

Scott Adams: "Israel Defeats the Entire Middle East"

Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams thinks Isreal will eventually create the technology that will make oil irrelevant:

"The oh-my-God moment came when I realized that Israel can destroy all of its local enemies by inventing solar technology that makes oil uneconomical. Such an invention would do more harm than any military attack. And it’s all legal and moral. The politicians and business people in Israel have all the right incentives times a thousand. Their very survival is at risk. Israel is one patent away from crushing every oil producing country in the world."

In his post, he links to the article that provided his ah-ha moment.

Rendition

If you haven't seen the film, here's the plot summary of Rendition:

"After a terrorist bombing kills an American envoy in a foreign country. An investigation leads to an Egyptian who has been living in the United States for years and who is married to an American. He is apprehended when he's on his way home. The U.S. sends him to the country where the incident occurs for interrogation which includes torture. An American CIA operative observes the interrogation and is at odds whether to keep it going or to stop it."

Back in the day when people debated the death penalty, you'd sometimes hear the question:

Would it be preferable to execute 100 guilty men, knowing that one of them was innocent... or to let 100 innocent men go free, knowing that one of them was guilty?

In the movie Rendition, Meryl Streep's character does a spin on that. Something along the lines of it would be worth torturing an innocent man if the use of torture produced intelligence that saved 7,000 lives (in London?).

I'm sad to say that a lot (most?) of folks I know would say, "Hell yes, do whatever it takes to get 'em to talk!"

Even if your son is the innocent victim?

A thought provoking movie... unless you've stopped think.

"Listen, Can You Do Me A Favor And Join The Army?"

"Hey, can you do something for me real quick? Could you enlist in the Army? I'm only asking because I was just wondering about it, because it would be great, I think. If you joined the Army. And it would definitely help me out."

This recruitment pitch is so compelling, I think I'd enlist. If I were 40 years younger and wanted to lose a foot for George Bush. But it sounds like the U. S. Army is finding "a few good men."

Can't we just lock them away somewhere for nine months?

"The Missouri House of Representatives has approved a bill, the main feature of which, would create the crime of coercing a woman to have an abortion. It also would require abortion clinics to offer women information about alternatives to abortion and about the fetus. The bill now goes to the Senate." [The Missourinet]

I tell people I'm from Bulgaria.

Scott Adams on draft dodging

"If a person is relatively certain that going to war will end his ability to enjoy the rest of his life, one way or another, and the war does not present a plausible threat to the homeland, is such a person unpatriotic for dodging the draft to save himself?

The obvious answer is yes, he is unpatriotic. If your country calls on you, you need to go. End of story.

On the other hand, what is the point of a being patriotic to a country that intends to kill you for its own marginal benefit? Such a country would be your natural enemy, not your friend, so any question of patriotism would be nonsense in this particular situation."

Like most of Mr. Adam's posts, this one is well written and thought provoking. You need to read the full post before answering the (for the time being) hypothetical question.

A less-hypothetical quesion: Are you willing to sacrifice your son or daughter because George W. Bush wanted to prove something to his daddy?

Freedom of Religion

Let me see if I have this right? The FLDS moms let their 13 year old daughters get "married" to 50 year old horn dogs... and they don't understand why their children were taken from them? Puh-leeze!

Why is it always the most "religious" who like to have sex with kids? Is it the same reason closeted gay Senators vote against gay marriage?

What happens when all these guys get to "heaven?" Pedophile priests, Islamic martyrs and polygamists pervs all locked in a room with no virgins and no kids. Bible/Koran study for eternity. And no lube.

I'd cheat on my taxes if I knew I wouldn't get caught

There. I said it.

Given what we all know about the waste, corruption, inefficiency and stupidity of the people that run our government... and what we don't know... a big chunk of what we all pay in taxes every year goes down the shitter or into some politician-turned-lobbyist's pocket.

Remember the story about the $8.8 billion dollars (360 tons of cash) shipped on palettes to Baghdad? Pissed away, stolen, unaccounted for. My money was on one of those palettes. Along with yours.

You bet I'd cheat on my taxes if I knew I could get away with it. But I wouldn't think of it as cheating. Because I would do something good (for others) with the money. Yes, I think I can help more people than the nimrods in DC. All I lack is the larceny and the nerve.

"Money or Bombs"

The latest in a seemingly endless string of brilliant and insightful posts, Scott Adams presents his "Money or Bombs" theory:

"I don’t know how many nukes the United States has pointed toward China, but one would be too many. China isn’t going to attack its biggest customer. And in the unlikely event that some other country attacks China, we’d offer military assistance in a heartbeat. There’s too much money at stake on both sides."

I wonder why China and most of the rest of the world didn't jump in when we attacked Iraq? Because it was stupid idea?

It probably went something like this...

Presidential Aide: Mr. President, two airliners have been flown into the World Trade Center Towers.

George W. Bush: Those are the big ones in New York, right?

Aide: Yes sir. We think there might be as many as 3,000 dead.

Bush: Who did it?

Aide: We think they were Saudis.

Bush: Damn, I've played golf with those guys.

Aide: No sir. These are probably extremists.

Bush: No shit. What are we gonna do about it?

Vice President Cheney: Mr. President, we have to invade Iraq but we need to invade Afghanistan first to make it look good.

Bush: Do we think that prick Saddam had something to do with it?

Cheney: Sir, we don't know that he didn't.

Bush: I'd like to nuke that fucker. Does he have nukes or chemical weapons or something.

CIA Director George Tennent: There's no evidence of that, Mr. President.

Cheney: Take another look.

Tennent: Yes sir.

Cheney: When we invade, I think I can get my friends at Halliburton to pitch in.

Bush: Cool.

[Fast forward. The Liberation of Irag is not going well]

Bush: Goddamn it Rummy, I thought you said this thing would take a few weeks and we'd be greeted as liberators. Everyone going to Camp David with me and the First Lady, take one step forward... not so fast Rummy!

[Later]

Bush: Karl, we're in the shit here. What should we do?

Karl Rove: Well, you're in your final term... just drag the thing out and leave it for the Democrats.

Bush: Can we do that?

Rove: I don't see why not. We can say things we're looking good when we left.

Bush: But things look like hell!

Rove: Just wait. They'll look a lot worse.

Bush: But won't history show that I screwed the pooch on this?

Rove and Cheney: (Looking at the floor and ceiling respectively)

Cheney: Uh, no sir, Mr. President. All anyone will remember is the Middle East exploded on the Democrats' watch. Uh, listen guys, I gotta run. I'm going skeet shooting with Scooter.

Update: Just in... a plan for withdrawal.

I'd like a bottle of 2 million sunblock, please

That last post started me thinking. I grew up in the 50's and 60's --at the height of the cold war-- 30 miles from a SAC (Strategic Air Command) base that everyone understood was a prime target in the event of a nuclear war. As Sarah Conner said in Terminator 2, "Anybody not wearing 2 million sunblock is gonna have a real bad day."

And it seemed like a real possibility. Maybe that's why we think Bush and Cheney are full of shit. Yes, the bad guys hit us and they hit us good. But it was nothing compared to what the USSR (and the USA) were ready to do.

Sure, one of the Sons of the Desert could blow up one of our federal buildings. Timothy McVey showed us that wasn't hard to do. And they'll do it whether we're in Iraq or not.

LeBron not Kong

Seems I wasn't the only one to notice the similarity between the Vogue cover featuring BB star LeBron James and the iconic image of King Kong. According to this AP story, some are saying "the photo was deliberately provocative, adding that it "screams King Kong."

What'd I tell you?

Where are all the black kids?

When I was in the first grade (1954) we lived a few blocks from the city park, the centerpiece of which was the municipal swimming pool. You could swim from open till close for 10 cents. I don't know this for a fact, but I don't think most small towns in southeast Missouri had a pool.

Come to think of it, Kennett had another pool. At the country club, although I'm not sure it had been built in '54.

I never noticed that the city pool was segregated, until it wasn't. That happened in the sixties due in no small parts to the efforts of Sol Astrachan, Kennett's first Jewish mayor. No connection implied.

It was a big deal. I seem to recall some white families forbidding their children going to the pool once "anyone" could swim there.

Barack Obama's speech today (video/text) started me thinking about growing up in a segregated community. I don't think most of us were even aware there were no black kids in our classes. We just didn't think about them. They had their own school somewhere, didn't they?

It was called Willoughby School and it was located in what most white people in Kennet called "colored town." Did the kids sitting in those classrooms wonder where all the white kids were, or --like us-- did it never come to mind?

Growing up, I never had a black friend close enough to ask. We just didn't talk about those things back then. Props to Obama for talking about them today.

Delicious Snacks Distract Congressmen from Horrors of War

Delicious Snacks Distract Congressmen From Horrors Of War

He likes to leave his sox on

More than 300,000 people have listened to Ashley Dupré's music on the Web site AmieStreet.com since her name emerged as the prostitute at the center of the Eliot Spitzer sex scandal. That translates to about $200K

And she could make a lot more money soon: Larry Flynt's Hustler magazine has offered her $1 million to bare all in its pages. Penthouse and porn studio Vivid Video are readying proposals.

Mrs. Spitzer could easily have a book deal but I have an idea for easier money. She hires a crew to video a "frank and open discussion" between her and Ashley. Let it all hang out, nothing held back.

And they sell it to the highest bidder. Or bidders. And split the money. If she moved fast and has the right agent, it would be worth millions. And what sweet revenge.

Factoid: I was unable to fine a single photo of a man wearing just his sox. That might be the strangest part of his entire sordid affair. I know some readers will take a photo of their own sox-clad feet and send them to me. I'll need the url for verification.

Update: the image above is courtes of http://www.sandalandsoxer.co.uk/home.htm. See comments.

10 depressing quotes from Orwell's 1984

I think I need to up my meds. Ever click seems to take me somewhere like this sampling of quotes from George Orwell's 1984. My favorite:

"There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment. How often, or on what system, the Thought Police plugged in on any individual wire was guesswork. It was even conceivable that they watched everybody all the time. But at any rate they could plug in your wire whenever they wanted to. You had to live—did live, from habit that became instinct—in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinized."

Open letter to Congress, the Pentagon and leaders of the free world

We need your help. We need your help to stop George W. Bush from starting a war with Iran. George W. Bush no longer represents the will of the American people. 77% of Americans disapprove of Bush's job performance and do NOT support attacking Iran. But it's been a long time since Bush cared what the American people think.

You could say we have the kind of leadership we deserve and you'd be right. Even if you believe --as I do-- that Bush and his cronies stole the 2000 election, we allowed the vote to be close enough for him to get away with it. We know we fucked up and a lot of us are trying to rectify our mistake.

But it now seems clear that George Bush plans to launch some sort of military strike against Iran before he leaves office. Dick Cheney has been conspicuously absent for months, working on this disastrous scheme.

As embarrassing as it is to admit, we --the American people-- can't stop our president because it's been a long time since he cared what we thought.

But maybe you can buy us some time. We just need keep him in check until November. Assuming McCain doesn't win. In that event, America --and Iran-- are fucked.

Our congress probably doesn't have the balls or the votes to stop this madness. Our generals and admirals --with a few exceptions-- will put their careers ahead of their country. So it's up to the rest of the world to stop Bush.

We just need a little time to clean up the mess that is the Bush administration.

PS: I'm hoping for some six-degrees thing here. J-Walk gives me a link.One of his readers emails it to a friend in Germany. She knows the woman that cleans the home of German Chancellor Angela Merkel.... and so forth. It could happen.

The Good Stuff

From the fees page on the Emperors Club website:

"Each model's respective introduction fee has been placed on her page and is symbolized by the number of diamonds on her page. Beginning with three diamonds at $1,000 and escalating beyond $2,100 at six diamonds, fees vary according to individual education, sophistication and ambiances created by each of our models."



Sounds like Governor Spitzer went top-of-the-line at $4,300. I tremble at the thought of what you get for four grand, since there's no mention of double-jointed'ness. And props to the web designer who revealed the hos' beauty but not their identity.

PS: I didn't link to the website because it went down from all the traffic.

Doc's "story none dare tell"

Doc Searls says we need a new leadership narrative:

"...what’s “super” about U.S. superpower -- a near-limitless ability to make high-technology war, backed by a fighting force of finite size with few allies -- is an anachronism. I’m not sure the people of any Great Nation are ever ready to face the fact that the height of their military and economic powers has passed. Or that the leadership they most need to assert is no longer only a military and economic one."

If we can no longer win every war we start and our economy isn't Number One... is it possible for the U.S. to still be "super?" Let's hope so.

This is a thoughtful and insightful post on America, leadership and journalism. Worth a read.

The Myth of the Surge

Writing in the current issue of Rolling Stone, Nir Rosen gives us a spin-free report from the streets of Baghdad. ... And for an even scarier perspective on the "war on terrorism" and the real reason we're up to our chins in Middle East doo doo, read this article from The Guardian archives.

USA! Still number one!

Washington Post: "More than one in 100 adults in the United States is in jail or prison, an all-time high that is costing state governments nearly $50 billion a year, in addition to more than $5 billion spent by the federal government, according to a report released today.

With more than 2.3 million people behind bars at the start of 2008, the United States leads the world in both the number and the percentage of residents it incarcerates, leaving even far more populous China a distant second, noted the report by the nonpartisan Pew Center on the States."

W to fund war with bumper sticker sales

Are you talking to me?

"I've never made a speech like this at a political event before. So what am I doing here?" De Niro said. "I'm here because finally one person has inspired me. One person has given me hope. One person has made me believe that we can make a change."

"Some of you know I now have Secret Service protection," Obama said. "Those guys never smile; they are always cool. But I noticed when De Niro walks in, they're all like elbowing each other."

"And now Matt is going to close his eyes and fall backward..."

Standing on a pool table along side of Missouri Governor Matt Blunt, republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney addresses supporters during a campaign stop at a Dave and Buster Restaurant in Maryland Heights, Missouri on February 3, 2008. (UPI Photo/Bill Greenblatt)

Please rank Governor Blunt's level of discomfort on a scale of 1-10.

"No more than 10 to 20 million killed - tops!"

Arianna likens McCain to General Buck Turgidson, George C. Scott's war-loving character in Dr. Strangelove. "I'm not saying we wouldn't get our hair mussed, but I do say no more than 10 to 20 million killed - tops!"

On the other hand, the training of the Iraqi army seems to be going well.

How do you know when it's over?

When you find yourself in the Fraternal Order of the Eagle Banquet Hall in Jefferson City. That's Missourinet reporter Brent Martin. The faces say it all. [Photo by Jon Allison]

Are we rolling?

My friend and co-worker Darin managed to snag a seat in Obama's plane last night but left his mic cord at home so we don't have what I'm sure was a fine report. Darin is trying to scare up fodder for a new podcast called Press Pass.

The children are the future

I found the following comment on one of our network blogs:

"i was looking online for a school project and ran acrost a small comment by obama that said"band all semi atomatic weapons" banding ALL semi auto guns wouldnt make a differns. that wont stop kids from coming to schools with guns! in some case's it will just agrravate them to do it more as an act of rebeling."

I don't know which frightens me more... the thought of this little fucker with a gun or that he's a product of our education system.

Obama campaign promises

Can getting it wrong be okay?

Good post by Terry Heaton that speaks to the "accuracy" of stories reported online. His case in point was the early --and inaccurate-- report that Heath Ledger died in the apartment of Mary Kate Olsen.

"What people are seeing now is an old-fashioned process -- reporting -- as it unfolds in real time. If the public wants its information as raw and immediate as possible, it’ll have to get used to a few missteps along the way, and maybe even approach breaking stories with a bit of skepticism, like a good reporter would.

So a part of the “process” of news is mistakes, and the ethical question is does it matter in a world of news-as-a-process? I’m not so sure it does, as long as mistakes are corrected -- just as, I might add, they are corrected in the news gathering process in professional newsrooms."

GOP escape pod discovered in New Mexico desert

Missouri governor Matt Blunt met with reporters at the Capitol this morning to discuss yesterday's surprising announcement that he will not seek a second term. Blunt says he has accomplished the goals he announced for his administration during the 2004 campaign and feels it is time to move on and to spend more time with his wife and son. 

When this story broke late Tuesday, I Googled around and found this highly produced video on YouTube. (I found it interesting the governor chose to to break the story on his own YouTube channel) Here's a photo our reporter shot at this morning's news conference. I'll ask around the newsroom, but can anyone tell me why the governor would video the event? Do the record all news conferences? If so, why?

Update: Don't know why it didn't dawn on me that this was some news photog. There were a dozen or so covering the news conference. The gov's staff shot some stills but no video. Never mind.

I think this (deciding not to run for a second term) adds weight to my theory (which I've posted previously) that Republicans are quietly and secretly fleeing the planet. I've lost track of how many have mysteriously left congress ("to spend more time with my family").

I'm convinced there's a Starship being readied at a secret base in the New Mexico desert. One by one ("let's not all leave at once") the GOP is getting out of Dodge (or Earth in this instance) before the shit hits the fan. If you have a more plausible theory, comments are welcome.

Shred faster boys, they're almost here!

"Andrew Curry, in “Intel Inside,” Wired 16 (February 2008), describes how efforts are being made, with the help of computers, to put back together Stasi files shredded as the Iron Curtain crashed. The Stasi, the East German secret police, sought to destroy its records, shredding by machine and ripping by hand 45 million documents into 600 million paper scraps. In May 2007 German computer scientists announced they had developed a way of doing this digitally, and that they could do it in five years – an amazing accomplishment if it is done given that the documents are “made of everything from carbon paper and newsprint to Polaroid and heavy file folders.” [from Reading Archives]

I was feeling pretty good, reading about this project, until I came across this little nugget near the end:

"In November (2007), the first children born after the fall of the wall turned 18. Evidence suggests many of them have serious gaps in their knowledge of the past. In a survey of Berlin high school students, only half agreed that the GDR was a dictatorship. Two-thirds didn't know who built the Berlin Wall."

No matter what kind of evil shit a government pulls, just one generation later and people don't remember or don't care. I think W will be okay.

"Merchants of Trivia"

In the January issue of Rolling Stone, Matt Taibbi asks why the media insists "on reducing one of the most exciting presidential primary seasons in American history to a simple horse race." I've highlighted my favorite (?) points.

"Every reporter who spends any real time on the campaign trail gets wrapped up in the horse race. It's inevitable. You tell me how you can spend nearly two years watching the dullest speeches known to man and not spend most of your time wondering about the one surefire interesting moment the whole thing has to offer: the ending.

Stripped of its prognosticating element, most campaign journalism is essentially a clerical job, and not a particularly noble one at that. On the trail, we reporters aren't watching politics in action: The real stuff happens behind closed doors, where armies of faceless fund-raising pros are glad-handing equally faceless members of the political donor class, collecting hundreds of millions of dollars that will be paid off in very specific favors over the course of the next four years. That's the real high-stakes poker game in this business, and we don't get to sit at that table.

Instead, we get to be herded day after day into one completely controlled environment after another, where we listen to an array of ideologically similar politicians deliver professionally crafted advertising messages that we, in turn, have the privilege of delivering to the public free of charge. We rarely get to ask the candidates real questions, and even when we do, they almost never answer."

Spread your cheeks, please

Encountered something new during security check-in at the San Francisco airport on Thursday. They made us pull anything even remotely "electric" from our carry-on bags. This included power cords, iPod cable, ear buds, and god knows what else. Heretofore, we could leave those in the computer bag and just put the laptop in a separate tub.

Don't know if this is a permanent hassle or something isolated, I couldn't find anything on the TSA website. But it's all a hand-job. No sensible person believe we are really any safer for all this bullshit.

Hit the comment link if you know more about this.

Esteban Colberto interviews Lou Dobbs

Writers strike? What writers strike?

"War requires a certain degree of lying to the citizens"

Scott Adams thinks we might be entering a "Golden Age:"

"One view of the near future is that terrorists will get nukes and set the atmosphere on fire, or global warming will kill us all, or bird flu will create a pandemic, or the world economy will melt down, or all of those disasters will happen at once. I suppose that’s possible. But I think it’s more likely we are entering a golden age.

My Golden Age prediction assumes technology will continue to surprise us, especially in the energy realm. The high cost of oil has generated a seemingly endless parade of energy technology research and subsequent breakthroughs.

Wars appear to be shrinking too. World Wars I and II will probably be the final wars between major powers. The biggest powers of today are more interested in being trading partners than foes. As nations become more connected, via economics and the Internet, the risk of war decreases. All war requires a certain degree of lying to the citizens, and the Internet will continue to make that harder."