Just in case you were wondering...
MSNBC - Song swappers could face jail time: "Users of Internet 'peer to peer' networks, already dodging lawsuits from the recording industry, could face up to three years in prison under a bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives Tuesday."
...yes, this is Bush's fault. The Republicans back big industry, big industry wins big court cases when Republicans are in office... so shut down your KazAa, I guess.
No way.
MSNBC - Father of fitness, Jack La Lanne, turns 90 - "At age 41 he successfully swam from Alcatraz Island to Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco – handcuffed!
"At age 60 and 65 he did it again. And at age 70, he pulled 70 boats with 70 people in them, while again being shackled and handcuffed."
What?
More proof of my Einstein quote...
MSNBC - Good news for Bush in two new polls: "In conducting their poll, the Post and ABC found that Bush has built his lead by through 'relentless attacks on Kerry' that have 'badly damaged the Democratic nominee. ... Voters routinely describe Kerry as wishy-washy, as a flip-flopper and as a candidate they are not sure they can trust, almost as if they are reading from Bush campaign ad scripts.'"
Got my hopes up
MSNBC - Fannie Mae management may be ousted - "Federal regulators, who are ordering Fannie Mae to take prompt action to remedy what they say are serious accounting problems, also have raised the possibility of removing top managers of the giant mortgage finance company."
I thought for a second, "Hey, if they go bankrupt, maybe I don't have to pay my mortgage!" Then... I realized that was way too good to be true.
People are assholes.
MSNBC - Calif. bans weed pulling by hand on farms: "Under a rule approved by the California Occupational Safety and Health Division, farmworkers, in most cases, will not have to stoop to pull weeds, but will instead be given long-handled tools that will allow them to work without bending over. The rule takes effect within two weeks."
Why wouldn't they just give them those tools in the first place? What do they cost, five bucks each?
Read.
East Hampton Star - In the News - "I fault this president for not knowing what death is. He does not suffer the death of our 21-year-olds who wanted to be what they could be. On the eve of D-Day in 1944 General Eisenhower prayed to God for the lives of the young soldiers he knew were going to die. He knew what death was. Even in a justifiable war, a war not of choice but of necessity, a war of survival, the cost was almost more than Eisenhower could bear.
"But this president does not know what death is. He hasn't the mind for it. You see him joking with the press, peering under the table for the weapons of mass destruction he can't seem to find, you see him at rallies strutting up to the stage in shirt sleeves to the roar of the carefully screened crowd, smiling and waving, triumphal, a he-man.
"He does not mourn. He doesn't understand why he should mourn. He is satisfied during the course of a speech written for him to look solemn for a moment and speak of the brave young Americans who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country."
Wow.
MSNBC - Montana plane crash 'fatalities' hike to safety: "Two days after they were reported killed in a plane crash, two U.S. Forest Service employees emerged from the wilderness, astonishing family members who had believed they were dead and baffling rescuers still sifting through the charred wreckage in a remote part of Montana.
"Jodee Hogg, 23, of Billings, and Matthew Ramige, 29, of Jackson Hole, Wyo., were spotted along a highway Wednesday, nearly 48 hours after the wreck that killed three others, officials said."
Finally, somewhere I belong
Mountain Dew Anonymous - I drink 3-6 cans of Diet Mountain Dew every day, and now there's a club for people just like me.
His own idea, my ass
MSNBC - Allawi delivers 'thank you' to Congress: "Iraq's interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi went before Congress on Thursday to stress that progress is being made in bringing democracy to his country and to deliver a message of gratitude on behalf of the Iraqi people. 'Thank you, America,' he said, adding that the overwhelming majority of Iraqis support the U.S.-led military operation that toppled Saddam Hussein from power.
"In an appearance that President Bush's advisers hoped would ease American voters' doubts about the troubled campaign in Iraq, Allawi told a joint meeting of Congress that despite struggles and setbacks, 'the values of liberty and democracy' are taking hold there.
"'Today, we are better off, you are better off, the world is better off without Saddam Hussein,' Allawi said."
Amazing -- that speech sounds exactly like some of Bush's talking points! I wonder who wrote that speech! Here's a little screenplay of what happened before that speech.
Random Creepy Bush Administration Honcho: (
hands Allawi stack of papers) You will give this speech to the United States Congress, as it is written here, or we will take away our troops, and you will probably be murdered by your own people.
Allawi: When's my flight?
Damn crazy Russians...
MSNBC - Kalashnikov gives new meaning to shot - "The creator of one of the world’s most famous guns, the AK-47 assault rifle, launched another weapon in Britain on Monday — Kalashnikov vodka."
...but honestly, that's a really good idea.
OK, but...
CNN.com - Still burning bright - Sep 20, 2004 - "They sure do not make things anymore like the Texas lightbulb that sold for a few cents and has burned for 96 straight years.
The North Fort Worth Historical Society will have a birthday party Tuesday for its famous household fixture -- a lightbulb that has burned continuously since September 21, 1908. The bulb was first illuminated when a stagehand at a local opera house flicked a switch and posted a sign that the light over a stage entrance was not be turned off."
A few questions:
1) There's never been a power outage, ever, in 96 years?
2) Is there a generator hooked up to the bulb in case the power does go out? (Trick question... because if they did hook one up, they'd have to temporarily cut the power)
OK, only two questions. But I demand answers. This post isn't nearly as important as the one below, which still has me pissed off.
I can't believe I just read that.
MSNBC - Deadline nears for 2 other hostages: "The militant in the center read out a statement, as the hostage rocked back and forth and side to side where he sat. After finishing, the militant pulled a knife and cut his throat until the head was severed.
"The victim gasped loudly as blood poured from his neck. His killer held up the head at one point, and placed it on top of the body."
Sick... mother... fuckers. Why isn't there an uprising in Iraq by the normal citizens against these twisted fucks that are painting such a terrible international picture of their country? Until these psychos lose their popular support, they'll have free reign to keep doing shit like this.
I'm so sick of Iraq.
Say what?
MSNBC - Yankees batter Pedro, extend lead to 4 1/2 - "'This team doesn’t get demoralized. This is the Sox,' Kevin Millar said."
Isn't "demoralized" the Red Sox motto? I'm not really a baseball fan, but I just love watching the Red Sox lose for some reason. I think it's a comforting reminder that as much as things change in this crazy world, at least some things never do.
Huge kudos to this lady. Read.
MSNBC - "He Can Make Us Safe" - "Kristen Breitweiser supported George W. Bush in 2000. This year, she’s endorsing his opponent. She is certainly not the only woman in America to change her mind about whom she plans to vote for this election, but Breitweiser is no ordinary voter. The New Jersey lawyer-turned-stay-at-home-mom has taken on an increasingly prominent role since September 11. After her husband, Ron, a vice president at Fiduciary Trust, was killed in the World Trade Center, she joined three other widows from her state as activists demanding a full investigation into the 2001 attacks. The group, who call themselves "The Jersey Girls,” have since testified before Congress, met with administration officials, and lobbied successfully for the creation of the 9/11 Commission to look into intelligence failures leading up to the 2001 attacks."
Read. (The whole article, numbnuts)
MSNBC - Where's the Outrage?: "The White House kept the report under wraps for two months, yet where is the outrage? Instead, Republicans want to launch hearings on the inner workings of CBS. 'It really scares me when members of Congress begin to publicly talk about holding an investigation into how a journalist does his job,' says Bill Kovach, veteran newsman and founder of the Committee of Concerned Journalists. The First Amendment begins with the words 'Congress shall make no law' when it comes to abridging freedom of religion or expression, or freedom of the press. 'What if Congress began an investigation into what the Catholic church does,' Kovach says to make his point on how wildly inappropriate Cox's action is."
Just look at this thing...
Good news from moveon.org
"Though you'd never know it from the TV news, a close look at the polls shows that the Republican convention was actually a bust for the President. According to the Gallup polling agency, Bush's bounce was "one of the smallest registered in Gallup polling history, along with Hubert Humphrey's two-point bounce following the 1968 Democratic convention [and] George McGovern's zero-point bounce following the 1972 Democratic convention . . . Bush's bounce is the smallest an incumbent president has received."[1] Bush's speech received slightly worse ratings from voters than John Kerry's, and according to the same Gallup poll, a remarkable 38% of voters said the convention made them less likely to vote for Bush.[2]
"The truth is that after hundreds of millions of dollars in negative advertising, after the "Swift Boat Veterans for Bush" attacks, after four nights of prime-time convention TV, and after four years in the bully pulpit of the White House, George Bush is still just neck-and-neck with John Kerry in the race for the Presidency."
Check out
moveon.org, while you're at it.
Surprise!
MSNBC - Congress lets assault weapons ban expire - The direct result of Bush being beholden to the NRA. Now pretend for a minute that you're a cop. You've got a pistol on your belt and a shotgun in the glove compartment -- if you're lucky. Bad guys can buy AK-47's at the local store, legally. You're thinking: Shoulda been a fireman.
Bullshit.
MSNBC - North Korea blast not likely nuclear - "A huge explosion rocked North Korea last week but U.S. and South Korean officials said Sunday it was unlikely to have been a nuclear weapons test despite the appearance of a "peculiar cloud" over the area."
I don't buy it. If they tested a nuke over there, do you really think we'd ever find out about it? I'm surprised we even are hearing about the mushroom cloud. Tell me this -- how many
non-nuclear explosions could "rock North Korea" and leave a mushroom cloud visible from space?
I don't have a good feeling.
I'm writing down September 1, 2004, as the day I really started doubting that John Kerry would win the election. Maybe it's just the hype from the GOP convention, but they really have done a fantastic job of making Bush vs. Kerry seem like a battle between a determined terrorist-buster and a hesitant, hand-wringing, waffle-spewing wimp (never mind that the facts support none of that nonsense). Kerry just doesn't have the incredible political machine behind him that Bush has, the same machine that destroyed McCain, who clearly was the better GOP candidate in 2000. All I can say is I hope I'm wrong.
Who knew he was such a hothead?
MSNBC - Garnett punches player during pickup game - "Rickert, 21, scored several times with the 6-foot-11 Garnett guarding him. Several other players began to "tease" Garnett about being outplayed, according to a source. When Rickert scored again, Garnett struck him without warning.
"'Rick was surprised that Garnett reacted the way he did,'" said Rickert's agent, Mark Termini.
"In November 2000, Garnett punched teammate Wally Szczerbiak in the head following an argument."
