Where you at

Thanks for all who have been visiting over these late lean days. I took a long weekend to "recharge my batteries" (apparently, PRB is battery acid, who knew?), and have thus been away from the computer for awhile. As luck would have it, I think I'm now getting a cold as well. I blame Ashcroft.
Anyway, if you're seriously jonesin' for some of that hot innernet action that only John Adams can bring you, go here and class up yo sorry-ass life.

Yours,
Sweet Chocolate Matthew Rockefeller


UPDATE: Link fixed. I never thought I'd see the day a hippie tells me what's up. Damn.

Sunday song lyric

So, the Wilco show last night was rad. Jeff Tweedy was atypically (in my experience) chipper and ebullient, joking and bantering with the crowd. The new band, while obviously excited to play the new material they helped to craft, was decidedly less enthusiastic about the older stuff, and especially the obligatory crowd pleasers like "Casino Queen." But they rocked the potty, and the crowd was definitely loving every minute of it. It was a great show in a beautiful venue; well worth the ticket price. The highlights, for me, were "I Am Trying To Break Your Heart," "Reservations," "Handshake Drugs," and an emotional rendering of "Jesus, Etc."

Jesus, don't cry
you can rely on me honey
you can combine anything you want
I'll be around
you were right about the stars
each one is a setting sun

tall buildings shake
voices escape singing sad sad songs
turned to chords strung down your cheeks
bitter melodies turning your orbit around

don't cry
you can rely on me honey
you can come by any time you want
I'll be around
you were right about the stars
each one is a setting sun

From: My New Filing Technique Is Unstoppable

What "Rathergate" was really all about

It's not about busting the ass of the "liberal media," or trying to connect the Kerry campaign to shady business. NYU Assistant Professor Adam Peneberg, writing in Wired, adds some perspective to the whole sordid affair:

But if it weren't for wild and wooly blogs -- in this case, conservative ones -- the story might have withered on the vine. They function as a vast, ad-hoc quality-control department, reflecting the entire political spectrum. Suddenly readers can (and do) subject reporters to unprecedented levels of scrutiny. Facts are analyzed and checked against their sources, quotes deconstructed, grammar parsed -- all of this done in public view.

This isn't the first time that blogs have kept an issue alive. The first blog-driven controversy caused the fall of Trent Lott when bloggers located quotes from previous speeches that many believed were racist. Another led to The New York Times op-ed page instituting a policy on corrections for its columnists.

Whether a blog leans left, right or sideways, as a collective force they are working to keep reporters honest. Journalists may not like their methods -- having your work sliced and diced in public is no fun -- but the end result may be better-quality news.

(emphasis added by me)
In the blogosphere, the story was really more about frustration with the sloppiness of the media than anything else. It bothers me that some people treat the whole affair as some sort of partisan hit-job, as I don't think the facts of the case bear out that conclusion. The point is that the media matter, and should be held accountable.

Chill the ceremonial bloodwine!!!

According to the poll of eight local Klingons, a whopping 75 percent support the Democratic nominee.
Two Klingons polled--or 25 percent--said they planned to write in Satan.
Bush scored an abysmal zero percent in the poll. *

Via Galley Slaves.

Attack defense

There's always been skepticism on the anti-war side of public opinion that taking out Saddam Hussein has made America any safer. The logic goes that Iraq had nothing to do with Al Qaeda in the first place, but even if they did, military action in Muslim countries will only provoke more terrorism against the U.S.
In direct opposition to this argument, The Belmont Club posts a very interesting summary of current academic research on networking within and among terrorist cells. One of the most interesting conclusions...(emphasis added by me)

Because security comes at a price in performance and flexibility, Robb arrives at an astounding conjecture: you can have small, operationally secure terrorist groups, but you can't have large, operationally secure cells without a state sponsor.

Stephen Hayes at the Weekly Standard has gone to great pains to document terrorist connections between Saddam Hussein's Iraq and terrorist organizations, including Al Qaeda. In light of these findings, the argument against the Iraq war seems to lose more of it's already lackluster strength.

Bits and pieces

There's got to be a "cock" joke in here somewhere.

A fishbowl full of bacon

If I haven't mentioned it before, Madison's bar scene is the stuff of legends. With an undergraduate population in the dozens of thousands, all thirsty for booze, the competition between bars is fierce. There are loyalists on all sides, of course; those who would sooner vote for a Republican (gasp) than give up The Pub for The Plaza (or, The Pube and The Schloz, respectively, for those with penchants for irony and cheap beer), and vise versa.

But because I believe in competition and free markets, I believe that this sort of one-upmanship can only create positive externalities and benefits for their customers. Hence....ALL-U-CAN-EAT BACON NIGHT AT WANDO'S. A UW sociology professor blogs his night out, with lots of photographic evidence. Wando's, it should be noted, also serves a heady conconction of booze and booze, served in an actual fishbowl, to paying customers and their coked-up Jersey girlfriends. Meadow, I think her name is. Or whatever. I totally just met this chick on the street, Brah.

Oil-for-food update

Claudia Rosett has been hounding the Oil-For-Food scam since the beginning. She's uncovered that, among other goods, Saddam overpayed for baby food, and used the kickbacks for personal enrichment. The really sad thing is that it appears the U.N. did it, too. See, the U.N. Secretariat (Kofi Annan's office) got a 2.2% commission on each sale, ostensibly to cover expenses involved with monitoring the program.

But what we know already is that Mr. Annan, whose Secretariat turned a blind eye to Saddam's food pricing scams, has never apologized for presiding over the biggest fraud in the history of relief. He has not used the word "illegal." The closest he's come has been to admit this past March, after much stonewalling, that there may have been quite a lot of "wrong-doing"--before turning over the whole mess over to a U.N. investigation that has since smothered all details with its own blanket of secrecy.

And this is special for the hippies out there:

Mr. Annan is due to step down next year. If he wants to leave a legacy more auspicious than having presided over Oil-for-Fraud, he might want to devote his twilight time at the U.N. to mending a system in which a U.N. Secretary-General feels free to describe the overthrow of a murderous tyrant as "illegal," but no one at the top seems particularly bothered to have presided over that tyrant's theft of food from hungry children.

Oho! Oh, snap!
Because I want you to read the whole thing, I should also point out that it's not nearly as maudlin as the "pity the starving Iraqi children" bit makes it out to be.

CBS...JFK...WTF

A number of folks (and that number would be more than one, and less than five) have asked me what's going on with this whole CBS thing they keep hearing about.
Well.
Briefly, it's become really just horribly obvious that CBS News, in a "60 Minutes II" piece by network anchor Dan Rather, used as the main source for a hit job on President Bush forged documents that alleged to show Bush had asked for and received preferential treatment during his tour of duty. If you have any doubt as to whether or not these documents were created in Microsoft Word, as opposed to an old-skool IBM Selectric typesetting typewriter, just take one look at this comparison, assembled by Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs. An animated GIF is worth a thousand words.
There is proof miles and miles beyond that, though. Do you know who Bill Burkett, Mary Mapes, David Van Os, and Joe Lockhardt are? Really the one-stop-shop for this whole scandal is Allah. Click on the link and just keep scrolling. You could also visit the guys who really broke the story, Power Line, or, for slightly snarkier and more...well, more biased coverage, Ratherbiased.com.
CBS, for it's part, has really yet to admit any wrongdoing. They're sticking with the story that they simply can't authenticate the documents, as opposed to admitting they're forgeries, which is a very different thing. Rather is pimping the "fake, but accurate" line, by which he means, quite ludicrously given the circumstances, that the assertions in the documents remain true.

Lileks points out the fallacy, by imploring you to imagine a CBS producer intoning the following:

"We understand that there has been some controversy over the newly discovered Michelangelo painting featured in “60 Minutes” expose of curatorial malfeasance at the Metropolitan Museum. Some outside experts note that close analysis of the wood frame reveals the presense of modern staples, and while we agree this is curious – as are the words ‘Abiline Frame Shop’ engraved into the wood – it is hardly conclusive. Others have questioned the use of acrylic instead of oil paints, and the presence of nylon fibers embedded in the brushstrokes have led some to question whether the painting is indeed 500 years old. These are issues worth pursuing, and we will redouble our efforts. But it’s a little bit frustrating to see all this reduced to a debate over slivers and threads, instead of the real question, namely, how did Michelangelo’s “Madonna of of the Dealership” include a 1957 Chevy Bel-Air rendered with such astonishing detail, half a millennium before the car was designed? That’s the issue we think should be the focus of our attention.”

Everyone seems to be slowly coming to the conclusion that the documents came from the Kerry campaign. I'm not on board with that. Yet. The evidence of complicity between CBS News and the Kerry campaign is sickening, though, and can really only be for one purpose. Go read Allah.

Quit yer slackin, jerks

Instapundit got his copy of The System of the World today. Funny, mine has yet to arrive. I've still got 6 Gmail invites to give away. C'mon, hippies, hook a brotha up. It's on sale, even.

Shortlist prize (aka "da shorty")

The Shortlist of Music has announced their...well, their shortlist of the best indie-flavored music of 2004. A panel of "experts," including Robert Smith, ?uestlove, and Nic Harcourt (but also including Chris Carrabba, Perry Farrell and John Fucking Mayer) sizes up the year's releases, and winnows down to a shortlist from a longer one of about 70 picks. Their finalists:

Air: Talkie Walkie
Dizzee Rascal: Boy in Da Corner
Franz Ferdinand: Franz Ferdinand
Ghostface: The Pretty Toney Album
The Killers: Hot Fuss
Loretta Lynn: Van Lear Rose
Nellie McKay: Get Away from Me
The Streets: A Grand Don't Come for Free
TV on the Radio: Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes
Wilco: A Ghost Is Born

I haven't heard the Ghostface or The Killers albums, but I have to say the rest are pretty solid, if unsurprising picks. Except TV on the Radio, which is bullshit. The longer list includes some very dubious picks, although I have to give them dap for upping Eagles Of Death Metal, if for no other reason than the name alone. It also includes the inarguably and astoundingly horrendous Peaches record, "Fatherfucker," so, y'know, judge the size of the grain of salt based on your opinion of some of these records. Good to see The Sleepy Jackson getting some recognition, but if you ask me (and, for the record, they didn't), if there's room for Macy Gray, there's room for the Jigga. I'm just sayin' is all.

BONUS: Josh Homme: "I'm not in the music police. 'Do you know why I stopped you? For excessive shittiness.' That's not my job. Now I just throw bad CDs really far away and say, "Where's Bjork's greatest hits? Where's the new Tomahawk? Where's the good stuff, man?"

The intifada is over

For those that are interested (those that aren't should be) there's an excellent piece about how Isreal won it's own war against terrorism over at The New Republic online (you may have to register [it's free] to see it). A key bit, with some links added for context:

But American leaders must also heed Sharon's other lessons. That means an ability to endure criticism from abroad and even to risk international isolation, a willingness to define the war on terrorism as a total war, and a commitment to focus one's political agenda on winning, not on divisive or extraneous concerns.

Sunday song lyric

When I conceived of the vaguely vain ambition to assemble a CD of quintessentially "autumn" sounding songs, this song was the first to assert itself into the as yet un-SoundForged playlist. Like all such projects that my underactive imagination has spawned, it was quickly scratched when I realized I couldn't think of more than six songs to include. I still think about it sometimes, though, now that we've had our first autum-ish weekend here in The O.C. Judge for yourself if Songs:Ohia's "Just Be Simple" is worthy, at least lyrically, of inclusion. Other suggestions, via comments, may also be entertained.

You'll never hear me talk about
one day getting out.
Why put a new address
on the same old loneliness?
Everybody knows where that is.
We built that house of his.
And when he's not home
someone else we know always is.

If heaven's really coming back
I hope it has a heart attack
when they see how dangerous
it is for guys like that.

And the night has always known
when it's time to get going,
when it's really been so long
that it starts showing.

It's always how that goes
always almost tells me the secret
how there's really no difference
in who he was once
and who he's become.
I think he's been letting me win
and I think he's doing it again.
Thanks for letting me win.

And everything you hated me for,
honey, there was so much more
I just didn't get busted.

I ain't looking for that easy way out.
This whole life it's been a battle.
Try and try and try
Try and try and try
to be simple again.

Just be simple again.
Just be simple again.

"It's a big win"

Nerd alert

As if the fact that I had to upgrade my electric toothbrush this weekend wasn't nerdy enough, and especially when combined with the fact I surf and blog via wi-fi when the modem is literally six feet away, just because it seems cooler to do so...I think my tiny little nerd mind was just blown.
They've apparently bumped up the release date for The System of the World, the third and final volume of Neal Stevenson's "Baroque Cycle" novels to Tuesday, September 21 (it was originally to be released in mid-October). I can barely restrain from pushing my glasses up my nose I'm so excited. Instead, in neo-nerd fashion, I will post a comment on my blog. If you haven't read any of these books, you're either completely ignorant of the best and most ambitious fiction currently out there, or... you're a woman. A third possibility, I suppose, would be that you have friends and a healthy social life, possibly even a girlfriend.
Anyway! It's coming out Tuesday, and I couldn't be more excited. As soon as I finish my current pseudo-intellectual casual fling, I shall delve into this:

This brawl takes place against the background of the imminent death of Queen Anne, which threatens a succession crisis as Jacobite (Stuart, Catholic) sympathizers confront supporters of the Hanoverian succession.

Doesn't that sound great?!?!?!
If you want to start reading these books, start here, where a lot of the themes from the Baroque Cycle are first developed. It's much shorter, too.

Oil-for-food update

As the Oil-for-Food program actually worked, however, the United Nations let Saddam choose his own business partners. The world body also kept secret the
details of those contracts and the identities of the contractors, and it let Saddam graft at least $4.4 billion out of the program through manipulated contract prices, by estimates of the U.S. General Accountability Office.

Saddam's standard scam was to underprice oil sales and overpay for relief supplies, thus generating fat profits for his business partners. Many of those contractors would kick back part of the take to Saddam's regime — or divert it to whatever uses Saddam might fancy. By various accounts, those uses ranged from building palaces to buying arms to supplying Saddam's sadistic son Uday with equipment for torturing Iraqi athletes.

One of the big questions is whether any of the money skimmed from Oil-for-Food also slopped into terrorist-financing ventures such as MIGA.

Read the whole thing.

America's next CEO?

John Kerry published an op-ed in yesterday's Wall Street Journal suggesting that, based on Goerge W. Bush's economic record in the office, America deserves a better "CEO." I wanted to take a look at it, and try to discern what he could be doing better.

His first point of attack is, of course, jobs. You'll recall, I'm sure, that it was not too long ago that the Democratic nominee for president was saying that Bush had the worst economic record since Herbert Hoover. In conjuring the ghosts of the Great Depression, with it's historic job loss and unemployment, Kerry is advocating voting Bush out of office based on the unemployment rate.

While the private sector will always be America's engine for innovation and job creation, President Bush has failed to take any responsibility for missing opportunities to strengthen the conditions for investment, economic confidence and job creation.

While it's hard to argue that Bush will be the only president to preside over a net loss of jobs in modern history, should we really vote him out of office because of it? In September of 1996, when Bill Clinton was running for re-election, the unemployment rate was at 5.3%. In September of 2004, when George Bush is running for re-election, the unemployment rate is 5.4%. Given the crash of the technology sector of the economy in 2000 (down 37% in a 3 month period, while Clinton was still in office), the effect of the September 11th attacks on the airline and tourism industries in the U.S. (Kerry calls these factors "an assortment of blame and excuses"...but did they not happen?), is a one-tenth of a percent difference really that bad?

Yet what President Bush cannot explain is how the last 11 presidents before him--Democrats and Republicans--faced wars, recessions and international crises, and yet only he has presided over lost jobs, declining real exports, and the swing from a $5.6 trillion surplus to trillions of dollars of deficits.

This last bit about the surplus always struck me as a bit disingenuous. When Clinton announced the budget surplus in 1998, it was a projected surplus, just like all the deficit talk now is projected out, usually over the next 10 years. The surplus also assumed a heady growth rate over that time frame, one that was obviously unsustainable due to the normal fluctuations of the business cycle and the aforementioned drop in the stock market. Kerry pledges to cut the deficit in half in 4 years. So does Bush. But what neither of them say is that to achieve that cut, nothing really has to be done. Or, in other words, Bush is already cutting the deficit. The Chicago Tribune's Steven Chapman, via Drezner:

President Bush and Sen.. John Kerry both promise that in the next four years, they will cut this year's $445 billion federal budget deficit in half. To which serious students of the budget reply: Big, fat, hairy deal. The vow is only slightly more risky than promising that four years from now, everyone will be four years older. All the next president needs to do to cut the deficit in half, you see, is ... nothing. Leave existing laws and policies in place, without changing a thing, and the deficit would dwindle to a mere $228 billion.
For that, we don't need a president.
Kerry and Bush, to be fair, do not propose to do nothing. They have all sorts of plans to shower citizens with new spending programs and tax cuts, even though we can't pay for the ones we've got. But they insist they can hand out these goodies while making big advances against the deficit--Bush by cracking down on new spending, Kerry by repealing tax cuts for the rich. To assume they'll actually attack the deficit requires a suspension of disbelief. The Bush who says he'll hold down domestic outlays, after all, is the same Bush who has never vetoed a spending bill, or any other bill...

Kerry is more believable only because he doesn't even feign interest in spending discipline. The National Taxpayers Union Foundation estimates that all his promises would raise annual federal outlays by $226 billion a year. Some of this would be paid for by repealing some of the Bush tax cuts, but much of it would come from piling up debt for our children and grandchildren. The anti-deficit Concord Coalition figures that based on their public commitments, either Bush or Kerry would enlarge the projected deficit over the next 10 years by about $1.3 trillion.

So, tell me again, John, why I should vote for you?

Kerry continues by piling on offshore outsourcing, that much hyped phenomenon that is supposedly costing America so many jobs. In his typically straight-forward style, Kerry tell us how he would deal with offshoring:

I am not trying to stop all outsourcing, but as president, I will end every single incentive that encourages companies to outsource.

So, wait, is he for it, or against it? Will he try to stop it, or not? I still don't know. But I do know that he shouldn't. Offshoring is nothing more than the 21st century's version of comparative advantage, which we all learned about in high school. If you haven't already, please take the time to read Drezner's "The Outsourcing Bogeyman," published in Foreign Affairs a few months back.

Kerry next takes on Bush's tax cuts, which he calls "deficit-increasing," and "backwards." He would rectify this economic mistake by....wait, what? By cutting more taxes?

Under my plan, the tax cuts would be extended and made permanent for 98% of Americans. In addition, I support new tax cuts for college, child care and health care--in total, more than twice as large as the new tax cuts President Bush is proposing.

If tax cuts are so bad for the economy, Senator Kerry, why are you proposing more of them?

He continues on in the same vein, asserting that he could cut costs in our nation's health care system by embracing technology and cutting red tape.

Our hospitals and doctors have the best technology for saving lives, but often still rely on pencil and paper when it comes to tracking medical tests and billing. As a result, we spend over $350 billion a year on red tape, not to mention the cost of performing duplicative or redundant tests. My plan will modernize our information technology, create private electronic medical records, and create incentives for the adoption of the latest disease management.

This is a great idea, and I'm all for it. However, he neglects to mention that the current administration is doing just that. It's already begun. Former Wisconsin governor and current Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson gave an interview to Wired on this exact topic:

A doctor will be able to use electronic health records to see where the patient is, who he's seen, what tests he's had, and what medicines he's on. And doctors will be able to get that information in real time - they'll have immediate knowledge of the patient. It'll help prevent mistakes and improve the quality of health care for everybody.
...
I think it's going to move quickly. I know everybody else says it takes time. But I'm pushing. I want a lot of this done by autumn.

Again, why do I need Kerry for this?

He concludes by repeating the canard of a ban on stem-cell research, allegedly engaged by a pro-life administration that doesn't want to cure diseases or help old people. (As a side point, if the Republican party is so heavily in the pocket of biotech and pharmaceutical companies, who stand to make untold sums of money from the eventual application of this technology, which is Bush "banning" it?) Sez the F-bomb:

My plan would invest in basic research and end the ban on stem-cell research.

Again, there is no ban on stem cell research. The restrictions apply only to federal monies and new lines of stem cells (created after August of 2001), and there is no restriction on private funding into this research.


Overall, I can't say I'm impressed with Kerry's pitch. Either his position is so nebulous or contradictory as to be practically unfathomable, or he is advocating positions already taken by the current administration.
Conversely, I'm not saying that Bush is faultless, or that his economic policies have been any better or worse than any other recent president. But I sure don't see why I need to vote him out, based on Kerry's assertions.

footyfootyfootyfootyfootyfooty

Wow.
Actually, that's a pretty slammin' beat. I only watched it through 5 goals. I think that's plenty.

Via Lileks.

I am your Gmail whore

Alright, hippies. Thanks to the generosity of the mysterious reader known only as "ak," I have recently been deigned worthy of inclusion in the heretofore nerd-exclusive tech redoubt, Gmail. For those not in the know, Gmail is a web-based email service run by Google. It's like Yahoo! or Hotmail, but much radder cos Gmail gives you 1000 MB of storage. The catch is that a computer sometimes scans the content of your messages and implants content-relevant ads. The funny side of that, however, is that you can manipulate it so that it displays ads about, say, "Gilmore Girls," or "transsexual horse porn."
Anyway, it's free, it gives you a shit-ton (that's metric, homes) of storage space, and until it goes public, it's exclusive to invitees only. I've got 6 accounts that I'm auctioning off to the highest bidder (or to the first three people who contact me after I give out accounts to all my friends).
Preference will go to those who can provide me with one or more of the following:

* a new rain coat
* a copy of the new Paul Westerberg album
* a decent jump shot
* some Spotted Cow
* a date with one or both of the Bush twins

You know where to find me.
Jenna, Barbara...Come on in...I'll get the drinks.

Hell yeah, brother!

Which drunk are you? You're white trash kinda drunk You hang out in the backyard of the trailer with buddies listening to Ratt all night and that cheap beer is gettin to ya, that's what life is all about ain't it? Rock on.... *Disclaimer : The maker of this quizz is quite white trashy himself and in no way intends to depict a real opinion of southern americans, or anyone who lives in a trailer park for that matter.

Click Here to Take This Quiz Brought to you by YouThink.com quizzes and personality tests.

I was seriously just about to buy a Red Sox hat, too.

"You've got to be a Democrat to love the Red Sox, because they're the workingman's team," Paul Begala, the Democratic consultant and CNN talking head, has told reporters. "They're in there every year. You know, the Yankees are like General Motors . . . like Halliburton, and the Red Sox are like the rest of America."

Not to get too lame about this, but, what's he saying here? That Republicans create jobs for working class folks, and the Democrats lose every year? Might want to think that metaphor through a bit more next time, Forehead.

Meanwhile, and once again, Wisconsin shows the rest of the world how it's done.

5 Songs I really never need to hear again

1. The Temptations- "My Girl" If there's a song that's ever been more overplayed on the radio, I can't think of it. Not that it's a bad song, because obviously it isn't, but after about the 300-fucking-000th time, well, it gets a bit old. It can only be worse for those of you who were alive when it first came out.

2. R.E.M.- "Losing My Religion" About 5 or 6 years ago, I briefly allowed my contempt for this song to abate. R.E.M. had just performed it on VH1's Storytellers, and Michael Stipe finally explained that the song was not about religion, but about being at the end of one's rope, and not knowing what to do. I think he also said it had something to do with a girl, but who cares. Stop playing it already.

3. Jimmy Buffett- "Cheeseburger In Paradise" I'm annoyed just typing those words. What a dickbird. The kicker? It's actually about cheeseburgers. Sample lyrics: "Cheeseburger in paradise/ Makin’ the best of every virtue and vice/ Worth every damn bit of sacrifice/ To get a cheeseburger in paradise/ To be a cheeseburger in paradise/ I’m just a cheeseburger in paradise. "

4. George Thorogood- "Bad To the Bone" I seriously don't know what the auto industry would do had this song never been written. Really, the entire advertising industry would be in the shitter. Does driving a Cadillac and/or eating a Pizza Hut Stuffed Crust Pizza really make you bad to the bone? This song is either the best beer commercial ever, or the worst real song ever written. Either way, get it the fuck off my tv.

5. Fucking Anything by Phil Collins- But, seriously. Anything he's ever written or sung. If I were a disgruntled military general in a crumbling Communist country, Phil Collins would be the first up against the wall come the Revolution.

No, Phil, you're the man.

This guy is cooler than you.

Sunday song lyric

In honor of Dan Rather, and the ass-kicking he's getting in the press and in the blogosphere this week, I'd like to present the lryics for R.E.M.'s "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?"

"What's the frequency, Kenneth?" is your Benzedrine, uh-huh
I was brain-dead, locked out, numb, not up to speed
I thought I'd pegged you an idiot's dream
Tunnel vision from the outsider's screen
I never understood the frequency, uh-huh

You wore our expectations like an armored suit, uh-huh
I'd studied your cartoons, radio, music, TV, movies, magazines
Richard said, "Withdrawal in disgust is not the same as apathy"
A smile like the cartoon, tooth for a tooth
You said that irony was the shackles of youth
You wore a shirt of violent green, uh-huh
I never understood the frequency, uh-huh

"What's the frequency, Kenneth?" is your Benzedrine, uh-huh
Butterfly decal, rearview mirror, dogging the scene
You smile like the cartoon, tooth for a tooth
You said that irony was the shackles of youth
You wore a shirt of violent green, uh-huh
I never understood the frequency, uh-huh

You wore our expectations like an armored suit, uh-huh
I couldn't understand
You said that irony was the shackles of youth, uh-huh
I couldn't understand
You wore a shirt of violent green, uh-huh
I couldn't understandI never understood, don't fuck with me, uh-huh

The new Dean Wormers

Go watch Evan Maloney's new mini-documentary, Brainwashing 101. It's about harrasment and persecution of certain students on college campuses across the country. Which students, and by whom? You might be surprised.

Campus speech codes are a pet peeve of some of the folks over at the Volokh Conspiracy, if you want to keep up with this issue.

rap's Grateful Dead

It sounds fuckin' cool as all get-out, but I have no idea what it means:

After a year of them 16's, it's one point two
And that's two point four, and I'm only doin two.

Anyone?

Conspiracy!

A conspiracy with legs:
Yesterday afternoon, a few blogs broke the story that the documents Dan Rather and CBS News used to slander President Bush's National Guard record are most likely forgeries. You can read background on how they were forged and how they were discovered here. Big Media is picking up on this, too.

The documents purport to show Bush's former TANG supervisor (Texas Air National Guard, or, a large, obnoxious, Kool-Aid-like substance known to inhabit areas in central North Carolina and northern New Jersey) becoming reluctant to cover for Bush's repeated absenses any longer. The problem is that the typefaces used to produce these documents, the very familiar Times New Roman was never available on a typewriter at the time. It is a word processor-only font.

There are a huge number of sites doing link round-ups for those that want more. Check out Allah, Ace of Spades, and Instpundit to start. There are a lot of interesting angles to the story, but to me the most interesting is that these documents are alleged to have originated from the Kerry campaign itself. The campaign claims that they came from "a retired military officer." If it's true, that means that the documents, which CBS admits came from the campaign, were aired without even the most cursory investigation into their authenticity by a major mainstream news outlet. This amounts to the mainstream media carrying water for John Kerry, at the same time he is both slipping in the polls and being pummeled by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ads.

Drudge reports that Dan Rather is "shell shocked," and will personally correct the record on air if necessary. I'm not holding my breath, personally. If he does, though, look for some half-assed non-apology, that will ultimately put the blame on Bush. Somehow.

Meanwhile, go have a laugh at Paul Krugman's expense. This guy continues to exist in his own little fantasy land.



From Ratherbiased.com

Finally, Jeopardy will be fun to watch again

Well, y'know....kinda. As "fun" as it ever was.



NERDS!

It's the new, new Penguin game

It doesn't really have to do with penguins, but play it anyway.

I wish it was the 60s

Radiohead, actually, seems like a natural choice for a project like this. Perhaps the organizers wanted to avoid fueling the fire surrounding John Kerry's "pourquoi pas?" foreign policy by including a non-American band. Who knows. It doesn't seem like anyone involved took the thing too seriously:

[P]olitics takes center stage to the music on Future Soundtrack for America. That said, Future Soundtrack for America is a predictably mixed grab-bag of B-sides, live numbers, and previously unreleased material, though to the credit of all parties involved, the vast majority of the music is excellent.

Yes, that last bit undermines my case, but I threw it in for two reasons: 1. the reviewer goes on to undermine that statement in the rest of the review (a "mixed grab-bag" is not exactly a ringing endorsement, and they rate the album a 7.4 of 10, which is a C where I come from), and 2. I've learned my lesson about not contextualizing statements (see below).
In any case, I have to disagree with the reviewer's conclusion:

Future Soundtrack for America is a time capsule from one of the most divisive periods in the country's history. That it barely touches on the exasperation of the young audience it aspires to reach is not a weakness of the album, but rather a statement of just how desperate our political situation has become.

Actually, dude, it seems that would, in fact, be a weakness of the album. Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems like he's blaming George W. Bush ("our political situation") for the low quality of rage in these songs, which, quite obviously, is ridiculous. If the bands can't be arsed to summon up what self-righteous indie wanks would consider an appropriate level of vitriol, shouldn't they, uh, I don't know...blame the artist? I've said before that "protest" songs these days just aren't as good as they used to be. Most of these bands just tossed off a cover version, or a live or remixed track of previously recorded work, whether the content was political or not.

I'm surprised, though, that Rage Against the Machine doesn't make an appearance. If ever there was a band that could be called "ahead of their time," it's them. That twit with the dreds is probably in an asylum somewhere right now. Which is fine with me, actually, cos honestly, they always sucked.

Strappleberry

NOT A WORD.

Vote Bush or die

I know I said I wouldn't be writing about politics, but this is really crossing the line, and I'm pretty pissed off that Cheney would stoop so low. There're plenty of reasons to vote for Bush/Cheney without telling people that they'll die if they don't. Losers.

UPDATE: Shame on me for not reading the whole statement, and putting this into context. The relevant portion actually reads thusly:

Because if we make the wrong choice, then the danger is that we'll get hit again, that we'll be hit in a way that will be devastating from the standpoint of the United States, and that we'll fall back into the pre-9/11 mind set if you will, that in fact these terrorist attacks are just criminal acts, and that we're not really at war. I think that would be a terrible mistake for us.

This makes it pretty clear that he's criticising John Kerry's likely response to an attack, and not suggesting that if Kerry wins we'll all die in some sort of fiery hippie mushroom cloud. Look again at the link above, and tell me if you think the media is doing their job, objectively researching the facts and reporting them in context.

POLITICS!!!

Ok, now that I have your attention, go and check out this site. If you plan on getting laid, and like voting, it could really help you out. No--wait...shit, I got it all backwards.


Tip o' the High Life: 3000

Ok, hey, France? WHAT THE FUCK

They say that France's intelligence services used an Italian-born middle-man to
circulate a mixture of genuine and bogus documents to "trap" the two leading
proponents of war with Saddam into making unsupportable claims.

The road to Baghdad now runs through Paris, you stinky, back-stabbing, cheese-eating surrender monkeys.
Readers should know that I hated France before hating France was cool.

Ambassador Joe Wilson could not be reached for comment.

Hurricanoe musings

Sometimes I like to imagine that the clouds are giant Utz Cheese Balls. Because they're the perfect light and crispy cheesy treat- no matter what the weather.

The Godzilla of mp3 players

Meanwhile, Japan continues to put American marketing and consumerism, already the gold standard, to shame.

The tiny white machine is catching on as a fashion statement and turning into a cultural icon here, much the same way it won a fanatical following in the United States. ...

"I only want something I can believe in," said Hiroyuki Sakurai, a 21-year-old design-school student, who bought an iPod recently at the bustling Apple store.

Of course, I came across this article while looking at iPod links. Irony, or post-modernism? I blog, you snark.

Meanwhile, in iPod related news, Sauron is pleased:

Although [they] couldn't say whether illegal downloading on campus has decreased in the past year, they believe the RIAA lawsuits against 158 people at 35 schools earlier this year had a deterring effect on those schools' use of P2P networks.

I'm sure this will help.

They payin me for it

Not unsurprisingly, Cadillac and Hennessey top the list of the most-mentioned brand names in music this year. Agenda Inc., a product-placement firm, compiles the list each year, and companies seem to be cool with the name dropping. Hip-hop is the biggest offender:

Hip-hop songs mention far more labels than rock or pop ones, which doesn't surprise hot rapper Kanye West, who touts 19 different brand names in the four hits he's had this year.
"Black people have always liked to associate themselves with hot brands," West tells the Post.

The only Top 20 non hip-hop hit to drop a brand name was Jessica Simpson, who talked about her jeans or something. Eminem takes the cake for most tasteless drop, probably also the most nonsensical:

"Put anthrax on your Tampax/ and slap you till you can't stand."

North Carolina's own Petey Pablo, though, is the overall winner, for Biggest Stupidest Fucking Sell-Out Bitch Who Can't Even Rhyme And Gots No Taste In Gin:

"Now I got to give a shout out to Seagram's gin, cause I'm drinkin' and they paying for it."

UPDATE: Some naive companies still think they can stop the REVOLUTION!!!

more convention blogging

Hopefully, both candidates will shut the hell up for awhile after this thing gets over with, and I can go back to ripping on hippies.

Jim Lehrer's interview with George H.W. Bush: He's in his 80s, but still seems pretty on top of things, and not given to frosty-eyed nostalgia like Jimmy Carter, or (do pardon the pun here) balls-out defense of a record like Bill Clinton. He seems humbled, and very patriarchal. It's strange to hear him refer to his son as "the President."


A protest I can support.

World's Worst Drinking Games: Watch the Republican National Convention, take one drink every time you see a black delegate or a black person on the floor. Two drinks for a black woman. Finish your beer when a black person speaks onsta--shit. Damn you, The Honorable Michael Williams! Now I've gotta do the rest of the night bloated on Pibber.

Ok, I take that whole last post back. There is just no way that the Democrats can top this. Wow, he's even dressed like a Republican! But "those people*" really know how to dress, don't they?

*I meant Republicans, you racists.

Bush's speech:
Man, Ronald Reagan is all up in this bitch.

Two interruptions by demonstrators so far. How'd those losers get in here?

Big cheers for Tony Blair. Now he's throwing Kerry's statement that the coalition in Iraq is a coalition "of the bribed and the coerced" right back in his face. The point has been made many times, but I don't see how John Kerry, supposedly the diplomacy candidate in this election, is making any friends by calling Great Britain, Italy, Poland, et. al. "bribed" and "coerced."

A jab at the New York Times. Fair play. They've been all over the place on Iraq, as long they can be consistently anti-Bush.

"Some people look at me and see a certain swagger, which in Texas we call 'walking.'"

Wow. He can barely hold back the tears when speaking about the wounded soldiers and the families who lost members on 9/11. Say what you will about the guy, but he believes in what he's doing. He has the courage of his convictions, and I deeply, deeply respect that. It's hard to doubt that he wants to inspire the nation to be better. Easily the best speech in a convention of really great speeches.

Ok, yeah, he said "nu-cu-lar," and he's obviously pro-life. But look, I don't believe with everything Bush says. By far. But in the election after nearly 3,000 Americans died on our own soil, there's more important things to worry about than federal money for fetus cell research, or whether or not Kerry actually got shot at. The issue is fighting the war on terrorism and sheparding Iraq to a successful state.
Shut up, hippies, because abortion isn't going away any time soon. There is no federal ban on stem cell research. Gay people will be allowed to marry sooner than you think. In a sense, they've already won the battle. The thing that matters most is that we're all still alive to see these things come to pass.
Germany didn't attack us in 1939, but it we fought a just war against them. Korea didn't attack us, either, but we fought a just war against the communists there. Bosnia, Haiti, and Liberia never attacked us, but the action we took was in the best interests of its people, and of the United States. We were attacked on 9/11. And it would have been the most grave mistake in our history to not take action against the people and the ideologies responsible. It would be the second most grave mistake to assume that those people and ideas reside solely within the artificial borders of Afghanistan. They were given safe harbor by the leaders of such nations as Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and yes, Iraq. As the President pointed out, Saudi Arabia is now aggressively persuing terrorists within its' borders. Pakistan didn't want to become the next Afghanistan, and also changed its' ways. Iraq was given the chance, and was intractable for over 10 years, despite 18 or so "last chances" given by the United Nations. To not create conditions more favorable to U.S. security by removing a sponsor and patron of terrorists is to invite more attacks upon our cities and our people.
I support the President because "you bet we might have" just isn't good enough for me. I support the President because I'm sick and tired of our "leaders" being so easily swayed by partisan politics. I want the President to win because I'm sick to death of assjacks like this.

That said, I hope that I can put the political stuff to bed for awhile. I'm quite sure that everyone reading this has already decided for whom they'll be voting, so I'm not changing any minds by hammering on this stuff.

Tomorrow, I hope to get back to the important stuff, like how world-endingly cool Hero was, and my forthcoming essay on why Hilary Duff is hotter than Lindsay Lohan. Believe it, kids. It's for real.

"The man I trust to protect my family"

Democratic Senator Zell Miller gave the keynote address tonight at the Republican National Convention. For those that didn't see it, the video is here. It's about 15 minutes long, and I highly recommend watching the whole thing. Allah called him "visibly angry," and I'd have to agree. It's worth watching the video before reading the text. Go ahead I'll wait........
You're back? Good. His strongest points, in my mind:

"Right now the world just cannot afford an indecisive America."

"Now, while young Americans are dying in the sands of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan, our nation is being torn apart and made weaker because of the Democrats' manic obsession to bring down our Commander-in-Chief. What has happened to the party I've spent my life working in?"

"No one should dare to even think about being the Commander in Chief of this country if he doesn't believe with all his heart that our soldiers are liberators abroad and defenders of freedom at home. But don't waste your breath telling that to the leaders of my party today. In their warped way of thinking America is the problem, not the solution. They don't believe there is any real danger in the world except that which America brings upon itself through our clumsy and misguided foreign policy. It is not their patriotism - it is their judgment that has been so sorely lacking. "

UPDATE: OxBlog, who is at the convention as a "credentialed blogger," calls Miller's speech "pathetic," "dishonest," and "vindictive." Ouch.

Free Kobe!

The prosecution in Kobe Bryant's case has apparently filed a motion to dismiss the charges filed against him. ABC News forces the story on us:

The 11th-hour pullout from the criminal case can only be seen as an embarrassment for the embattled prosecution, which has struggled for months against defense claims that DNA evidence indicated the alleged victim had sex with another man after her encounter with Bryant. The woman has denied that.

(emphasis mine, cheeky phrasing theirs)