Friday, February 29, 2008
Right now, deep in the GOP dungeons, they're planning their racist, disgraceful assault. Whatever will it be? (sfgate)
It won't be easy. Because at the same time, they must make their own unlikely candidate, a feisty but fuzzy 71-year-old war hawk whose entire campaign is apparently now being fueled by a giant hunk of Cold War phlegm, the nauseating notion that not only is a perpetual state of war and aggression desirable for America, but is actually essential to a healthy and functioning nation, they must make John McCain's musty, patriarchal brand of regurgitated Republicanism seem fresh and visionary and not horribly regressive and embarrassing.
Wish them luck. Or, you know, don't.
So then, here's the fun little game all progressives can play until the election itself. Assuming Obama gets the nod, just how will they attack him, smear him, paint him as an evil and untrustworthy force for the nation, the way they did Al Gore and John Kerry? How nefarious, racist, draconian will they get?
The Department of Pre-Crime (Mother Jones)
New dangers of non-mainstream political thought
New dangers of non-mainstream political thought
Thursday, February 28, 2008
The Iraq war has cost the US 50-60 times more than the Bush administration predicted and was a central cause of the sub-prime banking crisis threatening the world economy, according to Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz.
Friday, February 22, 2008
Inside the world of war profiteers. (Chicago Tribune)
U.S. soldiers are fighting only for the sustainability of lucrative back-room deals for Republican-connected war contractors.
U.S. soldiers are fighting only for the sustainability of lucrative back-room deals for Republican-connected war contractors.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Boy, George Bush sure does hate Europeans
The US Transport Security Administration has also asked the European airlines to supply personal data on "certain non-travelling members of the public requesting access to areas beyond the screening checkpoint".
The AEA said this was "absurd" because the airlines neither obtain nor can obtain such information. The request was "fully unjustified".
If the Americans persevere in the proposed security crackdown, Brussels is likely to respond with tit-for-tat action, such as calling for visas for some Americans.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Monday, February 18, 2008
Friday, February 15, 2008
George Bush is a liar and a fascist (crooksandliars)
A brilliant piece by Olbermann
A brilliant piece by Olbermann
It is bad enough, sir, that you were demanding an Ex Post Facto law, which could still clear the AT&Ts and the Verizons from responsibility for their systematic, aggressive, and blatant collaboration with your illegal and unjustified spying on Americans under this flimsy guise of looking for any terrorists who are stupid enough to make a collect call or send a mass e-mail.
But when you demanded it again during the State of the Union address, you wouldn’t even confirm that they actually did anything for which they deserved to be cleared.
“The Congress must pass liability protection for companies believed to have assisted in the efforts to defend America.” Believed?
Don’t you know?
Don’t you even have the guts Dick Cheney showed in admitting they did collaborate with you?
Does this endless presidency of loopholes and fine print extend even here?
If you believe in the seamless mutuality of government and big business — come out and say it!
There is a dictionary definition, one word that describes that toxic blend.
You’re a fascist — get them to print you a t-shirt with “fascist” on it!
What else is this but fascism?
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Like Google Earth, but pointed directly at your head and with cops, the government, and their wrongdoing-immune private security firms watching your every move.
A plan to use U.S. spy satellites for domestic security and law-enforcement missions is moving forward after being delayed for months because of privacy and civil liberties concerns.
A plan to use U.S. spy satellites for domestic security and law-enforcement missions is moving forward after being delayed for months because of privacy and civil liberties concerns.
The charter and legal framework for an office within the Homeland Security Department that would use overhead and mapping imagery from existing satellites is in the final stage of completion, according to a department official who requested anonymity because the official was not authorized to speak publicly about it.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Desperate Man Blues
A story of the mania of the king of 78RPM record collectors, Joe Bussard, subject of a documentary film of the same name.
Twenty miles later and deeper into the mountains, Bussard pulled up to the old man's house, and from the first glance he knew he'd hit pay dirt. It was a little shotgun shack, no paint on the faded wood, junk scattered all over the yard, with a broken-toothed fence that remained standing through sheer stubbornness. A little ramshackle, but not too. Lived in. Perfect. He could almost smell the old records waiting for him inside.
In his years of canvassing for 78s, Bussard had learned the myriad signs‹old lace curtains, flowerpots on the porch, smoke snaking from the chimney‹that meant a home's current residents had been there for decades. These were the people who had long ago bought the records that Bussard was now after. And they would still have them, because mountain folks never throw anything away, whether it be a broken refrigerator, a tin coffee can, or old Victrola records they haven't played in years.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Sunday, February 10, 2008
80% of cartoons deal directly with the occult!
I'm more scared of Phil and his Plasti-Koat hairdo than the occult. What were you doing in the toystores, Phil?
I'm more scared of Phil and his Plasti-Koat hairdo than the occult. What were you doing in the toystores, Phil?
Saturday, February 09, 2008
Thunderbird has a great theme for his youtube gallery: He's got a huge collection of 60's/70's pop 45's. He spins and films. Ton's of forgotten favorites in here, like this.
