...

Get your Qaqaa on

A nice kick-ass endorsement of Kerry

After reading Slate's series of hand-wringing endorsements of Kerry, it's nice to see someone get a little excited about the guy.

Link, via Berube

Stories of intimidation at Bush rallies

Some of these sound too nutty to be true, but who knows? Some of these might just be super-overjealous campaign workers...

One of the latest incidents came when John Sachs, 18, a Johnston High School senior and Democrat, went to see Bush in Clive last week. Sachs got a ticket to the event from school and wanted to ask the president about whether there would be a draft, about the war in Iraq, Social Security and Medicare.

But when he got there, a campaign staffer pulled him aside and made him remove his button that said, "Bush-Cheney '04: Leave No Billionaire Behind." The staffer quizzed him about whether he was a Bush supporter, asked him why he was there and what questions he would be asking the president.

"Then he came back and said, 'If you protest, it won't be me taking you out. It will be a sniper,' " Sachs said. "He said it in such a serious tone it scared the crap out of me."

Link

And then there's a story about the "Bush Pledge"

Billmon comes out of semi-retirement to comment

Society of Rockets album to be released on election day

Our new album of the old band with a new name will be out next Tuesday. Pre-order below.

Link

Come on!

Lame. O'Reilly sex case settles. Someone needs to leak the terms of this settlement.

Link to erection-killing lawyer-speak

Wimblehack semi-finals

The 'Hack is back...

Certainly there is plenty of evidence that Americans, when it comes to politics anyway, have always been a group of spineless goons motivated primarily by a hatred of ideas and the fear that a superior person might end up as their leader. It can't be only the media's fault that we are the only people on Earth who demand that our leaders be as dumb as we are.

If Albert Einstein ran for president, we'd make him do photo ops at bowling alleys, eat baskets of french fries, visit Redskins training camp. And once he gave in to that, we'd have another list of demands: no more talk about physics, a round of target practice at Camp Lejeune, a stint juggling lemons with Jimmy Fallon on Saturday Night Live.

Link

Late Night writer goes to call center in India

Lorelei sent me this link, which is pretty hilarious.

13 MB WMV Link

More horrifying tales from our servicemen

Steve Clemons sat next to a soldier recently, who had this (and much more) to say:

According to him, 75% of all soldiers want Bush defeated in the election and don't care who defeats him; anger and resentment are high. He says that 90% of the officers remain far out of harm's way, from lietenants all the way up -- and that only about 10% of the officer corps has some reasonable concern for the troops. There is general understanding that the officers are hiding in holes, or holding back in well-defended buildings and quite cavalier about sending troops out for assignments and errands that are frequently stupid, poorly planned, and dangerous.

More (Warning - contains some graphic detail)

Test posting photos with Flickr

One more painting by Aron Wiesenfeld

"One-fingered Victory Salute"

What a kook...



Link

Mosh is #1

According to Kos, Eminem's video for "Mosh" is number one on MTV. Wow. Yesterday you had to write it in to get it played on TRL, and today it is number one.

Daily Kos :: Mosh is #1

Irony overload!

In the middle of this ABC News story about the campaign there is a juicy piece of inarticulate irony:

"For a political candidate to jump to conclusions without knowing the facts is not a person you want as your commander in chief," Bush said.

Marijuana Arrests Set New Record

This is just sad. Is this what we're using the Patriot Act for?

WASHINGTON -- October 25 -- The FBI reported today that there were an all-time record 755,186 arrests for marijuana in 2003 -- vastly exceeding the 597,026 arrests for all violent crimes combined. As in past years, the vast majority-88 percent-of marijuana arrests were for simple possession, not sale or manufacture.

Link

Fahrenheit 9/11 made available for free rental/download

Michael Moore has decided to make Fahrenheit 9/11 available for free to rent. Along with this, he has authorized internet downloads of the movie.

Download Fahrenheit 9/11 Here

Allerca - The Hypo-Allergenic Cat

Since these supposedly won't be "out" until 2007, people on slashdot are crying vaporware.

Link

I wouldn't call this cat torture, but it's close...

Link (thanks, Dano)

Hard-disk portable XM radio

Delphi is releasing the MyFi, an XM-radio walkman with built-in hard disk. It will allow XM subscribers to time-shift XM content, since they are already paying subscription fees. I would imagine that it is impossible to pull the digital content off the drive, but there's always the analog hole...

Link

Howard Stern versus Michael Powell

Howard calls into the Ronn Owens show on KGO to argue with Michael Powell (head of FCC and son of Colin Powell).

Link to my briefcase - containing both the whole show and an excerpt containing the call from Howard

Eminem's new anti-Bush video - "Mosh"

Powerful stuff. Go watch it.

Link

Torrent

iFilm link

Vote for this on TRL - you'll have to write it in at the bottom.
Update - looks like enough people wrote this video in that MTV played it on TRL! Pretty cool...

Killer-est portable audio recorder ever

24bit/96KHz, 18 simultaneous inputs, and a built-in CDR/DVD+R recorder make this rugged portable the most drool-worthy piece of audio gear I've seen in a long time.

Link (via Gizmodo)

Another endorsement

In what I hear is the first presidential endorsement in their history, the New Yorker blasts the Bush team and pulls the lever for Kerry.

Link

Get a room!

As Rep. Rob Simmons talks about Iran's WMD program on C-SPAN, Reps Rick Renzi (AZ-01) and Katherine Harris (FL-13) cuddle in the background.

Link to DailyKos story and video

torrent of video

HP, Dell, IBM and leading suppliers release electronics industry code of conduct

This is a great idea, and long overdue. However, the cynic in me sees no real penalties or threats of penalties for non-conformance, and statements like this don't exactly buoy my confidence level:

"Manufacturer insistence on strong code compliance is an efficient and effective way to drive social performance improvements. We look forward to strong stakeholder engagement and to working with these companies to assure compliance with the code."

Link to press release

Link to actual code (pdf)

Brain in a dish

This is some crazy stuff. Scientists have hooked up some neurons to a flight simulator and "taught" them to fly. Not sure how they tell the neurons if they are doing the right thing. Angela speculates:

they might have it wired so that serotonergic neurons fire when the network gets it right

Neurons like their happy juice.

Link

Triumph takes on spin alley

Watch and laugh!

Link

Or grab it from my briefcase. It is in the "Public" folder.

Spitzer to take on Payola

It seems like he's probably the only guy out there taking on corporate corruption and winning, so maybe this will actually work.

Link

Fear and Loathing, Campaign 2004

Hunter S. Thompson unleashes an awesome pre-election piece of shrill exhilaration.

Link

DeLay phone conversations with FAA released under FOIA

Remember when Democrats fled Texas to avoid the questionably-legal mid-term redistricting efforts by Texas Republicans? Remember how supposedly Tom DeLay ordered the FAA to help him track down the MIA Democrats, which was also probably an illegal use of the FAA? Well, EPIC (the Electronic Privacy Information Center) used a FOIA request to get the tapes of the calls between DeLay and the FAA, and it turns out it probably WAS illegal to use and mislead the FAA in the way that DeLay did.

Link to EPIC page (may be overloaded)

Link to my briefcase (Transcript is in my Public folder)

This is not an Onion article

The Bush Administration has decided that it will stand by its approval for a book claiming the Grand Canyon was created by Noah’s flood rather than by geologic forces, according to internal documents released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).

Link thanks, Dano!

Guess what?

Even if they don't like to say it out loud, lots of Democrats think that George Bush's supporters are a horde of ignoramuses. Now comes evidence that they're right!

Link

Sox Win!

Here's a great hometown take on the Red Sox's American League championship victory.

Link

Residences by Philippe Starck

Got a few million dollars? Want a PoMo apartment overlooking the NYSE? Well, try "Downtown" by Starck.

MoCoLoco: Downtown

Bush in 2003: "We're not going to have any casualties" [in the Iraq war]

Yet another example of the "bubble-boy" presidency of George W. Bush.

Link

Some hope for the next two weeks

Top 35 Trends that say Kerry will take the white house

Neal Stephenson feeds the trolls

Neal Stephenson answers questions from Slashdot readers.

Link

Bush is no Christian

Finally someone stands up and plainly states the truth - that George W. Bush's actions have not been, by any standard, Christian.

Link

CIA stalls "damning" report until after election

Just one more example of how Bush's electoral ambitions have trumped everything else in this country.

The official stressed that the report was more blunt and more specific than the earlier bipartisan reports produced by the Bush-appointed Sept. 11 commission and Congress.

"What all the other reports on 9/11 did not do is point the finger at individuals, and give the how and what of their responsibility. This report does that," said the intelligence official. "The report found very senior-level officials responsible."

By law, the only legitimate reason the CIA director has for holding back such a report is national security. Yet neither Goss nor McLaughlin has invoked national security as an explanation for not delivering the report to Congress.

"It surely does not involve issues of national security," said the intelligence official.

"The agency directorate is basically sitting on the report until after the election," the official continued. "No previous director of CIA has ever tried to stop the inspector general from releasing a report to the Congress, in this case a report requested by Congress."

None of this should surprise us given the Bush administration's great determination since 9/11 to resist any serious investigation into how the security of this nation was so easily breached. In Bush's much ballyhooed war on terror, ignorance has been bliss.

Link

How Science Became a Partisan Issue

I read this morning, with disbelief, and some disgust, that Reason's "science correspondent" will vote for either for Bush or Badnarik (Libertarian candidate). Any scientist worth his salt should be voting against Bush. His entire presidency has been faith-based, and flies in the face of reason and the scientific method. From Iraq, to tax cuts, to stem cell research and global warming, he has shown little-to-no interest in what scientists, experts, or anyone other than Karl Rove has to say. Example:

Earlier this year, after continuing complaints that the White House was asking litmus-test questions of nominees for scientific advisory panels, the first question asked of a candidate for a panel on Arctic issues, the candidate said, was: "Do you support the president?"

Link: NYTimes

TV-B-Gone

Keychain that turns off virtually any TV.
Link to Wired story

With Trembling Fingers

Hal Crowther gets his shrill on. I am equally freaked out at this point that Bush may actually win a second term.

Link

The faith-based presidency of GWB

Ron Suskind lays out, in detail, the frightening willfull ignorance of this administration.

John Stewart tears the Crossfire guys a new one

From the moment Stewart sat down he made no secret of how repugnant he found the show. In fact, he said to Carlson and co-host Paul Begala that he had been so hard on the show he felt it was his duty to come on and say to their faces what he has said to friends and in interviews. What he said was that their show was "hurting America," and he was being only slightly hyperbolic. Stewart told them that when America needed journalists to be journalists they had instead chosen to present theater.

Salon.com Story

Stream

Torrent

More funny for Friday

A video called News Report From Iraq shouldn't be funny, but it is.

Plenty o' B3ta goodness this week

Aside from the Bush meets Busey and ferrets, B3ta has lots of great stuff in this weeks's newsletter, including:
A "Spamologue"

A beautiful infinite zooming picture

And a bizzare web video, sponsored by feces-flavored chewing gum

This week's B3ta newsletter

Bush+Busey =

Comedy Gold!

Last one... This is Chris McCandless, the subject of Krakauer's Into The Wild

More...

Here are a few more paintings by Aron...

A quick rundown of Bush's environmental record

Phew. This is only about a page long, but it is crammed detail. I found this at the ever-useful and entertaining AltWeeklies.com

It's Hard Being Green

Bush Like Me

Matt Taibbi goes undercover as a Bush supporter. He mentions another story story of his in the article that I thought perhaps people might appreciate.

Link

I knew I should have patented this idea

LEMUR is a "multitouch" configurable ethernet-connected touchscreen interface. You can customize the graphics on the LCD, and use it as a mixer, or for many other purposes. The cool part is the "multitouch" technology, which can track multiple fingertips at once, seemingly without gloves or any other annoyances.
Lemur

Christian Sex Education - for kids!

Link, via BoingBoing

Contains informative gems such as this:

This first story commences with a father noisily sawing wood when his six-year-old son Billy runs up and implores him to come see the neighbors' new puppies. Not sensing any danger of imminent embarrassment, the father accompanies Billy to view the litter of puppies. Billy is prone to excitement and repeated use of the exclamation "Golly." He also sounds like an adult woman doing an impression of a boy. Apparently audio verité was not foremost on the minds of the Christophers.

On cue, Billy starts asking questions about how and why the puppies were born. Dad gives his stock answer about God planting the seed inside the mother dog, etc. This seems to satisfy until Billy asks the same questions about human beings. Dad issues a similar reply, but adds the detail that "God breathes a soul into the human fetus." The pet cemetary business was never the same.

The Center for Public Integrity posts all Abu Grahib supplementary documents

Link, via the Memory Hole blog

A whole pile of documents, including the infamous Taguba Report has been made available by the Center for Public Integrity.

Brush those muthaf**kin' teeth!

Barney Shakur

O'Reilly set to go completely bonkers

O'Reilly Hit With Sex Harass Suit

And check out the crazy rambling threats he makes against Al Franken...

Test for posting pictures with Hello

As a test for Blogger's integration with Hello, here is a painting (yes, PAINTING) that my friend Aron recently did.

Frist Post!

I'm going to try out Blogger for a while and see how it goes. Pitas didn't allow comments, and it would screw up if I put quotation marks in the post titles. Plus, Blogger lets me post photos, and has some cool tools that Pitas doesn't have.