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See if you can find me under the Mozart string quartets...
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Monday, November 15th, 2004
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Saturday, October 30th, 2004
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Wednesday, October 27th, 2004
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"We are forming this Goth Republican Band to help elect George Bush to continue the sadness. His actions facilitate our morbid fascination and the beauty of enduring pain. Many people lead unhappy lives and that is sad. Bush will continue the sadness. He knows that gentle people are excellent for spanking. His foreign policy is the best, he spanks the world and the unseen one knows it deserves it, so beautifully dirty, grimy and perverse."
http://www.pipelinenews.org/bbs/gothbush.html
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Tuesday, October 26th, 2004
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School Says Halloween Disrespectful to Witches
District Bans a Planned Celebration, Calling It a Waste of Time
PUYALLUP, Wash., Oct. 21, 2004 -- A Washington state school district is canceling its annual Halloween celebration, and the explanation has some parents baffled.
"Let them have their 30 minutes of dressing goofy and having candy," Silas Macon, a father of two school-age girls, said Wednesday outside Maplewood Elementary School after learning that the grade-school tradition of a party and parade in costume during the last half-hour of class before Halloween night won't happen this year in the district.
A letter sent home to parents Wednesday said there will be no observance of Halloween in any of the district's schools.
"We really want to make sure we're using all of our time in the best interest of our students," Puyallup School District spokeswoman Karen Hansen said.
The superintendent made the decision for three primary reasons, Hansen said. First, Halloween parties and parades waste valuable classroom time. Second, some families can't afford costumes and the celebrations thus can create embarrassment for children.
Both of those reasons seemed sensible to the parents who spoke to ABC News affiliate KOMO-TV in Seattle. But the district's third reason left some Puyallup parents shaking their heads.
The district said Halloween celebrations and children dressed in Halloween costumes might be offensive to real witches.
"Witches with pointy noses and things like that are not respective symbols of the Wiccan religion and so we want to be respectful of that," Hansen said.
The Wiccan, or Pagan, religion is said to be growing in the United States and there are Wiccan groups in Puyallup.
On the district's list of guidelines related to holidays and celebrations is an item that reads: "Use of derogatory stereotypes is prohibited, such as the traditional image of a witch, which is offensive to members of the Wiccan religion."
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In reality, I think this is the Puyallup school district buckling to the demads of fundamentalist religious groups, and using the Wiccan community as a scapegoat to justify taking Halloween away from kids. By disguising it as "tolerance" they come off looking squeaky clean despite being complete assholes. And in the end, Wiccans are to blame.
Did they ask the Wiccan community if they would be offended? There is nothing in the article about angry Wiccans protesting Halloween. Since when do school districts do anything for anybody based on assumptions?
read the rest of the article at http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=184701&page=1
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Monday, October 25th, 2004
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"Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate and hate leads to the Dark Side."
- Yoda.
Fear, like hatred, is terribly bonding. People who fear together stick together. The Republicans knows this: they knows that a fearful, angry America is going to stick behind the biggest bully on the block - George Bush - the man who's going to kick out and fight the fear on their behalf.
Fear makes people stupid. Martin Heidegger, in Section 68 of Being and Time, has this to say about fear and stupidity:
Aristotle rightly defines 'fear' as... "a kind of depression or bewilderment"... The bewilderment is based upon a forgetting... When concern is afraid, it leaps from next to next, because it forgets itself and therefore does not take hold of any definite possibility... It is well known, for instance, that the inhabitants of a burning house will often 'save' the most indifferent things that are most closely ready-to-hand. When one has forgotten oneself and makes present a jumble of hovering possibilities, one thus makes possible that bewilderment which goes to make up the mood-character of fear.
Bewildered, forgetful of facts, forgetful of its history and its principles, grabbing wildly at solutions (bombing Iraq, for instance) - this is America afraid. No wonder the Republicans are keeping the fear dial turned up to 11: because there is no voter easier to manipulate than a scared one.
Bush has the dogs of fear on a tight leash. Bush owns fear. Just as he owns 9/11. Just as he owns Saddam Hussein (quite literally). This ownership and exploitation of terror infuriates liberal sensibilities - here, for example, is Bill Berkowitz writing on dissidentvoice.org:
9/11 isn't the property of the Bush Administration and it can never be allowed to be viewed that way.
A statement issued by September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows on 9/11 reads in part: �Today, as we commemorate September 11, 2004, we find that our worst fears have been realized. The terrorism of September 11th has been neither neutralized, nor ended, by the terrorism of war.�
Being a 9/11 person means that you don�t buy into the fear stirred up at every turn by this administration. Being a 9/11 person means that you don�t slavishly support preemptive strikes and phony wars. Being a 9/11 person means that while you commemorate the day and honor the dead, you continue to fight for a more peaceful world.
A lovely thought, but practically no-one is thinking it. It's so much easier to believe that Bush is fighting to protect the US than to believe that these wars are "phony". And the fear that the American public is being stirred up to feel is an anti-critical force. Fear makes you stupid. And stupid is what the Republicans need America to be.
But here's a question: what if Bush lost his control over the fear? This interesting idea comes from David Corn on TomPaine.com:
[Kerry] cannot cede the I-am-stronger turf to Bush. He has to find a way to fight Bush on this psychological territory. That might require a more direct attack on Bush, charging him with botching his primary mission and placing America in a less safe position.
In other words, fight fear with fear: kick the fear back in Bush's face. Make the fearful public afraid of Bush. Reclaim the terror.
What a truly depressing idea.
And what's most depressing about it is that it just might work.
http://www.lnreview.co.uk/news/004296.php Unfortunately there is no name to credit.
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Sunday, October 24th, 2004
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Saturday, October 23rd, 2004
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"FactCheck.org needs your help .
"We are looking for examples of false or misleading political mail
regarding the presidential campaign. If you receive any, please send
them to us.
"We promise not to use your name without your permission, but we won't
be able to return the material you send. Please do include your name
and a telephone number or email address where we might contact you in
case we have questions.
"The kind of mail we are looking for might be sent by the campaigns, or
political parties, or independent groups. Typically these mailings are
targeted to specific groups -- such as older voters, minority groups or
gun owners, for example. Since the messages aren't intended for a
general audience and are seldom seen by political reporters, those who
send them sometimes take more liberties with the facts than they would
in TV or radio advertising that is seen and heard by everybody.
"With your help, we hope to shed some new light on this sort of tactic
and hold politicians accountable for any deceptions we can uncover."
Brooks Jackson
FactCheck.org
320 National Press Building
Washington, DC 20045
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Monday, October 18th, 2004
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Topic: al qaeda myth
Oct 17 2004 10:58PM
I haven't seen anyone post about his, yet, so I getta do it. BBC2 is airing a three part documentary starting on Wednesday called "The Power of Nightmares: The Rise of the Politics of Fear." The gist of it is that al qaeda is a political tool fashioned primarily of myth rather than substance. In other words...al qaeda is the boogey man, or Santa Claus, or maybe even D.B. Cooper.
The Power Of Nightmares The Rise Of The Politics Of Fear
9.00-10.00pm BBC TWO
This new series, from acclaimed film-maker Adam Curtis, tells the story of how the fear of a hidden network of terror has come to dominate politics in America, Britain and around the world, and examines just how far that fear is based on an illusion.
In an age in which people are wary of optimistic political visions of the future, The Power Of Nightmares asks if politicians have stumbled upon a new force that can restore their power: the fear of a hidden and organised web of evil from which only they can protect their people.
The series tells an epic story, at the heart of which are two groups: the American Neoconservatives and the
Radical Islamists. The first film begins in 1949 and traces the lives of two men living in America: Egyptian school inspector, Sayyid Qutb, whose ideas would later directly inspire those who flew the planes on 9/11, and political philosopher Leo Strauss, whose work strongly influenced
the Neoconservative movement that now dominates Washington.
Both men believed that modern liberal freedoms were eroding the bonds that held society together, but both had very different ideas about how to improve the situation.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/proginfo/tvwk42.shtml
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Sunday, October 17th, 2004
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9/29/2004 2:58:10 PM
From: [Wall Street Journal reporter] Farnaz Fassihi
Subject: From Baghdad
Being a foreign correspondent in Baghdad these days is like being under
virtual house arrest. Forget about the reasons that lured me to this job: a chance to see the world, explore the exotic, meet new people in far away lands, discover their ways and tell stories that could make a difference.
Little by little, day-by-day, being based in Iraq has defied all those reasons. I am house bound. I leave when I have a very good reason to and a scheduled interview. I avoid going to people's homes and never walk in the streets. I can't go grocery shopping any more, can't eat in restaurants, can't strike a conversation with strangers, can't look for stories, can't drive in any thing but a full armored car, can't go to scenes of breaking news stories, can't be stuck in traffic, can't speak English outside, can't take a road trip, can't say I'm an American, can't linger at checkpoints, can't be curious about what people are saying, doing, feeling. And can't and can't. There has been one too many close calls, including a car bomb so near our house that it blew out all the windows. So now my most pressing concern every day is not to write a kick-ass story but to stay alive and make sure our Iraqi employees stay alive. In Baghdad I am a security personnel first, a reporter second.
Read the rest.
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Saturday, October 16th, 2004
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Workers who left in ballot flap join Bush
By TERRY WOSTER and DAVID KRANZ
Argus Leader
published: 10/15/2004
Larry Russell, 3 others move to Ohio campaign
South Dakota campaign official who resigned after questions arose over absentee-ballot applications will work in Ohio for the Bush-Cheney campaign, an internal Republican Party memo indicates.
Larry Russell, who was chairman of the South Dakota Republican Party's get-out-the-vote operation, resigned this week after questions were raised about the validity of some of the 1,400 absentee-ballot applications gathered, largely on college campuses, by the program Russell led.
Students on campuses in Brookings, Vermillion,
Yankton and Spearfish have questioned the absentee-ballot application process, saying young men obtained their applications, but the notarization of the documents carried the signature of a woman.
The South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation has been interviewing several people about the matter.
No charges have been filed as a result of the probe, which Attorney General Larry Long on Thursday would only say "is continuing."
When South Dakota Republican Party Chairman Randy Frederick announced the resignations of Russell and five others Monday evening, he said the state party has a "zero-tolerance policy."
But an internal Republican Party memo obtained by the Argus Leader said Russell would be going to Cleveland "to lead the ground operations" for President Bush and Vice President Cheney there.
Ohio is a swing state considered vital to a successful presidential victory.
Attempts to contact Bush-Cheney campaign officials in Cleveland were unsuccessful.
read the rest of the story
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Friday, October 15th, 2004
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"Nearly half of the 126,000 immigrants in New York State who have applied to become American citizens have lost their chance to vote in the presidential election because of processing backlogs in the federal Department of Homeland Security, according to a new study.
"New York is the worst by far, but the numbers in some battleground states are startling. This has a potential impact on the election.
They feel their voices have been silenced and their votes have been robbed, even though it could well determine the outcome of the election. They all take it seriously that they now live in a democracy. Unfortunately the government has not taken seriously the obligation to include them."
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/15/nyregion/15immigrant.html
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Thursday, October 14th, 2004
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Wednesday, September 29th, 2004
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This is pretty old, so I'm probably the last person to see it, but oh well.
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Tuesday, September 28th, 2004
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This is awesome.
Apparently Anne Rice reads the reviews of her books on Amazon.com, and takes the negative ones (one was entitled the Vampire Wuss-Stat) pretty personally. So she does what any self-respecting author would do; she writes nasty-grams right back at her detractors on Amazon.com.
The Amazon letter, from a user named Anne Obrien Rice, entitled From the Author to the Some of the Negative Voices Here, September 6, 2004, criticizes the "sheer outrageous stupidity" of her readers remarks. Read the letter here.
While it may seem unlikely that Anne Rice would really do such a thing, she actually discusses the whole fiasco on her website here.
She also invites anybody who didn't enjoy her book to send it back to her, and gives her mailing address and personal email addy along with a promise for a full refund.
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Wednesday, September 22nd, 2004
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The Met has been displaying the work of a major new artist. Hanging on the wall of its modern art gallery has been a cartoon-style painting of President Bush against a background of shredded dollar bills. A label next to the painting describes it as made out of "acrylic, legal tender and the artist's semen." Charming. Of course, the Met didn't realize it was displaying this work (someone surreptitiously stuck it up on the wall with double-sided tape), but it took them a few days to notice that the rogue painting was hanging there. Three other museums were also unwilling hosts of work by this unknown artist. What I find amusing is the idea of museum visitors standing and nodding as they try to appreciate these odd paintings, thinking they must be the work of some modern master.
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SAINT PETERSBURG, Russia (AFP) - In a more innocent age, it was said that Gregory Efimovich Rasputin's legendary power over women was due to his piercing eyes.
But a new museum of erotica here suggests that the mad monk's charm may instead have been, ahem, concealed beneath his cassock.
Measuring 28.5 centimeters (about 11 inches) -- allowing for shrinkage caused by pickling -- Rasputin's penis displayed in a tall glass bottle is, to put it delicately, a big attraction at the museum.
Director Igor Knyazkin said he bought the object from a French antiquitarian for 8,000 dollars (6,600 euros), along with several of Rasputin's hand-written letters.
It was not known if he had a certificate of authenticity for such a remarkable piece.
Reputed both for his mysticism and his debauchery, Rasputin was a powerful influence at the court of the Romanov Tsars.
Concerned about his unusual hold over the Empress Alexandra, a group of aristocrats decided to kill him to save Russia.
They lured him to an assignation in 1916, fed him drugged cakes, shot him and finally killed him by wrapping him in a carpet and throwing him into the frozen Neva river.
The aura of sexual power and mysticism lives on. Some Russians think just by staring at the object, they can cure sexual impotence.
One visitor asked Knyazkin if this is true.
"Without a shadow of doubt," he replied with a smile.
Knyazkin, 37, a urologist and sexologist, set up the museum in the clinic he runs, partly with the aim of helping his patients overcome impotence. The atmosphere of the museum makes patients "more optimistic and relaxed," he said.
"The aim of the doctor is to free his patient from anxiety and fears. Men who come here are ill at ease because of their problems, and our light and happy atmosphere reassures them."
Only part of Knyazkin's collection of 12,000 erotic objects is displayed in the clinic, which is staffed by buxom nurses wearing short white blouses and high heels.
"I keep the valuable stuff at home," he said.
Nevertheless, the museum still contains an impressive collection of ceramic phalluses and bawdy drawings.
Many of the exhibits come from his patients, said the doctor, rattling off the names of several members of Russian high society.
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![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
doctorbing's journal
aggravated.
amused.
intimidated.