Month: October 2004

  • LAST MINUTE UPDATE ON DISCHARGE

    Via N.Z. Bear, I see speculation by Spoons that “the Kerry discharge story (that Kerry received an other-than-honorable discharge) is going to break tonight. ” Once again, I wish Kerry had simply signed Standard Form 180. This is too serious a matter for last minute shenanigans. UPDATE: Dean Esmay has posted an excellent interview with…

  • Ghostly gathering . . .

    I visited two old Philadelphia cemeteries today: the very run-down Mt. Moriah Cemetery, and the famous historical landmark, Laurel Hill Cemetery. I thought that in keeping with the season I’d share a few photos. While I wasn’t looking for ghosts today, at least one website does offer photographs of Mt. Moriah’s ghosts, and similar claims…

  • What the H? Hitch goes for W!

    I was talkin with E. from the Dave just the other day about all of these not-so-glowing endorsements for Kerry (E., by the way, has an endorsement of his own), and he noted Christopher Hitchens’s apparent Kerry endorsement at Slate: Christopher Hitchens, Contributor: Kerry I am assuming for now that this is a single-issue election.…

  • Happy Halloween!

    I carved my pumpkin tonight and I took a picture of it in the dark. (No special effects; just sitting on my computer….) HAPPY HALLOWEEN, EVERYONE!

  • Time to get serious in the War on Terror!

    Fascinating development while I was out; veteran newsanchor Walter Cronkite stated that Karl Rove is behind Osama bin Laden: Former CBSNEWS anchorman Walter Cronkite believes Bush adviser Karl Rove is possibly behind the new Bin Laden tape. Cronkite made the startling comments late Friday during an interview on CNN. Somewhat smiling, Cronkite said he is…

  • Why Sweden is safe!

    Are they handing out Nobel Prizes like candy or what? I’m marveling over these remarks from recent Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai, an ecologist and trained biologist: KENYA’S new Nobel Peace Prize winner believes the virus causing AIDS was a deliberately created biological agent unleashed on Africans. “Some say that AIDS came from the…

  • Don’t go to your grave without a graven image!

    It appears that Osama bin Laden is still alive and making statements as logically elusive was the question of his recent mortal status: “Your security is not in the hands of (Democratic candidate John) Kerry or Bush or al-Qaida. Your security is in your own hands,” bin Laden said. “To the U.S. people, my talk…

  • How to photoshop and resize a “still” video….

    There’s a big flap (which, I am told, made it into today’s New York Times) over alleged photoshopping of (or in) this Bush campaign video — by copying and pasting duplicate images of soldiers into a pro-Bush crowd — thus creating a digital “clone army” to make it appear that Bush’s crowd had more military…

  • Making America stronger?

    The old news (from April of 2003) is constantly being re-spun — to the point where I’m almost hesitant to comment on the stories, because as soon as I do, there’ll be new “news.” Like the latest video depicting 55 gallon drums in a bunker. Where was the bunker? How many drums? Were they full?…

  • Late night reading!

    Back too late for blogging (although I see Justin’s been doin’ the Humpty Hump ‘thout me knowutmsayin’), but there are two reminders…. 1. This week’s Carnival of the Vanities has set a blogospheric record for the youngest reviewer ever — 13 year old Maddy at The Twins Tell the Truth. Maddy does a great job…

  • HUMPTY, pronounced with an UMPTY

    `… There’s fascism for you!’ `I don’t know what you mean by “fascism,”‘ Alice said. Humpty Neiwert smiled contemptuously. `Of course you don’t — till I tell you. I meant “there’s a nice knock-down argument for you!”‘ `But “fascism” doesn’t mean “a nice knock-down argument,”‘ Alice objected. `When I use a word,’ Humpty Neiwert said…

  • SIMPLE REQUEST

    I’ll be gone much of the day but if there’s anyone reading this in campaign terroritory, there’s something that they can do. Download this document (Standard Form 180) and get Senator Kerry to sign it! I believe strongly that in order to clear up the confusion over his discharge, he has to sign it. Otherwise,…

  • Lunar coverup!

    Tonight’s lunar eclipse was largely ruined by cloud cover in this area. This was the best I could do before the whole thing became completely obscured. (Taken at 9:27 p.m. EDT)

  • Do genes of distinction lead to extinction?

    Megan McArdle (guest-blogging at InstaPundit) links to a New York Times article on genetic differences between the races. (“Scientists seem to be converging on the view that there is more genetic basis than one side of the argument had hoped, although less than the other side had averred.”) What would surprise me would be if…

  • Andrew Sullivan Crosses His Fingers

    Eric H. from the Dave pointed me toward this bit of apparent sense by Andrew Sullivan at the New Republic: Equally, his presidency can and should be judged on its most fateful decision: to go to war against Iraq without final U.N. approval on the basis of Saddam’s stockpiles of weapons and his violation of…

  • Terrorizing the election?

    In an exclusive, Drudge reports ABC’s possession of an al Qaeda announcement that something HUGE is in store — a terror attack here in the United States in retaliation for the election of George W. Bush: ABCNEWS HOLDS TERROR WARNING TAPE **Exclusive** In the last week before the election, ABCNEWS is holding a videotaped message…

  • The mutability of mobilizing passions

    David Neiwert is serious about defining fascism. (And he doesn’t set much stock in dictionary definitions.) Instead, he offers a multi-pronged definition of fascism as involving “palingenetic ultranationalist populism” and certain “traits that remain constant in fascism through all the stages of its development.” Nine traits (or “mobilizing passions”) are listed: 1. — a sense…

  • Is old news a surprise?

    As so many are puzzled over why explosives missing in Iraq since April of 2003 would be big news right now, I thought I’d hazard a guess. Because there’s most likely going to be a big explosion, not here, but in Iraq. BAGHDAD ? Leaders and supporters of the anti-U.S. insurgency say their attacks in…

  • Dick Cheney gets “F” grade on Fascist exam!

    I just realized that in a previous post, I failed to discuss the implications of a much-reported remark by Dick Cheney. Clearly he lost his temper and he shouldn’t have sworn at Senator Leahy. Telling people to fuck off or fuck themselves is impolite by any standard. But is it “fascist”? To answer this question…

  • NEWS BLAST FROM THE PAST!

    Via Drudge (and in today’s Philadelphia Inquirer, with a blaring headline) I see that 377 tons of explosives were missing in Iraq when American troops went in: According to NBCNEWS, the HMX and RDX explosives were already missing when the American troops arrived. “The U.S. Army was at the site one day after the liberation…