Infrequent Musical Interlude

.. and new artist discovery. For me, anyway. The Knife, a swedish duo, who are a bit left wing and odd, protesting award ceremonies, refusing live performances, wearing masks. Electronic, slightly industrial although this track tends toward the more creepily ambient. They won, best album, best artist, best production, etc at the 2004 Swedish equivilent of the Grammy’s. The song is called Marble House.

A whole new way to plug and play.

All I can say is: Oh. My. #@&#(&@. The OhMiBod can be found on its own website. The video scares me. Truly.

Anyone else here the sounds of San Jose lawyers getting richer?

A Hard Day's Night of the Living Dead

This morning’s amusement is provided by YouTube and whoever created this fake moving preview. I give you The Beatles vs. the Zombies. Please put your tray tables in their upright position and secure all liquids.

The Leaning Post and Stealing Coulter's wallet.

The Leaning Post of Washington is something we wish could be a memorable monument like the Tower that stands in Pisa; another pinnacle of the DC skyline. However, all they are doing is leaning towards a more and more biased presentation. I really think they are treading into their own delusional realms of fancy; because this piece seems like a complete contradiction to the rest of the news reports. (or anything not directly from the Bush Administration actually.)

“The partisan furor over this allegation led to the appointment of special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald. Yet after two years of investigation, Mr. Fitzgerald charged no one with a crime for leaking Ms. Plame's name. In fact, he learned early on that Mr. Novak's primary source was former deputy secretary of state Richard L. Armitage, an unlikely tool of the White House. The trial has provided convincing evidence that there was no conspiracy to punish Mr. Wilson by leaking Ms. Plame's identity -- and no evidence that she was, in fact, covert.”

Oh, and if you are of the opinion that Ann Coulter went to far last week in referring to Sen. Edwards as a ‘faggot’; or are annoyed at the fact that she claimed on Fox News that Gay people are not offended by the word: take the time to join in the Human Rights Campaigns action effort to have Universal Press stop syndicating her column. Already two major newspapers have dropped it, and Verizon and other companies have pulled their advertising from her Website.

Joe Solmonese, President of the Human Rights Campaign, has some interesting comments on her actions at The Huffington Post. I think he has it exactly right. We can’t change her, but we can stick her in the wallet, and encourage others to get a clue.

“We are never going to change Ann Coulter -- she will always be hateful and ignorant. However her bigotry is big business. It provides a huge revenue stream for Universal Press Syndicate, the largest independent newspaper syndicate in the world. They are betting than Ann's hate will bring more readers to her columns and they will be left out of the fray. Well they bet wrong. Companies cannot be allowed to profit from hate speech and that's exactly what Universal Press Syndicate does.”

IRAQ 101: All America should be reading.

Do you know the different between a Sunni and a Shiite? Well, perhaps everyone wasn’t forced to have a parochial education K through College, but I get very scared when the news media shows demonstrate complete ignorance on the issue.

Mother Jones has the answer, the IRAQ 101 guide. Its not as indepth as I might like, but its certainly more that I would guess most American’s know about the country.

CPAC its own Plague of Madness?

I’m seriously beginning to think someone ought to check all the attendees at the CPAC conference for some contagen. Some kind of republican ‘mad cow’ virus that leads to stupidity.

Blog for our Future reports on Newt Gingrich’s comments from his grande finale address to CPAC attendees by calling for a ‘deep investigation’ into the ‘failure of the citizenship’ in New Orleans.

Here’s his full comments:

How can you have the mess we have in New Orleans, and not have had deep investigations of the federal government, the state government, the city government, and the failure of citizenship in the Ninth Ward, where 22,000 people were so uneducated and so unprepared, they literally couldn't get out of the way of a hurricane.

This can only bring me to ask ‘What are you smoking, Newt?!’

The Huffington Post’s Harry Shearer responded better than I possibly could, since I was reduced by shock to a mere “WTF?!”:

...the folks in the Ninth Ward weren't caught by a hurricane. They were surprised at 5:30 Monday morning (according to [LSU Hurricane Center co-founder Ivor] Van Heerden's timeline) by an eighteen-foot-high wall of water as their federally built flood protection structure catastrophically failed.

Who's the uneducated one?

Beatings over Pink Pants?

HOBOKEN - A man was followed off a PATH train by two men and brutally beaten in what cops are calling an antigay bias attack.

Police said the incident started on a PATH train at 4:30 a.m. Friday, when two men started taunting a 21-year-old Bayonne man for wearing pink pants.

When the train pulled into the Hoboken station, the two men followed the Bayonne man off the train and up the stairs, then attacked him near a newsstand on the concourse in Hoboken Terminal, police said.

The man required 12 stitches to close facial wounds, police said, adding that he also had a black eye and was temporarily blinded in one eye.

WTF? For crying out loud, if you don’t like the pants, DON’T LOOK AT THEM!

Note to Self: Never have Cam convention in New Jersey. (I can say that, I was born there.)

Suck it up conservative America!

The kiss that rocked the Academy awards.

Then again, not everyone has such a pretty wife. I can also applaud the bipartisan thank you that was even short.

Too funny to be real

A fake bleach blonde country singer girl married to drunken trailer trash nascar loving men? Put it all together and its a rude irreverant laugh with foul language.

That and I spewed coffee on my laptop.

Draft, or write-in campaign?

The Draft Gore folks may have the right idea. After all, we did really elect him in the first place, just that pesky Supreme Court got in the way. But maybe, just maybe they aren’t going far enough. Perhaps instead of a petition to draft him into running, we should just go ahead with a write-in campaign.

If he could be elected in the first place, after all the fiascoes of the past eight years write in aught to be a landslide.

He's eloquent, passionate, relentless, undaunted. The first political figure to oppose the Iraq war, Al Gore is also the lead champion in the fight against global warming, a passionate defender of our Constitution, and an unyielding voice against the Bush Administration's abuse of power.

Given his unmatched experience and leadership on issues of moral imperative, Gore is increasingly seen as Democrats' best bet to win back the White House.

Who can argue with that? Or the Nobel Peace Prize nomination, or an academy award, or just the fact that the man has a sense of humor and his jokes aren’t rude, contrived or lame. Let’s face it, we won’t have to worry about him groping foreign heads of state. Tipper would cut his heart out with a dull spoon. (Although Tipper is an entirely different subject, and if he runs, she has to stay away from the book burning bon-fires or any legislation.)

He jokes on TV about pretending to run, he even does a skit on Saturday Night Live where he does a humorous ‘Presidential’ address. (Watch the clip at Crooks and Liars Video-WMP Video-QT)

I guess the real reason is, as much as I might like Obama and Hillary as the potential Democratic Candidates; I think between them the issue of the hype surrounding being the first potential presidential nominees of their minority might actually do more harm than good. Especially if McCain is the Republican Nominee, he’s enough of a moderate to swing some of the democratic voters. As sad as it is to conclude, because I really would like an African American or Woman President, I’d rather be positive with the ‘good old boy’ appeal.

Even if he is as much of a hypocrite as the rest, supposedly using twice as much electricity in his house in one month than the rest of America uses in a year.

War Corporatism

I like the phrase, penned by this short film explaining some of the results and effects of the Project for a New American Century. Even if the short film is a bit simplistic, leaving much of the scope of their beliefs and plans out of the equation.

Banning freedom of Ideas?

No offense to the Honorable Janet Napolitano, but she can kiss my butt. If you agree with me, and no offense to any readers from Arizona, let the wench know what you think.

Seriously, I enjoyed arguing with teachers, you learn more. You learn to go out in the world and not be a lemming, because you’ve learned to look at the issues and formulate and defend your own position.

I weep for our children, I really do. Hopefully we’ll be lucky and Al’s global warming will put us out of our misery before the future we are creating does.

PHOENIX (AP) -- A proposed state law would prohibit any instructor in a public school or college from advocating or opposing a political candidate or one side of a social, political or cultural issue that is part of a partisan debate

A group of Arizona lawmakers concluded Thursday that classrooms should not be forums for schoolteachers and college professors to espouse political opinions.

Supporters said the measure would let students disagree with instructors without fearing retribution.

However, college students and education advocates worry it would discourage instructors from leading discussions and debates on controversial topics.

As if we weren’t already considered slipping on educational and freedom of the press issues. I feel like I’m living in a V for Vendetta dream.

Religious Migration

A must see short film showing the history of religion in just a bit more than a minute. From so small to so large, its hard to see the impact of a long period of changes, until you look at it in graphical form. Thanks to Maps of War for things of visual interest.

How has the geography of religion evolved over the centuries, and where has it sparked wars? Our map gives us a brief history of the world's most well-known religions: Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Judaism. Selected periods of inter-religious bloodshed are also highlighted. Want to see 5,000 years of religion in 90 seconds? Ready, Set, Go!

Who will speak out for you?

Current events in the world remind me of a World War II era Poem attributed to Martin Niemöller:

When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.
When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.
When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.
When they came for the Jews,
I did not speak out;
I was not a Jew.
When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.

In the past lines have been replaced with "when they came for the Catholics, I said nothing because I was a Protestant." How easy would it be in today's world where the conservatives want to protect us from terrorism through racial profiling would it be to replace "Jew" with "Muslim"?

It seems as if the administration has no time or energy to give to the process of peace; peace takes work. If there is no effort there will be only the war against Islam they seem to be seeking. Islamic Fascists? Fanatics, in some cases, perhaps. But certainly not the innocent citizens of Lebanon, a democratic republic, being bombed.

These actions will only create more Islamic "Fanatics" and prove to the world that America is drifting towards "Fascism". Or don't the following definitions ring a bell?

Fascism is a radical totalitarian political philosophy that combines elements of corporatism, authoritarianism, extreme nationalism, militarism, anti-anarchism, anti-communism and anti-liberalism.

• Haliburton? Oil Companies? They seem to be the only ones making a profit lately, all friends of the administration.
• President declaring an illegal war. He did promise congress that he would return to the UN one more time for a resolution. He didn't bother.
• President writing himself around the laws of the country. No fair justice for detainees, no privacy for private citizens.
• "To criticize the President in a time of war is to jeopardize National Security." Excuse me? Last time I looked the terms Democracy or at least Representative Republic were supposed to apply the the American system of government.
• According to most of the right-side pundits democrats or liberals are anything from insurgents' to godless' in their failure to support their country. I love my country, I just want a different chauffeur.

I love America, but the road she's been on so far this century scares me.

911 Cover Up

Loose Change 2nd Edition - Korey Rowe / Dylan Avery / Jason Bermas Micheal Moore has nothing on this. You owe it to yourself to watch this, even if the majority of it is incorrect, if any of it is accurate its scary.

Knights of The Dinner Table meet Web 2.0

Yes, our favorite unwashed and clueless gamer characters are now available in flash animated format. Don't miss the latest hilarious take on role-playing games. This strip has been a classic with gamer geeks for ages, give it a try. You'll meet a stereotype or three you know personally.

Guildmate shows his stuff

Yes, I'm a geek. Yes, I'm a gamer geek. Yes, I admit I'm addicted to world of warcraft. But I get to play with some really talented and crazy dedicated people in Saga. Defeating new content and bosses can be quite a thrill, and we're doing well in Naxxramas when the lag allows us to. This is a pretty decent video of one of our rogues, a former PvP Grand Marshall owning horde in Black Rock Mountain.

Download vnix.wmv From FileFront!

Jump from the sinking ship.

Or, as some other websites have put it, "Guess the mystery republican." At least someone realizes the ship is sinking and its time to bail out!

Notice that they aren't brave enough to say who they are. Pansies.

Inconsistencies

Sometimes I have to wonder exactly how stupid politicians think we all are? Has anyone, especially the President's Press Secretary, actually taken a look at the wording of this Bill that passed the Senate and the House? The one that Bush, for the first time in his Presidency, has chosen to veto.

Perhaps they should read it. It allows for unused blastocysts from fertilization clinics to be used for medical research That's it, only extra embryos left over from fertility treatments. Do you know what usually happens to those blastocysts? They get thrown in the trash, to the tune of 400,000 embryos. And, those people allowing their excess embryos to be used have to provide informed, written, consent that they could not receive compensation, etc.

The president did not use that term the next day at the veto ceremony, but he did say he objected to the legislation because it "would support the taking of innocent human life in the hope of finding medical benefits for others."

How is using embryos that are otherwise headed to the trash bin, to better human life, 'murder'? In a culture of life wasting them to the trash can is better than possibly curing horrible diseases?

Seriously, this President is not about life. He allowed 150 people to be executed while he was Governor of Texas, he didn't accept a single plea. Including one from a woman who'd since become a Christian and repented.

Apparently you are only worthy of life if you aren't age to be drafted, and aren't a civilian in Afghanistan, Iraq or Lebanon. Because its pretty close to murdering our soldiers in my eyes when you send them into an illegal war without the proper armor and equipment.

When commercials are cool.

This is the coolest commercial I've seen in a long time. Animated clothing makes an underwater environment for a washing machine advertisement. Tripping.



Another one of my recent favorites is the identity theft ones the Science Fiction Channel has been playing in heavy rotation. The two old ladies who sound like the men who took their credit cards to buy motorcycles.

There's just something not right...

... with our President. Now he's groping the heads of foreign powers. This is not your Mistress, this is not your Daughter, this is a Foreign Head of State. Not every culture understands or want's pats from a Good Old Boy! And, she does NOT look amused.

I thought I'd washed it all out!

Apparently I missed a spot or eighty. Back to the cleaners! Get out the Bleach!

You Are 86% New Jersey!

Wow, you're totally Jersey. There's no doubt about it. Congratulations, and always be proud to be Jersey--it's a great thing to be!

How New Jersey Are You?

Feeling like Chicken Little

Ezekiel 30:3-5 For the Day of the Lord is near; it will be a day of clouds, a time of doom for the nations. And a sword will come upon Egypt, and anguish will be in Ethiopia when the slain fall in Egypt, they take away her wealth, and her foundations are torn down. Ethiopia, Put, Lud, all Arabia, Libya, and the people of the land that is in league will fall with them by the sword.

It seems to be a repeated theme in the media these days. Randi Rhodes mentioned it Friday in on her show, Glenn Beck mentions it below on the television. I can't help but remember all the studies of Revelation in school, and later studies of Nostradamus; all which seem to indicate the start of World War III, or its equivilent indicating the end of days starting in the middle east. Put, in the passage above refers to modern day Iran, by the way, the financial backing for Hezbollah.

Don't worry, its just a sobering line of thought. Things are gettign a little out of hand there, you must admit. I'm not prepared to go a bit crazy like the folks at Rapture Ready. Silly people even track prophecy indicators up and down like the stock market.

So, watch Glenn Beck and see if you agree that its' started already. His things known and unknown are fairly interesting; we are lacking some serious world-wide leadership, Bush, Blair, Putin, they are all a bit.. well.. spineless.

You go Rahm!

In response to the same report on White House Salaries that I commented on a few days ago, Illinois Democratic Represenative Rahm Emmaunuel delivered this slap to the Administration:

"Mr. Speaker, yesterday the President said we continue to be wise about how we spend the people's money.

"Then why are we paying over $100,000 for a 'White House Director of Lessons Learned'?

"Maybe I can save the taxpayers $100,000 by running through a few of the lessons this White House should have learned by now.

"Lesson 1: When the Army Chief of Staff and the Secretary of State say you are going to war without enough troops, you're going to war without enough troops.

"Lesson 2: When 8.8 billion dollars of reconstruction funding disappears from Iraq, and 2 billion dollars disappears from Katrina relief, it's time to demand a little accountability.

"Lesson 3: When you've 'turned the corner' in Iraq more times than Danica Patrick at the Indy 500, it means you are going in circles.

"Lesson 4: When the national weather service tells you a category 5 hurricane is heading for New Orleans, a category 5 hurricane is heading to New Orleans.

"I would also ask the President why we're paying for two 'Ethics Advisors' and a 'Director of Fact Checking.'

"They must be the only people in Washington who get more vacation time than the President.

"Maybe the White House could consolidate these positions into a Director of Irony."

The truth stings, doesn't it? I think Monty Python did a comedy scetch about this administration like twenty years ago; The Department of Redundancy Department.

Update, July 18: Video Now Available from YouTube.

It explains just so many things.

There have been several articles recently on Dr. James Dobson. Ten or fifteen years ago, I thought he was a pretty interesting gentleman, as some of his films on the family where improving things, especially from the viewpoint of a Psychology major in a parochial college.

Since then I've seen him attack parts of my life, over which I have little control, time and again. Some of the contents of these articles sheds light on a number of things. The first is the Carpetbagger Report, listed above, from a liberal perspective; and then an article from a Colorado magazine.

Have you ever wondered why Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family is such a nutcase? Why is he so obsessed with the sex lives of people he doesn't even know? Why does he hate gay people so much? Why does he claim to love Jesus so much, and then behave in a vicious manner so unlike Christ?

The magazine is fairly neutral, to even positive on his side, but still contains things that are, concerning.

“James Dobson believes that he has been entirely sanctified, morally perfected, that he does not and cannot sin. Now you know why he and moralists like him make a life of condemning what he believes to be the sins of others. He is perfect.”

Since he doesn't live in a glass house, he can throw stones at everyone else? What kind of a philosophy or modus operandi is that? The article has a few points, and raises a few questions. Child psychology was a speciality of mine in school, some of the things described in his formative years usually lead to personality disorders in adulthood; the mental and physical abuse, the animal cruelty, etc.

And I'd like to thank him very much for his narrow view of women, as he recounts in his book Bringing up Boys:

“Because it is the privilege and blessing of women to bear children, they are inclined toward predictability, stability, security, caution, and steadiness. Most of them value friendships and family above accomplishments or opportunities. That is why they often dislike change and resist moving from one city to another. The female temperament lends itself to nurturance, caring, sensitivity, tenderness, and compassion.”

As the Denver magazine article points out, the man has a lot of political and social clout, maybe too much; especially for someone with such a drastically conservative stance.

Edit: July 18, 2006 Denver Magazine 5280 takes another swing at Dobson for falsifying research to make it appear to support his stand that Gay's do not make good parents!

Final Fantasy III comes to the US!

For old school gaming geeks, and Final Fantasy fans, this has to be the most anticipated title of the year. This is the one Final Fantasy title that has never been translated and released outside of Asia. It was the first Final Fantasy to feature the job changing system that has been a large part of the series since, even in recent console titles such as X-2 and the MMORPG. It was originally released for the Famicon (Nintendo Family Computer, known as the Nintendo Entertainment System or NES in North America) in 1990.

This spring Square Co., Ltd. announced that it would be receiving an enhanced remake for the Nintendo DS portable game system with an update to 3D graphics that would retain a visual design true to the original. It is slated for an August 2006 release in Japan, and an October 2006 release in North America.

• The composer of the original versions musical score, Nobuo Uematsu, is supervising the arrangement of the music and creating a new main orchestral theme.

• There is a new artist, Akihiko Yoshida, revamping the character designs.
  


• Some rumors seem to confirm some changes and re-balancing being done to the job system, as well as the inclusion of some new abilities and a new job class.
  

Since E3 there has been a slew of new information, game play previews, and even an official trailer. This one looks like a winner.

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Want To Be A SuperHero?

I've avoided reality television since its inception; I really did think it was almost as silly and pointless as professional wrestling. The Science Fiction channel's new reality show "Who wants to be a Superhero?" looks like it actually might be an amusing spoof on most regularly televised reality shows. I mean, really, they can't be serious; Monkey Woman? Her special power is devices disguised as bananas.

Stan Lee, venerable comic hero created and Marvel Comics master is involved in the project, which lends it a bit of credibility. The show will begin airing on July 27th, 2006 on the SciFi Channel, and its described by them as:

From all walks of life have come 11 very different people, all out to prove to legendary comic-book creator Stan Lee that they have what it takes to be a true superhero. But as they're about to learn, it takes more than a sharp costume and cool powers to be a hero - because for a true superhero, it's what kind of person you are that counts the most….

Everything on the site about the show is moderately amusing from the collection of video auditions to Fat Momma's theme song. It would be nice if the make-your-own-hero function let you choose something other than a male model. And since its based off software RolePlaying gamers have been using to make pictures of their table-top gaming characters for years, I know female models are available. But then again, I suppose that goes well with the stereotypical skimpy outfits on the female heroes other than Fat Momma. Skimpie suits sell.

It may turn out to be lame, but I suppose we'll give it a go for an episode or three.

New Hackers Turn to Old Tools

Seems that since people have learned, often the hard way, not to click on links in unsolicited email messages that the Internet Bad Guys have gone back in time to an old standby - Ma Bell.

USA Today's Article on "Internet con artists turn to 'vishing'" tells us that, ""If you get a telephone call where someone is asking you to provide or confirm any of your personal information, immediately hang up and call your financial institution with the number on the back of the card," said Paul Henry, a vice president with Secure Computing Corp. "If it was a real issue, they can address the issue."

Is it October 6th Yet?

Watch this and you'll understand why!
This video makes me cry. I don't think I can wait until October. Film Faster Dang it!

If you haven't been watching the Science Fiction channel's new Battlestar Galactica series you are missing something wonderful. This isn't your grade school Battlestar Galactica with kids, stuffed robotic bears and cliches around every corner.

This is a whole new twist for the 21st Century. Its dark, its gritty, the characters are real, and have more baggage than Amtrak. The cylons? Well, they look human now. Is there one on your ship? And Lucy Lawless is amazing as one of the Cylon models hiding as a television journalist on one of the ships in the fleet. The Director call it a re-imagining of the classic.

For starters, there are many more strong female characters than there were in the first show; including Starbuck and the President of the Colonies. And the Cylon women will rock your socks off! Find out all that and more in an extensive wikipedia entry on the show.

Don't miss it, try it if you haven't. Seasons One and Two are out on DVD for reasonable prices, and the Science Fiction Channel will, no doubt, run more repeats.

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