Nate Died

So, I'm watching the end of Six Feet Under and Nate dies. What's up with that? I for SURE didn't see that coming.

Did you?

F/u to my letter that appeared in Altercation on Tuesday

Re: Second Amendment

I'm glad Matt from Denver mentioned technology advances in guns. Which seems to be the one of the other major argument gun control advocates claim proves that the 2nd Amendment doesn't give anyone the right to own any longer. Matt makes the very correct point that this isn't the same country as the late 18th century. And the fact that technology has advanced diminishes none of the ideas in the Bill of Rights. Otherwise, one could say that the First Amendment doesn't apply to anything but newspapers, pamphlets and shouting on a street corner. If improvements in technology since 1789 preclude these rights wouldn't that mean that the First amendment doesn't apply to the telegraph, telephone, television, radio, satellite, cable, walkie talkies, bullhorns, cell phones,the internet and a host of other communication methods that didn't exist then? No, of course not.

I do not now and never have owned a gun, in fact I've only shot a .22 once...about 25 years ago as a kid. I just happen to believe in the entirety of the Bill of Rights, and as Matt pointed out, specifically in its Spirit. I'm not a cafeteria civil libertarian.

Look at this "liberal" rag...supporting free trade

From the NY TIMES

July 29, 2005
Applauding the Cafta 15

In the wee hours yesterday, the House of Representatives passed the Central American Free Trade Agreement by a sliver of two votes. Fifteen Democrats joined 202 Republicans in voting to open up trade between the United States and El Salvador, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic. Anyone who believes, as this page does, that the benefits of free trade outweigh those of protectionism should give a pat on the back to the Democrats who chose principle over politics and defied their party's leaders to vote for the trade pact.

Trade votes are always cliffhangers, and Cafta was no exception. The vote, which started just after 11 p.m., took almost an hour as some Republicans, many from textile states, jockeyed over who would be allowed to vote against the bill and save face back home. But the Republicans who voted for Cafta at least did so knowing that they were ensuring for themselves the approval of their party leaders, including President Bush. Many of the Democrats who voted for the pact knew that they were practically guaranteeing themselves a primary fight come next election. Indeed, organized labor was already talking yesterday morning about extracting revenge. "Punish the Cafta 15" was a headline in Working Life, a pro-labor blog.

Labor unions should obviously give their support to anyone they deem fit. But the Cafta 15 deserve respect for their independence and good judgment. Cafta is a modest trade pact, hardly likely to lift the six countries' economies into the 21st century. But it may be enough to lift them into the 20th century by lowering tariffs and helping job growth in a needy region. It should help export growth in America as well. The American Farm Bureau Federation estimated that Cafta could increase United States agricultural exports by nearly $1.5 billion a year; the National Association of Manufacturers said it would add about $1 billion a year to the value of United States exports of manufactured goods.

Finally, Cafta will benefit the most underrepresented constituency in America: consumers, particularly the lower-income consumers who find that a 50-cent difference in the price of a T-shirt actually means something.

More Fakery from the Pentagon

If you’re going to make up the news… you can’t be lazy about it. We deserve better lies than that.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/07/24/military.release/index.html

Following are the two quotes as provided by the U.S. military in news releases:

Sunday's news release said: "'The terrorists are attacking the infrastructure, the ISF and all of Iraq. They are enemies of humanity without religion or any sort of ethics. They have attacked my community today and I will now take the fight to the terrorists,' said one Iraqi man who preferred not to be identified."

The July 13 news release said: "'The terrorists are attacking the infrastructure, the children and all of Iraq,' said one Iraqi man who preferred not to be identified. 'They are enemies of humanity without religion or any sort of ethics. They have attacked my community today and I will now take the fight to the terrorists.'"

Musical Rant for Monday

You may have heard this before, but I HATE cover songs that are done exactly like the original (or at least the most famous version). Worst example of this is Natalie Merchant’s “Because the Night”, for so many reasons. (First of which is that Natalie Merchant is the anti-Patti Smith). I heard 311 cover “Love Song” by the Cure this AM on the way to work…LAME.

Do you think Toby Keith sits down to write a song and thinks about how many “patriotic” TV specials he can sell the song to? I can almost see him “This song will be great for a Fox News special about how great America is”. Anyway, somehow my clock radio was set to a lame “country” station this morning and I awoke to Keith’s “American Soldier”. It’s a fine sentiment, but the subtlety of his work is that of a jack hammer.

I love Interpol.

Yet Dwight’s new album is still not doing it for me….(Shut your mouth)

Other recommends: LCD Soundsystem and M.I.A.

Now, get back to work

Freedom on the march

Conservatives always bragging about how Bush saved Afghanistan and brought peace and prosperity to the whole place, while I’ve continued to point out that the US didn’t finish the job before turning to Iraq and left the place in ruins and in a state of Anarchy. Recent bombings in Egypt and the UK prove we didn’t finish the job, not to mention what a disaster the “Flypaper Strategy” is for the Iraqis.

How desperate do you have to be to attack a US military base with rocks?


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8702657/

Don't mean to be hatin'

I know I'm getting very near sacrilege here, but here goes. I, like everyone else, is impressed by Lance Armstrong's domination of the Tour de France, but probably less so than most. What he's done is amazing no doubt, but as far as I know he trains year round for one event. Just one. Again, my knowledge of road racing is limited to when the media pays attention to the sport for 3 weeks in July, but other racers, I believe, race in other events.

So, what if Tiger Woods played one event a year. Let's say he trained exclusively for the Masters. Would it be safe to say that he might win it every year, if he trained exclusively for that and competed only in that event?

I'm just askin.

Traitor Karl

Greetings from the Santa Nella, CA.


My favorite part is how Rove’s own lawyer and other Bushie-traitor lovers claim that “Rove didn’t mention her name”. He just said that it was Wilson’s wife. Unfortunately, the law states that it is a crime to provide information that reveals the identity of a covert agent. Which Rove clearly did…hence he’s a traitor.

To use the Rove lawyer logic. Rove could stand across the street from a Covert agent and tell anyone who will listen that “that person over there is a CIA agent”, but he wouldn’t be committing a crime because he didn’t mention her name. Obviously that is not the case, and not the law.

That type of logic would be funny if his actions weren’t treasonous.

Fox News's new Motto?

“We buy Futures, you mourn the dead:”

From Sheppard Smith and Britt Hume…

From Fox News' July 7 breaking news coverage between 1 and 2 p.m. ET:

SMITH: Some of the things you might expect to happen, for instance, a drop
in the stock market and some degree of uncertainty across this country -- none
of that really seen today, and I wonder if the timing of it -- that it happened
in the middle of the night and we were able to get a sense of the grander scheme
of things -- wasn't helpful in all this.

HUME: Well, maybe. The other thing is, of course, people have -- you
know, the market was down. It was down yesterday, and you know, you may have had
some bargain-hunting going on. I mean, my first thought when I heard --
just on a personal basis, when I heard there had been this attack and I saw the
futures this morning, which were really in the tank, I thought, "Hmmm, time to
buy." Others may have thought that as well. But you never know about
the markets. But obviously, if the markets had behaved badly, that would
obviously add to people's sense of alarm about it. But there has been a lot of
reassurance coming, particularly in the way that -- partly in the way the Brits
handled all this, but also in the way that officials here handled it. There
seems to be no great fear that something like that is going to happen here,
although there's no indication that we here had any advance warning.

His First Thought…Buy Futures…WOW

Traitor Bob walks while someone else goes to Jail...astounding

Novak commits Treason, thanks to a felony from Karl Rove’s office and Judith Miller goes to jail.

Astounding:

http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/07/06/reporters.contempt/index.html


Is it really the "liberal media" that hates America? Or is it Karl Rove and Bushie hacks like Bob Novak. Both of whom should be in jail for treason.

The Bushies LIE ABOUT EVERYTHING

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/30/AR2005063002158.html


GABORONE, Botswana -- As global leaders gathered in Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum in January, officials from President Bush's $15 billion anti-AIDS program issued a news release citing their accomplishments. Nowhere were the numbers more impressive than in Botswana, where 32,839 AIDS patients were receiving life-extending treatment with the help of the U.S. government, they said.

But thousands of miles away in Botswana, the Bush administration's claim provoked frustration and anger among public and private partners that had built Africa's most far-reaching AIDS treatment program, recalled those involved. Although the Bush program had promised millions of dollars of support, no money had yet arrived, they said.
…


They agreed on the number of patients in Botswana who had been put on treatment because of the Bush program: zero.

I've said this before, but Abrams says it better

After I read Abrams piece on MSNBC.com, I've seen other raise the same questions about Traitor Bob.


Travesty of justice: Valerie Plame case (Dan Abrams)

A serious travesty of justice continues. Someone leaked a covert CIA
operative's name to a reporter. That reporter published the name in his
column, violating a federal law. Then, as the criminal investigation
into the source of the leak proceeded, that reporter miraculously appears to be
in the clear. But another reporter who never even published the name is
going to prison for failing to disclose her source? Huh?

That's the situation
New York Times reporter Judith Miller faces today. The U.S. Supreme Court
declined to hear her case which sought First Amendment protection for her
refusal to divulge the confidential source in the case of Valerie Plame — a
former CIA agent. Robert Novak first unmasked Plame in a 2003 column. Even
though Miller never published the agent’s name, she now faces jail time.
Time magazine's Matt Cooper did actually publish Plame's name on the Time’s website, but only after Novak's column ran.In addition to the fact the Supreme Court refused to consider the case — a real shame — Robert Novak seems to be in the
clear legally. I've said this before, but with both Miller and Cooper out
of legal options and facing up to 18 months in federal prison today, it's more
of a plea...

Robert Novak needs to step forward and take
responsibility. If he doesn't want to disclose his source, that's
fine. But we don't even know if he was called before the grand jury or
what he did or didn't tell prosecutors.

Novak's silence puts Miller and Cooper at a distinct legal disadvantage, the prosecutor has indicated the case is all but finished and no one has been charged. But if Novak did testify, Miller and Cooper might be able to argue that their testimony isn’t even needed in the investigation or that they shouldn't be forced to testify before Novak does.

In the spirit of full disclosure, my father Floyd Abrams, is defending
Miller in this case. But this is an easy one. Two reporters may be
going to jail because they won't reveal who told them a secret. Meanwhile,
the guy who heard the secret first and made the initial decision to publish it
will be enjoying his summer vacation out of the reach of federal
prosecutors...

If that's not warped justice, I don't know what is.

Secrecy is bad for Democracy...check your history books

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2002356455_files03.html

But there is concern the hoarding of information could backfire. Thomas
Kean, chairman of the Sept. 11 commission and a former Republican governor of
New Jersey, said the failure to prevent the 2001 attacks was rooted not in leaks
of sensitive information but in the barriers to sharing information among
agencies and with the public.

"You'd just be amazed at the kind of information that's classified;
everyday information, things we all know from the newspaper," Kean said. "The
best ally we have in protecting ourselves against terrorism is an informed
public."