Is Someone Going to Have to Move You?

C-SPAN is an institution that, for 25 years, has attracted people with an interest in the U.S. Government. Their offices, in Washington, D.C., were sullied sometime after 1996 as the insidious, vermin Rupert Murdoch installed his larval nest of Fox News Washington Offices in the same office building, one floor below. I believe the only thing to do is to separate these two institutions. If I win one constituency, if I ever officially run for Office, is the C-SPAN constituency. Everything else is gravy.

OK, Heritage Has Gone Tard

I am watching them listen to someone analyze Tolkein, and Jackson's movie portrayal of the Lord of the Rings. OK, it's more intelligent than if the girls had tried it in high school, but is this really what "Intercollegiate Studiest Institute Interns" do? Well, I'm glad they get sent to the Heritage Foundation, I'd be embarassed to see them talk in front of me.

Fox News: Stupid or Partisan? You Decide

Just now on Fox News Shephard Smith said that the Iowa caucii were important because, and I quote "Since 1972, the following Presidents all won the Iowa caususses, Carter, Reagan, Clinton, and George W. Bush" That wrong, but what did you expect from Fox? Facts? Reagan lost Iowa in 1980 to George Herbert Walker Bush. Clinton lost Iowa in 1992 to Tom Harkin. In other words, since 1972, Carter and George W. Bush won Iowa, and then won the Presidency. Actually, Fox can claim to be accurate because, as sitting Presidents, Reagan and Clinton won their parties endorsement in virtually uncontested races. But that's obviously deceptive, and that's obviously their goal, to deceive. Fox has to stop the Dean campaign now, so they are saying a Dean loss in Iowa (which may well happen, considering the current closeness and the media barrage) is significant, when in fact only two one-term Presidents ever won the Iowa caucii (correct plural of cuacus, genii). UPDATE! I WAS FOOLED! In part, it's just the press itself being greedy! If the nomination is wrapped up quickly, it means bad ratings.

Why do I like the Daily Howler?

The Daily Howler isn't an easy read unless you know your press corps. I think This is a gem:

But just what makes the Deans’ marriage so “wacky?” Dean’s wife “has never even been to Iowa,” Dowd grouses. Nor is she likely to show up there, the scribe says, “since she prefers examining patients to being cross-examined by voters and reporters.” Imagine! Dean’s wife would rather heal the sick than spend time with people like Dowd!

Tombstone Crawl

Tombstones are when two newspaper headlines, next to each, other, read like one headline, and are funny. The "Crawl" are the words along the bottom of Fox. This isn't really Tombstone Crawl, it's the opposite. When a complete crawl item, out of context, is just too funny. President Bush Was Not Troubled Laying Weath at Grave On What Would Have Been King's 75th Birthday Which reminds me a lot of this tidbit, which I think goes a long way to pointing to the really insidious "racism" of the President of the United States (warning, Flash).

Mind Games

The Dean camp, apparently, has spent the last month trying to get ahead of Clark in the few states where Clark was known to be ahead. Meanwhile, in the White House, Rove has realized that a Dean win is bad, so the guns have been going full bore to boost Kerry, who now has a lead only in Iowa, the only place it counts. Maybe I'm being naive, and Kerry cut the deal with Fox. Flip on Fox? You'll see how phenomenonly Kerry is doing and questions on whether this is the death knell for Dean, I'd wager. Actually, CNN is pushing that line even harder than Fox! And certainly MSNBC is. Fascists are so proud of themselves! On my news station, we'd show a national map, and wonder aloud about Kerry's support in Iowa alone looks a lot like a last ditch effort, since he isn't even ahead in his home state. O'Reilly eats my poop.

Imperialism = Lack of Service?

When was the last stupid, militaristic phase of American Imperialism, long decried throughout the world? The Spanish-American War, 100 years ago. In the space of roughly 15 years, through Presidents McKinley, Roosevelt and Taft, we took (all from Spain) Puerto Rico, Panama, Cuba, Guam, and the Phillipines Islands. About 100 million people live in those places, today. Guess what? According to James Fallows at Atlantic Monthly, the % of Americans in uniform is the lowest since that Imperialistic phase. The same time that Voteview people Poole/Rosenthal illustrate was the point of highest partisanship since today was the 1895-1915 period, which they also correlate with % of foreign born (which is also as high now(11.5%) as any time since the 1900-1915 period, when it reached closer to 15%. A massive resurgence in the KKK, based in Indiana, was a reaction to this) Perhaps there is a direct correlation between "willingness to send troops to do what we want" and "percent chance you know someone in uniform" are inversely correlated. In fact, it's absurd to think they aren't. There are numerous other reasons to see the similarity, including this State of the Union, by President Stephen Grover Cleveland, American Interests in the Cuban Revolution, and this article from Century Magazine in 1898 by Senator Carl Schurz, Thoughts on American Imperialism

Programmers?

Hi, I'm a computer programmer. Last night I whipped up a neat-o little program, and you can benefit! The program paints maps of the United States, each state in one color. I did this in just a very few steps

Find a map of the outlines of the states of the U.S.. I found a great one that didn't have Hawai'i! So I copied that from another map

Find a point inside each state, so I know where to "bucket fill" for each state. Some states, (ex. Michigan) needed multiple points

Wrote a tiny perl "Gimp::Fu" script

So, if you have a list of states, and the colors you want them to be, just send them to me in an e-mail (example formats: AK red, AK #FF0099) and I'll send you the image in any format you want. Gzipped .png files are best, though :)

Today, on CounterPunch

This and this are sizzling offerings today from counterpunch.org.

Power Politics in Iran

Religious hardliners in Iran have used their religious authority in the State to disqualify lots of the opposition from upcoming elections, including the President's own brother. I'm honestly wondering what percentage of the clergy thinks that this is a long term strategy that can work. There will always be candidates it can't disqualify who will espouse the views it doesn't like. Labor instead to, to some, adopt, for the conservative, co-opt, some essential character of the reform. The existence of a healthy Islamic Republic outside Turkey, is a challenge which the Iranian people have adopted. They outnumber you by far, and your good interest in their well being is the best tool for guiding transformation.

Recent Dean Comments!

Have you heard what he said the Department of Labor did? It's classic doublespeak. Apparently, the Dept of Labor sent out its new rules along with a a simple guide to help employers make sure they don't pay any extra money in wages. Yeah, you heard me, they sent out new labor rules, which supposedly expand rights for overtime pay, while including a simple guide to make sure the employers don't pay any extra money to employees who work overtime. Have you asked, Laborers, what will happen for those employees who don't work overtime?

Paul O'Neill, Proof that Bush is a Liberal

Paul O'Neill, like all patriotic consumers, believes that American corporations should pay no income taxes. For uttering into debate this truest of all statements, President Bush punished Secretary of the Treasury of the United States (a man who has a handle on the jerk in the Current Accounts Deficit (and yes, only an Economist crossed with a Physicist is going to get that crack, but hey, I have to live, too!)) by sending him on a month long trip to Africa with that Irish singer, Bongo Pop. Now true Corporate American, champion of CEO pay, without whom many thousands wouldn't have jobs, and many millions goods to consume, Paul O'Neill, says Bush wanted a war all along. Did I ever actually say that? I know I thought it. It was very painfully obvious.

Fox News Can't Afford to Lose

Why should I even say anything that can't be proved? That couldn't, except with the words of a Rupert Murdoch, top of News Corp., parent Corp. of Fox News, or a Roger Ailes, head of Fox News, subsidary of News Corp., in any way be substantiated? Well, you heard it here first? (see comments) There are different levels of disaster for any Democratic victory in '04, although Fox has played gently enough with Clark and Lieberman that most of the following scenario will be muted, but right now it looks like Doctor, Governor, one time Stockbroker, Howard Brush Dean III, is going to be the nominee. I argue that a Dean win would mean the following losses for Fox News, the American flagship of the Murdoch machine commonly known as NewsCorp, but whose legal fictions prevent any precise naming. Just remember "Rupert Murdoch."

special status with government

nearly as many White House exclusives

a surplus of Clinton bashers around (last elected, we ought recall, in 1996)

a serious blow to their early predictions, that part, at least , I know they will own up to if the event arises

What do all these things mean? They mean, quite simply, that Fox would lose a certain portion of their already inestimable force, and perhaps their lock on #1. What's the value of that? I can only estimate the actual cash value is in the 10s of millions over the short 4 years, and untold riches over the long haul, but, even if it is only 5 million for a 4 year term, in leveraged terms, that's 50, or 100 million, and these are very conservative estimates. Being suddenly without their former power, Fox's suffering is going to be predictably of the "new kid too big for britches" type, and that idea will play well with a lot of people's sensibilities. But the truth is that Murdoch and Ailes pick Republicans to win, with snide, sneering, sniggering talk about Democrats at every turn. Would I want a modern Congressional Democratic agenda passed? I'm not sure. But I'm very sure that their version of most any bill is going to be with a spirit in mind better for the American people, the American land, the American past, the Amerian future, Our American Liberty.

Mostly Repetition

I've already talked about how I think a warning flag should have probably gone up when we found out there was a newly crafted intelligence outfit inside the Pentagon, run by thinkers and not spies, called the "Office of Special Plans" (a good starting place). The reason I bring it up again is I just learned a little about the Ottoman triumvirate of the brother's Pasha. They set up the Armenian genocide, or at least central enough to it to be damningly responsible, and they set up a group to do it called the "Special Comission." Has anyone asked if there is an Office of Secret Plans, an Office of Extra-Special Plans, an Office of Special Secret Plans? Who knows? Who has asked?

Internationale

Kids, the man is bad. The man wants to keep you down. Nothing makes the man as happy as when your highest ambition is to work for him, and people who have these ambitions, or pretend to, are rewarded by the man. The only way to get ahead is to be rewarded by the man, or you could be born to it, and then sometimes there are lottery like events, windfall profits in tax talk. You would have probably noticed by now whether or not your were in the second class.