Planet autism

Planet autism

Last summer, a man in California shot his 27-year-old autistic son to death and then shot himself. I understand why.

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By Scot Sea

Sept. 27, 2003 | Lose track of time on the phone, get distracted with the mail, daydream over a cup of coffee, that's all it takes. The odor has finally made its way down the hall. When you see the balled-up pants and diaper on the floor you know you are too late. A bright red smear across the door, the molding, the wall. Turn the corner and the bedroom is a crime scene. An ax murder? In fact, it is only your daughter at her worst. (Worse than three days without sleep? Worse than ear-splitting screams that physically hurt, actually cause you to drop what you hold in alarm, compel you to shriek back at your delighted child who smiles at you sincere as a spring day?) Shit everywhere. Splashes of blood glistening like paint, black clots, yellow-brown feces, and a 3-foot-in-diameter pond of vomit that your daughter stands in the middle of, a dog-eared copy of Family Circle in one hand, reaching for the TV with the other. She is naked except for stockinged feet, blood soaked up to her ankles. Hands dripping, face marked like a cannibal, she wears an expression of utter bewilderment: What's happened to me? Where am I? Is this good? Am I OK? There being nowhere to walk without stepping in some bodily emission, you throw bath towels down like a bridge to get to her.

Stripping her unavoidably stains you. A bloody hand print on the square of your back as she balances herself when you roll down her sopping stockings. You hope she touches nothing else but what does it matter as the bathroom remains appalling in spite of the previous cleanups: cabinet handles encrusted with dried excrement, brown swipes on the light switch, corner of the mirror, shampoo bottle, Q-Tips, ceramic figurines, curtain louvers. (Holiday guests take you aside to warn you of rodents in unusual locations. Ancient turds in drawers, inside books. You thank them. Apologize. Yeah, it's an ongoing problem.)

In the warm rain of the shower she proceeds to dig. She is excavating for what remains of the impacted stool, hard as a French roll. This entire episode, this habit, the result of some maddening control issue. The behaviorists, the gastroenterologists, the living-skills experts all suggest their strategies and therapies and videos and diets and oils and schedules. Certainly she knows what you want -- appropriate toileting. And there are occasions when she does just that. Goes in, sits, finishes. This, maybe 5 percent of the time. Some huge, softball-size stool discovered in the toilet bowl. You shout for each other and gaze in wonder as at a rainbow or falling star. That's how excited you are.

Get in the shower with your daughter. Wash her hair three times, scrub her down, between the toes, everywhere. Take an old toothbrush to her nails. Towel her down. Her hair, lightly -- enough. Better stop. Know how she hates that. Let the rest air-dry. Get her dressed. Diaper. Thank God for extra large Good-Nites. (Remember the college gal at Safeway in her Birkenstocks and hemp sun hat: "Didja know," she must inform you, "it's disposable diapers that are filling up America's landfills?") Next, deodorant, sweat pants, the rest. Rewind the movies. Pop in her favorite CD soundtrack ("Annie") and program it for loop. Pull out a couple of old Redbook magazines. Make sure all the doors are locked. Remember when she wandered away, found in the middle of the street, a garbage truck honking at her like she's some stray mutt.

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Sooner or later, parents raising children with severe learning disabilities receive the "Welcome to Holland" essay by Emily Perl Kingsley. It describes a couple planning the trip of a lifetime to Italy. They prepare and study and learn everything they can about their cherished destination. When their plane lands, though, an announcement: They have arrived in Holland. Holland? They wail. We've dreamed all our lives of Italy. Italy is where they want to be. Not here!

"But there has been a change in the flight plan," Kingsley writes. "You've landed in Holland and there you must stay." New guide books, a new language, a completely different group of people than those you hoped to meet. Worse still, "everyone you know is coming and going from Italy and they are all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life you will say, 'Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned.'"

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Two hundred years ago most of these kids were tossed down the well or thumped against the fence post. It was either that or watch your own torn to pieces by the coyote, or trampled to death in the corral, or drown in the duck pond or tumble off a ledge or wander off in a blizzard. If you were of an educated class, institutionalization became an option. A way out. There were always the few, though, whose pride or familial loyalty or stubbornness would not allow them to abandon such a child. Upright, determined mothers -- mostly -- who would rescue the idiot from the snowbank, from their husband's impassive grip, and nurse it and attend and teach the strange thing until the child might even say "hello" when ordered and carry a basket of eggs without stumbling.

There's just something missing in his head is all. He be slow, like your Uncle Bert. The husband had grown up seeing three-headed lambs and bizarre carrots looking more like udders. He was aware of nature's imperfections. Sometimes it snowed in August. Sometimes the bread didn't rise. Best to throw out that mix. Best to keep the lines clean, the herds strong, purebred. But his wife refuses to push the runt away. Her husband, a man who shoots old mules and pulls out the dead weed and makes a Saturday night vest from the skin of a stillborn calf, has neither pity nor patience with the wife's indulgent efforts in the matter of the idiot. He will ignore the child. Like the lame piglet and the other orphaned stock following the wife around for the bottle, if she wants to put up with that, well, just keep 'em out of my way.

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Autism. Auto: for "self," or "same." The tendency to view life in terms of one's own needs and desires ... unmindful of objective reality. (Webster's) At one time a generic term applied to children navigating pre-social orientation. Developmental psychologist Jean Piaget noted 6-year-olds playing marbles as completely indifferent to rules, fairness, winners, losers. Two or more side by side yet no group norms emerged. Possibly each child played an entirely separate game. "[Their] relations to the world are autistic -- determined largely by the wishes and preferences of the individual."

A tiny but multiplying percentage of seemingly healthy children persist in spurning socialization, cocooning themselves from human contact. Pediatric shrinks, at a loss, anoint the manifestation Serious Emotional Disturbance, later sanded down to "disorder." Enter Bruno Bettelheim, who postulates his infamous "refrigerator mom" theory. Everybody remembers this from Psych 101. How to explain these peculiar, silent, radically remote children? Normal and handsome in every other respect? Freudian, clearly. Cold, aloof mothers disdaining the maternal bond. Curiously, other siblings either below or ahead of the odd child have no complaints. Her ex-husband, his pride squashed, confused, castrated, weighs in for the prosecution: "That bitch was an iceberg! Kid wouldn't go near her." Of course, the kid wouldn't go near anyone. Anyone at all. (Autistic infants, it is believed, produce abnormally high levels of endorphins at birth; they receive no pleasure from bonding with their mothers and, by extension, ignore incentives for social interaction.)

Today, autism is recognized as a profound and mysterious neurological disorder characterized by certain behavior types and patterns of interaction and modes of communication. A spectrum disorder, in fact, encompassing so many symptoms that intake counselors, after exhausting considerations of Tay-Sachs, Fragile X, Kleinfelter's and Turner Syndrome, still categorize whole generations of 2-year-olds as "Other Health Impaired."

Media presentations emphasize the savants: the 6-year-old Beethoven or the human calculator, or there, on Discovery Health, a teenage Rodin. The average autistic children, not excluding the savant, struggle with varying degrees of developmental retardation. They can operate the VCR but cannot button their coat. Have no interest in markers or crayons but will spend hours tearing paper, leaves, twigs into micro particles. Some are high-functioning -- can read and speak, attend college, develop careers. Temple Grandin (autism's John Nash), a world renowned authority on cattle psychology whose visionary stockyard designs have transformed one-third of the bovine and pork operations in this country alone, strolls through corrals of half-ton Herefords. They snort like grizzlies and paw the earth. She knows that one switch of their mighty heads would crush any man's clavicle yet they allow her to walk among them, scratch their necks, communicate. The complexity of human interaction, however -- reciprocity, Romeo and Juliet -- remains as elusive to her as colorless green ideas sleeping furiously.

For better or worse, autism may be in the throes of its own 15 minutes of fame. It's had recent cover stories in both Newsweek and Time and features on virtually all the TV magazine shows. Look, there's NFL star Doug Flutie frolicking with his autistic kid while shilling for a long-distance provider. Beck holds benefit concerts for autism research. Nicholas Sparks' recent supermarket potboiler concerned a missing child with autistic symptoms. A fictional senator on "The West Wing" filibusters Congress on behalf of his autistic grandchild. Our biggest stars share the screen with autistic protagonists: Richard Dreyfuss, Tommy Lee Jones, Bruce Willis, and Tom Cruise, most famously, supporting Dustin Hoffman's "Rainman," a watershed entry in the MR Film Festival. Other screenings celebrate the asylum romps, "King of Hearts," "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," "Awakenings," "Quills," "K-Pax," films presenting madness as romantic, adorable or courageous -- hence, "A Beautiful Mind." Some are only excuses for actors to chew scenery -- witness Sean Penn in "I Am Sam" or worse, Elizabeth Shue's embarrassingly artificial portrayal of autistic Molly in the 1999 movie of the same name.

The movies prefer to apply the humanistic model to disability so that any attendant bleakness or the utter incomprehensibility of some conditions becomes only aberrant behavior immaterial to the subject's uniqueness as a human being. This same psychological model, however, views its members as basically rational, oriented toward a social world and motivated to getting along with others. But the autistic rarely makes adjustments to the world. Their own world remains self-generated and self-contained. Autism, as one text suggests, is "imagination self-determined." A world of, perhaps, pure imagination. Is this a curse, or are they in fact angels among us? Some autistic youngsters learn to sing before they ever speak. Others spin in place, their eyes closed, for hours, in their own encapsulated rave.

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Celestial metaphors do little to temper the exhaustion you struggle with as your daughter, still going strong at 3:30 a.m., cranks out her version of the diagnostic handbook for developmental disorders' Greatest Hits. This in spite of receiving her meds back, when? 7 that evening? Enough detox, compulsion blocker and synapse stim to sober a junkie. But for some reason -- full moon, diet, puberty? -- her sleep patterns have been cross-circuited. The deeper into brutal night she marathons the more wired, delirious, hypermanic she becomes. You have isolated yourself in her room. The same home-taped "Sesame Street" plays the same two and a half hours over and over. This, an integral part of the same preservative tic impelling her to clutch to her chest all manner of unrelated objects: a door stop, a bean bag, a ball of foil, a coaster, a hairbrush, a subscription card, a winter scarf. When she bends to pick up yet another item -- a shoe -- invariably the lot of it gets away from her and you watch as the bundle spills to her feet. Dutifully, robotically, she gathers everything up again, dropping some, retrieving, dropping again like a bumbling vaudeville comic. You watch this fascinated, then impassioned, then with alarm (what ... the hell ... is she doing? ) then with dull acceptance. It is just the same scene from the same interminable clip on the Late Show from hell.

You doze. You wake, her hand on your face. Time to rewind the video. Surly with fatigue you shove her aside as the school bully would some playground twerp. Clothes all over the floor. She's emptied her dresser, the closet. Inexplicable sculptures composed of sweaters pancaked with a book, then a stocking, a puzzle piece, an old moldy pretzel all constructed in mysterious, calculated intent. They dot the little room like totems, mushrooms, shrines amid a Japanese garden. You sit together as the VCR motor whines. Yoga on the TV -- must be dawn. Beautiful bodies made of rubber on some tropical shore. Hey, they got nothing on your kid whose quadruple-jointed limbs can do Cirque du Soleil moves. An hour later your wife wakes you. (What do you do without a partner? How is this possible alone? Sex ... maybe a quick tumble whenever the kid sleeps. Jumping each other like scamps. Going at it. Then you notice your child standing in your bedroom, waiting. Standing there like Carrie, shiny red as a candied apple, wet footprints, dogs licking her legs. Coitus interruptus anyone?) Sunlight streaming through the window. Is she down? you ask. Is she asleep? She's in the shower, your wife responds. She got me up.

Daylight seems to click her down a few amps. She seems alert and ready for the day. A full circle has transpired and now, a familiar morning ritual. Calming, predictable. Breakfast. More pills. Hair. Teeth. Dressed. (Help your 15-year-old daughter on with her bra every morning and the female breast loses most of its mystery.) Get her on the bus. Now you must leave for work. Can't take any more sick days. So sleepwalk through the motions. Hope your reserves kick in. Take an early lunch. Doze in the car for an hour. Throw down three cups of mud stewing since morning. Limp 'til 5:30. Collapse at home. Sleep through midnight. Again, your wife wakes you. Yeah, she's still up, she informs you -- napped two hours at school, cruising ever since. Your wife has clients tomorrow. She must crash. Time for your shift.

Men may be from Mars and women, indeed, Venus. But Planet Autism is where you reside now.

Doctors know everything. Doctors know squat. Hire an immunologist to pursue research your own internist finds superfluous. Ophthalmologists say don't bother with glasses -- they'll never keep them on. Neurologists and psychiatrists prescribe truckloads of alchemy, names suggesting the moons orbiting this new world: zyprexa, naltrexone, clonidine, ranitidine, trazodone. Some indeed become the magic pill. The miracle drug. But getting there can resemble trial and error binges that would shrivel Hunter S. Thompson.

Ten years ago there were pediatricians who didn't know autism from the Ottoman Empire. Now it's the diagnosis du jour. An entire alternative health industry sprouts up around it. The usual suspects, some expert, or a blood chemist, or an Indonesian pharmacist places an ad in Prevention magazine, publishes a newsletter, hits the conferences, premieres a Web page and before long a thousand parents are in line for facilitated communication, blue-green algae, auditory integration therapy, the secretin hormone, whatever. Maybe it will actually work? At least for a couple of weeks, maybe a month. If the guinea pig is your kid she may demonstrate a promising response. Increased verbalization. Improved eye contact. Focused participation within some innocuous family activity. Then cruelly, predictably, her confused wiring, a permanent hard drive virus directs her biochemistry to countermand the positive results of the new substance, to develop -- in effect, immunity to it. And so in time this latest, exciting remedy becomes no more than an asterisk in the snake oil file.

Western medicine is on the defensive. The U.S. Department of Education reports a 900 percent increase in cases of autism since 1992. On C-SPAN exhausted, terrified, furious parents vent their hopeless wrath during congressional hearings investigating claims that Big Pharma has ignored for years their belief that pediatric vaccinations precipitated their children's acquisition of autism. Is the mercury-based preservative contained in the vaccines -- Thimerosal -- overwhelming the baby's premature immune system? A generation ago kids received these shots in measured intervals. Today, some infants get a concentrated cocktail so as to be done with it.

Sensing the inevitable, bills exonerating vaccine manufacturers from liability snake their way through Congress. The most notorious of which, a rider -- Mickey Finn'd at the 11th hour into the density of the Homeland Security Bill under cover of smallpox! -- attempted to exempt Eli Lilly from any and all damages related to vaccine complaints. The provision's author? Senate Majority Leader Dr. Bill Frist, R-Tenn. Uncovered by public watchdogs, it has since been removed from the bill.

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Bicker with, annoy, scream at, then finally threaten school administrators who want to dump your child in a room full of vegetables. Obtaining effective programs and services, you learn, is like squeezing water from wood. (What was the final straw that pushed Vermont Sen. Jim Jeffords out of the GOP? Bush's refusal to increase federal funding for special education.) Fight like hell for the best curriculum, the best teachers. Otherwise, you're just a rube swallowing input consisting of, "sign here." Individualized education programs can be expensive. School districts will dig in their heels. Be reasonable, the administrators say. Fuck them. Demand everything. Let the band hold bake sales.

New Age pests, overdosed on media mythology, overhear you are the parent of an autistic child and, eyes aglow, pronounce, "Oh! And isn't that just a blessing?" In Wisconsin, storefront fundamentalists suffocate an 8-year-old autistic boy to death while attempting to "exorcise" his strange behaviors. Evangelicals offer how it is the world's collective sin that is to blame. Manifesting itself as suffering, wickedness, the mysterious afflictions that befall the innocent. Clueless neighbors, whose own children run wild, devoid of discipline, remark, "Yeah, our kids are just like her -- 'cept we got three of them."

Years go by and your daughter has yet to intellectualize danger, fear, gravity, pain. At Costco you've lost her twice. There are terrifying seconds after you realize she is gone, gone! And she'd go off with anyone. Anyone holds out their hand she would take it. But there she is at the video bins ... Later she puts her hand through a plate glass window. You don't notice until, filling the hummingbird feeder, you glance at her shredded arm. Waiting in the E.R. presents another nightmare, a treadmill of Kafkaesque absurdities. Like your kid is going to sit in a chair for three or four or five hours. Right. Must keep moving. So you walk with her without rest. Gliding together in sweeping, repetitive loops throughout the waiting room, holding her arm upward as much as possible. Still, she manages to lunge for stranger's drinks, hoot and scream inappropriately, bolt down hallways. She is atomic. She is the nucleus around which her positively charged parents rotate -- or deflect from -- in collision. Finally, the triage nurse buzzes you in. "Oh, autistic? You should have said something. I would have bumped you." Insurance? Yeah, but for godsakes don't mention autism. HMO's won't cover it. Taking her vitals is akin to restraining a wild animal. Half a dozen nurses, two paramedics and some beefy security guys must hold her down 40 minutes before the knockout drops relax her. All this for eight stitches.

Occasionally, guardian angels materialize. A young woman who bonds with your child like some mysterious winged sibling. But eventually they must leave, to pursue a career in special education or guide rafters in Wyoming. Departments of developmental disabilities, in their infinite wisdom, offer alternatives under the auspices of placement vendors who contract with lowest bidder employment agencies. Minimum wage high school grads show up at your door, thick as a brick, snapping gum, caked in makeup, don't know autism from order-of-fries-with-that? So you train them. It's either that or quit your job so somebody is home after school. Well, the new gal is finally enough along that you figure she can handle taking her charge out in public. The cops explain later that your daughter caused such a scene in the parking lot of Target somebody thought a kidnapping was in progress. Her new aide, useless, tugging on the screaming preteen, became hysterical when the police arrived. The sheriff's helicopter, whirling figure eights, exacerbates everything. Your daughter, you are told, was unresponsive to police commands, resisted contact. She was handcuffed after attempting to bite one of the officers.

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In the apocalypse scenario, your nightmare -- infrastructure cleaved, roads clogged, E.R.'s overwhelmed -- your kid drags down the entire family. As does the diabetic kid, the wheelchair kid. Does someone stay behind so that the family may survive? Or does the family reject this, insisting the unit stay whole while around them entropy multiplies?

In August 2002, Delfin Bartolome of Laguna Niguel, Calif., shot to death his 27-year-old autistic son, Dale, and then himself. You must acknowledge that you know this man. You have seen him in your coffee, the windshield, the mirror. A father approaching 60. The young adult under his roof knocking him down reaching for the cereal. A succession of in-home aides quit. The mother, fighting her own infirmities, avoids her son. Placement in group homes refused.

Siblings of the grown disabled child still living with the parents say, I got my own problems. The father sees his son in 10 years locked away somewhere. Forgotten. No advocate. No family. No warmth of touch. Who will care what his pleasures are? Will someone ever take him rafting down the Bitterroot again? The father sees his son wandering hallways the rest of his life. Soiled pajamas. Decaying teeth. His only human contact a brusque toweling down after a lukewarm shower.

For most people, autism, like abstract art or Alzheimer's or astrophysics, remains startling and unfathomable. For parents, the raising of children with severe disabilities confirms the indifference of nature, the disorder of the universe. Any potential, any ambition they once may have entertained for themselves has forever been compromised. Together with their remarkable, impossible children they make a life on a different planet. Where the gravity is very strong. And the climate rarely changes.

Convention of Hate

The Village Voice: Features: Convention of Hate by Sydney H. Schanberg:

"I realize politicians of all parties twist history every which way to their benefit, but wasn't it the Bush administration that sent the troops into Iraq without enough body armor or armor for the sides of their battle vehicles? Casualties rose as a result. Soldiers' parents went on the open market back home to buy state-of-the-art body vests with ceramic-plate reinforcement, and then shipped them to their sons and daughters in Iraq. Not until early this year did the Pentagon begin to fill the gap. No part of this failure had anything to do with a vote by Senator Kerry. "

Opinion: Bush Waffles On What Ideals He Actually Believes

365 Gay
(http://www.365gay.com/opinion/Releases/Releases.htm)

Bush Waffles On What Ideals He Actually Believes
by John Marble

After four years in office, President Bush seems to have not yet settled on
exactly what it is that he believes.

The Bush Presidency is a duel between his rhetoric and his record. The
President's rhetoric claims the compassionate mantle, while his record
champions discrimination against millions of American families. Bush
prefers to talk like a conservative, although he has actively presided over
the greatest expanse of the federal government in a generation.

President Bush accepted the Republican Party's presidential nomination this
week with a speech that reemphasized his flip-flopping vision. Bush
promised to reduce the size of government, but then detailed how he would
expand federal programs. He vowed to personally increase government
spending, but then attacked John Kerry as the "tax-and-spend" candidate.
Bush talked of simplifying the tax code, but then touched on how he would
further complicate the code through additional loopholes.

President Bush's greatest flip-flop comes when he talks about his desire to
expand personal liberty to every American.

Excerpts from his acceptance speech include the following waffles:

Flip: "The story of America is the story of expanding liberty: an
ever-widening circle, constantly growing to reach further and include more."
Flop: "Because the union of a man and woman deserves an honored place in our
society, I support the protection of marriage against activist judges."

Flip: "I am running with a compassionate conservative philosophy: that
government should help people improve their lives, not try to run their
lives."
Flop: "I will continue to appoint federal judges who know the difference
between personal opinion and the strict interpretation of the law."

Flip: "I believe in the transformational power of liberty: The wisest use of
American strength is to advance freedom."
Flop: "If you voted against the bipartisan Defense of Marriage Act, which
President Clinton signed, you are not the candidate of conservative values."

President Bush still seems confused as to whether he wants to expand liberty
and freedom, or whether he wants to expand the role of government in
people's lives. America is worthy of a President who understands that the
reduction of liberty can never bring forth freedom. We deserve a president
other than George W. Bush.

John Marble is Communications Director for the National Stonewall Democrats

a new soft drink for mature men!!!!!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Pfizer Corp Announcement



Pfizer Corp. announced today that VIAGRA will soon be available in liquid form, and will be marketed by Pepsi Cola as a power beverage suitable for use as a mixer. It will now be possible for a man to literally pour himself a stiff one.



Obviously we can no longer call this a soft drink, and it gives new meaning to the names of cocktails, highballs and just a plain, good, old-fashioned stiff drink.



Pepsi will market the new concoction by the name of "MOUNT & DO".

So it's about courage is it?

I don't know if you have noticed, but this whole campaign has revolved around courage. From the day Howard Dean took on the feckless Democratic establishment, through John Kerry's military-drenched convention, through McCain's and Giuliani's speeches last night, the key questions of this race have been: Who has political courage? Who's willing to fight? Who has the resolve to lead in times of war?



From David Brooks' column in the New York Times on August 31, 2004.





Tuesday, David Brooks devoted his New York Times column to the idea that this entire election is about courage and resolve. And while he was coy about his own conclusion regarding the question, we know enough of Brooks to know that he would favor Bush in a courage and resolve contest.



To allow the Republicans to frame the key issues as "courage and resolve" would seem a bit troublesome on the surface. However, the lines between courage and foolhardiness on the one hand and resolve and hardheadedness on the other may, in fact, be the key questions the voters will resolve in November. And, viewed this way, I see trouble ahead for George W. Bush and the neoconservative movement that so aggressively sold and prosecuted the war in Iraq.



They exploit what they perceive as a division between those who question the war and those whose sons and daughters go bravely into battle for their country. Their miscalculation on this issue may prove to be the final mistake and undoing of a morally vacant administration.



There is not an American alive who does not treasure above all gifts the generosity of spirit and the courage that go into the decision to put one's life at the service of a democratic nation. There is not one of us who does not grieve the loss of these young lives, as they perceive them to be, in our service. Yet politicians exploit that sacrifice for selfish ends when they challenge those who disagree with their policies as somehow ungrateful to those who sacrifice for our freedom.



We hear it often and I find it a very troubling statement--the idea that "they" sacrifice for "our" freedom. Itshould offend a democratic people to the very core.



In a democracy, the decision to go to war should be a commitment that we are willing sacrifice for our freedom. The decision to go to war should not be lightly taken without the full involvement of the legislative branch of government according to the process laid out in the constitution. That process seems designed to at least minimize the possibility that warmaking would ever become an instrument of policy that would be undertaken without the full support and commitment of the people. If it is worth risking our lives for, it is worth making the declaration of war according to the very clear requirement of the constitution.



This war is fought by "other people's children" and mercenary corporations on foreign soil without the administration's asking so much as an increase in the taxes we pay. We hide from the the terrible truth of death and destruction while we heap the platitudes of praise on the brave soldiers, sailors and marines who valiantly give their lives for--so they are told--our freedom. I would submit that, in a democracy, any war that does not strive to share sacrifice equally cannot be construed as a war in defense of democracy. It may well defend the people within the political boundaries that once lived by a democratic spirit. But it has ceased to live according to the fundamental principles of democracy that the war purports to defend.



And there is another way of looking at courage, too. Every American exercises courage with the daily insistence upon living free. It is sometimes easier to yield in the face of fear, to quit our daily routines, to accept less freedom than our spirits require simply because there is danger in the world.



Americans do two things in the face of danger:



they continue to be free with passionate disregard of the willful efforts to frighten them into submission

they do what is necessary and within their ability to contribute to efforts to lessen the danger.





That does not mean striking out at some general class of "evildoers". An intelligent response profits from a more sophisticated view of the world and the reasons underlying the dangers we face. Americans do not shrink from the need to confront evil. It is as much in our generation to face down dictators and terrorists as it was in the generation that confronted tyranny and inhumanity in the last century. But true courage requires that we act with intelligence and in a spirit of shared sacrifice. In short, true courage requires that we remain true to our democratic principles.



A democracy in which "they" are allowed to sacrifice for "us" is a democracy already in decline and on the road to defeat. There is still time to turn this democracy around by putting true courage in the White House again, this time in the person of John Kerry, a man who has seen fit to put himself at his nation's service like the men and women who serve in Iraq and who, having seen war, is passionate in his pursuit of other means of resolving international problems.



The way of peace is the way of courage. It is no less so today than it was twenty centuries ago when Jesus of Nazareth stood the world of power on its head with a simple commitment to peace and justice as the way to the kingdom of God. You would think it would have some appeal to those in power today. It is, after all, a faith based initiative.

Divest Terror

The influential Washington-based Center for Security Police recently unveiled a groundbreaking report entitled, "Terrorism Investments of the 50 States." This report analyzes the investment portfolios of America's leading public pension funds. The key finding of the report is that America's 87 largest and most influential pension systems invest some $200 billion in companies that provide revenues, advanced technology, equipment and moral cover to governments that enable terrorism. (This detailed report and related materials can be obtained at www.DivestTerror.org.)

To be sure, there is nothing illegal about investing in any of the roughly 400 companies that partner with our enemies' friends. Nor is it illegal for such companies to do business with terrorist-sponsoring regimes. Whether the law prohibits such activities or not, however, we believe most Americans will agree with us that they are wrong ââ?¬â?? wrong morally, wrong strategically and wrong financially.

Consequently, DivestTerror.org offers a "how-to" manual showing ways in which investors, taxpayers and other citizens can bring pressure to bear to convert this $200 billion investment into leverage that can be used to help defeat terrorism. Reduced to its essence, the idea is this: By divesting the stock of these companies, public pension systems, university endowments and even individual investors can send a powerful message to the companies that provide life-support to many of the planet's most dangerous regimes. You can choose to continue to partner with rogue state regimes that aid and abet terrorism. Or you can do business with American investors and capital markets. But you can no longer do both.

As the DivestTerror.org website makes clear, divestment campaigns have already proven to be highly effective instruments. In fact, over the last twenty years, institutional and private investors have repeatedly used their financial leverage to initiate social change. For instance, these efforts have been used to bring pressure on stocks of companies involved in tobacco, alcohol, gambling, guns and environmentally insensitive behavior. Arguably, the best-known example to date was the shareholder activism that used divestment to force the apartheid government of South Africa to abandon its heinous apartheid policy. Subsequently, that government was forced to surrender power.

By applying this model to companies doing business in terrorist-sponsoring states, we hope to achieve a success no less momentous than that accomplished in South Africa. All it will take is for Americans like you to feel empowered to play a role in the war on terror, to make known your views against investment in terrorist-sponsoring states and to use tools like those provided by DivestTerror.org to target and maximize the effectiveness of your activism. Please visit this informative and useful site and to join in the campaign it is now waging to defeat those who threaten not only our lives, but those of our children and grandchildren, as well.

My pure raw fury!!!!

WSWS : News & Analysis : North America Greenspan warns cuts to Social Security may be “abrupt and painful” By Jamie Chapman 3 September 2004 Use this version to print | Send this link by email | Email the author US Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan warned last week that the major government-funded entitlement programs covering US retirees—Social Security and Medicare—will face “abrupt and painful” curtailment, unless the government begins paring back benefits now. Speaking at a Federal Reserve conference held in the mountain resort of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, on August 27, Greenspan said, “As a nation, we owe it to our retirees to promise only the benefits that can be delivered.” He went on, “If we have promised more than our economy has the ability to deliver to retirees without unduly diminishing real income gains of workers, as I fear we may have, we must recalibrate our programs.” Greenspan continued, “Most observers expect Social Security, under existing law, to be in chronic deficit over the long haul; however, the program is primarily defined benefit, and so the scale of the necessary adjustments is limited. The shortfalls in the Medicare program, however, will almost surely be much larger, and be much more difficult to eliminate.” The need to “recalibrate our programs” is Greenspan’s veiled reference to cuts in benefits for government-funded pensions and health care benefits for retirees. The issue is an explosive one. Social Security was introduced as part of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “New Deal”—a program designed to ameliorate the worst conditions facing the working class in order to forestall social revolution. Until 1935, many workers faced destitution when they could no longer work in the backbreaking conditions of industry, since their companies offered them no pensions at all. Millions of working people, who pay into Social Security their entire working lives, now face a threat that these benefits will either be cut or eliminated before they ever reach retirement age. The Bush administration has proposed allowing wage earners to shift a portion of their contributions to Social Security into personal retirement accounts invested in the stock market. While pitched as a plan to “save Social Security” and create an “ownership society,” the real purpose of this plan is to pump vast new resources into the stock market in order to further enrich wealthy stockholders. At the same time, it would place what constitutes the sole source of income for many retirees at the mercy of the shares market. Moreover, the shift to personal accounts would only serve to drive the Social Security fund closer to bankruptcy. It is estimated that the costs of the transition would run close to $1 trillion, while it would divert money that would otherwise pay for benefits. Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry has remained vague about his own proposals for Social Security, declaring that he would not “privatize” the program or cut existing benefits. Of course, even the Republicans do not use the term “privatization” to sell their plan for allowing Wall Street to raid the Social Security Trust Fund. And the thrust of proposals for instituting cuts in the program is not the reduction of existing benefits, but rather the slashing of benefits for workers who have yet to retire. Discussion of shifting a Social Security funds into the stock market, it should be recalled, were well advanced under the Clinton administration and had broad bipartisan support. This is by no means the first time that Greenspan has raised the issue of sharp cuts in entitlements. In testimony before Congress last February, he called for cuts in Social Security and Medicare in order to pay for making the Bush administration tax cuts permanent for the 2 percent of the wealthiest Americans. In fact, Greenspan has been raising the issue of Social Security cuts for the last 20 years. Greenspan claims that as the “baby boom” generation retires, the Social Security Trust Fund will no longer be able to pay its retirement obligations. The Fed chairman cites statistics that by the year 2035, the American population over age 65 will rise from 12 percent of the population to 20 percent. He cited “[t]he decade-long acceleration in productivity and economic growth [that] has seemingly muted” the necessity of making “stark choices” between reduced benefits or higher taxes. In an assessment of future economic prospects, he stated, “history discourages the notion that the pace of growth will continue to increase.” There is no mystery as to what choice Greenspan and both big business parties favor. They insist that any shortfall in Social Security funds—including those that will be created if plans for the individual retirement accounts go forward—are to be made up through raising taxes on working people and cutting the benefits of retirees. The vast wealth controlled by the corporations, banks and wealthy elite must remain untouched. See Also: What’s behind the attack on pensions and social security? [4 March 2004] US central bank chief calls for cuts in Social Security [27 February 2004]

AlterNet: EnviroHealth: Here Come the Low-Mileage Hybrids

AlterNet: EnviroHealth: Here Come the Low-Mileage Hybrids: "Equating a hybrid with a high-efficiency car was sufficient so long as a hybrid was a high-efficiency car. The hybrid Honda Civic and Toyota Prius met this standard. The Japanese companies transformed modestly efficient vehicles into outstandingly efficient ones.

But the introduction of the Ford Escape ushers in the era of low-mileage hybrids. The hybrid Escape's overall fuel economy is better than other vehicles in its class but is still only half that of the Prius or Civic. Chevrolet's new hybrid trucks, the Sierra and Silverado may get little more than 20 mpg.

The mileage situation is, if anything, even worse than this because the new hybrids don't get significantly better mileage on the highway. A hybrid can shut off its engine when idling and can use its battery and electric motor to accelerate. Thus it achieves markedly better mileage in stop-and-go city driving than on the open highway. That's where the fuel economy comes from. For example, the Prius achieves 60 mpg in city driving and 51 mpg on the highway. On the open road a hybrid Escape gets mileage no better than that of several other vehicles in its class, like Toyota's RAVA4. And yet one suspects that hybrid SUVs and pick-up troutside of cities."e used outside of cities."

What can I do this election season?

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Check out our Web site to find something that works for you. http://www.truemajority.org/actionregister/toolkit_html.cfm

Here’s to making change,

Duane Peterson
The TrueMajority Crew

Sojourners : Election 2004

Sojourners : Election 2004

AlterNet: Election 2004: Deserter's Delight

AlterNet: Election 2004: Deserter's Delight: "I know you and I have had our differences in the past, and I realize I am the one who started this whole mess about 'who did what' during Vietnam when I brought up that 'deserter' nonsense back in January. But I have to hand it to you on what you have uncovered about John Kerry and his record in Vietnam. Kerry has tried to pass himself off as a war hero, but thanks to you and your friends, we now know the truth."

AlterNet: Conservatives, Repent!

AlterNet: Conservatives, Repent!: "The Swift Boat Liars are of interest only as a perfect case for those in media studies to see exactly how this stuff spreads, although it does dig up yet again the issue of how George W. Bush spent the Vietnam War. Here's a review of the state of play on that story. USA Today recently rehashed the remaining questions:"

"People, G-O-P-eople"

The highlight of the $5 million star-studded fundraiser for John Kerry in Los Angeles last night may have been Barbra Streisand's defeat-Bush version of her song "People."



Here are the lyrics as transcribed by the press pool reporter at the fundraiser. All together now:


People

I mean G-O-People

Who'd believe there's such people in the world

Bush sees a

Lotta Condoleeza

They're dividing the planet's oil

According to Richard Poil

And they're all just trainees

Of Cheney's

Now Rumsfeld

We must get rid of Rumsfeld

He's the spookiest person in the world

As for Powell

He's neither fish nor fowl

He's in the back of the room

While they're all fiddling with gloom

No one's minding the store

What's more

Let's discuss this war we're lost in

Don't ask what it's costin'

What's a trillion or two to rule the world.

The Senate

Oooo how I want the Senate

All we need is two people in the world

I see a

Antonin Scalia

How I dread every time he sits

Scared out of my Wolfowitz

Time those neocon guys

Were gone byes

??? (pool reporter's note)

While the globe is frying

And the fishes are dying in the world

And their solution

For all the pollution

Is just to bear it and grin

And practice not breathing in

But things are gonna be great

Just wait

When the White House stationary

Reads President John Kerry
We'll be the luckiest people in the world

Quote of the day

"Cheney brought my mother up to the casket, so she could pay her respects. She is in her 80's, and she has glaucoma and has trouble seeing. There were steps, and he left her there. He just stood there, letting her flounder. I don't think he's a mindful human being. That's probably the nicest way I can put it."

Ron Reagan, in an upcoming interview with the New York Times Sunday Magazine

Some humor . . .



Ariel Sharon came to Washington for meetings with George W. and for a state dinner. Laura Bush decided to bring in a special kosher chef and have a truly Jewish meal. At the dinner that night, the first course served is matzo ball soup.



George W. looks at this and, after learning what it is called, tells an aide that he can't eat such a gross and strange-looking brew. The aide says that Mr. Sharon will be insulted if he doesn't at least taste it. Not wanting to cause any trouble (after all, he ate sheep's eye in honor of Arab guests), George W. gingerly lowers his spoon into the bowl and retrieves a piece of matzo ball and some broth.



He hesitates, and then swallows. A big grin appears on his face. He finds that he really likes it, and digs right in and finishes the whole bowl.



"That was delicious," Bush says to Sharon. "Do you Jews eat any other part of the matzo, or just the balls?"

WSOCTV.com - Charlotte News - Autopsy: Statesville Man Choked On Vomit During Arrest

WSOCTV.com - Charlotte News - Autopsy: Statesville Man Choked On Vomit During Arrest: "STATESVILLE, N.C. -- An autopsy shows that an autistic man choked on vomit as he was being taken to jail by Statesville police.
Sidney Templeton's mother called police for help on Saturday when he became agitated about a new caretaker. Authorities said he fought with officers, though his mother says she never saw that.
Templeton was being taken into the Iredell County Jail when he struggled with officers and, in the words of Sheriff Stephen Hampton, had a 'medical emergency.'
Doctor Patrick Lantz performed the autopsy on Monday. He said Templeton apparently threw up and inhaled some of his vomit."

Not Even a Hedgehog - The stupidity of Ronald Reagan. By Christopher?Hitchens

Not Even a Hedgehog - The stupidity of Ronald Reagan. By Christopher?HitchensThe fox, as has been pointed out by more than one philosopher, knows many small things, whereas the hedgehog knows one big thing. Ronald Reagan was neither a fox nor a hedgehog. He was as dumb as a stump. He could have had anyone in the world to dinner, any night of the week, but took most of his meals on a White House TV tray. He had no friends, only cronies. His children didn't like him all that much. He met his second wife—the one that you remember—because she needed to get off a Hollywood blacklist and he was the man to see. Year in and year out in Washington, I could not believe that such a man had even been a poor governor of California in a bad year, let alone that such a smart country would put up with such an obvious phony and loon.

The Village Voice: NY Mirror: La Dolce Musto by Michael Musto

The Village Voice: NY Mirror: La Dolce Musto by Michael Musto
Dear JOHN KERRY: Keep on standing back all slack-jawed and vague-ish, kid. Let DUBYA self-destruct with his empty, Stepfordy ravings about making the world safe from terror—other people's, that is. Let the revelations keep coming—like how we were the terrorists in Abu Ghraib and how our lamented hero Pat Tillman was actually killed by our own other heroes in inept, I mean friendly, fire, not to mention how all of this was provoked by nonexistent weapons! (No wonder GEORGE TENET was canned, I mean stepped down for personal reasons.) And let Dubya's continued hate crusade against gay marriage take an interesting turn as cynics melt at the sight of perfectly nice queers hugging (and flirting with Hugh Jackman) on TV and wonder how stealth-bombing this would be consistent with our self-appointed role as fiery freedom fighters.

Yahoo! News - Bald Is Hair Color in Montana

Yahoo! News - Bald Is Hair Color in Montana: "HELENA, Mont. - Bald is a hair color in Montana. Montana's Web site lists 'bald' as an option when applying online for a fishing license. "

Texas Talk



George Bush and Dick Cheney are enjoying lunch at a fancy Washington restaurant.Their waitress approaches the table to take their order. She is young and attractive. She asks Cheney what he wants, and he replies, "I'll have the heart-healthy salad." "Very good, sir," she replies. Turning to Bush, she asks, "And what do you want, Mr. President?"



Bush answers, "How about a quickie?"



Taken aback, the waitress slaps him and says, "I'm shocked and disappointed in you. I thought you were bringing a new administration that was committed to higher principles and morality!" With that, the waitress stalks off in a huff.



Cheney leans over to Bush and says, "Mr. President, I believe that's pronounced 'quiche.'"

Health News Article | Reuters.com

Health News Article | Reuters.com: "Vaccine Critics Attack Mercury Report"

OSC Orders Congress to Investigate HHS, CDC and FDA Wrongdoing Regarding Mercury in Children's Vaccines, Says National Autism Association

OSC Orders Congress to Investigate HHS, CDC and FDA Wrongdoing Regarding Mercury in Children's Vaccines, Says National Autism Association: "WASHINGTON, June 2 /PRNewswire/ -- National Autism Association announced today that Scott Bloch, Office of Special Counsel (OSC), is calling for further investigation into the link between neurological disorders and Thimerosal, a mercury preservative found in childhood vaccines. In an OSC press release, Bloch states that the allegations of wrongdoing towards Health and Human Services (HHS), Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and Food and Drug Administration (FDA), ' ... raise serious continuing concerns about the administration of the nation's vaccine program ... '"

President Bush: Flip-Flopper-In-Chief - Center for American Progress

From the beginning, George W. Bush has made his own credibility a central issue. On 10/11/00, then Governor Bush said: "I think credibility is important. It is going to be important for the president to be credible with Congress, important for the president to be credible with foreign nations." But President Bush's serial flip-flopping raises serious questions about whether Congress and foreign leaders can rely on what he says.

AUTISM link to Michelangelo

Times of India - India



LONDON : Renaissance-era artistic genius Michelangelo might have had Asperger's syndrome, a milder form of autism which causes sufferers to have difficulties...

<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/713524.cms
>

Effects of autism on families

Effects of autism on families: "According to Wakely, previous research has suggested that siblings of children with autism can feel lonely and neglected, but that positive outcomes are possible too, with some siblings showing higher maturity and better social skills."

Salon.com Books | Busting big fat liars

Salon.com Books | Busting big fat liars: "The right-wing media warfare naturally is most visible during presidential election years. 'I've been saying for six months, no matter who was running for office this year, the right has a system in place to caricature that person,' says Brock. 'This is what I realized after 2000 -- that what happened to the Clintons during the '90s really had very little to do with the Clintons because the same thing happened to Gore in 2000. And then it happened to [Sen. Tom] Daschle when the Senate changed hands in 2001, and it happened to the mourners of [the late Sen.] Paul Wellstone in 2002. It goes on and on.' After witnessing how this Republican 'noise machine' again worked so well in shaping the caustic and undermining press coverage of Al Gore's presidential campaign in 2000, Brock is trying to awaken the public from slumber about these techniques."

gq plus @ gq.com: "Four years into an embattled Bush administration, Colin Powell is hard at work at something he's never had to worry about before: salvaging his legacy. "

A major scandal is going down this week at the Supreme Court, and I thought you'd like to see the hilarious little movie that exposes it:



http://www.justiceisduckblind.com



Here's the skinny: The Supreme Court is hearing a case involving Vice President Dick Cheney. They're trying to decide if Cheney should have to give up the members of his secret Energy Task Force, which he has kept hidden from the public. (Hmm, I wonder why. Could it be that he loaded the Task Force with his oil buddies?)



This is where it gets funky. Among the judges hearing the case is Antonin Scalia -- who recently went on a duck hunting vacation with Cheney, flying down to Louisiana at taxpayer expenses aboard Air Force Two. Despite this very cozy state of affairs, Scalia has stubbornly refused to withdraw from the case.



Check it out -- and sign on to the petition calling on Cheney to come clean about his Energy Task Force.



http://www.justiceisduckblind.com/petition.asp

Salon.com Arts & Entertainment | Bunless burger vs. the fluffernutter: "Fast-food restaurants are launching new 'healthy,' diet-friendly foods -- including a McDonald's adult happy meal. How do they stack up to some of our lunchtime favorites?"

Salon.com | Why John Kerry should run on 9/12: "The choice awaiting the American people in November couldn't be more clear-cut: Vote your fears or vote your hopes. If we do the former, Bush wins. But if we are inspired to do the latter, we could reach the 50 percent of eligible voters who've given up on our democracy -- and it could be Kerry in a landslide. "

Scott Rosenberg's Links & Comment: "Mainframe mania"

Church Sign Generator - Real Church Signs: "You've seen them - the signs in front of churches, with a witticism or a pun that made you groan. I think they're hilarious, often unintentionally so. I've decided to start collecting the ones I see around Austin and on the web."

Salon.com | Girls gone riled: "Single women are fed up and desperately want change. Now it's up to John Kerry to empower these Girls Gone Riled and convince them to kick George Bush to the curb. "

Salon.com Politics: "'Stay calm'


The headline blazing across yesterday's USA Today said: Majority Supports Bush on Terrorism. That's what millions of Americans saw on the newsstands as they dashed through airports or opened their hotel room doors to see the complimentary newspaper -- and most probably didn't bother to read the fine print. But that's what Ruy Teixeira does, thankfully, and he provides this analysis on his Donkey Rising blog of the latest Gallup poll data -- a much different story than the USA Today told in its headline. "

YOU KNOW YOU ARE LIVING IN 2004 WHEN:


1. You accidentally enter your password on the microwave.

2. You haven't played solitaire with real cards in years.

3. You have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach your family of 3.

4. You e-mail your mate who works at the desk next to you.

5. Your reason for  not staying in touch with friends is that they do not have e-mail addresses.

6. When you go home after a long day at work you still answer the phone in a business manner.

7. When you make phone calls from home, you accidentally dial "0" or "9"to get an outside line.

8. You've sat at the same desk for four years and worked for three different companies.

10. You learn about your redundancy on the 10 o'clock news.

11. Your boss doesn't have the ability to do your job.

12.  Contractors out number permanent staff and are more likely to get long-service awards.

AND THE REAL CLINCHERS ARE...

13. You read this entire list, and kept nodding and smiling.

14. As you read this list, you think about forwarding it to your "friends."

15. You got this  e-mail from a friend that never talks to you anymore, except to send you jokes from the net.

16. You are too busy to notice there was no 9.

17. You actually scrolled back up to check that there wasn't a No. 9.

18. AND NOW YOU ARE  LAUGHING AT YOUR STUPIDITY AND THINKING OF WHO YOU CAN SEND IT ON TO!

Very interesting article. Scares me though.

---

The Village Voice: Nation: Mondo Washington: The Meaning of Clarke by James Ridgeway: "WASHINGTON, D.C. - It's not just because Richard Clarke turned on Bush that conservatives detest him. They especially despise him because Clarke is a career federal civil servant, a species the right-wingers loathe above all. Clarke has served on the National Security Council staffs of Bush, father and son, along with Clinton. He began federal service in 1973 in the Defense Department as an analyst on nuclear weapons, and he served as an assistant secretary of state under both Reagan and Bush senior. "

Salon.com Politics

Salon.com Politics: "The Times story starts: 'Vice President Dick Cheney took the lead in a coordinated Republican attack Monday, charging that John F. Kerry has voted 'at least 350 times for higher taxes' during his Senate career. But the claim was disputed by nonpartisan watchdog groups as being based on an inaccurate interpretation of Kerry's record. Cheney, speaking before the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington, called Kerry a 'senator who will speak out against higher taxes when it suits the political moment but is one of the most reliable pro-tax votes in the United States Senate.' In addition, a 60-second national radio ad launched Monday by the Bush campaign featured a Boston law enforcement officer declaring that the Massachusetts senator 'likes to raise taxes. So much so he's voted for higher taxes 350 times.' Some independent organizations say the claim about Kerry's 350 votes for tax increases is misleading.' "

How Things Work in Real Life



Start with a cage containing five monkeys. Inside the cage, hang a banana on a string and place a set of stairs under it. Before long, a monkey will go to the stairs and start to climb towards the banana. As soon as he touches the stairs, spray all of the other monkeys with cold water.



After a while, another monkey makes an attempt with the same result all the other monkeys are sprayed with cold water. Pretty soon, when another monkey tries to climb the stairs, the other monkeys will try to prevent it.



Now, put away the cold water. Remove one monkey from the cage and replace it with a new one. The new monkey sees the banana and wants to climb the stairs. To his surprise and horror, all of the other monkeys attack him. After another attempt and attack, he knows that if he tries to climb the stairs, he will be assaulted.



Next, remove another of the original five monkeys and replace it with a new one. The newcomer goes to the stairs and is attacked. The previous newcomer takes part in the punishment with enthusiasm! Likewise, replace a third original monkey with a new one, then a fourth, then the fifth. Every time the newest monkey takes to the stairs, he is attacked.



Most of the monkeys that are beating him have no idea why they were not permitted to climb the stairs or why they are participating in the beating of the newest monkey.



After replacing all the original monkeys, none of the remaining monkeys have ever been sprayed with cold water. Nevertheless, no monkey ever again approaches the stairs to try for the banana. Why not? Because as far as they know that's the way it's always been done around here.



And that, my friends, is how a company policy begins.

Salon.com | I'd like a tuna on white -- hold the mercury!

Salon.com | I'd like a tuna on white -- hold the mercury!: "To the list of Campaign 2004's make-or-break issues -- Iraq, homeland security, lost jobs, tax cuts -- we can now add tuna fish sandwiches. "

Compassionate Conservatism at work

The Village Voice: Nation: Mondo Washington: Wounded Soldiers May Be Billed Again for Hospital Meals by James Ridgeway: "ard as it is to believe, Donald Rumsfeld's Pentagon is once more getting set to charge soldiers $8.10 every day for meals while they are in military hospitals recovering from combat injuries. Last year, after an uproar, Congress inserted a special provision into the $87.5 billion supplemental appropriation for Iraq and Afghanistan to make sure wounded soldiers didn't have to pay for their meals while laid up. But because the Pentagon has been so inept at putting the special provision into practice, numerous wounded vets have been paying for their food anyway. And now the special provision covering the $8.10 fee is about to run out."

Arianna Huffington

Salon.com | Progress vs. products: "But that doesn't seem to faze the White House. Last month, Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao said that when it comes to the state of the U.S. economy, 'the stock market is, after all, the final arbiter.' You know working stiffs are in trouble when the secretary of labor believes that the stock market is the end-all of our country's economic health. "

The Spokesman-Review.com - Bush's partial history

The Spokesman-Review.com - Bush's partial history: "Military rules used in 1974 to ground two Washington Air National Guard airmen with access to nuclear weapons also applied to a Texas Air National Guard unit where Lt. George W. Bush was a fighter pilot.
Some military researchers and a former Texas Guard lieutenant colonel believe the stringent regulations -- known as the Human Reliability Program -- may have been invoked to stop Bush from flying Texas Air National Guard jets in 1972."

Bush's flip flops
So Bush has a site somewhere that tracks Kerry's "flip-flops". Reader TK probably spent three seconds coming up with this list of Bush flip flops. It's not like they're hard to find:

Bush is against campaign finance reform; then he's for it.

Bush is against a Homeland Security Department; then he's for it.

Bush is against a 9/11 commission; then he's for it.

Bush is against an Iraq WMD investigation; then he's for it.

Bush is against nation building; then he's for it.

Bush is against deficits; then he's for them.

Bush is for free trade; then he's for tariffs on steel; then he's against them again.

Bush is against the U.S. taking a role in the Israeli Palestinian conflict; then he pushes for a "road map" and a Palestinian State.

Bush is for states right to decide on gay marriage, then he is for changing the constitution.

Bush first says he'll provide money for first responders (fire, police, emergency), then he doesn't.

Bush first says that 'help is on the way' to the military ... then he cuts benefits

Bush-"The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden. Bush-"I don't know where he is. I have no idea and I really don't care.

Bush claims to be in favor of the environment and then secretly starts drilling on Padre Island.

Bush talks about helping education and increases mandates while cutting funding.

Bush first says the U.S. won't negotiate with North Korea. Now he will

Bush goes to Bob Jones University. Then say's he shouldn't have.

Bush said he would demand a U.N. Security Council vote on whether to sanction military action against Iraq. Later Bush announced he would not call for a vote

Bush said the "mission accomplished" banner was put up by the sailors.  Bush later admits it was his advance team.

Bush was for fingerprinting and photographing Mexicans who enter the US. Bush after meeting with Pres. Fox, he's against it.

Early Retirement
Dear Employee:



As a result of the reduction of money budgeted for department areas, we are forced to cut down on our number of personnel. Under this plan, older employees will be asked to take early retirement, thus permitting the retention of younger people who represent our future.



Therefore, a program to phase out older personnel by the end of the current fiscal year, via retirement, will be placed into effect immediately.



This program will be known as SLAP (Sever Late-Aged Personnel). Employees who are SLAPPED will be given the opportunity to look for jobs outside the company.



SLAPPED employees can request a review of their employment records before actual retirement takes place. This review phase of the program is called SCREW. SCREW (Survey of Capabilities of Retired Early Workers).



All employees who have been SLAPPED and SCREWED may file an appeal with upper management. This appeal is called SHAFT (Study by Higher Authority Following Termination).



Under the terms of the new policy, an employee may be SLAPPED once, SCREWED twice, but may be SHAFTED as many times as the company deems appropriate. If an employee follows the above procedure, he/she will be entitled to get: HERPES (Half Earnings for Retired Personnel's Early Severance) or CLAP (Combined Lump sum Assistance Payment).



As HERPES and CLAP are considered benefit plans, any employee who has received HERPES or CLAP will no longer be SLAPPED or SCREWED by the company. Management wishes to assure the younger employees who remain on board that the company will continue its policy of training employees through our: Special High Intensity Training (SHIT). We take pride in the amount of SHIT our employees receive. We have given our employees more SHIT than any company in this area. If any employee feels they do not receive enough SHIT on the job, see your immediate supervisor. Your supervisor is specially trained to make sure you receive all the SHIT you can stand. And, once again, thanks for all your years of service with us.



Have a Good Day!

My Way News

Salon

Josie Fuller and J.T. Francis celebrate after getting married at San Francisco's City Hall on Monday, Feb 16, 2004.

Winter of love


Cautious Democrats worry that San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom's historic affirmation of gay marriage will help Bush win reelection. But as the right squabbles over the issue, his party may well thank him in November.

- - - - - - - - - - - -


By Joan Walsh

Feb. 26, 2004  | 












San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom "looked like the cat who ate the canary," Supervisor Tom Ammiano recalls, at a hastily convened private meeting Feb. 10. That's when Newsom told Ammiano, who'd run against him for mayor last November, about his plan to issue marriage licenses to gay couples, and asked for Ammiano's support.

"I'm fucking delighted!" the stand-up comic turned politician told the new mayor. Almost two weeks later, Ammiano was still beaming. City Hall had become a giant wedding chapel; just outside Ammiano's door, same-sex couples were being married in the glorious rotunda, on balconies and landings, in a dozen quiet nooks all over the building. And the national gay-rights leader was at a rare loss for words to describe the scene. "It's just so, so ... so queer!" he says finally. "But I think he's unleashed something that's bigger than all of us."

That's for sure, although it's still not clear exactly what it is. Even some gay rights advocates have worried that Newsom unleashed a big fat political backlash, epitomized by President Bush's decision Tuesday to back a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. "What Mayor Newsom has done in San Francisco ... has in fact energized and motivated those who support marriage between one man and one woman," Mathew Staver, president of the Florida-based Liberty Counsel, told the Los Angeles Times in the wake of Bush's decision on Tuesday.

That's supposedly why Rep. Barney Frank warned Newsom against his bold move. (Ammiano shakes his head at Frank's judgment. "That's Barney -- so Beltway-centric!") But Democrats all over the country have been telling the new mayor that the only person happier than the gay newlyweds is Karl Rove, who will now be able to run a campaign about the Democrats' degradation of marriage, rather than unpleasant issues like the jobless recovery, the massive budget deficit and the Iraq debacle. And the debate is sure to rage on: Will San Francisco's Winter of Love make it easier for Republicans to hold onto the White House next November?

No one knows for sure, but I don't think so. I feel like I have to confess upfront that my analytical skills have been warped by watching all of these weddings. You can't imagine what it's like from a distance. Straight or gay, visitors get teary when they walk inside City Hall, where the meaning of what Newsom did is huge and palpable. It's always struck me as vaguely homophobic, the insistence on how "normal" these couples are, but that really is what hits you in person. Sure, there are drag queens in the line waiting for marriage licenses, and plenty of old-fashioned flannel-shirted lesbians. But there are also 50-something men in bad suits and women in Prada; there are women in wheelchairs and interracial couples; and there are children everywhere, kids doing homework sitting on the floor as they wait for their parents' turn to get married. These are families already, and once you see them you know: There's really no going back.

And the ripple effect across the city, and the world, is enormous. In San Francisco, everyone knows someone who got married -- two of my daughter's public school teachers did it -- and practically every city official was deputized to marry couples over the long Valentine's Day weekend. I ran into bleary-eyed Newsom staffer Joe Caruso on Friday, the day Cambodia's King Sihanouk came out in favor of gay marriage after seeing the San Francisco weddings on TV, and Caruso was carrying one of the hundreds of bouquets of flowers strangers had sent from all over the world. The card was inscribed simply: "To the happy couple, With love from Eileen and Darren of British Columbia." People were dropping by City Hall all last week just for the emotional high. Straight San Francisco, too, is glowing with gay pride.

"We were just trying to put a human face on this issue," an exhausted Newsom said on Wednesday, after appearances on CNN's "Larry King Live" and ABC's "Nightline." He acknowledges that he's heard criticism even from supporters for his so-called act of civil disobedience. "That's the strongest argument: Why should a mayor be judge and jury and substitute his subjective interpretation of the Constitution? I've heard that. What I say is: The courts will decide. The system is working."

It's safe to say that of the roughly 119,000 people who voted for Gavin Newsom in the mayoral runoff last December, nobody thought they were voting for the radical in the race. The radical was the other guy, Matt Gonzalez, the Green Party leader who knocked off Ammiano in November and ran a spirited, occasionally brutal race against Newsom, whom he caricatured as a captive of corporate San Francisco. When I publicly declared my support for Newsom on the eve of the election, it was a dramatically uncool thing to do, and I spent many holiday parties defending my decision, which was more a reaction to the nasty campaign Gonzalez ran than a passionate belief in Newsom. (I think the die-hards who kept up their Gonzalez campaign posters featuring Newsom alongside Bush and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger might finally have to take them down.) I saw the new mayor as a cautious, wonky Democrat who might get some good things done. I wish I could say I saw this coming. But anybody who tells you that is a liar.

It's not just his gay marriage moves that shocked the city. In his first weeks on the job, Newsom toppled the powerful but scandal-shadowed police chief and replaced him with a Chinese-American woman, acting chief Heather Fong (he pledged to do a national search), who has already shaken up the command staff and looks like she expects to keep the job. He named the first female fire chief, Joanne Hayes-White, to preside over a department that's still dogged by issues of diversity, and appointed an African-American lesbian, Heather Hiles, to the school board. He told the Chamber of Commerce to expect to share the pain of a looming budget deficit, warning that some kind of business tax-hike is all but inevitable. He took department heads on a tour of ragged, neglected BayView-Hunter's Point, declared the city's epidemic of youth violence a travesty, and put city officials on notice that he wanted change in the way they approach the problems of crime and poverty.

But even though Newsom's bold moves have surprised me, the way he made them and defended them has not. I also voted for him because of a gut sense of his personal decency, an intuition that, agree with him or not, he acts from a moral base, which I respect. When you disagree with him, it can be a little scary. I called him a "sanctimonious schoolboy" last year after we argued about his aggressive panhandling initiative, when he insisted opponents like me were basically saying it was fine to let the city's down-and-out continue to die on the streets. Ouch. Of course, it's sanctimony when you disagree with someone, but conviction when they're on your side. So I've enjoyed watching Newsom's Catholic-schoolboy conviction on the gay marriage issue, his unflappable sense of his own righteousness as he goes up against the Christian right.

It's hard not to notice that Newsom is doing well politically by doing good, and lots of folks are asking if that's the point. "There's a lingering suspicion that this is like the candyman, you know, he's doing this great thing and then he'll do something bad," Ammiano admits. The mayor's cause wasn't helped by an anonymous aide who crowed to the San Francisco Chronicle that if you "control" the gay vote, your political success is assured in San Francisco. There's no doubt his stance has helped Newsom on his left: Pollster David Binder says that just a month ago, only 39 percent of self-described "progressive voters" had a favorable view of Newsom; that soared to 72 percent in a Binder poll this week, though the mayor lost support among the conservatives and older voters who had formed his base.

Kate Kendall, director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, says it's "insane" to think Newsom took his stance on gay marriage for political gain. "He was told by his own gay staff, 'You're going to ruin your political career,' and he said, 'I don't care,'" says Kendall, who calls Newsom's move "completely transformative." Newsom confirms that some gay staffers worried about the move, but says they were won over quickly. Now he acknowledges the most fear comes from older San Franciscans, those of his father's generation. He says his father, former Judge Bill Newsom, "supports me, but a lot of his friends and our family members can't believe I'm doing this. But that generational shift shows the inevitability of this change."

On the national level, the conventional wisdom says that Newsom hurt the Democrats by catalyzing a gay marriage backlash and handing Karl Rove a wedge issue with which to clobber likely nominee John Kerry in November. But in fact, the opposite might be true. Democrats may yet thank Newsom, and the Massachusetts Supreme Court, for pulling the president out of his political spider hole and forcing him to back a constitutional amendment. Already his base is squabbling over whether Bush went far enough, and even Tom DeLay isn't sure he's ready for a move as radical as amending the Constitution.

Newsom won't take credit or blame for forcing the president's hand. "He was going to do this; the question wasn't 'if' but when," says the mayor. "It's a remarkable risk from [Bush's] perspective. He's got a debate going now in his own party. I think it was a huge mistake, but history will judge that."

Meanwhile, Kerry could come out of this looking like a centrist. When Newsom was on CNN's "Late Edition" Sunday morning talking to Wolf Blitzer, the screen below him kept flashing the words "John Kerry is opposed to gay marriage." By staking out one extreme on the issue, Newsom showed that Bush is at the other extreme. If elections are won in the middle, that's good news for Kerry.

But it's too early to know how Newsom's move will play politically, or even legally. It's still possible the courts will say he's wrong and stop the weddings. In the meantime, San Franciscans can be proud of what's going on in City Hall. I walked away last week unexpectedly happy, knowing without a doubt: This is what history looks like. This is what it feels like to do the right thing.

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About the writer Joan Walsh is Salon's managing editor. Wednesday, February 25, 2004 My Way News My Way News: "NEW YORK (AP) - Andy Rooney set the phone and e-mail lines at CBS buzzing over his commentary - in which he said God was speaking through him - calling Mel Gibson and the Rev. Pat Robertson 'wackos.'" "Dishonest Dubya" Lying Action Figure Doll - George W. Bush "Dishonest Dubya" Lying Action Figure Doll - George W. Bush Thursday, February 19, 2004 Yahoo! News - Barney Frank criticizes S.F. weddings Yahoo! News - Barney Frank criticizes S.F. weddings: "SUMMARY: Openly gay Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., criticized letting same-sex couples get married in San Francisco, saying it could hurt efforts to legalize same-sex marriage in his home state. " Wednesday, February 18, 2004 Salon.com | The culture-war president Salon.com | The culture-war president: The culture-war president By Arianna Huffington http://www.salon.com/opinion/huffington/2004/02/18/culture_war/index.html Feb. 18, 2004 | "I'm a war president," George Bush told us. But as the body count in Iraq continues to rise, the president's approval rating plummets, and the furor over phantom WMD, sexed-up intel, and Bush's spotty Air National Guard service refuses to go away, it appears Karl Rove is planning a small rewrite for his candidate: "I'm a culture war president." Remember that divisive pre-9/11 campaign staple? Well, it's flared up again -- with a vengeance and a rash of new administration actions clearly aimed at shoring up the president's Christian conservative base. In the last month, the president has traded in his too-tight flight suit for a revival tent, backing a new anti-obscenity crusade, anti-condom sex-ed programs, a renewed commitment to fighting the drug war, and his attorney general's efforts to poke around the private medical records of women who've had abortions. He even hinted in his State of the Union that he'd be willing to endorse a constitutional ban on gay marriage. With Silver Starred John Kerry threatening the president's hold on the high ground of national defense, Team Bush has decided it's time to switch battlefields and start screaming about Sodom and Gomorrah. And who has time to talk about the 3 million jobs lost on Bush's watch when gay couples are trying to make their lifetime commitment legal? Heaven forbid. You would think the Christian right has more pressing matters to worry about. America now has 35 million people living in poverty, many of them working poor. And Christian conservatives are up in arms about gay marriage? Maybe they should take another look at the Bible and its admonition that we shall be judged by what we do for the least among us. Indeed, if you removed every reference to poverty in the New Testament, the Good Book would be reduced to little more than a Not Bad Pamphlet. In the words of Rev. Jim Wallis, "The Prophets would be decimated, the Psalms destroyed, and the Gospels ripped to shreds." On the other hand, there is not a single mention of gay marriage or the need to ban it. Regrettably, this perversion of presidential priorities is not limited to campaign rhetoric -- it extends to how our increasingly limited tax dollars are being spent. Take the administration's new anti-obscenity push -- a blast from our blue-nosed past. Bush's 2005 budget calls for a boost in funding for government efforts to crack down on the adult entertainment industry -- one of the precious few non-terror-related programs to garner a spending increase. I kid you not: While the White House is cutting back on its housing budget, veterans' benefits, and the National Institutes of Health, it's opening up the coffers to make sure you have a harder time downloading the Paris Hilton sexcapade on the Net. But that's not even the worst of it. The Justice Department has recently assigned a team of FBI agents to focus exclusively on adult obscenity cases. That's right, with the war on terror in full swing, our war president is going to have a group of G-men doing nothing but working the porn beat when they could be tracking down -- oh, I don't know -- terrorist sleeper cells. Talk about your misguided allocation of manpower. I don't know about you, but I certainly feel safer knowing the feds are going to be keeping close tabs on Jenna Jameson. We see the same loopy sense of right and wrong being played out in the Janet Jackson firestorm. Less than two weeks after the shock and bra of the Super Bowl, Bush's congressional cronies were already holding hearings on the matter. Compare that to the foot dragging that followed 9/11. It took 14 months -- and a candlelight vigil outside the White House by the victims' family members -- before the president finally relented and the 9/11 commission was created. Now that's indecent. For the moral relativists in the Bush administration, the definition of sin seems to depend on whether the sinner can further their political purposes. So Justin exposing Janet's boob is a sin, but White House staffers exposing Victoria Plame is a win. Profiting from porno is a sin, but Halliburton's wartime profiteering is a win. Two men getting hitched is a sin, but Cheney and Scalia shacking up in a duck blind is a win. Telling students condoms can prevent STDs is a sin, but lying about WMD is a win. And so, apparently, is GOP staffers hacking into Senate computers and Tom DeLay illegally funneling corporate money to Texas politicians. The president's culture war is little more than breasts and circuses. Election-year weapons of mass distraction. Hail to the panderer in chief. Our one and only president Salon.com News | Bush 'troubled' by gay marriage issue: "Feb. 18, 2004 | WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush said Wednesday he was 'troubled' by gay weddings in San Francisco and by legal decisions in Massachusetts that could clear the way for same-sex marriage. But he declined to say whether he is any closer to backing a constitutional ban on such vows. 'I have watched carefully what's happening in San Francisco, where licenses were being issued, even though the law states otherwise,' Bush said. 'I have consistently stated that I'll support law to protect marriage between a man and a woman. Obviously these events are influencing my decision.' 'I am watching very carefully, but I am troubled by what I've seen,' Bush said. He didn't answer directly when asked whether he is any closer to endorsing a constitutional ban on same-sex marriages, as conservative groups say the White House has assured them Bush will do. 'I strongly believe marriage should be defined as between a man and a woman,' Bush said during an Oval Office session with Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. 'I am troubled by activist judges who are defining marriage.' 'People need to be involved in this decision,' Bush said. 'Marriage ought to be defined by the people not by the courts. And I'm watching it carefully.' Gay and lesbian couples from Europe and more than 20 states have lined up outside the ornate San Francisco City Hall since city officials decided to begin marrying same-sex couples six days ago. City officials said 172 couples were married Tuesday, a pace that would bring the total number who have taken vows promising to be 'spouses for life' to over 3,000 by Friday. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court recently ruled that it is unconstitutional to bar gay couples from marriage. U" Friday, February 13, 2004 BOSTON GLOBE Puppet Masters Romney out front; Bush aides in touch Boston Globe, February 13, 2004 Box 2378, Boston, MA, 02107 (Fax: 617-929-2098 ) (E-Mail: letter@globe.com ) ( http://www.boston.com/globe ) http://www.boston.com/news/specials/gay_marriage/articles/2004/02/13/romney_out_front_bush_aides_in_touch/ By Frank Phillips, Globe Staff As Governor Mitt Romney navigates the volatile issue of gay marriage, his staff is in "regular contact" with the staffs of the Bush White House and the national Republican Party, a top Romney aide said yesterday. Eric Fehrnstrom, the governor's director of communications, downplayed the significance of the talks between Washington and the governor's office, but he described it as contact on "about a semidaily basis." Fehrnstrom said the national Republicans, whom he would not name, were in contact with Romney's chief of staff, Beth Myers, and her deputy, Peter G. Flaherty to keep tabs on the debate and other developments, the outcome of which will have implications for the presidential campaign. Fehrnstrom said no one from the Bush White House or the Republican National Committee has talked directly to Romney. In recent days, the governor has become more aggressively and personally involved in the emotionally charged issue, taking a high-profile role and intimating that he would seek legal avenues to block issuance of gay marriage licenses. Local and national political observers had speculated that Romney was coordinating his activities with the White House, the Bush campaign, and the Republican National Committee. Nationally, the GOP, sensing an opening to attack Democratic front-runner Senator John F. Kerry, has also become more vocal in opposition, with its operatives indicating that the gay marriage debate can be used to paint Massachusetts as out of step with the rest of the country. Fehrnstrom insisted that Romney's decision to inject himself into the debate, although he has no formal role in a constitutional convention, has nothing to do with presidential politics and everything to do with Romney's feeling that he should be involved in such a momentous debate. Last night, Romney continued to play a role in the negotiations, sending word through GOP lawmakers that he opposed any form of civil unions for gay couples. "I can't imagine the governor sitting on the sidelines while one of the most important debates in recent history is taking place," Fehrnstrom said. Romney has consistently opposed gay marriage and has said in the past that he also opposes civil unions, although Fehrnstrom indicated yesterday that the governor would not close the door on some system that provided the protections and benefits Romney has supported in the past. The governor has never fully spelled out what those rights would be, but he has mentioned hospital visitations, survivor benefits, and joint health care. The first signs of Romney's heightened profile in the controversy surrounding gay marriage came with a column he wrote that appeared last week in the Wall Street Journal. The column, which advised other states how to deal with the hot-button issue, appeared a day after the Supreme Judicial Court reaffirmed its Nov. 18 ruling clearing the way for gay marriage in Massachusetts. Since then, he has kept up the beat, almost on a daily basis. With the SJC ruling legalizing gay marriage set to take effect on May 17, Romney has indicated he will try to block the issuance of marriage licenses, but has never offered details on how he would circumvent the ruling. Romney and other gay marriage opponents could seek a stay from the SJC or a federal court, pleading that legal chaos will result if same-sex marriages take place and voters ultimately reject the court ruling through a constitutional amendment. Until the issue of gay marriage rose to the top of the agenda on Beacon Hill, Romney had a reputation as a hands-off governor who rarely became involved in direct negotiations with legislators. But this past week, he has pressured Republican legislators to rally behind House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran's proposal to ban gay marriage without authorizing civil unions. Romney's support for Finneran's amendment failed to win approval for the measure on Wednesday. In his lobbying, the governor has seriously strained his relationship with his close ally, Senate minority leader Brian P. Lees of Longmeadow. Romney and his aides have raised the heat on Lees and his five colleagues in the Senate to follow the administration's stance on gay marriage. Lees has bridled at the pressure and has cut off communications with Romney, several GOP sources said yesterday. State GOP chairman Darrell Crate was at the State House on Wednesday just as the debate was at its most intense. Crate met with Romney and then lobbied GOP lawmakers, asking them to line up behind Finneran's amendment. One GOP legislator said Crate had invoked the interests of the White House in urging him to line up behind Finneran's proposal. The GOP chairman declined to comment. "I feel like I would be violating confidences with legislators, whom I spoke to directly," he said. Crate said no one from the national Republican Party or the White House had given him instructions. "There's no coordination with the folks in the White House," he said. "I don't speak for them." Friday, February 06, 2004 BUSH ALMIGHTY! BUSH ALMIGHTY! ASHCROFT DETAINS JANET JACKSON’S RIGHT BOOB Half of Singer's Rack in US Custody Just hours after singer Janet Jackson shocked the world by exposing her right boob at the conclusion of Sunday’s Super Bowl halftime show, Attorney General John Ashcroft ordered the offending boob detained “indefinitely,” Mr. Ashcroft confirmed today. “Janet Jackson’s right boob has been taken into custody and sent to Guantanamo Bay for questioning,” Mr. Ashcroft told reporters in a Washington briefing. “We’d very much like to know what the boob knew and when it knew it.” Ms. Jackson’s right boob was detained under a little-known provision of the Patriot Act which enables the government to detain celebrity body parts that make surprise, naked appearances at nationally televised sporting events. Under that provision, Mr. Ashcroft explained, Ms. Jackson’s right boob will not have access to a lawyer and could face a military tribunal at some point in the future. When asked about Ms. Jackson’s left boob, Mr. Ashcroft said that it is not a suspect at this time but that it remains “a boob of interest.” “We would like to know if the left boob knew what the right boob was planning to do,” Mr. Ashcroft said. “It strains credulity to imagine that the right boob acted alone.” Elsewhere, experts around the world confirmed that moments after Ms. Jackson’s right boob fell out of its housing, Western civilization fell as well. Dr. Milton Campeaux of the University of Minnesota said that experts were “surprised” that Ms. Jackson caused Western civilization’s long-awaited collapse. “We all expected a Jackson to do it, but not Janet,” he said. Thursday, February 05, 2004 Salon.com Life | Three accused of putting hairpieces on cows Salon.com Life | Three accused of putting hairpieces on cows: "Feb. 5, 2004 | COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Three livestock exhibitors at last year's Ohio State Fair have been disqualified for allegedly outfitting their Holstein cows with hairpieces. " Tuesday, February 03, 2004 Talk about strange bedfellows The Village Voice: Features: Sleeping With the GOP by Wayne Barrett with special reporting by Adam Hutton and Christine Lagorio: "Roger Stone, the longtime Republican dirty-tricks operative who led the mob that shut down the Miami-Dade County recount and helped make George W. Bush president in 2000, is financing, staffing, and orchestrating the presidential campaign of Reverend Al Sharpton. Though Stone and Sharpton have tried to reduce their alliance to a curiosity, suggesting that all they do is talk occasionally, a Voice investigation has documented an extraordinary array of connections. Stone played a pivotal role in putting together Sharpton's pending application for federal matching funds, getting dollars in critical states from family members and political allies at odds with everything Sharpton represents. He's also helped stack the campaign with a half-dozen incongruous top aides who've worked for him in prior campaigns. He's even boasted about engineering six-figure loans to Sharpton's National Action Network (NAN) and allowing Sharpton to use his credit card to cover thousands in NAN costs?neither of which he could legally do for the campaign. In a wide-ranging Voice interview Sunday, Stone confirmed his matching-fund and staffing roles, but refused to comment on the NAN subsidies. " Salon.com Arts & Entertainment | The Fix Salon.com Arts & Entertainment | The Fix Even as studies show that Americans are heavier than ever, a new wave of reality TV shows have taken to making fun of fat people. Most conspicuous is Fox's "My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance," which places a thin, attractive woman in a phony engagement with a large, ill-behaved man whose main goal is to disgust pretty much everyone around him -- and, of course, viewers as well. Last season's "Average Joe" and this season's "Average Joe: Hawaii," while purportedly championing the cause of the normal guy, also generate tension and controversy by pairing a few large, out-of-shape men with a model-type woman. The implicit message: Can these slobs possibly live up to the standards of a beautiful person? The answer so far: no. (In fact, TV viewers watched the very big Sean sent packing Monday night from "Average Joe: Hawaii.") Salon called up Sandie Sabo-Russo, spokesperson for the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance, a 34-year-old fat people's rights group with more than 5,000 members in chapters across the United States and Europe. While NAAFA tries to have a sense of humor about the media -- its hall of fame includes John Candy, Chris Farley and Miss Piggy -- it takes the cause of "ending discrimination against fat people" seriously. It even has a "Fat Activist Task Force" that uses letter-writing campaigns to protest what it feels are unfair portrayals of fat people in the media. What do you think of "My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance?" I think that's a really obnoxious title. If you change that word "fat" to any other oppressed minority -- to "My Big Black Obnoxious Fiance," or "My Big Gay Obnoxious Fiance," or anything -- you'd have a lot of groups that would be going, "Well, wait a minute ..." They've wrapped all these negative stereotypes into this one guy who's fat, [saying] because he's fat, he's obnoxious, and he's sloppy and he's smelly -- which is not true about us. When the word "fat" is used as a negative, it becomes a term to hurt people, just like when people use the "n word" against blacks. That's one of the reasons why we use the word "fat" -- it means we've taken it back. I'm fat. It is the appropriate adjective for my body. What about "Average Joe"? Matter of fact, I watch it all the time. [Laughs.] I have a few of my favorite reality shows. I love "Survivor," and I watch the "Bachelorette" ... she's so cute. She's so pretty. Why do you like "Average Joe"? I was curious. I watched the first time and I was so pulling for Adam -- you know, the average guy when she got down to the one last average guy and one non-average guy. Adam was charming, he was a nice guy, he was rich -- what an idiot [she was]! I can't believe she passed this guy up! But it's her prerogative ... I don't berate someone for being more attracted to a thin person than a fat person. From television's point of view, if they're just trying to get more people to watch, doesn't it make more sense for them to focus more on thin beautiful people than fat people? Who are they to decide what's attractive and not attractive? I think extreme body builders with all the ripples -- oh yuck, it gives me the creeps. It's like fingernails on a blackboard. I see that when I'm flipping the channels and I switch that stuff off. That's the way I look at it -- gee, you don't have to look at it if you don't like it. But there has to be that broad spectrum of reality. Because there's many people who think rounded women are attractive. It's not just about whether people think we're beautiful or not. Most thinner people treat fat people as if there's something morally wrong with us. What did you think about the stunt in the first "Average Joe," when the thin woman put the fat suit on [to trick the contestants into saying nasty things about her]? I think it stunk. We don't like it for all the same reasons that black people don't like it when white people put black face on and pretend to be black. It's demeaning and disrespectful. Do you think the guy from "My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance" could ever make it to NAAFA's hall of fame? I don't think so. He's probably thrilled to get a gig, and to some extent I don't blame him. I'm sure he's probably a nice guy in real life. But we'll never know, because all we'll think of him as is the fat obnoxious guy. Friday, January 30, 2004 Salon.com Technology | Ask the pilot Salon.com Technology | Ask the pilot: "Those who miss the thrill of Kai Tak still have some options. Spotters and gawkers can visit Maho Beach, for one, on the island of St. Maarten (St. Martin when speaking of its French half) in the Dutch Antilles. Here, along this otherwise small and unattractive oceanfront, the threshold of Princess Juliana International Airport's single runway extends nearly to the tide line. Judging from these pictures, which are not retouched in any way, you'd be advised to hit the sand to keep clear of jet blast and the swirling vortices from a 747's wingtip. The beach is posted with signs warning swimmers and sunbathers of these very hazards." Tuesday, January 27, 2004 Razzies.com - Home of the Golden Raspberry Award Foundation Razzies.com - Home of the Golden Raspberry Award Foundation 24th Annual Golden Raspberry (RAZZIE®) Award Nominations WORST PICTURE CAT-IN-THE HAT (Universal/Dreamworks/Imagine) CHARLIE'S ANGELS: FULL THROTTLE (Columbia) FROM JUSTIN TO KELLY (20th Century-Fox) GIGLI (Columbia/Revolution) THE REAL CANCUN (New Line) WORST ACTOR Ben Affleck / DAREDEVIL, GIGLI and PAYCHECK Cuba Gooding, Jr. / BOAT TRIP, FIGHTING TEMPTATIONS and RADIO Justin Guarini / FROM JUSTIN TO KELLY Ashton Kutcher / CHEAPER by the DOZEN, JUST MARRIED and MY BOSS'S DAUGHTER Mike Myers / THE CAT-IN-THE-HAT WORST ACTRESS Drew Barrymore / CHARLIE'S ANGELS: FULL THROTTLE and DUPLEX Cameron Diaz / CHARLIE'S ANGELS: FULL THROTTLE Kelly Clarkson / FROM JUSTIN TO KELLY Angelina Jolie / BEYOND BORDERS and LARA CROFT TOMB RAIDER: THE CRADLE of LIFE Jennifer Lopez / GIGLI WORST SUPPORTING ACTOR Anthony Anderson / KANGAROO JACK Alec Baldwin / THE CAT-IN-THE-HAT Al Pacino / GIGLI Sylvester Stallone (Whose 5 Roles Could Fill This ENTIRE Category!) SPY KIDS 3-D: GAME OVER Christopher Walken / GIGLI and KANGAROO JACK WORST SUPPORTING ACTRESS Lanie Kazan / GIGLI Demi Moore / CHARLIE'S ANGELS: FULL THROTTLE Kelly Preston / THE CAT-IN-THE-HAT Brittany Murphy / JUST MARRIED Tara Reid / MY BOSS'S DAUGHTER WORST SCREEN COUPLE Ben Affleck & Jennifer Lopez / GIGLI Eric Christian Olsen & Derek Richardson / DUMB AND DUMBERER Justin Guarini & Kelly Clarkson / FROM JUSTIN TO KELLY Ashton Kutcher & EITHER Brittany Murphy (JUST MARRIED) or Tara Reid (MY BOSS's DAUGHTER) Mike Myers & EITHER Thing One OR Thing Two / THE CAT-IN-THE-HAT WORST EXCUSE for an ACTUAL MOVIE (All Concept/No Content!) (New Category) 2 FAST, 2 FURIOUS CHARLIE'S ANGLES: FULL THROTTLE THE CAT-IN-THE-HAT FROM JUSTIN TO KELLY THE REAL CANCUN WORST REMAKE or SEQUEL 2 FAST, 2 FURIOUS CHARLIE'S ANGELS: FULL THROTTLE DUMB & DUMBERER: WHEN HARRY MET LLOYD FROM JUSTIN TO KELLY (Remake of WHERE THE BOYS ARE ‘60 and WHERE THE BOYS ARE ‘84) TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE WORST DIRECTOR Martin Brest / GIGLI Robert Iscove / FROM JUSTIN TO KELLY Mort Nathan / BOAT TRIP The Wachowski Brothers / Both MATRIX Sequels Bo Welch / THE CAT-IN-THE-HAT WORST SCREENPLAY THE CAT-IN-THE-HAT, Screenplay by Alec Berg, David Mandel and Jeff Schaffer CHARLIE'S ANGELS: FULL THROTTLE, Screenplay by John August and Cormac & Marianne Wibberley, “Story” by August DUMB AND DUMBERER, Screenplay by Robert Brener and Troy Miller, “Story” by Brener FROM JUSTIN TO KELLY, Written by Kim Fuller GIGLI, Written by Martin Brest NOMINATIONS PER PICTURE: GIGLI – 9 CAT-IN-THE-HAT – 8 FROM JUSTIN TO KELLY – 8 CHARLIE'S ANGELS: FULL THROTTLE - 7 BOAT TRIP, DUMB & DUMBERER, JUST MARRIED, MY BOSS’S DAUGHTER and THE REAL CANCUN – - 2 Each The Village Voice: Nation: Mondo Washington: Operation Desert Guard by James Ridgeway The Village Voice: Nation: Mondo Washington: Operation Desert Guard by James Ridgeway: "The moral dictates of the Christian right are nothing compared with the concerns of the protectors of public morality in the press corps. Ever vigilant in our behalf, they recently condemned Michael Jackson (Who needs a trial with the people's advocate Nancy Grace and CNN judge Larry King on the job?). But even Jackson didn't have the audacity to say what Michael Moore said?that the president of the United States is a deserter. Yes, indeed. He said that. Not only did Moore say it, but he said it in public on a stage in the midst of a political campaign. In the midst of a war, no less. The press corps blushed in shame for all of us and promptly condemned Moore as an ignorant fool who ought to stick with his disgusting comedy shows. Fortunately for us, Michael Moore is crazy like a fox. By calling Bush a 'deserter,' he got the big-time journalists?horrified David Broder, incredulous Peter Jennings, outraged Robert Novak, nonplussed Tim Russert?to openly raise the deserter issue before millions. It is now a political topic once again. As the journalists damn Moore, the populace is once again wondering, well, maybe Bush is a deserter after all. And the idea of a deserter running this war makes it even more sick than it already is. Consider that this weekend warrior is already responsible for the following toll in Iraq: 513 GIs sent to their death; 8,000 medevacked out of Iraq; 2,919 wounded (missing arms or legs, or blinded, or psycho); and at least 22 GI suicides. God only knows how many Iraqi men, women, and children. And when it was his turn to fight for his country, Bush booked. " Subscribe to: Posts (Atom) My favorite blogs Rachel A story - In May my boyfriend David told me to not make any plans for the weekend of July 11-13. He said "don't ask any questions because you won't get any answers."... 12 years ago Murdocks And Sons Merry Christmas 2013! - [image: Click to play this Smilebox newsletter] [image: Create your own newsletter - Powered by Smilebox] This newsletter design generated with Smilebox 12 years ago Murdock's Blog Across America Solomon James - Find cute photos of our new grandchild here. 12 years ago The Magnanimous Murdocks Wisdom of Solomon - We are very pleased to welcome Solomon to the family! Some photos: 12 years ago More Blogs That I Follow Not Always Right The Name Belongs In A Museum! - Read The Name Belongs In A Museum! Baby's Mother: "We wanted a strong American name, so we were looking at the names of States." Baby's Father: "Not many... Awkward Family Photos Room Service - “My mom bought a portrait package for me and my little sister and the photos were taken in the sketchiest motel ever. Even Raggedy Ann looks concerned.” ... 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