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Look for me this Weekend!
You might find me at the OysterCam, JazzFestCam or the BurboCam. Email me a picture if you see me. I'm heading for New Orleans Thursday morning!

posted by DRH 4/30/2003 01:11:00 AM

Die, Gnomes, Die!

See lawn gnomes die a grisly death!

posted by DRH 4/30/2003 01:07:00 AM

Polls? In Iraq?
Moooo....

posted by DRH 4/29/2003 12:36:00 AM

It's Only a Flesh Wound
Yet another Iraqi Information Minister flash animation. An homage to the Black Knight. None shall pass! There are some very odd things on that site. I wish I could read me some of that foreign jibber-jabber. I'm relatively clueless as to what all that is about.

Here's one that lets you be more creative! Cast the IIM in his own scene!

posted by DRH 4/29/2003 12:28:00 AM

"Hello, My Name is... SCOTT"
This is cool. Some guy named Scott has apparently been wearing one of those "Hello, name is..." stickers for more than 900 days now. As with most things, I'm pretty sure there was a Seinfeld or Simpsons episode dealing with a similar idea, but I digress. Scott has even written a book about his experiences. That's crazy, and I can respect that.

posted by DRH 4/28/2003 11:41:00 PM

Corndog's Hollywood Haunt!
Sadly, the only decent cafe I know of in the L.A. area is the Bourgeois Pig in Hollywood. Happily, it is one of the best cafes that I know anywhere. Tasty coffee and funky surroundings. The occasional appearance of Dennis Woodruff and other such interesting folk. It could use just a touch more light in the front for those of us who want to read words on paper rather than an LCD screen, that is a quibble.

As an added bonus, the store attached to the Pig sells Mr. T soap-on-a-rope. Now that's cool.

posted by DRH 4/28/2003 10:30:00 PM

No Show for OJ!
Whew! That was close. The scary thing, though, is that apparently it's OJ that has the sense to refuse the "reality show deals, not the "creative" types.

posted by DRH 4/25/2003 09:05:00 AM

Another non-Scandal Scandal
Next up on the firing line, Sen. Rick Santorum. He's the latest to undergo the "trial by quote". The pattern is absurdly familiar. The press trumpets a single sentence, giving none of the immediate context; instead the accounts give a couple of paragraphs that properly bias the reader. In this case, they even go further and actually insert the word "gay" into the sentence! The "hurtfullness" of the statement comes from, it is stated the comparision of homosexuality and incest, but the most extreme person would have to admit that that only holds water if the word "gay" was meant to be in the sentence in the first place.

The transcript of the interview is available, and it's hard to squeeze the idea that Santorum is making some kind of blistering attack against gays. He's making a legal argument. Maybe the people that want to oppose him should put their energy into refuting it?

Without the magic extra word, the senator is obvious talking about the implications of the discovery of an absolute right to "consensual sex" being discovered in the Constitution. Interestingly, he seems to be logfically correct. If there is a Constitutional right to sex-between-consenting-adults, on what grounds does one ban incest (as long as eveyone is over 18), polygamy and adultery?

And now, the cartoon version of the story
Some random White House staffer apparently made some off-hand remark about Sen. John Kerry "look(ing) French. Sen. Kerry has equated this with (I kid you know) "the politics of personal destruction". Boo hoo hoo hoo.

By the way were the people that allegedly called Kerry "unpatriotic" ever named?

posted by DRH 4/23/2003 09:34:00 AM

Mmmrrrrooowwwww!!!!

posted by DRH 4/23/2003 12:57:00 AM

He is Risen!

Happy Easter!

posted by DRH 4/20/2003 11:17:00 AM

IKEA Messes Up
.. and makes Germans giggle. On the other had, a Japanese company meant to do this. Then again, there's this Brittish product (recipe for homemade at the Beeb). It's a wacky, wacky world.

posted by DRH 4/19/2003 11:06:00 AM

Your Easter Ham
Very fresh!

posted by DRH 4/19/2003 01:59:00 AM

First Amendment 101
Arg. Yet another instance of someone that simply simply doesn't understand the first amendment. Unless the baseball Hall of Fame has suddenly become a government agency, being un-invited to speak there has nothing to do with the First Amendment. Well, I take that back. It does have a lot to do with the First Amendmendment. Barring Robbins from speaking is an excersize of the First Amendment rights of a private organization, the Hall of Fame.

Apparently, Tim Robbins thinks he has a constitutional right to force other people to listen to him. Sigh.

It is a tribute to his acting skills that he has managed to convincingly portray reasonably smart people. I heard audio snips of his speech and he certainly was putting on a Smart Person Voice... it seemed vaughly like an old recording of a 1920s or -30s politician. A Wilsonian/FDR-ish tone, very big on pronouncing every. word. separately.

posted by DRH 4/18/2003 08:41:00 PM

Mittens the Kitten!
Sniff ... sniff.... mmmmmmm....

posted by DRH 4/16/2003 11:57:00 PM

Doonesbury -- Voice of the Paleomedia?
Dang. I remember back in the 70s when Doonesbury was cutting edge. Well, some of it could be that that was just my perception as a relatively naive student. Let's say topical, anyway. Anyhow, every now and then, I take a look at Trudeau's latest and almost always come away disappointed. Take a look at this monday's strip Just after we find out that CNN was covering up news in Iraq, Doonesbury is taking cliche shots at Fox News.

One thing I've noticed is that way too many characters are in the media. Reporters, radio commentators, columnists, advertisers, web publishes, etc. It's amazingly media-centric. He's writing from a comfy place within the media and just can't see outside anymore. The "established" media tends to see Fox as an upstart, so Trudeau does too. CNN is "in the club", so why fret about them? That's my theory, anyway. Well... maybe not a theory, just something that popped into my head while reading the Doonesbury website.

Ah, I think I'll just go read Get Fuzzy, then go to bed.

posted by DRH 4/16/2003 11:18:00 PM

Young Dummies in Love
Next weekend in Vegas... a Ventriloquist Wedding!

Together with their dummies

Eyvonne Dee Carter

and

Valentine Vox 

Invite you to share with them

a celebration of love

on Sunday, the twenty seventh of April

Two Thousand and Three

at ten o'clock in the morning

at the Imperial Palace Hotel

posted by DRH 4/16/2003 10:42:00 PM

Quote of the Day (belated)
We will welcome them with bullets and shoes.
-- Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf

posted by DRH 4/15/2003 10:19:00 PM

Set that Bar low!
Nobody sane expects Bush to go on some kind of pre-emptive reverse jihad against random countries. So the announcement of a group to prevent exactly that is a cool idea. In a year or two, they can report that their organization was a complete success! (Kind of like my lucky keychain ... it repells bengal tigers. Not one tiger has attacked me in the 2 years I've owned the thing. Success!)

Tim Robbins' quote is amusing though. A few talk show hosts apparently made fun of him, so he speaks ever-so-darkly about ramifications. Ooooooo.... Tim's bravery will make their success ever so much sweeter.

By the by... has anyone actually called him "unpatriotic", or is he just pulling a Kerry here?

posted by DRH 4/15/2003 09:57:00 PM

Now these are cool movie titles!
Here's one and here's another.

posted by DRH 4/15/2003 09:34:00 PM

Gratuitous Technology Dept.
How long could you have this machine in your house before takin' an axe to it?

posted by DRH 4/15/2003 09:29:00 PM

Still Topical for the Next 15 minutes (maybe)
This might be one of your last chances to look at a cheesy Saddam video. Live it up while you can. Sorta like Saddam, I guess. They also have a dorky Dubbya video (it's very Bear Country Jamboree). Fair is fair, I guess.

posted by DRH 4/15/2003 09:20:00 PM

Artsy Craftsy!

posted by DRH 4/13/2003 11:11:00 AM

I was right
Check out ebay!

posted by DRH 4/13/2003 11:06:00 AM

The Protocols of the Elders of Goyim
This article caught my eye... it makes some good points about some of the spouting one hears in certain circles about Bush's alleged apocalyptic views. There is a small but significant wedge of the population that is completely out of touch with the bulk of the rest of the country. To them, anyone who is at all serious about their religion is automatically part of some dark, scary "other".

It's a minor-league version of the way a rumor about the early Christians (and later, Jews) were spread... that they were kidnapping children to make break with their blood. The removal of those hearing and repeating the rumor from the targets of the rumor was the key to its spread.

posted by DRH 4/13/2003 10:59:00 AM

Martin Sheen Welches on a Bet?
This is amusing. Has Janeane Garofalo bought the orchids yet?

posted by DRH 4/13/2003 10:49:00 AM

Saddam is... the Lady's Man!
Wowie! Saddam's swinging bachelor pad has been discovered! I like the Franzetta-esque "art". But does he have any black velvet Elvis? If so, there is surely a wall safe behind it where the WMDs are hidden.

posted by DRH 4/13/2003 10:47:00 AM

What did we Know and When did we Know it
Check out CNN honcho, Eason Jordan's admission that they covered up news so that they could have a Baghdad bureau. It's simply astounding .. Saddam's son Uday felt so confident in his "relationship" with the grand CNN poobah, that he told him ahead of time that he was going to try to asasssinate two of his own relatives who had defected to Jordan and even King Hussain! And check out this one:

I came to know several Iraqi officials well enough that they confided in me that Saddam Hussein was a maniac who had to be removed. One Foreign Ministry officer told me of a colleague who, finding out his brother had been executed by the regime, was forced, as a test of loyalty, to write a letter of congratulations on the act to Saddam Hussein. An aide to Uday once told me why he had no front teeth: henchmen had ripped them out with pliers and told him never to wear dentures, so he would always remember the price to be paid for upsetting his boss. Again, we could not broadcast anything these men said to us.

So much for any kind of 'objective news"... no reporting at all? Why not just pull out of Iraq? If CNN couldn't report honestly, what is the point of having a presence "on the ground"?

Speaking of not letting us know, I found this little number from Scott Ritter, the arms-inspector-turned-antiwar-activist. Check it out. He knew all about the kids that Saddam had locked up, but didn't want to tell anyone just how bad it was. Why? They might want to try and free the kids.

You've spoke about having seen the children's prisons in Iraq. Can you describe what you saw there?
[...] It was a horrific scene. Actually I'm not going to describe what I saw there because what I saw was so horrible that it can be used by those who would want to promote war with Iraq, and right now I'm waging peace.

posted by DRH 4/12/2003 11:45:00 AM

Coming Soon to EBAY...

Limited Edition Saddam Cards!
Move over Magic-the-Gathering geeks! (Do they still exist?) Forget Pokemon!

posted by DRH 4/11/2003 10:04:00 AM

EU "Investigating" Iraq Contracts
Check this out. The EU wants to wet it's beak, so they are "investigating". [Coming up next: Burger King investigates the Big Mac.]

posted by DRH 4/11/2003 09:56:00 AM

Nancy Pelosi's Secret Plan to Win Iraq
Nancy Pelosi says that we "could have probably brought down that statue [of Saddam] for a lot less". Now wait just a minute... she came out against regime change. How the heck did she plan to bring that statue down, exactly?

posted by DRH 4/11/2003 09:52:00 AM

O, Canada 's a bit late
There's growing support for the war in Iraq among Canadians. Aboot time, eh?

posted by DRH 4/10/2003 02:37:00 AM

Office Fun!
Try the Virtual Stapler! I especially like the Stapler Haikus:

    Rough clippings gather

    Rustling in their loose embrace

    Stapler brings order

posted by DRH 4/10/2003 02:27:00 AM

The Arab Street?
The Washington Post had an interesting survey of the reaction of the Arab world on the liberation of Baghdad, as did Reuters. The link to the Arab News is particularly striking.

Now it’s obvious that the Iraqis aren’t going to put up a credible fight, and it’s equally clear that as a result the world has changed into pretty much what the Americans wanted it to be. The pride the Arabs felt in the initial stages of the invasion, before those legendary “pockets of resistance” halting the advance of the world’s only superpower were revealed as a myth, has been replaced by immense shame and humiliation.

It's as if it's completely beyond the beyond that maybe the Iraqis just didn't like their government. There's no hint that that even occured to John R. Bradley (nice Arabic name!) as even a remote possibility. Iraqis should oppose the US like good little mindless robots. Just like Mr Bradley should oppose the US because he just knows ahead of time that this is simply a colonial expansion, etc. "C'mon, people -- stick to the script!", you can almost hear him say.

posted by DRH 4/10/2003 02:26:00 AM

HAPPY FUN WITH CORNDOG!!!

posted by DRH 4/10/2003 01:08:00 AM

What a difference a couple of days make...
Check out the "conventional wisdom" from Newsweek, dated 4/7/2003. "Flawed war plan"? "Pyrrhic" victory? Better still... "arrogant blunder for the ages"?

posted by DRH 4/10/2003 01:01:00 AM

Whatever happened to the "No Litmus Tests" Mantra?
Apparently Sen. Kerry thinks that all that allegedly high-minded rhetoric from the Democrats about "no litmus tests" on abortion are crap. Well, at least that litmus tests are fine as long as the requirement is that the judge be pro-abortion rather than anti-abortion.

Yeah, I know, that's supposed to be "pro-choice" in the vague, politically correct lingo that keeps from sating the word "abortion" ... but I choose to write clearly on this. Kerry is pro-abortion in exactly the same way that the NRA is pro-gun. In fact, very much more so.

"Huh?", you say? Well let's look at it. Kerry is for the government paying for and encouraging abortions. The gun nuts over at the NRA only want to be able to buy a gun with their own money. The nuttiest of gun nuts doesn't demand that the government give guns to citizens "on demand".

posted by DRH 4/09/2003 09:55:00 AM

BBC Considered Harmful
Apparently the government run BBC is so biased against their own government(!), that the British flagship has decided to turn it off. One of their main correspondents covering the war complained about glaringly false reports being broadcast. The BBC has, according to several sources, done an amazingly poor job in reporting the news in an even-handed fashion, actually being biased in favor of the Iraqis! See Andrew Sullivan's weblog for lots of examples.

posted by DRH 4/09/2003 01:48:00 AM

You've Come a Long Way, Baby
Women can officially enlist in the Islamic jihad. Al Quida has opened training camps so that women can become suicide bombers and martyr themselves just like their male colleagues.

posted by DRH 4/07/2003 01:05:00 AM

A Tale of Two Websites
So here's to celebrity websites the creepy Melanie Griffith site and the cheapy Julie Newmar site. You get the feeling that if Julie Newmar had a fraction of the budget that Griffith had, she'd have a way cool website. But the Griffith site... no amount of money could make it less creepy. It's like being trapped in a high tea with 50-something female new age enthusiasts.

posted by DRH 4/06/2003 12:48:00 PM

How Davis can save his Job!
The incompentence of Gov. Davis might actually reduce smoking in California by raising the price of cigarettes yet again. The driving for this time is Davis' mismanagement of the state budget. There's a strong recall effort against him.

He can save himself. All he has to do is claim that this is a grand strategy toi reduce cancer and... viola! ... he stays in.

posted by DRH 4/06/2003 12:30:00 PM

Wacky Animated Cartoon
Yakkity-Yak, Bomb Iraq I'm fairly sure that the song is mostly a rip-off of one from the Gulf War, though.

posted by DRH 4/06/2003 03:24:00 AM

Sounds a Bit Premature to Me
Apparently, the new govenment for Iraq might be set up in the next few days.

posted by DRH 4/06/2003 03:16:00 AM

Big Test for the UN Coming Soon!
North Korea has explicitly stated that it will completely ignore any resolution from the UN. Saddam's already shown that the UN can be gamed into irrelevance... pretend to go along, get away with doing as little to comply as possible and wait for the UN to get bored and go home. Now we'll find out if the UN will be able to get off its butt for soemone in blatant non-compliance. Could get scary.

posted by DRH 4/06/2003 03:00:00 AM

Homeland Security Pyramid Scheme
Lookee!

posted by DRH 4/05/2003 06:00:00 PM

So, now I'm listening to KNEW-910...
... and there's some talk show where they have the founder of Code Pink ("Medea" something). Apparently, this was recorded 6 days ago. She's saying that she's certain that Iraq will be a quagmire and the battle will go on and on. (What a difference a week makes.) What strikes me is that she's presenting herself as some kind of expert because her group popped over to Iraq for a couple days to "talk with Iraqi women", etc. ... when will people learn that a weekend trip simply doesn't make you an expert? Cheez...

posted by DRH 4/05/2003 01:35:00 AM

Some Analysis of the Rumsfeld Flap
Yeah, that issue is soooo last week, but this article is a good last look...

posted by DRH 4/05/2003 01:11:00 AM

I just realized something...
So I'm reading this article about John Kerry, who's violated the traditional taboo against criticizing a war once it's underway. So now he's making all sorts of noise about how "questioning the war isn't the same as being unpatriotic"... but what public official has called him "unpatriotic", exactly? Being critical of John Kerry isn't the same as calling him unpatriotic.

One thing occurred to me; right now Democrats are despirate to be called unpatriotic right now. They want to be able to portray themselves as martyrs victimized by a new McCarthyism. That's my theory, anyhow... it's kind of a double reverse McCarthyism. If true, it's an interesting strategy...

And another thing ... it occurs to me that the mantra I've been hearing, "dissent is patriotic" is simply wrong. Some is, some ain't. I think the correct formulation is "dissent can be patriotic".

posted by DRH 4/05/2003 12:24:00 AM

Multicultural Humor Corner
Up for a wacky Swedish political cartoon? I know I am!

posted by DRH 4/05/2003 12:05:00 AM

Mmmmm..... Japanese Ice Cream!

Hungry?

posted by DRH 4/04/2003 11:48:00 PM

Man Bites Dog!
Only public radio station in the country where hosts can't "take positions on controversial issues" found!

posted by DRH 4/04/2003 09:48:00 AM

NO NO NO NO NO
....no no no no...

posted by DRH 4/04/2003 02:19:00 AM

The Cry of the Opressed Iraqi!
The following quote is just all over the media today... wouldn't it be great if it ends up being in the standard history books?

What would the Americans bring? "Democracy," the man said, his voice rising to lift each word to greater prominence. "Whiskey. And sexy!" -- NY Times

posted by DRH 4/04/2003 01:59:00 AM

Prepare to be Very Annoyed
If you click here.

posted by DRH 4/04/2003 01:36:00 AM

Weekend at Saddam's

Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri says Saddam is alive.
Place your bets.

posted by DRH 4/04/2003 01:00:00 AM

What is going on here?
This article by Robert Fisk showed up on the news sites a few hours ago. Does thism man live in some kind of parallel universe? Everyone is reporting on the airport being attacked and he claims nothing happened? At all? How could everyone else be lying? What would be their motivation for doing so?

posted by DRH 4/04/2003 12:43:00 AM

My Imitation of Robert Fisk
British marines routed by Iraqi civilians! Activists all over the world are seeing this and rising up! How can the Ango-Americans stand up to such force?

In the face of such passion, Leading Airman Dave Husbands said the marines were beaten from the start.

posted by DRH 4/04/2003 12:31:00 AM

Who Armed Saddam, Again?
A blogger called "The Dissident Frogman" presents an informative graph that drives the point home.

posted by DRH 4/04/2003 12:21:00 AM

Life Imitating Simpsons!

A New York restraunt serves tomaccos!

posted by DRH 4/03/2003 02:20:00 AM

More on the Military Dolphins
tee hee.

posted by DRH 4/03/2003 02:02:00 AM

Phesheya "Scoop" Dube, cub reporter
Not the journalist he seemed to be...

posted by DRH 4/02/2003 02:08:00 AM

That's it.. the French are Hopeless
Just read. I'm pretty much convinced that no amount of diplomacy could have gotten them to even deal honestly with us. This seems a heckuva lot more deep-seated (and long-term) than any dispute that might have arisen recently over Iraq. Something has been festering for years, and we just didn't notice. The popularity of that French book claiming that the US orchestrated 9/11 probably was a tip-off.

posted by DRH 4/02/2003 01:38:00 AM

Cute Joke
The Pope was visiting DC and President Bush takes him out for an afternoon on the Potomac...sailing on the Sequoia, the presidential yacht.

They were admiring the sights when, all of a sudden, the Pope's hat (zucchetto) blew off his head and out into the water.

Secret service guys start to launch a boat, but Bush waves them off, saying "Wait, wait. I'll take care of this. Don't worry."

Bush then steps off the yacht onto the surface of the water and walks out to the Holy Father's little hat, bends over and picks it up, then walks back to the yacht and climbs aboard. He hands the hat to the Pope amid stunned silence.

The next morning, the New York Times carries the story, The banner headline is:

BUSH CAN'T SWIM

posted by DRH 4/02/2003 01:25:00 AM

You May Bristle at the Suggestion, but...

Beware of Brush Monkeys!

posted by DRH 4/02/2003 01:11:00 AM

Cool EBay Auction (but long gone)
Look anyway.

posted by DRH 4/02/2003 12:46:00 AM

Sargent Schultz Alert!
In the "I see nooooothiiing" department, here's a scary example of unremarkable behavior, at least according to the Times of London.

posted by DRH 4/01/2003 01:28:00 AM

Orwell Alert!
Stanford students attempt to shut down people they disagree with ... in the name of "academic freedom"! Wha...?

posted by DRH 4/01/2003 01:21:00 AM

Iraq War Kitch Alert!

This should not exist.

posted by DRH 4/01/2003 01:15:00 AM

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