Tuesday, May 31, 2005 

SUNS: Paul on the Playoffs: "I seem to overheat easily. I think my core temperature must be slightly higher than most everyone else's because it does not take much to push me over the edge to a slight film on the forehead. Considering my present 'home' city, this is all great news. I think it was 170 degrees in Phoenix yesterday. Fortunately, my poor cooling system does not manifest itself in some sort of rancid B.O. It does mean that my upper lip and eyebrow regions break into salty droplets with only the slightest prodding. Now, this is not the worst occurrence in the world, except that, once my body's radiator gets out of balance, it is difficult to correct the problem. A poor wardrobe choice can lead to a night of sleeve-wiping and awkward looks from the people with whom I am conversing. "

5/31/2005 05:14:00 PM | |

 

Just Shut It Down - New York Times: "Guantanamo Bay is becoming the anti-Statue of Liberty. If we have a case to be made against any of the 500 or so inmates still in Guantanamo, then it is high time we put them on trial, convict as many possible (which will not be easy because of bungled interrogations) and then simply let the rest go home or to a third country. Sure, a few may come back to haunt us. But at least they won't be able to take advantage of Guantanamo as an engine of recruitment to enlist thousands more. I would rather have a few more bad guys roaming the world than a whole new generation. "

5/31/2005 04:49:00 PM | |

 

The Observer | International | Soldier lifts lid on Camp Delta

5/31/2005 04:46:00 PM | |

 

TPMCafe || Table For One: "As one little boy David met told his mother, 'Being poor is expensive.'"

5/31/2005 04:18:00 PM | |

 

-THE CUNNING REALIST-: A Job Well Done: "I've worked for organizations in which failure was rewarded. For a business, it is debilitating and destructive, and it usually occurs because someone plays golf with the boss better than he performs on the job. When it happens in organizations like the CIA and the Army, it's also because someone is 'playing ball' well, albeit for far higher stakes. For a nation, it is no less destructive than for a business. "

5/31/2005 02:55:00 PM | |

 

Arnold

5/31/2005 02:37:00 PM | |

 

Japanese dressing down to battle warming - Environment - MSNBC.com: "Starting Wednesday, they'll be sweating a little less.
In a nationwide campaign to save energy by cutting down on air-conditioning, the government has asked public workers to leave their ties and jackets home for the summer."

5/31/2005 02:20:00 PM | |

 

Uncle Sam: Jekyll or Hyde? - Newsweek: International Editions - MSNBC.comBut while Dr. Jekyll makes speeches by day on Arab liberty, some nights he turns into Mr. Hyde. There is within the Bush administration another impulse, a warrior ethos that believes in beating up bad guys without much regard for such niceties as international law. Excessive concern for such matters would be a sign of weakness, the kind of thing liberals do. Men like Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld see themselves above all else as tough guys."

5/31/2005 01:52:00 PM | |

 

Bush blasts Amnesty report on Guantanamo - Politics - MSNBC.com

It is always interesting to see someone's own words out of their own mouth. Take a look and listen.

5/31/2005 12:02:00 PM | |

 

A re-post as it is so important. Zinn.: "The truth has a power greater than a hundred lies."

5/31/2005 10:52:00 AM | |

 

DimeMag.com: "So, not only has Larry Brown apparently been talking to Cavs, but he also reportedly has his front office personnel in place. His antics are unbelievable"

Seriously. Fucking unreal. Dude has a health problem I understand, but damn, can't you fucking wait till the end of your current teams season before getting another job. Jeezuz.

5/31/2005 09:10:00 AM | |

 

Bush blasts Amnesty report on Guantanamo - Politics - MSNBC.com: "It's an absurd allegation."

His word is good enough for me.

5/31/2005 09:03:00 AM | |

 

Tales of abuse in Guantanamo testimony - Terrorism & Security - MSNBC.com: "One Guantanamo prisoner told a military panel that American troops beat him so badly he wets his pants now. Another detainee claimed U.S. troops stripped prisoners in Afghanistan and intimidated them with dogs so they would admit to militant activity.

Tales of alleged abuse and forced confessions are among some 1,000 pages of tribunal transcripts the U.S. government released to The Associated Press under a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit - the second batch of documents the AP has received in 10 days."

5/31/2005 08:26:00 AM | |

Monday, May 30, 2005 

Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall: May 22, 2005 - May 28, 2005 Archives: "Some folks just can't let this drop. One of them is Walter Pincus of the Washington Post. And God bless him for it. In today's paper, Pincus has an article detailing how two intelligence analysts responsible for what is probably the single greatest screw-up about Iraqi WMD (the aluminum tubes issue) have received job performance awards in each of the last three years."

5/30/2005 11:36:00 AM | |

 

Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall: May 29, 2005 - June 04, 2005 Archives: "Much of what we call al Qaida -- not just al Qaida proper which is at least a somewhat specific entity or association of radical Islamist groups, but the broader movement of violent and extremist jihadism across much of the globe -- was the spawn of the cockpit of brutality and extremism that was the Afghan jihad of the 1980s."

5/30/2005 11:32:00 AM | |

Sunday, May 29, 2005 

End of the pipeline for oil? - Oil & Energy - MSNBC.com

5/29/2005 06:25:00 PM | |

Saturday, May 28, 2005 

Woody Harrelson and Laura Louie's VoiceYourself

5/28/2005 09:01:00 PM | |

Friday, May 27, 2005 

Nathan

Was reading this post over. Think, were the terrible recruiting numbers we have seen recently a 'terrorist attack'? Is not Bin Laden winning his war of people as evidenced by our own numbers and statistics?

5/27/2005 04:42:00 PM | |

 

Woody Harrelson and Laura Louie's VoiceYourself

Take the time for a look and a listen. I have posted this before, but it was lost after the student left Oregon it seems. It is found again.

5/27/2005 04:03:00 PM | |

 


Thanks to some other blog here somewhere I found this pic. Ain't it great?

5/27/2005 03:49:00 PM | |

 

The Huffington Post The Blog: "What do they think of us? The common people of the world? The anonymous poor, the near-poor, and those of moderate means. The laboring hard grinders who dream of little more than a small, but better, future for their children. In Africa? Across the Middle East? Asia? On the islands of the Pacific and Atlantic? What do they think of us as we consume 40% of the world's energy and account for half of its military expenditures. An America that topples and erects governments, here and there, willy-nilly, with near-oblivious caprice; an America that strides indifferently across the globe with demonstrable disdain for human rights; an America that shoves and bullies and listens only to those it has marginal cause to fear; an America whose public policies and private ventures have contributed, more than those of any other nation, to the destruction of the living earth on which we all must depend to survive as a species?

-snip-

Terrorism, put simply, is war, privatized. It is vastly more mobile, and easier to mount and prosecute successfully, than state-mounted war.

We must face the fact that our country has done hurtful things in the world that the vast majority of Americans know little to nothing about. The victims remember, however, even if we cannot.

We are now entering, I fear, Einstein’s doomsday nightmare."

Some things he write of may be extreme, but probably a good exercise for all of us to stop and think how others might view us and how we might be able to do better by them.

5/27/2005 03:44:00 PM | |

 

SAN FRANCISCO / Sureno gang's threat growing in Bay Area / Widow's apartment is at heart of group's Mission District turf: "He called violence between Nortenos and Surenos 'self-hate,' saying, 'The poverty has made us hate each other.' "

5/27/2005 03:30:00 PM | |

 

The Huffington Post | The Blog: "Do you hear that? It's the sound of one Greek gagging. Senator Clinton, if you are not 'comfortable setting exit strategies', can you direct us to someone who is? Because our soldiers are dying every day waiting for someone who is comfortable setting an exit strategy.
I've just decided that I do have a litmus test for the 2008 Democratic nominee: someone who can utter, in plain English, an unambiguous, unequivocal sentence about Iraq."

5/27/2005 03:15:00 PM | |

 

Pacific Views: McNamara On Iraq: "In 1995, former U.S. secretary of defence Robert McNamara published In Retrospect, the first of his three books dissecting the errors, myths and miscalculations that led to the Vietnam War, which he now believes was a serious mistake. Nine years later, most of these lessons seem uncannily relevant to the Iraq war in its current nation-building, guerrilla-warfare phase."

5/27/2005 02:35:00 PM | |

 

American Prospect Online - ViewWeb: "Obviously, a transparent piece of corporate software like Priscilla Owen is not an extraordinary circumstance; she's going to get a vote. Neither is Janice Rogers Brown, for whom Harry Hopkins apparently was Trotsky. Or William Pryor, who may well turn out to have been the kid who famously yelled 'Whipping Post!' on the Allman Brothers Band�s live set. All three of them are getting the famous up-or-down vote, after which they will be installed on the federal courts until they are called to Jesus. "

5/27/2005 02:14:00 PM | |

 

Think Again: "Working the Refs" - Center for American Progress: "Even William Kristol, undoubtedly the most influential Republican/neoconservative writer and publisher in America today, is on record as saying that the 'liberal media' canard is often used by conservatives as an excuse to cover up for conservative failures. Despite this, Kristol's magazine, The Weekly Standard, joins its colleagues in the conservative media in trotting out the liberal bias canard virtually every chance it gets."

5/27/2005 01:19:00 PM | |

 

Depp Arranges Shooting of Thompson's Ashes: "Organizers of a memorial for Hunter S. Thompson plan to erect a 150-foot structure - courtesy of actor Johnny Depp - to shoot the gonzo journalist's ashes onto his ranch near here.
Friends and acquaintances gathered Thursday to discuss the Aug. 20 invitation-only service, which will be six months after Thompson shot himself in his Woody Creek home."

5/27/2005 01:04:00 PM | |

 

European and Pacific Stars & Stripes: "A provision in the 2006 defense budget proposal that came out of the House Armed Services Committee last week, which would have extended Tricare benefits to more reservists and Guardsmen, was stripped from the bill this week because of budgetary reasons.
In a memo to members of the House Armed Services Committee, Chairman Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., said the proposal cost more than anticipated according to a Congressional Budget Office analysis, which pushed the legislation's total price tag above limits previously set by the committee.
Under a little-used rule, that gave Hunter the authority to pull the proposal from the legislation."

5/27/2005 12:47:00 PM | |

 

Running Out of Bubbles - New York Times: "Some analysts still insist that housing prices aren't out of line. But someone will always come up with reasons why seemingly absurd asset prices make sense. Remember 'Dow 36,000'? Robert Shiller, who argued against such rationalizations and correctly called the stock bubble in his book 'Irrational Exuberance,' has added an ominous analysis of the housing market to the new edition, and says the housing bubble 'may be the biggest bubble in U.S. history'"

5/27/2005 10:40:00 AM | |

 

Anti-U.S. rallies erupt over handling of Quran - International News - MSNBC.com: "ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Thousands of Muslims marched Friday in Islamic countries from Asia to the Middle East, burning symbols of America to protest the alleged desecration of the Quran by military personnel at a U.S. prison in Guantanamo, Bay, Cuba.

The rallies in Pakistan, Egypt, Lebanon, Indonesia, Malaysia and elsewhere followed an admission Thursday by U.S. investigators that Islam's holy book was mishandled at Guantanamo. But American officials claimed it was often inadvertent and denied that any Qurans were flushed down a toilet, as Newsweek magazine had reported in a now-retracted article."

5/27/2005 09:43:00 AM | |

 

Governor digs fixing potholes / San Jose crews tear up part of road for staged event: "But their street, he noted, didn't even have a hole to pave over until Thursday morning.
'They just dug it out,'' Porrovecchio said, shrugging. 'There was a crack. But they dug out the whole road this morning.'' "

Man, you gotta read this article. Fucking girly man would be a good name for the once great Terminator. He is having to hide his schedule even from reporters and others because he cannot honestly face the people he is trying to fuck. Then he blames them for his being scared. It is great.

To be fair, he is just a pawn and it is the machine behind him that is trying to fuck people, but the poor girly man is stuck in the middle. Poor bastard. It sounded so good just a few years ago didn't it Arnold? They made it sound so good. To bad Californians are generally much more educated about public policy and politics than most of our nation... I guess the machine maybe didn't talk to you about that?

5/27/2005 09:22:00 AM | |

 

Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall: May 22, 2005 - May 28, 2005 Archives: "According to just-released FBI documents revealed by a FOIA request, there have been repeated claims of desecration or mishandling of the Koran in US detention facilities, some of them including precisely the sort of thing alleged in the Newsweek article. It is also clear that at least some of the accusations were ones the military found credible enough to discipline soldiers over."

5/27/2005 08:17:00 AM | |

 

School pulls posters of 'Groucho Bush' - Education - MSNBC.com: "The poster ban infuriated some students.
'It taught us that the First Amendment certainly does not guarantee the right of free speech,' said Jes Shah, 16, a junior in the school drama program.
The principal asked the drama students to come up with new posters. The new designs all feature a silhouette of Bush and a burning cigar, along with inscriptions such as 'Free Expression for All (unless you are in high school)' and 'What First Amendment?'
'They're good,' Lee said. 'I like the follow-ups.'"

5/27/2005 08:08:00 AM | |

Thursday, May 26, 2005 

Quran 'mishandling' verified at Guantanamo - Terrorism & Security - MSNBC.com: "WASHINGTON - U.S. officials have substantiated five cases in which military guards or interrogators mishandled the Quran of Muslim prisoners at Guantanamo Bay but found 'no credible evidence' to confirm a prisoner's report that a holy book was flushed in a toilet, the prison's commander said Thursday. "

New marketing word everyone! Sweet!

5/26/2005 04:28:00 PM | |

 

Carl Pope: Taking the Initiative - Sierra Club: "This country, on most matters, is not divided down the middle -- on almost every topic there are solid majorities of Americans who constitute public opinion, and an even larger percentage of the public whose views on an issue are relatively close to the center. On politics, true, we are Karl Rove's famous 49 percent nation. But as the Sierra Club discovers every time we do a focus group or a poll, that's not because Americans think the parties are dramatically different. It's because they think the parties are disappointingly much the same, and they end up picking in almost even numbers what they see as the lesser of the evils. "

5/26/2005 04:24:00 PM | |

 

GOP Tilting Balance Of Power to the Right: "Yet, amid the partisan rhetoric, a little-noticed fact about modern politics has been lost: Republicans have already changed how the business of government gets done, in ways both profound and lasting."

5/26/2005 03:37:00 PM | |

 

Reid, on Reform: "The lines that divide Congress should be between right and wrong, not right and left. "

5/26/2005 12:12:00 PM | |

 

10,000 protest governor / Sharp words from public workers he has called 'special interests': "Thousands of public employees staged the biggest political rallies of the year at the state Capitol and in Los Angeles on Wednesday, charging that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's policy agenda shortchanges schoolchildren and undermines the fabric of California's poor and middle class. "

Awesome. How far we have fallen eh, Gov? The machine probably sold it to you as easy peasy no? 'Just lie a little here and there, say 'special interests' a lot and you will be fine.' It is a slippery slope where you are now eh?

5/26/2005 11:55:00 AM | |

 

It's looking up in high country / Spring thaw leaving green meadows, lots of water: "The high country looks as if it's in a winter deep freeze, but is defrosting fast, the equivalent of about three inches of snow per day. Near the Sierra crest, where snowpacks range 5 to 15 feet, that means access to high-country lakes, camps and wilderness will be delayed until late June, and in some cases, Fourth of July Weekend. Major snowmelt and resulting high runoff will make rafting hazardous in many rivers this weekend, the traditional start to the whitewater season. "

5/26/2005 11:48:00 AM | |

 

ESPN.com - MLB - MLB tests Bonds for first time this season: "Bonds was one of about 10 Giants required to give a urine specimen to a Major League Baseball laboratory technician, Gomez reported. The technician arrived unannounced at SBC Park. Giants who were tested included shortstop Omar Vizquel and pitchers Jason Christiansen, Kirk Rueter and Tyler Walker."

Glad they are testing Barry, but Woody too!? Are you serious? Dude can barely hit 84 on the radar gun and looks like me.

5/26/2005 11:44:00 AM | |

 

DimeMag.com: "'He's as good as it gets in our league,' said Brown after the game."

5/26/2005 11:29:00 AM | |

 

It's Newsweek's Fault! 5/25/05

5/26/2005 09:35:00 AM | |

 

The Race Never Ends - Newsweek Politics - MSNBC.com: "Even if they claim to be unconcerned about their own poll numbers, Bushs aides are troubled by the plunging poll numbers on Capitol Hill. The GOP-controlled Congress is running on disapproval ratings well above 50 percent (according to a recent CBS News poll, the disapproval number is 55 percent, including 51 percent of Republican voters)-a level that many observers have compared to the Democratic-controlled Congress of a decade ago, just before the Republican revolution led by Newt Gingrich. "

5/26/2005 08:52:00 AM | |

 

Jerry, just walk away already - NFL - MSNBC.com: "But the Willie Mays I know is, unfortunately, a man who hung around too long and tarnished his image. The Michael Jordan I know is still the greatest basketball player ever, but I wish I could get those two seasons with the Washington Wizards out of my mind. And boxers? About half stay in the game twice as long as they should.

By refusing to face retirement, Jerry Rice is etching ever more indelibly in the public's consciousness a picture of a professional athlete who is either unwilling to let go of the glory days, or afraid to take the next step in his adult life, or both."

5/26/2005 08:30:00 AM | |

Wednesday, May 25, 2005 

Chinese begin to worry U.S. militarily

5/25/2005 05:04:00 PM | |

 

United States of America - Amnesty International: "On 22 June, after the leaking of earlier government documents relating to the war on terror suggesting that torture and ill-treatment had been envisaged, the administration took the step of declassifying selected documents to set the record straight. However, the released documents showed that the administration had sanctioned interrogation techniques that violated the UN Convention against Torture and that the President had stated in a central policy memorandum dated 7 February 2002 that, although the USAs values call for us to treat detainees humanely, there are some who are not legally entitled to such treatment. "

5/25/2005 04:44:00 PM | |

 

Schwarzenegger blasts legislators' pay raise

Was just about to send this steroid freak an email, but figured it wouldn't even be worth it so I want to write here instead.

Let us revisit the facts here of the deficit. Where did it come from!? Well, there has been some out of control spending (it seems somewhat endemic to our society and our larger government, but alas) but where did the bulk of it come from? Does anyone remember the 'energy crisis'? When Cisco's and other businesses around here had to turn their lights off for hours at a time?

Has anyone heard the tapes from Enron during that time? About what they were doing (taking grandma to the cleaners)?

Ah, so maybe we have something here. California got locked into predatory energy deals. By who though?

Oh, Texas republicans you say? The energy cartel that has taken over our national government you say? So here we sit, with Grey Davis being run out on a rail because he wanted the Federal government to get us out of our predatory contracts and a Republican trying to benefit off of it with bullshit rhetoric. It could almost make someone laugh.

5/25/2005 03:10:00 PM | |

 

Rocky Mountain News: Local: "David McSwane never thought his story would get so big when he gave his 15-year-old friend a camcorder, his 11-year-old sister a still camera, and enlisted his mother to keep him out of legal hot water. "

5/25/2005 02:43:00 PM | |

 

Informed Comment

5/25/2005 02:11:00 PM | |

 

Ok, crazy thought of the day.

We were talking this morning about Trey’s cousin and the fact that he was an engineer and made a shitload and then pretty much got tired of it and quit. He is working to be an electrician now.

Anyway, my question is: we have such great engineering minds and such amazing skill in making these computers here, this cell phone, these lights above me, shit, just about anything you could want (besides flying cars, but that is another story).

Do we have some good social engineers in the building? Some good environmental engineers? I am sure we do. What is the problem though? No money put towards this type of effort or no real recognition that we need them. We need them. I think in a lot of ways the environmental and social engineers probably would go hand in hand, but perhaps not.

Unfettered by industry and common worldly concerns, we need some people to study and talk to us about how we can work better together and work better within the limits of our little spinning ball of Earth here. We need this effort cause otherwise we are just bacteria in a Petri dish – growing too big for our own good and dying off – and our Petri dish will move on.

Don’t feel sorry for the Petri dish – she is doing fine thank you. Feel sorry for the bacteria that don’t recognize their own needs.

5/25/2005 11:37:00 AM | |

 

-THE CUNNING REALIST-: And On And On....: "Just as our political and military leaders continue to take short-lived victory laps when the insurgents decide to regroup for a few days, we keep hearing predictions about 'exit strategies' and 'timetables for withdrawal.' Whenever I hear that, I immediately check the news to see if we've invented a way to take the oil with us. Because unless we do, we're not leaving---ever. Why is that so hard to understand? Is Iraq less important to us than other places we've kept thousands of troops for decades--nations like South Korea and Germany that have no critical natural resources? What did Vietnam have? We were there for thirteen years. To placate the public, 'the need to train Iraqis so they can maintain their own security' will continue to be the mantra of the White House and Pentagon. As open-ended excuses go, it's perfect."

5/25/2005 09:42:00 AM | |

 

Amnesty Takes Aim at 'Gulag' in Guantanamo: "Amnesty International branded the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay a human rights failure Wednesday, calling it 'the gulag of our time' as it released a report that offers stinging criticism of the United States and its detention centers around the world."

5/25/2005 09:07:00 AM | |

 

A food fight in the Big GOP Tent - Howard Fineman - MSNBC.com: "I'm wondering if we haven't just witnessed a turning point in politics. Years from now, when we look back on the 'Gang of 14' deal, will we see it as the moment when the tide of conservative Republicanism crested?"

People keep pronouncing this label or that label dead. Wake the fuck up. These labels are dead and have been for a long time. Do you want to run your country or do you want industry and religion to run your country that is the question before each of us. Screw liberal and screw conservative.

I am a bit hung over this morning. S'cuse the rant.

5/25/2005 08:26:00 AM | |

Tuesday, May 24, 2005 

Frist issues new warning on filibusters - Tom Curry - MSNBC.com: "Thus Frist made it clear only 18 hours after the accord was announced just how brittle it was. It seemed that a decisive vote over filibusters of judicial nominees had only been deferred for a while. "

Door is being jammed open so quickly? Shocked. Not. Overjoyed. Very.

5/24/2005 03:03:00 PM | |

 

Our Uzbek Problem: "But the character of the Karimov regime can no longer be ignored in deference to the strategic usefulness of Uzbekistan. The Taliban has been defeated, and, with the liberation of Iraq, the nature of the global struggle to which the Bush administration is committed is no longer exclusively focused on the destruction of terrorist redoubts. We are now committed to a democratizing effort that challenges tyranny along with terror as threats to peace and freedom around the world. The Uzbek regime that was part of the solution in 2001 is now, with its bloody suppression of protests, part of the problem."

5/24/2005 12:53:00 PM | |

 

I have many conflicting thoughts on this judicial compromise though my first thought is that, thank God the centrists prevailed.

My reservations however are that this is the proverbial foot in the door where the corporate evangelical right wing, absent busting down the door, thrives. For instance, my teacher girlfriend and I (as well as many others) see No Child Left Behind as a ‘foot in the door’ type piece of legislation whereby our friends are looking to undermine and get out of the public school business entirely. One can easily see this with the Social Security ‘debate’.

We can see this strategy employed in many areas though however. Insofar as corporations are concerned one can see this manifesting itself with the ‘Healthy Forests’ initiative and many other pieces of environmental legislation. It is easily seen with the domestic evangelical pandering that goes on as well – a chipping away that drives the door further open. One might also see the chipping away at Clinton and his persona and actions in light of this as well (industry wanted a war that they finally got with Bush, who remarkably compared to Clinton is Teflon).

So they jam their foot in the door and then use their ever-loudening, ever-growing (PBS here they come) media megaphone to send their message out.

So in the end I guess it a little sad that Democrat’s allowed this foot in the door compromise. I think it does show some gumption on their part to do so and save our country from the possible hurt and pain that this might have caused, but unfortunately it does nothing to show, beyond all the marketing hype and destructive politics, what this right-wing corporate evangelical machine is really about. Too many people’s eyes shall be closed or glazed over that much longer.

5/24/2005 12:35:00 PM | |

 

Lyrics - Heat by 50 CENT from album Get Rich Or Die Tryin' (Free Words of the song): "If I die today, I'm happy how my life turned out "

5/24/2005 10:04:00 AM | |

 

: "'There is good news for every American in this agreement. The so-called 'nuclear option' is off the table. This is a significant victory for our country, for democracy, and for all Americans. Checks and balances in our government have been preserved.
'The integrity of future Supreme Courts has been protected from the undue influences of a vocal, radical faction of the right that is completely out of step with mainstream America. That was the intent of the Republican 'nuclear option' from the beginning. Tonight, the Senate has worked its will on behalf of reason, responsibility and the greater good."

5/24/2005 08:45:00 AM | |

 

Existing home sales surged in April - Stocks & Economy - MSNBC.com: "That represented the biggest 12-month gain in home sales prices since November 1980 and was certain to add to concerns that the housing industry could be experiencing a speculative bubble similar to the stock market bubble which popped in the spring of 2000."

5/24/2005 08:35:00 AM | |

Monday, May 23, 2005 

The Washington Monthly: "This is like watching Darkness at Noon in real life. Newsweek made a small error in a 300-word blurb a couple of weeks ago, and since then the right-wing media hate machine, like a jackal sensing a rare opportunity for blood, has somehow managed to convince them they bear responsibility for riots in Afghanistan that were staged by extremists who obviously used the Newsweek article as nothing more than pretext."

5/23/2005 08:36:00 AM | |

 

Tillman�s parents lash out at Army - washingtonpost.com Highlights - MSNBC.com: "'Pat had high ideals about the country; that's why he did what he did,' Mary Tillman said in her first lengthy interview since her son's death. 'The military let him down. The administration let him down. It was a sign of disrespect. The fact that he was the ultimate team player and he watched his own men kill him is absolutely heartbreaking and tragic. The fact that they lied about it afterward is disgusting.'"

5/23/2005 08:26:00 AM | |

Saturday, May 21, 2005 

-THE CUNNING REALIST-: The Frog Boils: "Think about how our national identity has changed since Rumsfeld made that statement. Could anyone keep a straight face if he said it today? Would he dare to do so? That is how far we've fallen, and that is exactly what we've lost. "

5/21/2005 03:44:00 PM | |

 

Afghanistan's Karzai 'shocked� by abuse report - South and Central Asia - MSNBC.com: "Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Saturday he was shocked by a U.S. Army report on abuse of detainees in Afghanistan, saying his government wanted custody of all Afghan prisoners and control over U.S. military operations."

5/21/2005 03:24:00 PM | |

Friday, May 20, 2005 

ESPN.com: Page 2 : Dripping with suspicion: "One theory building steam among baseball insiders is that Bonds is using his knee as an excuse. The first surgery was for fairly routine cartilage cleanup - a procedure that normally doesn't keep a pro athlete out for more than a month. It's possible the second surgery was caused when Bonds pushed the knee too quickly in a March 10 workout supervised by two trainers of his choosing."

5/20/2005 03:48:00 PM | |

 

In U.S. Report, Brutal Details of 2 Afghan Inmates' Deaths | MetaFilter: "From the article:
'Some of the same M.P.'s took a particular interest in an emotionally disturbed Afghan detainee who was known to eat his feces and mutilate himself with concertina wire. The soldiers kneed the man repeatedly in the legs and, at one point, chained him with his arms straight up in the air, Specialist Callaway told investigators. They also nicknamed him 'Timmy,' after a disabled child in the animated television series 'South Park.' One of the guards who beat the prisoner also taught him to screech like the cartoon character, Specialist Callaway said.

Eventually, the man was sent home.'

Words fail me..."

5/20/2005 03:24:00 PM | |

 

Think Again: Lost in Translation - Center for American Progress: "Given that an uncontested document that shows without a doubt that the American and British governments plotted to invade Iraq well before they informed the public of their intentions has been made public, what of the liberal media? "

5/20/2005 03:06:00 PM | |

 

4 die, 41 missing in Chilean 'snow tsunami' - Americas - MSNBC.com: "LOS ANGELES, Chile - Blinded by swirling snow on the peaks of the Andes, army Pvt. Juan Millar was elated when his lieutenant gave the unit an order to drop their heavy backpacks and make their way to safety any way they could."

5/20/2005 02:06:00 PM | |

 

Slow Down--you're Moving Too Fast!: "All that extra value we add to the companies we work for in the form of enhanced productivity goes to pump up company profits and CEO compensation packages, not to improve our take-home pay. The economy that looks so robust from the outside feels stretched and thin to the typical American worker, and the gap grows ever wider between the compensation of those who run the businesses and those whose work makes those companies profitable. Karl Marx would have a field day!"

5/20/2005 01:37:00 PM | |

 

A must read for Star Wars fans.

5/20/2005 12:23:00 PM | |

 


5/20/2005 12:10:00 PM | |

 

Shiites Stage Mass Anti-U.S. Protests: "Thousands of Shiites, many waving Islam's holy book over their heads, protested the U.S. presence in Iraq on Friday after the detention of several supporters of a radical cleric, while Sunnis shut down places of worship elsewhere in a show of anger over alleged sectarian violence against the minority."

It's Time's fault this time.

5/20/2005 11:52:00 AM | |

 

The Chinese Connection - New York Times: "In reality, of course, the administration doesn't care about the Chinese economy. It's complaining about the yuan because of political pressure from U.S. manufacturers, which are angry about those Chinese trade surpluses. So it's all politics. And that's the problem: when policy decisions are made on purely political grounds, nobody thinks through their real-world consequences. "

5/20/2005 11:45:00 AM | |

 

The Sun Newspaper Online - UK's biggest selling newspaper: "He raps about Janet Jackson's infamous Super Bowl boob, says Britney Spears has 'shoulders like a man' and jokes Elton John only likes him for his 'sex skills'.
He also praises Hilary Duff and Jessica Simpson and makes a rude proposal to No Doubt babe Gwen Stefani."

5/20/2005 10:05:00 AM | |

 

DimeMag.com: "the NBA won't quite be the same without Reggie Miller "

5/20/2005 09:46:00 AM | |

 

U.S. investigates tabloid's Saddam photos - Iraq's new chapter - MSNBC.com: "The Sun newspaper said it obtained that and other photos from 'U.S. military sources,' adding it would publish more photos on Saturday."

5/20/2005 09:11:00 AM | |

Thursday, May 19, 2005 

Researchers customize stem-cell lines - Stem Cell Research - MSNBC.com: "'This report brings science a giant step forward toward the day when some of humankind's most devastating diseases and injuries can be effectively treated through the use of embryonic stem cells,' said the research team's leader, Woo Suk Hwang of Seoul National University."

5/19/2005 05:03:00 PM | |

 

American Prospect Online - ViewWeb: "The more I think about, the more I believe that the biggest problem with organized religion is not that it is religious; it is that it is organized. Disorganized religion worked out so much better. "

5/19/2005 04:54:00 PM | |

 

Hurricane Adrian headed toward El Salvador - Weather News - MSNBC.com: "Salvadoran officials closed schools and began evacuations on the approach of what threatened to be the first recorded Pacific hurricane to strike the country. "

5/19/2005 03:37:00 PM | |

 

Democracy Now! | Bill Moyers Responds to CPB's Tomlinson Charges of Liberal Bias: "We Were Getting it Right, But Not Right Wing": "I won't be expecting that kind of miracle, but I should put my detractors on notice, they might just compel me out of the rocking chair and back into the anchor chair. "

5/19/2005 03:27:00 PM | |

 

Mr. Moyer's please do come back.

5/19/2005 03:03:00 PM | |

 

Newsweek, neverending - - MSNBC.com: "Furthermore, it's far from clear that the piece itself was the reason the riots occurred. Really, who knows? Mistakes are mistakes, but let's keep our eye on the ball. Stop the torture; not the reporting."

5/19/2005 02:37:00 PM | |

 

You can't trust these people: "If you regulate steroid abuse in sports as well as you regulate, say, cheating in big business, how soon can we expect to see a lineup of 500-pound sluggers? Next week?
Because this is the most anti-regulatory, de-regulatory government in recent history, wussup with the rush to regulate drug detection in sports?
Under the banner of less government, you're downsizing or simply killing off every environmental protection law or agency, every protection for citizens against victimization by corporate greed, every protection against assault weapons wielded by criminals, so why the tizzy to regulate the biceps of baseball players? "

5/19/2005 01:41:00 PM | |

 

The Globe and Mail: Animal rights groups biggest U.S. threat, FBI says: "Washington � Environmental and animal rights activists who have turned to arson and explosives are the nation's top domestic terrorism threat, an FBI official told a U.S. Senate committee on Wednesday."

Wow, what a difference a year (election cycle?) makes.

5/19/2005 11:06:00 AM | |

 

Mr. Galloway Goes to Washington: "But when Coleman started slandering foreign politicians, he exposed the dramatic vulnerability of his claims that the supposed scandal was much more than a blatant example of US corporations taking advantage of their powerful connections in Washington to undermine official US policy, harm the national interest and profit off the suffering of the poor. "

5/19/2005 10:32:00 AM | |

 

DimeMag.com: "The All NBA selections were released yesterday. No real surprises. The first team looks like this: Nash, Tim Duncan, Shaq, AI and Dirk Nowitzki."

Can you imagine having to play against this team!?

5/19/2005 09:44:00 AM | |

 

Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall: May 15, 2005 - May 21, 2005 Archives: "Before everyone's eyes, everything about the constitution is subservient to their need for power.
Their very victory, should it come to that, is their badge of hypocrisy. Their arguments are all at war with themselves. But they don't care. This is just about perpetuating their own power by any means necessary, using narrow majorities to lock in their power for the long haul. "

5/19/2005 09:09:00 AM | |

 

Amazon reduced by 10,000 square miles - Environment - MSNBC.com

5/19/2005 09:05:00 AM | |

Wednesday, May 18, 2005 

Bush's Palestinian Tightrope - Newsweek Politics - MSNBC.com: "'If the North Koreans test, they are trying to blame the U.S.' said one senior administration official. The only clear conclusion by Bush's aides: 'It was very interesting that he was on the record,' said the official, speaking (of course) anonymously."

Could it be any better right now for our eastern neighbors? They are getting cheap currency and all the benefits of that and on top of that they have the USA as enemy number one all across the globe as they run through the environment and human rights.

Not to say we are blameless in this, but let's at least try to compete with them in the world's heart and mind.

5/18/2005 05:05:00 PM | |

 

And here come the grandstanders - Bloggermann - MSNBC.com: "There is also tonight a flip side to the flap.

The Democratic members of the House Judiciary Committee have called a forum for next Tuesday about media bias, reports that some outlets are avoiding stories because they're fearful of Bush Administration retribution, and the Administration's response to the Newsweek story. "

5/18/2005 04:56:00 PM | |

 

Voters dissatisfied with Bush, Congress - Politics - MSNBC.com: "As the Senate marches closer toward a nuclear showdown over President Bush's judicial nominees, the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll finds that the American public is dissatisfied - with Congress and its priorities, with Bush's plan to overhaul Social Security and with the nation's economy and general direction. Moreover, a majority believes that the Senate should make its own decision about the president's judicial nominees, rather than just generally confirming them."

5/18/2005 04:41:00 PM | |

 

-THE CUNNING REALIST-: "Can anyone still argue that the old model of realpolitik has not broken down? How much more proof do we need that what was once geopolitical pragmatism is now in many cases self-sabotage as well as dangerous cognitive dissonance?

We've created a new game, with one small problem: we're playing by the old rules. "

5/18/2005 04:30:00 PM | |

 

Blaming the Messenger: "Now, it is possible that no interrogator at Guantanamo Bay ever flushed pages of the Koran down the toilet, as the now-retracted Newsweek story reported -- although several former Guantanamo detainees have alleged just that. It is also possible that Newsweek reporters relied too much on an uncertain source, or that the magazine confused the story with (confirmed) reports that prisoners themselves used Korans to block toilets as a form of protest.

But surely the larger point is not the story itself but that it was so eminently plausible, in Pakistan, Afghanistan and everywhere else. And it was plausible precisely because interrogation techniques designed to be offensive to Muslims were used in Iraq and Guantanamo, as administration and military officials have also confirmed. "

5/18/2005 04:19:00 PM | |

 

Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall: May 15, 2005 - May 21, 2005 Archives: "For that to be true stands not only the simple logic of the constitution, but two hundred years of our constitutional history, on its head. You don't even need to go into the fact that other judicial nominations have been filibustered, or that many others have been prevented from coming to a vote by invocation of various other senate rules, both formal and informal, or that almost countless numbers of presidential nominees of all kinds have simply never made it out of committee. Indeed, the whole senate committee system probably cannot withstand this novel and outlandish interpretation of the constitution, since one of its main functions is to review presidential appointees before passing them on to the full senate."

5/18/2005 04:17:00 PM | |

 

Global Warming: Can We Find Common Ground? | Cinergy 2004 Annual Report: "My seven-year-old granddaughter Emma surprised me during a recent holiday visit when she told me she wanted "to protect endangered species." It was her answer to my question about what she wanted to do when she grew up. As I listened, it became clear to me that she understood what this meant and why it was important to her. Her concern for the future of our planet is the same concern at the heart of the global warming debate and the struggle to find the best way forward."

5/18/2005 03:56:00 PM | |

 

How to destroy an American soldier. | MetaFilter: "'If I do get chosen that'll mean by 2007 (assuming I'm still alive ha ha) I'll have made 3 fucking trips to that country. Which in return will end up making me a bitter angry salty fucker. . . If I have to go I'm gonna fuck some shit up . . . your whole mentality just shifts cause of that fear. I wish you all who don't have to deal with a life like that could jump into my head for a second you'd wanna go fucking nuts too! ha ha ha ha LET'S GO EAT SOME BABIES AND SHOOT SOME ROO'S'"

5/18/2005 03:29:00 PM | |

 

How many 45mpg+ cars are available in the USA? 3
How many in Europe? 100+ including an Audi 4x4.

5/18/2005 03:03:00 PM | |

Tuesday, May 17, 2005 

Wanted to stay up a bit to watch the British dude (Thank you for talking to our government the way it needed to be talked to btw. Sorry that no one here can do that.) on Charlie Rose, but probably not going to make it. That is what Tivo is for anyway right?

Went out to the basketball court tonight. It is amazing how these games work eh? Some days, like the last time I went out, you just can't miss. Today, just could barely hit anything - though I did have some of my normal streaks. Just not nearly my best outing. Near the end of this debacle this guy came up and wanted to shoot around a bit so I said I was leaving soon, but sure. So we were shooting and I was thinking, 'I should have probably taken off after that shot. Nope, that one.' Sure enough I didn't leave until this dude took a shot from half court and it bounced off the rim and hit me in the forehead and nose. Left just one shot too late.

All right people. Be wise young jedi, yes?

5/17/2005 10:11:00 PM | |

 

A likely script for the nuclear option - washingtonpost.com Highlights - MSNBC.com: "To get there, Republicans will have to evade a requirement that they have a two-thirds vote -- 67 of 100 senators -- to change the chamber's rules. Republicans will argue that they are attempting to set a precedent, not change the Senate rules, to disallow the use of filibusters as a delaying tactic on judicial nominations. And by doing so, they say, they are returning to a more traditional concept of majority rule."

5/17/2005 10:07:00 PM | |

 


Can't wait.

5/17/2005 09:56:00 PM | |

 

Fishbucket: "'Faced with the choice between changing one's mind and proving that there is no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy on the proof.' -John Kenneth Galbraith"

5/17/2005 05:18:00 PM | |

 

This Modern World: "And I told the world that your case for the war was a pack of lies. I told the world that Iraq, contrary to your claims, did not have weapons of mass destruction. I told the world, contrary to your claims, that Iraq had no connection to Al Qaeda. I told the world, contrary to your claims, that Iraq had no connection to the atrocity on 9/11, 2001. I told the world, contrary to your claims, that the Iraqi people would resist a British and American invasion of their country and that the fall of Baghdad would not be the beginning of the end, but merely the end of the beginning."

5/17/2005 04:56:00 PM | |

 

BBC NEWS | Politics | Galloway takes on US oil accusers: "'The difference is Donald Rumsfeld met him to sell him guns and maps - the better to target those guns. I met him to try to bring about an end to sanctions, suffering and war,' he said. "

5/17/2005 04:52:00 PM | |

 

U.S. issues stern warning over China currency - International Business - MSNBC.com: "The Bush administration, in its hardest stance yet, warned China on Tuesday that it likely will be accused of manipulating its currency to gain an unfair trade advantage over the United States - unless Beijing acts swiftly to overhaul its currency system."

5/17/2005 01:48:00 PM | |

 

US 'backed illegal Iraqi oil deals' | MetaFilter: "'I am not expecting any justice from the innards of the US government but I want to appear not as the accused but as the accuser.'

He added: 'They seem blissfully unaware that for people in the rest of the world the villains of the peace in Iraq are them.'

He said that included 'George Bush, his government and the puppet administration they have installed in Baghdad, which is the source of these so-called documents'."

5/17/2005 12:44:00 PM | |

 

Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | US 'backed illegal Iraqi oil deals': "The United States administration turned a blind eye to extensive sanctions-busting in the prewar sale of Iraqi oil, according to a new Senate investigation. "

5/17/2005 10:38:00 AM | |

 

The resignation of Scott McClellan - Bloggermann - MSNBC.com: "Ultimately, though, the administration may have effected its biggest mistake over this saga, in making the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs look like a liar or naif, just to draw a little blood out of Newsweek's hide. "

5/17/2005 09:42:00 AM | |

 

Is new 'Star Wars' an anti-Bush flick? - Gossip: The Scoop - MSNBC.com: "When the Ottawa Sun asked Christensen if the flick 'takes metaphoric shots at the war-mongering politics of U.S. presidents Richard Nixon and the two George Bushes' the star answered: 'Absolutely.' "

5/17/2005 09:34:00 AM | |

 

British lawmaker: GOP 'lynch mob' after me - Iraq's new chapter - MSNBC.com: "'This group of neocons (neoconservatives) is involved in the mother of all smokescreens,' he said of the committee. 'I want to turn the tables on this neocon, pro-Israel, pro-war, Republican lynch mob.' "

5/17/2005 09:04:00 AM | |

 

-THE CUNNING REALIST-: "However, Myers said an after-action report provided by U.S. Army Lieutenant General Karl Eikenberry, commander of the Combined Forces in Afghanistan, indicated that the political violence was not, in fact, connected to the magazine report.
I guess in a war like this you'll take all the strawmen you can get, right? "

5/17/2005 08:39:00 AM | |

 

Governor to mine bastions of GOP for cash / Nationwide tour will build war chest for ballot measures: "Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will travel to five states, including the Republican strongholds of Florida and Texas, to raise millions of dollars for a special election in November, and he may take the lead in campaigning for a controversial ballot measure aimed at weakening the political clout of public employee unions. "

5/17/2005 08:33:00 AM | |

 

WORLD VIEWS: U.S. snubbed at first South American-Arab summit; tourism down in U.S. as border controls discourage visitors; Taiwanese president pressured to deal with Beijing: "'The symbolic message of the snub couldn't be huger,' observed Larry Birns, head of the Council of Hemispheric Affairs, a nonpartisan Washington think tank specializing in Latin America. '[M]ind-boggling in its significance,' as Birns put it, the big snub came at the Bush administration's expense. The offending event: the first-ever Summit of South American and Arab Countries, which brought together representatives from 34 countries in Latin America and the Arab world to discuss trade and foreign-policy issues, completely bypassing the United States. "

5/17/2005 08:30:00 AM | |

Monday, May 16, 2005 

The New Yorker: The Critics: Books: "One of the ongoing debates in the educational community, similarly, is over the value of homework. Meta-analysis of hundreds of studies done on the effects of homework shows that the evidence supporting the practice is, at best, modest. Homework seems to be most useful in high school and for subjects like math. At the elementary-school level, homework seems to be of marginal or no academic value."

5/16/2005 05:12:00 PM | |

 

ESPN.com - NBA/PLAYOFFS2005 - Daily Dime: "In two weeks, Wade has made the argument for O'Neal as MVP moot. He's made all of us who voted for 'Shaq as the World's Best' question whether it is him that made Miami better, or has his sidekick gotten just that good? As one brother the other night said, 'There's a difference between enforcing your skills and imposing your will.'
Wade has become that difference. "

5/16/2005 05:00:00 PM | |

 

Flooding closes Yosemite Valley to traffic: "Warm weather and an unusually large, melting snowpack caused heavy flooding of the Yosemite Valley floor Monday, cutting off access into the park, officials said.
Traffic was closed until further notice, and visitors were being advised to check weather and road conditions before traveling to the park."

5/16/2005 04:15:00 PM | |

 

Always Low Wages. Always. - New York Times: "True, not everyone is badly paid. In 1968, the head of General Motors received about $4 million in today's dollars - and that was considered extravagant. But last year Scott Lee Jr., Wal-Mart's chief executive, was paid $17.5 million. That is, every two weeks Mr. Lee was paid about as much as his average employee will earn in a lifetime. "

5/16/2005 03:46:00 PM | |

 

Staying What Course? - New York Times: "So we need to get beyond the clich's - please, no more 'pottery barn principles' or 'staying the course.' I'm not advocating an immediate pullout, but we have to tell the Iraqi government that our stay is time-limited, and that it has to find a way to take care of itself. The point is that something has to give. We either need a much bigger army - which means a draft - or we need to find a way out of Iraq. "

5/16/2005 03:14:00 PM | |

 

ESPN.com: Page 2 : An age limit is un-American: "Forcing him to wait three years to earn a living is simply unconstitutional."

5/16/2005 01:01:00 PM | |

 

ESPN.com: Page 2 : Thanks for the inspiration, Tiger: "Quitting, Tiger has shown us, is for losers. It's his gift to us. If every kid out there playing Little League or Pop Warner or junior golf can't take inspiration from Tiger giving his all every time he tees it up, then our nation's youth are missing the best lesson possible."

5/16/2005 12:07:00 PM | |

 

The Blaus - South America: "We met a woman on the beach who was selling necklaces and other items made out of shells. We told her that we were married nearly a year ago and she asked if we had children. We gave our usual response to the question that we often hear here in South America, and she told us that being married without children is like having a garden without flowers. 'Un jardin sin flores.' We thought that statement was very eloquent. We told her that someday soon we hope to know what it`s like to have little sunflowers or roses of our own."

5/16/2005 11:17:00 AM | |

 

Not Just A Last Resort?: "The inclusion, therefore, of a nuclear weapons option in CONPLAN 8022 -- a specially configured earth-penetrating bomb to destroy deeply buried facilities, if any exist -- is particularly disconcerting. The global strike plan holds the nuclear option in reserve if intelligence suggests an 'imminent' launch of an enemy nuclear strike on the United States or if there is a need to destroy hard-to-reach targets."

5/16/2005 11:04:00 AM | |

 

The Empire Strikes Bush: "Some film critics suggest it could be the biggest anti-Bush blockbuster since 'Fahrenheit 9/11.'"

5/16/2005 10:56:00 AM | |

 

SUNS: Paul on the Playoffs: "More recently, I could point to Bush's own Patriot Act as an example of a piece of legislation that, had it been enacted... Wait. Oh, that's right, that fine idea came to fruition. I forgot about the fact that scare tactics override all else as a motivator. And that the general public is inherently stupid. And that even though the Act severely restricts individual rights and puts the US on a fast-track to an Orwellian destiny, the Joe Rednecks of the world stood up and said, 'Rights? I'm willing to give up my own personal rights, if it means more freedom around the world.' (Think about the blasphemy found in such a statement.)"

5/16/2005 10:36:00 AM | |

 

Forecast: Expect 3 to 5 major hurricanes - Weather News - MSNBC.com: "In its 2005 forecast, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted 12 to 15 tropical storms between June 1 and Nov. 30, with seven to nine of those becoming hurricanes."

5/16/2005 10:22:00 AM | |

 

Weather up here was crazy nice. Got up to like 85degrees so washed my car and Jess'. Woke up this morning and realized it had rained last night. WTF? And now, another beautiful day out there.

On Saturday I played a marathon session of golf. 6 hours. I felt like that triathelete dude on those Gatorade commercials by the end of it. My body was failing me. Oh, and I hit some little chinese girl right on the hand around the 16th hole - took me a little mentally out of the game as well. I hope she doesn't sue me.

On Friday night we were around the corner at my friend Lou Dicks house for a old school house party (he lives across the street from Christensen). He had invited the WORST house band I have ever heard. Thankfully they packed up shop sometime around 10. I am not sure of the exact time as we were chilling outside. They sounded a lot better when muffled by the house walls/windows. Bean and Farrah came with us. They now live within walking distance of our house. If you are counting at home that totals, Mike, Moose, Lou Dicks, Ant, Me, Bean all living within roughly 1 square mile. Adam is on the outside looking in at 3mile radius. That dude is more pussywhipped than ever though so he doesnt really count.

Angel's brother is going to be living with us soon. Probably within one week minimum, two weeks maximum. I give that arrangement about, oh, 6 months tops. My parents are ready to buy us a house right now so it may be even less than that.

5/16/2005 09:40:00 AM | |

 

CNN.com - At least 46 bodies found in Iraq - May 16, 2005: "The International Committee of the Red Cross on Monday expressed its concern about the 'high numbers of civilian casualties in Iraq.' It noted that scores of Iraqis have died in car bombings in Baghdad and that fighting in western Iraq had forced hundreds, including women, children and the elderly, to flee their homes and seek refuge."

5/16/2005 08:46:00 AM | |

 

Buffett and Munger warn of real estate 'bubble' - May. 2, 2005: "But he and Munger issued stern new warnings about the residential real estate 'bubble,' the destabilizing effect of hedge funds on the financial markets, and the possibility of another terrorist strike against the United States. "

5/16/2005 08:31:00 AM | |

 

The Oddness of Everything - Newsweek Columnists - MSNBC.com: "The body of every Miami graduate has about 10 thousand trillion cells, each containing a strand of DNA that, uncoiled, would extend about six feet. If that person's DNA were spliced into a single strand, it would extend 20 million kilometers-enough to stretch from Miami to Los Angeles and back 2,270 times."

5/16/2005 08:21:00 AM | |

 

Muslims skeptical on Quran apology - South and Central Asia - MSNBC.com: "'This is a decision by America to save itself. It comes because of American pressure. Even an ordinary illiterate peasant understands this and won't accept it.'"

5/16/2005 08:15:00 AM | |

Sunday, May 15, 2005 

GREEN CAR JOURNAL ONLINE: "RC: So after 80 years, what's next?

Shelby: 'The things I'll probably spend the rest of my life doing will be the things that are the least profitable, because I really feel that the environment is something that needs to be taken care of and it has to blend in with the automobile industry. That's where the most fun is for me.' "

5/15/2005 10:02:00 PM | |

 

What a fight. Just gave me chills. Contender=best show of the season, sorry LOST.

5/15/2005 09:48:00 PM | |

 

Thank goodness for wireless (just got it installed today so I don't have to be using the neighbors') - I get to write down all my crazy thoughts whenever.

So here is tonights, Gomez. The million dollars is not the answer to happiness. It is a stupid fucking platitude I know this. 'You have never been poor'' one might say. 'You have never lived with five other adults in a two bedroom apartment' Alfonso might tell me. It is all too true.

Let me tell you what I have learned in my experience though. Contrary to what the free market and some societies ;) might tell you - the middle class is where it is at. Too much or too little takes away from the happiness quotient. This is what I have seen with my own eyes.

There were times in my past where I really worried about money. Woke up worrying about it. Never had it bad off by any means, but college does teach you a few things about money in its weird way.

There were times when I woke up wondering how I could be so miserable and my family could be so miserable with all that we have been blessed with. All that money in the bank, all that status at stores and in our capitalist centers. Rodeo can be the coldest or warmest place on earth depending what your wallet says.

Where is the right amount? Where does too little become too much and too much, too little? It is a hard question.

I think it is right around one million dollars, my good man Alfonso. Go get em.

5/15/2005 09:35:00 PM | |

 

a culture gets creative -- an interview with Paul Ray and Sherry Anderson: "Sociologist Paul Ray and psychologist Sherry Anderson Anderson make an outrageus claim. they say that, the the US alone, there are over 50 million people who care a lot about the environment, women's rights, spiritual and psychological growth, a better future for all - rich and poor."

5/15/2005 06:24:00 PM | |

 

How a Fire Broke Out - Newsweek World News - MSNBC.com: "By the end of the week, the rioting had spread from Afghanistan throughout much of the Muslim world, from Gaza to Indonesia. Mobs shouting 'Protect our Holy Book!' burned down government buildings and ransacked the offices of relief organizations in several Afghan provinces. The violence cost at least 15 lives, injured scores of people and sent a shudder through Washington, where officials worried about the stability of moderate regimes in the region."

5/15/2005 05:40:00 PM | |

 

Chappelle says he's stressed out, not crazy - TV COMEDY - MSNBC.com: "'I'm definitely stressed out,' said Chappelle, who took off last month to South Africa for a 'spiritual retreat,' leaving his fans - and even his agent and publicist - wondering where he went."

5/15/2005 02:38:00 PM | |

Friday, May 13, 2005 

The New Yorker: Online Only: Content: "Without the natural greenhouse effect, the planet would essentially be frozen. Any basic earth-science textbook talks about the natural greenhouse effect; it's a phenomenon that is not in any way debated. All that the theory of global warming says is that if you increase the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, you will also increase the earth's average temperature. It's indisputable that we have increased greenhouse-gas concentrations in the air as a result of human activity, and it's also indisputable that over the last few decades average global temperatures have gone up. As best as can be determined, the world is now warmer than it has been at any point in the last two millennia, and, if current trends continue, by the end of the century it will likely be hotter than at any point in the last two million years. "

5/13/2005 05:01:00 PM | |

 

The New Yorker: Fact: "The discovery that large and sophisticated cultures have already been undone by climate change presents what can only be called an uncomfortable precedent."

Part 2. Great stuff.

5/13/2005 04:28:00 PM | |

 

Iraq Dispatches: Independent journalist Dahr Jamail:'Life in Falluja is a horror story': "An election does not mean democracy. Democracy means the will of the people is being carried out by the government that they voted into place. And so far in Iraq, that isn't happening."

5/13/2005 04:02:00 PM | |

 

Ugh. I feel ya.

While on the topic of sharing frustrations I will get my own off my chest. We have hired this pretty expensive (I have to guess) contractor who just says 'Yes, yes, yes. Got it, got it, got it' to shut people up cause she doesn't want to listen anyway.

Anyway, she is getting paid a ton to put this presentation together while she works from home and comes in when she wants. Well, I am the lowest on the totom pole and I have pretty much put this thing together for her. I hope I get some recognition for it - I have been working to do so in different ways. Frustrating situation for now though...

5/13/2005 03:16:00 PM | |

 

Body Counts - Newsweek The War on Iraq - MSNBC.com: "The morning news from Iraq today brought fresh chronicles of slaughter. Yes, even more than usual. American troops are waging an offensive they call Operation Matador in a remote stretch of desert near the Syrian border, while suicide bombs are going off in Iraq's towns and cities, including the capital. Who's winning? Who's losing? Who knows?"

5/13/2005 03:06:00 PM | |

 

MSNBC - Today's News from MSNBC Front Page: "Your physical vitality is actually aided today by applying a certain amount of mental restraint on your actions. Think of yourself as a swimmer. The more sleek and trimmed down you are, the faster you will zip through the water. Think about ways in which you can trim away the excess baggage in your life - both physically and mentally. Consider the phrase that suggests 'less is more.'"

5/13/2005 08:27:00 AM | |

Thursday, May 12, 2005 

USATODAY.com - Ridge reveals clashes on alerts: "Ridge, who resigned Feb. 1, said Tuesday that he often disagreed with administration officials who wanted to elevate the threat level to orange, or 'high' risk of terrorist attack, but was overruled.
His comments at a Washington forum describe spirited debates over terrorist intelligence and provide rare insight into the inner workings of the nation's homeland security apparatus."

5/12/2005 05:25:00 PM | |

 

U.S. Army offers shorter enlistment to recruits - Yahoo! News: "Maj. Gen. Michael Rochelle, U.S. Army Recruiting Command head, also said this was 'the toughest recruiting climate ever faced by the all-volunteer Army,' with the war causing concern among potential recruits and their families and the economy offering civilian job prospects."

5/12/2005 05:22:00 PM | |

 

I had a great time with my big brother last night. He is quite a guy. Sometimes we don’t see eye to eye about everything (of course), but our discussions are good. He has a good view of the world and always seems to give me some good suggestions on ways to think about things and handle things.

He is working very hard on himself too. Our parents really did a number on all of us with what can only be described as emotional abuse. Don’t shed a tear for us; we ended up okay, but our brother and sister… not so much.

I have written about my sister before. She is really into Jesus and ‘No Swearing!’ Like shit and fuck and saying these words is sending you down there. I wonder, is it bad to think them too?

I don’t think I have written about my younger brother so much. He has not been much of a brother to me. He is not much of a man. Someday, I will go into it more.

But back to my buddy – I am so proud of him. It takes a big person and a big man to look at themselves and say, ‘Hey, I have some work to do… I am going to get to it.’ He is a great father to his kids and a great brother to this very imperfect man.

5/12/2005 05:19:00 PM | |

 

The Final Insult - New York Times: "Suppose, finally, that you're making $1 million a year. You received a tax cut worth about $50,000 per year. By 2045 the Bush plan would reduce benefits for people like you by about $9,400 per year. We have a winner!"

5/12/2005 05:07:00 PM | |

 

How much longer can Giambi wing it in majors?: "The Yankees want Giambi to take a spin at a minor-league affiliate, giving himself a break from major-league pitching, which has become an utter mystery to him, and from big-league pressure, which appears to be consuming him."

What a fall.

5/12/2005 10:20:00 AM | |

 

Bolton ripped by Republican, but nomination still on course - Politics - MSNBC.com: "'John Bolton is the poster child of what someone in the diplomatic corps should not be,' Voinovich said, adding that Bolton would be fired if he was in private business. "

5/12/2005 09:11:00 AM | |

Wednesday, May 11, 2005 

The Huffington Post | The Blog: "NEVER have exit polls varied by beyond-error margins in a single state, not since 1948 when this kind of polling began. In this past election it happened in ten states, all of them swing states, all of them in Bush's favor. Coincidence? Of course not."

5/11/2005 04:05:00 PM | |

 

America: This Congress Stinks - - MSNBC.com: "So why do we have NCLB? I and many of my colleagues believe it is to destroy public schools, not to enhance them."

5/11/2005 01:04:00 PM | |

 

'Thou shalt keep your religion to yourself.'

Good stuff George. Glad to read you are out. Keep it clean.

5/11/2005 10:38:00 AM | |

 

Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall: May 08, 2005 - May 14, 2005 Archives: "'The decision yesterday by the bankruptcy court permitting United Airlines to walk away from some $10 billion in unfunded pension liabilities -- sticking a substantial portion of the tab on the Pension Benefit Guaranty Association and causing employees to lose as much as 50% of their expected retirement benefits -- ought to exemplify why it is necessary to retain at least one leg of the retirement 'three-legged stool' that is not subject to the risk(s) of market forces and/or corporate uncertainty. Social Security needs to stay as social insurance. The Dems ought to be all over this argument.'"

5/11/2005 09:51:00 AM | |

 


Legs willing, going to be up there twice this summer.

5/11/2005 09:45:00 AM | |

 

White House, Capitol briefly evacuated - Terrorism & Security - MSNBC.com: "'You've got one minute,' one officer yelled to a group including NBC correspondent Chip Reid. A few minutes later, officials gave the 'all clear' signal."

Ridiculous.

5/11/2005 09:37:00 AM | |

 

BBC NEWS | In pictures: How the world is changing

5/11/2005 08:15:00 AM | |

 

Good quote from the UC:

'Remember friction is motive force.'

One of these days I'll figure out what he meant.

5/11/2005 08:14:00 AM | |

Tuesday, May 10, 2005 

Aspects of Europe's Mind - Newsweek Columnists - MSNBC.com: "Putin wants to be president of a superpower, but Russia's GDP is not much bigger than the economic product of Los Angeles County. In 2006 he will be host of the leaders of the G8 countries, a group of developed democracies. Russia is neither developed nor democratic, and its leader has no plausible plan to make it the former and no apparent desire to allow it to be the latter."

5/10/2005 03:56:00 PM | |

 

MercuryNews.com | 05/10/2005 | Downtown hail: S.J. had it all: "It was the wettest May 9 on record. A midday hailstorm pelted the city. Thunderstorms dumped monsoon-like rains, driven nearly horizontal by gusty winds. In the space of minutes, the weather turned from rain to sun to hail and back again."

5/10/2005 03:51:00 PM | |

 

Like a Country Without Oxygen - Newsweek: International Editions - MSNBC.com: "It might seem obvious to say that Baghdad is in bad shape, but that's the first thing I noticed when I was there recently. "

5/10/2005 03:41:00 PM | |

 

Comic smackdown: Sandler vs. Ferrell - MOVIE OPINIONS - MSNBC.com: "'Well, um, actually a pretty nice little Saturday, we're going to go to Home Depot. Yeah, buy some wallpaper, maybe get some flooring, stuff like that. Maybe Bed, Bath & Beyond, I don't know, I don't know if we'll have enough time.' - alone is enough to top Sandler. "

5/10/2005 01:24:00 PM | |

 

Blix blames U.S. for nuke-weapons stalemate - International News - MSNBC.com

5/10/2005 10:59:00 AM | |

 

Melting glacier gets sheet to reflect heat - Environment - MSNBC.com: "Alarmed by the retreat of its Alpine glacier, a Swiss ski resort on Tuesday wrapped part of the shrinking ice-cap in a giant sheet in a bid to reduce the summer melt."

5/10/2005 09:15:00 AM | |

 

What do liberals believe? - - MSNBC.com: "Government is required to balance unfairness and excess of private business interests. Examples-environmental regulation, minimum wage, worker safety laws. Conservative arguments which have distorted progressive taxation, weakened regulation of big business, and weakened rights of labor have resulted in corruption of big business and and unhealthy gap between rich and poor. As Warren Buffet says, 'there has been class warfare in recent decades and the rich are winning.'

Government is uniquely qualified to provide for certain needs of a society-examples public schools, most kinds of health care, public transportation, public safety, public parks and recreation areas. Conservative arguments weakening government have resulted in the U.S. falling behind other countries in most of these areas.

One of government's roles is the protection of minorities with regard to certain basic rights. Examples-civil rights legislation and laws protecting gays and lesbians."

5/10/2005 09:03:00 AM | |

 

Army, Marines miss recruiting goals again - U.S. News - MSNBC.com: "Recruiting alone is not going to fill that need so the regular Army, already stretched thin, is going to have to come up with the numbers."

5/10/2005 09:01:00 AM | |

Monday, May 09, 2005 

Telegraph | News | This chilli is so hot, you'd have to drink 250,000 gallons of water just to put out the fire: "'The pain was exquisite,' he said. 'It was like having your tongue hit with a hammer. Man, it hurt. My tongue swelled up and it hurt like hell for days.'"

5/09/2005 04:10:00 PM | |

 

ESPN.com: Page 2 : Court order: Shaq is your MVP: "Shaquille O'Neal is now the NBA's funniest and wisest interview. His 'Godfather' analogy was the quote of the year. He compared Kobe to Sonny Corleone: 'Too dumb to be in control, but he will always do whatever it takes to be in control.' Anfernee 'Penny' Hardaway to Fredo: 'He thinks he's smart, but he's really not.' And Wade to Michael: 'A very mature, humble guy.'"

Didn't see that quote till now. Great stuff.

5/09/2005 03:15:00 PM | |

 

-THE CUNNING REALIST-: "A longtime friend of mine---a 40 year-old veteran of Desert Storm and other operations who was recalled from civilian life almost two years ago and remains in Iraq---calls the situation there a 'FUBAR clusterfuck' and says morale is extremely low."

5/09/2005 11:47:00 AM | |

 

THE PULSE OF CALIFORNIA / As governor slides in polls, citizens sound off / In 4 communities, views range from 'I like what he's doing' to 'nobody likes this guy' to 'I understand he's trying to renege on a deal': "In California, voters have seen this movie before: A governor sails into power with the wind at his back, his popularity cresting high. Then storms hit, troubles grow and enemies become emboldened.
Earlier versions have starred Pete Wilson and Gray Davis, but now a real action hero is in the role, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who billed himself the people's governor. "

5/09/2005 10:49:00 AM | |

 

An email to my very republican uncle:

It would be nice. I was brought up in the methodist church, though did go to a Lutheran school for quite a while. The bible was one of my first hard reads... one of these days I will get to the Torah.

Thank you for the recommendations. What is your underlying message by recommending these books? America's great tide has floated all ships? I cannot help but think back to my own history classes about wartime (WWII in particular) and my realization for the first time that great things do come out of war such as penicillian (though a bit of an accident) and man-made rubber (how integral it is to war was also a shocker) among other things (nuclear power). I think about how great our world is now that people do not have to deal with bacterial infection as they might have used to (and according to one professor, do have to deal with asthma due to the 'dust' from man-made rubber - his own random hypothesis that he was working to test).

I truly hope that as a world wide community, with America leading of course, we could put this same sort of war-like effort towards solving our environmental problems. I hate that Japan is ready to boast the number one car companies in the world as we fucking sit on our hands. GM and Ford have been downgraded to junk bond status!? Did you think you would see this in your lifetime? I fondly remember Dad being very proud of purchasing only US made cars until the Turbo Dodge Lancer wasn't Turbo anymore. It makes me sick that the smart decision these days is to look outside of America for car/transportation manufacturing prowess.

It makes me sick as well that we have not led the way in the internal development of humans (we have a lot of work to do!) and the truly smart development of our natural environment. These are areas where I expect us as Americans to not only excell at, but be the very fucking best at. I remain hopeful.

On other subjects here is some things I have found interesting as of late:

http://www.wnyc.org/stream/ram.py?file=/lopate/lopate050205d.ra

A fascinating interview with Dr. Tadatoshi Akiba, mayor of Hiroshima and president of Mayors for Peace. Dr. Akiba is in New York for the UN conference on the Nuclear Nonproliferation treaty, and he took the time for some eloquent straight talk about the nuclear weapons and international politics. (First link is to a real audio file.)

http://cunningrealist.blogspot.com/

A lifelong Conservative with a strong independent streak, I am a late-30's resident of New York City and an executive in the financial industry. I have a BA from a top-ten school and an MBA from Columbia University.

He writes some very interesting things. His recent writings about the Fed have really piqued my interest. The 'housing bubble' is something I wonder about intensely (though I have thought it was bound for a correction 2 years ago - shows what I know).

5/09/2005 09:48:00 AM | |

Sunday, May 08, 2005 

The New Yorker: PRINTABLES: "'When I was in Vienna,' Feith said, 'I went to the Ringstrasse, these enormous buildings, most of which were built twenty, twenty-five years before World War One. These buildings were built as the headquarters of a world empire, and they were built for the ages-enormous, imperially scaled buildings. They were built to last. But these people were absolutely on the verge of destruction of their empire, and they didn't see it. And that was a humbling experience.
'What I don't believe in, I suppose, is certainty.'"

5/08/2005 03:56:00 PM | |

 

A Deadly Guessing Game - Newsweek The War on Iraq - MSNBC.com: "'The elections were held up as a milestone,' says Tom Donnelly, a military expert at the think tank most closely aligned with the administration, the American Enterprise Institute. 'And politically they were. But as regards the insurgency, they're evidently not particularly relevant at all.' "

5/08/2005 01:44:00 PM | |

 

Sleepless in Silicon Valley - U.S. Business - MSNBC.com

5/08/2005 01:36:00 PM | |

Saturday, May 07, 2005 

TIME.com: Inside the Revolt Over Bush's School Rules -- May. 09, 2005: "But the timing of the rebellion is no coincidence. The law's provisions are gradual, so it is only now that many states are beginning to feel its effects. Meanwhile, after three years of dramatically raising education spending, Congress just passed a 2006 budget that cuts funding $2.2 billion. So the Governors are angry. And next year 36 of their seats will be up for grabs, which only encourages more tough talk about No Child. Says Patty Sullivan, director of the Center on Education Policy: 'Something's going to give here.'"

5/07/2005 08:51:00 PM | |

Friday, May 06, 2005 


All Finley can do is watch. You should too... it has been a great series.

5/06/2005 02:04:00 PM | |

 

ACSBlog: The Blog of the American Constitution Society: "Super Rich" Hide $11.5 Trillion in Tax Free Havens: "They're tax havens: 70 mostly tiny nations that offer no-tax or low-tax status to the wealthy so they can stash their money. Usually, the process is so secret that it draws little attention. But the sums - and lost tax revenues - are growing so large that the havens are getting new and unaccustomed scrutiny."

5/06/2005 01:53:00 PM | |

 

CNN.com - Student suspended over call from mom in Iraq - May 6, 2005: "'Kevin got defiant and disorderly,' Parham said. 'When a kid becomes out of control like that they can either be arrested or suspended for 10 days. Now being that his mother is in Iraq, we're not trying to cause her any undue hardship; he was suspended for 10 days.'"

unfuckingreal.

5/06/2005 12:34:00 PM | |

 

Bush meeting Putin on troubled ground - International News - MSNBC.com: "By concentrating so much power in the Kremlin, U.S. and Russian officials say Putin has made a potentially fatal mistake. Hard-liners who control access to the president are feeding him a limited diet of analysis, thus isolating him from the growing problems of his presidency."

Sound like anyone else? Amazingly ironic.

5/06/2005 09:22:00 AM | |

 

Kansas City Star | 05/06/2005 | Abu Ghraib disciplinary actions set: "The Army said Thursday that only one senior officer will be disciplined for failed leadership in connection with the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal."

5/06/2005 09:19:00 AM | |

Thursday, May 05, 2005 

Carl Pope: Taking the Initiative - Sierra Club: "JP Morgan, for example, decided to get ahead of the curve, and adopted 'sweeping guidelines that restrict its lending and underwriting practices for industrial projects that are likely to have an environmental impact.' (The Wall Street Journal) The company became the third major bank to adopt such green guidelines, but it went beyond its competitors in agreeing to lobby the U.S. government in favor of reducing greenhouse pollution. The Journal said 'a shift in tactics by the environmental movement is paying off.'"

5/05/2005 05:25:00 PM | |

 

Happy Cinco De Mayo everyone! You know, I didn’t even know what that meant until like 3 years ago, but HOLIDAY! WHOOO!

I think I am going to take the angel on in some bball tonight if the rain ain’t coming down too bad. I’ll go easy on her, don’t worry – I just hope she goes easy on my after my last outing.

Usually when I go out to this court by my house it is pretty chill games, people not taking it too seriously. Actually, every time I have gone out there it has been like that until a couple of days ago. There was this Mexican dude out there with his son and his son’s friend and so we played three on three with these other two white kids.

For me, these days, I like to win of course, but really I feel like I am winning just by not having a heart attack on the court yet getting my blood pumping and breaking a sweat. And I really win when I walk away from the court without an injury. Sometimes of course a rolled ankle or whatever happens. Shit happens. But I will tell you I turn into a mean motherfucker if a dude is slapping at me or banging into me needlessly or generally just getting close to injuring me in whatever way. I don’t go out to the court for fucking football ya hear me? Call me a pussy or Tayshaun Prince, whatever.

This Mexican dude outweighed me by probably 50 pounds and was pulling that slapping shit and elbowing shit and everything and I warned him about my injury policy. Then he got into it even more and I chewed his ass out. Told him I appreciated he was trying to show off for his son, but we ain’t getting paid out here and I am just out for some fucking exercise. My manhood is not on the line. Chill the fuck out man. He whined about my verbal ribbing after the game though but then we moved on. Neither of us was doing shit on the day anyway.

He got the hint, but the unfortunate thing is that he got me out of my game – my lazy, fun, on again-off again shoot when you feel like game. Well, he did and the tequila beforehand did. Oh well, no worse for wear, and all ended all right. His 13 year old son was a baller PG and killed our team- monster playing against his retard friend.

Happy CDM playas.

5/05/2005 04:42:00 PM | |

 

The New York Review of Books: What's the Matter with Liberals?: "All across America a good old-fashioned red-state Christmas-just like the ones we used to know, only much touchier-brought another year of liberal woe to a close. Righteous parents fantasized that they were striking back at the liberal Gestapo every time they uttered the subversive phrase 'Merry Christmas.' Visions of noble persecution danced in everyone's heads, as dazed Democrats wandered upstairs for yet another long winter's nap. "

Go read.

5/05/2005 04:42:00 PM | |

 

The Christian Complex: "But many Christians are joining today's scramble for the status of victims. "

5/05/2005 02:22:00 PM | |

 

Freakonomics Blog -- Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner - William Morrow, 2005: "First, Jon Stewart sure seems like a fantastic guy. Smart, friendly, down to earth, funny the whole time on and off the camera. Maybe he should run for president sometime. I would vote for him. His only problem is that he is not so tall, and Americans grow their presidents tall."

5/05/2005 02:17:00 PM | |

 

Envy the Brits - - MSNBC.com: "'The social issues that have proved crucial to Mr. Bush's success in the United States have little resonance in this country. Unlike Mr. Bush, Mr. Howard has not been able to use abortion and gay marriage to transcend economic matters in appealing to voters, and he voted in Parliament in support of the war in Iraq, the issue on which Labor officials judge Mr. Blair most vulnerable."

5/05/2005 01:30:00 PM | |

 

SUNS: Paul on the Playoffs: "Whether Steve is the most valuable player in the entire NBA is really not for me to say. I will say, though, that our team would not be what it is-maybe the most fun basketball team to watch in ten years without his influence. Amare Stoudemire is ridiculously good, Shawn Marion makes plays on any given night that make me wonder why the rest of us even try, and Joe Johnson is as good a shooter as I have ever seen, but without a director, the rest of the group, I think, would be lost. Steve guides the game in ways that are unseen to the casual observer. He plays the game the way it should be-in constant motion and with a grasp for the several dimensions on which a basketball game unfolds that is preternatural. For that, I think he is certainly our MVP. "

5/05/2005 12:23:00 PM | |

 

SUNS: Paul on the Playoffs: "Contrary to popular belief, I am not actually retarded, and can occasionally make a coherent basketball play. "

5/05/2005 09:40:00 AM | |

 

Greenspan again warns about mortgage giants - Stocks & Economy - MSNBC.com: "Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan issued a fresh call on Thursday for Congress to limit the multibillion-dollar holdings of the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, warning that their huge debt could hurt U.S. financial markets."

5/05/2005 08:47:00 AM | |

Wednesday, May 04, 2005 

-THE CUNNING REALIST-: "Some people are so blinded by dogma that they will literally beg for the chance to die even if the cause is senseless or unjust. It's up to the rest of us to at least try to save them from themselves. Failing that, however, all one can do is expose and discredit them in the hopes that they will lead as few others as possible into an early and unnecessary grave. "

5/04/2005 04:52:00 PM | |

 

Stick a fork in Bonds - he's done - Results - MSNBC.com: "He is now an ex-player. A sleeping Giant who will never awaken to play again."

5/04/2005 12:44:00 PM | |

 

CNN.com - Paper: Army knew cause of Tillman's death early - May 4, 2005: "Army officials knew within days of Pat Tillman's death that the former NFL player had been killed by fellow Rangers during a patrol in Afghanistan but did not inform his family and the public for weeks, The Washington Post reported."

5/04/2005 09:59:00 AM | |

Tuesday, May 03, 2005 

Bloomberg.com: Top Worldwide###: "``I've been in the business over for twenty some years and I don't ever remember the Fed ever coming back to correct their statement,'' said Thomas Tucci, head of government bond trading at Mizuho Securities USA Inc. in Hoboken, New Jersey. ``To come back an hour and forty five minutes later and remove that concern is significant. It caught people by surprise.'' "

5/03/2005 05:03:00 PM | |

 

Print Story: Iraqi press under attack from authorities in Iraq on Yahoo! News: "BAGHDAD, Iraq - A photographer for a Baghdad newspaper says Iraqi police beat and detained him for snapping pictures of long lines at gas stations. A reporter for another local paper received an invitation from Iraqi police to cover their graduation ceremony and ended up receiving death threats from the recruits. A local TV reporter says she's lost count of how many times Iraqi authorities have confiscated her cameras and smashed her tapes."

5/03/2005 04:55:00 PM | |

 

-THE CUNNING REALIST-: "As the red carpet gets longer, the dresses get glitzier, and the media increasingly reports on the media, does anyone feel confident that our press is manning the watchtower as it's supposed to? "

5/03/2005 03:29:00 PM | |

 

CNN.com - Iraq, Afghan wars reportedly strain U.S. fighting ability - May 3, 2005: "The senior military official told CNN that because of the U.S. deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, the report concludes that future armed conflicts would last longer and produce higher casualties."

5/03/2005 02:44:00 PM | |

 

It's time to redo the 'revolution': "'We have to raise taxes to pay for schools,'' Perata said. 'There, I said it.'' "

5/03/2005 02:00:00 PM | |

 

WORLD VIEWS: Secret memo shows Blair knew legal case for Iraq war was shaky; families of dead soldiers to take Blair to court; Italian bloggers make history with 'cut and paste' scoop: "With Thursday's national elections looming, and doubts about Tony Blair's trustworthiness a growing campaign issue, damning new evidence has emerged showing that the British prime minister knew, almost eight months before the invasion of Iraq, that the United Kingdom's involvement in the U.S.-led attack could have been illegal. Nevertheless, he pressed ahead with his intention to go to battle alongside the United States. "

5/03/2005 11:31:00 AM | |

 

Gates says he regrets granting stock options - May. 3, 2005: "Microsoft (Research) said in 2003 it would stop granting stock options and began accounting for prior grants as an expense to better reflect the cost of employee compensation for shareholders. "

5/03/2005 09:25:00 AM | |

 

Red-hot housing markets stir fears of busts - Stocks & Economy - MSNBC.com: "But their updated study, released Monday, also notes special qualities of the current boom, including the large number of boom markets across the country and a risky credit environment."

5/03/2005 08:09:00 AM | |

Monday, May 02, 2005 

Desperate To Not Become Housewives, Part Two - Bloggermann - MSNBC.com: "'The epidemic of crimes against women and children in America continues with the disappearance of 32-year old Jennifer Wilbanks from an Atlanta suburb,' intoned the Big Giant Head. Moments later, still omniscient, he added 'It's got to be a crime. A woman like that with a long history of responsibility. She had a steady job...She just wouldn't bolt and not tell anybody.'"

5/02/2005 04:51:00 PM | |

Last posts

Archives

Links

Powered by Blogger
and Blogger Templates