It looks like Vice President Dick Cheney okayed a no bid contract deal in Iraq for Halliburton, the company he used to be CEO of, still receives a stipend from and still owns shares in. Nice!

Source:
The Paper Trail
Did Cheney Okay a Deal?
Time Magazine, Sunday, May. 30, 2004
TIMOTHY J. BURGER AND ADAM ZAGORIN
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/printout/0,8816,1101040607-644111,00.html

Posted at 02:19 AM in Politics | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

More from Tom Toles:

via Yahoo!

Posted at 11:29 AM in Humor, Politics | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Wallywood was born in August 2002, with the idea of providing a greater depth to the already excellent mistake sites on the net. Time and technology will prove whether our vision was accurate.

The name Wallywood is obviously derived from 2 words:

"wally" - meaning idiot, fool or stupid person
"Hollywood" - The centre of the film and Movie industry

Thus Wallywood implies fools within the movie industry

Similar to the IMDB mistakes, but more detailed.

For afficianados only . . .

Posted at 11:28 AM in Film | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Sony is shipping their portable video, MP3 player next month. Here's an early look:

HMP-A1

Prices are about $560.

HMP-A1, contains a 20GB hard drive, the contents of which are listed on a front-mounted 3.5in, 320 x 240 colour LCD - larger than the VGF-AP1's 2.2in display. The new unit is larger, too, and heavier: it's 13 x 7.6 x 2.2cm to the first model's 11.5 x 6.3 x 1.7cm. The two machines weight 250g and 195g, respectively.

The HMP-A1 plays back MPEG 2 and MPEG 4 files. Its software allows it to handle MPEG 1, AVI, WMV and DVR-MS, but these are converted to one of the MPEG video formats when they're downloaded from a host PC to the player.

Dont forget about the Gigapocket

GigaPocket PCVA-HVP20

Hardly an iPod killer . . .

Source:
Sony to ship portable video, MP3 player next month
By Tony Smith
The Register, Thursday 27th May 2004 11:57 GMT
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/05/27/sony_mp3_vid_player/

Posted at 07:09 AM in Design | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Six weeks ago, we noted the War Coverage had shifted dramatically. If you want to know how far that shift has progressed, consider the coverage of Attorney General John Ashcroft's transparently bogus "terrah alert" news conference.

Not only did the media see through the partisan political gambit, but they called him out on it:

-Newsweek: Overreaction? Not everyone thought Ashcroft?s warning justified

-Newsday: Terror warning surprises Homeland Security Dept.

-NYT: As Ashcroft Warns of Attack, Some Question Threat and Its Timing

-Washington Post: Ashcroft Assailed on Terror Warning

Dan Froomkin of the Washington Post went beyond a mere story on it. He did a full round up on the incredulous reactions to it: Terror Warning Timing Questioned rounds up the usual suspects:

"We don't take much at face value here in Washington, so it shouldn't be a surprise that the Bush administration's warning of a possible terror attack yesterday was greeted with skepticism in some quarters.

Could it have been an attempt to change the subject away from the grim news from Iraq and the president's drooping poll numbers?"

Let's review:

o No upgrade in alert status:
o News conference based only on old Intel -- no new findings or significant increase in chatter;
o Dept of Homeland Security knew nothing about it -- until it hit the TV.

Nah, Ashcroft is such an honorable guy he would never take advantage of people's fears by falsely claiming a terror threat was building for mere political reasons, 2 days after the President's polling numbers hit the nadir of his term.

Froomkin's Washington Post article is richly linked and annotated at WaPo:

On CBS's "Early Show" today, Thalia Assuras says: "The question is whether politics played a role. After all, the threat level, despite all the 'credible intelligence chatter' has not been raised. . . .

"We've heard it all for months now: The U.S. is a target for terrorists. So why this latest frenzy?"

Richard W. Stevenson and Eric Lichtblau write in the New York Times: "[S]ome opponents of President Bush, including police and firefighter union leaders aligned with Senator John Kerry, the expected Democratic presidential candidate, said the timing of the announcement appeared intended in part to distract attention from Mr. Bush's sagging poll numbers and problems in Iraq.

"The administration did not raise the terrorist threat advisory from its current level of elevated, or yellow, and the White House said Mr. Bush would not alter his schedule because of security concerns."

CNN's Dana Bash told Judy Woodruff yesterday: "Judy, as far as their motives go, the Bush team certainly is well aware of the fact that people are questioning their motives and that there's a perception that perhaps that there was a political motive out there.

"As a matter of fact, they understand it is, people think, perhaps to change the subject on Iraq. I talked to an official about Iraq earlier, called the official and started asking questions about that. And sarcastically the official said, 'Why are you calling me about this? Don't you know that we changed the subject?'"

Here's an excerpt from a Live Online with Dana Priest of The Washington Post yesterday:

"Bethesda, Md.: Do you see a manipulation in the timing of the administration's terror warnings -- that they tend to come when things are going badly in Iraq or some other aspect of American politics?

"Dana Priest: I'm very suspicious, especially of the 'election threat' -- so we didn't write this story for a while, in order to ask a wider range of people and certainly enough non-political types to feel certain we were not being spun."

Marc Sandalow writes in the San Francisco Chronicle: "Attorney General John Ashcroft's solemn announcement that al Qaeda planned to attack America in the next few months seemed to provoke as much skepticism as fear Wednesday, raising doubts as to whether any terror warnings will be taken seriously in the heat of an election campaign. . . .

"But with an election five months away and polls showing President Bush's approval ratings slipping below 50 percent on most policy matters except fighting terror, there was rampant speculation that politics had prompted the announcement, thrusting the president's best issue back onto the front page.

Sandalow writes that "the nation's ambivalence was evident on television screens, where cable stations screamed out 'Breaking News' to report the threat of a catastrophic terrorist attack while the broadcast networks did not interrupt their daytime soap operas to carry the news conference live.

In a Newsweek.com column, Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball write that "U.S. intelligence officials were privately divided about whether the government had obtained any fresh information that justified such an extraordinary public announcement."

Richard B. Schmitt and Josh Meyer write in the Los Angeles Times that "White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan denied that politics was involved. 'The president believes it's very important to share information appropriately,' McClellan said. 'We do that in a number of ways when it comes to looking at the threats we face here in the homeland.'"

See Froomkin's column for all of the annotations and links.

Nothing like a partisan hack putting re-election ahead of the Nation's Security.

Posted at 09:20 AM in Current Affairs, Politics, War/Defense | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

From the great Tom Toles:

via Yahoo!

Posted at 07:27 AM in Humor, Politics | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Anti-drug ads, which the government plans to spend $145 million to produce this fiscal year, do little to dissuade young people from taking drugs, according to research conducted by Texas State University at San Marcos psychology professors.

Even worse, the ads may actually prompt some teens to experiment with drugs -- a reaction diametrically opposite that sought by the White House Office of National Drug Policy.

This is consistent with our Anti-Terrorist position in the Middle East, which has created more terrorists.

What's the next problem which government will attack -- and how can we talk them out of it?

Source:
Texas study shows anti-drug ads don't work
By S.K. BARDWELL
Houston Chronicle, May 27, 2004, 9:40PM
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/2595607

Posted at 06:36 AM in Politics | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Pete Walsh runs the Auto Museum out in Eastern Long Island. He also has a very good eye for auto design.

Here's a 1941 Chrysler Coupe:

These cars are emblamatic of a very different era in design:

Love those fenders!

Magnifico!

Posted at 06:45 AM in Design | Permalink | Comments (19) | TrackBack

Pat Oliphant scares the beejeesus out of everyone:

via Yahoo!

Posted at 02:37 PM in Politics | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Renee Olstead, who co-stars in the amusing Jami Gertz CBS sitcom "Still Standing," belted out a killer version of "Summertime" on the show last nite. I assumed that it was dubbed -- a little girl ain't suppoed to be able to sing like that -- but it turns out she can really hit the notes.

Renee Olstead

1. Summertime
2. Taking A Chance On Love
3. Is You Is Or Is You Ain't My Baby
4. Someone To Watch Over Me - featuring Chris Botti
5. Breaking Up Is Hard To Do - duet with Peter Cincotti
6. A Love That Will Last
7. Meet Me, Midnight
8. Sunday Kind Of Love - featuring Chris Botti
9. On A Slow Boat To China - featuring Carol Welsman
10. What A Difference A Day Makes
11. Midnight At The Oasis
12. Sentimental Journey

Posted at 02:11 AM in Music | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack

Is it just me, or do these speakers look naughty . . . ?

Afterlab Super Speakers 2.0, Designed by Vegard Thue Bjorlykke for Afterlab

via Sensory Impact

Posted at 06:08 AM in Design | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Truth in advertising

Photo credit: Colin Owen

from Citizen Online: "The Mobil Station at Main Street and Irwin Bridge Road is presenting gas prices in terms people can relate to, says owner Dhiraj “Danny” Dutta. “We’re the last link in the chain and we’re losing money while gas companies and OPEC are getting rich. There’s something wrong with this picture. It’s a shame,” said Dutta.

Citizenonline via adrants

Posted at 07:12 AM in Humor | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Dr John Simpson, executive director for surgical affairs at the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons in New Zealand, reviewed the decapitation tape. amd declared it a fraud:

"American businessman Nicholas Berg's body was found on May 8 near a Baghdad overpass; a video of his supposed decapitation death by knife appeared on an alleged al-Qaeda-linked website (www.al-ansar.biz) on May 11. But according to what both a leading surgical authority and a noted forensic death expert separately told Asia Times Online, the video depicting the decapitation appears to have been staged.

"I certainly would need to be convinced it [the decapitation video] was authentic," Dr John Simpson, executive director for surgical affairs at the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, said from New Zealand. Echoing Dr Simpson's criticism, when this journalist asked forensic death expert Jon Nordby, PhD and fellow of the American Board of Medicolegal Death Investigators, whether he believed the Berg decapitation video had been "staged", Nordby replied: "Yes, I think that's the best explanation of it."

Questions of when the video's footage was taken, and the time elapsed between the shooting of the video's segments, were raised by both experts, reflecting a portion of the broader and ongoing video controversy. Nordby, speaking to Asia Times Online from Washington state, noted: "We don't know how much time wasn't filmed," adding that "there's no way of knowing whether ... footage is contemporaneous with the footage that follows".

While the circumstances surrounding both the video and Nick Berg's last days have been the source of substantive speculation, both Simpson and Nordby perceived it as highly probable that Berg had died some time prior to his decapitation. A factor in this was an apparent lack of the "massive" arterial bleeding such an act initiates.

"I would have thought that all the people in the vicinity would have been covered in blood, in a matter of seconds ... if it was genuine," said Simpson. Notably, the act's perpetrators appeared far from so. And separately Nordby observed: "I think that by the time they're ... on his head, he's already dead."

Providing another basis for their findings, in the course of such an assault, an individual's autonomic nervous system would react, typically doing so strongly, with the body shaking and jerking accordingly. And while Nordby noted that "they rotated and moved the head", shifting vertebrae that should have initiated such actions, Simpson said he "certainly didn't perceive any movements at all" in response to such efforts.

During the period when Berg's captors filmed the decapitation sequence, circumstances indicate that he had already been dead "a quite uncertain length of time, but more than ... however long the beheading took", Simpson stated. Both Simpson and Nordby also noted the difficulty in providing analysis based on the video, the inherent limitations presented by this. But both also felt that Berg had seemed drugged.

A particularly significant point in the video sequence occurred as Berg's captors attacked him, bringing the supposedly fatal knife to bear. "The way that they pulled him over, they could have used a dummy at that point," reflected Simpson regarding what the video portrayed. Separately, Nordby said Berg does not "appear to register any sort of surprise or any change in his facial expression when he's grabbed and twisted over, and they start to bring this weapon into use".

Subsequently, Nordby said it was likely that the filming sequence was manipulated at the point immediately preceding this, allowing Berg's corpse to be used for the decapitation sequence. Nordby also emphasized that the video "raises more questions than it answers", with the most fundamental questions of "who are you, and how did you die", being impossible to answer from it. But broad speculation exists regarding a number of factors surrounding both Berg's death and the video, and its timing in regard to revelations of US prison atrocities."

Source:
Berg beheading: No way, say medical experts
By Ritt Goldstein
Asia Times, May 22, 2004
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/FE22Ak03.html

Posted at 06:59 AM in War/Defense | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Look closely:

Caption: "10,000 Volts volts in your pocket, guilty or innocent."


Photo Credit: by Copper Greene, Broome Street, NYC, 2004.

Gizmodo via Boing Boing

Posted at 07:13 AM in Current Affairs, Design, War/Defense | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

If you fly much, you simply must read Bruce Cameron's piece, "Taking Wing," reproduced here(with permission). To subscribe to the Cameron Column, send an e-mail message to:
TheCameronColumn-On@letters.webvalence.com

Taking Wing
Source: W. Bruce Cameron
www.wbrucecameron.com
Copyright 2004

With the economy booming from political fund-raising efforts, more and more Americans are enjoying the experience of flying on our national airlines. I use the word "enjoy" as in, "The man enjoyed having the walrus lie on top of him," or, "the crowd enjoyed its food poisoning."

Flight enjoyment begins with the "pre-boarding process." Literally translated, this means "to board the aircraft prior to boarding the aircraft." First-class passengers are invited to pre-board so they can settle in and practice their smug expressions for when you and the rest of the Flintstones struggle past them to join the crowd of second-class citizens in the back. Families with small children also pre-board, so that by the time the plane is loaded their kids will have used up all their toys and be ready for the first volley of shrieking.

I don't pre-board, but I am one of the last people left on the planet who checks his luggage. I do this to ensure my suitcase will arrive in Des Moines at exactly the same time that I land in Cleveland. Everybody else lugs their stuff onto the aircraft and crams it on top of your suit coat in the overhead bin. Much grunting and isometric exercise accompanies this effort, along with comments like "I think...grunt...I can just...grunt...oh no," and, "I hope my chicken will be okay up there."

Once everyone is seated and you have lost the battle for the armrests with the people squeezed in on either side of you, the plane rolls about thirty yards and then stop on the pavement for an hour. This is called "preheating the passengers."

While coming to a simmer you're subjected to a series of public-service announcements. You are invited to hold your seatbelt over your head and buckle it, which I have always found to be impossible. You are told that in the event of a "sudden depressurization" (meaning, a hole opens in the side of the airplane
and sucks everyone out) little plastic hats will fall from the ceiling and bean you on the forehead. You're supposed to take the orange hats and hold them to your face for oxygen.

Oxygen! If we're having a depressurization, I don't want oxygen, I want anesthesia!

During takeoff I usually find it helpful to scream "OH MY GOD WE'RE GOING TO CRASH!" a couple of times, though I've sort of given this up since they started issuing pepper spray to the flight attendants. To relax, I put on the fake headphones and listen to the pilot's dialogue over the radio.

You have to admit, despite the fact that the takeoff is the most dangerous part of the trip, those guys up front are pretty level-headed about it. Their conversation usually goes like this:

PILOT: "Well, I see that we've got a fire in the port engine, what do you know."
CO-PILOT: "I'm bored."
PILOT: "Me too. I'm so bored I can't keep my eyes open."
CO-PILOT: "Oh yeah? Well I'm so bored I'm going to unbuckle my seatbelt and lie down."
PILOT: "Well I'm so bored I'm going to open the window and crawl out on the wing."
CO-PILOT: "You'd better do it on the starboard wing because the port wing just exploded."
PILOT: "Ha-ha."

After takeoff, the passengers are informed that food and beverage service will begin just as soon as the flight crew stops laughing over the fact that people are really going to eat it.

Everyone makes fun of airline food, possibly because it is inedible. I have always harbored an anonymous affection for it, however, mainly because it allows me to play the game "guess my meat." My favorite airplane meal is the breakfast special: Cheese Extrusion Plus a Piece of Something That May Once Have Been Alive. I also enjoy Cobweb Pita and Fajitas de Yuck.

Landings are usually characterized as "uneventful" (meaning, no flames). To me, though, falling out of the sky at 200 miles an hour and hitting the pavement is extremely "eventful," and I usually can't stop weeping for a couple of days afterward. I feel like everyone should be pointing at me and whispering: "Look, that's the guy who was FLYING."

Write to the author at: bruce@wbrucecameron.com

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

For reprint permission, including web sites, please write me at Bruce@wbrucecameron.com

This newsletter may be distributed freely via e-mail but you MUST include the following subscription and copyright information:

The Cameron Column, A Free Internet Newsletter
Copyright W. Bruce Cameron 2004
www.wbrucecameron.com

Yes we want more subscribers! Please tell your friends about the Cameron Column.

To subscribe to this list, please send an e-mail message to:
TheCameronColumn-On@letters.webvalence.com

Posted at 03:09 PM in Humor | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

This guy is fucking insane:

"As a five-year-old child, Dokaka hummed along with melodies on television, but one day plugged headphones into the TV, discovering that the sounds in his head matched those piping through the headphones. He quickly realized that songs consist of many parts like bass, drums, etc. Within a year, he began to record himself humming.

At 18, Dokaka started drumming in bands, and four years later stumbled upon his childhood recordings, reigniting his interest in humming. He was first heard humming by others when his band's bassist missed practice, so he hummed the bassline. The band's singer found the humming catchy and recommended professional recording. Dokaka financed and produced his own recordings and uploaded them to the internet, dubbing himself with the onomatopoeic name "Dokaka" from his drum derived humming sounds!"

Oh, so, you think my original description might be too harsh?

Click here: Smells Like Teen Spirit (Nirvana)

Original, amusing -- and out of his friggin gourd . . .

Posted at 06:14 AM in Humor, Music | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack

Pat Oliphant channels Monty Python:

King of Swamp Castle: "When I first came here, this was all swamp. Everyone said I was daft to build a castle on a swamp, but I built in all the same, just to show them. It sank into the swamp.

So I built a second one. That sank into the swamp.

So I built a third. That burned down, fell over, then sank into the swamp.

But the fourth one stayed up. And that's what you're going to get, Lad, the strongest castle in all of England."

via Yahoo

Posted at 06:37 AM in Humor, Politics | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Eric Idle presents... The FCC Song.

"Here’s a little song I wrote the other day while I was out duck hunting with a judge… It’s a new song, it’s dedicated to the FCC and if they broadcast it, it will cost a quarter of a million dollars."

Song
http://www.pythonline.com/plugs/idle/FCCSong.mp3

via linkfilter

Posted at 10:10 AM in Politics | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

72s2CD.com is an online retailer that sells public-domain 78RPM albums (lots of Gilbert and Sullivan and Alma Gluck!) that have been converted to audio CDs:

"A few years ago I began acquiring old phonograph records, not with the idea of collecting in the usual sense, but to see what I could do to restore and preserve the sound. I started out working on legendary artists like Caruso and McCormack, on whose recordings I could readily compare my work with commercially available CDs. Satisfied with the results, I began concentrating on recordings that were not being re-released commercially, and discovered a wealth of great listening.

After I'd produced several CD collections for my own enjoyment and that of my family, it occurred to me that others might enjoy access to the results of my hobby. After all, I'd put in a lot of effort. Of course, I would only distribute material that I had a right to copy.

So that's what this web site is about: "To Make the Results of My Work Available at Reasonable Cost to All Who Enjoy Vintage Recordings."

via boing boing

Posted at 12:53 AM in Music | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Joe Hagan has an interesting article in the New York Observer.

In Howard’s Private War, Hagen's perspective is refreshing. His is the first Stern/FCC article I've seen that actually takes a different tack from the plethora of "Stern as kingmaker" brand of twisted irony and wishful thinking that had become de rigeur in any reporting on the subject:

"In recent weeks, as Howard Stern mounted his one-man battle against the Federal Communications Commission and its White House–appointed chief, Michael Powell over his alleged culture crimes—indecency offenses, they said—which then translated into financial threats and radio-station excommunications, he looked to be a man alone.

But on Tuesday, May 4, he found a defender.

Not only a defender but a Republican, former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. "I think Howard Stern is what he is," Mr. Giuliani told The Observer. "Everyone knows what Howard is like. They listen to his show and then they’ve made a decision that they enjoy his kind of humor. I think the F.C.C. or regulatory agencies have better things to look at than that. And I think it does get very close to inhibiting free speech."

Mr. Giuliani had sat with Howard Stern in his studio on West 57th Street three times in the last decade, and fielded call-ins, including on the two anniversaries of Sept. 11, 2001. He said he could not understand the reticence of political figures to speak on Mr. Stern’s behalf.

"I’m not running for office and I never did quite understand that," the former Mayor said. "But maybe if I was running for office, I would feel somewhat different about it. I don’t think so." Mr. Giuliani said he’d met Mr. Stern’s parents during one on-air appearance. "I met his parents, who are the nicest people you ever want to meet," he said. "They are very, very sweet, nice, understated people."

Other than Mr. Giuliani, however, Mr. Stern has been in the wilderness, not quite a pariah, but not bathing in the warm power light on which the immensely successful can count in America. Few public officials—especially those in Washington, D.C.—have been willing to support the 90’s "King of All Media" since he was dropped from six Clear Channel Communications radio stations in February and subsequently threatened with $1.5 million in fines for discussing sex acts with former Paris Hilton boy toy Rick Salomon.

The rest of it is a worthwhile read . . .

Source:
Howard’s Private War
Joe Hagan
The NY Observer, May 17, 2004 11:22 PM
http://www.nyobserver.com/pages/story.asp?ID=9020

Posted at 08:55 AM in Humor, Politics | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Fascinating look at decrepit automobiles rusting away unseen.

"For most people broken-down cars are a nightmare. For photojournalist Bob Christy they're the stuff of dreams. See over sixty "Broken Down Heroes" in Christy's photo-essay that takes you back to a time when cars were rolling works of art."

A Unique Look at Cars From Amercia's Past

Posted at 05:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Awesome collection of photoshopped celebs as cyborgs. Dr. Evil (above) and Kate Moss are my two favorites.

via Linkfilter

Posted at 05:12 AM in Design | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Quote of the day:

Pat Robertson: "In January [Pat Robertson] said he'd received a tip. "I think George Bush is going to win in a walk," he said on "The 700 Club." "I really believe I'm hearing from the Lord it's going to be like a blowout election in 2004."

Of course, Robertson got a similar tip about a President Bush in 1992, and we all know what happened to him.

Posted at 08:00 AM in Politics | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

We previously discussed Lt. Gen. William Odom -- Ronald Reagan's director of the National Security Agency -- in the WSJ piece Untenable.

There is a May 12 interview with the General posted at Democracy Now: Ex-National Security Agency Head Calls For U.S. Troop Withdrawal From Iraq

Here is an excerpt:

Q: You have called for U.S. Troops to withdraw from Iraq. Can you explain why?

LT. GEN. WILLIAM ODOM: Yes. Because I don't think they're serving any U.S. interests there. I don't think that the war serves U.S. interests. I think Osama bin Laden's interests and the Iranian interests are very much served by it, and it's becoming a huge drain on our resources both material and political. And our ability to keep our alliances with Europe together and eventually to bring some kind of stability to the region from Afghanistan to the Eastern med and to more effectively cope with Al Qaeda, we're going to have to get out of this resource consuming pothole.

Q: We're talking to Lieutenant General William Odom. Can you talk about how prevalent your view is? You are one of the highest ranking people ever to come out against Iraq, the U.S. troops in Iraq, serving as the director of the National Security agency under Reagan.

LT. GEN. WILLIAM ODOM: Well, let me just make the point -- you know, I served in the Carter White House and the Reagan White House. The presidents I served under don't have anything to do with my politics. I have never belonged to a party. I don't have party affiliation. I was selected to that job by the Joint Chiefs of Staff have voted me out in the Secretary of Defense and the president approved me and the Senate confirmed it. So, don't draw any conclusions to my political standing one way or another. And I don't care which- I think the present president, President Bush, is in the best position to do something about this in the near term and probably it will be more effective if he did rather than wait to change to another administration to do it, but that's beside the point.

Also, General Zinni, who commanded central command, was very much opposed to the war in the first place, as I was. We were both quoted to that effect in February of 2003. So, I will say that -- I have been one of the first people to begin to raise this issue again after the war started. And I have raised it because I hear a large number of people that are not in the total of the U.S., but, you know, dozens of people I know were very much like to debate this. They're skeptical about what's going on. But there's a climate of you can't question this issue at all over the past year. So, it's my hope that others will follow this lead, and at least have an honest public debate. I remember serving in Vietnam in that war, and many of us at the major Lieutenant Colonel, colonel level were frustrated that no one in the U.S. wanted to debate it that way. What happens is that it ended up getting polarized where you had a war movement, who is an anti-war movement whose goals we didn't sympathize with, because they came from a ridiculous political position. There were others of us like myself who recognized that containing china was a Soviet objective and we didn't understand why we should submit half a million U.S. troops in U.S. support of Soviet objectives. Tragically, it seems let's a bit of an analogy here. I don't see why U.S. forces should be achieving Osama bin Laden's goals by overthrowing secular Arab leaders or dealing with Iran's enemies . . .

Go read (or listen to) the entire interview.

Sources:

Ex-National Security Agency Head Calls For U.S. Troop Withdrawal From Iraq
Democracy Now, Wednesday, May 12th, 2004
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/05/12/1420241

Gen. William Odom Interview Real Audio Recording
http://play.rbn.com/?url=demnow/demnow/demand/2004/may/audio/dn20040512.ra&proto=rtsp&start=9:19.58

William E. Odom
Director, National Security Studies
Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute,
Washington, D.C.
http://www.hudson.org/learn/index.cfm?fuseaction=staff_bio&eid=OdomWill

Posted at 12:40 AM in War/Defense | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Awesome collection of photoshopped celebs as cyborgs. Kate (above) and Dr. Evil are my two favorites.

via Linkfilter

Posted at 06:25 AM in Design | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

I cannot attest to the authenticty of this meal, as it was found on a umich.edu site (duh).

Regradless (sorry), it is amusing.

vias boing boing

Posted at 05:01 AM in Humor | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Yest another Howard Stern as kingmaker article. They are starting to get boring already . . .

"Though much has been made of the recent debut of Al Franken as a liberal talk-radio host, the most important political voice on talk radio this year may turn out to be not Franken but the usually apolitical "shock jock" Howard Stern.

Recent months have not been kind to Stern, who found himself a target of the backlash against indecency that followed the baring of Janet Jackson's nipple during the Super Bowl halftime show. In February the radio behemoth Clear Channel Communications dropped him from six of its affiliates for being "vulgar, offensive and insulting." The following month the FCC slapped him with a $27,500 fine for his on-air discussions of sexual techniques such as the "nasty Sanchez" and the "blumpkin" (don't ask). As Congress considers raising obscenity fines as high as $500,000, Stern is contemplating a move to satellite radio, where the FCC couldn't touch him."

yeah yeah sure . . .

Source:
Kerry’s Secret Weapon?
by Ross Douthat
The Atlantic Monthly | June 2004
http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2004/06/douthat.htm

Posted at 10:24 PM in Politics | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Dan Gillmore on Progressive Pipes:

"The disintegration of e-mail under the corrosive effects of spam has led many people to assume that mail lists are next to useless as ways to get information out to people. After all, spam filters trap lots of legitimate mail, and who has time to subscribe to and then read all the junk that comes in on various lists, however useful they might be.

Zack Rosen just showed a new project he and Neil Drumm have been working on, and its impressive.

It's called Progressive Pipes, and it aggregates a bunch of progressive and left-leaning lists into an easy-to-peruse collection of "headlines," namely the subject lines. (Rosen and Drumm both developed technology for the Howard Dean presidential campaign and are now working to bring collaborative tools to a wider activist community.)

Progressive Pipes breaks the messages down in several ways, including list names and topics.
While this is a targeted site -- aimed at one side of the political spectrum -- there's no reason that such an application couldn't be done for any kind of mailing list on any kind of topic.

This is clever, and useful."

via Dan Gillmor

Posted at 11:09 AM in Weblogs | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Joe Bussard has spent a lifetime pursuing rare surviving examples of early 20th century American music. His private archive contains more than 25,000 obscure recordings from the golden age of old-time music. Now he shares it with the world through custom-made tapes and pre-recorded CD's of his vintage 78s

You can order custom tapes at Joe's site here. Perhaps Steve Jobs is on to something when he suggest monetizing the back catalog of old music presently wasting away in the the big labels' vaults.

Read all about Joe, a DJ in West Virginia, on his site

via linkfilter

Posted at 10:33 AM in Music | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack

I always knew there were a lot of shifting explanations and rationales for invading Iraq -- but fer cryin' out loud -- 27?

Jeez, can't ya just pick two or three good lies, and STICK to em?

"If it seems that there have been quite a few rationales for going to war in Iraq, that’s because there have been quite a few – 27, in fact, all floated between Sept. 12, 2001, and Oct. 11, 2002, according to a new study from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. All but four of the rationales originated with the administration of President George W. Bush.

The study also finds that the Bush administration switched its focus from Osama bin Laden to Saddam Hussein early on – only five months after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States."

Even better for those of us who have been following this story, the author "not only identified the rationales offered for going to war, but also established when they emerged and who promoted them. She also charted the appearance of critical keywords such as Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein and Iraq to trace the administration’s shift in interest from the al Qaeda leader to the Iraqi despot, and the news media’s response to that shift."

The road to war took place over three phases: Sept. 12, 2001, to December 2001; January 2002, from Bush’s State of the Union address, to April 2002; and Sept. 12, 2002, to Oct. 11, 2002, the period from Bush’s address to the United Nations to Congress’s approval of the resolution to use force in Iraq.

The paper "drew from statements by President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Colin Powell, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, Defense Policy Board member and long-time adviser Richard Perle; by U.S. senators Tom Daschle, Joe Lieberman, Trent Lott and John McCain; and from stories in the Congressional Record, the New York Times and The Associated Press. She logged 1,500 statements and stories."

And what were the actual rationales?

"Largio identified include everything from the five front-runners – war on terror, prevention of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, lack of weapons inspections, removal of Saddam Hussein’s regime, Saddam Hussein is evil, to the also-rans – Sen. Joe Lieberman’s “because Saddam Hussein hates us,” Colin Powell’s “because it’s a violation of international law,” and Richard Perle’s “because we can make Iraq an example and gain favor within the Middle East.”

Sources:
“Uncovering the Rationales for the War on Iraq: The Words of the Bush Administration, Congress, and the Media from September 12, 2001 to October 11, 2002”
Devon M. Largio
Senior Honors Thesis
Department of Political Science
University of Illinois
http://www.pol.uiuc.edu/news/largio.htm

Bush administration has used 27 rationales for war in Iraq, study says
Andrea Lynn, Humanities Editor
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 5/10/04
http://www.news.uiuc.edu/news/04/0510war.html

Abstract and Table of Contents
http://www.pol.uiuc.edu/news/largio_abstract.pdf

Executive Summary
http://www.pol.uiuc.edu/news/largio_execsum.pdf

Thesis
 http://www.pol.uiuc.edu/news/largio_thesis.pdf

Posted at 09:30 PM in Politics, War/Defense | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

http://www.suijobus.co.jp/himiko/himiko.html
http://blog.schubart.net/archives/2004.02.12-22.00
http://www.suijobus.co.jp/english/index.html
http://blog.schubart.net/archives/2004.02.12-22.00
http://www.leiji-matsumoto.ne.jp/

Posted at 11:24 AM in Design | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

I haven't seen this, but it certainly raises some interesting allegations . . . If anyone has seen it, I'd appreciate your thoughts.

UNCOVERED: The Whole Truth About The Iraq War: DVD  

The most controversial documentary since Bowling for Columbine! This controversial and arresting film offers an in-depth look at the actual arguments, speeches and spin given by President Bush and his senior advisors before, during, and after the Iraq invasion.

Watch as they rely on rhetoric in lieu of hard evidence to justify a war. Listen to their justifications change to accommodate certain inconvenient and very relevant facts (such as the continued inability to find Iraqi weapons of mass destruction).

Go behind the walls of government, as CIA, Pentagon, and foreign service experts speak out, many for the first time, detailing the lies, misstatements, and exaggerations that served as the reasons to fight a “preemptive” war that wasn't necessary.

Contains compelling footage of Bush, Rice, Cheney, Powell, and others painting a very clear picture of the distorted intelligence and “spin and hype” presented to Congress, the United Nations, and the American people. Those interviewed include former Ambassador Joe Wilson, weapons inspectors Scott Ritter and David Albright, former Director of CIA Stansfield Turner, former Asst. Secretary of Defense Philip Coyle, anti-terrorism expert Rand Beers, former CIA analysts Ray McGovern and Mel Goodman, former CIA operative Robert Baer, and Washington editor of The Nation, David Corn.

Even those who supported the war should be deeply concerned about the way information was misused – the time has come for the truth to be heard.

Uncovered: The Whole Truth about the Iraq War DVD
Produced and Directed by Robert Greenwald

Featuring:

Robert Baer : former CIA operative who spent twenty-five years in the Middle East serving in Iraq and Lebanon.

Milt Bearden : headed up the CIA's Soviet/Eastern European division as the Soviet Union was coming undone. He was the CIA station chief in Pakistan and was responsible for that agency's covert action program in support of the Afghan resistance to the Soviet-supported government.

David Corn : the Washington editor of the Nation magazine and a Fox News Channel contributor. He has written for the Washington Post, the New York Times, Harper's, The New Republic, Mother Jones, Washington Monthly, Slate, Salon and many other publications. He is also the author of "The Lies of George W. Bush: Mastering the Politics of Deception" (Crown Publishers).www.bushlies.com

Chas Freeman : Former Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, and currently the President of the Middle East Policy Council and Chairman of Projects International, Inc. He previously served as Assistant Secretary of Defense.

Karen Kwiatkowski : recently retired Air Force Lt. Colonel who worked in the office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, Near East South Asia and Special Plans (USDP/NESA and SP) in the Pentagon.

Joe Wilson : the former Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Iraq. More recently, Wilson served as the Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for African Affairs at the National Security Council.

Posted at 06:04 AM in Politics, War/Defense | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Once again, the great Tom Toles:

via Yahoo

Posted at 02:50 PM in Politics | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Awesome piece by Buzzmachine's Jeff Jarvis. He calls Stern a 1st amendment hero.

Jarvis starts with a brief history:

Let us recite the litany of America's new official religion: "This mad race to the bottom," in the pronouncement of one member of the Federal Communications Commission, began when Bono said "fucking brilliant" at the Golden Globes and when Janet Jackson's silver-studded globe invaded the family fun of the Super Bowl. Which begat politically panicked FCC chairman Michael Powell--Mr. Media Deregulation--suddenly embracing government regulation of content (read: censorship). Which begat a Congressional orgy of legislation to multiply broadcast indecency fines--from $27,500 to $275,000, then $500,000, then $3 million. Which begat Clear Channel's dropping Howard Stern from six stations. Which begat the FCC's fining Stern for the first time in six years. Which begat an NPR station's firing benign commentator Sandra Tsing Loh over an accidental F-word. Which begets well-chilled programmers' issuing dictums filled with newly forbidden words and slapping delays on shows of all sorts, taking the live out of life, the reality out of TV.

He then notes the "advice" given parents on the FCC website:

"The FCC's "Parents' Place" on the web oh-so-helpfully explains the basics of obscenity, indecency and profanity to anyone who wants to summon its cultural cops."

A primer:

§ Obscenity--which is not protected by the First Amendment--is sexual material that violates community standards, is patently offensive, appeals to prurient interest and, judged as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value.

§ Indecency--which, the Supreme Court has ruled, is protected by the First Amendment--is nonetheless fair game for FCC policing, thanks to the 1927 Radio Act and the 1978 Supreme Court ruling in the Pacifica case (a k a George Carlin's Seven Dirty Words). The FCC says indecency--"patently offensive sexual or excretory references"--cannot air in the "safe harbor" from 6 am to 10 pm, because children may hear. (Yale Law School Professor Jack Balkin explains that indecency is OK at night because "you can't reduce adults to the level of speech fit for children.")

§ Profanity is defined by the FCC as "personally reviling epithets" or "language so grossly offensive" as to "provoke violent resentment." The first time the FCC ever found anything profane was in March, when it reversed itself and ruled against Bono's "fucking brilliant." Now the F-word in any context or syntax is officially profane. That is wholly new.

Source:
F*cked by the F*CC
by Jeff Jarvis
The Nation, April 29, 2004
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20040517&s=jarvis

Posted at 09:23 AM in Finance, Media | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

The The Smoking Gun has a small chunk of detailed complaints filed with the FCC (via a Freedom of Information Act request) attacking an Oprah Winfrey show that included explicit talk about teen sexuality (and addressed topics such as rainbows and getting one's salad tossed), as obscene.

Most of the complaints are from Howard Stern and Jimmy Kimmel fans.

Much hilarity ensues.

Letter to the FCC complaining about Oprah
click for larger view

Posted at 05:36 AM in Humor, Media | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

A pretty amusing idea: The KNOCKOFF*PROJECT

     

See also the Beatles knock off

Posted at 11:49 PM in Art & Design | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Amusing political slogans from the Nation;

They are also holding a button creating contest.

Posted at 10:11 AM in Humor | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Artist with painting of . . . artist!

We visited this subject awhile ago in Anamorphic Paintings.

Now, a new collection of Sidewalk Art has appeared:

Nice Tony Blair Mask!

Ahhh, swimming!

Posted at 10:04 AM in Art & Design | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Very cool collection of items on the history of the Bugatti marque: The Bugatti Page

The T57: simply one of the most beautiful cars ever made . . .

click for larger photo

Source: Bugatti Page

Posted at 07:16 AM in Design | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Howdy visitors. I see a few other blogs have linked to the prior post (thanks, Max and Eric!) so a quick explanation to both blogs may be in order:

The Big Picture is my professional work -- it is the macro research I do on the Capital Markets, my perspectives on the broader Economic issues, Geopolitics, with lots of Film, Media, Music and Technology thrown into the mix to keep it lively. It is the serious stuff from my alter ego.

On the other hand, essays & effluvia is simply what (as I so pithily describe it) "helps to quiet down the voices in my head . . . " It is everything else: fun stuff, longer writings, really unusual items, links, graphics, screeds, etc. You know -- essays & effluvia. Its actually rather well named.

If you have never been here before -- and shame on you if thats the case -- here's some of my favorite work:

• Your Coffee Sucks!
• War Coverage Shifts Dramatically
• Last of the Independents
• Greatest American R&R Band?
• Oil price rises are not tax increases
• Firetruck Graveyard
• Self-Employed Work-at-Home Contractors
• Shrill Blonde Harpy
• Dead Centagenarians

Feel free to poke around. There's no 2 drink minimum, and comments are always welcome.

Posted at 05:49 PM in Weblogs | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

You couldn't make this stuff up if you tried:

"On Oct. 6, 1965, the Selective Service lifted its ban against drafting married men who had no children. Nine months and two days later, Mr. Cheney's first daughter, Elizabeth, was born."

This q