The Exorcism of Emily Rose and the New Religious Propaganda

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You can see the trailer here.

The New York Times reviewer of the film “The Exorcism of Emily Rose” hits the nail right on the head when he calls the movie propaganda disguised as entertainment. It seems the marketing people have finally woken up to the buckets of money represented by the “Fundamentalist Market” best embodied by Ned Flanders on the Simpsons. And judging from the fact the movie made 30 million in its first week and the early Sunday matinee I saw was half full- it’s working. But that’s not the whole story to what’s going on with this movie- there’s also a distinct element of proselytizing going on.
Let’s examine this phenomenon.
First, take the commercials. They implement the tried and true “Based on a True Story” (BOATS) maneuver, except in a new way. Instead of attempting to add a dubious realism to an otherwise badly made horror movie, like Poltergeist or the Texas Chainsaw Massacre; the BOATS in this case is used as code, telling the fundamentalists in the TV audience that this is a friendly movie.
Paranoid you say? Not when one takes BOATS in conjunction with the line in the commercial where a man says “I can’t help her. There’s no injection against the devil.”
Taken together with BOATS the marketing people for this movie are sending a clear message- this movie is taking the position that exorcism is true- that God is a fact and so if you are a fundamentalist come and get it!
Which is essentially true- that’s exactly what this movie is. Rent the movie sometime. (I cannot in good faith reccomend you actually go see it at the theatre) Notice that the prosecutor has a Hitler mustache. Notice that the entire story is told from the defendant’s point of view with literally no humanizing elements. And pay extra special attention to the final speech of the film. If you still disagree- I don’t know what else to tell you.
The second tier of the marketing campaign infuriates me instead of making me uncomfortable the way the BOATS stuff does. There’s certainly nothing wrong with getting a film to its core audience- even if they’re using code. The trailer uses every CG effect in the entire film- those distorted demon faces. This is the second head of teenage based religious propaganda- “Trick Them Into Thinking They’re Going to See Something Entertaining.” It is something that’s been growing like wild in the music world with heavy metal Bible Thumpers and Gangsta rappers for Jesus.
If you’re 15 and you watch the trailer, the movie looks like a generic horror film. This is where the true synergy comes in- teenagers are both the ones with the most disposable cash- and they also just happen to be at the age where they are deciding for themselves what their religious convictions are going to be.
So the fundamentalist right gets together with the corporate marketing whores to trick kids into going to the theatre with a multimillion dollar ad campaign. Kids think they’re going to see another variation on “The House of Wax” and what they actually get is religious propaganda that ultimately revolves around one central premise- no matter what “scientists” say- demons are real. Possession is real. Satan, the horny red devil- is real.
And only Jesus can keep us safe. Indeed, medicine will actually make you sicker.
Problem is, the only real evil involved in this whole story are those who use people’s fear and gullibility to relieve them of their hard earned money and purposely design ad campaigns to draw in kids- and then give them a double switch. The worst part is it wouldn’t surprise me one bit to learn people who put together the advertising for this movie are atheist anarchists. For the marketing folks- this whole thing is simply about money. It’s disgusting and cynical in the most corrosive way- and I’m normally no detractor of cynicism.
You can choose to pretend that the election of Bush and the rise of John Roberts to the Supreme Court aren’t connected to the release of this movie and the way that it’s being marketed- but if you do- you’re as deluded as the people sitting in front of me in the theatre who cross themselves every time the dark cloaked demon popped up on the screen. We are moving towards a world where religious myth is seen as being on par with science. It’s happened before- we call it the Dark Ages.
Oh, and as a horror movie- it’s a big sucko stinkhole car crash.

The Mother of All Rip-Offs

More than ONE BILLION DOLLARS- 1,000,000,000 Has been stolen from Iraq. (It could end up being nearly 2)
Read the whole story HERE.

The snivelling dunce will somehow deny responsibility- but this stuff happened when US appointed people were in charge. Every time you think they've sucked things up over there as badly as they could possibly be sucked up- we find out something worse. Some critics are calling it the single largest theft in human history.

If you voted for Bush in 2004 you really are an idiot. Seriously.

The Day the Lights Came On in New Orleans (For a little while anyway)
OR
The Continuing Presidential Screwjob

Brian Williams via Atios:

I am duty-bound to report the talk of the New Orleans warehouse district last night: there was rejoicing (well, there would have been without the curfew, but the few people I saw on the streets were excited) when the power came back on for blocks on end. Kevin Tibbles was positively jubilant on the live update edition of Nightly News that we fed to the West Coast. The mini-mart, long ago cleaned out by looters, was nonetheless bathed in light, including the empty, roped-off gas pumps. The motorcade route through the district was partially lit no more than 30 minutes before POTUS drove through. And yet last night, no more than an hour after the President departed, the lights went out. The entire area was plunged into total darkness again, to audible groans. It's enough to make some of the folks here who witnessed it... jump to certain conclusions.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA



This is a photo of a note from Pigvomit to Condi I used to have an oil tanker named after me Rice.
I don't know if this is fake, but there's a link to Yahoo/Reuters with the photo HERE.
Notice the question mark. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

"To the extent the federal government didn't fully do its job right, I take responsibility,"

For the 1st time EVER.
Notice he's still hedging- "didn't FULLY do its job..." More like didn't EVEN SORTA do its job.
Also, if you can see some video of Peckerhead's admission, he looks like a little kid being forced to apologize by his Mommy- which in this case is probably Rove the Assmonkey.
Now all he has to do is resign.
Hope hope hope.

Lying Liars and the Lies They Lie

There are 2 places everyone should visit.

First, go HERE to read about how the shitheads tried to manipulate the press regarding the hurricaine and most disgustingly- the way they were trying to manipulate fire-fighters who were supposed to be dispatched to fight the fires that cropped up throughout the city.

Then, go HERE to listen to the Hurricaine Katrina episode of my favorit radio show This American Life. (The episode in question is called "After the Flood") You will hear first hand accounts of how the cops and soldiers were firing weapons at people to prevent them from crossing bridges out of New Orleans. They weren't helping anyone that was suffering, they were shooting at them and stopping them from leaving. Remember these stories the next time some asshole tells you that "they should've just left."

"One way or another- this darkness got to give"
-----Grateful Dead

Going to try to start posting again. There's so much that's happened, I feel like I'm fuckin up.
Frankly every time I think about doing this I've just kind of been overwhelmed into silence. All I can do at this point is write some snarky know-it-all bullshit without any evidence or even reasoning- at this point I can't write reasonably- if you are a person so fucking stupid that you don't see how bad things are- you're a fuckwit and I don't like you anyway.

Here's some things I know.

Georgie Boy is responsible for what happened in New Orleans. Not the storm, but what happened, (or didn't) afterwards. N.O. was my favorite American city and now it'll never be the same again- oh and it laid bare the racist /classist/nauseating underbelly of the cancer in the American soul.
Rove won't go to jail for his role in outing Valerie Plame and our stupid ass media has completely forgotten the story- morons morons morons morons.
We've lost the Iraq War- in case you're not paying attention.
The last five years are going to be looked back on as one of the lowest points in American history- mainly becuase we keeping screwing up and WE AREN'T LEARNING ANYTHING.
There is the slimmest of slim chances that what happened with the hurricaine will wake the American people out of their fear centered terror party and realize there are real things to be afraid of- the suffering of the people around them- but I seriously doubt it.

On a personal note.
I got married back on June 25 to the newly dubbed Victoria Hrdina (she's taken my atrocious name without a hyphen.) She is, as far as I'm concerned, the most wonderful woman alive. (Well duh- I married her didn't I?)
I'm gonna have my sixth novel done by Christmas- I'm really excited about this one.
I think Lost is one of the best shows that's ever been on TV.

William Hrdina
Final Exam

This was my final exam for my Polysci class. I am so enamored of my answers to these questions I had to put them up.

Essay Questions

1. Outline and explain Max Weber’s Ideal bureaucracy.

1) One of my favorite oxymorons of all time is the phrase “Ideal Bureaucracy.” It’s not as good as “Intelligence Services”, but it’s close. Even the spelling of the word bureaucracy is an atrocity of language. A better term might be, Oh God I’ve been in the DMV for three hours.
Weber’s ideal bureaucracy comes from law as opposed to from God (in the form of some charismatic guy or gal who says they’ve got God’s ear) or a King. Being based on law gives Weber’s bureaucracy a consistency you don’t find in a charismatic leader or a line of Kings.
The hallmark of this is where one’s loyalties lie. In the ideal bureaucracy your loyalty is to the institution, not to the individuals that make up the institution. This way, if the charismatic leader dies or the King goes berserk, the structure of society and the way it is run remains intact. It also creates a “schema” where our courts have become so enamored of our institutions that they’ve convinced themselves corporations have individual rights and existences outside of the people making them up.
Another characteristic of this ideal bureaucracy is a stable salaried career. A paycheck. A new idea during Weber’s time, the salaried career was immediately identified as a good way of creating institutional stability.
Because bureaucracies are by their very nature immense things, Weber recognized that it would be necessary to specialize, creating niches of intelligence that work together through the policies and procedures of the institution creating a whole made up of many different individuals. This too has upsides and downsides. On the upside we can bore deeply into a thing and learn all about it’s parts. On the downside, by specializing to such a high degree people also become stupid about everything except the one thing they know all about. It also leads to a kind of metaphysical naval gazing that allows for things like what we saw in the Pentagon movie about the Bradley.
Finally, the bureaucracy’s rules have to be written down so that loopholes can be found. Oh wait, no. I meant that Weber says you write down the rules because it creates consistency. Which it does. Only it’s a rigid, stupid consistency massively lacking in common sense. “It’s not my fault, it clearly says here in paragraph 3; section 9, that I’m allowed to steal your sandwich at lunch.

2. According to Patterson, (in his book about politics and the media called "Out of Order") why is the news media not the appropriate organization to organize campaigns (e.g., be the coalition builders between candidates and voters)?

2) First and foremost because of the reasons given in answer 4; but also because the traditional role of the press is as a watchdog over the government. This is where the nickname the “4th branch of government” comes from. “The critical task of the watchdog is not to be confused with the constructive task of the coalition-builder.” Patterson argues the media had the role of coalition-builder forced up on it and because of the necessity of being a watchdog and a coalition builder, fails at both.
p. 52 puts it succinctly
A) Journalistic values and political values are at odds.
B) Journalistic values, introduce an element of random partisanship which works to the advantage of one side or another.
C) Election news serves to drive a wedge between voters and candidates.


3. Patterson argues that political parties use to be the coalition builders and now we (society) ask the news media to play this role. What, according to Patterson, brought about this change?

3) Patterson blames the foisting of elections away from parties and onto the media on the Reform Democrats of the early 70’s. They wanted a system where “the rank and file voters would be the kingmakers.” (p.33) This was opposed to the old system where the party bosses picked the candidates. Now, all the candidates would be running against one another in a free for all and it would be up to the voters to choose the candidates. Patterson argues that it became necessary for the press to step in to magnify the exposure of the candidates in order that the public learn about them.
This is inherently problematic. The press isn’t necessarily interested in politics. It certainly isn’t their reason for the press’s existence. The media is mostly about entertainment. Patterson puts it, “The party has the incentive- the possibility of acquiring political power- to give order and voice to society’s values. Its raison d’ etre is to articulate interests and to forge them into a winning coalition. The press has no such incentive and no such purpose” (P.37). I find this is questionable. I would argue the hard right attitudes of many of the hyper-rich media moguls are indeed about forging the masses of people into coalitions in political support of whatever millionaire is most looking out for their interests.

4. Define schema and then explain and discuss the two types of schemas Patterson presented in Chapter 2.

4) “A schema is a cognitive structure that a person uses when processing new information and retrieving old information. It is a mental framework the individual constructs from past experiences that helps make sense of a new situation.” In other words, a schema is the particular bias structure of an individual. It is the lens through which a reporter reports the news.
Patterson’s 2 conflict schemas:
1) Governing vs. Game
According to Patterson, governing is boring and not particularly interesting as news. Thus, the media has increasingly over time come to view election campaigns as games. The focus of media coverage is about the tactics and positions of different candidates in the “horse race” as opposed to their positions on issues. Everything they do is seen as being done as a maneuver within the game called, “Become the most powerful person on earth.”
Where I think Patterson is wrong is that those who govern no longer see the act of governing as different from the Game the reporters are covering. I understand his point, that the things you want to do to govern, change social security, etc. are not supposed to be directly linked to where a candidate stands on an issue. Patterson sees a disconnect between these things. Only I don’t think there is a disconnect anymore, even if there was one once. Lee Atwater changed governing into a game and it has been ever since. Checkmate on Dukakis was Willie Horton and that ridiculous picture of him in the tank wearing an oversized helmet. He looked like a total jackass. The last 4 Presidents have been all about whose political spin genius was better at transforming politics into a game. You win if you manipulate the media into portraying your image in the way you want to be portrayed. This image is politics now. The actual positions of politicians have no necessary relation to actual policy goals. All that matters is what we think the politician stands for. Atwater did this for Reagan and Bush I, Carville did it for Clinton, and Rove, the biggest evil genius of them all, tells Bush II when he’s allowed to sneeze.
Because of the standardized nature of stump speeches the media will focus on a gaff or the candidates overall position in the field instead of reporting that Bush once again told the crowd he was a uniter not a divider.
2) Reporters vs. voters
I agree with Patterson on this second point. The interests of the reporters (as defined by their view of the campaign as a game) have little to no relation to what the voters actually need. I think far too few voters have any real interest in the issues, they mostly want gossip and rumors, but what they need is information on the issues, whether they think it’s interesting or not.
Focusing on whether or not a candidate is winning or losing does nothing to forward our knowledge about what they will do in office. It also makes it difficult for candidates who lack the “sexy” quality the media is looking for to get any traction, which means the voters never get to find out their names, let alone their positions on issues. Dennis Kucinich vs. Al Sharpton is a perfect example. Al Sharpton got media attention because he’s charismatic and controversial, yet they ignored his progressive agenda on rebuilding US infrastructure because it wasn’t interesting. Dennis Kucinich, in my opinion the Democrat’s best candidate and the only guy who was openly and completely against the Gulf War disaster never got any attention at all from the media. Sharpton and Kucinich had very similar support numbers in the polls, but Sharpton got all the ink. (Don’t get me wrong, even Al’s ink paled in comparison to Bush’s because Bush had all of the money in 2000, and therefore was immediately the guy to beat no matter how many people voted for him in the early primaries, not even being VP trumped Bush’s War Chest.) The result being we elected the dumbest man ever to sit in the White House.
Twice.

24 and torture

I want to say right out front that I watch 24, I've seen every episode of every season and I think it's a good show- exciting, interesting plot twists etc. But, this season the shows already fascist-tending politics have really gone into hyper-overdrive to a degree that very nearly has me ready to stop watching. Especially regarding one single issue- TORTURE.
I mean everybody's getting some this year. The Defense Secretary's son, women, men, Jack's girlfriends husband, CTU employees, it's like torture-fest 2005.
By this point in the season the message the show is trying to send to viewers is crystal clear. Sometimes (especially with terrorists) you need information in a timely manner so sometimes you have to torture the person to get the information quickly. On the show everyone who knows something tells- all that is necessary is an electrical cord to the chest. The one woman who was innocently tortured holds out until the mistake is discovered and she goes back to work once the torture is finished.
THe thing is- the entire idea is just innaccurate. When you're being tortured you'll say anything, it doesn't have to be the truth, it just has to be whatever will get you to stop sticking the taser against my neck and pressing the button.
Taken by itself you could say that 24's use of torture is just a plot device gone mad, but taken in combination with the Muslim Father who will kill his entire family for the cause it's clear there's an agenda being braodcast here. One that Paul Wolfawitz would like. I keep waiting for the patented 24 twist to recast what's come before- but still, I think whatever gestures the show makes will probably be too little too late. At this point I'm watching as much to boggle at the lengths fiction has to go to justify what our country is doing in real life as anything else.

Keller Williams Rules

On a musical note, I went and saw Keller Williams last night in Indianapolis. I've seen him quite a number of times (I think around a dozen now) but GODDAMN last night's second set was one of the most high energy kick-ass shows I've seen in years. He's absolutely on fire. Run don't walk to Ticketmaster and see him!!
For those that don't know, Keller is ONE guy who sings and plays bass, piano, tubes, theramin, drums and the fucking best guitar you've ever heard. He uses live looping to layer all of the above into a groove while soloing over the top on geetar. What can you say about a guy who plays original as well as covers Phish, the Bee-Gees, the Dead, Talking Heads and closes with a sing along a cappella version of Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen. And that was just during the second set.

HAHAHAHAHAHA

I urge you to go to this website, but hold onto your hats!
This is the sentence at the top of the page:
"The most honest man who ever lived claimed to be the Son of God, is missing from his grave, and is worshipped 2000 years later on every corner of the most powerful nation on earth---how crazy is it not to believe what he says?"
Who can argue with logic like that?

Don't miss the candidates for the antichrist and the "hidden messages" in song lyrics.

Guckert/Gannon- The Video Collections

For anyone who's been asleep for the last month, here's 2 collections of Guckert Video.
The first, HERE, is a collection of news stories and parodies about Guckert- this also tells the basic story of what the story is about.
The second, HERE, is a collection of questions the Guckster asked Scott McClellan and the President. Really tough questions, let me tell ya!

Robotic Monkey Arms!!

In a story that should give pause to those who think we aren't living in the future already- scientists have rigged up a robotic arm to a monkey, attatched some electrodes into his brain, and now he can make the arm move.
Think about this for a minute.
We can take wires, stick them in the brain, and boom, we've got a cyborg monkey.
The Luke Skywalker hand is almost a reality.
Now tell me some more about how everyone under the age of 30 aren't potentially going to live forever. Tell me that if we were spending all the money we spend on killing eachother we couldn't have food, clothing, shelter, health care, and education for everyone on the entire planet. Tell me that the only thing holding us back isn't our imagination.
If we could just get the people who want to blow shit up (Both our guys and theirs) to fuck off we'd all be livin large.

Hunter S Thompson Dies

On the laptop I wrote my first 4 novels on there were 2 pictures taped to the front. One was a picture of Samuel L Jackson from Shaft- and the other was a large black and white photo of Hunter Thompson with his signature cigarette. In many ways, it was these 2 photos that got me through on tough writing days. Thompson himself is a prominent role-model for Lance, the character in Portal.
Now, Hunter is gone.
Hunter S Thompson killed himself yesterday in what the news is saying was a self inflicted gunshot wound. All of the coverage of his death is about his books, of course Fear and Loathing in Vegas topping the list. This kind of bums me out because the HST found in those books were NOT the real man.
They were an image.
A persona as carefully crafted as a professional wrestler's. That isn't to say the man wasn't out on the edge of things, I think he was, but he was much more aware of what he was doing than people give him credit for. To see this side of him though you need to read his letters as chronicled in the two enormous volumes released over the past several years.
They reveal a very smart, very sharp guy who probably understood American Politics better than anyone except Noam Chomsky- of course the lens he was looking through was much different. (He picked out Carter and McGovern months before the mainstream journalists did. But he didn't just pick them, he knew them. Hell, from his letters he knew EVERYBODY- from Carter to McGovern to Carville to Gary Hart. Thompson was one of the people they called and wrote to.
What's funny is I'm not the kind of guy who I would think would like Thompson. What with the guns and the explosives and whatnot- I hate that shit. But through the letters it was obvious that in many ways Thompson was a bit of a wuss. (For example, he writes of his Hell's Angels beatings for years afterward.) Overcompensation is hardly a rare tactic to overcome such things.
I'm very sorry for his son Juan. I don't know if Hunter was planning his suicide or if it was a surprise, but either way, my best wishes to him for his loss.
Now, the media is going to talk about the death of an image and the man will be quietly mourned in the hearts of those of us who saw the genius in what he was doing. To some degree, no one really knew him except his family- I hope when he left he was stright with them, there is no doubt being his wife and kid wasn't easy- of the man or the image.

See you around the bend Dr. Gonzo. We'll miss ya.

Iraq Elections

A quick reality check for those liberals who are giving Bush "Credit" for the elections in Iraq. Now while I of course agree the elections were a good thing- in as much as they were elections- but I still say Bush gets NO NONE NADA credit for what he did.
Why?
Well, let's use an example.
Say there's 100 people. I blow up say, 10 or maybe as many as 15 of them.
Then I take the remaining people to Disneyland.
Am I a hero?
I don't think so.
But if we didn't liberate them, they'd still be living under Saddam Hussein.
Sure, tell that to the people in Africa.
They don't have enough oil to go to Disneyland.
So until this "Freedom and Democracy" talk applies to everyone, including us in the US, that argument is a dry hump.

State of the Union Lies and Misdirections.

Every year one of these articles comes out taking Shrub's claims one by one and puts them in context or explains where he's full of shit. You can find this years, HERE.

AN EXAMPLE OF WHAT YOU'LL FIND
“In the long term, the peace we seek will only be achieved by eliminating the conditions that feed radicalism and ideologies of murder. If whole regions of the world remain in despair and grow in hatred, they will be the recruiting grounds for terror, and that terror will stalk America and other free nations for decades. The only force powerful enough to stop the rise of tyranny and terror, and replace hatred with hope, is the force of human freedom…. And we have declared our on intention: America will stand with the allies of freedom to support democratic movements in the Middle East and beyond, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world….
“Our aim is to build and preserve a community of free and independent nations, with governments that answer to their citizens, and reflect their own cultures. And because democracies respect their own people and their neighbors, the advance of freedom will lead to peace.”
President Bush is certainly correct regarding the correlation between autocratic governance and the rise of extremism. However, the United States has long been the primary backer of repressive governments in the Middle East and, under President Bush, military and security ties with these dictatorships has increased. It is important to note that sixteen of the nineteen 9/11 hijackers came from Saudi Arabia, whose family dictatorship has received tens of billions of dollars worth of military hardware and security assistance from the United States since President Bush came to office. The man believed to be the lead 9/11 hijacker, Mohammed Attah, is Egyptian, whose autocratic Mubarak regime receives more than two billion dollars worth of taxpayer-provided military and economic aid annually. None of the hijackers or any prominent Al-Qaeda leader has come from Iran, Syria, Palestine, Taliban Afghanistan or Saddam’s Iraq, the countries that President Bush most commonly cites as needing greater freedom in order to support American security interests.
If President Bush was serious about promoting freedom, he would call for an immediate cessation of arms transfers and any forms of security assistance to Middle Eastern governments which do not “respect their own people and their neighbors.” He has not done so, however.
To cite just one example, there have been few greater allies of freedom than Egypt’s Saad El-Din Ibrahim and his Ibn Khaldun Center for Development Studies, and its journal Civil Society. Among the Center’s activities was monitoring elections and workshops and civic education. Unfortunately, in 2001, Egyptian authorities arrested Saladin and twenty-seven associates, shut down the Ibn Khaldun Center, and banned their journal. Despite this, U.S. aid has continued to flow to Mubarak’s corrupt dictatorship.
Finally, democracies do not necessarily respect their neighbors. Israel is an exemplary democracy (at least for its Jewish citizens), but it has maintained an oftentimes repressive occupation of its Palestinian neighbors since 1967, including widespread and ongoing violations of international humanitarian law.

2 Quickies

1) The NYTimes spiked the story about Bush's hidden microphone during the debates.
(Spiked, for those who do not know, means they wrote a story, then decided not to run it.)

2) An article about the US General stupid enough to tell a room full of people that it's fun to shoot people.
He can think it's fun all he wants, this is America. He has the right to say it too. But jeez, don't you think it would be better if he had the decency to keep his insane mouth shut? I mean do you really want people to know you are a murdering pig?

These 2 stories are connected.

No Tomorrow
Bill Moyers

---This is directly copied from a zmagazine email. I've been trying to tell this to people, but they won't listen. They think I'm overstating the case. Well read on.---

One of the biggest changes in politics in my lifetime is that thedelusional is no longer marginal. It has come in from the fringe, to sitin the seat of power in the Oval Office and in Congress. For the firsttime in our history, ideology and theology hold a monopoly of power inWashington.Theology asserts propositions that cannot be proven true; ideologueshold stoutly to a worldview despite being contradicted by what isgenerally accepted as reality. When ideology and theology couple, theiroffspring are not always bad but they are always blind. And there is thedanger: voters and politicians alike, oblivious to the facts.
Remember James Watt, President Ronald Reagan's first secretary of theinterior? My favorite online environmental journal, the ever-engagingGrist, reminded us recently of how James Watt told the U.S. Congressthat protecting natural resources was unimportant in light of theimminent return of Jesus Christ. In public testimony he said, "after thelast tree is felled, Christ will come back."Beltway elites snickered. The press corps didn't know what he wastalking about.
But James Watt was serious.
So were his compatriots outacross the country. They are the people who believe the Bible isliterally true - one-third of the American electorate, if a recentGallup poll is accurate. In this past election several million good anddecent citizens went to the polls believing in the rapture index.That's right - the rapture index. Google it and you will find that thebest-selling books in America today are the 12 volumes of the "LeftBehind" series written by the Christian fundamentalist andreligious-right warrior Timothy LaHaye. These true believers subscribeto a fantastical theology concocted in the 19th century by a couple ofimmigrant preachers who took disparate passages from the Bible and wovethem into a narrative that has captivated the imagination of millions ofAmericans.
Its outline is rather simple, if bizarre (the British writer GeorgeMonbiot recently did a brilliant dissection of it and I am indebted tohim for adding to my own understanding): Once Israel has occupied therest of its "biblical lands," legions of the antichrist will attack it,triggering a final showdown in the valley of Armageddon.As the Jews who have not been converted are burned, the messiah willreturn for the rapture. True believers will be lifted out of theirclothes and transported to Heaven, where, seated next to the right handof God, they will watch their political and religious opponents sufferplagues of boils, sores, locusts and frogs during the several years oftribulation that follow.
I'm not making this up.
Like Monbiot, I've read the literature. I've reported on these people, following some of them from Texas to the WestBank. They are sincere, serious and polite as they tell you they feel called to help bring the rapture on as fulfillment of biblical prophecy.That's why they have declared solidarity with Israel and the Jewish settlements and backed up their support with money and volunteers. It's why the invasion of Iraq for them was a warm-up act, predicted in the Book of Revelations where four angels "which are bound in the great river Euphrates will be released to slay the third part of man." A war with Islam in the Middle East is not something to be feared but welcomed- an essential conflagration on the road to redemption. The last time I Googled it, the rapture index stood at 144 - just one point below thecritical threshold when the whole thing will blow, the son of God will return, the righteous will enter Heaven and sinners will be condemned toeternal hellfire.
So what does this mean for public policy and the environment? Go toGrist to read a remarkable work of reporting by the journalist GlennScherer - "The Road to Environmental Apocalypse." Read it and you will see how millions of Christian fundamentalists may believe that environmental destruction is not only to be disregarded but actually welcomed - even hastened - as a sign of the coming apocalypse. As Grist makes clear, we're not talking about a handful of fringe lawmakers who hold or are beholden to these beliefs. Nearly half theU.S. Congress before the recent election - 231 legislators in total andmore since the election - are backed by the religious right.
Forty-five senators and 186 members of the 108th Congress earned 80 to100 percent approval ratings from the three most influential Christian right advocacy groups. They include Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, Assistant Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Conference Chair RickSantorum of Pennsylvania, Policy Chair Jon Kyl of Arizona, House SpeakerDennis Hastert and Majority Whip Roy Blunt. The only Democrat to score100 percent with the Christian coalition was Sen. Zell Miller ofGeorgia, who recently quoted from the biblical book of Amos on the Senate floor: "The days will come, sayeth the Lord God, that I will senda famine in the land." He seemed to be relishing the thought. And why not? There's a constituency for it. A 2002 Time-CNN poll foundthat 59 percent of Americans believe that the prophecies found in the book of Revelations are going to come true. Nearly one-quarter think theBible predicted the 9/11 attacks. Drive across the country with your radio tuned to the more than 1,600 Christian radio stations, or in themotel turn on some of the 250 Christian TV stations, and you can hear some of this end-time gospel. And you will come to understand why peopleunder the spell of such potent prophecies cannot be expected, as Grist puts it, "to worry about the environment. Why care about the earth, when the droughts, floods, famine and pestilence brought by ecological collapse are signs of the apocalypse foretold in the Bible? Why careabout global climate change when you and yours will be rescued in therapture? And why care about converting from oil to solar when the same God whoperformed the miracle of the loaves and fishes can whip up a few billion barrels of light crude with a word?"Because these people believe that until Christ does return, the Lordwill provide.
One of their texts is a high school history book,"America's Providential History." You'll find there these words: "Thesecular or socialist has a limited-resource mentality and views the world as a pie ... that needs to be cut up so everyone can get a piece."However, "[t]he Christian knows that the potential in God is unlimited and that there is no shortage of resources in God's earth ... while many secularists view the world as overpopulated, Christians know that God has made the earth sufficiently large with plenty of resources to accommodate all of the people."No wonder Karl Rove goes around the White House whistling that militant hymn, "Onward Christian Soldiers."
He turned out millions of the footsoldiers on Nov. 2, including many who have made the apocalypse a powerful driving force in modern American politics. It is hard for the journalist to report a story like this with any credibility. So let me put it on a personal level. I myself don't know how to be in this world without expecting a confident future and getting up every morning to do what I can to bring it about. So I have always been an optimist. Now, however, I think of my friend on Wall Street whomI once asked: "What do you think of the market?" "I'm optimistic," he answered. "Then why do you look so worried?" And he answered: "Because I am not sure my optimism is justified."I'm not, either.
Once upon a time I agreed with Eric Chivian and theCenter for Health and the Global Environment that people will protect the natural environment when they realize its importance to their health and to the health and lives of their children. Now I am not so sure.It's not that I don't want to believe that - it's just that I read the news and connect the dots.I read that the administrator of the U.S. Environmental ProtectionAgency has declared the election a mandate for President Bush on the environment. This for an administration: That wants to rewrite the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act and theEndangered Species Act protecting rare plant and animal species and their habitats, as well as the National Environmental Policy Act, which requires the government to judge beforehand whether actions might damage natural resources. That wants to relax pollution limits for ozone; eliminate vehicletailpipe inspections, and ease pollution standards for cars,sport-utility vehicles and diesel-powered big trucks and heavyequipment. That wants a new international audit law to allow corporations to keep certain information about environmental problems secret from the public.That wants to drop all its new-source review suits against polluting,coal-fired power plants and weaken consent decrees reached earlier withcoal companies. That wants to open the Arctic [National] Wildlife Refugeto drilling and increase drilling in Padre Island National Seashore, the longest stretch of undeveloped barrier island in the world and the last great coastal wild land in America.
I read the news just this week and learned how the Environmental Protection Agency had planned to spend $9 million - $2 million of it from the administration's friends at the American Chemistry Council - to pay poor families to continue to use pesticides in their homes. These pesticides have been linked to neurological damage in children, but instead of ordering an end to their use, the government and the industry were going to offer the families $970 each, as well as a camcorder and children's clothing, to serve as guinea pigs for the study. I read all this in the news. I read the news just last night and learned that the administration's friends at the International Policy Network, which is supported by ExxonMobil and others of like mind, have issued a new report that climate change is "a myth, sea levels are not rising" [and] scientists who believe catastrophe is possible are "an embarrassment."I not only read the news but the fine print of the recent appropriations bill passed by Congress, with the obscure (and obscene) riders attached to it: a clause removing all endangered species protections from pesticides; language prohibiting judicial review for a forest in Oregon;a waiver of environmental review for grazing permits on public lands; a rider pressed by developers to weaken protection for crucial habitats inCalifornia. I read all this and look up at the pictures on my desk, next to the computer - pictures of my grandchildren. I see the future looking backat me from those photographs and I say, "Father, forgive us, for we knownot what we do." And then I am stopped short by the thought: "That's not right. We do know what we are doing. We are stealing their future. Betraying their trust. Despoiling their world."
And I ask myself: Why?
Is it because we don't care? Because we are greedy? Because we have lost our capacity for outrage, our ability to sustain indignation at injustice? What has happened to our moral imagination?On the heath Lear asks Gloucester: "How do you see the world?" And Gloucester, who is blind, answers: "I see it feelingly.'"I see it feelingly.
The news is not good these days. I can tell you, though, that as a journalist I know the news is never the end of the story. The news can be the truth that sets us free - not only to feel but to fight for the future we want. And the will to fight is the antidote to despair, the cure for cynicism, and the answer to those faces looking back at me from those photographs on my desk. What we need is what the ancientIsraelites called hochma - the science of the heart ... the capacity tosee, to feel and then to act as if the future depended on you.
Believe me, it does.

Bill Moyers was host until recently of the weekly public affairs series"NOW with Bill Moyers" on PBS. This article is adapted from AlterNet,where it first appeared. The text is taken from Moyers' remarks uponreceiving the Global Environmental Citizen Award from the Center forHealth and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School.

Noam Chomsky

There's a very interesting excerpt from Noam HERE.

"In fact the Pentagon announced at the same time two days ago: we’re keeping 120,000 troops there into at least 2007, even if they call for withdrawal tomorrow.
And the propaganda is very evident right in these articles. You can even write the commentary now: We just have to do it because we have to accomplish our mission of bringing democracy to Iraq. If they have an elected government that doesn’t understand that, well, what can we do with these dumb Arabs, you know? Actually that’s very common because look, after all, the U.S. has overthrown democracy after democracy, because the people don’t understand. They follow the wrong course."

He's saying (as I read him) that a "democratic" Iraq will do things we cannot let them do, so what we have to do is give them the government we think they should have. i.e. one that will keep US interests at heart. We won't stand for anything less.

Propaganda is a 4 letter word.

Via Tom Tommorrow

U.S. Encouraged by Vietnam Vote Officials Cite 83% Turnout Despite Vietcong Terror
by Peter Grose, Special to the New York Times
WASHINGTON, Sept. 3-- United States officials were surprised and heartened today at the size of turnout in South Vietnam's presidential election despite a Vietcong terrorist campaign to disrupt the voting.
According to reports from Saigon, 83 per cent of the 5.85 million registered voters cast their ballots yesterday. Many of them risked reprisals threatened by the Vietcong.
....A successful election has long been seen as the keystone in President Johnson's policy of encouraging the growth of constitutional processes in South Vietnam. The election was the culmination of a constitutional development that began in January, 1966, to which President Johnson gave his personal commitment when he met Premier Ky and General Thieu, the chief of state, in Honolulu in February.
The purpose of the voting was to give legitimacy to the Saigon Government, which has been founded only on coups and power plays since November, 1963, when President Ngo Dinh Deim was overthrown by a military junta.

I'm glad the Iraqis voted. I just don't think it matters very much. They voted for Saddam too. 104% in the last "election." In the end, I'm not sure if this was any different. Sure, our guys were there to protect the Iraqis from the other Iraqis, but they still saw American soldiers standing around everywhere with guns. Just like when they voted for Saddam. I'm not saying it's the same- I don't think it is at all, but in terms of perception... I just don't know. I heard on NPR that the US media, reporting so authoratatively on the election, wasn't allowed to see the voting- a block outside the green zone. The sole source of the "positive" signs in Iraq are coming from the military. Grain of salt people, that's all I'm saying.

"Democracy in Iraq."

"For the only time in memory, electoral candidates are afraid to be seen in public and are forced to campaign from underground cells, with many afraid to even link their names to their faces in the media. There are no public rallies where voters might glean some information about candidates' positions. As one voter told CNN, he would prefer to vote for George Michael, since he knows more about the singer than about any of the candidates running for office."

Read the whole article here.

Yikes.

Seymour Hersh ran a very frightening article for the New Yorker this week that lays out what he sees as Dubya's long term military plan.
It seems Iran is our next target- and if it's not, the Dubya Crew is trying hard to make it look like it's going to be. The plan, according Mr. Hersh, is for our lack of support cause to the EU's attempt at negotiations to fail. This will bring the issue into the UN. We try to pass sanctions, a move that will be vetoed by either China or Russia. Then, saying we have no choice, we bomb the shit out certain areas, destabilizing the country. This will cause the people in Iran to rise up and fight for a western style democracy.
What a bunch of idiots.
There's more.
The Pentagon wants autonomous control of "secret ops" teams outside the oversight of anyone but Dubya himself.
Anyone who remembers Iran/Contra should be gettting a stomach ache at the previous sentence. This is exactly how that debacle happened- removal of Congressional oversight of Pentagon secret ops. And now we're setting things up for a reprise. Ugh.
This year is giving me a headache.

Why People who like him are Nitwits

In Shrubs inaugral speech to "peacefully transfer power" to himself he said the word

FREEDOM: 27 times.
LIBERTY: 15 times.

THE SPEECH WAS 12 MINUTES LONG!
TWELVE MINUTES!!!

"And always twirling twirling towards freedom!!" ----Kodos the alien on the Simpsons.

(Thanks to the Daily Show for the tally and the wonderful montage.)

The Process of Writing.

One question people ask writers all the time is, "How do you come up with the ideas?" It's a question all writers are uncomfortable with not because we get asked it all the time, but because I don't think the bulk of us know how to answer the question. It's not that we're being cagey- It's just really hard to describe- even for people who describe things for a living.
I'm working on my 6th novel right now. It's still pretty early on in terms of a novel- 10,000 words (Most novels are 90-135,000 when they're finished.) but it's at this point the idea you hope will end up being a novel actually does, or doesn't, take on a life of it's own.

This novel started as a dream and a phrase. "Inside and outside." The dream was vague, a variation on the film The Game directed by Fight Club Director guy where I, in the dream, did something bad that wasn't what I thought it was. I sat with this for a while ( a week or two) , then just before Christmas I had the image of this kid waiting for a train. He's going somewhere fun, but this guy sitting next to him is bothering him. That was it. No details. I go down to Florida for a relaxing vacation. When I get back, I know the kid meets the other main character in this train station- but I don't know who the other main character is.

When I write, it's like I'm watching a movie inside my head. The entire scene is just there in the mind's eye and you try to describe as best as you can what you're seeing. It's like a 3-d moive though- you can go into the charaters and know their thoughts or feelings at any given moment, rewind and replay the same thing from multiple angles.

But here's where it gets tricky- at the best moments, I in no way feel like I'm writing WHAT is happening, I'm only writing HOW I'm seeing what is happening on it's own. It's like watching a thriller where you are absolutely guessing and rooting for what you want to have happen, and I believe that rooting influences the story, but in the end, your just watching the movie and you find out what happens when you get there.

For instance, when I started writing my last book (Clearing at the End of the Path- 1st 3 chapters available here. ) I had a female character I was just going to have this serial killer kill in the virtual world as a way to introduce the theme of the book. Only when I started to write, that's not what happened. He didn't kill her- she killed him. The scene stayed in the book, but ended up 3/4 of the way through instead of at the beginning, and it's meaning was totally different. This girl became Molly, the main charater of the entire novel, totally changing the tenor and eventual result of the book.

I didn't mean for that to happen. I don't care how weird or "cheesily mystical" that sounds. I'm as cynical as most people, if you don't believe that, read a few old entries. Still, there are great swaths of this thing we call existing that I don't begin to claim I can understand- and while I don't understand where this writing thing comes from, I'm indescribably grateful to be able to do this thing- and I say that at a time my writing has cost me a hell of a lot more money than it's made me. Every book I hope someone will come along to help on the financial end of things, and when they don't all I can do is write another novel- the writing is the reason, the publishing is the gravy. Granted, I really like gravy.

Farneheit WINS

In yet another wacky twist- Farenhiet 9-11 beats out Shrek 2 and Spiderman 2 for the People's Choice Award of the Best Movie in 2004. Sp2 and Sh2 collectively made 10X the money Farenheit did, yet F911 wins!
See the entire segment here.
To quote the thankfully now sans-career Yakov Smirnov, "What a country."
I can't wait to see him win another Oscar.
Oh, and by the way, did anyone else catch the 6th Grade Michael Moore logic line in last night's episode of 24. The show's always been a little right of Stalin politics wise, but this season they're spreading it on a little thick. It's like Wolfowitz is a script supervisor or something this season.

Hoorah

Congrats to the Democrats for taking the novel and courageous position that we should count votes!!


We've fallen pretty far haven't we?

Guess who's paying for W's Inaugral?

(This article copied from www.commondreams.org)- I usually don't just straight copy a story, but this one has too many stomach wrenching numbers to just summarize.)

Published on Saturday, December 18, 2004 by the Associated Press
Energy Firms Lavish Funds on Inauguration
by Pete Yost

WASHINGTON - More than $4.5 million from the corporate world has flowed to President Bush's inauguration fund, much of it from the energy industry and some of its executives in contributions of $250,000 each.
Outside the energy sector, New Orleans Saints football team owner Tom Benson gave $50,000 and his companies gave $200,000, the fund reported Friday.
Northrop Grumman Corp., the world's largest shipbuilder and second-largest U.S. defense contractor, donated $100,000.
Michael Dell, chairman of Dell Inc., the world's largest personal computer maker, gave $250,000. So did United Technologies, maker products ranging from escalators to aircraft engines.
Investment banking firm Stephens Group Inc. of Little Rock, Ark., gave $250,000. And the education loan firm Sallie Mae gave $250,000.
Occidental Petroleum Corp., whose business stands to benefit from the president's actions concerning Libya, donated $250,000, as did Exxon Mobil, the world's largest publicly traded oil company. Exxon Mobil reported record third-quarter profits, thanks to higher prices for oil and natural gas.
In April, Bush took steps to restore normal trade and investment ties with Libya, enabling four American oil companies, including Occidental, to resume commercial activities there after an 18-year absence.
Bush's action was a reward to Moammar Gadhafi for eliminating his most destructive weapons programs.
Other donors from the energy sector included Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens, who gave $250,000; and former Enron President Richard Kinder, who left the firm five years before it collapsed and now is CEO of one of the largest energy transportation and storage companies in the country. Kinder also gave $250,000.
Energy provider Southern Co., which owns utility companies in Alabama, Florida, Georgia and Mississippi, gave $250,000.
The Nuclear Energy Institute, the policy organization of the nuclear industry, gave $100,000.

Gary Webb is Dead

Gary Webb, the insanely brave reporter who linked the CIA to the South American drug trade has died of an apparent suicide. Gary was a reporter for the San Jose Mercury News when he ran a series of reports linking the Contras (a group massively funded by Reagan's CIA) to the explosion of drugs in LA in the 80's. Not surprisingly, the mainstream media tore Webb to pieces- although they failed in taking apart his story- notice the way the NY Times Obit treats him- they didn't disprove anything, and they are too cowardly to say they were the main "mainstream" newspapers who "discredited" him.
The best summary of Webb's work is actually an audio commentary track on the film BOB ROBERTS done by the guys from CounterPunch.
Webb was a brave reporter who stood and stands for everything the mainstream media is failing to do.

My Top 10 Films of 2004

1) Fahrenheit 911
Michael Moore’s latest documentary is a brilliant piece of satire that holds up to factual scrutiny far better than the media here is willing to admit. It covers the last four years in a whirlwind, from the fishy election in 2000, to 9/11, and Bush’s connection to the Saudi Royal Family, this movie cuts deep. Certainly Moore is giving his version of reality, but that’s an inherent part of filmmaking- to present a world through the lens of a director. Fahrenheit managed to beat a move by Disney to bury it, and went on to become a phenomenon. The movie works both as political propaganda and terrific filmmaking. The way Moore handles the event of 9/11 itself, with just a black screen and the screams of the people watching- was the most emotionally devastating presentations of the tragedy of 9/11 I have seen. It belies any fool who says Moore hates America. This film, and the frenzy of hatred some people have shown toward it, marks it as the cleaver splitting America in half between those who love Bush- and those who hate him.

2) Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
On the other side of the spectrum comes the third, and best, of the Harry Potter movies. A better look, tighter story, and the increased acting ability of the three principle leads, Harry, Ron, and Hermione (Danielle Ratcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson respectively) make for a habitually watchable film for Potter fans of all stripes. Director Alfonso Cueron’s greatest achievement is telling a complicated story with such skill, one hardly realizes how confusing it could all potentially be. Additionally, Cueron shows the Potter movies don’t have to follow the bland, minutia obsessed style of the earlier two films.

3) Kill Bill Volume 2
Better than Volume 1, this second installment is the think-piece accompaniment to Part One’s action/gore fest. Tarantino picks up right where he left off with the Bride (Uma Thurman) on her hell-bent quest to find Bill (David Carradine). The story, while still sparse, pays off nicely in the grand finale. Uma spars with Carradine verbally instead of physically, marking an interesting contrast to the heavily physical film as a whole. The scene where Uma is buried alive by Michael Madsen, along with the interlocking story of how she is able to escape, is Tarantino at his best.

4) Hero
This movie wasn’t released in the US until this year. Zhang Yimou’s martial arts film tells the same story 3 different ways, adding depth and twists to the plot with each re-telling. Like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, this film is visually delightful and full of incredible sword play, especially by Jet Li. The thing I liked best was Yimou’s use of natural elements- water, trees, etc. The fight scene that takes place amidst a storm of yellow leaves was the most beautiful single segment I saw this year and shows CGI can be used for more than robots and space battles.

5) Dogville
Lars Van Trier’s film relies completely on the skills of his actors to carry this engrossing story about the good and bad of community, power, and individual responsibility. There is no set. Instead, the town in the Rocky Mountains where the story takes place is delineated by lines drawn on the ground and hints of set to help mark boundaries. Nicole Kidman plays a wonderfully complicated character faced with the decision whether to turn the other cheek or take an eye for an eye. Even more than its style, I found myself mulling over the ramifications of the story for days.

6) The Incredibles
Pixar’s story about superheroes who suffer all too human frailties is my favorite from the studio so far. The lush island way off in the middle of the ocean is a great touch, and the various chase scenes are fun to watch. This is the first Pixar film to use people as the main characters and I think it’s interesting that the Incredibles come off as more human than their computer counterparts in The Polar Express- even though the Incredibles are much less “photo realistic.”

7) Garden State
Surprisingly funny film about falling in love- a sort of 21st Century version of The Graduate. The biggest pleasant surprise of the year was Natalie Portman, whose charater in the movie suffers epilepsy, wasn’t forced to fake a seizure to prove some overly-melodramatic point about the tenuousness of life and the need to love. Instead the movie discusses these same themes cleverly and with great originality. Garden State is a great first effort by Zach Braff, who also starred and wrote the film.

8) Control Room
This is the film that should win the best documentary Oscar since Fahrenheit 9/11 isn’t eligible. Directed by Jehane Noujaim, Control Room documents the enormous difference between the US’s vision of itself, and the way it’s seen in the rest of the world. It mainly follows two people, an Al Jazeera senior producer and a Pentagon spokesperson who struggle to understand one another’s point of view. It’s interesting that the spokesman, Josh Rushing, has since been drummed out of the service and Al Jazeera has been banned from Iraq. A movie that I wish had been seen by more people here.

9) Spider Man 2
Another sequel better than its predecessor, this movie looked great and improved on the things the first did poorly without screwing up the things it did right. Clearly the centerpiece of a trilogy, this movie nicely sets us up for Part three, and like Return of the King- I’m actually looking forward to it.

10) Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Original, strange film that stands out as the first movie Jim Carrey actually managed to act in without making a fool of himself. The way the film winds a great metaphysical premise into a story that’s really about people is what really makes it stand out.

WEBSITE UPDATE

In case anyone that reads this also likes Art I've just massively overhauled the MY ART section of the website www.williamhrdina.com so that you can see everything directly without being forced to click on a bunch of links- I've also added a bunch of stuff that wasn't up before- so go check it out.

First Draft of My 5th Novel Finished!!!

Sorry about the lack of posting- I've been on a run up to the finish of the first draft of my newest novel, "The Clearing at the End of the Path." I wrote the whole thing (@100,000 words) in a little over 4 months and I'm really happy with the way it turned out. So I guess I'll be spending another 60 bucks on stamps soon trying to find an agent smart enough to publish the thing. I've been thinking of dropping politics for a while and starting a new blog about how difficult it is to catch a break in the publishing world. The political world is so depressing right now my wife is yelling at me for being a bummer- so I guess I'll switch to something I at least have some control over and leave the political blogging to the Pros. (Or maybe not- one can never tell about these things.) I already know what the next book is going to be- it's a bit of a departure for me- but not really. I don't want to say to much about it becuase I'll invariably prove myself wrong.

Oh, the new book is about people who die and have their brains downloaded into a computer database where they can live indefinitly. I would call it metaphysical sci-fi but it has some strong thriller elements as well. It holds no relationship to the Matrix, no one (well almost no one) goes into the computer before they die- this book is more about our relationship to death, to mystery, and to each other. But it is also, as always, just a good story told to me by who or whatever tells the stories. I just work here.

Also on the lighter side...

Funny Billboards. Really, really, funny billboards.
And this site- a bunch of different photo series from Japan that are really... different.

Sent to me via email.

Subject: thinking
It started out innocently enough.I began to think at parties now and then -- to loosen up.Inevitably, though, one thought led to another, and soon I was more than just a social thinker.
I began to think alone -- "to relax," I told myself -- but I knew it wasn't true.Thinking became more and more important to me, and finally I was thinking all the time. That was when things began to sour at home. One evening I had turned off the TV and asked my wife about the meaning of life. She spent that night at her mother's.
I began to think on the job.I knew that thinking and employment don't mix, but I couldn't stop myself.I began to avoid friends at lunchtime so I could read Thoreau and Kafka.I would return to the office dizzied and confused, asking, "What is it exactly we are doing here?"One day the boss called me in.He said, "Listen, I like you, and it hurts me to say this, but your thinking has become a real problem. If you don't stop thinking on the job, you'll have to find another job."
This gave me a lot to think about.
I came home early after my conversation with the boss."Honey," I confessed, "I've been thinking...""I know you've been thinking," she said, "and I want a divorce!""But Honey, surely it's not that serious.""It is serious," she said, lower lip aquiver. "You think as much as college professors, and college professors don't make any money, so if you keep on thinking, we won't have any money!""That's a faulty syllogism," I said impatiently.She exploded in tears of rage and frustration, but I was in no mood to deal with the emotional drama. "I'm going to the library," I snarled as I stomped out the door.
I headed for the library, in the mood for some Nietzsche.I roared into the parking lot with NPR on the radio and ran up to the big glass doors...They didn't open. The library was closed.To this day, I believe that a Higher Power was looking out for me that night.Leaning on the unfeeling glass, whimpering for Zarathustra, a poster caught my eye."Friend, is heavy thinking ruining your life?" it asked.You probably recognize that line.It comes from the standard Thinker's Anonymous poster.Which is why I am what I am today: a recovering thinker.
I never miss a TA meeting. At each meeting we watch a non-educational video; last week it was "Porky's."Then we share experiences about how we avoided thinking since the last meeting.I still have my job, and things are a lot better at home.Life just seemed...easier, somehow, as soon as I stopped thinking.I think the road to recovery is nearly complete for me.
Today, I registered to vote as a Republican.

Jeez.

Welcome to Soviet-style government folks!
Loyalty Oaths for Everyone!
If you don't say what we tell you to say- you'll be fired from the CIA.
The Geneva Convention is "quaint"
And on and on... the lines to get the toilet paper will be set up shortly.

All of which is motivating this- which actually has some good points- even if they are couched in rather angry language.

Umberto Eco on Fascism

First pointed out by Bob Harris- Umberto Eco- author of the truly wonderful Foucalt's Pendulum has an article written back in the last century- 1995 to be exact- in which he lists out a number of philosophical ideologies that make fertile soil for fascism. It's like Karl Rove read the list and used it as his roadmap to the '04 election.

A sampling:
"The critical spirit makes distinctions, and to distinguish is a sign of modernism.
In modern culture the scientific community praises disagreement as a way to improve knowledge. For Ur-Fascism, disagreement is treason."
"Besides, disagreement is a sign of diversity.
Ur-Fascism grows up and seeks consensus by exploiting and exacerbating the natural fear of difference. The first appeal of a fascist or prematurely fascist movement is an appeal against the intruders. Thus Ur-Fascism is racist by definition."

WTF?

The Shrubster wasn't elected by people who are afraid of gays and the repulsively uninformed- he was elected by GOD.
Gee- the religious right wonders why they scare the living daylights out of those of us who are even remotely rational.
A sample:
Richard Land, a leading Southern Baptist who participates in a weekly strategy call between the White House and evangelical leaders put it this way: “Whoever won, it would have been God’s will.” But because Bush won, Land told Beliefnet, God has clearly shown America his blessings. If Kerry had won, it would have proved God was cursing the United States. “The Bible says godly leadership is a sign of God’s blessings and a lack of godly leadership is a sign of God’s judgment. I don’t see Kerry as a godly leader.”
Truly marvelous stuff.

Rove's Legacy

Carl Rove has been called lots of things- but dumb is never one of them. While the democrats fumble around trying to decide how Republican they can act in '08, Carl is already very hard at work wrapping up then next election for whatever wingnut next sucks in the nomination. McCain and Ghooliani probably shouldn't hold their breath- Bush will hand pick his successor and he's gonna be someone the American Taliban- Sam Smith's term for the far right- can really get behind. Why? Becuase that's Rove's strategy. Step one: Shore up and strengthen the already electrified American Taliban base- and second- here's the bigee- take the Hispanic vote away from the Dems entirely- thereby opening up California to the Repubs in '08. What he's doing- first Hispanic Attorney General and the work visa for aliens issue- is obvious and quite brilliant- but it's going to be really difficult 4 years from now to listen to the damn morons in the news media talking about what a surprise the whole thing was and how the Dems were just outmanuevered again.

I know he thinks he has a mandate but things are getting out of hand.

You would think anyone who would reccomend Zell Miller to replace COlin Powell as Sec. of State would just be a wingnut right. Well, I'll still argue this guy's a wingnut but a contributing editor to the National Review thinks it's a good idea.

But that's just a guy talking- this one's a whole lot spookier.

President Bush has announced his plan to select Dr. W. David Hager to head up the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee. Dr. Hager is the author of "As Jesus Cared for Women: Restoring Women Then and Now." The book blends biblical accounts of Christ healing women with case studies from Hager's practice. His views of reproductive health care are far outside the mainstream for reproductive technology. Dr. Hager is a practicing OB/GYN who describes himself as "pro-life" and refuses to prescribe contraceptives to unmarried women.
In the book Dr. Hager wrote with his wife, entitled "Stress and the Woman's Body," he suggests that women who suffer from premenstrual syndrome should seek help from reading the bible and praying. As an editor and contributing author of "The Reproduction Revolution: A Christian Appraisal of Sexuality Reproductive Technologies and the Family," Dr. Hager appears to have endorsed the medically inaccurate assertion that the common birth control pill is an abortifacient.

No Child Left Behind

Yeah. Bush's Police State won't leave anyone behind.

I'm still reeling from the election. Trying to understand how 1/2 of this country hates gays so much they'd reelect Bush IN SPITE of the fact that Kerry's poisition on the gay marriage thing is nearly as unsupportive of gays as Shrub's. Civil unions- sure- step right up to the water fountain- it's not the same as our water fountain- but it's just as nice.
Oh, and now you have to ride at the back of the bus.
The Daily Mirror put it best- How can 55 million people be so dumb?

Dean Wins!!!

Via Tom Tommorrow (how does he find so many gems?) A great bit of alternate history: The election of Howard Dean.

kerry loses

I wrote a 1,000 word thing and it just disappeared when I tried to post it. Fuck it. We lost. The evil shitbags won. Every single person who cast a vote for Bush will pay for it. It's their air, water, food, TV, too.
Let them choke on it.

You can almost hear the entire country holding its breath.

The Most Accurate Indicator??

This is my 101st post to this blog and I thought it was fitting to do 2 things. First, my predictions for tommorrow.
Kerry by 5 points. He takes Pennsylvania, Florida, Wisconsin, and MAYBE Ohio.
Dems go up by 1 seat in Senate and Repubs hold the House by 5. (5 is the magic number this year)
I think we'll know Kerry won tommorrow before midnight.
HOWEVER, it wouldn't surprise me to see Bush's people trying REAL hard to roll back Kerry's win. We'll see.

Second I would like to post what is probably the stupidest, yet weirdly accurate indicator of elections: The fate of the Washington Redskins.

Washington Redskins vs. The President
Wisconsin supporters of John Kerry and John Edwards had an extra reason to cheer the Packers victory over the Redskins today: over the past 17 presidential elections, the outcome of the Redskins' final home game has determined the outcome of the election. According to history, if the Redskins win, the incumbent president remains in office. If they lose, the challenger wins.
How the Washington Redskins franchise fared the game before presidential elections, and the elections' outcomes:
2000: Tennessee 27, Redskins 21... Democrats lose White House (George W. Bush defeats Al Gore)
1996: Redskins 31, Indianapolis 16... Democrats keep it (Bill Clinton defeats Bob Dole)
1992: New York Giants 24, Redskins 7... Republicans lose it (Clinton defeats George H.W. Bush)
1988: Redskins 27, New Orleans 24... Republicans keep it (Bush defeats Michael Dukakis)
1984: Redskins 27, Atlanta 14... Republicans keep it (Ronald Reagan defeats Walter Mondale)
1980: Minnesota 39, Redskins 14... Democrats lose it (Reagan defeats Jimmy Carter)
1976: Dallas 20, Redskins 7... Republicans lose it (Carter defeats Gerald Ford)
1972: Redskins 35, New York Jets 17... Republicans keep it (Richard Nixon defeats George McGovern)
1968: Minnesota 27, Redskins 13... Democrats lose it (Nixon defeats Hubert Humphrey)
1964: Redskins 21, Philadelphia 10... Democrats keep it (Lyndon Johnson defeats Barry Goldwater)
1960: Cleveland 31, Redskins 10... Republicans lose it (John Kennedy defeats Nixon)
1956: Redskins 17, Chicago Cardinals 14... Republicans keep it (Dwight Eisenhower defeats Adlai Stevenson)
1952: Pittsburgh 24, Redskins 23... Democrats lose it (Eisenhower defeats Stevenson)
1948: Redskins 51, Boston Yanks 21... Democrats keep it (Harry Truman defeats Thomas Dewey)
1944: Redskins 42, Chi-Pitt 20... Democrats keep it (Franklin Roosevelt defeats Dewey)
1940: Washington Redskins 37, Pittsburgh 10... Democrats keep it (Roosevelt defeats Wendell Willkie)
1936: Boston Redskins 13, Chicago Cardinals 10... Democrats keep it (Roosevelt defeats Alfred Landon)
1932: Boston Braves 7, Chicago Bears 7... Republicans lose it (Roosevelt defeats Herbert Hoover)

Osama in his own words

For those who are still kicking the dirt and believing the Gosh Darn Al-Queda just hates all of our freedom, Osama’s new tape should be an eye opener. No complete transcript is available, but here's the most complete transcript available. Sure he’s an evil shit- but that doesn’t mean he didn’t have legitimate reasons for his anger. Reasons, by the way, he has no reason to lie about. This IS NOT to say that 9-11 was justified. His anger is justified, how he acted on it, IS NOT. The sad fact of the matter is the poor deluded bastard probably thinks he’s Saudi Arabia’s George Washington. He wants the US to stop supporting Israel and to get our military out of the middle east entirely- particularly from Saudi Arabia. In other words he wants us to get the occupying military to go home- it's the same justification being used by the insurgents in Iraq.
Is that really such an insane request? Would we want someone’s military in OUR country. No, I don’t think we would. And it's an easy one to agree to. We just pack up our shit, come home, and focus our attention on eliminating our slavish need for foriegn oil.
The hawks will say that Osama wants us to go home so can he can be free to train terrorists to come over here and kill us. That’s just stupid. We have this infatuation in this country with cartoonish bad guys. The truth of the matter is, people can be sane, and still be very very evil. A crazy guy couldn’t hide out from us all this time.
Osama said the attack was carried out because "we are a free people ... and we want to regain the freedom of our nation."
Why does that have to be a lie? WE may not agree with anything the man thinks, but FROM HIS POINT OF VIEW what he's saying is true.
People do evil (ie violent) things because they are convinced of the truth of their convictions to the point they think they are justified in the violence they are perpetrating.
Nearly all violence has this same conviction- from a crime of passion to a well thought out act of terrorism, to an entire nation organized around a war. It is the root of the wheel of death the human race has been spinning around on since Cain killed his brother.
From this point of view both the US and the Al Queda are the same. It’s all senseless killing. When John Kerry pulls our people out of the Middle East (which I think most Democrats are hoping he will do if elected) I hope he doesn’t stop at just Iraq. I hope we bring everyone in the region home. And while we’re at it lets stop being the number one arms dealer in the world.

Bush Worse than Doctor Octopus and Leatherface.

Reuters-

Film Fans Make Bush 'Movie Villain of the Year'

LONDON - President George W. Bush may see himself as defender of democracy and compassionate conservatism but film fans have voted him "Movie Villain of the Year".
The American "Axis of Evil" fighter is wooing voters with security pledges ahead of the presidential election next week, but it was Bush's role in Michael Moore's anti-war film "Fahrenheit 9/11" that won him the villainous title.
In a poll for Total Film magazine, the U.S. leader fought off competition from such well-known baddies as atomic scientist Doctor Octopus from "Spider-Man 2" and fellow Texan Leatherface from "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre".
"The overwhelming response of our readers voting Bush top villain just goes to show how frightening people found him in Fahrenheit 9/11," Total Film's editor Matt Mueller told Reuters. "He was absolutely terrifying in that film. The infamous scene where he's informed about the Twin Towers attack while visiting a school, and sits there absolutely paralysed, is enough to strike fear into anyone's heart," he said.

LYRICS TO "MOSH"- THE EMINEM SONG I MENTIONED YESTERDAY

Watch the video here.
Much respect. The video was produced by GNN the Guerilla News Network. They're good folks, I've been digging them for a while. GNN Home Page Here. (You can watch the video from here as well.)

"MOSH"

kids: I pledge alegence to the flag of the united states of america

eminem: People, hahaha, this is it, it feels so good to be back!

VERSE 1:

I Scrutinize every word, memorize every line
I spit it once, refuel, reenergize and rewind
I give sight to the blind, my insight through the mind
I exercise my right to express when I feel its time.
just in your mind, what you interpret it as
I say the “fight” you take it as ima whip someone’s ass
If you don’t understand don’t even bother to ask,
a father who has grown up with a father less passed who has blown up now to rap phenomena,
that has or at least shows no difficulty multi task, in juggling both perhaps master this craft slash entrepreneur who has held launch a phew more rap bags.
Who’s had a phew obstacles thrown his way through the last half
Of his creatifical maneuver moving past that
Mister kiss his ass crack, he’s a class act,
Rubber band man, yeah, he just snaps back

CHORUS:

Come along follow me as I lead through the darkness
As I provide just enough spark that we need, to proceed
Carry on, give me hope, give me strength, come with me, and I wont steer you wrong
Get your faith and your trust, as I guide us through the fog, to the light at the end of the tunnel we gon’ fight,
we gon’ charge, we gon’ stomp, we gon’ mosh through the smog, we gon’ march through the mosh, take us right through the doors… COME ON

VERSE 2:

All the people up top, on the side and the middle, from the ghetto, lets all form and swamp just a little
Just let it gradually build, from the front to the back,
All you can see is a sea of people, some white and some black
Don’t matter what color, all that matters is we gathered together,
To celebrate for the same cause, no matter the whether
If it rains, let it rain, YEAH the wetter the better
They ain’t gon’ stop us, they cant, were stronger now more then ever
They tell us no we say yeah, they tell us stop we say go,
Rebel with a rebel, yell “rais hell”, we gon’ let em? No
STOMP, PUSH, SHOVE, MUSH… FUCK BUSH, until they bring our troops home… COME ON

CHORUS:

just,
Come along follow me as I lead through the darkness
As I provide just enough spark that we need, to proceed
Carry on, give me hope, give me strength, come with me, and I wont steer you wrong
Get your faith and your trust, as I guide us through the fog, to the light at the end of the tunnel we gon’ fight,
we gon’ charge, we gon’ stomp we gon mosh through the smog, we gon march through the mosh, take us right through the doors… COME ON

VERSE 3:

Imagine it poorin’, its rainin’ down on us, moshpits outside the oval office
Someone’s tryin to tell us something, maybe this is god, just sayin we're responsible
For this monster, this coward, that we have empowered, this is bin laden
Look at his head noddin’, how can we allow something like this without pumpin our fists
Now this is our, final hour,
Let me be the voice, in your strength and your choice, let me simplify the rhyme,
Just to implify the noise, tryin to amplify to times it, and multiply it by sixteen million people are equal at this high pitch
Maybe we can reach alqueda through my speech, let the president answer our high anarchy
Strap him with a AK-47 let HIM go fight his own war, let him impress daddy that way,
No more blood for oil, we got our own battles to fight on our own soil, no more psychological warfare to trick us to thinking that we ain’t loyal
If we don’t serve our own country, we’re patronizing our hero
Look in his eyes, its all lies, the stars and stripes, have been swiped, washed out and wiped,
And replaced with his own face, mosh now or die, if I can snipe tonight, you’ll know why, ‘cuz I told you to fight.

CHORUS:

Come along follow me as I leed through the darkness
As I provide just enough spark that we need, to proceed
Carry on, give me hope, give me strength, come with me, and I wont steer you wrong
Get your faith and your trust, as I guide us through the fog, to the light at the end of the tunnel we gon fight,
we gon charge, we gon stomp we gon mosh through the smog, we gon march through the mosh, take us right through the doors... come on

Eminem: and as we proceed to mosh through this deasert storm, and these closing statements, if they should argue, let us beg to differ, as we set aside our differences, and assemble our own army to dissarm this weapon of mass distruction that we call our president for the present and mosh for the future of our next generation, to speak and be heard, mr president, mr senitor

kids: hear us, hear us

WOW- Who knew?

I don't care what you think of Eminem or hip-hop you have to watch his latest video. I wish MTV would just start playing it and leave it on until election day. I'm not sure when Eminem got political beyond his own life- but this is a seriously brilliant song/video combination.

DICK Cheney- The MOVIE

Want to know what a lying prick Cheney is?
A career retrospective.
Watch it here. (About 40 minutes)
You'll notice Sinclair isn't trying to air it. Oh well.
For instance, Did you know that Cheney dropped out of Yale- Twice?
Oh, and he got arrested for Drunk Driving too- just like Bush.

Oh, this just keeps getting more and more ridiculous

In what HAS to be, hands down, the most completely fucking stupid thing his Shrubness has EVER said- either that or this man is WAY WAY WAY more insane than even his greatest detractors have ventured to guess.

Pat Robertson. THE Pat Robertson of the 700 Club fame- otherwise known as Fundamentalist Wacko- says that in discussions with Pres. Shrub before the gulf war that NO ONE WAS GOING TO DIE!!!! I cannot wait to see the Republicans attack Robertson as a liberal or something- this is going to be rich!


What exactly was said?
"And I warned him about this war. I had deep misgivings about this war, deep misgivings. And I was trying to say, 'Mr. President, you had better prepare the American people for casualties.' "
Robertson said the president then told him,
"Oh, no, we're not going to have any casualties."

Anyone that votes for this guy needs to have their heads examined. That millions will in a couple of weeks is a little hard to understand. How far up your ass does your head have to be before people will admit you're not worth their support?
I guess we'll find out.

Just when you thought it couldn't get any more ridiculous

THE BUSH FOLKS ARE BURYING A CIA REPORT THAT HOLDS THEM ACCOUNTABLE FOR 9/11!!!!!

That's right, the CIA has reportedly had a report prepared for weeks that names high level Bush administration officials (we don't know which ones exactly- just that they are "high level") as culpable for 9-11. Since this falls under the category of things the Dubyas don't want to be true- THEY ARE SUPRESSING IT. This practice was quite common- in Soviet Russia.

Once again it makes me wonder- is there anything these people won't do?

There he goes again...

Cheney has once more unleashed what is probably the most petty, most shameful, most disgusting of all campaign arguments.
If you vote for the other guy- we're all going to die.
I mean, come the fuck on.

"It's absolutely essential that eight weeks from today, on Nov. 2, we make the right choice, because if we make the wrong choice, then the danger is that we'll get hit again, that we'll be hit in a way that will be devastating from the standpoint of the United States..." -Dick

First of all, this scares the crap out of me becuase if I'm a terrorist- this makes me want to hit America before the election- if for no other reason for saying they cannot hit at the Bush Administration- especially considering what happened in Spain last year. I fear such an attack will be the October surprise we've all been waiting for. These guys are clearly desperate. (Both the terrorists and the Bush Camp)

I think the first thing Kerry is going to do as President is to give all of Halliburton's contracts to other firms- I'm sure the thought's crossed the minds of the people at Halliburton as well. I'm sure they've made a few phone calls- I mean you would almost have to- the contracts are worth literally billions of dollars. If you're a Halliburton Exec. do you really just let this happen? And who are you going to call? Why the ex CEO of your company and the Vice President of the US- Dick Dick Cheney.
This is all speculation of course and will always remain so. Dick's not stupid- there will never be any record of his interactions with Halliburton. But with Billions of dollars in play and the media in their pocket- the chances for really scary Reichstag Fire/Wag the Dog- type stuff just gets higher and higher.

I really think it sucks that we even have to consider such things- that my biggest hope- not confidence- hope- is that the US can hold an election that comes within 10 miles of fair. Never mind the screw-ups in Afghanistan- I'm worried about our country- our people.

Tucker Carlson, "You're a dick..."

Johnathon Stewart is my hero. Watch him on Crossfire. It's totally brutal- John rips both Tucker and Bagala to shreds. And his point is a very valid one. My favorite part is when they criticize Stewart's COMEDY show against their show on CNN.

CARLSON: You had John Kerry on your show and you sniff his throne and you're accusing us of partisan hackery?
STEWART: Absolutely.
CARLSON: You've got to be kidding me. He comes on and you...
(CROSSTALK)
STEWART: You're on CNN. The show that leads into me is puppets making crank phone calls.

For all y'all with the yellow ribbons who plan to vote for the Cheatin' Dubya.

Amply supplied troops?

Go ahead. Say it's because Kerry voted against the 87 milliion- which was actually a protest vote against Halliburton's free cash giveaway.

He got his money. The troops are in a terrible place- unequipped, outnumbered, and unsafe. They should be back home here with us. If wanting people to not die is unAmerican. Then so be it.

Send Bush home to Texas and bring our troops home for Valentines Day!

Cheater Cheater Cheater!!!!!

It's a little hard to believe, but Bush wore the wire again in the 3rd debate. Salon has a great picture of it although you'll have to go through some bullshit to actually read the article that accompanies the terrific photo of Bush's bulging back.

Sorry to keep hyping on this- but if he's willing to cheat like this in a simple (albeit important for his personal political future) debate- just try to imagine the level of deceit going on about the really important issues that effect everyone in this country- indeed around the entire globe.

Yikes.

They've even got their own ketchup now!

Yup. The Republicans now have their own ketchup so they don't have to support Kerry.
Wow.
(Be sure to look at the About W ketchup section- for some reason there's a picture of Ronald Reagan. Also be sure to notice that everything is made in America- but they don't mention any states.. Hmm.)

The Final Presidential Debate

Bush got his clock cleaned.
Why?
It's not just because he was babbling like a loon half the time- it was Kerry's performance. While Bush just attacked Kerry as a Liberal, the only thing he really had was "he voted to raise taxes 96 times" Kerry read laundry lists of Bush screw-ups, and one of which could have been used in his non-answer to the last debates question of, "What mistakes have you made?" Kerry explained in remarkably coherent detail how he was going to pay for his plans. Frankly I was shocked he did it. Most politicians are terrified to stake out positions so publicly. I'm not saying his ideas will necessarily work- but at least he's actually explaining what he thinks. I think this tactic wins him swing votes. Bush had no plan at all. Kerry represents an alternative that comes across as well thought out. I mean, Bush has us back at trickle down economics for fucks sake.
The one thing the Bushy Administration doesn't want is the question to come down to stubborn resolve vs. the ability to change position in the light of new facts. People want resolve. They don't want insane ideological certainty. They don't want the pushy husband who refuses to admit he doesn't know where he is when you've been driving around in circles for 4 hours. You gotta stop for directions sometimes- the people know that.
Oh, and I'm sorry, but when the President talks about his faith I get freaked out.
Not that he has faith, that's way cool by me, it's that his kind of faith is almost desperate- He needs God to be on his side- otherwise he might have to actually face the fact he's one of the worst Presidents in the history of this country.
Clearly his handlers are well aware of how thin the reality of his poll numbers really are becuase he keeps cheating. Now they're throwing out Democratic voter registration cards. It seems to have be a concerted effort- all funded by the RNC. If this pops before the election- Bush is fucko.
And yeah, in case you've forgotten, he also likes to cheat some more. There were several times last night I would've bet money he was listening to something in his ear. He'd usually say a name or fact immediatly afterward. Of course, I was looking for it- so I might be biased.
Speaking of the "Is Bush wired" question, did anyone else notice how badly distorted his reception was for the first two or three minutes of the debate last night? It was an echoey feedback, you know, the kind you can get when you bring two microphones too close together.

Bill O Reilly- Right Wing Ideologue or Freaky Sex Pervert?

Apparantly Bill O Reilly is getting sued for sexually harrassing an ex-employee Andrea Mackris. While normally one would doubt such claims, this particular instance seems to be different becuase, as the Smoking Gun points out, there are long transcripts of Bill O Reilly's words that are quoted VERBATIM, which seems to indicate there is a tape. And if there is, O Reilly is TOAST. Bye Bye and SHUT UP!