Second Class Citizen News.

2004-01-28T10:23:00.000-08:00

Problems With Algorithms

A certain web search engine uses algorithms to put ads on their site from a certain major books seller. Well in one case if you put in a search for 'sexual orientation' one of the books that is returned is on preventing homosexuality.

2003-12-29T14:23:00.000-08:00

TTFN!

I'm moving over to LiberalTimes.com

For the latest head that way! Onward ho!

2003-12-21T16:00:00.000-08:00

The Lousy T-shirt

I just read a great site called The Lousy T-shirt it's political commentary with swearing! hehe. He was all over the AFA's bullsheeznizzie gay marriage poll which was solely marketed to extremem christians.

2003-12-18T16:25:00.000-08:00

SOURCE: Click Here
An astute observer has caught the AFA red-handed falsifying the results of their poll to be more to their liking...

Thanks to one of our readers for pointing this out. Earlier, Achilles posted about the American "Family" Association's marriage poll and several posters wondered why anyone would trust the AFA to fairly conduct such a poll. It turns out they were right to be cynical and mistrusting of this upstanding and moral organization.
An astute observer noticed that unlike votes in places other than Florida and where Diebold machines are used, the number of votes for the answer, "I favor legalization of homosexual marriage" went down rather than up as the AFA cooked the books. In the first screen shot at 10:57 AM, the percentage is 16.10 (21075 votes); in the second taken at 11:22, it is 14.05 (17985 votes). One person commented in the comments area of the posting at 11:33 that it was down to 13%.

The AFA claims that it was just removing multiple votes from "someone on the pro-homosexual side of the issue" because of course, that many votes couldn't possibly come from actual people, now could they? I trust they've gone and validated that nobody's run a script against the votes opposing gay marriage too, right? Note that the poll requires you to enter your name, email address and zip code; surely these had to be unique for the votes to be accepted the first time. If it were anybody other than the AFA, I might be willing to grant them the benefit of the doubt and believe their story, but this is the AFA. They're known liars who'll do and say anything, no matter how morally reprehensible to get their way.

In any case, the fact that they have admitted that they've manually adjusted the numbers invalidates the poll. Its results, no matter what they are, cannot now be trusted. The AFA has doctored the results of this poll and admitted to it. Will they be telling that to Congress when they present their findings?

---Nick

2003-12-18T16:07:00.000-08:00

Anti-gay Chrisitan Org Has Marriage "poll"

This group is planning to present this poll to congress as though it's a reliable scientic poll. Yeah right, cause anybody reading their site undoubtedly hates gays.

Throw a wrench in their plans to tell a big l lie:

http://www.marriagepoll.com

Go vote! Screw them for trying to do something so lacking in ethics.

2003-12-15T10:03:00.000-08:00

Louisiana: The unwashed arm pit of the United States

2003-12-12T10:39:00.000-08:00

Lord Of The Rings: Return Of The King

I got to see an advanced screening of LOTR:ROTK last night. It's a good film, but doesn't move nearly as fast as the previous two films did. I remember at the end of the last two films being surprised three hours had passed. This film is different though. It seems to have at least five endings. I half expected that when "The End" appears for them to fade back in with "just kidding" scrawled across the scene.

I'm not going to give anything away about the film... but, I did enjoy the kiss between Frodo and Sam, it really confirmed something I suspected.

2003-12-04T16:00:00.000-08:00

7 Year Old Punished For Saying Gay

While Describing His Mothers Lesbian Relationship!

Source: The Lafayette Advertiser

::SNIPPET::
[a] second-grader at Ernest Gallet Elementary School was sent to the principal’s office Nov. 11 and forced to attend a “behavioral clinic” a week later, where he repeatedly had to write “I will never use the word ‘gay’ in school again,” the ACLU said in its complaint to the district. ::End SNIPPET::

2003-12-02T14:03:00.000-08:00

Bobbleheads

Okay... I don't get it. What is so amusing about a Bobblehead? Sure... the head bobbles. I suppose that's amusing for the three seconds it takes to throw the toy to the ground and crush it beneath your heal. My question is, why are they so frickin' popular? Some police department in White Heterosexual Falls, Indiana is selling the Bobbleheads for $10 a pop. Who is this stupid!?

Republicans. I think the Bobbleheads are hipnotic toys that lull innocent users into mindless lobotomization. Once you are hipnotized the toys instruct you to vote Republican despite the fact that you're poor, in a union, and never have a chance of being truelly rich.

That or Republicans like it because the head just always nods yes to everything, it doesn't offer pesky logic to screw up conservative arguments.

2003-12-01T10:07:00.000-08:00

All about moi!

I have managed to lose 12 lbs on the atkins diet in just 12 days. This diet rocks! Sure it may be hard on the kidney's, but so are a lot of other things. A few weeks on Atkins won't hurt me long term.

2003-11-19T16:36:00.000-08:00

Retarded Friendsters

I think half my friends are retarded. They keep putting up bulletin board posts that are the sort of thing stupid housewives and high school girls forward to each other. You now the "Answer these questions and send the answers to everybody you love, because it means you love them." Whenever I see this stuff I fully understand how a man like Bush could be the selected pResident.

2003-11-19T16:32:00.000-08:00

Michael Jackson

Here we go again, Michael Jackson once again being charged for crimes involving a child. Half my coworkers are taking the angry ape aproach to this and declaring Michael should be shot. I happen to believe in providing a fair trial to those who are accussed. In this case especially, this man is an easy target. He's effeminate, looks freakish due to the plastic surgery/burns/skin-disease. He's got lots of money, and a press that is willing to write anything they can about him.

Perhaps if there were a Michael Jackson molestation video, or even some testimony... but right now he's innocent until proven guilty. He's a freak, don't stone him to death for it.

2003-11-19T14:28:00.000-08:00

Slashdot

I just went over to Slashdot. For years Slashdot.com was one of my favorite website for tech news. But in recent years since I actually started working for a major tech company I've been feeling less and less interested in Slashdot. It just seems like the stuff they write about isn't interesting anymore.

I've also found I don't use my computer nearly as much when I'm home as I used to. Heck until yesterday I didn't have a connection from home. Oh well, if I'm going to get LiberalTimes.com up to it's full potential I'm going to have to put time in on my own.

It's funny how what you work on can take the passion out of what you love.

2003-11-18T15:23:00.000-08:00

Massachusett's Supreme Court Allows Gay Marriage!

Gay Marriage Legal In Massachusetts Court Rules

(Boston, Massachusetts) Massachusetts' highest court Tuesday ruled gay marriage is legal, but, the Supreme Judicial Court stopped short of ordering marriage licenses to be granted immediately to same-sex couples.

"We declare that barring an individual from the protections, benefits, and obligations of civil marriage solely because that person would marry a person of the same sex violates the Massachusetts Constitution," the ruling declared. -- by Paul Johnson, 365gay.com

Wow! It's finally happened, gay marriage has become a right in Massachussett's. Sadly though the court did not immediately grant marriage licenses and allowed the state 180 days of wiggle room to outlaw gay marriage.

2003-11-18T15:17:00.000-08:00

Gay Republicans

With today's news about the Massachussett's gay marriage ruling the Republican party is looking posed to introduce a Constitutional amendment for voting in the Legislative branch. This would cement the striping of rights from gays.

My question is this: how can any gay man justify voting Republican?

If this constitutional amendment manages to make it through and become the overriding law of the land the Republicans will have succeeded where the segragationists failed. What would these same gay republicans have thought of blacks who voted for a segragationist?

Mass. Ruling Galvanizes Gay Marriage Foes

(Washington, D.C.) Conservative groups already pressing Republicans to make same-sex marriage an election issue in 2006 say Tuesday's ruling by the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts (story) will put the issue front and center.

"It undoubtedly will make it an issue," says conservative lobbyist Gary Bauer:

On Capitol Hill the Republican leadership moved closer to officially throwing its official support behind a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. -- by Paul Johnson, 365gay.com

Focus On The Family: Not too bright

Focus On The Family

"This is THE wake-up call for both the American public and our elected officials. If we do not amend the Massachusetts State Constitution so that it explicitly protects marriage as the union of one man and one woman, and if we do not amend the U.S. Constitution with a federal marriage amendment that will protect marriage on the federal level, we will lose marriage in this nation. " --FOC Media Release

-- DUH! My name is Dr. Dobson of
Focus On The Family and I lost marriage!?
Where'd it go? It was here just a minute ago?
Gosh them homos sure hid it well.

2003-11-18T14:55:00.000-08:00

Bush in London

A humorous piece over at MSNBC.com: "A Not So Warm Welcome

Man the British hate Bush almost as much as the majority of Americans do. Naw, nobody can hate Bush more than most Americans.

2003-11-17T08:42:00.000-08:00

Entertainment

I just converted another friend into a Buffy fan. He's a fan of horror films so I showed him what is undeniably one of the creepiest episodes of Buffy, "Hush." I can't wait for Season 5's DVDs with it's Glory and Dawn storylines. Not that I love Dawn but she was definately a part of that great season. I also will really look forward to the 7th season DVD just so that I can see the Anya throughout history episode.

I caught 5 minutes of Everwood yesterday while taking a study break. What a crapy show! They had the character Ephram Brown played by a mostly good looking Gregory Smith complaining that he is too ugly to get girls. This passes for entertainment? Chris Pratt as Bright Abbot was almost worth watching. Almost.

Okay, is it me or is The OC's Benjamin McKenzie only attractive from certain angles. Sure he looks great when the airbrush artist are at full swing... but when the camera catches him at the wrong angle he looks really odd. It must be horrible to have to play a character like Ryan Atwood from... Riverside. Okay, I've been to Riverside so there is definately a bit of a factor there. But really, Ryan Attwood played by Benjamen McKenze doesn't strike me as much of anything besides a pretty boy.

2003-11-17T08:32:00.000-08:00

Paris Hilton Sex Video

The Paris Hilton Sex Tape, "Paris Hilton Girl Gone Wild" is a choice clickable on the net these days. I received a ton of hits just for the phrase.

The quicktime video must be great, or realplayer, or windows media. You can see Paris Hilton hooking up with some C-grade star with a slightly larger than average schlong. If you click a link it'll take you right there to see Paris Hilton having crazy-go-nuts sex. Whooopie!!!

I'm getting a lot of hits for Paris Hilton references. :-)

2003-11-17T08:24:00.000-08:00

Sheeznizze So Busy.

I'm studying for a certification exam all day. That means I'm going light on the blogging today. Sorry, I promise to deliver all sorts of choice readables tommorow!

-Rob

2003-11-14T16:37:00.000-08:00

Blog Of The Week

ILoveKarlRove.com

I want to be a RoveHo!

2003-11-14T16:14:00.000-08:00

Farscape

Words has it that there is big news in the pipe for Farscape. There was supposed to be a press conference yesterday to reveal the big news, however it was delayed for a few days. Sure it's a tease, and I'm falling for it, but Farscape was one of the best Sci-Fi shows ever. I'm saving up to buy the second season on DVD, the first was magnificient.

2003-11-14T15:25:00.000-08:00

CCNA Exam

I take the CCNA exam this coming week. That means I have to spend the entire weekend reading about Routers, and Switches, and IP addressing. Fun eh? Not really. It's what I gotta do for my job though. Maybe I should start asking for donations on here so that someday I can do this as my job. I'd love that. After I pass the CCNA exam I'm going to start a new website called LiberalTimes.com which I want to be a place of discourse for all people, not just liberals.

2003-11-14T15:11:00.000-08:00

Rick Santorum Blows A Gasket.

This is so delicious! I heard of snippet of Rick 'Cry Baby' Santorum throwing a temper tantrum on the Senate floor this morning because Democrats aren't rolling over and playing dead. What a child.

Those of you who don't remember Rick Santorum from earily this year, he is the Senator that commented on the Sodomy ruling as allowing Man-On-Dog sex leaving many wondering how often Rick thinks about dogs in that way.

2003-11-13T13:50:00.000-08:00

Fun Facts That Republicans Don't Want You To Know

Notwithstanding the finger-pointing by the Republicans for filibustering four Bush nominees, this practice started in 1968 with Republicans, with the help of Southern Democrats (who now come to the Senate as Republicans), filibustering President Lyndon Johnson's nominee for Chief Justice, Abe Fortas. Republicans blocked Fortas so Nixon could get the chief justice appointment, assuming, correctly, he would be elected. -- John W. Dean, Salon

2003-11-13T11:42:00.000-08:00

Dems Fight On!!!

"Thirty hours on judges? There are 13 million hungry children in America tonight but Republicans don't have time to debate that." -- Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass.

The senators who are playing politics with their nominations are acting shamefully, ugly politics." -- President Mc ShitForBrains angry that 4 of the 172 judges he's nominated haven't been approved.

So in other words Smirky McShitforbrains, if the Senate Democrats which hold 49% of the seats in the Senate approve 98% of your nominees they aren't allowed to say the other 2% aren't fit for judgeships? I know you've got shite for brains, but this isn't a dictatorship: YOU MUST COMPROMISE.

2003-11-13T11:33:00.000-08:00

Paris Hilton

So the Paris Hilton sex tape is out there now available on the internet. There's somthing really satisfying about a wealthy heiress being embarassed nationally because she did something so stupid as to allow herself to be taped.

2003-11-13T11:25:00.000-08:00

Ten-Commandment Justice Removed

Salon is reporting that Cheif Justice of Alabama Roy Moore has been stripped of his position because of his refusal to follow a Federal court order.

Undoubetdly this guy will be the next Bush Federal court nominee.

2003-11-13T10:31:00.000-08:00

Dems Fight Back! Facist Judges Blocked

Today the democrats are fighting back by turning the Republican tactics back on them. During the Clinton Administration the Republicans used the power of Fillibuster (when Senators speak for many hours to prevent a vote) to stop several of his nominations cold. In many cases the Judicial Committee run by Republicans just axed his nominations before they could get to a vote.

The Democrats have allowed 168 of Bush's nominations to go through. The Democrats just have a problem with 4 of his nominations and are not going to let the senate vote for these facist nominations.

The Republicans in turn have ordered a 30 hour session of the Senate to debate the nominations. The point of this 30 hour session is to catch the Democrats without somebody to speak which means the Senate can vote and because there are 51 Republicans and only 49 Democrats the judges will be approved for LIFETIME APOINTMENTS.

Sign the Moveon.org petition to stop the worst of the worst judges that Bush has apointed:

Janice Brown, whom the New York Times described as "among the very worst" of Bush's nominees, also writing that: "As an archconservative justice on the California Supreme Court, she has declared war on the mainstream legal values that most Americans hold dear."

Priscilla Owen, who represents the "far right wing" of the Texas Supreme Court. One of her many rightward dissents from that court's majority opinions was described as an "unconscionable act of judicial activism" by Alberto Gonzalez, who was then also a justice on the Texas court but is now President Bush's chief White House Counsel.

Carolyn Kuhl, who threw out a suit brought by a woman with breast cancer whose doctor had brought a drug company salesman into the examining room where he witnessed an intimate examination of her. A unanimous appeals court later reversed Kuhl's decision.

Charles Pickering, who took extraordinary and ethically questionable steps to try to reduce a mandatory jail sentence for a man convicted of burning an eight-foot cross on the lawn of an interracial couple.

Click Here To Stop Them!

2003-11-12T11:00:00.000-08:00

Today I noticed in the user log that somebody from the City Of Utica, NY had gone to my website because of something they had searched for. In honor of the CITY OF UTICA, I hereby repost the post that got them to look at my site:

Originally Posted:: Wednesday, September 11, 2002 ::

9/11: Just Dump The Gays Bodies Into The Trash

"Planners of a Wednesday night interfaith 9/11 memorial service in Utica, N.Y., removed the scheduled main speaker from the program because of his advocacy of gay rights, according to the Utica Observer-Dispatch.

The Utica Fire Department threatened to pull its participation in the memorial, titled "One Region United," if the Reverend Fred Daley were allowed to speak. Firefighters reportedly were upset because Daley had announced plans to host a special 9/11 remembrance mass for gay and lesbian Catholics on Sunday.

"Basically, I wanted him removed as the speaker," assistant fire chief Russell Brooks said. "All these other issues and crusades should not cloud what this one day is all about. September 11 is supposed to be a day of uniting and healing. I think it's very inappropriate for [Daley] to bring this to light on that day." -- Advocate News 9/11/2002

Like I've said before, there are certain people like Assistant Fire Chief Russel Brooks who probably think that gay victims should be thrown out with the rest of the trash. Don't like that? Perhaps you should let them know. Stop being bullied.

Contact the Utica Fire Department and let them know what you think of Assistant Fire Chief Russel Brooks: Non-Emergency Number: 315-731-2000
Business Number: 315-731-2020

Or give some city council members a call click this link to go the page with their numbers: http://www.cityofutica.com/council.htm

Or call the mayor Tim Julian: (315) 792-0100
Or email the mayor: mayor@cityofutica.com

2003-11-12T10:34:00.000-08:00

Santorum

Ever since the flap over Santorum revealed he is all about the Man On Dog sex he's been put up in the spotlight by the Bush administration. At the signing of the partial birth abortion ban he was front and center directly behind Bush.

My only question is, what is Rick Santorum going to do if he get's a husky bitch pregnant?

2003-11-10T12:23:00.000-08:00

Harvey Milk

The Castro theater is showing The Times Of Harvey Milk on Weds the 12th. I'm really looking forward to seeing it. When I first moved to San Francisco I didn't really know much about Harvey Milk and his assasination. It is since then that I've read articles, and books in which he featured prominently as a leader in the early LGBT movement for recognition. I recently went to the Saint Harvey exhibit at the International Gay and Lesbian History Society. While the exhibit is small, and unfortunately does not contain much from his days before moving to San Francisco, it was very moving. They have the clothes he was wearing when he was shot, blood stains and all, on display.

2003-11-10T12:18:00.000-08:00

Jesus Freaks In Downtown SF

There were two street performers out in front of the theaters near the Clift Hotel yesterday. They were singing some tired song about Jesus being super-fantabulolistic or something, and then asking for money. I think one of the songs was specifically about Jesus being "The Way" I think they meant to heaven, which means I must not be on The Way and hence must be heading torwards Hell.

I didn't give them any money.

2003-11-10T12:15:00.000-08:00

Gametime

My buddy Paul gave me a copy of the new Lord Of The Rings: The Three Kings gamecube game. I spent far too much time yesterday playing the game when I should have been studying for the CCNA exam I have to take next week. The game is difficult and I have few complaints.

The best thing about this game (beside that my friend helped to program it) is that it has video images which melt into rendered computer graphics. It's quite nice. They have scenes from the second LOTR movie with Smeagle (sp?), I forgot how incredible he was in the second movie. A computer generated character you actually feel for more than you feel for any of the human parts.

2003-11-07T16:22:00.000-08:00

Stupid Cow Feinstein Supports Patriot Act

Like all easily lead animals, cows,sheep, lemmings, Senator Feinstein has made comments that she supports the Patriot Act.

Check out the story over at the Weekly Standard: Click Here

STUPID F'ING Caaaaaaaauuuuuuuuuuuunt.

2003-11-06T14:22:00.000-08:00

Bush Refused To Consider Iraqi Surrender

Click Here

Excerpt:
As American soldiers massed on the Iraqi border in March and diplomats argued about war, an influential adviser to the Pentagon received a secret message from a Lebanese-American businessman: Saddam Hussein wanted to make a deal.

Iraqi officials, including the chief of the Iraqi Intelligence Service, had told the businessman that they wanted Washington to know that Iraq no longer had weapons of mass destruction, and they offered to allow American troops and experts to conduct a search. The businessman said in an interview that the Iraqis also offered to hand over a man accused of being involved in the World Trade Center bombing in 1993 who was being held in Baghdad. At one point, he said, the Iraqis pledged to hold elections.

But noooooooo you can't have them surrender to us... Bush thought this war would give him huge numbers in the polls, so what if it cost hundreds and maybe thousand of AMERICAN SOLDIERS their lives.

2003-11-06T11:35:00.000-08:00

Picture this

The Los Angeles Times has a story today about some religiously insane students that thought it was apropriate to coordinate for a yearbook photo so that their shirts would all say "Jesus Loves You" and "Jesus is the way." (Way to what? A life of bigotry, stupidity, and giving your money away to your church?)

So now the parents are in an uproar because they were also raised stupid, err... I mean, with religion.

I think all the other students should get to put on shirts that say things like "Satan is the way." and "I like gay sex." and "I like to shove pine cones and broom handles up freshmen football players butts."

2003-11-06T09:53:00.000-08:00

Get The Shizznizzie on the DL from the Gen'ral

Check out this great Wesley Clark 'Rock The Vote' quicktime:

CLICK HERE

2003-11-06T09:49:00.000-08:00

Protest In Winston-Salem

Hey Folks,

If any of you are interested in attending the counter-demo to Bush's $2,000 a plate luncheon in Winston-Salem Friday, and need a ride from Chapel Hill, please email cmfoster@email.unc.takethisout.edu ASAP.
The event, "Free Soup, Free Speech," is meant to call attention to Bush's policies and his campaign contributors, and is being run by peace groups, labor groups, environmental groups, as well as the state Democratic Party.
It should turn out hundreds of people for a party-like celebration of what democracy could and should be about. A van and as many cars as needed will be leaving from the Campus Y Friday at 8:30 am, and will return by 2:30 that afternoon.
Bush's visit to our state offers a great opportunity for concerned citizens to express their dissatisfaction with Bush's policies whether it be because of his handling of the economy, his robbing of the public treasury, his invasion of Iraq, his stance on affirmative action, his pilfering of
the environment, or the multiple other reasons why Bush cannot be allowed to return to the White House in 2004. It is also a chance to make both a symbolic and substantive point about the egregious nature of our campaign finance system, and to tell our elected officials that there needs to be an end to the unrelenting clutch big money has on our political power structures.
For more information go to
http://www.communityforpeace.net/bushnov7.htm.

2003-11-05T14:06:00.000-08:00

Electronic Frountier Foundation hits back

The EFF has agreed to defend an ISP and a publisher against Diebold's attempts to keep their crimes from coming to public attention.

EXCERPT:

Defending the right to link to controversial information about flaws in electronic voting systems, EFF announced today it will defend an Internet Service Provider (ISP) and a news website publisher against claims of indirect copyright infringement from the electronic voting machines' manufacturer.

Click Here!

2003-11-05T11:50:00.000-08:00

VOTER FRAUD: DIEBOLD COVER UP

Today I received this e-mail:

Hi ,

We could really use your help publicizing this.

Myself, along with students from 20 other universities are starting to
receive cease and desist letters from Diebold Election Systems. A copy
of the cease-and-desist letter received by MIT is here:

http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/~jhall/temp/diebold_c-d.pdf

The letters are in response to our coordinated electronic civil
disobedience effort to keep a compressed file of internal Diebold
memos alive and force them to do a legal version of "whack a mole."
We have other students with the files lined up ready to take our place
as sites are taken down.

For more on the disobedience effort, See:
http://why-war.com/features/2003/10/diebold.html

We need help getting the word out and having other institutions/
individuals post mirrors to the files. The Berkeley copies will be
available here (below) until we are forced to take them down or can
convince our University to fight the cease-and-desist actions on fair
use grounds.

http://sims.berkeley.edu/~jhall/nqb/archives/lists.tgz
http://sims.berkeley.edu/~parkert/misc/lists.tgz

We are within the bounds of fair use as the memos are highly
newsworthy and seem to implicate illegal activity on behalf of Diebold
Election Systems. A more extensive legal case is available by reading
Wendy Seltzer's response to one of the cease-and-desist letters:

http://www.chillingeffects.org/responses/notice.cgi?NoticeID=912

If you are a student reading this and can host a mirror, send a link
and your institution's name to info@why-war.com .

Thanks for your time,
J.

2003-11-05T10:48:00.000-08:00

14 Million Jobs Gone So Republicans Can Get Richer

Salon has a great piece on the outsourcing of jobs from America to countries like Russia, China and India. Check out the story, I'll write more about it later. In The Blink Of An Eye

2003-11-05T10:36:00.000-08:00

Sick F'er

The Green River Killer plead guilty to the murder of 48 women today. In exchange the prosecution has agreed to the plea of life in prison rather than being executed. I'm against the death penalty, but come on! This guy killed 48 women, sure they were prostitutes, but they were still human. I bet this guy is short lived in jail. CNN had a picture of Gary Ridgway he looks like a high school physics teacher I once had.

2003-11-05T10:23:00.000-08:00

Artless & Unentertaining: The Matrix Revolutions.

The Matrix Revolutions is out in theaters today. The critics hate this film, giving it reviews ranking it worse than the second Matrix film.

I have to admit that I loved the first Matrix film. The second Matrix film "Matrix Reloaded" was beyond the pale in it's mediocrity. CGI plastic looking fight scenes that looked completely fake, bad plot, bad ending, bad bad bad!!!

What is it with film makers screwing up a perfect start and flopping around without any direction after that?

My favorite review over at Rotten Tomatoes comes from Filmcritic.com's Christopher Null: "So disapointing they may as well have bussed in Ewoks to save Zion."

2003-11-04T16:09:00.000-08:00

Rush Limbaugh: Druggy.

The right wing knuckle-draggers are screaming because the left is calling Rush Limbaugh on his bull! This guy claims that anybody who is caught doing drugs should be sent to jail forever... why? Just because. He did this week after week for YEARS on his right-wing talk radio show.

Now it's his turn. But that's right, this is Bushland and we don't prosecute the wealthy for their crimes. Not in Bush's America... no sirrreeee.

2003-11-04T16:07:00.000-08:00

The Bush Economy: The Rich Get Richer

A lot of people don't know this: the top 1% of income starts at $250,000 per year.

A lot of Americans think they are in the top 1% even though they definately aren't. That is why we have to worry about losing our jobs no matter how good a job we do. That is why we have to worry about losing our homes no matter how hard we work to keep them.

So now last week we heard the Economy grew by 7%... That money went somewhere, certainly not to us in the bottom 99% of income brackets. This week news came out that job losses DOUBLED in October. So the rich cut jobs, and keep the cash from all us working harder. It's like they think we're their slaves. Class warfare? You bet, the Republicans declared it years ago.

2003-11-04T16:01:00.000-08:00

Eight Thousand Reads

We broke the 8000 reads mark this week with 2ndCC news! Thank you for reading, and keep on coming back!

If you have some funny Bush Graphics send them my way! Make sure you sign them with in the graphic! mail me at robcitizen@yahoo.com

2003-11-04T15:56:00.000-08:00

Bush Speeches Don't Mention Helicopter Deaths!

But in two appearances here, he made no specific reference to the 16 U.S. soldiers who were killed when their Chinook helicopter was shot down Sunday by a surface-to-air missile near Fallouja — the deadliest attack on American forces since the United States invaded Iraq in March.
--Edwin Chin, Los Angeles Times

What a ripe bastard Bush is. He and his evil crime family know that if the American public thought too much about all their sons and daughters dieing in Iraq they wouldn't support his attempt to steal the oil.

2003-11-04T15:33:00.000-08:00

Media Whores Online

My favorite website Media Whore Onlines appears to be "out to pasture" until 2004. That site calls the media on it's lies and sets the record straight. In the meantime TRUTHFUL REPORTING will just have to wait.

2003-11-04T15:29:00.000-08:00

CBS bends to right wing nuts

CBS executive today announced they were bending to right wing pressure by pulling the Regan mini-series off the air. "The Reagans" apparently told an unflattering, but truthful, story of this presidency.

Once again the right gets it's way in distorting the truth.

“We believe it does not present a balanced portrayal of the Reagans for CBS and its audience,” the network said in a statement Tuesday.

Is that because your audience is a bunch of morons who vote Republican despite the parties agenda to help nobody but the top 1% that makes over $250,000 per year?

2003-11-04T15:26:00.000-08:00

Photos of Dead Soldiers in Iraq

President Bush is scum. The toronto star is reporting today that the Pentagon has changed the name of body bags to "transport canisters" and is flying the bodies in late at night so that the press can't see them (and be extension they don't receive a heros welcome.)

That's right, President Bush is so worried about looking bad in the press for getting young men and women killed that he won't allow any photos of dead soilders in iraq. So rather than letting the public see the truth, the truth that these young americans were brutally murdered by Iraqi dissadents, he covers up the truth with late night flights.

WHAT AN EVIL A-HOLE.

2003-10-30T10:16:00.000-08:00

Books, Books, Books

I've read three books recently: Al Franken's "LIES, And the Lying Liars who tell them," David Brock's "Blinded By The Right," and Joe Conason's "BIG LIES."

David Brock's Blinded By The Right is a well written detailing of how we got to where we are today. Brock was uniquely positioned in through the late 80s and early 90s to watch and take part in the right wing take over of political discourse in America. This book is breath taking as you see the step by step plotting by wealthy conservatives to swing this country back torwards the right. In the book Brock implicates himself as having taken part in these right-wing schemes. He admits that he lied, that he didn't research hits he made on Democrats, that he intentionally took down people he knew were honest, and that he used sources that he knew had were not telling the truth. This leads me to the biggest point of contention with this book, if he lied before how do I know he's not lieing now? We don't. It's a great story though whether it be fact or fiction.

Al Franken's "LIES, And The Lying Liars Who Tell Them" is an excellent book. Al does his research thoroughly and gives us the details. Al so effectively details the systematic lies told by the likes of O'Rielly, Hannity, and super-liar Ann Coulter that one wonders why the mainstream press still listens to those three. Yet they do still listen to them... in fact two have their own cable news network TV shows. Ann Coulter, being the exception, still manages thousand of appearances in the Meida despite the fact that she and her books have been thoroughly discredited. So as Al puts it... "What liberal-media?" No liberal gets that much air time to spew their rhetoric.

Joe Conason's "Big Lies" is not nearly as well written as Al Franken's book. Sadly Franken's satirical comedy "Lies" has more numerical data presented to prove it's point than Joe Conason's serious treatment of the subject of right wing distortions of the truth. Whie I always enjoy Joe's articles written for Salon.com I cannot say I enjoyed this book. In many cases I found myself wondering where the numbers were to prove an accusation or assertion he had just made. In many cases he didn't provide footnotes, or even proper sourcing for the data he did show us. Sadly I have to wonder how this book differs from a book written by Ann Coulter. I have faith that Conason is inherently more honest than Coulter... but ultimately I can't just flat out take the word of either as God's honest truth.

Bowyer: The Bush Boom

Jerry Bowyer, and Larry Kudlow do a wonderful job of hitting all the Republican talking points. Heck, it even seems as though they made up a few lies of their own. The Boom the book title refers to only applies to the richest 1% of Americans, however they don't tell you this. Just in case you are wondering that's only people making more than $250,000 per year, and hence does not include you. Meanwhile the 99% rest of us Americans lose funding for education, highways, dams, police, fire, all sorts of infrastructure. Don't be fooled, the only boom in anybodies bank account is billionaire Richard Melon Scaife, a man who inherited his wealth without having to work for it. Meanwhile we are all told to work harder so that he can make even more off our sweat.

So once again the Scaife conservative pact continues to push another book that nobody wants to read out into the world. Why would they do this if nobody is going to buy it? How do the ideas from these books nobody reads get out there? After all Scaife is no fool he is expecting a return when he pays for thousands of books that will never be sold to be printed. Scaife knows these books will be reviewed in major news papers, magazines, websites, and referred to often as references on political TV shows, and right wing talk radio. So while the book may never sell, the ideas in them get pounded into our heads.

Is it class warfare? You bet, the Republicans declared it some years back. It's about time we, the 99%, start to fight back with an agenda that is good for all Americans.

Overall:
David Brocks "Blinded By The Right." : B
Al Franken's "Lies, And The Lying Liars Who Tell Them.": A
Joe Conason's "BIG LIES.": C-
Bowyer's "The Bush Boom": F-

2003-10-27T10:51:00.000-08:00

Southern California Wildfires

I talked to my dad yesterday. The wildfires are all around where he lives in Ventura County. Apparently they burned the areas around the local Moorpark community college, and down into some endangered wildlife areas. The pictures of their fire are spectacular. Seeing flames that big reminds me just how small I am in this world.

Speaking of feeling small... I went out to Sequoia National Park this weekend. It's absoultely beautiful up there. The park has General Sherman a 2700 year old giant sequoia that is the largest living thing on the plant. It is definately huge, I imagine it's how a mouse feels standing next to a person.

2003-10-27T10:35:00.000-08:00

George W. Bush is a Miserable Failure of a president!

Who is the biggest Miserable Failure of a President ever? George W. Bush... just try and name one policy which resulted in it's original purpose.

2003-10-15T12:44:00.000-07:00

In Honor Of Marriage Protection Week: A Repost

The Republican Dream...
In Vermont a state Senator dreams of rampant non-monogamous gay sex. Where men can go freely from partner to partner without having to worry about the confines of a legally recognized relationship. Sen. Julius Cannes (R-Caledonia) said he will introduce his proposal to ban gay marriage soon, but is still looking for others to cosponsor the Amendment. Senator Cannes has tried to pass this constitutional amendment for the last three sessions. When asked how he feels about the idea of gays settling down and living in legally recognized monogamous relationships he responds, "The people of Vermont never, ever had the opportunity to vote on the issue." Agreed, it is a tragedy that the people of Vermont did not get to vote for or against rampant non-legally recognized one night stands and short term fuck buddy relationships.

Around the country gay sex obsessed Republicans are demanding more gay sex. In Colorado recently "civil unions" were voted down because of concerns that it would be too much like marriage. If gays are granted the same rights and privileges as married couples, the argument goes, then they won't be free to have wild man on man, girl on girl sex. Always out to guard the "free love" nature of gays Rep. Shawn Mitchell has been ever vigilant in protecting us from the horrors of legally recognized relationships. In the case of the Civil Unions bill Rep Mitchell had this to say, "The bill attempts to create the substance of marriage without the label," and that Mr. Mitchell would be wrong.

Even in Canada the gays aren't fooled by this silly "civil union" talk. They call it, appropriately, "the booby prize." Unfortunately Republicans haven't been able to have their way in California though. In California "civil union" legislation is all the rage, holding homosexuals down with the law and keeping them from having hot man-on-man action at the slightest whim. But don't fear, Republican Pete Knight has sworn to go to war with the state of California to keep gays free to have any kind of sex they want, without government interference. Thanks Pete!

The year ahead promises to hold some contentious battles to keep gay sex fancy free. In Texas and Utah Republicans are fighting hard to get Defense Of Hot Man On Man Sex (DOMA) initiatives on the ballot. Republicans are scared witless that unless these DOMA initiatives are passed that gay men won't be able to have free wheeling gay sex with every guy they want to have gay sex with. After all, being legally bound to somebody really does make it harder to hook up from AOL.

All in all, on behalf of all of us gays, thank you Republicans everywhere! Thank you for saving us from a life of dull sex with the same person until we get a divorce like the heterosexuals do when they want to sleep with somebody else. You've really saved us a lot of time and money! And next time you are beating your meat and thinking about that hot transsexual you paid to get you off last week... I want you to know that we're sorry you had to pay her to get you off. Us homosexuals are just grateful that you're letting us learn from your past mistakes. Thanks guys, you're the best!

So, all of my gay friends, go forth and have lots of gay sex! It's what the Republicans want. You know, go down to the local club/gym/bar/bookstore/park/whatever and grab yourself a mate of the same sex and get it on! Heck if he's any good maybe give him a few calls, hook up a few times... but make sure it never resembles marriage because then you'd be disappointing a lot of Republicans who want to live vicariously through your gay orgasms! Not to mention they want to make sure there are enough of us single ones left to cheat on their wives with.

2003-10-14T15:28:00.000-07:00

Democracy In Trouble

These links are a must read if you care about democracy:

MSNBC Report on Voter Fraud

CommonDream report on Voter Fraud

Salon Report on Voter Fraud (registration req)

CBS News Report On Voter Fraud

Another Report from Salon On Computerized Voting Fraud

CBS News on Voter Fraud

ABC News Report On Voter Fraud

MSNBC report on voter fraud

2003-10-09T16:04:00.000-07:00

O'Reilly Logic?

"On 'The Factor' opinions are based on fact." -- Premise One (Bill O'Reilly on Fresh Air.)
"On 'The Factor' opinions are challenged." -- Premise Two (Bill O'Reilly on Fresh Air.)

Facts are challenged on 'The Factor.' -- logically follows Bill O'Reilly's logic.

2003-10-07T10:32:00.000-07:00

Bush: LIAR

Oct. 7, 2003 | WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush said Tuesday he has "no idea" whether the Justice Department will catch the person who disclosed an undercover CIA officer's identity. "This is a large administration," Bush said.

-- source: Salon/AP

Whatever, he knows perfectly well that the Justice Department will never find the leak. They aren't looking. This is out Nixoning Nixon.

2003-10-06T11:20:00.000-07:00

Gay Marriage Out Of The Closet

Today bush announced he had signed a Proclamation creating Marriage Protection Week, a disgusting anti-gay, anti-family proclamation meant to villanize gay families.

What is a Republican president to do when his approval ratings go into free fall? Shore up his Christian right voters by scapegoating gay families of course. Perhaps I’m being cynical, but what else can explain the President’s proclamation of Protection of Marriage Week? This proclamation is disturbing in it’s denial of an entire segment of our society that desperately needs the protections and rights associated with marriage.

I have news for the President. Gays already have the right to marry. The federal government may choose wrongly to discriminate against gays who have married, but that won’t change the fact that they are married. Gay marriages are still valid even if the government chooses to continue denying the over 1000 federal rights and protections associated with heterosexual marriage. Ultimately the validity of a gay marriage lies with the family created by the marriage not by the government which seeks to destroy it.

In the early days of the gay rights movement coming out of the closet was a key weapon in winning our ability to have public discourse. Prior to the initial push for gays to come out of the closet even bringing up the subject of homosexuality was taboo. Through the brave commitment of individuals like Harvey milk to live life in the open early activists showed the world that gays can be productive members of society. Despite being villanized by the religious right gays managed to make huge strides once they decided to come out of the shadows, and into the light of day for all to see.

It is in the spirit of the Harvey Milk era of activism that gays must now bring their marriages out of the closet. It is only in the light of day, out of the shadows, that the mainstream public can see how gays are wronged on a daily basis. If heterosexuals don’t know that there are already gay couples that have been married for years with out federal or state level recognition then they must be made aware of it.

In response to Marriage Protection Week it is my view that gays should also rally for the protection of marriage. Marriage is the deepest commitment a couple can make: gay or straight. If you and your partner are married perhaps it is time to demand that your spouse be treated as your spouse in public. Whether your spouse is a Wife or Husband declaring your marriage whenever possible is the best way you can protect that marriage. We don’t need the government to tell us whether or not gays can marry. Gays cans, gays have, and gays will continue to marry no matter what proclamation the White House issues.

2003-10-02T14:31:00.000-07:00

What's good For The Goose, is... hipocracy?

There's a long history in Washington of retaliating against people who hold different views, but recent events have taken this to a new level. To intimidate an expert who disagreed with President Bush's Iraq policy, a senior Bush administration official leaked the name of the expert's wife - an undercover CIA expert on Weapons of Mass Destruction whose life is now in danger because of the leak. Outing an intelligence operative is not just irresponsible, it's a criminal offense.

Uncovering this CIA agent to a reporter is so reprehensible that even John Dean, the former Nixon aid embroiled in the Watergate scandal wrote, "If I thought I had seen political tricks as vile and nasty as they could get at the Nixon White House, I was wrong.... Nixon never set up a hit on one of his enemies' wives."

The White House is leaving this criminal investigation to John Ashcroft's Justice Department. But it's not reasonable to expect Ashcroft, a Bush appointee, to thoroughly investigate criminal wrongdoing by Bush's own staff. American citizens deserve a credible investigation. It's that simple.

Love,
Truemajority.com

My Take:

For those of you who haven't heard the news: Somebody within the Bush White House called 6 reporters and leaked the name of a CIA agent. Why did they do this? Because Mr. Wilson, the husband of the undercover CIA agent, exposed the truth about Bush having lied about the Niger nuclear materials being sold to Iraq. The outting of the CIA agent was an act of revenge commited by somebody high up in the Bush administration. Only one of the six reporters was willing to help the administration reap it's revenge: Robert Novak. He printed the cover undercover agents name in despite her sensitive position, thereby breaking the law. The person in the Bush White House who made the call commited an act of treason (a very harsh word, however it is use accurately in this case.)

John Ashcroft has decided to investigate the matter within the Justice Department despite the fact that he called for a Independent special prosecutor for Clinton when he received a blow job from an intern. And John Ashcroft made the same call when Gore was accussed of using a white house phone for fundraising. IT seems though that when a white house phone is used to commit treason by a member of the Bush administration that is not
worthy of a special prosecutor.

October 4, 1997
CNN's "Evans & Novak"

JOHN ASHCROFT: The truth of the matter is that if the law's been violated, we should be able to ascertain that.

We can, if we have an independent person without a conflict of interest.

ROWLAND EVANS: .The attorney general has shaved down all the allegations that Vice President Gore apparently down to one single allegation -- which telephone he used to make these fundraising calls from.

Do you really think that alone is worthy of a special prosecutor?

ASHCROFT: you know, a single allegation can be most worthy of a special prosecutor.

If you're abusing government property, if you're abusing your status in office, it can be a single fact that makes the difference on that.

So my own view is that there are plenty of things which should have caused [Attorney General Janet Reno], a long time ago, to appoint a special prosecutor, an independent investigator.

We asked for that on March the 13th of this year in letters from Republican members on the Judiciary Committee. And she's in a bad position.

The man who signs her check is the man that she's investigating, and she hasn't been very aggressive about it.

_-=End CNN Transcript=-_

I agree with John Ashcroft completely, a special prosecutor should definately be apointed to investigate this crime... which I believe involved a phone, in the white house as well.

If you want Congress to demand a special prosecutor on the Bush Administration's illegal leaks to the news media, click here:

http://action.truemajority.org/ctt.asp?u=14676&l=154

For more information about this issue, including the Bush response, click here: WashingtonPost.com

2003-09-30T10:39:00.000-07:00

MediaWhoresOnline Factoid

(from MediaWhoresOnline.com)

MWO Factoid

Darrell Issa is the single most creepy and seedy individual in American politics today, surpassing even Tom DeLay in abundance of those qualities.

2003-09-29T13:38:00.000-07:00

Spite

Today the press finally decided to take notice of the fact that members of the Bush team gave out top secret information regarding the identity of a CIA agent. Why did they do this? The CIA agent's husband is a Democart. The Republican white house was taking revenge, and in the process commiting felonies.

2003-09-26T12:27:00.000-07:00

Deaf Telemarketers

This is war peacock! The Telemarkters bribed two unethical, dirty, should be disbarred and disemboweled judges from allowing the No-Call list to go into effect. Well... fine then. I have a permanent solution: Call me at risk of losing your hearing. Form now on everytime you get a call from a telemarketer SCREAM into the telephone, or use an air horn... or invent a device which SQUEELS out a loud noise on the other end of the receiver. If we do it enough times, we won't have to worry about telemarketers because they'll be deaf.

Of course... that doesn't bode well for the Deaf/TTY community.

2003-09-25T16:12:00.000-07:00

Blog Blog Blog

Okay... I give up, I looked all over TroyAndGay.com for the link to my site... but I couldn't find it anywhere! Maybe I'm stoopit. StoopitRob... that's me!

There's a great pro-dean Blog on blogspot.com (the site that hosts me) at dean2004.blogspot.com check them out (click it! CLICK IT BIYATCH!! YEAH!!)

Ooooh... pretty.

Speaking of pretty... Check out my bro Jamison's SourCreamZenGarden.

2003-09-25T16:06:00.000-07:00

Back from NC

Today is my first full day back from North Carolina. I had a great time there and met some really nice people. In honor of my trip I'm linking to a random blog of somebody in North Carolina click there. I read part of it... she says some funny stuff about reeling minds.

2003-09-25T14:33:00.000-07:00

Bush: Teaching Us Responsibility.

Bush is like every rich kid I've ever met. He thinks he knows about being responsible, despite never having had to work to surive. He thinks he can teach us about responsibility, despite not even knowing what it's like to be responsible for paying rent, earning enough to buy food, and having to support a family.

When Bush went to Yale he had one responsibility, to get good grades. He got a C average. When Bush joined the Texas Air National Guard, he had a responsibility to show up. He didn't show up for a year, his daddy's connections kept him from going to jail. When Bush ran some corporations as CEO, a position handed to him once again by daddys connections, he had the responsibility of keeping them profitable, and making sure they followed the law. He failed there too and ran several buisinesses into the ground.

When Bush became President of the United States Of America, he had the responsibility of keeping us safe. He took a month long vacation six months into his job, his vacation ended abruptly when he stopped reading a childrens book to second graders long enough to flee like a coward in Airforce One rather than being a leader on September 11th 2001. Bush is also responsible for the safety of our troops... so he sends them into Iraq without enough support. Bush is responsible for presenting a budget, well Mr. "Daddy Bought Me Everything I've Never Had To Earn A Dollar In My Life" turned in a budget with a 480 billion dollar defecit. Bush had a responsibility to help keep Americans employed through policy decisions, instead he gave tax cuts to the rich. Trickle Down economics? The rich aren't rich because they spend their money on goods. How about we try Trickle Up economics and give complete tax cuts to the poor? The poor are poor for lots of reasons, and one of them is probably because they have to spend every cent they earn. If you want to pump cash into the economy... give it to the poor because they'll actually spend that money and get cash back into our economy. More goods sold means more demand for goods to be manufactured. Bush wants to teach the states about responsibility, refusing to help pay billions of dollars in debts the states owe. Those debts paid for schools, for fedrally mandated programs, for universities, for all sorts of things our socities require to function.

Bush reminds me of a story I heard about two poor grad-students who had to work their way through college while rooming with a rich-kid like Bush who's wealthy family paid for everything he wanted. The rich kids parents paid his rent, they paid his credit card bills (no matter how big), they paid for his food, for his entertainment, for his furniture. One day the rich-kid decides he needs to teach his poor grad-students about responsibility, so he sits them down and shows them hundreds of dollars of credit card receipts for kitchen items. He says, "Why haven't you bought a kitchen table?" Not realizing that the kitchen table was the difference between eating for a month, or not eating for a month. No matter what they said, he insisted, it was their responsibilty to work to earn a table so that he could eat on it while they starved for a month. Just like Bush, he wants to teach us about responsibility.

2003-09-23T07:46:00.000-07:00

NC
Hi D__! :-)

2003-09-17T09:11:00.000-07:00

The Cumming Storm

I'm in North Carolina this week for buisiness. I think my boss is trying to get me killed, seeing as there is a hurricane arriving smack dab in the middle of my trip. I'm excited, and yet a little freaked about the whole thing. In California we just have to worry about Earthquakes... but you never know when one will hit. There is no warning.

With huricane Isabel (or is it isabell?) you have days of warning, plenty of time to prepare. The thing is you still feel helpless for days. At least with an earthquake it's only about 45 seconds of panic, and that could almost be classified as thrilling. Well, only 45 seconds if you aren't somewhere that gets destroyed.

2003-09-08T14:40:00.000-07:00

Wedding Invitation Maker Cancels Gay Couple's Order

365gay.com (source)

(Seattle, Washington) A Seattle couple planning on getting married next month in Vancouver has been dealt a setback. A local firm that was to have printed their wedding invitations has rejected their business after learning they are a same-sex couple.

"I want it like any wedding I want it to be about my commitment to my partner Scott," said Tom Butts who will marry Scott Carter in a small simple wedding.

But the men say even though it is small, they want it traditional.

Butts found the printing firm, Starfish Creative, on the internet. He picked out the invitation and everything was going well until owner Patty Pauls discovered the invitations were for two men.

"I kind of have bad news for you," Pauls told Butts.

"She said 'two men getting married that's not in my belief system, therefore I can not do this because I have to live with myself," Butts told television station KOMO.

Butts said he was shocked and then realized, "I've just been discriminated against."

Elliot Bronstein with the Seattle Office for Civil Rights says it's illegal for a business to deny services because of sexual orientation.

"If you're open for business, then you're open for business for everyone," he said.

The Civil Rights office will investigate. "I'm always surprised when I hear of an allegations of discrimination." Bronstein says it's the business owners responsibility to know the law.

Pauls confirmed for the television station that she had rejected the couple's business but refused to be interviewed by a reporter for KOMO, and her website has been taken offline.

Well thanks to the Google search engine's cache feature I was able to get the contact information for Starfish Creative!

Here it is:

C o n t a c t I n f o r m a t i o n

Contact Starfish Creative today for a personal and complementary consultation. We are available by telephone at 206.226.1834, or by email at patty@starfishcreative.com.

2003-09-08T13:52:00.000-07:00

I made it: Fell Bridge

I just moved into a part of SF that seems to be a distinct neighbrhood with no name attached to it. I'm talking about the area between Martuni's and Van Ness from Duboce to where the Fell Street Exit was. It really doesn't seem to have any name (I've asked a few people.) The Fell Street exit off of the 101 used to be this bridge that went over market and through that area... but they just tore that bridge down.. in other words, it fell. It has left a giant swath of unused land through the area, and I'm predicting a major rejuvination of the area once they start building on that land. I've named this area outlined by the landmarks above "Fell Bridge" (for the Fell Street Exit Bridge that was there, but Fell.)

2003-09-08T10:45:00.000-07:00

DC 9/11: Smirky McShitforbrains Propoganda

Excerpt from Salon.Com article on Showetime film "DC: 9/11"

Sept. 8, 2003 | The film "DC 9/11: Time of Crisis," which premiered Sunday night on Showtime, is a mind-numbingly boring, revisionist, two-hour-long wish list of how 9/11 might have gone if we had real leaders in the current administration. This film is rated half of a fighter jet -- since that is about what we got for our nation's defense on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001.

Despite the title, the film only budgets approximately 10 minutes to the actual morning of 9/11. Most of the movie is spent cataloging the myriad cabinet-level debates as to whether to declare "war" against terrorism and how to effectively sell that to the American people.

It is understandable that so little time is actually devoted to the president's true actions on the morning of 9/11. Because to show the entire 23 minutes from 9:03 to 9:25 a.m., when President Bush, in reality, remained seated and listening to "second grade story-hour" while people like my husband were burning alive inside the World Trade Center towers, would run counter to Karl Rove's art direction and grand vision. Click Here For the Full Article

WOW! It's true, have you seen the video? Bush sits in that classroom and does NOTHING while thousands were dieing. He says he didn't want to scare the children. 30 children being scared versus thousands of people with children DIEING.

What a creep. Then they lie to New Yorkers about the air quality. They tell NYC residents and workers that it is safe to breath the air, meanwhile it is full of deadly toxins.

Then the Republicans who did nothing, ran and hid, stripped us of our civil rights, lied to us, decide that they are going to throw their Convention on the anniversary of Sept 11th, IN NEW YORK CITY.

Evil.

2003-08-29T11:49:00.000-07:00

California!

Gov Davis today signed into law legislation which now makes California second only to Vermont in recognition of sam-sex couples. NOTE: Vermont Does Not Recognize Gay Marriage however they do provide many rights to gay couples that most states do not provide. Marriage is NOT one of those rights.

2003-08-28T11:09:00.000-07:00

Correction of a common misconception.

One gay man to another, "Let's move to vermont and get married."

I have heard this many times (no, nobody wants to marry sad, grumpy, ol CitizenRob) so let's for the last time (as if more then a handful of people read this site) get this straight.... ONLY HETEROSEXUAL COUPLES CAN GET MARRIED IN THE UNITED STATES. Vermont and Hawaii do not recognize gay marriage.

Okay, tell your friends, tell your coworkers, tell the world... you do not have the right to marry in the United States. This misconception is making people think they have rights they don't yet have and still need to fight to obtain.

2003-08-28T10:37:00.000-07:00

Bush Responsible For 9/11 Security Failures

"September 11th was the biggest security failure in American history and it was George W. Bush who neglected the issue and was the president that failed. The right is trying to blame President Clinton and Democrats generally for the lapses of the Bush administration. Bush has spent his whole life ducking responsibility, having his father's friends cover up his escapades and advance his career and portfolio, and having a political machine blame others and make excuses for his incompetence while hailing him as a great leader. But it's Bush who bears the responsibility. The buck stops there." --Sidney Blumenthal (not Sydney Bloomanthal)

2003-08-28T09:33:00.000-07:00

40th Anniversary: I have a dream

Today is the 40th Anniversary of the March On Washington. Hear the audio of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream Speech" via the History Channel **Click Here**

2003-08-26T11:14:00.000-07:00

Gay News: The Week Thus Far

I mostly get my news from 365gay but The Advocate tends to be a good source as well.

News for Monday and Tuesday:

Religious nuts try to ban gay festival from New Orleans.

Anti-Gay Constitutional Amendment dead in the water.

Religious nuts withhold funds to church after gay clergy vote.

Religious nuts request investigation into whether condoms actually protect from disease. (Only people who believe in fairy tale gods are this stupid.)

Religious nuts go extra mile to show their insanity by demanding gay Civil Unions not be recognized.

2003-08-22T17:21:00.000-07:00

Judge Moore intentionally lost court case to become martyr

Check out this story in the Montgomery (AL) Independent http://www.al.com

excerpt... But the chief justice chose to present his case in a manner unlikely to win, but most likely to cause a confrontation. "I offered to assign attorneys from my office to defend the Chief Justice," wrote Mr. Pryor, "but the Chief Justice instead insisted that two private, out-of-state attorneys ... be appointed."

All those Christians on the steps of the courthouse are being played for fools. I bet Judge Moore is doing this solely for personal gain, and has nothing to do with his religious freak beliefs.

2003-08-18T16:47:00.000-07:00

Star Trek is dead.

I used to be a big fan of Star Trek: The Next Generation. From the time I was 9 until it went off the air when I was 16 I watched the show religiously every weekend. I even watched the reruns on LA's All-Star-Trek-All-The-Time channel 13 everyday. Deep Space Nine came on to replace ST:TNG and after three years finally got to the point where DS9 was an enjoyable show. Then came Voyager. What a turd of a show that was... it was so bad they had to lure the low-IQ-point crowd in with a large breasted emotionally void character named "Seven-Of-Nine." At this point Star Trek:Voyager should have renamed itself "Star Trek:Mamogram" with it's camera firmly zoomed in on Jerry Ryan's tits. Now don't get me wrong... I like the actress, I just don't think her tits should be the savior of a bad TV series.

Rick Berman is the bastard behind the decline of Trek... and finally with the newest Trek installment, Enterprise, the series has flushed all goodness down the drain. Now we just have a badly written show, with a bad producer, murdering a once very profitable cash cow for Paramount. Of course, Paramount won't do anything about it because by now Berman is firmly entrenched buddy-buddy with all the other Paramount executives.

Even Activision (the video game company which owns the Star Trek game license) has noticed the decline of the series. Activision citing that decline in the popularity brought a lawsuit around to get out of their contract with Paramount. Not that Activision gets off scotch free on this one. I still have a copy of the poorly programmed Star Trek: Birth Of The Federation sitting in my pile of CD-ROMs. Very few games are as completely unplayable as that game. After the 100th turn the game slows down so bad it takes minutes for you to get to your next turn. Not to mention the one time I was able to actually play the game to completion rather than being rewarded with a nice graphic sequence they had a water color slide show. I'm not kidding! It was a slide show of water colors that looked like story-board elements. I imagine that those were the actual story-board art pieces that were supposed to have been made into pretty 3D computer graphics movie... but they didn't even bother with it.

Activision, and Paramount: Two partners that deserve each other. Incompetence all around, corporate culture prevails, mediocrity rules the day.

2003-08-15T17:10:00.000-07:00

A Democrat Says Recall The Governor For CHP Abuses

If the state is issueing more citations than in the past you may find the public turning on those representatives who are supportive of this. I would suggest that if tickets are being used as a revenue generator for local jurisidictions that California law be changed so that those of us caught under careless ticketing schemes do not have to pay markedly increased insurance rates. In times such as these persons who have fallen into the trap of over-zealous and unfair enforcement may find recalling the Governor to be a fair form of retribution.

Well said! The other day I saw a patrol car on the bay bridge that had silver flames painted on the front/hood of the car so that when it is behind you it doesn't look like a patrol car. What jerks. Does Governor Davis condone this? If so he should be recalled.

2003-08-15T17:05:00.000-07:00

Fair And Balanced CitizenRob!

For all the best Fair and Balanced news check out The Pride Project! It's Fair And Balanced!!!!

2003-08-14T15:08:00.000-07:00

Love Me Tender!!

Check out The Pride Project for a new post from Jon Sequitor. He's rockin the free world with his free speech.

2003-08-14T08:44:00.000-07:00

Enemyster.com

If you're not already on Friendster you might want to consider Enemyster first. I only wish I had the beta code for Enemyster. If you happen to have the beta code feel free to e-mail it to me at robnsblog@hotmail.com

I promise I won't post it publically without permission.

2003-08-01T10:37:00.000-07:00

LiberalTimes.com is coming!

I've decided to start a website: LiberalTimes.com. It is my hope that make this site a forum for discussion of issues as seen from all perspectives (from left to moderate to right.)

It is my hope to create a site which respects the opinions of its readers as much as it respects the opinions of its writers. So I am looking for a wide specturm of writers from all political persuasions to help me get this site off of the ground. If you're interested in helping, e-mail at robnsblog@hotmail.com.

2003-07-30T10:46:00.000-07:00

Thought Of The Day: Why I Hate Musicals

I'm not a big fan of theater. I just find it too hard to suspend my disbelief most of the time... not to mention those sappy ass musicals. Average musical plot: He see's girl, hides from her, girl discovers him, five minutes later they are in love, he dies/goestojail/kils somebody, they are seperated tragically, they sing song on different ends of the stage in different set pieces about how they will love each other forever, climax of song the set pieces disapear via elaborate pulley system and they come togethor for one high note, curtain comes down, end of show. I get sick all over the row sitting in front of me, appologize profusely and run for fear of an encore.

Update: I've been asked to note that there are a lot of musicals that have the far more simple plot, "My life sucks." In which nobody is loved by anybody and they have horrible lives... and sing about it.

2003-07-29T15:17:00.000-07:00

Black Box Voting: Diebold

The NYTimes (no subscription required for this story) is reporting on major security flaws in the optical and touch screen voting systems used to count 60% of all ballots in the United States. The NYTimes article cites a scathing analysis by John Hopkins University of Diebold voting machines. According to the article, "the researchers said, ballots could be altered by anyone with access to a machine, so that a voter might think he is casting a ballot for one candidate while the vote is recorded for an opponent."

**Click Here For The New York Times Article**

2003-07-25T13:29:00.000-07:00

Yo gurrrl

Good afternoon my fellow blogsters. I've been at work all morning doing the "work" thing.

I don't know if I've really reflected in this blog about my transition over the past year from mindless consumer to thoutful consumer, but it was on my mind through the morning as I IM'd with a friend. I was telling him that in the act of deciding not to care about whether or not I'm employed I freed myself of one of my largest prisons. In fact, since making that discovery my work has improved, my concentration has improved... everything has improved for the benefit of my employer.

I work now because I want to, not because I feel compelled to. If I'm let go tommorow for whatever reason it won't be a huge ordeal for me. I have been prudent over the last year and saved up a sizeable amount... and worst comes to worst... I'll try something bizzare like living in my car. Sound horrible? Maybe... maybe not. Simplicity is wonderful... and my life is simple.

2003-07-24T15:30:00.000-07:00

Welcome To The Big Darkness
by: Hunter S. Thompson

The Rumsfield-Cheney axis has self-destructed right in front of our eyes, along with the once-proud Perle-Wolfowitz bund that is turning to wax. They somehow managed to blow it all, like a gang of kids on a looting spree, between January and July, or even less. It is genuinely incredible. The U.S. Treasury is empty, we are losing that stupid, fraudulent chickencrap War in Iraq, and every country in the world except a handful of Corrupt Brits despises us. We are losers, and that is the one unforgiveable sin in America.

Beyond that, we have lost the respect of the world and lost two disastrous wars in three years. Afghanistan is lost, Iraq is a permanent war Zone, our national Economy is crashing all around us, the Pentagon's "war strategy" has failed miserably, nobody has any money to spend, and our once-mighty U.S. America is paralyzed by Mutinies in Iraq and even Fort Bragg.

2003-07-22T22:46:00.000-07:00

Thought Of The Day

The Fact that Applebee's is still in buisiness despite the fact that their menu doesn't have a single item that tastes good is proof that the American public is easily manipulated by marketing.

2003-07-17T11:19:00.000-07:00

Ditto-parrot Co-worker
note: a Ditto-parrot is somebody who repeats republican talking points word for word without having given any actual thought processing time to the ideas they are squaking

My Ditto-parrot co-worker just sent me an e-mail:
Snip!
Subject: I thought everything was going wrong in Iraq

Yahoo News: raqis Cheer Fall of Baath on Anniversary of Coup
Snip

So I respond with these four articles:

ABCNews: A Big Letdown: Soilders Learn That They'll Be in Baghdad Longer Than Expected

CNN: Harris Whitbeck: Iraqis cheer U.S. death

Augusta Chronicle: Reserves wanting to leave Mideast

New York Times: American Soldier, Coalition-selected Mayor Murdered in Iraq

See it's so easy to get a ditto-parrot to eat his own words! Armed with the internet, and reliable news sources just about anybody can do it.

2003-07-17T09:13:00.000-07:00

My pretties...

Hello everybody. Sorry about the DeLay's recently in posting. I've been super busy with work. Lots of interesting stuff has been happening in the world though.

On the LGBT front here in America the Massachussetts Supreme Court is expected to hand down a ruling on gay marriage any day now. It is widely suspected they will in fact legalize marriage within the state. In reaction to both Canada and MA the Senate Majority leader Republican Bill Frist threw his support behind a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage.

On the politics beat the press has finally decided to inform the American Public of the lies told by the Bush administration. Much to my surprise I actually heard a news story this morning on NPR stating that the African nuclear matrials claim was removed from a white house speech four months before the State Of The Union (SOTU) in which Bush gave his 18 word lie that started the war. This week Bush also claimed that the Saddam didn't allow inspections... what?!? As I recall, he caved completely to international pressure. Also this week US soldiers were reported to have complained about being utilised only to defend Kellog & Brown's (an american oil company) oil caravans.

2003-07-14T13:51:00.000-07:00

Kerry the right wing Ass-Kisser.

John Kerry came out against gay marriage today in an obvious attempt to give the right wing their very own rim job. When Kerry pulled his face out of the right's ass long enough to speak the smeared feces on his nose disturbed all who were there to see it.

Here's what Kerry had to say:
"I do not support [gay] marriage...it's just a personal belief about what the relationship of marriage is and how it works, but I'm in favor of civil unions. I've supported all forms of partnership union. I think gays should have all of the rights of ownership, of partnership, of visitation in hospitals, of inheritance, and so forth. I think that's entirely within the civil structure of our country and that is appropriate... Marriage is an institution between men and women for the purpose of having children and procreating. That's my belief, and some people may not like it. I've been willing to take my lumps on everything that I think enhances people's rights and gives people equality, but I think there is something special about the institution of marriage--the oldest institution in the world."

source The Advocate

2003-06-30T17:03:00.000-07:00

Contribute to Dean The Ass-Kicker!

Click the link below to contribute to Howard Deans campaign! This man is a real ass-kicker... but unfortunately the top Democrats want to put an ass-kisser against George Bush. We saw last time what happened when Gephardt ran an election. WE LOST BIG. So please, give money to Howard Dean, a strong Democrat!

CLICK HERE TO CONTRIBUTE

2003-06-25T12:31:00.000-07:00

So You Want Pictures?

The past few days I've been looking at the search queries that have been bringing users to my pages. Apparently there are a lot of people out there who want to see photos of murdered transgender teen Eddie "Gwen" Araujo. I didn't have an actual photo of Gwen on my page. So I went out and found one and put it up. Traffic to this site continues to come with more and more people looking for photos of Gwen.

It's been a few days now and I've become more and more curious as to why you all want to see her photo so badly. Is it so you can see the human being who's life was taken by monsters? Or, and this is my fear, are you here to see the monster who was vanquished by a lynch mob of four men? Let's never forget who the real "monsters" were. The monster wasn't the transgendered teen Eddie Araujo, it was the boys who murdered her because they were too stupid to figure out other ways to deal with their anger.

Why are you here? E-mail me: robnsblog@hotmail.com

2003-06-24T12:29:00.000-07:00

Dick "the ass-kisser" Gephardt VS. Howard "The Ass-Kicker" Dean

Howard Dean rocks. He fights for Dems... unlike those pussies Gephardt and Kerry.

2003-06-18T16:58:00.000-07:00

Why The Rich Run The USA

The Cap On The Number Of Congressional Representatives

Many people aren't aware that there is a cap of 435 on the number of congressmen. That means that no mattter how many people there are in the country, the same 435 people will represent them.

Originally the constitution mandated that there would be 20,000 citizens for every 1 congress person. Think how inexpensive it is to reach 20,000 citizens. Imagine being able to out in your town with a handful of flyers stating your positions on issues.

Today it is closer to 600,000 citizens for every 1 congress person. Think how much more expensive it is to reach 600,000 citizens. It's no longer possible to reach a majority of the citizens who would need to vote you into office. You can't just talk to the people in your nieghborhood, convince them that you're the right candidate. 600,000 is slightly smaller than the size of the entire city of San Francisco. So now you've got to get money somehow so you can reach all 600,000 citizens. Who is going to give you that money? Who will you owe by the time you are elected? Who will come back to you and say "I scratched your back, now I've got an itch."

So let's put this togethor. We have corporations and the wealthy getting whatever they want put into congressional bills while the 99% rest of us are left out to hang in the wind. And it's all because congress back in the early 1900s limited the number of seats in congress to 435 at the cost of our representation. The rich, or those willing to take money from the rich, are the only people who could ever get elected to congress.

2003-06-18T14:42:00.000-07:00

Bush: Two Years Still No Investigation of 9/11

A comparison from Salon.com of previous investigations of historically important tragedies.

April 15, 1912, the Titanic sank after hitting an iceberg, killing approximately 1,500 of its 2,200 passengers. According to historians, Titanic survivors began disembarking in New York at 10 o'clock on the night of April 18. The next morning at 10:30, a special panel of the Senate Commerce Committee was gaveled into session inside the ornate East Room of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York.

Last year, when Cheney called Daschle to urge him to limit any hearings into 9/11, the V.P. argued it would drain sources away from the war on terrorism. By contrast, just 11 days after Japanese bombers hit the U.S. with a sneak attack killing nearly 3,000 people, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an executive order creating a commission to "ascertain and report the facts relating to the attack made by Japanese armed forces upon the Territory of Hawaii on December 7, 1941 ... and to provide bases for sound decisions whether any derelictions of duty or errors of judgment on the part of United States Army or Navy personnel contributed to such successes as were achieved by the enemy on the occasion mentioned." It was the first of eight government-led investigations into the Pearl Harbor.

The Warren Commission, headed by Supreme Court Justice Earl Warren, was formed just seven days after President Kennedy was assassinated. Last February, after seven astronauts died when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated 200,000 feet above Texas, NASA's Columbia Accident Investigation Board was created 90 minutes after the incident; $50 million was immediately set aside for the probe. And in just four months, the board has already made public significant findings about the crash investigation.

By contrast, nearly two years after the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center, the 9/11 commission only recently opened up its New York City office. The commission's budget has been increased to $14 million, but many experts say that's still far short of the sum needed to do the job right.

SOURCE: Salon.com: Bush's 9/11 Coverup

2003-06-11T16:18:00.000-07:00

Bush: EVIL F** ker

Bush judicial nominee extreme right wing anti-gay nut case

Washington, D.C.) A Bush nominee for a federal judgeship says homosexuality is comparable to incest, necrophilia, pedophilia, prostitution and adultery.

Alabama Attorney General William Pryor was nominated by the president to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit.

As Attorney General Pryor filed an amicus ("friend of the court") brief in the Lawrence v. Texas, the Supreme Court case challenging Texas's sodomy law in which he made the comparisons.

He also argues in the brief that sodomy is a chosen behavior unworthy of constitutional protection, and fails to recognize GLBT individuals as people worthy of the same constitutional rights and protections that other Americans take for granted.

2003-06-10T15:08:00.000-07:00

Gay Candians Now Getting Married

CANADA LAND OF THE FREE!!

This is an incredible day. The Ontario court of appeals has said the ban on gay marriage is illegal, and said gays can marry immediately!!

Check out the stories!:

365gay.com: Appeals Court Rules Canadian Gays Can Marry Immediately
365gay.com: Canada's First Gay Marriage
CBC Video
Canadian Broadcasting Company

Ontario upholds right to same-sex marriage
Last Updated Tue, 10 Jun 2003 17:47:27
TORONTO - In a landmark decision, Ontario's highest court Tuesday upheld a lower court decision to legally allow same-sex marriages.

"The existing common law definition of marriage violates the couple's equality rights on the basis of sexual orientation under (the charter)," read the 61-page decision.

BACKGROUNDER: The fight for gay rights: Canada

The current definition of marriage is invalid and the laws must be changed, said the three judges. The court ordered Toronto city clerks to immediately begin issuing marriage licences.

Michael Stark and Michael Leshner

Holding their licence, Michael Leshner and Michael Stark, one of the couples involved in the court case, said they plan to get married.

"Today is the death of homophobia in the courtroom as we've known it," said Leshner, an Ontario Crown attorney.

"Absolute faith in Canadian values" helped him through the long court battle, said Leshner, who encouraged other countries to follow Ontario's lead.

"When we get married, we will have lit a match that hopefully illuminates the world," he said.

Court offers new definition of marriage

The judgment follows a federal challenge to an earlier Ontario Divisional Court ruling. On July 12, 2002, the court ordered Parliament to alter its definition of marriage to include gay men and women.

FROM JULY 12, 2002: Same-sex marriages must be recognized: Ontario court

FROM MAY 1, 2002: B.C. court backs same-sex marriages

According to the Divisional Court, the federal definition of marriage as a lawful and voluntary union between "one man and one woman" violated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Ottawa appealed the ruling, arguing marriage is based on a universal concept of a union between one man and one woman.

But the Court of Appeal issued its own definition of a marriage: "the voluntary union for life of two persons to the exclusion of all others."

JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Share your thoughts on this story

Prime Minister Jean Chrétien said the federal Justice Minister Martin Cauchon is still studying the decision. Ottawa has the right to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court.

Members of gay rights advocacy group EGALE called on Ottawa to respect the ruling and not launch an appeal.

The case appeared before the court after several same-sex couples tried to apply for marriage licences from the City of Toronto.

Ontario now joins Quebec and British Columbia, where courts have held that denying same-sex marriages is unconstitutional.

If the court ruling stands, Ontario would be the first jurisdiction in North America to make gay marriage legal. Both Quebec and Vermont allow gay civil unions.

Written by CBC News Online staff

2003-06-09T10:57:00.000-07:00

Vacation

For the past few weeks I've been trying to balance my work with this site. Now I'm behind on both. This site doesn't pay me money, my employer does. Therefore I need to spend the next three weeks concentrating solely on my job.

Back in July.

2003-06-06T11:37:00.000-07:00

Hail To The Thief!

The new Radiohead album is available in full for listening over at MTV.com check it out! This album is another great masterpiece.

2003-06-05T12:27:00.000-07:00

Texasgate: Republican Gov Perry LIED

Click here for the YAHOO story.

Texas Trooper: Perry Helped Hunt for Dems
2 hours, 30 minutes ago Add U.S. National - AP to My Yahoo!

~~----~~

AUSTIN, Texas - Republican Gov. Rick Perry had a greater role than he previously revealed in the hunt for more than 50 Democratic lawmakers who left the state to block passage of a bill, according to testimony from a state trooper.

Lt. Will Crais, who led the search last month, said in a deposition released Wednesday that Perry was impatient with the search's progress and at one point gave troopers a tip on where to find one of the missing legislators.

Texas Department of Public Safety documents released separately Tuesday indicated that Perry had personal contact with DPS officers during the search, ordered by Republican House Speaker Tom Craddick.

Fifty-five Democrats disappeared into Oklahoma for nearly a week to prevent a quorum in the House, blocking debate on a Republican bill to redraw congressional districts — a task usually done once a decade, after the census.

Crais testified that during the search for the legislators Perry handed him a letter saying the newborn twins of missing state Rep. Craig Eiland were at a Galveston hospital. Crais testified that the governor told him, "I want the Texas Rangers to go by and locate Mr. Eiland."

Perry had downplayed his role, suggesting his office's only involvement was in trying to determine whether extradition from out of state was possible.

This week, Perry did not deny issuing orders that resulted in troopers searching for Democrats.

"You betcha, I told the DPS to follow the instructions of this speaker ... follow the law," the governor told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram on Tuesday. He said he ordered public safety officials to do "whatever the DPS needed to do ... to retrieve House members."

The transcript of Crais' testimony, released by the attorney general's office, was taken in a lawsuit by another quorum-busting Democrat, state Rep. Lon Burnam. The suit alleges that the public safety department improperly destroyed documents generated during the search.

Deputy Attorney General Jeff Boyd, who is representing the department, said he plans to ask a judge to dismiss Burnam's suit.

The public safety department's documents — dozens of pages of notes, faxes, internal memoranda and e-mails — survived an internal order that the records be destroyed. A grand jury is investigating that matter.

Meanwhile, a state trooper who called the federal Homeland Security Department into the search for a legislator's plane testified that he acted alone with no direction from superiors, according to two officials who sat in on his deposition.