Fear of Clowns

There's a new Mission of Burma album coming out. Album page. MP3, which seems to be about the US alienating traditional allies.

I imagine that when I took the album cover of vs. to the tattoo artist, I figured I'd still be up on these things 15 years later. New Mission of Burma albums, that is - I don't think anyone figured we'd be having diplomatic rows with Canada during our lifetimes.

As it is, I'm more surprised I missed that last week, Bob Graham, my pick for the VP spot on the Democratic ticket, said he would take it if offered.

// posted by Erik @ 2/27/2004 04:52:00 PM
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• The US Army is building a second version of Earth on computer to help it prepare for conflicts around the world.

  The detailed simulation will be drawn from a real-world terrain database and will be drawn to the same scale as the original.

  The software Earth is being created for the US Army by gaming company There, which is currently working on a virtual world for gamers.

  The first version of the virtual planet should be finished by September.

  ... combat will be a part of the game but it is also intended to let the Army simulate intelligence work as well as patrols, planning and working with indigenous populations.

I can think of an excellent Gulf region country where the Army can really plan, and really work with indigenous populations and really patch together some intelligence work!

// posted by Erik @ 2/25/2004 12:42:00 AM
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John Dingell's letter to the Council of Economic Advisers recalls the Reagan era "ketchup as a vegetable" debacle:

• Dr. Gregory Mankiw
  Chairman, Council of Economic Advisers
  Executive Office of the President
  Washington, DC 20502

  Dear Dr. Mankiw:

  I noticed in the recently released Economic Report of the President that there was some consternation in the defining of manufacturing. It could be inferred from your report that the administration is willing to recognize drink mixing, hamburger garnishing, French/freedom fry cooking, and milk shake mixing to be vital components of our manufacturing sector.

  I am sure the 163,000 factory workers who have lost their jobs in Michigan will find it heartening to know that a world of opportunity awaits them in high growth manufacturing careers like spatula operator, napkin restocking, and lunch tray removal. I do have some questions of this new policy and I hope you will help me provide answers for my constituents:

  • Will federal student loans and Trade Adjustment Assistance grants be applied to tuition costs at Burger College?
  • Will the administration commit to allowing the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) to fund cutting edge burger research such as new nugget ingredients or keeping the hot and cold sides of burgers separate until consumption?
  • Will special sauce now be counted as a durable good?
  • Do you want fries with that?

  Finally, at a speech he gave in Michigan this past September, Secretary Evans announced the creation of a new Assistant Secretary for Manufacturing. While I understand that it takes a while to find the right candidate to fill these positions, I am concerned that five months after the announcement no Assistant Secretary has yet been named. I do, however, know of a public official who would be perfect for the job. He has over thirty years of administrative and media experience, has a remarkable record of working with diverse constituencies, and is extraordinarily well qualified to understand this emerging manufacturing sector: the Hon. Mayor McCheese.

  Sincerely,
  John D. Dingell
  Member of Congress

// posted by Erik @ 2/24/2004 01:16:00 PM
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H. J. RES. 56 reads as follows:

1. SECTION 1. Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman. Neither this Constitution or the constitution of any State, nor state or federal law, shall be construed to require that marital status or the legal incidents thereof be conferred upon unmarried couples or groups

A problem has already manifested itself in Kansas: the proposed constitutional amendment doesn't define "man" or "woman", which means a person is the sex indicated on one's birth certificate - which changes if it's holder undergoes a sex-change operation.

There is no way to define male and female which would please those who are disturbed at the thought of same sexed couples getting married. Is sex fixed at birth - so that if a member of an opposite sexed marriage gets a sex change, the marriage is still valid? Or would a male to female transgendered person only be allowed to marry a female? Regardless of whether one defines sex as being fixed at birth or mutable, one is going to end up with marriages between persons who identify as and appear to be the same sex. And which sex, if any, can a hermaphrodite marry? Leave it to the Reich Wingers to come up with such a conundrum ...

// posted by Erik @ 2/19/2004 09:24:00 PM
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Many conservatives have been decrying the Bush administration for supposedly abandoning the GOP's long-standing tradition of whittling down an unwieldily federal government. Seems like business as usual for the GOP. Here are the last seven presidents ranked on two indicators of federal government growth:

SOURCE: http://w3.access.gpo.gov/usbudget/fy2003/pdf/hist.pdf

It would seem that the solution to the conservatives woes would be to figure out how to bring back Clinton.

// posted by Erik @ 2/19/2004 10:59:00 AM
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Honestly, I don't care if Bush ditched out on Air National Guard duty, but I find the drama captivating. My take on it is that there is some information about Bush's substance abuse problems attached to his history with the Guard, and that his story isn't any different than hundreds or thousands of others from that same time period, so no big deal.

Atrios is hot on it, I haven't seen a lot that isn't mentioned there. Of the more interesting tidbits that isn't is a recent article about Bill Campenni who wrote an even more recent letter to the Washington Times claiming to have served with Bush in the 111th Fighter Interceptor Squadron of the Texas Air National Guard. In the article, Campenni is described as having been in graduate school at the time he claims to have served with Bush in Texas, having served in the Guard afterwards in Pennsylvania's 146th Fighter Squadron. (via Oliver Willis)

// posted by Erik @ 2/12/2004 12:47:00 PM
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I cannot be the only one who cringes every time the leader of the country with the largest stockpile and appetite for WMD talks like this:

• We're determined to confront those threats at the source. We will stop these weapons from being acquired or built.

// posted by Erik @ 2/11/2004 09:55:00 PM
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I agree with Rich Bond:

• "This is a signal that the president is going to go back on offense," said former GOP chairman Rich Bond. "It's what he does best, personalitywise."

Good thing for Bush as most of his policies, actions and decisions are indefensible. Really, think about how Washington has fared under Republican leadership:

• Lying about filibusters of judicial nominees and all around dishonesty and underhandedness in this area
• Nick Smith (R-MI) offered a bribe for a "yes" vote on the Medicare bill
• the unprecedented expansion of pork spending
• driving a popular radio host to drug addiction
• spying on our allies so we could better manipulate them
• the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame
• driving the country down into unprecedented levels of debt
• not finding nefarious weapons in Iraq which were said to threaten our very existence
• developing new weapons of mass destruction of our own
• welcoming radical Islamists into the White House for chit-chat and political strategizing
• cutting veterans benefits
• offending multiple countries and embarassing the US by making ignorant statements
• Energy Task Force stonewalling
• irritating much of the world by pulling out of or outright rejecting multiple treaties without offering alternatives
• causing economic panic by referring to "deflation" as "devaluation"
• the prez' cozy relationship with Enron and lay (Bush's campaign jet was provided by Enron!)
• the unification of the Christian Right with the radical left
• creating the lie that the WH was trashed
• and then, there's always the manner in which Bush came to be President

Not the kind of stuff that can score you points trying to defend. The only option Bush and the GOP have is to attack on the offense.

// posted by Erik @ 2/07/2004 09:32:00 PM
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Personally, I think this should have been done before we invaded:

• With respect to that portion of its examination under paragraph 2(a) of this order that relates to Iraq, the Commission shall specifically examine the Intelligence Community's intelligence prior to the initiation of Operation Iraqi Freedom ...

Too bad the commission is not mandated to determine if the White House knew what to do with the intelligence. In one of the best articles written about the administration's use of intelligence, the Seymour M. Hersh suggests in the New Yorker:

• Part of the answer lies in decisions made early in the Bush Administration, before the events of September 11, 2001. In interviews with present and former intelligence officials, I was told that some senior Administration people, soon after coming to power, had bypassed the government’s customary procedures for vetting intelligence.

// posted by Erik @ 2/06/2004 07:49:00 PM
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From a spoof of the 2003 State of the Union address:

• "Our intelligence sources tell us that he has attempted to purchase seven million hydrogen powered doctors and the western wall of the Pentagon ... and tonight I have a message for the people of Iraq: go home and die. Trusting in the sanity and restraint of the United States is not a strategy and it is not an option."

Here's another spoof of the same speech, and George W appearing on Teletubbies.

Can't find a spoof of this year's, but here's plenty of other videos.

// posted by Erik @ 2/04/2004 02:20:00 PM
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