Fresburger Blog

Hey you!

2004-11-04T20:10:00.000-08:00

You! Yeah you! You're fucking stupid!

If you're surfing around and came to this site from some Google search, and if you're living in some Red State and voted for that insufferable prick in the White House I've got news for you. You're being used and you're too fucking stupid to realize it.

From Digby

I heard some woman on ABC saying that this is not what it seems. According to her, the president never wanted Ashcroft but he was forced on him by the religious right. This rumor is being pushed by those in the bush administration who want him out right away before some shit hits the fan (Plame? Kenny Boy?)

Whatever. It occurred to me that if we had a good message machine we would immediately seize upon this to sow divisions between Bush and his newly empowered evangelical base. They love Johnny. Isn't it a slap in the face that their beloved Bush is pushing him out of office the day after the election?

Get this through your Neanderthal-thick, Nascar loving fucking skulls...

Now that the deserting, coke-snorting, drunk fratboy diebolded his second term he doesn't fucking need you anymore, unless it gets him and his more CASH.

All I am is a very minor league liberal blogger. But you know what, my page gets indexed every couple of days by Google, and my site ranking is nothing to sneeze at. So every chance I get I'll throw something out there so Google picks it up. And I know how the Internet... excuse me... the new term according to the Grand Wizard is InternetS...work. I'll get eyeballs. Whether I can get minds... well...

Have fun grabbing your cocks, ejaculating on your precious copies of Left Behind waiting for the end times or whatever the fuck you call it.

Fuck you

F

[Listening to: Go Away Mr Evans - Peter Gabriel - Long Walk Home (5:15)]

Looks like I was wrong

2004-11-03T00:22:00.000-08:00

Just a wee bit off.

Right now I am emotionally drained.

And my gut tells me that Amerika is not such a great place anymore. I wonder...

Canada...

I wonder.

Oh yeah. That's the end of this blog for now. Really, what is the fucking point. I have to go learn about Nascar...

and Jayzus.

Fuck you

F

Obligatory Election Day Prediction

2004-11-01T21:46:00.000-08:00

Okay, gotta get this in under the wire:

Kerry: 322 Electoral Votes
Bush: 216 EV

States for Kerry: CA, WA, OR, HI, NM, NV, MN, IA, AR, WI, IL, MI, OH, FL, PA, ME, NH, VT, NY, MA, RI, CT, NJ, DE, MD, DC
States for Bush: AK, ID, MT, WY, ND, SD, UT, CO, AZ, NE, KS, OK, MO, TX, LA, MS, KY, TN, AL, NC, SC, GA, IN, WV, VA

Let's see if it's worth as much as this warm bucket of spit sitting here.

F

2004-10-26T15:32:00.000-07:00

Testing with iBlog

F

Eerie Shit

2004-10-25T20:20:00.000-07:00

Granted, William Gibson and I will never inhabit any of the same social circles, but apparently we do live in the same area of the blogosphere...

The Big 5 (in the Big Ten sense of the word) Blogs I read everyday are:

Daily Kos
Atrios/Eschaton
JMM's Talking Points Memo
Washington Monthly
James Wolcott
TBogg

A couple of weeks ago I added Gibson's blog to my daily read list. Now I'm getting this surreal sense of .... I don't know what... but it freaks me out to find out Gibson reads the same stuff I do.

F

No Wolcott Blogwhoring today

2004-09-08T22:15:00.000-07:00

Not gonna trackback to one of Wolcott's posts today.

I feel shitty for throwing a link up with no repsonse on my part. (Scroll down)

Feh! I liked the post and thought it stood without comment. And I was tired!!

But check Wolcott out anyway. I like his nostalgic view of Carson. Even if I do think Johnny is old and busted.

As someone much wittier than I has said, "That's good bloggin!"

F

The AWOL Project

2004-09-08T22:04:00.000-07:00

Just ventured over here after seeing it referenced at both Atrios and Salon.

WOW! Yeoman's work by Mr. Paul Lukasiak. Somebody who really went down the rabbit hole.

My thanks to Mr. Lukasiak. I don't know if I would have had the mettle. Or stomach.

F

Why didn't he make Captain?

2004-09-08T21:55:00.000-07:00

Just had a nice conversation with my dad. FYI, he's a Vietnam Vet. Did time in country in 1967 and 68. (Didn't earn a Purple Heart if you must know - this confirms to me that they weren't so easy to come by, anecdotal evidence be damned).

I suffered an ugly incident over the holiday weekend where one of my inlaws essentially spat on my father's service. All to score some cheap comedic points. It involved someone stubbing their finger at dinner. Then the years 1967 and 68 were mentioned. Next came a comment on Purple Hearts. I saw red.

Did I mention that my inlaws hale from Fresburg. Their politics follow suit. Being nice I didn't say anything. Didn't want to cause a scene. Maybe I should have said something. Just let it blow. But I held back. And I did mention it to my Dad.

He's a better man than I am. "I know. I hear what you're saying," he said. "But to be honest, I want to move beyond this."

Vietnam wasn't a great experience for him. I can remember finding some old reel to reel tapes and hearing his audio letters home. (Think audblog '60's style) The one thing that I clearly recall is him telling his older sister, "We don't know what we're doing over here. We don't know why we're here." Unlike George W. Bush, my father didn't come from a family with deep political connections. Or money. But he knows honor. And what it means to be a good man. And he served his time. Gave the Air Force 8 years of his life.

But as our conversation drifted to that shitty fuck living at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., my father mentioned something that made me pause.

"You know, back then ('68) if you joined the reserves and went to OCS (Officer's Candidate School) or whatever they called it back then, you came our of OCS a 2^nd Lt. And if you served your tour, as a pilot you'd get bumped to 1^st, at the end you'd make Captain. Then if you reupped you'd get another bump to Major or Lt. Col. Why didn't George get bumped to Captain?"

Things that make you say hmmmm.....

And oh yeah, to those of you that want to make jokes and piss on veterans who actually served our country:

FUCK YOU!!

Make fun of me. But don't you ever shit on my father's and my grandfathers' service to our country.

F

Sometimes the truth hurts

2004-09-07T20:46:00.000-07:00

Time for a little pop culture break.

It probably comes as no surprise that on the Leno/Letterman debate I fall into the Letterman camp. Grew up on him. Can remember sneaking to stay up LATE to catch him at 12:30. First memory: Bob and Doug Mackenzie. I can remember when Leno was his go-to guest. Now I find Leno's act to be grating.

But at the risk of becoming a Wolcott blogwhore, you have to go read his analysis of the War of Late Night. He's spot on. And as a Letterman devotee, it stings.... bad.

Check it out.

F

Who says I'm not spiritual

2004-09-06T15:56:00.000-07:00

From James Wolcott:

Camille Paglia observed on Salon in February, 2003 that the explosion of the Columbia shuttle on the eve of the war on Iraq was a "stunning omen," one that would make a Roman general think twice. A catastrophe strewing death, fire, and human remains across Bush's home state of Texas was inauspicious to our undertaking; and so it has proven to be. Frances is the second hurricane to afflict Florida, home of brother Jeb, in rapid succession.

The gods are not pleased.

If you have a second...

2004-09-03T22:04:00.000-07:00

... can you explain why the Diamondbacks are putting a Class A team on the field against the Giants?

18-5 in the bottom of the 7^th

WOW

F

Have to agree with Mithras here.

2004-09-03T19:49:00.000-07:00

From Fables of the Reconstruction:

Best.Graphic.Ever.

Everything you need to know.

Link.

F

When TBogg is on...

2004-08-25T00:10:00.000-07:00

.. he's on

From TBogg:

[About hack/drunk extraordinaire Christopher Hitchens]:

Hitch:
This was a combat of more than 30 years ago, fought with a largely drafted army using indiscriminate tactics and weaponry against a deep-rooted and long-running domestic insurgency. (Agent Orange, for example, was employed to destroy the vegetation in the Mekong Delta and make life easier for the Swift boats.) The experience of having fought in such a war is absolutely useless to any American today and has no bearing on any thinkable fight in which the United States could now become engaged. (My emphasis)

Yes, and waking up in a pool of your own vomit every morning is no reason why you shouldn't have another drink tonight...

ZING!!

F

Blog Fatigue

2004-08-25T00:06:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the extended delay between posts. What with summer vacation and starting back to work I was distracted and fatigued... but something I read tonight just made me want to post.

F

Off for R and R

2004-07-10T00:21:00.000-07:00

Getting out of the valley. But I must say, the oppressive heat normally found in the summer months hasn't yet arrived. Just my luck.

I'm taking about a week to head down to SoCal ::: shudder ::: Hopefully it will be fun for the kids. Over Spring Break we went to SF ::: YAY YAY :::

See you on Friday.

F

PS: The Shepherd is staying at the house. So don't even think of it.

PPS: No, it won't be alone.

F

You can imagine I watch FNN 24/7

2004-07-10T00:03:00.000-07:00

But then I'd be like the Pope in the Michael O'Donohue SNL skit from the 70's.

Nah, instead I'll just watch this whenever the UPS man brings it.

I'd like to imagine Rupee's swearing up a storm, pissing on the carpet.

Pleasant dreams.

F

Scott Ritter... remember him

2004-07-09T23:49:00.000-07:00

He was one of the few (only?) people to go on cable news and state that Saddam wasn't a threat during the runup to the war.

I know a lot of people like to say Iraq is the new Vietnam, but I think Ritter hits it on the head.

This from alternet:

The historical parallel that best underscores the current disaster-in-the-making is not the Vietnam War but rather Israel's invasion of Lebanon in 1982. Originally intended to rid Lebanon of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Israel's subsequent occupation led to the creation of Hizbollah as a viable force of political and military resistance. The Hizbollah was so effective that Israel was forced to unilaterally withdraw its forces from Lebanon in May, 2000. The 18-year occupation not only failed to defeat the PLO, but it also created an Islamic fundamentalist movement that today poses a serious threat to the security of Israel and the Middle East region.

All I can do is shake my head, hope America wakes up to reality, and keep checking out the want ads in Saskatchewan.

F

I'm sure Rush will be all over this...

2004-07-09T01:22:00.000-07:00

.. because he just loves to follow the lead of the lib blogs. I've now seen this story on Kos, Talking Points Memo, TBogg and Kevin Drum. (That has to be like hitting for the cycle. Let's see how much play it gets on the box in the morning)

From the NYTimes (reg req'd):

Military records that could help establish President Bush's whereabouts during his disputed service in the Texas Air National Guard more than 30 years ago have been inadvertently destroyed, according to the Pentagon.

Man, I wish there was some sort of similar occurrence from a previous administration so I could gauge the nutjob rightwing reaction come the morning.

Hmmm... from someone I will charitably refer to as a cunt, Mona Charen:

Only the Journal seems to recall the infamous disappearing billing records (such withholding of evidence would be considered obstruction of justice in normal circumstances), the witnesses who refused to cooperate -- Ed note: emphasis mine.

Yeah, I can't wait to hear the thrice-divorced, drug addled bloviator rip Bush a new asshole in the morning.

F

UPDATE: Atrios has it too. Is there anyone not blogging this?

Hmmm... thinking about redesigning the site.

2004-07-08T00:10:00.000-07:00

To me, it looks a little too cluttered. Maybe go to something 2-column. Might use some generic blogger template because this has become quite buggy.

F

They even tortured children

2004-07-07T09:58:00.000-07:00

If true, and given our reputation, I find it very plausible, this from Sadly No:

Norwegian authorities reacted with shock and disgust Tuesday to a documentary on German TV that American soldiers allegedly have been holding children in prisons in Iraq, and abusing them as well. The Norwegians joined the Red Cross and Amnesty International in calling for an immediate end to the abuse, and release of the underage prisoners, some of whom are as young as 12 years.

Much, much more at the Sadly No link.

Tip to Atrios

F

Sure he wished him good luck, but then...

2004-07-06T23:57:00.000-07:00

... from Tbogg:

Cheney also mentioned that he was going to skullf**k Edwards before sending him off to Abu Ghraib with a handful of glowsticks shoved up his ass, sell Edwards' wife to the Halliburton-run Iraqi whorehouses, and drain the blood of Edwards' children to sate the unnatural cravings of his wife Lynne...

Then they talked about golf.

Classic stuff coming from SD. Even if the hated Padres are in 1^st place.

F

Reason #67583 to hate Nutjob Fundies

2004-07-06T00:44:00.000-07:00

Was reading The General when I came across this quote:

From The Rubber Nun:

In April, Julee Lacey, 33, a Fort Worth, TX, mother of two, went to her local CVS drugstore for a last-minute Pill refill. She had been getting her prescription filled there for a year, so she was astonished when the pharmacist told her, "I personally don't believe in birth control and therefore I'm not going to fill your prescription." Lacey, an elementary school teacher, was shocked. "The pharmacist had no idea why I was even taking the Pill. I might have needed it for a medical condition."

Melissa Kelley, 35, was just as stunned when her gynecologist told her she would not renew her prescription for birth control pills last fall.

"She told me she couldn't in good faith prescribe the Pill anymore," says Kelley, who lives with her husband and son in Allentown, PA. Then the gynecologist told Kelley she wouldn't be able to get a new prescription from her family doctor, either. "She said my primary care physician was the one who helped her make the decision."

Lacey's pharmacist and Kelley's doctors are among hundreds, perhaps thousands, of physicians and pharmacists who now adhere to a controversial belief that birth control pills and other forms of hormonal contraception--including the skin patch, the vaginal ring, and progesterone injections--cause tens of thousands of "silent" abortions every year. Consequently, they are refusing to prescribe or dispense them.

Ummm... first, I wonder what the CVS corporate position is? I'm hoping that is an out of work pharmacist.

To that unnamed pharmacist, and gynecologist: Let me present you with some words that are new members to the public discourse thanks to our Vice-President - GO FUCK YOURSELF!

F

Well worth the read...

2004-07-03T19:36:00.000-07:00

I am taking some time off for the holiday. Here's some good reading. Enjoy

The Declaration of Independence of the Thirteen Colonies
In CONGRESS, July 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. --That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. --Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain [George III] is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by the Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

Signed: John Hancock, Samual Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry, osiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton, Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery, Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott, William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris, Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark, Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross, Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean, Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton, George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton, William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn, Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton, Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

Britney Fever... Fresburg Style

2004-07-03T01:51:00.000-07:00

Well, it appears the local fishwrap is trying to ferret out information on local boy Kevin Federline. You know... Mr Spears #2.

I guess part of the legwork for reporters now is trolling net blogs seeing what bites.

Fresno LiveJournal

Looks like reporter Mike Osegueda is looking for any sort of dish on the former Bullard High student. Scuttlebutt on FresnoFamous has it that Federline dropped out of school after sophomore year.

Oh yeah, he was part of some Tenaya Middle School gang of thugs.

Here's a house in the Tenaya District:

Thug Life Indeed

Christ! How fake are these people?!?!?

F

TIGER HAND! RAWR!!!!!

2004-07-03T01:30:00.000-07:00

Via Sid's Fishbowl

Rock, Paper Saddam

You don't know Tiger Hand? Tiger Hand beats paper. Like totally beats paper. Always

One question

2004-07-02T01:21:00.000-07:00

For those of you who have seen the Hellsing series. Just WTF is the character's name supposed to be? In the printed credits at the end of each episode it is spelled as ARUCARD. But when I watch it sure sounds like ALUCARD. Which would make a lot more sense: ALUCARD = DRACULA (backwards). ARUCARD = who knows what!?!

Is this just the flied lice thing I had to learn when studying allophones and Asian languages in Intro to Linguistics?

F

Following Orders from The General

2004-06-30T22:31:00.000-07:00

Impotence

For more information, click here

F

Finally saw F 9/11

2004-06-30T01:28:00.000-07:00

Well, I finally saw Fahrenheit 9/11

My initial thoughts walking out of the theater were: Technically, Moore is a very gifted filmaker. One scene that stands out for me is the long black screen as the planes hit the WTC. All I could think there was, "Whoa. That was brilliant Mike."

As for the rest of the film, there wasn't a lot of new information. I'm a news and blog junky so I have heard most of this before. If you haven't yet seen it, be warned - there be spoilers ahead. This is essentially 3 small films wrapped in one package. The common thread seems to be a deep visceral distate to all things Bush. And hey, I am so down with that.

I just didn't see any smooth transition from Part 1: Bush Coup d'etat to Part 2: Bush - Man with Saudi Dick in Mouth then to Part 3: Bush Idiot Commander in Chief.

But, if it gets people motivated to vote Bush out of office - you go Mike!

For a better analysis, and since I'm not the wordsmith, check out Kevin Drum over at Washington Monthly. He pretty much sums up my feelings on the film.

F

Barbara Ehrenreich in the NYT

2004-06-30T01:15:00.000-07:00

Found via The Hamster:

Barbara Ehrenreich, an award-winning author, will pen a column for The New York Times Op-Ed page as a guest columnist for one month beginning July 1. Her column will appear on Thursdays and Sundays in place of Thomas L. Friedman's column while he is on sabbatical to finish a book about geopolitics. Gail Collins, editor of the editorial page, made the announcement today.

"We're very excited that Barbara agreed to spend next month on our pages," Ms. Collins said. "She's a brilliant social critic, historian and political commentator."

For those that don't know, Ms. Ehrenreich is the author of Nickel and Dimed. Check out the site, then check out the book.

F

One other thing

2004-06-28T22:12:00.000-07:00

Don't ask why... I was cruising through Blockbuster when an anime title caught my eye: Blood: The Last Vampire (WARNING: Flash and sound). Artwork looked cool, and hey I'm always up for a vampire flick. Little did I realize just how much Japanese anime has vested in vampire flicks.

It was pretty damn good, but I have to agree with most reviewers over at Amazon.com: the movie was too damn short. I think it clocked in at 45 minutes.

Anyway, now I'm hooked on anime. Made a point of seeing Akira because everyone is like, "OH! You have to see Akira. That's what started it all!" Okay, and I have to admit. That was pretty damn good too. I like these adult, surreal, Road Warriorish cartoons. And the art is fucking breathtaking.

The latest one I've seen in Vampire Hunter D - Bloodlust. Again, great artwork. But ... the story... it kinda sucked. 3 out of 5 stars from Fresbie here.

Now my Netflix account is all jammed with anime. Hellsing, and .hack//SIGN are the next 10 DVDs coming my way.

Because you know... I just wasn't registering high enough on the ol' geek meter.

F

Google Search

2004-06-28T21:59:00.000-07:00

Hmmm... I only come up fourth on "hate Fresno"

Shouldn't have taken those weeks off.

F

F 9/11

2004-06-28T21:58:00.000-07:00

You just can't be a good lib blogger and not have a comment about Moore's latest.

My comment: My Cheney! babysitter flaked on Friday. So I'll be doing my part to help in second week receipts. If you're at the 1:55 showing at Edwards on Tuesday, we'll be in the same theater.

F

I have to admit...

2004-06-28T21:49:00.000-07:00

... that I feel a sense of guilt at not having posted to my blog in quite some time. But at the same time it has been quite liberating to be performing activities not related to the Machine.

And my son has developed a hardcore addiction to Strong Bad

Update from the Burg: it's HOT! was able to spend a Saturday tromping around the mountains. Did a 4 mile hike to Potter Pass.. then on the way down the hill stopped off for 2 miles (in and out) to Rancheria Falls.

Oh yeah... looks like the local school sup is on his way out... the district appears to be in chaos... makes me glad that I didn't sign on to teach with Fresno Unified...

Still here...

2004-06-17T20:17:00.000-07:00

Just an FYI, I am still here and will resume regular blogging in the near future. Right now I am enjoying my summer break and preparing for my first "real job" (comp sci instructor) So I am taking some time to read actual novels and stay away from the machine.

F

Okay, I just have to say

2004-06-03T11:51:00.000-07:00

that I love Opera. I downloaded it a few days ago, been tweaking it ever since. And hey, it's FREE!

I'm in love with this browser.

So let's see, I use Opera, iTunes, Quicktime...can I wean myself from the Micro$oft tit?? I imagine it's only a matter of weeks and I'll be on a Linux system

F

"CEO President" Indeed

2004-05-29T23:57:00.000-07:00

Let me set this up.

Bush makes a statement about Al Queda comparing it to a business. [He is the CEO President after all, so this should be right up his alley.]

If al Qaeda were a board of directors, the chairman and vice chairman might still be out there, but the middle management is gone.

Best response to this I've seen can be found at The Talent Show

If al Qaeda were a board of directors?! Let's take that line further, shall we?

The problem is that al Qaeda's stock price has been going up dramatically since their initial public offering due to the fact that their biggest competition, America, is mismanaged and has been unable to capitalize on the synergy they once had with their strategic partnerships, largely due to America's Chief Executive being so closely intertwined with its Board of Directors that the shareholders have very little oversight. Add to that the fact that the CEO lacks a cohesive business strategy and has been unable to maintain long-standing business partnerships, it's easy to see why al Qaeda has been able to maximize its assets and negate its high turnover rate by attracting fresh talent and expanding into new marketplaces. So while they have lost some high level executives, al Qaeda is well-poised for future growth.

You can thank our "CEO President" for that one.

Oh man, I can go to bed a happy man after reading that smackdown.

F

But they were just letting off some steam

2004-05-28T21:35:00.000-07:00

From The West Australian

A group of drunken off-duty police officers forced American students to kneel on the ground at their Fremantle dormitory while taunting and humiliating them about the United States involvement in Iraq.

No one died. No one was painted with shit and forced to stand arms out. Seems to me like the cops should walk.

Sigh. Looks like I shouldn't be planning any trips abroad in the near future.

Thanks George,

F

I could totally see this happening at Shaw and Blackstone

2004-05-28T15:34:00.000-07:00

Just take a minute and go read.

Link here

F

I knew the man was evil, but christ!!

2004-05-28T10:03:00.000-07:00

From msnbc.com:

"We're going to [put] more of these little Negro bastards on the welfare rolls at $2,400 a family—let people like [New York Sen.] Pat Moynihan ... believe in all that crap. But I don’t believe in it. Work, work—throw 'em off the rolls. That's the key ... I have the greatest affection for [blacks], but I know they're not going to make it for 500 years. They aren't. You know it, too. The Mexicans are a different cup of tea. They have a heritage. At the present time they steal, they're dishonest, but they do have some concept of family life. They don't live like a bunch of dogs, which the Negroes do live like."
—Nixon in May 1971

Is there anything else that needs to be said?

F

Nick Berg and Michael Moore

2004-05-27T19:46:00.000-07:00

It appears as if filmmaker Michael Moore interviewed Nicholas Berg before Berg went to Iraq

From Salon.com:

Filmmaker Michael Moore filmed an interview with American Nicholas Berg in the course of producing his documentary film "Fahrenheit 9/11," before Berg was taken hostage and killed in Iraq, Moore confirmed to Salon in a statement Thursday. The 20 minutes of footage does not appear in the final version of "Fahrenheit 911," according to the statement.

It looks like the Berg footage will not be released. Moore is talking to the Berg family now. I'm sure he has a sympathetic ear. IMHO, it would be in poor taste to release this, even as added footage on the DVD. Just let it lie.

F

New to the Blogroll

2004-05-26T14:53:00.000-07:00

I didn't even know they were linking to me... sheesh

Say hello to:

Fresno Famous

It appears to be Fresno Music related.

F

Franken's been over there...

2004-05-26T14:05:00.000-07:00

... now it's time for Rush.

From Gen. JC Christian:

I propose that you hold a series of live appearances in the Middle East. We could call it the Rush to American Victory Tour. By holding it in such former terrorist hot spots as Peshawar, Pakistan; Jalalabad, Afghanistan; and Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, you would show the world that we are achieving victory over terrorism.

Even I would watch that.

F

Hold it, control it...

2004-05-26T12:04:00.000-07:00

FYI, for the two of you reading this...

New Strong Bad email here

As one who has spent a summer working in a theme park, let me just say, as the host of the Strongbadia Riverquest Safariventure, Strong Bad NAILS that voice.

F

Yo Yo Yo.. the H-Dog is Back muthafuckaz!!

2004-05-26T10:57:00.000-07:00

Link

Apart from Strong Bad.. this makes my day!!

F

I did not realize...

2004-05-26T10:37:00.000-07:00

... that Rush Limbaugh is broadcast on Armed Forces Radio. Jeeeeezus.

Media Matters has started an online petition to send to Rummy asking that Rush be removed from Armed Forces Radio.

You can sign it here.

F

Mmmm... waffles

2004-05-25T11:46:00.000-07:00

Waffles

Get 'em while they're hot.

F

Why I hate this fcuking war!

2004-05-25T09:52:00.000-07:00

Click on the image to open in new, larger window

F

PS: I did that on purpose
Artwork from mykeru.com

New to the blogroll

2004-05-25T09:41:00.000-07:00

Adding mykeru.com

F

The Wedding Massacre

2004-05-24T15:39:00.000-07:00

Just a theory here:

From what I have read (AP story, links over at daily Kos, etc) it looks like we goofed. Again!

Okay, hear me out on this.

From what I can tell it appears that these people (the wedding celebrants) were shepherds. (Goats?). Shepherds tend to live nomadic lifestyles. Okay we have a group of nomadic people in western Iraq/eastern Syria who probably don't pay close attention to national borders. I mean c'mon, if the goats go over a hill and there is no structure delineating the border what do they care whether they're in Iraq or Syria following their herd.

Let's say that this nomadic group has a waystation set up in the area. A place where MAJOR festivities can be thrown (not just a place to park one's head). A place with enough room for several extended families.

Let's say at the same time, that some unsavory characters from outside of Iraq know about this waystation and have been known to use it when the nomads are in other areas.

So the US gets intelligence that there is a barracks in eastern Iraq being used by purported terrorists. They bomb the shit out of it. Ooops. Intel forgot to tell people that this is normally some kind of Iraqi Elks Lodge.

F

UPDATE

2004-05-24T15:30:00.000-07:00

Just FYI, as to the nudist story. (Sorry no pics).

Money lost.

Shocked! I'm shocked I say!

F

UPDATE: Here is the link to the fresnobee.com article saying the party is OVAH!

Boil it down... religion vs. money

2004-05-21T12:38:00.000-07:00

From the Fresno Bee:

It seems a group of naturists (I thought the term was nudists) wants to have a fun day out at a local waterpark [Warning: .wav at website].

Said waterpark is located in Clovis, ugly ass conjoined municipal twin to Fresno, and as Bob Martin, group sales manager for Wild Water, said "[Clovis] is the Bible Belt." So now a bunch of people got their panties in a twist. As Paula Wolf so eloquently puts it, "We're moral Christian people, and this doesn't belong in my back yard." She goes on to add, "They can take it over to Australia."

Hey Paula, how bout a nice cup of STFU. Though you may not realize it, but there is a world of financial difference between travelling to Clovis (though god knows I'd rather have pins driven thorough my eyes) and travelling to the Outback. At least for American attendees.

Look, Wild Water is in Chapter 11. This group that wants to rent out the facility is getting praise as being incredibly well behaved (and also flush with phat bank). Quotes attesting to this can be found in the article. Wild Water appears to be willing to drape tarp over all the fences to prevent skin from being seen by voyeurs. All seems okay.
Might be a small problem with elevated platforms, but they can be closed.

I'll be looking forward to see who wins this -$$$ money $$$ or GGGGGOOOOODDDDD

F

Umm... question

2004-05-20T15:42:00.000-07:00

When did Slash join Stone Temple Pilots?

Link

F

UPDATE: I guess the way to really look at is: Looks like GnR finally found someone to replace Axl.

Link

Helluva day for Baseball

2004-05-18T22:07:00.000-07:00

First, Johnson throws not just a no-no, but a freakin' PERFECT game.

And this shows up Jason Schmidt's one-hitter against the Cubs.

And here I am watching the Yankees and Angels in the ~~10th~~ 11^th in a scoreless game.

F

Ya know, Gabriel prolly wasn't thinking about Iraq

2004-05-14T00:16:00.000-07:00

when he wrote this.

In fact I guarantee it. It's a beautiful love song closing out the US album.

But I like this snippet of lyrics; and it seems to sum up that weird relationship Rumsfeld and Bush have... with reality.

Oh the wheel is turning spinning round and round
And the house is crumbling but the stairways stand

With no guilt and no shame, no sorrow or blame
Whatever it is, we are all the same

Making it up in our secret world [x3]
Shaking it up
Breaking it up
Making it up in our secret world

Seeing things that were not there
On a wing on a prayer
In this state of disrepair

Shh, listen...

You think Rummy or George got this on MP3? If they don't tell the RIAA we could P2P.

[Listening to: Secret World - Peter Gabriel - Us (7:01)]

Welcome, I guess

2004-05-13T22:12:00.000-07:00

Wow... I'm getting lots of hits for people looking for the Berg video.

I'll just let that statement stand on its own.

Salon seems to have ~~buried~~ pulled it.

If you've come here looking for a link, last I heard, it can be found at ogrish.com.

F

One time was enough for me.

More grist for the mill

2004-05-13T15:52:00.000-07:00

Time to put on your tinfoil hat if you so desire.

There has been a lot of chatter over the Nick Berg tape. I've read a lot on the web and on Usenet. All of it has to be taken with a grain of salt, granted. The one common thread seems to be Mr. Berg's lack of movement. Some posters seem to think that it appears that Mr. Berg was already dead or drugged.

Well, now comes this:

Al-Zarqawi is thought to be in Iraq, operating his own terrorist network, known simply as the "Zarqawi network." A specialist in poisons, he is thought to have extensive ties across the militant Islamic movement and is considered an ally of Osama bin Laden.

Emphasis mine.

Let's see how this reverberates.

F

New Forges

2004-05-13T14:55:00.000-07:00

You'll see this in the left sidebar

From El Pais via Runs with scissors:

F

Via Blogsnob

2004-05-13T12:28:00.000-07:00

I found this site via a Blogsnob link. It's a collection of photos from Iraq. Warning: probably NSFW (no nudity, just the horrors of war).

F

hmmm... suspicions surround Berg Video

2004-05-13T08:56:00.000-07:00

Just found this while reading comments over at Eshcaton.

I will admit that while I was watching the video I couldn't help but think for one instance.. hey... that's a mannequin... but I wrote this off as my being jaded and cynical... and then there was the blood... and I don't do blood well. And all that screaming.

Is this another Capricorn One?

I may well have to review this video to comfirm or dispel my suspicions... I do not look forward to that.

F

UPDATE: You know what? It was real in my mind after watching it last night. I know the feelings that I had. I know that feelings that I have now. I cannot bring myself to watch it again.

Whoa... WTG Freeway Blogger

2004-05-12T13:56:00.000-07:00

The Freeway Blogger just hit the big time.

Check out this AP Photo.

F

Freeway Blogging in LA

The video

2004-05-12T12:21:00.000-07:00

Right now, I suppose that's all that needs to be said. You know what I'm talking about.

Apparently the demise of Nick Berg has entered the mainstream. You can find it at Salon.com

I was able to watch it last night over at Ogrish.com and it is truly disturbing.

Just know, any description you might have read in print or online, odds say they are very accurate. Viewing the video will bring this home with brutal force.

Still sorting things out in my head

F

Don't Believe the Hype

2004-05-12T12:11:00.000-07:00

Link

It appears the govt is awash in funds since April is tax season, and every year they're flush just about now.

How much? Up US$17 Billion. Don't worry. It's not part of a trend. And besides, didn't Georgie just ask for US$25 Billion to keep his new Happy Time Mideast Theme Park going?

F

Steady leadership, indeed....

2004-05-11T18:46:00.000-07:00

Music Break (Reprise)

2004-05-11T15:29:00.000-07:00

From marillion.com

I saw a war widow in a launderette
Washing the memories from her husband's clothes
She had medals pinned to a threadbare greatcoat
A lump in her throat with cemetery eyes

I see convoys curbcrawling West German Autobahns
Trying to pick up a war
They're going to even the score
Oh... I can't take any more
I see black flags on factories
Soup ladies poised on the lips of the poor
I see children with vacant stares, destined for rape in the alleyways
Does anybody care, I can't take any more!
Should we say goodbye?

I see priests, politicians?
Heroes in black plastic body-bags under nations' flags
I see children pleading with outstretched hands
Drenched in napalm, this is no Vietnam

I can't take any more, should we say goodbye
How can we justify?
They call us civilised!

Sucks when Fish left

F

[Listening to: Blind Curve - Marillion - Misplaced Childhood (9:29)]

From Just Playing

2004-05-11T14:03:00.000-07:00

found this over at Just Playing

I cruised the poster site ... joder... man do they hate Aznar and Bush or what!!??

F

[Listening to: Paranoid Android - Radiohead - OK Computer (6:23)]

Music break

2004-05-11T13:31:00.000-07:00

milgram's 37

we do what we're told
we do what we're told
we do what we're told
told to do

we do what we're told
we do what we're told
we do what we're told
told to do

one doubt
one voice
one war
one truth
one dream

[Listening to: We Do What We're Told (Milgram's 37) - Peter Gabriel - So (3:21)]

Nick Berg... rest easy now

2004-05-11T13:16:00.000-07:00

Where to start?

Let it be known, this was no mercenary. Apparently this was a guy/kid who made it a habit of going to third world nations and tried to make things better.

From Pennlive.com

Berg had traveled several times to Third World countries to help spread technology, his family said. He had previously traveled to Kenya and Ghana, where they said he had purchased a $900 brick-making press for a poor village, the family said.

Other sources can be found on the net, just googlenews Nick Berg.

For whatever reason, this guy went to Iraq to try to do some ~~good~~ work.

I'm holding a thought for your family Nick. Wished you had listened to your father.

F

PS: From USA Today:

The video pictures of the execution showed five men wearing headscarves and black ski masks, standing over a bound man in an orange jumpsuit — similar to a prisoner's uniform — who identified himself as Nick Berg, a U.S. civilian whose body was found on a highway overpass in Baghdad on Saturday.

Also from USA Today

Berg, who was in Baghdad from late December to Feb. 1, returned to Iraq in March. He didn't find any work and planned again to return home on March 30, but his daily communications home stopped on March 24. He later told his parents he was jailed by Iraqi officials at a checkpoint in Mosul.

...snip...

On April 5, the Bergs filed suit in federal court in Philadelphia, contending that their son was being held illegally by the U.S. military. The next day Berg was released. He told his parents he hadn't been mistreated.

The Bergs last heard from their son April 9

Umm, question... why was he still wearing his orange jumpsuit?

UPDATE: apparently the vid is available on the net. go troll alt.tasteless. I'm still debating whether I want to post the URL. It's not everyday one gets to see a beheading. Ugh, I need to alter my consciousness

Random Thoughts

2004-05-10T09:32:00.000-07:00

You know, you don't get the best and the brightest to go into government anymore. Hell just look at Fresno

Mayor: Alan "I'm not Bubba no mo" Autry

US Rep: George Radanovich (an evil sumbitch if there ever was one)

Looking at this makes my skin crawl

City Councilman: Jerry Duncan - oh lord, where to begin... well I'm willing to wager he's a freeper... nuff said there

Former City Councilman: Chris Mathys ... see any post near the start of this blog

Former Mayor: Jim Patterson... look I don't know what environmental bug got up his ass but he comes out all hard today "Our Air Isn't Bad!! It's the Enviromental Wackos Fault!!" Hey asswipe, I hate to tell you this, but the American Lung Association are hardly environmental wackos, and they're the ones saying we live in a cesspit when it comes to the air we breathe. I just wish Jimbo here would go back to shaggin his wife or mistress or boyfriend or whatever and leave politics alone. Patterson and his ... ahem... "colleagues" did more to fuck things up in this city in the 80's and 90's.... but I digress

Okay, back to my original point, politics doesn't attract the best and the brightest, case in point: our current POTUS.

As has been pointed out at numerous other sites, Georgie has a keen knack for formulating 3-year plans, at the end of which the company which he heads is on the verge of imploding and some white knight (generally a FOP: friend of Poppy) comes in and financially bails Georgie out.

If I'm not mistaken, I think we're a little over 3 years in the GWB Debacle (some say presidency, I call it a Nightmare from Which I Cannot Awake!!) and guess what? Things are going to Hell in a Handbasket!

Economy: for shit... look I know what the "Economic Indicators" are saying... but dammit my economic indicators are fucked! Milk: Dairy producers just jacked it 50 cents a gallon. Gas: Oh c'mon, who doesn't know about this yet? As gas prices rise, so will transportation costs. Do you think companies will just absorb these losses? Hell no, it'll get passed on to the consumer. Expect higher prices for damn near everything The leading indicators of my misery index show it shooting into the stratosphere!

The War: two words - Abu Ghraib. And oh yeah, did you know that Sudan is on the UN Human Rights Commission? The same Sudan that is committing genocide against its own people. Link here. And here. And what the hell, here's another one. What does the Ambassdor from Sudan have to say when we (the USA) criticize? "Who is the United States to criticize after the human rights abuses they've committed at Abu Ghraib in Iraq?" (I paraphrased slightly - source here)

The Middle East: woooboy. Sure looks like everyone is getting over their grudges... settling their blood feuds... nah, it's fucked there too! Thanks for being Sharon's bitch George.

Okay, this diatribe could go on for an eternity, suffice it to say this is Bush's CV. And it would be crazy of us to expect him to fix things. He's never had to fix anything in his life. Everything has been fixed for him.

I hate to see what 4 more years of this brings

F

Found it

2004-05-10T01:04:00.000-07:00

http://buttons.blogger.com/bloggerbutton2.gif

quit fuckin with my blog

F

One last thing before Morpheus comes calling

2004-05-10T01:00:00.000-07:00

And it ain't no Matrix reference!!!

Bah! Google it if you have to. Or just click the damn link.

Where did my old Blogger button go? "I power Blogger." WTF??

Look I'm willing to post a button because I'm slumming off their site (thought I would upgrade to BloggerPro for image hosting capabilities but that's in the dustbin of history.)

But I HATE and DETEST this new "I power Blogger" new age, empowered BULLSHIT

Just give me my old button back.

Off to hunt for it.

F

Oh, Donny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling...

2004-05-10T00:55:00.000-07:00

This past week I was able to watch some of Rumsfeld's testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee. The one thing that really stuck out to me was how Rummy was lecturing the Senators on how the Army had released some PR memo back in January and that it was basically the Senators' fault if they hadn't read it and immediately followed up on it. In essence, "Hey, this information was out there. It's not my fault you didn't follow up on it, you all dropped the ball."

From the WaPo

Answering Senator Byrd:

RUMSFELD: Senator, the facts are somewhat different than that. The story was broken by the Central Command, by the United States Department of Defense, in Baghdad. General Kimmitt stood up in January and announced that there were allegations of abuses and that they were being investigated. He then briefed reporters. And I think it was March 20 -- there's a timeline up here. By March 20, he went back out again and said that these had been filed.

And later:

BILL NELSON: Mr. Secretary, when did you first find out about the abuses?

RUMSFELD: With everybody else, when they were announced by the Central Command January 16th. They announced they had a series of criminal investigations under way, they told the world, the Congress, me, everyone else that they were under way. And then they came back March 20th and said not only are they under way, but now we've got specific charges. And then they detailed some abuses.

But then this asshole has the temerity to go on the Today Show and when asked about the Taguba Report reply:

RUMSFELD: Well, first of all, the report, as I understand it, is a stack of a report coupled with a whole series of annexes. And so when I’m asked a question as to whether I’ve read the entire report, I answer honestly that I have not. It is a mountain of paper and investigative material.

Emphasis mine
DoD Link Here

So let me get this straight... the Senators are at fault because they didn't follow up on some press release back in January... but it's okay for Donny Boy to blow off the Taguba Report because he didn't have a Cliff's Notes version?

F

Someone enlighten me...

2004-05-09T23:12:00.000-07:00

I'm a regular reader over at daily Kos and after a quick site search I couldn't find any information on this...

What happens if Ralph Nader is unable to get on enough state ballots, where even if he were to sweep all of them, he still could not garner the necessary 270 electoral votes to win?

What if all he can do is tilt at windmills?

F

How pathetic are we?

2004-05-09T22:27:00.000-07:00

From Ted Rall

Worth noting, as another week of horrifying revelations of torture in American gulags in Iraq, Afghanistan, Cuba and here in der Homeland, is an interesting comparison.

Escaped hostage Thomas Hamill reports having been well treated, fed and "watered" throughout his captivity by Iraqi insurgents. At no time was he tortured; except for the captivity itself--admittedly terrifying--he was just fine.

Pfc. Jessica Lynch, despite spun Pentagon reports at the time, has also repeatedly said she was well treated, even given medical care in priority to Iraqis, by Iraqi doctors in a hospital during the war.

In other words, our treatment of POWs compares unfavorably with that given kidnapping victims and prisoners of both Saddam Hussein and the current Iraqi resistance movement.

(Emphasis mine)

F

Tip o'the hat to TBogg

Oy.. where to begin?

2004-05-09T19:34:00.000-07:00

Allright... I seem to have completed the vast majority of my end of semester work (papers, evaluations, observations, etc) Maybe now I can get back to some regular blogging

Just my luck... the week the shit hit the fan is the week I have to abandon my blog

F

Are we due?

2004-04-29T23:38:00.000-07:00

It's official. I'm old.

I grew up in the 80's. And a big fan of New Wave Music. If it was white and British, odds say I was all over it. Thomas Dolby. Oh yeah, even made sure to buy the version of Golden Age of Wireless that had "Europa and the Pirate Twins" on it. Frankie - of course. Tears for Fears - hell I'm still buying stuff by Roland. Howard Jones - yeah, but not until he had Phil Collins as a producer. "In the Air Tonight" just fucking ruled. And for a couple of years there in the 80's Mr. Collins could do no wrong. Whether is was solo stuff or working with Genesis, if Phil was on it, it shot up the charts.

Nothing topped Peter Gabriel, though. To me he was (hell still is) a musical God.

Anyway, after The Daily Show I flipped over to VH1 Classic [I said I was old] to just veg out and actually see a video. And it was bam! bam! BAM! Great songwriter after great songwriter. Robert Palmer, Squeeze (Difford and Tillbrook), Jackson Browne, Neil Young.

[Now this is not my original thought, but I've heard it said before that the 70s were the Golden Age of the Singer-Songwriter.
Springsteen. Billy Joel. Elton John. Paul Simon. Jackson Browne. Just to name a few.]

And I became damn nostalgic. To put it another way, I miss good music. Not everything that's out there is shit. Eminem is pretty damn good. 50 Cent isn't halfbad either. But for rap, that's about all I can tolerate. Maybe Ludacris if I'm in an especially tolerable mood. And Public Enemy kicks everyone's ass. (Give it up for Old School)

But goddamnit. Britney Spears? She's just a whore. Christina Aguilera? get that shit outta your face sweetheart. Usher?? If I hear that damn Boo-Boop Boo-Boop one more fucking time, I'm pulling an Elvis and watch out poor speaker. Beyonce? Jay-Z? Go away and make babies, okay? Hoobastank? WTF? Sorry, with a name like that... (sigh) it's just not with the effort.

Scanning the latest Top 40 list, it's not until number 14 that I find something I'll listen to. [It's Evanescence] And only 4 songs out of the whole Top 40. (Christ, Usher, take a pill man... it's called overexposure)

The whole point of this long, rambling post is just to vent and say we are DUE! for some good music. Gabriel only puts an album out once a decade. Sting can only do so much. And Bono has to watch his mouth on USA TV. It seems that pop culture in America, and lets face it, that pretty much means the world, recycles itself every 20 to 30 years or so.

What I'm wondering, are we at that Eagles/US Festival/Corporations-have-fucked-music-up stage? The stage that bore the fruit known as Punk. And it's weird cousin New Wave.

God, I hope so.

F

[Listening to: In Doubt - Peter Gabriel - Passion: Music For The Last Temptation Of Christ]

Wonder who she is talking about

2004-04-26T21:47:00.000-07:00

From Riverbend:

Which is the real quote?

This one on Dear Leader

I stare at him when he gives his speeches on television and cringe with the thought that someone out there could actually have thought he was representative of any part of American society. I can hardly believe that he was supposed to be the one to represent the average American.

Or is it Chalabi?

I stare at him when he gives his speeches on television and cringe with the thought that someone out there could actually have thought he was representative of any faction of Iraqi society. I can hardly believe that he was supposed to be the one to target the Iraqi intellectuals and secularists.

Scary no?

F

New to the Blogroll

2004-04-26T21:35:00.000-07:00

Mad Thoughts: Cat Handcuffs

He liked the "toys" I had on my site.

F

Light Posting

2004-04-26T14:48:00.000-07:00

There will be infrequent posting for the rest of the day.

Real-life intrudes. Job interview (and a real professional type job, not McJob) today and an exam in one of my post-grad classes tomorrow.

F

Oy ... where to begin

2004-04-26T14:40:00.000-07:00

Man... this weekend where to start?

First with the good news. Looks like nearly a million people showed up for the march in Wash DC.

Self-serving question: Wny can't they be in SF? I can make those, noooo prob.

Now on with word from the shits:

From Kos:

Karen Hughes spewed:

"I think that after September 11, the American people are valuing life more and we need policies to value the dignity and worth of every life," she said. "President Bush has worked to say, let's be reasonable, let's work to value life, let's reduce the number of abortions, let's increase adoptions. And I think those are the kinds of policies the American people can support, particularly at a time when we're facing an enemy and, really, the fundamental issue between us and the terror network we fight is that we value every life."

Great: I believe in a woman's right to choose. She can do whatever she wants to do with her own body and that puts me on the same moral ground as Al-Queda.

Ahem, ..., Karen... Fuck YOU!!

As a response, I refer you to the bitterlittleman over at Fe:

Hey, even I'm smart enough to have figured this out - that pro-lifers know they can't get abortion completely banned at this point, but they'll do everything they can to erode a woman's right to choose. Just like terrorists, they're willing to wait for the big score.

It's beyond obscene when Bush of all people talks about creating a "culture of life." That statement gets worse when you look at the broader context of, oh, American history. "Culture of life" is about the stupidest and most contradictory tag you could hope for in this country. This fucking nation is based on a culture of death. Wars, crime, entertainment - you name it, we're all for death.

If nothing else, there's no way I can get on board with the pro-lifers since I'm a guy and will never have any fucking concept of what it's like to have to deal with pregnancy. I'm also a big fan of being able to make tough decisions like this for yourself instead of having the government do it for you.

For those women who are against abortion, what the hell is the matter with you? You want some old fucker telling you what to do just because he thinks Jesus told him to? I know, I know. Some of these women are pro-life because they themselves had an abortion. Look, I understand that deciding to have an abortion must be a horrible decision to have to make, and no matter what, the repercussions stick with you forever. That's what life is about, though, or at least what life should be about. Making decisions. Yes, some decisions have more gravity than others, but just because you made a decision that you're now unhappy with doesn't mean that you should be working to strip others of the right to make the same decision on their own.

Another thing that seems to get lost is that people who are "pro-choice" aren't necessarily "pro-abortion." Sure, there are some sick fuckers out there who hate people and are kind of in that second camp. But still, just because you're on the pro-choice side doesn't mean that any of us think that abortion is the optimal route. It'd be nice if we lived in a perfect world where no one ever felt that the best option is to have an abortion, but it'd also be nice if we lived in a world where we didn't have to put criminals in jail. This is the adult world, not early morning kiddy hour where we all sit around and lick Barney the dinosaur's fucking pussy (to mangle a line from South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut). To quote that rhetorical genius Donald Rumsfeld, stuff happens. It's nice if when stuff does indeed happen, people have options available to them to help them in making a decision.

For those who whine and complain "But it's a BABY!!!" I have a characteristically simplistic answer: I don't care. I don't necessarily put any special value on one life over another just because it might be cute someday and puke on one of my nice shirts. I might put some special value on someone I care about, like a wife or a girlfriend, when they're facing a situation like that, however. You know, someone who's actually been there for me, unlike that lousy child. What kind of special treatment have they earned? I submit that they have earned none, unlike the person having to deal with that little self-entitled fucker. Okay, okay, I shouldn't be so harsh on the little shit. They're not self-entitled, they're right-wing asshole Christian entitled.

Once again, that's a big part of what this comes down to: religion. I wonder: how big of an abortion debate would we be having if the Jesus factor were taken out of the equation? Fantastic; a debate being driven by the people who refused to believe that the earth revolves around the sun for years despite actual evidence, the people who think the world was created only a few thousand years ago despite actual evidence, the people who refuse to accept evolution despite actual evidence, and (not to imply that this list is by any means conclusive) the people who think that the first woman was created from a man's rib (I don't detect any sort of anti-woman theme here) despite the fact that that's the stupidest fucking thing imaginable.

Hmm, I didn't expect to get off on such a rant here. That's never happened before. To continue this trend, I'll do something else I always do: I'll repeat myself. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: an unborn child is nothing but a parasite. Definition, from Merriam Webster Online:

parasite: 2: an organism living in, with, or on another organism in parasitism

Sub-definition:

parasitism: 2: an intimate association between organisms of two or more kinds; especially : one in which a parasite obtains benefits from a host which it usually injures

If we kill ticks and heartworm, we can kill unborn baby parasites.

That's all for now.

F

Sometimes I have faith in the younger generation

2004-04-23T14:18:00.000-07:00

Okay, first some background material.

This link takes you to an article describing a "die-in" at Bullard High School in Fresburg.

If you haven't visited that Bullard link in the previous paragraph let me summarize the relevant information.

Bullard is the RICH high school for Fresno. Other RICH high schools in the Fresno area include any of the Clovis Schools and the Papist Indoctrination Finalization Camp, otherwise known as San Joaquin Memorial.

Now, if you're from Fresno and white - odds say you're Republican. Now factor in $$$ and you get into that nutcase, neo-thuggery territory.

Check out the article and see what happened to some high-school kids who thought it was inappropriate to have a military-themed dance, what with us still getting our war on.

And keep this in mind too

F

Damn... looks like my alternative blog is DOA

2004-04-23T13:46:00.000-07:00

Well shit. Looks like the alternative blog I was gonna put out called wildSEXfreePORNandGIRLS.blogspot.com ain't gonna come up on any searches.

Oh hell, I should put a sitemeter on it and see how many hits it gets. I could try to rival the bitterlittleman over at Fe.

F

Thanks to Leo for the redirect to c|net.

(Yeah, it's a real blog. Click here.)

Oh!! And a big mea culpa. I just realized that I cursed on a Trackback to Leo Laporte's blog. (I used the S word - while I do that here on my blog, Leo's site is pretty clean language-wise). And for that I apologize. My fingers got ahead of my little brain. If there is a way this can be changed please let me know and I will do so.

Okay.. yeah, I'm using gmail

2004-04-23T12:32:00.000-07:00

Look, Blogger is owned by Google so Blogger is linking to the Gmail beta site. I snagged my name.

Besides if there is any mail I'm going to get from this site, it's gonna be hate mail. And I don't care if the government scans any threats I get.

F

Mad props to Mir

2004-04-23T12:06:00.000-07:00

I know what you're thinking. What are you going on about the former Soviet Space Station?

Mir is a blogger who is no longer "actively blogging." But she gave me a nice little writeup on her page today.

So I'm gonna link to her and check her site out. You should do the same.

F

Hey Fresno Bee.. you bitches...

2004-04-23T07:38:00.000-07:00

You bitches... I have two words for you... FUCK YOU!!

For those of you fortunate enough to live somewhere ELSE, our local piece of fishwrap felt it was imprudent to publish today's Doonesbury because it contained a swear word.

Oh! But we must protect the citenzry from the word BITCH. Yeah, the word they refused to print was bitch. As in the phrase Son of A Bitch. Which is exactly what BD uttered when he came to and discovered his leg was missing.

Again, fuck you Fresno Bee.

F

RFID is not the only reason to NOT shop at WalMart

2004-04-21T17:13:00.000-07:00

Oh man... just take a look here.

Thanks to Kevin Drum.

F

It's official now.

2004-04-20T23:08:00.000-07:00

Sad, indeed.

F

And what to make of no helmet? Has BD ever been seen without some sort of head covering?

I think no. Mithras thinks no. Anyone know different?

The door prize goes to...

2004-04-20T21:22:00.000-07:00

And a hearty thank you to Leo Laporte for directing the visitor from shawcable.net to my little blog.

You are visitor #1000 to Fresburger Blog!

Enjoy your parting gifts.

Of course, I assume this person will never be back.

F

New Blog on the Blogroll

2004-04-20T21:17:00.000-07:00

Welcome Musings to the blogging world.

Some deletions: Signal + Noise and Seeing Toledo... Just too inactive.

F

Blogshares?

2004-04-20T14:45:00.000-07:00

Okay.. when it comes to econ: I'm clueless. I can add numbers, find an anti-derivative, run you through a proof by contradiction, but what is up with this blogshares thing?

And it looks like skh made out like a bandit buying and selling shares of ol' Fresburger.

Kudos and Sayonara to the only (at one time) shareholder of Fresburger Blog. It looks like he dumped it all. In the meantime, he ran the share price up over $1500. Umm.... woohoo?

F

[Listening to: Untitled - R.E.M. - Green]

Life after the war

2004-04-20T14:36:00.000-07:00

I was just over at Mithras' site thinking about the future for BD, Doonesbury character. If you're lost at this point, just click on any link to the left. I suggest the Freeway Blogger.

Anyway, for those that have been following the story, BD's in the army and in Iraq. While there he lost (or will lose, this is all happening as we read) his leg.

I've been thinking of the effects being a disabled amputee warvet is going to have on BD. Granted there will be all types of psychological trauma for BD to plow through. Can this be conveyed in a four-panel strip on the OpEd pages? That part, I dunno.

But what we can witness are the profound changes about to occur in the BD's life.

Before serving in Iraq, BD held the position of head football coach at Walden U. While in-country Boopsie, BD's wife and interim coach at Walden killed the team (for reason, think the U of Colorado). Can BD return as head coach? I think not. Ask youself, how many amputee head football coaches do you know of at the college level? Me - none. And a quick and dirty googlesearch doesn't reveal any either. [If anyone knows of one I'd be happy to be corrected.]

Without a job what is BD going to do?

I'm interested to see how Trudeau portrays the hell that life is going to become for BD.

F

[Listening to: Hairshirt - R.E.M. - Green]

Oddest Domain to visit my blog:

2004-04-19T22:15:00.000-07:00

stmarycatholic.org

sometime around 10:45 this morning.

Oops. Kinda like going to a party and stumbling around and finding the latin tranny going at it hot and heavy with her beau.[And yeah, that link is exactly what it says it is... so, Not Safe For Work!!]

"Wrong room. My bad."

Thanks to The Hun for the link to the pics.

F

And it's the sign of the AntiChrist!!

2004-04-19T20:10:00.000-07:00

WooHoo!!

Bonds just went yard against that fat tub o'goo for number 666!!

Screw the Padres! Go Giants!

F

UPDATE: Whew!! Giants win 4-3. What's up with Herges??

Props to Mithras

2004-04-19T17:52:00.000-07:00

Props to Mithras over at Fables of the Reconstruction for his call on this week's Doonesbury.

Link here

Warning: Spoilers!!

F

Driver 8 take a break...

2004-04-19T17:49:00.000-07:00

I'll be looking forward to 7am tomorrow morning.

From Editor and Publisher.com

AAN Promises Important Iraq Story Tomorrow

By E&P Staff

Published: April 19, 2004 2:10 PM EST

NEW YORK In an unusual move for the organization, the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies (AAN) will release what it promises will be a bombshell article related to the Iraq conflict at 10 a.m. Eastern Standard Time on Tuesday. It will be made available free of charge for publication on all AAN-member Web sites, as well as for print, and more than 60 members papers have expressed interest in using it, according to Executive Director Richard Karpel.

The 3,000-word story, embargoed until Tuesday but obtained by E&P today, is based on a "closely held" memo purportedly written by a U.S. government official detailed to the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA). It was provided to writer Jason Vest by "a Western intelligence official." The memo offers a candid assessment of Iraq's bleak future -- as a country trapped in corruption and dysfunction -- and portrays a CPA cut off from the Iraqi people after a "year's worth of serious errors."

The article is titled, "Fables of Reconstruction," with a subhed, "A Coalition memo reveals that even true believers see the seeds of civil war in the occupation of Iraq."

Karpel commented, "We have no question that the memo is authentic."

Vest is an experienced investigative reporter who is currently senior correspondent for The American Prospect. He has worked on staff at U.S. News and & World Report and The Washington Post, written for The Atlantic Monthly, and was named as an "Unsung Hero of Washington Journalism" by American Journalism Review in 2002.

Wonder if Mithras has seen this yet?

F

Guns and Microchips

2004-04-16T21:18:00.000-07:00

Just Playing is one of my daily reads, and Phil has an interesting post on guns being "created with an RFID reader embeded in the handle of the gun." It is my understanding that the gun owner would be implanted with a companion chip. (Presumably on the hand or arm someplace.) And when the chip in the gun is able to lock on the chip in the owner, only then would discharge of the firearm be possible.

On most issues I realize that I am far to the left of the general public. Hell, I was one of 963 people in Fresno County (population > 800k) to vote for Kucinich. But I get leery on gun control. I know, I know. I too look in wonder when I see statistics from Canada and the UK. But here in the US the cat has been let out of the bag, re: guns. And I don't like dicking around with the Constitution, especially when we're talking taking people's rights away. Like Keith Olbermann said on his Countdown show when discussing the Howard Stern flap [and I paraphrase]: "No I don't listen to Stern, but I will defend him to the hilt on the free speech issue."

That's how I feel about guns. When I was growing up we never owned guns. Friends across the street had BB guns. Neighbors next door had honest to goodness shotguns. I fired my first shotgun when I was fifteen on some shirttail relation's farm in Pennsylvania. (under the proviso that we only shoot cans and gophers), and while I'm not a gunowner right now (children + guns can equal disaster, I prefer to stack the odds in my favor) when I go on hikes in the more remote areas of the Sierra my hiking partner has been known to bring along his handgun. In case of trouble, both the four and two legged varieties. His thougts on the matter, "I don't want the last idea to pass throught my head being - Fuck! I should have brought my gun!"

Guns may not be for me - I have a 90-pound German Shephard that is very protective of her pack and turf- but dammit, I will fight with all my might for your right to own a gun. Hey, someday in the future I might want my own.

On to this RFID chip. So let's say some 10-15 years into the future I take my son out with my shotgun. He wants to pump out a few rounds. By then he'll be old enough to handle and appreciate the dangers of the firearm, but since I have the chip (is there only one per gun?) and he doesn't he can't fire the gun? The Wired article mentioned in Phil's post addresses some of these issues:

Verichip's Bolton said those concerns already are being addressed. He said the guns can be designed to work for an officer, his partner and a supervisor.

So theoretically, I could register my son and I, or my partner and I, or ... will there be a limit on how many people can be registered on one gun chip?

How easy is it going to be to hack these chips? I'm looking to someone "above my pay grade" to take that part of the argument on. And the Wired article doesn't really address that.

This though, this scares the shit out of me:

The chips can be used instead of security key cards at office buildings or to use global positioning satellites to keep track of a relative who might suffer from Alzheimer's.

RFID is already a good reason to not shop at Walmart (Ed note: refuse to post link - feh). But to allow youself to be tracked via GPS by the govt? Oh man, that's like Asscroft's wet dream.

[Listening to: Family Snapshot - Peter Gabriel - Peter Gabriel 3: Melt]

Laporte update update

2004-04-16T17:19:00.000-07:00

Leo will be back in studio on the 20^th

Feh... just keep watching TechTV for Leo.

F

Why kites?

2004-04-16T16:13:00.000-07:00

You would have to read the whole article (here) to understand the lobster reference. [Hint: homard]

What I want to know: why did the Taliban ban kites? Shit, as a form of entertainment kites seem to fit right in with their paleolithic view of the world. What's a kite? Stick, string, cloth, and wind. Someone explain this to me.

Lobsters were among the many things the former Taleban regime banned, which included recorded music, shorts and kites.

Update on Leo Laporte

2004-04-16T15:38:00.000-07:00

Okay, just an update on Leo Laporte's return to TechTV

Looks like Leo will be back on April 27^th. More info here

Side note: Wil Wheaton will be guest hosting during the week of the 19^th

For more info on Wil Wheaton checkout willwheaton.net

He is an actor. Best known roles are as: that kid on Star Trek: The Next Generation, and that kid in Stand By Me (no not him, that's River Phoenix, the other one, no not the chubby one, and no not The Corey either)

Wheaton seems to be quite the techy. And if you check out his photoblog, he has a stove I would kill for. (You gotta be into old stoves)

F

Today's Draft Code

2004-04-16T13:56:00.000-07:00

Found this via atrios at Bartcop

link

F

Yowza... and welcome

2004-04-16T13:17:00.000-07:00

You know, I get like 15 hits a day here in Fresburgerland. And some of those are me. [The Blog is my Home Page on IE]. I went to bed last night and my total was something like 620. I fire up the puter this afternoon when I get home from work, tool around my normal reads: leoville, kos, atrios, Fe, Fables of the Reconstruction and then I thought, "Eh, let's see if I got any comments on that baseball post..." Maybe I made some egregious error and someone is taking me to task.

I take a glace at my SiteMeter and BAM! 30 visits just in the last day. Wow!

So to all of you coming over from leoville, welcome. Any questions post 'em in the comments, I'll answer.

I'll have to trackback there more often.

F

UPDATE: Now up to 50 for the day.... yikes!