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Clear Channel's Big Radio Ways Getting a Lot of Static
Wednesday, May 29, 2002
Thanks to Clinton's signing of the 1996 Telecommunications Act, most radio has turned into a boring corporate pile of shit.
The biggest of the big is Clear Channel Communications Inc., based in San Antonio but on the air everywhere. Thanks to a succession of mergers involving nearly 70 companies in the past six years, Clear Channel has grown from just 30 stations to more than 1,220 -- more than one of every 10 in the nation. It's also the nation's largest concert promoter and one of the largest billboard companies.
Fortunately, they're losing money hand over fist, but so did AOL when they first started out.
Business Ethics, the Clear Channel Way
Radio's Big Bully
Fandom menace
Tuesday, May 28, 2002
If you wonder why I loathe fanboys, this is a good example.
Eleanor Ringel, film critic at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, was informed by one reader that the whole Star Wars series was simply beyond the understanding of the female of the species, and therefore she shouldn't have been allowed to review it.
That's why most of them never get to use their Star Condoms!
For the record, I'm a serious fan of science fiction in all forms. I just find it annoying that a small but verbally obnoxious minority of socially impaired wankers make the rest of us look like jerkass idiots. It's doubly ironic that the entire Star Wars series, with the possible exception of The Empire Strikes Back, is a definitive representation of mediocre science fiction.
Lucas's finest work is THX-1138.
Thanks, Media News :)
Huey Freeman: American Hero
Sunday, May 26, 2002
Actually, McGruder says, he doesn't believe Huey's thinking--or his own--to be obsolete, or even all that radical. "I really think that what I am doing with The Boondocks is common sense. It's just that when no one in a position to be heard is speaking out, common sense seems radical," he says, sounding distinctly like Huey as he adds, "How's that for irony: We live in a time when common-sense statements seem radical."
Again, if you aren't reading The Boondocks, than check it out.
I have to admit that one reason I linked to this was the cool cover from last week. It's a nice retort to the idiotic pro imperialism (literally) Weekly Standard article from some time ago. I assume that this article is not satire as many webloggers have hoped since the Weekly Standard, which I've read on many occasions, is about as subtle as a jackboot to the groin.
Remember, the Empire is good!
Who cares if they vaporize defenseless planets like Alderaan?
Down with freedom! Order must supplant all!
To those morons who would rather have order than freedom, I would point out that if the founding fathers thought like you do, there would be no United States of America.
I can just see Jefferson, Franklin and Washington sitting around and saying "Well, we can all agree that the British Empire is really a good thing despite their despotic policies. Fuck it! Let's forget this revolution shit and all go have a nice cup of really hot tea!"
Size Does Matter
Saturday, May 25, 2002
Certainly there are people who need large vehicles for jobs or hobbies that involve hauling around mass quantities of things, whether it's lumber, machinery or children. But it's kind of hard to believe that everybody who owns a gigantic car is a professional mover, weekend outdoorsman or breeds as rapaciously as Baron von Trapp.
Will the big dumb SUV craze ever die out?
I think not as long as the U.S. car makers keep giving them away. I just saw a Ford Expedition (probably the worst gas guzzler in the U.S. as far as numbers sold go) ad with zero percent financing for the next sixty months. There's just a certain amount of the public that's dumb enough to buy anything they see on television, regardless of common sense or long term affordability.
It's hard to watch television five minutes these days without seeing a SUV ad. Why is that? It's simple. SUVs, being cheaply built trucks under the sheet metal, are cash cows for automakers. Anyone who buys one is a royal sucker as far as I'm concerned.
Osama Bin Laden and company loves 'em, since more gas guzzlers on the road = more money for the oil sheiks = more money funneled into terrorist groups.
What vehicles are you most likely to see plastered with flag decals or flying tattered flags on their radio antennas?
That's right, SUVs! Ironic, isn't it?
Here's the article that started it all, with the typical kneejerk reaction from the SUV crowd.
Report cites rock mining, coal as largest toxin producers
Saturday, May 25, 2002
Corporate Bush supporters turn out to be biggest polluters:
Hard-rock mining companies and coal-burning power plants are America's largest toxic polluters, responsible for nearly two-thirds of the poisonous contaminants in the nation's air and water, the Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday.
In its most comprehensive inventory of pollution and its sources, the EPA said mining of hard-rock minerals - gold, silver, uranium, copper, lead, zinc and molybdenum - was responsible for 3.4 billion pounds of toxic pollutants in 2000. Coal-burning electric generating plants were responsible for another 1.2 billion pounds.
Hutchinson is Wrong About Drug-Treatment Issue
Saturday, May 25, 2002
A common sense drug reform measure is once again opposed by the executive:
The Ohio Drug Treatment Initiative headed for this November's ballot would overhaul the state's drug war, offering treatment instead of jail time for nonviolent offenders.
A Buckeye State Poll shows 74 percent of voters want to see it happen. Meanwhile, a tone-deaf Gov. Bob Taft is leading the charge to "just say no," often distorting the measure in the process. Now comes the nation's drug cop telling Ohioans to oppose the initiative.
Geez, how many times have we heard that?!?
Meanwhile, Vermont kills medical pot bill.
Senior UK law lord calls cannabis ban "stupid"
Canadian medical marijuana users sue government
House approves legislation banning photo-taking in barns
Friday, May 24, 2002
Take a picture of a farm animal in a pasture in Missouri, face one year in prison and a thousand dollar fine.
Rep. Ken Legan, who sponsored the House amendment, said he doesn't approve of sneaky photographers on a mission to expose the supposed evils of farming. "They'd like to come in and take pictures and say how bad it is when in actuality (the animals) have never had it so good," said Legan, R-Halfway.
Legan's amendment, dubbed an "anti-terrorism" measure, also would apply to animal-breeding facilities or any place that houses animals for agricultural, business or research purposes. It bans photographs, videotape or otherwise obtaining images from "within a structure that an animal is housed without express written consent of the animal facility."
He added that the news media shouldn't be allowed to conduct undercover investigative reports.
This gives the great state of Missouri a solid shot at the 2002 Most Fascist Constitution Busting Legislation title race! Nice work.
Thanks, also not found in nature :)
Falling Coconuts Kill More People Than Shark Attacks
Friday, May 24, 2002
Remember last year's shark attack media feeding frenzy? It turns out that ten times as many people are killed every year by falling coconuts than by sharks.
3,000,000 would die in "limited" nuclear war over Kashmir
Friday, May 24, 2002
A minimum of three million people would be killed and 1.5 million seriously injured if even a "limited" nuclear war broke out between India and Pakistan, warns a new study discovered by New Scientist.
The estimates are comprised of the immediate casualty list from blast, fire and radiation if only a tenth of both countries' nuclear weapons were exploded above 10 of their largest cities. It does not take account of the inevitable suffering that would result from the loss of homes, hospitals, water and energy supplies, or the cancers that could develop in future years.
I view these numbers as highly conservative as the concept of "limited" nuclear war is a fallacious one. Let's hope that no one strikes the match.
India patience at 'breaking point'
Whaling summit ends in deadlock
Friday, May 24, 2002
The International Whaling Commission's meeting in Japan ends in deadlocked partisan mess.
IWC states, conservation groups slam Japan's voting
Whale meeting ends in fury
Whaling Ban Stays But IWC Members Oceans Apart
A vegan's ode to soy
Friday, May 24, 2002
Josh Bentley is a Vegan. He is also a poet. But he is possibly the first man who has ever tried to combine the two activities by rewriting established poetry so as to remove all traces of meat and fish products.
Is it a weird form of censorship, just plain eccentricity or maybe both? I don't know. Come to think of it, a lot of traditional prose does have bloody feasting in it, doesn't it?
Alerts tied to memo flap
Thursday, May 23, 2002
The latest round of vague terrorist "warnings" turn out to be no mere coincidence. I told you so!
The latest alerts were issued "as a result of all the controversy that took place last week," said Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer, referring to reports that the president received a CIA briefing in August about terror threats, including plans by Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network to hijack U.S. commercial airliners.
Thanks, Unknown News :)
This futile campaign
Monday, May 20, 2002
The only sensible conclusion is that we know as much about Operation Condor as we do about its predecessors - Anaconda, Ptarmigan, Snipe - and before that, Tora Bora: very, very little. Follow the reports for the past six months and there is a ludicrous pattern of claims of victory, then a few discordant details trickle out and, finally, an admission of failure.
I find it bitterly amusing that the bean counters who named "Operation Snipe" didn't seem to understand the traditional definition of a snipe hunt, which seems to fit operations in Afghanistan quite nicely.
Meanwhile, U.S. gunships shoot up the wrong guys. Again.
Thanks, Dack :)
Courting nuclear disaster
Monday, May 20, 2002
This is some frightening commentary on the all too real threat of nuclear war between India and Pakistan.
Some ominous news from the combattants:
Indian diplomacy is unlikely to impact Pak
A unified command of forces along the Indo-Pak border is a formal indication that India may go in for punitive action against Pakistan, says defence analyst K Subrahmanyam. "Such action is taken by a government that is planning to go for war," says Subrahmanyam.
Pak retaliated Indian attacks on boundary
To a query on moving of Strike Corps by India to borders, spokesman of ISPR, Brigadier Saulat said Pakistan's strategy is finalized and Pakistan army is in a state of readiness. Any adventurism to enemy will cost heavily to it, he asserted.
It's almost exactly like the Israeli-Palestinian territorial pissings, except that the Palestinians don't have nukes.
I think my mom had the best solution to these conflicts. If leaders are going to act like a bunch of spoiled two year olds and get innocent people murdered at the same time, than they should all be taken out and paddled severely. CNN could televise it all live.
Cheney: Another Al Qaeda Strike 'Almost Certain'
Monday, May 20, 2002
The Big Dick props up the War on Terror [TM], frightens the public and gets cowardly Democrats to back down on criticism all at the same time!
The vice president said the prospects of a future attack by the al Qaeda terrorist network are as real as they were right after the attacks, despite what he called "some success in disrupting the organization, and making it more difficult for them to carry out their operations."
Might I ask Mr. Cheney's administration and a gutless Congress, who have been crushing civil liberties and shredding the Constitution since 9/11, why their anti terrorism measures aren't working? Doesn't this also prove that the massive U.S. bombing campaign in Afghanistan has failed miserably?
As it turns out, the Office of Homeland Security is a laughingstock.
Here's something to consider:
Already polls are showing that that national security is no longer as important to people as education and other traditional domestic issues.
Hmm. Could this explain Cheney's convenient timing?
Various government agencies have been crying wolf since the original terror attacks. The more they continue to do so, the less the public will pay attention to it.
Pacific Lumber clarifies terror claim
Monday, May 20, 2002
Here's another story for the "if you oppose U.S. corporations you must be a terrorist" file:
The president of Pacific Lumber Company has "corrected a mis-statement" he made about forest activists last month, but hasn't backed off of his suggestion that the county should pursue Federal anti-terrorist funds to quell protests.
Pacific Lumber (PL) President Robert Manne told the county's Board of Supervisors on April 23 that activists protesting old-growth logging "have boldly proclaimed themselves as eco-terrorists." He also told supervisors that the county should consider using money from the anti-terrorist Homeland Security Act to pay for policing of protests.
Which Pixies song are you?
Tuesday, May 14, 2002
| Hey | It's hard to get to know you, but once people do, they're in for a wild ride. You had a rough childhood, and it reflects in your speech and mannerisms- you're focused on things like whores and crack babies, which fascinates people at first but may ultimately drive them away. Despite your somewhat depraved outward persona, you're a truly decent person who craves and deserves love and friendships. |
That describes me pretty well, I think.
I could be Gouge Away too. Maybe Nimrod's Son.
High school seniors can't say what happened when.
Monday, May 13, 2002
Let us give thanks. Our kids are dumber than ever when it comes to history, thanks to the gargantuan failure of the U.S. education system:
A 2001 U.S. history test that's part of what's known informally as the "Nation's Report Card" found that fewer than 15% of fourth-, eighth- and 12th-graders were "proficient" in history, which officials say should be the goal for all students. The data also showed that American students are weaker in history than in math, reading or science, the other subjects tested.
Thanks, KillYourTV.com :)
Has 'Star Wars' run out of gas?
Monday, May 13, 2002
Lucas was once seen as a rebel, motivated by idealism and opposed to the commercial forces of "big Hollywood." When "Star Wars" debuted in 1977, Mr. Friedman says, no related action figures were on store shelves, whereas 22 years later "Phantom Menace" seemed designed for selling toys.
If my memory serves me correctly, every kid on the block had Star Wars toys in 1977. I had lots of them and I wasn't even allowed to see the movie.
The whole reason I'm sick of Star Wars and every other summer blockbuster is the insane amount of marketing, branding and cross promoting. That's why I stay out of movie theaters in the summer.
The turn everthing cool into commercial shit cycle continues to accelerate.
Ruling on Dumping of Mine Waste Stuns Coal Industry
Friday, May 10, 2002
U.S. District Judge's ruling strikes a blow against Bush's gutting of the Clean Water Act:
[Judge] Haden described the government rule change as a special favor to the mining industry that effectively would codify what he characterized as nearly 20 years of illegal dumping condoned by the Army Corps of Engineers.
"The final rule for 'discharge of fill material' highlights that the rule change was designed simply for the benefit of the mining industry and its employees," Haden wrote. "The agencies' attempt to legalize their long-standing illegal regulatory practice must fail. . . . The regulators' practice is illegal because it is contrary to the spirit and the letter of the Clean Water Act."
It's nice to have some good enviromental news for a change, even if it might just be a temporary respite.
AmeriSnitch
Friday, May 10, 2002
Welcome to Snitch Nation. Now move along or face arrest.
Colombia Anti-Drug Chief Reassigned
Friday, May 10, 2002
The head of the Colombian anti-narcotics police force was reassigned Friday after a "significant amount" of millions of dollars in U.S. funds earmarked to fight drugs vanished. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said about million had disappeared.
The U.S. Embassy said Washington's confidence in the Colombian anti-narcotics police remained "unshaken" despite the lost funds.
"This type of incident can happen in any organization," the embassy said in a statement, adding that it expected aid would be resumed once action is taken against officers who were involved.
"I am not giving out names or responsibilities. I am not going to resign."
Counternarcotics police chief Gen. Gustavo Socha - May 9, 2002
Army Official Resigns Over Crusader
Friday, May 10, 2002
A U.S. Army official has resigned after lobbying Congress to overturn a decision by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to cancel the billion Crusader artillery gun, the Army said on Friday.
OK pork barrelers are furious!
Only ,000,000,000 wasted so far!
More good news!
Using House rules, Republicans fended off amendments to block exemptions from environmental laws that the Pentagon wants for military lands, to overturn plans to close a number of bases, to tighten limits on U.S. military personnel helping to fight the drug trade in Colombia, and to block underground missile testing and nuclear-tipped interceptor missiles.
Hooray!
Overwhelmed by autism
Friday, May 10, 2002
Autism hits record levels, especially in California:
The number of autistic clients at centers run by the state Department of Developmental Services (DDS) increased 273 percent from 1987 to 1998. In the four years since then, the cases have close to doubled again, and the latest quarterly numbers show they are continuing to explode at a record rate. Two-thirds are children under age 13.
Here are two Wired articles I linked to ages ago that are worth a reread: The Geek Syndrome
and Think Different?
Schools turn to 'smart lockers' to track student activity
Friday, May 10, 2002
Privacy for high school students? Forget about it!
A new invention called the "smart locker" would allow principals across the country easy access to lockers and even monitor how often students use them.
Opened with "swipe cards," rather than padlocks, these lockers can be operated from a computer in the central office where they can be opened individually or all at once. It would even be possible to conduct a "schoolwide lockdown."
Bush Seeks To Restrict Hill Probes Of Sept. 11
Friday, May 10, 2002
The usual suspects are up to the same old tricks.
Inquiry of Intelligence Failures Hits Obstacles
Graham: 9/11 study hindered
Thanks, Unknown News :)
The Thing That Ate E.T.
Wednesday, May 8, 2002
Comparing Spielberg's E.T. and Carpenter's The Thing:
The Thing feels like the beginning of the end; it feels like the apocalypse, but it is an apocalypse brought on not by weapons but by something more like a virus, eating us alive from the inside.
I disagree with the conclusion of this article. E.T. doesn't hold up beyond Reagan era nostalgia. It was Spielberg's first nose dive into sentimental saccharin and his movies have changed very little in the twenty years sense.
Another good review: The Omega Man, where post holocaust mutant hipsters try to destroy the last honkey on Earth, Charlton Heston. Unfortunately, their cheesy fire catapult turns out to be no match for Heston's trusty NRA membership card and submachine gun!
The Future is Not Written in Stone
Wednesday, May 8, 2002
The pace of spaceflight at NASA is frankly boring to the general public. The pace of engineering progress in the computer, telecommunications, and Internet worlds, even after the dot com melt down, is orders of magnitude faster than in the space arena. A billion dollar product such as an Intel microprocessor has a shorter life span than the time it takes to do the safety paperwork to fly an already built payload to ISS.
At some point, space exploration will have to become space exploitation to become commercially viable. There are many advantages to this. The promise of cheap, clean energy, breakthroughs in technology and a better understanding of our planet.
Congress is far too cowardly to fund propoganda stunts like the Apollo program (let's face it, if it wasn't for supposed threat of the Soviets, Apollo never would have happened).
To be honest, I'm not very hopeful.
Sean O'Keefe looks to be another in a long line of mostly clueless political appointee bean counters. We can't rest on our laurels if we expect to survive the twenty-first century, but it seems that's exactly what we plan to do.
John F. Kennedy was right about one thing: we should choose to move forward in space not because it is easy, but because it is hard.
Thanks, NASA Watch :)
The numbers game, Mideast-style
Tuesday, May 7, 2002
An interesting article on political rally numbers fudging by the media. As usual, MSNBC's website reporting is far superior to their TV network nonsense.
Lawyer Claims To "Own" The Sun
Tuesday, May 7, 2002
. . . in a move intended to expose the phony "extraterrestrial real estate" industry, a space lawyer "claimed" ownership of the Sun.
Students' Pizza Crust Takes NASA Space Food Prize
Mmmmmmmmmmmm. Space pizza!
Congress Set To Defy White House Over Pluto Probe
Pluto probe still not quite dead yet. Some background info.
A Foil Of Antimatter
It's not exactly warp drive, but potentially much faster space travel at least.
Ozone hole causes mixed Antarctic message
Tuesday, May 7, 2002
In the past 20 years, pollution has destroyed much of the ozone layer over Antarctica. That in turn has cooled the stratosphere by as much as 10°C. The cooling does not extent to ground level, but it has had the effect of strengthening the polar vortex and the westerly winds.
It's another nail in the coffin of global warming deniers, since they like to point to Antarctic cooling as evidence that global warming doesn't exist.
Lobbyist's Wish List Sought
Tuesday, May 7, 2002
"If you were King, or Il Duce, what would you include in a national energy policy, especially with respect to natural gas issues?" Energy Department senior policy adviser Joseph Kelliher wrote in a March 18 e-mail to natural gas industry lobbyist Dana Contratto, a partner with the firm Crowell & Moring.
Glad to see that the current administration isn't too biased on energy issues! It's nice to know that Dick Cheney really is a whore's whore.
Thanks, environy :)
Bush's pick for EPA enforcement called unqualified
A coalition of environmental groups, including the Sierra Club, American Rivers and Friends of the Earth, said Suarez was the least qualified person to be considered to head EPA's enforcement office in the last 15 years.
Shocking, isn't it?
Wanted motorist chases diplomacy off TV
Tuesday, May 7, 2002
As Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon visited the nation's capital and negotiations to resolve the siege at Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity moved toward a conclusion, cable TV cut away to provide helicopter views of the latest car chase on the freeways of Southern California.
What a crock!
Why doesn't cable news just give it up and broadcast tabloid sleaze and shock news 24/7? After all, that's what the public wants, right?
Why bother having any international news coverage at all?
It doesn't get ratings.
I look foward with great anticipation to the berzerk coverage and endless idiot punditry concerning the pending Robert Blake trial.
Thank god for celebrity murders! All hail the Nielsen ratings!
Thanks, Media News :)
Why U.S. Farm Subsidies Are Bad for the World
Tuesday, May 7, 2002
U.S. farm subsidies equal corporate welfare and pork barrel politics at their very worst:
There is no doubt, by the way, that farm subsidies are corporate welfare par excellence. Although the program began as a way to aid poor family farmers in the 1930s, by last year nearly three-quarters of the money went to the richest 10 percent of American farmers.
Recipients of five- and six-figure farm subsidy payments included John Hancock Life Insurance Co., Chevron, banker David Rockefeller, and basketball star Scottie Pippen. Even former Enron chairman Kenneth Lay collected a few bucks.
Cost of Election-Year Farm Bill Up 15 Percent
Although the bill was officially "scored" as costing .1 billion through 2007, within spending limits, the Congressional Budget Office said its actual cost would be .7 billion, a 15 percent increase, if newer market price estimates are used.
House To Vote On Farm Subsidy Boost
Last fall, the administration issued a 120-page policy statement, hailed by environmentalists and other critics of farm programs, that said federal programs stimulate excess production, inflate land rents and largely benefit a relatively small number of big farms. Economists say the new bill does little to address those complaints.
Farm Subsidies Pass House
"We all know that Freedom to Farm didn't work," said Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO). "While no farmer wants to depend on the government for anything, it is critical that we provide a safety net to our producers."
Are Republicans free trade hypocrites? Surely not! Democrats are only slightly less hypocritical, in case anyone thinks I'm playing favorites.
This Farm Bill Deserves a Barnyard Epithet
And despite all of the crocodile tears shed in Congress for the near-mythical family farmer, this measure will only continue the demise of small producers. In an effort to target the small-farmer subsidies, some lawmakers tried to limit the largess to 0,000 per farm. They were squashed like grasshoppers in a corn field. The final bill supposedly caps subsidies at 0,000. But it also contains the necessary loopholes to allow agribusiness to exceed even that limit.
Farm legislation illustrates worst in corporate welfare
A 10-year, 1 billion subsidy to agribusiness will be parceled out according to size of the business. Small farmers need not apply. The top 10 percent of the largest recipients of crop subsidies, for example, get two-thirds of the money. The bottom 80 percent receive barely enough to justify all the paperwork -- an average of ,132 per year.
New cotton subsidies will cost billion next year. The top 1 percent will collect 25 percent; the top 10 percent will collect more than 70 percent.
IMF calls for farm subsidy cuts
MobyLives.com
Monday, May 6, 2002
A kick ass and ad free book weblog and commentary page that includes such gems as hundreds of NYT plugs for NYT staffers, why new book prices are such a ripoff and the current plague of runaway plagiarism by historians.
It might be even good enough for a permalink.
Thanks, Arts Journal :)
U.S. rejects global pact on war-crimes tribunal
Monday, May 6, 2002
The "unsigning" of the treaty, which is expected to be announced Monday, will be a decisive rejection by the Bush White House of the concept of a permanent tribunal designed to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity and other war crimes.
I ask you, what do we have to hide?
I guess some nations are more equal than others.
US to abandon court treaty
War stress wears out prostitutes
Sunday, May 5, 2002
Randy U.S. sailors force brothel closing in Perth.
In other weird Australian news, a scrotum biting football player has been banned for ten weeks.
The 2002 Jefferson Muzzles
Saturday, May 4, 2002
Crushing free speech: the antithesis of supposed U.S. values:
Unfortunately, each year the finalists for the Jefferson Muzzles have emerged from an alarmingly large group of candidates. For each recipient, a dozen could have been substituted. Further, an examination of previous Jefferson Muzzle recipients reveals that the disregard of First Amendment principles is not the byproduct of a particular political outlook but rather that threats to free expression come from all over the political spectrum.
The attempt which has been made to restrain the liberty of our citizens meeting together, interchanging sentiments on what subjects they please and stating their sentiments in the public papers, has come upon us a full century earlier than I expected.
Thomas Jefferson to William Branch Giles, 1794.
Thanks, Cowlix :)
US cool on Musharraf vote
Thursday, May 2, 2002
Bush administration waffles over Musharraf's sham referendum and massive electoral fraud. As per usual U.S. policy, a blind eye is turned toward a supposed ally's totalitarianism.
I.A. Rehman, director of the Pakistan Human Rights Commission, said: "The Government’s figures are ridiculous. In many polling booths there were no voters at all."
A commission report said that the voting irregularities had exceeded its worst fears and that voluntary voter turnout had been very low.
At one polling station at a government college for women in Rawalpindi, the presiding officer stuffed ballot boxes with several "yes" votes in view of a Reuters team. "I have been told by the principal to complete 500 votes at my booth," she told Reuters, explaining that only 150 people had cast their votes. "What can we do? We are government servants and we have to do our job."
Billions of rupees were doled out to hire crowds for pro-Musharraf rallies before the referendum and for lugging pro-Musharraf voters to the polling stations. The number of polling booths was increased tenfold. And the voting age was reduced from 21 to 18 years, so that another 20 million voters without any memory of the military's disastrous interventions in 1958 and 1977 could be added to the kitty.
Is that proof enough for you? It is for me.
Thanks to Cursor for the last three links :)
House Committee Moves Swiftly to Protect 'Crusader'
Thursday, May 2, 2002
There's no tastier pork than defense contractor pork, as House Republicans quickly move to continue funding an obsolete Cold War era gun.
Pentagon fight brews over howitzer
An internal Pentagon battle over canceling an billion program to develop an artillery gun for the Army broke into the open Thursday when Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said he was looking into reports that Army officials had gone behind his back to Congress.
Let's not forget the Carlyle Connection.
Project on Government Oversight: Defense Investigations
Video Game Featuring Minnesota's Ventura in Works
Thursday, May 2, 2002
"The options include everything from a giant Jesse Ventura using his sword of justice to hack legislators off at the knees to a series of ethical case studies for people to answer and compare their answers to the governor's," Madsen [Ventura's campaign treasurer] said.
I wonder if this has been tried before. Who knows? Considering that Ventura was a professional wrestler and navy SEAL, he's already a video game character.
Spain under fire for hanging dogs
Thursday, May 2, 2002
Words couldn't possibly describe my horror and disgust upon reading this article.
Francis Bacon and the Death of Art
Thursday, May 2, 2002
Some say that shock art has a point, that it's meant to jolt us into realizing and solving our problems. It doesn't say enough to do that. It just entertains or enrages us. Bacon's art says something. He saved his work from the merely shocking with that mix of truth and beauty in which color reveals our nervous system and smeary shapes record our cries.
Francis Bacon's Eye of Dispair
Francis Bacon at Artcyclopedia
I'm surprised I've never read Gadfly Online until today. It is refreshing to find a website with solid content that doesn't have stupid ad banners or pop-ups.
Bush promotes virgin values to curb teen sex
Thursday, May 2, 2002
Last February, the President laid out a budget for next year that would raise federal spending on 'abstinence only' education by million (£23m), to 5m. Last week, this budget entered its phase of seeking congressional approval.
Oh yeah, like that's going to work. When is the United States going to drop the Puritanism and teach kids what they need to know about sex?
Of course, this is also a free speech issue.
House panel votes to extend sexual abstinence programs
The federal law bars discussion of the benefits of birth control and instructs programs to teach that any sex outside marriage has harmful consequences.
Here's the real kicker:
U.S. study - no evidence that abstinence-only counselling works
There still is no evidence that programs which advocate sexual abstinence prevent teen sex, pregnancy or disease, says a government report. The news came as a Congress committee got set to vote Wednesday on whether to renew an abstinence-only initiative.
Young People's Reproductive Health Needs Neglected
Iran is providing more consistent sexual and reproductive health education for young people than the United States, according to a new report profiling seven countries by Population Action International (PAI).
While the U.S. administration is increasingly focusing its policy and funding on 'abstinence-only' education, Iran's programs are employing more comprehensive, age-appropriate educational materials, explicit pre-marital counseling and male education.
That's right. One of the Axis of Evil [TM] states has better sex education than the U.S.!
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