tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-54889572011-04-21T14:41:34.274-07:00The only tool you need is an idea.SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1531100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1166635405446048572006-12-20T09:21:00.000-08:002006-12-20T09:23:25.456-08:00

No shit!?Just how disconnected are the right-wing pseudo-Christians from reality? Why, they are 95% disconnected from it.

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1166209202743601032006-12-15T10:59:00.000-08:002006-12-15T11:00:02.753-08:00

How to turn 11 million people from hard-working members of society into desperate criminals: immigration dragnets

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1164645619404777162006-11-27T08:39:00.000-08:002006-11-27T08:40:19.436-08:00

"Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says Iran is "ready to help" calm Iraq's fighting."Worst possible outcome: strengthen your enemy. Anyone not divorced from reality could have seen this coming a mile away.

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1162656924983715642006-11-04T08:14:00.000-08:002006-11-04T08:15:24.996-08:00

Kafkaesque:"A suspected terrorist who spent years in a secret CIA prison should not be allowed to speak to a civilian attorney, the Bush administration argues, because he could reveal the agency's closely guarded interrogation techniques."

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1162483564432521062006-11-02T08:04:00.000-08:002006-11-02T08:06:04.443-08:00

I've been thinking about John Yoo and his Unitary Executive theory of the President's power. His argument is that in a time of war the President has leeway to go outside of the bounds of the Constitution in order to safeguard the well-being of the nation; that no law constrains his actions in some extraordinary cases, e.g. the "ticking time bomb" scenario. It may in fact be the case that

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1162233520478013542006-10-30T10:38:00.000-08:002006-10-30T10:38:40.486-08:00

Republicans: deregulate businesses but regulate the individual.

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1161803719180465142006-10-25T12:13:00.000-07:002006-10-25T12:15:19.180-07:00

Martin AmisBush, a ghost of "tight-mouthed pall of failure" wandering through "an atmosphere of feud and grudge."After 9-11 American hegemony "became a matter of options and capabilities, of war plans cracked out on the President'’s desk. We can understand the afflatus, the rush of blood, in the White House: overnight, demonstrably and palpably, a tax-cutting dry drunk from West Texas became the

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1161803561095612222006-10-25T12:11:00.000-07:002006-10-25T12:12:41.133-07:00

Republican apologists: never have so few been so right about so little.

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1161203143706360762006-10-18T13:24:00.000-07:002006-10-18T13:25:43.723-07:00

It should have told us everything we needed to know abut the Republicans when one of their first thoughts after 9-11 was how to protect big business from being sued.

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1161201676785780732006-10-18T12:59:00.000-07:002006-10-18T13:01:16.800-07:00

There is no great divide on immigration. We all want tougher enforcement and earned citizenship. Seems about right to me.

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1160156464667112312006-10-06T10:39:00.000-07:002006-10-06T10:41:04.676-07:00

Marijuana may stave off Alzheimer's but the doctors... uh... the doctors, um... couldn't... couldn't remember why, man.

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1160064849052874782006-10-05T09:12:00.000-07:002006-10-05T09:14:09.066-07:00

Right now, someone from our embassy in China is showing the Chinese version of the joint chief of staff a tidy battle plan for a US-led coalition's invasion of North Korea, and soliciting Chinese commitment to stay on the sidelines. Doing so both as an effort to obtain at least tacit Chinese support for such a mission and as a warning that will surely be transmitted to North Korea.The neocons

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1159973404739872062006-10-04T07:49:00.000-07:002006-10-04T07:50:04.760-07:00

How is the world ruled and led to war? Diplomats lie to journalists and believe these lies when they see them in print.--Karl Kraus (kingubu)The War on Terror has been a War on Competence.A conservative is just a liberal who hasn't needed a second chance yet.(Larry McAwful)Republicans are the problem. Your vote is the solution.(Arabiflora)(Bush) believes the same thing Wednesday that he believed

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1159818319807605292006-10-02T12:44:00.000-07:002006-10-02T12:45:19.826-07:00

Iraq is a Suicide State.

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1159362090855276492006-09-27T06:00:00.000-07:002006-09-27T06:03:02.046-07:00

Liberal democracy isn't a fluke occurrence that just so happens to have survived despite its drawbacks. It's actually a superior method of organizing a state. The idea that the country is being run by people who don't understand that is sad and frightening.

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1159198781986020322006-09-25T08:39:00.000-07:002006-09-25T08:39:41.996-07:00

"Armed forces abroad are of little value unless there is prudent counsel at home" - Cicero

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1158755519580389292006-09-20T05:30:00.000-07:002006-09-20T05:31:59.590-07:00

The death of irony. How can anything be ironic anymore? "Ironic," with it's connotations of bemusement; it's conginial recognition of life's way of interjecting a bit of objective reality into our phenominological narrative. It is no more. Now we are surrounded: On the one side by religious extremists who want to kill us, and on the other by the bed-wetting cowards who are terrified that what

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1158594634268306202006-09-18T08:48:00.000-07:002006-09-18T08:50:34.283-07:00

Bizot at first welcomed the American intervention in Cambodia, hoping that they might counter the rising influence of the Communists. "But their irresponsibility, the inexcusable naivete, even their cynicism, frequently aroused more fury and outrage in me than did the lies of the Communists...I witnessed the Americans' imperviousness to the realities of Cambodia," wrote Bizot in his memoirs of

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1158254641900070752006-09-14T10:23:00.000-07:002006-09-14T10:24:01.910-07:00

The way these fools drive you'd think they were excited and happy to get to their fun, glamourous jobs.

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1157735033010993602006-09-08T10:00:00.000-07:002006-09-08T10:03:53.020-07:00

Where's the Terror?Score on sleeper-cell takedowns: 0 (zero)Yep, none. Tell me again why we need all these new warrantless spying powers?

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1156791891287765082006-08-28T12:01:00.000-07:002006-08-28T12:04:51.310-07:00

Regret is no basis for law."Brandt came to see herself as a 'mother who was sadly stripped of her child.'"Strangely passive language. Is that really how she sees herself? She can't bring herself to say "a woman who decided to avoid pregnancy at a troubled time in her life." Earlier she says,"I was in a relationship and panicked and got scared and shamed, and thought an abortion was the means to

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1156473024365286832006-08-24T19:28:00.000-07:002006-09-20T05:33:29.736-07:00

We don't have adequate intelligence on the situation in Iran. Therefore we must invade!Well, they might be on to something. I mean think about it: If we had two- or three-hundreded thousand troops on the ground in Iran we WOULD have a much better handle on what was going on in the country, now wouldn't we? And I'm sure that would pacify the Islamic world to boot.

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1156440840083003702006-08-24T10:31:00.000-07:002006-08-24T10:34:00.093-07:00

How long will the Republican's hysterical bed-wetting last? It really is dispiriting to see so many people, people we need in order to confront the real threat successfully, unhinged by irrational fear of terrorism. Are they playing it for political reasons, or are they really so weak and scared? Doesn't matter, the result (and the inevitable end) are the same. The House Committee on Un-American

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1155846541496541452006-08-17T13:25:00.000-07:002006-09-20T05:34:15.213-07:00

Pretty bad. Passed by Congress. Signed by the President. Upheld by the Supreme Court."Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."--George Santayana

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1135865795421842712005-12-29T06:15:00.000-08:002005-12-29T06:16:35.430-08:00

Someone was asking me this last weekend what my blog was about. If it was about politics. I shuffled around an answer, but it made me curious. So I looked back over my postings to see, and sure enough, I write about politics more frequently than I thought (or want to). I write about politics only because it has my attention at the moment. It has my attention because it is an unbelievable farce

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1134762015372226442005-12-16T11:38:00.000-08:002005-12-16T11:40:15.383-08:00

I had a bad feeling back in 2003 when the TV Guide listing for the Iraq War closed with the words “Hijinx ensue” . . .

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1134578272506085232005-12-14T08:35:00.000-08:002005-12-14T08:37:52.516-08:00

Bush:Bush also took responsibility for going to war in Iraq based on faulty intelligence. "It is true that much of the intelligence turned out to be wrong. As president I am responsible for the decision to go into Iraq," the president said.Bizarrely, he still claims he'd do it all over again even knowing what he knows now.

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1134522498317862312005-12-13T17:06:00.000-08:002005-12-13T17:08:18.326-08:00

War on Christmas! I agree 100%! Look, anyone who has the capability of sneaking into each and every house on the planet (in one night!), unseen while literally every child on Earth is watching for him...Well, that man must be stopped! Sure, we may think he's benevolent now, "Not a threat," some say. But even if that's true, we cannot let the advanced, dual-use technology he has fall into hands of

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1133898462343463372005-12-06T11:46:00.000-08:002005-12-06T11:57:27.690-08:00

"To whom much is given, much is expected."At times I feel greedy. I was raised in a loving family, with all the care and guidance anyone could want. Aunts and uncles, and cousins and grandparents are/were great - every one of them. Not a bad one in the bunch. I've known other families, so I know better than to take that stable and supportive family background for granted. I have been given a gift

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1133877350601948352005-12-06T05:54:00.000-08:002005-12-06T05:55:50.613-08:00

If only there were a simple way to colorize a black and white life.

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1133813304878486572005-12-05T12:06:00.000-08:002005-12-05T12:08:24.886-08:00

From Reason:"The United States went to war to get rid of Saddam Hussein and remove weapons of mass destruction from Iraq. Well, Saddam is gone and Iraq is WMD-free. So why are U.S. forces still fighting?... The public will not support a military operation that it has come to regard [sic] as social work on the behalf of Iraqis, rather than security work on the behalf of Americans... So by spring,

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1133541577781299072005-12-02T08:33:00.000-08:002005-12-02T08:39:37.790-08:00

“Meager results: that’s life. Not to be deterred by meager results: that’s a kind of nobility”-- William T. VollmanNothing comes easy, anything worthwhile will seem impossible, and to achieve even a tiny portion of what you intend will be a miracle.To be successful at whatever you do you'll have to work yourself mercilessly. You'll have to spend too much time on your project, and not enough

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1132235233128291022005-11-17T05:43:00.000-08:002005-11-17T05:47:13.136-08:00

Dick Cheney is the devil."In Washington, you can ordinarily rely on some basic measure of truthfulness and good faith in the conduct of political debate," Cheney said. "But in the last several weeks, we have seen a wild departure from that tradition."I'd say that the wild departure from truthfullness and good faith began in January of 2001.

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1132076831558839212005-11-15T09:43:00.000-08:002005-11-15T09:47:11.570-08:00

The use of white phosphorus by our troops in Iraq is no more morally outrageous than the war itself. It doesn't seem like anything out of the ordinary for the prosecution of a large-scale war.War is a bleak and morally devastating course of action. A tragedy when it is thrust upon you; a moral atrocity when it is a chosen course of action.A priest takes a vow to never reveal the things he learns

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1131721915494583932005-11-11T07:09:00.000-08:002005-11-11T07:11:55.503-08:00

Bottom line: more dollars are going out to more people and producing less than acceptable results.It strikes me that the current state of medical care in the USA is parallel to the state of our armed forces in Iraq. There are a lot more people involved, a lot more money sloshing around, and a growing dissatisfaction with the results.In Iraq not only have we misplaced vast sums of money, but the

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1131637567727575482005-11-10T07:44:00.000-08:002005-11-10T07:46:07.740-08:00

But I have noticed that, though we're behind politically, prostitutes in America who are accustomed to working illegally are often more trustworthy people than prostitutes who have worked under a legalized system. The value system is an outlaw value system.I think outlaws are more trustworthy people. They're forced to think about what they think is right and wrong. You are forced to think about

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1131573045536296422005-11-09T13:49:00.000-08:002005-11-09T13:50:45.546-08:00

The (predictable and overwhelming) triumph of the Texas amendment to the constitution that would ban recognition of any type of domestic arrangement other than a one man, one woman state-sanctioned marriage was disheartening, and short-sighted.Living in a long-term relationship like a marriage requires a lot of work. It takes a consistent effort and a steady commitment to each other's well-being

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1131138379098511642005-11-04T13:04:00.000-08:002005-11-04T13:06:19.110-08:00

It's like there's been a gigantic, smelly hair clog in a karma pipe somewhere (Frist probably flushed down one too many kittens) that's just now come loose, down in the sewers of Washington, and at long last it's flooding the city.Gotta love that imagery from DailyKos!

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1130819651083533272005-10-31T20:32:00.000-08:002005-10-31T20:34:11.093-08:00

Wanting is to achieving as being hungry is to eating. The two things are related, but you don't eat just by being hungry.

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1130785574215756032005-10-31T11:02:00.000-08:002005-10-31T11:06:14.226-08:00

My grandfather spent most of his life on a farm. He plowed using horses, went to town once a week in a horse-drawn wagon. He threshed the wheat with a steam thresher. My grandmother drew water from the well and kept vegetables and such that she had canned in the root cellar. Later in life they flew around the world to visit New Zealand, and exchanged emails with me when I lived in Venezuela. What

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1130355412912306082005-10-26T12:34:00.000-07:002005-10-26T12:36:52.920-07:00

"This concept of self-determination could clearly be read in support for things like abortion or same-sex marriage, and it's a philosophy that cuts a judge loose from the Constitution," said Mathew D. Staver, president and general counsel for the Liberty Counsel.-- from this WaPo article (no WaPo login? try bugmenot)Yep, if there's anything the Constitution won't abide it's self-determination.

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1130349482472756132005-10-26T10:55:00.000-07:002005-10-26T10:58:02.480-07:00

If God exists then he must exist outside of our ontological and epistemic rules. God could violate the excluded middle, the identity law and the law of non-contradiction. In short, God is omnipotent and therefore there is no reason to think that our minds can conceive of a way to place constraints on God. God is not bound by any logical constraints: It could be both God and not-God; both Be

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1129908273869055122005-10-21T08:23:00.000-07:002005-10-21T08:24:33.876-07:00

In a murder mystery, the dead body is just the beginning. The person was killed for some reason. And the reason, the motivation for killing, is more shocking than the murder itself.Most news pieces, when describing what these bad boys were up to simply leave it at "to discredit Joseph Wilson" and stop right there. But why risk so much to discredit him? I mean, look - say this whole Niger thing

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1129747434373997282005-10-19T11:41:00.000-07:002005-10-19T12:44:03.500-07:00

If you're doin' business with a religious son of a bitch, get it in writing. His word isn't worth shit, not with the Good Lord tellin' him how to fuck you on the deal. -- William S. Burroughs Patriotism is the virtue of the vicious. -- Oscar WildeIf you combine these two things, man, then you've really got trouble.I have no idea what to make of the whole unseemly Valerie Plame case. (It seems

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1129735700863321522005-10-19T08:27:00.000-07:002005-10-19T08:28:20.866-07:00

If all you know how to do is what everyone else is doing; if the only path you know to follow is the path trod by others -- you are screwed.

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1129666352478342892005-10-18T13:10:00.000-07:002005-10-19T11:46:25.586-07:00

Survival is a privilege which entails obligations.-- Simon WiesenthalThis is no less true whether you have survived the most brutal extermination camps or whether your most difficult moment is getting your sleepy self out of bed in the morning. You are alive in the world and your obligation is to give your life meaning. Your privilege is to make your existence significant, to make it an

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1129479651274324072005-10-16T09:17:00.000-07:002005-10-16T09:21:01.656-07:00

You really couldn't make this stuff up:During the late 17th century, Catholic scholar and theologian Leo Allatius in De Praeputio Domini Nostri Jesu Christi Diatriba ("Discussion concerning the Prepuce of our Lord Jesus Christ") speculated that the Holy Foreskin may have ascended into Heaven at the same time as Jesus himself and might have become the rings of Saturn, then only recently observed

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1129148687446459002005-10-12T13:24:00.000-07:002005-10-12T21:53:03.203-07:00

I'm looking for a new job:Crony Jobs

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1129141267409004132005-10-12T11:18:00.000-07:002005-10-12T11:21:07.416-07:00

Now that he's taken care of the Supreme Court, Bush's attention falls on his next big appointment opportunity (shouldn't that be "disappointment opportunity?). Alan Greenspan's term as Chairman of the Federal Reserve ends on Jan 31, 2006 and both he and the Fed have hinted strongly that he would step down at the end of his current term. This appointment will have more immediate and more visceral

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1129040064205201432005-10-11T07:13:00.000-07:002005-10-11T07:14:24.213-07:00

Kids often choose to be different by wearing odd clothing or silly haircuts. Those things are inconsequential of course, but they do say something about the individual. Being different in a visible but inconsequential way can be an important exercise for later in life when you have to go against the crowd on something that is important.If the only thing you learn in school is to dress and act

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1128966758910185182005-10-10T10:52:00.000-07:002005-10-10T10:52:38.910-07:00

The strong must seek their weakness; the rich must seek their poverty; the wise must seek their ignorance.

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1128620659005663452005-10-06T10:43:00.000-07:002005-10-06T10:44:19.013-07:00

I have been reading articles on the coming video revolution on the web for a year or so. They show up more and more regularly now. We are hearing the chorus of hype, which is the sound the wave makes as it approaches. The pieces are in place and I think the entertainment situation is poised for metamorphosis: a combination of changes in technology, demographics, and industry have set the

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1126878870067854432005-09-16T06:52:00.000-07:002005-09-16T06:54:30.073-07:00

Obviously we need to slash funding for the Army Corps of Engineers. Their levees didn't hold and as a result, New Orleans was devastated. If they can't do their job with the money we give them we should look at alternatives that could accomplish what the Army Corps cannot. Anyway, we certainly don't want to throw good money after bad, and the case for slashing funding for the Army Corps seems

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1126727531177224242005-09-14T12:50:00.000-07:002005-09-14T12:52:11.183-07:00

This is no surprise. The company in question is Tyler Durden Cosmetics.

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1126627271892453682005-09-13T08:53:00.000-07:002005-09-13T09:01:11.900-07:00

I just can't imagine how bad things got. And how quickly. Makes me appreciate how fragile life is and how thin the veneer of civilization.It must have looked so desperate after a long four hours, then eight, then twelve, then twenty-four without even any news of help on the way. The storm was bad, and then it just got worse and worse as the days oozed by and the muck inched its way up the side of

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1126293264716359392005-09-09T12:13:00.000-07:002005-09-09T12:14:24.726-07:00

They probably recalled "Brownie" to give him the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Along with all the other administration failures: Paul "disband the Iraqi Army" Bremmer; George "Osama bin who?" Tenet; et al. Where's Bernard Kerik when you need him?(BTW, what's with these nicknames the President has for everybody? Rove is called "Turd Blossom," FEMA guy Mike Brown is called "Brownie." Does GWB have

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1124231483663179952005-08-16T15:30:00.000-07:002005-08-16T15:31:23.670-07:00

I consider it one of my great accomplishments in life that I haven't gone back to school to get an MBA or a law degree.

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1122768586632619352005-07-30T17:08:00.000-07:002005-07-30T17:09:46.640-07:00

This post from Niel Gaiman's blog got me thinking: the idea really isn't the hard part. Bringing forth an idea into any kind of substantial real-world form (book, movie, song, painting) is a work of sheer audacity that makes heros of all creators. The sheepherding of an idea into the real world is a difficult series of impossible obstacles fraught with unmeetable deadlines that can entirely

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1121719042686311722005-07-18T13:36:00.000-07:002005-07-18T13:37:22.693-07:00

I'd like to see the Republicans in congress spend as much time on oversight of the executive as they are spending on oversight of the judiciary.

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1121031133805025012005-07-10T14:29:00.000-07:002005-07-10T14:32:13.813-07:00

Is Tony Blair to blame for the London bombings? No. Not even because he followed GWB into Iraq? No. Not even if we find and arrest the guys and they say they did it because Mr. Blair followed GWB into Iraq? No. The only people who deserve blame for terrorism are the godless, shit-eating miscreatns who perpetrate it. They should be hunted down and shot like dogs and their dead bodies should be

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1116959255538840822005-05-24T11:27:00.000-07:002005-05-24T11:27:35.543-07:00

A degree in my spare time? Shit. If it's worth doing it's worth more than just my spare time.

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1116258055341586422005-05-16T08:39:00.000-07:002005-05-16T08:40:55.350-07:00

I find the idea that time travel is possible (and thus occurring now) to be uniquely depressing.Either:(A) Due to time-travel engineered history, this is the best possible universe. Really? Our bloody history is the best they could do? No one could prevent Caligula, Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot? No one could have warned us about the tsunami? Nothing could be done about Rwanda, Yugoslavia?or(B) This

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1115402363680956992005-05-06T10:57:00.000-07:002005-05-06T11:00:33.746-07:00

There was a moment between 1989 and 2001 where it looked like everything was going right. The Wall came down. The Soviet Union transformed itself into a democracy. The world adroitly maneuvered itself through a couple of serious global financial crises. Small "d" democrats were elected in many places for the first time. Overt, violent oppression, formerly the rule of the land, hesitated, then

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1114487512008798842005-04-25T20:50:00.000-07:002005-04-25T20:51:52.010-07:00

You can see exactly what's coming down the road, but not know how soon it will get here; or you can tell something big is about to happen RIGHT NOW, but not know what it is. You cannot do both.

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1114461683934253752005-04-25T13:40:00.000-07:002005-04-25T13:41:23.936-07:00

All the record and movie companies are so rabid about content protection and copyright because they know they themselves are the biggest thieves of all. Disney was built on the back of retelling public domain fairy tales. Elvis made himself into a legend by cribbing the negro sound and pitching it to white radio. Theives and racketeers.

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1114020764242425782005-04-20T11:11:00.000-07:002005-04-20T11:12:44.243-07:00

Any time you're reading an article somewhere and it says "faithful" (as in "faithfull line up for Pope's funeral" or "faithful converge on image of Virgin Mary seen in dog poo" or "credulous, mouth-breathing faithful grovel at the feet of televangelist swine") replace the word "faithful" with "fearful." That ought to get you started on something.

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1113422742025874622005-04-13T13:02:00.000-07:002005-04-13T13:07:09.240-07:00

My quip below about "RFID-equipped driver's licenses [that] are scanned as you move from one state to another" is not just a bad joke. House Bill No. 2893 introduced in the Texas House of Representatives proposes doing something frighteningly similar: inspection stickers embedded with transponders readable by police. Presented as a solution to make sure everyone has insurance (the text refers to

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1112819296464640792005-04-06T13:25:00.000-07:002005-04-06T13:28:16.466-07:00

The mantra that "9/11 changes everything" is a mistake. 9/11 didn't change anything. It was horrible and senseless and whatever else. But it didn't change everything. It shouldn't have changed us.Fear makes you twitchy, shrew-like, and defensive; it nurtures itself and grows cancer-like on the soul. Grief and suffering, however painful, dissolve with time, and in the end the patina left over

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1112371434988793742005-04-01T08:00:00.000-08:002005-04-01T08:03:54.990-08:00

The Vatican announced today that the Pope is actually in perfectly good health. Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls announced that the last few weeks have been just an elaborate ploy leading up to the April Fool's Day revelation. From his balcony at the Papal apartments in Vatican City, the Pope looked down on the gathered faithful and said, "HA! HA! Got you!" before blessing them with the

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1111440636011836492005-03-21T13:28:00.000-08:002005-03-21T13:30:36.013-08:00

See here for a more thorough explanation with good background. From a bioethicist, no less.Congressional Republicans hurriedly involved themselves at the last minute, but the Schiavo case has moved through the courts for seven years. Her husband and guardian initially took the case to the courts, to have them rule on Terry's expressed, but undocumented intentions. It is the courts that have (

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1111420619345538082005-03-21T07:51:00.000-08:002005-03-21T07:56:59.346-08:00

-- OR --How the Parents Offered Up the Child's Corpse as Carrion for Political Vultures.ACT ONE - In which the political vultures pick mercilessly at the brainless corpse.With this issue the American Taliban can play all the right notes that their "intoxicated with the Holy Spirit" constituency wants to hear. They can bloviate, and propose, and vote and have a major impact on a trivial case

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1111181613994698872005-03-18T13:32:00.000-08:002005-03-18T13:33:33.996-08:00

Congratulations, you have succeeded in turning your precious daughter into a drooling, self-soiling, soulless phantom haunting of the memory of love.Necrophilial lust has unhinged your judgment. You have become the greedy false-mother shrieking for the baby to be cut in half.Unburdened of your decency and abandoning any loyalty to her dignity, your cold, hard heartlessness slanders the name of

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1111087948713729192005-03-17T11:32:00.000-08:002005-03-17T11:32:28.716-08:00

For years I've been wondering whether to get an MBA or an MFA. I long ago left the bohemian "artiste" lifestyle behind, but I've never quite settled into a picket-fence existence. It's easy to become accustomed to a steady paycheck - health benefits, vacation, bonus. It's nice to be able to plan out a couple of years, always knowing that money is steadily coming in. Nice, too is not having

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1110597409357608302005-03-11T19:14:00.000-08:002005-03-11T19:16:49.356-08:00

When humans are long gone from the earth and the only thing left are robots, will they still go shopping? paint pictures? watch movies? read poetry?If we made them right they will.

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1110391786742296162005-03-09T10:08:00.000-08:002005-03-09T10:09:46.743-08:00

From the NYT article on the sure-to-pass bankruptcy bill:The sponsors of the legislation say that it will have the effect of lowering the costs of goods and services for all consumers by making it easier for companies and issuers of credit to collect unpaid debts rather than passing those costs on to everyone else....[Fraudulent bankruptcy] cases, supporters of the measure say, have added

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1110127446253088142005-03-06T08:43:00.000-08:002005-03-06T08:44:06.253-08:00

From the NYT article on rendition, this quote caught my eye: "The transfers were portrayed as an alternative to what American officials have said is the costly, manpower-intensive process of housing them in the United States or in American-run facilities in other countries."The American gulag is like American food; a hodgepodge of Chinese, Italian, Mexican, Thai, French, what have you.Our

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1103131447636430812004-12-15T09:22:00.000-08:002004-12-15T09:24:07.636-08:00

The Japanese have an idiom that sums up the current administration quite nicely: "Shika o sashite uma to nasu." (Point at a deer and call it a horse.) This idiom comes from the story of Zhao Gao. Zhao was the chief eunuch in Qin Dynasty China. He was planning a coup against the Emperor Qin Er Shi. To pull off the coup he would need the help of his servants, but he had to test them to see which

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1098727376795795102004-10-25T11:01:00.000-07:002004-10-25T11:02:56.796-07:00

You know what's stupid? Wandering around the world telling people I'm a writer, when, in fact, I haven't ever written anything more than a couple of pages. A writer?! Pshaw! The closest I've ever come to publishing is printing out emails at work. Ha! You wanna know what's even more pathetic? I still believe it in my heart - I'm a writer.

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1097859801329167052004-10-15T11:02:00.000-07:002004-10-15T10:03:21.330-07:00

Went to the doctor the other day. He told me I should stop listening to weird music and quit reading so much. Said I'd feel better if I watched more TV.

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1097768988958809312004-10-14T08:47:00.000-07:002004-10-14T08:49:48.960-07:00

Write fearlessly. You must soak the page in your blood; it must be stained with your tears and the sweat of your brow. Only when the paper is loaded beyond the breaking point with emotion is it ready to be set free.

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1093555938642053222004-08-26T14:31:00.000-07:002004-08-26T14:32:18.643-07:00

So the conventional wisdom among artists is that a day job is a drag on your artistic ambitions, a distraction from the true calling of your muse. It can lead to even more serious problems: a spouse, children, obligations to others than the muse. But the flip side of that is that with a day job, and all you monetary needs met, you aren't forced to turn out "product" every year or so to support

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1091469443382073882004-08-02T10:56:00.000-07:002004-08-02T10:57:23.383-07:00

I was clubbed and stuffed into a box for eight hours a day. But then! A ray of light! A way out! Yet I have to look askance at that promise. It's no promise. I could become rich; I could merely scratch out a comfortable living for me and my family; I could end up drunk and on the street. But I have to take it seriously, nonetheless. If I don't, then getting out is just a switchblade dream I pull

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1091216802902824112004-07-30T12:46:00.000-07:002004-07-30T12:46:42.903-07:00

I read in Wired that liberals want to start their own TV network now. After radio, I guess this was inevitable. I'm not sure that having more biased news sources is the solution though. Maybe FOX is a right-wing propaganda machine, and maybe CNN is a little more conservative than it used to be. But how will news slanted to the left be any better? Isn't what we need more objective news sources

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1090938223630476692004-07-27T07:21:00.000-07:002004-07-27T07:23:43.630-07:00

There's a commercial for Range Rover that goes like this: Two college kids backpacking through Europe. One turns to the other and says something like, "I am majoring in ceramic arts. Just me and the wheel," he says. The second kid says, "Wow, you're really doing it!" "Yeah," says first kid, "I see myself living off the grid in Europe somewhere making my art." Then a lush Range Rover pulls over

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1090608933513198212004-07-23T11:53:00.000-07:002004-07-23T19:09:48.906-07:00

What if we behaved in the office like we behave when we're driving? Instead of politely smiling and extending your hand to motion someone to go ahead of you, you'd rush and cut in front of them. Rather than hold open the door for someone, you'd hurry to enter and let the door shut behind you. Instead of taking your time when walking behind someone slower than you, you'd curse and shout at them to

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1090498457775984202004-07-22T05:13:00.000-07:002004-07-22T05:14:17.776-07:00

Make of yourself a hero for the ages: struggle daily for meaning against the cool indifference of the universe. Every day you find meaning in the world you take a step on the same path traveled by those heros who have gone before you: from Gilgamesh to Frodo, from Raiko to Mikula. All these heros were struggling against the same thing you are - the darkness of ignorance and fear that threatens to

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1090439321613597802004-07-21T12:47:00.000-07:002004-07-22T05:12:54.680-07:00

Phillipines capitulation leads to more hostage taking, just like everyone predicted. Shame on the Pinoys, just like everyone else says. But the people who really deserve the blame are those that pushed the "New Army" idea that non-combat services can be farmed out to contractors. We need soldiers in combat zones, not civilian contractors. No matter how many soldiers ignorant terrorist kidnappers

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1090424019197222282004-07-21T08:32:00.000-07:002004-07-21T08:33:39.196-07:00

Conservatives say, "We don't want government telling us what to do." Fair enough, but we also don't want the government to let mobs of wound-up misguided do-gooders tell us what to do either. Just like the conservatives don't want the mavens of the politically correct crowd telling them how to talk and what to think, liberals don't want the captains of morality telling them how to talk and what

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1090352563814775222004-07-20T12:40:00.000-07:002004-07-20T12:45:22.296-07:00

The only thing out of Congress dumber than the PATRIOT Act was Prohibition, the Eighteenth Amendment. To give you an idea of how the idea of temperance and prohibition ran it's course, the Anti-Saloon League was founded in 1893; the Eighteenth Amendment was passed by Congress in 1917 and ratified by the states in 1919; and not until 1933, with the passage of the Twenty-First Amendment, was

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1090241500947693362004-07-19T05:50:00.000-07:002004-07-19T05:51:40.946-07:00

Elections are about power, not truth. Chavez has power, both the power of the purse strings and the power of the demagogue. What is he doing right? (1) Spending like a drunken sailor and (2) confusing the issue: "People are better off now than they were." Chavez can point to new schools, new housing projects, etc. and demonstrate some progress in delivering on his promises of a newly equitable

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1090234360440472472004-07-19T03:52:00.000-07:002004-07-19T03:52:40.440-07:00

Everything happens for a reason. A reason you make.

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1090010642391649522004-07-16T13:43:00.000-07:002004-07-16T13:44:02.390-07:00

Be filled with the desire of aspiration, not that of hunger. The desire of hunger will make you desperate; that of aspiration will make you resolute.

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1089916384539783522004-07-15T11:29:00.000-07:002004-07-15T11:35:47.183-07:00

> Jury Duty - too much time, too hard to understand the nuances of the law; plus, the lawyers are always confusing - did he do it or not? > Voting - campaigns are too long and boring; the issues are confusing and hard to follow > Military Service - way too risky; university is a much better place to spend your formative years of early adulthood; plus, you get to go home for the summer

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1089819302848402862004-07-14T08:33:00.000-07:002004-07-14T08:35:02.850-07:00

There will be no restitution for all the meaningless 9-to-5's you put in.

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1089714330522313612004-07-13T03:24:00.000-07:002004-07-20T13:27:28.126-07:00

Goethe said, "A man can stand anything except a succession of ordinary days." Once you leave those ordinary days there is no going back. When you leave home on the hero's journey it's a one-way path, the path that you forge as the hero of your own story. You carry the burden of your own fate, of creating your own meaning, and it changes you. Changes you into something that doesn't fit into the

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1089643437800726662004-07-12T07:43:00.000-07:002004-07-12T07:43:57.800-07:00

Sometimes you get the roses; sometimes the thorns.

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1089396284474272222004-07-09T11:00:00.000-07:002004-07-09T11:04:44.473-07:00

Too much TV smoothes out the wrinkles in your brain. It's like botox for your frontal lobe.

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1089077627107888972004-07-05T18:32:00.000-07:002004-07-05T18:33:47.130-07:00

The greatest threat to your dreams is being good at something you don't love.

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1086183341943124402004-06-02T06:35:00.000-07:002004-06-02T06:38:57.570-07:00

Jose Padilla is an unlawful combatant. Does that mean he's gotten the same treatment as the Abu Ghraib clan? Is it any wonder then that they now say he has confessed? Wouldn't every prosecutor like to be able to stand up at a press conference and spell out the prosecution evidence and be done with it. "There, you see? So he's guilty and there's no need for a trial." A lot less messy than the

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5488957.post-1085583615647309642004-05-26T07:59:00.000-07:002004-05-26T08:00:15.646-07:00

I heard a story on NPR the other morning about an anti-abortion group which had set up some billboard trucks to drive around displaying graphic images of aborted fetus tissue in the hopes of influencing the presidential election. So here's my idea: Why don't we set up some trucks with disturbing images of war-maimed corpses and drive them around those same states? A wide choice of appropriate

SleeperCellnoreply@blogger.com0