News: America: Intelligence Failure

Yes, it looks like we had a major intelligence failure with the WMDs. We were wrong. Dead wrong, probably because we relied on a guy code-named "curveball" as an important source. Gawd, that's like going with Phony McLiarson. Worse, our intelligence isn't much better now; even our airline passenger screening still isn't up to par. Nope, the only group who's made strides these past four years is Al Quaida.
What I found most shocking in this article, though, was the last paragraph: Mr Bush welcomed the report yesterday and said it offered a sharp critique. Noting that America faced a hugely difficult job in detecting the true capabilities of rogue states, he added: "Our intelligence community needs fundamental change." [telegraph.co.uk]
At least Bush is actually *admitting* it. This week has really sucked for Bush--his numbers are down, in part because he won't give this social security plan a freaking break.

Quickie: Mary Cheney

Dick Cheney's daughter--a *lesbian*, by the way, in case you've been asleep for the past five years--is coming out with a memoir. I almost feel bad..this is way too easy. Head on over to World O' Crap and name that memoir! (My favorite entry sofar is "Lipstick Republican.")

News: Jerusalem

Q. What is the best way to get Arabs and Israelis to come together?
A. Unite them against the homosexuals.

Yes, seems that fundamentalists from both sides--three sides, actually, including the Christians--are trying to put a stop to a Gay Festival planned in Jerusalem for this August. It's so...beautiful.

Commentary: Ann Coulter and Google

'nother quickie:
Type "Ann Coulter" into google, and guess what the #5 result is? Why, it's a collection of stupid, embarassing Ann Coulter quotes. (I can't imagine it's that hard to put such a list together.) I have been reading about efforts to googlebomb her and this may be the result. I don't believe in googlebombing, but I enjoyed the quotes. These are my favorites:

To a disabled Vietnam vet: "People like you caused us to lose that war."---MSNBC
"I think there should be a literacy test and a poll tax for people to vote."---Hannity & Colmes, 8/17/99
"I think [women] should be armed but should not [be allowed to] vote."---Politically Incorrect, 2/26/01

Oh, and three guesses for the #1 image result of the word "stupid."

Edit:
Check out some more awesomely stupid Ann Coulter quotes. These are recent, from Unapologetic Atheist, who had the pleasure of seeing Ann Coulter say such drek in person. I'd always wondered if Ann Coulter was such a fascist in real life and this proves it: she is. Plus he got to ask her a question, which is cool.

News: Bush: Social Security

Quickie: Bush is doing that...thing again, where he threatens people who don't agree with him.
It's clearly some kind of strategy, but I don't get it. If you're going to bully people into going with you, find somebody more menacing than George W. Bush. If Dick Cheney pulled me aside, gave me his trademark grimace and told me there'd be "political consequences" for not supporting Bush's social security, I'd roll with that.

News: Iraq

What's happening in Iraq?
Even Colin Powell is saying that Bush misunderestimated the Iraqi insurgency before the war..not that Powell doesn't support the war, mind you. He also criticized Rumsfeld's zing at England, France, and Germany for not supporting the war. (Why does Bush still keep Rumsfeld around? Does he do it to look smarter in comparison?)
This new Iraqi government is going well, yes? No. At their meeting on Tuesday they failed to accomplish any of their goals (chicago tribune) and ended with reporters being forced to leave and everybody getting pissed with each other, probably due to the usual problems: rifts between the Sunnis, Shi'ites, and Kurds. We're holding 10,500 Iraqis in prison and there's reports that we may be abusing them. We've been authorized to do so, anyway: a general authorized unlawful interrigation techniques in 2003, techniques like using guard dogs, stress positions, etc. According to a lawyer from the ACLU, these violate the Geneva conventions.

Won't somebody please think of the children? Iraqi children are more malnourished now than when Saddam Hussein is in power, according to this AP article. According to the UN, over 25% of Iraqi children don't get enough to eat, and about 7% are suffering malnutrition (compared with the 5% rate under Saddam).
No civilian deaths? Try 100,000 women and children (same article), either from violence or from living conditions.

Commentary: Evangelicals

I was reading Mark Maynard's post on how hypocritical it is that Fundies will protest for Terri Schiavo but not for all the American soldiers getting killed in Iraq.
I really don't know why the "Culture of Life" doesn't extend to our soldiers. Perhaps because the soldiers chose to be in danger whereas Terri Schiavo did not? No, that can't be it; otherwise they'd be raising a fuss over the Iraqi prisoners dying and being mistreated in Mosul. Many of the prisoners hadn't even been accused of any crime, according to the article.
Maybe it's because protesting a war is something that Democrats do.
It's a shame. Wouldn't it be awesome if George W. got protests from both sides? "No war for oil!" and "WWJD? Not torture Iraqis!" or something along that line. That would rock. Look at what some of the Evangelicals were doing for Terri Schiavo: going on hunger strikes, causing a rukus. They can be incredibly hardcore, yet they are also so organized, something that Democrats lack. And apparently, the Bush administration will listen to them.

News: Potluck: racism, Afghanistan, Mosul, Tsunami

Mein Kampf is becoming rather popular in Turkey. And just like that thing in Canada, racially-motivated attacks are going up in Britain.

Secrets that aren't really secrets: Iran's building a secret nuclear 'university'. From what I've been reading of the British press, America's got some secret detention centers in Afghanistan with some pretty questionable stuff allegedly going on inside. And don't think that Abu Gharib was an isolated incident: we may have abused Iraqi prisoners in Mosul as well.
As anybody who has ever seen Fahrenheit 911 already knows, the FBI really did help certain Saudi Arabian families escape right after 9/11.

A new low: seems that some entrepreneur is selling Tsunami memorabilia, including shots of dead bodies. Apparently there's a demand. By who, exactly?

Some people never give up: it's Schiavo versus Schindler in the fight over Terri Schiavo's funeral.

News: Terrible: Land Mines

On Saturday some American troops were killed by a land mine probably left over from the 1980s (though the Taliban is taking credit for it).
Many countries, the US included, don't clean up their land mines after they're done with them. David Rees (the guy who draws those awesome get your war on comics) has a page about land mines and the people who clean them up.

News: Potluck: Bush, Russia

NYTimes article about Bush's new public persona: "Confident and Impishly fun" It's part of his new persona: easier, more free, telling jokes that aren't actually jokes (as Letterman pointed out). Because when you're the president, everybody has to laugh. Jill behind Brilliant at Breakfast noted that "imp used to be a term for Satan". Me, I've always thought that Bush was a bit cocky (not that cockiness is a bad thing). Please remember the third debate, Bush v. Kerry? Love him or hate him, Bush is damn cocky.
____
Bad things are happening in Russia: in free speech versus offense, free speech got the shaft. The museum director was happy that he wasn't immediatly put in jail, though he did have to pay a fine. Who was so offended by the artwork? The church, that's who. The article quotes a Reverand Aleksandr Shargunov as saying "The prophecies say that once God is insulted, expect trouble. And this is what happened."

I thought it was God's business to give them trouble.

Actually, from the descriptions in the article, it looked like the artwork was more of a satire of the church institution, not God Himself. No wonder he's pissed.

News: Irony: Tom Delay

Speaking of Tom Delay, when faced with a decision similar to Michael Schiavo's, guess who pulled the plug?
I would have done the same thing, of course! I'm not judging him. In fact, I'm worried about him 'cause these Schiavo "supporters" just don't quit! They've turned against Jeb and it's only a matter of time 'till they turn against him.

News: "Morality"

We've all heard that some pharmacists refuse to fill subscriptions for birth control because it conflicts with their moral beliefs, yes?
Standing up for your beliefs is a good thing to do, but why take a job where you must perform duties that go against these beliefs every day? Some of the pharmacists are even refusing to transfer over the prescriptions to somebody else who will fill them out. This isn't about standing up for your beliefs; it's about *making a statement*.
Be sure to check out the post on body and soul which brings up even more issues like, for example, that birth control pills have other uses besides birth control (but surely these guys would know that since they're bloody pharmacists and all?)

News: Potluck: Osama, Medicare, Bush's approval ratings, no child left behind

You know who we haven't heard about? Osama Bin Laden. What, have we captured him? Nah, turns out that he's escaped from Tora Bora!!..in 2001.
Medicare is in much worse shape than social security is. But who cares about that, let's talk about an issue that affects only one person: Terri Schiavo. There's pretty much nothing that Schiavo's parents can do for her now. Not only do the courts side for no intervention, but so does most of America, including evangelicals. This explains Bush's current overall approval rating of 43%. In addition to his spotty Social Security idea, he's not getting much support for his immigration reforms.
I found a better article that detailed what the hell is happening with No Child Left Behind. Insum: It's a good idea and some good things are happening, but the over-focus on reading and math is shorting other subjects. Speaking of math, I've got some math for you: how the hell are we supposed to *fund* No Child Left Behind? How did it happen that the Medicare bill in 2003 was supposed to save states money, but currently costs them money?
Chocolate crosses. Chocolate freaking crosses. I want one. (I should stop posting when I'm hungry)

News: Schiavo, Social Security, Education, USA Patriot Act

For them, that is, not us. The Republicans have lost their appeal and are trying to be heard in the supreme court.
Bush is losing support for his social security idea. At least he's finally explaining it to us for 'eavens sake.
While Social Security is supposed to fail around 2041, Medicare's likely to fail twenty years earlier. The standards required by his No Child Left Behind Act aren't being lived up to in part because..all together now..it isn't properly funded!
Both sides are standing up against the bloody US Patriot Act and it's about damn time!

News: Tom Delay, Iraq, torture?, schiavo again

It's only Tuesday and what a week. Tom Delay's going down, byatch. Gawd, listen to this quote by him, [taken from above article]:
Ahead of the 2000 presidential race, he outlined a vision where "we march forward with a biblical worldview, a worldview that says God is our Creator, that man is a sinner, and that we will save this country by changing the hearts and minds of Americans."
It's an old quote but nothing's really changed since then. Sounds fine, if by "America" you mean "Saudi Arabia". Replace "bible" with "Quran" and "God" with "Allah" and you've got what most people would call Islamic extremism. No, it's not extremist to have faith, even very strong faith. It is extremist when it becomes part of the government.

Bush is being inconsistant, per usual: apparently the federal law he signed about Schiavo contradicts a law he signed as governor of Texas. It contradicts with a lot of other stuff too, 'course. But who cares? They lost, though they'll probably appeal.

Don't mess with Iraqis: Along with arresting the insurgents, Iraqi citizens are battling the insurgency. Their new government may be in place by Saturday, I'll have to wait and see on that one. Meanwhile, American and Europeans are protesting and the CIA is under allegations of torture: they claim they aren't using torture but did they use it in the past? 'course, why use torture when torture might not be very effective? It might get answers, but the answers might be suspect.

Speaking of the Middle East, Syria pulled out of Lebanon, Israel is in the process of pulling out of Tulkarm..while putting more people into another West Bank city? To be perfectly honest, I don't understand the Israel-Palestine issue.

all for now.

News: Psychology

Psychology's my pet subject, what can I say? I was reading the AP and there's a whole bunch of psychology news today for some reason:
The Upside of Hypomania. A hypomanic episode is a smaller-scale manic episode. It's linked to creativity--not necessarily *better* output, but a lot *more* of it.
Some people think that plastic surgery is too extreme, but even the most extreme plastic surgery is nothing compared to Body Integrety Identity Disorder: a disorder that makes a person want to amputate their limbs. I've..never even heard of this before. It's not even in the DSM yet.
And this is pretty bad: teenage girls' acceptance of abuse. According to a study done in the UK, more than 4/10 believed that it was okay for their boyfriends to get aggressive in "certain circumstances". Many believe that aggression is part of life.

News: Gasoline, Halliburton

In case you've not noticed, gasoline's at a record high at I believe at least $2.10/gallon average for regular self-serve.
It's likely to get worse too, come summer, when demand may exceed supply.
Maybe if Halliburton would stop overcharging the military for fuel for Christ sake.

News: Iraq

You'd think that the Iraq war would be going better, seeing as how Bush has been planning it since before 9/11.
Shame that we couldn't get Turkey to cooperate: Rumsfeld goes on about how the attacks would've gone better if we had gone through Turkey. Even Bush doesn't bring this shit up anymore. I think Rumsfeld's just bitter that they weren't dumb enough to fall for that whole "weapons of mass destruction" schpiel.

News: Obesity

Looks like Europe is giving us a run for our money. More like a slow, wheezy jog. Still, obesity is pretty bad in America. it will probably cut into our life expectency. Maybe Bush's social security plan can work after all? Sorry, that wasn't very nice. Besides, it's affecting children too:this generation's children could be less healthy and have a shorter lifespan than their parents.

News: Depressing: the Budget

If you're having too good a day, read this article on our budget. I don't even think this article takes into account that the Senate won't let the president cut Medicaid--not that this is a bad thing! Surely we can think of something to cut besides Medicaid. Maybe we can stop spending tax money on propoganda advertisements disguised as news reports, eh?. Or stop with the tax cuts already. They aren't helping anything. Haven't we learned anything from Reagan?

News: Something Else: let's talk about Iraq

What's happening in Iraq?
This article gives a pretty good summation of who is winning and who is losing in Iraq.
Iraq's legislators met for the first time. Amid the insurgents' chaos, they pledged to uphold democracy and all, but no agreement on the government. Shi'ite and Kurdish officials are happy that some land and cabinet post issues got resolved, but they are otherwise deadlocked.

(Check out the first article again. What a..complicated government. Under Iraq's interim constitution, parliament must agree on a president and two vice presidents by a two-thirds majority. Those three will then appoint a prime minister. I don't have anything to say about it, i just think it's kind of strange. Why do they have two VPs? I can be an ass and say it's because Iraq's more dangerous than America, but I won't. There's probably a perfectly good reason for it.)

Bush is pretty optimistic about the whole thing. Meanwhile, did I mention that the meeting was under mortar fire? Everybody has heard that Italy's pulling out, but the Netherlands and the Ukraine are also withdrawing troops. And Poland. Can't forget about Poland. I would say that the coalition is crumbling, but Bush disagrees.
I don't blame the coalition though--even we might be cutting back troop numbers. The problem is that our country has ADD. We are totally getting sidetracked by Iran and Syria. Besides, rebuilding Iraq is going to be a nightmare, with all the corruption and everything. It's been taking longer and costing more money than previously throught...by Bush's people, at least. Wars cost money, you know. And lives. Military deaths, yes, but also suspicious prisoner deaths. At least we've finally arrested somebody for it.

more later..

News: Scientific: Sex differences and the X-chromosome

Wow, speaking of sex differences (see Ann Coulter post), Scientists are finding out more about the X-chromosome (guardian.co.uk), and, in fact, have mapped 99.9% of it (washington post). Actually, this has nothing to do with gender differences. It's about chromosomes and inherited diseases. As anybody who has ever taken a science course knows, ladies have two X-chromosomes and men have one X and one Y. I'm a psychology nerd myself so I was interested to know that Autism and Asperger's have officially been linked to the X-chromosome.
Also, according to this bbc report, ladies are more genetically varied than men (bbc). On account that the Y-chromosome is rather small.

I'll get back to railing on Bush in the next post.

News: Slow Burn: Bush defends fake news propoganda

President Bush claims that this form of propoganda is legal and plans to continue its use (reuters, courtesy yahoo news). Recall that this propoganda is in the form of a news broadcast, with absolutely no indication that this is an ad and not an actual, real news broadcast. The president himself is behind it. This is the same administration that paid a news commentator to promote the No Child Left Behind act (see same article).
For once, the FCC may prove useful.

Article: Slow Burn: Ann Coulter "ladies can't be cops"

Here's another article where Ann Coulter does what she does best, setting back women's rights about forty years.
Interjected between the snide sexist comments is the argument that ladies shouldn't be cops because they aren't as strong as men. It's true, yes, that the average lady isn't as strong as the average man. Nobody pretends otherwise. However, in order to be a cop you have to pass a physical test, yes? So lady cops aren't average women--they're strong, buffed-up women, yes?
Ann Coulter totally undermines her own "ladies aren't equal" argument because let me tell you, Ann Coulter is the cockiest bastard..ever. I might as well just abandon this website right now because I can never hope to be such a cocky bastard as Ann Coulter.

Article: Fury: Greenspan

The Angry Bear has possibly the best breakdown of the Bush tax cuts that I have ever seen. Check out this Angry Bear article, Responsibility for the Deficit. The article is about how wrong Greenspan was to support the Bush tax cuts--the Angry Bear people are always railin' on Greenspan--but take a look at that graph! Even taking into account this expensive Iraqi war we've gotten ourselves into, without the tax cut America would be in the clear by 2011. With it, we will still be 300 billion dollars in the red in 2011 (we are currently 400 billion in the red. oh gawd.)

News: Slow Burn: More about Fake News Segments

Administration Rejects Ruling on PR Videos courtesy Washington Post. Note: This link *should* work even if you aren't signed in to washington post. Thanks, google!

For those not in the know, yesterday America found out that the Bush administration has been releasing propoganda PR videos disguised as news reports. With fake reporters and everything. And without putting any information in there stating that this isn't a real news report.

Now they're being called on it, and they are absolutely appalled that this happened. No I'm just kidding, they are trying to claim that they did nothing wrong. The Bush administration claims that what they did, even though covert, is still legal since they were providing information only.
Yeah right. If it's so unbiased, why sneak it past us? I said yesterday that we can probably get them based on truth in advertising laws. Oh and, you know, illegal use of taxpayer dollars--yes, America, we paid for these advertisements.

I don't believe there's an actual law against the government releasing propoganda disguised as news reports...because nobody has ever done it. Congrats, Bush Administration: you just invented a new level of sleaze.

Article: Interesting: Extremists

Might I recommend checking out Mark Maynard's post on extremists? Rather good. Me, I've always thought that Saudi Arabia was the Middle East's version of Texas anyhow.

News: Slow Burn: the Bush Administration and Prepackaged News

"Under Bush, a New Age of Prepackaged TV News", via New York Times AP rss feed.
I'm going to come out and say it right now: I don't like Bush. I just don't like him. I don't like his policies, I don't even like his mannerisms. He is goddamn *cocky*.

But even if you like Bush, his administration is something else entirely. I've no idea if Bush is behind this "prepackaged news", this tampering with the free press and lying to the American people. But his administration is, and it's sleazy as hell. And what gives? Aren't there laws against this? Why hasn't anybody been arrested yet?

At the very least, this "Prepackaged News" is false advertising. Would it be legal for say, the company behind Ritalin to release a very, very convincing news segment-type thing that one-sidedly extolled the virtues of its product? No. They would be required to put some notification inside the ad that told people that this is, in fact, an advertisement and not a real news segment.

The White House is doing the same thing as my Ritalin example, only they are 1. being a lot sneakier about it and 2. lying about something 'ell-of-a-lot more important than Ritalin.

Anticipation

Check out the new entry on notmydesk, "It Puts the Lotion in the Basket", about associating a song with a movie. This sort of thing happens to me a lot, only it's more sinister: I associate songs with their respective *commercials*. Carly Simon's "Anticipation" is always and forever linked in my mind with Heinz ketchup. That's some good branding, I suppose.

Some good, delicious branding. I should've titled this web-blog "Let them eat Ketchup". I love ketchup. All Americans are required to love ketchup. It's in the second amendment. It's in the second *commandment*.

Anyway, if you aren't already a fan of Chris and notmydesk I'd recommend becoming one. Chris is one of those few people who can write about himself and not be boring.
Not true with me. You won't find a whole lot of info about the Cocky Bastard here, but I suppose some basics are in order. You'll find them here, in the profile.