Saturday, June 26, 2004
Raw Bush
From The BBC :
Bush filmed in underwear
By Mark Simpson
BBC Ireland correspondent at Dromoland Castle
When the US president arranged a visit to Ireland in an election year he wanted to make sure the folks back home could see him - but not dressed in a vest.
George W Bush
Bush was apparently checking the Irish weather when he was snapped
And that is why there was a wave of international censorship after George W Bush appeared at the window of an Irish castle wearing a white undergarment, rather than his traditional shirt and tie.
It may have been bedtime, but the president was wide awake to the potential public relations dangers.
After spotting the camera, he quickly backtracked, and allowed one of his aides to open the bedroom window instead.
Well, duh, International censorship. Although it is funny. They claim that Bush was dressed "in a vest". I guess that means he had his T-shirt on, but they didn't say if he was wearing any underwear.
The Republicans tried for years to get a shot at the Clenis, to no avail, and it looks like Bush might have revealed his "state secrets" entirely by accident.
We all know he stuffed in the flight suit. We might soon have evidence of how much stuffing was necessary.
The feeding frenzy did not last long. Within minutes, broadcasters were being ordered not to use the pictures, even though they were the most original images of the day....it was too late for some broadcasters, who had excitedly rushed to air with the pictures of the blushing Mr Bush.
So how long will it take these pictures to hit the Internet? President Cheney saying "Fuck you?" Bush accidentally exposing himself? Kerry being compared to Hitler? Jack Ryan's divorce papers? "Fahrenheit 911" opening?
WHAT A WEEK!
posted by Green Voicemail 6/26/2004 01:30:00 PM
Friday, June 25, 2004
Failure of a Movie
Need to listen to the right wing sometime...I can hear them now, nattering away about Fahrenheit 9/11, "Disney won't distribute it, don't show it in theatres, we protest, pack of lies, FCC violation, Moore is a liar, awful film, American stands tall, Kerry waffle, Hitler, blah blah blah." This is the hope of people desperately trying to scare away the public.
Here's what I know:
1. Only one theatre would show it in Nashville, in the "rich liberals" neigborhood.
2. Only five showings today, on opening day: 11, 1, 4, 7, 9.
3. My wife and I went to see the 1:45 show. Decided to buy tickets on Fandango , just in case.
4. HUGE LINE!
5. ALL SHOWINGS FOR TODAY, INCLUDING THE NIGHT SHOWINGS, WERE ALREADY SOLD OUT BY THE TIME WE GOT THERE!
6. PACKED THEATRE!
7. J. K. Rowling owes Michael Moore money, since most of the people who got turned away from Fahrenheit 9/11 went to see the new Harry Potter movie.
8. Applause several times during film, no boos!
9. Didn't make the news at all in Nashville, as far as I can figure out (news blackout?)
...and finally....
10. It's not as good as hard core liberals would make you think it is.
It's BETTER. MUCH BETTER. And now, I understand why Moore won the Palme d'Or, and it wasn't because of European anti-Americanism. He knows when to be on screen, and knows when to be off it. He knows when to do voiceovers, and when to be silent. He knows when to be happy, when to be sad, when to go for the throat or tug at the heartstrings.
He is a master filmmaker, and not just a master documentarian.
GO SEE IT!!!
posted by Green Voicemail 6/25/2004 09:45:00 PM
Thursday, June 24, 2004
Holy Insane Pappy, Batman!
From...uh... icseftonandwestlancs , whatever that is.
"A DISTRAUGHT father staged a protest from church scaffolding in a desperate attempt to gain contact with his children.
Colin Vallis, 41, from Scarisbrick Street, Ormskirk, spent 10 hours of Father's Day dressed as Batman on scaffolding surrounding Holy Trinity Church in Southport."
The guy didn't dress like this, just follow the link above.
I just figured we needed to lighten things up around here. This is the kind of stuff that makes you LOSE a custody battle. "Your honor, I had to take the kids away from him, he think he's the Caped Crusader. He's trying to dig a BatCave, and we live on a third floor walk-up."
I don't know much about his case, but I hope life sets everything to right and just for everyone involved.
posted by Green Voicemail 6/24/2004 08:09:00 PM
And the Beat Goes On
From CNN :
LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- A police officer pursuing the driver of a stolen car Wednesday was seen on videotape beating the suspect after he appeared to have surrendered.
A piccie is included:
Remind you of something?
Well, as someone said on Atrios, when Reagan died, we got to experience the 1980s crackpot right version of history. When Clinton's book came out, we got to experience the 1990s crackpot version of history.
This beating by the Los Angeles police is undoubtedly more right wing nostalgia brought to us by the Cheney Administration to remind us of those halcyon days of 1991, when Daddy Bush was in power.
Do you think the pictures will change any right wing minds about the potential abuses of police power with regard to minority subjects? My answer is the caption at the end of a Paul Conrad cartoon after the first Rodney King trial, which resulted in the acquittal of the police at the hands of a white jury. "One picture is worth ZERO".
In further news today, Governor Schwarzenegger banned the use of camcorders in the Los Angeles area....
posted by Green Voicemail 6/24/2004 08:54:00 AM
Wednesday, June 23, 2004
Customer Service
From Yahoo! News
Jason Smathers of Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, has been charged with stealing a list of 92 million AOL customer screen names and selling them to Internet marketer Sean Dunaway of Las Vegas, said David Kelley, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York in a statement...working as an engineer in AOL's Dulles, Virginia, headquarters, Smathers, 24, was able to access screen names, zip codes and credit-card types, though not credit-card numbers, of the company's 30 million customers, Kelley said.
The sad part is that this wasn't some kind of guy who got minimum wage at customer service. This guy probably made $50K/year. I guess it wasn't enough for him.
Authorities say that they might make the guy work AOL's customer service hotline. :P
posted by Green Voicemail 6/23/2004 05:34:00 PM
Glass of Death
From CNN
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraq's interim prime minister has received a public death threat in an ominous recording believed to be made by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the insurgent blamed for attacks against U.S. forces and Iraqi civilians.
Not that I want al-Zarqawi's wackos to win, but I suggest that Iyad Allawi find himself a new mailing address. Like, say, Pluto. Given our stellar security record in Iraq -- Bush sneaking into Iraq in the middle of the night like a deadbead dad, two members of Buffalo Bush's Peanut Governing Council blowed up -- I suggest that Allawi have someone else take out the trash for him.
Like, say, for five hundred years. The problem with dealing with the radical fundamentalists in Iraq is that they think in millenia. Thirty years isn't too long to wait for someone surrounded by nothing but hot sand.
Get this:
"As for you Allawi, the supposedly democratically elected prime minister, we have prepared something very special for you," the voice on the tape said.
"We have prepared a special poison for you and a sharp sword and we have filled a glass for you and we have filled a glass with death especially for you.
I know other wits and comedians have made the same comment, but..."sharp sword?" "glass of death?" Man, how come WE don't have writers like that? It just sounds so...COOL.
This is what Bush needs to tell the Iraqi people.
"We stand blah blah blah freedom blah blah coalition blah blah Saddam had WMDS....
...and as for YOU, al-Zarqawi, there is no place for you to hide. The ants of perdition are slowly crawling toward your grainstack of woe! There will be no rest for you! Your electric blanket of tyranny will have a short in it! Your Ipod of evil will be filled with Slim Whitman mp3s for a thousand years! Verily, it will be said that your punishment will overflow a thousand badly written Stephen King books, not the good ones like Carrie, but the bad ones like Gerald's Game. For we have Teddy Roosevelt's Walking Sticks coated with the Fresh Scent of the Sensimillia of Justice, and we will not be denied!"
posted by Green Voicemail 6/23/2004 05:04:00 PM
Tuesday, June 22, 2004
Wal-Mart Faces Class Action Suit
From MSNBC :
"Plaintiffs present largely uncontested descriptive statistics which show that women working at Wal-Mart stores are paid less than men in every region, that pay disparities exist in most job categories, that the salary gap widens over time, that women take longer to enter management positions, and that the higher one looks in the organization the lower the percentage of women."
Number of women represented: 1.6 MILLION. WHEW!
Well, it had to catch up with Wal-Mart sooner or later. The company which has probably done more to harm organized labor than any I can think of ran into a foe that makes even conservative corporations quake -- the class action lawsuit.
I'm surprised that Wal-Mart left itself wide open to this kind of suit. Business Week reports that Wal-Mart pays women less than men. A good website to learn info from is Walmart Versus Women .
Here are some of the practices of Wal-Mart according to a press release from the above group:
A female assistant manager in Utah was told by her store manager that retail is "tough" and not "appropriate" for women.
Managers repeatedly informed women employees that men "need to be paid more than women because they have families to support."
A male manager in South Carolina told a woman worker that "God made Adam first, so women would always be second to men."
A female manager in Arizona was told she got paid less than a less qualified man because she "didn't have the right equipment."
A female personnel manager in Florida was informed by her manager that men were paid more than
women because "men are here to make a career and women aren't. Retail is for housewives who just need to earn extra money."
A Wal-Mart-owned Sam's Club manager in California told another woman she should "doll-up" to get
promoted.
My question is: Where did Wal-Mart get these guys? Do they still make corporate dumb-asses like that anymore? I mean, the smart good-old-boys have learned to hide their racism and sexism. Most corporations keep their anti-discrimatory policies in good shape, as to avoid getting sued.
Oh well, maybe Wal-Mart can hire some more illegal immigrant labor if the payout for the lawsuit drives prices up.
posted by Green Voicemail 6/22/2004 07:54:00 PM
Monday, June 21, 2004
Green Madness
From The Associated Press :
Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader selected longtime Green Party activist Peter Camejo to be his running mate on Monday, a move sure to boost his chances of winning the Green Party's endorsement this week and its access to ballot lines in 22 states and the District of Columbia.
Translation: the Green Party is no longer interested in having a voice in the future of America. They have sold out to the Republicans.
Oh well, it looks like it was good while it lasted. But Jesus, I don't want to be a Democrat again.
posted by Green Voicemail 6/21/2004 02:42:00 PM
'...I am a free man!"
From The Christian Science Monitor
"WASHINGTON--US citizens do not enjoy a constitutional right to refuse to reveal their identity when requested by police.
In what may become a major boost to US law enforcement and antiterrorism efforts, the US Supreme Court Monday upheld a Nevada law that makes it a criminal offense for anyone suspected of wrongdoing to refuse to identify himself to police.
Civil libertarians see the decision as a significant setback. And it remains unclear to what extent it may open the door to the issuing of national identification cards or widespread identity operations keyed to terrorist profiling at bus terminals, train stations, sports stadiums, and on city streets.
"It's a green light to explore the bounds of how much personal information can be demanded on pain of arrest," says Timothy Lynch of the Cato Institute in Washington. "It also gives a green light to perhaps the Congress to move with a national law."
From The Official Prisoner Companion
Number Two: "You see, there isn't much we don't know about you--but one likes to know--everything. For instance, I had no idea that you liked lemon tea. Also, chess wasn't listed as one of your hobbies. So you can't be too careful, can you?"
Prisoner (throwing down the file): "The time of my birth is missing.'
Number Two: "There you are. There's another thing. Now let's bring it all up to date."
Prisoner: "I've nothing to say. Is that clear? Nothing."
Number Two: "Do be reasonable, old boy. It's only a matter of time. sooner or later you'll tell me. Sooner or later, you'll want to. Let's make a deal. You cooperate, tell us what we want to know and this can be a very nice place. You may even be given a position of authority."
Prisoner: "I'm not making any deals with you. I've resigned. I am not going to be pushed, filed, indexed, stamped, briefed, de-briefed, or numbered. My life is my own."
posted by Green Voicemail 6/21/2004 02:19:00 PM
The Life and Times of Judge Thomas Griffith
From The Washington Whore Times ...oops, I meant to say "The Washington Post", I've been reading too much Bartcop .
"Thomas B. Griffith, President Bush's nominee for the federal appeals court in Washington, has been practicing law in Utah without a state law license for the past four years, according to Utah state officials."
Well, so much for accountability in government. Then again, why should I be surprised? Isn't that what the Cheney Administration is about, practicing law without a license...in Iraq, Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib...?
posted by Green Voicemail 6/21/2004 09:56:00 AM
Sunday, June 20, 2004
Po' Kenny Boy
From
The Australian ....
"ENRON founder Kenneth Lay could be indicted this month on charges stemming from the energy trader's 2001 collapse, sources close to the case said yesterday."
If I had .wav files, the file I'd put up is "The Circle of Life". It started with Ken Lay, and it might end with Ken Lay. The wolves are still chasing that sled no matter how many warm bodies Cheney throws at them, so it's time to send Boy George's best friend pal over the side.
If there's anything that Ken Lay has in common with the Boy King, it must be management style. Indeed, that has been Ken Lay's defense all along, that all these people below me were doing things and I swear to God, if I had known what was going on, I would have said something. I don't know who Boy George borrowed the style from first, Kenny Boy or St. Ronald of Reagan.
Mr. Lay can of course claim that he spent most of his time unaware of Enron's finances, but what about that $100 million of Enron stock he sold between February 1999 and July 2001? Meanwhile, Martha Stewart sells about $200,000 worth of stock and made a $50,000 profit. Result: everyone knows that Martha Stewart is a money-grubbing prostitute while Lay sits at home, in poverty while he must work his fingers to the bone for his wife and the $400-an-hour legal staff he's retained to prove that yes, he doesn't know what's going on and yes, he's as poor as he claims to be.
Martha's mistake was in being in the wrong place at the wrong time. She's just as guilty as the rest of them, but Martha's convinction isn't meant to send a message to insider traders to watch out for John Law. It's meant to send a message to us to watch us catch this little fish while the big fish slide off the hook.
And I feel that Kenny Boy's newest round of troubles are not meant to send the message to malignant corporate CEOs that their cheating ways are over. Rather it's a message from Dick Cheney, to us, to watch him catch this bigger fish while he hopes that we turn our eyes away from Iraq, the biggest stinking fish of all. Why do YOU think they're waiting until the beginning of July to indict Po' Kenny?
posted by Green Voicemail 6/20/2004 01:59:00 PM
