:: blame the extended gestation.... ::

:: Saturday, November 08, 2003 ::

Yahoo! News - Boondocks

:: Jim Nichols 11/08/2003 06:36:00 PM [+] ::
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A must read for everyone

Too Polemical or Too Critical for the Mainstream? Chomsky
on Media-Elite Relations

And now you can find Jim Nichols if you want.
And now you can find Jim Nichols if you want.
And now you can find Jim Nichols if you want.

:: Jim Nichols 11/08/2003 05:34:00 PM [+] ::
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Notebooks FAQ: "The net, in its present infantile condition, gives access, not to the sum of preserved human knowledge, but rather to advertisements, cranks, journalists, and technical reports. "

:: Jim Nichols 11/08/2003 02:58:00 PM [+] ::
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hmmm... must check him out

Leszek Kolakowski: "Polish philosopher and historian of philosophy. He's one of a very small number of people who is thoroughly conversant with both the analytical and Continental strains of Western philosophy, and knows the history of their (common) ancestors as well."

:: Jim Nichols 11/08/2003 12:00:00 PM [+] ::
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"The only difference between the Democrats and the Republicans is that the Democrats allow the poor to be corrupt, too." --Oscar Levant

:: Jim Nichols 11/08/2003 11:31:00 AM [+] ::
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Sometimes I lie awake at night, and I ask, "Where have I gone wrong?"
Then a voice says to me, "This is going to take more than one night." --Charles M. Schulz

:: Jim Nichols 11/08/2003 11:30:00 AM [+] ::
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Maybe I should start up a quote blog as well. I'm paranoid now after my computer crashed and I lost all those pages of quotes. Thats why I want everything online... if I'm gonna lose something from now on I want it to be due to the end of the civilization.

:: Jim Nichols 11/08/2003 11:27:00 AM [+] ::
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"My life has no purpose, no direction, no aim, no meaning, and yet I'm happy. I can't figure it out. What am I doing right?" --Charles M. Schulz

:: Jim Nichols 11/08/2003 11:27:00 AM [+] ::
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Yep, thats me... always lacking wit
"She had a pretty gift for quotation, which is a serviceable substitute for wit." --W. Somerset Maugham

:: Jim Nichols 11/08/2003 11:24:00 AM [+] ::
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"To read a newspaper is to refrain from reading something worthwhile. The first discipline of education must therefore be to refuse resolutely to feed the mind with canned chatter."
Aleister Crowley

:: Jim Nichols 11/08/2003 11:23:00 AM [+] ::
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Indeed

corybantic (kor-i-BAN-tik) adjective

Wild; frenzied; uncontrolled.

:: Jim Nichols 11/08/2003 02:03:00 AM [+] ::
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"As regards intellectual work, it remains a fact, indeed, that great decisions in the realms of thought and momentous discoveries and solutions of problems are only possible to an individual working in solitude."
-Sigmund Freud

:: Jim Nichols 11/08/2003 01:58:00 AM [+] ::
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Colonel Blimp (KUHR-nl blimp) noun, also Blimp

A pompous reactionary with out-of-date views.

[After Colonel Blimp, a cartoon character created by David Low
(1891-1963).]

:: Jim Nichols 11/08/2003 01:56:00 AM [+] ::
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PETA: The Meatrix

:: Jim Nichols 11/08/2003 01:35:00 AM [+] ::
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Paris Journal: To Sell Lingerie, Inhibitions, and Much More, Are Falling: "Here in Paris, porno-chic has gone mainstream.

To inaugurate its 28,000-square-foot lingerie shop this week, Galeries Lafayette, the closest thing France has to Bloomingdale's, invited hundreds of guests on Tuesday evening to sip Champagne, stroll down a 'street of temptation' named 'Le Red Hot Boulevard' and examine 80 different brands of 'strings' (the French word for 'thongs'), brassieres, bustiers, corsets, panties and garter belts."

:: Jim Nichols 11/08/2003 01:08:00 AM [+] ::
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I am going to be moving all news to a new blog in order to better organize and professionalize my blogging. This blog will remain solely for my writing and anything else I happen to want to link to or store. All news articles and op-eds that I merely want to pass along will from now on go on the other blog.

:: Jim Nichols 11/08/2003 12:23:00 AM [+] ::
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The Yale Herald - Nov 7, 2003 - The real threat to world peace: "Of the 49 major conflicts that have broken out since 1990, light weapons were the only arms used in 46 of them, with only one —the 1991 Gulf War—dominated by heavy conventional weapons."

"Trade in illegal guns is as dangerous as nuclear and chemical proliferation. It is as big a threat to global security as WMD. Small arms and light weapons are the real instruments of war—from the civil wars that rage within countries carrying the label of 'failed state' to the wars police officers wage with criminal networks in countries gripped in vicious cycles of violent crime. The silent victims, irrespective of the nature of the conflict in question, are the millions of innocent civilians killed or maimed by the tools of violence. The World Health Organization's World Report on Violence and Health supports the oft-cited rough estimate of 300,000 annual deaths from small arms in armed conflict. These figures are far higher than the number of people who have perished from the use of weapons of mass destruction since World War II, including in Hiroshima and Nagasaki."

:: Jim Nichols 11/08/2003 12:19:00 AM [+] ::
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California Insider - Angelides warns again against new debt: "With reports circulating in the Capitol that the Schwarzenegger team might propose adding next year's structural deficit onto the already accumulated debt and floating a massive deficit bond to the voters in March, Treasurer Phil Angelides warns against using borrowing to postpone dealing with the state's fiscal mess. A $20 billion deficit bond, he says, would cost taxpayers $39 billion to retire over 30 years."

:: Jim Nichols 11/08/2003 12:15:00 AM [+] ::
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CNN.com - Dems, GOP feud over Iraq memo - Nov. 5, 2003: "Angry Republicans accused the Democratic side of playing politics. "

Why do people always accuse the other side of playing politics? Isn't that what politics is about??? I may mock your politics but i'm not gonna be shocked by it and throw a fit, I'm just work my ass off at exposing you for the fraud you are and work on getting others to agree with me and hence act on that agreement--kicking someone out the political way, by voting.

"The memo suggested a strategy to challenge administration claims about its prewar intelligence. " Dear god not that? One would actually be fullfiling the dutys of an investigation. Since if one thought there was a reason to believe the current "truth" of what had occured one would find no reason to investigate....

:: Jim Nichols 11/08/2003 12:05:00 AM [+] ::
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Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall: November 02, 2003 - November 08, 2003 Archives: "One of Dean's selling points is the straight-talk thing, sorta like John McCain. So I don't think it would be a good idea for him to muzzle himself. But part of the straight-talk thing is being willing to quickly say 'yeah, that was lame' when you put your foot in your mouth and then move on. "

:: Jim Nichols 11/08/2003 12:03:00 AM [+] ::
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Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall: November 02, 2003 - November 08, 2003 Archives: "The Republicans are trying to protect the administration from a host of disclosures about shenanigans in the lead up to the war. They've seized on this memo (which is a bit embarrassing for the Dems, certainly, but hardly more than that) and are trying to use it to secure even further partisan control over the intelligence oversight process -- or, in other words, to prevent any serious inquiry into what happened in the lead-up to the war. "

:: Jim Nichols 11/07/2003 11:55:00 PM [+] ::
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Our Pro-life President: "In a private meeting with President Bush following the signing ceremony in the Ronald Reagan Building on Wednesday, seven pro-life leaders and I had the privilege of meeting with President Bush in an Oval Office gathering.
In this meeting, President Bush gallantly declared that his administration would put all of its resources behind the partial-birth abortion ban in the courtroom."

:: Jim Nichols 11/07/2003 11:53:00 PM [+] ::
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NewsMax.com: Inside Cover Story "Dem Intel Committee Memo Reveals Anti-Bush Plot":
Apperently Anti-Bush now equals pro-truth and pro-U.S. future security. I always figured Anti-Bush label would be left to us self-hating flag burning commie left wing heretics.

:: Jim Nichols 11/07/2003 11:48:00 PM [+] ::
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NewsMax.com: Inside Cover Story "Gingrich: Bush Should Stonewall Corrupt Senate Probers":

President Bush should stop cooperating with Senate Intelligence Committee probers until the person who authored a memo urging Democrats to use committee resources for corrupt partisan purposes is fired, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich said Wednesday.

:: Jim Nichols 11/07/2003 11:45:00 PM [+] ::
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We all know how this works. Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall: November 02, 2003 - November 08, 2003 Archives: "The 'plot' is essentially a plot to have a real investigation"

"the Republicans are trying use this memo riduculousness to shut down any scrutiny of the intelligence related bad-acts in the lead-up to the war."

:: Jim Nichols 11/07/2003 11:43:00 PM [+] ::
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A New Political Era Dawns in S.F.: "As much as is possible in a place as liberal as San Francisco, the mayoral showdown five weeks from now will offer a clear choice:

Newsom, a liberal Democrat by the standards of most other cities, has been cast by opponents here as a socialite 'Republocrat.' He is allied with billionaire Gordon Getty and lives in a multimillion-dollar mansion in Pacific Heights, one of the city's most expensive neighborhoods, with his wife, a prosecutor and CNN commentator who is a former lingerie model.

By contrast, Gonzalez, an arts aficionado and poetry buff, doesn't own a car and rents an apartment in the considerably less fashionable Western Addition neighborhood. Newsom's supporters portray Gonzalez as an ultra-left 'cafe brat' whose support won't extend beyond the city's young hipsters."

:: Jim Nichols 11/07/2003 11:37:00 PM [+] ::
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Schwarzenegger Plans Inquiry Into Groping Allegations

How bout he just say he's gonna stop groping women?

:: Jim Nichols 11/07/2003 11:35:00 PM [+] ::
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O'Reilly continues dissembling (10/22): "One wonders what O'Reilly expects -- the job of journalists is to report the news. Given his history of attacks on guests on his show, his critics and others, O'Reilly clearly has no problem with invective. If those attacks are newsworthy, he should expect to be quoted or cited by reporters -- and the same applies to his critics. The press may treat O'Reilly harshly sometimes, but reporting his opponents' criticisms is in itself no proof of bias."

:: Jim Nichols 11/07/2003 11:32:00 PM [+] ::
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WHATEVER: Listen to Iron Maiden, Baby, With Me

"Well, I kind of liked it. But I kind of hated it, too. All at the same time."

:: Jim Nichols 11/07/2003 11:14:00 PM [+] ::
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Iraq is Not America's to Sell: "Any movement serious about Iraqi self-determination must call not only for an end to Iraq's military occupation, but to its economic colonization as well."

"The Hague regulations state that an occupying power must respect 'unless absolutely prevented, the laws in force in the country'. The coalition provisional authority has shredded that simple rule with gleeful defiance. Iraq's constitution outlaws the privatization of key state assets, and it bars foreigners from owning Iraqi firms. No plausible argument can be made that the CPA was 'absolutely prevented' from respecting those laws, and yet two months ago, the CPA overturned them unilaterally. "

"So far, most of the controversy surrounding Iraq's reconstruction has focused on the waste and corruption in the awarding of contracts. This badly misses the scope of the violation: even if the sell-off of Iraq were conducted with full transparency and open bidding, it would still be illegal for the simple reason that Iraq is not America's to sell."

:: Jim Nichols 11/07/2003 10:22:00 PM [+] ::
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Center for American Progress - Alterman: Think Again - Page: "Amazing but true, the far-right media machine has successfully held CBS entertainment to a higher standard of truth regarding the docudrama, “The Reagans” than the news media manages to hold the Bush administration regarding the war in Iraq."

:: Jim Nichols 11/07/2003 10:06:00 PM [+] ::
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Can we spell fascist?KSAT.com - News - Gun-Wielding Cops Conduct Drug Sweep At School:

:: Jim Nichols 11/07/2003 10:03:00 PM [+] ::
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Well, Maybe That Iraq Thing Didn't Work Out So Well, But the Tax Cuts Did by Ruy Teixeira

What’s next - Karl Rove hanging an “It’s the economy, stupid” sign in the Bush campaign war room? Could be, but maybe Karl better hold off on that sign for a while. There are a lot of very good reasons to be skeptical that this recent growth spurt will provide the Republicans with their magical re-election elixir.

:: Jim Nichols 11/07/2003 09:57:00 PM [+] ::
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Echoes of Reagan Idealism (washingtonpost.com): "The name is Bush, but the philosophy was pure Reagan. "

:: Jim Nichols 11/07/2003 06:45:00 PM [+] ::
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Occupational Hazards - How the Pentagon forgot about running Iraq. By Jacob Weisberg

"Much of the discussion in the postwar period was focused on the question of where those weapons of mass destruction went. An even more important question is how the Bush administration failed to prepare for what it knew was coming. How did the world's greatest military power plan the invasion of a country without also planning its occupation?"

"The hawks' big mistake was not in thinking that [an] optimistic scenario might be borne out. Their mistake—especially stunning because the Pentagon is essentially a planning agency—was not preparing for alternate scenarios that were, at the very least, equally likely. The neoconservative architects of the invasion seem not to have, at any point, seriously engaged the question, 'What if things do not go the way we hope they will?'"

"Part of this may be Marxist residue that never quite washed off. The intellectual descendants of Trotskyists, the neocons find the idea of revolution from above, in which intellectuals and ideas play the crucial role, instinctively appealing. Many neocons also tend to buy into overly deterministic, Hegelian theories of history (see Fukuyama, Frank). In this sense, the assumption that Iraq was destined to become a liberal democracy with just a nudge from the United States is an error akin to Jeanne J. Kirkpatrick's Hannah Arendt-inspired view that Communist totalitarian societies could never reform from within. There was nothing wrong with that theory either, except that it happened to be completely wrong."

"Another reason the neocons go for grand theories may be that their primary experience tends to come from the classroom, rather than the real world. Colin Powell, who took fire in Vietnam, has a visceral sense of what happens when a military engagement turns sour that those who served out the war at the University of Chicago may lack. What's more, few neoconservatives have cultivated a deep appreciation or understanding of other cultures—unless you count the Athens of Pericles or Machiavelli's Florence. "

"Powell was beaten down while Condi Rice and Dick Cheney somehow went AWOL. The result was that a few charismatic, outside-the-box thinkers were able to bamboozle the president into mistaking their roll of the dice for a mature judgment. No wise old head (where was Brent Scowcroft when we needed him?) took the president aside to explain that winning a debate in the Cabinet room isn't the same thing as having a sensible policy. (Bush's tax cuts are another example of a similar phenomenon, driven by a different set of ideologues: the supply-siders.)

Back during the 2000 campaign, George Will and others argued that presidential intelligence didn't matter. This notion was reinforced after Sept. 11, when it became fashionable to argue that Bush's 'moral clarity' was preferable to the ability to comprehend many sides of a complicated issue. In fact, presidential intelligence does matter. The intellectual qualities Bush lacks—historical knowledge, interest in the details of policy, and substantive (as opposed to political) judgment—might well have prevented the quagmire we're facing in Iraq right now. A more engaged president—one who understood, for instance, the difference between the Sunnis and the Shiites—surely would have asked about Plan B."

:: Jim Nichols 11/07/2003 05:47:00 PM [+] ::
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They don't even hide the fact that they didn't do any planning

A Pentagon With No Papers - The lost art of postwar planning. By Fred Kaplan: "We did not want to be planning for a postwar in Iraq before we were sure we were going to war in Iraq. We did not want to have planning for the postwar make the war inevitable." --Gen. Peter Pace, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

:: Jim Nichols 11/07/2003 05:41:00 PM [+] ::
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Hello to All That - The irony behind the demise of the Partisan Review. By Sam Tanenhaus: "But for a quarter-century now, the most cogent oppositionist thinking has come from the right, thanks to the likes of Irving Kristol and more recently Christopher Hitchens, one-time Trotskyists who still know a good revolution when they see it. "


"Yesterday's vanguard is today's 'coalition of the willing.' The 'permanent revolution' moves apace, with Syria its next target. The oppositionists haven't just won. They are in charge."

:: Jim Nichols 11/07/2003 05:32:00 PM [+] ::
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Apollo Alliance : A Special Report: "In a victory for civic participation and government accountability, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced today that it would cancel its contract with Halliburton Corporation for oil transportation into Iraq. This comes after several weeks of pressure by Democratic Congressmen Waxman and Dingell, who have led the charge to uncover the truth about Halliburton’s no-bid contract with the U.S. Government. Reports suggest that Halliburton has been charging the US government more than twice the actual cost of importing fuel into Iraq, a move that has cost millions in taxpayer dollars.
In a convenient coincidence, the cancellation of Halliburton’s contract comes just two days after House Republicans stripped the Iraq supplemental bill of an anti-profiteering provision which would have held companies holding contracts with the U.S. government criminally accountable for price gouging. Once again, the Republicans have failed to hold businesses accountable."

:: Jim Nichols 11/07/2003 05:23:00 PM [+] ::
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BBC NEWS | Education | Competitive classes 'cause disruption': "A culture of competition in schools may be to blame for rising incidence of disruption in the classroom, researchers say.
A study of high school pupils in the United States suggests levels of disruption are higher in classrooms where teachers encourage pupils to outperform their peers.
In contrast, teachers who put an emphasis on improving pupils' performance and learning from their mistakes are more likely to maintain discipline in class. "

:: Jim Nichols 11/07/2003 05:20:00 PM [+] ::
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The New Republic Online: Economy: Peter Orszag 11.06.03, 3:45 p.m.

"The 2001 and 2003 tax cuts were poorly designed to jump-start the economy in the short run, at the least from the perspective of achieving that goal at a reasonable long-term budget cost. Yes, the administration's tax cuts contributed to economic growth in the third quarter by boosting demand for goods and services--but almost any tax cut or spending increase would have done that. "

"A January 2002 analysis from the Congressional Budget Office concluded that accelerating reductions in marginal tax rates and cutting the capital gains tax rate, two of the principal components of the 2003 tax legislation, would both rank quite low in terms of short-term spur to the economy, per dollar of budget cost. Despite the administration's cheerleading about the tax cuts, the CBO analysis seems consistent with the evidence thus far. "

"Economy.com, an independent economic research firm, attributes only 0.9 percent out of the total 7.2 percent annualized growth in the third quarter to the 2003 tax cut. In other words, the Economy.com analysis suggests that the strength of the economy in the third quarter was not due primarily to the tax cut: Without the tax cut, growth would have still been an impressive 6.3 percent."

:: Jim Nichols 11/07/2003 04:52:00 PM [+] ::
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The New Republic Online: Economy: David Hale 11.06.03, 12:15 p.m.

"The U.S. economy has lost 2.7 million jobs since Mr. Bush took office. It was natural for the economy to lose jobs during 2001, when the collapse of telecom and information technology capital spending produced a recession. But what has been distressing is the failure of the recovery since late 2001 to produce jobs."

"The Bush administration has been losing jobs at a rate of 90,000 per month. The third quarter was especially frightening because 7.2 percent output growth failed to produce any jobs. There have been 38 quarters since 1947 in which output growth exceeded 7.2 percent. The most recent quarter was the first such quarter in which no job growth occurred."

:: Jim Nichols 11/07/2003 04:45:00 PM [+] ::
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White House Puts Limits on Queries From Democrats (washingtonpost.com): "The Bush White House, irritated by pesky questions from congressional Democrats about how the administration is using taxpayer money, has developed an efficient solution: It will not entertain any more questions from opposition lawmakers. "

:: Jim Nichols 11/07/2003 04:39:00 PM [+] ::
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TAPPED: November 2003 Archives: "This is reality, like it or not. The United States needs to succeed in Iraq, something I think most Democrats actually do understand, conservative piping to the contrary. We can't go home; we have to figure out a way to make this thing work. "

call me a neocolonialist but I agree. We just need it to be a multilateral-neocolonialism and I don't know if we can pull that off with Bush in office. No one is going to want to pull their public along just to help out GW. People do want to see Bush fail, unfortunately it might be at the expense of Iraqi lives and infrastructure--not to mention middle east stability.

:: Jim Nichols 11/07/2003 04:31:00 PM [+] ::
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Todays "Good" Employment News: Archive Entry From Brad DeLong's Webjournal: "After all, today's employment level is 2.3 million lower than at the start of 2001, 2.6 million lower than the president's Council of Economic Advisers projected back in February would be employed today if the congress passed the administration's 'jobs and growth' program, and even 75 thousand lower than the Treasury Secretary projected last month would be employed today. "

:: Jim Nichols 11/07/2003 04:29:00 PM [+] ::
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The Saint Paul Pioneer Press: "NEW PRODUCTS: Hyper Cow adds caffeine to rev up teen market
BY ALLISON KAPLAN
Pioneer Press

How do you get teens to crave milk? Load it with caffeine.
Hyper Cow, a new brand from Maplewood-based milk producer Schroeder Co., wins the dubious distinction of being the first caffeinated milk beverage."

:: Jim Nichols 11/06/2003 07:03:00 PM [+] ::
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Rush Rocks... or should we say does the rock...

:: Jim Nichols 11/06/2003 12:04:00 PM [+] ::
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Self Professed Newspaper addict Steve Earl is cool, always liked him... only heard a couple of songs but have always liked what he's had to say. Should do myself a favor and go get an album just cause I like the guy.

"You think the media is now swinging to the right?

Earle: It's not that it's right-wing or left-wing, it's just that they're doing the same thing radio is doing -- doing market research and pandering to a market they've identified. I'm ready to do the Bill O'Reilly show on Fox this month, but equating that with a real political discussion is like believing pro wrestling is real. It's just pandering to our worst instincts, and it works. They've just identified a market and can sell to it. It sells more beer.

I don't have a problem with the existence of the right, but the right has a problem with my existence. We just have a different definition of patriotism. One day this country will be remembered maybe for rock 'n' roll, maybe for baseball, and a few other things, but our Constitution is going to be like Hammarabi's code. It's a hipper document than its framers intended it to be.

The people that I've pissed off were all people I was trying to piss off. And for the most part the press that I read, and trust to some extent, was pretty good on the "John Walker" thing. But I think it has eroded to the point where it is not about bias but under-reporting things that are real important. For example, the real story in the 2000 election in Florida was not hanging chads but the thousands thrown off the voting rolls for having the same last name as some criminal. And it's not as if people who write about politics were not aware of that."

:: Jim Nichols 11/06/2003 11:59:00 AM [+] ::
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Commence skimming

:: Jim Nichols 11/06/2003 11:52:00 AM [+] ::
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This is your market system on drugs

:: Jim Nichols 11/06/2003 11:49:00 AM [+] ::
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Can't blog very well from school. They disable the right click button! The bastards!

:: Jim Nichols 11/06/2003 11:48:00 AM [+] ::
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Yahoo! News - Fox Asks N.M. for Migrant Protection: "Mexican President Vicente Fox (news - web sites) asked state leaders Wednesday for better treatment of illegal immigrants from his country, saying they 'contribute important benefits' to New Mexico's economy. "

:: Jim Nichols 11/06/2003 12:39:00 AM [+] ::
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Yahoo! News - Abortion Bill May Trigger Election Fight

:: Jim Nichols 11/06/2003 12:38:00 AM [+] ::
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sacbee.com -- 24-Hour News: Top Stories -- Reports say Baghdad officials sought dialogue ahead of war: "Reports say Baghdad officials sought dialogue ahead of war
The Associated Press
Last Updated 9:10 p.m. PST Wednesday, November 5, 2003
WASHINGTON (AP) - Just days before U.S.-led forces invaded Iraq, officials claiming to speak for a frantic Iraqi regime made a last-ditch effort to avert the war, but U.S. officials rebuffed the overture, according to news reports."

:: Jim Nichols 11/06/2003 12:35:00 AM [+] ::
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WHATEVER: Confederate Dean: "Given the utter incompetence of the Democratic party in making its case to poor and working class white people, who vote for Republicans for inexplicable reasons, I would suggest Dean needed to make a statement like this to get his shot across the bow. "

"It is just cynical politics on Dean's part? Could be. Or he could be telling the truth: Someone needs to go ask all the Rebel Boys what they really get out of voting for someone like Bush, whose economic policies ram all working class people of every color right up the cheeks. If the other Democratic candidates are too worried about political correctness not to speak the language these guys talk and address them on their terms, I don't see how they can expect to get their vote in 2004. And if they're not planning to try to get the vote of millions of southern white guys, then they've pretty much already lost and can go home now. "

:: Jim Nichols 11/06/2003 12:28:00 AM [+] ::
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AlterNet: Southern Comforting: "While Bush is sending our grandchildren's future tax dollars to Vietnam, uh, I mean Iraq, teachers are teaching for free some days in order to keep schools running."

:: Jim Nichols 11/06/2003 12:24:00 AM [+] ::
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Overworked nurses drive up error rate: "U.S. study is calling for minimum staffing standards at hospitals "

:: Jim Nichols 11/06/2003 12:19:00 AM [+] ::
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Activist Likely to Lead Cal/EPA: "Gov.-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger has decided to name Terry Tamminen, the head of a Santa Monica conservation group, as his secretary of environmental protection, according to several sources involved in assembling the new administration."

:: Jim Nichols 11/06/2003 12:17:00 AM [+] ::
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Patients Without Borders: "Amid rising health costs, illegal immigrants in San Diego-area hospitals are being transferred back to Mexico for treatment."

:: Jim Nichols 11/06/2003 12:15:00 AM [+] ::
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TOMPAINE.com - Reform Platform: "Pro-Parent, Anti-Choice"

:: Jim Nichols 11/04/2003 10:07:00 PM [+] ::
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Blog Left: Critical Interventions Warblog (war blog, Iraq, Operation Iraqi Freedom, Bush, Gulf War II, left): "No president has the right to define patriotism. No president has the right to drape himself in the flag of patriotism and then demean those who would speak out against him." --Wesley Clark

:: Jim Nichols 11/04/2003 10:00:00 PM [+] ::
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Three-Toed Sloth: Our Geopolitical Situation, Dispassionately Assessed

"We're fucked"

:: Jim Nichols 11/04/2003 09:45:00 PM [+] ::
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Skid Row baby

Its all about the Sebastian Bach cameo's in Gilmore tonight!! You know they put him in there for all the mom's who watch with their daughters... god that means I'm getting old!

:: Jim Nichols 11/04/2003 09:19:00 PM [+] ::
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Bolton assails EU over tribunal - The Washington Times: World

How dare they!!!

:: Jim Nichols 11/04/2003 09:04:00 PM [+] ::
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What is it with conservatives--even conservative democrats--that causes them to label liberals as if they were these crazy leftist anarcho-syndicalist or something (not that I think leftist anarcho-syndicalist CRAZY... but I digress)'Able Democrats, but left-wing all the way' - The Washington Times: Nation/Politics: "Lord, those current presidential candidates in my party.
They are good, smart and able folks, but if I decided to follow any one of them down their road, I'd have to keep my left-turn signal blinking and burning brightly all the way. "

:: Jim Nichols 11/04/2003 09:00:00 PM [+] ::
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Intelligence panel leader says he spoke hastily on White House pledge to provide data

:: Jim Nichols 11/04/2003 08:26:00 PM [+] ::
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Eric Alterman: AltercationGARBLING LINDA TRIPP

:: Jim Nichols 11/04/2003 08:13:00 PM [+] ::
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As we strive for greater and greater Orwellian extremesAnti-war activist charged for 'misusing phone' to protest to US - www.smh.com.au: "An Auckland peace activist who sent an e-mail to the US Embassy objecting to the war on Iraq has been charged with misuse of a telephone. "

:: Jim Nichols 11/04/2003 07:57:00 PM [+] ::
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Yahoo! News - Democrats Attack Dean Over Confederate Flag Remark

I really didn't have an issue with what he said. Those Confederate Flag waving southerners should be voting democratic...

:: Jim Nichols 11/04/2003 07:53:00 PM [+] ::
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:: Jim Nichols 11/04/2003 07:32:00 PM [+] ::
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Yahoo! News - Big East Returns to Basketball Roots

Miami, Virgina Tech, and Boston College in the ACC? wow...

:: Jim Nichols 11/04/2003 07:28:00 PM [+] ::
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Yahoo! News - Record U.N. Vote Against U.S. Embargo on Cuba: "For the 12th straight year, the U.N. General Assembly voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday against Washington's four-decade old economic embargo against Cuba that Havana sees as tantamount to 'genocide.' "

Opposing the resolution were the United States, Israel and the Marshall Islands while Morocco and Micronesia abstained.

One question... I understand why the 51st state would vote with us but why the Marshall Islands, Morocco, and Micronesia?

:: Jim Nichols 11/04/2003 07:21:00 PM [+] ::
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AlterNet: The Importance of Being Joe Wilson: "Joseph Wilson is the man who ignited the scandal that envelops the Bush administration today. The former ambassador, who served under both President Bush Sr. and President Clinton, has become the White House's biggest nightmare over the course of the last four months."

"Wilson's editorial was the first piece of concrete evidence that the administration had outright lied to the American people in order to take the nation to war. It sparked a media firestorm and earned him the wrath of the White House. On July 14, two senior administration officials told conservative columnist Robert Novak that Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, was a CIA operative and had been responsible for sending him to Niger."

"Now I would just remind people who try and introduce partisanship into this that I went to Niger on behalf on this administration. I brought back a report which, if it had been accepted by my government, would have kept the President of the United States from actually lying to the American people.
So the question you have to ask is, who betrayed the president of the United States? Was it the person who brought back the truth that was then ignored? Or was it the person who put in the lie [into the speech] that the president then spoke to the American people? People can judge for themselves, but it is hard to reproach me for having brought back something that the White House belatedly acknowledged was true. "

:: Jim Nichols 11/04/2003 07:07:00 PM [+] ::
...

Eschaton: "Keep it Happy, Keep it Snappy...

Steve G has a post about the problems of instituting a contemporary draft. He misses one thing - as the fabulous David E. was discussing on the Michelangelo Signorile Show today, complete with scarily hilarious Vietnam-era draft board story, the military's Don't Ask Don't Tell policy would be a serious impediment to the implementation of any draft.

Once upon a time, people were more willing to run to Canada or shoot themselves in the foot or develop anal cysts rather than admit to having 'homosexual tendencies.' That is no longer the case.


... Keep it Gay!"

:: Jim Nichols 11/04/2003 07:00:00 PM [+] ::
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Body and Soul: Kucinich and the UN: "Washington, D.C.: Mr. Kucinich, you have called for the immediate removal of American forces from Iraq. If that was the case -- if American soldiers were immediately withdrawn -- how would Iraq be rebuilt? How would security, tenuous at best with American troops present, be maintained? And how would we avoid Iraq falling into the hands of religious extremists like the ones who control Iran?

Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich: It is imperative that the U.S.A. get out of Iraq. It was wrong to go in. It is wrong to stay in. We must go to the United Nations with a new resolution which represents a shift in U.S. policy, a resolution which signals that the U.S. is ready to rejoin the world community in the cause of securing Iraq and in helping to create greater security across the globe. That resolution, which can be accessed on my website at www.kucinich.us calls for the UN to handle all the oil assets of Iraq on behalf of the Iraqi people, without any privatization of oil assets. Next the UN would handle all the contracts in Iraq. No more sweetheart deals for the likes of Halliburton. No more no-bid contracts for political contributors. And the UN should be charged with developing new governance in Iraq so that the Iraqi people can move toward self-determination. This resolution would enable the UN to be brought back into the picture. Currently the UN is stepping back from Iraq. We must re-engage the UN. We must reach out to the world community. My exit strategy (and I am the only candidate for President, including the incumbent, who has offered such a plan) would enable the UN to gain support from member nations who would then commit troops to enable the rotation of UN troops into Iraq and the rotation of U.S. troops out of Iraq. My plan, if immediately brought to the UN would enable our troops to be home by the beginning "

:: Jim Nichols 11/04/2003 01:40:00 PM [+] ::
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California Insider - Dialing for dollars

Schwarzenegger has scheduled a Sacramento fundraiser for Dec. 3, for which he is soliciting campaign contributions from the usual cast of characters around the Capitol, according to the LA Times. This doesn't square, of course, with his early vow that he would be free of special interest influence because he didn't need money from anybody. But Schwarzenegger made it clear during the campaign that his definition of special interests -- labor unions and Indian casinos -- was a lot narrower than everyone else's.

:: Jim Nichols 11/04/2003 01:32:00 PM [+] ::
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AlterNet: Showing Bush the Door in 2004

Dean/Clark would be brilliant!!

:: Jim Nichols 11/04/2003 01:21:00 PM [+] ::
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"I am a trafficker of information; I know everything I can." --Merovingian (Matrix Reloaded)

:: Jim Nichols 11/04/2003 01:08:00 PM [+] ::
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Amazon.com: DVD: Noam Chomsky - Distorted Morality: America's War on Terror? (2002): "Inevitably, Chomsky will be labeled anti-American, but at least his morality is crystal clear, immune to the obfuscation of politics and mainstream news. --Jeff Shannon "

:: Jim Nichols 11/04/2003 12:42:00 PM [+] ::
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Noam Chomsky: Empire of the Men of Best Quality

:: Jim Nichols 11/04/2003 12:31:00 PM [+] ::
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TAP: Web Feature: A Must-Read Speech. by Zbigniew Brzezinski. October 31, 2003.: "A Must-Read Speech
Zbigniew Brzezinski's remarks from the 'New American Strategies for Security and Peace' conference "

:: Jim Nichols 11/04/2003 10:42:00 AM [+] ::
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Out of the Asylum, Into the Cell: "incarceration has become the nation's default mental health treatment."

:: Jim Nichols 11/04/2003 10:37:00 AM [+] ::
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BBC NEWS | World | Africa | UN warns of Somalia terror link: "UN warns of Somalia terror link"

:: Jim Nichols 11/04/2003 10:22:00 AM [+] ::
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Iraqification: Losing Strategy (washingtonpost.com)

:: Jim Nichols 11/04/2003 09:34:00 AM [+] ::
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Political Aims: thoughts on politics, religion and media

:: Jim Nichols 11/04/2003 09:13:00 AM [+] ::
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"Revival of the Fittest" by Amy Sullivan: "Americans are savvy consumers, and they behave no different when it comes to religion."

:: Jim Nichols 11/04/2003 09:08:00 AM [+] ::
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"The Mendacity Index" by Washington Monthly Staff: "Instructions: Read the lists below of deceptions spoken by the four most recent presidents. Click the link after each president to give him an overall untruthfulness score from 1 (least serious) to 5 (most serious). "

:: Jim Nichols 11/04/2003 09:02:00 AM [+] ::
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NAFTA's shop-floor impact | csmonitor.com: "Trade is not an engine for jobs, it's an engine for efficiency"

:: Jim Nichols 11/04/2003 08:38:00 AM [+] ::
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What Liberal control of the media exactly were you speaking of?Yahoo! News - CBS May Not Show Reagan Miniseries

Email them cause now I want to see it just to piss them off. I don't tell them to revoke Murdocks licence (hell I watch FOX).

:: Jim Nichols 11/04/2003 08:19:00 AM [+] ::
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EducationGuardian.co.uk | Schools | Mars mission used to boost science education: "Mars mission used to boost science education "

Is it just me or is the U.S. gonna be falling behind in Space pretty soon. Not that I know anything on the subject... but I guess thats a given in regards to anything I say

:: Jim Nichols 11/04/2003 08:14:00 AM [+] ::
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DefendAmerica News - Article

:: Jim Nichols 11/04/2003 06:50:00 AM [+] ::
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Salon.com News | Oiling up the draft machine?

You have got to be fucking kidding me!

:: Jim Nichols 11/04/2003 06:49:00 AM [+] ::
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Salon.com Comics | This Modern World

:: Jim Nichols 11/04/2003 06:48:00 AM [+] ::
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Body and Soul: "I don't know anything about the law, and philosophy puts me to sleep, but I know that if your law or your philosophy helps you to justify child labor, and work weeks longer than 60 hours, there's something twisted in there somewhere, even if I'm not smart enough to figure out exactly where the flaw is."

:: Jim Nichols 11/04/2003 06:41:00 AM [+] ::
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Body and Soul: "Here David Rieff indirectly admits to American violation of the laws of war in the first Gulf War, but if you blink you'd miss it.":The long New York Times Sunday Magazine article by David Rieff on the Iraq occupation contained the following passage: One reason for the looting in Baghdad was that there were so many intact buildings to loot. In contrast to their strategy in the first gulf war, American war planners had been careful not to attack Iraqi infrastructure. This was partly because of their understanding of the laws of war and partly because of their desire to get Iraq back up and running as quickly and smoothly as possible.

:: Jim Nichols 11/04/2003 06:37:00 AM [+] ::
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The Onion | Pope John Paul II: 25 Years Of Laughs

:: Jim Nichols 11/04/2003 06:35:00 AM [+] ::
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The ultimate spam gaurd? Or a way to keep my emails from getting to their intended victims?
John & Belle Have A Blog: The Confidence Man: His Masquerade: "Imagine a world in which you didn't have to subscribe to certain top literary studies journals. What if their contents just showed up in your in-box every day? (Spam-guards would give you warnings like: 'this mail looks like it would be publishable in Critical Inquiry. Delete now?)"

:: Jim Nichols 11/04/2003 06:16:00 AM [+] ::
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You think?

Philosophy of the Void: Philosophy of the Void: "According to the The Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML), 'During each hurricane season, there always appear suggestions that one should simply use nuclear weapons to try and destroy the storms.' This suggestion is apparently common enough to warrant a FAQ entry on their website, in which they offer a 'rigorous' scientific explanation as to why this might be a bad idea. "

:: Jim Nichols 11/04/2003 06:12:00 AM [+] ::
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Philosophy of the Void: Philosophy of the Void: "People sometimes compare mankind to a virus or plague. This comparison seems adequate insofar as we continue to destroy the environment and ultimately render our existence untenable. The negative connotations associated with this metaphor, however, seem unjustified. Population explosions have recurred throughout the history of life. The subsequent decimation of species including the perpetrator could even be described as the natural course of events. If this has any 'meaning,' I suppose it might be to rid the planet of incumbent species to give others a fresh start. In this sense, the natural role of mankind might be to reformat the earth, precisely through a process that strikes us as irrational, unsustainable, rampant destruction. If this is true, our petrol firms and SUV drivers are perhaps the greatest environmentalists of our time. Similarly, environmentalism in its conventional sense is highly artificial. It would be a remarkable feat, of course, if mankind were able to break out from this seemingly preordained fate. This would constitute the ultimate overcoming of nature and attainment of artificiality. From the perspective of life, I?m not sure whether this would constitute a good or bad outcome."

:: Jim Nichols 11/04/2003 06:10:00 AM [+] ::
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Philosophy of the Void: Philosophy of the Void: "I think art is entirely subjective. That is to say, the difference between a masterpiece and a piece of junk is entirely due to historical coincidence rather than inherent value. Value is determined by contemporary consensus. Artists who stand at the pinnacle of this consensus can arbitrarily move standards of quality by claiming innovation. Consumers and lesser artists face a choice between accepting the consensus or having bad taste. In this sense, a great artist is either a conformer or unbelievably lucky for having had the right talents at the right moment. "

:: Jim Nichols 11/04/2003 05:58:00 AM [+] ::
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Republican Bill Wyatt Declares His Candidacy Against George W. Bush

My friend aaron is running his campaign. Aaron is my hero because when I had a mohawk he a reverse hawk.

:: Jim Nichols 11/03/2003 10:26:00 AM [+] ::
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Free-Speech.org Message Board - Powered by Infopop

yeah... kids.... go have fun
And remember. Since we can't vote for Bill, might as well vote for Bill.

:: Jim Nichols 11/03/2003 10:23:00 AM [+] ::
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TOMPAINE.com - Double Payment: "Double Payment"

One of my questions I've always had in regards to economics is about investment. Since most basic research is funded publicly... most technology is created publicly... so what do free market advocate say to that? I mean I'm not even too standoffish i'd really like to know to see if there is any substantial arguments to say that we (as in society as a who) are not actually in this (as in economic sucess) together.

:: Jim Nichols 11/03/2003 10:19:00 AM [+] ::
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QuestionableDoctors.org - Government Discipline of Doctors

:: Jim Nichols 11/03/2003 10:14:00 AM [+] ::
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Word for the day

In one of my 8 zillion word of the day emails for today the word was:

potemkin village (po-TEM-kin VIL-ij) noun

An impressive showy facade designed to mask undesirable facts.

after that whole russian guy thingy with Cathrine the II... (I know, puh puh on my knowlege of history)...
But my question? Can we start calling the pentagon that? Or only when Bush comes to visit?

:: Jim Nichols 11/03/2003 10:11:00 AM [+] ::
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"Your grandchildren will likely find it incredible - or even sinful -
that you burned up a gallon of gasoline to fetch a pack of
cigarettes!"
-- Dr. Paul MacCready, Jr.

:: Jim Nichols 11/03/2003 10:04:00 AM [+] ::
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The case for war under new focus | csmonitor.com: "The case for war under new focus Congress broadens its probe beyond the CIA to the Pentagon and the White House, among others."

The administration lied and bullied its way into to getting what it wanted; it was obvious when it was happening and its becoming even clearer now. All of this of coarse at the expense of U.S. security

"Besides worrying over their loss of credibility, members of the intelligence community worry about being spread too thin. Last year, as the US stepped up pressure on Saddam Hussein, sizable intelligence resources were drawn away from the pursuit of Al Qaeda and devoted to Iraq. Now, intelligence agencies are spending a great deal of time looking back."

"Two other governments that had access to the same intelligence have thoroughly examined their processes. Australia's Parliament voted earlier this month to censure Prime Minister John Howard for misleading the public on the justification for going to war. And the popularity of British Prime Minister Tony Blair has fallen to the lowest point of his term in office, following an unprecedented public airing of its intelligence-related decisions and the tragic suicide of one of its top weapons scientists." Bush is getting off soft on this. A democrat would be gone

And shock of all shocks... "The CIA delivered much of its materials and said more would be "forthcoming" this week. As did the State Department. But the Pentagon said it was still "working" on its outstanding questions, including those about the Office of Special Plans that was set up inside the Pentagon for intelligence on Iraq. And the White House so far is refusing - as past administrations have - to turn over the presidential daily briefs the committee requested. It similarly refused to provide such documents to the commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks." the people beatin' around the bush (sorry) are the ones who were out beatin' the drum

And by the way... how many times are we gonna change our game plan? We keep doing it ever week!!

:: Jim Nichols 11/03/2003 09:44:00 AM [+] ::
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Clinical insanity and pure guts
BBC NEWS | World | Americas | Fiennes relishes marathon feat: "Fiennes relishes marathon feat"

:: Jim Nichols 11/03/2003 09:43:00 AM [+] ::
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Neurotechnology blog

:: Jim Nichols 11/03/2003 09:36:00 AM [+] ::
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Hubert Dreyfus – ON THE INTERNET: A summery I found of "Hubert Dreyfus – ON THE INTERNET" And then of coarse one or two of my own sense... (terrible pun... doesn't even read on the aaron scale)

"Learning used to be a distinctly human process. Now learning is a transhuman process people share with increasingly powerful artificial networks and brains."

"With knowledge doubling every year or so, “expertise” now has a shelf life measured in days; everyone must be both learner and teacher; and the sheer challenge of learning can be managed only through a globe-girdling network that links all minds and all knowledge."

"The anonymity and safety of virtual commitments on-line, leads to loss of meaning."

You know modern technology is really pushing peoples limits of whats real. With the internet anyone can say something, and anyone else if they find that something to be believeable and/or somehow authoritative will accept it and pass it along. Truth gets passed over... or at least the question of truth. Now not that i'm against truth, in fact i'm all for it; Go Science!; but in a way not knowing objective truth is how we live our lives. Shouldn't it also be how we understand ourselves to live them as well?

"All the commitments on the Net are the Virtual commitments, as Hubert Dreyfus further explained:“Kierkegaard would surely argue that, while the Internet allows unconditional commitments, it does not support them. Far from
encouraging them, it tends to turn all of life into a risk free game. "

And again comes in that need for survival... what do you get from that need, that drive? An overwhelming push for stability and reassurance. Indulgance leans towards the meaningless... where as patient, ordered, diciplined work creates a meaning, a sense of order--even if merely a patch-work quilt kind of order.

"So far as games work by capturing our imaginations, they will fail to give us serious commitments. We read dense texts or practice a difficult piece of music day after day because they matter greatly to us. But we are unlikely to stay with either for long when we have only an imaginary ultimate commitment. Imagined commitments hold when our imaginations are captivated by the simulations before our ears and eyes. And that is what computer games and the Net offer us. The temptation is to live in a world of stimulating images and simulated commitment and thus to lead a simulated life."

"In the aesthetic sphere, the aesthete avoids commitments and lives in the categories of the interesting and the boring and wants to see as many interesting sights (sites) as possible." The world I live in!! Ahh.. as I look into the abyss it looks right back!

:: Jim Nichols 11/03/2003 09:19:00 AM [+] ::
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Salon.com Technology | Twilight of the dorks?: "'geek chic'"

"Before MTV chained American music to the mediocrity of the physically attractive, music was once a place where dork bands like Yes, Journey, REO Speedwagon and Devo could find purchase. Now it looks like those days are coming back, with self-proclaimed nerd bands like Weezer, Barenaked Ladies, and Super Furry Animals scoring hits. Moby, Fatboy Slim, and the explosion of techno have inspired a generation of goofy guys angling to be the next electronica sensation by trading bleeps and blops on the Internet. Even OutKast has released a stunning departure from hip-hop, with Andre 3000 appearing on the cover of Vanity Fair in what seems to be an Urkel costume. "


"But there is a problem in all this. Famous goth Robert Smith said of the Cure, "If we're selling out arenas, how can we be 'alternative'?" The same could be said of today's misfit teens, who get more airtime and cultural attention than they know what to do with. Post-Columbine parents are finally taking their troubled teens seriously, with zero-tolerance policies and heavy-duty counseling stopping most abuse before it gets going. The percentage of American children who are obese has more than tripled in the last four decades, so obviously school sports don't hold the cachet they once did -- nerds are given a pass on dodge ball these days, perhaps because there are much bigger targets standing around."

:: Jim Nichols 11/03/2003 09:01:00 AM [+] ::
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Salon.com Technology | Studies: 90 percent of kids use computers:

"Almost two-thirds of young white people use the Internet, but less than half of black people ages 5 to 17 do, and slightly more than a third of Hispanic young people log on. Part of the reason is access -- 80 percent of black students use computers at school, for example, but only 41 percent do so at home, according to the 2001 report. "

:: Jim Nichols 11/03/2003 08:55:00 AM [+] ::
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Steampunk: The Saga of Nosferatu: "The Saga of Nosferatu "

:: Jim Nichols 11/03/2003 08:52:00 AM [+] ::
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But His picture has been everywhere?

Yahoo! News - Many Anglicans Won't Recognize Gay Bishop: "Many Anglicans Won't Recognize Gay Bishop "

I really don't know whats wrong with people? I mean I guess its their religion, so who am I. But I mean, wow... its really not your life. I just can't understand the fear and paranoia surrounding homosexuals.

:: Jim Nichols 11/03/2003 08:45:00 AM [+] ::
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Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Terror - the fastest growing economy: "Rapid rise of the economy of terror

The war against groups such as al-Qaida stems from a clash of economic systems, not of religions, argues Loretta Napoleoni


Money is terrorism's lifeline. Economics, not politics or ideology, is the armed struggle's universal engine. This is the unexpected and disconcerting scenario unveiled by an economic analysis of modern terrorism."

"One-third of the $500bn generated every year by the new economy of terror is the product of legitimate businesses, some of which are conducted in the west. These are revenues produced primarily by Islamic bankers, traders, merchants - members of the emerging Muslim middle class. They, and not the radical clerics, are the real economic forces behind Islamist terror, and they fuel the Islamist insurgency across the Muslim world."

"The economic analysis of modern terrorism relegates religion to a mere recruiting instrument while focusing on the growing tension between a dominant western capitalist system and a populous Muslim nation, economically crippled by corruption and deceit. What we are witnessing today, therefore, goes well beyond the motivations of single Islamist armed groups: it is a clash between two economic systems - one dominant, the west, and the other insurgent, Islam."

:: Jim Nichols 11/03/2003 07:29:00 AM [+] ::
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Guardian Unlimited | Online | At home with the Führer: "At home with the Führer"

:: Jim Nichols 11/03/2003 07:27:00 AM [+] ::
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Scott Adams Quotes - The Quotations Page: "The creator of the universe works in mysterious ways. But he uses a base ten counting system and likes round numbers.
Scott Adams"

:: Jim Nichols 11/03/2003 07:25:00 AM [+] ::
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William S. Burroughs Quotes - The Quotations Page: "A paranoid is someone who knows a little of what's going on."
William S. Burroughs

"After one look at this planet any visitor from outer space would say 'I want to see the manager.'"
William S. Burroughs"

:: Jim Nichols 11/03/2003 07:24:00 AM [+] ::
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Charles de Montesquieu Quotes - The Quotations Page: "An author is a fool who, not content with boring those he lives with, insists on boring future generations.
Charles de Montesquieu"

:: Jim Nichols 11/03/2003 07:23:00 AM [+] ::
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The Nietzsche Channel: The Dawn: "For he who proceeds on his own path in this fashion encounters no one: this is inherent in 'proceeding on one's own path.' No one comes along to help him: all the perils, accidents, malice, and bad weather which assail him he has to tackle by himself. For his path is his alone—of course, the bitterness and occasional ill-humor he feels at this 'his alone': among which is included, for instance, the knowledge that even his friends are able to divine where he is or whither he is going, that they will sometimes ask themselves: 'What? is he going at all? does he still have—a path?'"

:: Jim Nichols 11/03/2003 06:48:00 AM [+] ::
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The Nietzsche Channel: The Greek State: "What else may we find in the labor-need of all the millions but the impulse to exist at any price, the same all-powerful impulse by which stunted plants stretch their roots through earthless rocks!"

:: Jim Nichols 11/03/2003 06:40:00 AM [+] ::
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And on the fourth day god said i'd be assassinated
"If I were the president, I could stop terrorist attacks against the United States in a few days. Permanently. I would first apologize to all the widows and orphans, the tortured and impoverished, and all the many millions of other victims of American imperialism. Then I would announce, in all sincerity, to every corner of the world, that America's global interventions have come to an end, and inform Israel that it is no longer the 51st state of the USA but now -- oddly enough -- a foreign country. I would then reduce the military budget by at least 90% and use the savings to pay reparations to the victims. There would be more than enough money. One year's military budget of 330 billion dollars is equal to more than $18,000 an hour for every hour since Jesus Christ was born. That's what I'd do on my first three days in the White House. On the fourth day, I'd be assassinated."

-William Blum

:: Jim Nichols 11/03/2003 03:14:00 AM [+] ::
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Questions for Noam Chomsky: The Professorial Provocateur: "Language is a weapon of politicians, but language is a weapon in much of human affairs."

:: Jim Nichols 11/03/2003 03:01:00 AM [+] ::
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The little green men will eat your children and rape your mother
Got to love Costa...
Rescue California ... WE RECALLED GRAY DAVIS: "A driver’s license is a “breeder” document. It assists the bearer in securing employment, registering to vote, transacting financial business, purchasing a gun and boarding an airplane, among other things. "

we just can't have people working, voting, transacting financial business, or who are cosmopolitan enough to travel gosh darnit... [they forgot to mention, responsible enough to buy insurance]. (Sadly I admit i'm with them on the gun thing--just cause people who want guns scare me; though ironically they ain't with me on that one--that's a funny little conundrum). Christ with all that we might even have to admit they're human beings! Shocking I know... what is the world coming to? What next, are they gonna tell us English isn't the only language? Stand up now, together we can save ourselves from the "breeder document" and those uninvited martians who want to obtain one!

"Just cause its Direct Action, or pseudo-participatory, doesn't make it democratic or sane... the Nazi's were for direct action (and pseudo-participation)." --Me

"It's our culture and consumption that makes her life unbearable. Fuck this country; its angry eyes, its knee-jerk hordes. Legal or illegal, watch her fucking go. She'll take what's hers. Watch her fucking go. Fuck the border." --propagandhi (they play music)

:: Jim Nichols 11/03/2003 02:34:00 AM [+] ::
...

Dear God No!!!
Rescue California ... WE RECALLED GRAY DAVIS: "A driver’s license is a “breeder” document. It assists the bearer in securing employment, registering to vote, transacting financial business, purchasing a gun and boarding an airplane, among other things. "

:: Jim Nichols 11/03/2003 02:10:00 AM [+] ::
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California Insider - A Weblog by Sacramento Bee Columnist Daniel Weintraub: "The debate over thinning and who did what, when, is going to rage for months, if not years. But it should be noted that most of the damage so far has occurred far from the forests that are at issue. The chaparral that burned in Ramona, Alpine, Crest, the city of San Diego and the Simi Valley has never been a serious candidate for the kind of thinning contemplated in the Healthy Forest bill, nor would it be practical to include it."

:: Jim Nichols 11/03/2003 01:58:00 AM [+] ::
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sacbee.com -- Politics -- Governor-elect's a star salesman -- but can he deliver the goods?: "Governor-elect's a star salesman -- but can he deliver the goods?"

"Schwarzenegger didn't say much in the campaign about his specific plans to achieve any of his goals," thats quite an understatement!

:: Jim Nichols 11/03/2003 01:44:00 AM [+] ::
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Amazon.com: Video: Prospero's Books (1991): "So why does such a lukewarm review give it four stars? Because I like it, that's why. I don't respect it much, but I like it."

:: Jim Nichols 11/03/2003 12:16:00 AM [+] ::
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The Matrix: "proper teaching only occurs when students are prepared to make discoveries for themselves. Furthermore, the discovery that is most crucial is the discovery of oneself. Readiness for self-examination is, after all, what makes “care of the soul” possible. "

:: Jim Nichols 11/02/2003 06:22:00 PM [+] ::
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The Economics of Suicide - Why trying to kill yourself may be a smart business decision. By Charles Duhigg: "Admittedly, the economists wrote, some suicidal behavior is purely irrational. But evidence suggests that economic theory explains some suicides. "

Humor at its best

:: Jim Nichols 11/02/2003 01:35:00 PM [+] ::
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Some of us don't even go away
TIME Magazine: University Blues: A Crisis: "Going away to college isn't the same these days. Once upon an All-American time, Mom and Dad unloaded the station wagon as their starry-eyed scholar surveyed the campus with a heart full of hope and a mind on fire with plans. The mood was wistful and optimistic; the future looked bright despite the tearful farewells.
But a shadow has fallen among the ivory towers. A growing number of students arrive on campus suffering from depression and other emotional disorders—some diagnosed, some hidden. So that traditional moment of new beginnings is haunted by deep anxiety and gloom. "

:: Jim Nichols 11/02/2003 01:33:00 PM [+] ::
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Foreign Affairs - Marshall Plan Commemorative Section: The Marshall Plan Reconsidered: A Complex of Motives - Diane B. Kunz: "Marshall Plan Commemorative Section: The Marshall Plan Reconsidered: A Complex of Motives
Diane B. Kunz
From Foreign Affairs, May/ June 1997"

:: Jim Nichols 11/02/2003 12:14:00 PM [+] ::
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Dissent Magazine - Fall 2003: "More Than Compromise


by Richard Rorty

A review

:: Jim Nichols 11/02/2003 11:16:00 AM [+] ::
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Dissent Magazine - Fall 2003: "Is There an American Empire?
by Michael Walzer"

:: Jim Nichols 11/02/2003 11:01:00 AM [+] ::
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And these aren't about sex
TAP: Issue Pages: "All The President's Lies"

:: Jim Nichols 11/02/2003 10:54:00 AM [+] ::
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I love Bill...[even though I don't always agree with him] I love Bill... I always will

TAP: Vol 14, Iss. 10. The Clinton Formula. Michael Tomasky.: "Essentially, Karl Rove's politics are a combination of efforts by the increasingly conservative Republican Party to recover from the '64 election and assume a dominant position in America -- through the advocacy of ideas and policies that were designed to have more appeal to the middle class, through the use of socially conservative issues that were designed to get people to vote for them for reasons other than economic ones, and through the extraordinary ability to increase their dominance in the mainstream press [and to] have a competing right-wing press and label Democrats ... almost turn them into cartoons in a way that got them votes from people who otherwise never would have voted for them. And that's basically been their strategy."

"I mean, people say, 'Gosh, how did Bush raise $200 million, $300 million?' I say it's peanuts compared to the tax cuts he gave. It's not even a tithe, you know? Not even 1 percent! "


"The public is operationally progressive and rhetorically conservative. The more they believe that you're careful with tax money and responsible in the way you run the programs and require responsibility from citizens, the more the public in general is willing to be liberal in the expenditure of tax money. The more the public believes the Democrats can be trusted with the national security of America, to protect and defend the country against terror and weapons of mass destruction, the more free they are emotionally to think about the other issues. "

"Now what we should say is that they, not we, have brought class warfare back to America. You know, every time I complain about these tax cuts some conservative says I'm practicing class warfare. I am not. I pay these taxes. And I live in New York state and Westchester County, so I think I probably pay as high [of] rates as anybody in America. And I should. Nobody makes me live in this country. America has been good to me. And I think for somebody to give me a tax cut and then turn around and say, 'We've gotta have $87 billion spent in Iraq, but we're gonna kick 300,000 kids out of after-school programs, 84,000 kids out of student loans ... 25,000 uniformed police off the street? We're gonna kick a coupla thousand police off the street in New York City who put their lives on the line on September the 11th, and they're gonna give me a tax cut?' That's class warfare! And I think we ought to say that! "

MT: How vulnerable is this administration? What are the main targets of opportunity?
BC: Well, I think the economy is a target of opportunity. I think the fact that most of the world doesn't trust us anymore is a target of opportunity. I think the assault on the environment is a target of opportunity. I think giving me a tax cut and then [trying to take] overtime away from 8 million workers is a target of opportunity. ... We're gonna spend $87 billion in Iraq. We're gonna give the 400 wealthiest Americans an average tax cut of $8-and-a-half million. $8-and-a-half million! And that's just a start. And they tried to get rid of the children's health-insurance program. That's 5 million kids' health insurance.
Man, if we can't sell that, we ought to get in another line of work! Either that or I don't live in the country I think I live in.

MT: Is part of the problem that when Bush says, "It's your money, you deserve it back," that that's so emotionally compelling --
BC: It is.

MT: What is a good emotional counterargument to that? I believe that Democrats should be willing to make a more direct case for government than they make.
BC: Oh, I do, too. I think we should say, "It is your money. And the government should only take your money to do those things which you need done collectively, which we have to do as a community -- "

MT: Which neither the private sector nor the states --
BC: Yes, which the private sector won't do in the economy, and which charity can't do. And those things are plainly national security, basic infrastructure, law enforcement, environmental protection, education and health care for the elderly, for poor children, the disabled and others for whom it is inaccessible. Just to start there. And we have a government, and we raise taxes because we think that we rise or fall together, and we want to live in a country where everybody has a chance to live their dreams.
And so, to say that it's your money does not answer any question. That's a demagogic statement that every Democrat could say as well as every Republican. Of course it's their money! It's all their money. But the question is, who's doing what with the money? They made a decision to give me a tax cut with the money and kick 300,000 kids out of after-school programs. I haven't met a single person in my income group, Republican or Democrat, who believes that we should get the check and the kids should get the boot. Not one! And I ask a bunch of them. So I think we ought to say, "It's your money, and it's your country. What kind of country do you want?"

:: Jim Nichols 11/02/2003 10:18:00 AM [+] ::
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"Kites rise highest against the wind - not with it."
-- Winston Churchill, Sir

:: Jim Nichols 11/02/2003 10:11:00 AM [+] ::
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New American Strategies for Security and Peace • OCTOBER 28 & 29 2003 • WASHINGTON DC

:: Jim Nichols 11/02/2003 08:43:00 AM [+] ::
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The Center for Public Integrity

:: Jim Nichols 11/02/2003 08:39:00 AM [+] ::
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Windfalls of War - The Center for Public Integrity: "Winning Contractors
U.S. Contractors Reap the Windfalls of Post-war Reconstruction
WASHINGTON, October 30, 2003 — More than 70 American companies and individuals have won up to $8 billion in contracts for work in postwar Iraq and Afghanistan over the last two years, according to a new study by the Center for Public Integrity. Those companies donated more money to the presidential campaigns of George W. Bush—a little over $500,000—than to any other politician over the last dozen years, the Center found. "

:: Jim Nichols 11/02/2003 08:39:00 AM [+] ::
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Blueprint for a Mess: "This decision to protect only the Oil Ministry -- not the National Museum, not the National Library, not the Health Ministry -- probably did more than anything else to convince Iraqis uneasy with the occupation that the United States was in Iraq only for the oil. "

''When the Oil Ministry is the only thing you protect, what do you expect people to think?'' And, he adds: ''It can't be that U.S. troops didn't know where the National Museum was. All you have to do is follow the signs -- they're in English! -- to Museum Square.''

:: Jim Nichols 11/02/2003 07:42:00 AM [+] ::
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CNN.com - Transcripts:
"BLITZER: Let's take another caller. Amanda, go ahead. You are on the air.

CALLER: My question is for Katherine Harris. Did you get the opportunity to speak with the Iraqi women and encourage them to follow your lead in going into public office so that they, too, could disenfranchise voters? "

:: Jim Nichols 11/02/2003 07:11:00 AM [+] ::
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Media Whores Online: "BUSH REJECTED CRITICAL AID REQUEST HOURS BEFORE CA INFERNOS RAGED, KILLED
REFUSED TO HELP BLUE STATE
HEAD OFF WILDFIRE DISASTER"

:: Jim Nichols 11/02/2003 07:07:00 AM [+] ::
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The Noam Chomsky Archive: "It's an odd feature of the anarchist tradition over the years that it seems to have often bred highly authoritarian personality types, who legislate what the Doctrine IS, and with various degrees of fury (often great) denounce those who depart from what they have declared to be the True Principles. Odd form of anarchism. "

:: Jim Nichols 11/02/2003 06:42:00 AM [+] ::
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Good old Noam... kinda keeps your faith in humanity

"If somebody was watching all of this from outer space, before we manage to blow it up, and that person had some concern for the fate of the species, they might wonder how long a very free people are going to tolerate this, and the answer better be 'not too long,' or else there is not going to be anything to discuss." -Chomsky

:: Jim Nichols 11/02/2003 06:26:00 AM [+] ::
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The Political Compass

here I am. a dot on a graph. its the way I feel most of the time, so its quite fitting...even the position itself is

:: Jim Nichols 11/02/2003 06:04:00 AM [+] ::
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AlterNet: The Myth of Free Speech: "The Myth of Free Speech"--Ross Levine

"Sniper suspect John Allen Muhammad, when he was still defending himself, said there are 'three truths: the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.' Alas, he left one out – the truth that people are willing to hear. "

:: Jim Nichols 11/02/2003 05:47:00 AM [+] ::
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AlterNet: Bush Ignores Soldiers' Burials: "Increasingly, this proclivity on the part of President Bush to avoid the normal duty of a commander-in-chief to honor dead soldiers is causing rising irritation among some veterans and their families who have noticed what appears to be a historically anomalous slight. "

:: Jim Nichols 11/02/2003 05:43:00 AM [+] ::
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AlterNet: The Hazards of Watching Fox News: "The Hazards of Watching Fox News
By Jim Lobe"

:: Jim Nichols 11/02/2003 05:39:00 AM [+] ::
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Shocking!!!!
Fact-Free News (washingtonpost.com): "Researchers from the Program on International Policy Attitudes (a joint project of several academic centers, some of them based at the University of Maryland) and Knowledge Networks, a California-based polling firm, have spent the better part of the year tracking the public's misperceptions of major news events and polling people to find out just where they go to get things so balled up. This month they released their findings, which go a long way toward explaining why there's so little common ground in American politics today: People are proceeding from radically different sets of facts, some so different that they're altogether fiction.
In a series of polls from May through September, the researchers discovered that large minorities of Americans entertained some highly fanciful beliefs about the facts of the Iraqi war. Fully 48 percent of Americans believed that the United States had uncovered evidence demonstrating a close working relationship between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda. Another 22 percent thought that we had found the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. And 25 percent said that most people in other countries had backed the U.S. war against Saddam Hussein. Sixty percent of all respondents entertained at least one of these bits of dubious knowledge; 8 percent believed all three.
The researchers then asked where the respondents most commonly went to get their news. The fair and balanced folks at Fox, the survey concludes, were 'the news source whose viewers had the most misperceptions.' Eighty percent of Fox viewers believed at least one of these un-facts; 45 percent believed all three. Over at CBS, 71 percent of viewers fell for one of these mistakes, but just 15 percent bought into the full trifecta. And in the daintier precincts of PBS viewers and NPR listeners, just 23 percent adher"

:: Jim Nichols 11/02/2003 05:38:00 AM [+] ::
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Bush in 30 Seconds

Moveon.org has been one of the best things to come about due to the internet. I don't know if its effective (i'd like to believe it is) but it has been very entertaining and thought provoking.

:: Jim Nichols 11/02/2003 05:32:00 AM [+] ::
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Lawrence Lessig: "MediaCon: Cooper’s new book
Mark Cooper, of the Consumer Federation of America has published a new book, Media Ownership and Democracy in the Digital Information Age. The book can be purchased at Amazon (link to come), or it can be downloaded for free under a Creative Commons license. "

:: Jim Nichols 11/02/2003 05:30:00 AM [+] ::
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The Gender Genie
try it

:: Jim Nichols 11/02/2003 05:20:00 AM [+] ::
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Yahoo! News - World's Oldest Person Dies

I have a question. How would they know? Some weirdo is in the hills somewhere. He's probably related to aaron...

:: Jim Nichols 11/02/2003 05:09:00 AM [+] ::
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Project Syndicate: "It could be argued that the Iraq war was too short, certainly too short for Iraqis to feel, as we Germans did, that the occupation was inevitable and bound to last for a long time. While Iraqis may be pleased to be rid of a murderous regime, they had little time to get accustomed to the notion of being an occupied country. In Germany, we thought for a while that the occupation would last forever, and that we perhaps deserved no better. I doubt whether many Iraqis share that feeling. "

:: Jim Nichols 11/02/2003 04:55:00 AM [+] ::
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"Humanities lost when the power's vested in a few" --Rancid

:: Jim Nichols 11/02/2003 04:34:00 AM [+] ::
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The Onion A.V. Club | Rancid

Lars baby! Old interview I just came across.

:: Jim Nichols 11/02/2003 04:11:00 AM [+] ::
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"WMD hunters switched to security duties"
:
"President Bush insisted in his weekly radio address yesterday that the upsurge in violence would not drive coalition forces out. 'Leaving Iraq prematurely would only embolden the terrorists and increase the danger to America. We are determined to stay, to fight and to win.'
Critics believe, however, that Washington's failure to plan for the occupation is creating a vacuum into which foreign elements are being drawn: the very situation the invasion was meant to prevent. One US source told Jane's Intelligence Digest: 'If al-Qa'ida wasn't operating in Iraq under Saddam, it surely is now.'"

:: Jim Nichols 11/02/2003 04:00:00 AM [+] ::
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Wäldchen vom Philosophenweg

:: Jim Nichols 11/02/2003 03:49:00 AM [+] ::
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Wäldchen vom Philosophenweg: "Why this Recall was Wrong"

:: Jim Nichols 11/02/2003 03:05:00 AM [+] ::
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The New Republic Online: Continental Divide: "The media often depict the Democratic primary as a battle between liberals and centrists. But those terms don't capture the real divide within the party: between yuppie reformers and working-class party regulars. "

"Dean, as the national media is discovering, is the most committed fiscal conservative to contend for a Democratic presidential nomination since Tsongas. In Vermont, which isn't constitutionally obliged to balance its budget, Dean nonetheless made balancing the budget his top priority, repeatedly spurning calls for greater social spending and winning praise from the libertarian Cato Institute. He has flirted with raising the Social Security retirement age and, as Gephardt charges, supported far deeper cuts in Medicare than most Democrats. On the stump, Dean delights in tough-love statements like: 'Tell the truth: We cannot afford all of the tax cuts, the health insurance, special [education funding], and balancing the budget.' "

I can't help but wonder why this is all coming out now. These are things we knew. And then I hear an echo of myself about the war...

"Dean, who learned fiscal conservatism from his investment-banker, Republican father, embodies today's Democratic Party better than Gephardt, the son of a Teamster from working-class St. Louis. Perhaps nothing explains the fight for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination better than that."

:: Jim Nichols 11/02/2003 02:35:00 AM [+] ::
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Please Touch

Thought provoking. No easy answers...

:: Jim Nichols 11/02/2003 02:28:00 AM [+] ::
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"Those of us who love peace must organize as effectively as the war hawks. As they spread the propaganda of war, we must spread the propaganda of peace." --Martin Juther King Jr.

:: Jim Nichols 11/02/2003 02:11:00 AM [+] ::
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"I pledge a grievance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republicans whom I can't stand, one nation, under smog, insispicable... with liberty for just us not all." --Nofx

:: Jim Nichols 11/02/2003 02:10:00 AM [+] ::
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