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

:: Saturday, February 21, 2004 ::

Wow this is old...

Marilyn Manson:

"Their newest album, Antichrist Superstar, definitely won't win them any new friends among guardians of public morality. But if you're a frustrated teen trapped in an ugly tract home you may well feel that these ghouls are singing your song. "

I remember when this article first came out... I thought they were the most post-punk rock thing ever....

:: Jim Nichols 2/21/2004 10:19:00 PM [+] ::
...

Intelligence: C.I.A. Admits It Didn?t Give Weapon Data to the U.N.:

"The Central Intelligence Agency has acknowledged that it did not provide the United Nations with information about 21 of the 105 sites in Iraq singled out by American intelligence before the war as the most highly suspected of housing illicit weapons."

Turns out two governments were lying about weapons of mass destruction... oh wait maybe Iraq wasn't lying... Iraqi scientist were lying to Saddam... Saddam was lying to the U.N.... the U.S. was lying to the U.N.... and the CIA was lying to everyone.

:: Jim Nichols 2/21/2004 09:13:00 PM [+] ::
...

IBER Research, UC Berkeley: Matthew Rabin, MacArthur Foundation Fellow,:

"I'd call what I do 'psychology and economics' or 'psychological economics.' Economics has a foundation in psychology: it assumes that people are 100% rational, that they're completely self-interested, and some ancillary assumptions. We say, 'Those assumptions that economists traditionally make are at times, and in some important ways, wrong, and here are some better assumptions about people to replace them with.'"

"Psychology and Economics." Matthew Rabin. January 1997.

:: Jim Nichols 2/21/2004 08:27:00 PM [+] ::
...

Good news for Dem's
Disenchanted Bush Voters Consider Crossing Over:

"In the 2000 presidential election, Bill Flanagan a semiretired newspaper worker, happily voted for George W. Bush. But now, shaking his head, he vows, 'Never again.'

'The combination of lies and boys coming home in body bags is just too awful,' Mr. Flanagan said, drinking coffee and reading newspapers at the local mall. 'I could vote for Kerry. I could vote for any Democrat unless he's a real dummy.'"

Both my mom and my grandmother (back south) both are registaring negative views towards Bush and Co.. Granted both are Democratic leaning anyways, but they both seem to be getting the negative vibes from their friends, which could be a really good sign. Lets see if its strong enough to reject 100 million in tv ads.

:: Jim Nichols 2/21/2004 08:11:00 PM [+] ::
...

The philosopher is the man who has to cure himself of many sicknesses of the understanding before he can arrive at the notions of the sound human understanding." --Wittgenstein

Sound human understanding? What, that there is no question to be asked; therefore nothing to be answered for and/or with?

Silence? Silence.

:: Jim Nichols 2/21/2004 04:09:00 PM [+] ::
...

"I've met God across his long walnut desk with his diplomas hanging on the wall behind him, and God asks me, "Why?"
Why did I cause so much pain?

Didn't I realize that each of us is a sacred, unique snowflake of special unique specialness?

Can't I see that we're all manifestations of love?

I look at God behind his desk, taking notes on a pad, but God's got this all wrong.

We are not special.

We are not crap or trash either. We just are.

We just are, and what happens just happens.

And God says, "No, that's not right."

Yeah. Well. Whatever. You can't teach God anything." -Fight Club

:: Jim Nichols 2/18/2004 06:44:00 PM [+] ::
...

"We are the middle children of history, raised by television to believe that someday we'll be millionaires and movie stars and rock stars, but we won't. And we're just learning this fact. So don't fuck with us." --Fight Club

:: Jim Nichols 2/18/2004 06:41:00 PM [+] ::
...

Yahoo! News - 'Sex and the City' May Get Big-Screen Treatment:

"The four women who have spiced up Manhattan's singles scene for six seasons on 'Sex and the City' may be headed to the big screen after their upcoming final romp on HBO, the network said on Wednesday. "

:: Jim Nichols 2/18/2004 05:25:00 PM [+] ::
...

MSNBC - We Had Good Intel—The U.N.'s:

"'We were all wrong,' says weapons inspector David Kay. Actually, no. There was one group whose prewar estimates of Iraqi nuclear, chemical and biological capabilities have turned out to be devastatingly close to reality—the U.N. inspectors. Consider what Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the U.N. nuclear agency, told the Security Council on March 7, 2003, after his team had done 247 inspections at 147 sites: 'no evidence of resumed nuclear activities ... nor any indication of nuclear-related prohibited activities at any related sites.' He went on to say that evidence suggested Iraq had not imported uranium since 1990 and no longer had a centrifuge program. He concluded that Iraq's nuclear capabilities had been effectively dismantled by 1997 and its dual-use industrial plants had decayed. All these claims appear to be dead-on, based on Kay's findings."

:: Jim Nichols 2/18/2004 05:16:00 PM [+] ::
...

California Insider - Liz Hill: gov's budget won't close shortfall:

"Even if Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wins approval for his bond measure and all of his budget proposals, he still will face a budget gap of more than $7 billion a year from now and an ongoing shortfall of about $5 billion, Legislative Analyst Elizabeth Hill said in her comprehensive review of the governor's fiscal plan. "

I don't know how i'm going to vote on the bond. I wish there was a "yes if..." choice on the ballot. I'm for the bond if they raised taxes. But i'm not thrilled about the idea of paying off a bond tomorrow if they won't raise taxes on people today. But if the bond doesn't pass i'm afraid there will be even more cuts in programs--not that cuts would be necessary, there would be other ways but the other ways just aren't politically appealing to most voters.

:: Jim Nichols 2/18/2004 05:11:00 PM [+] ::
...

A Two-Man Race Too Late for No. 2?:

"fully four-fifths of the voters in Wisconsin said they would be satisfied if Kerry wins the nomination, according to the exit poll conducted by the National Election Pool."

Yeah but would that "non-democratic" 38% of the electorate be satisfied if kerry wins?

:: Jim Nichols 2/18/2004 08:48:00 AM [+] ::
...

Governor Is Raising Funds Faster Than Davis:

" Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is collecting money to promote his March 2 ballot measures at a clip of $121,313 a day ? far outpacing Gray Davis at the height of the former governor's fundraising."

:: Jim Nichols 2/17/2004 03:36:00 AM [+] ::
...

"It is not necessary for you to complete the work, but neither are you free to desist from it... If it were necessary for any among us to complete the work, then we might break off in despair, because the work can never be completed." --Rabbi Tarphon

:: Jim Nichols 2/17/2004 12:38:00 AM [+] ::
...

the american street: Making My Point:

"Here's a news story about a Bush visit to a factory that demonstrates my point in my previous post:

'As he entered, a half-dozen workers were steadily polishing windows, as if Bush had walked into an ordinary shift on President's Day. News cameras snapped away as Bush picked up a caulking gun and hugged workers.
Five minutes after Bush and his entourage of journalists left, the factory floor was deserted, and there was no sign later in the day that production had resumed.

'Here's something the Reagan people knew: only the pictures matter. Once Michael Deaver, one of Reagan's marketing wizards, was asked about a news story that showed pictures of Reagan at photo-ops, while the voice-over talked about how Reagan was misleading people by using these photo-ops to give impressions that were actually the opposite of Reagan's policies. Deaver thanked them for showing the pictures (just spell my name right) and said the voice-over and the facts don't matter -- what mattered were the pictures people saw because that is what formed their impression of events."

:: Jim Nichols 2/16/2004 11:51:00 PM [+] ::
...

Election 2004

I keep seeing a lot of comparisions with 2000 going on right now. On Meet the Press Sunday Tim Russert put up a chart showing the close race that occured in a number of states. One thing though, all of those number include Nader and Buchanan. What I haven't seen are numbers that remove Nader and Buchanan from the equation and compare all of those close states. Now I know Nader may run, but he's going to get nowhere near the vote he captured last time. What are the numbers when its straight Blue vs. Red?

:: Jim Nichols 2/16/2004 11:47:00 PM [+] ::
...

When Philosophy Makes a Difference:


"A modern philosopher who has never experienced the feeling of being a charlatan is such a shallow mind that his work is probably not worth reading"

--Leszek Kolakowski

:: Jim Nichols 2/15/2004 02:09:00 PM [+] ::
...