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

:: Friday, December 30, 2005 ::

Dillinger Four live

:: Jim Nichols 12/30/2005 05:50:00 PM [+] ::
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Another good review of Kong

:: Jim Nichols 12/28/2005 04:35:00 PM [+] ::
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Against Me! signed to Sire Records

:: Jim Nichols 12/28/2005 03:03:00 PM [+] ::
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The Problem with God: Interview with Richard Dawkins

:: Jim Nichols 12/17/2005 05:10:00 PM [+] ::
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Did Bush Sell Us a Bill of Goods on Torture?

According to the Times, the Administration justifies its wiretapping under the President's inherent national security authority, even though there are specific statutes by Congress that prohibit it. The Wiretap Act specifically says that all wiretapping not authorized by statute is illegal, and that "procedures in [the Wiretap Act and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillanc Act] shall be the EXCLUSIVE MEANS by which electronic surveillance . . . and the interception of domestic wire, oral and electronic communications may be conducted."

If the President can ignore that statute and authorized wiretaps "to protect the nation," then equally he can ignore the McCain Amendment and order torture of detainees "to protect the nation."

Have we been sold a bill of goods?

:: Jim Nichols 12/17/2005 03:17:00 PM [+] ::
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Fat Wreck Chords has a new website

:: Jim Nichols 12/17/2005 03:13:00 PM [+] ::
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Propagandhi doing A Speculative Fiction live

:: Jim Nichols 12/17/2005 03:10:00 PM [+] ::
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"Go without a coat when it's cold; find out what cold is. Go hungry; keep your existence lean. Wear away the fat, get down to the lean tissue and see what it's all about. The only time you define your character is when you go without. In times of hardship, you find out what you're made of and what you're capable of. If you're never tested, you'll never define your character."

- Henry Rollins

:: Jim Nichols 12/15/2005 04:19:00 PM [+] ::
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Cool

:: Jim Nichols 12/13/2005 11:15:00 PM [+] ::
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The Decemberists have signed with Capitol Records.

:: Jim Nichols 12/13/2005 08:08:00 PM [+] ::
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One positive review of King Kong. Honestly it looks really dumb to me.

:: Jim Nichols 12/13/2005 01:09:00 PM [+] ::
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My only thoughts on the Stanley Tookie Williams situation is this...

"Extreme justice is extreme injustice." -Marcus Tullius Cicero

Needless to say I oppose the death penalty from the get-go but nevertheless

:: Jim Nichols 12/12/2005 09:24:00 PM [+] ::
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Heckling causes Coulter to cut UConn speech short

:: Jim Nichols 12/12/2005 06:30:00 PM [+] ::
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Funny

:: Jim Nichols 12/12/2005 05:47:00 PM [+] ::
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Interview with Aaron McGruder creator of the boondocks

:: Jim Nichols 12/11/2005 05:06:00 PM [+] ::
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What a bad idea

:: Jim Nichols 12/10/2005 02:12:00 PM [+] ::
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Propagandhi interview

:: Jim Nichols 12/08/2005 08:04:00 PM [+] ::
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I've always taken this position; that overturning Roe would be bad for Republicans.

:: Jim Nichols 12/07/2005 05:55:00 PM [+] ::
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Slow down in Housing market predicted

:: Jim Nichols 12/07/2005 05:40:00 PM [+] ::
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Students paying for a raise for teachers.

:: Jim Nichols 12/07/2005 05:00:00 PM [+] ::
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I think its a good idea even if Bell SOuth pulls out.

:: Jim Nichols 12/07/2005 04:38:00 PM [+] ::
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New Bouncing Souls album due out in June

:: Jim Nichols 12/07/2005 11:54:00 AM [+] ::
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Proud to be a card carrying member

:: Jim Nichols 12/06/2005 11:02:00 PM [+] ::
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Thats got to suck

:: Jim Nichols 12/05/2005 06:52:00 PM [+] ::
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Intresting

:: Jim Nichols 12/05/2005 05:02:00 PM [+] ::
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Lagwagon Video

:: Jim Nichols 12/04/2005 05:06:00 PM [+] ::
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Against Me live

:: Jim Nichols 12/04/2005 04:55:00 PM [+] ::
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Nice

:: Jim Nichols 12/01/2005 01:51:00 AM [+] ::
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Went to see "Ushpizin" last night at the Crest. I thought it was really good.

:: Jim Nichols 11/26/2005 08:25:00 PM [+] ::
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The Bush administration cracks

:: Jim Nichols 11/26/2005 08:09:00 PM [+] ::
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statistics on gay couples in the Netherlands

:: Jim Nichols 11/26/2005 04:36:00 PM [+] ::
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Another Pro-war Representative says the war was a mistake.

:: Jim Nichols 11/25/2005 06:27:00 PM [+] ::
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"I celebrated Thanksgiving in an old-fashioned way. I invited everyone in my family over to my house, we had an enormous feast, and then I killed them and took their land." --Jon Stewart

:: Jim Nichols 11/25/2005 05:23:00 PM [+] ::
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I call it Genocide Day but if you want to celebrate heres my favorite Thanksgiving poem

William Burroughs Thanksgiving Prayer

Thanks for the wild turkey and
the passenger pigeons, destined
to be shit out through wholesome
American guts.


Thanks for a continent to despoil
and poison.

Thanks for Indians to provide a
modicum of challenge and
danger.

Thanks for vast herds of bison to
kill and skin leaving the
carcasses to rot.

Thanks for bounties on wolves
and coyotes.

Thanks for the American dream,
To vulgarize and to falsify until
the bare lies shine through.

Thanks for the KKK.

For nigger-killin' lawmen,
feelin' their notches.

For decent church-goin' women,
with their mean, pinched, bitter,
evil faces.

Thanks for "Kill a Queer for
Christ" stickers.

Thanks for laboratory AIDS.

Thanks for Prohibition and the
war against drugs.

Thanks for a country where
nobody's allowed to mind the
own business.

Thanks for a nation of finks.

Yes, thanks for all the
memories-- all right let's see
your arms!

You always were a headache and
you always were a bore.

Thanks for the last and greatest
betrayal of the last and greatest
of human dreams.

:: Jim Nichols 11/24/2005 05:12:00 PM [+] ::
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Blogs in China

:: Jim Nichols 11/23/2005 07:48:00 PM [+] ::
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Kerry did jury duty

:: Jim Nichols 11/23/2005 05:07:00 PM [+] ::
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New York Times article which hits the nail on the head

At a time when opposition to the war is growing, the white phosphorus issue has reinforced the worst suspicions about American actions.

America has bungled the Iraq war with its inadequate troop levels, its fucked up the war on terrorism with its treatment of prisoners, and now its screwing up on the question of weapon use.

:: Jim Nichols 11/22/2005 09:20:00 PM [+] ::
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Atheist lobbying group

:: Jim Nichols 11/22/2005 08:17:00 PM [+] ::
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Well gee... you mean Fox?

:: Jim Nichols 11/22/2005 07:53:00 PM [+] ::
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Interesting post and yet another reassurance that I'm not making a bad choice by moving away from the academic world

:: Jim Nichols 11/22/2005 07:39:00 PM [+] ::
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There you go

:: Jim Nichols 11/22/2005 07:28:00 PM [+] ::
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More they didn't tell us

:: Jim Nichols 11/22/2005 07:26:00 PM [+] ::
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Abolish the death penalty and you'll save money

:: Jim Nichols 11/22/2005 03:09:00 PM [+] ::
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Not suprising but Bush planned to bomb al jazeera

:: Jim Nichols 11/22/2005 03:07:00 PM [+] ::
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Asprin as the drug that wouldn't exist today.

:: Jim Nichols 11/22/2005 03:03:00 PM [+] ::
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They messed with the wrong guy

:: Jim Nichols 11/22/2005 02:31:00 PM [+] ::
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A slanted article on Kurt Vonnegut

:: Jim Nichols 11/21/2005 10:45:00 PM [+] ::
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Approval of Handling of War, Johnson to Bush over at Political Arithmetik

:: Jim Nichols 11/21/2005 10:35:00 PM [+] ::
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Geoffrey Stone over at U.of Chicago blog

The plain and simple fact is that the Bush administration did mislead the American people. Undoubtedly, they did so for what they believed to be good reasons, and some or even much of this may have been sloppiness rather than intentional deceit. But surely they misled the American people by obscuring the different degrees of confidence necessary to justify different types of measures, by exaggerating the evidence (certainly with respect to Saddam Hussein's involvement in 9/11), and by failing to recognize the danger that as advocates committed to a particular outcome they themselves might erroneously assess the data and the risks. For them now to claim that it is their critics who are lying is shameful.

:: Jim Nichols 11/21/2005 10:28:00 PM [+] ::
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"When I look upon seamen, men of science and philosophers, man is the wisest of all beings; when I look upon priests and prophets nothing is as contemptible as man" --Diogenes

:: Jim Nichols 11/21/2005 12:36:00 AM [+] ::
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Harvard Law school has a blog

:: Jim Nichols 11/20/2005 09:42:00 PM [+] ::
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Did Texas execute an innocent man?

:: Jim Nichols 11/20/2005 09:30:00 PM [+] ::
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Chomsky on intelligent design

:: Jim Nichols 11/18/2005 06:41:00 PM [+] ::
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Well duhh

:: Jim Nichols 11/17/2005 11:37:00 PM [+] ::
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ooppss

:: Jim Nichols 11/17/2005 10:36:00 PM [+] ::
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Maureen Dowd interview

Blogs have made my life difficult, because with everyone trying to have an opinion, it's hard to think of anything original to say when you have to wait three days for your column to be published. It's like now we're in a whole nation of opinion writers, so what makes yours special? You have to work even harder.

:: Jim Nichols 11/17/2005 10:04:00 PM [+] ::
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This reaffirmed my recent hunch/revelation that the academic world was not for me.

:: Jim Nichols 11/17/2005 10:01:00 PM [+] ::
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Intelligent design's five favorite myths

:: Jim Nichols 11/17/2005 09:56:00 PM [+] ::
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great quote

:: Jim Nichols 11/17/2005 09:09:00 PM [+] ::
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In challenging war's critics, administration tinkers with truth

:: Jim Nichols 11/17/2005 08:56:00 PM [+] ::
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I have been saying this all along. For instance here

:: Jim Nichols 11/17/2005 08:05:00 PM [+] ::
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Is it true?

At the corner they're talking about illegal immigration being a key policy issue for potential Republican candidates. Immigration is one of my hot buttons. I don't believe there is such a thing as illegal immigration or at least there shouldn't be. Europeans didn't ask if we could move here. We just took it. Same should go for anyone who wants to live here now or any time in the future. Although I have to admit i'd love to see the Republicans split over the issue of immigration.

:: Jim Nichols 11/16/2005 10:17:00 PM [+] ::
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The Washington Note found something quite amusing.

:: Jim Nichols 11/16/2005 05:51:00 PM [+] ::
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Document put together by Henry Waxman on the administrations deceptions on Iraq

:: Jim Nichols 11/16/2005 04:38:00 PM [+] ::
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Gulf Coast slaves

Halliburton and its subcontractors hired hundreds of undocumented Latino workers to clean up after Katrina -- only to mistreat them and throw them out without pay.

:: Jim Nichols 11/16/2005 03:59:00 PM [+] ::
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Dick Cheney ever try to tell people Saddam might be behind 9/11?

:: Jim Nichols 11/16/2005 03:53:00 PM [+] ::
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Young Voters Led Surge in 2004 Election

:: Jim Nichols 11/16/2005 03:48:00 PM [+] ::
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NBC Chief: Liberals Don't Watch TV

:: Jim Nichols 11/16/2005 03:42:00 PM [+] ::
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Bill Clinton calls Iraq 'big mistake'

"The mistake that they made is that when they kicked out Saddam, they decided to dismantle the whole authority structure of Iraq. ... We never sent enough troops and didn't have enough troops to control or seal the borders,"

:: Jim Nichols 11/16/2005 03:24:00 PM [+] ::
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Gilmore Girls transcripts

:: Jim Nichols 11/15/2005 11:09:00 PM [+] ::
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Since I'm a card carrying member don't ask me why I went to this site. But they had an interview with Instapundit which is kind of interesting.

:: Jim Nichols 11/15/2005 10:40:00 PM [+] ::
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California Insider goes on a rant about public financing of elections

:: Jim Nichols 11/15/2005 10:28:00 PM [+] ::
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Pelosi proposes technology strategy Democrats to push science, research in midterm elections

:: Jim Nichols 11/15/2005 10:22:00 PM [+] ::
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A Failure of Strategy

in order to appease Colin Powell and/or Tony Blair, the administration eventually found itself at the UN, sponsoring resolutions and offering ultimata. Thus, the ready-made preemption/prevention morass got dragged into yet another idea -- coercive diplomacy, where threats of war are intended to produce not war, but compliance with demands. Unfortunately for Bush, Saddam unexpectedly wound up substantially complying with his demands and inspectors entered the country. It was here that we got the very most egregious dissembling about weapons of mass destruction. Inspectors were on the ground, not finding weapons, debunking certain specific administration claims, and asking the US for the rest of the evidence to substantiate all the big talk.

The hawks chose to portray this situation as proof that inspections "weren't working" because the (obviously incompetent) inspectors were failing to find the WMD facilities that "everyone knew" were there.

:: Jim Nichols 11/15/2005 05:51:00 PM [+] ::
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Decoding Mr. Bush's Denials

:: Jim Nichols 11/15/2005 05:45:00 PM [+] ::
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Is Bush a War Criminal?

:: Jim Nichols 11/14/2005 01:05:00 AM [+] ::
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Italy Seeks Extradition Of 22 CIA Operatives

:: Jim Nichols 11/13/2005 01:14:00 AM [+] ::
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Bush rapping

:: Jim Nichols 11/11/2005 04:59:00 PM [+] ::
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CHILDREN OF BIPOLAR PARENTS SCORE HIGHER ON CREATIVITY TEST, STANFORD STUDY FINDS

:: Jim Nichols 11/11/2005 12:38:00 AM [+] ::
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Bill O'Reilly thinks San Fran can go up in smoke for all he cares

:: Jim Nichols 11/10/2005 08:47:00 PM [+] ::
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"I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity!"
-- Edgar Allan Poe

:: Jim Nichols 11/09/2005 12:09:00 AM [+] ::
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BUSH'S WAR ON PEOPLE OF FAITH..

:: Jim Nichols 11/08/2005 11:15:00 PM [+] ::
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I am watching the Frontline on abortion called The Last Abortion Clinic. Its a travesty. I really don't have words to explain it. Woman in rural poor america are given no choice. Roe means nothing and does nothing for these women.

update: here is NARAL's website. Give some money if you can.

:: Jim Nichols 11/08/2005 10:34:00 PM [+] ::
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Epitaph has a new website

:: Jim Nichols 11/08/2005 10:19:00 PM [+] ::
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Good post on the riots in France

:: Jim Nichols 11/08/2005 09:38:00 PM [+] ::
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Europe risks economic damage from Kyoto: study

Europe's push to meet pollution targets agreed under the Kyoto Protocol on climate change could dent its economies and cost hundreds of thousands of jobs by 2010, according to research published on Monday

:: Jim Nichols 11/07/2005 06:15:00 PM [+] ::
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Norman Solomon was arrested during a visit by Prince Charles

:: Jim Nichols 11/07/2005 05:42:00 PM [+] ::
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Oh this is too good for words.

Antiwar Sermon Brings IRS Warning

The Internal Revenue Service has warned one of Southern California's largest and most liberal churches that it is at risk of losing its tax-exempt status because of an antiwar sermon two days before the 2004 presidential election.

Steve Clemons over at The Washington Note has some questions to ask the IRS

:: Jim Nichols 11/07/2005 05:32:00 PM [+] ::
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My misogyny is probably showing in this post but nevertheless this should happen more often.

:: Jim Nichols 11/07/2005 05:06:00 PM [+] ::
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A post on one of my favorite political positions

:: Jim Nichols 11/07/2005 05:04:00 PM [+] ::
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Good post at TPM Cafe about the torture/CIA issue

Perhaps now we can begin to understand how Adolf Hitler could rally German Christians to do the unthinkable to Jews and Gypsyies in concentration camps. If you convince people that they are at risk unless they move to destroy those who represent a perceived threat, regardless of the methods and means, then you are on your way to atrocities.

:: Jim Nichols 11/07/2005 04:49:00 PM [+] ::
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Why vote? an article on economists views about voting. My question is always did you give money? Voting doesn't matter; money does.

:: Jim Nichols 11/07/2005 04:42:00 PM [+] ::
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How i'm voting next Tuesday

Prop 73 --> No
Prop 74 --> No
Prop 75 --> No
Prop 76 --> No
Prop 77 --> Yes
Prop 78 --> No
Prop 79 --> Yes
Prop 80 --> No

:: Jim Nichols 11/06/2005 06:15:00 PM [+] ::
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The best post i've seen so far in regards to the Supreme Court and Judge Alito.

It hits on what makes a good justice:

In my judgment, the primary responsibility of the Supreme Court is to protect the relatively powerless in our society against the inherent dangers of the democratic process and to protect the process itself against the most powerful elements in our society when they attempt to manipulate the system for their own partisan or personal advantage.

And whether or not a senator should vote for or against Alito:

In most circumstances, if the president nominates a qualified individual with “mainstream” views, it is reasonable for senators to give the president the benefit of the doubt to enable the process to run smoothly. But if a senator strongly disagrees with the perspective and philosophy of the nominee, the president has had multiple nominees and has consistently nominated justices with a distinctive point of view, and the senator is genuinely concerned about how a succession of such nominees will affect the Court as an institution, then it is perfectly appropriate and consistent with historical practice for the senator to oppose confirmation.

:: Jim Nichols 11/06/2005 12:30:00 AM [+] ::
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This seemed to me to be the most important point in the FTAA talks

A Free Trade Area of the Americas would be larger than the European Union, though without its free flow of labor and political integration. Benefits for the United States as the dominant economic power in the hemisphere are obvious: with no more tariffs and other barriers that inhibit entry of American goods and services, American exports to the region would boom.

Its not true free market principles until there is free flow of labor. Which is something we ain't going to be seeing for a real long time. But thats the kind of free market fundamentalism that I'd like to see more of.

:: Jim Nichols 11/06/2005 12:06:00 AM [+] ::
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There seems to be a common misconception in the press lately. In this article on Bush's trip to the Latin American Summit the article states:

President Bush left the Summit of the Americas Saturday with no more than he expected: a cold shoulder from some Latin American leaders, no consensus on a free trading bloc for the hemisphere and biting criticism from anti-U.S. protesters and Venezuela's leftist President Hugo Chavez.

anti-US protesters? They weren't anti-US they were Anti-George Bush.

:: Jim Nichols 11/05/2005 08:28:00 PM [+] ::
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George Carlin made me think of my favorite quote of all time.

The people who own this country ought to govern it --John Jay

:: Jim Nichols 11/05/2005 07:46:00 PM [+] ::
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I've posted before on my question in regards to what happens if Roe is overturned. My first assumption seems to be correct--it reverts back to the states.

Roe's reversal would not outlaw abortion nationwide; the issue would revert to the states, with patchwork consequences. Some states would likely ban almost all abortions, others would allow them to continue unfettered, and a middle group might impose restrictions that would make abortions harder to obtain.

:: Jim Nichols 11/05/2005 05:47:00 PM [+] ::
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Okla. High School Hoops Team Loses 112-2 Thats got to suck

:: Jim Nichols 11/05/2005 04:55:00 PM [+] ::
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There are two kinds of people when it comes to the question of terrorism. There are people who believe we are different from terrorists and there are people who think we are just the same. John Mccain is of the former. While Dick Cheney is of the later.

:: Jim Nichols 11/04/2005 11:38:00 PM [+] ::
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Zogby poll: Majority of likely voters support considering impeachment
over Iraq, 51-45 percent

A new poll of likely voters by Zogby International has found that a majority of Americans support Congress considering the impeachment of President Bush if he “did not tell the truth about his reasons for going to war with Iraq,”

:: Jim Nichols 11/04/2005 11:07:00 PM [+] ::
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LA TV station apologizes to Schwarzenegger after audience mix-up

KNBC-TV apologized to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's campaign Friday after the station found that the audience it organized for a voter forum this week apparently included several Democratic activists.

So the story is Schwarzenegger wasn't supposed to be confronted by the other side. Somehow a voter forum is supposed to be free of opposition. Fuck that. He should get tough questions and if he doesn't have answers that should speak loudly to the authority or should I say duplicity he holds on that subject matter.

:: Jim Nichols 11/04/2005 10:42:00 PM [+] ::
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Carter condemns abortion culture

Former President Jimmy Carter yesterday condemned all abortions and chastised his party for its intolerance of candidates and nominees who oppose abortion.

My thoughts: you're an old man who couldn't win a second term. I'd rather be right on an issue rather than taking a more popular approach. Abortion should be safe and legal. Period. Thats all there is to that issue. If you disagree with me go to another party. But hey i'm not a Democrat so what right do I have to say shit about what Democrats believe.

:: Jim Nichols 11/04/2005 09:56:00 PM [+] ::
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George Carlins HBO special is coming up soon. The NYTimes caught one of his warm up shows.

:: Jim Nichols 11/04/2005 12:19:00 AM [+] ::
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Just heard Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Cassation. Must track that down at some point.

:: Jim Nichols 11/04/2005 12:02:00 AM [+] ::
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Just got back from seeing The Weather Man with Nicholas Cage. Fucking great movie. There were some great one-liners. I was the only one in the theater which made it even that much better. The movie totally captures the essence of life in all of its fucked up glory.

:: Jim Nichols 11/03/2005 11:51:00 PM [+] ::
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Don Boudreaux goes off on a bumper sticker.

:: Jim Nichols 11/03/2005 03:24:00 PM [+] ::
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The elections are drawing ever so near. Some bad news on one front, it appears that Prop 73, the parental notification on abortions is barely passing with 51%. I found it interesting that the poll found Men tend to support parental notification more than women do.

:: Jim Nichols 11/03/2005 02:06:00 PM [+] ::
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From Political Wire:

"I was part of that wild and crazy Class of '94 that shook the political landscape by taking over the House after more than 50 years of unfettered Democrat control. We came to Washington full of ideals and conviction. But sadly, what they say about absolute power is coming to reality in the 2005 GOP Washington. Republicans in just 10 years have developed the arrogance it took the Democrats 30 years to develop."

-- Former Rep. J.C. Watts (R-OK)

:: Jim Nichols 11/02/2005 08:55:00 PM [+] ::
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Poll data

If it becomes clear Alito would vote to reverse Roe v. Wade, Americans would not want the Senate to confirm him, by 53% to 37%

:: Jim Nichols 11/02/2005 08:26:00 PM [+] ::
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Brad Delong on tax reform

If you poll economists and budget people about what is most wrong with our tax system, they will tell you that the thing that is most wrong is that it does not do the very first thing that Eddie and Jim mention: our tax system will not generate the government's required revenue. As America ages and as health care costs rise, the government is going to be spending a larger and larger share of GDP. The Republican leadership has no plans to close this funding gap, either by reducing planned spending or increasing taxes. That's the big thing wrong with America's tax system today.

:: Jim Nichols 11/02/2005 08:19:00 PM [+] ::
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You can hear Western Addictions new album here. Western Addiction will be touring with Propagandhi on their upcoming tour.

:: Jim Nichols 11/02/2005 08:01:00 PM [+] ::
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Alito on civil rights

:: Jim Nichols 11/02/2005 03:46:00 PM [+] ::
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The Living End has a new video posted here

:: Jim Nichols 11/02/2005 03:44:00 PM [+] ::
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The nomination of Samuel Alito has got me to thinking. What would happen if Roe was overturned? From what I understand it would revert back to the states. But if a majority of people think abortion should be safe and legal won't you create a new wedge issue? Voting for a pro-life Republican is easy with Roe v. Wade standing strong. But with abortion in question will pro-life Republicans be able to gain the moderate votes they need to win? I say no. But what do I know...

:: Jim Nichols 11/01/2005 10:34:00 PM [+] ::
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The greatest intellectual?

:: Jim Nichols 11/01/2005 08:10:00 PM [+] ::
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In the New York Times article, After a Career of Quiet Focus, Alito Is Leaving the Background, on Judge Alito this quote stands out:

"Make no mistake: he will move the court to the right, and this confirmation process is really going to be a question about whether Congress and the country wants to move this court to the right."

Now the question is does the Congress, does this country, want a court that moves farther to the right. I don't think it does. Can the Democrats take advantage of that fact? Deep down; I doubt it.

:: Jim Nichols 10/31/2005 09:31:00 PM [+] ::
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Alito's mother

"Of course, he's against abortion,"

:: Jim Nichols 10/31/2005 05:40:00 PM [+] ::
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Savethecourt.org has a petition up.

:: Jim Nichols 10/31/2005 05:11:00 PM [+] ::
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In this article on Truman Capote's In Cold Blood. The third paragraph reads

"A more outrageous and haunted writer never lived," Hicks says. "And we have rarely seen such a tragic decline."

The article then goes on to talk about In Cold Blood. But what I want to know more about is the 'haunted writer' and his 'tragic decline' guess I'll have to track that down somewhere else...

:: Jim Nichols 10/31/2005 04:56:00 PM [+] ::
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They are streaming the new Lagwagon album here

:: Jim Nichols 10/31/2005 04:38:00 PM [+] ::
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Who is Alito?

:: Jim Nichols 10/31/2005 11:27:00 AM [+] ::
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Hugo Chavez is hugely popular in his home country of Venezuela. He's hovering at 70% approval. The question is can he make it last? Todays article in the NYTimes looks at Venezuela and their version of 21st century socialism. The article goes on to note

Still, there is restlessness in the boardrooms, with executives worried about government intervention, which is sometimes seen as haphazard and improvised. Economists say the government has not made the investments needed in the oil sector. And political analysts and mainstream economists warn of recession and dourly note that foreign investment is about a third of what it was five years ago. They say that Venezuela's vast oil profits give the illusion of prosperity - the economy's growth rate is 9.3 percent - but that if prices fall, or Venezuela's growing spending catches up, the economy could founder.

I guess we have to wait and see what happens.

:: Jim Nichols 10/31/2005 12:42:00 AM [+] ::
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Went to see Prime with Uma Thurman in it. It wasn't great. But it fit nicely together at the end so I left the theater in a good mood.

:: Jim Nichols 10/31/2005 12:12:00 AM [+] ::
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Virginia Postrel thinks she'd rather be watched than searched.

:: Jim Nichols 10/30/2005 11:52:00 PM [+] ::
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Word on the streets is that Bush will anounce his Supreme Court nominee. My hunch is he will nominate a true conservative. Now the question that remains is will Democrats give a good fight?

:: Jim Nichols 10/30/2005 09:03:00 PM [+] ::
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One more article showing how religion is encroaching in on every day life.

Increasingly, Football's Playbooks Call for Prayer

:: Jim Nichols 10/30/2005 06:45:00 PM [+] ::
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Over at TPM Cafe David Sclar is going more in-depth into the recent Wal Mart memo that I blogged about earlier this month. Sclar goes on to note that

[the]Wal-Mart memo provides another example of how the employer-based health care system distorts who has access to health care coverage by incentivizing business decisions that disadvantage certain workers.

Side note: Am I the only one who hates how TPM is formatted?

:: Jim Nichols 10/30/2005 06:25:00 PM [+] ::
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The Boondocks to be on TV

Since its national debut six years ago, the strip, about two black children living in white suburbia, has slaughtered its share of sacred cows, eviscerating everyone from Condoleezza Rice and Strom Thurmond to 50 Cent and Ralph Nader. President Bush has been a frequent target. As a result, the strip has been suspended, banished to editorial pages and dropped from some newspapers (it currently appears in more than 300).

I'd have to say reading the Boondocks has been one of the salvations of living through the Bush administration.

:: Jim Nichols 10/30/2005 05:50:00 PM [+] ::
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These are a bunch of sickos.

Forbes has an article attacking blogs.

Blogs started a few years ago as a simple way for people to keep online diaries. Suddenly they are the ultimate vehicle for brand-bashing, personal attacks, political extremism and smear campaigns.

But blogs are just tools, tools used by extremists and smear tacticians. Forbes is trying to draw blood before blogs manhandle all mass media. But as one commenter noted

"Bloggers are more of a threat than people realize, and they are only going to get more toxic. This is the new reality,"

:: Jim Nichols 10/30/2005 05:08:00 PM [+] ::
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Thomas Barnett on Iran

Iran is getting the bomb on this current trajectory, and we are playing into the hard-liners' hands in Iran right now.

And THEY'RE PLAYING US LIKE CHILDREN WHEN WE RESPOND TO EVERY SINGLE TAUNT THEY DECIDE TO THROW OUT.

People need to grow up. American needs to grow up. We need to be able to think strategically, without being so casually manipulated and turned against our real strategic interests every time some loud-mouth cares to do so.

If you want a stable Middle East, then Iran will be part of that. Iran can get the bomb if it so chooses, and eventually, inevitably, it will have it.

The only question that remains, as I have said time and time again, is: What are we going to get in return?

Because if we get nothing in return, then we're fools, and easily manipulated fools at that.

:: Jim Nichols 10/30/2005 01:04:00 AM [+] ::
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Alternate energy not in cards at ExxonMobil

ExxonMobil, which stunned Americans on Thursday by reporting nearly $10 billion in profit for the third quarter, says it has no plans to invest any of those earnings in developing alternative or renewable energy - something other oil companies do.

"We're an oil and gas company. In times past, when we tried to get into other businesses, we didn't do it well. We'd rather re-invest in what we know," says Exxon spokesman Dave Gardner.

:: Jim Nichols 10/29/2005 01:35:00 AM [+] ::
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Alaska High Court Backs Partner Benefits

The Alaska Supreme Court ruled Friday it is unconstitutional to deny benefits to the same-sex partners of public employees, a victory for gay rights advocates in one of the first states to pass a constitutional ban on gay marriage.

:: Jim Nichols 10/29/2005 12:56:00 AM [+] ::
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U.N.: at Least 1.7M Zambians Need Food

:: Jim Nichols 10/29/2005 12:02:00 AM [+] ::
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Saddam accepted UAE exile plan to avert Iraq war-TV

:: Jim Nichols 10/28/2005 11:27:00 PM [+] ::
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Anoint no economic superpower before its time Why the numbers(of college graduates) are no cause for alarm.......

:: Jim Nichols 10/28/2005 09:56:00 PM [+] ::
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Mexicans head north for a better life. Way north.

For a small but growing number of Mexicans the promised land of "El Norte" means life above the 49th parallel. And while the US is fortifying its borders and tightening entry requirements, Canada is putting out the welcome mat.

:: Jim Nichols 10/28/2005 09:34:00 PM [+] ::
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Saudi Arabia: 14-Year-Old Boy Faces Execution

:: Jim Nichols 10/28/2005 09:25:00 PM [+] ::
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Is US becoming hostile to science?

A bitter debate about how to teach evolution in U.S. high schools is prompting a crisis of confidence among scientists, and some senior academics warn that science itself is under assault.

:: Jim Nichols 10/28/2005 08:54:00 PM [+] ::
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The Fight's Coming. Are Democrats Ready? I don't think so...

:: Jim Nichols 10/28/2005 08:52:00 PM [+] ::
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House panel votes $844 mln cut in food stamps

On a party-line vote, a Republican-run U.S. House of Representatives committee voted to cut food stamps by $844 million on Friday, just hours after a new government report showed more Americans are struggling to put food on the table.

About 300,000 Americans would lose benefits due to tighter eligibility rules for food stamps,

:: Jim Nichols 10/28/2005 08:41:00 PM [+] ::
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what do parents want from their childs school? Is education a positional good?

:: Jim Nichols 10/28/2005 07:59:00 PM [+] ::
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None of gov's measures winning Yea!

:: Jim Nichols 10/28/2005 07:51:00 PM [+] ::
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Blogging opens new medium for academics

Faculty blogging, a trend that started gaining momentum about a year ago, has once again become a hot topic for debate. Questions arise as to whether blogs are academic or personal, and if they can play into an academic’s tenure decision.

:: Jim Nichols 10/27/2005 11:44:00 PM [+] ::
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China Luring Foreign Scholars to Make Its Universities Great

China wants to transform its top universities into the world's best within a decade, and it is spending billions of dollars to woo big-name scholars...

:: Jim Nichols 10/27/2005 11:27:00 PM [+] ::
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The case for gay marriage

:: Jim Nichols 10/27/2005 09:27:00 PM [+] ::
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John Irons notes new student loan cuts

:: Jim Nichols 10/27/2005 09:10:00 PM [+] ::
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Anti Flag releases a new song. Must say its not their best work.

:: Jim Nichols 10/27/2005 09:06:00 PM [+] ::
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Confused about the CIA leak case? Start here.

:: Jim Nichols 10/27/2005 08:54:00 PM [+] ::
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Bush campaign fund-raiser indicted

A prominent Republican fund-raiser for
President George W. Bush in Ohio has been charged with illegally funneling money to Bush's re-election campaign, a federal prosecutor said on Thursday.

:: Jim Nichols 10/27/2005 08:52:00 PM [+] ::
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N.J. Students Ordered to Take Down Blogs

:: Jim Nichols 10/27/2005 08:48:00 PM [+] ::
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Miers and African Americans

Black Prof. says this withdrawal could be very bad news for people of color.

:: Jim Nichols 10/27/2005 08:38:00 PM [+] ::
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Five ballot measures in danger of losing

With the Nov. 8 special election less than two weeks away, a new poll released Thursday shows all four of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's initiatives in danger of losing.

:: Jim Nichols 10/27/2005 08:23:00 PM [+] ::
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Secret MoD poll: Iraqis support attacks on British troops

:: Jim Nichols 10/27/2005 07:56:00 PM [+] ::
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Wolfowitz calls for end to farm subsidies

Rich countries must abandon farm subsidies and give more market access to poor states if the Doha trade talks are to succeed, the head of the World Bank said today.

Paul Wolfowitz made his appeal amid fears that the World Trade Organisation (WTO) meeting of ministers in Hong Kong was in jeopardy because of the absence of progress on farm subsidies.

:: Jim Nichols 10/26/2005 11:25:00 PM [+] ::
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Educated Workers Leaving Poor Nations, Survey Finds

Poor countries across Africa, Central America and the Caribbean are losing sometimes staggering numbers of their college-educated workers to wealthy, industrialized democracies, according to a World Bank study made public today.

The brain drain is probably the biggest problem that occurs in poor countries.

:: Jim Nichols 10/26/2005 10:59:00 PM [+] ::
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Danforth Criticizes Christian Sway in GOP

Former Sen. John Danforth said Wednesday that the political influence of evangelical Christians is hurting the Republican Party and dividing the country.

:: Jim Nichols 10/26/2005 10:39:00 PM [+] ::
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Vermont Lt. Gov. Dubie Drops Senate Bid

Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie announced Wednesday he will seek re-election, forgoing a GOP bid for an open U.S. Senate seat that he had been considering seeking.

Bernie Sanders is going to win this senate seat

:: Jim Nichols 10/26/2005 09:35:00 PM [+] ::
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Can Saddam Get a Fair Trial?

In the absence of a more stable Iraq, it might make more sense to try Saddam in an international court outside of Iraq

:: Jim Nichols 10/26/2005 06:41:00 PM [+] ::
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Gang tattoos hinder job prospects?

First lady Laura Bush said on Tuesday that young people are more likely to get jobs if they avoid tattoos, as well as drugs and alcohol.

:: Jim Nichols 10/26/2005 06:35:00 PM [+] ::
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Pot not a major cancer risk: report

Although both marijuana and tobacco smoke are packed with cancer-causing chemicals, other qualities of marijuana seem to keep it from promoting lung cancer, according to a new report

:: Jim Nichols 10/26/2005 06:33:00 PM [+] ::
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Panel Approves $10B Cut in Health Care

A Republican-led effort to slow spending on health care programs for the poor, elderly and disabled survived a stern test in the Senate Tuesday.

:: Jim Nichols 10/26/2005 06:28:00 PM [+] ::
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Sheehan: Oppose Clinton if She Backs War

Cindy Sheehan, who became the face of anti-war sentiment after her son died in Iraq, urged foes of the war to thwart Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's political aspirations unless the New York Democrat opposes the conflict.

This is only a glimmer of the problems Clinton is going to have getting the nomination.

:: Jim Nichols 10/26/2005 06:24:00 PM [+] ::
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White House seeks CIA exemption on detainees

A White House bid to exempt the CIA from legislation in Congress that would formally ban degrading and inhumane treatment of detainees in U.S. custody ran into a forceful rejection on Tuesday from the bill's main sponsor, Sen. John McCain.

:: Jim Nichols 10/26/2005 06:03:00 PM [+] ::
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Governor Schwarzenegger Ducks Property Tax Question,

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's refusal to directly answer a question about the tax burden of working people - to the benefit of corporations - at Monday's "performance" before a live Bay Area and television audience shows he's not a true "reformer," said the Green Party of California Tuesday.

:: Jim Nichols 10/26/2005 05:56:00 PM [+] ::
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Talk Left on Bush in 1999: Lies Are Impeachable

:: Jim Nichols 10/26/2005 05:47:00 PM [+] ::
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Wal-Mart memo proposes cost cuts: report

An internal memo sent to the Wal-Mart Stores Inc. board proposes numerous ways to hold down health care and benefits costs with less harm to the retailer's reputation, including hiring more part-time workers and discouraging unhealthy people from seeking jobs, the New York Times said on Wednesday.

:: Jim Nichols 10/26/2005 05:00:00 PM [+] ::
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Megaforce and Al Jourgensen launch 13th Planet; releases from Revolting Cocks, Ministry to follow

:: Jim Nichols 10/26/2005 04:55:00 PM [+] ::
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Leiter on Rosa Parks and the right

:: Jim Nichols 10/26/2005 04:45:00 PM [+] ::
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Cheney Seeks to Exempt CIA from Amendment Relating to Treatment of Detainees

:: Jim Nichols 10/25/2005 10:16:00 PM [+] ::
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The secret history of the minimum wage. Was it to put women out of work?

:: Jim Nichols 10/25/2005 10:02:00 PM [+] ::
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Church-state divide becomes French campaign issue

The separation of church and state is shaping up as an early hot-button issue for France's next presidential election as rival politicians begin jockeying for votes among the large Muslim minority.

:: Jim Nichols 10/25/2005 09:44:00 PM [+] ::
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All Together Now on the Dems likelyhood of taking the house and/or senate

The GOP still holds a solid 29-seat majority in the House and a six-seat advantage in the Senate. But just lately -- after the Hurricane Katrina mess and Tom DeLay’s indictment -- Democrats have begun to think they have the political winds at their backs

:: Jim Nichols 10/25/2005 09:29:00 PM [+] ::
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Most Americans lack confidence in leaders - poll

Seventy-three percent of Americans lack confidence in their leaders and a majority believe the country would be better off with more women in power, a survey showed on Tuesday.

:: Jim Nichols 10/25/2005 09:12:00 PM [+] ::
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'Superman' Hospitalized After Leap

:: Jim Nichols 10/25/2005 09:04:00 PM [+] ::
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Where were they when we went to war?

Most Americans Think Iraq War Was Mistake

"For the first time, a majority of Americans (53%) feels that military action in Iraq was the wrong thing to do... compared with 34% who feel it was right."

Why do I have no sympathy for those who have all of a sudden changed their mind about the war?

:: Jim Nichols 10/25/2005 08:28:00 PM [+] ::
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Is it true? "people are turning on each other" at the White House

:: Jim Nichols 10/25/2005 07:55:00 PM [+] ::
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I don't know... would there?

Daniel Weintraub on the PC police

:: Jim Nichols 10/25/2005 07:42:00 PM [+] ::
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I find it boring and trivial to get stuck talking about it but....The White House cabal

:: Jim Nichols 10/25/2005 12:38:00 AM [+] ::
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Bushies feeling the boss' wrath

Facing the darkest days of his presidency, President Bush is frustrated, sometimes angry and even bitter, his associates say.

:: Jim Nichols 10/25/2005 12:18:00 AM [+] ::
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Rape victim: 'Morning after' pill denied

:: Jim Nichols 10/25/2005 12:15:00 AM [+] ::
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ACLU Reports 21 Homicides in U.S. Custody

At least 21 detainees who died while being held in U.S. custody in Iraq and Afghanistan were killed, many during or after interrogations, according to an analysis of Defense Department data by the American Civil Liberties Union

:: Jim Nichols 10/25/2005 12:09:00 AM [+] ::
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WITHDRAWMIERS.ORG

:: Jim Nichols 10/24/2005 07:05:00 PM [+] ::
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Machines are catching up to human intelligence

:: Jim Nichols 10/24/2005 07:03:00 PM [+] ::
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Psyches of Iraq's Children Caught in the Cross-Fire

"Children are not living their childhood," said Suat Mohammed, a psychology professor.

"Children are growing afraid to interact with other children. They are afraid of relationships," Mohammed said. "This generation, when it grows up, will create an unstable, weak society….[They] will curse us for what we have wrought in Iraq."

:: Jim Nichols 10/24/2005 02:43:00 AM [+] ::
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Interview with Howard Zinn

:: Jim Nichols 10/24/2005 02:13:00 AM [+] ::
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Are judges political? You betcha

:: Jim Nichols 10/24/2005 01:49:00 AM [+] ::
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Is globalization destroying consumer market?

The United States remains the only major industrial country in the world without national health insurance, putting an unreasonable burden on firms and workers.

:: Jim Nichols 10/23/2005 10:49:00 PM [+] ::
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Chomsky on adherence to market principles

:: Jim Nichols 10/23/2005 10:41:00 PM [+] ::
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Black Prof with What's in a Mugshot

:: Jim Nichols 10/23/2005 09:08:00 PM [+] ::
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Must say I agree with Matthew Yglesias on this one:

I'll certainly read the article on Brent Scowcroft when it comes out, but I feel compelled to at least semi-dissent from the heaping of praise upon the likes of Scowcroft, Larry Wilkerson, Richard Haas, and other Republicans who've started speaking out against the Bush administration lately. Everything they say could have been said 12-18 months ago when it would have made a difference for the future of the country. But that would have meant taking fire from the then-intact conservative attack machine, and gotten them labeled as bad party men. Instead of speaking out when Bush was strong and trying to weaken him, they've waited until Bush is weak and decided to pile-on in an effort to save their own reputations.

Better late than never is a true enough adage, I suppose, but it's actually pretty shabby behavior. It also tells you a lot about the way Washington operates and the sort of dysfunctional culture that deserves a lot of blame for the unfortunate circumstances in which the country now finds itself.

:: Jim Nichols 10/23/2005 08:58:00 PM [+] ::
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Frist: Stock Probe Will Affect 2008 Plans

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist says a federal investigation into his sale of stock in a family-owned hospital chain will affect his decision on whether he will seek the presidency in 2008.

:: Jim Nichols 10/23/2005 08:17:00 PM [+] ::
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Republicans Test Strategy to Blunt Indictments

:: Jim Nichols 10/23/2005 08:07:00 PM [+] ::
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U.S. prison population continued to grow in 2004

The U.S. prison population, already the largest in the world, grew by 1.9 percent in 2004, leaving federal jails at 40 percent over capacity, according to Justice Department figures released on Sunday.

:: Jim Nichols 10/23/2005 07:48:00 PM [+] ::
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Poll: Americans more accepting

Americans are overwhelmingly people of faith, and a new survey shows they are holding onto a traditional ideal of marriage and family. Yet as fewer families meet that ideal, they are becoming more accepting of divorce, cohabitation, and nontraditional family situations - across religious groupings.

:: Jim Nichols 10/23/2005 07:40:00 PM [+] ::
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37 million live below the poverty line

Katrina casts light on the other poor

:: Jim Nichols 10/23/2005 07:04:00 PM [+] ::
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Few CIA charges expected in prisoner deaths

CIA employees or its contract workers appear likely to escape criminal charges in all but one of the deaths of four prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan, The New York Times reported on Sunday.

:: Jim Nichols 10/23/2005 02:31:00 AM [+] ::
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Interview with Glen of Propagandhi. I have to say I love the new album

:: Jim Nichols 10/23/2005 02:11:00 AM [+] ::
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So much for being a Liberal newspaper!

Times Endorses Bloomberg for Re-Election

The New York Times enthusiastically endorsed Mayor Michael Bloomberg for re-election, saying he was on course to be one of the best mayors the city has ever had.

:: Jim Nichols 10/23/2005 12:54:00 AM [+] ::
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New Harris Poll Finds Different Religious Groups Have Very Different Attitudes To Some Health Policies and Programs

look at support for universal healthcare

favored by 75 percent of all adults, including 63 percent or more of all religious groups.

:: Jim Nichols 10/22/2005 09:56:00 PM [+] ::
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WAL-MART: The High Cost of Low Price from the guy who did Outfoxxed

:: Jim Nichols 10/22/2005 09:38:00 PM [+] ::
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Can the reporter--or the New York Times--be trusted?

The New York Times editorial page told readers over and over again that Times reporter Judith Miller went to jail for 85 days for a noble cause--the protection of confidential sources. But to many outside observers, the principles that Miller went to jail for were far from clear, with many fundamental questions left unanswered.

:: Jim Nichols 10/22/2005 09:33:00 PM [+] ::
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Sacramento's daytime population swells by 100,000

:: Jim Nichols 10/22/2005 09:30:00 PM [+] ::
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Miers' Answer Raises Questions

Asked to describe the constitutional issues she had worked on during her legal career, Supreme Court nominee Harriet E. Miers had relatively little to say on the questionnaire she sent to the Senate this week.

And what she did say left many constitutional experts shaking their heads.

:: Jim Nichols 10/22/2005 09:21:00 PM [+] ::
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Run on Drug for Avian Flu Has Physicians Worried

"If there is an outbreak, we're going to have to rely on the CDC and state governments to put those drugs where we need them. And I don't want them in people's bathrooms,"

Me either. I have a real problem with the stockpile mentality. Let the public health officials do their job.

:: Jim Nichols 10/22/2005 09:15:00 PM [+] ::
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China to adopt new jobless method

China will release an unemployment rate next year calculated under a method that could double the figure from levels now reported, according to a report in the official China Daily on Saturday.

:: Jim Nichols 10/22/2005 07:46:00 PM [+] ::
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Poll shows Iraqis back attacks on UK, US forces

Forty-five percent of Iraqis believe attacks on U.S. and British troops are justified, according to a secret poll said to have been commissioned by British defense leaders and cited by The Sunday Telegraph.

"Aboriginal people all over the world could tell you why the people of Afghanistan and Iraq do not, and should not trust Western 'civilizers.'" --Propagandhi

:: Jim Nichols 10/22/2005 07:26:00 PM [+] ::
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Poll: Clinton Would Lead Rice in '08 Race

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton leads Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in a hypothetical presidential matchup, according to an independent poll released Friday.

:: Jim Nichols 10/22/2005 07:05:00 PM [+] ::
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Tropical Storm Alpha Forms in Caribbean

Tropical Storm Alpha formed Saturday in the Caribbean, setting the record for the most named storms in an Atlantic hurricane season and marking the first time forecasters had to turn to the Greek alphabet for names.

:: Jim Nichols 10/22/2005 07:02:00 PM [+] ::
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Schwarzenegger asks TV stations to pull his special election ads

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger asked television stations to stop airing commercials featuring him personally backing initiatives in the Nov. 8 special election.

:: Jim Nichols 10/22/2005 06:53:00 PM [+] ::
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Out-of-this-world sex could jeopardise missions

:: Jim Nichols 10/22/2005 06:48:00 PM [+] ::
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DeLay Flies Corporate Jet to Arraignment

When he landed, DeLay held a press conference and called allegations that he allowed corporate dollars to improperly influence the political process “contrived and baseless.”

:: Jim Nichols 10/22/2005 04:07:00 PM [+] ::
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Insiders see hint of Miers pullout

The White House has begun making contingency plans for the withdrawal of Harriet Miers as President Bush's choice to fill a seat on the Supreme Court, conservative sources said yesterday.

:: Jim Nichols 10/22/2005 03:57:00 PM [+] ::
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Went to see North Country tonight. It wasn't that great. I couldn't get into it at all.

:: Jim Nichols 10/22/2005 02:00:00 AM [+] ::
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Only something to confuse the fight even more than it is already.

Miers supported affirmative action: paper

U.S. Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers supported affirmative action goals in the early 1990s when she served as president of the State Bar of Texas, the Washington Post reported on Saturday.

:: Jim Nichols 10/22/2005 01:44:00 AM [+] ::
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"I'm seventeen and I'm crazy. My uncle says the two always go together. When people ask your age, he said, always say seventeen and insane." --Ray Bradbury

:: Jim Nichols 10/22/2005 01:29:00 AM [+] ::
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Study: George Orwell's Illnesses Influenced '1984'

The gloomy stories of George Orwell were likely influenced by the writer's own ailments, including tuberculosis and infertility, according to a new study.

:: Jim Nichols 10/22/2005 01:26:00 AM [+] ::
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Interview with Tom Gabel from Against Me

:: Jim Nichols 10/22/2005 01:02:00 AM [+] ::
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Conservative Group to Release Film Criticizing Ann Coulter

A conservative organization is doing a documentary critical of conservative columnist Ann Coulter, according to a report on BradBlog.com.

"The Truth About Ann" is from Citizens for Principled Conservatism, whose founder, Daniel Borchers, said: "Ann Coulter is mainstreaming extremism within the conservative movement."

Borchers, who also created the CoulterWatch.com site, said the documentary is slated for June 2006 release.

:: Jim Nichols 10/21/2005 08:52:00 PM [+] ::
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France Orders Positive Spin on Colonialism

France, grappling for decades with its colonial past, has passed a law to put an upbeat spin on a painful era, making it mandatory to enshrine in textbooks the country's "positive role" in its far-flung colonies.

But the law is stirring anger among historians and passions in places like Algeria, which gained independence in a brutal conflict. Critics accuse France of trying to gild an inglorious colonial past with an "official history."

:: Jim Nichols 10/21/2005 08:48:00 PM [+] ::
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Editor Says He Missed Miller 'Alarm Bells'

In a dramatic e-mail, Executive Editor Bill Keller wrote Times' employees he wished he'd more carefully interviewed Miller and had "missed what should have been significant alarm bells" that she had been the recipient of leaked information about the CIA officer at the heart of the case.

:: Jim Nichols 10/21/2005 08:42:00 PM [+] ::
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Young Singers Spread Racist Hate

Duo Considered the Olsen Twins of the White Nationalist Movement

:: Jim Nichols 10/21/2005 08:38:00 PM [+] ::
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Wait a minute

Is Moveon.org selling Tom Delay t-shirts?

This article DeLay lawyer questions judge says so but if you go to their website you get this response

:: Jim Nichols 10/21/2005 07:38:00 PM [+] ::
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Warning from the National Review

Conservatives will have long memories about how senators act in this crucial period. Any Senate Republicans who want people to listen when they run for president in 2008 and tell GOP primary voters how seriously they take the task of transforming the Supreme Court — by placing top-notch conservative jurists on it — had better be heard from now.

:: Jim Nichols 10/21/2005 07:33:00 PM [+] ::
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The Washington Note says there will be an article in the new New Yorker coming out on Monday where former National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft comes out against the Bush Administration.

:: Jim Nichols 10/21/2005 04:58:00 PM [+] ::
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Flip flopper

Looks like Bush was against Reagan’s response to terrorism before he was for it.

:: Jim Nichols 10/21/2005 04:53:00 PM [+] ::
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Is America Ready for a Woman President?

:: Jim Nichols 10/21/2005 04:30:00 PM [+] ::
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Dead man gets parking ticket from Australian cops

Australian authorities have apologised to the family of an elderly man who was given a parking ticket while he lay dead in his car in a suburban shopping centre.

:: Jim Nichols 10/21/2005 12:41:00 AM [+] ::
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Fox News Pushing “Criminalization of Politics” Talking Point

to which Orcinus replys:

Yes indeed. That's what happens when you let criminals into politics.

:: Jim Nichols 10/21/2005 12:36:00 AM [+] ::
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Banner week for the Republicans...

Possible cover-up a focus in CIA leak case: lawyers

Lawmaker DeLay arrested, charged in Texas

:: Jim Nichols 10/21/2005 12:28:00 AM [+] ::
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I went to see Elizabethtown tonight. It was okay. I'm a big Kirsten Dunst fan so that helped. I wouldn't recommend it to somebody but it did kill two hours which is always a plus.

:: Jim Nichols 10/21/2005 12:24:00 AM [+] ::
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I don't see it happening but Democrats hope angry voters mean '06 comeback

:: Jim Nichols 10/20/2005 09:02:00 PM [+] ::
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Propositions 78 and 79: Rival plans target pain of uninsured

:: Jim Nichols 10/20/2005 08:37:00 PM [+] ::
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Firefox Hits 100 Million Mark

The Mozilla Foundation's Firefox browser has reached 100 million downloads only five months after hitting the 50 million mark and just a few weeks prior to the one-year anniversary of its formal release.

:: Jim Nichols 10/20/2005 08:11:00 PM [+] ::
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being paid by American Express to blog?

:: Jim Nichols 10/20/2005 08:09:00 PM [+] ::
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Global Warming a Major Threat to Africa

Deadly epidemics. Ruined crops. The extinction of some of Africa's legendary wildlife. The potential consequences of global warming could be devastating for the world's poorest continent, yet its nations are among the least equipped to cope.

:: Jim Nichols 10/20/2005 07:12:00 PM [+] ::
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This post Bush's Ace in the Hole-- The Pardon Power got me to thinking. Why was the President given the power to pardon? Is it a check on the Judiciary? Is it that the framers thought that some laws will be broken for the good of the country?

:: Jim Nichols 10/20/2005 07:07:00 PM [+] ::
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Hunt for Tax Cheats Is Curbed by Governor

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is putting the brakes on efforts to give state investigators more tools to hunt tax evaders, following a period of aggressive enforcement that has generated billions of dollars for California coffers.

:: Jim Nichols 10/20/2005 06:58:00 PM [+] ::
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Early retirers don't live longer

Researchers have disproved the theory that people who take early retirement enjoy longer lives as a result.

In fact, those who stop working at 55 have nearly double the death rate of those who continue to work on until they reach 65, a study suggests.

:: Jim Nichols 10/20/2005 05:12:00 PM [+] ::
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Thomas P.M. Barnett on CSPAN



AIR DATE & TIME: Saturday, October 29 @ 8pm ET & Sunday, October 30 @ 6pm & 9pm ET

you can get his new book here

:: Jim Nichols 10/20/2005 04:48:00 PM [+] ::
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Gov. Spurns Bush in Spat Over Money

Long-simmering tensions between Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and President Bush burst into the open Wednesday as the two Republicans clashed over that most basic of political necessities: money.

Schwarzenegger 'snub' prompts criticism

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger drew fire Thursday for his "snub" of President Bush's visit to the state.

:: Jim Nichols 10/20/2005 04:25:00 PM [+] ::
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51 senators in favor of Roe v. Wade

:: Jim Nichols 10/20/2005 02:57:00 PM [+] ::
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Chavez Warns if U.S. Invades, Oil Goes Up

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Thursday that his government is preparing for a possible U.S. invasion and he warned that such "aggression" would send gasoline in the United States prices soaring higher. The U.S. government repeated that it is not planning any such thing.

:: Jim Nichols 10/20/2005 02:48:00 PM [+] ::
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Pirro: Unlike Dems, GOP doesn't want child molesters next door

"That's a difference between Democrats and Republicans _ we don't want them next door molesting children and murdering women,"

:: Jim Nichols 10/20/2005 02:39:00 PM [+] ::
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"inadequate," "insufficient" and "insulting."

Three words that could explain eight years of Bush.

:: Jim Nichols 10/19/2005 11:14:00 PM [+] ::
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Newsview: Strategy on Miers Backfiring No kidding

:: Jim Nichols 10/19/2005 10:46:00 PM [+] ::
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Cheney 'cabal' hijacked foreign policy

Vice-President Dick Cheney and a handful of others had hijacked the government's foreign policy apparatus, deciding in secret to carry out policies that had left the US weaker and more isolated in the world, the top aide to former Secretary of State Colin Powell claimed on Wednesday.

In a scathing attack on the record of President George W. Bush, Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, chief of staff to Mr Powell until last January, said: “What I saw was a cabal between the vice-president of the United States, Richard Cheney, and the secretary of defense, Donald Rumsfeld, on critical issues that made decisions that the bureaucracy did not know were being made.

:: Jim Nichols 10/19/2005 10:42:00 PM [+] ::
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In Katrina's wake, a tattoo boom in New Orleans

:: Jim Nichols 10/19/2005 07:48:00 PM [+] ::
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Tonight at dinner the conversation turned to the question of voting and when is it appropriate to abstain as a form of political protest. The idea of abstaining during this special election seemed wrong to me. My Dad brought up my recent presidential votes as an example of abstaining. Weren't my votes for David Cobb in 2004 and Ralph Nader in 2000 examples of abstaining from the political process? To which my dad responded: Who is David Cobb? Maybe the reason I am against abstaining in this election is the fact that I feel so strongly against Proposition 73 which forces parental notification for minors having abortions. But the question remains, does low votor turnout make a political statement or does it simply make politics an easier game for the politically strong to play?

:: Jim Nichols 10/19/2005 07:03:00 PM [+] ::
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Israel considers separate roads in West Bank

Israel is considering a permanent ban on Palestinians using major roads in the occupied West Bank, security sources said on Wednesday, drawing Palestinian condemnation of the idea as a form of apartheid.

:: Jim Nichols 10/19/2005 05:43:00 PM [+] ::
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Senators Say Miers' Answers Inadequate

The senators in charge of Harriet Miers' confirmation are demanding more information from her before hearings begin, with one lawmaker describing the Supreme Court nominee's answers so far as "incomplete to insulting."

:: Jim Nichols 10/19/2005 05:39:00 PM [+] ::
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Make Miers pass a 'litmus test'

:: Jim Nichols 10/19/2005 05:34:00 PM [+] ::
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Bill McInturff

:: Jim Nichols 10/19/2005 05:30:00 PM [+] ::
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Senate Again Fails to Raise Minimum Wage

:: Jim Nichols 10/19/2005 05:23:00 PM [+] ::
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Crisis Averted

Remember the Social Security crisis? Isn't it a bit, um, interesting that the president suddeny stopped thinking it was critical to do something about the program once it became clear that his preferred changes weren't going to be adopted?

:: Jim Nichols 10/19/2005 05:17:00 PM [+] ::
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Starbucks stirs things up with a God quote on cups

Coffee drinkers could get a spiritual jolt with their java in the spring when Starbucks begins putting a God-filled quote from the Rev. Rick Warren, author of the mega-selling The Purpose-Driven Life, on its cups.

:: Jim Nichols 10/19/2005 05:08:00 PM [+] ::
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Rice: U.S. May Still Be in Iraq in 10 Years

Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice declined on Wednesday to rule out American forces still being needed in Iraq a decade from now. Senators warned that the Bush administration must play it straight with the public or risk losing public support for the war.

Pushed by senators from both parties to define the limits of U.S. involvement in Iraq and the Middle East, Rice also declined to rule out the use of military force in
Iran or Syria, although she said the administration prefers diplomacy.

:: Jim Nichols 10/19/2005 05:03:00 PM [+] ::
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Parents' Group Warns Against 4 Fox Shows

Four Fox network programs, led by the comedies "The War at Home," "The Family Guy" and "American Dad," topped a parents group's annual listing of the worst prime-time shows for family viewing.

:: Jim Nichols 10/19/2005 03:58:00 PM [+] ::
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Chris left the band. Chris didn't leave the band. Chris left the band. Chris didn't leave the band.from Wikipedia

In September 2005, G7 Welcoming Committee announced that Chris Hannah had left the band, and the remaining members found a replacement in one Glen Lambert, formerly of the Portage Terriers. This would appear to be a joke however, for a number of reasons. Firstly, many fans say that the singer's voice is clearly Hannah's voice. Secondly Glen Lambert and the Portage Terriers (http://www.portageterriers.com/) seem to be unfindable on the net. Finally the article mentions Hannah leaving in 2003, but he has been seen performing with the band on numerous occasions in 2004. Despite this, the album booklet for Potemkin City Limits credits Glen Lambert as "Guitar, vocals on tracks 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 10 and 12." A later page in the booklet, titled "A Message from Glen" includes a picture depicting Hannah. His fellow bandmembers, however, are referred to as The Rod and Jordy-boy, and on albums past Propagandhi have used humourous pseudonyms in the album booklet credits.

:: Jim Nichols 10/19/2005 03:54:00 PM [+] ::
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Spanish Judge Issues Arrest Order for US Troops

:: Jim Nichols 10/19/2005 03:54:00 PM [+] ::
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Bush whacked Rove on CIA leak

An angry President Bush rebuked chief political guru Karl Rove two years ago for his role in the Valerie Plame affair, sources told the Daily News.

:: Jim Nichols 10/19/2005 03:50:00 PM [+] ::
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Blogging 101--Web logs go to school

:: Jim Nichols 10/19/2005 02:37:00 PM [+] ::
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Fuck yeah

Kemp Says Ex-Felons Should Be Able to Vote

Jack Kemp, the former Republican vice presidential candidate and HUD secretary, urged Congress on Tuesday to require states to restore voting rights for felons once they complete their sentences.

One of the great human rights violations that this country takes part in is the refusal to allow felons to vote.

:: Jim Nichols 10/18/2005 09:46:00 PM [+] ::
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Whats the deal with the gilmore girls tonight. They give away the last scene as if it were going to be resolved tonight instead of what it really was: a tease/spoiler for next week.

:: Jim Nichols 10/18/2005 09:21:00 PM [+] ::
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What the fuck

NBA Introduces New Dress Code for Players

The league announced in a memo to teams on Monday that a minimum dress code will go into effect at the start of the regular season on Nov. 1.

Players will be expected to wear business casual attire whenever they participate in team or league activities, including arriving at games, leaving games and making promotional or other appearances.

Why are they treating the players like children?

:: Jim Nichols 10/18/2005 07:40:00 PM [+] ::
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Albright to Guest Star on 'Gilmore Girls'

Former Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright temporarily traded in her diplomatic duties for a guest appearance on the WB series "Gilmore Girls."

:: Jim Nichols 10/18/2005 07:37:00 PM [+] ::
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PROPAGANDHI released a new album today. And fitting enough, their website has gone down. After only two listens i'm not too impressed. Its much more complex of an album than the light pop enfused punk they used to write. I've argued before and i'm sure i'll argue again that due to the fact that only the drummer remains of the original band this band labeled Propagandhi should rename themselves something else.

:: Jim Nichols 10/18/2005 07:24:00 PM [+] ::
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Prop 78 vs. prop 79

:: Jim Nichols 10/18/2005 05:27:00 PM [+] ::
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Miers supported constitutional amendment to ban abortion

In 1989, Harriet Miers endorsed amending the U.S. Constitution to ban abortion except when necessary to save the life of the woman.

:: Jim Nichols 10/18/2005 05:05:00 PM [+] ::
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Brian Leiter is over in London and he has a few observations to share

:: Jim Nichols 10/18/2005 03:57:00 PM [+] ::
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Anti Flag has moved over to RCA records for their new album.

:: Jim Nichols 10/18/2005 03:47:00 PM [+] ::
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Aid 'too little too late'

Thousands are being sentenced to death because help given by world leaders to deal with natural disasters is "too little, too late", charity Oxfam says.

Its paper "2005: Year of Disasters" suggests that the level of aid depends on the publicity given to a tragedy.

The responses to Niger, Democratic Republic of Congo, Darfur and southern Africa were inadequate, it said.

Oxfam wants to see the setting up of a multi-million pound UN fund to speed up the aid process.

:: Jim Nichols 10/17/2005 10:23:00 PM [+] ::
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Now we are talking about REAL Democracy. Concerns over voter fraud in Iraq

In a statement on Monday evening, the Independent Election Commission of Iraq said the results of the referendum on Saturday would have to be delayed "a few days" because the apparently high number of "yes" votes required election workers to "recheck, compare and audit" the results.

:: Jim Nichols 10/17/2005 07:46:00 PM [+] ::
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I just recently got The Evens album. The Evens are comprised of Ian MacKaye--of Fugazi/Minor Threat fame--on guitar and Amy Farina on drums. I've only had one or two listens but I like it so far. But I must say the best piece of music on rotation at my house is the cd-ep by Against Me "Crime as forgiven by" released by plan-it-x records

:: Jim Nichols 10/17/2005 07:17:00 PM [+] ::
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Rich, Poor See Poverty Very Differently

The dramatic differences between rich and poor that were on view during Hurricane Katrina also can be seen by how those two groups view the causes of poverty. The poor largely believe they were dealt a bad hand while the rich are more apt to say poverty is from lack of effort.

:: Jim Nichols 10/17/2005 05:06:00 PM [+] ::
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Foreign Policy Top 100 Public Intellectuals Results

Number 1 Noam Chomsky

go here for some of Chomskys writings

:: Jim Nichols 10/17/2005 04:37:00 PM [+] ::
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Murder Rate Hits 40-Year Low

The nation's murder rate declined last year for the first time in four years, dropping to the lowest level in 40 years. Experts said local rather than national trends were mostly responsible.

:: Jim Nichols 10/17/2005 04:00:00 PM [+] ::
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A welcome surprise: war waning globally

A new report suggests that the number of violent global conflicts is decreasing.

:: Jim Nichols 10/17/2005 03:54:00 PM [+] ::
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Half-century in mental asylum a mistake..

More than half-a-century ago, Machal Lalung was thought to be insane and sent to a mental asylum in India's remote northeast.

A few months ago, he was set free after the National Human Rights Commission found that healthcare authorities had made a mistake and Lalung suffered only from epilepsy.

:: Jim Nichols 10/17/2005 02:28:00 PM [+] ::
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Jobs abound in New Orleans, housing is obstacle

If you were seeking work in New Orleans in the months before Hurricane Katrina hit, chances are you had to fight to get an employer's attention. Now all you need to do is show up and perhaps pass a drug test

:: Jim Nichols 10/17/2005 02:24:00 PM [+] ::
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Sex workers want rights, end to discrimination

European sex workers called for their profession to be recognized as work Monday, saying they deserved the same social rights as other employees.

Male and female sex workers from the International Committee on the Rights of Sex Workers in Europe (ICRSE) held a news conference in the European Parliament, urging the 25-nation European Union to end discrimination of the sex industry.

:: Jim Nichols 10/17/2005 02:15:00 PM [+] ::
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Did Christian conservatives receive assurances that Miers would oppose Roe v. Wade?

On Oct. 3, the day the Miers nomination was announced, Mr. Dobson and other religious conservatives held a conference call to discuss the nomination. One of the people on the call took extensive notes, which I have obtained. According to the notes, two of Ms. Miers's close friends--both sitting judges--said during the call that she would vote to overturn Roe.

:: Jim Nichols 10/17/2005 02:05:00 PM [+] ::
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The Right and Miers: Sound, Fury, Yawns

Big-name Right-wing bloggers and pundits are livid about Bush's latest Supreme Court pick. So why do polls find only 9% of the GOP faithful oppose her?....

when it comes to Web-driven furor over President Bush's selection of White House Counsel Harriet Miers for a Supreme Court seat, it's the right-wing blogosphere that looks out of sync with its own grassroots.

:: Jim Nichols 10/16/2005 11:45:00 PM [+] ::
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History teacher resigns because of alleged discrimination

Ambrosia, who has taught at Rocklin High School for 11 years, attributed her resignation to the discrimination she alleges she has received as a result of being club adviser to the Gay-Straight Alliance

:: Jim Nichols 10/16/2005 11:43:00 PM [+] ::
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Topic of the day

When are Dillinger Four coming out with a new album!!! Their last album SITUATIONIST COMEDY won me over big time.

:: Jim Nichols 10/16/2005 09:18:00 PM [+] ::
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Administration's Tone Signals a Longer, Broader Iraq Conflict

In the prelude to the war and in the early days of the occupation, Mr. Bush and top members of his national security team compared the effort to remake Iraq to the American occupations of Japan and Germany. As the insurgency grew - a feature missing from those two successful occupations - they dropped that comparison. Richard Armitage, the deputy secretary of state under Colin L. Powell, argued in an interview recently published by an Australian magazine, The Diplomat, that it was a flawed way of thinking from the start.

"Those who argued at the time that the acceptance of democracy in Iraq would be easy, and who drew on our experience with Japan and Germany, were wrong," he said. "First of all, Germany and Japan were homogeneous societies. Iraq is not." He added that the German and Japanese populations were "exhausted and deeply shocked by what had happened," but that Iraqis were "un-shocked and un-awed."

Now administration officials are beginning to describe the insurgency as long-lasting, more akin to Communist insurgencies in Malaysia or the Philippines, but with a broader and more deadly base.

:: Jim Nichols 10/16/2005 08:27:00 PM [+] ::
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Condoleezza Rice on Meet the Press:

But the fact of the matter is that when we were attacked on September 11, we had a choice to make. We could decide that the proximate cause was al-Qaeda and the people who flew those planes into buildings and, therefore, we would go after al-Qaeda and perhaps after the Taliban and then our work would be done and we would try to defend ourselves.

Or we could take a bolder approach, which was to say that we had to go after the root causes of the kind of terrorism that was produced there, and that meant a different kind of Middle East.

I thought we attacked Iraq because of weapons of mass destruction?

:: Jim Nichols 10/16/2005 06:57:00 PM [+] ::
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Fatboy Slim makes Marcos musical

DJ Fatboy Slim and Talking Heads singer David Byrne are writing a musical about former Philippine first lady Imelda Marcos, to be shown next March.

:: Jim Nichols 10/16/2005 02:40:00 PM [+] ::
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Leaders Ask U.S. to End 'Blockade' of Cuba

Leaders of the world's Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries demanded on Saturday that the United States abide by U.N. resolutions to end its "blockade" against Cuba, in a resolution that earlier drew criticism from the U.S. government.

:: Jim Nichols 10/16/2005 01:34:00 AM [+] ::
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Give me your number, in case I die.

Kurt Vonnegut at 82

:: Jim Nichols 10/15/2005 10:28:00 PM [+] ::
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We know what they want, but do we know how they got it? on Punk rock and Anarchy. With a good excerpt on Crass

Crass was loudly anti-violence, anti-police state, adopting the slogan “Anarchy & Peace” with an image of a tommy gun being shattered by the circle-A. The band also pointedly distanced itself from the first punk acts. To Rimbaud and the others, the Pistols and the Clash were merely comfortably left of center, barking of socialism and human rights, while working for the corporate interests of Columbia and Warner Bros.

:: Jim Nichols 10/15/2005 10:23:00 PM [+] ::
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It says alot that nazis can cause a riot. I don't like Nazi's but they are more of a joke than a real threat.

:: Jim Nichols 10/15/2005 09:49:00 PM [+] ::
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Rove Cancels Appearance at Fundraiser for Kilgore

:: Jim Nichols 10/15/2005 09:22:00 PM [+] ::
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Syria... the next scapegoat in the War on Terror

I was struck by this front page article in the New York Times today
G.I.'s and Syrians in Tense Clashes on Iraqi Border

It seems that the U.S. is playing up a claim that foriegn Islamic radicals are a major force in Iraq with

frustration mount[ing] in the Bush administration and among senior American commanders over their inability to prevent foreign radical Islamists from engaging in suicide bombings and other deadly terrorist acts inside Iraq.

But if you read on towards the end of the article it goes on to state that

Some current and former United States military and intelligence officials who said they believed that Americans were already secretly penetrating Syrian territory question what they see as the Bush administration's excessive focus on the threat posed by foreign Arab fighters going through Syria. They say the vast majority of insurgents battling American forces are Iraqis, not foreign jihadis.

According to a new study by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, intelligence analysis and the pattern of detentions in Iraq show that the number of foreign fighters represents "well below 10 percent, and may well be closer to 4 percent to 6 percent" of the total makeup of the insurgency.

One former United States official with access to recent intelligence on the insurgency added that American intelligence reports had concluded that 95 percent of the insurgents were Iraqi.

This former intelligence official said that in conversations with several midcareer American military officers who had recently served in Iraq, they had privately complained to him that senior commanders in Iraq seemed fixated on the issue of foreign fighters, despite the evidence that they represented a small portion of the insurgency.

:: Jim Nichols 10/15/2005 08:11:00 PM [+] ::
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Ads in Va. Governor Race Mention Hitler

The Republican candidate for governor is drawing fire for campaign ads that suggest his Democratic opponent is so averse to the death penalty he would have spared Adolph Hitler from execution.

:: Jim Nichols 10/15/2005 06:57:00 PM [+] ::
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Special Election

In an attempt to see what the other side thinks I went to the California Republican partys website. One problem is you can't pull up any info on the special election. The web site is all fucked up. Just one more reason why the Republican Party is so weak in California.

:: Jim Nichols 10/15/2005 06:50:00 PM [+] ::
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'God Bloggers' Head to National Conference

What would Jesus blog? That and other pressing questions drew 135 Christians to Southern California this weekend for a national conference billed as the first-ever for "God bloggers," a growing community of online writers who exchange information and analyze current events from a Christian perspective.

:: Jim Nichols 10/15/2005 06:46:00 PM [+] ::
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Miers and Presidential Power

When the Senate Judiciary Committee begins its hearings on the Miers nomination, Senators should carefully probe her views on presidential power. And, as noted in an earlier posting, they should also ask about her views on the relevance of international legal rules to the exercise of this presidential power during time of war-- in particular, the Geneva Convention Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War and the Torture Convention.

:: Jim Nichols 10/15/2005 06:08:00 PM [+] ::
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Pentagon wants new spying powers in US

Claiming it needs greater latitude for the war on terror, the US Senate Intelligence Committee has approved a request from the Pentagon for the right to "covertly" gather intelligence on US citizens in order to determine whether they can recruit them as informants, without telling them that they are doing so on behalf of the US government.

:: Jim Nichols 10/15/2005 05:54:00 PM [+] ::
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Democrats' hopes rise for 2006 election

Democrats on Capitol Hill see their best hope in a decade to sweep back into power in midterm elections on the coattails of Republican ethical woes.

I don't see it happening...

:: Jim Nichols 10/15/2005 05:52:00 PM [+] ::
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You can now order the new propagandhi album Potemkin City Limits here

THe real question is can you still call them Propagandhi? The bass player left two albums ago and guitarist/ vocalist Chris Hannah left in 2003 meaning the only origianl member is the drummer. Basically its now a group of people who have gotten together to play Propagandhi songs. I guess we call them Propagandhi...

:: Jim Nichols 10/15/2005 05:34:00 PM [+] ::
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Marijuana could improve memory, reduce anxiety and depression

Canadian researchers have discovered that smoking marijuana could improve a person's memory and mood.

A team at the University of Saskatchewan headed by Xia Zhang found that injections of a potent HU210 synthetic substance that mimics the active ingredients in cannabis increases the production of neurons in the hippocampus area of the brain in rats

:: Jim Nichols 10/15/2005 05:27:00 PM [+] ::
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Daniel Weintraub has some ideas on how to get Iraqis out of the group think and into a more individualist perspective.

:: Jim Nichols 10/15/2005 05:08:00 PM [+] ::
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ProfessorBainbridge.com: The Conservative Case Against Wal-Mart:

:: Jim Nichols 6/03/2005 06:02:00 PM [+] ::
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'Purple power' pulls new laws through House

Despite the partisan saber- rattling on Capitol Hill, a significant number of votes in the GOP-controlled House are passing with broad Democratic support.

:: Jim Nichols 5/31/2005 08:21:00 PM [+] ::
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Nobel Laureate urges keeping yuan stable:

"Nobel Price Laureate Robert A. Mundell, also known as the father of the Euro, reaffirmed Monday his position that China should maintain its currency exchange policy despite pressure from Western countries. "

:: Jim Nichols 5/31/2005 08:07:00 PM [+] ::
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Rev. Who Denied God Exists Back in Pulpit - Yahoo! News:

"A Danish Lutheran minister who publicly denied the existence of God said Sunday he was glad to be back in the pulpit, but refused to speak about the case that led to his brief suspension last year. "

:: Jim Nichols 5/30/2005 02:06:00 PM [+] ::
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Nine Inch Nails drops MTV show over Bush backdrop - Yahoo! News:

"The rock band Nine Inch Nails said on Friday it canceled plans to appear on next week's MTV Movie Awards after the network questioned the band's plans to perform in front of an image of President Bush"

"We were set to perform 'The Hand That Feeds' with an unmolested, straightforward image of George W. Bush as the backdrop. Apparently, the image of our president is as offensive to MTV as it is to me,"

:: Jim Nichols 5/28/2005 02:14:00 PM [+] ::
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Hot Hot Heat's new album is a little disappointing

:: Jim Nichols 4/19/2005 05:42:00 PM [+] ::
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Yahoo! News - Are Bloggers Journalists?:

"A California judge issued a preliminary ruling on Mar. 3 that three bloggers who published leaked information about an unreleased Apple product must divulge their confidential sources. If the ruling holds, it will set a precedent certain to reverberate through the blogosphere because this means under the law bloggers aren't considered journalists. "

:: Jim Nichols 3/08/2005 12:32:00 PM [+] ::
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"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are
always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts."
-- Bertrand Russel

:: Jim Nichols 2/28/2005 06:34:00 PM [+] ::
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Health care costs temper business optimism Universal Health Care will never happen in this country until big business demands it. As health care costs rise and companys are left holding the bag the more you will see a push towards some kind of solution to this problem.

:: Jim Nichols 2/28/2005 06:33:00 PM [+] ::
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Dictionary.com/misandry Misandry-- Hatred of Men

:: Jim Nichols 2/28/2005 06:29:00 PM [+] ::
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"A man will fight harder for his interests than for his rights."
-- Napolean Bonaparte

:: Jim Nichols 2/27/2005 06:27:00 PM [+] ::
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MSNBC - Teen sex increased after abstinence program:

"Abstinence-only sex education programs, a major plank in President George W. Bush?s education plan, have had no impact on teenagers? behavior in his home state of Texas, according to a new study."

:: Jim Nichols 2/25/2005 11:18:00 PM [+] ::
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Thomas P.M. Barnett :: Weblog: Europe on Iran, China on North Korea, US on the sidelines:

"Europe leads on Iran, while China hosts the six-party talks. If nothing else, this signals the limits of U.S. military power right now: our inability to do the SysAdmin job in Iraq means there?s little we can do on either Iran or North Korea. Ultimately, we?ll end up living with the consequences of this strategic weakness, which is why we?d be so much better off seeking dramatically better answers in the short-term with serious leadership instead of watching from the sidelines. Iran will get the bomb, and Europe will end up making the deal. North Korea will eventually implode, and what Asia will get is a dominating China with America nowhere in sight. "

:: Jim Nichols 2/25/2005 11:11:00 PM [+] ::
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Stiglitz on Social Security

:: Jim Nichols 2/25/2005 07:27:00 PM [+] ::
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Yahoo! News - Kraft Halts Production of Roadkill Candy:

"Production of candy shaped like roadkill has come to a screeching halt. The decision, announced Friday by Kraft Foods Inc., was the result of an outcry by New Jersey animal rights activists who said the candy encouraged children to be cruel to animals. "

:: Jim Nichols 2/25/2005 07:07:00 PM [+] ::
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Social Security

Something that I think is not brought up enough is that the Republicans want to change Social Security for many reasons. To dismantle the Great Society program is one of them. But another aspect is to make government programs more complex and less efficient. By making government less efficient you get people to distrust government programs. By making people think that government programs can never be run well you get them to distrust government which is the underlying conservative philosophy. You get people thinking "government can never do anything well so maybe they shouldn't do anything at all."

:: Jim Nichols 2/25/2005 06:51:00 PM [+] ::
...