the same river twice: 02.2004

you just have to unplug from the Matrix, man!

OK, Mr. Locke, you asked for it. You won the rock the vote grant, or whatever comparable award a teacher gets for promoting politics to the disillusioned youth. Now unplug, step back. You've been living in a giant fabricated reality that wants you to think it's real. It's called the American political system, and once you get out of it, you can see clearly that these confines, these shackles, these BORDERS! are harming us.

Did you think you had the sole proprietorship of losing your heart at the '92 election? I was at the Inauguration in D.C.! Only, I wasn't cheering for our boy, Clinton. No, I fell hard for Al. And like a groupie outside Bono's door, I waited 9 long years for another shot at him! Then, in November 2000, even though I was eight months pregnant, and my apartment was mostly dismantled and moved to the house, I sat awake _all_night_long_ to watch his fall from grace.

Ms. Mary Anne Glendon and her fellow progress'ophobes think the California and Massachusetts marriages are "government of four people," well, the country saw a government of five people three and a half years ago. Today I passed a car with a bumper sticker that read "Election 2004: End of an error." Like our Mr. Locke, this guy somehow escaped total disillusion. I honor that, but I don't share it.

The key reason Dean never surfaced in the float test is the same reason I supported him. He was unwilling to be Terry Mcauliffe's yes-man. Aside from Kucinich and Sharpton, I don't see another Democratic candidate that deserves my vote. There are eight months left before the election, I'm open to seeing new evidence emerge, but simply not being quite as bad as Bush is just the kind of quitter talk that convinced Al to shut up and take defeat like a man back in 2000.

Like the Bush administration's oversimplified duality of good and evil countries in the world, the dichotomous system of Republican and Democrat parties in America serves to perpetuate the status quo and distort reality. Look at national poles, and magically, everyone seems to perfectly fall at 50-50 percentiles. Elections are suddenly all a draw. Realistically, is there any way we all fall so neatly down two sides? It's all a big lie manufactured by six (next week it should be five) giant corporations to whom the status quo has been pretty good, and you're choosing to stay plugged into that lie. Rise above it! Ally yourself with progress first, and pick a candidate second.

After learning the lesson of Nader--that as long as the dual-party system exists in the US, we'll be stuck with shades of gray--I'm left to hope multiple parties pop up over my lifetime, and support that progress where I can. But more important, I'm free to look at change as a global issue that doesn't have to depend on whichever uber-patriotic wacko gets to answer the red phone next year. As an individual, you can--and probably should--vote. But that's just one day of the year. On the other 364 days, do what you can (and I know you do, you're a teacher) to support the efforts that actually are making a difference.

homesick

Night before last I dreamt we were in our Earthship at Greater World. That night, before I went to bed, I had sat in front of my desktop wallpaper--a panoramic picture we took last October from the porch of the Harris Earthship. The photo shows just a portion of the gorgeous view that sweeps across the highland plateau, eerily masking the Rio Grande Gorge, and is crowned by Taos Mountain in the foreground, and Wheeler Peak behind. When you look at this picture on my 17-inch iMac's screen, you can almost fool your brain into believing you're looking out a window. And so my brain returned the favor by almost fooling me into believing I was in my very own Earthship, just for a night. It was a sweet gift.

Yesterday was such a hard day for us, John with work and me without it, at the day's end we sat huddled on the couch listening to the children sleep and recovering our stronghold on sanity. We both felt it, I'm so glad John said it first. He was homesick. I confessed I'd been hoping his travel wouldn't be approved and he laughed in relief. We decided to scrap Russia and spend our resources on going back home to northern New Mexico more frequently. Moscow would have been fantastic, and I love traveling abroad with the children. But there's only one place in the world that I recharge, and I'm so empty that I'm running on fumes. Just making the decision made the world feel lighter.

This morning John played KTAO as we dressed the kids and he cooked. We all put on sweaters and carried thermal mugs and a bag of breakfast burritos over to Memorial so we could pretend we were watching the Balloon Fiesta instead of the Rodeo Parade. I tried to put out of my mind the smell of horse shit, the abundant Texas flags, and the obvious racial segregation (all of the 200+ African American riders were put together at the trailride's end, instead of interspersed throughout), and instead focus on believing I was watching the most beautiful spectacle eyes can view as balloons rise above the Sangre de Cristos on a crisp mountain fall morning.

the year's themesong has emerged

Angel from Montgomery: "ANGEL FROM MONTGOMERY

I am an old woman named after my mother
My old man is another child that's grown old
If dreams were thunder, lightning were desire
This old house would have burnt down a long time ago.

Make me an angel that flies from Montgomery
Make me a poster of an old rodeo.
Just give me one thing that I can hold on to
To believe in this living is just a hard way to go.

When I was a young girl, I had me a cowboy
He weren't much to look at, just a free rambling man.
But that was a long time and no matter how I try
The years just flow by like a broken down dam.

Make me an angel that flies from Montgomery
Make me a poster of an old rodeo.
Just give me one thing that I can hold on to
To believe in this living is just a hard way to go.

There's flies in the kitchen I can hear 'em there buzzing
And I ain't done nothing since I woke up today.
How the hell can a person go work in the morning
And come home in the evening and have nothing to say?

Make me an angel that flies from Montgomery
Make me a poster of an old rodeo.
Just give me one thing that I can hold on to
To believe in this living is just a hard way to go.

Make me an angel that flies from Montgomery
Make me a poster of an old rodeo.
Just give me one thing that I can hold on to
To believe in this living is just a hard way to go.
To believe in this living is just a hard way to go.
Written by: John Prine
Walden Music
Sour Grapes Music
"

great messagein the guardian today from a preaching prince

Guardian Unlimited | Guardian daily comment | We have become allergic to our western way of life: "There is accumulating evidence that the rise in allergies could be directly linked to the way in which we live and the environment which we inhabit. Sir Tom Blundell, chairman of the the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, argues that 'given our understanding of the way chemicals interact with the environment, you could say we are running a gigantic experiment with humans and all other living things as the subject'. The evidence so far appears disturbing: the thinning of seabirds' eggshells, sex changes in fish and shellfish, reduced human male fertility, and a rise in certain cancers linked to chemicals that have found their way into our environment and food chain.

A study by scientists at the University of Lancaster has shown that organophosphorus pesticides that were banned some 15-20 years ago are still detectable in the blood. The fact that flame retardants, pesticides and dioxins can cross from mother to infant in breast milk is also a cause for concern.

Our disregard for the delicate web that sustains our environment is leading to its degradation. There are in excess of 30,000 chemicals in products that we use and dispose of which have never been tested. The application of modern computational techniques coupled with improved environmental and health monitoring would go a long way towards rectifying this situation."

trading limos for a Prius

Keisha Castle-Hughes of the Whale Rider is the latest star to choose to be delivered to the red carpet via Toyota Prius rather than the traditional stretch limo. Go Keisha. Did I need another reason to love her?

When I told John, he said this is another good reason (aside from our family's needs: why can't a normal carseat fit in the back of a VW?!) for car companies to invest in hybrid-izing SUVs.

TV this week

Top picks of the week are Scrubs and Ellen DeGeneres (Tuesday). To be fair, I haven't watched West Wing off of TiVo yet. Scrubs was in top form, maybe one of the best ever, even though I did ruin the ending for my husband with my guessing. Ellen DeGeneres had Allison Janney on Tuesday, and those two had chemistry! They were so funny. I guess they must have become friends back in the day when Finding Nemo was filmed. Allison's been on Ellen's show a few times, and they've created something of a pingpong feud. Ellen won this match. And I thought Allison's overlay (Ellen called it an apron) was beautiful, I wish I had one.

After a week off, it was nice to have live Daily Shows back. John Stuart had the funniest commentary on the gay marriage bit that I've yet seen. And speaking of the gay marriage bit, I almost cried the first time I saw Rosie and Kelli walk out of that court house in San Francisco. We're watching social change here folks, live. This will be on the history channel when our kids are adults.

Big disappointments included MTV's overly billed episode of the Osbournes in which Ozzy had his accident. The suspense killed me (it nearly killed Ozzy), and when we got to the big moment they skipped right over it. Not even sounds with no visuals. I'm trying to be charitable here, by assuming it was too painful for the family to show. But why show anything at all if you're not going to show it all? I mean, Coral's anaphilactic shock was more exciting than this.

And then there's the issue of Carmen and Dave's wedding. Either my TiVo missed it somehow, or they didn't actually show it this week after all. Somebody enlighten me.

Friends has actually gotten so bad that Celebrity Survivor looks appealing. Hatch sure took his snuff-out well. I used to think he was so icky, but if he loses with as much grace as he won with, he rises on my list.

I'm looking forward to Now tonight on PBS, but I don't know what I'll do Sunday without Sex.

Candidates on the issues: Space

Candidates on the issues: Space: "The Associated Press chooses an issue three times a week and asks the presidential candidates a question about it.

SPACE: Do you support the plan to return astronauts to the moon by 2020 in preparation for manned missions to Mars?"

Guardian Unlimited | US elections 2004 | Leading evangelicals down the aisle

Guardian Unlimited | US elections 2004 | Leading evangelicals down the aisle: "The national lines are clearly drawn so that the younger, more Democratic, and less godly you are, them more you are likely to disagree with the president. There are plenty of close affiliates who are not going to like it either. The gay 'Log Cabin Republicans' are already threatening a guerrilla campaign against it. Party legislators on Capitol Hill are beginning to grumble about committing to an amendment process that could take years."

Guardian Unlimited Film | News | Gibson film ignores vow to remove blood libel

Guardian Unlimited Film | News | Gibson film ignores vow to remove blood libel: "...Geza Vermes, a former professor of Jewish Studies at Oxford and the author of five books on the life of Christ, writes of the film in today's Guardian: 'I have never seen anything so dreadful and I hope I never will.'

The blood-spattered two-hour film about the crucifixion - in which all the dialogue is in contemporary languages with English subtitles - has provoked complaints from Britain's Jewish organisations but a broad welcome from evangelical Christians and Catholics.

Prof Vermes immediately picked holes in the film, criticising its use of 'Catholic church Latin' by the Roman soldiers instead of the Greek they would have spoken, pointing out that Pilate is referred to as the 'governor' rather than the prefect of the province and spotting that the wrong Aramaic word for God is used throughout.

The British Board of Deputies of British Jews said: 'It would have been better if this film had never been made. The glorification of violence and bloodshed and the reinforcement of medieval stereotyping of the Jewish people are extremely dangerous.'

But Joel Edwards, general director of the Evangelical Alliance, said: '[We] believe the film will provide a good opportunity for Christians to talk to others about Jesus.'

In Rome, the veteran Italian film director Franco Zeffirelli, who himself made a controversial film about the life of Christ, said Gibson was 'sinisterly attracted to the most unrestrained violence'..."

NYT Op-Ed Columnist: Stations of the Crass

Op-Ed Columnist: Stations of the Crass: "...Like Mr. Gibson, Mr. Bush is whipping up intolerance but calling it a sacred cause.

At first, the preacher-in-chief resisted conservative calls for a constitutional ban on gay marriage. He felt, as Jesus put it in the Gibson script (otherwise known as the Gospels), "If it is possible, let this chalice pass from me."

But under pressure from the Christian right, he grabbed the chalice with both hands and swigged — seeking to set a precedent in codifying discrimination in the Constitution, a document that in the past has been amended to correct discrimination by giving fuller citizenship rights to blacks, women and young people.

If the president is truly concerned about preserving the sanctity of marriage, as one of my readers suggested, why not make divorce illegal and stone adulterers?..."

Defiant Downloads Rise From Underground

Defiant Downloads Rise From Underground: "More than 300 Web sites and blogs staged a 24-hour online protest yesterday over a record company's efforts to stop them from offering downloadable copies of 'The Grey Album.' A popular underground collection of music, 'The Grey Album' mixes tracks from the Beatles' classic White Album with raps from Jay-Z's latest release, 'The Black Album.'

The protesters billed the event as 'Grey Tuesday,' calling it 'a day of coordinated civil disobedience,' during which more than 150 sites offered the album for download. Recording industry lawyers saw it as 24 hours of mass copyright infringement and sent letters to the Web sites demanding that they not follow through on the protest.

'The Grey Album' is a critically praised collection of tracks created by Brian Burton, a Los Angeles D.J. who records as Danger Mouse. Mr. Burton created the album by layering Jay-Z's a cappella raps from 'The Black Album,' released on Jay-Z's Roc-A-Fella label, over music he arranged using melodies and rhythms from 'The Beatles,' commonly known as the White Album..."

"

blogging cops? crap.

cadence90: "I don't like to drive while talking on the phone, so I usually just let calls go through to voicemail. Today, however, I knew I was going to get an important call, so when the phone rang while I was in my car on Route 2, I pulled over into the breakdown lane, put my hazard lights on, and took the call.

I was talking on the phone when I was startled by a knock on the driver's window. I looked over to see a state trooper. I rolled down the window.

'Yes officer?'
'Are you okay?'
'Oh. Oh yeah. I just pulled over to make a phone call, I don't like to talk and drive.'
'Okay. By the way, what's blogging? I saw it on your bumper sticker.'

Well, there may be a state trooper blog joining the blogosphere."

Guardian Unlimited | US elections 2004 | The third man

Guardian Unlimited | US elections 2004 | The third man: "Some Democrats think Ralph Nader will split the progressive vote again, but they have little to fear, write Albert Scardino and John Scardino

Don't blame Ralph Nader for President George Bush. Blame Al Gore, or Hillary Clinton, or better still George Bush. Clarence Thomas, the US supreme court judge, had more responsibility for elevating Bush than Nader did..."

The Last Word: The Da Vinci Con

The Last Word: The Da Vinci Con: "''The Da Vinci Code'' is one long chase scene in which the main characters flee a sinister Parisian policeman and an albino monk assassin, but its rudimentary suspense alone couldn't have made it a hit. At regular intervals, the book brings its pell-mell plot to a screeching halt and emits a pellet of information concerning a centuries-old conspiracy that purports to have preserved a tremendous secret about the roots of Christianity itself. This ''nonfiction'' material gives ''The Da Vinci Code'' its frisson of authenticity, and it's lifted from ''Holy Blood, Holy Grail,'' one of the all-time great works of pop pseudohistory. But what seems increasingly clear (to cop a favorite phrase from the authors of ''Grail'') is that ''The Da Vinci Code,'' like ''Holy Blood, Holy Grail,'' is based on a notorious hoax."

Uses and Abuses of Science

Uses and Abuses of Science: "lthough the Bush administration is hardly the first to politicize science, no administration in recent memory has so shamelessly distorted scientific findings for policy reasons or suppressed them when they conflict with political goals. This is the nub of an indictment delivered last week by more than 60 prominent scientists, including 20 Nobel laureates. Their statement was accompanied by a report published by the Union of Concerned Scientists, listing cases where the administration has manipulated science on environmental and other issues.

"

the end of Sex

So here we are, capping off a long run of witty, pretty, tipsy ladies conversing Seinfeld-style in Manhattan about all sorts of things that either hit eerily close to home or fantastically far from it. It's hard to feel too much a sense of closure at this juncture because we might be heading for a screenplay before long. I have to assume that, like the X-Files end movie that never came to be, this is the end.

At the show's beginning Carrie was near 30, the fabled age of the end of youth and the beginning of adulthood. Now nearing 40, Carrie has defied adulthood, ballyhooing ticking biological clocks, career ladders, and men who neither deserved monogamy nor entertained her social wanderlust. In essence, she defied the image of American women through their thirties.

In this, the last season, the writers were obvious with their struggle to find the point to all these shoes and cosmopolitans. It seems they picked maturity to be the meaning of middle-aged urban life. So like lost orphans off of soap opera scripts, our four girls matured before the camera a little too rapidly, through these last seven episodes.

Miranda matured when she realized family sacrifices trumped living in Manhattan. Charlotte matured when she was forced to refocus her vision of motherhood from a pretty pregnancy with high society baby showers and very expensive maternity clothes to the more achievable avenue of adoption. Samantha had maybe the truest moment of personal maturity this season, not when she underwent breast cancer, but rather when she found love and companionship more valuable than edgy sex, as in the episode where Smith was waiting outside the elevator door.

Where's Carrie in all this maturing? I hoped experiencing other cultures would bring about her catharsis, but no, in an attempt to celebrate the same values, just a little geographically removed, she fell flat on her face. Literally. In the Paris Dior. We're left with a man A or man B plot conclusion. Last night I dreamt about it! I was deciding in my dream that surely she must choose Alexander because choosing Big would leave the hopeful movie devoid of sexual tension. Now, in my more lucid hours, I have to amend my proposal just a bit.

She should choose Alexander, and it should work out miserably. Then, the movie could be filled with cute little narrations as she, in her expatriate solitude, writes a fantastic book (because we all know expatriate solitude produces fantastic books), and return to New York a triumphant success in her career, nevermind the sexual failure.

Don't look for any of this to happen. Just enjoy the kinship of women across the country as we sit down together to say farewell to Sex. Lift a cosmopolitan for Carrie Bradshaw, the woman that defied her thirties.

Btw, here's a nice conversation between two women smarter than I, about what should happen to Carrie:
Do We Need Men to Be Happy?

big sugar and US gov vs. WHO's sugar policy

The Observer | Focus | America stirs up a sugar rebellion: "One of those who saw the intensive lobbying efforts at first hand is Dr Pekka Puska, who was head of non-communicable diseases at the WHO until he left to run Finland's leading public health institute.

'After we produced the 916 report, the lobbying was quite extraordinary, particularly when they threatened to withdraw US financial support to WHO,' recalled Puska.

'We had done everything possible to be transparent, to be fair and rigorous, and we held meetings around the world on it. Ours was a balanced road-map to help individual nations decide how they could combat this trend. Every third person in the world has cardiovascular disease - how can we stand by and not try to do something?'

The decision by the US government to fight the global strategy has come as a major shock to many experts in the field. Bruce Silverglade, of the US health campaign group Centre for Science in the Public Interest, said that the influence of 'Big Sugar' in the about-turn was obvious.

"

The Observer | Food monthly | The big issue

The Observer | Food monthly | The big issue: "The beginnings of America's little weight problem can be traced to the Seventies, when Richard Nixon appointed Earl Butz to be his secretary of agriculture. Butz's job, among other things, was to ensure that disgruntled farmers voted the right way. The result, to cut a long story short, was that corn production soared to an all-time high. By the early Eighties, Butz's legacy was clear: prices on most commodities were down, a state of affairs that has continued ever since. The government still underwrites the production of corn to the exclusion of just about everything else. President Bush has recently passed a bill giving farmers $800 billion over the next 10 years.

Then came several crucial technological developments. In 1971, scientists in Japan found a way to produce a cheaper sweetener than sugar: high-fructose corn syrup, or HFCS. Made from corn, it was six times sweeter than sugar. However, unlike sucrose or dextrose, it takes a different route into the human metabolism and, as a result, is rather less healthy than other sugars. In the mid-Seventies, palm oil, previously tricky to process, became available as commercial fat, fit for frying French fries and for baking cookies; moreover, products made with it last. Unfortunately, it is also 45 per cent saturated fat. Palm oil and HFCS changed the nature of the foods Americans love to eat forever.

Finally, there was the abandonment of portion control. It took the fast food companies a surprisingly long time to realise that people would rather buy one vast portion of fries or one giant bucket of Coke than look greedy and buy two smaller ones. But once Taco Bell and McDonald's had trialled this idea and their sales rocketed sky high, there was no going back. Bigness was here to stay; customers felt ripped off if they were offered anything less. As of 1996, 25 percent of the $97 billion spent on fast food came from items promoted on the basis of larger size or extra portions. Such changes have had a startling effect on what an American requires to make him feel satiated."

code of ethics for non-profits

Backstage.com: "...consider what a Washington, D.C.-based coalition of philanthropic organizations has done, in what may be a first for the not-for-profit arena. It has published a comprehensive set of ethical guidelines covering everything from proper fiscal practices to the ways to guard against conflicts of interest.

Called 'Statement of Values and Code of Ethics for Nonprofit and Philanthropic Organizations' and developed by a task force of Independent Sector, itself a prominent nonprofit, the document in part aims to quell the growing movement, especially among some state and federal officials, for a much more rigorous legislative oversight of nonprofit groups..."

Yahoo! News - Drum Sessions Protect Employees from Burnout

Yahoo! News - Drum Sessions Protect Employees from Burnout: "Participating in drumming sessions may help people defend themselves from the stress and burnout that can cause them to leave their jobs, according to the findings of a new study."

a royal society for what?

Yahoo! News - Danger: Wooden Floors, Scooters -- and Trouser Zips: "As many as 5,310 people in Britain needed treatment after being felled pulling on a pair of trousers in 2002, up from 3,695 four years previously.

But on a more encouraging note for British men, there was a mild decrease in the far more serious trouser business of 'zip-related mishaps.' These eye-watering injuries fell to 700 in 2002 from 800 in 1998."

now that you know who Jasmin Tabatabai is...

go listen to this CD!
Jasmin Tabatabai - Songs from the film "bandits"

more on Iron Jawed Angels

I've noticed an awful lot of search strings in my sitemeter regarding the Iron Jawed Angels (or IJA as the coolkids on the boards are calling it) soundtrack. Since I, too, thoroughly enjoyed the music, I thought I'd go see what all the searching was about. Sure enough, it's pretty impossible to find anything out. Apparently, a soundtrack hasn't been produced. I don't think HBO fully appreciated what a success their movie would be. Now that the buzz is out, though, I'm sure one's in rapid production. What you can do, however, is locate the songs yourself and either download them individually (hint-hint, John) or buy all the stars' CDs. Here's an incomplete songlist. Feel free to let me know if anyone finds a list I can link.

Adtunes.com Forums -> HBO Films "Iron Jawed Angels" song: "As of now I know the following songs were used in the movie:

Titiyo - Come Along
Vertical Horizon - Everything You Want
Lauryn Hill - Everything Is Everything
Sarah McLachlan - Fumbling Towards Ecstasy

I also know German singer Jasmin Tabatabai provides a song or more, but do not have the name of those."

I can also add: Vertical Horizon ("Everything You Want"), Mandalay ("Beautiful", during the credits), Titiyo ("Come Along"), Weekend Players ("Angel"), and Jasmin Tabatabai sings the version of Will the Circle be Unbroken that's in the credits.

Since I complained so much about the dearth of decent reviews for this film, I want to point out a good one I stumbled across out of Dallas' Star Telegram:

Also, here is a nice compilation page NPR put up on IJA-related articles.

here's a funny bit on diets

Michael Nielsen: Comment on Getting fit: "I think this is a good place to share a disturbing thought that occured to me a while ago: in order to lose weight, you have to actually excrete more mass than you take in. I mean, unless you happen to be nuclear powered, you can't really 'burn weight off' by turning it into energy. For some reason this is so counter-intuitive that it had three of us physics grad students momentarily doubting conservation of mass...

Now obviously exercize *does* work (I lost some, oh, 13 kg this summer myself. Gained a little of it back now that it's cold here in Chicago, unfortunately...) so presumably what it's doing is causing you to excrete more than you otherwise would -- the by-products of the metabolism of that fat which you weren't metabolizing. But think of it -- those by-products have to add up to eight (or thirteen) kilograms! No wonder it takes such a long time. I wonder if exercize makes you breathe denser?

I find this line of thought dovetails nicely with the 'eat more fiber' advice that nearly all diets recommend..."

for the Sharon Osbourne adoption searchers

after getting a couple of querries for Sharon Osbourne adoption or Sharon Osborne adoption, I decided to go poking around for the back story myself. So, loving public, here you go!

iVillage.co.uk: The Women's Network | Print this article: "In addition, Sharon has just revealed that she has adopted the teenage son of a woman who recently died from colon cancer. Robert Marcato has been a friend of her daughters for years and Sharon was moved to help when his mother died of the same disease she herself is currently battling."

Eureka!

The dream team ticket: Ralph Nader and Dennis Kucinich

this is funny:
Electablog* Campaign News with all the Carbs

remembering that I don't care about politics anymore, I just have to say...

I'm feeling pretty good about supporting Nader these days. If Kerry gets the nod, I'm not inclined to vote for a Bush-lite candidate. Besides, I think Ralph Nader tops the list (which also includes France, Russia, Germany, and Kofi Anon) of individuals the American people at large need to issue apologies for. Everything Nader said about corporations running Washington has come to pass. And moreover, everything he said about Dems just being a shade of gray off the Republican party was proven when they backed Bush on Homeland Security, Afghanistan, and Iraq.

The Seattle Times: Nation & World: Campaign Notebook: Nader candidacy expected " WASHINGTON Â Former Green Party candidate Ralph Nader is poised to declare that he will seek the presidency again this year, this time as an independent and despite a vigorous effort by the left to dissuade him, according to friends and associates.

"I think there's very little doubt," said Micah Sifry, author of a book on third-party politics and a longtime Nader watcher. "I think he's going to run."

Nader, blamed for tilting the 2000 election to President Bush by siphoning off votes from Al Gore, twice has delayed saying whether he would be a candidate, but insiders expect the declaration next week.

Sifry is part of the campaign to stop Nader from running, including an open letter to him last month in The Nation, a liberal magazine that has been associated with Nader for 30 years. Nader contributors from 2000, such as Ben Cohen, a co-founder of Ben & Jerry's ice cream, also are organizing "No, Ralph, No" efforts.

Some Nader advocates had an epiphany after the 2000 election. Bush beat Gore by 537 votes in Florida, where Nader received 97,488 votes. Nader also arguably cost Gore New Hampshire.

Nader always has rejected the spoiler label. "It is not my job to elect my opponents," he has said."

Iron Jawed Angels

Last night Sex and the City wrapped into Iron Jawed Angels (slithy HBO!), so I ended up TiVo-ing and watching this movie accidentally. Was it accident, though, or providence? I ask because the movie was amazing. I hadn't even seen a trailer, so I didn't know a thing about it. I just started enjoying the filming, music, and then plot, and then suddenly recognized everything from old history and lit classes in college and realized I was watching a true story, of Alice Paul and the NWP's efforts over eight years to attain for women the right to vote.

The movie focused heavily on the legacy of mothers and their daughters. When current events or obstacles made their sacrifices appear too deep, the characters seemed to repeatedly refocus on the beneficiaries of their work: their young girls, and women yet to live. I felt such an emotional connection with their trials, as one of the women who benefits from the progress made by the suffrage movement every day as well as the mother of a baby girl whose benefits will be even more pronounced.

I think the message of the movie that also spoke to me, particularly in this time of political disillusion, was to not become mired in the dichotomy of politics in the US, as presented by Republicans and Democrats. Both are part of the same system, both resist the forces that might change them, either by introducing other parties and therefore lessening their stronghold on power, or by putting social change firmly in the hands of the people rather than the rulers, as in the internet and online commerce. I want to work for change with my life, and I truly believe for maybe the first time that the best way to do that is anyway but American politics. Standing outside of the inner circle of biparty rulership, a circle that never acknowledged my presence anyway, due to my age and gender, I feel free and empowered to really fight for progress.

In Alice Paul's time, she was fighting simply for women to join the discussion, to be given a voice in the fight for progress. I can't waste her efforts. She--and the women who stood next to her--burst the paradigm that women were fit simply to mind the home, and couldn't be trusted with important political matters. At the time, such a notion was considered extreme and ridiculous, much as desegregation and civil rights seemed when people like Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, and on other continents, Nelson Mandela and Steven Biko burst the paradigm that skin color somehow mandated a hierarchy in the human race. What paradigms seem extreme and ridiculous now? I think the notion that a border should somehow mandate whether a child starves or thrives is a good one, as well as the idea that water must be an inalienable human right. Equality not dependent on sexual orientation or religious affiliation seems a no-brainer, but we still haven't gotten it.

After watching this movie and feeling so moved by its history and message, I went poking around the web for reviews. Sure enough, somebody didn't like it. The Orlando Sentinel said: "HBO's latest film strives to make viewers feel fury at the treatment of early 20th-century suffragettes. They faced the public's taunting, endured hunger strikes in prison and challenged President Woodrow Wilson's indifference. But Iron Jawed Angels might make the audience angrier at the filmmakers, who have fumbled a tremendous story through heavy-handed, unfocused storytelling. Director Katja von Garnier has a touch that could be described as throttling." I had to laugh out loud at the drastic culture shift this Hal Boedeker reviewer represented. He must be so far over the hill that he's lost his way! The "unfocused storytelling" was the creative filming that drew me to the film in the first place! The drama was punctuated by a soundtrack rich in modern femmes like Lauren Hill and Sarah McLaughlin, that I guess this guy hasn't heard of. The resulting effect was the first time I'd seen a twenties-era film that made it feel like just a few years ago, with some connection to my present culture. The music and filming were just enough to fill in the gaps I'd always felt separated that distant era from my own.

Most other reviews were more flattering to the movie, but the reviewers still had a nasty tendency to caveat their praise with admonishings against such a modern twist. God forbid we make a movie about women bursting paradigms that actually speaks to women the same age as those who initially burst the paradigms!

Southern Baptists Bring New York Their Gospel

Southern Baptists Bring New York Their Gospel: "The campaign began with Chicago in 2000 and moved on to Phoenix, Boston, Las Vegas and Miami. Now New York will be the site of its biggest push yet. Southern Baptist missionaries began meeting with local church officials two years ago to lay the groundwork for the campaign's official kickoff this year. The denomination is sending at least several hundred volunteers and is spending several million dollars to support the effort, Dr. Reccord said.

But New York may also present the ultimate test of the Southern Baptists' evangelism. To many evangelical Christians and more than a few New Yorkers themselves, the city occupies a special place as something close to an American Babylon, perhaps the least Christian and most secular metropolis in the country. 'I don't know if I thought of it as Sin City, but I knew it wasn't the closest place to God,' Mr. Rourk said, diplomatically."

Guardian Unlimited | Online | Office politics

Guardian Unlimited | Online | Office politics: "Bob Kerr, a member of the Edinburgh Linux Users Group, has convinced more than 80% of Scotland's public libraries to stock OpenOffice - the free, open-source alternative to Microsoft Office.

Kerr has put together a CD package containing versions of the software for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. Once accepted by libraries, borrowers can take it home, copy it and use the programs free. In return, they get word processing, spreadsheet, graphics and presentation software that is broadly compatible with Microsoft's Word, Excel and PowerPoint."

still paying for the sitter

What cruel irony that on the first sunny day we've seen after a week of heavy, solid rain here in Houston, I don't even want to look at the sunlight through the window. A drink before going out, drinks at dinner, and drinks through the movie (love that at Angelika!) have me still paying the price for Valentines celebrations. We ended up seeing Lost in Translation, which was a fun, quirky trip through Tokyo, but certainly not the movie I'd recommend if you've been drinking. About half way through my buzz fell away and my eyes felt very heavy. I thought about getting a coffee or another drink, but I didn't want to miss whatever we were waiting for when it finally happened. I wish I'd known in advance this was an experience movie, not a something happens movie.

It's a funny thing when your friends read your blog. We were out last night with friends Leeward and Marianne, and after dinner but before the movie, Leeward asked if our night out was proving to be sitter worthy! From my point of view, just wearing the sexy new bustier my mom and I found last week was sitter worthy. I felt very Carrie Bradshaw meets Christina Agulera--I let the dangly hose hooks fall over my black pinstripe pants. It was a purplish pink, which showed itself clearly underneath my thin cotten eyelet fitted oxford, as well as through the ample cleavage I gained by not nursing Ella very much yesterday afternoon.

But yes, I think the night was sitter worthy. After finding out Marrakech and the Scott Gertner Sky Bar were booked, we decided to go low key with the restaurant and eat at the Hobbit. It was a wise choice, we didn't have to wait for a table at all, and nobody had to eat meat. The movie was good, I had total culture shock from my week in Japan. I think the Revolution will not be Televised might have been a better choice since it is probably more action-packed, while keeping with our desire for frontal lobe stimulation. Plus it's a lot shorter. I'm going to try to go see that sometime soon.

sounds fun, but is it sitter worthy?

Remember Elaine and her sponge-worthy test for suitable men? Well, the next stage of life leaves this girl looking for datenight plans that are truly sitter-worthy. I hate that I'm going out on Valentine's Day. It's so canned. Like my husband and I have to be romantic because Halmark told us to. But our neighborhood's sitter is in pretty high demand these days, and I felt so triumphant in booking her for tonight, that the pressure's on. We're going out and it better be fun. Damn it.

My overwhelming first choice would have been the Scott Gertner Sky Bar, but I didn't make my reservations in time. What to do. Here are some of my options:

The Angelika has a few great movies on tonight, including the Revolution will not be Televised, Lost in Translation, and 21 Grams

The Houston Zoo is hosting an adult lecture. : "As the old joke goes, porcupines make love very carefully. But according to Houston Zoo director Rick Barongi, there's a bit more to it than that. Animal mating and dating will be the subject of the zoo's sexy, illustrated Valentine's Day lecture, 'Naturally Wild.' The evening will also feature heavy hors d'oeuvres, chocolate-covered strawberries and a champagne toast. 'It's an adult lecture,' Barongi says. 'Not X-rated, but I think some of our slides will humble some of the men in the audience.' 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday, February 14. Houston Zoo's Brown Education Center, 1513 North MacGregor. For information, call 713-533-6550 or visit www.houstonzoo.org. $35 to $40; $70 to $75 for couples. "

The Producers is showing at the Hobby Center

KPFT's Hearts and Arts event at Gallery 101: " KPFT would like to invite you out to one of the biggest station benefits yet. "Arts and Hearts:" a fantastic silent art auction on Valentines Day, Saturday February 14, 2004 at Gallery 101.
The gallery is located at 101 Franklin and they have donated 50 beautiful pieces to KPFT for a silent auction.
We have lined up some class acts for this truly unique evening. Live entertainment will be provided by Gary Taylor, Colin Gilmore, Patricia Vonne and Susan Gibson.
Our guests will also receive free wine donated by Vinoteca's Wine Cellar and Bar at white Oak and Studemont.
The kind folks at St. Arnolds have donated complementary beer and fine appetizers will also be served to our guests thanks to Trevisio modern Italian cuisine."

The Houston Press decided Supercross is the most romantic thing for tonight. Houston Press Night & Day This Week's Day-by-Day Picks: "Happy Hallmark holiday, everybody. We can think of few things that say 'romance' better than 1.5 million pounds of dirt -- especially when it's laid out in whoops, hairpins and tabletops, waiting for the roaring engines of Supercross to tear-ass on by. "

Digital City had this guide to Houston's nightlife.

gushy love stuff

the other day I was cleaning out pages of the multitude of partially used spiral notebooks currently clogging one shelf in my bedroom. I came across this poem I wrote back in the fall of 1998, either slightly before or after we eloped. Each of the lines was a perfect memory of our dating years, and all the memories seemed a confluence that fall. And we eloped! Anyway, here it is:

I Love You Barefoot

In your jeans, without a shirt, sagging on your hips
In the kitchen, morning light, watering your plants
On the couch, playing your guitar, singing love to me
Saturday morning, busy carefree, chocolate chip pancakes
On the porch swing, singing to the sunrise, smell of ocean air

blogging for love

those clever folks at blogger had this nice little article waiting on their homepage today, on how to date via blogs, and how to attract a lover with your blog. How thoughtful.

MemeFirst

MemeFirst: "Why businesses should run on Windows

On January 31, 2002, Martha Stewart walked over to her personal assistant's desk, asked her to pull up the phone messages for the previous December, found the crucial one from her broker about ImClone trading downwards, took her assistant's mouse, highlighted the message, and replaced it with an innocuous 're imclone'. She then called her son-in-law, a lawyer, who then met the assistant, Ann Armstrong, at a restaurant. As Henry Blodget recounts in Slate,

Armstrong told the son-in-law that she was in 'a bit of a quandary' about getting the message back because her message-log wasn't backed up on the server. When Armstrong got home that evening, she spoke again to Stewart, who asked her whether she had been able to put the message back in its original form. She explained that she hadn't, because she couldn't remember what the original message was.
Ultimately, Armstrong testified, she discovered a copy of the original message on her computer because her computer had crashed and automatically saved everything.

Windows to the rescue! If Armstrong had been using a computer which didn't crash, then the message log would never have been backed up, and Stewart would have had to live with her dodgy edit. But in the end, thanks to the unreliability of Microsoft operating systems, little damage was done. Bill Gates really is some kind of genius!"

to the sharon osborne abc searcher:

BLABBERMOUTH.NET: "ABC has announced that Ozzy and Sharon sit down with Diane Sawyer of 'Primetime' (web site) in their first joint television appearance since the accident. The show is scheduled to air on Thursday, Feb. 19 at 10 p.m. ET. "

here's a funny blog I found

I Moved To Oaxaca

Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | And they say romance is dead...

Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | And they say romance is dead...: "On Monday we asked you to tell us about your most horrific Valentine's experiences. Here we publish the winner and the two runners-up
"

personally, I liked the third place article best!

Guardian Unlimited | World dispatch | No sex, please - we're American

Guardian Unlimited | World dispatch | No sex, please - we're American: "...To European eyes, the tolerance of violent images and bashfulness over sex in the US has long been perplexing...

'...Some people obviously think the American public is immature,' Mr Bertolucci told the Los Angeles Times. 'In 1973, Last Tango in Paris opened in America virtually uncut. There was only a formal cut of about two seconds, just so someone could say they'd managed to cut me.

'But now they want to cut more out of this film. So what's going on with America?'

This is a country in which Wal-mart, the biggest retailer, will happily sell guns, but bans racy lads magazines, partially obscures women's titles such as Cosmopolitan and Marie-Claire, and sells CDs with swear words bleeped out.

The politically-charged grandstanding could have much to do with this being an election year. The US president, George Bush, is reaching out to the Republican core, and it was little surprise to see the Republican-appointed chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) reacting to the Super Bowl incident with such vigour.

Michael Powell, the son of the secretary of state, Colin Powell, promised an immediate investigation into the breast-bearing episode. He described it as a 'classless, crass and deplorable stunt' and a 'new low in prime-time television'.

He also reopened an investigation into U2 singer Bono's use of 'fucking' - as in 'this is really, really, fucking brilliant' - at the Golden Globes.

At least there was one light moment during the hearings - for those watching closely enough - when one congresswoman described Jackson's performance as 'nasty'. The singer was, after all, warning us of that in 1986...."

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | What slippery slope?

it always gets me that Americans are willing to keep guns in their homes, but insist that we couldn't handle the potential dangers of science. Where's that good ol' American spirit we like to pull out of the back pocket of the country's collective Levis when it comes to the medical frontier, or even regulated healthcare. Sure some do it wrong, but we're Americans, we do things better, right?

Anyway, Christopher Reeve certainly makes a powerful spokesman. Like he says, the good thing about progress is that it isn't dependent on Americans. If we don't lead the stem cell advance, we'll get our ass kicked by some other country that will, and they'll be laughing all the way to the bank!

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | What slippery slope?: "Politically, though, the issue is at a stalemate at a federal level in the US. There are two competing bills in the Senate - one that would allow somatic cell transfer and one that would ban it - and neither has enough votes. At a state level, however, there have been successful initiatives in California and New Jersey. And I am hopeful that a number of states will pass their own legislation allowing research in the very near future, before the presidential elections.

Meanwhile, I am grateful that countries around the world, led by the UK, Israel, Sweden, South Korea, Singapore, and a number of others, are going forward with research. Because they do, there will always be the option for patients to travel to those countries, or for the technology to be imported eventually. The most important thing is that, somewhere in the world, the work is being done."

this is what I'm talking about

USATODAY.com - Combative Dean has yet to win, but he's not at a loss: "Squinting at his questioner through the glare of the TV lights, Dean said bluntly, 'I haven't promised to go to Washington and unify everybody. And there's a reason for my not making that promise. I think it's important to stand up for what you believe in.'

Then Dean uttered a few combative lines that encapsulated the strengths and weaknesses of his boom-or-bust campaign: 'I'm not going to Washington to be a nice guy. I'm going to Washington to kick the right wing out.'

"

this election sucks

Tell me oh older disaffected ones: is this the road to jaded? Is this the first step on whatever road you took that made you drop your values, your ideology? Is this the road littered with VW vans, MIA bracelets, and CCR records? Did you, too, one day believe so strongly in a political candidate, someone you felt sure was the one glimmer of good in a world of black hats, only to have your heart crushed when the forces that be denied that candidates entry to power? Now you shake your head at the foolish youth of we who believe, knowing we too will feel the pain, and lose belief.

I, like so many young educated liberals, became involved enough in politics this past year to actually donate to a campaign, big shock: Dean's. In my short, financially productive years, I've given money to many charities: Green Peace, Doctors without Borders, UNICEF, the church, etc. But never before did I feel a political candidate was as interested in or capable of changing the world as one of these organizations, until Dean.

Now, the almighty primary system has shown me the folly of my ways. Midwestern primary voters aren't interested in enacting progress or changing the world. They want the stay the course, continue the status quo candidate of Kerry. I hate Kerry. He'll continue every policy and program Bush has, only he'll put the Democratic name to it. At least if Bush remains president for a few more years, all this shit raining down will still just be Republican when my kids read about it in their someday History books.

I'm a good southwestern girl with strong liberal roots. My mom's a Methodist pastor, and my dad just retired as the United Transportation Union regional chairman. I work with non-profit grassroots agencies to build sustainable living options and improve the quality of living for inner-city youth. It doesn't get much more child of the left than that.

Two years ago, I heard Howard Dean speak for the first time. My husband and I said to any friend or family member who would listen: that's the man to beat George Bush. This year, at a Dean event here in Houston, a reporter from Florida came up to John to get his take (20-something white man holding a baby being the standard for such quotes, right?). When he asked John's employer and John answered he was a NASA engineer, I could see the reporter salivate at the paragraph that would lead. This reporter asked John why he was there supporting Dean and John answered that aside from Dean's policy plans, the main thing was that Howard Dean is the best man to beat George Bush. The man did a double take: what? He actually said, "but that's what people say is wrong with him." And John said they're wrong, then. We need a true alternative here. The man sunk. Visibly wilted. Needless to say, John's quotes never made a newspaper printing.

Even then, no one really believed in Howard Dean. Maybe Americans, even liberal ones, are afraid of change, afraid of the slimmer regions of the bell curve. I think modern America wouldn't even have voted for Kennedy. The only ones who can make these decisions, like which candidate should get the Democratic party's nomination, are very comfortable in their lives with big houses, big cars, big dogs. Change would only make them feel uncomfortable. That's why we call it the powers that be, instead of the powers that could be. The idealistic youth should be called the powers that will never be. These would be the powers that believe in peaceful international solutions, believe in ending world hunger, believe in true equality regardless of age, race, religion, or sexual orientation. Would be. Blissful thought. Won't be now.

The big farce is that the Bush makers have fooled everyone into thinking he's somewhere in the middle too, when he's really a pretty freakish right-wing wacko. He's enacting plenty of changes, and they're all evil bad ones. But I don't want to think about that, because I hate politics now. Politics suck.

But still, considering how open and available to the public (through the internet) Dean made himself throughout his campaign, wouldn't it have been great to have had a president who was open and in touch with the country he headed? There I go again with the woulds. Wouldn't it. My efforts for the Dean campaign were wasted because, simply by taking a stand on anything, he was doomed from the start. Poor Dean, he believed most of all. Maybe it's better that the system crushed him now rather than some uncertain future where the power corrupts him instead.

Yahoo! News - Will You Be My Electronic Anti-Valentine?

Yahoo! News - Will You Be My Electronic Anti-Valentine?: "Whether you got dumped on New Year's Eve or were stood up in Central Park, you can still get in a last dig at that not-so-special person on the Internet, where bitter candy hearts and testimonials to love lost abound.

On anti-Valentine's Day sites across the Web, the lonely commiserate over breakups and the lack of movie-perfect romance. Some sites suggest pranks for that heartless 'ex.' Others lambaste the faux-holiday as a marketing enterprise that portrays love as being all chocolates and roses.

"

guess what just became open source!

BBC News | BUSINESS | Microsoft software 'stolen': "The world's biggest software company, Microsoft, says hackers have broken into its corporate computer network.

The hackers gained access to the source code, or blueprints, of Microsoft's Windows-based software, which is estimated to run on about 90% of the world's PCs."

if you like steve irwin...

the Key West Chicken Catcher

(via Peter Cooper Is Me)

you can tell this guy's single b/c he had time to make this elaborate site about getting a woman

The Ladder Theory

Yahoo! News - Hostile People May Be 'Born to Smoke', Study Finds

Yahoo! News - Hostile People May Be 'Born to Smoke', Study Finds: "Brain imaging studies suggest that the same genetic variations that give people hostile personality traits may also make them more likely to become addicted to nicotine, the team at the University of California Irvine reported.

'We call this brain response a 'born to smoke' pattern,' Dr. Steven Potkin, a professor of psychiatry and a brain imaging specialist who led the study, said in a statement.

Potkin's team was following up on evidence suggesting that people with hostile personality traits are more likely to become addicted to cigarettes and have trouble kicking the habit."

comfort issues

I fall victim to comfort all too often. Through the past months, I considered switching over to typepad a number of times, and in the end I always decided against it because I love my BlogThis button and because blogger is so comfy. So, when I switched over to Macintosh, I was pretty disturbed to find my blogthis button no longer linked, nor did my blogger interface! Not only did Safari and Explorer (for Macs) use a really awkward version of blogger, but gone too were the italics and bold buttons. After a few days of failed attempts to resolve this, I was left with the thought that I would have to code my own links and formats when I blogged from now on. I told John how much this troubled me, and since he's been a fantastic champion of the Mac for forever, he was determined to make my hurt better.

Sure enough, John found the open source (something else he champions) browser Firefox, which treated all my blogger aps appropriately! I'm so pleased! Considering that the Mac culture made Google what it is today, and the considerable geeky fervor with which Mac fans attack inequities, I have to say I'm utterly shocked that the Google toolbar and blogger's interface were so unfriendly to the Mac software. Firefox may eventually prove itself to have shortcomings in other places, but for now, I am eternally grateful to the developers of this little browser!

Now that everything is as it should be, it seems a little silly to have been so caught up in my little tool buttons. But I've grown up in this button-based Windows world, literally. My brain has grown in such a direction, that it thinks better when the buttons are there. Moreover, my computer is an extension of my creative self in the most intimate way. When things don't feel familiar, I feel creatively stymied. The flow is halted. And nothing makes me grumpier than not having a free flowing creative outlet.

Fortunately, my brain is still malleable enough that I could make the switch from one computer to the other. I already think of the old Vaio, once my beloved external lobe, as the ugly stepchild on my desk. I'll be happy when we've switched all the files over (having some difficulty with the music files, everything else seems to have gone well--especially photos. I love iphotos!) and I can secure my bond with the 'tosh.

Guardian Unlimited Books | News | How to read this book: John Mullan on Ulysses

Guardian Unlimited Books | News | How to read this book: John Mullan on Ulysses: "Ulysses is huge, but you can sip at it. There is plenty that needs no academic explanation, as particular and exact as each passing sensation. 'From the cellar grating floated up the flabby gush of porter. Through the open doorway the bar squirted out whiffs of ginger, teadust, biscuitmush.' This is a book full of smells. And odd sounds. 'Mrkgnao!' goes Bloom's cat. 'Pwfungg!' sounds an expiring gas jet. Any page has the quiddity - the this-ness - of one day in Dublin in 1904, brought to life in Paris almost two decades later."

Sharon Osbourne Show axed, among flood of cancellations

The other day when my dad was visiting, he laughed out loud as he watched me channel hop back and forth between Ellen and Sharon while nursing Ellie. I told him he might think these shows are silly, but I myself am grateful for the improvement in the quality of daytime TV options during the past decade. My mother only would have had Donahue or Love Boat reruns to entertain her days.

I'm so sad to hear about Sharon getting axed. She deserves better. The show was out of the box, and it was pretty obvious from day one that her producers weren't loose enough to go with it. She's MTV and they're network. It was a marriage destined for divorce. My truest hope is that MTV or some other cable channel will pick her up. There needs to be a daytime venue for seeing Marilyn Manson's paintings and hearing Carmen Electra's favorite sex position (who would have thought she'd be a missionary girl! Dave said it's because that's the way she has to do the least amount of work). I know a lot of people home in the daytime are yuppie View types, but I feel like a lot more of us are young MTV fans.

The timing was bad too. Ellen came out, just as funny and anti-View at the same time. And apparently the networks are having a little bloodlust when it comes to renewals. Read this:

TelevisionWeek -- Incorporating Electronic Media: "frankly I can't remember this many shows being cancelled this close to the market.'

While an unusually long list of shows may get the ax, an unusually short list of new shows is waiting in the wings to replace them.

'Part of the situation is that there's not a wide selection to look at this year,' said Chuck Larsen, October Moon Television president, who is offering the series 'That's Funny' to stations as a strip for the fall. 'There's now more shelf space than we've had turnover in years. We for years have had a buyer's market, but that may be leveling out and puts us in a good position to take advantage of that.' "

btw, I picked up on this story when some one got a google hit for Sharon Osborne cancelled. My bad spelling seems to make me popular on google! So, dear searcher, it's Osbourne, but yes, she's cancelled.

so where's Janet's apology?

Salon.com News | CNN says it overplayed Dean's Iowa scream: "It probably means little now to Howard Dean, but CNN's top executive believes his network overplayed the infamous clip of Dean's 'scream' after the Iowa caucuses.

'It was a big story, but the challenge in a 24-hour news network is that you try to keep all of your different viewers throughout the day informed without overdoing it,' said Princell Hair, CNN's general manager.

The breathtaking media explosion turned the former Democratic presidential front-runner into a punch line and arguably hastened his campaign's free fall. It's also an instructive look at how television news and entertainment works today.

Whatever handwringing there may be in retrospect -- and there's only a little -- comes with a sense that repeats are inevitable."

a disturbing milestone you won't see on the US news

News: "More than 10,000 civilians, many of them women and children, have been killed so far in the Iraqi conflict, The Independent on Sunday has learnt, making the continuing conflict the most deadly war for non-combatants waged by the West since the Vietnam war more than 30 years ago."

You Can Make It With Plato - Bush's difficult relationship with reality. By William Saletan

You Can Make It With Plato - Bush's difficult relationship with reality. By William Saletan: "...This big-picture notion of reality, existence, and the world as it is dates back 2,400 years to the Greek philosopher Plato. Plato believed that what's real isn't the things you can touch and see: your computer, your desk, those empty barrels in Iraq that Bush thought were full of chemical weapons. What's real is the general idea of these things. The idea of a computer. The idea of a desk. The idea of an Iraqi threat to the United States. Whether you actually have a computer or a desk, or whether Saddam Hussein actually had chemical weapons, is less important than the larger truth. The abstraction is the reality.

Plato's successor, Aristotle, took a different view. He thought reality was measured by what you could touch and see. That's the definition of reality on which modern science was founded. It's the definition Colin Powell used when he told the world Saddam had weapons of mass destruction. It's the definition David Kay used when he set out to find the weapons. Kay and Powell are dismayed by our inability to see and touch the weapons. But Bush isn't. He isn't going to let Aristotle's reality distract him from Plato's..."

BBC NEWS | UK | England | Beds/Bucks/Herts | It's all Greek to Harry Potter

BBC NEWS | UK | England | Beds/Bucks/Herts | It's all Greek to Harry Potter: "A teacher has translated the first Harry Potter book into classical Greek.

Classics teacher Andrew Wilson, from Bedford, says it is the longest text to have been translated into the ancient language in 1,500 years."

Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Year of the blonde bitch

Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Year of the blonde bitch : "Women, to paraphrase David Brent, the most popular philosopher of our time, are not always all that easy to get a grip on. Long ago in the winter of 2003, it looked like this year would be a jolly nice time to be a woman - or, at least, a girly girl. The discernible fashion trends from designers for summer 2004 were frothy, frilly dresses, and everything else in colours as sugar sweet as a pick 'n' mix counter, floral patterns scattered about willy-nilly.

Sure, this would be tricky for the high street to copy (aside from the occasional fantastic Marc Jacobsesque jacket, mass retailers are understandably better at Girls Aloud-alike pelmet skirts than Great Gatsby-style one-off dresses), but it would be perfect, we were told, for that secret layer of femininity that allegedly lurks inside women across the land, just waiting to be unearthed from beneath all those Ugg boots and hipster jeans. Ideal, in other words, for women like me who, in the deepest part of their soul, didn't think Barbara Cartland was such a bad dresser. Simply smashing, for those of us who would still be playing with Barbie dolls and My Little Ponys if it was socially acceptable. Oh yeah, this was going to be my year.

Yet something has gone wrong. Maybe it's a feminine whim, maybe it's just the weather, but somehow, things haven't quite followed the plan. The fact is, all that girly-twirliness (a style I had long championed anyway, despite urgings to the contrary from friends and colleagues) is already looking a bit irrelevant, as tired as a wilting daisy. Instead, I find myself possessed by the urge to dye my hair platinum blonde (and wasn't brunette supposed to be very in this year?), hoik myself into a micro-mini and halter top (replete with Gossard, naturally), and to punctuate snappy one-liners with clicks from my stiletto heels. Frankly, as I do for many problems in my life, I blame the television..."

more romance

I'm surrounded by roses! Our longstem rose bush next to the porch is bursting with blooms, deep red ones, just in time for Valentine's Day! This morning when I woke up (very late, John took the kids and let me sleep in) I noticed John had clipped two and put them in a large Nambe vase on my desk. The Nambe looks great next to my new iMac!

Later, John went to the grocery store and brought back a pretty off-white spray of roses that look just like the ones in our wedding so long ago. He said they were on sale. ;)

How To Deconstruct Almost Anything

How To Deconstruct Almost Anything: "This is the story of one computer professional's explorations in the world of postmodern literary criticism. I'm a working software engineer, not a student nor an academic nor a person with any real background in the humanities. Consequently, I've approached the whole subject with a somewhat different frame of mind than perhaps people in the field are accustomed to. Being a vulgar engineer I'm allowed to break a lot of the rules that people in the humanities usually have to play by, since nobody expects an engineer to be literate. Ha. Anyway, here is my tale."

(via rebeccablood.net)

the Star Earthship community is still looking for interns

Earthship Biotecture - Content: "An Earthship on a spectacular site in the STAR community is now available for
intern housing. It sleeps six and has a gas range, minimal
kitchen facilities, compost toilet, shower/bath and early Earthship systems.
"

Conservatives Use Gay Union as Rallying Cry

Conservatives Use Gay Union as Rallying Cry: "Last spring, the Rev. Donald E. Wildmon of Tupelo, Miss., decided to hold a summit meeting of the Christian conservative movement.

Mr. Wildmon felt the movement was losing the culture war, he recalled in an interview on Friday. Since plunging into political activism nearly 30 years ago, Christian conservatives had helped Republicans take control of Washington but did not have enough to show for it, Mr. Wildmon said. At the same time, the election of Republican politicians had drained some of the motivation out of its grass-roots constituents."

austin city limits

chris isaac and norah jones tonight! turnin' off the radio paradise, turning up the tv. blogging on the couch with my new ibook. sweet life.

how night in the big city humored me

nightinthebigcity: "Starbucks is getting their coffee bootlegged in China. Sadly, the detrimental effectes of market share theft by this illicit competitor are projected to slow Starbucks plans for world domination by two to three weeks. Alternate joke: Damn. Now I'll be confused when I go to buy my caramel mochiato with a dash of political oppression."

romance these days

How romantic to sit on the couch this fine Saturday and be fed slightly raw chocolate chip cookies by my husband... except that he fed me because my hands were full of a nearly asleep nursing baby! I'm not complaining though.

Later, while testing out the new sound system mix on our NEW MACS!, the whole family burst into spontaneous wild dancing through the house for almost half an hour! Somewhere along the way I cought my reflection in the window and I realized true happiness is having someone in the world who loves you so very much that when they see you dancing like a mamed turkey, they just feel glad that you're having so much fun.

Either we've seriously harmed our children's psyches by exposing them to such horror as their parents truly bad dancing, or we've taught them to let go and feel the music nomatter how bad they look. Only time will tell which.

i did it for the children!

not really, I did it for me. But in so far as experiencing wild new experiences helps your brain grow new synapses, I'm sure growing a lot of new synapses right now!

I still trust in the system. I believe that Apple has inherently better design, and my inability to navigate this new design reflects a weakness in me--a weakness honed by years of Windows use. And I believe that Apple's design is so intuitive that before very long at all, I'll be thanking my lucky stars for all the engineers and software developers at Apple who thought of these amazing tools that right now, in this temporary moment, are driving me just a little batty.

In my brain, this feels like your first day in a foreign country when things are so different that you feel slightly annoyed that the whole world isn't American. You have to keep reminding yourself that American is simply most familiar, not best. You dig down deep to smash that paradigm, and within a day or two it works! You like--even celebrate--the differences, you appreciate the approach from a separate direction than your own, especially regarding the beer. I degress. I've been abroad enough times to know this brain buzz is only temporary, and it doesn't mean I should give up.

I'm happiest that the system our children will feel most comfortable with is the Mac. They'll learn Windows soon enough in school, thanks to Bill Gates timely software donations.

I do, however, really need someone to answer for me whether the messed up blogger interface with no spellcheck or html link button is a product of my Mac changeover, or Blogger's weekend difficulties.

And why is it so many things go to the Right? You can think about that until Saturday night.

I don't know, but on Apples, they all go to the left instead! And that's just one of the many things I'm enjoying about my two new beautiful Macs!

That's right, today I made the big switch to Macintosh after a lifetime of IBMs with not one, but two new computers! It's all Microcenter's fault for having such an amazing deal. We bought a 17 inch iMac G4 and a 12 inch ibook for just under $2K.

We had planned initially to replace my two-year-old Sony Vaio with something and hand it down to to the kids. Aidan's games never could run on his four year old desktop clunker he got for his birthday last year. Between SesameStreet.com (better games than sesamestreet.org) and his movies, he always spent his computer time on my Vaio anyway. At $800, the cute little ibook offerred us the opportunity to rear them on Macs nearly from their first days, and we'll try to sell the Vaio on ebay to offset our big decision there.

The new computers are impressive in form and function. I love that we've made the switch, even if it's a little intimidating. I keep forgetting to go left! And what do you do instead of right click? I feel confident that the differences are intuitive, and soon they'll be instinctive. I'm going to really enjoy taking this little ibook to Kraftsmen Bakery and writing at a table under the giant oak trees next to the library!

(the question in this post's title is a line from Dr. Seuss' Oh, the Thinks You Can Think)

Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Has swearing lost its power to shock?

Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Has swearing lost its power to shock?: "Anyone who wishes not to see in print the most generally offensive of the slang terms for the female genitals is here warned that it occurs six times in this piece, and is alluded to at others. "

Boston.com / News / Boston Globe / Ideas / Conspiracies so vast

Boston.com / News / Boston Globe / Ideas / Conspiracies so vast: "HOWARD DEAN SPECULATES on National Public Radio that George W. Bush may have been warned of 9/11 'ahead of time by the Saudis.' University professors imply with an air of sophistication that the war in Iraq was a plot to fill contracts for Halliburton. Radio shock-jocks rant against the machinations of the United Nations and the 'New World Order.' And the conservative pundit Ann Coulter makes the rounds of the talk shows with a book, 'Treason,' built on the claim that the vilification of Joseph McCarthy was the 'greatest Orwellian fraud of our time.' The man who warned famously of a 'great conspiracy' of communists, it seems, was himself the victim of a plot by 'liberals' to blacken his good name.

Hillary Clinton may have given up her talk about the 'vast right-wing conspiracy.' But there are plenty of others on both sides of the political divide anxious to continue the conversation. In today's popular culture and even the elite media, plots lurk behind every door.

Nor is the anxiety confined to the United States. Last month, the British government opened official inquests into the deaths of Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed, fueling ongoing speculation that the couple was murdered in a secret plot. In France and Germany, books by the once-mainstream political analyst Thierry Meyssan ('L'Effroyable Imposture' -- The Big Lie) and the former Social-Democratic cabinet minister Andreas von Bulow ('Die CIA und der 11 September') have climbed bestseller lists with their shocking revelations that 9/11 was a plot by rogue elements within the US government. Uncle Sam, they claim, framed Osama. Meanwhile, major media outlets throughout the Islamic world charge that Israel, or an international Jewish cabal, were b"

What's a Maoist, Anyway?

How to tell Nepal's Maoist rebels from garden-variety Communists. By Brendan I. Koerner
What's a Maoist, Anyway? - How to tell Nepal's Maoist rebels from garden-variety Communists. By Brendan I. Koerner: "What's a Maoist, Anyway?
How to tell Nepal's Maoist rebels from garden-variety Communists."

Boston.com / News / Local / Mass. / Jesse Ventura ready to teach and learn at Harvard

Boston.com / News / Local / Mass. / Jesse Ventura ready to teach and learn at Harvard: "The 52-year-old former governor of Minnesota, political pundit and pro wrestler is one of six resident fellows chosen to lead study groups at the Institute of Politics at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government later this month.
A fellow gives seminars and oversees study groups that typically run for up to three months. Students do not normally receive academic credits for such courses."

Letter From Asia: This 21st-Century Japan, More Contented Than Driven

Japanese culture is the big topic on blogs right now. Here's an interesting discussion, be sure to read the comments, too.

Here's highlights from the NYT article that sparked the fire.
Letter From Asia: This 21st-Century Japan, More Contented Than Driven: "Japan said last week that it was reviewing how it wants to explore space and added, somewhat vaguely, that it might for the first time consider putting a man up there.

No matter how vague, the mere mention of a manned flight touched upon something profound going on here: After a century and a half of singlemindedly catching up and competing with the West, Japan is asking itself what kind of country it wants to be. Does Japan, in short, want to compete with the world's great powers?

The review resulted from recent failures of Japan's space program, but perhaps Japan was also reacting viscerally to actions taken by the two nations that have most shaped its history. The United States has said it will send astronauts to the Moon and to Mars, reiterating its intention of staying No. 1. And China launched a man into space three months ago, becoming only the third nation to do so, after the former Soviet Union and the United States, and announcing its resolve to become a global power.

How to deal with the rise or re-emergence of China as a great power will very likely be the biggest foreign policy issue facing Japan over the next generation. For East Asia, it is often pointed out, has never had both a strong China and a strong Japan at the same time."

Yahoo! News - Super-Sized Mars Photos Brought to Earth

Yahoo! News - Super-Sized Mars Photos Brought to Earth: "Today, nearly 40 years later, Spirit and Opportunity already have transmitted 3,500 pictures to Earth.
'We are just piling on the pixels,' said Cornell University astronomer Jim Bell, the lead scientist for the panoramic camera on the rovers. 'It's a lot of fun.'
San Francisco's Exploratorium wasted no time posting a 14-foot panorama of Spirit's landing site. The science museum also has four big screens where it displays the latest pictures and animations, updated every few hours.
Cody Duane-McGlashan of San Anselmo stopped by the Exploratorium on a recent afternoon with his grandfather, marveling at the latest additions.
'I don't know how to describe it. It's just cool,' the 8-year-old said. 'It looks like just a different place altogether.' "

Forbes.com: Bush budget to scrap programs from art to whaling

Forbes.com: Bush budget to scrap programs from art to whaling: "WASHINGTON, Feb 3 (Reuters) - One day after proposing bigger budgets for defense and homeland security, the White House on Tuesday released a list of the 128 programs it wants gutted, from education equity for women to combating alcohol abuse, a problem President George W. Bush faced himself."

BBC NEWS | UK | England | Staffordshire | Power surge explodes 'superloo'

BBC NEWS | UK | England | Staffordshire | Power surge explodes 'superloo': "A so-called 'superloo' exploded in a town centre when an electrical fault caused water to surge back into the toilet, blowing off its roof and lifting the pavement.
Luckily no one was using the Automated Public Convenience at the time but it was badly damaged and remained closed on Wednesday while engineers worked at the site. "

haiku for janet jackson's breast

perfectly perched between a reprint of I Too Have Known Great Nipples and an eloquent accounting of this blogger's own conception, d-nasty treats the blogosphere to a haiku devoted to--you guessed it!--Janet's nunie.

D-Nasty: "Haiku For Janet Jackson's Breast

I saw you flop out.
Behold, the tassled nipple!
Braless, naked, bare.

See the mammary,
The sparkling areola,
Bless you, Timberlake."

(via whatevs)

the Italian answer to our metrosexual?

Armed with aprons, Italian 'househusbands' unite | csmonitor.com: "'The traditional image of the Italian mamma, devoted but powerful, is fading. And men can no longer play the figure of authority,' says psychiatrist Piero Rocchini.
The Association of Househusbands says it has twice as many members as last year, many of whom combine their new role with conventional day jobs. They have created their own range of branded accessories, including aprons and T-shirts.
Some of Italy's traditional homemakers are skeptical at the newfound male enthusiasm for domestic duties. 'I guess it's good news if men are learning to do the things women have done for centuries,' says Roman housewife Filomena Buratti. 'But they are fooling themselves if they think this is a science. It's just hard work.'"

don't say I never do anything for you

ok here it is: the close-up picture of mark the streaker dancing his jig around the football during the super bowl

all you search engine guests better come back by!

count me in!

Martinis, Persistence, and a Smile: "The Shag Workout
A London gym has developed a new fitness regime that it guarantees will increase the frequency, intensity and quality of customer's orgasms.

The Shag Workout is being launched at Gymbox in Holborn - and some participants claim to have reached a climax during test classes.

Gym bosses say the class involves a three-step process that aims to develop sexual technique, confidence and endurance resulting in a more satisfying session in the sack whilst improving fitness levels."

(via technorati breaking news)

numb hypocrits at CBS

Penis penis penis penis. That's basically what the whole Super Bowl was about. On many levels. What's so bad about a woman's breast, anyway? I pop my two beauties out many times a day when I breastfeed my daughter. CBS has gotten such great press for this, they should take the gift and cork it!

New York Post Online Edition: news: "CBS is moving to bounce Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake from next Sunday's Grammy Awards amid the national uproar following their X-rated, prime-time Super Bowl stunt. "

welcome to february 2, 2004

We made it! I think all the bad love I got from the universe this last week was just one big punctuation mark on the year that ran Feb. 1, 2003-Feb 1, 2004. Now that it's past, I feel as if the last year has been one long dream, the kind where you run and run and never get there.

The Space Shuttle Columbia's memorials yesterday were really touching. I cried during the one CBS ran mid-afternoon, in which they interviewed the families that came to Houston for the game (I really wished they'd tried to get at least a statement from the others). The families were invited to the Super Bowl as the personal guests of NFL Commissioner Tagliboo. Up until yesterday, I'd been a little bitter that the Super Bowl would overshadow any events here in Houston memorializing the tragedy, but yesterday I realized the Super Bowl brought the event to the attention of every Super Bowl fan in the country, where before just Houstonians would have taken notice.

When Columbia launched, I was still pregnant with Eleanor. I watched tensely at home with my parents and John watched from NASA-JSC. We were all so relieved that this high profile supposed terrorist threat (due to Ilan's Israeli nationality) went off without a hitch. A few years ago, we all would have watched the launch together from JSC's Teague Auditorium. Before 9/11, families were always invited to launch events, we all celebrated together the achievement our collective hard work and sacrifices accomplished.

On that terrible Saturday a year ago, I was sleeping in with my newborn daughter in my arms, and John was on the computer enjoying his morning reading. My parents had returned home, we were adjusting to our newly normal life as a family of four. Our neighbor Ron came to the door to tell John something was wrong with the space shuttle, and John ran in (the TV was in the bedroom, we were in recovery mode still) to turn on CNN. All he said was "the shuttle's off radar."

I remember sitting up in bed and watching the first terrible shots of the falling debris and feeling my heart chill. My mind buzzed with the new knowledge that our lives would forever be changed by the sights I took in. I tried to imagine what the families were doing at that moment, we knew they would be immediately escorted from the bleachers to a preselected private location. Astronauts, also preselected, would be comforting them and explaining the technical scenarios underway.

When I used to watch the launches in Teague, I learned quickly not to clap at liftoff. Everyone there is intimately familiar with the levels of risk at each stage of flight, and the highest risk doesn't drop until the twin boosters separate from the shuttle many seconds in. Everyone in the crowd, mindful of the one time the shuttle didn't clear that risky stage, holds their breath and wills the ship upward. Finally, a release! of boosters and breath, cheers erupt and the capcom wishes the crew a safe flight. From that moment on, I know the families weren't totally relaxed--how could they be until they embraced their loved ones again--but I think they let their guards down. What a cruel irony then, that the moments when they felt relief creeping in their hearts, waiting only for the final sonic boom to forshadow the shuttle's return, were the moments in which their loved ones died.

drudge has close-up of Janet's nudie shot

I just want to say, where can I get a nipple ring like that? Granted, I should wean Ellie first.
(via Crescat Sententia)

BW Online | January 28, 2004 | The Two Faces of Wal-Mart

BW Online | January 28, 2004 | The Two Faces of Wal-Mart

This article highlights the usual horrible practices that WalMart uses in treatment toward employees and on the market, but it neglects WalMart's biggest problem: their stuff is tacky-cheap, and their stores are dingy. Yuck.

As a person who grew up in a small hick town, I do understand the wild high walking in a WalMart can impart. But please, just say no. Every labor day I find friends who tell me they support labor, but it's not like we need unions as much these days, thanks to the amazing progress unions already accomplished: weekends, minimum wage, maximum work day, minimum work age, etc. I always try to tell them what a slippery slope it could be back to the horrible working conditions of pre-union America, if we only stop believing in the value of labor. WalMart's practices are illustrating my point perfectly well.

As consumers, we have power over market practices only if we make principled decisions over where to spend our dollars. As a country, let's all make a conscious decision to boycott Walmart and the other WalMart-owned corp, Sams. Target and internet shopping together offer good alternatives to the former. Cosco and internet shopping offer alternatives to the latter. Let's effect change. Be disciplined next time you're tempted to buy something from either WalMart or Sams. Keep on driving, for the sake of the workers, and for progress.

5ives: Five great reasons to buy a Hummer (via Cadence90)

5ives: Five great reasons to buy a Hummer:
You've been wanting to buy much wider groceries (but have been stymied by the timid width of your Escalade)
You and your make-believe wife were thinking of having 11 or 12 imaginary kids
You're sick of always being the environment's goddamned bitch
You could totally put a keg back there and just drive around and shit
They were all out of penises

watch any 2004 super bowl ad here

IFILM Super Bowl Ads

watch the best of past ads here

Americans just don't know how to capitalize on streaking

If this had been a European soccer match, we'd have enjoyed a show!

KansasCity.com - The Kansas City Star, breaking local news, sports, entertainment, business: "Then came another halftime surprise: A streaker trotted out to the middle of the field before the third-quarter kickoff. While the CBS cameras focused elsewhere, police gave chase. New England linebacker Matt Chatham leveled the man, who was hogtied and carried off the field."

game highlights (in progress)

Carolina's first quarter Vinitiare block
the third quarter kick-off streaker (thank God I had TiVo to catch it after CBS covered him up!)
Jermain Lewis' third quarter leap

Come Back, Little Deaniacs

Come Back, Little Deaniacs: "Unfortunately, the nearly inevitable conclusion of these first heady forays into presidential campaigning is political heartbreak. 'Don't you lose some essence of life when you really can't give your heart?' asked Kate DeBolt, an 18-year-old Floridian who says she could 'go to the ends of the earth' for Dr. Dean.
Her candidate is still very much in the race, and his campaign's pioneer work with the Internet is going to transform grass-roots politics. But ever since the Iowa returns, his more innocent followers have been grappling with the shock of discovering that it is possible to be pure of heart, fired with dedication, and still lose overwhelmingly. Many of the young people who heeded Senator McCarthy's antiwar message in 1968 spiraled away from politics forever when Hubert Humphrey won the Democratic nomination. The young Deaniacs could easily add to the near majority of eligible voters in America who find politics a waste of effort. One of the most important missions of the Democratic nominee this year is to help keep young people interested when the campaign boils down to the deeply pragmatic politics of the summer and fall. "

Research Around the World Links Religion to Economic Development

Research Around the World Links Religion to Economic Development: "orget investment and savings rates, worker productivity and wage scales to determine which countries will become richer or poorer. What really stimulates economic growth is whether you believe in an afterlife — especially hell.

At least that's what two Harvard scholars have found after analyzing data collected in 59 countries between 1981 and 1999.

Advertisement

"Our central perspective is that religion affects economic outcomes mainly by fostering religious beliefs that influence individual traits such as honesty, work ethic, thrift and openness to strangers," the researchers, Robert J. Barro and Rachel M. McCleary, wrote in a recent issue of American Sociological Review. (They also happen to be married.) "For example, beliefs in heaven and hell might affect those traits by creating perceived rewards and punishments that relate to `good' and `bad' lifetime behavior."

my commercial stats

best:
Willie Nelson H&R Block
Dog bites crotch beer
visa women's volleyball on ice
Pepsi downloading music
NFL "tomorrow" we're all undefeated
choose to vote halftime bit, sans jessica's silly choose to party wail

worst:
nagging wife beer
the aol jackass wannabe series
farting clidesdale
eurotrip (why does CBS think it's ok to say Europe hates us, but it's not ok to say Bush's deficit hurts our children?)

notable:
charmin "takes care of your endzone"
soap chevvy commercial
Lays chips: mean to old people isn't cool
cialis: are you healthy enough for sexual activity?

special mention:
farting horse, short clidesdale, and 7-up moving hoop all win for making my husband laugh, and hence meriting a bewildered look from me
Shards O'Glass for best PSA, and cleverness, for actually making shardsoglass.com

Op-ed Columnist: Budgets of Mass Destruction

Op-ed Columnist: Budgets of Mass Destruction: "t should be clear to all by now that what we have in the Bush team is a faith-based administration. It launched a faith-based war in Iraq, on the basis of faith-based intelligence, with a faith-based plan for Iraqi reconstruction, supported by faith-based tax cuts to generate faith-based revenues. This group believes that what matters in politics and economics are conviction and will — not facts, social science or history."

moveon.org's superbowl commercial

Dear MoveOn member,
The CBS networks still refuses to run our winning ad in the Bush in 30 Seconds ad contest during the Super Bowl. The MoveOn.org non-partisan campaign to get CBS to air issue ads continues, but we're not going to let CBS's censorship stop us in the mean time. That's why we're spending over $1 million to air the ad in our swing states and nation-wide on other channels -- starting with two spots on CNN that will air during the Super Bowl half time.

This Sunday, during the Super Bowl half time show, join us in changing channels on CBS. At 8:10pm and 8:35pm EST, switch over to CNN to watch "Child's Pay" on a channel which doesn't censor its ads. We'd like to keep a tally of the number of people who participate -- you can sign up here:
http://www.moveonvoterfund.org/boycott/?id=2293-2663618-qw3V19.IXLXF635KANqqqQ

The number of groups, individuals, and newspapers that have called on CBS to run our ad is remarkable. The National Organization for Women and the American Civil Liberties Union have asked their own members to call CBS. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) gave a powerful speech about CBS on the floor of the Senate, saying, "Maybe network executives at CBS are so afraid of political pressure from the right wing and their business advertisers who are in league with the right wing politics of America that they are afraid to put anything on the air that might in fact make things uncomfortable. If that is the case, it is time for CBS to announce the name of their network is the 'Conservative Broadcasting System' and come clean with American viewers."

28 members of the House of Representatives wrote a letter to CBS which stated, "The choice not to run this paid advertisement appears to be part of a disturbing pattern on CBS's part to bow to the wishes of the Republican National Committee. We remember well CBS's remarkable decision this fall to self-censor at the direction of GOP pressure. The network shamefully cancelled a broadcast about former President Ronald Reagan which Republican partisans considered insufficiently flattering." Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) wrote a separate letter to CBS urging them to reconsider their decision.

Today, the L.A. Times printed an Op-Ed piece of ours which lays out the case against CBS's censorship. That's attached below. But the editorial pages of the Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, and many other papers came out in our favor as well. As the Globe wrote, "MoveOn.org's 30-second ad, which has aired on CNN, is a gentle yet powerful depiction of how hard today's children will have to work to pay off the country's mounting deficit. That's a vital message that might get lost in a year of campaign rhetoric, and it deserves a response from the White House in its own 30 seconds of imagery. America, sitting on the couch, junk food in hand, just might sit up and want to know more."

Luckily, there are still some networks that do allow the free exchange of ideas. Please join the one-minute boycott: at Super Bowl halftime, switch to CNN and watch "Child's Pay," and let us know at:
http://www.moveonvoterfund.org/boycott/?id=2293-2663618-qw3V19.IXLXF635KANqqqQ

Thanks for all you do,
--Adam, Carrie, Eli, James, Joan, Laura, Noah, Peter, Wes, and Zack
The MoveOn.org Team
January 30th, 2003

the same river twice

2004/02/28