What if they held a debate and nobody came? Tonight was the first Democratic presidential debate, and I couldn't find it anywhere. ABC, who sponsored it, wasn't showing it. It wasn't on C-SPAN. Wasn't on ABC radio, or NPR. It just wasn't on. Geez. My roommate drew the obvious conclusion: "Maybe it's a sign. The world is telling you to go out and get drunk." Yep, I'm of a nearly-extinct breed, the guy who'd rather learn something than have mindless fun. I thought the school I picked was one of the world's few remaining preserves for my kind, but I'm beginning to think those reservations were quietly closed down long ago.
posted by Mr. Ripzaw at 11:44 PM
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This would make a great celebrity deathmatch: Rupert Murdoch vs Ted Turner. Of course, it'd be even better on Celebrity Boxing, but it'd probably be hard to get them on there...
posted by Mr. Ripzaw at 10:19 PM
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Oy. I've been majorly sick. I think I finally came over the hump of it today, but who knows... Tonight kicks off haverfest, to days of drunken revelry. It figures I'd be in no partying shape come this time of year, when I was healthy through the rest of it. But honestly, I don't much like drunken revelry. Like holidays, it puts me in a bad mood. Maybe I'm just a sourball. I'm in no position to psychoanalyze myself, but I know my own happiness is often inversely proportional to how happy I'm told I ought to be.
In other news, the kind I'm told I ought to be ignoring, a federal court
struck down most of campaign finance reform. This one's going straight to the Supreme Court. I'm worried that this absolutely critical law will be struck down at the highest level on legitimate 1st Amendment concerns. Legitimate, but wrong.
posted by Mr. Ripzaw at 10:16 PM
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"To announce that there must be no criticism of the president or that we are to stand by the president right or wrong is not only unpatriotic and servile but is morally treasonable to the American public." -Theodore Roosevelt, by way of Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks
posted by Mr. Ripzaw at 9:48 PM
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Finally saw Bowling for Columbine. Michael Moore may be an egomaniac like they say, and his crusades might get a bit ludicrous sometimes, but he is a pretty darned good filmmaker. His points about the culture of fear is the US are very well taken. An example - Canada has about as many guns as the US per capita, along with begin pretty darn similar to America in pretty much every other statistic, and yet gun violence is comparitively negligible there. Another difference between the countries? Canada's evening news usually covers such events as international negotiations and the expected effects of redesigned speedbumps, as opposed to American TV's coverage of crime, the threat of killer bees, and who we're going to bomb next. The average Canadian does not lock their door. The average Canadian also doesn't get burglarized and murdered in their sleep. The point he's making: Americans are scared of each other and everyone else to the point that they'll shoot anyone they think threatens them, and there are a lot of people profiting mightily off of that fear (retailers, defense contractors, news media, etc) who have a vested interest in making sure nothing changes. Maybe it's not the whole story, but it is logical and disturbing. I recommend seeing the movie.
posted by Mr. Ripzaw at 8:54 PM
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This is just one of those pictures, kind of like the Dali clocks. Except this is real.
It was taken in Basra, where the schools have just opened again. The soldiers are Brits under sniper fire. Courtesy of
Time
posted by Mr. Ripzaw at 8:33 PM
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