Friday, October 29, 2004

The Comedian In Chief

The man does make us laugh. He's sort of the Comedian In Chief. Some of his bloopers are a hoot.
"I want to thank the astronauts who are with us, the courageous spacial entrepreneurs who set such a wonderful example for the young of our country."—Washington, D.C., Jan. 14, 2004

I like this one because the Comedian In Chief is sort of a spacial entrepreneur himself...

Check out some other bushisms: The president's accidental wit and wisdom. You might find your very own favorite.

Whassup with the bill of rights?

Last night I posted my entries to a web log for the first time. With discomforting timing, today, I came across a frightening blog about what can happen in real life as the result of writing a blog. The young lady who writes Anniesj: a word to the wise kindly shared her experience, so that others won't have to go through her ordeal.

Her story started with a blog entry after one of the prezidential debates. She has deleted the entry for reasons that will become apparent, so I wasn't able to actually read it. She sounds like a young pacifist with a sardonic sense of humor who made some disparaging remarks about the us prez W. She received many positive comments and a couple angry comments, then forgot about the entire incident. Until two weeks later, the Sekrit Service showed up at her mother's door at 9:45pm to talk to her about her blog because her jesting could be misconstrued as threats to the Prez.

A couple of her points really stand out:

"4. What you say on the Internet can affect your real life. Due to what I said online, I now have an FBI file. And due to certain policies that a certain administration has instituted, I could now be placed on the government's "no-fly" list, could be subject to random searches of private property without my knowledge or permission, and could be subject to wiretapping surveillance. I doubt that any of these things will happen (except with the "no-fly" list – according to my attorney, that's a strong possibility and is something we are looking into)... So be aware.

5. What happened to me happened because someone on LJ reported me to the FBI. This is not idle speculation on my part. The Secret Service agent told me as much last night – the reason why they were there was because the FBI received a report about my post. It was not found through Google or through keyword searches. ... because of what happened to me, I am now going to have an FBI file following me around for the rest of my life. This may cause future problems for me in several different aspects of my life, and that kind of damage is permanent. "

This completely freaked me out. What happened to the First Amendment? The whole damn bill of rights? What about the third amendment: "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

Number Nine should take care of the rest: "The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people." If rights are not explicitly given in the Constitution that doesn't mean they can be denied.

True, this girl was not searched or seized from, to her knowledge, but hers is a cautionary tale. If you're going to dish the prez, you damn well better have a giant corporate media conglomerate backing you up and ready to pay the legal fees. Don't kid yourself that free speech applies to the plain folk.

The most troubling part of anniej's story is that someone 'done brought the law down on her' because they disagreed with her. People who admire the current administration are taking as their example ruthless Rove-ian tactics. In a recent article, Neal Gabler writes "This election is about Rovism, and the outcome threatens to transform the U.S. into an ironfisted theocracy. ...Rovism is much more. It is a philosophy and practice of governing that pervades the administration and even extends to the Republican-controlled Congress."

"There is no dissent in the Rove White House without reprisal."

Dissenters: Army Chief of Staff Gen. Eric K. Shinseki, Chief Medicare actuary Richard Foster, Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill. Where are they now?

This administration silences dissent with scare tactics, and the people who support this administration apparently use the same tactics to frighten people who have differing views. Sadly, it works. Little Annie took the offending words off the internet. Remember "you're either with us or against us."

Where does it end?


Thursday, October 28, 2004

Patrick kicks some legal butt...

Attorney Patrick Dudley successfully challenged the constitutionality of a San Diego city law which was struck down based on his appeal to the Superior Court.


"A San Diego city law aimed at curbing underage drinking by punishing adults who allow parties where young people drink has been struck down by a panel of Superior Court judges. ...The ordinance has been suspended in the wake of the ruling, said Maria Velasquez, a spokeswoman for Gwinn. She said there were about 50 cases that have been filed under the law, and the charges would be dismissed in those cases that have not been resolved. "
- San Diego Union Tribune, October 12, 2004

San Diego Union Tribune: Challenge to constitutionality of San Diego city law won by Patrick Dudley . - October 12, 2004


“Apparently there are about 20 convictions on this,” says Dudley. “[Those people] are screwed. They get a misdemeanor or an infraction on their record for violating a law that isn’t valid. That doesn’t seem right.”
- San Diego City Beat, October 13, 2004

San Diego City Beat: "DARN THAT CONSTITUTION: Court shoots down San Diego’s party law" - October 13, 2004


Ok, a bit of promotion but this is my little brother!

Thursday, October 21, 2004

Police chief endorses commie-pinko PinkoKorner

"Actually there's not a lot I disagree with in the crap the commie-pinko sent you. Aint nothing wrong with cowboys."

Ok, endorsement is not the right word. We're all cousins anyhow. Sort of.

Wednesday, October 20, 2004

PinkoKorner Has the Real Story

The following is the true story as told by PinkoKorner with a forwarding note by cousin Kimberly:

Kimberly wrote:

Hi Dan, Here is my pinko communist cousin's reply to your e-mail, which of course, I sent to her.

PinkoKorner wrote:

The true story is also making the internet rounds. . .

So. . .this is how it all began. . .

The division of the human family into its two distinct branches occurred some 10,000 years ago, when humans coexisted as members of small bands of nomadic hunter/gatherers.

In the pivotal event of societal evolution, beer was invented. This epochal innovation was both the foundation of modern civilization and the occasion of the great bifurcation of humanity into its two distinct subgroups: Liberals and Conservatives.

Once beer was discovered, it required grain, and that was the beginning of agriculture. Neither the glass bottle or aluminum can had yet been invented, so it was necessary to stick pretty close to the brewery. That's how villages were formed.

Men spent their days killing animals to barbecue at night while they were drinking beer. Some women spent their days growing the grain and making the beer. After observing the effects of the beer on the men, the women were quite pleased. This was the beginning of birth control. The women also made bread from the grain and ate the bread. The women shared the grain with chickens and cows who in return provided omelettes, calcium rich beverages and fertilizer for the grain. This was the beginning of the Liberal movement. The men, weaker and less skilled than the women, stole the bread and screwed the cows. This was the beginning of the Conservative movement. Later some of the men became fertilizer.

Other women who were greedier and less skilled at producing, learned how to live off Liberals by showing up for the bread and omelettes every day and doing men's work like scratching, farting and losing hair. This was the future of the Conservative movement. Later, some of the women actually became Conservatives.

Conservative achievements include the domestication of rats, invention of domestic abuse and proliferation of guns to determine how to divide the beer and bread that the Liberals provided. Men were not interested in democracy at that time because most of them were still men back then, and the Liberals fed them.

Conservatives are symbolized by the lumbering, slow-moving animal characterized as the ‘servant of the great Earth Mother’ in traditional society. Liberals are symbolized by the surefooted animal with great powers of endurance. Conservatives like contaminated water because it’s cheaper and allows them to maximize their profits, and beer because someone else made it and it won’t make them sick like their water. They like their beef raw on the inside and burnt on the outside because that’s how it turns out when they drink beer while barbecuing, and they think that if they don’t admit it tastes bad, then it doesn’t. Beef, beer and beano are on Conservative menus. Their women have more testosterone than the men. Most prison guards, corporate raiders, rapists, murderers, armed robbers, embezzlers and CEOs are Conservatives. Conservatives invented the designated hitter rule in baseball because they couldn’t win if they let the player with the worst batting average take a turn.
Liberals drink clean water. They eat grains and scrambled eggs and feed others with their extra. Liberals are inventors, scientists, geologists, farmers, intellectuals, artists and generally anyone who helps others, invents better ways to do things, finds cures for terrible diseases, and helps to feed and clothe people and improve the world in general for everyone.

Conservatives drink beer. They eat raw dead cows, and still their women provide for them. Conservatives enjoying killing animals they don’t need to eat, riding bulls after they imbed burrs in their skin, cutting down ancient trees that will not grow back in order to make decks on which to drink beer, whistling admiringly at Liberals, wearing uniforms and guns while attacking people, stealing from old people to improve profits, killing foreigners, taking drugs to make them look bigger and run faster. Conservatives are generally anyone who steals from others with the help of the government. Liberals who own companies hire Conservatives to do the cheating, stealing and shredding of documents for them.

Conservatives do not produce anything. They like to "steal" from the producers and decide what is to be done with the production. They call it free trade. They believe the people with the biggest ‘guns’ should get the most free trade. Conservatives believe military dictators are more enlightened than Americans. That is why most of the Conservatives just stayed in the Third World when Liberals were coming to America. The American cowboy, of course, is your basic, full-bore Conservative.

A hundred years ago, a third world military dictator visiting Texas was attempting to find the owner of a huge cattle ranch. He rode up to one of the ranch hands, and inquired, "Pardon me, but could you perhaps tell me where I might locate your master?" To which the cowboy replied, "She’s up at the house making beer and bread and doing all the work. But here’s a beer and a gun. Let’s go shoot us some squirrels."