A Violently Executed Blog |
|||
|
There is a god. His name is Thor. Jack Kirby is his prophet. A Violently Executed Feed BUY SOME STUFF, MAKE ME HAPPY Contact me. Links and stuff Handshake Bloggers Damn Good Music
|
Tuesday, May 31, 2005
| Truth Hurts, Don't It? Dick Cheney got his widdle feewings hurt by dose mean ol' Amnesty International peeples! US Vice President Dick Cheney said in an interview that he was "offended" by Amnesty International's comparison of the US detention facility at Guantanamo Bay with the Soviet Gulag.Yes, the place where innocents are taken without judicial review, placed in cages and abused and tortured, that's off-limits for Amnesty International to bring up. "For Amnesty International to suggest that somehow the United States is a violator of human rights, I frankly just don't take them seriously," Cheney said.Clutch mah pearls! How dare Amensty International bring up anything related to the reports of abuse and torture that continue to roll out of Guatanamo Bay and other stations in the US's Gulag Archipelago. Why, it's downright un-American for them to criticize us for subjecting innocents to such things as sodomy-by-flashlight, naked dogpiles, abuse of their sacred texts and other tactics designed to humiliate and break them! "I think a lot of these stories have been promulgated by our adversaries, that is, people who were held at Guantanamo, stories they peddled after they left Guantanamo or after they got out in order to try to discredit the United States."Riiiiight. Because you can't trust those brown folks to tell the truth about stuff. Especially if they've spent 2-3 years being abused in an extraterritorial prison that's free of judicial review when they didn't do anything wrong in the first place. God, it makes you wanna puke, doesn't it? Cue Lou Reed: Give me your hungry, your tired, your poor I'll piss on them posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 10:33:00 AM   | Monday, May 30, 2005
Friday Five - Latishly Super-Powered Mike, a co-worker of Gord's, asks: If you were a superhero, what powers would your five worst super-villain enemies have?Sadly, the name I'd prefer to use as a superhero, Mr. Furious, already belongs to a character created by the inimitable Bob Burden. I shall hold my head high and perservere, though.
posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 8:00:00 PM | Oh Happy Fuckin' Day My head hurts, my back aches and I'm filled with a pretty healthy dose of anger at the world in general. Have a happy fuckin' holiday, whydoncha. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 12:52:00 PM | Sunday, May 29, 2005
Wedding Bells Today, Julie and Dutcher get married. Should be a good party. They're great folks and they're a great couple. Wish 'em some joy, willya? If I can get the fershlugginer camera working, I'll try to post some pics of me with ironed clothes and a tie on. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 9:59:00 AM | Saturday, May 28, 2005
Democracy Is On The March! Unfortunately, those marches better sweet-ass not happen in Egypt. Seems Mr. Mubarek, our staunch ally in our quest for freedom in the Middle East, doesn't like the peasants getting all uppity. A nationwide referendum on multi-party elections in Egypt turned violent Wednesday as pro-government mobs attacked and beat demonstrators on the streets of the capital.God, doncha just know shit like this gets Karl Rove's little pecker all stiff? Well, probably half-stiff, that being the best he can manage now that Jeff Gannon ain't allowed in the White House no more, and viagara can cause blindness. Yep, in Egypt, everyone's free to vote, as long as they vote for Mubarek. And that's something Tom DeLay and Bill Frist are studyin' up on, you can bet money. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 9:11:00 AM | Friday, May 27, 2005
34 hours, 1153.8 Miles Round trip from Austin to Picayune, MS and back, with meal and gas stops and one overnight stay. I yam tirdeded. On the plus side, I got about 10 hours to myself today. I also had an Andouille sausage po-boy in Slidell, 2.5 lbs of boiled crawfish in Lake Charles and some BBQ in Elgin. So I'm good on food for the next couple days. Didja miss me? (note: this is where you say, "YES!") posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 6:59:00 PM | Thursday, May 26, 2005
Blitzspielraum Off to drive to Louisiana with Drew, meet my parents, hand Drew over to them and drive back home tomorrow. Looking forward to the time to myself on the drive back, I think. And next weekend, I get to do it again! posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 7:07:00 AM | Wednesday, May 25, 2005
95 Days, 13 Hours That's how long it is until my birthday. Not that I'm keepin' track or nothin'. There's no reason for mentioning that, none at all. Certainly not because I crave a Scooba. It's like a Roomba, but different. Now, if I can just get that flying car I want... posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 10:15:00 AM | Tuesday, May 24, 2005
Brilliant! Darwin Award wannabes burn selves playing with lightsabers. Two Star Wars fans are in critical condition after apparently trying to make "lightsabers" by filling fluorescent light tubes with petrol, British media reports say.Words fail me. Actually, no they don't. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!! ::gasps for air:: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!! Dumbasses. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 7:49:00 AM | Domestic Disturbance - Road Trips Melissa's latest column is out. Like Christmas traditions, road trip rituals are handed down from parents to children and can require painstaking negotiation between husbands and wives....To read more, click here posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 6:10:00 AM | Monday, May 23, 2005
The Psychiatrists Get It... American Psychiatric Association representatives urge recognition of same-sex marriages. The psychiatric association's statement, approved by voice vote on the first day of its weeklong annual meeting in Atlanta, cites the "positive influence of a stable, adult partnership on the health of all family members."Bravo! Rational thinking is always to be praised. ...but the Texas Lege doesn't. The Senate, after an emotional and sometimes fiery debate that ranged from slavery to the Bible, today approved letting voters decide whether to ban same-sex marriages with an amendment to the Texas Constitution.I've got to know - how does this protect marriage? The amendment doesn't do anything about spousal rape. Does it do anything about divorce? Nope. I don't see anything in there about encouraging businesses to pay a living wage. Are legions of faggot couples going around and forcing men to abuse their families? Don't think so. I'm just not seeing it - if any of you, Dear Readers, are opposed to same-sex marriage, can you please, for the luvva Pete, explain why the fuck straights should care if two men or two women get married? Don't mention the Bible, as that has no bearing whatsoever on the construction of our Constitutional Republic. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 1:45:00 PM | Got Orwell? "Day by day and almost minute by minute the past was brought up to date. In this way every prediction made by the Party could be shown by documentary evidence to have been correct; nor was any item of news, or any expression of opinion, which conflicted with the needs of the moment, ever allowed to remain on record. All history was a palimpsest, scraped clean and reinscribed exactly as often as was necessary." - George Orwell, 1984Remember George Galloway? Remember his brilliant testimony before Norm Coleman's U.S. Senate Committee on That was cool, wasn't it? Too bad it never happened. Yeah, you heard me. Never happened. How do we know? Because there's no sign of his testimony on the US Senate's website. Check it out:  Dunno 'bout you, but I'm gettin' all warm an' fuzzy thinkin' about it. Too bad them British papers aren't as afraid of Scotty McClellan as NewsWeak. Come to think of it, they are dangerously close to France... posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 8:32:00 AM | Sunday, May 22, 2005
Fuuuuuuck. Late yesterday afternoon, my back started hurting. Happens every once in a while, especially after I've been stressed out (while I'm stressed, I'm usually running on adrenaline and tension and don't notice it). Thankfully, I hoard the odds and ends of leftover pain pills from my previous visits from the Back Pain Fairy, so I was able to get a little sleep last night. I'll just have to take it slowly today in hopes it gets a little better by this evening. Fuckin' back. I need to get back in the gym. I need time to get back in the gym, too. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 7:52:00 AM | Saturday, May 21, 2005
Filibuster Foofraw Just something to ponder... many of the same so-called "leaders" blathering about how "unconstitutional" the filibuster is are also folks that believe the following:
posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 10:25:00 AM | Friday, May 20, 2005
Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes Ganked from Digby's Hullabaloo. Terry Pratchett wrote in his novel Small Gods: ...there are hardly any excesses of the most crazed psychopath that cannot easily be duplicated by a normal, kindly family man who just comes in to work each day and has a job to do.2 Afghans Murdered In US Custody Even as the young Afghan man was dying before them, his American jailers continued to torment him.There's more. Much more. You want to know why the Iraqis and Afghans hate us now? It's not because of our freedom. It's not because "democracy is on the march" (whatever that means). It sure as shit isn't because of one article by Newsweek. No, it's because of stuff like this: Some of the same M.P.'s took a particular interest in an emotionally disturbed Afghan detainee who was known to eat his feces and mutilate himself with concertina wire. The soldiers kneed the man repeatedly in the legs and, at one point, chained him with his arms straight up in the air, Specialist Callaway told investigators. They also nicknamed him "Timmy," after a disabled child in the animated television series "South Park." One of the guards who beat the prisoner also taught him to screech like the cartoon character, Specialist Callaway said.Charming, no? This behavior is a direct result of the assessment of the Geneva Conventions made up by Alberto Gonzales, our new Attorney General. His assertion that the rules of war, the rules we depend on when our soldiers are captured, don't apply to "insurgents", "terrorists" and, as we see here, random men and women yanked off the street, this bald-faced lie made all of this possible. Bush's desire to seem tough, plus Gonzales' vile toadyism, plus Rumsfeld's lack of preparation led to untrained soldiers being left essentially unsupervised with instructions from their chain of command to extract an undefined something - anything - from the prisoners under their control. Relaxing the standards by which they could treat prisoners and leaving them unsupervised meant that they became drunk with the power they had over the detainees. The assumption that "everyone's guilty of something" followed quickly thereafter, and most of them never looked back. Why should they? They were out there doing something to fight terror. That's what they were told, at least. The detainee known as Person Under Control No. 412 was a portly, well-groomed Afghan named Habibullah. Some American officials identified him as "Mullah" Habibullah, a brother of a former Taliban commander from the southern Afghan province of Oruzgan.How dare Mr. Habibullah resent his arbitrary treatment? How dare he be offended at callous treatment aimed at dehumanizing him? To the end, Mr. Habibullah retained his dignity. In the face of brutal abuse, he resisted his captors until he could resist no more. I don't know if he was a member of the Taliban or not - we'll never know that - but no matter what, he did not deserve the treatment he received. That's not the way we should be. The blood of these prisoners and others is on our collective hands. Count yourself lucky, though. We could be bathed in it like Bush, Rumsfeld and Gonzales. Does that make them monsters? No. No, it doesn't. There are no monsters - just people. We're all capable of it, it's just that some of us resist it better than others. Thinking it, that's normal. Acting on it, that's a little less normal, but still, sadly, within the range of humanity. Hannah Arendt, in her study of Adolph Eichmann, coined the phrase "the banality of evil", which informed Mr. Pratchett's statement at the beginning of this post. The soldiers at Bagram were doing their jobs. The framework for doing their jobs had been removed, and the frame that replaced it paved the way for them to dehumanize their prisoners, to torment and torture them and eventually to beat them to death. The soldiers deserve punishment, to be sure. Just as Lynndie England and Charles Graynor and all the other soldiers at Abu Ghraib deserve punishment. What can't be lost in this, though, is that there is a chain of responsibility all the way to the top. All the way. This rudderless world is not shaped by vague metaphysical forces. It is not God who kills the children. Not fate that butchers them or destiny that feeds them to the dogs. It's us. Only us. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 11:56:00 AM | Friday Five: You Have A Scroll Of Genocide No, not that kind of genocide. It's from the old game NetHack. Gord hits us with a long question this week: In the depths of a dream, a voice speaks unto you:Interesting. There's so many ways to go here...
posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 6:04:00 AM | Thursday, May 19, 2005
Tricksy Newsweekses! We hates it! That damn lib'rul media! They done gone and done it again! Not content with singlehandedly causing the deaths of UP TO 17 PEOPLE by printing a report about US interrogators mishandling the Koran at Camp X-Ray in Guatanamo Bay, Cuba, those dastardly conspirators in the liberal media have done worse! They've altered the space-time continuum to provide backup for their story! Sneaking back in time and using well-placed moles in the International Red Cross, they cleverly inserted their damnable lies into multiple reports from the Red Cross to US military commanders at Guatanamo Bay. If you've been following anything about the wacky pranks our soldiers get up to to keep the prisoners at Camp X-Ray, Abu Ghraib and Bagram Airbase amused, you'd know that there's clear line drawn. We'll hang prisoners by their wrists, detain innocent men, women and children, beat them to death, turn them over to be boiled alive in Uzbekistan, threaten them with dogs, wrap them in Israeli flags, smear fake menstrual blood on their faces, make them strip naked and get into pyramids with other prisoners, rape them or herd them into unventilated shipping containers and then fire machine guns at the sides to put in air holes - we'll do all of that, but we will not put a copy of the Koran in the toilet, or throw it to the ground, or step on it. No sir! There's a clear line drawn there, but we're not allowed to know where that line is, seeing as it's a matter of Nashnul Sekyuritee an' all. I mean, it's clear Isikoff is a pawn of the Vast Left-Wing Media Conspiracy! What kind of moron depends upon a single source for a story like that, in which over a dozen innocent people could be killed in riots that occurred over a week after it was published? Thank our Merciful and Benevolent God that we have brave people like Scott McClellan that are willing to tell Evil Atheist Drug Using Degenerate Enemies Of The State like Newsweek what they can and can't publish! posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 10:02:00 AM | Two Cars A/C in the minivan fixed, warranty covered it. As it should be. Now I can go back to hoping my car continues to hold together. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 9:32:00 AM | Wednesday, May 18, 2005
Ten Lies About The Filibuster I'm so tempted to write about Scottish MP George Galloway's hardcore smackdown of Senator Norm "I'm A Pustulent Moron" Coleman, but I'll just let his words stand for themselves. Read them here. Instead, I'll point to Media Matters' listing of the Top Ten lies the Rethugs are spreading about the Filibuster. Falsehood #1: Democrats' filibuster of Bush nominees is "unprecedented"...Republicans initiated a filibuster against a judicial nominee in 1968, forcing Democratic president Lyndon Johnson to withdraw the nomination of Associate Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas to be chief justice. Then-Sen. Robert Griffin (R-MI) recognized at the time that denying nominees a vote was already an established practice. "It is important to realize that it has not been unusual for the Senate to indicate its lack of approval for a nomination by just making sure that it never came to a vote on the merits. As I said, 21 nominations to the court have failed to win Senate approval. But only nine of that number were rejected on a direct, up-and-down vote," Griffin said, according to a May 10 New York Times op-ed by former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell (D-ME). posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 2:44:00 PM | Riddle Me This... Frank Gorshin is dead. Best known as "The Riddler" from the "Batman" TV series in the 1960s, Gorshin also guest starred in one of my favorite TOS episodes, "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield". Gorshin's Riddler and Burgess Meredith's Penguin were my favorite villains from the series - it wasn't until the 1980s that The Joker became the delightfully menacing figure he is, before that he was just a giggly dude in clown makeup. Damn, I liked him. He gave the impression that he loved working, and that always made him worth watching. Another icon from my childhood, gone. Fuckin' universe. Fuck. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 12:46:00 PM | One Car We're down to one vehicle today - the minivan's air conditioning decided to crap out. Dropped it off at the dealership last night, and they're supposed to look it over this morning. As the van's less than 3 years old and has less than 60K miles on it, the A/C should be covered by the warranty. I tell you this much - it sweet-ass better be covered by the warranty, or Blood Will Be Shed. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 7:44:00 AM | Tuesday, May 17, 2005
"Conscience" My Fat, Hairy Ass! A friend brought this link to my attention: The Conscience Clause Last summer, Michelle made the difficult decision to end her 12-year marriage. She’d gone to marriage counseling. She’d talked on many occasions with her pastor. She had tried to make it work, but ultimately she decided the marriage had to end.This is the one that infuriated me the most. A pharmacist is, like a doctor or a fireman or a cop, someone that must serve the public good. A paramedic isn't allowed to say, "Sorry, the guy in that car crash looks queer, so I won't help him." A fireman can't say, "Dude, there is no way I'm going to stop a fire at the home of a Republican!" If a pharmacist has problems dispensing certain types of medicine, they need to GET THE FUCK OUT OF THE BUSINESS. If someone walks up to the counter at a pharmacy with a legitimate prescription, a pharmacist is morally obligated to fucking fill it. No questions asked. No backtalk. Fill the goddamn prescription and shut your fuckin' pie hole. End. Of. Fucking. Story. Red America, this is what you've done. I hope you can goddamn sleep at night, you stupid motherfuckers. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 6:25:00 PM | Monday, May 16, 2005
'th FUCK??!!! I'm just not getting how anyone thought this ad was a good idea. For those too lazy to click on a link, it's an ad by a group called "Protect Flagstaff's Future". At the top: a photo of the May 10, 1933 Nazi Rally in Berlin, at which thousands of Good Germans burned books looted from bookstores and libraries written by Communists, Jews and other decadent types. Joseph Geobbels said that night: You are doing the right thing at this midnight hour—to consign to the flames the unclean spirit of the past. This is a great, powerful, and symbolic act. The text of the ad: Should we let government tell us what we can read?Fair enough. No rational person likes censorship, and Nazi book-burnings are double-plus ungood, right? Who wouldn't want to fight the fiends that support burning books? You'd have to be INSANE!!! As they say in pitch meetings in Hollywood, "No, no wait, how 'bout this?": So why should we allow local government to limit where we shop? Or how much of a store's floor space can be used to sell groceries?Whaaaaaaaa? I'm not easily offended, but this ad seems to take something and skew it all out of proportion. What else does it say? The simple fact is that when competition is suppressed and choices are limited, prices go up and business goes elsewhere.Ummmm, yeah. So... suppressing competition is baaaaad. Got it. I'm down with that, actually. Within reason, of course (curse my nuanced soul!) Paid for by Project Flagstaff's Future - Major funding by Wal-Mart (Bentonville, AR)Now, hold on a minute! Wal-Mart is about as anti-competition as it gets, although I'll admit that Wal-Mart is doing an admirable job keeping standards of living low, though their efforts on behalf of the overall cost of living leave much to be desired, since so many of their employees go on public assistance. So let me get this straight: The public voting on restrictions on environmentally-damaging "big box" stores, bad. The wealthiest corporation in the world continuing to leverage its size and power to destroy competition while at the same time cheat its employees, engage in illegal union-busting activities and participate in outsourcing entire industries overseas - that's good. Wal-Mart has stated they intend to apologize, we'll have to see how cautiously they word their non-apology. Like Dennis Prager, it's clear that Wal-Mart doesn't really grasp the reality or the scope of the Nazis. This is why you shouldn't let brain-dead morons approve ad campaigns, you know. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 12:41:00 PM | Book Meme Ganked this from Gord.
posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 9:28:00 AM | Critter Cuisine This morning, listening to Morning Sedition on Air America in traffic, Mark Maron read an email from a listener who suggested that if he were really interested in an alternative diet, he should read the book Critter Cuisine, as it gave some excellent tips on cooking with insects and other animals. That caught my attention, because I own a copy of Critter Cuisine. It was written by a good family friend, Mary Ann Clayton. I can state, with a reasonable degree of surety, that it's not really a guide on alternative cuisine. The cover should be your first clue:  Still and all, the presentation of the dishes described is enough to make them almost appetizing ("Toad in the Hole" being my favorite). I do hope that some copies get sold as a result of that mention. Al, I know you occasionally read the blog here - tell Mary Ann she got a shout out of sorts on Air America. You, Dear Readers, all need to own a copy of Critter Cuisine. It's a nice little book, and good for scaring your children into eating their vegetables. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 8:25:00 AM | Sunday, May 15, 2005
Group Blog I'm part of a group blog for insomniacs and other late-night folks. It's called Light Fixtures. I figure as long as Alec's waking up in the middle of the night, I'll be posting there from time to time. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 9:09:00 AM | Saturday, May 14, 2005
New Business Big ol' shout out to Marvin, who turns 36 today. Welcome to Old Age, Marvin, wif yer bad ol' philosophizin' self! posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 7:00:00 AM | Logo? I occasionally poke around with my CafePress Store, and last night, I decided what I need is a snazzy logo, something that's unique and easily recognizable. Branding and all that, wot? Currently, I've got this:  Surely there's something better, right? Here's the deal - if any of you, dear readers, can come up with something better, I'll write you a dirty haiku and mail you a package of homemade chocolate chip cookies (or some other homemade yummy treat, if you hate the chocolate chip). Send your entries to this address, and some time next month, I'll post a bunch for voting. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 6:55:00 AM | Old Business Happy Birthday to my buddy Will G. It was his birthday yesterday - he's starting that downhill slide to 40, so make sure you pop over and give him a small ration of good-natured shit. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 6:41:00 AM | Friday, May 13, 2005
Friday Five - Well, I'll Tell Ya Gord wonders this week: Okay, without giving any context at all, what are five things you've really wanted to say to people in the last month, but haven't said. Don't give context, just give the thing you want to say.Guess it doesn't count if I blogged it. Damn - usually, I say what's on my mind. Part of what makes me so fuckin' charming, right? OK, here goes:
posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 9:21:00 AM | Kraft Needs Some Help Got this word from an online friend, thought you sweet little flying monkeys might want to engage in a little free, low-effort, high-impact activism: I learned that Kraft is sponsoring the 2006 Gay Olympics. Not surprisingly, the fundamentalists are organizing phone banks and calling and harrassing Kraft for their sponsorship. I encourage you to call Kraft at 1-800-323-0768, and express your support for their actions - let them know that the very loud minority isn't the only voice. My friend also went to one of the nutjob fundie sites and got some additional contact info for Kraft: Kraft FoodsNow fly, fly, my pretties! posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 9:15:00 AM | Thursday, May 12, 2005
Way To Go! My Emergency Backup Sister Abby is now Emergency Backup Doctor Sister Abby. Way to go, gal! w00t! [update] Something I didn't know, when you go in to defend your dissertation, it's not like the Thunderdome - you don't get a weapon and you don't have to fight some tenured professor to the death. Apparently, you just sit down and answer some questions. There goes any motivation for me to go off to grad school... posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 3:15:00 PM | Update On Honor Student Terror About a month ago, I blogged some info on the case of two high-school girls that got arrested by the FBI. One has now been released, but the other girl faces deportation. It began with two 16-year-old immigrant girls arrested at dawn, detained far from home, and, in a chilling government assertion, called would-be suicide bombers who posed "an imminent threat to the security of the United States."The outcome of all this, then, was... what? A smear on the reputations of two young women who, as near as can be determined, did ab-so-fucking-lutely nothing wrong? Weeks of being held incommunicado? What, exactly, did the United States get out of this? Give me your tired, your poor, posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 1:33:00 PM | Clutch Mah Pearls! I'm Gettin' The Vapors! Dennis Prager thinks that people that use naughty words are Nazis. Well, not all of us, but those that have the audacity to do things like ask Fat Tony Scalia, who thinks privacy isn't a Constitutional right if you're a faggot, if he engages in sodomy. Or those that ask Ann Coulter, a defender of traditional marriage, if getting fucked up the ass is acceptable. Dennis works himself up into quite a lather over the simply horrid excesses of the Left, comparing the motish naughty-talkers to Nazis, all the while ignoring the beam in the eye of the right. To wit: I do not believe the Left recognizes how thin the line between civilization and chaos/evil is. As a Jew born shortly after the Holocaust, Nazi Germany and the gas chambers play a great role in my thinking. I recognize that the most cultured European country built Auschwitz; that Nazism was a secular, not a Christian ideology; that Ph.D.'s and intellectuals led the way to the death camps just as they did to the Gulag and other Communist holocausts.Clutch mah pearls! The barbarians is at the gates, Mabel! Progressives is Nazis! Funny, I don't recall MoveOn.org calling for the annexation of the Sudetenland. Did I miss when Atrios declared that women's' responsibilities were "Kirche, Küche und Kinder"? Have the panzers of the Berkeley Department of Arts and Humanities swept into Poland while I was sleeping? Give me a fuckin' break. Face it, Dennis - shouting is a part of public discourse. Some of it might make delicate ears such as your blush (after all, I'm sure you never let such filthy words touch your unblemished lips), but that's part and parcel of the way things work here. Progressives in this country are under attack by people like Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh and Fat Tony Scalia. To them, gays are deviants and child-molesters, deserving of no protection from discrimination or random assaults. If anything, their speeches and actions come closer to the practices of Nazi Germany (although I, personally, think even they fall quite a bit short of the unmitigated evil of the Nazis). There are times when polite speech fails - when standing quietly to one side and saying, "Um, excuse me? I think you should be nicer, if that's not asking too much." is not enough. Sometimes, it's necessary to look the people advocating the murder of judges and the destruction of those with opposing viewpoints in the eye and shout them down. Sometimes, you've got to get your ass out on the street and make a fuckin' ruckus to make sure the folks in charge know that you're watchin' 'em, and you're not going to fall for their bait-and-switch. Sometimes, as our Founding Fathers knew, you've got to go beyond Robert's Rules Of Order. Thing is, your fretful screed never mentioned the "barbaric" behavior of the Right. That, apparently, isn't a worry. I'm sure the savage students that had the audacity to throw themselves in front of bullets at Kent State deserved it, Dennis. The barbaric young men that were registering black voters in Philadelphia, Mississippi had it coming to them, the little punks. The elderly men and women arrested and pepper-sprayed in Miami a couple years ago during a legitimate, legal protest - they were out-of-control thugs, and needed a little takedown, right? Here's a little more "barbarity": Go fuck yourself, Dennis. Go fuck yourself in the ass with a rusty chainsaw. I'm not the only one that's sick and goddamn tired of the Right's sudden passionate interest in civil discourse, either. You motherfuckers keep sayin' there's a war on, you can't act all shocked when the other side thinks you're right, and that you started it. I'll go on and warn you now that we're going to win it, so don't get all freaked when that happens. Let me know if you need me to mail you a rusty chainsaw, mmm-K? posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 8:07:00 AM | Wednesday, May 11, 2005
Quelle Surprise Tom Ridge admits Terror Threat level raised on an arbitrary basis. The Bush administration periodically put the USA on high alert for terrorist attacks even though then-Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge argued there was only flimsy evidence to justify raising the threat level, Ridge now says.Wow. If shock was money, I'd be broke right now. Ridge said he wanted to "debunk the myth" that his agency was responsible for repeatedly raising the alert under a color-coded system he unveiled in 2002.No, Tom, they didn't want to raise it because of an unsubstantiated threat. They wanted to hike it to pull focus away from something that might be embrassing to them. Like poll numbers or more news that the WMD we went to Iraq to find never existed. Stuff like that. But hey, what do you care? You got your thirty silver pennies for selling out the American people, you're set for life! Fuck the poor and middle class folks getting royally fucked by this White House and GOP-led congress, right? They probably deserve to suffer for something. The level is raised if a majority on the President's Homeland Security Advisory Council favors it and President Bush concurs. Among those on the council with Ridge were Attorney General John Ashcroft, FBI chief Robert Mueller, CIA director George Tenet, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Colin Powell.That list of names kind of speaks for itself, doesn't it? Once again, Tom, thanks. Thanks a lot for your help in making America posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 11:54:00 AM | Tuesday, May 10, 2005
#1 With A Bullet, Baby! Google "vasectomy blog" and you'll see that I am recognized by no less an authority than Google as the #1 source of information on blogging your vasectomy. Mom, I hope you're proud! posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 6:38:00 AM | Monday, May 09, 2005
Next round of showings of Serenity will be Thursday, May 26th at 10PM. 20 cities instead of 10: Austin, TX Boston, MA Chicago, IL Dallas, TX Denver, CO Hartford, CT Kansas City, MO Las Vegas, NV Miami, FL Minneapolis, MN Norfolk, VA Philadelphia, PA Phoenix, AZ Portland, OR Providence, RI Sacramento, CA San Francisco, CA Seattle, WA Washington, DC Go here to buy tickets - FAST! posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 1:33:00 PM | Serenity News For those of you that missed the last preview of Serenity: Posted by Joss on the Universal Serenity board: posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 6:34:00 AM | Sunday, May 08, 2005
What. A. Dick! Once again, Europe, I'd like to apologize for the tactless asshole that some of my fellow Americans decided to elect. Bush Won't Take Backseat in Latvia Meeting RIGA, Latvia -- President Bush is used to taking center stage, even when sharing the dais with other presidents in their own countries.Gee, Mr. Preznit - you're just a fucking GUEST in Latvia. Can't you put your fuckin' ego on hold for a little bit? Apparently not. Bush interjected, and she demurred to her high-profile visitor.Just goes to show you some folks is all But wait! There's more! After Bush finished, Vike-Freiberga then explained that they would take four questions _ one for each president. Again, Bush tried to interrupt, saying, "Or you can have all four questions to me," knowing that foreign reporters usually want to use the opportunity to probe the U.S. president.There's a boy that needs to learn to mind his P's and Q's, I think. Obviously his parents weren't up to the job of raising him right, them being what is commonly known as "rich trash" where I come from, but I figure at some point, someone ought to have hauled that little shit behind the woodshed for a little attitude adjustment. Please, people of Earth, accept my most humble and heartfelt apologies for the boorish, loutish odious churl that is our president. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 8:28:00 PM | Saturday, May 07, 2005
Random Quizzery
Ganked from Adrienne! posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 6:58:00 PM | Way To Go, John I know you're pondering another run at the White House in 2008, but your efforts at triangulation in 2004 should tell you that trying to split the difference isn't going to help you. That's why I'm mystified and infuriated by this: U.S. Sen. John Kerry, visiting Louisiana for a forum on children's health care, criticized the Massachusetts Democratic Party for its expected approval of a statement in the party platform in support of same-sex marriage. Sucking up to the bigots and bullies isn't going to make them like you any better, and it sure as shit ain't gonna make Progressives respect you. Thugs like the Theo-Stalinists have to be opposed on all fronts and at all costs. Stay in the Senate, Mr. Kerry. You'll do more good for us there. Let's get some new voices in the race in '08. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 7:02:00 AM | Friday, May 06, 2005
I Can't Find My Friday Five! Transitus wonders: "Sometimes we lose things before we re done needing them. " What are five things you lost before you were done needing them?
posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 12:46:00 PM | I'm Tired, But It's Worth It Late night, and morning came waaaaay too early. I got word from a friend that there was going to be a sneak preview of Joss Whedon's new film Serenity yesterday evening.  If you haven't seen the TV series Firefly, you've missed out on some good, innovative TV - which is, no doubt, why the geniuses at Fox decided to cancel it. Not that I'm bitter. It's available on DVD, though, and worth the price of purchase and then some. I enjoyed the movie - it takes the series down a slightly darker road, answers some questions and gives us a whole new host of questions about the characters and the universe in which they live. I'm not going to spoil anything in public, but for a suitable bribe, I might tell you who dies. Yes, characters die. It's a Joss Whedon movie, so of course someone you like is going to die. Nathan Fillion and Ron Glass were at this preview. They spoke briefly before the screening, then answered questions ranging from witty to inane for about an hour afterwards. I'm completely wiped out, but I'm glad I went. Such is the life of a fanboy, I guess. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 8:16:00 AM | Thursday, May 05, 2005
Filibuster - Threat, or Menace? Neither, actually. It's the way the Senate is supposed to work - slowly, with lots of debate and a maze of procedure. That's the way the Founding Fathers (you know, those guys Bush and Frist and all the other pustulent scumbags on the right invoke when they spit on this nation's highest principles) envisioned it. Alexander Hamilton wrote in the Federalist Papers: In this spirit it may be remarked, that the equal vote allowed to each State is at once a constitutional recognition of the portion of sovereignty remaining in the individual States, and an instrument for preserving that residuary sovereignty. So far the equality ought to be no less acceptable to the large than to the small States; since they are not less solicitous to guard, by every possible expedient, against an improper consolidation of the States into one simple republic.He's saying, then, that the Senate ought to move slowly and deliberately, and that great pains should be taken to ensure that a course of action meets the approval of as many different groups as possible, rather than depending upon a simple majority. The necessity of a senate is not less indicated by the propensity of all single and numerous assemblies to yield to the impulse of sudden and violent passions, and to be seduced by factious leaders into intemperate and pernicious resolutions. Examples on this subject might be cited without number; and from proceedings within the United States, as well as from the history of other nations. But a position that will not be contradicted, need not be proved. All that need be remarked is, that a body which is to correct this infirmity ought itself to be free from it, and consequently ought to be less numerous. It ought, moreover, to possess great firmness, and consequently ought to hold its authority by a tenure of considerable duration.And again here - the Senate is not intended to be like the raucous, partisan House of Representatives - it's supposed to be a brake on drastic swings of the public mood. Responsibility, in order to be reasonable, must be limited to objects within the power of the responsible party, and in order to be effectual, must relate to operations of that power, of which a ready and proper judgment can be formed by the constituents. The objects of government may be divided into two general classes: the one depending on measures which have singly an immediate and sensible operation; the other depending on a succession of well-chosen and well-connected measures, which have a gradual and perhaps unobserved operation. The importance of the latter description to the collective and permanent welfare of every country, needs no explanation. And yet it is evident that an assembly elected for so short a term as to be unable to provide more than one or two links in a chain of measures, on which the general welfare may essentially depend, ought not to be answerable for the final result, any more than a steward or tenant, engaged for one year, could be justly made to answer for places or improvements which could not be accomplished in less than half a dozen years. Nor is it possible for the people to estimate the SHARE of influence which their annual assemblies may respectively have on events resulting from the mixed transactions of several years. It is sufficiently difficult to preserve a personal responsibility in the members of a NUMEROUS body, for such acts of the body as have an immediate, detached, and palpable operation on its constituents.The Senate isn't about quick fixes - it's about considering the long-term effects of proposed legislation. Bill Frist's complaint, then, regarding the less than 5% of Bush's nominations for Federal Judgeships that haven't been approved is false on two levels: (a) The Senate's supposed to be slow and require compromise and (b) Frist participated in numerous blockages of a significantly greater number of nominees during the Clinton presidency. The "nuclear option", as it was dubbed by Trent Lott, is, as its implementation is described, flatly against the rules of the Senate. Once Frist brings the nominations of corporate toady Priscilla Owens or wingnut Janice Rogers Brown to the floor, the Democrats will, as is their right according to the Senate's rules and established practices, begin their filibuster. Frist will object, and declare that the Filibuster in unconstitutional and will ask Vice-President Cheney, in his role as President of the Senate, will agree. Democrats will then request a vote on this ruling and, by simple majority, one of the strongest rules designed to protect against a tyranny of the majority will be banished from the Senate. In the rules of the Senate: Rule XXII: Notwithstanding the provisions of rule II or rule IV or any other rule of the Senate, at any time a motion signed by sixteen Senators, to bring to a close the debate upon any measure, motion, other matter pending before the Senate, or the unfinished business, is presented to the Senate, the Presiding Officer, or clerk at the direction of the Presiding Officer, shall at once state the motion to the Senate, and one hour after the Senate meets on the following calendar day but one, he shall lay the motion before the Senate and direct that the clerk call the roll, and upon the ascertainment that a quorum is present, the Presiding Officer shall, without debate, submit to the Senate by a yea-and-nay vote the question:Obviously, a 60-vote super-majority is required to change Senate rules. Frist and Lott's "nuclear option" is specifically intended to violate the letter and spirit of Senate rules and traditions for blatantly partisan purposes. The Democrats did the same thing in 1975, lowering the requirement to break a filibuster from 67 votes to 60. That doesn't make it right - that rule change should have been taken to the Supreme Court for a ruling in 1975. The simple fact that the Democrats did it doesn't make it right - the way I see it, they were in the wrong then, just as the Republicans are in the wrong now. Changes to the rules of the Senate specifically require a 2/3 majority - either 2/3 of the Senate must be of the same party, or one party must get a significant number of Senators from the other side to agree to the rule change. That's the way it was intended to be. "But, Adam! Isn't it awfully mean of those Democrats to refuse to allow those whackaloon extremist judges a chance at a simple vote?" No. No, it's not. It's procedure. The Senate is supposed to Advise and Consent the president's nominations for appointments - both temporary ones (Cabinet posts, ambassadors) and permanent (judges). In this instance, the minority party has registered specific objections to a small percentage of Bush's nominees and is refusing its advice and consent. The rules of the Senate allow them to do this, and there is a clear precedent involving the use of filibusters to block judicial nominations. Rule 31 of the Senate, which covers nominations, does not in any way specify that all nominees must be given a vote on the floor of the Senate. The handful of judges that are either too inexperienced or too far to the fringes for the Democrats to agree to confirm should be set aside. It sucks to be them, but that's politics. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 10:33:00 AM | Wednesday, May 04, 2005
Tempus Fugit If you're in the future (relative to my now as I write this) and have access to a time machine, are you planning to come to the Time Traveler Convention? From my perspective, the convention is too close to arrange transport, but I guess you guys in the future have plenty of time (relative to your now as you read this). Some more info on TimeTraCon (or whatever they call it now [relative to my now as I write this], or you call it in your now [relative to you as you read this]): What is it? For those of you in the future (relative to my now as I write this) that possess the means to communicate with the past (relative to you as you read this), I will gladly serve as a fund manager to provide you with fantastic wealth in the future. Simply provide me lottery numbers for the next 3 weeks (relative to my now as I write this) and I will split the proceeds of the lottery with you 50-50. I can then take your 50% and invest it in a series of stocks and bonds of your choosing. Additionally, anyone out there (in the future, relative to my now as I write this) that can get me a copy of the Little, Brown Handbook that covers the use of pronouns and time-related nouns and verbs in relation to time travel will get a fancy t-shirt of my devising. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 7:49:00 AM | Tuesday, May 03, 2005
It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time... It's not the first time I've said that in my life. The party I threw in high school, the one that ended with an ambulance showing up? Seemed like a good idea at the time. Shaving my eyebrows off that time in college? Seemed like a good idea at the time. It's not always Bad Stuff that happens, of course - dating Melissa Seemed Like A Good Idea, and it was one of the best ideas I ever had - but I should know by now that when part of my brain says, "Hey! No problem! How could this go wrong?", I need to stop, back away and spend a good, long time looking at it from all conceivable angles, and maybe making up a couple of new angles just to be sure. Like I said, I ought to know better. Which is why I cannot for the life of me understand why it even seemed a good idea at the time when, while letting the kids pick small souveniers in the giftshop at the Vicksburg National Military Park, I looked at the penny whistle that Franny had picked out and said to her, "Sure, sweetie! That looks like a fun toy!" Mind you, we had an 8-hour drive home from this point. 8 hours. The penny whistle remained in Franny's possession for about 45 minutes before the ear-piercing tweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet got to us, and with a dirty look at me, Melissa confiscated it. For the next 8 hours, we were treated to intermittent variations on the theme of "I waaaannnnttt myyyyyyy peennnnnyyy whiiiissssstle!!! EEEEEEEE!!!!!!!" With every new chorus of this tune, Melissa glared daggers at me, so that by the time we reached the Louisiana-Texas border, I had already bled to death from multiple metaphorical stab wounds. This morning, Franny got her penny whistle back, with the proviso that it gets played outside unless she's actually practicing to learn how to play it properly. When Melissa called to let me know about some changes to our schedule for the week, I could track Franny's progress around the house in relation to Melissa's location by the rising and falling tones of the whistle. The worst of it, I think, is the knowledge that my failure to think through the ramifications of the purchase of a loud, high-pitched musical insturment is hurting Melissa more than it is me, seeing as I'm away from the kids all day long. I better find something nice to do for Melissa (besides surreptitiously breaking the whistle) to make up for this one. Any suggestions? posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 9:58:00 AM | Monday, May 02, 2005
Home Again, Home Again Back in Austin. The funeral was... a funeral. A chance to say goodbye, a chance to be with family and a chance to ponder time and mortality. I'm still sorting out what, if anything, I want to write about it - I've got some emotional stuff left over that needs working through, and I might just decide to bottle it up for a while and let it ferment. The kids were well-behaved, despite our averaging 440+ miles per day over 5 days. The map below shows the route from Austin, TX to Jasper, GA with an overnight stay in Vicksburg, MS:  And this is a picture of my father and his good friends Mickey and Al. Those that don't know any of the 3 old farts in the picture are welcome to guess which one is my dad: 
posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 11:26:00 PM | Sunday, May 01, 2005
Sunday Getting ready for the drive back today. We'll be heading out a little after lunch and driving to Vicksburg, then finishing the drive on Monday. It was good to see the family, though the circumstances could have been better. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 6:38:00 AM | |
||
