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Any law which violates the inalienable rights of man is essentially unjust and tyrannical; it is not a law at all. - Maximilien Robespierre A Violently Executed Feed BUY SOME STUFF, MAKE ME HAPPY Contact me. Links and stuff Handshake Bloggers Damn Good Music
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Saturday, September 30, 2006
Great Song The Asylum Street Spankers knock this one out of the park. Watch the video and send the link to that limpdicked asshole in the next cubicle with the Ford Penis-Enhancer SUV covered with crappy, tattered flags and faded yellow ribbon stickers. Then go to the Spankers' website and buy a copy of the MP3 - it's only $1, and 25% of the money from the sale goes directly to Iraq Veterans Against The War. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 12:53:00 PM   | Friday, September 29, 2006
Waterboard Al To Judges: Watch It, Or You're Next Alberto Gonzales, one of the chief architects of the Bushistas' immoral, cowardly policy of rape and torture, told America's judiciary that he's gonna keep an eye on them: "The Constitution ... provides the courts with relatively few tools to superintend military and foreign policy decisions, especially during wartime," the attorney general told a conference on the judiciary at Georgetown University Law Center.Given Al's previous display of his stunning grasp of the principles of democracy, what came next should be no surprise: And he said the independence of federal judges, who are appointed for life, "has never meant, and should never mean, that judges or their decisions should be immune" from public criticism.Ten years ago, that would've been just empty talk - an Attorney General trying to save face. In light of the bill that passed yesterday, though, it's a little more ominous. "Watch your step, judges - don't think you're safe, because if my boss thinks you're a threat to the country, your asses will be waterboarded quicker than you can say 'separation of powers'." posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 5:31:00 PM | Home Day Alec was under the weather, so I'm spending the day at home with him. In the meantime, I'm rather bleak about the prospects for our country. Our Senate voted 65-34 last night in support of gulags, torture and rape as an interrogation tool. Doesn't that just make you feel all special and warm and fuzzy inside? Mark my words - nothing good will come of this. We will not be safer. We will not be stronger. We are all tainted by the sins of our government. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 9:47:00 AM | Thursday, September 28, 2006
Clear And Present Danger I consider myself a patriotic American in the truest sense of the term. Senator Carl Schurz put it best when he said, "My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right." Shurz' full statement is even more powerful and true: "The Senator from Wisconsin cannot frighten me by exclaiming, 'My country, right or wrong.' In one sense I say so too. My country; and my country is the great American Republic. My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right." More people need to think in those terms, it seems. Like, say, the Democrats in Congress. Now is not the time to play it safe a la Lieberman. Now is not the time to "go along to get along" - when has that ever worked in protecting freedom? The "antiterrorism" bill that passed the House is wrong. It's twisted, diseased, putrid and evil. Like so much else the Bushistas promote, its very name is a lie. The proposed "guidelines" for handling terror suspects are terrorism, plain and simple. From the NYT editorial: These are some of the bill's biggest flaws: Enemy Combatants: A dangerously broad definition of "illegal enemy combatant" in the bill could subject legal residents of the United States, as well as foreign citizens living in their own countries, to summary arrest and indefinite detention with no hope of appeal. The president could give the power to apply this label to anyone he wanted. The Geneva Conventions: The bill would repudiate a half-century of international precedent by allowing Mr. Bush to decide on his own what abusive interrogation methods he considered permissible. And his decision could stay secret — there's no requirement that this list be published. Habeas Corpus: Detainees in U.S. military prisons would lose the basic right to challenge their imprisonment. These cases do not clog the courts, nor coddle terrorists. They simply give wrongly imprisoned people a chance to prove their innocence. Judicial Review: The courts would have no power to review any aspect of this new system, except verdicts by military tribunals. The bill would limit appeals and bar legal actions based on the Geneva Conventions, directly or indirectly. All Mr. Bush would have to do to lock anyone up forever is to declare him an illegal combatant and not have a trial. Coerced Evidence: Coerced evidence would be permissible if a judge considered it reliable — already a contradiction in terms — and relevant. Coercion is defined in a way that exempts anything done before the passage of the 2005 Detainee Treatment Act, and anything else Mr. Bush chooses. Secret Evidence: American standards of justice prohibit evidence and testimony that is kept secret from the defendant, whether the accused is a corporate executive or a mass murderer. But the bill as redrafted by Mr. Cheney seems to weaken protections against such evidence. Offenses: The definition of torture is unacceptably narrow, a virtual reprise of the deeply cynical memos the administration produced after 9/11. Rape and sexual assault are defined in a retrograde way that covers only forced or coerced activity, and not other forms of nonconsensual sex. The bill would effectively eliminate the idea of rape as torture. This isn't just about being a torture-happy bunch of psychotics, though. The language in the bill specifically exempts the entire Administration from the War Crimes Act, which means that they are trying to make themselves immune from prosecution for any and all crimes against humanity since 9/11. Pinochet and the generals that terrorized Chile did that when they saw the writing on the wall, which has hamstrung subsequent efforts to prosecute Pinochet and his cronies for the tens of thousands of men and women tortured and murdered during his reign. Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rove and all the rest want to make sure they don't have to suffer for their sins, and the GOP in Congress is more than happy to go along with it. The Democratic leadership, it seems, is willing to sit with folded hands and let this monstrous offense against the very principles of our nation stroll past them without a fight. I am saying now that any member of Congress that votes for this travesty will never get my vote - will never get a penny of my money. This is not an issue that allows compromise - either you support torture or you don't. You're a Good German, or you're not. "First they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Socialists and the Trade Unionists, but I was neither, so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew so I did not speak out. And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me." Maybe I'm being needlessly alarmist. Maybe I'm being paranoid. Maybe. But maybe not. Are you willing to bet your life and our nation's honor on that? Given the track record of Bush and his merry band of crooks, I'm not. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 12:14:00 PM | Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Add Yourself To Falafel Bill's Enemies List! Michael Bérubé, the most dangerous professor in America, EVAR!!!!1!!, has grown frustrated with Bill O'Reilly's lackadaisical efforts at making a list of all the people out to destroy him. Being a kind, caring and helping person, he's Started the list himself: But this happy blog is—uh—happy to announce that it has discovered the full and complete list of everyone who is trying to marginalize or destroy (or marginalize and destroy) the brave guy who’s looking out for you. We hereby provide it you free of charge, as a public service. All we ask is that you add a few more names to it and pass it along down one of the available Internet tubes:Here's my additions, seeing as the Lying Sack Of Shit O'Reilly can't be arsed to add me to his Enemies List himself as I so politely asked some time back:
posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 4:37:00 PM | | Monday, September 25, 2006
How Do I Love Thee, Keith Olbermann? Let Me Count The Ways... Aw, hell. I can't count that high. Olbermann follows up Clinton's spanking of odious churl Chris Wallace by tearing Bush a new one. The Bush Administration did not try to get Osama Bin Laden before 9/11.It's good to know that there's people in the media doing their jobs, comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable. It's good to see that someone is willing to let incompetent, torture-happy know-nothing fascists get it with both barrels. It's good to see that there's still hope for our republic. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 10:46:00 PM | Farewell, Mr. Ford John M. Ford is dead. I really loved John M. Ford's work - in addition to his fiction, which regularly knocked my socks off, he also wrote two of my favorite gaming supplements: GURPS: Time Travel and the best Paranoia! adventure ever: Yellow Clearance Black Box Blues. Goddamn. Goddamn goddamn goddamn. I corresponded with him a couple of times regarding nitpicky gaming stuff, and for several years I was on the message boards of Steve Jackson Games' Pyramid magazine. He always struck me as an inherently decent guy, and I kept hoping that sometime I'd be at a con with him so I could get my copy of The Dragon Waiting autographed. Goddamn. I'm crying, and I didn't even know the guy. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 11:44:00 AM | Sunday, September 24, 2006
I Ain't Sayin' Nothin... ...but you know what I'm sayin', right? I mean, I'm not stupid. I can put two and two together and get four, and I can add falling gas prices and election day and get this. Isn't it the funniest thing, that the party that's the nicest to Big Oil is in trouble, and Big Oil's prices start dropping, despite record-high crude prices? Far be it for me to suggest that Big Business would actively work to protect their cronies and benefactors in a desperate election cycle. I mean, I realize it would make me sound like some kind of conspiracy freak, but sometimes... Sometimes, a cigar is just a cigar and a cabal of boardroom sociopaths really are in bed with the sociopaths in the White House. Click the links above, do the math. I wager you'll see what I mean. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 8:15:00 PM | Saturday, September 23, 2006
Fearless Melissa and I went to see Fearless last night, and I loved it. It's primarily a martial arts movie, based on the story of Huo Yuanjia, the Chinese martial artist that founded the Chin Woo Athletic Association. Jet Li is, as always, superb - it's a real pleasure to watch not just how his body moves, but the subtle nuances of expression he's able to deliver. I'm not sure it was exactly Melissa's cup of tea, but she was a good sport about it. Our biggest problem was the trailers for necro-porn movies like some new Texas Chainsaw piece of shit they ran before the film. If you're into stunning martial arts choreography, Jet Li or any combination of the two, it's definitely worth the cost of a ticket. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 12:55:00 PM | Friday, September 22, 2006
Don't Think The Good Guys Won On The Torture Bill As Digby has pointed out, it's only good in terms of McCain and Graham's future political careers. Once again, the Senate Democrats stood idly by and did nothing as an agreement was reached to allow the bloodiest war-criminal of the 21st century and his gang of thugs, crooks, liars and incompetents to routinely violate the Geneva Conventions. Our government is now officially in the business of torture. We've got a gulag archipelago - 14,000 prisoners are in it worldwide. We torture. We're currently planning a series of potemkin trials for the men stuck in Guantanamo, men who will have no recourse, no apology if they're innocent. Hell, even if they tribunals determine they're innocent, it's already been established that there's a good chance they'll be stuck in Gitmo indefinitely. It's not illegal yet to mock Our Deal Leader and the pathetic sacks of shit that advise him, but that's not saying much. So, please. Explain to me where we get our moral authority now. Why should any other nation in the world listen to us complain about the mote in its eye, when we've got such a big-ass log in ours. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 10:40:00 AM | Thursday, September 21, 2006
::crosses fingers and toes:: Back to the drawing board. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 2:27:00 PM | Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Free Books! In Your Email! It's nice to have an Invisible Internet Friend like The Great Beast (not his real name, but you're not cleared to know that. Fnord.). He turned me on today to Daily Lit, which is set up to provide classic post-copyright lit to you, the discerning reader, through your email. It's got authors from Edwin Abbott to Emile Zola and titles from A Christmas Carol through Wuthering Heights. And did I mention it's free? As in "gratis". As in "at-no-cost-to-you". As in "now you don't have an excuse". Hell, they deliver it to you a chapter at a time in your email. How could that be bad? Dudes, it's even got Scaramouche. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 10:37:00 AM | Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Ambiguity Ambiguity: n. pl. am·bi·gu·i·tiesTony Snow, the latest in a series of professional obfuscators employed by the White House to screech and fling malodorous shit at the lapdog press, insists that that Geneva Conventions are "vague", that "nobody knows exactly what would be prohibited or not prohibited under it." That's the official line - Rumsfeld, Bush, Cheney and now Alberto "The Torturer" Gonzales are all saying the same thing. Sez Al: You have opinions all across the board about what certain words mean in Common Article 3. There are certain practices, such as torture, murder, maiming, certain serious offenses that are clearly prohibited that we all agree with that should be outlawed. But certain other kinds of practices, there is some serious question as to whether or not they would be permitted under Common Article 3, given the language such as outrages upon personal dignity, particularly humiliating and degrading treatment, and if you look to see how those words have been interpreted by foreign tribunals, it does create uncertainty for our men and women, as the President said, who are engaged in collecting information to protect America.Ummm..... 'TH FUCK? It's really very goddamn clear to me. Now, I'm not a lawyer. I didn't get a fancy-pants education at an Ivy League school, I come from a middle-class family. I work a 9-5 job, pay my taxes and wish I had more time to spend with my family and less in the office. I'm not that far outside the mainstream in terms of life experience. So I get a little confused when the pinheads, shitlickers and scumbags in the White House insist that the Geneva Conventions are "vague". I went and looked, and Convention 3 of the Geneva Conventions - ratified in 1949, well in the realm of recent history - seems pretty fucking crystal-clear on what it's about. Remember, Alberto said, "...given the language such as outrages upon personal dignity, particularly humiliating and degrading treatment, and if you look to see how those words have been interpreted by foreign tribunals, it does create uncertainty for our men and women..." So what, exactly, does Article 3, Part I of Convention 3 say? Art. 3. In the case of armed conflict not of an international character occurring in the territory of one of the High Contracting Parties, each Party to the conflict shall be bound to apply, as a minimum, the following provisions: (1) Persons taking no active part in the hostilities, including members of armed forces who have laid down their arms and those placed hors de combat by sickness, wounds, detention, or any other cause, shall in all circumstances be treated humanely, without any adverse distinction founded on race, colour, religion or faith, sex, birth or wealth, or any other similar criteria. To this end the following acts are and shall remain prohibited at any time and in any place whatsoever with respect to the above-mentioned persons: (a) violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture; (b) taking of hostages; (c) outrages upon personal dignity, in particular, humiliating and degrading treatment; (d) the passing of sentences and the carrying out of executions without previous judgment pronounced by a regularly constituted court affording all the judicial guarantees which are recognized as indispensable by civilized peoples. (2) The wounded and sick shall be collected and cared for. An impartial humanitarian body, such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, may offer its services to the Parties to the conflict.Seems pretty straightforward to me. No murder. No mutilation. No cruel treatment. No torture. No hostage-taking. No humiliating or degrading treatment. No kangaroo courts. Wounded and sick people get proper care. The Red Cross needs to be able to access all prisoners. Let's look these over one by one.
And just for the hell of it, let's look again at some of the techniques the Bushies say they want to be able to use:
We here in the States are being led by a rogue government - a cabal of kleptocrats intent upon dominating the world through terror and intimidation, the better to force their extremist, misogynist and racist religious ideals upon their own citizens and, eventually, the world. Man, I sure am glad we're fighting those dirty Muslims, or we might have to surrender some of our freedoms or even our self-respect! posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 8:54:00 AM | Monday, September 18, 2006
This Could Be Cool Setting aside the usual hyperbole inherent in mass-market media reports of new technology developments, it looks like we're much closer to being able to build space elevators. The basic premise involves an elevator that would travel from its base station up a cable tethered at the other end to a counterweight in geo-stationary orbit. Satellites, supplies or astronauts would be loaded onto the elevator climber at the offshore platform anchored on the equator, where risks of storms, lightning and hurricanes are minimal.NASA is still putting most, if not all, of its eggs in the SST basket, but the X-Cup this year will feature a prize for climbing devices especially suited for use on space elevators. We'll see, I suppose, but put me down as an enthusiastic supporter of the concept of beanstalks. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 12:41:00 PM | Sunday, September 17, 2006
'Nother Busy Day Melissa and the kids and I went down to McKinney Falls State Park today for a family hike. 3 miles, some in a nice cooling rain, made for a good bit of exercise. For dinner tonight, tuna steaks and couscous and steamed broccoli. Oh, and I'm down to about 251 lbs now. I've lost 18 pounds since late June. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 4:36:00 PM | Saturday, September 16, 2006
Busy Busy Spent the morning building a new fence behind our house - the neighbor called and said he'd like to replace the fence (which was, admittedly, getting a little saggy in places), so I went out and threw some sweat equity into the fence. Now I'm all tired and shit. I need a beer. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 12:21:00 PM | Friday, September 15, 2006
Useless Goddamn Fuckstain Yeah, I'm talking about that coke-and-booze-addled waste of DNA that squats gollum-like in the White House, wiping his ass with the Constitution every chance he gets, squirting his noxious, evil ideas around like shit out of a diarrheic cat. George W. Fuckstain Bush. The latest? His press conference. Referring to what he said was key information supplied by al Qaeda suspects who were recently moved from secret CIA jails to the U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to face trial, Bush said in a White House press conference on Friday that the problem is that the treaty's intent was unclear. "That's very vague," Bush said about the "outrages on human dignity" language. "What does that mean? That statement is wide open to interpretation." Bush said he is proposing clarity in U.S. law that would leave no doubt about the standards and not leave U.S. professionals open to possible trial on war crimes.Like I said. Useless Fuckstain. Let's break it down, shall we? Bush is saying the following:
Let's not forget Peter King (R-Headuphisass): Peter King, the Republican chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, took issue with McCain — who was tortured while a prisoner of war in Vietnam — saying that he thought McCain was wrong on the issue of detainee treatment. "If we capture bin Laden tomorrow and we have to hold his head under water to find out when the next attack is going to happen, we ought to be able to do it," King said, according to The New York Times.King's talking out his ass again. He really needs to stop doing that - his breath is bad enough already. It's really very easy to sort out. Torture doesn't get you good information. Think back to the playground in elementary school - when the bully had you face-down in the dirt and your arm twisted up so far behind your back that you thought it was about to pop out of its socket, did you scream "UNCLE!" because he was really your uncle, or did you do it so he would stop? Fuckstain Bush doesn't understand that - the harshest pain he's probably ever experienced was when a servant brought him some lukewarm soup, or maybe wiped his delicate ass with generic toilet paper. He's never risked his precious skin, he's never had bamboo shoots jammed beneath his fingernails or had his face held under water until his body flails in panic. He's never been beaten, pissed on and left shackled upright in a freezing room for days on end. He's lived a life of privilege, he's had Poppy and Poppy's cronies to bail him out every time he fucks up. All he knows is that he's got to convince the American public that he's going to keep them safe, and the only way he knows how to do that is to make everyone afraid. "Look out! The terrorist boogeyman is going to get you! He's so terrible, we have to do things to innocent goat-herders that we didn't do to Nazis! He's such a threat that we need to make ourselves international pariahs so I can feel like my dick's a little bit bigger!" He's useless and he's evil, and nothing would make me happier than to see him and the rest of his band of crooks and killers standing in the dock at the World Court in The Hague. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 12:56:00 PM | Thursday, September 14, 2006
What Is "Torture"? Making light has some answers.
That sums it up better than I ever could. Ask yourself - no matter who you voted for in 2000 or 2004, did you vote so the United States could treat human beings like this? Did you think to yourself, "Wow! I sure hope we can strap a mentally ill man down and make him think he's drowning! I can't wait until we can yank random goatherds into secret prisons and give them permanent brain damage!" I sure as shit didn't. I'm moving beyond wishing for impeachment proceedings and instead hoping we'll get war crimes trials. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 11:51:00 AM | Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Well, Fuck Ann Richards has passed away. I always liked her - even before I moved to Texas, she impressed the hell out of me. Classy, witty, clever and one of the best governors Texas has ever had. Rest in peace, Ann. You were one of the best, and the world is that much poorer for your departure. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 10:40:00 PM | Chock-full 'o dumb I'm going to let slide without much comment Bush's recent statements regarding the purported "Third Awakening" of religious (read "Fundamentalist Christian") sentiment in the US. It's been obvious for a long time that Bush sees things through an Eschatological filter, and his continuing insistence that his War On Terra is a manichean struggle between "good" (purportedly the US, noted of late for suppression of dissent, warmongering and torture, among other things) and "evil" (Islam, with emphasis on the supposed suppression of dissent, warmongering and torture, among other things). It's patently ridiculous to anyone but the most dedicated drinker of the Kool-Aid. Here's the thing that struck me: ...Bush rejected sending more troops to the Afghanistan-Pakistan border areas to find Osama bin Laden. "One hundred thousand troops there in Pakistan is not the answer. It's someone saying 'Guess what' and then the kinetic action begins," he said, meaning an informer disclosing bin Laden's location.Hmmm. So, if someone said, perhaps, "Hey, George! Guess what? We know Osama's in a cave over in Tora Bora! Can we get some US troops on the ground over there pronto so we can capture him? I mean, you still want him 'dead or alive', right?" Wow! It's so simple! If only someone could have told us where Osama bin Laden was hiding... posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 1:42:00 PM | Tuesday, September 12, 2006
'Puter Stuff My laptop melted on me tonight. The cooling fan stopped working and the damn thing just melted. I guess I'm lucky it (a) didn't catch fire and (b) wasn't in my lap. So here's the deal - I pulled the hard drive from it, but the rest is toast. I'm looking for a Dell Latitude C600 I can slap my old HD in, or another brand/model that the HD will fit. If any of you, dear readers, know of something like this at an affordable price, drop me a line. I'm not asking for charity here, just any tips you might have on a used/damaged computer I can cannibalize. I can get the money, and I'm chasing down other options right now - just a nod in the right direction is all I need. In the meantime, I'm able to use our desktop upstairs if the kids aren't here or are asleep. Once you get over the shock of seeing a corner of your laptop get all melty, it's less upsetting. Kind of. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 8:54:00 PM | Melissa's Latest Column Body Sighs When I was a kid, all the grown women I knew were on diets. My mother, slim and attractive, always thought she needed to lose just five more pounds. She and her friends drank Tab and sweetened their coffee with Sweet'N Low and talked about how "bad" they were when they ordered dessert. My grandmother, still gorgeous in her fifties, seemed to subsist on cottage cheese, grapefruit, and unsweetened tea. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 11:06:00 AM | Snuff Porn I won't say I missed the coverage of the anniversary of the 9/11/01 attacks yesterday. Because I didn't. I just didn't watch it. This blog post started as a response to a friend's blog entry, and as frequently happens, I knew I had more to say than I could cover in a comment. September 11 is, ultimately just another day for me. I'm one of the lucky ones - I watched 9/11 unfold on TV, but I was able to walk away from the television when the horror got too much. I didn't know anyone in the towers or on one of the airplanes. Hell, the above sentence covers that vast majority of the 300,000,000+ people in America. I am not minimizing the scope of 9/11 - it was a horrific attack on innocent men and women. It was a crime against all sentient beings and all civilized peoples. I am privileged enough to go through my life without a gaping, raw wound in my heart from 9/11. I don't have to look at a hole in lower Manhattan every day. I'm lucky, and I thank every power in the universe that I am. The reason I refused to watch the news last weekend was because seeing the carnage again wouldn't make any difference to me. One time was enough for me. One time seeing airplanes slam into buildings packed with people. One time seeing people choose their death - perish in flames or by jumping out of a window. One time seeing a blanket of ashes, of office paper and equipment and burned human flesh billow across the street. One time seeing men and women stare shell-shocked at a scene straight out of their worst nightmares. Those images are still with me - and I'm lucky, because they're just images for me. Yesterday's news wasn't a memorial. It wasn't honoring the dead. It was a masturbatory orgy of snuff-porn. It did nothing, advanced no rational cause. It was pornography for the twisted minds that get off on the horror of that day. I can't speak for New Yorkers, or survivors or family members of the ones that died on 9/11. I can't say if they needed to see a real-time replay of the events of 9/11/01. I speak for myself an no one else. Too many innocents died that day, and far, far too many have died since then. If we could achieve closure by shedding innocent blood, we've had our wergild ten, twenty, a hundred times over. I have much more to say about the use of 9/11 as a politican bludgeon, but it doesn't belong here today. Just ask yourselves - Did we need that again? Did we really need to see those deaths again? For what purpose? To what end? Ask yourself, and answer honestly. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 10:16:00 AM | Monday, September 11, 2006
SALE! If you've been wanting one of the many nifty and spiffy items in my Cafepress store, now's your chance! They got coupons! If there's a design you're missing, let me know and I'll make sure it's there for you. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 5:09:00 PM | Home Again, Home Again Up at 3AM Bay Area time, in the airport by 4 and then waited 45 minutes for Southwest to open their ticket counter, then another 15 minutes for the TSA to get off their duffs and start processing people. I had 5 minutes between planes in Las Vegas, so the kids' college money is safe. For now. Back in Austin at 1 and it's back in the regular grind - picked the big kids up at school and I'm trying to get them to do their homework. I'm exhausted. It's good to be home. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 3:21:00 PM | Sunday, September 10, 2006
Wow. Tired. Had a big adventure today - I woke up late and a little hung over following Spidra's birthday party last night (some ninjas forced too much wine in me - as you all know, I never overindulge in wine), but I met a friend from LiveJournal for lunch at Walker's Pie Shop (Solano Ave in Albany, CA), after which we strolled along a street fair on Solano, then drove in to San Francisco proper, where I bought some smell-purty-stuff for Melissa at Lush Cosmetics, then we walked up to Chinatown and had some sushi at the Floating Sushi Boat Restaurant. This was followed by a drive to Golden Gate Park and some wading in the Pacific Ocean, then back to Spidra's so I could crash early because I'm waking up at 3AM to get to the airport. This has been a great trip, though I wish it could have (a) been MUCH longer and (b) with Melissa. I love San Francisco, I love all the friends I've got out here and this has really been one of the high points of this year for me. More tomorrow when I get home, including pictures. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 8:53:00 PM | Saturday, September 09, 2006
| Friday, September 08, 2006
Here I Am! Arrived about 8:30 Pacific Time last night, had an In-n-Out burger and crashed and burned. Slept some, but not enough. More later today. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 7:20:00 AM | Thursday, September 07, 2006
A Few Thoughts Before I Hit The Road 9 hours and 18 minutes before my flight leaves. This article got me thinking. Why would Bush admit what he's so vociferously denied for so long? Simple: It's a ploy. Bush (and by "Bush" I mean Rove and Cheney) thinks that by moving Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and others over to Guantanamo Bay, the Democrats won't have the spine to insist upon humane treatment and proper trials for the detainees. Personally, were I running the Democratic Party, I'd say, "Bring it, motherfucker!" Bush and Cheney and Rumsfeld have made so many blatant comparisons of Al Qaeda to the Nazis that it would be pretty fucking simple to say, "OK - let's have trials. Let's have trials like the Nuremburg Trials, where the accused had lawyers and torture wasn't allowed and everything was conducted in the open. Let's do that. Let's give these terrorists status as human beings and show that we don't have to stack the deck against them to win." posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 7:26:00 AM | Wednesday, September 06, 2006
Who'd'a Thunk It? Oh, I'm just shocked. Pakistan turning blind eye to Osama Bin Laden. Osama bin Laden, America's most wanted man, will not face capture in Pakistan if he agrees to lead a "peaceful life," Pakistani officials tell ABC News."ButbutBUT!" you say. "But Pakistan is a valuable ally in the Warren Terrah! They've helped us arrest dozens of Al Qaeda #2 men!" Shyea, right! Pull the other one. Granted, the government of Pakistan insisted rather quickly that they were misquoted, but given their history of support for the Taliban and Bin Laden, as well as their record of actual help in tracking down terrorists (slightly more than Saudi Arabia, much less than Botswana), I'm inclined to think they were quoted correctly the first time. Osama Bin Laden, the man our presidoesn't said we'd capture "dead or alive", the man that's OMFG WORSER THAN HITLER!!!!!1!!!, is more than likely at this very moment kicked back in a nice comfy house and laughing his ass off at how easy Bush has made his life in recent years. So let's see... five years after 9/11 and the US is despised the world over, the mightiest army in the world is being nickel-and-dimed to death in a pointless quagmire, Al Qaeda has more members than ever (and several successful franchises as well!), Iran is the dominant power in the Persian Gulf, the guy that ordered the 9/11 attacks is being protected by a key "ally", our economy is tanking, gas is over $270 a gallon and our government has moved into the business of torture at the retail and wholesale levels. Wow! Can I get a hearty "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!"? Anyone? Bueller? posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 12:01:00 PM | Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Sunday Suggestions The way it looks right now, I'm going to be at odds and ends most of Sunday while I'm in San Francisco. Friday is reserved for The Castro and Coloma, so I'm open for convenient-to-transit suggestions for stuff to do on Sunday. The less touristy, the better. If you're a reader of this blog and are not already planning to touch base with me next weekend, drop me an email and maybe we can meet somewhere for coffee and/or beer. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 4:01:00 PM | Monday, September 04, 2006
Read It And Weep The US economy grew by about 14% from 2000-2005. Don't feel like it, doesn't it? The BBC points out why you're still getting cornholed by the economy. As I mentioned yesterday, inflation has done a number on middle-class househilds and incomes over the last 4-5 years. Workers are more productive than ever before, yet living standards fell about 2.9% over that period. Corporate profits, on the other hand, are still going up. CEO compensation has reached heights unseen since the Gilded Age. The top fifth of American households sucked in over 50% of the total income in America. Wanna know why things are still tight for you? Want to know where that raise you so desperately need went to? The motherfucking fatcats are stealing your money. They're lifting it out of your goddamn wallet with the full aid and approval of the GOP. So what're you gonna do about it? It's getting dangerously close to guillotine time, if you ask me. Once we hit that point, the fatcats don't usually do so well. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 3:12:00 PM | Sunday, September 03, 2006
How's Your Paycheck? Those dollars stretching as far? How 'bout your health coverage? Does a co-pay get you as much healthcare as it used to? Yeah, I didn't think so. And look! CNN finally decided to report on it! About fucking time you got a ticket for the clue train, asswipes. Between 1995 and 2005, productivity -- a measure of the quantity and quality of what workers produce per hour -- grew 33.4 percent. But hourly wages rose only 11 percent, with almost all of that increase coming during the late 1990s, according to EPI.Yeah, things are going gangbusters in the Bush Economy - if you're already rich. Sadly, for us regular joes, it's not so good. But don't take my word for it. Take a look around and ask - are you better off today than you were 6 years ago? Are you safer? How's your job security? Think about it. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 7:19:00 AM | Saturday, September 02, 2006
Progress! Kids' rooms were cleaned today sans histrionics, threats and major yelling fits. And the kids were well-behaved, too! posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 12:39:00 PM | Friday, September 01, 2006
6 Days, 1 Hour That's how long until I'm on a plane headed for San Francisco. I'm more than a little excited about this. posted by Adam C. Lipscomb at 3:33:00 PM | |
