Nosey Online

Governator praises Nixon

Richard Fucking Nixon! You're kidding, right?? Ok, I understand Reagan, to a degree. But praising that criminal Nixon? There's not enough booze to help me understand that.

Anyway, some "highlights" from Gov. Schwarzenegger, R-Austria:

Speaking of acting, one of my movies was called "True Lies." It's what the Democrats should have called their convention.

... I heard Humphrey saying things that sounded like socialism, which is what I had just left. But then I heard Nixon speak. He was talking about free enterprise, getting government off your back, lowering taxes and strengthening the military. Listening to Nixon speak sounded more like a breath of fresh air.

I said to my friend, "What party is he?" My friend said, "He's a Republican." I said, "Then I am a Republican!"

...

There is another way you can tell you're a Republican. You have faith in free enterprise, faith in the resourcefulness of the American people ... and faith in the U.S. economy. To those critics who are so pessimistic about our economy, I say: "Don't be economic girlie men!"

This was Jeff Foxworthy-esque. You might be a Republican if ...

I'm crying on the outside for my country.

[Cross-posted quickly]

Iran to Resume Uranium Enrichment

Iran has announced plans to turn tons of uranium into a substance that can be used to make nuclear weapons, the U.N. atomic watchdog agency said today in a report stoking concern about Tehran's nuclear agenda.

FLASHBACK:

Mr. Bush also took issue with Mr. Kerry's argument, in an interview at the end of May with The New York Times, that the Bush administration's focus on Iraq had given North Korea the opportunity to significantly expand its nuclear capability. Showing none of the alarm about the North's growing arsenal that he once voiced regularly about Iraq, he opened his palms and shrugged when an interviewer noted that new intelligence reports indicate that the North may now have the fuel to produce six or eight nuclear weapons.

It's gonna be a long day for me, I think.

[cross-posted]

News from another swing state, Pennsylvania!

Some confounding union endorsements are out. Via MyDD I found out that the AFL-CIO has endorsed Arlen Specter. They seem to have the same witless position that the local Planned Parenthood does in that they'll endorse any incumbent that isn't actually leading crowds of villagers to burn their offices to the ground. But as Chris at MYDD pointed out, Specter isn't far from doing that with a 32.61% labor rights progressive score. Hoeffel's score is 83.3%, again from Chris. They also left Ginny Schrader off their list of endorsements, which is just another example of their tired, gutless thinking. We don't need tired and gutless in the years ahead that are going to be challenging ones for labor no matter who wins in November.

The other surprise is that New York City's main firefighters' union will endorse BushCo tonight in Queens. It looks like Dear Leader will be bonding with manly men while watching the convention tonight, hoping some of their courage can wipe off on him. And he, staunch anti-labor pol that he is, will be basking in their endorsement as well. I can't even imagine what deal went down to get this to happen. The NYT story gives a clue:

Several union officials said Mr. Cassidy[president of the Uniformed Firefighters] has had repeated contacts with the White House, hoping that the Bush administration might make some money available to the city so that his union could receive a larger raise than Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has offered.

Apparently, that vote was for sale.

Cross posted at my blog.

So I'm watching post-convention coverage and I hear the following:

Real fake journalist Ted Koppel telling Jon Stewart, America's most trusted newsman, that the Swift Boat Liars' lies have resonance because John Kerry made such a big deal of his Vietnam service and so the lies must be heard and heard and heard and heard. He then compared the SBL to the President and said, essentially, that the press must report the fact of something being said as a fact. The truth may catch up a week later or six weeks or, I suppose, never. Koppel wasn't too concerned about if the truth would catch up. His comparison involved BushCo's speech tomorrow night and the surprising revelation that Koppel is a drug-dealing pedophile, which, before tonight, I had not known to be true. Stewart seemed to have so many thoughts racing through his head during Koppel's ridiculous lecture that he appeared, for a split second, to be speechless. He settled on telling Koppel that the media are suckers who are being gamed and the public deserves better - but not in those words.

Koppel also had an interview with David Brooks and George Stephenopolous. It was the consensus among the three men that BushCo will win in a landslide because while the GOP loves BushCo, the Dems do not love Kerry and only plan to vote for him because he isn't BushCo. He is liked but not well-liked.

So, Ted made two HUGE RNC talking points the basis of two separate bits for his show. And still, as he throws any vestige of credibility he had left away with both hands, he begrudges The Daily Show the trust they have earned.

Matthews and his panel of clowns was appalling - it looks like I was right and that Chris has been brought to heel. Was there ever any doubt?

cross posted at my blog

This is the headline of the Miami Herald story about the use of ES&S touch screen machines in the recent primary: Electronic voting machines had hitches, but no glitches: Most problems with the iVotronic in Tuesday's primary were traced to confused poll workers or faulty power supplies, not malfunctioning machines.

Hitches not glitches. Isn't that cute? 'Hitches' rhymes with 'glitches' so it's funny. And, as we all know, a hitch isn't as serious as a glitch so it's also reassuring. And it's important for the Miami Herald to take a completely uncritical, reassuring position about eVoting machines only 60 days before the national election. Otherwise, the public may get nervous and do something. And so even though there were blank screens and low batteries and power source problems. And even though, in the absence of a proper audit, we have no idea at all if the votes were counted accurately, the Miami Herald tells us, courtesy of ES&S, who wouldn't talk to the paper but did issue a press release, which is just as good - or even better because it's easier to print - that we have nothing to worry about:

But ES&S's president and CEO Aldo Tesi posted a release on the Omaha-based company's website lauding the iVotronic's performance in Florida, where 12 counties use the system.

''The success of Tuesday's elections underscores what we have known for a long time: The iVotronic voting system is extremely accurate, reliable, secure, and easy for voters to use,'' Tesi wrote.

Everything is super, people. Go back to sleep. Survivor starts soon and some families on FOX are swapping fathers.

Write to the stenographer here: lyanez@herald.com Remember to be polite when you remind her that we have no idea at all if the machines counted the votes correctly because a proper audit was not performed.

cross posted at my blog

Shari from An Old Soul pointed me to this post at MouseMusings that points us all to BlackBoxVoting.org's description of the core problem with eVoting - not the touchscreen issue though - it's the central tabulator that Bev has good reason to worry about:

Issue: Manipulation technique found in the Diebold central tabulator -- 1,000 of these systems are in place, and they count up to two million votes at a time.

This program is not "stupidity" or sloppiness. It was designed and tested over a series of a dozen version adjustments.

As usual, I'll encourage you to read the whole story. It's incredibly frightening and depressing. But they've only got this system in 30 states so far. It looks like some votes may be counted this year. Maybe one of them will be yours.

cross posted at my blog

Chepooka has a brilliant convention wrap up at her blog but hasn't cross posted here. I will provide the link because I'm a peach. Read what she learned from the GOPHateFest 2004 here.

Justin and I are more depressed, but for different reasons.

Ok eRobin, this one's for you. ;) My two cents on the Republican National Convention ...

I saw one major theme, and that is: George W. Bush is not John Kerry. This works really well for fanatics, the people that wear purple heart band aids and rotate their hands and chant "flip flop flip flop" - but remember, fans cheer faithfully even for losing teams.

I am not quite certain that they offered a message that will appeal to swing voters. The dust will settle and people will continue to weigh the evidence.

Going into the next couple of months, and especially the debates, Kerry now has an opportunity to answer all of the charges made against him this week (many of which were lies, damned lies.)

And I do believe Kerry is getting a little bit meaner. He's bringing Clinton pit bulls into his campaign and taking a more aggressive posture, yet still delivering an optomistic message. He's let Bush & Co. define him, now all he needs to do is define himself. I suspect he's clued into that.

It is probably too early to watch the polls, but the most recent samples show Bush up by 2.4%. That's a statistical dead heat. Keep in mind as you check in on this, that incumbents who went on to win reelection had an average lead of 27 points after their convention. Indeed, the average elected incumbent -- winners and losers -- had a lead of 16 points after their conventions.

Anything can happen. It's anybody's game. Don't give up quite yet. Now, Cheer up! On to making fun of repugnants, here is my cross post. :)

*************************************************************

Well, it's over, we made it!

Here are the top 10 things I learned from the RNC 2004.

10.) Nixon inspired Arnold Schwarzenegger to be a republican.

(Meanwhile in Martha's Vinyard, the in-laws comfort themselves with yet another "Lets get drunk and watch Kindergarten Cop again!" hot tub party.)

9.) John McCain accidentally pissed off the wrong documentarian.

(See you in 2008 bitch.)

8.) Laura Bush sure knows how to serve a nice warm cup of southern hospitality.

(But what is wrong with her eyes? I mean, are they pulled back tight with rubber bands or what?!)

7.) W. loves his parents.

(And we all learned that the thing he loves most about his dad is that he served under Reagan. Awwwww.)

6.) Dick Cheney made a speech.

(Well, I can't really remember it, I tried to watch it twice but that shit is like a tranquilizer. Zzzzzzzzzzzzz. Sorry about that.)

5.) Bush is the hero of 911.

(September 11th, 2001. Nine Eleven. Nine One One. Sept. 11th. Nine eleven. Bush was the hero of 911. 911. 911. 911. 911. You're getting sleepy, very very sleepy ...)

What 911 Victims' Families Think About It

4.) Republicans are stuck on purple hearts cause purple hearts are stuck on them.

(Purple Heart recipients just eat. it. up!)

3.) Zell Miller speaks from the heart.

(And conducts a "How to be a Crazy Cracker" seminar before stepping in his time machine to practice the art of the duel with the Pirates of the Carribean.)

2.) We need to be protected from terrorism.

(Sleepy, sleeeepy, very sleeeeeeeeepy...)

1.) We said "Bring it On!" ... and that's all you've got pussies?

CHEERS! Time to get mean now all you pinko commie bastards!

Bush Hails New Employment Figures Released This Morning

Bush hailed new figures showing the unemployment rate dropped slightly to 5.4 percent while the economy added 144,000 jobs last month. That figure was slightly below projections by economists.

"Overall, we've added about 1.7 million jobs since August 2003. The unemployment rate is down to 5.4 percent. That's nearly a full point below the rate last summer and below the average of the 1970s and 1980s and 1990s," he said.

Bush's Democratic rival had a different take on the jobs figures. In a statement, John Kerry said the numbers mean Bush remains on pace to be the first president since the Great Depression to have no net gain in jobs during his term.

Other "presidents have faced wars and recessions, but not one of them has failed to create a single job," Kerry said.

Oh, and as of nearly 1:30 p.m. today, let's just say the stock market didn't take off after hearing the news.

But as long as Bush is happy with the growth, and his allies are telling the jobless to suck it up and not be girlie men ...

[Cross-posted]

Hey guys... long time no blog. Everyone else around here has been doing a marvelous job, so I thought I'd rather be a spectator for a while. Anyway, here's the Game's take on the RNC / Depression:

So the RNC is over. We’ll admit we watched about 3 minutes of the coverage total. It’s just too depressing to hear their bullshit. It’s just packaged so well, doused in deodorant so the Average American can’t smell it for what it is. It looks nice, smells nice, even sounds nice. So why not buy it? And anyway, who the hell has the time to read the damn ingredients label?

Fucking depressing.

Depressing because liberals and Democrats are so unorganized in all the ways Repubs are not. Where were our talking heads to refute all their blatant lies? Where was our war room? I heard we had one, but fuck, was anyone taking it seriously at any point? So unorganized that we don’t have these mind-fucking daily talking points, or 30 billion cable news shows to use to drill them into Retarded America’s skull 24/7.

And what would those talking points be, anyway? Bush is a fucking moron? Four years we’ve had to show everyone, yet somehow 50% of us can’t see it, or don’t think it’s that important, anyway, cause he's decisive, or because he's charming, or something else completely irrelevant and hollow. Or that Bush has fucked the economy down the toilet, and stomped on Middle America's throat to do so? Or that our dependence on oil is about to cripple world political order? Or that these assholes in power care nothing about me or you, or you, or you, or even you, American NASCAR dad. Especially you, working class conservatives. Oh, and especially you, minorities; don’t be fooled.

Fucking depressing.

So what did we learn from RNC04? Nothing new, I suppose. We learned the GOP loves America, and loves Ronald Reagan, loves tax cuts for people who don't need it, and believes a strong, freedom-loving country is one that spends billions of dollars on weapons of mass destruction, and uses them whenever they damn well feel like it.

So yeah, nothing new. And that’s fucking depressing.

Originally posted @ The Game.

Have a frank and productive holiday! Even you, Justin ;)

Hey, Sean here. Sorry I haven't been around much. You guys wouldn't believe the crap going on concerning our move. First off, we found out two days ago that our cars might not get here until the 11th. Keep in mind that both our cars and the household goods were supposed to be here by the 7th. Now, to add insult to injury, Christine had to call the movers today since we hadn't heard anything yet. (If you consider that the last day of the moving window was supposed to be the day after Labor Day, you'd think that someone might call us before the weekend with an update) Anyway, since no one called us today, Christine got ahold of someone in the mover's Cleveland office. So matter-of-factly the woman says "Oh, I was just checking with my operations guys to see when they stuff is getting picked up." To which Christine replies, "Oh, you mean from the San Diego warehouse for delivery to our new place?" (And then the woman delivers the punchline) "No, I mean picked up from the warehouse here in Cleveland."

Ha! I'm still laughing. I don't think they're going to make that window now, do you? Nah, me neither.

I'm going to try and start posting more often so I'm not bothering my great friends any longer for their writing skills. You guys have been great. Needless to say, I won't have a home computer until God knows when. Managed to catch a little bit of Dear Leader's speech last night. Not really impressed. Loved Ralph Reed's post-speech analysis. What a joke. I really want to hear Bush pronounce "Social Security" one more time though. Having no home computer sucks, I feel so far out of the loop. (I'm in a cyber cafe at our apartment complex right now. I actually have a 15 minute time limit.) Anyway, to my blogging buddies, thanks for helping out. Hopefully I'll be able to start regular posting againg soon. Have a good weekend.

The LA Times does a nice job catching the campaigns up to their typical spin antics. But, I must say, it feels to me like the Bush points show their lies, and the Kerry points are actually bolstered a bit. It's all spin, of course, but the difference is that Kerry exaggerates Bush's position, while Bush wholly misrepresents Kerry's approach. Since Bush doesn't do nuance, and he doesn't do smart, this is where we are.

From Bush:

Statement: "Sen. Kerry opposed Medicare reform and health savings accounts. After supporting my education reforms, he now wants to dilute them…. He opposed reducing the marriage penalty, opposed doubling the child credit, opposed lowering income taxes for all who pay them." — Thursday at the Republican convention

Context: Kerry missed the final vote in 2003 on a bill establishing the first Medicare prescription-drug benefit. But he opposed it in preliminary votes and has criticized the law since then as a giveaway to the pharmaceutical industry that fails to allow the government to negotiate lower drug prices. He also criticizes a provision of the law that allows consumers to save money for health expenses tax-free, calling it inadequate relief for 45 million uninsured Americans.

Kerry voted for the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001, but he criticized its implementation and said it needed more funding. Kerry also has voted against many Republican tax initiatives, but he has supported numerous Democratic tax-cut initiatives over the years. He now pledges to cut taxes for the middle class and raise taxes only on families that make more than $200,000 a year.

From Kerry:

Statement: "I will not have my commitment to defend this country questioned by those who refused to serve when they could have." — Thursday speech after the GOP convention

Context: Bush joined the Texas Air National Guard during the Vietnam War when he was of draft age. The future president flew fighter jets but never went to Vietnam. Cheney also was eligible for the draft but obtained several deferments; he said in 1989 that he had "other priorities" at the time of the war. Bush and Cheney have both said Kerry served honorably in Vietnam.

Yes, I'm still here. We've been told that our stuff should arrive by early next week. The good news is that starting today, the moving company will reimburse us for up to $125 a day in expenses not inclulding car and lodging. (BREAKING NEWS: Christine just called me in the middle of writing this and our cars are arriving tonight. YEAH!!!) Basically, that means some nice expensive dinners.

It's strange how not having a home base can really change the willpower to write. I just haven't been able to get my head in the game yet.

As for Bush's little convention bounce, I'm not really surprised. This guy should have been doing better all along. Look for things to even out over the next four weeks. The debates should be very important and Kerry needs to handle them delicately. If done correctly, the debates should help paint Bush in his normal color (i.e. "Too many O-B-G-Y-N's aren't able to practice their, their love with women all across this country")

You know, if I separate my dislike of Bush from the decision making process, I still wouldn't want to hire him to run a hot dog stand.

More later.

FYI: As of right now, I'm changing this blog to Pacific Time.

If what the President has been saying all along is true, that the terrorists are after our way of life, would it really make a difference who is in charge? Once again, I have to say, it doesn't matter who is in charge, they will probably come after us anyway. Make no mistake my Republican friends, it's not as if a Bush victory will put up a security force field around your home starting November 3rd. Without furthur ado, the Man Behind The Curtain and Mr. False Alarm.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Vice President Dick Cheney on Tuesday warned Americans about voting for Democratic Sen. John Kerry, saying that if the nation makes the wrong choice on Election Day it faces the threat of another terrorist attack. [...]

"It's absolutely essential that eight weeks from today, on Nov. 2, we make the right choice, because if we make the wrong choice then the danger is that we'll get hit again and we'll be hit in a way that will be devastating from the standpoint of the United States," Cheney told about 350 supporters at a town-hall meeting in this Iowa city.

If Kerry were elected, Cheney said the nation risks falling back into a "pre-9/11 mind-set" that terrorist attacks are criminal acts that require a reactive approach. Instead, he said Bush's offensive approach works to root out terrorists where they plan and train, and pressure countries that harbor terrorists.

WASHINGTON - Terrorists still hope to disrupt the U.S. democratic process even though the presidential nominating conventions and other high-profile gatherings this summer went off without incident, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said Tuesday.

Threat reporting over the last several months has been "consistent, general and credible" and indicated the al-Qaida network is trying to push ahead with its plans, Ridge said.

Although large events this summer were not attacked, he said, "that in no way diminishes the level of vigilance, awareness and concern that we have during this entire process."

If this is true, color me happy.

Sept. 13 issue - Netflix and Tivo ushered in an age of couch-potato bliss. Netflix lets its customers browse through its huge movie catalog on the Web and rent DVDs through the mail without having to worry about late fees. TiVo lets people digitally record their favorite shows and zoom through the ads. But now couch potatoes are perched on the cusp of true paradise. Soon they won't even have to stand up to trudge to the mailbox; fat broadband pipes will let them directly download movies over the Net to their television.

Netflix and TiVo want this digital nirvana to arrive as soon as possible, and they are about to join forces to make it happen. Later this month, NEWSWEEK has learned, the companies plan to unveil a simple but significant partnership that could shake up the media world. Subscribers who belong to both services will be able to download their Netflix DVDs over the Internet directly into the TiVo boxes in their homes, instead of receiving them in the mail. Spokespeople at the companies refused to comment on what they called rumor. But an insider who was close to the negotiations says the straightforward partnership is all but a done deal, pending only the approval of the TiVo board this week: "You don't need a lot of creativity to figure out the details," the insider said.

Well, our stuff still isn't here. They told us last week that hopefully the load will get to San Diego by the beginning of this week. I'll believe it when I see it. Christine's parents have been here since Wednesday, so I haven't had much time to post. Sorry to all my regular readers. If all goes well, I should be back in business by the end of the week.

Past your primetime, eh Sanders? Go Browns.

Well, we're about 24 hours away from getting our stuff delivered to the new apartment. For all of you who think hotel living is glamorous, you're dead wrong. Needless to say, by tomorrow night, Nosey Online should resume a normal posting routine. Can't wait to get back to it. I'll fill you guys in then.

Well, finally, the day arrived. As of right now, I am writing this from my home computer in the new apartment. Today was a long one, so no new information right now. But at least I'm here. Resuming tomorrow. Hoo-ray!

Yes, I have been a bad blogizen. To be honest with you, it's actually been very relaxing unplugging for awhile. Yesterday marked the end of the first week in the new place. I'd say it's about 95% put together. But it's 100% home.

San Diego is friggin' beautiful. I mean, there has hardly been a cloud in the sky since we got out here. The weather has overshadowed the horrible moving experience Christine and I went through. All of our stuff arrived in relatively one piece, but the company just sucked. Turns out they just forgot about us for a couple of weeks. That's why it took them so long to get out here.

Another large reason I've been absent as of late is my new job. Actually, I'm working for a former employer. Without getting into specifics, it's in the beverage industry and I took on a supervisory role, which is what I used to do. The work load is the same as it was before, so we're talking about 12 hours a day. At least. So for the time being, I'm not going to be able to post from 4AM to 4PM, Pacific Time. So as I work into my new schedule, I'm going to become more of an afternoon/Pacific or evening/Eastern blogger. I don't want to ignore this blog, so I'm really going to start making more of an effort. For all of you who've stuck around, I'd like to say thanks for understanding.

Boy am I sure glad I only have to drive 10 miles to work everyday.

The reasons for the recent relentless rise in crude oil prices are pretty straightforward — including a record string of hurricanes slowing shipments and closing oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. The list also includes political instability in oil producing regions from Iraq to Nigeria. But with oil prices rolling toward all-time highs, the longer-term forecast for oil prices is much less certain. [...]

The central cause of the run toward $50 a barrel is simple: For the first time in the history of the modern oil industry, global demand continues to rise faster than the world’s capacity to produce more crude.

Read: China

One camp believes that while short-term disruptions will continue to produce price spikes, the world still has plenty of oil. But the other camp argues that oil production is near — or at — peak levels, and total global output will soon begin a gradual decline just as it did in the United States when oil production peaked in 1970. Though alternative fuels and gains in efficiency may ultimately wean the world off oil, proponents of “peak oil” theory say that the transition might not happen quickly enough. If it doesn't, they warn, the result could be extremely painful.

“We really are close enough to the edge to have no excess capacity. Demand growth shows no sign of slowing and now it seems to be accelerating,” said Matt Simmons, a Houston-based investment banker. “It’s really important to know what the real story is — as bad as it may be.”

I just love the nay-sayers. The oil will last forever, of course. [/snark]

Kos points out the basic underlying reason for my feelings about the President.

Many of President Bush's assertions about progress in Iraq -- from police training and reconstruction to preparations for January elections -- are in dispute, according to internal Pentagon documents, lawmakers and key congressional aides on Sunday.

No doubt.

For checks and balances.

By far, Bush's split screen reactions overshadow any weak point he was trying to make. You can sum it up in one word.

Presidential.

As in Kerry looked the part and Bush looked, well, like a hunched-over college frat boy who woke up late for debate team practice.