I have no respect for politicians. I don't like how they pander to the masses, how I consider myself somehow not one of the masses, and how they twist everything to make it appear they are good and their opponents are bad.
I've heard since I was a little boy, long before I knew what it meant, that politicians all lie and how that was a joke. I always felt it was campaign promises they lied about, though, and it's only been lately I realize that what they don't say or how the phrase things is the more misleading.
Take this whole 527 business (the swift boat people, among others). That dumb ad "lies" (using "served with" in the sense of being in the same division, not physically with) and insults me. Kerry points this out, and Bush says all these type of things should be outlawed. That's not answering the call for him to denounce them, but is just a political thing to hurt the Democrats (whose 527 groups, moveon.org et al, get like 90% of all the soft money raised by both parties. Dems always kick ass).
Then, there's that whole "the Bush lawyer ran the swift boat" thing. Yes, he did. Yes, that makes him a jerk (IMHO). What's rarely mentioned is that Kerry's team of lawyers has three or four who *also* provide legal counsel for their 527 sites. I hate it when pots call kettles black and act all innocent.
RussNews on 08.28.04 @ 01:48 PM PDT [link]
I've never seen this before.
I'm kind of a fan of utility sidewalk and street markings. When digging is to be done they all come out and let whoever's cutting up the street know where, if anywhere, they have underground pipes and things. It took me a long time to figure out that "USA" written on the street was their signal for where they should indicate their stuff. I don't know, but imagine, that USA stands for Underground Systems Alert.
Anyway today on the corner of ML King Jr Blvd and Figueroa I saw something new. The telephone company (who usually does their indicating in red) had marked up where their lines went. They didn't indicate the quantity or type (they often do), but over the double-headed arrows and SBC writing they wrote a large sideways S. That sideways S is a pretty damn good approximation of their logo, and I wonder if that's their new, preferred, way of signing their work.
Pretty cool if it is.
RussNews on 08.26.04 @ 09:57 PM PDT [link]
I just learned from KNBC-4 LA that two (yes, you heard me right, TWO) more cases of West Nile Virus have killed people! One of them was a political activist, too, so I suspect Black Helipcopters.
More important than the large body count is KNBC's asking (rhetorically) "if enough is being done to combat the virus."
I think a more reasonable question is if KNBC is doing enough to fan the flames of hysteria.
RussNews on 08.23.04 @ 08:40 PM PDT [link]
Like most of my news, this, is a couple weeks old. That I just learned of it is my excuse.
I think I'd be more interested if I had a desire to be planted, but I wonder what it will do to these people.
RussNews on 08.22.04 @ 02:46 PM PDT [link]
This can only be ironic.
On the same day astronomers discovered the age of the Milky Way (16,600 million years, plus or minus eight hundred million), bird fanciers discovered a new species of bird somewhere in the Phillipines!
More amazingly, conservationists are already worried about the Calayan rail, which makes me wonder about just how much effect humans have, other than the deciding which species need our protection.
RussNews on 08.17.04 @ 07:00 PM PDT [link]
I should write one of those strongly worded letters to NBC. I don't understand this at all.
Today, just now, I watched the women's eight (with coxswain) "send Romania to repechage," a kind of junk heap of teams that fail to advance. I guess they have some sort of grudge match and the winner gets a wild card or something. I don't follow rowing, but lament the lack of a megaphone on the coxswain. Those were cool.
The only reason I bring it up is because yesterday when the two woman crew from the US was beaten the graphic said they "advanced to repechage."
"Advanced" or "sent to?"
RussNews on 08.15.04 @ 07:25 PM PDT [link]
I keep hearing how people die in threes. Of course, I never know where in the cycle I first learn about these things, but I always assume I'm hearing the first, and not the middle of an earlier cycle.
In the past few days when I wasn't obsessing about my own troubles or those of others near me, I learned first of the passing of Henri Cartier-Bresson. There was a time in my life, right after having seen Blow Up and discovering that I did, in fact, like girls, when I was keen on photography. In my little studies, Bresson was the master, not
Ansel Adams. I liked the idea of Bresson running around with his small Leica, taking "candid" pictures instead of the large format studio cameras. Later, of course, I wanted to be this guy.
Then, a day later I heard about this. Rick James. Ohmigod. If nothing else, I wonder what Dave Chappell will do now. He had a great skit where he impersonated him.
So that was two. Then last night on Family Plots, they had an episode where they dealt with the death of a historical figure. He died several months ago, but it was news to me. The saddest thing was how few of the people in the mortuary knew who he was. I guess it doesn't matter, his fifteen minutes are thought to be over. Still, he did more to change the world than anyone outside of a few national leaders.
RussNews on 08.07.04 @ 12:47 PM PDT [link]
Corporal Klinger may have had a rough deal. Or maybe it's just the Finns who let people off and who can use Internet addiction as a way to stay out of the service.
Hard to believe.
RussNews on 08.03.04 @ 03:07 PM PDT [link]
I have no idea what his age is in human years, but Smarty Jones is retiiring.
I think he's three, has only lost one race (where he came in second), and is now destined not to play golf and kibbitz over cards, but is retiring to stud.
I can't imagine PETA would complain.
RussNews on 08.02.04 @ 11:08 PM PDT [link]
Scholars in Oregon, no doubt working 'round the clock, have determined that what the world craves is fruit that fizzes!
I can imagine the smile on the faces of young kids everywhere as they bite into a luscious pear and get the equivalent of a mouth full of Pop Rocks.
Now all I need is to figure out how in hell to get me some grant money.
RussNews on 08.01.04 @ 09:51 AM PDT [link]
| August 2004 | ||||||
| S | M | T | W | T | F | S |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |
| 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 |
| 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 |
| 29 | 30 | 31 | ||||