Seizing the day is a skill you have to develop, not something you can just do automatically everyday, I think.

Okay, first, the San Francisco Chronicle Drops Clear Blue Water. Remember me saying, “This is a good sign, but I suppose it would be too much to ask for them to drop Garfield as well”?

Well, it looks like the LA Times has dropped Garfield. YES! Maybe there is still some reason for hope in this world!

Note: Found the link to the news article at PvP.

This article, “Blog-Gate“, from the Columbia Journalism Review, has been popping up all over the blogosphere.

My summary:

“Rar! Weblogs are evil! Republicans write Republican blogs; this must mean they are part of some vast conspiracy! People who tell the same version of a story are suspicious. CBS didn’t do its job, but it’s those darned weblogs that are the villains.”

My favorite line: “When the smoke cleared, mainstream journalism’s authority was weakened. But it didn’t have to be that way.” Hmm… Yeah, and maybe it wouldn’t have been that way if Mr. Rather and company had lived up to their responsibilities as journalists.

Oh wait, but it’s not their fault… Mr. Rather trusted his producer, and his producer trusted her source. I forgot all about that! Wow, I’ve been in the wrong for so long! It’s not their fault at all! But don’t worry, they’ll find the real villains, even if it takes so long that, by the time they find’em, everyone will have forgotten about this story! In the meantime, let’s just blame those darned weblogs.

Forgive me for being a little naive and idealistic in this post:

I read this in kausfiles (it’s quoted from an e-mail): “Anyone who has worked as a speechwriter in politics knows how rare it is for an elected official to take the time to find someone and thank them.”

It provoked some questions. I’m not so naive as to not know that politicians have speechwriters, but I never imagined the situation like this. I never thoughtfully considered that our modern politicians are being given scripts by faceless, unknown persons — and it seems as if they play no part in the creation of these words they say to the people.

And the implications… How do we know what our candidates think? What do these people represent? Carefully crafted scripts written by ghostwriters? Is it just BS, the type of writing us kids are so familiar with?

Do these people make decisions or are they just mouthpieces? Do they believe what they’re saying or are they just skilled orators/actors?

I guess with the modern media and faster news cycles, it seems necessary for speechwriters. But I have one last question: How different would you view history if the Gettysburg Address or [insert favorite historical speech] were written by speechwriters?

I was looking at my bare foot next to my dress shoe and I wondered how that ugly thing fit in that elegant shoe. A dress sock streamlines my foot, and makes it look as if it belongs in the shoe. But that ugly foot really made me ponder shoes. Why do they look as they do?

Whenever I get so detached, everything seems ridiculous to me.

I love how this extreme comment spam problem hits me right when I go on vacation, right when it’s least convenient. Sorry, but I have to disable commenting until I can fix this. Not sure when it’ll be fixed, since I’m on vacation. I might set up TypeKey. I’ll probably update MT when I get back.

ISP wins $1 billion in spam suit. They so deserved it. I hope this happens to all spammers. I hate spammers more than I hate Communism.

I had a better plan for getting rid of spammers, though. Real spam assassins.

I’m surprised. Bush considers domestic spending freeze. (But… How much more money would we have right now if we hadn’t invaded a country that had no weapons of mass destruction?)

‘No doubt’ Yushchenko suffered dioxin poisoning. Yeah, this is just a little bit bad. I hope he wins the election.

Senate easily passes security reform bill. How can we prevent another 9/11? Why, by adding more bureaucracy! “The bill, which passed 89-2, includes many recommendations of the Sept. 11 commission, such as the creation of a national director of intelligence and a national counter-terrorism center to better coordinate the activities of the nation’s 15 intelligence agencies.” Why didn’t I think of that before? Of course more bureaucracy is the answer to our problems.

Bravo to the two Senators who voted against it.

Just read that today. Yes! They actually dumped a crappy comic! Now, if only the Mercury would do it too…. This is a good sign, but I suppose it would be too much to ask for them to drop Garfield as well.

I added Patterico’s Pontifications and Unscrewing the Inscrutable on the side, under the “Weblogs” heading. I’ve been reading them for a while, I just never put them up on the main page.

While I’m in the linking mood… I found this i weblog therefore i am, from Lloyd, to be very amusing.

Also, note to self: I need to think up some new categories for this here agnoiologist weblog.

Of the seven deadly sins, which one are you? In case you don’t know them: envy, greed, lust, sloth, gluttony, wrath, and pride.

Geeze, I hate naming the seven deadly sins. I always forget one. It’s never the same one, but I always forget one, nonetheless. It’s like naming the seven dwarves, or reciting my phone number.

Anyway, you might be wondering, which sin am I? It’s really a toss-up between greed and pride. Some people tell me I’m greed, some people tell me I’m pride. I think I’m pride.

Don’t be shy, leave a comment. But don’t give me any of the “little bit of each” crap. There’s always one. Which sin are you?

Veteran CBS news anchor Dan Rather to step down. Yeah, Rather steps down, but he’s not actually completely out. He’ll still be working for CBS. Psh. Like I said before, lying to the American public just isn’t as important as other issues.

This part was the best: “‘It is baffling that a journalist with Rather’s skill and experience could have made such an egregious mistake on the Bush National Guard documents story,’ Hanson said, while adding, ‘it was not an error that should define his career, but to many detractors it will.'”

It’s not baffling, if you think he did it on purpose. It’s just not in my cynical nature to give him the benefit of doubt. Besides, consider Ockham’s Razor… malicious intent is a simple explanation and it makes sense.

Despite the CW that the nation is so polarized, I still think there were swing voters in this election. After all, how else could the Republicans have gained such a bounce after their convention? The Democrats, meanwhile, did not experience such a bounce.

I think the main reason the Democrats lost the election is because there were Democrats who voted for Bush. Why would they vote for Bush? Because of the war on terror.

Moral issues did not decide this election. See The Gay Marriage Myth. Terror did.

One reason I thought Cheney won the VP debate was because his closing statements focused on the war on terror and homeland security. Edwards gave this folksy populous message that did not appeal to me, at all. It sounded like very pre-Sept. 11 politicking.

Democrats, if you want to win, you have to convince the general American public that you understand that radical Islam (called Islamofascism in some circles) is a threat to America, and the world. And it’s not restricted to simply Osama bin Laden. Although I agree that we should not have invaded Iraq, I’m still aware that this threat is bigger than bin Laden. Why didn’t we try to secure democracy and stability in Afghanistan first? That should be what should be asked, not a question about Osama bin Laden.

About the get out the vote effort… Youth did not quite turn out in record numbers, at least in proportionate to the rest of the electorate. Advice: Reject the Hollywood bunch. Okay, these guys can say what they want, but maybe, just maybe, people don’t trust actors to make their political decisions for them. I don’t think some Democrats understand that. Maybe, just maybe, the youth are a little smarter than voting because of idol worship. Don’t rely on Hollywood to energize your base.

After the convention, some of the advice was for Kerry to focus only on domestic issues. That would’ve lost him the election for sure. Don’t revert to that thinking in ’08. I know I won’t vote for Edwards in ’08, if he runs. Maybe he’ll fight for me on some level, but I have no assurance that he will fight the terrorists for me.

The problem with Kerry was Kerry. I remember reading a news article in the San Jose Mercury News (or was it the Chronicle), that was so obviously biased towards Kerry. It presented him as one who defies definitions. Yet, at the same time, it was mentioning how he was such a political opportunist. They were trying to spin his shifting with the political winds as defying his party. Face it, Kerry was a bad candidate. I was only barely Kerry because of the SCOTUS, the fact that he would set up a Republican win in ’08, and to punish Bush for some of the bad decisions he has made. Of course, none of these reasons were really reasons to vote for Kerry, they were still anti-Bush (on a different level than the “anybody but Bush”-ers, though). Face it, Kerry was a bad candidate. But I guess Kerry lost because he couldn’t fundamentally show that regarding the war on terror, he gets it.

Anyway, don’t latch on this morality and faith thing. Don’t try to become the Republican party. Keep your positions, but show us that you understand the threat of terrorism. Only then can you swing back the Democrats who voted for Bush.

From Patterico’s Pontifications: New York Times: Crime Goes Down “Despite” Increase in Prison Population. I could not resist linking that. Wonderful.

From BBC News: Gaza strike kills two militants. For some reason, I was scanning the headlines and the word “militants” caught my eye. Is it because the word is more foreign in a headline, or am I just not that observant in the first place? (As in, when’s the last time you saw militants in a headline, as opposed to Gaza strike kills two, or Gaza strike kills two Palestinians.) Really, I think it’s probably because I’m not observant enough, but I want your input. Actually, let’s ask another question: Were they “militants” or “terrorists”?

Great news today as Afghanistan holds its first democratic election in forever.

One woman (yes, a woman, did you hear that, WOMAN) voter was ecstatic, “Finally, we get to vote for the person the US wants us to vote for.”

The election was not free from controversy, however. All fifteen of the opposing candidates, including one woman (yes, a WOMAN ran for office), signed a petition declaring that they would not accept the results of the election. When asked why, one of the candidates replied, “Because we are evil TalibaNazis and we knew we had no chance of winning. I mean, we had to do something.” He later added, “Oh, and we so called TalibaNazi — nobody else can use that name.”

The election was also marred by accusations of fraud. Voters registered to vote multiple times, and although there was a fingerprinting system in place, some polling places used incorrect ink, which could be rubbed off.

“I don’t understand what the problem is with multiple voting. We’ve been without democracy for forever. We just really want to vote,” said one voter, while filling out multiple ballots.

Duped CBS regrets airing disputed Bush memos. Very interesting wording in this article, “duped” especially standing out right away. See also: “chorus of experts and so-called bloggers.”

And now you know CBS’s trusted source they had to keep anonymous… yeah, the same guy who “misled” them.

When the errors were pointed out so quickly online, you have to wonder how much they really looked into the authenticity of these documents…

I just finished reading Lloyd’s “a eulogy for my mother.” Wow.

Received this variant of the draft e-mail today:

“Well I just found out about this bit of bullshit. Read and pass along.
That is, unless you WANT to get shot full of holes in Iraq.

Mandatory draft for boys and girls (ages
18-26)starting June 15, 2005, is something that
everyone should know about. This literally effects
everyone since we all have or know children that will
have to go if this bill passes.

There is pending legislation in the house and senate
(companion bills: S89 and HR 163) which will time the
program’s initiation so the draft can begin as early
as spring, 2005, just after the 2004 presidential
election. The administration is quietly trying to get
these bills passed now, while the public’s attention
is on the elections, so our action on this is needed
immediately. Details and links follow. This plan,
among other things, eliminates higher education as a
shelter and includes women in the draft Also, crossing
into Canada has already been made very difficult.

Action you can take:
Please send this on to all the parents and teachers
you
know, and all the aunts and uncles, grandparents,
godparents. . . And let your children know – – it’s
their future, and they can be a powerful voice for
change! This legislation is called HR 163 and can be
found in detail at this website:
http://thomas.loc.gov/
Just enter in “HR 163” and click search and will bring
up the bill for you to read. It is less than two pages
long.

If this bill passes, it will include all men and ALL
WOMEN from ages 18 – 26 in a draft for military
action. In addition, college will no longer be an
option for avoiding the draft and they will be signing
an agreement with Canada which will no longer permit
anyone attempting to dodge the draft to stay within
it’s borders. This bill also includes the extension of
military service for all those that are currently
active. If you go to the select service web site and
read their 2004 FYI Goals you will see that the
reasoning for this is to increase the size of the
military in case of terrorism. This is a critical
piece of legislation, this will effect our
undergraduates, our children and our grandchildren.
Please take the time to write your congressman and let
them know how you feel about this
legislation.
www.house.gov www.senate.gov
Please also write to your representatives and ask them
why they aren’t telling their constituents about these
bills and write to newspapers and other media outlets
to ask them why they’re not covering this important
story. $28 million has been added to the 2004
selective service system budget to prepare for a
military draft that could start as early as June 15,
2005. Selective service must report to Bush on March
31, 2005 that the system, which has lain dormant for
decades, is ready for activation.

Please see
www.sss.gov/perfplan_fy2004.html
to view the Selective Service System annual
performance plan, fiscal year 2004. The pentagon has
quietly begun a public campaign to fill all 10,350
draft board positions and 11,070 appeals board slots
nationwide. Though this is an unpopular election year
topic, military experts and influential members of
congress are suggesting that if Rumsfeld’s prediction
of a “long, hard slog” in Iraq and Afghanistan (and
permanent state of war on terrorism) proves accurate,
the U.S. may have no choice but to draft.

www.hslda.org/legislation/national/2003/s89/default.asp

entitled the Universal National service Act of 2003,
“to provide for the common defense by requiring that
all young persons (age 18-26) in the United States,
including women, perform a period of military service
or a period of civilian service in furtherance of the
national defense and homeland security, and for other
purposes.” These active bills currently sit in the
committee on armed services. Dodging the draft will
be more difficult than those from the Vietnam era.
College and Canada will not be options. In December,
2001, Canada and the U.S. signed a “smart border
declaration,” which could be used to keep would-be
draft dodgers in. Signed by Canada’s minister of
foreign affairs, John Manley, and U.S. Homeland
Security director, Tom Ridge, the declaration involves
a 30 point plan which implements, among other things,
a “pre-clearance agreement” of people entering and
departing each country. Reforms aimed at making the
draft more equitable along gender and class lines also
eliminates higher education as a shelter.
Underclassmen would only be able to postpone service
until the end
of their current semester. Seniors would have until
the end of the academic year.

What to do:
Tell your friends, Contact your legislators and ask
them to oppose these bill. Just type “congress” into
the aol search engine and input your zip code. A list
of your reps will pop up with a way to email them
directly. We can’t just sit and pretend that by
ignoring it, it will go away. We must voice our
concerns and create the world we want to live in for
our children and grandchildren.”

It’s false. Draft Fears Fueled by Inaccurate E-mails.

This isn’t a meme; it’s a virus! There should be a word for it, like a malicious meme… malmeme? v-meme? Haha. I am too tired right now. Anyway, I don’t like how lies propagate so quickly.

Sony is buying MGM. I didn’t realize Sony was that giganterrific.

There’s an MGM Grand hotel in Las Vegas. The MGM Mirage Resorts also includes the Mirage, Bellagio, Treasure Island (or TI, if you’re in the in-crowd), and New York-New York.

That’s how far-reaching these companies are. Everyone’s talking about the movies, but did you know that Sony will now own these 5 hotels? Yes, the same company that made your Walkman and PlayStation 2 will shortly own 5 hotels. What a fun world we live in.

“We select the facts. You decide.”

Oh my… I should copyright that one myself.

Remember.

I’ve decided to write fifty poems by October 15th. I’m continuing my search for the truth. I’m sorry to say I will not be posting them on this weblog because I want to submit them to various contests.

That’s what my headline would read. Instead, first read Reuters’s “More Than 200 Killed in Russian School Shootout“.

I don’t like the way this news story starts out: “Russian troops stormed a school on Friday, blaming Chechen hostage-takers for a bloody battle in which more than 200 people — dozens of them children — were killed and hundreds were wounded.” The way it’s worded kind of makes you question who’s to blame, doesn’t it? Well, read on, my friend… “Russian authorities said they had been forced into an unplanned rescue operation when the hostage-takers opened fire on fleeing children.” Exactly the way it should have been reported first!

Even if the Russians had decided to storm the building first, let me tell you something… the blame still belongs to the terrorists.

The blame belongs to the terrorists!

THE BLAME BELONGS TO THE TERRORISTS!

You know why? Answer me this… Who decided to take school children hostage: The terrorists, or the Russians?

Murdering young children does not make you a freedom fighter! Murdering young children makes you a terrorist.

You can call them Chechen separatists, or whatever else the hell you want to call them, but, plain and simple, they are terrorists. And that’s all there is to it.

With people like this, I wonder if the Chechens deserve their own country.

I’m not done yet. Read this Russian Siege Sparks World Horror, Solidarity and then come back.

Ah yes, a much better beginning: “Tragic, despicable, inhumane, cowardly, barbaric, evil, and astonishing — the deaths of a hundred or more people including children in a siege in Russia sparked strong words for the hostage-takers from world leaders.”

I know news media supposedly should be unbiased, but I don’t feel as if the media has any responsibility to be unbiased against terrorists who murder school children. Just my two cents.

Though, I wonder what analyst Alex Standish thinks. This quote from him seems to paint a picture: “I suspect that Putin’s immediate concern will have been to be seen to be strong rather than be seen to be negotiating.” Wait! And let us not forget this quote either: “And if that means sacrificing civilians caught up in the middle, I don’t suspect that is the key issue as far as Putin is concerned.”

Hey, Mr. Standish, I wonder what the terrorists think about “sacrificing civilians caught up in the middle.” Hm?

Let’s get one more thing straight. These “civilians” were not “caught up in the middle;” they were deliberately taken hostage by terrorists.

That issue cleared, I must redirect you to the headline I would use: “Terrorists Kill Over 200 at Russian School.” If I wrote the news article, I wouldn’t wait to mention the 704 in the hospital until page two.

My heart goes out to the over 200 killed, the 704 in the hospital, the friends and family of those held hostage, and the Russian people in general.

“10 Arabs had been among the gunmen killed,” the news article also mentions. Hmmmm…

Finally, to anyone unconvinced, a picture is worth a thousand words… A volunteer carrying a small child.

Continued sometime when I get back today, that is.

For now, I’ll entertain you with this:

Teveral Symes: i have a proposition

schizo killer: hm?

Teveral Symes: rename the drum major to the trombone major

schizo killer: haha

schizo killer: Yes

Teveral Symes: its much more fitting

Teveral Symes: why is it a drum major anyway

Teveral Symes: what makes the drum so major

Teveral Symes: you dont play drums

Teveral Symes: i dont play drums

Teveral Symes: WE PLAY TROMBONE, BITCH

schizo killer: AMEN, BRUTHA!

schizo killer: HALLELUJA

schizo killer: Okay, from now on, I’m trombone major

08/30/04 – EDIT: Changed the title of this post because I didn’t actually get around to “****** Policy, Continued!” And yeah, if you’re wondering about the beginning of the post, that’s what it is referring to.

You know what I like about my weblog? It’s a place where I can talk to myself without anyone looking at me funny.

I take back everything bad I said about Opus. I’ve decided that Opus is a good comic, and I like the artwork. My initial reaction can be explained, however. When Opus was put on the front page, other comics had to make room. And, instead of dumping another comic, someone came up with the brilliant idea to shrink the comics! You know how you have one comic running vertical along the side, and then the other comics are shrunk to fill the space to the side of it? (Well, you should.) Two of those non-vertical comics were shoved side by side. Yes, the already reduced comics, reduced to an even smaller size. You can hardly read the text. Of course, the first victim was Monty, one of the few comics, print or otherwise, that actually makes me laugh out loud, and one not lacking in text. Luckily, that changed in subsequent weeks.

If you think that’s a travesty, look at what the San Jose Mercury News did now! The bastards shrunk Opus! Yes, arguably the best artwork in the funny pages today has been shrunk. And what do they promote to the top of the front page of the comics section… Clear Blue Water. Let me put this plainly: Clear Blue Water is a bad comic. The artwork… you can’t even call it artwork.

This comic is even worse than, dare I say it, Garfield, which, incidentally, is on the front page as well. Five of six panels were exactly the same, except for the text. We all know how repetitive Garfield is. Yes, I’m saying Clear Blue Water is worse than Garfield. Where the hell did Ms. Montague-Reyes learn how to draw?

Dump Clear Blue Water. Make Opus half-page again. I seriously should write to the Mercury News.

Not in overall medal count, but in gold medals. Right now, it’s about 7:00 PM PDT… China has 22 golds, and the US 21 golds. However, the US still leads in the overall medal count with 57; China has 46. Russia is lagging behind China with 36 medals overall. If China stays in second place… well, I wonder how much it could improve in 2008.

Lloyd wrote more about the Olympics on the 19th, so go check it out. (And while you’re at it… the pictures in the beginning of the entry are marvelous.)

It will be interesting to see the final medal counts.