Obscanity: You'll know it when you see it

This great “Commander In Chief Test” video is definitely worth watching. I particularly like the bit about getting Bush re-elected. I think that little clip should be played on every network television station across America. Multiple times.

The quake’s intensity was downgraded from 5.8 to 5.4 by The Powers That Be over at Caltech. Still no major damage or injuries, although people are being asked to cut down on their telephone use because the phone system is maxed out. I assume the same goes for cell phones.

[Edit: Some reports of power outages from Southern California Edison, around Diamond Bar, Chino, Chino Hills, etc. SCE says the outages could be prolonged.]

NPR just reported that other people are having problems with their cell phones as well. No reports of cell towers down – the speaker made the same guess that I did, which is that this is a capacity issue and not a matter of damaged towers.

We’re still having cell phone difficulties out here – anybody else experiencing this? News is reporting no disruptions in utilities, but this still makes me nervous – what good will our cell phones do in a major emergency if a little earthquake slows them all down? My guess is that cell phone use is so elevated right now that everything is slowing down – that’s what happens at major events like West Hollywood Halloween, where there are thousands of people all trying to find each other. Probably the same right now with everybody trying to confirm that everybody is okay.

Look how many aftershocks! It was a long quake too – went on for quite a bit, although those may have been immediate aftershocks we were feeling. So far there have been no reports of injuries or structural damage, and power in Los Angeles has not been interrupted. Not sure if it was cut off in Chino. Will update later!

Did you feel it?

[Edit: The one thing people seem to be having trouble with is cell phone use – but that is probably because eeeeeverybody is trying to use their cell phones. Text messages are taking a little longer than usual to go through, and a few calls haven’t gone through either. Are you having the same problem?]

There are a few entertaining bits in this Daily Show clip – but the most entertaining for me is that FAUX News has resorted to showing 8-year old clips of McCain’s Election 2000 press conferences so they can get a shot of him looking younger.

From the NY Times:

SAN FRANCISCO — To the ever-expanding résumé of Gavin Newsom — San Francisco mayor, California hopeful for governor, Montana-bound groom — one may now add this: code-breaker.

In a story that seems equal parts spy novel and potential municipal fiasco, Mr. Newsom was enlisted on Monday to coax a secret code out of a city engineer who prosecutors say had effectively hijacked a large part of the city’s computer systems. [Read more.]

Next stop, starring in the next Mission: Impossible sequel? *g* Could just picture it.

If the ban on offshore oil drilling is lifted, you can expect to see more oil spills like this one in Louisiana. Ironically, rumor has it McCain was scheduled to visit an oil rig the same day but cancelled his trip after the spill. Guess it wouldn’t have gone well with his “oil drilling is good” rhetoric.

This awesome story is making the rounds on the Internet and in the news lately.

In 1969, Anthony “Ace” Bourke and John Rendall rescued a lion cub from the “exotic animals” department at Harrod’s Department Store in London. They named him “Christian” and raised him in their apartment, exercising the cub on the grounds of the local church. After a year, though, Christian the lion became too large to keep in their home.

As luck would have it, the two men coincidentally ran into actors Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna, who had recently starred in Born Free, the 1966 film about another domesticated lion who had been reintroduced into the wild by the couple whom the actors had portrayed, George and Joy Adamson (author of Born Free: A Lioness of Two Worlds). They suggested that the two men contact George Adamson in Kenya.

Bourke and Rendall eventually brought the lion to Kenya, and after a few years, they returned to visit him. They were informed at that point that Christian was the leader of his own pride and was fully wild now, and that he would not remember them. See for yourself what really happened when the lion and the men met again.

You can purchase the DVD made about Christian the lion at the Born Free Foundation website.

Last month, CNN revealed that the Federal Emergency Management Agency had stored $85 million worth of household items in warehouses for two years. Instead of giving the supplies to victims of the 2005 hurricane, FEMA declared them surplus and gave them all away to federal agencies and 16 states in February.

FEMA fucks it up again: A recent CNN investigation revealed that for two years FEMA was paying $1 million to store millions of dollars’ worth of supplies that were intended to go to Louisiana and Missouri residents displaced by Hurricane Katrina. Eventually it declared the items “surplus” and gave away the supplies to prisons, colleges, fire departments, and even government agencies – everybody but the intended Katrina victims.

Nobody can really say why this happened, except that everybody (except those actually on the ground) claims that there wasn’t a “need” for the supplies. The folks living in tents in New Orleans more than two years post-hurricane are saying otherwise.

Now FEMA is downplaying the error, claiming that it made a HUGE accounting error and it was only $18.5 million worth of supplies “given away” to non-Katrina victims, not the originally-estimated $85 million. (So let’s get this straight – when they were bragging about how much they were planning to Katrina victims, it was $85 million, but now that they’re caught with their pants down, it’s suddenly “only” $18.5 million? Either way, there are thousands of people who could still use these supplies and aren’t getting them.)

They’re also blaming Louisiana for not taking all of the items in the first place (no clear explanation on exactly why or how that happened), and even claiming that the items weren’t really JUST meant for SPECIFICALLY Katrina victims, PER SE.

Louisiana is demanding answers from FEMA, but I’d certainly like to know why Louisiana turned down the items in the first place. That said, how utterly out of touch does an agency have to be to not know that there is still a need for disaster relief over there?

I would love to go back to Israel again some day, and this NY Times article on Tel Aviv is definitely a reminder that I need to go again some time soon! (Last time I visited was 1994!)

From The New York Times:

With millions of new voters heading to the polls this November and many states introducing new voting technologies, election officials and voting monitors say they fear the combination is likely to create long lines, stressed-out poll workers and late tallies on Election Day. [Read more]

With Obama expecting the votes of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of new voters, you can expect that he’ll take the brunt of the difficulties, especially since the longest lines tend to be in the swing states and in economically troubled areas.

McCain must be celebrating and clinking glasses with the Diebold ops right about now… Have they promised to “deliver” the election to him yet? Here’s hoping for victory on the side of American democracy – or what’s left of it, anyway.

How can we believe a nation wants peace when it gives a hero’s welcome to a man who deliberately bashed in the head of a toddler?

CNN reports that Kuntar vowed to keep fighting for the “liberation of the Palestinian territories.” Right. I’m SO sure he referred only to “territories.” Bullshit. I’d be willing to bet he referred to the entire land of Israel.

Rove on the NY Times: “[T]hey’ve got a very callous view about our nation’s security and interests.”

If they offered a degree in Advanced Hypocrisy, Karl Rove would graduate summa cum laude. No, really.

Apparently that seems to be the mindset of some Americans, who don’t seem to have a problem with the fact that countries like India and the Philippines are leeching away our jobs by the thousands, or the fact that most manufacturing is now done overseas, but who are ready to boycott Budweiser beer if Anheuser-Busch is bought by the Belgian company InBev.

If only these people cared as much about the economy and the job market as they do about beer, maybe we might actually see some change.

From Newsweek: “For months, economic Pollyannas have looked beyond the dismal headlines and promised a quick recovery in the second half. They’re dead wrong.” (Read more)

Depressing, but an interesting read, nonetheless.

Yesterday (Monday), Tweedle Bush lifted the executive ban on offshore drilling, claiming that it was necessary because “in the short run, the American economy will continue to rely largely on oil, and that means we need to increase supply here at home.”

However, experts point out that in that same short run, offshore drilling will have little effect on national oil prices, because such processes take years to institute and develop. Not only that, but the amount of oil we would get from destroying our coasts – something that cannot be reversed – is, by some estimates, a mere 920 days of typical US consumption. Do we really want to destroy our country’s vibrant coastal life, “from sea to shining sea,” for a lousy 920 days of slightly reduced gas prices, ten or twenty years from now? As Roger Blanchard put it, “It will be like burning the furniture to keep the house warm in mid-January. It will be a desperate move that won’t result in much.” Of course some argue that the drilling could help ease us through as part of a larger plan to wean the nation off oil, but again – the oil production could take years, and the damage cannot be reversed. Shouldn’t we use those years to develop something better?

What our nation’s leaders SHOULD be trying to figure out is how to use less oil, not how to get more. If you have a drug problem that’s bleeding you dry, you QUIT. That’s the logical thing to do. The longer you let it go, the more trouble you get into down the line. Eventually, you get to the point where there is just no turning back (disease, crime, prison, death) – and you think to yourself, “God, if only I’d known then what I know now.” Oil is our drug, and we’re approaching that point of no return (and of course the nation’s “dealers,” Big Oil, aren’t complaining).

Unfortunately, though, since “offshore drilling” and “oil exploration” sound like an easy fix to an immediate problem, many Americans are going to jump on this bandwagon without ever asking how it runs.

From CNN: “In a nod to consumer advocates, regulators require lenders to evaluate subprime borrowers’ ability to pay while banning most prepayment penalties.” Read more.

What I want to know is this: What is being done about the equally shady practice of some property owners who collect rent money while their property goes into foreclosure? A lot of people are losing the roof over their heads because their landlords have decided not to pay their mortgages, instead pocketing the rent money as long as they can before the house goes into foreclosure and the tenants are evicted by the bank, through no fault of their own. Frequently, the tenants have no idea that they are in any danger until the eviction notice is served. In the meantime, they continue to pay rent, while the landlords don’t bother to maintain or repair the property, since they’re going to lose it anyway. Shouldn’t renter’s rights be protected as well? Homeowners are not the only victims of the subprime mortgage fiasco.

Massachusetts legislative leaders, along with Governor Deval Patrick, are supporting an effort to lift the ban on same-sex marriage for non-Massachusetts residents. Currently, couples cannot marry in MA if the marriage would be illegal in their home state (you can imagine why that 1913 law probably originated, considering that MA allowed interracial marriages more than 100 years before Loving v. Virginia came down).

The repeal would allow MA to cash in on some of the tourist market generated from the legalization of same-sex marriage in California, which does not have the same restriction on out-of-state couples. Without the repeal, only couples from MA, RI, NY and CA can marry in Massachusetts.

I’m all for repealing the residency requirement, but I still think it’s a shame that so few states are allowing the marriages in the first place. Aside from the obvious arguments, which I’ve already discussed in depth, there’s also the whole problem of the right wing shooting itself in the foot. Marriage, fidelity and monogamy are supposed to be huge conservative values, right? Children fare better when their parents are married, right? You would think encouraging these things would be a numero uno priority, regardless of who the partners are. (Not to mention that “Not Having Sex, Never Ever,” seems also to be a conservative value, and we all know married people have less sex, right? *wink* Juuuust kidding.) So I really don’t get the conservative opposition to same-sex marriage. Or rather, I do, but I just think it’s totally illogical given their general platform.

p.s. This is a joke, right? FAUX News reports that MA will be the first state to legalize human/robot marriage, because it allows same-sex marriage? With no sign of satirical intent? Seriously? They still call themselves a news network???

The blogosphere is buzzing with rumors that Alabama’s rabidly prudish anti-gay attorney general, Troy King, is about to resign from his post after being caught by his wife in bed with another… man.

Is it true? I don’t know – but I’m sure it’ll come out (so to speak) eventually. The loudest, most hateful ones always do, albeit rarely of their own accord.

It’s nice to see that Bush takes America’s record on climate change seriously… NOT.

I’m sure the Italian Prime Minister was also thrilled.

Today Bush signed into law the new eavesdropping bill, which overhauled rules about government “surveillance” and granted immunity to the telecommunications companies that open the door to government spying. It is a bill many are calling a cop-out and capitulation by Democrats in Congress.

It’s amazing the civil liberties people will give up in order to remain “free.” How far will we go? After all, the youngest of this generation doesn’t remember what it was like not to have to follow arbitrary rules set by some sketchy 1984-ish “Department of Homeland Security.” Remember when airport guards didn’t think you were a terrorist until proven innocent? Remember when they let you bring yogurt on the plane without accusing you of trying to smuggle flammable liquid aboard? Remember when you didn’t have to take your shoes off go to through the metal detectors? How far will we let it go before we stand up and exclaim, “This is too much!” – or will we ever?

Bush tries to rationalize the bill, trying to take credit for the fact that we haven’t been attacked again. Let’s not forget that we hadn’t had an attack on American soil (Oklahoma and Columbine notwithstanding) in the eight years prior to September 11 either (following the 1993 World Trade Center bombing), and somehow we managed to get through those eight years without watching our civil liberties slip away from us. Had Bush actually been in the White House doing his job and listening to the intelligence being bombarded at his team right and left, perhaps we would have continued our winning streak of keeping terrorist attacks off US soil. You can’t blame the 9-11 attacks on American civil liberties. The intelligence was there, if only they had been willing to listen to it. Instead, Bush was on vacation.

On the bright side, the same news article finally describes Bush properly, as few others have done: as “an unpopular lame-duck president.” That’s putting it lightly. I guess he’s trying to see just how much damage he can do in his remaining time in the White House.

First it was Charles Black’s remark about how McCain’s campaign would benefit from a “fresh terrorist attack” on US soil. Now, another top McCain advisor, Phil Gramm, has called America a “nation of whiners,” and claims that the recession is all in our heads. He disparages “mental depression,” and then claims we’re in a “mental recession.” That’s really easy to say when you’re a rich white man. Of course you’re not experiencing the pain of recession – the money we don’t have is somehow finding its way into YOUR pockets!

Great guy, that Phil Gramm.

These are the men that McCain keeps close to him – at least, until the public finds out what they talk about behind closed doors. What does that say about McCain himself?

John McCain is refusing to answer questions about Viagra – and they’re not the questions you think. McCain refuses to address unfair insurance policies which cover Viagra for men, but refuse to cover birth control for women. For a guy who takes a strong stance against abortion, you would think he would be supportive of birth control, especially for women who can’t afford it if it’s not covered by insurance — but apparently a man’s hard-on is more important than a woman’s right not to become pregnant.

I really think it’s time for FAUX News to stop calling itself a news provider. What other allegedly “fair and balanced” news station would deliberately doctor photos in order to make their targets of criticism uglier and therefore less worthy of sympathy? There is definitely a racial/ethnic component to this little Photoshop Funtime too; they made the Jewish guy look more stereotypically Jewish, and they made the WASPy looking guy look “ethnic” and therefore less trustworthy to the typical FAUX News viewer. Fair and balanced? Really? Take a look at the pictures they doctored. You can even see the video clip in which these pictures aired, in case you want further proof that FAUX News is neither fair nor balanced (nor news, for that matter).