DudeAsInCool

Joni Mitchell's CD The Beginning of Survival is due for release today. It's a collection of songs from recent albums. Her CD of "commentaries on the world in which we live" is a powerful, well-timed social statement that's every bit as effective right now as these songs were when the many albums the music comes from were initially released; the fact that the music is now all together in one spot increases the impact even more. "The time has come," says Joni, referring to the new CD. She's paid careful attention to song selection and order to make it a coherent, focused collection. Her reflections are also expressed here through her latest paintings, a new essay, and the moving "Chief Seattle" speech that regained prominence when referred to by Joseph Campbell in his famous "Power of Myth" conversation with Bill Moyers. You can hear some samples Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00...1653853-8794228 1. The Reocurring Dream 2. The Windfall (Everything For Nothing) 3. Slouching Towards Bethlehem 4. Dog Eat Dog 5. Fiction 6. The Beat Of Black Wings 7. NO Apologies 8. Sex Kills 9. The Three Great Stimulants 10. Lakota 11. Ethiopia 12. Cool Water 13. Tax Free 14. The Magdalene Laundries 15. Passion Play (The Story Of Jesus And Zachius... The Little Tax Collector) 16. Impossible Dreamer

Pathetic. I wouldn't be caught dead with these assholes - who the fuck do they think they are other than crass hateful jerks... :reallymad: I find it interesting that the people who think they are politically purists are actually worse than the people they criticize.

Depends on the situation

Beats catching rats

Toronto Sun Jul. 27, 2004 07:00 AM TORONTO - Immigration officers are having to pore through naked pictures of hundreds of exotic dancers to keep imposters out of Canada, the Toronto Sun reported Tuesday. Foreign strippers planning to table dance in clubs must now provide photos of themselves with no clothes on to qualify for a visa for Canada, said immigration officials. "Stage photos during performances are required," said Sergio Mercado, of the Canadian Embassy in Mexico. In a memo to fellow visa officers around the world, Mercado said if a dancer passes the no-clothes test, they may then require a police certificate or medical examination. The memo was obtained from access to information documents obtained by the Sun. The potential dancers have to prove they can dance in the nude, immigration lawyer Mendel Green said Monday. "They can't be partially nude," he said. "If they don't have pictures in the nude, they are not going to wiggle their bottoms in Canada." http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/072...ppers27-ON.html

How Mr. Sun would score at the convention. Many thousands of you have written to ask this serious and sobering question: "Mr. Sun, how would you score at the Democratic convention?" Thank you for asking. First, let's state the obvious: I would score, and most likelymultiple times. I would be getting it on at the Fleet Center, on boats, in fancy hotels, at Fenway, and probably in that steel cage they made for protesters. Ladies, you know Mr. Sun will not initiate a coronal mass ejection until you are completely satisfied. Now, some thoughts on strategery: First off, I would target a delegation with really bad seats. You've got to come home with something, and if you can't see any of the political superstars up close then perhaps copulating with a pseudonymous blogger would suffice. I would look forward not backward: urging hot delegates to sleep with me not out of frustration over the past but hope for a sexy future. Having said that, some truly nasty bitterness sex sounds really hot. The more I think about it, the more open I remain to going off message for some incendiary hate-sex. If the chick wants to, as Paul Simon said, You can call me Al! I might target NBC reporter Andrea Mitchell. She's a handsome woman, and there is no way that Alan Greenspan can possibly be satisfying her. I'd give her a reason to have some irrational exuberance, if you know what I mean. I don't think I could get near the NBC booth, so I might have to expose myself to her from down on the convention floor. I would stress to chicks that the French approve of meaningless sex, because Democratic girls will do anyting if the French approve. I would never hit on a babe while President Carter is speaking. That guy can crash a mood bigtime. I don't think he'd be of any help to me inreleasing my hostages, if you catch my drift. I might urinate in an area around the North Carolina delegation. This would mark my territory and attract females in heat and possibly men who want to gay-marry me. I am not settled on a pick-up line, but in honor of the candidate and his wife I am toying with this one: "Hi sweetheart. I've got 57 varieties of ways to get you off." I would just condition the everloving shit out of my hair. It's a little brittle, and I want to go for that John Edwards look. This is where I might use my trial lawyer pick-up line: "Your honor, may I approach the wench?" Golden! I would lie. Lying got most of the Democrats to get in bed with Bush on the war -- it ought to work for some bump-n-grind with Mr. Sun. I will be updating this list and welcome your thoughts. It's important we all pull together at this time and create a rich and perverted fantasy life. Remember, the 9/11 commission blamed the whole thing on a lack of imagination. Don't let it happen again. http://mrsun.us/2004/07/how-i-would-score-at-convention.html

It's one thing when the Chairman of Diebold, the electronic voting machine maker, says he supports George W. Bush for President...it's quite another when you know the damn things don't work! :reallymad:

Lost Record of Vote in '02 Florida Race Raises '04 Concern By ABBY GOODNOUGH Published: July 28, 2004 MIAMI, July 27 - Almost all the electronic records from the first widespread use of touch-screen voting in Miami-Dade County have been lost, stoking concerns that the machines are unreliable as the presidential election draws near. The records disappeared after two computer system crashes last year, county elections officials said, leaving no audit trail for the 2002 gubernatorial primary. A citizen's group uncovered the loss this month after requesting all audit data from that election. A county official said a new backup system would prevent electronic voting data from being lost in the future. But members of the citizen's group, the Miami-Dade Election Reform Coalition, said the malfunction underscored the vulnerability of electronic voting records and wiped out data that might have shed light on what problems, if any, still existed with touch-screen machines here. The group supplied the results of its request to The New York Times. "This shows that unless we do something now - or it may very well be too late - Florida is headed toward being the next Florida," said Lida Rodriguez-Taseff, a lawyer who is the chairwoman of the coalition. After the disputed 2000 presidential election eroded confidence in voting machines nationwide, and in South Florida in particular, the state moved quickly to adopt new technology, and in many places touch-screen machines. Voters in 15 Florida counties - covering more than half the state's electorate - will use the machines in November, but reports of mishaps and lost votes in smaller elections over the last two years have cast doubt on their reliability. Like "black boxes" on airplanes, the electronic voting records on touch-screen machines list everything that happens from boot-up to shutdown, documenting in an "event log" when every ballot was cast. The records also include "vote image reports" that show for whom each ballot was cast. Elections officials have said that using this data for recounts is unnecessary because touch-screen machines do not allow human error. But several studies have suggested the machines themselves might err - for instance, by failing to record some votes. After the 2002 primary, between Democratic candidates Janet Reno and Bill McBride, the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida conducted a study that found that 8 percent of votes, or 1,544, were lost on touch-screen machines in 31 precincts in Miami-Dade County. The group considered that rate of what it called "lost votes" unusually high. Voting problems plagued Miami-Dade and Broward Counties on that day, when touch-screen machines took much longer than expected to boot up, dozens of polling places opened late and poorly trained poll workers turned on and shut down the machines incorrectly. A final vote tally - which narrowed the margin first reported between the two candidates by more than 3,000 votes - was delayed for a week. Ms. Reno, who ultimately lost to Mr. McBride by just 4,794 votes statewide, considered requesting a recount at the time but decided against it. Seth Kaplan, a spokesman for the Miami-Dade elections division, said on Tuesday that the office had put in place a daily backup procedure so that computer crashes would not wipe out audit records in the future. The news of the lost data comes two months after Miami-Dade elections officials acknowledged a malfunction in the audit logs of touch-screen machines. The elections office first noticed the problem in spring 2003, but did not publicly discuss it until this past May. The company that makes Miami-Dade's machines, Election Systems and Software of Omaha, Neb., has provided corrective software to all nine Florida counties that use its machines. One flaw occurred when the machines' batteries ran low and an error in the program that reported the problem caused corruption in the machine's event log, said Douglas W. Jones, a computer science professor at the University of Iowa whom Miami-Dade County hired to help solve the problem. In a second flaw, the county's election system software was misreading the serial numbers of the voting machines whose batteries had run low, he said. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/28/politics...e.final.html?hp

XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX TUE JULY 27, 2004 16:33:25 ET XXXXX 'Our America' Teresa Heinz Kerry Excerpts of Remarks to the Democratic National Convention I have a very personal feeling about how special America is, and I know how precious freedom is. It is a sacred gift, sanctified by those who have lived it and by those who have died defending it. Tonight I want to remember my mother's warmth, generosity, wisdom, and hopefulness, and thank her for all the sacrifices she made on our behalf -- like so many other mothers. This evening, I want to acknowledge and honor the women of this world, whose wise voices for much too long have been excluded and discounted. It is time for the world to hear women's voices -- in full and at last. John believes in a bright future. He believes we can, and will, invent the technologies, new materials and conservation methods of the future. He believes that alternative fuels will guarantee that not only will no American boy or girl go to war because of our dependency on foreign oil. But also that our economic security will forever become independent of this need. We can, and we will, create good, competitive, and sustainable jobs while still protecting the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the health of our children, because good environmental policy is good economics. John believes that we can, and we will, give every family and every child access to affordable health care, a good education, and the tools to become self-reliant. John Kerry believes we must, and we should, recognize the immense value of the caregivers in our country - those women and men who nurture and care for children, for elderly parents, for family members in need. These are the people who build and support our most valuable assets--our families. Isn't it time we began working to give parents more opportunity to be with their children and to afford to have a family life? With John Kerry as President, we can, and we will, protect our nation's security without sacrificing our civil liberties. In short, John believes we can, and we must, lead in the world as America, unique among nations, always should-by showing the face, not of our fears, but of our hopes. John is a fighter. He earned his medals the old-fashioned way, by putting his life on the line for his country. No one will defend this nation more vigorously than he will-and he will always be first in the line of fire. But he also knows the importance of getting it right. For him, the names of too many friends inscribed in the cold stone of the Vietnam Memorial testify to the awful toll exacted by leaders who mistake stubbornness for strength. That is why, as President, my husband will not fear disagreement or dissent. He believes that our voices - yours and mine - must be the voices of freedom. And if we do not speak, neither does she. In America, the true patriots are those who dare speak truth to power. The truth we must speak now is that America has responsibilities that it is time for us to accept again. With John Kerry as President, global climate change and other threats to the health of our planet will begin to be reversed. With John Kerry as President, the alliances that bind the community of nations and that truly make our country and the world a safer place, will be strengthened once more.

43 year old Barack Obama gave the best speech of the convention by far, going beyond the Democratic base, and appealing to all Americans and not the divided America that George Bush has created: Obama offers Democrats ‘a brighter day’ Senate candidate tells personal story of American dream NBC, MSNBC and news services Updated: 10:01 p.m. ET July 27, 2004 BOSTON - Democrats welcomed a new star on their national stage Tuesday night as Barack Obama, a previously obscure state senator, offered his own life as an example of uniquely American possibilities and promised that “a brighter day will come.” Obama, the Democrats’ nominee for the open U.S. Senate seat from Illinois, was tapped to deliver the keynote address at the party’s national convention, responsible for putting a positive, friendly face of diversity on a national campaign that has been marked by bitter divisions. In contrast to Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts and failed presidential candidate Howard Dean, who attacked President Bush in blisteringly partisan terms, Obama hewed to party leaders’ instructions to highlight Sen. John Kerry’s qualifications. While he criticized many of Bush’s policies, he never once mentioned the president by name. Obama’s father was a goat herder in Africa who won a scholarship to study in America. He described his mother’s youth in Kansas, raised by a couple who built a good life with educations they obtained through the GI Bill and a home they got with a federal loan. “They sense, deep in their bones, that with just a change in priorities we can make sure that every child in America has a decent shot at life and that the doors of opportunity remain open to all,” said Obama, 42, a lawyer who was the first African-American editor of the Harvard Law Review. From rising health care costs to jobs going overseas to civil liberties being threatened, Obama said, Kerry has the values and record to offer help people deserve. And in a jab at Bush’s handling of the war in Iraq, he said Kerry had the judgment to lead America to war only when absolutely necessary. “When we send our young men and women into harm’s way, we have a solemn obligation not to fudge the numbers or shade the truth about why they’re going,” Obama said. “We have real enemies in the world,” he said. “They must be pursued — and they must be defeated. John Kerry knows this.” Kennedy, Dean take off the gloves It was a stark contrast between the addresses of Obama and later of Kerry’s wife and those of the Democrats’ liberal lions, Edward Kennedy and Howard Dean, who issued full-throated roars against Bush. With the national television networks skipping Tuesday night’s convention program entirely, Kennedy and Dean were free to express the frustrations of many Democrats without running much danger of turning off undecided potential voters. They accused the president of cynically dividing the country and abandoning U.S. troops overseas. In many respects, the program was a tribute to Kennedy, Kerry’s Senate colleague from Massachusetts, as the Democrats held their first convention in his hometown. He was named honorary chairman of the convention, and he was allotted 30 minutes of prime time Tuesday night; by contrast, Dean, the former governor of Vermont who was Kerry’s strongest primary season challenger, was given only 10 minutes. ‘Shameful view’ Kennedy gave the delegates what they wanted, especially on the war. He denounced Bush and his administration as “false patriots” who sought to “bully dissenters into silence and submission.” “More than 900 of our servicemen and women have already paid the ultimate price. Nearly 6,000 have been wounded in this misguided war,” he said. “The administration has alienated longtime allies. Instead of making America more secure, they have made us less so. They have made it harder to win the real war on terrorism, the war against al-Qaida.” “None of this had to happen,” Kennedy said, asking: “How could any president have possibly squandered the enormous goodwill that flowed to America from across the world after September 11th?” “If each of us cared about the public interest, we wouldn’t have the excesses of Enron. We wouldn’t have the abuses of Halliburton. And Vice President Cheney would be retired to an undisclosed location,” he said. “Soon, thanks to John Kerry and John Edwards, he’ll have ample time to do just that.” Dean: Restore Democrats’ pride Dean, whose insurgent campaign ignited a wave of anti-Bush fervor in the party, urged Democrats not to be “afraid to stand up for what we believe,” promising that “we’re not going to let those who disagree with us shout us down under a banner of false patriotism.” “Never again will we be ashamed to call ourselves Democrats. Never. Never. Never,” former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean told delegates. “Never again will we be ashamed to call ourselves Democrats. Never. Never. Never,” he said. “We’re not just going to change presidents — we’re going to change this country and reclaim the American dream.” Dean accused Bush of turning his back on the stretched U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, saying he wanted “a commander-in-chief who supports our soldiers and our veterans, instead of cutting their hardship pay when they’re abroad and their health benefits when they get home.” “I may not be the nominee, but I can tell you this: For the next hundred days, I’ll be doing everything I can to make sure that John Kerry and John Edwards take our country back for the people who built it,” he promised. “Because tonight, we’re all here to represent the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party.” http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5344731/

Surprisingly, Howard Dean got the most rousing ovation of everyone so far. Here is what MSNBC.com said: Dean: Restore Democrats’ pride Dean, whose insurgent campaign ignited a wave of anti-Bush fervor in the party, urged Democrats not to be “afraid to stand up for what we believe,” promising that “we’re not going to let those who disagree with us shout us down under a banner of false patriotism.” Dean accused Bush of turning his back on the stretched U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, saying he wanted “a commander-in-chief who supports our soldiers and our veterans, instead of cutting their hardship pay when they’re abroad and their health benefits when they get home.

Ted Kennedy spoke of the patriotic ideals of his revolutionary Boston forebearers--freedom and justice for all--and how America needs to return to these ideals today with the election and leadership of Kerry & Edwards. Unlike the previous night, Kennedy went after Bush-Cheney for 'a misguided war in Iraq", for weakening our worldwide allegiances, and not living up to our constitutional promises of justice for all. In particular, he focused on domestic issues of health care and and an economy that benefits everyone. Here is what MSNBC.com said about his speech: Kennedy gave the delegates what they wanted, especially on the war. He denounced Bush and his administration as “false patriots” who sought to “bully dissenters into silence and submission.” “More than 900 of our servicemen and women have already paid the ultimate price. Nearly 6,000 have been wounded in this misguided war,” he said. “The administration has alienated longtime allies. Instead of making America more secure, they have made us less so. They have made it harder to win the real war on terrorism, the war against al-Qaida.” “None of this had to happen,” Kennedy said, asking: “How could any president have possibly squandered the enormous goodwill that flowed to America from across the world after September 11th?”

Welcome to Beatking, Meshmark :strumma:

This appears to be a misuse of the Patriot Act, and the conpiracy charge is a joke. However, according to the thread at Slashdot, the guy was actually letting people download episodes on the site for free - not too smart.

Work in progress...soon, when its complete

Federal charges were filed against Adam McGaughey, creator of the popular SG1Archive.com website - a fan website devoted to the MGM-owned television show Stargate SG-1. The charges allege that the website engaged in Criminal Copyright Infringement and Trafficking in Counterfeit Services. The charges were the culmination of a three-year FBI investigation, set in motion by a complaint from the Motion Picture Association (MPAA) regarding the content of the SG1Archive.com website. SG1Archive.com is one of the most popular fan-run websites among the Stargate community. In addition to providing very active fan discussion forums, broadcast schedules, production news, and episode guides, the site heavily promotes the sale of the show on DVD. As of this writing, direct links from SG1Archive.com to Amazon.com have resulted in the sale of over $100,000 worth of DVDs. Many more DVDs have been sold to international fans of the show through sites like Blackstar.co.uk. Upon hearing this news, Stargate executive producer Brad Wright called the site "cool" - which Adam took as an endorsement of his work. However, instead of thanking Adam for his promotion of their product, officials at MGM and the MPAA have chosen to pressure the FBI into pursuing criminal charges. Adam was first tipped off about the investigation when the FBI raided his and his fiancee's apartment in May of 2002 and seized thousands of dollars worth of computer equipment. Adam later received a copy of the affidavit filed in support of the search warrant, and was shocked to discover that this document, prepared by the FBI, contained significant amounts of erroneous and misleading information. For example, two social security numbers were listed for Adam, one of which is not his. References were made to a cease and desist letter sent by the MPAA to an email address that did not exist. His online friendship with other Stargate fans across the globe was portrayed as an international conspiracy against the MPAA. And perhaps most disturbing of all, it was later revealed that the FBI invoked a provision of the USA Patriot Act to obtain financial records from his ISP. The FBI's abuse of its powers did not stop there. When they seized Adam's computer equipment, he was given written documentation stating that it would be returned within 60 days. The equipment that they did return did not arrive until more than 8 months later, and only then after much prodding from his lawyer. Much of it was damaged beyond repair - one laptop had a shattered LCD screen, an empty tape backup drive was ripped apart for no apparent reason, his fiancee's iBook was badly damaged when it was pried apart with a screwdriver. The FBI's computer crimes staff is either incompetent (at least when it comes to Macintosh computer equipment) or else they just don't give a damn. Adam has has received positive feedback about his site from multiple members of the Stargate cast and crew at fan conventions. In addition, a representative of MGM's fan publication interviewed Adam about his website several months prior to the FBI raid. As a result, Adam sincerely believed that the show's creators did not have a problem with the content of his website. Many other sites are currently serving content of questionable legality, without promoting the sale of DVDs or offering a community for fans to discuss the show. Why the MPAA and FBI have chosen to ignore these sites and target SG1Archive.com is unclear. Up until this point, Adam has been fortunate enough to receive pro bono legal counsel in his current hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio. However, the charges were filed in Los Angeles county. The cost of travel, trial, bond, etc http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/04/07/27/12921...tid=214&tid=129

Democrats Offer a Simple Message Aimed at the Middle By ROBIN TONER Published: July 27, 2004 BOSTON, July 26 - Franklin Roosevelt spoke of the "forgotten man," Bill Clinton of the "forgotten middle class." Now the Democratic Party of Senator John Kerry is reaching for that long - and politically successful - legacy with a promise to ease the "middle-class squeeze" and restore the booming economy of the Clinton years. To that end, the Democratic National Convention on Monday night offered a simple message about the economy: It was better under the Democrats. The middle class had a brighter future. And Mr. Kerry has a plan to restore middle-class prosperity - to stem the loss of jobs overseas, to ease the burden of rising health, education and energy costs on families, to get the nation's fiscal house and economy in order. Indeed, it was Bill Clinton himself who stood before a national television audience on Monday night and made the case, as he did so often in 1992, that the economic future need not be feared - and that the Democrats offered a better choice when it came to tax and budget policy. He scoffed at the Republicans' decision to give big tax cuts to wealthy Americans like himself while, he asserted, shortchanging critical national needs like education. He criticized the Republicans for turning a huge surplus into a deficit. Again and again, he said voters faced a choice. If they liked the status quo, he said, stick with the Republicans. If not, he said,"take a look at John Kerry, John Edwards and the Democrats - we've got a very different economic policy.'' "Our way works better,'' Clinton said. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/27/politics...7assess.html?hp

Day 2 Speaker Lineup Tom Daschle, U.S. Senator from South Dakota Howard Dean, Former Governor of Vermont Richard Gephardt, U.S. Representative from Missouri Chris Heinz, Stepson of John Kerry Teresa Heinz Kerry, Wife of John Kerry Ted Kennedy, U.S. Senator from Massachusetts Carol Moseley-Braun, Former U.S. Senator from Illinois

Crash into Me was one of the best songs of the 90's...

Nice post, wonder, and welcome to bk :good job:

Gabriel Young's cover of Lanterna's West Side Highway

I think Russell Simmons has talent..

Right. And for him to call Clinton's speech a masterpiece, says something... Ratings were way down. Its a shame the public wasnt listening. The speech's were really terrific and outlined just why the Bush Administration is the worst outfit in American history bar none.

Fox News is a joke... like I'm going to believe their opinions about someone's speech rather than watch it myself and forumlate my own :reallymad: Fair and balanced my ass

Dick Morris called Clinton's speech a masterpiece: Facing a national consensus that terror, Iraq and homeland security are the key issues, Bill Clinton dragged America back to the domestic issues on which Democrats retain a strong edge. Long after Clinton's recitation of his own achievements has faded, his effort to reinject health care, Social Security, Medicare, drug prices, education and crime into the national debate may endure. By reminding voters how much they would support the Democratic agenda were it not for Bush's strong stance in fighting the War on Terror, he opens the door for a major shift of national issues to those on which Kerry has a clear edge. Can John Kerry walk through the door that Bill Clinton has opened? Will he realize that he can't win on terrorism and focus on the domestic agenda on which Democrats can win? By framing the issues as he did, Clinton articulated the differences between Democrats and Republicans without bashing Bush by name. By avoiding the four-letter word B-U-S-H and speaking instead of party positioning on key issues, he avoided the backlash that comes against any candidate who spends his convention time bashing his opponent. But, at the same time, he attacked Bush all the same by articulating the opposition in programmatic and partisan, rather than personal terms. How odd that it took Clinton, the draft dodger, to make the case for Kerry the war hero. By speaking of "sailing the ship," Clinton has given Kerry a metaphor he can use for the rest of the campaign. But one other four-letter word was almost entirely absent: I-R-A-Q. Clinton raised the possibility that a Democrat can again win not just by maximizing the domestic issues that dominated our attention before 9/11, but also by minimizing the war we are now in. Rallying his constituency and his program once again, he worked to roll back the clock to the simpler times in which we once lived. But there is still a reality out there. Al Qaeda will be heard in this election. The date is not Sept. 10, 2001. The War on Terror is unavoidable. It will intrude into this contest and remind us of why we need Bush. But for one night, in the thrall of the master's voice, we recognize the beat of the drummer to which we once marched. And what of the contrast between Bill's speech and Hillary's introduction? How could one witness the modulated, varied, emotional delivery of the former president and not realize that the would-be president's delivery was flat, shrill and one-dimensional? The now brown-eyed lady from New York couldn't stand on the same platform with her husband. http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/28228.htm