Current Events – Page 299 – commonplacebook.com

Dude, Where’s My Country?

Post author:HFM
Post published:October 22, 2003
Post category:Books I've Read Politics

Michael Moore’s new book, Dude, Where’s My Country? is out at Amazon.com now, and if you buy it from my site, I get a kickback, much like Halliburton is getting from the war their pal Bush started in Iraq.

Quote from Amazon.com:

His book is intended to serve as a handbook for how people with liberal opinions (which is most of America, Moore contends, whether they call themselves “liberals” or not) can take back their country from the conservative forces in power. Moore uses his trademark brand of confrontational, exasperated humor skillfully as he offers a primer on how to change the worldview of one’s annoying conservative blowhard brother-in-law, and he crafts a surprisingly thorough “Draft Oprah for President” movement.

Extreme Pumpkins.com – Pumpkin carving at its wildest!

Post author:HFM
Post published:October 20, 2003
Post category:Recently Read

At what point did the carving of pumpkins turn into a “cute” event? When did boys stop carving pumpkins and moms start? Where did we lose touch with one of the years coolest events?
Today we will seize back this ritual. Today is the day we throw away those safe, cute carving tools. Today. We will buy a big, ugly, pumpkin so large one man cannot lift or move it. Today. We will carve that sumbitch into something ugly and plop it on the front porch. October 31st we will light it brightly enough to give visiting children suntans.

Fame Tracker

Post author:HFM
Post published:October 20, 2003
Post category:Recently Read

The farmer’s almanac of celebrity worth. Home of the great feature “Hey, It’s That Guy!”

The Top Ten Conservative Idiots (No. 131)

Post author:HFM
Post published:October 20, 2003
Post category:Politics

Courtesy of Democratic Underground, go read the whole list.
Highlights: This week, Bush wants to ease restrictions on the killing, capturing and importing of endangered species, because apparently he thinks this will increase the populations of endangered species. I’m not sure how that will work, but then I didn’t understand the whole “invade Iraq” logic, either… and gosh, look how well that turned out.
Clear Channel DJs are encouraging people to run cyclists off the road. Scary.
Also, Lt. Gen. William “Jerry” Boykin, the man responsible for finding Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden says of George Bush: “Why is this man in the White House? The majority of Americans did not vote for him. He’s in the White House because God put him there for a time such as this.” Double scary.

Iraqi Death Toll

Post author:HFM
Post published:October 20, 2003
Post category:Politics

394 Coalition fatalities, 1916 U.S. Soldiers wounded. Total Fatalities since May 1st (“end of combat”): 200. Total deaths since July 2nd (Pres. Bush announces, “Bring Them On”): 134.

My new favorite hate mail

Post author:HFM
Post published:October 20, 2003
Post category:Politics

I get some good hate mail every now and then… This is my new favorite. Apparently god’s going to destroy the earth because of little old me. 🙂

your_email: hotchic01@hotmail.com
your_name: ashley
your_subject: George Bush
your_comment: You stupid fucking bitch. George W. Bush is the only reason you are still alive. FUCK YOU DUMB-ASS. and FUCK THE ACLU. Jesus hating freaks. That is why God will destroy the earth. Idiots like you. Hope you burn in hell.

Bush is the only reason I’m alive? That’s funny, I didn’t remember George being on the surgical team that took out my ruptured appendix. If he had been, I wouldn’t have been on that operating table! 🙂

And in-depth article on the ignorant fox news views phenomenon

Post author:HFM
Post published:October 16, 2003
Post category:Politics

I posted a graphic about it a while back, but the Washington Post has more: turns out that an in depth study shows that people who have mistaken ideas about what’s going on in the news are overwhelmingly viewers of Faux News.
“People are proceeding from radically different sets of facts, some so different that they’re altogether fiction.”
“Rupert Murdoch, Roger Ailes and the other guys at Fox have long demonstrated a clearer commitment to changing public policy than to reporting it, and an even clearer commitment to reporting it in such a way as to change it.”

Now that’s funny

Post author:HFM
Post published:October 16, 2003
Post category:Politics

Concerned about the appearance of disarray and feuding within his administration as well as growing resistance to his policies in Iraq, President Bush – living up to his recent declaration that he is in charge – told his top officials to “stop the leaks” to the media, or else.
News of Bush’s order leaked almost immediately.

Indiana Fall Leaf Guide

Post author:HFM
Post published:October 13, 2003
Post category:Indiana

Watch the leaves turn color live on Indiana’s tourism site. This is a neat little site that has a lot of other fun ideas for things to do in Indiana. It usually lists all the seasonal festivals (this past weekend and next is the Parke County Covered Bridge Festival) and there’s a cool page that lists Scenic Drives in Indiana.

No means… well it means no, really.

Post author:HFM
Post published:October 13, 2003
Post category:Current Events

I knew that sooner or later something about the Kobe Bryant case would send me into an apoplectic rage… and here it is. On Thursday, Gregg Easterbrook of the New Republic wrote a little column about how all men know that no doesn’t really mean that:
“Because men know this–because in the real world “no” does not always mean no–speaking the word “no” is not the ideal way to communicate to a man that what is happening has changed from persuasion, or pressure, to compulsion. Men not only want sex, the male mindset holds that overcoming the woman’s “no” is part of manliness.”
He goes on to suggest that instead of using the word “no” to mean “no,” that perhaps we should have some other mutually agreed upon signal, such as “this is rape” which would help the man understand that the woman was serious about not wanting his advances.
I have a different suggestion… how about this as a signal: when the woman says “no” and the guy doesn’t seem to understand that it means no, instead of the woman saying “this is rape” how about if she pulls out a gun, and blows the guy’s head off. That would send a pretty clear signal, I think. Or maybe he could just stop when she says “no” in the first place.