I'm now in the process of moving everything over to a new blog on Wordpress. I'll put the link up when I think the time is right, however it probably won't take too much guess work to figure it out.
Rock on, kids.
Update: 9:15 PM
It is complete. You can find the new hotness here.
The Phillies are done (R.I.P., you undeserving bastards), but subter is back.
subter is the online magazine I was writing for as a weekly contributor earlier this year. After briefly disappearing and reimagining the structure, it has returned. The first issue of subter 3.0 has just gone live, and my article "War Of The Words" appears therein.
From the editor's synopsis:
In the world of politics, what you don’t say can be as important as what you do say. And in today’s media saturated culture, special emphasis has been placed on exact phrasing, on selling everything from environmental reform to all out war, it’s governing by glitter at it’s finest.
You can find the article here. You can read the rest of the magazine here, and by all means do. I haven't read everything yet, but everything I have read has been fantastic. And, no, it's not simply for raging politicos such as myself.
Holy shit. The Foley situation just got so much worse (see below for preliminaries).
These are IMs from a Republican Congressman to a 16-year old boy. (from Daily Kos)
Maf54: You in your boxers, too? Teen: Nope, just got home. I had a college interview that went late. Maf54: Well, strip down and get relaxed.
Another message:
Maf54: What ya wearing? Teen: tshirt and shorts Maf54: Love to slip them off of you.
And this one:
Maf54: Do I make you a little horny? Teen: A little. Maf54: Cool.
A bad day for Republicans is a good day for America.
First up we have a Republican congressman, Mark Foley, resigning in disgrace. Why, you ask? Foley sent a series of suggestive e-mails to a congressional page. A page who was 16 years old. It was never a secret that he was gay, but pedophilia is a new trick for him, apparently. The story broke yesterday, and Foley vehemently denied the e-mails contained anything inappropriate. Then, today, he resigned, apologizing thusly: "I am deeply sorry and I apologize for letting down my family and the people of Florida I have had the privilege to represent."
Oh, but it gets better. According to Florida law, Foley's name will remain on the ballot for this November's election. However, all votes for him will actually go to whomever the state party selects as his replacement. So it looks like yet ANOTHER seat Democrats will be picking up in November.
And you remember that Jack Abramoff guy, the corruptor of Republicans? Well, his ties with the White House are becoming clearer as hundreds of e-mails from his lobbying firm were released today. Apparently Karl "Pigly Sonofabitch" Rove derailed a nomination to the Department of Interior for Abramoff.
But Ken Mehlman got it the worst. Ken is the chair of the Republican National Committee and was the campaign manager for Bush's 2004 reelection. In a blatant case of bribery, Mehlman persuaded the Justice Department to shell out $16 million to the Choctaw tribe in exchange for political contributions from Abramoff's lobbying firm. In addition to this, he got a foe of Abramoff in the State Department fired and various other misdeeds you can read about here.
Lost in the Virginia Senate race between George "Racist Liar" Allen and Jim "Next Senator" Webb is another interesting pickup opportunity for the Democrats, in Virginia's second district which includes the Chesapeake peninsula and the Virginia Beach area, both areas full of military installations.
The incumbent is Thelma Drake, a first-termer who was formerly in the Virginia House of Delegates. Drake has been one of the usual suspect Republicans who have blatantly rubber-stamped virtually everything Bush has supported, with the lone exception being the Dubai Ports fiasco. And she REALLY loves the Iraq war, refusing to admit what the vast majority of Americans know to be true: that it was a colossal mistake. And as the Richmond Times-Dispatch has reported, the race is becoming almost entirely about the war.
The Republicans, especially uber-apologist Peggy Noonan (see last post and foolish reactions to it), would have us believe that Bush is not an albatross around the collective necks of Republicans. However, Drake's camp had a fundraiser in which Bush helped her raise $500,000 for her campaign, almost a third of their total funds, but Bush's presence made her run back to D.C. for an ultra-important vote she had to cast. What vote was that, you ask? A military spending bill with no opposition. And I mean NO opposition. It passed 394-0.
Drake has also completely stopped referring to herself as a Republican in her ads. Instead she is touted as an "independent voice." Which is almost like saying George Allen is an "independent voice." Priceless.
Vote for Philip Kellam. Read all about him here. And, as always, let's make this entirely about Bush and his massive failures. If only because the Republicans are telling us not to.
Perhaps you've read Peggy Noonan's article in the Wall Street Journal's editorial page, entitled "To Beat a Man, You Need a Plan". In it she argues the point that if Democrats make this congressional election a referendum on Bush, it will backfire and cost the Democrats gains.
First, a little backstory on Peggy Noonan. She is now a writer who frequently visits Fox News as an analyst. She has worked in the Reagan and George H.W. Bush White Houses. She even wrote the famous speech in which Bush 1 said "Read my lips, no new taxes". She is a Republican, a frequent apologist for the Bush administration, and just to the right of Augusto Pinochet. She is strictly partisan.
So why on earth would she be giving earnest advice to the Democratic Party? I smell a rat, as I often do when Republicans are involved. She says:
"... I feel the Democrats this year are making a mistake. They think it will be a cakewalk. A war going badly, immigration, high spending, a combination of sentimentality and dimness in foreign affairs..., and conservative thinkers and writers hopping mad and hoping to lose the House.
"The Democrats' mistake - ironically, in a year all about Bush - is obsessing on Bush."
Gee, can't argue with logic like that.
I say if her advice is to leave Bush out of the equation, the only logical tactic is to do the exact opposite. Hammer away at him, because the Republicans in Congress are the ones who gave him his despotic power.
Thanks for the advice, Peg! We'll take it for exactly what it's worth.
The Phillies are now tied for first in the wild card race. Holy shit. If this gets any better, "Brad's Brain" may temporarily turn into a baseball blog (if it hasn't already).
Also, please check out my review of Cars over at The Discerning Cinéaste. Then realize that "cineaste" is an anagram of "nice seat" which I did not sit in while seeing Cars. My ass thanks you, Byrd Theatre!
Up next on the cineaste docket: All the King's Men. Maybe.
In case you aren't aware of Mr. Howard, here's a brief rundown. He was a prospect for the Philadelphia Phillies (that's a baseball team, kiddos) for a couple years. He had one strike against him already; the starter for the Phillies at his position, first base, was a legend named Jim Thome, a lumberjack of a man who could either strike out or drill balls out of the park. And the Phils were cool with that, so Howard lingered in the minor leagues, waiting for his chance either after Thome left or he was traded to a team in need of help at first base.
Last year, Howard got his chance, like most major leaguers do. Thome went down with an injury. And in the second half of the season, Howard was on a tear. He finished the year with 22 home runs and many say was the reason the Phillies were in contention for a wild card spot in the playoffs on the final day of the season. There were knocks against him, that he couldn't hit left-handed pitching, that he struck out too much (100 times in 88 games last year). But his performance was good enough to win the National League Rookie of the Year Award, after only playing, as I said, 88 games. Pretty good.
And this season he has turned into a bona fide sensation. He's in the top ten in the league for numerous offensive categories, he's hitting .313 and he has a staggering 57 home runs. He's an incredible physical presence, swinging a bat heavier than almost any other player, and his power is legendary. The tales of his tape-measure home runs in spring training have been told for years, and his power is equal to all sides of the field. Watching this guy play reminds you what it's like to love the game of baseball and be excited about it. I have not met the man, but from all reports, you could not ask for a nicer person, warm and friendly, the exact counterpoint to other stars like Barry Bonds. Howard is a class act who is better than almost anyone else in the game right now, in only his first full season.
Now let's go in the way-back machine. Two guys were on pace to break a hallowed record, Roger Maris' single-season home run record of 61. The media attention was incredible, and the nation was abuzz with who would get there first, the heart-warming poor-Hispanic-done-good story of Sammy Sosa, or the clean-cut all-American Mark McGwire. Ultimately they both got there and baseball was reenergized after the disastrous strike of 1994.
One needs only look to the Congressional testimony of early last year to find out how that worked out. Sosa went on to hit more than 60 home runs in two more seasons, a ridiculous feat. Both players fizzled either right before or soon after more rigorous steroid testing was implemented in the majors, along with Rafael Palmeiro. Barry Bonds, who broke McGwire's record several years later, has been a disgrace since stopping his steroid use.
In a perfect world this nation would be crazy for this kid from St. Louis. The speculation of his possibly using steroids is wild fantasy; his physical size has never changed, he shows none of the symptoms such as a bloated skull, frequent minor injuries, and inconsistent numbers. His power has been the same through the minor leagues, where testing has been strict for a while, and he's undergoing testing in the majors. He's clean any way you slice it.
He is still on pace to break Roger Maris' record of 61 home runs, in this his first full season. And I'm with the Maris family when I say that if he does get to 62, as far as I'm concerned he is the home run champ.
Nothing new today, balls deep in my new subter article, so here's an old favorite.
What is the absolute most terrifyingly evil practice that Republicans employ under the guise of advocating the preservation of life for all? What is so heinously wretched, so morally despicable that even the most fervent advocate of fascism that this blogosphere has to offer could have no rationale to argue FOR it?
The neoconservatives are trying to kill everyone.
That's right. President Bush and his administration, the same ones who argue that they believe every life is so precious that they are willing to pass omnibus legislation contrary to a "constructionist" reading of the constitution to save one individual, have made it official policy to slowly murder you, me, themselves, everyone. And the bodies are piling up.
Let's take a step back to the campaign of 2000. This year in particular clearly demonstrated a tipping point in American politics. For years money has become more and more important to political campaigns. But in 2000 we reached the other side, so much so that the nation has been striving to stem the tide of corporate purchasing of candidates. Some of this legislation helps. However, the corporations that paid for the Bush-Cheney ticket never returned what they bought. And now we are paying for this purchase.
During his 2000 run, then-Governor Bush was in control of the state which had the dubious honor of leading the nation in pollution, specifically greenhouse gases and toxic chemicals. These same polluting companies, many in the oil industry, had no interests in paying the vast amounts of money necessary to clean up their act. These are companies like El Paso Corporation ($750,000 contribution), Reliant ($600,000), and our old pal Enron, Bush's number one funder in the energy industry at $1.8 million.
The Texas oil industry alone stuffed $50 million into the pockets of George W. Bush. And Bush and his associates make sure that these corporations get the most bang for their buck. The administration has spit in the face of organizations whose mission it is to protect the environment from corporate greed. They have passed the Healthy Forests Initiative, an hysterical name when you stop to think about it. It plans to decrease forest fires by, basically, letting loggers make sure there is no forest left to burn.
During the 2000 presidential campaign, Bush promised legislation that would address CO2 emissions, scientifically proven as the cause of global warming. However, once in office, Bush suddenly decided that the jury was still out on whether carbon dioxide emissions were in fact a bad thing and refused to ratify the Kyoto Protocol. Which is fine. The protocol is a suspect piece of international legislation which would seriously undermine the economy of the United States. But rather than counter with his own workable legislation as he promised, Bush has decided the issue has been put to rest.
Bush's major environmental work, the Clear Skies Initiative is, like "Healthy Forests", just another pretty name for a nasty piece of law. If fully enforced it would actually cause more pollution than if the existing Clean Air Act were enforced. Some examples:
Mercury: Under Clean Air - a cap of 5 tons by 2008. Under Clear Skies - a cap of 26 tons by 2010.
Nitrogen Oxide (component of smog, linked to asthma and lung disease): Clean Air - allows a max of 1.25 million tons by 2010. Clear Skies - cap of 2.1 million tons by 2008.
Sulphur Dioxide (acid rain, soot): Clean Air - allows 2 million tons by 2012. Clear Skies - 4.5 million tons by 2010.
Carbon Dioxide: Clear Skies - didn't bother with it. Apparently assumed it would go away on its own.
Plain and simply the Clear Skies Initiative is a joke. It has been touted (and so named) as legislation that will clean up the environment. It will clearly do no such thing.
So how does all this horrible legislation necessarily imply that Bush is looking out only for corporate interests? Maybe he really is that stupid and thinks that Clear Skies will help. Don't count on it.
Corporations, and the government (specifically the Office of Management and Budget, OMB), run certain equations when they decide basically everything they do. All types of equations are included, but they all come down to one thing: will this action, be it legislation, corporate buyout, etc., make me money? It is what's called a "cost-benefit analysis."
For environmental legislation, what this means is the OMB adds up how much it will cost their corporate buddies to implement a certain rule, for instance putting screens on smokestacks. Then they divide that amount by the number of lives saved. This results in each life being assigned a dollar amount. Certain lives are weighted. For instance, the life of a child is worth more than the life of a senior citizen. It's that simple. If their accounting states that it costs too much to clean up an industry, they won't do it.
Please keep in mind, these are the same people that insist that all life is precious.
This is corporatism run amok.
President Bush is, without question, the worst environmental politician, let alone president, in our nation's history. He is the only president to be given an "F" by the League of Conservation Voters.
There is so much more to this issue than I have either the time or patience to write here. I encourage you to do your own research. A great place to look is The Sierra Club website. Another great site is the League of Conservation Voters. You can also read "Bush Versus the Environment" by Robert S. Devine, from which the bulk of the information in this article came.
The environment must not be a partisan issue. It is in all of our best interests to have clean air and clean water and abundant natural forests. But in his double-barreled assault on this earth, Bush has made it partisan. With all of his Republican sheep in Congress lining up to follow his every attack on nature, it is up to those of us with the capacity to see through his nonsense to call "bullshit" on him: to expose his lies ("healthy forests"?), to persuade our representatives to vote in our best interests, and to make sure that our government speaks for us, not for the corporations.
Special note: The top ten highest scores for the 2004 Senate in terms of positive environmental record from the League of Conservation Voters: Cantwell (WA), Leahy (VT), Schumer (NY), Murray (WA), Reed, J. (RI), Kennedy (MA), Clinton (NY), Lautenberg (NJ), Jeffords (VT), Feingold (WI). All except one a Democrat; Jeffords is Independent.
In case you aren't familiar with them, here is the AllMusic entry for The Mountain Goats. This is the first video from their/his latest album "Get Lonely", directed by Rian Johnson who also directed the film "Brick". Get this album.
I was trying to write something long and fascinating and touching and chock full of the kind of wisdom the more mainstream punditry would never be able to bequeath upon you. I've so far deleted three attempts, and I don't give a fuck anymore.
Watch "Loose Change". Find some answers for yourself. Do some reading here. Something is clearly rotten in this country. Why else would the need exist for a sanitized, fictional "official version" to make it to your television? 36 percent of you fuckers suspect something was dreadfully wrong with 9/11, yet we still can't get an independent review of the events?
Who benefited? Al Qaeda? They've had some success, sure, recruitment's up, but mostly because of our foolish Iraqi escapade. As a movement, they were immediately marginalized after the attacks and it took only our incompetence to bring their supporters back to them.
So who benefited? The Bush administration? The "lame duck" presidency was already counting its days left in office, and his 50 percent approval rating skyrocketed instantly to 92. Congress had been blocking the bulk of what he had set as his key platform, but once that happened, opposition melted away and has only returned now (even then occassionally). For five years the most right-wing, theocratic administration has run roughshod over the country and the constitution, and instituted exactly the dream for America set forward by the Project for a New American Century.
So who benefited?
What sounds more like a conspiracy theory to you? A government turning against its own people to further their own interests? Or 19 unarmed men taking control of four airplanes for over an hour with no response from the best military in the world before crashing successfully into three targets, one the most well-defended office in the world, with a total success rate of 75 percent? Hmmm?
Think about things. Then think about how we can get rid of these fuckers and if voting will do the trick.
The Phillies are done (R.I.P., you undeserving bastards), but subter is back.
Update: 9/30/2006 2:37 AM
Let's talk about Ryan Howard, shall we?
Nothing new today, balls deep in my new subter article, so here's an old favorite.
I was trying to write something long and fascinating and touching and chock full of the kind of wisdom the more mainstream punditry would never be able to bequeath upon you. I've so far deleted three attempts, and I don't give a fuck anymore.
