MetaFilter posts by taumeson.
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Craig Rowin asked the internet for a million dollars, and apparently the internet is going to deliver. Now, the caveat is that the check for a million dollars will be handed to Craig during an improv show, so is it just a publicity stunt? Time will tell. Previously.
posted on Jan-19-11 at 1:52 PM
"1,000,000 to join, my dad john mellencamp will quit smoking" Of course, country rock crooner John Mellencamp isn't MY dad. Rather, John's youngest son Speck (geez) has issued a challenge to facebook -- if 1M people join this facebook group, John Mellencamp will quit smoking. It's legit, unlike that time when you forwarded an email to all of your friends wanting Bill Gates to give you money.
posted on Dec-2-09 at 5:50 AM
The world is ending in a zombie apocalypse, and even Paris is unscathed. Battle your way around classic Parisian neighborhoods, monuments, and bars as Toxic Sonic, a real-life french rock/punk band. Happy flash friday!
posted on Apr-24-09 at 6:45 AM
Jimmy Kimmel's response to his girlfriend Sarah Silverman's reverse-ode "I'm Fucking Matt Damon" premiered on his post-Oscar broadcast. It's star-studded and just as hilarious. Enjoy, but remember, it's potentially NSFW audio!
posted on Feb-25-08 at 5:13 AM
Politifact is brought to you by the St. Pete Times and the Congressional Quarterly (excellent domain name, btw!) to help you sift through all the bullshit that comes out of politicians' mouths.
posted on Nov-1-07 at 8:34 AM
Chime.TV -- it's a new video hyper-aggregator (like VodPod) by MeFite chime that I've been using since it was in development. It's Wii-compatible and tested and can turn your fave sites into channels (including but not limited to MeFi,Boing Boing, Digg, or Fark). You can automatically watch any YouTube channel as well, or just watch your favorites. I'm personally going to suggest you try out the Net100 channel, which is an aggregate of everbody's top 10 videos. Flash player required
posted on Jun-12-07 at 1:46 PM
Filmsite.org's "Sex in Cinema: The Greatest and Most Influential Erotic / Sexual Films and Scenes" (NSFW). Filmsite.org's been mentioned a few times on MeFi, and I've come across them again looking up information about Natalie Wood. She's on page 12 (NSFW) for Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice.
posted on Mar-30-06 at 7:03 AM
Robert Jordan has amyloidosis, a rare blood disorder that is remarkably fatal. The link has all the info you need, including: "[amyloidosis is] a rare blood disease which affects only 8 people out of a million each year, and those 8 per million are divided among 22 distinct forms of amyloidosis" and "Untreated, it would eventually make my heart unable to function any longer and I would have a median life expectancy of one year from diagnosis."
posted on Mar-27-06 at 11:48 AM
Black Box Voting has completed their analysis of log files from Palm Beach (FL) county voting machines stemming from the Nov 2004 general election. You know it's not good news when the article starts with: The internal logs of at least 40 Sequoia touch-screen voting machines reveal that votes were time and date-stamped as cast two weeks before the election, sometimes in the middle of the night.
posted on Feb-24-06 at 6:18 AM
Secret Service may be given yet further authority to arrest people. Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) has added to the latest draft of the Patriot Act legislation before the Senate. As it stands now the Secret Service will get involved if you trespass in a restricted area at the same time as (or immediately before) the people they are protecting. If Sen. Specter has his way the Secret Service will have the authority to arrest any protestors violating the arbitrary restricted areas AT ANY TIME throughout the (potentially multi-day) event.
posted on Jan-30-06 at 1:25 PM
Section 605 of the House's Patriot Act renewal bill is entitled THE UNIFORMED DIVISION, UNITED STATES SECRET SERVICE. The Secret Service has broad authority (included arrest powers without warrants) when it comes to protecting the President. The "uniformed division" (previously the "Executive Protective Service") handles most of the grunt work. Talkleft has been analyzing this text and has come to the conclusion that the President can, upon passage of this bill, use his "Uniformed Divison" (aka private army) on a whim: (11) An event designated under section 3056(e) of title 18 as a special event of national significance.Section 3056(e)(1) of title 18 reads simply: When directed by the President, the United States Secret Service is authorized to participate, under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury, in the planning, coordination, and implementation of security operations at special events of national significance, as determined by the President.
posted on Jan-25-06 at 7:34 AM
The Hidden State Steps Forward by (infamous Nation author) Jonathan Schell. A quote says it best: The danger is not abstract or merely symbolic. Bush's abuses of presidential power are the most extensive in American history. He has launched an aggressive war ("war of choice," in today's euphemism) on false grounds. He has presided over a system of torture and sought to legitimize it by specious definitions of the word. He has asserted a wholesale right to lock up American citizens and others indefinitely without any legal showing or the right to see a lawyer or anyone else. He has kidnapped people in foreign countries and sent them to other countries, where they were tortured.
posted on Jan-6-06 at 7:54 AM
It's the 230th birthday of the United States Marine Corps. Every 10 NOV current, future, and former Marines gather to commemorate the founding of the USMC. GoDaddy's founder Bob Parsons is a former Marine, and makes it a habit to send out birthday wishes every year. (flash)
posted on Nov-10-05 at 6:23 AM
In lieu of flowers, please send acerbic letters to Republicans.
posted on Oct-13-05 at 6:22 AM
The Bawls Song is something I found out about through PAX, where I was an enforcer. The main Bawls site isn't anything to look at, but this viral piece of fan music is awesome. And if I'm wrong and it's not a fan piece of music (I couldn't find it on their site) sorry! Warning: large file (mp3) and NSFW language.
posted on Aug-31-05 at 12:26 PM
Ladies and gentlemen, I present the Nickelodeon hotel. I don't know whether or not to lament the state of affairs, or be happy that my kid gets to interact with the characters she has in her imagination. Not that this is anything new in Orlando, or anything....but I'm just astounded by the wholesale manipulation of children and their parental-annoyance-fueled buying power.
posted on Aug-3-05 at 9:03 AM
Draft Russ. Some people would like Sen. Russ Feingold to run for president. I'm all for it, I mean, it'll give Obama time to get some experience....
posted on Jul-26-05 at 5:07 PM
During the 1990s, both the federal government and many state governments experimented with a new type of prison dedicated to maximum security prisoners, known as a "supermax." Such prisons are formally known as "Administrative Maximum" (ADX) prisons at the federal level, and the only federal ADX is in Florence, Colorado - ADX Florence. On top of confining inmates to their cells for 23 hours a day, such prisons usually feature soundproofed cells, near-total deprivation of human contact, and a routine policy of solitary confinement.
The text is from here, which isn't really related but got me searching for ADX-Florence, and lead me to the HRW site that inspired me to share.
posted on Apr-13-05 at 11:46 AM
For all your sizearching nizeeds.
posted on Feb-8-05 at 8:25 AM
Scott McConnell is the latest conservative to realize that our populace is proto-fascist. Scott writes for The American Conservative, and his article "Hunger for Dictatorship" lets us know about some conservatives who've already reached this conclusion. The meat of the article introduces us to his old professor Fritz Stern, an exile from Hitler's Germany who has seen fascism up close. Scott is quick to say "we're not there yet", but notes:
And yet the very fact that the f-word can be seriously raised in an American context is evidence enough that we have moved into a new period. The invasion of Iraq has put the possibility of the end to American democracy on the table and has empowered groups on the Right that would acquiesce to and in some cases welcome the suppression of core American freedoms.
posted on Feb-6-05 at 8:23 AM
United States officials were surprised and heartened today at the size of turnout in [insert country]'s presidential election despite a [insert terror group] terrorist campaign to disrupt the voting. According to reports from [insert besieged capital city], 83 per cent of the 5.85 million registered voters cast their ballots yesterday. Many of them risked reprisals threatened by the [insert terror group].
....A successful election has long been seen as the keystone in President [insert idiotic Texas Republican]'s policy of encouraging the growth of constitutional processes in [insert besieged country]. The election was the culmination of a constitutional development that began in [insert date], to which President [insert idiotic Texas Republican] gave his personal commitment when he met [foreign puppet politician], the chief of state, in Honolulu in February.
Dateline? Sept. 4th, 1967.
Fact-Checked with archived NYT links at Daily KOS.
posted on Jan-31-05 at 7:49 PM
The Reality of Red-State Fascism, by Lew Rockwell. We consistently say "Man, we're on the road to fascism" yet people fall all over themselves to say "We're nowhere near it.". Well, when do we say "Holy shit...we're there"? Everybody's favorite libertarian gives us a timeline of the descent, and lets us know how we are now not just on the brink, but in the midst of Americanized Fascism:
"If you follow hate-filled sites such as Free Republic, you know that the populist right in this country has been advocating nuclear holocaust and mass bloodshed for more than a year now. The militarism and nationalism dwarfs anything I saw at any point during the Cold War. It celebrates the shedding of blood, and exhibits a maniacal love of the state...In 1994, the central state was seen by the bourgeoisie as the main threat to the family; in 2004 it is seen as the main tool for keeping the family together and ensuring its ascendancy. In 1994, the state was seen as the enemy of education; today, the same people view the state as the means of raising standards and purging education of its left-wing influences....it sees the state as the central organizing principle of society, views public institutions as the most essential means by which all these institutions are protected and advanced, and adores the head of state as a godlike figure who knows better than anyone else what the country and world's needs"
posted on Jan-6-05 at 4:52 PM
So I saw this image online (of a Michigan absentee ballot...which arrow is for Kerry, and which is for Bush?) and it made me think, what the hell is going on with this election? On the one hand, I'm told your vote might just be worthless if you use electronic voting machines but on the other hand the alternative (in my state, at least) is to use an absentee ballot, which, according to some, might be easier, if only because I can have members of a political party help me fill it out.
posted on Oct-1-04 at 9:49 AM
Ever hear of a "tangible tax law"? Chances are, you haven't. Florida doesn't have an income tax, so it makes up for it by having something called a tangible tax. The state of Florida taxes businesses for property they ALREADY OWN that could be used to generate income...on top of a 5.5% corporate tax rate. Many Floridians own their own businesses, a percentage of which are sole proprietorships (like me doing freelance work) and so won't owe state or corporate income taxes, yet will have to pay because of this law. Many of you have experience with property taxes, which are the most common form of Ad Valorem tax, but if you own a business or do freelance work, I suggest you educate yourself.
posted on Mar-2-04 at 12:53 PM
The Yurica Report: "News Intelligence Analysis". It seems to be an EXTREMELY leftist website, mentioned but once before. It seems inflammatory, but a few things caught my eye. How about a "Constitution Restoration Act" that would "gut the ability of citizens to sue the government or government officials by reason of that element’s or officer’s acknowledgment of God as the sovereign source of law, liberty, or government.” Or how about "The Despoiling of America", How George W. Bush became the head of the new American Dominionist Church/State...quite an interesting take on how Neo-Conservatives are taking the idea of dominionism and sprinting with it. Inflammatory? Hell yes...but incredibly interesting nonetheless.
posted on Feb-25-04 at 5:03 PM
I'd like to introduce you to Norman Finkelstein. A Jew whose parents were survivors of the Warsaw ghetto and various concentration camps, he is one of a handful of modern Jewish scholars who wants to "maintain the integrity of the history of the Nazi holocaust". I was introduced to him when I read his book The Holocaust Industry, which reminds us that "its central dogmas sustain significant political and class interests. Indeed, The Holocaust has proven to be an indispensable ideological weapon." Indeed.
posted on Feb-16-04 at 8:02 PM
As Texas Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos said of his Republican colleagues: "They don't want to govern. They want to rule." An apt quote regarding the sea change in American politics found in an enlightening article about the current state of pork barrel politics. I'm going to pinpoint that change as being the 1994 election when the Republicans gained control of Congress. Ever since then, it seems like the welfare of the American people wasn't only low on the politician's priority list, but it plain dropped off...and the PORK found in this batch of legislation has done nothing to disabuse me of that notion.
As an aside, I think I've found my new favorite texan (HA, like there's many), Molly Ivins. little bit of FARKfilter for ya, sorry.
posted on Nov-15-03 at 6:34 AM
It seems that Halliburton is one step closer to getting caps on the Asbestos claims against it. And so what? Well, this is for its units DII Industries and Kellogg, Brown, and Root. KBR might seem familiar because it's the subsidiary that won the 7 billion dollar no-bid Iraq contract for services. And again, so what? Well, the asbestos caps are part of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. That's right....the SAME EXACT subsidiary that was just awarded a 7 billion dollar no-bid contract filed for bankruptcy in March.
Positively Machiavellian.
posted on Nov-8-03 at 9:41 AM
Want to serve your country, but you're not exactly up for being a marine? If you know an instrument well, then not to worry...join "The President's Own", the official USMC band! Unlike other USMC bands that are put together from Marine Corps regulars, musicians in the President's Own are enlisted specifically for playing in the band (MOS 9811). You have all the rank, privileges, pay, and snappy uniforms as a Staff Sergeant upon entry, and you can even work yourself up to colonel! You get all the benefits, like seeing the world and free haircuts, provided you meet height and weight requirements, and can meet certain physical criteria (try marching for 10 hours a day)....and NO BOOT CAMP...that's right...they're the only unit in the Armed Forces that doesn't require any military training before joining. And of course, one the coolest things about the Marine Corps band, is that you follow in the footsteps of John Philip Sousa, who enlisted when he was friggin 13.
posted on Jun-26-03 at 8:20 AM
Please read what Trotsky thought of fascism from his pamphlet "FASCISM -- What It Is and How To Fight It". I'm much more interested in the "What It Is". This article from the Guerrilla News Network got me thinking about it. Trotsky does a lot of the definition here. The foreward by George Lavan Weissman contains such gems as:
posted on Apr-22-03 at 8:09 PM
Anybody know the origin of April Fool's day? We already have a post about the greatest hoaxes of all time, but doesn't anybody know WHY we hoax and trick? I won't tell you why here....but I find it funny, what with the current jingoism and all, that it comes from France...after you digest that first link, read more at urbanlegends.com.
posted on Apr-1-03 at 11:15 AM
Iraq breaks the Geneva Convention by showing POWs on TV. To me, this is the first concrete evidence that Iraq is (potentially) breaking the Geneva Convention. I say potentially because, if we're an interloper, then I don't believe the Geneva Convention applies...we're basically just murderers and invaders, though I might be wrong. If this IS a "legal war", then the Convention should apply and there should be questions afterwards; one of the scariest I've been asking myself is "If the ICC or the UN decline to prosecute any Iraqis for Geneva Convention violations, will the US just kidnap whomever they want to prosecute?"
posted on Mar-23-03 at 11:34 AM
Does America Torture? "The men's death certificates, made public earlier this week, showed that one captive...died from 'blunt force injuries to lower extremities complicating coronary artery disease' while another ...from [a] blood clot in the lung that was exacerbated by a 'blunt force injury'." What steps are we taking in our "war on terror"? What if other countries decide to treat our civilians as "enemy combatants"? Is the Pax Americana so important that we must resort to torture, or, as is most often the case, giving up prisoners to countries that are known torturers?
posted on Mar-7-03 at 6:38 AM
Ted Rall says that college loans are killing America. I'm inclined to agree. At just $14,736, I'm on the lighter-side of college loan debt, but being a single father, I have a hard time making a dent. Ted makes some salient points about young adults who are struggling to make money in a recession. They don't work for the Peace Corps, they don't volunteer, etc. Even China criticizes America on our insistence that students endebt themselves to corporations just for education.(via fark)
posted on Feb-11-03 at 3:07 PM
Take a peek at this military timeline. And let's figure that the time from when Johnny, sergeant, age 25, gets home from fighting the war and tells 5 year old Junior about the experience to when Junior, Major/Lt.Col, grows up and wants to CAUSE a war, averages 30 years.
Now let's do some math...starting with the French and Indian War, 1754-1763. Add 30-ish years (21). American Revolution, 1775-1783. Add 30-ish years (38). War of 1812, 1812-1814. Add 30-ish years, numerous Indian wars. Add 30-ish years. American Civil War, 1861-1865. Add 30-ish years (37). Spanish-American War, 1898. Add 30-ish years (19). America in World War I, 1917-1918. Add 30-ish years (25). America in World War II, 1942-1945. Add 30-ish years (20). Vietnam War, 1964-1973. Add 30-ish years, and it's the turn of the millenium....it's now.
We haven't learned from 250 years of this cycle, and there's no reason to think we've learned anything since. I didn't count the Gulf War cause it wasn't much of anything, and I know the numbers are a bit forced...but I think this trend is worth discussing.
posted on Dec-3-02 at 11:44 AM
Ever visit the Pro Football Hall of Fame? I haven't...I live in Florida. In honor of football season, however, check it out online. It has some pretty neat features, like how football teams got named, concise team histories, and a timeline of how American Football came about. Princeton vs. Rutgers in 1869 started it all....
posted on Oct-8-02 at 9:01 AM
Think some executives are finally going to get what's coming to them? Meet David Novak, an ex-con who was convicted of one count of mail fraud. His sentence? Club Fed (scroll down). He is now earning $125 an hour consulting for soon-to-be inmates about how to survive the enforced vacation (with 7-day furloughs to strengthen family ties!). The best part? No fences, no guard towers, nothing to keep you from escaping except the knowledge than when they catch you, you'll have to do REAL prison time. I mean, give me a break...they even have a fucking SUNBATHING BEACH. I can buy the "we don't want to waste a lot of resources [punishing people]" line, but for crying out loud...isn't that supposed to mean concrete cells and no cable?
posted on Aug-15-02 at 9:37 AM
Betty Crocker makes it easy to eat well. On her website she has (among other things) a dinner planner, a page that figures out what groceries you need for a given set of recipes, and my favorite, a page where you input your ingredients, and she tells you what you can make with them! Everybody eats, and most of MeFi is just news or pop culture, so I think this is incredibly appropriate. What other uses do MeFites get out of the web, besides news, games, and their daily pr0n fix?
posted on Jun-20-02 at 9:00 AM
Marines use high tech website in the War on Terror. Very interesting idea. Use the internet instead of the C4 systems that have already been bought...cause it works better. I believe it. With Wired (via Fark) having an article on "The Marines' arsenal of the future is starting to look a whole lot like the shelves at Toys "R" Us.", and another on powered exoskeletons, and yet another that mentions invisibility cloaks, how long before "The War of the Future" is here? What's it going to look like? I can envision a lot more people interested in the armed forces if they get to play with cool toys like this.
posted on May-30-02 at 8:30 AM
New Scientist release a copyleft article on......wait for it......copyleft. In it, they discuss what's going on in the world of Open Source and how the meme is spreading from software into other areas, like encyclopedias and law. It concludes saying that open source is currently good for things that don't need to be confidential and do need to be consistently upgraded/changed. Does open source have a chance, or is it just a passing fad? via slashdot
posted on Jan-31-02 at 11:39 AM
"We have entered the Century of the Environment, in which the immediate future is usefully conceived as a bottleneck: science and technology, combined with foresight and moral courage, must see us through it and out."
Or so says Edward O. Wilson in February's Scientific American. Consumption and production can NOT be infinite, no matter what "near-horizon timelines" predict. But will capitalism rise to the occasion and will the free market fix the wrongs it's committed?
posted on Jan-16-02 at 3:19 PM
Yasmine Bleeth only gets two stinking years probation. Yeah, she gets court costs, yeah, she gets community service. But no jail time. Unless it's because she only had (only had?) less than 25 grams of cocaine...oh, and driving under the influence. The question this post begs is: Is this another instance of a double standard for celebrities? I've heard about double standards for child molestation (a football player in New York), murder (Ray Lewis), etc...and there are obviously MANY instances of celebrities getting preferred treatment when it comes to drug charges. I guess this is just another one.
posted on Jan-10-02 at 4:53 PM
Commencement speech about civil liberties drowned out by hecklers. When the publisher of the Sacremento Bee's speech moved to topics regarding racial profiling, liberty, and the war on terrorism's effect on each, the friends and family of the students started stomping and clapping and making a nuisance, so much so that she couldn't continue. The speech, in its entirety, will be posted soon. via Drudge
posted on Dec-17-01 at 7:47 AM
Google told me it was Monet's Birthday. Not only is it a pretty link-worthy event, but Google again created an artsy banner to go along with a holiday. Does anybody have a cache of their special occasion banners?
posted on Nov-14-01 at 7:42 AM
Do you believe what you're told by your government? I don't. I'm quite the conspiracy theorist. One thing I do believe is that during the Vietnam war, battlefield evidence obtained by journalists directly contradicted the official word from the Pentagon. Starting with Ashcroft basically overturning the FOIA, numerous government agencies are using the Current Situation to get a stranglehold on information. Furthermore, they are getting rid of anything remotely distasteful to their administrators and beaurocrats. Most telling is the FAA's decision to remove records of past security violations from their website, basically ending public oversight of their self-policing activities.
posted on Oct-30-01 at 8:45 AM
Rise of the "Investor-State"? I was reading The Nation online, and came across this article. William Greider has written a piece detailing how many conservatives in this country think that the Constitution's Fifth Amendment protections against private property being taken from individuals should apply to EVERYTHING, including government regulations. Taken to extremes, if a city want to pass an ordinance banning strip clubs from school zones, any club with even an inkling that they were going to build a club in those zones could sue the city against future POTENTIAL earnings.
Seems silly to me. What about you?
TOO LATE: IT'S ALREADY IN NAFTA. It's called Chapter 11, and it protects foreign investors/foreign companies from regulatory actions. So, for example, when California passed a bill to remove the carcinogen MTBE from gasoline in order to halt its spread into drinking water, Methanex Corporation, from Canada, sued for $970 MILLION. These lawsuits are popping up all over the place, and it's only going to get worse once the FTAA is passed.
posted on Oct-10-01 at 9:46 AM
posted on Jan-19-11 at 1:52 PM
"1,000,000 to join, my dad john mellencamp will quit smoking" Of course, country rock crooner John Mellencamp isn't MY dad. Rather, John's youngest son Speck (geez) has issued a challenge to facebook -- if 1M people join this facebook group, John Mellencamp will quit smoking. It's legit, unlike that time when you forwarded an email to all of your friends wanting Bill Gates to give you money.
posted on Dec-2-09 at 5:50 AM
The world is ending in a zombie apocalypse, and even Paris is unscathed. Battle your way around classic Parisian neighborhoods, monuments, and bars as Toxic Sonic, a real-life french rock/punk band. Happy flash friday!
posted on Apr-24-09 at 6:45 AM
Jimmy Kimmel's response to his girlfriend Sarah Silverman's reverse-ode "I'm Fucking Matt Damon" premiered on his post-Oscar broadcast. It's star-studded and just as hilarious. Enjoy, but remember, it's potentially NSFW audio!
posted on Feb-25-08 at 5:13 AM
Politifact is brought to you by the St. Pete Times and the Congressional Quarterly (excellent domain name, btw!) to help you sift through all the bullshit that comes out of politicians' mouths.
posted on Nov-1-07 at 8:34 AM
Chime.TV -- it's a new video hyper-aggregator (like VodPod) by MeFite chime that I've been using since it was in development. It's Wii-compatible and tested and can turn your fave sites into channels (including but not limited to MeFi,Boing Boing, Digg, or Fark). You can automatically watch any YouTube channel as well, or just watch your favorites. I'm personally going to suggest you try out the Net100 channel, which is an aggregate of everbody's top 10 videos. Flash player required
posted on Jun-12-07 at 1:46 PM
Filmsite.org's "Sex in Cinema: The Greatest and Most Influential Erotic / Sexual Films and Scenes" (NSFW). Filmsite.org's been mentioned a few times on MeFi, and I've come across them again looking up information about Natalie Wood. She's on page 12 (NSFW) for Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice.
posted on Mar-30-06 at 7:03 AM
Robert Jordan has amyloidosis, a rare blood disorder that is remarkably fatal. The link has all the info you need, including: "[amyloidosis is] a rare blood disease which affects only 8 people out of a million each year, and those 8 per million are divided among 22 distinct forms of amyloidosis" and "Untreated, it would eventually make my heart unable to function any longer and I would have a median life expectancy of one year from diagnosis."
posted on Mar-27-06 at 11:48 AM
Black Box Voting has completed their analysis of log files from Palm Beach (FL) county voting machines stemming from the Nov 2004 general election. You know it's not good news when the article starts with: The internal logs of at least 40 Sequoia touch-screen voting machines reveal that votes were time and date-stamped as cast two weeks before the election, sometimes in the middle of the night.
posted on Feb-24-06 at 6:18 AM
Secret Service may be given yet further authority to arrest people. Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) has added to the latest draft of the Patriot Act legislation before the Senate. As it stands now the Secret Service will get involved if you trespass in a restricted area at the same time as (or immediately before) the people they are protecting. If Sen. Specter has his way the Secret Service will have the authority to arrest any protestors violating the arbitrary restricted areas AT ANY TIME throughout the (potentially multi-day) event.
posted on Jan-30-06 at 1:25 PM
Section 605 of the House's Patriot Act renewal bill is entitled THE UNIFORMED DIVISION, UNITED STATES SECRET SERVICE. The Secret Service has broad authority (included arrest powers without warrants) when it comes to protecting the President. The "uniformed division" (previously the "Executive Protective Service") handles most of the grunt work. Talkleft has been analyzing this text and has come to the conclusion that the President can, upon passage of this bill, use his "Uniformed Divison" (aka private army) on a whim: (11) An event designated under section 3056(e) of title 18 as a special event of national significance.Section 3056(e)(1) of title 18 reads simply: When directed by the President, the United States Secret Service is authorized to participate, under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury, in the planning, coordination, and implementation of security operations at special events of national significance, as determined by the President.
posted on Jan-25-06 at 7:34 AM
The Hidden State Steps Forward by (infamous Nation author) Jonathan Schell. A quote says it best: The danger is not abstract or merely symbolic. Bush's abuses of presidential power are the most extensive in American history. He has launched an aggressive war ("war of choice," in today's euphemism) on false grounds. He has presided over a system of torture and sought to legitimize it by specious definitions of the word. He has asserted a wholesale right to lock up American citizens and others indefinitely without any legal showing or the right to see a lawyer or anyone else. He has kidnapped people in foreign countries and sent them to other countries, where they were tortured.
posted on Jan-6-06 at 7:54 AM
It's the 230th birthday of the United States Marine Corps. Every 10 NOV current, future, and former Marines gather to commemorate the founding of the USMC. GoDaddy's founder Bob Parsons is a former Marine, and makes it a habit to send out birthday wishes every year. (flash)
posted on Nov-10-05 at 6:23 AM
In lieu of flowers, please send acerbic letters to Republicans.
posted on Oct-13-05 at 6:22 AM
The Bawls Song is something I found out about through PAX, where I was an enforcer. The main Bawls site isn't anything to look at, but this viral piece of fan music is awesome. And if I'm wrong and it's not a fan piece of music (I couldn't find it on their site) sorry! Warning: large file (mp3) and NSFW language.
posted on Aug-31-05 at 12:26 PM
Ladies and gentlemen, I present the Nickelodeon hotel. I don't know whether or not to lament the state of affairs, or be happy that my kid gets to interact with the characters she has in her imagination. Not that this is anything new in Orlando, or anything....but I'm just astounded by the wholesale manipulation of children and their parental-annoyance-fueled buying power.
posted on Aug-3-05 at 9:03 AM
Draft Russ. Some people would like Sen. Russ Feingold to run for president. I'm all for it, I mean, it'll give Obama time to get some experience....
posted on Jul-26-05 at 5:07 PM
During the 1990s, both the federal government and many state governments experimented with a new type of prison dedicated to maximum security prisoners, known as a "supermax." Such prisons are formally known as "Administrative Maximum" (ADX) prisons at the federal level, and the only federal ADX is in Florence, Colorado - ADX Florence. On top of confining inmates to their cells for 23 hours a day, such prisons usually feature soundproofed cells, near-total deprivation of human contact, and a routine policy of solitary confinement.
The text is from here, which isn't really related but got me searching for ADX-Florence, and lead me to the HRW site that inspired me to share.
posted on Apr-13-05 at 11:46 AM
For all your sizearching nizeeds.
posted on Feb-8-05 at 8:25 AM
Scott McConnell is the latest conservative to realize that our populace is proto-fascist. Scott writes for The American Conservative, and his article "Hunger for Dictatorship" lets us know about some conservatives who've already reached this conclusion. The meat of the article introduces us to his old professor Fritz Stern, an exile from Hitler's Germany who has seen fascism up close. Scott is quick to say "we're not there yet", but notes:
And yet the very fact that the f-word can be seriously raised in an American context is evidence enough that we have moved into a new period. The invasion of Iraq has put the possibility of the end to American democracy on the table and has empowered groups on the Right that would acquiesce to and in some cases welcome the suppression of core American freedoms.
posted on Feb-6-05 at 8:23 AM
United States officials were surprised and heartened today at the size of turnout in [insert country]'s presidential election despite a [insert terror group] terrorist campaign to disrupt the voting. According to reports from [insert besieged capital city], 83 per cent of the 5.85 million registered voters cast their ballots yesterday. Many of them risked reprisals threatened by the [insert terror group].
....A successful election has long been seen as the keystone in President [insert idiotic Texas Republican]'s policy of encouraging the growth of constitutional processes in [insert besieged country]. The election was the culmination of a constitutional development that began in [insert date], to which President [insert idiotic Texas Republican] gave his personal commitment when he met [foreign puppet politician], the chief of state, in Honolulu in February.
Dateline? Sept. 4th, 1967.
Fact-Checked with archived NYT links at Daily KOS.
posted on Jan-31-05 at 7:49 PM
The Reality of Red-State Fascism, by Lew Rockwell. We consistently say "Man, we're on the road to fascism" yet people fall all over themselves to say "We're nowhere near it.". Well, when do we say "Holy shit...we're there"? Everybody's favorite libertarian gives us a timeline of the descent, and lets us know how we are now not just on the brink, but in the midst of Americanized Fascism:
"If you follow hate-filled sites such as Free Republic, you know that the populist right in this country has been advocating nuclear holocaust and mass bloodshed for more than a year now. The militarism and nationalism dwarfs anything I saw at any point during the Cold War. It celebrates the shedding of blood, and exhibits a maniacal love of the state...In 1994, the central state was seen by the bourgeoisie as the main threat to the family; in 2004 it is seen as the main tool for keeping the family together and ensuring its ascendancy. In 1994, the state was seen as the enemy of education; today, the same people view the state as the means of raising standards and purging education of its left-wing influences....it sees the state as the central organizing principle of society, views public institutions as the most essential means by which all these institutions are protected and advanced, and adores the head of state as a godlike figure who knows better than anyone else what the country and world's needs"
posted on Jan-6-05 at 4:52 PM
So I saw this image online (of a Michigan absentee ballot...which arrow is for Kerry, and which is for Bush?) and it made me think, what the hell is going on with this election? On the one hand, I'm told your vote might just be worthless if you use electronic voting machines but on the other hand the alternative (in my state, at least) is to use an absentee ballot, which, according to some, might be easier, if only because I can have members of a political party help me fill it out.
posted on Oct-1-04 at 9:49 AM
Ever hear of a "tangible tax law"? Chances are, you haven't. Florida doesn't have an income tax, so it makes up for it by having something called a tangible tax. The state of Florida taxes businesses for property they ALREADY OWN that could be used to generate income...on top of a 5.5% corporate tax rate. Many Floridians own their own businesses, a percentage of which are sole proprietorships (like me doing freelance work) and so won't owe state or corporate income taxes, yet will have to pay because of this law. Many of you have experience with property taxes, which are the most common form of Ad Valorem tax, but if you own a business or do freelance work, I suggest you educate yourself.
posted on Mar-2-04 at 12:53 PM
The Yurica Report: "News Intelligence Analysis". It seems to be an EXTREMELY leftist website, mentioned but once before. It seems inflammatory, but a few things caught my eye. How about a "Constitution Restoration Act" that would "gut the ability of citizens to sue the government or government officials by reason of that element’s or officer’s acknowledgment of God as the sovereign source of law, liberty, or government.” Or how about "The Despoiling of America", How George W. Bush became the head of the new American Dominionist Church/State...quite an interesting take on how Neo-Conservatives are taking the idea of dominionism and sprinting with it. Inflammatory? Hell yes...but incredibly interesting nonetheless.
posted on Feb-25-04 at 5:03 PM
I'd like to introduce you to Norman Finkelstein. A Jew whose parents were survivors of the Warsaw ghetto and various concentration camps, he is one of a handful of modern Jewish scholars who wants to "maintain the integrity of the history of the Nazi holocaust". I was introduced to him when I read his book The Holocaust Industry, which reminds us that "its central dogmas sustain significant political and class interests. Indeed, The Holocaust has proven to be an indispensable ideological weapon." Indeed.
posted on Feb-16-04 at 8:02 PM
As Texas Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos said of his Republican colleagues: "They don't want to govern. They want to rule." An apt quote regarding the sea change in American politics found in an enlightening article about the current state of pork barrel politics. I'm going to pinpoint that change as being the 1994 election when the Republicans gained control of Congress. Ever since then, it seems like the welfare of the American people wasn't only low on the politician's priority list, but it plain dropped off...and the PORK found in this batch of legislation has done nothing to disabuse me of that notion.
As an aside, I think I've found my new favorite texan (HA, like there's many), Molly Ivins. little bit of FARKfilter for ya, sorry.
posted on Nov-15-03 at 6:34 AM
It seems that Halliburton is one step closer to getting caps on the Asbestos claims against it. And so what? Well, this is for its units DII Industries and Kellogg, Brown, and Root. KBR might seem familiar because it's the subsidiary that won the 7 billion dollar no-bid Iraq contract for services. And again, so what? Well, the asbestos caps are part of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. That's right....the SAME EXACT subsidiary that was just awarded a 7 billion dollar no-bid contract filed for bankruptcy in March.
Positively Machiavellian.
posted on Nov-8-03 at 9:41 AM
Want to serve your country, but you're not exactly up for being a marine? If you know an instrument well, then not to worry...join "The President's Own", the official USMC band! Unlike other USMC bands that are put together from Marine Corps regulars, musicians in the President's Own are enlisted specifically for playing in the band (MOS 9811). You have all the rank, privileges, pay, and snappy uniforms as a Staff Sergeant upon entry, and you can even work yourself up to colonel! You get all the benefits, like seeing the world and free haircuts, provided you meet height and weight requirements, and can meet certain physical criteria (try marching for 10 hours a day)....and NO BOOT CAMP...that's right...they're the only unit in the Armed Forces that doesn't require any military training before joining. And of course, one the coolest things about the Marine Corps band, is that you follow in the footsteps of John Philip Sousa, who enlisted when he was friggin 13.
posted on Jun-26-03 at 8:20 AM
Please read what Trotsky thought of fascism from his pamphlet "FASCISM -- What It Is and How To Fight It". I'm much more interested in the "What It Is". This article from the Guerrilla News Network got me thinking about it. Trotsky does a lot of the definition here. The foreward by George Lavan Weissman contains such gems as:
The germ of fascism is endemic in capitalism; a crisis can raise it to epidemic proportions unless drastic countermeasures are applied.and from elsewhere:
In order that the social crisis may bring about the proletarian revolution, it is necessary that, besides other conditions, a decisive shift of the petty bourgeois classes occurs in the direction of the proletariat. This gives the proletariat a chance to put itself at the head of the nation as its leader.Oh MAN. I'm more fearful than normal about where the US is headed. And to throw some water on the flames, yes, I know that there isn't any systemic violence against the masses, but think of how the fear that's created by the administration takes the place of violence in cowing the populace.
posted on Apr-22-03 at 8:09 PM
Anybody know the origin of April Fool's day? We already have a post about the greatest hoaxes of all time, but doesn't anybody know WHY we hoax and trick? I won't tell you why here....but I find it funny, what with the current jingoism and all, that it comes from France...after you digest that first link, read more at urbanlegends.com.
posted on Apr-1-03 at 11:15 AM
Iraq breaks the Geneva Convention by showing POWs on TV. To me, this is the first concrete evidence that Iraq is (potentially) breaking the Geneva Convention. I say potentially because, if we're an interloper, then I don't believe the Geneva Convention applies...we're basically just murderers and invaders, though I might be wrong. If this IS a "legal war", then the Convention should apply and there should be questions afterwards; one of the scariest I've been asking myself is "If the ICC or the UN decline to prosecute any Iraqis for Geneva Convention violations, will the US just kidnap whomever they want to prosecute?"
posted on Mar-23-03 at 11:34 AM
Does America Torture? "The men's death certificates, made public earlier this week, showed that one captive...died from 'blunt force injuries to lower extremities complicating coronary artery disease' while another ...from [a] blood clot in the lung that was exacerbated by a 'blunt force injury'." What steps are we taking in our "war on terror"? What if other countries decide to treat our civilians as "enemy combatants"? Is the Pax Americana so important that we must resort to torture, or, as is most often the case, giving up prisoners to countries that are known torturers?
posted on Mar-7-03 at 6:38 AM
Ted Rall says that college loans are killing America. I'm inclined to agree. At just $14,736, I'm on the lighter-side of college loan debt, but being a single father, I have a hard time making a dent. Ted makes some salient points about young adults who are struggling to make money in a recession. They don't work for the Peace Corps, they don't volunteer, etc. Even China criticizes America on our insistence that students endebt themselves to corporations just for education.(via fark)
posted on Feb-11-03 at 3:07 PM
Take a peek at this military timeline. And let's figure that the time from when Johnny, sergeant, age 25, gets home from fighting the war and tells 5 year old Junior about the experience to when Junior, Major/Lt.Col, grows up and wants to CAUSE a war, averages 30 years.
Now let's do some math...starting with the French and Indian War, 1754-1763. Add 30-ish years (21). American Revolution, 1775-1783. Add 30-ish years (38). War of 1812, 1812-1814. Add 30-ish years, numerous Indian wars. Add 30-ish years. American Civil War, 1861-1865. Add 30-ish years (37). Spanish-American War, 1898. Add 30-ish years (19). America in World War I, 1917-1918. Add 30-ish years (25). America in World War II, 1942-1945. Add 30-ish years (20). Vietnam War, 1964-1973. Add 30-ish years, and it's the turn of the millenium....it's now.
We haven't learned from 250 years of this cycle, and there's no reason to think we've learned anything since. I didn't count the Gulf War cause it wasn't much of anything, and I know the numbers are a bit forced...but I think this trend is worth discussing.
posted on Dec-3-02 at 11:44 AM
Ever visit the Pro Football Hall of Fame? I haven't...I live in Florida. In honor of football season, however, check it out online. It has some pretty neat features, like how football teams got named, concise team histories, and a timeline of how American Football came about. Princeton vs. Rutgers in 1869 started it all....
posted on Oct-8-02 at 9:01 AM
Think some executives are finally going to get what's coming to them? Meet David Novak, an ex-con who was convicted of one count of mail fraud. His sentence? Club Fed (scroll down). He is now earning $125 an hour consulting for soon-to-be inmates about how to survive the enforced vacation (with 7-day furloughs to strengthen family ties!). The best part? No fences, no guard towers, nothing to keep you from escaping except the knowledge than when they catch you, you'll have to do REAL prison time. I mean, give me a break...they even have a fucking SUNBATHING BEACH. I can buy the "we don't want to waste a lot of resources [punishing people]" line, but for crying out loud...isn't that supposed to mean concrete cells and no cable?
posted on Aug-15-02 at 9:37 AM
Betty Crocker makes it easy to eat well. On her website she has (among other things) a dinner planner, a page that figures out what groceries you need for a given set of recipes, and my favorite, a page where you input your ingredients, and she tells you what you can make with them! Everybody eats, and most of MeFi is just news or pop culture, so I think this is incredibly appropriate. What other uses do MeFites get out of the web, besides news, games, and their daily pr0n fix?
posted on Jun-20-02 at 9:00 AM
Marines use high tech website in the War on Terror. Very interesting idea. Use the internet instead of the C4 systems that have already been bought...cause it works better. I believe it. With Wired (via Fark) having an article on "The Marines' arsenal of the future is starting to look a whole lot like the shelves at Toys "R" Us.", and another on powered exoskeletons, and yet another that mentions invisibility cloaks, how long before "The War of the Future" is here? What's it going to look like? I can envision a lot more people interested in the armed forces if they get to play with cool toys like this.
posted on May-30-02 at 8:30 AM
New Scientist release a copyleft article on......wait for it......copyleft. In it, they discuss what's going on in the world of Open Source and how the meme is spreading from software into other areas, like encyclopedias and law. It concludes saying that open source is currently good for things that don't need to be confidential and do need to be consistently upgraded/changed. Does open source have a chance, or is it just a passing fad? via slashdot
posted on Jan-31-02 at 11:39 AM
"We have entered the Century of the Environment, in which the immediate future is usefully conceived as a bottleneck: science and technology, combined with foresight and moral courage, must see us through it and out."
Or so says Edward O. Wilson in February's Scientific American. Consumption and production can NOT be infinite, no matter what "near-horizon timelines" predict. But will capitalism rise to the occasion and will the free market fix the wrongs it's committed?
posted on Jan-16-02 at 3:19 PM
Yasmine Bleeth only gets two stinking years probation. Yeah, she gets court costs, yeah, she gets community service. But no jail time. Unless it's because she only had (only had?) less than 25 grams of cocaine...oh, and driving under the influence. The question this post begs is: Is this another instance of a double standard for celebrities? I've heard about double standards for child molestation (a football player in New York), murder (Ray Lewis), etc...and there are obviously MANY instances of celebrities getting preferred treatment when it comes to drug charges. I guess this is just another one.
posted on Jan-10-02 at 4:53 PM
Commencement speech about civil liberties drowned out by hecklers. When the publisher of the Sacremento Bee's speech moved to topics regarding racial profiling, liberty, and the war on terrorism's effect on each, the friends and family of the students started stomping and clapping and making a nuisance, so much so that she couldn't continue. The speech, in its entirety, will be posted soon. via Drudge
posted on Dec-17-01 at 7:47 AM
Google told me it was Monet's Birthday. Not only is it a pretty link-worthy event, but Google again created an artsy banner to go along with a holiday. Does anybody have a cache of their special occasion banners?
posted on Nov-14-01 at 7:42 AM
Do you believe what you're told by your government? I don't. I'm quite the conspiracy theorist. One thing I do believe is that during the Vietnam war, battlefield evidence obtained by journalists directly contradicted the official word from the Pentagon. Starting with Ashcroft basically overturning the FOIA, numerous government agencies are using the Current Situation to get a stranglehold on information. Furthermore, they are getting rid of anything remotely distasteful to their administrators and beaurocrats. Most telling is the FAA's decision to remove records of past security violations from their website, basically ending public oversight of their self-policing activities.
posted on Oct-30-01 at 8:45 AM
Rise of the "Investor-State"? I was reading The Nation online, and came across this article. William Greider has written a piece detailing how many conservatives in this country think that the Constitution's Fifth Amendment protections against private property being taken from individuals should apply to EVERYTHING, including government regulations. Taken to extremes, if a city want to pass an ordinance banning strip clubs from school zones, any club with even an inkling that they were going to build a club in those zones could sue the city against future POTENTIAL earnings.
Seems silly to me. What about you?
TOO LATE: IT'S ALREADY IN NAFTA. It's called Chapter 11, and it protects foreign investors/foreign companies from regulatory actions. So, for example, when California passed a bill to remove the carcinogen MTBE from gasoline in order to halt its spread into drinking water, Methanex Corporation, from Canada, sued for $970 MILLION. These lawsuits are popping up all over the place, and it's only going to get worse once the FTAA is passed.
posted on Oct-10-01 at 9:46 AM