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Relatives of some of the Sept. 11 victims held a rally in Washington D.C. today, seeking the creation of an independent commission to investigate the terrorist attacks. Though supported by some lawmakers, the commission is opposed by President Bush. I thought the rally received surprisingly little attention from the media, having been overshadowed by the 'dirty bomber' story. The two questions on my mind are, would an independent commission really jeopardize national security as some charge? And, more cynically, was the timing of yesterday's announcement intended to obscure today's rally?
posted by homunculus at 10:32 PM PST - 9 comments

Homeland security loophole discovered in 1999: "In the Appalachians of West Virginia, the sun was going down and I was stuck for a place to stay.   I knocked on the door of a private farm house.  Three college-age girls were in the middle of an LSD trip.  They recognized me as Art Garfunkel.  I learned that they were three of thousands (millions?) who are "invisible" - pay no taxes, avoid the census taker; they are not on America's books."
posted by subpixel at 10:09 PM PST - 35 comments

Speaking frankly about drugs, the Economist all but concludes the war against some drugs' success a failure in the UK, saying that: "These figures confirm that the increasing resources employed to disrupt the illegal drugs trade are having little impact." Considering the present path is not working and broad swaths of the public (from across the political spectrum!—excepting the tobacco, alcohol, cotton and drug dealer lobby of course :) aren't against decriminalization, then why can't I have my Bay Golds? Besides, the pharmaceutical industry has a stellar record of raising prices :) Who knows, they may want in!
posted by kliuless at 6:40 PM PST - 4 comments

A cup of joe a day might be funding the next suicide bomber. Caribou coffee is owned in majority by an Islamic bank. A bit of every sip goes to opposing "the illegal occupation of Palestine".
posted by clevershark at 5:17 PM PST - 51 comments

911 has had a tremendous impact on us all, and especially on Dolpho, a drug sniffing dog that can also apparently tell the difference between Blacks and Whites. So now a Pennsylvania councilwoman has moved to put the German shepherd to sleep for his racial profiling tactics while on the job. WOW, almost seems like an Onion piece, although I guess foxnews isn't far from it :)
posted by Why at 5:04 PM PST - 19 comments

This was too good to let sit around till Friday. Appealing in a strange sort of way. My personal fave? Rise of the Bootay! But wait. There's more. Seems the Dance Man is being taken to task for stealing this idea. Ah, the intrique.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 2:24 PM PST - 16 comments

$9,324 The GAO concludes that some 'vandalism' took place in the Clinton to Bush White House transition. The total repair cost was $9,324. I wonder how much we spent on the GAO investigation and it's 220 page report. I bet it was more than $9,324. (via Drudge)
posted by Argyle at 1:46 PM PST - 48 comments

Election 2000 Enchantment: A love, crime story... From the author's geocities site: "Election 2000 Enchantment," by Elaine North, is a fun-filled adventure of two young women, who are ballot hand recounters during the Florida election crisis. The young women encounter intrigue, romance, passion, crime, danger and deception as they meet some of the many people from across the country that converge upon Florida due to the derailed presidential election. Exploitation or creativity? You decide.
posted by krewson at 1:19 PM PST - 6 comments

Swimming the Columbia River - lengthwise. What have you been up to for the past week? How about the next 6 months? If you're Christopher Swain, the answer is "swimming - and lots of it". Swain plans swim the 1,243 miles of the Columbia River from headwaters to the Pacific over about 180 days. The further downriver he goes, the riskier it gets - aside from the rapids and ocean freighters that await him, he'll be in waters contaminated by atomic waste, PCBs and other toxins - which is the point of the swim, to raise awareness and support for river protection. "I learned that tasting every mile of a river is a great way to build the credibility to speak on its behalf"
posted by kokogiak at 1:02 PM PST - 15 comments

ClearChannelSucks.org has launched with the goal of being the "premier source for information about Clear Channel, its corporate mentality, and its practices, on the Internet." Site owern Clint Sharp alleges that Clear Channel strategically uses its monopolistic position as the largest owner of radio stations, the largest concert promoter, and largest outdoorsignage company to stifle competition and set their own tangible price tag on what it takes to have any success as an artist in the music industry.
posted by tomorama at 12:16 PM PST - 40 comments

The hoopla gets deeper. Upon learning that "Sarah Hubert" was a non-person, registrar AITDomains simply canceled the registration to hoopla.com, releasing it into the wild, where it was picked up by someone from Taiwan. They gave no notice to Leslie or anyone else that I can tell, so that she had no opportunity to grab the name back for herself.
posted by mikewas at 11:30 AM PST - 8 comments

A can of soup defeated a club sandwich in a cage, is what I witnessed Friday Night. Was anyone else at the Kaiju Big Battel, at Warsaw in Greenpoint, Brooklyn? A very funny mix of Japananese monster movie, plus WWF.
posted by ParisParamus at 11:02 AM PST - 12 comments

Hipsters, flipsters, and finger-poppin' daddies,
Knock me your lobes,
I came to lay Ceasar out,
Not to hip you to him.
So says Lord Richard Buckley, a hipster among hipsters , who fused swing jive and beat-era hepcat slang to create some hip and dazzling monologues. The self-proclaimed "Lord" Buckley was "a comic philosopher, a bop monologuist whose vocalese fused the rhythms and patois of the street with the arch sophistication of the British upper-crust to create verbal symphonies unparalleled in their intricacy and dexterity"
posted by vacapinta at 11:02 AM PST - 11 comments

Um, you might find this intersting Uh, or maybe not I mean like you know, Oh, and there's no mention of what 'feh' means.
posted by srboisvert at 10:58 AM PST - 7 comments

"I just can't believe that I'm having a baby." The yearbook at Pinellas Park High School this year included a 12 page spread about teen pregnancy and highlights some students and their experiences with staying in school while pregnant. Some see it a step in educating students about the issue, others see it as a glorification of teen pregnancy. Having had an older sister almost not finish high school because of a pregnancy, I'm all for education, but is the yearbook the appropriate place?
posted by turacma at 10:54 AM PST - 38 comments

Special Agent Crowley Speaks Up (NYTimes link , normal rules apply) Ladies like this are the real heroes in our country and she has something to say before Congress about the new Bush agency. Ms. Dowd agrees and said, "The shape of the government is not as important as the policy of the government."
posted by nofundy at 10:30 AM PST - 8 comments

"British Liberty, RIP"
A leader article on the danger represented by the British Government's new Statutory Order and the need for Parliamentarians to step in and resist. (The Order will allow a wide range of organisations access to phone and internet records - The Guardian's own story with details is here.)
Ben Franklin has been quoted here many times before, but I have no hesitation quoting him again: "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
posted by jonpollard at 10:05 AM PST - 10 comments

Salon spends time with Ted Nugent - love him or hate him, you gotta admit he gives an entertaining interview. Also, the man has apparently yet to meet the word that he couldn't spell more interestingly.
posted by GriffX at 9:13 AM PST - 23 comments

The Web Standards Project is back, now in easy-to-swallow blog form. Stand up straight! Close that HTML tag! And wipe that silly browser off your hard drive, mister! And the other one.
posted by gazingus at 9:04 AM PST - 17 comments

Post-War Jazz: An Arbitrary Road Map In this two-part Village Voice piece, Gary Giddins presents a personal road map to post-war jazz, introducing 57 of his most cherished tracks from 1945 to 2001. Any glaring ommissions? I'd add Witchitai-To by Jim Pepper. In addition to being one of the first jazz-rock fusion proponents, Pepper, a Native American, also blended the music of his people into his compositions.
posted by martk at 8:44 AM PST - 12 comments

One Defining Jazz Track Per Year, From 1945 To 2001? An Impossible Task! Well, not for Gary Giddins, arguably our greatest contemporary jazz critic. He's just spent five months going through his record collection to come up with a terrific and deliciously debatable list for The Village Voice. Yeah, how could he leave out...*insert your particular obsession here*...?[Here's a 74-page 1996 interview with him(in pdf format) that's practically a mini-history of jazz.]
posted by MiguelCardoso at 8:41 AM PST - 14 comments

Poll: majority of Palestinians want Israel eliminated What does this tell us about the chances of a peace accord?
posted by Postroad at 8:06 AM PST - 13 comments

The wicked witch of the net is five years old today. "That's like 236 in Web years. Ancient. The Methuselah of browsers, kept alive on an IV drip of tag soup". (via scottandrew)
posted by aaronshaf at 7:56 AM PST - 15 comments

Le Roi Est Mort, declared the newspapers upon his death. A king without a country, Joshua A. Norton declared himself Emperor Norton I of these United States in 1859. Was he a charlatan? A genius? Royalty? Or maybe all three? We may never know. Visit his archives to find out more.
posted by charlesv at 7:42 AM PST - 12 comments

Are you a "true" Metalhead? Well according to the latest update on this site, you're not one unless you have "The Power Viking Spatula From Hell" and "King Sven's Royal Devil Horns Shower Cap". Take a look at some of the crazy "how to be a metalhead" pics too.
posted by kingmissile at 7:36 AM PST - 12 comments

Beautiful eclipse yesterday. The shadows were amazing too. p.s. - some audio CDs can be used as an eclipse filter.
posted by xowie at 7:09 AM PST - 17 comments

StreetMattress.com - Much like "found art", this site chronicles the phenomenon of abandoned mattresses, and finally gives the public a forum on which to comment on them. Some if my favorites are here, here, and here.
posted by emptybowl at 5:58 AM PST - 10 comments

City as Loser? Iron City was ranked last out of 40 cities in this year's "Best Cities for Singles" in Forbes magazine. Not that Forbes is the ultimate arbiter of the single life (don't they specialize in male readers over 35 with money?), but your best defense of Pittsburgh or your own medium- or small-sized town would be appreciated.
posted by engelr at 5:48 AM PST - 26 comments

Bon voyage, mes amis... France now holds the dubious honor of being the first World Cup champs to drop out in the first round of the subsequent Cup tournament (i.e. Champs in '98/Goats in '02) since Brazil '66. Somebody, strike up Sergio Mendez for me...
posted by Bixby23 at 1:37 AM PST - 35 comments