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Sunday Night's Election Debate  —  National security issues loom large, voters are admonished not to decide to “cut and run”. Medicare and the economy were also points of contention. The greens are being attacked as “commies”. John Quiggin has some observations.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 11:31 PM PST - 20 comments

Cass Sunstein's The Future of Free Speech

"I seek to defend a particular conception of democracy — a deliberative conception — and to evaluate, in its terms, the outcome of a system with perfect power of filtering."
posted by Kwantsar at 11:29 PM PST - 9 comments

As God Is My Cleaning Lady: Crypto-Fado For Bohemian Pagan Popsters. They can't play their classical Fado guitars very well; they have a punky drummer and the Fado singer not only smiles pouts and shakes her hips, but actually seems to enjoy herself! What's become of this country? Are they mad? Reckless, certainly. They call themselves A Naifa and what they've done is taken a massive, ice-crunching Waring Pro blender to all the sacred potions, fruits and flavours of Portuguese traditional music and poured out a vulgar, shameless, disrespectful and utterly delicious shambles of a Pop cocktail. Heresy in old Lisbon? I nearly choked on my 30-year-old aguardente velha, but then realized I was dancing merrily and had already spilt most of it anyway. [Probably not fun for those unfamiliar with the Fado. QuickTime required.]
posted by MiguelCardoso at 11:09 PM PST - 10 comments

What If Bush Wins? Sixteen writers ,right and left, predict the likely consequences of a second term for President Bush.
posted by thedailygrowl at 11:06 PM PST - 43 comments

neurodiversity
An amazingly wide and varied site which began as a collection of articles about Autism but which has expanded to survey such varied topics as left-handedness, gender and sexual orientation, hysteria, and a fascinating collection of articles on "Neurotypical Issues." Hours and hours of material from a wide variety of viewpoints.
posted by anastasiav at 10:01 PM PST - 12 comments

The Beaver Triologyblurs reality and fiction as it tells the story of a teen obsessed with the spotlight. [as heard on This American Life.]
posted by drezdn at 9:43 PM PST - 6 comments

"It's up to the judge to determine, based on the law, whether Nader should be on the ballot or not" - Jeb Bush. In fact, the court has issued an injunction barring placing Nader on the ballot. But today, Bush's Secretary of State issued an order [pdf] to local elections officials, telling them to ignore the current injunction and place Nader's name on the ballot anyway. [via Kos]
posted by falconred at 8:32 PM PST - 44 comments

CliffsNotes is now offering 180 literature guides available for free online viewing.
posted by bob sarabia at 8:09 PM PST - 13 comments

Pictures of Music - fascinating site about graphical music notation, i.e., "non-traditional musical symbols arranged in a visual design rather than conventional musical syntax." Includes zoomable example scores, bios of folks like Morton Feldman, instructions for musicians, lots of sound clips and a detailed animated analysis of Cornelius Cardew's Treatise, the "Mount Everest of graphic scores."
posted by mediareport at 7:58 PM PST - 12 comments

Why al-Qaeda is winning As nihilistic as it may be, al-Qaeda, from a business point of view, is a major success: three years after September 11, it is a global brand and a global movement. The Middle East, in this scenario, is just a regional base station. This global brand does not have much to do with Islam. But it has everything to do with the globalization of anti-imperialism. And the empire, whatever its definition, has its center in Washington. Bin Laden is laughing: Bush's crusade has legitimized an obscure sect as a worldwide symbol of political revolt. How could bin Laden not vote for Bush?
posted by rdone at 7:11 PM PST - 20 comments

Essay on the meanings and significance of Blade Runner. Interesting insights on particular scenes and quotes and how they are more relevant today than ever.
posted by stbalbach at 6:18 PM PST - 27 comments

Oprah I've never cared for her. Except today she gave away 276 new cars to her studio audience, members of which were selected based on need. I now like Oprah. A lot.
posted by Ynoxas at 4:09 PM PST - 169 comments

The Liberal Limericker. Yep... just another site dedicated to astute political commentary in limerick form.
posted by crookdimwit at 3:21 PM PST - 9 comments

"Hey, darling. Love you. Need your vote." Politics without presidents: a soulful portrait of former DC mayor Marion Barry. I was really impressed by the dog in the left-hand corner of the picture. (registration required)
posted by chinese_fashion at 3:18 PM PST - 8 comments

US Ban on Assault Weapons Expires

Without much fanfare the ten year old ban on assault weapons has expired. How does this affect our relative level of safety now that we can all own high powered, high capacity weapons again?
posted by fenriq at 2:47 PM PST - 61 comments

PageWise offers tips and little essays in simple language: Organize your work desk and files, Care for someone with Alzheimer's, Reduce holiday stress, Parenting advice that really works(!), Fix cooking mistakes, The basics of clothing stain removal. It's a cheap shot, but I particularly liked "Help you child in improving their writing skills". But why wouldn't they build in a search feature? I had to google to find again the article on restraining the elderly. (And what's the deal with the similar WebGuru?).
posted by iffley at 2:04 PM PST - 4 comments

Meet the CXT. "We can see it a as a vehicle for business people who want to make distinct impression. For personal use, it's for people who want to make a statement." I think it will leave a little more than an impression.
posted by gazingus at 11:54 AM PST - 92 comments

The paintings of Josh Kil. Click the gallery link.
posted by protocool at 11:29 AM PST - 3 comments

Restaurant Customer Arrested For Tipping Under 18%. Now, we've had discussions about tipping. But I'm not sure that any of us envisioned this.
posted by dejah420 at 11:02 AM PST - 103 comments

Don Juan Nifty guide to the Don Juan legend in European literature.
posted by thomas j wise at 9:57 AM PST - 2 comments

Yesterday, Mazen al-Tomasi, a reporter for Al-Arabiya, was broadcasting live from the scene of a carbombed Bradley Fighting Vehicle, which had attracted a crowd of locals. While making his report, a sudden noise came from behind Mazen.
Two Apache helicopters flew in overhead, and one of them started attacking the crowd, with their guns. The crowd, which included several small children, tried to run away. A helicopter launched a missile...
Mazen al-Tomasi was struck by shrapnel from the blast on live television. His cameraman, Seif Fouad, fell down from the force of the explosion. Mazen's blood spattered across the camera's lens and the screams of the dying and injured were heard. Mazen screamed to Seif for help: "Seif, Seif! I'm going to die. I'm going to die."
Seif grabbed Mazen and started to pull him out of harm's way. Suddenly, another missile was launched, and Seif was hit by shrapnel in the leg and abdomen. Seif, seriously wounded, watched his friend Mazen die soon afterwards. Twelve were killed, 61 wounded in the attack.
A US military spokesman said the helicopters opened fire after coming under attack from the crowd, and that they fired to prevent looters from stripping the vehicle. That said, the vehicle was burning too badly to be stripped, and the television footage showed no evidence of any shooting from the ground, or indeed, any armed Iraqis whatsoever. The full video of this is was seen by millions of Arabs and is apparently something that Reuters has the rights to -- Saif works for Reuters -- but something tells me that it will never make the evening news.
posted by insomnia_lj at 9:07 AM PST - 66 comments

Alas, the new iMac cannot bow before the cross. "At best, it can only give a downward nod or an upward look, and that would just communicate half-hearted politeness rather than an attitude of worship." So says the editor of the Christian Macintosh Users Group. Love Jesus, but not Jobs? No problem - this list of Christian computer users groups has you covered. And hey - Neo/Luddites? Even if you've left the web behind, the web hasn't left you behind.

MeFites, when you're not bowing before the blue, what's your favorite site that melds the sacred with the techno-profane?
posted by stonerose at 8:58 AM PST - 17 comments

Terrorists Arrive in Miami!
A little-noticed but chilling scene at Opa-locka Airport outside Miami last month demonstrates that the Bush administration's commitment to fighting international terrorism can be overtaken by presidential politics — even if that means admitting known terrorists onto U.S. soil.
There are other terrorists that the US government welcomes. I challenge you to name them (hint: Cuban origins for one). What is that smell? Are we fighting terrorism or Islam?
posted by nofundy at 7:40 AM PST - 16 comments

Chocolypse Now. "I love the smell of burnt cookies in the morning. Smells like... Tollhouse." [via the inimitable Websnark]
posted by Johnny Assay at 7:38 AM PST - 9 comments

The Observer does, the New York Times does, the Boston Globe does, and so does the Washington Post. Why don't more newspapers put their weekend magazines online?
posted by jedro at 5:05 AM PST - 13 comments

Save Betamax.
posted by seanyboy at 4:42 AM PST - 4 comments

Lesbian Paperback Covers. [NSFW]
posted by srboisvert at 3:47 AM PST - 17 comments

Delightful magical realism by artist Rob Gonsalves. If you enjoy these, then also be sure to check out the wonderful works of Curt Frankenstein. This post made possible by AskMe, and the kind and lovely MeFites Orb and Faze.
posted by taz at 2:55 AM PST - 5 comments

The OS Girls.
posted by reklaw at 2:22 AM PST - 17 comments

Victor Jara in English. Tribute page to the Chilean folk singer.
posted by plep at 1:50 AM PST - 4 comments

Walking to the Sky (more)
posted by Tlogmer at 12:58 AM PST - 50 comments