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Iraqi-Americans Vote in Washington • Jeff Simmermon photographs & transcribes his experience with Iraqi-Americans at the polls in Washington DC on Sunday. "You may think that you have felt dumb before, but let me tell you something: until you have stood in front of a man who knows real pain and told him that you are against your country's alleviation of his country's state-sponsored murderous suffering, you have not felt truly, deeply, like a total fucking moron.... I took refuge in a knee-jerk liberal identity for a long time, but now it's threadbare and not as comfortable as it once was." Lt. Smash responds.
comment posted at 1:44 PM on Feb-2-05

Meet Jeff Gannon, White House Correspondent for the conservative Talon News Service. Jeff has become known for asking ridiculously leading questions and for writing news stories containing pure Republican boilerplate. Some people think something weird is going on here. You see, Talon News Service is not so much a news organization as it is a branch of conservative advocacy group GOPUSA. Then there's the fact that Jeff Gannon is a pseudonym - not a big deal, except that the White House press office has apparently broken with tradition and allowed him to register with them as his pseudonym. Who is this guy? Why does he have White House press credentials? And how did he apparently get hold of a secret intelligence document concerning the Plame affair? Inquiring liberals want to know, and several blogs -- including Daily Kos -- are trying to figure it all out.
comment posted at 3:51 PM on Feb-1-05
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comment posted at 4:01 PM on Feb-1-05

Stand Up, Speak Up -- Against Racism (and for Nike) A new campaign against the ugly, very present problem of racism in the game of soccer, with soccer stars like Thierry Henry and Rio Ferdinand. An elegant (if more than a bit tame and unimaginative) new ad by Wieden+Kennedy. The campaign aims to encourage fans to wear interlocked black-and-white wristbands as a symbol of their stand against racism, which can be bought for €2, or £1.50 in the UK.
In every Nike store near you. (more inside)
comment posted at 1:27 PM on Feb-1-05
comment posted at 1:54 PM on Feb-1-05
comment posted at 3:18 PM on Feb-1-05

I wasn't sure what Move On would do after the election and inauguration, but it appears they are coming out with guns blazing over Social Security. Tomorrow they'll take out a full page ad in the NYT (pdf) and start spreading a new commercial (wmv) that is reminiscent of the "working kids" Bush in 30 seconds ad (I assume they hired the same director).
comment posted at 1:07 PM on Feb-1-05
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comment posted at 1:50 PM on Feb-1-05

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.
comment posted at 8:44 PM on Jan-31-05
comment posted at 9:32 AM on Feb-1-05

Interview with a Link Spammer. [via] Get to know one of the scummy linkpimping bottomfeeders who abuse our referrer logs and weblog comments, then take measures to protect yourself. AnnElisabeth.com has much more (just keep scrolling), and of course, check your own weblog software for rel="nofollow" updates.
comment posted at 1:53 PM on Jan-31-05

Judge backs Guantanamo challenge A US judge has ruled that special military tribunals being used to try hundreds of detainees at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba are illegal.
comment posted at 12:10 PM on Jan-31-05

SBC to Acquire AT&T for $16 Billion or Death to the Deathstar    "Luke, I am your father![pdf] "    -Noooooo... oh wait, now I own you.
comment posted at 12:06 PM on Jan-31-05

I, for one, welcome our cockroach robot overlords. (Be sure to check out the video.)
comment posted at 8:51 PM on Jan-30-05
comment posted at 8:58 PM on Jan-30-05

“If you don't take a job as a prostitute, we can stop your benefits”

Prostitution was legalized in Germany just over two years ago, and brothel owners, who must pay tax and employee health insurance, have been granted access to official government databases of jobseekers and have equal status with any other employer. As a result, job centres must treat employers looking for a prostitute in the same way as those looking for a dental nurse. Under Germany's welfare reforms, any woman under 55 who has been out of work for more than a year can be forced to take an available job or lose her unemployment benefit.

“There is now nothing in the law to stop women from being sent into the sex industry. The new regulations say that working in the sex industry is not immoral any more, and so jobs cannot be turned down without a risk to benefits.”
comment posted at 8:21 PM on Jan-30-05

Nothing is more damning than silence.
comment posted at 10:57 AM on Jan-30-05
comment posted at 11:12 AM on Jan-30-05

USAF playing cat and mouse game over Iran and yes: there is no hard evidence that this is taking place. But we do recall what Bush had earlier said about the axis of evil and his warnings to Iran about nuke capability. "The U.S. Air Force is playing a dangerous game of cat and mouse with Iran's ayatollahs, flying American combat aircraft into Iranian airspace in an attempt to lure Tehran into turning on air defense radars, thus allowing U.S. pilots to grid the system for use in future targeting data, administration officials said. "We have to know which targets to attack and how to attack them," said one, speaking on condition of anonymity.
comment posted at 10:13 AM on Jan-29-05

ytcracker - "if this is your first time to ytcracker.com, allow me to thank you for coming here. i am the self-proclaimed king of true computer nerd rap. i represent the dirty nerdy south and digital gangsters worldwide. after conquering chess clubs across the globe, my mission has been to provide my fellow hackers, spammers, carders, and phreaks something to get down to."

I suggest f*ck antis about fighting the anti-spammers, drink more, post more about message board hijinks, and the instrumental techno tune, baby be my twisted pair.
comment posted at 10:08 AM on Jan-29-05

Forget about P&G and Gilette, how 'bout Google & Firefox? Is Google developing their own browser? They appear to be hiring Firefox developers. Can Googzilla be far behind?
comment posted at 9:50 AM on Jan-29-05

National Lampoon appears to be less than optimistic about the election in Iraq. Nevertheless, Bush seems to expect much of what's depicted in that satire, he manages to maintain higher hopes in the end. I'm sure Jim Henry would love to give a pre-election pep talk.
comment posted at 9:01 PM on Jan-28-05

This is, quite possibly, the funniest TV spot for an independent videogame retailer I've ever seen. Not that there are many out there (funny ones, I mean). There's more here and here. (via Joystiq, requires QT)
comment posted at 4:28 PM on Jan-27-05

Boing Boing says he's a Lynx user , but British Telecom declared him a hacker and that's what the BBC is carrying. There's no way to tell who's right yet, but I'd say the Bloggers are betting on Lynx user. Anyone got an update?
comment posted at 4:38 PM on Jan-27-05

How to manipulate groupthink: Create a group participation technique that looks and sounds equitable and solicits feedback. Use the feedback to isolate leaders, loudmouths, pushovers and those who agree or disagree with your hidden agenda. Set these groups against each other until your hidden agenda moves from a subject for debate to a principle accepted as true that frames the debate. Start a cable channel! Hope America doesn't learn how to fight back.
comment posted at 10:17 AM on Jan-27-05

Where does he get those wonderful toys? The paper toys of Chris Ware.
comment posted at 1:05 AM on Jan-27-05

Blogs are a phenomenon. Technorati, a blog search engine, tracks 6,406,667 blogs. Two years ago, it tracked 100,000. About 27% of adults now read blogs, up from 2% in 2003. But really they're nothing new, says Kevin Maney in USA Today.
comment posted at 7:36 PM on Jan-26-05

September 11, 2001 is an online documentary from the Library of Congress with "nearly 170 audio and video interviews, totaling 40 hours, with photos, drawings, written narratives and poems." (About the collection.) [via Salon]
comment posted at 7:28 PM on Jan-26-05

Budweiser is pulling their "wardrobe malfunction" ad from the Super Bowl because they think someone might be offended by it. But, you can see the ad here: -- after going through their tough "age filter" and then clicking to the commercial. When you can't even make fun of stuff begging to made fun of anymore, that will be a sad day.
comment posted at 1:54 PM on Jan-26-05
comment posted at 3:21 PM on Jan-26-05

Architect Philip Johnson -- first winner of the first Pritzker Prize, and builder of glass houses, is dead at 98. He outlived his rival Frank Lloyd Wright by 47 years. He helped bring modernism to America but would later leave it behind.
comment posted at 12:28 PM on Jan-26-05

In vogue during the Middle Ages, chastity belts are making a come back in Pennsylvania. Get yours today from the Pennsylvania State Legislature in time to celebrate their annual Chastity Awareness Week. But of course, what's good for the goose is good for the gander (NSFW) so I expect all (unmarried) Pennsylvanian legislators to be similarly outfitted. Your tax dollars at work to the tune of a quarter billion dollars.
comment posted at 12:11 PM on Jan-26-05

The end of the endless September. "America Online on Tuesday confirmed that it will stop supporting access to newsgroups." Thus ends what many labeled the greatest plague upon the Internet, the (triple posting) barbarian horde that descended upon Usenet when AOL added Usenet access for its members.

This is when Usenet returns to utility, readability and civility. Right?
comment posted at 6:07 PM on Jan-25-05

Draftfreedom --a new group applying their marketing and communication expertise to help prevent the draft. Take a look--maybe this new approach can get thru?
comment posted at 9:26 AM on Jan-25-05
comment posted at 2:31 PM on Jan-25-05

With Venezuela harbouring and aiding Colombian rebels; namely the leftist FARC is the US administration looking to intervene in Latin America? Possibility discussed here
comment posted at 2:56 PM on Jan-23-05

Would You Like Fries With That? Fourteen McDonalds in Oregon and southeastern Washington have been linked to the call center operated by SEI-CCS Inc.,(link works in IE only...) a Fargo, N.D.-based company that works closely with McDonald's. The call taker in Grand Forks enters your order into a computer and relays it back to the home restaurant, where it pops up on a screen in the kitchen. Meanwhile, a digital camera photographs your car as you drive through. The photo pops up on a separate screen next to the order at the drive-through cashier's window to match the order with the car. A total of 50 McDonald's are expected to be on line within a few months, including seven more of Adams' restaurants and five in the Portland area, he said.
comment posted at 12:27 PM on Jan-23-05
comment posted at 2:07 PM on Jan-23-05

Goodnight, Johnny. The King of Late Night is dead at 79.
comment posted at 12:03 PM on Jan-23-05

Protest Warriors Clash • Gil Kobrin of the Protest Warriors went down "under a hail of black boots" belonging to anti-Bush peace activists. "It wasn't much of a contest. ProtestWarrior's contingent numbered 13, the other side in the hundreds. If they won any hearts and minds, no one said so." Meanwhile, DC activist group Anarchist Resistance issued their call to action: "There's nothing left to salvage in this empire that is the U.S. government. It's time to bring it down." AR is listed as a resouce by the Internet Liberation Front who Kos reported "hacked and defaced six Republican websites" yesterday. Some commentary on civil disobedience by Thoreau & ActUp.
comment posted at 7:51 PM on Jan-20-05

FEMA For Kids: The Tsunami Game! "A tsunami has just hit FEMA Beach and has rearranged a few things. Please put the 9 objects back where they belong to see the cyber-prize!"
comment posted at 5:49 PM on Jan-20-05

While the rest of the country seemed focused on the $40 million dollar block party in Washington, D. C., those of us down in the Big Easy were having a protest the best way we knew how, with a jazz funeral, or more specifically, a jazz funeral for democracy. What else would you expect from a party city that voted 77% for Kerry.
comment posted at 2:43 PM on Jan-20-05

A multiplayer text editor . Free and realtime. I think this is my new favorite thing.
comment posted at 10:12 PM on Jan-19-05

TellBush.org Call 1.800.734.1463 To Leave A Voice Message For Bush. Your Voice Message Will Appear On TellBush.org And Get Itself Emailed To Bush At The Whitehouse. As messages are recorded, a flag gradually builds on the website.
comment posted at 12:33 PM on Jan-19-05
comment posted at 10:34 PM on Jan-19-05

Bush Go George W. Bush
comment posted at 2:09 PM on Jan-18-05
comment posted at 2:21 PM on Jan-18-05