GOP--can we just say 'goop' instead?

I just started listening to Giuliani's speech from last night. I've stopped now because I have to get ready for work. I've also stopped, though, because it's just disgusting. Here's the opening:

Welcome to the capital of the World.

New York was the first capital of our great nation. It was here in 1789 in lower Manhattan that George Washington took the oath of office as the first President of the United States.

It was here in 2001 in lower Manhattan that President George W. Bush stood amid the fallen towers of the World Trade Center and said to the barbaric terrorists who attacked us, "They will hear from us.''

They have heard from us! They heard from us in Afghanistan and we removed the Taliban. They heard from us in Iraq and we ended Saddam Hussein's reign of terror.

They heard from us in Libya and without firing a shot Gadhafi abandoned weapons of mass destruction.

They are hearing from us in nations that are now more reluctant to sponsor terrorists.

So long as George Bush is President, is there any doubt they will continue to hear from us until we defeat global terrorism.

I appreciate the linkage of the two Geroges because, clearly, there is a direct link between Washington's taking his oath of office in Lower Manhattan and Bush's speech in Lower Manhattan after 9/11. I mean, it's just so clear and obvious. I think Kos has it right--and I've only listened to the first five minutes of the speech.

I think I figured out the formula:
9-11
9-11
9-11
9-11
John Kerry sucks
John Kerry is a flip-flopper
Terrorism
Amen
No talk about domestic issues. No talk about jobs. Nothing on the economy.

Interesting, that. The war party peddles in fear, because that's all they have left to sell.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/8/30/23640/7618

Also, Scout, over at And Then..., pointed out that the backdrop for the stage for the GOP convention is made up of two tall rectangular screens with a square one in between. Hmm. Two tall rectangular screens separated by some space. I feel like it's supposed to be evoking an image...but I can't quite place my finger on it. Oh! I know. Wait. Never mind. I'm sure these silly politicians would never stoop so low as to exploit 9/11 for their re-election bid. Naw!

http://www.gopconvention.com/features/floor_01/gallery/07.jpg

SLIME VOLLEYBALL!

Highly addictive. You've been forewarned.

Random thought

Is anyone else confused/bothered by the comodification of Che Guevara? I'm not just talking about 'The Motorcycle Diaries', I mean in general. The posters, the tshirts, etc. It occurred to me the other day that I wasn't even entirely sure who he was. I mean, I knew that he was a socialist, and possibly a communist, and that he had something to do with Cuba. And that Antonio Bandares's character in 'Evita' was 'Che'. If I'm unsure of who exactly this fellow was, I have difficulty believing that the majority of the people who go around wearing his face on their chest have any clue about who he was or what he stood for. And this, of course, bothers me. Because I don't get annoyed with enough to begin with.

This Modern World: The undecided voter

It's humour like this that makes me want to cry.

Enquiring minds want to know...

...is it possible to get whiplash on your ass? It's not me that I'm worried about, just some poor boy who was dancing on the pole platform in the Bamboo Room at Unity tonight. Because, if you can get whiplash there, I think he's going to be really sore in the morning.

Hm

I was afraid that this might get lost in the comments, so I wanted to post it so that everyone could see it. In response to Anca's comment.

Another sidebar addition

Finally got around to adding the Cost of the War to the sidebar. So you can keep track of it. Click the link to see what else could have been done with the money.

Early morning frustration

Apparently the grass in Central Park is more important than the First Amendment. Christ. At least come up with a semi-believeable excuse. Like safety, or not enough security available, or some minor technicality about not filing the right permit. But the grass? The fucking grass?!

I'm not even going to waste words on this. I could. I could write something nice and long about the importance of freedom of speech and what this decision could mean in the long-term, precedent-wise and all. But I won't, because we already know that the Republicans are essentially proto-Fascists and that they'll do anything that they can to stay in power. It's difficult to gauge this without being in the States, but WHY AREN'T MORE PEOPLE ACTIVELY DOING SOMETHING ABOUT THIS? Does it have to come down to this?

First they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew. Then they came for the Communists and I did not speak out because I was not a Communist. Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me. --Pastor Martin Niemöller

Are people really that self-involved that they just don't care? Or are they really that ignorant and can't just connect the dots? I guess fear really is the key to this election. There'll be a flurry of alerts as we head towards November. Maybe they'll 'find' Osama bin Laden (who, I'm convinced, they have already or know where to get him and can get him easily). There'll be an attack or two foiled in September and October. Maybe one will succeed in mid- to late-October. Then Bush can speak to the people and talk about how important strong leadership is in the 'war on terror'. The press will spin it just right, exactly as Bush expects them to. And then we'll have four more years of this, which will leave the world on the brink of destruction, if not actually destroy it.

Bleak, yes. Cynical, perhaps. But I don't like to wake up to news that the grass in Central Park is more important than the Constitution. When I was in middle school, my social studies teacher gave us all little pocket-sized copies of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. He encouraged us to read them, to try and understand what it all meant and to ask questions to help us to understand what we didn't. He also encouraged us to carry them around with us. Just in case we ever needed them. I did, of course, because I was just that kind of kid. I still have great respect for the documents. I have some reservations about them, but they've proved quite well-constructed over the years. The point is that I was taught to understand and appreciate my rights as guaranteed by the laws. And to be told that grass is more important than my First Amendment rights is an affront to every citizen of the US. It's an affront to the framers of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, who are held is such high esteem. And it's an affront to everyone who sees the United States as a shining beacon of hope, as that ideal city on the hill (to borrow Reagan's rhetoric). I might question the appropriateness of seeing the US this way and also just how many people are looking towards the US with those kind of ideals, but that's another post. We'll leave it at that for now.

To say that this move is not politically motivated is disgusting. I hope that this only hardens the resolve of the protesters even more. And--although I would also find this disgusting--if the grass is that damned important, I'm sure the City of New York could ask really nicely and that some of the protesters would be willing to give donation to help repair the grass. It's just a thought.

To my blog-readers in NYC: what's it like on the ground?

'And now she sits alone and remembers.'

The subject line is taken from the refrain of the Carlos Fuentes novel that I just finished, The Old Gringo. It was very interesting. For one thing, it had a dream-like quality: because of this it sort of reminded me of The Great Gatsby, but only because I find that novel very haunting and dream-like (though more haunting than dream-like). For another thing, I don't think I've ever read a novel--I can't think of one, anyway--that talks about Americans from the point-of-view of someone who isn't American. It's the tension between the States and Mexico that provides the major driving force for the novel. I highly recommended it. It's not a must-read, but definitely a worthwhile one.

In other news, the temporary roommate just left forever. I now have an urge to re-arrange the kitchen cabinets because she moved things around. I've finally decided to move my stuff back into the kitchen--hooray--because things are going to change around here. Caspian's girlfriend is moving in with us and she's a clean-freak. And we're going to give Amanda an ultimatum when she returns to improve her cleaning habits or leave. So, I feel that my dishes and pots and pans will be safe once again. We'll see how that goes.

School starts in a week. Sigh. I'm ready, I guess. I haven't really much thought about it. I've been more worried about freaking out about grad school. I'm trying to expand my search a bit and have found a few more possibilities--a few even in Canada, but the funding possibilities are a bit hazy if I stay here. I've still got my sights set on Berkeley, so we'll see how that goes.

One step closer to international stardom...

Look! I'm listed on BlogWise now. *grin*

The random blog button...

The fifteen-day old with his own blog. Right up there with Riley the Pug in 'Aww-ness.'

Not that this should be shocking...

...but I thought I'd pass it along anyway. It's an article about the medals and honours that Bush claims to have earned during his time as an Air National Guardsman in Texas and how it's rather difficult to prove that he was actually eligible/received either of them (yes, either of them: there were only two). For comparison, it also lists the awards and honours that Kerry earned whilst actually serving in Vietnam (all 13 of them, as I counted).

Not that this election should have anything to do with who has more military honours, but the fact that they can't even seem to prove that Bush at least managed to earn a Texas Faithful Service Medal, which is awarded 'just for showing up' on a consistent basis, is a bit bothersome.

Represent

In case you hadn't noticed, I have a site meter that tells me all sorts of fun statistics about who visits. It's down at the bottom of the sidebar.

You people from Mountain and Pacific time need to work on your visits. Represent West Coast. Or something. I know who's checking in Pacific time, and maybe who's in Mountain, though I'm not sure.

'It's a little bit funny, this feeling inside...'

Well, I think it's official. I'm in lurrrrrrv.

I just got a phone call from Chile. And I'm all smiley now--especially because usually the only person who phones me on Sundays with an unavailable number is my mother.

I'm doing my best to abandon my relationship neuroses. I'm leaving the city in less than a year--we are all well aware of this. And yet.... I always said--and only half believed myself--that I wouldn't let that stop me from having something serious, but it would always be in the back of my mind. It's still always in the back of my mind: it has to be. I have to start writing application essays for grad school. As I said, though, I only half believed that I might actually let myself start to fall. I guess it's all a matter of meeting the right person at the right time.

It's only been a few weeks so I'm not assuming anything yet, but I have good feelings about this. I've already warned him that I'm a terrible person to date during school. School comes first. End of discussion. But, I (almost) always take Friday nights off and can usually be persuaded not to study on Saturday nights, too. Which isn't saying that I can afford to go out and party all weekend. But that does mean that he can see me when I'm not surrounded by piles of books. He said he'd take his chances on seeing me during school. He'll be in school, too, so it's not as if he'll just be sitting around doing nothing all the time.

Of all the things I'd wanted to get done this summer, lurrrrrrv wasn't one of them.

I'm not complaining though.

Gah

Anyone who uses multi-coloured, stylised text in their professional email signature deserves to be ignored. And maybe shot.

...

Is it six yet? Ugh.

And now for something completely different...

Just in case you didn't hear about this....

*snicker*

One of the headlines on The Onion this week is 'Homosexual Tearfully Admits to Being Governor of New Jersey'.

Look! Up!

Something new for the nice folks at blogger: a Blogger Bar! It replaces the ad AND for those who were complaining that they couldn't surf to other random blogs on blogspot, it has a 'Next Blog' button. Oooh. Aaah. It also comes in four colours, but I think this one goes best with my layout.

Oh, and, yeah, the GRE yesterday. It was as fun and exciting as I'd expected. I did about as well as I'd expected, though I wouldn't have minded doing a bit better on the verbal. I think, though, that it's probably more or less in line with my transcript and the admissions essays that I've yet to write, so I don't really think that it will either help or hinder me a great deal.

And, yay, my friend from Vancouver came in last night to visit for two weeks. It'll be a crazy-fun two weeks. He doesn't believe that I've learnt to party since he left Montréal two years ago. I must prove him wrong.

Finally, damn efficient public transit. I budgeted close to two hours to get myself from home to the airport on the métro. I got there in under an hour. So I had all this extra time to wonder around the airport, pay $10 for a chicken wrap sandwich and a coffee because I was starving--we all remember that I tend not to eat when I get nervous, right? and I was nervous yesterday from the GRE--but it also meant that I had all this extra time to start reading the book I bought yesterday, The Old Gringo by Carlos Fuentes.

'...with the little snail as its symbol.'

I'd heard about the Slow Food Movement before but never got around to checking them out. Here's their manifesto. Sounds good to me.

Our century, which began and has developed under the insignia of industrial civilization, first invented the machine and then took it as its life model.

We are enslaved by speed and have all succumbed to the same insidious virus: Fast Life, which disrupts our habits, pervades the privacy of our homes and forces us to eat Fast Foods.

To be worthy of the name, Homo Sapiens should rid himself of speed before it reduces him to a species in danger of extinction.

A firm defense of quiet material pleasure is the only way to oppose the universal folly of Fast Life.

May suitable doses of guaranteed sensual pleasure and slow, long-lasting enjoyment preserve us from the contagion of the multitude who mistake frenzy for efficiency.

Our defense should begin at the table with Slow Food. Let us rediscover the flavors and savors of regional cooking and banish the degrading effects of Fast Food.

In the name of productivity, Fast Life has changed our way of being and threatens our environment and our landscapes. So Slow Food is now the only truly progressive answer.

That is what real culture is all about: developing taste rather than demeaning it. And what better way to set about this than an international exchange of experiences, knowledge, projects?

Slow Food guarantees a better future.

Slow Food is an idea that needs plenty of qualified supporters who can help turn this (slow) motion into an international movement, with the little snail as its symbol.

Julia Child, 1912-2004

The picture pretty much says it all. We'll miss you, Julia! Bon appetit. I'm sure the food in heaven will be AMAZING.

Bush's CIA nominee: 'I couldn't get a job with the CIA today. I am not qualified.'

Michael Moore has released a clip of an interview with Porter Gross that didn't make it into Fahrenheit 9/11. In it he says that he's not qualified for a job with the CIA. This is front-page news at BBC. Nowhere to be seen at CNN.

In other news, NJ's governor came out today and California annulled all the gay marriages that Mayor Newsom allowed to take place in SF.

Oh, and despite the fact that major combat is over in Iraq and the mission has been accomplished and all and 'sovereignty' has been turned over to the Iraqis, US troops stormed Najaf today, Moqtada al-Sadr's stronghold city.

Trade Sex for Votes

SEXY LIBERALS OF THE U.S. UNITE in taking back the government from the sexually repressed, right-wing, zealots in control! Everyone knows liberals are hotter than conservatives - we look hotter, we dress hotter, our ideas are hotter, and we are infinitely hotter in the sack. We must use our sexual appeal to our advantage, as one more weapon in our already diverse arsenal. By stripping conservatives out of their clothes, we can also strip them of their power.

There's really not much I can add in the way of introduction to this. Just click the link.

Hmm...check out that time

I should be asleep right now. I will be soon. But I went to Cabaret Mado tonight. Yay drag queens! And yay mexican boys!

(and boo work)

Oh, The Onion, how I love thee

mmm...gooey

mmm...gooey is the name of my harddrive. I downloaded this icon set a while ago and have been using icons from it as my harddrive icon since. I decided to use it as the title of my blog to sort of represent a kind of continuity between my computer and my blog, since they're intimately connected--in the obvious sense that I write my blog on my computer. But also because it sort of makes me think of my brain (it's gooey) and since my computer holds most of my important thoughts and this blog is an extension of that. I wanted this new blog to be more than just me bitching about my life. I wanted to try to think more in it. In fact, I may change the URL from 'u_g', which, of course, is a shortened form of 'unspeakable_grooviness', to 'gooey', if that's available.

The Press laugh at Bush

Score one for intelligence.

Listen to the MP3. The audience actually start laughing at him.

Question

If I have diamonds made out of my ashes, who wants one?

A Second Date

So I went out again last night with new boy. Well, to better put it, I took him to a friend's dinner party. I figured, why not? He kept saying that he wanted to meet my salsa-dancing, spanish-speaking friends and they happened to have a dinner party last night. I half expected him not to come, actually, and I wouldn't have blamed him, since it was probably a bit intimidating (he admitted as much later and that he was super-nervous). In the end, though, he said he had a lot of fun. He made the same mistake that Keith always makes: he tried to teach me to salsa after too many glasses of wine.

We talked a lot to each other, although we did manage to mingle a bit so as not to seem too horribly anti-social. It was during one of these attempts at mingling that someone point-blank asked, 'So are you guys together, or...?' And I said, 'Something like that,' with a hint of question in my voice. Which got the boy and me talking and which led to one of the sweetest first kisses I've had in a long time.

Just to prove how deranged I am, I started trying to think of things that might stand in the way of developing something serious with this new boy after our first date last week. I came up with a few, but I'm just trying to ignore them. I need to take a break from always listening to my neuroses, I think. No relationship is ever perfect and, yes, I'm leaving the city in less than a year, but I can't just run away from something potentially good until I give it a fair chance. Right?

It's funny. We both have a bit of the same insecurities. Neither of us can quite understand why the other would be interested in him. I think anyone would have to be crazy not to be interested in him. And he said the same thing about me.

I hate to admit it, but I woke up this morning, next to him, with a new Alanis Morisette track that I recently heard. It's her version of a Cole Porter song from the new movie 'De-Lovely'. It's called 'Do It (Let's Fall in Love)'.

The cheezy romantic in me is fighting to get out.

Some updates.

Look to your right. It's a tagboard. I also fixed behind-the-scenes stuff and added a section to the sidebar 'Connecting the Blogosphere'. Don't see your blog there? That's because I don't know about it. Oh, and that little # that now resides at the bottom of each post lets you link directly to a post on its own page. If you're into that sort of thing. And that trackback thing I haven't quite figured out yet. It's supposed to be a way for people to tell me that they've linked to my posts on their own blogs, but it seems too time consuming. It'll probably disappear eventually.

With Clarity and Conviction

At a signing ceremony for a $417 BILLION defence spending bill, Bush said, 'Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.'

To quote CNN, 'No one in Bush's audience of military brass or Pentagon chiefs reacted.'

One of his handlers later stressed that it was obviously a misstatement, proving that everyone--'even the most straightforward and plainspoken people'--have their gaffes. '...the American people know this president speaks with clarity and conviction'.

yay...boo

Yay: new comments system. It uses a pop-up window so you don't lose your place on the main page.

Boo: the movie I wanted to see this weekend--on a date no less--is no longer playing. It was that crazy six-hour Italian film. That's TWO dates because we would have had to see Part 2 next weekend or something. Alas. I've already seen it, but I really want to see it again. And I want it on DVD. Looks like Miramax is going to finally release it in the States in limited release in January. Maybe it'll make its way to Cinéma du Parc in the meantime. That would rock.

Think About Television

Another something from And Then....

Someone did a study where they asked people to think about 9-11 and asked them how they felt about Bush. With a separate group, they asked them to think about television and then asked them how they felt about Bush. The 9-11 group approved of Bush for the most part; the television group didn't. Any psych majors want to explain this?

Other people are more articulate than I.

Click me.

Perhaps I read too quickly.

This CNN article seems to suggest that the US only learned of these potential attacks after the arrest of this guy in Pakistan last week, although the intelligence that was gathered BY al-Qaeda was gathered years ago, in 2000/2001. I interpreted the BBC's article this morning to mean that the US's own intelligence about the attacks had been gathered years ago. My bad.

Still, I don't believe that it's just a coincidence that they arrested this guy the day after the DNC ended and then announced this new threat over the weekend.

As requested...

Here's the official chart (click on it to link to the Dept of Homeland Security's description for each of the threat levels and what to do):

Also, check out Jon Stewart's take on this new alert over at the Daily Show's video page.

PS I'll eventually get around to figuring out how to have a better comments system...

Terror Alert Code Bullshit

BBC's top story this morning is that the intelligence used to heighten the terror alert level in NY, NJ and DC was up to four years old. Although they quote a Homeland Security advisor as saying, 'It appears that some of it may have been updated as recently as January of this year.' What's that? 'It appears'? You can't tell? You don't want to tell? What possible security reasons could you have for not saying whether or not the intelligence was new or not? BBC then goes on to say that this same spokesperson denied that the alert was in any way politically motivated.

Meanwhile, CNN's top story this morning is about hurricane Alex threatening the Outer Banks. As far as their concerned, the arrest in Pakistan of a suspected al-Qaeda opeartive and intelligence garnered from him is what led to the increase in alert level.

From the beginning, I thought this whole terror warning was bull. I find it suspicious that they've raised the terror alert two years in a row, right before Christmas. 'Be afraid! Spend! Spend! Spend!' 'Be vigilant, be afraid, but go about your lives as normal. If you don't, then the terrorists have already won.' The BBC yesterday also ran an article entitled 'Washington unfazed by terror threat' in which those they interviewed basically said that they also thought the terror threat level was bullshit. That there were more media outside the IMF in Washington than extra security.

So, Bush & Co continue to try to control the American people through fear. They conveniently announce the arrest of this suspect in Pakistan the day after the DNC ends. Then, the following week, Tom Ridge announces an increase in the terror alert levels--and gives a stump speech at the same time (see Tom Ridge pulling a campaign speech out of his ass over at And Then... for the pull-quotes).

Oh, and apparently five out of six Americans will cast their votes this year on electronic voting machines WHICH OFFER NO PAPER CONFIRMATION OF THEIR VOTE. In other words, no way to ensure that the vote recorded is the vote they cast and no way to perform a manual recount.

I never thought democracy was the best way anyway.

The McDonald's Coffee semi-urban myth

From Daily Kos

Here's the conclusion from the post. It started out as a defence against people accusing John Edwards of being one of those lawyers who is always bringing frivolous lawsuits into the courts, such as the infamous McDonald's coffee suit back in the early 90s. Who knew that there was a bit more substance to it, and that McDonald's had been settling burn cases out of court for a decade because it knew that it was serving its coffee 20 degrees fahrenheit hotter than everyone else in the industry?

So, if you hear people drone on about how John Edwards is on the side of those shark trial lawyers who file frivolous lawsuits like that one against McDonald's because its coffee was too hot, tell them the name Stella Liebeck.  Tell them that 81 year old Stella Liebeck suffered third degree burns and incurred hundreds of thousands of dollars of medical costs for the grafts she needed to repair the skin on her groin, inner thighs and butt. Tell them that Stella Liebeck just wanted McDonald's to pay for the damage they had caused, but McDonald's only offered her $800 for $200,000 worth of medical bills.  Tell them that prior to Stella Liebeck's scalding McDonald's had already heard about over 700 cases of people being seriously burned by their coffee, but they continued to serve it 20 degrees hotter than any other major restaurant chain.  And ask them, if they were Stella Liebeck, or Stella Liebeck was their wife or mother or neighbor, who do they think would be more sympathetic to their modest demand that a major corporation live up to its responsibilities, John Edwards or Dick Cheney?

They don't directly site their sources, but I'm sure that anyone who wanted could confirm all the details since they'd be a matter of public record.

Later today I'll probably post some reflections on pride weekend. Right now, though, I need to continue to be a lobster-face.