April 2009
The Hold Steady: SXSW Daytrotter Session →
100 days of Barack Obama's Facebook news feed →
“Barack Obama sent Somali Pirates a Trio of Snipers.”
“Keep rocking that floppy disk icon, Microsoft.”
– Gruber, on the GROUNDBREAKING Office 2010 Screenshots.
Pointing Fingers
Ever since I read Breaking The News, I’ve been interested in news media criticism. The following story shows exactly how the news system can fail, and how it can’t really fix it’s mistakes on its own. We need serious critics from outside the sheltered circle of insiders to exert the pressure of honesty and accountability:
The NY Times runs a piece by Brian Stelter on John...
The Perry Bible Fellowship Almanack →
SWEETNESS! Dark Horse just published a hardback of the amazing PBF comics. $16.47 on Amazon and worth every penny, even if (all? most? some?) are free online. So many to love, but a few of my favorites are Nice Shirt, Transfer Patient, and Shrink Ray.
Mental Floss: Doogie Howser's Diary or Random... →
I did badly, oh so badly.
Mike Davis: The swine flu crisis lays bare the... →
Amidst the conspiratorial fervor that’s being exhibited by some with respect to the relationship between CAFOs and swine flu (I’m lookin’ at you, Grist), this is a pretty rational and informative piece that puts things in the proper context and asks the right questions.
The Thermals - When We Were Alive
The best...
“Arlen Specter is a thunder-stealing bitch!”
– Swine flu (via subjecttomeg) (via kittykittybangbang)
Why I Tweet
I tweet to make inappropriate jokes about the poor, the mentally ill, and the physically disabled, but I’m glad the Senator has better reasons…
clairecmc:
After reading Matt Bai’s piece in the New York Times Magazine yesterday, I’d like to explain why I tweet and post here on Tumblr. His thesis is that twitter is banal and superficial and therefore not a good fit within the context...
Let It Shine →
Stunning ad for the Honda Insight, designed with some surprising, and sublime, Vimeo customization.
Wow.
… and here’s the making-of
The Low Frequency in Stereo - Geordi La Forge
I...
GOP Fought Pandemic Preparedness →
Heck of a job.
So Long, Pardner →
Henrik Hertzberg on secession:
“The Federated States, meanwhile, could get on with the business of protecting the sanctity of marriage, mandating organized prayer sessions and the teaching of creationism in schools, and giving the theory that eliminating taxes increases government revenues a fair test. Although Texas and the other likely F.S. states already conduct some eighty-six per cent...
U.S. Soldier Who Killed Herself--After Refusing to... →
“With each new revelation on U.S. torture in Iraq, Afghanistan and Gitmo (and who, knows, probably elsewhere), I am reminded of the chilling story of Alyssa Peterson, who I have written about numerous times in the past three years but now with especially sad relevance. Appalled when ordered to take part in interrogations that, no doubt, involved what we would call torture, she refused, then...
I take it personally...
ctcircusfreak:
… when some pot-smoking Ron Paul devotee, libertarian nihilist faux intellectual or good old-fashioned right wing jackass argues against “socialized medicine.” Today, I got another reminder why.
My aunt — a born-again evangelical in the suburbs of Indianapolis — was laid off a while back. She has high blood pressure… and no job to pay for the medication she takes to treat it. To...
Pregnant woman hit by car while running from bear →
“Ashley Swendsen had a really bad day. The pregnant woman, 26, was chased by a bear and then struck by a car as she fled across a road. The driver checked on Swendsen and then left the scene before Colorado Springs Police officers arrived.
Swendsen, who is five months pregnant, did not suffer serious injuries, but was taken to Memorial Hospital as a precaution, police said. She was treated...
Connecting the Dots, Part 5
Parts 1, 2, 3, and 4.
This is it, I promise. These posts have been percolating in my drafts bin all week, and I decided it was time to let go. So 5 of 5, and we’re done.
As I’ve probably made clear by this point, I’m in favor of some sort of inquiry. But I am less interested in naming names and I’m opposed to prosecution unless there are truly egregious and willful abuses...
Connecting the Dots, Part 4
Beyond timing, complicity, and political retribution, the next big topic of discussion is whether or not to investigate.
Democrats are split. Obama himself seems to favor a complete mulligan approach wherein we’d simply close the door on the past and skip into the bright gleaming sunshine of a torture-free tomorrow. Others have called for prosecution, disbarment, and impeachment.
Then...
Zapp & Rogers - Computer Love
Boy kiddies,...
Connecting the Dots, Part 3
OK, so there’s the timing thing and the complicity of Democrats thing.
But the other thing that nags at me is how all of this stuff ties back into the CIA and into other DOJ appointments, because I think those stories tell us something about Obama’s true goals here, as well as how the desire for a clean slate conflicts with entrenched interests.
All this got me thinking again about...
Connecting the Dots, Part 2
The first thing that nags me about the Harman/torture confluence is the timing, but beyond the conspiratorial ramblings of a madman, maybe the timing is irrelevant.
What does seem relevant is that not only does the Harman story bring wiretapping into the discussion, it brings in the fact that Harman was one of those responsible for watching over the CIA during this period. As I noted before,...
Connecting the Dots, Part 1
So here’s the thing. I can’t figure out how this Jane Harman wiretapping scandal ties into the release of the torture memos, but I know the two are connected. It’s like I’m staring at a page of unnumbered dots, trying to draw a picture. I know that it will become clear, but right now, it’s not.
It seems like a sideshow, but I don’t think it is.
What nags at me...
On Willful Ignorance Among Chattering Classes
I can’t count the number of times in recent days when the mainstream media has made the claim that the desire for further investigation or releasing the memos or opposition to torture is some sort of far-left fringe phenomenon.
Really, this just reflects the fact that Beltway media has no appetite for this story anymore.
Did you see this video of Peggy Noonan? In her opposition to...
The "Torture Debate"
The “torture debate” as its being described by the mainstream media has been a joke. It’s been entirely focused on the political wrangling and avoids, at all costs, the nasty details. But the nasty details are precisely what matter here. We can’t have a debate about torture and not actually go through these memos. How do we have a realistic assessment about whether certain...
“The quickest way to a man’s heart is through his chest.”
– Daniel Tosh (via punchlines)
Researchers: bacon sandwich really does cure a... →
“Bread is high in carbohydrates and bacon is full of protein, which breaks down into amino acids. Your body needs these amino acids, so eating them will make you feel good.”
[via Gruber]
Jane Harman: Angry, partisan, civil liberties... →
Glenn Greenwald:
“So if I understand this correctly — and I’m pretty sure I do — when the U.S. Government eavesdropped for years on American citizens with no warrants and in violation of the law, that was “both legal and necessary” as well as “essential to U.S. national security,” and it was the “despicable” whistle-blowers (such as...
Slate on exploring the Warner Archive Collection →
Pretty cool. I had no idea this existed:
“The recent launch of the Warner Archive Collection could well portend a revolution; it’s DVD on demand, a way for Warner (and, one hopes, for every other studio) to make movies available without spending the $75,000 to $100,000 it costs to release an old title into an ominously contracting marketplace. Here’s how it works: Go to the...
The Everyday Visuals - Sloop John B
Cute Beach...
Who's Father Was He? →
I’m a couple of weeks late to this, but Errol Morris wrote a remarkable series of five essays over five days in the New York Times about a Civil War photograph and it’s spiraling outward reach into history.
It’s the story of a father who died in Gettysburg with nothing on him but a photograph of three children, and it ties into all sorts of other things — finding this...
