X-Tra Rant

Sean Hannity calls a Democratic Congressman an asshole.

This just in: unknown liberal blogger calls Sean Hannity an asshole too.

Another collection of links and stories I meant to blog individually but things kept slipping away.

• .
  Ahh these guys are genius. Well done, sirs!
• Speaking of idiots….
  

  Norm Olson, senior adviser to the Michigan militia and pastor of a strong right-to-life church in Wolverine, said Tuesday he had put together an unarmed coalition of state militias that were prepared to storm the Florida hospice where Terri Schiavo has been left to die, and take her to a safe house.

  Olson said he needed only the OK from Schiavo’s father, Robert Schindler, either directly or through his attorney David Gibbs, to put the plan, called “Operation Resurrection,” into action on Sunday.

• Know the flap from those of us on the left about how the U.S. Government has been ‘outsourcing torture’? Well, more possible proof that it is indeed happening.
  

  Maher Arar, a 35-year-old Canadian engineer, is suing the United States, saying American officials grabbed him in 2002 as he changed planes in New York and transported him to Syria where, he says, he was held for 10 months in a dank, tiny cell and brutally beaten with a metal cable.

  Are these the “American Values” you voted for, conservatives?

• In other news of depressing proportions, 1,360 scientists from 95 countries are backign a study that says “almost two-thirds of the natural machinery that supports life on Earth is being degraded by human pressure.” Hey, good thing we didn’t sign that Kyoto agreement or that we appointed pollution lobbyists to EPA spots.
• Speaking of the Age of Orwell & the environment:
  

  Interior Secretary Gale Norton has named Matthew J. Hogan to be acting director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
  …
  Hogan was formerly the chief lobbyist for Safari Club International (SCI), an extreme trophy hunting organization that advocates the killing of rare species around the world.

  WHAT THE FUCK?!?!?!?!

• And here in Indiana, where “we’re bass-ackward and PROUD of it!”
  

  The Venus de Milo had better wear a top and Michelangelo’s David should put on some pants if they’re going to be seen at a yard art business.

  Bartholomew County officials told the business near Interstate 65 that it must move cement copies of the classical statues — and about 10 others — out of public view because they are obscene under Indiana law.

*sigh* it’s days like this I need a stiff drink.

Oh, how convenient. Tonight is Drinking Liberally: Indianapolis! Hoosier liberals & others fed up with the state of things, come on down tonight to the Union Jack in Broadripple. 7pm-whenever.

Beware the Signs of Satan

This one’s for fellow Liberal Drinkers M and K, both alums of Earlham.

A well-aimed pie tin filled with goop delayed, but failed to derail, an otherwise civil dialogue on U.S. foreign policy at Earlham Tuesday evening.

Neoconservative journalist and commentator William Kristol was about 30 minutes into his speech on international affairs when a slender young man crossed the stage of Goddard Auditorium and slung the ersatz pastry into his face.

Kristol appeared momentarily stunned, then wiped the brown and white goo from his eyes with a paper towel, stepped back to the podium and said, “Let me just finish this point.”

Members of both sides of the political spectrum in the overflow audience rose to applaud.

Kristol, a political activist and co-founder of The Weekly Standard, had been invited to speak by Earlham President Doug Bennett as part of an effort to introduce a variety of viewpoints on the campus.
(Source: Speaker takes a pie in the face By Don Fasnacht @ Richmond Palladium-Item)

(Via Blah3)

I don’t condone pie throwing, but Kristol is a total hack so it is still quite funny. His continued, unwavering support for George W. Bush’s Bogus Iraqi Journey despite no WMDs or links to al Qaeda prove his hackery. But as as said over at Blah3, waste of a good pie….

‘Tis spring, ’tis spring
The bird is on the wing.
My word, absurd!
The wing is really on the bird!

It’s a beautiful day - had to bust that out.

(It’s something Dad would say every spring. Made Mom roll her eyes but it’s stuck with me. Thanks, Dad

The “Culture of Life” hard at work:

Michael Schiavo’s sister-in-law said a man threatened to shoot her and her family if Terri Schiavo dies, Philadelphia police said Tuesday.

(via Blah3)

Check out Radio David Byrne.

Cleveland02/5_flats_tracks Posted two new galleries to the Photo Gallery. Found the pictures on a CD.

• Vacations / Cleveland 2002 Weekend trip to Cleveland with friend Leah for the CART race there.
• Vacations / St. Louis 2004 trip to St. Louis with Kelly for a Cardinals game

Via John Hoke. Peer pressure is a bitch.

You’re stuck inside Fahrenheit 451, which book do you want to be saved?
Tough one. So many good ones to save. Would it be cheating to say Fahrenheit 451? hah let’s say The Complete Works of William Shakespeare.

Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?
Never a book character….

The last book you bought is:
I bought two at once: Sin City: The Hard Goodbye and Ballad of the Whiskey Robber

The last book you read:
Just finished the above Sin City book.

What are you currently reading?
Currently reading the above Ballad of the Whiskey Robber. So far a very fun read. As the subtitle says “A true story of bank heists, ice hockey, Transylvanian pelt smuggling, moonlighting detectives and broken hearts.” I needed something mindless and fun after all the political reading I’ve done in the last year.

Five books you would take to a deserted island:
I always hate it when these memes get to this question….

• The Stars, Like Dust, Isaac Asimov. Sentimental reasons - it was the first science fiction book my dad gave me to read and hooked me on Asimov and sci-fi for life.
• Time Enough for Love, Robert Heinlein. Like John, I have a soft spot for Heinlein and this was always my favorite.
• The Complete Stories and Poems of Edgar Allen Poe, Edgar Allen Poe.
• Les Miserables, Victor Hugo. Unabridged of course. Became familiar with it after playing some of the music from it for marching band in high school. Saw the musical then read the book.
• A People’s History of the United States, Howard Zinn. I had to get a political book in there. Still trudging away on it (I think I’ve actually misplaced it) but a great and illuminating read. A reminder to me that as bad as things seem now they’ve always been bad. It’s been the struggle to make it better that’s the key to our nation.

Who are you going to pass this stick to (3 persons)? And Why?
I don’t usually pass these things on. I might see if my dad hasn’t done this yet, and possible K. If Kelly did her blog more often (won’t link it ’cause not sure if she wants to be linked or not) I’d send it her way too. Might have her answer it at least to me, just because.

A smorgasbord of quick commentary.

• The owner of the conservative propaganda mouthpiece Washington Times, Sun Myung Moon, called for an end to American Democracy, to be replaced by a Theocracy centered around “The Father” (i.e. him) (via Fark)
• They’re not RFID chips, they’re “contactless chips.” But they’re still scary as hell. (via Atrios)
• More free speech in Bush’s America:
  

  There we were - three people who had personally picked up tickets from Republican Congressman Bob Beauprez’s office and went to a presidential event. But as we entered, we were told that we had been “ID’ed” and were warned that any disruption would get us arrested.

  After being seated in the audience we were forcibly removed before the President arrived, even though we had not been disruptive. We were shocked when told that this presidential event was a “private event” and were commanded to leave.
  …
  The Secret Service revealed that we were “ID’ed” when local Republican staffers saw a bumper sticker on the car we drove which said “No More Blood For Oil.” Evidently, the free speech expressed on one bumper sticker is cause enough to eject three citizens from a presidential event.

• Ghoulish indeed:
  

  The parents of Terri Schiavo have authorized a conservative direct-mailing firm to sell a list of their financial supporters, making it likely that thousands of strangers moved by her plight will receive a steady stream of solicitations from anti-abortion and conservative groups.
  …
  Privacy experts said the sale of the list was legal and even predictable, if ghoulish.

  (via Kos)

And welcome Estephania to the blogroll. She’s from Cleveland, a city I really enjoyed on my trip there in 2002 for the CART race and my stop there on my 2003 road trip.