Nobody knows precisely what diamonds would actually be worth in a free and open marketplace, but considering the fact that "gem" quality diamonds have no worth other than as adornment, it's safe to assume the current retail price of approximately $6,500 per carat the size of a pea is about 100 times what they're really worth.
The De Beers Group has a monopoly on the diamond market and have used the universal law of supply and demand (The lower the supply and the greater the demand, the higher the price) to drive up the price enormously. They use their position as the world's largest diamond distributor to create an artificial scarcity, hoarding the product of their African mines and only allowing a certain amount on the marketplace every year.
Since 1938, their "A Diamond is Forever" ad campaign has hoodwinked America, their largest market, into believing that diamonds are the only suitable gift for a man to give a woman upon their engagement. Before the ad campaign, the idea of diamond engagement rings was non-existent. Lately, they have inundated the airwaves with ads trying to convince men they should marry their wives AGAIN, buying them another overpriced rock to prove their love. These ads are particularly successful because they don't even mention a brand name, just a product, a product whose market they happen to control almost in its entirety. The ads also convince consumers that only a new diamond will do, so the market in used diamonds is negligible and their resale value extremely low.
So what would you do if you were the oil industry? You'd drive up the price of oil by using the same universal law of supply and demand. You'd increase the demand by getting the government to ease minimum MPG requirements and by getting everyone to buy SUVs that get hideous gas mileage, and you'd decrease the already diminishing supply by closing refineries and invading foreign countries with oil, NOT to put the oil on the marketplace but to PREVENT the oil from getting to the marketplace, just like De Beers, and just like De Bush.
Iraq's oil output is half what it was before we invaded. SUVs are the most popular vehicles on the road. Half the oil refineries in the state of California have closed in the last decade. Gas was only $1.60 a gallon way back in 2000 when Bush literally "took" office. De Bush has fulfilled his campaign promise to Exxon to double the price of gas during his term. Maybe some day they'll name an oil tanker after him. Then he'll be as cool as Condoleezza.
What the Mona Lisa Thinks of The Da Vinci Code
Deluded Idiot of the Week
A lot of very smart people are taken in by hoaxes concocted by other very smart people, and I'm often quite surprised when someone I admire and respect forwards me an e-mail that obviously isn't true. I always try to set the record straight, and I once had the dubious pleasure of informing a UCLA professor that there was literally no way to track forwarded e-mail and that Bill Gates wasn't going to give any money to a crippled child if I forwarded his message to everyone on my list.
There have been two anti-Bill Clinton e-mails making the rounds for years, one calling him a felon for dodging the draft and another blaming 9/11 on his inaction in previous terrorist attacks. (Hell if I'm going to reprint them here. The links take you to the Snopes site which reprints them and labels them both "false.") Both e-mails are clearly full of lies and distortions. Among other things, one blames 9/11 on Bill Clinton because he didn't take any action after the World Trade Center bombings of 1993. I'm no great fan of Bill Clinton, but that doesn't change the fact that the Clinton administration not only chased down the culprits of the bombing but caught them. Four remain in jail to this day.
The latest e-mail making the rounds pastes these two different hoaxes together and mysteriously concludes that because of these lies about Bill, we shouldn't vote for Hillary. Of course there are plenty of legitimate reasons not to vote for Hillary but these ancient hoaxes about her husband aren't two of them.
I received this scurrilous piece of blather from Linda Lightfoot, and since I'd already received both halves dozens of times, I proceeded to inform her that she was the victim of a hoax, and since the hoax said "send this to everyone you know," perhaps the right thing to do would be to inform the people she sent it to that it was a hoax so the hoax wouldn't be perpetuated. I've done this many times in the past, and everyone has agreed to help stop the madness. Not Linda, who responded with this...
Why does everybody get so nuts when people disagree with them? What I will apologize for is including you in my mailing. Dont' worry , it won't happen again. I don't like Bush any better than I liked Clinton, by the way. I hold all politicians in equall disdain. Take a pill Michael. Trust me, I'll never send you another thing. You liberals advocate free speech and freedom of thought until it conflicts with YOUR beliefs. And who the fuck do you think you are, asshole, to tell me to "do the right thing?"
Removing your address from my files -- with pleasure.
Oh my goodness gracious. She called me a liberal. Talk about blaming the messenger. I hold all politicians in equal disdain, not "equall" disdain (cheap shot), but this has nothing to do with people disagreeing, "free speech," "freedom of thought," or my "beliefs." It has to do with fact or fiction. That kid in England doesn't really want your get well cards, George Carlin didn't really say what the e-mail says he did, ironing your mail won't kill anthrax spores, nobody's got a million bucks in a foreign bank that they can't get out without your help, and whatever else may be despicable about Bill Clinton, he didn't father a black "love child," he's not a felon for dodging the draft, and his inaction in 1993 didn't cause 9/11.
Since Lightfoot refused or was too lazy to check the facts, I've decided to do her homework for her.
The e-mail is attributed to "Cdr. Hamilton McWhorter USN (ret)," the first F6F Hellcat Ace, and a genuine war hero. According to Break the Chain, an organization devoted to stopping junk e-mail and misinformation, the 9/11 e-mail was making the rounds for more than a year before McWhorter's name magically appeared on it, so chances are it was just added by someone to give the piece credibility. Lightfoot's latest amalgamation of two hoaxes is still signed by McWhorter, giving him credit for both, which is unquestionably not true.
I wrote the following to the webmaster of the site with the McWhorter tribute page...
I did an internet search on Cdr. McWhorter which is how I found your site. I see from your page about him that he is a war hero worthy of the admiration of every American. Unfortunately, in my search, I also found dozens of sites devoted to debunking McWhorter's e-mail and destroying his credibility in the process.
There are only two possibilities. Either McWhorter actually wrote the e-mail and he is part of some sort of Karl Rove-type disinformation campaign like the Swift Boat Veterans, or, more likely, his identity has been stolen and used surreptitiously in a Karl Rove-type disinformation campaign like the Swift Boat Veterans. The former is extremely unlikely since, according to this site, the e-mail was circulated for more than a year before McWhorter's name magically appeared on it to give it credibility.
In any case, what I've been unable to dig up is any sort of statement from the man himself in which he admits or denies having anything to do with this scurrilous campaign to discredit Hillary Clinton.
My motives are not political. I have no intention of voting for Hillary Clinton, but there are plenty of very real reasons not to vote for her without having to resort to massive e-mailing of a long list of clearly disprovable lies. I'm simply seeking the truth and wish to clear McWhorter.
Any chance you can help restore Cdr. McWhorter's good name?
Thanks,
MD
His response...
Michael,
Thanks for writing. I've seen that.
But I have no reason to assume it is NOT McWhorter. I wish I did. A few years ago, McWhorter and I exchanged emails, re: his WW2 experience. But my email files have long since been updated and lost. In short, I don't know how to contact him.
Just because a guy is a war hero doesn't mean he's always gonna be a thoughtful, sober, honest, upstanding citizen. Look at Pappy Boyington, Duke Cunningham, Pete Fernandez, and Cecil Harris. If McWhorter has bought into some kind of "anti-Hillary" nonsense, that's a shame. He very well could have. It is not unbelievable. But .. and this is my real point ... I don't see any evidence that these emails are fraudulent (i.e. not from McWhorter).
BTW, since he HAD emailed me, and was thus aware of my site, if he wanted to disavow the Hillary emails, he might have included me in a list of people saying "Hey, this nonsense is not from me .. Help."
It's now mid-2006. I don't even know if McWhorter is still alive.
In closing, if you do get some evidence that his identity has been stolen, I'll be glad to mention that.
(Quoted with permission, and the understanding that this doesn't represent an endorsement of other views expressed in Disinfotainment Today.)
Here's what I believe...
1) If you get an e-mail from a mass mailing that says "send this to everyone on your list" at the bottom, it is almost unquestionably a hoax and you should check it out first. Go to Snopes, or Break the Chain, or any of the dozens of other hoax debunking sites before forwarding it.
2) If you discover you have mistakenly sent out bad information that asks the reader to forward the bad information, it is your duty as a decent human being to apologize for your mistake and retract the statement in order to prevent the bad information from continuing to be forwarded.
3) If you deliberately send out bad information in a lame attempt to be funny, like I do all the time, you're exempt.
Linda's forwarded e-mail wasn't a joke. For breaking these rules, and for taking a page from the Karl Rove handbook and refusing to refute the charges or defend the actual material but instead responding with a personal attack on the messenger, I'm afraid Linda Lightfoot gets my deluded idiot of the week award.
And, of course, in the interest of free speech, I welcome the opportunity to print her reply.
MD
"Accept my words only when you have examined them for yourselves; do not accept them simply because of the reverence you have for me. Those who only have faith in me and affection for me will not find the final freedom. But those who have faith in the truth and are determined on the path, they will find awakening."
- Majjhima Nikaya -
Apology of the Week
Last week I said there needed to be a "day with ignorance." I meant to say "a say WITHOUT ignorance." Sorry about that.
The Breyer's Ice Cream ad was a hoax perpetuated by me, so don't get mad at Breyers, get mad at me, or whoever made it, or whoever sent it to me.
"A cheer went up at the announcement of the twelve million dollar fine against Universal Music Group (UMG) for bribery and pay-for-play activities (commonly called payola). This comes after prior celebrations for the ten million dollar fine against Sony BMG and the five million dollar fine against Warner Music Group for the same shoddy business practices.
"All are nice enough news items. Eliot Spitzer, Attorney General for the State of New York, who spearheaded these investigations, is to be congratulated along with his entire staff, and they should be encouraged to continue...
"It might be pointed out that clean air, access to healthcare, decent roads, fair taxation, dedicated nursing homes, and less urban congestion are more pressing issues. But still, its good that somebody had to pay some sort of a fine for payola.
"The most recent fines were payable to the State of New York, and will be distributed through the Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors to New York State not-for-profit entities to fund music education and appreciation programs. Okay, fine. But how much money are they going to pay to the State of California? Or any of the other states? It seems to me that all 49 remaining states are entitled to prosecute and collect. After all, the deceptive business practices that mislead and cheated residents of New York also affected the rest of us. Where's our state's money? Is your state's Attorney General proceeding against all of these firms on your behalf?..."
"All of the bribery was conducted to boost artists careers and increase corporate revenue through the use of artists talent. But Ill bet every dollar spent by the record companies was charged off against the artists in question. Don't all these acts now need a new accounting that shows where they were being illegally charged? The way things now stand, it's as if the pimp got arrested and the money confiscated, which means the girls who did all the work (the recording artists, in case you're not following this analogy) are, you guessed it, getting screwed again."
"The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed a class-action lawsuit against AT&T on January 31, 2006, accusing the telecom giant of violating the law and the privacy of its customers by collaborating with the National Security Agency (NSA) in its massive and illegal program to wiretap and data-mine Americans' communications.
"In December of 2005, the press revealed that the government had instituted a comprehensive and warrantless electronic surveillance program that ignored the careful safeguards set forth by Congress. This surveillance program, purportedly authorized by the President at least as early as 2001 and primarily undertaken by the NSA, intercepts and analyzes the communications of millions of ordinary Americans.
"In the largest 'fishing expedition' ever devised, the NSA uses powerful computers to 'data-mine' the contents of these Internet and telephone communications for suspicious names, numbers, and words, and to analyze traffic data indicating who is calling and emailing whom in order to identify persons who may be 'linked' to 'suspicious activities,' suspected terrorists or other investigatory targets, whether directly or indirectly.
"But the government did not act-and is not acting-alone... The lawsuit alleges that AT&T Corp. has opened its key telecommunications facilities and databases to direct access by the NSA and/or other government agencies, thereby disclosing to the government the contents of its customers' communications as well as detailed communications records about millions of its customers, including the lawsuit's class members."
A prostitute walks into a bar with a penguin on her head. The bartender says "Where'd you get that?" and the penguin says "Rep. Randall 'Duke' Cunningham's office, they're all over the place. Want one?"
New Google Feature of the Week
Answer to Last Issue's Stupid Questions
Let's say there was a game show called "The Decline of Western Civilization" hosted by David Blaine. What would it be?
Excuse me, but, like a neocon with Hillary Clinton, I've focused on one name in the question that sticks in my craw -- in this case David Blaine - and mostly ignored the subject in my answer. Worse, I've injected it with poetry.
David Blaine must explain Why we should think he's a magician Simply calling attention to yourself Requires no talent or erudition.
Dave sets himself up to do Things nobody cares about To make himself someone We should care about -- Isn't it about time he came out And admitted he's no better Than a sideshow tout?
Peddling a freak show takes No great skill It's certainly not magic Just publicity-hound swill.
Worse is the media that obsesses on His expensive and worthless skits Right down there with Britney, Tom & Katie, And all the other over-hyped shits.
We should ignore this idiot And his breathless attempts at fame We should stop playing the 'Blaine Game' But it won't happen -- Media America's dozing and Wants to keep on nappin'.
If you want a better title for the handbasket, The sinking ship we're on -- How about the John Wayne Gacy Kill A Kid For Christ Telethon? Hosted by David 'Lame' Blaine King of the 'who in fuck cares?' Media con. - RSJ
An 8-year MTV Real World Special starting when the current administration took the reins and ending with the nuclear strike on Iran. - Elliot Hall
Why, it would be a show testing gamesters on reality-TV trivia, with a panel of experts on ancient Rome's decline asking the questions.
- Robin Zoellner
A mini-series, of course. Glad to see you back, better than ever. :e
- Ed Lynn
Mike mate
The main character would be an unstoppable idiot who thinks nothing of the rights of anyone else. He is impervious to logic, operating only by intuition, which, as is the case of most idiots, is imaginary. He also imagines himself to be in touch with the Infinite Creator, Who has given him carte blanche to deal with the world as he sees fit. Consequently he has decided that all norms of society must be broken down so that the descent into the Apocalypse is as degrading as possible.
To facilitate this he declares war on anyone he deems a terrorist. This may be accomplished merely by disagreeing with him or his policies. Meanwhile, whilst stealing as much money as possible from the public purse to line the pockets of his friends, he is destroying the infrastructure a society based on the equal rights of all men.
The aim of the game is to stay on his good side for as long as possible as he wreaks more and more indignity on yourself, your family and your community, while rubbing society's nose in the death of their children in the service of his depraved megalomania
- Waldo
In our George W. Bush through-the-looking-glass (new)world, the biggest indication of the decline of civilization is, true to form, the INCREASE of civilization. Think about it. War is more civilized, or at least sanitized. The barbaric practice of political dissent has been neutered and is but one generation away from extinction. Popular music has removed itself from the crudities of being folk, produced by the people, and become an endlessly recycled collection of computerized and digitized samples from samples of stuff that might have at one time come from the streets and back porches of actual people. Mr. Bush constantly harangues his rubber stamp Congress to "be civil" in confirming the hacks he tells them to confirm. Soon we'll be so civilized that civilization itself will be seen as barbaric and thus eliminated. Only the savage, the uncivilized, will save us through such unregulated primordial soups as the blogosphere. So the game show would be hosted by David Blaine, have a rap music theme, and involve ordinary humans trapped in a bubble or a block of ice for thirty days while every bowel movement is chronicled on Fox news. To win the game, you simply have to recycle old "Yo Mama" slams from that worthless Nick Cannon show on MTV until someone already in a position of power burps from his powerfeast at the public trough, and then get Dubya to like you and replace the burper with you. - Jimmy McConnell
Fox news.
- Locke Milholland
And what are your hotel requirements?
A grand piano, preferably Yamaha, with nightly 2 hour informal gigs by Marcus Roberts
Recorded Music by Chris Floyd
Cable computer with two screens and gigagigagigagiga connectsh
Flannelette sheets
Fridge full of ice water and real lime cordial and an esky full of Harboe beer
A flat toasted sandwich maker
Dark chocolate
A liberal American blogger as guest at each (sumptuous) meal
A two-door Caddy courtesy car
All TVs tuned to public television
- Waldo
Loose shoes, tight pussy and a warm place to shit. I am the most common of men...
Why the fuck are the season finales of House, Boston Legal, and Scrubs all on at the same time?
Side note: What is the one thing about House that makes it one of the most groundbreaking shows on television? Every other mystery show, whether medical or legal or detective, you have a chance of figuring it out. Not House. No chance in hell of figuring it out. It always turns out to be something you couldn't have guessed in a million years, some weird esoteric thing only House knows. Goes entirely against the grain. Should be frustrating. Shouldn't work. Does.
Gallery of the Week
Worldmapper is a collection of world maps where territories are re-sized
on each map according to the subject of interest. This one shows the world
resized by refugees and internally displaced persons living there.
Satan Doesn't Want You to Know
If you put a bar of Ivory soap in the microwave and nuke it on high for 90 seconds, it will grow and expand into a grotesque, otherworldly shape, then harden and stay that way. This only works with Ivory because of the whipped air in it.
Kansas raised its minimum marriage age to 15.
Don't Take My Word for It
"Good evening my fellow Americans. In 2000 when you overwhelmingly made the decision to elect me as your 43rd President, I knew the road ahead would be difficult. We have accomplished so much, yet challenges lie ahead.
"In the last six years, we have been able to stop global warming. No one could have predicted the negative results of this. Glaciers that once were melting are now on the attack. As you know, these renegade glaciers have already captured parts of upper Michigan and northern Maine. But I assure you, we will not let the glaciers win."
"Wow, wow, what an honor. The White House correspondents' dinner. To just sit here, at the same table with my hero, George W. Bush, to be this close to the man. I feel like I'm dreaming. Somebody pinch me. You know what - I'm a pretty sound sleeper, that may not be enough. Somebody shoot me in the face...
"I stand by this man. I stand by this man because he stands for things. Not only for things, he stands on things. Things like aircraft carriers and rubble and recently flooded city squares. And that sends a strong message: that no matter what happens to America, she will always rebound - with the most powerfully staged photo ops in the world.
"Now, there may be an energy crisis. This president has a very forward-thinking energy policy. Why do you think he's down on the ranch cutting that brush all the time? He's trying to create an alternative energy source. By 2008 we will have a mesquite-powered car!...
"The greatest thing about this man is he's steady. You know where he stands. He believes the same thing Wednesday that he believed on Monday, no matter what happened Tuesday. Events can change; this man's beliefs never will.
"As excited as I am to be here with the president, I am appalled to be surrounded by the liberal media that is destroying America, with the exception of Fox News. Fox News gives you both sides of every story: the president's side, and the vice president's side...
"Here's how it works: the president makes decisions. He's the Decider. The press secretary announces those decisions, and you people of the press type those decisions down. Make, announce, type. Just put 'em through a spell check and go home. Get to know your family again. Make love to your wife. Write that novel you got kicking around in your head. You know, the one about the intrepid Washington reporter with the courage to stand up to the administration. You know - fiction!
"Because really, what incentive do these people have to answer your questions, after all? I mean, nothing satisfies you. Everybody asks for personnel changes. So the White House has personnel changes. Then you write, "Oh, they're just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic." First of all, that is a terrible metaphor. This administration is not sinking. This administration is soaring. If anything, they are rearranging the deck chairs on the Hindenburg!"
- Stephen Colbert's speech at the White House Correspondent's Dinner: read or watch the whole thing here -
"According to ABC News, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has been quietly going after the phone records of news reporters as part of its investigations of leaks of information of government employees. An entry posted Monday evening on The Blotter, an ABC News blog, by investigative reporters Brian Ross and Richard Esposito, reports that, 'The FBI acknowledged late Monday that it is increasingly seeking reporters' phone records in leak investigations. "It used to be very hard and complicated to do this, but it no longer is in the Bush administration," said a senior federal official.'"
"What makes the Internet revolutionary is that it is democratic, open to anyone with a computer and an Internet connection. That could soon change.
"As In These Times went to press, the House was setting to vote on the 'Communications Opportunity Promotion and Enhancement (COPE) Act of 2006,' a bill written by the telephone and cable TV corporations. Among other provisions, the act formally guts what is known as the First Amendment of the Internetnetwork neutrality. (The Senate will consider a similar bill in late May or early June.)
"Net neutrality ensures that the public can view the smallest blog just as easily as the largest corporate Web site and prevents companies like AT&T from rigging the playing field for only the highest-paying sites and services, says Timothy Karr, the campaign director for Free Press, a media reform organization. Karr is coordinating SavetheInternet.com, a bipartisan coalition working to preserve network neutrality.
"By not including network neutrality protections, the COPE Act upholds a 2005 ruling from the Federal Communications Commission that allows Internet service providers - telephone companies like AT&T and Verizon - and cable companies like Comcast - to charge Web content creators a fee to make their sites readily accessible.
"For example, take a filmmaker who wants to produce a documentary and distribute it to the public on his Web site. Under this new legislation, a service provider like AT&T would be able to charge the filmmaker for making his content available to their customers. Or, if AT&T did not approve of the documentary, it could refuse to let its customers access it all together - thereby allowing corporate censorship of a medium now characterized by the freewheeling exchange of ideas. In effect, the legislation allows the telecom industry to become the tollbooth operator on the information superhighway. The Internet will begin to look like cable TV, where viewers can only choose from available options."
"We have Christians against Muslims against Jews, and no matter how liberal your theology, merely identifying yourself as a Christian or a Jew lends tacit validity to this status quo. People have morally identified with a subset of humanity rather than with humanity as a whole...
"There is no text more barbaric than the Old Testament of the Bible - books like Deuteronomy and Leviticus and Exodus. The Qur'an pales in comparison.
"Not only is the character of God diabolical in those books, but there are explicit prescriptions for how to live that are not metaphors; they are not open to theological judo. God just comes right out and says 'stone people' for a list of offenses so preposterous and all-encompassing that the killing never stops. You have to kill people for working on the Sabbath. You kill people for fornication...
"But the Qur'an, virtually on every page, is a manifesto for religious intolerance. I invite readers of your website who haven't read the Qur'an to simply read the book. Take out a highlighter and highlight those lines that counsel the believer to despise infidels, and you will find a book that is just covered with highlighter...
"[I]f the president of the U.S. started talking about how Saturn was coming into the wrong quadrant and is therefore not a good time to launch a war, one would hope that the whole White House press corps would descend on him with a straitjacket. This would be terrifying - to hear somebody with so much power basing any part of his decision-making process on something as disreputable as astrology. Yet we don't have the same response when he's clearly basing some part of his deliberation on faith."
"It is of the greatest importance to guard one part of the society against the injustice of the other."
- James Madison: The Federalist -
"He wasn't warning the poor to be leery of the rich. It was ass-end around: he was tipping the well-off to watch out for the mob... He didn't plead with his kind to curb their greed. Far from it: he stressed the need to restrain the needy. Beware of the numerous, he said, for they lust after the fruits of their doings, and you own all but all."
- John Sanford explaining what James Madison meant in The Federalist: from Intruders in Paradise -
"Henry Ford turned back to the Government every cent of profit made from war contracts."
- Publicity department, Ford Motor Company -
"The Treasury Dept. has no record of any refund from the Ford Motor Company."
- Andrew Mellon, Secretary -
"Artists can color the sky red because they know it's blue. Those of us who aren't artists must color things the way they really are or people might think we're stupid."
- Jules Feiffer -
"To be ignorant of one's ignorance is the malady of the ignorant." - Amos Bronson Alcott -
"The motto ('In God We Trust') stated a lie. If this nation ever trusted in God, that time has gone by; for nearly half a century its entire trust has been in the Republican Party and the dollar - mainly the dollar." - Mark Twain -
"Covert operations have never done this country any good. They may give a momentary advantage to the people who are in power at a particular moment, but in terms of the interests of this country as a whole, they have proven disastrous. There isn't a single one, in thirty years, that you can point to and say, well, that was one that we are now better off, more secure, and happier as a result of. Every one of them has, in its own way, contributed to the deterioration of security in the world we live in, and so it's really time to stop them."
- Peter Dale Scott -
"One thing is absolutely certain; Bush will stick by his constituents to the bitter end. It is physically impossible for him to act in the interests of the American people. He won't be deterred by the falling dollar, the deflating housing market, or the skyrocketing energy prices...
"Betting that George Bush will do the wrong thing for the nation is not a matter of conjecture; it is a mathematical certainty. He is deliberately destroying the middle class, the prospects for upward mobility, and the currency. The economic underpinnings of American democracy have been demolished in just 6 short years. Smart people will prepare themselves for the typhoon ahead." - Mike Whitney: Preparing for the Economic Typhoon -
"This is the most major constitutional crisis since the Civil War. You have a president who is unaccountable and says that its his interpretation of what laws he'll select to obey. When you have that, you have a constitutional crisis."
- Rep. Henry B. Gonzalez, D-Texas, about Ronald Reagan during the Iran-Contra hearings in 1987 -
"Mr. President,
"You are familiar with history. Aside from the Middle Ages, in what other point in history has scientific and technical progress been a crime? Can the possibility of scientific achievements being utilized for military purposes be reason enough to oppose science and technology altogether? If such a supposition is true, then all scientific disciplines, including physics, chemistry, mathematics, medicine, engineering, etc. must be opposed...
"September Eleven was a horrendous incident. The killing of innocents is deplorable and appalling in any part of the world. Our government immediately declared its disgust with the perpetrators and offered its condolences to the bereaved and expressed its sympathies.
"All governments have a duty to protect the lives, property and good standing of their citizens. Reportedly your government employs extensive security, protection and intelligence systems and even hunts its opponents abroad. September eleven was not a simple operation. Could it be planned and executed without coordination with intelligence and security services or their extensive infiltration? Of course this is just an educated guess. Why have the various aspects of the attacks been kept secret? Why are we not told who botched their responsibilities? And, why aren't those responsible and the guilty parties identified and put on trial?
"All governments have a duty to provide security and peace of mind for their citizens. For some years now, the people of your country and neighbours of world trouble spots do not have peace of mind. After 9/11, instead of healing and tending to the emotional wounds of the survivors and the American people who had been immensely traumatized by the attacks, some Western media only intensified the climates of fear and insecurity, some constantly talked about the possibility of new terror attacks and kept the people in fear. Is that service to the American people? Is it possible to calculate the damages incurred from fear and panic?
"American citizens lived in constant fear of fresh attacks that could come at any moment and in any place. They felt insecure in the streets, in their place of work and at home. Who would be happy with this situation? Why was the media, instead of conveying a feeling of security and providing peace of mind, giving rise to a feeling of insecurity?
"Some believe that the hype paved the way and was the justification for an attack on Afghanistan. Again I need to refer to the role of media.
"In media charters, correct dissemination of information and honest reporting of a story are established tenets. I express my deep regret about the disregard shown by certain Western media for these principles. The main pretext for an attack on Iraq was the existence of WMDs. This was repeated incessantly for the public to, finally, believe and the ground set for an attack on Iraq.
"Will the truth not be lost in a contrive and deceptive climate?...
"Those in power have specific time in office, and do not rule indefinitely, but their names will be recorded in history and will be constantly judged in the immediate and distant futures. The people will scrutinize our presidencies.
"Did we manage to bring peace, security and prosperity for the people or insecurity and unemployment?
"Did we intend to establish justice, or just supported special interest groups, and by forcing many people to live in poverty and hardship, made a few people rich and powerful thus trading the approval of the people and the Almighty with theirs?
"Did we defend the rights of the underprivileged or ignore them?
"Did we defend the rights of all people around the world or imposed wars on them, interfered illegally in their affairs, established hellish prisons and incarcerated some of them?
"Did we bring the world peace and security or raised the specter of intimidation and threats?
"Did we tell the truth to our nation and others around the world or presented an inverted version of it?
"Were we on the side of people or the occupiers and oppressors?
"Did our administration set out to promote rational behaviour, logic, ethics, peace, fulfilling obligations, justice, service to the people, prosperity, progress and respect for human dignity or the force of guns.
"Intimidation, insecurity, disregard for the people, delaying the progress and excellence of other nations, and trample on peoples rights?
"And finally, they will judge us on whether we remained true to our oath of office to serve the people, which is our main task, and the traditions of the prophets or not?...
"Mr. President,
"How much longer can the world tolerate this situation? Where will this trend lead the world to? How long must the people of the world pay for the incorrect decisions of some rulers? How much longer will the specter of insecurity raised from the stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction hunt the people of the world?
"How much longer will the blood of the innocent men, women and children be spilled on the streets, and people's houses destroyed over their heads?
"Are you pleased with the current condition of the world?
"Do you think present policies can continue?
"If billions of dollars spent on security, military campaigns and troop movement were instead spent on investment and assistance for poor countries, promotion of health, combating different diseases, education and improvement of mental and physical fitness, assistance to the victims of natural disasters, creation of employment opportunities and production, development projects and poverty alleviation, establishment of peace, mediation between disputing states and distinguishing the flames of racial, ethnic and other conflicts where would the world be today? Would not your government, and people be justifiably proud? Would not your administration's political and economic standing have been stronger? And I am most sorry to say, would there have been an ever increasing global hatred of the American governments?"
"All of the hand-wringing currently circulating among the pundit class about the rising tide of 'Bush hatred' misunderstands the nature of what really is happening. They mistake anger for hatred -- though in the case of conservatives, it's fair to say that the confusion is intentional.
"Anger, for the most part, is a righteous and largely rational thing - it arises from genuine grievances, and is typically a response to outrages of some form or another. Hatred, on the other hand, is an irrational thing; it comes from deep in the soul, and is usually an expression of some deep-seated imbalance on the part of the hater. Naturally, if anger is allowed to fester unaddressed long enough, it can easily mutate into hatred. But they are distinctive in nature...
"But, as I have argued at length previously, the majority of this 'hatred' is predicated on real policies and real actions by both Bush and his administration. This is not hatred: it is anger -- real, righteous and well-grounded anger. "Anger can be a healthy thing, especially if it is based on solid reasons and real grievances. Anger over real injustices motivated the American Revolution, the anti-slavery and civil-rights movements, and women's suffrage. History is replete with righteous anger. "Anger only becomes unhealthy hatred if it festers. And one of the ways it can fester is if the grievances underlying them are dismissed out of hand as irrational - not just by the perpetrators of the injustices, but by the supposed allies of the victims."
dIsInFoTaInMeNt ToDaY is free and may be reproduced in any form, preferably parchment. It consists of information from dozens of sources, cut up, thrown in the air, and recycled randomly. It is sent all over the place, so I apologize if you're seeing the same thing twice. If you see a joke, graphic, or news item that came from or through you, thanks, send more, and please accept the fact that much of dIsInFoTaInMeNt ToDaY is unacknowledgeable, and if I sought permission from everyone whose bastardized material showed up here, I'd never get anything else done. Please note that I don't even put my own name on it. If you're still pissed off, hey, it's either satire or fair use.
I have a small email list
where I post stuff about local environment / development,
and bigger stuff like that article. Keep on
keeping me informed!
It's entertaining and useful every day.
Lorie in
Kent, Ohio -- Land of 10,000 parking lots. There's even one on the historic spot
that some of the 4 KSU students were shot in 1970 -- not kidding.
BOB HERBERT: America the Fearful (The New York Times)
If voters can be kept frightened enough of terrorism, they might even overlook the monumental incompetence of one of the worst administrations the nation has ever known.
Chris Bowers: Blue Nation (mydd.com)
The new Survey USA 50-state Bush approval rating shows the depth of Bush's troubles. In forty-seven states, Bush has a negative approval rating. In seventeen states, Bush's disapproval rating doubles his approval rating. In fifteen states, his disapproval rating is lower than any disapproval rating ever achieved my Nixon nationally. In eight states, his net disapproval is lower than anything Nixon ever achieved nationally. In Missouri, Bush is at 29-68. Missouri.
PAUL KRUGMAN: D for Debacle (The New York Times)
Even Mr. Bush has acknowledged that signing up for the program is a confusing process. But, he says, "there is plenty of help for you." Yeah, right. There's a number that people needing help with Part D can call. But when the program first went into effect, there were only 300 customer service representatives standing by. (Remember, there are 43 million Medicare recipients.)
David Bruce: Wise Up: Good Deeds
Tristan Bernard, a French dramatist and novelist, was very generous, constantly giving money to beggars. One day, he gave a beggar to whom he had been giving money for quite some time a large bill instead of a few coins, saying, "We're leaving tomorrow for Normandy. Here's two months' donation in advance."
I work for Public Radio, it really is a hoot, They let me do their begging 'cause they think my voice sounds cute; I come along at drive times, I reappear at noon, You can't avoid my cloying pleas: "Send money or we're doomed."
Beg, beg, beg, beg, Beg, beg, beg, beg.
I whimper and I threaten, I tell a silly joke, My endless repetitions are enough to make you choke; I beg between commercials, I peddle 'tween the whines, A sponsored charity seems odd, but no one seems to mind.
Beg, beg, beg, beg Beg, beg, beg, beg
When donors are too slow to call it puts me in a snit, How dare they keep their checkbooks closed and fail to do their bit; I say in no uncertain terms, I make it crystal clear, You send the dough or I'm the only thing you're gonna hear.
CBS starts the night with the 2-hour SEASON FINALE'Amazing Race 9', followed by the SEASON FINALE'CSI: The 2nd One'.
Scheduled on a FRESHDave are Bruce Willis and Goldfrapp.
Scheduled on a FRESHCraig are Merv Griffin and Rick Reilly.
NBC opens the night with a FRESH'Deal Or No Deal', followed by 'Dateline', then the SEASON FINALE'Law & Order'.
Scheduled on a FRESHLeno are Jada Pinkett Smith, Larry the Cable Guy, and Wicked Wisdom.
Scheduled on a FRESHConan is (are?) People in Planes.
Scheduled on a FRESHCarson Daly are Jenny McCarthy and Stomp.
ABC begins the night with a FRESH'Alias', followed by a FRESH'Lost', then the SEASON (SERIES?) FINALE'Invasion'.
Scheduled on a FRESHJimmy Kimmel are Drew Carey, Malcolm David Kelley, and Christina Milian.
The WB offers the movie 'Final Destination 2'.
Faux has the SEASON FINALE'Bones', followed by a FRESH hourlong 'American Idol'.
UPN has the SEASON FINALE'America's Next Top Model', followed by a RERUN'Half & Half', then another RERUN'Half & Half'.
A&E has 'Biography' (Joel Rifkin), 'Dog The Bounty Hunter', another 'Dog The Bounty Hunter', and 'Walt Disney World'.
AMC offers the movie 'Highlander', followed by the movie 'The Princes Bride', then the movie 'Twins'.
BBC -
[2pm] 'As Time Goes By' - Episode 10;
[2:40pm] 'Are You Being Served' - The Clock;
[3:20pm] 'Keeping Up Appearances' - Episode 2;
[4pm] 'My Hero' - The Family Way;
[4:40pm] 'My Family' - Pain In The Class;
[5:20pm] 'My Family' - Droit De Seigneur Ben;
[6pm] 'BBC World News';
[6:30pm] 'Cash in the Attic' - Smith;
[7pm] 'The Benny Hill Show' - Episode 20;
[8pm] 'Whose Line Is It Anyway?' - Episode 6;
[8:30pm] 'Whose Line Is It Anyway?' - Episode 7;
[9pm] 'What Not To Wear';
[10pm] 'What Not To Wear' - Episode 1;
[11pm] 'The Catherine Tate Show' - Episode 1;
[11:40pm] 'Coupling' - Circus of Epidurals;
[12:20am] 'The Benny Hill Show' - Episode 5;
[1am] 'What Not To Wear';
[2am] 'What Not To Wear' - Episode 1;
[3am] 'The Night Detective' - Episode 7;
[4am] 'The Night Detective' - Episode 8;
[5am] 'The Night Detective' - Episode 5;
[6am] 'BBC World News'. (ALL TIMES EDT)
Bravo has 'Top Chef', another 'Top Chef', still another 'Top Chef', then a FRESH'Top Chef'.
Comedy Central has 'Jeff Foxworthy', last night's 'Jon Stewart', last night's 'Colbert Report', 'Mind Of Mencia', 'South Park', another 'South Park', and a FRESH'Mind Of Mencia'.
Scheduled on a FRESHJon Stewart is Ramesh Ponnuru.
Scheduled on a FRESHColbert Report is Jonathan Alter.
History has 'Modern Marvels', 'The Templar Code', and 'Axes, Swords and Knives'.
IFC -
[6AM] You See Me Laughin';
[7:30AM] Trust;
[9:25AM] IFC Short Film Collection II: May;
[11:25AM] The Last Days Of Chez Nous;
[1:05PM] Media Lab Results;
[1:30PM] Akira Kurosawa: The Last Emperor;
[2:30PM] At The IFC Center #13;
[3PM] Matewan;
[5:15PM] Blind Swordsman #2: The Return of Zatoichi;
[6:40PM] The Sheltering Sky;
[9:05PM] Below;
[11PM] Cecil B. Demented;
[12:30AM] Rocked With Gina Gershon #3;
[1AM] Below;
[3AM] Cecil B. Demented;
[4:30AM] Your Friends & Neighbors. (ALL TIMES EDT)
SciFi has 'Ghost Hunters', another 'Ghost Hunters', followed by a FRESH'Ghost Hunters', then the movie 'The Frighteners'.
Sundance -
[6AM] Springtime in a Small Town;
[8AM] My Life So Far;
[9:45AM] Purple Hearts;
[11:15AM] I Am Cuba;
[1:35PM] Buena Vista Social Club;
[3:30PM] FACE;
[5PM] A Letter to True;
[6:30PM] In Short: In Short: Subway;
[7PM] My Life So Far;
[8:35PM] News for the Church;
[9PM] Kath & Kim: Party;
[9:30PM] Short Hymn, Silent War;
[10PM] I'm Losing You;
[11:45PM] Screwback;
[12AM] Springtime in a Small Town;
[2AM] City of Men: Episode 3: The Mail;
[2:30AM] The Idiots;
[4:30AM] Stan the Flasher;
[5:45AM] FACE. (ALL TIMES EDT)
Actors Morgan Freeman, from left, Ruby Dee, accepting for her husband Ossie Davis, and director Woodie King, Jr., are shown after being honored as the 2006 Ford Freedom Award winners in Detroit, Monday, May 15, 2006. Freeman was awarded the 2006 Ford Freedom Award Scholar, bestowed upon a living individual who has demonstated excellence in the field of the award recipient. Davis was awarded the 2006 Ford Freedom Award posthumously, given to distinguished individuals who dedicated their lives to improving the African American community and the world in general. Woodie King, Jr., founder and producing director of the New Federal Theatre in New York City and National Black Touring Circuit, was awarded a special Ford Freedom Pioneer award for providing a path to success in the performing arts for many talented African Americans.
Photo by Paul Sancya
Fans attending Madonna's concert in Los Angeles this weekend will have more than traffic jams and ticket scalpers to worry about -- they'll also have to contend with hundreds of union picketers.
Organizers of the stage employees union have been stirring up interest in a Madonna picket since the star had a dress rehearsal at the Forum on Monday. The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees has been locked out of the Forum since April 11 following a salary dispute with the stadium's owners.
Jim Wright, a business rep for the union, says several hundred people are expected to rally at the concert on Sunday, and will urge concertgoers not to buy concessions or souvenirs at the Forum.
Wright said the union tried to convince the star to move her show to another venue, with no luck.
Irish rock star and Third World campaigner Bono turned guest newspaper editor on Tuesday with the Independent agreeing to give half its revenues for the day to fight AIDS in Africa.
Bono got to interview British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Chancellor Gordon Brown while U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice offered her 10 favorite pieces of music.
In a celebrity-laden one-off edition, the front page illustrated by artist Damien Hirst proclaimed in a banner headline that there was "No News Today" -- except for the deaths of 6,500 Africans from HIV/AIDS.
Pete Seeger plays his banjo May 5, 2006 in Beacon, N.Y. The earnest troubadour who either co-wrote or popularized canonical songs like 'If I Had a Hammer' and 'John Henry' has become something like America's folkie emeritus. He's back on the charts now, sort of, with the release of 'We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions,' featuring Bruce Springsteen's full-throated versions of standards performed by Seeger.
Photo by Frank Franklin II
Make no mistake, for Paul Shaffer the music comes first.
This, even though the Canadian ex-pat has been David Letterman's TV sidekick for nearly a quarter-century now, a role that requires him to be a comedy foil and to play off his unusual hip-to-be-square image.
He also has a reputation for excelling in the musical equivalent of improv. He can play with anyone and just like anyone, on a dime.
It all started during his childhood years in a musical household in Thunder Bay, Ont. (Fort William at the time). Neither parent was a musician, but his father was heavily into the music of the 1930s and '40s, while his mother knew every show tune and records were playing in the house all the time.
A Hollywood producer who claimed he was creating a TV show about the Department of Homeland Security pleaded guilty on Tuesday to swindling dozens of investors out of millions of dollars.
Joseph Medawar, 44, spent much of the $3.4 million he raised from about 50 people on luxury cars and a Beverly Hills mansion for himself and the woman billed as the future star of the show "DHS," according to court papers.
Prosecutors said Medawar spent $23,000 to option a script written by California Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Taliban). Rohrabacher said in a statement earlier this year that he introduced Medawar to some government officials to give him an accurate picture of homeland security.
Two days after the acclaimed White House drama "The West Wing" ended its seven-year run on NBC, rival network ABC announced on Tuesday it was pulling the plug on its new series "Commander In Chief," which starred Oscar winner Geena Davis as the nation's first female president. Donald Sutherland co-starred as her political arch enemy.
However, ABC Entertainment President Stephen McPherson left open the possibility of bringing back "Commander" sometime next season in the form of a two-hour TV movie.
The final three episodes, which were pulled from ABC's schedule for the duration of the May ratings "sweep," will air on May 31, June 7 and June 14, concluding the series' prime-time run, network executives said.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she works out to the acid rock of Cream and rocks out to Kool and the Gang. Elton John's "Rocket Man" reminds her of her first boyfriend.
Rice's eclectic Top 10 music list appeared Tuesday in a special edition of the British newspaper The Independent. The list was a favor to rock star Bono, who guest edited the paper as part of a charity appeal to fight AIDS in Africa. Half the revenue from the edition will be donated to the Global fund to Fight AIDS.
"Believe it or not, I loved acid rock in college and I still do," she told the paper.
Past Tony Award winners Natasha Richardson, left, Live Schreiber, and Phylicia Rashad pose for photos after they read the nominations for the 60th annual awards, in New York, Tuesday morning May 16, 2006. The awards will be presented June 11 at Radio City Music Hall, where the winners will be announced in a three-hour telecast.
Photo by Richard Drew
Media company E.W. Scripps Co. is giving up the struggle to make its money-losing Shop At Home television and online retailing subsidiary profitable and will close the business by June 30.
Shop At Home, based in Nashville, Tenn., is the nation's fourth-largest TV shopping outlet with a reach of 57 million households.
Shop At Home television programming and the network's ShopAtHomeTV.com Web will cease operations June 22. The unit will remain open through June 30 so customers can receive items they bought.
Out of the Monday Night Football business, ABC is set to serve up a regular dose of college football on Saturday night.
ABC Saturday Night College Football will begin this fall with Notre Dame at Georgia Tech on Sept. 2. The next week, ABC will air Ohio State at defending national champion Texas.
The 12-week prime-time college football series is a first for a broadcast network. All games will being at 8 p.m. Eastern. Last season, ABC did four Saturday prime-time college games.
Richard Hatch, who won $1 million in the debut season of "Survivor," has been sentenced to more than four years in prison for failing to pay taxes on his reality TV prize and other income.
U.S. District Judge Ernest Torres said he believed Hatch had repeatedly committed perjury on the witness stand during his trial in January.
In addition to the "Survivor" prize, Hatch, 45, of Newport, was convicted of evading taxes on $327,000 he earned as co-host of a Boston radio show and $28,000 in rent on property he owned. The charges carried a maximum of 13 years in prison.
Dave Goldfarb prepares his 11 x 14 large format field camera, made in 1890 by American Optical, to capture a view of the Riverside Drive viaduct in New York, Sunday May 7, 2006. When Eastman Kodak Co., eviscerated by digital photography, last year stopped making black-and-white photo paper, a few photographers dreaded the loss of Azo, a paper with unusual characteristics. But through a Web site, the few Azo adherents left pulled together to finance production of an Azo-like paper at an old photographic plant in Europe.
Photo by Bebeto Matthews
An anonymous bidder paid $3.54 million for a Stradivarius violin made in 1707 at auction house Christie's on Tuesday, making it the most expensive musical instrument ever sold at auction, Christie's said.
The violin, known as the Hammer, was made by Antonio Stradivari in Cremona, Italy, during his "golden period," when he is believed to have crafted his finest instruments.
The previous record belonged to the Lady Tennant, a 1699 Stradivarius that sold for $2.03 million at Christie's in April last year. Private sales have exceeded that price.
Benjamin Treuhaft believes pianos are not a threat to U.S. national security even if they are played in Cuba.
Risking fines and jail for "trading with the enemy," the New York piano tuner has shipped 237 pianos to Communist-run Cuba since 1995 to replace old Soviet-made pianos damaged by tropical humidity and termites.
This week he returned to Havana with 200 lbs of tools and a dozen music lovers to help tune the second-hand pianos donated by Americans through his non-profit "Send a Piano to Havana" program.
The 58-year-old bandana-clad activist opposes U.S. trade sanctions against Cuba on humanitarian grounds and has been to Cuba 16 times defying a travel ban for Americans.
An anti-war member of the Class of 2006 stands with his back to Sen. John McCain, R-AZ, as he delivers the keynote address during the Columbia College commencement, Tuesday, May 16, 2006, in New York. McCain defended his support for the Iraq war in a commencement speech Tuesday at Columbia University that drew more cheers than boos. McCain, a Republican widely thought to be considering presidential run in 2008, reaffirmed his belief that the Iraq conflict was just but encouraged detractors to speak their minds and argue vigorously for their position.
Photo by Mary Altaffer
A Vietnam court has postponed the May 19 appeal hearing of disgraced British "glam rocker" Gary Glitter over his three-year sentence for molesting children, his lawyer said on Tuesday.
The lawyer Le Thanh Kinh said by telephone that he had not been given a new date by the Supreme Court in Ho Chi Minh City for Glitter's appeal.
Chaos reined during the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and millions were killed or persecuted, but for a reminder of that dark decade you have to make your way to a museum in an out-of-the-way corner of southern China.
But the 40th anniversary of the start of the Cultural Revolution passed quietly across China on Tuesday -- not for lack of interest or sentiment, but because the ruling Communist party, obsessed with stability, has issued a blanket ban on the subject.
Athena Dogias takes a nap in a sleep pod in a central business district office building in Sydney, Tuesday, May 16, 2006. Busy workers are invited to put their feet up for 20 minutes to rejuvenate and relax in style while listening to music in the dome-shaped pod.
Photo by Mark Baker
A female mummy with complex tattoos on her arms has been found in a ceremonial burial site in Peru, the National Geographic Society reported Tuesday.
The mummy was accompanied by ceremonial items including jewelry and weapons, and the remains of a teenage girl who had been sacrificed, archaeologists reported.
They said the woman was part of the Moche culture which thrived in the area between A.D. 1 and A.D. 700. The mummy was dated about A.D. 450.
So far, it's the trainers at the Alaska Zoo who are breaking a sweat trying to coax Maggie the elephant onto the world's first treadmill for a pachyderm.
For two months, Maggie's trainers have used her favorite treats - watermelon, apples, carrots, peanuts in the shell, banana slices and sweet potatoes - to entice the 8,000-pound elephant onto her $100,000 custom-made treadmill.
The treadmill is part of a $1 million program the zoo launched two years ago to improve Maggie's life after deciding to keep Alaska's only elephant instead of placing her at another facility, perhaps in a warmer climate, with more elephants.
A double-crested cormorant, left and a great egret, right, rest together in a tree on Wade Island in the Susquehanna River, Tuesday, May 9, 2006, near Harrisburg, Pa. In the coming days or weeks, Pennsylvania wildlife authorities will take their first stab at killing double-crested cormorants to stop them from stealing nesting space from great egrets and the black-crowned night heron on Wade Island.
Photo by Carolyn Kaster
You have reached the Home page of BartCop Entertainment.
Make yourself home, take your shoes off...
Go ahead, scratch it if it itches.
The idea is to have fun.
Do you have something to say?
Anything that increased your blood pressure, or, even better,
amused or entertained?
Do you have a great album no one's heard?
How about a favorite TV show, movie, book, play, cartoon, or legal amusement?
A popular artist that just plain pisses you off?
A box set the whole world should own?
Vile, filthy rumors about Republican musicians?
Just plain vile, filthy rumors?
This is your place.
