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So do you give them kudos for owning up to the truth now?   U.S. Official: Bush Used WMD Argument For Politics According to this story, "Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz is downplaying Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction as the reason for the U.S.-led war. Instead, he said officials settled on the weapons issue for what he calls "bureaucratic reasons" —because that was the one reason everyone could agree on."   Well, I sure am glad they straightened THAT out, aren't you? "Hi, we lied, but it was the only reason we could all agree on, so we figured that was all right. And hey, at least we freed all those Iraqis from Saddam, huh?"   JESUS, the BALLS on this administration. And the most contemptible thing is that NONE of this will bother anyone—at least according to the polls. We really are sheep.   Can't wait for the weekend to start and I can go back to ignoring these a-holes for a couple of days.

I get grief over this stuff from Summer… But sometimes I just can't resist. Tax Law Omits Child Credit in Low-Income Brackets "A last-minute revision by House and Senate leaders in the tax bill that President Bush signed today will prevent millions of minimum-wage families from receiving the increased child credit that is in the measure, say Congressional officials and outside groups."   Apparently, this was done to keep the tax cut under the arbitrary $350 Billion mark. Of course, the cut on dividends made it through. I'm sure all those low income families that won't be seeing any child credit are pleased about that.

Sometimes I just find quotes I have to share… An obsession with polite or correct public language is a sign that communication is in decline. It means that the process and exercise of power have replaced debate as a public value. The citizen's job is to be rude—to pierce the comfort of professional intercourse by boorish expressions of doubt. Politics, philosophy, writing, the arts—none of these, and certainly not science and economocs, can serve the common weal if they are swathed in politeness. In everything which affects public affairs, breeding is for fools. —John Ralston Saul, Canadian essayist, novelist, and critic, The Doubter's Companion, 1994

Just in case you miss the politics... Sign the petition to oppose extremist court nominees, because maintaining a balanced judiciary is probably more important than anything else going on in Washington right now... Support the Democrats' Fight Against Bush's Extreme Judges Just in case, you know?

The Matrix   Ok, so here's our theory on what's going on with The Matrix. Now if you're like me and you hate when people spoil the end of a movie by telling you the ending, and you haven't seen The Matrix Reloaded yet, DON'T READ THE REST OF THIS POST! That's the only warning you get, so don't blame me if you read something you didn't want to see.   No, really, I'm not kidding... if you haven't seen Reloaded yet, don't read any more!   Ok, don't say I didn't warn you...   The Architect gives Neo the choice between 2 doors... take the right door, save humanity and restart Zion; take the left and save Trinity. Neo's predecessor's all took the right door (not only a direction, but a value judgment, perhaps) and chose to save humanity. An imminently logical decision.   But Neo chooses Trinity--love--over the human race. An intensely human choice and one that, presumably, a machine would be unable to make.   W

The best thing about weekends?   It's so damn easy to ignore the news, politics, whatever the hell is going on outside my own little world and just enjoy life.   Not that this was a particularly great weekend for that... Saturday was a visit to the vet gone horribly bad and Sunday Dani was sick. Monday we decided to get out of the house for a little while and went to dinner at Morel's French Steakhouse, in the Grove, a restaurant we've been meaning to try for months. They made up for being ridiculously overpriced by providing bad service and mediocre food! (To be fair, the cheese plate was very good, and the Apple Tart dessert was surprisingly much better than we expected. And they had good coffee. Too bad the meal sucked.) Thanks Morel's.   We didn't get to the Aquarium in Long Beach, something we've been wanting to do for months. Nor did we make it down to the beach to ride the bikes we bought last month. One of these days! No, really!   But there w

Ok, I've finally determined that I can't read MSNBC news anymore...   A cut that looks to heal voters   Despite EVERYTHING that I've read about this tax cut and it's effects--namely that the vast majority of the benefit will be felt by the smalled minority American taxpayers (you know, the really wealthy 1 or 2%), MSNBC spins the tax cut with this opening line:   "Congress is likely this week to pass a tax cut measure that will mean middle-class voters will pay hundreds, and in some cases, thousands of dollars less in federal income tax over the next several years."   Guess we know where their "editorial" bias lies. I think I'll pass from now on. Well, at least until the FCC rules change happens, then it won't matter where I read it, it'll all be the same anyway.   There's an ancient Chinese curse (at least, that's the way it's always presented--"an ancient Chinese curse"--it could be apocryphal for all

I'm Speechless...   Texas OKs Disputed Abortion Legislation   "Texas approved one of the nation's most sweeping abortion counseling laws Wednesday, requiring doctors, among other things, to warn women that abortion might lead to breast cancer.   That link, however, does not exist, according to the American Cancer Society and federal government researchers, and critics say the law is a thinly veiled attempt to intimidate, frighten and shame women who are seeking an abortion."   So, if all else fails, let's lie to women so we can keep them from getting those abortions. Our government at work, once again. (All right, maybe I'm not speechless. Just filled with an appalling level of contempt.)

Looks like this one’s finally getting some attention…   On June 2nd, the FCC will vote on whether or not to ease restrictions on media ownership across the country. Both the LA Times & New York Times this week have had columns talking about this and what a horrible idea this is.   LA Times Howard Rosenberg: In media, Goliath edging out David New York Times William Safire: The Great Media Gulp   Now might be a good time to write your Senators and Representative and tell them to get involved in this process and put a stop to it.

Well, I know I'm relieved...   From today's New York Times: New Name of Pentagon Data Sweep Focuses on Terror "Saying they are worried about Americans' privacy, Pentagon officials announced in a report today that they were changing the name of a projected system to mine databases for information to help catch terrorists to Terrorist Information Awareness from Total Information Awareness."   Because we all know that once they change the name, well, they can’t use this program on us regular citizens… just on those evil terrorists.   Yeah. Right.

The Matrix Online... At this year's E3, Warner Bros & Ubi Soft announced that The Matrix Online is in development for a 2004 launch. It's another entry in the persistent world, massively multiplayer online genre of games. "Our goal… is to create a multiplayer online game that reflects the trilogy's highly stylized storytelling and innovative action, taking fans beyond the boundaries of the movie screen and into a 'persistent world' where they can fully explore the vast realm of the Matrix." Cool, huh? We all get to plug in and live the Matrix!   Gamespot: The Matrix Online Announced   The quote I love is from the President of Ubi Soft: “"Imagine if the Matrix existed today, if millions of people could enter a simulation so convincing, so real, that they believed it to be an actual place".   Does anyone else find this idea a little creepy? I mean, the Matrix was a great movie, but I don’t think I want to LIVE in the Matrix, you know

Someone save me from Disney Cruise Lines... Ok, so am I the ONLY one bothered by the new Disney “getting in the mood” ad campaign? A couple talking intimately (or, cuddling together on the couch, if you’re unfortunate enough to be watching the TV spot) talking about “are you thinking what I’m thinking”… they decide to play something to get them “in the mood” and then, in one of the most jarring examples of radio whiplash ever, they put on some Disney song and you hear the kids giggling. (In the TV spot, you actually get the kids popping up from in front of the sofa, as you’ve been seeing it all over their shoulder, with the TV in the background.) The ad goes on to talk about the Disney cruise line… then they tag it with one of the kids telling grandma that the Disney song “puts mom & dad in the mood”.   I’m not being a prude here… I just find the whole “it’s all about the kids” mindset rearing its ugly head once again and I just find it all really annoying. (There’s also an SU

Ok, this is kind of interesting... I really try and avoid the political paranoia that’s so rampant these days. Serves no constructive purpose, as far as I’m concerned. So when I hear about “the media has become the mouthpiece for our government’, I tend to take it with a grain of salt. Yes, everyone knows that Fox News is about as pro-government biased as a news source can be, but it gets them ratings and really, that’s what it’s all about, isn’t it? (Do I NEED to point out that was sarcasm?)   But then, today, I get an email update from Channel 4 news that has a link to an MSN story about Greenpeace putting George Bush in their “Nuclear Threat” playing card deck. (Does EVERYONE have a freaking deck of “evil-doers” playing cards now? I just heard about some conservative group that’s got a deck of “unpatriot” cards with, of course, Tim Robbins, Martin Sheen, Susan Sarandon, etc. in the deck. GIVE ME A BREAK, ALL OF YOU! …all right, aside over. Back to my main point…)   So they’ve

Ok, this one's important... In today's LA Weekly: PATRIOT II will clear the way for U.S. citizens to be legally abducted by their government. Does anybody care? Hopefully, some of us care and will freaking WAKE THE HELL UP! For a little more on what's up with Patriot Act II, go here... PFAW: USA PATRIOT Act, Recent Developments

Can ANYONE explain this 4D thing? So the latest Theme Park trend seems to be the all new whatever ride in 4D. 4d? What the hell is 4D supposed to be? Some marketing genius apparently decided that if 3D is cool, than 4D must be even cooler! (Let’s forget for the moment the rampant failure that 3D movies are—Ghosts of the Abyss & the new Spy Kids notwithstanding.)   But someone needs to explain to these marketing geniuses (who, no doubt, went to the same school as the brains behind “2 Fast 2 Furious”) that there really is no such thing as 4-freaking-D, at least as far as our puny little 3D minds can comprehend. The closest we get to a 4th dimension (since that IS what the D in 3D and, presumably, 4D stands for) is TIME and frankly, if we’re using time as the 4th dimension, well every freaking 3D movie since House of Wax (or whatever the first one was) has been in 4D!   I know, there are bigger things to be bothered by than whether theme parks are advertising rides in 4D, but

My Head Hurts... I just read a quote in this week's Entertainment Weekly from Britney Spears (I know, what am I doing reading qoutes from Britney? --I have no answer for that).   Britney says "Anyone can sit down and write some boring artistic song. Pop music is the hardest shit to write."   SO, to recap what we've learned this week: Maxim & FHM are addictive and lead to "the hard stuff" (the infamous gateway drugs to that internet porn addiction) "Condoms cause STDs" Pop music is "the hardest shit to write"   I have GOT to stop reading the newspaper and magazines. My brain is turning to jello.

This one just pisses me off... The Monday Calendar section of the LA Times carries a Counterpunch article each week. It's kind of a guest editorial column... maybe it's simply a "letter of the week" kind of thing. In the April 28th edition, the Counterpunch article was titled "Don't forget Saddam's victims" . It's by a writer named Jim Berkin.   The gist of his article is that Hollywood egos have been bruised by our quick victory in Iraq and the "liberation" of the Iraqi people. (I add the quotes here because I find the whole "liberation" thing a facetious argument--nobody made the point that we were out to liberate the Iraqi people until just before we got ready to invade.)   ANYWAY... He goes on to talk about Stephen Spielberg's Shoah project, which documents first-person accounts of Holocaust survivors. Berkin then suggests that Saddam's victims deserve the same. Now, I have no problem with that. I think the

Today's Stupidity Round-up... From the local Channel 4 website: Lawmaker Angry About School's 'SexFest' HARRISONBURG, Va. -- A Virginia state lawmaker is still hot over "SexFest." Delegate Robert Marshall called last month's "SexFest 2003" a bawdy show-and-tell. He blasted officials at state-supported James Madison University for allowing the event that included a demonstration of how to put on a condom. In a letter to the lawmaker, school President Linwood Rose said it would be naive to think college students don't engage in sex. Rose added that the important thing is that students are fully educated. Marshall said that explanation doesn't pass what he calls the "blush test." He said that educating students about condoms "has produced the current epidemic of sexually transmitted diseases."   Wait a minute, let me get this straight... teaching students about condoms has PRODUCED the current epidemic in STD

Action Figure Round-up! Somehow, we've got to intoduce these guys...   The Theory.org.uk Action Figures   The Biblical Action Figures Collection