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| Oct Dec |
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Wednesday, November 27, 2002 |
Apparently it's not enought to be among the worst actors to ever grace the big screen. It's not enough to be thrice divorced -- his second marriage was annuled when his second wife discovered that his soon-to-be third wife, Kelly LaBrock, was carrying his child. And, of course, it apparently isn't enough that Seagal then cheated on LaBrock by having an affair with his nanny, who he also got pregnant.
Now Seagal is implicated in a Mafia threat against an L.A. Times reporter. One word, five letters: L-O-S-E-R.
4:30:28 PM 
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Friday, November 22, 2002 |
My favorite:
Panasonic wet-dry beard trimmer with night vision
3:20:31 PM
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Thursday, November 21, 2002 |
Sure, government regulation can go too far. But so can de-regulation. Just pick up a copy of Upton Sinclair's, "The Jungle" to remind yourself why government regulation on the meat packing industry is a good thing. Mark Fiore has a great Flash-animated cartoon on that very subject today.
5:32:10 PM
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Tuesday, November 19, 2002 |
Great article by Joe Conason today, especially on President Bush's reliance on polling data -- something his handlers have always positioned him as disdaining.
A good excerpt:
... Bush was "preoccupied by public perceptions of the war, looking at polling data from Rove, now his senior adviser, even after pretending to have no interest." How remarkable to be told so bluntly about this Bush obsession -- after hearing so many blabbermouths on cable TV and in opinion columns insist that this president, unlike his predecessor, "doesn't care about polls." The difference between Clinton and Bush isn't that one doesn't care about polls and the other did. The difference is that Clinton never pretended that polling data wasn't part of his political work, and didn't expect anyone on his staff to lie about such trivia. (This matrix of deception is likewise exposed in Woodward's scoop about the back-channel advice on public opinion provided to the White House by Fox News chief Roger Ailes. An old Bush family employee, Ailes runs a network that frequently promotes the false but uplifting notion that Bush has no interest in polls.)
12:54:16 PM
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The U.S. government and media rail against fundamentalist Muslims, but then fundamentailist Christians in this country fight like mad to weave religion into government. The pledge of allegiance flap was a good example. I, for one, am a person who attends church who does not want religion to bleed over into government. Doing so starts us on a slippery slope. Having a secular government does not necessarily mean an immoral one just because it is free of religious entanglements.
Thankfully, the courts in Alabama rendered a decision to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the rotunda of a judicial building in Montgomery. A good decision. Afterall, imagine what fundamentalist Christians would think if a monument of the Torah or Koran was erected in the courthouse. You'd never hear the end of it from Jerry Falwell and his minions.
12:23:39 PM
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Monday, November 18, 2002 |
Certainly improving homeland security is of paramount importance but.... is nobody concerned about the fact that the government has started to implement roving check points to pull over "suspicious" people and check their vehicles? Aren't the Republicans supposed to be the party of less government?
1:14:16 PM
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Chris Erskine of the Los Angeles Times reviewing "8 Mile", starring -- and I use that term loosely -- Eminem.
"Take away all the "Yo, dogs," and this movie would be about 20 seconds long."
12:56:16 PM
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Wednesday, November 13, 2002 |
Good article on Wired.com on a difficult issue. Should public libraries be required to install software filters that prevent its computer users from viewing pornographic material?
The parent in me tends to like the idea. However, the big problem is that this amounts to censorship and when the government starts to censor content it establishes the beginning of a slippery slope? For one, what exactly constitutes pornographachic or obscene material? Even the Supreme Court couldn't answer that in its landmark case against George Carlin, coming to the conclusion that they "know it when they see it". Would erotic artwork that might find itself into any public museum in the country be censored? It's the application of this that really concerns me.
3:04:24 PM
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Monday, November 11, 2002 |
It's liberal. It's set in a beautiful setting. It's citizens -- myself incluided -- should be the stereotypical mellow Californians right? But live in the Bay Area enough and you'll soon realize that it's citizens are as rude as any other big city.
8:58:40 AM
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Friday, November 8, 2002 |
In the 60's students rallied feverishly against the war in Viet Nam while older adults had more mixed feelings. This article indicates that the tables have turned, and today's students are more receptive to military action while older adults (those who rallied against war in the 60's) are more skeptical.
3:55:23 PM
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Thursday, November 7, 2002 |
To choose (Norm) Coleman over Walter Mondale is one of those dumb low-rent mistakes, like going to a great steakhouse and ordering the tuna sandwich. But I don't envy someone who's sold his soul. He's condemned to a life of small arrangements. There will be no passion, no joy, no heroism, for him. He is a hollow man. The next six years are not going to be kind to Norm.
9:57:36 AM
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Best summary yet of the Winona Ryder shoplifting case comes from SFGate.com's Mark Morford today where he writes:
Casually overrated actress and noted cute little delicate-featured
thang Winona Ryder was convicted Wednesday of shoplifting more than five grand worth of high-fashion crap she didn't really need from a Saks last year. The jury found Ryder guilty of felony grand theft and vandalism but acquitted her of burglary, which doesn't make a whole lot of sense and must be some sort of definition/severity legal-terminology thing, because how can you intentionally shoplift 5K of Versace but not burgle it?
She could go to prison for 3 years or just get probation and go on
to make at least a dozen more really mediocre films you really sort of want her to be good in because you really liked her in Beetlejuice and Reality Bites and Heathers but those were all like, ten years ago, and yet you can't help but just sort of cringe and sigh when you watch her now because she's just a little strange and her delivery is just a little off and if she makes one more totally miscast period piece where she wears a giant hoop skirt and forces some sort of odd accent you're just gonna given up entirely and say screw this and go "shopping" at Saks.
2:25:00 AM
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Let's hope this works and successfully balances liberalism's quest to be compassionate AND fiscally responsible.
12:13:46 AM
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Tuesday, November 5, 2002 |
As if we needed more proof that those people gabbing into their cell phones while behind the wheel aren't as attentive. Now a new study suggests that even those with "hands free" devices are equally deficient in their drving skills to those with the phone pressed to their ears. All of which seems to only underscore the old adage that people can't successfully do two things at one time -- in this case, carry on a conversation and drive.
3:11:13 PM
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The Bay Area loses to New York City in its bid to be the U.S. candidate to host the 2012 Olympic games.
2:42:24 PM
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Monday, November 4, 2002 |
Great article in today's Salon (requires Salon Premium subscription to access) about upcoming ballot initiatives dealing with San Francisco's very visible homeless problem. For those of you who haven't visited SF lately, you may not have witnessed the sea of addicts, mentally unsound and otherwise who populate the donwtown area. Conjure up your image of Calcutta, India and you're on the right track.
The ballot initiatives are causing a furor because they introduce a bit of a tough love approach to a traditionally tolerant, liberal city. But having waded through the bodily detritus of the homeless for 6 years and having passed the same people day after day, I for one am for a new approach. Whatever we're doing now is not working. And I don't thinking I'm lacking in compassion to try something new -- for the sake of everybody concerned.
3:21:11 PM
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Friday, November 1, 2002 |
Then just click on the link and consider this your lucky day.
1:53:03 PM
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Thursday, October 31, 2002 |
Both political parties like to create a much bigger distinction between their candidates than there actually is. It's all about marketing and the subtle art of "positioning".
So when it came to promote a Presidential challenger back in 2000, the GOP looked to position their candidate, George Bush, as a man of character and the antitdote to Clinton's perceived ethical failings. As this article points out, Bush is just as guilty of rhetoric and empty promises as his predecesor. It seems to come with that job.
As Shirley MacLaine once said, "It is useless to hold a person to anything he says while he's in love, drunk, or running for office."
4:19:17 PM
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Wednesday, October 30, 2002 |
Where does "put a corporate logo on everything" mania end? Now cash-strapped police departments are considering allowing companies to pay them to put their logos on police cruisers.
I can just see it now:
Quick, flag down that police car.
-- What police car? Where?
The car with the big Tide detergent logo on the hood. That's it.
9:37:04 AM
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Finally a way to take the script that telemarketers are clearly using when they pay you a call and turn it upside down.
4:44:15 PM
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It's "Indecision '02" web site doesn't fully capture the sardonic wit of the show but there are a few gems to be found.
1:22:21 PM
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