4. juni 2004

I fought the law, and the law was puzzled English punk rocker Mike Devine had a rather unwelcome visit from the Special Branch after he sent a mobile text message to the wrong person. Mr Devine said he had been worried when an officer from the Special Branch confronted him at his office, and added: "I had no idea why they could want to talk to me." The father of two said the officer had then produced a printout of the text message, which read: "How about this for Tommy Gun? OK - so let's agree about the price and make it one jet airliner for 10 prisoners."  It is perhaps understandable that a text message from an unknown source mentioning guns, airliners and prisoners might rile up people and even get the cops interested, but Devine had a very good explanation. He is a bass player in a band called London Calling, a tribute band for The Clash. And he had intended to send lyrics to The Clash's song Tommy Gun to a band member, but gotten the wrong number. He said he had then been asked to explain what the message meant, and described how the detective had looked "puzzled" when told the words were by the Clash. The officer seemed "a little embarrassed" when he left, Mr Devine added. No doubt. But it's better with a few red faces now than blood on the streets later from not investigating such things. PS: I don't find anything about jet airliners nor prisoners in the lyrics to this song. What did I miss? PS 2: Some time ago, visiting rock lyrics web sites was merely a popup nuisance. These days, it is a total nightmare with spyware, attempts to install software on your PC, a zillion popunders and popups that even the Google toolbar can't stop, and god knows what I didn't see as my PC froze for several seconds. The above link is to one of the less hostile lyrics sites. I can't imagine this tactic gives anyone a desire to visit these sites anymore. Who is running these sites? Dhengis Khan? The RIAA? 9:38:03 PM    comment []  trackback []

Leftist self-flagellation — Clarke & Clinton on Rwanda Must... resist... urge... to... link... everything... Mark... Steyn... writes. Dang! Didn't make it this time either. It's just that nobody in this world says it better than he does. 8:07:32 PM    comment []  trackback []

Who is guarding the Guardian? Scott Burgess has found out that English leftwing paper the Guardian needs more journalists, and he's sent them an application. "What would you add to The Guardian newsroom?" Ideological balance and accurate research. That would be more than they could handle. When do you suppose they'll be getting back to me? Then. Maybe they would if this was TV, Scott. Those horns would look really cool on the screen. 4:53:16 PM    comment []  trackback []

Cloak and dagger dept Michele is doing a roundup of blog speculation on why George Tenet resigned. The real truth: we have no friggin clue. Heck, it may even be personal and family reasons. Imagine that! 4:45:24 PM    comment []  trackback []

Michael Moore around the clock bash Since I found out the amazing depth of deceptions and distortions in Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine, I have written about him critically many times. Here's a roundup of my earlier coverage: Lying for Columbine. David T. Hardy debunks it. (Also here) Different sound volume between ABC and CNN covering Moore being booed at the Oscars. Michael Moore's attempt to answer critics, after he had been exposed for massive misquotations and distortions in Bowling, is less than impressive. Tasting his own medicine: Michael Moore hates America. Michael Moore's treacherous rant. He hails the Iraqi insurgents, including Baath party followers, Sadr's armed thugs and al-Qaeda terrorists, as "the REVOLUTION, the minutemen" and hopes that they kill as many Americans as possible. Yes, Moore is a crazy, hateful asshole. Moore whines about Disney pulling out of distribution. Even the English left-wing rag The Independent sees that Moore lied through his teeth when he claimed Disney "censored" his film. Old Europe's favourite American. Even in Germany, some people see through Moore dishonest propaganda. Moore endorsed general Wesley Clark, the man who 'almost started' World War III. The kiss of death, as Ray Bradbury observed. About that 'Dude' book. Moore felt at home in Cannes, but even Reuters calls his movie "propaganda" (before it won!). Review of Fahrenheit 9/11 unsurprisingly revealed how Moore pushes long-debunked conspiracy theories, even including the Afghan gas pipeline and the Bin Laden-Bush 'relations'. Is there anything this man is not willing to lie about? The Flint Film Festival doesn't get and doesn't want Moore. Ray Bradbury famously said that Michael Moore is an asshole. Michael Moore makes a big stink of the Bin Laden family members being allowed to leave the US just after 9/11-01, as if there was some collective family-guilt clause in US anti-terror laws (how is that for racial profiling?). But sometimes conspiracy theories collide: the man who gave the Bin Ladens permission to leave the US was Richard Clarke, otherwise the left's hero. Christopher Hitchens said it best, though! 3:31:14 PM    comment []  trackback []

Physics can be fun...? Estimating the Airspeed Velocity of an Unladen Swallow and remembering to take into account whether it is an African or European swallow. If you don't take these references, you need a basic cultural education. It's a simple question of weight ratios! A five ounce bird could not carry a one pound coconut. Precisely! And that is the whole point. 12:38:15 PM    comment []  trackback []

And there she goes... June 21 is the scheduled launch date for SpaceShipOne, hopefully the first time a non-government craft leaves the earth's atmosphere. Fingers crossed and all that. Hat tip to Dean, who keeps an eye on this story so I don't have to (that is the law of comparative advantages as applied to the blogosphere, btw). 12:18:07 PM    comment []  trackback []

Draft scare debunk The draft is a powerful scare for the anti-war left, which is why emails and posted petitions warning about pending legislation to reintroduce the draft for Spring 2005 is getting quite a bit more attention than it deserves these days. There is pending legislation in the House and Senate (twin bills: S 89 and HR 163) which will time the program's initiation so the draft can begin at early as Spring 2005 -- just after the 2004 presidential election. The administration is quietly trying to get these bills passed now, while the public's attention is on the elections, so our action on this is needed immediately. The proposed bills S-89 and H.R. 163 actually exist. That's about all that is correct in these messages. The sponsors, Senator Fritz Hollings (NC) and Representative Charles B. Rangel (NY) have not been able to prevent the bills from dying slowly in committee, if they were even interested. Hollings has not even found a co-sponsor for it in the US Senate. Nothing indicates that there is any support whatsoever for a universal draft in neither the government nor the US armed forces, quite the contrary. It is quite devious to use this bill to make the case that the Bush administration is planning to reintroduce the draft. Both Hollings and Rangel are democrats, and not precisely the White House's closest allies on military issues these days. PS: Snopes also debunks the anti-draft petition. 12:20:52 AM    comment []  trackback []

© Copyright 2004 Jan Haugland. Last update: 01.07.2004; 00:49:37.