as busy as nader maybe trying to get bush reelected, he still has time to write an open letter to michael moore complaining about the lack of an invitation to the f911 opening. if you can make it through his horrible writing you'll arrive at this gem:
Your old friends remain committed to blazing paths for a just society and world. As they helped you years ago, they can help you now. They are also trim and take care of themselves. Girth they avoid.
there was a lot of really cool stuff going on today. the 4th annual portland zine syposium is going on at my very own school. i traded the split issue of bui #1 and osr #4 for a bunch of cool zines.
later that afternoon i went over to the 2nd annual multnomah county bike fair (part of the pedal palooza. it was oodles of fun, they had a derby, high bike jousting, eating while riding and other wierd bike games. i was trying to get a picture for the cover of bui #4 which was supposed to be finished this weekend. as you might have guessed, it was delayed. i guess it'll delayed a little more since i'm headed down to reno next week.
after seeing fahrenheit 9/11 i'm going to appologize to micheal moore for my criticisms of his previous movies. there was only one shot in the movie that had me thinking "fuck mike, just turn off the camera and let the poor woman cry". instead of talking the entire time he let the images speak for themselves. i'd be amazed if you could see the movie and leave without having your stomach in a knot. i think it'll raise plenty of questions that can only hurt our dear leader.
as long as we can keep nader out of the way this nightmare may come to an end.
got me a new job. i'll be working part time as a production manager at kpsu. not sure when i'll be starting. i guess after i get back from reno.
in the middle of a post explaining how muqtada al-sadr had completely outwitted the dim wits running the war in iraq, juan cole used a great analogy to describe the mahdi army:
Muqtada has so far cleverly outwitted and outflanked this American attempt to marginalize him on the political stage. Although his ghetto youth gangs, which are not really a Mahdi Army or army of any sort, are easily defeated by US troops in firefights, they cannot be made to disappear permanently by this kind of foreign pressure. If foreigners occupied Los Angeles and engaged in some clashes with ghetto gangs like the Crips and the Bloods, do you really think the gangs could be wiped out by these foreign military incursions? Of course not. The foreigners don't have a prayer of uprooting a phenomenon even local police could never crush.
all this time i though bush was just an ignorant morron. turns out i was wrong he's actually a follower of the ancient philosophy called bushido which translates roughly to "the way of the armchair warrior".
pennies from heaven: regan's thoughts sent back from heaven. it might sound a little hokey but it's actually a wonderful piece.
some dude went through and adapted the script of office space to use members of the bush administration. i give you oval office space. it's a total and complete riot. it actually makes up for how stupid office space was. i've got to include one of my favorite parts:
SCENE 8:
INT. WEST WING - DAY
Former ambassador JACK WILSON is seated nervously at his desk, listening to the radio. GEORGE W. BUSH strolls up in a Navy flight suit and stands by his desk, cup of coffee once again in hand.BUSH: Heeeey Wilson. Whaaaat's happening. Listen, we're kind of behind the 8-ball with this weapons-of-mass-destruction thing, so I'm gonna need you to go ahead and make another trip to Nigeria, see if you can't uncover some other information that would indicate they were selling uranium to Saddam Hussein, m'kay?
WILSON: But...but I...
BUSH: That'd be greaaaat. Yeah. And, ahhhh, I'm also gonna have someone in Cheney's office leak to Robert Novak that your wife is an undercover CIA officer. We're kind of playing catch-up and everything, so I just gotta make sure the staff knows who's in charge. M'kay?
WILSON: But I...I believe you have my stapler...
BUSH: Super. Thaaaanks a bunch, Wilson.
BUSH strolls off, leaving WILSON all alone.
WILSON: OK, but I'm going to set the building on fire�
i came across a link to the historical event markup and linking project yesterday. the aim is to use xml to standardize the format of historical data. i'm really impressed with both the concept and execution. now that school is out i'm going to try to start putting some time in looking at and hopefully contributing to projects like this.
salon has a delightful piece detailing how the only republicans support nader has taken from bush are in his head.
when i went to see kerry speak at pioneer square there were about 30 bush supporters. it occured to me later that if they'd really wanted to hurt kerry they would have left the pro-bush signs at home and come out to raise money for nader instead.
fucking a, i've had a nice morning. back to back physics and calc finals. a combined 5 hours of test taking. at least their done. now i can get good and drunk. still have to do a paper for the news radio class.
i've been busy trying to study for finals this week but tonight i took off a couple of hours and went with steven to see a lecture given by richard stallman. i'd read his biography free as in freedom last year so i wasn't to surprised that it seemed to come directly from it. it was still pretty cool to get to hear the story of xerox's printer with no source code straight from the horse's mouth. it got me thinking about the work i'm paid to do right now. i'd really like to be working on open source free software but it is nice to pay the bills.
on a related note, i'm always amazed by the stupid questions audience members are able to come up with after seeing someone speak. i want to jump up and shout "where were you when he spent the last hour explaining the philosophy behind it? sit down and shut the fuck up!". and please don't get me started talking about the guy who tried to argue that an analogy using a waiter in a restaurant was flawed because he'd been a cook and the waiters never tipped him.
haven't mentioned it yet but i'm growing out my moustache. gonna hook it back up with the chops. krista hates it, as do most girls asked. but no matter, i'm fucking stoked. i think i'm gonna cut my hair into a mullet too.
paid some bills today. called one credit card company to ask why i hadn't gotten a bill, i figured i was gonna get reamed with late fees. apparently i'd paid my bill off back in february. cashed this months paycheck and turned around and wrote a check to pay off the other card. as of today i'm now debt free, down from owing something like two grand. let me tell you, it's a nice feeling. now i can put together that fixed gear guilt free.
for future reference: 63xc all things fixed gear and off road. so cool.
oh, i should mention that i'm building a fixie. bought some 32-hole deep dish bright orange aero rims yesterday. i think i'm gonna buy some paul high flange track hubs when i get the next paycheck, then it's all about finding a frame.
you gotta watch the trailer for fahrenheit 9/11. i'm not a big micheal moore fan, his confrontational style is too much for me but this one looks pretty good.
i went and saw super size me last night, i really liked it. where moore would have put the lunch lady serving junk food to kids on defensive and eventually portray her as some evil bitch posioning our kids, spurlock is very friendly and lets her pretty much say "yeah, we're feeding them shit but what am i supposed to do?" i just appreciate he's not out to make everyone look like a fuck. i've got no problem with moore doing that to the administration and captains of industry but he has to do it to the little people and try to get a cheap emotional moment out of it.
i'll keep seeing moore's movies because i think it's important to have him out there on the fringe, it opens up a lot more space for other directors like spurlock to make progressive movies that can seem mainstream by comparison.
remember the john kerry intern sex scandal? like a weed it kind of sprung up and then withered. the lady who was accused has written up an autopsy on the event.