skippy the bush kangaroo

Saturday, May 31, 2003

as goes missoula...so goes the left

we wouldn't think montana to be a hotbed of leftist thought. but here's an article from the missoula independent online - as the world burns:

or how about the loss of freedom that’s occurring not in afghanistan or iraq, but here in the u.s. under the rubric of “homeland security”? what was once labeled “creeping fascism” is now in full stride, with americans quickly becoming the most spied upon (by their own government) people in the world. with bush in the lead, our government is collecting massive amounts of data on citizens without their knowledge, consent, or even a hint that they may have done something wrong. who you call, what you say, where you go on the internet, what e-mails you send or receive, how much money is in your bank account and where and how you spend it are all now being secretly tracked, recorded and shared among government agencies—including the pentagon and the new, deep-shadow program known as the total information awareness project run by convicted iran-contra scoundrel john poindexter.

as we lose our privacy, we also lose our liberty. many are now experiencing what really happens as “homeland security” measures are ruthlessly imposed on the populace—not just by the scores of federal and state bureaucracies, but by non-governmental corporations who may find the excuse of “homeland security” a handy tool for any number of their own reasons. nor should we forget local governments. helena, using a $70,000 federal grant, now boasts the state’s first city-level “counter-terrorism planner,” who points to “ted kaczynski, the freemen, and flathead county’s project 7,” as reasons for montanans to be more like israeli citizens and be “aware of what is going on around them,” “seek out information,” and “join groups such as the newly-formed citizens corps.” it’s all part of what he says is “going to be a way of life.” but existing in a state of continuous suspicion and paranoia is not what most montanans would consider “life.”

posted by skippy at 10:08 PM | 0 comments
can't beat that capitalization style sheet

we know we've directed your attention to ...a certain shade of [green] before, but we must admit we love kim's blogging template, plus her eschewing of capital letters.
posted by skippy at 9:56 PM | 0 comments
email mikey

thanks to trish wilson's blog, we find this great page of fcc contact info...phone, fax and email numbers...call them by monday!
posted by skippy at 9:51 PM | 0 comments
no blood for bottled water

protesters head towards the tiny alpine town of evian, to rally against the meeting of the g8, at which the seven leading industrial nations, and has-been russia, will discuss such things as the world's economy and fancy bottled water.

and, apparently, according to the nytimes, wmds :

in an editorial today, the financial times assailed the bush administration and british intelligence over the weapons that washington insisted for weeks would soon be found in iraq. "it is time for a reality check," the newspaper wrote. "we have been deceived."

so the leaders of the industrialized nations "simmer with transatlantaic tension" as they sip their crovossier and eat their chocolates in the alps.

meanwhile, the actual people of the world are getting tear gassed in the very same city. well, not actually the very same city. apparently awol's idea of first amendment zones is popular amongst the elite of europe, as well:

security is so tight in evian, the french spa town where the leaders of the group of eight (g8) are due to open their annual summit today, protesters have been forced to focus their campaign around annemasse and geneva.

just so you know it's not all violence and class struggle at the spa, be aware that some protesters are streaking the summit:

in lausanne, some two dozen protesters bared themselves to security forces saturday.

they undressed outside of the media center and, each of them painted with a red letter, set themselves up in the right alignment to send the message: ''the naked truth, no g-8.''

under a blazing sun, they walked for the best part of an hour before getting dressed again.


for the best on the ground coverage of the protests, go to indymedia.org's g8 coverage, including reports about the riot in geneva, and the teargas in annemasse. and some good pictures, too!
posted by skippy at 8:36 PM | 0 comments
blogging around

steve gilliard on the daily kos has found a good slogan on the message boards: "bush lied, people died."

sorry we missed it! but our buddy eric at the hamster has resumed blogging again! today both he and calpundit comment on franken vs. o'reilly on c-span2 looks at books!

bear left! has their own new blog: k-marx!

and while we're at it, let us remind everyone that zizka has a new address. bookmark it!

anna of annatopia is rooting for the mavericks. skippy lives in los angeles, so he doesn't care.

atrios lets us know that a u.s. military supply trailer ran over and killed a child in iraq (plus 3 soldiers died in a traffic accident that happened yesterday).

the liquid list follows the story about americans who are islamic being detained and questioned at airports.

crowgirl at magpie looks at the us's good cop/ bad cop routine.

talkleft points out that another one of ashcroft's terrorism cases has fallen apart.

mydd remarks that public opinion watch is seeing a decline in support for awol among the young in america.

the smirking chimp links us to a sfchron story about nancy peloski declaring bush is now fair game for dems...it's about time, we say.
posted by skippy at 6:22 PM | 0 comments
humpty dumpty undercover

we love sasha, because, like humpty dumpty in alice in wonderland, she apparently believes "words mean precisely what i want them to mean."

for instance, sasha makes up the word prequementary when speaking about the great tim robbins movie "bob roberts." she thinks karl rove must have memorized it.
posted by skippy at 5:58 PM | 0 comments
mail call

a few fellow bloggers send their best...

our friend laura newton directs our attention to this mark moford column in the sfchron: lesbian wiccans save america. laura also recommends news of the weird for a laugh or two.

cowboy kahill at reach'm high network noose doesn't seem to think there are enough women blogging for the left (he could be right about the left...but then the left is usually right).

jenny at the little red cookbookwants us to help save the reading rainbow...and she suggests we read lisa english's ruminate this! to learn more.

jimm at the project for a new century of freedom wants us to be very aware of what media consolidation can mean to us all.

and eric at antidotal reminds us that the bushies are not above using hollywood to promote their agenda (or, in this case, canada, where the movie was shot).

posted by skippy at 5:58 PM | 0 comments

Friday, May 30, 2003

a bully is just a coward with add problems

and we've always known awol is a bully. how do we know for sure? because, as reported in counterspin central, awol's police force arrested a man in south carolina for, get this now, holding an anti-bush sign near where bush was standing!

we'd think that was something stalin would have done.

brett bursey was standing near some repubblicans in the columbia metropolitan airport, waiting for awol to show up and smirk at the people. the police approached him and warned him he'd have to go to the "free speech zone." we love his retort:

“i told them, i’m in a free-speech zone. it’s called america. of course they weren’t amused," bursey says. “i told them i felt perfectly comfortable right where i was and that i was going to stay there. they said, ‘we are going to arrest you if you stay there.’”

they did, after admitting it was because of the content of his sign (no war for oil). and now, even worse, ashcroft's justice department is prosecuting this case. mr. bursey could face up to a $5000 fine and six months in jail.

rep. barney frank and 10 other congressmen have sent a letter to ashcroft denouncing this ridculous action. we don't know if it will help mr. bursey's case. we don't even know if mr. bursey's case will help the first amendment's case, which is rapidly becoming shakier on a daily basis.

(big thanks to ampersand for the link!)
posted by skippy at 6:57 PM | 0 comments
say hello

to the high desert skeptic.
posted by skippy at 6:38 PM | 0 comments
why? kos we like you

in case you haven't figured out, there's a reason it's named the daily kos. kos you should be reading it daily.

case in point: today, kos is hot on the story that the story about the made up wmd story just won't die down. according to the kos, several in the intelligence community are not only angry that their apparati were perverted to create the lie about the saddam-al qaeda connection, they are totally refusing to take the heat for the fact that no wmd's are being found. and, lucky for us, they're becoming vocal about it.

there are current intelligence officials who believe it is a scandal," [vince cannistraro, a former chief of central intelligence agency] said in a telephone interview. they believe the administration, before going to war, had a "moral obligation to use the best information available, not just information that fits your preconceived ideas."

you read it here first (actually, on yahoo first): the 's' word: scandal!

and, kos also has put together a great chart (with cites and sources) showing the number of deaths of us and british troops in iraq during and after the war. did you know that since the photo op of saddam's statue being pulled down for the cameras on april 10th (the "official" fall of baghdad), there have been 64 american deaths in iraq? that's a lot for a war we won being over, don't you think?

kos also reminds us the terror alert level has gone back down to match the stripe down awol's back.
posted by skippy at 6:28 PM | 0 comments
call up mikey and tell him what for

yes, it's kind of late, sorry, but we just opened an email from moveon which gives us the phone number of michael powell's office: (202) 418-1000. moveon and the staff here at skippy urge everyone to phone up the chairman of the fcc early monday morning and let him know that changing the rules of media ownership is unacceptable to a healthy democracy.

once you've called, please let move on know.
posted by skippy at 6:15 PM | 0 comments

Thursday, May 29, 2003

be the 100th caller and win some bland media

skippy unfortunately, finally got a day's worth of work today, so he was forced to choose between making an income in awol's economy or joining the protest against awol's media monopoly. he chose to make money, because it's been so long since he's seen a paycheck, and thusly was unable to join the nation-wide protests against clear channel.

protesters gathered in front of clear channel outlets in pittsburgh and los angeles and san antonio (clear channel's headquarters) new york and washington dc and phoenix and portland and charleston.

we wish we could have been there. but the skippys have to eat. and we may want to retire someday!
posted by skippy at 10:36 PM | 0 comments
blogging around

kos says the dems are starting to find a backbone, one by one...starting with jay rockefeller.

atrios is saying that pfc lynch's family is denying she has amnesia, but aren't saying much more than that...

talkleft takes us over to stop george in 2004 (and she says she got it from cursor)

tom tomorrow reports that time is starting to respond to everyone pointing out they got hoodwinked by gop astro-turf.

spadehammer points out that the big dog is making noise about repealing the 22nd amendment...and spade provides facts and figures as to why this would be a good thing.

a couple of weeks ago (sorry for the delay in browsing, ann!) two tears in a bucket dredged up an old bloom county strip that seems terribly relevant to today.

the smirking chimp reprints a column from our favorite conservative, james pinkerton (even though the bastard has yet to reply to our fan email to him): "god save the iraqis from the american god."
posted by skippy at 10:20 PM | 0 comments

Wednesday, May 28, 2003

fun with google

we did a google search and found some interesting stories:

the newton board of alderman will ponder the patriot act, according to the newton townonline.com:

the resolution would instruct the newton police to not cooperate with federal officials in cases where civil liberties might be violated. it also asks that signs be placed at the newton free library informing all patrons that library records and computer files are now subject to secret search by federal agents under the act.

condeleeza rice admits us diplomacy with germany will circumvent chancellor schroeder, says reuters.

:we're now doing everything we can to improve relations to germany at all levels," the unnamed german visitor quoted rice as saying. "but we're going to work around the chancellor. it's better to leave him out."

and finally, the ultra-conservative sierra times brings us ted lang's column: the bush regime - he's gone over the edge!

[bush] guaranteed that al qaeda terrorists from afghanistan were responsible for 9-11, yet as john leboutillier points out, sent only 20,000 troops there and 200,000 troops to iraq
posted by skippy at 8:32 PM | 0 comments
you'll notice that happy face icon isn't a girl

cursor.org points out that carolyn sapp, miss american 1992, has begun a campaign to alert america to the fact that wal-mart treats its female employees unfairly. from the transcript of her cnn interview:

we want to reach out to people and say, look, this is what is going on at wal-mart. they are not paying women the same as they pay men. they are not promoting them fairly, and it is time that people out there knew, and as far as the consumers, women are the largest consumer at wal-mart, and i think that when they hear this news, they'll make a difference and take a stand against wal- mart.

we already have. we don't buy cheap crap.
posted by skippy at 7:17 PM | 0 comments
skippy's ancestors kicked ass

thanks to amcgltd.com, we find this story from new scientist: bizarre "horned" kangaroo fossils unearthed:

"the kangaroo really is bizarre. it doesn't look like any other living or fossil kangaroo yet discovered," long told new scientist. "the bony projections right above the eyes stick out laterally, and it has a strange bulbous snout."

skippy only grow horns once in a while, and we aren't sure if we'd call skippy's nose a "strange bulbous snout," but "the kangaroo is really bizarre" sure hits home with us.
posted by skippy at 7:05 PM | 0 comments
say hello

to dropstones and the suburban guerilla and easy bake coven's other site susan jayne.

also of note, kevin seems to be out of his doldrums and back blogging like crazy! always something worth checking out on calpundit!
posted by skippy at 6:45 PM | 0 comments
mail bag

spadehammer reminds us he has some action alerts for the upcoming media merger proposals before the fcc: sclm, fcc, powell, & media consolidation.

dr. tom thinks the drop in durable goods orders could create the perfect storm for politics in 2004.

and we need to give deltiology a shout out for giving us a shout out. thanks, chris!
posted by skippy at 6:33 PM | 0 comments
lynch pin

more on jessica lynch's supposed "rescue" from the smirking chimp:

but why should we give more credence to the bbc, the guardian and independent of london, or the toronto star, and other foreign sources, than we do to our domestic media? simply because the us media has squandered its credibility, while the foreign press displays the quality of responsible journalism that we once enjoyed at home and now have lost.
posted by skippy at 8:31 AM | 0 comments
coalition of the boiling

of course, the kos was all over uzbekistan's violation of human rights even before the war in iraq. but now, apparently, some others are waking up to the fact that the uzbeki's are as bad, if not worse, than saddam ever was.
posted by skippy at 8:27 AM | 0 comments

Tuesday, May 27, 2003

moveon over to your check book

moveon.org asked us for a donation to help fight media monopoly...so we thought we'd spread the word.
posted by skippy at 11:19 PM | 0 comments
wait a minute...how'd this wool get pulled over our eyes?

blah3 finds an editorial writer that is slowly changing his mind about awol's veracity in reasons for the the iraq war.
posted by skippy at 8:25 PM | 0 comments
welcome back, devra!

blue streak is up and running again!
posted by skippy at 8:25 PM | 0 comments
it takes an attorney general to stop an attorney general

we pass along ramsey clark's website information, in the slim hopes that it might help. help what, you ask? help impeach bush.

according to vti's [vote to impeach] web site, www.votetoimpeach.org, president george w. bush, vice president richard b. cheney, secretary of defense donald h. rumsfeld and attorney general john david ashcroft have all committed impeachable offenses listed under article ii, section 4 of the constitution.
posted by skippy at 8:09 PM | 0 comments
ashes to ashes, dung to dung

a sonoma county, calif, man is tussling with the california transportation department over his unique political advertising along state highway 116. aside from the usual banners and signs ("honk for bush behind bars," and "impeach me and my gang - george w. bush"), mr. john jenkel has used piles of manure and a casket to make his point, says the press democrat.com.

state transportation crews had taken away signs and the casket, which rested on top of the manure pile. when jenkel refused to move the manure pile measuring 6 feet high and 30 feet around, caltrans crews pushed it farther into his driveway.

however, some people applaud mr. jenkel's approach.

"you've got a lot of guts. and i know you've got to be putting up with a lot of crap," said john steward, of sebastopol.

maybe it's because he's putting out a lot of crap...literally.

posted by skippy at 8:04 PM | 0 comments
we'd hate to think how bad things would be if the war wasn't over

in yet another attack on american soldiers in iraq, gunmen opened fire on u.s. troops in the western town of fallujah, killing two and wounded nine others, says the nytimes.

if you're keeping score, that's seven soldiers dead in the last three days. technically, some of them were killed in accidents. but then, you have to decide if you're going to define "running over a land mine" and "explosion in a munitions dump" as accidents.
posted by skippy at 7:57 PM | 0 comments
o canada!

hopefully things aren't so bad that you are planning to move to canada. but you might want to vacation there, at least if what talkleft tells us comes to pass: canada introduces pot legalization measure.

those under 18 years old could face fines of up to $182 for minor possession while adults could be fined the equivalent of $292.

this move, along with maryland relaxing medicinal marijuana laws, must be making ashcroft quake in his crisco.
posted by skippy at 7:47 PM | 0 comments
say hello

to the subtleties of bushies suck!
posted by skippy at 7:40 PM | 0 comments
people love the black dog

arriving in stores today, for you old hippies and also you youngsters who want to know what real headbanger rock is: 3 cd set of live led zeppelin performances "how the west was won" (merging two 1972 shows, at the los angeles forum and long beach arena). it sounds like it would be worth it just to hear the 23 minute jam on "whole lotta love" (and a reminder of the passion of john bonham with his 19 minute "moby dick" drum solo.)

and, if you insist on living in the 21st century, get the two dvd package "led zeppelin dvd" including perfomances at the royal albert hall ('70) and madison square gardens ('75).

both the cd set and dvd are released by atlantic. here's an interview with page, plant and jones found in usatoday.
posted by skippy at 7:38 PM | 0 comments
people love the big dog

oliver willis reminds us that, in a new poll by usatoday, clinton was the third most admired president in history, behind only lincoln and kennedy, and tying with awol.

and, among 18 to 29 year olds, bubba was tops (and awol only garnered 10% of the vote).

as president, he routinely outflanked republicans' legislative efforts and frustrated the gop's attempts to make his moral failing an impeachable offense. now americans put him in the top ranks of great presidents. this has to make conservatives squirm.

posted by skippy at 4:24 PM | 0 comments
stop clearchannel! or at least, piss them off a little

may 29th has been designated as a national protest clear channel day. moveon.org sends us an email telling us that united for peace and code pink have organized protests in front of some clear channel outlets throughout the nation, including here in los angeles, as well as san francisco and washington dc.

cursor wants to know if the protesters will be marching along side of william safire.
posted by skippy at 4:14 PM | 0 comments
the jayson blair witch project

we enjoy sullywatch, even if only for the wonderful tone it has that strikes a delicate balance between irony and bitchiness, something not seen in english letters since oscar wilde.

but sullywatch is on a tear, and important tear, this week, as he finds so many other examples of down right dishonest reporting, by reporters who don't happen to be black, but somehow happen to escape national scrutiny for their errors. (too many great posts on this subject to link to, just go to sullywatch and spend a few minutes reading. you won't be sorry).

update: while you're surfing, check out romenesko who has nothing but stories about plagarism among "official" journalists.
posted by skippy at 3:55 PM | 0 comments
say hello

to the rusmeister.
posted by skippy at 3:47 PM | 0 comments
commentary on the chicks

our friend jenny at the little red cook book directs our attention to duncan campbell's commentary in the uk guardian about the recent ugly reception the dixie chicks received at this year's country music awards.

aside from this observation "one could not help but notice that maines's t-shirt had the letters futk on it. the last two letters, it transpired, stood for toby keith. (heaven only knows what the first two stood for)" [ed. note: we can guess!], we were taken with this thought mr. campbell had:

the sad thing is that country music, at its best, used to celebrate outsiders, people who bucked the system. the awards ceremony showed that it has now passed completely into the hands of the kind of folks who look up suspiciously in westerns when a stranger comes into the saloon. much of the music sounds as though it has been written by a self-pitying computer.

still, whatever happened in las vegas, the dixie chicks are playing to sold-out houses on their national tour. country music, at least the kind that was on display in las vegas, needs them more than they need country music.

many of the participants in the awards ceremony dressed like cowboys. but for some reason, sheep were the animals that kept coming to mind.
posted by skippy at 3:43 PM | 0 comments
hey kevin! write a poem!

kevin, don't be depressed by the repubbblicans! get even! write a dark, gothic poem with the goth-o-matic poetry generator! (thanks to easy bake coven for the link!)
posted by skippy at 1:24 PM | 0 comments
say hello

to peace tree farm.
posted by skippy at 1:19 PM | 0 comments

Monday, May 26, 2003

it can't happen here...eyah.

readers of this space will confirm we have often proclaimed our steadfast belief: fascism doesn't happen all at once, it creeps up on you a little at a time.

and it seems to be creeping up faster these days in barre, vermont.

apparently, according to the barre/montpelier times argus on line, a certain officer john mott of the barre police force was concerned over what tom treece was teaching in his spaulding high school public issues class.

things like bumper stickers saying "vermonters for a bush/cheney regime change." in other words, ideas from...gasp!...the left!

so what does concerned office mott do? approach the school board? write a letter to the editor of the times argus? go out in the woods and shoot at a target labled "commie teacher"?

no. he illegally breaks into the locked school room at night and photographs the students' history projects.

mott has steadfastly maintained he entered the school through an unlocked maintenance door that he frequently used when he worked for years as an instructor of spaulding’s jrotc program. he says he then found custodian arnold cliche. cliche, who is responsible for making sure all doors are locked, reportedly told school officials a different story. they claim the custodian insisted he let mott in through the school’s front entrance where he found the officer banging on the door.

and the photographs have wound up on rush limbaugh's web site:

according to [school superintendent dororthy] anderson, at least one parent has complained about a photograph of her child’s project that has been posted, along with other pictures on limbaugh’s website.

oh, no problem with the color of authority disobeying search and seizure laws and violating the spirit of the first amendment. come on, let's go burn some dixie chicks cd's!
posted by skippy at 11:39 PM | 0 comments
lynch mob

well, it's made it into the mainstream media! no, not the bush being awol story (come on, wake up, this is reality we're talking about).

no, we mean the questioning of the amazing super duper patriotic rescue of poor little jessica lynch, lying with multiple gunshot wounds in a hostile iraqi hospital, to be finally saved by gun-toting american commandos in a dangerously heroic raid.

the chicago tribune tries to sort "fact from fiction" in pfc. lynch's story.

"there was never a bullet wound," said [iraqi doctor harith] al-houssona, who operated on lynch to install a metal plate in her leg. "it's a myth if [someone said] there was."

despite her nationality, lack of supplies and the chaos of treating dozens of iraqi wounded, hospital workers were proud of how they treated lynch as a "guest" rather than a war prisoner. they said the staff donated two of the three pints of blood she received...

"i never saw any strangers near jessica," said furat hussein, one of the nurses. "she was never mistreated."


if this story, which first broke on the bbc, is actually being reported in america, then there might be hope yet.

jessica is said to have amnesia about the whole incident. hm. could it be audo (amnesia upon direct order)?

soldiers from jessica's el paso, texas-based 507th maintenance company have been warned not to talk. a soldier in that unit said, "it's almost `say a word and you'll be shot at dawn.'"
posted by skippy at 8:36 PM | 0 comments
say hello

to carl with a k (and his fine howard dean photo collection).
posted by skippy at 8:04 PM | 0 comments
who needs zoloft when we've got talkleft?

hey, kevin, don't be so down in the dumps over world affairs.

first of all, even though nobody will admit it, the economy has slid out of a recession into a depression (at least, by this standard: a recession is when your neighbor loses his job. a depression is when you lose your job. if that's the case, the skippy economy is in a depression).

so, if we're in a depression, no wonder you're depressed! but more than that, kev, be sure to read what our buddy talkleft has to say about fighting an uphill battle:

the message here: get out of bed. we don't have the luxury of being depressed. there is too much work to do. we have battles to fight and wars to win. we need you, kevin, and those feeling the same way, to recognize there is power in numbers, and if you all go to sleep instead of hanging in here to fight the good fight with us, then all of us have lost.

she's right, kids. liberty and equality aren't entitlements. they are valuable freedoms that must be fought for, every single day, because every single day there are those who, because of their small penises or fear of dying, grasp for all the power they can get on this earthly plane, and so will take your power away if you're not watching.

impossible odds? maybe. but that's when revolution, in thinking as well as in politics, works the best. like talkleft says,

we can take him out--through the electoral process. we just have to get out the vote and defeat bush. please, do anything except stand mute.
posted by skippy at 8:03 PM | 0 comments
those darn polls!

awol's job ratings numbers are dropping. check out the great graphic professor pollkatz has for you (and here's the numbers to back it up).
posted by skippy at 7:52 PM | 0 comments
happy memorial day from the bush economic team

everyone gets a tax cut for the summer! if, by everyone, we mean anybody that makes over $200,000 annually, or has a whole bunch of kids. so billionaires and white trash should enjoy a break real soon.

the nytimes discusses the sickly economy, with no cure in sight:

few policy makers or economists question the need for action, even if some are unhappy with the particulars. after roughly three years of falling stocks and rising unemployment, another downturn could create a whole new class of problems. the already big pool of the long-term unemployed could swell. inflation — now near its lowest level in decades — might turn into deflation, a sustained decline in prices that can set off a vicious cycle of wage cuts and unmanageable debt.

the article goes on to quote one of our favorite blogging economists:

economists overwhelmingly agree on the wisdom of running deficits during downturns, particularly one that has raised fears of deflation. "the deflation scenario is so dangerous," said j. bradford delong, an economist at the university of california at berkeley, "we want to take every step we can to avoid it."

james brosnan, writing in gomemphis.com, puts it rather well:

congress approved a $7 billion extension of unemployment benefits, passed a $330 billion tax cut and $20 billion in aid for local and state governments, and raised the government's debt ceiling by a record $984 billion, to just under $7.4 trillion.

the first of those actions was an admission that the first bush tax cuts didn't work. the second promised more of the same. and the third put off the day of reckoning for fiscal irresponsibility.


and, lest you get too comfortable in your insistance that all that doesn't matter as long as we have cash in our hands, mr. brosnan reminds us:

under the republican tax cut plan, every cut that favors the lowest and moderate-income tax brackets the most expires after next year's presidential election.

[ed. note: use of bold button and shock effect ours]

of course, most of the skybox class are absolutely giddy over the prospect of lower capital gains taxes. the conventional wisdom goes, lower taxes will induce more investors to buy stocks.

but mrs. skippy, ever the pragmatist, often asks this question when she hears that logic on the tv news: gee, won't a lower capital gains tax make people want to sell their stocks? hmmm....
posted by skippy at 7:41 PM | 0 comments
america knows what "awol" means

a google news-search of "bush" and "awol" comes up with more than a few questions from regular americans who want to know why bush, who is obviously awol from his tang duty in the 70's, is still allowed to play with big toys like a jet plane landing on an aircraft carrier.

bryon krol, writing to the editor of the arizona republic: besides, if president bush really wanted to experience a landing on a carrier, he shouldn't have gone awol while he was in the service.

galen watts, writing to the editor of the charleston gazette: or was it [landing on the carrier] so that george bush could claim he’d reported back for duty after having gone awol during the vietnam war?

robert florence, writing to the editor of the times-picayune: of course he's glad he did it [land on the carrier]. he missed his chance to do it in 1972, when as an air force reservist he was called up for duty and apparently went awol for eight months.

richard e. snyder, writing to the editor of the modesto bee: this is the same guy, by the way, who went awol and didn't finish his last year of duty in the cushy national guard unit in alabama, even though he was ordered to do so.
bill gallagher, writing in the niagra falls reporter: so it wasn't surprising that the corporate-bought shills for the administration made no mention of the fact that the commander in chief went awol and neglected the final two years of his military obligation. too delicate and too embarrassing to bring up at such a triumphant moment.

gene fitzgerald, writing to the editor of the salt lake tribune: awol for more than 30 days makes you guilty of desertion, the maximum penalty for which during war time is death. bush did not even receive a reprimand. if the information is correct, bush should be serving time in the brig, not in the white house.


andrew greeley, writing in the chicago sun-times: it is a useful political label for a president who wants to be re-elected as a wartime leader and to land on an aircraft carrier dressed in flight gear (even though he was in effect awol for at least a year during the vietnam war).

brandon keim, writing in the boston's weekly dig: but what did they expect from a president who went awol from his own military duties for more than a year during the early '70s? the technical term for such behavior is, after all, desertion.

the boulder daily camera editorial page: and well-documented stories about sketchier aspects of his hitch — he went more-or-less awol for a year, during which time he failed to take a physical, thereby losing his flight status — remain unknown to most americans.

becky waddingham and yuri el dorado, writing in the colorado state collegian: and if w. really wanted to experience landing on a carrier, maybe he wouldn't have gone awol from the air national guard for a year while he was defending the skies over texas and alabama during vietnam.

[full disclosure: colroado state is skippy's alma mater! that's not really full disclosure, just a bit of serendipity, we suppose]
posted by skippy at 4:12 PM | 0 comments
the war that keeps on giving

the world tribune reports that the us will send 20,000 additional troops to iraq, obstensively to stabilize that country. that's nice, considering we were the ones that de-stablized it in the first place.

guess those 20,000 troops are needed to protect the ones that are already there. one soldier was killed and four wounded in ambushes yesterday, and one soldier was killed and one wounded in a munitions explosion on sunday, according to reuters.

"they deserved it and they deserve more. they are occupiers, not liberators," said ali abbas, a resident of the amiriyah area in western baghdad.

well, nice to know how the natives feel about us.
posted by skippy at 4:01 PM | 0 comments
mail call

matt over at earth-info.net sends us this bbc news video about british bike patrols in basra.

eric over at antidotal alerts us to this report that the chinese tradition of eating the civet cat may have been the cause of sars.

and jenny of the little red cook book wants us all to read lisa english's post at ruminate this! about the dangers of "black box voting," something we here at skippy have been expounding upon since finding the great site black box voting. beware any voting mechanism that can't be verified, folks!

jenny also directs us to a great site from her own blog where we can leave a message for tony blair telling him exactly what we think of his support for the iraqi invasion.
posted by skippy at 3:25 PM | 0 comments

Sunday, May 25, 2003

thanks for the good wishes

one great thing about blogtopia (yes! we coined that phrase!) is the feeling of community we have, among people we have never even met face to face. we were touched by lisa's anniversary wishes for the skippy's over at her fine blog, ruminate this!

for the record, the skippy's had a great time in bakersfield, buck owens played bob wills on his fiddle and picked some mighty fine guitar licks, whilst the buckaroos accompanied him, and everyone danced all night long.

thanks much, lisa!
posted by skippy at 8:49 PM | 0 comments
are we sure we won?

the iraqi people, no longer cowering in terror at the brutal whims of the blood thirsty dictator saddam hussein, are now cowering in terror at the brutal whims of the blood thirsty gangs that roam the streets, according to the uk guardinan:

baghdad is being carved up by armed gangs. towns in the south - apart from the port city of basra, under british control - are even more dangerous. in the city of hilla, near babylon, the poor quarter of nada, where scores of civilians were killed by cluster bombs during the war, is out of bounds to strangers and us troops alike. both the observer and human rights watch were warned not to enter without an armed escort.

and the latimes says that the disarray in iraq threatens us plans:

the lack of essential services and the diminishing quality of life also appear to have strengthened support for shiite muslim conservatives, some of whom already are organizing anti-u.s. protests. in some cases, shiite imams are distributing charity and organizing cleanups, casting themselves as the group most concerned about the plight of ordinary people and trying to build support for an islamic government.

doesn't sound like we won much, after all.

posted by skippy at 8:46 PM | 0 comments

Friday, May 23, 2003

happy memorial day

skippy is taking mrs. skippy up to listen to buck owens at the crystal palace this weekend to celebrate the skippys' wedding anniversary, so there will be light to no blogging this weekend.

go read talkleft or atrios or calpundit or little red cookbook or roger ailes or tom tomorrow or body and soul or eric alterman or wtf is it now? or the daily kos or the horse or ruminate this! or lean left or spadehammer or plucky punk or liberal oasis or cursor or blah3 or antiwar or the smirking chimp or the daily rant or madkane or gail davis or brad de long or the democratic veteran or the rittenhouse review or max sawicky...

or any other fine blog on our blog roll. we'll be eatin' some dwight yoakum baby back ribs and dancin' to "act naturally" with the missus, so have fun!
posted by skippy at 4:39 PM | 0 comments

Thursday, May 22, 2003

magilla guerilla

here's a site we recently found, which looks to be interesting: guerilla news network.
posted by skippy at 4:08 PM | 0 comments
this...is bush's brain...this is bush's brain on pretzels

we ourselves haven't read the book yet, but bush's brain: how karl rove made george w. bush presidential looks like it's worth the time.

one of the authors, james c. moore, writing in the latimes, opines:

rove fancies himself an expert in both policy and politics because he sees no distinction between the two. this matters for a number of reasons. there is always a time during any president's administration when what is best for the future of the country diverges from what best serves that president's political future. if rove is standing with bush at that moment, he will push the president in the direction of re-election rather than the country's best interests.

mr. moore, and his co-author, wayne slater, were reporters who followed rove's career for 15 years down in texas, so they should have some insight into it all.
posted by skippy at 4:04 PM | 0 comments
congressjerks don't have a (media) monopoly on being obnoxious

the lovely common cause and the even lovelier jenny of little red cookbook remind us that next week, since our congressjerks will be home for a few days, it would be a fine time to contact them and bug them about upcoming media consolidation (fcc) votes.

common cause has a page where you can enter your zip code and see if there will be any meetings with congressjerks in your area that you can attend and make your voice heard. we'd recommend that everyone do so, unless you hold michael savage and joe "what dead woman in my office" scarborough as models of news dissemination.
posted by skippy at 3:42 PM | 0 comments
update on stupidy

soundbitten, who is not a lawyer, but sounds like he plays one on tv, analyzes michael weiner's lawsuits against the web sites that dare parody his brand of vitrol.
posted by skippy at 12:37 PM | 0 comments
going down faster than drunken twins at spring break

the kos reports that awol's approval numbers are dropping unusually fast.

the latest nbc/wsj poll has his approval numbers down 9 points from last month:

[62 percent approval rating] was a drop, however, when compared to bush’s support in the same poll a month ago, when 71 percent backed the president as the u.s. invasion of iraq dominated news coverage. and it was below levels as high as 67 percent in surveys conducted before the war. [ed. note: use of bold button ours]

his positive numbers are disappearing faster than saddam's wmd! or saddam, for that matter...or osama, either...or jobs for americans...or a budget surplus...
posted by skippy at 12:32 PM | 0 comments
down under on the blue danube

reader laura newton sends us this sad story about one of our cousins who was killed by a hit and run in vienna, austria...

vienna, austria -- the carcass of an australian kangaroo was discovered near the town of steyr, 100 miles west of here, police say. the animal -- the pet of a private owner -- had apparently escaped from its cage before hopping onto a road where it was hit by a car.

the driver then sped away, leaving the poor pet owner inconsolable.

we kangaroos mourn for our fallen comrade...we hope he's hopping to a strauss waltz somewhere in heaven now.

posted by skippy at 12:13 PM | 0 comments

Wednesday, May 21, 2003

more chicks news

counterpunch has it all, although we're happy to say we've already brought you most of it, courtesy of little red cook book's updates.
posted by skippy at 6:11 PM | 0 comments
notes from a broad (and one from a guy)

our friend laura newton sends us these two tongue-in-cheek articles from the borowitz report:

in first breakfast at home, ari fleischer dodges wife's questions, and

martha stewart obtains nuclear weapons, plans strike on cybill shepherd.

while we were there, we checked out weekly world news fires reporter over batboy story.

but on a more somber note, dave over at seeing the forest sends us this unfortunate bit of news: michael wiener is suing a website which takes issue with his "savage nation" folderol.

dave says his friend who runs the savagestupidity.com website is in need of financial assistance to obtain a lawyer, so why not surf over to his site and help him out?
posted by skippy at 6:00 PM | 0 comments
freep the beard

left hand side bar, as usual.
posted by skippy at 1:04 PM | 0 comments
so much for bombings, now the important stuff

skippy did not see american idol last night (he was busy trying to get a job). but from what we saw on monday night, we will go out on a limb and reverse our ealier predicition: the geeky guy will win over the big fat guy.

on monday, clay akins looked calm, professional and sure of himself. ruben studdard, while a crowd pleasure, seems a bit nervous and off his game. we cannot wait to see the results tonight.

whatever happens, we are looking forward to their first movie together: from ruben to clay.

oh yeah. and david e. kelley has fired the stars of the practice. because we all know it was the realistic writing that made that show worthwhile.
posted by skippy at 1:02 PM | 0 comments
winning the war but losing the world

sure, we're winning the war on terrorism. just don't tell that to the al qaeda operatives who left saudi arabia and may be headed to the us, according to the latimes:

days before the suicide car bombings here that killed at least 34 people last week, members of an al qaeda cell slipped out of the country and headed for europe or america, a senior saudi official said monday, adding that there is a "very serious" threat of another terrorist strike.

and don't tell that to prince bin sultan, a saudi official, who, according to ananova, warns of new terrorist threats:

prince bandar bin sultan said "there is chatter, a high level of chatter regionally and in other international spots" that something could happen in saudi arabia or the us.

and don't tell that to the fbi who warms there might be terrorist attacks in this country, says usatoday:

officials are fearful that al-qaeda could expand its plans for a wave of attacks overseas into the united states. fbi director robert mueller stressed wednesday, however, there is "no specificity" as to potential targets or times of attack.

and don't tell that to senior al qaeda official ayman al-zawahri, who urges attacks on americans and jews, reports haaretz.com.

hey, who cares about the economy anyway?

(al qaeda story links thanks to antiwar.com, cs monitor story courtesy of argmax.com)
posted by skippy at 12:54 PM | 0 comments
blogging around

the horse is good today. among other things, they take us to tom tomorrow, who points out that time magazine fell for the gop astroturn form letter that appeared all over the country, word for word, under various "real people's" names. tom has an action alert to time magazine to politely point out that they were hornswoggled (and here's an excellent reference page about the very gop letter).
posted by skippy at 12:42 PM | 0 comments
the mail bag

the reach'm cowboy network noose has found quite a few flash videos and animations poking fun at awol.

and spadehammer points out that there is no specific data to go with the raised terror threat level; just a general feeling that bush's numbers are dropping.
posted by skippy at 12:26 PM | 0 comments

Tuesday, May 20, 2003

to practice class warfare, first, you need some class...

atrios links us to the latest article from warren buffet, who warns against the tax cut that awol wants to put in his billionaire buddies' pockets:

supporters of making dividends tax-free like to paint critics as promoters of class warfare. the fact is, however, that their proposal promotes class welfare. for my class.

we wish we remember who said "democrats preach class warfare...repubbblicans practice it."
posted by skippy at 5:16 PM | 0 comments
watch out for citrus fruit

upon realizing that al qaeda is not shaking in its collective sandals, the office of fatherland security has raised the threat level to orange. so, don't buy any oranges this week! or even tangelos!
posted by skippy at 5:09 PM | 0 comments
fan mail from some flounders

we get a slew of letters from other bloggers alerting us to different stories that we may have missed.

matt prescott of earth-info.net sends us a few notes: here's nobel laurete joseph stigler's take on "dubyanonmics;" and here's a review of the times the us army was ordered to intervene in the coal strikes of 1920-21; and finally, apparently sesame street is being used to torture iraqi prisoners, according to this.

then, reader laura newton sends us this musing from religion & ethics newsweekly (from wnet in new york) about awol's religious rhetoric; and a transcript of bill moyers' interview with jay lifton; and finally, laura wonders if skippy is ab negative when she sends this report about dracula's mother.

and, chuck simmons, one of our friends from the other side of the aisle, sends us this article from the hill which points out that dick gephart has missed 85% of the votes in congress this year.

and finally, our friend jenny over at little red cook book, continues the saga of the dixie chicks, with more proof that the "grass roots" swell of outrage against the chicks was actually orchestrated in republican headquarters.
posted by skippy at 2:44 PM | 0 comments

Monday, May 19, 2003

ding dong the witch is dead!

which old witch? the wicked witch!
posted by skippy at 11:00 PM | 0 comments
wanna bet bill dislikes bill's take on bill?

both atrios and the rittenhouse review point out william f. buckley's unforgiving stand on bill bennett's hypocrisy.

he is objectively discredited. he will not be proffered any public post by any president into the foreseeable future. he will not publish another book on another virtue, if there is any he has neglected to write about. it is possible that the books written by him on the subject, sitting in bookstores, will work their way to the remainder houses. these are the consequences of the damage he has done to himself. it could always be that his inherent talents will prevail over undiscriminating fate. there are those who hope it will be so.

you go, bill!
posted by skippy at 10:59 PM | 0 comments
thanks for the help, no go home

upwards of 10,000 shi'ites held a peaceful but noisy demonstration in baghdad, demanding that us troops leave their country, says the nando times.

up to 10,000 people gathered in front of a sunni muslim mosque in baghdad's northern district of azimiyah, then marched across a bridge on the tigris river to the nearby kadhamiya quarter, home to one of the holiest shiite shrines in iraq.

it appeared to be the largest protest against the u.s. occupation since the war ended.

"what we are calling for is an interim government that represents all segments of iraqi society," said ali salman, an activist.


the uk telegraph reports that anti-us sentiment is growing in leaps and bounds all throughout iraq.

the victory bunting has now been replaced by ominous graffiti, some of it posted adjacent to us military positions. the more polite slogans state: "you have done your job us, now please go home". others declare: "us army, you will die." the us troops are no longer being seen as liberators, but as occupiers, and incompetent ones at that.

the independent on line says that most iraqis doubt the us's intentions to leave at all.

senior iraqi political figures who have returned from exile have in any case expressed deep suspicion of the term "interim authority" rather than a more powerful "interim government" to pave the way for elections.

they said an "authority" was unlikely to grant iraqis full control over sensitive ministries and foreign policy.


(thanks and a tip of the bush kangaroo hat to antiwar.com for the links!)
posted by skippy at 10:50 PM |