Allen August 25th, 2004
Are all talk shows based on CrossBalls?
Read Bait-and-switch media to see if you don’t come to the same conclusion.
From the article:
Readers sometimes ask why I am seldom seen or heard on television or radio. Mainly it is because I turn down 90 percent of the invitations I get.
The article goes on to illustrate several examples of the bait-and-switch tactics in use by the media today. Michelle Malkin recently was subjected to Chris Matthew’s attempt at slime-ball journalism. She is brought on to discuss her new book and ends up discussing Kerry’s self-inflicted (and now self-admitted) wounds.
And people wonder why traditional media is held is such low regard.
Oh, and sometimes I just sits.
Allen August 24th, 2004
At WOLD (D-D-D).
Wait. Nope. Actually, I am the Morning Talk Show Host at KLSD.
Air America is in talks with Clear Channel Communications to change KPOP (currently a Silver Oldies Station) to KLSD (an Air America station). This new format will be part of the national chain of Liberal Talk Radio.
As a note, Clear Channel Communication executives have long sponsored Republican candidates and causes.
KLSD?
As part of their promotion package, they are going to hand out blotter-stamps with images of Al Franken and Janeane Garofalo on them. Supporters are encouraged to put the stamps on their tongues and tune in to the shows.
Allen August 24th, 2004
I read in Domino Effect Feared From Closures of Emergency Rooms that more and more emergency rooms are closing in Los Angeles County — causing further strain on the remaining ERs.
Public officials and some healthcare economists warn that further closures of large emergency rooms could set off a chain reaction. As uninsured patients move from closed emergency rooms to others that are already under financial strain, those facilities too could close.
Hospital officials have been warning of a crisis for the last 15 years, and have used the issue to gain support from the state and federal governments. An initiative on the November ballot supported by doctor groups would impose a 3% surcharge on telephone bills to pay for additional emergency services and other health costs.
As a note, ERs are by law not allowed to turn people away because of the inability to pay. So those without insurance and with low income are increasingly using them as their “primary care physician”. Those additional costs show up as the $12 aspirin that you are charged when you stay at the hospital.
At some point, the current policies will trigger a cascade failure that will result in one of three outcomes: (1) ERs will no longer be forced to treat people who are not able to pay for the services (not likely), (2) We will have some sort of baseline National Healthcare Insurance (Socialized Medicine — the horror, the horror) or (3) Some sort of federal underwriting of ERs (most likely scenario).
Option 3 allows the US to have socialized medicine (albeit a high-cost socialized medicine) without having to say we do.
If we do implement option 2, I hope we do so with some sort of vouchers — thus retaining at least some semblance of competition.
Allen August 24th, 2004
Phish just recently wrapped up a final conference on the medical use of marijuana. Papers presented include: “Doritos or Twinkies: A Study in Glycemic Levels in Post-Teen Adults”, “Bong Water: Medical Waste or Medical Marvel?”, “28 Days Without A Mellow: A Case Study” and “Topology of the Back of Your Hand: I Mean Really Look!”
With that in mind, Liberal Larry has a Public Service Announcement.
Glaucoma is a degenerative disease caused by slowly increasing pressure of the fluids within the eye, resulting in a loss of peripheral vision, increased appetite, loud talking and bursts of laughter, lack of concentration or forgetfulness, poor dental hygeine, body odor similiar to burnt rope and cat piss, and the tendency to say “Dude” in every sentence. In its final stages, glaucoma sufferers can barely discern their own black-light Grateful Dead tapestries, even next to the glow of their lava lamps. Sadly, they spend their last days confined to their bean bag chairs, staring at the ceiling with glazed-over expressions, empty bags of Doritos scattered across the floor, Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon CD on infinite repeat.
Until Bush and his evangelist masters realize that marijuana is NOT the Devil’s Weed but miracle cure for all sorts of totally bogus diseases and stuff, more innocent people will be condemned to a world of darkness, suffering, and stanky, low-quality ratweed that some toothless weirdo grew in his basement.
Allen August 23rd, 2004
I could really get behind a Kerry presidency.
A quote from the article:
Kerry’s detailed plans for Iraq, and for carrying the war on terror to Al Qaeda and its backers elsewhere, seem to have left the Bush Administration floundering. Sources close to the Bush campaign say that some Bush operatives are considering an attack on Kerry’s Vietnam record, but many are skeptical. “I don’t think that’ll work,” says cyber-pundit Glenn Reynolds, who calls Kerry’s Iraq plan promising. “Most voters have no idea Kerry was even in Vietnam. He never talks about it, so where’s the traction? It’s ancient history.”
Oh, wait. Just re-read the entire article and realized that it was just satire. Nevermind.
[Via Dean's World]
Allen August 23rd, 2004
A footnote in the history of American politics.
A garish example of American Imperialism.
A shameful example of Americans abandoning their allies.
[T]he name of a country of 82 million human beings — who live under one of the most repressive dictatorships on Earth.Boston.com / News / Politics / Presidential candidates / john kerry / Vietnam today
From the article (emphasis added):
Late last month, for example, the regime sentenced Nguyen Dan Que, a 62-year-old physician, to 30 months in prison for the crime of “abusing democratic freedoms.” Translation: He wrote essays condemning government censorship and posted them on the Internet.
…
Pro-democracy activists are not the only victims of Vietnam’s dictatorship. For years it has persecuted the indigenous highland tribes known as Montagnards, singling them out for religious repression — most of them are devout Christians — and confiscating their ancestral lands. In April, when some Montagnards staged a peaceful protest to demand religious freedom, the government reacted with a violent crackdown. Hundreds of Montagnards were beaten by police and by ethnic Vietnamese armed with clubs and metal rods.
“They beat the demonstrators, including children,” one eyewitness told Human Rights Watch. “People’s arms and legs were broken, their skulls cracked. Children were separated from their parents. Near Ea Knir bridge, two people were killed.” Other witnesses told of protesters being blinded with tear gas, then handcuffed, taken away, and never seen again. Some Montagnards were tortured. Human Rights Watch mentions two who were tied up and hung over a fire until their limbs were scorched.
Few Americans have made an issue of Vietnam’s harsh denial of political and religious liberty. One who has is Representative Chris Smith of New Jersey, author of a bill linking growth in US aid to Vietnam to “substantial progress” in Vietnam’s human rights record. Smith’s bill, the Vietnam Human Rights Act, passed the House by an overwhelming 410-1 vote in 2001. But it never got a hearing or a vote in the Senate, where it was blocked by the then-chairman of the East Asian and Pacific Affairs subcommittee — John Kerry.
Note that the bill would not have blocked current US aid — to the tune of $40M — but only growth in the aid.
So what’s the current status of the 2004 version of the bill? Languishing in the Committee on Foreign Relations in the Senate.
Allen August 23rd, 2004
The Llama Butchers have a proposed list of replacement names for The Dream Team.
Who am I to disagree?
Other possible entries:
The ‘Milli Vanilli’ Poseurs
The Banana Splits (cause Wacky hi-jinks are more entertaining!)
The MAD Dogs (motto: ‘No Defense is a Good Defense’)
The ‘Alfonso Bedoya’ Gold Hats (motto: ‘Metals? We ain’t got no metals. We don’t need no metals.’)
The ‘Sandy Lyle’ Raindrops
Allen August 20th, 2004
From Yahoo! News - After Five Golds, Phelps Bows Out of Relay
Michael Phelps (news - web sites) is done for the Olympics. Shortly after winning his fifth gold medal and seventh overall, Phelps told U.S. men’s coach Eddie Reese that he wanted to give up his spot on the butterfly leg of the 400-meter medley relay team to Ian Crocker.
Phelps, who already swam in the morning preliminaries on the medley relay, earned a right to swim the final by beating Crocker in the 100 fly Friday night by a minuscule four-hundredths of a second. But Phelps said he would cede his coveted spot in the final to Crocker.
“We came into this meet as a team and we’re going to leave it as a team,” Phelps said. “It’s the right thing to do.”
Update: As a note, Michael will get the same metal as the rest of the team as he was part of the preliminary qualifying team.
Allen August 20th, 2004
More Trashcan Basketball
The sound-track sounds like something out of the early 80s. Garrggh!