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Most Americans Wild for Walmart
A Rasmussen Reports survey of 1,000 adults found that sixty-nine percent (69%) of Americans have a favorable opinion of Walmart, including 29% who have a very favorable opinion of the retail giant.

The reviews are even better among those who have worked for Walmart (or have family members who have been employed by the firm). Among these workers, 79% have a favorable opinion of the company.
comment posted at 1:55 PM on Jun-28-06

Youtube has been hacked.
comment posted at 10:33 PM on Jun-1-06

We have been called to inspire absolutely nothing in you , and we’re answering that call here tonight.
comment posted at 10:30 PM on May-10-06

One of the most powerful blog entries I've ever stumbled across. This woman writes her two young sons a letter to be opened and read in twelve years. It's a profound piece on what she expects of them as men.
comment posted at 12:48 PM on Mar-11-06

Red State, Meet Police State --take a big anti-Bush bumper sticker, some DHS cops, and an outspoken and educated federal employee. Put them in Boise, Idaho. Mix well. "It's the First Amendment for a reason--not the last, not the middle. The first."
comment posted at 11:12 AM on Feb-16-06

Patch Windows now. The Windows Metafile exploits are beginning to look like one of the worst-ever Windows malware epidemics. It is a true drive-by exploit - infection with a whole raft of insidious malware just by looking at a web page with IE, or reading an email or IM with an image (depending on the program you use). It will really explode tomorrow when all the business PCs go back online, because as of now there is no good prevention with firewalls, anti-virus or IDS. The SANS Internet Storm Center handlers have been the most up to date source of information (first link above). The DSL Reports thread has good signal-to-noise. Insight and advice actually comes close to outweighing the usual microsoft-bashing in the latest /. thread on it. But Ilfak Guilfanov has outdone everyone with an unofficial patch (source included - admire the code - he is expertly patching a closed-source binary).
comment posted at 7:53 AM on Jan-2-06

[newsfilter]Espionage in the White House. First known W.H. spy in modern history.[/newsfilter]
comment posted at 9:01 PM on Oct-5-05

Sheehan Reality Nice video taken at the outset of the Sheehan protest -- makes you feel like you were right there before all the pundits and interpreters. See for yourself.
comment posted at 10:21 AM on Aug-17-05

The Unofficial War: U.S., Britain Led Massive Secret Bombing Campaign Before Iraq War Was Declared

A U.S. general who commanded the U.S. allied air forces in Iraq has confirmed that the U.S. and Britain conducted a massive secret bombing campaign before the U.S. actually declared war on Iraq...Starting in late May to June of 2002 a flurry of activity began both in the United States and in the Middle East. In what appears to be an admission of covert activity, chief allied air force commander Lieutenant-General Michael Moseley divulged in a little-noticed quote in the New York Times that US/British aircraft flew 21,736 sorties between June 2002 and March 2003.

[Previously posted in a comment by ericb at 12:56 PM PST on June 27; more inside]
comment posted at 10:14 AM on Jun-28-05

Cruise proposed to Katie Holmes this morning while on the Eiffel Tower. They've been in the news a lot since they first got together. and more than one person has suggested that this is all too staged and too much of a marketing thing. After all, who really holds a press conference 2 hours after you propose to announce it?
comment posted at 10:32 AM on Jun-17-05

Journalism's vacation from the truth One day after Tucker Carlson, the co-host of CNN's "Crossfire," made his farewell appearance and two days after the network's new president made the admirable announcement that he would soon kill the program altogether, a television news miracle occurred: even as it staggered through its last steps to the network guillotine, "Crossfire" came up with the worst show in its 23-year history
comment posted at 7:11 PM on Jan-15-05

The United States has lost Iraq. "Even Secretary of State Colin Powell, a former general who stays in touch with the Joint Chiefs, has acknowledged [the insurgents winning] privately to friends in recent weeks. The insurgents have effectively created a reign of terror throughout the country, killing thousands, driving Iraqi elites and technocrats into exile and scaring foreigners out."
comment posted at 2:07 PM on Oct-31-04

What Is Conservatism and What Is Wrong with It?

Q: What is conservatism?
A: Conservatism is the domination of society by an aristocracy.

Q: What is wrong with conservatism?
A: Conservatism is incompatible with democracy, prosperity, and civilization in general. It is a destructive system of inequality and prejudice that is founded on deception and has no place in the modern world.

via Three Toed Sloth..
comment posted at 1:34 PM on Oct-30-04

Obligatory post-debate thread. Who do you think won? Why? Do the VP debates matter?
comment posted at 8:40 PM on Oct-5-04

Dodging the draft call up? Fewer than two-thirds of the former soldiers being reactivated for duty in Iraq and elsewhere have reported on time, prompting the Army to threaten some with punishment for desertion. The former soldiers, part of what is known as the Individual Ready Reserve (IRR), are being recalled to fill shortages in skills needed for the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
comment posted at 8:56 PM on Oct-4-04

“If You Harbor Terrorists, You Are a Terrorist” While delegates to the GOP convention were congratulating themselves for their candidate’s tough stand against terrorism, the Bush administration was creating an international incident—little publicized in the United States—by harboring a notorious group of international terrorists on U.S. soil.
comment posted at 11:36 AM on Sep-22-04

Howard Dean speaks --on the coming draft. Any of you going to be 20 in 2005, and/or medical personnel? And girls, don't think you'll be exempt. (altho we know Jenna and Barbara of course will be.)
comment posted at 4:50 PM on Sep-21-04

Why Bush Left Texas Growing evidence suggests that George W. Bush abruptly left his Texas Air National Guard unit in 1972 for substantive reasons pertaining to his inability to continue piloting a fighter jet. A months-long investigation, which includes examination of hundreds of government-released documents, interviews with former Guard members and officials, military experts and Bush associates, points toward the conclusion that Bush's personal behavior was causing alarm among his superior officers and would ultimately lead to his fleeing the state to avoid a physical exam he might have had difficulty passing... If it is demonstrated that profound behavioral problems marred Bush's wartime performance and even cut short his service, it could seriously challenge Bush's essential appeal as a military steward and guardian of societal values. It could also explain the incomplete, contradictory and shifting explanations provided by the Bush camp for the President's striking invisibility from the military during the final two years of his six-year military obligation... There's that elephant in the living room again.
comment posted at 10:57 AM on Sep-15-04

George W. Bush's latest TV ads juxtapose Iraq's and Afghanistan's flags with footage of Olympic sport, proclaiming, "At this Olympics, there will be two more free nations — and two fewer terrorist regimes." At a campaign stop, Bush said, "just the image of the Iraqi soccer team playing in this Olympics. It's fantastic, isn't it? What a fantastic thought." The possibly medal-bound Iraqi soccer team, however, objects to any such association. While Bush goes on to say, "Here's a country now, battling for a country that is now free. It wouldn't have been free if the United States had not acted," Ahmed Manajid, midfield goes so far as to say, "if he were not playing soccer he would 'for sure' be fighting as part of the resistance."
comment posted at 12:34 PM on Aug-19-04

The only thing that masks the pain is sleep, but even that's hard to come by. I've occasionally checked in with 17 y.o. Markelle's blog for a year or two now. While I don't know her personally, I'd consider it unlikely that she's making this up. I'd guess it's more likely that her dad actually did commit suicide. "Best of the web?" Honestly, I don't know. Perhaps it's just a glimpse at a life that might benefit from your good thoughts.
comment posted at 12:55 PM on Aug-2-04

Consider the scorecard. During Clinton's two terms, the median income for American families increased by a solid 15% after inflation, according to Census Bureau figures. But it rose even faster for African Americans (33%) and Hispanics (24%) than it did for whites (14%). The growth was so widely shared that from 1993 through 1999, families in the bottom fifth of the income distribution saw their incomes increase faster than those in the top 5%. By comparison, under President Reagan in the 1980s, those in the top 5% increased their income more than five times faster than the bottom 20%. Likewise, the poverty rate under Clinton fell 25%, the biggest eight-year decline since the 1960s. It fell even faster for particularly vulnerable groups like blacks, Hispanics and children. Again the contrast with Reagan is striking. During Reagan's two terms, the number of Americans in poverty fell by just 77,000. During Clinton's two terms, the number of Americans in poverty plummeted by 8.1 million. The number of children in poverty fell by 50,000 under Reagan. Under Clinton the number was 4.1 million. That's a ratio of 80 to 1. Clinton's Biggest Gains Not on Conservative Critics' Radar
comment posted at 1:20 PM on Jun-29-04

Dubya's Dilemma: Daddy Doesn't Support the Iraq War The Iraqi war that has so divided Americans is also causing a rift in the family of President George W. Bush. The President’s father, George H.W. Bush – 41st President of the United States – disagrees with his son’s decisions in the invasion and occupation of Iraq, which is why the former President has not commented in public on the war. “The President and I discuss the war privately,” the elder Bush said in an interview earlier this year. “That is the way it will remain.” But sources close to the Bush family say the elder Bush thinks his son has mishandled the war in Iraq.
comment posted at 4:44 PM on Jun-18-04

Breaking History: Ronald Reagan dead at 93.
Will today be marked as the culmination of his achievements or the "end of the Reagan Era"?
MeFites are advised to please avoid piling onto the subject or the messenger
comment posted at 9:31 AM on Jun-9-04

Bush campaign lies with unprecedented frequency. Making history with unprecedented negativity.
comment posted at 7:21 AM on Jun-1-04

Joseph Wilson interviewed at Salon. They've also tried to portray you, and all the other whistle-blowers who have spoken out against the administration, as partisan democrats. Do you think that has been an effective technique? It hasn't worked with me. People are touched by this story because it gives a human face to a whole host of lies and deceptions that only now are becoming apparent to the American public. Americans don't like this attitude. Americans don't like to see their women taken out and beaten up.
comment posted at 12:21 PM on May-3-04

No Communion for Pro-Choice Politicians
Apparently they have some issue with women having control over their own bodies so they'll deny communion to pro-choice politicians.
Hey, isn't John Kerry a pro-choice Catholic? This couldn't have anything to do with him could it?
Isn't a divisive move like this more likely to result in more people leaving the "faith"?
comment posted at 12:49 PM on Apr-23-04

Remixing Bush's tasteless joke. Has some graphic images.
comment posted at 2:16 PM on Apr-11-04

The New York Press lists the 50 most loathsome New Yorkers. Time to get your hate on! Here's a sample to get you started:#18 Moby Musician IT WAS BAD enough when Moby started singing; now he's singing and talking at the same time. When not crooning school-girl poetry (see "We Are All Made of Stars") or desecrating classic punk songs between hissy fits on stage, the techno prophet cum vegan ethicist of the early 90s is schooling credulous fans on a wide range of contemporary issues. Between lessons in Nicaraguan history and tales of Rummy's early-80s holidays in Baghdad, Moby pontificates in prose that would make even DJ Spooky cringe ("We're so inherently locked into our temporal and corporeal selves that we're irrevocably locked into subjectivity") and Michael Stipe wince ("cos at the end of the day peace is better than war, right?"). We're thankful for "Go" and the car commercial songs on Play, but mister, please put your space helmet back on, get in your space ship and don't stop till you hit Pluto.
comment posted at 1:35 AM on Apr-8-04

George W. Bush Invigorating Ameria's Youth On Monday David Letterman aired video footage [Real] of an "obviously bored silly" 14-year-old kid goofing off while standing on stage behind the president during a speech. [more inside]
comment posted at 9:27 PM on Mar-31-04

Turning the Tide If Kerry and his friends are not far enough from the political center, you might try this, Noam Chomsky's new blog. I would call it "No lefty left behind" But, hey, whatever packs your suitcase.
comment posted at 6:00 PM on Mar-25-04

Iraq on the Record A full compilation of the Bush administration's misleading statements on Iraq was comissioned by rep. Henry Waxman. It is now available as a pdf report and as a database searchable by name of speaker or keyword. Did this sort of framework for accountability exist before the Web, and can it be effective now?
comment posted at 5:44 PM on Mar-16-04

Howard Stern's new found liberalism. "The potential impact is huge," says Charles Goyette, talk-show host at KFYI in Phoenix. "And it's not just with the 8 million people who tune it, it's that he breaks the spell. Everybody's been enchanted by Bush, that he's a great wartime leader and to criticize him is unpatriotic. Now Stern pounds him every day and it shatters that illusion that the man is invincible and he shouldn't be criticized."
comment posted at 5:03 AM on Mar-13-04

Charges of racism have been leveled against this president in the past. But this stunt even surprised me. Then I remembered a similar scene on the Capital steps. There hasn't been much media about it, so I'm wondering...is this a regional racism, such that it slid under the radar of the east and west coast news machines, or has the myth of rubbing the head of a black man for luck thankfully faded from the cultural unconscious?
comment posted at 9:29 PM on Mar-10-04

Webmonkey to close down
Ave, Webmonkey, old friend. You were a great source of new tricks for self-taught old dogs.
comment posted at 9:50 PM on Feb-29-04

Minimum wage is San Fransisco is now $8.50. Minimum wage in New York City is $5.15 per hour. Minimum wages from around the United States.
comment posted at 10:01 PM on Feb-2-04

Has Howard Dean Sold Out?
One of the most prominent themes of the Dean's insurgency campaign, was the call to "Throw the Bums Out!" Dean, in most speeches talks about his rivals as "Washington and Party Insiders", and he draws contrast with himself. One of his battle cries has been to get rid of the "special interests" and "take back America" for the people.

Why then, has Dean fired his campaign manager Joe Trippi, who is often credited with the candidate's fast rise and strong organization, and replaced him with Roy Neel, former adviser in the Al Gore 2000 presidential campaign, and former chief lobbyist for the U.S. Telecom Association? (A nice combo of a "Washington Insider" and a "Special Interest," if there is one)

Howard, what happened to "taking America back" from the Special Interests?
comment posted at 12:30 AM on Jan-29-04

In sum, the invasion of Iraq failed to meet the test for a humanitarian intervention. Most important, the killing in Iraq at the time was not of the exceptional nature that would justify such intervention. In addition, intervention was not the last reasonable option to stop Iraqi atrocities. Intervention was not motivated primarily by humanitarian concerns. It was not conducted in a way that maximized compliance with international humanitarian law. It was not approved by the Security Council. And while at the time it was launched it was reasonable to believe that the Iraqi people would be better off, it was not designed or carried out with the needs of Iraqis foremost in mind. War in Iraq: Not a Humanitarian Intervention
Human Rights Watch finds the post fact rationale for the invasion wanting. It comes from their World Report 2004 - Human Rights and Armed Conflict, where other essays therefrom include: Losing The Peace In Afghanistan, Sidelined: Human Rights In Post-War Iraq and "Glad to be Deceived": the International Community and Chechnya, to name but a few.
comment posted at 10:54 PM on Jan-26-04

20,000 feared dead in Iran quake. Google News Cluster.
comment posted at 6:35 AM on Dec-26-03

Diane Sawyer grills President Bush over the lack of WMD.
SAWYER: But stated as a hard fact, that there were weapons of mass destruction, as opposed to the possibility that he could move to acquire those weapons still --
BUSH: So what’s the difference?
comment posted at 6:50 PM on Dec-18-03
comment posted at 9:41 PM on Dec-18-03

Saddam Reported Captured - So what next? A trial at the International Criminal Court (which the US does not recognise), a trip to Cuba or a trial in Iraq? And is this finally the decapitation of the resistance in Iraq?
comment posted at 9:26 AM on Dec-14-03
comment posted at 10:42 AM on Dec-14-03
comment posted at 12:18 PM on Dec-14-03
comment posted at 3:20 AM on Dec-15-03

Ralph Nader forms 2004 exploratory committee. As Josh Marshall notes, the web site appears empty but has most of its information hidden behind a blank index page, including the FAQ which, of course, addresses the... incident... in Florida.
comment posted at 10:22 PM on Dec-7-03

Michael Musto on Michael Jackson ("We couldn't get Rosie or Martha to melt—and we can't even find bin Laden or Hussein—but if Jacko would just agree to be a pedophile, we could have our kook and eat him too.") Sarah Hepola on Michael Jackson ("In my life, I have spent many years wishing I were someone else, but I have never wanted to be anyone – ever – more than I wanted to be Michael Jackson. Do you remember? Help me sing it.") Michael Jackson on Michael Jackson ("You are right to be skeptical of some of the individuals who are being identified in the mass media as my friends, spokespeople, and attorneys. With few exceptions, most of them are simply filling a desperate void in our culture that equates visibility with insight.")
comment posted at 10:23 AM on Nov-29-03

it does look like fun
burning man 2003. more links? photos? stories? from this years fun in the desert.
comment posted at 9:28 AM on Aug-31-03

Tonight was the 20th anniversary of the MTV Video Music Awards. They sucked. Even the Olsen Twins sucked, and I know how much all you mefites love them. Britney did make out with Madonna though.
comment posted at 9:41 PM on Aug-28-03
comment posted at 9:52 PM on Aug-28-03
comment posted at 12:56 AM on Aug-29-03