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 Thursday, August 15, 2002
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The Economic Summit
This is William Saletan's take on Bush's so-called economic forum:
This afternoon at the President's Economic Forum in Waco, Texas, President Bush and Vice President Cheney sat side by side on the stage of a packed auditorium for more than an hour. That's the first time they've been that close together for that long in public since Sept. 11. Evidently they're no longer afraid of terrorists. What they're afraid of is Americans.
Like plantation owners, the employers on hand spoke for their employees." One CEO told Bush, "they are so happy to have jobs."
I wish I could write like that, funny, with an edge, and concise.
Tip o the hat again to Tapped, who has some good coverage of the summit.
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Quote of the Day: Bring out your dead
Today was the deadline for many companies for their CEO's to certify the books. Here was my favorite take on it:
"This is the government's way of walking through the business community and saying, 'Bring out your dead,' " said Patrick McGurn, vice president of Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. of Rockville.
Source: Washington Post article, CEO Deadline Brings Some Restatements
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| Friday, August 09, 2002
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People are getting creative!
I had one of those fun browsing evenings where I was pointed toward one thing on the web, which lead me to another, which lead me to another and so on. I have concluded that there are some really creative people doing fun political stuff on the net these days. I wonder if it is a function of all the unemployed web designers? In any case, we partisan political junkies are the beneficiaries.
Joe Conanson of Salon pointed to this both funny and pointed advertisement for the Democrats, done by some creative webbie with Flash skills, to the tune of Pink Floyd's Money. If only the Democrats had enough spine to run ads like this.
I decided to look around www.blah3.com and see what else was on the site. There are a fair number of Flash ads, most of them accurate but with a strong message. Then I followed the top link to http://www.stolenelectioncoin.com/, where I found these coins:  
Then back to www.blah3.com where I found this wonderful poster above, cited as being originally "From Barney Gumble on the BartCop Forum".
So off to see what BartCop was, where I  found this TIPS button, as well as a hilarious and terrifying doctored picture of Ashcroft that I wouldn't want to show on a family friendly blog. Then I decided to call it a night, happy with the treasures I found on the net tonight. I hope that you enjoy them too.
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| Tuesday, August 06, 2002
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It gets more surreal daily: Operation TIPS to America's Most Wanted
Operation TIPS is getting more surreal all the time. Salon is reporting (in its subscribers only section) that when its reporter who had signed up to be a TIPster called the Department of Justice TIPS line, his phone call was transferred to a receptionist at "America's Most Wanted", who told him "We've been asked to take the FBI's TIPS calls for them."
I am flabbergasted - I can't think of anything to add to this story.
The ACLU put out a press release with more of the details of the story, for those who aren't Salon subscribers. Their commentary:
"This is like retaining Arthur Andersen to do all of the SEC's accounting," said Rachel King, an ACLU Legislative Counsel. "It's a completely inappropriate and frightening intermingling of government power and the private sector. What's next - the government hires Candid Camera to do its video surveillance?"
Tip o' the hat to the mighty snoops at Strangelove, where I saw this first. I suspect it will be all over the net by tomorrow.
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| Friday, August 02, 2002
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Trade those cards
A gem of a suggestion by Brad Templeton on Declan McCullah's Politech mailing list:
While I suspect many of your readers will be aware of the concept, some may not so let me remind them, when they go to parties or meet other people who are concerned about privacy, to simply trade their grocery affinity cards.
My first card was in the name of Mickey Mouse of Anaheim, and you might find that to be protection enough -- the Safeway staff would always say "thank you Mr. Mouse." When I traded it, I told the recipient to always trade with somebody who lives east of him. I presume my card has made it to the east coast by now.
At parties, have everybody put their cards in a bowl and draw another one at the end.
The cards do save a lot of money, so it's a serious cost to avoid them, but with these techniques you can protect your privacy and not spend the cash.
Yes, you will lose out on any special offers they send to your home address, like the free turkey they send out each thanksgiving (usually not more than a $10 value.) But it confuses the database no end, and creates serious doubt about the validity of the records.
I never got one of those affinity cards, precisely because of the privacy implications, but now that I know how to deal with those, I'll get one on my next trip. Brilliant.
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| Tuesday, July 30, 2002
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Number 1 Tim Bishop in Google!
I was browsing John Hiler's article on google bombing when it occurred to me to put my name in Google and see what came up. To my great surprise, my lame personal and family website, TheBishop.net, came up on the top. I've had that site for a couple of years, mostly so that I could play around with HTML, Linux, Perl, etc, and so that I could share pictures with family members. As far as I know, it has never shown up on Google before. I wonder what it is that jumped it temporarily to the top of the Tim Bishop heap? Blogging on this blog? I assume that top ranking will quickly head over to my namesake who is running for Congress, but I will enjoy my 10 minutes of minifame while it lasts. What a hoot.
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A fitting commentary on the blog wars
As a newcomer to the blogging community, I've been amazed at the little wars that rage through the community. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, since I saw the same thing on usenet and the WELL. Still, I find it disappointing.
Today I found what seemed like a fitting commentary on the wars, funny as hell as well. A picture is worth ... 
And if a picture is worth a thousand words, how much is flash movie worth?
This site, http://emptybottle.org/ is really funny. The guy, whoever he is, has lots of goodies. Recommended.
Tip o the hat to the Winerlog for the link.
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| Sunday, July 28, 2002
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Mothership comes to retrieve Bush?
(Title copied from Xeni Jardin) This story is too much, but it is on the WP website.
For Renny Rogers, it was strange enough that military jets were flying low over his home in Waldorf in the middle of the night. It was what he thinks he saw when he headed outside to look early yesterday that floored him.
"It was this object, this light-blue object, traveling at a phenomenal rate of speed," Rogers said. "This Air Force jet was right behind it, chasing it, but the object was just leaving him in the dust. I told my neighbor, 'I think those jets are chasing a UFO.' "...
Military officials confirm that two F-16 jets from Andrews Air Force Base were scrambled early yesterday after radar detected an unknown aircraft in area airspace. But they scoff at the idea that the jets were chasing a strange and speedy, blue unidentified flying object....At the same time, military officials say they do not know just what the jets were chasing, because whatever it was disappeared.
More
Another link from Strangelove, which is really hot recently.
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Bushwatch
Today I found Bushwatch. I don't know how I could have missed it before. It is fiercely partisan, but also incredibly funny. If Dubya did it or said it, it's here. It varies from the incredibly detailed graphic of how Bush made his money to a collection of Dubya's better one liners in the Bushlexia section. Highly recommended if you are a partisan democrat, or if you just like funny stuff.
Tip o the hat to Coco Conn of Strangelove for the link.
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| Saturday, July 27, 2002
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People with a lot of time on their hands
Dancing Paul
Update 28.07.2002: I thought about this after writing it, and decided that my title was pretty snide. The site is funny, and who is to say spending one's time on it is any more of a waste of time than blogging. Sorry Paul.
P.S. Some of his other Dancing Pages are funny too.
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| Wednesday, July 17, 2002
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Image of the day
I seem to be into images today.
I just rediscovered the Cellar's image of the day site. Fun stuff. Today had a cool bug, yesterday had something truly strange. The site is worth checking out.
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Too funny - Even more on the Citizen Spy Corps
From the Politech mailing list, Brad Templeton suggests:
We just need operation TIPS-TIPS. A network of people to spot and identify possible TIPSters, to put up lists of their names, routes and addresses, and possibly to put chalk marks on their vehicles, homes and even clothes so we can spot them coming, avoid socializing with them, refuse them entry onto our land. Perhaps like "No Solicitors" or gates could have signs saying "No TIPS informants". If the power company wants to read my meter, they should send a non-informant.
This whole thing would be funnier if the whole thing weren't so scary. I got some email from an Arab-American acquaintance who is imagining what it will be like for him and for people like him when meter readers and moving people use something like TIPS every time they get aggravated with someone with a "foreign" name.
*sigh*.
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| Tuesday, July 16, 2002
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TV is ...
Somebody else who thinks that TV is one of the biggest sources of evil in our society today. A truly awsome rant, courtesy of Jeremey Zawodny.
Maybe this is a good time to put in a plug for the TV Turn-off Network. They are looking for a program director. It sounds like a typical non-profit job -- work long hours for little pay and do good. Maybe somebody reading this would be interested in the job? Or contributing?
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Joe Conason off to a good start at Salon
Salon Magazine (recommended) recently hired Joe Conason to do a daily political blog, and Joe is off to a good start. I love people who can write with an edge -- I wish I could do it. Read this:
"When George Bush talks, people listen -- and sell. When Bush stopped talking for a few hours, the market eventually rallied, although not quite enough to erase the sickening 439-point plunge that followed his speech. Listening to the president dish out platitudes in Alabama could make any intelligent American despair. He still boasts about his tax cuts, and complains about the inheritance tax, with considerably more conviction than he can muster when he finally mentions corporate corruption. He still talks about reining in the trial lawyers, as if they're somehow to blame for the drifting economy." More
Go Joe Go.
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| Sunday, July 14, 2002
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© Copyright 2002 Tim Bishop aka Geodog.
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What will they think of next? 
