Opensewer: 01/01/2004

Thursday, January 29

"If Shakespeare was correct in his belief that we are all players, then we are all outlaws, too," she said on tribe.net. "I refuse to be afraid. Let silliness prevail. Children are watching. We must set an example of ridiculousness and play."

posted by John # 9:37 AM

So if I don't want more safety regulation and more taxes (on "bad" food, for example), will that get me labeled a conservative, like ABC's John Stossel, co-host of 20/20, gets labeled ?

posted by John # 8:56 AM

Would we want a president Dean who would propose something like this? That's way crazier than any shouting he may have done in Iowa.
Seriously, if we have Ashcroft on the GOP side, and ideas like this coming from the Dem's side (not that Dean will win, but he's called the most radical of the Dem choices), we are all screwed. Because, you know, there are only 2 sides possible, and, um, the GOP and the Dems represent all possible political options in the USA....

posted by John # 8:47 AM

Wednesday, January 28

"I was a wrestler so I used a wrestling move."

posted by John # 10:27 AM

Tuesday, January 27

New travel requirement - the 14 hour sized bladder. Maybe you need the Stadium Buddy on your flight...(act 3 for the Stadium Buddy story).

posted by John # 4:06 PM

Sunday, January 25

I don't ever go to Starbucks and IKEA inevitably depresses me every time I'm there, but Adam Greenfield has quite a few thoughtful comments on the two chains.

Yes, I'm still in Grad School, but I'm going to try to post more whenever I have the time.

posted by Joshua Kaufman # 3:25 PM

Saturday, January 24

Choose your body; choose your partner; choose your friends; choose your mood; choose your offspring; choose your dreams.

posted by Jason # 9:27 AM

Friday, January 23

Last February, Morgan Spurlock decided to become a gastronomical guinea pig. His mission: To eat three meals a day for 30 days at McDonald's and document the impact on his health.

posted by John # 1:09 PM

Wednesday, January 21

The whole argument that globalization and free trade are good for everyone - people, not just the big companies - falls apart when there are laws preventing the consumer from getting the benefit they should - namely, cheaper goods. In this case, it's cds in Europe, but in practice, it could be any other manufactured product.

I'd like to support the European Union more, but when the EU proposes idiotic and opressive laws like this, and stupid money wasting programs like this, it's a not so easy.

posted by John # 10:01 AM

Monday, January 19

Perhaps the greatest injustice of the misplaced idolatry of King is the failure to acknowledge the unknown foot soldiers who enabled his leadership. African American resistance long preceded the world's introduction to the voice of Martin Luther King Jr., and while he provided vision and articulation, he was a product rather than a creator of the black organizing tradition. Like the DJ who built hip-hop culture only to be replaced by a rapper with a DAT tape, there are hundreds of thousands of grassroots organizers and plain folks who paid the price of the ticket.

posted by Jason # 12:07 PM

Friday, January 16

From the AP: Study: Network News Criticizes Dean Most. Like you needed a study to figure this one out.

posted by John # 9:56 AM

Have you really read or learned about the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law? Weird law.
An example from Justice Kennedy, who dissented in finding it un-constitutional: "[The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act] makes it a felony for an environmental group to broadcast an ad, within sixty days of an election, exhorting the public to protest a Congressman's impending vote to permit logging in national forests."
Advocacy groups aren't going to be allowed to inform voters. Groups formed for purpose of getting people together and expressing their views are being shut-up. So this is supposed to be good for democracy how?
Also, it's worth noting, private individuals will still be allowed to buy all the ad time they want. So I guess if you are rich enough, the restrictions don't apply. Read more.

posted by John # 9:12 AM

Thursday, January 15

A funny, quick article about "the death of common sense and personal responsibility." 'Nuf said.

posted by Rosie # 8:54 AM

Monday, January 12

What does Representative Ernest Istook (R-Okla.) do when he sees an ad in a DC Metro expressing a point of view he doesn't agree with? He proposes a law to penalize the Metro company, that's what he does. Land of the free, home of the brave...

posted by John # 2:25 PM

Sunday, January 11

So we all know the oil supply will run out someday, right? I mean, it's called a "non-renewable" resource for a reason. And it will probably be within the next 50 years. So is this take on peak oil just crazy alarmism or a rational attempt to predict the world after the peak has passed? I can't tell. Either way, the modern West can't do much of anything without oil right now - no SUVs, no plastics, no pesticides, no computers, no manufacturing...

posted by John # 4:27 PM

Friday, January 9

If you didn't see this coming, you haven't been paying attention.

posted by John # 1:08 PM

Looking for WMD? Nope. Inspectors looking for Iraqi arms sent home.

posted by John # 8:53 AM

Top Ten Drug War Stories of 2003 from Alternet - the other never ending war in the US continued along its path, which includes: the CIA funneling drug profits to foreign powers, police raiding innocents' houses mistakenly, biological warfare in South America, and other nice tricks.

posted by John # 8:50 AM

Thursday, January 8

Death row inmate Charles Singleton, 44, died by lethal injection at the Cummins Unit Prison near Varner, Arkansas on Tuesday, January 6, but not before prison medical staff injected him with a mind-altering drug intended to improve his understanding of the process.

posted by John # 8:19 PM

Tuesday, January 6

It's another article deploring the Bush administration's repressive stance towards protest speech. But look again, anti-Bush peoples, it's in the "The American Conservative." Instances like this make me hope for a coalition of freedom lovers that one day transcends the outdated left-right spectrum and leads to a nation that takes liberty as seriously as it claims to.

posted by John # 3:21 PM

New Year, old trend continues... "Laws that were supposed to put away the bad guys for long, hard prison time often are being used to keep low-level offenders behind bars for decades longer than drug kingpins."

posted by John # 11:48 AM

Note: I don't want to imply that Rose, or anyone else here, or everyone sharing concern for our nation's expanding waistlines and our sidewalks' ability to hold them, is a scolding nannies. I, too, think removing soda from schools is a good idea, but I don't support taxing and regulating foods that can be and are used responsibly.

posted by John # 9:31 AM

I am not sure which I fear more, a nation of obese people, or a nation of nannies determined to take away food that I enjoy because they think it makes me obese...
It's 2013, and under prohibition, the illegal trade in high quality chocolate has reached new heights... Border patrols have dogs to sniff for cacao and hydrogenated oils... turf wars break out in US cities over Twizzler dealing rights... Soldiers under the authority of the FDA patrol resturaunts, markets and backyard-gardens...

posted by John # 8:57 AM

Monday, January 5

Ladies and Gents, the award for the Fattest Teans in The World proudly goes to The United States. And it probably starts with drinking all that damn Coke (see post below).

posted by Rosie # 10:07 PM

Finally, it's being acknowledged that something should be done about all those fat kids (or kids on their way to becoming fat) in our schools today. It's a healthy, needed suggestion and hopefully change will happen....

posted by Rosie # 12:49 PM

New Year, old trend - Schools into Prisons! It keeps on coming! The NY Times is getting in on it, too, in an article describing how offenses that once meant detention now mean arrest.
Here's a sample from the article:
Experts say the growing criminalization of student misbehavior can be traced to the broad zero-tolerance policies states and local districts began enacting in the mid-1990's in response to a sharp increase in the number of juveniles committing homicides with guns, and to a series of school shootings.
While the juvenile homicide rate has since fallen, and many studies have found that school violence is rare, the public perception of schools — and students — as dangerous remains. Experts say zero-tolerance policies have created an atmosphere in which relatively minor student misconduct often leads to suspensions, expulsions and arrests.
nytimes sneak-in code: login:opensewer; password:iswatching

posted by John # 10:49 AM

In this New Year, with our resolutions and attempts to find new direction, it's nice to know what side the Lord is on in the race for the Prez of the USA... it's worth remembering that those who judge others are often judging something they see in themselves... it's good to see that squashing free speech with mass arrests sometimes has legal consequences for the powers that be... and heck, we sent another rover to Mars again. Neato.