tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-108355332009-02-21T03:12:39.592-05:00Progressive politics, movies, jazz, literature, technology, and potatoesBenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07311262189569722846noreply@blogger.comBlogger166125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10835533.post-1163005871272331862006-11-08T12:10:00.000-05:002006-11-08T12:11:11.290-05:00

There is just one key issue that I would like to emphasize about the massive Dem wave from yesterday's elections. A huge number of candidates who won were not supported by the establishment Dems; they were supported by local and national bloggers and built their campaigns entirely from the grassroots. Some of them even defeated establishment-choice Dems in their primaries.No matter what the news

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07311262189569722846noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10835533.post-1126138482418108572005-09-07T20:14:00.000-04:002005-09-07T20:14:42.450-04:00

This is a test of my updated blog access software.

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07311262189569722846noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10835533.post-1116596396088229352005-05-20T09:37:00.000-04:002005-05-20T09:39:56.093-04:00

My wife's thesis is done and she defends today.And she let me use the red pen on every single page!This should restore my regular internet acccess (and energy!)For the record, in-depth copy-editing is a whole lot of fun, but I wouldn't want to do it for a living.

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07311262189569722846noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10835533.post-1115907749576149302005-05-12T10:22:00.000-04:002005-05-12T10:24:29.580-04:00

Sirotablog: Ike Predicted GOP Demise Over Social Security:"'Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. Among them are [a] few other Texas oil millionaires, and an

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07311262189569722846noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10835533.post-1115856037989023012005-05-11T19:58:00.000-04:002005-05-11T20:00:37.996-04:00

"I would love to enlist and help the power-hungry war criminals in the Oval Office wage their unjust war, but I have a bathtub full of puppies at home that I need to drown first. And that may take a while."

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07311262189569722846noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10835533.post-1115825126619363132005-05-11T11:25:00.000-04:002005-05-11T11:26:41.903-04:00

EPA Puts Mandated Lead-Paint Rules on HoldThat's right, it wasn't enough for the Bush administration to roll back decades of policy on mercury emissions. Now they want to do the same for lead-based paint, making compliance with so-called Federal standards voluntary.When are people going to wake up and realize that this supposedly Christian president has no qualms about encouraging business to

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07311262189569722846noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10835533.post-1115391774347854492005-05-06T10:58:00.000-04:002005-05-06T11:02:54.546-04:00

Granted, spam has evolved greatly since it's early days. One piece of that evolution, of course, has been the addition of random text meant to trick the spam filters.I suppose that it was only a matter of time before the spam was reduced purely to that random text, with absolutely no content, advertising, or malicious attachments included.With that in mind, all that I can do is appreciate the

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07311262189569722846noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10835533.post-1115389018989240482005-05-06T10:06:00.000-04:002005-05-06T10:17:00.946-04:00

This is not an Onion article. A church in North Carolina has just excommunicated all of its Democrat members for not supporting President Bush.While more of the country may slowly be coming to its senses, we should expect to see increased insanities from right wing extremists.Here's the initial post from Democratic Underground:My Mom just emailed me the news. There's no link yet. She said WLOS

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07311262189569722846noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10835533.post-1115143110802026422005-05-03T13:58:00.000-04:002005-05-03T14:00:51.520-04:00

Writes John Conyers:"Dear Mr. President:We write because of troubling revelations in the Sunday London Times apparently confirming that the United States and Great Britain had secretly agreed to attack Iraq in the summer of 2002, well before the invasion and before you even sought Congressional authority to engage in military action. While various individuals have asserted this to be the case

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07311262189569722846noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10835533.post-1115039144305820452005-05-02T09:03:00.000-04:002005-05-02T09:05:44.306-04:00

Sorry about the lack of posts. I'm developing a huge backlog of things I need to write about. Unfortunately, the combination of additional work hours and my wife's thesis (which is taking all available typing hours on our one computer) is severely limiting my ability to get that commentary out in a timely manner.Thanks for your understanding!

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07311262189569722846noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10835533.post-1114887284453148532005-04-30T14:53:00.000-04:002005-04-30T14:54:44.453-04:00

You can tell you have created God in your own image when it turns out that he or she hates all the same people you do.Anne Lamott, Salon

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07311262189569722846noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10835533.post-1114869587871045662005-04-30T09:54:00.000-04:002005-04-30T09:59:47.873-04:00

I confess. I skipped it. I was busy and didn't care enough to watch it after the fact. But it seems that this graphic really tells the whole story, doesn't it?Or this.Word is that television pundits were fulsome in their praise of Bush's speech, while the rest of the media world looked on in shock at the blatant bootlicking.More headlines and commentary here.

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07311262189569722846noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10835533.post-1114723716543456742005-04-28T16:34:00.000-04:002005-04-28T17:29:40.873-04:00

The Nation has a reputation for knocking down statues with clay feet across the political spectrum. Therefore, it was with great interest that I read their recent commentary on Current, Al Gore's new television cable network.Surprisingly, for an article that calls "Campaign Ad" "a satire of political campaign ads that came across as an amateurish stab at The Daily Show With Jon Stewart," I found

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07311262189569722846noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10835533.post-1114621679315284382005-04-27T13:07:00.000-04:002005-04-27T13:10:01.393-04:00

As frustrating as the Republican's attempts to claim all Christians under their conservative umbrella can be, that religious tunnel vision also blinds them to a key fact: not all Christians are conservative, evangelical Republicans.That happy truth rarely causes them pause, of course, but it does allow for huge potential embarrasment.For instance, take the graduation addresses that our beloved

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07311262189569722846noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10835533.post-1114450158655351012005-04-25T13:20:00.000-04:002005-04-26T09:27:10.606-04:00

So has anyone reading this heard a thing in the U.S. media about the pending collapse of the Canadian government? Naturally, it was all over the news this past weekend in Ontario.It's a pretty interesting scenario. Turns out that hundreds of millions of government dollars have, under the watchful eye of the Liberal Party, been found in the pockets of various well-connected individuals. Now their

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07311262189569722846noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10835533.post-1114025145151714222005-04-20T15:22:00.000-04:002005-04-20T15:25:45.153-04:00

I will be in Canada for the next few days to attend my sister's wedding to her girlfriend of the last three years. It's nice to know that there's somewhere in North America where she can make choices for herself.In the meantime, hopefully Dave will step forward and share his thoughts while I'm gone.Finally, I don't have the time to write anything of more substance today, but I highly suggest

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07311262189569722846noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10835533.post-1113956485198108722005-04-19T20:12:00.000-04:002005-04-19T20:23:31.676-04:00

Today's new media installment is actually a piece that I had absolutely nothing to do with. However, it is my great pleasure to provide a link to my friend Dave Wolbrecht's website, where you can see his exciting music video, "Really Big Universe".I've been working with Dave for a number of years now, especially in his capacity as a performer with DG Improv. Little Davey has always been a few

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07311262189569722846noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10835533.post-1113922886306764942005-04-19T11:01:00.000-04:002005-04-19T11:05:14.763-04:00

In Japan, a new system for school security was recently introduced that uses a combination of robots, security cameras, and RFID tags to keep track of students and visitors. While the original article is right here, the Google translation leaves something to be desired. A brief search found a better translation:Secom released a new security system for schools called "SECOM School Security." This

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07311262189569722846noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10835533.post-1113921956457276152005-04-19T10:40:00.000-04:002005-04-19T10:45:56.460-04:00

The May/June issue of Mother Jones (a magazine my logging town family rightfully stopped subscribing to after they published an article on how to spike trees) has in it a fantastic set of articles about the oil industry and global warming. One passage in particular struck me: Then as now, a prime tactic of the fossil fuel lobby centered on a clever manipulation of the ethic of journalistic

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07311262189569722846noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10835533.post-1113853583802320142005-04-18T13:17:00.000-04:002005-04-18T15:52:29.246-04:00

Could it be that the Republican leadership in Washington has finally overreached itself? Consider the events of the past few weeks.Top Republicans are all but encouraging violence against (Republican) judges whose rulings they disagree with and are discussing mass impeachments to reduce the power of the judiciary.Average Americans are beginning to hear about how Tom DeLay had the ethics committee

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07311262189569722846noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10835533.post-1113767580917889832005-04-17T15:33:00.000-04:002005-04-17T15:53:59.626-04:00

If only I were writing about the movie of the same title. Sadly, this post's topic refers to the reasonably new fantasy novel from David and Leigh Eddings. I remember loving their Belgariad and Malloreon series back in middle school, so when I saw that beautiful hardcover novel on the new books shelf at the library, I figured it was worth a read.Was I ever wrong.I haven't read such a

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07311262189569722846noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10835533.post-1113672450949954982005-04-16T13:25:00.000-04:002005-04-16T15:30:36.410-04:00

Part Seven of American Geniuses is now posted at my companion blog.If you haven't encountered it here yet, American Geniuses is a serialized screenplay that delights in breaking as many of Robert McKee's screenwriting directives as it possibly can.This week, the kids continue the fight for the life of one of their friends in a flooding throne room. Meanwhile, Mark, Jenny, and Robby face black ops

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07311262189569722846noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10835533.post-1113585583909130612005-04-15T12:55:00.000-04:002005-04-15T13:19:43.910-04:00

With a couple months of logging under my belt, I've begun to notice an odd trend in how I approach the news. While there are definite topics which I return to frequently, like global warming, deconstructing conservative ideology, and human rights issues, it is difficult to continue to refute the same tired spin, distortions, and outright lies from the extremists in the Republican party.I imagine

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07311262189569722846noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10835533.post-1113456616071300712005-04-14T01:30:00.000-04:002005-04-14T13:16:51.760-04:00

From Yahoo News:Silicone-gel breast implants, virtually banned for 13 years, would return to the market if the government heeds a surprising recommendation from its scientific advisers.After three days of wrenchingly emotional debate, advisers to the Food and Drug Administrationsaid Mentor Corp. should be able to sell its gel implants — but only if it meets strict conditions.Yes, it's technically

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07311262189569722846noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10835533.post-1113400967156651272005-04-13T09:42:00.000-04:002005-04-13T10:02:47.160-04:00

From the NY Times, via Common Dreams:The Corporation for Public Broadcasting has decided to replace its president and chief executive, Kathleen A. Cox, who has been in the post about nine months.While it seeks a successor for Ms. Cox, the corporation will be led by W. Kenneth Ferree, a former senior official at the Federal Communications Commission who played a significant role in the failed

Benhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07311262189569722846noreply@blogger.com