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A collection of wireless transmission tower-themed desktop wallpapers: Link. See also this collection of wireless tower site snapshots, and this handy online search tool for locating a cell tower near you. (via SOCALWUG wireless tech listserv)

[via BoingBoing]


I drink a lot of tea, so this would be a perfect holiday gift for me, if you haven't decided yet.



Nice! [Via PlanetDan]

Get out of town.

COOPER: But there are a lot of gay families out there, Reverend Falwell, there are a lot of gay families out there. I think there are like a million kids being raised by gay parents who say that if you want to protect families, you know, civil unions will give inheritance rights, will give Social Security, survivor benefits rights to...

FALWELL: Anderson, that's all a red herring. If you want to leave something to your cat, you can do that in your will...

COOPER: It's not a red herring. That's simply not true. It's not true. You know we pay taxes.


Beginning December 3rd, Sasha will have a monthly residency at Crobar in New York, as well as Avalon in Hollywood.

A new biotechnology that should help a lot of people...

If you lived in places where landmines continue to regularly kill or maim members of your community, I bet you’d think these plants are really really cool.

“A Danish company, Aresa Biodetection, has developed genetically-modified flowers that change color when their roots come in contact with nitrogen dioxide in the soil. Explosives used in mines produce NO2 as the chemicals gradually decay. The company plans to sow fields of NO2-sniffing Arabidopsis thaliana (Thale or mouse cress) in areas riddled with long-forgotten ordinance from Angola to Cambodia.

The effort’s life- and limb-saving potential is staggering: More than 100 million land mines kill or injure 26,000 people in 45 countries each year. Today’s most popular detection method is poking around with a stick.”


230 escalators? Wow.

With 230 escalators, more than 1,000 shops, restaurant space the size of two football fields, and a skating rink - the Art Deco mall is a testament in glass and steel to the communist party's desire to create a stable, happy, middle-income consumer class.

China's big appetite for budding sales combined with major loans from its highly centralized banking system is one form of the expression "market Leninism," used by Perry Link of Princeton University to describe China's hybrid red capitalism.



Several of the major networks will not air this commercial, put out by the United Church of Christ. Why you ask?
"Because this commercial touches on the exclusion of gay couples and other minority groups by other individuals and organizations," reads an explanation from CBS, "and the fact the Executive Branch has recently proposed a Constitutional Amendment to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman, this spot is unacceptable for broadcast on the [CBS and UPN] networks."
[via AMERICAblog]

Excuse me. I just threw up in my mouth a little bit.



She achieved what she set out to do. But do you really have to go?
Citing a difference in management philosophy, the Human Rights Campaign’s boards and its president, Cheryl Jacques, announced that she will resign from her position.



On your mobile phone...

The nation's biggest cell phone company provided few details with Tuesday's announcement except to say it would launch the service in a "substantial" number of markets by the end of 2005 and "most" major markets by the end of 2006.

Cingular already offers the new service in six cities where it had been launched by AT&T Wireless before its acquisition by Cingular in late October - Dallas, Detroit, Phoenix, San Diego, San Francisco and Seattle - but had yet to move beyond trials itself due to capacity constraints before the merger.

The Atlanta-based company said the wireless technology it is using, known as third-generation or 3G, will offer average data speeds between 400 kilobits per second to 700 kilobits per second - on par with entry-level DSL and cable broadband connections.


Wahoo! I can get rid of all that duct tape now.

Tom Ridge, the nation's first homeland security secretary, announced Tuesday that he is resigning after three years of reworking American security and presiding over color-coded terror alerts. He's the seventh Bush Cabinet officer leaving so far.

Ridge oversaw the most significant government reorganization in 50 years. He'll be remembered for his terror alerts and tutorials about how to prepare for possible attacks, including the controversial "disaster kits" that caused last year's run on duct tape and plastic sheeting.





Rebelkate provides an excellently linked post on Christianity at Air America Place.

Games where everyone wins? Brilliant!

From BuzzMachine (via unmediated):

Try this:

1. Slice.

Cut up your shows into stories and put them all online.

After you air a story, it's fishwrap. Nobody can see it. If they missed it, well, that's tough for them. Is that any way to treat your public? Well, you don't have to anymore.

You should put up every story you do -- and not just as a stream but as files that the people can distribute on their own.

You can still make money on this -- in fact, you'll make new money: Put ads on the video; track those ads; and tack on a Creative Commons license that says people can distribute the video but cannnot muck with it. And you'll find something magical will happen: Your audience will market your product for you and distribute it for you and it won't cost you anything more. It's free money, damnit. Tell that to your stockholders.

Much more in the original post.

As you will recall, 20/20 ran a horribly wrong, outrageous show this weekend on Matthew Shepard that explored the reasons his murder wasn't a hate crime. But they ignored a major fact: he was killed because he was gay... which is a hate crime.

You can respond to 20/20 directly via the HRC Action Center. Please take a few minutes and help fight the good fight.

Corporate PACs tilted heavily, very heavily, toward the GOP in this election cycle. You're not surprised, but here is some information that could help you support the right people.

A new ranking of Corporate PACs that contributed more than $100,000 to federal candidates indicates that there is a 10 to 1 tilt towards Republicans this election cycle. These figures are for contributions through 10/13/04.

Of the 268 Corporate PACS that gave $100,000 or more to federal candidates, 245 gave more than 50% of their contributions to Republicans and only 23 gave more to Democrats.

Sixteen company PACs gave 90% or more to Republicans. They include the federal PACs of Phillips Int'l. (100%), Cooper Industries (100%), Flowers Industries (100%), Harris Corp. (98%), Illinois Toolworks (97%), Outback Steakhouse (96%), ExxonMobil (96%), National City Corp. (95%), Wendy's Int' l. (93%), Anadarko Petroleum (92%), Timken Corp. (91%), Halliburton (91%), Meadwestvaco Corp (90%), Darden Restaurants Inc. (90%), Branch Banking & Trust Co (90%), and Int'l Paper (90%).



Air America introduced a great feature on their site recently, a feature I've wanted to do on Wider Angle but I thought they'd be mad. Anyway, you can hear Marc Maron reading the President's Palm Pilot and Kent Jones doing the Unfiltered News over in the left column under the ads.

Matthew Gross writes about battered women and a battered America. The similarities are remarkably close. [via Eschaton]

More record fines were levied by the FCC against Fox for indecency, when only three actual complaints were filed. Today's Unfiltered Talking Point:

When the FCC fined Fox a record one point two million dollars for the stupid reality show “Married by America” last month, it said that it logged a hundred and fifty nine complaints from Americans who were horrified that the show was so sexually suggestive.

The media dutifully reported on the FCC responding to listener complaints, and the religious right crowed about how Americans won’t stand for smut on their TV machines.

It took one lonely journalist, Jeff Jarvis from buzzmachine.com, to file a freedom of information act request asking to see copies of those hundred and fifty nine complaints.

It turns out there weren’t a hundred and fifty nine after all, there were ninety.

And it turns out that twenty three individuals sent those ninety complaints.

And it turns out that twenty one of those twenty three were just copies of the same form letter put out by the fake outrage factory known as the Parents Television Council.

So, the FCC levied its biggest fine ever, and the right wing got to crow about their power in intimidating the media for THREE LOUSY COMPLAINTS about a stupid reality show. Three people. Three letters. Millions of viewers. One point two million dollars



The Massachusetts Supreme Court refused to revisit their ruling on gay marriage from last year, despite pressure from conservative bigo... er, activisits. Yay!

In the past year, at least 3,000 gay Massachusetts couples have wed, although voters may have a chance next year to change the state constitution to permit civil union benefits to same-sex couples, but not the institution of marriage.

Critics of the November 2003 ruling by the highest court in Massachusetts argue that it violated the U.S. Constitution's guarantee of a republican form of government in each state. They lost at the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston.



You can pick up my newest album as well as a bunch of shirts, posters, and other cool stuff at the new Royal Sapien Store.

I, for one, am surprised that this sort of thing hasn't happened more frequently.



Ladies, start your ganders.

I've been under the radar this past week, but I'm back.


I can't stand the irony of this. Bush is hardly the guy you want commenting on a fair election.

"The international community is watching very carefully," the president said.
"People are paying very close attention to this and, hopefully, it will be
resolved in a way that brings credit and confidence to the Ukrainian
government."



Pam's House Blend covers last night's 20/20 infuriating travesty. (Via AmericaBlog)

It was about what I expected. We were treated by 20/20's Elizabeth Vargas spending the first half hour of the program describing the emotionally and physically abusive childhoods of McKinney and Henderson, even to the point of showing how McKinney was an Eagle Scout. It was just meth that made him go out of control, beating Matthew with a 357 Magnum until he was a bloody pulp for the $30 in Shepard's wallet. Henderson comes off as practically an altar boy, that "didn't even touch Matthew" aside from tying up the helpless young man to the fence. I guess that doesn't count. And he made no attempt to call for help because he was afraid of McKinney's meth-fueled fury.


I'll be spending the day with my dad, but here are some posts I picked up on at other fine blogs.

Banning the Delcaration of Independence? That can't be true. Oh... it's not? Well then. I'm sure conservative nut jobs won't be talking about it if that's the case.

Dead Check in Fallujah from the Villiage Voice.

MoMA Artist Pass allows membership for only $35 a year! I'll be heading down on Friday with my proof of artistry.

The Queen acknowledged design! (No, not Elton John...) (via Design Observer)

Logogate in Connecticut. Since when is 10 grand a lot to pay for a logo? Didn't Coca-Cola pay about a million for their Always bottle circle thing?

The Ukranian goverment certified the election despite overwhelming evidence it was rigged.

USB mince pies ready for Christmas!

Picasso's Guernica beautifully reimagined for the NBA. (also via BB)

From all of us at Wider Angle, we thank you for reading. Enjoy the holiday!


For designers, musicians, or those creative types, check out the items on this gift guide put together by PlainSimple.org. Lovely! [another link via kottke.org]



A story about minimum sentences, backwards drug laws, and a kid with no criminal record who was sentenced to 55 years in prison for selling $700 worth of pot while carrying a gun.

It's free, easy, and helps people. What could be better?

Go to the Hunger Site and click away.

And a bitch. Figure that one out.

FALWELL: Up until this generation with the influence of the American Civil Liberties Union and anti-Christ groups like Americans United for Separation of Church and State --

COLMES: Oh "anti," that's not true, Reverend. They're not "anti-Christ."

FALWELL: It is true. I know those guys and the fact is they're so anti-religious, anti-Christian that they have tried to secularize the country.

Mkay, first of all, anti-Christ and antichrist are far too similar to be used in verbal conversation. Second, the groups aren't either. Third, the country is supposed to be secular. The people can be as religious as they damn well please, but the country is one nation under a democratic system, not God.

In more Falwell news, here is a little pre-Thanksgiving turkey...

Jerry Falwell expressed his concerns that the true meaning of Thanksgiving is being distorted by a secular system of education that insists on keeping God out of the discussions of the first Thankgiving. Hannity was quick to agree with Falwells conclusion that God and religion are purposely kept from our children who attend public school.


BothSides magazine has drawn over 1,000 calls and emails to the Washington Post after it's publication in Sunday's paper. Why the hubub? It's an anti-gay hatevertorial sponsored by the Christian Right. While they are allowed to purchase ad space and print what they want, the organization mischaracterized gay people and gay marriage, and lied to support their conclusions.

Several e-mails Getler received... blasted the paper for running the insert. "The Washington Post lost a few notches of respect in my opinion," one e-mail said. "And that is all a paper really ever has." Said another, "The fact that the Post ran an advertisement whose clear purpose was to drive a wedge between two minority groups (blacks and gays) and which gave a voice to people who practice quack science and sell it as gospel is simply disgusting."
You can access the magazine at bothsidesmag.com. Not linking directly as it could increase their PageRank.

Back to the USSR?

Would-be czar Vladimir Putin has taken a giant step toward reasserting the regional hegemony of the former Soviet Union by stealing the election in Ukraine right under our noses.

As an unpaid, volunteer adviser to Viktor Yushchenko, the democratic candidate for president, I have seen, firsthand, how Viktor Yanukovich, the Putin candidate backed by a coalition of the Russian Mafia, oil barons, former KGB officials and communists stole the election and thwarted the obvious will of the voters.

While the former Soviet Union was composed of many smaller nations, now independent, the key was the combination of Russia and Ukraine. Russia’s 145 million people and Ukraine’s 45 million are the core of what was the Soviet empire.

Reuniting them has to be the primary goal of any aspiring Russian czar. But the Ukrainian people don’t want Russian domination.

The election contest pitted Yushchenko, who got the virtually solid support of the 60 percent of the population that is Ukrainian by ethnicity, against Yanukovich, who won equally united backing from the 40 percent that is ethnically Russian. The result was obvious: Exit polls (more accurate in Ukraine than when our own TV networks do them) showed Yushchenko winning by more than 10 points. But the final results, announced by the government, which supported Yanukovich, showed a small margin in favor of the Russian-backed candidate.

Putin regarded the contest as so important that he personally visited Ukraine in the weeks before the election to campaign for his candidate, a clear violation of the most elementary standards of independence and protocol. His former KGB henchmen — and once and future communists — combined with Russian organized-crime figures and oil barons to pump money into the race and to intimidate voters on the ground.
And then there's this, what Hecate calls "the death of irony"...

In a news briefing at the State Department, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell delivered a sharp rebuke to the Ukrainian authorities who today declared Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych the winner of a run-off election Sunday that Ukrainian protesters and foreign observers said was marred by fraud.

"We cannot accept this result as legitimate, because it does not meet international standards and because there has not been an investigation of the numerous and credible reports of fraud and abuse," Powell said.


A student was sent home from a Missouri high school for refusing to turn his gay pride shirt inside out. Sounds like the principal at my high school (Michael Hall of Anderson High School) who demanded we remove our anti-Nazi stickers and pins from all apparel or be suspended.

Mr. Mathewson began attending the school, outside Joplin, in September. In a statement issued by the civil liberties union, he said: "The school lets other students wear antigay T-shirts, and I understand that they have a right to do that. I just want the same right. I think tolerating each other's differences is a key part in teaching students how to become good citizens."

EA forces salaried workers (hearing this game design geeks?) to endure 80-hour weeks with no overtime pay. Sounds like the dream of a lifetime. Oh, but there's free laundry.

The International Game Developers Association conducted an industrywide "quality of life" survey this year documenting that "crunch time is omnipresent." The study urged readers to tell "the young kids just starting out" in the industry to reject the hours that lock them into "an untenable situation once they start wanting serious relationships and families."


If telecommunication lobbyists have anything to say about it, there will be no free wifi programs. Just what the country needs: another step backwards.

A few years ago... gosh, this is hard. I chose content. And my life, well, hasn't been the same ever since.

Seriously though, the point in this article is valid, but I think much more self-evident than is given credit to be. If one is trained in graphic design, and has good teachers, the importance of content over style (be it personal or global) and its presentation in the most appropriate form is drilled into your brain. For a lot of people, little white ear buds block that message, but for a (what I thought was much larger) portion of us, it's just common sense.

About a third of Americans believe in evolution. Wait, what?! So this is why science funding is so limited... it's all beginning to make sense.

A big WA "howdy" to Ray, the new husband of Allyson's sister, who enjoys the blog. Thanks for reading, Ray! And congratulations!


A co-worker brought me a book of works by Joel-Peter Witkin yesterday, thinking I would be interested. Was I ever! I can't believe I'm only now just now learning about this guy. His pieces are brilliant, though not for the squeamish (which fortunately I am not). Do take a look.

Sorry Everybody, My Ass is a site to fight back against the raging terror that is Sorry Everybody. Allegedly, the latter site produces "acid" which then results in the former's "reflux." According to the site, anyway.



As our leaders redouble their efforts to maintain the United States of America's status as the land of the free and home of the brave, please remember that some of us — hopefully most of us — really don't give a shit what the rest of you think.


I live in New York City, and many of you live in fairly unsafe areas of the continents as well. Here are some excellent self-defense sites forwarded on from the Skrufff newsletter.

Punch Techniques & Street Fighting Tips

Regardless of what the action film makers in Hollywood would have you believe, it is unlikely that one person fighting two or more assailants is going to come out of the fight without getting hurt. The best you can do is to decrease the number against you and get away as quickly as possible. Remember you are not there to fight, you are fighting to survive.


Alexis has been posting some good political stuff lately, but I've taken a back seat for a couple days. The reason is this: I've found the past few days of news (Condi's coronation, the CIA purging, Gonzalez, the House's decision to allow convicted felons to rule the country but not vote in Florida, etc.) to be, at the least, depressing. At most, they're a sign of much more distressing things to come, which is just heart-deadening.

I've been reading plenty of it, and it's for that reason that I can't bear to post at length. My brain is already too saturated with what smells like... yes, sadness. I'm a political enthusiast, not a junkie.

Anyway, here are some links to articles I've come across:

Anne Applebaum writes a crazy column for the Washington Post. Lady who spends all day at the 7-11 talking to the window crazy. [via Atrios]

The Bush team is thinking of eliminating the health insurance deduction for corporations.

Oh, and that $15 million Kerry still has after the election. Explain, please?

Ann Coulter is crazy and retarded. Is that racist?

Recount Ohio. If I had a job I'd donate some money.

The many faces of Zoodubya.

And finally, the question Alexis posed yesterday, illustrated by BagNewsNotes. What have we become?



New music! Kind of. It came out in September. You wanna fight about it?

I've been listening to Year Zero over the past couple hours, even though I've had it for months, and it's fantastic. There's the odd miss here and there, but overall it's a very impressive package. It gets the Wider Angle music recommendation seal. [Actual seal not yet designed.]

Looking for more electronic goods for the aural cavities? Try Sander Kleinenberg's new double mix album, Everybody Too, released on Renaissance. Coming soon on Renaissance is a 10th anniversary reissue of the original Sasha and Digweed collection. However, there appear to have been some licensing conflicts and some tracks have been replaced! This means the mix was re-mixed... and I'm not sure how I feel about that. Anyway, don't throw away your original copies. They're great, and worth quite a bit of money.

Recently the number one DJ in the world played a set in New York's Central Park. The posters were everywhere. I was contemplating going, figuring it might be a fun night out for cheap. I didn't expect tickets to cost $35. Needless to say...

I've never been a huge fan of Tiesto's. I've played some of his remixes (Delerium and Sarah McLachlan a few years ago, most notably) but have consistently found his original productions inane and boring, and don't admire or enjoy his DJing. Granted, the only times I've heard him were on the radio, seeing that I've never felt it necessary to download/buy/pay for his mixes. Oh yeah, and at the Olympics.

Now that I've set the stage, I present DJ Magazine's take on the winner of their annual Top 100 DJ poll (third year in a row) not showing up at the gala event... because he needed to perfect a magic trick for his set the following night.

It turns out, as much as people were irritated that he didn't show, it was mainly because they felt snubbed by a "star" whom they helped obtain that status. Many were relieved they didn't have to hear him spin.

Disney is making Toy Story 3 without Pixar. I'm sure it'll look just as nice and be done just as well though. Disney's been so good with the making movies over the past decade. Yikes.

The future of the media from the Museum of Media History.

There is a reason the world abides by the Geneva Conventions. But then again, we have appointed a man who sees the Geneva Conventions as being "quaint." (see Bush Picks Gonzales to Succeed Ashcroft) We have gotten ourselves into a situation that is beyond our control. But we're the U.S. of A. We are always in control. Even if that means violating international law. There is no sugar-coated way for me to say it, so I will just say it: What happened in Fallujah this past week was a war crime, plain and simple. You've probably seen the video by now, in which Marines walk around a quiet room, slowly and calmly. Then one Marine saying, "He's fucking faking he's dead." He then shoots the guy in the head, and says, "Well, he's dead now." Does anyone realize how fucked up this is?! Now, apparently there have been bodies that have been booby-trapped and set to explode. I understand that that is serious danger, and one that should be dealt with. But if this man was wired to explode, shooting him would not have done anything to alter the potential for a bomb to go off. The man was not a threat! Oh, but "You can't trust these people," says Sergeant Nicholas Graham.

Maybe not. But think about this: What if the war was on our turf and soldiers could just kill anyone they "didn't trust"?

They're hot. They're sexy. They're ready.

They're uniters, not dividers.

Jeff Tweedy from Wilco talks about file sharing, the music industry, and why not every download is a lost sale. I've been meaning to check them out for a while now (I know, I'm very late) so this is the encouragement I needed. "I don't want potential fans to be blocked because the choice to check out our music becomes a financial decision for them," Tweedy said.

The story from Wired News.

This proposed bill, HR2391, would not only limit the individual's freedom to do what they like with their information and property, but it would also limit manufacturers from making anything that would contribute to consumers' "reckless disregard of the risk of further infringement." Who's pushing for it? The MPAA and RIAA, of course.

What's worse, the bill is so broadly worded that it could be applied to virtually anything electronic, from an iPod to cable tv, to video games, to breadmakers.

Even the American Conservative Union, who has a bit of sway with many Republicans, is so against the bill that they're taking out full-page ads in newspapers. "It's just plain wrong to make the Department of Justice Hollywood's law firm," said Stacie Rumenap, ACU's deputy director.

A new study shows that, amazingly, kids who grow up with gay parents are just as well-adjusted as kids with straight parents! [via AmericaBlog]

MONDAY, Nov. 15 (HealthDayNews) -- Adolescents who have two moms as parents are no different from teens growing up with a mother and a father, a new study finds.

On measures of psychosocial well-being, school functioning, and romantic relationships and behaviors, the teens with same-sex parents were as well adjusted as their peers with opposite-sex parents. The authors found very few differences between the two groups. A more important predictor of teens' psychological and social adjustment, they found, is the quality of the relationships they have with their parents.


The reason I'm posting this isn't because these dudes are gay, it's because their party, which they couldn't support more, is so anti-gay.

First, according to BlogActive, Dan Gurley, the National Field Director for the RNC, is looking for unsafe male sex on gay.com. Interested? Need more proof?

Also, Ken Mehlman is on tap to be the new RNC chair.

What is with these people? They're not just shooting themselves in the foot...

Tonight at 9pm on PBS: a documentary on Wal-Mart, and if it's good for America. (It's not.) Hedrick Smith, the director and producer of the doc, was on Morning Sedition a couple minutes ago and was great... for what it's worth.

Also, last week's Frontline on the advertising world was spectacular. You can get full coverage (and watch the full program online!) and tons of info on both programs from the PBS.org site, still one of the best destinations on the internets.

UPDATE
Nothing to do? Watch Frontline episodes for a few days.

BTW

NEW AL-JEER SUREAF, Sudan -- The Bush administration has called it genocide. Other governments have labeled it ethnic cleansing and the world's worst humanitarian crisis. There have been calls for collective action and promises of relief. There have been somber reminders of the slaughter in tiny Rwanda a decade ago and solemn vows not to let such a thing happen here, in Africa's largest country.

But months later, the displaced inhabitants of Darfur, in western Sudan, find themselves consoled by little more than words. No Western country has been willing to commit troops to a small peacekeeping mission mounted by the African Union, while aid donors have been distracted by the conflict in Iraq, and U.N. sanctions have been frozen by diplomatic disputes.

As Hecate points out,
Other than calling it a "genocide," the Bush administration has done nothing about the problems in Sudan. Freedom is certainly not on the march in the Sudan, but no one seems to care. How long until the terrorists figure out that this is a good place to hang out?

Whoops, look over there! Gay people! Scott Peterson! Survivor! Early Xmas shopping!


In my search for news on Condoloser Rice (I'm sure I'm the first one with that), I came across this ultra cool chart that details 21 reasons the Bush administration has used to go to war with Iraq, with attributions to each member of the administration who has used the line. The chart only covers statements between September 2001-October 2002. All the crazy reasons that have been presented since are not counted.

Ol' Dirty Bastard died. Never saw that coming. I doubt he did either.

... to find $1.48bn to buy Life Savers!

The deal allows Wrigley to expand in the candy section, where it has expertise and distribution capabilities, while leaving Kraft [Phillip Morris] to focus on the rest of the food market.

Kraft shares edged slightly lower on the New York Stock Exchange Monday, while Wrigley shares were up 1.07 percent.

For Wrigley, the businesses are seen as a good fit with the company's other brands -- including Juicy Fruit and Big Red gum, which like Altoids and Life Savers, sell at the top of candy racks at grocery checkout counters and in convenience stores.



See the news all gridded out for the visually inclined.

An online memorial from the Washington Post.

So not being able to purchase drugs from other countries and allowing pharmaceutical deregulation is helping Americans? How's that again? Merck? Anyone?

First, from Newsday via Atrios:

WASHINGTON -- The White House has ordered the new CIA director, Porter Goss, to purge the agency of officers believed to have been disloyal to President George W. Bush or of leaking damaging information to the media about the conduct of the Iraq war and the hunt for Osama bin Laden, according to knowledgeable sources.

"The agency is being purged on instructions from the White House," said a former senior CIA official who maintains close ties to both the agency and to the White House. "Goss was given instructions ... to get rid of those soft leakers and liberal Democrats. The CIA is looked on by the White House as a hotbed of liberals and people who have been obstructing the president's agenda."

One of the first casualties appears to be Stephen R. Kappes, deputy director of clandestine services, the CIA's most powerful division. The Washington Post reported yesterday that Kappes had tendered his resignation after a confrontation with Goss' chief of staff, Patrick Murray, but at the behest of the White House had agreed to delay his decision till tomorrow.

But the former senior CIA official said that the White House "doesn't want Steve Kappes to reconsider his resignation. That might be the spin they put on it, but they want him out." He said the job had already been offered to the former chief of the European Division who retired after a spat with then-CIA Director George Tenet.


And did you catch 60 Minutes last night? It was enlightening, to say the least...

What is new for Scheuer - who resigned from the intelligence agency on Friday - is commenting by name.

Until Friday, and for over two decades at the CIA, he was anonymous - and even wrote a book using the pen name Anonymous: "Imperial Hubris: Why the West is Losing the War on Terror," published this past July.

The book, written with the CIA's blessing, is critical of the Bush administration's counterterrorism policy and was viewed by some at the White House as a thinly veiled attempt by the CIA to undermine the president's reelection.

[...]

"You've written no one should be surprised when Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda detonate a weapon of mass destruction in the United States," says Kroft. "You believe that's going to happen?"

"I don't believe in inevitability. But I think it's pretty close to being inevitable," says Scheuer.

A nuclear weapon? "A nuclear weapon of some dimension, whether it's actually a nuclear weapon, or a dirty bomb, or some kind of radiological device," says Scheuer. "Yes, I think it's probably a near thing."

What evidence is there that bin Laden's actually working to do this? "He's told us it. Bin Laden is remarkably eager for Americans to know why he doesn't like us, what he intends to do about it and then following up and doing something about it in terms of military actions," says Scheuer. "He's told us that, 'We are going to acquire a weapon of mass destruction, and if we acquire it, we will use it.'"


Helen Thomas says it all:
Do Americans of good conscience really believe that we are making the United
States more secure by bombing and killing the people of Fallujah?

I think not.

Does Bush even know what's going on in Iraq? Sadly, No! Seb brings us the news:

President Lookin' Into Souls speaks:

"Well, I'm confident when people realize that there's a chance to vote on a president, they will participate," President Bush said Wednesday when asked whether the participation of Sunni Muslims would be necessary to make the elections free and fair. [...]

As I reminded our citizens prior to the Afghanistan elections, there's a deep desire in every soul to vote and to be free, and to participate in the presidential elections," he said.

In fact, Iraqis will not choose their president directly. They will be voting to choose a National Assembly of 275 members, which will elect from its members a president and two deputies and write a constitution. [Emphasis added, stupidity in the original.]

The article's headline is "Confusion in White House on Aim of Iraq Election," which seems to be a polite way of saying "President unaware of any facts about the upcoming elections in Iraq."

And moonbiter comments...

"there's a deep desire in every soul to vote and to be free ..."

I think he means "there's a deep desire in just under 60% of eligible souls to vote and to be free."
Then Ti-Guy reacts...
Just how many and what kinds of drugs did Barbara Bush do during her pregnancy with George? She must have [been] free-basing Aqua Velva.


You can download The Great Divide: Retro vs. Metro America for free on their site. Help reform the Democratic party.

PatrickHenry at MyDD is a smart Republican who voted for Bush. He welcomes your questions as to why he did so. The conversation has already taken off, and it's a fascinating read. His reasons seem pretty just based on the research he's done, but there are a lot of issues he didn't take into consideration that would have swayed his vote in the other direction.

A handy guide to film aspect ratios via our reliable blogger kottke.

Here are some quotes forwarded onto me by my dad, written approximately seventy years ago by H.L. Mencken.

"As democracy is perfected, the office of President represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day, the pla