Comic for Friday, June 30th, 2006

Posted: 7:50 am, Friday, June 30th

One version of the ad in question. I know it's the School of Visual Arts and not the School of Grammarical Arts, but, still. Drives me nuts.

It’s a reading-heavy day here at Five Bucks to Friday – if you’re like me and get out of the office early on Fridays, you’ve basically got your day taken care of here.

Let’s kick things off with your weekly reminder that if you haven’t seen An Inconvenient Truth yet, you really should. Upstate New York and a good chunk of Pennsylvania are currently underwater. I wonder why that could be? Anyway, our main environmental man Al Gore is back in the pages of Rolling Stone in a fantastic interview where he talks more politics than he does in Truth or in most of the press junket pieces I’ve seen regarding Truth yet. The choicest slice is this, from page 2 in there, but the whole thing is worth reading.

What did you think during the 2000 campaign on the day that Bush announced he would limit CO2 emissions if he were elected? Did you think, "That's bullshit"?
I thought it was fraudulent. I actually did not anticipate that he would directly and brazenly break that pledge, and go 180 degrees in the opposite direction at full speed, but I thought that he would slow-walk it and make it meaningless. They were trying to drain the moral energy out of an issue that they felt could hurt them if the public perceived a clear contrast on the issue.

Did it seem like a smart move, strategically, at that point?
Well, if you define the word "smart" in an antiseptic and clinical way that excludes any ethical dimension, then, yeah, I guess it was smart. Smart, if you're willing to say things that you know are not true. But that's what Karl Rove is known for. Bush's whole pose as a compassionate conservative was fraudulent. His budget was fraudulent. Even the idea that he would be staunchly opposed to nation building was fraudulent. I don't mean that he actually knew at the time of the campaign that he was going to invade Iraq -- because I don't think Cheney had told him yet [laughs]. But the statement on global warming, and the specific pledge to reduce CO2 emissions with the force of law, was part of a larger pattern. He was completely fraudulent from head to toe.

Ugh, heartbreaking story about the death of Sgt. Terry Michael Lisk over in Iraq.

Remember votergasm, from way back in the halcyon days before November 2, 2004? I forget what the link was in reference to, but stereogum linked to the blog of the girl that was behind the whole thing, and I never knew this, but good ol’ woody-totin’ Rush sicked his dogs on her back in the day. Here’s her hate mail from his ilk.

And for the last really wordy thing I’m linking to, mgoblog has begun his season previews, leading off with Michigan State. This guy’s got some fantastic analysis, aside from a pathological aversion to admitting to himself that Notre Dame was very good last year.

Here’s a list of Rolling Stone’s favorite Sleater-Kinney songs (I agree with them on four - I'm Not Waiting, Call the Doctor, You're No Rock n' Roll Fun, and Modern Girl). I can’t believe they skip all of One Beat, but, OK, whatever. RBally has a few live tracks of theirs up – I’m hoping he puts a whole show on at some point.

I really should’ve linked to the original Something Awful piece yesterday about that ‘art’ wholesaler. Be sure not to miss this thing – NASCARiffic!

Speaking of NASCAR, honestly, I can’t believe I made it this far into MySpace without finding a Confederate flag motif.

Alright, everyone, have a good weekend, and do not look directly at the Red Sox, because they will burn your retinas. First Saturday at the Brooklyn Museum tomorrow is the opening of their graffiti show - should be awesome.

bullfrog

Gang, sorry about the .html issues here - I'll clean it up when I get into the office. I'm running late already, though, so if it's too distracting for you, come back after 9:30 or so.

A-ha! Man triumphs over machine yet again. All fixed.

I prefer "Rollercoaster" meself, will they play it on Aug 3rd?

Rock and Roll!

Grrr!!! http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/06/29/heavy.ted dy.ap/index.html What happened to less McDonalds + more tag in the backyard!?!?!

Second, Ondy - and we can always yell 'Rollercoaster' at them a lot. Or 'Freebird.'

So, I have that German army jacket, Boecker, and an Italia zip-up that Di gave me, both very nice options to wear into the office because they keep the AC cranked up ridiculously high in this place. Both Italy and Germany are playing in the Cup today. Do I remember either? Of course not. My one chance to be hip and timely. Gone. Oh well.

Confederate flags are weird. I grew up in NH and NY but I live in Fairfax, Virginia now. It seems like if i take I-66 into DC it's like falling off the precipice into into the heart of ultra-nazi-liberalism, not regular liberals who have opinions like us, weird people. Its DC, move here and you'll understand. These people scare me. But if i head to west into the heart of VA the stars and bars come out and everyone has bumper stickers like: "I dont care how you did it UP NORTH". I swear ive seen it more than one. These people scare me more and make me run back to my home to hide under the covers dreaming about Clinton/Obama vs Rice/Cheney. We could beat Condi Rice and Cheney on a ticket... Right? If we shot Karl Rove? Right...

I disagree with the classification of ultra-nazi-liberalism, but as a "beltway insider" maybe I really just resemble that.

However, I am all for sending Rove et al to Gitmo for a little R&R.

A few weeks back, I learned that denying the Holocaust is a crime in Germany. (I mentioned it around here - it was in reference to the President of Iran going to the World Cup.) I think we should do a similar thing with the Confederate flag. That bullshit is just unacceptable.

I couldn't have said it any better than Pete did.

The problem was that those conversations about grammar would go on for hours or days between Bullfrog and Keebler and other assorted English majors.

I never mentioned it around here, because I figure everybody already knew about it, but everyone *does* know about the whole Net Neutrality thing going on right now, right? As I understand it, it's basically the telecoms want the right to charge, say, ESPN for the right to be accessed over their service. Like, if you have RoadRunner and RoadRunner doesn't get the money they want from CNN, well, then, no CNN for RoadRunner clients. (Anyone with a greater understanding of this, feel free to set me straight.)

Anyway, this went to Congress, but didn't go through, on a tie. This dude from the TPM Cafe explains the ins and outs of the vote, saying things don't look too *too* bad on Net Neutrality.

http://www.tpmcafe.com/blog/specialguests/2006 /jun/29/when_a_net_neutrality_tie_is_a_win

Probably the best point he makes is that there's no way we can expect the people voting on this issue to actually understand what's at stake. I mean, that jerk that wants the Ten Commandments posted in court houses can't name more than three of them - a bunch of 60-year old career politicians are going to understand the internet? Please.

I don't think it would be "no cnn for roadrunner clients". i think it would just be really really slow cnn for roadrunner clients. but i probably know as much as you do, so i'm just blowing smoke.

and you know the civil war is the war of northern agression down here, don't you? I don't think that flag is going to be banned any time soon.

I think you explained the idea of Net Neutrality well enough, but it's not the CNN's and ESPN's of the world that would suffer since they have the money to pay the extortion fees. It's a site like yours that would potentially get screwed. However, I think it would be really funny if a major Telecom decided to charge the Federal government for access to their web sites.

Please tell me that's not what it's called in schools.

all schools? I have no idea.

a friend of ours was taught that growing up in virginia. I highly doubt the rest of the south is much different.

i do seem to remember reading something recently that noted that the whole slavery angle tends to get downplayed when it's taught in the south.

also, evolution is still hotly debated in georgia. although, i suppose they don't have a monopoly on that one. there was something about it in the atlanta paper a week or two ago.

My head asplode.

Given my understanding of Net Neutrality, I think RAW nailed it pretty well. I will add that dailykos.com is doing some really good and constant coverage on the issue.

In an effort to get 60-year old senators to understand technology, there is a pac dedicated to buying them iPods. Worth skimming the article before dismissing it out of hand as loony or ultra-nazi-liberal. http://www.ipaction.org/campaigns/ipod/

e - perhaps i am a victim of over generalization. I have some friends that work for NOW which continually frighten me. I suppose its healthy to worry about the rammifications of decisions made but the chicken little attitude that occurs in DC a lot of the time gives me pause for thought.

G Dub is a moron, everyone knows it. But the idea that we will all instantly die when he says something dumb is just overboard. I guess i am just not a girl and as such the idea of reproductive freedom being limited in the future just angers me instead of sending me into coniptic fits.

That's pretty awesome, ad. Although it kills me that Trent Lott has an iPod video and I don't.

You've got a good point there, Wood - frankly, when the douchebag is *quiet,* it scares me more than when he's mispronouncing every third word of what Cheney has him saying.

Touche Bullfrog. I think he heard that brevity is the soul of wit and thinks he will appear more clever by staring blankly into the camera.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLVT5rZdy8M - Wayne's World

All the politics today, yet my favorite nugget is E's link about the weighted teddy bears. Hilarious. I'll keep it in mind if Ben's milk-belly gets too big.

Let's roll this forward... Weighted laptops, wallets, purses? Somebody start marketing this stuff, and make sure I get my royalties. If a good slice of America can be convinced to eat nothing but meat and call it a diet, then the above will surely sell like hotcakes.

Sorry for the double post. I just noticed that Pete drops an awesome futurama quote in yesterday's comic. Did you guys hear that its coming back for 13 shows on comedy central.

http://www.gotfuturama.com/

You can't just ban the confederate flag since that would be a clear violation of the first amendment. Germany's freedom of speech laws are much more restrictive than the US's.

I agree with Sweaty on this one. You cant just ban it because people have the right to say and express themselves how they feel. But I have the right to loathe them for it.

I don't know the legal ins and outs of it, but since the Confederate flag represents a nation that basically was formed to protect the institution of slavery (yes, I know there were other issues at hand, but slavery was the big one), it could be construed a form of hate-speech, which I'm fairly certain is not protected by the First Amendment. I could be wrong on that - Fred Phelps is still roaming free, after all - but thankfully we have a room full of lawyers out there who can set me straight.

I just realized I can't possibly be right on that. Since that was my entire rationale behind banning the Confederate flag, I rescind the motion.

Personally I'd rather they wave their confederate flags. All the better to identify the assholes (you know, if they happen to be driving the car *without* the gun rack).

Not to mention their continued use of that flag only reinforces my right to burn whatever goddamned piece of fabric I want to.

MJL - maybe if we make heavier forks and knives??? Literally burn calories as you put them in your mouth!!!

It was referred to the War Against Northern Aggression in FLA, too.

Wood: I agree - DC has some nuts on both sides of the divide. But, I think that is what you get when people not only feel passionately, but also do these things as their jobs. In general I have found a lot of very educated conversation and less of the hatred and finger-pointing I saw in my days in the mid-west.

2.0 - I'd love to see a confederate-flag-waiving, gun rack-toting, NASCAR fan driving the streets of NYC. Thanks for that image.

There's wars going down in the middle western states.