Well, you'd better watch out
You'd better behave
We've got a terrifed nation to save
John Ashcroft is coming to town

He's making a list
Of those who would say
Anything bad 'bout the U.S. of A.
John Ashcroft is coming to town

He sees where you've been surfing
He knows what books you've read
He knows all of the treasonous thoughts
That you've got inside your head

So take care what you think
Or watch on TV
Or you'll be detained indefinitely
John Ashcroft is coming to town

The girls and boys on websites
Have had their final say
We're building them new housing
Down at Guantanamo Bay

So, you'd better watch out
You'd better behave
In the land of the free and home of the brave
John Ashcroft is coming to town

This may be my final post.

August 20, 2003

Grassroots

This looks fun.

To encourage "grassroots" support, George Bush's reelection site has a ready-made cut and paste "Letter to the Editor" to show your support, or at least your unquestioning obedience, to the First Vacationer.

Of course, it looks pretty damn easy to cut and paste, then change the text. Heh heh.

Atrios and NotGeniuses want all good people to send their own creative letters around this Friday. I'm in.

August 14, 2003

43 Seconds

Sooz just alerted me that a major blackout has shut down NYC and a few other northeastern cities. I turned on CNN and started my "How Long Until The Word Terrorism Is Spoken" Countdown.

43 seconds.

But something major's going on; even though they're stressing that it's a combination of a fire at a power plant and energy overloads, I'd hate to be trapped in an elevator or a subway right about now. Yikes.

August 12, 2003

Fair and Balanced

Fox News is suing Al Franken because his latest book is called "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right". Fox says it trademarked the phrase "fair and balanced" years ago. In a related story, I'm going to check into whether I can trademark the phrase "traditional Christian values".

The always-fair and balanced Atrios has a list of who's added the phrase on their web site. If we dilute Fox's "trademark" enough, they may have to respond by actually providing some fair and balanced news.

August 11, 2003

Official 5th Anniversary Date and Location

Due to karaoke issues at Charlie's, the BunkoSquad 5th Anniversary will be held at the Grafton Street Pub in Harvard Square (1230 Mass. Ave, around the bend from Harvard Book Store and the Hong Kong). Revels start Tuesday (the 12th) around 9:00.

August 07, 2003

Three Questions About Arnold

Now that the bodybuilder-turned-"actor" has thrown his loincloth into the ring:

1.) Do all the other candidates -- hell, do any of the other candidates -- get equal time on network TV with Jay Leno? I doubt it.

2.) What of all the nuts who don't want celebrities to speak their minds about politics? I imagine they're against Arnold running. But I doubt it.

3.) Can there be some provision that you have to be able to spell Schwarzenegger correctly to vote for him?

Personally, I'm intrigued by the Matte for Governor campaign. He's looking for something to do and lives near the capitol building in Sacramento. And I've hung out with him a couple of times and he seems pretty cool. There's an endorsement for you, huh?

Same-Sex Marriage

Mikhaela has an awesome roundup of editiorial cartoons on same-sex marriage. The bluster from the anti-side would be comical if fundamental equal rights weren't at stake. Rick Santorum, the Republican Senator at the forefront of the "Gay Marriage Is Icky" movement, came up with this interesting view last Sunday on Fox:

Marriage is not about affirming somebody's love for somebody else. It's about uniting together to be open to children, to further civilization in our society.

Interesting that he would consider a marriage between 60-year-olds invalid, or an infertile couple, or even a marriage involving Republicans Bob Dole or Newt Gingrich, neither of whom has any kids with their current wives. Interesting, too, that he chose Fox to air his views, with their traditional-marriage programming like "Bachelorettes in Alaska" amnd "Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire?"

The First Vacationer weighed in, too, saying in between trips to Crawford,

I am mindful that we're all sinners, and I caution those who may try to take the speck out of the neighbor's eye when they got a log in their own.

Huh? Does he realize that not everyone is Christian, and that his "Christian Values" don't alter legal rights to equality? (I know the answer to that, by the way.) In fact, why is the government in the business of granting marriages in the first place? What's so wrong with the law allowing each adult to enter into one civil union with one partner of their choice, granting them all the legal and financial rights of current marriage? Then the couple can have the church ceremony, or Elvis wedding, or drum circle of their choice to validate it in front of friends and family.

On a personal note, I'm in a 6-1/2 year relationship. Of course the topic of marriage has come up, but we're both kind of uncomfortable inviting our gay friends to something they can't do for themselves. I'd like to think that if I were in Alabama in the 50s, I wouldn't have made Rosa Parks get up. That's not the only reason, but it's an important one.

August 06, 2003

Bill Maher has a blog!

It's on safesearching.com. It kind of reads like material he's floating to see if it will make the monologue, but it's still interesting.

August 03, 2003

The South Coast

Sooz and I took a much-needed daytrip today. Usually, on the rare occasions our days off coincide, we sit at our computers and mutter, every hour on the hour, "we really should do something today", but today we did.

First stop was the Whaling Museum in New Bedford, which was cooler than I expected. A lot of models of old whaling ships (including one half-size), many seascapes by William Bradford, and lots of little pieces of former whales (mostly teeth and bones, but also including one startling, highly intimate piece of a former male whale lovingly preserved in glass).

Next up was Fall River, and the Lizzie Borden Museum. The house where the double axe-murder occured is now a functioning bed-and-breakfast, and also gives a few tours every day during the summer. We were incredibly lucky here. First, we arrived in Fall River three minutes before the final tour began; second, to comemmorate the anniversary of the killings (August 4, 1892), the museum went all out and had actors portraying the Borden family to liven up the tour. The best part? The sign over the stairs warning of a low ceiling, ending with "Be Careful! There have already been two fatal head injuries in this house!"

We spent most of the afternoon in Newport, R.I., window-shopping on Thames Street, drinking frozen lemonade and drooling over some of the boats in the harbor. Then we had some burgers in Providence and headed home. We lucked out again; Arlington was clearly recovering from downpours and the news was full of woe about the day's weather. But we didn't see a drop of rain all day.

The book Curious New England is now a staple of our road-tripping. Check it out if you have an urge to hit the road.

Rock and Roll Will Never Die

If this is a Photoshop job, it's a good one.

My personal "I was there" headstone would have some I'm really proud of (REM, U2 (x2), Pearl Jam (x5), Depeche Mode, Liz Phair, Morrissey), some I'm a little more secretly proud of (Faith No More, Huey Lewis), and some I still can't believe (did I really drive down to New Haven to see Weird Al?!?).

Who haven't I seen, that I'd like to? Elvis Costello, Tom Waits and Stone Temple Pilots. And that's about it.

5 Year Plan

This fits more peoples' schedules better, so it looks like the BunkoSquad 5th Anniversary Party (it's very very informal) will be Tuesday 8/12 instead of Monday 8/11. Purists, I apologize; it will be the 3,327th day instead of the actual 5-year anniversary.