Bush & the Nazis

Another copy of a quickie Yahoo post. The story was that the Bush Administration is opposing the publication of the names of people who held insurance policies from European companies during WWII. Publication would help Holocaust survivors recover benefits which were illegally withheld.

Holy cr@p!
Why the HELL is the Bush Administration trying to help the Nazis? Don't they know that Hitler is dead? I'm sure that broke Grandaddy Bush's heart at the time, but it's ancient history.

Just like the Nazis, who were killed by the same US government and military that BushCo is so busily trying to bankrupt and destroy right now.

Say, maybe that's the reason - this is all payback for killing a precious Bush friend. Which explains why they're slashing benefits for veterans - anything to hurt the guys who put poor Adolph out of business!

Bush & the Nazis

Another copy of a quickie Yahoo post. The story was that the Bush Administration is opposing the publication of the names of people who held insurance policies from European companies during WWII. Publication would help Holocaust survivors recover benefits which were illegally withheld.

Holy cr@p!
Why the HELL is the Bush Administration trying to help the Nazis? Don't they know that Hitler is dead? I'm sure that broke Grandaddy Bush's heart at the time, but it's ancient history.

Just like the Nazis, who were killed by the same US government and military that BushCo is so busily trying to bankrupt and destroy right now.

Say, maybe that's the reason - this is all payback for killing a precious Bush friend. Which explains why they're slashing benefits for veterans - anything to hurt the guys who put poor Adolph out of business!

The Florida Recount

Yet another post I put up on Yahoo, this in response to a hack job in which the media whore in question asserts (wrongly) that Bush would have won the Florida recount if the votes had been counted fairly.

Well done, Walter!

Well done, thou good and faithful servant. You've regurgitated the party line like a good little puppet, so you'll get to keep your job.

Isn't it wonderful the way that a lie repeated often enough is accepted as the truth? We all know that Saddam was behind 9/11, even though there's no evidence and every expert and intelligence agency in the world says that that's nonsense.

And we all know that Bush would have "really" won the recount, even though an impartial count of the votes shows that if ALL votes were recounted - as Florida law requires - Gore would have won the state.

Now, if only we could get rid of that pesky evidence...

The Florida Recount

Yet another post I put up on Yahoo, this in response to a hack job in which the media whore in question asserts (wrongly) that Bush would have won the Florida recount if the votes had been counted fairly.

Well done, Walter!

Well done, thou good and faithful servant. You've regurgitated the party line like a good little puppet, so you'll get to keep your job.

Isn't it wonderful the way that a lie repeated often enough is accepted as the truth? We all know that Saddam was behind 9/11, even though there's no evidence and every expert and intelligence agency in the world says that that's nonsense.

And we all know that Bush would have "really" won the recount, even though an impartial count of the votes shows that if ALL votes were recounted - as Florida law requires - Gore would have won the state.

Now, if only we could get rid of that pesky evidence...

Test

This is a test to see if tables can be used in LiveJournal.

This	is	a
test.	This	is
only	a	test.

Test

This is a test to see if tables can be used in LiveJournal.

This	is	a
test.	This	is
only	a	test.

Something useful?

Okay, another try at something mildly useful for me: the formatting for a second heading within a post.

<font face="Arial" color="#C00000"><i><b>FillInHeading</b></i></font>

Something useful?

Okay, another try at something mildly useful for me: the formatting for a second heading within a post.

<font face="Arial" color="#C00000"><i><b>FillInHeading</b></i></font>

I hammer some more

A follow-up on the Yahoo election thread.

Re: Well done, Walter!
One popular way to cope when the truth is against you is to spread as much confusion as possible. Then when someone points out the facts, you can throw up a protective layer of BS, point to all the resulting confusion, and say "Look at all the different interpretations! Who knows what the truth is?"

The implication being, of course, that there IS no such thing as truth - it's all relative. Which is somehow supposed to validate lying.

It's particularly amusing that Republicans resort to this tactic so often, because it's the very antithesis of the moral rectitude that they pretend to uphold. Oh yeah, they love to scream on and on about how liberals have no values. But when it comes to an inconvenient truth, suddenly not only does the truth turn into lies - there is no such THING as the truth! How convenient. How hypocritical. How...typical of the modern GOP.

The truth in this case is that in the Florida election, some ballots were discarded which were overvotes. That is, the voter both checked off the name of the candidate, AND wrote in that same name. The intent of the voter was clear on those ballots, and both Florida and Federal law require that they be counted. But they weren't.

If they had been, though, Al Gore would have clearly won Florida and the Presidency, although I suppose that the GOP and the foresworn Republicans on the Supreme Court would have found a way to steal the election anyway.

I hammer some more

A follow-up on the Yahoo election thread.

Re: Well done, Walter!
One popular way to cope when the truth is against you is to spread as much confusion as possible. Then when someone points out the facts, you can throw up a protective layer of BS, point to all the resulting confusion, and say "Look at all the different interpretations! Who knows what the truth is?"

The implication being, of course, that there IS no such thing as truth - it's all relative. Which is somehow supposed to validate lying.

It's particularly amusing that Republicans resort to this tactic so often, because it's the very antithesis of the moral rectitude that they pretend to uphold. Oh yeah, they love to scream on and on about how liberals have no values. But when it comes to an inconvenient truth, suddenly not only does the truth turn into lies - there is no such THING as the truth! How convenient. How hypocritical. How...typical of the modern GOP.

The truth in this case is that in the Florida election, some ballots were discarded which were overvotes. That is, the voter both checked off the name of the candidate, AND wrote in that same name. The intent of the voter was clear on those ballots, and both Florida and Federal law require that they be counted. But they weren't.

If they had been, though, Al Gore would have clearly won Florida and the Presidency, although I suppose that the GOP and the foresworn Republicans on the Supreme Court would have found a way to steal the election anyway.

One for the history books: The Fall of Whitewolf

I just did a quick Googling for something really funny, and it doesn't seem to be anywhere on the net. Part of it was somewhat blue, so I'll be putting that part in SUPER-SECRET INVISIBLE INK (i.e. "white").

It was a long time ago, back in the early 1990's; maybe 1992 or '93. I was having a lot of fun with BBSes, electronic bulletin board systems. Kids, this was before the internet was really available for most people, although I'd had some experience with it already in college.

One of the BBSes was called Argus. It had 50 to 100 phone lines, which made it a HUGE local business in those days. And you actually had to pay to use it, which was pretty unusual. I think it was based in Lexington, MA, if that matters.

Anyway, they relied pretty heavily on volunteers to run forums on various subjects. The guy who ran the Argus Politics board was a real prick - ahem, "jerk"; he made a big deal out of his libertarianistic, Ayn Randian purity while deleting any posts that he disagreed with. As a result, the Politics board became a fun hangout for his libertarian and Nazi friends, but was pretty much a waste of time for anyone sane.

Complaints to the Argus management fell on deaf ears, of course.

Anyway, high among the ranks of the pricks jerks was a young punk who called himself "Whitewolf". He was clearly involved with neo-nazism, but refused to admit it - he was one of those "I'm just proud of being a member of the white race, what's wrong with that" morons. FYI, White Wolf the roleplaying company didn't exist yet (or if it did, nobody had heard of it).

The energy of youth and stupidity made Whitewolf particularly annoying, because he would not leave anybody alone. Ever. He'd just go on and on and on, no matter how clearly it was pointed out that he wasn't wanted in the discussion.

And then one day, some genius (I've forgotten his name) posted the following ditty. I read it, and literally fell to the floor laughing. Then I crawled to the stairs and actually flowed downstairs to tell my roommate about it. I was laughing so hard that he actually cracked up before I managed to get a word out. The highlight is, unfortunately, in white font for obvious reasons:

(to the tune of the second part of "I've Been Working on the Railroad")

Someone's in the kitchen with Whitewolf,
Someone's in the kitchen I know-o-o-ow.
Someone's in the kitchen with Whitewolf,
Shoving a statue of Hitler up his ass!
And singing:
Fee! Fi! Fiddly-i-oh!
Fee! Fi! Fiddly-i-oh-oh-oh-oh!
Someone's in the kitchen with Whitewolf,
Shoving a statue of Hitler up his ass!

Whitewolf never showed his face in the forums again, as such. The user did try to come back a few weeks later as "Squadwolf", but it was obvious who he was. I'm not the creative genius who wrote the song, but I couldn't resist posting a new version aimed at "Squadwolf", changing "a statue" to "a squad of statues".

And as I recall, he didn't come around much after that.

Argus is long gone, of course. Still, I'd hate for such a glorious moment in pre-net electronic history to be forgotten. :D

One for the history books: The Fall of Whitewolf

I just did a quick Googling for something really funny, and it doesn't seem to be anywhere on the net. Part of it was somewhat blue, so I'll be putting that part in SUPER-SECRET INVISIBLE INK (i.e. "white").

It was a long time ago, back in the early 1990's; maybe 1992 or '93. I was having a lot of fun with BBSes, electronic bulletin board systems. Kids, this was before the internet was really available for most people, although I'd had some experience with it already in college.

One of the BBSes was called Argus. It had 50 to 100 phone lines, which made it a HUGE local business in those days. And you actually had to pay to use it, which was pretty unusual. I think it was based in Lexington, MA, if that matters.

Anyway, they relied pretty heavily on volunteers to run forums on various subjects. The guy who ran the Argus Politics board was a real prick - ahem, "jerk"; he made a big deal out of his libertarianistic, Ayn Randian purity while deleting any posts that he disagreed with. As a result, the Politics board became a fun hangout for his libertarian and Nazi friends, but was pretty much a waste of time for anyone sane.

Complaints to the Argus management fell on deaf ears, of course.

Anyway, high among the ranks of the pricks jerks was a young punk who called himself "Whitewolf". He was clearly involved with neo-nazism, but refused to admit it - he was one of those "I'm just proud of being a member of the white race, what's wrong with that" morons. FYI, White Wolf the roleplaying company didn't exist yet (or if it did, nobody had heard of it).

The energy of youth and stupidity made Whitewolf particularly annoying, because he would not leave anybody alone. Ever. He'd just go on and on and on, no matter how clearly it was pointed out that he wasn't wanted in the discussion.

And then one day, some genius (I've forgotten his name) posted the following ditty. I read it, and literally fell to the floor laughing. Then I crawled to the stairs and actually flowed downstairs to tell my roommate about it. I was laughing so hard that he actually cracked up before I managed to get a word out. The highlight is, unfortunately, in white font for obvious reasons:

(to the tune of the second part of "I've Been Working on the Railroad")

Someone's in the kitchen with Whitewolf,
Someone's in the kitchen I know-o-o-ow.
Someone's in the kitchen with Whitewolf,
Shoving a statue of Hitler up his ass!
And singing:
Fee! Fi! Fiddly-i-oh!
Fee! Fi! Fiddly-i-oh-oh-oh-oh!
Someone's in the kitchen with Whitewolf,
Shoving a statue of Hitler up his ass!

Whitewolf never showed his face in the forums again, as such. The user did try to come back a few weeks later as "Squadwolf", but it was obvious who he was. I'm not the creative genius who wrote the song, but I couldn't resist posting a new version aimed at "Squadwolf", changing "a statue" to "a squad of statues".

And as I recall, he didn't come around much after that.

Argus is long gone, of course. Still, I'd hate for such a glorious moment in pre-net electronic history to be forgotten. :D

Election Odds

PETER HANDICAPS THE ELECTION
FOR YOU

Candidate	Chance of Winning	Why?
George W. Bush (Dictator, R)	85%	A) Has 100x more money than all other candidates put together, thanks to grateful corporate contributors/beneficiaries. B) Can start another popularity-raising war whenever he wants, thanks to Democratic spinelessness. C) When you own the media and the voting machines, the word "election" takes on a whole new meaning.
Joeseph Lieberman (Senator, National Socialist Party)	-1,000%	A) A Republican who got confused and is running as a Democrat. Hates Democrats and all that they stand for, and isn't good at hiding that. B) Has all the wit, charm, and personality of an earwax & nose-drool pie. C) He's Jewish, and there are still too many damned bigot morons in the US.
Howard Dean (Governor, D)	10%	A) A better public speaker than many think. Politically flexible and clever, with wildly enthusiastic followers. B) The GOP media-machine is getting ready to whomp him like a bug. C) Weird neck, and sometimes looks like a deer in the headlights.
John Kerry (Senator, D)	5%	A) Still looking for lost soul. Last seen in 1982. B) From Massachusetts. Southerners HATE Massachusetts. Don't ask me why. Maybe it's something to do with JFK. C) Almost totally unable to make a stand based on conscience since losing his soul. Still unable to justify vote giving Bush Imperial war-making powers.
John Edwards (Senator, D)	3%	A) Made crucial error of neglecting campaigning for fundraising early in season. B) Charming and smooth, but not quite charming and smooth enough to not seem too charming and smooth - yet. C) A southerner, which means that the First Unwritten Amendment - the one which says that only Southerners can win the Presidency - is on his side. Maybe in eight years.
Dennis Kucinich (Congressman, D)	0.4%	A) Wide-eyed liberal. The media hates wide-eyed liberals. B) There's some kookiness there, yes.
Wesley Clark (General, D)	11%	A) A general, and a successful one at that. B) Very intelligent and very comfortable on TV. C) In some sense a Southerner (see Edwards section "C").
Al Sharpton (Reverend, D)	0.0%	A) The Right hates him. B) Intelligent and a good speaker. Willing to say things most of the other candidates won't say. C) Wierd hair, plus he's black - and sorry, folks, but the troglodytes of America are just not going to allow anyone who isn't melanin-impaired to become President.
Bob Graham (Senator, D)	0.9%	A) Knows some of the deep dark secrets of the Bush junta, but can't tell them. B) From the South (see Edwards, C). Former governor of Florida, which would make it slightly harder for BushCo to steal the election down there. So they'll do it somewhere else. C) Looks like a living fossil. So pale that he disappears in the noonday sun. Only slightly less old than Bob Dole.
Dick Gephardt (Congressman, D)	1%	A) A stalwart of the Democratic party. Politically extremely well-connected. B) Slow-moving, unable to react quickly or stir up much interest. C) Supported the Warleader Bush bill. Oops.
Carol Mosely-Braun (Senator, D)	0.0001%	A) Intelligent, articulate, very liberal and truthful. She's doomed. A) She's a woman. She's hasn't gone through menopause. She's black. All she needs is to be Jewish, a lesbian, and an atheist and the South would rise en masse.

Yeah, I know that the percentages don't add up to 100%. They're not supposed to.

Election Odds

PETER HANDICAPS THE ELECTION
FOR YOU

Candidate	Chance of Winning	Why?
George W. Bush (Dictator, R)	85%	A) Has 100x more money than all other candidates put together, thanks to grateful corporate contributors/beneficiaries. B) Can start another popularity-raising war whenever he wants, thanks to Democratic spinelessness. C) When you own the media and the voting machines, the word "election" takes on a whole new meaning.
Joeseph Lieberman (Senator, National Socialist Party)	-1,000%	A) A Republican who got confused and is running as a Democrat. Hates Democrats and all that they stand for, and isn't good at hiding that. B) Has all the wit, charm, and personality of an earwax & nose-drool pie. C) He's Jewish, and there are still too many damned bigot morons in the US.
Howard Dean (Governor, D)	10%	A) A better public speaker than many think. Politically flexible and clever, with wildly enthusiastic followers. B) The GOP media-machine is getting ready to whomp him like a bug. C) Weird neck, and sometimes looks like a deer in the headlights.
John Kerry (Senator, D)	5%	A) Still looking for lost soul. Last seen in 1982. B) From Massachusetts. Southerners HATE Massachusetts. Don't ask me why. Maybe it's something to do with JFK. C) Almost totally unable to make a stand based on conscience since losing his soul. Still unable to justify vote giving Bush Imperial war-making powers.
John Edwards (Senator, D)	3%	A) Made crucial error of neglecting campaigning for fundraising early in season. B) Charming and smooth, but not quite charming and smooth enough to not seem too charming and smooth - yet. C) A southerner, which means that the First Unwritten Amendment - the one which says that only Southerners can win the Presidency - is on his side. Maybe in eight years.
Dennis Kucinich (Congressman, D)	0.4%	A) Wide-eyed liberal. The media hates wide-eyed liberals. B) There's some kookiness there, yes.
Wesley Clark (General, D)	11%	A) A general, and a successful one at that. B) Very intelligent and very comfortable on TV. C) In some sense a Southerner (see Edwards section "C").
Al Sharpton (Reverend, D)	0.0%	A) The Right hates him. B) Intelligent and a good speaker. Willing to say things most of the other candidates won't say. C) Wierd hair, plus he's black - and sorry, folks, but the troglodytes of America are just not going to allow anyone who isn't melanin-impaired to become President.
Bob Graham (Senator, D)	0.9%	A) Knows some of the deep dark secrets of the Bush junta, but can't tell them. B) From the South (see Edwards, C). Former governor of Florida, which would make it slightly harder for BushCo to steal the election down there. So they'll do it somewhere else. C) Looks like a living fossil. So pale that he disappears in the noonday sun. Only slightly less old than Bob Dole.
Dick Gephardt (Congressman, D)	1%	A) A stalwart of the Democratic party. Politically extremely well-connected. B) Slow-moving, unable to react quickly or stir up much interest. C) Supported the Warleader Bush bill. Oops.
Carol Mosely-Braun (Senator, D)	0.0001%	A) Intelligent, articulate, very liberal and truthful. She's doomed. A) She's a woman. She's hasn't gone through menopause. She's black. All she needs is to be Jewish, a lesbian, and an atheist and the South would rise en masse.

Yeah, I know that the percentages don't add up to 100%. They're not supposed to.