One Pixel Per Meter This is pretty sweet.

Beck has a journal! And so begins Jenn’s descent into the world wide web…

at dinner we ate strange oysters, of which I am a recent convert. I’ve grown to enjoy the brine. the moon was upside down over the ocean (southern hemisphere–even the water goes down the drain backwards).

Bush May Be a Write-In On More Than One State Ballot

First came the news that officials in Alabama may have to put President Bush on the ballot as a write-in candidate. It turns out Alabama isn’t the only state scrambling to figure out what it needs to do to ensure that the president’s name will appear on the state ballot next year.

The GOP’s unusually late nominating convention — it does not begin until Aug. 30 — is the problem. Bush is not scheduled to accept his party’s nomination until Sept. 2, 2004. That falls after the deadline for certifying presidential candidates not only in Alabama, but also in California, the District of Columbia and West Virginia. There are bills in the Alabama legislature to move its deadline from Aug. 31 to Sept. 5. But if, for some reason, they don’t pass, the president would be forced to run there as a write-in candidate.

In other states, along with the District, the situation is a bit more murky. The D.C. City Council will need to change its Sept. 1 deadline to accommodate the convention, said Alice Miller, executive director of the Board of Elections and Ethics. She declined to speculate on what might happen if that deadline isn’t changed. Cindy Smith, an elections official in West Virginia, can probably sympathize. Her state requires candidates to file by Aug. 31. Smith said she does not know of any effort to move that deadline — and is unsure of what might happen if the president misses it.

But the biggest question may be in California, where election officials plan to begin printing about 15 million ballots almost immediately after its Aug. 26 deadline — and begin mailing its absentee ballots Sept. 3. A spokeswoman for the secretary of state said she did not know of any effort to move the deadline or how the state might accommodate the Republicans. “It’s not clear at this point,” Terri Carbaugh said. “It certainly poses a dilemma.”

I’m sure the Republicans will just say “Bush has got it, just put him on.” Or most states will just assume. Its not like anyone’s running against him for the nomination.

France briefed Iraq on war: report

FRANCE gave Saddam Hussein’s regime regular reports on its dealings with US officials, The Sunday Times reported, quoting files it had found in the wreckage of the Iraqi foreign ministry.

The conservative British weekly said the information kept Saddam abreast of every development in US planning and may have helped him to prepare for war.

One report warned of a US “attempt to involve Iraq with terrorism” as “cover for an attack on Iraq”, according to The Sunday Times.

Another, dated September 25, 2001, from Naji Sabri, the Iraqi foreign minister, to Saddam’s palace, was based on a briefing from the French ambassador in Baghdad and covered talks between presidents Jacques Chirac and US President George W Bush.

Chirac was said to have been told that the US was “100 per cent certain Osama bin Laden was behind the September 11 attacks and that the answer of the United States would be decisive”.

Uh… I really hope this isn’t true, for France’s sake.

FoxNews has more, of course.

US Forces Make Iraqis Strip and Walk Naked in Public

The commanding army officer at the scene, First Lieutenant Eric Canaday, confirmed his men had stripped the Iraqis. He said he had been having trouble with young Iraqi men trying to steal light weapons being stored in the park.

He claimed he got the idea to strip them from people in the neighborhood.

“They gave us the idea so we took their clothes and burned them and then we pushed them out with thief written on them,” Canaday was quoted as telling the journalists. He confirmed their clothes had been set on fire with gasoline.

“It has actually been pretty successful,” he said, claiming that as many as 100 people had been trying to steal the weapons, including Kalashnikov rifles, which are being stored to eventually re-arm Iraq’s security services.

“It’s not as bad as it seems,” a laughing Canaday was quoted as saying, “we only do it to the people who are stealing weapons.”

Uh huh. I really don’t think this is the best way for us to be acting over there.

The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual EnlightenmentIt’s not the book that’s great. It’s the reviews.

Though, the best comments aren’t on Amazon. They’re on Chris Locke’s site:

Fun With New Age Fuckheads, Part 1

For your viewing pleasure, all the 1-star reviews of Eckhart Tolle’s The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment. Actually, I was a little disappointed in these, as none is even close to expressing the venom this book so richly deserves. Of course, wishing to preserve what little is left of my sanity, I didn’t actually read the fucking thing. I would, however, love to piss on Mr. Tolle from a great height. Heads up, motherfucker, here it comes!

Now I want to read this book, just to join in the rage.

Though, to be fair (I guess), while there are 12 one star reviews, there are 233 five star reviews. I think Oprah mentioned it, so take that as you will…

April 28th, 2003 at 7:57 am | Tags: Uncategorized