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Archive for January, 2003

January 21st, 2003 by pete

On a lighter note…

Here’s a quote that made my day:

“If you don’t like Keyshawn Johnson, you’ve got a problem with yourself. ”

— Keyshawn Johnson, Bucs WR

Also, we’re officially out of the lower office and into the upper penthouse. Moving the big couch was a hell of an endeavor. Props are do to Chris S. for his hard work on the heavy end, and the good people in maintenance for letting us use the freight elevator.

It was kind of sad when Tim and I were sweeping out the office, getting ready to say farewell. So many memories…

But the new office more than makes up for any romantic nostalgia with a neat gimmick called “sunlight.”

Bill or Eric— any news or quips from the protest front-lines?

January 21st, 2003 by Bret

One can only suppose that this recent string of abortion discussion is my fault, which is kind of ironic since I don’t think it’s an issue that should really be discussed much. But lest Olly or Aaron or other readers miss a point I left understated, the point of my Noonan post was that a political party which survives largely due to one issue that is somewhat disfavorable to a majority of a voting base has strategic problems with which to deal. Olly’s comment on the shuffling of political theories with respect to individual liberty is certainly interesting, although possibly misleading insomuch as intellectual conservatives tend to be pragmatic and prefer smaller government — such as state governments, which are better suited to deciding such matters to reflect their body’s political decisions. That is not necessarily inconsistent with a pro-life position, even though many social libertarians prefer to be pro-choice as a matter of policy.

Out like Richard Simmons —

January 21st, 2003 by olly

Serendipitously enough, the new Vanity Fair has a piece by Christopher Hitchens on abortion. (Alas, VF doesn’t seem to want to post all its content for free on the web. Honestly, what kind of a business model is that?) Although no fan of the Democrats himself, the eminent Hitch’s conclusion – pro-choice (pro-death? anti-life? I can’t decide which I prefer) with a pained expression at the ontological fact of awful things like accidental pregnancy – is one that I consider much, much more reasonable. (And Bret, presumably, doesn’t, but there you go.)

And the phrase “the unfettered killing of young humans” is a bit of an eyeball-roller: the rhetorical equivalent of the NYT’s last “The War on Women” headline.

Another fun aspect of the whole sorry mess is that here we have the “left” advocating for property rights and the individual’s dominion over their own body, while the “right” proposes governmental control of an incredibly intimate part of its citizens’ anatomies. It’s a crazy mixed-up world.

January 20th, 2003 by Skeletor Ogboggle

Try getting a girl pregnant, Brett, and perhaps your views on abortion will lighten…. Raising a child right has a lot to do with timing. If one cannot afford to feed, cloth and educate a kid, one should not have that kid.

January 20th, 2003 by Bret

Roe Roe Roe Your Party

Peggy Noonan has an amazing column on some effects of abortion on society and why the Dems would fall apart without the issue, even as USA Today has cited some strong numbers in support of some degree of regulation of the issue. Her logic follows another great column she wrote a few months ago about the Dem party’s lost reason for existence. Her conclusion:

No party can long endure, or could possibly flourish, with the unfettered killing of young humans as the thing that holds it together. And so a prediction on this grim anniversary: Someday years from now we will see abortion’s final victim, and it will turn out to be the once-great Democratic Party, which was left at the end deformed, bloody and desperately trying to kick away from death, but unable to save itself.

Also, Bob Novak’s column on Dem attempts to “slow-walk” the 108th Congress into the ’04 election.

January 19th, 2003 by Sho

NEW ISSUE

Issue Six: The Future Issue is now online.

January 19th, 2003 by Sho

Comment on the Commentator

I added the necessary code to the blog to let anyone post a comment to any webpost. You can also post comments to other comments, creating threads in the process (like a message board). Check it out; just click on the little comments link at the bottom of every post.

Thanks to backBlog for the service. Word.

January 19th, 2003 by Timothy

These Guys Discredit Themselves….

Check out some scenes from the SF warprotest

January 17th, 2003 by wwb

Don’t grab the big guy’s package

Penn Jillette on being personally violated during a routine search at the LV airport: “Freedom is kind of a hobby with me, and I have disposable income that I’ll spend to find out how to get people more of it.”

January 17th, 2003 by Zach

For All of You in the Conjoined Twin Circuit…

“Latino heartthrob Andy Garcia was born with a partially developed Siamese twin, no bigger than a tennis ball, attached to his shoulder. The Guinness Book of World Records has even recognized Garcia as the “Most Successful Conjoined Twin of Modern Times.” The conjoined fetus was removed shortly after Garcia’s birth in Cuba in 1956.” The link, which is from abcnews.com, is here. Great. Now I have to rework all of my Andy Garcia material.

January 17th, 2003 by Sho

Geek Stuff

It looks like William Gibson, the father of cyberpunk, has started blogging. The man wrote the revolutionary novel Neuromancer back in 1984 which basically laid the foundation for works like Snow Crash and The Matrix. He’s just finished his new novel Pattern Recognition.

Re: Help!

Pete, this is just karmic retribution for that running that ad for Diablo’s in the same issue where we have an article about Amber sneaking in when she was a minor. The owner didn’t like that. He probably has your keys and cell phone. As for your dignity, didn’t you leave that back at the Laurelwood Golf Course?

January 17th, 2003 by Bret

In OC News…

Funny headline from SF Gate: “Cal’s Tamir Puts Team On His Back.” I never heard of our Tamir putting anything on his back except maybe a masculine lover.

As per Olly’s recent post on identity cards, I would direct you to a Biblical quote found in the Mini Issue editorial: “And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.” I knew those fucking Europeans would lead the end of the world!

And one quick personal note: I met the owner of Rennie’s… not a very cool individual. He was an old guy, blasted into quiet oblivion at Taylor’s. And he checked out my girlfriend in a very leering fashion. Basically, he turned out to live all of our lives’ backup plan.

Out like Kleckner — Bret

January 17th, 2003 by olly

A well-written take on the introduction of a state ID card in the UK.

You will not be required to use a card unless you wish to work, use the banking or health system, vote, buy a house, drive, travel or receive benefits.

Fortunately, I have no plans to do any of these things.

January 17th, 2003 by Sho

According to IMDB, the company that produced Catch Me If You Can, Magellan Filmed Entertainment, also owns the rights to Rennie’s Landing. Rennie’s was shown at the Seattle Film Festival back in 2001. I’m predicting that the success of Catch Me If You Can will help the production company promote Rennie’s Landing and hopefully we’ll be seeing it on screens soon. Looking at the user comments at IMBD, it doesn’t look too shabby.

January 17th, 2003 by Timothy

This Christopher Hitchens piece about Iraq is dead on.