 |
|
 |
|||||
links
|
|
Friday, February 20, 2004National Review has a snarky, gloating article on how Howard Dean's campaign is defeated and will be historically inconsequential. For the sake of all that is Good and Right (tm), I disagree. Now, I am politically in tune with National Review and don't like a lot of Howard Dean's policy stands. However, I admire his honesty and grassroots approach to campaigning. Refreshingly, he didn't waffle like John Kerry or any other big time career politician. (I liked the same thing about Bush in 2000.) And as Dean pointed out in the Wisconsin debate among other places, 89% of his campaign funding came from small donations, which makes him beholden to no special interests. From a Libertarian point of view, big corporations can be nearly as coercive as governments, especially when their money or influence (think media) dictates public policy. Though Dean wasn't perfect, at least he was independent minded. With his practical, triangulating approach to budgetary matters, he let his ideology guide him but not consume him-- he was like an ethical Bill Clinton, guided not by poll numbers but by his conscience. Also, Dean's campaign shouldn't be judged by his flame-out in the primaries; that a largely Internet-based campaign was able to turn a nobody governor into a contender is an amazing accomplishment. The organizing power of Dean Meet Ups may well be the paradigm for campaigning in the digital world. Though this word-of-cyber-mouth model has only traditionally worked for WTO protestors and other extreme ideologues, Dean's campaign proves that the right moderate candidate can win widespread support this way also. posted by Nate on 10:08 AM link Wednesday, February 18, 2004I have Transformers on the brain. I found a Megatron knock-off for $20 on eBay the other night. I'm sorta tempted, since there's no way I'd spend the cash needed to get a real Megatron but the twenty dollar Psuedo-'Tron would be fun to play with-- I mean, to put on my desk and admire. I'm a grown man and don't play with toys, I swear. Growing up, my neighbor Kris owned him and I remember being dazzled by how cool Megatron was. He was a "four tool player" as the baseball scouts say-- he was (1) a robot, (2) a gun, (3) rather large, and (4) chrome plated and shiny. That gave him a certain joie de vivre, a je ne sais quoi, a voulesz vous coucher avec moi bon appetit escargots a la carte. Megatron indeed was more than meets the eye. Before purchasing him, however, I searched the Internet for information about the Chinese knockoff version. Was he smaller than the real version? Did he come with any of the accessories? Etcetera, etcetera. (There I go again with the damn French.) One weird thing I found was that there was a legal problem with importing the legitimate rerelease Megatron into the U.S. because he was considered a realistic gun replica; companies had to take him out of the box and change him into robot form to get him past customs. Another weird thing I found was this. Yes, a Google search for "megatron replica china" turned up a post on the newsgroup alt.sex.fetish.wet-and-messy. From what I gather-- and trust me, I didn't spend more than a few seconds reading it-- the post is about erotic TV scenes involving quicksand. Um. Err. Yeah. Apparently the poster, who goes by the l33t cyber-moniker "Crypto," finds a Transformers cartoon where Megatron tosses the Dinobots off a cliff and into a tar pit to be sexually arousing. Ewww. Crypto also invites us to purchase video tapes of this sort of thing for our masturbatory pleasure. To quote Stewie from Family Guy, "I have a better idea! Let's play Drink the Stuff Under the Sink!" At least I know that however big a loser I am, even if I play with Transformers toys at the age of twenty six, I am not in the same ballpark of sketchiness as this guy. posted by Nate on 11:23 AM link Monday, February 16, 2004There is no crying in baseball. Unless you're a Boston Red Sox fan. It's official-- the New York Fscking Yankees have acquired A-Rod. At this point, George Steinbrenner is sort of like a Bond villain. "Ahhh, Mr. Epstein. Nice to see you. [pets cat.] As you can see I'm a collector of the most exquisite items in the world. Diamonds. Women. Hall-of-Fame shortstops. I enjoy them immensely. Too bad you will not be able to enjoy them, as your spleen is ripped out by my vicious Amazonian Piranha. [trap door opens.]" The Yanks still aren't a shoo-in for the playoffs, yet alone the World Series. However, if this isn't justification for some sort of salary cap I don't know what is. When the highest payroll club can outbid the second highest payroll club for a player by $20 million dollars, there's something wrong. UPDATE: My Cubbies have signed Greg Maddux, giving them the best starting pitching in baseball. If Chicago meets New York in the World Series, whom does Hillary Clinton root for? posted by Nate on 12:02 AM link Sunday, February 15, 2004Andrew Sullivan has an important piece on the Federal Marriage Amendment and how it would impact judicial interpretation of civil unions. The possibility of civil unions - as the equivalent or simulacrum of civil marriage for gay couples - would be removed everywhere by this amendment... If the FMA were to pass, civil marriage rights would be denied gay couples. But if states then passed civil union laws instead, the religious right would spring into action and sue to gut them of any force. posted by Nate on 11:21 PM link
|
|
words
of wisdom
|
|||
| Copyright 2004. All
your stolen base are belong to Rickey Henderson. Questions or comments? Email nate@swankypimp.com |
|||||||
