6 more days

Gah, stories like this make me sick. "Kids at Richland Center High School in Richland Center, WI got a chance to meet George W Bush during an official visit. However, any student who turned up wearing a pro-Kerry pin, hat or shirt was threatened with expulsion."(BoingBoing) Disgusting, to say the least. It doesn't matter which side of the aisle you're on, or even if you prefer to float above the aisle on some sort of "Omnipartisan Hovercraft," free speech is one of the rights we have in this country, and political speech is the most important variant there of. Of course, this kind of school-mandated governmental kow-towing has been going on for years, and raged during the Vietnam Era, when students all over the country were seriously hasseled or expelled for wearing black armbands, clothes with anti-Vietnam slogans, or carrying out peaceful anti-war demonstrations. That is bullshit. Our educators are not only bowing to the pressure of the political parties, they're teaching the kids in their care that Free Speech is an illusion, just like all our other rights. No wonder a lot of kids are bitter when they leave High School.

This kind of thing is happening left and right, on both campaigns. The candidates are holding "closed" press conferences or stump speeches, filling the *insert town name here*-atorium with nothing except their supporters. Of course, they hold "open" conferences too, but security can be rough. Reports indicate that Kerry's security is much less... "strict" than Bush's. I didn't know strict was synonymous with asinine.

One of the latest incidents came when John Sachs, 18, a Johnston High School senior and Democrat, went to see Bush in Clive last week. Sachs got a ticket to the event from school and wanted to ask the president about whether there would be a draft, about the war in Iraq, Social Security and Medicare.

But when he got there, a campaign staffer pulled him aside and made him remove his button that said, "Bush-Cheney '04: Leave No Billionaire Behind." The staffer quizzed him about whether he was a Bush supporter, asked him why he was there and what questions he would be asking the president.

"Then he came back and said, 'If you protest, it won't be me taking you out. It will be a sniper,' " Sachs said. "He said it in such a serious tone it scared the crap out of me."

Sachs stayed at the event, but he was escorted to a section of the 7 Flags Events Center where he was surrounded by Secret Service and told he couldn't ask questions. "I was just in a state of fear," he said. "I was looking at the ceiling and I didn't know what to expect, I was so scared."
-Lynn Cambell [Des Moines Register]

Of course, the article from the Des Moines Register tries to offer the other side of the arguement:

Lynn Karwoski, 50, a Davenport Republican who has actively volunteered for President Bush's re-election campaign, said she hasn't had any problems getting access to Bush's campaign events this year.

In August, she personally greeted Bush in a visit to Davenport. She was then given 10 tickets to a town hall meeting with Cheney, and was even allowed to ask him a question about gay marriage without anyone screening her question.

"Access to the inner circle is available to those who have worked hard in and for the party," Karwoski said. "For me, I've been honored with the ability to go because of my involvement."
-Lynn Cambell [Des Moines Register]

Alright... okay... I'm sorry, I was clenching my teeth so hard at those last two paragraphs, blood shot out of my nose and hit the screen. If you didn't have a similiar reaction, allow me to lay it out for you. Lynn Karwoski, who I'm sure is a very nice woman, expresses the fact that she has had no problems getting into any of the Bush rallies. She's a Bush supporter... and she's had no problems... getting into Bush rallies... which really surprises the hell out of me. Generally, GW likes to have undecided voters, and voters of softly/moderately dissenting opinions come to his rallies so he can have a free and open discourse with them. Either that, or threatening those people who show up with having their head vaporized by a 50-cal. Either way, really, it is a democracy, after all.

Well, apparently the Bush Campaign is blocking any foriegn access to Bush's website. If you're not from the U.S., or rather, not using an ISP that is based in the U.S. or on the "stream" in the U.S., you can't get to W's website. Huh... I have no clue why you would do something like that. None at all. What, have they been sending them too much Pr0n and Via.gra SPAM? Now, it is possible that they have been getting DoSed or DDoSed, which would be a decent reason to do that, but why the hell wouldn't we hear about it? (For those of you unfamiliar with DoS DDoS or DRDoS attacks, check out Steve Gibson my favorite security/pc watchdog/Assembler-crazed programming zombie. He explains it in a manner that is entertaning for non-techs, and provides highly valuable details for those of us in the biz.)

As it stands, we are only six days away from the election. Again, six days, people. Get out there, be active, spread your political message while being respectful of others'(even though they're jerks), and vote. Remember, if you don't vote, you don't get to bitch when shit hits the fan. Not only that, but if you don't vote, that means people like Cletus McBackwater have a more powerful vote for their pro-roadkill, anti-incest laws candidate. (He's third party, incidentally.) You get where I'm going, though. If the intelligent people that I know inhabit a portion of this country don't vote, that means we're lettin' the morons elect our president... and we don't need that crap.

Alright, here's a moment of pre-tempest zen to calm the nerves in these tense times. Turn on your speakers, sit back, and repeat after me:

The unattainable is unknown..."

Ahhh.... yeah.

Well, then, where to start... ah, yes. Blaise... you bring up some interestig points. However, you're also a commie. Fuck Bill Gates, fuck the DMCA, and fuck you. Let's get drunk on Friday.

Second point of order: If you didn't recieve an invitation, I apologize, but come on out and get drunk at my place this Friday. It'll be a gas, and Blaise said he'll get there early, so he won't be chugging rum at 4:30 in the a.m. to catch up with us.

Next,I'll address the comments of my sister, about offending my readership. Here's a disclaimer I posted long ago:

Consider this a warning to everyone in the world. I will most likely insult you on this page. There is a high chance that I will even mention you by name, and publicly ridicule you, giving them a verbal depantsing in front of the entire readership. Just as I have been publicly ridiculed by others, so shall you.
Deal with it.
If there is something that I have said here that you disagree with, or are angry about, or just want to comment on, do just that. Use the comments section to let me know if I've stepped over the line, or whatever. And please, PLEASE, don't take heavy offense to anything I say here. 99 times out of 100, if I'm posting something here, I'm just busting your chops. So don't get all uppity about it. Bitch.

So, now then, everybody take a deep breath... and release. That felt good, didn't it? As much as I would love to talk more about voting, I said what I came here to say, and you said what you wanted to say, and things are good. Now I can turn back to slamming the current administration.

Voter Apathy? Get out.

There is so much to be upset about in this election season, but I'll take on one today that is non-partisan, and has been discussed, briefly, on 'Why Should You Care?', a general-interest blog turned political soup kitchen. The topic, if you see their latest post, is that of voter apathy. Now, I have respect for a lot of people in this world, genius or dope alike. Everyone does their thing, and it keeps this nation upright (for now.) However, we have been in the malestrom, in the last 20 or so years, of epic preportions. Aliens? Hippies? Hurricane? No, says I, low voter turnout. Now... pardon me. I'm trying to figure out how to say this... ah, yes. WHAT THE FUCK? Why the hell aren't you voting? Why why why why why why why why?!? It's your right to vote! You have the right to vote! It's in the fuckin' Constitution, for God's sake! WHY NOT?!?

Alright, now that I got that out of my system, I'll continue in a more peaceful tone. Many people who do not vote express some dismay with the system, whether it be a dislike of the Electoral College, a dislike for both candidates of the two electable parties (let's be realistic, here), dislike over taxation policy, etc. Well, I understand that. If you don't like a certain thing associated with the election policy or governing forces, it can be very hard to motivate yourself to do something about it... oh, no wait, thats wrong. It should motivate you MORE. Now, lets say you've got a significant other that is mistreating you in one way or another. Will you simply sit there, take it, and continue to tell yourself "you can't fix it, etc." Fuck no, you get up and do something about it! (Now, I'm not talking about physical and mental violence on a level that could be called abuse. Abusive people should be shot in the face.) Anyway, you do something to rectify the situation. How does your dislike of something the government is doing? It doesn't, and I guarantee, no matter what your beef is, someone else in this great country shares it with you, and there is power in numbers, baby.

"Oh, but Doc," you wail, "I still don't want to vote because it won't do anything." Fine. You don't wanna vote? I can dig it. Get the fuck out of The United States of America then. What? You want to stay? Well, why? Why would I let you stay? I wouldn't want someone living in my house that wouldn't cook or clean, or at least share some of the household responsibilities and decision-making, so why the fuck would I want you in the same country as me? You pay taxes? Great, so do I, only I cast my ballot to decide what my tax rate will be, and will readily raise them to help out the local library or schools. It's people like you that are dragging this country down into the dirt, sitting on your asses, doing nothing civic, and yet complaining when the government gooses you. Well, wake the fuck up, there is a simply rule here folks:

If you don't vote, you don't get to complain.

In fact, 49% of the people of The United States have no right to complain about anything George W. Bush did/does in office, because they didn't vote. The U.S. Census Bureau states that the population of the U.S. that was of voting age for the 2000 elections was slightly more than 176 million people. So, that means that somewhere around 86 million people have no right to complain about anything. That would basically be like going on TV, and saying "Alright.. Residents of California, New York, Texas, and Illinois... you may no longer complain about anything that the President or his administration does, because you didn't vote." I would also add something like "Now screw off," or something to that effect. Seriously, if you don't want to vote, get the fuck out of the country, and we'll bring in some immigrants that will be perfectly happy to live in the U.S., and feel that voting is an honor and a privelege. So, in closing, if you vote, you rock. I don't even care who you vote for, because you show up at the polls, and voice your opinion. If your opinion happens to be that Mr. T is a better choice than any candidate on the list, fan-fucking-tastic, right that bald bastard down, and go. Mr. T'll thank you. But if you don't want to vote, or don't feel the need to... get the fuck out of our country, right now... oh no, it's not your country, too, Pudgy-McCryFuck, because you have the ability to vote, but you don't. So it isn't yours, dig? Get the fuck out. And take that W with you. I didn't vote for him...

but I did vote.

Very interesting... but Artie Johnson ain't here

Well, you'll no doubt notice a few changes around here, one being the addition of a rather surly conservative, and the other being a picture of said conservative if he were a South Park character. My picture is also displayed, and each one of our pictures will be (hopefully) displayed by our respective posts, so if you are some sort of flaming idiot, you will be able to tell the difference between our posts. Alright, actually, it's to satisfy my need to see JR's scowling South Park mug at every post. It'll be hilarious, or, at the very least, distracting. If you have any suggestions about what might make this blog better, write them on a 3 x 5 index card, place a 39-cent stamp, and address it:

Brain Droppings c/o
Nate "Doc" Bellon
123 Fake St,
Blow Me, Virginia 90210

Alternativley, you may also shove your suggestions straight up your ass. However, topics for blogging are always reviewed. If there is a topic that you would like JR and I to hash out with our respective views, we may do so, if some of the following criteria is met: the topic is interesting, we feel we can become fairly well informed on the topic in a relatively short amount of time (1 week or less), we are drunk/have been drinking/have had a few/are ten sheets to the wind/can barely lift our drunken heads from the floor, etc. The topic need not be political in nature, although I am a big fan of topics relating the the politics of technology... JR is a big fan of gay men... any topic would be fine. Just leave them in a recent comment section, and we will see them. Now, then, off with you.

Point - Counterpoint, or How can I be more like Boyle's Weblog?

Well, in an effort to bring those of you that read this blog a bit more spice and contention, I have asked my very good friend, Jon Robb, has agreed to "help me out" on my blog, and by help me out, I mean "argue me into the ground." JR is a conservative law student, while I am a liberal musician. Sparks usually fly when we get involved in a political discussion. We even came to blows over a discussion about human cloning, although that was many years ago, when we were both much more impulsive. All that aside, I hope to offer you at least one firey debate a week, as well as posts from both he and I, giving you both sides of any arguement, all the while twirling, twirling, twirling to a better tomorrow!

Get ready for the storm, bitches!

Liberal Media Bias

Very few three word combinations have made me bristle as much as "Liberal Media Bias," with possibly the exceptions of "Give me Money" or "Not Tonight Dear." Neither of the previous two, however, has been screamed in my face by right-wingers whenever I try and bring up some sort of media study or story to rebutt the media study or story they brought up. It's aggravating as hell. Now, of course, this whole "Liberal Media Bias" thing has been flying around since the beggining of media, but it's also always been accompanied by "Conservative Media Bias," and while it's generally true that both bias' exist, there are still some completely unbiased news outlets out there... the ones that DON'T HAVE ADVERTISERS. Think about that for a second... now breath in... and exhale. Now before you go screaming your head off about how in hell advertisment has any role in the bias of a medium (singluar of media, for those of you who don't know), let us run a little thought experiment, shall we? Seeing as if you want to continue reading this, you have no choice but to take the experiment, let's begin:

You've started a small newspaper, which you publish twice a week. Now, this is a hefty job, as you have to pay reporters to gather news, stringers to write columns, printers and printing costs, and layout people, (or as I was called, "Chief Peon in charge of Layout and Design".) Now, thats a chunk of change to simply throw down two times a week, so you need some help. Advertisers! If you sell enough, each issue, you can continue to print it, put money in the pockets of your workers, and turn a profit on the paper. All of the sudden, you're in the business of making money, instead of disseminating news... which is how it goes in a capitalist society. Now, you want to run an opinion in the op-ed, but one of your major advertisers catches wind of it, and threatens to pull support from the paper if you run the op-ed piece. So what do you do? Well, fuck me, you don't fuckin' put it in, if you want to keep running a business. If this were about ideals, then we would all be broke and happy. But no, everyone wants to be rich and ignoble... but I digress. In a society built on capitalism, there will always be a bias because... (all together now)... Thats right. Money talks and bullshit walks. Sorry folks, thats the way it is.


"Liberal Media Bias" has become a battlecry of sorts for the right wing, and they use it to label anything that goes against their agenda. Now, when I say anything that goes against the right wing agenda, I generally mean truth, although sometimes it IS indeed liberal media bias, but this is VERY infrequent. Alright, anyway, it has become a very effective accusation by the right wing, andanyone who question the goofball's... err, president's choices/sanity is labeled an unpatriotic liberal monster, who eats baby flesh and rapes grandmothers. Dick Cheney clucks his tounge in a motherly manner, shakes his finger and says "Stand behind the President, or the terrorists will win." Then he reseats himself in a chair made from the bones of Enron investors and continues gorging himself on unicorn and puppy blood. (Okay, maybe not unicorn flesh...)

Basically, what I'm getting at is the following:
Dear conservatives,
For those of you who continue calling foul play by the media... eat me. Yes, thats right. I said it. Eat me. William Jefferson Clinton was roasted over the coals for having an intern suck his dick, and rightly so. But it didn't kill anybody, unlike this stupid war that our "leader" has belly-flopped us in to. Shouldn't he be preverbially ball-gagged and fucked in the ass by the media? Yes. Yes he should... and shame on you for being so... well... stupid. This man, "our" president, was a FAILURE until age 40, when he was "elected" President. Then, right up until 9/11, he was an idiot. Then everyone rallied behind him, and he could do no wrong. Well guess what, assholes, he done wrong. Sorry, but it's true. Now get him the fuck out of office, and get somebody who knows their ass from the hole the US troops blew in the ground yesterday.

Or we could just get drunk and say fuck it.

Bush's tax-refund

Now, Bush has been pushing his economic policies like a bag-lady pushing her cart of tin cans down Kedzie Ave. Well, well, thats all fine and good, but whatever he has done for this country economically was/will overshadowed by his HORRENDOUS $1.6 trillion tax cut, half of which went to the wealthiest 1% of Americans. Now, I hear you cry, they pay a large portion of the taxes! This is true, says I, and I won't blow smoke up your ass by telling you it's not. However, to quote Chris Rock,

"if you make 4 million dollars, and your wife wants to take 2 million, no big deal, you're not starving. But if you make 30 thousand... and your wife want 15, you might have to kill the bitch!"

Now, while the quote is not directly about taxation, you get the drift. The more money you make, the easier it should be to part with larger sums of it, and still maintain a life out of poverty. Anyway...

Back to Bush's tax cut. Now, I was shocked when I heard The Monkey was going to take 1.3 trillion dollars of money, and give it back to the people who pay taxes. Great idea! Fuck, why not, cause the publicly-funded schools are in GREAT shape, all the roads and bridges in the country need no improvements or repairs, the federal prision system isn't floundering with debt, and we have no need for any new aid programs for kids looking to go to college - they're all doing great!

*blink**blink*

I can only assume this was the train of logic that W took... and while all the evidence has stacked up for years, I still try to push it to the back of my brain. "The American people wouldn't elect an idiot," I say to myself, oft times in the sort of pandering tone you use with children if you're some sort of fuckhead who doesn't feel like treating kids as equals in discussions, "they would have seen through his cocaine-fueled lies. There must be something of merit about this coconut that got him elected." But the more I think about it, the more faith I lose in the American people. Now, and only now, do I know why they put those Warnings on the side of hair dryers, that warn you against using it in the shower. It's not a hilarious joke, as I had thought earlier. Oh no, says I, it's all too real. People will use a hairdryer... in the SHOWER! Who lets these people breed?!? These are the same people that are saying "Bush is a great leader!" The scary part is, they mean it, and I think W believes it. I think he really believes that he is some sort of courtly Crusader, righting the wrongs of the world with an oil-fueled, contract-givin' sword of justice. That scares THE HELL out of me! Why? Because the man is probably the same kind of guy that could go out into a sandbox and play soldiers with a 5 year-old child, and lose to a classic pincers movement! Then he would grin at the camera, say a word that doesn't exist, like "Strategery," and then, when the cameras panned away, loose his balance and fall out of the sandbox. Then Dick Cheney would kick sand in the 5 year-old's face, and steal his soldiers.

Here's what Robert Freeman, of Counterpunch.org, has to say about Bush's tax cut plan:

In selling his $1.6 trillion tax cut-half of which went to the wealthiest 1% of Americans-Bush promised in 2001 that it would produce 800,000 new jobs. In fact, the economy has lost 2.7 million jobs since Bush took office, again, the worst economic performance since the Great Depression.

The effects of Bush's tax cut on the deficit and debt are exactly what we would expect having seen Reagan's results-only worse. Bush inherited from Clinton a fiscal surplus of $127 billion. In his first year he turned that into a deficit of $158 billion. In this, his second year, he will run a deficit of over $400 billion-a swing to the worse of over $600 billion in only two years.

The long term effects of these policies are profoundly damaging. When Bush took office, the government's ten year surplus was forecast to total $5.6 trillion. This was critical to building fiscal soundness as the Baby Boomers begin to retire.

Now, the ten year forecast projects a cumulative deficit of $1.1 trillion, a net loss of $6.7 trillion in only two years. With the exception of World Wars, this is the greatest, most rapid destruction of public wealth in the history of the world.

[Robert Freeman CounterPunch.org]

Scared doesn't begin to tell you how I feel when I know people like Bush and Cheney are out there, dancing around in a huge pile of money, singing something along the lines of "We Fucked 'Em Good (and we'll do it again!)". Get this man out of office, and at the biz end of a cattle-prod, and get his fat little friend on the swinging end of an oak tree.

C'mon people, get with it.

Oooh, look at this hat... I betcha get a free bowl of soup with this hat...

While it occured yesterday, I didn't learn of it until today, so I would like to say my belated good-bye to the wonderful Rodney Dangerfield. He was a comic hero of mine, along with millions of other people. His zippy one-liners, impeccable sense of comedic timing, and his semi-sideways bouncing delivery made Rodney one of the funniest men in show business. Here's one of my favorite Rodney quotes, and while it is tasteless now, because of his recent demise, I believe Mr. Dangerfield would have wanted it that way, and probably went out telling a joke similiar to this:

"Oh, I'm getting old... I know I'm getting old, you kiddin' me? Why, the other day, I was out jogging, and I jogged past a cemetery, and two guys chased after me with shovels. No respect..."
-Rodney Dangerfield (1921-2004)

In loving memory of Rodney Dangerfield (Jacob Cohen). Rest in Respect.

I Love Harvard... sometimes

Well, Harvard, IL is a small-ass town, but there are some good people here. I am currently sitting in my favorite bar, Ray & Nancy's, fixing Nancy's computer. They have a DSL connection that runs into the bar, in order to feed Nancy's internet addiction, which serves her well when biz is slow (before 5 pm, generally.) Now, the PC is fixed, running with the net like no other, and I'm getting free beer and pizza, along with a good chunk of change, none of which I asked for. God bless this place. Check out my update from a couple of hours ago for my (brief) breakdown of the presidential debate, and my rant on Microsoft.

Peace, my brothers and sisters.

Well well well...

I bet you are all wondering about what I'm going to say about the debate. Yea, you are crying forth as a collective mass for some sort of political venom, some piece of acerbic bile to bring both candidates to a huddling, writhing mass of bullshit and furrowed brows... well, I actually enjoyed the debate. My breakdown is like everyone elses:

• Kerry is smarter than Bush, and he did a good job displaying that at every turn. He also managed to do it without being so verbose.


• Bush still scares the pants off of me, but not in a good "Las Vegas" way.


• The moderator was kind of a dick by asking questions that he KNEW the candidates would most likely get steamy over... Promote that man!


• They were both civil to each other at the end, which was nice. America has lost a lot of it's civility (thanks to people like me), and it's good to see that the men who are at the highest stress level in that room can take time from verbally pummelling each other to be civil. I, however, came for blood.

Well, those are my basic thoughts, without getting into too heavy of an analysis. The VP debate is coming up, and I can't WAIT to see that one! If you want analysis, go to CNN. There are plenty of people there who are just ITCHING to tell you what you saw on the debates, despite the fact that you, an intelligent being, can figure it out for your own damn self if you take about 20 minutes. Anyway, on to different news.

Microsoft is a bunch of Punk Bitches.

Now, those of you that know me know that my beef with Microsoft, "their products", and their business model run very deep. (So deep, that I recently installed College Linux on a donated machine, and I'm thinking about converting one of my clients completely to Linux, as long as they can deal.) For those of you that dont know me, my hatred for Microsoft, "their products", and their business model runs very deep. (So there.) Anyway, the latest bullshit to fall out of the collective poop-shoot that is the Microsoft PR department is infuriating, to say the least.

Speaking to an exclusive gathering of press in London on a number of issues, such as security, Steve Ballmer didn't pass up the opportunity to take several digs at his company's arch rival Apple.

At the heart of the debate is Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology which will let content providers such as record labels and movie studios keep control of their intellectual property (IP) - or at least ensure all royalties are paid and copyright observed.

Billing Microsoft as the good guys and Apple the villains of the piece - at least as far as corporate America, rather than users, is concerned, Ballmer said: "We’ve had DRM in Windows for years. The most common format of music on an iPod is 'stolen'."

'iPod users are music thieves' says Ballmer
[Andy McCue Silicon.com]

The hairs on the back of my neck are still standing on edge, and it's been a good three hours since I read that article. Now, I understand that the MP3 thing is a big bone of contention (which I've written about MANY times), but it's the fact that someone from Microsoft is calling someone else a thief. My want to yell "Hypocrite!" only slightly overshadows my want to grab Bill Gates by the throat, and string him up by his micro-soft, allowing people who has wronged with his overpriced shitware to hit him with a plastic wiffle-bat filled with thumbtacks. However, the next best thing is to write about it. Now, the thing that many people understand about Microsoft is that they are huge, and Bill Gates is a rich genius. Yes, these things are true, says I. I know how to admit my adversary's strong points. However, I will tell you how Microsoft happened to get huge, thus making Bill Gates rich... are you ready?

Pure Thievery.

Inovation my ass, it's all fucking stolen. MS-DOS, upon which Windows 3.1 through ME are based, is just a near-direct copy of CP/M, written by Gary Kildall. In fact, rumour has been going around for years that portions of Kildall's copyright information still exists in DOS before 6.22, when Microsoft finally found it.
Bill Gates is only a genius in so much as he managed to get away with stealing everything from everyone and got away with it. Now, I'm not going to go into how they stole Windows 3 from IBM, or how they stole code from VAX to put into NT, but let's just say Billy Gates is a genius along the lines of Auric Goldfinger. Now we just beed someone to play James Bond, and drop his ass with a Louiesville fuckin' Slugger... and I think I just might be the man for the job.

Now look here. I'm going to be plain and simple about this. I hate Microsoft, mainly because I work in the computer industry during the day, and sometimes late into the night, and I bemoan the fact that everything they put out, with the exception of TweakUI, is a bloated, overpriced, semi-fuctional, buggy sack of llama-shit. However, I'm not saying that anyone associated with Microsoft should be killed. Slow torture, Payback-style is in order, not death. Perhaps something like papercuts on Billy's eyeballs, or maybe pierce his tounge and then attach it to a nose ring on a big, gay biker. But I digress...

I'm not going to say anything about this, I'm just going to say you should probably protect your sack.

Alright, bitches, I'm out. Watch the VP debates and make up your own damn mind, cause Britney Spears sure ain't gonna do it.