Category: Grave

Big dilemma here, for those attuned to the details of election red tape (you know, x number of voters needed to get a measure on the ballot, y number of dollars to lobby for its passage). We’re assuming the New York Times, when it prepared this handy chart about the 2003 California recall “election”, used official data from the state’s registrar or other relevant election official.
So, then…pay close attention to the detail we’ve provided of the accompanying graphic which appeared on the Times’ website this morning: Are we really to believe that Peter Camejo, the Green Party‘s candidate for governor in both this and the last statewide election, is a Financial Investment Advisor? That is so fucked up.

RIP, Neil Postman, philosopher prince in the Empire of Signs.
Turn off your TV tonight and read Amusing Ourselves to Death
[Thanks, Dave]

Depressingly accurate lede from The Los Angeles Times:
Californians have never known more about a new governor. We’ve seen him naked on screen. We know about the Nazi father, the celebrity journalist wife, the bodybuilding titles and the crude behavior toward women. We have seen him in theaters, fallen asleep to his voice on television and imitated his accent.
Californians have never known less about a new governor. We’ve never seen him hold office. We don’t know what programs he’ll cut, how he’ll balance the budget, how he’ll negotiate with recalcitrant legislators or how he’ll manage the state’s bureaucracy.
THE NEW GOVERNOR: So Familiar Yet So Unknown, by Joe Matthews (requires registration)

“We can only prosecute if there is sufficient evidence to justify the charge, but there is not enough evidence,” said Chris MacAdam, a lawyer for the National Prosecuting Authority.
Five Policemen Won’t Be Tried in Biko Killing, by The Associated Press

Can you simultaneously buy and steal an election?

What happened to you, California? You used to be cool.

1. Rice to Lead Effort To Speed Iraqi Aid
“President Bush announced yesterday that the White House will take a stronger role in overseeing the struggling effort to rebuild Iraq through a new group intended to speed the flow of money and staff to Baghdad and streamline decision-making in Washington…
The new group, to be led by national security adviser Condoleezza Rice and drawn from more than a half-dozen Cabinet agencies, is intended to remove a bottleneck in decision-making by identifying and resolving problems faced by the U.S.-led occupation. Responsibility for running postwar Iraq will remain with the Defense Department, and civilian administrator L. Paul Bremer will retain considerable autonomy.”
That’s like having the fox guard the henhouse!
2. Sharon Threatens to Hit Israel’s Enemies Anywhere
“President Bush insisted on Monday that Israel should not feel constrained in defending itself but said he told Sharon: ‘It’s very important that any action Israel take(s) should avoid escalation and creating higher tensions.'”
Do as I say, and not as I do!
3. Consumer borrowing surged in August
“The Federal Reserve reported Tuesday that consumers increased their borrowing by a seasonally adjusted $8.2 billion, or at a brisk annual rate of 5.2 percent from July to August. That pushed up total consumer debt to $1.96 trillion.”
That’s biting off more than you can chew!

Dear Headline Writers at The New York Post and The New York Daily News:
Please resist using the headline “LOST IN TRANSLATION” when reporting this story tomorrow. The lazy use of this headline was already thoroughly trashed in The New York Observer two weeks ago, so it’s not like you can still find it orginal or clever.
Thank you,
Your friends at low culture

So, Senator Bob Graham (D- Fla.) has withdrawn from the race for the 2004 Democratic Presidential Nomination. Hopefully, this will enable him to start working on shoring up some support for a shot at the V.P. position, allowing the Dems to maintain some degree of limited relevance in the New South (I mean, seriously, Sen. John Edwards is so gone and Gen. Wesley Clark is a “barely-there” Arkansan, which sounds suspiciously like some sort of designer undergarment).
One of the sadder elements of this withdrawal, however, is not the loss of a veteran politician with relevant international experience, but the manner in which the withdrawal occurred, as per the Miami Herald:
In an anticlimactic finale, the 66-year-old Graham made his announcement during an interview on CNN’s Larry King Live, keeping much of his own senior staff in the dark about his fate until the end of a 52-minute segment on the show examining the future of Las Vegas duo Siegfried & Roy.

It’s all going according to our master plan, sirs!
Stage 2 (or is this Stage 3? We’ve lost count) of the Bush Administration’s expiration-date-devoid War on Terror™ is now officially underway. Thanks, Israel! You’re doing those of us at Boeing and Lockheed-Martin proud!
This, by the way, per half-assed Democratic presidential candidate General Wesley Clark’s recently revealed knowledge of the current administration’s master plans:
“As I went back through the Pentagon in November 2001, one of the senior military staff officers had time for a chat. Yes, we were still on track for going against Iraq, he said. But there was more. This was being discussed as part of a five-year campaign plan, he said, and there were a total of seven countries, beginning with Iraq, then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Iran, Somalia, and Sudan.” Clark adds, “I left the Pentagon that afternoon deeply concerned.”
Sigh. It’s time to start boning up on the Lebanon Factsheet. TIP: next time, boys, please alphabetize your plan-of-attack list.