Democrats file 9 suits in Florida

Democrats file 9 suits in Florida - The Washington Times: Nation/Politics - October 27, 2004

Well, I keep wishing for the election to come and go... but it looks like it's going to do it's best to stick around... Let me say that Al Gore's behavior post election 2000 is a major reason I'm faltering in my Democratic party loyalty these last few years... I was disgusted by the post election bullshit and the puling and cavilling over "stolen elections". I hoped it was all behind us... but it's ready to pounce again this year... As far as this story goes... if you don't check the box on your voter registration that says you are a U.S. citizen... ... ...well, you can't expect to have your registration approved!!!

Is it just me... or do you get an image of Mr. Burns hitting a button on his desk and a wall panel sliding back to reveal a room full of lawyers ready to pounce when you read this:

The DNC has 10,000 lawyers on call, including six "SWAT squads" that are ready to deploy on the orders of Mr. Kerry and his campaign staff. The team is headed by Steven Zack, whose law partner, David Boies, argued for former Vice President Al Gore before the Supreme Court in 2000.

It was the first thing that popped into my mind! LOL

Seperate Fact From Fiction For Fun And Profit!!

I got this email today from my dad:

Why is our vaccine made in the UK and not the US?

The major pharmaceutical companies in the US provided almost 90% of the nations flu vaccine at one time. They did this despite a very low profit margin for the product. Basically, they were doing us a favor. In the late 80's a man from North Carolina who had received the vaccine got the flu. The strain he caught was one of the strains in that years vaccine made by a US company. What did he do? He sued and he won. He was awarded almost $5 million! After that case was appealed and lost, most US pharmaceutical companies stopped making the vaccine. The liability out weighed the profit margin. Since UK and Canadian laws prohibit such frivolous law suits UK and Canadian companies began selling the vaccine in the US.

By the way...the lawyer that represented the man in the flu shot law suit was a young ambulance chaser by the name of John Edwards.

I don't know about you, but I tend to check these things out before I accept them. There are lots of rumors out there and the idea is to confuse the people and get ideas into their heads that are hard to get out later. This is most effective once people can't remember where they heard something. So, I love debunking things and I thought I should share two of my favorite sites for doing that: Current Netlore - Internet hoaxes, email rumors, urban legends and Truth Or Fiction - email reality check - verify rumors

The next best technique for finding information about a email is to clip an exemplary sentence out of it and paste it into a Google search with quotes around it. Most debunking articles include the text of the offending email. So, if you copied, "strain he caught was one of the strains in that years vaccine" into the search field you'd get several hits... many of them spreading the rumor intact but a few will be more thoughtful in their analysis.

Missing BBC's John Peel

BBC's John Peel Put His Own Spin On Rock Music (washingtonpost.com)

Legendary BBC DJ John Peel died Monday at 65. He played only what he liked and introduced teh world to a whole new set of musicians that had been overlooked by the big record companies and media outlets. He basically invented alternative music!

For me, it's the loss of a mentor. I grew up buying the Peel Session records. They were very influential for me as a young DJ (16). Hearing bands like New Order, Joy Division, The Smiths, The Cocteau Twins, Clan of Xymox, House of Love, The Cure, Echo and the Bunnymen, OMD, Gary Numan, etc. and then not hearing them in the clubs made me want to be a DJ. So, we could say John Peel gave me my start. I didn't own a short wave radio, so the musty record shop was where I learned about those bands... and a Peel Sessions record was always worth a listen.

Of course at the end of the 80s John Peel and I went our seperate ways. I gave up on Alternative Rock scene and moved on to the much newer sounding, energetic and optimistic techno scene. But I still treasure all the early album purchases I owe to Mr. Peel, and lately they've been making a comeback as I trade in the Tech 12's in the Basement for the iPod on my desk. I shudder to imagine how my life might have turned out differently without much of the music he made popular... Who can take his place?

Kerry uses headlines to attack - The Washington Times: Nation/Politics - October 27, 2004

Kerry uses headlines to attack - The Washington Times: Nation/Politics - October 27, 2004

I guess the truth isn't going to find a home in the newspapers this week. This is a disturbing turn for Kerry. I shudder at the notion that the newspapers (especially those with such an abysmal record of fair reporting) are to be the basis of reality in this campaign. It's almost as if Kerry has let the cat out of the bag and indirectly proven the majority of the media's complicity in getting John Kerry elected. I mean it's one thing to bemoan the fact that so many Americans are forming their political opinions based on what's erroneously reported in these newspapers... but now we have a candidate actually telling us that we should make up our mind based on that media bias. It's as if George Bush had said, "just look at what's being said on Rush Limbaugh's show..."

Yesterday I talked about the "missing" explosives story which is a total (and acknowledged) fabrication but today the media is foaming at the mouth with it... as if they are just going to ignore the facts:

Missing Iraqi explosives hound US election campaign trail
Channel News Asia, Singapore - 1 hour ago

Missing explosives prove Bush's incompetence: Kerry
ABC Online, Australia - 1 hour ago

Kerry says Bush sought to hide loss of Iraq arms
Boston Globe, MA - 5 hours ago

Missing Iraq weapons row rumbles through US election campaign
Turkish Press, Turkey - 8 hours ago

Kerry says Bush hiding unpleasant news on war
USA Today, United States - 9 hours ago

Kerry Attacks Bush Over Loss of Explosives
New York Times, NY - 9 hours ago

Bush, Kerry visit Wisconsin, trade jabs on Iraq, weapons
San Jose Mercury News (subscription), CA - 11 hours ago

Kerry: Bush has failed to secure America
CNN - 14 hours ago

Bush accused of hiding bad Iraq news
ABC Online, Australia - 13 hours ago

Kerry Ad Faults Bush on Missing Weapons
Guardian, UK - 15 hours ago

Kerry accuses Bush of silence on missing explosives, war cost
Xinhua, China - 18 hours ago

Kerry Blasts Bush Over Explosives
CBS News - 19 hours ago

Kerry aims for explosives as Dubya 'blunder'
The Australian, Australia - 21 hours ago

Now, in all fairness to the above publications and others... many of them are including the facts in the article using many of the burial techniques we've seen so far. But here's the clincher in Kerry's statement... JUST look at the HEADLINES. That is, you do not have to read the articles, only read the headlines! Which is the last thing you should EVER do. Kerry is campaigning on ignorance! I'm apalled! That statement goes against everything that is good and right left in this election. :(

I can't wait till Tuesday when all of this will be over and people can just get on with their lives...