Read Some Stewf

A Letter to Terry Gross

Terry,

I appreciate that you are a fan of HBO’s “The Wire”. After several interviews of cast and director and creator in the past few weeks, and replays thereof, and (ahem) advertisements for the series’ final season at the top of every podcast, I switch on “Fresh Air” today to hear that the next two programs will be dedicated again to “The Wire”. I believe this sort of dedication to a single TV show is unprecedented on “Fresh Air”. So I guess I wonder: when will you finish holding us captive by your obsession?

I miss you, Terry. Please come back soon.

Love, Stewf

The Military Commissions Act, Illustrated

My good friend Chris Rugen simply and beautifully describes the new Military Commissions Act of 2006 with words and pictures.

The day after the Act was passed by the Senate, another good friend read this column by Garrison Keillor aloud to her family. Twice. (It’s that good.)

I hear the Act will certainly be overturned. But my questions are:

1. When? For how long will the US consider alienable what it once defined as unalienable rights?


2. How angry is the public? Will they remember this Act at the polls on Nov. 7?

Rumsfailed!

Superglue and army figure in the Montgomery BART Station, San Francisco.

Linguist Needs Designer

Please, someone help Noam's blog. His words are far too important to be set that way. It's difficult enough to follow his dry prose without the intrusive red frame.

Coal Burning Hover Bike

President George W. Bush:

“We need to get on a path away from a fossil fuel economy.”

Nice! Moments later...

“I have asked congress for more than $2 billion over ten years for my coal research initiative.”

Clip from The Daily Show

Wal-Mart Fact Checker

U.S. counties where new Wal-Mart stores were built between 1987 and 1998 experienced higher poverty rates than other U.S. counties.

Carter’s My Kind of Christian

Listen to this two minute segment of today’s Talk of the Nation visit with Jimmy Carter.

New Maps, Part 2

The real election map of America (click to biggify):

And a map comparing Civil War-era free and slave states with the state-level election results.

New Maps

Sent by friends and gathered from the web (click any image to biggify):

Oprah Medusa — The Ticket to Kerry Victory

Stewf: i am a political genius
Stewf: if kerry campaign could get oprah on board, wouldn’t he win?
Eric: heh, a segment, but it would be dangerous for Oprah to play that game
Eric: her market is across the board
Eric: and it might polarize her audience
Eric: and thus her advertisers
Eric: but don’t let that stop you from phone, emailing, and snail mailing her offices until your fingers bleed
Eric: her support would be amazing
Stewf: they will do whatever she says
Stewf: the oprah heads
Eric: I’d like to see an oprah medusa with little yes men snake heads snapping around her in a slithering flow
Eric: her eyes glow red, throwing up her hands, “Kerry will win!”