Shad

This is really interesting. My favorite quote:

To minimize the risk, Bush negotiators insisted on a format that’s more a joint interview than a debate. They demanded that Kerry be confined to the space behind his lectern so he can’t interact with Bush or the audience. They tried to win assurances that TV cameras won’t show the other candidate’s reactions when his rival speaks.

It seems to me that this flies directly in the face of what this country stands for. This isn’t open and free media. This is a controlled outlet and not a true debate. Shouldn’t the people of this country be able to see a real debate? What’s Bush afraid of?

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You’ll be seeing more pictures here on my little virtual home. I have a new super thin camera that I’m very excited about. Nice.

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So, here I am sitting at my computer. It’s a little after 1pm. Right now I could be watching
Kelly WIllis or Rachael Yamagata or the Earl Harvin Trio at the Austin City Limits Music festival (a mear 25 min walk from here). I could be there, but instead, I’m just sitting here.

Wanna know why? Cuase I don’t know any of those bands… and it’s hot out there. More than just hot actually… yesterday I filled my 100oz camel pack and drank all of it in the first 3 hours or so. I’ve slathered on enough layers of sunscreen to protect me from a radiation blast, yet I’m still getting a little toasted. Its hot enough that I make my decisions on which shows to see by how much shade there is (and how early will I have to get there in order to be in it).

And here I sit. It’s hot again today. And I’m tired, dispite having just slept nearly 11 hours. I’m seriously considering throwing in the towel and having a nice day of bumming around the house. Maybe I’ll just go over and catch the Dirty Dozen Brass Band later… or Wilco… they don’t go on until 6pm.

But wait, I just realized that if I just go to the SBC stage, I can hang out with friends in the shade all afternoon and see The Roots, Jack Johnson, Wilco & Ben Harper. That’s still a long day though… and it is hot out there…

Hmmm…

North Korea is a far bigger threat to the United States and always has been. So, why are we in Iraq and not North Korea? Anyone out there believe that Kim Jong is at all less crazy than Saddam was? What do you think the outcome will be with respect to North Korea?

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Seems like my last post re: forged documents has made it to the major media outlets. This nearly 2 days after initially being published by an individual on his blog.

This brings up an interesting question in my mind. What is going to happen to mass media in America? An individual with a website can pick up a story and publish it days before it gets to the major news sources. Will our media simply become a fact-checking engine? Isn’t that role played also by other bloggers? No single blogger can report/check on everything, but a worldwide network certainly can. When you remove the initial problem of distribution, what real purpose does CNN play?

Which news sources do you trust more? Why?

Here’s a few examples:
The Moderate Independent
Boing Boing
Fark!

Comments enabled…

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While I usually don’t go in for this sort of thing, this one is actually kind of interesting. It seems that the documents released yesterday by the White House re: Bush’s service during Vietnam are a little too perfect. Some astute blogger retyped the document in MS Word without adjusting the margins or tabs and produced the exact same document. Not just similar, exact spacing.

Again, don’t know it’s true, but makes for a fun read.

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Thursday

• Flew home via Detroit. If you’ve never flown there, I highly recommend it. It’s by far the nicest airport I’ve ever flown through. They have some killer art installations.
• Mom and Grandpa Angle picked me up.

Friday

• Headed to the family farm with Grandma Reynolds (after a fresh yellow tomato sandwich).
• Hung out with her brothers on the porch for some time. They’re all in their 70’s and 80’s now. Surprisingly hard core Democrats. They bitched about Bush and the economy for for a good while.
• We then headed over to check out the cows. They were all chillin’ in the creek. Also checked out my cousin Ricky’s airstrip (I use the term “airstrip” rather loosely… it’s just a flat field really). Saw a couple of deer as well.
• My great uncle Hub drove me around to check out all his classic Fords. He has a ‘40, a ‘69, and a ‘72 (I think). His son-in-law also has a half dozen or so… all in mint condition. We actually drove around town a couple of times. I think he just wanted to hang out for a little while. Fine with me, Hub’s a great old guy.
• Realized how green VA is this time of year (Texas is just kind of a muted brown right now).
• Dinner with the family

Saturday

• Up early to help Grandpa Angle on his classic car (it was a classic car weekend really). He’s not a Ford man like the other side of the family. Nope. The Angle’s are all about foreign cars. It’s a ‘67 Mercedes Benz 230 SL. There were only 180 made. We put the gas tank back on and took it for a spin.
• Washed the Mercedes. Grandpa looked on… supervising is seems.
• Hung out with Steve (best friend from way back).
• Walked around Jan & Dale’s property for a bit. They’ve got 65 acres to retire to one day. It’s a beautiful spot really.
• Spaghetti & college football.
• Beer’s with Steve at “Moosies” (a bar).

Sunday

• Lunch with the Hodges’ (my Dad’s sister and her family). My cousin Cecilia was also in town from DC. They live on the lake and we took full advantage of all that implies (boat rides, jet skis, swimming, etc).
• Dinner party at the church for my Great-aunt Joyce. She was in town from Florida and all her old friends were there. Good food and it’s always interesting looking at old gravestones. A large portion of my family is buried at this little church (Flint Hill Methodist).
• Sat around and watched a couple of episodes of the Dave Chappelle show… the funniest show on Television.

Monday

• Flew home… to Austin… my other home.

… and it doesn’t look good for Bush. They basically say that he went AWOL. Also seems that he was helped into the Guard by a family friend. Who would have thought it.

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