tepidity

NAO Quartet at Wine Lovers

2008-03-24T22:51:00.000-07:00

Listen to a song or two and come see us if you're able.

if only...

2006-11-13T20:03:00.000-08:00

once upon a time i enjoyed a leisurely existence that allowed me to regularly update this thing. alas, circumstances have become such that i find myself preoccupied at the moment and fear that i may remain in this state for the foreseeable future. at any rate, rest assured that i am still here, keeping the tepid dream alive along with the rest of the team.

the sultans of ecstasy

2006-08-15T22:26:00.000-07:00

this is by no means an endorsement of myspace.com, but it is certainly one of the easiest and most popular free ways to post music on the internets. this demo was recorded in july at the "tortilla factory" (or whatever it ends up being called) as a way to generate future gigs. you can contact us through the website if you like.

onsen masters

2006-08-08T21:41:00.000-07:00

we here at tepid industries congratulate the good folks over at the way of the hot springs, particularly master joel and young master jude. they have hit their target of sampling not 1 or two but 88 onsen in under 18 months. a hearty "o-me" to the whole organization, especially shiho and jeff for their support.

thewiskydix reunion

2006-07-26T18:11:00.000-07:00

i think they are actually reverting back to their high school name, bloke. anyways, they played a set and dispersed once again. is this the begining of a reunion?

photo credit: chech/sha

from freedom to fascism

2006-07-26T10:57:00.000-07:00

this interview with Aaron Russo was brought to our attention by the good folks at deconsumption. it's much more concise than the 3+ hours of the money masters, yet very powerful.

so watch the interview and keep your eyes peeled for the movie. it is an order.

the return of the wiskydix

2006-07-19T12:42:00.000-07:00

...you bet your bottom dollar

the wiskydix will be opening the show at 6:30. check the jumping turtle for more information.

meanwhile, in egypt...

2006-06-25T22:59:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Jim Grippo on publishing his article The Fool Sings a Hero's Song: Shaaban Abdel Rahim, Egyptian Shaabi, and the Video Clip Phenomenon in Transnational Broadcasting Studies. In this article, Jim writes about "the political video clips of Shaaban Abdel Rahim, including songs with titles like "I Hate Israel" and his recent video clip, "All Out of Patience," written in response to the Danish cartoons lampooning the Prophet Mohammad."

We here at tepid industries wish Jim and his family all the best as they continue to live and work in Egypt and we're looking forward to your return later this year, en shah allah.

real power

2006-05-09T23:36:00.000-07:00

how many people can say that they've used their Congressperson's toilet in the last month? I can say that.

contact yours and see if they'll let you join the select few who can say what i just said.

iranian oil bourse

2006-02-15T23:39:00.000-08:00

no biggie, just a major challenge to empire. read.

hostile takeover of 8th grade u.$. history

2006-01-20T18:30:00.000-08:00

well, not exactly hostile...i've been hurting for readership and needed a "sexy" headline...

i've had to take more than a brief haitus from posting due to my responsibilities as a teacher candidate, but once in a while i like to dip a toe back in for a minute or two. this one struck me as funny seeing as i'm spending a lot of time in junior high these days:

Last Thursday, Wall Street celebrated the narrowing of America's gargantuan $68.1 billion October trade deficit to a somewhat less horrific $64.2 billion in November. The dip was a whopping $2 billion more than consensus expectations. Ignored was the fact that November's deficit was still the third largest monthly deficit ever, and regardless of expectations, an unmitigated economic disaster. Such a "celebration" is akin to a student celebrating an "F" on his report card, as it represents an improvement on the "F-" earned the prior semester.

There was also no shortage of pundits applying the now routine spin that America's large trade deficit results from its superior economic growth. Since deficits are now regarded as a sign of economic strength, surpluses must evidence the opposite. This is akin to our student instead attempting to convince his parents that the "F" on his report card actually stands for fabulous.

via latoc. more good reading available at deconsumption, clusterf*ck nation, & ran prieur

predictions for the new year

2006-01-03T10:53:00.000-08:00

while most of our predictions for 2006 here at the santa barbara office involve which of our friends will get engaged this year and whether or not we'll all be gainfully emplyed at year's end, accomplished painter and author of the long emergency, james howard kunstler, speculates on some truly meaningful...uh, speculations:

You can only introduce so much perversity into an economic system before distortions cripple it. From 2001 through 2005, consumer spending and residential [...]construction had together accounted for 90 percent of the total growth in GDP, while over two-fifths of all private sector jobs created since 2001 were in housing-related sectors, such as construction, real estate and mortgage brokering. Much of the money spent did not really exist except as credit -- incomes as yet unearned, hallucinated liquidity, wished-for wealth, all based on the expectation that house values would continue to rise at 10 to 20 percent a year forever. It became a reckless racket, all predicated on sustaining an economy that had lost its other means for generating wealth -- foremost its infrastructure for making things besides suburban houses.

[...]

The foregoing is the background of my predictions for 2006, which will be the year that the hardships and difficulties I lump together as The Long Emergency get some serious traction.

The world oil allocation system is now so fragile that any disturbance in one producing region can send damaging shock waves around the planet. There is no more "swing producer." The US squeaked through the huge loss of oil production capacity this fall by taking oil from our own strategic petroleum reserves and from Europe's. These actions kept oil prices in the high fifty-dollar-range through the holidays, giving Americans a false sense of festive security. Those withdrawals are now over. Global demand for oil is still increasing. The strategic reserves will now have to be refilled (they're called strategic reserves for a reason). This will start oil prices moving upward again -- they already have moved above $61 as of this morning.

I can't predict whether some maniac will drive a Zodiac boat into a tanker in the straits of Hormuz, or fire a shoulder-launched missile at an Arabian refinery. If nothing like that happens, the first year of post-peak will express itself in turbulent oil markets. Fear of not getting enough will rule. Futures will be overbought and then dumped or shorted and then overbought again. This will at least increase the violence of the ratcheting effect in the markets. Overall I expect to see $100-a-barrel oil at some point this year. Last year I made a bet with a friend that oil would end 2005 at $75. I lost the bet. But it is a fact that the price of oil altogether ended the year 40 percent higher than 2004, so it is not as if the markets did not show extraordinary stress.

New laws regulating gasoline mixtures will also contribute substantially to higher gasoline prices (perhaps as much as 40 cents a gallon). So I will predict gasoline breaking through the $4-a-gallon mark sometime this year.

Our natural gas situation is pretty dire. Prices shot up for a while above $17 (per one million btu's), but that was the energy equivalent of $100-a-barrel oil) and based at the time on the enormous damage in the Gulf of Mexico prior to the start of the heating season. The heating season so far as been abnormally mild in the northern US and prices have slumped back to the $11 range -- which is still a lot higher than the $7 range in 2004. Unlike oil, we will get no quick relief from international gas sources if the rest of winter turns sharply colder. We're short of terminals to receive significant quantities of imported liquefied natural gas and they cannot be built quickly (or cheaply). The natural gas markets in the US respond very sharply to current conditions. A warm week and the prices sink. A cold one and the price shoots up. Our gas storage for the year is slightly below 2004 levels. Even if we have a mild winter overall, there will be spikes of cold. Our production is still crippled in the Gulf. Therefore, I'll predict that methane gas prices will spike above $20 sometime before May.

High gasoline, heating oil, and methane gas prices will absolutely kill the housing bubble for reasons I've already outlined. The production home builders will be idle, stuck with huge inventories in places that never should have been suburbanized in the first place. A lot of Americans holding "creative" mortgages -- no money down, interest only, adjustable rate, what-have-you -- will be crushed by the expense of their obligations. Many of them will go bankrupt under new bankruptcy laws that leave no wiggle room for escaping partial repayment. Their houses will flood the real estate markets in an orgy of distress selling. "Greater fools" will snap up these "bargains," failing to realize that many of the logistical liabilities will remain -- namely remote locations and huge heating costs of enormous McHouses -- even if the ownership terms are less hazardous than the previous owner's. At some point in the future, after several flippings perhaps, all those 4000 square foot houses 44 miles outside Denver (or Cleveland, or Seattle) will be seen as the mistakes that they are, and their cash value will reflect that.

With the cratering of the housing bubble, the US economy has to fall on its ass. The global economy is likely to fall on its ass, too, since so much of it depends on the decisions of Americans to take out exotic loans for buying houses they can't afford. Large numbers of jobs will vanish in construction, remodeling, real estate sales, and the various mortgage rackets -- those things precisely related to the recent gains in GDP.

The sheer falloff in new mortgages will send a tsunami through financial markets addicted to continuous supplies of new "money" to preserve the illusion of expansion. I'd called for a Dow-4000 late in 2005. I think that was just an error in timing, and still call for the Dow to sink into that range, or worse, in 2006. This will represent a moment of painful clarity for market professionals, as they realize that an industrial economy and the finance that serves it must be based on the expectation of generating real future wealth, not on zero-sum rackets, games of monetery musical chairs, or casino legerdemain. Hedge funds, which depend on predictable stability, will be especially vulnerable. They will certainly take some large banks down with them when they go. I'll call for the so-called government sponsored entities of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to groan under and then drown in a sea of non-performing loans, probably with overtones of criminal irresponsibility.

so, i guess there's no better time than the present to learn some new skills...

yonmiyanse news

2005-12-12T22:05:00.000-08:00

a blast from the past.

thanks, joeru.

idea*

2005-11-29T23:27:00.000-08:00

no-yaar and i was just saying how we should make a mock america's funniest home videos clip and broadcast it over the tepid industries site. how hard could it be?

*this idea was powered by rebel yell.

mp3 online?

2005-11-21T21:24:00.000-08:00

can someone check this and tell me if it works? it's vintage rick barrs from the japan years ep.

update: the link only worked for 7 days. first come first served.

congratulations!

2005-11-08T22:24:00.000-08:00

...now get back to work!

junk mail?

2005-10-16T17:11:00.000-07:00

Dear [name withheld]:

I regret to inform you that I have decided not to extend into the future the conditions under which your present living arrangements have evolved.

Please be advised that the negotiations regarding your future living arrangements are currently underway. I would like to emphasize that your participation in this negotiation process is not, strictly speaking, required.

However, I hereby inform you that your continued absence from the above negotiation process will result in your future living arrangements being decided for you.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

With best wishes,
Your Reality.

(from dmitry podborits, illustration brought to our attention by the rrragtimer)

google earth

2005-09-14T15:14:00.000-07:00

this is fun. i predict a serious drop in productivity here as this thing catches on. this will be follwed by a rise in productivity after it gets old. but for now, i suggest downloading it and trying to find your house.

end of an era

2005-09-03T21:28:00.000-07:00

yahoo has just informed me that chief justice william rehnquist has just passed from the realm of the living. so it goes.

it's nice idea

2005-08-28T21:58:00.000-07:00

via sustainablog

[Sendai City] will now offer about a dollar's worth of fresh vegetables for every kilo of properly compressed organic waste citizens bring to a special marketplace in the city.

The waste is given to farmers who, in turn, grow more vegetables.sustainablog

I realize that i am given to posting more of the doom and gloom type stuff recently, but i promise to try to start mentioning the positive side more often.

next bluegrass jam

2005-08-14T11:34:00.000-07:00

we'll be at the blue collar bistro on thursday, august 18th around 8pm. see you there?

if you are going to be in the santa barbara area...

2005-07-27T22:58:00.000-07:00

upcoming events:
the dang'd at the blue collar bistro (233 W. montecito street) 7/28, 7-10pm

les gendarmes du swing with the sultans of ecstasy at soho (1221 state st.) 8/3, 7:30 onward

why not come see a show...

(thanks to gary for the superb soho flyers)

"Globalism is yesterday's tomorrow"

2005-07-14T09:43:00.000-07:00

Three quarters of the world's oil is in the eastern hemisphere -- two-thirds of the total is in the Middle east alone. Guess what? All of it is a lot closer to China than it is to us. Some of it they can walk to. Do you have any idea how desperate for oil both China and America are going to be in five years? Do you have a clue how tapped out America's WalMart shoppers are going to be as jobs vanish and the value of a dollar craters in the face of runaway energy prices?

read more from james howard kunstler and don't forget to smile at a stranger today. (^_^)

things to watch

2005-07-10T13:40:00.000-07:00

i've been spending a bit of time over at E&ETV, just watching some interviews and thinking about, you know, stuff.

i particularly recommend this interview with matthew simmons, author of Twilight in the Desert:The Coming Saudi Oil
Shock and the World Economy.

but feel free to watch a few and let me know your favorites.

more fun with peak oil

2005-06-15T09:43:00.000-07:00

here's an interview with matt savinar, webmaster over at life after the oil crash, from global public media.

(or you can click here to stream it in real audio)

store wars

2005-06-14T22:46:00.000-07:00

now this right here is wonderful. give yourself a good 5 minutes or so and enjoy watching the adventures of cuke skywalker, chewbroccoli, tofu-d-2 and darth tater! may the farm be with you!

tepid logos

2005-06-13T21:35:00.000-07:00

do you like this one:

or this one:

i'm partial to the second one myself but i'm open to comments.

comments?

2005-06-08T23:09:00.000-07:00

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog. Enjoy, user.

aficionauto.com

2005-04-28T22:15:00.000-07:00

tepid industries is proud to present the new aficionauto mobile detailing website. feel free to visit and click around.

ficticious biz

2005-04-18T15:09:00.000-07:00

apparently we are moving in the direction of becoming a real company, what with all the hullabulloo and such. look for tepid industries in the ficticious business name postings of your local paper if you are a north county resident. i believe we are based out of carlsbad. as for me, i'm enjoying an afternoon bourbon. those jr. high schoolers sure have a sense of entitlement...it's almost like they are above doing work of any kind, and in school no less. oh, substituting is a thankless job.

"does that make any sense to you?"

2005-03-09T22:38:00.000-08:00

thanks to jim and the kind folks at dubyaspeak

WOMAN IN AUDIENCE: I don't really understand. How is it the new [Social Security] plan is going to fix that problem?

DUBYA: Because the -- all which is on the table begins to address the big cost drivers. For example, how benefits are calculated, for example, is on the table. Whether or not benefits rise based upon wage increases or price increases. There's a series of parts of the formula that are being considered. And when you couple that, those different cost drivers, affecting those -- changing those with personal accounts, the idea is to get what has been promised more likely to be -- or closer delivered to what has been promised. Does that make any sense to you? It's kind of muddled. Look, there's a series of things that cause the -- like, for example, benefits are calculated based upon the increase of wages, as opposed to the increase of prices. Some have suggested that we calculate -- the benefits will rise based upon inflation, as opposed to wage increases. There is a reform that would help solve the red if that were put into effect. In other words, how fast benefits grow, how fast the promised benefits grow, if those -- if that growth is affected, it will help on the red.

-- Your President explains the virtues of his Social Security plan, Tampa, Florida, Feb. 4, 2005

joy

2005-02-19T10:10:00.000-08:00

we here at tepid industries take great pleasure in announcing the joyous event of the engagement of rob to mike. for details, see their new blog.

SOTU

2005-02-02T17:57:00.000-08:00

here are the rules. are you ready??

a sample:

Every time he says....

“The state of our union is strong…”
1 drink

mandate
1 drink

Iraq
small 1

terror (however it’s pronounced)
small 1

Iyad Allawi
1 drink

democracy
2 drinks

elections
1 drink (+1 if referring to his own)

freedom
1 drink

Saddam Hussein or Saddam
1 drink

the name of another prominent Baathist
3 drinks

"Bring it on"
Arm-wrestle the person next to you; loser drinks

Michael Moore
Stuff food in your mouth and drool

peak oil

2005-01-25T13:07:00.000-08:00

it was fun while it lasted, but the hangover is really going to suck.

The issue is not one of "running out" so much as it is not having enough to keep our economy running. In this regard, the ramifications of Peak Oil for our civilization are similar to the ramifications of dehydration for the human body. The human body is 70 percent water. The body of a 200 pound man thus holds 140 pounds of water. Because water is so crucial to everything the human body does, the man doesn't need to lose all 140 pounds of water weight before collapsing due to dehydration. A loss of as little as 10-15 pounds of water may be enough to kill him.

read on, if you dare...

and here's a good idea.

oh well.

2005-01-20T07:56:00.000-08:00

the flag around the office here will be flying at half mast all day. no money will change hands. horseplay and/or shenannigans will be strictly forbidden. this is a somber day, a day for breaking off gigantic gorilla fingers symbolic of the swearing in of this man for yet another term.

it is their country. this is their party. gross.

no love for sony

2005-01-10T22:16:00.000-08:00

if anyone is thinking about buying a dvd burning drive, my advice is to steer clear of sony's dru-710a. i had one that stopped working after 3 months. the technical support left something to be desired, and the whole experience soured me a bit on the company. even though i've lived in japan and want desperately to support japanese companies, sony has lost me as a customer for the foreseeable future.

the good people at staples, a company i definitely plan to support in the future, hooked me up with a fine memorex dvd burner, saving me the trouble (time and money) of packaging and sending the defective sony drive to iowa. i told the manager of my 2 hour ordeal with the sony "support" team (90% of that time having been spent on hold) and she offered to exchange it for another drive instead of making me hassle with it.

so, this was my recent experience with market economics. sony dismissed me, staples embraced me. guess which one of these companies will get my business in the future.

...

2004-12-28T22:46:00.000-08:00

krabi new years 2002

where to begin...the death toll seems to double every few hours - it's now up to 58,000 - while home movies given to the news networks by survivors demonstrate the awesome power of the ocean to those of us watching from the comfort of our living rooms...

only a few short years ago robyn and i were vacationing in thailand, staying in bungalows on the beach with some friends. we stayed in krabi, among other places, which is not too far away from phuket. it is almost unimaginable what has happened there...

a few years before that, i spent a winter holiday in madras and new years 2000 on neil island in the andamans, between thailand and india...

all i can do is pray for the best and hope that as many of the smiling faces from my memories made it through this disaster as possible. at least the bush is sending some aid...

we here at tepid industries would like to offer our most sincere condolances to the families of the victims of this terrible tragedy. we fly our flag at half mast out of respect for the lives lost.

2004-12-13T19:00:00.000-08:00

happy holidaze

cable teevee

2004-12-09T16:43:00.000-08:00

ann coulter is a bitch and sean hannity is an asshole. we just got cable teevee for the first time in 4 years...turned on hannity and colmes...i cannot believe what passes for debate. coulter blames the recent troop armor fiasco on democrats crying that they want more money for teachers and hannity interupts their guest kirsten powers repeatedly, not giving her a chance to answer his questions. colmes sits idly by looking feeble.

i repeat: coulter=bitch, hannity=asshole. i wonder what's on cartoon network?

2004-12-07T12:00:00.000-08:00

oh, japan

the world's bravest man

2004-12-01T10:51:00.000-08:00

thanks be to fish
while we here at tepid industries in no way endorse sexism, we do enjoy a clever stunt. imagine the physical danger this guy was willing to put himself in for a laugh. the world needs more laughter. less sexism, more laughter. that's our motto for today. have a thooper one!

osama bin who?

2004-11-30T10:29:00.000-08:00

remember this guy?

It is the American people and their economy. And for the record, we had agreed with the Commander-General Muhammad Ataa, Allah have mercy on him, that all the operations should be carried out within 20 minutes, before Bush and his administration notice.

It never occurred to us that the commander-in-chief of the American armed forces would abandon 50,000 of his citizens in the twin towers to face those great horrors alone, the time when they most needed him.

But because it seemed to him that occupying himself by talking to the little girl about the goat and its butting was more important than occupying himself with the planes and their butting of the skyscrapers, we were given three times the period required to execute the operations - all praise is due to Allah.

And it's no secret to you that the thinkers and perceptive ones from among the Americans warned Bush before the war and told him: "All that you want for securing America and removing the weapons of mass destruction - assuming they exist - is available to you, and the nations of the world are with you in the inspections, and it is in the interest of America that it not be thrust into an unjustified war with an unknown outcome."

But the darkness of the black gold blurred his vision and insight, and he gave priority to private interests over the public interests of America.

So the war went ahead, the death toll rose, the American economy bled, and Bush became embroiled in the swamps of Iraq that threaten his future. He fits the saying "like the naughty she-goat who used her hoof to dig up a knife from under the earth".

So I say to you, over 15,000 of our people have been killed and tens of thousands injured, while more than a thousand of you have been killed and more than 10,000 injured. And Bush's hands are stained with the blood of all those killed from both sides, all for the sake of oil and keeping their private companies in business.

have a nice day!

can u taste the waste?

2004-11-25T21:00:00.000-08:00

this was something i meant to post here as well. having to do with maps and whatnot. better late than never, ne! happy tofurky day everybody!

sorry to the world

2004-11-16T14:32:00.000-08:00

here they say it in their own words. and pics. keep hope alive.

2004-11-10T15:42:00.000-08:00

rhinos do it best

still tepid, still dreaming

2004-11-09T17:20:00.000-08:00

this 30 minute preview from the folks at votergate tends to leave one with a sinking feeling in the pit of one's stomach. good thing it was all just a bad dream.

more scapegoating!

2004-11-05T17:00:00.000-08:00

from john mcCarthy of the associated press:

COLUMBUS, Ohio - An error with an electronic voting system gave President Bush 3,893 extra votes in suburban Columbus, elections officials said.

...

In one North Carolina county, more than 4,500 votes were lost in this election because officials mistakenly believed a computer that stored ballots electronically could hold more data than it did.

...

Matthew Damschroder, director of the Franklin County Board of Elections, told The Columbus Dispatch that on one of the three machines at that precinct, a malfunction occurred when its cartridge was plugged into a reader and generated a faulty number. He could not explain how the malfunction occurred.

more sories like this and it will become even harder than it already is to accept bush as supreme democratic overlord of the theocratic states of americaland.

scapegoat time!

2004-11-04T22:12:00.000-08:00

in order to come to terms with the election results, it's time to do what any red-blooded, freedom-loving american would do: blame someone else!

Imagine being an undecided voter in Clark County, Ohio, last month. You kind of think John Kerry has some good points about the war in Iraq and the economy, but you feel more comfortable with George Bush's faith and his resolve. One day, you open your mailbox to find a letter from someone in England you've never met. It starts like this:

"Don't be so ashamed of your president: the majority of you didn't vote for him. If Bush is finally elected properly, that will be the time for Americans travelling abroad to simulate a Canadian accent. Please don't let it come to that. Vote against Bin Laden's dream candidate. Vote to send Bush packing."

It's signed Richard Dawkins, a professor of the public understanding of science at Oxford University. And you're thinking, ashamed of Bush? Canadian accent? Who is this pretentious Brit and why is he writing to me?

can you say backfire?

In 2000, Al Gore won Clark County by 324 votes. And since Ralph Nader received 1,347 votes, we can assume Gore's margin would have been larger without Nader on the ballot. On Tuesday George Bush won Clark County by 1,620 votes.

The most significant stat here is how Clark County compares to the other 15 Ohio counties won by Gore in 2000. Kerry won every Gore county in Ohio except Clark. He even increased Gore's winning margin in 12 of the 16. Nowhere among the Gore counties did more votes move from the blue to the red column than in Clark.

you see? there was nothing wrong with our effort on the american left at all. we were done in by our well-meaning brethren across the pond. now i can sleep at night.

america! fuck yeah!

indecision 2004: blow by blow

2004-11-03T10:10:00.000-08:00

nice shirt

a very special treat from our good frinds at fresyes! since i was at rehearsal last night and couldn't enjoy the climax of democracy day, 559 por vida has offered a recap:

Greetings from 559 por Vida and the Fresyes.com West Coast Editorial office. Namely my living room. Tonight is election night, and well, we’re pretty busy. So rather than invest time and effort into a full-fledged, in-depth, and any other possible big-fat hyphenated adjective you can think of political report, we’re presenting this blow-by-blow account:

4:58pm: Why on earth am I still sitting here? I haven’t done a smidge of work for 2 hours at least and Kerry just picked up Vermont. It sucks being a democrat in the United States…not because of the politics, but because of the colored maps. Republican states look like crotch rot.

5:33pm: Had to stop by the market and grab some beer. I’m starting to get the jitters. I told my friend Cevin that he’s not invited to come over tonight because I might hit him with a broken bottle. Cevin thinks everything is funny. Kerry kills in Illinois.

5:41pm: Just realized that I’ve never cared so much about Ohio in my entire life.

6:18pm: I’m really enjoying how frightened all of these morons on TV are to be the first to say anything. “Remember that you didn’t hear it here.” Jesus people are chickenshit. But I guess that if you screw the pooch as bad as they did in 2000, you tend to err on the side of caution.

6:40pm: Just traded my roommate a few beers for dinner. Raviolis are excellent with politics.

7:00pm: Bush kept Missouri. Oh well, that would have been a stretch. No polls closing for another hour…I wonder what else is on…

7:06pm: Man, I really love Full House. Not all the episodes, but the one where the Tanners et al go to Hawaii and get to jam with the Beach Boys. Don’t fucking judge me, you’ve all seen it.

7:31pm: Jeff Greenfield just referred to ARkansas as arKANSAS. I don’t know what to say about this. Did he just come up with that? Should we change the pronunciation of Bakersfield to baKERSFIELD?

7:55pm: Fuck Ohio.

7:56pm: Ohio, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it.

8:01pm: Kerry takes Pennsylvania. Starting to feel better. Watching early returns is a bummer because all the districts that report early are 2 horse towns who always vote republican…is The Real World on tonight?

8:22pm: How the shit did John Kerry lose Florida…He gave back thousands of votes from 2000. Dammit. This is not looking good.

8:23pm: The Real World is on tonight. Reality…sweet, sweet reality…rescue me.

9:11pm: Just realized that I forgot to watch the Daily Show tonight. I think listening to Wolf Blitzer try to be smart is almost as funny though.

9:42pm: MSNBC just called Ohio for Bush. The mistake by the lake rears its ugly head.

9:43pm: Wait a minute, CNN has just labeled Ohio as a green state…do you think they did that just to fuck with Ralph Nader? Too close to call. Whatevs. 17 minutes ‘til The Real World.

10:04pm: Carville just said that Kerry needs a “double inside straight” to win. Furthermore, if I hear another Red Sox reference I’m going to shit pinstripes.

10:18pm: Ok, 11 states have voted down gay marriage legislation at this point, Bush has a Jefferson Davis like hold over the south, and the exit polls are telling us that voters are choosing morality as their key voting issue. Rove etc. have used fundamentalist church people as the cavalry. It’s official. We’re in Salem, and they’re burning us at the stake.

10:19pm: Sorry about that, I’m allergic to the rapture.

10:30pm: Wait a sec…Measure Z passed in Fresno! The Zoo is saved! Maybe we can get the little girl named Angel to campaign for the Democrats.

10:41pm: Just had an awful thought…Patriot Act II.

11:00pm: Going to bed. Hoping to wake up surprised, but my money is on depressed. America…what happens when 290 million strangers are picked to live in a country, stop being polite, and start being…gulp…real.

jesus wept

2004-11-03T08:38:00.000-08:00

tom tomorrow pretty much hits the nail on the head this mourning:

those of you who "don't agree with Bush on social issues," but voted for him because you thought Kerry would somehow not be serious about the war, or maybe because you'll do a little bit better on your taxes under Bush--I'm afraid you may get the country you deserve, a country in which conservative fundamentalist Christians are calling the shots on abortion and civil liberties and gay rights and a lot of other things you probably care about, or at least should. But hey, you made your bargain. It's just too bad the rest of us--the 48% as of this writing, who voted for another, very different America--have to get dragged down with you.

if life is fair and we get exactly what we deserve, may god have mercy on us all.

oh god.....

2004-11-03T01:21:00.000-08:00

no! no! No!!

something sure smells fishy. i will go to sleep now. when i wake up, bush better be a lame duck.

make us proud!

2004-11-02T14:37:00.000-08:00

happy democracy day, john kerry!

election misc.

2004-10-27T16:46:00.000-07:00

guess who we won't be voting for

a fun-loving bush gives you the finger here. very presidential. (via the indefatigable atrios)

and with the official endorsement of john kerry by the good fresnans of fresyes, i'm going to go out on a limb here and call california for the democratic ticket.
let us be the first to congratulate you on your vistory, boys! keep up the good work!

the choice

2004-10-27T16:25:00.000-07:00

for all you undecideds out there, here you go.
and you can watch many more interesting programs here. who needs cable?

"There are no good-paying jobs on a dead planet"

2004-10-21T10:30:00.000-07:00

why David Cobb and the greens deserve another look:
(from the nation)

A provocative comparison of party positions on the Greens' website lists what Greens oppose and both major parties support: war in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Patriot Act, Israeli occupation of the West Bank, corporate agriculture, corporate welfare, corporate rules for global trade, bank deregulation, increasing military spending, the death penalty. Greens support and Democrats and Republicans oppose: national health insurance, doubling the minimum wage, full public financing for candidates, strict controls on genetically modified organisms, the landmine-ban treaty, real action on global warming, a new legal doctrine of workers' rights for Americans, electoral reforms that create the political space for a multiparty democracy.

if california is already 53/42 kerry over bush (or whatever the numbers are), then why not vote green? you've nothing to lose but your immortal soul and the future of the planet. but, if by chance you live in a state where the outcome is less certain, by all means vote kerry.

jon stewart for prez.

2004-10-19T13:10:00.000-07:00

drop what you are doing and go here now. this was the scene last friday night on cnn's "popular and lively political debate program" crossfire. it appears that the hosts of the show, paul begala and tucker carlson, did not enjoy stewart's lecturing them on journalistic integrity.
rest assured, you will.
my favorite exchange:

STEWART: Here's just what I wanted to tell you guys.

CARLSON: Yes.

STEWART: Stop.

(LAUGHTER)

STEWART: Stop, stop, stop, stop hurting America.

BEGALA: OK. Now

(CROSSTALK)

STEWART: And come work for us, because we, as the people...

CARLSON: How do you pay?

STEWART: The people -- not well.

(LAUGHTER)

BEGALA: Better than CNN, I'm sure.

STEWART: But you can sleep at night.

(LAUGHTER)

STEWART: See, the thing is, we need your help. Right now, you're helping the politicians and the corporations. And we're left out there to mow our lawns.

BEGALA: By beating up on them? You just said we're too rough on them when they make mistakes.

STEWART: No, no, no, you're not too rough on them. You're part of their strategies. You are partisan, what do you call it, hacks.

(LAUGHTER)

and here you will find stewart getting in the last word on his own show.

it's official

2004-10-08T16:22:00.000-07:00

U.S. 'Almost All Wrong' on Weapons
Report on Iraq Contradicts Bush Administration Claims

and just to refresh your memory, here is a convenient list of quotes that the administration used to scare us into mobilization:
(via altercation)

"Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction."
-Dick Cheney Speech to VFW National Convention, Aug. 26, 2002. [i]

"Right now, Iraq is expanding and improving facilities that were used for the production of biological weapons."
-George W. Bush Speech to U.N. General Assembly, Sept. 12, 2002. [ii]

"We know they have weapons of mass destruction … There isn't any debate about it." "[It is] beyond anyone's imagination" that U.N. inspectors would fail to find such weapons if they were given the opportunity.
-Donald Rumsfeld, September 2002. [iii]

"If he declares he has none, then we will know that Saddam Hussein is once again misleading the world."
-Ari Fleischer Press Briefing, Dec. 2, 2002. [iv]

"We know for a fact that there are weapons there."
-Ari Fleischer Press Briefing, Jan. 9, 2003. [v]

"We know that Saddam Hussein is determined to keep his weapons of mass destruction, is determined to make more."
-Colin Powell Remarks to U.N. Security Council, Feb. 5, 2003. [vi]

"We have sources that tell us that Saddam Hussein recently authorized Iraqi field commanders to use chemical weapons -- the very weapons the dictator tells us he does not have."
-George W. Bush Radio Address, Feb. 8, 2003. [vii]

“Does Saddam now have weapons of mass destruction? Sure he does. We know he has chemical weapons. We know he has biological weapons. ... How far he’s gone on the nuclear-weapons side I don’t think we really know. My guess is it’s further than we think. It’s always further than we think, because we limit ourselves, as we think about this, to what we’re able to prove and demonstrate. ... And, unless you believe that we have uncovered everything, you have to assume there is more than we’re able to report.”
-Defense Policy Board Chair, Richard Perle, speaking to a Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee hearing, March, 2003. [viii]

"Intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised."
-George W. Bush Address to the Nation, March 17, 2003. [ix]

"Well, there is no question that we have evidence and information that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction, biological and chemical particularly... all this will be made clear in the course of the operation, for whatever duration it takes."
-Ari Fleisher Press Briefing, March 21, 2003. [x]

"There is no doubt that the regime of Saddam Hussein possesses weapons of mass destruction. And... as this operation continues, those weapons will be identified, found, along with the people who have produced them and who guard them."
-Gen. Tommy Franks Press Conference, March 22, 2003. [xi]

"We know where they are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat."
-Donald Rumsfeld ABC Interview, March 30, 2003. [xii]

"I'm absolutely sure that there are weapons of mass destruction there and the evidence will be forthcoming. We're just getting it just now."
-Colin Powell Remarks to Reporters, May 4, 2003. [xiii]

but you should really visit dr. alterman's site. i'll put a permalink in the sidebar so you won't have any more excuses.

2nd debate in t-minus 80 minutes!!

lest we forget what this is all about

2004-10-07T08:45:00.000-07:00

please enjoy this lovely movie compiled from some of the finer moments of the rnc, including:

saddam

war

terror

fear
special thanks to our good friend temmo over at the ucsb arts library.

control the spin

2004-10-01T08:28:00.000-07:00

if you've the time, why not participate in some online polls to make sure everyone knows who won the debate last night?

ABC News

CBS News

CNN

MSNBC

Fox News

USA Today

poopy face

2004-10-01T08:08:00.000-07:00

the dnc site has president poopy face in all his glory. watch it over and over to remind yourselves of this reality: george w. bush is the sitting president. for the love of all that is holy and good, he must be defeated.

znet needs our help

2004-09-28T14:19:00.000-07:00

and as soon as i get a job, i'm going to give it to them. i'll let mr. chomsky explain why they are so important to the future of human life as we know it:

"We live in an era of media concentration, vast efforts on many fronts (political, economic, military, ideological) to insulate state and private power from critical discussion or even popular awareness, and to reduce citizens to isolated atomized creatures restricted to satisfying personal "created wants." This massive and coordinated campaign has been partially successful, but only in a limited way. The range and scope and dedication of popular activism has also increased, all over the world, reaching a level of international solidarity and mutual support that has never been seen before. The basic conflicts are very old, but they have taken quite dramatic and significant new forms, and the stakes are far higher than ever before. It is, regrettably, no exaggeration to say that the survival of the species is at risk -- and many others with it. We all know why.

The popular movements are the hope for a decent future. They of course have to have access to information and modes of interaction. In addition to alternative print and video, to a very large extent they have relied on the internet, which allows people to escape from the constraints of the doctrinal systems, to explore and investigate and discuss crucial issues with one another, to plan and organize. Z and ZNet have played a crucial role in serving all of these functions. I see that every day. I travel and speak constantly, in this country and abroad, and spend many hours a day just responding to inquiries and comments. I constantly discover that the people and organizations I come in contact with are relying very substantially on Z projects for information, discussion, and opportunities for interaction and organizing, to an extent that is quite remarkable. It also is an invaluable resource for me personally, in all of these respects, and also in my case for providing a forum for intense and very constructive discussion (for me at least), the only one I regularly participate in. And for posting articles, interviews, commentaries, etc., of mine. I know that many others have very much the same experience.

It is of inestimable importance, in my judgment, that Z and ZNet continue to flourish and expand, not to mention their growing video efforts and incomparable media school, arguably the most exciting and instructive I have ever encountered. Again, I do not think it is possible to exaggerate the stakes. I hope that all of us who are committed to resisting and reversing the powerful currents of reaction and oppression and violence, and showing that another world is indeed possible, will contribute as best we can to ensure that the remarkable achievements of Z and ZNet will be carried forward."

--Noam Chomsky

Just a Theory

2004-09-19T13:32:00.000-07:00

I giggled a sad kind of meager giggle as I read this description of war. I felt I might share the feeling.

"Principles of the Just War"

A just war can only be waged as a last resort. All non-violent options must be exhausted before the use of force can be justified.
A war is just only if it is waged by a legitimate authority. Even just causes cannot be served by actions taken by individuals or groups who do not constitute an authority sanctioned by whatever the society and outsiders to the society deem legitimate.
A just war can only be fought to redress a wrong suffered. For example, self-defense against an armed attack is always considered to be a just cause (although the justice of the cause is not sufficient--see point #4). Further, a just war can only be fought with "right" intentions: the only permissible objective of a just war is to redress the injury.
A war can only be just if it is fought with a reasonable chance of success. Deaths and injury incurred in a hopeless cause are not morally justifiable.
The ultimate goal of a just war is to re-establish peace. More specifically, the peace established after the war must be preferable to the peace that would have prevailed if the war had not been fought.
The violence used in the war must be proportional to the injury suffered. States are prohibited from using force not necessary to attain the limited objective of addressing the injury suffered.
The weapons used in war must discriminate between combatants and non-combatants. Civilians are never permissible targets of war, and every effort must be taken to avoid killing civilians. The deaths of civilians are justified only if they are unavoidable victims of a deliberate attack on a military target.

president washington speaks out against large public debts, military establishment, etc.

2004-09-19T07:32:00.000-07:00

would george washington be voting for bush? on september 17th, 1796, during his farewell address (the one where he declined to run for a third term), it seems that he "strongly warned against permanent alliances with foreign powers, large public debts, large military establishment and devices of any 'small, artful, enterprising minority' to control or change the government." go spend some time with the nice folks at working for change, you may learn something.

and while you're at it, say hello to the nice boys at fresyes. they've been doing a fabulous job. let them hear about it.

a day of rememberance

2004-09-11T18:09:00.000-07:00

your prez.
somebody got a tummy ache?
via atrios and yahoo!news

blogging with bourbon

2004-09-10T21:18:00.000-07:00

for those of us without cable or the desire to watch much of it, here is a summary of the run up to quite possibly one of the most important elections we will ever face in our lifetimes:

The Swifties! Denounce the ad! I denounce all ads! But denounce that ad! I denounce all ads! He didn't denounce the ad! I like eggs! 527s! Response ads! The ad said you lied in Vietnam! How dare that ad say such things! You must react more strongly to the ads! He's not responding strongly to the ads! Shakeup because of the response to the ads! Guard duty scandal revived to respond to the Vietnam angle in the ads! The documents are forged! No they aren't! Yes they are! Vote Bush or die! We need another ad!

yes, in deed. personally, i get all of my information from the daily show with jon stewart. however, it dawned on me while i was reading the article from which the above quote was taken that tomorrow is the third anniversary of 9/11. i would never feign to know where you might have happened to be on that tragic day, dear reader. as for me, i was playing my geetar with some friends at around 12 midnight (japan time) when one of us just happened to check the computor to get his electronic mail from the "internet." through the bbc website, we heard the news. i don't think any of us slept that night.

so, here we are. almost 3 years hence, and where do we stand?
the following is a check list:

(stolen from William Rivers Pitt. check the link above if you don't believe me)

Millions of jobs lost in the last four years - check!
Unbearably expensive health care - check!
A total loss of confidence within the international community in our moral leadership - check!
The underfunded farce that is the Department of Homeland Security - check!
The underfunded farce that is the No Child Left Behind bill - check!
The fact that military assault weapons will soon be making a perfectly legal return to a neighborhood near you - check!
The deeply illegal outing of a deep-cover CIA agent by Bush administration officials, who did it because they wanted to silence a critic - check!
The rape and torture of men, women and children in the Abu Ghraib prison, horrors that were sanctioned in writing by Bush's own lawyer and the Secretary of Defense - check!
The allegation by Senator Bob Graham of Florida that Bush torpedoed any aspect of the 9/11 investigation that came within spitting distance of his friends in the Saudi royal family - check!
The allegations by several generals that Bush's people started stripping necessary troops and resources from Afghanistan to bolster their ill-conceived charge into Iraq - check!
The myriad accusations by a dozen insiders that Bush and his people ignored the terror threat until the Towers fell, and then used the attacks to scare the American people into an unnecessary war in Iraq and a mammoth payday for their friends in the weapons and oil business - check!
The fact that no weapons of mass destruction have been found in Iraq - check!
The fact that no connections between Hussein, bin Laden and 9/11 have been established beyond the bloviating hyperbole of a few senior Bush officials who haven't yet gotten the memo - check!
Does anyone even remember Enron? - nope!

...and jesus wept. i'll have mine on the rocks, mizu-wari.

bush yoga

2004-09-09T18:28:00.000-07:00

this is certainly relevant. a bush doll, dressed in flight suit, doing yoga. jai shri ram! aum nama shivaya!
via fact-esque.

veepers creepers

2004-09-08T17:32:00.000-07:00

grrrr!
Cheney told about 350 supporters at a town-hall meeting in this Iowa city:

"We're now at that point where we're making that kind of decision for the next 30 or 40 years, and it's absolutely essential that eight weeks from today, on November 2nd, we make the right choice. Because if we make the wrong choice, then the danger is that we'll get hit again. That we'll be hit in a way that will be devastating from the standpoint of the United States, and that we'll fall back into the pre-9/11 mind set if you will, that in fact these terrorist attacks are just criminal acts, and that we're not really at war."

vice presidential candidate john edwards reponds:

“Dick Cheney's scare tactics crossed the line today, showing once again that he and George Bush will do anything and say anything to save their jobs. Protecting America from vicious terrorists is not a Democratic or Republican issue, it's an American issue and Dick Cheney and George Bush should know that...
John Kerry and I will keep America safe, and we will not divide the American people to do it.”

i hate to say it, but it appears that the american people are already pretty divided.

...and it's only going to get uglier as we approach that magical day in early november.

527, attack!

2004-09-07T15:03:00.000-07:00

oh boy. these guys are really going for it with their new ads. in their own words:

MoveOnForAmerica.org was created due to the Bush campaign’s largely timid ads against Mr. Kerry, and will air this first ad starting Thursday Sept. 9th in the Washington D.C. market and in key swing states beginning Monday September 13th. Since the organization is a “non-connected” committee, the ads will run non-stop until Election Day, and are not subject to the McCain-Feingold ban during the campaign’s final 60 days.

jesse taylor over at pandagon has some analysis:

The first ad on the page is a masterpiece of addled storytelling - John Kerry got a murder conviction (actually a charge of being an accomplice to murder) overturned for a man the ad admits could have been innocent. However, the man had done something bad...on a furlough, just like Willie Horton. Or something. It's the good old theory of criminal justice wherein future rights to a full and fair trial (as well as any claim to potential innocence) are denied to anyone who's done anything else wrong in their lives. Except for Bush Administration officials, of course.
The real test here is whether or not these nastier-than-Swift-Boat ads will be fit into the same "527s are bad, m'kay?" framework that placed MoveOn.org right alongside SBVFT. Despite the dubious moral equivalency of Laura Bush, mean and dishonest are not nearly the same thing.

so while we here in the golden state may not be subjected to these ads during the commercial breaks of our favorite shows, rest assured that your fellow citizens in "key swing states" will get to see them repeatedly. here at tepid industries, we feel that the ads are in such poor taste that they will actually cost bush votes and that he will have to state for the record that he had nothing to do with them, much like how he tried to distance himself from those crazed swift boat vets for (anything but) truth.

please contact Stephen Marks at 703-731-3539 and tell him that he is a poopy head.

tepid industries

2004-09-03T22:05:00.000-07:00

we're still not quite sure what to do with it, but we have a name and we have some things that we are interested in and now is as good a time as ever to start really thinking about what tepid is going to be. in conjunction with the blog you are looking at, i have recently begun practicing my web design skillz over at the tepid industries temporary page, kindly hosted by the good folks at cox communications. i paid for the domain name www.tepidindustries.com but the bastards at registersite won't let me switch the nameserver (or at least they aren't making it easy...)

at any rate, i've had the page up for a few hours now. it's pretty spartan at the moment, but it will hopefully evolve into something grand -- as soon as i learn java and flash. all i need is a little time and a library card. good thing i'm unemployed!

by the way, if you haven't already, you should really watch i am trying to break your heart. i can't seem to get it out of my head...

and the pResident in chief did some talking and aw shucksin' last night. those nice boys over at pandagon (you may have to scroll down) were blogging it live, as they have been the rest of the convention. you may even notice some witty comments by yours truly if you care to dig for them. but you surely have much better things to do with your life. go outside! take awalk in the sun! smile at a stranger! don't be a dick when others are trying to merge onto the freeway!

4 MORE YEARS!!! YAY!!!

2004-09-02T08:16:00.000-07:00

aparently i was not the only one who was shocked and apalled by the repugnikans choice of a keynote speaker. even the lovable center-right commentator andrew sullivan found it a bit, well, crude. observe:

Zell Miller's address will, I think, go down as a critical moment in this campaign, and maybe in the history of the Republican party. I kept thinking of the contrast with the Democrats' keynote speaker, Barack Obama, a post-racial, smiling, expansive young American, speaking about national unity and uplift. Then you see Zell Miller, his face rigid with anger, his eyes blazing with years of frustration as his Dixiecrat vision became slowly eclipsed among the Democrats. Remember who this man is: once a proud supporter of racial segregation, a man who lambasted LBJ for selling his soul to the negroes. His speech tonight was in this vein, a classic Dixiecrat speech, jammed with bald lies, straw men, and hateful rhetoric. As an immigrant to this country and as someone who has been to many Southern states and enjoyed astonishing hospitality and warmth and sophistication, I long dismissed some of the Northern stereotypes about the South. But Miller did his best to revive them. The man's speech was not merely crude; it added whole universes to the word crude.

and then, there was uncle dick's acceptance speech. and the whole frenzied chanting of "4 MORE YEARS" and "FLIP-FLOP" whenever john kerry's name was mentioned. i felt like i was reading fear and loathing on the campaign trail '72 again, only it was real and being broadcast directly to my living room. the whole experience begs to be contrasted to the dnc, which i was able to watch from the comfort of my mother's living room on the very day i returned from japan. i would have to agree with sully's characterization of barack obama's speech, which can be viewed here. it was a down-right positive, potentially unifying speech - assuming anyone other than the democratic faithful were paying attention. then there was v.p. nominee john edwards with his message of hope and a better tomorrow. few and far between were the attacks on their opponent. zell miller has clearly lost his mind and has no business on the national stage, so we will ignore him. but the v.p.'s speech, filled with fear, terror, fear, terror, nuclear obliteration, terror, john kerry can't protect you, flip-flop, poopy poopy doo doo pants, provides one of the clearest reasons why we should NOT re-elect these stooges. they can't run on their record so they attack their opponents and try to create confusion and fear while avoiding the issues. they hope that the only choice the electorate will feel it is faced with in the end is one between "4 more years" or certain death.

...and we're back

2004-08-31T06:45:00.000-07:00

after a month-long hiatus from you, dear reader, we are back and genki as ever. we will soon be celebrating the grand opening of the santa barbara offices of tepid industries, located in the east beach over by tri-county produce. represent. me and the robster have been busy propping up the local economy as we stock our modest dwelling with such essentials as tofurky deli slices (peppered) and many different varieties of delicious and nutricious breads and other carb-positive foods.

there is much to do before the doors will be open to all. in the meantime, educate yourselves! go to the daily show with jon stewart and stay abreast of the issues that are shaping our times man!
register to vote and make sure that all of your friends do, too! be a courteous driver! call your mother!

yokogawa branch closed

2004-07-27T08:11:00.000-07:00

to everything turn, turn, turn. there is a season, and this season is the hottest and stickiest of the year. in packing up the yokogawa branch office of tepid industries, we have discovered new limits to the amounts of sweat that the human body can produce and still remain functional. we have rubbed our skin raw in wiping this sweat from our brows and scratched at the bites through which the mosquitos drew our blood until the bites themselves began to bleed. we were yelled at by the town "higher-ups" for wearing sandals with neckties and for introducing our successors to their future co-workers before they were officially our successors.

there were many hidden costs, both monetary and emotional, yet through it all, we had each other.

and that's what we here at tepid industries are all about: tepidness and unity.

tepidity.

it is all but done now. let us rejoice in knowing that we gave it a try and it didn't kill us, so it follows by the law of adages that we are now stronger.

when i snap my fingers, the yokogawa offices will be forever shut.

not yet...

mada...

ready?

one...

two...

two and a half...

three...

there.

time to get down-time

2004-07-18T23:26:00.000-07:00

dear reader may have figured it out by now, but just in case ye haven't, i will spell it all out for thee. we here at tepid industries are in the process of closing the yokogawa branch office in lovely and sweltering kagoshima, japan. this means that we have been busy battling mold and hangovers and foresee a few more days of more of the same. we appreciate your patronage and hope to resume the good fight upon our return to the land of our birf.

but while we are enjoying some down-time together with friends, why not view this hilarious jab at presidential politics. (thanks be to tony)

regards,
staff

16 more years

2004-07-07T02:18:00.000-07:00

as i was getting ready for sleepy-time last night, the local kagoshima news station flashed a headline stating that american presidential candidate kerii had chosen as his running mate former presidential candidate edowaazu. that's nice, thought i, and quietly slid into a beautiful slumberland. upon wakey, i went to the junior high school and thought i'd confirm that it would indeed be a kerry/edwards ticket. i had to be quick, what with first period only a few minutes away and the man breathing down my neck, and i received quite the shock when i saw the following screengrab on eschaton:

oops!
seeing as most of you have no doubt run across this rather hilarious blunder by the rupert murdoch-owned new york post by now (and i most likely will not be able to come up with any more original and witty remarks than those that have already been posted over at the daily kos, "The Truth Is News To Us!" by "its simple IF you ignore the complexity" being my personal favorite), i shall direct your kind attention to a blogger whose particulary high qualifications are much more suited to the task of biting analysis than those of any of us here at tepid industries, dr. eric alterman:

In all the years I've written about politics, I've never seen in either party so strong a consensus across regional and ideological lines for a choice as was made to Kerry for Edwards. He is, I've said over and over, a magical candidate when he works a room. Nobody, including Bill Clinton, is a more compelling campaigner. The media love him, which Kerry desperately needs, since they seem to disdain the candidate as much if not more than they did Al Gore. He brings in the South and forces the Bush campaign into a defensive crouch in states they thought they had locked up and helps to open up the possibility of a Democratic take-over of the Senate (thanks in no small measure to the genius of David Rudd). But he does so without sacrificing anything in the Northeast.

And alone among serious presidential candidates, he speaks the language of class, which our politics desperately need, if the conservative class war against poor and middle-class people is to be joined and the rest of us are ever to be able to unite in any meaningful way despite our racial and religious differences. The choice could even go a distance toward shutting up that deluded megalomaniac Ralph Nader, who came pretty close to endorsing Edwards, for reasons that -- if you listen to the rest of the nonsense Nader spouts and add it to the fact that Kerry has a more progressive voting record than his running mate -- are genuinely unfathomable.

Edwards' only problem -- and it's not a negligible one -- is that he looks like he's about thirty. So much of American politics is about looks that this "issue" is just not going to go away. Idiot pundits will bloviate on TV about whether he "looks" presidential. I guess by that they mean can he

mislead the country into war;
destroy a worldwide consensus of sympathy and solidarity for the United States
increase anti-American terrorism;
destroy all vestiges of fiscal responsibility;
turn the justice system over to religious fanatics who ignore homeland defense;
you know I could go on indefinitely here.
The larger point is that the best -- indeed only -- defense is a good offense. The battle has been joined. If not now, when?

i remember in the not-so-distant past another boyishly-young looking vice presidential candidate who, dispite difficulties in spelling words like potatoe, still managed to somehow not cost his running mate the election...
but i guess we were only fighting a cold war that time...
the fact remains that edwards does nothing but liven up the kerry ticket and even if the unthinkable were to happen and he was thrust into the hot seat, the criticisms that i am hearing so far, the youth and lack of experience, are certainly balanced out by the sharp wit he has repeatedly shown himself to posses. i would confidently place my trust in him to learn on the job with a lot less reluctance and reservation than i felt when bush declared a never ending war on terror.

the shimmering light of hope has once again brightened the gloominess of the future of american presidential politics. we might just be looking at the next 16 years in the making. where we go from there, i leave to you.

happy 4th

2004-07-05T01:22:00.000-07:00

unbrand america

go, do your patriotic doody.

sum numbers: iraq war version

2004-06-29T00:04:00.000-07:00

the institute for policy studies has a new report out called "Paying the Price: The Mounting Costs of the Iraq War"
A Study by the Institute for Policy Studies and Foreign Policy In Focus

here are the numbers:

* Total number of coalition military deaths between the start of war
and June 16, 2004: 952 (836 U.S.)
* Of those 952, the number killed after President George W. Bush
declared an end to major combat operations on May 1, 2003: 693
* Number of U.S. troops wounded in combat since the war began: 5,134
(Number ill or injured in "non-combat" incidents estimated to be
over 11,000)
* Number of U.S. troops wounded in combat since President George W.
Bush declared an end to major combat operations on May 1, 2003:
4,593
* Number of civilian contractors, missionaries, and civilian workers
killed: 50-90
* Number of international media workers killed: 30
* Iraqi civilians killed: 9,436 to 11,317
* Iraqi civilians injured: 40,000 (est.)
* Iraqi soldiers and insurgents killed prior to May 1, 2003: 4,895
to 6,370

* The bill so far: $126.1 billion
* Additional amount to cover operations through 2004: $25 billion
* What $151 billion could have paid for in the U.S.:
o Housing vouchers: 23 million
o Health care for uninsured Americans: 27 mil.
o Salaries for elementary school teachers: 3 mil.
o New fire engines: 678,200
o Head Start slots: 20 million

* Estimated long-term cost of war to every U.S. household: $3,415
* Amount contractor Halliburton is alleged to have charged for meals
never served to troops and for cost overruns on fuel deliveries:
$221 million
* Kickbacks received by Halliburton employees from subcontractors:
$6 million

* Percentage of Americans who now feel that the situation in Iraq
was not worth going to war over: 54
* Percentage of Iraqis who said they would feel safer if U.S. and
other foreign troops left the country immediately: 55

* Percentage of U.S. soldiers in Iraq reporting low morale: 52
* Percentage of soldiers who said they would not re-enlist: 50
* Percentage of wounded unable to return to duty: 64

* Number of soldiers whose tours of duty have been extended by the
Army: 20,000
* Percentage of reserve troops who earn lower salaries while on
deployment: 30-40
* Fraction of National Guard troops among U.S. force now in Iraq: 1/3
* Percentage of U.S. police departments missing officers due to Iraq
deployments: 44

* Effect on al Qaeda of the Iraq war, according to International
Institute for Strategic Studies: Accelerated recruitment
* Estimated number of al Qaeda terrorists as of May 2004: 18,000
with 1,000 active in Iraq

* Percentage of Iraqis expressing "no confidence" in U.S. civilian
authorities or coalition forces: 80

* Iraq's oil production in 2002: 2.04 mil. barrels/day
* Iraq's oil production in 2003: 1.33 mil. barrels/day
* Price of a gallon of gasoline in the U.S. in May 2004: more than $2

just in case you weren't getting this information from your local evening news...

freedumb of speech

2004-06-28T23:18:00.000-07:00

although i miss him when he's away, i must admit that i tend to enjoy the musings of the sometimes-blogger-in-lieu-of tom tomorrow, bob harris, due to, in contrast to mr. tomorrow, the sheer volume of his postings. some of his latest go well with one of our previous offerings here at tepidity, the one about the media carta. but don't take my word for it. go and check out the rest of his most recent and timely posts on the handover of power in iraq and the highs and lows of the american media coverage of the whole mess at this modern world. here's a taste:

"Great Thinkers Address Freedom Of Speech
(Note: this entry posted by Bob Harris)

'I have always strenuously supported the right of every man to his own opinion, however different that opinion might be to mine. He who denies another this right makes a slave of himself to his present opinion, because he precludes himself the right of changing it.'
-- Thomas Paine, 1783

'Free speech exercised both individually and through a free press, is a necessity in any country where people are themselves free.'
-- Theodore Roosevelt, 1918

'The truth is found when men are free to pursue it.'
-- Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1936

'If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.'
-- George Orwell, 1945

'Any time we deny any citizen the full exercise of his constitutional rights, we are weakening our own claim to them.'
-- Dwight David Eisenhower, 1963

'What is objectionable, what is dangerous about extremists is not that they are extreme, but that they are intolerant.'
-- Robert F. Kennedy, 1964

'Go fuck yourself.'
-- Dick Cheney, 2004"

now that your appetite has been sufficiently whetted, what are you waiting for? go on!

and yes, the past participle of whet is whetted.

take back the media

2004-06-24T20:03:00.000-07:00

since i always do everything that i am told to do, i signed the media carta this morning, as directed by the kind folks at adbusters. take a look:

WE THE UNDERSIGNED, are troubled by the way information flows and the way meaning is produced in our society.

WE HAVE LOST CONFIDENCE in what we are seeing, hearing and reading: too much infotainment and not enough news; too many outlets telling the same stories; too much commercialism and too much hype. Every day, this commercial information system distorts our view of the world.

WE HAVE LOST FAITH in the institutions of the mass media. A handful of corporations now control more than half the information networks around the world. At a time when people worldwide face hunger, social disruption, war and ecological collapse, only those who know how to walk the walk, talk the talk or pay big bucks are getting their message across.

WE HAVE LOST HOPE that our national media regulators will act in the public interest. Essential rules limiting media ownership and concentration are being scrapped, while rules protecting local content and access are diluted.

WE HAVE LOST PATIENCE waiting for reform.

WE IMAGINE A DIFFERENT SYSTEM – a media democracy. We see great promise in the open communications of the internet and want that openness expanded into every form of media. We envision a global system of communications that has as its foundation the direct, democratic participation of citizens. To this end, we demand the timely transfer of key media sources back to the people.

As a start, we demand the right to buy radio and television airtime under the same rules and conditions as advertising agencies. We ask our media regulators to set aside two minutes of every broadcast hour for citizen-produced messages. We want the six largest media corporations in the world broken up into smaller units.

What we ultimately seek is a new human right for our information age, one that empowers freedom of speech with the right to access the media. This new human right is: The Right to Communicate.

WE HEREBY LAUNCH A MOVEMENT to enshrine The Right to Communicate in the constitutions of all free nations, and in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

we here at tepidity agree with the above statement and dare you to join us in our agreement so that we may all be agreed. go ahead, sign it. what have you got to lose except your eternal soul?

out of the frying pan

2004-06-22T23:20:00.000-07:00

once in a while, i am called upon to actually do more than just pronounce a few words. this past week is an example. you see, while i have enjoyed assisting the english teachers here in yokogawa, i have recently begun to become, well, bored. no offense intended towards any of the remarkably talented individuals with whom i have had the distinct pleasure of sharing the podium...but i was having trouble keeping my eyes open in class, to tell the truth. my third cycle through a pretty dry textbook was beginning and i was starting to feel the heavy drag of another hot, humid japanese summer. along with that, my partner in crime, kayo yamanouchi sensei, had recently been blessed with the lodging of not one but two tiny humans deep within her belly. fittingly, she moved back to her home town in order to prepare for the pregnancy and i was presented with a new teacher, mr. homan, with whom i thought i would be ending my term here. mr. homan had retired from teaching a few years ago but was brought here to fill in as an emergency teacher while the board of education figured out what to do. he had been hoping that they would ask him to stay on until the end of the year, but, chotto sadly, they rather abruptly decided to let him get back to his retirement. that was last week. one day we were talking about how i don't speak like an english chap and the next day we were saying "sayonara". so it goes.

to make a long story short, i had been expecting to come in to work on tuesday to meet a new teacher, work with her for my final 5 weeks, and then move on to bigger and better things. however, i went to the office on monday for my "lesson-planning" time (i mostly just drink coffee and read time magazine and grit my teeth) and my supervisor told me that there was some kind of vague "unfortunate circumstances" and that the new teacher wouldn't be coming for some indefinite period of time - could be a few days, could be a few weeks. all of a sudden, i went from being a bored, semi-conscious human "repeat-after-me" machine to a full blown but poorly trained teacher. no lesson plans, just a text book and some flash cards with words like "useful" and "common" and "hamburger" (which i tried to change to "veggieburger" but the kids didn't get it) was all that stood between me and a room of 41 seventh graders. my mission, should i have chosen to accept it, was to make them learn the plural forms of nouns, the infinitive and present perfect forms of verbs, and the correct pronounciation of it all whilst sweating profusely in the 85 degree, 90% humidity of the mid-june rainy season.

so needless to say, i have been a bit busier than usual.

but nevertheless, i guess i ended up making this short story long...

tony's fantasy

2004-06-16T19:13:00.000-07:00

looks like the tropical air down there on okinoerabu has invaded whatever part of our good friend tony's brain that regulates his ability to perceive reality. just look at what he sent me:

Dude, Bush isn't going to win more than 4 or 5 states.
What are you smoking?
My money is that he won't even be allowed to accept
his party's nomination.

I think this attack on DeLay may be the only thing
that saves him from a power move from Hastert and
Frist.

The torture scandal is about to engulf Ashcroft,
Albert Gonzalez, Steve Cambone, Doulas Feith,
Rumsfeld, Dick Myers, Sanchez, and possibly Wolfowitz.
It already knocked off the top two at CIA.

The Plame affair is going to knock off Lewis Scooter
Libby and Karl Rove.

The 9/11 Commission is about to wobble Bush's image as
a strong leader on 9/11 and the movie Fahrenheit 911
is going to knock him down in the dirt with 11 minutes
of Bush reading a book about a pet goat while new
yorkers do 100 story swandives off the twin towers.

Cheney is caught in a lie about Halliburton contracts,
he is about to lose his case to keep the Energy Task
Force shit secret, he already has about a 28% approval
rating.

Sharon Bush has a book coming out talking about how
corrupt the Bush family is.

They are about to indict people for stealing files on
Capitol Hill.

Clinton's book is coming out with the movie The
Hunting of the President.

Iraq is descending into a pure hell, we don't have any
troops to dissuade Iran from going nuclear.

Powell and Armitage are opening and intentionally
harming the President.

The CIA is on a warpath to destroy the President.

The civilians at Justice are feeding the torture
scandal, as are the JAG's at the Pentagon.

There has not been one single Republican senator
willing to go on TV and defend the President in 6
months.

Donald Gregg, Bush Sr.'s chief of staff when he was VP
basically called Bush Jr. a war criminal in the NY
Times op-ed this week.

George Will has called them incompetent.

Pat Buchanan is on the warpath against the neo-cons.

Tucker Carlson has renounced the administration.

Anthony Zinni wrote a book with Tom Clancy calling
them criminally incompetent.

Paul O'Neill called the deaf leading the blind.

Richard Clarke said they did nothing on terrorism.

Rand Beers is working for Kerry.

The libertarians have already abandoned the party.

The idiots scheduled their convention in NYC where
Bush is polling under 25%.

I could go on.

Kerry is letting the Republicans do his campaigning
for him.

It is June.

The end of next month is the time to step up and put
the stake in the heart.

But before that, I believe that Frist and Hastert will
make a power play and ask Bush not to accept the
nomination since if he does they will lose their
leadership positions and he will get impeached.

Hastert will become President, Frist will accept the
nomination, and pick Pataki for a running mate.

And the real election will be on.

see what i mean? (looks like it actually came from someone over at daily kos, but who's keeping score?)

and R.I.P. to the lakers. i say this having been born in inglehood, california. they did not deserve the title...but i think i have nonetheless died a little bit on me insides...
go rams?

dear leader

2004-06-14T19:54:00.002-07:00

thanks to my dad for sending this along. although we may not agree on what the reagan legacy will ultimately prove to entail, we can at least honor the man as having lived here on this earth. life is hard. he lived well enough to become an old man - which i, too, hope to become in due time - and for that at least, i guess, respect is warranted.

all the other hoopla surrounding his death, however, left me feeling quite scared and confused. i'm not even sure why. a presidential corpse paraded hither and thither for most of a week, dominating all news in the meantime; bush and his handlers starting in with the comparisons: (from frank rich of the ny times)

...no one has more strenuously tried to emulate the 40th president in both style and substance than George W. Bush. Reagan's body was barely cold when Ed Gillespie, the Republican chairman, said: "The parallels are there. I don't know how you miss them."

...

The White House's efforts to follow the Reagan playbook have been nothing if not relentless. As Michael Deaver's crew famously would have Reagan cut ribbons in front of nursing homes even as he cut funds for their construction, so Mr. Bush can be found communing with nature each time his administration takes a whack at the environment. To pass himself off as a practiced hand at proletarian manual labor, Mr. Bush clears brush on camera at his ranch in Crawford just as Mr. Reagan did in Santa Barbara. In Washington, the Bush speechwriters strain to equate an "axis of evil" with the "evil empire."

i think this kirk cartoon sums it up well: it's nice to remember the good stuff, but it's important not to forget the bad.
for what it's worth.

true drama

2004-06-10T00:00:00.000-07:00

the final 10 seconds of game 2 of the nba finals is the reason why i still pay attention to sports at all. watching the game live during my lunchbreak, knowing that it was all happening a half a world away and that the outcome had no effect whatsoever on the classes i had to teach that afternoon, i still couldn't help but get caught up in the humanity of it all.
it brought a tear to me eye.
the series is tied, let's hope it goes to seven games.

god bless you, mr. rosewater

2004-06-09T23:25:00.000-07:00

thanks to anne for sending this to me:

Many years ago, I was so innocent I still considered it possible that we could become the humane and reasonable America so many members of my generation used to dream of. We dreamed of such an America during the Great Depression, when there were no jobs. And then we fought and often died for that dream during the Second World War, when there was no peace.

But I know now that there is not a chance in hell of America's becoming humane and reasonable. Because power corrupts us, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Human beings are chimpanzees who get crazy drunk on power. By saying that our leaders are power-drunk chimpanzees, am I in danger of wrecking the morale of our soldiers fighting and dying in the Middle East? Their morale, like so many bodies, is already shot to pieces. They are being treated, as I never was, like toys a rich kid got for Christmas.

how's that for scathing? i shall proceed to quote at length because i find that his writing compels me to do so:

Eugene Debs, who died back in 1926, when I was only 4, ran 5 times as the Socialist Party candidate for president, winning 900,000 votes, 6 percent of the popular vote, in 1912, if you can imagine such a ballot. He had this to say while campaigning: As long as there is a lower class, I am in it. As long as there is a criminal element, I'm of it. As long as there is a soul in prison, I am not free.

Doesn't anything socialistic make you want to throw up? Like great public schools or health insurance for all?

How about Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes?

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the Earth.

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. ...

And so on.

Not exactly planks in a Republican platform. Not exactly Donald Rumsfeld or Dick Cheney stuff.

For some reason, the most vocal Christians among us never mention the Beatitudes. But, often with tears in their eyes, they demand that the Ten Commandments be posted in public buildings. And of course that's Moses, not Jesus. I haven't heard one of them demand that the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes, be posted anywhere.

"Blessed are the merciful" in a courtroom? "Blessed are the peacemakers" in the Pentagon? Give me a break!

the image that i hope to leave with you tonight will be your "war prezident" surrounded by his generals and other war planners discussing shock and awe and the hell that they are about to unleash on a group of their fellow human beings with the words "Blessed are the Peacemakers" mounted and framed on the wall behind them. sweet dreams!

good night and god bless.

michael moore hates america

2004-06-04T18:23:00.000-07:00

in case you needed another reason to have serious reservations about this administration, here is the trailer to michael moore's new moving picture show "fahrenheit 9/11" - and as a bit of bonus good news, they got a canadian company to distribute the film in america and will be opening it on june 25. isn't that lovely?

so go see it and tell me all about it. i doubt it will make it all the way to kagoshima...

Holy Supreme Planetary Overlord

2004-06-04T17:55:00.000-07:00

REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE
> CONVENTION SCHEDULE
> New York, NY

> 6:00 PM Opening Prayer led by the Reverend Jerry Falwell
> 6:30 PM Pledge of Allegiance
> 6:35 PM Burning of Bill of Rights (excluding 2nd Amendment)
> 6:45 PM Salute to the Coalition of the Willing
> 6:46 PM Seminar #1: Getting Your Kid a Military Deferment
> 7:30 PM First Presidential Beer Bong
> 7:35 PM Freedom Fries served
> 7:40 PM EPA Address #1: Mercury: It's What's for Dinner
> 8:00 PM Vote on which country to invade next
> 8:10 PM Call EMTs to revive Rush Limbaugh
> 8:15 PM John Ashcroft Lecture: The Homos Are After Your Children
> 8:30 PM Round table discussion on reproductive rights (men only)
> 8:50 PM Seminar #2: Corporations: The Government of the Future
> 9:00 PM Condi Rice sings "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man"
> 9:05 PM Second Presidential Beer Bong
> 9:10 PM EPA Address #2: Trees: The Real Cause of Forest Fires
> 9:30 PM break for secret meetings
> 10:00 PM Second Prayer led by Cal Thomas
> 10:15 PM Carl Rove Lecture: Doublespeak Made Simple
> 10:30 PM Rumsfeld Lecture/Demonstration: How to Squint and Talk Macho Even When You Feel Squishy Inside
> 10:35 PM Bush demonstration of trademark "deer in headlights" stare
> 10:40 PM John Ashcroft Demonstration: New Mandatory Kevlar Chastity Belt
> 10:45 PM Clarence Thomas reads list of black Republicans
> 10:46 PM Third Presidential Beer Bong
> 10:50 PM Seminar #3: Education: A Drain on Our Nation's Economy
> 11:10 PM Hilary Clinton Pinata
> 11:20 PM John Ashcroft Lecture: Evolutionists: A Dangerous New Cult
> 11:30 PM Call EMTs to revive Rush Limbaugh again
> 11:35 PM Blame Clinton
> 11:40 PM Laura serves milk and cookies
> 11:50 PM Closing Prayer led by Jesus Himself
> 12:00 AM Nomination of George W. Bush as Holy Supreme Planetary Overlord

from Jeff,

Official Photographer
United States Senate
Washington, D.C.

(cutting and pasting by yours truly)

all doubts assuaged

2004-06-02T22:39:00.000-07:00

thanks to our diligent friends compiling notes on the atrocities, we needn't worry about the election anymore:

Here's the truth: Kerry will win, and he'll probably win big.

i have decided to leave a permanent link to notes on the sidebar because of the consistently high-caliber postings i find there. give it a gander and see if you don't agree. i dare you. go ahead. what have you got to lose? and don't forget to check out their invaluable dossiers on bush, cheney, ashcroft, and (coming soon) rumsfeld!

fun time

2004-06-01T19:57:00.000-07:00

this is for entertainment purposes only. bush follows the money and blair follows him.

thanks be to tony. again.

sum numbers

2004-06-01T19:16:00.000-07:00

for those of you who like polls, some of the latest numbers are saying what we here at tepid industries have been worrying about since the get go: will there be enough people voting for kerry - not just against bush - to get the shrub out of office and put the country back on a path towards "liberty and justice for all"? julian brookes over at mojo breaks it down for us:

To the question, asked of Bush supporters, "Is your vote more for George W. Bush or more against John Kerry?" 77 percent said "for Bush," and 22 percent "against Kerry." The version of the question aimed at Kerry supporters: 38 percent say they'll vote "for Kerry," 61 percent "against Bush." Among Democrats, 41 percent say they'll be voting for Kerry; 58 percent say they're voting against Bush.

so you see, while the bushites support him outright, kerry supporters don't seem to even really support him at all; his support thus far seems - dare i say - tepid? hopefully, as time goes on and the man starts to lay it all out for us, we will see what he's made of and more people will be able to proudly proclaim that they support john kerry because of who he is and how he will lead america, not just because he isn't bush.

john and joan q. voter responded to bush over al gore in the 2000 election because they thought that he seemed like more of a down-to-earth, albeit mildly retarded, plain-talkin' cowpoke, look-you-in-the-eye kind of guy. if kerry gets out in front of the republican attack ads and defines himself as himself, i don't see how he can lose this thing. he certainly can't do a worse job than butt-head over there.

but what the hell do i know.

bionic diesel

2004-05-31T06:14:00.000-07:00

did you all know that there is apparently a fuel out there that can, according to michael briggs of the university of new hampshire physics department, "be used in existing diesel engines with no changes, and is made from vegetable oils rather than petroleum"?? i had heard biodiesel mentioned before as a possible means of reducing our dependency on oil and the various costs associated with it, but it seemed to always get lost in all the hype surrounding the hydrogen fuel cell (which may yet save us all, who knows...) as briggs shows in his article, "Widescale Biodiesel Production from Algae," (click on his name to read it if you haven't already, you lazy bastard) it is presently possible to "begin producing biodiesel on the scale necessary to replace all petroleum transportation fuels in the U.S." in fact, with all his fancy "numbers" and "estimates," not to mention his use of footnotes, he makes it sound downright feasible:

The Office of Fuels Development, a division of the Department of Energy, funded a program from 1978 through 1996 under the National Renewable Energy Laboratory known as the "Aquatic Species Program". The focus of this program was to investigate high oil yield algaes that could be grown specifically for the purpose of wide scale biodiesel production. Some species of algae are ideally suited to biodiesel production due to their high oil content (some as much as 50% oil), and extremely fast growth rates. From the results of the Aquatic Species Program, algae farms would let us supply enough biodiesel to completely replace petroleum as a transportation fuel in the US (as well as its other main use - home heating oil).

but what about the cost, you say? he's way ahead of you:

The operating costs (including power consumption, labor, chemicals, and fixed capital costs (taxes, maintenance, insurance, depreciation, and return on investment) worked out to $12,000 per hectare. That would equate to $33.8 billion per year for all the algae farms, to yield all the oil feedstock necessary for the entire country. Compare that to the more than $100 billion the US spends each year just on purchasing crude oil from foreign countries.

so, this looks like a win/win for everyone, right? save money, stop supporting the oil industry, reduce, reuse, recycle, the whole bit. in my naivete, i am certainly missing something. why are our political leaders not pushing harder for such a magical methadone to the heroin of our modern economy? what have we got to lose?

special thanks to my man tony on okinoerabu for the heads up. (^_^) go lakers

punk no die

2004-05-27T04:36:00.000-07:00

punkvoter gets surreptitiously mentioned in the nation:

This spring, with an eye on mobilizing angry punks, Punkvoter commissioned Jello Biafra, NOFX, Alkaline Trio and Authority Zero to play to sold-out crowds of 1,000 to 5,000 in California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada and Arizona in the first part of their Rock Against Bush tour, and recently released the first volume of a compilation album, featuring an impressive roster of old-school and pop punks, which sold more than 35,000 copies in two weeks. Instead of targeting young voters en masse, as a presidential campaign might, Punkvoter employs hard-edged, partisan tactics to mobilize its core audience.

it just warms the heart to see the magazine of "Unconventional Wisdom Since 1865" reaching out to the kids, doing their part to bridge the gaps on the fracturous american left. this is all well and good, this joining of forces to rid us of the bush, but one hopes that once the regime is changed, the forces of the left that toil tirelessly to tilt the tables "until everyone has everything they need," one hopes that the coalition will hold together and keep the flamethrower to kerry's butt.

kerry will get the support he needs to win the election, but in the aftermath, even in our jubilation, we must not forget to hold him accountable once he's in office.

fat mike says:

"The good news is, we actually have the power to change America's--and the world's--future. But only if we get our shit together and get involved in the political process."

blinky bush

2004-05-25T02:32:00.000-07:00

the artist formerly known as emma goldman has some insights into the prezident's latest offering:

Bush gave a familiar speech, replete with descriptions of a reality to which few others have access (the transcript's not available yet, so I can't quote text) It was his somber mode, punctuated occasionally by his strange blinking, wherein his delivery was that of a daddy trying to explain death to his four-year-old.

myself only having seen clips of the speech on abc's nightline (broadcast here every tues-fri at 5:25pm on bs1), i must say that he appeared to be not as blinky as he was searching - searching the room after delivering his lines, looking for people who agreed with him, waiting for approval. or maybe it was just that the lights were too bright for his wittle eyes...

as mr. jeff continues:

But then, with about 20% of the speech left, he switched gears. He shifted to Preacher George, messianic George, absolutely certain of his goodness. It was actually quite moving, in a sort of twisted way. He contrasted the horrors of wahabism (using "Taliban" as shorthand) with the purity of American democracy. Where before the words tangled his tongue with their foreigness, now he seemed to be speaking from the heart. It seemed clear that this is a guy who is, at the end of the day, pleased with how things have gone. There was a bad guy there who oppressed his people; we took him out and offered up our perfected ways like a toe-headed boy offering up a golden ring. All is well. God bless America.

yes, god bless america. don't get me wrong, i'm just as scared and confused as the next guy. but that is no reason to put blind faith and trust into the very people who got us into this mess. if i had a nickle for every time i put blind faith and trust into people with a resume like this one, well, i'd be a very poor man. and i am. and the meek shall inherit the earth. and all was well in the land of the yokogawa...

you may comment, but be careful not to hurt my wittle feelings.

le che

2004-05-25T00:19:00.000-07:00

goTepid

meeting expectations

2004-05-22T05:21:00.000-07:00

eric alterman says

Excuse me, but just what was so hard to understand about this bunch? We knew they were dishonest. We knew they were fanatical. We knew they were purposely ignorant and bragged about not reading newspapers. We knew they were vindictive. We knew they were lawless. We knew they were obsessively secretive. We knew they had no time or patience for those who raised difficult questions. We knew they were driven by fantasies of religious warfare, personal vengeance and ideological triumph. We knew they had no respect for civil liberties. And we knew they took no responsibility for the consequences of their incompetence. Just what is surprising about the manner in which they've conducted the war?

having watched this whole fiasco unfold from abroad, and having spoken with small town folk over here in kagoshima at every twist of the slippery slide as we slid into this quagmire, i believe that i can answer his rhetorical question with a resounding "nothing." it's just a shame that this administration has lived up to our expectations is all.

and it's a real bummer when you meet people who say they don't want to visit your country because they are afraid of your countrymen. we're not all bad, but i sometimes fear that, because of the policies of our government, we have our work cut out for us in convincing others of that fact.

a day in the life

2004-05-21T16:49:00.000-07:00

take yesterday as an example...getting out of bed is always the hardest part, but it wasn't so bad yesterday because i knew that i had made a particularly delicious bento lunch the night before and that the only way to enjoy it would be to get up and go to work and wait for lunchtime. so i got up and walked down the hill to the board of education. you see, i work as an english teacher/token foreigner in a small town (pop.5,500) in southern japan. i came here in august of 2001 as a participant on the jet programme as a means of a)paying off my college loans, b)gaining experience living in a foreign culture, c)trying my hand at teaching, d)avoiding the bush years, or e)all of the above. anyways, i came here originally on a one year contract to assist in the teaching of english and all things foreign in the local junior high school and elementary schools. as i became accustomed to life here in the sticks (or should i say bamboo?), i decided that there were worse things i could be doing with my life and i signed up for a second year. my lovely girlfriend, raw bone, soon joined me (in japan, at least, though she had to live on the opposite side of kyushu for a year or so) and we decided to stay for what would be my third and final year (her second). having completed her contractual obligations to aeon eikaiwa, she has since joined me (for real this time) down here in yokogawa town and we are passing our final days and months tending to the garden and eating and screaming at the sight of the many-legged "geji-geji" that sometimes crawl over us as we sleep. trust me, you would scream too.

but i digress...i wanted to write about my yesterday as a representative day in the life of a small town assistant language teacher in rural southern japan. so let's see...yes, i walked down the hill to the office, shot the shit with tokunaga-san and nakagawa-san, then walked over to yokogawa shou gakkou (elementary school). i taught four classes, starting with the first graders where we talked about the numbers 1 through 10 and their favorite animals, then moved onto the fourth and sixth graders where we discussed the various sports and fruits we enjoy. i like banana. at 12:30, i ate the aforementioned bento with the fourth graders (a delicious blend of an island miso paste and aloo masala on flat noodles with vegetables and tofu and a side of brown rice and beans), shot the shit with the students at my table, and then it was time for dodgeball. seeing as i'm not such a big fan of this game, i kinda went through the motions for a while and then snuck away to go play basketball in the gym with some of the older students.

at the end of the lunch recess, every student is compelled to put down their soccer balls and unicycles (yes, unicycles) and pick up a broom or a dust-rag for compulsory cleaning time. i usually sneak away from this, too. i bumped into the principal, kamiya kouchou sensei, a very sweet and intelligent man in his early fifties, and he explained to me that he had just received a letter from miss jinjay, a chinese "yankin" (a beautiful hammer dulcimer-type instrument) musician who had recently toured around the area and had given performances in yokogawa and makizono (where the broken winds had the pleasure of sharing the stage with her at the mayor's residence). he wanted to reply to her, but he knew no chinese and his english was rusty. so he wrote out a letter in japanese which i translated for him, and then he drew me a map of how to get to his favorite spot for viewing takachiho no mine.

i taught one more class after compulsory cleaning time. this one was full of squirmy second graders who asked me lots of questions including "why are your eyes blue?" and "why is your nose so big?" ah, precious. after class, i walked back to the board of education where i spent the rest of the afternoon trying to avoid the overly jugemental glare of the superintendent. he doesn't approve of my beard.

well, that should serve to give you a decent idea of what my life has been like over here for the past few years. in my free time, i play covers of tunes by ween and the scud mountain boys with the makizono town coordinator for international relations as the dynamic duo "the broken winds". though it may not be apparent at this point, my adventures in japan, at the schools, with the broken winds, and as the solo artist "rick barrs" have laid the foundation for the next logical step in the evolution of the species: tepid industries. but more on that later...

tepid industries

2004-05-19T23:32:00.000-07:00

welcome to the official blog of tepid industries! sssssssick! we at tepid are dedicated to bringing you quality in all its forms. more later after we get our heads out of our asses.