I love this: BoingBoing reports that a Seattle art gallery will feature “tributes” of two well known contemporary “artists” – Thomas Kinkad and Jack T. Chick. BB is calling it the “Painters of Blight” show… As you probably know, Thomas Kinkade, the famous “Painter of Light,” has made millions of dollars with his customized prints of day-glo cottages against backdrops of enchanted forests. He has a team of “Kinkade-trained Master Highlighters” who go over reproductions of his work with oil paint. Yes! His work is mass-produced crap! He’s the Norman Rockwell of heartwarming, uplifting, mind-blinkered post- 9/11 Americana! He’s also…
-
-
Here’s a link to Carole Coleman’s Bush interview with George Bush before his arrival in Ireland for the summit. She asked a lot of tough questions and pointed followup questions – Bush appeared to be somewhat irritated that the followup questions came faster than he could parrot the usual rote answers back to her. There’s also an official White House transcript here, most likely somewhat cleaned up. Bush didn’t come off so badly, so long as they were discussing things dear to his heart, like his beloved and still illusory weapons of mass destruction. He lit up with pleasure when…
-
From a press release quoted by Salon: MOVE OVER MICHAEL MOORE… Disney & Move America Forward Team Up to Show a Brighter Side of America (SACRAMENTO) — Move America Forward is teaming up with Walt Disney Pictures to present an exclusive screening of Disney’s “America’s Heart & Soul” on Monday, June 28, 2004 at the Crest Theater in Sacramento, California. The private screening takes place at 1:00 PM and members of the news media are invited to attend. “Americas Heart & Soul” opens in theaters nationwide on Friday, July 2nd. Unlike the negative and misleading storyline of Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit…
-
… Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor will be branded an “activist judge” by a right-wing flack for saying this: Justice O’Connor wrote that the campaign against terrorism notwithstanding, “a state of war is not a blank check for the president when it comes to the rights of the nation’s citizens.”
-
More on the Nigerian bribery/Halliburton scandal. Oh, and of course the story was buried on the back pages on the last day of the Reagan obequiousies. The energy conglomerate formerly headed by Dick Cheney disclosed the SEC probe (as it was required to do by law for any legal action potentially affecting the company’s stock) on June 11. The timing of the disclosure was no accident–it was a Friday, the last day of the interminable Reagan funeral ceremonies, and Wall Street was thus closed. The national press corps focused on little else but the burial, so the SEC investigation got…
-
Huh – this is probably not good for the travel industry overall: WASHINGTON (AP) — United Airlines on Monday lost a bid to secure a federal loan guarantee, a fresh setback to the carrier’s efforts to emerge from bankruptcy. The decision by a federal panel barred the airline from making any other attempts to secure government backing.
-
If you’re not doing anything for the Fourth of July weekend, try going to Utica and pumping a few dollars into the local economy. It sounds like it’s going to be a fun weekend.
-
***Dave pointed me at the Senate testimony of Patricia Friend, president of a flight attendants’ association: We are trained to fight fires in the air, to administer first aid, to evacuate an aircraft in case of an accident, deal with abusive passengers and to give comfort. We receive comprehensive training in how to handle all these situations onboard the aircraft and are now officially recognized for these roles through FAA certification. Unbelievably, almost three years after the horrific events of September 11th, 2001 we still have not been trained to appropriately handle a security crisis onboard on our airplanes. Okay,…
-
Hey, one of these might be nice to have…Moon Phases :: Calendars Earlier tonight, David took some nice photos of the moon. He’s still working on some of the features he can use with the Eos Digital Rebel. Man, now I’m starting to think about that camera, too. Stop it, Ginny. Just stop.
-
You have to read the whole thing to get the full-bore comedy gold: Selling Son’s Beloved Play Station 2 For Punishment! The funny part to me is not that the kid broke something they had up for auction on eBay or that he drank some beer and wine, but that the parent is more upset about the cost of the stuff he broke/consumed more than the fact that he swilled as much booze as he could get his 13-year old, 6’3″ mitts on. And I see the problem with that, don’t you? It’s good to be childfree.