Month: August 2003

Louise May Brown just turned 25.
Remember her? She’s the first test tube baby. At the time it was a
miracle, a generation changing event. Today, ho-hum.
I thought about this sort of thing as I stared out at the skyline that
was pitch black two weeks ago, that had the Twin Towers two years ago,
standing on the spot where the sitting Vice-President of the United
States shot and killed the first Secretary of the Treasury two
centuries ago.

\\Oh, Lord, won’t you find me a WMD?
My friends won’t send forces, or money to me.
Looked hard under sand dunes; there’s nothing to see,
So Lord, won’t you find me a WMD?
Oh, Lord, won’t you find me some chemicals, please?
France and Australia are laughing back at me.
I wait for intelligence each day until three,
So Lord, won’t you find some banned chemicals, please?
Oh, Lord, won’t you buy me a fight in Iran?
There’s oil in there, Lord; please give me their sand.
Prove that you love me and buy me a plan,
Oh, Lord, won’t you find me a fight in Iran?
Oh, Lord, won’t you find me a WMD?
The Dems might just rally and get off their knees.
Elections are coming; there’s nothing to see,
So Lord, won’t you find me a Dubya MD?\\
That’s it. (via rec.humor.funny)

I noted around the time of 9/11 that the worst challenge to the
“official story” the Administration was going to have to deal with was
going to be widows of the wealthy– people with lots of cash, lots of
anger, a relentless drive to find out what really happend, and public
opinion on their side.
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you “the girls”:
\\So afraid is the Bush administration of what could be revealed by
inquiries into its failures to protect Americans from terrorist attack,
it is unabashedly using Kremlin tactics to muzzle members of Congress
and thwart the current federal commission investigating the failures of
Sept. 11. But there is at least one force that the administration
cannot scare off or shut up. They call themselves “Just Four Moms from
New Jersey,” or simply “the girls.”
Kristen and the three other housewives who also lost their husbands in
the attack on the World Trade Center started out knowing virtually
nothing about how their government worked. For the last 20 months they
have clipped and Googled, rallied and lobbied, charmed and intimidated
top officials all the way to the White House. In the process, they have
made themselves arguably the most effective force in dancing around the
obstacle course by which the administration continues to block a
transparent investigation of what went wrong with the countrys
defenses on Sept. 11 and what we should be doing about it. They have no
political clout, no money, no powerful husbandsno husbands at all
since Sept. 11and they are up against a White House, an Attorney
General, a Defense Secretary, a National Security Advisor and an F.B.I.
director who have worked out an ingenious bait-and-switch game to
thwart their efforts and those of any investigative body.\\
And if there’s any justice– and any amount of support– they’ll win.
Read the article before it disappears into the Observer’s archives.

From the New York Times and NASA. Check here.

From http://www.kitoko.com/:
On June 11, 2003, the Board of School Inspectors of Joliet Public
Schools District 86 adopted a resolution to name Joliet’s first new
school in 33 years, The Lynne Thigpen Elementary School. The school was
formally dedicated on Tuesday afternoon, August 12, 2003. The
dedication ceremony was attended by over 200 people who listened and
cheered remarks made by city education officials, the mayor, members of
the city council and chamber of commerce, and members of Lynne’s
family.
The Lynne Thigpen Elementary School, located at 207 South Midland
Avenue, is designed to accommodate 650 students in a single-floored,
68,000 square foot, multi-winged building. It’s air conditioned, fully
wired, and incorporates new ideas in educational space usage. Costing
$17,000,000, the facility was brought in on-time and under budget. The
architect is Healy, Snyder, Bender & Associates.
I hope to have an image of the school here soon. Meanwhile, here is a Joliet Herald story about the dedication.

Already put it on Peter’s blog, but the webmaster’s blog goes neglected. Sigh.

Blah3 has compiled a list of about 800 other “Fair and Balanced” websites here.
Dive in.

UPDATE 1/20/06: Folks, I appreciate the traffic and interest, but really, I don’t know a darn thing about improving your complexion or skin tone.

There’s a lot of talk about how this was a “good blackout” in the way
that 1965 was and 1977 wasn’t because there was no looting, no arson,
no craziness.
Many people are chalking this up to the economic situation in the 70’s,
that NYC was in a financial crusher. While that is true, I don’t buy it
as the main reason.
To me, the biggest factor in all this was timing.
The first blackout hit at 5:16, November 9, 1965. There was still light
on the streets. People had time to react.
Yesterday’s blackout hit at 4:10 PM. Plenty of daylight time to get
supplies and make alternate plans, and to find their way home.
The ’77 backout happened on July 13 at 9 at night. The sun was down,
and the city was suddenly plunged into darkness without warning. No way
to reprovision, and so on.
I look forward to hearing any other theories. For background, check out
the Blackout History Project.

We have power back this morning. Apparently, it came back around 4 AM.

More to come, after I check and see what’s functioning.

Peter David lists his top 10 people he’d like to see ahead of Arnold as governor of California.
Some of them are actually worthwhile choices, too…

George W. Bush: The only buck that stops at his desk are campaign
contributions.