yet another mockumentary?

The Radical Right's Sinclair Broadcast Group plans to air a mockumentary disguised as newsworthy in the next few weeks on 62 stations, in blatant contempt for the FCC's rules about running blatant political hatchet jobs opinions disguised as news within 60 days of an election. I guess Rules are for Little People to Follow?

Personally, I prefer to go to the horse's mouth, and read what John Kerry actually said back in April 1971: John Kerry Testimony to Congress on Vietnam (if you must read this with pundit commentary, here's the digest version: Statement of John Kerry). Read it, then you decide. Wow .. what a concept.

Speaking of entertaining ... here are two amusing animations: 4,000 hours and Fool Me Once. Those in denial about GWB's brilliance would be best to avoid them.

liar, liar, pants on fire!

Lemme tell ya, there's a lot of web pages accusing the candidates of lying. I ran an unscientific test to see how many Google hits there were, if I searched for "John Doe " lies and (alternately) "John Doe lies". I won't be a pundit and interpret the results; rather, I'm simply posting those here for our amusement:

Google search term:	"Name" lies	"Name lies"
George W. Bush (George Bush)	519,000 (364,000)	732 (1,180)
John Kerry	426,000	777
Dick Cheney	156,000	149
John Edwards	75,500	11
Republican lies	675,000 (520,000)	881 (1,329)
Democrat lies	501,500	788

Worthwhile reading (after last night's Veep Debate): Pepe Escobar's article: Stretching Cheney

... and finally, Dick Cheney meant to say factcheck.org, but instead he said factcheck.com which (after some Swift [sic] redirection of a previously non-existant domain) points to an anti-Bush site. Oooooooops! -- Nice work, Dick!

Protecting Children Online

I attended a meeting of the Dallas Police Crime Watch tonight, and the subject was "Protecting Children Online" with Lt. Bill Walsh as the featured speaker.

Lt. Walsh supervises the local Internet Crimes against Children Task Force (there are 45 of these around the US). He gave a preso which showed the various ways that child molesters find innocent children, along with some real-life examples, including arrests here in the Metroplex.

interesting statistics:
a) 49% of children don't report solicitations for fear "dad" will cut Internet service;
b) the local police get about 5 tips/day for child porn.

He quoted several studies and articles, including some from the Journal of Adolescence; a Pew/Internet Teenage Life Online; and Operation Avalanche.

Suggestions on keeping your children safe online:
1) keep computer in common area (not bedroom);
2) establish ground rules (use parental controls, automatically limit time online);
3) discuss importance of telling adult - won't cut service;
4) know kid's online friends (don't list email address in ANY directory);
5) know about parental control software
6) avoid realname screen names (use abcd1234 versus SusieSmith99)
7) don't share password with anyone but a parent
(put in sealed envelope, for emergency use only)
8) beware of too much info in Instant Message profiles;
9) remember: people online are not who they appear to be (50 year old posing as 14);
10) check history file;
11) don't depend solely on protective technology - talk to your kids! -- keep communication lines open.

Web resources:
CyberTipLine.com; MissingKids.org; SafeKids.com; SafetyEd.org; GetNetWise.org

recommended books by gavin de becker:
The Gift of Fear and Protecting the Gift: Keeping Children and Teenagers Safe (And Parents Sane)

attack of the wild tree rats!

Another brutal Texas winter is approaching fast! How do I know? Well, for the past few days, the wild tree rats (aka grey squirrels) have been busy burying nuts across my yard. A pair of these vermin produces about 6 more every year, and they live about 7 years unless killed by one of their natural predators : a housecat, or an SUV speeding through my neighborhood. Once they're kilt [sic] you can fry `em up in a variety of ways.

There's entertaining Squirrel Info on memepool, although the stuff about squirrel-proofing a bird feeder is on the Looney Tunes side. I've used a squirrel baffle for many years, and it easily keeps them out of the feeder. What it does not do is keep them away from the base, after the bird-brained birds knock the seed to the ground.

Speaking of wild rats -- there's a (supposedly non-partisan) web site called Political FactCheck.org .. I'll have to go there every few days to see how close this site is, to reality.

Speaking of reality -- the Political Sign Wars continue unabated. Tony Goolsby is a cranky 70-year old running for re-election; the Dallas Managed News endorsed his opponent -- a 50-something named Harriet Miller. The green-and-white signs of Goolsby are in sharp contrast to his challenger's red-and-white ones (which inexplicably emphasize HARRIET .. perhaps to avoid a comparison with Dallas Mayor Laura Miller, who is not up for re-election this year).

I spotted a yard sign advising me to

VOTE STRAIGHT REPUBLICAN

I'm waiting for her neighbor to place a balancing

VOTE GAY REPUBLICAN

sign Real Soon Now. Hey, it could happen. And it would be entertaining!

¿California del sur no es importante?

I scored 43 of 71 on the True Test Of Your Southern-ness, which ranks me as a Southern sympathizer. Hmmm. I guess being born in Southern California doesn't make as Southern as I thought.

---

This afternoon (out of curiosity) I attended a meeting of the Dallas Area Interfaith [DAI] where the candidates for the TX-32 Congressional District were invited, along with officials from the Dallas Police Department, the Dallas Independent School District, and Dallas City Council (John Loza).

The Democratic incumbent -- Martin Frost was there -- but the CFRP Member (Pete $e$$ion$) was a no-show. An item in today's DMN said that $e$$ion$ stated that he doesn't want to be seen on the same stage; so much for letting your constituents know how you stand. There's a lot of acrimony in this race, when the TX-32 district was gerrymandered in one of those Special Sessions of the Texas Legislature. The inexperienced Republican expects to win because he expects the locals to vote partisan, and not consider his record. It's interesting that these two somehow agreed to participate in 5 debates (the first happened on September 12, and the next one will be Wednesday night).

About 500 people attended today's DAI meeting, and I was amused to see 8 school buses parked outside when I left .. many people didn't have cars. The meeting was bilingual, with some officials providing their own Spanish translation (most depended on someone else). The agenda didn't have the religious overtone that I expected; the primary topics were personal safety; education and immigration. Oftentimes the questions took longer than the answers!

I suspect this bilingual issue is part of The Future of Texas; many elementary school are already majority Hispanic. A 2003 United States Census Bureau survey shows Texas is 49.5 percent white; 35.3 percent Hispanic; 10.8 percent black; and 3 percent Asian.

more hogwash (Joseph Goebbels speaks)

"If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State."

-Dr. Joseph Goebbels, German Minister of Propaganda, 1933-1945

"In war, truth is the first casualty."

-Aeschylus (Greek playwright, died 456 BC)

"I will never apologize for the United States, ever. I don't care what the facts are."

-US President George H.W. Bush, August 1988
(a month after the USS Vincennes shot down a commercial airliner: Iran Air flight 655)

How To Lie .. (books available on a variety of topics)

Clarification and Enhancement of Subtle Nuances

I studied the 32-page Memorandum of Understanding between the candidates, and (since I have significant background) I'd like to offer some suggestions to the Commission on Presidential Debates for a Clarification and Enhancement of Subtle Nuances to the Memorandum of Understanding, before the next debate.

5. Rules Applicable to All Debates

(m) Candidates spouses must disclose their wardrobe choices no less than 72 hours prior to the debate, so that they do not clash onstage in a fashion faux pas.

(n) Candidates shall refrain from humming; giggling; chuckling; sniffling; coughing; cackling; wheezing; guffawing; whimpering or saying "Bhou-Zhee!". Flatulence is permitted as long as it does not exceed 35 decibels.

(o) At no time may the candidates roll their eyes toward the back of their heads more than 15 degrees from the horizon.

(p) Candidates are prohibited from placing either thumb against their nose and wiggling their fingers.

(q) Candidates may smirk no more than twice (2) per rebuttal.

(r) After the moderator asks a question, either candidate has the option of answering the question, or singing "Jimmy Crack Corn" or "It's A Small World", not to exceed two (2) minutes. Musical accompaniment is limited to a pocket-size device such as a harmonica or metronome. iPods are not permitted.

(s) Candidates should refrain from using potentially misunderstood colloquialisms such as "you betcher bottom dollar!"; "that dog won't hunt"; "big hat, no cattle"; "mama let's get yer grits on the stove"; "pyeu-whee! that'll make yer `maters rot"; "hoo Betty .. is it hot in here or is it just me?" and "you can put your boots in the oven, but that doesn't make them biscuits".

(t) Candidate shall wear either red or blue neckties corresponding with the Political Party Colors in use by CBS News on The Big Map during the 2000 General Election.