Here we go again with another Quote About George W. Bush Of The Day:
Bush was "like a blind man in a room full of deal people" during cabinet meetings.
-Former Bush Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill
That's the guy Bush hired for the job, folks. And then fired once O'Neill reminded Bush that sending the country into a massive defecit wasn't a fantastic idea.
With colleagues like this, who needs democrats?
--opus
posted by opus at
4:04 PM
Sequel
I just found out that there's a new documentary opening that's the sequel to one of my favorite nonfiction films ever, Aileen Wournos: The Selling Of A Serial Killer. It's by the same filmmaker, Nick Broomfield, and chronicles what has happened since he stopped making the first film.
There's some irony in a sequel, since the real person Aileen Wournos was put to death. I plan to see it soon, and I'll let you know what I think.
But the original film is a stunning document at how misguided the legal system can be, and how the cavalier attitude people can have towards human life. Aileen Wournos absolutely committed great crimes, but the people around her, her lawyers, her so-called friends - committed even worse. They pretended to care for a person, only to shepherd her to the death chamber while making money off of interviews they were giving.
Some people won't like Broomfield's bumbling naive reporting, but unlike many of his other films, he doesn't make himself too much of the story in the original Aileen Wournos documentary. This is because he's discovered such sordid and seedy character that they overshadow anybody else on the screen. Eventually, these characters dig their own graves, all the while preparing to dig one for Wournos.
It's better than watching Charlize Theron in make-up putty and a fatsuit!
--opus
posted by opus at
1:38 PM
Today's fun fact about George W. Bush, brought to you from the pages of Fortunate Son by J.H. Hatfield.
When Bush in his late 20s/early 30s decided to go into the Oil Business, he started up a company called Arbusto Oil (Arbusto being Spanish for Bush). Bush provided the "expertise" and the money came from a man called James Bath. Mr. Bath made his money by being the guy who invested money in the states for rich people from the middle east. One of Bath's clients was Salem bin Laden. Name sound familiar? He's Osama's father.
So essentially, money made off of the bin Laden family funded George W. Bush's first business. Creepy.
Do I think that there's a secret conspiracy between Bush and Bath and the bin Ladens? (Although, suspiciously, all of their names DO start with b...). No, that's a little too far-fetched. What I do think this shows is that the world of the incredibly wealthy and elite is a small one, and those upper 1% all run in the same circles. This is why Bush campaigned on Enron CEO Ken "Kenny Boy" Lay's airplane. It's not because they were plotting the downfall of a major corporation. It's that Billionaires like to hang out with other Billionares.
That sort of insular, self-contained world can't be good. Those people are out of touch. Need proof? Look at the tax cut Bush gave to his Billionaire Buddies, and the screw-job he gave to the middle and working classes. It's no conspiracy - it's just good old fashioned cronyism
. Still... Bush-Bath-bin Laden. Pretty freaky, huh?
--opus
posted by opus at
10:01 AM
New Tie Alert! New Tie Alert!
Corny? Yes. But adorable.
posted by opus at
12:30 PM
I'm currently reading a fairly interesting book on George W. Bush, following the old biblical concept "Know thine Enemy". This is the book Fortunate Son which the Bush camp forced off the market because the didn't like some of the stuff it said. St. Martens, the major publisher, burnt every single copy.
Luckily an independent publisher, Soft Skull Press, got the rights to the book and put it out. They and the author faced so much harassment and even outright threats from the Bush administration that the author, J.H. Hatfield, committed suicide.
So I was expecting a harsh, biting look at Bush. Because, hell, that's how I feel. But here's the strange thing: The book is pretty nice to the guy. It's very well paced and balanced about giving all sides to any story, and gives Bush a lot more credit I ever cared to.
The point is, even people we don't like are human, they're bound to have good parts to balance out the bad. Bush was a fantastic pilot, albeit in the National Guard job that the Speaker of the House in Texas admits he helped Pappy George secure so that Dubya wouldn't have to go to Nam. But a good pilot? I never would have guessed he had it in him.
I'm still working my way through, but here is today's Quote About George Bush Of The Day.
"He's one of those guys who was born on third base and thinks he hit a triple."
-Former Presidential Advisor Paul Begala
posted by opus at
7:47 AM
Instant Message Funtime
Starring hr1highlander
hr1highlander : ur a fag, but u gat a tite website name.
hr1highlander :elmo nose where u live
Opusmo: elmo nose?
Opusmo: What an intruiging name!
Opusmo: Thank you. I shall treasure it.
hr1highlander :fag
Opusmo: Wow, you really have that on the brain, don't you?
hr1highlander : why is ur site named yomomma?
Opusmo: why are you named hr1highlander?
hr1highlander : when did you make it?
Opusmo: 1996, I think
hr1highlander : cause yomomma
Opusmo: you're going to have to start speaking in complete sentence if you want me to understand you.
hr1highlander : oh i see u to smart for huh?
Opusmo: see, that's one of those sentence that makes no sense.
hr1highlander : oh no end of world
hr1highlander : or does it make perfect sense
Opusmo: Wait, I know... you keep dropping words like "the" and "an"... are you Tarzan? You are, aren't you?
Opusmo: Me like you, tarzan!
hr1highlander : no me jane
hr1highlander : fag
Opusmo: Oh. Howdy jane.
Opusmo: You keep talking about fags a lot. Let me guess, you dream about them a lot, too?
hr1highlander : liking guys now are we????
Opusmo: It's okay, I'm not judging you.
Opusmo: Live your life how you want.
Opusmo: But seriously, you're going to have to stop hitting on me.
hr1highlander : no you misunderstand me
hr1highlander : you
Opusmo: Oh, it's okay. A lot of people live in the closet.
hr1highlander : are
hr1highlander : gay
Opusmo: Freud called that "projecting"
Opusmo: Seeing in others what you are tyring not to see in yourself.
hr1highlander : you have imaginary freinds to??
hr1highlander : whos Frued?
Opusmo: No, Sigmund Freud was actually a real person. Try cracking a book, tiger, it'll do you a world of good.
hr1highlander : you fruit
Opusmo: Founder of modern pyschology.
Opusmo: See, you're always talking about homosexuality. It's a recurring theme with you.
hr1highlander : let me guess you are one of those book worms that have no life
Opusmo: Nope. Guess again, though!
Opusmo: I actually am a nice, well-adjusted person who doesn't find strangers on the internet to insult.
hr1highlander : they stay in a book and get stuck in by to much info and their brain implodes on themselves
hr1highlander : i love book worms
Opusmo: Well, I'm glad for you.
hr1highlander : they flame my books every day if u catch my drift witch you probably don't
Opusmo: I'm nowhere near catching your drift.
Opusmo: Is this another gay thing? I keep telling you, I'm not interested in you, I'm straight.
hr1highlander : o no some ones coming i have to go i dont want to get caught talking with a fag such as ur self
Opusmo: Someday, my friend, you can come out of the closet in a tolerant world.
Opusmo: Good luck, my little gay friend.
Opusmo: Good luck.
posted by opus at
4:47 PM
This is my Wish List from think geek dot com. If you really loved me, anonymous web person, you'd buy me EVERYTHING.
--opus
posted by opus at
10:49 AM
Brilliant New Product For Hipsters in 2004
Trucker hats with Ashton Kutcher's picture on them.
posted by opus at
2:06 PM
posted by opus at
1:22 PM
I gots me a haircut.
--opus
posted by opus at
12:54 PM
I've once again become fascinated with Stealitback.com, a website that auctions off goods seized in police raids.
More so than ebay, you get a real sense of people's lives through this thing. The products range from the strange (five books in german) to the heartbreaking (a wide selection of strollers) to the blatantly criminal (yes, they do indeed have a crowbar up for auction).
The best part is the wide variety of items that are obviously for criminal intent. Lots of gun cases, knives, swords (!), and tons and tons of grow lights.
Pot growers, please. If you're going to buy a growlight, don't buy it DIRECTLY FROM THE POLICE AUCTION. Sometimes it pays to be paranoid, guys.
--opus
posted by opus at
10:07 AM
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