is anybody out there? just nod if...

Value of a sense of Wonder

hernancortez — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 21:35:51 GMT

I am a gadget freak. a real nerd. Fortunately or (naturally) my day Jobs require that i buy the latest stuff. My sound company needs to stay ahead of the live sound technology curve. To be a good Magician and Clown I am surrounded by great merchandise and inventions. I doubt if any of these are a surprise to you. But I should not just assume that the newest gizmo will help me. or make my personal or professional life better. When I think about buying some cool new gizmo, why shouldnt I compare it to a digital photo, or a phone call, or a good joke, a postive email. Try to adjust my sense of what things are really worth, using a sense of wonder to calibrate the scale. If da Vinci had the price of that item, would he buy it? Or would he buy a few more tubes of paint?

New Burner Business

hernancortez — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 10:25:58 GMT

Hey Y'All! I am like getting all kinds of calls from Burners with broke down cars. Whom would a thunk it, ehhh? I just want to remind you that I am in the San Francisco Area, not Portland or Los Angeles not New York. So thank you for thinking about me! And Supporting Camel Towing. Since most people who call do not have cash or live more then a tank of gas away, I have been forced to increase my ability to serve yall. I am opening a Bait Shop in Pacifica! I have been cutting and catching bait for a long time now. That makes me a Master, so please support a Master Baiter.

Episodic Hyroglyphic episodes

hernancortez — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 07:48:35 GMT

I dont watch enough television. The last time I watched broadcast TV, is still burned upon my psyche. Some guy who was a Popcorn Anti-Theater regular and a TV muckety muck with degree's and a high paying job, explained to me that the Art of Storytelling AND the Art of Entertaining is ancient. And codified. He only took the time to tell me about feeding the public pablum. They (the TV guys like himself) learn in their first year, the audience feels more important and intelligent then before they started watching 'your' show, if you give them crappy TV. TV that they can figure out, that they can guess the upcoming plot twists and even the ending. If the viewer can "outwit" the TV content provider's, then they must be real smart! Throw in really bad acting and the audience is not only smarter they see themselves as more talented then the talent. There are times when I think George W. Bush clued into this. He says such stupid things. While he is obviously _ON-Script!_ Stuff like "Human - Animal Hybrids" or "Switch Grass will provide the energy of the future". This stuff is obviously a ruse to keep his enemies from taking him seriously enough to actually mount a winnable attack. Anyway that George Bush insight is a blog for the future. What the "Episodic Hyroglyph" header is for -is- a weird insight into broadcast TV and the fact that you dont have to pay attention to the tube to get the fullest entertainment value from it. My newest theory is that good entertainment is episodic as evidenced by the massive evidence of the hugeness of the TV evidenciary existence. Huh? You spit. Nevermind. I mumble as I wipe spittle from my face. I also hold up the evidence of cave paintings and hyroglyphs. That shit is totally episodic. i propose that cave paintings are merely the ancient form of soap opera. I dont have a whole lot of backing data, but we are making cosmic connections with modern TV proramming, facts will only cloud a very shallow gene pool. And Egyptian glyph's are yesteryears Fox News. next time you see a picture of Egyptian 'Glyphs, imagine them scrolling across the bottom of your screen of conciousness. Imagine a blonde bimbo egyptian princess with blow job lips telling you what the glyphs are telling you. Anyway I wanted to leave you with a deep historical concept. What if, like broadcast TV, Cave Paintings were meant to only be digested in chunks. What if you are supposed to read one painting then go back to your ironing or Vick nasonex/Meth lab? it makes perfect sense doesnt it?

Happy Thanks giving?

hernancortez — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 18:30:06 GMT

I hope everyone had a happy thanksgiving, not too much food, a cornupoia of things to be thankful for.

Scott McClellen will die

hernancortez — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 11:14:18 GMT

Any bets on when? fuck impeachment! If our Democratic party leadership had any balls they would imprison Bush, Cheney and Rove. fuck impeachment! imprisonment!!!!! Anyway, if Scotty McClellen lives very long then that means...... what does that mean?? Things are different now? There is a new sherriff in town? How can such a book get published? Do they have dirt on Scotty already, will scotty's name be mud before thanksgiving? I was standing at Mission and 24th tuesday night rehearsing my scene with my scene partner and some small time crime was going on all around us. I could tell stuff was going on. But I couldnt tell you what. Have you ever been at 24th street/ bart or 16th street bart and felt the same way? You know how it is people passing small baggies off turning it into money, or more spooky just communicating in some silent finger gesture headshake body language --language. Anyway, it sure seems like real shit is going down right now. It is going down in our government. Scott McClellens book is the tip of the iceburg. Is the Clinton machine mobilizinging back into DC? Are the heavey hitters that were ignored during the Bush plundering of the US treasury elbowing thier way back to the dinner table.

The Joy's of Broadcast T.V.

hernancortez — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 09:16:55 GMT

How many times have you learned an important fact of life. One so succinct, so absolute that it was like a portal of potentiality to wards your personal nirvana. One that could totally enhance your entertainment possibilities that you never have to suffer thrugh another foriegn film or a fact filled documentary. And after learning this important fact, you totally forgot to remember it? I do this all the time. The one that prompted this blog was the Universal truth that Broadcast T.V. was written to be ignored 76.03% of the time. The pure artistry of broadcast T.V. lies in the fact that if you are totally involved in something else and only look up when someone is crying or a gunshot goes off or the music gets music-ier, then you can momentarily watch and understand the wholeness of the plotline, the character relationships, the scene plotline the next scenes plotline. I think this strenghthens your brain by exercising the associative "muscles" of the brain much like a Nordic-Trak, excising the lazy areas of deep thought like a Ginzu knife. Good extrpolative skills are exactly re-financing your home eliminating the need to go otuside or develop close personal relationsip, thusly lowering your spiritual credit card debt. What would be cool is to really put this to the test an put a TV screen on the dash of your car, with the choice of deep information mines or raw broadcast T.V.. You could be driving along and blam a gunshot goes off and you are totally sucked into the broadcast Tv show, but since you dont need to pay too much attention, blam you are back to driving, monotonous driving.

small stuff

hernancortez — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 10:58:21 GMT

here is a world upside down thing to do for Thanksgiving. DO NOT eat 'bird' for thanksgiving. yes I said that, Save _birds_. Aint that a crack-up! A contribution you will be proud of for years to come. "While everybody was eating birds, I was saving birds" and you wont go to jail for it. Wouldnt that be funny if the "Pixie-Vision" lady were to say, 'Hey I got tired of shooting pictures of all those Burningman Parade clowns in thier 10 year old fashions (really that fur thing is a decade old on the playa!) And I decided to photograph real human beings in real circumstances, here is a caring soul covered in oil and bird feathers. The oil spill is still a reality and it is big time migration season. There are multiple ways to help out with the oil spill, just google whatever floats your boat, SF bay oil spill clean-up . there are illicit, unapproved cleanups going on. I heard that human hair cleans oil right up. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ If you run up the overdue penalties at the library, like I have, the next generation of "librarian" is breeding over at your local independent bookstore. I figure when the bill for the Iraqi war comes due, more libraries will close. If you are lucky enough to have a fully stocked bookstore, like Green Apple, here in S.F. then you have a treasure chest of info. And it is filed different then the library. It is filed by what interests the book store employee. The info is accesible in strange social alchemical avenues most like a record shop. In a world of "cheap" books from Amazon, it is nice to browze books, rifle through books you aint going to buy. go off in directions you may not have intended. And since you dont have to wait 3 days for the books to come, get back on track, in real time. Well, my of my most favorite people in the world sells books on the internet, so please buy more this year off the 'net, but when you want to get some serious book learning, do the library, and a couple big book shops.

Huge spill

hernancortez — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 21:24:03 GMT

I just got back from walking over the Golden Gate bridge. The gasoline spill from the tanker that hit the Bay Bridge is huge!! It is already washing up on the beachs and rocks that line the Bay. there is an upside. You get a really neat liquid marker that illustrates (in real time) the massive tidal patterns of the Bay. It is quite a trippy thing to watch the water swirl and go fast then swirl then go fast. And for some reason Giant Seals Love it! Maybe they got kicked off thier perch at Pier 39? I never seen so many big seals swimming around. I was on the Golden Gate Bridge, which is 300 feet up (?) and I was getting a headache from the fumes. No not the exhaust from the cars driving. I walk over and back on the Bridge at least 1 a week and I get more fresh air then car exhaust. But today was P.U. city. It is a travesty but hynotically interesting. Even the Bridge workers were standing around and watching, and they have 'seen it all'. Anyway, it was obvious that noone was doing anything to clean it up. At least on a scale proportionate to the size of the spill. I saw one truck with about 200 yards of organic "Tampons" but I think we need miles and miles of tampons. So I am statring a Disaster relief drive to ___SAVE THE BAY!!!!!!____. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Donate any extra tampons that you have. We need to help keep the Bay Healthy!! You do not need to send them anywhere, just tie a string to the string and throw it over the edge of the bridge and help soak up highly refined yet thouroughly toxic fuels. Make sure not to drop the tampon, but reel it in and dispose of the toxic tampon in designated recepticles. it is also okay to wrap the used tampon in tissue and deposit it in the little waste basket in your nearest bathroom stall.

Green Weenie

hernancortez — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 07:46:00 GMT

I saw this video about plastic islands in the middle of the ocean. I cant find it right now, but I saw it over 12 months ago. Gas has been going up and up and up and I still drive my truck when I dont have to. I get it, I am on your side (assuming you put the health of Mother Earth before your own convenience) But it is hard to change habits or remember to do some thing. Ferinstance. I bought 6 permanent grocery bags to help not use plastic bags, but it has taken me over 3 months to begin to use them. For the 10th time I have stod in the grocery checkout line without the "save a tree" bags. Tonight finally I said no bags please and I put the groceries back in the shopping cart and took them out to my car and put them in the big old Costco Bag, which is the 'Hummer' of environmentally friendly bags (for those who consume 4 times as much consumer goods as the average human) Anyway, stop applauding my meager efforts, sit down and shut up please. The real Bloggy tidbit I want to waste your time with is this. I am a Green Weenie. I want to do "the right thing" but I keep forgetting!! I doing some sideshow stunts in my hummer, burnin' rubber in some tight assed circles. I lit it up so hard that the burnt rubber smoke set off smoke alarms in all the houses for three blocks around. (all the houses that had frsh batteries in thier smoke detectors that is) Anyway when the smoke cleared, i realized that I was totally wasting the earth. (and not to mention my 24" rubber tires) I was really bummin' and then a friend of mine comes up and bums a big old boulder of crack with me. Those BMorg cats get all the lethal shit! He talks me off the ledge by telling me about Burning man cocncocting this big yarn about "GreenMan:" "You see someone at bm headquarters did the math on 40,000 people -driving- to the desert Add to that about 4000 santioned burns 15000 poi burns 1500 gallons of white gas and asmaller but equal amout of liquid parrifiin and kerosene. Crazy amounts of natural resources being consumed in order to celebrate a "Green Event". Anyway the crack was confusing my understanding. "You mean the 'GreenMan" was just as Green as a Coal burning power plant?" And he said 'A power plant is 10 times more effeciant than then 40,000 etard burners, but we couldnt let a marketing angle slide by us we are all hoping to make 2 million a piece in '08. He was drooling by now, and I facinated as a trem of drool hit the floor, he kept talking with that string of greenish drool threatening to yhank the floor up to his face, "What if those posuer "art lovers" did the math on the irreversable damage done to the earth. And some idiot is going to extrapolate and realize that they are sucking arts resources from thier home town just like they are sucking oil out the ground.....". he said a bunch more but I spent the next 4 hours looking for a crack crumb I dropped on the pavement. i think I got some molten steel belt from my sideshow antics and tried to smoke it. In a way I think that is recycling. In a BurningMan kinda way.

Blackwater Started Fire

hernancortez — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 09:38:29 GMT

Nice headline huh? So far no proof. Watch this video http://tinyurl.com/yvyxqe

Facism in10 easy steps.

hernancortez — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 09:24:48 GMT

http://tinyurl.com/2exxm6

Fyr fighters in Iraq

hernancortez — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 02:09:33 GMT

200,000 people are displaced from their homes because there is so much fire and not enough fire fighters. Why is that? The bulk of California's firefighters are really National Gaurdsmen. that is the structure of the organization. Foreward thinking state administrator... "Lets not hire then train real fire fighters cause we can always call up the gaurd to dig fire breaks and man the big tractors and various contruction equipt. needed to put out a big fire. " I think we could maybe label it the "San Diego Decompression" and get maybe 10,000 burners down there in a heart beat. Call it an art installation defined as "Spreading healthy fire by suppressing toxic anti art fire" Something presumptuous and head up the assy and maybe we can get the burners to contribute to society.

Piss on Al Gore

hernancortez — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 18:45:05 GMT

I cant believe Al Gore got the Nobel Peace Prize!! If it wasnt for him Ralph Nader would have waltzed into the White House, in 2000 :-( There probably would not have been any WTC 911 incident. Osama would be like, "he wont attack us, he will talk to us for 10 years" Now That is a Deterrent to Terrorism. Al Gore fucked it up, now Hillary will fuck it up for Uber-Statesman Kucinich. I am going to stage a violent revolution and re-instate the constitution and open and free elections. I am thinking Habeus Corpus might not be such an outdated concept. Maybe we could throw that in too? No wiretapping.

Sniveling Victims

hernancortez — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 07:12:14 GMT

I was having this conversation with a "typical" San Franciscan. he was complaining about how San francisco has hit the skids. His opinion was that, parades and public events were ruining The City. His newest beef was that events like "CriticaL Mass" and "Love Parade". "critical mass is pure chaos, the cops kiss the bikers ass!" "Love parade will block civic center and loud music will drive the nieghbors crazy!" I wonder what he thought about those damn jets and the close to 200.000 'normal' citizens coming to town to watch them. Anyways, what I am wondering is. What the fuck? What dark secluded part of town did he grow up in? Did he watch no cowboy movies, was he one of those hippies that donned a wig and put a flower in thier hair to get laid on hippie hill. Did he hide from every black man , 'fraidy of the Black Panthers. Did he miss the whole Punk movement and the subsequent Grunge and queer music revivals. And how does he justify his "I am a victim" behaviors.

New sport for Liberals

hernancortez — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 19:37:08 GMT

I just put the word NEW in there for those of you that havent enjoyed this particular social change exercise. First one is "The Progressive Scretary" Enroll in http://ProgressiveSecretary.Org This one is just TOO simple. They send you an email with a letter to your political leader. you push a button that says send this. It is more effective to print the letter out and send it your self. letter have more weight then emails. On the other hand, my next sport entry wreaks havoc on the email inboxes of the crooked yellow journalism trashco's like FOX NEWS and MSNBC abd CNN. Here is a sample email from MEDIA MATTERS. If you do as I do and delete a few and send rebukes to a few you mess with the heads of the prorammers, the people who think they are properly warping the minds of Americans. Cause they get like 10 emails from zombiefuck's and 10,000 emails from us.) Like I said, a little emailing time and you throw a wrench in the system. A tiny one yes, but that is all you got and it dont cost you a thing. Myths and falsehoods about progress in Iraq http://mediamatters.org/items/200709090001 The week of September 10, Gen. David Petraeus, commander of Multi-National Force-Iraq, and U.S. ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker are expected to testify before Congress on the effect of President Bush's troop increase in Iraq, to be followed by a written report submitted by the White House. Bush announced on January 10 that he was sending "more than 20,000 additional American troops to Iraq." Since then, the Bush administration and the congressional Republican leadership have thwarted efforts by Democrats and other proponents of legislating a timeline for withdrawal to enact legislation to begin withdrawing U.S. troops, arguing that no action should be taken until Congress hears from Petraeus and Crocker. But supporters of the war have not simply bided their time awaiting Petraeus' and Crocker's appearances before Congress. Rather, they have engaged in a campaign starting midsummer to convince the media and public that progress is being made in Iraq. President Bush, members of the administration, Republicans, and other advocates of the president's escalation policy have been laying the groundwork for the case that the "surge" is "working" and it is premature to commence withdrawal. Many in the media have been complicit in the administration's PR offensive: ignoring that a crucial criterion for the success of the administration's strategy -- political progress in Iraq -- has in the assessment of people inside and outside the administration not occurred; repeating administration claims of military progress while ignoring evidence to the contrary; repeating distortions of comments by Democrats to claim that they acknowledge the surge is working; characterizing proponents of a withdrawal timeline as calling for a "precipitous" withdrawal; and uncritically repeating the widely dismissed claim by Bush and administration supporters that the terrorists will follow us home if the U.S. withdraws from Iraq. Some of the most pervasive myths and falsehoods that many in the media have been complicit in perpetuating are set out below: Myth: "The surge is working" In recent weeks, the media have essentially allowed advocates of the president's "surge" policy to redefine the criteria on which the strategy's success would be evaluated, ignoring the Bush administration's own acknowledgment of the importance of national political progress to the overall success of its strategy. Bush specifically cited the need for political progress back in January, and the U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans' Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability Appropriations Act of 2007 passed in May provides the benchmarks with which progress is to be measured. On the August 20 edition of Fox News' Special Report, host Brit Hume said that "evidence mounts that the troop surge is working as planned." An August 16 editorial in Investor's Business Daily was headlined, "A Surge of Success." And on the August 21 edition of MSNBC's Tucker, U.S. News & World Report editor-in-chief Mortimer B. Zuckerman asserted: "[T]he fact is that, by far, the consensus is that the surge is working." However, by the administration's own standards, the national political reconciliation that the Bush administration identified as essential for the success of its escalation strategy has not occurred. As Media Matters has noted, when announcing his so-called surge strategy in January, Bush specifically stated that success had to be measured in terms of military progress and political progress by the Iraqi government on the benchmarks established by the United States. Bush declared that "[a] successful strategy for Iraq goes beyond military operations" and will include a political component: "hold[ing] the Iraqi government to the benchmarks [America] has announced." Furthermore, when appearing on the August 5 edition of NBC's Meet the Press, Defense Secretary Robert Gates told host Tim Russert that "a successful outcome in Iraq requires political reconciliation. There's no question about that," and that "[a]t some point there has to be reconciliation at the national level." On the February 25 edition of Fox Broadcasting Co.'s Fox News Sunday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice argued, "The president's been clear with [the Iraqi leaders] that these political reconciliation measures are at the core of success for Iraq." Navy Adm. Michael Mullen, while testifying before a July 31 hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee on his nomination to be chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, stated, "I still maintain that if we aren't making progress in [the Iraqi political] realm the prospects for movement in a positive direction are not very good." However, on August 21, Crocker said reconciliation is not occurring. As an August 21 McClatchy Newspapers article reported, Crocker said: "The progress on the national level issues has been extremely disappointing and frustrating to all concerned -- to us, to Iraqis, to the Iraqi leadership itself." During his August 5 appearance on Meet the Press, Gates said the political aspect is "a disappointing picture for the central government right now, but there are some positive things happening at the local level." After returning from a trip to Iraq in mid-August, Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) noted that "[t]he purpose of the surge, by its own terms, was to have the -- give the opportunity to the Iraqi leaders to reach some political settlements. They have failed to do that. They have totally and utterly failed." In addition, the latest National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) stated that national political reconciliation has not occurred. The NIE, portions of which were released on August 23, stated that "to date, Iraqi political leaders remain unable to govern effectively" and concluded that "the Iraqi Government will become more precarious over the next six to 12 months." According to the NIE: "Broadly accepted political compromises required for sustained security, long-term political progress, and economic development are unlikely to emerge unless there is a fundamental shift in the factors driving Iraqi political and security developments." Further, a report released by the Governmental Accountability Office (GAO) on September 4 found that the national Iraqi government was making little political progress. The GAO concluded that the Iraqi government had met only one of eight legislative benchmarks and partially met one other. GAO noted that six of the legislative benchmarks had not been met: "a review committee has not completed work on important revisions to Iraq's constitution" and "the government has not enacted legislation on de-Ba'athification, oil revenue sharing, provincial elections, amnesty, or militia disarmament." O'Hanlon and Pollack -- critics of administration handling of the war -- agree the surge is working On July 30, Brookings Institution scholars Michael O'Hanlon and Kenneth Pollack published an op-ed in The New York Times in which they described themselves as "analysts who have harshly criticized the Bush administration's miserable handling of Iraq" and argued that "significant changes were taking place," which justified continuing the Bush administration's surge strategy "at least into 2008." The op-ed received widespread media attention, and supporters of the administration's policy in Iraq touted the op-ed, saying that Pollack's and O'Hanlon's findings of progress were particularly credible, given their purported criticism of the war. Indeed, the weblog Think Progress noted that O'Hanlon and Pollack "appeared on at least nine major mainstream media outlets in" the 24 hours after their op-ed appeared. In fact, O'Hanlon and Pollack are not "critics of the war"; as Media Matters has noted, both O'Hanlon and Pollack were influential proponents of the Iraq war before the invasion. Pollack wrote a book in 2002 titled The Threatening Storm: The Case for Invading Iraq (Random House). Furthermore, O'Hanlon publicly supported the surge policy and wrote a January 2007 column in support of President Bush's troop escalation, claiming that it was "the right thing to try." Salon.com blogger Glenn Greenwald documented the litany of O'Hanlon and Pollack's support for the Iraq war, including the fact that O'Hanlon was one of the signatories to the Project for New American Century's Iraq policy letter issued in 2003, and had, as recently as February 2007, written a Wall Street Journal op-ed arguing that Democrats were wrong to oppose the war and that the surge should continue. Media reports routinely failed to mention Pollack and O'Hanlon's support for the invasion: On the August 20 edition of Fox News' Special Report, national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin reported that Sens. Carl Levin (D-MI) and John Warner (R-VA), after returning from Iraq, were "sounding a bit like Brookings Institution war critics Michael O'Hanlon and Kenneth Pollack, who changed their views after seeing some of the military successes first hand." On the July 31 edition of CNN's Larry King Live, host Larry King failed to challenge Vice President Dick Cheney, who described O'Hanlon and Pollack as "strong critics of the war." In a June 30 post on The New Yorker's website, George Packer wrote that "'Hanlon and Pollack have long been critics of the war." On Fox Broadcasting Co.'s Fox News Sunday, host Chris Wallace described O'Hanlon and Pollack as "two critics of the way the Bush administration has conducted the war." On the CBS Evening News, CBS News national security correspondent David Martin falsely described O'Hanlon as "a critic" of the Iraq war "who used to think the surge was too little too late, [but] now believes it should be continued." And on CNN Newsroom, anchor Heidi Collins introduced Pollack by saying that he "has been a vocal critic of the administration's handling of the [Iraq] war, but he says that an eight-day visit has changed his outlook a bit." Myth: "The surge has reduced violence in Iraq" On the August 28 edition of CNN's The Situation Room, CNN White House correspondent Ed Henry uncritically aired President Bush's assertion from his August 28 speech to the American Legion that "[s]ectarian violence has sharply decreased in Baghdad. The momentum is now on our side." Henry gave no indication that he had attempted to verify Bush's assertion. Further, The Washington Post printed an August 28 op-ed by O'Hanlon defending the New York Times op-ed he co-authored in which, relying on data supplied by the U.S. military, he repeated his previous claim that "Iraqi civilian fatality rates are down." During a report containing an interview with Petraeus, on the September 4 CBS Evening News, anchor Katie Couric did not challenge Petraeus' assertion that "if you look at the country as a whole ... the number of ethnosectarian deaths, you name it, the number of incidents has been reduced dramatically." By contrast, an August 25 Associated Press article reported that while violence is down in Baghdad "from peak levels ... the death toll from sectarian attacks around the country is running nearly double the pace from a year ago." Moreover, McClatchy Newspapers reported on August 15 that while U.S. officials have said civilian casualties have decreased in Baghdad, they have "declined to provide specific numbers, and statistics gathered by McClatchy Newspapers don't support the claim." On September 1, the Los Angeles Times reported that "[b]ombings, sectarian slayings and other violence related to the war killed at least 1,773 Iraqi civilians in August, the second month in a row that civilian deaths have risen." The article added: "The statistics appear to indicate that the increase in troops ordered by President Bush this year has done little to curb civilian bloodshed, despite U.S. military statements to the contrary." Further, an article in the September 10 edition of Newsweek reported that "[t]he surge of U.S. troops -- meant in part to halt the sectarian cleansing of the Iraqi capital -- has hardly stemmed the problem." The report quoted Rafiq Tschannen, chief of the Iraq mission for the International Organization for Migration, who said that "the fighting that accompanied the influx of U.S. troops actually 'has increased the IDPs [internally displaced persons] to some extent." In fact, the GAO, the latest NIE, the Independent Commission on the Security Forces of Iraq report, and a recent op-ed by a group of seven soldiers in Iraq all suggest that the surge has not significantly improved the security situation and that violence in Iraq has not decreased. Moreover, a September 6 Washington Post article reported challenges to the U.S. military's recent assertions -- and scrutiny of a specific claim Petraeus is expected to make in his testimony to Congress -- that sectarian violence in Iraq is declining: According to the GAO in its report issued September 4, the goal of "[r]educing the level of sectarian violence in Iraq and eliminating militia control of local security" was "not met," meaning that "there was no clear and reliable evidence that the level of sectarian violence was reduced and that militia control of local security was eliminated." The GAO further noted: "While it is not clear if sectarian violence has been reduced, militia control over security forces has not been eliminated and remains a serious problem in Baghdad and other areas of Iraq." Further, during testimony on September 4 in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Comptroller General David Walker, the top official at the GAO, discussed data surrounding sectarian violence and asserted that "there are several different sources within the administration on violence, and those sources do not agree" and that "part of the problem that we had in reaching a conclusion about sectarian violence is there are multiple sources showing different levels of violence with different trends." Portions of the NIE that were released on August 23 contain the conclusion that while "[t]here have been measurable but uneven improvements in Iraq's security situation," "the level of overall violence, including attacks on and casualties among civilians, remains high; Iraq's sectarian groups remain unreconciled; [and] AQI [Al Qaeda in Iraq] retains the ability to conduct high-profile attacks." The Independent Commission on the Security Forces of Iraq, chaired by retired Gen. James L. Jones and created by the Congress to provide an independent assessment of the Iraqi Security Forces -- both military and police -- reported significant shortcomings with the Iraqi security forces, affecting their ability to reduce violence and provide security for the Iraq people. The commission reported: "The Iraqi Police Service is incapable today of providing security at a level sufficient to protect Iraqi neighborhoods from insurgents and sectarian violence. The police are central to long-term establishment of security in Iraq. To be effective in combating the threats that officers face, including sectarian violence, the Iraqi Police Service must be better trained and equipped." While the commission noted that it "believes that the Iraqi Police Service can improve rapidly should the Ministry of Interior become a more functional institution," its conclusion about the Ministry of Interior stated: "The Ministry of Interior is a ministry in name only. It is widely regarded as being dysfunctional and sectarian, and suffers from ineffective leadership. Such fundamental flaws present a serious obstacle to achieving the levels of readiness, capability, and effectiveness in police and border security forces that are essential for internal security and stability in Iraq." Regarding the National Police Force, the commission concluded: "The National Police have proven operationally ineffective. Sectarianism in its units undermines its ability to provide security; the force is not viable in its current form. The National Police should be disbanded and reorganized." As Media Matters noted, seven U.S. Army infantrymen and noncommissioned officers currently serving in Iraq wrote in an August 19 New York Times op-ed: "The claim that we are increasingly in control of the battlefields in Iraq is an assessment arrived at through a flawed, American-centered framework. Yes, we are militarily superior, but our successes are offset by failures elsewhere." The soldiers also wrote: "Given the situation, it is important not to assess security from an American-centered perspective. The ability of, say, American observers to safely walk down the streets of formerly violent towns is not a resounding indicator of security. What matters is the experience of the local citizenry and the future of our counterinsurgency. When we take this view, we see that a vast majority of Iraqis feel increasingly insecure and view us as an occupation force that has failed to produce normalcy after four years and is increasingly unlikely to do so as we continue to arm each warring side." In the September 6 Post article, headlined "Experts Doubt Drop In Violence in Iraq," staff writer Karen DeYoung reported that in his upcoming testimony to Congress on the status of Bush's Iraq troop increase plan, Petraeus "is expected to cite a 75 percent decrease in sectarian attacks." Citing the GAO report, the article added that "[o]thers who have looked at the full range of U.S. government statistics on violence, however, accuse the military of cherry-picking positive indicators and caution that the numbers -- most of which are classified -- are often confusing and contradictory." The Post added that "the intelligence community has its own problems with military calculations" regarding violence in Iraq. It also reported that one unnamed "senior intelligence official" specifically took issue with how the military counts acts of sectarian violence, because, according to the military, "[i]f a bullet went through the back of the head, it's sectarian .... If it went through the front, it's criminal." Myth: "U.S. military deaths are down this summer" On the August 30 edition of CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight, guest host Christine Romans repeatedly claimed that American troop deaths in Iraq "are down this summer." Romans also reported that "[t]he Pentagon today is citing the surge in Iraq as a reason for a drop in troop deaths this summer" by comparing casualty figures in July and August to those in May, and she later asked if lower American casualty figures were a measure of the success of the "surge." Similarly, on August 1, all three broadcast networks' evening news programs -- ABC's World News with Charles Gibson, CBS Evening News with Katie Couric, and NBC's Nightly News with Brian Williams -- reported that the death toll for U.S. service members in Iraq was down in July. However, none of the programs noted at the time that U.S. troop death numbers for July, while lower than previous months, meant that this July was the deadliest July of the war. Nor did any of the news reports note that the death toll for U.S. service members during the months of June and July were the highest for this two-month period since the war began. Furthermore, while the number of troops killed in Iraq for the months of June, July, and August makes the summer of 2007 the deadliest summer of the war for American soldiers, a Media Matters review of the three network evening news broadcasts found that none of them have reported this fact. Statistics compiled by the Iraq Coalition Casualty Count on its website iCasualties.org, which publishes death count totals provided by the Department of Defense, show that more U.S. troops have died in Iraq during June, July, and August this year than the same three-month period in 2003, 2004, 2005, or 2006. The website currently lists the total U.S. death count for this period at 264. Nevertheless, as Media Matters noted (here and here), media outlets continue to overlook the combined casualty figures for U.S. troops during June, July, and August, while claiming that there have been fewer soldiers killed in Iraq this summer. Myth: Democrats agree the "surge" is "working" In the last month, as several Democrats have commented on the current situation in Iraq, the Republicans and the media have routinely mischaracterized their statements about progress in Iraq to suggest that Democrats believe that Bush's troop increase is working and that the strategy has been successful. In fact, these Democrats have generally tried to make clear that their claims that progress was being made in Iraq referred specifically to military progress and not political progress, and that overall the troop increase was not working. As Salon.com's Tim Grieve noted: We'll admit it's a fine distinction, but it shouldn't be so hard to understand. Is the "surge" having some success, in some areas, in reducing the levels of violence in Iraq? Yes. Is the overall "strategy" working -- that is, is the Iraqi government using the "breathing space" it's getting to do the things it needs to do? No. While it's certainly in the Bush administration's interests to conflate the questions and confuse the answers, the White House has people on staff paid to do just that. Journalists aren't supposed to be doing it for them. Further, many of these Democrats had limited their claims about progress to the situation in Al Anbar province, which they often noted had nothing to do with the administration's strategy and which began 4-6 months prior to the arrival of any additional troops when local Sunni leaders agreed to assist U.S. soldiers there in fighting Al Qaeda. Nevertheless, as Media Matters has noted, media reports have repeatedly used Democrats' claims about Anbar to suggest that Bush's strategy is being successful, and sometimes to ask whether that success justifies staying in Iraq longer to give the surge a chance to work. The following are examples of various media outlets mischaracterizing the statements of prominent Democrats to suggest that they believe Bush's escalation plan is working: Sen. Clinton In an August 20 speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) said: "We've begun to change tactics in Iraq, and in some areas, particularly in Al Anbar province, it's working. We're just years too late changing our tactics. We can't ever let that happen again." An August 21 New York Times article reported that "[a]ides to Mrs. Clinton said her remarks that military tactics in Iraq are 'working' referred specifically to reports of increased cooperation from Sunnis leading to greater success against insurgents in Al Anbar Province." Several media reports following Clinton's speech, however, said that Clinton had conceded that the "surge" is "working." For example, MSNBC, the New York Post, the Associated Press, and The Washington Times all reported that Clinton said the Bush administration's so-called "surge" policy is "working." Similarly, on the August 26 edition of CBS' Face the Nation, host Bob Schieffer falsely claimed that Clinton is "saying it looks like ... maybe the surge is working in the sense that there is less violence there." In fact, Media Matters has repeatedly noted that Clinton suggested months ago that U.S. forces were achieving progress in Iraq due to better relations between tribal leaders and American military forces, while at the same time she was opposing the so-called "surge" and calling for a withdrawal of troops from Iraq. The New York Daily News reported on August 23 that Clinton made similar comments about Al Anbar province in March: "Camp Clinton insisted she was talking only about a limited improvement in Anbar, linked to better relations with tribal leaders -- a claim she made to the Daily News in March." Indeed, on March 16, Clinton told the Daily News that "[w]e seem to be making a little progress in Al Anbar province because we have an alliance with the tribal sheiks for the very first time" and discussed cooperation in Al Anbar, noting: "I don't know anybody who has looked at this from a military perspective who says that we would need a lot of troops to keep that up." In the same interview, Clinton made clear that she didn't believe the surge was working and reaffirmed her claim that some U.S. troops should be withdrawn from Iraq: "[I]f we could start now to do what many of us believe we should -- like no escalation and forcing political solutions and international involvement and all the things I've talked about for a very long time -- then we would be on the path toward reducing drastically the number of troops we have with these remaining missions." Sen. Durbin An August 9 New York Sun article on recent statements by Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) regarding President Bush's troop increase strategy in Iraq, made during an August 8 CNN interview, appeared under the headline: "A Ranking Senate Democrat Concedes Surge Is Working." While Durbin cited military progress in Iraq during the CNN interview, he did not "concede" that the "surge is working" as the Sun headline stated. Rather, he specifically said that he sees "two important parts to this story... As we are seeing military progress, any political scene is discouraging. We are seeing the al Maliki government once branded the government of unity coming apart. We are seeing Sunnis and others leaving and not becoming the stability of this country." Similarly, on the August 22 edition of Fox News' Special Report, chief Washington correspondent Jim Angle reported that Durbin "once said the surge was not the answer, but now says the 'surge has resulted in a reduction of violence in many parts of Iraq. More American troops have brought more peace to more parts of Iraq. I think that's a fact.' " According to an August 9 St. Louis Post-Dispatch article, Durbin did, in an August 8 conference call, reportedly say that it's "a fact" that "[t]he surge has resulted in a reduction of violence in many parts of Iraq." However, he also said that the president's strategy had major flaws that would prevent it from achieving success: "Iraqi politicians haven't made the type of progress that would produce "a government of national unity," he said. Durbin added: "That is the weakness in the president's strategy. I think we have to start removing the troops. We have stretched our troops to the limit." Sen. Obama The August 22 edition of The Washington Post's The Trail, "A Daily Diary of Campaign 2008," cropped an August 21 comment by Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) on the troop buildup in Iraq -- that "[i]f we put 30,000 additional troops into Baghdad, it will quell some of the violence short-term" -- and juxtaposed it with his January 5 comment -- that "an escalation of troop levels in Iraq was a mistake and that we need a political accommodation rather than a military approach to the sectarian violence there" -- to falsely suggest that the two statements were inconsistent. In fact, Obama reiterated his position from January on August 21, but the Post omitted the entirety of his comments: After saying what the Post quoted him saying, Obama added: "It [a troop buildup] doesn't change the underlying assessment, which is that there is not a military solution to the political dynamic in Iraq." Myth: Democrats are calling for a "precipitous withdrawal" from Iraq President Bush has used the term "precipitous withdrawal" to describe proposals for a timetable for withdrawal on multiple occasions, as have White House spokesman Tony Fratto and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ). Moreover, Vice President Dick Cheney said on August 6 that "this is no time to lose heart and make a precipitous withdrawal from Iraq, as some in Congress are demanding." In addition, a document on House Minority Leader John Boehner's (R-OH) website asks, "What would Iraq look like if the Democrats' plan for precipitous withdrawal were implemented?" Media reports have routinely suggested that Democrats have called for a precipitous withdrawal from Iraq. For example, as Media Matters noted, The Washington Post's Shailagh Murray wrote on August 31 that Gen. David Petraeus "is expected to report to Congress next month that there are some signs of progress in Iraq and that a precipitous U.S. withdrawal could be disastrous," without giving any indication that the term "precipitous withdrawal" is used by Republicans to attack Iraq withdrawal plans, or citing a single lawmaker who has called for a "precipitous U.S. withdrawal" from Iraq. On the July 31 edition of NPR's Morning Edition, NPR Pentagon correspondent Tom Bowman asserted that Navy Adm. Michael Mullen, Bush's nominee for Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, "will not be calling for, like the Democrats are, for any precipitous withdrawal of U.S. troops" from Iraq during his testimony before the Congress. In fact, Democrats have advocated several plans -- including at least one supported by some Republicans -- that call for a "gradual" withdrawal or a "phased redeployment" of U.S. troops from Iraq, with some troops remaining in Iraq for specified missions after the withdrawal of most combat troops. Moreover, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI), co-sponsor of a leading proposal dealing with troop levels in Iraq, have both specifically stated that Democrats are not calling for a precipitous withdrawal. Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA), appearing on the August 26 edition of ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos, argued: "No one in a responsible position in government is saying that we should pull the plug in Iraq and have a precipitous withdrawal." More recently, President Bush, members of the administration, and congressional Republicans have taken to simply arguing against a precipitous withdrawal, without attributing the position to Democrats. For example, Bush said on April 24 that "a precipitous withdrawal would increase the probability that American troops would one day have to return to Iraq and confront an enemy that's even more dangerous." In addition, Crocker and State Department Deputy Spokesman Tom Casey have both recently warned against the consequences of a "precipitous withdrawal," and media coverage is replete with examples of these claims going unchallenged (here, here, here, here, and here) and of the media failing to note that Democrats are not advocating such a position. Nevertheless, as Media Matters noted (here and here), media outlets continue to repeat the assertion that Democrats advocate an immediate or precipitous withdrawal from Iraq. Myth: If we withdraw troops from Iraq, the enemy will "follow us home" For some time, President Bush has asserted that if the United States were to withdraw troops from Iraq, the terrorists "would follow us home" or would be emboldened to launch attacks against America. Media outlets have routinely reported Bush's claim without noting expert opinion that a U.S. troop withdrawal is unlikely to result in a terrorist attack on the United States. For example, in a September 4 New York Times article, David S. Cloud and Steven Lee Myers reported President Bush's assertion that withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq would "embolden our enemies and make it more likely that they would attack us at home" -- without mentioning the numerous security and terrorism experts who have challenged this claim. Further, the article ignored a "Terrorism Index" survey by the Center for American Progress and Foreign Policy magazine, which found that only 12 percent of experts believe that terrorists are either very likely or likely to attack the United States as a direct result of a U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq. Moreover, some foreign policy experts have said that it is the U.S. occupation of Iraq that increases the likelihood of a terrorist attack on the United States. An April 30 report on NPR's All Things Considered quoted retired Brig. Gen. John H. Johns saying, "It's actually leaving American forces in Iraq ... that increases the chances of a terrorist attack on the U.S." Further, according to an April 6 McClatchy Newspapers article, "[m]ilitary and diplomatic analysts" say that a similar claim by Bush -- that "this is a war in which, if we were to leave before the job is done, the enemy would follow us here" -- "exaggerat[es] the threat that enemy forces in Iraq pose to the U.S. mainland." The article continued: "U.S. military, intelligence and diplomatic experts in Bush's own government say the violence in Iraq is primarily a struggle for power between Shiite and Sunni Muslim Iraqis seeking to dominate their society, not a crusade by radical Sunni jihadists bent on carrying the battle to the United States." The article quoted a U.S. intelligence official as saying that "[t]he war in Iraq isn't preventing terrorist attacks on America" and noted that "the likelihood that enemy combatants from Iraq might follow departing U.S. forces back to the United States is remote at best." Similarly, coverage of Bush's August 22 speech to the convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) uncritically repeated Bush's claim: "Unlike in Vietnam, if we were to withdraw before the job was done, this enemy would follow us home." The assertion is widely challenged by security and terrorism experts, but several media outlets repeated his quote without challenge. The New York Post, The Kansas City Star, and the New York Daily News all simply quoted Bush's claim. As Media Matters has noted (here and here), assessments from a wide range of U.S. intelligence officials, security experts, and military analysts disagree with this view. In fact, retired Army Lt. Col. James Carafano, a research fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation, was quoted in NPR's April 30 report suggesting that "asserting that terrorists will follow U.S. troops home [is] naive and poor rhetoric." Carafano was also quoted as saying: "There's no national security analyst that's really credible who thinks that people are going to come from Iraq and attack the United States -- that that's a credible scenario." Contact: ABC ABC News ABCNews 7 W. 66th St. New York, NY 10023 Contact: CBS E-mail: E-mail form CBSNews 524 W. 57th St. New York, NY, 10019 Contact: CNN CNN One CNN Center, Box 105366, Atlanta, GA 30303-5366 Phone: 404-827-1500 Fax: 404-827-1906 Contact: FOX Broadcasting Company askfox@foxinc.com Contact: Fox News Channel FOX News Channel 1-888-369-4762 Comments@foxnews.com 1211 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10036 Contact: Investor's Business Daily Contact Contact: NBC NBC News NBC News 30 Rockefeller Plaza New York, N.Y. 10112 Contact: NPR NPR NPR 635 Massachusetts Ave., NW Washington, D.C. 20001 (202) 513-2000 Contact: New York Daily News New York Daily News New York Daily News 450 W. 33 Street New York, NY 10001 phone: (212) 210-2100 Contact: The New York Times Clark Hoyt, NY Times public editor public@nytimes.com New York Times letters@nytimes.com executive-editor@nytimes.com managing-editor@nytimes.com Contact: The New Yorker Contact: The Washington Post The Washington Post The Washington Post 1150 15th St. NW Washington, DC 20071 Contact: U.S. News & World Report (202) 955-2000 U.S.News & World Report 1050 Thomas Jefferson Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20007 This mail was sent by Media Matters for America to 'cortezco@rcn.com'. Please visit us at http://mediamatters.org You can help support our work; become a volunteer media monitor, or donate to Media Matters for America. To change your email subscription preferences, visit http://mediamatters.org/users/prefs.html If you'd like to unsubscribe from all Media Matters for America emails, you can just click on http://mediamatters.org/users/unsub/x5v5PL3o3FjbRZVuxbKfBQf0bYtIwe9PQJTRG3yLabo. To contact us directly, reply to this mail or visit http://mediamatters.org/contact_us

Social Internet

hernancortez — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 23:39:20 GMT

The first apparent outcome of social interneting is that it brings us together. But deeper down do you think it helps to deepen our differences? it is so easy to find groups of people who mirror our beliefs and prejudices. That we can immerse ourselves in what amounts to a belief system echo chamber. if we encounter challenging thoughts or customs or cultures we are a click away from blotting these intrusions out. And the kicker is we can keep clicking until we find a comfortable online culture that doesnt force us to think or absorb and adopt 'outside views'.

funny

hernancortez — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 15:57:47 GMT

I was always troubled by the ferver with which the Republicans expressed thier with President Clinton's Blowjob from Monica Lewinsky. With the recent Republican outings like Senator larry Craig, and Karl Rove. I have figured out why Clinton riled up the Repub's so badly. They are disgusted by the fact that Clinton was having sex with a WOMAN!

Tucker Carlson Homophobic Bathroom Sex Edge play

hernancortez — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 18:42:48 GMT

http://mediamatters.org/items/200708290003 On the August 28 edition of MSBNC Live, hosted by MSNBC general manager Dan Abrams, Tucker Carlson, host of MSNBC's Tucker, asserted, "Having sex in a public men's room is outrageous. It's also really common. I've been bothered in men's rooms." Carlson continued, "I've been bothered in Georgetown Park," in Washington, D.C., "when I was in high school." When Abrams asked how Carlson responded to being "bothered," Carlson asserted, "I went back with someone I knew and grabbed the guy by the -- you know, and grabbed him, and ... hit him against the stall with his head, actually." From the August 28 edition of MSNBC Live at 9 p.m. ET: ABRAMS: But Tucker, your position has long been on these kinds of stories that their personal lives are not our business. Does this case qualify for that, in your mind, as well? CARLSON: Let me be clear, Dan. I am not gay. I have never been gay. I overreacted and made a poor decision. SCARBOROUGH: And you love your -- you love your wife, Tucker. Let me just say for the record, I am not gay, either. CARLSON: Let me -- let me put it this way. Whether he's gay or not actually is not our business, and I do think it's indefensible that the newspaper in Idaho spent a year interviewing 300 people to answer the question, Is he gay? That's none of your business. Having sex in a public men's room is outrageous. It's also really common. I've been bothered in men's rooms. I think people who do - SCARBOROUGH: Really? CARLSON: Yeah, I have. You know what, Let me just say. SCARBOROUGH: Wait, hold on a second. Dan, hold on a second. I don't mean to take over, but have you been bothered in public restrooms, Dan? Because I know I haven't. CARLSON: I have. I've been bothered in Georgetown Park. When I was in high school. ABRAMS: Really? CARLSON: Yes. SCARBOROUGH: Wow. CARLSON: And let me just say, I think -- SCARBOROUGH: That's something. CARLSON: -- people should knock that off. I'm not anti-gay in the slightest, but that's really common, and the gay rights groups ought to disavow that kind of crap because, you know, that actually does bother people who didn't ask for being bothered. So yeah, I think it's outrageous that he did that. And also, this specter of him getting up there and blaming other people is so Clintonian. You know, if he just said, "I'm not going to talk about it," that'd be one thing. ABRAMS: And -- and this notion -- [crosstalk] CARLSON: But he's clearly crazy. ABRAMS: Well, and this notion that he pled guilty, and yet he's saying, "Oh, you know what? I never should have done that." SCARBOROUGH: Well, it's the newspaper's fault. CARLSON: Well it's ridiculous. It's ridiculous. ABRAMS: Well it's the newspaper -- it's everyone's fault except his own. I mean, I've never heard of -- I mean, you're a U.S. senator, and you're thinking you're going to make it go away -- SCARBOROUGH: But hold on a second, though, Dan -- ABRAMS: -- by pleading guilty after you're busted in a public bathroom? SCARBOROUGH: Hold on a second. You have Bill Clinton, who actually went out and did the same exact thing. He showed defiance. He said, "I did not have sex with that woman, Ms. Lewinsky." And he continued that line not only for months in the press, but then he went before a grand jury and said the same thing. And it -- you know what? Here's the thing. It worked for Bill Clinton. His wife went on TV and she blamed, remember, the vast right-wing conspiracy that's been trying to take down her husband. I don't dredge this up to knock the Clintons. That is history, and it's a -- ugh -- it is a nasty part of our history, and I'm glad it's behind us. I just bring it up to say, you know what? Deny, deny, deny seems to work. [crosstalk] CARLSON: But it's also -- but it's evidence, in Larry Craig's case -- I mean, you know, you just watch the press conference, and you see a man who's not in possession of himself. I mean, there's something -- you know, I'm not a shrink, but there's clearly something wrong with Larry Craig. He appeared to believe it. This is a guy who's been accused repeatedly over the years of soliciting sex from men in bathrooms. So the chances that he's arrested for the same thing accidentally -- ABRAMS: Right, right, right. CARLSON: What, he's the unluckiest man and he's Job? SCARBOROUGH: Hey, Tucker? CARLSON: You know what I mean? It's insane! SCARBOROUGH: Was he the guy in Georgetown, Tucker? CARLSON: No, actually. I got that -- my point is -- let me just say -- ABRAMS: Tucker, what did you do, by the way? What did you do when he did that? We got to know. CARLSON: I went back with someone I knew and grabbed the guy by the -- you know, and grabbed him, and -- and -- ABRAMS: And did what? CARLSON: Hit him against the stall with his head, actually! [laughter] CARLSON: And then the cops came and arrested him. But let me say that I'm the least anti-gay right-winger you'll ever meet -- [laughter] CARLSON: -- but I do think doing this in men's rooms appears to be common. It's totally wrong, and they should knock it off. I mean that. I think it's -- I can't bring my son to the men's room at the park where he plays soccer because of all these creepy guys hanging around in there. I actually think it's a problem. I'm sorry

Blow Hard the Human Dragon

hernancortez — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 05:27:29 GMT

I am a pyro. get it straight. I love fire. It isnt the best show for the street, skillwise, But I cannot get enough of it!!!! Someone stop me!!!!

Street Performing is my new passion

hernancortez — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 05:25:27 GMT

I love it. I am getting good at it. By this summer I should have 3 different 'shows' a fire show, an escape act and a Puppet show. Oh and not to forget... My Magic Show, which is entertaining people all across this fair city. Book me now before my rates go up! (Or I get too tubby to fit in my straight jacket.

Mc Bannana

hernancortez — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 23:16:20 GMT

I missed world health day. Why didn't you remind me???

cows fart so let's eat them!!

hernancortez — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 23:12:54 GMT

Umm Hmm yea. Thats right yea I agree. lets eat cow farts

missed dreams (of others)

hernancortez — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 05:16:27 GMT

The weird thing about following my passions. Hello, I am following a dream. It is not an old dream. It is less then 10 years old. 10 years ago I would have laughed if you said I would be performing on the streets and marketing myself as a clown for adults and kids. And a puppeteer, magician. Anyway here it is, I am chasing some weird passion. But I am looking back on my old passion. it's like "hey what did I forget to do"? It is a feeling sort of like when you go on vacation and as soon as you are far enough to not be able to do anything about it, you get this overpowering fear that you left the oven on or water running. my old passion, which I still do, but it is a job now. Was Sound Reinforcement. Okay..... what did I not do. 1.) Big huge concert sound systems. I never really wanted to do big systems. But , there, you have it. I didnt do it. Big sound systems are the holy grail. Everybody wants to do concert sound. Not me. 2.) Touring. Now this I wanted to do. But haveing my own company and doing sound in this here region(S.F.), was more important. If I am not busy touring my own show, I will want to do that when the boys are old enough to leave for a season. I asked this clown teacher guy, hey how do you raise kids and spend so much time at the center? He looked at me real mean like and said "You gotta make sacrifices". I am real glad he said it in the way he said that. Cause I couldnt have known -then- that not spending time with your babies was a sacrifice. My father made "sacrifices". Meaning, he was never there. So I made sacrifices. I sacrificed my company. ALL my customers, all the hard work sometimes hauling tons of gear around for little or no money, trying to build a roster of customers that would keep me in business. I sacrificed them so that my boys would have a level playing field. So that Brynne wouldnt go off the deep end. 3.) With the last paragraph in mind. I miss most what I was doing. For 2 decades I was perched on the edge of culture and civilization. I got to aid people as they themselves tried to build a carreer in entertainment. I got to watch as 20 years of trends come and go. I sort of really miss being in dank warehouses or basements with the walls sweating and my bass bins pounding, some self absorbed artist yelling at me cause something beyond my control was going wrong, or more often, that they had perfect or "The Best Sound Ever". So it is hard to let go of the past. Cause it means I have to embrace the future. And I am not really done with the past. And I am not really ready for the future. Although,if I were (for once in my life) to be nice to myself. I would be giddy with excitement for all the adventures ahead of me. exciting possibilities

I wrote this song

hernancortez — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 07:53:47 GMT

Check it out see if I made any grammatical errors? ''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' The costumes, the scenery, the makeup, the props The audience that lifts you when you're down The headaches, the heartaches, the backaches, the flops The sheriff who escorts you out of town The opening when your heart beats like a drum The closing when the customers won't come There's no business like show business Like no business I know Everything about it is appealing Everything the traffic will allow No where could you have that happy feeling When you aren't stealing that extra bow There's no people like show people They smile when they are low Yesterday they told you you would not go far That night you opened and there you are Next day on your dressing room they've hung a star Let's go on with the show The cowboys, the wrestlers, the tumblers, the clowns The roustabouts that move the show at dawn The music, the spotlights, the people, the towns Your baggage with the labels pasted on The sawdust and the horses and the smell The towel you've taken from the last hotel There's no business like show business If you tell me it's so Traveling through the country is so thrilling Standing out in front on opening nights Smiling as you watch the benches filling And see your billing up there in lights There's no people like show people They smile when they are low Even with a turkey that you know will fold You may be stranded out in the cold Still you wouldn't trade it for a sack o' gold Let's go on with the show Let's go on with the show! The show! The show! (as told to me by E.Merman in 1965)

Speaker trollz break camera

hernancortez — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 06:43:34 GMT

The speaker trollz tear through the thin barrior between meat space and digital image capture mediums And retrograde captured media. Unpostable in the tribe photo archives was the stone tablets wrought from digital 1's & 0's But we grabbed a black and white photo on our retro grade carousel turned temporal roller coaster ride through the triple spinchters of time space and concepts.