Posts Tagged “USA”

Hell looks an awful lot like the Republican convention | John Doyle
http://tinyurl.com/5z3cu
“Tuesday evening it was Arnold Schwarzenegger telling implausible stories about the Soviet menace in the Austria of his boyhood, and extolling the United States as if it was the only country with jobs, business opportunity and freedom of the press. Austria is now a member country of the European Union, with better guarantees on health care and wages than any state in America. Nobody mentioned that. Then came the Bush twins. The twins were on-stage, giggling and making a joke of their wealth, ignorance and indolence. On Wednesday morning, when MSNBC reviewed the twins’ appearance, a gossip columnist from a New York paper was interviewed about their fabulous partying. You could feel the envy in the attitude of the reporters. Next came their mom, Laura Bush. To underline the success of her husband’s policies, she cited ‘the only woman to own a tow-truck company in all of Iowa.’ Lady, women all over the world have been owning and running businesses for decades. Your country is no beacon of hope in that regard. Not that anyone among the TV reporters and analysts was going to say that.”

Twin Terrors | Julia Turner
http://www.slate.com/id/2106067/
“Sure, the girls threw in some praise for their dad. But mostly, they congratulated themselves on their momentous decision to campaign for him. ‘Jenna and I are NOT very political,’ Barbara said, with the odd bursts of emphasis that she and Jenna employed throughout the night. ‘But we love our dad TOO much to stand back and watch from the sidelines.’ […] To be fair, the twins almost certainly didn’t write this dreck. And the material they were given was unusually difficult: What kind of speechwriter, assigned to come up with something for two novices to deliver on live television, writes a joke-laden address that requires the comedic timing of a late-night talk show host? ”

[answer:Karen Hughes]-TC

Only the jester speaks the truth | Vinay Menon
http://tinyurl.com/6x9ct
“Jon Stewart claims he’s a fake newsman. But these days, his impact on politics and media is undeniably real. […] During a May appearance on Fox News Channel, the bombastic Sean Hannity asked Stewart, ‘Are you liberal or conservative or do you even care?’ Stewart: ‘I don’t care. I mean, I’m not even sure if those paradigms hold true any more.’ Or, as Stewart told Entertainment Weekly last year, ‘The point of view of this show is we’re passionately opposed to bullshit.’ In this age of spin and stupidity, where politicians and their pliable cheerleaders are the merchants of bullshit, his attitude explains why The Daily Show has become must-see TV.”

Fuck New York | in8.com
http://in8.com/fucknewyork/Resources/fucknewyork.mov
Translating it for the kids – Quicktime MOV 9.12MB

Sometimes I Hate To Be Right | Mark Federman
http://tinyurl.com/3nm5b
“Last fall, I gave an interview to Voices Without Votes 2004 in which I speculated about the possibility of the Bush Administration delaying the election. […] A frightening prospect indeed, especially when CNN and Reuters are reporting today that the Bush Administration is investigating ways to ‘obtain the authority to delay the November presidential election in case of an attack by al Qaeda.'”

Let Them Eat Wedding Cake | Barbara Ehrenreich
http://tinyurl.com/3j3ng
“[The Bush administration has] been avidly promoting marriage among poor women – the straight ones anyway. […] It is equally unclear how marriage will cure poor women’s No. 1 problem, which is poverty – unless, of course, the plan is to draft C.E.O.’s to marry recipients of T.A.N.F. (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families). Left to themselves, most women end up marrying men of the same social class as their own, meaning – in the case of poverty-stricken women – blue-collar men. But that demographic group has seen a tragic decline in earnings in the last couple of decades.”

Bush plans to screen whole US population for mental illness | Jeanne Lenzer
http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/328/7454/1458
“While some praise the plan’s goals, others say it protects the profits of drug companies at the expense of the public. Bush established the New Freedom Commission on Mental Health in April 2002 to conduct a ‘comprehensive study of the United States mental health service delivery system.’ […] Bush instructed more than 25 federal agencies to develop an implementation plan based on those recommendations. The president’s commission found that ‘despite their prevalence, mental disorders often go undiagnosed’ and recommended comprehensive mental health screening for ‘consumers of all ages,’ including preschool children. According to the commission, ‘Each year, young children are expelled from preschools and childcare facilities for severely disruptive behaviours and emotional disorders.’ Schools, wrote the commission, are in a ‘key position’ to screen the 52 million students and 6 million adults who work at the schools. The commission also recommended ‘Linkage [of screening] with treatment and supports’ including ‘state-of-the-art treatments’ using ‘specific medications for specific conditions.’ The commission commended the Texas Medication Algorithm Project (TMAP) as a ‘model’ medication treatment plan that ‘illustrates an evidence-based practice that results in better consumer outcomes.”