Google Maps Rocks

Wow, I was looking through the wonderful new Google maps site, and, of course, since I've moved over 25 times in my life, I fiqured I would check out old neighborhoods. I was born in Toledo, Ohio. I haven't been there since I was 10 years old. My family moved to southern California in February of 1981. Here's a link to the elementary school I attended for fourth and half of fifth grade. I lived down the street, directly across from Westwood Park. That was the best house I ever lived in.

As a matter of fact, my father, what a great guy he is, always said that he wished we never moved away from that house. It was a very cool place. The backyard was a half acre, included a half basketball court and a sunken back part of the yard, which would flood and freeze during the winter, allowing us to skate on it and play ice hockey. Damn! I miss that house.

Take a look.

Link

How To Talk To A Conservative About Karl Rove (If You Must)

If I was to speak to my conservative brother-in-law, which I haven't done in over a year, perhaps the following would benefit me in an argument against Rove. THERE IS NO RATIONALIZING WITH A CONSERVATIVE!

Everything you need to fight back against the right-wing misinformation campaign.

CLAIM: White House Can’t Comment While Investigation Is Ongoing
McClellan: “While that investigation is ongoing, the White House is not going to comment on it.”

FACT: White House Has Repeatedly Commented During the Ongoing Investigation
McClellan had previously cited that same investigation and then gone on to answer the questions as they pertained to Rove. For example, on October 1, 2003, he said, “There’s an investigation going on … you brought up Karl’s name. Let’s be very clear. I thought — I said it was a ridiculous suggestion, I said it’s simply not true that he was involved in leaking classified information, and — nor, did he condone that kind of activity.” Similarly, on October 10, 2003, McClellan said, “I think it’s important to keep in mind that this is an ongoing investigation.” But he then added with regard to a question about Rove’s involvement, “I spoke with those individuals, as I pointed out, and those individuals assured me they were not involved in this.”

CLAIM: Rove Didn’t Leak The Name So He’s Not Guilty
Rove: “I didn’t know her name and didn’t leak her name.” Rove attorney Robert Luskin said “he did not tell any reporter that Valerie Plame worked for the CIA.”

FACT: National Security Law Says Identifying Covert Agent Is Illegal
Rove at the very least identified Plame as “Wilson’s wife.” Under section 421 of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act, the disclosure of “any information identifying [a] covert agent” is illegal.

CLAIM: White House Didn’t Push The Story
Rove’s lawyer Robert Luskin claims Cooper manipulated what Rove said to him “in a pretty ugly fashion to make it seem like people in the White House were affirmatively reaching out to reporters to try to get them to report negative information about Plame.”

FACT: There Was An Organized Campaign To Push Leak Info
First, Robert Novak admitted: “I didn’t dig it out [Plame’s identity], it was given to me…. They [the White House] thought it was significant, they gave me the name and I used it.” Second, Rove told Chris Matthews that Plame’s identity was “fair game.” Third, Time magazine reported the orchestrated campaign against Wilson in October 2003: “In the days after Wilson’s essay appeared, government officials began to steer reporters away from Wilson’s conclusions.”

CLAIM: Conversation Was About Welfare Reform, So Rove Didn’t Do Anything Wrong
National Review’s Byron York: “According to Luskin, the fact that Rove did not call Cooper; that the original purpose of the call, as Cooper told Rove, was welfare reform.”

FACT: What They Spoke About Was Irrelevant
The original purpose of the conversation between Rove and Cooper is irrelevant. It has no bearing on the fact that Rove did identify a covert agent during that conversation.

CLAIM: Plame Wasn’t An Undercover Agent
Ed Rogers, former official under Reagan/Bush: “I think it is now a matter of established fact that Mrs. Plame was not a protected covert agent, and I don’t think there’s any meaningful investigation about that.”

FACT: Former CIA Officer Who Worked With Plame Verified She Was Undercover
Larry Johnson, former CIA officer: “Valerie Plame was a classmate of mine from the day she started with the CIA. I entered on duty at the CIA in September 1985. All of my classmates were undercover–in other words, we told our family and friends that we were working for other overt U.S. Government agencies. We had official cover.”

CLAIM: Rove Was Trying To Correct A False Story
Rove attorney Luskin added, “What Karl was trying to do … was to warn Time away from publishing things that were going to be established as false.”

FACT: Wilson Was Right, Bush Was Wrong
Bloomberg recently reported, “Two-year old assertions by former ambassador Joseph Wilson regarding Iraq and uranium, which lie at the heart of the controversy over who at the White House identified a covert U.S. operative, have held up in the face of attacks by supporters of presidential adviser Karl Rove.”

CLAIM: Wilson Lied About His Trip To Niger
Former Rove deputy Ken Mehlman: “What Joe Wilson alleged was that the vice president, then he said the CIA director sent him to Niger.” [CNN, 7/12/05]

FACT: Wilson Never Said Cheney Personally Sent Him To Niger
Bloomberg reported, “Wilson never said that Cheney sent him, only that the vice president’s office had questions about an intelligence report that referred to the sale of uranium yellowcake to Iraq from Niger. Wilson, in his New York Times article, said CIA officials were informed of Cheney’s questions. ‘The agency officials asked if I would travel to Niger to check out the story so they could provide a response to the vice president’s office,’ Wilson wrote.”

Link

This may sound messed up, but...

I actually like Ted Leo and the Pharmacists. I saw this video they did where Ted starts off singing "Wheels on the Bus" to this group of kids, and then he's on stage with his band rocking out to one of his tunes; I'm not sure which one because I'm still new to his sounds. The kids were pogoing everywhere. Too cool. I'm a geek, aren't I?

Anyway, if you like this guy, or don't know who the hell I'm talking about, he has mp3s on his site, here.

Up the River of Chocolate

Two great tastes that taste great together. Where were you on 9-11? I was at the Sony Metreon in San Francisco watching Apocolypse Now Redux. Enjoy.

Chocolypse Now: "Wonka," years later, darkly.

Thanks to Boing Boing for this.

Something I never thought I would see

I don't have cable, but that didn't stop me from downloading the Live8 Pink Floyd set. Damn, that set moved me to shivers and tears. I have been a fan, since my dad brought home Dark Side of the Moon in the early 70's. I remember fondly taking lots of acid with my friends and seeing the not so complete Floyd, live in 87 in Oakland, in the rain. Many a fabulous evening has been spent indulging in their many sounds.

I love pre-Dark Side just as much as post-Dark Side. I was never quite pleased with how often the performed the entire album show after show in the 70's though. And I do feel that Nick Mason is a mediocre drummer at best. Still, they are one of my favorite bands. I look forward to a tour? Come on guys, do it for Syd!

Download the vid here