Good news for terrorists! They no longer have to steal state secrets, now that the Feds deliver.
Are you in the mood for some Friday foolishness? Good! Then perform this search and check out results "1" and "3." Yes, those Google guys have a good sense of humor. And they also have a new news search engine. It's still in beta and (I've heard) overloaded with AP results, but it looks very promising.
The "political guru" pool is getting kind of crowded, but there's always "web guru." David Weinberger, a guru's guru, has ten amusing tips for the web guru wannabe. Here are two I can't wait to try:
Include a non-disclosure agreement in your wedding vows.
Bought a box of Tide? Add P&G to the list of companies you've worked with.
Uh-oh! I just remembered -- I'm already married. Unfortunately, I do use cleaning products.
No time for more chitchat -- Bill Gates is on the line.
Welcome to the newest blogger in town, Al Gore. I guess he figured if Bush can have a blog, he can too.
Does the estate of John Cage hold a valid copyright on silence? It sued British composer Mike Batt for plagiarism because he included the song, "A One Minute Silence," on an album for his classical rock band The Planets. Cage's estate claimed he copied it from Cage's silent composition "4' 33," and Batt settled the case by paying an undisclosed six-figure sum to the John Cage Trust.
As a symphony orchestra oboist for many years, I was never a big John Cage fan. But I was always rather fond of his silences.
On a related note, Dwight Meredith recently took a day off from blogging. If you do the same, his lawyer may be in touch:
We did not blog yesterday. This post constitutes notice that the absence of blogging is now our intellectual property. To the extent that you fail to blog in the future, we will expect royalty payments. Govern yourself accordingly.
Hallelujah! Daypop's working again. It still has an "out of service" notice, but it worked well for me today. It even helped me find Tom Daschle's spine, not to mention his balls.
At the risk of being redundant, I love The Note. Why? Because of snidely accurate stuff like this:
George W. Bush is cool and popular.
Which means he can get away with some pretty amazing things.
Just one example: imagine if Bill Clinton, in a speech in which he asserted that security isn't a political issue, and that good women and men of both parties are working to make America safe, also said the following, as 43 uttered in New Jersey yesterday regarding the stalled homeland security bill:
"The House responded, but the Senate is more interested in special interests in Washington and not interested in the security of the American people."
Al Gore is (sorry) annoying and unpopular, at least as seen through the political/media establishment filter.
So it's another day of Goofus and Gallant here at The Note.
Gore gives what was on some levels a serious, substantive speech in San Francisco yesterday and gets chastised by the White House and the Republican National Committee for playing politics, a storyline followed to some extent by the TV and newspaper coverage.
I'll be damned if I can figure out why anyone in his right mind (okay, perhaps "right" isn't the ideal word, but you know what I mean) could possibly consider Bush cool? I guess that pretty much proves that I'm not.
Okay, so I'm not cool -- I can live with that. Especially when two wonderful bloggers think I'd make a good desert island companion, according to their respective Lefty Directory interviews. (Hmmmm, a desert island menage a trois?) Both Jeanne D'Arc of Body and Soul and Jim Capozzola of The Rittenhouse Review are fascinating interviewees.
During the last few days, dozens of people have arrived here via Google and Yahoo search queries like "Bush and shame," "Bush shame on me audio," and "Bush fool me audio." So as a public service, I'm pleased to post that foolish Bush audio clip once again. And I'm heartened to know that apparently some people don't think Dubya's all that cool.
Meryl Yourish tickled me with her take on the publishing world and its assistant editor echelon in her rant on Houghton Mifflin's list of the 100 words high school grads should know.
I wonder if echelon's on the list. Better go check. On second thought, perhaps I'll wait for H-M to publish a list of the 100 words George Dubya should know.
Naaah, couldn't wait. And I'm glad I checked the list because I spotted some great Dubya words there: belie, bellicose, chicanery, churlish, deleterious, hubris, oligarchy, subjugate, supercilious, totalitarian and usurp. Hmmm, I guess they were thinking about old Dubya after all.
While I was there, I also found some words Democrats should know like kowtow and obsequious. Come to think of it, the Dems have clearly mastered those words.
Filibuster's there too -- something the Dems have apparently forgotten how to do -- leading to another top 100 word: an omnipotent Bush.
In case you're wondering which top-100 word's my favorite, that's a no-brainer: Impeach!
If you need a reason to shield your kids from the news, here it is. Thanks so much to Lisa Kadonaga of Liberal Slant for sending that great toon my way.
Now here's a shock: Top corporate officials are almost as good at math as Bush is. (Via BearLeft)
I just got this alarming email, warning me:
Your Bed and Breakfast web site is NOT being SEEN!
But then I remembered -- I don't have a Bed and Breakfast web site.
