Friday, January 16, 2004 Political Underground: Dartmouth's New Political Satire Site
Hey lefties (and bored blogging righties),
While I've been on extended sabbatical from the Jack-O-Lantern, working on my own projects and occasionally a large keg character, they've been damned busy without me. I'm pleased to use -- no, pleased to abuse -- my posting privileges on this blog to announce the Jacko's new political satire site, www.PoliticalUnderground.com.
And more features that include absolutely NO Bush jokes you've already heard a million fucking times. (The Bush article will be up in a few days.)
Please send any comments or suggestions to Cal Newport or to the Jacko account.
Posted by Nic,
5:22 PM
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Thursday, January 15, 2004 Saddam in Pink
DFP issue 4.7 is now on the web. Check it out for Meredith Esser's lovely Saddam pop-art with frisky pink background, Janos Marton's heart-warming tale of how Southern Hospitality nosedives when the cops think you're soliciting gay prostitution, Cayelan Carey's lush, flowing history of the Clean Water Act, Clint Hendler's thoughts on what T.S. Eliot would say about the graceless fall of Saddam, Nikhil Gore's lamentation on the state of Afghanistan, Sheila Hicks' a-moralizing on sexual fulfillment, a handful of holiday-spirit music reviews from Andrew Seal, and with a dainty trim of letters from John Stevenson and Chien Wen Kung.
"In person, the Yale-educated Dean seems an unlikely avatar of change. He's handsome, but in the way people were handsome in the Fifties. Unlike most politicians, who work hard to seem like your best friend, Dean, a physician by training, projects a refreshing quality of seeming not to really care if you like him. In conversation, his whole body is clenched, his manner making it clear that getting his views across is work, that he's doing a job, not trying to reach out or seduce. When you ask him a question, he doesn't so much answer it as snap it in two, relaxing a little only when he's sure that he has broken its back."
Posted by Kate,
11:57 PM
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Tuesday, January 13, 2004 Monitoring Your Every Move
There's a commerical for SouthWest Airlines that I see on TV sometimes with the advertising caption, "You are now free to move around the country." Well I suppose this new Bush proposal pretty much would put an end to that....
The Washington Post is reporting the details of a new Transportation Security Administration program known as CAPPS II or Computer Assisted Passenger PreScreening Program. Under the new program, the airlines would be required to assign passengers a numerical color-coding (think the terror alert system except applied to you!)
A "red" rating means a passenger will be prohibited from boarding. "Yellow" indicates that a passenger will receive additional scrutiny at the checkpoint and a "green" rating paves the way for a standard trip through security.
My favorite part is that "Business travelers who typically pay high prices for their seats will likely get an easier pass through security in the 'registered traveler' program." (do you suppose there's any possibility of a terrorist buying or stealing a "registered traveler" identification?)
The scariest aspect of this program is the lack of limitations on the factors they use to code you. So far, the TSA is admitting they will use "travelers' full name, home address and telephone number, date of birth and travel itinerary. The information will be fed into large databases, such as Lexis-Nexis and Acxiom, that tap public records and commercial computer banks, such as shopping mailing lists, to verify that passengers are who they say they are."
I can think of numerous illegal ways this could be abused (gee, isn't it strange that the people who voted Democrat all are getting patted down?), but even the legal ways are somewhat disturbing. I know the old arguments - only people with something to hide should be concerned, but frankly this type of personal travel surveillance reminds me of the Soviet Union.
Posted by Dan,
12:32 AM
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Sunday, January 11, 2004 The Status of Lust in Catholicism
This article by the BBC isn't really political -- I was just highly amused by the accompanying photo.
Also, I wonder how many comedy-news shows will pick it up for the sake of an obvious punchline concerning the lust of Catholic priests.
