“The last sanctuary of the West Douglas wild horse herd is a desolate, forbidding place, which is just how the horses like it…Now, even this refuge may soon be lost. The U.S. Interior Department, which has leased 93 percent of the horses’ preserve to energy companies, recently unveiled plans for evicting the entire herd. Under the proposal, the animals will be rounded up using nets and tranquilizer darts and then hauled away for adoption. The reason cited: Wild horses are incompatible with the region’s intensive gas production.” As seen in the NYT ten days ago, the Post checks out Dubya’s terrible environmental record, with specific attention to the West, which is being cut, drained, mined, and refined away in order to secure extra energy profits for Dubya’s corporate cronies. The party of TR? Not bloody likely.
Month: September 2004
Aiya Earendil Elenion Ancalima!
“Mr. Frodo, there’s light and beauty up there, that no shadow can touch.” Really, Sam? Tell it to the Witch-King. At long last, New Line officially announces the Return of the King Extended Edition, with 50 new minutes of footage, to be released on December 14. (Pre-orders begin Oct. 1.) For this, I am very thankful. Update: More info here, including a good bet at who kills PJ the Corsair Captain.
Nursing a Grudge.
You’re in deep this time, Slayer…Sarah Michelle Gellar battles an unspeakable (and very limber) evil in the trailer for the American remake of The Grudge. Looks creepy and Ring-esque, as it should.
Immovable Type.
Well, GitM has been running slower and slower ever since I installed Movable Type 3.11 a few weeks ago, and, yesterday afternoon, the server decided it had had enough. So I’ve been locked out of the blog here for the past 24 hours, and MT is still running slow as molasses. I also discovered my digital camera batteries have all gone the way of the dinosaur, which may nip my proposed Flickring in the bud too. Sigh…it’s been a very entropic week.
The other Japanese Occupation.
Some food for thought for my Asia-Pacific sections today (by way of Prof. Armstrong): Historian John Dower compares the Iraq imbroglio to Japanese expansion in Manchuria. Before rejecting his argument outright, at least consider the source. Dower knows a great deal about America’s experiences in postwar Japan — more, I’d wager, than anybody working in the Dubya administration.
My Friend Flickr.
Since it’s getting such good press around the blogosphere (and since Raza at High Industrial was kind enough to send me an invite), I’ve opened an account over at Flickr, which so far seems like a rather neat photo-sharing application (and one whose deep functionality is probably wasted on me.) At any rate, I’ve been meaning to take more pictures lately, so hopefully this’ll provide a nice impetus. If you’re on there, say hello.
Heroes of the Future.
AICN points the way to a slew of striking photos from Wong Kar Wai’s sci-fi romance 2046, starring Hero‘s Tony Leung and Zhang Zi-Yi. (Apparently, a trailer was up before, but it’s gone now.) I definitely like the look, but I hope it comes off better than the similarly named and themed Code 46.
And Can Cheney Hold My Hand?
As with the 9/11 commission, so with the American people. The Presidential Debate Commission tries to push back on Dubya’s attempts to hide from voters. “If any audience member poses a question or makes a statement that is in any material way different than the question that the audience member earlier submitted to the moderator for review, the moderator will cut off the questioner and advise the audience that such nonreviewed questions are not permitted,’ the agreement reads. The men who negotiated the agreement, James A. Baker III for Mr. Bush and Vernon Jordan for Mr. Kerry, did not return telephone calls Tuesday. But several people involved in the debate discussions said most of these details were demanded by the Republicans.”
Expats Against Bush.
“‘This is a completely partisan thing,’ one Defense Department voting official told Salon. The official, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of being fired, is one of the many people in the department assigned to help both uniformed military personnel as well as American civilians register to vote.’” For reasons that seem politically-motivated – and at the very least require much more explanation from the higher-ups who made the call, the DoD has blocked non-military access to the Federal Voting Assistant Program. (Those overseas voters needing access to the forms can get them here.) Particularly once you factor in the Omega fiasco as well, Rummy’s sure getting his ducks in a row over at the Defense of Dubya Dept, isn’t he? (Also seen at Expats Against Bush.)
McCain-Feingold fights back.
At the behest of McCain-Feingold’s backers, a federal judge eliminates 15 of 19 FEC rules designed to gut the 2002 campaign finance law. “‘We began to wonder what law they were implementing,’ [Congressman Chris] Shays said. “They were simply trying to rewrite the law to weaken it and put in loopholes.’ Obviously, this decision is coming too late to affect this election cycle much, but perhaps we’ll be able to get a honest sense of McCain-Feingold’s impact in stemming corruption during the 2006 midterms. Update: As you might expect, the FEC will appeal the decision.