ouch

Oberliga Baden-Württemberg 10. Spieltag

SSV Ulm 1846 - Karlsruher SC Am. 0:5 (0:3)

Erste Saisonniederlage für den SSV Ulm 1846: deutlich mit 0:5 (0:3) verloren die Ulmer gegen die Amateure des Karlsruher SC. Allein drei Tore erzielte dabei Sebastian Fries (in der 13., 38. und 46. Minute), die weiteren Treffer erzielten Daniel Reule in der 31. Minute zum 0:2 und Marcus Marcus in der 60. Minute zum 0:5. In der Tabelle belegen die Ulmer mit weiter 19 Punkten und 20:14 Toren den 2. Platz. Am nächsten Sonntag ist der SSV 46 bei der Spvgg 07 Ludwigsburg zu Gast.

Even with the craptastic road loss, the Ulmers are still in second place after week 10. Next week is back in Ulm vs. last place Spvgg 07 Ludwigsburg.

elfgirl -

elfgirl 

Saturday Saturday Saturday!!!

Rollergirl weekend round up.

The Main Event is the Smashers vs. Surly Gurlies at Surfside Skateland in Tempe, Arizona.

The Gotham Girls Roller Derby have their second Roller Rumble under the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.

The Kansas City Roller Warriors hold the 39th Street Takedown.

The Texas Rollergirls will host Karaoke Apocalypse at Club DeVille.

Thunderdome

The Lonestar Rollergirls have announced that the Thunderdome is now located at: 619 Tillery Street, just east of 5th and Pleasant Valley (East Side Baby!) map

The new Thunderome will host the Sunday, October 24th bout between the undefeated Holy Rollers and last year's Calvello Cup winners Rhinestone Cowgirls.

War on Terra (cont.)

Juan Cole on the failure of the War on Terror.

Bombs in Taba, Multan, Baghdad Signal Failure of War on Terror

Three major bombs went off between the Nile and the Indus rivers on Thursday. Do they have anything in common, and what do they tell us about the world that Bush has made?

[snip]

If we analyze these violent, destabilizing attacks, one thing becomes abundantly clear: The Bush administration is losing the war on terror. If, 3 years after September 11, Ayman al-Zawahiri can arrange for al-Qaeda to blow up yet another building, this time in Egypt, killing scores, that is a sign of failure. If an al-Qaeda-aligned group like the Army of the Prophet's Companions is permitted by the Pakistani state to gather freely in Multan, to blow up Shiite mosques, and to incur a violent Shiite counter-strike, that is a sign of failure. If radical Sunni groups, or ex-Baathists aligned with them, are able at will to fire Katyusha rockets into the Baghdad Sheraton at a time when the US has militarily occupied Iraq, that is a sign of failure.

[snip]

The Bush administration thinks the problem is rogue states. But the real problem is radical terrorist groups. Bush has done all too little about the latter. Most of the al-Qaeda officials captured have been taken by the Pakistani military, so that this vital task has actually been outsourced. But where the Pakistani military wants to coddle an al-Qaeda-linked group, like the Army of the Prophet's Companions, it does, and Bush seems too weak to stop it. Bush and Cheney want now to overthrow Syria and Iran, pushing them into the sort of instability we have seen in Iraq.

If you were a company that brought in terror consultants to work on this problem, and after 3 years you saw the sort of results we saw on Thursday, would you really rehire them?

FEC Orders Kerry To Plug Pro-Bush Site In Next Debate

From Tom Burka's Opinions You Should Have

The Federal Election Commission has ordered John F. Kerry to inadvertently direct viewers to a pro-George W. Bush website during Friday's town hall debate. On Tuesday, during the Vice-Presidential debate between Dick Cheney and John Edwards, Cheney mistakenly directed viewers to a site that urged visitors not to vote for President Bush, GeorgeSoros.com.

[snip]

Initially the Commissioners were unsure of which appropriately pro-Bush site they were going to require Kerry to mention, but by late this afternoon, they had settled on one.

RalphNader.com.

on undecided voters

pissed off patricia shares many of my views on this topic.

So here we are today with a national presidential election only weeks away. And, even knowing what we know now about the war, there are some voters who claim to be undecided. Well, screw them! With all the information out there now about this administration, they still can't make up their damned minds? If that's the case, then they should just shut the hell up. I'm sick of the whining about Kerry and bush not telling them what they want to hear. What the hell do they want to hear? Do they want a guarantee that the next president of the United States will personally kiss their undecided ass? Sounds like it to me. Yeah, it sure as hell is difficult to choose between a liar and a statesman. Holy shit, what a dilemma.

How about this? I'm undecided if the undecideds are idiots or bull shiters. I just can't decide.

2 + 2 = 5

Cheney: Weapons Report Justifies Iraq War

MIAMI Oct. 7, 2004 — Vice President Dick Cheney asserted on Thursday that a finding by the chief U.S. weapons inspector in Iraq that Saddam Hussein's government produced no weapons of mass destruction after 1991 justifies rather than undermines President Bush's decision to go to war.

Another slap on the wrist

From this mornings WaPo:

The House ethics committee last night admonished Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) for asking federal aviation officials to track an airplane involved in a Texas political spat, and for conduct that suggested political donations might influence legislative action.

The two-pronged rebuke marked the second time in six days -- and the third time overall -- that the ethics panel has admonished the House's second-ranking Republican. The back-to-back chastisements are highly unusual for any lawmaker, let alone one who aspires to be speaker, and some watchdog groups called on him to resign his leadership post.

The ethics committee, five Republicans and five Democrats who voted unanimously on the findings, concluded its seven-page letter to DeLay by saying: "In view of the number of instances to date in which the committee has found it necessary to comment on conduct in which you have engaged, it is clearly necessary for you to temper your future actions to assure that you are in full compliance at all times with the applicable House rules and standards of conduct."
[snip]
The ethics panel faulted DeLay's actions in asking the Federal Aviation Administration last year to help locate a private plane that Republicans thought was carrying Texas Democratic legislators. Some Democratic lawmakers were leaving the state to prevent a quorum that Republicans needed in Austin to pass a bitterly disputed congressional redistricting plan engineered by DeLay. DeLay's staff asked an FAA official to help find the plane in a bid to force the legislators back to the capital.

The ethics report cited House rules that bar members from taking "any official action on the basis of the partisan affiliation . . . of the individuals involved." It noted that the FAA official later said he felt he "had been used" for political purposes. DeLay's role in the matter "raises serious concerns under these standards of conduct," the report said.
[snip]
The committee also admonished DeLay for his dealings with top officers of Kansas-based Westar Energy Inc. Some of the officers wrote memos in 2002 citing their belief that $56,500 in campaign contributions to political committees associated with DeLay and other Republicans would get them "a seat at the table" where key legislation was being drafted.

For more on DeLay and the GOP money machine I highly recommend the three part series of articles in the Texas Observer. The Rise of the Machine, Scandal in the Speaker's Office and Rate of Exchange.

Republicans, Out of Ideas, Ask Prosecutors to Arrest Michael Moore

From Mike's Message on his website.

10/6/04

Dear Friends,

You may have heard by now that the Michigan Republican Party has called for my arrest. That's right. They literally want me brought up on charges -- and hope that I'm locked up.

No, I'm not kidding. The Republican Party, yesterday, filed a criminal complaint with the prosecutors in each of the counties where I spoke last week in Michigan.

My crime? Clean underwear for anyone who will vote in the upcoming election.

Red River Rock Out

 

Rank and Review will be hosting a huge party this weekend. List of bands with links here.

Digby on the debate

Hullabaloo

Edwards was excellent as I knew he would be. Articulate, engaging and smart. If anybody had the mistaken idea that they could Quayle this guy, he certainly proved them wrong tonight.

But I think Cheney may have set a record for how many times a candidate can outright, baldfacedly lie in an hour and a half on national television. And that's saying something. He and Junior really are living in some sort of dreamworld where they apparently don't have to worry that their every previous public statement is noted and available for the whole world to see. Here on planet earth we have google and lexis-nexis and we can dig up all the examples of when they said things they claim they didn't say.

As for the whores, I have to give extra special kudos to Joe Scarborough for the biggest slurpy Cheney blowjobs of the night, although it was difficult to choose from among his colleagues. But apparently, somebody put a horses head in Joey's bed after his little "mistake" in calling the debate for Kerry last week because he really went the extra mile tonight.

The biggest loser was Gwen Ifil. What an unmitigated disaster. But then, that's no surprise. She has single handedly turned the previously great Washington Week In Review into DiGrassi Junior High, so I wasn't particularly optimistic that she could moderate a debate. And she was probably up late last night talking to Condi, her best friend, about Condi's unrequited love affair with you know who, so she was probably exhausted.

Shorter Cheney:

If you're not wetting your pants with fear, you're not truly alive.

Tena and Athenae on the debate.

It's Hard Work

The preznit says that the war on terra is "hard work".
Please read this post by the Poor Man about "hard work".

More debate advice for Mr. Edwards

What Edwards Should Say (Rude Version):

If, at tonight's "debate", when Edwards is asked, "How do you believe your career as a trial lawyer affects your approach to government?", he doesn't answer, "What the fuck kind of question is that, Gwen? What the fuck are you implying? Holy fuck, have you even looked at the cases I've tried? Doesn't the press do any actual goddamn research on, say, Lexis-Nexis or even fuckin' Google? Or maybe my fuckin' book? My legal career was based on helping individuals dicked over by the very kind of corporate and government culture this evil motherfucker across this stupid ass table has fostered. And don't you fuckin' gimme that stroke victim smirk, Dick, or I'll come across and start shovin' aluminum tubes up your ass, all 60,000 of 'em, one anodized tube at a goddamn time. Then, with all those tubes up your ass, you can tell me, tell all of us, if they feel like centrifuge tubes or just plain ol' rocket tubes......

Cheers to the rude pundit

Mr. Edwards Mission

From Paul Krugman in todays NYT.

Mr. Cheney's manufactured image is as much at odds with reality as Mr. Bush's. The vice president is portrayed as a hardheaded realist, someone you can trust with difficult decisions. But his actual record is one of irresponsibility and incompetence.

Case in point: Mr. Cheney completely misread the nature of the 2001 California energy crisis. Although he has stonewalled investigations into what went on in his task force, there's no real question that he placed his trust in the very companies whose market-rigging caused that crisis.

In tonight's debate, John Edwards will surely confront Mr. Cheney over that task force, over domestic policies and, of course, over Halliburton. But he can also use the occasion to ask more hard questions about national security.

After all, Mr. Cheney didn't just promise Americans that "we will, in fact, be welcomed as liberators" by the grateful Iraqis. He also played a central role in leading us to war on false pretenses.

No, that's not an overstatement. In August 2002, when Mr. Cheney declared "we now know Saddam has resumed his efforts to acquire nuclear weapons," he was being dishonest: the administration knew no such thing. He was also being irresponsible: his speech pre-empted an intelligence review that might have given dissenting experts a chance to make their case.

So here's Mr. Edwards's mission: to expose the real Dick Cheney, just as Mr. Kerry exposed the real George Bush.

AZRD Second Season

Arizona Roller Derby announces their 2nd season schedule:

OCTOBER 9th
Smashers vs. Surly Gurlies
Featuring Oktober & Labor Party
SURFSIDE SKATELAND 968-9600
1625 E Weber Dr, Tempe
doors at 7pm, beer with ID to benefit TCH

OCTOBER 23rd H'ween Matinee:
Team lineup TBD
Featuring the Earps & Rapid Fire
CASTLE SPORTS CLUB, (602) 331-2582
11420 N 19th Ave, Phoenix
Doors at 4pm

NOVEMBER 6th
AZRD vs. Texas Rollergirls
Featuring Electric Shock & ADHC (from CA)
SURFSIDE SKATELAND, Tempe

…and don't miss it when the Tucson Roller Derby takes on the
Texas Rollergirls the next night at Blade World in Tucson!

NOVEMBER 21 "away" game:
AZRD vs. Texas Rollergirls
Tucson RD vs. Texas Rollergirls
PLAYLAND ROLLER RINK, Austin,TX

This spring schedule:
DECEMBER (month long break and we are gonna need it!)
JANUARY 8th: Bruisers vs. Surly Gurlies
JANUARY 14th "away" game, Details TBA
FEBRUARY 12th St. Valentine's Massacre: Surly Gurlies vs Smashers
MARCH 12th Smashers vs. Bad News Beaters
MARCH 27th Matinee Bruisers vs. Tucson Roller Derby
APRIL 9th Championship Pre-Qualifier: Surly Gurlies vs. Bad News Beaters
MAY 14th Championship Pre-Qualifier: Smashers vs. Bruisers
JUNE 11th: CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: April winner vs. May winner

Art - o - Mat

Art by Ashley Holt 

Here's a photo of one of their many art-dispensing machines sporting artwork by Ashley Holt. For more information on the Art-O-Mat plan of world domination, check out www.artomat.org.

Samarra Burning...

(from River Bend blog)

The last few days have been tense and stressful. Watching the military attacks on Samarra and hearing the stories from displaced families or people from around the area is like reliving the frustration and anger of the war. It's like a nightmare within a nightmare, seeing the corpses pile up and watching people drag their loved ones from under the bricks and steel of what was once a home.

To top it off, we have to watch American military spokespersons and our new Iraqi politicians justify the attacks and talk about 'insurgents' and 'terrorists' like they actually believe what they are saying... like hundreds of civilians aren't being massacred on a daily basis by the worlds most advanced military technology.

As if Allawi's gloating and Bush's inane debates aren't enough, we have to listen to people like Powell and Rumsfeld talk about "precision attacks". What exactly are precision attacks?! How can you be precise in a city like Samarra or in the slums of Sadir City on the outskirts of Baghdad? Many of the areas under attack are small, heavily populated, with shabby homes several decades old. In Sadir City, many of the houses are close together and the streets are narrow. Just how precise can you be with missiles and tanks? We got a first-hand view of America's "smart weapons". They were smart enough to kill over 10,000 Iraqis in the first few months of the occupation.

The explosions in Baghdad aren't any better. A few days ago, some 40 children were blown to pieces while they were gathering candy from American soldiers at the opening of a sewage treatment plant. (Side note: That's how bad things have gotten- we have to celebrate the reconstruction of our sewage treatment plants). I don't know who to be more angry with- the idiots and PR people who thought it would be a good idea to have children running around during a celebration involving troops or the parents for letting their children attend. I the people who arranged the explosions burn within the far-reaches of hell.

One wonders who is behind the explosions and the car bombs. Bin Laden? Zarqawi? Possibly... but it's just too easy. It's too perfect. Bin Laden hit the WTC and Afghanistan was attacked. Iraq was occupied. At first, any explosion or attack on troops was quickly blamed on "loyalists" and "Baathists" and EVERYTHING was being coordinated by Saddam. As soon as he was caught, it became the work of "Islamic extremists" and Al-Qaida and Zarqawi suddenly made his debut. One wonders who it will be after it is discovered that Zarqawi has been dead for several months or that he never even existed. Whoever it is, you can bet his name will three syllables or less because that is Bush's limit.

Read the full story in Baghdad Burning.

Male Birth Control Pills

I enjoyed this rant so much that i just had to post it in its entirety.
Swiped from BlondSense.

What took so long?

* No corporate interest.
* Might not be safe.
* Population control not an issue in the U.S.
* Religious conservatism.


Know what I just love? and I am being sarcastic... How conservative men, who run this country, run the corporations, run the pharmaceutical companies, belong to the sex that is halfway responsible for pro-creation, want to just plop to the whole issue of reproduction on women. Then when women agree to take control of their bodies, the same men are outraged and go to great lengths to ban abortions. feh.

The big pharm companies are making such a killing making female birth control pills, which have side effects galore that it's no wonder that most women don't use them, they didn't think that it was necessary to invent a male birth control pill. It's easier to dump all the ills on women, isn't it? Enlightened Europeans took the initiative and I hope it screws up the US pharmaceutical corporations when they lose out on the big money there is to be made. Sure the male birth control pill might have side effects too. Deal.

The big pharms invented viagra though. We've got serious illnesses to deal with, cancers and AIDs, the abortion issue that drives people insane and yet male potency takes center stage. Why not invent an alternate viagra with birth control built in? I cannot believe that all men with erectile dysfunction are just dying to have kids. Bob Dole obviously wasn't. I am not complaining about men with bigger, harder, well you know... but my point is this and it's ironic:

We've got these so-called conservative "christians" running the country. They are decidedly anti-abortion and even anti-condom although it can actually save lives and cut down abortions by about 90% if they were utilized. duh These same so-called conservative "christians" running the country are very pro-corporations, especially the big pharmaceutical corporations who push viagra, cialis, all those brands on men to make them more "potent" oy yet it's no secret that men who want to be more "potent" are doing it for fun. I mean come on, when there are fertility problems with couples, the men aren't issued viagra. Here take this you stud...

And who are the people going to such great lengths to stop abortions in this country? So-called conservative "christian" men who will do nothing to stop big pharmaceutical companies from raking in billions. Remember the smirk chimp sitting there with all the men at the table for the photo-op while he tried to sign away women's rights? Did you see any women in that picture? It almost makes you want to get pregnant and have an abortion, those pricks.

I wonder how many of those geezers use viagra? They are against condoms they say because birth control is wrong. What a bunch of dirty filthy hypocrites. The only reason I can think of as to why these so-called conservative "christian" men would go to such great lengths to ban abortion is because they need more poor people to fight their dirty stinking oil wars. It would be so easy to just promote birth control wouldn't it? Do these assclowns think that women enjoy having abortions and that's why women are fighting for their right to do so? No it's because men are just so hard and sexy that we just can't resist

It's making my head explode. Sure, women should do more to make sure that they don't get pregnant in the first place but shit happens. Maybe the conception happened on a day or night when neither one of the parties were expecting to have sex. I think it's happened once or twice.

I'm sorry that men don't like to use condoms, I never minded them, but hey if you're an anti-abortion man reading this, and you think abortion is murder, it would behoove you to start an ad campaign and flood the airwaves with pro-condom commercials. Screw the religious bullshit. Do you want there to be an end to abortions? Then stop unwanted pregnancy. Push for the male birth control pill to come to America. People having "illicit" sex is not a condition of modern times. It has been going on forever. This is nothing new. I wouldn't even care if you if you blamed the whole thing on those horrible sexy women who make you bulge and lose control of yourselves for 15 seconds of pleasure. Just do something and take some responsibility if you really want to make abortions less common.

If men were on the pill or would use condoms, can you imagine how low the abortion rate would be? Imagine how many teenage girls who had big plans to save the world someday had to put their hopes and dreams aside to raise kids by themselves because the boy had to go on to college and make something of HIMself? Until then, I say to so-called conservative "christian" men who want to take away control of a woman's body, "Stop being so darned gorgeous and sexy with your great big viagra induced bulges that take our collective breath away because we just cannot control ourselves when you are around. Have mercy on us! Please please please just take control of your reproductive seed if you don't want to have babies because we cannot resist your charms. When you don't call us the next day or ever... what other choice do we have as we don't make as much money as you do, we may live in a shitty school district or in abject poverty, might not have health care benefits and can't afford to have a baby. Oh please have mercy Mr Man!"


Disclaimer: Oops I went off on a rant. Blogs are just made for this sort of stuff aren't they? Most of the men who read this blog are progressive and will not take offense to my ravings. Please encourage your male friends to have sex responsibly. I am doing the same with my female friends of reproductive age. Just because we are pro-choice doesn't mean that we want women to use abortion as birth control when it's much easier to avoid getting pregnant in the first place. This is the article that got me going.

Click here for the post and links.

Thank You BlondSense

The End of the Moon

An interview with Laurie Anderson about her new solo work The End of the Moon as well as other current projects. Laurie Anderson will perform in Austin on Tuesday, October 5, 8pm at the Paramount Theater.

Q: Tell me about “The End of the Moon”. Will it feature new music and new tools?

LA: Definitely new music. Music will be a big part of this work, bigger than in the last piece “Happiness”. Partly it’s because I’ve been working with some great new systems. Technically my rig is shrinking at incredible rates and I’m so excited at how much power there can be in this software. I hate to sound like a salesman but really it used to take two huge trucks to carry what I can now put into two briefcases. Now suddenly I have a huge amount of flexibility, I can play so many gorgeous new sounds. It’s like I’m finally learning how to improvise. There are still a couple of analog things in my set up but basically it’s almost invisible now.

Q: Is there a general theme to ”The End of the Moon”?

LA: I would say that time is the overall general theme. Our perception of time and how it affects us, how it changes us. That, as well as stories, the stories we tell ourselves so we can go on. And of course this is such a good time for stories! Election season is all about stories and it just comes down to whose story you like better, which one you can relate to. None of us are actually going to go out and take our own surveys.

Q: How did the title come about?

LA: “ The End of the Moon” is, I guess, a phrase that has some of the melancholy I feel at the moment. Not just melancholy really. More like loss. Like I lost something and I can’t quite put my finger on what it is. Actually I think what I lost was a country. The last three years have been pretty tough, pretty alienating for a lot of people. And in this piece I’m trying to look at some of those things. On the other hand I see this as sort of a report that I’m making to wind up my time as artist-in-residence at NASA. So there are lots of colors in it.

Q: Where do you draw your inspiration? How do you decide which storieswill be included in your work?

LA: I keep huge notebooks filled with stories, and fragments. I’ve kept these journals since I was twelve. I check these out and then I decide what to work on based on things like- maybe it would make somebody laugh? Maybe because its incredibly sad. Almost never because I think it expresses who I am. I’m not trying to express myself. That’s not my goal at all. My collaboration is truly with the audience. Maybe part of that is flirting with the audience; part of it is having a kind of rapport with them. I try to imagine this collaboration and based on that I edit it.

The full (6 page) interview is here in pdf format.

How to kick start a Monday morning

a quart of black coffee and
the Hazard County Girls

Jump for joy

Sharlet is comin' back to town!!!

Study reveals why eyes in some paintings seem to follow viewers

You’ve seen it in horror movies, or even in real-life at the local museum: a painting in which the eyes of the person portrayed seem to follow you around the room, no matter where you go.

People have described the effect as creepy or eerie, and some have thought it supernatural. But now researchers have demonstrated the very natural cause for this visual effect.

All it takes for the effect to work is to have the person in the painting, or photograph, look straight ahead, said James Todd, co-author of the study and a professor of psychology at Ohio State University. Our visual perception takes care of the rest.

The core idea is simple: no matter what angle you look at a painting from, the painting itself doesn’t change. You’re looking at a flat surface. The pattern of light and dark remains the same, Todd said.

We found that our visual perception of a picture also remains largely unchanged as we look at it from different vantage points. If a person in a painting is looking straight out, it will always appear that way, regardless of the angle at which it is viewed.

Full story here.

(via Boing Boing)

Roller derby risk-taker

News Tribune page designer Elysia Smith participates in a tryout for the Rat City Rollergirls.

I am officially a danger to myself.

Though others might have been saying that for quite some time, it didn't hit me until after I decided it would be a good idea to try out for a women's roller derby team in Seattle.

Now I'm starting to believe them.

Doing what some deem to be crazy isn't new territory for me. Sometimes I think I've created a subconscious checklist of strange goals for myself to go out and fulfill.

"Go out, get a job and become Chuck E. Cheese. Check."

"Sign up for strange food eating contests without hesitation. Check."

"Sleep on the streets of a foreign country. Check."

It seemed logical that the Rat City Rollergirls roller derby tryout was next.

[snip]

Those trying out had to traverse three stations: an interview, a paperwork session and a skills test. After a warm-up skate, I was glad that my skills test session was last, so I could catch my breath from the 10-minute warm-up.

"I'm going to die," I thought.

Read the full story here.