today we will find out how long it will take

for the busblog to get an ipod

from its wonderful readers

click the ipod to donate $10 to 20.

if you wish to give more than $20, feel free.

all the people who contribute will be on my permalinks

on the left side of this blog for the rest of the year.

i thank you in advance.

1. M. Mills $10

2. J. Sutter $10

3. E. Case $10

by tony pierce, 110

everyone knows the republicans have been holding osama bin ladin in the basement of the alamo for the last year.

why else would they not be panicking right now?

the republicans could knock out the democrats if they win this presidential election this year.

george w. bush, like him or not, has dodged bullet after bullet from stealing the election, to not being even partially blamed for 9/11 despite getting a memo about bin ladin’s threat to the country in 8/11, to the trillion dollar deficit, to the two hundred billion war on iraq, to the failed attack on gay marriages, to missing military records

and he is in a virtual deadlock with a vietnam vet with three purple hearts

who everyone admits is smarter

who everyone knows isnt in bed with the saudis

of whom 15 of the 19 of the 9/11 terrorists called home

including osama

who better get out of that basement soon

because if george w bush can figure out a way to win

despite all of his baggage and failure as a president

just like how he failed as a governor and a businessman

despite michael moore’s box office miracle

the finest smear

ive ever seen.

if george w. bush can do what hasnt been done in 16 years

a republican getting more votes than a democrat for president

it will utterly crush the democrats

as it should

because they will never find an easier candidate to beat.

that war? did we win that war? cuz if we won it, where was the parade?

so im guessing we didnt win that war.

the one against the country that didnt have any serious weapons.

if the people of the usa say we’re gonna vote for that dude

who lost to the country who didnt have any serious weapons

instead of the vietnam war hero

then it’s lights out for the dems.

who better have a wicked pissah convention this week

cuz the republicans are going to “find” osama bin ladin

cuz they pretty much have to.

the truth blog + kitty bukkake + anti + wiki encyclopedia: columbian necktie

in february, the white house spokesman scott mcclellan stood up and said to the reporters around the world that the pentagon had found the controversial payroll records that proved that president bush actually served his entire stint while in the texas national guard during the vietnam war.

“These documents make it very clear that the president of the United States fulfilled his duties,” mcclellan, pictured, declared.

But when pressed by reporters, he admitted that the payroll records didn’t really prove jack, prompting DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe to call bs on the whole “discovery”.

“The handful of documents released today by the White House creates more questions than answers,” McAuliffe said in a written statement.

“The fact remains that there is still no evidence that George W. Bush showed up for duty as ordered while in Alabama. We also still do not know why the president’s superiors filed a report saying they were unable to evaluate his performance for that year because he had not been present to be evaluated. That report was filed on the very day these documents allege he was reporting for duty.”

A few days later Retired Lt. Col. Bill Burkett of the TX National Guard said he saw Bush’s records in the garbage.

“But I also saw at the edge of that table a roughly 15-gallon, old metal waste can. At the top of that were several pages, 20 to 40 pages approximately,” Burkett said on CNN’s “Paula Zahn Now.”

“I glanced down at the top of those documents. In ink was the word ‘Bush, George W., 1 Lt.’ This was a performance report. I was right at the trash can. I filtered through the top five or six pages in that, and they were all copies and originals of old performance documents and pay records for ‘Bush, George W., 1 Lt.”

These claims were called “hogwash” and the search for the records to prove that the President served his time in the guard continued.

Earlier this month the pentagon told the world that the payroll records that would clear the president were inadvertently destroyed in the Colorado clearinghouse along with several other military records of other servicemen.

“President Bush’s payroll records for those two quarters were among the records destroyed,” wrote C.Y. Talbott, of the Pentagon’s Freedom of Information and Security Review section. “Searches for back-up paper copies of the missing records were unsuccessful.”

Upon learning that Texas law requires a backup copy of National Guard records to reside in Austin, the AP last week asked a federal judge to order the pentagon to hand over the documents that should be on microfilm in texas.

Yesterday the Pentagon suddenly found “the” payroll records in question. What they released were Bush’s payroll records while he was in the Alabama National Guard, where he had been transferred to in order to help the ’72 senate campaign of Winton “Red” Blount.

who was Winton Blount?

opposed the Civil Rights Act of ’64

in 1968 after critics noted that the conservative businessman employed no blacks, was active in an all-white church and had backed local segregationist candidates he said, “I suppose that you would basically call me a conservative, but I try to think of myself as a progressive.”

Among the complexes that Blount Inc. constructed included the launch pad at Cape Canaveral that sent Apollo 11 and man to the moon in 1969, the first nuclear power plant in Tennessee, the New Orleans Superdome, and of course the $2-billion King Saud University in Saudi Arabia.

Blount, a Nixon cabinet member called dick “probably the smartest president the united states ever had.” And regarding Watergate, which happened after Blount had returned to running his billion dollar business, he said, “Watergate was a blip and it was not an important issue. Every president I’ve known — and I’ve known them since I’ve been a grown man — has lied to the American people. Sometimes they have to, sometimes they don’t.”

the newly discovered records, like the ’72 blount election results, were disappointing.

“The payroll records show no indication Bush drilled with the Alabama unit during July, August and September of 1972. Pay records covering all of 1972, released previously, also indicated no guard service for Bush during those three months.” the ap reported yesterday.

“If the Bush administration continues to search, maybe they’ll find answers to the long list of unanswered questions that remain about George W. Bush’s time in the Air National Guard,” dnc spokesperson jano cabrera said. “Bush’s military records seem to show up as randomly as he did for duty.”

Monday the DNC national convention begins in boston where they will nominate sen. john kerry who volunteered for combat in Vietnam and earned several medals including a Silver Star, a Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts.

did you know that if you are convicted of deserting during a time of war that you can get the death penalty? strange irony since the president executed 135 inmates during his 5.5 years as governor of texas.

did you know the Instapundit has discussed the President’s missing national guard records zero times? The Instapundit, the world’s most popular blogger at approximately 4 million hits a month, will be on CNN today at noon pacific time. He posts between 15-20 times a day. He is my favorite blogger. Easily.

Update: Glenn did mention the guard records once. On tuesday he mentioned them via a quote that he got from an email about sandy berger. the berger story received scores of mentions this week by prof. reynolds.

utter wonder + riley dog + jarrett house north + it had to be you

met with the Urban League today and asked these questions of the Blacks in attendence.

I will provide my answers.

Q. Does the Democrat party take African American voters for granted?

A. Everyone takes African-American voters for granted. But I would say the Republicans give up on the Black vote, wisely, while the Dems rely on them, unwisely.

Q. Is it a good thing for the African American community to be represented mainly by one political party?

A. It’s a good thing if they’re actually being represented, which they aren’t by either party. The question is, is it a good thing that the rich are being represented mainly by one political party? What about the Pro-Lifers? Shouldn’t everyone have a choice?

Q. How is it possible to gain political leverage if the party is never forced to compete?

A. Dude, we barely were even recognized by the government 40 years ago. The way for a group to gain political leverage is by actually showing up to vote, and/or by contributing millions and millions. Or by rioting. Currently there is a competition for the Black vote, it is between the Democratic party and Apathy. Currently Apathy is winning. And quit acting so defensive.

Q. Have the traditional solutions of the Democrat party truly served the African American community?

A. If by you mean traditional solutions you mean job programs, social programs, inclusion in the party, actually listening to the black “community”, then yes, things are better for Blacks when Democrats have their way in office.

Q. Does blocking the faith-based initiative help neighborhoods where the only social service provider could be a church?

A. At the root of most black neighborhoods are churches, which in many cases have been the only (and the best) social service provider. So yes, if the government wants to start funding the church, Blacks would benefit greatly. However, the KKK also considers itself a Christian organization. Wouldnt they deserve the same funding? What about the mosque that the terrorists set up in San Diego? Would they get government dollars too? Theres a reason that church and state should be seperate. This is one of them.

Q. Does the status quo in education really, really help the children of this country?

A. Nope. But neither does cutting Financial Aid, and raising tuitions. But thats what you helped spearhead. What would have helped the children of this country is if you had used the money that you spent liberating the Iraqi people and educated the American children. You were spending a billion a day on that war. A few billion would definately get the school system in the US on a better track.

Q. Does class warfare — has class warfare or higher taxes ever created decent jobs in the inner city?

A. Sometimes you have to tax people, Mr. President. When the nation is trillions in debt, the biggest debt ever, you either have to stop spending on things like the military, the war on drugs, or corporate welfare, or raise taxes.

As for jobs, has encouraging corporations to outsource American jobs overseas ever created decent jobs in the inner city?

Q. Are you satisfied with the same answers on crime, excuses for drugs and blindness to the problem of the family?

A. Not at all. Since a disproportionate amount of minorites are in American prisons because of non-violent drug-related crimes, and since you mr. president, a former cokehead, have proven (along with your pal Rush) that recreational drug use – and even abuse – doesn’t necesarrily lead to a life on welfare.

Therefore why do you still spout the same excuses for the war on drugs that does nothing but break up the american family when you put men and women in jail for wanting to get high? We let americans drink and fall in love, two things that bring about the same highs and lows as marijuana and cocaine. We let them smoke tobbacco which kills them much faster than any drug.

And finally the blindness of the problem of the family is that we encourage the wrong people to get married and the right people from getting married. By “we”, of course I mean you.

If you’re seriously interested in preserving the institution of marriage, stop letting Britney Spears get married in Vegas. Quit letting J.Lo get married. Quit letting kids get married. Tax divorce up the wazzoo. Tax weddings even higher. Make people take tests on how much they know each other. Have a jury of their peers decide who should get hitched.

Best thing you could do for minorities is cut the cost of higher eduction, infuse the “inner-cities” with programs and jobs and bullheadedness and the same enthusiasm that you demonstrated in iraq, and legalize marijuana and cocaine.

If you legalized pot alone, and put all the tax monies into the social programs and education in the poorest american cities, this country would change for the better, and the jails would be less full of men and women who didnt belong there in the first place.

o dub + negrophile + uppity negro

something that i’m not as much as i would like, regardless of the clever disclaimer.

i have been holding back like a mofo.

i have a proposal out to blog professionally for a pretty big company. a company that i respect and admire regardless of whether or not i get the gig.

the reason i have been holding back is because i dont want to blow the opportunity. specifically i dont want people who dont know me, who might be interested in hiring me, to get the false impression that i’m someone who i’m not.

in real life im a pretty mild mannered fellow interested in simple things like peace love and understanding.

in blog life im a skirt chasing superhero bachelor; fearless, fortunate, n fucked.

in blog life i know that if i wanted to double or triple my hits and break into the technorati top 100 for starters it would be in my best interest to focus on sex, tech, or politics. of which i could switch gears into in a snap.

personal blogs like this one, despite the mild success that ive had, do not attract the masses.

and, sadly, neither do allegedly well-written blogs. look at the list. there are a few really good writers on there, but barely 15% are the lileks-style of writing-first.

91. sean b.

92. eric m.

to be popular means to be political. get into the short list of links from the instapundit or the daily kos or atrios and you will be guaranteed thousands of hits a day. it’s nothing to be uptight about, it just is what it is. and to get those links it’s easiest if you write things that those heavy hitters agree with.

and it doesnt hurt if you link to them while you write about how you agree with them.

to be popular also means to be a techie. blogging means that finally the geeks get to be the kings of the school. and it makes sense. the technology that many of us are using to make blogs and web sites and to access the web changes daily, of course those who write about it are going to be read. and if you do it as well and as clearly and as friendly as a guy like Doc Searls does, you too will be successful.

but lets say you want to push language a little. lets say you want to say fuck a lot. lets say you want to ignore the spell checker. or lets say that you want to put your best stuff outside of the blog where it wont get tallied by the technorati scoreboard as easilly. well, poo on you friend, youre fucked.

especially if you make a point out of not kissing the ass of the established leaders of the blogosphere, and particularily if you pepper your writing with things that arent so easilly linkable because it might fluster some of the more sensitive sensibilities, like, i dont know, when you say things like youre glad that ronald reagan is fucking dead and you wish he’d never lived.

so theres a tradeoff to be made. just like in real life. for every foot of freedom that you eek out for yourself, you limit yourself from being acknowledged by those on top, who in more cases than not, wont link to you because they are by practice and definition conservative.

n.w.a as good as they were at their peak were not as hyped by the critics as nirvana was during the very same era, despite the fact that both groups were changing their respective genres dramatically and powerfully.

why? because nirvanas in-your-face assault was easier to swallow and more familiar by the powers that be than the in-your-face assaults of dr. dre ice cube eazy-e and mc ren.

how does this relate to blogger popularity? simple. look at the technorati top 100 and count how many of those blogs are risking, revolutionary, and raw.

then count how many are predictable and safe.

blogger popularity is no different than popularity anywhere else. Billboard’s Top 200 or tv’s neilson ratings tell pretty similar stories: predictability and safe wins.

ditto for movie box office returns. for every Fahrenheit 9/11 that makes $100 mil, there are dozens of Shreks, Harry Potters, and Spidermans that make hundreds of millions more.

therefore a blogger would be a fool if he seriously wanted to be as popular as those in the top 100 by doing things differently than those in the top 100.

you cannot beat them, so join them.

now, if that blogger decided that popularity was no longer interesting to him,

that instead he wanted to shun the silly game of hits-hits-hits and competing in a world where will wheaton gets more hits than johnkerry.com, georgewbush.com, little green footballs, lileks, the smoking gun, the buzzmachine, rollingstone.com, and all of the suicide girls;

and instead of competing, wanted to create, invent, and discover; then that blogger needs to be ok with a limited audience, if any.

and not every blogger is comfortable with that trade-off.

especially the idealistic ones who would like nothing more than to kick the shit out of mr wheaton’s ranking on that ridiculous list.

all i want to do is rock in a big way.

and right now i see two paths to do that:

write for a bigtime company

or go fullon punkrock like raymi does: naked, free, and seriously fearlessly.

in the meantime i hope you accept my apologies for presenting this middleground which is a struggle to write, trust me, in the same way that it’s hard to drive a sports car 55.

and i appreciate your patience during this waiting period.

blogging la + makeout city + x + the ward

a super annoying chick was in the backseat. she shouldnt have even been there. i cant tell you why she was there, but she was.

for some reason she was in lust with me.

she asked me all these questions and i was all, we’re on a stakeout, hafta be quiet.

so she whispered all these questions.

she said, can men and women be friends?

i was all, yes, but only if the women know how to be quiet.

i was being a dick.

she said, i mean, like can two people who are friends, friendly, not husband and wife, not boyfriend and girlfriend, be friends and not have to worry about sex?

she was a pretty hot woman. i could see that she had had these sorts of problems before. getting hit on, etc.

maybe it had something to do with her huge cans and how she probably always had them exposed, like she did this morning.

i was all, chicks need to get used to getting hit on. especially if theyre pretty.

she asked me if i thought she was pretty. i said one more question and im going to have to start charging $5.

she handed me $5 and said, do you think a guy and a girl, not boyfriend/girlfriend, can have sex and everything be cool?

i said yes.

as long as neither of them got possessive.

you could tell she was thinking because her lips werent moving.

people walked past and you could see all the men craning their neck when they saw her bossom.

then she questioned it with a “really”?

i held out my hand. she gave me a ten, i gave her her original five back.

yes, really. it helps if the sex isnt very good. if its good sex then definately someone is going to get possessive, probably the chick.

she wanted to disagree but she couldnt.

she handed me a twenty but i didnt have a five, so i took it and gave her back her ten. five buck tip is how i figured it.

how do you stop from being possessive if its good sex, she asked me, having way too much fun with our q&a session.

i said, you have to stop being possessive in all aspects of your life. like quit hoarding shoes, purses, cds, video tapes, dresses, makeup, everything. cuz if youre possessive about that shit, then definately youre gonna want to lay claim on a nice cock that does you right.

and with that she forgot about the fact that she had another question coming.

and soon the dude ran out of the back of the hotel and the chase was on.

how to get laid by bunny mcintosh + angelina + virginia is for rockers

1) put your feet on the seats

2) laugh for no reason, and then say “shit, man”

3) drink coffee when the sign clearly says no drinking or eating

4) lay across three seats during morning rush hour

and i suppose 5) should be

5) dont say “what?” when the undercover xbi agent taps you on your shoulder

for that agent might be flashing you the handle of his revolver, as a courtesy.

aj spent the night last night.

always a strange situation when a sexpert wants to share your bed with you.

what do you do?

do you make the moves? do you not make the moves? do you try to show her all the great things you’ve learned since you were in college together?

or do you do as your hero did which was lay in the bed, hands at your side, sleeping without moving because theres nothing you can show this gurl that she hasnt seen already

and besides youre just friends

chill.

this morning we both woke at 7:30am after being up till 2:30am talking talking talking.

she has a belief that i will one day be able to teach Bukowski at uc santa barbara.

i dont even dare to dream those sorts of dreams.

but as my fellow busrider proved this morning, sometimes reality is what you make it.

happy 22nd birthday votexia + 9/11 commision report + roger ebert meets charles bukowski

she said dont start off by talking about baseball, you’ll lose all the girls.

two barefoots walk into a bar. first one says, have you ever felt like nothing that you will do will matter. other one says thats not the joke, tell the joke. first one says, and the world will keep spinning and the stars will come up and spin around and go down and still nothing you do peon will matter.

other one says whispering sorta, just say your line, want me to say it for you.

the first one says, the seasons will come and go, time will pass, floods, fire, famine and still nothing that you could have done will matter.

other one says in a way thats sort of liberating

first one goes ice ages plate technotics wait what?

other one says sure if all of what we’re doing is just gonna get mushed over by nature and forgotten by sentient beings then why stress out about bullshit little things like slow people at stoplights.

first one looked at the other one

a gust of wind pushed a low-reaching dry palm of a huge palm tree up against a metal awning rattling the tin for a second and then it eased back down.

a butterfly aimed for an oak leaf and missed

somewhere a car horn sounded

somewhere an eagle was flying with a dove

and a pony walked into a bar

and a bartender said what can i get you

and the pony said i would like a microbrew, the best you have.

the bartender said, whats that fella?

pony said a local ale please, doesnt matter which.

bartender says, bud, speak up or ship out what can i get you?

pony said sorry, im just a little hoarse.

raspil did a photo essay + oliver willis + bunnie

spaceland

july 20, 2004

i was picked up by two skinny girls in a convertable. one had long dark hair, the other platinum blonde with streaks of pink and grey.

the latter had authored the very popular lesbian sex secrets for men back in 2000.

the former had already broken into the absinthe before i could kiss her cheek and tell her how i’d missed her so.

i was playing the role of the luckiest man in america.

we drank we smoked we told each other how hot we all looked and i took a cold shower and shaved the stubble from my bald head as the ladies watched heavy metal parking lot, judas priest fans being interviewed in 1983 from landover maryland. both of my guests were huge fans of the band and the genre.

i came out of the shower and ms. goddard got any stray hairs from my head.

she and i were on the radio together back in the glory days of grunge.

music to us was everything.

what a joy it was for us to be in college from ’87-’91, be on the radio, write reviews in the paper, see the shows, and interview the musicians.

and i think she would agree that in the midst of nirvana + pixies + janes addiction + beastie boys + sonic youth + replacements, a stroll down the street of isla vista would yeild bands that were just as talented, creative, enjoyable and worthwhile.

bands like rogue cheddar, mons pubis, the sean white band, and the wonderfuls could have definately held their own against anything that was on the radio.

which is why its no suprise that tsar, a mix of mons pubis and the wonderfuls is so good.

tsar played last night.

it was the first time they did so with their new drummer chuck.

people asked me today how tsar was able to replace steve coulter, who quit la’s best unsigned rock group a few weeks ago.

let it be known that even before i heard my favorite band, tsar, on kxlu on monday night and watched them last night, i knew that you couldnt replace coulter

and everyone knows you cant replace coulter.

my other favorite band, ac/dc has yet to replace bon scott.

with that said, chuck played the drums better than i expected.

will he someday be the rock star that coulter is?

doubtful.

but i do know that chuck blazed through the blistering and complicated set last night like a fucking rock star, and thats all i really need from the affable lad.

john paul jones was in the greatest rock band ever and in thirty years he has never been mistaken for a rock star.

tsar, collectively, is rock incarnate.

three guys who have known each other forever, and a smiling next door neighbor drummer named chuck

they have an arsenal of catchy pop songs disguised as punk with guitar solos.

and still it was sad and weird not to see steve coulter up there

and it took many many many free jamesons for me not to notice his absence.

however, as aj and jeanine told me over thai in silverlake,

they could have done much much worse.

and then we clinked our beer bottles

and spilled a little on the ground for the brotha who wasnt there.

the coulter classic + steve’s birthday in 2002 + steve and heather’s wedding