giuliani should have been the oratorical silver bullet of this convention. bush's response to september 11 is the basis on which his presidency
(rightly) will be judged. the one person with unimpeachable authority to say what he wants about it is giuliani, who--manna from electoral heaven--is a pro-bush republican who got elected by swing voters. so why was giuliani chosen to speak on monday night (when the networks weren't present) while the novelty-act georgia "democrat" zell miller gets to go before a national audience to heave red meat at southern conservatives who'll vote for bush anyway?

giuliani's speech was not what it could have been. a magnificent 18-minute kernel of post--september 11 reminiscences, humor, anti-kerry invective, and skillful courtship of the jewish vote (by linking decades of terrorism against israel to contemporary terrorism against america) was bloated into a 45-minute shaggy-dog story by giuliani's own extemporizing. some editor failed to stand up to him. the speech collapsed under the weight of attempting to do two incompatible things: (1) woo liberals conservative on defense with the same commonsensical appeals he used as mayor to woo liberals conservative on crime and disorder; and (2) fling invective at the democrats (implying they swear a lot) that played well in the hall but will keep crossover voters from crossing over in the first place.

more egregiously than mccain, giuliani equates the plotters of 9/11 with the butchers of iraq. he recalls bush's vow that the terrorists who attacked america would "hear from us." "they heard from us in iraq," says giuliani. to get around the absence of wmd, he adds that saddam "was himself a weapon of mass destruction." please. there's nothing less suitable for strained metaphors than weapons of mass destruction. they're horribly literal. don't insult the gravity of these weapons by suggesting that even if the country you invaded didn't have them, the guy who ran the country is sort of like one of them.

the twist giuliani adds to mccain's argument is an obsessive repetition of two opposing concepts. giuliani calls them "offense" and "defense." defense is what lily-livered liberals advocate: waiting for terrorists to attack us. offense is what bush is doing: hitting the terrorists before they can hit us. the offense/defense metaphor treats the use of force as a football game, in which the enemy is clear, and every attack we launch is an advance. this eliminates the salient complication of reality: al-qaida and saddam were distinct adversaries, and attacking the latter wasn't necessarily an advance against the former.

• the flaming lips -- fight test
  i don't know if yoshimi battles the pink robots is as good an album, start to finish, as the soft bulletin was, but it's still an album full of songs about scientists, robots, and... more scientists, i think. how can you not like a song with a line like "i don't know where the sunbeams end/and the starlights begin/it's all a mystery"? (listen to the stream at their website)
  
• yeah yeah yeahs -- y control
  listen to this on my lousy radio at work with only one working speaker, and i still get hooked by the guitar drone/whine at the outset. i think i'm listening to old killing joke for some odd reason before karen o's voice shatters that illusion. (and i still say she sounds like chrissie hynde.) (video for "y control" here)
  
• new pornographers -- the electric version
  i blame this one on the han/xtop/chu/fraction gang of four. the damn thing is addictive -- it moves so much. pity that more modern pop/rock doesn't have the same kind of bright sound this song puts out. (mp3 clip here)
  
• franz ferdinand -- take me out
  more to blame on the radio station. why does the last two-thirds of the song sound like a lost track from the eighties by rockwell? (clip)
  
• pixies -- bam thwok
  i am a latecomer to the glory that is the pixies, so i don't have fond memories to compare this new track by the reunited band to -- to me, it's just one more piece of their catalog. dig it, though i have to agree with those who've said that they wish frank black's voice were more upfront. black's last tour through columbus with the catholics was probably the single best live show i've ever seen, and if that's how he sounds now that he's "all grown up" beyond the juvenilia of the pixies, i can't wait to hear how they sound now that they're back together. october 4, baby. ("bam thwok" and itunes)
  
• my morning jacket -- one big holiday
  this show was like watching cousin it play skynyrd and creedence covers. it was awesome. (amazon clip here)
  
• rjd2 -- through the walls
  columbus boy who apparently got bored being ignored by the city. undefinable indie rock/dj/sample stuff (well, maybe undefinable by me -- i don't have the vocabulary to describe how many different themes he works through in the space of about four minutes, but it works.)
  
• the postal service -- the district sleeps alone tonight
  this one's mckeever's fault. i borrowed it, i listened and enjoyed, i returned and forgot -- and then heard "such great heights" on the radio one afternoon. remembered, went out and got it myself. this track's better. the unconscious association i make with "the lion sleeps tonight" is probably intentional and to this song's benefit, even though there's really no relation of any kind. (download the mp3 from subpop here)
  
• sam roberts -- this wreck of a life
  i saw this guy with casey at little brothers' last summer. nobody was there. sam didn't care and gave us a great rock show. this was one of the most affecting tracks of the evening.
  
• the thorns -- blue
  cover of the jayhawks' standout by the matthew sweet/edwin mccain/pete droge csny pastiche. best part is that i can't figure out which one of 'em's hitting that top note. (listen to a clip here)
  
• the beatles -- yesterday
  if you don't like this song, you are a communist.
  
• snow patrol -- run
  i had gotten home the other night from work and was in the basement putting a load of laundry in the washer when my cell phone rang. it was val: the only thing she said was "snow patrol." "so, yeah...snow patrol." when she says she likes a song, i have to go find it, because it's like a no-hitter: doesn't happen that often, and when it does, hoo boy. (play the video for "run" here)
  
• the whiles -- lonesome reply
  local kids. wait for the build at the end; the wall of sound is crushing. sounds better in the recording than it does live, though that might have been just the lousy setup at the newport. (download the track here)
  
• turin brakes -- the optimist
  i'm not even sure how i first stumbled across this, but it's pretty in a spacey-nick-drake kind of way. (clips from the optimist lp available here)
  
• the finn brothers -- edible flowers
  heard on, of all things, npr last week. a beautiful, beautiful arrangement, and that harmonization! (stream from their website -- click on audio/video)
  
• the last hotel -- buried
  yet another columbus band. listen to this and you might hear the jeff buckley influence -- but is that really such a bad thing, after all? (stream it here)
  
• the secret machines -- nowhere again
  there's something about this that, i swear, makes me nostalgic for my first year in columbus in law school. i can't explain it, i have no idea why it does, but the images conjured up are all neon-lit nighttime scenes set in smoky downtown bars. weird. (mp3 for you here)
  
• modest mouse -- float on
  i keep thinking the lead singer's voice is just gonna break in the middle of one of those yelps. (here's the video)
  
• wilco -- the late greats
  i was reading a review of a ghost is born (okay, it was probably on pitchfork, and there goes all my cred when i tell you i tended to agree with at least this notion): wilco's most direct antecedent is, in all probability, the band. listen to this track and you get that. not so much with the rest of the album, no -- but i think it's the jangly piano near the end of this. (stream the whole damn album for free here)

hiker who cut off arm does 100-mile race

leadville, colo. - a little over a year after cutting off his arm to save his life during a solo hike in utah, aspen adventurer aron ralston has completed a grueling 100-mile race at over 10,000 feet elevation.

more than 400 runners began the leadville trail race before dawn on saturday, racing through hail and lightning at times, but fewer than half officially completed the race. some dropped out because of nausea and cramps and others weren't able to cross the finish line within the 30-hour time limit.

ralston, an official finisher with a time of 29:43, said he got sick after eating an onion sandwich but continued running despite feeling nauseated.

"...mr. kerry's emphasis on his vietnam experience had made questions about his war record fair game. but we said that ads by the group calling itself swift boat veterans for truth had crossed the line in smearing the service that earned mr. kerry three purple hearts, a bronze star and a silver star. nothing we've seen in the two weeks since has changed that view."

"mr. kerry's conflicting statements about where and when he was in cambodia remain troubling. he has backed away from repeated claims that he spent christmas eve 1968 in cambodia, a memory that, he said in a 1986 senate speech, is "seared -- seared -- in me." this does not undermine mr. kerry's military bravery, but it does raise an issue of candor. it's fair to ask whether this is an episode of foggy memory, routine political embroidery or something more."

"the sooner the campaign debate shifts from swift boats toward substance, the better off voters will be."

"this will also mark kerry's first late-night tv appearance since last november, when he rode onto leno's "tonight show" stage on a harley, wearing leather and denim. that night, kerry played second fiddle on the guest list to triumph the insult comic dog, who noted of kerry's progress at that time: "the poop i left in the dressing room has more heat coming off it than his campaign."

which probably explains why kerry did not pick leno's show for tonight's interview, softball questions or no softball questions."

fresh off his new hampshire primary loss, bush held a veterans-related rally in sumter, s.c., where he was introduced by j. thomas burch jr. standing on the dais with bush, burch said mccain "had the power to help the veterans," but instead he "came home [from vietnam] and forgot us."

immediately, the mccain camp returned fire. the campaign released a list of the dozens of legislative efforts mccain has made on behalf of veterans, including laws pertaining to controversial issues like agent orange and gulf war syndrome, and an investigation into pow/mias.

then the five vietnam veterans in the senate -- max cleland, d-ga., bob kerrey, d-neb., john kerry, d-mass., chuck robb, d-va. and chuck hagel, r-neb., four democrats and a mccain supporter -- fired off a letter to bush calling on him to "publicly disassociate" himself from the "false" allegations.

"we believe it is inappropriate to associate yourself with those who would impugn john mccain's character and so maliciously distort his record on these critical issues," the letter said.

other letters followed, from seven other former pows who served with mccain, from south carolina legislators and so on.

bush refused to do so, however, responding that burch was "entitled to his opinion."

q on the swift boat ad, kerry is saying that the president is relying on front groups to challenge kerry's war record. why won't the president denounce this particular ad? mccain asked the president to do so, and every day that you don't condemn it, it just leaves the door open for the issue to continue.

mr. mcclellan: well, first of all, pete, i think there's a little bit of a mischaracterization there. senator kerry knows that his latest attack is false and baseless. the president has condemned all of the ads by the shadowy groups. we have called on senator kerry to join us in calling for an end to all the unregulated soft money activity that is going on in this campaign. and the president has stayed focused on the issues and the choices that the voters face. that's what this ought to be about. there are some clear choices that the voters face for the future. this should not be about the past, and we've made that very clear.

q but don't you think you could put this matter to rest if you would just condemn this particular ad? that's what kerry is asking.

mr. mcclellan: and the president has condemned all of the ads and condemned all of the soft money -- unregulated soft money that is going on. senator kerry should join us in calling for an end to all of this soft money -- unregulated soft money activity. senator kerry has declined to do so. the president has been on the receiving end of more than $62 million in negative, false attacks from these shadowy groups that exist. the president thought that we got rid of all of this kind of soft money activity when he signed the campaign finance reforms into law. apparently senator kerry was against this soft money activity previously, too. now he appears to be for it, as long as it benefits his campaign.

q there are the ads, and then there's the charge within the ads. last week at one of the "ask president bush" events, a voter stood up and repeated the charge that senator kerry had self-inflicted wounds in vietnam. the president didn't say anything. what does the president think about the charge?

mr. mcclellan: terry, the president thinks that we should get rid of all of this unregulated soft money activity by these shadowy groups. it's not known who is contributing to these groups. the president believes that there ought to be full disclosure and rapid disclosure of contributions. he's called for that previously. he has set an example by doing that himself.

...q i'm asking the questions right now. the point is that the president has let stand these charges, even made by a voter at one his events, as terry says, doesn't say a word about it when he quotes these charges, just lets it go. it seems like the president, while he has certainly called his service noble in the vietnam war, is happy to let all the rest of the charges sort of fester.

mr. mcclellan: no, actually i disagree fully with you, david. senator kerry is the one who has given his tacit approval to this kind of unregulated soft money activity by shadowy groups. he can join us in condemning all of this activity and calling for an end to it, and then we can move on to really focus on what this campaign should be about, which is about the differences on the key issues, the differences on the war on terrorism, the differences on how we go about strengthening our economy, and the differences on how we go about supporting our troops when they're at war.

...q do you believe it's fair game for allies of the president to be charging that john kerry served dishonrably?

mr. mcclellan: well, ultimately in any campaign the voters are going to make the ultimate decision on all the issues. but this goes to the issue of shadowy groups that are funded by unregulated soft money. that's what this issue is about.

q by not condemning this ad, you are leaving the impression that you support the contention that john kerry served dishonorably.

mr. mcclellan: we condemned all the ads, dana. we condemned all the ads. the president condemned all the ads. you heard from him just recently. why won't -- why won't senator kerry join us in calling for an end to of this activity, when we've been on the receiving end of substantial amounts of money of this kind of activity.

q forget about the ads. why won't you disassociate yourself from the charge that john kerry served dishonorably in vietnam?

mr. mcclellan: we've never questioned his service, and we never will. so i think we've made that very clear.

"this is not an issue to be determined at the diocesan or parish level, but has already been decided for the roman catholic church throughout the world by vatican authority," trenton bishop john m. smith said in a statement last week.

the introduction of new technology is always disruptive to old markets, and particularly to those copyright owners whose works are sold through well established distribution mechanisms. yet, history has shown that time and market forces often provide equilibrium in balancing interests, whether the new technology be a player piano, a copier, a tape recorder, a video recorder, a personal computer, a karaoke machine, or an mp3 player.thus, it is prudent for courts to exercise caution before restructuring liability theories for the purpose of addressing specific market abuses, despite their apparent present magnitude.

just fyi, i know you had complained that there was no concert here in columbus. well, now there is. first i noted that the jackson browne show had been changed to tba instead of having a location. i presumed that show would be changed to columbus. instead, jackson browne was put in the cincinnati venue and the awkward combo of john mellencamp and babyface was moved to columbus.

so, good news is, there's a concert. bad news is, its arguably the weakest lineup of the bunch. personally, i prefer mellencamp to jackson browne or bonny raitt alone, but babyface doesn't do anything for me.

but, for my money its still worth the 2+ hour drive to see the boss in cleveland.

and, am i the only one who thinks that it might have been a better strategy to stagger these concerts so that instead of focusing all of them in one state on one day there were 6 days of concerts in a row in ohio, for example? i probably would have gone to at least 4 of the 6 because the lineups are so solid, but as it stands i can't go see pearl jam or jurassic 5 if i want to see bruce.

"i am very concerned about our national heritage, and i am very concerned that the films that i watched when i was young and the films that i watched throughout my life are preserved, so that my children can see them," said star wars creator george lucas...

"the original versions technically don't exist," says lucasfilm's jim ward, who is the project's executive producer. "(lucas) wanted to represent the films as they exist in his mind, and that's the special-editions versions."

richard gephardt
* owned by the unions.
* can't go out in the sun.
* no eyelids.

wesley clark
* he's wacked

howard dean
* freakish lip thing he does
* creepy

jesus
* more liberal than kerry
* thinks he's a miracle worker...blah-blah-blah
* two words...mary magdeline
* christ thin on substance. "but christ seems quite thin on substance and will need a lot more tutoring from [bill clinton]." (william greider, "still clinton's show?," the nation, 2/17/03)

"we live in a society where it's considered okay for intelligent people to be scientifically illiterate. now, it wasn't always that way. at the beginning of the 20th century, you could not be considered an intellectual unless you could discuss the key scientific issues of the day. today you can pick up an important intellectual magazine and find a write-up of a science book with a reviewer unashamedly saying, 'this was fascinating. i didn't understand it.' if they were reviewing a work by john kenneth galbraith, they wouldn't flaunt their ignorance of economics."

"...we're living in a time when so many scientific questions are transformed into public relations campaigns--with truth going out the window in favor of sound bites and manufactured controversies. this is dangerous to science and society, because what we learn from observation and testing can't be subject to negotiation or spin, as so much in politics is. the creationists cut at the very credibility of science when they cast doubt on our methods. when they do that, they make it easier to distort scientific findings in controversial policy areas. we can see that happening right now with issues like stem cells, abortion, global warming and missile defense."

"what should be clear, however, is that combining the many different agencies involved in intelligence gathering and analysis at a single point-that of the director of intelligence-is almost certain not to succeed in delivering the kind of ambiguous yet essential functionality that everyone wants. so, some other kind of connectivity, along with a more creative approach, is required-one that incorporates not only the sharing of information across agency boundaries (a recommendation of the commission's that has received relatively little attention), but active collaboration, joint training, and the development of long term personal relationships between agencies as well."

venice -- officials in indiana and washington, d.c., said they are dumbfounded by a statement u.s. rep. katherine harris made about a terrorist plot to blow up a power grid in indiana.

in making the statement during a speech to 600 people monday night in venice, harris either shared a closely held secret or passed along second-hand information as fact.

a staff member of the u.s. house permanent select committee on intelligence, which oversees the nation's intelligence operations, said he had heard of no such plot.

and indiana officials in the county where the power grid is located were at a loss to explain where the information originated.

...she said in the speech that a man of middle eastern heritage had been arrested in the plot and that explosives were found in his home in carmel, a suburb north of indianapolis.

harris, a republican from longboat key who is running for re-election, said the case was an example of the nation's success in fighting terrorism.

carmel mayor james brainard and a spokesman for indiana gov. joe kernan said they had no knowledge of such a plot. brainard said he had never spoken to harris.

harris regrets bogus terror plot claim

washington - republican rep. katherine harris said wednesday she regrets concerns caused by her claim that a plot existed to blow up the power grid in carmel, ind. city officials disputed the claims of a plot.

"i was told in an open, group setting that a recent situation threatened a midwestern community and that it had been diffused," harris said wednesday. "i regret that i had no knowledge of the sensitive nature of this situation and any undue concern this may have caused."

children did not abandon comics; comics, in their drive to attain respect and artistic accomplishment, abandoned children. and for a long time we as lovers and partisans of comics were afraid, after so many long years of struggle and hard work and incremental gains, to pick up that old jar of greasy kid stuff again, and risk undoing it all. comics have always been an arriviste art form, and all upstarts are to some degree ashamed of their beginnings. but frankly, i don't think that's what's going on in comics anymore.

now, i think, we have simply lost the habit of telling stories to children. and how sad is that?