FlaSoxxJim

Correct. In the assessment of Kerry and his actions it means nothing. Here's some of the graphic and likely disagreeable 1971 testimony from Kerry. Such reports have come from other vets. If it is true, then it's not even slanderous, let alone treasonous. If it's true, should it not be made public? [A particular sore point is Kerry's 1971 testimony before the U.S. Senate. He said American soldiers "raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blew up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages in a fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks and generally ravaged the countryside of South Vietnam."]

What about the slant drilling issue? More than a few people have suggested that teh US put an embolneded Kwait up to it by assuring we would jump in and save the day if/when Iraq retaliated.

Yep, clear as mud. There should have been people coming out of the woodwork 5 years ago remembering serving with Bush in AL during the 5 months in question, and there should be now as well. It is a continuing point of interest that this is not the case. And it is a continuing point of interest that He may not have gotten the assignment he did if the rules were adhered to, depending on the substance of his arrest record explanations that have been sharpied out of esistence on his Guard application. Nothing more, nothing less. In 5 years, pay stubs and a dental exam record, and now a spottyrecollection here andf there of Bush being in AL is the most incontrovertable evidence the White House has that the "AWOL" charge is baseless?

How does it "dispel the Bush AWOL myths?" It is another news, worthy of pursuit and interpretation, but doesn't dispel anything. Bush making good on his word from Sunday's Meet the Press interview, and telling us what wa sblacked out on his Guard application, why he apparently failed to show up for training for 5 months, WHY NOONE CAN REMEMBER SERVING WITH HIM AT THE TIME... that could dispel the issues.

On Sunday, Russert asked Bush if he wpuld be willing to release EVERYTHING concerning his Air National Guard service if it would clear things up. Bush said, "Yes. Absolutely." The White House has backed so far away from that in the last 3 days as to be laughable. They have produced sometimes illegible photocopies of pay records from some of the time in question, and now a dental exam record that shows Bush was at least on site in AL on Jan 6. The day was already accounted for in other documents. This kind of "evidence" of gainful employment and carrying out job duties is laughed out of civil courts daily, yet the nation is supposed to accept this as the proof that Bush did his bit in its entirety. Pay stubs and am image of Bush's teeth still don't account for 5 months in '72 when Bush didn't chow up for training, don't explain why he missed his second physical, and why he was disqualified from the flight training policy. They don't reveal what was blacked out in those entries explaining his arrest record on his Guard application. Are we really supposed to believe that wreath-stealing and roudiness at a college football game were the sensitive matters that were blacked out? You don't suspect that, just possibly, DUI information of the like was deleted as potentially damaging before the 2000 campaign? If his arrests involved alcohol or drugs, he probably would have not been selected for air training, as these were highly coveted spots in a self-admitted haven for well-heeled young white men to avoid the draft durinf Viet Nam. I sincerely thank you and respect you for your service and dedication to the country, and every citizen owes a debt of gratitude to every serviceman. I just honestly don't think this President respects you or the US citizens enough to sell anything straight. I won't accuse you of being or sounding stupid. Ever. In fact, it takes a special kind of intelligence to be able to conceive the rationalizations necessary to keep intact the mental house of cards that allows on to still think this President and this Administration is on the up and up despite a mountain of evidence to the contrary. As Rep/ Waxman and many, many others have said in regard to WMD as war justification, "the Administration asked the U.N. Security Council, the Congress, and the American people to rely on information that your own experts knew was not credible." If Bush is willing to send servicemen off to kill and die, based on knowingly trumped up allegations, I think I have the right to question why certain records from the Drunken Bush days do not seem to exist.

I'm sure the President recalls a lot of things that *hic!* may or may not have actually happened *hic!* during that stretch. :puke

Obviously, you have an Evil Twin out there looking to drive you slowly, inexorably, inevitably insane through errant Internet communication... Don't worry, it happens now and then.

You mean Sir Ian "Bilbo Baggins" Holm? I also noticed he was in Naked Lunch which I caught like half of on late night cable a month or so back.

It's been a long time since I've seen Bird, but I liked the film and took Clint seriuosly as a director after that. A lot of people thought the film dwelled too nuch on the drug addiction side of Charlie Parker and not on his genius (I LOVE Parker, btw, and I don't think 'genius' does the man justice). But, hell, his life was tragic and tormented, and he shouldn't have died as young as he did, so I never faulted the film for its grimey mood. I honestly don't recall much of Whittaker's performance, and I actually remember whoever it was that played Gillespe as being maybe a little more believable in the role. Maybe Whitttaker was still too fresh in my mind in his recent role in my boy Barry L's Good Morning Viet Nam for me to completely buy him as Parker. I think those were the first films I ever noted hiim in, but I may have seen hime before that.

We men are such a shallow and simple lot. A six-pack and boobs and we've been won over for life...

... And I thought it was Marple, not Maple...?

Ah! so Jim Morrison is twice removed from the source. I should have picked up on your earlier Blake reference. Brando Brando, burning bright How'd you get so erudite?

You're throwing lollipops, Brother. That's Agatha Christie oriGinally, but later coopted by the Doors on "End of the Night" off of their first album. The Christie verse starts out like this... Every night and every morn, Some to misery are born.... Next!

Having rugrats under foot has seriously cut into my intake of artsy film. Add to that my wife "hates having to read films" [insert whiny voice here], so I don't get to see much foriegn fare these days either. I have sen Badlands, Adaptation, and Punch Drunk Love and largely enjoyed all three. Punch drunk love was the first Sandler vehicle I have really enjoyed since the Wedding Singer. I always thought he'd make a convincing psychotic. And you still haven't pegged my Forest W. quote, Brando. Nothing to... cry over (nudge nudge) I guess...

I haven’t pulled too many mean-spirited pranks, and have to go back to my college days for one I kind of like. I was meeting a friend out by the alma mater statue in Cham-bana the morning of our GRE exam. It was a wintery day, probably February. I got there a few minutes before he did, and there was an old 3/4-full McDonald’s coffee cup sitting out probably from the night before. My buddy shows up and is griping about the cold, so I motion to the coffee cup and ask if he’d like a sip. He takes a big gulp and then executed an epic spit-take that the Three Stooges (all six of them) would be proud of. Anyway he didn’t die and he says he might even forgive me one day…

Unrelated story has Disney back in the headlines, the first castmember death at Magic Kingdom in almost exactly 5 years. The last castmember to die in an accident fell from the (now gone) Skyway to Tomorrowland ride. Today, it was a castmember dressed as Pluto in a Disney parade run over by a float... The story: Costumed Disney worker killed By Sean Mussenden | Sentinel Staff Writer Posted February 11, 2004, 5:11 PM EST A Disney worker was killed during a parade at the Magic Kingdom this afternoon, rescue officials said. The worker, a costumed character taking part in an afternoon parade, was killed about 3:15 p.m., said Bo Jones, assistant chief of the Reedy Creek Fire Department. "It was a costumed character, but I don't know which one," Jones said. Jones was unable to confirm reports that the worker was killed after being hit by a float. Though unaware of the cause, Jones said the accident occurred in a backstage area, out of sight of guests. Jones said the Orange County Sheriff's Office was looking into the death. Disney officials did not immediately return calls for comment.

"It's just a piece of meat, Fergus!" Who's got that one covered?

That should not be leveled at Apu (we're not big fans of personal attacks 'round here). It SHOULD be mailed to every American citizen who still manages to somehow support Bush and Co.

more fun with Flash. What do your desktop icons do at night? Icon's Story

Wow. I seriously hope you are incorrect in the statement that the Burbank is completely giving up on trad animation. I know they have been moving towerd mor digital process for several years. But the character animation, at least the keyframes, have always been hand drawn. The studio went to Xerox-transfering the pencil sketches to cells way back in the 60s - you can see the difference in the softer, rougher lines on Dalmations and Jungle Book compared to the films that came before and used hand-inking from pencil sketches. They have slowly been doing more color inking with digital processes, actually starting back around Lion King and relying less and less on manual cell painting. Digital in-betweening has been the most recent move, and it means that maybe only 4-6 of the 24 frames per second in an animated feature is actually hand drawn these days. But if they do away with hand-drawn keyframes they will have lost sight of the forest for the trees. As the last survivors of the "9 Old Men," The A-Team of Disney's Golden Era of animation, Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas (no, not THAT Frank Thomas) have got to be livid. They need to give Roy a call and help Eisner out the door.

Well done, Wayne! Here's the two you missed: Ornette Coleman & Prime Time (Getting Blakely and the Messengers, this one could have also been in your brain somewhere) Van Morrison & his Magic Orchestra (circa Astral Weeks) NOT to be confused with Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band. Wait, I'm not done.... The original lineup of the Magic Band included Zoot Horn Rollo, Antennae Jimmie Semens, and the Mascara Snake. Ah yes, the old Mascara snake. Yes, I'm one of the few/the proud owners of Beefheart's first and best, Trout Mask Replica.

Good quiz. The "Texas Jewboys" is the only one I didn't know and had to look up. I'll wait and let others chime in before listing answers.

Clinton lied and a blue dress got soiled. Bush lied and soldiers died.

I was, but I am not any more. My folks are still shareholders, and the $5 billion over-valuation of the Disney stock by CoCast will probably look pretty appealing to them, but I think a merger would only make it harder to concentrate on core missions. Despite the immensity of the WDW property here, until a few years ago I thought Disney still had a pretty good conservation ethic. The property was primarily already citrus grove, and they did not take out much environmentally super-valuable land as they built. I think they have lost some of that stewardship perspective and profit now outweighs all other decisions. I have tried to stay "green" with what few investments I have. Disney is very progressive on things like health care for partners of gay employees, and they should be applauded for that. They are the unofficial hosts of a "Gay Days" celebration weekend (much to the consternation of the Florida Fire and Brimstone bunch) that I usually bring my family out in support of. But they used 9-11 as an excuse to cut workers just like other industries, when their financial hardships were largely preexisting and not at all linked to slowing tourism. And they have cut a lot of corners for the sake of the bottom line and it shows now. I shell out for season park passes for my family every year (the money that would probably go for Sox season tix if I was up there), and even though we still go, there is just a lot less commitment to quality all around now - not that it ever was as great as the company would have you believe.

HE LIED!?!? Say it ain't so. At least I'm sure his handpicked heads of the fact-finding team to look into it all will do a good job and tell it like it is. Good to see there is still life for some after Irangate.