Legatissimo.info - Political

Do you recognize this country?

kyle — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 15:19:09 -0500

Donald Vance, a 29-year-old Navy veteran from Chicago, was a whistle-blower who prompted the raid by tipping off the F.B.I. to suspicious activity at the company where he worked, including possible weapons trafficking. He was arrested and held for 97 days — shackled and blindfolded, prevented from sleeping by blaring music and round-the-clock lights. In other words, he was subjected to the same mistreatment that thousands of non-Americans have been subjected to since the 2003 invasion.

Even after the military learned who Mr. Vance was, they continued to hold him in these abusive conditions for weeks more. He was not allowed to defend himself at the Potemkin hearing held to justify his detention. And that was special treatment. As an American citizen, he was at least allowed to attend his hearing. An Iraqi, or an Afghani, or any other foreigner, would have been barred from the room.

From The New York Times

Politically charged phrases

kyle — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 10:32:37 -0500

Republicans
stem cell
natural gas
death tax
illegal aliens
class action
war on terror

Democrats
private accounts
trade agreement
american people
tax breaks

Be sure to check out the full list at Slate.com - via kottke

FOX News: really classy

kyle — Wed, 04 Oct 2006 08:32:28 -0500

What's wrong with this picture?

It's worth noting that they supposedly ran this CG multiple times.

My new employer

kyle — Tue, 22 Aug 2006 15:23:00 -0500

CGL Group has merged with DemocracyInAction.com. Our little political baby is Wired for Change. This is exciting stuff. We're in a great spot to offer some extraordinarily innovative political technology and strategy in the coming weeks, months, and years.

Republican plan for victory in Iraq

kyle — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 10:24:00 -0500

I'm not supposed to leak this, but it's too important for me to just sit on it. Yesterday afternoon, this came across my desk, it's the Republican plan for victory in Iraq.

Source...

Commencement, heraldic trumpets, and my hour long chat with George H W Bush

kyle — Mon, 22 May 2006 11:29:00 -0500

As of yesterday afternoon, I am no longer a student at the George Washington University, instead I join the ranks of alumni they'll hit up for money a few times a year. The Commencement ceremony was held on the national mall, just in front of the Capitol building. It's a pretty big thing, usually with around 20,000 people in attendance. It's full of pomp, circumstance, academic regalia, and two herald trumpet players.

Now what is a herald trumpet, you're wondering. This is a herald trumpet:

It often has a banner hung from the extraordinarily long bell, and folks play them when they want to look cool. Here's where I enter the equation. As a graduating senior in the music department, I was selected to be one of the two people who play the fanfares to open the commencement ceremonies -- this year, keynoted by former president George H. W. Bush and his lovely wife Barbara.

Okay, I thought, this should be pretty cool. I'll get to stand on stage with a former president, play a few notes, and go sit down with my friends. Except that's not exactly how it happened.

I was waiting backstage with the other trumpet player and the university marshall, when she told us it was time to go on. We walked towards the platform where we saw the Bushs standing there waiting. George shook our hands, talked to us a bit about jazz, and I thought that was pretty cool. I'm not a huge fan of his policies, but you've got to respect the fact that this man was, at one point in time, the leader of the free world -- that's pretty impressive.

Along with one other person I didn't know, the six of us walked up on stage. The university marshall pointed at us and we played. Then the graduating student started to process in. But, lo and behold, who was standing next to me? Why, Bush senior, of course. And for the hour while people processed in -- 45 minutes to an hour, I'm not exactly sure -- I stood next to him and chatted.

We talked about his grandkids. We talked about his advice if I go into politics: "Never get between a man with a camera and an Oriental woman." -- What? We waved at people. We talked about the research I did for my thesis on volunteer integration in political campaigns via emergent technology. The other trumpet player's phone rang -- it was on vibrate -- but when he told Bush that, the former president insisted that he give him his phone, and he called the person back and left a message saying something to the effect of "This is George H. W. Bush, number 41, sorry I missed you, congratulations." We talked about how it's a weird feeling to be elected president, how impressive the oval office is, and what it's like to go to school in the District.

The photo editor of the school newspaper was there taking pictures, and being the outgoing senior design editor, I was able to get a CD of all the pictures he took. I asked Bush if I could get the picture signed, and he told me to mail it to him, and then he gave me his business card. If I can find a scanner, I'll get a picture of it uploaded.

It was an unexpectedly awesome/surreal day. And now after that little adventure yesterday, I'm here at my full time job working away. I can't wait until I get the picture back signed. It's gonna look great in my collection.

A huge thanks to Sam Sherraden, outgoing Hatchet photo editor extraordinaire, who gave me a CD of a bunch of wonderful photos of Bush and me. Have fun in China, Sam.

Are you still on Kerry's list?

kyle — Sun, 05 Mar 2006 16:12:03 -0500

During the election, some people suggested that John Kerry didn't get "it." Whatever the nebulous "it" is, it seems clearer every day that he still doesn't understand. Case in point, he is still blasting away at his campaign email list. I can't imagine the sort of unsubscribe rate he has per email blast, but I imagine that it's probably pretty embarrassing.

John: You are not a good candidate. 2004 was never about you. And the fact that you couldn't harness all the idiocy of the current administration is more astounding to me than anything else I've seen in politics.

I'm not sure how this fellow, Tom Matrullo was able to stay on Kerry's list for so long. But he just recently unsubscribed and provided Sen. Kerry with a good explanation of why. For the record, he's not the only one.

Quote of the whenever

kyle — Sat, 18 Feb 2006 21:37:10 -0500

"She's a pretty little girl," the 84-year-old Democrat told reporters. "The day I don't look at pretty women is the day I die."

Republican or Democrat...

kyle — Tue, 31 Jan 2006 11:45:45 -0500

I'm sure we can all agree: It would be pretty damn scary to run into zombie dinosaurs.

Go ahead, prove me wrong. I dare you.