Al Sharpton slimed by Village Voice

From the Village Voice:

Roger Stone, the longtime Republican dirty-tricks operative who led the mob that shut down the Miami-Dade County recount and helped make George W. Bush president in 2000, is financing, staffing, and orchestrating the presidential campaign of Reverend Al Sharpton.

Recruited in 2000 by his friend James Baker, the former secretary of state, to spearhead the GOP street forces in Miami, Stone is apparently confident that he can use the Democrat-bashing preacher to damage the party’s eventual nominee, just as Sharpton himself bragged he did in the New York mayoral campaign of 2001.

Umm, maybe, or maybe Sharpton is taking help wherever he can find it. And why on earth shouldn’t he criticize other Democrats? Many of them are weak on the issues race and war, issues Sharpton views as important.

Sharpton rightfully points out that Dick Morris, a Republican strategist, worked for Bill Clinton in 1996 so why all the hubbub now?

The article implies, without ever actually proving, that Sharpton is somehow in bed with Republicans, a charge I suspect many will deem ludicrous.

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Is this a great country or what?

Janet Jackson’s Bare Breast Tops Internet Searches.

Reuters - A flash of singer Janet Jackson’s right breast during a halftime Super Bowl performance has become the most-searched image in Internet history, online companies said on Wednesday.

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Is Ralph ready to rock?

Dear Nader 2000 list subscriber,

I am considering whether or not to run for President in 2004, and because of your past support, you are invited to keep up to date and provide input about any potential run this year.

I intend to decide soon. Please take a minute right now to sign up at my exploratory committee’s website at the following link: http://www.naderexplore04.org.

I hope you remain interested and personally involved in our country’s elections at all levels.  Thank you for your support in 2000.

Sincerely,

Ralph Nader

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Some presidential candidates for your perusual

Ronnie James Dio

An interfaith prayer breakfast attended by Democratic Presidential Candidate Ronnie James Dio went horribly awry this morning when the candidate bound an Episcopal priest in heavy chains and threw him into the rushing Colorado River.

Finally, a candidate who dares to be different! Plus - and this is a seriously important reason to vote for him - he was in Black Sabbath along with Ozzy Osbourne.

Chris P. Carrot

My fellow Americans, my name is Chris P. Carrot, and I want to be your next president. You may be asking yourself, “Why on Earth would I vote for a talking vegetable?” or “What can he do for me?” The plain and simple answer is: It will take a carrot to improve America’s vision!

Yeeesh. Someone should tell vegetarians - of which I, especially after Mad Cow II, mostly am - that their websites should be, a bit, um, meatier.

Can other candidates honestly say, as I can, that they would gladly lay down their very lives to defend against free radicals?

HEY, you got something against radicals, pal??? Don’t make me use the juicer!

In other 2004 news, humor columnist Dave Barry is selling 2004 election t-shirts and bumper stickers while recycling the platform from his 2000 run. I believe the crucial issue of exploding toilets is still being discussed by the Barry campaign.  

And finally, check out the apparently deeply serious but actually art guerilla troupe, the Experimental Party.

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Hmmmm

I was doing some database programming, the application was nearly done, all the screens and reports worked fine. However, when I created the menu system to run the app, well, things got weird.

Sometimes the app would open then immediately, and I thought quite rudely, close. How helpful. Other times, menus would be grayed out or acting bizarrely. Often the Windows system menu would just wander back in, unasked and uninvited, and replace my menu. Sometimes the whole thing would lock up for no apparent reason.

Being as I am a professional programmer, I aproached this in a professional manner, thus Joey and Suzy, my cats here in my home office, only had to dive for cover once. “The human is yelling at the computer, it is time to hide under the bed until he calms down. Then we will emerge looking woeful and he will feel guilty then pet and feed us.”

Seasoned programmers know when weird stuff like this happens, it’s practically never a deeply complex tricky hidden error. Instead, it virtually always is something completely obvious - but exactly what that is can elude one for hours. How zen-like, you know the answer is right in front of you, yet knowing this helps little - until you finally get it.

And sure enough, afer much bashing about and gnashing of teeth, I discovered I’d forgotten the line of code that tells the menus to activate. Well duh. However, programmers know exactly what I’m talking about here. You don’t see the error because it’s completely obvious and right in front of you.

Sometimes this is an apt metaphor for life, too!

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Reuters says U.S. probe on Iraq staff inadequate

Reuters said on Tuesday a U.S. Army investigation into the detention and treatment of three of its Iraqi staff was “woefully inadequate” and called for it to be reopened.

“The government’s investigation of the allegations of mistreatment made by Reuters staff was woefully inadequate,” Reuters Global Managing Editor David Schlesinger said in a statement.

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