pop-culture for the people

In honor of Father’s Day I decided to write this article because it was inspired by my Dad.  He is a registered Republican, and I think would describe himself as conservative, but I’ve never actually asked.  I figure since he considers me a liberal, that makes him a conservative (“You know, liberals are just conservatives who haven’t paid taxes yet”—thanks, Dad).  So, I had this conversation with him and my mom recently, via the phone, in which he said he does not like Bush but dislikes Kerry more.  My mom agreed but then said she wasn’t probably going to vote, since it doesn’t matter anyway.  So I asked for her vote, since she wasn’t going to use it, but she then said she’d vote just to cancel mine out.  What did I do to deserve this?  I told them that since they are so willing to believe what they hear on FoxNews and so willing to follow the popular opinion, why not follow my opinion, someone they raised and have known and trusted for the past 25 years.  That didn’t fly very well, so I decided to write this article. 

So here it is, this article attempts to persuade those fence-sitters who don’t really like Bush, but can’t really think of a reason not to vote for him (like my parents).  It does not attempt to persuade died-in-the-wool conservative Republicans to vote for Kerry; it is for people who agree with certain aspects of liberal thinking, like reproductive freedom and a live-and-let-live attitude regarding homosexuals.  So don’t harass me if you disagree with these views, I’m not addressing you anyway!

Much of my specific information is from On the Issues which is a non-partisan website trying to organize how candidates stand on all the major issues using their speeches, press-releases, and congressional votes.  Links to the candidates’ own websites are also provided. 

Top Reason Not to Vote for Bush: He Lies (and I’m talking serious lies, not “oh, he broke his campaign promise” lies)
Lie #1: The Iraq and Al Qaeda “connection”.  Talk about “waffling” on the issues, as Kerry has been accused of.  Bush himself said Iraq was not behind 9/11, he only said they were behind terrorism, but in their own country.  When WMD couldn’t be found, Cheney started spouting about some Al Qaeda/Iraq connection; that Iraq was training Al Qaeda operatives.  Bush then agreed with Cheney, and now that the 9/11 commission has said there are no credible ties.  So now Bush says that there has been “contact” between the two.  Lets just think about this for a minute.  On one hand we have Osama who hates secular states and is a religious fanatic; on the other hand we have Saddam who hates religious fanatics and loves to be a dictator.  Why do you think Osama was in Afghanistan and not Iraq?  Because of the Taliban, a government based on strict religion that gave Osama free reign.  If Saddam was going to aid Osama, we would have found Al Qaeda based in Iraq.  Need I remind you that there were NO Iraqi people involved in the 9/11 attacks?  In fact most of them were Saudi.  Bush went after Iraq because he wanted to finish what daddy started.

Lie #2: The Patriot Act protects us.  I actually wrote a lengthy email about it in September of ‘03, which I have posted as a separate article, and have linked to here, if you haven’t already read it.  As an update, no men in trench coats as of yet.

Lie #3: Science is alive and well in the White House.  There is no such thing as science in the White House (and as you’ll find out, Bush believes Creationism is as valid as Evolution, so I guess that explains everything).  Check out this website for all the facts.  The short of it is that Bush suppresses any studies that don’t support his views on issues (namely environmental policy that he is trying to push through), and when that does not work, he “rearranges” his advisory panels.

Lie #4: Opening up the Artic National Wildlife Reserve will reduce our dependence on foreign oil.  US Geological Survey reports that there is a 50% chance of finding 9 months supply of oil in the refuge.  There is a greater chance of finding less, and a lesser chance of finding more.  Read the report here from the USGS.  Instead the plan would ruin priceless land forever for a measly 9 months worth of oil that would not be ready for years.  We’d save more oil through increasing the average MPG of new cars than would ever be pulled out of the refuge, but that is an entire discussion all on its own.

Ok, so that aside, it is time to compare the candidates.  I’ve bolded the items that I feel are most important, but please take the time to read everything.

On a Woman’s Right to Choose:
Bush
No funds to international groups that offer abortion. (Jan 2001) [banned on his 1st day in office-the anniversary of Roe v. Wade]
Ban partial-birth abortions, and reduce abortions overall. (Oct 2000)[in other words, errode Roe v. Wade as much as possible]
Approval of RU-486 is wrong. (Sep 2000)
Would support - but not pursue - a pro-life Amendment. (Jun 1999)
Supreme Court is wrong: leave abortion to the states. (Jun 2000)

Kerry
Voted NO on banning partial birth abortions. (Oct 1999)
No criminalization of a woman’s right to choose. (Jun 2003)

On Civil Rights:
Bush
Don’t let Patriot Act expire-terrorist threat won’t. (Jan 20)
Instinct on gay issues: do not touch them. (Jun 2003)
Tolerance & equal rights, not gay marriage & special rights. (Oct 2000)
No gay adoptions (Apr 2000)
Against gay marriage, but leave it to the states. (Feb 2000)
No gays in Boy Scouts. (Aug 1999)
Hate-crime rules don’t apply to gays. (Jul 1999)

Kerry
Flag burning is displeasing, but it’s free expression
Voted NO on Amendment to prohibit flag burning. (Dec 1995)
Voted NO on prohibiting same-sex marriage. (Sep 1996)

On Separation of Church and State:
Bush
Ten Commandments OK in schools for “inherent values”. (Jan 2000)
Use faith-based programs for addicted Americans. (Aug 2003) [maybe we should trust him on this one-seeing as he is a recovered alcoholic and cocaine addict]
Allow religious groups to address social ills. (Dec 1998)
Diminish role of govt as communities & CHURCHES take over. (Jul 1998)
Religious groups must be part of solution to society’s ills. (Jan 2001)
Establish federal & state “offices of faith-based action”. (Jan 2001)
“No-strings” vouchers for religious groups to do charity. (Jan 2000) [no strings for the churches you mean—though they can’t discriminate against who they give aid to, they can still discriminate against who they employ]

Kerry
Honors the separation of church and state. (Dec 2003)

On the Environment
Bush
Abandons campaign pledge to reduce CO2 emissions. (Mar 2001)
Restrict wetland development, but not arsenic or CO2. (Apr 2001)
Weaken Clean Air; no comment on Clean Water. (Nov 2000)
Base enviro decisions on science & market-driven solutions. (Apr 2000) [but only the “science” he approves]
Don’t link trade to environment and labor. (Sep 2000)

Kerry
Raise CAFE standard to 36 mpg by 2015. (Jan 25)
20% renewable energy by 2020. (Nov 2003)
Voted YES on continuing desert protection in California. (Oct 1994)
Voted YES on requiring EPA risk assessments. (May 1994)
All new trade must include labor and environmental standards. (Jan 25)

On the Economy / Trade
Bush
Federal government should stay out of the marketplace. (Dec 1999)
Cut the deficit in half in the next 5 years. (Jan 20) [the deficit that did not exist when he took office in 2001]
On tax cuts: Claims lower income people benefit more than rich; untrue. (Oct 2000)
$500B to people earning under $100K; $800B to those richer. (Oct 2000)

Kerry
Close the loopholes that reward corps taking jobs overseas
Will follow Clinton’s plan to halve deficit in four years. (Oct 2003) [Which worked, seeing as we had no deficit at the end of Clinton’s two terms.]
Voted YES on restricting class-action lawsuits. (Dec 1995)
Voted NO on $350 billion in tax breaks over 11 years. (May 2003)
Voted YES on increasing tax deductions for college tuition. (May 2001)
Voted YES on welfare overhaul. (Sep 1995)
Raise minimum wage to $6.65 by next year, then higher. (Jan 25)
Voted YES on limiting the President’s power to impose economic sanctions. (Jul 1998)

On Education (in its various forms)
Bush
Evolution & creationism both valid; let states decide. (Aug 1999)
Teachers’ unions obstacle to school innovation. (Apr 1999)
Teach values and moral responsibility in schools. (Apr 1998)
Fund 2,000 charter schools; defund failing schools. (Apr 2000) [because taking the money away makes everything better]
Double funding for abstinence to prevent STDs. (Jan 20)
Promote abstinence in schools and via churches. (Apr 2000)
Abstinence Ed should get funded as much as Sex Ed. (Jun 1999) [despite the fact that it DOES NOT WORK, as noted by the American Academy of Pediatrics as well as the American Medical Association]

Kerry
Vouchers drain resources from public schools. (Jan 25)
Voted YES on funding smaller classes instead of private tutors. (May 2001)
Voted NO on $75M for abstinence education. (Jul 1996)

On HMO’s / Insurance
Bush
Absolutely opposed to a national health care plan. (Oct 2000)
Opposes doctor assisted suicide. (Apr 2000)

Kerry
Don’t push seniors into HMOs; change Bush Rx plan. (Jan 25)
Voted YES on allowing importation of Rx drugs from Canada. (Jul 2002)
Voted YES on allowing patients to sue HMOs & collect punitive damages. (Jun 2001)
Voted YES on including prescription drugs under Medicare. (Jun 2000)
Voted NO on banning human cloning. (Feb 1998)
Establish “report cards” on HMO quality of care. (Aug 2000)
Make certain the veterans have benefits. (Nov 2003)

On Gun Control / Crime
Bush
No child-safety locks on guns; concealed carrying ok. (Jun 1999)
Assault weapon OK; waiting period not OK. (Apr 1999)
“Tough-love” in strictly disciplined juvenile boot camps. (Dec 1999)
For tough juvenile justice laws. (Jun 1999)

Kerry
Gun owner & hunter, but rights come with responsibility. (Mar 21)
Supports assault weapons ban & Brady Bill. (Oct 2003)
Voted YES on background checks at gun shows. (May 1999)

On Campaign Finance Reform
Bush
Private soft money OK, with full & prompt disclosure. (Mar 2001)
Ban soft money, but no public financing of elections. (Oct 2000)
Ban some soft money; fewer restrictions on individuals. (Sep 2000) [uh, waffling, anyone?]

Kerry
Voted YES on banning campaign donations from unions and corporations. (Apr 2001)

Miscellaneous
Bush
Increased military pay by 4% per year. (Aug 2003)
Manned mission to the Moon and Mars. (Jan 15) [because that’s really what we need right now]

Kerry
Automatic citizenship to immigrants who serves in army. (Sep 2003)
Voted YES on military pay raise of 4.8%. (Feb 1999)

So, after all this, I’ll borrow one from the late Ronald Reagan: Are you better off now, than you were 4 years ago?  (if you are, I’m jealous, because you must be in the top 2% tax bracket).

—hathyr

Links:
Bush’s campaign website, but you can also find him at the White House.

Kerry’s campaign website

I love the name of this website.

I LOVE videogaming.  I’ve played games on just about every computer and game system that has come out and have owned many of them too.  Some day I’d like to get myself a couple of arcade machines to have sitting in the living room.  One thing I miss about todays games is, well, yesterdays games.  Lots of games that came about over the years are either on disks that don’t work or require a game system you long since lost that stupid wallwart power adapter for or the game simply won’t play on todays computers.  Making matters worse, lots of these games are no longer even sold anymore making it more difficult to enjoy them.  So what to do about these gems of the past?

Good news and Bad News
Well there is good news and bad news.  The good news is that a lot of these games are still available in one way or another and many of them can still be played today.  The bad news is that some of the games are in a state of limbo requiring you to perform some possibly illegal activity to play them.  Say you want to play the original Final Fantasy (NES) today, but you don’t have the NES kicking around anymore.  Well, you can play it on your computer with an emulator, but you need to get a copy of the game on your computer.  Most of the time people find a copy online and start playing.  Problem is that the game is still copyrighted and the copy you downloaded isn’t technically legal (strangely according to Nintendo and backed by some court cases, “fair use” laws don’t seem to apply), though some people consider it a gray area.  Well, I am going to explain a bunch of different ways to play some of those old games, but I will leave you to the decision of how you wish to interpret “fair use”.

Emulation is by far the most popular form of playing old games.  In fact, lots of rereleases of old games are emulated.  Emulation is basically the use of software or hardware to mimic the software or hardware of another system.  For instance, there are emulators for the PC to play old NES games.

Here’s some good sites for emulation:
Retrogames
ClassicGaming
Arcade@Home

Also, there is DOS emulation for those old DOS games that don’t work on newer computers, and complete machine emulation for games that don’t work on new machines or programs designed for different systems altogether. 

Links:
DOSBox.  The DOS emulator, great for those pesky old DOS games.
BOCHS. For emulating a full PC (not for the faint of heart).
Basilisk.  Emulate an old Mac on a regular PC.
PearPC.  Emulate a new Mac on a fast PC.

Back in the days before 3D gaming, a lot of folks used to play adventure games.  Early home computer adventure games were text based, which required the tedious process of typing commands in to complete the game.  Of the text based games, the Infocom company made many of the best ones out there.  You can still play lots of these games today using rewrites of the games or even a bot on AOL Instant Messanger.

Text adventure Links:
Information on Infocom
Infocombot An article about the AIMbot that lets you play old IC games.

Later adventure games, called ‘Graphic Adventure’ games made by Sierra and LucasArts (or LucasFilm Games) became available as computer graphics became more sophisticated.  The Sierra and LucasArts games were some of the best written games made (some say best games ever made).  Sadly, most of these games are either unplayable or difficult to run or configure anymore due to their dependence on DOS or early versions of Windows.  However, lots of these games are still playable through some independent projects like ScummVM and Sarien.  You will have to have a copy of the original game to play the games.  This means either unburying those old disks in your attic, buying a copy of the game on eBay, or going into the grayzone and finding a copy of the game online in an abandonware site or p2p system (KaZaA, WinMX, etc.).

Interestingly, some games have been given to the public domain by the original authors of the games who realize there is no longer any significant money to be made by selling them.

Some Graphic Adventure Game Links:
ScummVM A new game engine for old LucasArts games.  All LA games are now fully playable.
Sarien Similar to ScummVM, but for Sierra games (still early in development).

Lots of old games have also had complete rewrites by fans of the originals, some have even had fanmade sequels as well.  Here’s a list of a few notables.

Total Rewrites, Fanmade Sequels, New Old Games:
Tierra Kings Quest I and II rewrites.
LucasFan Games Offering total rewrites of Maniac Mansion and Zak McKracken.
Space Quest 0:Replicated A prequel to the SQ games.
AtariAge Home of lots of Atari info, games and newly written games for the various Atari machines.

Well, this article is not so much a review, but an intro of sorts to the wonderful world of gaming yesteryear.  Before I go, I wanted to touch on the issue of fair use.  A lot of games are no longer available for sale anymore, but the copyright laws have gotten to be so ridiculously long that most of these games will never see the public domain in my lifetime (especially considering every few years they increase the copyright laws).  Lots of folks believe that these games have been abandoned by the author or company that produced them and should therefor be considered public domain.  Technically, this isn’t legal (at least according to a number of court cases, but I’m also not a lawyer) but it is an issue largely ignored by software developers, aside from a few noteable companies.  Nintendo for one isn’t keen on folks ‘pirating’ their old games.  This is partially due to the fact that they don’t really ‘abandon’ their games, as they rerelease older games (mostly use-to-be hot sellers) on more modern systems.  So if it is possible to find the original author of the game and see how they feel on the issue, do it.  Lots of authors are cool with it, but please respect the wishes of the developers if they aren’t.

Some cool developers:
Al Lowe Creator of Leisure Suit Larry and Freddy Pharkas, Frontier Pharmacist which you can get here for free.
IntellivisionLives The Blue Sky Rangers, creators of many Intellivision greats have several games for free.

Where to get the old games:
eBay A great place to find old games for sale.
Home of the Underdogs A great site for abandonware.
AbandonWare Ring Other good AW sites.

Some miscellaneous links to gaming stuff:
MobyGames The IMDb of videogaming
GameFAQS Gaming resources, past and present.

Enjoy!

-hollywood

Other members:
Tobita: Tobita love wrastle game.  Make punch, break chair!

By way of introduction, I wrote this as an email to a bunch of people about a year ago.  Names have been changed to protect the innocent, but other than that, it’s pretty much in its same form.  As always, comments are welcome. Oh, and anything in [] has been added for clarity for this article.

Ok, so I’d like to add to the Bush-bashing by talking about the Patriot Act.  I guess this would also be Ashcroft bashing, but that’s fine with me too.  This is probably going to be a rather long email, so if you don’t have the time to read it, you may want to stop now. 

Fist lets talk about me.  Really, there is a reason for this.  I have been moderately politically active for a number of years, since high school in fact.  I used to write letters to the White House during the Clinton administration for various reasons.  Usually it was for environmental reasons and I was most often addressing VP Gore.  But I used to joke that they probably have a file on me, cuz I’m sure they track people who write to the Pres and VP just to make sure they’re not going to be killed by a fanatic.  And I’m sort of ok with that.  Recently I’ve joined the ACLU and EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) for their action alerts so I can easily bombard congressmen with emails and faxes.  Plus I’m on around 6 other environmental and women’s issue lists (ask if you’re interested in any).  In addition I have a degree in Biology from a little-known private liberal arts school that we’re all familiar with, where I took a few chemistry courses, a few genetics courses, some development courses and a handful of politically charged women’s courses.  In addition, I routinely buy lots of stuff online at Amazon, where they keep VERY detailed records of buyer’s purchases, preferences, and ratings of various things.  And I’m very sure I have some rather odd purchases in that list, like Germs: Biological Weapons and America’s Secret War (which actually was a gift to my epidemiologist sister for X-mas, but that I currently have on my desk cuz she gave it to me after she was done with it).  I also used to write for a little website named Priva, dedicated to privacy online and off [another one of Hollywood’s sites].  I still sometimes write for another website that is not quite so political [as in this one]. So where am I going with this? Hang on, I’m getting there.

The Patriot Act.  Oh that bundle of joy.  Many people will say, it simply makes it easier to use law-enforcement techniques that were in operation before the act.  Hmmm.  Well, lets put it this way, before the Patriot Act you had to go to a JUDGE to get a WARRANT to search a privately owned building or place a wire tap.  Now the “Anti-terrorist” agents have to get permission from a “Anti-terrorism” committee whose meetings ARE HELD IN SECRET. These people are not held accountable for their decisions.  In addition, they are allowed, with one warrant, given by a secret committee, to SECRETLY search a persons residence repeatedly for up to a couple of weeks before even telling the person they are being searched.  Meaning the person can be searched without ever being actually served the warrant, or have time to notify a lawyer.  The “Anti-terrorism” committee can also authorize wire-taps.  We don’t even get to know who is on the committee or what their qualifications are.  At least with Judges you have some idea that they know the law.

The Patriot Act also gives the FBI access to library and bookstore records.  Know all those books that you’ve checked out over the years?  If your library hasn’t purged their records (which some have done now in response to this provision) your records have been turned over to the FBI.  Anybody else shop at Amazon?  Know that detailed list they have of past purchases and preferences?  The FBI can demand it if they want to, but there has not been any reports yet of them doing in.  They have, however, already taken the library lists.

Anybody here a registered diver?  A couple months ago the FBI requested and received 10 MILLION names and addresses of all the registered SCUBA divers in the US.  Whatever address you used when you registered is on that list.  My sister’s name is on list. She is a genetic counselor married to an immunologist from India. Think any red flags might have gone up on her?  What about me, since she’s my sister, plus they have all that other info on me already.  Plus my other sister the epidemiologist with an “interest” in germ warfare.  Think there have been any red flags for her?  Maybe my whole family has been red flagged because we’re all in the sciences. Think I’m being paranoid? Here are a couple of paraphrased true stories as reported in the Sacramento Bee.

Two white women go to board a plane for Boston.  They are detained for hours by FBI agents because their names came up on the “No-Fly List.”  What’s the no-fly list, you may ask?  Its the people, citizens or immigrants, who have been flagged by the FBI so that they are detained any time they try to fly.  Some people are detained because their names are SIMILAR to those on the list. Some are on the list despite no apparent connections with terrorist groups.  The two women had very American names, the only reason they think they were on the list is because they run an anti-war newspaper.  However, they can’t find out why.  The no-fly list is unpublished, unavailable for review, and you cannot find out the criteria for being put on it.  The two women with the help of the ACLU are suing the FBI to try to find out why they were on the list.  The FBI of course denies that people could be put on it because of political views.  They responded for requests for documentation regarding the case (under the Freedom of Information Act) by saying no such documentation exists.  Anyone else think this is starting to feel like an X-Files episode?  The no-fly list has also come under fire for being racial profiling because many people are being detained because they look middle eastern, or have middle eastern names. 

Back to the library thing.  Ashcroft has said that the actions of the libraries that are destroying their users info are hysterical and paranoid.  However, there has already been a case of a man surrounded by police at a library computer terminal after engaging in a political discussion about how much he hates Bush.  The secret service then got in on the action and questioned him for hours about whether he wants to hurt the president (and now I have just activated Carnivore because of that last phrase; if you don’t know, Carnivore is the email utility the FBI uses to search all email traffic for phrases that concern them, ie “hurt the president” and a whole bunch of others that I won’t list so that this email doesn’t send up enough flags for men in trenchcoats to come knocking on my door tonight).  So, it could happen, because it HAS ALREADY HAPPENED. 

So here’s my final thought.  Think back over the last couple of years.  What have you checked out at the library?  What have you bought online or at other places that track your purchases? What classes did you take in college?  What groups did you join? Who do you associate with? 

Consider this, If I really am red-flagged, or if this email sends up red flags, you have now been added to whatever list I’m on because I included you in this discussion.  Is this really the country we think it is?  Do you really want to live this way? 

Maybe I’m being paranoid.  Maybe I don’t have all the facts. And maybe my FBI file just got a little bigger.

—hathyr

Links:
The text of the Patriot Act courtesy of Thomas which you should check out anytime you need info on specific bills.

The EFF’s view of the Patriot Act.

The ACLU’s take on the Patriot Act

And as contrast, the government’s take on the Patriot Act