November 25, 2003
Posted by jpoulos at 11:09 AM ET
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As far as Doom levels go, Votives in Suspention is a remarkable achievement. Its wide grassy planes are perfect for epic gun battles, the narrow concrete hallways add a superior chase-and-hide element and the Eastern bloc concrete sensibility is an appropriate touch. But as a memorial for the World Trade Center attack, Votives in Suspention is a total snore.
On January 1, 2004, yours truly will join Boston's L Street Brownies in their annual New Year's Day swim. I will join hundreds of other idiots as we plunge into the icy Atlantic.
It's going to suck.
But it's for a good cause! Help make this a worthwhile endeavor by sponsoring me with a charitable donation. I'm hoping to raise $1000 for Helping Hands: Monkey Helpers for the Disabled, an organization that breeds and trains "helper" monkeys to assist the disabled (usually parapalegics) get through their daily life. (This is the same organization that 9622.net raised funds for last year.)
Click here to go to the pledge page, where you will have the option to make an immediate PayPal donation, or receive the details on how you can pledge via check or money order.
"But what do I get out of this?" I hear you ask. Well, for one, I'll post pictures of my sorry, frozen self on the site. You know you want to see me suffer. Now you'll get your chance.
At the same time, you'll be helping out some people (and some monkeys) who really need it.
So please, give generously. That water is COLD!
What a difference an ocean makes. Check out the cover of Paul Krugman's book The Great Unraveling as it appears in the United States, and in its latest release in the United Kingdom. Now I'm no advocate for sensationalistic bullshit, but I must admit I got a kick out of the British version. (via Atrios)
Look at this amazing exchange between Whitehouse Press Secretary Scott McClellan and a reporter over money the Whitehouse is blocking from going to former POWs. (via Tom Tomorrow)
Q: Scott, there are 17 former POWs from the first Gulf War who were tortured and filed suit against the regime of Saddam Hussein. And a judge has ordered that they are entitled to substantial financial damages. What is the administration's position on that? Is it the view of this White House that that money would be better spent rebuilding Iraq rather than going to these former POWs?MR. McCLELLAN: I don't know that I view it in those terms, David. I think that the United States -- first of all, the United States condemns in the strongest terms the brutal torture to which these Americans were subjected. They bravely and heroically served our nation and made sacrifices during the Gulf War in 1991, and there is simply no amount of money that can truly compensate these brave men and women for the suffering that they went through at the hands of Saddam Hussein's brutal regime. That's what our view is.
Q: But, so -- but isn't it true that this White House --
Q: They think they're is an --
Q: Excuse me, Helen -- that this White House is standing in the way of them getting those awards, those financial awards, because it views it that money better spent on rebuilding Iraq?
MR. McCLELLAN: Again, there's simply no amount of money that can truly compensate these brave men and women for the suffering --
Q: Why won't you spell out what your position is?
MR. McCLELLAN: I'm coming to your question. Believe me, I am. Let me finish. Let me start over again, though. No amount of money can truly compensate these brave men and women for the suffering that they went through at the hands of a very brutal regime, at the hands of Saddam Hussein. It was determined earlier this year by Congress and the administration that those assets were no longer assets of Iraq, but they were resources required for the urgent national security needs of rebuilding Iraq. But again, there is simply no amount of compensation that could ever truly compensate these brave men and women.
Q: Just one more. Why would you stand in the way of at least letting them get some of that money?
MR. McCLELLAN: I disagree with the way you characterize it.
Q: But if the law that Congress passed entitles them to access frozen assets of the former regime, then why isn't that money, per a judge's order, available to these victims?
MR. McCLELLAN: That's why I pointed out that that was an issue that was addressed earlier this year. But make no mistake about it, we condemn in the strongest possible terms the torture that these brave individuals went through --
Q: -- you don't think they should get money?
MR. McCLELLAN: -- at the hands of Saddam Hussein. There is simply no amount of money that can truly compensate those men and women who heroically served --
Q: That's not the issue --
MR. McCLELLAN: -- who heroically served our nation.
Q: Are you opposed to them getting some of the money?
MR. McCLELLAN: And, again, I just said that that had been addressed earlier this year.
Q: No, but it hasn't been addressed. They're entitled to the money under the law. The question is, is this administration blocking their effort to access some of that money, and why?
MR. McCLELLAN: I don't view it that way at all. I view it the way that I stated it, that this issue was --
Q: But you are opposed to them getting the money.
MR. McCLELLAN: This issue was addressed earlier this year, and we believe that there's simply no amount of money that could truly compensate these brave men and women for what they went through and for the suffering that they went through at the hands of Saddam Hussein --
Q: So no money.
MR. McCLELLAN: -- and that's my answer.
PA: There's a long history of any doo-dah batshit thing that makes governments look strong being passed when it's populace get scared. "Getting tough" makes people feel safe. Look, I could go on for days about Friedrich Nietzsche and how he tied all this up neatly with his whole "master state / slave state" thing, but it's a little hard to whip out "Nietzsche" without sounding like some liberal arts douchebag flailing at any conversational nugget while trying to get laid at a mixer.In what is perhaps the greatest blog entry in the history of blog entries, dong resin interviews the Patriot Act.