Usdin.net!

The Republican National Committee sent out this mailer to voters in Arkansas. Apparently they think that if a Democrat is elected, the bible will be banned. This is the lowest blow I have ever seen in politics. The republican party is a tool for Christian evangelists now - and nothing more. But how did they go from being the party of Abe Lincoln to the party of today? Garrison Keillor sure tells it better then I ever could.

–*Rob

Today was the big day. Melissa is walking solo!!! She has been cruising around holding on to things for weeks. Lately she’s been taking a couple of wobbly solo steps. Now, she’s unstopable!! Heaven help us all and the cat.

Congress voted to pass a bill yesterday that would bar the Supreme Court from ruling on whether the words “Under God” could be stricken from the Pledge Of Allegiance. It will advance to the Senate. This kills the debate (if it passes in the Senate) and thus opens up the flood gates for other things to not reach the Supreme Court. I mean what’s the Supreme Court for anyway - when we can just override them and just say “Nope, sorry, you can’t rule on this.” What’s next?

It’s not just bad policy, it’s HORRIBLE policy.

–*Rob

The old Hitchhiker’s Guide To the Galaxy Game is up on the BBC’s site for the radio drama of the third book. I remember playing that game for hours, trying to finish it. Douglas Adams was way ahead of his time by making a game of his book.

Go. Make sure the grues don’t get you. Oh wait, different game…sorry…

–*Rob

I found a cool web site called “Fantasy Film League”

The basic premise is: you get $60 million to create a fantasy film. That $60 million is used to buy 6 stars and a director. Your film is judged over the course of a year, depending on how much money each of the stars makes from films they are in over the course of that year. The leagues start on a quarterly basis - and the latest one starts on October 1. I created a league called “Da League.” If you would like to participate. Go to the site, sign up and create your film. Then email me and I will email you the password to the league, and your film will be entered!

You can create one film per quarter, so each quarter our league will have different films. Give it a shot - it’s really fun!

–*Rob

Check out this video of Melissa walking [2.7 MB file](with a little help).

Soon enough, she won’t be holding on to anything.

–*Rob

FUD.

Fear, Uncertainty, Doom

That’s what the Bush administration has created. It has instilled it in our everyday lives. I’ll cite three articles - The first regarding Yusuf Islam (formerly Cat Stevens):

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/P/PLANE_DIVERTED?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

My gut reaction is - this is the man who sung “Peace Train.” This man is doing nothing wrong. He runs a Muslim school in London. Surely if there was anything going on with him regarding terrorism - the British would have already investigated him. But to have him taken off a plane and sent back to the UK?

Then yesterday I saw this:

http://www.cnn.com/2004/TRAVEL/09/21/flight.canceled.ap/index.html

We are in such a state of paranoia that one note with a Muslim PRAYER on it can keep a flight from takeoff. Well it seems to me that the terrorists are succeeding and Bush is buying right into their plan: CREATE FEAR. All they have to do now is place notes just like this on thousands of flights all around the US and they will bring our air traffic to a halt. Great.

The third article is close to home:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/18/nyregion/18muslim.html

Sorry, the NYT requires registration, but if you don’t want to give them your info go to http://www.bugmenot.com/ (which is a great site that will give you anonymous reg info for just about any site that requires registration).

This was a big story in my area. I go to Six Flags a lot - I live 15 miles from Great Adventure. There was a big stink made about the park being rented out to the ICNA - Islamic Circle of North America. I cannot for the life of me imagine why people are so closed minded as to think that this is anything other then a religious group - just like any other religious group in the US - renting out an amusement park for a day. I am appalled that people are upset by this, but again - this is the FUD mindset the Bush admin has fostered. It’s scary.

Damnit, we have to rid ourselves of this fear-mongering administration! We are at the top of the slippery slope, about to begin sliding….

–*Rob

How about turning the world upside down? After all - it’s all relative anyway…

The Upside Down Map Page

–*Rob

You may need a map for that too… Hence this Nav-Computer.

There. Now you won’t get lost on your way to Tatooine. Don’t forget to stop by Naboo and say “hi” to Jar Jar.

–*Rob

This is cool. A map of Springfield. Yeah - that one. The one where you can eat at Uncle Moe’s Family Feedbag. Useful for a stopover on those trips back from Capital City and Shelbyville. You’ll never get lost again.

–*Rob