Ocelopotamus

News, culture, and politics. Not necessarily in that order.

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Entries Tagged as 'Politics'

Roundup: Zero Gravity Friday Edition

April 27th, 2007 · Comments Off on Roundup: Zero Gravity Friday Edition · Apple, Climate Change, Comedy, Comics, Culture, Factory Farming, Film, Food, Guns, iTunes, LGBT, Macintosh, Media, Nature, News, Pet Food, Pets, Politics, Science

I have three days’ worth of links accumulated and only one Friday afternoon roundup post to squeeze them into! Help me with the zipper. As many as 6,000 hogs may have been fed melamine-tainted feed: “A USDA official said that so far states have quarantined one farm each in South Carolina, New York, North Carolina […]

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Video: Bill Moyers on Buying the War, Kevin Tillman on Selling It

April 27th, 2007 · 1 Comment · Journalism, Media, News, Peace, Politics, TV

Bill Moyer’s Buying the War documentary on PBS, about how the Washington press bought into the administration’s marketing campaign and enabled it during the runup to the Iraq War, obviously made a big splash this week. I haven’t had time to watch it all myself yet, but you can view the whole show online here. […]

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Holding Out for a Gay Hero

April 26th, 2007 · 4 Comments · Culture, Heroes, LGBT, Politics, Science Fiction, TV

At last it comes out (so to speak): the full behind-the-scenes story on the Heroes character who was supposed to be gay, and then wasn’t anymore. Popgurls.com interviews Heroes producer Bryan Fuller, who spills more beans than have previously been spilled from this particular can of beans. What happened: It absolutely was a path that […]

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Roundup: Forest for the Trees Edition

April 23rd, 2007 · 2 Comments · Activism, Apple, Blogs, Business, Climate Change, Comedy, Culture, Food, Health, Heroes, Labor, LGBT, Music, Nature, News, Peace, Pet Food, Politics, Science, Tech, TV

France heads for a runoff election between right-winger Nicolas Sarkozy and left-winger Ségolène Royal. The country’s future hangs in the balance, and a lot depends on where the defeated centrist candidate steers his followers. Right wing blogs are now trying to push the idea that there was a massive conspiracy to hide WMDs in Iraq. […]

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Pale Blue Dot

April 22nd, 2007 · Comments Off on Pale Blue Dot · Climate Change, Culture, Poetry, Science, Video

A meditation for Earth Day from Carl Sagan.

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Theater: Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo

April 19th, 2007 · 1 Comment · Culture, Foreign Policy, News, Peace, Performance, Theater

Indian-American playwright Rajiv Joseph has a new play opening off Broadway this week. It’s called Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, and it tells the story of the “shock and awe” campaign in Baghdad as seen through the eyes of a “ratty old Bengal tiger caged in the bombed-out Baghdad zoo.” Joseph told DNA he […]

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News Roundup: Back Alley Edition

April 19th, 2007 · 1 Comment · Business, Chicago, Culture, Guns, Health, Internet, Labor, LGBT, Music, Nature, News, Pet Food, Politics, Science, Supreme Court

Yesterday’s Supreme Court ruling on abortion makes no exception for women whose health is in danger. This DKos diary, “5 out of 9 SCOTUS justices say my mom should be dead,” describes in vivid personal terms how a late-term abortion saved the life of the writer’s mother, and how this new ruling means that a […]

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Help Save Women & Children First Bookstore

April 19th, 2007 · 1 Comment · Activism, Books, Business, Chicago, Culture, Feminism, LGBT, Media, News

Women & Children First bookstore here in Andersonville is in danger of closing, possibly before the end of the summer, according to recent stories in the Chicago Tribune and the Windy City Times. One factor hurting sales at W&CF is competition, of course. Borders Books & Music, for instance, has four locations—all within four miles […]

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Illinois Legislators Mock Transgendered People

April 19th, 2007 · 2 Comments · Human Rights, LGBT, News, Politics

This is appalling. I’m ashamed of my state right now. Several Illinois lawmakers mocked sex changes and the idea of debating the subject Tuesday before rejecting a measure that would have made it easier to get a new birth certificate after switching genders. One representative compared sex changes to voodoo and joked that he had […]

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Pet Food Recall Update — Natural Balance Info

April 17th, 2007 · 3 Comments · Business, Cats, Factory Farming, Food, Health, Journal, Kiwi, Mr. Blue, News, Pet Food

I’m getting a lot of Google traffic today from people who are searching for information about the recall of Natural Balance’s pet food, specifically the venison varieties. So, if you’re one of those folks, here’s a link to the Natural Balance site and here’s what it currently says: NOTICE: We are receiving consumer complaints regarding […]

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Remembering Kurt Vonnegut: “A Rather Daft and Kind Old Man”

April 16th, 2007 · Comments Off on Remembering Kurt Vonnegut: “A Rather Daft and Kind Old Man” · Blogroll, Blogs, Books, Culture, History, Lit, News, Peace, Uncategorized

Gregory Rodriguez has a piece in the LA Times today in which he remembers working as an editorial assistant for Kurt Vonnegut’s publisher, and getting to know Vonnegut as he worked on revising Hocus Pocus for publication. Their first meeting, as Rodriguez recounts it, has Vonnegut displaying a vulnerability that is at once charming and […]

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News Roundup: Indirect Role-Playing Edition

April 16th, 2007 · 1 Comment · Adobe, Business, Comics, Culture, Food, Hate Crimes, Health, LGBT, Media, Music, New Wave, News, Politics, Software

Gonzales is now helpfully explaining that he only had an “indirect” role in the firing of the U.S. attorneys. Yes, just like I had an indirect role in what happened to the passersby who got hit by those water balloons I dropped yesterday. I mean, all I did was let go! It was the water […]

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News Roundup: Dinosaur Dig Edition

April 13th, 2007 · 1 Comment · Apple, Business, Comedy, Culture, Feminism, Hate Crimes, Health, Human Rights, LGBT, Music, Nature, New Wave, News, Politics, Science, Software, TV

The White House is claiming that oops, they managed to lose a whole bunch of critically important emails, but as any decent techie knows, deleted emails aren’t really deleted. Someone better sit poor Karl Rove down and explain to him about file recovery utilities. Speaking of recovering things thought lost forever — scientists have recovered […]

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The Invisible Front Runner in the Living Room

April 11th, 2007 · 2 Comments · LGBT, Media, News, Politics

Despite the ongoing media narrative that the race for the 2008 Democratic nomination is a two-person race between Hillary and Obama, the latest Rassmussen poll shows Edwards beating every single Republican contender by at least six points. Let me say that again. John Edwards currently beats all Republican contenders by at least six points in […]

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