Calling Bush on his bullshit

It would appear that some members of the mainstream news media, specifically Jennifer Loven of the Associated Press, can't take it anymore and are now willing to point out the lies and mendacity of Bush and his administration. Her article, Bush Using Straw-Man Arguments in Speeches, is the first I've seen outside of blogs that points out the rhetorical technique used so much by Bush and his cronies: they invent some extreme view, vaguely ascribe it to their opponents, then they attack those views.

It's typically done like this: "Some Senators say that the United States government should round up all adorable kitties and puppies and toss them in a meat grinder, instead of fighting the terrorists. I strongly disagree."

I especially liked this part of the article:

A specialist in presidential rhetoric, Wayne Fields of Washington University in St. Louis, views it as "a bizarre kind of double talk" that abuses the rules of legitimate discussion.

"It's such a phenomenal hole in the national debate that you can have arguments with nonexistent people," Fields said. "All politicians try to get away with this to a certain extent. What's striking here is how much this administration rests on a foundation of this kind of stuff."

But as they say on the intarweb, read the whole thing.

Congratulations, Sean!

We're happy to announce that our son Sean has been accepted to the Jack Baskin School of Engineering at the University of California, Santa Cruz. We're very proud of him. So far, he's been accepted at UCSC and Tulane; still waiting to hear from UC San Diego, Cornell, MIT, and Harvey Mudd.

RIP, Peter Tomarken

This news story caught my eye: Former game show host Peter Tomarken killed in SoCal plane crash. I didn't know him well, but I worked with him briefly in the early '80's when he was doing some producing for the TV commercial production company where I worked. I remember him as a warm, personable, decent guy who treated everyone well, even peons like, well, me. Peter died in a crash piloting his small plane on a charity flight; he was going to pick up a passenger in San Diego who needed to get to UCLA Medical Center for treatment. Sounds just like him to want to help others. Another good guy gone too soon. Tragically, his wife was also on board.

Oh, ick

Diet. Now.

Sunday SxSW Sched

Saturday was just insane, but in a good way. I haven't yet gotten to say hi everyone I wanted to, but I've touched base with a ton of people that were on my mental must-see list.

Sunday's tentative schedule:

10:00 am What's Hot in Web Applications (18ABC)
11:00 am Meet Judy Jetson: How Technology is Transforming 21st Century Teens (Day Stage)
11:30 am Us and Them: A Blog Conversation Survival Guide (18D)
01:00 pm Conversation with Henry Rollins (12AB)
02:00 pm Keynote Conversation: Heather Armstrong / Jason Kottke (18ABCD)
03:30 pm Bloggers in Love: Intimacy, Technology and Mask-Making (18D)
03:30 pm League of Technical Voters (16AB)
05:00 pm Wild Web Wrestling: Standardzilla vs Tabelella (17AB)
05:00 pm Revenge of the Blogs: Election 2008 (16AB)
05:00 pm How to Roll Your Own Web Conference (Ballroom E)

See ya there.