Author Archives: Lisa

Daily Show Interview With Billionaire Richard Branson – He Agrees To Put Up A Prize For The Person Who Can Get Us Off Of Oil

This is from the November 9, 2004 program.

Daily Show Interview With Richard Branson (14 MB)
This interview gets really interesting when Jon asks Branson to sponsor a contest to invent something to “get us off the internal combustion engine.”
BTW: Branson said he would do it! He also seemed rather preoccupied with the prospect for the rest of the interview. Let’s try to hold him to it!
Here’s a partial transcript:

Stewart: “What about this: putting up a prize for somebody to invent something to get us off the internal combustion engine? What do you think of that? Get uh, like an X prize type of thing like they did with space travel.”
Branson: “Hmmm.”
Stewart: “What do you think of that?”
Branson: “That makes a lot of sense.”
Stewart: “It does?”
Branson laughs.
Stewart: “How ’bout giving me some seed money?”
Branson: (leans back…) “Um. Okay.”
Stewart: “What do you think of that? You could set this thing up, and people could..it’d be like a private industry thing. There’s gotta be a way. I mean, we can fake diamonds.”
Branson: “Um hmmm.”
Stewart: “There’s gotta be a way we can make fake oil or something. You know what I’m saying? It’s just carbon for god’s sakes.”
Branson: “Water.”
Stewart: “Water? An engine that runs on water? Set up a prize!”
Branson: “Well I’ve just given you the answer. So I want the money.”
Stewart: “Or you’re gonna do it?”
Branson: “No..WATER?”
Stewart: “Cars run on water?”
Branson: “Yeah. They could do.”
Stewart: “What on hydroelectric cells or something?”
Branson: “Something like that. I don’t know. I’m trying to get my money back.”
Stewart: “I’m telling you something. This could be a great thing.”
Branson: “Okay.”
Stewart: “Seed money.”
Branson: “Alright. Would everybody chip in here?”
Stewart: “YOUR the billionaire!”
Branson: “Alright.”

Link to zip file of all November 9, 2004 clips. (39 MB)

The Daily Show (The best news on television.)

Michael Moore’s Video Crew’s Documentary Of Disenfranchised Voters In Cleveland, Ohio

And there are A LOT of them.
In a nutshell, a lot of voters in the poorer and minority areas were turned away for a variety of unfair reasons. The film documents these cases of disenfranchisement.

This was produced by Michael Moore’s “Video The Vote” crew in Cleveland.

Video The Vote (59 MB)
Here’s a link to Xeni’s
Boing Boing Post and a bunch of Mirrors
The producers of this (and the editor, Dave Pentecost) wanted me to mention the following:
1)
People for the American Way and
Election Protection
2) Their apologies to The Jayhawks for not clearing the music first. (They are still waiting to hear back, their rights person is in transit) but they felt that it is really a free music video for the group!
3) This was shot by a dedicated group of 20 volunteer filmmakers, but any mistakes in the editing or focus of this video are Dave Pentecost’s fault.
(Aww Dave, I didn’t see any errors 🙂
4) The organizers of the trip will release a longer selection of statements by voters who had problems voting. (Probably on Monday, November 15, 2004)
This goes with this earlier post.
I’ve had this since November 5, 2004, so I guess that’s the publishing date. You’ve probably seen it around already, but I promised I would host it here so…better late than never 🙂

One In Six U.S. Soldiers Coming Back From Iraq Have Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

The usual anti-depressant drugs aren’t working for these guys. Remember that most of these Vets will have to get lawyers to get the medical benefits coming to them anyway — so all of this is combining to form a big stinking mess — that our boys/girls returning from this war are going to have to clean up for themselves.

These Unseen Wounds Cut Deep
A mental health crisis is emerging, with one in six returning soldiers afflicted, experts say.
By Esther Schrader for The LA Times.

A study by the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research found that 15.6% of Marines and 17.1% of soldiers surveyed after they returned from Iraq suffered major depression, generalized anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder

Wesley Clark In The Washington Post: Fallujah Is Just The Beginning: What This War Lacks Is Any Real Diplomacy

Wesley Clark has been chiming in a lot lately on the Shrub War situation. I think he’s a smart guy with a lot of experience in this War stuff, so I’ve created a category for him.
I’m not trying to archive everything the guy does or anything, but once I’ve posted a couple things from the same person (as I am about to- I’ve got some good clips of him from Bill Maher’s show a few weeks back), it will make it easier to find the stuff later if it has its own category.

The Real Battle
Winning in Fallujah Is Just the Beginning
By Wesley K. Clark for The Washington Post.

Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, assures us that U.S. and Iraqi government forces have moved steadily through the insurgent stronghold and that the assault has been “very, very successful.” Last night, even as troops fought to secure the final section of the Sunni city, senior Iraqi officials declared it “liberated.” But it’s hardly surprising that the measure of success in Fallujah is elusive: There’s no uniformed enemy force, no headquarters, no central command complex for the troops to occupy and win. At the end, there will be no surrender.
After “winning”: Tactical victory is one thing, strategic victory another. U.S. Marines regroup inside the Khulafah Rashid mosque in Fallujah after taking it Thursday. They left later after routed insurgents regrouped and fired on the mosque. (Luis Sinco — Los Angeles Times Via AP)
Instead, the outcome of the battle must be judged by a less clear-cut standard: not by the seizure and occupation of ground, but by the impact it has on the political and diplomatic process in Iraq. Its chances for success in that area are highly uncertain. Will Fallujah, like the famous Vietnam village, be the place we destroyed in order to save it? Will the bulk of the insurgents simply scatter to other Iraqi cities? Will we win a tactical victory only to fail in our strategic goal of convincing Iraqis that we are making their country safe for democracy — and specifically for the elections scheduled for the end of January?…
But in what sense is this “winning?”
To win means not just to occupy the city, but to do so in a way that knocks the local opponent permanently out of the fight, demoralizes broader resistance, and builds legitimacy for U.S. aims, methods and allies. Seen this way, the battle for Fallujah is not just a matter of shooting. It is part of a larger bargaining process that has included negotiations, threats and staged preparations to pressure insurgent groups into preemptive surrender, to deprive them of popular tolerance and support, and to demonstrate to the Iraqi people and to others that force was used only as a last resort in order to gain increased legitimacy for the interim Iraqi government.
Even the use of force required a further calculus. Had we relentlessly destroyed the city and killed large numbers of innocent civilians, or suffered crippling losses in the fighting, we most certainly would have been judged “losers.” And if we can’t hold on and prevent the insurgents from infiltrating back in — as has now occurred in the recently “liberated” city of Samarra — we also shall have lost…
This insurgency has continued to grow, despite U.S. military effectiveness on the ground. While Saddam Hussein’s security forces may have always had a plan to resist the occupation, it was the failure of American policymakers to gain political legitimacy that enabled the insurgency to grow. And while the failure may have begun with the inability to impose order after Saddam’s ouster, it was the lack of a political coterie and the tools of political development — such as the Vietnam program of Civil Operations-Revolutionary Development Support (CORDS) — that seems to have enabled the insurgency to take root amid the U.S. presence. These are the sorts of mistakes the United States must avoid in the future, otherwise the battle of Fallujah may end up being nothing more than the “taking down” of an insurgent stronghold — a battlefield success on the road to strategic failure.
Troops are in Fallujah because of a political failure: Large numbers of Sunnis either wouldn’t, or couldn’t, participate in the political process and the coming elections. Greater security in Fallujah may move citizens (whenever they return) to take part in the voting; it’s too early to say. But it’s certain that you can’t bomb people into the polling booths.
We should be under no illusions: This is not so much a war as it is an effort to birth a nation. It is past time for the administration to undertake diplomatic efforts in the region and political efforts inside Iraq that are worthy of the risks and burdens born by our men and women in uniform. No one knows better than they do: You cannot win in Iraq simply by killing the opponent. Much as we honor our troops and pray for their well-being, if diplomacy fails, their sacrifices and even their successes in Fallujah won’t be enough.

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Saving Private Ryan Controversy

Clarification: The “I’m pissed” sentiment below is because of my technical difficulties, not over this Saving Private Ryan thing — which is interesting at best, but nothing to get too excited about. After re-reading this post, it seemed like that may have been unclear. thanks!
Oh man am I pissed. I forgot to hook up the audio on my camera when I was taping a report on MSNBC’s Countdown (yes I missed all of the election reports too because of this) — about how many of the ABC affiliates refused to air “Saving Private Ryan” last week because of its soldiers filthy mouths in light of the potential FCC fines. (That’s right, their blaming the Janet boob incident for this.)
We know the real reason these stations opted out of airing the film (the agreement with Spielberg required the film to be shown unedited in its entirety): this is one graphic film that shows the reality of war.
Anyway I wanted to at least place a note here on the subject. If anyone sees articles around about this, let me know and I’ll link to them here.

Halliburton Subpoenaed On Nigerian Payments

I saw this in the November 9, 2004 NY Times on page C4 of the Business Section. But I couldn’t find it online, so I decided to just retype it here.
From the NY Times (From Reuters):

The Halliburton Company, the oil services company, has disclosed in a regulatory filing that one of its joint ventures may have improperly paid Nigerian officials to win a multibillion-dollar contract. The company also said the United States officials had issued subpoenas to current and former employees of Kellogg Brown & Root, its engineering and construction unit. Halliburton said in September that an internal investigation has found that members of the TSKJ consortium, which it helps lead, may have considered bribing Nigerian officials a decade ago. Nigeria is also investigating allegations that the consortium paid as much as $180 million to secure a contract for the TSKJ liquefied natural gas project. (Reuters)

Finally! A Peep Out Of The Kerry Squad

Emphasize peep! (The peep we’ve all been waiting for 🙂

Kerry campaign scrutinizes Ohio
Checks provisional ballots, other issues
By Scott Hiaasen for The Plain Dealer.

Lawyers with John Kerry’s presidential campaign are gathering information from Ohio election boards about uncounted ballots and other unresolved issues from last week’s election.
Attorneys say they are not trying to challenge the election but are only carrying out Kerry’s promise to make sure that all the votes in Ohio are counted. They describe this effort, which began this week, as a “fact-finding mission.”…
Dan Hoffheimer, the statewide counsel for the Kerry campaign, said the goal is to identify any voting problems to prevent them in the future – and quell doubts about the legitimacy of the Ohio election being raised on the Internet.
“We’re not expecting to change the outcome of the election,” Hoffheimer said. “We want to be sure that the public knows what really happened.”
The campaign’s inquiries come against a backdrop of increasing hysteria among Internet activists who, in chains of e-mails and articles, claim that Ohio’s election was so riddled with problems that the outcome may not be legitimate.
For example, a confusing counting method used in Cuyahoga County’s election totals wrongly suggests that more than two dozen suburbs had more votes than voters. And a computer glitch in Franklin County added nearly 3,900 phantom votes for Bush in one precinct…
The Kerry campaign has compiled a list of more than 30 questions for local election officials, asking about the number of absentee and provisional ballots, any reports of equipment malfunctions on election night, and any ballots that still listed third-party challenger Ralph Nader as a candidate. (Nader was removed from the ballot by Secretary of State Ken Blackwell.)

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