[Update]

Amanda puts it much more pithily.
Blondesense Liz has something to say about it, too.

[Original Post]

Make no mistake, a political speech is a seduction, as trashy and ribald as anything you’re going to find in bad erotic literature. Sometimes it’s brutal, sometimes it’s elegant, but it’s always a seduction. The most honest expression of it might be called the Mike Tyson school of public relations.

(Beep) you, you ‘ho. Come and say it to my face. I’ll (Beep) you in your ass in front of everybody. You bitch. Come on, you bitch. You’re a scared coward. You’re not man enough to (Beep) with me. You can’t last two minutes in my world, bitch.

Look at you, you scared now, you punk. Scared like a little white (Beep). Scared of the real man. I’ll (Beep) you until you love me (Beep).

I listened to Ricky Santorum’s speech, and was reminded of all the nasty little things I ever learned about persuasive speaking. Make no mistake, Ricky is familiar with the technique, and one smooth operator. Of course Santorum was mostly about sweet seduction, but the audience was getting screwed just the same:

The question to all of us, is how much are we willing to fight to maintain this great country. I really find it remarkable that the men and women who are serving in the armed services, who are out there sacrificing tonight, and God bless them, that they s- that they volunteered. They stepped forward. In a time of war, they stepped forward.

We have a culture now that doesn’t say “serve,” that doesn’t say “don’t think about yourself. It says, “me, me, me.” It’s a very self-absorbed, me-centered, excessive popular culture. And yet we have brave men and women, who are willing to step forward. Because they know what’s at stake. They’re willing to sacrifice their lives… for this great country.

What I’m asking all of you tonight is not to put on a uniform; put on a bumper sticker. Is it that much to ask? Is it that much to ask to step up, and serve your country? To fight for what we believe in? To fight for the values that have made this country the greatest country in- We got here not because we were doing things really wrong, that our traditions and our morals were way out of whack. We got here because we were a good, decent country. A country guided by divine Providence. We will only stay that great country, if we continue that fight. I’m asking you, to help me do that.

Thank you.

Now let’s look at it on the slow-motion replay.

The question to all of us, is how much are we willing to fight to maintain this great country.

Establish that there is peril, and that each of us has the opportunity to participate in the fight, check. Push in that emotional hook.

I really find it remarkable that the men and women who are serving in the armed services, who are out there sacrificing tonight, and God bless them, that they s- that they volunteered. They stepped forward. In a time of war, they stepped forward.

Establish Gold Standard of willingness to serve your country. Push that hook in deeper, get ‘em where they live.

We have a culture now that doesn’t say “serve,” that doesn’t say “don’t think about yourself. It says, “me, me, me.” It’s a very self-absorbed, me-centered, excessive popular culture.

Establish red meat for the base, presenting it without mentioning that the “me” generation grew up in the 1980’s under Ronnie’s aegis. Also pass over that the people sitting there are consumers of the popular culture. Pause, and revel in the mixed guilt and guilty pleasure.

And yet we have brave men and women, who are willing to step forward. Because they know what’s at stake. They’re willing to sacrifice their lives… for this great country.

Establish that the people in here aren’t doing that right now (or if they are, they know who they are). Admiring, jealous, and curious eyes cast at the uniforms in the room. Allow the guilt and hero-worship to fester for a few moments.

What I’m asking all of you tonight is not to put on a uniform; put on a bumper sticker.

Knowing chuckles from crowd, this is a stump speech, after all. This is the giggly moment where the crowd realizes they’ve just been thoroughly rolled, ’cause Ricky just asked for a cigarette.

Is it that much to ask?

“You’re mine, and you’re going to go out and get your name tattooed on your ass. Because we’re soldiers of God, and that’s what good troops do for their commander.”

Is it that much to ask to step up, and serve your country? To fight for what we believe in?

Push it in deeply again, bring them back to the warm flush you had them at a moment ago, take them again even while they know they’re being rolled.

To fight for the values that have made this country the greatest country in- We got here not because we were doing things really wrong, that our traditions and our morals were way out of whack.

Break the spell for a moment, leave them leaning a little towards you, wondering where you’re going, and if you’ll ever call.

We got here because we were a good, decent country. A country guided by divine Providence.

“Call out to Jesus in the throes of passion, then it’s not a sin; it’s worship. Remember: we do this for His glory. Remember Saint Theresa.”

We will only stay that great country, if we continue that fight. I’m asking you, to help me do that.

“Keep praying, and I’ll be back. Don’t forget the tattoo.”

Thank you.

“It was adequate,” said with the slight smile of hinted approval.

I’m not the first person to draw this parallel, I won’t be the last. But this was a textbook example of how the scam works.

It was fucking disgusting.

Very creeped-out chinchillas who hope one day to feel clean again to C&L.

Got an e-mail addressed from mail@argentcross.org today. I get ones like this all the time, and it never ceases to bring out a little growl.

Dear Argentcross Member,

We have temporarily suspended your email account rhuffman@argentcross.org.

This might be due to either of the following reasons:

1. A recent change in your personal information (i.e. change of address).
2. Submiting invalid information during the initial sign up process.
3. An innability to accurately verify your selected option of subscription due to an internal error within our processors.
See the details to reactivate your Argentcross account.

Sincerely,The Argentcross Support Team

+++ Attachment: No Virus (Clean)
+++ Argentcross Antivirus – www.argentcross.org

It had an attachment called account-info.zip.

Inside the the zipfile was a file called:
account-info.htm .scr

Despite all the spaces in the filename, that .scr at the end means it will execute the file as a program if you open it. Which would be a Bad Idea.

A few things.

The message came from a machine connected through Road Runner, and the box is physically located in or around Austin, Texas.

Argentcross.org is the domain that was formerly used for a group of online gamers (MMORPGs, not gambling) that I was nominally in charge of.

I own the domain, and it’s currently the infrastructure domain for all my servers (I really should move it to argentcross.net at some point).

mail@argentcross.org is an alias that eventually winds up at…. rhuffman@argentcross.org. Alerts sent from that account originate about 45 feet from where I am now.

The anti-virus scan signature doesn’t look anything like that, but this is a new variant, so it was missed. (keep that in mind – Antivirus software can only protect you from what it knows about!)

In case you hadn’t guessed, I AM “The Argentcross Support Team.”

It’s probably a self-propagating worm, coming from someone’s infected computer who has me in their address book, but this is an example of social engineering that just didn’t work out.

And people wonder why I go through so many keyboards.

[Update] This article at CNN has a touch more information.

[Original Post]the WB and UPN are merging. Reuters didn’t have much to say:

NEW YORK (Reuters) – CBS Corp and Time Warner Inc.’s Warner Brothers television network on Tuesday said they will close their respective UPN and WB networks and jointly launch the CW network.

The network will be a 50-50 joint venture between the two companies.

The Associated Press (via the Orlando Sentinel and the L.A. Times) said little more:

NEW YORK — Two small, struggling television networks, UPN and WB, will merge to form a new network called The CW, executives from the companies that own them said today.

The announcement was made by executives from CBS Corp., which owns UPN, and Warner Bros., a unit of Time Warner Inc., which owns WB.

Both UPN and WB had struggled to compete against larger rivals in the broadcast TV business, including Walt Disney Co.’s ABC, News Corp.’s Fox, General Electric Co.’s NBC and CBS Corp.’s CBS.

The new network will launch in the fall, the executives said, and both UPN and WB will shut down. It will be a 50-50 partnership between Warner Bros. and CBS, and the network will be carried on stations owned by the Tribune Co., which is a minority owner of the WB network.

Among the Tribune’s TV stations that will join the new network are its flagship WGN in Chicago as well as WPIX in New York, and KTLA in Los Angeles.

Leslie Moonves, chief executive of CBS Corp., said the new network will air 30 hours of programming seven days a week aimed in part at young audiences.

Barry Meyer, the head of Warner Bros., said the network would be run by the current executives of UPN and WB.

I’m assuming that’s 30 hours of programming to choose from.

Of course, since CBS already owned UPN, this is less of a concentration than it might seem at first… but it is revealing in how concentrated things already are.

RANT ON:

My fellow discontented cranky people, this is a beautiful demonstration of what we’re going to be facing for the next 10-15 years. Generally, when you do something stupid (like strike down the Fairness Doctrine), the effects are immediate. When you start doing good things like gnawing on the media’s ankles for being morons, the effects are not visible for months or years, and the bad things that were already moving to fruition before you started raising hell will continue. While not part of a grand conspiracy, this is a demonstration of the failure of market regulation written by the most successful players in the market: the game is rigged against competition.

Media consolidation and concentration is difficult or impossible to reverse (look at the publishing industry!), and confronting it is a thankless task. Just remember that once the various criminals now in government are sent back to their day jobs (or given new ones in Club Fed), they will not be powerless, just not in the direct possession of government power. These people are going to be going back to working for their agendas from the private sector as quickly as they can (to mitigate what they see as the damage we’re causing).

As Jefferson said, “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.”

And we, as a nation, are working from many years of not being too terribly vigilant.

Hey, when is driftglass going to stop delicately dancing around and tell us how he really feels??

The question is simple: if you know who they are, why aren’t you burying them in agents? Why don’t you have a fistful of warrants to tap everything they touch? The Congress has given you every fucking thing you asked for, served up on the good china with a side of garlic mashed potatoes. Congress would have give Bush Administration light sabers if they’d asked. And a metric ton of blow. And a thousand runway models off of whose asses they could have done said blow.

And a completely prostrate press who would have happily looked the other way and slammed anyone who asked sticky questions about coke haloes around the noses of senior staffers.

So having been given the biggest blank check in modern history, how come the Bushies are now acting like the Constitution is a pair of hurtin’ shoes two sizes too small that their mommy made them wear to the funeral of a distant and unloved Uncle?

Because. They. Are. Liars.

Hm, a few years ago, maybe longer?

Profit from his example.

Say it to the Washington Post, Chris Matthews, and Tim Russert. Give Fox News, Michelle Malkin, some love, too. Don’t forget Ann Coulter (okay, that last one isn’t devoted to Coulter, but I really like Willis’ “as ye sow, so shall ye reap” approach. :D)

Don’t do it because you see the link and you want to vent your outrage, though. Hone that outrage with some solid, factual background information. You probably will find out that something you’re angry at them for never really happened. You will find out that there is something to be pissed off about that you never knew.

Then, and only then… tell us how you really feel.

Chinchillas and stuffs to firedoglake.

Digby sets side by side a series of quotes from two men: George W. Bush, and Osama bin Laden.

Here’s just a few of my own, expanding on them – and editing out proper names, and specific identifiers. You decide how they sound.

“You are the nation who, rather than ruling by the [laws of God], choose to invent your own laws as you will and desire. You separate religion from your policies, contradicting the pure nature which affirms Absolute Authority to the Lord and your Creator. You flee from the embarrassing question posed to you: How is it possible for [God] to create His creation, grant them power over all the creatures and land, grant them all the amenities of life, and then deny them that which they are most in need of: knowledge of the laws which govern their lives?” [source]

“I have no problem with the [laws of God] posted on the wall of every public place.” [source]

“In [a nation], the [enemy] used violence and fear to deny [that nation's] women access to education, health care, mobility, and the right to vote. Our [group] has liberated [that nation] and restored fundamental human rights and freedoms to [that nation's] women, and all the people of [that nation]. Young girls in [that nation] are able to attend schools for the first time.” [source]

“You are a nation that exploits women like consumer products or advertising tools calling upon customers to purchase them. You use women to serve passengers, visitors, and strangers to increase your profit margins. You then rant that you support the liberation of women.” [source]

I can’t work up any desire to find any more quotes to support the obvious: Two amoral sons of privilege are telling the world very similar things about themselves and each other, and each of them say that they are being informed by the Truth:

Bush: ‘Asked by Woodward, an assistant managing editor at the Washington Post, if he had ever consulted the former president before ordering the invasion of Iraq, Bush replied that “he is the wrong father to appeal to in terms of strength; there is a higher father that I appeal to.”‘ [source]

bin Laden: ‘Obey Him, be thankful to Him, and remember Him always, and die not except in a state of Islam [as Muslims] with complete submission to Allah.’ [source]

Assuming all things about these two men are as they seem:

It can be fairly said that Bush does not order terrorist attacks.

It can also be said that bin Laden does not order the invasion and occupation of other nations.

To me, they’re both dangerous as hell, because the messages of peace embodied in both their avowed religions have been lost.