speaking of books....

just finished up Dude, Where's My Country? by Michael Moore. my review? overall, a good read, but a bit uneven - sorry, the chapter where mike leaves the computer and God takes over to write a chapter? it just didn't work. but there were some things of interest there...

a few quotes:

"They call it a war on 'terror.'" How exactly do you conduct a war on a noun? Wars are fought against countries, religions, and peoples. They are not fought against nouns or problems, and any time it has been attempted -- the 'war on drugs,' the 'war on poverty' -- it fails." - Dude, Where's My Country?, pg 96

"Look, I don't know how to put it any gentler than to say that these bastards who run our country are a bunch of conniving, thieving, smug pricks who need to be brought down and removed and replaced with a whole new system that we control. That is what democracy is supposed to be about -- we, the people, in fucking charge. What happened to us? Perhaps we were never were really in charge and those words just sounded good at Independence Hall on that sweltering day in 1776. Maybe if the Founding Fathers had air conditioning and a corporate jet they never would have written such a foolish thing. But they did, and that's what we're left to work with." - Dude, Where's My Country?, ppg 148-9

"But Webster's Collegiate Dictionary defines the word liberal this way: 'Not narrow or contracted in mind; not selfish' and 'not bound by orthodox tenets or established forms in political or religious philosophy; independent in opinion; not conservative; friendly to great freedom in the institution or administration of government....' Liberal is also defined as generous, 'and implies largeness of spirit in giving, judging, acting, etc.'
And that is exactly how the majority of Americans think, act, and behave these days. Though they won't use the word itself, they are the living, breathing definition of liberal in their everyday words and deeds. Just as most independent, free-thinking women rarely use the word 'feminist' anymore; their actions speak louder than their lack of a lable, and feminist is exactly what they are.
So let's not get hung up on the terms. Most Americans don't approach the world with labels, but with common sense." - Dude, Where's My Country?, pg 179

there's also followup stuff on his website -

Run Oprah Run! - yup, Mike, i agree - it's time for a black woman to be president - and who doesn't love oprah? no money issues there, she's got plenty of her own. and we know she's good at saying what she thinks.

Send your receipts to Ashcroft - the so called USA PATRIOT Act means the damned bastard's spying on us enough as it is, let's just cut out the middleman and send him our receipts from book purchases so he can decide whether or not we're too subversive for his liking.

Also on that page are some rather humorous/scary form letters you can send to John - for instance:

Dear Attorney General Ashcroft:

Thought I'd do my part and let you know that I've switched internet service providers (AOL really sucks) and now I'm with (insert name). My new password is (insert). Some of the websites I've been visiting recently are (insert).

Helpfully yours,
Your Name here

they're humorous because you read em and say "there's no way he'd do something like that, invading our privacy in such a way!" and scary because you read em and say "hell yes, he'd do something like that!"