Tuesday, September 16, 2003
George W. Bush Action Hero!
I've been bashing George W. pretty hard recently but just to prove to you I'm not just another humorless liberal, let me show you patriots out there who want to both support and idolize the president what options you have in the action figure world. Yes, not only can you actually buy an action figure of our current president but you have at least three different options to choose from.
First off, Herobuilders.com have the Talking America's President action figure (scroll down to view) in basic green military fatigues (he is after all the Commander-in-Chief, right?). Also available on the site if you want to diversify your collection or recreate the UN Iraqi Resolution stand-off, Operation Iraqi Freedom or the Afghani war in your living room are: Bin Laden, Tony Blair, Baghdad Bob, Rudy Giuiliani as well as many others. (Special Bonus: check out their brand new Arnold "The Governator" Schwarzenegger action figure.)
Also offering a talking doll option is Toy Presidents with their George W. Bush presidential talking action figure. Click on the picture of the doll to hear some of the 25 great Bush soundbites this doll says. Equal air time vendors, Toy Presidents have also made a Bill Clinton figure.
Saving the best for last though: Blue Box's Elite Force Aviator: George W. Bush - U.S. President and Naval Aviator Action Figure (available for pre-order via KB Toys right now). Based on the image seen back in May of Bush dressed in a flight suit on the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln declaring the end of "major combat" in Iraq, this has to be the most accurate-looking and elaborately-designed of the three figures. It was featured in the New York Times last Sunday and it looked so absurd that it was actually cool and I had to get more info on it. I'd love to get one of these Naval Aviator Bush figures to put next to the 2Pac one in my music room. I could sit around pondering the irony and meaning of that contrasting image for hours.
But if I do, maybe I better have some good herbals to really open up my mentals to contemplate it properly but I won't be going to the Canadian government for my stash (thanks Nadine for the great news tip). Now that's a funny story.
More 9/11 info: a great site to check out is this one for Peaceful Tomorrows which is a coalition of 9/11 victims' families who object to the US government's current foreign policy and uniliateral, divisive actions in the so-called War on Terror. Peaceful Tomorrows seek non-violent means to end terrorism and to bring the 9/11 attack planners to justice. This is one organization that should be getting much more mainstream media coverage because what you see on the 9/11 victims' families mostly paints them as this monolithic group in lockstep support of the revenge policies being undertaken by the US government in the American people's name.
OK, I knew I'd get back to the political rants sooner than later. Back to exposing the f-ck-up's and blunders by Bush & co. I'm a little late on this one but US attorney General John Ashcroft (aka the "scaraiest man in America") was recently on a tour around the country trying to drum up support for the second version of the controversial Patriot Act. Besides employing questionable means to generate that support including pressing his regional US attorneys generals into writing Op-Ed pieces supporting the Act in their local papers which amounts to illegal lobbying (or could at least be construed as being highly inappropriate if not outright illegal), there are pleny of reasons to be worried about what this act means for your day-to-day life. Like the first version of this act (which was hastily passed right after 9/11 without much review by, well, anyone), the new Patriot Act is a highly questionable piece of legislation which further erodes individual civil liberties and privacy rights protections in a variety of ways not only for suspected foreign national terrorist suspects but also for US citizens whether they are suspected of being involved in terror-related activities or not. Thankfully, many people on both the left and right of the political spectrum have been raising questions and objections about this act.
I'm sure there are many bloggers and writers out there much cleverer than me who have tackled this topic in greater depth but for those of you looking for a good survey article tackling all the issues including the hype and reality behind the Patriot Act, check out "A Guide to the Patriot Act1: Should you be scared of the Patriot Act?" by Dahlia Lithwick and Julia Turner published online on September 8th on the MSN/Slate Website. The article has useful links to the actual text of the act so you can read it for yourself (hope you have a lot of spare time on your hands, it's 300+ pages long) and also to a page on the ACLU's web site outlining a list of their objections to statements made by the Dept. of Justice on a website newly-created by them to promote the act. This article is well worth your time.
Still not enough political dialog for you? Around the time of the last presidential election campaign, various versions of a joke George Bush resume made the rounds which gave everyone a good chuckle until the damn fool went and actually won the election. This despite much of the content about his accomplishments (or lack thereof) as a businessman and Governor of Texas in the resume actually being pretty accurate and not much of a joke after all. Now that the 2004 election is just around the corner though, isn't it about time to examine how Bush has done overall as our leader? Here's one version of his Presidential resume with a list of his "Accomplishments To Date" (try this version for even more crazy stuff) that's been making the rounds on the internet recently. Anyone for a second go around after reading that?
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First off, Herobuilders.com have the Talking America's President action figure (scroll down to view) in basic green military fatigues (he is after all the Commander-in-Chief, right?). Also available on the site if you want to diversify your collection or recreate the UN Iraqi Resolution stand-off, Operation Iraqi Freedom or the Afghani war in your living room are: Bin Laden, Tony Blair, Baghdad Bob, Rudy Giuiliani as well as many others. (Special Bonus: check out their brand new Arnold "The Governator" Schwarzenegger action figure.)
Also offering a talking doll option is Toy Presidents with their George W. Bush presidential talking action figure. Click on the picture of the doll to hear some of the 25 great Bush soundbites this doll says. Equal air time vendors, Toy Presidents have also made a Bill Clinton figure.
Saving the best for last though: Blue Box's Elite Force Aviator: George W. Bush - U.S. President and Naval Aviator Action Figure (available for pre-order via KB Toys right now). Based on the image seen back in May of Bush dressed in a flight suit on the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln declaring the end of "major combat" in Iraq, this has to be the most accurate-looking and elaborately-designed of the three figures. It was featured in the New York Times last Sunday and it looked so absurd that it was actually cool and I had to get more info on it. I'd love to get one of these Naval Aviator Bush figures to put next to the 2Pac one in my music room. I could sit around pondering the irony and meaning of that contrasting image for hours.
But if I do, maybe I better have some good herbals to really open up my mentals to contemplate it properly but I won't be going to the Canadian government for my stash (thanks Nadine for the great news tip). Now that's a funny story.
More 9/11 info: a great site to check out is this one for Peaceful Tomorrows which is a coalition of 9/11 victims' families who object to the US government's current foreign policy and uniliateral, divisive actions in the so-called War on Terror. Peaceful Tomorrows seek non-violent means to end terrorism and to bring the 9/11 attack planners to justice. This is one organization that should be getting much more mainstream media coverage because what you see on the 9/11 victims' families mostly paints them as this monolithic group in lockstep support of the revenge policies being undertaken by the US government in the American people's name.
OK, I knew I'd get back to the political rants sooner than later. Back to exposing the f-ck-up's and blunders by Bush & co. I'm a little late on this one but US attorney General John Ashcroft (aka the "scaraiest man in America") was recently on a tour around the country trying to drum up support for the second version of the controversial Patriot Act. Besides employing questionable means to generate that support including pressing his regional US attorneys generals into writing Op-Ed pieces supporting the Act in their local papers which amounts to illegal lobbying (or could at least be construed as being highly inappropriate if not outright illegal), there are pleny of reasons to be worried about what this act means for your day-to-day life. Like the first version of this act (which was hastily passed right after 9/11 without much review by, well, anyone), the new Patriot Act is a highly questionable piece of legislation which further erodes individual civil liberties and privacy rights protections in a variety of ways not only for suspected foreign national terrorist suspects but also for US citizens whether they are suspected of being involved in terror-related activities or not. Thankfully, many people on both the left and right of the political spectrum have been raising questions and objections about this act.
I'm sure there are many bloggers and writers out there much cleverer than me who have tackled this topic in greater depth but for those of you looking for a good survey article tackling all the issues including the hype and reality behind the Patriot Act, check out "A Guide to the Patriot Act1: Should you be scared of the Patriot Act?" by Dahlia Lithwick and Julia Turner published online on September 8th on the MSN/Slate Website. The article has useful links to the actual text of the act so you can read it for yourself (hope you have a lot of spare time on your hands, it's 300+ pages long) and also to a page on the ACLU's web site outlining a list of their objections to statements made by the Dept. of Justice on a website newly-created by them to promote the act. This article is well worth your time.
Still not enough political dialog for you? Around the time of the last presidential election campaign, various versions of a joke George Bush resume made the rounds which gave everyone a good chuckle until the damn fool went and actually won the election. This despite much of the content about his accomplishments (or lack thereof) as a businessman and Governor of Texas in the resume actually being pretty accurate and not much of a joke after all. Now that the 2004 election is just around the corner though, isn't it about time to examine how Bush has done overall as our leader? Here's one version of his Presidential resume with a list of his "Accomplishments To Date" (try this version for even more crazy stuff) that's been making the rounds on the internet recently. Anyone for a second go around after reading that?
