California: The Nickname

So I got a very nice compliment today.

I posted a joke to rec.arts.sf.fandom, suggesting a Chris Berman-style nickname for the person I suspect is going to be California's next governor. (Chris Berman is a sportscaster who is remarkably clever in a lot of ways, but one of his trademarks is pun- and other wordplay-based nicknames for players, like Rick "See Ya Later" Aguilera or Jim "Two Sillouhettes on" DeShaies. There's a list of some of them over here.

So I suggested, Cruz "The Full" Bustamante.

In a follow-up article, Alan Winston said that I made him laugh 'til past the point at which it hurt. Which made me feel good, since everyone knows that the basis of comedy is suffering.

I decided to check Google to see if I was the first person to come up with this. I seem to be. But what I found really interesting is that Google has sold an advertisement tied to the word "bustamante": an ad for Peter Ueberroth for governor.

Supporting our military

For at least thirty years--which is to say, as long as I've been politically aware, and probably longer--a major rhetorical device of the right wing has been to accuse the left wing of "not supporting the troops". This is, of course, pure, distilled bullshit, but it seems to be effective at marginalizing dissent from the uses of American military power in support of causes detrimental to the world. It's time to let the air out of its tires.

There's a long and unfocused, but still surprisingly effective, "issue ad" over on Take Back the Media about how "supporting the military" actually plays out in the Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld universe, which is to say that they view the military about the same way a football player views his athletic supporter, except without the sentimentality.

My favorite image from it is this, which is obviously a screen capture from MSNBC:
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Let people know about this. Link to your favorite source about this. Mention it periodically. Don't shut up.