meta-roj

veterans.

a step in the right direction? well, we do have some source material…

Alberto Gonzales, January 25, 2002 [pdf, ~600k]

[originally covered here.]

i guess the cabinet didn’t learn too much from the last declaration of success…

attorney general john ashcroft resignation letter, november 2, 2004

The objective of securing the safety of Americans from crime and terror has been achieved.

or maybe the lesson is that you can declare victory anytime with impunity.

this guy (or gal) has something to say to the “red states”

praise be.

i hear edwards is a lawyer looking for a job…

but that’d never happen

playwright

there’s a new model in town.. and it’s about longetivity in the music business, embracing the audience, enhancing value, and doing good all at the same time…

Queen sell pirate music to fans [bbc news, nov 3, 2004]

Using expert advice, the band has selected the best illegal Queen recordings and will make them available to download on their official website.

The downloads will be available at the rate of three tracks each month, at a fixed cost of £5 per recording.

All proceeds will be donated to the Mercury Phoenix Trust, to combat Aids.

this is a big development in a lot of ways… firstly, the career trajectory of queen changed pretty dramatically with freddie mercury’s death in 1991. that means real limited access to two of the three general revenue option for a band – performance and patronage. queen isn’t queen without freddie, so they won’t be doing blow-out stadium concerts or movie soundtracks anytime soon. left with no options other than their past to move forward, queen has embraced their legacy of bootlegs, and, in very classy form, added value to the “black catalog” (not to be confused with their back catalog).

the filtering problem is… well, a huge problem. with that many years of tours, and that many potential bootleggers out there in the world, the pile of junk bootleg recordings of queen has got to be huge. so how do you sort it out and find the gems in the crap? talk to the experts, of course. in this case, it’s frank hazenberg, andreas voigts and frank palstra. these musigeeks have been playing with this material for years. ask them what’s worth having – they know.

and now, leveraged through the official sanction (and gathering point) of the queen website, and with an eye toward doing some good with this material (proceeds benefit the mercury phoenix trust).

transistorized wireless electric guitar

(and this little thing too)

i saw this come through the ap wire, but since the ap story gets traction by default, i figured it was more interesting to track down the local papers…

Kaua’i man sues over recall to active duty [honolulu advertiser, nov 6, 2004]

David M. Miyasato enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserve in 1987, served three years of active duty during the first Gulf War and received an honorable discharge in 1991. He remained on inactive status for five more years, until 1996. Since then, the Kaua’i resident has married, started an auto window tinting business and this year, he and his wife had their first child.

David Miyasato is suing the Secretary of the Army for recalling him to active duty. He had been told to report to a South Carolina facility.

But in September, Miyasato received a letter from the Army recalling him to active duty and directing him to report to a military facility in South Carolina on Tuesday.

Soldier sues over his recall to service [honolulu star bulletin, nov 16, 2004]

Miyasato, who started an auto-tinting shop in Lihue two years ago, said he wrote to the Army pointing out that his enlistment had ended in 1996 after he served three years on active duty and another additional five in the inactive reserve.

When he received no answer from the Army, Miyasato turned to U.S. Rep. Ed Case and Sens. Daniel Inouye and Daniel Akaka to help him.

Miyasato said Akaka and Case were told by the Army that it would take 60 days to conduct an investigation.

Miyasato said going AWOL was not an option, so instead he hired attorney Eric Seitz, who requested a restraining order from the federal courts.

and it’s a nice story because miyasato isn’t ideologically motivated. he just thinks he’s done.

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