DOWN WITH PANTS!

I guess I realized something about presidential debates and politics last night during the third debate. When John Kerry lobbed a big fat softall of a quote asking Bush why he "was not concerned" with Osama Bin Laden it came to me. As soon as he said it I knew that the Democrats must have tape of him saying he wasn't concerned with Bin Laden. So with great anticipation and excitement I waited for Bush's response. Sure enough he took the bait and tried to make a snarky comeback saying “Gosh, I don’t think I ever said I’m not worried about Osama Bin Laden. That’s kinda one of those exaggerations."

And, as I expected, after the debates ended the media was quick to start playing the tape of him from a White House press briefing saying exactly what he denied. It was incredible that he didn't see it coming and couldn't stop himself from making a collosal mistake. The Republicans have tried to spin it saying it was taken out of context but the tape doesn't lie. Check out exactly what he said in his press conference and a little audio montage contrasting what he said on Kermit The Blog.

Back to what I realized during the debate. I guess I knew this already and most people have known all along but it never really clicked in until last night. Both sides prepare certain phrases or charges designed to trap the other into contradicting themselves or saying something completely misleading or false knowing that if they should take the bait they have evidence they can release immediately to make their point. Usually the candidates can avoid these traps or tricks and are prepared for them.

Bush obviously was not prepared for what Kerry said and it took him by surprise. The Democrats had to be elated and started releasing the video immediately contradicting the president. The Republicans had to be shocked and knew that they were going to have to answer for what he said so they started working on any defense and came up with a rather weak "it was taken out of context" response.

Anyway, it was a masterful stroke by John Kerry. Bush looked foolish as soon as the networks started playing both the debate tape and the press conference tape. Sure Bush trapped Kerry a couple of times and Kerry had some factual mistakes that he will have to answer for, but most of those were on numbers and figures. Nothing quite as grand or as important as Bush saying he wasn't concerned about Bin Laden.

Cockeyed.com is about as funny and creative as it gets on the internet without being disgusting or weird and it's only been there for 5+ years without me noticing it. At least I've finally found it...

Down With Pants! is pleased to congratulate the 2004 WNBA Champion Seattle Storm!!! More on this to follow soon!

I just finished taking a couple of quizzes on SelectSmart.com. The first quiz I took was on who I should vote for in the 2004 presidential election. According to SelectSmart and the answers that I provided (I did go kind of quick and didn't take it to seriously) my #1 candidate was a tie at 92% (100% would be your ideal candidate) between the Green Party's David Cobb and independent Ralph Nader. At 74% my commie socialist tendencies are confirmed by the selection of the Socialists Party's Walt Brown. The man I'm voting for, John Kerry, comes in fourth at 71%. George W. Bush comes in a distant last with only a 1% score.

The second quiz I took was on religion. I am not a religious man and I'm not really looking for or too interested in spirituality (as Death? knows). But it does look like there are a couple of groups that can help me out if I'm ever in a time of need. Coming in at 100% was Unitarian Universalism and coming in second at 90% was Secular Humanism and Liberal Quaker. Surprisingly to me, Non-Theist, which is what I would consider myself, comes in at 57%.

Down With Pants! got it's first mention on a major website recently for my review of John Water's A Dirty Shame. I was quite surprised and excited to see a blurb of our review on this unofficial/official website for the movie. Check out my review and then head on over to Defamer's A Dirty Shame site to read more opinions on the movie, an interview with John Waters, more about the fetishes and tons more information on this genius (if my theory is true) movie.

An artist is charging a library in Livermore, California $6,000 plus expenses to fix a mural that she created that contains 11 spelling mistakes. Names like Van Gogh (Van Gough), Shakespeare (Shakespere) and Einstein (Eistein) were brutally misspelled but the artist will not suck it up and admit her mistakes. Instead she is pulling a typical artist response by saying "The people that are into humanities, and are into Blake's concept of enlightenment, they are not looking at the words. In their mind the words register correctly."

What a load of crap. If you make a mistake, even if it's art, you should correct it and not pull "I'm an artist, you wouldn't understand" defense. She made a spelling mistake, plain and simple and should correct it free of charge. There is some blame to be placed on the library and the city council for not checking the work before paying the final amount owed and for agreeing to pay her to fix it. But what kind of artist is happy with a work that full of mistakes? She should fix it on her own accord purely because it reflects so poorly on her.

The following is an email I wrote to the artist Maria Alquilar. I'm not one to write emails to people or to editors, but this really got under my skin for some reason and I felt I had to say something directly to this artist. If you would like to do the same, her email is alquilar@hotmail.com

Hi Maria,

I just read the article on Yahoo news about your piece for the Livermore library and I was appalled. I'm sorry, but you should not charge them to fix your mistakes. If they gave you the wrong spellings then I can understand you wanting to charge them. However if you just misspelled these words on your own it is your responsibility to fix them.

What kind of artist is happy with a work that is as flawed as this one sounds to be. And don't give me that "if an artist saw it he wouldn't even notice the words". That's garbage. You produced a mural (I'm sure it's great otherwise) that has massive spelling mistakes in it at a library! You have to be embarrassed that one of your works is so amazingly flawed. If you never fixed the item can you understand how people like myself would look at the mural, appreciate the work and artistry and then notice the spelling mistakes and absolutely dismiss this piece as a joke or a fraud? Can you understand how embarrassing this is for the library, an institute of learning, to have spelling mistakes on the art out front?

If this was your fault, I truly think you should just swallow your pride and donate your time to correct this awful mistake. It's a public library for god's sake! It's not like they are rich. You should be ashamed for the shoddy work that you did and the fleecing you are doing.

Sincerely,
Brandon Sparks

This was a really interesting survey/quiz. I got 15 out of 20 questions right. See if you can spot the fake smiles....

Every election year a ton of groups step forward to try to get people to vote. One of the most creative groups to come forward in this election year is the folks at Votergasm.org. On this website there are some informative pictorials about political action like how to vote absentee or contact your elected official. You can also register to vote on the site and you can also take a pledge to have a "Votergasm" on election night. I took the American Hero pledge. I pledged "to have sex with a voter on election night and withhold sex from non-voters for the next four years." Of course I'm getting married so the second part of the pledge shouldn't be very hard unless something goes wrong and she doesn't vote in which case I'll be screwed (or not screwed as the case may be. sorry, I'm full of puns today). So far they say that over 15,000 people have signed a pledge on the site which means you'd better vote. It's better to be safe than sorry.

Ok, first of all, sorry about the pun. Now listen up. The Seattle Storm beat the Sacramento Monarchs last night 82-62 to capture the Western Conference championship in the WNBA. The Monarchs cut the Storm lead to only one point early in the second half but the Storm then went on a 20-0 run to ice the game. Lauren Jackson scored 27 points and Sue Bird, playing with a mask a day after having surgery on her broken nose, set a WNBA playoff record with 14 assists. They move on to play the Connecticut Sun in the WNBA Finals starting Friday night. Game two is here in Seattle on Sunday.

If you are in Seattle and you are not there, shame on you! There really is no excuse to not make it out to the Key on Sunday. This team is exciting, the crowds are great, the ticket price is inexpensive and by the way, when was the last time we had a professional team win a championship? Oh yeah, 25 years ago when the Sonics did it. With a win on Friday in Connecticut, game two here could be the night another one is brought home.

I just found this disturbing news story on Seattle Insider. Anheuser-Busch is producing a new caffeinated beer called "B-to-the-E". The article says the beer "will be targeted to consumers ages 21 to 27, ostensibly those looking for something zippy in their highly-social, fast-paced lifestyles." So, if you're a hardcore alcoholic but you have a busy day ahead of you, grab yourself a B-to-the-E, the beer that keeps you going! Classes taking their toll on your social life? Well, go ahead, grab a six pack of B-to-the-E, go out have a good time and when you get home, do your school work. The extra something in B-to-the-E will keep you going!